The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-18 00:00:00

PRINCRVVR.

TIIIe Evinirma, 111.1.1eATE (litlit'Nl) Messrs. Fining and
J. (l. shore; Vies Estilterine Rodger.—And THE sTmErrs
oN. V. Villiers, Shore. l'alhaern, Forrester. EWA-
cal t, Mrs. 11. Manton and Miss /lodgers.

.L1L71,111.

THI9 Evixtwo, TUE TWo roLl's Mr. Widdlcomh
ROUGE Er Mrsara. Fevhter. Emery, Cowper, Moreland,
Fitzpatrick. 11.10 m, iteyoul•lm, Loinui, Auktrews, (Tice, &c. ;
lira. L. Murray, and Misrro ileurada, Grattun, and C. Let:ten:4.

STRAND.

TIII4 EVIL4111(0, N EP:11 80 I —After which will be pmduced
• Orantl turlociur, GUY F.XlvKE•4.—Aud A BUTT OF
TWEELri.

fl()LBORN.

Tniv t'rrsisio, MV EXT. Mr. Felmore Misses
Foote and Lennov—And FLYING SCUD. Messrs. Neville, Del-
more, !slake, VoHaire, ; Mesdames F. Josephs, C. Saunders,
Bessie Foote, liddes, Lennox, Raymond, 4x.

BRITANNIA.

Tel? EvEmsn, THE. PItINI•Es;67E THE PEARL ISLAND;
OR. THE EIIREF: KINGDONIs OF PEARL, iloL1). AND
SILVER. )Ir4 Luie mid Nip Jacubs.—First-rute l'uututubuists.
—Aud THE sKELECoN cktEW.

HIGH WATKR AT LONDON BRIDGE.
TII9 DAT —Morning. Oh. out Afternoon. Oh. 124
TiinNlOßßOM—Morning. bR dam Afternoon. lb. Ilts.

LONDON, FBI DAY, JANUARY 18.

DEATH has been busy among the Immortals of
the French Academy. Before the arm-chair of
the Baron DE BARANTE has received his successor,
that of V ie-ron COUSIN has become vacant, and
two elections impend. The double choice which
the Academy has to make will probably relieve it
from the embarrassments which, in the divided
state of parties, would have hung over a solitary
nomination. The Count DE FALLOUX and the
Bishop of ORLEANS may be inclined to compound
for the election of the Kre HYACINTHE by assenting
to that of M. Juees FAYRE. There is certainly
no reason why the eloquence of the pulpit should
not be represented as well asthat of the tribune and
the bar in what Mr. MATTHEW ARNOLD calls
the high court of letters in France. The original
statutes founding the Academy describe its prin-
cipal function to be that of " working with all the
" care and diligence possible, at giving sure rules
" to our tongue, rendering it pure, eloquent, and
" capable of treating the arta and sciences."
Spoken as well as written language has always
been held included within the scope of the
Academy. It has recognised by its elections the
claims of oratory as parallel with those of-letters ;
and in doing so it has been faithful to the terms
of its foundation. The most consummate literary
style, though it refines upon the speech of the
vulgar, can never depart far from it without be-
coming pedantic, and betraying the national genius.
The best eloquence of the pulpit, the bar,
and the parliamentary tribune, mediates
anu forms the connecting link between
the language of society and that of books, and,
therefore, fairly comes within the recognition of a
society whose function is to watch over the purity
and to develop the resources of the French tongue.
It is the familiar effect of a despotism, by
denying to political opposition its legitimate
place, to create a political opposition everywhere,
in salmis, at the bar, and in learned societies. The
complaint of an abuse of neutrality deserves no sym-
pathy when it comes from those who trample down
open antagonism. But the evil is real. The necessity
of indirect resistance to overwhelming power has
given a party character to the elections of the
French Academy, which involves, if not a positive
disregard, yet an evasive interpretation of the
trust committed to it. It has become the strong-
hold of Orleanist and Ultramontane opposition to
the Empire and to democracy, and to the philo-
sophy which, in spite of VICTOR COUSIN'S vind:-
cation of the principles of 1789, is credited with
the authorship of the Revolution. M. Limes,
whose great Dictionary promises, if it be com-
pleted, to do more for the specific object which
the Academy exists to promote than any of his
contemporaries has accomplished, finds himself
wider ban as a positivist. M. PREVOST-PARADOL,
whose intellectual title is indisputable, found him-
self an -Academician at an ago early beyond pre-
cedent,
" Sure of the Fortieth spare arm-chair
Ere gout and glory placed him there,"

not solely because of his brilliant qualities, but
as the most relentless of the opponents of the
Empire, wielding a pen sharper than a two-
edged sword, and seeing in history, philosophy,
and literature little else than a testimony against
Bonapartism. If M. JVLES FavitE should, as
seems probable, be elected to the vacant chair of
in: BARANTE, it will be because in the anta-
gonist of the PRINCE PRESIDENT, in the opposition
Deputy, and in the advocate of ORSINI, the
heresies of the Republican are pardoned. If
Messieurs Guizor and TRIERS could put their
hands upon a presentable Orleanist, the merits of
M..frl.r:, FAVRE would probably stand him in no
better stead than those of M. LITTRE.
The death of M. DE BARANTE towards the close
of last year has left M. Guizor the sole survivor,
not only in the Academy, but in France, of the
half-dozen distinguished men who were the
founders, and for a time the only members, of the
do,frinair, scho.4. The post (mgi& as it was
called from the joke of the Count DE BEunNor,
who said that he had attended a meeting of the
party, and found it assembled in full force upon a
single sofa, is now a purti du fuuteud, and sits in
a single arm-chair. Later adherents, such as M.
CHARLES I.E itrlIrSAT, remain, and M. PREVOST-
PARAI.or, may perhaps he reckoned among them,
as a brilliant anachronism, a (hp-trinaite born out