The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-01-18 00:00:00

THE LONDON PRESS. THE BALLOT. We cannot think so meanly of the sagacity of the majority of those who cry out fur the ballot as to suppose they really imagine it capable of working such a social miracle as that of depriving men who, by the possession of great wealth, have the power of conferring benefits and inflicting injury upon others; of the derivative power of controlling aid directing the conduct of others. What, for instance, would Lord Milton or any other tyrant of his description care for the ballot as a means of circum scribing their authority over the votes of their tenants or dependants ? He would laugh it to scorn. " I can no longer," he would say, " know by the poll-book how each individual of my tenantry or dependents exercises his franchise at the election ; but this at least I know, that I will henceforth have neither tenant, nor dependent, nor tradesmen, who does not afford me the best possible gua rantee that he will always vote as I wish, by always speaking upon politics as I speak." This would no doubt be the language of Lord Milton, and his tenants and dependents would quickly discover that he meant fully as much as he said. After the enactment of the ballot no man on the Fitzwilliam estates, who was not prepared to be expelled by force or circumvented by chi canery, would dare to be a conservative in his political professions. A Conservative, did we say ? Which of them all, we wonder, would dare to be a moderate poli tician of any shade of opinion ? Is it not manifest that, from the moment of this enactment they milk, one and all, if they retained any value for the favour, or cherished any hope of the justice even, of my lord, become, in their every-day language and professions, furious and reckless levellers ? The ballotists will, perhaps, say that men are not bound to be what they profess. Thus their hope is built upon habitual hypocrisy. But even this wretched hope would fail them. Nature has happily ordained that very'few men should be capable of habitual hypocrisy. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, in which the daily language of men is prevented, by some strong compul siim, from assimilating to their opinions, their opinions will gradually - assimilate themselves to their daily . lan guage. Lord Milton wouldmake his tenants tell the lie till they themselves believed it. Men who express opi nions in society are often called upon to defend them, and how bad an advocate is he who cannot convince himself I But in Lord Milton's case, and in that of other Irish land lords of the same politics, this gradual change, by which what is at first hypocrisy is imperceptibly transmuted into conviction, would be wholly unnecessary. They would only have to resolve that all their tenants should be Pa pists, and, with the priest on their side, every thing would be secure. The efficacy of the ballot would be put to shame by the superior efficacy of the confessional, and revolutionary principles would, at every election, mar shal their forces and call over their muster-roll, by the invisible arms and the inaudible voice of superstition— arms and-voice which, when employed in such a cause, are equally trustworthy and irresistible. Other landlords of every shade of political opinion— other men besides landlords, enjoying, from whatever cause, the power to bestow good and inflict evil—would be compelled, in self-defence, to follow the example which tyrants like Lord Milton would be the first to set. And the ballot would be speedily proved a delusion, for any other purpose than that of agitating society during its discussion, and demoralizing and degrading society after its enactmeut.-111orning Post. MR. SADLER :-THE REFORM BILL. No one will deny that Mr. Sadler is one of the truest and most zealous friends of the operative classes. He is therefore in every sense of the word an honest conserva tive. He is not only the fearless opponent of the system under which the undefended poor, the hard-working arti san, and the helpless and unprotected infant are oppres sed by the factory tyrants, but he is also the unflinching advocate of their political rights—those rights which they enjoyed under the old and condemned constitution of England, but of which they have been deprived by the Reform Bill. That Bill, be it borne in mind, has effec tually closed the door against the operative mechanic and labourer. It has excluded them from all participation in the political franchise, unless they inhabit a house rented .at ten pounds, and rated to the poor-rates, which rates roust be paid on or before eight o'clock at night on a par ticular day, otherwise the collector's books are closed, and they are disfranchised. This rental is so high that not one operative in a hundred, out of London, is able to afford it. The reform bill is in fact a bill to disfran chise the working classes—a bill to qualify the shopkeep ers, but to disqualify those upon whom these huxters and retailers