The Express. — London, England, 1853-05-17 00:00:00

en(' erpreisfs. Tv L..P.itkaPuNIIIINTS. a meow. LU.S •C" The Ea.,reoe." emulate' the tam eeealea's t.eeet:.. • patiageed ewe; ideoley sea friday eight, to Use Mr PM- Mew uhrekeete laietrie 1' sae " The La prem." Leaaos Menthe pipet. awl be et lie grew. 17. Beavertiesueet. ly Two o'ciose on the hIOR WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. 4 " 41-11ollant. MAU.. —.—Aftersima. 1 0 3. T w—llocaufs. fa. 42......—..Ahere55e. lv a. 1. ta. LONDON, TUESDA y, MA Y 17. Lai us place before our readers sonic curious intormation of the various countries whence we draw supplies of core. Under Free-trade the whole world helps to feed us. It is sufficient to look over any corn merchant's circular to he astonished at the great number of strange names met with. Marianople, Ibrasia. Satanic.. Ghirka, Hard Taganrog, Hard Hounielia, Hard Sense, Egyptian, Egyptian-Snide, Egyptuni-kleh.ra. Iturdianski, Moldavian, and Wal lachia°, are the names of wine of the wheats now continually sold in Mark-lane, as well as the old familiarly known wheats of I)antzic, Konigsberg, Rostock, Stralsund, Stettin, Odessa, &c.— while turcign flour is distinguished as American, Canadian, Ert neh,Thscan,and Spanish. In the four months of the slay to the 7th lust. there arrived in Mark-lane, by land and sea, 343,551 qrs. of wheat, of which 2 64,493 qrs. were foreign. In the same period, the quantity of flour arrived was 274,439 sacks and 116,325 barrels. Of the wheat, therefore, nearly three-fourths were of foreign growth ; of the flour all the barrels and 69,723 sacks were foreign. Of the flour, all the beards came from the United States; from France camp 31,603 sacks, from Tuscany 7,329 sacks, from Diemen 100 sacks, from Hamburg 110 sacks, from Holland 130 sacks, from Belgium 10 sacks, and from Spain 27,121 sacks. Of the wheat, the largest quantity, 50,287 qrs., came rom Prussia ; the rest came from Holland, Russia Ham burg, Mecklenburgh, Denmark, France, the 'Neapo litan States, the Papal States, Italy, the United States, Egypt, Bremen, Hanover, Sweden, and Lubeck. F rom almost all the countries of Europe, therefore, from parts of Africa, and from the United States, does London receive supplies of wheat and flour; and what is true, in this respect, of the metropolis, but still more extensively, is true of the whole country. And precisely because we have drawn our supplies from so wide • space, the price here, being us it were the medium price of all these places, has undergone no fluctuation. The backwardness of the season, the unfavourable I condition of the ground during many months for til lage, the comparatively small quantity of bread corn which has been sown, and the sickly appearance in many places of the young wheat, impart a great inte rest at this moment to the trade in corn. In spite of these untoward circumstances, the report of Fri day's corn market is that "English wheat barely maintaias last week's value, barley is very dull, and oats 6d. lower than on Monday." The average price of wheat in the six weeks ending the 7th inst., was 1 is. 7d. per quarter, it having been 40s. in the week ceding February 3, and it has varied only a few pence, 17d., through the entire four months of the year. the harvest last year was not good, though there was a great breadth of wheat on the land, notwithstanding that and the unfavourable spring the price of wheat is amazingly steady and comparatively low. Last year at this time the average price of wheat was 40s. I Id.; thus it is now 3s. 13d. higher than then. But at that period as compared to the be ginning of the year, the market had risen more than the present year, the average price in the first week of the year having been 375. 3d.; it advanced to 425. 73. on March 20, a difference of 3s. 4d., and was on the Bth of May 3s. Bd. higher than in the first week of the year. Though the price, therefore, was 3s. Bd. lower last May than at present—the result un doubtedly,as the low price at the beginning of the year shows,of our own excellent harvest in 18,51—it was not so steady as in the present year. Now this fact is of j great importance, for it proves that fluctuations in I the price, now when our supplies are drawn from a very . large surface, are more caused by the varia tions in our own harvests than by variations in the foreign supplies. The pnce is now 3e. 8i higher than last year, while the fluctuations in the four months were two and-a-half times greater last year than in the present year. The home supply . was then greater than now. This is the plain deduction from the known produce of the two harvests of POI and 1852 from the pre sent higher price and from the greater importation. To April 5 of the present year, according to the &wird of Trade tables, there was imported, of corn of all kinds, and of flour reduced to quarters of corn, 2,035,896 qrs., whereof 864,083 were qrs. of wheat, and 1,328,797 were ewts. of flour. To April .1, 1832 there was imported of corn of all kinds, and flour reduced to qrs. of corn, 1,339,723 qrs., whereof 429,387 were qrs. of whe at, and 699,604 were cwts. of flour. Between April 5 and May 7of the present year there has been imported, according to the Gazette, 538,843 qrs. of grain of all kinds and thaw as grain, against 381,921 qrs. in the same period last year This makes the total imports of all kinds of grain in the four months of the two years, of which the principal part was wheat, or flour expressed in quarters : 1853 1852 Excess in the four months of 1853 853,095 or arse-halt more than the quantity . imported in 1852. When we know that the p resent highest price of the best English white wheat is 58e. per qr., and take into consideration the inferior quality of the wheat grown iu 1852 compared to that grown in 1831, we are satis fied that wheat growers have obtained in the rise of 3s. Bd., as compared to the price last year, a fair re muneration for the deficient quantity of l ast harvest, while that rise of price having been sufficient to bring in corn and flour from a wide extent of country, has kept the price, as we have shown, remarkably steady. Bat the steadiness of the price caused by the great importation is not the only benefit it has conferred on the farmers. It has enabled mer chants to victual their ships, and cotton and woollen and metal and pottery manufacturers to carry on their works at a comparatively low rate ; it has con tinued and increased enterprise and consumption of all kinds, and caused a great demand for cattle, and wool, and timber, and all the other produce of land; so that farming is now, as was recently stated and admitted in the House of Commons, as flourishing a hiplines, as an y in the country. Last year at this time Southdown hog's wool was from 13/. to 141. 10s. per pack; it is now from 191. to 201., a rise of 30 per cent. Tallow is now 25 per cent. higher than last year. Cattle and sheep now sell in Smithfield, the former for one-third and the latter for one-half more money than they sold for last year. The prices on May 10, 1832, and on May 9, 1853, copied from the Smithfield Market tables are these : Per Slb., sinking the ofd. la i 2. 