The Express. — London, England, 1852-12-09 00:00:00

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT HOUSE OF COMMONS.—WRDNESDAY, 1)w. 8. The beau met at 12 &cluck. NEW MEMBER. Ur. OAKU took the ouch* sod bis *cat for Bury St. Egssand's. PUBLIC BUSINESS. PETITIONS PRESEN'TED. OCEAN rEMPIIf Poicreos.—lly Mr. 8. PALMER, from Newbury. Berk., for the establishment of. TICE CASZ Or Hit. E. MCKRAT.—By Mr. A. KIN NAIItO, from Perth, praying tut the interference of the Foreign-office in favour of this gentleman. Mee ON WINE. —By Mr. 11. OLIVEIRA, nume rously signed by the medical officers of many of the hospi tals and dispermaries in the metropolis, u also by many of the most eminent medical and sergical prectitionees, pray ing for a reductiou in the duty on foreign wines, their at. being highly necessary fur the recovery of patieuts and persons suffering from debility arising (tutu ell health or accidents. PARLIAMENTARY ELECTORS BILL. Sir DE L. EVANS moved the second reading of this bill, the object of which was to extend the period for the payment of taxes required trader the ratepaying chimers of the lieteem Bill to be paid before the voice* name could be placed on the register—that was, that the taxes to be paid betore the 20th of July should be those due on the 11 th of the previous October, hastens' of those due on the pith of Jetsam. The house would remember that he had in pre vious sessions brought in a bill to throw back the date from April, as it stood under the Reform Act, to October, and that last year that bill was carried, hut that in its progress threegh the other house the month of January had been substituted for the one he bad proposed. The effect of this alteration of the Lords had been to dis franchise a vast number of perfectly solvent voters, several of the revising barristers having ruled at the late registra tion that although the pear ice of the assessed tax collectors was to collect only hell-yeuly the quarter's tai due between Michaelmas and January mutt nevertheless be paid to en. title the voter to be registered. In Westminster alone the effect of this decision, which had been confirmed by the Common I'l,•as, had been to disfranchise 118 voters. He might add, that nothwithstanding the judgment of the Com mon Pleas, there was much difference of opinion on the point amongst lawyers, and he hoped the Attorney-General would favour the house with his view. Mr. EIti ; WEN moved that the bill be read a second time that day eat months. Ile explained that he had voted fur the second reading of the previous bill (which was now the law). bet with the intention of moving to substitute the swath of January for October, but did not divide the house upon that amendment. The House of Lords had, however taken up his suggestion, and the hon. and gallant member for Westminster had acquiesced, and it was rather too soon now to extend the time fur payment of these taxes that which parliament had so recently fixed upon. I any hon. gentleman thought proper to move the repeal of the rotepaying clauses of the Reform Act altogether that would he another question, and a proper one fur conside ration. Sir G. PECGELL supported the bill, and observed that although the decision of the Court of Common Pleas had confirmed the view of the revi.ang barrister, that the pay ment of the quartet's taxes due between Michaelmas and January, must be paid, whether demanded or not, before the 20th July, and notwithstanding that the tax wm only collected balficarly, the Limit Chief Justice bad admitted that the ease was one on which difference of opi nion might reasonably elist„ and which required therefore the interference of the legislature, vast numbers of solvent per on, having been disfranchised by their misap prehension of the law. (Hear, hear.) r. %V. WILLIAMS agreed that the ratepaying clauses of the Reform BM ought to be asolasheil altogether, and that the relief now proposed was by no means sudleiest. Ile would, however, support th- present bill, as being ass, slight alleviation of the restrictions which thou clawrati•W posed. Lord STANLEY remarked that no reason bad boa given by the hon. sod gallant member (Sir 1/e L. Evens) why this change of the law should take place. He had shown no practical grievance as 'Listing under the law as It stood, neither had he shown that any strong and general feeling peeve led against that law. No petitions had been presented, their had been no public meeting., neither had there been in any ether way an expreseion of public feeling against it, therefore he was bound to assume that no real in c. nvenience was suffered. Had there been really any large number of persons disfranchised by the law—looking at the stale of public feeling, and to the fact of a general election hiving so recently taken place, whereat the grievance must have operated, hail it 'listed, he could not suppose that there would not have been some agitation on the subject. The time now allowed—nine months—fur the payment of the rates and , was reasonable, and there was sm reason why any person who was really solvent should not pay within that period. It was in the power of every person to tender the tax, and if he did so the collector could not refuse to take it. The only ewe on which such a bill could rest was that of a person who not being called upon by the collector, was so indifferent as to his electoral rights that be neglected to make the necessary tender; and that was hardly a ease, he thought, for legislation. Sir J. V. SHELLEY considered the fret that 118 solvent voters had been diersuchsed by the law as it nut eddied was a auSeient cue of grievance to justify the ellteratimes now proposed. He maintained that it Waa !beauty of par , Bement ta put it out of the power of ten collectors to be in struraeotal is the disfranchisement of persons who might happen to entertain political views different to his own, by neglecting to call upon them for their taxes in time, at was the case under the law u it stood. The ATTORNEY GENERAL, in reference to the call which had been made ap,n him by the boa. and gallant member, observed that he did not understand it to be any part of his duty to explain the law to ever, hon. member in that hours who might wish to have his opinion; sad he had too much to do to be able to attend to the decisions of the Revising Barristers' Courts or to the judgments the Court of Appeal might pronounce upon them, except in eases op cially and officially brought under his notice; he wool.), however, endeavour to meet the saes as fat ea be understood it. The question as he collected it from the statement of the advocates of the bill, as it anise in the ap peal to the Common Pleas, was u to the time at which eel• tain taxes become payable, and tits ground advanced for the proposed alteration in the law was the hardship and in• town oieueo which had resulted from the deciaions on that