The Express. — London, England, 1849-01-15 00:00:00

setwithstesdiag which the trade for Wheat wee exosedingly gall, wed Ism week's pima Mealy supported. Bain* peer gay tesikeed len mosey them het week lee Barley, bat the Immo were lumina, to mood their awe, timbre the es& ruled dull, yet prime may be plated 1., per qr. lower. Ogee were greater is supply Ikea demand, sad se all sales owe effeeted with great mules by the dealers, pikes or arta Is pee gr. Beams sod P 11•111 .netted but little suss tio 5, with a downward tesdesey Wheat. St 10s. to 13/ 6e. re load. Bewley, 23e. to 30e. Oath 16s. to 21s. Beans, Ills. to 405. per qr. Wtoseci, i.e. 13.-The ondition of Wheat mos bad here to-day, sad, althea/1i the supply is set law, lie trade is my dull. and some bat the twee miller's samples make lam week's prism. • beam emp l oy of Oils and Beam. and lea'week's rem barely mistsised Tbe following seethe rem; pekoe : Wheat, sew, red, Sibs. to 621 be., 39.. to 46e. pee qr. ; mks, 465. ; white, 41s. t • 47a.; extra, 49e. ; old, eedl,llllbe. M 413104., 44.. to 4/1. ; extra. 495. white, 47e. to 49e. ; entre, 60. Otte, old. 30,te. to 4011 u., 111 d. to 12d. per unto; sew, pd. to 10d. Beene, old, 385. to 405. per qr. ; sow, Ma to 31s. Wontmess, /ea. 13.-Wo hew a fair supply of Wheat at esorka today, sod the trade ruled dell, at the ourresey Otitis day eenaixbt. Barley again rather lower. Is O a ts bad ism doing. Beans seminally mitered. Pees, le. to 2.. per qr. lager. Toss, Jas. 18.-We lave so alteration is the prim 01 ✓ain m oar market We day, but the wine of all articles is sew at sues moderate rates that our fasinsts ant lees disposed to sell at propose prices. Wheat, white, 46e. to 48.. per imoe vial quarter ,• m 4,401. to 441. Barley, malting, 26e. to 23e. ; &tong, 23e to 265. sle, We. to 60e. Oats, 9d. to 94P. per wee of 141 b. Flou M r, 345. per seek of V3Olos. BILLIAST, Jen. 11.-Sisee the come:easement of the year, we have rather batter supplies, and clearly a better demand than previously. Tae weather is not by say means favour. able for field labour. which probably gives our farmers live to prepare and bring their grain to wket. Wheat emu to market in large tweets, in better °acidities, and goner illy of better quality, showing that the supple at rment is from the betel r its.. of farmers. Fine qualidee of Wheat bring an advance of from 3d. to 4d., whilst other sods are dull, at former rates. Parcels ex store or ship ale move saleable, at former prices. Flour hu decline d tally 64. per ewt. and barrel : American *ells at 275. 6J. to 28s. 6d. per Wirral. Barley: The demand is dull, and prime 3d. to 4d. lower. Oats sell pretty freely, at about former rates. Odom] is oleo • free sale, at same prim as before. Indian Corn • slow sale, at 71. 10• to 71 lbs. per tau. Conn, Jen. 12.—Tbe weather has been ehasimable, high winds sad mid showers having prevailed suer our las:. We have led several arrivals of foreign grain, and these, sembined with the rather dull amounts fries the liiiglisb markets, have mused a continuance of the depression which has existed here for some weeks 'tacit. The supplies of home grown grain are scanty, the receipts of the week amouating only to : Wtetit, 412 brls., at 18.. to 24.. per brl. ; Bexley, 1.24.5, at Bt. 6d. to 16e. 9d. ; o.te. 3,921. a , 7s. to Os. Bd. When is little alteration in the value M Wheat, the sup ply at which is very amain. In p epned Wheat we have no transaction to record. We quote the value of prepared Irish 255.; Mari•nople, 2111 r. per barrel. Barley is unehangea in prim. Is prepared Built y, of which, in fact, then- is mem lan e we have no business passing. Oats also continue without tanner, while in prepand Oats, as in the other descriptions of grain, there is lit le isksg. The article is offering in the oat-ports at 96. 94. per barrel, free on hoard, but without meeting purchs sere. To effect Rain, 9s. Si. should be submitted to. Flour continues dull of sale, and although print of s.me quail ties bare again declined 6d. per ewe, the trade is devoid of activity. Indian Coro has receded in value. and prime coin may now be had at 71. 17. 61. per ton, ordinary descriptions heal freely offered at prices varying from 71. 10s. to 71. 154. Indies Meal is esseteutagly dull of sale, and little inquired far. Linantex, Jan. 13.-We have had some severe d--ems daring the past week, and the weather is now very wet. There has been however, since our last, a good deal of tillage done in Wheat sowing and prepara.iin for sprirg erns. The deliveries of Wheat at market to-day was small, the quality indifferent; pile* leis kept un, and fur good mil ling samples an advance was obtoined. Barle. , for distillers, Cr good foe grinding, binge sou priers, but interior sorts neglected. Oats came in freely during the week, and the depreesien noted in our last wad a gond deal recovered. A large arrival of Indian Corn, Meal, Flour, tc. ; the con sumption is dull, and the val • must be noted ss. per tun ender last quotations. In,the coarse articles of food a b-tier trade is experienced. The following are our present rates : Wheat, red, 14.1. to 1644. per stone; white, 16d. to 174 d. Oats, Bd. to Bld. Barley, 9d. to 10d. Galata Indian Corn, 81. Si. to 81. 7s. M. per ton. Derail. 81. 6s. ; Aeserlesn, yellow, 81 21. ; white, 81. to 81 2s. 6d. Indian Meal, 91. to 9/. se. Irish Flour, 32a. per beg ; American, 30s. per barrel. Bytom!. 81. 10. per ton; Oatmeal, 121. 10a ; Berleymeal, 91.; Wholemeal, 131. WaTilaußD, las. 13. - In our supplies of farmers' grain eine, Bate/day last, no increase can be reported, and arrivals from abroad doting the week are only moderate; still our market remains in the same depressed state as last noted, and without submitting to a further reduction in prices, sales of any article In the trade have only been practicable in re- tail. Wheat: So few transactions have taken place in tree pare Is, that its value may be looked on as nominal; but for bonded there hes been a fair inquiry, sad SOON ales of Trench and Polish Odessa have been elected, at a reduction of 3d. to 6:. per barrel. No change ean be noted in the pries of Barley, but Oats are cheaper by ld. to 2d. per brl. Maine . A large quantity of damaged having been sold by ' auction. has mosidtrably int. Tiered with she sales of prime Corn, which must he quot. d lower by 6d. to Is. per barrel. Fleur has with difficulty been quitted, at a reduction M 6d. per seek. The following are the present prices :- Undried, new: Wheat, per 20 it., 261. 6d. to 241. 6d. shipping, 20s. to 2 25. Barley, milting, per 18 stone, 16s. to 1 6e. ; grinding, Ile. 9d. to 13e. Oats, white, per 14 atone, 9. 3d. to 9s. 9.1. ; Mick, 9s. to 91. 31. Dried and inneign: Irish Wheat, name% per 20 Mom, 26a. to 27e. Ora.; idopping, 225. to 241. ; Pnliall Ode ma (in bond), 21es. Od. to 26.. 6.1. ; French. red, 27e. 9.1. to 28.1 Oa. Barley, grimier, per 16 it , I`2a. 9d. to 14s. Oats, white, per 14 stone, 101. 