The Express. — London, England, 1851-12-01 00:00:00

the •xlrefio. TO CORANS PON DENTS. • Pained Wilma of " ripre" . 0•11•1111•• •oo mom ' ,woo - Gowns," lo pobilohoi every toooday wad Milo oisfoo, gboo Syr Fa ahem..west, bawled kg • The Isprook • Loodos lloodoof rp, mom be o: the 411..5, IN llosoorio•otroot, VI Two ✓Vasil se as ay of paaan. mon WATER AT LONDON BRIDOE T_. 44w............akn0wb0w,N.11. Twarenow—limilia Y. 57•, ft Ma. LONDON, MONDAY, DECBDIBBR 1. Tile royal speech read at the opening of the sea lion of the Prussian parliament is so far satisfactory that it indicates the utmost limit of re-action as hay ing been reached, and bespeaks the wish of the go-' ventment rather to palliate its hitherto backward steps than to persevere in or extend them. The struggle in North Germany amongst that not soy numerous class which still retains interest and influence in the march of politics, the people having ! withdrawn altogether in despair and disgust, I is carried on between the violent aristocratic, reactionary part and the more moderate of the ri functionaes an d professional politicians, who would adhere to constitutional government, and who seek to win back the middle classes and the people to put I trust in it. Ruth parties admit the necessity of re- siding Austrian encroachment and Russian dictation. The more suitable perceive that this can be done but is one way, that of gaining some degree of consti tutional, liberal, and popular support; although it must, at the same time, be perceived, that this can not be proceeded with so far as to provoke the abso lutist lords of a million and a half of soldiers. The means and the extremes to which the aria' to cratic and reactionary party in North Germany pro peed to have recourse, are to abrogate all central ' assemblies and national suffrage, replacing them provincial estates and such a franchise as se make participation in elections to be a privilege. It has been now for some time feared that 31. MANtiter- IrEL himself had consented, or would be obliged to go this length ; and his resummoning some time since of thine provincial assemblies, to which the events and the constitution of the late years had put an end, cor roborattel the suspicion. Now, however, the central I parliament, as decreed by the last constitution, has been summoned. and, in the royal speech opening it, the provincial states are alluded to as temporary, and their deeps. as provisional. The events of Hanover have had a very great in fluence upon the conduct and the spirit of the Prue- Wan government. Those parties, which we have represented as struggling at Berlin for mastery, have bad an equally fierce strife in Hanover. Were, as in Prweaa, liberal men and tendencies had so far pre vailed, as to establish a central parliament, and to piney the administintion in the hands of a moderate and liberal constitutionalist party, headed by :snit:VV.. To this party King Easirsr gave his confidence, or at least his support. And one of the most important acts of this party was to conclude with Prussia the important convention of the 7th of September last, by which the am-ohm of Hanover to the Zollverein in 1841 was stipulated and concluded. It has been plainly seen, that Prussia, defeated by Austria and Itussia in its endeavours to found a poli tical and constitutional Germany of its own, has fallen busk upon its old project of knitting together and extending a commercial league. But of the pre sent Zollverein, the southern States, such as Bavaria as well as Saxony, are more in Austrian interests than in Prussiun, and Prussia was therefore threatened with either being left commercially isolated, or else absorbed in the overpowering vortex of the Austrian system. To avoid this, Prussia has sought the commercial alliance of Hanover, for which she was impend to lower some of her more exor bitant duties—Hanover, in return, raising its cum- owl to the Zollverein standard. The true aim of arch an accord between the two protestant, and, it was hoped, constitutional states of North Germany, was certainly political even more than commercial; and therefore the aristocratic party in Hanover have been strongly opposed to it, as they have been to &reeve. 'this Juuk.er-partei, as they are called, denounce the treaty of September 7, as they de nounced the constitution of PSIS, and insist on the restoration of the old political an well as fiscal sys tem. For the central parliament of Hanover they would substitute the old provincial states, and instead of an assembly sprung from popular and general repre sentutimi, tiny would nature the little feudal and local senates of landed nobler,. Such a counter-revo- lution as this has ahcady been accomplished in Meck lenburg, as it was hoped for in Berlin. King EKNENT, however, would not listen to these plans of reac tion. His aristocracy did not the less appeal to the Frankfort Diet, that assembly where Austrian inte rests and ideas dominate uncontrolled. The old King maintained his constitutional and North Ger man principles, ;dung with M. STRUVE, who repre sented ahem. Hut his blind successor, GEORGE THE Firm, has already declared his adhesion to the ultra-aristocratic party in Hanover, and to the Austrian mastery in tho Diet, by dismissing :-.TRUVE, and forming a new ministry under befiratii, who was under Wisiortioner, the leader of the ultra party , in the Lower Chamber of Hanover. Such a ministerial revolution and reaction in Hanover must prove a death-blow to Prussian hopes and a bar to Prussian efforts at national revival. It is scarcely to be wondertst that at the news the King of Ptiessf.i should have run away from the solemn duty of opening his purliament, in order to hasten to Han over and remonstrate with the new and blind King upon the first re-lectionary measure of his reign. How far the King of Pitessa's influence and ad vice may prevail, remains to be seen. Avert the political catastrophe he cannot. But whether he may not succeed in preserving intact the agreement of the 7th of September, is as yet doubtful. The demise of King Ensom of Hanover occurred too late to he alluded to in the royal speech, on opening the Prussian chambers. That speech in deed. iierserves a discreet and almost an obliged silence on the subject of foreign policy. Few of even the most ministerial Prussians would be forward to defend all that MANTEINFEL has done. His only excuse is stern necessity ; and that is as idle to discuss, as humiliating to lament. The Prussian finance's are represented as in a pros perous state. They are so, indeed, compared with those of ally other European country. A loan hail been contracted for by the minister, ON DER HEYDE. But the three or four millions, to which this loan amounts. are to be expended Ih.usa file in completing the railroad between Berlin and Konigsberg. It is • work, for military and commercial purposes, indis pensable, and it is rendered still