1543. 1 1. d. s. r. 4. s. d. I , Inferior beasts 2 2 to 2 4 3 0 to 3 2 ' Prime Scots 3 2 to 3 4 4 0 to 4 4 Isferior sheep 2 6 to 2 8 4 0 to 4 2 Soatkdown wither 3 6 to 3 8 5 2 to 54 , In like manner potatoes are 30 per cent., butter 20 per cent., and cheese more than 20 per cent. dearer than last year. But for the large importation of food we have referred to the demand for, and the pries of, all these asticlea would not have been so great, and thee the farmer has been provided with both a steady and a good market for ail his produce by the free importation of corn. Similar weather to that we have experienced has prevailed over the greater part of Europe, and in i places not supplied with breadstuff from so many quarters as England, people begin to be a little apprehensive of a scarcity of !bad. The demand for both wheat and rye has become active in Holland and Belgium, and purchases of rye and other inferior grains on account of both countries have been made lest week IS our markets. Re ceiving, as wo now do, all the spare produce from the countries on the Black Sea and the Baltic, Eng land is becoming a great entrepot for corn, and any of the neighbouring nations which may be tempora rily in want will come hither for a supply. The price of corn here cannot be permanently either higher or lower to any great extent than thu price in t.,:hcr conntriN. It' it be a little higher, corn Sows in from all Tamura and THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 17, 1853. FRANCE. Plink MONDAY 'EVADING. ID gfeseqveice of yesterday being . observed ta the fig, of Pentecost, the journals hitt have not appeared to-day. It was stakdiry Mr, Audri, in his speech against the civil pensions bill, that the number of fun& tionaries paid by the state, which in 1831 was 138,830, increased to 174,261 in 1848, and now has swelled to 230,005. If to this formidable army of officials there be added the 29,727 existing civil pen sions on the treasury list, and the military pensioners, it will be found that, besides the standing army, about 300,000 persons, or 1 in 25 of the whole male population from 21 to 60 years of age, are quartered upon the budget. Such a state of things, M. Andre said, tends towards the realization of the socialist dream—every citizen a functionary, every thing in common for distribution among all. The predomi nant apprehension manifested by the opposition during a debate of six consecutive days, is that the bill will afford fatal facilities to the govern ment to increase the pension list. Four councillors of state argued in turn that the objection to making the pensioner a direct creditor of the state was one of words merely, be cause in practice the treasury invariably made up the deficiencies in the funds, arising from the deductions from salaries to pay pensions. It was generally, though not universally admitted to be right in prin ciple, that retiring pensions should be granted as a reward for long and meritorious services, and that it was not possible, with the present scale of salaries, to provide sufficient funds by deductions; but the opposition persisted that there was an important practical distinction between an annual subvention in aid, granted voluntarily by parliament as an act of benevolence, and a recognition of a legal right in retired functionaries to receive an income from the state. In the first case, it was contended, the knowledge that it was competent to the legislative body to refuse the grant, w ould have a tendency to keep the amount within reasonable bounds, but in the latter the government would be under a constant temptation to encourage premature retirements, to en able them to reward new adherents, and there was no security that proper deductions would in all eases be made from salaries. The official orators, indeed, affected to rely greatly upon a clause in the bill that no pensions beyond a certain number should be defi nitive without confirmation by the Corps Leeislaiff, but this guarantee was justly described by several speakers as wholly illusory, because it must always be practically impossible for the house to refu= funds necessary to pay individuals who had fulfilled the conditions imposed upon them by law for obtaining pensions. The Council of State obstinately refused to adopt the suggestion of the com mittee that a tabular schedule should be ap pended to the bill, showing what categorise of functionaries were to be entitled to pensions. This is to bo left to the government to settle. Therefore, although the bill upon the face of it proposes to add only 80,000 functionaries to the pension hat, it was emphatically asserted by M. Andre, Viscount de Kerveguen, and others, that there was no security whatever that this sufficiently alarming number would bo the limit. N. Baroche made extraordinary efforts to obtain a favourable vote. He dragged the name of the Emperor into the debate, assuring the house that the government, " in the highest sense of the word," had carefully studied the measure; he " implored" them to vote it, averred that it would be to their honour to do so, and concluded by solemnly assuring them that they were the "best councillors and the firmest pillars" of the state. When this mixture of menaces and cajolery obtained a mere majority of 132 against 100 in a house generally so subserviert, it is pretty evident that the public treasury must be considered very seriously in asiger. I stated above that the principle of pensions was generally throughout the course of the debate ad mitted to be a good one. M. Levavasaeur, however, made some striking observations in an opposite point of view. He said that when the middle and waiting classes made habitual sacrifices to ac oneenhito savings in the savings banks and lamb for old age, ho could not see the policy of exempting one particular class of society from the necessity of such a salutary practice. He objected too, that the pension system took away, in the shape of deduction from salary, the proper patrimony of the functionary's family, to dole it out again to him self for his life only, while after his death his widow and children received nothing or next to nothing. The subvention from the state was in reality nothing else than an addition to salaries. He should be very glad to see salaries raised if the state of the public Seances would admit of it, but then he would desire to as functionaries completely masters of their own imam, like other people, and not treated as if in Oat of morality and prudence they were not on a level with their fellow citizens. M. Levamuiseur, moreover, thought it a dangerous thing in a social point of view to create a pensioned "caste" embracing, les it would in time assuredly do, the humblest agent of authority in every village. The relative ease and comfort which these pensioners would enjoy as com pared with their neighbours, would be calculated to engender feelings of envy and hatred. General !tendon left Algiers on the 10th, on board the Berthollet, for Bougie, where the troops destined for the Kabylia