The Express. — London, England, 1853-02-21 00:00:00

Sttt ki.4):prelsl6. TO lOKK1182"011D121T13. a aware llamas • • "Tbe Kepley" eseeiNft Me MOD Gaaetta,"l. aubllabed ow, Tbeaday awl trilby **ht, a ume kw peat. ♦ i•evuouseata :weeded aar "Tht Itavesede." Lashes Fames, payer, awn be at tb• lam le , bararelia-Necot, by Two o's:ealt es dr day of pablia:Jarr. 111013 WAI ER Al' LONDON BRIDGE. Ton Dav—Monvat. eh. 15 .3, Aftendown. 1 1/ O "NaMOW la lua— Atisnres. 16. Um. LONDON, MOND.4 Y, FEBRUARY 21. ON the 7th of December last Mr. GLADSTONE. our present Chancellor of the Exchequer, may be said to have commenced a series of attacks upon the charlataniNm of Mr. Disti.exti, which ended— with the assistance of the press and the Liberal Members of the House —in ' the utter discomfiture and prostration of the Protectionist Mini.try. On, that day Mr. GLAI.%fONE called the attention of the House to a matter," to use his own words, "of . gnat importance as to the order, the regularity, and the form of their proceeding in regard to the financial priposals of her MAJESTY'S Government." Objecting to :be course proposed by Mr. DIsitALLI with respect to the liudg.r, Mr. GLADSTONE gave the House the grounds of his objection as follows : They were going, lie understocd, to make provision for the fioancial year commencing bth of April, 1A13; and when they came to consider the necessary provisions for that year, the hest circumstance that would strike the mind was, that on the sth of April, the income tax, from which one-tenth of the whole revenue was dawn, would have ceased legalls to cant. Ile winald put it strongly, then, to the house and the government that the first duty of the house in regard to that provision of the year in question, was to consider what COMM they should pursue in reference to the income tax. Should they have the income as on the sth of April ur not ? On the 11th of December he used the same sort of weapon against his financial opponent. I presume t., .ay to the right hon. gentleman that he would be wr. rAr if fir called u•ton us to deal with the minor articles of the hu.:get, if he called open us to settle the question of the house t ix, and especially if he called upon as to remit duties, until he has called upon this how* for a recognition of the income tax. • The sth of April is now more than two months nearer than when Mr. GLansrom: made these virtuous re- . - mosstrances against the introduction of a reckless system into the department of public finance. The political wheel has since that time made a complete revolution, and the hon. gentleman is standing in the shoes of his predecessor. Mr. GLADSTONE u DOW asking the House to grant immense sums, to be devoted to the public service next year. Has he settled the question of the income-tai? Has he done what he indignantly asserted that his prede cessor was bound to du' If it was wrong in Mr. DISRAELI to talk of remitting duties before settling the question of the incon:c-tax, it can scarcely be lees improper for Mr. GLAD-TONE to talk of spending many roi hung, while the acme question remains un settled. Nevertheless this is the case. The CUAN CELLOR of the Excite:rat:no. who talked so loudly in opposition on this subject, now holds his tongue, and this in spite of the anxiety evinced by the na tioo, and despite the exertions of Mr. Ht *E on Friday night to have the question put on a proper footing. Fur if there is any subject on which the nation has made up its mind, it is on the Income Tax. Every one knows that it is unjust, and that it violates the hest principles of taxation, — that a man who is possessed . of a property of 30,0001. should contribute towarea the public ue a sum only equal to that which is contri buted by a man with 13,0001. And yet this , sin is constantly perpetrated by means of the In-1 come Tax, which deals with income derived from land of I,ot 01. per annum in the same manner as with a professional income of the same amount. Everybody is convinced of the injustice of levying One hundred and fifty sevenoenees from an annuitant of 1501. per annum, and leaving the annuitant of 1481. scot free; thus reducing the income of the former below that of the latter. These and a hun dred other instances by which all principles of equity are violated in the case of the Income Tax are recognised even by the Tories. Protectionists even can see as tar as this. Fosicrer has learned as much as this in the grammar of finance, and the courageous CUOWLER applauds his Tory CHANCEL- Loa of the Excueucea for endeavouring to remedy the evil. Ever since the imposition of the tax by Sir ROBERT PEEL, these inequalities have been the eubject of denunciation in orations, articles in the public prints, in pamphlets, and in heavy treatises no political economy. The very last Budget proposed to the House proceeded upon the principle of remedy ing the injustice of the operation of the present tax. Are we then, it must be asked, to suffer this mass of anomalies for a year longer? A year is too long a period to be spared for delay in the correction of an obvious evil. In the present day the world lives faster than it has ever lived before. A year suffices now to establish colonies, to build large cities, to flood nations with newly-discovered riches. A year has been enough for the establishment of an Empire on the Continent of Europe. Another year may witness its dissolution. While all the world is going at such a rapid pace, why are Chancellors of the Exchequer to be allowed to deep? "No doubt," said Mr. GLAD STONE in Lis telling speech in reply to Mr. DISRAELI'S expiring efforts, " No doubt the In come Tax is crowded with injustice." All England echoes these words: shall we, then, be condemned to suffer from the injustice another year? To whom are we to look for a remedl for them but from a Chancellor of the Exchequer who has just ousted his predecessor on the ground (amongst others) that the latter did not deal with these injustices in a proper spirit? The debate upon the financial prin ciples of the late Budget was one of the keenest on record. The contest, both in and out of the House, was of such a nature as to throw light me every portion of the subject. Is not this knowledge to be made ass of to remedy at least motes of the more glaring features of the obnoxious tax? The nation at present is content with a little grom bling, but it pays, nevertheless. It takes some time in England to collect the rays of national indignation into a focus ; but when this is dope the effect is in stantaneous. What would be Mr. GIADIRONI'II feelings were be to wake some fine morning, and find the public and the Tories had combined to relieve him of place for refusing to act on his own assertion, and reform an impost " crowded with injustice." There is no doubt that any attempt to postpone the remedy of a