The Express. — London, England, 1846-10-02 00:00:00

1 i I 1 I I 1 i t 1 1 1 • 1 I 1 1 I ..- 1 ); I I t THE MUSIC BOOK, New Weekly Periodical of Original Basis. No. I. neat Saturday. New Song be baLee, " SINO, MAIDEN, SING." Prwe 6d. Printed from ilograved Plates, on Paper the usual Musk see. Moe, I, St. Bride's-Avenue, Fleet-sdreet, where roe awes may belled ; and sold by all booksellers and newsmen. " G, MAIDEN, SLNG," New Song by BALFE, Word, by BAIRT Cosa %rem., Mice 6d., being No. I. of THE MUSIC BOOK. Frinted from Engrave:l Plates, on Paper the usual Music size. °floe, I, St. Pr:le's-Avenue , Fleet.atreet. where Prospectures may be had; and sold by all booksellers and newrmen. INTEW SONG by BALFE, " SING, MAIDEN SING," uric , Ad., next saturday, being No.L of THE MUSIC BOOK. Printed from Engraved Plates, on Paper the metal ?duke kr". OIECC. 1, St. lit ide's-Awaue, Eleetatreet, where Proepoetuaes may be had ; and by all booksellers and newsmen. NEW WORK BY ROE. This day Is publishrd (to be completed in 20 Monthly Parte, uniform with "Mau tin Cliumlesit." At.), price Is., the First Number of DEALINGS WITH THE FIRM OF DOMBEY AND SUN, Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation. 111 CHARLES DICKENS. With Illustrations by HARLOT K. BROWNE. London: Bradbury and Evans, Wbitcfriars. Now ready, in one handsome volume, !iv°, elegantly bound in cloth, price lie., OLIVER TWIST. By CHARLES DICKENS. With llinstrationi by Gismos CarntSMANR, and the latest Corrections and A iteration. of the Author. No. X., completing the Work, is now ready, price One Shilling.' Bradbury and Evans, Whitelrian, This day is published No. XML of DOUGLAS JERROLD'S SHILLING AGAZ with continuation of ST. GILEa and ST. JAMES , ;1 .- he Editor. London : Published at the "Punch" 85, Fleet-street This day Is pnblishel. price Od., No. X. of THE ALMANACK of the MONTH, A REVIEW of EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY. EditedbyLß Gl) . .ar Assort kHz:men. London: Published at the " Punch^ Office, $5, Fleet-street. This day is published, price No. Is. IV. copiously illustrated by Linen, of /THE COMIC HISTORY of ENGLAND. lty GILBERT ABBOTT i BPZICETT. Work !A published in Mosthly Parts, Mastrated by Joan Liam with .me Lime Etching, and from Six to Twelve Wood Engraving& It will comprise from Twelve to Twenty NM. and win appear reguLany with the Monthly Magazines until its completion. London : Published a• tho "Punch" othce, OS. Peet-street e'yortgqi• MAILS. The West India including those for Mexico, 'Honduras, and Marano, will be :wade up on thz• morning of the 2d October (this day). The mails for lit iaish North America, Bermuda, and the United States, will be made up on the evening of the 3d October (to.morrow). Th orerlsnd irailA for Gibraltar, Malta,Orreee, the load= Islands, Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, II rag-Kong, and Chins, via Southampton, will be made lap on C morning of the 341 October (to-morrow). The main for Madeira, Brazils, Buenos Ayres, Monte Video, ke., will be made up ou the evening of the sth October. The mails f. Corunna, ViiTo, Oporto, Lisbon, Madeira, Cadiz, and Gibraltar, will Le. mule tap on the 7th October. The overland ckssed mails, via Atarecilles, to the Mediterranean, Egypt. Men, Coy ion, India, Hong-Kong, &c., will be made up on the evening of the 7th October. TO CORRESPONDENTS. We cannot 'entice, in any way, any communication that in sent to us anonymously: hut thme who chow to addrvo; us In confidence will End their confidence respected. NEITIHERCAN W E UNDERTAKE TO RETURN ANY ALAN i.:citirrs waxrEvEß. Advertisement.; intended for The Express must be at the °face by Two o'clock on the day et publication. HIGH WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE. THIS DAT. Morning, 23 min. NA 11; Afternoon, 55 min. pant 11. TO4lolUWlV.—Morning, pant —; Afternoon, 21 min. just 0. LONDON, FRIDAY, OCT. 2. - - - WE would not be thought to under-estimate the risk of riots in Ireland during the present winter. Years of scarcity have seldom failed to be attended with "meal mobs" and nocturnal trainings, as if civil war could make food. We are prepared to find the fear of starvation, at times, producing like effects this winter among our mercurial countrymen across the channel. Already there are symptoms of a spirit which may break out into serious tumults. But, making this allowance, we must also say that there is an addiction to emphatic writing among our pro fessional brethren across the channel, and a craving for stimulating paragraphs among those of them on this side, which have a tendency to create premature and exaggerated alarms. The mail-coach rumour of a collision between the dragoons and the peasantry at Dungarvan, published in yesterday's Chronicle, and still uncorroborated, may unfortunately be true; but the statement that the whole country between Cork and Waterford is in " state of awful excitement" is unquestionably exag gerated. The hourly despatches from Youghal in the Cbrk Examiner of the 28th are an instructive specimen of these rumours : • Yo: rsvetee oTtors.-4s immen, nuntiier of people front both sides of the Iliad:water came here this morning with clubs, determined to sae.; and plunder the town. Tuner: o'CLoest.—Not a beixg in the streets but the len• laboarces from the county Waterford, rho are expecting a rcin furccoicat. Bruce o'CcocK.—The enemy has not yet appeared." Such vague and self-contradictory rumours are re printed in the London journals in their most emphatic type, and with their most attractive headings, while the progress of the Government measures to meet the exigency are slurred over. The truth is, that the partial, isolated, and unim portant movements of popular impatience in Ireland, are prompted by fears of the future. Convince the people that there is food in the land, and that timely measures will be taken to enable them to earn the means of purchasing it, and by allaying apprehension you put an end to turbulence. The stores of food already in the country, or on their way to it, are sufficient to feed the people till the next harvest. There is a very considerable amount of home-grown grain and Indian corn in private hands in Ireland. About the middle of August there were in the •arious depots 430 tons of oatmeal; 7,500 sacks, 13;0,n0 barrels, and upwards of 6,000,000 of pounds of Indian corn meal, besides 8,000 bushels of Indian corn. The stores since that time have rather been increved than diminished. The Commissariat sent out large orders for Indian meal and other grain to the United States by the packets of the 4th and 19th of last month, and further orders are to be sent by the packets of the present month; so that large supplies may be expected in the course of six weeks. Commercial letters from New York mention large shipments of grain making there to private account. The military stores in Ireland have been placed at the disposal of the Commissariat. Six Government steamers are incessantly busy carrying fresh supplies of grain and meal to the various depots, and several frigates ar.2. being fitted up as floating depsts. While Government is thus providing reserve stores to meet any possible short-coming in