The Express.
London, England, 1852-05-20 00:00:00

IChe erpretio.

TO COBZ/LOPONDINTS.
deweA Mice et" 7Lo Espesau" owasMag Ow woo melees
Geselte," io published sow/ Turley sad !Way olobt, Io does
ler pot.
tdootosimasta Wooded foe " Tbo Sepreau" Lasko amide poor.
mot to at lb. olio% 10. lioavartodzoot. by Two o'clock as Oa
day of polibodloa.

NIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Tsai DAT—ltormlam lb. sm. Jittentica. lb. 1 mi.
trataaass—Akrsla& IL Illes.........Alisrases, M. Sta.

LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 20.

THE members of the House of Commons paid,
last week, ono of the heaviest penalties inflicted
on those who undertake the duty of legislation—they
had to listen to, and take part in, a debate upon May-
nooth. Serious as are the aspects of the question in-
volved—warmly as most men feel on ono side or the
other, perhaps there is not within the whole range
of parliamentary topics any other that is regarded
with so much distaste, or entered upon with mote
misgivings. As a rule, this apple of political discord
is usually thrown up by some ono who desires to ob-
tain political capital for himself or his clique at the
expense of his fellow legislators ; and seldom,
indeed, is this experiment made without damaging
many more than it serves. It is as dangerous gene-
rally to those who moot it as to those against whom
it is brought to act, and as often slays the political
characters of one party as it does of another. Just
as the old religious wars afforded the most san-
guinary combats, so do our modern religious discus-
sions supply the moat injurious debates. Bigotry
and intolerance; blind zeal and bitter uncharitable.
ness, throng thick and threefold; and woo alike to
those who take part in the discussion and to those
who are silent—to those who have the courage to
vote and to those who ingloriously stop away.
Dulness, alternating with perversity, affords little
gratification to those fated to listen; whilst visions
of election difficulties crowd on the mental view of
those who speak. Trouble of troubles, indeed, to a
or is a politico-religious debate on Maynooth.
Last week's debate afforded no exception to the rule.
Two hours of Mr. SPOONER'S sincere dulness were
closed by his formal proposition "To inquire into
the system of education carried on at Maynooth."
This evident shifting of his ground by the member
for North Warwickshire was not, of course, permitted
to pass annoted. When the tories were out of place,
Mr. SPOONER sought and gained political capital by
denouncing Maynooth, and by advocating the with-
, drawal of. the grant to that college. His views were
adopted not only by a large number of high church-
men, but also by a considerable section of sincere
and highly estimable dissenters, who felt gratified by
the discovery of a champion amongst the ranks of
tbe territorial interest. Mr. SPOONER abused
very heartily the sins of the ultra-montane party,
and: put constantly before those who would
listen to him his reasons why the public
monies should not bo spent upon anti-Clinst in
Ireland. But with all his zeal for truth, he in-
variably neglected—with all the length and repe-
tition of his speeches, he always failed—to do ono
thing. lie continually forgot to talk of the clerical
wealth enjoyed by the clergy of the religious mino-
rity in Ireland—he never mentioned the abundant
revenues yearly divided by the established church in
that country. He omitted to point out the millions
sterling taken by protestant clergymen from laud.
originally owned by their popish predecessok—the
Protestants, meanwhile, being, in many parts of the
island, only units to the Romanist hundreds. Mr.
