The Express. — London, England, 1849-01-24 00:00:00

egoarisasod • dew laphy, bat I. tbe Wises demo previous raise were realled. r Beam, mad Peas aoadailly u shered. Choke made, Batley tally as dear, whit las di► polities to km mile et Osaka, daseriptioaa Malt esiseibaly dilikult to quit, bat ao ohms*. la Oats ws Anne Me asap. Palrlearew, Jaa. 2s.—Titers was a poed sttesdeawr of anion mod Amain at ibis sees'e .arise, sad Ow hamar showed a desire to bay Wheats he delivery oa the lat ot "obesity. A her oaks were fade of Wbeste is bead, to be delivered thee, at prim about equal to eke pressat vales fret Bausavay, lei. 93 —There was to 0201110111 611.11161 Moat, sod • peat Ranker Cl balm is amsessisa. bade is Wass ripseksaid aa lespeovid demairl ; awl the plots or this day week owe telly suppetod we west eves Ai twat ossapim n hem" 911 " L a : a n a mali g Zs ad a:: wee id =d im ' i s:o rP ral l a s t r itll Mhos dig= Ono WIN easier to bay. la Oats sad "sem taw Somesoloi was but Villas, bat oho were made at ear but t• 9rMail Widow la deaaark sad weeded alias peramody bea . d. hour still 'Natasha its salsa, sad tha &mad Waist. 40a. to 665. ; whits, 113 a. Bar ka, Ma to fa. OMB. leo to 21.. Beano, to 40a. Pow, as. to 421. par qr. Flour, s6e. to M. per auk. Malt, 7a. Id. to IL 9d. por babel. lIIANUFACTURES.—HuppIasnum, lan. U.— Ow Hall Ms buss satin tkialy attoaded to day. sad sot so nosh bedbug Meg es as sir last markst day. Bet this was to be earsisead,kr it is west is timed "'twist sesesos," sod saw platoon sze wasted to list colours for the sunset aria a. 110P8.—Bozorot )(Amer.—Maws. Pattaidia. sad ibilth mat that then is an Unproved trade for the vaidnai sad low MOM am spipsalstim easiiiss SUMP, and red. rafter 11 11 6111 _10 0 / Loddiman Z. Ra ft IL 10 to 0 I Tootles gende,p.tot St OSo Sill of &Me .... I e 101 l 10 nano" dm= w I onef II .. I Li ne 1 I 0141/110 1 oes 1 IS innekoni ....... I oto 0 0 WOOL—Homnentur, ha. 23.—Then hes Dot bun quite as =soh doing is this artiste &min Ow past week as fee sows woes W previoos, sotsrithstaadiag thus is undersea butane deist IN T ools mot is request la this Illarket ars sobsoials, is pries Iron Is. Id. to Is. Ad. pro lb., and I. lemurs, about Is 6d. to la 9d. per lb. The pablis Mks ire lied km the 7th Fab. CATTLE, 80.—Dinar, Jan. 23. Oar market annum to be Needfully supplied with Bomb ad Sheep, sad the trade helve than last week. Cane seem. Pip Pentital. bet thistly Irish. 'La', bd. to bid. Meuse, 6d. is U. Veal, ed. to bid. per lb. Pork, 9a per store. NIIWOMITI" Jan. 23.—The supply of stash of all bads to this dais market was melba; both as to paatity sad At the essummeemeet, the 'sorbet was sluggish ; estkdpatias a rise is prime, were reluctant to sell but, as the melbas advameed, they gave way, sad were glad M realise the prime of last week, which wire as follows .. Beemb Weskit to prime, 6s. 6d. to 6.. 6d. per memo. Sheep, lime to Webers, 40. to 6id. ; and some Ws silvery mime, N. per lb. Pi/ notwithstaabei the demand, receded a beds burins, Moil asset be said to reeds mere than tim 3d. le ea. GIL per a 5.... Ilausmuent, Jen. 113.—Ths slumber of Haft far sale was way 1 7 nod of ILIA:My, coupled with a_ pod aura i. • yet, notwithmia Cft, busbies 11 4s a s:memeer i aosatimmeethrounkout the day, erg dun. webers Wag sausted with peat caution, sad Ow bait Bert was met quotable at the estrous figures at this day serail/1R At the elms of the market many were drives way lama& There was a oemperative elf la the Rear of Sheep paned, though the sepOy was too lane f r y ! bed emised, owing so whirl th e tied, ruled extremely dull. at a bells. in price of 2d. to 4d. pe Blbe. The trade i n ph, 41 was geed, yet we have to sow a decline in price of all dew riptiene (both deed and slim). Good Os beef, 10.. to lb.. 6. t• . • Co/ and Heifer, 9s. to 9e. 6d.; Mutton, 6d. to bet Besithdowee, bid. pa lb. Bacon Pip, 7s. to Ts. 94. pa. more. p. 'it resteriky'a asarksts to kW peps. us Grimm. wealsg, 122 4 .61 1 mm 621.1011111, ID u.Adm. e,,gus vOl be made ap this t i Zi Jo. Th e migs pog 0.6 M . Lib" liadairs, Cad* sad Olbrathe wit be mode op tie.tad Vet ilth rtik lea The mos k ir mum gm, AMIS. OM the Vatted Raise, eri abe mob up ea the eitehae et Ms Tith ha. the male he New Seoul sh hoe. Y Diewees Ids awl Taw *slow will be made up as the • willing el the Timis& lbs ..a. ihr "Ism oast d Striae sad Ifaistra will be n de Mthe sembeh et the Slat lea. wag Isis May lasted% h normisiss Nam% lihn•whi Taw Orisons. ash Ma 'd. sad wishidiag thaw is =lt at the gml Teis JussolaMismegvs, Km • Onside. a OW . whi Pons alma& ap ern Me swabs . The mile far lladsles. tM Ileastle. Awl Timm Ay?.., will be made aw es tbe maim der 4th Fels. Tbs mats ler Meeker, Mils. 0 TN loolla, Wawa. Mos. Ospiss, leas. liempliam, mad was Thwillewsol4 ll % be maietmas the manias al the Seth Feb. } BIOS TUTOR AT LONDON Vilna& Tom Dm —lemurs. II era par I; Allem Ira pre t. To 111••••111-11Mrskag,II .M. —I; Aroma le. rim pre I. LONDON, arIi'DNESDAY, J.N. 24. Is I. generally 'mimed as something beyond con tradictioa that the growth of our Indian emphe has been spontaneous ; that coming there as merckeate, and as the mercantile rivals of other powers, we have, without any deep-laid plan or rooted ambition ex tended our empire from region to region and fres the humbling one prince to the dethronement of so other, until the vast continent, from Ceylon to the Himalaya, and from the Indus to the Irrawaddi, his fallen, against our purposes or wishes, into oar power. Ancient Rome might have made just the same ex ernes. It was not the policy of the senate, nor the foreseeing and occult policy of any family or knot of statesmen at home, that impelled the Roman eagles first from ace to province, and than over sea from kingdom to kingdom. Th e designs, the quar rels, the ambition which led to Roman conquests, arose from the restlessness, the greed, the pique, and the policy of the powerful individuals who were the great officials of Rome, who commanded her armies, admi nistered her province", and who made the glory of their country the mere stalking-horse for the aims of themselves and of their elan. The pengcers of the Romans very area 111111111411111 our own. The first coonexion was a treaty of amhy, which infallibly exposed the rein, esgaisling it to the hostility of those neighbegilag geentrises envious or fearful of the growth of the awl, ma% and mysterious power. The aid of the great power was required as a support against their beatility ; sad the amity treaty straight grew into a eaboidiary one. The next symptom was the inevitable jealousy at the efoia4 aristocratic, or influential class of this semi-subjugated country against their rivals, who were gradually disposseseing them ot mili tary power and administrative authority. Con 'piracies ensued, rebellion followed, the Prince was implicated. And the next result was, probably, a change of the Prince, if not of the family, and the inablinent of a less experienced and capable class of native °adds and authorities for those which bad re belled. Bat this was, of course, a temporary settle ment. The new officials con felt their sub ordinate condition as oppressive as their ousted brethren had done ; both allied their grievances and hopes in the concoction of another re bellion, in which if the winos joined he was a double traitor, whilst his failing to prevent it was roof, if not of his treason, at last of hie insajpacity— an equally good ground for his removal. Thus did Rome sweep