more desirable to execute it at present as the harvest has failed in the provinces through which it passes ; and them pre vail much misery and want in consequence through out them, to the relief of which government is anxious to come. Alt event has just been announced in all the newspapers, which has probably escaped the atten tion of ninety-nine out of every hundred of readers, and yet has thrown into consternation one of our most celebrated towns, and carried dismay into the midst of one of our most time-honoured institutions. The Oxford class lists have been published, and it is discovered that not one man has distinguished him self sufficiently to be placed in the first class. The claws, arranged atter a somewhat Irish fashion, begin with the second, which follows no first. And yet this event, which is the subject of mournful com ment at every table in every hall in the university, falls seareelv heeded upon the ear of the great English public. Surely this circumstance must of itself be sufficient to administer some consola tion to the lions in the midst of their af fliction, as it tells them that they are as far off from the sympathies of the great mass el their countrymen WI they have always wished to be. It is sonic satisfaction fur them to know, that although they were battled at last in their long struggle against the union of Oxford and London by I means of a railway, this union has done nothing towards producing a communion of thought and action. No; the railway and the electric telegraph have done much, and will do more; but something more than the railway or the telegraph is wanted to create a sympathy between the soul of the world, and the small spirit that lurks amidst the medieval mummies of Oxford. To return, however, to the fact : Oxford has no first class. That is to say, one of the two great uni% er lilies which profess to be sufficient for the wants of the higher education existing amongst thirtain *daughter of allia* millions of people—for it is well known with what mother, the nodal contempt these universities look upon the few modern 1 has KW isasosi . to institutions which rejoice in the same name—one pi bill on reaorm•-` these two universities, conisected advantageously wit] 0 , -- mucli of the history of the country, reposing epos amaktat traditions, supported by the great aruitocrati- 1 ,.. Obi 61111.61, enjoying almost a monopoly of the edu- I fain of men intended for the church, and in the I 1 pleseesion of privileges which attract a majority of : ass, intended for the bar, and a large number , i a humus intended for higher branches of the ; 1 pied= at medicine, having irresponsible control 1 1 OWN andowments,—one of these universities these privileges, and others too numerous mention, is yet not able to attract men within its 1 i Zatoi Malls, or to hold out sufficient inducement to those within them to overcome the difficulties with which 1 it chooses to surround the admission to a first-class. • The fact cannot be paralleled in the history of any pub- 1 lk institution in the country that lays any claim to utility. Look at any society which embodies any thing of the spirit of the age. The British Associa- • tion increases in numbers and utility ; the : Queen's colleges in Ireland arc making head • against the most rabid opposition : associa tions of engineers and artists are flourishing . and 1 sending out new shoots ; the great cattle show is one 1 of the great events of every year, and new space 1 has just been appropriated to it ; institutions of all kinds arc making their claims felt by the public; but Oxford, which can reward its distinguished alumni with such solid pudding as it falls to the lot of no other corporation to be able to bestow, has no first class. Oxford, which frequently rewards its men for the labour of four years more liberally than the Admiralty or the War-office rewards its best i servants for thirty years service, can tempt no men into its first rinks. Can we be far wrong in assigning as the cause for such an anomaly the utter absence of everything real in the education at Oxford? Is it not evident that the best men,—those who would be able to dis tinguish themselves in any branch of learning,—are beginning to feel that there is something else to be done with the best four years of a man's life, than to employ it in the fabrication of Greek and Latin I, prose and verse, after certain models. We have the best reason for knowing that this feeling is upper most in the minds of numbers of men of the kind who would formerly have rushed to distinguish themselves in the class lists. They see that the world within the walls of the university is a dif fivent world entirely from the world without. They recognise that the great principles which are metamorphosing the world,—which arc introducing new elementsinto its government,—are precisely those which are banished from the consideration of students hi the university. They feel that to become distin guished in their Alina Mater they must shut their eyes upon what is parsing in the outer world. The effect of this is to disconnect them from the prevalent stmlies around them, and to cause them to under take the charge of their own education, both in phy sics and metaphysics—to depend, in fact, upon their own resources. The consequence of this is, that in Oxford at the present moment there are numbers of men of good intellect and the best intentions strug gling manfully, but unfortunately, and in many cases hopelessly, in the vast ocean of German thought, without pilot or rudder or skill to use one. Many of these are landed upon the barren shores of Panthe ism, or arc stranded upon the shoals of Atheism. They have undertaken a voyage without any of the necessary preparations; nna the result is too often disastrous. Any one well acquainted with Oxford will hear testimony to the truth of our description. And the great cause of the shortcoming is this— that Oxford has neither been faithful to its old tra ditions nor to its modern professions. It has been false to its old traditions, for all those traditions show that it obtained its fame and its privileges because it conferred on the students within its walls the best education which could be procured. If it encou raged, as did all the universities of the day, the study of Latin and Greek, it was because those two languages claimed a monopoly, not only of all the elegant, but all the useful literature of the world— because the whole miss, of scientific knowledge then known was contained in those two languages. The idea of cultivating these languages for their own sake,—of spending years in acquiring the mere power or writing correct Latin and Greek,—would have been scouted as ridiculous by the great masters of scholastic science. It was because these languages were the keys to open the doors of all then existing wisdom that they werecherished. But Oxford cherishes the keys