The Express. — London, England, 1853-05-23 00:00:00

gitt erpreols. TO COERESPONDRNTS. A 0.4 rnmet • "T. Lewes," to .ashig the lOW, irrealree ',ewe:4." la p,iAleheit every Thee ellay sad friday eight, t r t".:. u.e.t , im - 101 foe " The F.aprote,“ Lavin IteerkLa; may, mem. u • et the tete', to, bouverle•ealet, by Two eulock os tee ea, of MGR WATER AT LONDON BRIDOR. Tu. :a Ile. r4.atoasim—noralcs. la. Wm 31. I. LONDON, MONDAY JAY 2;. Tile controversy about procuring senmen for the Royal Navy is practically reduced to ono point—to ' "provide against the emergency" of France being able by "the admirable organisation of its whole maritime population" to man and sand its entire ' tfeet to sea in a short space of time. - That danger once past, there is not the slightest doubt " that the resources and patriotism of the country would do the rest." To pros ide against such an emergency our ' official men—our great First Lords of the Admiralty, such as the Duke of NonrilumnsaLaND—with their subordinate admirals, secretaries, and captains-- could for ages find no better expedient than impress ment; and as the temper of the times, which has abolished the minor outrage of the slave trade, positively forbids the authorities ever again having recourse to this expedient, they are on the look out for a substitute, and fancy that entering seamen for ten years may serve the purpose. When slavery was abolished apprenticeship was at first substituted for the slave trade; the planters then proposed an importation of negroes, and that not being readily assented to, they had recourse to Coolies and Chinese. Their whole system was based on the slave trade and slavery ; they could not, according to their customs, exist without slaves, mid continue to this day to crave for a largo importation of labourers. So the minds of our naval officials, and our naval system having been modelled on the one idea of providing by impressment against the emergency of a sudden attack by a well organised despotic Power, it is supposed that the nation will not be safe unless a substitute be found for that intolerable wrong. The argument, based wholiy on fear, is an eulogy on despotism. The first duty of a Government is to provide for the national dcfence,and, re gardless of our liberties, we should—if adopting this principle— imitate the despotic State, and subject our whole mari time population to a conscription for our lit et, and the rest of the population to a conscription fir the army. For the usual purposes of administration a central ised despotic Government is more effications than popular representation, and the eulogy justifies the readiness only too apparent amongst our statesmen tosserilice whenever they can the public liberties to an efficient government. But as national greatness is born more of public spirit than of efficiency of admi nistration, there is plena facie ground for supposing that preparations may lie nestle for the emergency contemplated without borrowing a method from despotism. It is lamentable to perceive that notwithstanding the immense sums lavished on the Navy, it is with the multitude not a popular service. Several in stances have recently occurred, says cne of our con temporaries, of first-class vessels detained for months for their complement of men ; and the 5,000 additional seamen voted last De cember have not yet been entirely raised. " So severe," says another, " is the competition which the Royal Navy has at present to encounter, owing to the activity which prevails in all branches of our Mercantile Marine, that it would be unwise to form extravagant expectations of the benefits to be expected from the changes which we have described." _ _ After all the care that has been taken to provide better accommodation for the seamen, to improve their diet, to preserve their health, to establish gra dations of merit, and give them rewards and pen sions, the Royal Navy manias a decidedly unpopular *slice. The Mercantile Marine never watts sea men ; and our people, having a natural atfee:ion for the sea, half man the ships of America as well as our own ships. There is no other business of life—not even that of the wretched agricultural labourer— which cannot at all times procure an abundance of men. There are always numerous candidates for the most noisome and most dangrrons maps.' tions, but not for the cleanly, safe, and almost idb life of a man-of-war tailor. For situations so officers in her MAJESTY'S ships there is no want at candidates. The posts are eagerly sought after VI scions of the aristocracy. There is something, there fore, peculiar to the Royal Navy which makes it die tasteful, or urea odious, to the bulk of our populs tion. What is it ? We hare given it a bad name. We have com muted the yunishment cf crimes for service in the Mary. II e have practically, by carrying off men to serve, as they were carried into slavery, stigmatised it as something horrible, and by such means have made a profound impression in the minds of the bulk of the people that the Navy is a kind of Pandemo nium, or almost as bad as negro slavery. Where its true character is known, amongst the children and relations of asen-01-war seamen, as at Plymouth and Portsmouth, and their neighbourhoods, the impres sion is removed, but it is not effaced in distant places ; sad these meal seaports supply fifteen times as many MD= for her MAJESTY'S ships as the much more maritime and populous neighbourhoods of Liverpool and BristoL Our first and chief business, in order to procure seamen for her MArrsrv's Ser. vice,—without imitating the despotism which our contemporaries, even while they abuse it, eulogise,— is to make that service extremely popular. Do this and you would have the same men enter again and again under good captains, and a choice of the very best seamen in the world would be obtained for our n all fiestli ths business of civil life the engagements are for short periods, and generally terminable by a notice on either side. To build and prepare etr e !: an emergency, shipwrights, sailmalkers, ca &e., are as necessary as seamen. Many of these are brought up as apprentices in the royal dock yards at quite as great an expense as boys are brought up for seamen on board ship; but it never entered the head of any alarmist Admiral or Captain to bind these men to serve for ten years, lest they might be wanted on such an emergency. They can retire from the service when they like, but they rarely do, and gene rally serve till superannuated. It is in a great mea sure optional, too, with all the officers of the Navy, to quit the service, except when actually in face of an enemy. They must not, indeed, desert; but there is never any difficulty in accepting a resigna tion ; and, from a midshipman to an adman], if they choose to give up expected promotion or half-pay, they