The Express. — London, England, 1851-04-22 00:00:00

MR. HAYES. Sys.. the Dentist, r) ma ne y ears easbeeme In Itsys-et timmwt. Nubleblibt, sea Om WILT be ceseekted 12, fi'JUO 54 .1 CARY. the fervefso. TO CORUESPONDUTS. 1 A kola Mks 4 " no Upton," onWeblaVlSl MO INIMbIllt CawatiV to paMishei get, Three, AN ribb .r Om liar pre. A.VIIVINWSO6II4I4OIB4 ow "The Ewan: Loehr liewobe e rrer, mew be et the toles, tc, Seuver.etror, by Two elook ow Ur MT el pobileetbes. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDOR Tins Day—Morniss. Y. lim ........ Afters." 36a. Timisarmr-41arars, 110.—....AheesoM 7i. SUL LONDON, TUBBD4I, APRIL 22. An evening contemporary is at much pains to, prove that household suffrage would satisfy " nobody ;" and that universal suffrage would speedily follow, which would effect the ruin of every body. As we do not expect to see the latter expenment trie r] England in our day, we shall not waste time in dis cussing its alleged consequences. To say that it is an impossible contingency would no doubt be ab surd. We have always thought that the " manhood M arty" had one chance, and that it lay in the ad herence too long to the theories which the (ii.Ji en indefatigably, labours torecommend. 'llw oligarchy are depicted in its columns as "a garrison" who in time of social agitation would have nothing to do but " defend themselves against their natural enemies," —the people. Truly it is talk of this kind that may one day render the potation of the few perilous in the ex t re me. It may he safe, however selfish and silly, to hold this sort of language in West End clubs mil at snug family parties of the political monopolist. But it is worm , than silly to tell the working world at large that it is regarded by its taxing-musters u a " natural enemy." It is suicidal. To do them justice, however, the masses am slow I enough to take fire at the insolence of class ce' clique. Generally speaking they are only too happy" to hear of some practical alleviation of their lot, some small further remission cif the fiscal hurthens on their food or industry, some tardy mitigation of thew many hardships and sufferings. But it has ever been the characteristic of violent democratic changes, that they have come about not through the psesesien of widely extended privileges, but in spite of their denial, and in consequence thereof. It was the narrow circumscription of electoral rights in France, and the notorious facility of corruption thereby atforded to the government, that led to t h e general overturn of February, late. Ilud there been a suffrage half as extensive as now exist in that country, the bureaucratic r;yime of bald Flutters would doubtless have been impracticable during eighteen years, hut there could have been ne attempt at revolution. Measuring the matter by the meanest standard, that of mere numerical ioniser, is it not in fact clear that just in proportion as "the garrison" is strengthened the hazard from without is diminished, and the probability of serious conflict removed? The inner circle cannot be extended without encrouching just so much upon the region of the outer; and the more the I" •ts of enfranchisement comprehend, the more powerful is of myessity, the resistanee which may at ally inument he called intoactivity to any un just inroad from without. A large and elastic adap tation of the principle of parliamentary referm to the expanding mstaaltles and claims of an onward time is the only just course, and therefswe the only sure The Lill" of 1s T 2 was a east im provise, nt on the rotten-borough system; but it Las practically failed to enfranchise the industrious, educated, and loyal millions who occupy houses rated to the payment of taxes. Every such occupant might confessedly be admitted, with per Wet safety to the stability of our institutions, to a participation in the representative freedom of his country ; We no states man, who appresiates the genius of that country, or understands the veiminnie structure of society widen its borders, would stare, in these days, to assert that the interest and policy of the state was any other than that which these Louse-holding millions, if fairly pilled, would recognise as such. To insinuate the contrary were indeed to question the exist ing order of things, to divest legislation of its main, if not its only binding, sanction, to sound the tocsin of war and organise revolution. On the other hand, if it he true that the welfare and the will of dose great centred classes of society, which occupy the great terra firma of industry, worth, intelligence, and cicilusulionl, lying between the" luxurious refinement of tic aristoenwy and the still unnylainud wilds of untaught labour and hope less pauperisin—if, we say, it be true, that the assent and eonsent of these, the house-holding classes. has COW to be the esssential quantite iu all our national call there be 'modems. or wisdom in trying any Looser to evade the formal seknowledg.' Unlit of the fats. and the constitutional recognition el the vital truth? Our contemporary reproduces the objection so ellen urged by laird Jinx Ressias„ that what is thews demanded would not cure the main defect in the Reform Bill, inasmuch us it would not directly enfmnehise the working classes. And thereupon we are led away into a somewhat Lucy regien of theoretical speculation, M. DE Tewousviiis b e ing invoked as guide, fur the prefaced purpose of com paring the relative merits of the systems of direct mid double election, but without apparently the least intention of doing anything more than pro- " pounding the riddle, and Waving its solution to con- jeCtlifT. With respell to tlw al legatii in ado: Pun tEa we are more than displaced to dispute its accuracy alto- gether. We have repeatedly shown by a reference to electoral statistics that a household suffrage would mint inoffensively but most completely draw a line of political distinction between the thrifty and the thriftless, the steady and the restless, the worthy and the worthless of the operative clause The beet men of every trade and culling would be clothed with the privileges of eititeuship, while the roving, the idle, the improvident. would, by the silent opera tion of the self-adjusting nwelemism of the rateable domicile test, be quietly omitted from the annual register of electors. 