The Express. — London, England, 1850-05-23 00:00:00

Eke eivreoo. travelling expenses, can find no security Nave in keeping up an army of 500, 000 men, and mom over. in erecting fortificat ions wttboat end. Siam 1813, indeed, Austria has never pureed as, teak with sal Nave the filling of her prisms sod the tow pieties of heresies. She had almost wowed the laud with them. Of what use were tttey to bet ia the hour of used ? And yet the same policy sorvivee ; and the building of bastimi ust 4rlashed hob eta, tinues, as if war and military promotion were the normal state of Europe. All the great towns in Austria are now to have improved and impregnable , 1 forts attached to them. Those at Milan and Vienna are in progress; the latter, a perfect citadel, directed against the city. Bromberg is to have another. The fortress of Buda is to be tutored; that of Spielberg, near Bruns, enlarged. Cracow is to be erected into a fortress of first-rate rank. Heaven knows what it will cost. Arad and Tememar are likewise to be made impregnable. In addition to these, Trieste is to be fortified on the yea side, and to have an extensive arsenal, as well as Pols. Amongst other of his plans in concert with Russia, Prince SCUWARZENBERG proposes. to make Austria a formidable miuitim9 power. The only obstacle to the revival or completion of these superannuated schemes of military empire, is the utter impossibility of finding money even to meet the current expenses of the state. What these current expenses were and are the following will show. It is a table ellowieg in each year the Income. Expenditure. Army Estimates. Tear. Millions nt Millions et Millions of Pieria,. Eerie& florins. 1831 1832 1833 1834 1836 1836 1837 1833 1639 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1843 1847 OUTGOING MAIL& The mails fee British North henries and the United Mates will be mole ap be-morrow eveabsg. The mane end se the Mediterranean, Beret. Ogle*, India, RearKeeeg, to., will be made up to-sorrow lerehleg. The malie be Lisboa, Spain, sad Gibraltar will be made vp The W es t 27. The West India MAN liteladleg Benssis, Heveasalt, lamas, Henthires, New Weans. and Mesieekasel excluding lbws ese Iliselters, St. Jegoili4lingleMl. Now Oebbeda, IMM. sod Para. wall be while T r zilee evanher of Jane 1. The melle Ileaerts, the and POMO Ayres, will be widely es the nests( of Jess . The semis ler (Skater, Malta, Greeee, the lambs blue, 'Mt( Ogles, India. and Chia% via Beethasetes, M maim an ea the morning of Jane 20. 1171011 WALVIS A? LONDON 17111110 a =Dal -7111•ma.11 , 1 , Alarm Ira miaow -Nano& Its am I. LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 23. Wa are essentially an experimental people. Oar popular philosophy is inductive; our frame of govern ment is composed of specific devices, provided from time to time for specific waste, wholly regardless of theory; our social system might furnish specimens to fill a chronological museum. Above all, our laws are the aggregate of expedients, suggested by various necessities, wholly irrespective of their apparent heterogeneity or disagreement with any common principle. Our inaptitude for the synteetic habit of thought and for absolute uniformity of system may or may not be a misfortune. But the fact is indisputable, that we are a practical people, in heart entertaining a profound contempt for codes, doctrines, and a priori reasoning in general, and busying our selves almost exclusively with the modes, in which actual pressing and acknowledged wants can be met In the cheapest, readiest, and most efficient manner. I. The popular demand for certain definite reforms in our courts of law, is an instance of this national ten dency. We want inexpensive and rapid de cisions of small money questions. We are bored to death by the tedious formality of the supreme tribunals in matters of simple account. We have a settled conviction that such prolixity of pleading about trifling sums in dispute is in nine cases out of ten a mere contrivance for professional profit at the cost of the suitors. The immense majority of suits initiated in the courts of Westminster never go to trial ; and comparatively few of them ever proceed beyond the first step of pro cess. There is in fact nothing to plead or argue about. It is therefore vexatious to have them treated even in this p.eliminary stage as leyall.n disputable' caste. The public are irritated at their being so; and impatiently resist upon their being referred, or at all events such of tbem as arise between neighbours and where the sum does not exceed 301., to the local courts instead of the Queen's Bench or Common Pleas. That is all the merchants and traders ask—a practi cal, simple, safe, and common-sensical remedy for a general, notorious, and every-day evil. Whereupon, up else a swarm of doctrinaires, sys tetu-mongers, and anti-law fanatics, and insist that the whole fabric of our jurisprudence must be shunted, that to do what is easy and obvious and practical only, instead of upsetting many things be sides and founding new principles, rules, and practices el law, evidence, award, notice, and jurisdiction—is cowardly, trimming, and *bevel all illogical. Local warts, we are told, mast cease to be Iccal; the option of resorting to them must be turned into an exclusive resort to them, and the long-established principles respecting wh at is termed the venue, are to be over ruled by the judgment of Captain FITZROY, R.N. Instead of a bush:els-like discussion about practical means, and their adaptability to practical elide, the tone of some of our petulant contemporaries seems to Imply that the affair has already become a political faction fight, in which the sole question is, which side ere you on. A committee of merchants and traders, for presuming to assemble and say in the moot tempe rate language what they though: of the provisions of the New County Courts Bill, are held up to ridicule sad abuse as a club of nincompoops, or a gang ot petti foggers' friends. A crusade against all that is most venerated and venerable in our jurisprudence is preached ; and the frantic experiment is recommended of forcing all suite whether local or not, and whether legally controverted or not, into courts which never were meant, and which, generally speaking, are not qualified to have, such duties coat upon them. The object for which county worts were esta blished, as we have again and again repeated, was to provide for the cheap and summary arbitration of petty disputes and the enforcement of petty debts. They were meant to be courts of simple inquiry, not of entitle argum ent. They were meant to be courts for the do- — j-.motion of matters of fact, not pouts of law ithabiticr or. They were meant to save persons, . the same district, the coat and trouble of a resort to Westminster, not to undermine and subvert the tribu nals which are there established. But now other aims are avowed. The wholesale merchat t whose debtor in Devonshire or Durham fails to meet his engagement, is to be deprived of his