61. to' lie. ; black, 10s. 0.1. to - .115.:04. Flour, cupcake, per sack, 38e. to 36e. Bd.; seconds, 345. to Me.; thirds, 30s. to 315.; ; fourths, 22e. to 241. Indian Corn, Danube, per 20 stone, 20e. to 20e. 9.1.; Spanish and Portu guese, 19e. to 191. 3d.; white, 19e. to 19s. 3d. ; Indian Corn Meal, per cert., 9e. 3d. to 9s 6.1. Oatmeal, pet cwt., lls. to lls. 6d. Bran, per 6 stone, 3s. 3d. to 3s. 6d. Conorawmoorula Dec. 28 —la a few day. the weath. r has (banged from autumn to a dreadfully cold winter; snow has fallen in ohm:edam., sad almost put a step to shipments. Most of our sales for Ragload are in ladiaa Corn ; burnt sr* few; prime keep up, although the stock is km& Aiwa hart. Wheat is 22 to 24 piss. tke kdo. ; lemail,2l to 33; Itnitmelia , 17 to 19 ; to mat, soft, 13 to 17; Rom. lia, 14 to 15. Barley, 7to 71 Indian Cons, 14 to 18. Rye, 11 to 12. Oats, 8 to 84. Carpom from Black fira 00. tinue to mire. Freights to Basland are Irma 7e. 6d. ty Bs. 6d. per qr., socaiding to tho vemel. Plenty of mewls for charter. CATTLE, &c. b3IITHFD.LD, Two o'Clock. The supply of brats to-day Is eonsiderahly smaller, partly wound for by a disagreement betw en rise Railway Company sad several graziers. We understand 600 Nor folks, hustled for this market, are consequently coming by road. Trade is rather more lively for the best Surds, Lot awn than 4s. 2d. cannot be quoted as fair aTrlelle. The number of Sinop is alio mach lean however, it ia dielcult to oh sin m ra mow, the butchers having marsh stock on hand. Primes Calves are a reedy Isl", in a few ia.tanees mbar more money is ob tained. Pies are more readily diywocrl of. From Germany and Holland we have 188 flews, 960 Sheep, sad 48 Calves; fres' Norfolk and Suffolk, 700 1115.*; aad Leicester and Northamptonsbire, 1,000. hr rams of db. • d.► 4.1 Per Noss at Illba •d. •d. 1110 awes, Ilar6fuob.. 4 4. 3 Boa nr. a tit-eds. 1 0 0 0 0 Dog dliorabono 3 3 314 tl•l4l.oni-wools 4 0 4 4 Snead whir Baer.. lo 3 4 Do. do. Allem Ulm . 4 0 6 0 new sad awned psis, 3 0 3 10 ........ ...... 4 0 6 0 Do do. dboro . 0 0 0 Lod Poe. I 1161r-brod• 4 4 4 10 Lando 0 0 0 0 11464444651ikaa 1704; elhorp fad lambs. 16,310; Onus. SO ; Plait For Foatirday's markets us low pare. vie erpreoo. MAILS. ----- The Wig bat Made, ealindlno Hermada, Noma, Hawnwe, New Odom, sod Melina. ant inaltaliai those for ann.ealtiewnena. New Granada, and Per., will be tawle up oaths wanting of the 17th Joh. The wens Ise Vldo, Opens, UM , " ItsJaira, Cadia, and Ofhesliat will be made wpm the Wanda( of the 17dt Jas. The weds ate Oiteettar. Nana, Omen, tar latish lolanda rapt, Ades. Ceylon. lads. Beal -Kong, sad Mae. vie Southeast toe. will be open the 1.11111.10 t the state i.e. liw math. vie Manallise, to the Mentirrreneen, slen. balk ifehearowl, la. will be wade up at the aoudad of Ilse wilds Ist kali Nardi America. sad she Vatted Mates, wi .1 be male ap ea the @Naiad at ntw 27th tea. The wade ler New death We" beta Lamm% Lead, ead New Lewin will be sale up as the Millie of the Mat JAIL The ails kw the Wed Casa r Algid sad Itedeire will be made up ea OM irMag et tbs blei lea. The nails tse Matleks, the laud* sad llamas Ayres will he wade w as the OWIBIL. of the 4th Feb. TO COILIMPONDZre. N• si obi 10. ble"" N. torMe lea thrd e s/2 jar:*" DION WATIR AT LONDON IRMO& Two Ds' —lll4l•Was Alma mu £s. ..•. 4, d.. Put G. muuu — DaulAC b us. mu 7 ADommeAl WA poi T. LONDON. MUNDA Y, JAN. 15. It the struggle between the champions of peace and retrenchment, and those of prodigality and war erablishments were such as the Times pleases to re pel sand it, we should not only lose much of our eon- Idaho, in the issue of that struggle, but even depre cate the mode in which it has Leen commenced . Were it true that the English people are a combative and a quarrelsome, au at:whims and a distrustful, an overbearing and an senhitious people, fond of war mere ly from the savage motive that it affords excite ment, and therefore ready to indulge the propensity towards it, on the slight. r pre - ext or provocation afforded by chance or individual imprudence— were such the character of the British peo ple, and were the upholders of our large army and navy acting in hat mony with, and in ° b e _ dims to, such national propensities, them, indeed. we e , might feel the necessity of writers and of preachers going forth to teach the doctrines of humanity and of Christian feeling, as well as to explain how deeply and universally the material interests and prosperity of the Wentzville classes are bound up and identified with peace. We should admit the of thus preparing the way for a conversion u ortre l English politic to principles of Christian charity and advanced civilisation. But we should deprecate as idle the songregation of large masses of the people merely to EMUKIIIROS to them doctrines repugnant to their ferocity cad hurtful to their pride. We have, however, seen no symptoms whatever of the British nation being what the 21Niss repreeents it. We have now gone through a long interval of peace, which has been flour the very first • OPENS of rivalry of foreign nations towards us. All of these, ______seed as rivals, or who coosider themselves so, have nomad in strength, in military force, in com merce, in conquest. They have pat forth, nay, made good, pretensions which half a century ago we could not have hawked. We have had various disputes with mensal of them supposed rivals, and the press has frequently made the most of these disputes, to blow a war-note ; whilst statesmen in power have equally taken advantage of them to augment armies and create navies. Yet in no one cane, that we can remember, has the spirit—the truly lien spirit—of the British people been stirred from its magnanimous indifference. Statesmen, indeed, have been stirred—politicians, who bad grown up in the school of Prrr and CASTLEREAGH, and who had known the British people, when lashed by misrepre sentation, party frenzy, and the actual conflagra tion of war—into a strong interest in the death strag gle then going on. But whoever counted on re kindling one epark of this old warlike hatred of France or of America, utterly failed in his efforts and was disappointed in his hopes. Look at our Syrian quarrel, our Tahiti difference, oar Maine and our Oregon squabbles. Did any one of these give rise to one angry burst of popular English feeling? Look at oar signposts, oar ballade, our popular literature : has any one of the military or naval men who have achieved the most brilliant feats since 1816 —have they been able to become the idols of the smallest niche in the temple of British admiration ? Is it not evident to all that the days of hero-worship are departed, and that the admiration of military feats, which fed it, has given way in the English mind to esteem and to aspirations of altogether a dif ferent kind? We think, therefore, that the great preliminary task which the Tunes assigns to Mr. COBDEN of taming the truculent spirit of the savage and warlike Englishman has been long since performed. We look, indeed, upon the whole free-trade movement as the great outward sign and manifestation