The Express. — London, England, 1851-01-08 00:00:00

Every SATURDAY Attains"' will be pablished, THE EXHIBITION EXPRESS, Sill OF A DAILY MORNING DOUBLZ PPPPP , PRICE FOURPENCE, COST.UMCO WIRT ?OISIILI INFORMATION ULATITI TO TIII GREAT EXHIBITION OF 1851, R/ mums, PROSPICTS, !WINDED DON• TUTS, AkIANOIMMIT ♦rrIAIANiCII, tAIMIRINA. PANT ♦ND YUTCRI. THE enormous number of persons interested in the fwthc,ming Great Exhibition of the World's Industry having hither' o had an satisfactory repriseniative in the Prep —no Parer suffirently large, and with mechanism nimprehensivemsongb to OOP and exemplify the forthcoming ispoaition with falares worthv of so grand an event—the Propricon of Ws "EXPRESi" have determined upon /Ming, every ftwarday afternoon, a double short of that Paw, to contain the knew a.:el latest infamatiou relative In the Eshivitioe, together with a rams of other matter assaptablei to the multitude of p.rions isterer lid either as General and Local Commit. amen and Secretaries, Member' of Provincial Travelliog Clubs, Exhibit:4s, Friends of Inhibitor+, Rivals of Ezhi:ntors, anti the still larger ai.d wider circle of these who are to tie the hundreds of thousands t 4 Vienne, to the Met:Nellie during the forthcoming Con. I greet of ladaetry of all Nations. In addition to everything relative to ire Evp onion, this D nage Sheet will gine Or natal News, sad will, stonier:or, esp.cially attend to all entreat Events In Literature, Selmer, and Art. Oa every day 'root Saturday the pries of the EXPRESS MU he Threepence, as hetetetere. ADVERTISEMENTS. TM great value of the EXHIBITION EXPRESS" Y a swains:. molt he evident to advertivin. aderrtiseint at. moat bu et the °thee is Whitefrian at ft Were Eight is t..e Eve,ine of each Friday, to nesse is =dm la As Lumber it the toll.wing day. Elie eroveoo. TO cORRESPONDINTB: Alvartiremestilate;ded ial. 7 ll.•iiprin. " laids• E paper. gam be rt Ur Ulla. 111. Illeverkusual. b Teo Aka ea the Ist at yablisitims. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIMS. Taos GAT—Morslag, ft. 113a—.....Aftsraina. IS. &la le4taurow—lloralag. IS. Oa —...thanars.ll6 I. LONDON. WiDNZSDAY, JANUARY 8. Nor one dust Meet pleasant and agreeable inci- Slats of Sir JANIS EAMON TENN ENT 9 varied life is, it may be presumed, his late appointment to the government of St. Helena: for the salary by which his labours there will be repaid is after the rate of 2,00 t it. a year, besides allowances for saran's, mess enger., and Lose repairs, to the tone of somewhat sear 2501. a year more. To the government of St. Helena there is not, to be sure, soy retiring pension attached, as there wee to the Secretaryship of Ceylon after a lengthened ser vice. But, on the other band, the climate of S. Helena is just as salubrious as that of Ceylon is try ing,. and on the Mitotic reek Sir JAMES will have ao Lord 'fotiftpiortre to worry, to tease, end to fret him ; no faults to answer for but his own ; no excit able native y.pulation to frighten : not many veran dahs to license ; very few dogs to tax. lie has, therefore, an immediate increase of dignity and of authority—an immediate decrease of labour and re spousibility ; a better climate and undivided sove reignty to compensate him for the chances of small pension if be had survived the heat and the plague et Ceyl.:n some fifven yeers. Toe appointment is not an important, yet it is in several respects a singular and a suggestive one. The Secretaryship of Ceylon was bestowed on Sir JAMES Lord STANLEY for services in the House of Commons, all tending to the overthrow of the MEI, *MINNS administration ; and though, no doubt, Sir Janes is a person of some ability, the general cha racter of the Ceylon government, whilst he was the secretary, has not been such as to confer much repu tation ..o any one connected with it. In transferring then S r JAMES EMEhtiON TENNENT from an inferior office in Ceylon to the supreme government of at. lieleria, Lord GREY can have been actuated neither by political sympathies for, tor by claims of superior fitness in, the gentleman he has thus promoted. In the elevation we must, there fore, recogoise that principle of promotion which Lewd GREY has once or twice announced as a rule of his conduct, and as this principle has on the present occasion prevailed so strongly as to lead to the pro amnion of Sir GEOIME ANIMISM( from the Nlauritine to Ceylon, of Mr. Hti:oissos from llotduras to the Mauritius, of Mr. Woositooss from the Civil Service of Ceylon to llondwas, and of Mr. NPARTIIT from the useless Treasuryship to the useful Secretaryship of Ceylon, it has become, it may be inferred, not merely the rule of L .rd GREY'S personal conduct, but, more important still, of the Colouial-office, irrespective of its chief. It is pleasant and ercouregieg to discover a great principle, or any principle at ell, in the administra tion of cur colonial offices, and if, by followieg out this IVA., modified and edapted, of course, to the per sonal qualifications of those brought within its influ ence, the Colonial Office can lay the foundation of a school of colonial service, and, through it, rear a race of colonial governors competent to the task of de veloping the colonial greatness of this empire, it will not merely recompense the country for some of its past mischief, but do much to compensate England for the lasso( that European influence consequent on the predominance of absolutism on the cintinent. For forth it is on maritime power and colonial great ness that our position as a nation of the first class must repose. Still, it may be doubted, without in the least envy ing Sir EMERSON TENSEST his good fortune, or decrying his reputation, whether his elevation to the government of St. 'Jolene is a very felicitous example of this new principle in actual operation. For, St. Helena is in no sense of the word, a colony; it is chiefly a military post in the Atlantic Ocean, con nected with, and professed to be held for the defence ' ef, India: and secondly, but subordinately, a water ing place for vessels. Now, in the former capacity, it requires and has hitherto always had a military governor, and in the latter it can scarcely require any civil establishment at all. For the lain half century a fortune has been spent on the defences of this rock ; and without, it is believed, a single exception, the government has been entrusted to old soldiers and conducted on military principles. It is, therefore, • little startling Low to see all our old notions of St. Helena overturned by the appointment of a civilian in the person of Sir ENESEION TENNENT to its command ; and some ex planation of the view now taken by the Colonial• office of its possession, of its value, and of its uses, would be really very timely and instructive. For, if, in