The Express. — London, England, 1846-11-06 00:00:00

: I 1 .1 1 1, I I 1 1 1 1 I 0 i 1 I i I I I , 'fli t , 1 t i 1 1 P I it i ll 1 II I 1 it i ‘ 1 i t,. ADVERTISEMENTS for the DAILY NEWS are recelred at Mr. DEACON'S oeneral Ativerdidas owe, 21. lbrOOk, at pre, tatty the saute charges as at the aloe of the paper. THEATRE ROYAL COVENT GARDEN.- M. JULLIEN'S ANNUAL SF.RIIIS of CONCERTS. —Moat positively tor one month mil,.—M. Jullieu has the honour to announce that his New grand descriptive Military Quadrille, THE BRITISH AUMT, will be performed for the fifth time, THIS EVENING ( Fri da y. November 6). In order to render complete the grand and novel effects Mtrodured la this piece of muss, M. Italics halt (by the kind ocmdememion of the Military Authorities) aaeeee4ed in engaging (entirely in addition to his own complete and numerous Orchestra), FOUR DISTINCT MILITARY RANDS, which will, during the progress of the Quadrille, be combined with the Concert Orchestra, and form a musical ensemble at once novel and ex t ra ordinary. The whole conducted by M Althea. The programme for this evening will also include a Solo on the Flute be Mr. Richardson: a Carmine from "La Niche," sung by Was Birch ; a Duo Copoertente, hr Voice and Cornet-I-Pistons, by Mier Birch and Herr Kainlg ; a Duct for Violin and Violoncello, by Mr. Collin and Mr. G. Colbas : the Comic American Polka ; he., kc. Commence at Right, terminate before Eleven. The last concert will take place on Saturday, Nov. IS, and the season be terminated on Monday, Nov. 30, be • ORAND SEAL MASQUE. he eporto. MAILS. The mils for Comma. Vigo Oporto. Lisbon. Madeira, Cadiz, and Gibraltar, will be made up on the morning of the ith November (to. mo: row). 11,c overland closed mails, tie Marseilles, to the Mediterranean, Egypt. Aden, Ceylon, India, Ilong-Kong, Be., will be mule up on the evening of the 7th November (to-morrow). The mail. for British North America, Bermuda. and the United States, will be made up on the evening of the Inth November. Tim overl•ind wails fur Gibraltar. Malta, Orrery, the lonian Islands, Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, Hong-Kong, and China, via Southampton, will he made up on the morning of the 201 h November. TO CORRESPONDENTS. We cannot notice, In say war, any somtnunication that Is lent to us anonymously ; but those who choose to address nein confidence wilt end their conedence respected. N EMI ER CAN WE UNDERTAKE TO RETURN ANY MANUSCRIPTS WHATEVER. as rant intended for The Exprese, London mo tion. paper, rand be at the Office by Two o'clock on the day at pu HIGH WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE. rats Day. —Morning, 23 min. past 3; Afternoon, 42 min. put 3. 10•11ozzow.—Mornthg, 1 min. past 4; Afternoon, 21 attn. peel 4. LONDON, FRIDAY, NOV. 6. THE gravest economical questions seem to have become the chosen topics of popular discussion. Nor is this surprising, for the recent anti-corn law agitation has so familiarised the public mind with sound economical principles, that the or dinary newspaper reader is better qualified to consider such subjects, than nineteenths of the politically educated class were ten years ago. As a direct result of that agitation, too, there has arisen a very general desire to lessen the cost of the conveyance of landed property. We say direct re sult, because one of the most important recommen dations of the Committee of the House of Lords, appointed last session to inquire into " the burthens on land," was that the costs of the transfer of landed property ought to be diminished. This practically involves the whole question of our real property law. To render conveyances cheap, the law must be simplified, and many of the most rooted preju dices of our landed proprietors and our lawyers must be eradicated. This it is which causes so much dif ficulty in every step taken to reform the law of real property. Changes arc proposed, which per se l i the proprietors of land admit to be useful, but they drag after them measures eminently t. dis tasteful to the same class of proprietors. In calculating the amount of resistance to change offered, too much has been attributed to the lawyers, and far too little to the landowners. The fact is, that the recommendations of the real property commis sioners, most of them eminent lawyers, which have been before the public and the legislature for many years, have never been adopted. A few of their suggestions have, during the last twelve years, been made the subject of distinct acts of parliament for simplifying titles and lessening the intricacy and costs of conveyances. This, so far as it has gone, proved benef.cial, but the subject is one which, above all others, requires to be dealt with by large and comprehensive measures. Piece-meal legis lation with respect to it, is to be deprecated, not only as ii,sufficient, but as courting and strength ening opposition. An objection to a particular change is often unanswerable so long as other parts of the system arc t) remain unchanged, and nineteen twentieths of the controversies which have raged _ . upon this subject have been caused by the hesitation of the advocates of improvement to follow out their own suggestions to their legitimate consequences. There is now a controversy going on in the news papers, which forcibly illustrates the truth of these observations. Mr. STEWART, it commissioner under an act fur enfranchising copyholds, who was by pro fession a conveyancer, and who, when in parliament, introduced some partial measures for the reform of real property, has addressed two public letters "to the members of agricultural societies and others in terested in land," wherein he calls upon the owners of landed property to come forward and concur in changes he proposes, as essential to their own interests. He begins with the observation that, as we have free trade in the produce of land, we ought also to have free trade in land itself,—meaning, that the exclusive advantages which landowners had attempted to secure to themselves by restricting the trade in corn having passed away, they should no longer suffer themselves to be embarrassed in their dealings with their property by the expense and delay caused by the intricacies of the law of real property. Ilethen proceeds to show, in language somewhat inflated and metapho rical, that most of the complexities of our real property law are to be traced to the feudal system. This assertion is to some extent, but not entirely, true. The form, perhaps, more than the substance, of our real property law is derived from feudal tenure, and from the devices which successive ages have made to escape from its 'rigours. The real difficulty in the way of improvement is, that ideas, the offspring of fcudality, form part and parcel of the landowning mind. Territorial influence is that which it was an object of the feudal system to secure to the lords of the soil, and in utter forgetfulness of the real state of modern society, our present landowners still cling to the same idea. The practical effect is, that most of the large landed estates of this country are, as com pared with what they might be, little better than wastes; producing insufficient employment for la bourers, scarcely anything worthy the name of profit to farmers, and but low rents to their owners. This arises from two causes, anxiety to retain the nominal ownership of a large area, though the substance may be in the hands of mortgagees ; and an unwillingness to grant such complete possession to occupying tenants, as will