The Express. — London, England, 1853-09-07 00:00:00

istir OrpreSA. TO CORRESPONDENTS. • Ilee.vi Kt it in• .11. lavisos. -- " — •;;;ZiLiwa - isms mr•shilit's “thm.41.," 1. prlidahol (wry Tuesday led Yridg sight, a thee be pwc Ailtertimmeeeelseerkd ler " TM VMS" Wedge Eveefee piper. Red be tie U•ip. le, leererie•surere, ►y Tao Veld se t►. 41e7 eeliarelea. . . winut AT LONDON BtIDOE. Iw,. -11antleg. 116 rim .... "s. lto- mown/ -Mania& SC fa . no. LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 7. Tax Quezor's animating visit to Ireland is over: and we imagine she is less surprised than some People in England at much she saw there. By the astonishment visible in certain quarters that Dublin appears and behaves very like other large cities— thaL the people on the pavement are clothed and the ladies at the windows adorned—and that the Irish saa make things fit to be put into a Great Exhibition —it appears that those who are undergoing the sinasement have never been in Ireland. That is a pity. So great a change has come over Ireland, that it is quite time that a change should oome over the English tone about Ireland ; but that will hardly happen till the old notions of famine, fighting, fustian, and rebellion, are put out by the spectacle of the existing condition of the @sentry, and employments of the people. If a tra veller could be landed in Ireland, under a total loss of memory, so as to look at everything without pre possession, he would find the country now looking pretty much like some others. There is a good deal of sound manufacturing industry wherever there is capital to set it to work. The damasks of Belfast are the finest in the world as to fabric, if only the designs equalled those of Saxony. The linen and the silk manufactures are high in name and fame ; and if they were originally in the hands of colonised foreigners, they are no longer so. The skirtings and the poplins are now woven by genuine Iri..h hands. They can make the beet carriages and the best cooperage that can be seen ; and ma chinery, and lace, and glass, and, in short, whatever there is requisite opportunity and occasion for them to make. It is said that their faculty is for Art ; and that this is the intellectual characteristic which will be brought out under the new stimulus applied by this Exhibition. Very likely. We hope it may be so, for England's sake as much as her own : but not the lees may all other kinds of industry flourish there, now that the causes of discouragement are re moved. We observe some pitying sentiment ex pended on the love of the Irish for their antiquities. as evidenced by some of the curiosities in the Exhi bition building: but surely there is not necessarily any sedition or political lamentation mixed up with such antiquarian interest. We English show our relics with pride and delight, as often as we light upon' any antiquities; and if the Irish did not cherish theirs we should be extremely shocked at such want of feeling. The long and short of the matter is, we ought to be getting rid of the poor-relation view of Ireland—of the inability to suppose that she can feel cheerful, bold, lode. pendept. hearty, and hopeful, like England. Our imperial legislation has given her something of this vigour and hopefulness; and circumstances beyond and above legislation have given her a good deal more: The United Parliament has to a considerable extent set free her encumbered estates, allowing her desolate lands to part off into manageable portions, and to till into good and active hands; so that the prospects of agriculture are now brighter there than they were a century ago in any country in Europe. And at the same time, the demand for labour in our colonies and is countries where the same language h spoken, has removed the one difficulty which ap pend insuperable—the disproportion of the people to the capital in Ireland. This being the case— capital now flowing in, and the labourers flowing out—the balance of capital and labour seems to be eecured : and, from the time that happens, Ire land may claim to be no longer regarded as a poor relation, or spoken of in a tone of condescending pity. She must, and no doubt she will, show the world what she can do—that she can maintain her self, educate her children, cultivate her own faculties and tastes—(whether for Celtic antiquities or any thing else). And meantime, the very circumstance that she invites us to inspect something that she has actually done—an achievement which requires con cert and steady work of head and hands—entitles her to exemption from the pitying tone with which loomed us—from old habit doubtless—are speaking of her stilL When this Dublin Exhibition was first suggested, timidly and privately, long ago, to some few leading men in Ireland, they agreed, as they openly tell us now, that it might be worth while, "as a safety valve fee despondency ;" and they prepared them selves for one mon of those efforts against hope Which the true, silent, modest Irish patriot knows the bitternsm ot so well. How different is the event! The safety-valve of despondency opened some time sines in quite a different direction, and all the despondency sums to have escaped that way. Ireland was doing very well before the Exhibition building was begun ; she has been doing better and better ever lines; and there seems no reason why she should not do perfectly well henceforth, as far u material welfare is concerned. The old causes of famine have nearly disappeared. Half a million of children are growing up in schools that, as a national institution, we should be very glad to rival. Her native capitalists are calling in their money from abroad, to employ it upon the natural wealth of the country. She is nearly in the condition of a young and somewhat raw country, half explored as to re sources, and far from being overpeopled ; and, according to .ill experience, a country in that position has a long period of rising in prospect, before the prosperity even becomes stationary. The draw backs which impair this resemblance to a new country are three the land laws, the religious feud, and the reputation for rebellion. All these difficulties must be re moved. The reputation for rebellion will die out of itself—in the course of a single generation, as far as its practical effects are concerned. The laws relating to land are under the consideration of Parliament, and will certainly not be let go without essential amendment. The Church is a far greater diffi culty, both because we have gone so far in wrong that it is difficult to get back, and because the temper of the times, all over Christendom, seems un favourable to theological peace. What the aid mate settlement will be, this is not the moment to speculate. It is enough to say that the Church is no help, but a serious hindrance to the rising welkin of Ireland, and that its day of judgment must therefore be drawing nigh. The sooner it 0003811 the better. If there were but hope that the clamour of theological strife would soon cease in the land, there would seem to be really nothing to dread for Ireland. There is every reason to hope that by the time she next ex hibits her industry, we may find her shores studded with fisheries, her fields waving with flax and with grain ; tier pastures (the richest of pastures) too narrow for her flocks and herds ; her towns busy with manufacture, and her ports with shipping; and her children so gay and brave in their independence that the tone of pity and patronage, whether kindly or haughty, will be heard no more. THE Report from National Gallery " an abstract) is Upon portant production. thorough manner wi tion and general mu.