The Express. — London, England, 1853-01-28 00:00:00

Zhe ervrefso. TO CORILISPON LENTS. ♦ beeoLd Flatted " Leered." eeststrive the twee evalleire • (Gazette," le published *my Towle, sad Pride/ eytliton Ise tar post. t% et tardiest a 'SNOW :IN " 111 Cpr ; lades 'veal*/ pep, mut to Si the neas. IS, IN trarat..i. mt. 'ay Two u'oloak as the day tif pultaatiaa. flioa WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. luta DaT —Yonne. 41. 10.• .Al%mem. 41. Oa. fo•vicoarov—flornias. 4a. 30m.....- Aftoraim. I. To. LONDON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 28. Tim Peace Society held yesterday their Man chester meeting. There can be but one opinion as to the value of the object which the members of this So ciety are struggling to attain. We wish them heartily success. It is true indeed that the principle they advo cate is no new one. Universal peace has been the object of the aspirations of every good and great man since the world began. The Hebrew prophets sung in solemn and hopeful tones of the day, when, in their figurnti ie language, the lion should lie down with the lamb; a great General, in our own day, mourned over a " glorious victory" as the greatest calamity that could betel a nation, next to a terrible defeat. In proportion as civilisation has gained ground, in proportion as men have begun to comprehend the surpassing worth of their intellec tual and moral qualities, as compared with their mere physical qualities, they have learned to dread and to hate the recurrence of war, as the agency which stands most in the way of t he cultivation of the intellect and of the moral sense. The love of peace has, in the most barbarous nations even, found an expression. Scarcely any country which has preserved records of its earlier literature, is with out references to a golden age, when all was quiet And delight—an existence in a moral and ma terial "crystal palace," where the eye and the ear, and the understanding, were continuously fed with the richest food, and where all nations met together with no other rivalry, than that of effecting the greatest conquests over the powers of nature. The ides, then, w,iich presided at the formation of the Peace Society, was no new one. Nevertheless, that was no reason why the said Society should not un dertake a new promulgation of it. 1. he very greatest and the best ideas arc precisely those which need most frequently to be brought before the public in every pos sible shape. They rare those which unfortunately lie out of the circle in which the minds of the majority most commonly move, and they need therefore to be con tinually reprodu ced. All hail, then, to the Peace Society for doing mankind this service. But acknowledging as we do the blessings of peace, we acknowledge at the same time the blessing of all those virtues against the breach of which the docalogue and other moral codes launch prohibitions. If we do not like fighting, neither do we like robbery, nor slander, nor murder. nor adultery. And precisely because we do not like these crimes, and because a fraction of society is addicted to the com mission of them, is it, that we enact laws for the punishment of them. Because the experience of every society shows that robberies will be committed we establish a police form to protect us against rob bery. Because there are preens who, in spite of the detestation in which their practices are held by moral men, will talk slander and commit adultery and murder, we affix a punishment to the eras mission of these crimes, and protect ourselves against their occurrence as best we may. Because we are told that there are about 30,000 persons in Ludes whose moral sense has not taught them the true dis tinction between MUM and truss, we levy a police force sufficient to keep rogues in order. Because that police is not übiquitous, we prepare for defence at home, by providing ourselves with arms, and furnishing our doors with bolts and bars. This may be degrading. It may show that we have not made that progress in morals, which might have been expected from a nation which has made such vast advances in all other branches of science ; nevertheless it is a fact that cannot be denied. We admit the great value of honesty. We long for the advent of the " Good time" when the world will recognise that " honesty is the best policy," and act upon that dictum, but we behave like men of sense, in recognising that, in spite of our wishes, dishonesty . exists, and we prepare for it. No jeweller in the Strand, how ever persuaded he might be of the advantages of :.he abolition of thieving, would fling open the doors of his shop, when he went to bed, in seder that his sincerity might be put to the test. In the same manner we cannot afford to throw down the bolts and bars of the kingdom, and open the doors of our treasury, because we believe in the blessings of universal peace. We do not think that the knowledge of a till being open, and exposed to their depredations, will ever cure the " City Arabs" of their propensity to rob such a till; neither do we think that the certainty that England is without defence will be sufficient to keep an invading army oil our shores. It is for these reasons that we cannot go along with the Peace Society in their condemnations of the adoption of methods of national defence. We look upon these methods as a kind of international police force, which we should as soon think of abolishing as of dismissing the police intended for our domestic protection. Both, it must be allowed, are evils, but they are intended to be the check and suppression of greater evils. Both also admit the existence of ter rible agencies at work in the world; but it is better to admit the existence of these agencies and be pre pared for them, than to fall a prey to them. But we are told, and with some truth, that the best way to prevent war is to prevent the causes of war—that we must study to avoid giving offence to those nations with which we stand in inti mate relations, and that then the need of an armed defensive force might be avoided. Un doubtedly there is some sense in this. But when these causes of war are specified, they are so numerous and so subtle, that we either find out that we might almost u well be told to avoid the causes of death, and that then we might secure ha mortality. Some of them it is almost impossible to avoid. We are desired, for instance, not to express our opinion too loudly upon the subject of the con duct of the present Rahn of France. Now it is clear to demonstration that under the present state of freedom of the press, people will not be prevented from expressing their opinion. The only remedy is to gag the press. There are, we liege, very few Englishmen who would not my that such a consummation as this would be a heavy pries to pay for any advantage that it might purchase. The freedom of the press is the very life of liberty. The Posse Society will doubtless do good in fa vouring the progress of ideas which are daily gaining more power. It finds some portion of its work done to its hands. Nations are not aow so possessed with the feeling of national prejudice as to be able to Sad a eons