The Express.
London, England, 1861-04-02 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(rnom oun OWN

PARIS, MONDAY EVIDIDID.

A very impudent manifesto of Prince Murat
is published by the Pays and Patrie, which
pretend to have found it in a foreign
journal This pretender, often disavowed by
the French government, has never before
preferred his claims (!) to the throne of Naples
with so little reserve and circumlocution as
he now does. Accordingly, ho was never before in
a position sufficiently prominent to be worth the
trouble of extinguishing. His present attempt to
do mischief in Italy takes the form of a letter to a
supposed friend at Naples, the Duke of
A petition to the Senate has been got up in Paris
praying for the continuance of the French occupa-
tion of Syria, "so long as the lives of the Chris-
thins may be in danger." lam sorry to speak dis-
respectfully of this movement, because I observe
that your correspondent at Beyrout is a warm
advocate of French intervention. But I cannot
help bearing witness that, quite independently of
the perils of the Maronites, which be so
elopently describes, there is or, at least,
seas-* settled purpose here to maintain a
permanent footing in the Turkish dominions.
I warned you of this long before the Syrian mas-
sacres, and I remember the remarkable expression
attributed to • French courtier, and which may be
found in the files of the Dolly News, that it was
intended to lordre le sou of England by means of
the Eastern question. M. Mooquard's melodrama
of the Massacres Kyrie at the Cirque was a poli-
tical man.euvre, the significance of which was re-
marked at the time of its production. Insurrec-
tions are sometimes fomented in the East by parties
who have • purpose to serve in putting them
down. It will be most unfortunate, politically
speaking, if anything should occur to give the
French a decent excuse for not clearing out of
Syria by June 5, the date now fixed by treaty.
A semi-official pamphlet is on the stocks to be
called " La France et la Question d'Orieut."
The Bourse was dull, but the settlement went off
well, and the Route rose 15c., closing at 67fr. 90e.
There was scarcely any change in other securities.
It is announced that Count do Oerminy has
consented to postpone for a few days his resigna-
tion as administrator of the Caisse dos Chemins de
Fer.

The armour ship, built at Bordeaux for the
Pacha of Egypt, has just been launched.
The Moniteur de l'Armie says

The effective faros of the army in 1859 was 540,035 men
—officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers. In 1858
it had been only 384,043, so that there was an increase of
155,992. On the lit January, 1860, the forte was 615,465,
exclusive 'of 5,276 enfants de troupe. Of that number
396,559 were in France, 83,782 in Africa, 55,281 in Italy,
7,904 at Rome, 5,468 in the expedition of China,
7,716 on what are called renewable furloughs, and
the rest on six months' furlough. The reserve at
the same date amounted to 11,017 men, of whom
only 71 had previously served. The general effective
of the military fumes of France was then on the Ist Jan.,
1860, 626,482 men. The total number of exemptions ac.
corded to young men of the class of 1858 was 130,236 ; for
the class of 1857 it was 110,313—the former was conse-
quently 19,923 more. This difference, however, is the natu-
ral consequence of the augmentation of the contingent of
the class of 1858 from 100,000 men to 140,000.