The Express. — London, England, 1851-11-26 00:00:00

the erortoo. TO CORRESPONDEN& ard Wes •r" 'n. We" sostaislag •Ss Row ssesires •be Ousits," sAitessl few, Twig sm . ! Ends, .10%W time ADoeo".isieried kw " The &pros," L 0•1100 Zwaing paw, salm wog Is a Or thlke, 10, Donickmarest, )ty Tye GPM** is the 111011 WATER A Two. Det—liforeihS. 31. Th.vow.—Alarsuair. LONDON BRIDGE . Aftenisea. 41.11. Ataraam 41. Ns. LONDON, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 26. LAST night it was announced that the St. Ka therine's Dock Company will not after all go to trial with the Customs on the informations filed spinet it by . the Arteries-GESERAL. The pre lim manner in which the litigation is to be accom modated is not perhaps quite arranged yet; but though the St. Katherine's Docks are not likely to subject themselves to such an ignominious reproof as the London Docks received from the Treasury, a compromise will take place. This termination of the Dock cases is to ho regretted rather than wondered at. There is, it is well known, a large and influential body in the City prepared to sup-1 port the St. Katherine's Dock Company not merely with their influence, but also with funds; and to the subscription that was talked of the directors of the London Dock Company had offered to make a large penitential contribution. There was not much , in the way of evidence against the St. Ka -1 therine's Company to be apprehended after the disastrous discomfiture of the Customs in their heaviest case which they had already tried. And in arranging the matter the company will not have de serted its friends, intrigued with its prosecutors, sa crificed the interests of trade, or trifled with its own character. Rut, on the other hand, the state of isolation which the surrender of the other company had reduced it to, augmented its difficulties, by increasing the unscrupulousness of its opponents; though it would have been morally and pecuniarily supported by its City friends, it would have had a desperate and a still more costly battle to have fought. The Cus toms hail evinced a determination to prolong the liti gation to the utmost limits that level chicanery could devise; and from the conduct of the Treasury the question had assumed a political aspect, which it was not the duty of a dock company to conduct. With, no doubt, the very best intentions in the world, the publications of the Charlotte-row com mittee had not, to say the least of them, been characterised with good taste. They had alienated many mercantile notabilities by their coarseness and vulgarity, and had so thrown around the Customs and the Treasury the protection of gentlemanly man ners and courteous feelings; and there is never want ing in certain quarters in the city a strong and every natural desire to protect Lord Jolts ltessEtt from annoyance. All these considerations, it now ap pears, prevailed; it was felt discreet to separate the general ease of commerce against the customs' laws and their administration from these particular charges against the Docks; and though the latter will be arranged, the former are tube prosecuted in a more serious and resolute spirit than ever. After then causing an expenditure of probably not far short of 30,11001. in these dock caws, all that the Customs and the Treasury have gained are ad missions that, in the management of business to the annual extent of nearly fifty millions sterling, some such trifling irregularities may have occurred as justified the seizure (without involving in the seizure any mural wring to the revenue) of a few boxes of diumiged sugar. And how have they gained these admissions ? Principally by the power they have of entailing injury, if not ruin, on any parties they may murk out fur prose cution. The crown pays no costs ; and before that oppressive maxim the duck companies have yielded. Now, if it be hopeless for two companies having a capital of some seven or eight millions sterling, and carrying on a highly profitable business, to resist a revenue department on such terms, how utterly im possible must it be fur any private individual, any single merchant or importer, to defend his honesty or his just rights against the Customs. If these great and wealthy corporations, though supported by the entire mercantile interest of the empire, deemed it prudent to retire before the Customs oppressions, think of the power that department poissmes over separate mercantile establishments or single persons! A struggle with the Inquisition at Madrid in the seventeenth century was as encouraging a contest as any individual attempting to defend him self against a Customs information in the Court of Exchequer iu the nineteenth. This practice cannot Me, and that will be one advantage at least of this oomproniise. But what is now to be done with the Customs? Is the result of the compromise to he their restoration' to power without further inquiry, and the submission of commerce to revenue oppression and obstruction without further effort? That depends entirely on the City itself. The Treasury function aries who could condescend to such an in trigue as we have lately seen, are not the men, on their own sense of what is right, to bring forward a new Customs code ; or when legislation is rendered inevitable by external pressure, to be intrusted with its preparation. To lean upon the Customs Board or the Triunity Board is to rest upon broken reeds. The ('ity must tell its member, the PREMIER, what it is that is wanted, and must make him feel the necessity of listing it done. Hitherto the revenue laws have been prepared by the revenue authorities, without any consultation with classes affected by them ; they have been based on the principles that all mankind is in a perpetual conspiracy to cheat the revenue; and that to escape payment of duty is the highest and most flagrant of all human offences. Hence everything has been made to yield to the collection of the revenue—con venience, time, cost, opportunity, and simplicity ; and the what() administration has been confided to a board composed of worn-out political partisans, and the least likely of the sons of inveterate placemen. It is in vain to talk of reforming laws so framed or boards so constituted. Commerce wants new revenue laws, in the preparation of which it shall be consulted ; and a board of administra tion on which it shall be represented, or which shall itself have a member in the House of Commons. there to be responsible for its acts. The present revenue laws are alternately a mass of ab surdities or a web of oppressions ; and the existing board is a cover and a mark for the bad execution of bad laws. The whole service of the Customs is moreover vicious. A boy procures entrance into it as the reward for the political services of his father or Gamily ; his promotion is regulated by no sound