glaring injustice will be prejudicial to the prospects of the Ministry. In all quarters there was an evident desire that the members of the Cabinet should meet with indulgence. It has been felt that we have the elements of a strong Government, but they cannot remain strong if they are unjust. It has been felt also that the times are such as to require a Government enjoying the entire confidence of the people. But how can this confidence be maintained in the face of any refusal to deal with a tax which more than any other is unpopular with the nation— which has been condemned by the Ministry itself ? The objeetioa which has been made against a part at the Ministry will be extended to all. It has been said, namely, that this portion of the Ministry, although possessing great festive abilities, have no legislative capacities—that they are excellent men of business, but that they are not men of large and extensive views. It will be urged in support of this allegation that they have shirked the first great fiscal question that came in their way. The Ministry will be weakened before it has bad time to exert any of those asperities for good which all the world gives it cre di t for pos sessing. Mr. Gunners is admired by a large number of political friends for the completeness of his knowledge on most subjects with which he meddles. He is said to have a wonderful perception of the two sides of every subject which he takes up. He never decides, we are told, without subtle investiga tions into all the pros and ryas of a question. Thies are very admirable qualities: but it is just possible that they may impede him in the work ot legislation. If he waits for an Income Tax theoretically perfect, we shall be burdened with the present tax as long es he continues at the Exchequer. Let him as sure himself that the theory of taxation is not a matter to be perfected in the solitude of a study. The incidence ot a tax is to be learned from actual observation. The small tradesman can occasionally give as much information on such a subject as the most brilliant financier. Let Mr. GLADSTONE make use of the information of practical men ; let him read over the minutes of evidence given before the Committee of the Rouse ; and let bim glean facts from the real world in business quarters. A fort night passed in this mumr might enable bins to give us a Property Tea freed from most of the ob jectionable features of the present, and would pro. serve to the Ministry much of that popularity which they will otherwise assuredly lose. IT is now becoming obvious that all chance of bring ing to exposure and punishment those who were engaged at the last general election in the business of systematic bribery and corruption is for the most part at an end. A few cases like Canterbury and Bridgenorth arc likely to be tried, and hypocritical homilies will no doubt be written and spoken en the remarkable instances of electoral depravity furnished by the inquiries, which cannot well be avoided, into the proceedings which took place at Derby, Liver pool, and elsewhere. But it is well understood, on all sides, that so long as the matter is one of remark able instances there is little real danger to the system or the craft. If the public, indeed, were once made thoroughly aware of the prevalence and intensity of the evil, election jobbing, as a lucrative trade, could hardly long continue to exist. The trade, like most others, consists of two parts, the wholesale dealers in the metropolis, and the small retailers in the country. The representation of the people is the commodity in which these contrabandists deal, and it happens, unfortunately, th at so many of those to whom has been entrusted the duty of acting in the capacity of a preventive service, are themselves so deeply committed by complicity in malpractices, that they are u willing to see a case for inquiry silently fall to the ground as the wretched knaves who have disbursed or received the money, or the greater rogues who have, as it is termed, " negotiated the affair." Every day since Parliament has met wo hear of additional election petitions having been withdrawn. The notoriety of the facts, incapable of being proved in manyof these eases, renders it wholly impossible for any man ofcomm on intelligence or ordinary information to look his neighbour steadily in the face and say that he does not understand the reason why. Every body who wants to know, knows well enough why case after case has thus been hushed up. They have been " settled out of court," as the phrase is with reference to ordinary suits at law between private individuals ; and after a little while any one who is curious about the way io which the thing has been done is pretty certain to be told that the parties found they would merely have put each other to ruinous expense; that neither would have been able to secure the scat in dispute; and that the end of the contest before a committee would probably have been the discomfiture of both by the disfranchisement of the borough. Upon the whole, therefore, they deemed it better to come to terms, settle the costs already incurred, have an un derstanding se to who should stand and who should not next time, and, as the agents are wont to add, " prevent a great deal of what would bo very un pleasant to all concerned." Such is the every day working,—the acknowledged and undeniable working,—of the present scandalous system for the trial of election petitions. A system which, as a general remedy for a general and growing dimmer,' deserves no better name than that of an organised hypocrisy. - Mr. LOCKE KING has given notice, we perceive, of a motion for a select committee to inquire into the causes which had led in each particular instance to the withdrawal of petitions against members returned at the late elec.ion whose scats have been impeached on the ground of bribery or treating. There can, of course, be no objection to such a committee. It is a kind of drag-net in which here and there an unwary delinquent mg be caught. We wish the hon. mem ber for East Surrey good speed, and it will be hard if he toils during the whole session, and at the end of it shall have taken nothing. But it were worse than an empty compli ment to Mr. Kiso's good intentions, to affect to believe for a single moment that by any such con trivance he will ever succeed in detecting or dragging to justice the chief criminals or the majority of them. He might just as well empanel a jury of poachers to make a general inquisition as to why so many cases of poaching, in all of which the infor mations had been duly taken, had never been brought to trial, the principal witnesses in each case being some of the poachers themselves. We hero too vivid and keen a remembrance of the failure of a similar experiment some years ago. In 1842 Mr. ROEBUCK moved for • select