SPOONER invariably omitted to point out upon what
plea of policy—to say nothing of justice—the late
government could refuse the annual thousands given
by act of parliament for educating the Irish priest-
hood, who supply the religious wants of the great
majority of their countrymen, whilst the protestant
clergy were taking hundreds of thousands from
the church funds of the same country for the religi-
ous care of a minority. He never took heed of the
parliamentary compact made on this subject ; nor
gave weight to the fact that educated priests are
better than uneducated priests ; nor that the
grant he denounced was as much educational as
ecclesiastical. When his political friends were in
Opposition, Mr. SPOONER took, of course, no
bead of all those things. His chief object
was to damage the government in posses-
sion, and, whilst carrying out his own views,
to pin reputation es a stanch, if reckless and sir
ramosiing, champion of our national protestandeni.
But SPOONER with the tones out, and Stomas with
the tories in, are two as different men as Pump
drank and PHILIP sober. When the session
this honourable member for North Warwiebshir' e
as we have said, a notice on the books of the Hoes,
of Commons, with a view to the repaid of the grant;
bat the Militia Bill having upset Lord JOHN Res-
SELL, and Mr. SPOONER 'S landed friends coming
into office, hey presto! Mr. SPOONER'S tactics change.
Instead of repeal, ho thinks inquiry better ; the
milder, the modified course, will now do. He W-
edges in a compromise—one of those cheeks and
Weser, and arrangements and combinations, we
now hear so much about from the Disraeli-Derbyites
Mr. SPOONER'S protectionist friends always knew, es
well as Lord lons IturELL did, how impolitic—to
say nothing about fairness or possibility—it would
be to withdraw, or attempt to withdraw, the
grant from Milynooth, without first of all
reforming the Irish church. To ssppeennd the
general taxes on Maynooth, or upon any re • 'one en-
dowment, is bad enough in all conscience, an a thing
to bo disarmed by parliament—but ressed in a
hiffb, calm, patriotic temper: not in the spirit
ink destisessritqc agent, or with the sordid soul of a
snare plareems. But reformation of the Irish church,
-m general amlipathy to endowments in general, are
oho very bed things a tory administration would
dream and therefore the moment Mr.
Stomas's were in office, that facile, though
tedious, politician, gave up his demand for repeal,
and contented himself with ono for inquiry. This
exhibition of political cowardice, and of parliamen-
Ury juggling, did not pa unnoted or unpunished;
and the result of the first night's contest may be said
to have been, that many M.P. endangered their
seats—many more secured a large stock of election
vexations—the Maynooth grant, though assailed, is
scarcely endangered—and Mr. SPOONER did quite as
much harm to himself as to his opponents.
Last night saw another act of the Maynooth par-
liamentary drama. Tho curtain rose late, and it
being Wednesday, there was no chance f much
being done. The question , therefore, arose—to what day
the contest should be adjourned, and then came the
revival of the old elements invariably attending the
subject. No unanimity was to be expected—a
squabble begin—in the midst of which, six o'clock
struck—" time was up"—the SPEAKER left the chair
—and the promoters of the Maynooth inquiry must
begin over again. A new entry must be made upon
the books of the House, and for a while at least the
Commons and the country will enjoy a respite from
the topic. Who knows but this reprieve may outlast
the present parliament ? Who would grieve if it
did?