isflti in every chance occurrence that has a tsaducy to wound national pride. As the boundaries at European countries have become mom rigidly Mem' the chances of frontier wars, the most fregmat of all, are diminished. Trade be comes more ensl more essential to the prosperity, almost to the emidenes of a country; and the chums is increasing whim whole interests are bound up in the maintenance of pima The preponderance of the arts of peace OVIR Hess al war has taken away much of the glitter sad gerMdane attached to the latter. The courage that would outrun us under war, should it arise, has not .Ii aped, but the pugnacious spirit that seeks coaled, has. Then are a vast number of causes like these working in aid of the Peace Society, and. with these the Society mast endeavour to co operate. If it confines its operation to these causes, it will have a trims of suceeek—fbe is so far it works with the spirit of the age. If it seeks to do more than this—to persuade men that the only way to ward off danger is to denude yourself of the means of protection, it will meet with little belief or sympathy. To be sue eeedbl, it must be content to be rational. Mr. Connmv argues that the criticism of the press is likely to provoke war—surely this is no good reason for neglecting national defence. The Army and Navy Estimates are voted without opposition— none of the Members of Parliament present at the Peace meeting voted against th e last addi dant° oarmilitary 'Seco—sorely in return we ought to be made secure from invesisn. The peaceable and peace-loving people of England must not be left open to a danger which a few sharp critics may —we are those still, told—bring down upon us et soy hour. Old modes of defence cannot safely be neglected till the new millennium is really ours. Os no one point were the Tory shipowners so positive as that if under stress of competition we were to keep anything of • commercial marine afloat, it could only be by buying our ships of Danes, Swedes, Pnwians, and Russians. For some brief period it was just possible we might manage by purchasing Finland dr-built ships . at 81. per ton, to keep up some semblance of ship-owning, but the true English ship, sound-timbered, strong, able for all seas and all weathers, would become a mere memory, a thing to be talked of by aged shipowners and ma riners, but nowhere to be found upon the ocean. Mr. GEORGE. FREDERICK YOUNG especially delivered a most mournfully prophetic warning to the committee, imploring them to learn of his experience as a prac tical shipbuilder—as one who had served his time to the trade, and knew its secrets—and to believe that English shipbuilders exposed to competition would at once either give up business or remove their es tablishments abroad. At Boulogne shipwrights had but eighteenpence a day, the American builders had timber close at hand; and so, what with the cheap wages of some places (not work, for that would have let out the fallacy), and the timber by the very shores of others, there was no chance for English ship building. It was a trade we had made our own, by shutting all the rest of the world out of it, and so surely as we let them into it, Russia, France, Ame rica, the Dutch, and the north countries would have all the building, and wo none; and if war should come upon us, even though we would still have sailors, we would assuredly have no ship-carpenters. The private yards from which men were so largely drafted in the late war to meet the emergencies of the royal dock-yards would be extinct—we should learn too late their value as reserves, when our shat tered ships must remain unrepaired, and there would be no possibility of supplying with sufficient speed the places of our sunken and disabled thunderers. Free Trade was, no doubt, a very beautiful theory, but there was too much at stake—no less than the national security—no less than our supremacy upon the seas—to allow of its being carried into practice upon shipping. The prophetic warning was unheeded, and the Free Traders had their way. It is now three 1 years since Englishmen had liberty given them to build or buy their ships in any quarter of the globe, and since our whole commercial marine was driven on all seas, to face in open com petition, the shipping of all the world. And Mr. RICARDO, to whom the credit is duo of having been the first to call attention to the injurious effects of the navigation laws upon ship ping and commerce, and who so perseveringly and ably summed up the evidence against them, may well Taal some pride in reviewing the results of a measure I he so entirely made his own. The lesson furnished by Sunderland is irresistible. It is one of the most active ship-building ports in the kingdom. Periods of depression in shipping always used to be felt most severely at Sunderland. In 1843, under the corn laws, the sugar laws, and the navigation laws, there were whole streets of deserted houses and empty shop s in Sunderland; of 80 shipbuilders, 36 were bankrupt or insolvent, 5 had abandoned business; 20 merchants, chain and anchor-smiths had failed. There were more than 5,300 persons in receipt of relief as paupers • being, as the population was in round numbers 56 , 000 , more than one in every ten. Ship carpenters' wages were 3s. a week, and employment, even at that, so hard to be got, that many of them went to sea as common sailors. Vessels were lying idle in the docks; there were 55 u t - Non the stocks, several of which had been finiahed for months, but could find - one either to charter or buy them ; unfinished were either at a complete stand or were worked at by only the apprentices, .er the superintendence of a foreman; and, if we ecollect aright, the shipowners were before Parlia ment complaining of their condition. That was three years before the bill passed repeal ing the Corn Laws, four years prior to the act altering the sugar duties, seven years - before the first unpro tected British ship put out to sea, and the shipowners were then in league with every class of Protectionist for the mainterance of every monopoly. In the year 1852, when, if there had been any true prophetic vision in Protectionists, Sunder land, save in its colliers and glass-works, should have been extinct, n Aiwa are served upon the borough surveyor for 556 new houses. The popula tion numbering now more than 70,500, exceeds by 14,300 that of 1841; but the paupers are now but 2,806, or less than one in 25. The ships built and registered in 1851, the second year of no protection, exceeded by 30,546 tons, or 143 per cent., those built and registered under the shelter of protec tion in 1843. In December 1843 there were in course of build 48 ships, of the united tonnage of 12,364 tons. In the November of last year, when, according to Mr. GEORGE FREDERICK YOUNG, foreigners were to have built all our ships, there were upon the stocks 91 ships of 44,765 tons. The average tonnage of the ships of 1843 was 258 tons ; of 1852, it is 492 tons. But not only were the ships of 1832 more in number, and of larger size, but the y . were of better build ; 13 of the ships on the stocks is ' 11143 were under eight years (A 1), and there was not • *lngle one of them above 12 years. At the clue of 1362, there was not a single ship in build under eight years, and there were 21 above 12 years. The years A 1), we need scarcely remind our readers, are regulated by the kind of timber and fastening used in the construction of the ships. The greater the number of years A 1 the higher the price of the ship, and the greater the number of years she will bear the buffet of wind and waves. Nor is even this all. In 1843, of 65 ships at Sunderland, not one could find a buyer. In 1851 146 ships were built, and every one of them sold ; of the 91 upon the stooks in Nov. 18.52, 35 were sold before they were out of the builders' hands. The shipwrighes pay is now 4s. a day, there is employment for every one of them; and the sailor who, in 1843, when the navigation law nursed him for the Royal Navy had 31. 