The Express. — London, England, 1847-11-13 00:00:00

sinecure of Naples. To close with the same meta phor with which we commenced, Count BRERSON found that, instead of becoming the SOULT or the MACDONALD of the NAPOLEON of Peter, he had merely made himself the SAVARY—in other words, the instrument, not the honour or support. From such a consciousness the proud spirit revolted, sad the melancholy result has been seen. WE dossed know that any more forcible rebuke could be administered to the presumptuous expounders of the extreme currency doctrines than is contained ha the official returns of the Bank of England, which will be found in oar Money Market article, from the Gazette of last evening. There is not a single item of the return which does not bring most signal discom fiture to the forebodings and vapourings of the anti oredit school. And so remarkable is this fresh illus tration of the facility with which enthusiasm for a theory can lead men into the grossest extremes of absurdity, that it is worth while to pursue the inves tigation into some detail. The items of the return which first arrest the atten tion, are those which indicate an augmented banking reserve, an augmented aggregate amount of bullion, and a diminution of circulation and of securities. Ex pressed in language free from technical nomenclature, the return conveys the broad and gratifying intima tion that the crisis of the pressure has been most thoroughly surmounted, that confidence in the ordi nary methods and courtesies of business is again restored, and that money has become sufficiently easy of access out of doors to reduce the rate of interest so palpably below the Bank rate, as to not only assuage most effectually the pressure at the Discount-office, but to render it profitable for borrowers from the Bank to resort elsewhere for the accommodation they require. The very marked fall (the exact figures are 440,0001. less than last week) in the amount of the outstanding circulation, affords the most satisfactory evidence of the rapid diaappearance of that distrustful temper which, pre vious to the appearance of the government letter, was becoming . so mischievously infectious, and was rapidly disseminating a disposition to hoard coin and bank notes, as the safest security against the casual ties of, at that time, a most dismal future. And, bearing in mind that this important decline takes place at a moment when, by the supercilious scruples of the Act of 1844, the maxi mum limit placed upon the country notes compels provincial banks to meet the enlarged demand for cir culation, always incident to this period of the year, by the employment of the metropolitan currency, the satisfactory inference to which we have alluded re ceives still further confirmation. The diminution in the mercantile securities is also considerable—more than half a million. Between this contraction of advances on the one hand, and a small increase of deposits on the other, the banking reserve exhibits the very large increase of 730,0001., viz., from about one and a half to two and a quarter millions. The total amount of bullion is also more by the very respectable sum of 300,0001. than on the last occasion. What, then, in a brief compass, are the cardinal facts presented by this official document? The answer is as easy as it is conclusive. In the space of twelve days from the date of the suspension of the Bank Act there has been an influx of bullion, which has set in with so full and steady a tide, as to add to the total reserve in the vaults of the Bank the sum of half a million, notwithstanding a large concurrent demand for internal purposes. During the same brief period there has been a com plete removal of those exacerbated symptoms of crisis, which were previously a source of so much suffering and peril. There has been also a revival of the most sound and salutary kind in the great staple trades and the great manufacturing markets of the country. There has been so sensible a fall in the rate of interest, that bills which, in the midst of the excitement, could only be negotiated at 12 and 14 per cent., are now readily accepted at 6 and 7. And all these things—this influx of treasure—this reassurance of the public mind—this relief of a prostrate industry—this .Whole some extension of the facilities of the money market —have been accomplished without the aid, in any ' shape or degree, of any one of the desperate expe dients so dogmatically predicted and so pompously denounced by the easily-inflated oracles of the ex ploded hypothesis. The circulation has not been extended ; we have not been carried off our feet by a deluge of cheap paper; the relief of Manchester has not been accomplished by the prodigality of Bir mingham. The precise contrary is the fact ; and the proof of this fact is palpable to all the world, in the official statistics to which we are at this moment directing attention. Still less has the deficiency of paper been supplied by the artifices of banking, for the securities have oscillated in a direction which no ingenuity of dialectics can bring into harmony with the anticipated formula. We have not stated a single circumstance in the re capitulation which can be set down, with any degree of truth, as an invention or as an exaggeration. The facts are as notorious and as certain as the setting of yesterday's sun, or the collection of the quarter's taxes. We ask them—and we have a right to ask— where is the truth or decency of the loud and repeated proclamations of national insolvency which, for so long a time, found so ready an assent with those who had the power of paramount interference ? We have satis fied ourselves by actual experiment that the moral in fluence alone of a simple act of permission has been sufficient to deliver us from a slough of despond as dark and full of peril as ever placed the interest of the country in jeopardy. Why, then, was the relief so long withheld—why were the events of April and of August permitted to have so small an influence— why was the concession granted to the lust, instead of to the first, of the series of deputations who carried up the cries and supplications of our afflicted people to the responsible functionaries of the state ? These are not idle questions. They are questions which parliament must and will insist upon asking, and asking, too, with a full determination to extract an answer. There is also another question, to which it may be difficult to give a reasonable reply. Upon what intelligible motive wee it thought n to hamper the abrogation of a pernicious statu e : 8 :g the exaction of an official rate of interest, devoid of precedent, authority, or justice ? The alarm and distrust which the imposition of 8 per cent. indicated on the part of the government threatened to interfere with a cordial and complete restoration of a healthy state of things. Men felt and mid, " The government have interfered, it is true ; but bow have they interfered ? Their information has so frightened them that they dare only part with the key upon the rigid condition that it shall be hung beyond the reach of those who most require the assistance it unlocks." In spite of this reasonable apprehension the country has recovered ; but then, why should the country be required to recover, in despite of any such absurdity ? The Bank may retain its rate unaltered (we do not expect that it will attempt to alter it until after the parliamentary indemnity is obtained) ; but now that the real condition of the country is becoming so plainly apparent we do not think that any class of persons will have so much reason to complain of this exorbi tant rate as the proprietors of Bank Stock. No man will give the Bank 8 per cent. when he can obtain money elsewhere at 6 or 7. The directors, therefore, may calculate with tolerable safety on a still farther dimi nution of their securities, and a still further elevation of their banking reserve. Were the Bank, however, shackled by no legislative punctilios at the pre sent moment, although we should desire to see a more reasonable conformity between the rates of interest in and out of that establish ment, we should deprecate in the strongest man ner any