The Express. — London, England, 1848-01-07 00:00:00

r~~ r PARLIAMENTARY PAPERS. Three sessional papers of the Ileum of Commons were delivered yesterday. The first (30) was moved for by Mr. ooulburn. It contains two returns : one of "the quantities Of ell articles which, in the year 1841, paid customs duty to the amount of 1,0001. and upwards, which have been im ported, and of the quantities brought into home consumption during each of the years 1841, 1842, 1843, 1844, 1845, and 1846, distinguishing those articles on which the duty has since 1841 been either altered or repealed ;" and the other, of " the declared value of the exports of British and Irish produce and manufactures in the five months coding on the 6th of Juno in each of the said years, distinguishing the principal articles." This is one of the reproductions, in a slightly modified form, of information previously printed in papers of the house, which, to the great profit of its printers, crotchety members ere accustomed to move far on their own account, and complaisant ones at the instigation of crotchety constituents or friends. In the pre sent instance, the anti-freetrader who devised the ingenious volume now before us will take little by his motion. From the second return it appears that the total declared value of British manufactures exported in 1841, 42 and 43 averaged about 17 millions annually ; in 1844, 45 and 46 within a trifle of 20 millions annually. (37.) This paper contains a return moved for by Mr. Miles, of " the quantity of foreign grain imported into the United Kingdom in each month since the passing of the Act 9 & 10 Vic. ; distinguishing the quantity and - kind, as well as the particular foreign country from whence im ported; together with the average price of wheat, barley, and oata, in each respective month." The return substitutes quarterly for monthly periods; the monthly returns from the matrons to the Custom-house not embracing the distinc tion of countries. (44.) A return moved for by Mr. Labouchere, of " The exports and imports of the port of Liverpool for the first nine months of 1816 and 1847." The declared value of the prin. cipal articles of British and Irish produce and manufactures exported from the port of Liverpool to foreign parts in the first nine months of 1846 was 19,091,4431. ; in the first nine months of 1847 it was 20,134,3671. ght prefSO. MAILS . The mails for Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Madeira, Cadiz, and Oftwidter will be made ap on the morning of the 7th January. The overland ensiled malls, vie MemelUm, to the Mediterranean, Mgypt, Ades, Ceylon, lad* Hoeg Kong, Be., will be made up cm the swain of the 7th January. The mails fur Pritilki North America, Bermes, sad the United agates, will be mode up on the evening of the 141 k January. The Wait India Mails, excluding Bermuda, Nassau, Itsvana Rondonia, New Orleans, Vera Croo, Tampion, and Porto Rios, and including tau. for Madeira, Joomel, Carthagena, santa Martha, Chagree, Panama, Weal Coast of South America. and Pt. Juan-des Nicaragua, will ue made up on the overdue of the 17th January. The overland mails for Gibraltar, Malta. Greece, the loolaa Idea& Fsupt, Aden, Ceylon, floag.Koog, and China. me SouthamPtes, well le made up on the morning of the 20th January. The mails foe Ncw South WWI; Van Diemen'. Inn& sad Now Zealand will be made up on the evening of the 210 t January. The malls for the Braubt, the River Plate, Monte Video, Perllan. Bahia,, Bah' Madeira, and Buenos Ayres, will be made up on Vse evening of the 4th February. F:tig3PON IMAM . T% 1 7.4;:1 i er d.. t1. • .140."':,1„rim....-- SION WATID AT LONDON D.,—)lenieg. 31 oh. pre 2; efeaes, tol. I. To-Doaauvr-11222222. Slis* as Aft 3. LONDON, FRIDAY, JAN. 7. THE charge of Chief Justice Blackburn to the grand jury of Limerick, at the opening of the special commission for that county, which we gave in second edition yesterday, will be read with no ordinary interest. Characterised by all those quali ties of precision, comprehensiveness, and vigour, for which that learned judge has long been known,—it reviews clearly and succinctly the course of legislation on the subject of agrarian crime, and practically re minds men of the duties imposed on each class of the community, and of the legitimate powers intrusted to them for the maintenance of order and law. -- It dwells forcibly but briefly on the calamitous state to which society has been reduced by the preva lence of pradial outrage, the denial of the plainest rights, and the neglect of the most obvious duties—by the loss of all neighbourly confidence and sympathy, the failure of men's hearts for selfish fear—by the cowardice of the cruelty which surprises its defence lees victim, and the cruelty of the cowardice that dares not to shield the innocent or to aid in the detec tion and punishment of the guilty. Turning from these sad and disheartening topics, the judicial monitor seems to prefer fixing attention on the universality of the social peril and of the social obliga tion to assist in averting it. After glancing at the danger to which persons, eminent for their property and station, and resident in the disturbed portions of the country, are conspicuously exposed, he truly adds "that we shall take a very limited view of this fright ful calamity if we consider these outrages as exclu sively confined to interference with the rights or the remedies of landed proprietors; in truth, the spirit of lawlessness and wickedness once let loose knows no bounds, and acknowledges no distinctions. The per sons and property of individuals are indiscriminately assailed and plundered ; and if these practices be sot arrested it is impossible to say that there will exist in this country either the dominion of the law, or safety for * person or property." There is in reality no branch of industry, no pur suit or calling, which is not injured by the presence of public disorder and interested permanently in the restoration of security and peace. The combination which has its origin in squabbles about rent will not nicely abstain from using its power to coerce the dealer to sell at a price named, or to forbid others to bay from him if he neglects its midnight mandates. The threatening notice is addressed to a land lord to-day, because he has obtained a civil bill decree for the arrears of rent that are due to him. A similar notice will to-mor row be addressed to the shopkeeper who has obtained a similar process to compel the repayment of the like sum, lent to another tenant last year to save him from eviction. The very calendar at Limerick contains striking proofs of this. The first man ar raigned on Tuesday last was one accused of complicity in murder supposed to have been caused by proceed ings in ejectment. The next was a person by whose hand an opulent dealer in one of the minor towns was suspected of having fallen. When once the spirit of violence and vengeance is suffered to walk abroad, every man'who cherishes die honesty or hatred towards his fellow avails himself successfully of its blind and indiscriminating edicts; or readily