private supplies, the arrangements for providing em ployment whereby the people may earn the means of purchasing the food, are in active progress. There are (including counties of cities and towns) three hundred and twenty-two baronies in Ireland. Extraordinary presentment sessions have been proclaimed for two hundred and two of them, and a majority of these have met, passed present ments, and voted assessments. The county surveyors and the officers of the Board of Works have in all these baronies lists of works which can be begun immediately, and the money is to be advanced out of the Treasure ; so, in a month or six weeks at farthest, the unemployed destitute may be set to work in every barony where immediate distress prevails in Ireland. Already labourers are employed on some of these works in Tipperary. Matters are bad enough in Ireland. The ingenuity, activity, and firmness of Government, and of every true lover of his country, will be severely enough taxed before the winter is over. But there is no ground for panic. That only dkenables people for working, and stirs up crowds to impede work. If certain public writers and speakers would favour government and the public with a little less of their eloquence, and a little more of their active practical co-operation, matters would go on better. But even as it is, they are already in more tolerable train than we had any right to anticipate. WE hope that some member of the House of Com mons may make a motion next session for the aboli tion of the office of Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, The post has become useless : far worse indeed than useless, since it only serves to manifest blun ders and record humiliations. We ask any man of plain sense and fairness, whether the country would not be at this moment in a mach more dignified and peaceful position, and, at the same time, in quite as powerful a one, had we possessed the good fortune to have been without Foreign-office and without diplo macy since 1830. Ay, and long before. Let us enumerate the chief acts of that policy. We began by recognising the present King of the FRENCH with such headlong haste as to offend Rus sia and Austria; and we continued to give Louts PHILIPPE so cordially the hand, that we rendered any European coalition to crush him utterly impos sible. We had scarcely taken this position, when the Belgian insurrection occurred. Louis PHILIPPE in stantly declared that no one should meddle with it ; that the Treaty of Vienna was abrogated, as far as the Low Countries were concerned ; and that neither Europe nor Holland should restore the :Mena of 1815. We acquiesced. We took the French view of the question against ourselves. We approved of the siege of Antwerp. Louts PHILIPPE, to gratify us, did not, indeed, put his son on the new Belgian throne ; but, by means of a marriage, he did the same thing. Commercially, politically, and militarily, Belgium was absorbed by France ; and we have taught our selves to consider it the natural order of things. Then occurred the death of FERDINAND, and the revo lution effected in Spain by his testament. Here again we joined France, and recognised ISABELLA, without taking express precautions against her or her sister's marrying a French prince. But we had at that time so loaded Louis PHILIPPE and his house with bene fits, that we did not doubt of his gratitude. We con cluded the quadripartite alliance. We sent our sol diers and sailors to combat: gave arms, money, English blood. Whilst Louts PHILIPPE endeavoured to make a merit with the Eastern Powers of not cor dially co-operating with us, we, in despite of French lukewarmness, saved Bilboa, and with it the throne of ISABELLA. The sword of Eseaarzno secured it. And then,—in stepped LOUIS PHILIPPE to profit by all that we had done. He suborned a party to oppose England in Spain; he set up a press to calumniate her; and in a few months he drove out of the Peninsula, with every friend of England or of liberty, every vestige of English influence. Further, to render securitymore sure, he placed his minions near the throne of Portugal, and was as much master of the court of Lisbon as of Madrid. And this course of policy he has now wound up by putting an extinguisher on the little Queen; and by giving openly to his own son the succession to the Spanish throne, by means of a marriage with the In fants. We wonder that the ghosts of WILLIAM THE THIRD and of MARLBOROUGH do not rise from the grave, to reproach the men who wield the sceptre and the sword of England. Now, we ask, would we not be much better off, had we possessed no foreign minister, no diplomacy, no l i far-seeking policy for the last sixteen years? Need we speak of Italy ; where we helped the French to take Ancona, one result of which is, that the French are nowpredominant at Rome? Need we speak of Oreese; which we helped to liberate, in order to have itl governed by the French Prefect, COLETTI ? Need we speak of Syria; where we endangered the peace Europe in resisting France, and where the French, by their monks, have won almost more influence than they wielded through the sword of Inastim ? Turn away from France, and look to America. We have had two causes of difference with the United' States, their north-cast and their north-west frontiers.' In both we yielded more than even the Americans themselves dared ask ten years back. We were right, indeed, to yield. But would it not have been more' dignified to have flung it up carelessly and magnani mously from nation to nation, than to have employed diplomatic agents to cavil and discuss ; to have heard POLK blustering and PEEL replying, with the cer tainty of concession in the end. To have held our tongues, and abided by our fate, would have been just as profitable. Then there is Texas. How lucky would we have been to have had no Mr. PAKENILEM simply to spirit up Mexico, and intrigue with Texas, that Mr. Pout might break through the web of our intrigues with a kick of his foot. In the Old World as in the New, our habit universally is, to thrust ourselves between two combatants when they are nearly done fighting, and encourage the weak and half-beaten party to stand up once more against the stronger, in order to get himself entirely beaten, and definitively crushed. But all this proceeds from the absurd vanity of our statesmen, who will aspire to have a foreign policy, when the nation not only has none, but does not Care to have any. Here, for example, are these marriages of the Spanish Princesses. Ministers have thrown themselves into all kinds of menacing atti tudes, of hurt pride, of angry remonstrance, or of contingent war. To what purpose ? except to show that England ought to be angry, but has not the stomach to be so. Lord PALMERSTON makes his press thunder, it is true ; and is full of deep ire in his own heart. But he is forced to be bland, even when addressing that arch-traitor Louts PHILIPPE. He has to smile and promise "that the amicable relations between the countries will not be disturbed ;" simply because he knows the people of England would see, without the least disturbance of their perfect indifference, all the Princesses of Spain married to all the Emperors of all the