The Express. — London, England, 1848-09-06 00:00:00

conveys bat au insinuate estimate of the time de- voted to bruiser by the 666 members of the Hoses of Commons lase their 'meeting. Daring the saga there have met 44 paha) memaittees with an average of 15 members on each; 28 eked= committees with 6 members es each ; 14 railway c ommittees with 6 aesthete as each; 17 private bill ammittess with 6 members on each; and 112 other committees, 6 of which had 6, and the rest S members each. There have mat in all during the series 216 committees regains, 1,301 member, to constitute them. If the work had b. en equally divided, every member of the house must have menace two How ones the 112 " other committees" maim unknown, but the 103 sat among them 1,231 days (fora Walla hoots each day), or upwards of 11 days on an avenge. If all tho members of the House of Commons bad worked equally bard daring the session, they would have gone through 168 nocturnal meeting! averaging 7 hours each, and 12 day meetings averaging 6 hours each. But scarcely more than one-half of the mem bers have been really working men, so their days and hours of toil may be about doubled. Upwards of thiec bemired of the chosen statesmen of the lead have been labouring in their wadi= of legislators 168 days for 12 hours per diem during 24 of them, and for 7 boars per diem on the remaining 144. Still this (eves wen the committee and housework of the Lords sided) conveys but an inadeqoate idea of the quantity et Intellectual sesehinery that hes been set to work to maks laws daring the seam, and the time that It bee been kept going. Witnesses have been examined; clerks and others in the government of have been est to cal!, arrange, and digest papers from their archives, to be preeetited to parliament; members have crammed for speeches, and wasted the midnight oil in pre paring reports; lawyers have bees employed to pre pare bills, draw briefi, make speeches, bully witnesses, and perste committees; private conclaves of minis terialtste, protectionists, Irish members, or inde pendent libelee, have held long councils on the tactics they ought to adopt ; bay-bodies of all oar bodies interests," spirituous and spiritual, locomotive and obstructive, have been scour ing about, making demon strations and canvassing members. The imagination recoils in d* spair from the attempt to conceive the amount and intensity of activity of mind and body which has been evoked during the ten monthesession to toil in the task of legislation. And what is the result of this soonsons, inane, and protracted pother ? Some hundred of matter-of-ferm, routine bills, or technical amendments of existing laws; some half dozen emasculated message of Mrutility ; a couple of coercive measures for be •al the certain acidities of two millions to the na tional deb:, with • " hanging gale " of, it may be, double that amount left unadjusted; and speeches, a mero abridement of which fills some 1,200, eolamts of 0 Hansard," measuring 800 feet in length by two inches in breadth. This is "much ado shone nothing" with a vengeance. This doll, plodding, and laborious waste of time is not palliated by the present circumstances of the community. Parliament alma pretend that it has done nothing became there was nothing to do. The rebellion in Ireland has indeed been con temptible, but there is a universal ipirit of discontent and uneasiness pervading that island, and the causes which have evoked this troublone spirit are known by a msj ority of the leg isleture to be thedl-adj sated balance of institutions w ith opinion and with the economical audition of society. There is mush uneasiness and discontent in Great Britain, remelting from similar causes existing here too, though to a less extent and with leas intensity. Ministers, when they convoked parliament before its usual time, confessed by that very act there was much urgent work for it to do. Not one of its members questioned the propriety of their being assembled at an unwontedly early period of the political yar. Yet with so much important and pressing business demanding their attention,' ministers and members of parliament have conspired to waste their time in solemn trifling. The result has been exactly what might have been anticipated from such shameless proceedings. - The members of the legislature, worn out by their aimless and resultless toils, have d ropped off, till a smaller number was left to be present at the prorogation than common civility required should attend their sove reign on such an occasion. The financial statement of the CHANCELLOI OP PRI EXCHIQUER was made to 34 members of the House of Commons ; and at the division on the pausing of the Commission of Sewers Bill on Monday night, there mustered only 4 peers to vote spinet, and 6 to vote for the measure. Parliament has not been prorogued, it has evapo rated. _ _ _ The closing solemnity was huddled over in a man ner that showed the actors felt the hollowness of the business they were shout. Most of the ministers had previously departed, leaving to their sovereign the tiresome formal task of proroguing parliament. The CHANCELLOR. OP THE EXCHEQUER and the SECIC TART OP livers for the Colonies had not even the arnual fish dinner with their pressure. The Lord of the Treasury bad already crossed the Irish Channel, and the rest were dispersing in all direction'. The circumstance that the wonted time of proroguing was anticipated by a full hour, looks as if her Majesty had felt some irritation at her ministers' detaining her in town to go through a mere form, while they themselves were scampermg off like school bop let loose in search of pleasure. The speech prepared by ministers for the Quer( was worthy of all the other circumstances. Its his tory of the past is barren and beggarly ; its glance at the future freezingly devoid of promise. The neu tralised bill for the sale or encumbered estates in Ire land, the Sootch entail bill, and the sanitary bill, which even ministers confess to be only " a founda tion," are all the measures of genera! importance the speech can enumerate as having been passed into laws. To swell out this meagre catalogue the acts for the prevention of crime and outrage in Ireland, and for the temporary saspenion of the con stitution in parts of that island, are pressed into the service. Nay the Irish poor-law, the work of a former melee, and 'he charitable contributions from other parts of the empire, with which parliament had no thing to do, are squeezed into the speech. The only promise for the future, if it deserve the name, is—" I shall avail myself of every opportunity, when the exigencies of the state may allow, for enforcing economy." This is rather a threat of continued extravagance than a promise of retrenchment. The speech concludes with a promise that if the people respect the law and obey the precepts of ragim their liberties "may be perpetuated." This again is rather a warning to take care that their liberties be not diminished, than a promise that their urgent re qoests to have them extended shall be granted. Lord Joni RUSSELL formerly talked about finality; this, his latest royal speech, is finality. The spirit of re form has been exorcised from him and his colleagues. =itubear the same resemblance to a reforming that the pillar of salt did to LOTS wife; and they have been subjected to the metamorphosis for the same effeLoe—for wilfully and obstinately looking backwards instead of f Box in ems time@ of social convulsion and poli tical change, the news received by each @accoutre mail from America is not without its interest. In