a large portion of Europe and ot western Amin of its royal and aristocratic rases, just u webers served Hindostan. And the result was the same in both cases, being the substitution of the upper and fasetioaary class in the conquered country by the patrician and adven turous clams from the conquering country, with the impoverishment and disaffection of the one state, with out the conquering state being enriched or bettered, save in the persons and fortunes of a few of its rapecious sons. Such a system of course progressed. Thew was no end to conquest, as long se there were thrones and countries to overthrow and to plunder. Nor did it require say great gift of foresight to de clare it inevitable, that England would as surely ad- vanes to the Indus, as Rome did to the Euphrates. If an Wien empire was destined to stop, and to find its god Terminus, one would have said, it wee some twelve or fifteen years ago when our Bombay territory was bounded on the west by a barren and extensive desert, utterly untravesubis the hordes of tio'nde err Beloochistan. whew the desert esassd, the country was mountains std poor up to the very Himalaya, with lido on atm Me to tempt comma or beget quarrel. Beg* the seisamileasch of the great rivers warlike tribe imed pue sesdeuottheesuntry,snd had become inoculated with discipline and policy. The chief, or chiefs, 1 : 1 1 =be had all to line and nothing to gain by a quarrel with us, and there is no doubt that skilful management and frank policy might have kept the Sikhs for ages our Muds and allies. Anglo-Indian, and o f a ll But the restless spirit of meek se Anglo-Indian aggression, if stopped by ever so lofty a barrier, will mine and plot, and take ern, shwa to obtain its ends. It first en list e d seienoe in indignation against the barbarous tyranny of the Prima and People. Whilst mince lad the interest of the palate from the Indus to the Caspian, and whilst commercial' speculation, though still Askew, followed its steps, there arose this ItAndof the UNMAN! salad. the re. illirdria rendered possible by the inattention of the &maks malls tz ffj = ss. and remote affairs, was the expealis• to It is plain that tram that moneent peace di Babb, as with the Baths, was doebtful, it not impassible. Oar ambition had not mevelJ reached their aides sad their rivers, but ove risapsd them We beams an object of dread. The imaquest of Sande made the Bache tremble for themselves. They would have bees fools not to have entertained these fears, sad net to ham taken those military doss which have ended, nevertbelese, in their dsetraetioa and oar embarramment. It has now become an argent question to amide? what is to be dons with the Parjaab. Bat there is a araliminary still move urgent, and that is, how we are to stop the onward wares of Indian aggression, even after our officials have been gratified with the anaszMion of the Pasjaula No doubt that annexation would satisfy their desires for a long time. The pre sent race of generals would have been satiated with prise money. The rising and able civilian and mili tary functionaries in India would all get phioes of trust and profit in the land of the Sikhs. The Company. as individuals, would enjoy an immense inseams of patronage, however the public body and interest, which they represent and maaage, would be burdened by debt. Bat the appetite thus satisfied soon re-awasns. The annexation of the Punjaub makes Peshawar oars, and mixes us up once more not merely with Afghan but with Persian polities. Where is our guarantee that, the Panjanb swallowed, it is to be the " be-all and the end-all " of Indian mi tr it i mast confess that, with India governed and exploilf as it is, we see no guarantee ag inst another Cabal expedition—against a Persian, or a Rued= war. Now, before we extent to annex one single acre be yond the SAO, the pacific and unambitious British public require to receive some guarantee against being dragged further into the polities and ever Toy ing fortunes of Central Asia. We have played the parts of TAXERLANI and Oluionis Knsx long enough. We have conquered India, as we conquered Ireland, with mach the same results. To rule the great empire which we possess with something like justice and humanity, is a teak mare imperative then to extend it. And until we can do the one, we have no right, and no justification for the other. Tin farmers of Cambridgeshire have met to pr test against the malt tax, and have agreed to appoint a committee to draw up resolutions in favour of its total and immediate rapsal, in order to submit them to a second meeting to be held in a fortnight. The meeting seems to have been a good ow, and app.. reedy unanimous in favour of total repeal, so that the postponement looks very like, what it was desig nated by Mr. WILES, " the adjournment until to morrow of what might be done to-day." We hope the committee won't play any tricks. Farmers have not been very happy in the selection of their political leaders, and amongst the active men present we note the names of several who figured as members of the 17, New Bond-street, Society. In the present instance some had come prepared with a petition, cut and dried, complaining of "the distressed state of agriculture arising from the enormous amount of foreign corn brought into thisoonntry," repudiating "all connexion with the free-traders for financial reform," and praying that a duty on foreign corn should be imposed to make up the deficiency in the revenue oo casioned by the repeal of the malt tax. This was the old dodge so often and so successfully practised upon the farmers by their political leaders. They urge the farmers to petition and agitate for what they require and are justly entitled to, then induce them to couple it with some other demand impossible to be conceded. In a sporting phrase—quite intelligible to the Cam bridgeshire farmers—their agitation has been " made safe " to fail. The meeting, however, wisely thought that they had nothing to do with aiding the CHAN CELLOR OP THE EXCHEQUER to deal with the deficiency the failure of the cotton crops a season or two ago, from which oar mansfactarers lamed its* swim losses. Such 0111111,100111111 farm striking adalenitioas against embarldni in brain, ha I sad ' the nary w ou l tusi n w • Mah wi nks farmer ean pro =spinet is to held, Ms lendliPm will ' in good as to make Mitafor the probable recurrence of pad harvests. most do by means of good husbandry, and it is nothing to say, as farmers doomilmOnly sty, that the landowners insist on beeping their tenantry in such a state= ef—depeadeeee that the inipoweements requi site p t i o r 4ovide pima bad seasons are rendered well ' impossible. That the moderate and comparatively steady range of prices, which an open trade in grain wil l produce in this country, most butes the transition, from rade to improved hus bandry, which has for some years been going on, can not be questicmed ; and if they rightly estimate their position, their wants and their difilealties, farmers will And themselves immense gainers from that cir cumstance. There are undeveloped reeouross, un used powers of production, in the soil, and in the enterprise and capital of the tenantry of Great Britain, which require nothing but an intelligent ap- Bastion of commercial principles to the business of Ladholding and of agriculture to be brought faith; and which will not only enable our landed interests to pees through the period of transition unharmed, but contain the elements of much future