repetition of that emphatically mis chievous competition with the London bankers which for the last two years has been so great a curse to the commerce of the country. The business of the Bank should be to act as seldom as possible upon the rate of interest by its own formal example, and it will best accomplish this end by always keeping its published terms something in advance of the general course of the market. THE poeition of the Edinburgh Professor of He brew is as puzzling to a Southrou as Hebrew itself is to an immense majority of the ministers of the Kirk. The patrons of the university have elected a professor; the presbytery have applied to the Court of Session for an interdict against his induction; the Lord Ordinary (Lord ROBERTSON) has refused the interdict; and the Senates Academicus have de murred to receive their new colleague. Foar equal , foroes are pressing at right angles to each other on the same point, and rendering movement in any direction impossible. There is no prospect for the future but interminable litigation. The learned (and poetical) Lord Ordinary has 1 thrown little light upon the matter. His interlo cutory judgment is, indeed, both sound and Bible. The town council have appointed a member of the free kirk to the vacant professorial chair. A statute requires that every inchoate professor in a Scotch university shall appear before the presbytery of the bounds and sign the confession of faith. The presbytery of Edinburgh maintain that a member of the free kirk will not acknowledge the ,jurisdiction of a court of the established church to this extent, and on this assumption rpply to the civil court to declare the appointment null. The judge of the civil court dismisses the application as premature. It will be time enough to take up the question when the nomi nee has refused or failed to comply with the injunc tions of the statute. This decision is, as we have already remarked, sound and intelligible. As much cannot be said of the magna et serbasa "note" which the learnei judge has seen fit to append to it. This explanation fills two mortal columns of very small type in the North British Mail, and explains nothing—not even itself. We may say, after Mr. Puf, in " The Critic," that Lord ROBERT SON, the interpreter, is more difficult to understand than the Lord ROBERTSON who penned the text in terpreted. One might almost fancy that the learned judge had carried to the bench that talent for speak ing on "the general question" which in days of old he displayed to the delight of so many a festive board. All that we have gathered from repeated perusals of this unparalleled document is a more lively recollec tion of the doctrine gravely enounced by ERSKINE (the Scotch BLACKSTONE), that "the interest of the soul is not an interest known or recognised in the ele mentary treatises or in the practice of the law of Scotland." If the judges of the "Inner Honee," to whom this knotty controversy is, it is understood, to be referred, do not succeed in making the matter somewhat clearer than their Ordinary in the " Outer House," the intel lect of the Scotch public is in serious danger of being sorely perplexed by their dicta. Possibly the legisla ture might save that luckless country, already suffi ciently vexed with ecclesiastical squabbles, the effu sion of much nonsense, and the engendering of much bile, were it by a decl aratory enactment to take the discussion out of the hands of the lawyers. The present contest between the patrons of the University of Edinburgh and the church courts is only one of many which have long rendered legible lion respecting the qualifications of Scotch professors desirable. By an act of the Scotch parliament passed in 1600 ' and by the Act of Security passed in 1707, all parties appointed to professorships in Scotch universities are ordered to present themselves to " the presbytery of the bounds," to " profess" that he will " practise and conform to the worship presently in use in this church, and submit himself to the go vernment and discipline thereof," and, in proof of hie sincerity, to sign the confession of faith. Now this law has notoriously proved unavailing to keep out of university chairs men belonging to the episcopal com munion, and men who were generally understood to disbelieve in revelation, while,on the other hand,ithas been the means of excluding men who were sincere Christians, and noways disposed to assail or under mine the kirk of Scotland. How much the Scotch universities have lost by competent aspirants to pro fessorshipa waiving their claims because they could not comply with the requisitions of the statutes above re ferred to it, would be difficult to say ; but, had they been always strictly enforced, or had some Scotch professors failed to reconcile themselves to compliance with their injunctions, on the plea that they were mere empty form, the Scotch universities would neither now nor formerly have enjoyed or deserved the reputation they have so well won. On these grounds has the repeal of this test long been desired by the majority of intelligent and sincerely pious Scotchmen. _ _ . . The equity and expediency of this repeal are obvious, in so far as the legal and medical faculties and the faculty of arts are concerned. The theological faculty is an exceptional case. There is an established church in Scotland, and to the state church all religious endowments by the state naturally and necessarily appertain. It seems no more than just that the established kirk should exercise supervision and control over the theological faculties established and supported in the Scotch universities by the state. Whether it would not be expedient to allow the other churches existing in Scotland to maintain from their own resources theological faculties under their super vision and control, in connexion with the universities, is a question upon which we need not now enter. Bat the concession we have now made is not decisive as to the case of the Hebrew chair. The question re mains to be settled whether that chair belongs of right to the theological faculty, or to the faculty of arts. To all whom the routine of a Scotch univer sity has not blinded, it must be obvious that the Hebrew chair, like the Greek and Latin chairs, is a literary chair, and, as such, necessarily belongs to the faculty of arta, not to the theological. On this ground any act repealing the test now exacted from secular professors in Scotland ought to include the Hebrew chair among the professorships exempted from subjection to that test. This removal of the Hebrew professorship to its proper class would be productive of a two-fold benefit. In secularising the chair the field of its occupant's labours might be extended to embrace Oriental languages in general. This widening of his sphere of activity would on the one hand render the chair more an object of ambition to men of talent, for our intimate rela tions with the East would ensure him the attendance of many pupils destined to a secular career, in addi tion to his divinity students; and on the other it would encourage to the study of Hebrew in a larger and more comprehensive spirit—in connexion with kindred l and dialects. The second benefit is be expected from the innovation proposed would be, that the professor would feel himself at liberty to study and teach the language as free from sectarian bias as Greek or Latin. At present he dare not adopt any view of it, however obvious that may ap pear, at variance with the received versions of his church. He must teach Hebrew not as it is, but as the interests of calvinistic presbyterianism would have it believed. Perhaps independent secular pro fessors of Oriental languages might create a few Hebrew scholars in Scotland. This is more than the whole succession of clerical professors have ever ac complishoL The loan adjudicated to Meows. Rothschild at the Hotel de Finance the previous day, formed the almost exclusive subject of conversation in Paris on Thursday. The journals, of course, are filled with it. We select from the numerous leading articles upon it, the following, from the Constitutionnel and the National. The Constitution/set says . The loaning adjudged