realms of the universe. We now learn, that because Government cannot resent Louts PHILIPPE'S falsehood at present, it will protest; it will, by a public declaration, disinherit the offspring of the Duke of MONTPENSIEE ; and thus appeal from the impossibility of present war, to the possibility of a future one. This, we fear, is nonsense. If we will not go to war now—and certainly we will not—to prevent a Prince of Orleans from ascending the throne of Spain, we shall be little likely to go to war for the same cause at any future time. And, knowing this, it is unwise and un fair to throw upon posterity the task of avenging in juries which we dare not resent. Louts PHILIPPE will laugh at our protests ; will sneer at our present back wardness, and our valour in future; and will sheathe his sword with a contemptuous "-Well, gentlemen, whenever you are ready ;" showing how fully he has fathomed our purposes, and seen through our political subterfuges. If people will but reflect on this state of things, they must come to the conclusion that the safest and most dignified way for England, would be for its govern ment to conform itself to the public feeling of the nation, and to have no foreign policy at all. There is no use in having any, unless the public have faith and sympathy in it, and unless a statesman can act up to it. Of this, at least, we are certain, that it would be much better to have no foreign policy at all. and no foreign office, than to reap from them such fruits. Every aim of peace and friendship missed; every scheme of alliance abortive ; every cherished freedom crushed ; every useful influence undermined ; every feeling of national pride outraged ; every gua rantee of national power and independence swept away ; and even all openings of trade and commerce closed against us one after the other. YESTERDAY morning the sportsman became entitled to fall foul of the pheasants. The birds, like the land lords, have lost their protection. There is free trade between fowling-piece and feathers, and shot is im ported into the bird's body, intercepted by no pro hibitory duty. The fields are in a flutter. There is a diversion from, though not for, the partridges. They no longer have a monopoly as marks for the Manton. A new element of sport is provided for country gentlemen, and a new dish adorns the table of the citizen. If the reader dealt with an accommodating poulterer, he might have lunched or even break fasted upon pheasant yesterday morning. Only the empty purse, or lagging appetite, needed to have delayed till dinner. It is legal to buy pheasants THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 2, 1846. as soon es it is legal to shoot pheasants. Legal, we presume, to buy them ready-cooked, the moment the clock has struck the hour, and ushered in the day. Perhaps they flew about in that state, and were shot after being roasted. The late hot weather may account for the phenomenon. However it happens, the fact is certain, of a supply of game to the London market "in no time." Steam is beaten by the birds when dead. They must come from the country by WISEATSTONE'S telegraph. The alacrity of game is most remarkable. On the let of October, pheasants have a right to show themselves ; and, to a minute, they do show themselves. They are as eager for the instant of exhibition as were the West India negroes for that of emancipation. And the accommodating creatures adapt themselves to the preference of some aldermen, who like them best without lead. This is convenient also for other parties. It saves the c.re mony of peppering the corpse with a pistol. One point discussed in the Game-law commission, was that of postponing the legal period of sale to a day after the legal period for killing. This would secure one day's exclusive enjoyment of pheasant and partridge for the privileged. It would afford a decent interval between the right of shooting and the rites of gastronomic sepulture. But we question whether the corporation of London will ever allow such an inva sion of its prerogatives. It would be as bad as the change in the Calendar. It would revive the war of New Style and Old Style. As the commonalty then cried " Give as back our eleven days," the corporation would now cry, " Give us back our game day." One day of game is worth at least eleven ordinary days. The motion will probably be postponed till a ministry is formed by Lord G. BENTINCK, when it will certainly be made by Mr. GRANTLEY BERKELEY. If carried, it will be unavailing, like most game laws. Cockneyism will exclaim, "Ve von% vait." The pheasants will still be forthcoming. They will be eaten, though the whole country party should protest that they are not legally dead. As if they could not die without being fired at, audibly, visibly, and by license! Perhaps they died for fear of being shot; or expired in pure patriotism ; or are slain by the act of parliament. Anyhow, their feathers may " point a moral and adorn a tale ;" the oft-told tale of the feebleness of law against even the luxuries of wealthy appetite; and the moral of its being time to amend a system of silly restrictions, which is trampled on by poachers and poulterers, and which taints even the fidelity of gamekeepers and the honour' of gentlemen. We write in no spirit of hostility to regular sports men. We only want to make them understand their position. If they do not supply game, other folks will. A plump pheasant is a great fact; and they cannot prevent its civic existence. There is a demand, and there must be a supply ; and we cheerfully and gratefully acknowledge the extent to which they contribute towards that supply. They keep down the market admirably. A battuc in Buckinghamsh' is felt in Leadenhall-street. Prince ALBERT is amaz ingly popular in those parts. They give his health with the glee, " What shall he have that killed the 1 Deer ? " And every nobleman and gentleman that assists at these feathery massacres, is a benefactor in proportion to his bagging. They all help to make pheasants cheaper than chickens. They supersede the occasion for slaughter-houses. They minister to the table of the tradesman. If their ministering be not done gently, the butchering is done gratuitously. They find their own tools, and charge nothing for time or trouble. For the lead of a lord, we pay no more than for that of a poacher. A great public service is performed. The agents are only amateurs, but they serve as well as professionals. They cater, they slaughter, they supply the shops; and what would the city do without them? It could as soon dispense with cabs and omnibuses. The gentlemen of the game are as necessary as oyster dredgers. They are entitled to rank also amongst the useful classes. It is a humble function, but they dis charge it welL We have sometimes felt compelled to expose the viciousness of their system, but we are not insensible to their merits. It is owing to their personal exertions, and also to their business bargains, that, although every peasant in the country cannot have a loaf in his cupboard, yet every linendraper in London can have a partridge on his plate. An excellent plea for battues was urged by Lord FITZHARDINGE in his examination before the Game