for their own sakes, and has left off even pretending that these keys open the doors to many chambers of treasures. She has been false also to her modern professions. Beaten out of the field of learning, she has fallen back upon a vague claim to a general power of forming the character and modelling the mind. The customs, forms of society, and modes of thought prevalent at Oxford are supposed to be necessary forces in giving to youthful scions of English families the unmistakeable impress of the English gentleman. In carrying out this idea Oxford has failed most miserably. She 1 teaches nothing of the English literature, modern or i 1 ancient, which nfluences the minds of Englishmen, and forms the subject of discussion in the better classes of English society—she ignores all the won derful array of new forces which have been at work for the last quarter of a century, acting so powerfully, directly upon the physical constitution, and indirectly upon the mental constitution of the nation. She has thus been false to her duties in two ways. She has lost her connexion with the old or mediaeval world, and has failed to establish a connexion with the new. She has endeavoured to satisfy the curious inquiring into the validity of the title that she puts fordi as LM g oper instructress of English youth, by a Arte rial flourish on the amount of the influence she ezerte over the minds of our youth, and an assertion 'that she alone can induct pupils into a scientific knowledge of the mysteries of composition in two dead languages. To the first of her pretensions we lave &may replied, to the latter she replies herself —she los as first clam FRANCE. PARIS, SATURDAY EVININO. Revision is once more the order of the day. M. Jules Migeon, an old conservative, has laid the fol lowing proposition on the table of the Assembly. Considering Art. 111. of the constitution, which states t►at "When in the lest year of a legislature the National Assembly shall express a wish that the constitution should be modified, either wholly or partially, that revision shall be proceeded to in the following manner The. wish ex by the Assembly shall not be converted into a nitive resolution until after three consecutive delibera tions taken at a month's interval between each, and with three-fourths of the votes expressed. The number of voters must be at least .100. The assembly of revision shall only be named for three months. It cannot occupy itself except with the revision for which it has been convoked; but, nevertheless, in cue of urgent necessity, it may provide fur legislative necessities." Considering the numerous petitions which have been presented from every part of France—con sidering the recent and almost unanimous wish expressed by the Councils-eeneral—coosidering, lastly, the proposition presented on the 31st May last by a great number of repre sentatives, for the purpose of restoring to the nation the fall exercise of its sovereignty, we have the honour to pro pose to the Assembly to express its wish that the constitution should be revised. You may remember that the Assembly decided last session to refer all propositions of this nature to a special committee to be elected in the bureaux. The report must be presented to the Assembly within a month from the appointment of the commattee. Last night the Club of the Rue des Pveamides "held an important sittin g , t o di scuss the course to pursue on the revision of the constitution. M. de Broglie took the chair. M. I)aru was of opinion that they ought to come to an understanding on this sub ject with the legitimist party. Thi s opinion having been strenuously opposed by several members, M. I Daru leg the sitting. M. de Broglie then spoke in favour of a conciliatory attitude. The meeting then decided that the motion of M. Jules Nligeon shoWd be deposited in a committee-room of the Assembly, in order to receive the signatures of as many mem bers as possible. Strange to say the D'lnts is the only journal , which discusses this subject, grown now of such overwhelming importance. It contains an able article on the mischievous contradictions of the con stitution. and pronounces it completely impossible to regulate the relations of the great powers of the state with the existing charter. The constitution, it says, becomes worse the closer it is adhered to. The two powers have been brought to the verge of civil war without either having outatepped the rights assigned them by the constitution. According to it this ---- tliiiiiiZaiglZgiaef tha ...rennet Perrot, - el Na .tional. Guard of Paris; has resigned lie sciaillailt ig The mode • ned for this step is the dismissal of the head of his stag who has been replaced by M. Vie iissjor of the Ist legion, who was on duty when t printing establishment of Boole was pillaged. You may remember that this disgraceful riot, directed against the presses of the People, was the inauguration of the excesses of the reatitioaary partin 1848. committee on the Council of State's Bill has adopted to-day, by seven votes against six, the fol lowing wording of the second paragraph of the first article: "The President of the Republic shall be im peachable of high treason if he make use of his au thority to instigate (provoluer), to the violatieekof the 43th Article of the Constitution." M. de Broglie has undertaken a visit to the Birk° with the view to effect conciliation. Louis NaTo icon was willing to listen if the Responsibility Bill were adjourned. The Assembly, in its sitting of to-day, rammed the debate on the Lyons and Avignon Railway Bill. An amendment was morel by M. Lebeeuf, tending to secure compensation to the shareholders of the old company fur their confiscated caution-money, by an thortstng them to enjoy a preference in taking shares, and allowing them to pay in coupons of caution money. This amendment was rejected. A long debate ensued upon an amendment pro posed by M. Sain, in favour of a public adjudication and competition, instead of a direct concession of the line. This amendment was adopted•-by 360 votes against 186. M. Lacrosse proposed, in consequence, to add that the upset price should depend upon the propor tionality of the subvention from the treasury. This amendment was taken into consideration, and the debate was adjourned till Monday. The Assembly then proceeded to discuss the third reading of the Communal Electoral Bill. General Lamoricii'ar, president of the committee, explained that the present bill applied simply to the municipal elections. To regulate the franchise in regard to political and departmental elections, there would be separate bills brought in. M. Cremieux would take note of this new declaration. Lamoriciere replied that it was by no means new ; he had made the same announcement quite as categorically on the second reading. After this the house proceeded to the dis cussion of the articles. M Monet brought forward again his amendment to