nearer, attaionft of M. 25e. This is, it is troy 70c. below tbe gacraileaa ea day balm taking off the coupon et U, bee., but lo Made Mats hot fortnight. The profit r foe wligmll Is Eiger If er tea the eh% or X 70c., fan We dig the prarele. Thus, the rate at which Ism s las aralrad awl" eke head as the more or lees appestailles monde at So iltlgagg So which the minister ban rand atehassleset the merry. This is so true, that the Amoral ass Da" • In ago Irak, mead the ratan made by aim apeekten r vele the graham., hag rave wararap era smartertrinie • ale malt It, regaled se petentere to the meant sera at Wray. 73f. 25c., elm the pending lam bed am sileeipl awe Mt, that Is to my, • gal lOL In the meat at the asks—wok IN the tea& ma lathe earealui eirrast el Odra by the a them letrat OW Masa vow/ le hem. We mid the day teem yee• tally that the Male mad set Wile W ha at awry dem rate —on malltias wad brat ay meldhat • raw beak. How, Irk raid it be elherwlae ! promemert wee literrar tag la ae altwevellie deemsteemeAC: web he brava pat,, peemi, rad le arae arras( with weft earreord ea awry paha et the leallera, Ida • debt of NO mil- Nada tale leirared Sr WO emi rs sea yew. It praseated itsel f re as mow ineditylislittled itself exhausted, by eroding an en. w a l e : hae la headl aa = lasi.° of And tea I :u p'''. a t; ttt ' it s we ld het a e the eepramede a the tradary; that it would be se aura Mem Mg la rated& kw haw aderaera in the budget., new Mpg= if graft awls Sr; and Wel a rigually, it would be again =la seat period to the aratd-hrre. It te all this Mt bra eblett explains the Ilspiorabie rate at which the loan bete Not eratiodod. It preemie la all Its clearness the precarious eureka d the treat of the state, sad it will bare, perhape, at least this rank tint In showing forth an the extent and all the gravity of the eel% It vil peels at the same time the necessity of reforming a political and Mammal system, which prepares for us a still more me lancholy future. We read in the National To wedeln the real price of the loan, we most cakulatc the value, on the 22nd of November, 1647, of a sum of 75f. 25e. payable by 25 unequal insaalments, in conformity with the stipulated condition, of the ordonnanoe of the 29th October lea. On applying this common rule of payment we shall 11nd tkat the entire payment will be made In • taper of 10 montho and 6 days, reckoning from the 22nd of November, 1847 ; and consequently, counting each month at 36 days, extending to the 26th September, 1648. During this time, the subscribers will receive interest upon mosey which they bane not paid : my, for every 75f. 25c., a sum of 26. 43r., which brings the real price of the loan down to 721.60 c. This In not aIL For every 72(.80c. received, the state acknowledges itself to be • debtor for 1001; therefore, In addition to the bonus of 21. 45c. above mentioned, it pays • pramium to its mbecribers of 270.20 e. ; or, in other terms, on receiving 250,000.000 f. it acknowledges Itself to be indebted to the amount of 343,400,000 and same odd francs. But the eventual profits of the operation are not confined to this. Between thin time and the end of two year,, the period for the payment of tke last instalment, the 3 per Cents. will have reached the price they were worth twenty-fivc month backa, or, no full) we recollect, 851 Suppose at that moment the price be 801. only, It In steer that the subecribers will gain upon every 72180 e. paid up, a awn of 71 We.; or upon the total of the loan, 14,862,000 f. The bankers and their myna will exclaim against this, sad psernt caw estaattlow; bet the above la the trete ow. ibis silsorty to an !pi. if the real bet be not lost in • labyrinth Of k IMO. U, Intend of making loans of &Mimi@ anlid. lbw ww• wake of zeal capital; if, instead of imeribing ▪ worimmois refit Af rentee for en unknown capital, the slab Mire be ww—We have need of 250,000,000 f. What rate lima do pa wain Ow advancing it I—tbe dealir.g would be ..dmissi bra sio we** ; the Anst Coma would learn that the stabs begenased wry slat 4,6, or 6 per KW., ail it might be, and *gees veal b• w annelon to have revort to painful efforts to arrive 1421redalli/Be tibia always fail in preeision But this is ezactly lit 111101111. nor prefer coefounding the (location, by eur. =1 . 4 bilit *bib be order to claim the right of disputing the sitars was a ideavour to throw light into thin obscurity. We haw swisawnrall b defeat three Meech ; but. whatever may 6e tbe rank stew eksaktiows, it remains established that, at • moment V** Fault rash* are being negotiated at more than 77f., the gs. weasesat los awaseted it. loan at 721. 60e. All the morality of the pseant astiaticatica hes in comparing them two figures. They dia. paw with the necessity for our dwelling any longer upon a fact of Idea IL ftumon must beer the responsibility. The King left l'aris on Wednesday for Fontain blew, where he will make a short visit, to inspect the works in progress there. His Majesty was expected to return to ht. Cloud on Thursday evening. The Princess Naphis, daughter of the last Hey of Algiers, left the lazaretto at Marseilles on the 6th with her family and a numerous suite. She intends to reside in that city for some months. The Nfadrid mails of the Gth have arrived, but their contents are unimportant. General Hos de Olano and Cordova are consoled for their recent unceremonious dismissal from the ministry, the former by the em busy at Lisbon, and the latter by a seat in the senate. A grand concert was given at the palace, attended by nearly 2,000 persons; but neither the Queen nor King were present. General Alga has written to the Queen to demand to be informed of the charges made against him, in consequence of which he has been sent to Palencia, and demanding also to take his seat in the senate. El Clamor Publico says that Signores Salamanca and Escosura are to be sent out of the kingdom. Little of importance is added to the intelligence we gave yesterday by the despatches from Berne of Sunday and from Bale of Monday last, which have arrived. The seven cantons have formed an indepen dent confederacy in fact and in name. The moat ample powers to act for the whole are delegated to a council of war, consisting of deputies from each of the seven cantons, and having for its president M. Siegwart Muller. This body assamee the title of " orort of the Seven Catholic Cantons." Thus there I are two federal governments existing de facto in the Swiss confederatioa at present. Persons carrying secret communications from Lucerne to Friburg, and passing for that purpose through the Bernese territory, were detected and ar rested. The despatches found upon them had com promised certain parties in Berne. The Avocet Stettler, a member of the Grand Council of Berne and a par tisan of the Sonderbund, had been arrested. The French, Spanish, and Irish students at the seminary of Friburg, had been conducted in safety to Berne. The markets of Zurich and Argau have been closed against the inhabitants of the cantons of the League. As the latter depend on these chiefly for their subsistence, it was expected that the impe rious necessity for food would reduce some of them to submission, even before any other hostile measures should be resorted to. The troops of Zurich had marched on Sunday into the city of Zug. A division of the federal army had occupied on Sunday evening all the villages situated on the line of the Reuss and the Emme. The Sentinelle de la Suisse primitire announces that an association of ladies has been formed at Lucerne, the object of which is declared by its founders to be " to denounce to the police all words or insinuations offensive to the clergy or the authorities." This fact, if established, throws a curious light on the morals of the Sonderbund. . . . . The report of two Berrese citizens having been hanged on the confines of Friburg by the inhabitants of that canton proves to be unfounded. The Siecle affirms that the French government re ceived despatches, on Wednesday evening, announc ing the commencement of hostilities. The federal troops had moved on Friburg. The army of the Sonderbund had made a diversion, by an attack on St. Gall. The Piedmontese