induce men of enterprise and capital to cultivate their land in the best manner. Mr. STEWART, therefore,properly enough,addresses his letters to members of agricultural societies and others interested in land, though he shrinks, as we shall presently show, from suggesting all that is requi site for the development of his own views. Mr. STEWART says that if the present rules of con veyancing "are strictly carried out, they render many small interests in land absolutely unsaleable ;" the consequence is, that titles to small properties are, in a great measure, taken on trust a position which nobody, who has seen the stringent conditions as to title on which real property is now commonly offered for sale, will deny. The objects he proposes to attain are these : 1. Simplicity and uniformity of tenure ; 2. Easy, cheap, and expeditious modes of transfer ; 3. Shorter and more simple deeds; 4. Greater cer tainty as to time in completing the sale and mortgage of land; 5. Some mode of shortening inquiry as to title. And his suggestions for obtaining such objects are threefold: 1. A general map of the country ; 2. A general registry of titles ; 3. A consideration of the whole subject by disinterested persons appointed by the Government. Now, each and all of these suggestions are clearly indispensable to an effective reformation of the law of real property. But are they alone sufficient ? And until the subject has undergone more public discus sion, are the parties most interested, the owners of • land, prepared to adopt these, which may be termeil preliminary measures? Both questions, we fear, must be answered in the negative. The Real Pro perty Commissioners long ago recommended a geuerdl registry of titles, bat the landowners have hitherto strongly objected to that which would be a disclosure of the great extent to which their properties are in. cumbered. A registry of titles, without a general map and survey, by which every house and field should be numbered and identified, would be only an imperfect measure. With it, there is no reason why some, and ultimately all real property, might not be as easily transferred as Bank Stock or Consols. The property which migkt immediately be so transferred, is that which belongs absolutely to an indi vidual. Even now, such a transfer could be made, independently of stamp duty, at no great ex pense. A very small proportion, however, of the land of this country is in the possession of abso lute owners; and we believe that one-half or two thirds of it is subject to family settlements, which, so long as they exist, entirely preclude short titles. And it is on these points that Mr. STEWART'S critics take their stand. For instance, the correspondent of a daily paper, who signs himself " A Conveyancer," and whose arguments are reiterated in a weekly jour nal, says : "The true causes of the infrequency of alienation in this country, it is soMnitted, are—lst, the practice of locking up estates in settlement, which tipper to most of the large estates in the kingdom; and, 2ndly, the strong disinclination ishklt exists on the part of landowners in general to part with an acre of their inheritance. 11 is a well-known feet, that a *UM will encumber his ' , genie to the last farthing of its value, and actually starre upon it, before he will permit a particle of it to go into the market." This is certainly true, though theassertion by which it is followed, that the costs of conveyance do not re tard or prohibit the free sale and disposition of land in this country, is, as regards small properties, quite untrue. And the same writer adds: " If landed proprietors would be Reigned with a simple ownership In fee, the treader of land might be effected as .imply and perhaps more cooreniently than a transfer of stock ; but if they are determined to adopt a more ;now, .stive policy, they must submit to entail on themselves and their pew erity the necessary comioquences of such a course. It will be apparent, from what has been said, that as the inordinate length to which conveyances of real estate are sometimes extended, is occaaioned not by the specific effect of the form of trans fer, but by the number and intricacy of the intertsta involved, the same result may be appieabla to dealings with personal estate. We find therefore that in dispositions of personal estate, where varied or partial intercats arc created or dealt with, there is precisely the same necessity for lengthy and intricate assurances as in cares of real estate." And he then refers to the fact that the custom of requiring a sixty years' title to an estate does not depend upon any limitation by statute, but because that period is assumed to be the ordinary duration of human life. Now take the case of a person who is tenant for life of an estate under a settlement by which a great variety of subsequent limitations may have been made, and who has enjoyed the estate for forty or fifty years, how is the title to the entire interest in the property to be ascertained except by going back to the period when tie settlement was made ? The most simple method of transfer, to be obtained by the aid of a public survey and a registry of titles, could not render the transfer of such a property a simple affair. To show how much more the customs of our land owners tend to the prevention of sales of land, than the law of real property, it may be mentioned that by law land cannot be rendered inalienable longer than for a life or lives in being, and twenty-one years and a few months afterwards, that is, until some person defined but unborn at the time of the settlement attains the age of twenty-one years. But practically, the estates are inalienable for many generations, and in this way : an estate is settled on the marriage of its possessor, who takes under the settlement an in terest in the property for his own life ; after his death the estate is secured to the first son of the marriage, who, should he survive his father without having joined in any re-settlement of the estate, would become tenant in tail, and might, by a peculiar legal process, obtain an absolute estate. During the life of his father he can do nothing which will affect the estate in the event of his dying in his father's lifetime. But the father and son together, the son being 21, can defeat the settlement, and acquire or convey to others an abso lute interest in the property. Of course the two may sell the estate, and deal as they please with the pur chase money. But practically they deal with it to re-settle it ; that is to render it inalienable until the unborn son of the son attains twenty-one. And as most of our landed proprietors marry early in life, the majority of large estates will be found to be in pea , session of a tenant for life, who will be succeeded by a tenant for life, to be followed by an infant tenant in tail. And a variety of motives, besides family pride, are constantly impelling landed proprietors to re-settle their estates. The tenant for life, whose son has just attained twenty-one, may have large debts, on which, being only tenant for life, he is paying high interest and heavy life insurances ; or he may desire to charge the estate with provisions for his younger children ; in either case he has a strong motive for joining his son in a re-settlement and re-arrangement of the property, . . in the course of which he gets his debts or his younger children's portions provided for by a charge on the property. Again, the eon has usually motives which influence him to consent both to the