com mittee for the same purpose, and combated all the objections which were then sought to be thrown in his way with the singular courage and elo quence by which he was distinguished. He got his committee at last, and they devoted much time sod persevering toil to the ascertainment of facts and the moral inculpation of all manner of upper and under servants of corruption. Any one who is curious in the antiquities of political scoundrelism may find much amusing reading in the evident* taken before Mr. ROEBUCK'S committee. But what did it end in ? Or what practical good did it do? Un happily none at all. This was not Mr. Rounices fault. He did his best; but his host was baffled. And so will Mr. Bum's, unless some very different means be found for making the inquiry than we are aware of, or can indeed conceive, for be it remembered that such a pro- needing is nothing more or lees than an attempt to dis cover and put upon record, the particular circum stances of a vast variety of crimes, the principal pperpe tratorsof which are no longer liable to be arraigned before any legal tribunal The petitions are with drawn. In each instance there is an end to the cam. Plaintiffs and defendants have shaken hands, and hostile agents have dined together and had a long laugh over the "capital dodge." Evidence may be produced before Mr. Lao's committee that a man in a brown wig, who gave his =UM as PSTIZa JoNes visited a particular borough, two days before the last election, and dispersed therein for certain suspicious purposes several hundred pounds; and a Bank credit may be proved in an other case to have been used by Mr. BLINKING Fan ner, the well known electioneering agent in a certain western borough, for no less a sum than one thou sand pounds. But trial or . punishment, example or prevention, restitution or justice, there can be none by man! of such an inquiry. Its aim is confessedly not specific, with reference either to places or per. sons, but general and preparatory with a view, we to future legislation. In this sense we cheer fall its timeliness and value, although we con ere that we are of those who consider the ease already made out amply and clearly ; and that we as cribe the painful and perilous indifference of Parlia ment on the subject to something very different from want of information, or want of power, to deal with it So long as the trial of election petitions is treated as a cause of civil action between two irresponsible individual s, the whole proceeding will always . be liable to be conducted as a mere wager of pecuniary battle, in which the longest purse is almost sure to win, or to be cut short by a fraudulent compact between the parties. If bribery means any. thing criminal, it means an offence, not against another man who bribes, but against society and the State. If it does not de serve to be prosecuted and punished as lan outrage upon public decency, and an attempt to injure the public safety, it were better to abandon the idea altogether of su pp ressing or preventing it. Whenever Parliament shall be compelled by public opinion to surrender its favourite crime to the hands of public justice, and whenever bribery at elections shall be made summarily indictable, Lie any other misdemeanor, before the ordinary tribunals, some hope may be entertained that an efficient check may be put upon the spread of the system ; but not till then. As it now stands, there is practically no re straint whatever of a penal kind upon indiscriminate and wholesale corruption ; and there never can be until the civil rights of opposing candidates to a seat in the House of Commons are adjudicated upon dis tinctly and separately from criminal proceedings against those who offer or bestow bribes. Let the House of Commons retain its jurisdiction with re gard to the former ; but let them surrender the Latter, which they are utterly unfit and unworthy to exercise. THE LAW TO Pasvayr CREELTT To ANIMALS. —On Saturday was printed Mr. T. Doneembe's bill is the House of Commons, to give the right of appeal is all eases on conviction of cruelty to animals. At pretest the right is only given to penalties exceeding V., which is declared by the bill to bee "great injustice." ATTEMPT TO ASSASSINATE THE EMPEROR OF AUSTRIA. We bare received the following particulars of the attempt to assassinate the Emperor of Austria: " His Majesty was walking on foot on the ram parts of the town, when a man rushed upon him in a moment and struck him with a poinard. The blow was happily warded off by an aide-de-amp— the Count O'Donnell. His Majesty was wounded but very slightly, below the oeciput. "His Majesty returned on foot to his palace, where the inhabitants of every class went in crowds, to tes tily their devotion and indignation. " The assassin, who is an Hungarian, 21 years of age, was struck down by a blow of the aid-de-camp's sword, and was arrested immediately. " Another 1110101_1/e, dated the 1916, announces that the health of his Majesty is very satisfactory." FRANCE. PARIB, SUNDAY Ersignio. The King of Wurtemberg his returned a reply through his Minister at Paris to the notification of the Emperor's marriage. The Austrian minister has presented letters from the Emperor, notifying the decease of the Archduke Regnier Joseph. The Emperor goes into mourning for nine days. The Papal Nuncio has presented letters from his 101 - Deal. ---- The vice-admirals, admirals, and captains at this moment in Paris have been summoned this day to receive a communication from the Minister of Rumours have been in circulation for the last few days of the probability of an alliance by treaty . be tween France, England, and two or three m►nor States, with a view to counterbalance the power of the north of Europe, and this day these rumours were still more rife. That many people are very desirous of a friendly understanding between the two governments there is no difficulty in believing, but between a regular treaty and friendly relations based on reciprocal interest there is a great diffe rence. According to orders from the Minister of Marine, the artillery and the marines assembled at Toulon, Brest, Rochebourg, Cherbourg, and Cette, to take the oath of fidelity to the Emperor. At the in stance of the officers in command, this ceremony took place simultaneoaly on board all vessels belong ing to the Imperial navy. PARIS, SATURDAT EVeNING. The anticipated decree traneerring the direction of the Beaux Arts from the Ministry of the Interior to the Ministry of State appears in the Monitevir this morning. The transfer appears upon the face of the decree to include every branch of the department, without exception; but, according to an explanation in a government journal, given below, the Minister of the Interior will vet retain the management of certain parts of this department. The imperial