Gazette says that the question respecting Pontremoli has been settled. It is to re main a part of Tuscany, and Parma is to receive an indemnity for it of 4,000,000 f. Notwithstanding the previous positive announce ments of the retirement of Cardinal Ferretti from office we have again assurances that there are still hopes of his being induced to continue at the head of affairs for some time longer. A correspondent of the Semaphore, writing from Rome on the 2nd instant, says that nothing has been decided upon as to the re signation by Cardinal Ferretti of the office of Secretary of State. All good men are exerting themselves to induce the cardinal to retract his determination. It is said this morning that he has been prevailed upon to remain in office until after the installation of the deputies and the munici pality. It is also rumoured that the people of Rome are about to solicit his eminence not to retire at this moment. Cardinal Ferretti has too much patriotism not to yield to this appeal, notwithstanding his die taste for business, and his desire of repose. All hope of retaining him is not yet lost, and his resignation is not formally accepted. In all other respects Itome is perfectly tranquil. It is expected that changes will shortly be mule in the officers of the court of Rome. M. Morichini, pro-treasurer, is to go to Paris as nuncio, and be replaced as Minister of Finances by Mgr. Rasconi, who will be succeeded as Maggiordomo by Mgr. Corboli Bose. BELLINZONA, Nov. 3. I awoke this morning to the consciousness that, though on the Italian side of the Alp ridge, I was still in the thick of the civil war in Switzerland, drums, trumpets, and shouting in the public square being as prevalent as in the northern cantons. I looked out on two bataillons of Tessin() warriors, whose aspect was far more pre po ssessing than that of the rude mountaineers on the other side, whose accoutrements and weapons were far superior, and whose look was more intelligent and civilized. Great excitement I found in the various circles, about the rumour which had been circulated at Lucerne, as well as here, that the Valaisan forces had effected a junction with the Sonderbund by the Flues pun It was • point of honour with this canton, which owns the southern part of St. Gothard, to prevent anv each unlooked-for con tingency ; and hence their rage and rancour at the thought of being too late. But the fact is, that such rumour was • pure fiction and pions fraud of the men who manage the rebel forces at headquarters, and was intended to Five energy and enthusiasm to the regiments of Un on their arrival, described by me the let inst. I left Lucerne before daybreak, with the mail, on the 2nd, and crossed the lake, with the view of getting ocular demonstration of this fact, highly influential on the result of the coming war. At Altorf there were no troops, no trace of Valaisans—mere talk of their arrival. I was at noon far up the mountains, in the direction of the Reim stream and Furca entrance, but, though expected, and known to have penetrated as far as the fountain-head of the Rhone, they had not shown on the Gothard junction, at the point of Hospital. This was plain, by a glance at the virgin surface of the snow on the valley, undisturbed by the feet of marching troops. "An opotlesa lay th' =trodden now, And •thundering, foaming, deep below R. the Kenos torrent rapidly." But though this rumour may have served its pur pose in animating the smaller cantons, it has had an effect not calculated on by its contrivers in this im portant republic of Tessino. It has given intense im petuosity to the measures which had been steadily and vigorously progressing for the sustainment of the Diet's authority; and the general cry is now for the immediate seizure of the St. Gothard and the Furca, and military occupation of the Uri canton. The men of Uri were rather in too great a hurry to seek the fron tier of Berne. They have not left an available force of 20 men to garrison the mountain, and 200 could not do it. An expression of one of their Folksraths to the effect that women and old men were enough to guard their district from the prowess of Tessin, has raised quite a ferment on this side. On the evening of the let November, after I had closed my letter, the rumoured arrival of the Valais ans at Lucerne received apparent confirmation from the rising on the horizon of the lake of a dark mass of boats. Very soon the large steamer Lucerne-stadt hove in sight, lit up with a dense mass of bayonets, and dragging along half-a-dozen lengthy barges, similarly glittering in the setting sun. Crowds flocked to the quays to welcome the unexpected ally, when soon the well-known flag of Unterwali stream ing in the wind gave notice that the new comerswere the sharpshooters, clad in green, and part of the land storm of that friendly republic. When within hail there arose on the waters a shout so shrill and a war whoop so wild that the echoes of the lake have not heard for many a century. The throats of these mountaineers, from their holding familiar converse with cattle on the hills, have acquired a mixed conic' alto and baryton, of which the effect is ear splitting. In describing the arrival of the men of Uri on the previous morning, and their immediate march for the frontier of Berne under their characteristic banner, a black bull's head (short horn), I should have stated what I heard remarked generally by those Locernese who condemn the whole proceeding of the popular majority, and look on these frantic doings with melancholy emotion, that none of their priests went with them to share in the danger to which sacerdotal eloquence had sent them forth ; and that, after stirring them up to rebellion for the last six months, at the moment of death and bloodshed, the instigators kept cautiously aloof from contact with the forces of the diet. Neither were priests to be seen in the ranks of the men from Unterwald. But the men themselves seemed a superior set to the Lucerne soldiers, and looked as if they could do battle in an honest cause. In traversing the city just now, I met numerous groups . who were being harangued, generally by a priest, in support of the diet. A dignitary, who was at least an archdeacon from his costume, was very earnest in deprecating the coarse taken by his brethren in the smaller cantons. On every door, gate, or available space, I read, scrawled with more or less a tt e ntion to orthography, Vira Pio None e Cuilklmo Tell! In praise of Swiss industry I mast take note of the fact of my having met on the top of St. Gothard several waggons, whose cargo consisted of raw cotton bales, probably from Egypt, 'frieste, going to be spun in the primitive cantons for home consumption. What a lesson for the Irish, who can procure cotton from the United States at a much lees cost of carriage ! P.S. The last symptom of an approaching convulsion which I witnessed on m y way to the frontier of the land I have just le ft was the rapid conveyance along the beautiful lake of Lugano of two brass field pieces, ti-pounders, with ammunition carte full of grape-shot, whose destination, I learn, is the passes of the St. Go thard and Furea. News of a collision on the summit between Tessino and Valais, had reached by esta fettes. They ran along much like the fire-engines through , ' our London streets, but with somewhat dif ferent purpose. PItUSSIA.—BERLIN, Nov. 9.—Nl ENDELSSOIN.— At a quarter to six in the evening the solemn service for Felix Mendelsaohn-Bartholdy was concluded. His mortal remains were then placed upon • special train, and conveyed to Berlin, where they were interred at six o'clock on the morn ing of the Bth. The body was laid in the family vault, by the side of Fanny Hensel, the beloved sister of the deceased. Although the funeral took place at so early an hour, many distinguished persons attended. His early death is considered at Hahn as a real calamity. His loss (mays a German paper) will be felt by no one more deeply than our beloved King, who no later than the 3rd of this month listened to the inspired tones of the " Elijah." Well may Berlin be proud to rank the illustrious deceased among the number of its citizens. Mendebaohn has left none—literally none—who can at all compare with him. He has left • widow and several children. . . AUSTRIA.