connexion with one point at least it realises the pre dictions in which we indulged a short time aro, showing, as it does, the fresh oomplications in which event after event is involving the all-absorbing ques tion of slavery. • Since the arrival of the last mail the question of slavery how adv..nced another step ; at all events, the position of parties in respect to it has become more defined and unequivocal. It will be remem bered that the mail before last brought us the news that the bill, which had passed the senate, with a view to effecting • com promise on the subject of slavery, as regarded the new] -acquired territory, had been peremptorily re by the House of Representatives. The ma ty it was certainly not large, but, con sidering the nature of the question, and the balance of parties, it was both decisive and significant The fate of the bill was a triumph to the north, and a proof to the south that, though slavery, within existing limits, might be secure from external attack, the attempt further to extend it was pregnant with hazardous contingencies. Had engem adjourned leaving the (motion as it then stool, the influence which it would have exercised on the prvidential election would have been both im portant and curious. But one of the fruits of a more than usually protracted legislative semi= bas been to Baal being the qnation, by tally two steps, nearer its The first of these was the achievement of a new tifampls by freed= and the north, in the case of the bill fee the organisation of a antacid government in Oregon. There was eosethieg at wee incenahrent and orsiaidal is the poei tisn which the loath assumed towards this bill, an attempt heist _made by the slave-holding in terest to infringe the Miami compromise in favour • s iouey—by proposing to leave the negation of slavery or ao slavery in Deeps open for decision by the future inhabitants et the ternary. Now by the MiSPOOIi compromise, slavery was absolutely and for ever prohibited in all the territory Deluging to the United Beata north of 36 deg. 30 min. north latitude. The southern boundary of Amities* Oregon, is al deg. north of this line, and the whole of it is oon &cogently included in the territory which was to be fur ever exempted from slavery. Yet it was in reference to this territory that the south proposed to depart from the compromise, and leave the establishment of slavery in Oregon an open ques tion. This condoct wee inconsistent, inasmuch as it is era this compromise that the south relies for the permission to establish slavery in the newly acquired territory south Cl the compromise line. It relied upon the compromise to establish slavery south of the line, at the same time that it sought to depart from it fur the bare chance of its establishment in Orgies. Its conduct was suicidal, beaus, should the north now manifest a disposition to disregard the compro mise it can plead the presedent set it by the south. It may be urged kr the south, that it was not in the expectation that there was any chimes of slavery being established in Oregon. that it took this course, bat with a view to setting an example on one side at the line, which the north could net well refuse to imitate on the other. Seeing the north so moth averse 03 the legislative enactment of slavery in the territory south of the line, it may have despaired of extending the system to that territory, unless some new principle of action were struck oat, which weed involve a similitude of action on both sides of the line. It therefore pro posed that oongrese should abdicate all control over the subject, and leave the inhabitants of the territory to the north to elect freedom foe themselves instead Cl slavery, and those of the south to elect slavery, if they saw fit, in preference to freedom. But they have been bathed in this attempt, an event which, in the I exercise of ordinary foresight, they should have anticipated. Nominally, the course which they pro posed was a new one—virtually, it was the same as that from which they professed to depart. The option proposed to be given to Oregon was as sure to result in the exclusion of slavery, as that proposed to be extended to New Mexico and California was certain to result in its introduction. The north would have gained nothing by this, the south - everything. But the latter now labours under the disadvantage of failing in its at tempt, after having incurred the responsibility of br iny the first to depart from that very compromise on which it has again fallen back, and behind which t now seeks to fortify itself. Had it consulted its true policy, it would have held the north bound to that bargain, by itself preservir g inviolate its terms. The unsuccessful issue of this attempt at a new compromise is another triumph to the north—whilst it is, in every respect, a far greater triumph than that which preceded it. In addition to being defeated, the south has obliterated the old landmarks of the question, which it was its interest to have preserved, and which it is that of the north to remove. The utter unsettlement of the whole question, gives new strength to the north, the policy of the south being to keep the north bound by the terms of its agreement. The south, in the furtherance of a shallow policy, attempted a coup neat, which failing, tt falls back upon the old terms from which it has departed, and to which the north may not, in future, be disposed to pay any great deference. This second triumph is all the greater, too, when we consider the mode in which it has been obtained. In the former case the house refused to adopt the bill of the Senate; ; in the latter the Senate was compelled to adopt that of the house. In the one case, the north withheld its sanction from the proposition of the south, in the other the south was compelled to assent to that of the I north. Freedom has thus attained over slavery, se it I were, a negative and a podded triumph. Its first was a successful defence, its lam a suooessful ag-1 ✓oam By the mail which has just arrived, we learn that I the question has advanced another step. In assent- ing to the oregon bill, which he did in the spirit of, the Misso uri compromise, the President transmitted a message to congress, giving his reasons for so doing. With the constitutionality orunconatitutionality of that document, we have here nothing to do. Our interest in it is confined to its contents. It appears that con jointly with his reasons for assenting to the bill, the' meresge virtually informs Congress that the Presi dent would hare vetoed it bad the territory affected by it been south instead of north of the compromise line. In other wads, he adheres to the compromise in excluding slavery from Oregon, and is prepared to adhere to it, in extending the system to California. As regards the latter determination, he may be regarded as impersonating the whole youth. The position then unnamed by the slave-holding sec tion of the union is that of the compromise. bo far as regards one party to the dis p ute : if the north has not taken an equally defined position sgaiost the tom promise it is fist doing no. Be it observed that in re jecting the proposition of the south as regarded Oregon, the north did not stand upon the compromise, but upon the determination that slavery should not bave the remotest chance of extending itself to that territory. In other words, its opposition to that proposal typified its determination to resist the further extension of slavery at all. Practically, it " kept the compromise oat of sight, whilst it adroitly left the south to depart from it. Now that the south has again