principle ; merit will not carry him up to the high est offices, neither will seniority nor gradation ; he is subject to no proper training, no examination, no probation ; qualifications go for little or nothing—all as left to chance and h And how can it be i vr t ia rd e . when the heads of the department know little or nothing of the real working of the system they are appointed to super intend and carry oat? Of the eight commissioners now in office, there is not one who owes his appoint ment to special preparation or peculiar fitness. Sir THOMAS FZEMAJITLI is & pleasant smart man, and Mr. Dawson is now a person of some experience. But what can even they brow of the wants of com merce; how to devise regulations at once to secure the revenue, and give it facilities? And the truth is that the tendency of the system is to grow worse and worse. Just listen to Mr. Toona's experience of the board From your intercourse with commercial men, do you, or de you not, dud more dissatisfaction of the conduct of the Customs prevailing now, u to the adatinistratio• of the Customs law, than you found prevailing in the time of Mr. Dean sad Mr. Demos Rune ?—As fax as I can judge, most decidedly so. Do you consider that it would be to the public interest to open the door for wormier tamers of Custom becomoug monatissirmen ?—1 should my milkier could be more ina politie than to horses arty °bawls to that. Mr. Richmond, who was a very eMoieut comuatissiasee, roes tram a subordi nate department. What sort of genial's, would you regain P—Training to habits of business ; these an potato that rest upon the dia. ervtion of the partial who have the appointment. So also Mr. CATrUT on similar points ; What qualification do yon thiak would be a qualifica tion fur a Collllllissimer of 1-1 should say a know ledge of business and trade. You think that such persons would be better commis sifters than pang leen who are just cocoa from college t I think ono. I certainly think they would be letelt , quail• lid; and I mhos that it was with seise asessiskmat that, as a merchant of this city, 1 taw that Stitt teatimes were appointed Cesmissiesers of Colleens WU (Maki' _ THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY never base known &Whittier t s luollness tallboy sr appointed. . . Some of those gentleness mut lt a t i ve la dy k :' ' versity i.—Fron the retorts, I see have been appointed very shortly the y . ed their university career. . 44 4 ..-., '<There *ll on. Stephen Edward Spring , 21 'd( age 'et' .Idmi• . e st 6 he was appointed; he is n w 36 ?ears of llge. Then then is Stephen George Lushington, ; he was 26 years of age at the time he was appoin ;he is now 52. Then there is Frederick Goulburn, Esq. ; who was 27 yam - at sge . st the time be was appointed ; be is now 33. And 'Be designation appended to each of the names shows that dot one of the previous vermin of those gentlemen was nett as to make them conversant with the business of the Customs. Will yon reed what the previous pursuits of those gentle men were ?—Mr. Luabingtoo was " Private Secretary to owe of the Secretaries of the Treasury." Mr. Spring was " Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exche quer -' " and Mr. Goulburn wu " A Barrister at Law." Do you not believe that those gentlemen no designated were the private meant:arise of their own fathers who hap pened at that time to be the Secretaries of the Treasury, or Chancellors of the Eichequer ?—Yes. ~, Such is the class of persons who preside over the collection of twenty millions sterling a year from commerce. No wonder that commerce is in arms against a board so composed. What the City must tell Lord Jour RUSSELL, is that this system shall cease and a substitute of rational, sober, experienced men of business be found for the Customs, instead of silly fops and briefless barristers. DECIDEDLY one of the most satisfactory meetings that it has been our lot to chronicle of late, was that of the friends and members of the Freehold Union just held in London, and reported in our paper yes terday. There was a frank sincerity, an avoidance of exaggerated statements, and, even at the general evening meeting, an abstinence from inflated decla mation, that stamped the meeting as part of u roil business movement. The proceedings in the fore noon conference called to recollection some of the earlier meetings of the Anti-corn Law delegates — before the name of League had been heard of—in the same locality. The statements disseminated by such an earnest, plain, working-day-world body claim entire con fidence. They are very different from the bubble blowing of a Snigg's had affair. And it appears 'from them that there are actually at this moment in England and Wales 100 freehold land societies; Southampton being the scat of the most southern, and Carlisle of the most northern among them. We are not going to inflict upon our readers all the statistical details over again reported so fully in our yesterday's impression. One set of facts is enough. Two millions have been subscribed by the members of these societies for the purchase of freeholds; 400,0001. has been actually paid up, 150 estates purchased, and 12,000 allotments made. The influence of these freehold land societies is not simply of future importance. They are at this moment a real power in some counties, and will forth with be made so in others. They have already in creased the numbers of more than one constituency, and altered its composition, to an extent that has en tirely deranged the calculations of jobbers in elec tions, and will baffle the utmost endeavours of such pests to re-spin their corrupt webs. It was with greater satisfaction than we well know how to express that we have witnessed the manly stand made by Mr. COBDEN and Mr. Taviani against the well-meant but dangerous proposal to institute a central registration society in connexion with the freehold union. The objection to this pro posal, that the union invites men of all shades of politics to avail themselves of its services to acquire the franchise, and that a registration society must inevitably partake more or less of a partisan cha racter, is a strong objection ; but there is a stronger still. A central registration society, watching oser and promoting the registration of liberal voters in all the constituencies of the kingdom would be merely a re suscitation of an old central metropolitan failure. With our present imperfect electoral system, regis tration associations are necessary; but they are necessary evils. They necessarily generate elec tioneering agents, with all their peculiar practices. A central one, with filial branches ramifying allover the kingdom, would be an unspeakable nuisance. C.Estie (the figure is somewhat stale, but is ex pressive) maintained that his wife ought to be above suspicion; the