The Express. — London, England, 1847-09-18 00:00:00

- 11,e Oppregigi. THAN, TEIGNMOUTII, and NUGENT, have for various periods of time been seated in the lower house, as members for English places. But here again let it be marked, that, with the exception of the first two peers named in the foregoing list, all the rest have been virtually Englishmen possessing estates in England, and closely connected with our aristocracy. So that, in point of fact, the only real Irish peers who have availed themselves of their privilege have been the late Viscount POWERSCOURT and the present Earl of LiszoweL. In saying this, we refer only to the period since the Reform Bill—a sufficient tract of time for the illustration of the case before us. An Irish nobleman of the liberal party, unconnected by property with England, is manifestly in a worse position than one of his order ought to be. If, an un tried man, he comes before an English constituency, he does so at much disadvantage. With any regard to his rank he cannot have recourse to the expedients by which Mustering adventurers sometimes force their way through a constituency, without either wealth or local ties. He will, probably, have to pay dearly for his legislative honours, which, like his untitled brethren, he holds by the good will of a constituency. Once in the house, he may make such a figure as to create a reasonable chance of getting in again, but the problem is to get in once. The very possession of hereditary honours will indispose him, probably, to those ultra-popular principles cherished by large constituencies. For the small boroughs he has little chance, from the overpowering ' influence of local proprietors ; and, as for large trading places, the very name of " an Irish lord " strongly suggests ideas of inaptitude. Lastly, he may be made a British peer. But the Irish lord must have very great personal influence to get a peerage from a ministry, or else he must be able to appeal to high public services. But to what great services can ha appeal, when his powers of action have been crippled, and a stage denied for his exertions ? Besides, in these times, it is not an easy matter even for a man of high pretensions to become a peer. The ministers in Downing-street are very unlike those kind complying creatures represented in fashionable novels, flinging abont peerages as a milord itnglais showers tons-bcom at a carnival, Within the last twenty years two cases occurred which prove the difficulty of an Irish nobleman gain ing an English peerage. One was in the case of the brother-in-law of a Prime Minister, and the other was of a nobleman possessing high favour at court. We will not enter into details more particularly, but, after a great number of years, and much election ex penditure, the wishes of one applicant were granted as a great favour. For the fact is, that Mr. PITT in creased the peerage so enormously, that if ministries were not churlish in refusing to recommend to the crown candidates for the Upper House, before long a title would cease to be a great social distinction. We should be sorry to see the peerage largely increased; nor are we surprised at the difficulty now-a-days, as compared with former times, in becoming a peer; but the difficulty operates with peculiar hardship on those liberal members of the Irish aristocracy who are anxious to take part in the deliberations of the MAILS. The mails for British North America. Bermuda. and the United States, will be made up on the evening of the 18th September. The overland hulls for Gibraltar, Malta, Greece, the lonian Islands SuAden, Ceylon, India, Hong-Kong, and China, via Soutaaraptoi, sail be mode up on the morning of the 20th September. The overland dined mails, via Marseilles, to the Mediterranean, rgypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, Haug Rene, /Sc., will be made up on the erodes of the 24th September. The mails for Vigo, Oporto, Lisbon, Madeira, Cadiz, and Gibraltar wil! be made up on the morning of the 27th September. The mails for New South Wales, Van Diemen's Land. and New Zealand will be made up on the evening of the 30th September. The West India loads, including those for Menco, Honduras, and the Ilavannah, will be made app on the morning of the 2nd October. The mails fur the Brasilia, the Rivet Plate, Monte Video, Yernam huh,. Bahia, Madeira, and Buenos Ayree, will be made op on the seesaw of the 4th October. ... A4•••tismeata U Or Wk.. 10. TO COZZLIFONDENTI. fatemeed ber The Germ* bminek bombe J.P.. tbe lebYveek e‘eeet. by We tieback =No day of rib/Jew/ea 810111 WATEII £T LOlOllOll-1111De1. ?me o.—lloralag. 0 .10.0.07 11110.0.. 2 1 7 To•Sonsow—llaralag, 5 als.pos ; MlNnowoo. d =ln pm. LONDON, SATURDAY,SEPT. 18. • SEVERAL countries have their Ireland. Russia finds hers in Poland ; Austria, an unruly dependent of the same kind in Hungary ; Naples finds her Ireland in Sicily, which has too many of the striking charac teristics of the sister kingdom. Very fertile, very poor ; peopled by princes and by beggars, each caste hating and reprobating the other, yet both at any time eneathing their mutual stilettos to join ia com mon hatred against the great scapegoat of their sins, their crimes, their out:tering°, and their sloth—the ruling country, which is the seat of government. Sicily was, up to a very late period, cursed by the extreme of feudal oppression. Her peasants were serfs, her aristocracy all-powerful ; and the gleams of independence or freedom which she at times eejoyed were turned to their exclusive advantage by the domi nant class. The government of Naples has in a great measure reformed these abuses. It has sought to counterbalance the weight of its ascendancy by im proving the material and moral condition of the Sici lians. It has granted much freedom of trade, and facilities of exportation unknown before. It has curtailed, if not abolished, the feudal supre macy of the magnates, and emancipated the serf, unfortunately without elevating him either in his intellectual or physical condition. He has the rights and freedom of the civilized man, with the small faculties of enjoying or making good use of either, accruing to the savage. He makes use of his liberty in kicking up a row, and profits by his emanci pation less to benefit himself than to insult his quondam master. Ho has all the pride and pretensions of an Athenian in the days of 'ruemistoeLzs, with the ignorance and blind passions of a Scythian of the same classic epoch. Are we to wonder, then, that whilst the Italians are in search of rational freedom, the Sicilians indulge in irrational riot, and do their little utmost to mar the prospect of general freedom, in order to indulge in the mere gratification of local turbulence and disorder ? It is not to be supposed, however, that the Sicilians are without real cause of grievance. Neapolitan statesmen are not always blessed with immaculate justice or absolute wisdom, nor has the rule of their viceroys been always paternal. There have been epochs of rigour, of conspiracy, of eonnter-cruelty, of terror, of proscription. When the Neapolitans rose in revolution, the Sicilians rose in anarchy. Whilst the former in their failure had no one to accuse but fortune, or