The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-18 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 18, 1851.

FRANCE.

PARIS, MONDAY EVENING.,

To-day the representatives met in the bureaux to
examine the great municipal law. The legitimists
are split on the question of complete decentnilization,
which is only advocated by the ultras. Berrver'a
party will not go the length of Larochejacquelin's
partisans, and is not indisposed to accord to the go-
vernment a certain weight in the nomination of
mayors. The divergence of opinions on muniripal
institutions, which prevails among the various parties,
is likely to cause the failure of the bill. There will
be a coalition between the Left and the extreme
Right in favour of electoral extension and communal
independence in the choice of mayors, hut not suffi-
ciently strong to put the government in a minority,
as last year, on the report of M. Laboulie. 'There is'
a strong majority against all amendments which
tend to stretch the attributions of the commercial and
departmental councils, in order to combat the prepon-
derant influence of Paris.
Narvnez has taken up his quarters at the Hotel
Bristol, Place Vendome.
The ..Iforosfrar, in detailing the interview of the
President with a deputation headed by the Mayor of
Arles, for clearing the mouths of the Rhone, adds
that Louis Napoleon treated the question with the
practical knowledge of a man who had published in
London a pamphlet on the various canal schemes for
cutting through the isthmus of Panama. This work
' of the President has been recently translated into
French, and published in the Berne Britminnine,
whose editor, M. Amedee Pichot, was, by the way, i
one of the members of the deputation. The Mundeur
mentions another scheme, patronised by the Presi-
den, for encouraging private institutions for breeding
the silk-worm with greater rare.
The organs of the Assembly are furious at the dis-
missals' of Gen. Jollier' from the command of a brigade
of the army of Paris. The brigade of Gen. Jullien
' was silent on the day of Satory; and the general is
known to be a devoted adherent of the sovereign
Assembly. The President of the Republic has,
therefore, seen fit to replace him by General Her-
Won, an officer on whose attachment he can
count. It is stated in the Mondeur that General
Jullien is placed en rlispolibilile at his own request.
This policy of the President in regard to the
changes lately made in the organisation of the army
has been to break up great commands, to put per-
-1 anal adherents at the heads of the parcelled divi-
sions, thus rendered more independent, and brought
into immediate relations with the ministry of war.
Thus the army becomes, perhaps, less efficient against
an entente, but it becomes at the same time a less apt
instrument for the designs of a Monk. The 'liners
and Changarnier cabal, therefore, watch all such
changes w ith the bitter chagrin of men who behold
their labours marred and their plans baffled.
'fhe Patric contains a list of twenty-one thorough-
bred horses, belonging to the President, which are
to be sold at the stables of the presidency on the 2fith.
Fifteen are English.
' In consequence of the prohibition of the French
government, the legation of the Oriental Republic
has announced that all enrolments for the formation
of a military colony at Monte Video have marred, but
that those who have sustained loss by contracting
engagements will receive indemnities. Of course,
this compensation is imposed by the French govern-
ment, which, however, leaves to the Oriental em-
bassy the apparent credit of having volunteered the
indemnity.
'The .Issemb/ep ..Vationale having announced, with
that singular recklessness of assertion which charac-
terises this journal of the coalition, that Count Mule
had withdrawn from the club of the Rue des Pyra-
mides, the count has written a letter to say that he
never belonged to it.
M. Girardin occupies the first page of the Presse
with an address to the people of England and to the
Eigovernments of Europe, for the abolition of distress
raising wages. Ile tells the people of England
t at they must make use of their right of assembling,
which they alone of all European peoples enjoy, in
order to agitate for the abolition of poor-rates, which
he maintains arc an anachronism now that the corn
Lacs have ceased to exist, and for the elevation of
wages, which ought to be proportioned to the price
of the necessaries of life. Ile closes by confiding. to
Mr. Cobden the care and the honour of translating
this appeal.
The Prow infers, from the extraordinary quantity,
of French articles of manufacture ordered latterly for
English houses, that the fraud of introducing French
manufactures under English names into the Great
Exhibition will he extensively practised.
The funds to-day lost the ground which they had
recovered on Saturday. The Fives closed at 1.16.30,
a fall of 25c. upon Saturday.
It is certain that the most vigorous remonstrances
are being made by the government of the President
against the entrance of Austria with all her states
into the Germanic Confederation. Nothing is talked
of in the diplomatic world, hut protocols, ultimatums,
and rains bell with regard to this question. Exten-
sive changes are contemplated in the diplomatic
carps. The tone of the Elysee is warlike; that of
the organs of the Assembly vehemently opposed to
all demonstrations of energy on the part of the
executive. 1
The warlike preparations of Austria in the north
of Italy have induced the French government to send
by the last steamers from Toulon considerable rein-
Creements to the army of Rome, so as to put the ex-
pedition once more on a war footing.
The Union says of the famous loan of Mazzini :
"It is at Genoa that his success has been greatest.
Piedmont has given him 627,000 fr.• the Roman
States, 536,722 fr.; the Two Sicilies, 214,314 fr.:
Lombardy, 516,30 fr.; the other petty States,
294,511 fr. The investigation into the Lyons plot
bas led to the traces of a vast conspiracy, which pre-
pared a revolution at Naples and -Rome. This dis-
covery has led to some arrests at these two places."
When Mr. and Mrs. Heald took up their resident*
some months ago in the Cite Itcaujon, they com-
missioned M. Jacquand to paint their portraits on the
same canvas, and it was determined that Mr. Heald
should be represented at full length, in his uniform
as an officer of the guards, offering to his bride, seated
on a sofa, a present of jewellery. Just as the paint-
ing was terminated, M. Jacquand, learning that Mr.
Heald had left for England, brought an action
against him before the civil tribunal for the price of
the picture. Mr. Heald objected to the price
(10.000 E) as excessive, and the tribunal directed M.
Ingres to examine the painting, and to say what it
really was worth. M. Ingres reported that 10,000 fr.
was a fair price. On Saturday the matter came
before the tribunal for a final decision. M. Jacquand
still demanded 10,000fr.,_• but the tribunal, after
hearing M. Blancher, fixed the price at 8,000 f., and
condemned Mr. Heald to pay that sum. The costs
were ordered to be divided between the parties.

