The Express.
London, England, 1850-06-17 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 17, 1850.

PARIS, tairtranie
I learn hens a good source the fellowing per
dealers se to the pressed stage of the nagetiaboee en
the Greek question. There were three points to be
settled : the affair of the Phantom, the indemnity doe
to Paeilloo for h'■ Portuguese bonds, and the shims
which the Greeks might bring forward for weals
ee!sed by Admiral Parker. The first twopoints have
bent settled. The French government armee to re-
gard as an accomplishing fact the apology for the in-
sult offered to the British seamen penned by M.
Inndos to Mr. Wyse. Oa the second point
England consents to let the convention of London
role. The only question upon which any
difference still exists is that of indemnities to
the Greeks for the leisure of their vessels. The
English government demands from the French a
guarantee against all repetitions of claims on this
bead. This guarantee the government of France has
not thought fit hitherto to concede.

The election of Girardio, who has been the lut to
enter the Assembly through the door of universal
suffrage, now nailed up; the acquittal of M. Proud-1
hon by the jury, which had already acquitted
the Nat:onai and the Erenement ; and the journey'
et M. Thiers and other °demists to the bedside
of the sick and contrite king at St. Leonard's have
formed the substance of political chat during the last
day. M. de Broglie was at the Assembly yesterday ;
but it was understood that he would start to-night for
England, with the view of reconciling in the pre-
sence of Louis Philippe the two rival ministers,
whose antipathies, intrigues, and obstinacy, contri-
buted mainly to shake and subvert his throne. The
friends of the Elyse, dissemble the distrust and jea-
lousy with which they regard tide rush of illustrious
pilgrims across the channel, at a moment when half
a dusen newspapers daily canvass, and half a down
theatres nightly represent, the subject of the restore-
ties. It is observed that M. Mole, as it to escape
umbrage of the powers that be, abstains from all share
in the act of homage. But Duckitel, de Delmatie,
Dumont, and others, are on the wing to England.
The definitive result of the election of the Lower
Rhine is as follows :—Clitardin, 37,366 votes; Muller,
29.539 ; Liechtenberger, 13,057.
It is stated that MM. Caplan& and Petraglie, tried
by a French court-martial, and detained at Rome in
the prison of Sin Michele, under the French safe-
guard, have been delivered up to the pontifical autho-
rities.

It is said that important changes are on the eve
of taking place in Russian diplomacy. The retire-
ment of M. de Nesselrode from the ministry of foreign
affsirs, to mike way for Prince Walewski, is rn-
mound. At the same time M. de Nledem, ambassa-
dor at Vienna, would be replaced by M. de Meyndorff,
amhassedor at Berlin ; while only • simple charye
d'affaires would remain at Berlin.
A cabinet council was held yesterday at the
Elysee, and presided over by Louis Napoleon. Two
projects of law are said to have been discussed, one
upon printing and the other upon the reform of the
law on juries, in a restrictive sense.
The Minister of War has just distributed to the
Assembly the general account of the stores of the war
department for 1848. The whole value of the articles
is estimated at 449,969,831 f., or 9 millions more than
the preceding year. France possessed, on Dec. 31,
1848, 22 millions of provisions, 33 millions of clothing,
3,640,000 f. of military equipages, and 11 millions of
military bed,. The number of horses was 69,000, of
which 20,000 were for the artillery, in all, valued at
46,838,150 f. The value of the artillery wan
287,278.802 f., there being 8.089 nieces of cannon for
siege purposes, of which 3,124 were of iron, 3,7.59
field pieces, 2,253 morters, 1,703 siege howitzers, and
2,734 field howitzers. The matters connected with the
engineering department were estimated at 16,637,833 f.
The gunpowder and saltpetre stores were worth more.
than 9 millions; and, lastly, the various matters con-
nected with Algeria 61 millions.
The prorogation of the chamber is expected to take
place in the latter half of August. This derision has
been adopted by the questors, and will doubtless be
sanctioned by the Assembly. The conservative ma-
jority are extremely dissatisfied with the unsettled
aspect of the situation, and are stirring the provinces
to petition for an immediate revision of the constitu-
tion. For this purpose they desire to make the pro-
rogatioa of the Assembly coincide with the sessions
of the Councils General, in order to take part in the
deliberations and iofluence the decisions of these
bodies, sixty or seventy of whose members are also
representatives of the people.
'fke petitions against the electoral law, which the
Assembly referred to the Ministry of Justice, in order
to institute legal proceedings against the signers,
arrived yesterday in a waggon before the official
mansion.