'lO have a separate dwelling of his awn—whither a separate roof ur only a separate set of chambers, or a separate rent-paying flat or por tion of it tomprehensive building—is already the pride of our skilled artisans and journeymen of all specks of handicraft. But disenitiesl as it would be with the possessiou of political status and power, it would inevitably become still more so. The state would exact the double pledge--first, of permanent ability and willingness to contribute to its fiscal ne m-whirs ; and secondly, the existence of domestic ties and obligatiouce. We should be very glad to I know what other elements of conservatism can be &Mind in the ranks who live by daily bread, of which it is possible fur law to take hold ? Sound educa ' tion, a cheap and truthful popular literature, and the teachings of religion are. indeed, the highest of all guarantees for public safety. But we speak now of comparative degrees and eludes of eoncession of leech tieal rights to the humbler ranks of the community as they are and us they are likely tube. Large con cessions cannot further he withheld. The pressing question is to whom and how skill they be tuade ? But what, let us ask. would be the seenrity of a system of indirect election by the working classes. which the simpler method woidd not more effectually secure? Would nut intrigue, ambition, and cabal instinctively set about defeating the grudging and invidious scheme? Or what chance of permanence would there be, when at every election the operative wait reminded that his rights were not those. • of the householder beside him, and to whom he must often times feel himself in every way superior—but the half rights of an inferior unit legally branded class ? We can imagine no severance of ranks more dan- Tile Examiner goes further this even Mr. GLAD nosy. in its admiration of a house tax. That gen tleman declared his belief that the property and in • come tax would never endure unless It was adjusted, and in despair of its adjustment he proposed a broad bowie tax, as a direct source of revenue, upon which government could rely fur reducing those portions of indirect taxation which were elastic, and in which the increase of consumption would compensate for lowness of duty. The Examiner would, however, make no attempt to adjust the income tax, woul alsosrate men that portion levied on land, and trans..' fer the whole burden of direct taxation to houses. The squires will be very much obliged to the Exam i Examiner. The proposal s one which they. would celebrate with a prodigious bonfire, in whi • ch their half of Schedule A might be seen-bpsldas to skirl great satisfaction. The objections to-tite old hat h Shop epir tax and to the wind ow tax werapeacia4 t burden fell almost altogether upattowns, and .an, infinitely greater proporttoss. albsFrit townuAtteu upon small ones. Thie s was ".„sust as as to say that it was a tax frOm the owners and occupiers of landed seer. ' competitively exempt, - and to = a l l coarse, the classes of professions, of industry and of every kind of business, were _peculiarly subject. The pro.posed house tax has precisely the same effect and incidence. It falls lightly, se the CHANCELLOR of the ENCHF.QUER tells us, on old-fashioned country houses. The effect will be to compel all farm-houses to be reduced under the standard of 201. annual value, and the towns will, as before, bear the brunt. The old house-tax was to be sure estimated at the letting . value of a residence, which, being often small in the case of large country houses, al lowed them to go, as it were, free. If one side thus be remedied, on the other the old gra duated scale, which, in window and house tax, was greatest on expensive houses, is now done away with. The great mass of landowners of course live in the country ; the few that keep town and country houses are comparatively small, and even these are politicians the greater part, who contrive to extract from the revenue of the country more than they con tribute to it. But not only is the house tax a peculiar burden upon the non-agricultural chasm but it is unfairly portioned amongst this class. The man of 1,3001. a year and the man of 13,0001. a year may live alike in a 2001. a year house. After a certain point of room, comfort, and luxury in a house is reached, there is no motive fur exceeding it. And where a greater amount of room, and consequently of rent, is re quired and submitted to, these proceed as much gram the number of a gentleman's family, as from his hr. tune or his pride. The house-tax is thus no cri terion of a man's income, or of a man's ex penditure, or of a man's property. It may cer tainly want the inquisition of the income-tax, hut it merely does without the inquisition, by taking for granted that which it cannot know, and which is often the reverse of the fact. It is no consolation to be told, that the tax-man will not inquire into your property, hut that he will be perfectly content to levy on you a per centage for three times more than you arc worth, and this without inquiry. The house tax is essentially, and almost exclu sively, a tax on the middle and industrious classes. Anil upon them, as a set off to a real and universal land tax, its fairness might be admitted. But as a solitary and exclusive basis for direct taxation, and that of so large an amount as to produce six or seven millions, this, as proposed by the Examiner, would be one of the most iniquitous and unjust schemes of taxation that could be devised. It would be a per fect extinguisher on the middle classes, and is a pro ject only fit to be entertained by Jolts CHARLES MERMEN, or to be consented to by Mr. GLAIISTONII, as the most desirable means of reconciling and rally ' ing the protectionists once more under the lead of the l'EurrEs. However entertaining . these opinions, we by no means seek 14 the rejection of Sir CHA ELLS Woof s s house tax. it is a great thing to be rid of the win dow tax, and not to remove one source of direct taxation alto;mther, whilst the other is so decried and so insecure. We look, however, upon the house tax as a provisional arrangement, to he re considered along with the whole subject of direct taxation. That it might be rendered a fair impost, we have no doubt. As a set-off, for example, except a fair and universal land tax, the house tax would not have to be complained of. But to vote it as a second schedule 1), and to levy the niessuagem division of Schedule A with Schedule D, and the house tax and the poor rate, all upon expenditure, as signifying income, nothing can be 1111)11 . unjust. Abolish the income tax altogether, and let the whole weight of direct taxation weigh on houscs—this would be worse still, as taking tor the first years of the tax one of the worst and falsest criterions of people's means. In a few years indeed, the taxpayers would work out a remedy, by all selecting an inferior class of abodes. In time, towns and streets would soon he erected with a view to evade such a law; and English edi fices would soon come to resemble Turkish, in which the chief rule of architecture is to simulate poverty. We need not say that this would base all the bad effects of the window tax, or perhaps more. There is, however, some reason in the argument that no tax is either just or perfect. We had, there fore. last accept Sir ()RIME , : Woolf's house tax for the !,resent; extending it, indeed, if possible, but bearing in mind all the while that the basis of taxa tion on which it rests is unequal; that it weighs