The Express.
London, England, 1866-01-23 00:00:00

THE BPELOH Of THE =MOH NAPOLEON.

The moat important sentence in the Emperor's
speech, the Times considers to be those which deal with
the position of affairs in Mexico. The Emperor puts the
beet side uppermost, and some of his remarks must not be
too closely scanned, yet they are characterised by a spirit
of genuine friendship for the American Union—a spirit
which is shown as much by the reticence as by the words
that are uttered. The solution of the difficulty must now
oome from the United States. The offer to which the
French government may be considered committed, is
that the French troops shall be withdrawn upon
an assurance being given that the American government
will not impede the consolidation of the new empire, and
this is a settlement compatible with the dignity of both
nations. The people of Mexico are as much entitled to
fix the form of government under which they will consent
to live as the people of France and the United States, and
the only way of asoertainieg their wishes is to let them
determine their own wishes free from foreign influences.
It is verybrobablel that upon the withdrawal of the

French forces the Mexican empire would almost instep.
taneously collapse, but the possibility of such a catastrophe
°ugh** be an additional (inducement to the American
government to accept the} suggestions of the French Em-
peror.

8, The Daily News has never felt more acutely the want
of • glossary of the official language of imperialism as dis-
tinguished ;from lithe language of ordinary Frenchmen,
than in perusing the ample and sonorous phrasee which fall
once • year upon the ears of the French legislature.
Wanting this, our simple duty and desire must be to put
the best eonstruction we can upon the words of a sovereign
who refers to us in such cordial terms. Emphatically
counselling our susceptible friends beyond the Alps to
respect their own independence sufficiently to 'Wein
' from stretching or compressing the sense of words which
have no power to bind or to loose them, the Daily News
advises the Americans to acoept also the Emperor's
own account
u o nft thofe tha origin and approaching ter.
Mexican expedition, without, so
'to 'peak, looking into the imperial mouth ; forgetting
that the republic was asked to join him in destroying the
Mahan republio—at • time when it was fighting for its
own existence ; forgetting also • certain latter to Marshal
Forey defining the remoter objeetalot the expedition ; the
confidential interviews with an enterprising secessionist,
and the repeated proposals to England for the recognition
of the Ilsonthern confederacy. As to home affairs,
thezEmperor will not hear of English institu-
tions being imported into France, which must devote
itself chiefly to improving its material condition. It is by
the "gradual amelioration of public manners," which all
the world knows is a remarkable aspect of the second
empire, that the only durable changes are effected, and in
his peroration the Emperor points to • coming generation
of well-educated, hardworking, moral, and pious French-
men, who will have learnt to be the firm supports of a
society which guarantees their welfare and dignity. So
much for the next generation born and bred under the
empire. For the present the Emperor °occludes with the
"Rankest" of all his declarations—in favour of the exist.
own of a Supreme Being.

The Post accounts for the comparati►e placidity with
which the speech wan awaited, to the fact that people have
come to believe in the sincerity of the Emperor's desire for
peso., and to the knowledge of the French nation that
hie policy is altogether amenable to the force of public
opinion. As to the paragraphs about Mexico, some persons
may be inclined to regard the hopes which the Emperor
entertains of the likability of the new empire as rather
sanguine, bat if he makes them a justification for
withdrawing from further intervention in Mexico the
French nation will have no reason to be dissatisfied. What-
ever comment' adversaries may be inclined to make on the
failure of a portion of the foreign policy of the Emperor,
his domestic policy has been unassailable. There are in
France those who are opposed to the imperial rule, but
even they cannot deny to it the merit of unexampled
success.

The Herald points to the paragraphs about Mexico as
conclusively establishing its own repeated statement, that
the Emperor has no intention of immediately withdrawing
his troops, but that they are to stay in Mexico a considerable
time, not retiring until the Emperor Maximilian has com-
pletely established his authority, and the United States have
given satisfactory guarantees that they will not attack him.
The Emperor of the French knows very well that all Mr.
Seward'. protests an! remonstrance. were so much " bun-
combe." The enemies of the imperial system in France will
be equally disappointed, adds the Herald, by the other
portions of the @petrel.
The ddrertiter thinks the imperial speech, taken as a
whole, betrays a mind irritated with ithe present position
of matters, and ill at ease with regard to the future. As
neither the "edifice" nor his own heed has yet been
'crowned," we look on both incidents as equally impro-
bable at any future time.

With us the contents of a royal speech may be almost
detailed beforehand, but no one, the Telegraph remarks,
can tell what the Emperor Napoleon may say, and his
speeches therefore have an interest not commanded by the
utterances of Sovereigns more trammelled by tradition or
prescription. The new speech is eminently pacific. Per-
sons who believed that the Mexican difficulty would lead
to • war between France and America will Sad little con-
firmation of their hopes or fears, and as to the government
of France itself, it is impossible to dispute the justice of the
Emperor's boast with. regard to the practical benefits of
imperialism. Looking at the results it has produced, he may
not unnaturally boll that the system which has produced
them cannot be ill-adapted to the wants and exigencies
of the country.

The Sear can hardly bring itself to believe that the Em-
peror Napoleon is really ss confident in the future of his
Austrian protege across the Atlantic as his words and tone
would represent. In vulgar parlance, the Emperor ap.
pears determined to make the best of a bad business,
and the world has good reason to applaud the determina-
tion. On the whole the Emperor's speech, however open
here and there to criticism, is a gratifying manifestation
it promises peace, and there is every reason to believe in
the full sincerity of its promise.