addition to a civil governor, St. Helena has now also to have a military commandant, large as its local revenue may be, the application of Lord GMT'S new priociple of promotion in this case will be accom panied by a breach of his old principles of economy. And if it has no commandant, what become of the old estimate of ita military importance ? Now we own to no little curiosity and to some anxiety in this matter, for two reasons ; 1. There is, perhaps, nothing in the history of recklees expendi ture in a small way more scandalous than the amount of public, Indian and English and local, money that has been spent on this little rock; 2. By a little judicious manipulation, the civil establishments of St. Helena have been for the last two years, just when economy became the order of the day, withdrawn from the annual supervision of parliament; though it Mill costs England some 10,0001. a year in the shape of pensions transferred with the island in 1830, by the East India Company to the crown. St. Helena, it may be necessary to remind our residers, was originally oxmpied by the Thatch sa an Indian output; but, given up by them as useless when they took to the Caps of Good Hope, we resealed to what the Dutch had abandoned. Tbus, St. Helena hams a possession of the East fedi& Company, and a very costly one too. For the company formed its establishments on their usually liberal scale ; they had • military establishment, a civil establishment, a me dical establishment, and an ecclesiastical establish. meat on this rock without aboriginal population and only 27 miles in circumference. Previous to the breaking out of the French war St. Helena cost the Company 40,0001. a year, of which upwards of 30,0001. was for military charges; during the height of the war its experts exceeded 300,0001. 'a year; the fret year of plum they reached 280,0001.; in the Jut year (1836) of the company's occupation they were not less than 88,3201.; of which 50,0001. was miliWy charges. So the probability is that this petty rock has oast India and England in the last 601 years several millions sterling. After the crown took it from the company in 1836, it set about reducing this frightful expenditure; and to some extent succeeded, though clogged in its efforts by the large retiring pensions guaranteed to the c2mpanys servants. Nevertheless the cost of St. Helena remains to this hour a scandal on all go vernments, and an outrage on all peoples. The rock contains a population of some 5,000 souls; one-third only Europeans; the rest blacks, 'men of colour, and Caine.' ; and the civil government of fuel hant:Ttli nitchati in a • athb:!:= island, where crime is unknown and living cheap, costs about 13,0001. a year, or about 31. a head. If to that sum be added the pensions still payable, the coat will be raised to 23,0001., or U. a head. And if we' take the military charges at the very low figures of other 15,000/., we have St. Helena costing, one way or other, to some one or other, 40,0001. • or 81. a heed a year on its population ; a state of things probably without parallel in government. Who 'says for this? Why, the cost is alma equally divided between England and St. Helena; and that is more than we cm say for some of 'our transmarice possessions. By hook or by crook, about 20,000!. a year are raised on the reek itself, and the balance is paid by generous Mrs. Mother Country. Be, as the local revenue is sufficient to defray the cost of the local government, the civil establishment no longer appears in the Estimates: but, instead, the pensions occupy place. Isy this ingenious little piece of management, annual discussions are averted from such items as 2,2301. a year for the governor, 1,3901. for the secretariat, 2,2451. for the judicial charges, 2,5001. for the Customs establishments, the., &c. _ . _ Forty t 6 onsand pounds a year for governing 5,000 people on a rock in the Atlantic. Such is the coat of the spot Sir EMERSON TENNENT is about to govern. Might we then suggest to Loed GREY that the first duty of his new governor should be to ucertain whether the whole duty of its administration, civil, judicial, fiscal, ecclesiastical, could not be done here after, and mach better done than heretofore, for the salary Sir EMERSON has so conveniently slipped into, via., 2,0001. a year. Then we might boast of St. !felons; now we ought to be ashamed of its existence as a British possession. IN the law of PATENTS, as in most other portions of our legal system, it is not so much the subseaneiee law—i. e., the body of rake by which our rights are regulated—that urgently presses for revision and reform, as the law of procedure—or the body of rules by which those rights are practically enforced. The old statute of monopolies, for instance, is no doubt very defective in defining with due precision what shall be regarded a patentable inveotion ; and it is much to be wished that the results of judge•made law upon this important point could be precisely fixed and determined by some such legislative declaration as that which the present Chiet Justice of the Common Pleas endeavoured in vain to introduce in 1833. But alterations of this kind, however desirable as an ulterior step towards the improvement of our pre sent system, are of far less momentous urgency than those which the outraged common sense of our great mercantile community now imperatively demands in ur law of patent procedure. Codify, if you will, all our existing jurisprudence on patent law—condense our reports into clauses, and the dicta of our judges into articles, but do not, in the meantime, leave the inventive genius of the country to fight its way through the tortuosities of the Enrolment-office, the Petty Bog-office, and the Signet-office, under a per petual fire of small vexations from Third Clerks, First Record Keepers, Private Scats, l'ublio Seals, Chaff-wax Sealers, and Deputies of the Ilene per. It is from the pillige and the oppression of these iccubi on industry that we ask in the first place to be delivered ; and we suspect those scribes and lawyers who would either recommend the amend ment rather then the abolition of the present methods of c.niceding patent rights, or chargo the venue of the grievance by directing attention rather to the defects in the substantive law, than to the far more crying abuses of the existing modes of procedure. In a subject like that of patent taw reform, which for a space of more than 20 years has been again and again pressed upon the attention of the legislature without any prael:cal result, something like unani mity of opinion ou the nature of the proposed changes is a point of great importance to the tree interests of the cause. In this view we regard it as a great step gained that but one feel leg appears