The Express. — London, England, 1846-09-12 00:00:00

gtie epprtoss. MAILS. The West LAI =sib eze7gtus: br link" Berlam, and Herne, wilts gab up au tha wands. of the Ilth bet Thema' thr Chrurr, Yet Ogers, Lir" Mailats. Cadiz, and Oiteelbr, will le rob re en e >ys4eattie lyrhet. Ttr rah het Lida Xerk biegadrat. Itserais. art the United Staley will be orb on all err* at the leth bet, Thelma/et tlßnsLv, Malta, Grace, the barn blend% Egypt, Ades, Orb" Fiess-King, end Chine, via Sosithasipton, will be rob op an the of the Illet hist The orator clamed pis Inwatilles, to the lediterreneen, 3 :W e e t t e l7 4 r Ind% be., will be op an the TO CORRESPONDENTS. We cam* aolice t irany may mm ailiatio; that to meet to as dird=lld b en it ee thme NEITHER WE UNDERTA w K i I I TO RETURN ANY msNueouns WHATEVER. 0 .• Ackerthemeate inteaded for The Express must be at the Office by Two o'clock on the day of puha:edam. EIOU WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE. Ties DAT.—Ifo, 17 dn. past 6; Afternoon, 41 dn. peat 6. TO4loll.lloll%—lig, I dz. pest 7; Afternoon, 40 dn. put 7. LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPT. 12. THE Protectionist demonstration at Coleshill, in honour of Mr. NEWDEGATE, Offers little subject for comment. The old fallacies about trade and wages ; the old vituperations of the League and Sir ROBERT PEEL; these were repeated as if by machinery. The speaking automaton could have done it all. About as much intellect is required for this kind of per formance, as for grinding a tune on a barrel organ. No DISRAELI was there, to disturb the unbroken dul ness. No Lord Joint MANNEks, to recommend the revival of the maypole. His lordship, we presume, had not completed his inspecting tour of Irish nun neries. It was all mechanical talking. Not done by steam ; the steam could not be got up, even by a few rounds of Kentish fire from the half - filled dinner tables ; and the loco motive has too much of the semblance of life and the reality of power, to be brought into com parison. It was a demonstration which only served to demonstrate that if there be any obstacles, in a future Parliament, to the progress of free-trade prin ciples, they must arise from the power, not of talent and knowledge, but of cash and corruption. One circumstance may indeed be noted, as having something of novelty. Both Mr. NEWDEOATE and Lord GEORGE BENTINCK have at length discovered that potato grounds are not full of flourishing crops. They recognise the rot. The potato is no longer covered by the broad shield of Protection. Mr. NEWDEOATE " laments the disease" which has been hitherto denied. Lord GEORGE BENTINCK, always statistical, is crammed to the calculation that " food to the amount of 10,000,0001. had, by the hand of Providence, been taken away from the people." And as food has been taken away from them by Providence, his pious inference appears to be that they should go without food. Neither speaker at all admitted that because potatoes had gone out, corn should come in. They see that " the whole power of consumption has to fall on the wheat crop alone;" that " there will be four months more, in the ensuing year, during which the people of this country will have to be fed on the crop of 1846, than there were to be supplied in the last year from the crop of 1843 ;" and to this estimate Lord 0. BENTINCK adds a survey of the state of the har vest on the continent, and in America; find ing nowhere any symptoms of large surplus; yet no touch of remorse is indicated at the amount of the actually existing duty, or of the more onerous impost which it has super seded. It is strange that Protectionists should be made of such impenetrable stuff. But if they will exhibit their callousness, we must needs look at it. They show themselves up unsparingly. Still, the potato disease is confessed. It is some thing for Protectionists to be only a year behind the rest of the world. They are open to conviction. They know that Queen ANNE is dead. After twelve months' putrefaction of the potato, they perceive that "by this time it smelleth." The pestilence is really more than a plot of PEEL'S. The famine in Ireland is not "a sham." Peasants cannot subsist on the produce of native industry, when its production is too filthy to feed the pigs. Some can dour must be conceded to the leaders of the party. They admit a fact as plain as the sun at noonday. They do not reject all au thenticated reports. Some credence is allowed to eyes, ears, and noses. If the experience of six months did not give light enough, they yet can see by that of twelve months. Multiply moons and they will discern mountains. It was said of SHAKESPEARE that "panting Time toiled after him in vain." Your panting Protectionist toils after Time, and by the chace of a twelvemonth gets a glimpse of the skirts of his garments, and secs them soiled with the dirt of last year's potatoes. The root has perished; but there is some candour in not persisting to deny that it is taixted ; some frankness in the posthumous ad mission of its disease, after it is dead, rotten. and about to be forgotten. We are nevertheless too precipitate in this pleasing ascription of candour to the BENTINCKS and NEWDE OATEi. " Why, still, he cloth deny his prisoners." Hotspur only confesses to the rottenness of this year's potatoes. Last year, the potato was perfect, and the famine was a sham. " Last year, a sham cry of famine was got up, a sham cry of a potato rot was set going, in order to farther the purposes of an Ad ad nistration." And now we are to believe that the Pro vidential fact has faithfully followed the PEEL false hood ! Protectionists will not be convinced like other people. Facts only become facts when they see fit to believe them. We inquire in vain of Nature whether it be famine or plenty ; she looks to the NEWDEGATES and BENTIECKS, and replies, " whatever you please, my little dears." They will tolerate Nature and Fact, only so far as they are true to the Conservative cause; and deny them to their faces, whenever, like Sir ROEERT PEEL, they favour Free-trade and aposta tizeilkom Protection. Bare is the secret of the concessioi. It were as easy to deny the rot of this of last : the diffe- Naas is not in the potables, but in the Protectionists. Change in the Corn-Laws has not ruined the farmer. Pmt.'s bill has not brought down prices ruinously. The prophets of perdition stead ispence •of cultivators who do not complain chi* Free: trade becomes every day less of a burg-a-boo. The sun has not ceased to shine. The fields ate not blasted with barrenness. Monopolist landlords are afraid of the acquiescence of their tenants in the absence of Protection, seeing that they are so little damaged by its diminution. So the prophecy of ruin 'must be amended in its date. Transfer it from this year to the next. Then take up the famine that PEEL has done with ; transfer that to this year from the last ; and so we arrive at what they reckon an " equitable adjustment." The famine of last year was a fallacy, because it justified a relaxation of the tax on imported food. The famine of this