SUNDAY AFTERNOON.

The decision of the committee on the Dotation Bill
is at last known. Yesterday, after a sitting, which
lasted from noon till six o'clock, and a fr aft con-
ference with MM. Baroche, Fould, and Rouher, all
the measures of tra: *action proposed by the minority
of the committee, and sanctioned by the government,
were rejected in succession. The committee then
decided by 9 votes against 6 to move the Assembly to
reduce the government's bill to the following propo-
sition :—" An extraerdinry credit of sixteen hundred
thousand francs is opened to the minister of finance
for the expenses in 1819 and 1830, occasioned by
the installation of the President of the Republic.
This sum shall be charged by halves upon the credits
of 1849 and 1830." Singular to add, the members of
the committee who were most forward in urging this
c..nclastoo, M. Croton and M. de Mornay, both shrank
successively from the responsible post of reporter,
which was voted to them, and alter their refusal
devolved upon M. Frain, by whom it was accepted.
The Assembly learned the decision of the com-
mittee just as the sitting broke up. It produced
great agitation, and became immediately the theme of
all conversations. The uncompromising stiffeess of
ministers in declining any reasonable transaction
was generally blamed by the members of the majority
as arrogant and disrespectful to the Assembly ;
and to this peremptory perverseness and obstinacy
alone can a result so tar below all expectation be at-
tributed. The insufficiency of the committee's grant
will be however a point in favour of the government
when the question comes to be submitted to the
Assembly.
The decision of the committee on the Dotation Bill
seems to have brought to an open rupture the secret
grudge which has long prevailed between the go-
vernesent and the royalists. One cannot help re-
gretting deeply that matters have been so misma-
naged as to lend a plausible colour of justice to the
pcsition assumed by the latter. In feet, it the time
for bringing forward the Dctation Bill was unhappy,
the stiffineeked arrogance of ministers in declining all
compromise was still more injudicious, and has
alienated the support of many sober adherents. One
cannot well conceive a less constitutional position
than the executive dictating to the legislature a pecu-
niary settlement in its favour, and laying down the
law in such an absolute uncompromising way is
Baroche, Fould, and Rouher have done, upon a mat-
ter so essentially within the competence and juriedic-
tion of the parliament. It appears that one mem
bee of the committee proposed to carry the credit
to 2,160,000 fr., a sum equal to that required in the
bill, under the form of expenses of installation for
1849, and of supplementary expenses for 1850. Even
this amendment was rejected by the government.
The motives assigned by Fould on presenting the
bill having reference to the exceptional circumstances
which the authority of the President has bad to con-
tend with, and to the cost of establishing the republi-
can magistracy, it was only reasonable that a special
cam should be voted on this account ; and this was
the principle on which the majority of the committee
took their stand. Meanwhile there remains much
underneath which can only be dimly conjectured or
pieced together out of the recriminations of the eon-
tending parties. There is little doubt the legitimists
would have been far lees nice in those oonststutional
scruples set forth with wonderful show of moderation
by their organs, had they been better able to mould
the President to their views.

The decision of the committee wasno wow known
than the springs of parliamentary strategy were set
in action, and negotiations undertaken, of which the
result seems doubtful. The Left decided on rejecting
net only the principle of dotation, but also the Trim-
benignant of the "personal sunken" of the Presi-
dent. This determination would go far towards
assuring the nooses of the government bill. For,
the amendment of the committee being rejected by
the government and by the Left, stands every chance
of being thrown out. In that cue the original bill
Would be pet to the veto, and might peas, the chief