The Express. — London, England, 1851-05-22 00:00:00

O ___ FFICIAL CATALOOUEL---ADVERTISE MOTO patoodol kr the Sotool lit tics of 100,000 Catlin oboolit to soot to tlho Colanders orient. OROTV INd IiaI. Wards Stalk:sem ara . 110 CLoWES sad SON& Pastan. . am Erldrodaes. Macadam% ad at 117ddiddli- Zile Orprefso. • TO CORRESPONDENTS. a Stela re.MCS of "Tao Faros; castaialaa ISM frmstres I olaltbk" y lobbied "my Tuaday and niday la Una tag pad. hbavuormeata Wended tar The Espros.*Lasen Emig( pager, nut lova tas Ulasa. IS, Deaverwir.aireat. ay Tdo o'clock sa tao day el puldwaila MOH WATILII AT LONDON BRIDGE. Ten Inv —Marais& lit. 89e Aft/Isom, IL Is. TLissaaaw—Marslag. IL 30‘s Attermoo, IL Os. LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 22. Turas is more ingenuity than ingenuousness in the allegation just put forth in defence of the extreme position occupied by the committee of the National kociety, viz., that all that is complained of is, that the Committee of Privy Council force the management claims on church schools as a condition of public aid. For, what the Committee of Privy Council do, is to refuse grants towards the erection of schools, the promoters of which decline to incor porate one or other of the seta of clauses in their trust deeds, and, by the refusal, deny to the lay subscribers any real share in their con duct. 'But, they do not, because of that re jection, refrain from making grants towards the supp•rt of schools, when erected by parties declining to provide for lay participation in their management. Any church school, if favourably re ported by the church inspector appointed under the Coneordat of August IMO, is admissible to the benefits of the Minutes of Is-16, even though its trust deeds ntav not have been constitute el on the models pre scribed by the lords of Privy Council, and though it is not subject to lay interference. And therein we think, their lordships err. But, granted that the Committee of Privy Council do force the management clauses on the of church schools, all a condition of state aid, what injustice is there in that ? Parliament, representing the nation in its lay capacity, provides the money ; and parliament has a right to annex whatever con ditions it pleases to the reception of its grants. And therein it dove no more than the National Society it self; which has its " terms of union" just as the Privy Council has its "management clauses;" with, how ever. this great difference, that, whilst the former are restrictisc, the latter arc comprehensive in their ten dencies. But parliament has not, it is said, sanctioned this condition and these clauses. Indeed! Is not every document and paper [teed minute and letter or the Committee of Privy Council laid before parliament? Ilave not all the correspondence and controversy be tween the Privy Council and the Society on this very question been presented, by the !toyed command, to the legislature? Ilas not the annual vote been re peated and been increased since all their differences were thus officially brought under the knowledge of parliament ? Is not the Committee of Privy Council part of the political administration of the day, and, as such. directly and immediately responsiblC to par liainent ? And are there not four-and-twenty bishops in the 'louse of Lords to call ministers to account for any encroachment by the State on the rights of the rhumb? And, if with all this information and knowledge of what the Privy Council has done. and with this opportunity of reversing the policy of the. Privy Council, if it aecm it wrong, parliament have not sanetioned that policy by its yearly grants ; those grants being annually incorporated in a statute —what, we shall be glad to be instructed, can con stitute. sanction? It is not for ministers, or fur those who accept this vote us, and who proclaim it to hen sanction by parliament of the Privy Couneirs great principle, that in schools aided by the state the spiritual power shall not he supreme and ahaolute, it is not for them, we say, to bring the quest ion in a formal and direct shape before the legislature. It is for those who con trovert that principle. who, with Mr. G. A. 14241stis, claim for the clergy the exclusive duty of educating the poor ; it is for such men to ask parlia ment to deride authoritatively between the preten sifills of satvrdotalimm and the rights of the laity. Why don't thee? Is there no in the How of Commons to wag his tongue there, as valiantly as he does his pen elsewhere ? Where is the courage in par liament of the party. who out of parliament arc no au (lacings? The Church 01 England is far more fully represented in the legislature than any other reli gious body in the country. Why, if it he so deeply inured and s° severely wounded by this application of a parliamentary grant—why don't its friends there make at least one effort to remedy its wrongs? What, silent even in the Lords! The truth is, that these people have no parliamen tary ease. and, though blatant enough out of doors, they know it ; they know that in the Commons they could not muster fifty votes in favour of any motion adverse to the right of lay management ; and that• in the Lords, two-thirds of the very bishops would shrink from supporting their views. And herein consists the very best proof we could desire that it is not the church, much less the nation,whieh disapproves of the management clauses, and the prineiple they involve: it is merelv a few noisy. rest less tractarians, who have bullied, and worried. and teased the foolish persons who manage the National Sotiety into their present false position. It suits the present purpose of these men, in order to throw dust into the subscribers eyes at the ap proaching annual meeting on the Ith of June, to confine their objection to rompiesory conditions of any sort a hatever. They, of all men in the world, are for complete freedom ! But test their profes sions by their antecedents ; look hack to their speeches last year ; read their letters every w ee k i n their own journal remember how they have de nied, rejected. and repudiated the royal supremacy; think of their schemes for convocations, synods, church courts, church laws do nut forget what their pretensions as a priesthood involve : and, estimating them as a whole, then decide whether there is not something suspicious, dangerous, treacherous, be hind this their new-horn zeal fur liberty; whether it is not, iu point of fact, a (veer and &cloak for spiritual tj-ramiv, never more pernicious than when it gets hold of popular sympathies and prejudices. Conditions, in order to be effective, must be com pulsory. Whoever heard of even a voluntary society, the rules of which were not compulsory? Na tional Society's " terms of union " arc compulsory, just as the .