The Express. — London, England, 1850-05-06 00:00:00

gite entreoo• profession are alike interested. To the latter an increased busked will compensate a atuainiahed profit, and if increased and proper facilitka wen pro vided in the Masters' offices, the waiter would be awed from the sickening feeling of delayed hopebt tb• ter mination of his suit, would also be.:enalded to; affix a certain value to any rights or inteiusts to which be might be entitled, and would be enabled to dis pose of it without that heavy loss to which he is now often subjected owing to the uncertain period of its realisation. Surely these are objects sufficient to arouse even the indifferent, much more some of those sincere reformers who are to be found in the ranks of the legal profession, and we shall look with interest for some measure of real chancery reform to spring . either from tie junior members of the bar or from intelli gent solicitors. What dome the Law Institution ? OUTGOING MAMA. The seas for Liebe.. Ards, and Gibraltar will b. made up ea to money morning. The mails yid Maresillee, to tbe Mwditerraneam, NW, ledia, lions• Kong, te., will be made up to- Merrow emit. TM mails toe. Braila North Amalie& sad the (Imbed Bastes will be smile up es tke evening of May 10. TII• Wee India Mails • **lading Berated', Harannab, Idesesu, Hurdling, New Orleans, and Waite, mad luelnding these few Madeira, St. Jusn.dt.Niearapisa„ New Granada, ChM, bad Pere. will be made up on the moraine of May 17. /be mails tow Gibraltar, Malta, Grease, tbe LOWY Wands, Daps, Gybe, leant, and Chios, via Southampton, will be made up es Us storming of May 20. TM malt' for Iladswia.tbe Brae* sad Deimos Ayres, will be made up es thiamine of June 4. TO COMIGSPONDIMIrII AffwiMerges tad Ilir . TY lasms.“ Loam ~we paper. ims l Mat the simile llonsile-slwit. W ?WO 'Midi le OW W et 'Wnds... rNf WAIIIII AT LONDON MIMI. Das—Mmorit. 11. The. fl.ness..—Elersill& Iva Affiimaima. /at LONDON, MONDAY, MAY G. CHANCERY reform is se the rainbow, always to appearance near, tut ever eluding. From time to time a long string of "orders" have been issued, but still to perceptible relief is afforded to waiting credi tors or expectant legaters. And yet, since the days of the "doubting" Chancellor, a suit is brought to bowleg much more rapidly, and the lists of the two arbordinat• Vice-Chancellors would frequently be exhausted if not replenished from other seuroes. The expense and dilatoriness of Chancery proceed lags are, notwithstanding, the occasion of urgent and justifiable complaint. English reform is, however, oftentimes too serious for the power. and too great for the audacity, of mi nisters. Tney try their 'prentice-band on Ireland first. Offi.ial motions for reform of the Irish fran chise and the Irish Chancery have been made this session. But the SOLICITOR-OZNERAL, in confining his bill to Ireland, must have intended a satire upon English adminisation. Be this as it may, an ex- Chancellor sought to introduce a plan of reform based on the suggestion of a relative. Fired by this attempt to intrude upon his functions, the actual Chancellor with the advice and consent of the chiefs of the other Equity Courts, prepares with secresy and publishes unexpectedly • series of Orders unparalleled for the daricg of their innovation, and throwing quite into the shade the propositions by Lord BROUGHAM. Lastly, Mr. GEORGE TURNER introduces into the House of Commons "a bill to diminish the delay and expense of proceedings in tho High Court of Chan oery in England " As th i s bill followed the Orders of the LORD CHANCELLOR, we awaited, hoping that it might prove a corollary to, or an expansion of them, sad that, tskett together, they might result in or point to that effectual reform which we could supp:Tt. We were doomed to be disappointed. The bill distributed on Saturday might truly bo designated by the motto of slat nonaints emilwn. We therefore turn from CHAN CELLOR, Ex CH INCELLOR, and Queen's counsel, in despair of obtainicg from s.urces so tainted with pro. fessional feeling, or co ignorant of non-professional wants, any substantial and comprehensive remedy. The bill of Mr. Geoece TURNER has now only one material object. It empowers persons interested in any question, cognizable in equity, to state it in the form of a special case far the opinion of the Court of Chancery, withcut the formality of a bill and miser; but it expressly provides " that if upon the hearing of such special case the court shall be of opinion that the questions raised thereby, or any of them cannot properly be decided urn such case, the court may re fuse to decide the same." It contains certainly some provisions of importance to enable executors at any time more than one year after the death of their testator to obtain on their own application a certificate as to outstanding debts and liabilities, but these pro visions are rendered unimportant by the Orders of the LORD CHANCELLOR. At the beat, the measure brought forward by Mr. TURNER is a halting, hesitating, and incomplete amendment of a partial and limited grievance. The title may be taking and the Tearable imposing, but little es the bill would contribute to the removal of the defects complained of in the Court of Chancery, the uncertainty with which parties will apply to the coact for a decision, deprives it almost wholly of any practical utility. All who are acquainted with courts if equity know the unwillingness with which a judge decides any point of law milers assured that all parties affected by such judgment are represented before him; and while the power to referee to decide may be essen tial as a protection against injustice to absent and un reprevented partits,the existence of such a power will be a great if not a complete hindrance to may benefit which might possiWy be derived from this bill, inasmurt as the decision of the court most he sought by parties in the prescribed mode, at the risk of being themselves personally liable to all the expenses of preparing the cue, and bringing it before the court for a refusal. From such a bill very Hell diminution of the delay and expense of otoceedings in the High Court of Chancery can therefore be expected. Disappeinted in our expectation from Mr. TURNER and his project, let us co- sder those Orders of the LORD CHANCELLOR which have been hailed as satis factory and complete. We must confess we cannot consider them such. We doubt their being calculated to save mach of either time or expense in the pro gress of a chancery snit; reliance upon them will prevent the elaboration of more efficient and perfect reforr, and the subsequent disappointment cannot but excite such a general feeling of disgust against the whole system, that reformers may be