of the change which had been silently wrought on the English mind, and which consisted chit fly in an obliteration of the hateful and defiant passions which mark early, or at least, imperfect stages of civilisation, and the substitution of the more humane and mole manly, the more charitable and more wise, the more intellectual and hopeful spirit, that now an;mates all classes of Englishmen. Mr. COBDEN himself appears to us not the originator of the great free trade movement, or peace movement ; hu the reanit,the child, and the instrument of both. Mr. COBDENci aims and calling as a politician have never appeared to ue to be the instilling into the Bri tish mind a principle that was nut there. He merely has seized upon that which was not only already sown. but sprouting ; he ball but fostered and pro tected, and fertilised the growth of what he found a glum, and which he made a tree. His purpose and his task are now the same. He has calmly and profoundly observed the workings of the public mind, and has seised some of the better and most promising feelings which exist there, to appeal to them, encourage them, and bring them forth to act as an influence upon those classes which are conduct ieg the government to their own and to their country's ruin, on the most mistaken and superannuated princi ples. But he has no more originated the peace movement, than he did the last great stride and com pletion of free trade. The country was already marching forward, and in putting himself at its head, ' he 'delved its pace and fell into its march. It is much to be feared that in the present great and onward movement, the middle and lower classes and their leaders have progressed alone. It is much to be feared that the higher end the legislative class in the country has lingered behind in the old ideas of half a century back. They still ima gine that they could get up a war upon a trifling pretext, and lash up English combativeness by falsehood as a prelude to emptying Britons' pockets for subsidies and expeditions. The article in the Times of Friday morning really strikes us, es if it were written fifty inkhorn of Dr. Slop, whom COBBETT immurtalised, and who insisted that the re coLquest of America was the only dignified political object of the country which Lid humbled NAPOLEON. We should care little for such observations of the Times were they but the idiosyncrasy of a jour na'. But such unfortunately are the retro grade and mistaken ideas entertained by the governing class of this country. The Times speaks the opinions of that clam, and merely makes the mis take of considee ing it to be the public. All that the Ti'mes says of the difficulty which Mr. COBDEN will have to convert his audience to the ways of peace and the feasibility of economy, is perfectly true, if we suffer that audience to be, not the public, bat parlia ment—not the middle, and industrious, and inde pendent classes, but those who live upon office, upon salaries, and upon honours, and who are, in fact, the parasites of the budget. These, indeed, there will be much difficulty in converting ; powerful and painful must be the logic that will persuade them. Most ready would they be, most ready indeed they are, to take advantage of even. foreign disturbance or convulsion, to exaggerate the accounts, to call riot anarchy, and !mettle a state of war. A band of outcasts, rollicking over frontiers is styled an invasion of Belgium. Au occupation oiSchleswig is represented an embroiling of the whole north. And the infantine efforts of CRARLE4 ALBERT after aggrandisement are given as excuses for England's keening 200,000 men under arms. When the patty makes use of sneh arguments as these it is p:eading a cause, not expressing • convic tion. It is not addressing the same great public that Mr. COBDEN and his brother orators addressed. It is merely addressing words of plausibility and comfort to a clique, and most dangerously encoura ging and flattering that aristocratic clique into a be lief that it knows and represents the ideas and inte rests, and that it follows the tendencies of the English people, and this at the very time when the people, as at Manchester, have given most unequivocal signs of being animated by sentiments and prepossessed by ideas in direct contradiction with the preaching. of the Ames and the entire policy of its patrons. DIVESTED of its dense atmosphere of details the present happily improving condition of the country is not a complex phenomenon. Upon a scale exixed ingly imposing—and surrounded by circumstances of the meet bewildering variety—the cause radically at the bottom of the movement is neither a novelty nor a marvel. Mankind have been often taught, by example as well as precept, that a country becomes rich, as the materials of its industry are commanded in abundance, and as the ingenuity of its people is exercised with success. No effort of legislation could revive the languishing prosperity of Flanders after ' the fleets of Holland had ceased to convey the corn were. of Christendom. Nur could any combination of means preserve these islands from the long and dismal period of suspen-e generated by the years of dearth which intervened between 1839 and 1843. Possessed rif accessible raw materials on the one hand, and enjoying a reasonable sufficiency of articles of food upon the other, an ingenious and persevering people stand in very little danger of dis tress. Of the two things, the cheapness of hying is decidedly the more important. Reckon up the hundreds of people who are so fortunately circum stanced that a rise of 30 per cent in the price of corn will leave their expenditure on cottons, and cloth, and hardware unaffected ; and as a contrast count up the millions of working men whose consumption of every species of manufac•nre is determined principally by the margin between the amount of their wages and the eat of their subsistence ; and the process will be very imperfectly performed if it does not impress upon us, with all the force of arithmetical are ithrsis, the vital connexion between the food and the prosperity of a country like Great Britain. ir against an abundance of food I) on place a decided deficiency of the elements of man ufacture, you can scarcely avoid the occurrence of a diminished consumption arising out of an increased THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY' 15 1849 price. Bat if there is not merely a dearth of raw asa-i twigs, but a state of approximate famine, the disrup tion of all ordinary relations between production and consumption mast inevitably become of the most vio lent kind ; and the recovery from this unfortunate condition will very closely correspond in time and de gree with the disappearance of the pernicious circum stances of deficiency. Double your reserves of cotton, and dyes, and oils; extent your resources of wool, and silk, and flax; and on will again have proceeded half way to the achievement of a new prosperity. But amebic. with :his grader affluence in the elements of labour an equal affluence in