fallen back epic it, it cannot tie the north down to it, by anything that the latter said or did with reference to the Bill. On that bill the south alone placed itself n a false position. The whole interest of the question, then, tarns upon I the view now entertained by the north of the binding nature of the compromise. What that view is, so far as the abolition party is concerned, it is not necessary to inquire. But the majority of the people in the north are not abolitionists ' in the party sense of that term. Is the opinion of that majority embodied in the remarkable speech pronounced by Mr. Weser= on the subject? If so, the parties are already directly at issue—the south insisting "al the compromise, t he north determined to disregard it. How soon in this, has the example set by the month been imitated! _ _ But, in disregarding the compromise, is the north to violate the terms of a solemn bargain P clord answering this question it is well to inquire what were the terms of the bargain. They were briefly, that the territory north of a certain line should be fire. They were not, in addition to this, that the territory moth of that line should be the reveres of free. The south, however, bold that this was so manifestly the spirit of the bargain, that it is as binding upon the parties as if it had been em bodied in its text. To this the north object, and inter olio, upon emetitutional grounds, maintaining that such a construction of the compromise is ut terly at variance with the whole spirit of the constitution and the views of its founders. The constitution guaranteed slavery from external attack within existing limits, bat did not contemplate either the aatuisition of new terri tory in the south, or the extension of slavery to such territory if acquired. Notwithstanding this ter ritories in the south have been acquired by purchase, intrigue, and cooquest, and over a portion of them slaver, hasalnady been extended. This, eaysthe north, is in violation of the whole tone and spirit of the con stitution, and if the compromise gammons it, the own promise itself is null and void, as no act of congress can annul or contravene the fundamental law of the land. Thus, even if by its very letter the Compromise Act guaranteed the extension of slavery to the territory south of, and guaranteed its exclusion from that north of the line, the north holds that it did that which it had not the power to do. The question for it then to decide is this—Congress havin g , a s it main tains, no power to contravene the constitution, shall it be permitted so far to depart from that document, as to extend ths institution of slavery to any portion of the newly acquired territory P To this question the north seems inclined to give a decided sad unani mous negative. The north boa thus two geMusda, on which it 'may disregard the anspromise—first, that the south set the example of departing from it ; and, secondly, that the compromise, as interpreted by the south, ii uncon stitutional, and, therefore, null and void. Thus we mealy* that this long vexed question is at length advancing by rapid gentles to a solution. The new petition of the two parties may be found in the President's manage andifir.Wsserxes speech. . t• THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 8, 1848. Ones and .gala hes the dual issue been postponed by temporary expedients. They will be adroit etateemen, who em peeves' it mace Lew, whilst it will take awl lea& and cearepeose hearts le being it lo a final adjustment whitest the overthrow ant dismember ment of the anion. Tag wretched mismanagement of the woods and forests has been inevitable. It appears clearly from the evidence of Lord MORPETE and Mr. Mimi (be fore the woods and forests committee), the Ant and second aommimioners—that then i!, in reality, no .. bodicharged with or respanildelie the mintigo meat of the woods and forgets. _ _ In 1787 the charge of the woods and forests was withdrawn from the general commissioners of land revenues and entrusted to a overate board. About 1810 the management of the Lind revenues was de volved upon the commissioners of woods and forests —the inferbor board to which the special manage ment of a part of the crown lands bad origin ally been entrusted. Anything resembling a statesman-like aim and . purpose would be sought in vain in this chopp ing and changing ; but doubtless could the private history of the constitution of the boards of these days be revealed, very subetan. tial and powerful motives could be as‘igned. "But such eternal blazon may not be," and we must take the commission of Woods and Forests as time and chance have made it. _ There are three commissioners. The first, in addi tion to the charge of a general superintendence of the more especial department of the commission, and of being the recognised channel of communication be tween it, the crown, and the Treasury, is always a member of parliament, and of late years generally a cabinet minister. The others have many duties to perform, entirely unconnected with the woods and forests. The fact is, with regard to the first oommissioner, that the woods and forests seem to have been con sidered of so little importance that its chef might be made a member of the cabinet on tho footing of a minister who has no special department to occupy his time sad attention. He has been expected to " make himself generally useful." All stray piece. of busi ness which no other pers3n could be expected to un dertake have been thrown upon his shoulders. The extent to which this has been done borders on the ludicrous. Poor Lord Mostrirrti is positively the Caleb Quut4nts of the administration. He is chief justice in Eyre, north and south of Trent, chairman of the commission for superintending the improvements of Buckingham-palace, chairman of the Commons in closure commission (and in that capacity charged with the execution of the act of parliament for advancing loans up= drainage), a commissioner of Grienwieh hospital, a commissioner of Highland roads and bridge!, a commissioner of the Holyhead roads, a commissioner for paving Regent-street, a commis sioner for building churches, a commissioner of the conservancy of the Mersey, a trustee tor the manage ment of certain chapels in Mar'clebone, a member of the council of the Duchy of Cornwall, a member of the Fine Arts commission, director of the geological surveys of Groat Britain and Ireland, chairman of the Metropolitan Sewers Commission, member of the Metropolitan Sanitary Commission, cues multi, alit's, I Lord Mo mu combines in hie individual person the functions of a minister of agriculture, of commerce, des cidtee, and of sanitary police. Largo, largo, al Barbieri! _ _ _ Alfactotarn della viii! ! It is obvioustcalsOresTiiiaininistrative functions combined with his lordship's duties at the council table, can leave him little leisure for the detail duties of that office from which he derives his ministerial title. Tnese duties are partitioned between the two I junior commissioners. The third commissioner has not even a nominal connexion with the Woods and Forests. He is " more especially concerned with the lands and manors in England and Wales, and the Isles of Man and Alderney, with the land revenues of the crown in Scotland and Ireland, with the office of quit-rents in Ireland, and with all leasehold houses in London, Windsor, and Richmond." The second commis ioner is the nominal manager of the Woods and Forests, but he has other business to attend to also. He has " the management of the royal forests, parks, woodlands, the Holyhead feeds, the improvements