The Express. — London, England, 1851-01-02 00:00:00

roPOMIAL for • HAPPY NEW Y EAR — hash% SIMON 110 TMAIMINS—DIMMS Zwepday marboo—ar Amen et Wit hams is M oult s Pass% hs. Its. nee OS, Is! 011 e , 05, V ret.tzip t; sod sli insomm= sod osimmem. TLu Aar is publutoil, fart 1., prise 7d.„ and No. L. prise IW., Ws COLLECTEO Ellmos OF THE W RITINGS of DOUGLAS JERROLD. The Series soossososso Wi tbo History of Ea. (ALM AND T. JAME.% Aslbunian a Noseser br esory TfWassday, orol • bass the Ant of every niontb, lOW srosoktios. Whir : Vollissod aAs Palk Ma, latt•azear; aal mad by bodaare aini caay. glit erprefsfs. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Advert Mow & Mooed br "Us Lamm" Isar Womble paper. awn b• at the Mee, 111, lbouveribibsor. by Tin Oda& es dm* dap of poloseation. _ HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE. Ti" Imr—nlierile& IL Selb..-.......Aftneorm, 2b. ism. To-sobabour-arnim lb. ra........hherhoh. 9E. S. m. LONDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 2. Ix another column we have inserted a Roman eatholie's *coward of some very amusing devices of the new Cardinal or his friends for raising money to meet the increawd expenditure required to keep his m•.tropalitan dignity afoot. Laughable as that rate moot may appear, it Las a pregnant moral for such as will understand 'the whole movement indeed is a flehile ludiforiunt, and, although we may smile at the absurdities, we must not be insensible to the dangers involved in it. Tne Roams catholic, are the parties immediately ' interested in the question bow to provide for the due idol mistral ion of their own charitable trusts ; bat they an ad the only parties interestel. Every lover of civil and religious freedom, every friend of education and improvement, every honest patriot, in short, has som.thing to my on that matter; nor ought the F.F.N . • government, which protecte all her subjees, whatever their rank or persuasion, to regard with indifference the es:etence of difficulties which may defraud their theoretic equality ot right to that pro tection of any portion of its practical effect. We care not whether the funds at Oardinai WISLYAIeS disposal for these national purposes be great or small It is a matter of public principle, net of pecuniary amount. If, as our correspondent asserts, the enor mous sum of 1511,0001. fur religious mother charitaAs objects, be now at the absolute disposal of that pro late alone, without computing this lands similarly at the merry of cal of his euffragans, the OM is only an much the more important, practically cossidered ; bat the right of these Roman catholic flecks to a rigid account ot their stewardship, arid the duty of parlia ment and the courts of poetic, to enforce that right, must be the same, although the rout amount of the trust funds should Lave been very much exaggerated by that tatima , e. From the communications with which some of their clergy and laity have furnished es, our readers will have seen what are the difficulties which prevent them frum seeking the aid of the courts to compel these soi-disaul irresponsible trustees of theirs to • faithful, frugal, and public scheme of administration. In the first place, we are told any Homan catholic presuming to seek the protection of his country's laws against an usurping prelate will certainly be "censured," and that, lightly as such censures mo,t be esteemed by men of ague, and barmier, u they must prove against those of the laity, their practical effect, when levelled against the clergy, is by no means contemptible, and, in many cases, may even be to deprive them of their bread. For, say oar correspondents, there are censures which deprive a priest of his " faculties," license) in whole or iii part, and, however unjust they may appear to the ae they affect, there is scarcely a priest in the world—perhaps not one—who will not, when stricken by a censure of that kind, obey it im plicitly, and cease to perform the Interdicted functions so long ss the censure lasts. That is to say, the con gregation tv.d the lay patron (if there be one) mey be effectually deprived of the whole benefit of his ministry, and of the funds ant of which it is sup ported, at the arbitrary will of his prelate, exercised by him in • manner altog.ther unjust. The only check hither,o found upon such exorbitant authority, besides that very unsatisfactory one called "Public *Pinion." consists in the occasional determi nation of a patron, or • trustee, or • congregation, not to submit to have a new priest thrust upon them by the bishop, bat to do without the sacraments and ordinances of their religion rather than receive them from the hands of any but the deprived minirer. But instances of such courage and self-denial are, it is a i ded, very rare, and are likely to become more so, since the late changes—the repeal of all former customs, lane, and privileges, having deprived the scrupulous of what plea they had before for thus withstanding the will of a bishop. For our parts, we must candidly say, that in these difficulties, as they are called, we see nothing what ever to justify or excuse Roman catholic inaction. The long and short of the matter is this : spiritual can -1 sures are ernployed,directly or indirectly, we care not which, fur pecuniary or other temporal ends. By the common law of the land, as well as by certain statutes paned in Roman catholic times, it is an offence so to no ; and the penalties are no less than those of preesu nire,—that is to my, forfeiture of property, and im prissumeot for life, or at the Lir CEN'tl pleasure. The recent pamphlets of Mr. ANSTET and Mr. BARNES clearly 'show that each is the law of the case ; and this being so, the Roman catholic laity, at lest, hav ing the remedy sow within their power, have only themselves to blame, if they submit fur one hour to the stupid and impotent oppression of their cardinal and his adherents. Nut so with another and the only remaining diffi culty which we have to notice, and which appears to us well worthy of legislatorial consideration. Owing to the bungling way in which the Relief Acts were drawn, it is now more than doubtful whether Roman catholic endowments anterior in date to these enact ments are now rude valid ; that is to say, whether the old law of superstitious use., u it is called, is not still in force with respect to such endowments. To add to the difficulty, many, and perhaps the whole, of those endowments were made by secret as suraeces, and therefore void under the Mort main Acts; and jet, by a singular omission in the Roman Catholic Belief Acts, no provision has ever been made for enabling Roman catholic, to comply with the Mortmain Acts, upon the necessity for any further concealment being removed. Conse quently, if • bill were now to be filed against any defaulting trustee, layman or clerk, bishop or cardinal, foe an account of his management