contrives some pretext to point the aim of 1 1 the mercenary executioner of the secret and san guinary tribunal against the unsuspecting object of his private enmity. Nor is this all. The evils which prolonged inse curity and violence produce are not confined even to these classes of society. It was feelingly observed by the assistant-barrister of Roscommon, Mr. Finlay— when, in commencing the business of the quarter ses sions the other day, he took occasion to comment on the distracted state of the county—that " among the classes who suffered thereby he could not help think ing peculiarly of the poor, whose losses, both direct and indirect, he traced with the faithful and judicious hand of an experienced, thoughtful, and upright man. No class in the long run has so much to lose by confusion and anarchy as those who depend for daily 'subsistence upon the employment of their labour. Without talking of the effect produced in deterring and repelling the approach of external capital, the diminution of the active and useful re-investment of the profits acquired by previous industry in the district itself, is as lamentable as it is in evitable. Who will set about new works, or costly improvements, when his family, terror stricken at the daily horrors around them, urge him to fly from the scene? Or if inspired by a noble sense of duty he remains, how soon will he find his position isolated, and the houses of his less resolute neighbours closed ? In vain do the miseries of the innocent many expos tulate against their being compelled to share in the consequences produced by the guilt of a comparative few. Between rich and poor —employers and employed—there ie in Ireland a great gulf fixed ; and when the waters of mutual distrust that flow between are lashed into a storm, individual pity avails not—vits voice is unheeded or I unheard. And herein lies the great organic want—the chief structural defect in society as it is constituted in Ireland. We hear it said continually that the occupying tenants of the soil are too many. What is of far more importance, but what is seldom heeded, is, that the proprietary are too few. They are too few for' their own sakes, too few for the sake of the poor, and too few for the safety of the state. Without capital commensurate with the extent of their domains, they are unable to improve the capabilities of the land or to employ its people. A single individual finds him self in the midst of thousands whom he fears too much to trust, and who will not confide in him. There is no middle class, nor in many instances any element of a middle class, to blunt the edge of mutual suspi cion that subsists between him and them. With good intent, and, in the abstract, good design, he commences to improve, and gives occupation to many who stand Is amid oat. Bat his sympathies are not with the stassitivated crowd of peasants among whom h. dwpUs, and he unthinkingly and unconsciously does al the and little things that foment in secret their dis trust Then comes some quarrel with half-a-dosen twain* with whom it signifies little which is most in tits wrong, he or they. Where are the elements of &ir or just opinion to judge in such aMO ? Seven miles off he has ono neighbour like himself who hears his side of the story, and approves what he has done. He takes another step thereupon in the matter, and it is then too late to retract. Meanwhile the multitude who only know that they are all equally in this man's power, who have heard from every side of wholesale eviction, and to whom the experimental doctrine is too welcome that landlords like other men,when placed in circumstances of great irresponsibility, are prone to be capricious and oppressive in the exercise of power, hear without emotion that the legal notice to quit has been answered by warning notice to desist from fur ther proceedings. We need not follow out the chain of reciprocal menace and exasperation. But it is manifest that in proportion as properties are vast and fow,the errors, whether wilful or blind, of an individual are momentous ; and in the same ratio the popular sympathy with resistance to his will is likely to be intense and dangerous. Nor can we rea sonably doubt that, if in addition to a more numerous proprietary, there existed something like an agricul tural middle class throughout Ireland, as the alterna tives of employment would be multiplied, so the local strength of the social garrison would be effectively increased, by whose courage and co-operation alone the integrity of property and the sanctity of life can be insured. And while we do not cavil at the principle laid down in his recent charge by Chief Justice Black burn, that " the law cannot tolerate its own violation, or admit of any cause or any fact given as an excuse or justification for the commission of crime "—and that those who are sent to administer it have no dis cretion to inquire into the accumulative provocations and incentives to the perpetration of particular acts of outrage and cruelty—we cannot help asking how long will the legislature halt between two opinions, and shrink from the manifest duty of striving in right earnest to remove, or at least effectively to abate, the causes of such wide-spread mischief and misery It is idle to pretend that the evils are beyond the reach of legislative power. Some of them doubt less aro ; but others are not so. A bankrupt pro prietor wishes for leave to sell part of his estate; the statutes of the realm alone prevent him. Several of the very tenants with whom he has been at feud for years would gladly become the purchasers of these litigated holdings : the law will not show them. The country has been left to struggle and suffer under the dAris of feudalism, while every other land almost in Western Europe has either peaceably or by revolu tion shaken off the ruinous burthen. Until a funda mental change in the relations of property in Ireland is made, its security or enjoyment cannot be hoped for; and, until property be secure, no permat.ent amelioration in the people's condition will be found possible. HOWEVER we may laugh at fortifications, scout the panic of invasion, and defy any considerable augmentation of the army estimates, yet it is difficult to suppose that the government, urged by the Duke of AS ettiscros's letter, and by the too prevalent opinion of the sinking hec:lthof the present King of the French, will not introduce at least a measure for embodying the militia, and make use of the acts which exist to call forth a certain portion of the popu lation for training in military exercises. Whether this is contemplated or not, it is still so clearly within the range of probabilities, that it be. hovee the public to pay some attention to the subject, and to their own interests, so immediately and per sonally involved in it. It is, or should be at this time of day, a received principle, that every class visited by a tax should be consulted as to the easiest and most advantageous mode of bearing it; whilst in the case of a tax applied to a special pur pose, the object of every ono must be, that it is made to