re-settlement and the charg ing of the estate. If a respectable youth, he probably l i desires to marry, or enter into political life, or for some other reason to obtain the immediate means of supporting an independent establishment ; if a roue, he may have gaming debts, race-horses, and other items of luxury to provide for, and, in either case, will con sent to re-settle the estate upon any terms. And each successive generation is more strongly impelled to this than the preceding one, inasmuch as, on each re settlement of the estate, additional charges are im posed upon it, and thus, on every devolution the actual possessor is poorer than his predecessors. This is the practical operation of the law of real property in the hands of our landed aristocracy. When, therefore, Mr. STEWART says, as he does in his second letter— " It peraon choose to entail their lands, I do not see why they .hould not be allovred to do so, provided every tenant in tall may cut off the entail at 21. This to now the law in this country, and I we no maws for altering it," _ _ _ he altogether evades the main obstacle to the ready and frequent transmission of land by sale in this country. We have thus placed in juxtaposition the statements of the advocate of reform in conveyancing, and those of one of his opponents who speaks the language of the rest ; and it is impossible, on a comparison of the two, not to see that the difficulties lie deeply rooted in the social habits and prejudices of our landholders. We do not, however, despair of improvement. On the con trary, we believe that a full investigation of the sub ject will go far to remove the prejudices which are impediments to the transfer, division, and diffusion of landed property ; and that landowners will soon accept as beneficial to themselves, a general registry of titles, and a general map and survey, as the means of ulti mately giving simplicity to the tenure and transfer of land. SCARCELY a day passes but our columns are occupied with the details of cases of poisoning, in which the poisonous agents have been employed for murder or suicide, or have been taken by mistake. In most of these cases, we think it will be found that some precaution in the sale of the drug, or ordinary knowledge on the part of the vendor, would have prevented the fatal issue. A short time since we called attention to the poisoning canes at Ilappisburgh, in Norfolk, and recommended that if arsenic must be sold at all, it should be mixed with some re-agent that would lead to its detection by its colour. Since this tragedy closed, another, no less shocking, has been perpetrated by the same agent, at Clavering, in Essex, proving that the facility with which arsenic may be obtained at druggists' shops in the countryhas been one of the great means of producing these casual ties. It appears, however, from a recent case, that although druggists may be careful in the sale of arsenic, yet they will sell compounds of whose composition they are ignorant, and which contain this ingredient. A few days since a gentleman went into a chemist's shop, in the Strand, and asked for some arsenic, to destroy rats. The chemist replied THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBEA 0, 1846. that he had none, bat recommended; Butler's Gloucestershire Vermin and Insect Biller, stating that - it would not poison human beings. The gentleman bought the " vermin killer," took it,' and was poisoned. The surgeon, on examining the compound, found that it contained arsenic, and yet the chemist stated at the inquest that it is advertised as free from any sub stance that would destroy human life. Surely such a proceeding ought not to be' tolerated, as that a baneful poison should be adverti;ed, and recom mended as innocuous to human beings. Secret preparations of any kind should not be permitted to be sold in shops on the mere assertion of the pro prietor, that they are not poisons. In this MSC the poison acted directly, and was taken with that intent ; but in how many cases are these secret preparations sold as medicines, and the person taking them is only poisoned after a lengthened course, during a period perhaps of many months. But there is another class of these cases, where destruction of life is not contem plated, and where poisonous compounds have been sold "by mistake." In the Eziwess of Saturday is a case which occurred at Huddersfield, in which several persons were nearly destroyed by having the tartarised antimony sold to them instead of cream of tartar. We do not I pretend to say where the blame lies in this case, whether in the person who sold the cream of tartar, or in the druggist who supplied her with it; but that gross ignorance and culpable neglect exists some where, there can be no doubt. If it be proved to be the former, the necessity will at once be seen for pre venting, in some manner, the sale of poisons by igno rant persons; and if the latter, then punishment ought to follow. Another case of poisoning "by mistake," will be found in the Daily News of Thursday last. In this instance a young lady applies for some tinc ture of rhubarb ; an ignorant or careless apprentice gives her the tincture of opium—laudanum--by mis take, and the consequence was that she was poisoned. These things, we think, prove the necessity, not only for some regulation by which competent persoas alone should be allowed to sell poisons, but also that some punishment should be inflicted for the great careless ness which these cases exhibit. Whilst these things are going on in our own country without let or hindrance, France has been revising her already, to a great extent, efficient code of laws upon this subject. In France, no person who has not received his license to practise as a pharmacien , or druggist, is allowed to mix up poisonous medicines, and then only on the prescription of a recognised phy sician or surgeon ; and all persons dealing in poisonous substances used in arts and manufactures, are obli4ed to make a declaration before the mayor of the com mune in which their place of business is situated. The sellers of poisons are also compelled to place their name and address on all substance, of this na ture sold by them. These plans seem to us to be simple, and calculated to meet the evils of which we have recently had so much cause to complain in this I country. In a report accompanying the recent ordonnances in France on this subject, the propriety of suppressing altogether the sale of some poisons is discussed, — Uat even with regard to arsenic, the least useful and most deadly of them all, the reporters do not feel at present justified in recommending the suppression of its use altogether, although for many purposes they think it might be dispensed with. We think, however, that the entire suppression of the legal sale of any poison might lead to an illicit sale of it, which would, in the end, be productive of more injurious results than the present do-nothing system in our own country. Oun accounts from Mexico by the West Indian mail by no means chime in with the note of triumph chaunted by the American journals. They represent the s'tuation of General TAYLOR as critical in the extreme, and the circumstances of the late struggle in Monterey to be such as to encourage the Mexicans to fresh resistance, instead, as was intended, of frighten ing them into instant submission. Hitherto it seemed equally unaccountable, how General TAYLOR could have granted such favourable conditions, or how General AMPUDIA, in a position to command them, listened