of any one of those endowments, the whole proceeding would be at once rendered nugatory by his entrenching himself behind the laws of Mortmain and superstitions uses, and declining to answer interrogatories which tended to elicit intormation perilous to the charity and perhaps oriminatory of its managers. It is now some four years eines these anomalies of English law were made the aubieot of our considers tics and comment, and we have seen no reason to chums the opinion which we then expressed. Had the bell of 1847, brought into the last parliament by Mr. ROMILI.Y and Mr. F.WART, " for the better id ministration of charitable trusts," been passed into a law, that difficulty would have been effectually re moved. It simply provided that no charitable foun dation should be deemed illegal, merely because of past or present enactments against superstitious uses, or because Jesuits or masks were entrusted with the management or participated in its advantage; and that all such charities.. were sot then enrolled under the Nlortmain acts should be allowed the further term' of twelve months for that purpose—an indulgence fre quently granted to protestant charities by parliament. The measure, however, was not then ressedand al though renewed by Mr. ANSTST and one 01.1oenan Nlailute in the present parliament, yet not being sup ported by other Roman catholic., it was dropped after the first reading. But the matter cannot rest any longer in so much uncertainty, and, if &nobleman lint L3td CAMOTS, zealous for his religion, yet, as his ad mirable letter proves, nowise minded to brook inso lence or wrong at the hands of its ministers, wen inclined to take the task of legislation out of the heads of minister., the crisis is favourable. At all events, it is not very favourable to nab legislation as will suit Cardinal WISEMAN and the bishops. On referring to the Daily News, for 1847, our readers will meet with finnan allusion to • cer tain bill, then prepared by Mr. Baosiuwe, of the Chancery Bar, wider the eye of theme prelates, and 11:=by them in the hands of Lord AZONDZIL AND I', for the purpose of being laid before parlia ment. Bat " the motion for leave" we never made. THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, JANUARY 2. 1851. 'Pies IX., at that time a refereeing pope, censured Cardinal WISEMAN and the other bishops for having so much as contemplated so bold an usurpation on rights lay and clerical, and the effensire measure was given up. It was called " A Bill for appointing com missioners to inquire concerning human catholic charities in Eagland, and for getting in the ontatand ing legal estate in the property of such charities in certain cases, and for other purposes." We publish this bill, Os estenso, for the benefit of those whom it may concern, and, therefore, we shall not give any thing like an &nabsis of it in this place. Suffice it to say that the preamble contains a sub. stantial if not an express acknowledgment of the systematic breaches of trust imputed to the bishops. It recites that, "by reason of legal impediments theretofore existing in the way of duly adininivering Haman catholic charities according to law, the prc petty dedicated to such charities bad, in some cues, been applied to purposes which though in accordance with the spirit, had not been in accordance with the letter if the donor's intentions : and that it cc is rzpe ' dient to declare legal the actual application of such property and to ascertain the purposes to which the same should in future be applied." It was then prc posed to 'tact that a commission of gentlemen to be named in the act—Roman Catholics of course—should make the necessary inquiries in such canes and should *en " seal with their common seal, a declaration that such property had been used, applied, spent, or consumed, for a Roman catholic charitable or religious trust or porpoise. And every such declaration should be on absaute and final her to any proceeding by information or otherwise. for the declaring oreiforcing of any charitable or religious trust relating to real or personal property, ith.ther corpse or income, or both, comprisid in inch declara tion, nolicithetanding that such purpose was different from the purpose for which the same was originally yiten." These commissioners were to have the like power with respect to future charitable trues. In three they might "make such modifications as they should deem necessary or expedient," without the possibility of contest by any court of justice. What Dr. WISEMAN, when Pins IX. was a reformer, was not permitted to propose to an English legisla ture, Cardinal WISEMAN, now that Ptus IX. beads the boats of reaction, is permitted to impose as law by authority received from the Pontiff. Can he suppose that the Queen's courts—above all that the high court of parliament—will stand tamely by to witness the aggression? In 11347 the Vicar of the Puri thought it no sacrifice of Isis church's rights to tempt the legislature to deal with this matter for his own pereonal advantage. The cardinal-archbishop will surely not disown in 1841 the right of the legislature to interfere, especially if it be for the advantage, not of himself but of the people. TIIERE is to be a meeting in L ndoe to-night on the subject of the Paper Duiy. The repeal of this duty was emphatically rectmusended by Sir HENRY PAXISELLIS committee on Taxation. That statesman himself condemned it in his wurk on " Financial Reform," as " • tax which places an obstacle in the way of the progress of knowledge, of the useful and necessary , arts, and of sober and industrious habits." "Books," said be, " carry the productions of the human mind over the whole world, and may be truly called the raw material of every kind of science, and of all social improvement." Rut though this tax has b en thus condemns d, and though a committee of the Huse of Commons detioctly recommended its repeal next after the duties upon leather and on glue, it has been the practice of those wise financiers who have succeeded Sir HENRY PARNELL— the immortal Wooos and GOULRERNS Of our pre cious Exchequer—it has been their practice not only to retain this tax in each successive budget, but absolutely to defend it' when its iaiquittes and inequ ilities have been brought before the house. Their kindred brains naturally sympathised with the first article on which it was recommended that the tax should be reduced ; but for authors or for publishers, for any thing that promised an extension of knowledge or that was calculated to aid the pro gress of improvement, they have had neither sympathy nor sentiment, nor the slightest spark of kindly feeling. The paper tax remains an impediment to trade—an injury to authors—an obetac:e to labour—an insur mountable barrier to the disseminatioa of cheap and good knowledge—a national disgrace. It affect.] the manufacturer at his mill, the author in