answer that purpose. The present law for embodying a militia force has certainly the recommendation of being that which best suits the personal convenience and comfort of the occupied as well as the wealthy classes. A sub stitute can be found at no very great expense, while the cost of keeping up a militia of 100,000 or 150,000 men for twenty-eight days is not very enormous. This system, however, suggests many objections. It does not, like the Prussian, the French, or the American system, instruct a whole population in the art of military defence, and thus render inva sion impossible. It merely raises a secondary army of the same destitute class as recruits of the line are chosen from, of that class least calculated to wage an obstinate defensive war pro aria et facia. It constitutes an army of reserve, which sees 'fire for the first time on resisting an invasion, and which, it it indulges, but too naturally, in a panic, and is beaten in the field, leaves the country more exposed and crushed than if no militia had ever existed. The great object of such a force is to deter an enemy ; and no militia force, such as we raise it, can have that effect in any proportion with the effect produced by knowing that a whole population are soldiers. To this add the expenses ; and even half • million a year is seine consideration for the very imperfect end of giving a month's training to 100,000 men. The expense be comes still more serious when, on a sudden panic, the militia is called into active service: 95,000 militia, in 1813, cost three millions sterling. The mere fact of a population being trained to arms would, in most instances, preclude the necessity of embodying or calling forth any armed corps of the kind. Another objection to the militia iv, that it furnishes no cavalry, no artillery-men, no scientific corps. In case of actual invasion it confounds all classes : con demns the very engineer to carry a musket, the gen tleman who has followed the hounds to march with a bayonet. The inhabitant of towns it sends into the field with the peasant; the man of education with the clodhopper. Surely we might utilise men's capabilities in caao of invasion better than this. Suppose every engineer, when engineers have a college and a profession, was obliged to add military engineering to his acquirements, in order to pass his final examination, and the country would always have an important corps, independent of the royal corps of engineers. Why should not the inhabitants of towns be taught the art of defending them, and their youth be marshalled in corps for the purpose? Instead of the heavy tax of militia and l increase of military expenditure, a few holidays in, the year spent in a healthful, patriotic, and in etructive exercise, would put into the heads aed hands of the rising generation of each town the knowledge and the means of rendering it impregna ble. Let the agricultural peasantry be drilled in their localities, under their natural heads. But instead of assimilating the entire population to these peasants, let each learn what he can best learn and make best use of. And the result would be, that instead of being necessitated to augment the army, we might materially reduce it. The present day presents a very different order of things and ideas from what .prevailed when the Militia Act was passed in 1802, when the charge of organising the military defensive force of the country was given to the great landholders in each county, and when the town popula tion of England was counted as nought. The towns of England have made some progress since, and con quered some few privileges. They have won elec toral and municipal rights, and it is absolutely neces eery that a militia law, should such be put in force, be assimilated to the other laws, regulating elec toral and municipal rights. There are pre cedents in the law, regulating the militia of the City of London and that of the Cinque Porta. Manchester, Birmingham, Liverpool, have become more important than the Cinque Ports, and to hand over the power of organising the military force furnished by such districts to the lord-lieutenant of the county is simply preposterous. We have outgrown the militia law as we outgrow and outburst many others. It behoves ministers to take this into consideration ere they come forward with a simple resuscitation of the old militia law, which, as it now stands, is, to say the least of it, an anachronism. And it behoves the public and the press to excite discussion, and express opinion on a subject, and upon a purpose, which ought not to be treated or attempted without grave conside ration—without bringing to bear upon it the lights of the age, and thus suiting the law and the system to the improved and expanded necessities and ideas of that age. WE have extracted into another column, from the House of Commons papers, a petition presented on the 16th December last, which very seriously affects the due THR EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 7,1848. administration ()flintier, and the honour of the English bar. , Isltas *risen out of the proceedings in the all* of " Duren v. Denman," which has been more titaness, • referred to in the House of Common denim theists , session, and the trial of which is fixed to take *seat bar in the Court of Exchequer on the 3d of Fe bru ary. The action, it seems, is brought by a Spanish subject against Capt. DENMAN, R.N., to recover damages • for the destroction of his property in the river Galli nes, on the western coast of Africa, and was commenced so long ago as the 3rd of August, 1842. As the acts complained of were committed by the defendant while in command of her Majesty's ship the Wanderer, and in exercise, as alleged, of his instructions, hie defence has been conducted by the Admiralty solicitor. Of thie, perhaps, the plaintiff has little to complain, as it leads to the inference that any damages which he may recover will be paid to him by the crown ; but of this the public, who will, in any event, have to bear the heavy costa of the defence, and in the event of a verdict for the plaintiff the damages also we presume, may very grievously complain: for it cannot be forgotten that about the very time the action was commenced, Lord AitERDEEN, then Foreign Secretary, ad dressed a very formal despatch to the Admiralty, in which he stated that the law advisers of the crown had pronounced the cause of action to be unjustifiable by public law, and decided that instructions might be issued to the officers commanding our African squadron not to repeat such " exploits." This, how ever, by the way only. At the commencement of the action in 1842 Mr. HAY, the plaintiff's attorney (who is the petitioner), states; that he retained the services of Mr., now Sir Firmot KELLY, and that, from Novembe r in that year "up to the month of May last (with tho exception of the short interval during which Sir FITZROY KELLY held the office of her Majesty's Solicitor-General), he acted under the advice of Sir FITZROY KELLY in all the stages of these actions at law," and that in consequence " Sir FITZROY KELLY has