to terms at all. It now appears that the American army had completely exhausted its ammu nition, and would have been unable to force:Am re- DtA's position, had he kept it. The Mexican General thought he had gained every point by his obstinate resistance, by the loss he had inflicted on the foe, by the confidence thereby restored to his troops, and by the liberty which the armistice held out to him of retiring to Saltillo, a place of far more strength than Monterey, more near to succour, and much more favourably placed for cutting off_the supplies of besiegers than Monterey. SANTA ANNA had marched to the support of 'Aw- PI:DIA, and there is little doubt, that if, on learning the true state of things, he avoided a general action, and restricted his efforts to cutting off supplies and harassing the enemy, whilst AMPUDIA held out in Saltillo, the position of General TAYLOR'S"force would be extremely critical. The order ',given to that general to live on the country, and pay for no supplies, would of itself have converted the coun try into a waste. The peasantry would instantly have driven away their cattle, carried away their ears of maize, and, after placing both in safety, have returned to act as guerillas on the flanks and com munications of the enemy. Any advance of General TAYLOR Up the gorges, and across the high level of the fertile land, was considered as utterly imprac ticable and insane ; and, indeed, his whole plan of advance to Monterey ought to be a profitless blunder, if the Mexicans continue to show the same hardihood as at Monterey, and if SANTA ANNA be as staunch as AMPCDIA. The impression continues to prevail in Paris that the embarrassments which have collected around the Guizot Cabinet are so many, and so complicated, that it cannot survive the opening of the next session of the Chambers, if it can endure even so ling. It is well known that M. Guizot himself, notwithstanding his eminent parliamentary talents and high political pretensions. is personally unpopular with every sec tion of the Chamber. His majority hitherto has been kept together by the guarantee for the maintenance of peace which the English alliance enabled him to offer. That large body composed of individuals from various political parties who are sensible of the best benefits arising to France from the development of her resources, the extension of her commerce, and the advancement of her industrial arts, were constantly lulled with the charm of the entente cordiale which the Minister of Foreign Affairs so adroitly repeated in their ears. It is now asked on every hana how they will reconcile themselves to the cessation of this cuckoo note of peace ? With what patience will they regard the minister who formerly extolling this charm, has so wantonly broken the spell? How will they reconcile themselves to a cabinet, at the head of which is placed a lay figure, distinguished only by recollections of the past, and having for its de facto president, the minister who has just deprived the centres of their main ground of confidence. " It must be acknowledged to the honour of the existing majority in the Chambers," says La France, " thst it is not M. Guizot whom it supports, but the security for the main tenance of peace which he offers in the English alliance. These guarantees once destroyedby the ultra dynastic conpde tile of the Montpensier marriage, the parliamentary majority will be again seized with its fears well or ill founded. It will no longer be bound by any kind of tie to the Conserva tive ministry. The Minister of Foreign Affairs has lost its confidence, as M. Guizot has long ago lost all its affections." The most widely circulating of the French journals, and that which consequently speaks the sentiments of the largest number, the StOck, gave on 'Wednesday the following remarkable leading article : Our Government, during the time it has been in power, his bad relations with a certain number of foreign States— with England, Spain, and Portugal, which were parties to the quadruple alliance ; with Italy, by the occupation of Ancona; with Belgium, occasioned by the revolution in that country; with the United Staten, which claimed from it a debt of twenty-five millions ; with Mexico and Buenos Ayres, in the interest, of the French merchants there; with Morocco, on the subject of Abd-el•Kader ; with the Pacha of Egypt, respecting the occupation of Stria; with the Sultan, respecting the Christians in the Lebanon. Unfor tunately, an these relations have been attended with injury, b e tintained with humiliation, and danger, and it may every appearance of reason, that the Sta.'es towards which it now stands in the most: favourable positism are pre cisely those with which it has had no relation.. NYhcrever it has into reeled it has failed—wherever it has strug.deti it has been conquered. With Englanfl it has broken. Wh,Vier alter the counter revolution, Portugal will be its ally or its enemy, no one knows. Its Spanish policy has alienated Spain. In Italy it has seen the new Pope work reforms; and it has told him they are premature. In Belgium it has not dared to give effect to projects of political or commercial union. With the United States, after having denied the debt, it has been compelled to pay it. In Mexico the cap ture of St. Jean d'Ulloa, in Portugal, the entry of our ves sels into the Tagus, at Buenos Ayres the presence of our fleet, has brought no safety either to the interests df the country or its trade. In Mordaeo the victory of Isly has been a barren triumph. What our soldiers so complished, diplomacy has undone. In Egypt the govern ment has not been able to preserve the position which others i had given it. In the East it has given to the Catholics a weak and equivocal support. In a word, it is everywhere feeble and inefficient, and it is as ill off with its pretended allies of London, Madrid, Lisbon, Washington, Brussels, and Alexandria, as with the governments of St. Petersburg, Vienna, Berlin, and the rest which have held aloof from it. Well may it ex claim : peace on any terms—peace everywhere —peace fur ever. For how Lan it think without terror, of a maritime war, embroiled as it is with England, or of a con tinental war, detested as it is at Berlin, Vienna, and St. Petersburg, or of a war of principles, after having disap pointed the hopes of every people, frozen every national feeling, and separated again and again the cause of the go vernment Prom the cause of the country. - - The free-trade agitation goes on, and perhaps the best omen of its ultimate success is to be found in the efforts of its opponents. M. Bastiat, who aspires to the same lead in this question in France which Mr. Cobden assumed in England, lately replied to some of the arguments of the prohibitionists in a letter published in the Sieek. La Presse answered this letter on Wednesday, in a leading article of six columns. The King and Queen of the Belgians left Paris for Brussels in a special train by the Northern ltailwav on Tuesday morning, and the arrival of the Duke and Duchess of Montpensicr was expected on Wednesday evening. The Madrid mails of the 30th arrived in Paris on Wednesday afternoon, but brought no advises from Portugal later than the 24th ult. The intelligence from Spain is devoid of interest. The Senate and Congress were to have met on the 30th to hear the decree for dissolution read, which was to appear in the Gazette of the 31st. The rumours which had been in circulation of disturbances at Malaga and elsewhere, proved to be without foun dation. The