• live points" arc in the chartist clubs. It requires subscription to and compliance with those terms before it gives its money. The state does no! more in making its grants. The National Society says. " Take our money subject to our conditions, or decline our money, and have nothing to do with us." So does the Privy Council. The difference is that, while the National Society will not abate an inch of its terms, and will not condescend to argue with those who disapprove of them; the Privy Council, with a higher and holier sense of its great mission, has conciliated the Society by every concession it was possible to make but one; and had it yielded that, it would have placed the porliainentaly grant unre servedly at the mercy of the Society,—or rather. per haps, of the few tractarians who are in possession of its citadel. The object of this claim of freedom from all state conditions to the acceptance of state grants, is to place the whole power of parochial education in the hands of the parochial clergy. For, though, appa rently. the discussion turns on the question, whether the bishop of the diocese shall not be the sole arbi trator in all cases of dispute as to secular, as he now is of religious and moral, management : the point at blue really is, whether the clergy shall not hare that power. For, who are they that propose this aug mentation of episcopal duty? The very men who are never tired of telling us that the bishops hays already more to do than . they arc capable of perform ing. Think of all the parochial schools of the diocese of London being placed under the autocracy of CIIMILEs JA111:8 What would that be but to assign them altogether to the control of the parochial clergy ? And so elsewhere ; as. indeed. the Arch bishop of CtXTEILBriT, with that candour so rare in Churchmen, frankly admitted in a speech at the diocesan society of his Metropolitical City. That is what is aimed at. The management clauses same to the laity a share, by legal in the secular management o f the schools. Now is nothing so hampering to_yriesteraft es the salutary restraint of the laity. Hence priestly d~ THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY E'ENING, MAY 22, 1851. laetedaika t these clanar.o. But hence eight to flow the poet of all other classes to there. To! g, aids now said, that more liberty is given to the *awl power ty the Priry,Couneil in the ewe bt Roman esthetics r.nd dissenters than in those of the church, is to rsake a statement utterly unfounded in fact. The lords of council have equally , framed manage ment claneA for the trust deedsof schools in connexion with the British and Foreign School Society, with the W esleyan body, with the Free Church of Scot- Irina, and with the Roman catholis. And in no correspondence that has taken place between the Committee of Privy Council and any religious body has the principle of lay participation in the manage ment been so broadly, forcibly, and emphatically enunciated and reqUired, as in the case of Roman catholic schools ; (este the papers lately presented to the House of Commons on Nit'. HENLEY s motion. Equally inaccurate, too, is the assertion that the management clauses are retrospective in their effect. Schools built with the public aid before they were prepared and introduced into trust deeds, are no more affected by them, than schools erected without such assistance. But now that they are a condition to all building grants, each applicant knows before hand the terms on which heaccepts the grant he seeks. The question at issue is the simplest one in the world ; and it is because of its simplicity that it is so important. It is whether the laity shall be excluded from all share in the conduct of parochial schools; whether the interpretation of their trusts, and the management of their affairs, shall be with drawn from the men who furnish the greater part of the funds wherewith to carry them on, and be placed in the clergy and episcopacy claiming, as a prima -1 hood, the right of educating the poor ; and whether, by these means, the monstrous sacerdotal pretensions lately made, and still making, by certain parties in the church, shall be promoted and encouraged by a Society of which the QUEEN in patron, and by a cote of money made for very different purposes by the House of Commons. That is what the success of Mr. 0. A. Drsilso:l, on the 4th of June, means. Hence we again urge on all liberals and protestants the duty of their supporting Mr. GIRDLMTONE and his friends. 4 . MISTORTtNES rarely come single;" and the Sut ton tunnel tragedy has been only too quickly fol lowed by a terrible fatality on the Midland Railway, near Clay Cross. It is needless here to repeat at length the sad details of what probably every one has read. Suffice it to say, that two gentlemen have been killed ; an American lady has had her leg frac tured; three American gentlemen have been bruised and injured ;an Irish gentleman has had both his legs broken ; four other gentlemen have had limbs fractured; and three others have been braised by a goods train running, on Monday night, during a storm, into the express train, which had, shortly be fore, left Derby at J.S. Was or was not this a preventible accident—an avoidable collision—did it arise notwithstanding the due, and faithful, and accurate performance of their duties by the railway servants, or was it produced by their neglect of those duties? These are the questions the coroner's jury has to investigate, and on which there is as yet too little evidence whereon to form an opinion ; but towards the solution of which it cannot be impertinent to offer some sugges tions. The engine that carried the express train came to a stand-still 20 miles after leaving Derby, from some small breakage in its machinery ; in the pump rod, it is said. The first thing to be inquired into is clearly then the state of the engine when despatched. The rate at which express trains travel in England requires the closest and promptest attention to every part, however minute, in the machinery of their en gines. With crdinary trains, ordinary engines may be used; but for a railway to convey an express train by anything but first-rate locomotive power, and that in the very highest state of effi ciency, is to endanger the lives of its customers. And in a railway uf such established reputation as the Midlands, engaged in competition with a rival company furnished with a new and perfect rolling stock, it can hardly be doubted that inquiry into this first point will show the breakage of the pump-rod on this occasion was one of those casualties that really arc quite unavoidable. All possible evidence on the point must, however, be furnished. The express train which left Derby at 9.5 p.m., was, it seems, followed in five minutes by a goods train. In this prompt succession there, of course, is nothing under ordinary circumstances, positively dangerous; for as the 9.5 express on the Midlands travels ut the rate, stoppages included, of about 33 miles an hour, and as goods trains with stoppages do not generally average 15 miles an hour, the risk of the goods tnun overtaking, 20 miles off Derby, the express train must be very chimerical. Yet on this melancholy occasion what seems so very improbable actually occurred; thus adding another example to the many before given, that, in railway ma nagement, the improbable, as well as the pro bable, is to be guarded against. In tracing out the causes of the collision, the next point to be attended to is, then, the rate of speed at which the goods train was proceeding. It appears to have left Derby at 9.10 p.m., and to have made the Clay Cross tunnel, upwards of twenty miles oil, in much less,how much 1.4 not as yet stated, than an hour. The investigation here must, it is