The Express.
London, England, 1861-11-15 00:00:00

TO OUR READER/3.

SPORTING INTELLIOENCR.

A ;ate edition of the Express is published every
evening during the racing season, containing the
results of the day's races.

Tile spectacle of a great potentate at the sum-
mit of his power voluntarily divesting himself of
superfluous prerogative is iiresistibly attractive.
The Emperor NAPOLEON is a potentate of a
greatness beyond our common measure. Standards
adjusted to ordinary humanity fail when applied
to one who, sa President TROPLONO told the
Senate, "belongs to the number of those grand,
" and rare individuals who are less human beings
" than the personification of a people." But,
great as he is, the Eviresios finds he has too much ,
power for the good of his people. He is more
than willing, he is anxious, to resign a portion of
it. He condemns, repudiates, and, were they not
his own creation, we should say accuses the rights
which he possesses under the Imperial constitution.
The aspect of this self-abnegation is very im-
posing. Yet the phenomenon is so rare that we may
be excused for examining it somewhat closely.
The Eurssoa proclaims to France that he is led
solely by • cessideration of the interests of the na-
tion to abandon a right which all French sovereigns
have enjoyed before him. "Faithful to my
" origin, I neither regard my prerogatives as •
" sacred deposit which cannot be touched, nor as
" a heritage from my ancestors, which must be
" transmitted intact to my son. Elected by the
" people, and representing their interests, I shall
" always abandon without regret every preroga.
" bye useless for the good of the public, while I
" shall likewise preserve unshaken in my hands
" all power which is indispensable for the tran. !
" guiltily and prosperity of the country." But
is it • right or a responsibility of which the Em-
maus is so anxious to divest himself I A glance
at the extracts from the Moniker, given in an-
other column, supplies the answer to this impor-
tant question. It is there shown that the prero-
gative of uncontrolled expenditure is only sur-
rendered at a moment when it is found that it can
be no longer abused. The explanation is con-
tained in one fact—A REMIT OP FORTY MILLION/
wrzauso. M. FOULD says correctly, that the sys-
tem of extraordinary credits has brought the
Treasury to this state of insolvency, in spite of
heavy and frequent loans. The Enrcaos peni-
tently rejoins that ho has been led astray by ex-
cessive power, and acknowledges the necessity of
confining the budget within the fixed limits. "And
" to obtain this end," he says, " the ouly efficaci-
" ous means is to abandon once for all the power
" which I passer, of opening • fresh credit in the
" absence of the Chambers." Most tow, and far
be it from us to say that the effective supervision of
the estimates by such representatives as France is
permitted to elect may not be worth forty millions.
This is a kind of traffic with which our ancestors
were familiar, and the ERPILROIeII letter recalls to
the English mind the era of the Puorritissirra,
when bits of prerogative were exchanged for sacks
of wool to the advantage of both parties.
of course there is nothing surprising in this
collapse of the Imperial system of finance. Notting
but its date was ever uncertain. The bad harvest
probably has made it fall in this year instead of
neat ; but sooner or later it was inevitable. The
Bourse seems so thoroughly to have seized the
idea that nothing could be worse than the exist-
ing state of things that the first announcement of
a change led to • rise. Another great loan, of
course, will be issued, and thereattr the money
of the State niust be spent only according to the
votes of the legislative bodies. For foreigners
all over Europe this news has great interest. We,
of course, feel a special pleasure in any the least

approximation to responsible :,overnment in •
country so near to us and so influential as France.
We have such faith in the benefits which
attend discussion and publicity in any country
where Parliamentary institutions are ho-
nestly worked out, that we cannot but
be glad to see France likely to enjoy them in
larger measure. But besides this sympathetic
feeling, we have, in common with every European
people, a positive and direct interest in the discus-
sion of the French Budget by the Representatives
of the French nation—an interest of the kind re-
ferred to by M. Forts. That Minister very pro-
perly points out that the necessity of keeping up
immense armaments, iu which the neighbours of
France find themselves placed, is intimately re-
fated to the grasp of all the resources of the Em-
pire by one hand. "To renounce this power,
" which is more apparent than real," says M.
Foren, "more menacing than useful, would not
" only give confidence to France, bat would calm
" the uneasiness of Europe." The English press
has said this • thousand times, and we are
therefore well pleased to find the Finance
Minister of the EMPUIIOII writing so sensibly. If
his words were followed up by an effective reduc-
tion of the Army and Navy, we might obtain not
only a sentimental satisfaction but a real relief
from the burden of our aggravated belligerent expen-
diture. The Italians, too, will read the Enflames
letter with peculiar interest, and will now be able
to judge more accurately of the probability of
French assistance for the deliverance of Venice in
the spring. If the chances of that event seem
diminished, M. F4ll-1.01 expand at say rate fur-
nishes another and powerful reason for the termi-
nation of that intervention at Rome which at great
cost to France is depriving the Italians of their