prosperity. THE report of the BaiGuToN AND SOUTH COAST Railway &odors, which will be laid beton the half yearly meeting on Thursday nest, we have read with great satisfaction. It exhibits an improvement in the proceeds of the current business,—during a season of anything but general prosperity, and on a scale of charges lower, we believe, than that of any other metropolitan line,—whichoonfirms the opinion we have often expressed of the soundness and elasticity of rail way enterprise when fairly conducted. The reduction, too, is the per agate's of working charges, effected without trenching upon the effioiency of the plant, in a period throughout which the per formance of the service has been rather better than otherwise, proves what may be done in this way to restore the balance of profits, when the attention of directors is once turned from endless strife with their neighbours, and from the pursuit of questionable extensions, to the more legitimate objects of cultivating receipts and regulating expenditure on the ground they have already acquired. The results of the last half year in both respects are instructive and encouraging. They show, in the effects of im proved management, under circumstances in many ways the reverse of favourable, what a vigorous life still exists in this basin's, after all the injuries it has sustained from the imprudence and extravagance of in promoters, and from the various exactions laid upon it from without; and what it may still become, if conducted from henceforth ea those rational and cautious principles which are indispensable to the success of any business whatever. The whole railway interest is indebted to Mr. Limo sad his colleagues for having presented at this criti cal period an example that cannot be too extensively Mowed. Bat this is not the chief cause of our approbation of the Brighton report, nor has it been our indaoement to =dee it specially. Its most important features in oar eyes are the near prospect it holds out of that very desirable consummation, the final closing of the capi tal outlay ; and the resolution expressed by the direc tors to proceed, when that point is once reached, on the sound bails of defraying the whole subsequent ex penditure on the completed works, the coat of their pre servation and renewal, and the maintenance of the moving Mock, out of the annual revenues of the company. The practical value of this approaching close of the capital account, and of the system which the directors are determined to enforce, when it is closed, can scarcely be overrated. It will at once give the pro- , perty a nvcable and certain value; and will, more over, establish its income on the only basis which is absolutely beyond the reach of suspicion or dispute. The proprietor will not only be exonerated from further demands on his pocket, and see at last, after the lapse of many years of deferred expectation, the limits of his enterprise clearly defined; but he will also possess the surest of all guarantees for the pru dent and economical management of its resources here after. When every item of expense, drawn from the receipts of the half year in which it is laid out, mast appear at once in the accounts as a deduction from the net proceeds of the current busi ness, extravagant or inconsiderate outlay will no longer be possible; and, what is perhaps of still greater moment, an immediate practical test will be applied to every class of disbursements, from which there can be no escape into the region of mere hopes or distant possibilities. Where every penny spent will be so much taken from the current profits, no expense will long be allowed that cannot be certainly shown to be either necemary or profitable. Any railway of fair natural resource, wisely con ducted on this system—however it may have suffered from past excesses, will soon become what all well wishers to railway enterprise have long desired to see it; an investment whose prosperity, gradually and securely increasing, leans on the firm support of a liberal but prudent managemeat, con trolled by the bond fide settlement, in every year, before any division of profits takes place, of all the charges, of what species and on what pretext never, incurred within that period by its managers. This, we are persuaded, is the point towards which the whole energies of the railway interest should now be directed; and it is mainly on this account that we so heartily commend the Brighton report, in which not only is reference emphatically made to it, but practical evidence, also, is given that the directors are to good earnest benton putting their principles in prac doe. They have already begun to carry to the revenue account, since June last, the charge for replacing slips, for the renewal of engine stock and of permanent way, on that part of the series of lines which is re garded as complete ; and observe, on this point, in terms which have oar entire approbation, that, "although such expenses may for a time have been properly charged to capital, a line must be ' drawn at some reasonable period after opening a rail way, when everything which does not come under {he bead of extraordinary oostingency, or fresh in vestment of capital for new and profitable objects wet @signally contemplated, must be defrayed oat of morale revenue : in other words, that, a period must bs sn gzi at which the capital account is to be cos . ea dosed: and they have accordingly framed tie sensate of the past half-year on the principle et considiaing the capital account as closed from the commencement of the half-year, as regards all matters not included and estimated for in the statement of October last." This is pro ceeding in the right way, like men of sense and honesty, who, having put forth a programme of the company's affairs last year, during a season of adver sity, are determined to see that it is realised to the letter. Here, again, their example may be coat- I mended to all the other companies who published similar estimates at the saeso vet. muting, in deed, eau better promote confidence in the future prospects of their several concerns, than such an effectual proof that the statements then issued were not meant to serve a temporary purpose, but were deliberately prepared, and will be punctually ad hered to. The point of view from which we survey the rail way interest has been sufficiently described on former occ asions. We may repeat that our desire to see it healthy and prosperous is founded quite as much on the conviction that its prosperity will conduce to the welfare of the nationat large, as on a sense of the benefit which the establishment of railways has conferred on this country, of the disproportion hitherto between the amount of that benefit and the average rate of the compensation in profits which the promoters have re mind, or of the very gnat number of all classes whose means are now invested in this de 'Melon of useful works. Were it our habit to take up the cause of any special class or interest what ever, we might, indeed, allege plausible reasons woogh for speaking on behalf of a party repre senting something like two hundred millions of the Imedattive wealth of this kingdom, invested, too, in operations that have enriched the kingdom to thrice that amount already, and the ultimate benefits of which are incalculable—especially since the owners of this well-employed capital have been selected by certain notorious organs of public opinion, for the object of attacks ignorant, malicious, mischievous and dishones', beyond