in the metropolis for which acts have passed the legislature, and the public works and buildings." So it is obvious that instead of three commissioners, the Woods and Forests have only the third part of one commissioner to look after them. And in point of fact this third part of a commissioner—this tailor multiplied by three—has only a very limited range of authority over the Woods and Forests. There are three sets of officers ' entirely independent of one another, appointed by and responsible to different authorities, who are understood to =Nein ' tend the management of the forests. The vert and venison are under the warden's or ranger's department; that officer is either appointed by the crown or holds his office upon an hereditary tenure, and he appoints his keepers. The common rights are under the ?orderers and regarders, who are elected by the freeholder, and who appoint their stewards. The superintendence of the timber and lands, the repairs of houses, and the payment of 8.1 salaries are under the immediate superintendence of the Commissioners 1 of Woods and Forests, who appoint the deputy cur -1 mein their assistants, and woodmen. We have here, therefore, three independent sets of officers, all with incompatible objects in view, having different ends to promote and different muters to plea-. The aim of the wardens is to keep a good stock of deer on hand for the immense array of officials, no blown, gentry, and clergy who annually receive grants of venison from the forest, and to collect their own perquisites of firewood, &a The maintenance of the deer is the destruction of the timber, and, thus the mutant endeavour of the warden and his officers is to thwart the efforta of the commissioners' officers to increase and improve . the timber. The duty of the verderers and regarders is to protect the interests of in dividuals and communities entitled to rights of com mon in the forests. They are authorised to tostitutesur veys, and hold courts to this end. But the interests of the parties they represent being at variance with those of the orovrn, a constant struggle is carried on between them and the officers of the commissioners to thwart and neutralise each other. There are three parties striving for asaindancy in the Woods and Forests; they have reciprocally the power to impede and check each other, but not to do anything effectual of themselves. The consequence is, that by tacit consent all three parties appear to have relinquished the idea of discharging their respective public duties, and have for years made it their business to ,job for their own private advantage or that of their friends and favourites. We find the warden's keeper., whose aim is to get browse for their deer and faggots for themselves at the expense ef the timber, charged in souse forests by the commissioners with the dele gated superintendence of the timber. We find the regarders in the New Forest leagued with timber merchants to plunder the forest. We find the officers of the commissioners, when an exceptional verderer in Waltham Forest endeavours to stand up for the rights of those who have the privilege of common in it, and cheek usurpations and unwarranted enclosures, telling him to do so at his peril. Under such a system it could not be but that abuses such as we have already exposed , and have many more yet to expose, sho ed up. The wonder is, not that many goodly private estates should from time to time have been filched from the forests by noblemen and gentlemen, or that 5001. should be paid for the opportunity of plundering the timber under the title of an officer appointed to prevent dila pidation., but that any royal forests at all should have remained at this time of day to be the scenes of such peculation. FRANCE. YAWS, TUILIIDAT, II A.Y. La Passe, of this morning, regardless of the sword of Gen. Cavaignac suspended over it, has resumed its fierce invectives, and seems determined to provoke suppression. The Constituticmnet has also resumed its usual tone, and gives its leaders as before. Great doubt prevail, as to the real intentions of government in regard to Italy. Members of the assembly who are usually well informed, ammo me that they have been unable to ascertain whether the government have or have not yet embarked troops for the Adriatic. A leading and influential member of the moderate party yesterday, in oonrernatu, pat the (position dirfttly to a member of the cabinet; the answer was evasive; the impremion was, therefore, that troops.had been sent with secret orders how to act on certain specified matingenciss, those istatingessies depesiiig at seem as the pee- i sible tares that the imegetielleas odikt lake. The fillewing eine, the esbelssee of which I asaimild tit Wire of bat "ming, respeetisf the Psis ma lees Beastly, sneer in the Mons ieur ef Wemenlll.: The Wilms el Awes is the Pert sad Leese Missy dual .Ito skewed ma* the lslb Bepossber Waist, it sis Vele* is the maim to dollars tbN, lateatfoa of payiag the 260 lame, brain part of their osisprookost. The Madrid mails of the Nat have been received. It was expected that a series of financial mann a would in a few days be announced intim Gazetle, which would form the bias of the new financial system of M. Mom In two or three days it was expected that a monthly instalment would be paid to the w aive classes. A communication on the st of the quicksilver mines was expected hourly fro m. Rothe child, cf London. The reported resignatiot. of Villa Hermes,, as political chief of Madrid, is contradicted. It was reported that M. Artata would 'noosed M. Euciso as chief of police. The Captain-Oeneral Villalonga bad left Valencia in pursuit of a band of insurgents which bad appeared at Maestraxgo. A Carlist chief was arrested at Oran, in Algeria, by the French authorities, who was employed in recruiting for the insurgents. MADRID, Avo. 111.—Thne par Cents., If Mb es& ; Ave Wok 1111-14 orb. rive pot Cook, I% paver. Paivivoo,l4 paw; after Bo um, Si cash. Coupons.? cosh. book Of fit. Ferdinand, 34 colia. ILAolioage co lava" 47 paw. ITALY. We have advice@ from Leghorn to the 30th, which announce that the disturbances there have been sup- reseed, and the troops recalled. Letters from Rome of the 26th, say that the same ministry would continue in office until the 6th of September, the day on which the chambers were to be Prorogued. It was expected that it would then be succeeded by a cabinet under Bobselli, the leader of the party there called the Doctrinaires. Cardinal Atuat had arrived at Bologna invested with full powers. l etters from Alessandria, in Piedmont, of the 29th, mention the report that the head-quarters of Charles Albert were about to be removed to Verulli. The utmost activity continued to prevaiL General La Maru.ora had left for Tortona, and the Duke of Savoy was at Wall. GERMANY. AUSTRIA.