to exist among those who are really earnest in the movement as to the necessity of alto gether abolishing the existing offices and the present proceedings for obtaining patents, and substituting in their stead a single office of Registration, and a single efficial act by which the patent-right should be entered or recorded. Upon the further points as to what the exact nature of this court should be,what amount should be demanded for primary registration, or subsequent renewal, whether the former should be payable at once or by fixed yearly instalments ; whether a com pleted specification should in every instance be depo sited before registration, or whether nothing further should be required in the first instance than a deposit of outlines or heads of the invention, leaving the per fectieg of the specification and the final act of registra tion to be postponed until time shall be given' to hear such objectors es would non be entitled to enter • caveat—all these are points on which great diversity of opinion exists, and perhaps mast continue to exist, until the whole question in its lull extent has been fairly brought before the consideration of the legis lature. Another matter of great importance, on which there seems also to exist considerable agreement of opinion, is the principle, that the new Registration office should be confined to the purposes of granting registrations, enrolling, classifying, and publishing specification., titles of inventions, B:c., and should have no concern whatever with the functions of judi cially pronouncing, in the first instance, on the novelty or utility of the invention, as is the cue under the existing patent law of the United States. At first sight, indeed, there seems to be some plausibility I in the suggestion, that every claim to the conces sion of patent right for a novel or useful inven tion should be investigated by a board of 'Men title examiners, who should report upon the novelty and utility which the assumed invention is asserted to possess: but in the countries where this system has been established, as in Prussis, Belgium, and the United States, it is not found to work satisfactorily, and there is an obvious danger that, by insisting upon such preliminary investigation, many useful inven tions might be lost to the state, either directly from the adverse decision of incompetent examiners, or indirectly from the delay, uncertainty, and expense thus thrown over the first step in the process of at tempting to obtain concession of patent right. Court, board, office then, or by whatever other title it may be called, it seems conceded on all hands that the body to which is entrusted the function of the primary registration of patent rights, should have no concern with the question, whether that in respect of which the right is claimed, be in the legal sense a novel or useful invention. A simple form of entry, and a simple certificate that such form has been complied with, to be granted to the applicant on pay ment of whatever sum the legislature shall see fit to impose as the legal purchase-money for a patent right—such ought to be all that is required for obtaining and evidencing the public grant of a patent right. It has indeed been proposed that this concession of eight should only be provisional in the first instance 'and place have been suggested for the purpose of giving notice to objectors and hearing objections, in lieu of the present system of lodging caveats in the offices of the Attorney and Solicitor-General. The Registrar, it has been proposed (assuming such to be the style of the new functionary), shall, atter grant ing provisional registration of the patent, and having deposited with him an outline scheme of the invention, publish its title in the Ga- Wee, together with notice to all such parties as may have any bona fide grounds of objection, that, on deposit at the registration-office within a specified time of written heads of their objections, they will be heard before him in opposition to the , complete registration of the patent rights. This would, in point of fact, be •continuance, under other foetus and altered tames, of the present prac tice with regard to caveats as imposed by the recent regulation introduced last November by Sir JOHN ROMILLT. With the evidence of the report of the committee on patent inventions full on our mind as to this point, together with the returns to the Commons moved for by Mr. BOUVERIE in 1819—we mast confess we very much doubt the po- L~ TFIE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 8, 1851. licy of compelling the claimant of a patent right to go through this preliminary ordeal of contesting ob jections before obtaining a complete prima fade re ' cognition of his claim. The practical result of the eared system before Sir bone ROMILLY'S alteration was, that patent-jobbers were in the habit of lodging caveats• for the mere purpose of fishing out information on the hearing before the Attor ney-General and Solicitor-General ; a bearing which, except as a meets of supplying fraudulent spe• clamor@ with ill-gained intormaticn, had eo little practical effect that on an average of ten years (from 1838 to 18491 only 4 per cent, of all the e r ";ljoations before the Attorney-General, and not 2 per cent. of those before the Solicitor-General, were stopped by these proceedings. . The endeavour to remove the slightly increased risk of litigation which might possibly arise if this practice of giving a preliminary hearing to objec tions were wholly uiscontinued, dots not appear an object of sufficient moment to justify the increased embarrassment and expense that would be thrown in the way of inventors by its maintenance. By confining the Registrar to the duties of entering and recirding registrations, classifying and arranging specifications, drawings, and working models, super intending the annual publication of the former, to gether with indexes and titles, and once a year report tag on the progress of inventions and the rate of the law—the interests of the public would be far better secured than by frittering away his time in investiga tions which are in the majority of cases wholly in operative, and, even under the best of regulations, must frequently be irjurious. One registratim ctfice, an annual publication of new rpecificati ns with good working indexes, • gradual publication of all cid specifications of import ance till adequate means be at length provided for ascertaining at slight expense and moderate trouble l i the existing state of previously patented rights—these are some of the primary objects to be sought fur by all practical reformers of our patent laws. IT is the' privilege of creative genius that while the forms of its expression pass current amongst us as " household words," the being+ of its imagina tion became the most familiar types of the crimes and the virtues of humanity. The great humonriat of our own day has been no has fertile than hie fore runners in peopling the world of fiction with these living children of the braia. Of all the numerous family to which Mr. DICKENS stands in the relation of spiritual father, none is perhaps , more vigorous in its lineaments, or more lifelike in its ri pulsivenese, than that squalid Israelite who playa the part of arch-tempter in the Pandemonium of low vice re vealed in "Oliver Twist." Maeltellt is not more completely the realised ideal of guilty ambition, or Parson Adams of wise simplicity, than the J tn Fagin of that worst specks of wickedness which ma nufactures wickedness in others in order to traffic with it for its own hue ends. The system of Fagmism (no other name can fitly designate the thing) is so extensively organised and so lamentably active, it is at the root of so much of the juvenile delinquency which occupies our police courts and crowds our prisons, that we shall make no apology for asking our readers' attention to a crown ing instance of its working which appeared in our impression of last Thursday. JAMES TUOMAS NEWLAND, described as "a respect able looking youth, about 16 years of age," was brought up a day or two ago before the Guildhall police court on a charge of having robbed his employer, a warehouseman in Gutter-lane. On that cceseion the lad admitted the truth of the charge, expressed great con trition for his offence, and declared that he had been led astray by certain Jews, whose detection he promised to ensure, and Maher to make a full disclosure of the whole system of pillage in which he confessed he had been for some time an agent. Upon this promise ho was remanded, and the next day re-appeared before the court, in company with two fellow prisoners— HENRY HART and LEWIS LEVI, whom he had in the meantime identified as the parties to whom he referred, and who were now charged as the receivers of the missing property under the circumstances dis closed in the following narrative :—LEWIS LEVI, it may be as well to premise, plays so subordinate a part in the drama, that we will ark our readers to dismiss him at once from their minds,and concentrate their attention upon the nal hero of the piece—Mr. HENRY HART—old clothesman of the Tenter-ground, Goodman's-fields. One morning, about half-past eight, JAMES NEW LAND, having an old jacket for sale, was standing on the step of his master s shop door, in Gutter-lane, im patiently listening, amid the matutinal hubbub of the streets, for that mystic sound which, in the byways of the modern Babylon, announces the approach of the wandering Jew. The cry of "Old do, old do," rising cheerily in the morning air was soon followed by the entrance on the stage of Mr. HENRY HART— the jacket was preduced—the bargain struck—and the business of the piece commenced in earliest. "After I had sold him the jacket," says NEWI.AND, "he asked me where I worked, and I told him. He then asked me what my muter dealt ia, and I told him ladies' collars, gentlemen's shirts and fronts, ladies' habits, and children's made-up dresses. He then asked me if I had any soiled collars I could sell him, and I told him I had not. He said ' perhaps you can get some other things if you can't get collars?' I told him I could get things, but that I would not do so. Ile then said, 'lf you get any thing I'll take it from you, and give you a better price than any one else.' He then left me." Such was the opening scene of the sordid melo drama ; the seed was sown—the tempter left it to grow—contenting himself from time to time with watching the progress of its development. Ac cording to the boy's story HART saw him frequently afterwards, and always with the same quest:on— " Had he anything to sell him ?" At length the temptation grew too strong, and New- LAND, by his own admission, became a thief We shall again resort to his own narrative, graphic as it is, with all that minuteness of detail which is be yond the reach of invention. This was what occurred on the occasion of the first act of theft : I took some children's dresses with me, and after meeting him I took them into the beershop with me, and Hut fol lowed me in. He said, " What have you got there ?" I told him they were children', dream. I believe I had about six or eight. I don't remember the exact number. He said, " What's the use of them—why don't you bring more ?" He then said, " Wait here a moment; I',l take them and show them to my mistress." Hart then took the dresses away, and in about five minutes returned without them. He said, " I shall not be able to sell them ; it will excite suspi cion. You must pawn them." I told him I would rather take them back and put them into stock again. He then said, " You must paten them and give use half the money, or I'll sand you across the water." The lad still hesitating, the threat is repeated. The weeds " There is only one step letween you and a prison" at length did the baguets ; the stolen:property is pledged "at a pawnbroker's in Redcrou-street," who " asked no questions as to where the things came from ;" the money advanced is divided with HART, and so ends the first transaction between them. On the second occasion, HART, who has in the in terim worked on his victim by telling him that "he is a d—d fool for his scruples, and that he (HART) kas often young men who sell him as much as 21. or 31. a week," requires of NEWLAND that he shall pawn a certain dusk and hood, the spoil, as it would appear, of some other agent in this organised industry of plunder. Again the lad refuses; again he is driven to comtliance by a threat—" You have got no spirit in you, exc!aims Mr. HENRY HART; "you can do as you like ; either pawn the cloak or I'll split upon you." The cloak and hood are therefore pawned at the same shop as the children's dresses; and again the pawnbroker asks no questions.: HART, now confident of his power, begins to press the lad to engage in plunder on a larger scale: on hearing that NEWLAND is shortly about to leave his employer's service his remark is, "Yon have got plenty of time; you could get 201. worth if you liked ; you run the same risk in getting a shilling's worth as you do in getting a pound's worth." Accordingly, on the next occasion of their meeting, a larger quantity of property is brought, for which HART offers 11., while the lad stipulates for 1/. 