The Express.
London, England, 1861-11-16 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

THE FRENCH PRESS AND THE FINANCIAL
CHANGES.

(111011 OUR OWN

PARIS, FRIDAY EYEING.

The Paris journals contain several remarks of
interest upon the oonsiderable event proclaimed by
the Monitefir yesterday.
M. Fould's confessions inspire the Temps with
mingled feelings "at once melancholy and con-
, solatury :"
How often have similar views, when expressed by the
press, been contradicted and held up to odium as the per-
fidious suggestions of party ? [The Tempe might here
have alluded to the warning given only the other day to the
Revue des Deus Monde, for H. Forcade's financial article.]
And have not these very statements been more than once
the subject of communiques and warnings? Now they have
received the very highest sanction, and have become official
truths! Such an event is a lame tom never to despair of
anything lt G evident that the publications
in the Muniteur of to-day, however great their importance,
are but the starting point of a new situation. This position
will be controverted, no doubt, just an was the case with
the decree of Nov. 24, and people will be found to protest
that the reforms now announced are complete and final.
But the new situation must nevertheless produce its natural
consequences, and the most important of those, as it seems to
us, will be the re-establishment of ministerial responsi-
bility. A minister who comes into power with ideas of
his own, and gets them adopted, militia, considered as some.
thing more than a mere instrument of the imperial will.
The universal opinioe, moreover, is that the memorial
inserted in the Monileur does not contain the whole pro-
gramme of the new minister, and that he is intended to
have that preponderance in the council which all the beet
men under our various regimes have always thought he
ought to have.

The Tempi also note' the contrast between the
French Emperor's renunciation of prerogatives on
the ground that, being an elected monarch, he is
under no obligation to transmit them intact to his
posterity, and the King of Prussia's divine right
declarations at Konigsberg.
In the Opinion Nationak we read :

M. Fonld hopes that the Inauguration of a new system
will allay all uneasiness both in France and foreign
countries, and that it will be possible seriously to set to
work at financial reform, and bring our receipts and expen_
diture into a state of equilibrium. We trust that these
hopes may be speedily realised. Meanwhile the Corps
Legislatif has recovered some of its most indispensable
attributes. This is a progress which does honour to the
Emperor and his new minister.

Another article of the same journal, signed by
M. Gueronet, contains the following passages

Notwithstanding the political differences which have
hitherto separated us from H. Yould, we cannot but admit
that no statesman ever came to power in a more honourable
way than he now does. He is appointed to carry out
measures of his own suggestion. His name signifies economy.
He is the herald of order in fineries, just as ii. Persigny last
year announced a step towards liberty and a new affirms.
tion of the democratic principle. . . . We cannot but
see in the change a prelude to the partial or total resur-
rection of ministerial responsibility. This responsibility is
no doubt illusory in a great crisis, because revolutions will
always overlook ministers and hold sovereigns responsible.
Neverthelesi. it is a very convenient and useful doctrine,
because it enables the press and the representatives of the
people in parliament to blame the conduct of the govern-
ment without attacking the basis of its power ; it enables
the Emperor to make experiments with opposite systems
and opinions without compromising himself personally ; and
it odds to the consideration and authority of ministers.
Logic is bringing us to it, and the Alonitestr of yesterday
has made a great step in the right direction. . . . Let
us hope that the uew system will not break down in prat•
tics, for in such a case the failure would be in proportion to
the great hopes raised.
The Gazette de France expresses the opinion that
scarcely anything has been done beyond placing
the vote of the budget on a more legal footing ; as
to the remedy, properly so called, it cannot see •
trace of it. The observations of our contemporary
run thus :

The Treasury has exhausted all the funds at its disposal;
at the Bank, end in the establishments under the direction
of the state, it has made use of all its credit—bow is all
that to be balanced? The whole question lies there, and,
unfortunately, M. Fould gives ns only a vague answer. He
speaks in general terms of the charges imposed by any army
on a permanent war footing, and gives us to understand
that, if free to act, he would turn his attention to that point.
But that is all. The report, after pointing out and describ-
ing tbo evil, deem not indicate the remedy. It is evident
that the public is admitted only to a half-confidence, and
that Fould relies on resources of which be keeps the
secret to himself. Unfortunately, the most fertile imagina-
tion of the most intelligent financier can find only two
means of remedying such a state of things—borrowing or
imposing new taxes to meet new burdens. The Legislative
Ilsly will in vain see its power extended if it is only in the
sense of the faculty which will be given it of taking its part
of responsibility in sets of that nature, and its intervention
will, after all, have but very little influence on the crisis
itself. The mode of proceeding will be more legal, and
that is all.

The Berme Contemporaine, in the number just
out, while describing the imperial letter to M.
Fould as a " noble" continuation of the free trade
policy inaugurated in 1860, and the liberal reforms
of November last year, says, with a slight vein of
irony:

This reform is too important—more especially in regard
to the consequences which it foreshadows, viz., a normal

increase of the budget, and a hoary loan before long—for us
to criticise it fully on the spar of the moment. We shall
return to the subject. In the meantime, the public will
duly with profit the excellent memorial of the new finance
minister, in which the dangers of going too fast in matters
of finance are sot forth with a candour much too rare in
official documents not to make a great sensation through-
out Europe.

The Patric thinks that not the finance depart-
ment only, but the general policy of the govern-
ment, will be modified in the spirit of the new views
so clearly expressed in M. Fonld's programme.

At the Bourse there were considerable fluctua-
tions. The Rene, after rising to 69fr. 90c.,
declined to 69fr. 60c., and closed at 69fr. 50c. for
cash, and 69fr. 65c. for account, with a rise from
yesterday of but 10c. and 50. Mobilier left off
without change, and the Italian Loan fell 10c.
Railways were on the whole lower : Orleans fell
10c., and Lyons 3fr. 75c.
I hear that Count Widewski, aided possibly byll
his countess, has for the present gained a victory over
M. Fould in the matter of precedence and control
over the Mouiteur. There can be no doubt, how-
ever, that M. Fould's star is in the ascendant. It
is important to remark that his memorial is dated
so far back as Sept. 29, and the changes which
startled certain parties like a thunder clap were
no doubt settled in the Emperor's mind long ago.
Queen Christina has just bought the house
No. 78, Champs Elye‘es, in which Mme. Caumont-
Woree was murdered by her groom some years
ago, as also the one next door, No. 80. Her inten-
tion is to pull the two houses down, and build •
large mansion on the site for ber own residence.
The freemasons are still harassed by the govern-
ment. M. Doumet, the provisional grand master
recently appointed, has thought fit to resign. There
are doubts whether the election, which stands ad-
journed till May, will be allowed to come off with
masonic legality ; and fears are entertained that a
pretext will be found for placing the craft entirely
in the hands of power.
The price of bread for the second fortnight of
the present month is fixed at 47c. the two-pound
loaf first quality, being a diminution of lc., and
40c. second quality, unvaried.