his library, the publisher in his counting house, the printer in his chapel, the tradesman in his shop, the poor man even in the prices of his sugar and his tea. How it affects book buyers we cannot better describe than by quoting the words of Mr. Coutiv.s, in his recent speech at the .lethanics' Insti tute, at Manchester : _ I have bet n astonished, (said he) to find the amount to which isatitutes like thin are taxed. I fled that in the course of a year this instituuon purchsses paper in the tom of books and newspapers, or pap.r for printing, to the eztint of three tone +slight ; and I hod that the duty on that paper amounts to somewhere shout 441. Niw even the copy Gooks that are used in the achools of the Mecha , niers' lostitutinne, or Lyceums—l find these copy books, when vnu sum them up by the hundred wei►bt, pay a tax which really amounts to a considerable sum. And I do say that it is most monstrous that, in a country where we profess to es' et es knowledge and to cultivate education, and de sire the people to be instructed-1 say it is monstrous that taxes should exist which are directly laid upon know ledge. (Cheers.) - - - - - If the parer duty were repealed what products of art and science might we not expect to issue from the paper mill? The genius that can metamorphose the most filthy and disgusting rag into the purest element for a ladies' billet dour, what might it not accomplah if it were untrammelled and unfuttered ? At this moment, nothing is so urgently demanded in the paper trade as a species of paper hitherto unmann lectured. The demands of the Daguerreotype and Talbotype are unsatisfied. Paper is not to be obtained in ans country suited for the delicate purposes of those wonderful illustrations of visible objects. For some tine past the most scientific paper makers in the king dom have been engaged in experimi ntalising upon pe- Earlier processes of manufacture with a view expressly to meet this particular demand. What difficulties and obstacles must not the excise duty have thrown in their way? Processes requiring the utmost deli cacy of treatment—combinations respecting which the utmost secrecy needs to be observed—these are frus trated in a moment by the appearance of the super visor, and his rude inquiry, " What are you doing here ?" It will probably not be until the layer duty is repealed that a paper properly suited for the deli cate process of the Daguerreotype and Talbotype will be produced from the paper mills of British manufac turers. If this duty were (repealed how great an impetus would be given to labour among the poorest of our tlation. In 1b.13, when paper was charged with high rates et duty, the quantity produced was 70,000,000 Ibe. a year. In 1816, under a low rate of duty, 127,000,000 lbs. of paper paid the tax. If a reduction of only three half pence per pound would produce this result what might not be expected front an entire removal of the obnoxious tax? And to whom would the additional labour be given? To the manufacture of paper it is' sesectial to have a constant, regular, and tolerably equal supply of the purest water. Paper mills can, therefore, only be erected in agricultural districts, where the stream's are generous and pure. We find them in Kent, in Buckinghamshire, in Somerset, and in the rural districts of Lancashire and Yorkshire — but rarely in the neighbourhood of large towns and populations. They consequently employ the popula tion of districts for whom it is uncommonly difficult to find employment, and whose rate of wages in the ordinary avocations of husbandry must neces sarily be low. They employ the members of *tallies for whom there wad lre no other employ ment: women and girls who would be idling about the villages, and imbibing all the dissolute habits in tridental to idleness : children who ars too young even to scare away the crows : labourers for whom there is no employment in the fields, and who would burden the poorhouse and the union rates if they were not afforded occupation in the paper mill. This would be the direct advantage of the repeal of the paper duty: to dwell upon the indirect employment the repeal of this duty would afford would lead as to ex patiate upon almost every concern of life,—for what business re there in which paper does not more or less form en ingredient, and in which, of cons qsence, the amount annually saved might not be embarked in some other branch of enterprise requiring the skilled labour of the artisan? There is no trade, in all the list of trades, that can compare in any way with the trade of the pipr maker in regard to the number of others dependent on and immediately connected with it. The paper duty, at the present time, is encourag ing foreign manufactures at our expense, and injuring British capital and labour even in the market. of the British colonies. We are absolutely at this time ex porting rags to countries in which no paper-tax exists, in order that these rags may be made into paper to be sold in the markets of our colonial dependencies. And this, it must be recollected, not only advances the price of paper here, by advancing the price of rags, but it lowers the remuneration for labour in the paper mills, by reducing the demand for the article, and of eisosequenes for those who make it. What a boon the repeal of the paper duty would be to the canoe of literature Mr. CHARLES KNIGHT has ably shown in his admirable pamphlets "The Struggles of a Book against excessive Taxation," and " The Cate of the Authors in opposition to the Paper Duty." We are not unmindful that upon what ought to be a high authority with parliament, this condo- ' teen has been denied. It was said last session "why this tax upon paper amounts to less than 3d. upon volume of the value of 121." " If," replies Mr. KNIGHT, " if 12e. volumes only paid this tax, there might be something in the argument : the state might hold the imposition to be contemptible, and might abolish it for its minuteness; bur, locking at its opts ration on cheep literature, the fact is that phial is the most excessive tax ecer imposed upon a manufacture in the worst days of fiscal igno- recce. In the case of such publications as Household Wordy,' or ' Charabers's Journal,' the positive duty averages 10 per cent. upon the raw material as compared with the perfected product, and is more than 20 yr:r cent. upon the material itself." In the case of the catalogu , of the Exhibition of 1831, Mr. KNIGHT calculates that the paper duty will amount to no less than 17 per cent. upon the whole sale price of the work produced. But this argument, that the duty on the paper is not felt in the price of a book, is best refuted ti ) fac's. In the case of the "Penny Cycloprelia," Mr. KNIGHT has shown that re-issues of that usetul publication have been entirely prevent d by the burden of the paper duty. Mr. ROBERT CHAMBERS has shown more. At a public dinner