year is a reality, because it explains the present prices which ought to have been ruinous. And the ruinous prices of next year are a certainty, because they frighten the farmers into voting for Protectionists. Thus, each ball is in the air at the right moment ; and the con juration is complete. Our columns, to-day, present a contrasted demonstration, in the report of a dinner at War rington, to celebrate the triumph of Free-trade and the return of Mr. BROWN for South Lancashire. That return was, in itself, a very significant _ . fact for the cause of Protection. The chairman, Mr. W. ALLCARD, in his introductory remarks, re solved the triumph of the League into its circulating information throughout every part of the country, and " enlightening men in spite of themselves." Much has been done in this way; and it would be curious to compare the different degrees of resistance. English distress convinced some; leaving others only to be moved by greater distress in Ireland. One detach ment yielded on the first failure of the potato crop ; another waited for the second ; and the Old Guard, under Mr. NEWDEGATE and Lord GEORGE, still scorns surrender. To borrow a description of them from another speaker, Mr. P. RYLAND, at the War rington dinner, "the poor fellows cannot understand it. They still cherish an idea that they are the divine rulers of the nation; they still stand on the omni potence of the order ; declaim against opposition as the maddest thing imaginable ; feel confident of victory; but in the end, like the clown with the con- Junes shilling in his hand, stare in the utmost satudelment at its sudden abstraction. These honour able gentlemen appear wholly incapable to compre hend the nature and force of public opinion. They mistake their own narrow circles for the world. And because they are etill surrounded by most of the emblems of their former power, they cannot see from whence the antagonist influence proceeds." speaker could scarcely be aware of the language held by Lord GEORGE BENTINCK at Coleshill, on the pre vious evening, or we might presume he was alluding to the preposterous and profane manner in which Providence had been represented as taking part with the Protectionists against Sir ROBERT PEEL, and sending famine over the land as an act of vengeance on the ex-premier. "This sad reality is, perhaps, the vengeance, the just vengeance, of Almighty Provi dence, for the impious ingratitude with which, in the year that is just past, our rulers were pleased to com plain of the real bounties of Providence." Remark on this extraordinary language is need less, beyond an expression of compassion for the miserable fatuity which drops the jockey whip and affects to hurl the thunderbolt. Let Protectionists learn to respect the laws of Providence which yield for man the bread he earns in the sweat of his brow, before they assume to interpret its dispensations, and to direct its vengeance on the heads of their political opponents. COMMENT upon acts of Parliament generally ceases with the Royal Assent. However fiercely their good and evil effects may be discussed before a third read ing, John Bull submits with singular readiness to the fail accompli. When the law abolishes a pre vious practice, he takes for granted that it is abolished de facto as well as de jure. The abolition may have been proved to be fatal to all the interests involved in a calling. He feels a lurking conviction that they will survive it. Starvation and misery are prophesied by the malcontents. He shrugs his shoulders, and lets the law take its course. Few measures were more loudly demanded, or more vehemently denounced, than Lord ASHLEY'S act of 1843, abolishing the employment in mines of women and children below ten years of age ; forbidding , under penalty, the payment of wages in publi c houses; and imposing other restrictions recommended by the Report of the Children's Employment Commission. In the eyes of one party, the measure was a tribute to right ; in those of the other, a sacrifice to cant and short-sighted sentimentality. The first asserted that women and children ought not to work under-ground ; the last, that they must work to live, and whether underground or above it mattered little. The law, kowever, was not left to enforce its own penalties. Contrary to common practice, a commis, goner was appointed to superintend its working and enforce its conditions. It was no doubt felt that, in a measure of this nature, extra precautions were required for carrying it into effect. " What is every man's busi ness is," proverbially, "no man's business." Our adage, unfortunately, is truer to our practice than the Homo awn, humani +Ail a me alienum pato, of Terence ! The commissioner was to see that women were no longer at work in the coal mines of Scotland, Lancashire, and Wales, under circumstances which outraged decency, while they unsexed the sufferers; and that the other provisions of the act were duly complied with. His third annual report is before us. We were not without fears for the working of the measure, and rejoice to find the report so favour able. We are not generally fond of this kind of interference with labour; bet here was an exceptional case, a strong necessity, and the result may well be matter for rejoicing. The commissioner commences by acquainting the Home Secretary that the act in question, "is generally observed in the portions of the mining districts to which he has this year been able to give his attention, some localities excepted, where either the neglect or opposition of a few employers, or the inveterate habits of the people, oppose an obstacle to the uninterrupted observance of the law. He has also reason to believe that the employment of females below ground in any part of the mining districts is reduced to a small number ; and he has received increasing testimonies to the good effects arising to the mining population from the dis continuance of that degrading occupation." The penalties of the act have been imposed on some employers who have directly or indirectly sanc tioned the employment of women in their mines. The difficulties in the way of enforcing this part of the measure seem greatest in Scotland and Lancashire. In several instances near Wigan, in the latter county, proprietors have submitted to convic tions, and paid penalties, when the offence has been really committed by their contractors, " expressing their determination at the same time, in case of any future breach of the law, to proceed against their servants who might be found violating it." A person has been employed, for a limited time, at a fixed salary, to procure evidence on 'which convictions may be obtained. One indirect benefit of the act would seem to be the manner in which it impresses upon masters their duty, not merely to give orders, but to see that their orders are obeyed. The same principle might be carried much further. We do not despair' of; seeing it at length extend even to railatty dime tors. !At the time Lord ASHLEY'iI act was under discus silo, it was repeatedly asserted that in the districts where women, and