The Express.
London, England, 1853-02-17 00:00:00

FRANCE.

PARIS. WIDNISDAT EVININO.
The Minister of War announces that the 20,000
men to be reduced from the army will be taken from
the corps stationed in Algeria and Italy.
An imperial decree dated yesterday, appears in this
morning's Moniteur, by which soaps manufactured
of palm oil, olive oil, tallow, or resin, are admitted
into France at a duty of eight francs per 100 kilo-
grammes, with a drawback to the fall amount on re-
exportation.
fhe Bourse to-day experienced again much varia-
tion in prices. The Itentes were only tardily deult
in at the commencement of business, but some pur-
chases having been made avowedly on government
account, brought up the quotation of Three per
Cents. from 79f. 90e., at which the market dosed last
evening, to 80f. 5.1 e. ' • though the anomaly was pre-
sented of this stock being 23e. higher for eseh than
for the account. The hour-and-a-Half per Cents.
also rose 25c., being last called 105 f. 85c. for the
account. Bank Stock closed at 2,805 f. Railway
shares generally improved slightly, excepting Rouen
and Havre, which declined 5f.; Lyons and Mediter-
ranean, and Caen and Cherbourg, each 7i francs
Ras, and Mon tereau and Troyes, 10 francs lower than
yesterday.
The letter of M. Bouhicr de l'Ecluse, which M.
Billault refused to read in the sitting of the Corps
Legislatit yesterday, caused a scene, of which the
official report can give no idea. M. Billault declared
that M. Bouhier de adage had resigned. The latter
protested that he had not with so much energy that
M. Billault threatened to empoigner him. Ultiinatrl v
the extraordinary course was taken of giving to M.
de rEcluse fifteen days to consider whether he
would take the oath or not.

At the sitting of the Senate yesterday M. Troplong,
the newly-appointed president, delivered an inaugu-
ration speech. It is an elegant composition, but al-
most wholly devoid of political interest. A despotic
government reduces all statesmen to the rank of
courtiers. Their beat speeches can only be ingenious
variations of one theme—their masters wisdom and
virtue. M. Troplong congratulates the Senate upon
the happy result of the establishment of the empire,
initiated by a seriatim consultum, upon the material
prosperity of the country, the restoration of the
principle of authority, and upon what he is pleased
to call the progress of society, which, he avers, keeps
pace with the progress of power. Ho thinks the loss
of a certain amount of liberty a political necessity of
the times, for he holds it to be impossible that any
combination other than the imperial monarchy could
confer upon the country more liberty than it now has,
and, at the same time, maintain order and security.
By habituating Freuch democracy to the principle of
authority which they have so long regarded with a
suspicious eye, he expects to attain material and
moral order, and gradually the development of in-
dustry, the well being of all classes, the regular and
moderate liberty of a good citizen, and above all
peace. For, he says, with an energy indicative of a
strong disposition to hold the Emperor to his peace-
able declarations, Europe will under=tand that the
Empire has not extinguished the revolutionary em-
bers in France, to light them up again abroad under
the lying name of military glory, with a view to wars
without season, justice, or utility. After a compli-
mentary allusion to the Emperor's marriage, which,
although not the result of a political combination,
will, he predicts, better serve the policy of the nation
than if it had been —he congratulates the Senate
upon the distinguished names that his Ma-
jesty has lately thought fit to add to their
numbers. Referring to the recent appointment of
the Superior Council of Agriculture, Commerce, and
Manufactures, he interprets the creation of that body
as a concession to the wish expressed by the Senate
when they conferred upon the Emperor the exclusive
power of making commercial treaties, and evidently
clings to the hope that the council will be a barrier
against the realisation of free trade projects. In con-
clusion, he alludes to his own unworthiness to fill a
post but yesterday occupied by the brother of
Napoleon 1., and, by way of apology for his being
nothing but a lawyer, without any political reputa-
tion, quotes the following passage from the political
testament of Cardinal Richelieu: "Although men
of excellence in the judicial department may not
possess a large grasp of mind, they may nevertheless
be useful to states."
The Princes Jerome Napoleon and Napoleon were
Teepsent whiie M. Troplong delivered his speech.
half-yearly general meeting of the Submarine
Dover and Calais Telegraph Company was held last
evening at the company's new offices, 83, Rue Rich-
lieu. 'the managers present were Sir James Carmi-
chael and MM. J. W. Brett, Francis Edwards, Camp-
bell, and Aime. Lord de Manley and the Hon. F.
Cadogan, the other two managers, were prevented
from attending the meeting. M. Aim( was called
to the chair. On the list of shareholders being called
over, about 30 answered to their names. It appeared
by the report of the management that the receipts of
the company from June 30th to Dec. 31st, 1852,
amounted to 115,804 fr., and the expenses to 48,0651 r.,
leaving a net profit to be divided of 67,738 fr. The
managers proposed to declare a dividend of 80c. per
share, being at the rate of about 6i per cent. The
amount of this dividend deducted from the net pro-
fits would leave 5,238 fr., which being added to
5,508 fr., the reserve retained from the last
half year, would make a reserved fund of
10,746 f. The report in congratulating the share
holders upon the state and prospects of the society,
directed their especial attention to the progressive
increase in the number of messages sent. In the
months of July, August, and September last the
number was 3,648, but in October, November, and
December the messages sent were 5,512. Since the
date of the last report the company had concluded a
convention with the European and American Tele-
graph Company for the transmission of despatches
between Dover and Calais, upon terms much more
favourable than those previously made with the
South Eastern Railway Company. This convention
only came into operation on November Ist, when the
European and American Company had terminated
its works and placed its wires in communication
with those of the submarine telegraph. Since that
time their receipts had increased in a very large pro-
portion. In the month of October the receipts
were 10,728 E ; in November they rose to 22,731 f. ;
and in December increased to 30,588 f. The managers
hoped to obtain equally satisfactory results from the
convention made with the royal chartered companies'
in England. There had been an unexpected delay
in the completion of the Belgian cable. It was now
however finished, and would be laid down between
Dover and Ostend on the earliest day when the wea-
ther might be favourable for the operation. The
management entertained sanguine expectations of
good results from the communication which would
thus be opened with Belgium, the North, Germany,
and the Baltic. The cable between Dover and Ca
leis was reported to be in a perfect state of preserva-
tion. The report concluded by stating that nego-
tiations were now on the eve of completion
with the 'French government for instanta-
neous communication between Paris and CornhilL

