The Express.
London, England, 1852-01-20 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 20, 1852.

Zhe eqn•eoo.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

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liurtut-," is pathiebed t way To.wlay ml Yuday •ight, in Um*
tee pet.
•dew:uxui, atatalended I. a r. Tho Tisprem" Imelda Keening paper.
wane he .ti the Mire, In, 9oaewi►etrry by Two n'elelek oo the
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111011 WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
T.. 14, —Vernier. Aftorres. Ik.
To- so ..auw—Nertiise, fa. :ma.

LONDON, TUESDAY JANUARY 20.

THE Globe last night objects to the tone that
We have adopted upon the subject of the pro-
posedincreare of our army expenses. Of course
oes. It is much easier fur the government
to ask the people for more money, than fur
the honourable gentlemen at tlw head of the
army to interfere with the hornets'-nest of placemen
and sinecuristo who fatten upon existing military
abuses. l o demand that our defences should be made
complete out of the means already voted, 6 of course to
propore an unpalateable plan. o say that our force
suflitient. if rightly disposed, is to say. just
what the patrons of the (bit. do nut wish to
boar. England is as full of military spirit as ever
she was. Iler people are us willing as at
say fernier period of our history to make
eacriticts for the common weal. Englishmen are
ready either to pay or to tight for the preservation of
their national independents., should it be perilkd,—but
they are not at this instant so persuaded that national
danger exists as to vote blindly for more soldiers, w hi6t
those we have are badly managed, and arc kept any-
where but where they should be. Why, moreover,
should we pay fur inure troops, when w lint we chiefly
want are steam-ships and seamen? .Viitl why levy
fresh taxes tube spent on absurd sea-shore hutterim,
whilst we have floating batteries lying idle in the
Tagus and elsewhere; —ready to guanl us well, if our
ministers would permit them to do so?
There are some .does that run like an influenza
wan epidemic throughout all clamors of society. If t hey
have nut city in them, and are calculated to awaken
pride and jealousy and excite fear,—not at all of
the crate u kind, hut that fear which kiudles anta-
gonism and resistance,—such a sentiment takes like
wildfire. And instead of inquiring into the grounds,
the rew-ons. the chances, ur the truth of the isuppo-
eition, people adopt it at once supposititiously, and
malt to the consideration of, nay, to the preparation
for all, contingrncies.
An idea of this kind is invasion, landing of troops
from Ow only country capable of sending them upon
our phony. .1f any one asks the anxious propounder
of such notion upon what reasoning he lases it, or
what m *tire lw supports' to induce the French, or
their ruler, to such a step. it is found generally to
be, that the French want to avenge Waterloo, and
that the personage who dues this fur them may ask
and obtain as pavilion the princedom or sovereignty
of Events..

Then. are other ways. however, of earning the
gratitude and admiration of the French than in
commencing an internecine war with England, a
war which, even in ease of victory, could lead to no
pertnistent ennque,4 or advantage, but would, on the
contrary, weaken France for the defence of all that
is dear to her. For France to conquer England
would be to render herself t'omitek. Hut she could
not conquer England. and might pay for the attempt
by her own subdivision or even cnssure from the list
of nations. _ . .

1 hu. the attempt to conquer England will he one
ride last things that a chieftain ruling the destinies
of France would attempt. It is of all others the
enterprise in which there is the moot to risk, and
the least to pin. No doubt it will be threatened.
The French have threatened us with invasion
for centuries. all through Louts XlV.'s reign,
again in 1799, and repeatedly since. Lows-Put-
merit hinted it to our minister at Windsor Castle,
when he visited the QUEEN —a most monstrous
piece of impertinence. Leseis-l'ittuert., who
last the Tuileries some months later, as a
good e sample of how futile are such menaces.
But they will be made. For they are useful
for diplomacy, useful for collecting an army and
oloakit.;: a real enterprise, %maul, too, for putting us
to yap nae.
But as a real enterprise, compare the conquest
of F:nelind, in effort, in result, in gain to the French
people.. and as a salvo to their honour—compare it
with the conquest of Savoy, and ask, which IS most
attractive. most feasible to a French emperor.
France did take Savoy, her posseseion of it
was acquiesced in. The population of Savoy
is French. It lies within the Alps, the natural
boundary of France on that side. Savoy is
military weakness, nut strength, to Piedmont and
Italy. For the French to take Savoy were a facile
enterprise; to keep it, they have but to win one
battle on the plains of Lombardy. After which,
Austria would submit to what she has often sub-
mitted, viz., to allow to the King of Pt tb,414 INT com-
pensation in Italy for Savoy lost. What has Eng-
land to object to this ? Nothing. in reality. How
does it affect Hussein or Prussia? In no wise. Aus-
tria has taken Tuscany and the Roman Legations.
She has far outstepped the limits and the power that
the Treaties of Vienna assigned her in Italy. And
it would be more consonant than repugnant to the
Treaties of Vienna to lessen Austria@ dominions in
Italy at present.
Fat be it from us to say that Loris NaroteoN or
any other French ruler should be encouraged to any
act of the kind, or that we should meanly seek to
ward off danger to ourselves by pointing out and
uncovering weaker victims. However we may
sympathise with the people of Italy, or the people of
Hungary, flinging off their own yoke by their own
exertions, we have no wish to see Austria crushed
or disposseseed by a foreign power as despotic and
unscrupulous as herself. ir% o are merely pointing
out the different schemes that must present them-
selves to a French ruler bent upon securing his hold
of power over France by • inning for French interest
and French pride some great boon, advantage, or ac-
quisition. Midst these schemes, although the
Rhine• would be the dearest and most satisfactory
to the French people, Savoy would be far more at-
tainable and facile.