Article 9, which proposes to reduce from two years to one, the term of residence required for electors who have a domicile of adoption in the commune. This amendment was defended by M. do Laroehejaquekin, and opposed by M. de Vatimesnil. On being put to the vote it was rejected by 328 votes against 327. The Mountain voted. The sitting was suspended to verify without delay this division. The verification gave a majority of 321 against 320, against the amend ment. The same relative majority of one appeared, although the numbers were reduced in consequence of several members having neutralised their votes by a second ticket of a different colour. A fresh ballot was then demanded, and for that purpose the amend ment was moved again with the substitution of " year and a day " for " ono year." But this was rejected. M. Morin proposed eighteen months, which was also rejected. the paragraph of the committee was then adopted. The remainder of the sitting presented no interest. The extensive changes in the prefectures which I mentioned yesterday have spread consternation far and wide in the ranks of the Orleanists and legiti mists. It is understood that a second batch of dis missals will speedily follow, and that nothing but unreserved and zealous devotion to the principle of the President's re-election can secure any functionary in the quiet possession of his office. The most striking instance of the uncompromising spirit of Bonapartism which has dictated the dismissals is the case of M. Meunier, the prefect of the Cher. This gentleman is the brother-in-law of MM. Odilon and F. Barret. lie was appointed to a sub-pre fecture immediately after the revolution of 1830, was afterwards promoted to a prefecture, and has remained in office ever since. The recollection of the I services of MM. Barrot to the Elysee, aided by the active exertion of M. F. llarrot's personal influence, twice saved M. Meunier during the Baroche and Faucher ministries from the fate that has now over taken him. M. 0. Barrot is said to have been so much affected by the event that he was unequal to attend the Assembly yesterday. M F. Barrot re ' monstrated with M. Thorigny, who told him that the blow came from a higher quarter. The new prefects and sub-prefects, as may be supposed, owe their elevation to their proved or presumed devotion to the person and personal policy of the President. At the Bourse, the Five per Cents. fell 15c., and closed at 91.35 ; the Three per Ceuta. fell 5e., and closed at 56.35. SUNDAY EVZNTNO. Notwithstanding the sinister rumours that pre vailed, according to wont, on the eve of the Paris elections, these are proceeding to-day, amid the mast stagnant tranquillity, in a fog worthy of London. I have just returned from visiting the poll of the 2nd arrondissement, one of the wealthiest quarters of Paris. In the court-yard of the Maine I found a company of national guards, with their bayonets piled. Fusing into the interior I followed a solitary elector to the apartment where the juge de pail ordinarily holds its sittings. Here the votes were taken. I never saw anything so deserted. There was not a soul in the room but the electoral board, consisting of four persons seated at a table, and an individual, of more dignified preten sions, in a white neckcloth, whom I took to be the mayor. The elector advanced to the table and deli vered a card attesting his identity to the chairman of the board, distinguished from his colleagues by the red ribbon in his button-hole. The chairman read the I number 386, and the card was checked by one of the clerks. The elector then presented a folded ticket which the chairman took and dropped through a slit into a box about two feet square, place upon the table. The elector then retired. I was asked to vote, but, although I for good reasons declined, was permitted to look on unmolested at the operation. was struck with the ease with which you could read, the printed name of the candidate Devinck inside the ticket. The electors came up very slowly, not above thirty presenting themselves in the course of half an hour, between twelve and one o'clock. They were all well-dressed, respectable-looking people. The Arenement states that the votes of the army for the election of to-day are nearly all blank. The adoption of M. Sain's amendment upon the Lyons and Avignon Railway Rill completely upset the whole system of the scheme of the committee, which the government supported. In order to un derstand the present state of the question, it is neces sary to explain that, whereas the government pro posed to lease the line to a company for 99 years, with a state grant in aid of 60 millions francs, and a state guarantee of interest upon 30 millions besides, the resolution of the Assembly throws the lease open to competition, with the expectation of obtaining an offer more favourable to the state. M. Lacrosse, after this decision was come to, ob- served that it would be necessary for the Assembly to decide whether the competition should relate to the offer to accept a shorter lease, or a smaller govern ment grant, as it might otherwise be impossible to calculate the relative value of otters that companies might make. lie proposed that the term of 99 years should at all events stand, and that the reduced offers should relate to the amount of aid from the state. This point is to be decided on Monday. After the verification of the division of yesterday, in which Monet's amendment, substituting one year instead of two for the domicile of adoption, was only lost by one vote, the Abbe Coquerel, whose name was found on two cards of opposite colours, solemnly de clared at the tribune that he had only put one ticket into the ballot box, and that in favour of the amend ment. M. Rey, in whose name two blue cards and one white one was found, declared that he only put in one white one, that is, that he had voted for the amendment. Thus, .Monet's amendment, without these extraordinary adulterations of the ballot, would have been carried. At the sitting of 1; yramid 4 Club on Friday night, the Duke de Broglie declared against revision, in consequence of the President's last message. '4. Leo de Laborde presented yesterday a propo sition for returning to the legitimate monarchy; but 'l. Dupin refused to take it. It was reported last night that M. de Morncy would take the post of Minister of Foreign Affairs, biftisai taint Turgot would be made Commander ifi-Chier el the National Guard in place of General Perrot. General Lcevestine is officially named Superior Commandant of the Garde Nation . ale de la Seine. The official list of those who won prizes in tke gold ingot lottery has been published. The great prize of 16,0001. was won by a vine-dresser at floury, where the finest champaigne is grown. Only one spurious ticket claimed the prize, and that was so gross a forgery as to be instantly recognised. SPAIN. MADRID. Nov. 25. The Chamber of