On the motion that the report be adopted, two or
three shareholders observed that the expenses were
' very large. The chairman explained that the night
telegraph now open between Dover and
Calais made the employment of several extra
clerks necessary, but he assured the meeting that the
company would be able to do double the present
amount of business without adding to the expenses.
It was also objected that, seeing that the daily re-
ceipts greatly exceeded the expenses, the reserved
fund was unnecessary, and might advantageously be
applied to increase the dividend. The chairman, after
conferring with the managers, announced it as their
opinion that as a matter of prudence it was essen-
tial to have a reserved fund in case of accidents, and
ultimately the report was adopted, and the dividend
of 80c. declared, with only three or four dissentient
voices.

PARIS. TCTIDAY EVININO.
A very unpopular symptom of reviving. prosperity
has just made its appearance--a general rise in house
rent. Nine-tenths of the inhabitants of Paris live in
apartments, which they hire unfurnished, and, gene-
rally speaking, without leases. Rents are univer-
sally paid quarterly, and the law allows either land-
lord or tenant to put an end to the tenancy by giving
six weeks' notice before any quarter-day. Now, in
the course of lad week, the concierges of the metro-
polis generally informed the respective tenants of the
houses under their caic that unless they would con-
sent to an augnieutatiun of honk 10 to 15 per cent.
the landlord would give them notice to quit at the
April quarter. Lilly intimation produced in most

instances en indignant refusal, and within the last
few days all domestic Paris has turned out to look
for lodgings. But the result of the search has only
proved how completely the landlords had taken
their measures. " Quells horrcur " is the ge- I
neral exclamation at the price asked for
houseroom, and rather than encounter the miseries of j
a removal to equally dear quarters, people resign i
themselves to the " imposition," as they call it, and
form plans of retrenchment to make both ends meet.l
I am told that the whole of the Passage Seamen is,
the property of an Arab, and that he has raised the
rents of the shops in that great thoroughfare to an
enormous extent. The tenants there are like Irish
farmers, who will consent to pay anything rather
than turn out. Many of them are socialists, and
console themselves with the belief, which they do
not hesitate to express, that the time is coming
when proprietors will not be paid at all. Without
going this length, comparatively moderate people do
not hesitate to denounce the landlords as infamous
conspirators, and reproach them with ingratitude
towards good teuants, who conscientiously paid their
rents in 1848, when they would not have dared
to distrain. In justice to the landlords, it must be
remembered that the general fall after the revolution
of February was at least equal to the present rise.
There is however a lurking feeling in Paris towards
house proprietors not to be explained by principles
of political economy. 'With regard to this particular
species of property, the right to do what they will with
their own is certainly nut universally admitted, and
should the bad times return, when it may be dan-
gerous for a creditor to enforce his rights, the land-
lords who now raise their rents will certainly be the
first to suffer.

At the Institute yesterday, Lord Brougham was I
about to commence his paper nu light, and had all
his algebraical and geometrical figures prepared on
the black board, when, learning that there was a
pressure of business, in consequence of the contested
election of a member ar.d a secret committee thereon,
he decided on adjourning the further reading of the
paper until his return to Paris. Lord Brougham
Mt Paris this morning for London.
M. Billet, the now famous author of the " Lettrea
Franques," has written a long, rambling, and ridicu-
lous letter to M. Amedee de Vuena, the writer of a
recent article in the Constittaionnel, condemning the
pamphlet. This insane letter has occasioned a reply
from M. Amedips de Cesena, in which ho ridicules
the idea of the continental powers allying themselves
to France against England, and asks whether it is
probable that, if the French were to go to London,'
or attempt to go there, Austria, Prussia, and Russia
would remain quit spectators of the fray. They
would, on the cuatrary, pays the Constitutionnel,
make common cause with England against France,
and there would be a general war iu Europe, the
issue of which no man can foresee. This is an im-
portant admission, coming from a journal which cer-
tainly would rot have gone so far without instruc-
tions from the government.