become most intimately ac quainted with the case." In October last Mr. liar, however, received an intimation that Sir FITZROY KELLY could no longer act as plaintiff's counsel, the ArroENEY-GENEHAL having required his services as counsel for the defence. To this requisi tion Sir Firzaoy KELLY, it would appear, at once yielded, though for five years previously he had been advising the plaintiff and pocketing his money ; yielded on the plea that he had " no choice in the matter; that the Crown had required his services and that he was bound by his oath of office [as Queen's counsel we presume] to obey." Against this grand larceny—this stealing of his coun sel, the plaintiff's attorney appealed to the Board of Admiralty • bat though all the facts of the case have {yen fully explained to the ATTORNEY-ORNERAL and to that board " their lord ships have refused to forego the services of Sir FITZROY KELLY ;" so Sir FITZROY, nothing loth to all appearance, is now the defendant's counsel, with all the plaintiff's secrets in his possession. Where upon the attorney, whose confidence has thus been betrayed, and whose fees have been thrown away on Sir FITZROY KELLY, and who at the eleventh hour is left to seek another Queen's counsel—to be crammed, feed, and, it may be, carried away also — petitions the House of Commons for its interference ; and as that house cannot now take the subject into its considera tion before the trial comes on, we propose to assist Mr. HAY by calling fur an expression of public opinion to prevent the perpetration of so flagrant an outrage on honour, morals, and justice. No one, either in or out of the profession, expects a very high standard of moral or professional con duct from Sir Firznov KELLY—of Ipswich and " apple-pip" notoriety ; but as an honest mao he was bound to hare remonstrated with the ArrolorEy- GENERAL &initiat being forced to change sides in this manner, and to the prejudice of his client lIURON. If "by his oath of office he could not refuse to turn round at the Attorney-General's bidding, justice to the plaintiff, whose fees he had largely taken, and regard for his own honour, likely to be placed in a most hazardous and delicate position by the ',auk rersement, required him to do everything in his power—the more so because his original client was a foreigner—to prevent the enactment of suck a change of characters as none of this year's pantomimes displays. Yet from all that appears in the petition he has changed clients quite as a matter of course— am readily as WELDERBURN did sides in the House of Commons : it was an operation about which he had "no choice;'' the ATTORNEY-GENERAL handed him a fee, and he took it. But what are we to say to the conduct of the AT- TORNEY-GENERAL ? It may be legal; Sir FITZROY KELLY'S "oath of office" may give the crown this poser; but the exercise of it in this way hiss a ten dency to interrupt the due administration of justice, ) to destroy all professional confidence, and to lower the character of the bar. The power to call the services of Queen's counsel from a plaintiff to a defendant whose cue is voluntarily defended by government, is, we should suppose, doubtful. But assume its legality, it must be exercised fairly —it must be exercised in that spirit in which all proceedings connected with the bar are supposed to be conducted—it must not be exercised so as to snatch at the confidence of the plaintiff—it must not be exercised in an Old Bailey manner. Push the ATTORNEY-GENERAL'S principle to its full extent, and one by one might the plaintiff BURON be deprived of every Queen's counsel whom be had successively re tained. If Sir FITZROY KELLY may be thus taken from him, why not Mr. HILL? Admit the AT TORNEY-GENERAL'S practice, and the crown may de prive this foreigner suing in our courts of all the leading ability of the English bar. If the crown have this power it ought to be deprived of it ; if it have not the power, it ought not to be exercised. And will Sir FITZROY KELLY really appear for the defendant in this action with the plaintiff's confidence in his breast and the plaintiff's fees in his pocket ? Or is it only a professional ruse on the part of Sir /outs JERVIS, to deprive the plaintiff of Sir FITZ ROY'S services without requiring them for the de fence? In this light it would be bad enough : for then Sir FITZROY KELLY would be feed for silence. But to assign any part of the defendant's case to Sir FITZROY KELLY'S conduct, for the defence to avail itself of any of the information he acquired while retained by and advising the plaintiff, would indeed be an outrage on the administration of justice scarcely exceeded by Mr. DIGRY SEYMOUR'S late performance at York. We have received our Paris despatches of yesterday noon. The King and royal family, with their numerous suite, arrived at the Tuileries from Dreux, where the obsequies of the late Princess were solemnised at 11 o'clock on Wednesday night. The reception of their Majesties at Dreux was such as suited the solemnity of the occasion. The houses and principal hotels dis played the national flag covered with crape. According to a commonly circulated rumour, the late Princess Adelaide was privately married to the Baron Athalin, first aide-de-camp of Louis Philippe and peer of France. This report, however, leas known to be destitute of truth by all persons really acquainted with the Orleans family. Baron Athalin has been for many years married, and his wife still survives. The baroness was an intimate and favoured friend of the late princess, as well before as since her marriage, and it is even said, that her union with the baron was promoted by the advice and suggestion of the princess h( rself. Whatever relations therefore may have subsisted at an earlier period of life between M. Athalin and Madame Adelaide, it is quite certain that no marriage, private or otherwise, was ever con tracted by them. Persons, however, who have been long in the enjoyment of the intimacy of the chateau, and who were on a similar footing at the Palais Royal and Neuilly long before 1830, have assured us that no other sentiments were ever supposed to be entertained by the late princess towards Baron Athalin save those of the highest esteem and friend ship, returned on his part by the most respectful and grateful regard and attachment. Although no circumstances have really existed to justify the late announcement of a London journal that King Louis Philippe had resolved to abdicate and get a regency nominated, it is nevertheless true that in high political circles at both sides of the Seine such a contingency forms the subject of much conver sation, and is regarded as an event placed very much within the circle of possibilities, if not probabilities, at no very remote epoch. The nature of circumstances and the position and relation of parties confer, in the opinion of many well-informed persons, more than common likelihood on such an arrangemeat daring the life of the present monarch. It would form a sort of gentle declivity down which the monarchy would glide without a shook, and even without violent