-,„ management as specially cleaning, and the changes which the present system requires the authors of the report commit the error of treat- - tog and dismissing the question of change of site u if It were the least, instead of by far the most im portant of the four points discussed. Nothing could justify the removal of the National Collection of Art from the centre to one of the ex treme suburbs of London, short of indubitable evi deue of the necessity of such removal, in order to the preservation of the pictures. Now, no such evidence seems to have been brought forward. The Committee, indeed, express their general ad herence to the views declared by the Committee of 1850, to the effect that such removal is expedient, but, on their own showing, it appears that the effects of the London atmosphere may be sufficiently guarded against, either by the adoption of a system of var nishing and cleaning recommended by Mr. DIME, and founded on the principle of covering the paint ings for the future with one coat of permanent and comparatively indissoluble varnish, and a second of • more easily removable nature, the latter alone to be touched henceforth in cleaning ; or by glazing these, a plan the efficacy of which is confirmed by the words of the report, which expatiates on " the floe condition of the few glazed pictures in the National Gallery." Various sites were suggested in the course of the evidence, but all of them so far from the heart of London that, for the purposes of nine out of tee of the present visitors of the Gallery, it might just as well be packed up and sent off to Hampton-court Palace at once, where, at all events, it would be safe far some century or so from the swiftly extend kg invasion of the Metropolis, which, ere the present generation has died out, will probably resat Eon. sington Gore itself a " smoky situation." Is eosin to a decision upon this question, there are two points which it is particularly necessary that the public should not lassight of, if they desire to arrive at a just euthuses M the loss that will be involved in the proposed removal. It must first be remembered that the Nations& Gallery, even with the invalu able accessions of the Turner and Vernon Collections, is as yet in its early infancy, and that it is in the nature of such a collection, in such a country as ours, to increase in a geometrical ratio of speed. The more magnificent the collection becomes the greater, will become the temptation of individuals to bestow or bequeath pictures, and of the nation to purchase them. It requires no ex travagant stretch of imagination to hope that, beim a quarter of a century shall have elapsed, our na tional collection may have become superior to the Louvre and the rival of Dresden. At the very kat, we may safely look forward to an increase in the extent and value of the collection which will render the present loss insignificant when compared with that which is implied in the future. Again, every lover of art in London, who has no time, health, or patience M thew away on omnibus travelling, must tremble whoa lo reads these words :—" Your Committee have Ida taken evidence regarding the collections of mo numental antiquity and fine art in the British Museum. The difficulties experienced in the Na tional Gallery from want of space have lately been felt in the same or a similar degree in the Museum. Every portion of that building is stated to have become so crowded, that neither the arrangement nor the augmentation of the collections can be effectually promeded with. Your Committee have ream asnisil that the question of combining these verious collections with the National Gallery should be referred to a Royal Commission." This very desirable amalgamation we our selves were among the first—if, indeed, we were int the very first—to propose ; but we never dreamt of its involving the banishment of our most real mesas of becoming heartily acquainted with all that is most worthy to be known of the defunct civilisa tions of Egypt, Assyria, Greece, and Rome, to a 'distant suburb. This collection, be it also remem bered, is rapidly increasing in extent and interest, and we should be exercising little foresight were we to reckon our ultimate by our immediate loss, in allowing it to be removed. Can there be a moment's doubt as to what ought to be done? The national collection (we are told) must be removed somewhere, because it has out grown its present abode ; and it is alleged that there are insuperable obstacles in the way of extending the present edifice to the requisite magnitude on its plasm site. The workhouse behind it could be lesugLt, but the authorities will not move the hawks ; and without the ground on which these stand no plan worthy of the prospects of the Gallery could be executed. The heterogeneous con tents of the British Museum are also calling for dis pel*. os amount of want of room. Those contents niaebt partly of objects of art, which is everybody's Wises, and partly of objects of science, which is the Mess of oomparativoly few. Were the objects of MIINSI seat dr to Essington Gore, to complete the Indy Muted NOW= to be established there, the Museum would have several splendid galleries at the disposal of Painting, the sister of Sculpture, Archi tecture, and Literature, which are already repre sented, for the most part on a very noble scale, in Great Russell-street. The present establishment called the British Museum, only requires this ex change—a profitable one for all parties—to become u noble and consistent a popular institution u the world can show. Let Science go out of town to Ken sington, but let Art remain with us in London itself, where her civilising influences must be most advan tageous to the people for whom our National Collec tion has been made, sad by whom it has been paid for. LARGE ARRIVAL. or VIIIISZLE MOH THE NORTH or Evaorn.—A fleet of upwards of 300 vessels has arrived in the River since Sunday evening from the northern ports of Europe, putting the docks in the greatest bustle and activity, and giving employment to several thousand labourers, wbo have undergone much misery since the strike. Tbis immense arrival is owing to the recent shifting of the wind to the northward and eastward, which brought them up from the North See, where they have been buffetted about during the south-westerly gales. With some few exceptions they are from St. Petersburg, Arch angel, Rigs, Cronshidt, Stettin, Dantsig, Memel, Stock holm, Hamburg, Rotterdam, Harlingen, and other northern porta. The passing of the fleet up the River had a very imposing effect, and it was with diSeulty that the Custom-house authorities at Gravesend could meet the sadden colt for officers to take charge of each ship, so rapidly did they come up. Numbers of them were laden with grain ; 222 arrivals were entered on Monday, and nearly 1.50 yeaterda_y. BRITANNIA FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETT.—At a meeting of this society on Monday, at the Music Hall, St. I Pancras, a ballot took place for rights of choice on the society's recently purchased estate at Finchley. 1 SUSPECTED CASE OF MURDER.—On Monday 1 evening a spirit dealer in Rutherglen-loan, Gorbals, made a report to the polio., to the effect that i young man named Lawson, a carter, residing with his mother, has been mist ing since the night of Saturday last. It appears that the young man went in to a raffle which was going on in Mer lchant -lane, off Bridgegate, where a quarrel and a fight took place. Criss of "murder" were beard in the locality, and it is supposed that the missing party met with his death by unfair means. A comrade of the man, named O'Brien, 1 who went to the raffle with him, was knocked down and seriously abused: but he dselsres he recollects nothing of his companion after being so injured. When O'Brien went to Rntherglen- lean, however, he had the jacket and cap belonging to Lawson on his person, and could not as count for their possession. The police are in course of in vestigating the ease. Lawson is about 25 years of age, is Eve feet eight inches in height, stout made, of fair com plexion, and was dressed in moleskin clothes.—North Bei high Daily Moil. THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 7. 1853. SWEDEN. parer _ ops teak repose , and then were marched off to t tro hetr - qiirters. 'Phi Empefor to sit out he Warsaw, and may perhaps even visit Austria." Mother letter from St. Petersburg, of the same date, says :—" Intelligence has been received here from , that the proceedings of the sect of the Bahia, who some time ago attempted to assassinate the Shah, still continue. They lately spread a report that the Shah was dead, and the rumour gained wash ground that his Majesty thought it advisable to make a public promenade, accompanied by his ministers and the principal officers of the court, through the bazaars and the principal streets. Several Babis were arrested and torte re 4 in • moat cruel manner in presence of the people." The Press of Vienna has the following from Galata of the 25th ult. :—" The two hospodars of Moldavia and Wallachia have, it is said, made a treaty, by which they promise each other mutual aid in case, On the present crisis, the Sultan should call them aseount for their conduct. Should this news per true, diplomatic arrangements would without istibt take the matter into consideration in the set tlemeat of the Eastern question. The quantity of wheat which has not been able to pass into the Bleak Bea is consequence of the bad state of the Saha ,is so great that 1,000 vessels would not sat. E l e % li r carry it all away." A letter from Cronstadt, of the 22nd, states that the frigate Diana and the brig Pollux had just halt that port for Canton. This reinforcement will te• ems, the Russian naval station in the Chinese sea to be tomb& We learn from another source that an way of 6,000 men was collected this summer id Irkutsk, the capital of the province of that name in Siberia, and the enerepot of Russian commerce with China by Kiakhta. It is asserted that these troops are destined to observe the frontiers of the Celestial Empire, which are not defended in that neighbourhood. The Journal de Thene:furt lately annotateed the death at Vienna of the Princess Amelia of Sweden, 411301:141 daughter of Kier Oscar. In consequence of this paragraph the Swedish Legation in Paris sent an intimation to the principal journals of that metro polis that despatches from Stockholm down to the latestßossible date. August 29, made tot losotiso of the Prowess Eugenia, the ooly daughter of the Bing, as being otherwise than in her halal health. The isat tiMitial-4-Vild Journal de *tntefoit correlate the error into which it had fallen, and states that the deceased Princess was the daughter of Gustavus IV., and sister of the Prince Gaetano Wass and of the Grand Duchess Sophia of Baden. She was born on the 22nd of February,ll3o6, and her name was Maria Charlotte Amelia de Wan. I where I understeod she met with no better reoeptioa than here, and was ultimately forced to seek the acre hospitable shores of Malta. Disturbances having taken place at Viterbo, arising from the levying of the industry tax, two companies. of French, with two pieces of cannon, left Rome for that city on the night before last. Reinforcements of Roman infantry have been sent to Terni for the maintenanee of order, the obnoxious tax having met with opposition there also. THE KOSTA CAIN. `k•st The Constitulionnel has the following very impar tial article on the dispute between Austria and the United States in the affairs of Kosta, from which it may be inferred that the French government is not disposed to allow its Consul at Smyrna to play the part of gaoler for an indefinite time, and will cer tainly not countenance the claim of Austria to have the prisoner delivered up to her. The Austrian government, in a kind of protest which has been made public, pretends that treaties give it a right of jurisdiettea over the subjects of the Emperor Francis Joseph throughout the whole extent of the Ottoman Empire. This is an allagatiam which it is more easy to make than to justify. Never have the Sultans, either for the benefit of Austria, or of ea other power, given up any of the rights of sovereignty w hich belong to them on the Turkish tent till7. Some precedents and some ambiguous clauses of cer tain treaties may perhaps authorise Austrian agents to ap prehend within the limits of the Ottoman sovereignty, an Austrian subject at the moment of his committing a crime against common law, bat to lay hold of a thief or an amnia is a very different thing from arresting a poli tical refuges on a foreign territory where he has found an asylum. If Austria really possesses such an exorbitant privilege, why did she not avail her self of it to arrest M. Kossuth and other refugees, who, after their defeat its Hungary, found an asylum in Tarkey ? She demanded their extradition, and in her legi timate desire to maintain it, she had the support of Russia. Abdul-Medjid refused, and we have heard that the court of Austria then claimed the right of herself following up and capturing the fugitive on the Ottoman territory. The ow of Kosta is an analogous one. We could have understood the Austrian internuncio at Constantinople demanding the removal of this companion of Kossuth in ease he might have suspected him of acting as agent in the maareavres of the ex-republican dictator, who did so attach iajory to Hungary. But to employ against that refugee individuals deprived of all o ffi cial character, in order to seize and ship him off in the same manner as slave dealers capture and embark their victims in Africa, was a blameable act, and it is much t o b e regre tt e d that the Austrian government should have sanctioned it by rewarding its agent. From what we have above stated, we de not by any means intend to justify the captain of the American corvette, for it is quite as difficult to justify his prociedings