question. Now, he could not understand how the present bill would remedy that difficulty—for whatever limit they had for the payment of rates as the qualilteation for being put oa the register, the same question mast always arise— what taxes were payable for that purpose, sad the time they were payable ? With regard to the maul question, he (Sir F. Thssiger) weld only agree with what had been observed by the noble lord—that mesas bad boss made out on the pan of the two. and gallant mrattree. emi that no title of proof had been adduced of individual leheiressee to jus tify the demand made upon the haw to Abet this ems eiderable alteration in the law. The his. Wend (ller J. Shelley) said that the noble lord had aunt no argeneata, but that was because none were seeeesiary, mme originally being predated. After the grievance sat up by Mat be baronet had broken down , what rimiest ft the ben. baronet and to the other Imm. and sabot enseber lee Weitminster ? Nothing at BL The hes. genionme had talked about the ratepa%lanega, wide ewe not in question, and he (Sir F. T wee toile dispend to say that he hoped these &amass be Ines Me seen deletion but he mend far nem eel ne clauses shone be delleltri altogether *ea thet th= be tampered with ifallt time to time, as in web honouree ae that mow beim Ile hens. Meer, hear.) W was the objets of the neirienne se pro xy heisted es by the law P 11111.1, OM She mem pissed nee the Peens" shooed met be halo. person Neu genies= opposite frequently beenneele nem the virtue of imispeaions km the elector, sad the ballet yes I. rut and inn )v ea doe mead that it secured ledeposodret relish Seedy them, it was expedient to have esisreat man velars ; aid the perms who was insolvent was net Wady to be very independent. (liver, hear.) It was lured that it was • cur ingraey that the tax•getherers might sot all until within the sir moans ; bat that wee hardly an ligament to he brought humid manna an ems nee. II oil. mos thque opposite adman./ that the elective franchise was • high privilege. (No, ne—it eWht) Well, • very high and important eight ; It was obvious that those who had the slightest value he that right had the readiest mama of securing it to theintehtlie merely by going t• the tax gatherer at the proper thee. (Hear, hear.) " Arrean," the expression made use of In this discussion, was • large-souading phrase • but, alter all, it meant in this instance only a few 'hilier. (Hear, bear.) These being the facts of the ease, and taking this view, be ear amtly hoped that the bones would agree to the amend meat. Alter some ennversation and personal explanation be tween Sir 0. Peeheil, &r F. Thesiger, Sir D. L. Emu, and Mr. Fromm, Sir DE L. EVANS replied, 'eying that he thought the debate whir?' had taken place had shown how superfluous was the question which Mr. Hume recently addressed to government, whether it was their inteotion to introduce any measure of parliamentary refoim ? (Hear, hear.) It was clear, not only that the present government did not purpose extend ag the franchise, but that, still worse, they were anxious to do all they could to restrict the existing outrage. (Hear, hear.) Sir A. COCKBURN was decidedly of opinioa that umethinn ought to be done in this matter to am. nil the law and the pr,evice, which unalouhtedly in effect resulted in a delusion. (Meer, hue) Either parliament or the 'I remarry were milled on to put matters as • mere satisfac tort footing. No nun paid his taxes and his rates until he was sued foe them ; and in those caws where the arrears sot being called for, and, therefore, not bring paid, the person was tbrown off the re rister, • hardship and en evil were pestered which hail not beau contemplated by the set of parlimm nt. Mr. WALVOLIi entered into • detaile4 statement to show the, i n the case both or the rates and of the assessed six clear months were given to the ratepayer ; and this, he contendid—there brine practically a period of four months after notice, was ample time to enable the per nn of the franchise to place himself on the register The question as to the retention of the rate- I paying Onuses wee • quio lion of itself, which, if discussed at ell, •hcold be brought distinetly before the house. But he coot semi that, after listening to all that had beta said. he *mild perceive no justification whatever for the peopmel of the hon. sod gallant member. Mr. CROWDEIt thought that the matter lied been put Tactically by the hon. and learned number for Southamp ton (Sir A. Cockburn), and that the right hon. gentleman (Mr. Walpole) bed failed to perceive the point oat width the proposal before the hoses rested. gfte erpreOis. TO CORRESPONDENTS. accood Milton !'spear.' containing the gams melees twettr," I. publineed 'say Tuesday awl Ytuiay .101. ha Ur kn ca•:. miuicanah cusended for " The Capron," Lon lea Keening passe, omit be at the iieloe, 10, liscarede-stroat, by Two cestosic an Me LT of publioniss. 1116 H WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. Tate DAT—lderalag, Ob. la.. Winona. O. Mb. Tooloaraw—Marsiar. OL 432 .Aftenbooa. lb. len. LONDON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 9. LORD Jowl Russet'. and Mr. GLADSTONE have respectively signified their intentions with regard to the extended Income Tax and augmented House Duty. The followers of both will probably coalesce in sup porting the propositions of each for amending, or rather for negativing the most prominent features in the ministerial plan. And there is a large section besides who represent more directly, perhaps, than either, popular sentiment and feeling, who will doubtless combine with the Whig and Yeelito contingents in resisting the new scheme of taxation. In a greater or less degree each of these sections are pledged to the principle of direct taxation. But with each and all of them direct taxation has been always viewed as a means of carrying out the prin ciples of Free Trade, and not as a means of insidiously seeking to work its overthrow. Like every thing else, direct taxation may be honestly used for good purposes or dishonestly used for bad ones. Sir RouERT l'ast proposed the income tax in 1842, to replenish an empty exchequer, and the country approved of the proposition because it was one that .erred to re store its credit and self-respect. Again, in 1843, Sir ROBERT PEEL proposed to renew that impost in order that he might sweep from the schedule of Customs du ties hundreds of i tem. that fettered trade and encroached on the poor man's comforts and necessaries of life. But the pretext which Mr. thottozu sets up fur extending the income tax to numerous classes that have never paid it before, is of a very different kind. His professed aim is to make a pecu niary present of about 2,500,000 f. a year to the landed interest. No single item of Customs or Excise is to be abolished, and fur from having a deficiency to provide for in the Exchequer, Free