children under 10, worked in the mines, it wan impossible for then to exist without it. Np such impossibility is indicated in the report. Bat there were many reasons against admitting that assertion, even without this negative evidence of its emptiness. In the case of married women, the 'Aug SA.TUIiI)AY voidetrusalt feOnt, theii attention to household affairs, was en item to be set directly against the loss in wages. Another was the increased demand for hands, and the rise in their remuneration eoessevent", on the replacing of female and infant by adult male labour. Yet these obvious set-offs are nothing compared to those which lie under the surface. The offifpring of mothers so employed partook in the brutalising consequences of the mother's degradation. Her habits, formed amidst the oaths, obscenity, and drunkenness of the pit, ill fitted her for the dis charge of even the lowest maternal duties. The im possibility of any good being effected by education among a population so bred and so employed, was insisted on in the evidence given before the Children's Employment Commission, and needs no recapitulation here. Those who are in the habit of depreciating the value of education as an element in calculations of profit and loss, should read this report. It exhibits (a result which all who have ever thought what man is, should be prepared to expect) want of education at the bOttein of those fatal disturb napes of labour and capital, the sticks and strikes so common among the coal miners or " pitmen " of the north ; and which, in 1844, included almost the whole coal mining population of the United King dom. All the collieries suffered on that occasion. The origin of the mischief was in the ignorance of the colliers. They listened to nimble-tongued and un principled delegates of their own class; utterly unable, by any cultivation of their own intelligence, to detect the sophistries of 'the speaker; and they thronged the chapels of the Ranters or Primitive Methodists, " to get their faith strengthened;' that is, to invoke the blessing of Heaven on the strike in which they were engaged. They were led astray through their best feelings ; these being uninfluenced by education. Until education, therefore, is extended amongst the collier population, we may expect periodical recurrences of the folly and distress of 1844. We regret to Bnd that though much has been done by proprietors, their achievements in this way are still miserably below the need. The Marquis of Lox DONDERRY appears, in the commissioners' report, in the new character of a liberal and intelligent supporter of schools and schoolmasters, for his collier population of about 6,000. We have great pleasure in recording this fact. The ignorance of the collier class co-exists with con siderable comfort. Wages are high; and there are un usual advantages for the workman in the way of house and firing. But the want of education mars all these favourable influences ; and leaves the oolliers,—with abundant means for their condition, with weather-tight, well-furnished houses, with roaring coal fires, and com fortable, and even gay clothing,—a reckless, ignorant, drunken race; liable to be led away by the first of their class who prefers talking to working, who has words at will, and who chooses to subsist as a delegate on , the weekly sixpences of his fellows rather than on his own labour as a " hewer." The mischief lies at the door of the employers. The remedy is in their hands. When the battle of education begins, there is much ammuni tion in this report on the mining population. Among the same class in Wales the same evils exist in even a greater degree. Less has been done far the miners there than in the North of England; and it was amongst the desperate and neglected hordes of South Wales, that the solitary outbreak of Chartist violence occurred. The fact is significant. What may be done by a proprietor, what should be done by every proprietor, is illustrated in the case of Lord FRANCIS EGERTON and the Worsley colliers. The Earl of ELLESMERE (then Lord FRANCIS EGERTON) came to reside on the Worsley property in 1837. It had been up to that time imper fectly provided with the means of moral and intellectual improvement for the people. They were, in manners and morals, like others of their class similarly neglected. Lord FRANCIS began a series of measures for their education. The popula tion is nearly 6,000. For their use, two churches have been built, and a third is now in course of erection. Five clergymen have been provided, in addition to the one original incumbent. Seven-day schools have been established, with trained masters and mistresses, fully supplied with the best books and apparatus. A reading-room has been opened, containing the best periodicals of the day, and a considerable circulating library. The room is provided with fire and lights; is open every evening; and is much frequented by the labouring people, as an agreeable resort after their day's work. A large field, of not less than sixty acres, has been set apart as a recreation ground. It is situated on an airy spot, in the centre of the estate ; a broad belt of forest trees runs round it ; and it is ornamented within, with plantations and single trees. Cricket, quoits, and other athletic games are encou raged; and the private band occasionally attends there on pay-days. In the centre, an ornamental building has been erected, in which the wages of all the labourers on that part of the estate are paid fort nightly. There are few public-houses and no beer shops on the estate. The houses built for the work men are convenient : most of them have four rooms and a pantry, back-yard and garden, at a rent of about 31. per annum, including rates. A school for training female servants has also been established. The effect of all this is summed up in the following answer of the Worsley colliers in 1842, when the country was overrun by misguided crowds, turning the hands out of mills and collieries, and threatening a war against property. The Worsley colliers and labourers resisted the combination. It was at this time Lord FRANCIS EGERTON addressed them; and this was their answer: " To our great and worthy master, the Right Hon. Lord Francis Egerton ; his virtuous and most gracious Lady; Mr. Fereday Smith ; and all in legal authority over us: " From a consciousness of thegood feeling which prevailed amongst us, when your Lordship addressed us in such an affectionate and kindly manner, we feel, as your Lordship stated, that we are utterly incapable of expressing our love and gratitude towards you ; therefore, as with the voice of one man, we declare our design, that we are willing, as far as life and safety seems probable to enable us, to defend your honour, and all in connexion.