The Express.
London, England, 1865-05-31 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MAY 31, 1865.

If.XPRRSB FROM PARII3. '

(now omt owst

PARIS. TauuT Ennui.

The &flatus Conan/Mtn, which excited curiosity
yesterday, turns out to have related only to a most
insignificant exchange of some state lands.

The news given by almost all the papers yester-
day and Sunday that Prince Napoleon had left
Paris for his property at Prangin, Switzerland, is
contradicted ; he and the Princess Matilde are at
their ordinary summer residence, the Chiltaan
Meudon, near Paris. It is rumoured that the
Empress refuses to receive Prince Napoleon's
resignation, alleging that she has no authority to
do so. Possibly it may be wished to give him an
opportunity to beg pardon.

Marsha B.eguault de Saint Jean d'Aogely is pro-
visionally appointed to the command of the army
of Paris, vacant by the death of Marshal Marian.
Marshal Megnan's death is attributed to acute
peritonitis, and was immediately preceded by the
bursting of an internal abscess. His four daugh-
ters and his son, Captain Maven, of the staff (who
arrived in Paris from Mexico only a few days since
with despatches from Marshal Bazaine), were with
him when he expired.
The French Freemasons are in a considerable
strait owing to Marshal Magnan's death. You will
remember that three or four years ago when the
craft chose Prince Napoleon for their Grand Master,
the Emperor, in order to put a stop to " anarchy
of opinions" in masonry as well as in other depart-
ments of the State, set aside the election, and
made Marshal Magma Grand Master by imperial
decree. The latter was not at the time so much as
an entered apprentice, but at the call of his sove-
reign he went through a rapid course of masonic in-
struction, and was raised to nobody knows how
many degrees (36, I believe) in one evening, at the
end of which he was certified to know as many secrets
as the highest mason possibly can, and was installed
into the chair of Grand Lodge with the usual formali-
ties. Being a jolly, social sort of man, he entered
heartily into masonic festivities, and made himself
more popular with the craft than might have been
expected under the circumstances. lie promised
to make interest with the Emperor to allow the
masons to elect their own chief, as heretofore, and
according to the moat cherished traditions of the
craft, and it is quite certain that the masonic body
was prepared to fulfil the implied condition of this
favour by freely choosing Marshal Maven at the
election fixed for June 5 next ensuing. Marshal
Magnan being dead, Prince Napoleon, whose appoiut-
meat as vice-president of the Privy Council was
understood as a patent of imperial confidence, ob-
literating all the objections entertained against him
on the former occasion, wanld doubtless have been
nominated. But bis recent disgrace renders this
choice out of the creation. Anarchy of opinions
is likely once more to prevail, and the masons fear
that they must once more be ruled by a nominee
of the Emperor.
It is nearly certain that the session of the Corps
Legislatif will be further extended to July 1. The
debate on the budget begins on Thursday. M.
Thiers will make an elaborate speech upon the
financial situation.
I may be doing a service to rose fanciers in-
clined for an excursion, by announcing that a
special exhibition of roses will be held at Chartres
on the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and sth of June. They will
have an opportunity of seeing the Chartres
Cathedral, perhaps the most interesting specimen
of mediaeval architecture in France, at the same
time.
M. Jules Simon is going to London next week
to deliver a lecture at the Royal Institution.
The story of the Prince de Leuehtenberg having
been run sway with by a French actress is amended.
The line of La Fontaine is applicable ; it was not
him, but his " brother," the young Duke Eugbne,
aged 18, who was guilty of the escapade. The elder
duke, aged 22, is said to be one of the most scrupu-
lously " correct " princes in Europe.
The Bourse has been dull, without much change.
Rente fell 711 centimes.

rs.syk %,&w 4

e.