depend for their subsistence, and from whom they derive those profits out of which they pay that rental which constitutes them the electors of England. But, perhaps, we shall be told that the Mr. Sadler who points out these defects, and advocates the claims of the work ing part of the community, was himself an opponent of the reform bill. We admit this ; but are the people so doltish, and so incurably stupid, as to believe that every opponent of that bill must necessarily be an anti-reformer ? If we mistake not, Mr. Sadler was a reformer, as we and many others were, at the time when one-half of Lord John Russell's majority were opposed to reform—when the Times was opposed to reform—when the Courier was used to reform—when Burdett sat with his knees in opposed to reform—when Burdett sat with his knees in Canning's back—when Lord Brougham, and Lord John Russell himself declared, that the people were sick of re form, and had given it up as a popular fallacy, which had been indulged into excess, and had produced satiety. Let us, therefore, hear no more nonsense about the op ponents of this absurd and unjust bill being naturally ad verse to all measures of moral or political improvement. Under the old system, servitude conferred the suffrage, avd by this means the working man, the mere journey man and labourer, was enabled to acquire the elective' privilege. A seven years' apprenticeship gave the car penter, shoemaker, and other mechanics the freedom of the corporate towns where they served, and this conferred upon them the elective privilege. By this means, the poor as well as the rich—the artisan, as well as his em ployer—the tailor that makes the coat, as well as the fine gentleman who wears it—formed part of the constituency, and influenced tire elections. But the Russell purge has entirely disfranchised these poorer persons. Some of them, it is true, have a life interest in a vote, but their children, unless they occupy a £lO house, will be for ever excluded from the electoral body of these kingdoms. Let us put a case in illustration. There is, we shall sup- Bose, a gin-shop at the corner of one of the streets in irmingham, Manchester, or Sheffield, and opposite that is a coal-shed, and, a little way down the street, a bacon shop on one side, and a potatoe one on the other. These persons sell their gin, bacon, coals, and potatoes to the operative classes who surround them. Their shops and dwelling-houses attached, paying a higher rent than £lO, confer upon them the right of voting ; while not one of their customers, by whom they live,- have a vote. They generally live in houses rented from £5 to £B, and they are, consequently, excluded from the franchise. Now we appeal to every man of sense, if this be not inequality without justice—disfranchisement on the one side, and enfranchisement on the other, without a vestige of rea son—without merit on the one part or demerit on the other. It is not only an absurd—it is an iniquitous dis tinction. Is it respectability which gives the claim to the gin-seller ?—is it wealth ?—is it intelligence ?—is it lOyalty ?—is it utility ?—is it his higher morality, or his 'more rigid attention to his religious duties ? No such thing. The disfranchised operative is most probably a THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD. superior man to him in, these respects. His labour is a source of wealth to the country ; not so that of the gin whipper. His is honest labour; not so that of the re tailer of deleterious compounds. The humble operative, in most cases, is an exemplary father and husband,—a hard-working drudge to, perhaps, a hard taskmaster, — a good man contending with poverty, and struggling to maintain his family, by the sweat of his brow. The keeper of the gin-shop, on the contrary, is too often a gambler, a blackleg, a patron of the prize-ring, a better at a dog-fight or a horse-race,—a being depraved and demoralized by the very nature of his occupation. And vet this man and his " order" are the very persons whom Lord Grey has elevated to the elective peerage, and made the principal supporters of a constitutional monarchy, cutting down to the ground, and erasing from the elec tive roll, the useful mechanic, the hard-working and more moral operative, the industrious journeyman and la bourer, whom the Whigs, in former times, trusted to as the right arm of the opposition, and held up as equally entitled to representation as the highest aristocracy in the country. In this we see the elements of the re formed electors. JuStly does Mr. Sadler observe, that the bill was a party measure, having no other object than the famous India hill had, of increasing the influence of the whigs, and securing their possession of office and pay. In accomplishing this object, they have thrown their old allies overboard. They have deserted their humble friends, they have disfranchised the lower classes—placed them beyond the pale of the constitution—excluded them from all participation in the elections, and denied them those rights which they enjoyed before a self-condemned Parliament proclaimed its rottenness and corruption in the face of the world. This, we fear, will hardly be en dured long.