The Express.
London, England, 1852-08-21 00:00:00

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Towrougotr—liorairs& U. 10a.

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUOUST 21.

Wtio is to have the vacant Garter? This honour
is variously assigned by the confidential gossips of
the I)crhyito clique—each political retriever seeking
to lay this last feather at the feet of his particular
muster. To enumerate them all would require more
sp.ice and patience than we have at command. But
a glance at some kw of the foremost amongst those
who affect to talk as if the coveted band of blue
riband of right belonged to them, may be neither un-
instructive or unamusing. '1• he character of a party
may in some sort be judged of as otten by that of its
vain fribbles, as by that of its plodding feeble, ; and
yet between the two unproductive classes the choice
must lie. Fur Lord DERBY has nut in his following
a man of genuine mark or merit—a man who is any-
thing or who has dune anything worthy of lasting
note—on whom he might confer the badge and
collar of St. George, as a token of national gratitude
or respect. It is in his hands a mere bauble to be
given to the must importunate jobber about him, or
the coxcomb of quality who happens to be the
fusel'? ite of the hour.

theatdiak the lad tha amorally the most
temperate dthl Ile Chula semppet. bss lost its
usual self tionlinlind and thiththeas leas Make occasion
of our article oa Cnavesallia. We stated the ugly
fact, that the history of this Ecclesiastical Bynud
afforded of itself the mostemplete argument against '
the proposed restoration' of its functions. We
affirmed dud Convocation ?tom 1688 to 1717 was
the bear-garden of the Church. Now it must be re-
meraered that this period is the only ono which
'Affords us proper materials fur the formation of a
judgment as to the probable working of Convocation
in future. It is sheer folly to suppose, for instance,
that the operations of this body before the Revolu-
tion can afford any probable clue to its operations
after that event. In 1688 it was, when Con-
vocation was no longer under the control of rico-
lute kings or protectors, that it first exercised un-
checked the functions of a free Protestant Synod.
And from 1688 it commenced that proem of self-
degradation which was continuea without iutermis-
sion until 1117, when the civil power mercifully
stept in, and put an end to an assembly's existence
which it was evident could not be continued without
disgrace and damage. Now this plain statement of
the fa,ts, which can in no way be denied, the
Guardian very peevishly reprobates. It has no ob-
' jection to the vague generalities of the Times, it
professes to be pleased with the philosophical
objections of the Spectator, but this com-
mon-sense method of arguing against the pro-
bability of Convocation ever adequately performing
the duties required of it, from the well-known fact
that during the 'chute of its existence it never did
perform such functions, the Guardian abhors—and
wisely, most wisely, too, it waives any reply to our
argument, beyond a mere denial of its foree--and
contents itself with mis-stating our meaning and
making use of an absurd parallel.
What happened in the beginning of the eighteenth cen-
tury, according to the Daily Nears and similar wiseacres,
must of course occur in the middle of the nineteenth. To
apply the argument is a different ems: because King Charles
and his admen found it means/ to their policy that parlia-
ments should not be assembled, and did actually dispense for
n.any years with their attendance, therefore Queen Victo-
ria could not without great danger and km meet her faithful
Commons at Westminster. Because the latitudinarian
ministers of a German prince, a hundred and thirty years
ago, provoked Convocation to resist somewhat intemperately
the worldliness and infidelity of its episcopal nominees,
therefore Lord Derby is sure to give the same provocation,
awl the clergy certain to reply with exactly the some
asperity. Really wo may be pardoned it we decline to
argue with persons who judge of the wisdom and temper
of our leading clergy, without admitting any other con-
sideration than the precedent to be found in the days of
George 1.
The time to decline an argument of this nature,
will be when a disputant will be found silly
enough to maintain it. If tho Guardian means
to charge us with any each absurdity it is either in-
capable of understanding what we wrote, or guilty
of a dishonest representation of it. We never
dreamed of saying that Convocation was to be
solely by its conduct in the reign of
titiltogc;ldot; I. Convocation had led a life of intoler-
able brawling for about thirty years, and its last
Aimee was made use of as a plea for putting an end
to a disreputable existence. It is not because Con-
vocation indulged in unseemly quarreling in the
reign of GEORGE I. that we judge it unfit to legis-
late fur the Church, but because it had never, during
the course of a long existence, done anything but
quarrel. It is not the last feather that breaks the
horse's back, it is the load previously there which
requires but a feathers weight to set
it in operation. If Convocation had ever
done anything great or good, it is scarcely
possible that a better stand should not have been
made in its defence. Had it proved itself at all
adaplad to the spirit of the reformed Church, it is not
lizscespreed that its suppression would have been
meg in after the occasion had passed away.
no endeavour to draw a parallel between the sup-
pression of Convocation by Cfloane I. and the extino-
tion of Parliament by CHARLES 1. is curiously infeli-
citous. CHARLEY suspended an institution which was
intimately connected with everything good and groat
that had been achieved in the nation for centuries, and
the consequence was that he was dethroned by the
must loyal and religious people in Europe. GEORGE
iXt >m aid to the operations of a body which had
never connected itself with anything great or good
in the Church, and whose long-continued career of
violence proved its unfitness for the purposes for
which it was instituted. The nation and the Church
quietly acquiesced in a loss which was never felt,
and until lately no ono has thought it worth while
to moot a restoration.