—Your loyal and obedient Colliers." Yet these men are of the same stuff as the headstrong strikers of the north, or the Chartist rioters of New port. We agree with Lard FRANCIS EOERTON, that " it cannot be too widely known how liberally the working classes of this country are disposed to reward with their good feeling and affection, those to whom, right or wrong, they attribute similar feelings towards themselves." We have received the Paris journals of Thursday, with our private correspondence. It is reported that the Due de Montpensier has just been promoted to the rank of Major-General of Artillery. The Prince arrived in Paris on Wednes day afternoon. Fresh riots have broken out in the west of France, owing to the rise in the price of corn, but the troops having been called in, tranquillity was restored. A few of the ringleaders, amongst WllOlll some women were prominent, have been arrested. Free-trade principles are making rapid strides in France. A meeting of the principal merchants and manufacturers has just taken place at Lyons, with a view of forming a free-trade association in that important city. The corvette l'Egerie, just fitted up at Toulon, for Bourbon and Mayotte, will sail on the 20th instant, with a cargo of various stores. She will convey several workmen in different trades, who are about to settle at Mayotte. These men have arrived at , Toulon, where they have received the premiums promised, and will have a free voyage to Mayotte. One of the Government papers publishes the follow ing letter, written from Callao, by Commander ' Dubouset, on board the corvette La Brillante : " Callao, July 11, 1848. " Our latest &deices from Tahiti mention some hostilities which had broken out in this island. In another affair our troops repulsed the insurgent, and carried off a piece of cannon. M. Bruit is in hopes that there will be no more disturbances. On the 17th of April, when the vend which brought this news left Papeite, the Uranie, Arians, Phaiton, Heroine, and Fortune were in the roadstead of that port, L ~.~ 2 ~ . _.. ,SPAND3H BONWIR ERir ASSOCIATION, Bart. Ms mums dds aassilsilsa f• Os masis sea an Ism = b erme et io r 11 „. .efl~ as as imi y ds- a =ow sudblis Is 411 W. mho Wok dine Ildieli. alli le sit Ilss sessoftws mug =ls lOW, *sir spirsisilia 4 ina I I lhe easiminss kr_ Ws Wm/ Was the lecsstssy.—By air sf Ouris C. W. WOK Ifes. MLLE NEW EVENING PAPER, Y HE A. EXPRINI."—NOBN32 FRAM, Neemegiet eat No .16 Flereamyfrett. Glaevatiok awl 441, • te Mom the ishehtleele eel Anion sad their teisithe. thighs xr haven " Tee Stems • ox EVIIITAS Of nINMA7IIOII, AT TII2 PAM 311. IHE EXPRESS.-THOMAS MUDIE & SONS beg to state thet igrai l era llerwerd "The Ewen " by mat* ark to arms is the supply, they hetet the addren et their adieeark whet for quarter sr helf-year. A re. adffins• at lea. OIL vfill Ibr a opiartor's 0 lupnes." sea will be =t edat eelaue= sil lre's wet:other Ogee, If, try- ORDERS for THE EXPRESS punctually supp!led ThELAWNEY WY. SAUNDERS, Staticaar sad Agent ler .me •• 6, Charise-erces, Loudon. receipt of hada orders fr the subtoriptios of 19e. ed. tor three ca =coda, at We. 6r ix aeelha. Tea Cotarrer Tatum Ikertna WESTLEY begs to afl am*ager tha , t be rendre' ceders for "The &preen" new London W t re to anatier, if aid in advance. Direct Frederick Watley, 163 p, Strand, London. NEW LONDON EVENING PAPER, THE EXPREBBEORDE HOWEB and CO., 7, navies-inn, Whom London, print an the *over the addresses of those who favour them with their orders for half a year. Past odlce orders Im mediately ammowledged. A quarter, lea. &L ; half.year, 11. lib. Tas COVITIT nuns SePPLIID. HE EXPRESS, EVENING PAPER—JOHN and WILLIAM CHAPLLY, news wide. 12, Pleat-lane, London, win punctually Mind be all orders that they may be favoured with. Tao COMMIT Ituellrruso. ITIHE EXPRESS.- .—Orden punctually attended to iiiIREITS Newspaper Office, 7.8 t him-Naar% thirty-lace years. anteeriptioes, In Meuse, 19s. IL per garter, oa ♦ mimosa tort WILL /X 1/011WARDZD IN =MUM PO& MIZZ POMO' DUMPS. .2, 1846 e P sayeetbse daily, rtee-Adtahal 'Rams Ha, la the virgin;. Mg' are. The French packet - Le National, which has been plying aeverel pears between Havre and Honfleur, has jest bassist en the coast, on the Anse de Calle grain whilst employed in towing small cra ft . The masts the steamer are still above the water, but the - uoisterens weather has not allowed the possibility of raising the vessel from the spot where she sunk. The failure of Messrs. O'Neill and Co., bankers, in Paris, who were much mixed up last year with rail way transactions in France, was declared in Paris on Thursday. The house not having much credit left, the amount of its liabilities is not very considerable. A letter, dated Breslau, 3rd Sept, and written by a well-informed person, was communicated to our Par i s correspondent on Thursday, at the moment our Ex press left. It stated that a body of peasants of Galicia had crossed the territory of Cracow, and endeavoured to excite the peasants of Kodsuelniki to revolt, be longing to the estates of Count Stephen Potacki, but their movements being detected, they were obliged to return to Galicia. They gave vent to their sangui nary feelings by setting fire to the buildings they found on their way, and the flames were seen from Cracow. The peasants refine to perform the correes. Count Stadion, who lett Lemberg on a tour of in spection, on the 20th August, was obliged.to return to the town on the 24th. Reinforcements of troops have I been ordered towards Galicia from other parts of the Austrian dominions. A letter from Algiers, dated Constantine, August 28th, states: " Lieutenant-General Bedeau arrived here on Aug. 19. On the 20th, he ordered 500 infantry, 200 horse and a detach ment of Turcos, under the orders of Lieutenant -Colonel Sounet, to march in all haste to the Ilard&za;,;;Tclairiust the Kabyles of the Beni Acteh, who had murdered their Caul and seised on 3,000 francs belonging to the canniba -1 bitions. The troops on their arrival burnt and destroyed everything. The Lieutenant-General proceeded to the spot in person on the 21st, snorted by a body of Spahis. On the 27th August, 23 Arab prisoners and 2,400 head of cattle, arrived at Constantine, the produce of the razaia against the Beni-Acteh. Tranquillity is being restored among the Bar deen, who had assasainated some of their Caids. Besides the losses they have sustained, a fine of 100,000 francs has been imposed upon them. The Lieutenant General is es petted at Constantine on the 30th Sept." The Madrid journal El Tiempo, of the sth instant, says: " We are informed that the preparations for the Im arriage of the Infanta Louisa and the Due de Montpensier, have been suspended, in the fear of exciting natio na l andinter national differences of a very serious nature. This may not be true, but we should be delighted if it were." General Oraa will, it is said, be appointed Captain- General of Madrid. General Pezuela is to be pro moted to the rank of Lieutenant-General. Don Pedro Egana, Intendant of the Palace, has been appointed Gentleman of the Chamber to her Majesty Queen Isabella. El Herold° has the following : " We have heard it asserted that the English ambassador addressed to the Minister for Foreign Affairs (Isturitz) a note in which, after having said that the information of the marriare of the Infanta Louisa with the Due de Montpen sier had reached him through non-official channels, and had placed him in a most embarrassing positi•m. He (Mr. Bulwer) then mentioned several considerations which, in his opinion, must render such an alliance unsuitable (poro con veniente) or capable of cooling (podria enfriar) the good understanding now existing between the Cabinets of Eng land and France. We understand that in this communica tion not a word was said in reference to the treaty of Utrecht. To this Senor Isturitz returned a reply in the same cour teous tone (61 miame Bono decoroso), but at the same time full of dignity and firmness." On the 31st ult., the Spanish brig-of-war El Ebro sailed from Carthagena for Civita Vecchia, with de spatches for the Spanish Ambassador at the Court of Rome. Mr. Bnlwer was nearly restored to health. PARIS, finer. 