Committee. It was, in substance, that when a country gentleman grows old and gouty, ho yet does not outgrow his sportsmanship. With the true bred squire it " travels thro', nor quits us till we die." Now the gouty gentleman cannot run after the game; therefore the game must be made to run towards the gouty gentleman. He has the advantage of the bed-ridden angler, with his teach in a tub. Wheel him out on the lawn in his chair, and beat the pre serves. The pheasants fly from the sticks of the peasants, all but into the muzzle of the gun of the gouty old gentleman. There is splendid sport for his decrepitude. The creatures flock, as they did round ADAM to be named ; and he christens them with the baptism of fire. There is life enough in him to deal death by wholesale. His time is flying, bat the birds shall fly no more. His feet are fettered, but his finger is fatal. There he sits, amid limping hares and bleed ing birds, shouting clowns, obsequious menials, sympa thising sportsmen, and admiring gamekeepers, the very picture of a " fine old English gentleman, all of the olden time." Pity but he should die so. " Even in our ashes live their wonted fires." The spirit of the Dutch Governor evaporated in a puff of to bacco smoke; and he would make " a good ending" to pop off with his last pop, hit and be hit at once, become game for Death while making death a game, and leave his double-barrel with a peer at one end and a brace of partridges at the other. The Game-laws greatly promote religion, as Mr. GRANTLEY BERKELEY has shown in his philoso phical evidence. So, as pheasant shooting has began, there will doubtless be large and devout congrega tions next Sunday at all country churches in sporting districts. This is fortunate. There will then be an extra prayer fer relief from natural scarcity, which should excite some reflection in the minds of any sporting attendants who have advocated artificial scarcity. For thirty years their corn-laws have checked the supply of food. They abused people for petitioning for relief. Now Heaven checks the supply, and the Church petitions Heaven for relief. Is scarcity made by law, more sacred than scarcity made by Provi dence? Their restrictive law yet lingers ; it has a sting in dying ; at this moment, imported corn is taxed 103. per quarter ; and they cling to thatlax as " the last plank of Protection." Let them remember this, while the prayer is reading. THE appointment of Mr. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS to the vacant judgeship of the Court of Queen's Bench is most honourable to the Government. No man in Westminster-hall had stronger claims, personal or hereditary. The claims of party, in matters of this kind, are best left out of the question. Sir ROBERT PEEL offered an example, in the case of Mr. Justice ERLE, which, in the present instance, Lord JOHN RUSSELL has wisely confirmed and followed. Mr. WILLIAMS was called to the bar twenty-three years ago, and in the year succeeding his call had proved himself, by his joint editorship with Mr. Justice PArrEsorg of his father's celebrated edition of Saunders' Reports, an able and accompli shed lawyer. Other works, more especially a treatise on the Law of Executors, which enjoys a singular reputation for excellence, afterwards strengthened and established his repute. And the edition of Williams' Saunders, which appeared last year under his sole editorship; and which is hourly in every pleader's hand, will re main a monument of legal learning, exquisite arrange ment, and logical facility and clearness, when even its practical utility shall have vanished before the in evitable advance of new " rules" and reforms. We have spoken of Mr. WILT wa's hereditary claims. They are not less strong than his personal. It was the opinion of Lord Eruort that no man ever lived to whom the character of a great common law yer was more properly applied than to Mr. Serjeant WILLIAMS; and it was only the jobbing propensity of Lord ELDON, which could have withheld from the bench the advantages of so much learning and genius. The Chancellor's admirers refer to a letter, in which his sense of duty is alleged to have weighed against his desire to promote this distinguished lawyer. "\o man in the profession," this letter runs, "stands higher in my regard than WILLIAMS. I certainly had a full conviction that the labour of the King's Bench was such as necessarily to lead me to think of others; and, ander that con viction, whether I was right or wrong, the matter was, in fact, over when I received your letter." We confess we think that if doubts on the score of ill health, or incapacity for labour, had not occurred to the serjeant himself (who certainly expected this promotion), or to the chief of the court in which he aspired to sit (Lord ELLENBOROUGII was the most earnest seconder of his claims), they need not have occurred to Lord ELDON. As it was, the increased exertions consequent on his continued pursuit of the more arduous duties of the profession to which he was so strongly attached, wore out his strength ; and he died after some few years (during which no second opportunity for promotion seems to have occurred) of premature old age. Every one will rejoice that honours so justly due to the father, and so unhappily intercepted, should at length, and with the universal concurrence of competent judment, ha been granted to the son. We can imagine no appointment to the bench that would have been more popular in Westminster hall. Little known to the public beyond the limits of the South Wales Circuit, Mr. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS has long held foremost place in the Courts at Westminster as an authority in pleading ; in rela tion to which, sustaining the reputation of hie father, he has been even less remarkable for acquaintance with its forms than for knowledge of its principles. With these his mind is richly stored. He belongs, in that respect, to a class of lawyers now unhappily rare, and not ill represented by the famous work (in its way a genuine classic) with which his name is more particularly associated. He has his superiors at Westminster in the application of old principles to modern relations, and his equals in acquaintance with the books; but we doubt if he has any competitor in the capacity of dealing with the system of logic which was in vogue with the elder judges and text writers. His power of seizing and eliciting the com mon sense principle from beneath any conceivable amount of pedantic fonnuls, is astonishingly great and certain ; and we can hardly conceive a more dangerous judge to that class of eminent pleaders whose familiarity with what may be termed the minute anatomy of law too often enables them to triumph over the just inclinations of the Court, than Mr. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS. We have not referred to Mr. WILLIAMS'S political opinions, for we are not acquainted with them. We see that some of our contemporaries claim him as belonging to the anti-ministerial party. It may be so : but we believe it to be very certain, if he has any political bias, that it is unknown to the great mass of his competitors in Westminster-hall. They will gratefully recognise in his promotion a testimony of a higher kind, to the honest claims of professional distinction, and to the pure administration of justice. lu such appointments Lord JoHN RUSSELL gives a fresh guarantee of that superiority to mere party , considerations, in which all who wish well to his government must feel that it strikes its deepest foundation, and rests its safest title to continued and even general support. The French Court Journal, or Debate, of Wednes day, continues its running comments upon England, and upon its opinions or no-opinions with respect to the Montpensier marriage. There is talk, saith this journal, of the English parliament assembling in November; but let not our readers be alarmed,—the English parliament does not meet to discuss Spanish marriages. Corn and Sugar are the topics that interest an English public. It would disdain to give a moment's attention to an old treaty concluded at Utrecht, except so far as it might contain a clause for permitting Spanish sugar to enter British porta. For a great moral end, such as the abolition of slavery, the English might become enthusiastic. But when neither morals, nor religion, nor commerce are con cerned, it is all one to the English people what takes place. Let our good French public not be alarmed; if ministers meet and Parliament assemble, it is to discuss Irish famine, not Spanish marriages. Such is the language of the Journal dee De:bats ; which very much resembles the encouragement of a thief to his associates, assuring them that the hang man sleeps, and that the constable is on quite another beat. The Epoque,the other French ministerial paper, reckons for French impunity, not like the Debate, upon John Bull's absorption in domestic matters, but upon his assumed hatred of Lord Palmerston, whom, it boasts, that the French government can upset, if his Lordship dare show his teeth. These arc singular polemics. The National, speaking of the marriage of the Infanta, says: " Nothing can be more unpopular in Spain than the mirriage of the Duke de Montpensier. That question has roused all parties, and it meets with a strenuous and warm opposition even amongst the most considerable faction of the Conservatives. The Tienapo and Espanol, organs of that faction, wage as fierce a war against it as the Progresista journals. If the government had been assured of the public assent, what need had they of increasing their violence against the press, of :seizing five journals in one day, of arrest ing one five times in a week,ofsending police agents to suppress an article at the moment of printing it, of menacing citizens guilty of signing a petition, and of patrolling the streets of Madrid with strong detachments of infantry and cavalry ? And all that proves that Spain anxiously and joyously ac cepts your marriage. You must suppose your readers to possess an extraordinary portion of credulity to dare to affirm it. ' Revolt has not yet taken arms,' writes our correspond ent, but it is to be found in every heart. I know not at what hour it will burst forth, but I am certain that every moment advances the hand which points to the hour. Christina has played a terrible game, but she shall lose it.' " Their Excellencies the Marquis and Marchioness of Normanby left Paris yesterday on a visit of a few days to Count Mole, at Champlatreux. The Marquis de Valdespina, Generals Gomez and Villareal, and M. de Vargas, who were resident at Bordeaux, have been transferred to the chateau of Blaye. The Angebuig Gazette states that overtures, which are said to have had their origin at St. Petersburg, will soon be made by the three protecting powers of Cracow to the governments of France and England, relative to Poland in general, and Cracow in par ticular. A letter from Vienna confirms the statement of the states of Bohemia having come to a legislative de cision relative to the land-tax which pressed so heavily on the tenants or peasants. This impost exceeded by a fifth the contribution of the same kind paid by the landlords or nobles ; and the states have voted this surplus to the profit of the peasants. This is no inconsiderable favour, as several great landed pro prietors, in consequence of this arrangement, will have to pay taxes from 15 to 25,000 flonns, or from 37 to 63,000 fr., more than what they paid previously. The Aulic Chancellor's Court of Vienna has consented to approve of this reform, but only for one year. Our Madrid letters are of the 25th. Their most important contents are Mr. Bulwer's letter to Gene ral Serrano, which the Clamor Public° published, and for which publication all the numbers of that journal were seized. General Serrano, under date of 20th, requests Mr. Bulwer's opinion of the singular expressions used by M. Isturitz, at the previous sitting of the senate, when he spoke as follows, in replying to the general : " What will you think, if I declare that the marriage most opposed by the British plenipotentiary, is that of her Majesty the Queen ? What will you say, if I add that the desire and intention of the British Cabinet was to present, as sole candidate for the Queen's hand, another prince, in op position to the existing arrangement ?" Mr. Bulwer's reply is dated 21st. After stating, in a prefatory manner, that the British government was too loyal and candid to involve its views with mys tery, his Excellency states that ' With respect to the Queen's marriage, the uniform wish of his government had been, that the prince selected as her consort should be a Spaniard—such a choice being deemed the best for supporting the independence of Spain, and also most likely to obtain the approval of the Spanish people. The recent general manifestation in favour of the pretensions of his Royal Highness Don Henry, and the manly and inde pendent character of that Prince, combined with objections advanced against Don Francisco de Anis, by persons at this court competent to judge of such matters, induced the British government to believe that Dan Henry beyond every other candidate, the qualities ciceirabre o ro c r se tre consort of Queen Isabella; and that opinion it co uld ex p ress, las one friend can advise another in an important affair. I cannot affirm what may have passed in conversations ; but the formal protest which I have presented in the name of my government, the notes I have written to his Excellency the Minister of State, in which there has been no mention whatever of Don Francisco de Assis, completely justify your belief, that the opposition made by me, in the name of my government, refers exclusively to the marriage of her Royal Highness the Infanta ; and, whatever may be said to the contrary, I have the satisfaction of declaring, with the con sciousness of one who knows he is stating the truth, that the government of her Britannic Majesty will be gratified on learning the selection of a Spanish Prince. And if this Prince, on whom her Majesty'schoice has fallen, justifies the opinion now entertained in his favour; if he acts as becomes a royal prince and true Spaniard, displaying a love of liberty, respect for the laws, and a decided regard for his country's independence ; not only will he be considered with a favour able sympathy by the British government, but he will secure ' the affectionate and ardent approbation of the entire English nation, who look upon the Spaniards as their brothers, with whom they have divided the dangers and glories of war—as allies, with whom they are anxious to cultivate the friendly intercourse of peace—as men, worthy of enjoying the benefits of liberty and independence—and, finally, as friends, to whom (as you will perceive by this communication) their representative can speak with sincerity and frankness." FRANCE.