on the middle and industrious classes; that it exempts the landed interest; that it is essentially a citizen or municipal tax ; and that, however, as such, a fair vounterpoise to a hind tax, it is, if alone, unfair, and if of larger per (outage quite intolerable. French direct taxation has four categories. It comprises a land tax, a house tax, payable, from the result of the peculiar distribution of French houses into apartments, by the owner, not the occupier; thirdly a furniture or tenant tax, and a patent or shop-keeping tax. They thus at tain all kinds of income and property; and they make these direct sources of taxation fruitul by extending them to the lowest grades. There are nearly half it million of persons paying land tax in France, of whom four-fifths pay less than sixteen shillings in the year; but the great and fundamental principle prevails, that the surplus produce of the soil is the first and most rightful source of taxation. THERE is no subject more important to a branch of onr manufactures, not the must prosperous, as well as to the security and defence of the empire, as the controversy raised respecting the merits of iron vessels and of wooden ones. For sonic years past iron has begun to assume a position in commerce which our fathers never dreamt of, and not only has the immense demand for it in railways tended to this, but the extraordinary perfec tion to which it has been brought in every day use. Assisted by chemistry, it has been made to resist the effects of atmosphere and water. The case with - winch it can he cast to any shape has been the means of sending ready-made buildings to the colonies, whilst the old summer house of former days has ex panded to the gigantic palace of Hyde Park. Like every other branch of the commercial world which has risen to such colossal mag,nitude, it cannot afford to retrograde, but daily requires fresh outlets fur its industry. and one of the largest of these is the ex tent to which it has been used in ship-building. In the beginning of the present century the sub ject of building vessels of metal was started by scientific men, owing to the enormous duties upon European timber, which in the year 1809 rose as high as 275. N. a load. although the price of Memel I timber was of itself 325. a load. The subject was therefore of vast importance to mercantile men, and the reasons given in favour of such an experiment were—the absence of " wear and tear" in the hull; no necessity for caulking or coppering; no possibility of injury from dry rot ; greater lightness and in creased capacity; lastly. that in case of grounding there was absence of straining, and if built in water tight compartments. of course absence of danger in such eases. The first employment of this metal, be yond a few canoe and river vessels, was the Aaron Maltby, a steam-vessel constructed at the Horsley Iron works. and it is said she never required her hull re pairing for twenty-six years. In 1832, the El burkah, another iron steamer. traded from Liver pool to the coast of Africa, and answered so well that since then one builder. Mr. LURD, of Birken head, had up to 1847 built 43 iron vessels, which amounted to upwards of 12,600 tons. But the greatest trothy of this branch of trade was the " Great Britain. of 3,300 tons, and she has certainly satisfactorily undergone the exueriment of the capabilities of iron vessels when run ashore. Perceiving the success which these ships obtained in the mercantile navy, the Board of Admiralty wished to try the experiment, upon which in the course of a few years they managed to spend a million. No sooner was the money spent, than the very natural quire arose, as to the effect of cannon shot upon the iron walls thus substituted for the wooden ones. And yet the objection was really made long before the building of the iron fleet, even as far back as 1810. Sir SSMI . F.t. BENTHAM called the attention of the then Comptroller of the Navy to the necessity of trying the effect of shut, not merely upon iron targets, but upon a floating body of iron. Small attention was paid to him. although there was no need of so costly an experiment to test the power IL THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY Of a projtstile apes mita Fateltala t t ed. .bag a FWray lira ; II la place ' of load a ling-pubeynth a doable charge of powder and a swab-she shot, and fire at a &dance of some eight oi,,ban yard's. Soft as lead is, it will make a ttitsan . nand hole through the hard copper of the penny Om. If the penny piece will offer so little resistance to a leaden shot, what can be expected from the- thin iron sides of a ship against for midable powers of the new 68 and 84-pounders? When a ballet is fired through a wooden panel the strength with which it is fired is so great and the resistance offered by the wood is so small that the latter, offering no resistance, appears as if it parted of its own accord ; and, after allowing the metal to pass through, the bruised and remaining particles instantaneously cling together again, and therefore, in ships, present an obstacle to the admis sion of water. In the case of metals, on the other hand, the adhesion of the particles to one another is so great and tke resistance so strong that it is a case of the weaker body giving way before the harder. Therefore, in iron vessels, it is a simple case of double shotting the enemy's guns ; and the wounds from these ragged pieces of plate must be of a most dreadful nature. In the year 1845, experiments were tried in Wool wich Marshes upon iron targets lined with wood, and the iron was still found unsuccessful. But they did not seem to have been in connexion with iron vessels. However, in the year 1850, the Admiralty directed their attention to the subject. A large butt, built in imitation of a section of the Simoom, was made in the Dockyard, representing the two sides of an iron vessel, each side the strength and consistency of the Simoom. This butt was erected on the mud, at a distance of 460 yards from the Excel lent. The practice was carried on from guns of various calibre and with various charges. It was found that on the side which the shot entered, a large and tolerably round hole was made in the iron plate, the circumference being much jagged, and the edge turned inward. (hi the ojiimsde side, where the shot passed out, the hale was larger, and also jagged, the edge of the whole turned outwards, with occasionally some rivets started. Some of the shot on entering, from striking against the angles of the iron ribs, were broken in pieces, the fragments passing l out at the opposite side making holes of various sizes and formations. Shells also appear to have a de- Istructive effect on iron-work in creating splinters, I the pieces of shell passing out through the p lates lat the opposite side—the off side in all cases suffer ling most. To test the effect of splinters inside the vessel, a slight plank bulkhead had been run up be- 1 tween the iron sides of the vessel. This was found entirely shattered. Is not this a sufficient con elusion? To corroborate the truth of the experiment were present Sir BLADES C.tPEL, Commander-in Chief at Portsmouth, Hear-Admiral Pitt .scorr, Cap taM Cm ens, of the Excellent, and a host of nasal and military officers. The champions of iron boats pmmisc to produce , plates and other contrivances for stopping up these holes. What do they mean by stopping up holes in an action ? 