8. The municipal elections are almost all over, and everifresh courier brings the news of some new triumph for the Opposition and some defeat for the Ministry. The National, yesterday, cited fifty-nine towns in which the Opposition had obtained a majority. These returns, how ever decisive they may appear, are by no means complete. The ministry, at the present moment, are alone aware of the extent, and can foresee all the consequences of the check which they have experienced. Those persons who are in the confidence of M. Duch9tel show themselves greatly alarmed as to the future. Out of two hundred towns, at least, the municipal councillors who belonged to the Conservative party have been replaced by members elected from amongst the most radical of the opposition. To understand how sig nificant such an event is, it must not be forgotten that the municipal law of 1831, which showed so much liberality towards the rural districts, treated the towns, and, above all, the richest and the most populous cities, with the most ridi culous parsimony. The right of suffrage extends in the communes in an inverse ratio to population, intelligence, and wealth. In a rural commune a person may be a municipal elector by paying taxes to the extent of 30 centimes; at Rouen, in order to be borne on the list, and have the right of nominating to the members of the council, the minimum required is 178 francs, and is Paris 200 francs. The electoral body for the municipalities consists of upwards of two millions. of electors, an immense and formidable democracy. In the rural districts, all citizens being of the requisite age, and having a house, possess the right of voting. In the towns, on the contrary, there are not many more municipal than political electors. As an instance, which may be taken as • medium, at Rheims, a city containing 40,000 inha bitants, where there are abut 000 political electors, the number who vote in the municipality does not exceed 1,500. The two electoral bodies differing so little, it follows that the government could not lower the qualification which confers political rights, even in the most moderate way, without exposing itself to the certainty of seeing the direction of political affairs pass into the hands of the Opposition. This proves that the Ministerial majority Is a factitious one, which does not respond to the general sentiment of the country, and that beyond the 220,000 electors, more than heifer whom voted for the Opposition, in 180 colleges, there is no safety for the monarchy. This fact must attract the attention of foreigners, by making it evident to them upon how slight and frail a basis the system rests which for the last ten years has been so loudly vaunted, and which too many people believe to be the result of profound wisdom. M. Duchatel says, to all who will listen to him, that the municipal elections in the 200 towns of which I have spoken have been the consequence of a species of insurrection of the lower against the middling classes. I am not of opinion that such is the case. I have sought in vain to discover the existence of this struggle between the different classes of society, and nowhere perceive traces of that irreconcileable hatred which caused such violent results during the period of anarchy. But if M. Duch&tel be right, if the eyrnpton s of opposition which show themselves are the precursors of a jacquerie, it should be looked to imme diately, and an immediate remedy be devised for it. But what does the ministry do ? It seeks to excite the fears of its partisans, and encourage them to defensive acts; but it does not trouble itself in the slightest degree about the causes which have led to this social disorganization, er seek to ameliorate the condition of the laborious classes, amongst whom complaint becomes agitation, and almost conspiracy, Is it possible to pursue a more senseless line of conduct, and how little the head of the Conservative party in France resembles Sir Robert Peel, whom he affects to take for his model! 0. FRANCE.—SMOKING IN RAILWAY CARRIAGES.— The French railway companies have universally adopted measures for pretesting passengers from smoking in the car riages, and notices proWbiting smoking are placarded in every tta.- Numerous complaints have been made to the corn by tremßass accustomed to smoke en route, especial y • le any extent. To conciliate the in terests or , r are being constructed by the different smokers, in which every precaution is taken • fipm taking fire. MAR: QUEEN OP SPAIN AND HER SISTER. -. • Di-bals makes the following re marks in . e marriage of the Queen of Stain and her sista* •• a high encomium upon the minister who conducted the negotiations on the part of France : " The marriage of the Queen of Spain and her sister with two princes of the house of Bourbon, is an event, the im portance of which all the sophisms in the world, and all the inventions of excited envy in not bating contributed towards its accomplishment, cannot diminish in the slightest degree. For Europe it is a great political fact, and for France an event of great national interest. Of the two marriages, the one which touches us particularly, that of the Infanta with the Duke of Montpensier, is in fact a pledge of the complete reconciliation between France and Spain. It re-establishes that traditional intimacy which untoward events had so unhappily severed. To-day we may fearlessly say, for nearly half a century there was a blank in the history of France and Spain. The bonds framed by nature ■nd strengthened by the sympathies of religion and policy, re ceived a severe blow from the imperial invasion. A hand can never be laid with impunity on the liberties of a people, or its national independence. The fact cannot be denied ; those remembrances rankled for a long time in the breasts of the Spaniards. No better remedy could have been found to efface the last traces of them, and to bring about the com plete reconciliation of the two nations than the happy alliance which has just been decided on. The union of the Infanta of Spain with the son of the King of the French, will we are sure be as a seal of oblivion for the unpleasant recollections of the past, and will be the last chapter of that unhappy era. The Pyrenees will still exist, but those moral barriers, more for midable than a