friends of a practical extension of the suffrage ought to demand the same unquestionable purity in their helpmate, the Freehold Union. One novel feature in this most recent meeting of the Freehold Union we hail with peculiar pleasure, and that was the appearance of Mr. SADLEIR among them. Most true was the remark made by that gentleman that Irish politicians cannot but 'derive benefit from being brought into frequent contact with the English middle classes; and not lens true was the useful lesson which the cheer elicited by that remark provoked from him—that English politi cians, and Englishmen in general, would derive equal advantage from being brought more frequently into contact with Irishmen. We accept the presence of Mr. SADLEIR at Monday's conference as auguring the commencement of a real incorporating union of England and Ireland. An invaluable suggestion of Mr. Santeta's—by far the most important made at the Conference—re lated to the possibility of so applying or extending the principle of the brechold mon as to make it available for facilitating the purchase of Irish in cambered estates, with a view to their division among a number of small proprietors. We are no friends to an excessive sub-division of landed property ; but in the present condition of Ireland we see no prospect of a bona fide, unincumbered proprietary, except by the means of considerable sub-division. Any tem porary excess in this direction will soon be remedied by leaving land free to the operations of commerce, and the unfettered dispositions of testators. The natural laws of societywill bring about a due admix ture of more and less expensive properties in land. Societies organised on the model of the English Freehold Land Societies would enable the owners of small savings in Ireland to acquireland at a moderate cost. Such societies would be a most legitimate application of the principle of their English proto types, for these have always contemplated the development of habits of prudent forecast among the less wealthy classes, along with the attainment of the elective franchise for them. Much more might be said about a meeting so pregnant with hope for, the future political condition of Ragland as that of • the Freehold Union. These desultory remarks may, however, serve to indicate i the many-sided importance of the Freehold Land Societies. Their progress has indeed been rapid beyond what the roost sanguine of their origin a l promoters could have anticipated; and their influ ence for good promises to be as lasting as it has been speedily attained. EXHIBITION OP 1851.—The question of firms be ing permitted to have, at their own ton, a second impres sion of the madalawarded to them, km been brought before the Executive Committee by the French Commission, and it appears, from the following letter, that they have re ceived the permission to obtain such :—" Office of the Exe cutive Committee, Exhibition Building, Kensington-road, November 2.s.—Sir : I am instructed by the Executive Committee to is that they have received through you the letter of Morn. Boom in which that firm request permis sion to marcher, from the Royal Mint a second medal of the i hind awarded to them, as there see two p inners in their Inn, who both wish to possess eopies—this permission be ing eastomaril . granted to firms at th e F renc h E x hibi t i ons. 1 am Imam by the Executive Committee to say, that they an no reason for refusing such a request on this ! occasion, and on this prainetion, as proposed, of the certifi cate of the Minister of Commerce of France, that the ' Messrs. Bacot are a firm of two partners, they will be pre pared to sanction a duplicate hem": furnished to them by Mr. Wyon, at the eon of Messrs. Bacot.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant, 0. Faisecie Du:mouse (for M. D. Wyatt, Bee.)-11. Ballandrosixe de 144610/111iZ, 12 A, George-street, Hanover-sruwe." 1 THE FIMIND OF lie CLERGT. —Yesterday the half-yearly iesetine of the promoters of this society was heed at Skala of the Royal General Annuity Society, Dmiesimm.serset, far the purpose et sleeting sin peusionere ,on the fuels, The Mee. J. B. Cur aseepied the chair, and, in *plebe the beeinsues eheerred that the objects of the society were Is =eke sees memeset provision for the widows and mama memoir/ daughters of clergymen of the establislast eiterek, and M mated relief by loan or otherwise to vie ewe liabeiliond by tempo : vary difficulties. egoention as to the Usefulness of this institution had lees been lidded by the large number of i candidates at each Medina, and be was limn to find that there wee every peewee of inereelid and permanent suer new He had meth *mere is eanamling that the society bad received • deselion of MIL Dein ebe vinaler and Mem of Ili John's 01111.1 k Ovid ; end see an tome' Omer less ef 10 gainer ban the wedded and Mires at Map ' c dtle r = Osilind; and 10 miens from the • Dean of TM then mauledelection of sin peeliselie Mali voteting • list of II eandideems, aad, to the et s i t- I salt baring bees declared, the Intimate tenniesied. Al(tilfl2. ,n, vut e-56 ?:1 1 :o. ce 'ou e. rn el ed vimieTh eilie l3 / 4 m i o r n n4ll B yLo ntiLleilli ttliiis to wing d ecorations in e circus at the Champs El 3 .. The President, A upon conferring the order of tlitLe gion of Honour to i lli e .40 - sesweal - ibitess,--peosouuced the following speech: '', - ,f()', -- -,. ,''' I ~. !.$ ..-!' • Gentlemen,—There w eirsiaimies,t * which' by' fee feel: - togs they inspire, and the reflections which they create, are not a vain *bow. I cant refrain from a certain collation, and a certain pride as a Frenchman, in beholding rimund me the honourable men who at the cost of so: many efforts' and sacrifices have maintained with dis tinction misread the reputation of our industry, of ' our arts, of our sciences. I have already raeisred homage to the great idea which presided at the nelleeeell Exhibition of London ; but at the moment of crown's, your successes by • national reward, can I forget that se many marvels of industry were commenced amid the maim of insurrection, and finished in the midst of a loci, tated incessantly by the fear of the present, as well es the menaces of the future? And in reflecting upon the oielledes which it was necessary for you to overcome, I said to my self, " How great would be this nation if it were may per mitted to breathe at ease, and live with its life." (Applause.) In fact, it was when credit scarcely began to revive ; it was when an infernal idea was incessantly urging workmen to stop the very source of work; it was when frenzy, clothing' itself in the cloak of philanthropy, came to turn away minds from their regular occupations, in order to throw them into Utopian speculations; it was at such a time that yogi exhibited to the world works of which a durable calm