themselves, the Sicilians of course laid the blame of all disasters upon Neapolitan rule. Hail and pestilence were but inflictions of the government, so of course were famine, lack of prices, over population. As there was no industry or capital in the country, taxes fell upon land, nay, heavily upon the rent and produce of land ; and the proprietors who considered rent a heaven-sent and heaven-guaranteed stipend, exclaimed that the Neapolitan rule was one of confiscation. Hence continual discord and mutual hatred between two countries, whom a few miles of intervening sea do not so much divide, as different degrees of civili sation, and the different prejudices which such a state engenders. Sicily, like an envious person, places all its happiness and glory in snubbing and in thwarting its more powerful brother, neglectful of the true, and quiet, and certain way of rivalling it in wealth and prosperity, and eventually in power. Naples, out raged by an hostility, which it cannot arrive at comprehending, throws off, at last, fraternal love for rancour, and philanthropy for a line of reckless hatred and despair. And there is little doubt that one of these days both races, though speak ing the same tongue, sprung from the same mother, and nurtured in the same clime, will rush, like animals of prey, to shed and to drink each other's blood, from that bestial and irrational animosity, which has been engendered, in part, by the arrogance and blun ders of the stronger, but still more by the stupid and interested jealousies of the weaker. The peculiar errmenta and local passions of the Sicilians cannot, however, have sufficient weight to arrest or subvert the great liberal movement in Italy, which advances under the banners of its legitimate sovereigns, and with every circumspection that the most moderate could require. If the King of NAPLES can satisfy his Neapolitan subjects, no outburst of the Sicilians can be formidable. TUE case of the liberal members of the Irish peer age is certainly very peculiar, and we are not sur prised to learn that some amongst that body are be ginning to consider whether some means may not be adopted by which they may obtain for themselves a more respectable share of political power, such as would not be unworthy of their legitimate pretensions. Their position is altogether so singular in a constitu tional point of view that we think they are entitled to have their case fairly heard. We cannot, indeed, pretend to feel any particular sympathy for their body, but we cheerfully admit that many amongst them are distinguished ornaments of their country, and well qualified to share in legislative functions. Out of re spect to those individuals we are disposed to examine the complaints which have recently been made amongst many of them. By the Act of Union between Great Britain and Ireland, it is enacted in the fourth article, that "four lords spiritual of Ireland, by rotation of sessions, and twenty-eight lords temporal of Ireland, elected for ye by the peers of Ireland, shall be the number to sit and vote on the part of Ireland in the House of Lords of the parliament of the United Kingdom." Thus an Irish peer can become a member of the legislature as an Irish lord only upon election amongst the number of twenty-eight fixed by the Act of Union. But vacancies occur so seldom, and so many promises are made, that an Irish nobleman of public talents, and of capacity to serve the country, may have to wait for many years before he can have a chance of election. Another ob. stack besides that of time interferes, viz., the opinions of the candidate must be in unison with those of the ma jority of the order ; or, in other words, the maintenance of liberal opinions incapacitates an Irish peer for the representative honours. Mark, therefore, the position of the Irish liberal nobleman who wishes to be a legislator. He cannot hope for election amongst the twenty-eight, because the tory majority of the Irish aristocracy have never (except in one solitary instance to prove the rule) elected a liberal peer. The Earl of CIIARLEMONT is the only liberal amongst the Irish representative peers. The claims of one bearing his historic title, a worthy eon of an illustrious sire, could not be decently denied ; and we may add, that since his election he has been created a British peer. But the remaining twenty-seven are all tories, of shades of conservatism more or less deep. Thus, without hope of being chosen amongst the deputed lords, the Irish liberal nobleman must be content to remain out of the legislature, no matter how eminently quali fied he may be to discharge public functions. For let it be remembered that, as apeer of Ireland, he cannot sit for any Irish place i n the House of Commons. The untitled Irish gentleman has a chance of being placed amongst the hundred and five representatives in the lower house, but no such chance is allowed to the wearer of an Irish coronet. We may be told that though he cannot sit for an Irish he may be elected for an English place. Of course we are quite aware of the fact. Everybody knows that no less formidable a statesman than her Britannic Majesty's vigilant Secretary for Foreign Affairs is only an Irish peer. " Viscount PALMERS TON" has too frequently appeared in our parlia mentary debates for the public to remain ignorant of the fact that an Irish peer is not debarred from sit ting for an English constituency. The privilege has in some few instances been claimed and acted upon by other lords of Ireland besides Lord PALMERS. TON. Thus, in recent years, Lords LIsTowEL, POWEBSCOURT, BARRINGTON, RENDLESIIAM, Ho. legislature. If the Scotch rule governed the election of Irish peers, the hardship would Rot exist. Because a fresh election taking place in every new parliament, the incompetent or the infirm can retire or be rejected, end the able and willing chosen. But by the Irish Act of Union, the peers being chosen for life, the chances of getting a place amongst the twenty-eight are very few. The articles of the Irish Union cannot at present be altered. Until the Irish cease to yell for repeal, it is very unlikely that any minister will have the temerity to cut through so grave and im portant a statute as the Act of Union, which hitherto has been preserved inviolate. The liberal and even conservative statesmen do not like tampering with the reform of the union, while repeal rages amongst the Irish populace. Just as the French revolution made the word reform sound ominously, so does the agitation of " repeal" render it difficult for the best friends of Ireland to alter the act of union, where many essential changes are required. It is a melancholy fact, confirmed by all acquainted with the inclinations of English statesmen of both parties, that this insane shouting for repeal has often arrested the hand of an imperial reformer. _ We cannot expect that any change will be made in the article of peerage representation at the instance of the Irish liberal peers. The only remedy for their case is to bring English public opinion to bear upon the voting of the Irish conservative nobility. It is certainly moat detestable political bigotry on the part of the Irish aristocracy to refuse electing a liberal, aid to insist that all the deputed peers must be taken from one side in politics. 