The Express. — London, England, 1847-09-06 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, SEPT. 6. Wits! do the Irish representatives intend doing in the next session of parliament? Do they mean to act as they did this year, when some of them were altogether absent, others agitating on impractica ble subjects—some were abusing the existing govern ment, and few or none of them giving any useful suggestions to the legislature? Or will they turn over a new leaf, and give evidence of the possession of parliamentary talents, and political aptitude for affairs? We sincerely hope that they may, bat the question is, not what we hope, but what we think about them, and that question we will answer. For aught that appears to the contrary, it seems that the newly chosen Irish members intend following the footsteps of their predecessors: we hear of no efforts made by them to canvass and collect opinions in Ireland upon any of the questions which as a mat ter of necessity must in the next session be legislated upon by parliament. In his address to the electors of Limerick, Mr. MouseLt, of Tervoe, said : " I still maintain the opinion, which I put forward at the great railway meeting two years ago, that much of the busi ness now transactedin Loudon could, with great ad vantage to Irish interests, be transferred to this coon try." Judging by the inaction and disrelish amongst Irish representatives for sustained and strenuousexer tions, we are inclined to doubt the latter part of Mr. MONSELL'S opinion, but we agree with him in thinking that Ireland might be more active in misting the Imperial Parliament through means of her representa tives and influential classes. Public opinion is never properly canvassed in Ireland. Measures of practical importance are never publicly dis cussed with closeness and accuracy in that country. , The style of popular discussion there is vague, uncer tain, and passionate. The influence of agitation has vitiated the public palate. There is only appetite for stimulants; calm and wholesome topics involving the principles of feasible, social reforms, are passed by as " uninteresting," because a showy declaimer does not figure to advantage upon them. The Irish public speaker, with a gaudy taste in eloquence, and a propen sity, more or less natural, to sentimen tal outpouring, does not like to exhibit the political capacity he arro gates, upon questions which demand the possession of a thinking intellect as distinguished from a loquasious tongue—of a retentive memory and well-stored under standing as distinguished from a fertile fancy and trick of fluent declamation. The passion for mere excitement which prevails in Ireland, is ruinous in many re spects. It interferes with the growth of calm and resolute thinking. It puts an end to grave study and earnest reflection, and substitutes the rhetoric of the declaimer, and the sympathies of a talk-loving au dience. For one vigorous thinker that can be found amongst the professed conductors and guides of Irish opinion, there are a score of vehement talkers. In Ireland, people seem to think that legislation should be a matter of emotion, not conviction ; that grave affairs should be decided by feeling, not reflection upon consequences. The provisions of a statute affecting the property of thousands, and the welfare of millions, are to be as lightly thought about as the inscription of a pretty sonnet in a lady's album. The so-called representatives of that vivacious people do not give much more attention to bills before parliament than to their billets-dmx. The national levity of the country mars the abilities of its most eminently gifted men. We have seen many instances of the finest talents in that island rendered useless (except for mere transient brilliancy) by habits of scoffing at grave reasoning. Far be it from us to disparage the public talents of Irishmen. We are aware that, owing to circum stances, Ireland has more illustrious names to point to in politics than in any other department of mental exertion. But in treating of the recognised politicians of Ireland during the present generation, we feel compelled to notice the absence of that grave, moral, and self-instructing spirit which ought to distinguish a body of senators. Composed of such men, a parliament on College-green would be nothing better than a spouting club. But the evil must be remedied. We have borne our part in reforming (however imperfectly) the con stitution of the body of the Irish representatives. We rejoice to know that our efforts in stimulating the Irish constituencies to return good members, have not been fruitless. To our remarks upon that subject, prior to the general election, nearly the whole Irish press gave circulation through the country. In com mon with all who value a co-operative clams of working representatives, we welcome the entrance to parliament of such men as Mr. Moose, Mr. MORRELL, Sir LUCIUS O'BRIEN, Mr. BOURKE, Mr. HERBERT, and others deserving to be ranked with them. The body of the Irish representatives has been certainly improved; the next thing to be done is to improve the mode of working that body for legislative utility. A great practical reform might be effected by the proper discussion of Irish rubjects. If the Irish re presentatives used their pens more and their tongues less we cannot help thinking that Irish affairs would be better studied, and more v igorously reasoned upon. A gentleman of station can afford to make speeches not indicative of depth of thought. Much allowance is made for the hurry and agitation of speaking before a crowd. But a man with any regard to his name does not like to be shallow upon paper. Nobody likes to be chalked down as deliberately dull or fri volous with malice prepense. A man who writes upon a subject is in a different position from one who talks upon it. For it is remembered that every public speaker on politics is anxious to conciliate the regards of his audience, and does so often at the expense of his , own convictions. There is besides a ,fiseen de parkr, a practice of balancing phrases and "sailing close to the wind" (to use Lord BROUGHAM'S phrase in describing Mr. Preen style) which is tolerated in a speaker, though such allowance is never given to a writer. In short, a gentleman may talk with shallowness upon politics and escape censure, but ho cannot, with any regard to his reputation, write feebly and ignorantly upon public matters. Discussion in a proper style presupposes informa tion, reflection, the suggestion of ideas, and distinct utterance of certain truths. By reforming the dia• cussion of Irish affairs an immense benefit would be gained. Hitherto even the best Irish members have little contributed to the proper examination of public subjects. In England we canvass all important topics in our own localities. Our public men whether in or out of parliament put forward their views with manly frankness. They state them in the public assembly, and use the press for the explanation of