—VIENNA, Nov. 3.—The Duke Strozzi, comptroller of the household of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, was sent here by his sovereign on a secret mission. It is as serted that it had reference to the Cession of Fivizzano and Pontremoli on the part of Tuscany, against which the inha bitants protested. The Duke Strozzi, however, returned to Florence, without executing his commission. Since then, intelligence has reached us of renewed disturbances in Flo• tense, which has caus.'d a gloomy impression here, and will ' probably have considerable influence upon the future posi tion of our legislation in Florence ; so much is certain, that M. von Neumann, our ambassador at the court of Tuscany will, for the present, retire to Mo,lena, and will leave only • secretary at Florence. It is added that Count Litt:ow, our ambassador at Rome, has orders to follow this example in a given case. The Archduchess Maria Louisa, regent of Parma, commenced her journey on the 3rd; on the some day Archduke Stephen set out for Freeburg, where the Emperor will open the Diet in person on the 13th. Noy. S.—The Colaune Gazette says: " We receive this very instant a very agreeable piece of news. It is said that government has taken into cousideration the demand of the states of Bohemia, and has acknowledged their rights and privileges. The measures relative to the levy of taxes have been withdrawn. CRACOW Nov. s.—ln the evening of the 4th, at half past 8, the Councillor Zaiaezkowski, president of the tribunal of political crimes, was killed by a pistol abet on his return from the tribunal. He was accompanied by a servant bearing a lanthorn before him. The man let the lanthorn fell, and it went out ; but however, he perceived, notwith standing the olncurity, two men wrapped up in their cloaks, who immediately took to Hight. The wreaths has not yet been taken into custody, but measures are taken to prevent his escape. DENNIARR.—COTENIIAGEN, Nov. 6.—The cho lera is so generally prevalent here that nearly ell the per formers at our theatres are laid up with it. BRAZILS AND LA PLATA. H.M.'s brig Racer, Commander A. Reed, arrived at Spithead en the Ilth of November, from Rio Janeiro, in forty-nine days. She left Monte Video on the Gth of September. Commo dore Sir Thomas Herbert was off the town, with the Raleigh, :SO, Firebrand steam-frigate, Comus, Lizard, and Harpy. The blockade of the river by the French squadron was still continued. The Racer has not any freight beyond 1,2001. worth of diamonds. On going down the River Plato the Racer got ashore on what is called the English Bank it was during the middle watch, and blowing hard. Her rudder being partially shaken, she returned to the Commo dore, and was inspected, pet in order, and then came away. The Brazilian chambers were closed on the 18th of Sep tember, when the Emperor in person made a speech from the throne, which is not of importance enough to warrant insertion here. A decree was shortly expected to make its appearance, establishing, by way of reprisal, differential duties on the ships and merchandise of those countries which imposed similar duties on the produce and shipping of Brazil, to take place from Jan. 1, 1848. The following are given as the particulars of the expected decree :—One third duties on all foreign vessels, as well u one-third extra on ail goods, wares, and merchandise imported in them and entered for home consumption. But as these extra duties are, as stated above, intended to be purely " defensive," the govern ment are authorised to adopt the " reciprocity" principle in favour of thine countries which, by existing treaties, or even without any express stipulation, place Bra :Man ships and merchandise on the same footing as their own. It is further and confidently stated in private letters received by the Racer, that the Brazilian government were about to resent, in the only way it was possible to do so, the alleged injury and injustice committed by a recent act above referred to, by charging differential duties on English shipping and merchandise, equal to one third of the duties now collected, particularly on cotton manufactures, in order to encourage the manufactories of that article now being erected in the empire, to one of which the Treasury has been authorised by the legislature to ad vance 100,000 milreis, to be secured on the premises and machinery. At Monte Video affairs were almost in Mary quo. Rosu's threat of closing all the Argentine ports had not yet been put into execution. This, of course, bad kept all the merchants in suspense: they were doubtful which course would be the wisest—to hold back their goods or continue the regular traffic. The exchange at Rio Janeiro was still steady at 27k, and the Six per Conte. 85. a THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 13, 1847. SUICIDE OF COUNT BRESSON. On the subject of the death of this diplomatist, the following is the intelligence dotted from the Paris jeurnals of Thursday:— The Delxas says :—" We have received very few details on the frightful event which has deprived France of one of her most noble children, the King's government of one of its most distinguished agents, and a family honourable in every respect of a brother, of a husband, who justly formed ita glory and its happiness. It is however certain that M. Bresson has destroyed himself. What can have been the cause of this fatal resolution ? Thom who have known M. Bresson, those who ham been able to appreciate the affection so true and so tender that be bore to his worthy father, to his wife so distinguished in every respect, to his brother., those who know how much he was the slave of his duties, are obliged to evoke their souvenirs, and to call to mind that some years ago he nearly died of a brain fever, and that after this terrible malady he remained subject to inter mittent attacks which caused at times violent paroxysms of the brain. Everything, however, caused it to be hoped that the end of these crises would shortly be seen, every one appearing to lose in intensity. On 31st October M. Bresson was received in solemn audience by the King of Naples, who treated him with peculiar grace and distinction. The next day, after having occupied himself in his study in drawing up the despatch which gave an account of his reception, he went to pass the evening at the theatre of San Carlo, re turned to his hotel about midnight, and went to bed. It appears that about the end of the night he was seized with an attack of brain fever, that he rose, took a razor, and cut his throat before the chimney glass. The noise of the fall of his body on the floor awoke the Countess Brenton, who ran to the spot, where she found her husband bathed in his blood. Our readers may judge of the dreadful grief of Mme. Bresson. All assistance was useless—M. Bresson was dead." The Coneervateur says :—" A telegraphic despatch, ad dressed to the l'resident of the Council by die charged'affaires of France at Naples, leaves no doubt as to the cause of the melancholy death of Count Brenton. This despatch is thus worded Naples, Nov. 2.