at Edinburgh on the 4 , h of last December he made the following conclusive statement : the " Miscellany of Tracts" published by my firm wee closed as non-remunerative, with a stesdy sale of 00,04)0; while it was calculated that this work, up to the end of lost year, had paid 6,2201. of duty. N had not this money been to by the goverment, we might have been advised to continue the work. Hue was a business stopped which distributed 18,0001. a year in the employment of labour, and the profits of retail trade : here was en organ of intelli gence and morality closed by the government, as eft ctually as if they had set the police to work to break the presses. To illustrate this matter farther, we have since set sgoing • similar work, but at I id. • sheet, and on a some what ambitious principle as to the grade of sub jects and style of treatment. Driven from the penny field by the stamr. duty, 1r • try that of three halfpence. But of this series of sheets the sale is under one half of the former. The hither price appears to be the chief cause why the sale i.. thus restricted. The work, we trust, does a great deal of good ; as pure and well-meant literature must do PO. As the profit, however, is but small, this work may perhaps have to be given up also. If the paper duty was removed Mr. KNIGHT con tends that authors would receive increare3 employ ment. He argues that it diminishes the fund which would be applied in literary employment. A publisher has a certain capital in his business ; if that capital is not needed for one purpose, it is appropri ated to another; if it does not go to Ray Sir CHARLES WOOD, it may go to pay Sir LYTTON HICLWER. Perhaps of all departments of literature this argument is most applicable to the daily press. We can say for this paper, that every farthing of money that is applicable goes for purposes of improvement in one branch or another. It is our interest, as it is our duty to the public, constantly to put forth new ramification.. Up to the extent of their means, no' opportunity is lost by the liberal and spirited pro- prietary we represent, to ertablish new sources of information, to secure additional literary talent, to be useful to the public in new branches of intelligence, and to secure communications from all quarters of the world on topics of popular information and enlighten. meat. The sum we annually pay in paper duty is so much deducted from the amours: that would be ex pended in these different important ways. Sir CHARLES WOOD annually pockets from 1111 a SUM we should otherwise expend in literary talent, in the best way in which it could possibly be made available for public objects. There is not a single class of society whom the paper tax directly benefits. There is one clasp, how ever, and only one class, who indirectly profit by it. This is the class of venders of foul sled corrupt ing publications, by whom nothin4 is paid for author ship, and with whom the authors and publishers of intellectual works can consequently have no chance in the competition of mere price. It would seem as if the paper duty were maintained by our aristocratic government merely that they might throw a slur upon the press, by pointing to publications which are open to severe condemnation. Let it not be forgotten, however, that these publications are not read by choice, but from necessity. Experience proves that if the working population could secure food for the mind of good quality and at a price they could afford, they would far prefer it to the noxious stimulants we refer to. It is the aristocracy who, by perpetuating the paper duty, perpetuate the corruptions of the press. They perpetuate the evil, sad let them beware that, sooner or later, it does not recoil upon them selves. FRANCE. PARIS, TUESDAY EVENING: It seems that the ministers have upon reflection de termined to put the best countenance they can on the two checks which they have just received, and to keep their places. It was expected that yesterday an ap,.eal would have been made by the government to the chamber against the decision of the bureau, but the attitude of the majority was evidently too strongly in favour of msintaining the vote in favour of M. Yon to be laced with any chance of success. Therefore the mediated interpellations were withdrawn, and the ministers silently succumbed to their fate. It is reported that the director of the prison of the Rue de Clichy has been suspended for eight days. The Aseembly's sitting of yesterday, notwithstand ing that the agitation which prevailed seemed to promise a much exciting subject of deba'e, was wholly taken up with the discussion of the treaty of navigation and commerce with Piedmont. The treaty concluded Aug. 28, 1843, which regulates the com mercial relations of France with the Sardinian States, has been in vigour only since May 1846, and is on the point of expiring. The new treaty . reproduces, with scarcely any alteration, the provisions of the treaty of 1843, so far as the advantages granted to Sardinia are concerned, and stipulates fresh con cessions in favour of France. The treaty of 1843 raised great opposition in the chambers as menacing the agricultural interests of France. The main clauses were, however, as follows :—The duty by head on cattle we. converted into a duty by weight, the maxi mum of which should not exceed 40f. per head for kine, and a proportional diminution was made fur other horned cattle entering France by the land frontier. The duth ■ on rice entering by the land frontier were diminished by one third. A similar diminution was stipulated in favour of white lead, imported by land and sea. Lastly, two fifths of the dwies on lemons and oranges under the two Bags were taken off. Before the conditions on the . part of Sardinia are mentioned, it Msy be as well to trace the operation of the treaty, particularly as regards the conversion of the duty on cattle, which is the main provision, and was most strongly opposed. The average importation of cattle amounted, in the three years anterior to the execution of the treaty, to 208,000 f. In the three years after it became 290,000 f., presenting a diffe rence of only 82,000 f. But while France imported for 290,000 f., she exported to the Sardinian Stater for 190,000 f. There might have been some reason for the native producers of silk to complain of want of protection, as the importation of silks, raw and milled, amounted to 43 millions of francs, while the production of silk constitutes the main wealth of five departments of France. But the outcry of the farmers at an increased importation of cattle, amount ing to 82,000 t., was absurd. The new treaty maintains the system created by the treaty of 1843. It augments the number of custom houses opened to importation, and it extends the same system to Sardinian cattle imported by the 3lediter. mean coast. The treaty of 1843 had reduced to 4f. the duty