the elements of subsistence, and the circle is complete. You will them possess, for a time at least, a command over those favourable conditions which have always rendered new and active communities prosperous and powerful. A Saxon colony in New Zealand will never experience the chequered fate of the mother °Gantry, so long as new land remains to be occupied and agriculture can find employment and reward for every pair of hands. The rationale therefore of our improved condition resolves itself mainly into one fact—that our tome population have the benefit of abundance. We do not underrate the importance of the foreign trade. But the extension in the exports of British goodi during the last two or three months has been quite inadequate to ex plain the decided alteration which has taken place in the industrial districts of the country. The whole excess in the exports of November, 1848, over November, 1847, is 150,0001. It is not by 150,0001. that a change is produced in the condition of eight or ten millions of people. Let the additional bales of calico despatched by the Manchester warehousemen be traced to their destination, and, in nine cases out of ten, they will find their resting place behind the thriving counter of some iudustnous draper, who con sults the taste and supplies the wants of his country circle. This is not a gratuitous hypothesis. It derives every confirmation from the last monthly bulletin of the Board of Trade. Coming down to the bth of December, 1848, the general tenor of this document more decidedly than any of its predecessors of the present year confirms the fact that between 1848 and 1847 the vital difference consists in an enormous dimi nution in the import of all articles of out sistence ; and an increase almost as enormous in all descriptions of raw material. When we remember that a falling off in the sup ply of animal and vegetable food does not in the pre meet state of the law arise out of enormous duties or absolute prohibitions, we may reasonably congratu- late ourselves upon a decline in the quantity of this description of our imports. Such a decline is the best proof of domestic abundance ; for with free ports and expeditious transit we may asure ourselves that it is nothing but a cheap price which forbids the entry of oxen from Holstein, and provisions from North America. Now, it is quite certain that, comparing last year and the present, there has been a moat important decline in the price of animal food in all our great markets. At Newgate, on the Ist Jan., 1848, the price of mid dling beef was 38.11 d. per stone of 811 w. • and on the let Jan., 1849, it was only . 2s. Ild., a 411 of 25 per cent. The fall in the price of mutton was not so great. On the Ist Jan., 1848, middling sheep sold at 4e. ; and, on the let Jan., 1849, at 38 Bd. These prices at once explain the alteration which has taken place in the importation of live animals. Combining the six sorts of animals recognised by the tariff, the gross decline is from 198,000 in number to 174,000; and the greatest diminution has taken place in horned cattle. Cattle, however are only one item of the series of articles of subsistence ; and premising that the clearances for home use of spirits, spices, wine, sugar, tea, and tobacco, are very nearly the same as in 1847, the following abstract will exhibit the re• markable alteration between the two years us to MIT:CLEB OF FOOD. 180. 1848. ............................No.Aninals 198.000 Beef ewto. 109,000 name. Wheat cyra. 2,418,000 Do. m. al mt.. 8,296,000 1,151,000 Indian core gra 3,500,000 Do. meal mete. 1,437.000 Other kinds climes qrs. 2.962,000 lle, mai awls. 2,285,000 ..... Mow 1,357,086 The relative proportions between the kinds of ¢rain and meal imported in 1848 and 1847 is exceedingly significant of the pressure and distribution of the de ficiency in our own harvests. The enormous quantities of infincr kinds of food in 1847—Indian earn and I meal, and of "other kinds" et meal—will eufficieatly corroborate to a new generation the recitals of the Irish Board of Works and the traditions of the western counties of Ireland ; they will also for ever set at rest the title of 1847 to a place in the gh only catalogue which includes the six last years of the seventeenth century described by DE For: with more than his usual precision and el queoce—and which also includes those two open ing years of the present cen tury, when, through the operation of famine, our grandfathers were almost reduced to humiliate them selves before tee French directory. . . . . lf, however, a decline in the quantities of food im ported is a he althy symptom, an inc'eaee in the ar rivals of raw materials is a still more legitimate ground of congratulation. With the exception of a trifling diminution in hemp, hides, and timber, there is a most important increase in every commodity used in our manufactures. An enumeration will best exhibit this, RAW Mambos. 1847. 1646. caw 293,000 .sots. and tors 279,000 mu. 948,000 pfai Oib awls. and teas 466,000 Silk 3 923,' 00 Skin. " No. 1,573,000 Tallow carts. 883,000 Torsional, 237,000 Coma weal Sheer was( l „ bs. 55,366,000 But it is not simply the increase in the quantity of these elements of labour which is so importaht, the cheaper price at which they are procured it scarcely less remarkable. Cotton (good fair) sold on the Ist Jan., 1847, at 71d. i er lb.; on Ist Jan ,1848, at 51c1.; and on Ist Jan., 1849, at 41d. Fax has fallen during the twelvemonth from 481. to 361.; tallow, from 476. to 425.; logwood, from 82s. to 755.; and these are only examples. Now the mfluence of these low prices is almost always overlookt d. Durice the whole ytar we have heard most desponding refkc - ions upon the augmenta tion of the imports and the decline of the exports of the country. It has been perpetually inferred, on the one hand, that the balance of trade must be renoered adverse ; and on the coher, that every manufacturing interest was in a state of extreme suffering from the diminution in the declared value of our shipments. The best, and, in truth, the decisive, reply to opinions of this character is to exhibit a table of comparative prices. We have already seen that animal food is 25 per cent. cheaper, and that flax and cotton and dyes are all cheaper, but manufactured fabrics are also cheaper. On the Ist January, 1847, the price of 40 inch shirting, (72's) at Manchester was 10s. 41d. ; on the Ist January, 1848, it was Bs. 6d. ; and on Ist January, 1849, it was Bs. 41d. Doting the whole of 1848, therefore, you have had the price of this leading staple 20 per cent. below th e prices of 1847, and it follows, f course, that an export of 1,000,0001. worth of such fabrics it 1848 represents as much labour as an export of 1,200,00 W. worth in 1847. There is every reason to believe that this alteration in prices would have been of itself sufficient to pre vent any depression in the foreign exchange. But aided, as the compensating movement has been, by the influx of capital, driven here by the commotions of