—Guardian and Public Ledger. commerce, arid their prosperity, is attested by the history of those countries ; acid such as do not like the trouble of referring to particular histories, may assure themselves of the fact by recalling to memory the share that the Ne therlands had in bringing about the reformation. So far we can without difficulty reconcile ourselves to the Morn ing Chronicle; for we spoke expressly of the uncon trolled influence of Popery, and the cases of modern Austria, its dependencies, and the ancient Netherlands, by which the Morning Chronicle answers us, are cases in which the church of Rome has been fettered with the strongest restraints that could be devised by jealousy— cases as unlike to what would be the condition of Ireland in an independent state, as the living is to the dead. The Morning Chronicle, however, goes farther, and asserts that some of the inhabitants of the popish cantons of Switzerland are happier than the, inhabitants of the Scottish Highlands; and testifies also to the happiness of the modern Flemings. These are points upon which, were we called as witnesses, we should give precisely opposite testimony. We should feel bound to declare, that the Roman Catholic Swiss are utterly miserable in comparison with their Protestant neighbours—that no thing could be more striking than the contrast of Flemish wretchedness with Dutch comfort—and that the Popish peasantry of Switzerland and Belgium were probably the most unhappy in Europe, always excepting. the Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Irish. We do not impute in sincerity to our respected contemporary as it does to us, because we know from observation, perhaps consciously feel, the effect of a previously-formed theory in colouring even the testimony of our sense ; and there are few sub jects where this insidious principle has more opportunity of seducing into fallacy than when we have to estimate the result of any particular form or modification of society. . Fortescue, as Our legal and antiquarian readers will remember, having undertaken to excite his royal pupil to the highest degree of admiration and love for the coun try he was to govern, gives a very warm and engaging picture of the affluence and prosperity of the English people at a time when it cannot be doubted the English were among the most miserable people in the world. The patriotic Chancellor had, indeed, one ugly fact to get over, which will sufficiently indicate the relative character of England in his day; and that is, that more robberies were committed in England—more capital exe cutions rendered necessary, than in any three or four of the neighbouring kingdoms. He did not, because, in deed, he could not, explain the difference, as it might be explained now, by the difference in the laws of the several kingdoms of Europe—because all laws were then equally savage, and England had not, as she now has, the honour of clinging the last to the worship of the gibbet. Sir John's explanation is equally ingenious and complimen tary to his country; lie ascribes the numerous robberies in t ngland to the "stout heartedness" of the people, not to the relaxation of morals or the pressure of necessity, to which a vulgar reasoner would have imputed them. This respectable example will, we hope, serve as an apo logy if we decline to receive implicitly the Morning Chronicle's testimony in favour of the happiness of the Popish Swiss or the Popish Belgians—a happiness which, however, might even exist in the small fragments of so ciety referred to, as the consequence of proximity to Pro testant institutions, or of other local or temporary causes, and without in the least impugning the general conclu sion deducible from the experience of all great countries where the experiment has been tried—namely, that un controlled Popery is incompatible with human happi ness. Another question of evidence arises upon the assertion of our contemporary, that the people of England are more demoralised than those of the Continent. We almost blush to be obliged to answer this assertion, but, who ever has imposed upon our contemporary, it is grossly untrue. Things are bad enough in some of our manu facturing districts, where the population has crowded, to engender that " jail fever of the mind," which a crowded population always engenders, and where a race has sud denly outgrown the means of religious instruction pre viously sufficient. Neither will we say that the zeal of liberalism, for the demoralising of the people, has been altogether ineffectual. With the termination of literary education, begins that discipline of the mind and passions which confirms the moral character of a people ; and for the mass of mankind, who must earn their daily bread by daily labour, it is plain that the house and day conse crated to religion afford the only means of this manly and