If, however, there are several motives that prompt
Loess NAPOLEON to war, there are many to dissuade
him from it. He has not • soldier whose presence is
not required in or near some populous town to keep
down repairer insurrection. Paris IMO have 100,000
men to watch it. Lyons must have its forts
ffgarrisoned. Lille its operatives watched. Strait-
demands an army, not merely for its fortifica-
tion, but for its red population. The armies of the
continent, huge as they are, are every man of them
required for the purposes of the political police.
Were they to destroy each other in fighting, the
people would rime to tear in pieces the victors and
the vanquished.
There is one thing indeed which we did not men-
tion, and which might give some probability
to invasion; and that is • large body of
malcontents amongst ourselves. Fortunately there
are none such, although the Curatitutionnel would re-
present us as about to be devoured by socialists, and
although it represents the struggles of our opera-
tive engineers as a spark of that flume which has
divided masters and men throughout France, and by
doing so has laid both prostrate at the feet of a des-
pot. But the Chartist insurrection which Dr.Vr.ners
beholds has no reality or existence but in the dim-
ness of his own spectacles. It is merely a trick of
the cunning French fox who has lost his tail, trying
to persuade his English comrade to cut off his also.
Our different classes will stand up for their different
interests within the hounds of legality, and with the
weapons that the constitution allows. And our
natty consists in this very freedom; for amidst
French slavery we admit that even discussion in
dangerous. Where society is reduced to a state of
moral tinder, any idea may prove a spark. lint
Englishmen are not yet the mute, the smeller, and
degraded slates of the censorship and the corpe-ele-
porde. There have been, there will be, time and
angry struggles between Englishmen; but woe be
to the Frenchman who would interfere in one way or
the other with discussions that he cannot compre-
hend. or with that Hag of freedom which French-
men know not how either to enjoy or to compre-
hend.

Tin' fled of the half-yearly railway meeting"' Ia
already announced ; and, as of late has !al n usually
the came, it is the Brighton Company that leads the

way. Within a month of the termination of the I
half-year Mr. SAMUEL LAIN° is not only able to as-
certain the balance applicable in that ineerixwation
to dividend. but also to declare it. This is at least a
good example ; and though, as compared Nith some
of the larger metropolitan companies, there nre
cial causes operating in Mit.'Latito's favour, it is
also to bo remarked that other companies having
nearly the same advantages as the Brighton, so far
from being distinguished by the like promptitude,
are notorious for a delay far beyond that which is
perhaps inevitable in much larger and cumbrous con-
cerns.