apparent, be very pre cise and searching ; fur there is danger enough from the speed of express trains without having goods trains tearing away ,at similar rates; though. of course, occasionally they must put on extra steam, in order to get into sidings, and so clear the rails for passenger trains behind them. But the condition of the engine carrying the ex press train, and the rate of speed of the goods train being ascertained, next, the enquiry ought to be directed to an examination of the precautions taken to signal the obstruction on the line caused by the stoppage of the former. The stoppage took place not far from Clay Cross station ; and on the line there is an electric telegraph; had the guard at once proceeded to the station about, we understand, 100 yards off• to give notice of the obstruction by means of the telegraph, the station-master might, in all probability, have been able to have arrested the progress of the goods train in passing. But, assum ing that the speedy restoration of the engine to some sort of working onler, prevented this precaution from having been taken, what precautions were re sorted to ? Every guard is furnished with a box containing half a dozen " alarm fog signals," and four" port red signal lights ;" and it is his first duty, in case of accidents or stoppages, to resort to their use, and to continue using them until the train is fairly in pro grew' again. The fog signal consists of a small flat leaden box, filled with detonating powders, with per cussion caps fitted on little interne. spikes. These boxes the guards are ordered to affix, by the flexible wires attached to them, on the rails at proper inter vals ; so that any approaching train in going over them is at once warned, by the loud explosion which follows, to stop. Were these signals used at Clay Cross? This must be clearly ascertained. It is —first, possible that the guard may not have had time to place these signals o n th e ra il s • and secondly, it i s obvious that he ma y h ave been Called away by the resumption of the jouniey before he could have placed them at any great distance from the stoppage. But in either case the use of the port red signal lights became thereby a point of more im portant inquiry. These lights are rolls of ignitable preparations, for guards to light by rubbing the top on sand paper or knocking it against any hard substance, and for them to hold in their hands when ignited. They burn a bright and powerful red light for a quarter of an hour, and can readily be seen cer tainly. a quarter, probably half a mile off ; and the sight is a signal for the approaching train to stop. cre these signal lights used by the guard ? And if not, why not The inquest was to be resumed this morning. We have made these remarks for the purpose of pointing out what course the inquiry ought to take to satisfy the public mind, at present very sensitive to these tem - ble occurrences ; not, however, in any spirit of hostility to the management of the Midland Com pany ; for it, we are bound to add, is generally ex cellent, and well merits the high reputation Mr. ELLts has acquired for it, since the company got well rid of Mr. GEORGE HUDSON. FIRE IN 8801-LaßE.—Lot nig ht about ten o'clock, a Are broke out in the premises o Messrs. Pontifes and Wood, lead merchants and sapper smiths, in Shoe-lane. The ere, whose origin has not been ascertained, raged for two boon, yid consumed the greater part of the lead and brass castinsr shops with a number of . moulds. The owners were insured. FRANCE: pArds, WIDSI{DAT In the sitthig of the Assembly to-day, M. Noel Parfait observed that, among the petitions presented yesterday by General de Bar, there were several emanating from munkitral councils; and he required that, in conformity with the law, those illegal deliberations should be referred to the Minister of the Interior, to be annulled. The President of the Assembly, M. Du in, declared that this had already been done. M. Leon Faucher added that he had instructed the prefects to annul all such deliberations that should be repeated. M. Godelle then demanded that the discussion of the motions of MM. Moulin and Morin (de In Drome) on propositions affecting the revision of the consti tution, should be placed on the order of the day for to-morrow. General Cavaignac observed that it was irregular to preoccupy the Assembly with the course , to be pursued respecting prepositions which might possibly not be made. M. Leo de Laborde here exclaimed that he should certainly present such a proposition. (Movement.) General Cavaignac said, in continuation, that it was not so long a delay till the 28th May for the Assem bly to submit to the rules of the constitution. M. Moulin remarked that there was nothing in the con stitution which prevented the Assembly from de termining beforehand how it would deal with motions for the revision. The Assembly, having been consulted, agreed, by a majority of 3h against 242 (this is the corrected division), to place the motions of MM. Moulin and Morin on the order of the day for to-morrow. The debate on the Sugar Bill was then resumed. M. Beugnot moved that colonial sugar should be subjected during four years to a duty less by sfr. than native sugar. This motion, although opposed by M. Buffet, the Minister of Commerce, was adopted. A bag debate then ensued as to the extra duty to be imposed on foreign sugar. This is at present 20fr. WOO kilogrammes. The committee proposed I lfr. the amount of 10fr., moved by NI. Ancel, of lite., moved by NI. Lestiboudois, and of 12fr. arc., =wed by M. Dumas, had been successively rejected, die extra tax of 11 fr. proposed by the committee was af g-d e ay M. de Lamartine has read a lesson out of history to the legitimists, which has created an im mense sensation. This remarkable article, one of the most powerful compositions that have vet appeared from his pen, declares that the open defiance cast by the legitimists at the republic calls for a pacific 18 Fructidor. When the royalist club of Clichy con spired against the directory, the government of that day, seeing that the republic was lost if the coup-de main of the Pichegrus and monks of the moment were not arrested, pounced on the Clichy conspirators, and packed them and their generals off to Cayenne. Now the royalists of that day had some excuse for conspiring. It was natural that they should seize the moment when reaction was filling the high places with their tools, to mature their plans. But what have the royalists of the present day to complain of? The republic of 1848 has not harmed a hair of one of their heads, and for this mild treatment, before the end of the first short magistrature, they turn round upon it with insolent menace and utter defiance. These men, to whom the republic has given so large a share of power, use their tooting to deal a blow at the protectress which stood between them and their deadly foes. They will not hear ofpartial revision ; they wi.l have nothing has than a return to theimonarchy. What, is this the answer of M. Berryer to that people which made so moderate a use of their victory, so generous an application of universal suffrage. Hare the legitimists lost their wits, to suppose that, with two departments in the south, and four or five in the