expedition are assembled. Several regiments have left Toulon for Africa, to supply the places of the corps engaged in the expedition. An attempted strike among the working bronze manufacturers at Paris has just been quelled with a strong hand. The workmen of M. Mericean, 20, Rue de la Cerisaie, demanded a diminution of one hour in their working time, which has hitherto been twelve hours, inclusive of the time allowed for meals. Their ultimatum not being accepted, they left work, and went round to other manfactories, attempting to induce the workmen to strike, in some instances with success. The masters having complained to the police, thirteen men were arrested. All but four have since been released, and the men generally have returned to their work without conditions. There was a panic at the Bourse to-day. The opening prices were firm, at Saturday's quotations, but at about half-past 1 o'clock the Three per Cents. suddenly dropped a full i per cent. The only ex planation given is a rumour of a telegraphic des patch front Constantinople with bad news. " Wolf" has been cried so often with regard to the eastern question, that it is astonishing that people should allow themselves to be frightened by anything of so small authority as a private telegraphic despatch from that quarter. It is generally disbelieved in political circles that any serious compliostioe his arisen. Nevertheless the rents closed at nearly the lowest price of the day, and railway shares followed the movement. The Prase, in its weeklycommercial review, says : The situation of trade continues to improve, and business would have already become exceedingly active were it not for the extraordinary dearness of raw materiels, which of course raises the price of manufactured articles. This cir cumstance is probably the true cause of the long dead season we have bad. There is, however, no probability of any meat reduction in prices for some time to come. Had there boss any tendency :towards a fall, it would certainly have Marred in January, ;when production as well as demand was slack. The country agents mast how peedily make for the summer fairs, especially for Beauciure fair C il itry,7ind when they find they cannot do better, must submit to the prices asked. The jewellery trade complains Ohm than any other at the present moment. A moderate amount of business only was trans its:led to-day at the Bourse, at a general decline in q.es' compared with those of Saturday. The dos prices were :—For Cash : Three per Cents.- 81 7oc. ; Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 104 f. For the end of the month, Three per Cents., 81f. 50c. ; Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 104 f. 10e. Bank Stock, 2,725. In the railway share market, most of the principal i liues experienced a general decline in price. Strati lboargs fell Of., Northerns7f., and the remainder from If. to sf. each, with the exception of Paris and Orleans. Final quotations :—Northerns, 928 f. ; Paris 1 ea Orleans, 1,120 f.; Paris and Strasbourg, 944 f. 750.; Paris and J,yoes, 967 f. 50c. ; Paris and Rouen, 1,165 f. ; Lyons to the Mediterranean, 857 f. ale. ; Western of France, 790 f. 50c.; Rouen and Havre, 550 f. ; Bor deaux and Cette, 672 f. 75c.; Caen and Cherbourg, 645 f. 50e.; Dijon and Besancon, 578 f.; Dieppe and Fecamp, 363 f. 75c. THE LATE SULTANA.—The mother of the Sultan died on the Ist. inst., of suppuration of the knee joint fol lowing an attack of acute rheumatism ; her age was about :A. She has always been known as a moat amiable woman, and was greatly beloved by her son. She was originally a Circassian slave. SPAIN: Lord Howdeu, the English Ambassador, gave on the 9th a grand dinner to the new Ambassador of France, the Marquis de Turgot, and to the Milliliter* present in Madrid. Among the guests were oitiergt , tundi, President of the Council; M. Egan!, Minister of the Interior; M. Bermudez de. Castro, Minister of Finance ; the Duke of Veraguss, the Mar quis de Santa Cruz, the Marquis de Yerales, M. Ri queltne, Under Secretary of State of the Department of Foreign Affairs, and the Sardinian Minister. According to the Clamor Publico, one of the daughters of the Infante Don Francisco de Paula had been demanded in marriage by Prince Adalbert of Bavaria, heir of the King of Greece. no sootier is it lower than in other couutries than it begins to how out. Whatever nu v Laid other na tions which are denied 1 ree Trade by their 'selfish, short-sighted, ignorant rulers, we shall obtain is full share of all the food of the world, aril prices will continue to be here, as they Lane Leen On many months past, comparatively low, and almost f ree from fluctuations. We are now intlhe fifth' year of Free Trade in corn—always excepting . the one shil ling duty, the remains of old oppression, reminding us continually of the terrible fetters that formerly galled us—arid every year has made more and more I m anifest and impressive the numerous advantages, the steady prices, the abundant supply, the vast consumption,, the exuberant enterprise, and the !profound, though active, contentment , which have ensued. A PROJECT of law, proposing to establish new and severe penalties for offences against any of the mem bers of the BONAPARTE family, has any formally presented to the Legislative Corps, by direction of the Minister of State. No attempts, which the public are aware of, have in any instance been made to summit acts of violence against either the person or y of any individual belonging to the T ie mr:ill Family. But the love of ridicule, which forms so strong a characteristic of our French neighbours, being deprived of many ob jects to which it was long accustomed, has no doubt been frequently concentrated of lato upon those who occupy a place in the charmed circle of the new dynasty. The EWA} bb herself has formed no exception to these sarcastic attentions, and the Sovereign himeelf, like all his predecessors since the days of Loris XV., has constantly served as a target for the aim of those whose missiles consist of "paper pellets of the brain." The diligence of the police and the rigour of the laws affecting the press have been unable to suppress altogether these wicked witticisms and republican railleties. Something more is there fore demanded to secure the household of the Tuileries from . perverse criticism on its personal history, peculiarities, or costume. A boo mot or a caricature directed against the infallibility of any collateral heir to the throne of December, tends to I undermine that throne itself ; and a joke at the expense, or a grin at the features of the sacred indi viduals who sit thereon, will obviously partake of the nature of blasphemy after their heads shall have been bedewed by Pius IX. with the anointing oil at Notre Dame, and meantime any such evidence of disrespect is to be dealt with under the provisions of the proposed law of constructive sedition. If discussion upon the subject be permitted in the Legislative Corps, it will doubtless be argued that the stringency of such a measure has not been Bur geeted by petty resentment or unpunished annoy