alone seemed to permit the execution. (Applause.) In presence, then, of these unhoped-for results, I ought to repeat how great the French republic might be if it were permitted to pursue at leisure its real business instead of being incessantly disturbed on one side by demagogic ideas, and on the other by monarchic hallucinations. (Thunders of applause.) Do demagogic ideas proclaim a truth ? No. They spread on all hands error and falsehood. Disquiet goes before them, deception follows after, and the resources employed to repress them are so many losses for the men urgent ameliorations fur the relief of misery. With regsed to monarchial hallucinations, without producing the Mlle dangers, they equally trammel all progress, al sanallaillia• dertakings. People struggle instead of going sewer& We see men, formerly ardent promoters of the pre. rogatives of royal authority, making themselves members of a convention (ronventionnele) in order to discover a power proceeding from popular suffrage. (Great applause., We see those who have most suffered from and most complained of revolutions, provoke a new revolution, and that with the sole view to evade the na tional wish, and to hinder the movement which transforms societies from following its peaceable course. (Long-conti nued applause.) These efforts will be vain. Everything , that is iii the necessity of the time will be accomplished. That which is useless alone cannut be revived. This cere mony is yet another proof that if certain institutions full without the possibility of return, those, on the contrary, which are conformable to the manners, the ideas, and the necessities of the epoch, brave the attacks of envy or of Puritanism. You all, sons of this regenerated so ciety, that has destroyed the old privileges, and proclaimed civil and political equality as a fun damental principle —you, nevertheless, feel a just pride at being named Chevaliers of the Order of the Legion of Honour. The reason is that that institution, like all others created at the same epoch, is in harmony with the spirit of the age and with the ideas of the country. Far from serv ing, like other distinctions, to render demarcations more distinct, it effaces them by placing all merit, to whatever profession and to whatever rank in society it may belong, upon the same line. (Applause.) Receive, then, these crosses of the Legion of Honour, which, after the great idea of the founder, are intended to honour labour equally with bravery, and bravery equally with science. Before we se parate, gentlemen, permit me to encourage you to new labours. Undertake them without fear ; they will prevent men from being thrown out of work this winter. Have no fears for the future. Tranquillity will he maintained, what. ever may happen. (Bravo! bravo!) A government which rests upon the entire mass of the nation, which has no other spring of action but the public good, and which is animated by that ardent faith which is a certain guide even across a space where there is no beaten track, this government, I say, will know how to fulfil its mission, for it has in itself both the right which comes from the people and the strength which comes from God. (Thunders of applause.) This speech has produced an immense sensation. Not only is it the first time in which the President has used the word republic, but he oustrips even Cassagnac in his denunciations of the royalist conspiracy, whom he accuses of wishing to turn themselves into members of a convention. At the beginning of the sitting to-day the Assembly was greatly agitated in consequence of the above speech Vs hen M. Haze proceeded to the tribune it was thought that ho was going to make some allusion to the significant phraseology of Louis Napoleon. But he only complained of come alterations which had been made by the Minister of the Interior in his (M. de Thorigny's) speech yester day in the proofs of the Mopiiteur. Ho would not advert to the "cheers" which the minister had mo destly interpolated at the end of his speech. The importance of the alteration consisted in the version of the Muniteur alleging that prosecution had not been instituted because the proofs of the conspiracy were wanting, whereas what M. de Thorigny said was, that if he had thought the plot existed he would have prosecuted the conspirators. The latter statement implied that he did not be lieve in the existence of a conspiracy. M. Lacrosse, Minister of Public Works, complained that the inci dent was brought forward during the absence of the Minister of the Interior. The President of the As sembly announced that an erratum would appe ar in the Moniteur of to-morrow, to restore the original words of the Minister of the Interior. Thus the dbl• avowal of the Constitutionnel by the irovern men t would be maintained. After the close of this incident on the minutes, the debate on the Lyons Railway was resumed. M. Dufaure opposed the concession to a company, and answered M. Base. M. Grainier de Cassagnac sent this morning M. l'enguelly-Laridoux. a naval gentleman, and friend of M. Veron, and M. Berard, representative, and late secretary of the As sembly, to call out M. Creton for the insulting epi thets which he applied in his speech yesterday to the writer in the Cunatitittionnet. M. Creton called Ca' ssagnac " a miserable pamphleteer, a slanderer, whom he permitted to shield himself under the dis dain which he inspired, and to take refuge in the ignominy of his whole peat life." M. Creton said that he could not fight with such a man. It may be mentioned here that M. Lacrosse, the present Minister of Public Works, still limps somewhat from a wound received in a duel with M. Grimier de Cassagnac. The amendment of Pinny, proposing the grant of ten millions for the provisional continuation by the state of the Lyons Railway, was adopted. The state of the Lyons railway question, upon which the ministry, and M. Dufaure, the reporter of the committee, take opposite views, is shortly this. Ministers propose a lease to a company for 99 years, with a state guarantee for interest upon their capital for 50 years. The company undertake to complete the line from Chalons to Macon in two years ; from Micon to Valle in three rears ; and from Vaise to Perrache in four years. the company undertakes to reimburse the state the cost of the works already executed between Paris and Chilons within the limit of 100 millions of francs. Of this sum the company are to may 10 millions down before the lease is granted; 10 millions more upon entering into pos session of the line; 20 millions at the end of 1852 ; and 60 millions in 10 years, by annual payments, commencing at the end of 185 2 , with i n t erest at 4 per cent. 11. Dufaure's committee propose to reject this scheme altogether, and to enact that the line to Lyons shall _be carried on provisionally at