'I he resolve is, we are afraid , only too characteristic of what Lord JOUN Russet'. once called " the miserable monopolising spirit" of the Irish protestant oligarchy. At present the great body of the Irish proprietors, including the nobility as a matter of course, are at the bar of English public opinion, and it is of importance to them to conciliate their judges. They certainly ought to take every opportunity in their power to demonstrate that they are disposed to liberalise their policy, and relax their political bigotry. If there were a vacancy in a few weeks amongst the representative peers, are they prepared to resist and oppose the election of a liberal lord? By doing so they will be plainly manifesting that their bigotry is as unchange able as ever. On the other hind, their choice of a liberal would be received as an indication that they are disposed to act in accordance with the conciliatory spirit of the times. The catholic and democratic electors in many counties at the late elections chose protestant and conservative members of parliament. Have the Irish conservative peers so little of chivalry in their sentiments, se to be outdone in graceful liberality of conduct, and generous oblivion of specu lative differences, by the popular electors of the lower house? SURREY has lately been the scene of one of those fearful crimes of violence of which the practice of preserving game has been so prolific. At East Horsley, near Guildford, Mr. FROZLEY and Mr. CURRIE, M.P., combine to inflict upon the neighbourhood demoralisa tion and crime, by uniting to preserve game on the property of one or both of them. A few days since, GEORGE TsucErr and JAMES MARTIN, the head and under gamekeepers of thew. gentlemen, were found by a person passing accidentally through a wood in the preserve, in the last stage of exhaustion, through wounds which had been received in an affray with poachers. TARGErr was apparently lifeless, having been stabbed in the cheat, and did not recover his consciousness for two days, and still lies in the most extreme danger. MARTIN bad been stabbed in the loins ; he was much exhausted by loss of blood, and ~his life is yet in great peril. The desperate nature of the struggle the poor men had with their savage assailants, is proved by the fact that the hands of both were dreadfully cut and maimed in the efforts they made to wrest the deadly weapons from their adversaries. The guilty persons are said to be known, and two of them are in custody. The offenders will be dealt with according to law, and justice doubtless will be satisfied. But the public will not be content to see these con stantly recurring crimes of bloodshed in connexion with game preservation without inquiring whether there be anything in the game system which leads to, or promotes, violence ; and a very little examination of :the subject will convince every unbiassed mind that violence, in some form or other, is the in evitable result of preserving game in England. In deed it speaks well for the general character of our rural population that violence does not occur even more frequently ; for the parliamentary returns show that no less than four thousand convictions for offences against the game-laws takes place annually in England and Wales. Now what is game ? and what are the objects served by its preservation, that so much crime and misery should be continued on its be half? Game consists of wild animals, which none can mark, and no one can identify, kept in populous and cultivated districts, for the sake of the amusement their destruction affords to the gentry during about four months of the year. The wild nature of the crea ture is an essential thing; for it lain the sort of imitative chase it affords that the amusement of sporting con sists. It is the small exercise of tact and trouble that game-shooting affords which alone renders it superior as an amusement to the cockney sport of shooting pigeons, sparrows, or rata from a trap. But every day renders this difference less and less. Game can now only be preserved by the willing or con strained forbearance of the occupiers of agricultural land, or by the complete exclusion from its haunts of all persons and other living creatures. The pheasant and the hare are creatures far too large to exist natu rally in any district wherein cultivation has made any considerable advance, and but for their artificial THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 18, 1847. preservation they would, ere this, have followed the wolf, the deer, and the bustard to extinction. It is the universal law of nature that wild creatures retire as man's cultivation and care of the soil advance ; and such has been the advance of cultivation in this coun try during the last fifty years, that, had no interference taken place with the natural laws by which such wild creatures as game animals are controlled, the moors, the welds, the downs, and the wilder woodlands would now have been the only places in which such animals could have been found amongst us. The game laws and the game system have been a constant struggle on the part of our landed gentry to prevent the operation of this natural law. The game laws, have been intended to supply by the severity of their provisions that defect which ie inherent in the nature of game, when consi dered as property. Any owner of land may if he pleases breed game—the fern naturaof the lawyers -but let it wander from his land and it is no longer hie: it belongs of natural right to its first captor. There was no way of avoiding this result, which arose from the inherent qualities of the creature, and the landed legislators tried to get over the difficulty by making game sacred to the squirearchy, and punishing vindictively all who infringed the forest code. No one considers that there is any property in game, be cause, in fact, there can be none, and the stringent laws enacted for its protection are by universal eon seat (game preservers excepted) deemed impolitic and unjust. Thus where game is plentiful—that is, where it is 1 preserved—the labouring men and boys take it, with out feeling that they are committing any offence against property. But they are soon made to know and feel the pains and penalties of the game laws, and, having first committed a law-made offence, they too often go on until they become confirmed criminals. And there is this peculiarity about game-law offences, that the offenders feel themselves the victims of a harsh and unjust law, and entertain sentiments of the most passionate vindictiveness towards all who have been concerned in their conviction. The man who has been convicted of sheep-stealing or the like is fully aware of the justice of his sentence, and comes oat of prison with no savage animosity towards the farmer, his prosecutor, or the shepherd and constable who have been the means of his detection ; the worst of such criminals knows that the one was only assert ing the just right of society to protect property, and that the others were strictly performing a duty. We hear of no gangs of sheep-stealers who resat to the death those who watch