-FRENCH CONSCLATES.-M.Zot has, it is said, just completedhisarmngements for the French Consulates, which now only wait for the Royal sanction. The present consular establishment of France consists of 21 Consuls-General, and 96 Consuls ; those 117 agents being classed as follows :-In Austria 3, Belgium 2, Bolivia 2, Bra zil 11, Chili '3, China 1, Denmark 1, Sicily 2, Equador 2, Spain 14, Roman States 2,l7nited States (Central America) 1, United States (North America) 7, Gieat Britain and Ireland 11, Greece 2, Hayti 2, Duchy of Hesse 1, Norway 1, New Grenada 2, Holland 2, Peru 2, Portugal 2, Prussia 2, Mexico 5, Russia and Poland 6, Sardinian States 4, Saxony 1, Tuscany 1, Turkey, Barbary, and Morocco 25, Venezuela 1, Hanseatic Towns 2, Uruguay 1. ITALY.-Roue, SEPT. 17.-The whole store of bread for the garrison of Rome, consisting of about 4,000 loaves, was distributed this day amongst the poor. Three bakers, as well as the contractor, are in prison ; the latter is liable to a fine of 20,000 scudi. The Pope made a personal tour of inspection of all the barracks. In the first days of October his Holiness intends proceeding to the castle of Castel Gondolfo. Every arrival from Rome brings an ac count of some new measure for the benefit of the country. We now learn that the Pope has appointed a commission for the improvement of the forests and rivers. The condition of the latter in the States of the Church is deplorable; no thing has been done for fifteen years to clear their beds or strengthen their embankments, to prevent their flooding the country. As to the forests, they have been totally neglected, and those of Fajola and Terrucina, on the confines of the kingdom of Naples, are literally abandoned to pillage, whereby one of the greatest sources if wealth is rendered unproductive. GERMANY.-AUSTRIA, VIENNA, SEPT. 23.-The embarrassments arising from the quest;on of the marriage of the Infanta of Spain, have had their influence on the Vienna bourse. The blow aimed at the entente cordiale between France and England, is justly regarded as an infringement of the balance of power in kurope. Austria is inclixed to regard the articles of the treaty of Utrecht in the same light as England, and Prussia in all probability would do the same. As regards the conduct of Russia, as that power did not sign the treaty of Utrecht, it will probably follow its own peculiar line of policy. If Russia is silent, or does not refuse to re cognise Queen Isabella, it will be a symptom of an approach ing reconciliation between the cabinet of the Tuileries and the court of St. Petersburg, which is half expected. This is the reason why the news from l'aris is anxiously expected. All well-informed persons at Vienna are of opinion that Louis Philippe would not have taken such a step without having well calculated every chance. As regards Italy, it is in the interest of Austria to put a stop as much as possible to French influence. DENNIAIiK.—CoensitSGEN, SEPT. 21.—The King of Sweden and his youngest eon arrived on the 17th at Gothenburg. His Majesty was enthusiastically received. He was to continue his journey to Norway on the 221. The accounts from Iceland and the Ferree Islands are anything but satisfactory. Never in the memory of man has there been a more disagreeable summer in Iceland than the pre sent; torrents of rain and storms succeeded each other with out intermission. The measles and the dysentery carried off almost the fourth of the inhabitants, especially on the coasts, which caused the cultivation of the land to be para lysed, and the fishery, which would have otherwise been most abundant, to be neglected. The bad weather pre vented the Danish, German, French, Belgian, and English sevens from pursuing their les( arches into the state of Mount Heels, but they have decided on passing the winter in Iceland, in order to profit by the cold and dry weather to carry on their investigations. Towards noon on the 22nd ult. there was a sudden and violent eruption of Mount Heels, the commencement of which was accompanied by several shocks of earthquake, extending to a radius of about three miles. The eruption lasted about forty minutes; the flames rose to an immense height, and all the country round the volcano was covered with a thick layer of ashes. SWEDEN.—STOCKIIOLM, SEI'T. 18.—The .21-ortre gian Constitutional says that the Bishop of Drontheim would prefer giving in his resignation to crowning the Queen of Sweden. HOLLAND.—Tnie HAGUE, SEPT. 29.—We have received the following from Surinam :—Ever since August, 1845, to April this year, that is, for eight months, this colony has been visited by a severe drought. This very phenome non, for which the people were not prepared, has caused great inconvenience and injury. Water for the people and cattle was extremely difficult to be obtained. All branches of agriculture have suffered severely, and some ships were obliged to go away in ballast, on account of the non production of staple articles, while others waited long for a cargo. The general scarcity of provisions has been hard upon the population. In almost all the plantations there are sufficient banana fields, from which both the labourers in the plantations and the indigent natives of the town of Paramaribo derive their principal sustenance. These, as well as the corn, rice, vegetables, &c., having for the most part failed, we have been obliged to supply the want by purchasing in the neighbouring colonies, and that at very high prices, because there, too, the drought had been felt; and, in consequence of the failure of the potato crop in Europe, our supplies from North America were very scanty. The health of the population has not suffered during this time, nay, it acorns that the provisions imported, though scarce and dear, have had a favourable effect. This seems to confirm what hes been asserted by competent judges respecting the ill effects of the excessive use of bananas as food in an unripe state. The epidemic has entirely disappeared among the European colo nists on the banks of the river Sarumaca. The rains, which set in in April, have had a good effect on the vegetation ; provisions are by no means so scarce, but it is feared that the bad consequences of the drought may still be felt for some time yet. ARNIIEIM, SEPT. 26.