Who, then, arc the Protectionist expectants of the
Garter ? Of the Peers who already wear tho longed-
for cordon, twelve, or exactly one half, are of ducal
rank. Unless it be intended, therefore, to convert
the order into a mere titular appanage of the no-
bility of highest degree. some few stalls must be
filled by thoaepf other classes in dignity. Beside there
is hardly a duke save his poor Grace of MANCHES-
TER, or his poorer Grace of Meat.noitorcit, whom the
present government could name; unless in imitation of
Elk IL PEEL. they chose to make the favour a sort
of farewell gift to an abandoned delusion, and se-
leetcd the Duke of PORTLAND (for sake of his de-
ceased Poo, Lord GEORGE lirxriscx) to be the reci-
pient of the honour, as the great destroyer of Pro-
tection selected his Grace of BUCKINGHAM. But
Lord DERBY is strong in Marquisses. First, in folly,
as in fortune, stands the most noble Lord of LON-
DONDERRY, a name endeared by old recollections to
the heart of Toryism abroad as well as at home.
It would possibly be taken for a delis de compliment
to the policy of those who are now busily engaged in
resuscitating the Holy Alliance against European
freedom, that the next heir of the humane and libe-
ral CssILEREAGII should be singled out for enrolment
in the most exclusive companionship in England.
But Lord LONDONDERRY has claims of his own.
Among the would-be renovators of feudal rights over
the bodies and souls, the shouts and the votes of his
vassals, none has been so out-spoken and few more
successful than the noble marquis. In Durham and
in Down his ukases are issued in the most unqualified
tone of suzerainty by right divine; and, as the late
returns prove, they are obeyed with serf-like promp-
titude and precision. Here, then, is a man above all
shams—who stands politically nude in the forum,
unconscious of the scandal he creates, and undeterred
by the loud and warning shout of the people, whose
"noxious and dangerous influence" the PRIME
MINISTER is pledged to resist and overthrow.
Lord litany may at length do something con-
sistent and decided by making the Marquis of
LONDONDERRY a knight of the Garter. It would
be some compensation for his recent disappointment
at nut being placed at the head of the Board of
Ordnance, which, on the formation of the present
government, he had made up his sagacious mind was
Just the thing he was fit for; and it would likewise
stimulate his renewed zeal as a landlord who does
what he likes with his own, for the return of a
thorough-paced Tory to fill the vacancy lately
caused by the death of Mr. GRANGER in the city of
Durham.