womanly education. We will not undertake to say, that Mechanics' Institutes and Penny Magazines, and other like follies, have not withdrawn from the house of prayer, and encroached upon the day which the Creator of all things has reserved for his own honour and for our moral improvement; and we are but too conscious that the slander of the clergy—the cry against " harpies," " lo custs," " black slugs," " enemies of liberty," &c., with advice to " put their houses in order," must have taught the vulgar to despise that religion whose ministers they see thus contemptuously treated ; but still the full churches of the establishment, and the equally full chapels of the several congregations of Christian dissenters, like to which nothing can be seen any where on the Conti nent, except in Holland, demonstrate that Great Britain is, in respect of morals, second to no nation of Europe, whereas she ranks far above the great majority. Standard. IRELAND. The Cabinet appeais to be divided upon the subject of Ireland. Some of the members imagine that a proclama tion would suffice to .put down O'Connell and the Volun teers, whilst others insist on the necessity of placing Ire land under martial law, and putting down O'Connell at the point of the sword. The O'Connell, as is well known, does not light, but the O'Gorman does, considering which, we think he has been rather scurvily treated by his peaceful compeer. By the way, we should like to know how our good ally citizen King Louis Philippe came to be so interested in the affairs of Ireland? O'Gor man, if we are rightly informed, is in the habit of speak ing of his burgeois Majesty as an exceeding good fellow, to whom he was presented when in Paris; and O'Con nell has we believe, an uncle, or some other rich rela tive resident there, to whom he despatches a part of his family occasionally upon a visitation.—Guardian and Public Ledger. The melancholy fact that government would be under the necessity of sending a large additional military force to Ireland must have been for some time foreseen by the most casual observer of the scenes which have been acting in that interesting and ill-fated country. Of the neces sity of this, we fear, there can but be one opinion ; but of the causes which are thus producing new scenes of ruin and misery to a land for which Nature has done so much and man so little, opinions doubtless differ widely, though we confess that they appear to us to be gradually concen trating into a focus, which must soon fix the present misery of Ireland on one party, if not on one man. But our business is not to criminate, but to cure ; and we would, as we have repeatedly done before, earnestly call upon those, into whose hands the present destinies of Ire land appear to have fallen, to pause upon the threshold of her new calamities, and to ask themselves what must be the consequenee, both to Ireland and themselves, if the present system of internal agitation and convulsion is allowed to go on ? To the principal actor in this frightful tragedy we would say, in the splendid language of the poet— " Is there not some chosen curse, Some hidden thunder in the stores of heaven, Red with uncommon wrath, to blast the man, Who owes his greatness to his country's ruin?" What renders the state of Ireland at the present mo ment the more interesting, and the error of those who are hastening on so fearful a crisis the more inexcusable, is the fact that there has been no period, in the history of her past misrule, when there was so fair a prospect pre sented of seeing her extricated from its consequences as now exists. 'I hough we may not altogether approve either of the persons employed, or the measures which the present government has hitherto adopted towards Ire land, yet there can be no doubt that at no period has there existed an administration either so warmly inclined or so deeply pledged to consult her welfare by every pos sible means. Even were that not the case, the ills of Ire land are the ills of England; and it is impossible, there fore, that a reformed parliament, such as we have now got, could assemble without the state of Ireland being one of the earliest objects to which its attention must be directed. There is; indeed, one way—and one only—in which the best intentions of the government and the legis lature can..be defeated : that is, by the two countries be ing brought into angry collision ; and the sword being called for, instead of the hand of peace being held out and accepted. If a struggle is to take place, frightful as its progress must be, there can be no doubt as to the result; and the utter hopelessness of an appeal to arms, on the part of the wretched and misguided portion of the popu lation of Ireland, only enhances, in a hundred-fold degree, the crime of those who, to gratify a feeling which it is impossible to define or comprehend, are insanely urging on a catastrophe of which they themselves may probably be not the last victims.: If we mistake the motives of these persons, let them show us that we do, by giving heed to our counsel. Let them, we repeat, pause on the - threshold of those calami ties which await this member of our common country. Let them remember that there exists the warmest disposi tion, both in the people of England and the government, to redress the wrongs of Ireland ; and the beneficial ef fects of such disposition can alone be defeated by the cup being dashed from the lip to which it is on the eve of being presented.