right to sue in 'court qualified to determine questions of law, and he is to be compelled to abide by the decision of the judge of a county court. If be should happen to have two similar claims against parties resident in the remote districts we have named, he must make a journey to each or employ an attorney to act for him there, and bring his witnesses per rail—a curious mode of saving expense, it must be allowed. Finally, he may, and in all probability will, if the cases admit of legal debate, obtain two different judgments, with both of which, as a good and contented citizen, he is of course to try and be satisfied. We have no desire to disparage the county courts. We have never done so. We think them eminently fitted to serve the useful purpose for which they were instituted. But we submit that that purpose was a definite, a limited, and a strictly subordinate one ; and that to usurp for them the powers and functions of the higher jurisdictions is wholly to lose sight of that original parpose, and to lay up in them a burthen of responsibility which they are wholly unfitted to bear. Cheap courts they can no longer be, if they once cease to be strictly local ; yet cheapness was and still is the main argument in their favour. Expeditious they must in hke manner cues to be, if they are compelled to hear law arguments, and called upon to deliver elaborate judgments. Respected or confided in they will inevitably cease to be, when upon grave and difficult questions of statutable interpretation, of the admissibility of evidence or the weight of con flicting authorities—diverse and discrepant decisions are known to have been pronounced by different county judges. The wife and natural distinction between snits in volving points for legal inquiry, and those which turn simply on matters of fact, cannot, we are per- Needed, be lost sight of without serious danger. We have before suggested an easy method by which the discrimination of cases fit to go before the local courts from those meriting the attention of the su preme tribunals, might with facility be made. If the pecuniary limit shall be widened to 60i., the adop tion of sane method of this kind is imperatively required. If any one can suggest a simpler or a better, we stall pail it gladly. But by all means let the principle of an alternative jurisdiction be kept ;steadily in view. Let no man, for thanks of blind and reckless theory, bs compelled to resort to a tribunal which he justly believes to be less competent to do him justice than that to which he has heretofore been entitled to repair. If his case is plain, end he has nothing to contend against but the proveable neglect or dishonesty of his neighbour, let the county court be open to him. But whim his case is of a different description, let not the high places of justice be shut against him. Let us proceed in this, as we have in most other practical changes done, in an experimental manner, seeking to make provision for our actual wants, and taking little heed of the lafiefs and lamentations of precipitate or passionate w-reformers. Ir is to be hoped, now that Austria has experienced the inutility of keeping up a monstrous army, not only for the intimidation of its own discontented sub jects, but for frightening Prussia into submission, and the lesser winos@ from joining with her in a constitutional union, that both the courts of Vienna and St. Petersburg will roe, or will at least feel, the necessity of diminishing their expenses, reducing their 'raise and of Austria at least, adopting such conciliatory and liberal measures in domestic policy, as will admit of return to the ways of peace. Unfortunately, the present ministry of SCRWAR ZEMBERG and EACH, although their treasury is so empty as to be unable to defray the young Emperor's Thus, from 1830 to 1847, during seventeen years of peace, the deficit amounted to 155 millions of florins. Tee debt of Austria was increased every year since 1818 by 20 millions, whilst the interest was increased' 30 per cent. On a state of such disorder came the terrible events of 1848, diminishing the revenue, and more than doubling the expenditure. The result was too visible in all matters of currency and finance. The bank, wholly in the power of the government, now compelled to make advances, felt its reserve become an incalculable fraction of the amount of notes issued. In the summer of 1848 the bank, at cordingly,discontinued the reimbursement of its notes, and the premium on silver has gradually risen to 20 per cent., that on gold to 271. Even the copper coin disap peared from circulation. And in order to prevent the interruption of all commercial intercourse, the go vernment issued notes of 4s. and 25., which the public found necessary to divide into two and into four parts for the common necessaries of life. Even this did not suffice, and almost all shopkeepers were obliged to pass notes and cheques in change. Government is sued notes of 4d. and 2:-,cl. value. And lioaily came forth stcanynoten, notes of forced circulation. Such is the p resent state of the Austrian currency, without enough in the treasury to pay the EMPEROR'S bill charges and railroad fares. And yet this state threatens war, nay comes into our market to help to keep up its monstrous armies. This, however, is but the picture of the public distress: the private suffering is in propottion. In Hungary and Gallicia the late revolution decreed that the landlords should lose their right to peasant labour, but they were to be indemnified. The present government has paid no indemnity. The owners of the soil, therefore, without capital or labour, have left the land hal f uncultivated. In Lombardy, the proprietors of the sol have suffered tantamount loss from positive exaction; and land is the only soiree of wealth. Even the manufactories of Bohemia and Moravia are stopped : Hun gary no longer offers them a market. Its people have but wherewithal to live; and deeply do the Mayon, of Bohemia now regret the day, when they aided Austria to subdue the rich and independent Hungary. In fact, the whole of the Austrian empire is stricken with paralysis, property ex'ine., and even the cultivation of the soil diminished by r least one thitd. The remedies for this state of suffering, de vised by the government, are the maintenance of an army of MONO men, the erection of fortresses, the establishment of convents of Jesuit:, of which there were formerly two, whilst now there will be 24, scattered through the empire. The police and in quisition of private as well as public life is committed to the prierhood, the same as in the Roman states; and this state of servitude, from which the Austrians, I and even the Lombard., were exempt since the days of Joserti IL, has been restored. _ _ Such is the empire, such the condition and policy of the government, which still C 312 find organs and public writers to belsud and support it in this coun try. Such is the tyrannical and rettognde govern ment, to which they would subject the population of Germany, and