provoked to pall down altogether and rebuild what might have been repaired, if honestly and timely set about. What do these Orders prosae ? They dispense, in a large class of suits, with the formality of bill and answer, and provide that on the observance of certain simple forms, the questions submitted to the meet shall be referred at once to a Master is CMassew. It is certainly a bold and a strong measure fee tie Chancellor to decide that, in a vast proportion of the causes brought into his court, such as Creditor and Administration suits, the subtleties of bill and answer are not needed for the correct statement of a suitor's case. Such a doctrine would have been legal heresy a short time since, and these Orders almost justify the assertion made in the Roam of Commons by an eminent practitioner, and then doubted, that the object of the Irish Encumbered Es tates Act might have been effected by the Chancellor of his own authority. The alterations in the practice may well be called "a revolution" by the legal ' jour male, for they tend to annihilate a large part of the business of the junior counsel. The main question is, however, whether the result is likely to yield any important benefit to the public? We see but little reason to expect it. The effect of the change can only be to lessen the delay and expense incurred between filing a bill end obtaining a decree. The gain to the public would be apparent, if, upon reference to the Master under the new form, parties stood in the same position as upon a reference under the present system, but this will not be the case. For instance, in a creditor's suit, the executor is now required by his answer to state fully upon oath the meets of his testator, and all receipts and payments by him up to the date of the answer, while under the new mode of procedure this information mast be obtained in the Master's office, and according to the forms there prescribed. It follows, therefore, that any saving of delay depends upon the possibility of ob taining, through the Master's of this account more readily than by the answer of the defendant ; and it is on the belief that in these offices a greater power of merest ination will exist that one dour chief doubts as to the advantage of them Orders rests. The other objection which we entertain to this measure of reform is MO it deals simply with a suit up to the Master's offices, whilst it is in those recesses that the greatest delay and expense is now caused. No ref Atm of the Court of Chancery which leaves these subordinate tribunals and their awkward modes of procedure untouched is worthy of the name. It is in this, the secret hidden portion of the Court of Chan cery, that abuser; most do, p!y burrow ; and we donbt the I filmey or calm o' no.) Orders, whatever seeming chat go they may effect in the present course of busi ness, which do ant sodress themselves to the amend ment of this, the administrative department of the court. lit' in th. se d y s v, i I men sit with folded hands quietly a quiese in a grievance which is cap.ble of remedy ? Assuredly not—if neither the judges of the court nor tint suporiur members of the bar will grapple as ith the evil, there are very many competent to Negro et a rercedy, and parliament will listen to their sligde ItiOr.ll. The public and the legal IT is seldom that agriculturists will condensed to answer nplain question, and yet Lord HARDWICKE, we most render him justice, has not shrunk from doing so. When asked how was it, that in these times of dis tress, when farmers alleged they were paying rent out of capital, not profit, there were plenty of bidders found for every farm, Lord IIanDwICKE replied, that ia times of cheapness there was always plenty of competition foe land, which then required so much lees capital to enter upon. Happy landlords, sure to gain, whatever happens. If corn and stock be dear, high prices afford them pretext for asking high rents. If corn and stock be cheap, it increases competition for land, and rents are kept as high as ever. So that the landlords are in the happy condition of those who can say, whoever loses I win. If tim holders of capital are so eager to invest in the culture of land, is not this a conclusive ign, quite conclusive and potent enough to It gislate from, that capital affords no greater remuneration in other kinds of employ than in that of agriculture ? Is it not proof, that however farming people may have come down, they have not come down more than skill and capital employed in any other species of industry ? The fact is, that neither farmers nor traders can make the large p rofits they used to do. The increase of capital has diminished tho rate of profit, and the mercantile class, obliged to look closely to the items of cost, have roved unable to continue that tribute which they so long pa'Al without a murmur to the landed interest for bread. Because a law has passed, which was but the fulfilment of a pressirg want, the completion of inevitable neces-ity, the landlords abuse the trading interest, for looking to the items of their outlay, and squaring their accounts so as to continue to gain. The reproach is a blind and a selfish one. For, if the trading interest did not gain, did not practise this economy, effect a real profit, and produce its con sequence, continued accumulation, the landed interest would soon feel the effects of such imprudence in diminished capital, in a waning demand or land, and a consequent diminution of rent. Ms loss occasioned to the landed interest oy the lower price of corn, brought about by free imports, is not one-twentieth so great as the loss that must have accrued to the landed in'erest from the mercan tile and manufacturing interest ceasing to realize profits. We may depend upon it, that as far as price and rent go, the farmer depends upon the rectory, and that the landlord and the cotton or moneyed lord, are embarked in the same boat, though they may slt and weigh on diffeieat sides of it. Every . one, who reads or listens, has two lemons dinned into him from opposite SA( 3. One preacher nays we are ruined and desolate ; the entire wealth of the nation and its purchasing powers are gone. The other points to the returns, and asks how is it that never were so many necessaries eaten, so many luxuries consumed, so many taxes paid, so many marriages with their burdens undertaken, and so many births ensued. Although there is but a grain of truth in one to the bushel in the other, there is still a grain, and it ought to be allowed fur. the nation has been undergoing, .perhaps, the most sa'ut cry change that could befel it—a diminution of the in comes of the rich, and an increase in the comforts of the poor. Thousands cannot be so reck lessly gathered in, and