the usual measure of party sea salt. But partisanship is not our business. We main tain oar stand on that ground of equal justice alone, where the welfare of the railway capitalist coincides with the well-considered interest of the public; and no judicious observer of the eon in his resources which the absence of malt duty woulil occasion : that was his bigness; and that they should simply " pies a strong resolution that the malt tax most be repealed." " Send," said Mr. WiLis, " that resolution to the county members, urging them to use their beet endeavours to get that tax repealed." And the meeting ended with the ap pointment of a committee for the purposes before stated. Now let the farmers, who have the single minded object of repealing the malt-tax, keep a watch ful eye on the committee; let them see that there is annexed to the demand for free trade in home grown barley, no impossible conditions on which the govern meet can side off and treat the farmers' petition as a nullity ; and that there is no undercurrent at work which will render all their efforts nugatory. At this moment, it mate with the farmers to repeal the malt-tax. It will be, in all probability, repealed see beg, even if the farmers take no effective part in the __sat against the impost. But its immediate serial weld be the origin smelt of a simple and ho neatly menemed memmemt by the brows against the malt-tax. The gaistkakir emit fermer.for every barley grower, and every hese seasunter among the farming classes, to ormablar is, whether he really desires the removal of the melt tax simply, or whether he only desires it to be removed, if it can be done, in some peculiar manner, or by some particular politician•, or upon certain special conditions possible or impossible. Now, if the former alternative be that which the farmer selects, if he simply seek to re peal the malt tax for the sake of his own pecuniary interests or the comfort of his workpeople, he has nothing to do but to say so. Free malt can now be had for the asking. Does he thereby place himself under the leadership of MerConnxte or any other free trader P Far from it. But will he wilfully re fuse to ask for free malt, for the " cheapest means of feeding his cattle," for wholesome beverage for his family and servants, because free traders, and pro greens—ay, and conservative reformers, tender him their aid? Malt tax repeal has never yet been demanded in earnest. Doubtless the farmers have long and earnestly desired it; but do they for a moment sup pose that their political sponsors in parliament ever intended they should get it ? Ask the Duke of Bncitmonsg, ask the Duke of RICHMOND, ask any of the members of either House of Parliament, who belong to the " Protection Society," whether they ever seriously t hou ght of the repeal of the malt tax tobe a thing within the range of possibilities ? Every move ment hitherto made in parliament has been a dela mica and • sham. It has never, hitherto, suited the ' purposes of either party of the tax-spending class to spare so large an amount of revenue. As to the notion that any duty on foreign grain will be imposed, it is a sheer hallucination ; the most vehement protec'iouist in parliament would not dream of attempting it; and, wherever farmers me petitions for repeal of the malt tax, eted Mpg with such additions, they may be sure that from design or wrongheadedness they are bs hayed. One speaker at Cambridge, Mr. Johnson. , " Free trade must now he tried, whatever might be its effects, and farmers had only to require that there should be free trade in other thiwi as well as corn." And that is the common sense view of the matter which we doubt not the great body of farmers will spWily adopt. With regard to the suggestion that the agricultural depression of the present time has been caused by importations of foreign oorn, a little examination of facts will show its fallacy. The source of the farmers' difficulties at this moment ie the wet season we have just endured. Of the last twelve months, ten of them, so far as regards the district south of Trent, have been extremely wet; in fact, since 1816 we have had no season in whisk the grain crops, especially wheat, have been so dellsedve in point of quality and so deficient in quan dty as the past year. Nothing ex -ept that sort ef close monopoly which existed In 1816—when no when* could be imported till the average price Mad 10a. a bushel—could have forced up the price of the Wirier wheat, of which last year's crop chiefly omelets. And even then it is dotthtful whether the ill-secddiened wheat would have realised much a'rho best earn, that of last year lied im would have gone up enormously so as to have a high average price, but the time is long mod whoa the nation would permit or any sane OMAN. red venture to propose, the deliberate creation of such an artificial scarcity, either _ .. to remunerate the growers of corn or to uphold rents. Such seasons as that of last year is one of the casualties spinet which all =l in the business of husbandry should rpos: a contend. It is a providential affliction, like THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 24,.1849. wei n betwess them will fail sq dadsable for both Cillvested in rails entrieebsd ban the ; dash and burdens, et peel ysens—placed on lity. wilt& essentially b- - once tendered permanently and set theme the reach railwiya oa ern es ibo °Oita( la -the*** belongs to it, loorativ ofte that it is • al pro excitement of AMC* -4 ji4. stabi -. to it, and thereby at - •titi lo its owners, - •-” tents and alarms by which unprincipled enemies have tried to impair W.. credit and value daring the son lama of a somewhat precipitate advance. A very few yaws of the judicious policy to which the Brighton directors have now pledged themselves would settle all these difficulties, and impose silence on the most unscrupulous of such assailants, by re moving even the shadow of a pretence for their per version of railway amounts. The interest which the Times ventured to describe u bankrupt would soon enter upon a course of indisputable and progressive prosperity ; which before long would invite others to extend the field of railway enterprise, and give the country those further communications which it wants —and which it will never obtain if those already made do not reward their promoters handsomely. This, we say, is our chief motive for marking with approba tion the Brighton report ; which we Mall for the same reason be glad to see followed by others from the rest of the great railway community equally sound in principle, satigactory as to recent results, and hopeful as regards the future. FRANKFORT, Jitr. 20. The National Assembly voted yesterday the first paragraph of the chapter of the constitution which relates to the head of our future German government. It is decided by this vote that the office of presideat shall be discharged by one of the reigning princes of Germany. This decisive vote was only carried by a majority of 47 ; and these 47 do not express an opi nion predominating in the Assembly, for many voted in favour of the first paragraph solely on the ground that their opposition could have had only a negative result. After rejecting a " directory" and a rota tion of office," there was nothing for it but to adopt the monarchical principle recognised in this first para graph. The repeated scrutinies of yesterday have revealed the real strength of the parties into which the Assem bly is divided. The purely Austrian party, rein