mountain range, will have been removed. At no period could this reconciliation have been effected under more promising auspices. There was a time, and that time is not far back, whealrennill not have taken•place in so complete a manner. When the only strength of Spain consisted an eendering revolutions, when all her energies were consumed in revolts, and she gave an example to the world of a state of anarchy, the source of which might be traced to her own laws, France could not have identified herself so closely with her without to a certain extent becoming answerable fora state of things contrary to her own institutions, to her own policy and to the principles of her government. It is a great advantage for France to acquire thus new ties with a country where order is taking a firmer footing each <. day, and wheamaisraloce was maths. ea denim kmasam resource,. Comm* will naturally walk kit the OW policy and Spain is destined to bosom este oldie great mar. k of ete ft. our prods.", We do nee aim to my Mt France has either the whit e e the preemie& to exercise exclusive influence Mega* ar to prole by dm minas alletted hip by nature to isolate ether irss. Even when =Mb closely united to us, Spin dem net the Is. sands her perfect free dom of actian in E=rds her other Wise; she is not the lees completely t in all her transactions with Mar a From only to tighten, in Spain, the bands become natural end nememy by the proximity of the two countries —Metaled traditions and the relationship of the reigning families ; but she does not 101 k 10 mate for herself, in other respects, any species of monopoly or exclusive preponder ance." THE ENTENTE CORDIALE.—In the month of May, 1845, Captain Cousin, of the French schooner the Roland, I whilst at Gaboan, on the coast of Africa, was infoitned that the mate of an English vessel had been traitorously add to the natives, andvras in slavery. He immediately interned the commandant of Fort Aumale, whosucceeded in °betides the freedom of the Englishman, who was found chained is a cave, and nearly dead from fever and sickness. Ca.* Cousin applied in vain to the masters of two English eamis to take their unfortunate countryman back to his Mites counby, and then, with the consent of his crew took the sick man on board his own vessel, clothed him and fed him, and conveyed him to Ham, whence he _was forwarded to England by the British consul. These facts having come to the knowledge of the English Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, were communicated to the Admi ralty board, and a short time after Capt. Cousin was pre sented with a magnificent telescope, set in silver, in a maho gany case, bearing, as well as the different pieces of the instrument, the following inscription : " Presented to Capt. Cousin by the British Admiralty Board in acknowledgmeo' of his humane conduct." ---- ----- DEATH OF M. JOEY, THE POET.—We observe in the Paris papers an account of the funeral of M. Jolly, the poet, and member of the French Academy, whose death took place about a week since. The works by which he was best known were his trag e di es o f "La Vestale," and " and, at a later period, the series of s k e t c h ed ca ll e d " L'Ermite tie la Chamois d'Autin," and " L'Ertnite en Province." He began his career in the army, in which he continued till he was thirty years of age, when he retired, on account of his wounds, and devoted himself for the remainder of his life to literature. He was in the seveaty-sixth year of his age. His funeral was attended by the poet Beraoger, Messrs. Dupaty, Patin, and Tissot, of the French Academy ; Alexandre Dumas, Poujoulat, Philarke Chaska, Hypohte Bis, and several of his old companions in arms and colleagues in literature. BOOLOGNE.—The remains of Mr. Barry, of the Marine Hotel, Boulogne, well known for his activity and skill in the management of newspaper expresses, and to whom our own owed much of their celerity, were borne to the cemetery of Boulogne, a few days ago, attended by the National Guard, the crew of the Outline, and many friends. Hosts, Auo. 30.—The Prince de Joinville is hereex this evening. He is appoint e d by th e ki ng , hi s r e t c h ti e c r, it is reported, on a special mission to the Pope. He is to return to Naples on the let September. GERMANY.—BERLIN, SEPT. 3.—lt is said that the King of Prussia has given formal orders that the trial of the ?ersons implicated in the late events in Poland is to take place publicly and by oral pleading, and the debates are to be published in the journals. This measure will have a beneficial influence oa public opinion in Europe. THE ZOLLVEREIN. A Hamburg journal, the Boersenhalle, states that the Zollverein has completely failed in its negotiations with the United States of America. The government of Washington has disapproved of the treaty proposed, as disadvantageous and inefficient. At the Urania it was equally unsuccessful, the negotiators not having been able to come to an understanding even on the basis for the treaty. Zbe Court. The Queen and Prince Albert took their accustomed early walk yesterday in the pleasure-grounds of Osborne House. Mr. Aglionby, M.P., and a deputation on the sub ject of emigration, had an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday in Downing-street. Mr. Laing, from Berbiee, had an interview with Earl Grey yesterday at the Colonial-office. Le Commandeur Marques Liskoa, the Brazilian Minister, transacted business yesterday at the Foreign-office. The Hight Hon. George Dawson, Deputy-Chairman of the Customs, had an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday. Despatches from the Governor of the Mauritius were received yesterday at the Colonial-office. The Earl of Clarendon arrived in town yesterday from Grove Park, Herts. KINDNESS OF HER ROYAL HIGHNESS THE DUCHESS or KENT.—The wife of a serjeant, named Robinson, who was thrown from • baggage wagon, as it was proceeding from Windsor to London, and whose infant was unfortu nately killed, was compelled to remain at the inn at Frog more from her injuries. Intimation of the lamentable occur rence having reached the Duchess of Kent, her royal high ness immediately sent instructions to the inn, that the poor woman was to have every necessary comfort and accommo dation provided for her at the duchess's expense. The pro fessional services of Mr. Holderness, surgeon, of Windsor, was also defrayed by her royal highness. The expense of the funeral of the child was also defrayed by the duchess. The poor woman, who has since been enabled to leave Frogmore, to join her husband at the Tower, has expressed herself deeply grateful. (From last Night's Gazette.) WAR OFFICE, Wier. n. 7th Light Dragoons—Lieut. J. M. Resort to be capt, by put., Viet Wylldhalll, who ret. ; Cor. F. U. Cooper to be lieut., by pur. ; C. F. C. Colmore to be oar., by pur. 13th Light Dragoons—Lieut. J. E. Haddocks to be amt., by pur., vice Nicholson ; Cur. J. M. Clements to be lieut., by put. ; Cm. F. F. W. Harvey to be lieut., by pur., vice Allgood, who ret. ; A. Try. mayne to be cur., by pur. ; Sir 11. IL Edwurdes, Bart, to be cur., by pur. Scots Fusilier Guards—Ens. and Lieut. F. Ilaygarth to be sclit, vice Murray, who res. the adjutancy only. Ist Regiment of Foot—Staff-Slug., of the sec. clam, A. Knox, M.D., to be surg., vice Carson, who ex. 54th I.