The Express.
London, England, 1858-03-15 00:00:00

THE PRESENT STATE OP THE FRENCH
EMPIRE.

(From the Times.)

We are told that the Ministry of Police is to be
reorganised, and that its chief will be placed in the first rank
of ministers. He should, indeed, take precedence of them
all, for everything menu likely to be brought within the
sphere of his control. The gay city of Paris, the home 1
of social intercourse, of lively conversation and free opinions,
hardly knows itaelf. The outward aspect of the place is the
same; there are the same boulevards, the same tountains
flashing in the sun, the same roils frequented by the
same loungers, and in private life the same draw-
ing-rooms and hangings, and toilets. But over
everything there are gloom and uneasiness. People
are talking timidl, and with unusual du:ness, on eo.
usually common-place topics. Families are hesitating
whom they shall visit and whom they shall be visited by.
Men consider whether they ought to be seen walking with
a friend whom they have known for years. Two persons i
will be speaking together, and on seeing a third about to
Tin them will suddenly pause and turn the conversation.
here will be in the midst of a social concourse a man who
checks the mirth and pots a guard on eve toue.
People will talk with him, shake hands ry
with him,
but they will be careful of what they say before
him. Individuals are careful what hooka they have in
their libraries, what papers they have in their writing
desks. They do not talk affably with their inferiors,
es light-hearted Frenchmen in the old times did. The
ensemrge, the waiter at the cafe. even the private servants,
are kept at • distance. Ina railwayearriage it is am well not
to be too communicative with a neighbour. In a letter it
is as well to confine yourself to your own private business
and good wishes fur your correspondent's health. For
Paris and France are under strict surveillance, and no one
knows who are the watchers and who the watched. The
empire is espieenege. Its incarnation is a mormAard. It is
not only that recognised agents of police are in every street
and every public plate, that the comings and goings
of well-kno en democrats are watched, that the as-
semblies of communime are hunted out, but men of
every rank, every phase of character, every shade of
political opinions, are at the mercy of an Immense army of
spies, who penetrate everywhere, who follow the individual
into the confidence even of his family and his private life,
and who have spread distrust end apprehension throughout
the country. It has, indeed, long been the misfortune of
France that the security of private relations has been
weakened by the means used by government to obtain intel-
ligence, and this fact has doubtless had no little effect on
society and domestic life; but it would mem that now the
evil has assumed fearful proportions. We hear of profeesional
, spies of every apparent rank in life, from the well-dressed
gentleman to the workman in his blouse; we hear of
kettles, paid for information concerning those with whom
they seenciate; we hear of hotels and restaurants
being frequented by persons whose duty it is to hat= to
the conversation of suspicious visitors, and to endeavour to
draw them into an expression of opinion. But the worst
feature of all is the encouragement of domestic treachery by
the corruption of private servants. No one can be more
that the man who brushes his coat or the woman who
attends on his children, is not In correspondence with the
police. We are not repeating any plemottehe gossip ; we
are stating facts proved beyond • doubt, and commenting on
practices which &repot even denied. Domestic servants of
every degree are encouraged to report what parses in the
houses where they are employed—who comes, who
goes, what is maid, what is proposed to be done. ANA
from the moral degradation which a government receives
by a resort to such practices, it is evident that the informa-
tion moat be moat untrustworthy. The sort of half-know-
ledge which servants have of their master's proceedings will
naturally cause them to distort all they Pee and hear. The
most innocent conversation will be misinterpreted ; any an-
' Mon which the spy does not =denten,/ will oe construed
into treason; a letter from England or a grip into Bettis,-
land will be at once a correspondence with refugees, and die-
! affection will be found in • shrug of the shoulders or a raising
!of the eyebrow. How much will this tendency to exaggers-
non be increased when the servant knows that the value of
his report, and the reward he receives, rise in proportion to
! the incrimination of his victims!
. _

Such a system as this, added to the new law of public se-
curity and the appointment of General Espinasse, has natu-
rally thrown over the capital a gloom which seems not likely
to be dissipated. The baneful consequence*, even in a ma-
terial point of view, are to be found in the sudden depres-
sion of business and the general anxiety of 'he mercantile
world. The whole policy of the French government of late
is indeed much to be regretted. No one who has watched
the career of the Emperor and has seen his oportnnities
can help regretting that he should have allowed _those who
surround him to entangle him in such a net. Helms involved
himself in a system which no man can hope to control,
and which must every day become more unmanageable. He
is striving to take the whole of France into custody. To
have every man of wealth, or position, or political note in
the empire, every theorist, or fanatic, or vainglorious demo-
unt, or rookie= desperado under his eye, is the purpose of
the present ruler. That he must be unsuccessful we know
beforebind, and the question is whether the only evil will be
the failure of his object. Our own opinion must he, that
such a machinery till tend to create the spirit it seeks to re-
press. Sedition will be generated by the intolerable omni-
presence of the police. Every advance of the new power
will necessitate a still further extension, until a crisis arrives,
on which it would be premature to speculate.

CIVIL SERVANTS' SUBSCRIPTION.—We learn with
plates» that several of the most active and able of the civil
servaan of the Crown have this week set on foot a subscrip-
tion for the purpose of presenting Mr. Bromley with some
psrensammt memorial of the sense they entertain dills cadent
savior in obtaining the repeal of the Superannuatiort Act.
We have seen the circular inviting subscriptions, and find
attached to it the names of men connected with all the prin-
cipal public offices. The nature of the testimor.Sal will ba
determined hereafter by the subscribers. Who) is being
dons le doss with Mr. Bromley's entire approbeimo, sad the
money subscribed a few months slam for a somewhat indefi-
nite purpose—but still in honour to Mr. Broneury—has been
transfused from ths headed Messrs. Ocamanner to tbs sow.'
of the . Beoulley Testimonial," at Measn. Cr.sitti, where it
stands in the mass of Mr. Peter Curoringhs m, of the Audit-
oar; of Mr. Lang, of the Surveyor ci %bed Navy's Deput.
mint ; and of Mr. Walker, of the AO miralty, Somerset-
house. Among the earliest subscribers me observe thermoses
of Sir James Emerson Tannest. of S'a Board of Trade • of
Sir Baldwin Walks; of Mr. Hamil, the solicitor to the
Customs; of Mr. Follett Synge, c't the Foreign•nflioe ; of
Mr. IFilby, of the H O. ; ci. Mr. Gifford, of the Ad-
a irsk y, Whitehall ; of Mr. Alecteader Marshall, of the Olfloe
of Works ; of Mr. nitric of the Peg-office; of Mr. Llewelyn,
of the Audit-dike; of Mr. H. 1.. Walker, of the Inland
Revenue; of Mr. Yates, Om Pad-offs; of Mr. Behan,
of the London ()auto. Ms esAbseription, though ea Yet only
in lie infancy,arautlY mese% 1001.—ani Sevin Gaulle.
APOTHECARIES' HALL.—The following gentlemen
passed their Imatuthatiou 'a the wiener and peaotts of medi-
cine, and received earr,gastes to prse, on Thursday,
March IL—Edward Wynn* Thomas, Orweekl : Huth
Bold W i7nuter, Hanstagton ; David Heat Jams, Bessusorn i
Charles ; Rated JlOl4ll Ragas, Brighton; lldwant
Lynes, Coventry.
The Hamviltire Advertiser states that Southamp-
ton had been chosen as • 101 l ovate* for the examinations by
the Univetsity of Oxford for the degree of Associate of At*
sad the. the Ard szsialnation wiII be held there OR the nig
of JOrde aut.