Deputies has, at the request of M. Bravo Murillo, granted leave to M. Moyano to bring in his motion for impeaching the ministers for the illegal indemnities accorded to the house of M. Bertran de Lis. ITALY. PI hIMONT. TURIN, Nov. 27. The Minister of Finance has presented a bill for a treaty of commerce and navigation with Austria. General Lamarmora, Minister of War, has replied to the interpellations of M. Brofferio. . TWO SICILIES. The rumour that the King of Naples was going to Vienna is not confirmed. Changes in the cabinet are talked of, owing to the expected retirement of the Marquis Fortunato, who is more than 80 years of age. Prince Satriono is said to be likely to succeed him. GERMANY. EXTINCTION OF ANOTHER CONSTITUTION. An ordinance of the Grand Duke, " given at Biebrich, Nov. 23," announces that the constitution of the duchy of Nassau, promulgated after the events of 1848, is abolished. fhe present assembly will bo replaced by two chambers. Ihe election will take place according to the Prussian law, and will hold good for six years. HANOVER. The subjects of King George V. have been again thrown into alarm; this time by an announce ment that his Majesty assumes personally the supreme command of the army. As the monarch is hopelessly blind, it is necessary . to state the sense in which this determination is understood in Germany. When the prince of a German state declares himself commander-in-chief of the armed force, he signifies that the army ceases to be placed under the authority of a responsible minister ; and it ceases to be within the action of constitutional government ; becomes a facile instrument in the, hands of the only individual in the state not respon-' sible to another for his conduct. In the unfortunate situation in which the king finds himself, the com mand of the army will now be exercised by his first aide-de-camp, or, more probably, by the camarilla which cannot fail to surround a prince reduced to see only through the eyes of othcrs. The disposition and employment of the troops, as well as all promo tions, arc now no longer under the direction of the Minister of War, who is thus stripped of bis most important prerogatives. THE EXPRESS, HONDA! DECEMBER 1, 1851. PRUSSIA. BERLIN, Nov. 27. At eleven o'clock this morning the members of both Chambers assembled in the white saloon, having previously attended divine service in the protestant and catholic churches, according to their several pc^- suasions. In the absence of his Majesty, who will not return from Hanover until to-morrow, the royal address was read by the Minister President, M. de Mantcuffel. It is as follows: Gentlemen, Deputies of the First and Second Chambers, —His Majesty the King, our most gracious monarch, is prevented, by the fulfilment of a high but painful duty, from welcoming you to-day at the commencement of your important labours. As his Majesty the late King of Hanover came to Berlin to attend the funeral obsequies of our sainted King Frede rick William 111., his Majesty our most gracious monarch could not refrain from giving a publ'c testimony of honest respect for the great virtues of that monarch, and of sym pathy felt by his Majesty for the painful loss that has fallen equally upon the royal house and people of Hanover, by personally attending the funeral of a high ally and friend of long years standing. His Majesty has therefore commissioned me, by a royal decree of the 24th instant, to open the sittings of the Chamber in his royal name, and to communicate to you at the same time certain matters respecting the proceedings of the government of his Majesty, and of the proposals which will shortly be laid before you. Those decrees emitted by the government of the king which have nut yet been sub mined to your examination, will at once be laid before you. The conscientious application of the means provided by the existing laws, and the growing sense of order and loyalty in all elutes of the population, has relieved the government of the king from the necessity of making use of the power to emit suck decrees, or to establish an ex ceptional system of government during the period which has elapsed since your last sitting. The budget for 18,52, which will as soon as possible be submitted to your constitutional decisions shows an un avoidable increase in the expenditure for the army. Whilst reserving future explanations en this subject, the government of the King is gratified to be able at once to declare, that the increashig revenue provides sufficient means for covering this increase in the expenditure, and that the general financial position of the coundly is most satisfactory. The Grand Exhibition in London of the Industrial Pro duce of the World, with which the government of the King gladly co-operated, has afforded the muse gratifying proof of the high degree of development attained in diverse direc :tfoes by our agricultural, industrial, and artistic classes. Between the government of the Kintt and the govern ments of the other states belonging to the Zollverein certain alterations of the common tariff have been agreed to, which refer chiefly to the removal of duties on foreign materials for manufactures, and the facilitation of the transit trade. An agreement h as also been made with the governments of Bavaria, Baden, Hesse (Grand Duchy), and Nassau, for a ' mutual moderation of the Rhine dues. In the certain ex portation of your consent, the government of the King has commenced to carry out both agreements. Like those measures, so will the treaty which the govern ment of the king concluded with the kingdom of Sardinia, exercise a most advantageous influence, while the treaty concluded on the 7th of September with the kindgom of Hanover, opens a hopeful future for the development of the Zollvcrein in all branches of production and trade. It is highly satisfactory to perceive that the most power ful voices in the north as in the south of Germany, have justly , acknowledged the value of a measure taken by Prus sia for the thoroughly understood interests of all, and it cannot be doubted that the begociations shortly to be com menced in the new formation of the Zollvereia, yid lead to a universally satisfactory result, and will therefore ap proximate the desired object of a customs union of all German states. The papers connected with all these affairs will be lai before you without delay for your constitutional deli berations. The convocation of the former provincial Diets as provi sional provincial representatives for the election of the dis trict commissioners,. rendered necessary by the law intro ducing a classified income tax, and for the preservation of their obligation as communal estates (kommunolstandiseke verpfliclaidtagen) has at the same time afforded the govern ment the opportunity of collating the opinions of assem blies especially qualified to judge of the practical relations which are concerned in the