details. In England, we have got the habit of reasoning upon our affairs. We think as well as talk; we read and write upon our politics, as well as speak about them in our clubs, or on the platform. But in Ireland, from year's end to year's end, it is all " talk —talk Goa ." The public mind of that country trickles incessantly in a brawling shallow stream, never rolling, as in England, in a majestic torrent, swoln with contributions from deep and grand reservoirs of thought If Irishmen of intelli gence, acquainted with the actual condition of thole oountry, and its wants, would submit their views to the public in a manly way, we might have some hdpe of rationalising the discussion of Irish affairs, sad giving their consideration a practical turn ef much consequence. Last year, Mr. SNITS O'BRIEN published his public views in letters So doe blab gentry. Though we disapprove of many dthese views, we perceive in his publication as earnest anxiety to be useful, and a reasonable *squints/ice witlf his subject. In the middle of the session, Sir D. Jamison NORRETS, through the public journals, tetered some valuable remarks on a practical question , then before the House of Commons. We remember - Mr. Itoraccit, in his cavilling way, taking objection _ ti ~ .. THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 6, 1847. to the mode of enunciating his opinion, adopted by the honourable baronet the member for Mallow. But Sir D. NORBETS very fairly stated that he wished to place his opinions in the most distinct manner be fore the pnbho, and that he printed his remarks in • letter to a public journal, in preference to taking the chance of astching the SPA&KER'S eye in a crowded house, and running the risk of being . badly . heard at the end of a debate, and s b ang misreported. We think that the mem ber for Mallow took a sensible course, and we recollect that his letters were generally noticed— a compliment justly due to their writer, who, though no orator, possesses an enlightened intellect, and is one of the very best infwma. men amongst the Irish members. _ _ To apply . these remarks practically, we would say that there is a party of Irish members now elected for the first time to whom many of their countrymen look with some eagerness. We allude to that moderate body in which are included Mr. Moons, of Mayo, and Mr. Mortszu., of Terror , with others already named. These members, to whom we more particu larly refer, number about one dozen. They are men of large f ortunes, and well connected. They are also well educated, and superior to vulgar prejudices. Now, we confess that we should be very glad to see them taking the initiative in the discussion of so important a question as tenant right. We should be glad to see some of these gentlemen enlarge in detail upon the important relations which timid subsist between landlord and tenant. At present, upon the question of tenure reform, the Irish public mind it; all abroad. The subject is not brought forward with the promi nence and particularity due to it amongst the great leading topics of the day. No att. mpts are made by the more intelligent class of Irish members to elucidate the difficult problem. The state of opinion on the ques tion is crude ; and certainly it is by no means desirable that the public mind should be left in this condition upon so important a subject. It is for the leading Irish members, whose characters are not damaged by adherence to systems of useless agitation, to come forth in public and shape the popular opinion upon it, so as to enable parliament to legislate thereon with a reasonable confidence of success.. In saying so much, we think it right to add, that we do not expect any good to result from Mr. JOHN O'CorrNELL's summons to the Irish members to meek together, and form a council of national safety. Both Mr. JOHN O'CoNNELL and Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN are professed agitators, and though rivals for popular support, they are each morbidly anxious to have some society or council in which they may hope to figure prominently. An aggregate assembly of the Irish members will not be of any practical use at present, while most of the questions requiring legislation are so unsifted, uncanvaseed, and unexplored. Persons of station and of social importance in Ireland ought to manifest their opinions 'on tenure reform, and not leave the question to come before the legislature in a mere abstract, speculative form, divested of political support, and void of the animation and healthy vitality infused by the breath of public opinion. A SPECIAL delegate meeting of the operativrs engaged in the cotton-trade of Lancashire and the neighbouring counties, held at Manchester on the 29th of last month, deliberately passed a resolution declaring that, in the present con dition and prospects of the trade, it was their "confident opinion that it would be highly desirable to diminish the probability of a continued and even increased depression during the winter months, by entirely suspending operations in cotton-mills for a few weeks during the present mild and genial season, when, in consequence of the abundance of vegetable food, and the warmth of the weather, and the possi bility is many instances of finding out-door employ ment, the privations to which the operatives would be exposed would not be so severe." The delegates declared themselves prepared, in the event of this proposal meeting with the con currence of their employers, to recommend its adoption to their fellow-labourers. The secre tary of the meeting was requested to forward the resolutions to Messrs. WILSON PATTEN, BRO THERTON, MARK PHILIPS, and CHARLES HINDLET, with a request that they would obtain the opinion of the masters on the course proposed. So far as we can learn, no opinion has yet been expressed by the Imasters; but the provincial press, which has natu rally been filled with discussions on the subject, ap pears for the most part favourable to the suggestion. It is impossible to contemplate such a movement without serious anxiety. Among rather more than 800,000 persons who in 1841 were engaged in the manufacture of textile fabrics, little short of 400,00(1 were employed in the manufacture of cotton. By far the greater part of this number are collected in Lancashire and the adjoining counties ; and, with respect to the rest, there can belittle doubt that the example of these districts, whatever it may be, will be followed. Were this numerous body composed exclusively of masters and of the intelligent class of operaives who take the lead in the appointments and deliberations of delegates for the trade, we should have no fear as to the result. But a majority of the 400,000 consists of the females employed. as weavers, the children employed as piecera, &c., and of the less skilful and intelligent among the men who engage ' in the departments of factory labour in which inferior workmen suffice. "To work, or not to work," will be decided by the votes of the masters and