can always make themselves free. A resigna tion is, however, a rare occurrence ; and, though the officers are not bound to serve for ten years--though on an emergency they are as much required as the seamen—no person ever dreams that naval officers will be scarce. In the merchant service, men enter by the month or by the voyage—at the end of the month or voyage they are again free to make or to seek a new engagement ; and there never is for a long period, however rapidly the McrcantileNavy may increase, any want of seamen. In the Royal Navy it is different. The men enter for a term of five years. Till the end of that time they cannot quit the service. To leave it is to desert, and to exp ose themselves to very severe penalties. In this respect, then, they differ from every other class of men except soldiers—whose racks, too, are not so readily filled as those of other classes—they differ from merchant seamen—they differ from naval officers—and in this difference lies the cause of much of the unpopularity of the Navy. The stipulation to serve for a lengthened period continues, in fact, the bad name long ago given to the Navy. At the same time it doss not follow it there were no such stipulation that the seamen would change their ships or their occupation once a month. That does not take place in the merchant service, nor in any other service. It is not an easy thing in our settled community always to find an employment, or to change a pursuit. Once enter a dockyard, or become a naval officer, and a man is generally fixed for life. It may be laid down as a rule that the more open and free is a service the more acceptable will it be, and the more certain to he oc cupied. All the cotton-spinners, all the bricklayers, carpenters, printers, and workmen, can quit their employments at a week's or a month's notice ; and because they can quit, they rarely do. If there were any one of these employments in which men could cal y get work by engaging fur ten years—i Call its higher ranks were reserved for a caste, being made a kind of preserve for an aristocracy—if the highest position they could attain in it was that of di foreman or leader, with a salary of 1201. a year—if they never could rise to be masters, whatever might be' their merits,—that employment would be at, a di-count. Gentlemen in the City are now ex trem-ly eager to procure a seat in the Common Council by the suffrages of their fellow-citizens, sod though annually elected, are generally rc-elected as long as they please to hold the office; but if at the first election they were bound to serve ten years, and could never be Lord Mayor, nor Governor of the Bank, nor Chairman of Railway Board, a seat at the Common Council would be as unpopular with the citizens as her MAJESTY'S naval service is with the maritime population. We doubt if any man would pledge himself to be a member of the House of Com mons for seven years if he could not possibly leave it, and must never aspire to be either a Chairman of Committees or a Minister. The long and the fixed period of service is the chief source of the unpopula-1 rity of the navy, and that will be much aggravated by the proposition to lengthen the period, and to require all boys to remain ten years in the service after they have reached their eighteenth year. If it be alleged thatein the late war men remained in the Navy for a longer period, it must be answered that almost every month then brought a hope of peace and an expectation of the termination of the servi tude. The proposed plan, instead of providing us with seamen on an emergency, will have the reverse effect. It is an attempt to rectify what naval officers regard as one of the evil* of liberty, by tempting men to engage iu constrained servitude. Our policy ought to be the very reverse. Men should be entered for the Navy for six months for home service, for twelve months for foreign service, or for two or three years. The con sequence would be a greater amalgamation of the royal and mercantile services. More mercantile seamen would enter the navy, and a far larger pro ' portion of men-of-war seamen would find their way linto merchant ships. Now, after being spoiled by I five years' idleness in men-of-war they are not liked sees an rarely taken into the merchant service. The knowledge of gunnery practice and the discipline learnt in the Navy would be spread to a much greater extent than at present through the mer chant service, and the bold and laborious habits of the merchant seamen would increase the vigour and the hardihood of the men in the QUEEN'S ships. A correct knowledge of that service would then be swiftly spread through the maritime community— and with a few precautions which we need not now enumerate the Royal Navy would in case of an emergency procure any number of men it might require. Voluntary service her short periods is, we ad mit, incompatible with the enormous arbitrary power now entrusted to naval captains. The profession,' therefore, scout the idea of entering men for short periods, and recommend the Standing Navy system. But when the question is, whether the safety of the country shall be provided for on the principle of freedom, or whether the arbitrary power, dignity, and exclusive privileges of naval officers shall be pre served—the biassed opinion of officers, though they be as high in rank as the Duke of NOnTIII:3II3EnLAND, or have as much confidence in mere gunnery as Sir THOMAS COCHRANE, is of less value than the opi nion of the lowest swabber of the fleet. THE House of Peers, at the instance of Lord Whether or not the power of imprisonment for em ploying a child for the purpose of inducing the ginng of alms may not be used in such a manner as to lead to stole will has subject fitr.Asecciamittei , to decide upon. Is it intended, for instance, that the provisions of this Act should be extended to the case of a mother with a child at the mast? This, however, is a matter of detail which is susceptible otoorrection. The great point is the enuneiatidn of - tile pritteipli that society has a right to defend itself frood the pos sible consequences of the education of a child in the mendicancy that recruits the ranks of crime. We have a right to prevent criminality as well as to punish it. If a man so far neglects his duty to his fellow citizens as to bring up his children as robbers or murderers, society has the right to protect themselves from the evil consequences of his con duct. This is all that is asserted by the bill. Should it become law, we may hope that it will have the effect of checking the alarming progress of juvenile delinquency. In proportion as our means of cleansing society by transportation become contracted, it be comes more and more incumbent upon us to adopt measures of prevention. No method seems more likely for this end than the