65.: ultimately it is 6 agreed between them that the latter shall be the , price. What follows pies the finishing touch to this picture of imbecile dupery and triumphant craft. Mr. HENRY HART, with much parade, produces a handful of gold from his pocket, selects one sovereign out of about fifteen or twenty, and bands this to NEWLAND, with three shillings ip silver; the bry presses for the other two shilling. r HART refuses on the score of having no more change; betas a security, puts into the hands of his dupe Me pawnbroker's ticket for the cloak and hood; and engage s t o p a y th e residue in the evening, when it is arranged that more plunder shall be brought to him. NEWLAN D soon finds the value of these wages of sin —the sovereign has been "sweated ;" of the three shil- Hogs, one ia refused at the first gin-shop as counter feit; the other two are so bad, that (says the witness), " I easily broke them in two pieces in my mouth ; ' I all are finally thrown away ; atd with this appro priate finale the narrative closes. Now, we do not say either that NEWLAND'S evidence is in all points to be relied upon, or that he is correct in his identification of the man who now stands com mitted on the charge of one who, although a dope, was also, by his own admission, an acccm , plMe, The final determination of three p9irate reels with the "twelve good men and true" before whom the case will bo tried ; but there can be, we think, little reason to mistrust the substantial accuracy of the story; atd there is, utforturately, no possibility of doubting the prevalence of such practices as those of which NEWL ND alleges himself to have been the victim. _ _ The root of the evil rests with the parnbroker who "asks no questions:" with regard to this class of offenders it may be difficult, but it is surely not im possible to devise some regulations which, without interfering with the exigencies of small borrowers, should act as a preventive cheek upon the operatiocs of small plunderers. The preeent state of our crimi nal law on this point makes it almost impossible to touch a pawnbroker, however clearly to the eye of common s-nse he may have creased that impalpable boundary line which separates; tae reckless lender on stolen pledges from the criminal receiver of stall goods. Among the many minor reforms still re quired in the substantive part of oar law, few would be more salutary than the discovery of some practical means of facilitating the punishment of those who advsoced money to lads like NEWLAND, on property procured through such means as those alleged to have been practised by HART. WEST INDIA MAIL. The Royal Mail Steam-packet Company's steam ship Tay, Lieot. Charles M. Chapman, R.N., from the Spanish Main, arrived at Southampton last night, and laud,d her mails, in charge of Dent J. Davits, R.N., Admiralty agent. Her dates are:—Santa Martha, Nov. 26; (trey Town (Mosquito), Dec. 3 ; C athageaa, 13; C7agres,ll ; Panama, 8; Kingston (Jamaica), 15; San Juan (Porto Rico), 18; Berbice, 14 ; George Town (Demerara), 14; Tobago, 16; Port of Spain (Trinidad), 10; Bridge Town (Barbadoes), 14; Orr nada, 17 ; Carriacou, 17; St. Vocent, 17; St. Luc'3, 18 ; Martinique, 18; Guadeloupe, 18; Dominique, 18; Antigua, 19; Montserrat, 19; Nevis, 19; St. Kitts, 19; Tortola, 17; St. Thomas, 20; San Fran ciaco, Nov. 19 The dates from Jamaica are but three days later than those received tin New Yolk, which were to the 12th ult. The Tay has experienced very heavy weather since leaving the Western Islands, with gales of wind from N.W., S.W., &c. On the Ist inst. she lost a seaman overboard. She brings on freight specie from California value 552,634 dole.; from Csrtha gene, 48,364 dole. ; from Jamaica, 7,683 dole.; from Grey Time and Santa Martha. 16.612 dole.; from Tampico, 8.3,000 dole.; — total, 709,293 dole .; also, 62 serocs of indigo, 202 bales of sarsaparilla, 30 cases of succadee, and 30 packages of sundries. The outward mail steamer of the 2nd of December, from Southampton, was passed by the Tay on the 20th ult., about three hours' sail from St. 'norms's. On the 19th of December the Tay experienced the shock of an earthquake at S.. Thomas'', but, having no communication with the shore, the extent of da. mage (il any) could not be ascertained. Large numbers of Am?ricans were returning from California, and many of them seemed to prefer the Nicaraguan route, no ltealijo and Grey Town. The Tay conveyed no less than 370 from the latter port to Chagres, where they embirked by the various American ste.m.rs for New York. A small number took peens° to St. Thomas's., to proceed by the screw propeller Merlin, ria Bermuda. 11. r Majesty's steamer Alban arrived at Jamaica on the 7th of December from Carthagena, but was placed in quarantine, in consequence of having measles on la .rd. Iler Majesty's steamer Inflexible was at Greytown on the 30th of November. The Scorpion was at St. Thomas's on the 17th ult. ller Ma jesty's troop-ship Apollo sailed from Port Royal for England on the 6th ult. From some unexplained cause Co West India papers of Iste date have been received in London. The Tay brings nearly one million &liars. Among the people who passed through our city daring the past week (say the Panama Star of Dec. 5) were Dr. Wozencraft and Mr. R. McKee, the two commissioners appointed by our government to treat and enter into terms of peace and amity with the Indians of California. Dr. W. is an old resident of that state, and, with hie experience of the habits and customs of the people to whom he goes, together with the advice and assistance of his fellow-commissioner, will no doubt make such arrangements as will result to the mutual benefit of both the white and the red men. THE PENINSULAR AND ORIENTAL COMPANY'S STEAM-SDIP SULTAN, Captain Brooks, arrived off SJuthampton last night, with dates from Constanti nople to the 19th ; Smyrna, 22nd; Malta, 23ch nit.; and Gibraltar, the 2nd inst. At Gibraltar.—Ezehango on London was quoted 544 ; Spanish pillared dollars, 21, per cent. prem. A RAILWAY THIEF TRANSPORTED.