THE trade toryism of old—the rude, blatant
spirit of protection to over-paid labour that formerly
strode through the land, smashing spinning Jennies,
breaking power looms, burning cotton-mills, destroy-
ing threshing machines, knocking down workmen
who dared to work cheaper, faster, or better, than
their ancestors; doing, In short, tierce and froward
battle against every now invention and every social
and scientific improvement—is now happily laid for
ever. But, although it does not often, brand and
club in hand, addict itself, iu these more enlightened
times, to riot, arson, and battery, yet, under the
milder fortis of combination, it keeps up certain petty
tyrannies and plants upon t he paths of manufacturing
and commercial advancement, certain covert obsta-
cles which tend as effectually to retard pro-
' greets as the older system of open violence.
1 lti several trades and professions, combinations
still exist—tight, stringent, and inflexible in their
operation upon the men who compose them ; mis-
chievous, exacting, and grossly unjust in their ope-
ration upon the public. The broad effect of these
combinations upon the consumer is, by keeping up

prices, to clefratid the public of these benefits to which
it is entitled by diminished cost of production. Their
effect apon ths operative manufacturer is exactly
similar to that which a certain animal inflicts upon
itself when it attempts to swim—it cuts its own
throat; for, while prices are kept up, consumption
diminishes; employment consequently becomes scarce
—and precarious.
It is a most remarkable circumstance that, of all
the articles of merchandise exchanged for money in
this eminently commercial nation, none aro so diens-
trousky tampered with combinations and the atten-
dant high prices as that medium through which all
advance, all improvement, every new discovery,
every step of advance in civilisation and happiness
is communicated to the world; viz., the products of
the. printing press. From the moment the manu-
script of an author leaves his desk until its contents
reach the hands of the reader, he is the victim of
a powerful chain of combinations; and in this—which
likes to be thought the most enlightened country
upon earth—books aro dearer and less accessible
than in any other part of the civilised world.
The first of these combinations exists among that
larger section of the printing business, the type-
setters, or compositors. They aro banded together
in a claw compact combination, the ramifications of
which extend, with very few exceptions, into every
printing office in the United Kingdom. They pre-
scribe to their employers, not only what they shall
pay, but how they shall pay for various sorts of
work; and the rates of payment are uniform for the
blundering operative and for the most skilful. So
thoroughly is this combination organised that any
breach of its laws committed in the remotest part of
Ireland or Scotland can bo referred to the centre of
authority in London, and adjudicated upon, if neces•
sary, by return of post. Let a master-printer's busi-
ness be ever so urgent, interruptions continually
occur, that the men may form themselves into com-
mittees or "chapels" to settle disputed points which
constantly arise between master and man.
Tho second combination of which the author is the
victim, is formed by thole who actually print his
work—the pressmen; this combination rs quite as
inconvenient and costly as that among compositors.
But the third combination is the author's great
grievance—namely, that by which publishers and
retailers stand between him and the public to make
his book pay the inordinate toll of 331 per cent. for
allowing it to pass by their agency into the hands
of the reader. Ilia work has already, besides strug-
gling through two combinations, paid some 15 per
cent. to government, as paper and other duties. The
case, therefore, stands thus : of the cost of every
book to the consumer, within a fraction, one-half goes
topayVor its intellectual and mechanical production,
and the other half goes partly in taxes to govern-
ment, but chiefly in supporting the noble art of book-
selling—that occult, recondite, and wonderful
science which has required, to bring it to its present
state of expensive perfection (as we learn from
one of the manifestos of the Booksellers' Associa-
tion) " the growth of ages."
Happily?, however, by the law of nature, which
decrees that whatever grows very old must soon die,
the venerable combination of booksellers is, at last,
its articulo inertia. Extreme unction was adminis-
tered to it yesterday by Lord CAMPBELL, not by the
officious interference of friends, but at its own re-
quest. It will be remembered that the enterprise of
certain enlightened members of "The Trade," who
presumed to sell their own property in new books at
their own prices, brought the great retailers profit,
or twenty-five per cent. question, to practical issue.
These rebels having been outlawed by those Medea
and Persians, the wholesale publishers—whose laws
have never altered since the days of 1)r. SAMUEL
JOHNSON—having been banned the precincts of
" The Row," and warned away from Albe-
marle-street—appealed to the public. The appeal
was promptly answered, and of course the public
voice decided in its own favour, for cheap books. The
issue was referred by the Combined Booksellers
Association to the joint arbitration of Lord CAMP-
BELL, Mr. MILMAN, and Mr. GROTE. As a body,
the non-conformists were no parties to this arbitm-
tration. They declined to be bound—upon a matter
of so profound a right as that of selling what they
bought to the best advantage to themselves—by
any sort of arbitration : for no decision could affect
that right. On the other hand, the Book-
sellers' Association having solely sought the media-
tion of the eminent triumvirate above-named, must
of course be bound by the verdict delivered by the
arbitrators of their own choosing. That verdict is
against them.
For a clear, unanswerable, definitive settlement of
the whole question, we must rcter to the column of
to-day's paper in which Lord Campbell's judgment
is printed at length. It gives the coup-de-grace to
the dispute in the most graceful and conciliatory
manner. Let us hope that the samespirit will actuate
the disputants in carrying out the improved system
of bookselling, of which, we trust, his lordship's docu-
ment will prove the inauguration. Let us indulge
in a pleasing vision of that splendid dinner at the
Albion Tavern, which has from time immemorial
preceded the great periodical "trade sales" of the
wholesale publishers. Let us hope that Messrs.
LONGMAN and COMPANY, the brave van of the asso-
ciated book-militant will take a friendly glass of
champagne with the arch " undersolkrs," Mesas.
BICKERS and Busu : let us blandly anticipate that
Mr. JOHN CHAPMAN (of the chea school) will hob-
and-nob with Mr. JOHN MURRAY of high price opi-
nions); and that the toast of t e evening will be
the sound, but hackneyed, axiom of " Small profits
and quick returns," to which we beg to propose a
second sentiment—" May every combination, whe-
ther amongst booksellers, revenue boards, composi-
tors, or pressmen, which tends to keep cheap books
from the reading public be speedily abolished.'