—Morning Herald. EFFECTS OF POPERY ON THE PHYSICAL CONDITION OF A PEOPLE. When controwersies resolve themselves into questions of evidence, it is equally unprofitable and unpleasant to prolong them. The Morning Chronicle has, in a mea sure, brought us to this ne plus ultra in the inquiry as to the effect of the Romish superstition upon the physical condition of a people. We yesterday cited the cases of Italy, Spain, and Por tugal, as the only countries, except Ireland, in which that blight upon the eternal and temporal happiness of the human race reigns uncontrolled; and we were able to cite these countries also as the abode of the most mise rable peasantry in the world, except the peasantry of their partner in popish suffering, Ireland. The Morning Chronicle, passing- over with trifling deductions the fla grant cases of Italy, Spain, and Portugal, as cases, we presume, not to be refuted,' refers to Austria and the Austrian party of Italy, where the wings of ROmish au thority are so clipped as to leave the nations scarcely half popish ; and to the Low Countries, in the days of such princes as Charles the Bold, who knew as well as any prince of the House of Hapsburgh, how to hold the fo reign ecclesiastical in proper subjection to the domestic civil authority. That the Low Countries were never very obedient subjects of the Pope, before Philip the Se cond overwhehned at once their religious freedom, their THE DUTCH BUSINESS. Although the private accounts from Holland which, as we anticipated, we received yesterday, do not enable us to communicate any formal document or copy of the counter-project proposed to the Franco-English Confer ence by the Dutch Cabinet, they enable us notwithstand ing to correct some mistakes which have crept forth through the medium of our Contemporaries both at home and abroad. It is not true that the Dutch, in their coun ter proposals, make it an indispensible preliminary to any negotiation, that the embargo shall be raised in the French and English ports, and that the shipping de tained under it or capturell on the high seas shall be re leased and restored to its rightful owners. Nor is it cor rect that the release of the garrison of the Citadel of Antwerp and their return home, has been insisted upon as a sine qua non previous to the discussion of any treaty. These are consequences which flow so naturally from the more important and debateable arrangements, that it would hardly be worth the while to push them into the foreground of the battle, and not perhaps quite in keep ing with that sincere desire for a peaceful termination of all difficulties, which the successive sacrifices he has alrea dy made afford ample proof of in the King of Holland. We say successive sacrifices—for how often, after having acceded to the basis of one treaty, been forced into the stipulations of one Convention, have not the French and English Courts seceded from their engagements, and skulked out of their offers, in the most disingenuous man ner, and under cover of pretexts of the most paltry des scription ? The chief points, the only material ones pro bably, in which the counter propositions of the Cabinet of the Hague will be found to differ from those transmit ted from this side of the water, are, first, with respect to the navigation of the Scheldt : and secondly, the question of the debt. On the former point, we are inclined to think that the modified peage of the Prussian project has been proposed to this Government as a peace offering calculated to remove all difficulties: With regard to the debt, we gather from our private correspondence, that a fair territorial division of it between the two contending parties has been made one of the conditions. This ap pears to be no more than an equitable adjustment; for the debt having been mainly contracted for the benefit of, - stood as Wishing for the division of the and expended upon, Belgium, which at the epoch of her as desiring to replace any of its fragme unfortunate nuptials with Holland was far the poorer, fish government. - On the other hand, although the most populous country, and—if now an ig- the separation of the Union at present norant, superstitious, and depraved race, in despite of the no other reason, because it must be accoi immense improvements and the advances in civilization aniPmust, therefore, bequeath a long operated under the Administration of a paternal Govern- tered feeling, as well as producing mu( ment at a boundless waste of the common stock—was ,eery ; and we should dread nothing so incomparably more so then, when just released from