—Ens. W. Marriott to be quartermaster, nice .1. Wilton, who ret. upon h.-p. 68th F.--Capt. R. G. Johnston, from the Royal Canadian Rifle Regt, to be capt., vice Hill, who exch. 95th F.—Llent. J. H. Carew to be rapt., by pur., vice Baines, who ret. ; Ens. J. N. Sargent to be lieut., by par. ; O. C. Taylor to be ens., by pur. Rifle Brigade--Capt. A. J. Lawrence to be major, by pur., vice Sul livan, prom. ; Lieut. C. Pollen to be cant., by pur. • Sec. Lieut. the lion. O. Elliot to be first lieut., by pur. ; W. W. K night to be sec. lieut., by pur. 3rd NI est India Itegt.—W. Brown to be assiet-surg., vice Thomann, app. to the 8. - th F. Royal Canadian Rifle Regt.--Capt. P. Hill, from the 68th P., to be rapt., vice Johnston, who exch. Srarr.—Paymaster A. Thompson, from 11.-p. 81st F., to be pay master of a recruiting dist, site Storey, dec. liosertat Srarr.--Surg. W. Carson, M.D., from the Ist F., to be staff.aurg. of the sec. ChM, aloe Knox, who exch.; D. O'Eeilly Clay ton. M.D., to be assist-surg., vice Traquair, who res. Caarracaxa.—ldsjor W. Sullivan, from the Ride Brigade, to be ileuL-coL . _ _ COMMIS IMIAT.—Tbe commimion of Mr. M. Baiky, as an Assistant Commissary-General, has been cancelled from the 25th Jul; 1846, in clusive, he haring been permitted to receive a commutation in lieu of the ludf-psy of his rank. Mwroasnuesr.—Lient-001. W. E. Jackson, on h..n. of the RA., has been permitted to retire from Inc army, with the role of a lieut.- colonelcy, he being about to become a settler inNova Scotia. ENLARGEMENT OF A PUBLIC NUISANCE.—A num ber of houses at the eastern end of Smithfield, at the back of Charterhouse-lane, are now being demolished ; the space occupied by them being required for the enlargement of Smithfield cattle market. EFFECT OP ItAiLways.—The whole of the coach yard and stabling of the celebrated Bell and Crown inn, Holborn, is now being converted into dwelling-houses. ACCIDENTB.—Lest evening, between 5 and 6 o'clock, as Henry Beveridge, a drayman in the service of Mr. Free man, of the Union Brewery, Lambeth-walk, was returning home with a dray on which there was some casks, the horse, ! a very powerful animal, became restive, and plunged for ward with fearful velocity. In his progress two children, named Frances Caroline Watts and Sarah Sayers, the former eight and the latter two years of age, were knocked down, and Watts killed upon the spot. The second wan so severely injured that it is very doubtful whether she could outlive the night. Beveridge had an exceedingly narrow escape from being crushed, and was obliged to let go the infuriated animal. The horse proceeded at a dangerous rate towards Kennington-cross, but was secured before causing further I;l:.—Yesterday a young man in the service of Mr. j i gg e r , a greengrocer, in Marsham-street, Westminster, took his master's horse and cart into the river at the Horse ferry-dock, Millbank, for the purpose of w fishing it. He allowed the horse to go out of its depth, when it began kick ing and plunging and threw him out of the cart. He was rescued from a watety grave by a waterman. The poor ani mal struggled nard for life, but it cAld not get free from the cart. Several persons tried to get the horse and cart ashore, but in vain, and at last the exhausted animal was drowned. FINE FOR CONTEMPT OF THE CORONERS COURT. —Yesterday, at an inquest held at the Elephant and Castle, Camden-town, the summoning officer reported to Mr. I Wakley that an eggealesman, named John George Wick ham, had repeatedly refused, though properly summoned, to serve in the Coroner's Court as juror. He did so again on Thursday evening when summoned to attend the present inquest. Mr. Wakley swore the officer to the truth of his statement, and said that he should not discharge his duty towards those jurors who served, if be did not punish one who refused to serve in so refractory a manner. He should fine him 405., azd, when the proper notice was served upon him, if he did not pay the fine. proceedings of a more serious nature would be taken against him. It was the first fine he had inflicted since his occupation of office. INQUESTS HELD YESTERDAY.—By Mr. Wakley, M.P., at the University College Hospital, on the body of Benjamin Watling, aged 27, a builder's labourer. On Wed nesday last, whilst deceased was sitting on the parapet of the mansion, No. 49, Chester-terrace, Regent's-park, steady ing a ladder for a plasterer at work, he lost his balance, and full to the ground, a distance of 70 feet. He was picked up insensible and taken to that hospital, in which he shortly afterwards expired from fracture of the spine caused by the fall—By the same Coroner, at the Elephant and Castle, just by the St. Pancras workhouse, on the body of James Robert s , ostler aged 47, lately an at the Brecknoek Arms, Camden town. On the night of Tuesday fortnight, deceased whilst not sober, fell through the trap-door of his master's hayl9ft, and injured his head so severely'that a succession of fits ensued, in one of which deceased died in the St. Pancras infirmary, on Wednesday. Verdict in each case, " Acci dental Death."—By Mr. Bedford, at the Green Man, Bet wick-street, Oxford-street, on the body of Mary Ann Burt aged 30. The &mesa was servant account of her firegpslar and drunken t her place. She was vary unwilling to times was heard to austere, that sh house alive. She made two unsuccen life, and a third attempt on Satur that day she drank sixpeausyworth of had purchased in pennyworths at did', from the effects 4E Wednesdey. Verdi mnity."—Abo •by Mr. Bedford, i Horses, Flood elm* Westminster, John Brown, age 4 twenty-eight, ployed at the new Houses of Parlia was mentioned in the Express of peered that the box or hod which 1 severely wounded another labourer, fi 50 feet, from st r iki ng aga i nst a gii:dei bathed from the rope. A conversation the coroner and jury, respecting the da without springs, and Mr. Smith, Maw foreman, stated that since the accide current*, hooks with springs had been a lass. Verdict, l" Accidental Death."—l at the Brown Bear, Bridge-street, St. Ss respecting the death of Mr. John Back, deceased was a clerk in the service of statianer, &c., who died su dd en l y or while sit ting at the desk. The surged[ apoplexy. Verdict, " Death from mum THE BATTLE -FIELDS ON 7 THE SIITLEJ. (From an article on "The Countries bet the Jumna," in the last number of the From the earliest times, going back to dition, these plains have been the battle is here and in the country immediately site banks of each river, that the tights o have been fought. Who shall venture ti rich valley of the Ganges has been loe plains ?