to which they would entrust the guid ance of that country and ill defence against the ultra liberalism of the west ! DAT by day, the opposition to those parts of the Metropolitan Interment Bill which infringe on local self-government and on freedom of trade, is increas ing. On Monday, the committee of the three die seating denominations declared against them; and this morning a general meeting is to be held at the Freemasons Tavern, to petition parliament on the subject of those glaring defects of what would, under different machinery, prove an invaluable measure. Nor has this opposition, as we understand it, any connexion or sympathy with the noisy disturbance at the Crown and Anchor, reified by the disorderly ser vants of a class of capital-less middlemen who inter cept, at enormous cost to families, funerals from being directly and economically conducted by the trades men who indirectly furnish them. It is neither based on trading selfishness nor does it spring from paro chial jobbery ; bat is provoked by the extraordinary attack the bill makes on the principle of local admin istration and on the practice of representative taxa tion ; by the competition it proposes that government shall establish to private trade; by the immense amount of uncontrolled expenditure, and of irresponsi ble patronage, it will place in the hands of a govern meat commission ; by the unlimited power it will confide to that commission of charging the public rates of oar metropolitan parishes with the unlimited loans it may raise ; by the authority it will give this commission of rewarding by perpetual annuities the parochial clergy of London for the aid they may ren der to the scheme; and by the unjust burthens it will thereby impose on diameters. It is on these grounds that the opposition to the bill is founded; and very irresistible grounds they appear to us. To its principle, or, in other words, to extramural interment, there is, and can be, no objec tion. All classes are agreed as to its necessity, and are united in a strong desire to prohibit intramural burial. It is idle, then, and wholly inaccura'e, to affect to trace this opposition to any discreditable or interested sources. It is not to be parried or averted by any attempt to confound it with the hostility of those whose inordinate gains, it is at once admitted, mart be abated before any system of extramural sepulture can work well. The Board of Health, whence this bill has pro ceeded, and by which, if enacted, it will be carried out, is • new department of the state ; and it is founded on principles of central supervision over local affairs and local administration which, if strictly confined to superintendence and suggestion, might be v useful and valuable ; b u t whi c h, if pushed to management and control of those efflux!, will effect a great change in the machinery of English soc i e t y . Thi s B oar d sprang up into existence during the visitation of a pestilence; and, by its enf orcement o f h ouse to house visitation,it undoubtedly saved a large amount of human life. To its temporary existence, the Health of Towns Act gave prolonged life; and, under the operations of that statute, its inspectors have prepared a series of reports on the sanitary condition of ourprin cipal provincial towns which, in a few pages, furnish to their " oldest inhabitants," a much more perfect knowledge of the foulness of their respective localities than a long life of desultory observation, even auis'ed by smell the most acute, could supply. The Health of Towns Act has, however, ea yet yielded nothing more than reports. No town has hitherto THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, MAY 23, 1850. ailed • the reports soe% ma d e in no ems bare the wt s tfiscei n n sotaally comiammod; are not wan complaints in oonntry pipes that the delay in beenning the good work of aural &salines, is emribaNe to the obetrue tire spirit apparently htherent in centralised tune tionaryima, th an to ser want et load energy. At all events, it remains to be men whether the Board of Health as work oat the statiMi m p oss esalkied to its cars. le aOn its ability to de rt a & From the operation et tie et 'lbw.. Act, London was excleded. in the emnighise Ow 'm ama., events have proved) that Ws BMW? Clima minim would speedily and ellbstively preside he its sanitary improvement. This esempdea et the me tropolis from the furiediotion at the Board of Health is, naturally enough, unpopider at Gwydyr Heave; where there is a strong desire, transplanted freaa Somerset Hones, to have oontrel and authority over the sturdy and refractory parishes of London. The subordination of any part of the parochial system of the metropolis to centralised and scientific administer don and functionaryima would, It is there antici pated, be followed by enlarged powers over the sani tary arrangements of country towns. So that gradually and with the very best intentions, the Bard of Health will, it is hoped, expand into a departmental centre bureau, endowed with larger powers over parish officers and local taxation than any existing department of the state. Towards such expansion of this hitherto very modest and very useful board, the' Metropolitan Interment Bill is the first pipe to be laid down. The expectant report on the supply of metropolitan water will, we suppose, be pipe the second. Now there may, it Is just risible, be—to use the dogmatic and positive language of the Reports on Intramural Burial— absolute necessity of unity;" "a change of management" may _ " be absolutely necessary snp . erintendenoe" say be " absolutely indispensable." It le, we say, jut pow 'ibis that in interment and water supply these prin• ciples may be needful, and that oar present parochial system is altogether unfitted to carry out unitary im provements. Bat in legislating on these subjects it in indispensable that we know what we are about, whither we are going, and what the end proposed is. It we can only have extramural sepulture, and ample and cheep supplies of water, by the agency of a new department of the state, endowed with arbitrary powers and the right of taxation, let us have time to consider whe ther that is not a price too large to pay even for those blessings. Let us not legislate in the dark, or in ig norance, when it is proposed to increase so seriously the authority of executive power, and to diminish so greatly the powers of eeltgoveniment. At present the Board of Health is composed of three members, all appointed by the crown—viz., of Lord SE% moue, who belongs to it cx officio, as chief commissioner of the Woods and Forests ; of Lord ASHLEY, who belongs to it as an amateur philan thropist ; and of Mr. Eletvix CHADWICK, who, doing the real work, is, very properly, the paid member of the board. If to these gentlemen are added two seem- Javier, four ill-remunerated clerks, and a better-paid porter ' the existing establishment is, if we are to credit the civil estimates, complete. Now in such a board there is nothing inviting very much