Trade has left him a surplus there. So in like manner regarding the inhabited house duty. When the Whip abo lished the window tax two years ago they found that a house tax of two-thirds the amount would yield as much revenue as was required. The Tories propose to double that sum. And further, they ask that the liability to the charge should be extended to every 101. householder. And what is this for? Not for revenue, and not for the abolition of any imposts whereby the industrious many are to be relieved; as we have said before, to suable a landlord government to say to the class to which they belong, " These ate the gifts and com pensations we promised you for acquiescence in Free Trade." Are we quietly to permit additional direct taxes to ba imposed neither to benefit industry, nor to meet tbs wants of the state, but to mulct the many for the barefaced purpose of bribing the few ? How much of the bribe will remain to the landlord, and how much will be clutched by the brewer, is a question we have already separately considered. Certain it is that the farmer will gain nothing by a remission of half the malt tax, or half the hop duty; were the whole of either charge abolished some ad vantage might doubtless accrue to him. The worth of hope would no longer be limited to three or her counties, and barley might then, without hindramee, be malted for cattle. Two sources of wasteful expen diture—namely, in the Excise collection—would be got rid of ; and with perfect free trade in malt or hops, a step would be gained towards reducing the price of beer. But in the main, the difficulty which stands in the way of such reduction is the monopoly which the great manufacturers of the article enjoy, and of which the most impregnable bulwark is the present licensing system. Hence it is that the price to the consumer has remained unabated during the last six years, notwithstanding tho fall in the price of barley. And hence it would be assuredly found that the present price would still be kept up, though a partial remission had taken place in the duties now paid on hope or malt. Entire abolition would render it possible, though seldom convenient or profitable, to brew for domestic purposes at home. 'And whenever the time shall come when the revenue ean with safety afford such total remission, the gum- Hon may fairly be raised whether taxation on such an article as beer ought to be finally abandoned. But to sacrifice so much revenue without diminishing Goat of collection or lowering price to the consumer is financially an obvious blunder. And when it entails, besides, the necessity of resorting to a two-fold scheme of extended direct taxation and bears on its front the ineffaceable stain of class jobbery . and exaction—a climax of folly and wrong is presented to us for which the financial history of the country hardly affords a parallel. Direct taxation for the purposes of revenue is irk some enough at the best of times; but a thinking and intelligent people are ever re adyady to bear it with patience, if not with good humour. Direct taxation for the purposes of rent is a roost impudent fraud, which no people of thought or enlightenment can be expected to bear with equanimity foe a single hour. Yet this is what Mr. DtstAxts has the coolness to propose. To the thousands who live in houses rated from 101. to 201., and who at present pay no House Tax whatever, he offers a new and burthensome yoke,while to many of them, he at the same time extends the pleasant privilege of contributing out of their limited means to the Income and Property Tax. We are confident that the class in question posess as much patriotism and loyalty . as any other in the whole commuuity, and that in any case of their country's need they would submit without murmuring to these or even to greater burthens. But they must be down. right sinip!etons if they consent tamely or tacitly to be fleeced in the fashion proposed by the DZIOT Govern ment fur the benefit, not of the State, but of that selfish and exacting class who tax the people'. bread for their own private pocket, and who now propose to tax the people's dwellings for the same unworthy and unwarrantable object. It is not impossible, moreover, that during next year the prices of f ood and other necessaries may rise considerably beyond what they have recently been, and the sinister calculation, no doubt, of our landlord rulers is this, that under such circumstances and with income and house taxes to pay, popular dis content might be excited against the system of Free Trod..., and the public mind might be gradually pre pared for reactionary measures. If, therefore, there be any genuine faith in the policy of PEEL, it is essential that this treacherous trick should be met and baffled peremptorily and promptly. Diree: tax ation must not be degraded into a mere weapon of class warfare or sullied by being perverted to base I and insidious purposes. It must not, for instance, bo carried down to the very verge of the elective franchise in order to tempt tho humble householder toldenude himself of his political rights, while ho 1 escapes from the landlord burthen. Citizenship is I not to be made subject to direct penalty in this I shameless fashion, nor is a tax in itself simple and ju.,t, to be rendered odious and loathsome in the eyes of Ow people, by reason of the purposes to which it is applied. Aii.ert•rtsx is raising its'bead again in Spain ; but twenty years o►, at least partial, freedom has crt Med a public spirit in that kingdom which, at all events, will give the Absolutists sumo trouble. The plot against constitutional government was too 'coarsely and rudely organised, too impudently and audaciously exposed; it was prepared by hands too corrupt and heads too weak, not to rouse all the better sympathios of honest man, irrespective of their poli- THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENINg, DECEMBER 9, 1 beat opium' cad political parnes4o resistance ; and they judiciously test it ere it burst on the nation by a check preliminary. By electing the modejate MARTINEZ DE LA Rosa to the Presidency , of the popular Chamber, the united Moderedos and Progressistsa, taught Queen Ciousrtsa and her tools that it was not from the Cortes, u it then stood, they were to expect complicity and co-opera tion in their scandalous designs. But not even that temperate resistance and timely warning have ar rested the royal conspiracy against the national liberties; and the recusant Cortes have been die solved, to enable the conspirators to procure one that will join them in strangling parliamentary rule in Spain. Significantly enough, the Paris Muniteur exclaims—" Thou can't not say I did it;" — an assurance that no one will give a mo ment's credence to. The example set in France, Spain is going to fallow. To give full , expression to the greatness of the Spanish mind ; to place Spain in her proper