abolition, as far as pee Bible, of the first degree in crime—mendicancy; and the putting to good refuge or workhouse schools i the wretched class of children now used to excite pity and extort alms. When this is achieved, we may hope that we have made one step towards the sup pression of what the French call the "dangerouss classes." By checking the growth of the criminal, we shall be doing our best towards checking the spread of crime. SHAFTESBURY, has jest issued a Bill of great interest and importance upon the subject of juvenile mendi cancy. "It is not to be doubted," says Miss CAR rENTLR, in her excellent book upon this subject, that the Gaol is not a true reformatory school, though, at present, the only one provided by our country; since thousands of young children annually committed to it come forth, not to diminish but to swell the ranks of vice." There are few Fersons who will not echo Miss CARPENTER'S assertion. The records of juve nile crime tell us that the education of the criminal, if not commenced, has at least been completed, in Tho great point, then, for the philanthropist i n to endeavour to discover whether we may not sto p this extraordinary education at its very source. Is it really impossible to prevent children from entering universities of crime, and taking degrees there which will enable them to assume their position, without blushing, amongst finished rogues? In other words, is there any process by which we may arrest inci licit thieves in their progress to the place where they will be sure to receive their finished educa tion in %Many ? This Juvenile Mendicancy Bill, preset ted by Lord SHAFTESBURY and ordered to be printed on the 13th of this month, appears to be an attempt in a right direction to solve the probilm. Before entering into any discussion on the merits of the Bill, it may help us to a solution of the gene ral question, if we examine a few of the figures in a return made to an address of the House of Lords for a copy of any supplemental report on common lodging houses by Captain HAY, Commissioner of Police. It appears from this return that there are (at least) 1,316 children "at large" in London as mendicanis or thieree below the age of fourteen. Strange to say, out of this number only ninety-four are without parents. The rest help to support the authors of their being oat of the proceeds of their begging or robbery. The number of chil dren found in Common Lodging Houses below the apparent age of fourteen, and living as mendicants or thieves, is 1,782, making, with those "at large," a total of 3,098. The number of children "at large," aad living in idleness, without education, and appa rently neglected by their parents, who are gene rally in the receipt of wages, amounts as near as tan be ascertained to 20,641 under fifteen years of age. Has society no rights of its own in opposition to this large army of actual or incipient . plundereref Looking at the question in a mere pecuniary point of view, have we no right to protect oar pockets frogs the tremendous drain upon them made by a hostile force of this nature ? Miss Caargwrgri, whom we have already quoted, gives an account of one of these worthies who from the ago of fourteen to eighteen robbed the public of 1,8001.: of a young pick pocket who at first gained 31. 10s., and afterwards 91. to 10/. a week; and of another who from the age of fourteen to twenty-eight plundered the public of 5,8001, each of the three averaging about 3001. a year during their career. Have we no right to check an education in crime which levies such a heavy mulct on our property as this? But, looking a little more closely into the matter, is there not a point of view from which the prospect is still a little more dreary than this? These Juvenile vagrants amp Fly the ranks of the class which sow the , aegis of immorality broad-cast over the land. The thieves are partly maintained by, and partly maintain, the prostitutes. There is a horrible frater nity in crime. The violators of one item of the Decalogue are glad enough to associate with those who have violated another portion. The twenty thousand juvenile idlers "at large " in the metro polis are familiar with most phases of crime, and not only prey upon society, but pollute it. The juvenile mendicants and thieves and prostitutes are so much immoral matter, ready for the contamination of chil -1 Area of other walks of life. The bill introduced by Lord SnArressrav is really intended to give society a similar power with respect to this moral contagion Ito that it has long exercised, at times vexa tiously, with respect to physical contagion. We imprison by quarantine laws, a ship's crew, on the slightest pretext of danger of the plague or fever. We make violent incursions into houses, and insist upon whitewashing rooms, and taking other sani tary precautions, when there is an alarm of cholera. " The Juvenile Mendicancy Act" is intended to exercise a little purification in the moral world. The preamble enunciates that "the bringing up of young persons as beggars ought to be discouraged," and it makes provision for this dis couragement in various ways. Any parent of aisy young person, or any one having the care or control of any young person, who causes or knowingly per mits the young person in any public or open place to beg or to be employed ae a beggar, or for the pur- poses of bagging or of inducing the giving of alms, will by the provisions of the act be deemed a rogue and vagabond, and be punishable by imprisonment for not exceeding thirty days. It is also provided that any young person found begging may be brought before • Justice of the Peace, who will be em powered to send such person to any House of Refuge that will receive him, or to the Workhouse, or Union of the parish in which he was found, there to be detained and usefully educated. THE . EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 23, 1853. FRANCE. PARIS, SUNDAY Evzeiwo. The Minister of Public Instruction has ordered a crucifix to be placed in all the class rooms in the governmental colleges and lyceums. A telegraphic despatch received via Brussels, an nounces a reported change in the Ministry at Con stantinople. Mastapha Pacha is appointed Grand Vizier ; the former Grand Vizier, Mehemet Ali Pacha, is now Minister of War; Ali Yachts Minister for Foreign Affairs; Find Effendi, Minister of the In terior; and Itifaat Pacha, Minister of Justice. The folllowing is a rerbatitn report, as given in the Moniteur of this morning, of the scene in the Corps Legislatif on Friday, ou the wasion of M. de Montalembert's protest against the confiscation of the Orleans property : M. DZ bIONTALEMBERT said he egreed entirely with the speech made yesterday by the Count de Flavigny, bat he could not follow the example set him by that honourable member. It was