The Express.
London, England, 1861-06-03 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 3, 1861.

favour. Itis no use saying in the mere spirit of
cavil—what could have been done 1 Where there
is a will there is never found wanting a way ; and
when there is personal knowledge of the wants
of a country, and personal sympathy with its feel-
ings, in poets of responsibility and power, suitable
objects of beneficial legislation naturally present
themselves, and suitable means of dealing with
them in statutable form have no need to be searched
for. But when a country long divided and mis-
ruled is handed over to half-a-dozen individuals
to govern, not ono of whom is identified with it by
birth, education, property, or connexion, it is not
strange that jealousy and distrust should strike
deep root amongst the excluded race, and
that when their administrative masters are in
jeopardy they should give themselves little
concern about the matter. What would
Scotchmen think or how would they vote, if,
instead of having two seats in the Cabinet, a
fair proportion of secondary positions of trust and
confidence in the Imperial executive, and the
whole of their local administration to themselves,
no man of Scotch birth had any voice in the
political concerns of Scotland, or any seat in
the Cabinet of the Empire I' The flatterers of Lord
PALmelorros may say that in thus treating Ireland
he does right ; but if so, then all we can say
is that Mr. CANNING was wrong, the Duke
of WELLINGTON was wrong, Lord GREY
was wrong, and Lord MELBOURNE and
Sir ROBERT PEEL were wrong. it were super-
fluous, however, to discuss the question. Every
tree is known by its fruits, and the baneful
gourd of official monopoly is no exception.

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

0111011 OR OWN COI

PARIS, SUNDAY EVININCL

The note in the Mostiteur announcing that two
books are to be prosecuted for attacks upon the
clergy tends to confirm the rumours which have
been circulating within the last week that, to use
a favourite phrase of an eminent Queen's counsel,
the church is enjoying a "streak" of favour. This
measure may possibly be praised as impartial, but
I regard it rather as evidence of vacillation and
weakness. I have not seen the works incrimi-
nated, but judging from the worst that has been
said of them by the ultramontanist press, they
contain no libel which the government ought to
prosecute if it means honestly to fight out the great
battle against Popish pretensions which it has
begun. The title of the most important of these
pamphlets is, " Crimes, Misdemeanours, and
Scandals which have occurred among the clergy in
these latter times." Surely it will not be said that
in the absence of false statements there is anything
libellous in bringing together in one volume the
very many cases which are to be found in the legal
reports within the last year or two. Such a com-
pilation, on the contrary, was die to the public,
and heads of families would do well to peruse it.
The admissions of "Brother Philip," the superior
of a fraternity to whose care parents' have been in
the habit of blindly entrusting their children,
cannot be too widely disseminated.
In the legal journals to-day I find reports of pro-
secutions against two priests, which occupied the
sixth and seventh Correctional Chambers all day
yesterday. The first case was that of the Abbof
Clergeau, honorary chaplain to the Archbishop of
Sens, who is accused of having cumulated the
duties of his sacred calling with the practice of
usury on a large scale, awl of having embezzled
upwards of two millions of francs. The other
affair, which was heard with closed doors on
account of the indecency of it, was that of the
Abbif Copes, successively vicar of Lyons and
Moulin, and lately a priest of St. GermainL'Auxer-
rob' in Paris. He is accused of robbery and of
indecent and other assaults upon his pupils. Nei-
ther of these trials is over.

The day for the trial of Mires is at length fixed,
pursuant, as has been already stated, to express
orders from the Emperor. The Droit, whose
authority may be depended upon, says that his
case will come on before the sixth Correctional
Chamber, presided over by M. Massel, on June 6. It
is confirmed, therefore, that after all his long and
cruel preventive imprisonment the prosecution is
but for a delft (misdemeanor), and not a crime.
The offence for which he is indicted is " swim'-
, ling (escroquerie), abuse of confidence, and the dis-
tribution of • dividend not justified by an
inventory." M. Felix Solar, the proprietor of
the Prase, is included in the indictment, but he
has escaped to England and will not probably
surrender to take his trial. It is announced, some-
what unexpectedly, I believe, that Count Simeon,
Count de Poret, Count de Chassessot, and Baron
de Pontalba, are cited to appear before the court
as being jointly and severally responsible in a
civil action for the acts imputed to M. Mires.
The Indipendome says that at a council held by
the Emperor during the masonic dispute! between
Prince Napoleon and Prince Murat, it was se-
riously proposed to abolish freemasonry iu France,
but that the proposition was not carried.
K Blanqui and certain alleged accomplices are
to have • trial, instead of being dealt with under
the law of public safety.
The Emperor has not failed to let M. Thiers know
and feel how pleasant it is to his Majesty's feelings
to think that the author of "The Consulate and the
Empire" is to pocket the imperial gift of 8001.
Some doubts having been expressed whether the
terms of the creation of the prize authorised the
Academy to confer it upon one of their own mem-
bers, Count Walewski, as Minister of State, has
written M. Thiers a letter overflowing with polite-
ness, in which ho tells him that the "august author
of the decree has a right to interpret it," and that
he decides in M. Thiene favour.