Tug LIBERAL PARTY.—It is rumoured that in
any future arrangement of a liberal ministry, it is
possible Lord John Russell might feel inclined to go
to the Upper House, to take the lead there in place
of Lord Lansdowne; leaving the onerous post of
chiet in the Commons to some other reformer, in
whom the crown, the country, and the house might
have confidence.—Daily News.

Tire Cn'r ELECTION.—Some speculations have
appeared in a tory journal as to the candidates for
the City of London on the dissolution of the present
parliament. They are, we have reason to know,
quite premature. The final arrangements on the
subject will not be completed until early next week ;
but they will, we may confidently expect, be such as
will give satisfaction to tho liberal party.

Mr. COBDEN, M.P., baa been unable to attend to
his duties in parliament during the put week, in conse-
quence of the death of his father-in-law.

ROYAL GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY.—At the recent
meeting of this society, Sir Roderick Murchison, the presi-
dent, in the chair, S. IL Block, W. B. Beaumont, and C.
resort, Esqs., were officially introduced upon their election.
Colonel Edward Sabine, ILA., Lieut. J. Lyons M'Leod,
ILN., and Henry Edwards, Eaq., were elected fellows.
The papers read were :—Capt. W. Allen, RN. " Observa-
tions taken with the aneroid in Syria and Palestine;" John
Crawford, Esq., F.R.S., "Sketch of the geography of
Borneo ;" Lieut. Leycester, RN., " On the volcanic group
of Milo." The President announced that the catalogue of
the books and pamphlets in the library had been published
since the last meeting, and that the anniversary meeting
would be held at the society's apartments on Monday the 24th
inst., when the royal medals for the year would he delivered
to Dr. John Rae and to Capt. Henry Strachey, and the
annual address on the progress of geographical science and
discovery would he delivered.
.

BURGLARY AND DESPERATE ENCOUNTER AT
NAVlNBV.—Between two sod three o'clock on the morning
of Tuesday last, a thief, at present unknown, broke into
the house of Mr. Wino, the keeper of • beer-house in the
parish of Navenby, situate in the Brant, near to the four
cross roads. The thief entered by • cellar window, the
iron stanchions of which he had forced off in order to ena-
ble him to get in. Mr. Winn wee awoke by the noise, and
got a light and went down stairs, when he was at once at-
tacked by the burglar, who knocked out the light, and
struck Mr. Winn soviulent a blow on the head with the iron
stanchion as momentarily to deprive him of consciousness.
On recovering himself a little • desperate struggle took
place between him and the burglar, and both wore dread-
fully inured, and in the end the burglar escaped, leaving
Mr. Winn almost dead. The only other inmates in the
house were Mr. Winn's wife and children, who were too
terrified to render assistance. Neat morning the slop, cap,
boots, and waistcoat of the burglar were discovered lying
close to the window where he effected an entrance, on the
outside, he having, doubtless, to dispossess himself of these
articles before he could pass through, and blood could be
traced for a considerable distance on the road, clearly indi-
cating the severity of the struggle which hail taken place.
He has hitherto escaped detection. Poor Mr. Winn is so
dreadfully injured as to render his recovery doubtful.—
Lincolordire Chronicle.