the crease of our already unwieldy colenii extortionate fangs of a deputed military despotism, and larly under circumstances that would sc without manufactures, commerce, or industry. It is but Britain open to the suspicion of width fitting, therefore, that she should be called upon to refund cannot, however, be blind to the fact, t some portion of the price at which Holland has been so clauses as these are, acted upon by 'the heavily taxed for her exclusive profit. A territorial dill- “ art which is man's nature"-r-the pres( sion of the debt must appear to every dispassionate ob- Union must give place to two, most p server to be anything rather than a strict measure of 'us- independent state s . The republican f or tice to the ancient Netherland. Nor do we see hoW, will accelerate the process; but it will Belgium can object—or rather Earl Grey and Prince ricans are wise, render it peaceable. N Taleyrand for her—to so reasonable, and for her so clear- short of a Russian or Asiatic despotisn ly advantageous propositions as those we have been avert it; and such a despotism could treating of.—Guardian and Public Ledger. herself at the expense of her American : Union, only by treating with indiffere operation upon the states that suffer t present quarrel may terminate, we do predict ; but the sentence of separation and, perhaps, it were better if the Ameri up their minds to it as.an event not to bt Is already less intercourse between t Western states, than there is between eii —and less community of interest than ti the latter and England. How can all t sibly go on together ?—Standard. THE 4 ' NULLIFICATION" (AMERICAN) QUESTION. In our next page we insert the proclamation of Gen ral Jackson ujon what may now, we think, be called the secession of South Carolina from the North American Union. The acts and declarations of the South Cali)lino convention, recited at the commencement of the presi dent's proclamation, prove that the revolt has matured to a degree of determination, to expect which we were not prepared; though, as possibly our readers may remem ber, we had all along anticipated that a separation must take place sooner or later. The proclamation before us, though written with considerable ability, and in a very becoming temper, is too long for our English notion of such institnments. It is, in fact, less a proclamation of state paper of any kind than a law argument or thesis 'upon the duty of obedience owing by each integral state, of a federal union to the authority of the whole. Gene ral Jackson, as we have intimated, argues very ingel niously through this question, which the peculiar circurn-I stances and history of the states render a difficult one iI the case. It is. indeed, scarcely possible to suggest any wrong in the course taken by South Carolina, which will not apply equally, or in a higher degree, to the revolu tion that established the independence of the national union. The title by which the convention of South Cal rolina claims to sever from the union is the same, bfi which only the states can justify their revolt from Grea Britain, namely, that being the weaker part of a com pound state, it suffers hardships and injustice from th stronger section or sections. There can be no questio that in material suffering the people of South Caroli and their neighbours endure a great deal more from th laws forced by the preponderating majority of northe states, than the colonists of the eighteenth century suf fered from a stamp act or a tea tax. It is not, however any imputation upon the president's talents, that a cods of political morality and public law may be drawn fro the history of his country, which can be used to vincli cate revolt in the new world, as it has both prompted and vindicated it in the old. When he abandons the IS ver, and assumes the tone of the magistrate, Genera, Jackson speaks in a manner which the governments some old countries might imitate, with no small adv tage ' The laws of the United States must be executed—l have, discretionary power on the subject —my duty is emphaticak , pronounced in the constitution. Those who told you that you miy heaceably prevent their execution, deceived you—they could D i ave been deceived themselves. They know that a forcib , opposition could alone prevent the execution of the laws they know that such opposition must be repelled. Their objl is disunion; but be not deceived by names; disunion, by arm force, is treason. Are you really ready to incur its guilt? you are, on the heads of the instigators of the act be the dre ful consequences—on their heads be the dishonour, but on yo may fall the punishment—on your unhappy state will inevitab fall all the evils of the conflict you fel ce upon the governme. of your country, It cannot accede to the mad project of union of which you would be the first victims—its 'first mug,: trate cannot, if he would, avoid the performance of his duty' the consequences must be fearful for you, distressing to yl fellow-citizens here, and to the friends of good