—The Wiener Zeitung of the 31st nit. contains a supplementarycommunication from M. Wes senberg to tho Count Montani, the papal envoy at Vienna. It .ppoars to have been dictated by a de sire to soothe the Roman government as much as par siblo. M. Wessenberg encloses Marshal Von Wel den'a note of the 13th August to Cardinal Marini, as a document that Count Montani may not have seen ; and expresses a hope thet the explanation therein contained of the cirtuustanoes in which Austrian troops had entered the Roman territory may appease any excitement the incident may have ocosaionod at Rome. The same journal intimates the arrival of the new governor of Galicia, the Chevalier Zaleski, at Cracow, which has been definitively incorporated into that government, and publishes his address to the citizens of Cracow. He informs them that his instructions are, until the constitution has been completed, to instal an interim town council, elected by the citizens, to preserve peace and order in Cracow. He is further charged to re-organise the administration on the foot ing of 1847. His next task is to make arrangements to compensate the landowners for the abolition of the corrie. Lastly, he informs them that the Polish is to be the official language in every instance, txcept in the correspondence maintained with the supreme government in Vienna. PORTUGAL. A pmtion of the following appeared in part of our impression yesterda The Oriental C oompany's steam-packet Madrid, Capt. John Weeks, arrived at Southampton last evening, and landed her mails under the charge of Lieutenant J. Davies, R.N., Admiralty agent. Her dates are :—Gibraltar, 2.stti August ; Cadiz, 26th ; Lisbon, 29th; Oporto, 30th; Vigo, 31st. She has on freight 68 packages of specie. Exchange on London, 30 days, 521 ; 90 days, 521 53. Discount on b ank-notes between 30 and 40 per cent. Our correspondent writes : LIE4DON, Ara. 29,1848. In political eireles there is • perfect lull idioe the closing of the Corm. The Queen and Court are and have been these pest few days at Mafia, where it is said the Count of Lseradio has been specially sumwoned. Expected modifteadoas ere said to have been the cause of this unexpMed invitation from her Majesty; but, beyond on dill, nothing is known of the matter. The subject more prominently engaging public attention just now hes been • sort of preliminary proceeding in con nexion with the trials of the political prisoners to long eon• fined to the Lintoeiro; in this couctry, at a pertimder stage of public prosecution, it becomes necessary to have the iden tity of culprits established by the crown witnesses; this before trial ; end in the present instance nodes mu served upon flee of the most prominent of thine incarcerated that this preliminary examination would take plate on • cartels named day, and is the hall of the gaol. The primers, by their counsel, petitioned the judge th at they should not be individually brought into the presence of their denouncers, bet that they might be permitted to mix with other prison us, and from amongst the crowd to be identified if the witnesses were capable of so doing. This much, after a struggle, was conceded ; the consequence was that in every single case the witnesses for the pollee failed in recognising their victim. One infamous scoundrel, upon being requested by the judge to point out M. Nazareth, one of those denounced, alter much confusion and hesitation, i pounced upon a wee Ciatra apothecary, whom he boldly averred and swore to be the man. The disciple of Galen stands sernething like four feet nothing in his shoes, while M. Nazareth, in robust form and height, would almost cause rivalry with our nicked English ',ifegnardenien. With Major Leith, and with H. Goethe (editor of the Patriots* similar tenures took place, and • scene of more glaring and 1 7ranten perjury probably before disgraced a court of justice. Yet, with all this, the victims have been remanded to prison while the perjured witnesses are suffered to be at large, ind even retain their pay from the police. One sad, painful event has occurred in connexion with these cruel peececatiome that has filled the public mind with indignation. mentioned the acquittal of Colonel Herta. At the time of his seizure his only daughter was on a bed of sickness, from which she had been able to rise to see her father. Upon the poor veteran's Memo he hurried hone to his child; but, fearful of alarming her biy an abrupt interview, was devising with other members of his family souse pia or other to spare her an unnecessary shook. Tee invalid, however, recognised . his footstep, and could not be controlled in her efforts to rise. The father rushed into the room received his child in his arms, end laid her head upon the pillow a togas. The poor old man is repro anted as broken-hearted. Ills own health too has been ruined by long detention in a damp dunron; and wounds noised in the defame of the cause of his grateful mistress now tell upon a shattered frame. Amongst other severe injuries re ceived in action Colonel Hoes was shot in the face, and de prived of his left eye in consequence. Her majesty is enjoying herself, surrounded by the court; the royal ample have issued invitations to a grand hunt at the park at Mafra ; yesterday was to be the first day for the chase ; amongst others invited is the Duke of Bsldanta. The great league here for promoting the material interests of the country continues indefatigable in its labours ; all must wish it success, but I fear to stared/the the notion of passibility entertained by its worthy promoters, em other 1 than a splindid phantom, a plan upon far too gigantic a scale fur Portugal, and utterly impassible in the auryiug out. In the first place, a capita is proposed to be raised utterly die proportioaste to the resources of the country, sad were such sn meant of metal capable of resliastion, the morale of Donna Maria's government is such that the minister of the day would not scruple to lay his hands upon their coffers any hour in the day, nor then to go down to the Cortes, and ask a bill of indemnity for the act, and which he would in twenty-four hours have most satisfactorily passed through both houses of parliament; in fact, without rosildmes in the stability of a government, enterprises of each magnitude can scarcely be susceptible of 'Miamian, and especially in the fax of such complicated distractions em surround poor Porto gala disp uted . succession an insolvent goverment, • forced emulation of wrists paper, and a adieus' bank with its notes at 40 per cent. dimmest However, It has to be said that the prompters of this grand egrimiltural Imam, he directors nd supporters, include in its mama thitheable number of not only the wet fades.- teal, but, at the same time, the most licesousble amass is the meaty ; and I shall only be too happy to lad, In the seesessfal permit et their honourable ez that up puss adverse minim was net Justified by resells. Thorpsgnr et the cholera in sem emulate, and its iippr to this port et Hamm, i. begianing le area lively eqs:ion ia Lisbon. ese oohing %pea the goverment Se proem. doe. The at suaraaties in are MI y seaweed es in ether pimes Lid dm Isms the peessmseate et the lilies Meese* sths the the madomnstion; it is a Olegiass le the limed et heath le the sulked*, =y. Vase Irma eirpestsd__ pmts. or whore the doubt adds es le bills et health er present Meth et sesitsey sendbien. are prodded w mass the ter ad anther ef Traffic's. in the immedlime_ mdiffibeesimed et which is the laneredo—a Whim aleileably skulls& the and polemist within liseffi se ear as ir elm conseened. sands assemmedation ;butt it is sail *A there le met mutually a bed la the plan, sot isthmus ma a eaudieal seemed sartsfaly, whoa le he Ifshon is set *sly Burs pima but he pout at the same Woe is sea of the Iles la the wed& The Mate of theyOH* heath in peals at the eirseliry jot am nen mpesially I. the south, is sal& dimg7 alemolag, mad reared, as is most clearlyiehown, by the sliametel mint peveumatemt, and We peralatioa sad adissmity &kraNis emrsaata The river lioadegri is mab jest Me peeteallsi o. soluilowbeg sad sae of the most la mores (10dieste) of the legal authorities has had ro fsreamu accomeny ilminmge, but this year sll preetation bat barn disregarded, sad the waters f.r and sear have been allowed to stemma ; the sonseguences have been the