10s. for the voyage to London, has now 44 10s. It is, perhaps, too much to expect that ship owners, so long accustomed to grumble and go to committees, should at once profess their contentment under Free Trade, and be satisfied to have their prosperity admitted in Parliament. Still, admitted it must be. There is no help for it. There is no thing peculiar about Sunderland. Timber ship building thrives there as it never did before. Iron ship building no less thrives in the Tyne. Sunder land has not run away with the building from the Thames, the Mersey, or the Medway. Oar satire build, as we have shown by the last Board at Trade returns, is greater than at any foram period. We are building larger, better, faster talky ships sow than we have ever done. Competition isprovuig the strength and completing the development of our inherent genius for ship-building and the ssa. We have set an example to the world, whisk' with such acts as those of Sunderland to enforce it, &mild bring maritime nation to abolish, as a timelier to It v es si a all restrictions upon the shipping of other countries. But this flood of prosperity Amid also do something else. A period of shipping PferritY is jai*, time for amending the Famotagery Act. Stipovimeo can now well afford to be lie* if not =l.*to those who sail with them tease anew leyood the seas, and should, dattlamo, go bpi in band with the public Mei an amendment of existing laws as world pato the WONs and the unwary emigrant from dale who sow too often make him their prey. Baxus' PENSION SOCTETT. T.Yt Sht the onmaal general meeting of tills society was at the rßut Tavern, Bishopegate-street ; Kr. Napier in the . s —The Chairman, in opening the busbies@ of tl, Mgisdag, said that he bad to esogratolate the meeting rc eatisfactory state al die esesonta, for the funded pre prey had increased, and the lloosarer had a brier balance la band than bad been *be i d , kr peen. Friends' betatutiat had ahe iamsod, which was a wishes'', ilsa. But is the midst off ~ this success, the claims of rib bons coatianed to be great. They had now 46 applicant@ the charity, sad each were the vicissitudes is the bade that it was more than probable this number would bet ia creased than &Welshed. There were now 20 nes, and 22 worsen es the list. The balance-sheet showed the follow ing state of the funds of the Society :—The balance in hand at the close ef the last year was 1911. 17s. 3d. The re ceipts for the year amounted to 8911. 6s. 3d., and after de fraying the necessary expenditure, th, somsked a W a wa of 3231. lls. Id. at the end of the year just concluded. The report was adopted, and the meeting, after transacting some formal business, broke up. TEE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, JANUARY 28, 185$. INCOME AND PROPERTY TAX. TO TIP 3DITOI OP Till ZIPIIIBI. SIE,—As the time approaches for the considera tion and decision of the House of Commons on the important subject of Direct and Indirect Taxation, it becomes desirable to snake known the various opinions of able men upon it; and I. therefore, for ward to you an important paper, addressed to me, on the question so often asked—" How can Sir Hobert Peel's income tax be made more equitable ?" Although differing in many points from the writer, I nevertheless think his s che me will amply repay perusal. I remain, yours truly. JOSEPH HUME. Burnley Hall, Jan. 26, 1833. OBSERVATIONS ON TILE QUESTION—BOW CAN SIR ROBERT PEEL'S INCOME TAX BE MADE MORE EQUITABLE ? It is obvious that the full development of the free trade policy must lead to the progressive substitu tion of direct for indirect taxation. And hence the importance of the question raised by Mr. Hume, which may be stated in the words of Adam Smith : "How can the subjects of a state contribute to the support of the government as nearly as possible in proportion to their respective abilities?" The three modes which have been proposed to effect this of are—by taxes on the production and importation of commodities, by taxes on property, and by taxes on income. As to the first class of taxes, " those on the pro duction and importation of commodities," the great objections are that they interfere with internal or external trade—that they enhance the price of com modities far beyond the net amount actually received from them, and that they lead to extensive smug gling and fraud. As to "taxes on property," the objection is, that in the case of the largest class of the community, those who live by labour alone, their ability to pay taxes is not measured by the amount of their pro perty, inasmuch as many, living from day to day on large earnings, have no property at all. And this objection cannot be removed by any of the plans for considering wages as a species of life property, which can be valued like an annuity, it being well known that the wages of individuals and of trades undergo changes according to laws entirely different from those by which the value of an annuity is determined. A " tax on income " rightly conceived is the real solution of the proposed question, and is the solution suggested by Adam Smith himself, for he says:— " The abilities of the taxpayers are in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy under the protection of the state." Now, the revenue or income of a tax-payer, which is the real measure of his ability to pay taxes, can be reduced to four distinct elements: Ist. The wages a man receives for his labour. 2nd. The profit he derives from the use of his capital. 3rd. The rent he gets out of his land. 4th. The value of any property, whether real ear moveable, which he obtains by gift or succession, during the year. Such is the scientific conception of income—such also is the meaning attached to it by rny person who prepares with any skill an annual ' profit and loss" account, or an annual account of " income and ex penditure." It follows, therefore, that a perfect in come tax includes a tax on gifts and successions, as well as a tax on wages, profits, and rents. When it is asked, " How can Sir Robert Peel's partial income tax (absurdly named an income and property tax) be made more equitable ? " the answer is plain. By extending it so as to include all classes of Incomes ; viz. : let. By extending it to all incomes from wave, profits, and rent, below 1501., and exceeding 201. a year. 2nd. By extending it to incomes front wages, pro fits, and rent in Ireland. 