as those of Austria. The agents of the United States government wanted a pre text for getting Kosta out of the hands of those who kept him captive, and they therefore pretended that he had a right to their protection because he had, when in America, made a declaration by which he renounced his allegiance to the Emperor of Austria. Could such a declaration suffice to withdraw the person who makes it from the action of the laws of his country ? It requires five pars' residence in the United States to become naturalised. /Lost& is not, therefore, as American citizen ; it does not even appear that he had an intention of becoming one, for we must do him the justice to say that he did not deny his country ; on the contrary, he proudly boasted of being still an Hungarian. He renounced, we are told, his allegiance to the Emperor of Austria; that is a formality which would not cost much to a Hungarian insurgent, but it is not suffi cient to make him a citizen of the United States, and con , sequently is insufficient to change the nationality of the refugee. It is necessary to be candid in all things. It is not as a citizen of the United States, but as a reeve lutionist, that M. Hosts is defended against Austria by the agents of the American republic. None of the European powers will therefore ever admit as a principle of public law that the government of the United States has the right to protect revolution in Europe by force of arms. Oa no grounds would it be permitted to throw obstacles in the way of the exercise of the jurisdiction of a government under the ridiculous pretence that the offenders have re nounced their allegiance, and from the real motive that they axe in revolt against the political constitution of their country. The navy of the American Union might not always have such an easy triumph, and such headstrong conduct as that pursued by the captain of the St. Lewis might on another occasion be attended with very disastrous consequence'. In this case the false position in which the Austrian agents had placed themselves favoured the rash ness of Captain Ingraham, and the feeling of this false posi tion probably disconcerted the resistance which, under any other circumstances, would certainly have been made by the captain of the Austrian vessel to such pretensions. Public feeling sided with the American captain, and took the part of a man wrongfully arrested on neutral ground. But in order to repress an abuse of force that efficer com mitted another, and the less noise the government of Washington makes about the affair the more prudence it will display. An impartial arbitration would send both parties out of court. As to M. Keats what Austria had better do will be to give him every facility to go to America, there to reside as long as possible. nn the Select Committee on thi s RUSSIA 1 9.451 D TUIWW. • (uf which we have a , given • .• ---4,-:-= - " .... 1-' - bl ed n the whole an effitims itn .:4 y rumouset in tlitill I. But, after de u 11114: -I veil, e Ern of lt } : e sil : otendiltoliscttE with the quellonsiif thgeonstitip Mlitications _ It t ; t V . icon e. ,_ , management of the: Gelidly, the specially connected with picture the At e t i n t &e4 g Nescs, says : „ The g ° ln r"lje anoeU ill 'o t i ' th in e corps of grenadiers of the guard have just been ter- i changes and improvements to ag it at e d by a rand rosiew iwpcessomi of tho Bub. t system requires to be submitted, peror and of sh 9ve . coort. The nut day the troops I FRANCE. PARIS, TVIIDAY EVININO. The Mocifeur of this morning contains further evidenoe of the anxiety of the government on the corn question. It contains two decrees intended to facilitate the transport of provigions from place to place. The first authorises such railway companies u shall reduce their charges for the carnage of corn, flour, and potatoesfrom this time to December 31 next, to again raise them after that period to the limits of the maximum authorised by their Cahiers des Charges without waiting for the delays therein limited. It is already announced that several of the principal railway companies have determined to lower their tariff considerably in consequence of this decree. The other decree enacts, That until the 31st of December next, all boaU laden entirely with corn, flour, rice, potatoes, or dry vegetables shall be exempt on all rivers and canals belonging to the state from all the navigation dues usually charged. Where canals have been conceded to companies the same exemption will be made, and an account kept of the amount of the dam which are thus given up. Foreign vessels may until the same period enjoy the same exemp tion on all the rivers and canals of France, provided their cargo consists of the above mentioned articles. This ex emption will be enjoyed by all French and foreign vessels whatever may be the date of arrival, provided they leave their piece of shipment previous to the 31st of December next. The panic among corn merchants, to which I alluded Yesterday, produced by the report counte nanced &y the Pairs's, that the government was about to make large purchases of grain, has pro duced the following emphatic contradiction of the report at the head of the non-official column of the Monitelor : It has been announced by a journal that the French go vernment was about to make purchases of corn. This supposition is absolutely false. The results of the harvest are not yet known, but the government is convinced that the de ficiency which it may show will be made up by the trade acting alone and without impediments. Far from wishing to thwart its action and compete against it, which would be senseless conduct, the government will only interfere to assist it by general measures equal for all parties, and which as sure the liberty and security of its operatiene, and render more easy the transport and distribution of corn in the in terior. The different decrees which have successively abo lished certain prohibitions, reduced entrails' duties, and suppressed tonnage dues, were published is this spirit, and +hails calculated to tranquillise the public mind is that, bevies bees iseaset at an opportune moment in order to allow Ism* smaareste take advantage of the fine weather, their ellsaty begins to be already felt in our ports. It is by such 011111.11111111. Wad lag to protect energetically and facilitate primal Weary, that the state will usefully exercise its ac tion. The two decrees published to-day relative to internal racetel sad the railways are a fresh proof of its constant in this respect. Although from the wording of this important note it might be inferred that the government agrees with those who think it a fatal policy for the state to tamper with the markets by buy ing corn with the tax-payers money in order to undersell the private trader, it is to be ob served that the fact that urchases have been already made for government account is not is terms denied. The contradiction only applies to what the state was said to be " about to do." I note this not in the spirit of hypercriticism, but because reports from so many of the European markets concur in speaking of extensive purchases having been made on French account that it is difficult