forced by a number of Bavarians, proposed a kind of directory, composed of the Emperor of Austria, the King of Prussia, and the Kings of Bavaria, Hanover, Saxony, and Wiirtemberg, in which the Emperor and the King of Prussia stould act alter nately as preeidents. This plan was supported only by 97 votes. The ro•ation system, proposed by Welker, which would have vested the executive authority in the King of Prussia for six years, and in the Emperor of Austria for the next six, was supported only by 80 votes. The third system, that which was favoured by the Left, and brought forward by Simon of Breslau, Schuler, and Wigard, and which adopted the mo narchioal principle, but left every German citizen eligible as president, was supported by 129 votes. This is the strength of the republican and quasi republican party. The minority which voted against the system adopted yesterday, was composed, with few excep tions, of the 129 members of the Left and the 97 Austrian and Bavarian votes. At the twelfth hour a few members of the Left gave into the plan that has been carried, fearing that otherwise the whole discus sion might end in nothing. This is a victory for the Prussian party, or, more properly, for the party which sees no means of safety except in placing a Prussian Emperor at the head of Germany. This party gains strength daily, for Prussia had completed all its arrangements before it unmasked its batteries. M. von Gagern is the centre of attraction which keeps this party together ; but he does not lead it. The system he now pursues has been that of his whole life; for he has always be lieved that Germany could only be saved by the in strumentality of a Prussian empire. Animated by this idea he took part in the movement begun by the revolution of March. The Prussian party attached itself to him, and pushed him forward in the path he had always been seeking to enter. The part played by Garern ie curious enough. He is a generous-minded, honest man, and I firmly believe would have recourse to no means which he could not at all times openly avow. But the party he serves is not so scrupulous; it unhesitatingly adopts any means that can promote its end. Hence the two-fold aspect presented by the ministerial policy. Oagern is proud sad straightforward ; but those who act in concert with him are reckless and cunning to the last degree. It was lucky for the Prussians that they picked up this men, for he serves them at once as shield and hatchet. While Gagers', conscious of his own integrity, pursues his object by direct means, the Prumian diplomatists buy up all who are venal The whole press, with the exception of the organs of the parties opposed on principle to Prussia and to any emperor, is condoeted by Prussian hirelings. Till of late it was a point of principle with many German journals to have no fixed political opinion. They sought to establish • reputed's for fairness by ad mitting articles in ripport of all opinions. But since Prussia has been driven to play its last stakes, these " independent" journals have all become uncompro mising partisans of the King of Prussia. In the long ran they may find that they have reckoned without their host ; but, be this as it may, at present they shrink from nothing that can serve their paymaster. To-morrow, the question whether the title of the new ruler of Germany is to be hereditary, will be discussed. It is pretty clear that the King of Prussia will not give up his hereditary crown for one that he san only retain six or twelve years. And yet there are many chinoss against the adoption of the hereditary principle. All the supporters of a directory and the whole party of the Left will vote against it, and they will be joined by not • few who voted in the majority of yesterday. But I will not attempt to prophesy. With the means of intimida tion on one hand, and of seduction on the other, that are brought into play, everything is possible. The Prussian press threatens the Frankfort parliament every day with a constitution °drove, which the reigning sovereigns are said to have in reserve. Ido not believe that it exists, and my scepticism is increased by the very loudness of their threats. But this does not prevent the timid front being terrified lest all their past labours should go for nothing. The timid are everywhere a majority ; and, knowing this, rumours of a war between Prussia and France, at the expense of Germany, are sedulously circulated. The day on which the ministerial plan was adopted, a report was spread in the Assembly that Louis Napoleon had been assassinated. The nation is a novice m the tricks of constitutional government, but our intriguers are as skilful in them as the oldest constitutional foxes of France or England. But for all this—or because of all this—l do not believe that the Prussian empire, even though it be brought ;tit^ e.isteseees, will be eilauect with a principle of vitality. ROME, JAx. 14. Old Zuochi has sent from Gaeta a bundle of "orders ' of the day," to be distributed among the barracks, calling on the military to rise against the government and put down the ministry. This step is at once ludicrous and lamentable : what more laughable than a soldier lighting his pipe with an "order of the day," and what more deplorable than a provocation to civil war coming from a council of cardinals? The regular troops and the civic guard are irrevocably bound up to act for the country against domestic or forei •n violence, and one act of conciliatory tendency would be worth forty such manifestoes as have come from that Neapolitan citadel for the last two months. A corporal's guard went over the frontier a month ego. but since then there has not been a single deserver. A decree has come out modifying the process of law, with the view of facilitating the course of justice, abolishing many technical obstacles, and the use of Latin formulas and pleadings. This document is drawn up by Mumarelli, who was Dean of the Rota, a tribunal famous for learning of this kind, and who, by his position in the courts here, ranked with a Lord Chancellor among you. Every town throughout the Roman states is busy r in the preparatory work of electing members to the Conatitutnt Assembly. The electoral lists are being r drawn up, and local committees are active. A riot I arose at Gornto, in consequence of some clergymen . refusing to allow the parish register to be copied for • the purpose, and the books had to be seized by the authorities forcibly. L Th e Sicilians have a national church here, and on the 12th they mustered in great force, with Roman . sympathisers, to commemorate, by a grand Te Drum, sirs= to ovum Re ems. at UT onIIAIRSI IMMO ID he IMMO/. Trove Urn passed ap the Wu, told e marvels of hs capabilities and ccouniros, and raised ji6minimmin the victory of Palermo last year, and the defeat of the King of Naples. Father Ventura officiated. The ffiggueg of an English miler on board the Bull dog at Clefts Vecchia, has brought to discount in Rome our character as a edvilised people. P.B. 4 o'cLocx.