3rd. By extending it to the succession to freehold property in land. The succession to personal property is already taxed at a higher rate than any other species of in come in the United Kingdom, by the probate and lorry duties. But these duties, which are really Maas on income, ought to be consolidated with the Woos tax, and the rate of taxation equalised; and then the extraordinary exemption of succession to freehold property would have to be abolished, or would be put in such a plain point of view as to ex pose the hollowness of the landlords' complaints of peas: agricultural burdens. The extension of Sir Robert Peel's income tax to all kinds of income, would remove the complaints which are now in some cases justly made against it in its present state. Thus, a person who succeeds to ea estate of 1,0001. a year in fee simple now pays wily the same amount as an official with an annual salary of 1,0001., namely, 301. a year—and this is justly complained of. But, under a perfect income tax, he would pay in the first year of his ownership 9 per cent. on 30,0001., the value of his estate, or 9001.; and in every subsequent year 3 per cent. on the rent, or 301., equal to a perpetual payment of 901. a year, if he lived for ever, as the interest of 9001. wou ld be 301. In the case of the longest life die perm seseeeding to the freehold estate would pay a great deal more than double the amount paid by the person reoeiiril,oool. a year as wages. None of the pro modifications of the existing tax, such as Mr. eron's plan of taxing incomes under Schedule (D) at three-fourths of the amount Wed upon all other kinds of property, would be so Ismarable to Incomes arising from wages as the paid income tax. The objection that persons on salaries are now unfairly taxed, as compared with fundholders and ether capitalists, has no foundation, as it arises from overlooking that such capitalists are liable to probate and legacy duties, which impose a greater burden on incomes arising from succession than a perfect income-tax would impose. Nearly all the other difficulties which have been suggested as objections to Sir Robert Peers income tax could be shown to be entirely inapplicable to a perfect income-tax. The true policy of taxation to be adopted by Bri tish statesmen should therefore be : First—To substitute for the present probate and legacy duties, an extension of the income-tax, so as to include successions to personal property. Secondly—An extension of the income-tax, to in clude successions to real property. Thirdly—An extension of the income-tax to Ire land, and to all incomes above 201. If, then, a perfect income-tax were thus con structed, the rate of taxation should be gradually raised about 1 per cent. each year, commencing at the present amount of 3 per cent., and, as a surplus arose, indirect taxes should be gradually taken oIL In repealing the indirect taxes, it wadi be maw nary in the first to repeal stamps as sem veyances and on t he t ransfer of property, which itre the real burdens on land, and also the assessed taxes, as these taxes are put forward as the plea for exempting successions to real property from taxation. Then the duties on tea, sugar, tobacco, and wine, should be reduced, so as to avoid all objection to ex tending the income tax to incomes below 1601. After these, the changes should be in the following order : To repeal L Taxes on knowledge. 2. Duties on fire insurances. 3. Taxes on locomotion—railways, coaches, &c. 4. Taxes on law proceedings. 6. Receipt and other stamps. 6. Excise duties. 7. Customs duties. The reduction of some of the customs duties damn precede the removal of the tax on spirits, to paeans the price of that article being lowered before the prices of tea, coffee, cocoa, wine, and other articles which enter into compe tition with it. The reasons Ike the order of repear g the indirect taxes are so _ 1 obvious that it is unnecessary to state them. tin Nate's OF TIE KIFFIEMBEIL—The P 01,41114 Herald of December M onnliiro the following interesting informa tion relative to one tithe expeditions sent in search of Sir John Franklin, Ar the sahty of which considerable anxiety was beginning le be Mt, as no intelligence had been re ceived of it kr soessidevable time :—" The friends of Cap tain Cadihron, of her Britannia Majesty's ship Enterprise, will he ilellAted to bear that he has been seen by moms Amnion altive. This eater, it will be reoollected,went is essreit of Ar John Franklin and his party, and wu sup posed to have been tattoo he had not been beard of for sisligi two " MOUT ORDUL—A notice just Mimed from the Oseeral Post-o Mos announces that minor money order cams will be opmed at Ballendine, county Mayo, served from Team, and at Pettigo, county Donegal, served from Enniskillen, cm the Ist February. 'FRANCE. PARIS, THURSDAY EVIINWO. At the termination of business on the Bourse this afternoon, a general advance was reported in the quotations hrw of all kinds of French securities. The per Cents., which opened at 80f. 25c., closed at 80f. 65e. for the account ; and the Four-and-a- Half per Cents. were publicly called 105 f. 30c. at the close of business, being a rise of 40c. on the former, and 30c. on the latter stock, from the last prices of yesterday. A great many English visitors have arrived in I Paris during the past two days; the city is very gay at present, the hotels are full, and some brilliant fetes are annouced for next week in honour of the 'I Emperor's marriage. The Moniteur contains the official programme of the marriage ceremony of the Emperor on Sunday, which, after describing the order of the procession and other preliminaries, concludes as follows . Informed of the aperoach of the cortege, the Archbishop of Paris, preceded by his clergy, will go in procession towards the great door of the cathedral, to receive their majesties. The great doors will be thrown open ; the Em • leading the Empress by the hand will enter the basi lick ; their majesties will place themselves on the throne. The Archbishop officiating will salute their majesties, and will commence the ceremony of the marriage. After the blessing of the pieces of gold and the nuptial ring, their majesties will go to the foot of the alter, will remain standing, and will give each other the ✓ight hand. The Archbishop, addressing himself first to the Emperor, and then to the Empress, will receive their declarations to take each other for husband and wife, and will successively present to the Emperor the pieces of g Id and the ring. The Emperor will present the pieces of gold to the Empress, and will place the ring on her finger. After the prayers, their Majesties will return to their throne . Their Majesties will successively present themselves at the offeriug. After the Pater, their Maesties will go to the foot of the altar, and will kneel; the first chaplain of the Emperor, and another bishop, will extend above the heads of their Ma jesties a canopy of silver brocade, and will keep it so extended during the oraison. During the episcopal benediction