to suppose there can be no foundation for them. These purchases are in many instances given as a reason for an extra ordinary rise in the markets where they have been ade. The oorreepondenee of the Debots from Constan tinople contains the following important statement of the eireamstaines attending the acceptance by the Sulfas d the Vienna note We have received letters from Constantinople to the 22nd, via Trieste ; they are exclusively occupied with the exami nation of th e note proposed by th e Conference of Vienna and its acceptation, which took place on the 19th. It was sot without long dissawirm and without actiag astray to its opinion that the Divan at last ppvs its °meat. It was aeoneeery for the rep vet of the Pour Powers at Constantinople to morels all their iallmami to obtain it. And even them, the mi nisters of the Suiten, k thought it requisite le hem their amylases li6ewM y y a irse addresied to the Four Powers repriesated at the Conference of Villlloll. We tie not know the test of this last-named document, but Wore worth of credit Mikan that the following is its par ▪ ash. of the Sultan, after eseeplA*g hs lb* teems of the isdiffireass of Europe owl if Om Elle sigerd whisk the ask el the Cesfereuee of Visalia mend N pay to their dignity and right', declare that the modifies tisk which they have made are the indispensable condides of their adhesion to the project of Vienna, and that la ad dition, as a compensation for the extent of the 11CtifidlIS whisk they have made in this conjuncture to the tame of poses, they uk from Europe an act to guarantee*, Otto. man Empire for the future against the partible ems& quinces which Russia might want to draw from the note which they have been so mealy pressed to sign. The statement of the Debate is confirmed by sa article of the Usivera, which gives additional details respecting the grave qualification appended to the "modified " acceptance, and is sadly at variance with the telegraphic despatc h of the Monsteur, announcing that the modifications were "unimportant." The Pislrie now says that the Einperor will leave Dieppe on Saturday or Sunday next. The Pao announces that he will come to Paris for a day or two about the 10th, before going to Helfaut. The Bourse has been exceedingly dull to-day. The Threes, which yesterday fell 10c., closed with a fur ther fall of about 20c. Almost all the railways were lower, but towards the close the low prices tempted several speculators to buy, and a partial recovery was the consequence. SWITZERLAND. The Suisse of Berne states that a rencontre has taken place between the frontier guards of the Orisons and some Austrians. Six of the latter, ac companied by a commissary of finance of Bladens, came on a sporting excursion on the Swiss territory, and information having been given to the authori ties, two gendarmes, accompanied by several men, surprised the party seated round a lire, when a scuffle ensued without any fire-arms being dis charged. Three of the Austrians were disarmed, when they all, with the exception of the commissary, took to flight. He was conducted into the valley, together with the spoil taken, consisting of two guns and a swordstick. He was released on the fol lowing day on promising not to trespass again on the territory. SPAIN. The Madrid journals of the 30th ult. have arrived. The royal council was about to examine the question submitted to it by government as to whether the Bank of Ban Fernando should be authorised to issue notes for double the amount of its capital—that is to say, for 240,000,000 reale. The bank, says the Ife;aldo, has solicited permission from the govern ment to issue notes of lees than 500 reals, but not less than 200 (Mfr.). The Minister of the Interior, thinking that there were some irregularities in a contract entered into by the Bravo Marino ministry with the firm of &Weill° and Co. for the service between Midis and the Canaries, submitted the mat ter to the royal council. The council reported that the contract ought to be declared valid, and the oouncil of ministers has just taken a decision to that effect. A letter says that the attention of the eosoeil has been called to the faot that the Popes nuncio has ex ceeded the limits fixed in the concordat, relative to the sale of a certain part of the property of the clergy, by remedies to sales without having con ferred with the Mhusters of Foreign Affairs, and of Grace and Justice. The letter adds that M. Calderon de la Bares, the new Minister of Foreign Affairs, was shortly expected—the business of his department imperatively required his presence. ITALY. PIEDMONT. The oflicial journal of Turin promulgates the law by which the King's government is authorised to carry into execution the convention between the Minister of Finance and the Transatlantic Company at Genoa, for establishing a regular line of steam communication between Genoa and North and South America. The municipality of Genoa have declared that the six millions of francs voted by them for the railway to Switzerland across the Alps will only be paid if the line by Luckmonier be adopted. ROMAN STATES. ROME, AUGUST 31. Very unsatisfactory accounts are continually arriv ing from the provinces of disturbances arising from the scarcity of crops . and consequent high price of bread. At Tolentino, in La Marca, the Austrian com mandant adopted a somewhat unusual mode of satis fying the hanger of the people, by giving them a bellyful of dry blows instead of bread. After a great deal of clamour in the market-place, the noisy and hungry crowds were delighted to behold the Austrians advance on the Piazza, escorting several carts, which they never doubted were full of loaves. To their dismay, however, they perceived that the vehicles were merely freighted with the benches and other apparatus generally used by the Austrians in their periodical administrations of the bastinado, and sure enough the nearest and noisiest of the vociferating multitude were grimly seized by the imperial soldiers, and subjected then and there to a few dozen blows, which had the instantaneous effect of dissipating the demonstrations of discontent, if not that of satisfying the appetites of the assem bled people. In other districts public discontent has been more ferociously displayed. At Terni the gonfokniere, or principal municipal dignitary, has been stabbed to death. At Ravenna the delegate, Monsignor Rossi, hes been threatened and fired at, and so much alarmed that he has written to the Cardinal Seer's bay of State, requesting immediate leave of absence, which having been granted, he is expected in Rome forthwith. Here also the inhabitants of the Tres tem,* quarter have been expressing their indignation in their usual pungent manner, a retail breadseller having fallen victim to their knives in a dispute about the relative size and price of his loaves. the last number of the Jesuit's periodical, the " Civilta Catholics." of the 20th inst., states that having been chosen as one of the two Italian journals fixed upon by Dr. Newman's committee for an pouncing the results of his collection throughout the catholic world for defraying the expenses of bisection I against Dr. Aehilli, it joyfully accepts