of 6f. per 100 kilogrammes levied at the land frontier on the rices of Piedmont ; the new treaty lowers it to 3f., which is extended to rice im ported by sea. As no rice is cultivated in France, except by way of experiment, she suffers no damage by the facilities given to this grain. One-third of the rice consumed in France is Piedmontess. The average of Sardinian importations by sea was 71 mil lions of kilog. before the treaty of 1813; it has risen to 8 millions in the last four years. The aversee of imports by land was 1,360,000 kilogr., it has become 2,400,000 kilogr. Kid skins constitute a new article. The importation duty on these is abolished, and Sardinia has conceded a reduction of the export duty. This is doubly advantageous for France, which not only exports the skins made up into gloves but pre pared and bleached. Such are the clauses on the side of France. On the side of Sardinia, by the treaty of 1843, a reduction of one•flfth had been consented to on French spirits; and the average importation which had been from 1842 to 1845, 4,300 hectolitres, rose in the period from 1816 to 1849 to 7,200 hectolitres. By the new treaty the duty is lowered from 60fr. to 30fr. per hectolitre for brandies of superior quality, and from 331 r. to 18fr. for those of interior quality. For wines the treaty of 1813 had only extended the duty by sea to the importations by land. Common ; wines worth less than 20f. the hectolitre paid 24f. duty ; superior wines 151. fixed du'y, plus 43 per per cent. of the value ; wine in bottles 75 centimes. Notwithstanding the prohibitive chat acter of these dates in 1849 the exportation of French wines to Sudinie amounted to 133,000 hectolitres. The duties' are reducA by the new treaty to 10f. for common wines to a fixed duty of 141. for wines of superior quality, and to 30 centimes for wines in bottle with out distincion of flag. The other articles stipulate a reduction of 30 centimes on raw silk exported by Sar dinia, r. reduction to 13f. per kilogramme and 8 per cent. of the value of the duty on the importation of cb je co of fashion, which now amounts to 20f. and 10 per cent. of the value ; a reduction on porcelain, on paper hangings, glass, embroidery, &c. With regard to navigation the treaty of 1813 had established reciprocal assimilation to the national flag without limitation to direct intercourse. By the new treaty, the national treatment is secured to ships cooling directly with cargo from he porta of one of the two states to the other, or without cargo from any port whatever. This is in conformity with the pro visions of French treaties of navigation which guarantee assimilation to the Rational flag only in the case of direct intercourse. Such are the main provisions of this treaty, tho ratification of which was agreed to by a large ma jority. PARIS, WEDNESDAY MORNING. M. Yen resigned yesterday his functions as special commissary of police to the Assembly. His resigna tion was accepted in the bureau. In a letter to M. Duple, tendering his resignatios, M. Yon declares that notwithstanding the late decision of the bureau in his favour, he deems it his duty to remove, by his voluntary retirement, a source of embarrassment to the Assembly. The President received last night, on occasion of the new year, the President and bureau of the As sembly. This interview, at which several repre,,en tatives were present, and which was expected to present some incident in consequerce of the recent decision of the bureau in favour of M. Yon, has given rise to several contradictory rumours. The President made, according to the Constitution nel, the following answer to the compliments of M. Dupin You and I, each in the limits of our attributioas, ought to endeavour to make respected the laws of the country and the authority which is given to as by the constitution with out the encroachment of one power on the ether. I do not desire the prolongation of my powers; Mut I desire, whcu I shall restore to the people the power which I have received from third, to restore it intact and respected. My ceriviction is that France desire, peace and order, and would consider in t lie wrong that power of the two which should first attack the other. BOURSE. lay aarrant. PARK, IlEc. 91. For Moray. Opals( Inholool. LoorooLielsom. ----- - - - per Canto. per a uto . M93 93 91 94 45 194 G 5 do. New Loon 93 93 9 5 94 43 94 85 4 per Oerto. b 08. .0 .. .0 0 3 per Caste. 5 per Crete. 94 93 3 do. New Loen I la In 1 1 93 45 per Omni. 1 19 I per Cone. Eneninge on tnolioa I I. Belgian, 3,18 in De. 5, 1842 Do. 41 1 , . 23 Piedmont 3 p.Ct.1819 04 .. I 1 99 00 eat, 24 93; 90 90 days, 24 .74. Naples Warta, 93 Money I:oman Lows 11(30 731 I),. 12541 Treasury Benda Bank 1132 ares Our Paris correspondent's letter of last evening's date his not arrived. SPAIN. MADRID, DEC, 25 It is reparted that M. Mon, insteld oi cawing to Madrid to undert►ke the department of finance, is about to make a tour in Italy. Rumours of a minis terial crisis prevail as usual. The Ministers of War and Justice ars said to be disposed to resign. ITALY. NAPLES, DEC 21. The Neapolitan government at the present moment is in a state of alarm, knowing that a cousiderible camber of "addresses" have entered the kingdom, which papers are supposed to emanate from Msnini. I have not seen a copy of the " address," but from shat I gathered from a gentleman who has read it, the paper appears to be similar to that circulated in Leghorn, Genoa, and Rome. Some arrests have taken place on this account, and the activity of the police is if possible greater than ever. The state trials have occupied much public attention during the last few days. The court has presented a scene of excitement hitherto unknown, owing to the dignifltd tone of the lawyers who are now defending the prisoners, and placing the narrative of the go vernment anti-constitutional intrigue in categorical form, which presents a picture of immorality on the part of the executive which is truly deplorable. I have received letters from Sicily which inform me of the refusal of the government to acknowledge the paper money issued during the revolutionary period, and sanctioned by the Sicilian parliament. The usual form of a " decree" repudiated this paper on the triumph of the royal troop, and all subjects of, the Two Sicilies of necessity lost whatever they bad on heed. Foreign merchants are now seeking redress through their ministers to obtain re muneration for the paper they may happen to hold in hand. The British merchants have taken active steps, and the subject will be placed immediately before the Foreign-office. The state of the island continues the same : poverty and discontent, arrests for political opinion, and a con tinual search for arms. Martial law has cot been removed. . Her Majesty's steamer Dragon bee arrived in the Bay of Naples to replace the Spiteful, which leevea in a few