'Have they any idea What an action is? We will merely quote a single Instance of one, and we have chosen it because it is generally known that of the Shannon and Chesa peake. From the time it begun till the Shannon's men boarded was eleven minutes; after boarding, tour minutes. During this space of time the Shannon had five shot passed through her. Several more lodged in her side, ranged in line just below the copper. A bar shot entered just below the water mark, leaving a foot sticking out at one end. The Chesapeake was severely battered in her hull. One shot passed through one of her transoms,equal in stout -12(1111 to a 61-gun ship. Fancy the water pouring in through the openings made by a 4;8-pounder below the water-mark. The iron boat associations are not, however, aghast even at this. They allege that by an inward coating of kamptulikon, some mixture of cohesive sub stances with rags, the sante tendency to till and stop the hole by shot, which is observable in wod, might also be Communicated to the iron. Certainly evert' fair play ought to be given to such experiments; and I conducted as these are about to be, at the expense of the projectors, there can be no objection to them. But we tear that the partisans are likely as a re sult to have their favourite metal not restored to the character of being able to resist shot. But for all that iron vessels have their uses, as well as wooden ones. Swifter they can undoubtedly be made, and for coast service surer craft. As troop ships, us store ships, or packets, or as the locomotive power of the great wooden b attery; called a man-of-war, iron steamers can be put to valuable use. Speed, we maintain, is the first requisite for a packet, or for vessels to bear tidings even in time of war. To be be able to get out of shot with alacrity is as high a quality for such vessels, as being able to stand it. 'there is such a thing as light cavalry in the military service, which is never put to confront a buttery. But such reginicats are indispensable, and so would be iron steamers. FRANCE. PARIS, MONDAY Evrvisc. The National, one of the univ papers published this morning, attributes to the fionapartists a fresh design, which consists in repealing the deeree of October 28th relative to the presidential eke.' tion, and prolonging the term of the President's powers to December 10, 1832, in order to gain time, and to avoid the simultaneous coincidence of the presidential and parliamentary election. The Constitution is however, precise on this point, and fixes the election by its 4fith Article for the second i Sunday in May. Not a breath of news is stirring to-day, and all the world arc abroad in the sunshine, making a ' holiday of it. The activity of the nonapartists in getting up petitions for the prolongation of the President s powers, is visible in the country papers. The Echo de risme states that 400 communes of the Dor.' dogne arc at this moment occupied in signing peti tions for the revision of the constitution, and re appointment of Louis Napoleon. Fifty-four of these petitions have been addressed to General de liar, who has undertaken to present them to the Assembly. M. de Falloux arrived at Nice on the 12th, from Venice, and is expected at Paris soon after the close of the vacation. Seditious agencies arc noted to be busier than usual in the faubourgs, particularly in the quarter of St. Antoinei and although the mass of reflecting workmen are doubtless aware of the certain failure of an .'ineate, and remember bs- better experience the galling effects, in diminishea employment, which such attempts produce, many are tempted in tavern cellars to pledge their services to the insurgent cause upon the appointed day. Wages are low, and work scanty. The great furniture shops decline additions to their stock, unless brought at prices below re muneration. The departments seem agitated by alarming ru mours and the appearance of men in considerable numbers demanding work. The Aredr, a paper of St. Etienne, buttes that between seven and eight hundred persons had applied to be employed at the ateliers-ttatiumtr, which they heard had been re established, as in 1848, by the municipality. The working classes of the same place were in a state of ferment at rumours of disturbances at Grenoble and Vienne. . _ The commissioners on prisons left Paris on Satur day for Brussels, to inspect the penitentiary system of Belgium. lhe funds rose slightly. The Fives closed at 02.40, a rise of 10c. The Threes rose 13c., and closed at SPAIN. The Madrid journals of the 16th contain nothing of political importance. The elections continued to s excite great interest. The 3lontemolinists intended to exert themselves in the provinces to secure the .r , lecess of their partisans. The progressists calcu ' lated on obtaining 100 votes in the new chamber, but the government was of opinion thlt they would not have more than 50. The government, in compliance with the recommendation of the royal council, had authorised the parties who had contracted for the ca nalisation of the Ebro to commence operations, en attendant the passing of a bill by the Cortes. The . Stock Exchange was nut open on the 16th. Meetings had taken place of dilferent political par ties for settling their plan of actioni n the coming elections. no APRIL 22, 1851. PORTUGAL. Oar Madrid letters of April 16 inform us that the Lisbon news of the 12th (confirming, as far as it goes, the telegraphic intelligence given yesterday) is represented as highly favourable to the Queen's party. The force of Saldanha is said to be reduced tr a single regiment of infantry (1,000 men). He is marching on Oporto. Colonel Joaqui.m Bente was on the south' side of the Tagus, marching from Caruche, intending to cross the river about four or five leagues above Abrantes, to join Saldanha. Up to the evening of the 10th there had been no rising at Oporto. The junta party of that city were ready to rise at a moment's warning from their chiefs, who were understood to be holding back until Saldanha should agree to their stipulations. On the night of the 10th the war-vessel Mindello arrived at Oporto, bringing Major Correa de la Carda and other officers. A courier from Evora announces that the province is quiet. At Beja the civil and military authorities had sworn to obey the govern ment. Saldanha's cause was considered precarious, be cause of his having failed in his first attempt to occupy Santarem. It is, nevertheless, stated that the king's troops could not be entirely relied upon. Colonels Franco and Nlagelhaes had been dismissed from their commands. Other colonels supposed to be implicutel in Saldanha a plans still retained their commands in the king's forces. the Duke of Ter ceira could not keep the field, in consequence of an attack of the gout. The run upon the Bank of Lisbon had subsided, and its old notes had risen from 3 to 10 per cent. discount. The following is the king's order of the day upon taking the command of the troops: Brave and Loyal Portuguese Army !