and the reading of the Gospel, the choir will chant several times the Domine solrum. The archbishop will then present holy water to their Majesties, and will commence the Te Deem, which will be taken up by the orchestra and the singers. After the Te Deem, the great laws of the crown, the princes the ministers, and other poems who arrived in the cortege will resume their places. Their Majesties will descend from tho throne, and will re turn, followed as they were on their arrival. The archbishop will immediately precede them to conduct them in proces sion up to the great door. The Moniteur also gives the following as the line to be taken by the cortege : The cortege of their Majesties will leave the Palace of the Tuileries by the principal gate, will cross the Carrousel and the court of the Louvre, and will follow the Rue des Fosses Saint Germain l'Auxerrois, the Rae de Rivoli, the Place de I'llotel de Ville, the Quai de Gevres, the Pont Notre dame, the Quai Napoleon, the Rue d'Arcole, and the Parvis Notre-Datne. After the ceremony, the cortege will return to the Tuileries by the Rue d'Aroole. the Quai Napoleon, the Quai aux kleurs, the Pont au Change, the Quais up to the Place de Is Concorde, and will reach the palace by the grand avenue in the garden. This route is well calculated to allow the largest number of persons possible to see the procession. The national guard will be called out and conjointly with regular troops will form a do able hedge of in fantry.throughout the whole line, both going and returning. In the evening the public edifices will be illuminated. No orders have been given with re gard to the illumination of private houses. On the many former occasions since the coup d'etat when the inhabitants of Paris have called upon to put tampion, in their windows the injunction has been generally neglected; and it has now probably been thought prudent to abstain from dic tating that particular manifestation of public rejoicing. IVorkmen are busily employed, night and day, in completing the preparations at Notre Dame, and large extra wages are promised to stimulate their activity. The Cardinal Archbishop of Rheims has arrived in Paris to assist the Archbishop of Paris in the solemnisation of the marriage. It is announced that a grand ball will be offered to the Empiess by the Legislativo Body on Easter Monday. Several of the ministers hoped to have re ceived their Majesties at the balls they are about to give. But it is, I believe, now understood that M. Baroche'a is the only private ball that will be at tended by the Empress this season, and in order to allay the jealousy of the ministers, the honour done to M. Baroche is said to be a compliment paid to the Council of State in his person. The city of Paris will present the Empress, on the occasion of her marriage, with a diamond necklace, worth 600,000 fr. This sum was yesterday voted for the purpose by the Municipal Commission. At the same sitting the municipality voted 300,000 fr., to be expended in charity in Pans. This latter sum will be devoted—let, Ito give marriage portions to 28 couples chosen from among the poor inhabitants of the twelve arrondieaements of Paris and of the two rural arrondissements of the department of the Seine; 2ndly, to redeem the tools of workmen pledged at the Mont-de-Piece • 3rdly, to complete the work previously undertaken by the Municipal Commission on the occasion of the proclama tion of the Empire on the 2nd of December last, of remitting to poor women the sums they . owe to the Administration des Nourrices, for their children ; and fourthly, in distributing assistance to the neces sitous families inscribed at the Bureaux de Bien faisance. In 1804 the toilette offered to the Empress cost 600,000 f., and the sums devoted to works of charity was 144,000 f. The government journals all attention to the fact that the sum now voted is the largest ever expended by the city of Paris upon any similar monde - On Tuesday the members of the Municipa Commission waited on the Emperor, and had this honour of being presented to the future Empress, by whom they were most graciously received. The belief continues to be generally entertained that on the morning of the marriage, or at least on the day . following, several decrees calculated to gain m ilan t a a wil y, w l a t rz i J t e l e co rn u a c t t d f n .g r e e ri e ;r: ed ha i san . gunge, way,' think,be taken astheprecuntor of some sort of amnesty. The government organ of course justifies the conditions of pardon hitherto insisted upon, and contends that they are not humiliating. With an audacious disregard to facts it observes that the clemency hitherto accorded to exiles has been unostentatiously, exercised the names of the persons pardoned having been in general known only to their own families, to the government which follows the impulse of its heart, and to God who judges and recompenses noble actions. Now the truth is that the clemency here spoken of has been as ostentatious as is:possible to conceive. Names in deed have not frequently been given, for this plain reason, that almost all the individuals who have con sented to beg for mercy in the prescribed form are so obscure that their names would be wholly unknown to the pnblio. But while no one knows how many victims of the coup sretat yet languish in prison or in penal colonies, the number of those pardoned has been continually paraded in the columns of the Moniteur, and when poor Sobrier passed under the yoke, and M. Chavoix, owing to a forged letter, was supposed to have done so, their names were eagerly seized upon, and their petitions published in the most conspicuous manner SWITZERLAND. The Fribourg Gazette states that the government of that canton had just put up to public auction the convent of Part Dien, and all the landed property belonging to it in the commune of Gruyeres, as well as the landed property of the Convent de la Fine Dien, in the same commune. SPAIN. A telegraphic despatch dated Madrid, January 22, announces that a negotiation for obtaining from foreign capitalists advances on the national revenues was terminated the day before. The advance was for fifty-seven millions. The Three per Cents. were quoted at 40. The public funds had been subject to considerable fermentation on the 20th and 21st. A Madrid letter of the 21st states that in conse quence of the two late ministerial circulars the Mode redo Electoral Committee is on the eve of dissolving itself voluntarily; it will only reserve to itself the power of bringing before the competent authorities such agents of the government as may be guilty of ex ceases or violence at the approaching elections. Be fore separating the committee intends, it is said, to publish and distribute to the electors of ,Madrid and of the provinces a sort of manifesto, in which it will formally make known its intentions. The electors of the Moclerado party, in the district of the Prado, have chosen the Viscount de Almeria as their candidate. RUSSIA. The correspondent of the Augsburg Gazette writes from St. Petersburg on the 18th that the Russian government is fitting out an expedition for Japan. It is