—Count Bresson died last eve ning in a fit of brain fever. The mantes* will embark, in three or four day s , on board the Magellan, with the mortal remains of the King's ambassador.' It results, besides, from the following extracts of letters from Count Bremen, that be felt himself for several days attacked with the malady of which he was so unfortunately the victim. Count Bresson wrote from Naples on Oct. 25, to the President of the Council :—' I arrived here the day before yesterday. I eannet say whether it is the effect of the fatigue or of the Pontine Marshes, but I have experienced some symptoms of fever, and I have not yet been able to recover my deep. Fortunately my wife and my son are well.' On the 28th, after having written a letter, in which he treated of a num ber of subjects with great clearness of intellect, he added ' I have been constantly suffering since I entered southern Italy. From the time I left Florence I have had neither appetite nor sleep. It is a nervous over-excitement, which will be necessarily followed by a great loss of strength. I see now how wrong I was to complain of the climate of Madrid ;it did not treat me so ill.' The letter written to the President of the Council by M. de Montessuy, our charge d'affaires, informs us that from the time of the arri val of the ambassador at Naples he was really ill, but that he always refused to pay attention to his health." The Consfitutionnel says We have sought with the greatest cue for details calculated to throw some light on the tragic end of Count Brecon. We can guarantee the exactitude of the following : Count Bresson, after having accomplished the Spanish muritges and returned to Paris, made known to M. Guixot that he could is.,t return is Spain an ambassador : and that he considered the influences which surrounded the young Queen as powerful and lasting. Count Breuer; did not the less insist with the Minister of Foreign Affairs on his claims to an eminent diplomatic position. He demanded the embassy to England, but this was refused him from political motives easy to understand. M. Brum then went to London, and saw Lord Palmerston. M. Breuon on lus return again claimed the embassy at Lon don. The pretensions of M. Bresson were again rejected, and he was obliged, notwithstanding his very great reluctance, to aceeptthe embassy to Nap:es. M. Bresson had no fortune. On arriving at Rome he learned the revolution which had been accomplished in the circle of the Queen of Spain. He then greatly regretted having considered his return to Madrid impossible. Ile even wrote immediately to AL Guizot asking him to be allowed to return to Spain as ambassador. Ile at the same time wrote to several of his friends at Madrid to announce his early return. Vain hope! M. Brecon received a formal order to proceed to Naples. All the letters written by M. Bresson since his departure from Paris display great excitement. The persons who have seen Count Brecon in private, and who have had long relations with him, concur in saying that he was of a violent, pas sionate character, and easily discouraged. It is certain that at Madrid he was attacked by a somewhat intense brain fever. Still his suicide hu not the less profoundly surprised and afflicted all those who have had the opportunity of becoming acquainted with his rare qualities and his great intelligence. M. Bresson leaves a father of an advanced age, for whom he entertained the most tender affection. M. Bresson leaves a widow and a young son, who, alter the celebration of the Spanish marriages, was creat ed a Grandee of Spain. The brother of Count Bremen is advocate-general at the Cour Royale 01 Paris." A VOICE FROM AUSTRALIA. We take the following extracts from an unpublished pamphlet, entitled, " A Voice from the far Interior of Aus tralia," by a Bushman. On the subject of emigration the author remarks : " Many plans have been propounded for encouraging emi gration—no one can be devised which will suit all our eolonies. The system which would suit Canada would no more suit Australia, than the cultivation good for goose berries would grow crapes. Canada I leave to Lord Elgin and Mr. Godley. New Zealand is provided for by the vic torious New Zealand Company. South Australia is mad upon copper mines. Swan River, under a Hutt, peacefully pursues the even tenor of its way. New South Wales is the pet of no one, indeed it seems the enfant daninj of our colonies, and yet, of all those lying in the southern seas, none offers fairer prospects of ample returns to the colonist and the mother country, if justly dealt with, and wisely governed." Of Sidney and New South Wales, the Bushman remarks : " Sydney is a sort of Liverpool or New Orleans, to which the squatters send their wool and fat beasts, and from which they buy their tea, sugar, tobacco, and slops. After starving for ten or twenty months on salt beef and damper, and tea without milk, often without sugar, the bushman goes down to Sydney to spend, like an ass, in a month's revelry, money he has worked for like a horse, or say a bullock. The people of Sydney who furnish informstion for parliamentary petitions, debates, and acts of parliament, know no more about our intere sts, pursuits, wants, and wishes, than the people of London. They are often as much opposed in politics (local) and prejudices, as country gentlemen to cot ton-spinners. We are the manufacturers, they are the brokers. We look on them as cockney usurers, they look on us as semi-savages. I have heard Sydney merchants of high standing, possessing large mortgage interests in grazing stock, talk about the bush not half so sensibly as Bailie Nicol Jarvie did about the Highlands, before his first and last visit to Rob Roy's land. " New South Wales cannot flourish without an ample supply of labour; and two circumstances have contributed to deprive the colony of the supply which enabled it, in Ices than a quarter of a century, to become the greatest wool growing country in the world; 'which enabled it to create an entirely new trade, and, from the fine quality of the wools, an entirely new description of manufacture. The one was the abolition of the assignment system; the other, the de struction of the emigration fund, by raising the price of land , to 11. per acre. The effect of the assignment system on the colony and on convicts 1 will presently discuss. As to raising the twice of land, no one would, and no one will, buy land in New South Wales, where thousands of acres are not worth i sixpence a year, at 11. an acre, unless in very choice situa tions, and for limited portions. In fact, since the change, land sales have ceased. Before this enhancement of price I took place, there was a large fund available for the imports- , Lion of labourers, after paying a considerable proportion of the police expenses of the colony. The 11. an acre system , ' was invented by, or borrowed from, Mr. Gibbon Wakefield, who argues that it is of no consequence what &colonist pays for land, if the major part of the purchase-money is laid out in importing labour and effecting internal improvements, such as roads, bridges, Ate. But then Mr. Wakefield's theory tends toward the concentration of population in a narrow circle, anal toward' a clear division of settlers into labourers at wages, and landowners of capital. In fact, a neat sym metrical and aristocratic system. Now, I do not mean to say that this system may not work extremely well in agricul tural countries, running in a narrow belt along the seacoast, like New Zealand, where the land is rich enough to support l a dense population, and the territory is by nature confined within such narrow bounds, that the effect of an importation of labour will be immediately felt on the wages of the colony. But New South \Vales is a pastoral country, where millions of acres are birren, and millions are valueless for want lof water. Isolation is the essence of a pastoral life; even the servants of the patriarchs quarrelled, and com pelled them to separate. A good bushman lives in the centre of a run, perhaps ten miles square. If you con centrate our population, you destroy our trade ; we might manage to exist, but we should cease to export—and what would Yorkshire and all the patent paletot makers say ? "The hope of obtaining a there of a cargo of emigrants, to be landed in Sydney, 300 miles from his station, would never induce a !quitter to give it. an acre for land not worth se. In fact, the system of demanding 11. an acre for a block of at least 640 acres, has put an end to land sales and the emigration fund—has discouraged agriculture in those parts of the colony where a permanent supply of grain was most wanted, and has left no investment open for small capital except stock—thus encouraging the wandering habits of the people, for who would venture to farm efficiently on an ma nual bush-grazing license ? To attempt to compress a popu. lation—a population within eight of millions of acres of rich pasture land—in order to carry out a geometrical and sym metrical theory of division, may end in destroying the loyalty of the colon"; but you can no more change shepherds and herdsmen into citizens and