pre cipitation, from the steady and practised hand of its present experienced and sagacious ruler to his youth ful successor. The regency would, according to these who favour such a plan, for several, perhaps many years, be still guided and steadied by the present head of the state, though occupying no position of admitted authority. The collision which is more than appre hended between the party of the future queen-mother (whose eonduot and character have already sur rounded her with much respect and consideration) and that which would support the Duke of Nemours would be adjourned if not prevented. Perhaps the ru mours of such a project have originated quite as much from speculations on its intrinsic probability as from any external evidence of its serious existence in the thoughts of the only individual who could at present realise it. Madame Adelaide being now re moved, there is one individual possessing a great ascendancy over the affections, if not the understand ing, of Louis Philippe, who would undoubtedly favour such an arrangement, as likely to withdraw his Majesty from those attempts so often made against his life. That individual is Queen Amalie, whose mental sufferiage are visible to the least penetrating observer on all occasions on which the ceremonies of the state render it necessary to expose the royal person to danger from the fanatical assassin. M. Guizot has laid before the committee of the chamber on the address, a most formidable mass of diplomatic correspondence on the Swiss question, con sisting of not less than 22 documents, commencing with a copy of the treaty of 1814, which forms the bases of the confederation, and terminating with the last despatch of the Duke de Broglie from London, dated 2nd of December last, giving a report of a conversation with Lord Palmerston, from which it appeared that all real intervention was at an end. It would, of course, be quite impossible, within oar necessary limits, to give even a synopsis of this voluminous diplomatic discussion. A selection ft.c it fills the chief part of the Journal des Debate al yesterday. The committee of the Okamber of Peers on the ad dress met on Wednesday,lßad heard the draft of the address read a first time by the Baron de Baraute. The chamber is summoned again for Friday. The debate, however, will net commence before Monday. The Duke of Wellington's letter, and the agitation in England on the alleged defenceless state of the , country, has begun to occupy the attention of the Paris journals. Several of the leading papers of Thursday have articles on the subject. The Marchioness of Normanby has arrived at the British embassy from England. We have already stated, that in consequence of some alleged disorder among the students attending the lectures of Professor Michelet, the course was sus pended by order of the Minister of Public Instruction. Several journals publish a protest by a considera ble number of students of the different school, against this suspension. These young men maintain that a professor ought not to be made responsible for dis turbances that may take place before his entering, or after his quitting the lecture room ; for, if the students were so disposed, they might, by these means, cause the suspension of all the lectures by doing certain acts or delivering speeches against the policy of the go vernment. Letters from Naples of the 29th announce the con tinuance of the general state of agitation, but that no popular movement of a violent nature had taken place. It Re said the King wishes to make some concession to the spirit of reform, bat is afraid of appearing to yield to popular tumult. Some favourable changes in the public administration were made, among which is es pecially to be noticed the removal of Marshal Lardi from the command in Sicily, who was rendered in famous in the eyes of the whole civilised world by his proclamation inviting the people to become betrayers and informers. . . . Letters from Parma of the 29th unhappily dissipate the hopes, slight as they were, that were entertained that the new sovereign of that duchy would adopt a reforming policy. After visiting Milan, and sending thence a body of Austrians to Parma, who are to be followed by a much greater force, for which quarters were being prepared, the new l)uke went to Mo dena to concert measures of repression with the sovereign of that state. He thence sent a pro clamation, which we subjoin, and which, unfor tunately, destroys for the present every expectation of the people emerging from an iron despotism otherwise than through a revolution of violence. As soon as this proclamation was published, thousands of persons of all classes in Parma assembled and signed an address, apprising the duke of the serious danger to which he would expose the country if he opposed the reforms claimed by the people. 'rho following is the proclamation : We, Charles Louis de Bourbon, infant of Spain, by the grace of Clod, Duke of Parma, Piacenza, etc. &c., God Almighty having, in his impenetrable decrees, called to himself her Majesty the Archduchess Maria Louisa, of Austria, your well-beloved sovereign, our family is about to return. after long years of enrolee, among you, in virtue of the treaties which replace it upon the throne of our ancestors. On taking into our hands the government of the state, we assure you that our whole care shall be devoted to your welfare. We are firmly determined to reign over you with justice and love, to procure you every real and permanent advantage, and to consider it our first duty to maintain public order, the respect which is due to the laws, the peace and tranquillity of the immense majority of our good and faithful subjects The respect and veneration in which we bear the remem brance of our glorious predecessor, deceased, and the con viction which we entertain, that the institutions established by her, such as we find them, are needful to your present welfare, make us declare unto you that we do not intend to make the least alteration in them, but to follow exactly her steps in the road of piety, love, religion, justice, and firm nem We confirm our ministers, the authorities both civil and military, now in the exercise of their functions, in virtue of the sovereign decrees of the august deceased, your sovereign, and we trust they will, by their constant fidelity and attachment, alleviste the weight of sovereignty in these difficult times. My well-beloved subjects, the re membrance of our ancestors must be still alive in the bosoms of many of you ; we shall esteem ourselves happy to follow their example, and to be to you a tender and affectionate father, trusting you wll prove tons sons equally affectionate, respectful, and obedient, and then peace and happiness will reign among us, and Ood will shower down upon us his heavenly blessings—Given at Modena, this 26th December, 1847, CHARLES LUDOVIC. The Roman journals of the 24th give in detail the addressed delivered by the Pope to the consistory on the 17th. In this document his Holiness, after referring briefly to the affairs of Spain, mentions the negotiations