—At the Bug tol Quarter Sessions yea stday, a respectably dressed man, Jams Simpson, who has been known to the police as con nected with a daring gang of railway thieves, was indicted for baying, while travelling by a railway carriage on the 2nd of November lut, stolen a purse of money from the person of a young woman named Cook. The proseentrix war jour ne3ing to Bristol by the express train, when the prisoner took his seat in the same canine. She felt him foto himself up against her three or four times, and at length, in consequence of a communication made to her by a lady who sat on the opposite seat, she was induced to search her pockets, whee ens missed her puree and its contents. Upon the arrival of the train at Bristol she gave an alarm, and the prisoner made a desperate effort to escape, but a hue and cry having been raised, he war pursued and seized Iby some of the company's officers, who found upon him various sums of money, evidently the proceeds of robberies, and a purse of gold, which was ideniiii, d by a lady named ' Powell, as having during the day been abstracted from her pocket. The prisoner having been found guilty, the court ordered him to be transported for tent years; a sentence, upon hearing which he fell down at the bar as if (mating, hut upon being roused again by the gaolers ' be thrust otst his tongue in recognition of some friends in the gallery, and then left the court. MELANCHOLY BOAT ACCIDENT AND Loss OF LIFE. —Whilst Peter Allan, blacksmith, and David Inglis, joiner, both belonging to St. David's, were proceeding on Monday afternoon, in a boat from that place to Cramond with scrap iron, having hauled close to the land on the south shore, a madden squall struck the boat off Barnbougle, when she immediately filled and went down, leaving only the tip of her mast above water. To this the poor fell iws instantly clung. Allan, however, being an expert swimmer, shortly relinquished his hold, and struck nut for the shore; but, after having proceeded a short distance, finding his strength failing, he swam back to his companion, whom be reached in a very exhausted state, and was by him manfully sup. pmted for a considerable time, till at last all the efforts of Inglis to keep his friend's head above water proved unavailing, and, on a Newhaven boat reaching them shortly afterwards, it was found that poor Allan was quite dead, and Inglis in a very enfeebled condition. They were immediately conveyed on shore, and medical aid promptly called in. Allan, however, was past all recovery; and we regret to learn, has left a widow and six children to lament his untimely lose. leglia, we are glad to say, is in r. fair way of recovery.—Scotsman, GERMANY. BERLIN, Jaw. b. The tax question will give occasion perhaps to an earnest—certainly to an interestirg—d. bate. A law with respect to the raising of taxes, when the budget has not been revised befcre the beginning of the year, does not exist in Prossia. The government propose that in such a case taxes should continue to bo col lected according to the grants of the foregoing year. In conerquetce of the adjournment of the Cambers, the revision of the budget for 1851 was not possible 'The cabinet conceives itself entitled, notwithstanu leg, to raise and to administer taxis. The Deputy Matzke hits therefore, in the first chamber, made a motion, that the government be empowered to collect taxes for the first three months of the current year, according to the scale of last year, before the expira tion of which time it may be anticipated the session will be concluded. The proposition of M. Matzke touches a very vital point of constitutional govern ment. The 11eue Prewssize Zeitting writes, "The Cham bers must recollect that self-preservation and duty, which are older than the charter, may command the repeal of the ordinary laws. The constitution must be ameliorated promptly and radically, and especially in that part where the root of the evil lies—in the law of election. Can this law, copied from a French constitutional pattern, give us anything else or better than a French July Chamber ? We must go back to better foundations if the existence of the Cnamher is to consist with the existence of the Prussian king- ' dom." A struggle for the maintenance of the con stitution will probably constitute the main interest of the present session. By an order from the ministry of war of the 2nd instant, a further reduction of the landwehr is to take P• lace The landwehr battalions of the first-class, in cluding the guard, are hereby reduced to 602 men; the landwehr companies, with the guard, to 150 men, or to less, as circums.ances may permit, the chapeau guard, the rifle corps, with all the chassenr battalions and compensa tion companies, already reduced one-third, are to be reduced one-fifth more, with this limit, however, that the two first-mm(l battalions should remain 602, and the list 452 strong. The landwehr cavalry regiments, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, s•h, and 6th, are to be brought down to 502 men and horses; and the Ist, 7th, and 8.11 army corps to that of 402 men and horses. The two landwehr Horse Guard regiments remain untouched. A Dresden correspondent of the Weser Zeituny says: Amid the innumerable contradictory plans and projects which are spoken of your readers shonld hold fast to the one I have already mentioned, namely: Austria and Prussia are in common to pos sess the executive power; the middle states, however, will take their place. Thus Bavaria is to have one vote, the three kingdoms a second, and the Grand Duchies a third, in a college, which is to decide all differences between the two great powers. I send you again this scheme of Aus tria with respect to the executive, because other organs of the press have not mentioned it, but have circulated a great many other projects, which are calculated only to hide the one really intended to be carried into effect by Austria. But this Austrian scheme must needs provoke the upposi tion of Prussia. It is true it awards to Prussia seem ingly a first place in the executive, but in case of differences between her and Austria, the decision is to be pronounced by an authority which would be sure to decide in favour of Austria. The central states would thereby play a part in Germany which Prussia has always hitherto disputed with them, because she is well aware that every increase ot , their power and importance tends to make 1 them her dangerous rivals, whilst Austria would not be thereby affected at all. This plan has besides this disadvantage, that it excludes the little states, and would thus widen their breach ' with Prussia. Should it be carried into effect, the small states would surely protest against it. But they feel confident that the King of Prussia will never give his consent to it. As for the representa tives of the kingdoms, they remain silent and expec tant. The proposal of a popular representation in the Bond is not at all earnestly entertained, for it proceeds not from good will towards the people, but from an evil consciousness of past crimes. M. Von Pforten knew right well that his proposi tion would be still-born. No one has ever taken him for a man likely to become a martyr. On the whole, it is most strikingly manifest in the most aristocratic circles, and in the conversations of distinguished per sons who have been active in bringing about a re action, that belief in the durability of what may be decided in the conferences is very small indeed. The Bavarian troops at Cassel are preparing to leave that city. Their place in the garrison will be tilled by the Austrian foot and artillery. The reigning Prince, Peal Alexander Leopold, of Lippe Detmold, died on New Year's-day, aged 66. FRANCE. PARIS, TUESDAY Evmsirro. It