and protect their master's property. The hen-roost is, after all, but seldom robbed, and the most desperate rural ruffian never thinks of offering violence to those who detect him in the act. It is in poaching adventures alone that the law-respecting peasantry of England are betrayed into crimes of violence as fo reign to their character, as the system of which they are victims is to our social and economical con dition. The evidence before the Game-law Com mittee supplies proofs in abundance that the opera tion of the game system on the poor is such as we have described. For instance, Captain WILLIAMS, an inspector of prisons, said, "the opinion of the chaplains generally is, that they can produce no moral effect whatever upon prisoners under the game laws ; they leave the prison only to return ; fre quently replying to their advice by saying that the game was made for the poor as well as the rich, and ' God made the birds of the air and the fishes of the sea for all.' " Is not this substantially the same view as that taken of the game laws by Blackstone? And since his day the evil consequences of game preserv ing have increased prodigiously, inasmuch as, from the advances of population and cultivation, game is preserved more artificialy, and with greater diffi culty. Again, Captain WILLIAsts told the committee that he found " a very general feeling throughout the country, both among the middle classes of society and the humbler," that the game laws arc adminis tered by the magistracy with great severity, and that the punishments inflicted for game offences are harsh and excessive. Several gaolers and police consta bles spoke of the vindictive feelings cherished by poachers against gamekeepers and game preservers. fhe Marquis of SALISBURY, himself a game pre server, said, " I believe the commencement of crime in the rural districts to be generally poaching?' Now who is guilty of the greater moral crime, the educated man who preserves game—this unnatural produce of a cultivated diet iet—or the poor and ignorant labour ing man who poaches it ? The public will decide ; and such lamentable crimes as that at East Horsley show the deep interest society has in the speedy abandon ment of game preservation. At least it will be re quired from the legislature that the game laws -that special code for the encouragement of game preserves —be at once repealed. If game be property, and can be kept as such, the ordinary laws which suffice for the protection of other property are all that game preservers can justly require. WE have already remarked, in the came of the county courts, that good laws are of little use, unless the working of them be carefully watched. Not more surely do weeds and barnacles gather on the bottom of a seventy-four, than a rapid incrustation of forms and costs grows up about every legal pro ceeding, however simple, short, and summary in appearance. Costs, especially, have a strange te nacity, and a fertility quite marvellous. They stick where all hold seems wanting, and sprout up luxuri antly on the barest ground. A dexterous attorney will feed himself and a brace of clerks off a statute, on which, to read it, one would suppose a Scotch scrivener must starve. He will grow you costs, where no natural nutriment appears, as mustard and cress are grown on a square of blanket. No doubt this art deserves encouragement, for its ingenaity. We might have " The Solicitors' Agri cultural Association for the improvement of legal produce, and the cultivation of bills of costs." It should give prizes for essays on such subjects as, " How to get the greatest possible amount of expenses out of a case," or " How to rid the land of that noxious vermin, the legal reformer, and that rapidly increasing weed, cheap law." But this encouragement should be left solely to the profession ; and, if possible, the experiments in costs forcing should be carried on only where both litigants are lawyers. When the process is attempted at the public expense we lose sight of the ingenuity in the injustice. No layman, we imagine, would relish the following treatment. In August, 1846, an act was passed for the more speedy removal of certain nuisances, by which the authorities of any place are empowered, on receipt of a certifi este of the existence of certain nuisances, signed by two medical practitioners, to summon owners or occu pants before any two justices, who, on non-appear ance of the party charged, may issue their order for the abatement of the nuisance at the offender's cost. Two defendants under this statute appeared at Lambeth Police Court, on Wednesday, to show cause why an order should not be made on them for the payment of costs of the above described proceedings, which appear simple enough. All the act prescribes is the certificate of the medical men (which would involve proof of their signatures), the sum mons, and order consequent on non-appearance. In the most aggravated of y esterday's eases, the costs, incurred by one defendant, for these straightforward and summary proceedings, amounted to 241. Bs. In the other, where the nuisance had been removed with promptness on receipt of the justice's order, to 211. 15s. Bd. This is an admirable specimen of the forcing skill of the attorney as applied to costs. The practitioner employed in these cases would certainly have strong claims to the grand gold medal of our hypothetical society. What can the legislature do in cases lik e thi s ? Th e statute directs an elaborately simple mode of proce dure, consisting of three steps ; and yet the practised management of the attorney raises on it an apparatus of coats to the tune of 241. These cases should be a warning to both the framer and administrator of sanitary reforms. The former must, if possible, get rid of the costly legal inter medium altogether. The simplest forms of sum monses and certificates should be prepared for the authorities, to be filled up and served by a clerk, without the employment of any attorney at all. He is ar g r t ttly useless, as well as most e x p ens i ve ap pen for example, to the process directed in the Nuisances Removal Bill. The account he has turned his usefulness to shows how important it will be to exclude him formally, wherever it is possible, from the administration of any similar powers that may be the directions for procedure. He is called in, probably, u the clerk of the guardians, or as holding some other snug berth, under the eye of the authorities. He is a useful man in the parish, and there is no objection to giving him a job. Of course he makes the most of it, splits every message or corn manication into four consultations at 6s. Si, trans mogrifies every casual gossip with a guardian into an " advising with the board," at 138. 4d., employs clerks at 3s. 4d. per job and cab hire, to leave papers that might be carried by the beadle for nothing, and by these and similar devices, swells to 241. Bs. a bill that would be extravagant at one-third the money, even allowing 41. 