of the Inistoaacy of the operatives—the spinners, dressers, =Ninnies, &c. When these classes have made up their Wads not to work, the mills must stop ; and as they are the most intelligent, and, in their circumstances, the least dependent on the trade, they are the leaders of its public opinion, and generally persuade a majo rity of the rest to sanction their opinions. These con siderations lead us to fear that a general resolve to stop work for a season may be carried, notwithstand ing the despondent reluctance of a majority in the trade. Even this reflection, grave though it be, is not what rests most heavily upon our minds while think ing of the proposal now in agitation in the cotton dis tricts. We should not oe.,ch mind the wishes of the less intelligent portion of the trade being overborne were we perfectly convinced that an entire cessation from labour would be really for their good. As to the masters, we can have of course no apprehension • and as to the sagacious and manly body on whom:for want of a better descrip tive title, we have bestowed the epithet "aristocracy" of the c otton operatives, we know that their iutellee tual resources, in seasons of voluntary or compulsory idleness, areas respectable and improving as those of any of the master-class —much more so than those of some among them. But we do fear the consequences of two or three weeks' idleness for the lees prudent and intelligent of the workmen; and, above all, for the immense number of mere bl , fs end girls employed in the mills. Accustomed to live from hand to mouth, and with minds and dispositions utterly uncultivated, it were hard to say whether the privations or the temptations with which non-employment threklem them are meet to be deprecated. We have, however, much confidence in a body of masters, of whom men like Messrs. WILSON PATTEN, BROTHERTON, MARK PHILIPS, and MED LEY are the representatives. And we have not less confidence in the sense of justice and honest pride in acting aa the guardians of their class which pervades the real ol'eratir kaders in the ma nufacturing districts. IN e rely upon them for only taking the extreme step in contemplation at present, in the event of the prospects of the trade for the next seven or eight months being such as render the like lihood of an entire cessation of work during some time of that period almost a moral certainty. The beet information we have been able to collect sakes us fear that this almost moral certainty does Celt It is beyond a doubt that the stock of cotton on hand throughout Europe and America is below the average. And there is every reason to expect that the supplies of the next few years will be short of *ow which have last elapsed. The price of the raw material can scarcely fail to rule at higher prices for soma years to come. Combined with this state of of *if not a positive stagnation of demand far oottoa goods, yet an uncertainty as to what the de. mend may be, that forbids the raising of the primed cotton goods to rates remunerative at the actual prices of cotton and yarns. The last overland mail brought unfavourable accounts of trade in India; and, from some accident or another, we are left quite in the dark as to China. The war in Mexico is still waging; and the state of affairs in the Ricer Plate seems main to be surrounded with difficulties. The condition of Spain and Portugal leaves no hope of an increased trade with those countries at present. In the nearer continental markets generally, the ne cessity of repairing former losses prevents the imme- diets impairment of trade which might otherwise have been looked for ; and in the more distant various impediments continue to exist. The consequent pros =La continued depression of prices in the mann article, combined with high prices in the raw material, compel us to look forward to serious diffi culties in the cotton trade throughout the winter. The disturbance in the ordinary operations of the money market, though arising from circumstances quite alien to the cotton trade, is also of necessity felt reflectively in that business. Towards the close of lest month recourse bad been had by some Manchester bankers to discounting the paper for their regular customers in three months' drafts on London, which bills were handed over to the spinners and manufac turers instead of cash. Such a mode of payment, though perfectly legitimate, increases the difficulties of these masters, seeing that they require ready cash for the payment of their work-people. The cash re quired for this purpose in the Manchester district alone amounts weekly to 100,0001., which must either be procured from the purchasers of goods or the bankers. Two things are re-assuring while contemplating so grave a seeming necessity as that which we have been passing under review. Serious embarrassments are as yet confined to the grain trade, and are even there more immediately referable to erroneous calcu lations in point of time than to any other cause. The exaggerated fears of another bad harvest raised for a time the prices of grain higher than the realities of the case warranted. The universal abundance of this year's harvest has reduced the real (not merely the speculative) price of grain more rapidly than could have been anticipated. But the difference be tween the prices at which holders purchased, and those which corn can bring now, or will bring for the next ten or twelve months, does not of itself entail such losses on them as to account for the large amount of failures. It is the rapiditT of the decline, and the tem porary excess of the decline, owin g . to the alarm occasioned by its rapidity, rendering parties un able to realise at the moment their liabilities come upon them, that has in most instances caused the failures. The property of the country at large has scarcely, if at all, - been 'diminished in amount or in value; and even with respect to the losing individuals, a little more time would have enabled the greater number of them to get out of the scrape at a bearable loss. The pressure in other branches of business has taken no one by surprise ; and those engaged in them therefore stand firm, though complaining. This—the aseured stability of our national resources is the first ground forcongra tulation to which we have alluded. The second is still more encouraging : it is the spirit of manly fore thought—of intelligent courage that prompts men to incur voluntarily a minor suffering now to escape a greater hereafter—displayed in the proposal of the operative cotton-spinners which we have been discus sing. The same brave spirit, we feel convinced, ani mates the country at large. It has been the source of all Britain's greatness ; and while it survives we utterly fearless as to the future of our country. A CASE which was reported in our paper of the 25th of August as having been tried at the Central Criminal Court strikingly illustrates one of the reasons which we lately offered for dispensing with the interference of grand juries