The Express.
London, England, 1861-10-21 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(nom ova owl(

PARIS, SUNDAY Enatuto.

I should be reluctant to advance the opinion that
the recent batch of warnings and corm/mink/lax,
however much to be regretted, afford any evidence
of a systematic reaction from the relatively liberal
policy which dates from November 24 of last year.
I am rather disposed to think that, by a series of
unfortunate coincidences, several occasions have
arisen simultaneously for the exercise upon prin-
ciples well defined in M. do Persigny's mind of that
exceptional jurisdiction which be frankly owned,
when ho inaugurated the new era, the government
did not mean to part with. If all the warnings were
as well justified as the one given to the Journal de
Rennes, there would be no doubt about the matter.
I quote from the decree of the Prefect of the Ille-
et-Vilaine, countersigned by the Minister of the
Interior, the incriminated article of that journal,
for the purpose of founding upon it some pertinent
observations. The Journal de Rennes published the
following news, which I assume, ou the strength of
the prefect's assertion, to have been false :
A court-martial has lately been called upon to take co`
nizance of a most serious breach of discipline, or, to speak
more accurately, of military honour. Two officers of the
71st Regiment,commandiog what is called at Rome the pat
of the Holy Father, on account of its being a guard more
especially intended to protect the Vatican, made the guard- ,
hours the scene of the most scandalous orgies. The un-
happy men were but too cruelly punished for their miscon•
duct. Some common prostitutes, introduced by the cap-
tain, took advantage of the deep sleep in which both officers
and soldiers had fallen after a night of debauchery to steal
the regimental colours, which they made off with, as well
as with the golden fringe and the eagle at the top of the
standard. The officers have been sentenced to military de-
gradation and several yeah' imprisonment, which consti.
Lutes an " infamous" punishment. The men will be sent
to join disciplinary battalions in Africa. This shameful
affair has been much talked of.

Now, if, as the prefect says,the above paragraph,
so gravely reflecting upon the honour of a specified
regiment, was "purely imaginary, and odiously
invented with the express object of insulting the
French army," every honest man, irrespective of
his opinions upon the system of warnings, must
join in reprobating the author of so foul a libel.
But why in this case are the grounds of the warn-
ing fully set forth, while in the others it is impos-
sible to collect what they are I lam afraid the
answer must be, that in the single instance the
government felt assured that public opinion would
go with it, whereas in the remaining ones it was
afraid that the articles censured might possibly
meet with a considerable amount of sympathy
and approbation. We don't know in Paris what
was the language used by the Courrier des Alpes
and the Franca Onstrale of Blois, and consequently
are unable to form any judgment as to the pro-
priety of the repressive measures adopted in their
regard. All the information vouchsafed is that
certain articles commencing with such and such two
or three words, and finishing with such others, are,
in the opinion of the government, libellous, in the
one case as reflecting upon a foreign friendly, sove-
reign, and in the other as tending to excite agitation.
These provincial journals are rarely to be found in
Paris, and as after the warning no paper dares to
reproduce their articles, even for the purposes of
criticism, the public is left quite in the dark as to
the propriety of the government proceeding. With
respect to the most serious of all the warnings, that
given to the Revue des Deux Monde; the official
document itself is equally barren of information.
The Temps observes that, as the offence charged
against the Revue des Mondes is that of "spreading
alarm in the country, and exciting to hatred and
contempt of the government," which is a tangible
misdemeanour cognizable by the tribunals, accord-
ing to the law of February 17, 1862, the govern-
ment ought, consistently with its own avowed
principles, to have instituted a prosecution, and so
have given a court of law the opportunity of
trying the question. Warnings, it argues with
much show of reason, are meant to strengthen the
hands of government in cases which the law does
not meet, but not to supersede the law on its
own ground.
The following piquante correspondence appears
at the head of the Constitutionnet:

Phil, Oct. 19, 1861.

htonsieur,—Charged with the %tirade of the Consti-
tutionnel, I offer you to join wee few the political and
literary direction of this journia—Aceept, Re.,

Vicoutre Awcam.9,
Managing Director of the Conatituttonsel.
To 31. Louis Verne, Deputy of the Corps Leeslatif.
Paris, Oct. 19, 1861.
Mousieur,—l accept the proposal contained in your letter
of this day.
For the second time since 1848, I shall find myself
charged with the political and literary direction of the
Con4tieutiovnet. Devotion, but absolute independence—
such will be my line of conduct.—Accept, &c.,
L Vceow, Deputy of the Corps Legislatif.
1 To M. le Vicount d'Anchald, Director-Genowl
of the Constitutiontiel.

So M. Grandguillot is scat to the right about,
and the public, including your correspondent who
signs himself "A Late Visitor to Geneva," is, I
suppose, expected to believe that the above laconic
correspondence is all the negotiation that has taken
place on the subject.
The Gazette de France has received, and publishes
is Its impression of to-day, an official communique,
which gives a denial to its assertions concern* a
pretended warm discussion between Count Persigny
and M. Thouvenel on the Italian question, and
says :—" No such discussion took place, and no
difference of opinion exists between the two
Ministers."

The Grand Duke Constantine of Russia, with
his Duchess, who are staying at Ryds, in the bile of Wight,
have visited Cowes daily foe the purpose of bathing.
The D(bats of to-day contains an amusing
nodes, by M. Jules Jugs, of the production at the Ambign
°unique of the Colleen Bann. The great French critic
&maiden that the whole secret of the success of the play
is the celebrated " header" scene, and heoffers some niacin.
teristie comments upon a popular taste which is ea wily
istieted. The impossibility of reproducing in French the Irish
scent is alluded to by M. Janio. W. may aid that
according to the version of the plot which he gives, there
is i material difference between the Colleen Balm of the
Ambign Callillllo and that of the Adelphi.