archives are also to be removed to the ministry of state. The preamble of the decree con firms the view I took yesterday, that the principal object of the measure was to place the fine arts more immediately under the patronising care of the Em peror. It states that the management of the im perial &chives naturally belongs to the Minister of State, who is the intermediate agent of the govern ment in its relations with the great political bodies. That it is important in the interest of the fine arts that the measures taken for their encouragement shoald be subject to one uniform direction. That, be sides, the Emperor wishes to give a special proof of his solicitude for the fine arts by placing them as much u possible within the sphere of his immediate action. The decree, using the powers lately conferred upon the Emperor, of transferring credits voted by the Corps Legislatif, from one ministry to another, di nets that all the credits in the budget of the Minister of the Interior for the fine arts and the archives shall be transferred to the ministry of state. The late edition of the Petrie this evening says that the su perintendence of the theatres of Pails, with the ex ception of the opera, and also of the publie monu ments, will remain with the Minister of the Interior. General Getman has arrived in Pans from Rome. The Press* says of Lord John Russell's despatch to Sir Henry Bulwer, relative to the affair of the Madiai: Official policy has rarely pat forth such generous words, and we believe that this despatch will remain a monument of honour to the English people and the nineteenth century. ♦ nation which makes such a use of the ascendancy it has acquired in the world, well &serves to be called a groat nation. At the Swale to-day people talked of several great undertakings said to be on the lapis under the auspices of the Societe Mobiliere. It was said that the most influential of the companies competing for the transatlantic packets bad come to an understand ing with the society, and that the other companies would join the combination. It was also reported that the society would be authorised by government to farm the canals, and to manage several other portant enterprises. The "fusion" lines were badly supported, the delays in bringing the negotiations to a conclusion creating uneasiness in the holders of shares. One of the few eminent legitimist converts to the empire, the Marquis de Paatoret, wu nominated to the rank of a grand officer of the Legion of Honour by Charles X , just before the revolution of 1830 broke out, but in consequence of that event the appointment wu never registered. The Emperor has just ordered the nomination to be duly recorded as from 1830. An order has lbeen sent to Cherbourg to fit out the screw-steamer Duroe, of 120-horse power. She is to proceed to Tahiti, to form part of the eguadron on that station. A telegraphic despatch from Toulon announces the sailing of the experimental squadron from that poet for a ten days' craze. The following is the composition of the ecclesiasti cal household of the Emperor: The Bishop of Nancy, first chaplain ; the Abbe Timarche, cure of Ham (with a title of bishop isporaus), second chaplain ; M. Dolan., rand near to the chaplain ; M. Mullors, first chapelows • Vercini, second ditto ; M. Liabeuf, third ditto; and Lanes, fourth ditto. Prince Pierre Bonaparte arrived at Marseilles on the loth, and embarked on the following day on board the packet for Corsica. PARIS, ?anus Evan's°. The event of to-day is the decree raising the pay of all the sub-officers in the army, including the i rie, by ten centimes a day from the lit of spnnllarnmexet. - They who are satisfied with the peaceable declare time nounced reduction of the army evidence of a settled intention to alter the hitherto military character of hi s frovernment, will probably not be alarmed at the addition of a penny a day to the slender emoluments of the sub-officer. The ordinary soldier's pay in France, as in all other countries, is proverbially so small, that sympathy is naturally enlisted in favour of any augmentation, and the civilian to whose mind a penny a day is scarcely an assign able quantity, will cheerfully though doubtingly hope that the sub-officer may find in it moms notable addition to his comforts. Nevertheless, in a military point of view, the decree of this morning is highly important, and the principle upon which it is based 'still more so. Large standinl armies are at the best so ruinous to a state that all civilised nations are forced b 3 necessity to limit the soldier's pay to an amount barely sufficient to provide him with coarse food, rough lodging, and serviceable clothing. The I love of adventure, the prospect of glory, and thehope of promotion, is, in the eyes of a few, sufficient com pensation for the want of the pecuniary advantages they might flud in another career; but to the many, the certainty of daily bread brings their scanty pay to a level with the larger occasional gains of the labourer and artisan. A soldier has no pecuniary cares. He cannot, if he would, get into debt, so as to diminish his daily use of the necessaries of life. The principal part of his pay is laid out for him to the best advantage in the purchase of everything essential to his condition. In the French army the soldier born of poor parents lives better than he would do at home. Strictly speaking, he has no occasion for pocket money, and whatever little he may have is a luxury. The non-commissioned officer, with no other wants than the private, has, of course, a slight proportionate increase of pay. The ten additional centimes per day is, therefore, a bonus of a most attractive kind. It will bury infinite I quantities of tobacco, and, in many parts of France, a good bottle of wine per day. Th e term " lOUS I 'Amer" does not, like the English word " non-com- THE BIPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 21, 1855. missioned," comprise ever, grade between the officer and the private. Only those above the rank of cor. perste are included in the expression. The increased charge to the budget will not, therefore, be very heavy. But if Marshal St. Aruand's principle be admitted, that the pay of all grants is wholly inadequate to their social wants, and that the pecuniary position of sub-officers should be approximated to that of officers, the pre sent measure is but the beginning of a system which, if carried out, would give the military class, already fearfully strong, an intolerable preponderance. The soldier's pay was raised 7 centimes per day by Mar shal Bourmont, after the taking of Algiers; and there is certainly no reason founded upon the price of provisions why it should be increased at this parti cular time. lam given to understand that the im mediate occasion for the measure was the dissatisfac tion felt