But even Lord LONDONDERRY has his rivals, and
of his own neighbourhood and degree. While Pro-
tection was fighting its blunt way to power, and had
to box its comer, and bear its buffet on both cheeks,
none was more fitly found at its turbulent head than
the Marquisof DOWNSIIIRE. While BENTINCK lived
the noble Marquis felt sure that all was right, and
that the tide of free food would certainly be forced
to recede at the command of the CANUTE of Conserva-
tism. And long after his decease the credulous peer
kept his most noble eyes resolutely shut, and listened
belie% ingly to DI+RAELI'S solemn assurance that the
noise which he heard was not of waves going out,
but of high rents once more coming in. One morn-
ing the matter of fact Marquis awoke, and asked
the conjuror whereabouts they were. "In port—
all right," was the reply. " But where are the
rusk-rents and our principles?" The conjuror re-
plied by • jeer at his noble single-mindedness:
whereupon the Lord of Hillsborough betook him-
self in dudgeon to his own country, and refused to
have any part in the Downing-street concern.
The days are coming, however, when all ex-
planations must, if possible, be avoided, and when
various means must be resorted to for stopping the
mouths of the exasperated dupes of Derbyism. Who
shall say whether the indignation of Dowssfitax
may not be appeased by a band of blue riband ?
But upon the whole we are perhaps disposed after
all to back the claims of the numerous gallant men
who wear the coronets of earls. What reward is
too exalted for the unfaltering faith of STANHOPE
and of WINCIIILBEA in all the profound mysteries of
this faith as it is in Disawnu ? Who more urgent in
season and out of season in contending against the
strongest evidence, and in supporting the most ma.
palatable dogmas? No scheming, shuffling, ambl►
purposed men—these simple men ; but true eava.
hers as of the days of old, ready to run tilt at
any giant, windmill, or wizard, as the can
may be. There would be a touching propriety in
it, it must be owned, were honest dullness and intel-
lectual incapacity thus to bear away the highest
honour of knighthood from an Administration which
has been called into existence by the momentary
domination of all that is most absurd, ignorant, and
stupid is the community. Others will no doubt
contest tho prize. There are the Earls of fashion-
able fame—CARDIGAN, CHE4TERPHILD, and WILTON

—the last of whom was (Lord DERRY best knows
why) suddenly omitted from the list of personages
named for the approval of the SOVEREIGN in the
month of March last—though from hie intimacy and
family connexion with the PREMIER, nothing could
have seemed less probable. Would the Ourter soft-
pensate or commie lord Witaos ? or if demanded
for him, would it be conceded? As for the Earle of
CHESTERFIELD and CARDIGAN, their exploits are
familiar to the world : 'twere idle to comment upon
them.

-7 7
Finally there is the inestimable MALBIESBURT,
that great diplomatist, of whom an ungrateful nation
is not worthy, and in whose defence cowardly col-
leagues have not the manliness to stand up as men.
Ilia noble spirit must, eve this, be writhing under
the unlooked fur accumulation of snubbings and in.
dignities. Lord Draise owes him much ; either for
placing him without apprenticeship in an office for
which he did not know him to be fit, or find-
ing him fit and able to discharge its duties
not suffering him to perform them in his own
original and off-hand way. As it is, the
character of the man is irreparably damaged.
Nothing is left for him but to get out of the Foreign
-
office as fait as he can, and endeavour to relax his
ascetic mind in light and easy pleasures. They will
be so new to him ; and after a time, when a censo-
rious world hoe forgotten all about Mr. MATtica's
ease, and the Fishery in the Bay of Fundy, Lord
MALMESBUaIr may come out fresh at Drury-lane
Theatre again—suppose we my about the year IMO
--nod so have another trial as a politician. In his
retirement, possibly he might like to fondle the
jewel of the t3arter.

The fact is, that the principle of the English
Church is averse to a Convocation. Our Church is
'not • large unity, swayed by an infallible head or by
an infallible majority. It is a comprehensive insti-
tution, the component portions of which have a bond
of union in • set of formularies which are remark-
able for their breadth. These formularies were meant
to embody the phases of religious faith as they ex-
isted in the national mind at the time of compila-
tion. Any attempt to eliminate any peculiar set of
expressions in these formularies, because they appear
to contradict the opinions of one portion of the Church,
will destroy the character of the whole. Now the
supporters of Convocation can only consistently
maintain their cause upon the plea of the necessity
of a perfect unity. This unity will be produced by
the efforts of a triumphant majority, and until
the triumph is obtained the Church will be
vexed by unseemly contests. In the mean
time the minority must be hypocritical, or
suffer persecution. No one in the present day
will seriously maintain that the decree of a Convoca-
tion will convince a man of the truth of the doctrine
which ho formerly denied. The defeated clergy will
therefore either hypocritically conceal their belief, or
render themselves guilty of contumacy. This state
of things must necessarily result from the operations
of Convocation. It the admirers of that body can
become reconciled to the prospect, we have no more
to add. Disinterested and dispassionate admirers of
the Church of England may, be allowed to lament
tbat at • time when by a gradual abolition of many
clerical abuses, and the untiring labours of large
portions of the working clergy, the Church is t!egnir-
ing golden opinions from all parties, a project is
entertained which may end in the loss of all that has
been so laboriously gained.