which were commenced with Russia, which he declares have hitherto been attended with no result. The contrary has been pretended, he says ; but, as to him, all that he can announce is, that - he trusts in the mercy of God towards the children of the church. His Holiness then disavows the charge made against him of a false and indiscriminate tolerance. Such he declares I is not the motive which prompted the late amnesty. With respect to the affairs of Switzerland, his Holi ness bitterly deplores the demonstrations made upon the taking of Lucerne; civil war is a lamentable event; he deplores it with an affliction so much the more lively as it proved of im mense injury to catholicism, which it menaces with still greater evil, and that it leads to sacrileges, which must be regarded with horror. The address terminates with exhortations to all the patriarchs, archbishops, and bishops, to disseminate the seeds of union, peace, and concord. We have received the Madrid mail of the 31st ult. On that day a motion was made in Congress that a message should be addressed to her Majesty, suppli cating her to invite the Infanta, her sister, to come to Madrid, and remain at her side while next successor to the crown. This proposal was, as usual, signed by seven deputies. The Minister of Finance brought in a bill to autho rise the government to collect the revenues. AUSTRIA.—The Nurem7sery Correspondent states that Herr Fruwirth, an extensive manufacturer of firearms in Vienna, hill received from the government en order for 500,000 guns. It is added that, every day, a general, a staff officer, and two captains, visit the factory, is order to make I sure that the work is progressing. GERMAN Jaws:lThe Jews of Vienna recently petitioned the Emperor to grant them civil and political emancipation, by abolishing the personal tax on their community, the tax on theirs stay in towns, and by giving them the right to be chiefs of trades and citizens. His Majesty received the petition favourably, and referred it to the competent authorities, who have since presented a report in recommendation of it. _ _ _ RUSSIA — ST. PETERSBCRG, DEC. 24.—SERrous ILLNESS OP TEE EMPEROR OP RUSH/L.—The Cologne Gazette of the bth inst. (Wedneaday) contains the following article:—" Berlin, Jan. 2.—lt is asserted that the Emperor of Russia is seriously indisposed (se& erkrankt) with a bilious fever, a complaint from which his Majesty has frequently suffered, and one which, as is well known, is dangerous in Russia." PORTUGAL. As stated in this paper of last evening the Oriental Company's steam-ship Jupiter, Captain Meehan, arrived at Southampton yesterday, and landed her mails under the charge of Lient. T. J. Wil kinson, R.N.,admiralty agent . She left Gibraltar on the 28th of ecember, Cadia the 29th, and Lisbon the 31st. There was no communication with Oporto, but the Jupiter touched at Vigo, which she left on the 2nd of January. A young seaman on board the Jupiter was killea on the Ist by the bursting of a gun, whilst the steamer was off Oporto signalling for a boat from shore. The purser and • boy were wounded by the same discharge. LISBON, Bac. 31. The first two public acts of the new administration have certainly been most consisteat, and although of a most irritating character, yet the public mind does not seem to have been at all taken by surprise. On the 24th inst. her Majesty, by a royal decree, rein states the Cabrals, both brothers, in their office of privy councillors, from which by a former edict they had been expelled. Her Majesty in the decree of re integration states that the royal decision is based upon the fact that their expulsion and ignominious dismissal from the list of councillors of the crown was in every respect illegal, and in direct violation of one of the most important articles of the constitutional charter. The Naga°, in remarking upon this miserable docu ment, very pertinently asks to be informed whether the ministers who placed before her Majesty, for her royal signature, a decree now asserted to have been both unconstitutional and illegal, are or are not to be impeached ? The press generally assumes, and public opinion echoes the opieion, that Costa Cabral and his brother will, immediately the Cortes meet, be called to the ministry ; that the play of the protocol will be considered as having terminated; and that England will no longer oppose the accession of these men to power. A rumour is, however, in cir culation that by the last packet Sir George Seymour received instructions of a very stringent character from Lord Palmerston, insisting upon the guarantee of the British government, upon certain stipulations, being complied with. Now, without pretending for a moment to anything like diplomatic confidences, yet I have been assured from a sure source that the Cabrals will not immediately succeed to office, but that Jack Cabral is to have the Brazilian embassy, while Costa Cabral himself is to go to Paris, the latter to be in the light solely of a temporary arrange ment, and until a more fit opportunity occurs for his placing himself at the head of affairs. The second act of the Saldanha administration is a most ob noxious one. The civil governor of Lisbon has issued a de cree for the complete and effectual disarmment of the people : the document is of great length, and with innumerable clauses. In the first place, it is asserted that, notwithstanding a former order for delivering up into the royal arsenals of all arms and military stores, the property of the crown, that had fallen into the hands of individuals during the late civil contest, yet that a considerable portion both of arms and munitions were still unac counted for; a further period therefore of ten days is allowed for their delivery, in which time, if the authorities still apprehend that arms are concealed, they aro authorised to enter any dwelling-house by I day or night, and make search for the same. Inde pendent of the arms, public property, all fowling pieces, pistols, swords, B,:c. although belonging to private individuals, are also to be given up to the authorities. No exception is made. And in like case, wherever the authorities have cause to believe that a gun or a pistol may be in private possession, they are equally . permitted by this decree to make forcible entry into any premises where they may sus pect arms are concealed. A decree so stringent and so unheard of as this has, as you may suppose, produced the greatest excitement; it is literally handing over the people to the military vio lence of the soldiery, and all the annoyance and pil lage incidental to domiciliary visits ; in fact, this brutal mandate appears clearly the forerunner of a system of government more odious and despotic than ever. Every petty local justice, however insignifi cant, has it in his power to gratify his spleen and ill will, and more likely his cupidity, by entering the house of any obnoxious neighbour or political oppo nent upon the pretext of a search for arms, and no doubt exists but that the Cabral employes have in contemplation the gleaning of a rich harvest