—A general, whose first duty, according to the principles of honour and military laws, was to respect the throne, its constitutional preroga tives, and the maintenance of discipline, committed the un heard-of and unjustifiable attempt of inciting part of the army to revolt. This criminal proceeding will be justly valued by the nation. Brave and loyal l'ortuguese army!—As commander-in thief I am the first to respect the free exercise of the prero gatives of the crown. A soldier's first duty is obedience ; he cannot nor ought not to intermeddle in political affairs. A contrary proceeding is to attack her Majesty the Queen, the constitutional charter, and public order. Confiding in your loyalty, and assured of yourpatriotism, I did not Maitate a moment in putting myself at the head of the brave men whom I have the satisfaction to command, and to whom the glory of quelling the rebellion will be due. EL - IiLY, Commander-in-Chief of the Army. d-quarters, at the Palace of Neeessidades, April tr. ITALY. Our Roman correspondent states, in his letter of the 14th, that the ceremonies of the Holy Week had begun with the procession of palms in St. Peter's, in which Lords Feilding and Camden took part. The 12th, being the anniversary of thel'ope's return, had been celebrated by a grand review of the French troops, to whom papal crosses and medals were dis tributed. The order of confirmation had been per ti•rmed at Rome by the protestant bishop of Madras. The Pope had published an edict commemorative of his restoration. 'f he total amount of paper money taken out of cir culation by the sale of the new treasury certificates, up to the 29th of last month, was 3,231,295 dollars. Exchange on London, 177. Roman Consols are going up slightly, being now 88, Five per Cents. Our Naples correspondent states, in his letter of, the 14th inst., that the Grand Duke of Tuscany had' arrived at Naples, and received the diplomatic corps.' The Prince of Parma has taken a house at Cub telamare fur the summer, and the Prince of Syracuse at Sorrento; and great numbers of visitors are ex pected. American fleet has sailed, and the commodore left on the 12th, in the Mississippi,to join the other ships at Spezzia. A Neapolitan frigate has sailed for London, to bring home the Bombay. Serena persons applying for permission to visit the London Exhibition liave received for answer that if they go they will not be allowed to return. Exchange on London, 563. Five per Cents, 101 Z. PIEI/MONT. In the sitting of the lith the Chamber of Depu ties adopted the treaties of commerce concluded with Belgium and England, by 114 votes to 14. The an nouncement of this result was reaa•ed with loud cheers from both sides of the house and the galleries. - - - GERMANY. BERLIN, Arnim 18. The reaction in the administration of the political affair , ' of this country has reached a point at which the next step mast be the transition to that state of government which existed previously to March 184 S. Your columns have daily contained all-sufficient proofs of this fact. Attention must now be drawn to the reaction in the administration of the religious affairs. According to the constitution passed and sworn to in February, POO, all religious persuasions may be freely exercised and are wholly separate from poli tical rights. Let me premise here that the state church of Prussia is protestant, catholic, and Jewish --that is to say, the teachers of the Lutheran, ca tholic, and Jewish persuasions, are all paid by the state, and are under the immediate control of the eultus minister. All persons preaching tenets dif. firing from either of these three must depend fur support on the voluntary contributions of their fol lower'. Of late years the number of these sects has greatly increased, owing mainly to the forcible union of the evangelical and Lutheran churches decreed some eight or ten years ago. There are baptists and anabaptists, methodists, Christian catholics, German eathohcs, free Christians, primitive Christians, and others, the majority of which have found locations principally in the Saxon and eastern provinces of Prussia. They have long since been viewed with suspicion and dis like by the higher authorities in the protestant branch of the state church, and as the leaders of this confession are now in peace at court and in the go vernment, they have set in motion the whole of the machinery of the ecclesiastical and political police in order to put them down and efface them from the country. The brethren of the sects have been de clared political offenders, because they hold public meetings not sanctioned by the law. In Pomer ania and East Prussia, in Breslau numbers have been arrested and sentenced to the payment of fines varying in amount from sto 341 thalers. The com mon illiterate police are the machinery employed to terrify and suppress. In East Prussia all the sacred offices of the church performed by members of these sects have been declared illegal, with a retrospective action. The married have been unmarried, the christ ened unchristened, the dead not buried, with the usual Christian rites. In point of fact, all persons pro fessing any other faith but those recognised by the state have been excommunicated. In the Saxon province the police have been strictly ordered to place of execution, where the prisoner, who watch with the greatest care the proceedings of the twenty years of age, was hung. dissenting bodies and the activity of their leaders. A similar scene was near being enacted in San Wherever they occur, the parish authorities have Francisco. There, also, a people's jury tried a person been instructed immediately to acquaint the police accused of an attempt to commit murder, but luckily authorities, in order that the necessary repressive three of the jury resisted the demands of the popu measures may at once be put in force. This is merely lace. Their firmness saved the life of the culprit, the commencement of a crusade against dissenters and he was eventually handed over to the officers of from the recognised protestant church. I could de- justice, to be legally tried. tail several other cases, but I prefer waiting until The legislature has failed to elect a senator in the they shall have accumulated to such a degree that place of Colonel Fremont. Atter one hundred and