the mission, regretting only to be unable to report the whole of Father Newman's affectionate address. With all its euthanasia for the cause of the church, and in spite of its being the head-quarters of Roman catholicism, it a from the account of subscriptions pub that Italy only contributed the meagre sum of 183 L Os. 9d. out of the entire amount of 12,9321. furnished by the catholic world. It is expected that the Sacred Consults Tribunal will have some difficulty in establishing the charge of " Public Massacre " brought against the prisoners now under examination. The Judge, Cecchini, is chili engaged in pumping the impunitario, or Kin s evidence, as we should term Signor Catenacci ; but if the only proof of the others' guilt is founded upon hie statements, it will be hardly strong enough to warrant the application of capital punishment, the penalty required by the law LO oases such as the present. It appears that no light is thrown upon . the affair by the discovery of papers in the of the prisoners, as most of them succeede d in datroying whatever might have compromised them, except in the case of the Advocate Petroni. Thirty-five letters from Mazzini and other republican leaders were found in his house, but as they were written in cypher no 'Dense has hitherto been elicited from them. The ad vocate himself has been interrogated more than once, and does not attempt to deny his correspondence with Mazzini, nor that he was his agent in Rome, but he states that the young men who have been arrested had formed no plan of action, and are not to be thought so deeply implicated in Manila's projects as would at first appear. The prisoners are scattered in various places of confinement, nor is it allowed for their friends and relations to know where. AU that has been obtained in their favour is for their friends to send linen to the police office, which the police agents distribute to the parties for whom it is des tined. Their fare is of that miserable description given to inmates of the ',egrets, and is not allawed to be improved by the offerings of their friends. The arrest of the priest Don Raphael Straniazzi (not Scarpene) has determined such other ecclesias tics as were concerned in the plot to take to flight without delay. Amongst these is a monk of the Maddalena convent, who, having obtained permission from the general of hie order to fix his great seal upon a certificate guaranteeing the authenticity of a certain relic of St. Canullo, fixed it also upon a pass port for England in his own name, the police autho rities here always requiring ecclesiastics to produce the authorisation of their superiors before ragging their passports for foreign countries. He then in vented a pretext for staying out all night, stating to the general that he had to watch by the bedside of a dying man, all which his worthy superior firmly be lieved until the following day, when the priest sent to relieve him could not find the house or person indicated. Not coming to dinner was a proof that something was wrong, and the general, on making inquiries at the police office, found sure enough that his monk had presented hie passport in due form, and had left for Civita Vecchia the day before. By a somewhat singular coincidence the celebrated American steam yacht North Star, Captain Vander bilt, with about eighty persons aboard, arrived in the port of Civita Vecchia, with the intention on the part of the owner and hie family of paying a visit to Rome, just at the period when the discovery of the au-considered Mazzinian plot had thrown the government of his Holiness into a paroxysm of suspicion and terror. The police authorities staggered by the imposing appearance of the vessel, and the number of the crew, set the whole down as a sympathisiog expedition, and refused permission to land; so that, after two or three days' useless negotiating, the North Star proceeded to Naples, FRENCH POLICE CASES. The Tribunal of Correctional Police on Saturday tried a man named Omni for brutally assaulting seven masons. The accused is a professional wrestler, and is known by the name of the " Porte Saint Denis." He is accustomed to make exhibitions of his skill in wrestling, and of his great macular force, at fairs and in public houses. Some days ago he went to a public-house where some masons were drinking, and offered to lay a wager of four bottles of wine that he would lift four men. The wager was accepted ; but of the four men who presented themselves he let three fall. The masons demanded pay ment of the wager; he refused, on the pretext that the first trial was not to be considered definitive. A quarrel ensued, and he proceeded to attack the masons. One had four teeth broken and his jaw dislocated ; another had his nose broken; and a third had his eyes blackened; a fourth was so hurt in the ankle that he has since walked lame; a fifth was greatly hurt in the hand; a sixth received dreadful kicks ; and a seventh got such a blow on the bask of the head as to cause internal injuries. The man's defence was, that he had been first attacked by the masons. The Tribunal condemned him to six months' imprisonment. The police authorities have been recently exercising the most rigid surveillance, in order to clear the capital of nu merous dangerous characters. Out of 1,500 who have been interrogated, and whose papers were found not be regular, 207 have been detained in arrest, either for rupture of ban or for not complying with the rules required by the surveil ance under which they had been placed. An old man, apparently about 70 years of age, who had lived for 28 years in a garret of the same house, No. 47. Boulevart Montparnasse, was lately missed for a couple of days, and the commissary of polies being informed of the circumstance, had the door opened by a Inckemitb. The old man was found lying dead on has hentinpparently car ried off by apoplexy. The filth of the garret was indescrib able, as, to all appearance, the piece had not been swept for the whole time the old man had lived there. The mattress on which the body lay feeling hard to the touch, was opened and found to contain an extraordinary collection of heteroge neous articles—bones, razor-strops, old umbrellas, tool of va rious kinds, shovels, tongs, canes, several bags filled with old nails, an immense number of buttons and other things. In an old chest of drawers were found a sum of 70fr. and different papers, amongst which some showed that the old man received a pension from a relation in the country. During the whole time that the old man lived in the garret, he sedulously avoided speaking to any one in the neigh bourhood, and even went to a distance to buy his daily supply of provisions. On Saturday evening a thief managed to get into an hotel in the Hue de Lille, and, breaking open the door of an apartment occupied by the Count de Larochefoncault, woo was absent, carried off a bag containing 1,000 fr., which had been placed in a secretary. A ung journeyman decorative painter left Paris some time back to pay a long visit to his parents, residing in a village at no great distance from Paris. He there h.eame acquainted with a workwoman named Octavio, sad . liaison became established