grave objections made to the in troduction of the communal laws (gemerruk ordnung). Very rich materials, the result of those deliberations, have been carefully employed in the projects of laws which will be laid before you in connexion with this subject. An unfavourable result of the harvest in some parts of the monarchy has to be deplored; fears founded upon this fact have been expressed in diverse proposals, which have been made to the government of the king. The govern ment has thought it its duty to avoid every interference with the freedom of trade and the rights of property as a path that increases instead of alleviating the evil, and it confides in the hope that the freedom of trade on the one hand, and the nice foresight of an intelligent people on the other hand, will render the assistance of government quite unnecessary. The government of the king reserves its explanations on several other proposals, until they shall be brought before the Chambers. Gentlemen His Majesty the king, our most gracious monarch, hes specially commissioned me, while expressicg his royal concern at not being able to greet you personally to-day, to express to you the confident expectations of his Majesty, that you will, on thi s occas i on, l a b our i n unison and fidelity to promote the well-being of the country, and the fulfilment of all those conditions under which alone the prosperous, powerful, and independent development of Prussia is possible. I hereby declare the sittings of the chambers opened. After three cheers for his Majesty the deputies proceeded to their several chambers. IN, Nov. 28. The English public h ave long BER been L accustomed to look upon Hassenpflug, the prime minister of the Elector of Hesse-Cassel, as a most improper charac ter, both morally and politically. He himself pro nounced sentence in has political character, by the scandalous measures which he adopted to carry out his evil designs against the constitution of the elec torate; his private character has suffered still longer, horn the stigma of ea accusation of forgery, which has been dragging its way slowly through the thou sand and one forms of a Prussian legal tribunal--it has lasted nearly three years. Many and very different views have been taken respecting this ease, the most lenient being that the offence of which Hassenpflug was accused was very general among the higher judicial and civil officials of the Prus sian crown. Those who took that view never dreamed of the terrible stigma they thereby cast upon a numerous body of highly intelligent and most holiest men. The judges at Greifswald, before whom the case has been so long, have at last pro nounced sentence on it, a sentence marking . their sense of the crime, and, at the same time, the impro bability of their ever having been guilty of a similar offence. On the 26th inst., the Court of Appeal at Oreifswald, after a discussion of five hours, found Hassenpflug guilty of forgery, and sentenced him to four months' imprisonment. Count ltittberg was'yesterday elected president, and Deputy Bruggemann was to-day chosen vice-pre sident in the first Chamber, by 110 votes, in opposi tion to Bethmann-Hollweg, the leader o f the new " old Prussian party," who received 52. The Kreitz- Zeitung remarks, with malicious satisfaction, that the whole of the Left voted fur Bethmann-Hollweg. Count Schwerin was chosen president of the Se cond Prussian Chamber to-day by 131 votes. For Count Arnim the votes amounted to as many as 120, the clear ma ity iu favour of Count Schwerin being 30. AUSTRIA. The Betas 7aluny contains tho following royal patent, touching the new 'Loll tariff, to be brought into operation on the Ist Feb., 1832 : We, Francis Joseph I.,hy God's grace Emperor of Austria, have, by the council of our ministry, found reason to intro duce a new general Austrian Zoll tariff, to which, fur im port and export transit, we give our high sanction, and order as follows :-1. The present law, from the Ist Feb., 1852, will come into operation in all the crown lands of the empire. 2. From the day when this new tariff begins, for the first year, a reduction of duties of 10 per cent. on the present tariff will take place on the most important of these articles of which the import has been hitherto forbid den; for webs, dresses, ornamental articles, fine and common metal wares, and jewellery. 3. For the first year the entrance duty on raw cotton is fixed at 1 gulden the soil ccntner, and fur raw cotton yarn at 8 guldens the roll centner ; after the expiration of this term the duties mentioned in the tariff wi❑ be first exacted. 4. Our Minister of Finance and Commerce is charged with the publication and execution of this ordinance. Vienna, Nov. 6, 1841. DENMARK AND THE DUCHIES. In the siting of the Danish Chambers of the :nth, the government were called upon by Mr. Kampman, to give some explanations of the political relations of the country. The prime minister answered that at the moment the government could give no explana tions with respect to foreign affairs. This declaration was very ill received by the Chamber. The former minister, Clausen, then spoke at length and with great effect against the delay. The minister of fo reig"n affairs justified the refusal of the government to enter into explanations, as negotiations on the sub jects alluded to were then pending. He warned the chambers against giving any credence to the asser tions of foreign journals which, he said, were on these matters very far front being correct. The programme of the Danish ministry is not yet (Nov. 28) made public; but all the papers give it to be understood that ministers have at last come to an agreement on this subject. It is said further that the former" Provincial" Estates are to be provi sionally- assembled in both the Duchies of Schleswig and Holstein; but that all persons compromised in the late insurrection are to be excluded from them. The re-establishment of the former administrative junction between Schleswig and Holstein is not to take place. The king claims full sovereign right over the two Duchies; and the Danish government is to demand of the Bund the annulment of the de cree of the 17th September, ISI6, with reference to the concessions then made to Schleswig. MALTA, Nov. 22. At half-past eleven, p.m., of the 12th inst., the Tagus, with the governor on board, tired a gun at sea, and shortly after entered the harbour. Captain Shone. R.A., the aide-de-camp, went off immediately with Mr. Leah, the assistant•seerctary to government, the aides of General Ellice, and other officials, to pay their respects, his excellency having decided on landing: on the following morning, at 10 o'clock, which he did with the customary ceremonies. On the 20th, at daybreak, Sir W. Parker and his fleet, standing towards the island, were announced from the signal turret of the palace, and during the day entered in the fol lowing order:—Queen, Trafalgar, Superb, Gauges, Indefa tigable, Terrible, Spiteful. l'ltcton, which was with the ships oft* port, parted company without entering, and pro ceeded to Corfu, where she will bo joined by the Modesto and Encounter, steam-frigate, in a few days, fur service among the islan ds. Ganges and Superb, ordered home, will probably quit the flag of the admiral in ten days, on their homeward route. Vengeance, accompanied by the Encounter, steam-frigate, which had been at Ale:amine, pending the railway misun derstanding, both arrived in Malta harbour on Friday The engineers had commenced their labour on the day prior to the ships leaving. LATEST FOREIGN EXCHANGES. PARIS, Nov. 29.