impossible for him to consider as serious the position in which the chamber was placed in regard to the budget by the em otus consuitum of December Vith, 18;12, and the organic decree of the IMO year. The PILESIDENT reminded the speaker that it was open to no one not to take seriously the constitution and laws of the country. M. DE MONTALEMBEILT replied that he WA not speaking of the constitution, but of the situation in which the Chain. her was placed by the muslin conoullwa. The PIiEFIDENI said the senatess consultum was a part of the constitution, and that the honourable member could not be allowed to speak as be bad just done of &constitution to which he had sworn. . . . M. DE MONTALEMBERT continued. The regulations imposed upon the Cnamber were such that its members might speak as much as they liked, but they could not Mir. port their speeches by their votes, and in his opinion they were made to furnish additional weight to the most seriouil, the most popular, and the most nrjust argument that had been urged against parliamentary government—that it was a government which talked without acting. lie would bow to the constitution and the decrees, which, as the president remarked, were laws of the state, but he would not have the proverb applied to him "silence gives consent." He would, therefore, explain the vote that he intended to give against the budget. He was not going to make a speech, but to fulfil a grave duty. He opposed the budget of 1864, because that budget sanctioned the &maims consullum of December 25th, 1852, and the decrees of January 22, of the same year—a means cost sidtues which stripped the Chamber of all effi eacious control over the public finances—decrees which despoiled the Orleans family of its legitimate patri mony. Ho opposed the budget, because light was not iu it, and because confiscation was there. He would say nothing of the senalus consultuns, in order to conform to the admoni tion'. which the president had just given him. That was a question of independence, which he would leave to the appreciation of his colleagues. But by . the side of this question there was another one, of conscience and probity, and upon this point he begged leave to speak freely. Last year be had called attention to the fact that the budget im plied no sanction, no approbation of the decrees of Jan. 22. This year, on the contrary, the budget of receipts contained sums the vote of which would be a direct and formal sanc tion given to those decree. The PRESIDENT—Thins decrees had no need of any sanction. Art. 58 of the constitution declared that those de crees had the force of law. _ Y. DE MONTELISIBERT would go on. He believed they would unction those decrees by voting the budget now submitted to the Chamber. That was his argument. If he were not permitted to support it, be would withdraw in deference to the authority of the President, but then it would be no longer true, as the President of the Council of State had affirmed in a firmer sitting, that freedom of speech existed within the walls of the Corps Legislatif. The PRESIDENT said that members might say what they pleased in that Chamber, provided only they respected the constitution and the laws of the empire. M. DI MONTALIDIDERT repeated that the vote of the budget would constitute in his eyes a positive 'auction of thou decrees. The decrees were laws, he admitted, but the Chamber had not hitherto been ;ailed upon to pro nausea any opinion on the subject, and before it did so he wished to explain the meaning of the vote he was about to give. The PRIMMER said it was not for the Chamber to sanction either the senatics consuitton or laws that were in full vigour, and consequently this sanction could not be the subject of discussion. M. DE MONTALESIBEIT thought it could not be contrary to the coustiiution or the laws to ex plain beforehand the reasons for a vote. He, in concert with two other members, had proposed an amendment de manding the erasure from the budget of the sums arising from the sale of the property of the house of Orleans, of that roysl race which many members of that assembly had served, and which, notwithstandiag all that might be said in the way of reproach with regard to the origin and the end of its power, had nobly and freely governed Frames. He was aware that he could not now re produce or argue his amendment, but the rejection of that amendment by the commission had Mud him to vote against the budget. He maintained that the Chamber was now eked to do what the republicans and socialists, triumphant in 1848, shrank from doing, and what the Council of State—a council rensoveable at pleasure, and which, on this occasion, had been made to feel all the pres sure of which its constitution was susceptible—had ap proved outs by the majority of a single voice. The commit. tee had grounded the rejection of his amendment upon this that the decree of January 22 had the force if law. He I thought they should ;rather have said that the decrees of January 22 hia farce against the law, for he knew of no Metatarsi and uo plebiscite that could authorise any man to make laws against right, against property, and against conscience. In his belief, what was asked of the chamber was to participate in the most serious attack which had ever been made in the nineteenth century upon the principle of property, and in the al of confiscation under its most odious km. The PREBIDINT, interrupting, said it was impossible to allow such expreuiens to be uttered. IL DE MONTALZXBEIT said he would appeal to the pre sident's delicacy, to his fair renown, to hie whole past life. He could not understand how he who had been the advocate anise Duke d'Aumale could shut his (M. de Montalembert's) mouth, when he was the advocate of a king who died in exile. The PILUIDENT said he had never attacked the charter or the laws of his country, and that he had always respected his oath. This duty, practised by him, ought to be so equally by all. K. DE MONTALENDZRT, so far from addressing any reproach to the President, merely wished to refer to ante cedents that did him honour. If he were not permitted to speak of the decrees of January 22, 1862, in themselves, he might at least he permitted perhaps to allude to the recitals in those decrees. Ile regretted that one of the reasons given was that the Orleans family would have enough left to maintain their rank in a foreign country; he regretted also that another reflected upon the memory of the deceased kin.. He saw in the vote of the budget the sanction of an set against which he protested, and for his own part he washed his bands of ail solidarity in it. He disavowed before Ood, before the country, and before posterity, the responsibility which the Chamber was about to assume. In conclusion, the honourable member quoted the words of Napoleon, Bossuet, and leaden relative to the inviolability of pro perty, and expressed a live that those words might en. lighten and strengthen the consciences of his colleagues, as they had enlightened and strengthened his own. The names of the four members who voted against the budget are—Count de Montalembert, the - Duke d'Uzi:s, the MaNuis de Talhouct, and M. Charlier. The Count de la Cluarronniere has been chosen' reporter by the committee on the bill for the revival of the political guillotine. It is known that he is opposed to the measure. Final quotations.