ap =e a description of fever, most fatal in its ravages. riots prinsipaily 'Mimed have been Monte-Mor ( Velho), Teuton', Twain, and neighbourhood. A frightful lois of life hes been the coesequence of this state of things, probably i paranoia& only by Ireland's sufferings in the last steam In the little Mho of Perrin alone the official registries give upwards of 300 deaths In a brief space of time, while some vi ll age' bare been almost depopulated. I bay, alluded to this subject somewhat sit anew° • bat really it is one that mills tar exposure as well as anise' ad- VOISteIL. Costa Cabral, by the way, is abseil from Lisboa, having proceeded to visit Me istates at ThOrnar ; he le residing at his coatis of Clualdim Pees: News hr jest hew relied from Mahn, when the Queen and wart are, that the royal stables were fired the night before last, and, together with other buildings adjoining, were entirely consumed ; the holies were got out, and no lives were last; the origin of the aro is yet a my-tery, but there are sinister rumours afloat. The hostility of the peasantry and the people generally to her Majesty and family is moat inveterate; both the Queen and her husband are tuoroughly detested y all but the mere flatterers about the court. It is very pro beble that In onnsequenoe of this event the royal pos• times will be hastily terminated, and that the ctuirt will leave so dangerous a vicinity for MN, secure quarters, NEW YORK, Aro. 22. The news by the Cambria made a profound sensa tion. Commercially, although in that reipect favourable, it did not occasion any difference in the general feeling of busi ness men ; but, politically, it was a complete damper on the enthusiasm of the repealer. and agitators. The statement that a small body of police had successfully sustained itself against a large body of the insurunts, while it confirmed the calculations of some, most wufully disappointed those of others. The news was so fatal to the pent. eta of the move ment party, that the Irish Directory signed an extra ad vertisement in the Sunday Morning herald, the dey alter the arrival of the Cambria, to contradict the English so wean, and yesterday morning a flaming letter was pub , ;Med in the Tribww sad to have been written in cypher by its scent correspondent in Dublin, an nounciar • battle, in which the English were defeated with the loss of one general, and at least 0,000 killed. 'Another meeting was called for last evening, which was also attended by large numbers, and when. the contribution were pretty liberal. The usual quantity of speaking was done by the accuitomed orators. Meerprominent among the leaden is the editor of the Tfribune—a man of unquestionable talent, self-educated, and of very eccentric manners. He has always been an active partisan of the whigs until recently, when, being unable to eontrol their choke for the presidency, he has severed him .. If from his old comrades, and "fights on his own hook." He is a eenneannist, a sceptic, an unbeliever in animal food, en anti-slavery and anti-capital punishment man. He has for year. maintained that life, being the Rift of a supreme being, cannot be taken awalawfully by men; and on this ground opposed the war In Mexico. But now, strange to say, he is quite unwilling to let the Al mig hty =the anger of Inland, and prefers the im med iate Natality of the pike. This curious inconsistency is not unnoticed by the public, and the editor of the Mow is in my judgment yet to experience the fate of those vision ary demagogues whose own misfortunes justly overwhelm them before they have had much opportunity of putting their schemes in operation against mankind. The Irish bilgede is still here. Now it is known that our vessels axe examined by your police before they go into dock not a man of them will budge. One of their prin cipal occupations at present is firing at a target on which is painted the portrait of the Lord-Lieutenant. The joke of this is that among the lower Iriala, as well as among their sympa thising friends, as little isknown of the Lord-Lientenant as of Junius himself. Bach allusions here are perfectly absurd, for they are not understood ; but they can understand some thing about the down-trodden and the oppressed of Ireland. " That's the talk" for getting up sympathy. All climes here desire that Ireland may have • fair chance. Mast people believe that a repeal of the union would benefit England, but very few suppose that Ireland can ever make any figure as a nation. She never ham. Her history is a blank page, with here and there a hole made by an Anglo-Saxon sword. Ireland never had any commercial prosperity until the time of the union ; its trade has recently become very valuable, and is increasing. The misery of the masses, however, must be admitted to be very great, and here the friends of Ire land think the great remedy lies in a just division of the land, which, if cultivated at all, is loaded with rack rents. It is certainly a great pity that tile waste lends of Inland could not be parcelled out at once, and government aid be extended to each cultivator who required it. The amount paid the West India slave proprietors, if loaned to the male cultivators of the soil in Ireland on certain conditions of Übe& and improvement, would be well disposed. Certain it is, however, that the Irish in this country do not like agricultural employments. A thrifty Irish farmer would be a curiosity in most of our counties. The great secret of Irish misery lies, we think, in the con summate ignorance of the people. When we find, even in the most prosperous counties, 42 persons out of 100 can neither read nor write, and in each counties as Cork, Kerry, and Mayo, nearly 70 in 100 equally ignorant, we are at no loss to dementia. why Ireland is poor and wretched. But enough of this. American speculations are perhaps of little moment to English readers, and yet I perceive occasionally a well considered "editorial" in the News, and in the London Dispatch a sensible growl on the subject of American affairs. As I wrote you, and have assured you, North Carolina and Kentucky have remained wild( at the recent elections. The tree sod question now seems to be put the crisis. The patient has cooled a little, and there is some fear of a col lapse. The abolitionists, finding that M. Van Buren's fol lowers do not go against slavery " up to the hub" are begin ning to stand aloof, and are apparently willing to let the wsggrner help himiself, as he is not yet like them so very deeply in the mud. The Van Buren men would not liberate the slaves in the district of Columbia where congress has the usquestinable right to do to, and they are also for maintain ing the oesulltutional provisions in those states where slavery sable. But this does not suit the abolitioniets. They go the " whole hog," and would abolish slavery by an insurrec tionary process if no other. The Buffalo platform is "big" enough for a small person like Mr. Van Buren to stand upon, but not a tall-grown " dyed in the wool" abolitionist. The real danger in oar politics is not in this question of slavery. It is in the absurd Batteries of the people by those leaders who seek their votes ; it is is the appeals to their vanity, and the extreme praise of their greatness and their increasing power. Our nowise. in Mexico have made us feel strong in our resources of military order and skill, and oar orators are not slow in showing where they may again be useful. (The in vasion, or rather rising, of the Irish in Canada is, however, a topic which even our most ardent aspirants have u yet avoided. That idea belongs to