TO TO TDITOII OF TSB WILIONI.
fira,—Though not unaware that, in the midst
of the stirring events which tow-a-days so rapidly
succeed one another, there can be little space to
spare in your bread paps far the matters of detail
that come beneath the hasty glance of a mere bird
of pewees, I still hope that some fine morning I
shall see myself in print. Not now for the first
time do I arrive in this silk immense, as Mora
sings in the Pre aux Clercs, though I cannot add,
" Qui m's rail tout mon bonhenr." My fires
visit dates so far back as twenty years
ago, and refers to the " corrupt and venal"
times of Louis Philippe. Since then I have
shouted, in their turn, at the top of my voice,
"Vive la Rdpublique ! Vive le Gouvernement Pro-
visoire ! Viva le Prinoe !" and now " Vivo l'Empe-
rear !" So that, like the famous old Vicar, I have
had my bray through many • changing some. It
is, therefore, with no unpractised eye that 1
down from my pride of place on the moving
and ever-shifting incidents that are now blending
together to constitute that extraordinary jumble
of blunders which men call contemporary history.
One result of this somewhat varied experi-
ence of the French character is unfortunate,
so far as it causes me to differ from an
opinion lately expressed by the Marquis
de Boissy, who insists that the only chance
of stability for the Empire lies in the re-
vival of monarchical institutions, while its
destruction is certain if it continue to
lean upon the broken reed of democracy.
The venerable Marquis appears to confound the dis-
tinctive attributes of King and Emperor. The
latter, as I take it, combines in his own person
both unperium and potato/. He is supreme and
irresponsible—except to the people at large—at
home and abroad, whether at the head of his armies
or presiding at the council board. All power, civil
and military, is vested in his hands. He not only
reigns, but rules. The executive functions of the
State are his province neither less nor more than the
legislative. He stands like Saul among the people,
but isolated in his elevation. The initiative, in all
things, rests with him :
Unde oil mkt. generatur Ipso,
Neo 'Opt quidquiun simile, set smandiun.
Indeed, no wooer does an Emperor begin to
surround himself with an independent, self-existent
aristocracy, with or without representative institu-
tions, than he resigns his characteristic attributes.
He is throwing up a breakwater
.against his own
waves, and will soon find to his coat that, however
much of polestar may remain to him, his imperium
has departed for ever. He is DO longer an /mperator,
he has dwindled down into a Rex, and a Rex without
that which constitutes the glory and fascination
of the regal form of government. His nobility is
not noble, is not even gentle, not enemata. His
aristocracy is a mushroom spawn of lucky soldiers,
bubble speculators, servile flatterers and bangers-on.
The sceptre, not the sword, has become the emblem
of his power. Henceforth he must be content to
wield the yard measure and the pound weight.
The sabre has fallen from his grasp—it is the
muzzle not the butt of the Minid that is directed
towards bim. He has forgotten the lesson of his
schoolboy days, that imperium can only be pre-
served by the maintenance of the arts and prin-
ciples through which it was originally ac-
quired. And if through strong self-asser-
tion he be able to maintain his personal su-
premacy for • while, it will yet be fortunate
for his fame if he die early, as one beloved of the
gods, or be driven from his seat by an overwhelm-
ing coalition of foreign foes. But to hope to found
a dynasty would be a vain delusion. He might
have built upon granite, but be chose the spark-
ling and deceptive sand, and the first flood that rises
will sweep away all traces of his slight, if impos-
ing, edifice. An empire governed through
monarchical institutions suited to the times in
which we live is simply a misnomer, just as the
resuscitation of a Louis Quatorze or of feudal
institutions would be an anachronism. Let
the dead past bury its dead It is not
through the resurrection of obsolete tradi-
tions that the regeneration of mankind will
ever be effected. An idle and purposeless industry
is that which labours to restore what Time's
effacing fingers have rubbed out for ever. In fact,
the suggestion proposed—or rather the proposition
suggested—by the eccentric Senator may be
likened to the folly of a man who should plant
an open heath with full-grown forest trees, forget-
ful or unconscious that it takes centuries to form
the very soil from which alone they could derive
suitable nourishment. That soil, indeed, did once
exist in France in the greatest perfection, and
nowhere did nobler or loftier trees rear their tall
heads towards the heavens. But vile creepers and
a pernicious undergrowth checked the free circula-
tion of wholesome air, and absorbed the vital
powers of the soil. And when the roots were
loosened and decay ha] set in, a mighty wind passed
over the land and levelled with the earth all that
rose above it. Out of this desolation sprang an
abundant crop of briars and thistles, not unredeemed
by many a flower of loveliest hue and rarest per-
fume. Over this, too, came a change, and by
degrees a rich and productive vegetation spread over
the broad surface—broken, indeed, here and there,
by patches of weeds and waste, but awaiting
only the slow, sure operation of time to be-
come a garden of Eden. The only defect,
if it were one, was the absence of forest
trees, though this was atoned for by the luxuriance
of the fruit trees. But an idealist has now taken
this in hand, and despises the orchards because
they do not sufficiently overshadow and choke the
land. Nothing but oaks, and elms, and cedars snit
his lordly tastes, and to make room for these he is
eager to destroy the humbler vegetation that sup-
plies food to man. The trees of the forest ars,
doublets, both useful and beautiful when they
grow spontaneously, and out of a genial soil, but is
it wise to transplant them where they will only
occupy space already turned to better account 1
This, however, is precisely the mistake long since
made by Louis Napoleon, and which he is urged to
aggravate and intensify by the Marquis de Boiasy.
But that old man, garrulous, if not wise or elo-
quent, has accidentally alighted upon the truth in
predicting the destruction of the Empire if sup-
ported by democratic institutions such as they are
understood by Napoleon 111. To talk of crowning
a democratic edifice with freedom of thought and
speech is as if one were to build an inverted pyra-
mid, taking for the apex what should constitute the
foundation. The present Empire, so far from
being based on the free will and love of the people,
is based upon brute force, and subsists through
the brute terror of the majority, and the
scarcely less brutal self-interest of a corrupt
minority. To expect that it will be perpetuated
or even that it can be long maintained on such
false principles, would be to ignore all past expe-
rience, to set at nought the teachings of foLmer ticu ea,
to deny the natural connection of cause And effect.
As little can a true Napoleouic Empire exist simul-
taneously with the institutions of a true democracy.
that alone is a true democracy where the people
govern themselves through a truly representative
and personal aristocracy—the aristocracy of worth
and individual character. But in France there is
no such thing as a representative institution of
any kind, except it be that Napoleon 111.
may be said to represent the Bourse and
the barracks. Neither is there any indi-
viduality in the French people. No man stands
out clear and distinct, acting according to the light
that is in him, and which be radiates armed.
Every man is merged in his neighbour. There is no
Lui—it is all On. But this, you will say, is only vauge
declamation. It is a canvas covered with daubs,
but presenting no distinct images. Well, sir, I
am quite ready to wheel my next flight closer to
the earth, and from a lower point of view to picture
the details that strike the eye of
A BIRD OF PASSAGE.