among the sub-officers at the recent decree enabling the colonels to break them without a court martial—a dissatisfaction so general, that it was felt necessary to do something to gain popularity with this important branch of the service. Several domestic servants employed at the Tuile ries, suspected of having furnished court gossip to strangers, have lately been dismissed, and it has been intimated throughout the household that all offences of the like kind will be severely dealt with. On the subject of the reorganisation of the Minis try of the Interior to which I alluded yesterday, the Patrie says :—" The press of Paris has given respect ing the reorganisation of the Ministry of the Interior some information which is not completely corect. The reports in circulation respecting the details of this important project must be received with re-' serve." The tribunal of correctional police yesterday con demned a person named Dubernard to a months' imprisonment, and 501 r. flue ; and another, named Coady, to three months' imprisonment, and .50fr. fine, for having need insulting language respecting the Emperor, and excited to civil war. SPAIN. The Queen of Spein ha — ;c7rciscd her prerogative to strengthen the ltoncali ministry by nominating 43 new senators. The Espana, Clamor Publico, and Diario Espanol were seized on the 13th. The Nacion and Las Noredades had experienced the same fate the day before. A camp of manoeuvres is to be esta blished in the spring. GERM ANY. PRUSSIA. An important question, scarcely thought of in England, is discussed in the German press whenever the Austrian possessions in Italy appear in danger. It is, what would be the attitude of Prussia during a critical struggle between the Austrian and his victim? The answer of the court, the cavalier party, and the army in Prussia, agrees with the close of the follow ing letter in the Frank/ort Post Gazette. BZILLIN, Faa. 15. "The events at Milan have produced a deep im pression here. The news reached the King by telegraph on the night of the 9th, just as the court was in the middle of a balL The King immediately declared that the movement was connected with a deep conspiracy which had its ramifications every where, and that it showed the necessity for the close union of Prussia and Austria in presence of these revolutionary movements. In the upper circles of our capital things are looked at in the same point of view, and a high functionary has said, We may thus have to defend the Prussian crown on the banks of the Po.'" We have had within the last six months to chro niele the various steps by which the Emperor of Austria has departed from the Schwarzenberg policy in transactions with Prussia, and the sacrifices which he has made to conciliate his northern neighbour. But such an alliance as would bring North German troops on the Po would be a misfortune for protestantism and for Europe, bat most of all for Prussia herself. The King of Prussia, a monarch whose character in more than one respect resembles that of our James 1., has taken fright at the reports from Milan. In the first moments of alarm about twenty respect able inhabitants of Berlin were airested without ap parent cause.: The Kress Zeitsuig, although an ultra-royalist paper, was confiscated for publishing the apocryphal letter of Kossuth. On the 15th, the ministry presented to the First Chamber a hasty bill for empowering the government to prevent the distribution of printed papers published out of the monarchy. SWITVRLAND. The Vienna Gasetteof the 15th contains an article on the Milan outbreak, in which Switzerland, and in a lower degree Piedmont, are made responsible to Austria for that event. A letter from Vienna of the same date states that the Austrian government has addressed a very ener getic note to the Swiss government, on the subject of the late insurrectionary movement. The Austrian government, it is said, demands satisfaction, and reserves to itself the intention of enforcing it if nocesmuy. The same letter states that the Austrian govern ment has addressed an energetic note to the English government, complaining that Mazzini and Kossuth are allowed to get up conspiracies in London, and in publish proclamations the English journals of a nature to provoke insurrections. We cannot gua rantee these statements. The New Zurich Gamete contains the following : Two Italian agents, Luigi Clement*, of Treat, and C. asso's, of Breeds, provided with Piedmonts'. passports, legalised by the Swum Consul at Genoa, who time to Pea chtavo towards the close of December, delivered arms and military effects to carmen, during the night of the 6th inst., to be conveyed to the Valteline. The authorities of Ne eds'', having promptly interfered, prevented their depar ture. It is not known where those arms came boo. Cie menus, at whose house a proclamation of Maulni is said to have been found, is sow is prison at Coin. Casola is shortly expected. Clemente states, that it was a mere com mercial speculation, and Castile, declares that he was in no wise interested in it. According to the 104th article of the Federal compact, this is en ot<aee against the laws of nations, which must be tried by the Court of Amiss' ITALY. PIEDMONT. The Piedmontese Gazette of the 15th instant an nounces the departure of M. Massimo d'Azeglio, the late Sardinian premier, for London, wherein is to spend two mouths on a leave of &been°e he had ob tained from the Chamber. The Turin journals mention the names of 12 or 15 of the most distinguished members of the emigration who have been ordered to quit the country. At Turin the nomination of ,seven new senators is regarded as certain. The names mentioned are those of the minister La Marmora, Generals Rossi and Durando, the deputies Cavallini and Benso, and, according to some, MM. Caasti and Rename°. M. Cavour's government needs strength in the Upper House. AUSTRIAN ITALY. • The rage of Radetsky and his muter is hurrying them on to acts u insane u they are atrocious. To the red proclamations, of which every day,has brought its quota, we hays now to add the following, from the Milan Gazette : The last events and the pending investigation having convinced me that the inhabitants of the Lombardo-Vene tian kingdom allowed themselves, with few honourable ex ceptions, to be frightened by the infamous party of subver sion, instead of siding frankly and openly with the imperial government, I feel obliged, conformably to my proclamation of the 19th June, 1851, to warn the population of said kingdom that I will cau-e all the persons implicated in at tempts directed against the government of ;has Majesty the Emperor to be treated with :he utmost severity of the laws, and the extreme rigour it is in my power to exercise. I especially inform them that I have ordered all the judiciary authorities to sequester, en :he