composed of the Pallas frigate, a screw steamer, and a transport, and is commanded by Admiral Pon tatik.i. The ostensible object of the expedition is scient„;fic, but its real one is to follow the movements of the a mericans. Several vessels have just been freighted at Bremen and liamburgb, on account of the Russian government, with meat, flour, and other provisions, fur Kamtechatka and Sitka. Lettere from Honolulu (Sandwich Islands) state that Russian ships of war are cruising in the northern waters of the Pacific Ocean. ALGIERS. The Monitcur Alpecrien, of the 20th, publishes a decree, confibeating the whole of the land belonging to the tribe of the Bona Salahs, in the sub-division of Beni, and uniting it to the domain of the state. All the rents and other moneys due to the said tribe are also ordered to be paid into the Caine of the Domaine. INDIA. THE WAR WITH BURMAH. TRIESTE, THURSDAY, JAN. 27. We have received the following despatch from Trieste in anticipation of the news by Overland Mail from India: The steamer (" Pyroscaphe"—fire-boat) Germania arrived here this morning, at 1 o'clock, with important intelligencefrom India. Gen. Godwin had imprudently established an advanced post, consisting of only 400 men, at Pegu, 60 miles above Rangoon, and within easy distance of the main body of the Burmese, which was at Spoy Gyre. The Burmese commander at Spoy Gyre immediately marched against this post, cut off its communication with Rangoon, captured a supply of munitions on its way to Pegu, and, having invested the place, harassed the small garrison by daily and nightly attacks. A small naval force,with 150 marines and 300 European soldiers, and a war steamer, was sent from Rangoon, and endeavoured to force a paange and relieve Pegu, but was re pulsed with loss. Upon this, two columns, composed of 2,400 men, were sent by General Godwin against the Burmese, whom they encountered, and having signally defeated them arrived at Pcgu. FRANCESCO AND ROSA MADIAI. The Buena Novella, an Italian protestant journal publishes two letters, one from Francesco and tha other from Rosa Medial. The first is dated November 20, and is follows : " Very honoured M--, I would write more, but cannot, being in bed very ill. Ido not think, however, that I shall die, but in all things let the will of God be done. What I can say to you, as a brother in Jesus our Saviour, is, that the more my illness shall increase, the more will increase in me the spirit of God. My respects to all. I cannot write more. Your faithful servant and brother in Christ Jesus, 4 ‘ FILANCESCO MADIAI. P.S.—Do not tell my wife how ill I am." The letter of the wife, which is without date, is as follows : " Dear brother in Jesus Christ—l reply at length to your precious letter, which I received whilst I was still at the Bargello. It is superfluous for me to relate to you all my vicissitudes, all that we havejtad to suffer, both me and my husband; but let Got be praised, and let us praise Him together for having made us victors by our Lord Jesus Christ. They have struck and they strike, but Christ re plies ' none shall take from me those whom the Father has given to me.' When we were accused of having said that the Apostles were despicable men, I replied that it was false, and by the words of the Gospel I was going to show whether it was possible for evangelical persons to be guilty of such • thing, but silence was instantly imposed on me, and I was told, we do not tapeak of religion. I replied that I was accused of religion, that it was on that I had to reply and defend myself ; but the Sovereign Pontiff imposed silence on me for the second time. We were accused of having only eight commandments, and in particular et annulling that which condemns fornication. I said that before such an accusation it was only just that I should repeat the Commandments, in order to show whe ther there were eight or ten. Silence, was the reply. I then added, that it was not justice to impose silence on per sonal defence. Out of modesty before such a numerous auditory, a little moderation was shows, and I was again asked whether we observed the Ten Commandments. ' Cer tainly,' I replied, ' such as God dictated them to Moses on Mount Sinai.' Silence, that is sufficieat t was again beard. In short, dear brother, if such injustice is for the glory of God, be it welcome ; but pray for us fervently, in order that we may be enabled to serve and honour him in this heavy captivity. My husband is very unwell, and that is my greatest affliction ; for myseU, I am very thin, but better in health by the grace of the gocd Jesus. I hope that you and your wife are well. I shall never forget how much she has suffered for me. Kiel your children for me. Tell them that my husband and myself exhort them in their exile not to fear the great ones of this corrupted world, for in a short time they will be in the dust ; that of the cause of Chris. alone they should have a holy jealousy in their hearts and in their actions, and that to him with the Father and the Holy Ghost be honour and glory. Let the church pray . for us. We hope that, with the blessing of God, who gives strength to weak mortals like us, that if any one should be called on to suffer for His cause, that he will call to mind how much Jlsw has suffered for us. " Your sister in Christ, " ROSA MLDIAI." Vbe Court. WINDSOR, JAIL 97. The following bad the honour of dining with her Majesty yesterday :—The Duchess of Kent, the Princess Adelaide of Hohenlohe, the Duke and Duchess of Argyll, the Marquis of Breadalbane, the Lady in Waiting to the Duchess of Kent, the Baroness de Speth, Viscount Canning, and Mr. Gibbs. The band of the Grenadier Guards attended and played in the Castle during dinner. Her Majesty's Privets Band attended in the evening and played the following compositions: diseturs : "Marguerite d'enjoa" llleyeabwee. Chorus, Neelataget " Seesaw/T. Marche, Maur. et Duo, "Le Skye One Snit d'EtE " Bekatioa, " Le Cheryl de Broom" Attar. Prince Albert, accompanied by the Duke of Argyll, went out shooting this forenoon, attended by Cal. the Hon. Charles Grey, Lord Charles Fitalky, Lisut.Col. Hon. N. Hoed, and Lteut.