The Express.
London, England, 1852-03-02 00:00:00

TO TITS SUITOR UP TUB ixrans.

SlN—The greet point for decision by the free-
traders is, whether Lord Derby should—wi.h a minority in
the House of Commons—be permitted to retain office as
a protectionist minister, on the sufferance of a free-trade
majority, until it nub his own view of his own future, to
dissolve the parliament T Or, on the other hand, whether
parliament, baying provided for the needs of the nation by
a vote of mone and military force for • sufficient but
limited period, should at am oblige the tory minister to
tako the sup which he now, for his own purpose, proposes
to hold for an indefinite period, iJO terrorem, as it were,
over the friends of free trade ? These questions deserve the
most serious consideration of those who are this day to
aasemble in London and in Manchester to promote the
furtherance of reform and the security of free trade.

Years, te.
AN ENGLISHMAN.

LORD JOHN MANNERS.
TO TNT tDI2OI/ Or TOE 21P111.1111
•

8111,—Probo;1;1y the friends of Lord John Manners
will urge that the poems which you have lately quoted
were the effuaions of his uninformed youth ; but here are
the following choice extracts from " A Cruise in Scotch
Waters," 1&i0:
" But where aro those yet nobler shrines
That tell of °tad's, not man's designs
That or intact or in decay
Alike proclaim his sovereign sway ?
No stone, alas ! remain, to tell
How in Religion's night they fell ;
And on these fair historic shores
The church her vanished shrines deplores."
So much fur the Reformation. Now for the revolution
roar WILLIAM.

Well may theme Nawn towcn decay,
Mementoes of a foreign sway,
When grmned old Scotland's vanquished land
'Neath the cold Dutchman's iron hand ;
Perish the stones that still renew
The dap when fell the brave and true,
Fighting for Scotland's rightful lord
Beneath the hireling stranger's sword."
This is pretty well for a minister of Queen Victoria, who
mud know very well that her mama rest on the same par-
liamentary title as those of the cold Dutchman.
1688.

PAINTERS' PENSION SOClETY.—Yesterday, the
annual general meeting of this society took plate, at the
London Tavern. Mr. Bloomfield, in the absence of It.
Taylor, Esq., F.R.S., the treasurer, in the chair.. The
report set forth that the society had been established nearly
a quarter of a century, during which period it had ea-
tended aid to upwards of 160 of the poor, aged, and de-
serving in the trade. The subscription at the lust annual
dinner was not more than 18W., much less than the usual
average; but the annual subscriptions exceeded thole of
the previous year by 4W., while there had been a consider-
able diminution of the expenses. The invested property of
the society was now 6,7611. 16s. 4d. The death of eve
pensioners during the year had occasioned the vacancies to
bit Ailed up on this occasion. By the death of Henry
Ploy, Itsq. late of Shoe-lane, the society had acquired a
legacy of 16W. The receipts of the past year, including a
previous balsa., of 451. 145.00., amounted to 1,0881.
3e. 41d., of which a balsam remained of 40/. Ids. 61d. The
report having been adopted, it was resolved, after some dis-
cussion, that. in consequence of the above legacy, an addi-
tional pensioner, to be called the " F/ey Pensioner," should
be annually elected.

Tug FORTIFICATIONS AT MILFORD HAVEN.—It
k anticipated that very shortly additional ilefenelw will he
godertaken for the protection of this naval arsenal. It is
stated that the western defences will be emended as far as
Carr's Rocks, the effect of which step would he very much
to add to the fortuity of the dockyard. The fort on the
Stack Rnek, at the entrance of the Haven is being
r rapidly pushed on as the weather will permit. This
erection was commenced in compliance with the re-
commendation of the engineer officer. who het
year surveyed the various points siiitab.e for de-
fence, and other plans will Away be carried into
effect. The fort at the western extremity 'lithe dockyard is to
be under the order, of the Admiralty, who will place at once
new guns in lieu of the present inefficient once ; some of
them will be adapted for throwing rrtlhot shot. The de-
tachment of the Royal Artillery are bosily cneaged in
mounting the Martell,' towers with heavy gun', which will
be find ea traversing carriages.