the continent, we can be at no leas to understand the causes which in the space of nine months have added three or four millions to the bullion is the Bank of England. We have seen the prospectus of • Railway Pas senger Assurance Company, lie scheme of which, it appears, is the latest of the ingenious devices of Mr. B. BOTCH. The motive is set forth as suggested by the injusiices that juries are prone to commit in awarding compensation for accidents under Lord CAMPBELL'S recent act. It is alleged, not without truth, that whenever an action is brought against a railway company, the bias cf juries is wholly towards the plaintiff; and that, in consequence of this leaning, damagf s are frequently determined rather by the presumed ability of the " rich corporation" to bear any peralty, just or unjust, than on fairer grounds of liability—where the casualty has been d. mon ' strably in the nature of an accident, and no case of negligence has been substantiated. In this way the claim for compensation beomes a matter of certain success, however the damage may ' have arisen; and the amount of demands unfounded on any default in the public eauder. in cow laded elm siderable enough to call far semi means of mitigating this kind of exaction--mainst which, it is not untruly argued, railway . companies have no chance whatever before ordinary juries. The means suggested by Mr. RoTcs are, however, somewhat questionable. It is proposed that each passenger, or as many as can be induced to take the precautioe, shall himself pay a few pence for each journey as a premium to tbe insurance com pany, which, in cue of accident, will entitle his repre sentatives to recover ample and speedy compensa tion for any loss from his death, or bodily injury; and this premium—no doubt on a calculation of the actual safety of railway travelling—is fixed so low, that few, it is alleged, will object to pay it, whge very sm all payment—say, by a part only of the travelling public—would create a fund more than as dent to afford, with profit to the insuring body, liberal settlements on every case of accident, whether arising from the passenger's can want of caution, from negligence in railway servants, or from pure ac cident, for which neither the one nor the other are justly chargeable with blame, nor intended to be made liab.e by Lord CAMPBELL'S act. It is thus de signed, on the one hand, to afford prompt and liberal indemnity in all cases of injury without exception, and without litigation or trouble ; and, on the other hand, to relieve railway owners . from claims to which they are now often compelled to submit with out bei ,, g justly in fault, or on which, if in fault at all, they are made, by jurors led away by excitement and unconscious prepossessions, to pay excessive damages. All this would be very well, could the proposed sche.ue effect what it proposes. But there are various reasons why i• can hardly be e‘pected to do any such thing. In the first place, the numbers of travellers who will pay, even a few pence per trip, to ensure —in case they miscarry a sum to survivors, however ample, is not likely to be great. 01 those who use railways, not one in a hurdred sets forth on his journey with more apprehi nsions theta he feels in passing from one street to another ; no is there any reason, indeed, why he should, as the statistics of several years have abundantly proved. To those who have no apprehension, a penny—nay a farthing premium—would seem too much; and those Jew whuse fears might induce them to covet any new security, weal; find little corsolation in one that does not offer to protect their person., and the benefit of which would oniy accrue to their families after the occurrence of the ve y mischance, a prospect of which alarms the persons concerned. The party who must pay, unluckily is not the party secured by the payment : it will be poor comfort to a timo rous traveller to be told that it his brains happen to be dashed out, 3,0001. will be paid d 'wn on the nail to his sorrowing relatives : and these alone can re quire any consolation! In the known general safe•y of railway travelling none but the very timid are liked} to have anything to do with insurance from its occa sional casualties. The machinery by which Mr. Rum would work his system has a similar defect in pi incipl-, namely, that here again the immediate agent in the process would not be the party most concerned in its results. He suggests that the booking r•lerks may be employed to collect the insurance and issue its certitiCates with the fare tickets; and hints the', by thus using and pa) ieg railway servants to do the work, a new motive would be prepared for taking extra care of the tra veller's safety. Now it is not on the people in the passenger offices that anything whatever effecting in security can depend The emolument earned as in su ance brokers by the booking clerks, would produce no such encouraging impression on the enginem, n, guards, pointmen, &c., whose care is really the import ant matter in this respect. The man who dues the whole work of collecting the premiums must, in fairness, be the on y party paid ; nor will he long give his atten tion to it if he must divide its profit, with others who have no part in the labour. Yet, unle.s a partition were made, so an to benefit th se who really have teomettiug to ro with the working of the trains, this plan of giving railway servants an interest in the passengers' safety would be worth nothing. The emolument might be offered with equal effect to the police outside the station. . _ We say. nothing of the probable effect on the passengers feelings of the mode of promoting the business, through the booking clerks, which is sug gesttd by Mr. HOTCII. When a traveller comes to take his place—thinking no evil—he will be apt to feel it strange, to be abruptly asked, " it his life is insured ?" by the servants of the company, who pro fess to carry him safely. Men of tolerable firmness of nerve even might have some qualms suggested, for the first time, by such an inquiry, and the timid female, the hypochondriac invalid, would be apt to re gard it as a caution of the most appalling import. It is not very likely, therefore, that railway managers would lend themselves to a system so apt to discredit their undertakings and excite alarm—without any cause—on the point of all others where confidence is of most vital moment to their prosperity. Still further, it may be remarked, that even were these objections all removed, there is still nothing whatever in the plan that ensures its attainment of one prit cipal end it professes to accomplish. If the Assurance Corn any were founded on Mr. Itorcit's plan, freely supported, and regularly worked, still there in no certainty whatever the.