first legal indication, the property of those who should directly or indirectly become the accomplices erects of high treason, even were that com plicity merely to result from the omission to disclose trea sonable plots, which everybody is bound to denounce, for the purpose of compensating the public treasury for the ex traordinary expenses occasioned by those continual sub versive attempts. The Imprial and Royal Civil and Military Governor of the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom. Marshal Count RADITILT. Verona, February 11, 1853. Hitherto the Croat has pretended the fiction that the disaffected in Italy are the few, trouble= of the peace of Austria's many devoted subjects. Now the figment can no longer do service, it is the "few ezcep- Lions" who stand " frankly and openly by the im perial government." The most powerful, the best drilled, the most petted army by which Austria has ever held Italy, is either too weak to assure the in habitants of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, as is here asserted, or those inhabitants have preferred the cause of their noble country to that of the Emperor who rules them from Vienna. And to decide the wavering, recover the lapsed, and confirm all in a sense of the blessings of Austrian rule, it is now announced that whoever will not merely observe the laws, but become a spy and an informer in the cause of the Hapsburgs, shall be liable to confiststiou by courts-martial, the judiciary authority of the text. From the Po to the Tyrol, from Como to Venice, I I whoever hates not father and mother, sister and brother, for the Emperor of Austria's sake, is the lawful prey of imperial rapacity. Francis Joseph abdicates the functions of government in Italy, and prefers a military occupation of the territory. After the proclamation just given, ali others must necessarily be somewhat pale. However, we learn from Lugano that General Singer issued, on the 13th, a notification, stating that, on the 11th, sedi tious proclamations had been distributed at Como, and informing the inhabitants that Marshal Itadetzky had published a proclamation puni.hing with death the hawkers of such proclamations, and with five years' imprisonment those who should not denounce them to the authoritie.. Count Giulay has thought it prudent to prevent the congregation of large numbers of Italian youth, and therefore prolongs indefinitely the vacation of the University of Pavia. All students are held bound to return to their families. On the 12th, the Director of the Police enjoined the innkeepers and owners of coffeehouses and other places of refreshment at Milan to close their esta blishments before 10 o'clock p m., under the severest penalties. According to accounts of the 15th from Milan, there was still great difficulty in obtaining access to or from the city. Baron Martini, Military Com mandant, had threatened to punish severely any per son raising cries, singing, or whistling in the streets. Two persons had been condemned and hanged—one for having taken up arms against the solders at the Toss-gate, the other for having two muskets in his shop, and having been seen with the insurgents in the Rue Bottor.uto. TURKEY AND MONTENEGRO. RENEWED HOSTILITIES. The telegraph brings word that Osier Pacha has set his troops in motion to invade the remaining 'milks of Montenegro. No particulars are given, nor is it known that any conflict has actually taken place. Letters from Zara of the 10th inform us that the Turks had crossed the Zeta, and appeared disposed to press forward into the nahia of Nieschanska; the next poet will therefore probably bring news of an engagement. Very little importance was attached at Vienna to the resumption of hostilities in the mountain, and the Bourse remained firm. This was to be expected. The European interest in the Montenegrin strife depends chiefly on the relations which the great powers assume to it, and only in a minor degree upon the shifting fortunes of the war. It was known that Omer Pacha would again resort to the sword if the answers of the mountaineers to his appeal were unsatisfactory. Great misconception, however, has prevailed, in consequence of some cor respondents having connected the movements of the Turkish commander with the negotiations of Count Leiningen at Constantinople, making his quiescence a sign of returning friendship between Turkey and Austria, and his resumed activity a symptom of confirmed estrangement. It is forgotten that it takes longer to send news from Montenegro to Constantinople than from the same place to London. The war which Omer Pacha interrupted for a specific purpose, he resumes now that it is fulfilled. What ever arrangement may , be made at Constantinople he will hear of in due time, as he will also of the French mediation in the same busi ness; meanwhile the war goes on. So much by way of rectification was necessary, as the renewal of hostilities was put forward on Saturday by a contemporary in an alarmist spirit, and under a total misconception of the facts. The statement of a "serious collision between Austria and Turkey," which was published with it, was founded on a dateless, unlocalised, and unauthenticated paragraph in a German paper all but unknown in connexion with foreign politica, and may safely be discredited. The Oest. Deutsche Post undertakes to report the proceedings of Count Leiningen ' special comm i ssioner of Austria, at Constantinople. The count arrived at the Ottoman capital on the 29th ult., and on the 3rd instant was received both by the Sultan and the Minister for Foreign Affairs. The reply of the Sultan, it is said, was negative; other accounts say evasive. The Oest. Deutsche Post says :—" The French and English Legations have already inter fered in these diplomatic negotiations, and that in favour of the Porte." It is probable that to this in terference is doe the finnan yust published in Bosnia, giving Christians equal civil rights with Turks ; the ameliorations in the condition of the rayahs, which special commissioners have been appointed to carry sit I and lastly, the amnesty which , according to the Lloyd, has within this fortnight attracted beck three-fourths of the Bosnian. who had emigrated to the Austrian territory. The Porte would seem to have resolved to remove all just ground of complaint from the Austrian government as protector of the Turkish Christians, and having done so may safely resist the clamours of its neighbour for slices of ter- Cassell Gazette publishes the following:—" A journal has announced that the governments of Frame and England have demanded from that of Austria explanations relative to the armaments and measures against Turkey. This news is devoid of all foundation. The Austrian government has spon taneously given explanations to the two Cabinets of the Tuileries and of