—The least news is a decree lost out, signed by all the members of the Provisional Government, by which it is made a grievous act of treason to the state to impede or in any way oppose the meeting of electors or the working of the general election of the Constituent Assembly. A commission is formed in Rome and every large town, before whom any person so offending is to be forthwith had up, and, if convicted, instantly punished by floe, confisca tion, or imprisonment. There is rumour of a lot of Spanish troops arrived at Glaeta--some say three thousand ; I believe three hundred. Garibaldi is at Fenno ' not far from the back confines of the Neapolitan territory. Orders have been sent to him to assemble a force of several thousand n.en from Ancona and the legations, and on the first signal to make an inroad into the enemy's country and raise an insurrection behind the Apen nines ; this to divert any attempt on our frontier on the side of Terracing. The troops here and the civics are quite anxious to have a brush with the Neapoli tans, whom they hold in atter contempt. NAPLES, Jaw. 14. The prosecution and suppression of the Indepea dente! and Tele/raft have given birth to another liberal paper, La (homes Bain, of an equally piquant character, if not still men so, showing that if government intends to carry on war against the press it must be • protracted one. chi judges of the criminal court have had courage and honesty enough to decide that there wee no sufficient cause for pro ceeding against the Independents. The Tekgrafo is still under trial, and I am inclined to believe that the decision will be of a similar kind. Naples is apparently quiet, that is to say. it is not in a state of insurrection. Friday, Jan. 12, the King's fits, passed off quietly, though some distutb. anos was feared, and many of the more timid had laid in their supplies the day before; some also closed their shops. I went throunh the city at night and abound that is many places not even the customary illumi nations were exhibited ; the public offing were all in darkness, and his Majesty's initials I saw nowhere; perhaps the fame universal darkness may be accounted for by the fact of the King's being at Gaeta. Hi. Majesty is expected on the 16th, when these is to be a grand reception on occasion of the birtnday of the hereditary prince, the Duke of Calabria, who is himself to preside. Parliament, it is now generally believed, will be opened on Feb. 1, and, in fact, preparations are being made. Amongst the arrivals in Naples since I wrote are Cardinal Ferretti and Sig. Pleura, charge d'affaires for Piedmont at this court. I see that fifty of tae recruits engaged at Lucerne for the service of the King of Naples have applied to their government for the strict performance of the terms of the agreement. They re quire to be sent to Naples by way of Genoa, and not by way of Trieste, as i. desired, and to b • guaranteed against serving against the Swiss who are in the Roman service. The de parture of these recruits will, it is likely, therefore be de layed for some time. I find it stated in a morning contemporary of the Ex press that Lord Napier lately went to Rome on a political mission, and had an interview with Mamiani. Nothing is so far from the truth. On the highest authority I beg to state that Lord Napier went to Rome on entirely private business; that he does not know Mamiani, and that, whilst in Rome, had not the slightest communication with him, either in person or by letter. There is much tekel of and printed about a Russian fleet which is shortly to appear in the Mediterranean; indeed, it is said that some English ves sels have been dispatched to watch the division of the fleet, wh:ch is said to be coming by the Dardanelles. The go vernmentpapers are rejoicing in this hope, and intimate that Nicholas is determined to support the King of Naples in maintaining his perfect independence. Letters arrived from Sicily to-day say that such is the hatred of the Sicilians for Neapolitan rule, that should it happen that the King should become muter of Sicilykigain, many would expatriate themselves ; but the fact is , I be. hive, that Palermo has so streogthened itself that the K og has abandoned all thought of making any attack upon it, else why not commence operations, when England and France are said to have left him at perfect liberty to do se, instead of waiting until Palermo becomes yet stronger and i stronger ? By • decree of the 27th Dec., the Sicilian puha ment had raised the loan ordered by a decree of the 20th Dec , 1848, from 500,000 01111C01 Le 1,000,000 ounces. Gen. 1 1 Antonini issued • proclamation to the Sicilians on his arrival, It stated tnat his principles were democratical, and that he firmly believed that Sicily would be able to form a close fraternal compact with thy: net of liberal Italy. He recom mended the formation of a complete regular militia, the procuring powerful financial means for the government, and, • lastly, fraternity of action. The Bellerophon came in on the 10th; the Vengeac.ce, Prince Regent, and Terrible are expected daily. The Friedland (French) comes here from Bade Abort's,. THE GOLD OF CALIFORNIA. Our New York Correspondent writes as follows on this subject: 0 We have every reason to believe that the gold of our new territory is inexhaustible in quantity. It is beginning to find its way to the Atlantic cities in large amounts, the returns of cargoes sent out at an early period. One merchant of Boston received the other day in tin canisters the stun of 33,000 dollars, in gold as h was washed from the sands of the Sacramento, and in four days afterwards he received a certificate from the United States Mint, on which he rea lised the full value. A traveller, recently from the minis, states that he saw a party of men who were exploring a dry ravine, approach a plate which literally glittered with gold. Each man instantly threw himself upon the p round, and claimed all the space which be could cover with his body. This was asserting a right of possession on the principle of squatting, one we admit in the purchase and settle meat of our government lands. B -fore the party separated each person had collected 601. worth of the precious metal. The very last accounts from San Francisco state that another valuable location had been discovered, and that about 100,000 dollars had been gathered daily. The miners, however, were suffering much from a want of provisions, but this will not be so long, since immense cargoes have been despatched thither within the hest two months Two barrels of brandy are reported to have been sold for 14,000 dollars. ° Several wash have been sent to Demerara for rum to carry out to the mines, and that it will pay an immense profit cannot be doubted. Until supplies reach the miners, they will remain in a dreadful condition. It is said that in dividuals may be seen 'varying fortunes about their persons, presenting the most squalid and vagabond appearance; their clothes filthy and ragged, their faces covered with hair, and their whole aspect horrible in the extreme. The first flood of emigrants from the United States had not arrived out at these last accounts. ° A great many young men of good character, with an equally good physique, have been sent out by spftulators, who have advanced them money enough to take them to the mines, and to begin work there, upon the agreement that they are to return half their gains during the first year. The parties making the advances take the precaution to insure the lives of their agents to the amount of the sum advanced. Toe Life Insurance Companies have issued so many policies of this kind that some refuse to grant any more. The charge is about 26 per cent. for those crossing the isthmus, with the clause appended to the usual risk that the party insured is not to sleep for a single night at Chegres, nor in any port on the Gulf side. We hare a general impression that Chagres is the most unhealthy spot in