between them. They were accustomed to meet every evening in a little wood closed with palings. About ten evenings back at nine o'clack whilst they were in the wood, they heard the noise of footsteps advancing towards them, and saw a female, whom they recognised as an inhabitant of the village, ad vance with a dark lantern and a bundle. Stop ping at no great distance from them, she pro ceeded to dig a hole; and to their horror they saw her de posit the body of a newly-born child in it. She then co vered the body with earth, and replaced the turf, which she had removed with great precaution. When she had gone away they left the wood, and they agreed not to say any thing of what they had seen. But the affair made each en impression on the mind of the girl that she was seized with a violent fever, and became delirious. In one of her at tacks, two days ago, she stated what she had witnessed. Information was given to the authorities, and the woman was questioned. She admitted that, living separate from her husband, she had had intimate relations with an inha bitant of the village, the result of which was that she be came enceinte. She contrived to conceal her state from ber neighbours, and delivered herself secretly. The child she said was born alive, and she strangled it at once to prevent its cries from reaching the ears of the neighbours. She then concealed the body in a coal-bin, and kept it until the exhalrtions from it became offensive ; whereupon she buried it in the wood. She was taken into custody.— Galignani. CiAB LIME EXEMPT FROM Tom,.--i.An interesting point was decided at the Worcester petty sessions on Tues. day last. A tollgate keeper charged Mr. Payne, a farmer, of Renwick, with refusing to pay toll on a load of gas lime. The defence was that gas lime is a chemical manure, which the statute expressly exempts; and, after a lengthened ex amination, and heari g scientific ►vidence, the magistrates dismissed the charge, considering this description of htne to be exempt—Birmingham Casette. POLLING AT ELECTIONIL—It is enacted by a sta tute of the late session, that in future no polls shall be taken at inns, hotels, public houses, Stc., or in any booth or place communicating with such, unless by the consent of all the candidates expressed in writing. RAILWAY DINNER IN MONTREAL IA HONOUR OF MR. STEPHRNSON, HP. (Rom the Montreal Pilot of Await I I.) The enhjoined account of the proceeding. of the public dinner in honour of Robert Stephenson, Rag M.P „ will be read with interest. The chair was ably filled by the Hoe. Peter M`Gill, Le whom the audience nvineui, alike by their attention and by the enthusiastic manner in which they greeted MA highly appropriate rentalks with which he introduced the several Mute, the high reep,ift in which he is universally held. The two mevioeis tor the city, the Ron. Mews. Young end Badgley, ably sustained the office of vice-presi dents. To the right of the chairman was the guest of the evening, Mr. Stephenson ; to his leR, the Hon. Francis Masks. They were respectively:flanked at the upper tabie by R. ilackaoa, Esq:, M.P. ; the Hoa. Mears. Ralph, Rose, and Tech.; Col. Bruce, and Col. Napier. We observed the following members of the Provincial Lee s . later* amongst the party :—Hon. Mr. Bourret, M.L.C.; Sir A. N. Muumb, Mr. J. A. Macdonald, Mr. Rgan and Mr. Cartier. Mr. Sheriff Boston and other public 'func tionaries, Mr. Allan, President of the Board of Trade, and a large proportion of the leading members of the mercantile body; Messrs. Holmes, ?Jolson, Brewster, Delude, Conk and other of our railroad directors and projectors w ere a l e; present. Altogether, the company may truly he said to have ein'iraced a large proportion of the wealth and intelli gence of the city. After several loyal toasts, The Hon. Mr. 114.0thr, said the next toast was emphati cally the tout of the evening. (Cheering long and loud. After silence had at. length beta procured, he went on.) He would introsluce to the company their distal ;pushed guest on his r:ght hand, Mr. Robert Stephe nson, M.P., whose reputation as a practical and scientific engineer was confined only to the limits of the civi lised world. Gentlemen of Montreal were doing them. selves honour by doing hoftour to him. His name alone was sufficient to the brut an enthusiastic reception. He was the son of the celebotted John Stephenson, and had inherited his father's genius and his father's reputation. In 1828 he was called by his father to assist him in the Liverpool awl Manchester ItaiLvay. In 1832 he was in charge of the Liverpool and Birmingham as engineer, and experienced numerous and great Oifficulties in the work. He had also been engaged by mining companies in England and Peru, and proved himself full of .mechanical resources. In 1847 he bad the Chester and Holyboad Railway, and it was hers that his masterpiece of engine.srind was effected, the bridge over the Menai Straits. This stupendous work would be looked upon by after ages *sone o' the wonders of the world. He bad also laid out great works on the continent of Europe, sod the Pasha of Egypt had secured his services fir works on his l'ashalik. 11 a was now here amongst us to do us good, by designing the bridge at Montreal. Under his auspices, success vas cer tath ; and when built, the structure would not be the least monument th it would carry his name down to les tong.. In connexion with the bridge, he would also men tion the great railway system now commencing in Canada, and the great benefit we were to derive from it. We could not imagine that engaged as he was in works all over the world, he could devote all his attention to this work. But Wellington and Napoleon had their generels and ad jutants under them, and Mr. Stephenson would be ably represented by Mr. Rosa and others, until his return next spring. He gave the " Health of Robert Stephen son, Esq., DUP." Mr. STIPHINSON rose amidst much applause, and said that he owed much to the honourable chairman for the distinguished compliments he had paid him, and the high appreciation he had been pleased to ex; rest of his meths. He had come to Canada upoa a professional visit, and from what he had seen of the country, he was convinced that the present was but the commencement of a great railway system, and he ventured to express his sincere desire, that Canada should avoid those errors in producing the system which other countries had committed with theirs. Canada was yet only on the threshhold, and the proper laying out of the plan, he thought of as much im portance as the introduction of railroads themselves. lie hoped that the legislature of this country would not do as those of some countri, s had ei.ne, for although there were difficulties in the way, yet here it appeared to him they were principally those of legislation. Canada, at present, had an unoccupied field before her, and much would de pend upon the first step. If it were taken with judgment, other difficulties would be of comparatively litt.c import ance. If it were taken injudiciously, what seemed but • speck in the west might become a thunder cloud. The dangers might not be apparent to Canadians at present, but before he sat down he would endeavour