spent in luxury ss formerly. The facilities of accumulatico, the extra- I vaganee of profits are not so great. Although fair and moderate rents have not suffered, and need not fear diminution, those calculated on famine prices are so longer to be sustained. There is more abundance ',necessaries and more people earning and command ing them, there are less purchasers however for luxu ries, as all trades who cater for them unfortunately know. We do not say this is a good, but at least the evil is compensated by another and a still greater PM. There is no use, therefore, in denying is tut* all that the protectionists allege. We cannot again have famine prices, nor can the landlords enhance the vale. of the food which they sell by a sum that Lord HARD WICKE estimates at 130 millions sterling, and which was a tribute raised on the rest of the community. If the community was able to pay that tribute, and the non-agricultural portion cf the people able to afford it, it would no doubt give princely fortuses to a limited clue, and these princely fortunes could do a great deal of good in their way. But it is with tributes to an aristocracy as a class, os it is with taxes to a king—what cannot be paid cannot be exacted. And those princes and thewl dominant classes who will go on exacting, produce one of two results equally fatal. They either provoke a revolution, or they eat up the sources of production, es we find to be the case with all the fiscal despotisms of the East. To be sure, the protectionists promise that if the non-agricultural portion of the community wit' con sent to pay for corn a price double of that for which lit can be brought from another hemisphere, they will lin turn legislate and procure higher prices, as far as the home market goes, for all the productions of the non-agricultural clay. And truly, if a nation were walled round and hermetically sealed, if the English population consisted of merely owners and tillers of the earth, and of artisans supplying these owners and tillers with articles of manufac turing industry did there exist but these two classes within the Chinese wall of the island, it would be little matter what prices were. High prices or low prices were altogether the same. But as three-fourths of the wealth and development, and power and population of Great Britain could never have existed, except from Great Britain's relations with the rest of the world, and dominion over a great portion of it, in legislating for Great Britain we can never put the world out of the account. Now, what the protec tionists, and especially the protectionist writers in Blackwood,dtmaad, is precisely this—to put the world out of the account, forgetting that this cannot be done without annihilating all that enhances, cha racterises, and distinguishes the countiy. The pro tectionists would have their England that of the PLANTAGENSTB, or of the Heptarchy. But the 19th century they can nowise comprehend or be recon ciled to. Tus Nsw MAIL CONTRACTS FOR BRAZILS AND THZ WHIT INDiez.—The Lords of the Treasury have jut sanctioned the contract with the Royal West India Mail Packet Company for the conveys's*, of the Brazilian mails, and a new mail route scheme (or the West India mails. The Brazilian ail route scheme is sa follows: Steamers are to run between Southampton and Rio de Janeiro, touching at the Cape de Verd Islands and Pernam. buoo. Branch mail 'examen are to run between Rio de Janeiro and the River Plate. According to the terms of the new West India mail route scheme freemen are to ran twice a month between Southampton and Chaves, calling at Madeira and St. Thomas. These steamers are to return by the same route. Bt. Thomas is to be the foreign packet station at which the inter colonial mails are to be deposited, and from which they are to be distributed. Thera arrange ments are to come into operation hi WOO as the necessary ships are complete. EMIGRATION UPON MRS. CHISHOLM'S PLAN.—On Saturday evening the first preliminary meeting took place of intending emigrants under the superintendence of the above mentioned lady, at Caution-terrace, Winston, for the pur pose of the various families being formed into groups. Ur wards of 200 persons were pri sent. The Hon. Versos Smith, M.P., the Right lion. Sidney Herbert, M.P., sa d Mr. Sidney severally addressed them as to the plan of fur nishing the means of emigrating, and explained at consider able length the duties incumbent on all these intending to proceed to the colonies. 2,0001. has been already subs•ribed by the working classes, as also the following donations : Hoc. Sidney Herbert, M.P., 2001, and Lefty Pembr,ike, 26i. At the termination a the proceedings it was announced that in the course of the week the committee would meet to de side as to the best means of raising the required capital, and zip to appoint trustees to receive subscriptions. The first ship upon this plan ill sal about June nest —.Sunday Times. THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 6, 1850. FRANCE. • - PARIB,4•TVIDAT. , • s l ‘, ' Local hail Internet thedepa4 1,1120. tlllilthe 6lii•et-Loire 11. arty of 23,279 lnumber re was 88, 10. socialist can ethal polled 55,099; the mailerstes I,1120„ The' Machete' Bin of- the Commi of the Bun staves, is it is-nicknamed, is so far advanced that it will be ready to be brought forward on Monday or Tuesday, The Volt de Peuple says, that by abrogating the right of universal snffiage, the right of insurrection has been restored to the citizens. In yesterday's sitting of the Legislative Assembly M. &hatcher addressed an in•.erpellation to the government on the aubject of the attacks made by the Moorish tribe of the Braknas against the inhabi tants of St. Louie, on the coast of Senegal M. Ro main•llesfosses answered that the last despatch of the Governor of Senegal, dated 27th of February, stated that he had not lost all hopes cf concluding a treaty of peace necessary to the French:commerce.lt would, under these circumstances, be premature to under take an expedition ; but the Eldorado, a war-steamer of 450 horse-power, was on the point of starting for Africa. It would take 20 days to complete the voyage, and on arriving could place 150 of its crew at the disposal of the governor, to keep the hordes of savegei within the bounds of respect. General Beraguay d'llillier,' bill for repealing the law of gratu tons instruction at the Polytechnic School and the Schools of St. Cyr and Brest, pissed by the Constituent Assembly, was read a second time. With the exception of one modification, the old state of things has been restored by the vote of the Assembly. To supply the pace of the principte of gratuity removed by the bill, an amendment was proposed by MM. Dafournel and d'Adelsward, grat.t tig purses and half-putses to etuderts who could bring certificates of the insufficiency of their family revenue. 