—A traveller, who arrived yesterday by the last train of the Rhenish railway, relates that near Driebergen, a horse, which had probably strayed from a neighbouring meadow, was run over by the locomo five, the tender, and luggage waggon, none of which were thrown off the rails, but that two carriages full of passengers, which immediately followed them, were not so fortunate, but ran off the rails and were dragged for 10 minutes through the sand ; great confusion prevailed among the passengers, two of whom were so imprudent as to leap out of the car riages, by which they received much injury--one is said to have had both his legs broken. This accident caused such delay that the train, which should have arrived at eleven o'clock last night, did not come in until a quarter past three this morning. POLAND.—WARSAW, SErT. 18.—The Russian government has just booed an order for all the sign boards of the shops at Warsaw to be in the Russian lan guage. This measure caused a great sensation, as most of the shopkeepers are completely ignorant of the Russian language. The police insists rigorously on the order being obeyed. THE LEBANON.—The Augsburg Gazette of the 2Gth ultimo has accounts from Beyrout. The Lebanon, and Syria in general, are tranquil. To settle the affair of the tribes in that part of the Lebanon inhabited by the Druses, a commission has been appointed consisting of Kiamil Pacha, the deputy-governor of Saida, an employil of the financial department, a member of the council of the Druses, and a member of the council of Beyrout. A committee of the tribunal of commerce is occupied at the present moment in drawing up a commercial code. COLONIAL. NEWFOUNDLAl&.L:boisiderable dissatisfac tion appears, from the last dates, to prevail in this colony, in consequence of the appointment of an expensive board of commissioners, who arc to be paid out of the funds now being collected in England and else where, in aid of the sufferers by the tire on the 9th of June last, for the trouble of distributing the same. A public meeting in St. John's is talked of, for discussing the propriety of the appointment of such a commission at all. The members of the House of Assembly seem to have had no sample, either in accepting their usual payments for attend once during the sitting of the legislature, although broad hints were given by the press that, under the depressed circumstan ces of the colony, they might have waived their right in this particular. Inconsistently enough, too, for a colony which is at this moment suing throughout England for alms in . prind pauperis, under a Queen's letter, the House of Assembly, in its enthusiasm of loyalty, on Sir J. Harvey's leaving the go vernment, had voted 5001. to his excellency from the public funds, as a testimony of approval of his excellency's admiui stration,! This, too, is thrown out against the legislaturelby the colonial prints. And now, it seems, that 7001. a-year has been voted to the dispensers of the relief funds, to be paid out of the subscriptions of the benevolent donors in aid of the sufferers by the tire of June 9. And these conunirsioners seem disposed to make themselves a perpetual commission ; for instead of giving sums where most wanted, they have hit von a plan of making loans, which it may, and will, take yeara to get back ; and so they perpetuate their own com mission. It be court. Her Royal Highness the Princess of Prussia took leave of Her Majesty the Queen Dowager yesterday morn ing, at Marlborough-house, on her return to the Continent. The Princess, accompanied by His Serene Highness Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, and their suite, left town for Woolwich soon after eleven o'clock. The Princess was attended from town by the Earl of Denbigh (Master of the Horse to the Queen Dowager) and Mr. Bedford. Th e Chevalier Bunsen, Prussian Minister, attended her Royal Highness, at Woolwich. The royal carriages arrived et Woolwich Dockyard, where her Royal Highness was re ceived by Captain Henderson, of the Sidon steam-frigate, in the absence of Commodore Superintendent Houston Stewart, C.B. (confined to his official residence by illness), and the naval, military, and civil officers of the ships in commission, the garrison and dockyard establishment. A guard of honour of the Royal Marines under Captain Miller, and a field battery of four guns, under the command of Major Aecouth, were on duty, the latter firing royal salutes on the arrival and departure of the Princess. H er Royal Highness on quitting the carriage, attended by Captain Henderson and the above officers, walked on the green bail° which had been spread for the occasion to the commodore's barge, and with her suite proceeded to the Black Eagle, Admiralty steam-yaeht, Master Commander Cook, Captain Smith, of the William and Mary, steering. Her Royal High ness wan attired in a plaid silk dress and a lace cloak, and wore a blue plaid bonnet, with flowers, quite of the English fashion. She bade farewell to the officers and gentlemen who surrounded her, with a great deal of courteous condes cension, and was affected to tears both before and after her Royal Highness was seated in the barge. The Black Eagle hoisted the Prussian standard at the main, on the arrival of the Princess on board, and then started under another salute for Ostend, from which place she will return to Woolwich on Monday, with another illustrious personage. Her Majesty the Queen Dowager and suite left her residence, Idarlborough House, at half-past two o'clock yesterday afternoon, for Cashiobury Park, Herta. A Cabinet Council was held at three o'clock yester day afternoon, at the official residence of Lord John Russell in Downing-street. The minister? present were Lord John Russell, the Lord Chancellor, the Earl of Mhz), Viscount Palmerston, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Earl of Auckland, Lord Morpeth, the Marquis of Clanricarde, and the Right Hon. T. B. Macaulay. The Earl of Mint° arrived in town yesterday morning, to attend the meeting, from St. Leonard's-on-Sea. The Chancellor of the Exchequer arrived in town yesterday morning, from Hickleton Hall. Doncaster. The Council sat two hours and a half. _ . . Prince Callimaki, the newly-accredited Turkish minister at this court, was yesterday received by Viscount Palmerston at the Foreign-office, accompanied by Edib Effendi, the Turkish charge d'atfaires. Sir William Denison has left town to embark for 'Van Diemen's Lind, to assume the governmeut of that colony. Le Commandeer Marquis Lisboa, Brazilian minis• ter, transacted business yesterday at the Foreign•oflcc. Despatches from the Governor of Canada were re ceived yesterday at tr c Colonial-office. Despatches were sent off last evening from the Colonial-office for the Governors of the West India colonies, THE REGISTRATIONS. LONDON.—Mr. Arnold yesterday revised the lista for the following parishes:—Allhallows Bread-street, Holy- Trinity-the-less, St. John the Evangelist, St. James Gar lickhythe, St. Martin Wintry, St. Michael Paternoster Royal, St. Margaret Moses, St. Mary-le-bow, St. Mary Mountlaw, St. Mary Somerset, St. Michael Qucenhithe, St. Mildred Bread-street, St. Nicholas Cole Abbey, St Nicho las Olave, and. St. Peter Paul's Wharf,—all in the ward of Bread-street.