from this new source of income opened to them. It was the license of domiciliary visits that first rained the (pecuniary) fortunes of the Cabral.. Joze Bernardo Cabral. then a small justice, contrived to have a wealthy priest denounced — a most respectable old clergyman, of the name of Guimaraes. The unfortunate man was known to be very wealthy, and to be the possessor of a considerable amount in specie and a large quantity of plate. His house was assailed by the myrmidons of the law, headed by this very Jozel Cabral; he was dragged away to prison, and during the search the money and the plate disappeared: and from that day forward Joze Bernardo Cabral was a rich man. Such is the present system of government, or rather misgovern ment, in Portugal, and similar to this is the rise of very many of her present public men. I should not have dwelt so much upon the subject, but that it is now amongst the foreign population of Lisbon gene rally the all-absorbing topic of conversation. Fo reigners are not excepted in the decree, consequently 1 myself, or my next door English neighbour, must within a few days deliver up our fowling. pieces, or be liable to have our doors broken open at midnight, our houses filled with soldiery, and ransacked, and be quietly marched off to the common gaol ; and, therefore, be fore the next wee'c expires it is unlikely that a single Englishman will venture to remain a single night at his country residence exposed to the chances of such a contingency. There had been a rumour in circula tion of late that the English privileges had been resigned by our government, and that the British con servatorial court was to be discontinued, a most im portant matter to English residents, as the two most valuable privileges we possessed were the being entitled to have arms in our possession, and to carry theta by day and by night, and that no authority whatever could enter an Englishman's house upon any pretext between the hours of sunset and sunrise, and then not without the personal presence or the formal authority of the British jadge con servator. As the existence or non-existence of these privileges became on the publication of the decree alluded to, a most serious matter, I wrote at once to Sir George Seymour, to ascertain the exact position in which we stood. The following is the reply I received under date of yesterday :- 30th Dec., 1847.—S;r,—In reply to your note, I have the honour to acquaint you that it has been intimated to the Portuguese government that no objection will be raised to the clueing of the coneervatorial court, so soon as the two cases brought some months since under the cognisance of the court shall be decided.—l have the honour, &c. (signed) G. H. Saysora. Until now an Englishman's house in Lisbon was sacred, and his cash-box safe from other peril than the attacks of ordinary robbers ; but now that we are handed over to the tender mercies and the protection of Costa Cabral's authorities some few remarkable scenes may be anticipated, and are likely to take place. On the morning of the 27th, all Lisbon was in an uproar, and everything appeared confusion and alarm. The whole force of police were early on foot, aided by a strong body of the regular troops. Shortly after the usual hours for opening the markets they were suddenly surrounded, and for some time no egress was permitted—the pretext was a forced relernitment ; the consequence was that families were thrown into the greatest distress by the seizure of some hundreds of peaceable citizens : the sons of some were missing, the brothers and husbands of others, of others again, their servants. Now had youths only been pounced upon of the ages and condition usually kidnapped for soldiers in constitutional Portugal, some sort of ex planation might be given for the act ; but as the chase and capture were indiscriminate, and children of ten years of age and men of sixty were seized and crammed Into the penal prisons, some other motive but the assigned one mast be accepted as the reason of this atrocious proceeding. The popular journals give it a political colour, and ascribe it to party persecution, boldly averring that of the reclamation! made by parents or friends for the liberation of prisoners none were attended to but those that came from the partisans of the Cabrals. Certainly such a style of proceeding in England would not a little astonish the good folks of Hangerfozd or of Covent-garden mar kets. The political speculations that are afloat would be uninteresting to narrate. The Cortes meet the day after to-morrow, so that without being wearied with - 7111 l rumours, we shall have facts to deal vrij ----- i i n i i - to another eight-and-forty hours. This last ministry makes the forty-second since Douai: succeeded in 1834. A very singular meteor 4 in the heavens on Christmas-day, at exactly I p A strong glare suddenly appeared i n t h e s k y ": a4 bright and lurid as to light up the whole 0 14 1 disappeared for a moment, and then buret fe',4 again with additional brilliancy. U pon the C 444 Sodre a person might have seen to pick up a l i t from the ground ; it lasted about a mi nute Rod i 61. The body from which the light pro cee d e d had ' thing of the character of a shooting or falliziate, or might be likened to a rocket, but of co • --, bulk and length. It came from the direction of g is north-west and disappeared towards the 8 0 4, 4. Since my last there has been but on e renewal of g h , alarm experienced by the late shocks of earthq oa k e apprehension has pawed away, and the religiss4 servances ordered by the patriarch terminated 4 Wednesday last. The shocks seem to have been pi t more or less all over Portugal. At Subsenn sewed houses were thrown down, and at the palace of th Marchioness of Subserra the stucco from the wa l l the interior in many parts was shaken off. Sir C. Napier, with the squadron that h a d b er . over the bar on a sailing trial, re-entered the Ni s on the 28th. On board the Amphion there has b asi melancholy event, the suicide of a fine youth by je s , ing overboard. Some act of iis severity said to liw o preyed upon his spirits, and i nduced hml? come unhappy act. Her Majesty's brig Alert's noway* refitted, and will shortly be enabled to piosuskie voyage to the coast of Africa. The weather is 91 , i quite fine, but excessively cold. The exchanges are as follow :-30 days, 531 ; 90 days, 531 to 1 1 ; sovereigns, 4,500; dollars, ppo . Lisbon bank notes, legal value of the moeds sets a f 4,800, at a discount of 1,936 ; commercial value, ?,0(Q LA PLATA. By the Coriolan, Capt. Lamand, arrived at Ram, we are in possession of news from Monte Vida3is the 30th of October. On the 2Gth of that month th government of Buenos Ayres issued a decree stop the trade eiii Monte Video after the let of December, from which date no produce would b e a ll owed tots shipped except in vessels exceeding 120 tons bur and going direct to their ports of destination wittiest touching at Monte Video. This step on the part of the government of Bona Ayres is intended to stop the traffic which tes hitherto passed through