'ibis proposition, alter an animated debate, in which Gen. Lamoriciete took a distin guiehed part on the liberal side, paced by a small majority. An amendment of the committee, pro posing to transfer the Polytechnic School to ?deaden, was rejected. At the end of the sitting M. Cremie ux complained that the Assembly had received no official invitation to be present at the tote of the 4th of May. The report of the bill demanding a grant of 4,810,000 f. for the execution of the part of the Paris aud Stiasburg Railway comprised between Strasburg and Rommartin, has been presented to the Assembly. The committee has reduced the sum to 1,700,000 f., which sum it proposes shall be voted on account of the definitive credit necessary for the completion of the above section. SUNDAY, 6 P M. The festival of the 4th of May went off without the least disturbance or accident. The weather was sin gularly favourable. The only fine spring day we have had jumped with thefete. All was warm, radi aat, and joy-inspiring. Tne sinister predictions of reactionary journals received were splendidly belied by the crowded feces of the festively-attired citizens. Nut the least disturbance ruffi:d the vast assemblage which choked the ample Places of the Place de la Concorde, and waved a sea of hats and bonnets up I the avenues of the Champs E'yskes to the Bar riers de l'Etoile. The gorgeous tinsel of the show was arranged with the most artist-like effect, and never were 12,0001. tquandcred with more ad mirable economy. The crowd was entertained with fauseie fits of variegated flame till midnight, and then dispersed quietly to their homes, scarcely dream ing of the skilful combinations which General Chan- gamer had formed to prevent any explosion of demo- erotic rage. I hear that the electoral law will be present:A in the Aieembly on Timothy. The reporter of the committee is M. de Broglie. The pro . positions are likely to be milder - than the com position of the c3mmittee would have warranted men to expect. Ore provision of the bill is, that a candidate to be elected member, at the first ballot, must poll an absolute majority. A simple unjority would be admitted at the following ballots. Toe other clauses refer chiefly to domiciliary conditions. Trot franchise of the army will not be toucte.l: only the military votes will merge in the civic and not be published separately. The Ordre states that the Tiers-1)11,W, of which it is the organ, will vote for a wise and effectual electoral reform, but will certainly oppose such schemes as are put forward by the Petrie, and other papers of the extreme reactionary party. At this moment all minds are centered upon this question. The government, by waiving its right of initiation upon so vital a measure, has virtually signed its abdication. Six months ago the President of the Republic dismissed a cabinet upon the ground that it was led by the nose by the heads of the old parties. " France," said he, " alarmed, seeks the hand and the will of the elect of the 10th of December." Now, the elect of December, after a trial of his hand and will, which has spent his popularity aed alienated his adherents, appeal to the heads of those old parties 10 take on them a task which, if the government had an atom of firmness, ought to have originated from ministers. The composition of the Committee of Public Safety, as this council of 17 is called, is re mat bible equally b' the omission of Bonapartists and of the tiers-parti. Tne Duke of Monteb.llo, for all his imperialist title, is still the adherent as he was once the minister, of the house of Orleans ; and although Darn, son of the peer of France and historian of Ve nice, de Chatoeloup Laubat, member of the Conseil d'Etat, and Jules Lasteyrie, the devoted adherent cf the Duchess of Orleans, are not without a tincture of liberalism, none of them belong to the tiers-peril, or party of Odilon Barret, Dufsure, Piny, Cavaignac, Lamoricidre, and their followers. Probably . the Pre sident was less influenced in this exclusion of his personal friends by calculation, or a desire to shirk responsibility, than by the necessity of consulting men of parliamentary influence who could act togs ther in concert. On the other band, he would have acted perhaps more prudently, as far as the interests of the country are concerned, to have dashed the de liberations of the Burgraves with a spice of liberal opposition. The reason assigned for the omission of this wholeome precaution is that it was feared that the scruples of the tiers-parti men would have been fatal to an energetic measure. The reason is a foolish one • for it is much better that a moderate electo rali reform should pass with a large majority, than that the sweeping mea sure which will perhaps result from the energetic bias of the committee should call up a formidable opposi tion in the house. Very recently nearly all the names on the committee were to be found in the minority on the retto-active clause of the transportation law. This is a most dangerous symptom, for while the illi berality of that clause is a proof of their political ran cour and a bad augury for the spirit of the bill, their defeat upon that occasion is a proof of their political vincibility, and a bad augury for the success of the bill. If the luxuriant tendencies of re-action had been pruned in committee there would have been no doubt as to its fate. To-day, contrary to custom, a considerable number of members have gone down to the Assembly to de liberate upon the course to pursue in case the com mittee of 17 demand for their electoral bill a vote of urgency. Neither the Napokon nor the Vas du reside has appeared to-day. This reminds one of Lsmoricii:re's expression in the Chamber, throwing equal blame on high and low sources of revolution. The Napoleon of last Sunday provoked au 18th Brumaire ; the Voix du People of yesterday preached the right of insur rection it universal suffrage should be invaded. It is to be hoped that the portion of society which equelly condemns both will daily improve the influence ma nifested by the disappearance of organs which offend its taste, to achieve some substantial and just remedy for the evils of the situation. The cellular system is going to be adopted in all tho prisons called" Maisons centrales" of Ft4lloll. A cellular branch of the prison will be set apart for offenders otherwise incorrigible. SWITZERLAND. La Suisse, of the 24d inst., publishes an address of thirty-six members of the Assembly and of the Coun cil of State to the electors, in opposition to the con e/treatise party, in which they charge that party with being