ances, or personal sensibility to the species of affront offered to Majesty or its relatives through the me " diem of yulta perclia figures, or rhythmic pasquinade*. From the summit of heroic greatness the successor of CHARLEMAGNE, HENRI IV., and NAPOLEON, looks down with religious pity and imperturba bility upon the non-jureng streams of the Faubourg St. Germain and the coarser jests of St. Martin and the Bonlieues. It is for the sake of society alone that the EMPEROR asks for new , measures of repression. It is in the placid inflexi bility of consummate science that he has formed the resolution of tightening the politica! tourniquet a little further. It is all for the good of the patient that circulation should be wholly stopped and all sense of consciousness or sympathy with the upper I portions of the body politic completely paralysed in ; its members. Upon a similar plea Loris NAPOLEON first assumed the dictatorship and then the crown ; and upon this plea likewise is it that so many of the most eminent persons of civil and military rank are still proscribed and condemned to live in exile. Upon this plea also a bill has been passed, during the pre sent session, altering in its most essential features the law with regard to juries. Not only has the mode of forming the jury lists been changed so as greatly to circumscribe the range out of which every panel in criminal cases must Le taken ; but the pro portion of the jury whose assent is necessary to con viction has been altered from three-fourths to a bare majority. Having . thus got the ligatures ready, the Imperial operator is now about to apply them. ' Under the proposed enactment every offence which St be judicially construed into an injury or an in sult to any member of tho House of BONAPARTE is l iaised to the dignity of a crime °pleat the State, Imam such it is to be made punishable, not as now ..Naffing to the intentions of the offender or the MOM mischief or annoyance inflictei, but measured by **expansive rule of political exigency, and the necessity of guarding analogous . by terrors rthre e e d formerly connected with the law of sacri lege ell who belong by ties of consanguinity to the hierarchy of power. All this is sad and bad enough, but something much worse remains. By SS and b 7 sections of the criminal code, as revised mg mended in 1543, the punishment of death for political offences was entirely abolished. Under the monarchy of 1830, the power of death for treason nominally existed; but, in point of fact, it was never tseroised. Of the many who attempted the life of Louis PHILIPPE, the greater number were reprieved by W clemency, and in the rare instances—such as that se PlEsClll—where the extreme penalty of the law Texas exacted, public opinion recognised the ri gour of justice dealing with deliberate sa misens, not with mistaken revolutionists. But the most signal proof of the sincere antipathy of the Monarch of the barricades to the shedding of blood for political crime, was in the case of Louis NAPOLEON himself. Twice he had attempted an invasion of the soil of France, and twice he had endeavoured, by money, to corrupt the troops of the line, and to induce them, amidst profound internal peace, to desert their colours, and aid him in an armed effort to overturn the esta blished order of things. On the second of these occasions Louis NAPOLEON, finding the first sentry he met with at Boulogne deaf to his en ticements, shot the honest soldier through the heart. In a few hours afterwards he was himself a prisoner. and being tried by a duly constituted tribunal, was found guilty of treason in its most aggravated form, and with having himself for purposes purely per smog shed innocent blood. Nevertheless the so forfeited was spared by Louis PHILIPPE, with what requital the recent sequestration of his children's property may suffice to show. Yet LOUIS NAPOLEON is the man who at the zenith of power and fortune is I net satisfied unless he be permitted to erect anew the political guillotine! That the measure will be sanc tioned by a legislative body nominated by the Exe cutive, and pensioned at its will, there hardly ap pears to be any room to doubt. It is already received, we are told, by the sanction of State, only one member of which, M. no......nuesie, ventured to withhold hie assent, and even he, it would seem, did not actually vote against it. Some half audible mutterings of dissatisfaction there may possibly be, mingled, of course, with the usual protestations that the Govern ment is too popular to need any resort to harsh mea sures. Rut whom will these hypocrisies deceive? None assuredly within doors, or without. But everywhere such a step is likely to be productive of ill effects. To internal and external enemies alike it is an avowal of weakness and fear. For the reckless and the desperate, if such there be, occupied in ma- 1 chinations against the new dynasty, it will have but few terrors; but it will serve to keep in counte nance other Governments which adhere to the old sanguinary system of despotism. Eventually it cannot fail to inflict a dewily wound on that which it is blindly adopted to sustain. Men may not be allowed to print or publish ; but they cannot be pre vented from remembering and comparing . The clemency of the House of ORLEANS, and th lenity of the Republic, will be contrasted by the least re flective with a dark and unforgiving spirit, which resorts to obsolete and cruel rigour in the selfish anxiety to maintain itself unquestioned in absolute power. [NSW or TIIE CITY Or LONDON, - _ —Mr. Anthony Brown, who was elected by the Livery of London in the year 1814 to the office of Chamberlain, in the room of Sir William Ileygate, But., died on Sunday last. He had been alderman of the ward of Billingsgate from the year 1821 to the time of Lis ekction to the office, the duties of which he discharged to the satisfectim of his fellow citizens. The candidates spoken (din the City for the situation are Aldermen Sir John Key, Bart., Fare brother, Humphery, and Sir William Mammy, Bart., Mr. William Bowes, who is not connected with the corpora tion, and Mr. Benjamin Sc3tt, who is designated in the "City rotktt Book as "clerk to prepare accounts for auoitors," and has been several years performing the lobo clone duties of the office of chamberlain. are also candidates. It has been long the custom of the livery to appoint to the office a member of the Court of Aldermen, and the report in the City is that they wiii not depart in the present in gested Matt that old rale. TURKEY. Letters from Constantinople of the 2nd state that the Greek Easter Festival was celebrated on the Ist inst. with the customary gaiety and order. The government, notwithstanding the predictions of the over-timid, did not think proper to abridge the license which the Greeks have been accustomed to enjoy on this anniversary. A telegraphic despatch received in Vienna on the 14th, announces that according to the reports of the Austrian Consul at Odessa, the Russians have positively suspended their armaments. At Odessa no speculations were made in grain, and large quantities of corn had accumulated in Southern Russia. In spite of extensive purchases made by the Russian government, the prices had fallen, and were still falling. The Theste Observer has correspondence from Constantinople of the 2nd inst. ;, the Russian steamer Bessarabia had arrived on the 10. from Odessa, with despatches for Prince MenseMkoff. Their contents had not transpired. The English steamer Tiger had left for Malta on 26th of April, with despatches from Lord Stratford to Admiral Dundee; and the Wasp (British steamer) had arrived from the Pirmus. The Turkish fleet had left the arsenal on the 27th, to cut anchor in the Bosphorus. MARSEILLEB.