confidence. Lord SEYMOUR has certainly oem menced his official career admirably; for he his, in all probability, saved Birkenhead from that ruin a hich Lord CARLISLE'S indolence was bringing down on it ; but Lord SEYMOIa has, in the reformation of the administration of the Woods and Forests and other crown property, a great task before him ; and it will require all his energies and mist of his time. A little general supervision is the utmost, therefore, he can give to the Board of Health ; he may interfere now and then to restrain it when running a head ; but direct it efficiently and completely ho cannot. Lord ASHLEY and Mr. CIIA DwlcK will, in fact, constitute the every day board. But Lord ASHLEY in the hands of such a man as Mr. CaAIMICK is a child. The board is, there fore, resolved into Mr. CHADWICK, a little controlled by Lord SEYMOUR, and a little ornamented by Lord ASHLEY. Now Mr. Citanwice is the most resolute opponent of local self-administration in the kirgdcm. He regards the parochial system as a machinery fur jobbing merely; and all his reports and measures aim at what he calls "absolute unity." They are, therefore, to be watched on th it account. Hitherto the parochial system has in London, as els - where throughout this realm and in all its colonies, had the care of providing places of interment. Un fortunately the rapid growth of our towns has brought buri,lplaces so provided into their very centres, to the injury of health, and to the increase of taxation. All classes are now, however, agreed to put a atop to intramural sepulture. But this, says the Board of Health, cannot be dine efficiently and economically without the substitution of powers the most " abso lute,'' or, as we think, the most arbitrary, in a central I:cely, for the parochial system • and with out the substitution of a government al trade in interments for a commerce carried on by private speculators. The first point for consideration is, then, not the expediency of abolishing intramural sepulture—for all men are agreed on its abolition—but whether extra mural sepulture may not be superintended by local and representative machinery ? In the provinces, the theory of the Health of Towns Act is, that sanitary improvements can be carried out by local agency, superintended by cen tralised science and suggestions. But if this principle be applicable to every other town in England, why is it inapplicable to London? If it be, in the opinion of the Board of Health, inapplicable everywhere, then this measure now before parliament is only the first of a series of measures for the destruction of local self administration. Either, then, the Board of Health ought to show cause why London is to be deprived of the administration of all its sanitary improvements, or it ought at once to proclaim its ultimate object to be the destruction of local government in all matters affecting sanitary improvement. Of late there has been a succession of attempts on the part of the executive government to interfere with local administration and with private enterprise. Lord MONTEAGLE proposed that government should take railway audits in hand; Mr. Ltitoccuenz pro posed that the Board of Trade should have power to rule and regulate the merchant service of the kingdom ; and now we have Mr. CHADWICK propos ing that the Board of Health should, in the matter of burial places, supersede the rarish authorities, and take interments out of the hands of undertakers. These attempts, we say, merit the most serious atten tion of the legislature; for, if successful, they will produce a complete change in that system of govern ment under which, and very much through which, this country has risen to that greatness, from which M. LEM: ROLLIN, in a spirit of socialistic prophecy, foresees we are about to fall. At all events, it is, we repeat, necessary to be fully aware of what we are about. SPAIN. We hats received our Madrid correspondence of the 17th. The Gazette contains a decree prohibiting the exportation of bark for tanning purposes. There are rumours of a Carlist movement, and the govern meat continues to take great precautions. The Clamor I Publico bee been condemned to pay another heavy tine. M. laturitz was oa the point of setting out for London. AI A IMP, MAY 15.—Theo per Gala. S 7 I.loprpef , ; after Boleti SI 13-16 to 32 cash. PP" 121 paper. eta, 1 3 prper. , miter Mu, 12 13-10 to 13 each. l'ainlera, 4 paper. nipsrus ;74 cash; Baia of $l. Fattening, 64. Exchange on London, W. 23. ITALY. NAPLES. Letters of the llthjewm --- N7i7Jles, state that M. de Rayneval has taken leave of the king to repair to his new post at Rome. M. Baudin toted as chargé d'affs.rss until the arrival of M. Walewsky. BAVARIA.—At tho lath Mat., the opposition in Um Bavarian Diet had made the follow ing motions : That this climber protests against the full powers which by a one-sided action wire give° to the &within Plenipo tentiary, for the purpose of assisting in a anal resolution on the subject of the German question; end, That this chamber declares that no legal resolution can be taken respecting the future of the German people with out the express assent to it of that people. It is stated that the Bavarian )iet will be pro. rogued on the 10th of Jane. HOLLAND.—Tna HAGUE, MAY 20.—A cabinet council was held to-day. The first chamber of the States-General is convoked for the 20111 of May. His Majesty, the King of Holland, has j o i ne d t h e project of the constitution of the four kings in his dignity of Grand Duke of Luxembourg, and Grand Duke of Limbourg FRANCE. PARIS, WEDNESDAY EMILIO. The debit, on the electoral lawyestaday opened with a display 1 oratory worthy of the saltiest. The hoses was one el the Milk which has best known &see the election of May, and 700 member voted on the question of urgency. The preliminary dieeneekm afforded soon interest in consequence of the Mat of M. de Plot% the insurgent of June, whose ideation on the 18th of Marsh figured prob ably won the chief motives for bringing forward the bill on which be spoke. Plit seem to have expected that M. do Plott• d have brought to the tribune the mine spirit which he bronght to the barricades, and delivered himself of sing bold, straightforward, and fiery. Bet never did any man ever look or talk lam like a rebel. Solemn in gaped, demure in manner, he held forth to the surprised Amenably in a strain worthy of & Puritan in the Biunbones Parliament, and fairly soared beyond the ken of legislative understandings, while he analysed, is the mystic language of the Demaratie Pacefique, the metaphysics of universal settings.. The strong sense, the sound views, the manly, upright language of General Cavaignao told well after the foggy neo- Christian talk of M. do Mott,. And the generous enthusiasm and ardent fancy of Victor Hugo, follow ing on the prosy written discourse of M. de Chaulien, which was (frowned by the conversation of the Assem bly, tumid the attention and admiration even of his po lineal opponents, and was a practical refutation