progress of events in Switzerland, intelligence of which is received from day to day, indicates the ultimate success of the Liberal party, and the approaching decision of the Diet against the ultra- Montane league. This will, according to all present appearance, be effected without further violence or bloodshed. At Geneva, the Conservatives had hoped to shake the sentence passed by the people on the Place Nfolard, by means of objections upon points of form. The result of the election of the new Grand Council, however, has proved how vain was such an expectation. Of the total number of 9,000 electors, 6,511 voted, giving a majority of sixty-four members to the Democratic party, against 29 in the Grand Council. The council thus constituted has main tained the provisional government, and the results of the revolution are thus peaceably attained. At Basle, the aristocracy had yielded to the po pular wish, and a commission had been named to revise the constitution. The issue of the struggle in Friburg is not so certain. In this canton the Jesuits have had, hitherto, a majority. Nevertheless the district of Nlorat, where democracy and l'rotes tantism prevail, has resolved upon a revision of the constitution. Although, apparently, the Protestant party in the canton is a minority, it is contended that the population in general, when liberated from the control to which they are now submitted, will declare themselves in favour of the democratic party, and that the present apparent minority will be con verted into a majority. The geographical position of Friburg, in the midst of the most democratic cantons, will have a great influence on the events, and there is reason to hope that the approaching revolution there will, like that of Bisle, be accompanied by the peace able manifestation of public opinion without violence. FRANCE.—Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess de Montpensier arrived at Bordeaux on Saturday. They were received with acclamation by the entire population, and by the authorities with the usual formalities. A short time after their arrival, they received all the civil and military authorities, and in the evening the Prince gave a grand dinner to the principal public functionaries, and afterwards went with the Duchess to a ball given in honour of their arrival by the municipality and the merchants. The Journal (lea Pi/renters Orientales announces the arrest of twenty-one Carliat refugees from the interior, on the 28th ult., at Saillagnuse. This new capture consisted of a commissary of war first class, a colonel, twelve officers, captains and lieutenants, and four privates. ITALY.—TURIN, OCT, 26.—A letter of this date states that the marriage contact between tt-e Duke of Bor deaux and the Princess Theresa of Modena had been signed, and the marriage was to have been celebrated on the 30th ult. OCTOBER 20.—Letters from the north of Italy state that the hurricane of the 3rd October had caused great ravages. The little towns of Graviira and Maters %uttered considerably. Two er three hundred people are said to have perished, and the loss of cattle is immense. GERMANY.—BERLIN, Ocr. 28. The British ambassador at the court of Berlin, Lord Westmoreland, is said to be seriously indisposed since his return from Vienna. According to general report, his mission to Vienna, respect ing a union between the Austrian and English cabinets on the question of Spanish succession, proved a failure. The Abbe Ronge has presented a petition to the King of Prussia, for permission to preach. He has been ordered to leave Berlin immediately. Gnat activity is ma nifested at the Minister of the Interior's. Couriers are con stantly coming and going between Berlin, Vienna and St. Petersburg. The tone of the Universal Prussian Gazelle on the affairs of Spain is perhaps of more importance than has been ascribed to it, and incidents may occur altogether favourable to the views of England. It was but recently an nounced, ai)s a Nuremberg correspondent, that the cabinet of St. Petersburg had joined the English cabinet in its pro test against the Spanish marriages. This news has been confirmed. There was a report at Galacz that the Russians had suffered a severe defeat in the Caucasus. Our city has been the scene of a deplorable event, namely, the death of the eldest son of the Minister, Van Bodelschwingvelmede, who was killed in a duel with Mr. J—, brother of the well-known proprietor of an hotel. The cause of the duel is variously stated. The duellists went to Treptow, but when the deceased had received a severe wound, and lost much blood, they departed in another carriage. It was not till the day before yesterday that the erect became known, in consequence of the increased illness of the wounded man. Unhappily his wounds proved mortal, and he died yesterday, at the age of 23, to the great grief of his afflicted family. According to information that may be depended upon, the law for regulating the position of the Jews in the Prussian dominions, is to contain in many respects an extension of the existing laws. FRANKFORT.---In the assembly of the legislative body of the 10th ult., a proposition of the Senate was dis cussed, concerning the eighth conference relative to the custom duties. 'I he senate in presenting the protocol of the eighth general conference to sanction the resolutions of section 30, and referring to the protocol for the motives, expressed anew their regret that the tendency for establish ing protective duties had progressed, a tendency which was prejudicial to the interests of the commerce of the city of Frankfurt. Nevertheless, however inevitable were the concessions made to certain branches of industry, it is certain that they were, for the most part, made contrary to the desire and wish of some of the most influential northern states, members of the Zollverein. The Senate expressed a hope that Germany would soon under stand in its true light asystem which other states had already abandoned, or were on the point of doing so. The represen , wives of the city of Frankfort would in future employ all their efforts in the conferences to defend the principles of free trade, and to prevent too great concessions. The Senate proposed that the legislative body should give its assent to the resolutions contained in the protocol, section 30, of the general conference of the Customs. It is reported that several arrests have lately taken place in the Grand Duchy of Posen, in consequence of the investigation that has been made into the disturbances in Poland. The proceedings against the Poles, it is now said, will probably not begin at Berlin till the month of May or June nest year. GALICIA.—A new conspiracy has been discover,4 at \Vadowice, and some arrests have taken place in carse quence. TRIESTE, Ocr. 24.—1 n the ports of the Danube, and of the Black Sea vessels laden with grain arrive daily ; but owing to the considerable orders received from all o .. uarters, and the unusual high transport price, the price is consider ably increased. Distressing accounts nave beet, received from some districts in Hungary, owing to a far.ure in the harvest. In that of Treutchina the peasantry rre obliged to live upon roots dug out of the earth, and oth e r districts are menaced with famine. The most energeti c measures have been taken by the authorities to provide fa; the wants of the inhabitants. DENMARK. COPENHAGEN, OCT. 27. The Danish Government intends sendinz, , lortly, to the different powers interested, a document relati ..e to the affairs of &hloswisr and Holstein. THE NETHERLANDS.