is now pretty nearly a matter of certainty that the question upon which the cabinet broke up was the dismissal of General Changarnier. In the cabinet council held at the Elysee on Saturday, this question was firmally introduced by the President. Four of the ministers, MM. Schramm, Router, Binean, and Dumas declared in favour of the measure. The other five, MM. Labitte, Banc Parieu, Ro ma:n-Desloasks, aed Fould were against it. Yes terday r.o minister appeared in the Cham ber during the whole sitting. When COMO repre sentative proposed to atop tLe iebate on this eccouut, M. llupin said that the Assembly was in full enjoy ment of its legislative power, and in suf f icient num ber; therefore the debate ought to proceed without interruption. In the meanwhile it appears that the ministers were met in conclave at the house of Barcche, still arguing the question of General C!,angar nier's dismiesaL M. Fould appeared to have changed his tint opinion, and thrown the majority on the other side. Tc-day, when the siteng of the Assembly opened, M. ltouher was the only minister who made his appearance on the ministerial bench. Fresh lists circulated in regard to the formation of the new cabinet, but the following was the only one which obtained much credit : Ooilon Barrot, Foreign Affairs ; Gen. Bandon, Minister of War ; L. Faucher, Public Works; M. Q. Bauchart, Commerce; the remaining placts to be occupied by five of the late ministers. The command of General Ch..ngarnier would be suppressed, or be reduced, as formerly, to the command of the division of Paris, and kept in strict subordination to the Minister of \Var. The report that the government was intent upon the dismissal of Gen. Cnangarnier raised to-day an extraordinary irritation in the Assembly ; and it seems that such a measure would be inevitably fa. lowed by a vote of de:tatorship to the dismissed general. The Assembly continued to discuss the Mortgage Bill. M. Rouber was still the only mini.ter on the government bench. General Reibell, whose signa , ure is attached to the instructions to the troops published by tte Pato., has addressed a letter to the Muniteur du Soir, which will appear in the Lumber of this evening. General Reibell does not deny the existence of such instructions, but simply relieves General Chan gamier from the responsibility of having issued them. General Changarnier's instructions to General Reibell were probably verbal. In thet cane, the com mander-in-chief, in denying that he had issued such written instructions, evaded the question by a qu;bble. la the conversations which the President held with men of parliamentary influence, be has limited himself simply to asking their opinions and advice, and not made any formal official offer with a view to the formation of a cabinet. The moment appears ripe for deciding the question whether the President or the parliament is to have the sole cammand of the army. To prolong inde finitely the divided controul over the public force which hes been bequeathed to the country by the constitution of 1848, would be to establish permanent anarchy. Everybody knows that when the constitu tion of 1848 was voted Paris was subjected to a state of siege. It was considered necessary to arm the Assembly against those popular insurrections with which it was continually menaced. Under these circumstances the followirg article was introduced into the constitution :—" The National Assembly de termines the place of its sittings. It fixes the im portance of the military forces established for its se curity, and it disposes of them." Thus was the legis lative body empowered to gather around it, for its safety, of which it is the sole judge, an army of a hundred thousand men and more. It would be diffieult,even in the swarm of French constitutions, to match this extraordinary provision. The constitution of 1791 granted to the - ICgi.lative power the right of disposing for its safety of the forces which with it, consent were established in the city, where it held its sittings ; but at the same time it left to the executive powt r to fix the number of these troops, and to collect them. The constitution of 1793 established no special force for the security of the parliament. The Conven tion, which seized and kept to the end all the powers of the state, had of course the absolute controul over Ithe public force; bat it must be remembered that the Committee of Public Safety, the executive power of that time, was composed and chosen out of members of the Convention. The constitution of the year ILI. instituted a special force of national guards for the security of the legislative body, placed these at its disposal, and interdicted the executive power from advancing the troops within a certain radius of the spot where its sittings were held. The constitution of 1848 alone creates audition to the (pester of the Assembly, shall be considered to have vacated hie seat. . . . M. Casimir Perrier has presented a proposition to have an article introduced into the regulations, de claring that when a treaty with a foreign power is submitted to the Assembly f3r ratification, no amend meats can be presented in the teat; but that, en the motion of one or more representatives, such or such an article can be referred back to the committee fur re-examination. The article declaring that a bill, when rejfcted, cannot be brought forward again fur three months, is not to apply to treaties. BOUR , Z. i biopsy. . • opreiseltlieherit. lowest. Closing. 20 36 90 36 20 543 70 0 94 90 93 95 91 80 91 TO „ nth 35. days, 74 Id Naples Banes 03942 Roam Loan 100 70: De. Mu 7O • Treasury Bonds_ • Bank Shares Yor AMOUIIt. PARIS, Tv.. 7. Poe Koper. OraiinglElisleele. Lonest. Closing. - - par Cents. &I IS 14 90 De 90 36 20 56 70 per oeoo4. 9l 71 114 0 94 90 93 95 91 80 do. NeerLoan.. 91 03 ~ 91 70 le Per Cons. te ger Om. 0 , 8 par OM& &I 73 3 per Cents. 94 7,9 S do. New Lan 94 63 49 per Orate. 