The Brighton may now be mid to be almost a
self-contained company; fur whilst stretching out,
unprofitably, on the emir • to Portsmouth, and
on the north to Ilastings, it has not even in these
directions to bear that strong pressure of competition
which in other parts of the kingdom is having so
serious an effect on railway dividends. It is not a
commercial line; for of the half million sterling
taken in 18.11, not 1181,000/. is derived from goods.
It has no difficult, open, and embarrassing accounts
of mileage to adjust and settle as to its half-yearly
balances with other companies. Its accounts have
no clearinghouse to pose through. Nor is the profit
of its traffic interfered with by foreign arrange-
ment& Compared with the huge northern lines,
with their alliances and rivalries, their apportion-
ments and their perplexities, their aggressive
sod defensive systems, the Brighte' manage-
ment is light and agreeable work. While, then,
Mr. LAING is entitled to every praise for the ability
he has brought to bear on the Brighton railway;
for the unceasing attention he has bestowed on his
constituency's property ; for the additional facilities
and speed which he la afforded the public; and for
the promptitude with which he renders his half-
yearly statements, we mu it not, in recognising these
evidences of his good management, pass any censure
on the directions of those great arterial lines of com-
munication which connect London with the seats of
our commerce and the hives of our industry.
The excellent results of Mr. LAING'S management
of the Brighton line do, however, suggest the &nee-
fit of properly paid chairmanship, where the com-
pany is of that moderate extent that the attention
of the chief can be principally be-towed on the
enforcement of economy and the reduction of working
expenses, which,in thepresent state of railways, seem
to be the sources of dividend. Where however the af-
fairs, relations, and rivalries of a company are of such
magnitude as to preclude any such undeviating
attention on the part of its chief to those details as a
matter of personal and almost exclusive business—
and where the policy of the line is itself a study and
an occupation—it may be doubted whether thC con-
stituencies of such incorporations are not better
served by the other mode—by having at their heads
public men of recognised position, undoubted honour,
and personal independence, like Mr. GLYN, Mr.
Ittsseff, and Mr. Demo's, to whom salary can be
no object, rather than a gentleman. however able, who
is. after all, a stipendiary officer, and liable to ail the
influences of ;hat posit ion. 'f his question is, however,
a large and important one; on which perhaps more
experience is required than we as yet possess.
Mr. L GNU is much too able a man to present,
under any circumstances, a common-place report to
his constituents, and on the present occasion his
half-yearly statement starts a subject of surpassing
interest to all railway property. l'erhape, however,
Mr. LUNG'S former literary habits have led him
(unconsciously it may be). to amp° the subject some-
what too artistically; and his philosophical tenden-
cies to affect a practical result thereon which he has
not really attained. Let us see.
Some two years ago, Mr. LAING pledged himself
to close the capital account of the Brighton. And
us up to this tune in no one company has that ac-
count been closed; and as until It is permanently
fixed, the real value of the stock cannot be estimated,
his pledge was generally hailed with satisfaction.
Subsequently, however, it was publicly doubted by
Mr. GLYN. whether the capital of a growing and
increasing railway company ever could be closed, or
a line be drawn beyond which all expenditure for
whatever purpose sliould be debited to revenue; and
this doubt has greatly increased the interest taken
in the fulfilment of Mr. Latfro'a promise.
In the present report Mr. LAING again deals with
the subject. In its earlier portion he confesses to a
want of more money, with an emphasis and in lan-
guage that lead you to suppose he requires much more
than he concludes by asking for. The point at which
Mr. LUNG undertook to close the Brighton capital
account, was, it seems, 7,200,0001.; but that, he now
says, was on the assumption that the traffic was only
4341,0001.; whereas already it has reached 683,000/.
The rolling stock, sidings, station and warehouse ac-
commodation, he, therefore, states must be increased.
Hem, then, we hare the question fairly raised whe-
ther such increase ought to be provided for by
new capital or out of revenue. And this is
just a point on which a well-reasoned opi-
nion from Mr. LAING would have been very
desirable, and in all probability most instructive.
But as the amount ho requires (120,0001. only) is
comparatively small, and the dividend he recom-
mends a substantial one, after tantalisingyou by a very
well written exposition of why that sum is required,
and after stating very clearly the principle involved,
Mr. LAING, with all the skill of a well-trained lawyer,
eludes any opinion on the real question. Providing
a plan for spreading the payment of this sum out of
revenue in a long series of years, he leaves you as
much in the dark on the subject about which lie ex-
cites curiosity and expectation, as if he had never
said a word about it. This is a piece of provoking
caution; for by this time Mr. LAING ought to have
arrived at some opinion as to whether Mr. GLYN was
right or wrong, when ho doubted if capital accounts
can ever be permanently closed; and having reached
one, he had scarcely any right to raise the question,
and then run away from it.
Were our railways like those of France, paying
dividends of 0 and 8 and 12 per cent., there would
be less difficulty in its practical solution than there
now is, when 2 and 3 and 4 per cent. are the general
rates with difficulty reached. For in companies yield-
ing high profits, the change of proprietary is much
smaller than in concerns barely able to pay any
dividends ; and it is the fluctuating character of those
entitled to half-yearly dividends which greatly em-
barrasses this question. When the amount is small,
shareholders look to a division of all the profits
earned; and if the principle of charging against re
venue new rolling stock required by extension of
traffic be adopted, the chances are that sufficient ac-
commodation will not be provided thereout, and
that, in consequence of an insufficiency of stock,
the safety of the public and the securityy
of the goods will be endangered or lessened.
On the other hand, the opposite principle,
that new rolling stock must be supplied by addi-
tional capital, opens a door, in unscrupulous hands,
to the payment of dividends out of capital, necessa-
rily depreciates the value of the company's stock by
the uncertainty of its amount, and so renders it mom
than ordinarily liable to all those speculative move-
ments and operations that are so injurious to railway
pre eperty.
The legislature has, indeed, attempted to adjust,
in some degree, the proportion which the value of
the rolling stock of a railway shall bear to its cost.
The principle adopted is, that while the proprietary
itself is bound to furnish the capital for the construc-
tion of the line, it is entitled to borrow an amount
equal to the cost of its rollinirstock ; and by fixing
the borrowing powers at one-third of the share capi-
tal, parliament has indicated the proportion the
value of the one ought, in its opinion, to bear to
the other. On the whole, however, these borrowing I
powers have acted injuriously to companies. !
When first adopted, railway dividends were higher
than the rates of interest paid on 1011214, and then
they operated as a profit on capital. But now divi- ,
dends generally are lower than the rates of interest,
and these loans diminish the profit of capital. The I
facility, too, with which money has hitherto been
I raised at high rates has begotten an extravagance
i which the pressure of rails on shareholders would
' have made them watchful to cheek. And if our
railways were to be now commenced, the policy of
giving them any borrowing powers would be ex-
ets elingly doubtful.
I It is. of course, difficult tee say how far this partia-
-1 me niary proportion between the value of the rolling 1
! stock and the cent of the line hue been preserved.
But, if Mr. eitsre he correct in his opinion that new
stock, erlseu required
.Pr UM extensuns of !ruff-, is
properly a charge on capital, it is very eltsimbie that
in half-yearly accounts an estimate- of the value of
the existing stock, and a supplementary report
thereon from its superintendent, should be given;
and that the extent of traffic in miles (not, as Mr.