—THE HAGUE,Nov. Ditamito or TVA Lase Or Itasaux.—When the trial was made of the engin.' called the Leeghwater, all the parts move d with great veg,..laety, and the eleven pumps, at every stroke of the piton, raised 66 cubic metres of water, though every time such a mai of water was raised the engine was subject to a pressure of more than two hundred thousand kilogrammes, hardly any shock was felt in thcde vessel, and the only noise that was heard, was that made by the flowing off of the waters that were raised by the pumps. The number of strokes of :he piston was about seven in a minute. The water was raised to the height of 130 to MO metres. and the pressure of the steam in the boiler was from 30 to 3dlbs. English. If it should be neces sary in draining the Lake of Haarlem to raise the water from a greater depth, the force of the steam engine may be safely increased by 70Ibs. English, and by this means the celerity of the play of the pamps might perhaps be incre as ed. At pre sent, taking the operation as it was on the Ist of October, this steam engine is able to raise, deducting the loss, 450 cubic metres per minute, or 648,000 in twenty-four hours, which is about forty-five millions of ordinary pails ; the power of the engine may be estimated as equal to 300 horse power. Whatever be the quantity of coals employed to obtain so great a power, the expanse may always be dimi nished by the continuance of the operation. A former expe riment has already proved that no more than two ki!o grammes of coals per hour' was necessary to obtain one horsepower, whereas seven kilogrammes of coals were re quired for the old engine employed at the Zuidplay. Not withstanding the important saving of coals which the Leeghwater affords, the engine still requires 20 bushels of coals to obtain the result expected from it. SECOND CHAMBER OF THE STATES-GENERAL, Nov. 2.—The central section made its report on the project of law relative to the disposal of the surplus of the colonial revenue from 1845. The discussion of the project was fixed for to-morrow morning, at eleven o'clock THE HAVANNAH AND MEXICO. Captain Chappell, of the Royal Mail Steam-Packet Company, ha+ obligingly forwarded, for the inform.dion of our readers, the following letter from Captain Hag, of the steam-ship Thames. It communicates additional particu lars of the hurricane at Havannah. Royal Mail Steam-pacart Thames, Southampton, Nov. 4. Captain Chappell, lt.N.—Sir,— I have the happiness of reporting to you, fur the information of the Court of Directors, the e.fe arrival of this ship, after experiencing on the llth ult., in the hirbaur n Ila emnah, the most tremendous hurricane ever known there attended with a loos of shipping almost incredible in that beaut if u lly land locked toxin. It boo blown fresh ell the previous (key, and at aurate not liking the ap;earanee of the weather, I hot struck the main and misers topmastft and foreyard ; at midnight the second amebae was let get, and otherwise all was ready to proceed to sea at day light, it bring arranged that the mail boat was to leave the ship at 4 o'clock for the malls, but at that time the storm came on from N.E., and continued with a force beyond conception until 10.30 ; it then lulled, veered round to north, then west, and W.S.W., and blew most violently mail 4 r.a., afterwards gradually moderating, leaving such a scene of devastation as, thank God, seldom falls to the lot of any one to behold. The French frigate Androme)de, of 60 guns, Rear-Admiral La Mee, ashore, and top mast, gone be the rap; the corvette Blonde on shore, on her beam ends, totally disnmeed. The steamer Tonnerre at her anchor's, but diamusted and funnel gone. Several of the Spanish men of war not to be seen ; the harbour covered with all sorts of merchandise, and upset vessels, and along the wharf, instead of ship hulk not more than their lower masts to be seen above the water. At 7 A.m., the Thames drifted about half a cable', length, when MM.'s late .hip Romney, in sheering to a tremendous squall, stove our pinnace, but shortly afterwards, fortunately for us, that ship drove a goad cable's length, leaving us the weathermost ship in the harbour, and to this may be attributed our safety, for we were then enabled to veer, and by keeping an equal strain on both cables, held our own ; the barer meter at the height of the gale went down to 27.70, it was then absolutely Impossible to stand upon the deck. With the exception of the pinnace, the only loss sustained is that of the mail boat, which although moored . close under the stern with a stout hawser in addition to her painter broke adrift ; had she been at the quarter the Romney would have smashed her. The Tay left for Vera Cruz at 4 p.m. the previous thy, and must have been at loot 120 unites to the westward before the heaviest strength of the trale, and from the circumstance of a Bremen brig having arrived on the 12th from the westward without experiencing the MAC PO violently, I do not think the slightext fear may be entertained for her safety. The Lee sailed for Ilondurus on the sth. I delayed sailing from Ilavannah until the morning of the 13th at the urgent request of MM.'s Consul-General, and with the perfect concurrence (in smiting) of the Admiralty agent, to enable the merchants to add to their European correspondence. In this I feel satisfied that the Court of Directors will bear me out, the more so as we left Bermuda at the proper time. I herewith enclose a list of casualties to the shipping, and also the Ilavannah news ra p rof the 12th. 1 trust I shall lac ex cused in stating how much I had reoon to be pleased with the exer. Bona of every aftieer and man on board during the most anxious day of my life. 'there was much heavy and wet work in ranging every fathom of cable and getting the third anchor made for letting go; in all this every one most cheerfully lent a willing hand.—l am, sir, your obedient servant, PIItLIP lIAST, Captarn. 'Thee following details have also reached us : On Sunday, the 11th ult.. Ilavannah was visit& by the most violent hurricane ever remembered : it commenced in the evening, and continued to increase in fury until it reached its climax on the following day. The dam ago done is immense, both on the water and on shore. The mis chief to the shipping in that beautifully land-locked har- I hour proved most disastrous. Scarcely • vessel (and there happened to be an unusual number at anchor) escaped the dreadful havoc. A great number conk, and out of at least 120 sail, the Habenera, Spanish brig of war, the Royal Mail steam-ship Thames, the English brig William Rushton, of Liverpool, and two or three others, at the termination of the gale, were the only vessels rid• ing in safety. The immense sheers in the Navy-yard were blown down, the whole of the wharfs torn up and much injured, and entirely covered with wrecked property of every description. The city suffered cotnparatively little, but the suburbs, especially the Cerro, llorcon, Colon, and San Lazaro very much. In Regis, the damage done was frightful. Many houses were either unroofed, partially blown down, or utterly destroyed. The most melancholy addition to be made to this catalogue of casualties is the loss of life. The people ran everywhere for shelter; but even the strongest buildings quailed under the ruthless storm, and soon became total ruins. The total number of lives lost was not known when the Thames sailed. She left on the 13th, two (lays after the catastrophe, and such was the conful'on then prevailing, that it was next to impossible to arrive at exact corclusions us to the number of lives sacri ficed. Eleven corpses wire dug out of one house. Con sidering the great loss of shipping, many persons on board must have been drowned. The Theatre 'lawn has suffered a great dial; and the Theatre Principal it entirely in ruins. At the height of the hurricane the barometer was at 27 - 74. In 1844, on the occasion of another storm, it was 2.4 - 42. The following is from the Bermuda Gazette of the 20th of October : " HURRICANE OF TIIE 10TH OCTORER, AT HAVANNAII.