—The Scamandre, which left Con stantinople on the 6th instant, confirms the news already received by way of Trieste, that the Divan had received intimation of the proposed ultimatum of Menschikoff, demanding the establishment of the Protectorate of the Greek Church, and certain modi fications in the terms lately granted to France on the subject of the Holy Places. The Chapelet, which sailed for Constantinople on the 7th, and the Caradoe on the Bth, both bring despatches for the French and English governments, but the contents of them have not transpired. CANADA. QUEBEC, APRIL VI An important bill was read a second time during the past week in the Canadian House of Assembly, to incorporate the Canadian Steam Navigation Com pany. With some different names, this company is in effect the same as that which was recently refused a charter by the imperial parliament. The object is to run a line of steamers between Liverpool and two of the principal Canadian ports, Quebec and Mon treaL From the expression of opinion in the house, there is no doubt of a charter being glinted to this company. Their capital is to be a million and a quarter sterling, and they are to be allowed the pri vilege of insuring the goods they carry. This line of steamboats, in connexion with our trunk railways about to be constructed, we look upon as an important undertaking, and one that will tend much ;to the development of Canadian improvement. There has been at different times much opposition manifested in our parliament to the principle of companies with limited liability, and this charter would not have been granted had it not been con tended that the proposed undertaking was entirely beyond private enterprise. A bill to reform the seignorial tenure in Lower Canada has been passed through committee, after being discussed for about three weeks. The object of this bill is to pave the way for the conversion of this tenure into that of free and common soccage. -- —..-- -- --- -- - A bill has also been passed through committee to introduce a decimal currency into Canada. This reform will be a very useful one. Some of the reformers are very angry with Lord John Russell for the manner in which he has allowed the Clergy Reserves Bill to pass through parliament. They declare that the restrictions placed in the bill are in the last degree insulting to them. The following is an abstract of the expenditure of tho province of Canada during the past year, taken from official returns just laid before parliament: Interest on public debt Civil government 39,019 12 6 Administration of Justice 86.785 16 11 Provincial Penitentiary 6,000 0 0 Legislature Education 63,898 13 0 Agriculture Hospitals and other charities Provincial geological survey 1,965 11 2 Militia Maintenance of lightiressm Emigratles Pensions Indian annuities C ensus Sinking fund Miscellaneous 641,123 2 4 To balance at credit of consolidated fund 401,001 0 01 Total currency £1,053,026 2 41 And the following is a statement of the revenue during the name period : By balance at credit of Consolidated Fund, 31st Jan., 1852 Less paid on account Sink ing Fund, 1850 and 1851 149,650 0 0 Amount of statement No 39, per public accounts, 1851 Arrears of former years, per statement No. 34 of 1852 6,876 11 1 Rebellion and invasion claims, Canada East 66,868 10 2 234,905 15 10 172,494 16 01 Net customs 706,617 16 10 Netexcise 22,445 11 11 Net territorial 32,248 12 7 Bank impost Revenue from Public Works Militia Fines, &c. 4l 4 2 Fines and Forfeitures, including Seizures 2,785 611 Casual Revenue 22.431 7 10 Law Fes Fund, 12 Vic., caps. 63 and 64 4,648 0 5 Total Currency 1 053,026 2 41 By Balance brought down £401,901 0 0} The increase of the Revenue in 1852 over 1851, is about 40,0001. The enlargement is derived more from the smaller sources of revenue than from the customs. The public works produced about 6,5001. more in 1852 than in 1951; the Bank imposts, 3,000/. ; the territorial , 14,0001. ; the casual , 11,0001. ; the Excise , 2,0001. ; while the difference in the Customs returns of the two years, was only about 2,0001. The expenditure is increased some 17,0001. on account of the census, which oast 18,3491. 13s. 3d. There is a reduction of some 7,0001. on the interest of the debt, and but a slight increase of expenditure on other items. The following is a statement of exports and imports : Exports. 1852. Imports, 1852. Great Britain £1,689,214 .... £2,667,793 N. A. Colonies 203,034 .... 120,238 British West Indies U. S. America 1,571,130 .... 2,119,423 Other foreign countries Total £3,513,993 £3,071,623 Ships are beginning to arrive, and the navigation is fully open. The weather has been very fine all sp fcrin. It is expected the Legislature will remain in session until the end of May. Yours, &c., LAMBDA. SOUTH AMERICAN MAILS. SOUTHAMPTON, TUESDAY MORNING. The Severn has arrived. Her dates are : Bubnos Ayres, April 3; Rio do Janeiro, H ; Lisbon, May 12. Buenos Ayres was in a very critical state. Urquiza, in league with Lagos, was posted nine miles from the capital. Urquiza had returned with the terms agreed to by the Buenos Ayreans, bat he had failed to ratify them. Hostilities were immediately commenced. Sir Charles Hotham and the American and French lambassadors have concluded a treaty with Paraguay. At Pernambuco and Bolivia there was a great want of-skipping-for sugars. Freight as high as 1 BRITISH AND FOREIGN ANTI-SLAVERY 82c 6d. a ton. At Rio Mr. Heneage, of the British SOCIETY. legation, had died of vellow fever. The coffee mar ket)sas been active. Exchange upon London by the Severn,- 27; to '2B at 60 and 90 days. About 270,0001. has passed for this conveyance. Yesterday evening, the annual meeting of this society was held at Exeter.hall. In comoquence of th e expectation of the presence of Mrs. 11. 