days. We have an unusual number of English travellers this winter; the Jesuits are active amonget them. I hear of several attempts at conversion ; the proselytism, however, is chiefly directed towards the ladies. Neapolitan Fives, 1011; Palerrnitan Fiver, 93. Exchange on London, .676. TUSCANY. A Leghorn letter of the 24th announces the arrival there of a large number of Swiss recruits, on their way to Naples. Upwards of 2,000 are said to have passed in the course of the last mouth. A rumour being cur rent at Pisa that the constitutional party intended to make a demonstration, the authorities have thought proper to cause numerous piquete of soldiers to parade the town daily. SARDINIA. By a ;meal convention between Belgium and Sar dinia, which his just been concluded, the postage of a simple letter between the two countries is fixed at 60 c. The period at which the convention is to come into operation his, however, not yet been fixed. The Risorgimento states that the Marquis Amat de Villariva, secretary of the Sardinia embassy at Florence, has been dismissed, on account of his mani• fest disapprobation of the acts of the Tuscan govern ment. ROMAN STATES. Letters from Bologna state that on the 18th a party of Austrian soldiers bad a skirmish with nine ban ditti, headed by Il Passatore himself. A soldier was killed, and another wounded in the contest; the ban ditti were, however, put to flight, after the loam of one man, named Lami, on whose body articles of value were found. THE LEVANT, formerly the Urgent, government SUMO,. which rowed@ from Southawston on the 3rd inst., to convey wails between Barrow and itexandris, w II take not 100 troops (rappers and mint's), lath their effioas, to Malta. bECE 4 SIONB.—A contemprary sty. that Mr. Ser. jeact B .llaew bee beta received into the Roman cathao church. The French papers announce ikewiee the conver mica to that church of the Rev. Mr. Ltrimendeir, who hts made his profession at Marseilles. GERMANY. Dates from Frankfort and Cassel are of the 31st of December. The federal troops have commenced their march to Holstein. The corps of Gen. Legeditscla left Fulda on the 30th ult. ' • procztded in two columns to Fritzler and Cassel, wtence they will march to' Cart.haten. The Hamburg papers state that these troops will proceed by we 3 of Mszdeburg. Berlin correspondence, of the 30th alt., states that Prince Sc iwarzcnberg intet.ded on that evening to leave Berlin for Vienna. He hue conferred with Baron Nlanteuffel and the two commissiontre for Holstein. An energetic course of action had bean decided upon. The following letters are from the German papers : BERLIN, Dec. 28. Prince Scbwarzenberg and Baron Mantenffel arrived here from Dresden to-day at half-put one. They were received at the railway station by several royal Ip'railnaceee,Scwhhwearrezeanybaerrtg. r g e e p n a e t ra red l a a n t d sounpeeeritoor the officers.ments had becu prepared for him. At three o'clock all the ministers dined with the King and his Austrian guest, at Charlottenberg. To-morrow Baron Man , teuffel gives a grand diplomatic banquet. This visit is intended to be a public demonstration of the agree ment of the two powers. Meanwhile we are assured that the chief difficulties of the situation are by no means overcome. The Dresden correspondent of the National kitting writes:—" Prussia requires such an enlargement of the right to form alliances as shall enable her to construct a narrower union within the limits of the confederation, into which Austria is to enter with all her provinces. Austria refuses to mit such an extension of the right of union, de ehring that such a right would cause the destruction of the wider confederation, leaving a sonderbund (party league) in its steed. Negotiations are pro ceeding on this head at the present moment." This report has internal probability. nlanteuffel does not wish to surrender the Prussian constitutioo,to which the King has sworn ; again, he does not wish to give free play for any long time to the constitution alism of the smaller states. The right of free union would preserve an expedient; but precisely on this account will Prince Schwarzsuberg not permit it. Instead of this the Pri.ies urges the strenehening of the executive power, and the return to the ha•td police ['patens of government. A division of the executive in favour of the constitutions of Germany is what Austria will never grant. What the nature of the joint exercise of executive power agreed on at Ohnutz is likely to be may be gathered from its first attempts in Electoral Hume. We have no need to com ment upon the acts oldie Prussian commissary there. Count Leiningen has swayed a dictatore in the name of the Band to which the presence of the Prussian commissary only lends additional Eclat. It is rea sonable to expect that the affairs of Holstein will follow the same rale. Some papers, indeed, bring intelligence, apparently official in its character, which removes the last doubt on the subject. The Mogileberg Correspondence and Vass contain communie aeons in which the Holstein government is called upon to avoid the like treatment trim Prussia which Ileum has en dured from Austria by speedy submiseieu. "Prussia," the article says, " will thus get out of the di ffi culties into which she has fallen in the last two years. The more difficulties are opposed to the mediation of Prussia in Holstein the more energetically will Austria insist upon interfering directly in the cause. The con.missaries of the two governments will pro ceed to Holstein, and should that duchy . yield neither to their persuasions nor threats, Auetrian execution troops will make their appearance. MUNICH, DEC. 25. The government has by its blind zeal against the press incurred a serious defeat. The editor of the Fite den, who was prosecuted for an attack on the Diet, which was construed into contempt of the Bavarian government, has beeu acquitted. Every one, except the government, saw from the beginning that this trial must end in an acquittal. Our law of the press makes not the slightest (Allusion to the Diet, cr of offences against its authority. For at the time that the law was made, in the first month of the pre sent year, no one dreamt of the possibility of the Diet's continard existence. It was fur this reason that the words "contempt of the Bavarian govern ment" were added to the charge. The defeat of the government is the more keenly felt, inasmuch as it has identified itself osteneibly, in this instance, with the Echenheimtaseen Club. The jury . who acquitted the accused was, as indeed all oar Juries are, com , red of the high tax paying and conservative class. fhe Landtag is ummoned for the ;fed of February. HAMBURG, Dec. 2e. Intelligence has just ben received at Kiel of the nomination of the Austrian General Mensdorf-Pouilly as federal commissary, charged to proceed, with General Thurmer, the