% by paying its settlements, however liberally, in all cases of damage to life or limb, it would protect railway companies from excessive claims being brought against them on this score. Their legal liability wAild still subsist as before ; and it would be enforced mist surely in those very cases where the most extreme and un founded demands are now made in reliance on the known temper of juries. It would be a thriving em ployment and a triumph for a certain class of pr.cti tioners to get—and probably to share in—doub'e com pensations forth, ir clients; and no en cnuragement would be wanting to survivors to lend their names to the process. The personal assurance would first be realised, and an action then be brought against the railway company, whose responsibility under Lord CAMPBELL'S act the previous insurance would not take away; so that the above of that act, where it is abused, would only be aggravated and rendered more easily committed by the previous supply of the plain tiff from another compensation fund. Altogether, we think the project unlikely to succeed in any way. The travelling public are not generally afraid of railways, and if they were, this kind of in surance would not appease the most pr wing fear for their own skin,. It would not do to combine the insurance with the passeneer booking hasines : while in to other way could it become even moderately current amongst travellers. And, lastly, it would not effectually relieve railway companies, after all, from those claims that are the most unreasonable ; even if it could perform for the passenger what it promises him—a promise, moreover, that is calculated rather to alarm the wayfarer, than to send him on his way rej Acing. FRANCE. FAKIS.SArtsuAT, 6 r.K Within the walls of the Assembly there was yester day a mu h stronger military force than usual, the all-absorbing question of the diselmion of the Assembly rendering such a precaution neces sary in the judgment of the authorhes. Until hslf-past three, the Assembly was occupied with the debate on the introduction of foreign salt. Several additional articles were propo-ed and dis cussed, but the noise and excitement in the Assembly were so excessive, that not one word could be beard. The debate on the dissolution of the Assembly was then taken. and the result of a division was the adoption of M. Rattean's project for a speedy dissolution, by 400 vo'es against 396, and its reference to a committee. _ _ _ The question thus decided is equivalent to the first reading of a bill in the British parliament. It sanc tions the principle of the measure, and it is considered here that the Assembly cannot go back on the Ties tion, but must fix an early day for the diss3lution. Whether that day be the one fixed in the project of M. Ratteau, : h e 18th March, or that proposed in the other project of MM. Pagnerre and nixie', the 4th May, is of comparativeiy little consequence, now that the principle of the project fur a op.edy d:saulution decided. _ _ . The next step consNiunt on the vote of last night will be the appointment of a new committee to report on the proposition of M. ltatteau. That report cannot be brought up in less than eight or ten days, after which the project must be read three times with in tervals of five days, thus whatever expedition be used the clause cannot be passed in much lefts than four week., and it is therefore presumed that the etc-chow. cannot take place betore the beginning of April. A nmjeot was accordingly presented to-day by MM. Wollowski de Lasteyrie and Gerard, proposing April 10 for the dissolution of the present Assembly and the convocation of the next. In the Assembly to-day the debate on the question of the admission of foreign salt was resumed. The discussion was as to the fixing the duty at 4f. and 41. 50c. for fine salts, as they were brought in French or foreign bottoms. M. Poesy, Minister of Fioanoe, proposed 3f. 500. and 4t. M. Grandin :proposed, as an amendment, 2E 75e. and 3f. 25., which, on • divi sion, was adopted. The duties are, therefore, fixed at those amounts, according as the salt may be imported in French or foreign vessels. The candidates for the vice-presidency are much spoken of. The election must take place ou Saturday next. M. 0. Barrot would desire to obtain the office, but fears that his retirement from the cabinet at pre sent would bring about a crisis. MM. Thies and Mole think that the office of vice-president being pure y administrative would be more suitably filled by M. Vivien, who is eminent as a jurist, than by M. 0. Barrot, who would be more fitly placed in an office purely political. M. Favetier, a Republican, has just been elected for the Upper Rhine. His opponents were three can didates of the moderate party. He had been Prefect and was dismissed. He obtained 7,500 votes out of ' 25,000 voters. It is not expected that any opposition will be given to the re-election of M. Marrast, as President of the Assembly. M. Lamartine intended to speak on the question of dissolution, as I have already stated, but not doubt ;lig but that the debate would be adjourned till today, he dined yesterday with the President of the Re public, and was absent at the moment of the unex pected division. It was reported to day that the Marquis de Bar bancoir, a legitimist, has been elected for the depart ment of the Indre. There was en advance to-day at the Bourse of half a franc on the Fives, attributed to the vote of yester day. An uneasiness was felt at the Bourse from a report which prevailed that M. Pa-sy is about , o propose a tax on the Renter, and also one upon the capital of the railways. M. Lemercier, who was President of the Council of Ancients, on the iBth Brumaire, and who became a& terw ads President of the Senate, and lastly a peer of France, died in Paris two days ago. We read in the Petrie : " M. Duchitel will arrive in Paris, it is asserted, next month ; and it is added that one of his first steps will be to apply to the tribu nals for the means of obtaining a sum of 100,01,01., the estimated value of the wine which was in the cel lars of the !Ministry of the Interior before the 24th of February, but which is no longer there. This wine, it appears, was the private property of M. Duchitel." S PAIN. We have received our Madrid correspondence with the journals of the 7th inst. In the council of ministers, which was held on the 6th, M. Mon presented the budget. It is probable tilts budget will be approved by t e council next week, when it will be presented to the chambers. The Spanish capital is particularly gay—balls and fetes are given everywhere. Tne project of the incursion into Navarre by the Spanish refugees who are in France has been post pon d for want of money. One of the most celebrated among them had gone to Toulouse, in hopes of procuring some, and, should he succeed, it was supposed the attempt would be made. Aivices from Catalonia of the 6th inst. announced the submission of the Cab. class R:bas and Sabate, with their followers, amounting to 160 men, includ ing 17 officers and two chtefe. The bands of Cabrera, Marsal, and Juvany, who have been for some days at Amer, separated on the 3rd, and the band of Cabrera, with the principal officers, took the road to (lot; that of Marsal to Selva; and that of Juvany to Santa Colonia. It was on arriving at San Martin de Csn tallops that Juvany ordered Don Miguel Pons, bro ther of Pep dtl Oli and Don Juan Christizabll, to be shot, under pretext that they were about to make their submission. The Captain-General had quitted Viet) in pursuit of the insurgeAs. GERMANY. FRANRFORT.