the expense of the state. To this end a credit of fifty millions is to be given to the Mi nister of Public Works, of which fifteen are proposed to be added to the budget of 1851, and 35 to that of 1852. The additional funds required to I be provided for by an issue of 5 per cent. rentes. Thus, after two years' controversy, the great question of princ iple between a state executi on and private enterprise remains precisely where it was. M. 31agne, Ithe late Minister of Public Works, in the debate of yesterday, supported the government scheme of con esesion to a company, in a speech whi c h pro d uce d a ,reffest, ix spite of the excited st a t e o f t h e Assem . He attacked the figures of N. Dufaure's report, gowned that he had immensely exaggerated the probable profits of the line. Ile particularly insisted that M. Dufaure had not taken into account the effect of the opposition of the central railway, and the low- rG, NOVEMBER 26„ siiidg i orfareelo which the Lyons eompany Ica probably be netopelled to submit. M: Magne in sisted partienkrly upon the respectability and solidity of the company to which the ministry propose to make the lease. This was in answer to one of the principal arguments of M. Dufaure, who asserted that there was no security that the company would really I complete the line. - 1 The financial scheme of the government hinging. entirely arta the aoacession of the Lyons Railway to reirepOlit, the debate now going going on is of the highest importance. The speech of M. Magne, ex-Minister of Public Works, who advocated the proposal of the government for conceding the line to the company of 11IM. Locke, Seillieres, and others, was considered a highly creditable performance, and listened to with as much attention as could be ex pected daring the pre-occupation of minds by the political question of the day. The twenty millions in hard cash and the eighty millions in bills would furnish the government with the means of dispensing with a loan. The law will allow the bills to be de posited in the Bank of France. M. Lacrosse is about to bring in a bill for finish ing the Louvre according to the plans of M. Duban. This scheme has already received the approval of the Council of Civil Buildings. Out of twelve millions of Exchequer bills fallen due this month, nine millions have not been renewed and demand payment. Three times the same value falls due in the month of December, and if payment is demanded in the same propnrtion,that is, for three quarters, it is not easy to see whence the money is to come. M. d'Argout, the governor of the bank, hav ing been consulted on this emergency, replied that the account of the state with the bank was in such a state that it could reckon upon very little assist ance of the latter establishment. Meanwhile it is not impossible that the new Minister of Finance may repeal the measure of M. Fould, which lowered con siderably the rate of interest upon the Treasury Bills. If the interest were restored to its former level, shy capital might be tempted back. It appears by a letter of the board of the Electoral Union, that in the preparatory ballot for the candi date to represent the Seine, only 15,000 electors took part. The board announces that M. Devinck, having obtained the majority, becomes the definitive candidate of the party of order. MM. Monet, de Larochejaquelein, and Victor Le franc have presented an amendment on the Communal Electoral Bill, proposing to reduce to one year the length of residence required for. all Frenchmen not born in the commune. MM. Eliot, Richardet, Greppo, and Laboulaye, members of the Mountain, have presented a proposi tion having for object to replace M. Pradie's propo sition, on the responsibility of the President of the Republic and his ministers. It runs thus : All persons who shall have conspired or abetted a con spiracy tending to a royalist or imperial restoration shall be tried with the least possible delay belore the High Court of JuAice. When convicted of the crime of conspiracy, they shall be immediately placed hors la loi. In addition, they shall be condemned to a fine, the minimum and max mum of which shall ho the one-half and three-fourths of their fortune. Prescription against such punishment shall not be available until after a period of 25 years, dating from the day on which the crime shall have been committed. The execution of the present Law is confided to the pa triotism of all Frenchmen. Several members of the Lett, including MM. Jules Fevre, Michel (de Bourges), Pascal, Duprat, :Mathieu (Drome), and Colonel Charras,met to-day in a bureau of the Assembly, to consider the course to be taken on the question of urgency upon the bill upon the President's responsibility. They adjourned to Le mardelay's rooms this evening. In the Assembly yesterday, towards the close of the sitting, M Croton interpellated the ministers on the article of the Constitationnel. In the course of a vio lent speech he heaped insulting epithets upon M. Gra pier do Cassagnac, who signifies this morning in a short paragraph that such epithets must be answered else where than in the columns of a journal. M. Croton quoted only the portion of the article averring us a pure truth known to all political men the immi nent eruption of a parliamentarian plot on the evening of the 17th. He wanted to know if the government had any knowledge of such a plot?—M. Daviel replied indirectly, by reading attacks out of the Messager upon the members who voted the Questors' Bill. The government was neither responsible for the language of journals nor for the rumours which circulated in the Assembly. M. Berrycr said that ho had attempted in vain to dissuade M. Croton from putting his interpellution. An occasion would occur in the debate on the Council of State's Bill fur explaining themselves fully with regard to the political. Meanwhile, M. Daviel had misunderstood the question, which was simply if the government had received any intimation of such a plot as was affirmed in their confidential organ. If so, they ought to demand from the house an authorisation to prosecute the conspirators who were representatives. M. de Thorigny said that, if the government had discovered any certain indications of such a conspiracy, they would not have shrunk from doing their duty. This having been accepted as a disavowal of M. Granier de Cas sagnac's article, the incident dropped, and the house dispersed. It is needless to say that the article of the Consti tutante, is vehemently assailed by the parliamenta rian journals. The Dant, still counsels the adjourn ment of the Council of State's Bill. At the Bourse, the Fires rose 20c., and closed at 901 i. 95c.; the Threes closed without change, at 56. SPAIN. MADRID, Nov. 20. General Narvaez gave a grand reception on the evening of the 20th. On the same evening he was