— The rapid fall of the heroin ter and the general appear ance of the weather from ten a.m. of October 10th, at Ha vannab, led the inhabitants to apprehend a coming storm. At ten p.m. a terrible hurricane sLt in—the barometer, in English inches, being at that hour at 29 . 68, the thermo meter 80. The wind blowing in strong squalls from N.E. At midnight the barometer was 29.50. At four cm. of tht 11th, the barometer had fallen to 29 . 24, but the thermometer still stood at 80. At that hour the wind had veered from N.E. to N.N.E., and the squalls had become furious. At six a m. the barometer was 29•14, with the wind very violent and changing between N.E. and N.W. At nine cm., the barometer was 28 5, and the thermometer at 79. The wind by this time continued a hurricane until half-past ten. It displayed its greatest fury with the wind at north, with the barometer as low as 27.71. At eleven a.m., the wind was W.N.W., with hard squalls. At noon the barometer hail risen to 25.3.5. The wind was still blowing hard from N.W. and W.N.W., with repeated squalls from there quarters. At two p.m., the barometer had risen to 2S 91, with the wind at W.N.W. and W. At four p.m., the wind still blowing in squalls, and the barometer at 20.23, the thermometer again at SO. At fire p.m., the barometer was at 29.30." MEXICO, Seri. 26. On the 14th of this month Santa Anna arrived in the Capital, hut declined assuming the supreme power. His answer to the offer of the dictatorship is a well-written document., expressive of pure patriotism, but unfortunately no one believes his fine words. He has declared for the democratic party. The great impediment to every under taking, namely the total want of mancy, becomes every day more perceptible, and all that is done bears the stamp of insufficiency. General Ampudia with 6,000 men and thirty six cannon is said to be shut up in Monterey. We are told that General Taylor appeared before that city on the 19th of this mouth, and there are two opinions as to the result—one party hope for a valorous defence, and perhaps victory; the other, I among the number, believe that the garrison will surrender in a few day s. In this ease, the best part of the Mexican army would be lost, and only the portion under the immediate command of Santa Anna remain for the de fence of the country. Sept. 28th. This morning Santa Anna left the capital at the head cf 1,600 cavalry, 1000 infantry, and eight can non, and when the detachments now at San Luis Potosi and other smaller cities, shall have joined him, he veal have between 6,000 and 1,000 men under his command ; and this is indeed the last remains of an army in the country. The enemies of Santa Anna assert that he has already made a bargain with the United States, and will commence negociations for peace as noon as he arrives within a short distance of the enemy. I cannot believe it, for if he had had such intentions, he would have given orders to General Ampudia to retreat from Monterey, that this important por tion of the army might have been raved ; if he were to gain any, even the smallest, victory over the troops of the United States, I have no doubt he would be willing to conclude a peace as the only resource open to him. In the capital, as in all the country, the ultra-liberal party is dominant, and the elections for the next congress will be all decided in favour of that party. The people, that is to say, the masses, are utterly indifferent, and the middle and opulent classes, openly express a wish that the United States may soon conclude the cone ueet of Mexico, in order to establish peace and quietness in',.he country ; even the clergy incline to this opinion, they fr,ing threatened by the party now in power, with the loss of 'their property, and expect a guarautee for all they possess from the victorious Yankees. During the last few days they (the eleray) have been compelled to give security to the merchants for the forced loan to the amount of 2,600,000 dollars, and if things continue thus they will retain but a small portion of their former immense riches. The high ways are every where completely in the power of the robbers, and even in the cities the security for life and property is by no means great. The most daring robberies are committed daily, and many of the richest families talk of leaving the country. When Santa Anna demanded the loan of the two millions from the merchants, offering the guarantee of the clergy, he met with many difficulties, and on that occasion the official paper, El Diario del Gobierno, inserted some ob servations in one of its leaders, of which I enclose you a translation, which created great uneasiness, and I am told that Mr. Bankhead had made some very serious remonstrances against them. We are aware that California and Nuevo Mejico are finally annexed to the United States, and we daily expect to hear that Chi huahua has been also taken possession of. If the enemy continue its march and its proceedings with anything like vigour, they will meet with but little opposition, and mr.y have taken possession of the whole country by the midd`,. of December. In the beginning of October the Vosiiito gene- rally abates along the corer, and it u time Vera Crux an d T ampico will be t 41411 little trouble. -ugh This packet carries out letters of reargue new proof of the helplessness of the gneZ_l" mission has just been appointed to pres ent an ultimatum concernin g the English loao favourable to the proposals of th e ti nny .: l l. FaTISA has resigned the office of bliont e , Don Antonio Hato y Ternaries, the last roi during the late government of banns Anc a t i L 4 office. It is miserable dicount fficult to say more con cirniog th e have come to m y k ry. I b nowledge, and will ave mentioned the log tirm convicti o n th at nothing C an e :n of this country ; in a few snore yea rn, eneu, guage will cease to be h ear d in it. the S I The following is an extract fr om the Mario di Goternoof the 23rd Sept E m ber Immediately on the receipt of the tin— . patches from Genera! A m p u di a, which , lie d fore yesterday, and brought the news of t h e nth ' enemy's troops towards Monterey, General though in a had state of health, commenced with n getting the troops lying i n this capital on t h e t i;; as a garrison tor the city only the national not being i n possession of sum Genera l Santa Anna has co mpromitted hi s 0 , 1 credit in order to expedite the march of th e only sacrificing his health but his prop erty, 1 , 0 4 day more and more worthy of the title t i his country. This war, to which we have be e , is, on our nart, the most just, a n d on; the whole nation must rise in a 1314 4, must be taken from where it is t o t It will be well for the rich to follow th e „b 4 General Santa Annn, and by willingly tend, nue sures, not provoke the people, who know very-, they are to be found, to tall upon thctu and sst money, carry it to where our soldiers are. , above article we find