London." The "journal" with which this paragraph origi nated is no other than the Cassell Gazette itself. The Frankfort correspondent of the Gazette, who makes the rectification on the 13th, made the state ment now " rectified" on the 10th, and there is good reason to believe that his earlier assertion is sub stantially correct. MAZZINI'S PROCLAMATION. TO TRIO IDITOR Ol THE lITPILISS. ant,—l read yesterday in your estimable Journal a letter from M. Agostini, against which I think myself in duty bound to protest, since it tends to cut the pave im putation of an abuse of confidence on the illustrious Mu sini—a man whose character claims the veneration of all the friends of liberty. On the evening of the 10th instant, in a numerous society of Italians, 20, Sherard-street, on the question being put to him whether the proclamation of the Italian committee had been written in London, M. Agos tini answered that iss bases had been here agreed upon, though it bad been composed elsewhere. The fair in ference of such spontaneous declaration is, that Marini and the other members of the revolutionary committee who followed him to Italy, reserving to themselves to word on the spot the proclamation according to the circumstances, were authorised to join to their own the absent secretary's signature. Why, if it were otherwise, did he not make bis pro testation on the day after the arrival in London of the printed copy of the proclamation in question, bat only a week later ? His conduct in this respect is not unparal leled. There are persons, I for one, who will suspect that they were waiting the definitive news of the success or the failure of the insurrection, as reedy to share the honour or the former as to repel the responsibility of the Litter. '' Yours respectfully, DELLA ROCCO. 42, Harley-street, Feb. 20. EMIGRATION OF DOCKYARD EMPLOTES.-A Rl merously attended meeting of employes belonging to her Majesty s Dockyard at Portsmouth • as held on Wednesday evening last for the purpose of considering the propriety of farmiag an emigration loan society. The first resolution was to the effect that shipwrights in this country were la bouring under many disadvantages, arising from the " ex cessive supply of the labour market," by which they were placed in an inferior position in society, and that the only means of alleviating their condition was by the pro motion of emigration to the Australian and other colonies. This resolution was carried unanimously the plan recommended being the payment by the members of the association of threepence per week each, from the fund so produced each emigrant being allowed two-thirds of his expenses of passage-money and outfit, the other third being advanced through Mrs. Chis holm. It was confidently anticipated that the loans so granted would be honourably returned, at least be those who might be successful. Another resolution for the formation of an Emigration Loan Society for the shipwrights of Portsmouth dockyard on the plan above stated was carried, and a committee was appointed to carry out the objects of the meeting. It was also determined to invite Mrs. Chisholm to Portsmouth to give the required information on the subject, the day to be fixed at her own convenience. Vie Court. Her Majesty and Prince Albert, attended by the Marchioness of Ely, 1.. , ,rd Alfred Paget, and Lieut.-eolonel the lion. A. Gordon, honoured the Baron Maroehetti with a •isit at his studio, in Qmluw•square, un Saturday after noon. The Queen had a dinner party on Saturday at Bu:king ham Palace. The following had the honour of being present :—the Duke of Cambridge, the Duchess of Suther- Isad, the Count and Countess Walewski, the Duke of Norfolk, the American Minister, Lord and Lady John Russell, Viscount and Viscountess Comfier:nem, Lord Col ville, the Hoo. F. and Lady Anne Cliarteris, Sir G eorge and Lady Grey, and Major the lion. J. Macdonald. The band of the lit Life Guards was in t ait r e s nian c.b, ce at the Palace, and played during dinner the following pieces : March March of the let Life Guards I Ducher. of Kett. Orertam " Di, Lurligen Welber von Windsor " tta.) Nico!ul. Introduction acd Chorus, Owra "Zzyre" i li. R. If. the fluke Feetlieher Tana, Opera " Rienzi" Mazurka, Opera " Le Cad" The Guard'. March The Duchess of Kent, accompanied by the Princess Ade laide of Ilohenlohe, visited the Queen on Saturday at Buck ingham Palace, and partook of luncheon with her Majesty and Prince Albert. __ . . Ike Queen ad Prince Albert, the Prince of Wain, the Princess Royal, and the Princess Alice, with the Ladies and Gentlem:u of the Court, and the dontestie household, attended divine service yesterday morning, in the l'rivate Chapel of Buckingham Palace. The Ron. and Rev. Gerald Wellesley officiated. The Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess Mary visited the Duchess of Kent on S.iturday, at her residece, , Clarenco House, St. James's. A deputation from St. Saviour's parish, on the subject of New -street, had an interview on Saturday with Sir Wil liam Molesworth, a the Office of Works and Public Build ings, in Wbitehall-place. The di potation consisted of Mr. Alderman Ilumphery, M . Beard, Rider, and Russell churchwardens of St. S a vi our ' s ), M r . Eli lin - lards, Mr. homas Bailey, Mr. Thwaites, Mr. Brooks, and Mr. Her bert Stormy (solicitor). A deputation, consisting of Mr. Dixon (of Bromley-by- Bow), Mr. Farnham (Highgate), Mr. Gwilliam (North Audierstrect), Mr. Marshall tliow, Middlesex), Mr. Reid (Plaistow), Mr. Self (West Ham), Mr. Stevenson (Lam beth), and Mr. John H. flay (Kennington), hail an inter view with Earl Granville, at the Privy Council-office, on Saturday. Captain Penny had an interview with the Duke of New castle on Saturday at the Colonial-oflke. A deputation front Great Grimsby had an interview on Saturday with the General Board of health, at their office. Whitehall, in reference to the Great Grimsby Improvement Bill now before parliament. The deputation consisted of the Earl of Annerley, M.P., Mr. G. josuline, M.P., and Mr. Hargrave, Secretary to the Town Committee, to watch the marmot the hill. The deputation had also an inter view with Sir William Molesworth on Saturday, at the Office of Works and Public Buildings. Despatches were sent on Saturday from the Colonial office to the Governor of Malta, thu Lord Mgh Commis sioner of the lonian Islands, and the Governor of Hong- Kong. ' Lord Goderich bad an interview with Viscount Palmer ston on Saturday. Despatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-o ffi ce from the Governors of West .tustralia, New Zealand, and Ceylon. A Cabinet Council was neid at the Foreign-office, Downing-street, on Saturday afternoon. The minis ters present were—The Earl of Aberdeen. the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, the Duke of