of thel maxim of Talleyrend that sentiment ght to be mixed with politics. Diveated of its splendour of diction and fanciful illustratior, his speech might be con densed thus : Universal suffrage had closed the era of revolutions, and substituted right for violence; insur rection had abdicated. Under the influence of this happy exchange of the right of insurrection for the right of suffrage, labour, credit, confidence, security had simultaneously reappeared. A golden age was on the point of opening, when blind and inapt statesmen had been pleased to frame a law to die inherit the poor man of all that made his consolation and hope, and which, by that circumatauce, tended to restore the right of insurrection. M. Eidson Duprat, anxious to develops his ideas at greater length than the fag end of the sitting allowed, would fain have been permitted to speak on the mor row, but this indulgence was not granted him. The sitting to-day opened shortly after one. After the usual procession of members of the Mountain pre senting petitions against the electoral law, M. de Larochejacquelin presented a petition, signed by 2,10 citizene,demanding an immediate appeal to the nation ; then the debate on the electoral law was resumed. M. Becloud spoke in favour of the bill. He maintained that all the constitutions of France, even that of 1793. exacted the condition of domicile for the exercise of the franchise. Ile entered then into an examination of the provisions of the law, and pronounced them to be just, salutary, and in accordance with the constitution. It was a great satis faction to think that more than a million of persons who had ken convicted of misdemeanours and had hitherto taken part in the elections, would be henceforth excluded. M. Quiet, on the other hand, maintained that the bill violated the constitution, and es'ablished indirectly the qualification which had been abolished. M. de Montakmbert then mounted the tribune and delivered an oration in favour of the bill, which is reckoned by his admirers as one of his hap piest eff3rts. M. 'fliers was expected to speak. The large majority of the government yesterday on the question of " urgency," the uninterrupted quiet of Paris, the sensible calmness of tone which marked the debate of yesterday, and the presumed certainty of the electoral bill passing, have combined to produce a remarkable effect upon the Bourse. The Fives closei to-day at b9fr. 5Sz., a rise of lfr. 15a. upon the closing price of yesterday. Other securities, however, remained pretty much in the came state an yesterday. The committee of parliamentary initiative has re jected the proposition of M. Pascal Duprat for re moving the disabilities under which the opposition papers labour as to sale. This morning the official documents on the affairs of Greece were distributed to the members of the Assembly. M. Guillon,the :grant of the Doncerahe Paciiique was condemned yesterday by the Cut of Assizes of the Seine to six months of imprisonment, and a tine of 1,509 francs. The Democratie Paciftitie has ceased to appear. Considerable military precautions were taken yester day and to-day in the neighbourhood of the Assembly. Seats in the tribunes were sold u high as 30 franca. The guard of the legislative palace has not been re inforced ; bat a battalion slept on mattrassee laid in the Salle des Pas Perdue and adjoiniug apartments. The numbe of blouses and curious spectators in the Place de Bourgogne is cousiderabiy less than yes terday. I am informed that Lord Normanby had yesterday an interview with General de Lahitte, Minister of Foreign Affairs. The noire of Cherbourg, of May 19, states that a ministerial despatch arrived at Cherbourg on Thurs day evening, ti .e 16th (the day of General Lahate's announcement in the Assembly), ordering the imme diate levy of all seamen of the classes of the age be tween 20 and 10 years, who have served at least four years. Great armaments were expected in the port. PAWS, MAT 22. For For Amount. 11 . 3 lnney.l. o Fealsnlibgbeet. Los mt. Closing. -....-...-.- - - per Cents. per Cents. B9OO 89 23 89 53 83 23 89 60 do. New Lon.. „ $1 IS 19 N per Cents. PP N N 0 N umo Ce nts. 3 per Oesta. —.... B3 80 38 . 5 per Cents. S do. New Loan ,, le 41 per Cents. n et if , 4 per Cents. w I f ~ Lanham* o n Loodil :at night, 374; 90 day. , 571. Belgian, 5, 1840 Do. 5, 1643 Do. 44 Do. 21 n Piedmont 3 per Cents 84 23 Rank Shares BOVlSlL—Versaillas (le ft b ank), 137 30; Paris and Rouen. 310 ; Rouen and Harm, 20.; 25; Strusheurs and Bale, 103 73; Orleans and Vinson, 310; Nonhre, 417 30; Pans and S trasbourg, 32373; Tours and Nantes, 241 23 ; Dieppe and Fee.unp, 170. GERMANY. PRUSSIA. BERLIN, MAY 20. The affairs of the duchies again occupy the fore ground of public attention. The return of General Below from Copenhagen, and the reports of confer ences on the subject in London, are the chief points of discussion. With regard to the latter, you will perhaps be better informed than the public here in Berlin, who believe that at the recent conferences in the Foreign-office, between the representatives of Russia and France and our own foreign minister, the whole question has been settled. Those who a re betterinformed know that the only question discussed was that concerning the succession, and that hereon a resolution was adopted, in the form of an invitation, to which the three parties concerned were invited to concur. The exact nature of the resolution is not yet known here. With regard to the other point, the mission of General Below to Copenhagen, the public have already been acquainted with his return a few days ago. On this point, else', erroneous statements have been put forth, both by the press here and by a morning contemporary. I lain in a position to state the nature of the instructions given to General Below, together with the exact terms of the treaty which was proposed in the conference of the 17th April last, and which he carried with him, together with an auto gra_ph letter from his majesty. The following are the four articles of the treaty : Art. 1. There shall be in future pesos. biewathie,_and good will between his Majesty of Prussia and his Majesty of Denmark. The two high contracting powers will devote the greatest possible attention to maintain perfect harmony be tween their respective states and subjects, and will carefully avoid everything which may lead to the rupture of the peace and harmony so re-established. Art 2. All the relations which 'aided between Germany and Denmark shall be re-established, to date from the day on which the treaty Is signed. If, contrary to expectation, questions not disposed of by the present treaty should arise between the two parties, the state guo before the war shall be taken as the point of departure. Art. & The two high contracting powers reserve all the rights and titles which belong to them relativtiwith ree -1 pea to the duchies of Holstein and Battles With regard to Germany, this reservation comprehends that has been recognised by the German Diet; more