thank the inexpertness of the Prussian diplomacy, and
the absence of honesty and character in the pre-
sent policy of Prussia, for the result that l'russia
assisted the giving up of German fortifications to
the Danes; though she had at first resisted, that she assisted
in carrying out the stipulations of the London protocol, I
against which she had protested ; and that she was herself
the bridge across which the Austrians marched to lay the
foundation of a paramount influence in the north of Ger-
many. He knew that it was of no use attempting to carry
the question. The government had a subservient majority
' at its elbow, ready to vote as it pleased; hot the constitu-
tional party 'till deemed it to be their duty to raise their
voices against a course of proceedings which must end in
the undermining of the last remnants of credit and respect
for the government. These are a few of the more salient
' passages in the speech of the noble baron, which is but ill
reported in the evening papers.
Baron Manteuffel replied, in his usual abrupt and ill-
tempered manner. It was easy, he said, to give every
question a hateful character if this party desirous of doing
PO were possessed of the necessary powers of speech. The
president of the ministry took advantage of the expres-
sion used by Baron Arnim respecting the short-sightedness
and inexpertness of the Pruasion diplomacy, to taunt him with
having been the originator of the contest in Sehlesn ig
Holstein, and with having caused loss and suffering to the
Baltic provinces, from which they had not yet recovered.
Baron Munteuffel then made a very lame attempt to be ha-
moumus, which failed entirely, and concluded by assuring the
house that the government had united with Austria to pre-
serve peace and order and the rights of Germany, and were
determined to do so.
The remainder of the debate is so imperfectly reported
that I must reserve it until to-morrow. It concluded (as
you know) with a division, by which the reecommendatitm
of the committee to proceed to the order of the day, was
carried by a majority of 73 to 11.
Manteuffel leaves for Dresden to-morrow, accompanied by
the baroness and his brother. Prince Sehwarsenberg will
arrive at Dresden in the course of the day. I understand
that the latter statesman has not yet resolved entirely on
giving up his plan for the eleven votes in the Engere
Rath, and that the chief purpose of his meeting with
Manteuffel on the present occasion is to induce him to
consent to piossad with the reconstruction of the Con-
. federation without the minor states. l'he opposition
, of these assumes greater intensity as time passes, for
though directly they have received no assurances of sup-
port from Prussia, indirectly their protests have been
encouraged, and I have heard it asserted that the Prussian
plenipotentiary himself has been actively engaged, under '
the rose, in Isis inclividu capacity, I suppose, in
, investigating them. Schwarzenberg now wishes to
proceed without them, and leaving them to them-
selves, to shew them how weak and absurd all their
1 efforts must be, if Austria and Prussia are unites'. They
certainly will look very ridiculous if the confederation
Ise reconstructed, and its legislative and executive organs
. reinstalled without their assistance,. but lam not so certain
that it is pouible. Nor is it to be relied on that the four
kingdoms will unhesitatingly consent to such a proceeding.
At all events, the degree of strength and cordiality of
union between Austria and Prussia will now be put to a
, mure decisive test.