west, they can measure themselves against the ro-1 mining 80 departments and three thousand large and small towns ; against the populations of in dustrious cities, which have only to change their tools for bayonets to enable them to turn out immense armies for the protection of their liber ties. Such defiance is mere suicide. But let the government awake up out of its torpid slumber; let it profit b y the example of Hoch° and B o nap ar t e , and deal with the new Clichy Club accordingly. But of proscription there is no need. Let the 18th Fructidor of 18.51 be apseific one. The government has only to abolish the law of May ; to appoint re publican ministers; to disavow all idea of competing for the presidency of 1852; and to propose the par tial revision of the constitution. I can only give you this feeble outline of an article which will produce a great effect throughout France. Dr. Vcron, in the course of his fresh assault upon the law of May, drops some revelations with regard to an attempt of the party of fusion to come to a transaction with LonisNapolcon for cedingthe ground to Henry V. He says: " The journal of the fusion has not yet given us all the developments o f th e idea which it pursues; it has not yet revealed all its secrets; but, if we are well informed, the party of husks would include Prince Louis Napoleon Winn parte in its treaty of general peace. The actual President of the Republic would not be imprisoned at Vincennes ; he would not be banished from France. He would even be rewarded, on the condition of his insisting in bringing about a complete and new restoration ; and, in ease of success, he would have a right to a large revenue, to titles, and to honours; awd all this would be secured by a document or stamped paper, and signed before a notary." The arguments which the Doctor brings for the abolition of the law may be summed up briefly, thus: The main ground for its enactment was that assigned by M. Thicrs, that it disfranchised the vagabonds of satiety. But is it fair to call every man a vagabond who is not domiciled for three successive years in the same commune? Honest tradesmen, who have re- tired within the last three years hie the capital, professional men, who leave Peril to set up is the provinces ; finally, M. Thiers himself, who is disqualified by this condition ; fall thus into the vagabond category. It would be much wiser to pass a law for the transportation of criminals, which vagabonds must soon become. The stick lers for the law say that the abrogation would be a sign of fear. But is there any shame in fearing to plunge the country into civil war? The chief any however, of the old conservatives in enacting sued maintaining the law is to get themselves re-elected, and to diminish the authority which the President derives from the broad base of five or six millions of votes. They would be glad to put the election d the President of the Republic into the hands of the Assembly. The apprehensions of a socialist majority in the Assembly are absurd,and belied completely by experience. Such is the outlin e o f thi s article, whia has raised much agitation in the Assembly, and gamed the funds to fall. Many of the baegraves have signified to ministers the necessity of meeting such language by an official disavowal in the Itruniteur. Until such an antidote to the mis chievous doctrines disseminated by the Constitution net appear, it is impossible, they say, to regard the ministers as expressing faithfully the opinions and intentions of the executive. Some have even hinted to M. Faucher the propriety of resigning, unless he can procure the insertion in the Moniteur of an offi cial disavowal of Dr. Veron. Detailed instructions have been just sent to Gene va' Osman in the subject:of the aggressions on the French soldiers. The soldieni are henceforth never to leave barracks but in sufficiently strong detach ments to repel all attacks. M. de Walowski is daily expected from Naples. M. Waisse is coming forward u candidate for the Nord, in replacement of General Labitte . To-morrow the President will hold a grand review, in the Champ de Mars,- of the four regiments of infantry newly come to Paris, and of the brigade of cavalry. M. Rouher is charged, ad interim, with th e port folio of finance during the absence of M. Fould. M. Waisse is appointed, by a decree which ap pears in the Monitvir, member of the Algeria com mittee of consultation annexed to the war-office. ITALY. ROMAN STATES. Our correspondent writes on the 14th that an aa eusination had taken place on the preceding night in the Via Mario d'Fion. The victim was a Roman ; the motives attributed for the murder various. General Gemeau had issued a proclamation respect ing.the recent disorders, prohibiti ng arms, and or -1 denng domiciliary visits. The anti-smoking demon stration ommionecl the govenntsot great imessinees. NAPLES, MAY The government has m d t: gai the losses l4. s tained by the l a t e q imposed; bat the indemnity is confined to Melia meek SPAIN. MADRID, MAT H. It is said that the ministerial candidate for the Presidency of the Chamber of Ihputies will be M. Mayans. The candidate of the old moderado opposition will be M. Mon. The Epoca quotes a letter from Sevillc,announcing that a frightful catastrophe had occurred in the gar den of the Duke of Montpensier, at Alcala del Rio. The prince had caused a steam engine to be placed in it for its irrigation, and the 10th instant was fixed for its trial. His royal highness fortunately could not assist at the operation ns he intended, having been obliged to repair on that day to Villamaurique. lAs the boiler to be used for the experiment waa not new, it was agreed that it should bo slowly heated, but, either from neglect or imprudente on the part of the engineer, the boiler exploded, and overthrew the building, burying under its ruins 60 or 70 persons assisting at the experiment as opera tives or mere spectators. Eight dead bodies and six teen wounded had been removed from under the rub bish when the account left. BELGIUM. The only news is that it was stated that M. Dumon-Dumortier had again been sent for to the Palace. GERMANY. MEETEcG OF THE CZAR AND THE KING OF PRUSSIA. The King of Prussia reached Warsaw on the lßth inst., at a quarter past eight in the evening. The Emperor and Empress advanced to meet him as far as Skierniwice, where the royal and imperial party dined. They then journeyed on together to Warsaw. Our correspondent writes as follows: BERLIN, MAY 18. On the final result of the Dresden Conferences the Preussisch• &dully writes thus: " According to what we have been able to learn, the closing act of the Dresden con , fereuces is well calculated to animate and to strengthen the': hopes of the German governments anew in some further practical consequences of their late deliberations. Specific resolutions, having immediate efficiency, it is true, have nut been adopted, but all the German governments so far agree that the consultations commenced at Dresden should be continued at Frankfort; and have pledged themselves (rich erre/Fichte° to come to two resolutions of considerable importance at the Diet. In reading this passage one s in clined to couple it with an extract from the Ilanorecische %elbow, and to put the query, whether