particularly by its resolutions of the 17th Sept., 1846. Art. 4. His Majesty the King of Prussia, after signing the present treaty, not only engages to his it within the space of • fortnight, but will also employ his good offline with the mates of the Germania confederation to obtain their adhesion and ratification with the least possible delay. Ilk Majesty the King of Denmark engages equally to ratify the treaty within the space of a fortnight. Immediately afterwards the ratifications shall be simultaneouly exchanged. In faith of which, do. The proposal of this treaty (=led these long pending nego_tistker into a new phase, and, accord ingly, Goosed Below was appointed on the 7th hest., with orders to pooped immediately to Copenhagen, to deliver to the King of Denmark an autograph letter from his Majesty of Prude, urging kis accept eau of the simple treaty as the only means of settling the question at hose; his instructions, which were aseompanied by a historical memoir of the negotia does, concluded, et curse, with a reference to the simple treaty proposed by the Premien negotiators,with a reservation of the rights and titles of both parties. Gen. Below was instructed to enter upon no other pro posals, old or new, should any such be made; to attach great weight to the proposed simple treaty, and to press for its conclusion within the shortest pos sible time, as its adoption would prevent all the de volvement, of former negotiations. He was to lay put stress upon the earnest desires of the King of Prussia to conclude the war, and to state that the selfish purposes of which the Berlin cabinet bad been so often accused were fully disproved by its desire to conclude a peace on the terms of the present treaty. Prussia, in the name of Germany, had only protected the rights of the latter in Schleswig-Holstein, and now desired to restore everything to the old footing. General Below was further instructed to refuse all alterations or extensions of the treaty, with the ex ception of Art. 3, which contains the reservation of the rights and titles of both parties. Here he was permitted to see to the introduction of any par ticular reservation or reservations to the extent even of the claims put forth in the " Offene Brief " of 1846. Should, however, no special reservation be desired by Denmark, and the special reservation on the part of Germany be objected to, he was instructed to agree to the omission of the latter, and the retention of the general reservation of both parties. All other reservation were, however, to be decidedly refused, and the general was not to extend his stay in Copen hagen beyond eight days ; should no answer be re ceived within that period, the inference was natural that the mission was without result. The instru:- tions given to General Below contains another point which mast be mentioned. In case of a refusal, he was desired to throw out a hint that Prussia would not refuse her consent to a prolongation of the armis tice for Hve years, or a longer period, provided the preliminaries of the 10th July were not to be *mei dered binding on Prussia. General Below has, as you are aware, returned from Copenhagen without an answer, and it is known that a refusal will be given by Denmark, through one of the plenipotentiaries here. Meanwhile, Prussia c insiders the negotiations closed with respect to all the principal points in dis cussion, and will take no further steps in the matter until her plenipotentiaries are summoned to a confer ence by the Danes. AUSTRIA. MAr 18. The Wiener Zeilung this morning publishes the 'mg-expected returns of the income and expenditure of the year 1810. The following is the melancholy result: Florins. Total income of Austria Ditto expenditure Causing a deficit therefore of 139,039,000 The Austrian government has therefore in 1819 spent mealy double its incoma. The F mill re quired for the army amount alone to 157 million florins, so that this one item exceeds the annual in come. Tho expenses of the court amounted to 4,796,389 florins. The reigning family possess a very large private fortune. A clnenrrlat is about to be concluded with his Holi ness the Pope for the regulation of the affairs of the church. BERT.P, ' MAT 21.—VoltuitarF 105 1 ; Nat.on.ll Debt , BSI ; Danl. Miaree„ i ; ;;;;) , .., - 11A;;19.—Fire per Cent. MetsUniur, 92 :..1C ; Four per lAntm., 90 3.18. VISITS TO THE LONDON RAGGED SCHOOLS. BROOK-STREET. The anomalous neighbaarhood of the Hampstead road—called by sarcastic persons Camden-town, but which the " genteel " delight to designate u Regent's park—is perhaps not very remote from the reader's residence. However this may bP, he will pirhaps encase me fur detaining him on the journey with a few observations. Since my last letter a great deal of doubt which may have existed as to the tendency of Itagged Schools has been cleared up. The weather itself—l which while I now write exhibits a brilli ancy that is quite unseasonable in England—is not more changed for the better. It is annecenary, however, to enter into facts with which the public have been already made familiar through there columns. Taking it tor granted, therefore, t1.,4t no sensible person now accuses rag ged schools of hav ing caused the large increase of juvenile crime since 184 I, the question, "What are, then, the real Cl 11.4”: ?" becomes very important. lam indebted to Mr. Wil liams, the honorary secraary of the King Edward- street Ragged School (some account of which I gave in my first letter), for some statements which will assist this inquiry. They are valuable illustrations of the truth of one or two arguments which I have be fore touched upon. The statements are those of boys in the King Edward-street school, and it should be observed that they have not been adopted without proper confirmation and assurance of their accuracy. " The following," says Mr. Williams, "is from a very exemplary lad, concerning whom his teacher says—' I cannot speak too highly of him, and will guarantee the truth of the statement now lade f"— - I have been at the school nearly three years. I came to play. The boy who brought me said, " Come, and let us have a lark at the ragged school." 