in criminal proceedings. Two persons, HUMPHREYS and PHEASANT, Were convicted of a con spiracy to extort money from various individuals by unlawfully preferring bills of indictment against them. With respect to one of them there was also, as the Reeorder observed, abundant evidence to have sup ported a charge of perjury ; and it was evident that the offence of which they were found guilty was committed in the ordinary exercise of their calling. The profession, indeed, by which they seem to have lived requires so little labour or skill beyond a know ledge of the helpless passiveness which grand juries combine with their constitutional powers, that we have no doubt of it supplying at all times a recognised livelihood to a limited number of practitioners. The mode of proceeding was very simple. Httm puttees, who assumed the character of an attorney's clerk, and who probably had learned his business in that capacity, on at least two occasions preferred balls of indictment before the grand jury for London 'Oust various persons for keeping houses of ill fame, and sup -1 portei them by the evidence of his accomplice 1 PHEASANT, who undertook the swearing department of the business. The grand jury, having no means of testing the credit of an unkuowa witness, and no power to hear the other side of the question, in both cases returned true bills, which the confederates, in pursuance of their plan, proceeded to use as instru- 1 1 meats of extortion. It seems that in each case one of the parties indicted was liable to the charge, but that I the others were altogether unconnected with the houses spoken of. Both the guilty and the inno- cent, however, were indicted without any intention of prosecuting the charge effectually. One of the persons included in the second indictment, had been in the , habit of paying HUMPHREYS 1/. a month as black mail to secure her against informers. From the other defendants be demanded sums of 51. or lel. u the price of discontinuing the prosecution ; and it is evident that with a true bill already . found against them, the most innocent persona, anticipating at the trial a repetition of the perjury which must have been committed before the grand jury, might be tempted to yield to the most insolent extortion rather than appear in open court to meet a charge of disgraceful conduct. A mere threat of accusation might be de spised; but in this case the conspirator was armed with a preliminary decision, by the competent tribunal, that his victims were guilty of the charge on which they were threatened with prosecution. It may be worth observing, that in this case, as in all others, if the scheme had been conducted by a single criminal, he could not have been convicted of conspiracy, a misdemeanor which is necessarily collective. HUMPHREYS might have ten dered himself as a witness, and, if the grand jury had been satisfied with his evidence, he would only have bow liable to the charge of perjury, which it was in ray sass necessary for himself or his confederate to risk. He might probably be aware that, in conse quence of our complicated system of criminal plead ing, an evil which also arises, as we have shown on a former occasion, from the existence of grand juries, a conviction for perjury is even more difficult to own than one on an indictment for conspiracy. In the present instance he was, probably, deterred from mai; alone by a fear that the grand Pry ould be diseraufted with the evidence of the prosecuting attorney's clerk. The mere recital of HUMPHREYS'S plan will satisfy most persons, that so obvious and easy a kind of swindling must, in the competition of dishonest in dustry, which is always proceeding in a community like sier cows, be not unfrequeutly practised. Even the known facility of procuring bills of indictment, to be found for the purposes of extortion, must make the mere threat of commencing a prosecution more for midable than it would appear if the accuser and ac cused were necessarily confronted in the first in stance. For victims of firmer nerves, or for greater security of success, it will be desirable actually to prefer the indictment. Sometimes a misfortune may occur as in the conviction of HUMPHREYS and PHEASANT, but the expense and uncertainty of a pro secution for conspiracy forms part of the stock in trade of Loudon swindlers from horse-chanters to grand jury extortioners. It must be remembered, also, that profit is not tke only motive for which a fraudulent =lleedon may be undertaken. No person can l had much experience in criminal courts, with out knowing cases of indictments preferred in conse quence of malice, which would have been at once detected, if the parties had been brought face to face before a magistrate. Some years ago a wealthy and respectable tradesman was tried for stealing a piece of paper from his own nephew or eon-in-law. On the trial it appeared that the prisoner had written to require payment of a debt from his young relative : but bad afterwards, from feelings of kindness, deter mined to give him further time. He accordingly called upon him, and was talking to his wife when the letter arrived. The prisoner told the prosecutor's wife the nature of the letter and his own change of intention, took the letter, and put it into the fire. From this simple fact, the debtor, on a sub sequent demand of the debt, trum ped up a charge of larceny, and proved it to the satisfaction of a grand jury. For some months, the person ac cused, and a Mend, who, having accompanied him in his visit, was brought in as an accomplice, had to lie under a charge of felony, and, at the assizes, he bad to stand is the dock among common thieves, till the indignation of the court, and of the jury, caused the case for the procecntion to be dropped. Shiftier malignity is not, perhaps, so common es the disho nesty of HUMPHREYS and his associate; but of this case, also, it is impossible to say that it stands, or is likely to stand, alone. • We cannot see how it can be denied that, in both classes of cases, the power of extortion, or of perse cution, arises from the competence of grand juries to institute prosecutions. They have no power to re ject any c harge without hearing the evidence,nor can call upon the accused for explanation. When a preliminary examination before a magistrate has taken place their functions are superfluous if they confirm his decision, and a grave impediment to justice: if they hinder the case from being tried. When they are applied to in the first instance there is always a possibility that the prosecutor may have bad undue motives for withdrawing the case from the more searching investigation of the magistrate. In the grand jury room he can shape his case as he thinks fit, nor is there any security that the statements of hie witnesses in open court will be identical with those on which the bill was found. In such a case, the insufficiency of the evidence to support the charge can only be known by hearing it at length. A magistrate, on the other hand, must