the repealer* exclusively.) Against this popular weakness we have the barriers of our large commercial, agriaultural, and mechanical interests, our universal education, and religious feeling; our love of lona new, and the influence of the respectable newspapers. It is the conviction of the folly of an argressive policy that hu led to the nomination of Gen. Taylor to the office of presi dent. This conviction, nevertheless, has been a hard triumph even for the most sober-minded American. under the feeling of resenUnent so general among us at the: constant assaults upon our counUT by the British press and British writes' generally. We think if ever there has been danger of a rupture between the two countries, or ever can be, it hu been and will be mainly owing to the attacks made on us by Baldish wri.eni. We leave their motives entirely out of the question. We think these are intelligible, bat certainly there is no cause for any further assaults. Let these cease, and John Bull will find Brother Jonathan sympathising with him. Our AnFlo-llaxon blood is not yet entirel y gone, though we have mixed it up rather faster than is for our good. We are for maintaining the friendly current as it wee. Our season continues warm, and our gay people are still at the watering-places. A fancy ball is to come off at New port, Rhode Island, which is to edit** that of Saratoga. The President has gone to recruit himself at the Bedford Springs, and the politicians are on their way homeward. The most important local news we have is the occurrence of • fire it the city of Albany a few days tines. Albany is the oldest settled town but one in the United States, and males quits a figure in our colonial history. It has become • lugs and beautifal city, and is the capital of the slate. It is one of those places which has retained its early Dutch character through many generations, impressing itself upon all new corners. It is at the foot of our canal, and at the head, er nearly so, of our river navigation. The ground which has thus been cleared by fire will be shortly covered over with new and elegant buildings. The streets will be widened, and the misfortune made a circumstance sot to be mourned over long. Rumour continues to assert the progress of a conspiracy to make a new republic on the Rio Grande. We should not be sarprised if this wars true. It is against the tone of public Wing, however, and is not approved of by our people gene- O• ur line of mail steamers, composed of vessels of 2,600 tons burden each, will soon be in operation. It is intended to have a mail line between this city to Chagres, thence across the isthmus, and thence by steamer to San Blas, Mazatlan, and San Francisco. Another steamer will run from this last place to Columbia river. Tne wash are of a superior character, and receive the government mails at the prim of 490,000 dole. per annum. We have here another safety valve for American restlessness. - The money market is easy, and the autumn mereantila business is now commencing. Oar advertised auction salsa are Imp. LAMARTINES DEFENCE. M. Lamartine has just published a letter to the electors of ths different dQarments by which he was re turned to the Notices' Assembly, giving an account of his conduct and motime whilst in power, and replying to the various attacks that have been made upon him. The letter is of too great length to admit of the whole being given, but the following extracts will do justice to the writer. U. Lantertine thus begins: " Citizens I—The popularity with which I was 'amended kr three months without muse has been withdrawn from M. withost motive. At a sign from the National Assembly I re tired hem affairs, satisfied is my comeleses that I had mu- dared some services to my country of her histoey. Without regretting ts rank from 'which I have descended against the calumnious revilinap• 'which ward of revolutions—without in any favour in any candidsteship, I ka t would still iresseve it, if I alone we adopted me under circumstances of b. token of tho uniformity of our opinions, long to you. On this ground lam bow count of moult You must not have spoken of before you. Yon must be et those who may reproach you with hay to two militate of voices It this fie is lowered, it con never be mid to goes before us no longer, but it has I said thatthere is spread abroad that for I ester even to whisperines, that answcred—it ia said, then, that I t lion, but weak in the • xercise of months of my taking a share in the visional government—that I have tr that I have dealt with column , ism pie by consenting to and prcinieing kbour—that I have plotted with the wished to denaturalise and dishonour have conspired with the prisoners *ed 13,brier with arms with a pi have mixed myself up with attempts ima on the Mintier. of goveromente I pekoe and fidelity—that I have nom, republic, by not at once throwing and the Alps—that I retarded the • long the dictatorship of tho "averts). put—that I was an accomplice in t 200,000 men on March 17—that taking no measures on April meeting of the National Assemb, pusillanimity, the unitary power tonal Assembly, as it is la to offer me, and for which two r designed me ; that, by this refusal, I Assembly to form a committee of gov• of opinion, and without firmness in r of the moment—that I made an with men whose opinions were at and averse to the moderate republic—th:. inconceivable alliance with these political adverom t found in she absurd and disgraceful reporta of • lotions between them and me, in our commo n —* upon the public treasury, or in au iufananus ven * „, the last government—that these pretended alve • their hands the proofs of this venality, and that I el, to purchase their silence by conceding to their opici w t I have paid my deb's with the money of the reimg,„ I have emitted to England the hum of nay nal mo w th a I maintained the ateliers nationauz to ova Assembly,and convert them into add milli* Insurrection—that on May 15, I wilfully left the protected, and saw with a secret joy the invois 1, n 44 7 4 4; of the national representation followed with impo c ,..,. I did not know, or would not provide minor, June 23—that neither I nor my colleagues had pw ni ,3 military forces necessary fez preserving order, er ems mortal combat at the moment of tie: dissolutior k ateliers nationaux—that the want of troops sr ie fieg: halt—that the conflict was prolonged through forethought—that the blood of this civil war testi o ft ; hands. These are the inculpations. I shall nottce the e ; by one. Instead of refuting th em , I shall ooly There is not one of the cireumstsnm s of this recital hi k not for its attestation either numerous witnesses, (cl o g; gable document', or the testimony of a whole nun In not faith or confidence in my own nations—l • to prove everything by evidence." M. Lamartine then proceeds to answer in arid g various accusations against him. With revert to info he ens : " The first accusation is, that I have been ardent's* tion, weak in the exercise of power during the int and the dictatorship. I answer—The revolution of Ups took me by surprise, as it did everyb o dy. The mod.' system, the government of pure reason, was to me Midi more or lees distant, of the right, the son reigstygg people. It was a conspiracy. I had no 'venni* (institutional monarchy, no personal animosities Nolo, dynasty. I kept myself apart fro m its hymn, and thaw l au. If its reign, of which I esteemed some M its min* that of peace, for instance, bad not elfin r contracted elet opted liberty, I should not have h es it a t e d to serve it. te monarchy and the dynasty being