—Money: Three per Cents., 81f. 50e.; Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 103 E 80c. For the end of the month: Three per Cents., 81f. 50c.; Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 104 f. Bank Stock, 2,700 f.; liortherns, 9251. Paris and Orleans, I,IIOE ; ' Paris and Strasbourg!, 9381. 75e.; Paris and flocs, 9701.; Paris and Rouen, 1,147 f. 30e.; Lyons to the Mediterranean, 813 f. 73e.; Western of France, 783 f.; Rouen and Havre, .540 f.; Bordeaux and Cette, 670 f.; Caen and 'iliptbdarm 845 f.; Dijon and Besancon, 675 E; Diexpe,aird Feescup, 380 f. • , , rws, SATURDAY EVENING. • the /i r etsfkair eintaihshisme highly imported** . planation' re - beim to thh measure just proposed, w • iitukcl "a bill foe the cofteysion of the departmental ; sad ciimneenall debts." • Aker stating in the admit that within the last few years the burdens - of the , 11;ktsits abd emonstmes have been very consider: :reused, and alluding to an official declaration in 1830 that means ought to be taken to prevent the municipal and departmental councils from augment ing. local charges, it says the moment has now arrived for the government to attend to the subject. This attention, many will think, has been awakened somewhat tardily, seeing that the distinguishing characteristic of the now expiring session of 1833 has been the presentation by government of an un precedented number of bills, to enable the depart ments and communes to raise fresh loans, and to lay "additional centimes" upon the tax payers. The Corps Legislatif has been called upon I to vote bills of this kind one after the other in rapid succession, without having the means of knowing the capacity of the communes to bear the burdens imposed, or any idea of the general total to which I they were continually adding. Most of these bills have passed without discussion, but when occasion ally some scrupulous deputy hes expressed a fear that they might be going too fast, the only answer has been that the council of state is habitually pru dent in the extreme, a fact of which one of the offi cial orators exc'aimed the chambers would be con vinced if they only knew the number of applications for local money bills made and rejected. The result of this extreme prudence has been that in the course of this session 39 departments, 22 first-class com munes—including those of Marseilles, ltouen, Rheims, Avignon, Blois, Tours, Poitiers, Cette, Saint Etienne, Angers, Arles, Rochefort, and Dieppe —besides an infinity of minor communes, have been authorised to add to their already overgrown debts, and now the Mmitertr declares that the burden of them is intolerable. The remedy devised for this state of things is highly character tic of the present epoch. It consists simply and avowedly in relieving the existing generation at the expense of posterity. A law of 1830, passed ex pressly to check the natural tendency of local coun cils to augment their own power and influence by raising as much money as possible to be laid out by themselves, enacted that no departmental or com munal loan should be effected, except upon the terms of being paid off, with interest, by Instalments within ten years. All the existing local debts have been contracted under this law. The Moniteur now says that the reason why the debts are found trouble some arises from the necessity of paying them off in so short a time, and that ;f the reimbursements were spread over a considerable period, say forty or fifty years, it is clear that the communes would instanta neously feel a considerable relief. This is undeniable. It is as clear a proposition as that a debtor pressed by an overdue bill finds a present accommodation in capitalising the interest and expenses, and le mming at a long date. But the Moniteur gees on to say that the scheme is not only convenient, but pru dent and just; and here is a verbatim specimen of the reasoning:—" As to the communes and depart ments, is it not plain justice that expenses necessary for undertakings not of present utility alone, but still more useful in time to come, should not be borne wholly by those who execute them, and should in part be laid upon the next generation, destined to reap their fruits ?" Yes, in a certain measure this may be true enough, but the argument begs the question whether the money so coolly carried to the debit of the next generation has been wisely expended for the benefit of the inheritance. The next generation, it must be remembered, has had no 'voice in the matter, and no share in the pickings and patronage which, always a great inducement to public extravagance, are doubly so at a time when all the municipal offices are filled with the creatures of a government that sets the example of discounting future prosperity to an extent that makes all prudent men tremble. The admission that the communes feel so severely the burdens imposed upon them is a confession that their resources, with a view to short payments at least, have hitherto been imprudently estimated. There is very little security that, when relieved at the expense of posterity, they will not speedily incur fresh debts. This is, indeed, admitted to be the danger of the new system, and to guard against it the new law proposes to deprive the prefects of a power conferred upon them by the dictatorial decree of March 23, 1832, of authorising extraordinary taxes in certain cases without appealing to the legislature. It is to be in ferred from this that they have made a pretty liberal use of their powers during the last twelve months. Bat if the Corps Legialatif continue to pass local bills as lightly as it has done this session, the pockets of the local taxpayers will be as little protected as ever. I believe it may be considered certain that in con- 1 sequence of the attitude of the committee on the bill for restoring articles 86 and 87 of the penal code the government will remodel the bill by striking out the clauses imposing death as the penalty for any plot against the state, or any attempt to alter the succes sioa to the crown, and leaving only so much of the bill as affixes the punishment of death to any attempt upon the life of the Emperor or any member of his family. The Senate is discussing to-day the new law for compelling superior officers in the