one of the resolu tions above alluded to be not the same referred to in the Ilanover paper—namely, ' That a resolution is in train for passing at Frankfort, to the effect that for a certain time no confederate state will be allowed to enter into commercial treaties with foreign nations, without including all Ger many therein, or at least without an unanimous German sanction.' lam not inclined to think that the Preussische Zeitunq does refer to this measure, though the Lloyd has a passage from a Berlin correspondent that seems to coun tenance the supposition. That journal says that a tariff and trade congress will shortly be summoned with the view of concluding a commercial treaty between Austria and the German 7.ollyerein, to be based on the principles laid down at the Dresden conferences." E ieh of the German governments stands pledged to keep two-fifths of its military contingent continually in readi ness, u well to meet, if need be, foreign foes, as to repress internal disturbances with the utmost promptitude and energy. The Kreta-Zeitung gives but a very few words to the clo.ing of the conference•. It says :—" The Dresden con ferences arc closed. The result of the last sitting was al ready anticipated. Definitive resolutions were not called for, and surprises would have been quite out of place. his to Ix, hoped that a patriotic policy, full of foresight and vigour, will elsewhere bring healing to the griefs and grie vance. of our fatherland. We go now front Dresden to Frankfort." MAY 19. It is now distinctly announced, in official tcustriUn journals, that the Emperor of Austria is to lease Vienna for Olmutz to-day or on the 21st instant. After making a short stay at Olniutz, he will proceed to Cracow. His in terview with the Crur will take e lute, it is given out, on the 29th (the day on which the King of Prussia will return to Berlin). Prince Sehwarzcnburg will accompany the emperor. M. ltochow has already left Frankfort for AVArsaw. Among the high matters that will be discussed in these monarchical tele-ri-fetes, the Danish or Schleswig-liolstein question will be one of the most prominent. Russia has taken a decided interest in this que tion from the beginning. What her particular views of it now are, under present cir cumstances, politicians feel a good deal anxious to know. The Danish papers maintain that an uninterrupted, perfect agreement exists between Copenhagen and St. Petersburg; and, on the other hand, German papers (especially the /Creed: Zeitutty) assert that Russia is on the best under standing on the subject with Austria and Prussia, more par ticularly with respect to the necessity of dismissing the Cassino ministry. A last declaration, I am informed, has been despatched from the Austrian and Prussian court to Copenhagen, iu which the following conditions are laid down as essential to the re-organisation of the Duchies: Ist, that the Danish government should make a public declaration of its relations to Germany, and especially its position with reference to the Diet; 2nd, that no attempt should be made to extinsuish ' German nationality in the German districts of SchlAvrig by suppressing the German language; 3rd, that a customs league should be concluded between the Danish monarchy and Germany ; 4th, that the succession question should be settled without delay; and sth, that the instruction to 31. Winch should be made publicly known. In reply to the lean that have been again the last day or two expressed lest the Austrian project of a customs league with North Germany should eventually be carried into effect, the Kreetts Zeittm9 declares to-day, that in the closing sitting of the conferences, all the tariff and com mercial propositions of Austria, although supported nut only by the usual confederates of Austria, but also by Hanover and Brunswick, were, in consequence of the de cided opposition of the Prussian minister, M. Manteuffel, rejected. FRANKFORT-ON-TILE-MAINE, MAY 17. The Bundestag or Diet being now the absolute organ of the confederation, it will perhaps be agreeable to many of your readers to understand as clearly as it is possible to render, the organisation of the confederation. It consists at present of thirty-tine states, four having been merged into others since the year 1 / 1 15, the date of the original federal treaty. These states are; 1. Austria. 2. Prussia. 3. Ba varia. 4. Hanover. 6. Saxony. 6. Wurtembeeg. 7. Baden. 8. Hesse Cassel. 9. Hesse Darmstadt. 10. Holstein. 11. Luxemburg. 12. Brunswick. 13. Mecklenburg Schwerin. 14. Nassau. 15. Saxe Weimar. 16. Saxe Coburg. 17. Saxe Meiningen. 18. Saxe Altenburg. 19. Mecklenburg Strclitz. 20. Oldenburg. 21. Anhalt, Dessau, and C.rthen. 22. Anhalt Bernburg. 23. Schwarz burg Sondeshausen. 24. Schwarzburg Rudolstadt. 25. Lichtenstein. 26. Waldeck. 27. Hesse Homburg. 28. Reuss, elder branch. 29. Reuss, younger branch. 30. Schaumburg Lippe. 31. Lippe lktmold. 32. Lubeck. 33. Frankfurt. 34. Bremen. 35. Hamburg. The representatives of there 31 states possess in the fede ra assemblies three different functions. They sit as mem bers of the Engere-Bath, in which the business of the eon feleration is prepared for the other assembly, and is there fore a sort of preparatory committee. It b, besides, how e'er, the exec u t ive aut hority; all resolutions come to by the other assembly being earned out by it. In the Huger,- Huh the members possess two out of the three characters ; the third is their membership in the plenar versananlung, the full Diet. It seems very absurd that the same indivi duals should sit in both these councils ; out the manner of voting in either is still more absurd. In the Eugere-Rath the original thirty-nine states possessed 17 votes ; whether any decrease will be made in consequence of the demise of four of the members is not yet settled. These seventeen votes arc divided in the following manner:-Austria, 1; Prussia, 1; Bavaria, 1 ; Saxony, 1; Hanover, 1 ; Wurtem berg, 1; Baden, 1; Hesse Cassel, 1 ; Hessen Darmstadt, 1 ; Holstein, 1 ; Luxemburg, 1 ; the Saxe principalities, 1; Brunswick and Nassau, 1 ; Mecklenburg Schwerin, and Mecklenburg Strelits, 1 ; Oldenburg, the three Anhalts and two Schwarzburgs, 1 ; two Hohenzollems, Lichtenstein, two Reuss, Schaumburg Lippe, Lippe Detmold, Hessen Homburg and Waldeck, 1; Frankfort, Litheck, Bremen, Hamburg, 1; total, 17. Nothing more absurd can be imagined than this division of votes in the Engem Rath, a system which could alone work well if the sovereigns of Germany were all angels actuated by holy and good intentions, in which case the confederation would be unnecessary, but to tie a number of small states up together, giving to each a fraction of a vote, and expecting them to agree always as to the disposal of the whole does seem the highest pitch of absurdity which political constitution mongering has attained. Still worse does the plan seem when the plenum, or full assembly is examined. This body, in which the some individuals sit, possessed in the original numbers 70 votes divided in the following manner:-Austria, 4; Prussia, 4 ; Saxony, 4; Bavaria, 4 ; Hanover, 4; Wurtemberg, 4 ; Baden, 3; Hesse Cassel, 3 ; ' Hesse Darmstadt, 3; Holstein, 3; Luxemburg, 3; Bruns wick, 2 ; Mecklenburg Schwerin, 2; Nassau, 2 ; Saxe Weimar, ; Saxe Coburg, 1 ; *Saxe Gotha, 1 ; Saxe Mei ningen, 1 ; Saxe Hildb urg h auzen , 1 ; M ec k len b erg Strelitz, 1; Oldenburg, 1; Anhalt Dessau, 1; Anhalt Bernburg, 1; •Anhalt Cothen, 1 ; Schwarzburg Sonderhausen, 1; Schersrzburg Rudolstadt, 1 ; *Hohenzollern Hechingen. 