position in European society, and to infuse into the government of Dona ISABELLA the strength necessary to develop the material wealth of her kingdom, the Spanish constitution has, it seems, to be purged of all its liberal vices and impurities, and to be converted into a sort of screen to hide and protect the acts of the Spanish Government from the imputation of having no more legality than the arbitrary will of the Sove reign, the Court, and the Cabinet of Madrid. FRANCE. PARIS, Turnnar Earmino. A letter from St. Petersburg, ia the hamburg News, says: immediately after the departure of oar minister, M. de Kisseleff, to the court of Frince, a report was current that, notwithstanding the restrictions talked of In the Austrian, Prussian, and English journals, the three northern powers will Terooll.l. Napoleon 111. as Emperor of the French. M. de Kiueletf is said to have received on this subject pull• live instructions of a nature to put an end to the coolness which is said to have hitherto existed between St. Peters burg and Pa-is. The Emperor Nicholas, it is said, regards with confidence the empire which his arisen in Fearer, provided that empire dues not seek to return on the put. The marriage of the daughter of the Prince de Wass with Louis Napoleon will be approved of in a high quarter here, so soon as it shall have received the assent of Austria; and it appears that it will end in smoothing down the future path of the Napoleon dynasty. 'fho Patna confirms the it of tho refusal of the government to authorise another compagnic anonyme du ereldit neobilier. The Indepesultince Beige has again been seized to day. The appointment of the new commission to decide what books, pamphlets, and engravings may be law fully sold by hawkers, gives satisfaction in this re- spect, that it relieves that body and their employers from the capricious and arbitrary jurisdiction of the prefects. A book will now no longer be lawful in the Loire and unlawful in the Loire InPricure. The publication of the names of this commission, contain ing as it does persons of respectability and literary distinction, is looked upon as a species of guarantee for justice which a dark and secret tribunal would not have afforded. It is not to be expected that political writings will be allowed to circulate ; but this commission will not make themselves ridiculous by following Roman and Spanish examples of the prohibition of modern classics because inferences unfavourable to existing institutions may be drawn from them. Even on the new French them!y for modern society, there is, however, this material difference between what has been accomplished in France, and what is about to be perpetrated in Spain ; that in France the change is connected with a new order of things, with a new dynasty, with a new spirit, with a new organisation, with new men and new does, with people who can only hope to achieve primal success and permanence by fresh novelties; WiIINIOS in Spain the change will constitute a return be old habits, old practices, old despotism, and old byanny. Now it was to escape thence, that the 'Spanish people overthrew the Salique law and placed ISABELLA, a little irregularly, on the throne of FERDINAND VII. In France there is consequently the hope which novelty always inspires; but in Spain there will be despair which retrogression is sure at last to provoke. In France, too, there was an excuse, which was at least presentable to Europe : there was [a void to be filled up, a government to be established in an intelligible form of some sort or other ; a state to be sioaeolidated. But in Spain there is no such popular apellqgy for what is contemplated; the central power is wet too weak, but too strong; the Monarchy is wot in danger, but dangerous; the legislature had het proved restive and impracticable, but submissive and servile ; the constitutional system had not abused libertyand degenerated into licence, but had accommo- dated itself only too much to the wants and wisher of the court; the country is not torn and tormented by factions and parties, or disorganised by demagogism and anti-social theories, but only too obedient and loyal ; and the Government, instead of meeting with nothing but hostility in the Chambers, found sup port for any enormity it offered for their acceptance. There is also another noticeable distinction. In Franco the Chief of the State appealed to the people to support him in overthrowing the constitution to which he had sworn, and they did so. But in Spain the impending destruction of the constitution is os tensibly a Court intrigue, to be carried through by the venality of the Chambers. The proposed change in Spain will, therefore, hardly respond to the French theory; it will be deficient in the circumstances, the means, and the objects of the new empire. Never theless it has, no doubt, been encouraged and greatly inspired by "the masters of the situation" in France; and though it may have aims and ends purely Spanish, it is also part of that great conepiraoy against parliamentary government the head-quarters el which are—alas!—in Paris, and the affiliated branches in Vienna and St. Petersburg. The present seating of the Spanish Cortes has therefore European interest and signification. Whether for good or for evil, France is always pro gaw&st. The only exception to this general law id - French national existence was under the poor, despised, flouted, and rejected republic, which was strictly neutral as to forms of government in other esuntries. But most of all France is propagandist in Bpain. With equal perseverance she forces her sweetmeats and her constitutions on that country. When the ultra-Royalists gained an unwilling supre mely in Lome XVI H.'s counsels, they restored absolut ism% Spain. When Loins PHILIPPE resolved on slaking the Charter of 1830 • mockery in France he encouraged the QUEEN REGENT to baffle the constitution in Spain. When Esrmtruto showed Europe what honesty and rational freedom could achieve for his country, the King of the FRENCH, to whom the spectacle suggested a similar career at home, overthrew ESPARTERO. When NARVAEZ be came utterly unmanageable by Queen CHRISTINA, it was in Paris that the combination which deprived him of power was devised. And now that even the sham of a rliamentary system is to be dissipated, it is Louts NAPOLEON'S example which inspires the Court of Madrid with courage to do it. Spain under despotism is a great convenience to France ; it saves France a world of trouble to the south, and strengthens France in the Mediterranean. Hence it is that the policy of France, no matter what its own dynasty, is always to concentrate all power in Spain in the Crown, or rather the Court ; for in Spain it is the Court, not the Crown, that governs. With Spain under despotism friendly to France, and supported in its turn by . France, the military power of France in Europe is