LUNG give' it, in mosey) which the stock in hand is
capable of carrying should be stated. Otherwise, it
is clear that in militia/ more cepitel for fresh
traffic, &teeters have always the mesa of ;cajoling
tbdir shareholders. ,
In every other respect the Brighton report and
Accounts are eminently eatisfactory.; in epee more so
than in the precaution Kr. I,smo ts adopting against
accidents, and in the small expenditure comparatively
during the half-year for " law." Yet, compared with
French lints, this charge, even against the Brighton
Company, is still enormous; for whilst in its last
half-year the Havre and Paris law bill only amounted
to 241., the "law charges" of the Brighton for the
half-year ending 31st Dec., 1831, are 800/. 15x. tld.!
The difference tells a sad tale against English ma-
nagement of railways.

from

We. publish to-day another
Mr. AILCIII on his system of farming.
Ho who makes two ears of corn grow where one
I only grew before, is proverbially a tuitional hene-
I factor; yet it is quite natural that ho who fertilises
the soil should incur the hostility of those miserable
monopolists who would found their fortunes on the
creation of an artificial scarcity of food. hence the
passionate dislike betrayed by the protectionists
towards all earnest and go-ahead agricultural im-
provers. The protectionist theory in rural affairs is,
that the utmost limits of improvement have been
reached in this country ; that with all our improve-
ments we cannot compete with even the ruder bus•
bandry and scanty agricultural capitals of the con-
tinent; and that, therefore, our farmers' profits and
our landowners' rents can only be kept up by a high
protective duty on foreign agricultural produce.
fida is the common argument of the sluggard
, monopolist, which even for his own sake
should be disregarded. Having these fucts be-
(ore us, we justly anticipated that Mr. MECIIeB
meritorious efforts,--as detailed in his paper read
' before the Society of Arts,—to demonstrate the
capacity of our soil for far larger production than
has hitherto been obtained, would raise no small
share of adverse criticism from the adherents of pro-
tection. They feel instinctively that every improver
is the enemy of their system, and that every rural
improvement tends to prove its hollow and illusory
character. And Mr. MEelti being a somewhat
daring improver, and ono who is rather fond of
bringing his improvements before the public, it has
become a sort of shibboleth of the protectionist faith
to cry down MECIII. Accordingly we find that a
weekly print, which harps hebdomadally on the one
monopolist string, has set to work to denounce Mr.
MEelifs balance-sheet and farming operations with
a perseverance and acrimony absolutely ludicrous.
Editorial comment, swarms of correspondents, ex-
tracts from contemporary commentators, fierce
onslaughts on any who suggest that Mr. Mr.eili has
done good service—one of these being made on our—
selves—and various other manifestations of irritate& '
impotence are resorted to for the purpose of showing'
that the protectionist world hates and despises
NIECIII and all other advocates of "high farming."
It was in consequence of such and similar attach/
that Mr. MEeill addressed to us the letter which a
few days since appeared in our columns, wherein ha
gives the following plain and simple explanation of
that part of his farming account—the cost of his
fattening stock—which has been most vehemently
assailed. He says that his object has been to raise
the standard fertility of his farm, and for that pur-
pose he intended to apply to his land a large quanft
of manure, greatly exceeding that quantity which is
a regular course of culture would be needed for lasi
already got into high condition; that the question
with• him was how to accomplish that object
at the cheapest into; and that he found the best
method was to keep an unusually large number
et feeding animals. In this way ho effected his
object, at the average loss of 33 per cent. on the
total yearly cost of buying and feeding his fat stock.
That sum—call it loss or outlay in the purchase of
manure—amounted in 1851 to about liffo/., or about
70s. per acre on his whole farm. And Mr. NIECIII
tells us that his end is now accomplished, his land
having been fertilised, and producing abundance of
stock food; his outlay for the future in the purchase
of artificial food will seldom exceed 1501. per
annum.

This is just the course which we assumed Mr.
MECIII would take. And what is there new in it?
Is there any improved farm, is there any thriving
farmer throughout England, is there any land made
artificially fertile which may not be cited as an
instance of precisely the same course of improve-
ment ? And none know the truth of this better
than the protectionist yelpers at Mr. Menu! and
high farming. It is only by present outlays, in the
expectation of larger future returns, that laud has
been improved, and the same means of improve-
ment must be continued by all who would live by
the occupation of agricultural land. And every one
whose common sense and power of observing what
is passing around him have not been blinded by
prejudice or sinister interest, must bo aware that in
the improvements of cultivation and in the general
management of land—requiring doubtless in most
cases the conjoint action of landlords and tenants—
there is ample scope for compensation for the loss—
if loin it be—of " protection.
But singularly enough, in the same number in
which Mr. Mzeiii's letter appeared, another and a
different sort of illustration appeared, showing the
truth of the proposition, that an improved system
of management of land, and not protection, is the
remedy for agricultural distress. This was contained
in an elaborate estimate and detail of the cost and
methods of improvement, by Mr. EDWARD PAGE,
farmer and land agent of Yorkshire. We need
scarcely recommend Mr. PAGE'S letters to our
agricultural readers, nor have we space here to
follow him through his clear, though elaborate
demonstration, worked out too precisely in the
form and fashion to which the agricultural mind is
most accustomed. But the general results are these.
Taking as an illustration a farm of 2'25 acres, of
average quality, one-third grass and two-thirds
arable land, he proposes that the landlord should
expend in draining, buildings, and the like, the sum
of $S3'., on which the tenant should pay, by way of
interest, 4-11. 13s. over and above his present yearly
rent ; that the tenant should improve known system
of cultivation, by using extra quantities of artificial
food fur stock and purchased manure (the particulars
of which are specified), the purchase of extra stock,
extra weeding, repairing and so forth, at the addi-
tional yearly cost of 2504, being a total increase of
outlay by the tenant of 30W., or about 275. did. per
acre. This, on a five course rotation, would require an
extra capital of 7514 The yearly increase of
produce to be obtained by means of such outlay
would be,—aa shown by Mr. PAGE'S careful
and moderate estimates,-3751. 12s. ; giving
a clearyearlyprofit of 751.—f0r interest is allowed as
part ofthe cost of cultivation—ou the investment of
7501. This is equal to a profit of 6s. 10d. per acre •,
and the same system being pursued, the result will
be, in succeeding rotations, a progressive improve-
ment of the land must like place by which the
tenant will reap a further advantage. Here we have in
a different form precisely the same principles applied,
by a practical farmer and land agent. Heals° shows
how to remedy agricultural distress and countervail
the losses assumed to have been sustained through
free-trade, and shows it in the same way as
that advocated and adopted with the like objects
by the much abused Mr. MEM. And the
more intelligent portion of the agricultural body
are aware that there exists a wide margin be-
between the present and prospective produce of land,
which may be made the means of placing them in a
far better position than they ever were in under the
protective system; and they are beginning to regard—
with well merited contempt—the protectionist politi-
cians and their organs of the press who discoun-
tenance agricultural improvement, and pander to the
prejudices of pride and ignorance.