gardeners, than you can turn wandering Arabs into weavers and drapers. " The best thing that our legislators can do for New South Wales is, to encourage the tillage of land suitable for the plough, whether in large lots or in small, and to attract labour from those countries where it is a drug to us where it is at a premium. " New South Wales is not Rutlandsbire. Legislators must dismiss from their minds all European notions of spaee and land value, and remember that every rod of land cultivated in the wilderness is a link added on to the chain of civilisation. Men of large capital are the best wool growers, but men of small capital make the best bush farmers. They begin by growing enough to feed themselves, and they end by feeding their neighbours, whose live stock gives them no time for sowing and reaping. " The men who would be most likely to purchase land hundreds of miles in the interior, and, there settling, turn deserts of natural pasture into oases of grain, cannot afford to sink 11. an acre for a section. The capital proposed to be locked up in the government chest, would produce a hundred fold more to the government and the colony if allowed to fructify under the hard hands of the settlers. With the crown lands saleable at their real value, and in lots to suit little men as well as great men, the emigration fund would be swelled by the purchases of small farmers who cannot make a living in England." " Emigrant labourers," says the author, "are worse than useless, unless they have been accustomed to labour for hire. The sweepings of English workhouses and Irish beggars, who have never eaten a good meal or dens a day's work in their lives, grow fat and saucy as soon as they exchange their rags and potatoes, or parish uniform and pariah allowance, for our fine climate and bush fare.. 1 " I would much sooner have a stunted Spitalfields weaver than one of either of the above description. " Among the reforms most needed in the colony, is a con cise code of master and servant law. Nine-tenths of the time of the magistrates are taken up with the disputes of masters and servants. Each justice decides according to his fancy, and the result is great injustice and perpetual heart beuerneiormer Wt grievously ithint oppressed. eboundartee, ilabrri the n bush, gmenarfro ri timasters are almost entirely at the merry of their free servants. On the other hand, I have known instances in which maters have cheated their men by bad orders and unfair compulsory barter; but the man in the bush who ill uses his servants seldom prospers; his character soon becomes known, and he suffers losses in sheep and cattle that never occur to upright men. Bushranging by prisoners, has in almost every in stance been occasioned by cruel, unjust masters. " The built servant receives high wages, which often ac cumulate, from want of means of spending them, until they amount to from 50/. to 2001. This money, if waste lands were sold as they are in the United States, would, in many instances, be expended in the purchase of say from five to fifty acres. On this land a hut might be built, and corn and vegetables grown ; a wife would be wanted, and, if possible, obtained, and a wandering vagabond would settle down into the permanent servant of the district. As it is, servants have no means of investment, and no tie to induce them to settle in one place, so they are always spending their wages and wandering about. Savings-banks do not exist. The nearest shop is a grog shop, and after toiling for months or years, the fruits of praiseworthy industry are dissipated in a drunken debauch. I have known many instances of labour ing men starting to go to Sydney, and even to England, with savings amounting to some hundred poanda, and spending every farthing at the first public-house on the road. • The weekly allowance of a servant in the bush im 1016•, o 1 don; lobs. balm mutton, lila. logy, 410. tea, and ilk, tobaccos " In the next place, it is almost impoirible for either e bush servant or master to get married. There are scarcely soy women in the interior, and no clergymen. If a stockman er shepherd is so fortunate so to meet with • girl willing t o have him, be must make a long journey into the settled di e . tracts, and there sojourn three weeks for banns, or go to th e expense of a license—a most unreasonable demand upontk e time and money of people in that situation of life. I mys e lf knew an instance iu which astockman went down to Bathurst, with a girl and her mother, to get married ; but when th e y found that it would require three weeks to complete th e ceremony, by mutual consent they dispensed with it, cek t _ heated the event by a carouse at a public-house, and re. tumed at once, saying to their friends and ntigh.ootia within seventy miles, that they were married." Tie miserable paucity of the fair sex throughout the whole of the interior of the colony is illustrated in a single in. stance " On the Barwen, both sidci of the river were settled to, 300 miles, and there wu not one white wunnui in the whet. distance !" . The present allotment 'Totem is thus treated of 0 The symmetrical system of advancing regularly from the boundaries of the settled districts, by general surreys or special surveys, and plotting out the gr o und i n sect i ons of not less than 6:10 acres, acts as a moat injurious clog upon the progress of settlement and cultivation. A country such so I have described cannot be parcelled out like labourers' allotments in an English parish ; and, besides, the smallest lot requires a much larger capital to be sunk than most ensi. grants of the farmer class pos•ets. " For the settler, compelled to pay 6401. for his section, must have rations to live on for at least seven months before he can possibly get a crop off the ground, or in any way ha m any return (or his money ; and, if he brings only fifty sc hm into cultivation, unless he has three grown sons able to assist him, the labour for fencing, clearing, putting up a slabbed, barn, and milking yard will coat at least 200!. Tu do thi s work will require a dray and team of bullocks, w,rth ersj at present prices—mine cost me 1001. And hr ought to i mee few horses and cows. In fact, a 1111111 mutt h o s e some emu; derable colonial experience to make 1,0001. do. " The man with from 3,0001. to 5,000/. will generally stay at home. The man with 5001. will be more likely to be eons tent to settle ia a fertile wilderness, in order to live without trouble from tax-gatherers or tradesmen's accounts, bringing up a large family, knowing that they will never feel want, and trusting that his posterity will derive a moue) 'mkt* from the labour bestowed on hie farm. " The I!. an acre system would never have been adopted, er if adopted it would have been speedily abandoned, if it had not been introduced at a time when the public was as mad upon the subject of emigration as they were the other day on the subject of railroads. In 1815.6, the French go vernment found no difficulty in inducing merchants who ought to have known better to accept railway concessions on terms which have since proved ruinous; so during the emi gration mania there were people mad enough to give any price for land in any South-Sea colony,—early juggled by the idea of obtaining labour exported with the purchase money, and partly deceived by thinking of the for-centuncs tilled farms of England. Then there were ceitain prisons ; like poor Sir George Gipps, who fancied that the wild lands of Australia were a precious heritage, to be preserved, bare and unproductive, like building land, until some enormous theoretical price was reached for the benefit of the public tree !wry. Now without entering into the abstract question, which was once before so keenly debated on the other side of the Atlantic, and which ended in turning our American colonies into the United States—of whether the wild lands of a colony ought not rather to be administered fur the benefit of the colonists than of the Imperial state, I would be con tent with urging on our legislature, and especially on the crowd of old consistent and new inconsistent frcc•traden, who have lately been elected to represent us in the C,m mons' House