4 per Dente. Exchange on Landon t al Uegias.6, 1830 Di. 3, 1844 Do. 44 Do. .39 otedmost bp.Ct.1849 84 SO Boum' —St. Garataist, 410; Versillss (right bank), 161 26; ditto (left bask), 162 60; Park and Orleans, 850 ; Rouen and Havre, 267 50; Marseilles and Avignon, 19J; Strasbourg cud Bole, 136 25; Centre, 390; Orloan. told Bordeaux, 4G O ; North, 472 60; Pare &Id Strasbourg, 313 75; Touts and Nantes, 248 75; Moutereau and 1 met, 90. SPAIN. MADRID. Dzo. 31. The Gazette of yesterday contained a statement of the receipt for the month of November, by which it appears that there is an increase of nearly thirty mil lions of reale over the receipts of the same month of the preceding year, an increase principallyprocecding from the reformed tariff duties and the tobacco re venue. The ministerial organ, while it coogr tt Oates the government upon this proof of the increasing proeperi y of the country, hints that the exc-llent re sult obtained from the reform of the tariff will en courage the government to take other steps in the same road. The new elections that have taken place in conrc quence of many deputies havii g been elected for several districts have all ttrminated in favour of the ministry. Yesterday, the government estimates for the ensu ing year were approved of by 189 votes, the opposition being 32 in number. There is nothing of importance in the Madrid journals of the 2nd. M. Mon had nrriced on the previous evening, and this had given tise to rumours of ministerial madifications. M. Mon had determined to sit for Cadiz, in cons* quenee of which two new elections would be necessary in the Asturias. The proctedinge in the Chamber of Deputies, on the 2nd, wore, up to post-hour, of no general interest. MADLUID, JAS. 2.—Three per Cents., 331; after Boles, 331 cub, 331 paper. Four per Cents., 121. Five per CentP, 12 7-18; after Bo:ea, 125 pep-r, 125 cash. Coupons, 6j ; after Bolas, 816 18. Paulen, 35 ; alter Boles, 31 teen. Bank of St. Ferdinand, 96 cash. Beduins. on London, 50.63 paper. two distinct independent powers, and places an army at the absolute disposal of the deliberative body. This power, granted for its pro'ection against the socialists, is now turned against the President to prevent his acquiring a base for the elevation of any permanent authority. In the midst of this conflict public opinion would be more favourable to the President but for the unfortunate indiscretions committed during the recess, which give some colour to the parliament's argument, that a prince who evinces such ambitious designs is not to be trusted with the sole command of the army. The public funds were rather heavy at the opening of the Bourse ; bat upon the rumour that a new ca binet was formed, into which MM. Baroche and Fonld entered, they rallied a good deal. The names which I meutioned yesterday, of M. Randon and M. Drouyn de l'ihys were circulated as entering into the new combination. At 2 o'clock the Fives rose suddenly from 04 to 94.80, at which apotation they closed, thus showing a rise of 60 centimes upon yesterday. The Threes rose 40c. and closed at 56.70. Madame Laffarge has been transferred from the prison in which she was confined to a mad house ()unison de anntil). The Moniteur publishes a report from the Minister of Agriculture and Commerce to the President of the Republic, in which, after alluding to the anxiety dis played by that high functionary for the establishment of banks of credit in France, be states that, during the' last six months, he bu caused inquiries to be made as to the capital and working of such establishments in the countries where they exist. He states that, at the present moment, for a population of 27 millions, 510 millions of francs have been lent on the most favour able conditions to agriculturists, to assist them in their enterprises, and that, in many cases, the loans, al though they have descended as low as 75fr., have been found proportionably as beneficial as where the ad vances have been much more extensive. The minister concludes by announcing that the documents upon Iwhich his information is founded have been carefully classed, and wM be published, in order that the itt- He is succeeded by the Crown-Prince, Paul Frederic i.B li sak ig64 ' S . t 9 : a .- ;Ca, portance of these institutions may be properly spree Leopold, aged 30, a major in the Prussian army. mated. BERLIN, JAN. 6.—Voluntary Lou,n 10,51; New Loan, The committee on parliamentary initiative will Feer.aos ..man per Cents., 994; Natimuil Debt, 841 ; C , take into consideration , in one of its early sittings ,:the morels! Mules Sodoty's Premium,l2o; Bank St urm 9 .2 5 1 . - e —i e v n eps .. r a C itto es:. 82 14eta different propositions relative to the arrest of repre - Folr i - s ird- s a , .H J o . 4 p . r F c ti sentatives. It is affirmed that a great part of the 1142. Exchange on London. 12.30. majority is decided on supporting one of the proposi tions (that of M. Poogeard), which states that any representative who does not satiety the claims of hie creditor within ono month from the date of the de- ITALY. "We are informed," says the Cons'autiwinel, "that the French government, in order to prevent any attempt that might be made to trouble the sekin rity of Italy, and in particular of the Pontifical Star has givea orders to several steamers to cruise along the coasts of the Italian peninsula." The financial budget of Tuscany for 1831 has been presented to the Grand Duke. The receipts are esti mated at 33,234 900 lire (29,362,500 teases), and the expenditure at 33,198,900 lire (29,310,75011 aces). The Duke of Modena has luau, d a decree, dated the 28th ult., directing that the raise for the year 1851 shall be ire eared one-s . xtli, the increase to be paid by monthly instalments. Correspondence from Turin brings the report of the sitting of the 3rd of the Chamber of Deputies. A proposition, moved by S 4 g. Peecatore, one of the members o f Left, for the better administration of justice, wu adopted without discussion, es it will have to be recensidrred when the bill of Sig. S;c cardi on the subject shad be brought forward. Sig. Asproni addressed a remotion to the cabinet, on the subject of the disturbance at Genoa. The Minister of the Interior immediately answered, assuring the Chamber that the tranquillity of the town lad cot b-en materially disturbed by the acci dental quarrel alluded to, which had no relation what ever with political feeling. The Genoa pipe's of the tad give an account of a string disturbance, which occurred in that city on the preceding evening. It commenced by some idle bays insulting a few tirailleura who were regaling themselves in a wine-slop. The soldiers attepmted to chastise the off. nders, but found they were backed by a mob. A sculls ensued, which was with difficulty stopped by the timely arrival of a piquet of national guards. Our Roman correspondent, writing on the 31st Dec. 31st, states that no measures of clemency were preparing far the new year, bat only a religions ju bilee. The wealthy Marquis Bases. Visconte had died, and, strangely, left all his property to a young lEuglith adopted Lon. A fight between French and Romans bad taken place. . . . . _ Our Ngpits correspondent states, in his letters of the 31st, that an ex raordinary number cf persons (upwards of 200) hal been arres'ed, in consequence of the detection of an alle.red plot, involving a &alga against the King's person, and a military insurrection. The official journal publishes the budget fur 1841. The land-tax for the kingdom of Naples is fixed at 6,130,000 ducats. Neapolitan Fives, 1011. Ex change on London, 562. I