navy to retire at a certain fixed age. M. Duces, the Minister of Marine, was to deliver a set speech in support of the measure against the hostile report of the committee presented by Admiral Mackau. Although the committee with but a single dissentient voice opposes the promulgation of the law as unconstitutional, it is not thought that the majority of the Senate will follow them in so bold a step. It is to be remembered that the Senate have no right to put their veto upon a law merely because they may think it a bad one. They are only em powered to oppose the promulgation of a measure upon certain specified grounds, such as that it is un constitutional, inconsistent with the rights of pro perty, or calculated to "compromise the defence of the country." That the bill for turning adrift old admi rals is obnoxious to the latter clause is very naturally the opinion of Admiral Mackau and two of his gallant brethren on the committee, who will be among the first victims of the new regulation; but the Senate is hardly likely to risk a collision with the executive upon so nice a point. I understand, however, that this hitherto uniformly complaisant body will very probably make a demonstration of independence with regard to a proposition ,just laid before them, which is a direct attack upon their own privileges. A draft Senatus Conaultum has been sent to the Luxembourg for empowering the Council of State to frame rules of public administration for the organisation of the colonies. Now, the constitu tion of Jan. 15, 1852, expressly says, "the senate regulates the constitution; of the colonies and Al geria," and the conscript fathers feel their dignity offended at being asked to delegate this their consti tutional right. The committee on the Lyons and Geneva Railway Bill is now understood to be favourable to the pro ject. M. Dubois who at first pronounced an opinion against it, has now declared himself in favour of the measure. There is reason to think this change of opinion is owing to a belief encouraged by the go vernment that the Victor Emanuel Railway Bill was hurried on at Turin, with a view of tempting France to construct her Geneva line by way of St. Genii, and in the hope of diverting the English and north ern traffic to the Mediterranean away from Lyons and Marseilles to Genoa, through Savoy. The superior railway commission has given in its adhesion to the fusion of the Rouen, Havre, Western and Cherbourg railways, and negotiations arc now going on to obtain the definitive approbation of the government. SPAIN. The Madrid Gazette of the 16th publishes the.de tails of the reform in the finance department, the heads of which we have already given, and gives a royal decree appointing M. Domonech, ex-Minister of the Interior, president of the commission for the examination of the claims for arrears in the Treasury. A Madrid letter mentions a report that the com mission charged to examine the railroad conces sions has declared that the concession of the northern line shall be submitted to the consideration of the Cortes. - , 'GERMANY. - The King King9f Prussia, with the Princes Charles ansi 1 redethdit Child's, arrived at Vienna on the 19th, and took up .their recit in the imperial pewee. ' The li,ing of, the • ns, with his son, wet, still the gkests of the And - elan sovereign. The ,Oliefal Pionaa Gazette of the 17th contains an article inpfaise of the noble qualities of the Prussian King, and especially of his conduct towards Austria. The Belgian monarch donned his Austrian uniform the day after he received his regiment. A regrettable occurrence threw the city of Luxem burg into emotion on the 16th. In the course of the night, a young civil o ffi cer, Herr Hilger, comptroller of the board o f accounts, was returning homewards alone, and, from some cause which will probably never be explained, came into collision with a sentry at one of the government offices. It is said that he seized the sentry's firelock, but, however this may be, the soldier drove at him with his bayonet, which pe netrated to the depth of nine inches, and passed through the centre of the liver. The body was buried the next day, all the civil officers and a large number 1 of citizens attending the funeral. VIENNA, FRIDAY EVENING. Tho King of Bavaria, who was expected, is not coming to Vienna. HOLLAND AND BELGIUM. ROTTERDAM, MAY 18. The elections for the Second Chamber of the States- General—a chamber dissolved by the new cabinet in order to give the country the opportunity of declaring whether the constitution allows of the restoration of the Roman Catholic episcopacy—took place yesterday throughout Holland. The majority of the elections' already known show results favourable to the new ministry. In Dort, Leyden, Gouda, and Delft, the ministerialista have exclusively triumphed. At the Hague, a ministerialist, and a supporter of the late' cabinet, have been elected. In this city the ballot box was opened this morning. There were found in it 1,430 votes, four of which were blank. According to the Dutch electoral law, when there are several candidates, an abso lute majority of the votes is requisite. The absolute majority in this case was 714. On opening the box the numbers were found to be—for Heer Band, 700; for Heer Van Bosse, 649 ; for Ileer Van Papendrecht, 613 ; for Heer ltijk, 589; and for Heer Deynoot, 266. Consequently neither obtained the requisite majority. Heer Band and Heer ltijk are the candidates proposed by the political union which support the present cabinet. A second vote was then had recourse to, so far as the first lour candidates were concerned—the fifth one being considered hors de combat. The definitive result was favourable to Heer Band and Hoer Rijk. Heer Thorbeck, the late Prime Minister, has been defeated at Leyden. BRUSSELS MAY 20. The results of the elections for the Second Chamber or House of Commons of Holland are still favourable to the ministerial candidates. Some partisans of Heer Thorbeek, however, and the ex-Premier him self, have been returned. The new Cabinet, it is now certain, will have a large majority in the above Chamber. The Brussels Nation of this day censures the King of the Belgians for consenting to be mado the colonel of an Austrian regiment which had "distinguished" itself in the last Italian campaign. SWITZERLAND. The remnant of the Ticinese in Lombardy con tinue to be harassed by the Austrian police. The New Zurich Gazette states that expulsions take place almost daily. In accordance with its intention, expressed in a recent vote to the Federal Council, the government of Ticino has presented a bill for better regulating the position of refugees in the canton. The New Zurich Gaulle states that the Council of State of the canton of Fribcrg has been authorised to levy a forced loan of 200,000 florins. The Carlsruhe