BORN WITHIN; THE 801:ND OF Bow BV.LL.—In
his edition of Stow's " Survey of Loudon," Mr. Thom.
appends the subjoined note to the account which is given
of Bow Church and its hells :—" From the atmenee of every
allusion on the part of Stow to the common definition of
cookney, a person horn within the sound of Bow hells, the
saying would appear to he of somewhat more recent date."
Stow's werk was first published in 1.59 N, and the author
died in IPOi. Fuller, author of the " Worthies of F.nit-
land," was born in lfSgi . and it would seem that during
his lifetime the definition of a cockney was well-known ;
for thus 11. MS Fuller speak :—[lle was horn within the
sound of Bow hell.) This is the periphrasis of a Londoner
at large, born within the suburbs thereof; the sound of this
bell exceeding the extent of the Lord Mayor's marr.”—
From .Votes and querias.

FRANCE.
• PARIS, MONDAY EVININO
The decree of tho 10th continuer to be carried out.
Out of 21 representatives who were confined at
St. Pelagic, 19 have already left, alter having re-
ceived passports for foreign countries. These 19 are ,
—MM. Latrade (released on the 10th) ; Beare, Ilur-1
gard, Neva! Myra, and Antony Thouret (released
on the 17th) ; Charles Lagrange, Renaud, Raeou-
chot, Benoit, Faure (du Rhone), Gilfavru, Valentin,
Boursat, Gambol', Perdioier, Nadaud, Laboulaye,
Chola, and &lin (released on Saturday.) M. Re-;
mud left the same evening for Belgium ; and M. j
Pascal Buprat and M. Antony Thouret for Ger-
many. There are still at St. Pelagic MM. Dufrowe,
Greppo, and Richardet, under sentence of tranpor-
tation to Guyana ; Latin, implicated in the disturb-
ance,' of the Lot ; Chaix, Delbetz, and Mulct, whose
names are nut in the decree.

'The political prisoners ordered fur transportation
to Cayenne, and who were first embarked ut Havre,
have left Brest ; but instead of going ut once to their
destination they are to remain at the little Isle-des-
Salutes, near Martinique, until preparations can her
made at Cayenne to receive them. M. Mestro,
director of the colonies of the ministry of marine,
went to sec them just before their departure, and
ascertained that the medical service had been pro-
perly prepared, and all their wants supplied.
teveral rumours are afloat as to the persons
selected for senators and councillors of state. I be-
lieve that there is the less occasion to notice these, as
the official lists are both expected in the Mosaiteur of
Wednesday. I have already alluded to the appoint-
ment of *Jerome Bonaparte as President of the
Senate. This is now reported us certain. The
Prince de lkauvau is mentioned as a senator. M.
Truplong, First President of the Court of Appeal, is
appointed Vice-President.
It is to be remarked that the Bonapartist journals
never fail to repeat whatever articles or news the
English papers contain with respect to the prepara-
tion of defensive works in England, and the alarm of
the public mind with regard to projects of invasion.
The Palrie reports that a great lite will be cele-
brated at Paris on the occasion of the solemn pro-
clamation of the constitution, and of the opening of
the senate and legislative body. The President will
give a grand ball at the Tuiieries. The same jour-
nal add, that it is rumoured that the solemnity will
take place about the 25th of February.
The pavilion of Fora, at the Tuileries, where all
the wires of the electric telegraph ore concentrated,
is destined to receive the bureaux of the President.
The administrative section of the Consultative
Commission has returned to the Minister of Com-
merce the draft of the statutes of the Western Rail-
way. The principal articles of the statutes were
formally rejected on the report of M. Corendet. The
company of the Messageries Nationales was more
fortunate. I have previously informed you that its
statutes were approved. The latter company, you
arc aware, is charged with the Mediterranean packet
service., in consequence of the concession granted to
it by the National Assembly. Thus the Consulta-
tive Commission fulfils the Inactions of the old Con-
seil d'Etat until the reorganisation of this corps ac-
cording to this constitution.
The promotions in the army are so numerous
and important, that the .11,niteur de rArste,,
publishes a supplementary number, which contains a
notice that the President has appointed the follow-
ing officers generals of brigade and commanders of
military sulxlivisions :
Do Fulque dThaison (Oise), Lehreton (Eure-et-Lnir),
Ney (Cale:tilos), Senilhes (Gene), WAnthou•
ard-Vninentart (Seine-Inficieure), Foy (Somme), Perrin
(Aisne), D'Autematre•lPErsilh, (Moselle), t'hrich (Bas-
Ithin), Barbeyrac de St. Maurice (boobs), D'Aurelles de
Palailines (Jura), lie Berthier (Ain), Duhern (Ardeche,
state of siege), De Bousingen Monate-du-1(hone),
,Jamie
(Ilerault), De Cambay (Aveyron), Itonini (Pyn,n6es-
Orientates), Delachaize (Lot, state of siege), Delmas do
Orammnnt (Ilasises-Pyrenees), Fie& de Lii:vreyille (Cie
rondo), Lebarbier de Timm (Charente), Grolion (Loire-
InOrieure), Chatry de La Fosse (Deux-IV•vres), Faivre
(Ille-et-Vilaine), De Sparse (Loire-et-Cher), Iteltramin
(Vienne), De None (Cher), Courhy de Cocnord (Indre),
Paucbeux (Allier, state of siege), Dupleix (Puy-de-DAme),
Durtuch (Cantal), O'Keefe (Crease), Lorenton-Domouttl
(Lyons).