FRANCE.
PAWS, WEDNESDAY F.eraiNG.
Count Mole has lost no time in publishing all 6.
dignant disavowal of the service attributed to hint I,v
M. Gmnier de Cassagnae in warning Louie Nupoh nit
of the plot, headed by Changarnier, fur seizing Id,
person, and confining him in the castle of Vincemsa.
Tho following letter, addressed to the editor of the
analitutionuel, appears in the Assemblee Anti
Paris, May IS.
Sir,—l have just read in your journal an article in al.ich
my name is mixed up in the most disgraceful manner witk
facts which I declare to Ise completely false. I was rise".
present at the meeting at the Tuileries of which that smithsspeaks, and I affirm that to my knowledge nothing of tile
kind ever took place. As to the charge of denunciator,
which I am made to play on leaving thst meeting, I 4,4
only make one remark, viz., that it is an infainous calumny,
against which the tenour of my whole life suffices to ph,.
tect me. I will moreover add that so much audacity in in-
sult, and so much passion in outrage, can only injure the
cause which it is intended to serve. France seldom forgets
the services which arc rendered to her, but if she ccidd
cease to remember them, insult and detracton would in.
stantly bring them buck to her memory. It certainly ie
not either of myself or of my own career that I speak thin,
They are the retlezions which have arisen in my mind from
reading the article in your journal intitulcd, " M. Chnirar-
nier. and M. de Lamoriciere." I beg your insertion of this
letter, and have the honour to be, etc.,
(Signed) Mote.
The following answer to M. Moll's letter has bets
addressed to the editor of the Assent/W.,
and will appear in the Ometilationnel of to.morrou
Sir,—ln the letter of Count Mole, which you puhl,h
in your number of to-day, there aro insults and a denial .4
facts. As to insults, they arc not allowed to anybody. A,
to the denial of facts, in order to make it justly appreciat
it would suffice to cite the name of the person to whom
Count Mole narrated the incidents of the meeting at ne
Tuileries. The country would soon decide between the two
contrary affirmations which was the true one.

GiIANIEIL bt: CASBAGN%I.
Cassagnac's article has excited immense indigna-
tion in military circles in Paris. At Tortoni's, en!
in other off's, the C'onstitiditainel of yesterday Lay
been publicly torn up by officers.
Some political friends of General Changarnier bare
set on foot a subscription to compensate him for the
loss of his commission. It is said that ES,OOO/. Lai
already been subscribed.
The government is greatly preoccupied by the
movements of the German courts. The choice of
de Ileckereen to go on a secret mission to Vienna
astounds everybody, that person being generally con-
sidered as one of the least reputable members of a
court beside which that of Aranjuez would appear
unblemished.

For the rest M. Ifeckereen has offi.red himself in
succession to every French ambassador to St. Pe-
tersburg since IsIS as a secretary. Rut neither
Generals Leflo nor Lamoricire would hear of his
accompanying them.
The speech of M. Dumirail in the Corps Legistatif,
which I sent you yesterday, has made some sensa-
tion as a foretaste of the opposition which is gather-
ing on the budget. I have already mentioned the
objections raised in the committee on the budget
against the ministry of policy. The dislike of this
ministry is greatly increased by the circumstances
that the expenses of the Corps Legislatif arc sub-
mitted to its control. The accounts of the Chaiiilicr
are returned with marginal observations of the mi-
nistry of police, which arc galling to the dignity of
the former body.
The report of M. I)ufaure upon the marine of
France has been, as you are aware, frequently called
for by the committer of the budget and other com-
mittees. Notwithstanding this, the government will
not allow this laborious treatise on the mismanage-
ment of the naval department to be printed, but
obliges the members of the Corps Legislatif to con-
sult it in manuscript at the ministry of marine.
A Marseilles paper states that the President, on
proceeding to visit the south in the progress talked of
for this summer, will go to Bordeaux and Marseilles.
The Prince is expected to start about the end of
June, probably soon after the prorogation of the
Corps Legislatif. Even Corsica and Algeria are
mentioned as points which may be possibly included
in this trip ; but this is a mere surmise.
Fresh severities are in store fur the press.
The following communicated note appears in the
Mweiteur :

Several journals, in the hope of evading the penalties de-
creed against the authors of false news, make use of terms
such u "on (lit," "on annonre," in order to spread reports
which are without any foundation. These expressions
being only a subterfuge in order to render illusory Art. 15
of the organic decree on the press, cannot be allowed to
screen the journals which make use of them from the potal-
ties enacted by that decree.