received at a private audience by the Queen. ITALY. PIEDMONT. In the sitting of the 20th of the Chamber of De puties, at Turin, Signor Brofferio, the chief orator of I the extreme Left, addressed the questions to the mi nisters which he had given notice of the day before. But, in order to save time, it wag agreed that each question should be separately discussed. Signor Brofferio first attacked the . government on the nomination of Signor Feria' to the portfolio of public instruction, on the ground that he was not a riechnontese, and on the late papal brief against the writings of Professor Nuytz. As to the first objection, Count Cavour took the defence of hi s colleague, who had occupied the post of Under- Secretary of State at Rome, under the constitutional regime introduced by the Pope in 1848, and had moreover been sent as envoy extraordinary to the camp of Charles Albert. Count Cavour spoke hihly of the literary productions of his colleague and vindicated the conduct of the government in making such a choice. Signor Arun then ascended the tribune, and spoke with great moderation in defence, of certain measures he had taken with respect to the universities, and which had been attac ke d by Brofferio. As to the matter of the Papal brief,' Signor Deforests, Minister of Justice, declared that the government would oppose any discus- 1 sion on the brief, that being a docu men t officially un known to the government, and having no legal existence in the kingdom so long as it was not declared executory is the kingdom. The remaining questions were adjourned in the following sitting. The Chevalier d'Azeglio, President of the Council of Ministers at Turin, is, if we may credit the Opisione, seriously indisposed, the wound he received in 1848, at Vicenza, havtg bg asened again. It is feared that ho will be o to withdraw from public business in consequence. TURIN, Nor. 22. The Chamber adopted the pure and simple order of the day on the interpellations of itf. Brofferio. ROMAN STATES. ROME, Nov. 17. The Count Avo G ra d o d e Colombia n, Sardinian Ambassador, has arrived. The General of the French Army has concentrated at Rome all the garrisons of the neighbourhood, and harangued the troops, de claring that whatever happens it will always be the duty of the French troops to protect the person of the Pope. MADRID AND VALENCIA RAILWAY.—The terms of compromise approved of by the Master in Chancery, and threatened to be appealed from, have, it is understood, at 1 length been assented to, and the money been paid by the several parties thereto, out of which, and the 17,000/. in the hands of the official manager, a dividend will be declared among the shareholders. 185 L 4w 7 . GERMANY. BERLIN, Nov. 22. The heavy fall' of snow during the last two or three days have interrupted the regular communica tions, and there are no later news from Vienna than of Wednesday. From private Vienna letters which I have received I learn that the police measures against parties sus pected of agiotage have not been suspended, but were, on the contrary, daily increasing. When your correspondent left Vienna, on Tuesday, nearly four hundred persons had been forced to quit Vienna and many of them the Austrian dominions. From my former letters it may have been assumed that the measures of the police were confined to persons accustomed to visitthemonev and corn markets for the purposes of speculation. They certainly began with the brokers, but they have since been extended to persons of other classes and professions, and of both sexes. Bankers, merchants, tradespeople, clerks, manufacturers, rail way labourers, literary men, midwives, lawyers, and medical men— in fact - hardly one of the classes which live by honest industry is unrepresented in the small army of per sons expelled. Among them are born subjects of Austria, citizens of Vienna in the full possession of the civic rights and privileges ; others have acquired the rights of citizenship by long residence. In most cases the characters of the expelled will bear the strictest scrutiny ; their business has been carried on in a straightforward, honest manner ; they have paid the heavy taxes imposed by the despotic go vernment without murmuring, and have submitted to the degradation of the internal police system of spying and watching without opposition. let these individuals, many of them possessing only the means of living in the most humble style, are expelled because the officials of the police choose to suspect them of improper speculations. Apart from the ignorance of the most simple economical truths, which almost every child in England knows, which is displayed in these measures, the monstrous tyranny towards honest individuals is beyond anything that has ever before been perpetrated even by the Aus trian govern men t. Already have the necessary economical results of such measures appeared. Silver shows an increased tendency to rise, though the business transacted is of no importance, and corn of all kinds, with potatoes, has risen full four and five per cent. Though the supposed conspirators have been expelled, the object they were accused of endeavouring to at tain remains not merely in the same, but actually in a worse position. Chevalier Weiss cannot under stand that he is to blame ; he persists in attributing the result to the existence of conspiracies, and pur- sues his uprooting measures with increased fierceness. The protests, which to my astonishment several bankers have really ventured to make, are not listened to; the protectors are even suspected of being connected with the conspiracies. That more than one banker has threatened to close his business—l can name the well-known house of Stamctz and Mcier—produces no impression on the wilful head of the police, or on either of the ministers. The commercial and exchange report, which is pub lished every day, and which merely mentioned the fact of several bankers having protested, , has been threatened with suspension, and its editor and proprietor with imprisonment. In any other country such a notice would be deemed likely to calm the excitement and terror consequent upon such wholesale police expulsions, and the party making it would be thanked for his services. Other persons who have had interviews with Chevalier Weiss on the subject have been informed by him that his mea sures were necessary for the preservation of the monarchy, and would be proceeded with at all risks. Chevalier Weiss has, however, felt himself obliged to make some attempt to calm the public, and accord ingly the official lithograph brings an article on the subject. It informs the public that only unprin cipled speculators have been removed from the city. (Ihm; your expelled correspondent belong to the un principled speculators?) For getting rid of these the public ought to be grateful to