The Pattie says, that it would appear from
the books of the officers of the steam-ships of
Liverpool and Southampton that several ex-repre-
sentatives have just embarked fur America. Three
have proceeded to the United States, and two to
Mexico, where they intend to engage iu trade or
manufactures.

The Ojfiria! Gazette of Milan reports that the
courts of Europe have latterly received two impor-
tant communications--one from Louis Napoleon, in
which the result of the vote un the '2oth of -December
is announced, and in which fresh assurances arc
given of a pacific policy ; and another from Lord
Granville, on the subject of refugees in England, in
which the new Foreign Secretary says that he will
do his best to live on good terms with the European
Powers.

A comparison of the new constitution with that of
the year VIII., upon the provisions of which it is
professedly based, will show that in many essential
partieulArs the latter is infinitely more favourable to
liberty than the former. The constitution of 1832
professes to recognise the great principles proclaimed
in 1789 as the basis of the public rights of French-
men. That of the year VIII. had no such hollow
general declaration. Hut it does in the last chapter
provide for the practical enforcement of some of those
principles. Every man's house is there declared in-
violable. Three specified cases only, fire, inundation,
or a call for help from within, justify the entering
into a house in the night time. There are also va-
rious clauses in favour of individual liberty, and for
the punishment of agents concerned in any
.illegal
or arbitrary arrest, or who should confine prisoners
in other places than known public prisons, or who
should use any illegal or unnecessary severity
towards them.

The First Consul had not the command of the
army and navy. The constitution did not give him
the title of Chief of the State. Declarations of war,
treaties of peace, of alliance, and of commerce were
to be proposed, discussed, and promulgated by the
Corps /,,,gistatif The executive might, it is true,
sign treaties of peace, alliance, and commerce, but
they were not definite until they had received the
legislative sanction. A declaration of war, which
Louis Napoleon has arrogated to himself the sole
right to make, could not, you observe, be made, oven
provisionally, by the First Consul. The consular
government had not the power of granting pardons.
It is curious that this power is not mentioned at all
in the constitution of the year Viii. The First
Consul had the ministerial duty of promulgating the
laws, but he had not the power of refusing to sanc-
tion them. Louis Napoleon has an absolute veto,
a power which would be useless, seeing that
he alone has the right of proposing laws,
were it not that even the limited right
of amendment conferred upon the Corps I.4'yselatif
might by accident produce a measure displeasing to
the President. The consular constitution required
no oath from functionaries. This was, however, ex-
acted a few months later, by a law of January 11,
114410. The salary of the First Consul specified in the
constitution was 20,0001. a year. 'flat by Louis
Napoleon is to be fixed by senators of his own
choosing, to whom he has the power to grant pen-
sions of 1,200/. a-year after seeing how they vote.
The ministers were, as now, dependent only upon the
head of the executive, but they were necessarily
chosen from a national list of eligibles chosen by the'
departmental electors. The consular Senate wua, in
theory, at least, an infinitely snore independent
body than Louis Napoleon's can ever be, and its
powers were not so wholly illusory. Napoleon,
the consul Lebrun, and the citizens Siqes and Roger
Duct* were entrusted with the nomination of the
first thirty-one senators. 'Dime afterwards elected I
others, up to the number of sixty, which completed 1
the original Senate. The number was to be increased
to eighty within ten years, by self'-election. These
additional numbers, as well as death vacancies, were
to be chosen one at is time from three candidates, of
whom one was proposed by the Corp LNisiolif one
by the tribunate, and the third by the First Consul.
The senators were irremovable and elected for life,
and received of right a salary of 1.000/. a-year. They
were ineligible to any other public functions. There I
was a chance that a body so elected and so paid I
would in time have a tendency towards independ-
ence. But Louis Napoleon's senators are to be I
chosen by hineulf, paid or not at his option, I
eligible to be appointed by him to all offices,
and if, contrary to all likelihood, they should at any
time oppose his wishes, he has reserved the power to
swamp them by adding to their numbers. To call