SHIPWRECKS ON THE CoAirr.—A meeting of the
general committee of the Royal National Institationifor the
Preservation of Life from Shipwreck was held yesterday,
at the offices in the Adelphi ; Thomas Wilson, Esq., to
the chair. We also observed present George Palmer, Esq.
(late M.P. fur South Essex), Col. Blanchard, R.E., C. 8.,
Capt. Washington, R.N., Capt. Perrott, Capt. Jerningharn,
R N.. Edward Hurry, Esq., Limit. F. W. Ellis, R.N., Sc.
Mr. Lewis (the secretary) having read the minutes of the
previous meeting, an interesting report was read from Col.
Colquhoun, H.R. (member of committee), on • life-boat
transporting carriage, construted under his superinten-
dence at the Royal Arsenal, Woolwich, by order of the
Board of Ordnance, for the institution, which we consider
to be an act of great liberality on the part of the Ordnance,
to assist the committee in their philanthropic object. The
peculiar features of this carriage were noticed en the Ex-
press some time since. A cordial vote of thanks was pre-
sented to Colonel Colquhoun, for the great attention
which he had paid to the subject of life-boat carriages.
A letter was read from Mr. James Trenthath, of Sennen,
Land's End, stating that the boat-house for the reception of
the new life-boat which the institution intends placing there
was reedy. It was mentioned that Mr. Trembath had
generously built the house at his own expense, and orders
were given to leave the life-boat forwarded to him without
delay. Measures were also taken to place the Aberdovey life-
boat (supplied by the institution for that place in 1837, on
Mr. O. Palmer's plan) in an efficient state by the approach-
lag winter. Several other applications for life-boats and
life-preserving apparatus are under consideration, and will
be attended to gradually, accordieg to the funds phut' at
the disposal of the committee by the public for the p
of supplying these most efficient means of saving the isle ;
those unfortunate persons who are ounstantly shipwrecked
on our coasts, and the absolute necessity fur which will be
at ones apparent when we state that it was reported at the
meeting yesterday that nearly 30 writhe took plate on
various parts of the coast witlua Stalest few days of stormy
weather, the crews of many of which miserably perished
within reach of succour, had it been at command.

IMPORTANTItIiiRR or thimoutas am) To-
lacco.—Ott Thursday the Cuut Claud officers near
Gravesend observed a French lugger, with four mos ,
41•410 rag about the entrance to one of the creeks is that
Inulity. Suspicion being entertained, the lugger wan
beaPied by the Coast Ouard and rummaged, whtn twelve
Mir* and eighteen barrels of herrings were found, and
wsdneweath these were eighty•one bales of foreign ttus-
,
nufsctured
tobseco, each bale weighing 60. W. The taboos
beeb been deliver 11 into the Queen's wareh suss at this port,
sad the vessel seised, while the men await directions from
'llho roottoisoionero as to their prosecution.

FCEREAL OF THE LATE VICE-CHANCF.LLOR
PARKB/L—The remains of the late Vice-Chancellor were
interred in a seek beneath the chapel adjoining Rothley
Temple, Loughborough, yesterday afternoon. The funeral
service wee read by *. Eme. IL T. Vaughan, vicar of Bt.
Mods% LOA War.

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 21, 1862

FRANCE.