4s. for the medical certificate. It must be apparent to every one how many obstacles to improvement grow out of this method of doing business. Those who reap this harvest have a direct interest in maintaining that system of divided responsibilities and unpaid functionaries, under which alone such abuses are possible. Many of the men most earnest in the cause of self-government are sin• cere and right-minded in their antipathy to " centrali sation." The best of them little suspect on what a foundation of jobbery and abuse their cause really rests. Were they as well acquainted with the real character of their instruments, as they are with the convenier.ce of having at their elbows a bustling intelli gent adviser, to save them all possible trouble and appropriate any amount of obloquy, we should find them as eager advocates, as they now are vehement opponents, of parochial reform. given by a general sanitary measure. The lesson however ts more directly addressed to those likely to be employed in carrying out any such bill, than to its framers. In the Nuisances Removal Act the attorney is never mentioned at all in Our Parts despatches of Thursday state that the utmost disquietude has been created in the French cabinet by the intelligence which arrives daily from the Alps and the Pyrenees. Reinforcements are to be immediately sent to the Spanish, Italian, and Swiss frontiers. The intelligence from Algeria is not more tranquillising. Ten thousand men are under orders to reinforce the African army. Cabinet councils, which sit from four to five hours, are held almost daily. One was held under the pre sidency of M. Guizot on Wednesday, after which that minister had a long conference with the Duke d'Au male. La Paine affirms that the regiments stationed at Toulon, Marseilles, Montpellier, and Nimes, are ordered immediately to form two battalions of war, each to be prepared for any eventuality. The same measure is taken with respect to all regiments near the Pyrenees. It is said, in certain circles, that large sums have lately been sent to Narvacz, urging him in case of all else failing, to try what may be done by the direct influence of money to bring about his admission to the cabinet, and the removal of General Serrano from Madrid. The despatches and journals received by the Madrid mail of the 11th, throw a considerable damp upon the hopes raised by the event which attended the late failure of Narvaez ; and there is only too much reason to fear that the intrigues of that individual, aided by French agents and French gold, added to the un sparing disbursements of Queen Christina will pro duce a reaction, restoring the Duke of Valencia to the position in affairs he had in view when he left Paris. A division undoubtedly exists in the as yet headless cabinet; and Roe de Olano and Cordoba are, it is to be feared, little better than secret agents of Louis Philippe and Christina, taking their word of order from Narvaez. Our correspondent, whose letters we give elsewhere, reiterates his assertion that the Duke of Glucksberg did protest against the am nesty, and that the contradiction given to that state ment is a contemptible quibble. It will be seen, also, that in the full confidence of the success of Nar vaez's mission to Madrid, M. Ouizot appointed the Duke of Glucksberg minister plenipotentiary at Lisbon, on the arrival of M. de Bacourt. It was con sidered certain that the Duke de Frias would decline the presidency of the council, in which case another cabinet crisis mast ensue, of which very probably Narvaez would avail himself. He is represented as having humbled himself to General Serrano, and hired agents to terrify the Queen by menaces of revolt, &c. Letters continue to arrive from various parts of Italy, which are not more recent in date than those we have already given, but which supply some farther particulars of interest relating to the vast social revo lution of which the Peninsull is at present the theater. We find no ground for the rumour which prevailed in Paris on Wednesday afternoon, that a revolution had taken place in Naples, and that the King had taken refuge on board the French vessels then lying at anchor in that harbour. It is, however, certain that the insurrection in the southern part of the Neapolitan territory and in Sicily is assuming every day more formidable proportions; that con siderable reinforcements have been sent to these points from Naples ; that the garrison of the capital has thereby been reduced to a lower state of force than could have been allowed, save under the pressure of overruling necessity, that the agita tion in Naples is extreme, and the tears of a popular movement there so serious that the government has been compelled to resort to extraordinary measures of precaution : and, in fine, that several arrests have been made of persons charged with, or suspected of, disaffection, and numerous others equally obnoxious to the authorities have taken refuge on board the French squadron. The steamer Pingouin, which sailed from Naples on the sth, has arrived at Toulon, and brings advice, confirming all these statements, and has on board two citizens of Naples who escaped from the agents of government. Letters from Florence bring further details of the popular ovations which took place there on the pub lication of the decree for establishing the national guard, when the people collected in thousands in the square in front of the palace, uttering cries in favour of Leopold 11., Pius IX., and the Italian League; and the windows of the houses surrounding the square were decorated with brilliant draperies and filled with ladies who waved the Tuscan flag (white and red). The Grand Duke, leading his two sons, presented him self on the balcony, in front of the palace, to make his acknowledgments to his people. Seeing the national cockade on every breast, and the national flag waving everywhere around, and not having one at hand, he ordered two silk mantles to be taken from the shoulders of the members of his family, a white and a red, uniting which he improvised the national flag, which he waved from the balcony. A deputation was afterwards admitted to the palace to present to the Grand Duke, from his people, a flag of the Tuscan colours. In. his answer to the address of the deputation, the Grand Duke concluded with these memorable words :—" Be asaured, gentlemen, that, above all other qualities, I am an Italian prince! Am I not a native of Pisa? and have I not ever been your brother?" He then presented himself again on the balcony to the multitude with his two sons, having in his hand the national flag which had just been presented to him. It is impossible to describe the burst of enthusiasm which followed this. The people shouted, wept, and embraced each other. Priests, monks, women, and children, equally transported with the general delirium, placed on their breasts the national cockade, and ran in all directions in the wildest joy, shouting, Vire Leopoldo ! lira Pio None ! Viva la Guarda Utica, i fraklli dell' Italia, it Popolo Italian° ! Viva gli Amiei del Popolo ! Some of the scenes we have already described at Leghorn were re-produced. At four in the afternoon 24,000 persons were collected in the Church of the Duomo, where this multitude united their voices in a 1 " Te Deum," the effect of which it would be utterly vain to attempt to describe. The archbishop, over come by the scene, shed tears. After the