M. Viremaitre, publisher of the Corgaire, and M.
Chanavat, one of the editors of that
.journal, w(ro
yesterday condemned to a month's imprisonment and
150 fr. fine each, for the offence of "attempting to ex•
cite hatred to the government," in an article entitled
" Petit dialogue sur de tres petite chases, which was
published on the 17th ult.

M. Barba, the bookseller, was to-day sentenced to
a month's imprisonment and ,500 fr. tine fur selling
" L'Eufant du Carnaval," by the well-known writer
Pigault Lebrun.

A decree of the Prince President of the Republic,
dated the 27th March, but only just inserted in the
Bulletin des Lois, opens an extraordinary credit of
260,0005.. to the Minister of the Interior for the pay-
ment of tho expenses caused by the arrests aided
after the events of December. How many more dic-
tatorial decrees may bo in the President's pocket to
bo published when convenient it is impossible to
conjecture. _ _ _

The Council of State has for some days past been
engaged in the examination of a bill on the customs'
duties. Among the principal clauses there is one
which removes the duty from raw materials used in
shipbuilding, and another which does away with the
prohibition on earthenware.

The last refusals of the oath by councillors general
include the names of the Marquis de Mornay, Count
H. de l'Aigle, and M. Viet, ex-mayor of Compiegne,
in the Oise ; Viscount Henry do Trevenene, cx repre-
sentative, in the COtes-du-Nord ; Walekenaer, Dubois,
Lighter, Pillard-Tarin, and do Vendeuvrc, in the
Aube; and the l'rinee do Berghes and M. Urbain
Puntons, in the Haute Garonne. The number of
refusals in the municipal councils goes on inetro•inz.
M. Gomez, President of the Tribunal of Commerce of
St. Omer, has refused; M. de la Pierre, a sub-lieute-
nant of thaaseurs, has refused the oath, and has
given his reasons in the following spirited language:
The eagle has not yet acquired the right to treat with a
sort of disdain the mrigns under which the aoldi..N of
France have fought for 3; years. Many hearth to
receive the eagle, illustrated by the equally glorious victo-
ries and defeats of our fathers, suffer at the mere •emblanee
of disdain, or of insulting forgetfulness of other misfortunes,
of those lilies which out ancestors at the price of their Mood
also covered with glory, of that flag also which duties N
years we hope we have carried not without honour.
This letter alludes to the speech of the President
of the 10th of May, wherein he alludes to the whole
period elapsed since the empire as one of misfortune.
Yesterday morning the republican guard, in full-
dress uniform, were drawn up in several lines, in
the Salle des Pas Perdus at the I'alais de Justice to
take the oath individually to the Prince President
and to the constitution. The president of the Court
of Appeal and the procureur of the republic p'acts.l
themselves in tho centre, and the oath having been
read aloud each soldier, on his name being culled,
advanced, and raising his right hand, said—'• Je lo
jure."
The President of the Republic has ordered M. C. L.
Muller to paint a picture representing the ceremony
of installation of the great bodies of the state by
Louis Napoleon, in the Salle des fitarechaux, at the
Tuileries, which is to be placed over the fauteuil of
the president of the Legislative Body, in the room of
that by M. Court, representing King Louis Philippe
swearing to the charter of 1830. _ _ .

The Count d'Aquila, brother of the King of Naples,
has jut arrived in Paris.
A fire broke out on Sunday at Fonteney-aur-Come,
near Orleans, and in the course of an hour de-
stroyed 35 houses. The church was with difficulty
preserved.

Of the sum of 1,773,180 fr. per annum Five er
Cent. Rentes, belonging to foreigners,who claimed to
be paid off at par. the greater part, 1,160,000 fr. be-
longed to the Emperor of Russia, 300,000 fr.
longed to Swiss holders, and 13,180 fr. to variety;
other foreigners.
AL the Bourse the Four-and-a-hialf per Cents. fell
5c., closing at 99.75; the Three per Cents. closed
without change, at 70.30. Bank of France shares
fell ofr. Havre Railway fell ; Marseille,and Teste
and Bordeaux 2.50 each ; Rouen, Tours and
Lyons, and Dieppe, 1.25 each; Northern, Orleans,
and Strasbourg rose 1.24 each.

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