—Five per Cents., 91f. 45e. Thrca per Cents., 56f. 60c. Bank Shares, 2,117 f. '6oc. MADRID, Nov. 25.—Three per Cents., 37 ; after Bolsa, 37 c. Four per Cents., 13i. Five per Cents., 16 ; after Bolsa, 164 c. Coupon', 84 • after Bolan, 81, c. Passives, 6 1-16; ar,er Bolsa, 6 1-16 c. Bunk of St. Ferdinand, 98; c. Exchange on London, 60..50 c. (By Eltetrie TOegraph.) VIENNA, Nov. 26.—Five per Cents., Nfkalliques, 914; Exchange on London, 12.38 ; on Path, 1311. BERLIN, Nov. 29.—Voluntary Loan, 1024. Na tional Debt, 89. Four-and-s-Half per Cents., Russia, —. Exchange on London, 6.23.; ditto Hamburg, 131; ; ditto St. Petersburg, 106 ; ditto Vienna, 191. HAMBURG, Nov. 29.—Three per Cents. Inte rior, 331. Russian Four-and-a-Half per Cents, 981. ANTWERP, Nov. 29.—Five per Cent. Metalliques, 724. Five per Cent. Ardoins, 13 11-16. Three per Cent.lnterieur, 33 9-16. Russian Four-and-a-Half per Cents.,—. Exchange on London, 23.15. Batasets,Nov. 29.—Belgian Five per Cents., 991 ; ditto Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 99,1; ditto Two and-a-Half per Cents., 491. Exchange on London, 25.15. FRANKFORT, Nov. 29.—Five per Cent. Nletalliques, 711. Three per Cent. Interior, —. Exchange on London, 1191 ; on Vienna, 94. AMSTERDAM, Nov. 28.—Five per Cent. Idaal liupes, 69. Two-and-a-Half per Cent. Belgians, Five per Cent. Ardoins, Vi 15-16. Three per Cents. Interior, 3.14. Russian Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 100 i. Two-and-a-Half per Cent. Integrals, 68i. Exchange on Loneon, 11.86. LORD JOHN RUSSELL'S REFORM BILL OP 1852. —The rumours continue to be quite as contradictory as ever. One report is, that the new reform bill will not be so much an extension of the suffrage as a granting of new members to certain towns and districts not represented at present. Another is that the parliamentary reform party has premised to support Lord John Russell's reform bill, provided it goes the length of household suffrage. The latest rumour is, that the ministerial pro gramme will embody a large scheme of financial reform. Taking into account the very great re duction in the price of commodities, Sir Charles Wood is to announce the intention of government to effect a very large reduction in the expenditure, in some departments to the extent of 25 per cent. The sav,ng thus effected will be devoted to the reduction of the tea duty, the paper and the advertisement duties, and other taxes on articles of general consumption, with a view to give an impulse to trade, and reduce the cost of living still further. As fur the income tax its renewal for three years will be proposed, with se veral considerable changes in the mode of assessment, the result of which will be to relieve the trading and proles sessional classes, but to reduce the r►te at which persons are liable to all incomes above 501.—Leeds Mercury. QUEEN'S COUNSEL ATTENDING NLlsTEtts.—The Attorney and Solicitor-General have given their opinion that Queen's Counsel cannot attend as advocates before Masters in Chancery.—Legal Obeerrer. A MODEL LODGING-HOUSE LI being fitted up by Mr. Sydney llerbert for as many of the unmarried la bourers of the parish of Wilton as may be disposed to take the benefit of it. The spot selected is in a very excellent situation, being in the centre of the borough. The house will be furnished with every convenience, and a house keeper will be provided. The meals will be at stated hours, and the dietary will be ample but ',lain, and each inmate will have a separate bed. A library will be attached, and as one of the curates of the parish church will reside in a part of the house he will occasionally deliver a lecture to the labourers. For all these advantages each labourer is to pay 4s. Id. a week only. Whether the result will equal the expectations of the right hon. gentleman cannot, of eoune, be foreseen; but of this there can be no question, that the project proceeds from the kindest and most benevolent nio tivea.—.l.hoisas Gazelle. THE CAPE AND THE KAFFIR WAR. LE'll'Elt TO TUB EPIToIt OF 111 K DAILY NIAV4. Sta,—ln the year 1830, the Colonial-office gays way at length to passive resistance. 'the " pledge,* by inducing the resignation of the unofficial mem bers of the council, had for some time brought the local government to a stand-still, and after an effort of many months' duration to convert the Cape into a penal settlement, the minister yielded, and the con vict ship set sail. But this obstinate and irritating struggle left in the minds of the colonists a conviction of their insecurity, and the impossibilityof relying on Lord Grey's promises or good intentions, and a deter mination to demand, in unmistakeable language, a change in the local government. Suddenly, how. ever, this impulse was checked by the denounce ment that the change was conccded,and an outline of a constitution was to be sent out for arrangement in the colony; and in May, 183'0, the Governor vve. claimed the fact, and proposed to act " in the spirit of such measures," by leaving to popular election the five vacant places in the legislative council, to which the duty of preparing the representative institutions was to be entrusted. Four seat,' in the council were thus filled; the governor nominating to the fifth, a gen ! tleman who was the Ilth, instead of the 3th, on the j electors' list, for which reason his nomination was objected to by the government secretary-.