-Col. F. H. Seymour. The following have received invitations, and are expected this afternoon —The Karl and Countess Granville, the Baron and Baroness Brunnow, the Count and Counter Lavradio. the Right lion. the peaker and Mrs. Lefevre, and Sir Charles and Lady Mary Wood. A deputation from the borough of Finsbury bad an inter view yesterday with Sir William Molesworth, her Ma jesty's Chief Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings, at his office is Whitehall-place, on the subject of Albert Park. The deputation was introduced by Lord Robert Grosvenor, M.P., and emulated of the Right Ron. the Lord Mayor, M.P.; Sir James Duke, Bart., M.P., Mr. Apsley Pellatt, M.P., Mr. William Tyler, Mr. John Parson, Mr. Stafford Allen, Mr. John Burnett, and Mr. James Lloyd. The Berl and Countess Granville left town yesterday afternoon for Windsor Castle. Sir James Duke had an interview with the Right Hon. B. Cardwell yesterlay at the Board of Trade. Despatches were received at the Colonial-office yesterday from the Governer-General of Canada. We understand that at the meeting of her Majesty's Commissioders for the Exhibition of 1861, held on Tuesday, the late Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Disraeli, was elected a member of the commision by virtue of the powers contained in the charter incorporating them for the purpose of carrying out their surplus scheme. RAILWAY DEPUTATION. A deputation from the committee of negotiation between the London and North Western and Great Western Companies, appointed at an influential meeting held in Live rp ool, had the honour of an interview with the Board of Trade on Wednesday last. The deputation (says a correspondent) were assured that the government con sidered the subject of railway legislation as of imperial megnitude, the importance of which could not be over stated. They were further given to understand that the labours of the committee of the House of Commons, ap pointed by the late and strengthened by the present govern ment, would be devoted to an earnest consideration of this momentous question, a satisfactory solution of which would be most gratifying to the government, and that profiting by the experience of the past, it was thought a course might be devised which would, for the future, put an end to ruinous contests between rival companies, having to the interest of the shareholders and the public, P e= were in fact identical. PRonTs Ox err Ausnumex the month of May last, Mr. J. Wilson, an extensive boot and shoe manufacturer in Bishopwearmouth, sent out 3201. worth of boots and shoes to Australia, and last week Mr. Wilson was gratified by the receipt of a cheque upon the Australian Bank for the handsome sum of 9251. The boots and shoes had sold readily, and realised the above enormous profits. Mr. Wilson has sent out a still larger stock for the same market—Cheltenham k.:zaminer. PEACE CONGRESS AT MANCIIESTEIL The Peace Conference, composed of gentlemen associated for the purposes of promoting international ar bitration and peace, assembled at Manchester yesterday. The fi rst meeting took place at the Corn Exchange, at 11 in the morning, when probably nearly 1,000 perilous (in cluding a few Lilies), were present. Among the gentle men on the platform were Richard Cobden, Esq., M.P.; John Bright, Esq., M.P. ; Charles 'Lindley, Esq , M.P. ; Joseph Brotherton, Esq., M.P. ; Joseph Sturge, EN. ; George Hadfield, EN., M.P. ; and J. B. Smith, Esq. GEOW3IS Wit-sox, Esq., was elected president, and tofit the chair. It was stated that dOO members of the Society for Promoting International Arbitration and Peace had promised to attend the Conference, most of whom wrro _ now present. The CHAIRMAN said the only subject of regret to him in the arrangements of the committee of management was that they should have elected him as their president. (No, no.) They were met to-day as the friends of international-arbitra tion and peace, to confer together. No doubt they hadex perienced, as he had dome, that these words represented to many nothing more nor less than that which was specula tive and impracticable. They could scarcely speak to many on the subject—they could scarcely inform them that they knew this must be the work of time, and the gradual pro gress of public opinion—they could scarcely tell them that they freely admitted that there were difficulties iu the way, for they would dispose of all that they *Quid say by refusing to hear the smallest rea• sons urged on the part of the friends of peace fur the cir lation of their opinioLs, and they were treated at once as men who had got hold of an impracticable and dogmatical scheme, which could never contribute in the smallest degree to the interests of the country at large. Ile regretted that this was by no means an exceptional or solitary case. lie thought the members of the l'cace Society had experienced at their carious meetings, not only ia England, but in France and other places abroad, occasionally and periodically, explosions of opinion, explosions of public indignation, because they ventured to meet and ra tionally discuss those principles which should guide their operations for the future. It was true that, in the abstract, to the objects which they were seeking, nu rational man at the present time offered the slightest objection. Let them inquire in any circle they liked, civil or military, whether they were in favour of the objects they were now seeking —whether they were in favour of a state of war, with all its attendant horrors and disorders on the one hand— whether they preferred that instead of a state of peace,with all its advantages and social effects, and there was not one man with whom they could converse who would not at once give them a clear response in the negative. But if they asked him to go one step further, to join with them in pro moting that state of affairs of which he approved as much as they did, if they asked him to essist them, so that by temperate, and practical, and judicious mesas, and by the force of reason, and through the instrumentality of religious doctrines and precepts they might change the current of opinion, so that they might try whether this state of things, of which he complained as much as they did, might not be brought to a conclusion ; then they were saluted at once with the charges that, of all men, and at all times, they were the most impracticable men on the face of the earth, while they were endangering the stability of the best institutions of the country (cheers and laughter) ; and that their meetings were neither more nor leas than direct and special invita tions to some foreign powers—and which their opponents would not name—(laughter)—to come across to this great country, and seize and take possession of a population of twenty-six millions of people, protected by a navy the most costly and the largest in the world, and officered by men, and under the control, and direeti u, and management of men who had no association or connexion w ith the members of the Peace Society. (lle.r, hear.) Against such broad and sweeping charges they should not ;vop to make much reply. They had to all these men who haa misjudged them, he believed, directed a most sufficient answer. What ever might be the *pinion of those distinguished leaders of the Peace Society on the abstract merits of aggressive or defensive warfare, they had uniformly shown a desire to co-operate with everyone who sought by temperate and proper means to change that system of which they all com plained and which was confessedly and avowedly, as they ex perienced to their coat at different times, totally inadequate for the purposes in hand. On such grounds and with such view, he had the greatest pleasure in tendering his indivi dual co-operation and thanks to the gentlemen who had with such wisdom and tact conducted their proceedings up to the present moment. (Cheers.) He thought they ought to receive, as he hoped they would receive, in this town and elsewhere, an extensive co-operation from every man, of every political hue or party, who desired the national welfare and the public good. IVbether they succeeded or not amongst them, he