leagued with the reactionary party of the interior and connected with the reactionaries of the exterior, first jeopardising the liberties of emits r land, and then those of the people connected with it, as being intimately allied with the old aristocracy, the natural enemy of all liberty, and se having, with their friends the Jesuits, hailed the alliance of all the perfidious enemies of the institutions of the country. ITALY. • ERMAN STATES. '4Our oorrespondent at Rome, in his letter of the 27th ult., continues to give a very hope less account of the financial state. A conference between Messrs. de Rothschild and the Minister Galli on the 26th was attended with no satisfactory result, so that the loan was still at a stand-still, silver increasing in price daily, and the Exchange on London up to 545. An extraordinary imposition on urban and rural property had been announced to meet the necessities of the state, and a portion of the small notes were Bluntly to be withdrawn from circulation. Imprisonment and deprivation of office were going on without any mitigation from the clemency of the Pope, or the intercession of Geo. Baraguay whose departure was fixed for the 5:11. Princes Borghese and Doria had left for Paris. Advice, from Rome, of the 25th, state that the Prince Rospigliosi and other nobles had presented to the Pope a medal, struck in honour of the Pope's return. NAPLES. The Clorriere Mercantile, of the 29th ult., quoting a communication from Naples of the 220 d, says a change of ministry is generally spoken of. The Prince del Cossero is named. PIEDMONT. The Piednionteze Gazette of the 30:6 ult., states that a short discussion took place in the Chamber of Deputies as to the reform of the tax on newspapers, which terminated in the discussion being postponed. VENETIAN LOMBARDY. The official Gazette of Milan, of the 29th, says that the proclamation of the loan of 120 millions of livres hu improved the quotations of treasury bills, which were, on the 23rd April, at 84 with interest, and 82 without interest. 80 millions have been (offered to be subscribed, but the subscribers require hotter terms. TUSCANY. The Statute of Florence, of the 27th, says that one of the most ancient gems of Italian art, a pie; ure re presenting St. Francs and the principal miracles of his life, grand on a gilded, grod according to the custom in the early time of the arts, having under the figure of the saint writttn" Bonaventura Berlinghicri da Lucca pinxit, 1235," has been discovered in the church of St. Francois des Cnamps. Except the image of the stint, which is difficult to make out, all the other parts of the picture have been retouched. Advice, from Leghorn, of the 28th ult., announce that Monsignor Mastoni, the Apostolic Nuncio at Florence, embarked on the preceding day for Civita Vecchia. GERMANY. pitubsm. BERLIN, May 2. The affairs of Germany are approaching a period in which it will be more than ever uecessary,in order to arrive at a dear understanding, closely to watch the rise and progress of the various congresses, unions and interims winch already exist or to which the next few trays will give birth. First of all there is the Frankton interim, whose term of existence would have expired yesterday, had Austria and Prussia not agreed to endow it with fresh life for another two months. The interim is the successor of the Frail fort Reiche regierung, is composed of two Austrian and two Prussian plenipotentiaries, and pee erste power, analogous to its predecessor, but still less influence or authority. Its orders are either disobeyed or disregarded. Against the prolongation Bavaria has entered a protest. Next in maturity is the narrower union and its creation, and the Erfurt parliament. Of the recent proceedings of this institution, the public are perfectly cognisant. As a legislative assembly, how ever, it possesses no power, its resolutions have been communicated to the governments whicu o-iginatt d it, but neitle r have they been adopted ncr reject. d. Their adoption or rejection must depend en the c,no gross of princes to which I have alluded several times in my recent letters as about to assemble at Goths. The Deutsche Refurtne this evening announces that this congress Is to assemble on the Bth instant here in Berlin and not at Gotha. Further, that Prus is has issued invitations to all the princes parties to the convention of the 26:h May, of which the ma jority have already signified their acceptation. The recent despatch from Hesse Cassel may he considered a refusal in anticipation. Here are already one German interim, one German parliament, and one German congress. Austria intends to add to the con fusion and perplexity by another congress at Frank fort, to be compos 'el of plenipotentiaries from all the German states. The invitations to this meeting have been out some time, but have not been accepted by Prussia, and the majority of the states se hick belong to the narrower union. The object of Prussia in be coming the chief agent of a large portion of the Ger man party wutoestablieh a union of the states on more liberal and constitutional principles than the old German confederation, which has, under any circum stances, become an impossibility ; the olject of Austria in assembling the forthcoming congress at Frankfort is to overcome the impossibility and reconstruct the old confederation. There is another project before Germany which has neither a parliament nee congress. : it is the Four Kings' League, concocted at Munich under Austrian auspices, which I mention merely for the purpose of completing the list. What the con gress of princes and the congress of plenipotentiaries will effect, it is impossible to foresee (the latter is to meet on the 10th or 12th inst.) ; but one thing is certain with regard to both. They are feared and distrusted by a very large portion of the people. The former is feared by the constitutionalist party who have just settled the coretitution for the narrower union, and distrusted by the democratic party who regard it as another attempt at united measures for their destruction. The Austrian congress and its promoters are distrusted and ridiculed by both con stitutionalists and democrats. In speaking of the constitutionalist and democratic party, I allude only to journalists and politicans, for generally speaking the population of Northern Germany is in a sate of great political apathy, only partially shaken off by the results of the election in Paris. - The Schleswig-holstein affair is drawing towards a crisis. The ninth conference between the plenipo tentiaries of Prussia and Denmuk takes place to morrow. On the part of the former a simple peace between Denmark and Germany will be proposed somewhat in the following terms :—" Between Ger many and Denmark there is peace sad friendship." It is not to be expected that this proposal will be ac cepted by the Danish plenipotentiary ; if it is not, the negotiations will at at once cease, and can only be recommenced on a fresh basis. In the sitting of the Second Saxon Chamber at Dresden en the 30th ult. great sensation was created by a declaration made by Zschineky, one of the mi nister?, to the effect that although the punishment of death was abolished by the fundamental rights in the constitution, the government did not intend to be guided by that abolition, nor by sty other of the fundamental rights, if they were thought to be dangerous to the preservation of order. In other respects the government was deter mined faithfully to maintain all the viva...gee con firmed by the constitution. After a long discussion, of a very violent character, the chamber decided on postponing the further consideration of the subject until the official report of the speech made by Herr Zschinsky shall have appeared. IA general order has been issued, stating that the emperor intends to continuo the army on a war foot ing, ar.d that no reduction is contemplated. The town council of Prague has declared itself in solvent. FRANKFORT, May 1. An Austrian cote wee received hem yesterday, says the Ober Post .Inds Zeitung, in which the plenipotentiaries of the collective German govern ments arc invited to assemble here, in order to com mence deliberations on the affairs of Germany at the earliest possible moment; the first sitting is appointed for the 10th of May. The task of the congress will be the installation of a new provisiot al central organ, and the hope is expressed that this work may be completed within fourteen days, as the Austrian government will facilitate the realisation of a common understanding by app•opriate propoaltiona After, continues the note, the essential conuitions shall have bten fulfilled by this agreement, on which the attainment of the ends of the liund depends, the plenipotentiaries will proceed to consider the subject of a revision of the constitution of the Bend, univer rally acknowledged to be an inevitable ta-k, and to deliberate on the best mode of undertaking and ful- Cling the 'same All Ikrattempts hitherto made are said to hays: failid from want of agree- : ment on the principles upon which the work I was to be eobducted. These doubts the imperial i cabinet is of opinion ought to be resolved in the as sembly invited in this note, in conformity with the fourth section of the additional act of Vienna, accord ing to which every revision of the constitution of the confederation must proceed from the general assembly of the representatives of the states, and also in con formity with the treaty of 1815 declaring this con federation an indissoluble union. True, moreover, to the repeatedly declared conviction that the present constitution no longer corresponds to the wants of the times, and not wishing to return to an impossib'e past, the Austrian government declares its desire to see each • new ordination of powers as shall have respect to the actual relations of princes and states, and the rights and privileges guaranteed by existing treaties, and it will honestly work for the attainment of such an end, in a manner that than satisfy every legitimate claim. The Aus trian court fully expects that the collective govern- ments will answer this call, and the more so as the present proposition contains, not merely the only coon° consistent with the laws of the confederation, but is the only one which can conduct to the de ' sired end. On this account can no member of the Band refuse to participate in this work, unless deti roue of retiring from membership. GREECE. A telegraphic despatch, transmitted from Trieste to the Austrian cabinet, contains intelligence from Athens of the 23rd of April. The cancerences between Baron Gros and Mr. Wyse continued. The former had b :en unable is several conferences to come to an understanding with Mr. Wyse u to the basis of the propositions which he should offer to the Greek government. On the 22nd he delivered to Mr. Wyse a note ludo' ng a project which app need to him to be one t 3 which all parties might consent, and requested that the British Ambassador, in case of declining to accept the same, would transmit it to London. Mr. Wyse declined both alternatives. A sharp encounter between the crew of a Turkish steamer and pirates has just occurred off the coast of Syria, in which some of - the latter were captured. PORTUGAL—As announced in a portion of Satur day's impression of the Express, the Oriental C pany's steam-packet Iberia, Captain C. F. Burney, ar rived at Southampton on that day, and landed her mail. under the charge of Lieut. Wm. Perss2Newenham, R N., Admiralty agent. Ihr dates are : Gibraltar, 26th ; Cadiz, 27th ; Lisbon, 29th ; Oporto, 30th ; Vigo, 30th. There is no news of interest. NHL SUMNER AND THE REGISTRARSHIP OF THE ARCHDIOCESE OF CANTERBURY. chimney there is perfectly free from smoke." It was Na; while some of the neighbouring tall chimneys were vomiting forth awful clouds of dense black fuliginons matter. " Have you taken out a patent for your invention ?" "Ni," replied the in ventor," we retain no interest in the matter. I ex plain it to every one that wishes to imitate us. Our plan is not yet perfect, as you shall see. Here, Gee gery, make up your Bra: The stoker began to throw fresh coals into the three huge furnaces, when a darker curteut of sir began to issue teen the chim , eey ; but it was, at worst, very far from presenting that thick and opaque blackness which continued to issue steadily from its fellows. In a few minutes this slight c.louring disappeared, and the heated air-cur rent came out as transparent as Mere. The advan tages of such a decrease of the smoke nuisance as they have actually attained to at the Chorlton-mills seemed to me so important as to warrant farther inquiries on the subject. "Pr ,y, sir," I asked, "was this improvement of sours a sudden thougt.t or the meet et long continued experiments ?" " The latter. I spent a good deal of time and a good round sum cf money, before I was satisfied. I am one of those who believe ' in the phil.anphy rf enn.m,m things : there is a gcod deal of chemistry in a eel, of coal, and of science in a fire-hole Ike that which Gregory is shovelling iete. I was quite sure, from the nature of a piece of coal, that the gases might be separated and consumed. But the questien that I had to resolve, was not only a question a science but one also of cost. Expensive improvements are of little use. People will never adopt them unless compelled by legit enactments • and then there is a con tinual struggle to evade the spirit