The Express.
London, England, 1858-03-04 00:00:00

FRANCE.

(ram ova OWN oomtzeroirozwr.)
PARIS, TUESDAY Evmuse.
The Minister of the Interior (General FApinaset)
has sent a circular to the prefects, recommending
them to exercise redoubled surveillance over
foreigners, to watch public-houses, and to arrest all
known members of secret societies, and keep them
au secret. There are rumours that the government
has received information of a projected general
rising. The provincial papers now speak of nume.
roue arrests every day. The number of political
arrests effected in Pans alone since Jan. 14 amounts
to upwards of 400. The secret of the accurate re.
port of the Orsini trial upon which the government
journals plume themselves so much is now out. I
learn from a certain source that the shorthand
writer's notes were copied out u the trial was going
on and sent to the Emperor, and he it was who or.
dared that they should be published textually.
The Swiss journal the Bled, the official organ of
the Federal government, makes the following strong
observation upon the new creations of French con•
sulatee in several Swim towns:--" Public opinion
looks upon these consuls as being in reality nothing
else than French spies. Will Switzerland allow
the French police to obtain a footing upon her
territory f "
It is said that the shell seized upon Pierri, and the
revolvers taken from the conspirators, will be depo.
sited in the Artillery Museum.
The Bourse has been very bad indeed. The rents
fell 2k. for cash and 60c. for account, closing at
69.5 and 69.20. Mobilier fell 25f. The railways
were more depressed than they have been for a long
while. Orleans fell 27.50 ; Northern, 12.50 ; East.
ern, 20; Lyons, 15; Southern, 10, and Western, 15,
Rumours of the instability of the Derby ministry
caused uneasiness, and the arrests going on in
Frame are beginning to be much talked about.
It was understood that the bullion in the Bank of
France now amounts to 305 millions, and that the
discount accommodation has fallen below 450

millions, a state of things indicating the most com-
plete commercial stagnation.
The P says, in its weekly commercial
review :

We have no decisive change to notice in the general sitar
don of commerce. Daring the early part of February they
was a hope that businem would resume its wonted activity.
but the movement lasted but • very short timeand
affairs have now relapsed into • state of await nal
venal stagnation. Purchases have been confined to
few aaeortmenta for the immediate wanta of consumers, but
anything like • complete laying In of stock has been ad-
journed by common consent. The export trade gives no
sign of life, and the advice from Germany and the United
States contain nothing to warrant the, expectation that our

manufacturers will re7eiveanyorders of importance from those
countries this spring; in consequence there is a dead calm in
all articks de Paris. The situation of the NOI4OIOWieS shape
is a little better, but the sales effected are chiefly in cheap
Rennes. Ahead all the Paris houses have bought fewer
spring stuffs than natal. Prudence is the order of the day
everywhere. With the exception of certain houses in the
north, more especially those at Aveanes, Roubaix, Lille, and
Taming, which are doing pretty well, the manufacturers of
times still feel the affects of the crisis. The sales
at Rouen and Mulhouse are more than one half
less than in preceding years, end the late rise in
ootton is a further obstacle to business. Lyons bus
for some time past alternated between animation and dead
m/m. Almost all the principal factories received orders
from Parts simultaneously a little while since, which induced
them to set up their machinery, but these orders have sot
been renewed, and a reaction has now set in. Raw silks ire
lower, bat the prima asked are still too high In regard to the
large stocks in hand. The holder* of raw materials mad
submit to much larger sacrifices before there can be any
decided improvement in businese. The same observation
applies to almost every species of merchandise. It will
have been observed, frem the customs returns, that the dodo§
in the enirepties had decreased a little since the end of No
comber, but they ars still much larger than they were ak
this time last year, and as all the foreign marble
are squally glutted, it will be • long time before Was
will be able to place their goods to their eatiatibeibe.
Raw cottons go off better than anything else, in oases=
of the news from Liverpool and the United States.
movement, far from leading to a resumption of Maims M
spun cottons, rather bee the effect of rendering the Weald.
of the manufacturers still more precarious. Corn is somewkst
firmer. The millers, who for some time past had not but
working touch, are now buying a little. but there are is "pea
teddies transactions either in eon or flour.

I am informed that a bill for throwing open the
bakers' trade is now under the consideration of the
Council of State.

The names of the officers of artillery killed in the
Crimea are, by order of the Emperor, to be engraved
on the bronze pieces of cannon which are to be oast
in the Imperial foundry in order to perpetuate the
memory of the celebrated siege. The name of the
Cour de Sebastopol has been given to one of the
inner courts of the Museum of the Artillery, in
which all the cannon and mortars taken during the
late war are arranged. Two enormous anchors,
which belonged to the Russian navy, ornament the
principal entrance.