forward to the court the written evidence on which be has pro oeeded ; and when he has committed the accused on insufficient grounds, it is usual for an acquittal to be taken, at the suggestion of the judge, without ant evidence being offered to the jury. It seems to us at least necessary for the protection of innocent persons, that the interference of a magis trate to commit or hold to bail, which is usual in bond fide prosecutions, should be made compulsory in all cases, before an accused person can be put upon his trial. The institution of grand juries is too ancient and too agreeable to some of those who perform the duties to be got rid of without a repetition of attacks ; but we should not anticipate any seriousopposition to the measure which we now . propose, if it was judiciously brought forward in parliament. Let grand juries be secured against the liability tote made the instruments of malice and extortion, and it may then, after taking care of the intimate of the innocent, be considered whether it isfgrorth while to maintain them for the greater impunity of the guilty. On this point elso we see no reason to change our opinion. The very same institution which made it easy for HUMPHREYS to threaten the innocent gave him a chance of escape by rendering a long and complicated indictment necessary to his conviction. If them bad been no grand jury at the Old Bailey he must have gone to a police magistrate, who would have extin guished his plan at the outset; or, supposing him to have completed it, there would have been no long and technical history of his misdemeanor, in the form of an indictment, to tie down the evidence on his trial, and procure his acquittal if a variance should occur. It may be useful to repeat what we have said on a former occasion, that the use of indictments, and all the technical impediments to justice which are connected with them, arise wholly from the theoreti cal necessity of identifying the verdict of the petty jury with that of the grand jury. Dispense with the preliminary tribunal, and criminal pleading falls of itself—cessante ratione cessat ter : which, being inter preted, is, when an unreasonable system is dropped, the legal fictions and absurdities connected with it drop at the same time. If the recent trial at the Central Criminal Court tends in any way to the aboli tion of grand juries, even Hemel:MEV; and PHEASANT will not have been wholly without their use in the world, as martyrs, after a certain rascally kind, to the amendment of criminal law. The disturbances which we have already mentionei as prevailing in Paris, in the rue St. Honons, owing to some dissensions between a tradesman and his journeymen, continued on Friday evening, and the police and municipal troops were actively engaged. Several arrests had taken place, and much irntation prevailed against the police, owing to charges of im proper violence towards unoffending persons. As to the rest, this affair has nothing political in it. Nothing can exceed the coolness with which the journal of the court and cabinet sits down and devours its words in reference to the state of Italy. It was only last week that it refused to believe the aggres sion of Austria in Ferrara—all reports from Italy were exaggerated and unworthy of credit. On Monday tne word of order was to attack the Pope and the English. His Holiness woe accordingly charged with being an agitator and incendiary. He inflamed the Italian popula tion with his protests. He sanctioned by the cen sorship a radical press. English sympathy was self ish and interested, having no care either for the Italian people or the liberal cause. On Friday and Saturday the key-note was altered. All the news from Italy, which had been.given by all the journals of Paris for the preceding ten days, were pro duced for the first time in • the Debats, as if no one had yet heard of them. The tone was al• together changed. Pius IX., who, on Mon day, was an agitator and an incendiary, be came, by a marvellous prestidigitation, on Friday " the illustrious Pontiff, engaged in his glorious work of reform," and a panegyric of two columns is given to what, until that day, was discredited and anathema tised. What all this prognosticates on the part of those from whom the Journal des Debuts takes its in spirations, we leave to others to determine. The regents of the Bank of France have postponed, for the present, the proposition to lower the rate of discount. It is, however, understood, that if the pre sent improved state of affairs shall be sustained, the redaction will, erelong, be adopted. The assassination attempted 157 the Prince d'Eck m dhl continues to be the subject of conversation in society, and of comment in the press. The course pur sued by the ministerial organs on the subject is severely reprehended. When the rumour was given with circumstantial consistency, it was met by ar, authorised contradiction, expressed in unqualified terms by the official and semi-official journals of the court and cabinet. Next day this was flatly contra dicted, and the act admitted in all its aggravated cir cumstances, bat coupled with the assertion that the victim was not dead, and that the assassin was mad. To this it has been fairly enough rejoined, that these allegations should, in the interests of the public, be established before a competent tribunal, as would unquestionably have been the case had a like act been committed by an individual in a less elevated position. To this nothing has yet been answered. A new journal, called Le Con terrateur, appeared in a specimen number in Paris on Saturday. The regu lar publication of this paper will be commenced on the 15th inst. The greatest solicitude prevailed in Parisem Satur day respecting the expected intelligence from Madrid, and much disappointment ensued on the arrival of the Bordeaux courier without the Spanish mails. innu merable and discordant rumours were in circulation. The Madrid letters and correspondence of the 29th were received on Friday in due course. Nothing conclusive had yet been effected towards the formation of a cabinet. Narvaez, after going mind times to the palace without being admitted to an audience, was at length received. The joursele at the sae and the other party give different reports et his reception, the one affirming that it was most gracious—the other, that it was the reverse of agreeable. It was reported that Narvaez requested all the ministers to retain their portfolios, which, however, they declined to do. The attempts made by Narvaez and the Bishop of Curia to induce the King Consort to resume his real , dente in the palace were-unzneceasful. It was stated that Narvaez had a long interview with the King, in which he in vain used every means of persuasion of which he was master. In the absence of the regular despatches due on Saturday La Presse gives, on the authority of its private correspondents, moat important news, of the authenticity of which it expresses no doubt. Advices received by that journal