The Express.
London, England, 1866-01-03 00:00:00

FRENCH PRESS ON THE PAST YEAR.

(Fres the France.)

The post year has been above all one c 4 appeasement and
panfisation. It has bees masked by no war—by so serious
International difficulty. In tics New World it has seta the
skits of the sanguisary struggle between North and South
in the Old, it has beheld Prude and Austria involved in
difficulties created by their own ambition, and the royal
power panning tranquilly in Belgium from the bawls of
Leopold I. to those of Leopold IL The Emperor Napo-
leon, in opening the Legislative session, announced
the end of the distant expeditions of Franco, and the
tommenoement of as era in which ekes country
might devote itself unreservedly to works of
peace. Those provisions are being realised with-
out meeting say serious obstacles. The ',notation of
Mexico by the French troops is continuing gradually as the
tociatry is becoming organised sad pacified. The withdrawal
of the army of occupation from Rome has commenced, and
the Papacy and Italy have mot in a negotiation which, if not
entirely successful, has at least shown by bow mach the
dilemmas which separates them is lessened. The most sig-
nificant international incident of the year, and that which
appears to us of the best sugurefor the pines of the world,
fa the courteous exchange of visite which took place in
the month of August between the French and
Ma4lish fleets in the ports of the Channel, sad
which gave fresh pledgee to the maintenance of cordial
ralatioas between the two countries. At home we have had
—betides a session more productive of eloquent speeches
than of laws definitively voted—the religious conflict pro-
voked by the interdiction of the Fiacyclical letter, and so
worthily appeased by the courageous intervention of the
Archbishop of Paris ; the accession of the Marquis de
Lavalstts to the Ministry of the Interior; the journey of
ths Emperor in Algeria, and the great measures which are
cossetted with it ; the regeney of the Empress, who has
revealed the qualities of the sovereign by the side of the
noble virtues of the mother and the. wife ; the speech de-
livered by Prince Napoleon at Ajaccio, and the letter
addressed -to the Prism by the Zimmer ; the renewal
of the municipal consols in all the communes of the
empire ; the workmen's strikes ; the political cos-
trovseiry arising oat of the Nancy manifesto
the inquiry respecting institutions of credit and
sammercial crises ; and lastly, the financial reforms an-
nounced in M. Pould's report. Peace, economy, and liberty
—those three word, sum up all the tendencies manifested
ha 1865, sad which are to be mot with in all incidents. The
municipal elections have given the mamma of the re-
awakening of tbs public mind ; they have more excited
public opinion than did formerly those for the legislature.
Bat that is not the only symptom that strikes the attention
of the moralist and the observer. The movement has
extended from politic to literature, philosophy. social
questions, and indeed to all the currents of human ideas. A
new sad powerful breath is visibly agitating the country.
That language which is resounding in every pulpit
those hearers who are flocking to Notre Dame as well
es to the Sorbonne ; the doctrines which are being
dimmed ; the emotions which are being produced even in
the theatres—what are they all but a salutary and in-
vincible protest against indifference, realism, unbelief, and
all those enervating doctrines which would stifle the soul in
tee sole absorption of material interests ? In the midst of
this sort of revival the imperial inatitatioce are becoming
stronger and more developed. The government and the
country have sustained, in 1865, some regrettable losses.
Three personages illustrious for different reasons, the Duke
de Moray, Marshal Marian, and M. Dispio, have succumbed
to the attacks of disuse or the weight of old age. But
man, however exalted they may be by position, talent, or
authority, are strong only through the principles and ideas
which they personify. All these eminent servants of the
empire roorooonted a cause which has survived them, and
which will sustain their successors,