public attention begins to be aroused. forty-four ballots, the joint convention in effect ad- I have desetibed the manner in which the authori- journcd sine die. ties of the church are punishing dissent. What are I Though there had not been any remarkable dis they doing within the church to prevent it? I will coveries of gold, yet the general tenor of the news not enter upon the new "Kirchen Ordnits? (church from the interior is decidedly favourable to the regulations), as it requires a more careful digest than miners. The quartz mines are being worked with I have yet been able to give to it. Suffice it here to much success, and the stories heretofore published remark, that it entirely subverts the principle upon' of the richness of the placers at Trinidad Bay are which the old "Kirrlien Ordnuny" was ssed, viz., I , corroborated by this arrival. Miners were going to that the parish clergymen or priests were under the the Gold Bluff' in great numbers. direction and subordinate in many matters to the At the mines dry weather continued to be expe parish council, the elected administrative body. The rienced, and, from the lack of rain apprehensions new regulation places the council and administration were entertained in many new quarters; locations entirely under the dominion of the clergymen, whose had, however, been explored which promised to yield power is in some degree to be absolute. He is to largely, and from the general tenor of the accounts it keep conduct lists of his parishioners, 8:c. There was expected that unusually large receipts of dust are many other obnoxious points in the regu- would be received during the spring, tho miners lation, and I must return to it in an- I having adopted plans to meet the difficulty. Gold other letter. Its spirit and its action must ' dust was already arriving somewhat more free yat be catholic and not protestant. I do not sup- lat San Francisco, and the essayers were fully em pose that the enforcement of such a regulation cs ployed. On the 2nd of March two steamers were de calculated to prevent dissent ; for, careless as the stroveil by fire at San Francisco. In mercantile affairs Berliners may be to religious matters, there is in the since the departure of the previous mail operations • eastern and northern parts of Prussia a mass of pro- had been light. Goods had heti' offered freely for testant feeling and principle. full of life and vigour, sale at auction, and lower prices accepted. which revolts at the progress now making by popery, The Pacific Mail Company had raised their rate aid at • every incident in the government of the of freight on dust to per cent. from San Fran. Prussian church which is calculated to assist that awn to Panama. It is this feeling which has secretly stimu- From Oregon we have amounts to February 22, = re the bunker or squirearchy to oppose the admis- but they arc unimportant. sion into the Germanic Confederation of the non- The Commissioner of the Mexican Boundary Com.. German catholic provinces of Austria. There is in- mission, Major Bartlett, has arrived ut Galveston. deed sufficient cause why this feeling should be The difficulties with the Mexican commissioners have kept awake, and be provoked if possible into been arranged, and the initial point on the Rio greater activity. England has discovered that Pu- Grande Beata Friendly conferences have been held septum has materially promoted the attacks of the with the Indians. A party of fugitive slaves were Roman catholic church ; Prussia has yet to discovered on the route by Major Bartlett, who were learn that there are growing up within the pro- in a state of starvation, and had been compelled to kill testant church practices which arc the same as those one of their companions for food. A band of armed commenced by Dr. Pusey in England. The metro- desperadoes, who had been guilty of atrocious out ' polls of Berlin has witnessed for several weeks past rages at a small village called Socorro, were seized the rise and progress of Liturgische Andachlen," by the military force attached to the commission prayer meetings at which the ordinary church service about the last of January, and after a summary trial, is performed with all the effect which illumined were promptly executed. churches and massive sacred music can impart. Cho- The Hungarian colonists in Texas have met with Asters clad in scarlet robes assist at the ceremony. a most cordial reception from the citizens of Gal- Outing the service different robes are worn at veston. ferent periods. These are facts which indisputably The Indians continued their work of plunder and exhibit traces of a desire to restore at least the pomp murder in the valley of the ltio Grande. The and form if not the spirit of the Roman planters on the banks of the r iver are in the g reate st catholic church service. There is a large party alarm, and many families have removed to the who desire a closer approximation to the Mexican side. spirit of popery. Their influence is apparent A brilliant file was recently given by the inha in the bigoted persecution of dissent narrated above. bittuits of the colony of I'iedvus 'Negras, in honour of Thus, while the free exercise of religious opinion is the accession of Gen. Arista to the presidency, at constrained, and persecuted by magisterial and cede which a number of residents on the American side of siastical interference, the protestant form of religion the Rio Grande were present. Several Indian chiefs, is changed in a manner undeniably Roman catholic. in full costume, also attended the celebration. The motives which prompt the individuals at the The accounts from the survey of the route for the bottom of this manceuvre arc not to be discerned. Tehuantepec Railroad are highly encouraging. It They must be unpatriotic, they arc revolutionary. is supposed that the work wills: completed in about The growth of the power of Prussia is cue solely to four months. The members of the expedition remain the protestantism of its former rulers, and the corn- in excellent health. partitively liberal form of government. The autho- By way of Havannah we have news from Guate. my of Prussia to take the lead in the affairs of Ger- male and San Salvador. Our information is drawn ' many was admitted to be based on the liberal internal from the Belize correspondence of the Doris de policy and the comparative civil and religious freedom to Marina, which that paper publishes without possessed by the inhabitants. The extension of the giving its date. It seems, according to this cor civil freedom which the people obtained in 18-18 has respondence, that the arrival at the city of San been with but slight exceptions withdrawn, and now Salvador of the defeated President Vaticoncelos was is not only religious freedom being curbed, but the the occasion of a riot among the huckster women, authorised religion is being tinged with Romanism. who, in rage at the