—Samuel Godfrey Crook, who was on the list for apartments, No. 1.5, Garlick-hill, was objected to by the Tories. It appeared from the evidence of Thomas Dawson, that the claimant, who is a clerk iw the employment of Messrs. Conway, Phelps, and Haywood, occupies a bed-room on the second floor. The rent of the premises is paid by the firm. Two other clerks sleep on the premises. The room occupied by the claimant is worth 101. a-year. The engage ment of the clerks requires them to sleep on the premises, but they were not compelled to do so, nor was it necessary for the purposes of their business. In answer to questions by Mr. Brown, the witness said that ho also had been placed on the list. He and Crook occupied separate apartments. He was provided with victuals by his employer:. Neither Crook nor he had any right or control over the premises, as occupiers, and were liable to be discharged at a month's no tice.—Mr. Brown said that iu this case four young men had been placed on the list by the anti-corn - law league for the premises of their employers.—Mr. Arnold decided against the vote, and the names of Dawson and the two other parties referred to were also expunged. Subjoined is the result of the day's proceedings .—Liberal objections sustained, 16 ; failed or withdrawn, 35. Tory ob jections sustained, 81 ; failed or withdrawn, 60. Double objections sustained, 11 ; failed, 3. One Liberal claim was subetantiated, and 2 failed. PROVINCIAL.--EAsT Susses.—This revision, made by A. Ryland, Esq., who held his court at Rye, ended in a gain of 17 Conservative votes. - - - COUNTY OF MONMOUT.II.—On Friday and Saturday Mr. Kinnendey, the revising barrister, held his court at Monmouth. Owing to the aliticipated contest in this county, more than usual interest was taken in the proceedings. As usual, each party has put forth a different statement of the result, but we gather that the Protectionists had the best of the revision. The general election, however, will test the real state of the case.. THE MAYORALTY ELECTION. The polling was resumed at nine o'clock yester day, with a result, throughmst the day, favourable to Mr. Alderman Wood. The slumbers at the close of the day stood thus: Wood, 921; Carroll, 580 ; Hooper, 191; Farn comb, I ; Moon, 1. Mr. ANDERTOS then came forward, and called on the livery to reject Mr. Alderman Wood, because if the livery placed him in a majority the Court of Aldermen would not reject him. (Hisses.) He had demanded a poll on the part of Mr. Alderman Hooper, in order to test the opinions of the livery. A man asking to be elected to the high office of Lord Mayor of the City of London ought to be a man of honour and of integrity, and looking at the requirements of that office he ought to be a man independent us principle and pocket. (Ilisses.) He did not quarrel with any man for nut having means, but no man ought to come forward as a candidate who was not able to meet the demands made upon him from day to day. (Hisses.) Alderman Woou then came forward, and was received with loud cheers. He said he was not sorry for having given precedence to Mr. Anderton, because it afforded a proof of the unfair manner in which he had been treated. (hear.) It was not right that private concerns should Le raked up on every public occasion. Were those persons who engaged in the ephemeral schemes of the day, and who had not paid up their quotas, to be assailed before the public ? Allusion had been made to the Irish Society. He had an account with that society, which he delivered in January last, but the hon. gentleman who was connected with that society, left the accounts unsettled. The hon. gentleman put the candidates to a needless expense by de manding a poll. He said that the Lard Mayor of London ought to be a man of unbounded opulence. They ought, then, to take away the right of selection from the livery, for it was only nceessary,to examine the candidate's purse.:(Hear, hear.) He had been zealous ' impartial, and independent in the discharge of his public duties—(hear, hear)—and, if all the incidents in the private life of every person were searched into, as in his case, he thought the livery would have some hesitation in making a selection. (Hear, hear.) He begged to thank them for the position which he occupied on the poll, and, if it was to be a test, he begged of them to have the numbers as large as they could, by bringing forward the voters. Mr. IL TAYLOR said he was connected with a great pub lic trust in the city, which had been engaged iu a difficult law-suit. The to the trust received money to pay the fees of counsel; but, though he received the money, he never paid it. (Hisses.) Ile was brought face to face with the clerk of the barrister, and he promised to pay that day. That person was Alderman Wood. (Loud hisses, during which Mr. Taylor sat down.) Mr. Alderman Wool, said he would give the same answer to tke charge that he had given in another place. He was solicitor for the Irish society in a pr.d.racted suit, every point in which ho had gained. He admitted that the accounts were not arranged ; but he had an account against the society which had been delivered in, and was not settled. Mr. Idols said that he was for many years a liveryman of the city of London, and a common councilman of Furring don W ithout, and he could bear testimony that no man was more faithful in the discharge of his public duties than Alderman Wood, or had devoted more time to the interests of the public. (Hear, hear.) He knew no person who had rendered greater services to his fellow citizens than Mr. Wood. Those gentlemen who spoke against Alderman Wood had their own objects in doing so, but he hoped that the livery would do their duty, and return him by a triumphant majority. The ball then adjourned. WEST LONDON MECHANICS' INSTITUTION. Last evening, a general meeting of the members of the West London Literary, Scientific, and Mechanics' In stitution was held, at the Commercial Hall, King's-road, Chelsea. The institution was originally founded by a series of resolutions passed at a public meeting, held so long ago as the month of April last, and since that period the Council at Management has secured the possession of the premises formerly known as the " Manor-house, King's-road," for the purposes of the society. The meeting of last night was held for the purpose of receiving the law. and regulations of the institution, as prepared by . the council, under the powers confided to them at the preliminary meeting, and afterwards to hear en inaugural address delivered be the Very Rev. Dr. Buckland, the Dean of Westminster. 'The assemblage of last evening comprised a numerous and influential body of the residents of the district, including many of the fur sex, and the proceedings passed off with the greatest unani mity and satisfaction. The Dean of Westminster, on assuming the presidential chair, expreining his regret that it was not filled .by Colonel Thomas Wood, who was unavoidably absent, detailed the objects (as already stated) fur which the meeting was assembled, and those contemplated by the formation of the society. These last included the establishment of a reading-room well sup plied with the newspapers and periodical publications of the day, the delivery of lectures weekly on useful literary and scientific subjects, by competent professors, and the formation of a library for circulation and reference. The laws and re gulations proposed by the cosacil for the government of the society had been prepared with care, and from the experience