to the 30th ult. (which must have arrived by an extraordinary courier) are to the effect that Narvaez had renounced the task of forming a cabinet ; that hie attempts were rendered abortive by the superior will of the Queen, influenced by the British minister, who is said to have " moved heaven and earth to accomplish this object." According to these accounts Mr. Bulwer alarmed the Queen by the imputed projects of Narvaez, whom he represented as the agent of, a conspiracy against the royal authority, hatched at Paris ; that he also worked on Isabella by the promise to obtain a divorce, to bring about an alliance with a son of Queen Donna Maria, to whom she is to be affianced, until be shall attain a marriageable age. Meanwhile the Queen is to be maintained in the plenitude of her authority and power, and General Serrano is to be raised to the office of major dunk, of the palace. These anticipations, say these accounts, have completely fascinated the Queen, who has entirely changed the reeolutions she had previously taken, and rejected in an unqualified manner the councils and assistance of the Duke of Valencia. Since the above was written we hare received a pri- Irate letter from Madrid, dated the 30th ult., in which it is affirmed, that on the evening of the 29th, at six o'clock, the political chief of Madrid, M. Patricio de la Escoeura, called on General Name:, to inform him that it would be necessary to include in his pro posed arrangements M. Salamanca. The Duke of Valencia, without complying with this demand, pro- ceeded to the palace at seven o'clock, when he pre sented to the Queen a list of thirteen names, from which he prayed her Majesty to select seven for the cabinet. The Queen, glancing at the list, replied, that at midnight, on her return from the theatre, she would give him her answer. At midnight, accord ingly, Nervier was again received, when her Ma jesty, after examining the list, expressed herself dissatisfied with it, and observed that she in tended to see whether she could not pro ceed with the actual cabinet. Narvaez then asked her Majesty whether the cemmiesion which had been given him to form a cabinet was withdrawn, to which her Majesty replied again that, she would consider, and see whether she could not go on without any change of ministry. In effect, it may be considered that Nervaer's commission is at an end. lie went from the palace to the hotel of the presi dent of the council, where he communicated to the cabinet, then sitting, what had passed between him and her Majesty. Soon after this, the ministers separated. It may be considered certain that Narvaez has been put aside, and that Pacheco will retire. A cabinet will probably be formed under the auspices of Sala manca and Serrano. ROME, Ave. 24. We have iiews from Ferrara that the steamer em ployed between Venice and Trieste had been taken up for war purposes, and had been freighted with 800 Tyrolese jagers, who are now landed at the mouth of the Po, the only harbour on the Ferrarese coast (called Logo Oacuro). This force, I need not tell you, cannot be relied on by Austria; as I would bet a wager that if one of our capuchins from Perugia I were to confront them with a crucifix they would down on their marrow-bones, and, like true children of Hofer, arise with a thundering shout of Viva Pio nono ! A large body of Croats has made its appear ance at a place called Polesella, 12 miles from Ferrara, and 2,000 men of Hungarian uniform arc reported to be seen in Rovigo, on the left bank of the Po. Pins hiss dispatched Gen. Bentivoglio to Forli, with a staff' of first-rate military talent—Lieut. Bocesnera of the Dragoons, Col. Bini of the Caccialori, and Major Bersanti of the Artillery. When the order for marching northwards was read on parade here, the cries of jubilant enthusiasm shook the welkin. The old days of Aedrubal encamped on the Me taunts, and Scipio starting to the rencontre, seemed come again : Et pulcher rugatia ale Men Law tenebrls ttul primus abut deg culoreh ! The despatches of our nuncio at Turin, Monsignor Antonucci, have coma in to-day, and though yet un disclosed, sufficient has transpired to gladden the public. 100,000 Sardinian men and 28 war ships are with us. From Milan we learn that it has been impos sibleto keep our " protest" from the ken of the Longo bards, for suddenly, as if by magic, every street corner became a focus of insurrectionary perusal, and the Austrian cannon with which every open square is encumbered, could not disperse the thousands bent on reading what the Pope had to say to Europe. The King of Naples, with an hypocrisy equal to that of LOMB Philippe, has now come forward with offers of "protection !" whereupon the Almada, a semi-official paper here, compares his kindness to that of the East India Company's benevolent protectorate of the King of Nizam, whose territories are to be garri soned, and whose tribunals furnished with English judges. "Beat° it Re di Nizam,quindiinanzi non arra die a bore e a mangiare, fin die piare la compagnia. Non vi pare the sia una bella cosa la Pride:km?'" At this very juncture, credible reports have reached us that the Neapolitan autocrat will have enough to do to protect himself, the whole kingdom being up in revolt, and every wheel of the government out of gear. Sicily is in utter confusion, and from the toe of the Italian boot to the instep and ancle upwards, shooting pains are felt and muscular convulsions. The royal chiropedist has quite enough on his hands. To the eternal disgrace of his character, he has been re viving in this century the by-gone practice of torture at Naples, and several poor devils of printers (or poor printers devils) have been subjected to the thumbscrew to extort the authorship of clandestine placards, denouncing public wrongs ; the atrocity practised on one Seguin, a French subject, suspected of typographic treason, is too horrible to divulge, and were not prance sunk in the lowest abyss of servility would challenge exemplary vengeance from his coun trymen. The " Freddie" of Naples know their turn will soon come, and those grim hyenas of humanity stop at nothing. The learned and pious canon Graziosi was buried yesterday. He was the early instructor of Pius IX., who visited his death-bed and cheered his departure. The students of the university, the Apollinari and Propaganda, followed his hearse, with all the Reman clubs and battaillons of the guard. The Gregorian College, under Jesuit management, did not show. These misguided fathers are getting deeper every day in the slough of despond. They have not even tact to keep aloof from popular gatherings, though fre quently reviled and openly insulted. On the Longara yesterday I saw two padres, surrounded by a mob; and I heard one of them exclaim, turning round on his assailants, " Questo e [Vett° del Progresso 1' A more infelicitous speech could not have been made. Their ministry among the people is stricken hence forth with utter sterility. Arc. 28.