M. de Meow, member of the Corps Legialatif, has
just died of apoplexy. He was little known, and
owed his position entirely to the great success in
life of his son, who was the famous Prefect of Police
of the coup d'itat, and is now a senator, and Pre-
fect of Marseilles with special powers.
M. Liszt, the pianist, who was already an officer
of the Legion of Honour, has just been promoted on
the occasion of his present visit to Paris to the
rank of commander.

PARIS, SATURDAY EVENING.
The news which I gave two or three days since,
that Prince Napoleon was going to the United
States, is confirmed by the Parse' which says, that
after visiting, in company with his wife, the Pnuoess
Clothilde, Nice, Ajaccio Bartle, Tunis, Oran,
Algiers, Malaga, Cadiz, ind Lisbon, he take
leave f her in the latter city ; the Princess will
return to France in the Jerome Napoleon, and the
Prince will cross the Atlantic in the Reins Hor-
tense to visit New York and the principal Ameri-
can ports. His absence from France is expected to
extend over three months. It is odd to think that
he will be in America at the time when the report
of the trial (on appeal) of "Paterson e. Bonaparte"
will arrive there.
The government journals contradict with singular
acrimony the statement of the Indipendance Beige,
that Count de Persigny was about to reside for the
summe- season at his estate of Chamarande, coining
to Paris twice a week only to attend ministerial
councils. I should not have thought, in these te-
legraphic times, that there was anything reprehen-
sible or unusual in a minister, who has no parlia-
mentary duties to attend to, sleeping a little way
out of town during the hot weather. But the Pays
treats the news as a " miserable calumny," and is
particuhrly indignant at the idea that a Minister
of the Interior could possibly be absent from Paris
at a time when general elections fur the councils-
general are going on. There is great isaiecti iu this
argument. The rules for conducting elections are
very distinctly laid down by law. The prefects
and their subordinates iu every department have
full powers to see the law carried out. No inmate,
no resistance to lawful authority is to be looked for
in any quarter whatever. Thu government candi-
.l..tes are all nominated already. Nothing remains
but the mechanical operation of the ballot. Under
thew circumstances it is difficult to conceive any
legitimate necessity for incessant supervision of the
electoral
_process by a Minister of the Interior in
Paris. Thu awkward confession of the Pays but
too clearly points to intervention not avowable—
to illegal, but familiar, " administrative " ma-
noauvres for preventing the return of independent
candidates.

These journals also say there is no truth in
another piece of news given by the indipendance,
viz., that M. Thouveuel had addressed a protest to
the Courts of Vicuna and Madrid against certain
propositions for the settlement of the R0111:111
question. I must say, however, that I never re-
member a period when the assertions or denials of
the reputed seini-otficial journals of Paris were of
less authority than they are now. They work up
as " latest news" any scrap of gossip which may
be doled out to them from any ministry, without
being at the pains to keep up the least coherence
between the statement of to-day and that of yes-
terday. The additional liberty enjoyed by the press
since November 24—making it less perilous to
publish " false uews"—is abused by these journals
for the purpose of palming off stale and doubtful
statements as new and official,

A curious piece of "latest news" is given in the
Fer.sse. This journal (which by the way is decidedly
not officiai)says under that heading that "the Pope
has set on toot negotiations with foreign powers
for the preservation of his territory, and that
Francis H. is indisposed to quit Rome." I pre-
sume that the Presse must have some sort of founda-
tion for putting this statement prominently for-
ward as an "actuality," otherwise I should have
thought that the Pope had been carrying on nego-
tiations in the interest of the temporal power long
enough to be convinced of their futility, and that
the unwillingness of Francis 11. to go away from
Rome was a fact too well known to be interesting
as news.

The Senate yesterday rejected, withouta division,
• petition from certain ultramontanista of Cahors,
and vigorously supported by Cardinal Mathieu,
praying for the repeal of certain articles in the
Code which render priests liable to prosecution for
attacks upon the government.
The insertion in the Monitcur of Dr. Veron's
article against a dissolution of the Corps Legislatif,
although a symptom to be regarded, must not be
considered as conclusive evidence that the doctor
hasgained his cause. His pleading shows that a
dissolution is feared by the house. It is more easy
to think that the Emperor wishes to pay him a
barren compliment by ventilating his not very
forcible arguments than to suppose that his Ma-
jesty is converted by them.
The Bourse was heavy, and very little business
was done beyond the necessary operations of the
settlement. The Rente closed at 69.30, both for
cash and account, with a fall of sc. and 10c. Mobi-
lier fell 1.26. Railways were a shade lower.