governme throughout the world." This language must be read with very great profit, n' only by governments, but by all who, like Lord Milto' Priest Doyle, Mr. William Brougham, Master in Chat) eery, and the several tithe murderers in Ireland, fane! that each man has in his own conscience a dispensin? power, which entitles him to determine what laws 1' will—what laws he will not—obey. They may be quite sure that the successful prosecution of this doctrine any considerable extent will present them with a Gene' ral Jackson to teach a very different lesson ; and we n3 o ' add, by the way, that a very little more of the system , (miscalled) government which we have seen during man years might almost dispose conservatives to regard wi t , less alarm the access of such a gift. Undoubtedly a r i e public, in which the laws are impartially and vigorous', enforced, is a better conservative government than a nin c j monarchy, where the just authority of the state is desert e d by a timid or treacherous cabinet, and the laws trane v upon with impunity by every ruffian who chooses to spin', them. There still remains, however, the important en°, stderation—can the American Union be maintained I) , J any exertion of firmness on the part of its magistraL, o , o or by any wisdom in the measures of Congress ? believe that it cannot, and we avow the belief with fe:; o nip that are the reverse of gratified. A civil war u 3 the United States could not fail to be injurious to the ° oar merce of England, as well as to the happiness o f , American kinsmen ; and, according to present app ear ca antes, the separation, which seems to be inevitable' d scarcely be effected without a civil war. We have ahead scarcely out the necessary effect of uniform laws, and writ'sl w h i ch nI,, formity of habits, in promoting that rivalship unavoidably cause the people of a great country a separation. An element which has greatly ac.ce.lerate, to des e itT and is likely to precipitate this process of d e 1 more rapidly, is one which the Americans have cultiva with great industry . and success, and in which they . t s r,, umph with just pride, as far as pride in the ment of an immediately profitable object, without regar,l accompli ing results, can be deemed just. This element of . di e 'd union is steam navigation—steam navigation, des . tin, to perform so important a part in the future destinY„4 the World. Before the discovery of this wonderful tue9 of intercommunication, the great rivers of the P 3 ,4' c v States, the St. Lawrence, Mississippi, and their tribe ;i0 streams were channels of • export only ; goods a n d freighted in frail barks, built but for one voyagF' dc# floated down the stream to the neighbourhood o f Itliant, bouche. The vessel was then broken up, and mer e b y a crew, and supercargo betook themselves homew a ! d ife, land journey of several hundreds or thousands ° the joy as the case might be. This not only retained ail export port trade—for from the import trade a foreig i 'f ore ie cannot be separated—it effectually kept all the v let 0 ' trade of the country upon the sea coasts. N° - 1 ; VP mark the change wrought by steam naviga! l° li d . obi°, free course by steam vessels up the MississipP l a uth , as well as down, has given to all the states s° k .,,, west of the Allegany mountains—Ohio, Ken tue f nois, &c.—all and more than all the advantag e ° ble sea coast, not only rendering them but the jealous commercial rivals of the east.c.,••-reo indep,serTlesatat te°ll, In like manner the same opportunity opened by steam navigation on the St. awren ce _ ion be'l of Inc t, and opened has both broken the commercial conne_x . , _ tween the north eastern and the middle states of the be; public, and greatly improved the g ood understan_lai tgv, tween the former and the British colonies New Brunswick, &c. When we are stating' - rn i s unde' know to be indisputable facts, let us not be ,--.the Cwhat I. roanzGN lIVTEZZaG FRANCE. The Paris papers of Friday and Saturday received, are almost entirely filled with accot Movements in the north, and reports of Frida the Chamber of Deputies. None of them cl of general interest. It appears that some rio Clichy, in consequence of the right claimed b tion of the inhabitants, who have adopted t religious faith called " French Catholics," church. The " Roman Catholic" priests al insisted on keeping the church exclusively tc the consequence has been the interference of and an attempt to resist them. Nothing in ever, occurred than a few broken heads, and i " Roman Catholics," having the support of thi local authorities, have succeeded in driving from the field. According to accounts from orders had been received to fit out three ships the utmost expedition. Nothing certain was destination, but it was believed that an expedit 1.11 contemplation. The proceedings in the C ties on Saturday were confined to the hearing Out interest. LILLE, Jan. 9.