1; •Hohenzolern Sigmaringen, I ; Lichtenstein, 1; Hessen Homburg, 1; Waldeck, 1; Reuss, elder branch, 1; Reuss, =r branch, 1; Schaumburg Lipp e , 1 ; Li ppe, I ; Lu ; Bremen, 1; Frankf urt , 1 ; H am b urg, 1. Total, 70 votes. . - CThe state. marked thus are those which have been incorporated into others. In the gagers Rath majorities carry questions, but not in all cases in the plenum. All alterations in the fundamental laws of the Confederation must be proposed in the plenum, and can only be sanctioned by a unanimous decision of the whole body. Each state possesses a veto, and the smallest of the number can nullify the four votes by auk of the larger states. The conseque nce of this complicated system kas invariably been that the confederation has proved useless in all questions of public advantage, and that in enacting oppressive laws alone has the desired una nimity of the members been obtained. A very superficial inspection of the constitution must prove to every person possessed of common sense that it is a helpless piece of ma chinery. The confederation is a republic of sovereigns in stituted for the general welfare, in the legislative and exe cutive administration of which each sovereign possesses an independent veto ; while in the treaty which established it the sovereign rights of each member are declared to be inviolable, and all are bound to assist is maintain ing them. It is a vicious circle, and can produce nose other than the results which Germany witnessed in 180, when the Diet itself announced its demise. Under the present circumstances, however, this organisation of the confede ration may be deemed a blessing, since it interposes a barrier to the grasping, despotic, anti-protestant plans of the Austrian government. Prince Schwarrenberg will be more thoroughly foiled in Frankfort by the aid of the complicated and absurd machinery of the Diet than he has been in Dresden, where the conferences were free and untrammelled. The sovereigns of the small states will again be driven to act as the pioneers of freedom : their motives may be selfish, but the results will be desirable. Prussia will again be left to the gradual effects of the spirit of the times on the education of the people, and when the Name of revolution shall again blare forth in Germany, as it most inevitably will, the liberal population of the small states will again place the great state, Prussia, at their head, and the then monarch of that country will be obliged again to accept the post of leader of Germany or to plunge the north of Germany into A desperate civil war. li THE PASSPORT SYSTEM BETWEEN ENGLAND AND FRANCE. The Boulogne Gazette contains the following im portant announcement : . . . The French government has come to the decision of par tially abolishing the nuisance of the permit system, inas much as that they are no longer needed by persons possess ing passports. The convenience of this measure to the traveller is obvious. Our Sous-Frffet has received the fol lowing communication on the subject from the Minister of the Interior " To the Sous-Pri•fet of Boulogne-our-Mer. "Monsieur le Sous-Prefet,—You have already been in vited to take every measure in order that travellers on their way to England may not be subjected to delay at their embarking. I have recommended that travellers arriving at Boulogne might be allowed to deport for England on the simple exhibition of their passports. I now confirm and renew these instructions ; it is therefore to be well understood that travellers furnished with regular passports arc not compelled to provide themselves with a special permit of embarkation. This formality, which should not have been maintained so long, is henceforth abolished. It is likewise expedient for the future to exempt travellers on their way to England from having their pass ports revised and registered. A simple examination of these rights of travelling is all that is henceforth required without obliging the bearers of the same to give them up. These formalities ()Million great loss of time, and may be abolished. I beg of you to sec that the agents and servants of the administration charged with the service of embarks- tion conform strictly to these sieur le Sous Prifet, the assurance of my sincere considera tion. (Signed) " LEON FAI:CIIE11." ire, Mon- NEWSVENDERS' BENEVOLENT AND PROVIDENT I NSTITUTION.—Last evening the twelfth annual general meeting of this excellent association was held at the Belle Sauvage Hotel, Ludgate-hill. Mr. L. Wild, of Catharine street, occupied the chair. It wu stated that Mr. James Harmer, the president and founder of the institution, was unable to attend the meeting in consequence of a recent accident. The secretary (Mr. Cole) read the report. It spoke of thc continued prosperity of the society, the bank stock available being at present 1,200/. The usual public dinner had been postponed until the autumn, in conse quence of the difficulty in finding a chairman. In refer ence to the disposal of the capital, the report said—" Direct ing attention to the statistical account as matter for serious reflection, the committee point strongly to the sum expended for temporary relief, distributed, with two exceptions to non-subscribers:" and state that they had received many other similar applications from ineligible parties. '• The committee, therefore, deem this fact a motive of sufficient magnitude for reiterating their opinion that the subscribers do not bear in mind the nccei sity existing for pointing out in their various connections, while advocating its interests, the true merits and limper basis of the institution; as although at all times it must be highly gratifying to afford assistance to the deservedly necessitous, still it should be promulgated that (with ex traordinary exceptions only) the society's funds ought to be retained intact for the benefit of the bomi Rik sub scribers—unweakened by disbursements to parties who have not had the provident feeling to consider for them selves until the hour of need overtakes them : and who only do so then by seeking a remedy for their incautious neglect from the accumulated pittances of the careful and prudent." The report then mentioned that the principal business of the evening would he to call (for the second time) for the suffrages of the members "in further core of the grand aim of the institution by the election of a pensioner," who was described as a widow, her claim being founded upon the fact that she had belonged to the society from the commencement. "After granting this pension, the committee beg reference to the balance that will then remain of the stock dividend, as insufficient at pre sent to meet another claim, and which, according to the rules, is alone applicable for such a purpose." In conclusion, the report calledupon the members to increase their exertions in the procuring of new members. The statement of the year's accounts, as read by the treasurer (Mr. Merritt), represented that the subscriptions to this time amounted t 0291. iSa. 6d. which, with the interest on 1,2001. stock, Three per Cent. Consols, 34!. 