of Britain—that making the colonists prosper ous is the best mode of rendering the colonies profitable. That a farmer, or grazier, or fiockmaster, settled in New South Wales, getting bis Indiana and his calicoes, his blankets and his hardware, his tea, his sugar, and tobacco from Eng land, or through English ships, confers more direct benefit on the mother-country than any number of shillings or pounds conveyed into the treasury of the office for the sale of crown-lands. "The tiTo7i of dividing colonists into masters and servants, by fixing land at so high a price, and dividing It into such large lots, that no man with less than 1,0001. can become a landowner, is not only extremely unjust to the labouring classes, but has in practice totally failed in producing its promised effect. It can be proved that it has worked in a vicious circle. " In the first place, it has prevented the sale of land, espe cially in the far interior, where it is moat desirable that per manent settlements should be formed in every fertile spot. Secondly—By damming up the land fund, it his put an end to the importation of tree labourers. Thirdly—it has die couragad the immigration and settlement of the best class of immigrants, viz., those of small capital and rural expe rience. Fourthly—lt has debarred the best labourers of one of the moat %useful investments for savings. Fifthly, and lastly—By all these discouragement, on the one hand, the wages of labour have been raised to an amount which ren ders wool-growing and agriculture unprofitable; while on the other, the sources from which supplies of labour might have been obtained, have been dried up. " There was a time when squatters had the means of realising enormous fortunes. Land was then granted with out cost in unlimited quantities. An ample supply of con vict labour was to be had without wages. Wool bore a high price in the European market ; and grazing ground', now thickly settled, were nearer to port and market by some hundred miles, than the best grazing runs of the present day. The expenses of the squatter were in every respect less, while the price of his produce was greater by 150 per car e.• As the country becomes more and more thickly set- tled, sheep and cattle are driven further into the interior. Every mile additional from a port of shipment, is an addi tional expense to the squatter, for the conveyance of produce sold and of provisions purchased. " Then, again, persons accustomed to the European value of land, to rents at from 255. to 50‘. an acre, not considering that the chief value of such land depends on cheap labour, roads, and i ready markets, jump to the conclusion that the rent and taxesimposed upon a squatter are almost tanta mount to a gratuitous lease of the land he occupies. The acts according to the present law are all the other way. " With favourable seasons, a fair supply of labour,'n steady price of wool and stock, a good average grazing run, lulus try, common sense, and good luck, squatters may do well in New South Wales, and even make fortunes ; but they must earn hardly and anxiously every penny they get ; and they pay full value for all that government permits them to tak-. At present the grazing runs which government has at its disposal are all situated at least 500 miles from Sydney, the only real market for wool or stock in any quantity. " Now the main expense of a squatter,—an expense equal to a high rent—lies in being' compelled to draw all that be and his men require from a great distance (generally from Sydney), in bullock drays, over a country where the ways are for the most part in a state of nature. These ways, on level ground and in dry weather, are tolerable cart tracks, such to may be met with on the moors of England and Scot* land; but in • journey of 400 miles every variety of country is traversed, sometimes deep gullies intersect your path, into which the dray must descend, and then be drawn up an al most perpendicular bank on the opposite aide, by the main force of the oxen, where horses would break their backs. Some of these ravines are so difficult that bullock-drivers are in the habit of waiting for other teams, in order to twist each other, by making a joint stock of their draught power. Sometimes swamps lie in the way, through which the dray must either be dragged, unless it be avoided by a long cir cuit. Sometimes falling timber intercepts the path in a dense impassable scrub ; and sometimes the road is so tenacious that the wheels are clogged up with mud and grass to the (aloes. Over such a country, halts at ricers in time of flood, broken poles and wheels, and the necessity of frequently unloading to get through swamps, so delay us, that, in long jourueys, we consider twelve miles through the bush a good day's work ; and in bad weather we cannot do more than three or four. " It is therefore more economical for a squatter to have two or three drays on the road at the same time, if his esta blishment is on sufficiently large a sale to load them ; for although one dray takes two men, two men can manage two drays, and three men three drays. Now each man's wages and rations cast from 401. to 601. a year. In the present dearth of labour good bullock.drivers are getting 501. and their rations. Bullock-driving in the bush being almost a science, we say, 'any man can knock bullocks about, but very few can drive them.' " The convict system next occupies the Bushman's at tention : " The labouring classes in New South Wales are opposed to the renewal of the assignment system, and have dexter ously availed themselves of the cry of ' morality,' a cry which is re-echoed by ignorant well-meaning people at I home, while the truth is, that it is not an influx of crime 1 1 that the Australian labourers fear, but an interference with the monopoly of labour: they are equally opposed to immi gration, and would put a atop to teat too, if they had any plausible excise. The feeling is natural,:; and if you con sulted the labourers of Liverpool, they would cline that port to the swarms of Irish who annually flock into England, and reduce the price of hard unskilled work. I do not blame them for their petition against a renewal of the as signment system ; I agree with them in not wishing to see it renewed in towns ; but the moral objection to convict labour, stated in a petition presented to parliament by Mr.T. Buncombe, in last session, was merely a piece of cant got up to suit the English philanthropic and parliamentary market. " I have had, at different times, some hundred assigned servants and ticket-odleave-men in my service, as a squatter in the bush, and my experience assures me that the best way of reforming a criminal, if he has any good left in him, is to remove him from all his old associations, keep him apart from any number of his own class, give him plenty of em ployment; ensure him, on the one hand, an improved posi tion and eventual liberty, it well conducted ; and, on the other, severe and summary punishment, if guilty of any serious offence. Now, these are principles which lave been partly, and may be most easily, carried into practice in the Intoner of New South Wales. "Ifs boy or man in England, however unexceptionable his natural disposition and previous conduct, be guilty of one crime, whether under the influence of poverty, drunkenness, love of forbidden field-sports, or one of those incomprehen sible temptations which our fathers not unwisely attributed to the direct agency of the devil, if he once be defiled by the hands of a constable, and pass through the avenging portals of a gaol, he may bid farewell to all hopesof an honest living within gossip-shot of the locality of his offence. He may leave the prison a wiser and a better man, well taught in re liions truths, of which he was before ignorant, perhaps gifted witha new trade, but no one will have anything to do with him. In a country where competition for work is so keen that the best characters can barely get constant occu pation at remunerative wages a man with a blotted character has no chance at all. If he has strong arms and strong • wool woo worth 2a 114 per lb., whkh now ke net worth mom than from IRAQ Is. 3d. per lb. Pr"'