greatly . increased. For France can then move on without providing for its rear. It was thus that NAPOLEON I. was so long free from all Spanish anxieties; and the policy of NAPOLEON 111., in Spain and out, is based on the example of has great predecessor. To strengthen the Spanish Court by repressing the free dom of the Spanish people, is at once an internal and an external question for France under Louts NAPO LEON. And if,—as many of the wisest in Europe imagine,—he has ulterior schemes of war and con quest, he has begun betimes to provide for them in Spain. The Spanish Court during the last century and a half, has generally been just as accessible to the influence of French policy as it seems to be now : —no matter who is monarch or minister, it seeks and i wants only the means of enjoyment, of pt . :none indulgences, and of animal grati fi cation. It is now, es always, teased and annoyed by Intelligence, Pro trees, and Improvement. These three give trouble, and require a world of thought; and the Spanish Mart has neither the intellect nor the virtue --Wore the resolution nor the industry to week eat a nation's happiness. It lives luxuriously en a nation's unhappy loyalty. And to those* general characteriAtics, the present Spanish Coat has worm peculiarities of its own. It is afflicted with • QUEEN MOTHER, who, wanting the austere pride which so often keeps Spaniards out of wrong, has an Italian rapacity—boundless and insa tiable. To such a court, constitutional government and an honest parliamentary system must be hateful. And to get rid of that check on its fatal habits, it 1 1 readily falls into the policy of France. In Spain, England for centuries had a policy; a policy which in the last generation restored indepen dence to Europe, and which even in our own gave a constitution to Spain. Under Lord MALMESBURT England, however, has, and can have, no policy of its own in that country. For he and hie party can hare no faith in constitutional systems; and they who favoured despotism under DON CARLOS, can not avert it under DONNA ISABELL M. Audry de Puyraveau, tho senior member of the late Legislative Assembly, has just died at Maisons-Leflitte. Several more legitimist resignations arc announced. Among them I notice thaw of Viscount de Itaynaud, councillor general in the Hermit ; MM. de Gury and Pierre do Pons, mayors in the Allier ; the Marquis de Stilly, mayor and municipal councillor of tho com mune bearing his name in the Seine and Oise ; MM. de Foudras, de Vongy, de Chenelette, and do l'ommerol, mayors in the Loire; M. Hay, municipal councillor in the Loire Inferieure; Baron de Lamote Ilarace, municipal councillor of Caen; MM. de Troguindy mid de Mimic, municipal councillors of Lannion ; and the Marquis do Saint Pierre, municipal councillor of Pleignen. The Municipal Commission has just held another sitting. On the proposition of the Prefect of the Seine, it was decided that the city of Paris should contribute one half of the expense for improving the quay of the Louvre. The works are estimated to cast 1641,000 f., and a credit of 80,000 f. was voted accordingly. A credit of 283,000 f. was afterwards voted for half the expense of the mounted municipal guard, the other half being borne by the state. Tide force has now been completed ta 2,100 men, as fixed in 1549, a less number being found insufficient for the important duties confided to that force without inflicting too much fatigue, both on men and horses. Several other sums were afterwards voted, among which was 21,000 f. for the improvement of part of the outer boulevards; 36,8:10f. for the erection of a steam engine at the Central Pharmacy to perform the work now done by a man and horse, in the pre paration of medicines, &c. ; 7:1,500f. for prolonging and improving the Rue du Cardinal Lemoinc, and other credits for planting trees in different places on the quays, Sze. The staff of the National Guard is shortly to leave the Paluis Royal, which is to be otherwise appro priated. The prefect of the Seine has been charged to find new offices for that body. Letters from Berlin state that the French ambas l i - sador there has applied to the Prussian government for a copy of the statutes of the Order of Merit for artists and literary men. It is concluded from this that Napoleon 111. is abaut to create an order of the same kind. Experiments are at present making by the 2nd regiment of artillery, at Valence, of the system of campaigning artillery invented by the Emperor, and which bears his name. This system consists in hav ing such artillery consist exclusively of l*Tounders, instead of 8 and of 12, and of howitzers, as at pre sent, and the difficulty consists in obtaining the same effects with the 12-pounders as are produced by howitzers. The Minister of Marine has ordered the °renegue steam-frigate, of 430 hone-power, lying in the reed ited of Toulon, to be got ready, to take Abd-el-Kader and his family and suite, in all about 30 persons, from Moraines to Asia. The °renegue will land the Emir at Mondania, a little port to the south of the Sea of Marmora, being about 23 miles distant from Bromic PARIS, WEDNESDAY EVENING. Aecording to information which I have received of the secret proceedings of the senate, some of the changes in the constitution will be of an unexpected character. It has been supposed that the only im portant alterations would be such as follow nearly as a matter of course from the transformation of the head of the state from a temporary into a permanent power. In his message to the senate, Louis Napoleon said the modifications that might be found to be indis pensable would in no respect touch the fundamental basis of the constitution. Although the term " funda mental basis" is vague enough to admit of much latitude of interp retation , it is clear from the context that the impression intended to be conveyed was, that no modifications would be made other than such formal ones as were consequential upon the establish ment of hereditary government. But the message de livered a tow days later to the Corps Legislatif, was still more explicit. The President then said, " The government, as you are aware, will be changed only in form." Before the empire was proclaimed, un contradicted rumours circulating in the lobby of the Chamber, induced the members to believe that before next session the stringent rules which shackle their debates would be relaxed, and that they would in future be enabled to understand and seriously discuss the budget. Nowever, the Corps Legislatif have found the required number of millions of /rites, they have dined with ministers in the Casino Paganini, and been sent off to their homes till St. Valentine's day, and I am now assured that the Senate is about to strip them of the only privilege which afforded a chance of exercising any influence over the public mind, and to make the voting of the budget in the