AMERICAN PARR! ORM —The Board of Trade have
received, from the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, •
copy of a notice lamed by the Provost Ilarattal-Geoenl of
the United States at Beaton. prohibiting travellers. by setter
of the President of the United States, from waterlog Wes
States from foreigo oonotries by sea. without passports,
and which is published in last night's °scent.

ensignell

(Fres the Daily Newe.)
Tun Hit for the improvement of Greenwich
Hospital has been read $ second time. But it is
to be hoped that, before passing through Commit-
tee, the Government will consent to admit into it
some alterations and additions. As the Bill at

present stands, a vast fabric capable of accommo-
dating 2,710 men will be occupied by only 600.
The first and most important question is, whether
this waste of room is necessary or even expedient.
The Royal Navy will scarcely be able to supply
600 infirm and helpless objects—and is there no
other class in the community from which an
additional 2,000 can be supplied t Mr.
Caimans tells us that there are 300,000
or 400,006 British sailors. fle might

have added that of this seafaring irpn-

lotion a large proportion are constantly laid up
with sickness more or leas severe, and are afflicted
with divers aorta of diseases. As we pointed ous •

very short time ago, the Dreadnought, which
is moored close under the walk of Greenwich Roa-

pits], and which was originally granted by She
Government, is constantly filled with some 200 or
300 sick seamen. Can it be necessary to point

out how the vacant apace in Greenwich Hospital
may be filled up T Is there any diffi-
culty in transferring the sick seamen
from their stuffy hammocks in the Dread-
nought to the l►rge and airy rooms on shore I
Mr. CHILDERS says that this cannot be. According
to the charter of Greenwich Hospital the merchant
seamen have no claim to be admitted into that
institution. The right of admission has always
been confined to those who have " been maimed
" or disabled in fight repelling the enemy ;" and
therefore the right of admission ought not to be
extended. But the question is whether some
change ought not to be made in the original foun-
dation, and whether the best change which can
be made is to admit the sick merchant
seamen to the Hospital. Nor, indeed, are
we disposed to admit that the merchant seamen
have no claims to the privilege. It is well known
that until 1834 the merchant seamen were com-
pelled to contribute 6d. a bead to the funds of the
Hospital. In 1834 that law was repealed, and a
grant of 20,0001. was made by the Treasury as a
compensation for the loss of the 6d. to the Hoe-
pital. But the reason upon which Sir James
GRAHAM obtained this grant was because at that
time the Hospital was full ; it contained 2,710
men, and in order to meet the expense of
maintaining these 2,710 men, 20,000 L, according
to the statement of Sir James Glitansm, was
needed. But under the new system the full com-
plement is to be only 1,400 men, of whom 600
are to be in-pensioners and 800 out-pensioners.
I , The cost of these 800 is reckoned at 151. a head,