—Our intelligence from this free city reaches to the 11th inst. OR the sitting of the Sa- Lionel Assembly on the Bth. The report of the com mittee on the Austrian question, that is to say, on the programme of the central ministry, was brought up and read. Atter stating that the Austro•German question firms a complicated knot. which must be unloosened, not cut asunder—inasmuch as the latter act would bring about a division of Germany—the report sets forth that, in every important respect, the policy of the House of Hapsburg was at all times a dynastic one, but that that house, however, acted only as all dynasties act which are not bound by laws and inati tutions to seek their own interests in those of the nation. It was only w' en Napol'.on's deft at was no longer do -btful that Mamie cave up his alliance. Then, under Metternich, was revived the old system of policy which had eta feeling for popular rights, nationality, or freedom ; but only for the crowned and uncrowned rulers of the state. The Austrian people are not to be called to account for this line of policy, for they have often teen ready to make the greatest sacrifices in the fre quently renewed wars with France. The insurrection in the Tyrol was a glorious proof of that assertion ; but the unfeeling sacrifice of the Tyrolese by the then existing Austrian cabinet, showed the contrast be tween the people and the government. Atter Napo leon's overthrow, Metternich stood by the side of those parties who did sll in their power to prevent Ger many from appearing as a newly-arisen united em pire. This idea of the political regeneration of Germany was a leading one for all friends of Father lend, and was forcibly upheld even at the congress of Vienna, by the patriotic Baron Von Stein, who de manded the restoration of the German empire, and who was not unwilling to give to Austria the impe rial crown of Germany. The opponents, however, of German unity were numerous in Vienna, and were sup ported, through interested motives, by Russia, England, and France, and encouraged by the jealousies of the various dynasties in Germany itself. Von Stein's influence decreased; and he lost the management of affairs in Prussia, which nation also was placed under foreign, particularly Russian, influence, and which by degrees put down the na'ional feeling exhibited in 1813, and the two following years. No German empire, no united Germany, but a species of hermaphrodite (Zwilterding), something between a confederation of states and a confederation of nations, in a word, the German confederation, was the result of' the congress of Vienna. The friends of German unity still desired a "confederate state," but the partisans of a "confederation of states" again .riumphed in 18.0, when the so-called " concluding ace" [at the ministerial conference] was drawn up in Vienna. Prussia was scared away from the idea of a united Germany under an Aus trian prince, for during more than a cen tury Prussia had been anti-Austrian ; and ever since the time of Frederick 11., had been steering to wards a Prussian combination in Germany, an object which it always held in view, even by introducing the Zollverein. Pending, however, the jealous strug gles of the two great dynasties, the people entertained more freely and generally the idea of a united Ger. many, and became convinced that, " for a' that and a' that" (trots alledem tend alkdem), such a Germany would in the end arise. The March revolution evoked the cry, " A German parliament." The la bours of the preliminary parliament and the commit tee of 50 were recognised by the respective govern ments. The constituent diet succeeded them. Its object was to devise a constitu ion for all Germany, and its well-acquired right was the result of a treaty with the princes—a treaty which is indeed an un written one, but which is implanted in the hearts of the people. " Whoever breaks that Meal" (continues the report) " will abuse the confidence reposed in him by the people, and will at some future time pay as dearly for the ' transgression' as Louis Philippe now does for his—that ex-King who, during several years, spoke contemptuously of the Hotel de Ville pro gramme, until at last the people drove him away with ignominy and disgrace." Atter using this remarkable language, the report goes on to state that the dissolution ol the Germanic Diet was a final, not a provisional, measure ; that the same may be said of the central power in itself—the aVributes of the Vicar of the Empire being alone pro visional. The " confederate state" is not "to be created" (as ministers ha ve decles b ut is alre a d y in existence, althou g h th e h ea d of that state is nets; permanently chosen. All G erman states took pert'i; the formation of a German united one, but not with the same intention to abide by the decisions of the central executive. In Vienna, a member of th s Constituent Assembly in Frankfort was sh ot , iu dire s t oppoeivon to one of the laws of the OctralLll Co n k,: rate State, and to the rights of man. From that time the opposition to theNatinnal A skm, bly, the central executive and the unity of Germany, i s . creased. On the 11th O c t o b er t h e Austrian tiu meat promised to promulgate officiall 7 the la ws ,' the Natior al Assembly. A fortnight beer mine the fall of Vienna, and then a change ensued, eve n in the very tone of the Austrian government. Greater bib terness arose. The National Assembly riquirett tisfaction for the illegal execution W one of ns mes a . bers. The Austrian cabinet became every *aw e and more un-German. On the 27111 iictober it isle its programme before the Diet at Kretesier. It w s , evident by that pro ramme that the A ustr i an gove rn . ment had before all in view the re-or. eni st .i su Austria, and that it was desirous of porponiog lone es possible the junction of German Awed% with the German confe&rate state. In a note dated Dee. 6, 1848, the Austrian 'Mii,i s t er of Justice declared, with reference to Blunt', , leath, that the central laws of Sept. 29 and 30 (relying to the inviolability of the deputies), we:e not published in Aueria ; yet the Austrian plenipotentiary i n Frankfort bad sated on Oct. 11 that lie ht.. duly f oe . warded to Austria the Ist, 2nd, and 3rd folios of t h e central laws. Next came the of Aral dtelaration that the laws passed in Frarlfort were not binding i s Austria until the relations of the lane.' with Getma n were finely settled. O u th e B t h o f NovernberAn s tris refused to contribute its quota to the German fleet, upon the ground that it already possessed a dear which could protect the commercial inter, es of Germany. On Dec. 11, the Austrian government decliurd pro. mulgating the central law relating to bills of ex. change ; and from that tim e a ll nego ti,tions wi . .h the central executive were carried on, as before the revo. lution, by the Minister of Foreign Atfa ra. In fact (adds the report) it is clear that the Austrian cabinet is doing all it can to bring matters back to the state they were in previously to the revolution. 