the world. " You can imagine what an excitement must prevail here, with well accounts reaching us by every traveller from the gold (*entry. It has pervaded every quarter of the union, and is the great impulse of the time. Notwithstanding all this, the vast majority of the population will stay at home. There era millions who hear all these reports without the slightest wish to emigrate "Connected with this subject is another, the opening of a communication by canal or railway across the isthmus. Our lines of government steamers, both on the Atlantic aid Pa cific sides, are connected with the Panama route. It is the shortest land route, but not the best. The cense quenoe is, that we are beginning to discuss the vari ous routes, with a view to the adoption et the moat fe•Whl.. Humboldt, in his personal narrative, a work which has • high reputation among us, for he always took the United States favourably into consideration predicted the coming greatness of the New World. It con tains the most scientific and rational account of the five reputed routes. For many reasons he inclines to that across the isthmus of Tehuantepec : and it is very singular that this is evidently attracting the attention of our capitalists. It is many degree. north of Panama, is approached by a safe navigation across the Gulf, is pierced by two rivers that may be easily improved and are adapted to steamers, and is inter rupted by no ridges of greater height than 6,50 feet, at which elevation there is abundance of water to feed any number of looks that may be aecessary. If traversed by a railway (between the rivers), a distance of only 16 mile., the elevation is not too great to be overcome by locomotive engines and trains, as we know by experience. The great advantage is in shortening the distance between the United States and California about 3,000 miles, and in the transit being made across a perfectly healthy and populous country, within the territory of a friendly power that hos granted us the right of way in perpetuity. We have a report here that Manning and M'lntosh, the great English bankers, in Mexico, are about to construct this railway. Some Ameri can capitalists propose to unite with them and place some of our light draft American steamers en the two rivers. No thing seems impossible to us in the way of navigating streams by steam, though our eller* on the ocean have not been so successful. The reason is obvious. While Br gland has no very large rivers thus to navigate, she has been compelled to make her principal essays on the ocean ; and from the first her engineers have been accustomed to consider strength, and were imbued with a sense of its necessity. Here all our first efforts were made upon lark, a and rivers, and our builders and engine-makers have become habituated to light vessels and engines. They have, there lore, to overcome their habits, prejudices, and experience, to produce those gigantic and heavy models necessary for ocean navigation. It 111 a common jest here, that we have steamers on Cue western rivers that can jump over a sand-bar, float easily on wet grass, and are obliged to come to anchor when there is a heavy dew ! The rivers of the Isthmus of Te haanterc, it they have three feet depth of water, can be Tully navigated by cur stamen, ocularly if they were built to imitate the light-keeled m els of the west. " It may be as well to mention, lest some of your readers may have forgotten the circumstance, that the greet Cortez, •Ina letter to Charles V. styled this r th, 'Secret of the Streit.' The beet acc ount of aey date, is that published in London by Loa Jose de (1 - "*„ Irma the report of his engineer, Moro. It was at,l7—Z viewed in the London Quart er ly i n April 184 a if you will turn to the eatieluibq ' nbnl the reviewer, you will perceive a remarkabl e : diction is relation to this route, founded e s character of the people of the United States, th e i r bible improvement of this route, the eoloniaatieh western territories, and the vast wealth they were to realise from the tinging of those regions. Thi, ton IS now being realised. Nor arum your reed," X,therm amounts exaggerated. They h ave only to rem e X, the vast amounts of gold that have already b eta found pill western slopes of the And and they have only to toy speculations of their own geoloeitts, and the meows of Mei, own travellers, I. pence. that we do not count opa l t o , much from them wondrous mines. I have come to the ea . elusion that, in the , u.-se of two y. an, shall annuls sensible depreciation in the relative val ue o f gold." ST. HELENA, Nov. 30.—Tag SLAVE TRADE... The new . governor of the P..rtuguess poses•i ons on the ssoi coas t of Anridt, had metered on his dunes at Loancla, aas the fleet of cruisers, under the ordete of . a new csmusaftr ia. chief, were actively employed on their own !ice of tout the suppression of the slave trade. The ir rphere of usf a t, nem had, however, been recently greatly (rippled 14 treaty with Brazil, which limits the capture ot sl os „ ma under the flag of that nation to within three miles of disk shore, beyond that distance the slaver can remain sesth s h, The captain of the Portuguese brig-of-war htendona however, been making amends for this restriction, by t am ing to the ground the Portuguese baracoons at Arebruir, sad other places on the most. SOUTHAMPTON PORTION OF TIIR INDIA MAIL.--Mg learn by electric telegraph that the Ripon unreal at p is o'clock this morning, bringing the Southampton wp m ci the India Mail. She hu on Ireight specie trom ludic to the amount of 200,0001. r"ht 011.11 WINDSOR, TUESDAT.—Prince Albert wett oat hunting this forenoon.—The Doehesa of Sutherland fad Lady Constance Lemon Cbwer left the Castle to ' tO•tlki: A cabinet council was held yesterday aileron:le st the Foreign-office. The ministers present were Lord Joh the Lord Chancellor, the Marquis of Loudon% the Berl of Minto, Sir o:srge Grey, Viscount Khan* Esti Grey, the Chancellor of the Exch.quer, Sir Prune Baring, Sir John Hobbouse, Lord Campbell, the Bight Bat, H. Labouchere, and the Marquis of Mariner& The cow cil sat two houn. The Marquis of Lansdowne arrir,d is twwn to attend the meeting from his seat, Bowed-pest, Wilts. Lord John Russell bad a dinner party on Satarday at his residence in Cheshana-place. The company inci u d,i the Earl and Countess Minto, Lord Foley, Sir Francis sad Lady Arabe ll a Baring. Mr. Dirkins, and Mr. Rigen, (From last night's Gazette.) FOREIGN-OFFICE, JAN. 23.—The Queen has ben pleased to appoint the Hon. George Sulyarde Stafford Jar. ningham, now secretary to her Majesty's legation at Madrid, to be secretary to her Majesty's embassy to the °holm Porte. _ DOWNING -STREET, JAN. 23.