—1 t is stated to-day that a reply from the Aulic Council of Vienna to the Papal protest, is in town, and the substance is understood to be that RA detzkey had acted in strict accordance with the impe rial mandate, and had simply carried out hie instruc tions, which were to occupy the city of Ferrara when deemed opportune or necessary to the upholding of the treaty of Vienna in its obvious meaning, viz., the sustainment of Austrian authority in Italy ; that such occupation should continue until the pontiff, by disbanding his national guards and revoking his de cree about representative government, should give a guarantee of his adhesion to the principles of the holy alliance, the very basis on which matters were ar ranged at the Congress of Vienna ; that the temporal principality of the Popedom was reconstructed on this understanding, failing which, its continuance in Italy could not be tolerated, and the Pope had but to choose between the mere bishopric of Rome, shorn of its independence, or the sceptre with subserviency to the Kaiser. These are not, of course, the words of the document, but the drift of the despatch is clearly to that effect. The indignation of our sovereign may be con ceived. The idea of being held in the light of a mere Austrian bailiff or tipstaff in the Peninsula, is too much of a dull German joke to be addressed to an Italian nobleman, in the prime of life, at the head of the oldest elective monarchy in Europe. 'Twere enough to create a soul under the most octogenarian ribs, baldest scalp, and feeblest limbs, that ever tot tered under the tiara. Ferretti resents the insult more after the fashion of Pope Julius IL than of blind old Dandolo. We see him mounted on his new white mule, beaming with proud anticipation of eventual triumph : and all betokens war. If none of the church fathers I'M it, Tully once spoke words those holy men might not disavow :—"Est nomen pads duke et ipsa res salidaris sed inter paCe7II et serritutem plitrimum interest. Pax eat tranquilla libertas. Serritus malorum oninium extremum, non belle solo sed mode quoque repellendum! " The activity of the war department is at its height. Colonel Gabrielli has replaced the mild geologist Medici Spada, of whose dismissal I made men tion on the Bth instant. Spada was a concealed Gre gorian, and the Pope's hand requiring all trump cards, a knave of spades would not suit. To arrest further inroads of troops from Lombardy, orders were issued last night which, if carried out, will prove the energy as well as military skill of our " Horseguards." The Po for forty miles on our northern frontier, from Piedmont to the Adriatic, runs between artificial mounds of earthwork, which have to be annually raised, owing to the constant deposit of .gravel in the bed of the river, so that in some districts the flood runs fifteen or twenty feet above the level of the plains. To deluge the whole country for miles on both banks will be the work of a few pickaxes, and mill lea Allemands dans reau ! The harvest being all garnered io, no harm can ensue, but abundant benefit from the monster irrigation. The hint has been borrowed from a memorable act of Dutch patriotism. The camp at Forli is being reinforced every day by detachments from the south and volunteers from all quarters, The Albion and Rodney, 90 gun ships, are expected at Ancona, from the Pirwus (with or without the garrison of Corfu), and I need not tell you what vigour will be infused into our measures from the glorious moment that your " winged ministers of =Tbearing British thunder in their pouches" r; anchor before the mote of Augustus, familiarised to you by the pencil of Stanfield— ante dowsurn Valerie quern Doric& eustinet Ancaa indeed the support of England is the main reliance of all hares from the monarch down to the hawkers of penny broadsheets, who bawl out in every direction their hopes from that quarter. " Per un hajoecho rapoggio dell Inghilterra ! " Yours is the only power that can give disinterested aid! Hawking poli tical news is quite a new trade here, and one bajoccho the general price of a paper; but yesterday the criers in every street raised their charge, for the arrival of Minardi from Tuscany. " Due bajoechi per l'infarne Minardi.'" •• due bojecehi rinjam e!" The Grand Duke is understood to have stipulated for his life being spared before he would hand him over to our government. A holy horror of episcopal non-resi dence (newly felt) still keeps Lambruschini in his diocesan seaport, where he is to be seen, with a few attendants, pacing the sands, and, like the priest in Homer, confiding his sorrows to the roaring main: Bq saramr rapa Boa IC.T.X. I went down to Civita Vecchia last week to have a good view of him, and now that the sporting season has begun he does right to keep out of the way. The nationals might diversify the toujours perdrix by bagging some red legs. Dr. Wiseman left Rome early this week for the small town of Fano, on the Adriatic, where his sister, married to an Italian nobleman, resides; thence he goes direct to England. As he will be near the theatre of war, he will probably write another long letter to the Times under his signature of " Anglo- Romanus." The account which he furnished of the conspiracy here was thought heavy and lumbering, nor did it contain a fact that had not been previously published by you. The appearance of a bishop in the newspaper world is foolishly blamed by men who are behind their generation. 'the press has long since taken the o ffi ce of the pulpit, and those who wish to influence opinion must adopt the current instrumenta lity. Abbe Genoude in France is editor and proprietor of the Gazette de France: Abbe de lionnechose con tributes to La Prow front Rome ; and the Dublin Freeman Lea from Rome the benefit of Father Kirby's wisdom,which, amid pious ejaculations, unfortunately mixes up much malignant slander. Three days ago the Princess Donna Chiara Colonna died at an advanced age. The family honours lapse into the new-fangled house of Torlonia, who have quartered their arms (?), viz., a comet, with the old lonic pillar of the Roman house. Torlonia, the tobacco broker, married the accomplished and bean udaughter of Donna Chiara, tif 1 identified his house (?) with that of Colonna, by printing for priva'e circulation 500 copies of the son nets of Vittoria Colonna, on every pag e of which the watermark of the paper exhibits theafors said frond and pillar in juxta position! Next Monday the fair daughter of Bonaparte, Prince of Canino, weds an accomplished Italian nobleman, the Marquis do St. Collo. Reverting to the position of Pius IX. in bold defi ance of his Austrian foe, it seems a fatality from the days of the fourth Henry and Hildebrand, to those of Joseph IL and Pius the Sixth, that Vienna should be the grand antagonist of the Vatican. Yet there was a time when the house of llapeburg, in its humble origin, gloried in being the meek creature of the Ro man pontiffs, and wore engraved on the circlet of gold which formed its barbaric diadem the following sig nificant inscription : Pere Mil Vitro. furls Maras assorts. .