The Express.
London, England, 1853-06-07 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS, MONDAY EVENING.
Yesterday his Excellency Vely Eddin Rifaat
Pasha, Ambassador Extraordinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary of the Sublime Porte, had a private
audience of the Emperor, for the purpose of pre-
senting the Sultan's reply to the letter announcing
the marriage of his Majesty.
A despatch from Marseilles announces the arrival
of the packet from:Constantinople. The letters
brought by it, dated May 20, cannot be delivered in
Paris till to-morrow evening or Wednesday morning.
Letters of the 23rd, arrived by land, state that M.
Pisani, Chancellor of the Russian Legation, and his
employbr, remain at Constantinople. The Chancery
assumes, till further order, the appellation of " the
Commercial Chancery of Russia. The fleet com-
manded by Ahmet Pasha entered the port on the
21st. That from Egypt was expected from one day
to another with from 23,000 to 30,000 men. There
was a talk at Constantinople of the nomination
of Halil-Pacha, brother-in-law of the Sultan,
as ambassador extraordinary to St. Peters-
burg. Although a peaceable solution was still con-
sidered probable, preparations for defence were going
on with undiminished activity; 4,000 barrels of pow-
der and other munitions of war had been brought
from the arsenals, and served oat to the fleet and
army.
The Pays has an article upon Swiss affairs, which,
although signed by M. Capefigue, a writer who for
some time inset has made himself supremely ridi-
culous, probably expresses the opinions which
the government wishes to be understood to
profess at least for the moment. Speak-
ing of the difference between Switzerland and
Prussia, on the subject of Neufchatel, he says
it is impossible that this question can longer remain
unsettled, and he plainly insinuates that Switzerland
must give up the possession of this canton to Prussia.
In support of this view he uses an argument, which,
if consistency were not wholly out of fashion, must
seem strange in the mouth of one of the writers in or-
dinary of a government which but a few short months
ago paraded on the Champs de Mars the motto Vox
poptdi cox Doi. M. Capefigue says: " The demo-
cratic government of Berne replies to the claims of
Prussia that the sovereignty of the people, ever com-
petent to pronounce upon the form of its government,
&chums against the suet:minty of the King of Prussia,
and therefore there is nothing more to be said about
it. This theory, borrowed from Rousseau's Control
social, may be very sustainable at Berne, Lausanne,
and Shaffhausen,but we doubt whether it will find an
echo at Vienna, Berlin, and St. Petersburg." He
warns Switzerland that, brave and patriotic as her
citizens may be, she can stand no chance against the
German armies which surround her on all sides. On
the Austro-Swies question, M. Capefigue does not
favour the world with any precise opinion, but he
declares generally with much energy in favour of a
peace policy, upon the ground that war, however
commenced, would enure to the benefit of the revo-
lutionary party in Europe. As, at the sound of the
last trump, the Scripture tells us the dead
will rise in the body as they were at the
hour of their death, so, says M. Capefigue,
the first clarion of war would rouse from
their shrouds, in flesh, bones, and blood—Po-
land, Hungary, and the Duchy of Milan. Therefore
he concludes "regular cabinets" have nothing to
gain by a war. A question not to be lost sight of is,
whether in case of war breaking out, the court of
the Tuileries would rank among regular cabinets ?
It is quite upon the cards, and many think the cor-
tingenoy not improbable, that if war were inevitable,
Louis Napoleon, to maintain his position, would be
driven to put himself at the head of the revolutionary
war party, and to go for universal suffrage all over
the world.

The dasemblle, continuing to advocate the cause of
Russia, suggests to-day that if that power should
declare war upon Turkey, it will be because the
attacks of the French and English press make it
impossible that she should draw back with a due
regard to her own honour and dignity. It then
throws down a defiance to Europe, and plainlyde-
clares that in spite of all the powers can do, the
Ottoman empire lies entirely at the mercy of Russia.
It mays:
II the struggle were to begin what would be the
consequences, and what could London, and, above all,
Pans promise to themselves. They might cross the Darda-
nelles, they might burn the Russian fleet in the Black
Sea. Granted. But when this exploit should be accomplished
would they hinder the Russians from entering Constanti-
nople ? The most sanguine will not dare to affirm that they
could. Russia thee would lose a fleet, but she would not
the less become mistress of the capital of the Turkish em-
pire, and then of necessity she must be treated with, for
no power would undertake to turn her out by force.

The Gazette du Languedoc published at Toulouse,
has received a warning for having, when speaking
of the encouragement given by the government to
associations formed to provide more comfortable
lodgings for the poorer classes, endeavoured to prove
that the government was becoming socialist.
The Mositessr announces the euecessful continua-
tion of the expedition against the Babyles, consisting
in burning several of their villages, and the loss of a
considerable number of lives on both sides.
The Bourse was very quiet to-day. Although the
Turkish question was regarded favourably, and par-
ticularly in reference to an article by M. de la Guer-
ronniere in yesterday's Pays, there was a general
disposition to wait for news before doing huffiness.
The article in question was considered an indication
that France was not disposed to go further than
England in the Eastern matter, and would not alone
maintain a quarrel which it determines to regard as
an European one. Prices were weak, and quotations
at the close were generally somewhat lower than on
Saturday.