the blockading squadron. On the 26th the French steamer Pandour captured, at Ensenada, a considerable number of vessels which were loading at that port under the previous tacit at couragement of the French, asd all of which would have paid toll at Monte Video. On the day before the captain of the Coriolaa koft the roads at Monte Video, load reports of Ara lery and musketry were heard from tam till evening. The cannon appeared to be fired 1 1 intervals, but the firing of small arms seemed incessant It had been impossible to ascertain either the result or the explanation of this engagement, which nothing on the previous days had led to anti. cipate. If, as it may be supposed, this is a renewal of vigorous operations at the siege of Monte Video, it may be inferred that Roses, foreseeing that Eng. land and France will shortly act in concert to com plete the work of intervention, has determined to pro. fit by the respite given him, by making a last effort against Monte Video. Hq, seemed to have bad hopes of carrying the town by a coup de main before the arrival of the negotiators. The great subject of anxiety in La Plata was the imminent invasion of the province of Corrientes by the troops of General Urquiza, Governor of Entre Rios, and the devoted follower of Rowe. The La Pkds Courier distinctly states that Rosas has commanded Urquiza to commence the campaign. The letterset that journal from Entre Rios, dated the 4th of October, state that the army of that leader, reinforced by troops from Buenos Ayres, had been ordered to as aemble on the 15th, and that the Argentine squadrce, commanded by Bonifacio, which bad entered the Pa. rana within a few weeks previous, had no other object in view in doing so than to attack that of Corrientes, and transport soldiers and horses for the use of the invading army. On another hand it was said that Urquiza had sent one of his confidential officers to intimate to the governor of Corrientes, Madariaga, that he should execute the clauses of the Pact of Al caraz, which were dictated by Rama, or he would immediately begin the campaign. The whole population of Corrientes was in arms. And pending the commencement of the struggle Governor Madariaga has published a manifesto, in which he expresses his astonishment at seeing Go vemor Urquiza meddling in a policy the grave mss. sequence of which might, at a future period, tam against his own authority. The execution of this invasion of Corrientes is, iA fact, only suspended by the hesitation of Urquies, who waits before he finally takes a resolution till he knows what assistance he may expect from the inter vention, to resist the demands of Roses. In addition to the evils attendant upon a siege, Monte Video is a prey to internal dithcal ties of no ordinary nature. Its ancient presi dent, Riveira, has been, as already stated, be,- nished, on a charge f having betrayed the national cause. The manner of his arrest and the proceedings taken against him are these : Being HU pected of having intelligence with the troops besieg ing Maldonado, of which he had the defence, he was arrested in that place, in the midst of his forme, by the minister of war. After offering Dome resist ance he obeyed the orders given to him, and em barked on board the Chimere, from which he wu to have been transferred to the Alsacienne, to be con ducted to the place of his exile, Santa Catalina. His arrival at Rio has been announced. The executive, aster having taken these measures, gave an account of them to the legislature, in a report on the subject by the Minister of the Interior, Herrera y Ober, who thus states the motives which led to the steps taken against him : Since the reaction of the sth of April, 1846, General Riveira had taken upon himself s power in open opposition to the government, and he refused to submit to the rules d legality. He had called upon government to furnish him with a new army, and government reproached him with having successively lost three. Confined, as it were, in Maldonado, he had been charged with the defence of that important post, and, instead of acting honourably against the enemy, he allowed the poor people who had taken refuge is the town to starve, whilst he made a shameful traffic of the provisions which were sent to him from Monte Video. He bed abandoned Corrientes, then allied with him sgainst Rosas,sal he had conducted himself very badly towards the unfartrusate Lavelle at the Battle del Sauce Grande, and towards General Paz, before and after the battle of Caaquazu. The repast goes on to reproach him with his bad administration, the dissipation of the money of the state, his double dealing Or wards the French agent who had entrusted him with several sums to carry on the war at the time of the French blockade, and which he, instead of devoting them to their real pur poses, took for his awn use ; the treaty with the rebels of the Rio Grande ; the attack, capture, and abandonment the town of Paysandu and its inhabitants, without theautho risation of the supreme authority of the country, and that at a time when negotiations were going on between Moats Video and the governor of Entre Rios for a pesos ; aid the report concludes by reproaching him with the arrest of an official envoy from the Monte Videan government to the chief of the Oriental forces carrying on operations at Maldonado, from whom he took a sum of money he carried, and then murdered him. Besides all this, Gen. Riveira has committed treason, as documents of established authenti city show that he had frequent communications with the two most confidential officers of Gen. Oribe. Such are the accusations which were brought against Riveira, and such in the present state of Monte ideo, which shows that the sooner the intervention takes place the better for that city. On the night of the 16th of October a violent hurri cane burst over Monte Video. Several of the ships in the roads dragged their anchors, and a Spanish brig, the Lindo, was wrecked in the bay, as lirriss an English three-masted vessel, the Richardson. UTRECHT, JAN, I.—The old year closed under distressing circumstances in our city. Divine service had been concluded at the church, at seven o'clock in the even ing, but as a light was still perceived within the building at one o'clock some alarm was excited. On opening the church door, the whole body of the church stood in a mass of flame. The conflagration proceeded with such rapidity, that all hopes of extinguishing it was at an end. There was scarcely time to save some books and furniture of the church. The are engines were on the spot, and every exertion was made to save the noble edifice without effect; the chutch and tower became a prey to the flames, and nothing remains but the walls. Happily for the crowd who were resembled the tower fell inwards, and the clock, weighing 500 N.. lies buried under the ruins. The church was built in 16.52, and was repaired only a few years since. The cause of the fire has not yet been ascertained, .bat it is thought that. la putting out the fires in the stoves, due care was net takes to extinguish them completely.