the Chevalier Weir. It is not intended, it says, to interfere with the limitsof Luna fide transactions. The article concludes with a sonle• what unintelligible hint of some plan for effectually putting an end to the agiotuge and raising the credit of the government. I can only interpret it into a 've rnal for changing the nature of the bank. This in terpretation is justified by articles in the Lloyd and Presse, which advocate a reform of the bank, by the removal of the management from the hands of the great bankers, and by the establishment of joint banks in the provinces. Both these journals are on this subject inspired by Chevalier Weiss himself, who having so successfully put a stop to the momentary agiotage in corn and silver, aspires to the post of finance minister, and contemplates re-establishing the sunken credit of the empire by alterations in the batik regulations. While the Vienna press is thus discussing pro punts for new financial measures, the finance minister himself appears to have suddenly decided on very different plans. His agents have ceased to operate on change for sonic days; he has not sold any bills on London or Augmburg, but would seem, on the contrary, to desire that these exchanges should retain their present high figure. Speculation is rife as to his intentions. Same time ago, it was reported that ho intended to make a loan out of Austria to be paid in silver; subse quently, that he was about to issue a forced loan at home; silver ornaments and household utensils of all kinds were to be seized for the melting-pots and presses of the Austrian Mint. Some foundation there certainly was for these reports. Plans of the most absurd, complicated, and dangerous character are daily proposed and considered in the ministry of finance. r rem all that I have been able to learn on the subject it appears certain that Baron Krauss is at this moment engaged in deliberating on a plan of a most pernicious character, and which, if carried out, will be equivalent to an act of bank ruptcy. lie has for some time past been silently ac cumulating silver coin. This is the secret hoard to which the Presse alluded some weeks ago, and his agents have refrained from bearing the market, in order that the store of government silver may bo employed to more advantage. he premium on silver is to be maintained at any risk. Possessing this fund, Baron Krauss is contemplating paying the in terest due on the fifteen or sixteen hundred million florins of national debt in silver, not at par, but at the premium which it bears in the market. As silver now stands, at 24 per cent. premium, he would pay four silver florins for five of paper, disposing at one sweep by this measure of one-fifth of the whole inte rest, and if the plan is carried out—if it succeed and is continued—of the esule proportion of the whole debt. It is the same kind of proceeding practised by fraudulent tradesmen or merchants who desire to get rid of their creditors at the loss of their character. Such a measure would not be so iniquitous as it really is if the whole of the national debt were held in Austria. The premium on silver w.aild, to a certain extent, equalise the difference, but as nearly one-half is held at Amsterdam, and a great portion in other cities of the continent where silver is at par, the loss inflicted by Baron Krauss on the holders of Austrian stock would be fully what! have stated. Perhaps the pre mature publication of so dishonest a proceeding may avert its consequences. If Baron Krauss contem plates carrying such measures into effect, it would be infinitely more open to declare at once a national bankruptcy. The machinery of the government, especially of the police, is so extensive, that the mea sures which would be necessary after a declaration of bankruptcy, to procure food for the people, might easily be enforced. At this moment the government is purchasing grain wherever it can. Perhaps these purchases are forerunners of the bankruptcy. Sooner or later, direct or indirect, the crash must come. It can only be delayed, not averted. HANOI ER. THE NEW MINISTRY. Our Berlin correspondent, writing on Nov. 24, save—The news from Hanover is somewhat sur prising. A change of ministry there, at least so immi • tely after the We King's death, and before he is yet buried, was not expected. Yet on the 22nd the Muuebaussen cabinet received their dismissal. But a few days ago the new King declared in the patent announcing his accession to the throne—" I retain in their present posts all my civil servants," , and before a week elapses the chief of these servants are dismissed. The royal pledge with respect to the constitution, that he would maintain it in its inte grity from all violation, will probably have a dura tion equally limited. A Scheele ministry is (as you know) already appointed, consisting of IL Scheele, Premier and Minister of Foreign Affairs; NI. Bowies for the Interior ; Windthorst for Justice; Back• meister for Worship ; General Brandin for the War Department; the Finance Ministry remaining as yet vacant. With the " new organisation," that is, with a parliamentary representation not neutralised by the simultaneous existence of " estates," it sisnas now to be all over. The new ministry are known to favour the Ritter party; and though the Diet may have declared, as certain papers assert, on receiving the remonstrances of the late King aga;nst their "inhibitorium," that it tan no longer enkrtain the complaints of the Ititterschaft, still that pa r t y must triumph by this change of ministry. DENMARK. It has been given out from official quarters that the ministerial crisis in Denmark is over, and that the most perfect harmony reigns in the Copenhagen cabinet; but the Prenssesclee Zcitunq, generally very well informed on Danish subjects, denies this. The assumption of the command of the Holstein contin gent by General Bardenfleth, and the appointment of Danish officers to that corps, certainly seemed to bespeak the confidence of the great powers,but these powers had . previously received the assurances they desired from the Danish government, and there is a long way between this fact and the real relinquish ment of Denmark and the Duchies to their natite authorities; so that too much weight has doubtless been laid upon it. Meantime, the efforts of the ministry to agree with respect to the programme have been hitherto, the best-informed say, in vain. The opinion of M. Peruke, touching the Danish succession question, is given in the Kreutz Zcituo l , as follows: Ist. That on the extinction of the male Danish line, the right of succession of the Sonderburg house comes into force, and this legally acknowledged title, and by virtue of treaties concluded with the royal and Gottrop line. 2nd. That the house of Gottrop, also the Emperor of Russia and the Grand Duke of Oldenburg, likewise the crown of Denmark, are by treaty bound, on tho extinction of the Danish male line, to procure for the Sonderburg house, in its chief, the Duke of Augustenburg, as equiva lent for Oldenburg, the Grand-dukedom (gros' funtlahot Antheil) of Holstein. 