Gazette publishes the official notifi cation of a treaty with Switzerland, for reciprocal facilities in the conveyance of merchandise and the reduction of the duties on the navigation of the Rhine, and of the ratification of the treaty with Switzerland for the prolongation of the railroads of Baden on the Swiss territory. ITALY. ROME, MAY 14. The 16th inst. is fixed for the Pope's visit to Porto d'Anzio, and several baggage waggons, escorted by gendarmes, left the capital last night with the neces sary materiel for court comfort, the little town itself presenting no resources worthy of notice. Whilst the creature conveniences of His Holiness are thus provided for by the major-domo and palace officials, his personal and political safety will be equally gua ranteed by an escort of French cavalry, at the especial request of the Pope, who is said to have asked for it foreseeing that it would attend him at all events. The French are naturally jealous lest the head of the church should abstract himself even temporarily from their surveillance, and as an inevita ble consequence add weight to the already predomi nant influence of Austria in the Papal States. The rumour of a meeting between the Emperor of Austria and the Pope at Loreto, to fulfil the vows of pilgrimage made by both in times of political difficulty, seems to be unfounded, at least for the present, nor is it at all likely that his Holi ness could get permission to leave the immediate neighbourhood of Rome, for, great as is the difficulty that his subjects experience in procuring passports for travelling, Pio Nono himself would, in the pre sent state of affairs, find greater difficulty still. The entente cordial. hitherto prevalent between the Papal government and the French military au thorities has much diminished since the appointment of General Montreal, and the disappointment felt at Paris since the Pope's decided refusal to go and crown the Emperor adds to the aigreur of their occa sional intercourse. I mentioned in my last that a police employe named Rufini had been dismissed from office, at the express demand of the French general, for insolence to a French officer who had come to request a passport for a friend. This em ploye is now stated to be merely transferred to a better post in another branch of the police depart ment; so that General Montreal's vengeance has, in fact, been of great service to Signor Rufini. The Papal Governor of Palombara, a town near Tivoli, about 20 miles from Rome, hu been seized and imprisoned by the French, for having granted shooting licenses and permission to carry arms to several of the inhabitants of his district. General Gemeau did no such unconrteous actions as these to the temporal representatives of his Holiness ; but, on the other hand, General Gemeau derived many pecu niary advantages from the court and municipality of Rome, which General Montreal disdains to accept. Amongst otherpecuniary pickings Gen. Gemean used to receive a gratification every month from the munici pality as compensation money for the dinners he occasionally gave or was supposed to give to his offi cers. The present commander was not a little sur prised when the same sum was offered to him, but he declined it, observing that he did not wish his officers to be indebted to the municipality of Rome for their dinners. The Austrian officer in command of the garrison at Perugia was lately irritated at a satire, the product of an unknown pen, which made its appearance on the walls of the town directing its iambics against the imperial army. Unable to discovet the author, the officer requested the Papal governor to furnish him with a list of all the poets of Perugia, a somewhat embarrassing commission to execute in a country where rhyming seems the natural language. However, the magistrate, after due criti cism, produced five individuals, whom he considered to have drunk of the Hyperean springs sufficiently deeply tobe entitled poets. The Austrian had them all stripped in the presence of a medical officer,whom he modered to examine them, and report upon the physical capacity of each for receiving blows with a stick. Naturally belonging to a genus irrilabile, and of excitable nervous conformation, the unfortunate poets were set down by the surgeon at a charitably low number of bastinadoes, and were still more gra tified when the officer, instead of actually carrying into execution his "cutting up," an operation even more galling than that of hostile reviowers, contented himself with addressing them in the following terms ;1 " Gentlemen, you have just heard the number of stripes which the doctor considers each of you ca pable of supporting—they will assuredly be admini s tered to you upon the reappearance of any &pony. mous satire. You now know the price of your verses, I wish you a very good morning. The purchase-money for the Pia Latina Railway, amounting to 110,000 scudi, in addition to the 10,000 scudi security, already deposited, has been paid into Torlonia's bank, so that the affair is now considered as settled, and the Romans are talking of going to Frascati by rail this autumn. A branch will probably be projected to Porto d'Anzio, thus bringing Rome into immediate communication with the sea, and rendering the restoration of the magni ficent Neronian part a work alike advisable and advantageous. PIEDMONT. In its sitting of the 17th, the Chamber of Deputies at Turin commenced the discussion on the bill for re cruiting the army. The members of the opposition, and M. Brofferio in particular, advocated a general military organisation of the country; the latter gen tleman, especially, being of opinion that civic forces were perfectly able to serve in wars the object of which was the defence of liberty, and that a civic element might be advantageously added to the army. The Minister of War observed that a civic force could not be subjected to a military inspection. The dis cussion was adjourned. TURKEY. CHANGE OF MINISTRY. REPORTED REJECTION OF THE RUSSIAN ULTIMATUM. A telegraphic despatch received via Brussels and Paris, announces a change in tho Ministry at Con stantinople. Mustapha Pacha is appointed Grand Vizier; the former Grand Vizier, Mehemet Ali Pacha, is now Minister of War; Ali Pacha Minister for Foreign Affairs; Fuad Effendi, Minister of the Interior; ana Rifaat Pacha, Minister of Justice. Another despatch adds to the above the assurance that the Russian ultimatum was rejected by the Porto on the 13th inst. The Init.derer, of Vienna, has a letter from Con stantinople, which revealing the anxiety of the Czar to possess some of the outworks of the Turkish empire, favours the belief that he does not expect immediately to be master of the capital. According to the Ilitsderer, Ozeroff has demanded explanations of the Turkish Minister of Foreign Affairs concerning