--- • Petra autem crat CA.i•tu•. 1 Cor. cap. 10, v. 4. "We ore indebted to the Port-otlice authorities for rele , sing yester day our Roroon dent's letter, which end.tles us to present today the lewd news fm that interesting capital.l t‘r.):pcl li mila: R vait A owl N heene C erdtk E th:l — lien rtwiNiemprd. thunderstorms. herdsman ohoeßrs ed i saN i ni,c. r l n. n r.t Id ! coursee ‘ilightninge Awo severely T d d d e e fi r p six ows. Anglemont, a young woman, who continued to work in the open fields, as less dangerous than seeking, as her companions did, shelter in an adjoining wood, had her right side para lysed, and is still in en alarming condition. At Portions, a poor woman was killed while out harvesting, the brain being affected by the electric fluid without any apparent external Injury. Nearly the whole of the commune of Agecourt was ravaged by the hail, which destroyed the grapes upon 35 acres of vineyards, HORRIBLE ATROCITIES.—The village of Celle- Dunoise, near Oueret (Creme), was on Sunday week the scene of some horrible crimes. A man of the name of Labetoulle, after having dissipated in debauchery the for tune which his wife brought him, obtained employment on • railway; but as work woo not to his testa. he moan threw up his situation, end returned to his village. His wife, whom it is said he attempted to poison, refused, how ever, to receive hint, as did also his children, when he had ruined ; and a woman named Bridier, with whom he had long carried on an adulterous intercourse, though she was the mother of seven children, would have nothing more to do with him. Incensed at all this, he went to the resi dence of the woman Bridier, and, not finding her at home, he proceeded to a field where he was told she was occupied with one of her daughter'. What goosed between than is not known, but the ruffian knocked the woman down with a stake, and then stabbed her in the bowels with a knife. lie next committed the most atrocious violence on the daughter, fractured both her arms, inflicted wounds in the abdomen, and cuther wrists with his knife to the bones. The mother died on Monday, and on Tuesday the daughter was in a desperate state. After the perpetration of Mess crimes, he went to a place called La CeUe. Oa his road hs snot his wife, and bade her adieu, stating that he was about to kill himself. He then procured his gun, placed the end of the barrel under his chin, and pulled the trigger with his foot. The ball goosed through the flesh and the tongue, gad [ divided the nose; it caused an eye to be pushed forward,and finally escaped through the forehead. Notwithstanding these horrible wounds the man is not dead, but it is sot likely that he con survive. He his bi en lodged in the gaol of °tient The gendarmes stated that, it they had not captured hint, the infuriated people would have thrown him into the river Creuse. DOUBLE SUICIDE.—A young man, named Raulin, lately released from the army, and living at Misfires (Ardennes), long loved with great passion a young girl in the service of a lady residing in the Faubourg du Pont cretrches, and his love was warmly returned by the girl The parents of the latter were anxious to see her married, and the herself frequently pressed Raulin to wed her • but he sheep found means to elude a compliance with be; de sire. At length he avowed with the most bitter grief that he could not make her his wife, for that he was already "harried to a woman at Brest. lie cursed his cruel destiny, sad the girl shared hie sentiments. They then agreed, as they could not live together, that they would commit amide. A few days ago the man obtained a knife, a pistol, vapowcier, &c. and they then bath went to an uninhabited basis in the F aubourg du Pont d'Archee, where Rauha dabbed the young girl, and thee set her clothes on fire. Insmisdiately after he shot himself through the heart. The stsgssrof the pistol attracted persons to the spot, but they email render no assistance, the unfortunate couple being deed. PENITENTIARY CONGRESS AT BRCSSELS.—On the 20th of this month a meeting will be held at Brussels of dele gates from different parts of the world, to take into coed aeration various important questions connected with penal reform. Several resolutions were pasted at the first sitting of the congress at Frankfort.on-the-Maine, unanimosaly id netting the necessity of the adoption of the principle of sepa rable as a mode of penal action for the prevention of the smamarras evils connected with the system of amoriaties as present very generally in operation in prisons and penal _ Is **Amiens. The subjects for discussion A the gun s mits"( congress will be as follows The interior OrginlntiOil SS of survea unproccons. im or p pz in iW e n n t t tee t; lt t Lec . ti re on u , gi c o o . mm e :s4 m on s ehitecture of prisons and penitentiaries suited to the l em ee "operate imprisonment; arrangement of the edifices, !Dos' sions of the cells, ventilation, mode of warming, distrtbutsca water, ,water closets, exercising yards, places of "mesh* &c. 3. Sanitary state of penitentiaries; means of preserving the health of prisoners. 4. Organisation of societies ofgal tronage for liberated pensioners. S. Asylums and . 110siel c .. c o .. .. 6...bßeie fu cf r oo j nrLs en tou il enbe e c c,l 4 e n . ot ia rrd q pe u u e it te n , int ag im p ( ric n u ride lt f u oler r gi al 2.l77ti ta .o b ni h ;rer.r . ustice; causes of crime, &e. The period timed for the moot of the penitentiary congress coincides with that for the exhibition of the products of national industry and the feat vela sti occasiovnenofbthy e the iv v e ernim muy en o t r a th nd e eke city of sores will 7d il e l 4 be re tak it, e jo n in th i a n t ti t e ceremonies. The th .r e v h .'6° e l con r oo ti nv dt "li eo . " a ral es. be he d in the Old Gothic Hall, at the Hotel de the civic authorities have placed for this purpose at d' The Minister of Justice has consented to set as Modes!, Deputies from the literary class of the Royal Acaderans Brussels, the Belgic Royal Academy of Medicine, the tral Commission of Statistics, the administrative counellm the Free University, and the Prism; Administration Com. missions sitting at Brussels—all those will be associated la promoting the ofjects of the congress, and it is expected tl will be an important gathering of the secant of - Europe am America. CONGRESS OF POLITICAL ECONOMISTS IN BRCS* eat.s.—The programme for the meeting on the 16th in has just been issued. It is stated in it that toe cone., will discuss the following subjects .-1. The general pies that form the basis of political economy, and the day trines of the partizans of freedom of exchange. 2. TIN dal Pr' tinnier interests orepecial reasons which each country invoke for or against free trade. 3. The influence dims trade upon the condition of the working classes. 4. influence an the sciences and arta, end on civilientios r ,311r7 I --- r -