so servile and helpless a body as this a " preponde-
rating power," the "guardian of the fundamental
pact and of individual liberty," is a mockery and an
The attributions of this slavish Senate will
be found upon examination to be illusory. It is
pompously stated that no law can ho promulgated
without being first "submitted" to it, but it no-
where appears that It will have the power to throw
out any hill. It may propose a modification of the
constitution, the meaning of which is that it will
be expected humbly to offer the imperial crown
to the President. The article which gave the'
consular Senate the power of maintaining or
annulling any unconstitutional act is copied in the
existing one, but it is nullified by Arta. 27 and 2s,
which direct that the senate shall nettle, by a 101111, WO-
001111111M. the interpretation of any doubtful clause in
the constitution with the sanction of the President.
These articles arc cunningly int rodueed Aire, to nul-
lify the clause burrowed from the old constitution,
and secondly, to oust the jurisdiction of the Court of
Cessation upon questions of constitutional law. The
consular Corps Uyislalff was elected by the Senate
from a list of the eligibles emanating ultimately
front popular election by the system of three degrees.
Louis Napoleon's will, it is believed, be chosen by di-
rect universal suffrage, although the word "direct' is
not used,and it isquitepossible that an organic electoral
law will otherwise regulate the election. This
is the one sole point in which there is in theory a
semblance of libmy not to be found in the proto-
type. It is, however, quite immaterial, for the
Oirin LAyixlalif will have no Neer. Its nominal
privilege is to vote laws and taxes, hot it may be
prorogued indefinitely, and dissolved, without a new
parliament being necessary, for six months. In such
I a ease Louis Napoleon and his senators will make the
constitution " march" without any representatives of
the people. The consuls lout no ',awes either to
prorogue or dissolve the Corps LAyisioli/I: The con-
sular constitution expressly recognizes the right of
the people4o petition the Corps tz:.oistatit: Louis Napo-
leon denies this right, but allows the people to petition
the Senate who have nothing to do with voting taxes.
The consuls were avowedly not responsible, and Louis
Napoleon professes to be so. But he defines his re-
sponsibility to mean his right to appeal to the people
whenever it may suit him. Lastly, the consular eon-
atitution directed the Corps le'yimiat f'r to be elected
within 15 days, and that the constitution itself should
be submittal for ratification to the French people.
Louis Napoleon's dispenses with the latter ceremony,
postpones the elections indefinitely, and declares that
in the tneantime his decrees are to have the force of
law.

In addition to the other reasons assigned for the
adjournment of M. de Montalembert's reception at
the Academy I must add that of the exile of three
academicians. It was wished to avoid, just at pre,ent,
the disagreeable impression which would naturally
arise from this circumstance, and which it V‘11,4 ex-
pected would be considerably aggravated by the new
academician's discourse being directed in great mea-
sure against assemblies, and particularly against the
Constituent Assemble of the first revolution.
The affair of the Lyons and Avignon Railway has
experienced, it is said, a serious hitch, in consequence
of the discovery of an important error in the esti-
mates of the engineers of the expenses of construct-
ing the line.
To-day there is very little news. Ily way of com-
pensation there is no dearth of rumours. If I speak
to you of these, and in particular of the most dis-
agreeable sort of rumour one can have to report, it is
that the news is generally spread, and a total im-
possibility exists of sifting truth from falsehood on
such matters.

Nell, there is another story afloat to-day, about an
attempt made on the President's life. This is said
to have occurred as he was leaving the Tuileries
yesterday, to take a drive in the close chariot which
now seems his usual conveyance. As the carriage
was coming out of the Carrousel, an officer is said to
have snapped a pistol at Louis Napoleon. The rumour-
mongers, not content with this, go a step farther, and
report, diversely, that the Pmsident was wounded in
the shoulder, or that the ball was stopped by a shirt
of mail. The only sort of importance I attach to these
reports is the general tendency in the public mind to
generate such sinister reports.
To-day a printed notice has been circulated, to an-
nounce that M. de Lamartine's new monthly paper,
the Cirdisatear, intended to replace the Conseillee• du
People, will appi ar on the Ist of the next month.
Each number of the Cirilisaleser will contain the life
and the portrait of a grand hotnuu tie thisuaanilA.
The military commission sitting at Lons-le-Saul-
nier delivered 29 decisions in its sitting of the 14th
and 13th. Two men, named Rena and Richard,
were condemned to transportation to Cayenne fur
five years; 'frouve for six years, and Willermoz, one
of the authors of the insurrectionary placard pub-
lished by the Trihune de CEO, for ten years. Eleven
others were sentenced to transportation to Lambessa
for five years; one for seven years, and one to ten
years. One prisoner only has been sent for trial be-
fore the court-martial. Ten have been set at liberty.
'file examination into the affair of the disturbances
in the Var is drawing to an end. Out of 1,262 in-
surgents who have been lodged in the prison at
Draguignan, between the 7th December to 12th inst.,
1,239 have been interrogated by the examining com-
mittee. 213 were set at liberty after this preliminary
examination; 599, belonging to the categories of the
arrondissements of Draguiguan and Brignulles, have
been transferred to Toulon. There now remain only
418 prisoners, of whom 23 arc women, in the prison
of Draguignan, who will be removed to Toulon in a
few days. Only 43 remain to undergo their ex-
amination.
It was not to be expected that activity in the re-
tail trade of Paris would be maintained long after
New-year's Day, and a marked falling off in most
branches has been noticed. This dead season arrives
every year in the month of January. Still, as tho
sales of the end of the year commenced later than
usual, it was hoped that they would be prolonged
beyond the usual time. One of the branches of trade
which derived the least advantage from New-year's-
' day was the important one of jewellery. The jew-
ellers, indeed, have thus far scarcely felt the benefit
of the season's business; and they have manufac-
tured rather to complete their assortments than to
execute orders.