1 said, " Very well." If it had not been for the kindness of my teacher, if she had not per suaded me as she did, I should never have kept to it. I c. 1141 neither read nor write when I first came ; now I can do both. My Sundays were spent playing at "rounders," and gambling. I used to play with thieves. I have seen them thieve when I was with them. I went with them on pur pose to thieve myself ; that was before I came to the ragged school. We often used to go into shops and steal anything we could get. I always got part of what they stole. One day we went into the stop of a poor old woman, without money, and asked the price of different things ; at last we up set a pail of water, and took a lot of brass weights and a dozen of congreves. We often used to go into shops like that. One boy would say to the woman in the shop, " Here, look here, ma'am, he wants to take this ;" and while she was looking at the boy pointed at he wotild take whatever was nearest to him. Theatres have often tempted me to thieve for money to go. My mother used to let me go to theatres, singing rooms, and " penny gaffs," and come home at any time in the morning without saying a word to me about it. I used to go from three to tine nights a-week to the theatre. if I didn't go three I used to think I was lost. The gallery used to he sixpence. I always used to go to the gallery, barring the holiday times, then you might say I was breeched, for I used to save for it, and then go to the pit. There are more boys go now (that the price is three pence) than ever there was. My companions often used to go into the crowd, jut as it they were going in, and take a handkerchief from a gentleman's pocket, come out and sell it, then go up ; that was principally on benefit nights, Be nefit nights are more crowded than other nights. I suspect he. turned a " gonoff " (thief). He we. bragging to some boys in our shop about it. It is not through hie coming to the school, for he has not been hers for some time. I think it is for the want of coming to the school. He went with thieves before became to the school. He goes out with a thief named —, who lives in Moor-lane. My sister, I am sorry to say it, is court ing one of the penny rigger, at the Saloon. It isa most disgusting plate; there is all sorts of evil conduct there ; it belongs to a Jew. I have spoken to her several times about it. Last Wednesday evening I was talking to her about her impropriety for two hours, till at last she got out of temper, and I could say no more to her. There used to be a lair kept at Battens' on the Sunday. I often used to go there. Ono Sunday I was tossing under the railroad arch down here, when two men caught hold of me, and said, " We'll take you to prison." Of course I was very muck IrUhte tined, for I thought they were policemen in disguise. They asked me how much mousy I had got. I told them 28. ;Id. One said, " Well, here, give it to us, and we'll let you go;" so I gave it to them. They called me a young vagabond, for tossing my money on the Sunday ; but I thought them the greatest vagabonds, for taking my money after I had carted it—at least I did not earn it, I won it by tossing, all but 41d. I won 151. on Christmas morning by tossing, but I lost it all again. I was at it moon after 7in the morning and did not go home before 3. I used to sell anything I could get to go to the theatre, or to toss. I thought anything about clothes before I came to the school, bat I can safely say lam a hundred pounds better off now. • • • • • There is no comparison be my dress now and when I first came to the school. lam devised ten to one better now. Ido not think lam too respectable to come to the school. I would never leave the ragged school, not if I was worth thousands. I will always be connected with one, either as a teacher or to spend my time in some way or other. I have learned by the ragged school, and I owe more to it than to my parents. I owe my teacher more than ever NM pay her. I have MOOR to be very thankful that I ever came to the school, and i< it ever ilea in my power I hope to return something that I consider I owe to it. I'll do it all the good I out you may depend. I have no father, but my father-in-law is better to me than my own father. My father ran away. My mother is kind to me, but she will keep on with her blackguardness. When I tell her of her evil ways she says, " Hav'nt you got all you want, and what need have you to mind about me f" When I ask her to go to church a chapel, she sem " Well, don't I go to church t go to church once is throe yeare e wants a child christened, or when oho waste to get married she goes. The last time elm went to church it was to get child eturietened ; that was about two years age; trop, the church they all went to the publio.home ; if it had cot been for the christening she would not have gone to church then. If I could get into some rospeetable family where! could get bread, lodging, and wsahisg, we'd!. I%ly lags wont tallow me to do that. I mean, if I could {Mt a place where I could sloop, I could then board super. 1/" e heard any of the boys in the scho o l as k t h e others to go thieving with them. There is many a boy who would not like to go to a respectable school where they are all drama like gentleman's sous, but they do not mind going to a ragged school. I have heard p•ople run ragged schools down, then my temper 'stoup. . - - The following will speak still more expressively in favour of rigged schools. The fact of a great chan ge wrought in the character and appearance of th li youth is amply corroborated by his present emo ler, aria also by his teacher, who, doubtless, with the others has an influence for good upon the selvvil generally. His employer states, " his conduct is as different now as light is from dark—there is no tom. pinion. I attribute it to the ragged schools, mxt decidedly." The Begged School has done me a great deal of good lately. I was as bad for two years u when I tin; cams. My teacher remonstrated with me one Lien af•cr ttt Y.,y3 had had their praver meeting, and to.d me that I was a great lad, and ought not to be lurking in a place such Gi I was then in. If it bad not been for her I might thee ' , tin as bad se when I first came; I might have en where I ought not to have been—whero my brothers are— that is in singing rooms. I spoke to any sister, who is mu. rind, about going to thus siegisg rooms. She :aid it w e . very wrong for matted people to go, but there was no hum for single young chaps to go. I told her if it was wrong !oi married people to gar, it must be wrong for single poops t o go. I've seen enough going to singing rooms. We bad cot heard anything from my brother for a month last Sent !ay night, then he came and bragged that he wac heir; with some ore—some girl. My brothers East ask , (.! lately to go with them, but I tell them I don't gar ti piaci, now. Just before my father died he wen: t, :isc witO same woman who had five children—that, yau may say, was through singing rooms. My father wed ta say 'le " Effingham " was a very comfortable place ; you ciuld 'it and have your pipe and your pint very cmfortaii:e. It wao a noted place of mine to go to. lie used to let us as we liked. We used to have to go after him t, key, then he would keep us till 12 ur 1 o'cluck is th, log. These singing rooms are generally at beersb , :ps—st IMO places you can go in if you are only 14. At n. at a.: the beersbops the admission is free—some charge a /.?Zir.F, some a hal`penny. Some places they put a perry a ~at on the beer ; they charge 64. for:porter and fcr s. , f which you pay 4d. at the bar; they kc ..ss Lye , , do it . : it don't matter to them who drick as lac; get the money. I have seen a boy, with a girl layirg ht.! of hie arm, go up. enough to make you laugh to >•ck them. it you were to wait outside the —, you .E%; bola ar.d girls coming out