thought they had some special claims upon those who were a numerous body, a reflective body in Manchester, in Liverpool, and in Edinburgh—he meant the financial reformers. To a certain extent they might be said to have been cooperating with them for one common object; whilst the friends of peace had been teaching the highest doctrines of peace, the financial reformer had been investigating the social evils of the present system. It might be a matter of speculation to the world, it might be a matter of speculation to many, whether we were in danger more or less of foreign invasion, but the financial reformer replied, it could be no matter of speculation to the country, when he told them that since 1815, during a time of tranquillity and peace, without estimating one farthing contributed for the payment of the interest of the national debt, incurred for former wars, they had paid, out of the earnings and in dustry of this country, no lea than 550,000,0001. sterling, which was equal to two thirds of their national debt; and that during the time they had paid this money, they were assured, year by year, in royal speeches, that this country was receiving the assurances, he believed that was the term, the most satisfactory and peaceful assurances from all part: of the world. (Hear, hear.) But the financial reformer addressed the members of the Peace Society, and said 0 Pursue your excellent career, instructing the people in the highest objects of humanity, whilst I am determined to pur sue my investigations, so that I shall trace the current of this expenditure, and see whether the application has been made precisely for the purposes , for which this large expen.ature has been obtained.' For that purpose, he said, he took in his hand a return made to the House of Commons in the year 1818, and he took that because, although it might not legit his purpose as well as some other returns, it gave a fuller l aceount of those things which he wished to quote. At that time, when this country was threatened with an invasion as tearful, under the late King of France, as it was at the present thine,when the alarm was excited through the letters signed " P." in the London papers, and through the letter of the quiet and estimable nobleman who was not an alarmist in that district, which were held forth to the world as a posi tive proof that very early they might expect war—at that time a return was moved for, which came before the House of Commons. "The financial reformers took that return, sad said that at that time our army consisted of 138,769 mew. It was not much less now. The commissioned caws were 5,995 men. What were the officers doing at that particular time, when all the country was alarmed Iron the fear of foreign invasion ? He said he found on half pay, doing nothing, out of the 5,995, 3,516 ; on full pay, assisting the half-pays in doing nothing— ragghter)-306, making a total of 3,8.52 absolutely nothing, leaving 2,143 as sufficient to do all the duties of the country ; and it had been stated, that from them 2,143 the' might make a very considerable reduction for men who never did any duty whatever, and then they got the whole of the staff of officers deemed requisite at that period for the protection of this country. At that time they had the confirmation of the opinion of Mr. Bernal Os borne, M.P., who was an authority in these matters, who said that at that time they had more general and field officers for their 138,000 men than the French had for their army of 400,000 men, including the staff of the national guards; 'and that he was prepared to submit a plan by which, through esneentrating these officers, they could procure greater officering, at a saving of 570;0001. per annum to the nation, Bo far, for the army ; and what was the state of the navy, asked the financial reformer ? He took the same return, made in the same year, and he found that the provision for the navy, against this French invasion, had quite as large a stock of admirals as he could desire. At that time there were 207 admirals, receiving a sum annually amounting to 126,2351.; and out of these, there were, retired on full pay, 48 ; reserved and able for duty but doing nothing, 145; these were rceiving annually 74,7701. ; and there were on duty, and discharging the services for which the govern ment appointed them, and which the government muss think could be discharged in their hands, or they . would have made an addition to the number discharging that duty, only fourteen. ( A laugh.) So that out of 207 ad petals at that time, all the services which could be ren dered by that large staff to the country, consisted of the services which could be rendered by fourteen! The pay ment which the country made annually to these 14 for the services actually rendered, wee 29,5651., but the payment made to those who had retired, and those who were doing nothing, year by year, was 96,6701., out of the gross pay ment of 124,0001. (Hear, hear.) That system ran through all the service ; take the next gradation, the captains. The captains is the service at that time amounted to 232 ; of whom those who were unemployed were IH, and the employed were 81. The number of commander were 1,129; of whom them were unemployed 1,014, sad em ployed 115. The number of lieutenants was 2,074 ; and of these 1,454 were unemployed, and the employed were only 620. If now we added to these numbers the admirals, we should therefore find that, out of 3,642 officers in the navy, 2,812 were unemployed, and only 800 were in employment. It should be stated, that out of the 2,812 there were 533 who had retired; but the number of officers who were able for duty, and yet doing nothing, on half-pay, was 2,299, against the 800 only that were doing positive duty. (Hear, bear.) The payment made, in the whole, for those who VIM doing nothing was 223,9371., which , added to the Ober stun of 455,3911., made up a total of 679,3281. And agitate of the navy now, at the present time, presented la- differeat features from these ; for he believed there nom now ten admirals employed out of a number of 206. The same remarks would apply to the ships. In the year 1848 we had 671 ships, in cluding steamers, in this country ; and out of these only 252 which were in commission, or required menially to do the business of the country. Of these 671 ships, there were 174 which were steamers, and :17 steamers were then building ; and the remainder of the ships not in commission, to the number of 419, were laid up in ordinary ; they were rotting and doing nothing. (Hear, hear.) Of the 2.52 ships which were in commission, 233 ships were at different stations throughout the world ; and as we had twenty-four ships on the coast of Brasil, and in the Pacific, and twenty font ships on the west coast of Africa, and 24 or 25 ships in the Mediterranean, making 72; the financial reformer reluctantly asked the question, whether it would not be politic, with these views of invasion, to bring home some of those vessels, in case of need, to protect the country, which was said to be danger—rather than to alarm us con tinually, for the purpose of the government putting their