10s. ; and the balance as per audit of last year, 671. 10s. 10d., made Int. sm. 441., and that the expen diture had been 981. is. 10d_,. leaving a balance in favou r o f the society of 241. Gs. 6d. The report was adopted on the motion of Mr. Ghbilin, seconded by Mr. Gravatt ; and alter the usual votes of thanks to the officers of the so ciety and thc election of a pensioner (to whom 101. an nually was voted), the business of the meeting was con cluded. THE STIPENDIARY MAGISTRATE FOR LIVERPOOL. —We understand that Mr. Mansfield, who formerly was attached to this circuit has accepted the office rendered vacant by the death of Mr. Rushton, at a salary of 1,0001. per annum. The learned gentleman has been warmly re commended by Barons Parke and Alderson, and several of the otherjudges. It is the intention to have two courts, one of which will be presided over by the honorary magi stracy.—Lirerpeol Standard. SOCIETY FOR BUILDING CHURCHES, &r.—Tho an nual meeting of the Incorporated Society for the Enlarge ment, Building, and Repairing of Churches and Chapels was held yesterday, at 79, Pall-mall. Present—His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Bishops of London, Ox ford, Bangor, Lichfield, and Ripon ; Earl Howe, Lord Bayaing, Sir R. H. Inglis, Bart., M.P., Archdeacon Clough, Rev. Dr. Low e , Itv. Dr. Spry, Rev. Messrs. Townsend, Jennings, Hawkins, Twining, and Strong; Sir Thomas Phillips, and Messrs. 11. J. Burchard, J. Cocks, W. D. Adams, G. Cowburn, W. Barker, &c. The Arch bishop of Canterbury, as president of the society, occupied the chair. The report submitted to the meeting states that " In the course of the past year aid has been given towards the enlargement of 63 existing churches, in which 10,003 additional sittings have been obtained, the whole of which are to be free for the use of the poor; and, in addition to these, 167 which have been hitherto appropriated. These cases occur for the most part in towns, and places where the popula tion has greatly increased, but where the parishes are not of such extent as to render a division of the district and the erec tion of a new church or chapel necessary. The number of new churches and chapels proposed to be built with aid from this society is 42, that reported last year being 39. The number of churches to be rebuilt has been the same with that of the preceding year, viz., 12. An increase has again taken place in the applications from manufacturing and mining districts nine places in the diocese of Lich field, seven in that of Ripon, three in that of Manchester, and two in that of Llandatf have been aided in the course of the year ; which is an increase upon the number stated in the last year's report. In the course of the year the society have paid grants to 107 places, amounting to 14,940!. They have here to report the completion of 31 new churches, the rebuilding of 16, and the enlargement or other increase of accommodation in 57 existing churches; 30,827 additional seats are thus secured, 27,792 of wtdieh are expressly set apart for the use of the poor. The contributions made to the society in the course of the year are, in donations, 2,325!. Is. ; in subscriptions, 1,208/. 9s. 6d. ; from diocesan and district societies, in union with the parent society, 1,299/. 184. Id.; in legacies, 2,737/. 10s.; and the total amount expended in carrying on the operations of the so ciety is 16,259/. 15s. 2d., which includes the interest of money invested and pledged for the payment of grants, and such portion of the principal sum as it was found necessary 8o pay away in meeting the demands upon the society for works completed." The report having been adopted, votes of thanks were passed to the various honorary office-bearers. The usual appointments were then made, and the meeting broke up. THE VAN NUISANCE. —Yesterday Mr. Bedford held an inquest in the board-room of St. Martin's work house, on the body of Richard Ni c h o l son, age d 63, who for above 20 years had kept *fruit stall adjoining St. Martin's Church. Samuel Newman, cabman, No. 14, Stockwell terrace, said that about 2 o'clock in the a ft ernoon of the 2nd inst., he was in a taxed cart dra wn b y one h orse,which was proceeding down St. Martin's -lane. When near St. Martin's Church he passed a huge advertising van, at the sight of which the animal shied and began to plunge and kick. He pulled the animal in, but while doing so the shafts broke at the step-iron, and he was thrown out under the horse's hind legs. The animal went off at a furious rate and knocked the deceased down, who was taken with his stall several feet along the street. He was picked up and carried to King's College Hospital. Mr. C. Lewis, visit ing surgeon at the hospital, said, deceased, after being a few days at the institution, left of his own accord. Witness attended him at his lodgings. He died on Sunday last. Deceased had two ribs broken, which had penetrated the lungs, and produced effusion on the pleura, which caused death. The Foreman remarked that advertising vans , were a complete nuisance. Mr. Newman said his horse always shied at advertising vans. The Coroner observed that the vans were made with such glaring figures, that horses were apt to start. It wou ld b e a mercy if they were alto gether prohibited. Verdict--" Accidental death, caused by an advertising van." THE AGRICULTURAL DISTRICTS. BULWER'S LETTERS TO JOHN BULL. TO TILE EDITOR OP THE DAILY NEWS SlR,—When views so inconsistent with facts and opinions formed with such obvious want of know ledge of the subject, as arc contained in the pamphlet by which Sir Edward Bulwcr, now Lytton, has sig nalised his desertion of his old friends and patrons the whigs to the standard of Lord Stanley and Mr. Disraeli, came under my notice, I could not resist tho temptation of addressing you thereon. Whether Sir Edward is seeking to get into parliament as one of the members for Hertfordshire, by the grace of tho Marquis of Salisbury, as some people allege, or whe ther he hopes to come in for Lincoln as a hanger-on of Col. Sibthorp, as others believe, I know not, but certain it is that he has adopted a tone low enough, and indulged in fallacies foolish enough, to satisfy either patron. Most of your readers are aware that Sir Edward Lytton has published a tract purporting to be three letters to " John Bull,Esq., on affairs con nected with his landed property, and the persons who live thereon," in which he professes to act as " a con ciliator," and recommends the imposition of a fixed duty on corn of :is. per quarter, or, in short, Lord Stanley's programme. It is not my intention to deal with any portiol of these letters except the strictly agricultural part, save that I may say in passing that the two first letters consist of verbose revivals of tho protectionist arguments and mis-statements of freo traders' opinions which were used and abandoned be fore the repeal of the corn laws in 1846. Sir Edward has been out of parliament, I believe, since 1841, and his political and economical education seems to have stopped at that point ; since then ho has become a landowner, and he seems to have read up politico-economy from that time iu the columns