of the law with out violating is letter. Fortunately, we know that on the whole Providence hca se arraneel Were, that the best arrangements cf the materials of ir e us try are in the end the rn st beneficial to those who mike them. I wanted to show that in consuming our smoke, we not only helped to preserve the public health of our neighbourhood, but also economised power. I have succeeded. The smoke-burning at thee.: miffs alone saves us from five to six tons of coal per week." Three hundred tons a year! This is an argument in favour of smoke consumption which no one can gainsay. Sentiment and philanthropy are each very fine ; but a reason in the share of a com mercial advantage is a thousand time more convinc. irg. Three hundred tons of coal cost a hundred and fifty pounds—and a huadred and fifty ponnis wet pay the income tax on between five and six thousaLd a year ! Men indifferent to the public health may nevertheless begin to burn their own sm,.ke whea they find it will enable them to never the loss which they sustain by the income tax. Leaving this engine yard. we now enter the m:11, a door is thrown open and we step into a 'mils equine room which appears to lead no whither; bat wait the signal "all right" the master touches a roes:, and we begin to ascend as in the Colosseum in l gents park. These most convenient ascents pre now he coming very common; nut only or. facteties, bat in warehouses like% ise. The late Sir Teurnais Putter was, I think, the first to introduce one into le. 71144. nificent warehouse in George-street; aid many of your readers will remember the inures: thes e xt::tta in the picturesque and wonder-loving mind of leer Kolb, the famous German traveller, sum- tee vests ago. In a few se ceLds the msceine stops ; the on which we stand adjusts itself to a Lew love!. id we walk into the highest room or story in the butt.!.::;. Erected 40 years since the Chorlton elels are th ready considered old. Toe machinery is Les reteer out of date, and the " numbers" revtaro:ere: :.re coarse, so t hat, en the whole, an lair:eater prep fired to find no very favourable -pteelieu c t a Macchester mill here. In some respects, flowerer. he would be agreeably disappointed in these ex pee t t toe s. Out of rather intractable materials the Nee ris have contrived to make—not a paradese of industry— but a workshop for their _people worthy of ti.e strangers' best attention. For example : It: goc ' through the various rooms the visitor cum., c which seems to him pecuhariy disagreeble, very hot, very el ere, almost dark. is low, the atmosphere full of p.rti: ton fibre; and the reigning pea tume eeestlee of any thing but Araby the Blessed. Th. Idea at once occurred to me, "Dais must be your peteater y ; This is screly the room in which you etieley ccur condemned." "Just the reverse," said the mast, r, "this is our best mem. All our choice hate's or. here. We promote them to it for skill and g conduct."—" But pray tell me the reason o: . curious tact ?" "You see, the room stauds ors r boiler-house. A moist warm atmosphere is tee most favourable to the ince:eases of m nufacture : bands can consequently produce better work, ate: obtain better wages."—" Do they not, however. r in health ?' "No, not much, if at all. Foi me y this room was very much worse than it is ore. Small as it is, we have spent mete than a horn'.:. 1 pounds in ventilating it.' Yon will see from ti. s. Mr. Editor, how complex are the interests of workman ; and how far from simple any plat - , tee be which pretends to regulate those interests as ..- tween employer and employed. It would be e asy ' enough to purify the Medlock by stor ping aln. works ; bat would anybcdy besides the legislator satisfied with the change ? At these. mills I found considerable diff-rete : opinion as to the working of the recont fi:etery I They work ten hours a day it. all. The masters ae , strongly opposed to the relay system ; and, (rota that I can learn, it seems likely to be attended e doubtful or disastrous consequences wherever i: •:e tried in a large town. In a rural district, where the :e are few beer-houses, and fewer idle and dissolete fellows dawdling alnut, ready to seduce the hate-. it is far 1: ss dangerous, even if dangerous at all. le: Messrs. Morris are in favour of an eleven hour hi... is I a compromise which they think would conciliate I interests, and meet nearly all the wants of the ea-- Some of the workmen are also in favour of terve:, hours: others are violently opposed to any alieia.l ••• of the present term cf labour (ten hours); bat tee majority of those I spoke with were net content vet:. ten hours work and ten hours wag. s. Ihey Lea: all wished to have more money at the week's end : rather than continue definitively to receive their pr, sent wages, they would be willing to accept the a,td.- tional hour. These are the results of my itquiries oe this point. On the whole, the workpcop!e in these mills sc.::: clean, healthy and contented. The number of y women is very great, and many of these are extreme nice in their manners and appearance: nut so lady as the girls in Lowell are described to be, but ate. as comely in their person and as welt-behaved as yo.:! women of their class ate found to be in any part -; this country. Their hair is generally nicely arranged —braids and curia are common—and you see .;: glance that, in each fair ones own opinion at lee they have charms deserving of culture. 1 have mentioned that the present proprietors e the Chorlton Mills have expended upwards o; hundred pounds in improvicg the ventilation et o: small work-room. This is not an isolated instar Mr. David Morris has a sort of genius for this e.ei of improvement. Thus, in the card-room—one of :7, most dusty and disagreeable reeeLs iu a factory has set up a fan, at a considerable cost, which eatess off the floating fibres and particles of dust with sh the atmosphere is loaded, and by casting forth tinual current of heated air preserves a e temperature, and a purer and cooler atmese::.: in the room. In this case, as in that of the consumption, a money gain is the reward et . spirited inventor. The hands do mow work. .tel better. They get more wages, and he gets more on their work, 1 have several other things to tell you abet': tie- , Chorlton Mills, but must reserve them for attettti letter. W. It. P. It is ie ctiiin; .4 cf The HIBERNIA, Captain Lang, sailed from I.'. pool on Saturday, for Halifax and Boston. MYSTERIOUS CIRCUSISTANCF..