ceremony he was conducted to his palace by the newly-created national gm- rd. On arriving there he presented himself to the multitude in the balcony in his full cos tume as cardinal, with the national flag in his hand, which he waved in salutation to the people. At this moment a shout of " Viva l'arciveseovo ! ' resounded from the place, and from all the windows of the sur rounding palaces. In the evening the city was illu minated, and processions, composed of the students of the schools and colleges, paraded it. What was most admirable about these demonstra tions was, that without the presence of any official agents of the public force, there was not a siugle in stance of a breach of public order • no drunkenness ; no robbery; no quarre s. The palaces of obnoxious individuals, known to favour the Jesuits and Austria, and which were not illuminated, were passed in pro found silence, the people keeping at a distance from their very walls, as though their touch were contami nating. The Austrian consul was seen during the day and evening walking among the crowd, unoffendea and unmolested. Lettere from Rome state that the celebrated tri bune, Angelo Brunetti, better known as Ciceroacchio, was appointed Etat:dud-bearer of the Civic Gaud of Rome. Letters from Bologna, of the 9th, say that the Duke of Modena was obliged to leave his states, and take refuge at Parma, where an Austrian force is collected. The Agricultural Congress, assembled at Casale, in Piedmont, at which it will be remembered that a re mat kable letter of King Charles Albert was read, which we quoted on a former day, sent to the King the follow ing address, signed by 400 members of the Congress, including a large number of the meet wealthy and enlightened of the noblesse: Sire, an era of peace and of prosperity has commenced for the Italian nations. To the ancient and fatal distrust which existed between them and their princes, and which was increased by the enemies of the common welfare, have succeeded concord and unity of desires, which, in procuring for the people the enjoyment of civil ameliorations impera tively demanded by the present age, fortify the monarchy, augment its splendour, and cause it to obtain respectful love and the most entire confidence, instead of a blind and timid obedience. Your Majesty gloriously inaugurated the era of this modern principle by a vigorous act of independence. Your subjects, grateful for this benefit, raise even to the throne the expression of their gratitude, and their wishes that this great work may be brought to an end, and may yield fruit. They will employ all their efforts to attain this object in order to draw still closer the ties of confidence and love which unite the Prince to the citizens. In a recent and painful circumstance you gave, sire, a new proof of the great zeal and constant care with which you watch over national independence, by protesting in energt•tie terms against the outrage done to the holy and venerated authority of the Pontiff. Your ever faithful subjects respond cordially to the applause of all the Italians, and they feel more than ever the necessity of pressing around your person, in a noble and imposing attitude, in order to defend religion, which iv hu miliated, the throne and the country, which are continually threatened by the eternal and systematic enemies of your august house. Command, 0. sire, command fcr life and property are no sacrifices to us when there is at stake inde pendence, and the Italian name or national humiliation to be or not to be. Whilst your fine army, your glory sad your honour, is called on to become the barrier and the defence of the country, we will beaten this desired moment by our wishes and our prayers, and we will spontaneously assume the tank of watching, as national guards, over public tran quillity. The civic guards, instituted according to the laws which it may please your Majesty to dictate, will struggle with noble emulation to fulfil their duty, and to give you proofs of the greatest devotedness. Sire, Providence, in its impenetrable decrees, purposes perhaps new trials to our country; but whatever events may occur, your people will not fail their King. Your Majesty will find us animated, ready, strongly united, and full of goodwill. The ties which unite the Sub-Alpine _people to the august house of Savoy are old and strong. To you, sire, belongs the glory of ren dering them perpetual and indissoluble, by adding a new page to the new volume of Italian history. MADRID, SEPT. 10. A flat calm has succeeded to the recent agitation of our political surface. Salamanca has ceased fling ing out of his Hacienda-Cornucopia those pleasant fruits and flowers bewitching to the eye and intoxieat leg to the palate of progress. He seems to intend no more boons, no further appeals to popularity. No sooner had the splendid amnesty been issued than a mean spirit of repentance, like that of a naturally nig gardly man, who has by some accident given a sove reign instead of a farthing for alms, seemed to take possession of the ministry. The next day they came out with offensive police edicts. The violent decree against the press also looks weak. Then a sort of de putation of military officers of moderado principles have waited upon Cordoba to question him about the truth of reports that prevailed concerning the removal of many of their way of thinking from high posts in the army, to make way for the progresistas returned from exile. Cordoba answered that there was not the least intention of effecting any change in the army, and that he should resist to the uttermost any attempts like those apprehended by the deputation. Ministers, too, have announced their determination, it is said, not to dissolve the Cortes. Whether the dis sensions actually exist or not which the opposition pretend to see in the cabinet, it is quite certain that, if they take up a retrograde line, they must strengthen their ranks by the acquisition of some considerable moderado. Upon whom, in such a case, would they turn their eyes rather than upon Narvaez ? In fact, we cannot disguise the great probability that the presidency of the council will, after all, be offered to and accepted by the Duke of Valencia. By the way, I ought to have stated that the Duke of Frias has at last, by small journeys, reached Madrid. There was no truth whatever in the Correo's denial that he had i been called upon by the government to accept a place in the ministry, any more than there is in the denial of the same semi-official paper that the Duke de Glucksberg protested against the amnesty. There is not a minister probably that has not privately given his intimates to understand that both these facto are perfectly true, while the minis terial organ declares them, doubtless upon the strength of some mental reservation, both false. A letter was certainly sent to the Duke of Frias, which the writer intended should be interpreted by the receiver as an invitation to take office, leaving perhaps some loop-hole of evasion in case another can didate should have appeared more eligible in the meantime. The Duke of Frias arrived yesterday, and will have an interview with the Queen this even ing. It is generally expected that