—how often the conqueror from blished on the threshold of India, has irresistible master of the riches and resou beyond ? From the days of Alexander Singh, the tide of conquest has flowed ti bringing down a succession of the hardy of the west to colonise and deteriorate influence of the east—once, and once only ages, has the order of things been reverse has beheld the often -conquered Hindoo plaios in triumph a sufficient trophy fro: first, the most tenatical and still most hat medan conquerors. • • We now pass over, in a breath, a perio tunes; how many . dynasties may have r that period, if Indian dynasties were then vicissitudes to which they have since b have no landmark to direct us, no ray of 1 attention, between the days of the son of of Sebukhtegin. We may conclude that India, if not free from internal broil, was by foreign invaders. We give up that pe Live supporter of the Buddhistic and Bra This must have been the time structures were raised which still ae the Hindoo people were governed by I own rue and religion; it must ha when the temple was crowded with 1 , 11 shrine heaped with rich presents: these old days, to which the pious must still leo' when kine were not killed, and when Br shipped through the land ! But a bitter, at a fanatical enemy to the creed of Brahma, down to wood and stone, had sprung Mt deserts of Arabia. The fiery tenets of Mai citated the slumbering energy of the ram once great and powerful between the I Mediterranean, and sent forth hordes of to conquer and die in the name of the Al visible and the eternal. From the straits c west to the mountains which overhang th Oxus to the Nile—the sons of Islam o opposed them. • • .But the Sikh—the detested Sikh—no no royal cities mark the era of his supr lotion, ruin, sad destruction, have ev er b of his creed, both religious and politics ing the cities and sacking the towns h delight, and the wide extent of ruins that many a former metropolis testify how we his destroying mission. A wretched r spot where the cruelty of the oppressor wa hind after the lapse of a century, and a h city was sacked and levelled to the gro fanatics. Even to this day the pious Siuf is performing a religious duty in convey' of the Ganges one brick from the ruins hand of whose impious rulers the wife an last of the Writs was inhumanly murdered As described in the foregoing pages con nection with the Sikh. With a part of tb tared into treaties of friendship; over a p. mantle of our protection and included t limits of our empire. It has been often n princes of India, with whom we have col have none of them boasted of dynasties ex ther than the commencement of the pi Many, such as Holkar, Scindia, and Hyder successful military adveturers ; others such the Dekhan and the Vizi er o f Oud e, we empire of Delhi, who had taken advent" to assert their independence. But the] resemblance in the history of the Sikh peop own Indian empire. Both were created un fluences, and the crisis of their fates happ ; At the time that the anak were inculcating their conciliating d few and unknown followers, the founders of empire were engaged in the equally peas commerce. At Surat, at Patna, at Hfigli, engaged in the absorbing occupation of mei did they dream of empire. Towards tl seventeenth century we find Guy(' Gc his followers into a military confedera himself in the fortresses of Anundj and Chumkour, and preparing to meet in a forces of Delhi. On toe banks of Hugl working out the same ends, and at the saw, the peaceful trader into the energetic Nadler son was preparing to commence war with Bengal, and Mr. Charnock was throwing u at Hidhgelee to receive the property and pt settlers. The next 50 years were passed b various fortunes, influenced by the perk the government of the province, whom the empire had now rendered absolute. But tl century was marked to both people by a rage, followed by an immediate retribution. remembers with a lively hatred of his form decapitation of the early martyrs in the Lahore—neither has he forgotten the an Khalsa Dul, at the field of the Ohulo hind ; and the finger of execration still history to the Black Hole of Calcutta, and Patna. _ The outrages were speedily avenged, an ceeding each saw, on the one hand, the of scribed votaries of third Govind exulting ci of their former ruler, and plundering auc fair city of Sirhind—on the other, the vic the field of Plessey dispoaing of the Subs These events, which happened within a fe other, were the turning points of the hish tion. Since then s. career of victory has a confines of the two nations, which, at the c last cen:ury, were separated by many a hula the commencement of the ;resent century f brought the two nations into collision, anc chief contending against us with armed d the countries between the Jumna and the Si - A few notices may be added of the mi which have been carried on in this country period. At that time the line of hills was the north east; bu: shortly after Ochterlou field against the Gurkhas, and annex the I betwixt the Sutlej and the Juana. Fro 1832 little interest has attached to these co scheme of Lord W. Bentinck to open the Indus and its tributaries, and finally th which prevailed in the time of his success fixed the attention of all India upon the not The contemplated invasion of the French Minto, much against the policy of the age it to push on the frontier to the Sutlej. Th wards his grandson, Lord Auckland, was ha apprehension of the designs of the Russ Bntish influence to the confines of Persia. was decided upon the countries b. tween th Jumna have been traversed in every die armies, and the force stationed there k increased, till during the last twelvemonths, Bengal army may be said to have been car limits. The year 1838 saw the army of tl across these plains to penetrate new regioi British standard on the walls of Ghuzni. saw another gallant force hurry onward national character, and avenge our elaughte The close of that same year beheld i pageantry and show with which the a welcomed their gallant companions on tl return. Since then the whole country t rivers has been held, and, as it were, in mil And the events which have crowded on , during the last few months—the four blocs have been fought actually within our front which have been plundered and left der which have been robbed of their green h ready for the sickle—the oppressions of nu incalculable number, which have, in spite of of our rulers, taken place—may, indeed, hat grey beards, who remembered in their childh of the Abdali,and the struggle of the Sikh p to cure their ill-fate that they had lined to of plunder and confusion, of war and inroad devoted fields. We write, perhaps, too near the event impartiality ; but if the rulers of this county gaged in a just war, then this one, into whic vied against our wishes, and . against what pronounced our trio interests, may and raw such a war. Still it cannot be said to ha , without many a long and loud note of pr the last two years a feverish excitement throughout the country, and the 'katicipal become so general, that it was openly discuss arrangements had been made confessedly in it : it had been wished for and prayed for it circle in the north of India. Various state what provocative and inflammatory tens appeared, from time to time, in di ff erentj home and abroad. And when it is onside 'G, f