The Express.
London, England, 1861-02-08 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(YllOll 09111 OW3

PARIS, THURSDAY S7I2IINCI.

A "cue of conscience " has just occurred, which,
in the result, puts a cool 2,0001. a year additional
into the pocket of that fortunate public servant,
M. Billault. You are aware that when he resigned
the seals of the Home Office into the hands of M.
de l'ersigny the Emperor invented for his benefit—
as also for that of other favourites—the office of
" minister without portfolio." A decree, simul-
taneously published, lays it down that this new
class of ministers is to have the same rank and
salary as ordinary ministers, and to be " lodged at
the state's charge." 'Malting, in the case of M.
Billault, to do the handsome thing, the Emperor—
who may well be excused for thinking with Louis
XI V. that " he is the state "—put his hand into
that inexhaustible private purse which is called
his cassette, took out the heavy sum of 000,000 fr.,
and bought with it Prince Soltikoff's palatial man-
sion in the Rue St. Arnaud, which he incontinently
gave to his minister in fee simple. But M. Billault,
who, besides being an eminent minister, is a great
jurisconsult and a man of delicate feeling, was no
Ilsooner installed in his palace than the pricks of his
conscience suggested to his mind the question whe-
ther the way in which he was living was not an
infraction of the imperial decree. It will never
do (he reasoned) for me, as • loyal subject and an
important mouthpiece of the government, to sanc-
tion, even tacitly, the inobservance of a decree of
the Emperor issued so lately as November last.
Now, that decree tells me that lamto be lodged
at the state's charge. But I am not. The kind
present of the Emperor, and for which lam most
grateful of course, is quite a distinct matter, and
has nothing to do with the state. Accordingly,
M. Billault laid his scruples of conscience before
the council of state, and that august
body, entirely participating in them, the
difficulty has been solved by the following pleasant
arrangement :—M. Billault lets the Hotel Soltikoff
to the state for the very handsome rent of 50,000 fr.,
and then the state, consulting the cotvenience of
M. Billault, assigns to him his own house for his
official residence. I suppose this in England would
be called a " job ;" there is no such unpolite word
in the French language, but of the thing itself I
submit that the above transaction is a very perfect
specimen.

In the Opinion Nationale M. Gueroult submits
to the government that if it really wishes to enable
the journals to publish the debates of the Senate
and Corps Legislatif—if, as M. de Morny lately as-
serted, the Emperor " thirsta for publicity"—• re-
duction of the stamp duty cannot be refused. It
has been calculated that the supplements of the
journals, if the readers were to pay for them, which
M. Gueroult will not hear of, would add Bfr. toevery
subscription. The papers cannot afford to pay this
difference themselves ; the Opinion Nationale calcu-
lates that in its own case it would amount to from
160,000 fr. to 180,009 fr. a year. A diminution of
the stamp duty from 6c. to 30. would meet the
case, and the Opinion thinks that a government
which has just sacrificed ninety millions of revenue
to promote free trade, may well sacrifice a few
millions more for the diffusion of political facts.
News has arrived that three French gentlemen,
MM. de No 4, de la Pierre, and Saint Martin, who
were recently arrested in Sicily on a charge of con-
spiring with Francis H.'s governor of Messina to
get up a reactionary movement in the island, have
been sentenced to death by a Piedmonteee court-
martial. I am glad to state, however, that M.
Boulard, the French Consul at Messina,
has interfered in their favour, and that
there is no likelihood of the sentence
being executed. M. de Nod, a retired lieutenant-
colonel of the French army, is the son of Count de
NO4I, and brother to " Chain," the celebrated carica-
turist. He was in Paris only a few weeks ago, and
I happened to be introduced to him. At that time
his thoughts, so far as they could be judged from
his conversation, had no warlike bent, and I remem-
ber that he showed me a correspondence with the
editor of the Conatill Maga:ine, about an article
which he bad submitted to that publication.
The Bourse was very firm. The defeat of the
Prussian ministry on the Italian question, and
Lord John Russell's announcement that a confer-
ence is to discuss the affairs of Syria, were viewed as
most favourable to peace. The Rente rose 10c., closing
at 63fr. 35c., both for cash and account. Mobilier
rose Sir. 75c. The Lyons Railway rose 6fr. 25c.,
Orleans, 3fr. 75c., and the other lines from lfr. 25c.
to 2f r. 50c.

FRENCH SYMPATHY WITH 2713 ENGLISH
POOR.

The editor of the Critique Avotraise has received
from the Loed Mayor of Loudon the following most gra-
tifying letter, showing that the special distress which
weighed upon the London poor during the hard weather
exists no longer :

•' Mansion House, London, Feb. 4, 1861.

" Sir,—As Lord Mayor of London, I hasten, with a deep
sense of gratitude, to acknowledge the great liberality of
the donors of 40f. in aid of the relief of the distress of the
labourers of this city. You will be much gratified in learn-
ing what I have much satisfaction in telling you, that the
crisis is over, and that the labourers whose work bad been
so entirely suspended, and who for a time had been so
utterly deprived of their means of subsistence, have been
enabled to resume their usual avocations, and to earn for
themselves and families that sustenance which for a brief
period the charity of the public was called upon to supply.
The charity of the public was so ready and so ample, and
the breaking up of the frost so early, that the necessity for
such relief had passed away, while yet we had considerable
means in hand. Those means are nut yet exhausted ; we
have still a balance for which there is no immediate de-
mand, and I hove thought it my duty to announce to the
British public that we needed no further contributions.
Under three circumstances I should feel obliged if you

would Le pleased to consider, and kindly let me know,
what application of your munificent contribution would be
most satisfactory to the generous tionora As Lord Mayor
of London and a member of parliament, sal therefore a
public man, I bail with the politest possible pleasure every
such incident ea this, tending so powerfully to strengthen
the growth of kindly feeling between our two countries,
and so well calculated to prevent soy disturbance of that
peace which ts so beneficial to the whole world. —I have the
honour to be your obliged and obedient servant.

-
" WILLIAM CCM;
" Lord Mayor of London, and Member
of Parliament for Andover."
In consequence of the above letter, the subscription
which had been opened at the office of le Critique Free-
raise is closed.

A " PER-1014AL EXPLAWATION."—Itt the American
House of Representatives, on the t3rd ult., Mr. Clemens
(Democrat, irg(nta), rising to a personal explanation,
said :—He perceived from the official report that his col-
league (Mr. Martin) is reported to have expressed a wish
that he (Clemens) should go on with his traitorous remarks.
He understood that his colleague made some other observa-
tion which did not reach his ear. It was now for him to say
at first, sa well as at lest, the position which he conceived it
his duty to take iu this national emergency was taken
deliberately and with the expectation that he would be
subject to personal defamation. If his colleague's remark
was intended to give offence he pardoned him, forth. reason
he was now labouring under a physical infirmity with a
reeking wound received in a personal encounter. If his
colleague had • like fracture in his thigh bone, and had
been crippled for two and a half years, he would find •
bullet not a comfortable sensation. (Laughter.) He did
not desire to be put in &caricature in Pa lith or Yu airs Fair
as leaning on a cane with one hand and holding a pistol in
the other. (Laughter.)