—The Queen has bee pleased to appoint Daniel Blair, E q , Doctor of Medicine, to be Surgeon-General for the colony of British Golan. Also George Marsh, El., to t•e Resident M igistrate at Moan' Bay, in the settlement of the Cape of Good Hope. r:g P at ijN e Lite rary . Institution. g. S . O t N the D A l b S: last eve P ni ß n The dismission on Mr. C. Pearson's propositions was resumed l Mr. M. O. Hill, Q C., in the chair. Mr. POWNALL, the chairmen of the Middlesex magis trates, was first called upon. He said the simple question now was, which system of prison discipline was the best for the community at large, and at the Sims time beet calculated to reform the criminal ? This was a q Ashen to be decided not by personal acrimony—nut by the conduct of any par. titular criminal after his disch.rge, nor by the results of any particular prison —but by a calm consideration of all the facts. He objected to considering the gutsiest of prb son discipline irrespective of the cause of crime. There were two parties to this question—tho criminal and this The vast majority of committals were of youths under 15 years. What means had the public provided for securing te these juvenile offenders, when turned destitute epee the world, a livelihood by bonect industry, or without industry, when they were too young to loboar, in order to keep the 4 from crime ? (Hear, hear.) Mr Pearson condemned the solitary system. He too uhketed o solitary confinement for long periods; out for persons not habituated to crime, who were sent to gaol for short periods, either as a punishment or to await their trials, solitan cm. finement was decidedly beneficial as preventing cont. minatiim A prisoner could not be made worse by being kept alone, but, under the old system, when prisoners were thrown together in manes, contamination could net be prevented. The effect of the separate system In Middlesex was shore la the fact that more than half the juvenile cffenden pleaded guilty when brought before the as'stant judge. The prima reflections which could produce such a result could not be altogether dissipated when, after suffering the punishramt, such persons returned to society. Prom a return of the year 1846 he found that, of 550 indictu o against as many pri soners for robbery, the whole am tent of property alleged to have been stolen was valued at 153/. 18s. 9d., while the cost of the prosecutions was 4501 :11. 2d., and the cost of maintaining the parties charged b gaol was 7661. 14s. Rd. (Hear, hear.) This showed that the public and the crimi nals were both parties to these transactions ; and the ear tion now was, had the public done their duty to those juve nile offenders? and, if nor, was the treatment they met with in the gaols that which they ought to have received without hecon rag the inmates of a prima ? if cheapness was the o • ly object to be attained, we had better adopt the Bokhara at stem, and dig a hole sad bury the prisoners in it ; we should then have no mots of them ; but, as he understood it, the object was not to punish only but to reclaim. He admitted that the dietary of the prison was better than that of the w rkhouse, but if it were not so, such were the deteritratinir effects of the confinement of a gaol that the' prisoner would be physically unable to labour for his own support on his release. After defending at some length the system as pur sued in the Middlesex prisons, he expressed his readiness to mope:ate in any scheme which should have the effect of raising the condition of the poor man so as to re move him from the sphere of temptation, and which should bring back to honest courses those who had been de graded by crime, and enable them to take rank with the honest and industrious members of society. Mr. BWABEY, a magistrate, condemned that system which placed the criminal while in gaol in a better position than the honest and industrious labourer. Mr. ROTCH, one of the Middlesex magistrates, was in favour of discussion, and would join in a petition to parliament on the subject, though be could not assent to the contradict ory propositions set forth in Mr. Pn•rson's resolutions. He condemned the model prison at Peatonville as being a dot house, in which men's constitutions, though not their minds, were ruined. He was decidedly favourable to separate con finement before trial, as the only means of preventing con tamination, but the silent and congregated 'yen m, as pur sued at Coldbath-fields, he abhorred and detested. Ile agreed with Mr. Pearson that that system was bad which required better diet and better lodging in the gaol, in order to keep up the physical condition of the prisoner, than could be obtained is the workhouse, and suggested that the dm of Coldbath-fields prison should be sold, and a new prison, on Mr. Pearson's plan, but with some modification built with the proceeds on Hounslow Heath, and that the idle lazy fellows now in Hounslow barracks, who were paid by the public, but had nothing to do, should be employed to guard it, and so save the cost of Minikes* and night guards. He also sug gested that the prisoners should be taught, while under going their sentences, wool-packing and wool sorting, in order to make their labour useful in the Australian colonissz where they might be sent at a less expense than they could be kept here. Capt. MACONOCHIE, who was loudly cheered, re marked that the discussion had hitherto touched on every subject but prison discipline. The separate system and the congregated moms had nothing to do with the subject of prison discipline, but were mere forms of imprisonment. The separate system promised largely, but was calculated, in his opinion, to make excellent prisoners, but did not fit men, under punishment for crime, to return to freedom and so- ciety. It made men selfish, and taught them to think too much of themselves and too little of others. In Sydney, where they had one of these prison palaces for carrying out the separate system, it was found that those who were sub jected to it, became much worse husbands and fathers, more egotistical, and much less tolerant to the wants of others than they were before their incarceration, He, however, doubted the statement that insanity was a consequence of ' that system. The congregated system, which was less promising than the other at first sight, inasmuch as it did not seclude the prisoner from his fellows, and thus prevent contamination, nor give him a treatment adapted to his individual case ; but left him to conform to the treatment he received, as was the case with all of us in society—that system, when it was not merely gregarious, herding men together like sheep without any motive to good or common interest—was far more baneficial, and more calculated to call out the energies of men, and to fit them for re-entering society than the other. (Hear, hear.) The point, however, in which he took the greatest interest in connexion with this question was, the endeavour to change the spirit of prison discipline altogether. In times past, the spirit of prison die eipline had been that of division by stone walls, or the im position of silence ; that principle was essentially a bad one. (Hear, hear.) They should adopt rather the principle of combination ; bring the prisoners together, give them a com mon purpose to good, and a common interest in pursuing it. This was the view with which he had introduced the marks's tem amongst the convicts, the object of which was to encourage industry and good conduct by rewarding them with better food, and by reducing the term and the severity of the im prisonment, discouraging bad conduct by ensuring its punishment. In carrying out this object, he had divided this convicts into parties of six, each party having an object and an interest in common, and thn success of his plan had been meat complete. The great vice of th present system of pri son discipline was its strict military character—its leaving too little to the free will cf the primmer. In his opinion, almost any amount of free will was preferable, as a means of per manent improvement, to the most perfect system of coercion. lie would make all prisoners labour, but he would give them an interest in their own industry and good conduct, 'bowing them at the same time ;bat by idleness and bad conduct •NNl•iimmimiNllMllii M r.