between 12 and 1 o'cicik morning: the r language is awful; bad in the There are more go to these places on Saturday and Mir :.; nights. Saturday i; pay night; they go then brc r^ 7 have got the money to spend. A great many go or. :-..nday eight, but there is no Melting then—the law wemt I could take you to almost every singing room In t ereetprcal; then an very few but whit I hr: _ in • • ,. If you notice, you will vs put up, "Select harm .t.. evening ; admission free." &me have written up, " •-. concert—Monday, Wednesday, and Saturday cc:•: in_ The chairman sits at one end of the room, the deputy at the other. The Judge asa I Clubs are open on Sunday night they are g. rally held at beer-shops, sometimes at public•h<.o Boys and girls are admitted to them is well as the ails. rooms. It either the complainant or the prisoner or an: then don't sr ask the words right they are fined a Id. ; fines are kept on till they get to Is., which is spent :.tier i over in liquor—sometimes the money is saved up for - once a quarter. If they see a stranger come isto tte r . they will knock his ha: over his eyes, and if he ssect.rs 1. fined 2d. It is all done to pass the evening away. I asked to belong to a Judge and Jury Club lately, Lc I know, the tines are to go towards an eunrsion. Is: ; . and jury club is the ragged schoei, and my singing 7 ._ their too. I have b .en at the Standard, the the City. I have paid Gd., but when the price •1 to 3d. I used to go almost every night. One N night I lost my place through going. I used t these places before I came to the school, 5..: I came to the school I beau% been rim t. • I found more pl.a , ure here. I used to save =sal Mg to the ragged !school. I never go to theatre rooms. or judge and jury clubs either now. " C Jai( lived at the corner, asked me to go once he c..so. school once, and only once, but I:did:nt qo. 1 . kr . before I came here. My aunt, with whomA ar.i went out last Monday ; she was at the - ru and I had to sit at tie' moot for tier. I to.kl she went out swan to let me have the key, for I come to auth pfsees u those for it, they didu't suit brother said to me last Sunday morning, " . to your put." I made answer I could stand it, but wr.• in the habit of spending money on the Sunday caw taster said, " I hope you will keen like that." If come to the school I might have been u bad as my butt'. sod, perhaps, have got into prison. I could not : gone to other schools dirty, but I cou:d come 1 dirty. I used to wuh myself sometimes once a week, so . 'imam twice a week. I used to work tit. lor 2 on Sac then sometimes take a penny boat and go to St. JAL. perk. At that time there used to ba rows outside the 1,7 between me and the other boys. None of the boy= asked me to go thieving with them. My master a f te r. ma that when I used t. work for him before, I Ltd la nor nothing to put on, now he says" there is a lerence and h • - - 3 " kve Ru.d th' Tr• I ismetim,. how I used to eet turned out of the Ragged School. ai I used to get lighting. On al sides the n testimony as to the evils of tie cheap dancing saloons and tavern plays mar multiplied. Attention has been recently caned to tat: subjEct in a new and popular periodical: and tao reader may be assured that the descriptious there givtn are by no means exaggerated. celebrated Mr. Whelks is no fictitious yerso.-.. lie is only a " representative man.' ILe society in which he singles is made up ti myriads of minor Mr. Whelksee, who ditlet troul ham principally in being less amusing a nd wore . . chie;ous. characteristic illustratio; of the p3pl..a: entertainments of the lower classes, and the attem.:c which is bring directed toward• them, appearea the other day among the police reports of the D.. Nries. A number of the dramatis peraoti- - aLLI ral of the audience found in a penny theatre, ..r, brought before a magistrate and visited a ith priate peoaltie& The evidence of the po.ice On that occasion leaves no donbt as t bad tendency of the performances m..;e, pop among such classes. It appeared from the state;;; made, that the " leading ideas" of the pie... re seated are generally ideas leading to crinic, and the " plots" upon which they are founded are spiractee to rob and murder. Ilig'uwaymen are . . . . heroes, except when a deviation ie made in favour .1 housebreakers; murder is considered " liaN• ness," and even picking a pocket ensures a round oi applause. Leaving these facts to speak for themselves. std deferring some general remarks which I shaii nave make upon the causes of juvenile crime until sno :.er opportunity, I will request the reader to imig.re himself arrived, at last, at the Brook•strect School. Situated in a small court running out ei a :are street, in a neighbourhood of which even the pt:acii•li thoroughfares are far from ornamental or there is a dismal air of repose about the e x-,r - or this institution which is scarcely cakuln , ! give pleasure to any but the philosophic gentleie Ur. Dickens's novel, who delights in becoming exti:irced under difficulties.As in all low neighbourhoodsdqc -.e cipal inhabitants of the court are chi:tint,. R. however, not appearing cleaner or better cared f, , r most . , juveniles of their class, present no retuarka". , .c feature for comment. The impression produced t.y visit to the spot is a feeling of gentle languor. a ttLx tare of indifference and despair, such as is opt to Iv inspired by any dirty street in wet weather. A casualty from which it is impossible to dissociate some parts of London, and from which I seriously beiieve they are never exempt. The interior of the school is unadorned, but spaeiot:s and airy—bare walls, lighted with tlarin.; gar jets ; a eloping roof with naked wooden beam. , behold its component parts. Add to thew.. some fifty children, lees subdued perhaps in their behaviour than could be desired, listening to a gentleman who is delivering a familiar style of lec ture upon some useful subject, and the scene is com plete. I heard the gentleman in question, on the eve ning of my visit, explaining the mode in which gas tv manufactured. This he did in a clear and foreib:o manner, without any formality or affectation, and with evident effect ; for when he paused now ant} then to question his hearers as to the principal points of his discourse, their answers were as clear and compre hensive as could be desired. " Now, my hoc s," the lecturer, " tell me what gas is mad from • "Coals," cried a number of infant prodigies, with ono voice. "Very true; and what are trio coals placed in " In a cylinder." cried an equal number of erudite boys, and SO on with the main features of the process. It till) he doubted by sternly practical persons whether con dition of an ignorant ragged tribe of boys is likely to be beuellted by a knowlede of gas making, or any similar branch of information ; but a little reflection must render it apparent that even if instruction of this kind has no actual and immediate influence upon their morals and mode of life, it at all events &Num • C ti I I ti a 1