Argyll, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Viscount Palmerston, Lord John ltussell, the Duke of Newcastle, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir Jaws Graham, the; Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, and Sir William Molesworth. The Council sat three hours. TIIE SPEAKER'S FIRST PARLIAMENTARY DINNER took place on Saturday. The following gentlemen at tended :—Right Hon. Bat of Mulgrave, Right lion. Viscount Palmerston, Right lion. Lord Ernest Bruce, Lard Hervey, Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, Right Hon. Wm. F. Cowper ' Hon. Charle. Villiers, Right Hon. Sir James Graham, Right. lion. Wm. H. Gladstone, Right I Hon. M. T. Baines, Right Hon. Sir Wm. Molesworth, Right Hon. Sir John Young. lion. Henry Fitzroy, Mr. Moacrieti, Sir Alex. Cockburue, Mr. Frederick Peel, Mr. Wilson Patten ' Mr. Bethell, Mr. Cardwell, M r . S trutt, Admire! Berkeley, Mr. Grenville Berkeley, Mr. G. Rarer. Mr. James Wilson, Mr. Mansell, Mr. Osborne. Lord John Russell, Lord Alfred Paget, and Mr. Charteris were ab sent, having received the Queen's commands. Right Hon. Sir Charles Wood aed the A.tturney•Guieral were absent through indisposition. DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF LINCOLL—We are sorry to announce the deii4e of thia venerable prelate, which melancholy event took place on Saturday morning. The Neale of the Foreign-office will be delivered this day by her Majesty in Council to the Earl of Claren don, who will attend on Tuesday, in Downing-street, as Secretary of State. The Right Roo. Henry W. Wynne has retired from the di;domatic service, atter a period of 56 years since his first appointment to the Foreign-office. He will have only the pension which was settled upon him in 1807 when envoy extraordinary to the Elector of Saxony, whi c h h u lain dormant during his active enoloyraent, but which is larger than could be now conferred under the new regula tions of the service. Sir Henry Wynne is succeeded at the court of Denmark by Mr. Buchanan, the present minister to the Swiss Confeticratien, who will be replaced by the Hon. C. A. Murray, now her Majesty's consul-general in Egypt. John Green, Esq., her Majesty's consul at the Piraeus, is appointed consul at Alexandria. THE ARMY ESTIMATES. The following figures show the number of men and the amount of money to be toted on the Army Esti mates:. Land forces, numbers, 102,283; Increase, 346. Land force., charge, 3,625,7831.; increase, 23,7161. Staff, 162,8971.; decrease, 6,7101. Public departments, 98,4641.; increase, 2,5071. Royal Military College, 16,8881. ; decrease, 2531. Royal Military Asylum, &c., 18,0201.; increase, 4841. Volunteer corps, 88,0001.; increase, 4,0001. Total cost, 4,010,0521.; increase, effective service,, 23,7441. Rewards (or military service, 20,2501. ; increase, 4,6071. Army pay of general officers, 55.0001. ; decrease, 6,0001. Full pay for retired officers, 50,0001. Half-pay and military allowances, 358,0001. ; deans*, 1,0001. Foreign half-pay, 34,6231. ; decrease, 2,2881. Widows' pensions, 117,6371.; decrease, 1,7501. Compassionate allowances, 79,5001. ; decrease, 3,500/. In-pension, 28,1491. • decrease, 6661. Out-pension. 1,233,8:001.; increase, 8,9971. Superannuation allowances, 36,0001.; decrease, 1,5001. Total for non•effoctims services no less than 2,014,964 i. Total cast of military, 6,025,0161. Being a total increase in the years 1853-54 of 14,6441. . The number .of officers, non-commissioned officers, and rar.k and file, which it is proposed to maintain for the service of the United kingdom of Great Britain and Ire land (exclusive of the troops in the East Indies) for the year from the Ist April, 18.53, to the 31st March, 1854, is 102,233. The charge of the land forces, as detailed in the actom ' ponying state of particulars, is 4,565,0761. Four regiments of cavalry and twenty-four regiments of infantry are em ployed in the East Indies. The charge of these regiments and of the East India depots at Maidstone and Chatham is defrayed by the East India Company ; deduct therefore, 939,2931. Amount to be provided for the charge of her Ma' 's land forces at home and abroad, exclusive of 3,625.7831. TEE EMIGRATION COMMISSION.—Tho Emigration Commissioners despatched the Harriet, of 1,000 tone, Cap tain /Ruddick, from Southampton for Sydney, on Wed nesday. She took oat upwards of 400 emigrants, most of whom were adults, and amongst them 90 single young women. The accommodations of the Harriet are first-rate, and her fittings up and general arrangements excellent. Most of the poor emigrants, who have thus turned their backs upon their native land probably for ever, are decent farm labourers, a great proportion of whom were front Buckinghamshire and some of the south-eastern counties. The Harriet will be followed by the Ramifies, Captain Hodder, of 700 tons, is a few days. The Ramifies' des tination is Adelaide. She will convey about 300 emigrants. The Beta will alto leave with emigrants on the 26th instant, and the Coromandel shortly afterwards. MELANCHOLY ACCI DENT: About three weeks since Redjed lemet Effendi, one of the private secretaries of the Turkish ambassador at Paris, a young man only 22 years of age, while hanging up a loaded fowling piece in his room, unfortunately touched the trigger, and the gun going off, the charge paned through his thigh. The first medical men were called in, and for a time he appeared to be going on well, but on the fifteenth day after the accident symptoms of lockjaw appeared, and on the following day he died. ills funeral took place on Monday, at the ceme tery of Montmstre. The custom of Mahometans is that the body should bo carried to the grave by hand without any sign of mourning, but on this occasion it was placed on a hearse hung with white, but there were no mourning car riages, the ambassador and all the eusployis of the embassy following on foot. At the entrance of the gtound the coffin was taken from the hearse and borne to the grave by the friend* of the deceased, and interred according to the Musaulman rites. BUCKINGHAM.—The Bucks A,lrertiser says : " Mr. Richard Victims, jun., of Padbury, has, on tte re commendations of the Marquis of ebonies, had the honour of aubmittiug a very beautiful pillow-lace scarf, of Buck inghamshire manufacture, to the notice of' her Majesty, at Windsor Castle. Her Majesty was graciously pleased to signify her approval of the article by becoming the par chaser of it. We trust her Majesty's example will be fol lowed by the ladies of England, now that they are made aware that they can he supplied with articles, which even Royalty does not disdain, of home manufacture. The scarf was not only worked, but also designed in It acking harashire, so that our county has not reijuir. , d any a•ustaoce in completing an article of so much etaeshy in England."