rout of the army and the loss Men capable of inventing and carrying out such of their relativek invaded his house, and threatened plans must be Prussians or protestants, they must be his life. He had not resumed the executive revolutionists, who hope to emerge from the turmoil functions, though he had been the requisite of a religious war with advantage and profit. twelve days in the capital, and the office was APRIL 19. still tilled by its provisional occupant, Senor Duenas, Baron Marschale has been appointed pleni wen _ a man of the 1411110 polities us the President. tiary to the Diet for the duchy of Baden. Meanwhile COMM invaded the state, and oecu- Ilerr von Massive has been provisionally appointed pied Santa Anna, an important town from thirty to the past of Minister of the Royal Household in to forty mi les from the frontier, and eighty from the place of the diseased Prince ‘Viiti o senstein. the capital. There he made propositions for peace, The Second Commission in Dresden has held a demanding as a condition that Vaseoneelos should re sitting, and the second and fourth united have done sign his office, and that the Guatemalan emigrants the same. It is now understood the Prussian govern_ should be surrendered. To the first point the provi meat will really make an attempt to obtain at least sional president replied that it could only be done one result from these conferences. Count Alvensleben v o luntaril y : and to the second, that it was wholly hasbeen instructed to endeavour to procure t he sanction out of the questimi To this Senor Dueler; added of all the German governments to the construction of that no further negotiations could take place until an arms- of 13,),0440 men, to be placed under the the territory of San Salvador were abandoned. Here command of an officer appointed by the Diet, for upon Carman withdrew' his forces leyond the iron the purpose of protecting monarchical interests, tier, either to facilitate the formation of a treaty, or and of immediately repressing the slightest in_ to avoid driving the people of San Salvador to &m -ama:aim' in Germany. As most of the states have Aeration. The government of the latter were at the already signified tint they have no objection to same time engaged in raising new troops, and had this sAeuve, it will very probably be the sole result already 2,000 recruits at the capital. They had of the labours of the Dresden confere nces. sought reintbreements from Honduras and also at To-day being Good-Friday only the evening papers San Miguel. were published. In Guatemala all was rejoicing and enthusiasm at the result of the war. In consequence the govern _ _ ment is said to have gained in the afftetions and patriotism of capitalists, KO far that the resources of the treasury have been doubled. The fume of Car rera is at high tide, and even the principal chief of the mountaineers, named Simoneito, had joined the army to fight for the country. It is said that the president of the National Diet of Central America has put forth a proekunation requiring Nicaragua, San Salvador, and Honduras to stop the war with Guatemala. Front Chagres we have accounts to the 20th, and from Panama to the 26th ult. On the 25th, a des ' tractive tire took place on the island of Tobago, at I Pannma, from which the storehouses and property of the Pacific Mail Steam-ship Company were barely saved. Sonic 30 houses were destroyed. On the 28th the men who murdered eight persons on the Chagres river were to be shot. Letters from Peru state that the result of the 1 presidential election had excited no disturbances. Troops had been dispatched to quell a rising of slaves in Truxillo. Valparaiso accounts of February 25, state that the Copiapo railroad was making satisfactory Fos gress, and the survey of the route to Santiago had been carried 51) miles with favounible results. Her Majesty's ship Ikedalus had been ordered to take on board 20 months provisions, in order to carry succour to the Plover and other ships searching for Sir J. Franklin. Her Majesty's ship Portland ar rived out on the Nth. Political affairs were tranquil, and little doubt existed, that in March, Morritt would be elected President. Mercantile affairs had improved, large sales had been made, and the houses appeared satisfied. We kern that he British brig lirutus had been lost in the bay of St. Quentin'', with all on board but two. The island of Chigoe, at the last advices, was suf fering from a protracted drought. There had not been twelve cloudy days for three months. An ar rangement had be's% made with the British steamer Vulcan for regular communication IK•tWeCII Valpa raiso and the southern parts. Gold has been found to a considerable extent in the department of Luiares. AMERICA. ARRIVAL OF TILE CANADA. Last evening, shortly after 8 o'clock, the Canada, Captain Harrison, arrived in the Mersey, with the usual mails from the United States and the British Provinces. She left Boston on the 9th instant, at half-past 1 p.m, and Halifax at the half -past 2 on the 11th. She brings upwards of 130 ptussengers, some specie, and a fair general cargo of merchandise. Her political news is of no considerable import mice. The chief topic at Boston was the arrest of an other fugitive slave named Simms, who tendered affidavits that he never saw the person who claims hint before: public indignation was excited to a great degree; but on an appeal to the Supreme Court for• a habeas corpus, the application was dis missed. While on his way to the lock-up, the man drew a knife and stabbed one of the officers in at tendance, inflicting on him a severe wound. An abolition lawyer, who attempted to interfere, was seized by the pollee and sent to the watch-house. The man claimed as a slave is from Savannah, and has been in Boston about a month. A petition was presented the day after his arrest to the legislature, asking fur the use of the State-house yard for• a public meeting, with reference to the enforcement of the Fugitive Slave Law. This petition was not granted. A meeting was then called on Boston-common, which was numerously attended and addressed by several speakers, who urged inuncdiate and violent resistance to the operation of the law. Every means was taken by the pollee to prevent ally outbreak. The court-house, in which the fugitive was confined, was surrounded by chains to keep off the crowds, and guarded by a large body of officers. Several military companies were in readiness for action in ease of any disturbance. Letters from Washington, in the Nese York Amnia! t ! I Commerce, express a probability that a difieit bill, for 12,00 ~000 dols., will be presented on the re-assembling of Congress. C. M. Ingersoll, de mocrat and unionist, had berm elected to Congress for Connecticut. The launch of the steam-ship Pioneer, 2,700 tons, intended to carry passengers to Europe to the Expo sition, took place at New York on the sth. Several new