This is confirmatory of the accounts before given,
that although a large sale of trifling things was
effected for t'trennes, few purchases of expensive
articles were made.

The commission agents who purchase for South
America calculate on giving important orders front
the end of the month. It is at that period that the
export trade ordinarily resumes all its activity, and
a brilliant spring season is as much hoped for as it
is needed.

The manufactures of Paris arc not more brisk than
the retail trade. The cabinet-makers arc perhapo
the only operatives now actively at work for ex-
portation.
The accounts from the provinces continue to speak
of manufacturing activity. The manufacturers of
Alsace labour actively to make up for continudl pur-
chases, and the prices of cotton goods tend constantly
to an advance. The same is the case with respect to
the silks of Lyons, and the woollen goods of Roubaix
and Elbeuf. 'lndeed buyers, however desirous to do
business, hang hack somewhat on account of the high
priors of raw materials.
Speculation has become very active in corn and
flour. The absence of cold, and the recent heavy
rains, further increase the tendency of prime to a
rise. At Paris flour has , since it was at the lowest
price of 43f. the sack, risen to 4sfr. Iris now dearer
in France than in England, and the speculators of
London begin to find profit in re-exporting it to our
seaports. Speculation has been very active since the
commencement of the year in wines and spirits. It
has also begun to seek for colonial goods, and espe-
cially sugar, which had not previously taken part in
the amelioration of different descriptions of goods.
In the metallurgic districts the improvement has
maintained itself, and there is already a talk of seve-
ral iron-masters thinking of lighting up new fur-
naces.

At the adjudication of the rails for the circular
railway to connect the termini of the various lines
at Paris, the following were the prices sent in :
The Providence and lknain, 272 fr. 40c. per
ton; Chatillon and t'reusot, 261 fr. Nine.: Dupont,
I treyfus. and Co., 27!1fr.; Hayunges. 275 fr.;
Abotnville, 27mfr. ttite.; l►erezeville, 285 fr.; Mon-
tataire, 2tlnfr. The maximum price fixed by the
Minister of l'ublic %Works being 255 fr., the adjudi-
cation did not take place. For the chairs the lowest
tender was from Morel, Brother's (Ardennes, Irtter.
90c. the ton ; and as it was under the maximum of
the minister, the contract was adjudged to that firm.

The Sleets gives the following comparative ae-
! count of the population of the department of the
Seine in 1M46 and to 1851: "The population of
Paris, not including the troops of the garrison, in
Insl, was 1,021,530, being 12,6641 less than in Ism,
when the previous census was token. The garrison
was :11,732, being 12,031 more than in 18tH. The
population of the arrondissement of Saint Hods w•aa
221;,t437, being and increase of 15,907. Of the
rondissement of Secaux 126,9111 ; increase, 10,391.
The garrison of St. Denis was 6,955; increase, 372.
Of Secaux, 8,050 ; increase. 1,091."
The Univers says that Mr. Thomas Graves Law, of
Winchester School, aged 15 years, and Miss Helen
Anne Law, aged 19, children of the llon. William
Law, were received into the bosom of the Roman
catholic church at Boulogne, on Jan. 17, by Father
Ferrara.

A priest was arrested at Bordeaux on the 17th,
upon the charge of belonging ton meeret society.
A decree of the Ministmr of Finance revokes the
appointment of M. Gouda aux as Director of the
National Dimeount Bank at Strasbourg.
lu consequence of Owlly moo& of devotedness
to the calms: or order given by the national guard...if
Rouen, itn service will not be ut all interrupted, and
its reorganisation will take place immediately.
The Journal de R va states that the uuthorithi
have tavlcre,l all shops kept he fraternal te.soviv•
Bonn in that place to be elomed. *They were but very
few in number.

The Musetiat of the Luxemourg, after having
been lung closed, was re-opened to the public yustt
day. A certain number of the pictures having been
'removal to the Louvre a complete arrangement of
the remainder wax Necessary. and about fort• new
pictures, recently purchase if by the state, having
been introduced, the galleries of the Luxembourg
present a new sippeanwe.
'the Archbishop of l'aris has formed n new parish
under the name of Saint Joseph, in the quarter of
the Faubourg du 'temple, and has appointed thu
Ablk Arnault, first rirnir.• of Saint Louis d'Antin,
run, of it

General Magnan had a party at the Tuileries yes-
terday.
lAA Brougham has arrived at the TlV.tel Mcurice,
front Cantu,. His lordship intends to remain akw
days in Paris previous to g ling to England.
At the Bourse the lice pr•r Cents. fell 20c., and
closed at 101.10. The Three per (Amts. fell hot.,
closing at GP4.3.5. Bank of France shares ruse 2uk.
Railways were rather less firm than on Saturday,
but with little change in quotations.