The Express.
London, England, 1848-06-21 00:00:00

onour of the country at heart. Sir W. W)ndhatn S r
J. Diode Cotton would never have permitted others to be
the leader' of the people is r.eir days. (Dear, hear.)
They were en the eve of troublesome times, and great
changes were to be effected let them be effected by those
who ought to be the leaders in all uncial reform*. (liear,
hear.) lie wished to maintain the English constitution and
not merely the House of Commons, and still less that
part of it which always represented themselves to
be the c natitution. He would mainuin the constitution,
not merely because it had preserved the benefits of a consti-
tutional monarchy—net because it planted English liberty
broadly and deeply in the land, and did not make
it depend on the breath of an individual, or the
caprice or pa•sions of a capital—not because it secured
adue . dministration of justice, the ukty of the people, and
rupeet fur property, but becau,e together with aq these the
Eanliik constitution was that polity of all existing polities
which most tended to secure the happiness and Alleviate the
condition of the great body of the people. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. OSBORNE moved the adjournment of the debate
amidst loud mien f.r a division.
The house won :eared for a division, but none took place,
the debate having been adjourned to Friday nut.
VAN DIEMEN'S LAND.
Mr. ANSTEY having moved for same returns relative to
this co:my,
Mr. D. HAW'ES objected. The papers in question had
only just been received, awl there was very little time to
consider them.
An lion. Mennen here moved that the house he counted.
There 'tine only 31 members present, the house stood
adjourned at a e .crtcr to two o'clock.

law erimoo•

MAILS,

The ninth' for British North Aniergs, and the United States,
will be made u? an the crewing of the 2.lrd June.
Th. greilaral eloted mails, rht Marseilles, to the Mediterranean,
Egypt, idea, lon. IndSt, ilotig-Kong, ate., will Si, made iro on the
evening Cl :he 21th June.
The mails for Vigo, Oporto, Lisboa, Madeira, Cadiz, and Gibraltar
will be nude up on the morning of th • 2ith June.
The mails for New South Wales, an Diemen's LIM, and New
Eeslotti will be milde tip on the evening of the 30th June.
The mails for the Wrst 'oast of Attica and Mmteint will be mad.
up .41!beeve&au of the 30:h June.
The West Italia Mails, deluding Permnda, Nassau, Tlaranna,
Bole:Jr.% New Orle,ns, Vera Crux, Tamps.°, and Porto Wee, and
invai "nig as's° for Mu.leira, Jumnel, Carthage.t•, Santa Murtha.
Chuziea, thuutraa, West C. 1.4 of South America, and St. Juanwle.
Nicarzaitt, .it be male up on the evening of the lst July.
'rho made for the Brazils, the Elver Plate, Monte Video, Pernam-
buco. Bahia, Madeira, and Buenos Ayres, will be inmate on the
event:is of the 4th July.
he overland mails lot Gibraltar, Malta, Greta., the lonian Island.,
Egypt. Aden, Ce1..11, 111111 Y. Ilona-Kong, unit dinta, tat Suutlimuy•
ton, trill be made up on the morning of the 20th July.

1111G11 WATER AT 1.04P07 BYIIIU L'.
T.,,, ee writer 4, After-tow, o owe earl b.
La ~AAMrI• brb.a..= ...IMO Altereame SO al.. par S.

LONDON,WEDNESDAY,JUNE2I

LORD JOHN 'lessen never uttered a speech eo un-
like himself, at least so unlike his fo. mer self, as that
which tell from him last night. It reminded one of
some of Mr. CHOKER'S diatribes against the bilis of
1831 and 1832, save that it wanted the earnest bitter-
ness of that illustrious by-gone. The arguments of
the Premier were, however, precisely the same as
those of the anti-reformers of that memorable epoch.
The British constitution was declared to " work
well," and it was consequently the greatest pity to
change it. The idea that the prop': had any right
to electoral franchise, was scouted. All they had a
right to was good government. But why any pe-
culiar class of voters and any particular caste
of aristocracy had a riyht to be the judges
of what good government was, and the con-
sequent right to monopolise it—that, Lord JOHN
did not explain. As to this new whig theory of
the people having no right, except to good govern-
ment, of which others, not they, were to be the
judges, any tyrant might plead it. NICHOLAS of
Russia, or NARVAEZ of Spain, might found both their
tyrranie, logically upon it, and assert with truth,
that their principles of government were those Laid
down by Lord JUIIN Russet'. in the House of Com-
mons on the 20th of June, 1848.
The wiser rule for nit politicians is to avoid ques-
tions or asseraoue of abstract right, and this for
reasons too obvious to need being stated. Mr. HUME
fully observed tais rule ; for the ground, he went on,
lyre fret the ancient right by custom of householders
in boroughs to vote, and secondly the conventional
right that all who pay :axes, have a right to concur by
i
their representatives n fixing the stature and quota
of the tax. Yr. Hume, to meet the conservative
spirit of the hang., did not carry out his principle so
far eta to argue that every one who paid the smallest
portiou even of indirect taxation should have a vote.
He m.rtly demanded that every one rated, or who
might get himself rated to the poor, should have a
vote. Imagine the fairness of Lord J. Russet'. in
ti.-ittieg Mr. HUME, with not carrying out his prin-
ciple to the uttermost, and insisting that all who used
a taxed article should claim the franchise.