'I he Austrian Count Windischgratx and the old ans. tocracy and diplomacy of Austria indulge now in the hope of being able to restore by degrees the Metter. nich eastern ; and the ex-minister, Von Sch r.erling, has also done his best to bring back things to their former position, not only in Austria, but in all those countries in which the court, the aristocracy, and the bureaucracy made unwilling concessions to the spirit of thetimes.. The Sc merling ministry was replaced by the Von Gagern one. The latter published its programme (which has appeared in our journal). In that pro. ramme (continues the report) we may discover the line of policy pursued by Prussia, and already re. terred to. The development, however, of t list system cannot be justified by the position taken by Austria. The government of Prussia have also alighted the de cisions of the German National Assembly, and it is probable that the head of that government remains so simply because the above Assembly de. mended his dismissal. Prussia, Hanover, BM rid, and Saxony, have not prtinulgated the laws of the National Assembly. In tact, if the op. position of German governments to the central power Mrmed sufficient grounds for their expulsion Ito tt the German confederate state, that state would moon be limited to Paul's church and the offices of the central executive. The exclusion of Austria would be tanta mount to a division of Germany, and would lead to the secession of Bavaria and a part of Sloth Ger many, which have more important relati.ns with Austria than with Prue-la. Gelman Austria, more. over, would not agree to the separation, and then comes the question, " Would Germany go to war in order to effect its own division ?" The abandoning of the German Austrians would be the msking them over to the Sciavonians and other non-Germans. The Get man element is momentarily put down iu Austria; public opinion cannot speak out ; but shall Germany, which protects its sons in Posen and SAleswig. Holstein, give up without a blow mi.lions of its noblest children ? But it is said there will be a union between Austria and Germany. A fine phrase. In spite of that union, Au► tria would become a foreign bulwark against Germany, just like Alaatia, Lorraine, Switzerlaiid, and the row Russian (ex-German) pro , inces of the Baltic, without Austria, Bohemia, and Tyrol, a north German empire, would succumb to the first irruption of the Sclavortians. By the new Austrian note (published exclusively in our late edition of Tuesday last) Austria declare that it shall not secede from Germany ; but s.ems to entertain the hope that when it has done with Hungary and Italy, it will be able to bring back Ger many to the old confrderation which existed before the March revolution. The Gagern ministry refuses to admit the right of Austria to treat with the National Assembly respecting the constitution, a re fusal which (the report asserts) will he upheld by the vast majority of Germane. The report then expresses the opinion that the central ministry will not be able, through the medium of negotiations with Austria, to arrive et a satisfactory result, particularly as one of the objects of those negotiations would be to prepare fur the eventual union of all the Austrian empire with Germany. The tall of Vienna (procet de the report) has intro duced into Austria a state of affairs hostile not only to the National Assembly in Frankfort and the central executive, but also to the German cause in generaL It is the duty of the central power to defend the rights of all Germans, and to take care that the future contritution e'en apply also to German Austria. The committee—entertainiog the opinion that an intimate political and commercial eonuexion with all Austria is desirable, that the National Assembly alone is celled upon to draw up the constitution, that consequently the principle of a concosdenre with the various governments of Germ a ny i s inadmissible, that the establishing a constitution for Germany does not prevent an intimate political and commercial union with those portions of the Austrian mpire which did not belong to the former German Confederation, but rather milers a union the more advantageous for both sines—propose to the Na tional Assembly, Ist, to fully recognise the rejection by the central ministry of the principle of a concord ance respecting the constitution ; Red, 2ndly, to em power the central authority to eater into negotiations with the Austrian government with regard to the relation to the German confederate state of those por tions of Austria which did not belong to the late Ger manic Confederation. AUSTRIA.—In the sitting of the diet at Krem sier, on the 4th inst., the Minister of the Interior, Herr Stadion, read an official declaration setting forth the decided objections of the cabinet to the first article of the fundamental law, as lately voted (at the first reading) by the Diet. That article,which sets forth that all power proceeds from the people, is denounced by the Austrian cabinet as embodying a principle which has rendered the streets the theatres of the wildest excesses, and which gave rise to the murder of Count Latour. Such a principle is incom patible with that of hereditary monarchy. The Dist had not been authorised to call the rights of the crown into question. Ministers trusted that that objection able principle would not be sanctioned by the Diet at the second reading. The approval of that article would be considered by ministers as a violation of the basis of the monarchical principle. This announcement created the greatest sensation, and it was at last re solved to adjourn till the Bth inst., in order to give members the oppollmnity of becoming well acquainted with the import and contents of the ministerial de aeration. PRUSSIA.—BerIin letters and journals of the 10th inst. have reached us. Herr Camphaustn, the Prussian envoy at the court of the Vicar of the Empire, had arrived in Berlin. The cholera is still raging in Breslau. The funds of the Berlin bourse tell again on the 10th, many parties selling nut. The Chamber of Deputies of Mecklenburg- Schwerin has declared in favour of the election of the King of Prussia as hereditary Emperor of Ger. many. ROME, Jaw. 4. P had been resolved on by the ruling authotities that the opening day of 1849 should be solemnised by a grand display in honour of the ronvocation of the Constituent Assembly; but that chanced to be the only raii.y day we have had for a month. On tae 2ad , however, notwithstanding the intense cold, a mostim posing demonstration came off. Towards evening the guards began to gather on the Piazza Venezia with banners and music. The whole garrison of Rome turned out, pioneer', cannoneer., and all the general I I