commissary appointed for Prussia, to Holstein, in order to endeavour to persuade the Steathalterechaft to disarm, before recurring to coercive measures. Looking at the national enthu siasm which reigns among the troops, and of the enterprising spirit of their generals, it is not easy to see how a disarmament can take pier:* without pro voking a bloody, and even a desperate, resistance on the part of the Holstein army. In this point of view the arrival of a corps d'ormee, undi r the order of Field-Marshal Lsgedisch, may be considered neces sary, and it appears certain. A new and extensive series of promotions has been announced within the last taw days in the holstein army. A coneithrable quantity of war material, with numbers of pontoons and waggons, are daily sent to wards head-quarters at Rendsburg, and, if we are to credit letters received from that neighbourhood, the greater number of the Prussian sub-officers and pri vates recently called home in coos , quence of the order of mobilisation are re-entering the Holstein army. Their number is estimated in Berlin at from 1,300 to 2,000 men. These statements, if true, are of great im portance while the Dresden conference is sitting, but they require confirmation. It is also important to remark that the King isr Denmark, as Duke and sovereign of the duchies of Holstein and Lauenburg, and a member of the Ger manic Confederation, has been officially invited to send a plenipotentiary to Dresden. Baron Pechlin, who has been selected by the King to this post, ha left Copenhagen to take part in the ennferences. I have on different occasions written to you on the subject of the agitation which the permanent COM eght izraoecr:iettoehfdreseeeitnoovinreSniraewsl,edabneidnl sensible.B c: T doo h afr e pdt ht ue p dg r i e 'yt necessity e o n r d t t hee K re i dfr n oe g rqt minces of electoral and constitutional reform have uh i i n e a r t p e r pmP appear s d r ee a r n u p ra ng t o ts the present et to t h T e h es e four b e i h l lams chambers e e a t s submitted i o tte p e d h to b g y government inies. of the present session. The representatives of the different orders discussed the proposed measures separately, and, according to the Swedish constitution, their separate decisions can only ac quire the force of law by the agreement of the majo rity of the four assemblies. The chamber of the clergy and that of the nobility have rejected the re forms by great majorities; the deliberations of the two other chambers have thus become useless, and Sweden thus preserves for an indefinite term her re presentative system of four chambers—of the clergy, nobility, citizens, and peasants. Vizerxe, Dec. 30. Five per Cent. Metalliques, 951; Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 821. Bank Shares, 1,146. Exchange on L^ndoo. BERLIN, Dec. 31.—Voluntary Loan, 105 ; New Loan, Four-and-a-Half par Cents., 99/ ; National Debt, 841 ; Commercial Manna Society's Premium, 120; Bank Shares, 96/. CARDLNAL WISEMAN. TO THE EDITOR OP THE EXPRESS. SIR,- 1 / 3 p3titi,iiiiiipei;;ailWiTiome of 700/. a year, a house, rent and tax free, and the absolute and uncontrolled disposal of a mission fund of 130,0001. at least—a sufficient income for the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster? For my part, I should have had no doubts about it, if I had not seen that two subscription lists are going about, begging alms for his Eminence. One list, of which a Mr. Riley is treasurer, purports to be for a cardinalitial income in general, and for a tea-and-cake allowance for the weekly cardinalitial suirles in particular. The other list purports to be for a fund to stock the cardinalitial wine cellar withal; the treasurer of this list is, very appropriately, a Mr. Walmesley, a wine-merchant. Of the two lists the latter is the only one that has had many signatures; but the first, I regret to say, atter lying in vain for some time at the ltomao catholic booksellers' shops, is gone upon quest into the country. The general opinion appears to be, that our prelates and cardinals are rich enough already. I remain, Sir, your constant reader, London, Dec. 30, IMO. C. R. UNITED STATES. The American Mail steam-ship Arctic, Captain Luce, arrived at Liverpool last evening, with three days later intelligence from the New World. She sailed from New York on the 2lst ult., and brings over 100,000 dole. in specie on freight. According to the advisee by the Cht r(.lcee steamer, arrived at New York, with more than 2,000,000 of gold-dust, and a fortnight's later it.h.liigence from California, the cholera was raging with gre at violence. The deaths at Sacramento city averaged about SO a day. The steamer Tennessee, which left San Francisco on the 15th of November, had arrived at Panama, with 1,500,000 dolt ; and the Antelope with 150,000 dole. in gold-dust, and a large amount in the hands of passenger', was at the port. Business in San Francisco W3ll at a wand-still, and the price of provisions was very high. Miners, it is said, had dune very little, all the dams having been carried away. Improvements were proceeding rapidly. The California papers mention the fact that agriculturists were flourishing, and that many persons had begun to cultivate in consequence. The rainy season had not commenced. Tie Tribune of the 21st says : The news from California received yesterday is of varied interest. The cholera bee committtd serious ranges, ape. Melly at Sacramento, but it was evidently deellnicg et the latest dates. G lit digging has not, on she whole, bean very prodnetive the past season, but the number of diggers has secured a large 4-gregate yield, while the signally improved facilities of intercourse and consequent reduction in the cost of provisions, &e , has enabled viry many to realise a begs reward ler their labt.ur. Sill, it must be considered that " prospecting " for rich " gulches " and other tt wastings " has s-ea its best drys, and that turning riven for the sake of 'trashiest/ their hers has gemerally proved • failure. Regular mininr, or cstrecing the gold from the quer a rock in position, must her ceforth be the main reliance, and this appears to ba prosecuted with success wherever skill, capital, and proper machinery are employed. There has been another diffi:ulty with Indians, but it does not 5141111 to threaten serious consequences. Butineas has bt en greatly depressed, mainly in consequence of the cholera, out was recasting at the latest dates. In the United States Congress a motion had been made relative to the expediency of requesting the President to give notice to Great Bi icain as to the discontinuance of the United S.atea squadron on the African coast. The trial of Lopez and others engaged in the Cuba expedition had commenced in the Circuit Court at New Orleans. The steamer Ko;.xville, bound fur Nashville, while pushing from the Mvee on the 18:11, burst all her boilers, killing and wounding about twenty persona, and also damaging other boats lying alongside. There is nothing further new from the United f States. The position and prospects of commerce were very satisfactory in the loading cities. COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE. NEW YORK, Dm 21. MONET Manual' —No material change ha; taken place in the stock market since the Asia's departure. Pennsyl vania Fives have improved. The demsnd for fireiges ex change has not been active, but rates icaprovel—on London. 