of the Morning Post. A few years ago Sir Edward Lytton succeeded on his mother's death, to an estate in Hertfordshire, near Stevenage, called Kncbworth-park, which is for the most part light and poor land, but intlitti.rentl7 farmed, and, I am told is now, as was in his mothers time, much overrun with game. I have heard Sir Edward's character as a landlord discussed by farmers of his county, and it certainly had not I then inspired them with much respect, though pos sibly his hid of a ss. duty for their goodwill may do more for him than his rural merits. Lately he has been giving dramatic fetes, to which birds and squires were invited one day, and farmers and tradespeople the next; entertainments which were generally taken to indicate a desire to represent tho county in parliament. No doubt he has also duly subscribed his money to the tory fund, by means of which Lord Salisbury and his clique base hitherto contrived to domineer over this county. s. • But to the pamphlet. It is not easy to extract many definite statements or arguments from the rhapsodical pages--proving that the habit of writing by the sheet continues after the main incitement to diffuseness has ceased—in which Sir Edward has argued his case. They seem, however to be these; that the British agriculturist cannot compete with foreign corn growers " with the most fertile soils of the globe ;" men to whom a poor rate is unknown, and who have no cheek either from the charity of the legislature or the habits of the labourer upon the minimum of wages ; " that no more can bo "wrung from the land;" and that the com plaints are loudest in the best farmed districts. And in support of the last proposition he gives this illustration: " Suppose A. B. has a certain farm for which he pays 300/. a-year, and has for his own profit as tenant 3001. a-year also, but his land b e ing not originally fertile, is - brought into high cultivation by artificial means, and it therefore requires an ex penditure of three times the net profit, viz. 9001., in order to yield the said rent to the landlord and the said return to the farmer; in all, the sum risked in the cultivation is 1,500/. a-year. But suppose C. 1). has another farm, on which he pays 3001. a•vear; has also 3001. a-year for his personal profit; but the soil being light and fertile, requires an expenditure of only 4001. to realise the said rent and return the said farmer's profit; in all, the sum risked on this farm is but 1,000/. a-year." Now, this is purely fan ciful. Where does Sir Edward find that a farmer employing a capital of 1,000/. in the cultivation of his farm, makes the same profit as the man who em ploys 1,5001. ? Rent, to he permanently paid, can only be the surplus which remains after the expenses of cultivation have been returned, ineluding the lowest sum the fanner will consent to receive as remuneration for his time and capital ; hut nothing can be more fallacious than such supposititious cases, founded upon some imaginary proportion between rent and profits. Sir Edward next says, or seems to say, I don't profess to quote his loose language—that the fall which has taken place in the price of fat meat is a reason why the Injunction to "farm high," in order to meet reduced prices of corn, cannot be obeyed. Nevertheless he does not ask for an altera tion of the tariff, but believes " that by degrees the farmer will, more than he now expects, readjust his speculations on cattle." That is just enough, and why may he not readjust his cultivation of grain "more than he now expects?" I shall show you pre sently how the thcts of the history of modern hus bandry contradict Sir Edward's sophisms. Again, he says that improvement was going on befino the repeal of the corn laws, and that such improvement " has been arrested." Let Sir Edward get on the Great Northern Railway, and go—with his eyes open—in any direction through the agricul tural districts ; and let him ascertain what has been done in the way of improvement since 1810, and what is now doing, and I venture to say that ho must withdraw or escape from that assertion. There was more talk about improvement at agricultural meetings before 1810: there has been much more done in that way since. Next, he asserts, "that during the war every inducement was given to bring under cultivation lands previously waste. It was the avowed object of the legislature to encourage to the utmost the home production of food. Vast tracts of land were thus reclaimed and tilled; an immense capital thus buried in the soil. Necessarily, prices rose at that time." • • • Capital was in vested on the calculation of such prices, and while the expense of bringing into tillage fens and heaths was at its height, no doubt the fanner really required mush higher remunerative prices to sustain his engagements and save hint from bankruptcy, than at a period when this inferior land had been rendered artificially fertile, and produced, perhaps, thirty bushels per acre, where it had before produced ten. I believe it to be perfectly true that 803. then would have been required to remunerate the farmer where now 50s. might suffice. lint the corn-law of 1815, in forbidding free impartation till home-grown wheat reached that price, was no doubt most absurd and impolitic ; it held out a hope that could not be realised. Two years of extraordinary high prices-1817 and 1818—induced rash and sud den returns to the inferior tillages, before gradually abandoned. Bold risks of fresh capital in agricul tural improvements, " for improvements almost always follow a rise in prices," and the increased supply thus obtained, combined with plentiful sea sons, sunk the price of wheat six years afterwards (in 1824) to an average of 435. 3d. And then ho refers, in a note to M'Culloch's remark in his ap pendix to Adam Smith, that " the progress of agri cultural improvement, which during the late war had been extremely rapid, was retarded for a few years by the sudden and heavy fall of prices that took place after the peace; "but since 1825 it has been rapid beyond all former precedent." Now, for a scholar, a practised writer, and a pro reseed logician, the passage I have quoted from Sir Edward Lytton's third letter does betray such confu sion of ideas, or utter want of knowledge on the sub ject of land improvement and cultivation, as to render his opinion of little value. Here there is no ilktine tion made between the reclamation and the cultiva tion of land, the one being the work of the owner as the other is of the occupier of the soil, it being I assumed that the farmer both reclaimed and culti vated the land, and required 80s. a quarter for wheat to remunerate him. But, in fact, reclamation is per manent investment of capital by the owner of an estate, for which he is well repaid if he gets a per manent addition to his income of five or s ix per cent. upon his outlay; while cultivation is the employ ment in a business of working capital, which the farmer must get back with the ordinary rate of profit within a comparatively short period. The chief effects of the high . prices of the war were to induce the conversion of pasture land into tillage, to extend cultivation on light soils by means of sheep and turnip husbandry, and to promote the enclosure of commons, and the