11. Stowe. and other popular advocates of the objects of the society, the great hall was not only filled to an inconviAiiint tures, but large numbers of persons who were unable to obtain admittanc e were obliged to leave the doors, which w.ra surround e d by an eager crowd at a very early hour. The Earl of SHAYTESISPHY was iu the chair, and opened the proceedings of the evening. The SLCILL(AIIY then cenimenced reading the report, but in consequence of the impatience of the meeting, euli ti rie u himself to a brief statement of the income and expenditure of the society for the past year. The Um J. BALDWIN BDOWNE incised the first resole. tion, namely, the adoption of the report, and the appoint ' meat of a committee for the ensuing year. THE BRAZILS. LIVERPOOL, MONDAS. behave an arrival here to-day from Rio Janeiro. The ship Reindeer, Captain Hunt, brings dates to the 24th of March, ten days later than by the hot Brazilian mail steamer. The Reindeer sailed in company with the Joshua, of Lonr:on, and Catherine Swanton, for Constantinople. The Ranger had sailed a few days previous for Bahia. The fever was raging to an alarming extent among the shipping at Rio Janeiro. Business generally was g ood. Dates from the United States to Bth February h ad been received at Rio Janeiro, advising an advance in the price of coffee, which caused some excitement, and a large purchase was made at advanc ing prices, chiefly for shipment to the United States. Su periors are quoted at 4,000 to 4,200 reis, and good firsts 3,200 to 3.000 reis. The stock in first hands was estimated at 3,5,000 bags. Exchange on England, 2h to 28J. Fieights to the Channel, his. to i Os. ; New York, 100 to 103 mats.; and New Orleans, 110 to 120 cents. In the course of the rev. gentleman's observations, Mom U. R. Stowe entered, and took her seat in one of the side galleries. The whole assembly rose, Ltd cheered her loudly for several minutes. The resolution was seconded by the Rev. W. AIITIMII, and carried unanimously. Mr. Jos Ern SMIll:14 read the names of the committee, and stated that among the corresponding members of tau society were now to be found Professor Stowe, of Massachusetts--(cheers)—Charles Beecher—(cheers)—and Samuel Ward. of Canada. (Cheers.) The Rev. W. Bitook moved the next resolution : " That the meeting, impressed with a conviction of the inherent sinfulness of slave-holding, and of the doctr:ne that 4 human being may be made s chattel, and Income property to his fellow-man, deem it incumbent upon them to asseve rate -se the principle of immediate and uncOnditioaalernanei- pation, as the only one that is consistent with the rights of the slave, and the duty of the master; and regarding th e maintenance of slavery in Christian communities as a dis grace to humanity, a dishonour to civilisation, and an cut rage upon religion, would affirm it as their conviction, that it is the duty of Christians, of all denominations and in all countries, to lift up . their voices in uncompromising con demnation of an iniquity so monstrous, and to employ all moral and pacific means to effect its removal." The Rev. SAMUEL WARD, of Canada (a negro), seconded the resolution, and was received with great applause. He argued strongly against a principle which had been laid down, that money compensation should be made to slave holders as a condition of the emancipation of their slaves, and stigmatised it at a compounding of sin, and declared that a roaveholder who freed his slave was only a repentant sinner, and was no more entitled to be paid in money for his repentance than any other sinner. He maintained that the cotton trade with England nourished the slave labour of America. lie urged that slavery in America was main tained more by the guilty neglect of the north than the positive acts of the south, fur the north always had a male. my in Congress ' and had assented to all the laws relating to slavery which had been passed there. He thee contended that this conduct of the people in the north arose from th e feeling and prejudice against all negroes in the United States, and in speaking of negro pews in churches soul chapels, said he knew ministers who had lately been at meetings in that hall who had such pews in their churches. Ile related an anecdote of one William Hamilton, a negro, who being refused by a minister the administration of the communion before whites, became an atheist; while, on the other hand, he related an anecdote of the conversion of a negro woman by means of a lady who bad no such prejudices, and declared that negro woman to have been his own wife. I (Cheers) Ile stated that so great was the prejudice that a negro who at the battle of Bunker's Hill had greatly dn. tinguished himself was always placed in the back ground behind the whites in all the pictures of that battle. lie stated also that on his coming to England Mr. Cunard had I refused to allow him to take his meals with the other pas sengers on board tie steamer out of deference to the preju dices of Americans, and stated that to be an illustration of the influence of slaveholders even upon Englishmen. The rev. gentleman made altogether a very powerful and effec• jive speech, and sat down amidst loud applause. Mr. ALEXANDEIt here read a letter of apology for his absence from the Earl of Carlisle, and another from Count Lavradio, the Portuguese ambassador. The Rev..l. BeuxErr supported the resolution, which was carried unanimously. Professor STOWE, who was received with great and con tinued cheering, moved the neat resolution :—" That with a view to the correction of public sentiment on this subject in slave-holding communities, it is of the first importance that those who are earnest in condemnation of slavery should observe consistency; and therefore that it is their duty to encourage the development of the natural resources of countries where slavery does not exist, and the soil of which is adapted to the grow th of products—especially of cotton—now partially or chiefly raised by slave labour; this meeting would earnestly recommend, that in all cases where it is practicable, a decided preference should be given to the products of free labour by all who eater their protest against slavery." lie regretted that owing to the state of his health he should be unable to address the meeting at any length, for there was something he should like to any, and some infor mation he should like to give to those wlectilesired the emancipation of the slave. He would, however, make a few short observations. At the close of the revolutionary war all the states in America were slave-holding states. The Bill of Rights declared all men to be free sad equal, and in Massachusetts a slave was advised under the law, as laid down by the Bill of Rights, to bring an action- to recover wages, and having obtained a verdict in his *your slavery fell to the around at once in that state. Then It w 44 war versally acknowledged that slavery was a sin abd a shame, and it was expected that it would be abolished in every state. In the Convention, Jefferson, Mediation, anileithers, from the south, were so sensitive on the subject, that they would not allow the word slave to appearia any of its pro ' endings, and that feeling was participated by Franklin ;and Jay, and Hopkins and Edwards promulgated it fromthe pipit, and it was universally felt tha; no one could support slavery. At that time, when he was iv. boy, there were Wick children in the same school with—him in MS9. sacibusetta, and although there was some feeling that the negro was degraded by slavery and some prejudice against colour, the state of things was not what it now was. la 1820, the great assembly of the presbyterian church passed a resolution against slavery. But the feeling that then existed was not the prevalent feeling