- But this species of sophism ran through the whole
of the Premier's arguments. Mr. liumE's proposal,
was a moderate and middle class reform.
Ins'ead of con.idering it and rfuting it, L-rd
Jotix Ittitstr. took it for granted that it must extend
to univt nal suffrage—that it would bo swamped by
nniv.-rsal suffrage. Ile ignort d the movement as the
existence of a middle class ; and, like the Times, he
would not admit, acknowledge, respect, or argue with,
anything hes than Chartism; and certainly the
l'remier's speech was calculated in the highest
degree to realise the assumption on which
it went, and to throw reformer' into the ranks of
Chartism. On one point, indeed; Lord JouN is him-
self a Chartist : he prefers annual to triennial parlia-
ments. Ile once preferred quinquennial, he now
prefers annual ; but he will abide by the sep-
tennial.

Ho-mg raised the bugbear of Chartism, Lord JoHN
RUSSELL attacked it with the poorest of arguments.
The chief one was its not being timely; the preva-
lence of revolution, and the existence of subversive
doctrines amongst the lower classes, erne-chilly abroad,
renlering it peculiarly dangerous to give them power
at present. lint surely a further examination of the
subject, and of passing events, would have tot the
minister, that these eangerous doctrines germinate
and take root in the industrial mind pre-
chely b:cause it is excluded from taking
part in representative government. These doctrines
spruag to a dangerous height in France, where the elec-
toral franchise was based on the payment of some eight
direct tax( s, arid where there were about 80,000 electors
in a Population of thirty-four million.. And what has
cured these dangerous doctrines ? What has proved
the an,idoie to the poison? Why, in 'cereal suffrage.
An assembly chosen by popular suffrage has scouted
seen popular delusions, forced the governim ut to shut
up its workshops, and vindicated the sacredness of
property.
Another portion of Mr. HUME'S proposal that Lord
JOHN sought to dispose of by a sophism, wag the
great Pricrance of the inequality of electoral districts.
This Mr. Hume would remedy by lumping several
boroughs together, as is done in Scotland. But Lord
lons Busatnn, who must have pervert d his reply
befiar hand, insisted that the reform poi, et went to
establish square electoral districts, to ea amp the
towns in the country, and to drown all dis-
tinctions of class in the one great element of
number. Nothing could be further from Mr.
Hultz's thoughts, or more remote tram his
intentio is. Yet the minister accused him of threaten-
ing to deprive the Howie of Commons of that pleas-
ing variety which it scorns is one of its virtues. We
should have thou.ht that an extended franchise
would have given even more variety than at present
to the composition of the House of Commons. The
French chamber with universal suffrage is a perfect
Nom i's ark—containing poets, politicians, philosophers,
men of action, and men of retirement. But, singular
to say, the Premier showed a hankering after that
peculiar variety, which the Gattons and Old Sarums
were so lauded for producing—viz., the variety of
aristocratic nominees. Mr. Hume was very anxious
to introduce a particular variety, very rare in parlia-
ment—viz., representatives of the working classes.
But this is a dangerous variety to the minister, who
likes the dahlias and the tall poppies in his parlia-
mentary garden, and is anxious for all shades of
colour, whig or tore, provided they be of lofty bear-
ing. But for the humble daisy, or the common field
flower, that Lord JOHN will none of. They do not
possess any variety for him.

GERMANY.

CHANGES IN THE PRUSSIAN MINISTRY.

PRUSSIA.—The usual Mesa German papers have
reached us; those from Berlin to the 18th, and those
from Cologne to the 19th. Berlin was quiet on the
17th, and the resolution of the Constituent As-
sembly, that it did not want protection, had had
the best effect.

In the Breslau journals of the 16th inst. it is
stated, that the whole 11Altic sea is covered with
Russian men-of-war. The whole western frontier of
the Russian empire bristles with bayonets. The