1101; Paris, 3 10; Aresterdens ' -111. The money market bea been favourably affected by the receipt of gold from Caliternia. The Colour atvi .&quires nuNers with regret the rapid advance of silver chin, caused by the steady de mand from Europe. The inooavenience, i: state., is begin ning to be felt by ell; trades, and that not tine of the orders for export can be executed. Owing to the high rates for ezcbazge, the next Cunard steamer will take a considerable 'mount of sped Currow. Talbot's Circular lays "sine, our lest, per Asia, on the 17th ult., the market has ISSUAIIta a decidedly firmer tone, and resales have beta made et pantie bought during the panic at to le. adverts. Oa the 18±, 1,400 bales ware sold at the edemas of le. notie..d in our circular of the 17th; en the 19th, $OO baler, at a further improve ment of It. to is. • cad to day 600. The quantity oa sale is very light , and sellers are fires; holden in gt natal prefer to wait the Africa's 'deices." _ _ . BIIEALSIV7F6 -A good demand, the market exhibiting several large transactions. Prim s had advanced slightly, we will be seen by the following quotations Western Canal flour, 4 dole. 674 e. to 6 dole. (very firm). Oenneasee prime wheat, 1 dol. 23:. to 1 dcl. 22a pr 6011 m.; S,uthern wheat, 1 dol. 6e. to 1 dol. Sc per GOilas. ; Indian corn, round yellow, new, 64c. to 68e. per bushel; ditto, old, 690. to 70e. per Mb). Indian meal, 2 dole. b74e. to 3 dole. per barrel. Ton kCCO.-As usual at this meson of the year, the market way rather quit, but firm. Some 60 Wide. of Kentucky leaf were told at 9c. to 13c , and 40 Wads. of common, at 74C. Lune-110 tons of Guilin tie Scotch pig sold at 19 dots. 611 c , and 500 tens do., m 19 dole. 75.1. cash. Freights to Liverpool are hem. Cotton, 316 ; flour, L. rid. ; grain, 4 to 41 ; heavy goods, 20'. Tp London tobacco, per barrel, 1.. 711 ; turpentine, '2s.; oil. 252 gal lons, 200 ; measurement goods, per ton, 275. 6d. to 305.; heavy goods, 20e. to 30e. Co I.IIM-e•Atou spare bales, per poune, ie. SHIPYING.-The Lord Sand= and the Abbeylands, from. Liverpool, and the KoophaLdt, from Antwerp, at New York. MONTREAL, DEC. 14. The fall business may be considered as closed. The trans actions that have taken place have been principally of entail character, and fur local mnsunaptkm. ACKEI3.-Pore, 25e. 31 ; pearls, 26e. 3d. not:la.-Extra superfine, 22..64.; No. 1 ditto, 20s. 6d. to 204. 744.; superfine. No. 2, 235. GILAIN. &C.-L. C. red wheat, ts. 413. to 4s. 62. per minot; peas, 24. 94. ; barley, 2a. 9d.; oats, Is. 4.1. Oat meal, Bs. 6d. STOCK3.-We have heard of few transactions in Bank stocks. Montreal has been sold at 64 preen., and inquired after; Ci.y Bank nominal. For the remainder see our last week's quotations. EXCHANOZ.-Bank, at GO days on London, 11 poem. ; on New York, a' 3 days, 1 prem. ; private on ditto, I. The Commercial Bank of the midland diArict has declared a half-yearly dividend at 3 per cent., payable on or after the 2nd January. WEST INDIES. Via New York we have advicai from Kingston, Ja• males, to the 12th ult. The cholera had quite subsided in Port Royal and St. Catherine's. Ia Kingston the cases were few, and the hospitals contained few patients. In the country districts, however, it was rrging violently, and numbers were being carried off. A local board of health had been organised in Kingston. The parishes were greatly distressed by the prevalence of the epidemic. At a meeting of the council at Kingston, the attor ney-general referred to the probable condition of the estates in the island when the cholera shalt have dis appeared. Ile said it was well known that the havoc that disease was making was among the labouring class of the population, and that several estates are at this present moment without labourers; the cotton cultivation will fail for want of labour; and, to instil confidence in the minds of the public, he would, at a very early day, move that a message be sent to his excellency the governor to make an application to the home government for Al lean labourers, to supply the depopulated estates; he meant those Africans who were captured from slavers, and are at the depot in Sierra Leone. The Trinidad papers contain a communication from the Under-Secretary of State for the C3lonies to David Turnbull, Etq., upon the subject of coloured immigration from the United S:ates of America. The secretary transmits with this commur.ication a memorandum explanatory of Lord Grey's views upon the subject, and mentions that, should Mr. Turnbull concur in those views, his lordship would i propose forwarding copies of the memorandum to the governors of the West India Colonies, at d would also request Viscount Palmerston to send some of them to the British consuls for circulation at those places in the United States from which emigrants would be likely to go, and he adds, that " before taking these steps it would be necessary to ascertain officially that there would be no objection to this on the part of the United States' government, as it must of course be distinctly understood that otherwise her Majesty's go vernment could not countenance any attempt of tha kind proposed." G.wernment interference, says the Kingston Journal, in some remarks upon the subject, is not necessary to promote this migration, and steps cannot be too soon taken to advertise the free coloured Americans of the southern states, that they may enjoy iu Jamaica wLat they have heath of in their native land—liberty and equality—liberty to do all that an honest, industrious, and virtuous citizen could desire to do, and equality of civil and political rights. Should the home government, however, ascertain, as we have no doubt that it will seek to do, that the United States government has no objection to the emigration of its coloured subjects to the British West Indies, it will then be advisable to consider the mea sures which Esrl Grey conceives to be necessary for promoting such emi.. ration, and for settling the parties in townships when they arrive here. COMMERCIAL. De Cordova's Merea7dTieWWll;;;;ccr, dated Kingston, Dec, tuber 12, s& I : " Our market - .wears a slightly improving appearance, conotquent on the almost total cessation of the cholera in the city. The dealers seem to come forward rather more freely than has been the case for the lut sin or eight weeks. Business is, however, coLlined for the moat