to make us sensible of them. Ile had seen the rise and progress of railways in England, and those who had not could hardly appreciate the enormous losses occasioned by false legisla tion. Few, indeed, know the rise and progress of the legis lation with respect to them. lie would occupy a few mi nutes in pointing out whist those errors were, and what course to take to avoid them. He was incapable of oratory; but, having been mixed up with railway contentions for twenty years, he thought he could teach them how to avoid them. [Here the speaker was inaudible for a few minutes, owing to a slight noise in the room. The general purport of his observations was to point out the difficulties inter posed to the construction of the first -ailways in England.] After these obstacles raised in the first instance had been removed, the people then became sensible of the immense advantages of the railway horse, and the question assumed • new phase. Then all places rushed into railway specu lations. The country was tolerably well filled up with railway lines. Competition arose within the walls of parliament, not for interest, but for vanity. Here Mr. Stephenson went into the history of several railway struggles, and stated that the committees in parlia ment took into their consideration, not who was right or who was wrong, but entered upon questions entirely subsi diary, not at all connected with the profit of the lines, or the necessity for making them. The consequence was that com mittees sometimes decided upon different lines upon rea son. entirely apart from their real merits, or the scientific questions involved in the details. There was one district through which it was proposed to run two lines, and there was no other difficulty between them than the simple rivalry, that, if one got a charter, the other might also. But here, where the committee might have given both, they gave neither. In another instance, tiro lines were projected through a barren country, and the committee gave the one which affirded the least accommoda:ion to the public. In another, where a line was to be run merely to shorten the time by a few minutes, leading through a mountainous country, the committee gave both; so that where the committee might have given both, they gave neither—and where they should have given neither, they gave both. Such a species of legislation was faulty, and he hoped it would not be imitated in this country. There was, indeed, a committee now sitting in England, the attention of which he had called to these facts. After lines were granted, the competition, which began within the walls of parliament, continued when the lines came to be put in operation. People said it was necessary to have com petition for the benefit of the public, that the whole country would be under the dominion of a railway corporation, and competition was the only means of checking it, and pre serving moderate prices. Well, ke could say, upon the authority of the Board of Trade—and from his own know ledge that since competing lines commenced, out of 300 millions alpouuds expended, 63 bad been wasted that is, in duplicate lines. But, in order to mark the inconsistency of the proceedings in railway legislation, when the London and Birmingham was asked for, the feasibility of the route was doubted ; great difficulties were suggested as being in the way; engineers were called in to decide everything in opposition to it ; the estimates were disputed and doubted; it was maintained that the company ought to prove the traffic that was to go over it, and that six or eight per cent. was to be obtained upon the money invested; in fact, a most paternal part was taken in the project. Before parliament granted the charter, before this people were allowed to expend their own money, they were here asked to prove the traffic and the profit, and show a regular contract to establish that the work was to be done within the estimate. The people clamoured for competition and parliament granted the expenditure of two capitals. At that time it was believed that competitioa would compel them to carry passengers almost for nothing. But what was the result ? The opulent wero struck down, and the poor were reduced to penury. Nothing but the resources of British com merce could have sustained such a shock. These serious evils of legislation it might be difficult to escape from in England, but they should be weighed well before they were brought into Canada, either by the present or any future government. It was said that all was right— the public gained what the proprietors lost. But the pub lic had not gained. Capital was absorbed and diverted from other profitable employment. Lines bad been located which never would have built had a directing genius pre sided over the chartering of them ; and he did not envy the man who could glory at one part of the community pros pering by the ruin of another. This error had been most disastrous in his country, and he hoped it would not be committed here. Railway competition never answered a beneficial purpose. Competition, like poverty, was the mother of invention, and when things came to the lowest ebb, the remedy was in amalgamation. In no in ' stance had occurred that amalgamation bad not reduced charges. Mr. Stephenson then referred generally to the expense of working short lines, and the necessity of Win ' [(Wishing them by amalgamation, and mentioned an in stance where, including 'water communications, there are five competing lines. The result from competition was that they had laid their heads together and raised tolls to the highest; but here, where there was no competition. nothing was to be done but to develop our resources, and make the profits highest. Mr. Stephenson then referred to foreign countries. First of all to Belgium, which had employed one or two men to lay out the country, so as to obtain the greatest amount of accommodation with the least expenditure of money. The speed obtained was not perhaps so great as that obtained in England ; but it will bear comparison with that in any other country. The minor points of the country were filled up according to the original design, and all conducted with economy. la France no lines were allowed to be made unless they were called for, and made part of a great system. France was slow but more favourable comparison with Great Britain, fur there competition had marred the whole scheme. Swite gerlaud was a collection of I cantons, each preferring its owu interests as to gunge and building without reference to the whole. They decided to send to England for an engineer to design for them a network of railways, and he (Mr. Stevenson) had had the h onour to be called in, and had assisted in designing their railways from end to end, aad capital was now flowing in, satisfied because there were no rival lines, and there was no doubt of their com pletion. Ile then said that Canadians wanted English capital, and advised them to be guarded in the system they should adopt, especially in regard to reckless competition. He would for himself hesitate to recommend to his friends in England to invest their money in railways here, if ma less competition were allowed, for nothing but loss and