now. What had caused that change ? It was the prbfitableness of the cot ton trade, and nothing else. (Hear, bear.) It was that which spread the chain of slavery over the Union. What right, then, had Great Britain to interfere, when she had taken four-fifths of the cotton of America, and therefore sustained four-fifths of its slavery. (Hear, hear.) That gave her the right to interfere. If it had not been for the cotton trade with Great Britain slavery would have been long ago abolished in America. This country asked the slaveholder of America to release his slave and asked him to do right, though he should thereby become poor; bat ought not the cotton consumer to be appealed to as well an the cotton rower?g He would not dictate to this country what was its duty, but he brought before them a solemn truth, and when the cotton-grower was told to be poor but yet to de right, what was the inference as regarded the cotton-consumer ? If they did something effectual the slaveholders would then believe this country was in ear nest ; but, as it was, the cotton growers said, " They de nounce us for not emancipating our slaves, but they do not take less cotton from us." (Hear, hear.) (rhe rev. gentle man here read an extract from a Charlestown paper, which went fully into this argument, and concluded by saying that "the world depended on the cotton of America ; and that cotton fought and conquered for southern slavery.") It was as true as the gospel that cotton did light and con quer for slavery. Here, then, was a great work far Eng land to do ! The price of cotton regulated the price of slaves, and slaves were worth from 1001. to 2001. each, and, in order to stock a cotton plantation, it took 100, 200, 300, and even 400 slaves. What an amount of capital was required. Here was the point at which free labour, such as had been found in the importation of Chinese, could contend with slave labour, and Great Britain should encourage the growth of free labour cotton. There were three ways by which slavery in the United States could be abolished—firstly, by a bloody revolution, which no one desired ; secondly, by per suading slaveholders that the system was wrong, and that they should give it up. But as regarded that course the cotton bought by this country was the strongest answer to the arguments in its favour. Some fifty, or even thirty years ago, in America slavery was thought wrong; but twenty-five years of a successful cotton trade had proved it to be right in their eyes. The third course was to make slave labour unprofitable as compared with free labour. When the Chinese labourers went to California it was said that it lucked like the beginning of running slavery out. Let that system of free labour be encouraged, and if cotton consumers did not grow rich so last by free as by slave labour, let them practise a little of the se'f-denial that they wished the slaveholders to ex hibit. He had only discharged a duty to his conscience in placing that principle before them. He bad visited England 17 years ago, and now on his return he found a wonderful advance in the condition of the poor and labouring classes. He had found that there was a strong feeling in the higher classes for the labouring elms, and that same feeling of philanthropy which actuated them in bettering the condition of the poor at home, induced them to hold out their hand of sympathy to the suffering of the same class abroad, and made them desirous of doing for the slave in America what they were doing for the poor of their own country. Ho was told the heeling of this country on this point was only one of jealousy at the risio; greatness of America. He believed it to be false, and that it was the same philanthropy which they extended to the poor of this kingdom that throbbed in their hearts to- wards the American slave; and because it was a Christian philanthropy, be hoped it would be successful in its object. He thanked them for all they had done and urged them to do more, and perhaps some present might live to see the emancipation of all slaves. Ho could not expect to live to see it, but he would live and die labouring is that cause. (Cheers.) Mr. C. BBECHER very briefly seconded the resolution , which was carried unanimously. Mrs. H. B. Stowe, accompanied by her husband and brother, here retired, amidst the loud acclamations of the assembly. Colonel P. Mower:it moved a resolution:—" That this meeting, whilst deeply lamenting the oppressive enactments which several of the states of the American Union have re cently passed with respect to their free coloured population , and which are not only calculated to perpetuate prejudices against colour, but the avowed object of which is the forcible removal of free-horn men from the land of their birth ; and whilst regretting that the iniquitous Fugitive slave _ r r Law is likely to be still maintained, would never th cord their satisfaction at the encouraging signs which arc manifesting themselves in that country, and recognise OA THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. CAPE TOWN, MARCH 22. The latest accounts front the frontier bring full details of the termination of hostilities with the powerful Gaika chief Sandilli. In the course of the negotiations with Kreili, if the communications with that leader can be so called, two special messengers from Sandilli himself waited on Colonel Maclean, Commissioner to British Kaf fraria, charged with a petition from the rebel chief praying for peace, and desiring to know from the English commander to what district he and his tribe should retire. The petition contained an acknowledgment that "he had no more' strength to fight the English," that he had been driven from his country, and that he had obeyed the Governor's word by crossing the Kei—in short, that he had abandoned the struggle. In consequence of this intimation Gen. Cath cart sent Mr. Charles Brownlee to meet Sandilli and the secondary chiefs of the Gaika tribe at a place within the territory of Umhala, a chief who has remained at peace I with us during the whole of the hostilities. On Mr. Brown lee's arrival Sandilli was sent for, and 'appeared before the Governor's envoy on the morning of Sunday, the 27th of February. The conditions of the treaty having been accepted by the Kaffir chiefs. General Cathcart appointed a day for an interview with them himself; it took place on the 9th of March, at the Yellow Woods, seven miles from King Wil hite's Town. The governor himself read the treaty to the chiefs, Mr. Brownlee acting as interpreter. They appeared to be in good spirits. The Graham's Town Journal publishes, by authority, a report of the whole conference, in the form of a dialogue between the Governor and Macomo, who was the spokesman of the Kaffirs on the occasion. Macomo is the elder brother of Sandilli, who, it is said, in commencing this and the former war, acted against his advice. On the part of the governor the following address was read to the chiefs by the interpreter:— " Chiefs,—l am glad that lam now able to meet you as friends, and u good subjects of our good and great Queen. " Chiefs,—l look