chamber a more ridiculous farce than before. If my information be correct, it will be made illegal to publish any speech made in the Corps Legislatif. The official pares verbal will contain nothing but the short heads of the business got through. Further, I am told, that the budget, instead of being voted as now by chapters, will be brought forward by ministries. Each minister will send down the entire budget of his department upon which a single vote, aye or no, will be taken, and the only mode of objecting to any item will be to throw out the whole budget. You may remember that in the summer the complaint was that it was unfair to place members in the position of being compelled to pass ob jectionable articles, or to mantas the government by rejecting a whole chapter. Many members said that they voted the budget for that once from a feeling that the newly established power required to be strengthened in every possible way, but they pro tested against the system of voting by chapters, and declared that it was practically impossible for them to know what they were about, unless they had the power ofeonsidering each article separately. The speeches delivered by a few courageous members on that occasion made a great impression out of the house as well as in. They were circulated not only in the newspapers but in the form of pamphlets, which the speakers were authorised to print. For a few days the Corps Legislatif really assumed an in fluential position in the country, and when in the last hours of the session they were called upon to vote a man of new taxes in utter ignorance of the real state of the public finances their attitude was so firm, that it was not thought • ire to proceed with the measure. Now, however, all will be darkness and mystery. The new taxes will and must he brought forward again, and they must be passed, but the public u ill know nothing of the " reasons why," beyond what the .lioniteur may choose to tell them. HOUSE AND WINDOW DUTIES.—fIy a parliamen• tar, return yesterday printed, obtained by the government, a comparison ia made between the house and window du ties in reference to the double amount to he assessed. In England and Wales, its the year ended the .sth of April last, 431,447 houses were aseessed to t- o inhabited bowie duty, and 30,472 in Scntland, making 461,919. The amount of the duty was 707,01111.—in England and Wales, 64 3 ,369 1 ., and in &Killen& 43,6291. The amount of the window duty in the year ended the st h of April, 1851. was 1,930,7921 —ia England and Wales, 1,899,7131., and in Scot land, 141,0791., showing that the amount given up was 1,243,7711.—in England and Wales, 1,140,3241., and in Scotland, 97,4601. It is calculated that the house duty on private houses-15,834,126 at Is. dl. in the pound, would produce 1,189,041, ■nd on "bops at Is. in the pound, 531,9121., making 1,723,9801. Thu wind 111 duty, repeal d in 1831, was 1,930,0001. Estimated produce of thu dutr n.iw proposed on houses relieved bora the window du: y in 1811, 1,569,9901. Diminished ehsrgo on such bona', as compared with 1851, 380,0001. Window duty repealed in 18-51, 1,950,0001. Estimated produce of the duty now pro posed on all houses at 101. and upwards, 1,723,0001. Di minutinn of dirge on all homes compared with 1831, 227,0001. The Queen of Sp in has ordered the publication in the Madrid Gazette of the projects int the Constitu tion, tho organisation of the Senate, the elections of the deputies, &c. BELGIUM. Ti VIDA T EVENING. The Chamber of Representatives voted this even ing, by a majority of 78 to 2, the bill granting to ministers the sum of 8,358,000 for the military de fence of the country. The discussion of the budget of the interior was then resumed. SPAIN. The Madrid journals of the 2nd inst. have arrived, and in confirming the intelligence we published yester day respecting the dissolution of the tortes, state that the elections for the new Chamber will take place under the existing electoral law. Tho Madrid Gazette publishes the return of the expenses of the state for the present year. They arc stated at 1,410,673,988 reals, which is a large excess upon the estimates. The same journal gives the receipts of the revenue for October last. They ' amounted to 79,1423,520 reale, being two millions more than in the corresponding month of 11451. A royal decree, in the Madrid Gazette, definitively confirms the concession of the Barcelona to Saragossa railroad to the company formed for that purpose. GERMANY. A telegraphic despatch from Berlin, dated the evening of the Gth December, announces that the former minister, M. d'Uhden, has been elected Presi dent of the Second Chamber of Prussia, by 151 votes, after three ballotings. Count Schwerin obtained 131 votes. The 42 catholic deputies abstained from voting. Count Waldbott-Bassenheim was elected IFirstVice-President. The New Munich Ga:eitc of the 4th states that M. Von der l'fordten, who has conducted the Bava rian government through the difficulties of the last four years, is about to resign his ministry. The ne. cessity of an approximation of Bavaria and Prussia —to which latter state M. Von der Pfordten is avow edly hostile—is stated to bo the reason of this change. According to the Frankfort journals, the negotia tions between the Austro-Gcrman Postal Association and France arc being carried on with great activity. An understanding has, it is said, been already come to relative to the weight of single letters, which was one of the principal obstacles to the conclusion of the treaty, the weight allowed in France being less than that of tho association. Several provisions of the eitstnnir union concluded between Austria, on the ono hand, and the D ,ehies of Purina and Modena, on the other, have come into operation from this day. Negotiations arc being earrwd on between Austria and several German governments for the purpose of concluding a convention, in virtue of which the sub jects of the contracting powers in either of the States will when ill receive gratuitous medical advice and attendance. The organisation of the reserve of the Austrian army will be carried into execution at the end of this mouth. The duration of service will be eight years ; about one-eighth of the total of the army will enter into the reserve in December of every year; by this means, the Austrian reserve will be about 90,000 strong on the Ist January, 1834. BERLIN,Dre. S. A Konigsberg firm, Pollack's heirs, has obtained a concession for a line of steamers from Stettin to St. Petersburg. The ministerial gazette warns mer chants to send their shipments for the Levant via Hamburg or London, and not by Trieste, because all packages are opened by the Austrian custom house officers, and not only damaged by careless re packing, but also not unfrequently pillgged. Tra vellers through Austria, too, frequently have to complain of missing things, particularly shirts, after