—Her Majesty the Queen of °ompanied by Madame Adelaide, and the daughters, alighted at the hotel of the Prefe. acclamations of a numerous crowd, and this in o'clock, the King and Queen of the Belgians E auon afterwards conducted to the palace, wl Madame Adelaide, and the Princesses, recei alighted, and the young Queen of the Belgia into her mother's arms. We shall not attemp affecting scene, which excited in the highest de of all who witnessed it.—Norwelliste. • Pants, Jan. 12.—The conferences between and the Duke de Broglie continue on the subj °f Holland and Belgium, which seem to ma cress, though the Prussian Minister is said Powers from Russia, and Holland has also mac of its latest pretensions. Despatches arc alm °or Minister for Foreign Affairs to London, 4 ian Ambassador to the Hague and Berlin.—Q. FRANKFORT, Jan. 3.—A courier was desp9A few days ago with a note to the Fren c h C a b in -Viet requires an explanation relative to the , - uutch territory by Marshal Gerard' s t roo p s . rrench artillery destined for the siege of At toad through Arlon, which belongs to the G Luxemburg. The Diet is not disposed to subsc Rion of the London conference which incorpor Luxemburg with the kingdom of Belgium, a assert the rights of the King of Holland as a Pi federation. The confirmation or the denial of t tiently expected.—Journal des Debats, Jan. 13. HOLLAND. THE HAGUE, Jan. 9.—lt is said that a courier Testerda y evening from the Depart me nt o f F oi London, with the answer of the government 1 Posels of England and France. This morning three couriers have been despatched from the si t o St. Petersburgh, Berlin, and Vienna, who ar a c ommunication relative to this answer. Wit contents of the answer nothing certain is yet p e rsons affirm that the substance of it is, that ready to enter into further negotiations as soon of the citadel shall be given up, the embargo re ships restored. These, however, are only reports January 10.—I believe I can now state to • tively, and on good authority, what I yesterday Epecting the answer of our government to ti I,rance and England. The answer is said to be c ounter-proje c t, which insists, in the first place of our ships and cargoes in the French and Eng the liberty of our countrymen who are priso: Ilandelsblad. The Dutch papers have been occupied for 11 pith accounts of the dext e rity with w hi c h a D u for Queen of the Netherlands, coming from Bata Dort, had escaped the cruisers of the comb "o arriving off the coast. It was on the '2nd iitered the channel, and finding a great many t kawards with an easterly wind, he flattered h ) , /4 . 8 at peace. He was laoarded, however, by j'at, which brought him a file of English ne •I•ent these he learned how matters stood. The picions , I , ne and the wind still easterly, he did not thin tirthe ship up the channel, but steered in ti : the ships of the squadr o n i n or d er t o tilt ten o'clock at night, when the wea and the wind at S.S.W., he set all sail :val. through the beads. On the following day, 1 1 , oderate at ea s t, in Bight of - Walcheren, keeping in deep water, and firing a shot from time 'lushing pilot to come ou board, that he migh ; 4 1 ) c,found an opportunity. After a tiresome deli !lin; but while working inwards on Friday, tl 8 . 4 nip of war bearin g down upon him with a pre h ~tout showing any fl u e. He kept, in consequ in from twelve t'o , eight fathoms water, 1 4 : l ever l ost s i g ht o f hi m, so that be was compelled - "P•hower water to , keep beyond the rangeis sit uat i on h e cau g ht t h e ground by the head, of t head, he ll Heeled w i th t h e w ind, but hauling his sails tang Whole of his guns, double shotted, which pro ttation i n the water as to set him afloat again. tp ,Oree pilets having come to his assistatiee,.lin c e st to the buoys, and at last found an opportun with a lett, Van der esp Straten, rcquesting.that a stem 44 government datches on shore, ;',,,,inediately be sent to his relief. This was ace( v o -g the Queen of the Netherlands has arrived in -c tsluvs but has been prevented from proceed '4llsectthe • - uence of ice. SPAIN. V o T h e King of Spain has formally protested a, the decree extorted from him during h: ki t , 4 : 4 lie re-established the Salique law as the rt 11 4 , 1 .. The old Visigothic law is now again the e ki ,' l rn:ales can inherit the throne. The effec - usinof Don Carlos, who is the head of the it tia W e Flo accession of Don Ferdinand's dauvhter, WI 'lands of her mother, will be of the lib. th„lther this arrangement will be acquiesced in, i ". 11 (,(1 die before his brother, May be reasonably however a mistake, to think that Ferdina thts, an yillnov ation on the old custom of Spain by his e a4que law. Sp a i n wa s not one of the coup: ile',4.3ah es dwelt, and their law was never introdu Vsinti of the Bourbon Philip V. after the treat formerly have reigned in Spain—for insta: IZ'e the accession o f Philip, to the present di 1474 no occasion of making it a practical quest. l never having failed until now. Charles I Cu intended to revoke it in 1783, so that it waA bed la w of Spain only about seventy years. T 1 I.