3rd. That the Gottrop house and its chief, the Emperor of Russia, have in no way any claim to the succession on the Graud-dukedom (gross furstlichen Theil) of 11..lstein, whilst any of the male line of the Sonderburg house exists. WEST INDIA AND THE PACIFIC MAILS. (By Electric Telegraph.) PROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT. SOUTHAMPTON, Wrovrso.tv. The Medway has just arrived with the West India and Pacific mails. Her dates are: Chagres, Oct. 26; Jamaica, 28; Demerara, 31 ; Trinidad, Nov. 1; St. Domingo and St. Thomas, the sth. She brings 41 passengers; among them is Mr. Blanchard, lute governor of Vancouver's Island. Among her cargo in specie to the value of 1,101,683 dols., from the Pacific, the Spanish main, and the West India Islands, on merchants' account. Amongst the specie is gold dust, to the value of 706,09.1 dots. NV° learn by this arrival that the cholera has again broken out in Green Island in a very malignant form. From Demerara we learn that the Governor had withdrawn from the Court of Policy the plan of reform of the legislation institution, alleging as reasons of so doing, that he had no desire to consent to a sur render of the prerogative of the crown, and that he was reluctant to press through the court, by a ma jority composed chiefly of official members, measures not approved of by the majority of the elective sec tion, although popular among the community. Be fore the Court of Policy adjourned, the following resolution was passed: That it is the opinion of this court that the sum of 50,000/., as part of the parliumentarr loan, should be ap plied to the introduction of Chinese immigrants. _ . _ The weather during the fortnight had been fa vourable to the planters; sugar-making was going on with activity. From Jamaica we learn that the autumnal rains are general. From all parts of the country we hear of continuous and fertilising showers. Little business had been done in the produce market. Flour was in limited demand. Accounts front the country re present the pimento crop as being a full average one. Sugar, 143. to 20s. per cwt. for dark to fair. Celli:0 : There is not any in the market. DEMERARA MARKETS.—Breadstuffs dull; tonnage plentiful Freights, ls. 9s. to 10s. THE RIVER PLATE. The intelligence received by the Geyser, and stn ' marised in Monday's Express, was brought from the [Liver Plate to Rio Janeiro on the 16th October by the United States corvette Jainestown, which sailed from Buenos Ayres on the 7th of October, and stopped iu the harbour of Monte Video for a few hours on the ieght of the Bth, in order to land her pilot, but held no communication with the chore. The officers reported that, seeing the city of Monte Video illuminated, they inquired the reason, and were informed by their countrymen on board the frigate :Congress that General Oribe had capitulated, and that Governor Urquiza had entered Monte video on the morning of the Bth of October. They were also informed that General Oribe was on board the English corvette Tweed, and had expressed a strong desire to proceed to England. The intelligence front Buenos Ayres was important. The arrival of the three families of General Oribe, his brother-in-law, and son-in law' had created a strong sensation ther e . G enera l Rotas hail openly displayed extreme irritation ut the con duct of his lieutenant, Oribe, and had been beard to exclaim, " Conquered without striking a blow !" Ile had quite th rownielf the mask, and at every fresh step showed more plainly the cloven tout. Oribe was no longer "his worthy ally, the legal president of the Oriental state," but denounced as " a foul traitor to the Argentine cause," and was publicly burnt in effigy accordingly. This disgrace he shared with Generals lUrquiza, Vivasoro, and Benavides (the governor of San Juan), upon whose names every pos sible insult was heaped and against wlwou dire vengeance was threatened by the /oiled dictator, who had gone through the farce of having himself proclaimed " Supreme Chief of the Argentine Confederation" by the assembly of his creatures called the " Provincial Junta of Buenos Ayres." The news brought to Rio ' on the 17th October, shortly before the sailing of the Geyser, by the Paquete do Sul, confirmed the foregoing, and added that the war was now virtually at an end, the Argentine troops of Oribe having joined Urquiza, and the election fur president of the Oriental republic being about to take place as sewn as the excitement produced by recent events should have in some measure subsided. LATEST FOREIGN EXCHANGES. yuc Account. PARIS. Nev. U. Liail, 116 IS rr ' *1 e 11-4 hr I ■.. - ilUpialselilieliest. 66 10 / A 20 91 2 91 10 Chousg. 53 9$ I 56 0 10 83 00 03 3 per Calla .. 3 per Cent* per Cat. New 11 per Cents Exchange on London &aerat e 23 111 ; 90 days, 21 971. 8e1e1.2, 5, ISIS 991 Mona Nada Bean Money. Do. 1842 Roman Loan, 1831 734 Do. 45 Do. 26 ...... Treasury Ronde Ilednoont 4 pet... NS an .. Bank Shares PARIS, Nov. 25.—Versailles (right bank), —; bank) 110; Paris and Orleans, 977 30 ; Rana and Rouen, 377 sitt, nen and Barre, 212 50; Marseilles and Avignon. 210; 811, bona and Bale. ISI 15; Centre, 433; Boulogne sad Amiens. —; Orleans and bordeasuy 377 :,0; Nathan. 163 73; Paris and ant • Blur& 316 25; Torre sad Nantes, 236 25; Montanan and Troyes, 97 30. MADRID, Nov. 20.—Three per Cents., 361 ; after Boise, 36). Four per Cents., 134. Fire per Cents., 161 ; after Boisa, 161 p. Coupons, 8,1 ; after Boise, 81 c. Passives, 5 15-16; after Sol" 6p. Bank of St. Ferdinand, 99 p. Exchange on London, 60.50. (By Electric Telegraph.) AMSTERDAM, Nov. 24.—Five per Cent. Metal lives, 69g. Two-and-a-Half per Cent. Belgians, Five per Cent. Ardoins, 16. Three per Cents., Interior, 35 5-16. Russian Four-and-a-Half per Cents., lON. Two-and-a-Half per Cent. Integrals, 58 1-16. Exchange on London, 11.85. Anrwmtr, Nov. 25.—Five per Cent. Metalliques, 73. Five per Cent. Ardoins, 151. Three per Cent. Interieur, 35 1 . Russian Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 100 f. Exchange on London, 25.15. BRUSSELE,NoT.2S.—BeIgian Five per Cents., 99; ditto Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 90k; ditto Two and-a-Half per Cents., 491. Exchange on London, 25.15. Vtgrts.t, Nov. 24.—Five per Cent. Metalliques, 91k. Exchange on London, 12.28 ;on Paris, 146 i. Agio on gold, 29k ; ditto 011 silver, 231. /DJIBURI:L Nov. 24.—Three per Cents. Interior, 33! ; Four-and-a-Half per Cent. Russian, 98. BERLIN Nov. 24.—Voluntary Loan, 102 1; Na tional Debt, 881. Russian Four-and-a-Half per Cents., 102,1.