which amounts to 12,0001., and this sum is to be
paid by Greeniiich Hospital- The difference,
however, between 2,710 and I,4oo—the old com-
plement and the new complement—is 1,310 men,
and therefore the resources of Greenwich Hospital
ought to be charged, not with 12,0001., but with
19,6501., the additional 1,310 at 15/. a men. In
short, the Treasury consented to pay the 20,0001.
upon the tacit understanding that the full comple-
ment of 2,710 could not otherwise be supported.
But now that the complement is reduced to 1,400
it seems to follow either that the 20,0001. should
be withdrawn, or that the Hospital should be made
to accommodate a larger number. It seems,
therefore, that so long as the funds of Greenwich
Hospital are supplemented by a grant from the
Consolidated Fund, the public are entitled
to insist that the Hospital shall be employed
in the manner beat fitted to promote the
public interests. Perhaps we may add, that
at the time when the law as to the sixpence was
repealed, the repeal was advocated on the ground
that the merchant-seamen had no interest in the
Hospital. But the Government maintained that
they had an interest. "It had been said," ex-
claimed Mr. P. TRourson, "merchant-seamen
" were not benefited ; but what quibbling was
" that, when after one day's service in the Navy
" they had a title to the Hospital." The same
right which the merchant-seamen had in 1834
they still possess. At all events, the public, by
the payment of the 20,0001., have a right to
insist upon utilising part of the Hospital.
Mr. CHILDERS professes to feel alarm lest it might
prove dangerous to admit the right of 300,000 or
400,000 merchant seamen "to be maintained in
" their old age at the public expense." Mr.
CHILDERS may lay aside his apprehensions. No-
body has yet made any such proposal. The propo-
sition really made is, that merchant-seamen in the
port of London who happen to be sick or disabled
by an accident shall be admitted into some part
of Greenwich Hospital, as they are now admitted
into the Dreadnought. If there are reason-
able objections to this apparently reason-
able proposal, by all means let them
be stated ; and for this purpose it is to
be hoped that some one will in Committee
move a clause to give effect to the proposal. It
is satisfactory to find that at present the privileges
of the Hospital are open not only to seamen who
have served in the Navy, but to the members of
the Royal Naval Reserve, who have belonged to
it ten years, or who hare served in the Navy three
years. If, indeed, there are any serious difficulties
in extending the right of admisaion into Greenwich
Hospital to all merchant-seamen a compromise
may easily be suggested. Let the privilege of en-
tering the Hospital in case of sickness be ex-
tended to all seamen as soon as they have
joined the Naval Reserve. After ten years the
members of the Naval Reserve might be entitled
to claim out-penaions ; but there seems no reseal
why the right of entering the Hospital should not
be conceded to them as soon u they are enrolled.
It is of the utmost importance that *is new insti-
tution for strengthening our Navy should receive
every encouragement. Nor can any more effec-
tual means of accomplishing this object be devised
than that of securing additional comfort and aid
to its members in case of sickness or disability.
It is needless to repeat what has been said b 6
fore as to the advantages to medical science of a
large hospital sopplied with patients from every
branch of the seafaring population. Perhaps
the fact that the Dreadnought is about to be
abandoned, and that a site for a new hospital has
been purchased at the very gates of the old Hos-
pital, may furnish an additional reason for the
change which we have been suggesting.
ight

RAILWAY BILLS BEFoEII PAILLAWENT.—In the
oommitkoo of the House of Commove yesterday several bills
were brought under consideration. In group 9, presided
ever by Mr. Rogers, the seas of the Gnat Northern and
Leeds. Bradford. and Halifax Amities Railway Aomagwoo-
Woo was finished, the decieion of the committee be=
nosed ; and the CYO of the promoters of the Great N
sod West Yorkshire was opened by Mr. Device ; Mr.
Merewetber opposed for the Lancashire bed Yorkshire, and
Mr. Venables for the Midland Railway. In group 10, the
Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire R.all way (Extension,
to.), wee pending. The following bills, being u
ponied :—Ognaore Valley and Ely Valley Exteosio:sl=4l4
Compthies, West Yorkshire Railway, Celeboolan Railway
(Cleland end Mid-Oalder Railway sod Breaohee), Oakelo.
skis Bsßwby (Oorsterphioe end Bennholm Junctions),
BOAT and rushy Railway, and Girran and Portpatnek
Imetioe Railway. Bevel other bine were also wrier
eoweideratioa.

.4.ae5•..16111.1