abandoned by the the national guard, the chamber, end the army, Mlle their own fault in one hall sitting. All was at an en* royalty, and nothing remained but to pity it, and smirks place. The people set us the example of this home* pity. They fought—they let royalty fly—they did a I remained isolated, silent, and pensive on my hog contemplating this catastrophe, which was so ettddes • leave no time for measuring Its immense depth. flee with commiseration for the misfortune of age and pie and infancy driven by a revolution to fly from a flume heart and my reason were in conflict with each Mho. people and some of my colleagues, who now perhaps a have forgotten it, came, and taking me by the on souse me, energetically urged me to stand forth brie enarohy and the country, called upon me by nay., pap use to the tribune. H. Beam descended from the inks I overcome by hie efforts to save the monarchy in Willa. , musket was levelled at me—an unknown hand threw Rd manic. I declared my self in a few words in (murder visional government, which should seize the crisis st moment. in order to control it. This government gawp aim to the republic; but it reserved to the National Am bly that which I indicated by my very first word, Own ao faction, no seduction, no acclamation could deprire it( the full and sovereign sanction of the delinitive fern government suitable for the acceptance of the nation voices of the multitude and of the deputies who remand the chamber called upon me to name the mambo' el I provisional government. I refused. M. Dupont (ele the natural dictator from public esteem, was, ID spite modesty, placed in the President's chair . He reinitiate pointed out by tumultuous acclamations to form the gm mot. We, at that time, attribute Ito this nominnha other mitholity than the authorityof danger and denedi le the country. This danger and this devoted, ea he ear sole title. They forbade our surrendering the pen gave us, irregular as it was, into the hands of anneiy.- assept it by right of the blood which is flowing, sad et must be staunched at any price.' These were Epee hr I find them recorded in the Moniteur. We amen the Hotel de Ville at the head of a column of the pee We were borne eking under a canopy of sabre., pais, bayonets, into the halls stained with blood and entombs with the dead and the wounded, to a small table, at el the government was organised. At this very hew a menced outside the conflict between the two lonian one, violent, sweeping, dictavaial, and terrorist, is dune, in gesture, and in colour • the ether, moderate, pm legal, unanimous, and constitutional—between the rem of your wishes and that you would not have. The eat of this terrorist republic war to hang out its bannmel colour is the colour of blood. During two days and twirl armed men repeatedly inundated the square, the min, halls of the Hotel-de-Ville. They insi,ted upon ear ins giving to the republic the character, the attitude, the bite= of the first revolution. My colleagues and al resisted, at the peril of our lives. Twenty times dm these seventy-two hours I was taken up, dragged, ou to the doors and windows, en to the bead of the stein into the courts and the square, to address men of sae epoch, who so fallaciously interpreted the will Mae pe and to hurl down those emblems of terrorism with it was attempted to dishonour the republic. You met member the last words which decided the victory in is of the tri-coloured flag ,• they were on the ri ps of my leagues; I only was called upon to pronounce them = red flag, citizens, which you present to us, has never anywhere except round the Champ-de-Mars, trailed io blood of the people ; the flag which we wish to preeen the republic has made the tour of the world, with bravery, our glory, and our liberties!' Was this the pe ditated ambition of a post into which chance bad throw on the breach made in society ? Was this weakness? this a emnpromise with terrorism? Decide !" In answer to the charge of having entered into aOM with communism and intoxicated the people with by promising them the organisation of labour, M. martinis denies it, and quotes from the Moniteur a el which he delivered to the socialist workmen wheel they milted themselves en mates at the Hotel de Ville se sisted on the issue of a proclamation promising the cam tion of labour, in which speech he declared that if he we be placed at the mouth of twenty pieces of cannon he e not sign the phrase organisalion du travail, bmasse eft years' study he had not been able to understand it, sal cause he would not take engagements towards ut4r which he could not fulfil. He, however, he says, the milted that the people were entitled to fraternal mit by labour on conditions which should not enter late • competition with free labour. He asks if that were th guns of a political endormour f M. Lamartine then proceeds to state that, on the day after the revolution, he had the idea of abolithill penalty of death for political offences, and, be says, ' same inspiration descended at the rime time heaven into the breasts of his oolleaaues." lie adds, after the abolition of death was unanimously voted members of the provisional government " fell into the of each other, and gave each other the kiss of life!' demands if this were a concession to the executioner God ? He noxt stake that he subsequently proposed the el sation of the garde mobile, which saved Pane and Fres the 23rd of June, and asks if that were want of foreeigl Referring to the threatening demonstration of March, re leaders of the clubs, at the head of a vast crowd, themselves into the Hotel de Ville, end insisted on s journment of the elections, he declares that the reel government formally refused to deliberate under th and asks if that were a cowardly concession to number the exigencies of the multitude ? He also refers to b ewer to the partisans of the Polish cause, who one night mooed him to declare war the next morning for PI under the threat of upsetting the government, to Moil he made no concessions to war. He likewise notices I fugal to render armed assistance to the Irish, aid demo that were a concesaisn to civil war ? On the charge of having encouraged attempts of s propagandism against Belgium, Germany, end Savo e declares that formal orders were given sal clatnations issued to prevent such attempts, and that bodies of men were assembled to make them they was solved. He appeals on this point to interested nations " Yea," he oriel , " I appeal to all republics, to all c to all ministers, to the ambassadors of the nations am accused of having openly assured, whilst I secret! eeimid. It there be one which accuses the Minis Foreign Affairs of complicity, or even negligence, i repression of tome attempts, if them be one who dal attest the frankness and vigour of the foreign policy 4 provisional government, I declare myself convicted of fel H. Lunartine next notices his manifesto to Bump ::hhevild:srittV"eb7"l.ll-4171481;o111:4:!;::;:41intell..".. I • nY manner .m c . e a tel ' f th• Petite* 11 5 1401 mi and, eb s tit be able to ter e I having diApisiZ flee Which ..1....., 10 have b eer tee 7l_ , is not humilieterite It there —i s bsi,,. nt nothing Mii)., , hare been tw eet " , Po wer, define th- he dietatcrtb eg ~.- . . the prineiN h ai.. : barn:''Pnnimtanitigtiaitothialuh:itciilaellntdek:wt6snenfmtiorV"eihmilwieelitial'asi°lnht:lii::.":::ftb.:?l:lll:l;::".l"ll.l'...:.ll:: ' Dnour the rep,' • enibly I w ee d , ' , power edd e e,, . is raid, w '' 1 , two millions of sal, I induced Mel... government, whi te - we in maseging the it variance wi h the—that the i'll