to you for the good conduct of your people. " have seen bow truly your people have adhered to you, their chiefs, and how you can make them happy or miserable by leading them right or wrong, as you choose. Let me see that you, Sandilli, and you, Macomo, as well as the other Gaika chiefs, are as good and as true to the Queen, oar great chief, as your people have been to you. "The chiefs Pato, Siwani, Umhala, Kama, and Toise, with others, wisely refused to join you in rebellion ; they listened to the words of Maclean, and remained unmolested, enjoying the pleasures of peace. " Maclean is now in the place of Mackinnon, and he, as my month, will live among you and govern you under me, in the Queen's name. " While it is war between us, I cannot talk with the enemies of the Queen until they are subdued, and beg for peace, and era forgiven. " Now that you are forgiven, and it is peace with you, Sandilli, my ears will be open to hear your word, and I have placed Brownlee here, to listen to your wishes regard ing the welfare of your people, and he will carry them to Maclean and me. Ile will give you good advice, which, if you listen to, you and your people will escape much trouble. " Let there be no more cattle stealing, and then I shall hopo to see you sitting happily in peace, your gardens flourishing, and your cattle feeding and increasing along the riven; and that the Queen's army will never be called upon to punish any chief or tribe of Kaffir" for crimes com mitted against the colony, or for rebellion against the Queen." His Excellency added, that if the chiefs wished to any anything, he was ready to hear them. Macomo replied : We have but one word to say, and to thank; we thank the governor for taking us out of the bush and for giving us a place to live in. " When a chief errs, he is punished and forgiven. This young man (Ssudilli) erred, andhe hasbeen puntshed, and is now forgiven ; but the country you have given him is too small. Tofu who formerly occupied it, had but a small tribe. Sandilli has a large one, which will not find room there. " Governor.—These are things yea should have thought of before you went to war. I know that Toise has but a small tribe, and that it never half filled the country allotted him. Macomo.—We look to you to speak for us, and to re present our case to the Queen. We are her subjects. When settled in the country allotted us, Kreili, timbale, and Toise will affect to be satisfied, but will regard us as intruders, ant this will cause constant heartburnings be tween us. .• GoTentor.—l will send your words to the Queen, but I will give you no hope of over again occupying the Amatolu, as when you were there you were constantly plotting mis chief, and cannot be trusted there again." At the conclusion of the meeting, and after the Governor had left, the chiefs and their people thronged round Col. Maclean, their new Chief Commissioner, whom they greeted with great cordiality. There are no later accounts from the frontier. ete Court. OSBORNE, /doNunv. Her Majesty and Prince Albert, the Prince of Wales, the Princess Royal, and Princess Alice, attended Divine service at Osborne yesterday morning, which was performed by the Hon. and Rev. G. Wellesley. The Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting,and the household, also attended the service. ..... _........ The Duchess of Kent, attended by her Lady in Waiting, went to Frogmore yesterday morning. Her Royal Highness returned to her residence, Clarence House, St. Janice's, in the afternoon. Sir James Graham left town yesterday afternoon for Os borne, Isle of Wight. The Lord Chancellor will receive the Judges, Queen's Counsel, &c., at 12 o'clock on Monday next, the flat day of Trinity Term, at his Lordship's residence, in Upper The Earl of Clarendon left town yesterday afternoon for his seat, the Grove,Watford, Herts. Despatches were sent last evening from the Colonial , office for the Governors of the West India Colonies. me to make a sag- gestion which I thinktrould give rise to a great improve ment in many of our modern cities. My proposition is this : In all the leading thoroughfares of principal towns I:would recommend that a glass piazza be erected over the Ilagways or footpaths on both sides of the streets, such piazza being termed by a series of ridge and furrow roofs, placed one beside the other in succession, after the fashion of the Crystal Palace, and which might be supported on iron columns. This, if carried on continuously in front of the houses and over the crossings, would be highly ornamental, while it would be of the greatest possible public utility. We might then traverse a large city, such as London, Faro, &c., in snowy or wet weather, without risk of cold or incon venience, and then healthful bodily exercise might be taken in all seasons, and the necessity of a winter garden would he advantageously superseded, sir, if still deemed beneficial, means of getttog to it comfortably would thus be afforded. Now that our railway system has been brought to such perfection—we can actually travel the length and breadth of the land from one town to another, in all kinds of weather, with more comfort and less risk to health than we can go to the next street, or from our house to the sta tion—this is a consideration to which I would draw the attention of the various governments and municipal autho rities throughout the world—of the sanitary commissioners —of medical men, and those desirous of promoting the 1 health of towns, and whose object it is to remedy, as far as possible, whatever is detrimental to the well-being of nations and individuals.—Correspondent of The Builder. SALMON FISIIINGS.—The " takes" on the Tay for the last week have been much the same as the one previous. I On all the stations below the bridge, with few exceptions, ' they have been fishing pretty steadily, while those above have been getting a good share of what was going. The melting of the snow on the hills has kept the river running spate after spate, though not to the extent of what is usually . termed a spate, yet quite sufficient to carry the fish well forward, and thus giving the tacksmen of the upper lashings 1 a chance not often got at this season of the year. 'Very little has been heard of rod fishing this season in this quarter, but Mr. Win. Condie has bad some excellent sport last week, having killed four tine fish on Wednesday last at Burnmouth. One of these weighed 181 b., and the other three from 101 b. to 121 b. each. On Friday that gentleman 1 I killed two splendid fish at the same place.—Perth Courier . ' DISCOVERY OF ANCIENT COINS. —On Tuesday last some workmen, who were engaged in removing an old thatched farmhouse elver coins, lavtAlne, which were,Easing wold,near with discovered an old linen bag , which was found to ' c ontain a fewroof f tain a large enrga a uomberof ancient exceptions, shilling-pieces of the reigns of Elizabeth, James, and Charles. — Yorkshire Gavete. ' " r ot •• by tb. • tote O S jinn; . 11 1 ohbotittot which • vote of The t~rl3F glerloui yhe v! Satire , for ono ♦eCew which Ter.en 16.11 throui pmel exhibi thez holida