&soy dautte, confirms the intelligence we gave
some time ago of the Duke of Parma's absence from
his states, in consequence of serious dissensions said
to have arisen between the Duchess de Berry and
himself, concerning his behaviour to his consort.
The Official Gazette of Savoy of the 18th, states
from Florence that a new version is current now as
to the hand tYr H. Bulwer had in the mignatinn of
M. Bowlla. It observes that the threatened abolition
of the Leopoldine laws could not bee sufficient reason
for a British minister to go the extreme limits of dip-
lomatic remonstrance ; but that M. Bocella had ren-
.

PARIS, Fe Ma Bessie°.
Lord Cowley has availed himself of the leave of
absence allowed to him by the British government to
take his agerture for London.
The llibuilser has a leading article upon the
councilsseusraL These will shortly assemble, and
now this lho beetle of thojett4 is over, the probable
ebeeeeteed the proceedings of these bodies begins
lo be do soldeet of political speculation. The ene
yin, which has au lung danced like a will o' the
beton the public. eye, is perhaps to assume a tan-
kemastles effignilie of their incubation. Nothing
boa seglostoll to sake them fitting instruments
el
Ise In work. They have been chosen by universal sur-
fing" and therefore, " ros popish, roe DM" being
new the state motto, speak with an authority which
it were impious to question. Universal suffrage has
been successfully marshalled by the prefects. Its
simplicity therefore has not been misled. The
government nominees, with rare excep ions, have
been returned. The prefects, it is true, have in
many instances been compelled, from the want of
better materials fur choice, to patronise lukewarm
friends rather than leave the field clear for open
enemies. Rumour also speaks of some wolves in
sheeps' clothing having slipped into the fold. More-
over, wherever it was certain that the local influence
of any independent candidate would secure his re-
turn, the prefects had orders to proclaim him as their
man, and thus be spared the necessity of acknow-
ledging a defeat. But the possibility that in spite
of all the means used to paralyse universal suffrage,
the result might not always be unexceptionable was
foreseen and provided for. Cure was taken in fram-
ing the law upon the councils-general voted by the
Corps Legislatif in June last, to strip themof the most
essential attributes of free deliberutivo bodies. In
order, as the Moniker justly observes, that all the
elements of the new constitution might work together
in " perfect harmony" the President of the Republic
reserved to himself the pop er of nominating the
presidents, vice-presidents, and secretaries of the
councils. This power was exercised on Wednesday
last in a way to which 1 will presently allude. But
it may be opportune at this moment to mention what
are the attnbutes of the councils-general as set forth
by the Moniteur. Their duty is to regulate everything
relating to the local interest of the departii.entsi to
apportion the taxes to be paid by each commune to
impose departmental rates; to authorise loans, sales,
purchases, the erection of public buildings; to make
and repair highways; and to superintend public
charities and schools of primary instruction. These
form the principal pest of the local matters confided
to their care. They are of great importance, and
can only be performed satisfactorily by men of buni-
ons, integrity, and local knowledge, enjoying, from
fortune, station, or abilities, the confidence of their
neighbours. But in all this there is nothing politi-
cal except negatively. The councils ought to be
above the suspicion of spending their constituents'
money in political jobs, or abusing patronage for poli-
tical purposes. However a custom Las long prevailed
that after transacting their business, properly so called,
the councils, before separating, should, if they think
fit so to do, express an opinion or a wish with
respect to any important question of public interest.
Upon the principle that the notabioines of the de-
partment may reasonably be pressured to represent
• large amount of public opinion, the sort of resole-
tions, although irregular, and founded upon no law,
have at times been admitted by the legislature as
furnishing legitimate data for legislation. In time"
of revolution, when the central government is un-
settled, the political importance of these quasi parlia-
ments naturally increased. But, whenever the exe-
cutive has been strong, it has alternatively disre-
garded the expressed wishes of the councils-general,
as en impertinent excess of their proper functions,
or, when desirous of breaking down oppool•
Lion in the Chamber in Paris has OW'
mused the support of the councils-general, sod
magnified the importance of their opinions. At the
time of the famous agitation in favour of revision
last year, the right of these bodies to express a wish
with regard to a question in no manner specially af-