he will decline taking the vacant seat in the cabinet. Another of the Correo's mental reservations con cerned the embassy of Pacheco to Rome, which it denied with the most formal assurance. Pacheco will enjoy an income (considerable in these days for a Spanish ambassador) of 15,000 dollars a year. 22,000 are to be given to set him up; and he will have the splendid Palazzo di Spegna, which has been recently furnished at an expense of 25,000 dollars, for lodging—on the whole not bad pickings for the puritan ex-president to fall back upon. Of course he will go perfectly besmeared with decorations. This reminds me that on Wednesday evening a number of ribbons and stars were given away ; and 13 new grand crosses of Isabella la Catolica were made, among whom figured Ros de Olano, Buschenthal, &c. The place of political chief of Madrid has been given to Signor Cabestanz, and the home sub•secre taryship to Don Miguel Pach y Bantista. A decree has been published touching the organisa tion of theatres—a posthumous birth of Senor Etna vides. All theatres are by its dispositions placed under the immediate superintendence of government, and a model theatre is to be formed in the capital, of which government will be the impresario. Little, as regards art, may be expected from academical insti tutions of this kind ; but much mischief, both of a moral and political kind, may be suppressed by a proper amount of supervision on the part of the authorities. Some vague rumours have reached us of revolu tionary disturbances (in a Moderado sense) having Pprevailed among the troops which left this capital of ate for Catalonia. Concha arrived at Valencia on the 6th, and took his departure the same day, by a steamer, for Barcelona. The Carlist hands seem still to be increasing, many numbering 400 and .500 men. Some unimportant skirmishes have taken place, leaving a few blunder buses and cartridge-belts in the hands of the soldiers, with two or three killed on the F ide of the rebels. Olozaga is lying sick of an ague at Bermeo, near Bilboa. Pastor Diaz has been gazetted as rector of the university of the metropolis. Mazarredo has received permission, or order, to travel for a year in foreign lands. The journals of the opposition have for the moment made truce with the government to turn all their batteries upon Mr. Bulwer. who is honoured by three columns of violent abuse in the Faro of to-day, and two in the Herald.% reconciliation between Salamanca and the Duke of Valencia ; and if not, possibly by effecting the ruin of their financial colleague. The first act of the puritan section of the cabinet ought cls'arly to have been, to insist upon the removal from Madrid of the man who, they might have known, would not leave a stone unturned to work their down ' fall. By allowing him to remain they showed their weakness, as no one could doubt their desire to send him away. Narvaez has made the best use of his time in keeping up constant communications with the ministers of war and public instruction, and acting through them upon the mind of the Queen. Nor has he failed to address himself to higher influences, stooping to besiege Serrano with the most flattering assiduities. Every means has been thus taken to (lighten the Queen with the prospect of popular tumult and anarchy, if the liberal course marked oat in the ministerial programme should continue to be acted upon. At the same time the moderado party are suspected of having resorted to the lowest means for encouraging these apprehensions. On the night of the Espartero illumination, their paid ruffians startled the royal ear with revolutionary tires, mixed with appalling muerus, and yesterday morning pasquin ades of similar alarming import, attributed to the same source, were found posted up at the post-office and other public places. The result of all this has been a retrograde movement. Cordoba is said to have declared his intention of keeping the progresista officers out of the high employs in the army. The Duke of Friar had an interview with the Queen yesterday evening at seven. He has taken no decisive step as yet, neither accepting nor declining the presidency which was offered to him, but asking a short time fordeliberation. lie is expected to have a fresh audience to-night, in which he will state his final determination. It seems that M. Guizot was so assured of the triumph of Narvaez over all obstacles, that he appointed the Duke de Glucksberg full ambassador to the court of Lisbon, as a reward for his services to the French cause in Spain. At the same time he named M. de Bacourt ambassador to Madrid, and was already, it is said, prepared to shower favours upon some distinguishedpersons of the ultra-moderadoband, when suddenly the news reached him of the Duke of Valencia'sdefeat. The chagrin of the French minister at such a blow to his expectations may be easily con ceived. And the new ambassadorial appointments having, it is said, been already made out, his embar rassment was equal to his disappointment. Bat resolved to return to the charge, he commissioned forthwith a covey of French agents to gain Madrid without loss of time, and set every possible spring of intrigue in motion fur restoring Narvaez to the command. _ The Duke of Saldanha has been appointed Portu guese ambassador to the court of Madrid. D. Ventura de la Vega, the Queen's private secretary, is gazetted royal commissioner of theatres. The following prelates have made their declaration of faith in the presence of M. Brunelli upon their ap pointments : Senior Pagoda elected patriarch of the Indies, the Bishop of Cordoba, the Archbishop of Toledo, the Bishop of Coria, the Archbishop of Burgos, and the Bishop of the Canalise. On the 13th a courier will set out for Rome, taking with him several petitions for bulls, relating probably to the appointments of the new bishops. Don Victorian Ameiler has addressed a remelt. strance to the Captain-General of New Castile, con cerning an instance of malversation in the application of military funds, which made some noise. The money which remained in the chests of the disbanded regi ments of the royal guard of infantry, instead of being applied to legitimate purposes, says Colonel Ameller, was divided among a few officers, among whom were the adjutants of General Cordoba, and other employee in the inspection of infantry. SWITZERLAND.— FRIBURG, SEPT. 10.-The government of the canton of Friburg has just decreed that all soldiery, either belonging to troops on active service, or be. longing to the Landwehr, are to have their arms filmed by the priests, paying 7 bats for each firearm, and . bate for every other arm. The produce of this novel tax is to be di vided between the government and clergy, in the proportion of seven.twelfths to the former, and hve-twelfths to the latter._____ - ---- • AUSTRIA.—VIENNA, SEPT. 6.—The house of Excel■ and Co., at Venice, dealing principally in corn, has just stopped payment, leaving liabilities to the amount of 1,300,000 Awry= livres. The effects of this commercial dis aster will be severely felt at Vienna and in the ports of the Adriatic and the Mediterranean. The head of the house of Excels and Co. was vice-consul of Denmark at Vienna. SEPT. 11.