—On Friday t th. bo of n unmarried woman named h eel C. u.o , in the A dy shto a n Canal, New too, near • stances which eres.cd strong suspicion that *he ha I murdered. She had left her home about a fortrogto • stating that she was going to meet a in‘ chauic van, who had paid has addresses to her for about • months. She wrs seen ne more of, and when taLen the canal one of her arms was broken, larr bruised, and 'eyeful of her ribs were terribly tractor: at the inquest, held on Sa , urday, the surgeons make a post mufti= examination reported that they trace of blood having flowed from the wound, 111','U' person, and the injuries might 'aye been Soda 1,1 death. There was no reason to suppose the d, cc"' ` committed suicide, for she had been cheerful up t.• moment, when she was sten walking with Sub.' .1 night before she was aniseed near the part vt the c.11.a , her body was found, but Sullivan denies that he on the night she last left home. There was no es contradict him, and the jury returned en open I , t• " Yound drowned." TO TILE EDITOII OF TEE D/LILT NEWS Sin,—There is ore s tntente in the leading article contained in your paper of yesterday, which te‘ms to entitle me to make emu , • obseivations. Jo alluding to the fact, that the Archbishop of Canterbury had filed up a vacancy in the registrarship of the Prero gative Court, by appointicg his son to the second reversion in the office, you nave termed it an act " of ' which the Bishop of Winchester is ashamed." I presume veu infer this from the eircum-tance that the Bishop of Winchester contradicted the report that his son had Mtn appointed to the offi!e .n question. Allow me to suggest that such an inference is not deducible from that fact; and that although the bishop was influenced by a natural wish to re move from the mind of the public an erroneous im pression respecting the future pecuniary position of his son, the shame which you impute to him certainly formed to part of his motives. Indeed, although Sir Benjamin 1611, by giving an incomplete quotation from my conversation with him, may have cAused an impression that I myself disapproved of the appoint ment, I sincerely think that no one acquainted with the real facts of the case can seriously attach any blame to the tran,aotion. A ;;cind deal has been made of the fact that the vacancy was not filled up by the late l'rimate, but the difference of his position from that occupied by the present archbishop has not been stated. 1)r. Howley had recommended the abolition of the of :e or reduc tion of the emoluments, and therefore might probably feel that he could not with propriety nomi nate anyone to it at a time when his nominee would have been entitled to compensation in the event of the interference of parliament, as the act of 6 & 7 Will. IV., c. 77, which provided that appointments to ecclesiastical offices after that date should not give a I vested interest, expressly excepted the Pierogative Court of Canterbury. The act of 10 & 11 Viet., e. 08, how. ever (passed subsequently to his omission to appoint), put things upon a different footing. That statute pros ided that all subsequent appointments of eccle siastical officers, without any exception, should be made subject to parliamentary revision, and should not give the holder any claim to compensation. After this act, of which the archbishop was well aware, surely he was justified in filling up an office legally vacant, neither is it fair to say of him that because the office can be made a sinecure now, he had any wish to throw the smallest obstacle in the way of its reform, or "to attempt to screw out of the church an ecclesiastical sinecure." One word more, and I have dcne. Some dozen years back the registrarship of Chester, the duties of which up to that time had been performed by deputy, became vacant. It was then in the power of the pre- sent Primate to appoint one or both of his sons (who were then, but have long ceased to be, minors) to this office. His not having done so, however, seems entirely inconsistent with that anxiety which you impute to him, to secure for hie family the posses sion of lucrative offices, irrespective of age and fitness. I trust to your well-known impartiality to give a place in your columns to these remarks.—l am, &c., CHARLES SUMNER. Temple, May 4, 1850. MORNINGS AT THE MILLS.—No. HI. Through the centre of a district which twenty years ago formed the southern suburbs of Manchester, runs a small but well-known stream, the Medlock. As black as Styx, though not so famed in song, this river is remarkable for two things—as being a greater nuisance to the region which it traverses, and as supplying the raw material of steam-power to a greater number of works than any river of equal magnitude in the world. In London we talk about the filth of the Thames, and at the least discolourment of the water, cry out mightily—as we have a right and an interest in doing ; but the defenders of good old and bad new abuses should see the Medlock, and inhale a few of the rich aromas from its surface! . On the banks of this inky stream stand the Chorl ton Mills, the which I am about to invite your readers to visit with me this morning. These mills are not very large, but, ff I mistake not, they present several points of interest to a stranger, and to the men of Manchester are not devoid of merit as an example of what may bo dace by a couple of earnest-minded men setting about their work in the true spirit, and with aims beyond the mere a-cumulation of money. In the history of these mills there is nothing very pe culiar : they were erected some forty years ago, when the cotton trade was almost in its infancy, by a gen tleman of the name of David Holt, who made a large [atone in a few years, which, unlike the generality of his rivals, he soon found means to get rid of again. The son of this gentleman has since migrated to Lon don, devoted himself to a different kind of culture, and is just now ct.ming into public notice u • pro mising young poet. After a tew changes of fortune the Churiton Mills came a few years back into the hands of the present proprietors, William and David i Mor ris. But I have lingered long enough at the tbreshhold. Let the reader now suppose himself at the gates of the Chorlton Mills, in company with the writer and Mr. David Morris, the managing partner. Passing , the gates, we enter a clean, narrow yard, between two outbuildings detached from the main pile of fac- ! tory ; one of these, that on the left hand, is composed ' of the time-keeper's lodge, the counting-house, and the private rooms of the two proprietors ; to the nature and uses of the building on the opposite side I shall have by-and-bye to direct your very particular atten tion. At the further end of the yard is the engine house. "You see," observed our guide, "how we contrive by a simple arrangement to consume our own smoke. This is an invention of my own ; it costs very little minty at the first outlay, and in a few days saves itself in coal. You see the