fecting their own departments was frequently denied
by the constitutional republicans. But as all the
' other Leading parties in the state desired revision for
oue season or another, the objection was stifled by
acalamation. The political attributes of the councils,
, as stated by the Seoniteer to-day, are to give their
opinion or to express their wisheswith regard to "se-
veral questions of national interest," which do not de-
pend on their decision. It may be inferred from this
, view of their powers that any attempt to urge their
their wishes upon the attention of the government
in support of an unpalatable proposition, would be
held out of order. Now, a glance at the list of the
appointments just made will show that the selection
has been governed mainly with the view of guiding
the councils in the performance of their political—
the incidental and subsidiary part of their duties—
' rather than in the sober execution of their begins's.
In that list appear those names of terror, St. Armand,
klagnan, de Meupas, de Morny, Persiguy, all theca-
billet ministers, Prince Lucien Murat,Oen. d'Hatpoul,
Baruche, Troplong. president of the Court of Appeal,
and a host of senators, councillors of state, aides-de-
camp of the Elyse, heads of departments in public
offices, and placemen of every description. There is
hardly a name not well known as a resident in Paris.
The question is naturally asked what can be the
special qualification of these men to regulate the
bridges, highways, lunatic asylums, and national
schools of distant departments, that they should, at
much inconvenience to themselves and unprece-
dented embarrassment to the public service,
be sent simultaneously away from the capital.
It was at first supposed that the appoint-
ments of the ministers to be presidents of the
councils-general could be but honorary, and that
they would abandon the chair to the vice presidents.
But I understand to-day that all the ministers will
be at their posts in the Council. Seeing the symp-
toms of the imperialist movement to which I alluded
yesterday as visible in the councils of arrondissement,
there can, I think, be little doubt that their mission
and that of their fellow-labourers, is to drill the;
enthusiasm of the members of the councils general in
the same direction, and in the concluding words of
the Alinsiteur's article," To excite the mandatories of
the nation each in his own sphere, to merge ail parties
in that one alone which is henceforth honourable or
possible,—the party of France."
The proximate opening of the session of the coun-
cils-general, and the importance of the part at-
tributed to these principal bodies in bringing about
the desired change in the constitution, has already
caused several of the highest functionaries to leave
Paris, and repair to the scene of their immediate
mission. M. Achille Fould sets out this evening for
the Hautes-I'yrenfes, of which council he is pre-
sident. During his absence there he will
not be replaced by any minister ad interim,
--a circumstance which tends to illustrate the
Mw importance given to the ministry of state,
which is oleo vindicated on all occasions of ceremony
by the pussdence which M. Fould takes of the other
seinkbeles Md which was never claimed by his pro-
blems', M. Casablanca. Another functionary de-
co the same mission is M. Chevresu, se cre-
general of the ministry of the interior.
c-id
. Herbert, French consul-general at Antwerp,
bar just been promoted to the same post in London.
P. 5.—1 have just heard that a train on the Stras-
bourg railway ran off the line near Commercy this
morning. Some p.ssengers were hurt. There is an
obstruction on the line, in consequence of which the
salnequent trains have not started this afternoon.
It is hoped that the service will be resumed to-
morrow.

At the Bourse the Four•and-a-Half per Cents. fell
15c., and closed at 104.6.5; the Threes fell 245 c.,
closing at 76.55. Bank of France tell 5. The St.
Germain Railway fell 40; Marseilles, and Lyons and
Avignon, 5 each; Havre and Dieppe, 2.50 each ;
Orleans and St. Dizier and Oray rase SL each.

ITALY.
PIEDMONT.

A religious fete was celebrated, on the 15th, by
order of the French emlxtely at Turin, in the chapel
of St. Philip Neri. Besides the members of the
embassy, M. L. Faucher, vice-president of the society
for the relief of Frenchmen in distress, wag present.
Alms were collected by Mesdames Chevalier and
Stotto ; one-third of the produce of which is to be dis•
tributcd among the poor of the parish, and the re-
mainder to Frenchmen in distress.

A letter from Turin of the 18th, in the coast

dered himself extremely obnoxious to England by
promising Count d'Astier, the representative of the
Order of Malta, that, in the event of his (M. Boeel-
la's) being entrusted with a portfolio, he would revive
the Military Order of Malta; thus of course reviving
a dormant claim to the Island of Malta and causing
annoyance to Great Britain.