• But a , strong suspicion pervaded the public mind that Lord Grey's concession was not sincere, and that if the old [system of colonial office despotism with a sham coma , cal could be set going again, pretexts could be found for adjourning the promised constitution, and ulti- mately nullifying the boon. People remarked that 9 1 the new council was still a mere tool of government, which had seven votes in it out of eleven, while the official members were bound to vote fur authority, whether they approved or nut, according to tho secretary for government. Scarcely did the council proceed to business when the suspicions of the colonists were fully confirmed, by the presentatioa of' 14 bills by government, whose discussion was re solved on by the government majority. In vain did the four popular members protest against such a course; in vain was a most important memorial hastily signed at Cape Town to stop it ; in vain was time requested for the expression of public opinion, and even an adjournment of a few days prayed for. Yet it was notorious that the four members had been elected solely tor the purpose of preparing represen. tative institutions ; as had indeed been announced by their constituents and the press, and has been repeated since. It was notorious that the colony would have prevented by all possible means the resusci(ation of the power of the council, save for this single purposte. Finally, it was clear that the settlement of most im. portant colonial questions, which had been delayed so long already, might very well wait about six mouths longer for the meeting of a colonial parlia. ment, as not one of the fourteen bids pressed for a decision—not even the estimates—Lord Grey pos sessing, and having freely used, the right to dispose of the colonial revenue. The popular members saw, therefore, in the government measures-I- nothing but a shallow mane:acre of the minister to again break faith with the hopes of the colony by reviving the old packed council, with which he might afterwards domineer over their con. stituents, and disregard their wishes and hems a, as before. To foil this manoeuvre they resigned, September 20, 1830, mul once more brought the local government to a stand-still. This step wax followed by public meetings all over the Cape, ardently ap proving of the conduct of the four members—meet ings representing an immense preponderance, not only in point of numbers, but in the wealth and landed property of the colonists.l. The issue of these meetings was the appointment of two delegates to England, of whom one, Mr. Fairbairn, sailed in Oc tober, 1830, and the other, Sir Andreits Stockenstrom, in Afore'', 1831. And now, leaving these gentlemen for a while and liming shown what discontent, de spair, and, I grieve to add, disaffection, Colonial-offico policy had produced in the south, I will show what the same spirit had been doing in the north of our African territory. Those who desire to know who Cm Kaffirs are, and why we are eternally going to war with them, would naturally ask what book is a good au thority- on the subject? Yet Ido not know of ono which conveys a fair representation of the case. I never knew a party question in which assertions have been more positively made and flatly contra dicted, by conscientious men un both sides, than this one of the Kaffirs and the Dutch Boers. Perhaps the reason is, that the best writers on the subject have been either " birds of passage" at the Cape, or else the organs of a clique ; but the consequence is that two ultra opinions, directly contrary to one an other, have ever been held with regard to the Kaffirs, and two systems of policy founded on these opinions, which may be described as the missionary and mili tary systems, have been alternately pursued, until they grew incarnate in two eminent men, red became known at the Cape as the Glenelg and D'Urban systems. There is only one point in which all writers and travellers agree about tho Kaffirs, which is that the manly form among this race is the most beautiful in the world. Exactly tho same thought has, to my knowledge, struck more than one old Cape officer on find seeing the Apollo IBelvidere, viz., that he could not have believed such an exquisite model of symmetry in the male form was true to nature, without having seen a Kaffir. But when we come to the moral attributes of this people, the discrepancy of authorities is so litrange, it would be even ludicrous, if we could forget tho blundering it has caused in our ignorant and arbi trary Colonial-office ; and the shocking waste of blood and treasure which has resulted from it. liarrow, who will ever remain the classic of the Cape, was charmed with the Kaffirs ; though he was in the country at the time of the Vandeleur and Chummey affairs. The only charge Ile brings against them is, that they are " a volatile race, ex tremely good-humoured, but turning into ridicule alt attempts to convert them to Christianity,"—a charge which remains, I fear, but too well founded; this " volatile race" still merit their name of Kaffir (infidel), and perhaps turn into cartridges and gun. wadding the Bibles with which they are supplied. If the reader consults Barrow, vol. L, pages 120, 149, 151, 153, 138, 161, he will see how fascinated this author was by the Kaffirs, and what a favourable opinion he.formed of them. After Barrow come Pringle, Martin, ke., and various missionary writers, who leave us under the impression that the Kaffirs are one of the most engaging and interesting races that ever were created. Moreover Sir Harry Smith, whose blustering, footkiasing mode of dealing with them I shall have to notice, describes them to Mr. Bunbury as "an uncommonly intelligent, acute, high-spirited, and brave people, though, like the ancient Spartans, they con sider theft no crime." This may be called the missionary ease, and the quintessence of tho military one will be found in the pages of Colonel Napier. If the reader consults this author, espe cially vol. 11., he will find the Kaffirs " in corrigible, barbarous, treacherous, blood - thirsty, ungrateful, irreclaimable, i nsa ti a bl e savages ," pages 45, 145, 146, 191 ; and the Kaffir is thus summed up: "He is rapacious, cowardly, and cruel, be sides being the greatest beggar, the greatest thief, and the greatest liar in the world," 1(4. Part of this, by the bye. appears scarcely consistent with what the gallant colonel says afterwards, that "the Kaffirs are certainly " game to the backbone ;" an ad mission which he takes care to qualify by adding, "but I suspect thi s t o be their only redeeming quality, for a more irreclaimable set of savages can not possibly exist," p.:1:17. Such are the two opinions about the same people; and thus do Mr. Barrow's " extremely good-humoured race," appear " fiends in human shape" to Colonel Napier. Need I say after this, that these two deems of writers have each of them seen but one aide of the character they describe: one class has seen all the good, and the other all the bad. But the Kaffir is neither a wild beast, nor a man of a high moral sense and refined feelings. He is as far from the one extreme as the other. He is simply a savage-mss such, he possesses both the virtues and the view which characterise the savage, and which we ought to know, because we have had experience of them in the North American Indians. It is clear, there ' fore, that we have never yet treated tho Kaffirs with il common sense, and it i s equa lly c l e a r how we ought to treat them.—l remain, 5:c., AFRICANUS. • Capers (as boron.), pa ii., 10 ( p. :5 Papuaßunbary, Cape of Good Rom p. 110. 44 before), e ( 20, 55. GREAT INDIAN PENINSULA RAILWAY.—Another all of 15s. per share, making 41. Cos. called up, is notified Lae nut month.