—Symptoms of disunion have already manifested themselves, in a way not to be mistaken, in the new cabinet. Generals Cordoba and Ros de Olano cannot be brought to concur in a single step for carrying out the principles professed in the minis terial programme. It will be remembered that the names of these two courtiers figured in the double list which Narvaez presented to the Queen for ap proval, as his colleagues in office. The fact is, that Narvacz had somehow, not improbably through the agency of the courtiers i n question, obtained before hand the knowledge that the list which he first drew up would be rejected. Ile therefore appended a second, which contained persons whom he not only knew to be more acceptable to the crown than the Pidal or Sotomayor set, but who were certain in the event of his own de feat by Salamanca, of obtaining seats in the new cabinet. By this demonstration in their favour, he, therefore, hoped to possess a party in the ministry that would replace him should he fail, and a party with whom he could carry on his intrigues the more easily and effectually, as they were his own intimate personal friends. The actual state of the cabinet has completely justified these calculations. Cordoba and Ros de Olano are exerting themselves to bring Narvaez in, if they can accomplish it, by OM-din a FREE-TRADE CONGRESS IN BRUSSELS. BRUSSELS, SEPT. IB.—This important congress commenced this morning in the 613thic Hall of the Hotel di Ville, the upper part of which was decorated with Belgian, French, English, and Prussian flags. About three to four hundred persons were present, bring highly ris soectable merchants, with a little aprinkling of mane. factures, and about a dozen ladies. The proceedings were begun about 11 o'clock by M. Charlie de Brouckire, the president of the Belgian association, taking the chair in front of the table erected on a slightly elevated platform. At one end eat M. Lehardy de Beaulieu, the secretary, and at the other M. Victor Folder, a barrister who acts as mana ger of the association. M. DE BROtiCKERE, on opening the business of the day, spoke as fo:lows : Our duty is now accomplished. We shall not wait to make any justification of the initiatory steps which we have taken. Allow me to thank you all for your co-operation on this occasion, and to thank you, moreover, in the name of the alliance and fraternity of nations. In our days a revolution has been accomplished in industry as well as in politics ;_ and the progress of trade and commerce not leas than the discoveries of science have given a helping band to the alleviation of the lot of the working Mmes. To you belongs the task of directing those political and industrial force, to one noble object, instead of em ploying them for mutual destruction. The progress of the arts and sciences and free trade have tended to the rendering popular certain doctrines which were formerly the exclusive property, as it were, of a privileged few. The present was not the first meeting of citizens of different countries, but hitherto such meetings were principally confined to philooophical theories and in ductions. The crowned heads of Europe had assembled em now to treat of wars. He did not blame them for so RMS. Wing, but the success which attended them was owing to the tact or duplicity of diplomatists, acting on the ignorant* of the muses. The present was the first international meeting of its kind, the first to consecrate the grand and eternal prin ciple of fraternity, and to put into practice the &wrier , - cept of "love one another." (Loud cheers.) Now-a-days, the question of the condition of the working chimes war the main topic of discussion in all parte. Every one took an in terest in such a question. There was us lack of anemone doctrines, but the equality of the levellers of all ranks and divisions of society could only exist for a day. The tree principles of free-traders were full equality of liberty, and unrestricted commercial exchange. After a few other ob servations the president declared the meeting opened. M. AMMON DI:PERHON, member of the French Chamber of Peers, and a leading member of the French Association for Freedom of Trade, made a few observations complimerrlat M. de Brouckire, and moved that he act as chairman of the congress. The motion was carried, and the following gen tlemen were appointed vice-presidents:—The Du d'llbr• court, as the representative of France; Col. Thompson , the one for England ; M. Hamer, on the one for Pru de th and Counthardyde Beaulieu was nwe,assa appointed one for for . thi re s wintry ury...4 Faider assistant-secretary. A number of letters of spoler, and a list of books presented to the association, were rod of the latter gentleman. Amongst the books wen lift! Mies of the proceedings of the Marseilles Chamber of Commute, one of the heads of which is M. de Lamutine. eu T u h io e n C w ilti l it d m he ksr th , e aft r e ma stati p o r g inc t i h p al th fo e m fi irgtottotip,lc bans of of die .. political economy and the doctrines of the partisans of free dom of exchange, called upon : satin out the M. V. FAIDER, who commenced by pilan—o great importance of thou sciences which have in view the direct amelioration of the condition of mankind. The ass/ of politics was assuredly a noble one, but it formed only medium, and not the end, which was, in fact, for manlii the attainment of happiness, contentment, and riehes—all three forming by themselves eo many means of dereloysstr and perfection. The speaker dwelt at some length . as _.: progresa of political economy in modern DEM UTZ David:Hume, Quesnay, and GOUTIIIII as mere th6) : M otinr:e. "l ) most eminent scientific men of the present da y to tko directed now their attention to practical idol, an d turning of principles into facts. It was famine th a t . oar . " the triumph of the truth in Belgium, and he cult (rain from giving his tined of applause to the presera , ,O L f tern of that country for the prospect they heid nx out orator p e"k 4 , „,,t ° who ?D tic t B " combat Peaite nations] o t h t n h e e i amdr tom law . n u . rt d h h h o e e neoru,honour re T q uhier protectionists , tl e mat protective laws, which, moreover, according.tore,,,„„ em, :"'w so many means of aggression and defence with is no out the folly an enemy. M. Faider concluded b dangers of competition would be to extend ins_ ins ii av" the producers, and that extension would be boa woald set the by freedom of exchange. Such a system_ m o os large,of pro tec and tin . F . :i n a ed nu , f th eic a tu t res the at bes th t e w el y p r w mein p : o . f an tb cad t° eation_ t at peace of the world, and prove the necessity of `II giving reciprocal aid to one another. t a re Professor Wotiont observed that Prussia halt presentative to the congress in order to opp ose ° ! . r a tT e . of free trade. France ought to have don e la •^7 that truth might be elicited. He referred to t e lr.Pol= which steam had made, to the admirable naann_if, sties i c t h b ia rzht siti m atsi en , protectionists, Mi o sm rt i n tan d that coarse. The speaker adduoed several a .0 li' asl md7,7. (ree traders were the best protectors ot . a w d a r nd tedniltliornes:itriogch:ll:Er'. an d remits