the state of the Danubian principalities. Russia requires to know whether the Porte will undertake to gua rantee the tranquillity of provinces in which the re. volutionary spirit is making such rapid progress. The answer to this question may be somewhat difficult. The most formidable revolutionists in the Danubian provinces are the Czar and his agents. Against all others the Sultan, pursuing the same eon. ciliatory course as hitherto, may hope to make suc cessful resistance. But if the Czar be really bent, as there is reason to believe he is, on again fomenting misunderstanding between the ill-instructed races located on the Danube, and their rulers, he may for a time succeed, seconded as he is by the ambitious clergy of the church, who can point to 100,000 troops on the other side of the Pruth. THE UNITED STATES, ARRIVAL OF THE CANADA. (mom OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.) LIVERPOOL. SUNDAY. The British and North American Royal Mail steam-ship Canada, Captain Stone, arrived in our river this forenoon, with the usual mails from the United States and British North American posses sions, about 110 passengers, and specie to the amount of 170,000 dols. on freight. By this arrival slimes have been received from New York to the 10th, Boston to the 11th, and Hali fax to the 13th inst. The mails per Canada arrived in charge of Lieut. Scriven, ILN., Admiralty agent. The Royal Mail steam-ship Asia arrived at New York on the sth; the screw steam-ship City of Glasgow at Philadelphia on the 7th inst.; and the Royal Mail steam-ship Cambria at Halifax on the 16th inst.—all from this port. The United States mail steam-ship Hermann, from Bremen and Southampton, arrived at New York on the 7th inst.; and the Genova had also arrived at Quebec. By the arriral of the Canada we are in possession of Californian dates to the 10th of April. Gold dust to the value of 2,000,000 dole. was reported as having lately left the placers for New York. The repents received from California respecting the condition of business, state that it was generally in a very unsa tisfactory condition at present. The recent favour able reports had naturally caused a great increase there in the importations, by which the markets had been over stocked, to effect a clearance of which a ruinous sacrifice had to be submitted to. The satis factory accounts received by the last adviccs respect ing the prospects of the various mining operations being carried on in California was confirmed, gold being still obtained in considerable quantities. The Daniel Webster had arrived at New Orleans on the 9th inst. from California, bringing intelligence of the occurrence of another dreadful steam-boat acci dent, the boiler of the Jenny Lind steamer having exploded whilst in the bay of San Francisco, occa sioning the death of 18 persons immediately, and wounding 30 others in so serious a manner, that it is feared many of the cases will terminate fatally. Intelligence has also been received of the loss in the Pacific Ocean of the steamer S. S. Lewes, em ployed on the Nicaraguan route to California, though we are happy to be able to report that the whole of the passengers and crew were saved in this case. COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE. The reports respecting business generally throughout the Union are favourable. The New York money market still continued tight, though a slight improvement bad taken place in that respect since the departure of the last steamer. Money was, however, still reported scarce, even:for paper of the best description. In the stock market business had assumed a more favourable appearance, prices of good dividend-paying securities meeting with steady support. No change had occurred in the quotations for breadstuff's, and the market continued without much activity. The prices were—Western canal flour, 4 dole. 621 c. to 4 dols. 75c. per brl. ; Indian meal, 3 dole. to 3 dols. 121 c. per brl. Indian corn still remains =quoted. In the cotton market at New York but few transactions taken place lately. Holders were not apparently inclined to prase sales, and the former quotations bad been maintained, which were—New Orleans and Mobile mid. fair to fair, 12c. to 121 c. per lb. ; uplands, mid. fair to fair, 111 c. to 111 c. per lb. Little activity existed in the provision market, and no change bad occurred from the quotations previously re ported. Increased prices were being demanded for freight by shipowners, and at the time of the Canada's departure the following were the quotations :—Freight of flour to Liver pool, 2s. ad. to 2s. 6d. per brl. ; grain, 6d. to 61d. per bushel ; cotton, 5.16 d. to id. per lb. ; cotton to Havre, jd. to Id. per lb. foreign exchanges were in moderate demand, with a tendency upwards. Bills on London, 1091 to 109 j; Paris, 6.131 to 5.15. INDIAN REFORM. A meeting of the India Reform Committee was held on Saturday last, at the society's rooms, 12, Hay market, at which Messrs. Daub) Seymour, Bright, Otway, Luna, Bell, Blackett, sad Hadfield, M.Ps., and other gen tlemen interested in the stroirs of India, including Mr. H. Ashworth, of Manchester, were present. The committee resolved that, as the Indian minister has promised to de clare the intentions of the cabinet on the 3rd of June, no appeal should be made to public opinion until the decision at which the cabinet had arrived was made known ; but that if the government policy was not of a nature to satisfy the just claims of the native petitioners from the three Presidencies, a public meeting should be immediately con vened in London to oppose it. Letters from some of the leading native gentlemen of Madras and Bombay were read to the meeting, showing how great an effect had been pro duced on the associations at those presidencies by the intel ligence which bad just reached them of the intention to establish an Indian Reform Society in this country. The writers of the above letters resent the supposed intention of the government to treat their petitions with contempt, and to legislate on the basis of the present system, in spite of their strong representations of its injurious results. she y point out the fact that the natives of all creed.s and classes are now acting in concert, and undertakt:in-case a Reform So ciety be established in Eng , and, to maintain such a per manent Indian agitation in connexion with the home society, as should eventually induce the British public to pay attention to the grievances of India, whether or no the government attempt to get rid of the subject by precipitate legislation. Assurances of a liberal pecuniary support were given to the ecciety by the above letters from India, and by communications from Manchester, and a number 0 private donation. were announced by the secretary. The committee adjourned to the following week.