their trunks have been searched by the Austrian &maniere at provincial stations. The number of ships which have entered the port of Hamburg this •ear down to the 30th of November is 4,190, includ ing 682 steamers; the number during the same period last year was 3,931, including 566 steamers. This year there were 3,714 arrivals from European, and 446 from transatlantic ports. The editor of the catholic Church Journal here, Dr. Kuenzcr, a popular catholic preacher, has been im prisoned for a fortnight, for a libel on a protestant clergyman. The last number of the journal was confiscated yesterday by the police. The construction of railroads in Hungary is actively proceeding. In addition to those, which the government is building, the Danube Steam Company will build one from the great coal mines of Fuca kirchen to Mohacs; and the great Vienna banker, Baron Sins, will build one from Ofen, via Raab, to Vienna, thereby opening the shortest way for the transport of the immense supplies o: corn front Wiesel burg, and making the capital the chief graiu market. But he has a more direct private interest in the undertaking, because the lino would touch some large estates of his, and also greatly increase the traffic on the suspension bridge between Ofen and Pesth, of which he holds almost all the shares. In the province of West Prussia, with a population of 405,000, the cholera carried off—in 1831, 3,624 ; in 1837, 841 ; in 1848, 1,911 ; and this year, 5,231. The circle o Idarienburg, which lost only 271 in 1831, has lost this year 1,529. The Prussian statistical bureau gives some in teresting data on pauperism in Prussia. Tho agri cultural districts, with 11,691,000 inhabitants, the field labourers and village mechanics, forming a population of 3,745,865 souls, counted 312,635 per lions, or 8.33 per cent., requiring relief, and receiving l on an average 17s. each in the course of a year. In the towns, with a population of about five millions, 472,215 persons wore relieved, in 1831, with 255. a head on the average. In Berlin, with 436,000 in habitants, the maintenance of the poor, in 1851, cost 86,6001. The number of paupers regularly receiving alms was 7,419, besides 2,927 children wholly sup ported by the parish ; the expense for each pauper was 31. 155., and for each child about 21. Bs. The Saion government has announced that the persons imprisoned for their participation in the in surrection of 1849 will be pardoned, and set free before Christmas. Dr. Herz, of Dresden, Advocate Steinert, of Zwickrau, and an official named Kranz, of Gruenhain, will therefore be liberated from the dungeons of Hubertusburg, to which they were condemned for life. Following Prussia's example, the Saxon govern ment has ordered all Saxon mechanics employed in Switzerland to quit the Swiss territory by the 3:st December, in order that they may not be infected with the communistic notions prevalent there. ITALY. PIEDMONT. A correspondent, well acquainted with Turin, writes from that city on the 29th ult. : " The rapid extension of the capital of Piedmont is truly sur prising. After a two months' absence I have re turned hither, and felt almost like a stranger, as I saw tho new mansions which have sprung up one after another in the neighbourhood of the Porta Nueva, Porta Po, Porta Snsa, and looked at tho elegant cafe!. which stand on what was yesterday waste ground. Two new churches, the protestant church and La Chiesa, arc rising, and are likely to be the chief ecclesiastical ornaments of the capital. Wealthy capitalists have embarked freely in building speculations, and are paying large prices for sites of paleczi to supply the increasing demand. The protestant publication called Buena Novella states that in the district of Chi, near Genoa, a number of protestants have been imprisoned on a charge of making converts to the evangelical faith, and that a number of bibles published by the British and Foreign Society, and found iu their possession, ,have been seized. From the financial statement made by Count Cavour in the Chamber of Deputies at Turin on the 2nd, it appears that the total budget of expenses of the kingdom of Sardinia for 1833 is fixed at 146,t411,073f., and the receipts are valued at 107,01,370 f., showing a deficit of 39,329,703 f. Compared with last year, there is a diminution of 731,18X1f. in the ordinary expenses, but an increase of 8,2.16,872 f. iu the extraordinary ones. On the other hand there is an increase of 3,386,230. in the public revenue. The treasury has to provide in the blowing year for a deficit of 47,500,000 f., being the accumulation of the deficits of the preceding year, to meet which the inscription of two millions of francs of Renter is proposed. Count Cavour also shows that, in order to restore equilibrium between the re ceipts and the expenditure of the state, the former o t fe Sar d iniadiffi eult y fo o r f obtaining te eonh t r n u a e t t i iutt s e must be increased by 19 millions of fran cs , and the latter diminished by six millions. This, h e t hi nks, may be effected in 1M5.1.f reads lately plan ne d , gip system 0 0 h f a i n o d , i s l e o e i n ast n t h e il e w l I c hi n ! ac: of m h Iledmonteae workmen were shipped over tr eat Genoa on the 2nd. The state of the island is far from satisfactory, the new enclosure law having greatly increased the numerous class of wandering shepherds, who were lutherto allowed to gnat their docks freely everywhere without any charge, t ag who often destroyed valuable trees and plants in return. These people arc so enraged at the loss a this liberty, as they call it, that they openly threaten the landowners with death who would enforce th e new law. SWITZERLAND. 'BERN E, Mr. The council of the canton of Solent e has granted g concession to the ‘Skstbullit Company, which al. ready had the conces.sion for the Morsec and Yrer. don line. 