crevasses have recently broken out on the Mississippi river, but it is probable that they will be effectually stopped without excessive damage. By the arrival of the Georgia at New York, on the Bth inst., we have advice•:+ from San Francisco to the sth of March, twenty days later than those pre viously received. The news from California will give anything but a favourable impression of the people of that state. In Sacramento City there has been a painful tragedy enacted. A desperado, engaged in a brawl, wan tonly took the life of an inottimsive by-stander, was arrested, tried by a people's jury under the Lynch code, and immediately hung. Having been repidsed in the first attempt to force the door of the jail where he was confined, the crowd pulled up an awning post close by, and with this battering-ram attacked the door, which very soon yielded. The deputy sheriff held the crowd at bay fir some time, but was forced out of the way and the mass poured in. The prisoner, Frederick J. Roe, was in the inner cell, chained to a post. After a long delay the chain was se vered, and he was then seized and hurried up the stairs, and along the street to the place of execution. It was half-past 9 o'clock at night and quite dark when the crowd with the doomed man reached the COMMERCIAL. NEW YORK, Amu. 8. The good effects of the foreign whim, received per Baltic are mill visible maul our mask. to. tit eke have advanned siriordbly, and clotted .toddy whit an upward tendency. This re. mask, however, doe* not include Veiled States Lou.. New York state Stocks or other prominent remit hive—the high r des at wloch they have been ruling Nome time. combine I with the .teatly dernmid a prettied. all probability of an 0,1,1111.* being cursed lq the Eurt peen aet,unto. Railroad smocks and howls h tre 1111olUt,11. TllO 111Cred110 In tiler earnings over the corrtdpotating 'vernal hut year, end the probability of a much grroter increase, 01 the event of the proposed reduction in the rates to fore for pemengets taking place, glees pan thicee to hid 1er...1 1111 , 1e1.t.s of prop , rty. The demand for toreiim exchange h. been active, and large ailed have been mole at quotations. Ihe high rates of sterling and eon tinetit I exchange, exec ca demand for specie, and no u, pension in raven has take n Owe. an was looked for tart nee.. Money continues to be in active demand, but as the reeciptnof the oinks are pretty heavy, they me di-wanting more freely. Prime 'Mat tome. are in demand at cent". rates. Our hanks and capitalinte will noon begin to feel the bench. of the liquidation of the great term of credits now maturing. TM-. credits., It icing performed their vocation in ...misting the foreign and dontettie commerce of the country, will nut be renewed again until the noturit, of this reason'e crops. We, therefore, may expect a nowly diminution of niereentine obligations. and a gr dot accumulotion of capital in this city, and also cheaper rates for money. Exccano..—On Lund .11, 110 to 1101 ; Paris, ft.n: to 5.10; Aro aterdou, ill to 4.i ; Hamburg. 3M : to :17; 79 to 79 1 . Lynn Meelionien Eire an.l Marine Insurance Company him declared a semideinual ,ividendot 10 per cent., pay the on and lifer Monday. April 7. Lynn Mechenice' Bank has drchired elni.:1010.1611 dividend of 4 ter cent. several hulks in New Bedford Ita‘e the:vial the fol lowing serni.annuol dividend , : B dford Cotecervial, 4 per cent ; Merehanm, 5 do; Maxine, 4 do. The Mecham.' Bonk make, no dividend. The bulk. iii Portland, Mc., have due red the following scmi.annual oividenda ;—Canal, •t per cent. (12,0 , 0 dole. of the last ell metal.' earning. reserved to liquidate vocal Mock) ; Casco, 34 do.; Meratienh', 4 do.; Mon. and Traders', 6 do.; Bank of Cumber. Lind, 5,10, The Haverhill back. hate &dated the Vittorio' nom annuol dividends:—Merrimack, 5 per cent.; Haverhill, V, do.; Colon, 4 do. The Bunker Hill Bank hiet declared a emni,nnwol di vidend of 4 per cent. The Gloucester Bank a semi-annual dividend of 44 per cent. .I . ll , l.—(Fran Taleott and Brother's Circular, per Canada. — New York, Monday Evening, April 7,—Our het weekly Circutar wait written fur the Artie on the let instant. On the 2nd 10 , 00 boles were told at tine ratee, on the basis of 11,c. for mid ding uplands. On the 3rd a r-eling of anxiety prevailed with .word to the adrices per Baltic, then looked for, and sail. were tweed at fe. to le. redact.. On the morning of the 4th her see mots were published, and, being much mote lavourable than were antiviratt were fol lowed oy an active demand for export, r,rultine inmates Mll,OOO balm, at fully In improvement. On Saturday, the sth 'natant, the demand cumin ed active, at gradually hortleoing price., the rah. reaching 6,000 halm. To.tley the transaction, mooned on 'Change amounted to ~00 • bides, at fully le. advance on shirt ruiddlotg and rod middling deseription., the market closing with an upwdrti tendtney at the annexed quotattona. Soho queatly 2,000 boles were told, making the tans of the day 6,000 balm, Other Atlantic NelrOr!ecr a. Gulf Ports. Inferior Tornio 4. matron d. nominal. Ordinary to good ordinary lo to 11 lof to ill 1 9 i to 11 1 Mid. to good mid. II to 111 121 to :2; 114 to 12 Mid. fair to fair Fully fair to goodfair From Char leirea we have receivid the following, under date of 4th lot.:—" 'scream in receipt. for the rm. k , 9ott bale.; fair, I lle. to 12e.; advance, lie. to lc. Little cotton offerin4." As our mall dates are not up, we cannot furnish you a correct taiga of roe, iota. export.. &e., Be., mut: than the last talvmed per Arctic. Judging from our telegraphic .tatemetits of receipts. we 4+,114 eetim de the muss at about 155,000 bales; and on the subject of maw we hive nothing new to &Bine, believing the general opinion to centre on 2. 260 , 000 balva dtatributcal al advised per Alio of 2'.th ult., namely,—New ' Orletn., 00e,000; Mobile, 425,000; Atlantic state., 675,000 ; Florida. 170, 00 ; Texas, 35,000—total, 0,20116 r. Exports et cocoa Irons New York Mr week ending 7th April.—To Great Britain, 6,9;d4; Havre, 1,023 ; northern ports, 709—tata4 6,742 hales. Baca.terr..—flour:Thee has been a fair biaPiness doing in western and gate today, chiefly for dome to consumption. and the market c mtinued firm, though not a, stews for the betuir grafts. The rode. ■mounted to ~ aOO barrel• superfine, No. 2 at 4 dolt, 1•e. to I dui•. Mc.; ordinary t. straight State, 4 do:s. 50c. to 4 d4lll. 56e.; mixed to 1 dicy Wrstern 4 doh. Stic. to 1 doh. ;:te.; New Orlions, with good and round loop Ohio, 4 doh. lie t 1 .b.:•. 77 e. , and pure Gefieve at 1 dot'. 91c. to 4 dolts. Can.4iaa wor held aSo•e the views of borers. en 1 them whet was nominal, at 4 riot.. loathers. iiilliteneed by a light mock and a brink de I.and, bas a dvanced, and the day's triontactions include ,300 baeele mit d to straight Megan. dria, dtc., al 1 dui& Le. to 4 dole. b7c. ; and tancyat S dui& to I dots.