that our wishes have be en e , eipated, and that the clergy have consented tn their possessions for two millions, that our capitini n chants will to-morrow come forward with 50000 nd ready to pay an equal sum within a fo rtnight, every month. We congrat u l ate oursetves th in having such worthy subjects, the more eo as le i winecd that but a slight blow is necessary to upon of our enemies, for all the late letters from the IC I combine in atating that that country cannot h moans carry on the oar." We have the strongest reasons for beli e upon the last of these statements little d A can be placed. RECENT VOLCANO IN TILE RED SEL—.. in the Red Sea, just bursting into action, as, the 14th August from on board the steamer on her upward voyage to Suez. The morniairof question was cloudy, and the atmosphere love, without anything to indicate the apprisek that FO speedily followed. About 10 am. this} vapour were seen to extend along the horizon fns f chart, steamer lB s when en i bw i y s h t "te . smoke.hanisa rolling was l e lsingularlyi g t7 . l 7 o o t , n fi se ld i n r ei'v s . -ta,ie;dlnib(or abreast long. d'2 l i t 4 h s s o 2 rd u o c e 6" tt e g i i g . 1 1 : 1141 : a: column from what is set down us Saddle Ith little more than three miles olf, the officas of ti observed a large mass of dense sulphunau.k4 taking the place of the vapour orieinally &skid and violent squall then burst upon them, slid their view. These phenomena are all cant.esnt istic of the usual concomitants of volcanic disturb structions have been given to have surveys takes, ful examination made all around, as nothing is I than that upheavals may have occurred mi been created, or that this may only he series of similar phenomena now in prospect geese. The Zeboyer Islands, and indehl part of the eminences along the shore of Arabi' I to well up the Red Sea, are of volcanic ori:ln. still so conspicuously marked with the chnetri recent volcano, is said to have been sera tad officers of the survey in 1632. Amongst the is believed to have emitted Harms about th mit tarry, and it still bears the name of the "Ilk c amongst the inhabitants of the adjoinlna shore. that this is not the herald of the resum non ...fa lions amongst the Red Sea and Arabian odes suvius had slept for a v-st lapse of deny; awoke to hury Herculaneum and Pompeii is Sodom and Gomorrah, the cities of the plain, Iti been engulfed in a volcano, which deermil valley at the bottom of which the Dead Sea am rello ruse from the plains of Mexico to the heM hundred feet in a single night. and it would bee ejectment fur those w ho have had the audah• cantonments and build a town in the say be crater of Cape Aden, were subkrransan seesci yet asleep, to resume its energy, and by one Mkt mouth project them high into the middle sir; a doubtless, as the faithful would regard it, for dui the Arabian shore.—Bombo y Times, Sept.3o. DE.sTRUCTION OF TIIE COTTON PLANS three or four months ago, we alluded to the nn had been committed on the cotton-plant in dap experimental farm at Dacca, by a slack, of mars now regret to mention that the some farm Ins tamed another visitation from the same formidi They commenced their ravages on the hnestp the middle of last month, and Lie roars though in a less degree, to the present live. they have done in a few data is rs present nishing, and now not more than sac-third oftte left on the plants. The weather had hem unshm which of the month, some heavy showers had fallen, vL ich ttm le e ß othfe3 p e h a n r t. p an rev e io aa us er to pre th y e ; at b t , s t eic , vi eL t is the effect of lessening their depred.stioos. Butt fortunate visitation more than half the ping informed, would have been in full bearing by: The insects appear to have confined their rail foreign varieties of cotton, pal ticularly the Amen extends over four-fifths of the land in ruiner Bourbon sort has also partially suffered—Cain Sept. S. Court. WINDSOR, TIII7RSDAY.—iterIieRT wal morning on the Eastern Terrace. llls to* Prince Albert, accompanied by the Earl :spec Byron, Sir Frederick Storin, and Cepunn the Gordon, enjoyed the sport of /hooting. Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Nal Alfred, the Prixcess Royal and the Prioress Abet usual pony exercise this manias. Tier Royal fl Princess Helena was also taken fur an airing. The I and Duchess of Bedford, and quis and Marchioness of Exeter, RR the Castle to Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of ( and the hereditary Grand Duke and Grand Mecklenburg Strelitz, risitvd her Royal II: Duchess of Gloucester yesterday, at Gloucotrr Serene Highness Prince Frederick of Hew also Royal Duchess yesterday. e M. Stratenus, the Netherlands Charg transacted busine-s yesterday at the Foreign O The Right lion. Edward Strutt, Earl Sir Edward Ryan, and Captain Brandreth, had with the Chancellor of the Exchcquerycsurday residence in Downing-street. The Attorney-General had an interview George Grey yesterday at the Home Office. Despatches were received yesterday at 1 Office from the Governors of the West India Col The Right Hon. 11. Eabouchere, Chid for Ireland, left town en Tuesday night for llut Lord and Lady Alan Churchill nrrin rance's Hotel, Upper Delgrave-street, yesterdzq Huntinglaw, Yorkshire. His Excellency the Earl of Elgin, ti appointed Governor-General of Canada, is mg hark for North America, to enter on the otfic that colony, early in the ensuing month, when t will be accompanied by his bride. A governmez it is thought, be placed at his Excellencr's di Admiralty. The Hon. Frederick Bruce has ja noble earl at Mivart's Hotel, from Scotland. TILE LATE MR. P. M. STEWART, M.P. tal remains of the above lamented gentleman w in the family vault at Invcrkip, Renfrewshire, day last. the funeral was conducted in the manner in accordance with the wish of the dcee APPROACHING MARRIAGES IN 111 We understand that it is arrant; marriage of his Excellency the Earl of El Goternor-General of Canada, and Lady Nt eldest daughter of the late Earl of Durhani , an , Earl Grey, is to be solemnised to-.norr ,w, Church, Eaton-square. The nuptials will rather privately, none but the immedii ,te families being invited to the wedding rkje , ne be given after the ceremony by the E art and We have to announce that all the prelirainai mined for a matrimonial alliance e tweeu Paget, eldest daughter of the Earl of Uxbridg, daughter of the Marquis of Ar ones, and brother, we believe, of Sir Sar ,dterd Grahau said that the nuptials will take place in the :a! , The marriage we 11111101121Cei some weeloble Beilby Richard Lawley, wn of Lord sa lock, and Lady Elizabeth Crrosvener, third da , Marquis and Marchioness of Westminster, is on the Ist of next mon' it. We learn that ceremony is not to be pe do nne d i o at Dishopsthorpe, the r ti k e , o f th e A te lhisho, Yorkshire, when the venerable Archbishop A large family circle Is anticipated to assembli interesting occasion., We do not hear %hat any day hasbeen definit for the marriage of the Marquis of Sligo and t Smythe, daugh . .er of Viscount Strangler& The Marton , . of Ailsa is on the eve of candy hymeneal altr.r Miss Jephson, daughter of hi Jrphson, Brat., and sister of the presrut nuptial rite: is to be performed in town, but tl has not transpired. We learn that the marriage of Miss Ilall, heiress of Sir Benjamin Hall, M.P., with Mr. son of Mr. Jones, the opulent banker at Mon take ;dace in the course of the ensuing week.. and Lady hall will give a succession of festi‘itit Vourt, near Abergavenny, in oelebratien of tb