'l'lte concession now granted is for a railway from Sole.re by the kft bank of the Aar to the Aar. govian frontier, which will form a part of the gen°. ral lioc of railroad communication across Switzerland front east to west. :11. A. Bischoff has applied to the canton of eri on behalf of the Basle Society for the conmssion of railway line from Wasen, in the Upper Vulky of the Reuss, to Flticlo. According to letters from Genoa and Berne, an Anglo Swiss company has applied to the government liar permission to construct the entire web of rail ways projected in Switzerland. The expense of these railways will amount to several hundred mil lion francs, owing to the great dillleultics of excre tion. The railway considered the most important is one which, passing through Mont St. Bernard, will go from Lausanne to the valley of Aost, by Vevey, and join the Sardinian line which goes to Turin, The same railway will be united to the French lines, so that Paris and London will be within easy reach of Turin and Genoa. The Swiss authorities have applied to the Sardinian government for its co-opes ration in the execution of the works in the Nlont Bernard, and that government has promised it. The proposed line from Lausanne to Turin will be 2bil kilometres in length ; whereas that projected by Lyons, Geneva, Chambery, and M on t Ceids, would be ab out 310 kilometres. TURKEY. Letters from Vienna, of the lth December, report a sanguinary collision between the Montenegroes and the Turks on the Albanian frontier. The Turks are reported to have attacked some villages of Mon tenegro, and driven off the herds; whereupon the Prince of Montenegro headed a detachment of troops, attacked the Turks, seized the fortresics of Spas and Zabiak, and gave battle to them at magorizza. On the departure of the steamer from Cattaro the issue of the combat was not known. The Turkish government (says a correspondent writing from Berlin) is in the practice of supplying itself with elementary sehuol•books from Prussia, and its representative at this capital has standing orders to send to Constantinople every educational work of merit upon its appearance here. These orders are the consequence of the travels in the west of Europe accomplished a year or two ago by Kernel Effendi, director of the Turkish schools. A number of teachers with assistants were lately sent to Travnik, Czurnick, Beche,Jeni-Bazar,Banialuka, Basna-Serai, Hersek, and Mostar, in order to organise and conduct elementary schools at those places. It is, however, to be regretted that these schools are only for the Turco-Arabic children, the Christian population deriving uo benefit from them. WEST INDIA MAILS. ARRIVAL OF TILE MEDWAY. SOUTHAMPTON, Tnslinky. The Medway has arrived. She left St. Thomas's on the 20th November. She has brought specie to the value of 698,000 dollars, of which 88, sl are on account of Mexican dividends. She has had five fatal cases of {-else feveroa board; two occurred since she left St. Thomass. The last death was on the 29th. A midshipman, a quar ter-master, and three firemen have died from the fever. The Medway has been ordered to keep in the river until Sir Wm. l'ym has been communicated with. TIILIt•MAT AFTVINJON. The mails and passengers of the Midway have been released from quarantine. AFRICAN MAIL. PLYMOUTH, WtI.NT,DAY. The General Screw Steam Shipping Companv's mail packet Hellespont, Captain Watts, chartered by the Royal African Mail Company, arrived this afternoon. She left Sierra Leone November Isth, Bathurst, 22nd; Gorse, 23rd; and Madeira, be. cember 2nd; and brings a large cargo of African and other produce, viz. :—From Sierra Leone, 4,0001. in gold-dust and specie, 15 tons cam wood, 50 soaks palm oil, 129 cases and four bags of pepper, l 5 boxes arrowroot, six casks bees'-wax, and six packagesof sundries. From Bathurst, Gambia :-112 hales and 227 cakes bees'-wax, three packages of sundries, and 2501. specie. From Tencriffe 83 casks of wine, 471 bags of cochineal (the largest shipment ever made in one vessel from the island), 24 baskets of fruit, and 6 packages of sundries. From Madeira, 72 bow of oranges. On the 11th of November her Majesty's steamer, Polyphemus and Pluto. and brig Ferret, were a: Sierra Leone. The Polyphemus left on the 13th, Ferret on the 14th, and Pluto on the 18th of Nevem. ber. Four French war steamers were lying in Gores on tho 23rd of November. The French war steamer Cadette entered Teneriffe on the 30th of November. A Ilrazilian sloop at war, and a Portuguese brig of war, well at anchor in Madeira, and the Prussian frigate Gefion was off the island, waiting for the sloop el war Amason. Her Majesty's steam-sloop Sharp. shooter, from Plymouth, arrived at Madeira on the Ist December, and when the Hellespont left was c anchor there, bound for Rio Janeiro. Iler Majotys steamer Dee, 17 days from Plymouth, far label?' arrived at Madeira on the 111th, and left &gall on the 23rd November. The Royal mail steamer Magdalena, with the London mail of the 17th ma vember, put into Madeira for coal on the 251 h Norcpa• her, and left again same day for St. Thomas; s:i' nailed off Madeira the barque Mid Lothian. :id, lat. 40.39 north, lon. 8 :10 west, a schooner, Al:! , blue flag, and two one tight. TILE GORHAM MEMORIAL.—The report of !bf committee states that they having at their disposal 0 03 : payment of the necessary expenses of advertisements, wa ists, and their report) a balance of V,6!. lfts. 101, Ina , b 9 for the object with which they were entrusted—sail holt: ascertained what would be most acceptable to Mr. Gerber and his fimily, selected the following articles , silver salver, 25 inches by , 20 inches, with rich scroll b 4,1 and leafage. Within a broad engraved border Mr. ham's arms and motto are introduced, followed by the It inscription. 2. A 14-inch salver, of the same ellen.'" 3. AlO inch salver, to correspond. 4. A pair rat 11.1 richly ornamented silver table candlesticks, 13:rabeth pattern, with removable electrotype•pleted branch" three light. each. The plate was made by Smith Nicholson, 12, Duke street, Lincoln's-inn field.. 5. A watch, duplex escapement, with eompemation hallow. a half cputittr rap ating movement, by Fital.ham Arnold), 81, Strand. Articles 2,3, 4, and .1 mare ale,) viated inscriptions, adapted to their size and pan. 6. Sixty-eight octavo volumes, relating to the Ilefol or to the general history of the chnich of England, comely bound in calf by Heyday (the two value." Creamer, and the four volumes of Jewel, royal veloo , hound in Russia extra, gilt leaves). The larger inscnrt. (with a slight alteration) is inserted, in a primed t before the title of each volume. litittioNtsM,—We regret very much to ix , inform" that Itibbonism is now prevalent inseam parts of l'ooktr.f , arid that, consequently, it is rather sl.n.u e rous to trA night in that neighbourhood. ‘Ve enderstanil th..t Rev. Mr. Egan has denounced from the altar the ts'.!` sys*ent introduced into a portion of Lis parish, sod we that by his exertion., together wi.h these of the Party of of police stationed in that quarter. the Proec eal44' the misguided persons engaged its thin illegal coafesist will be brought to a speedy close, and the society num broken up. A single individual brought to minis would soon scatter the lawless brotherh)ol —f i r" &Told. The house then divided. For the amendment lO3 • For the bill The bid was consequently lust. The 110 WW realised itself lam a Committee of Ways and Meant ; and a funnel vote to transfer 2,000,0001. in 1U Ea chequer to the service of 1853 was taken. AMENDMENT ON Tim BUDGET. The house having resumed, Mr. W. NV ILLIAIIIB pave notice that he should move as an amendment to the proposition of the Chancellor of the Eselicquer to increase the duty on home., that the probate and legacy duty be ezende4 to realised property at tbs same rate m it am now imposed on personal property. The house then adjourned. Masi