The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-19 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY/ JANUARY 19.

AMIDST the friendly strife,—not unmingled with
national reprosehes,—of the tidies of England and
the United States it will rather abash the former
and encourage the latter so learnt that the number of
the Quarterly Review jest pablished defends and
eulogises our now ancient, and altnost forgotten, prac-
tice of Impressment. The most avaricious and cruel
plinter,—however much enriched by the labour of
slaves,—sad ready to defend• slavery for his own
advantage,—has never though! eiseenbieg the great
and growing prosperity of the States to Slavery. A
kisdred, or a worse practice, however, not the
result of private avarice, but of public policy,
—net the act of the strong white man on the
weak and black stranger, to whom he often has a
natural antipathy,—but deliberately ordained by the
State, and carried out against those whom the State
is bound to protect—a practice sand a policy begin-
ning in outrar ons violence pea' generating a wide-
spread and long-continued system of cruelty and op-
pression,—the !system of Impressment—is praised
and advocated in one leading English Conservative
journal, for no other reason than that our immense
maritime population, in conjunction with it, has been
*stressful at sea.
Impressment not having been carried into effect
Scathe last forty years, the 'great majority of the
*slating generation can know' practically nothing of
it, and may not therefore at first share our
disgust at reading in the Quarterly that "im-
plement is the palladium of our national
safety "—that the relief proposed for the shipping
interest is condemned, because the nominal abolition
of impressment is " looming in the distance," that the
old " system of manning the navy" is as perfect as
any human institution of the kind is ever likely to
be, that " it has for it law, reason, and policy," and
"that it has had centuries of success." We must,
therefore, briefly remind' the public what Impress-
ment was. _ _ _

Let us just say that we• neither deny nor wish to
depreciate our great naval itieoemes,—but they were
obtained by officers who entereavoluntarily, and, ve7
often, by volunteer mewl. Xt the same time it is
clear that but for our vast seaboard—the largest
by far of any European state, and but for the maritime
habits of a proportionately large population, the real
foundation of our extensive mercantile shipping—no
policy. whatever could have obtained for us a lasting
maritime superiority. Accordingly for that superiority
we are wholly indebted to the peculiarities of our posi-
tion, and to the habits and character of the people,
and in no degree to any such practice as that of
impressment. In comparison to many other plans
that have been suggested of providing against
any hostile attack—such as organising the whole
body of fishermen into a cant fencibles, and drilling
them a few days in the year, paying them amply for
their services, and binding them to serve afloat
within a certain distance of• the land,—or maintain-
ing in peace a sufficient number of seamen either on
beard ship or in barracks,qo man twice our number
of ships then required,—or simply trusting to volun-
Wilenlistment under proper pay, just as voluntary
tis found to secure the requisite number,
and more than the requisite number, of all kinds of
officers—in comparison with any one of these
planslmpreesment is now seen to be a poor device.
It is not to be thought of, and cannot, in
feet, be had recourse lot A novel clue of
persons now much required in our ships--engi-
neers--cannot be impressed; it is equally clear
that the seamen, who have grown in intelligence and
skill, tan sow no more be itqpreased than the engi
neers, and therefore impressuent can no longer be
successfully had recourse to., Whatever may be the
fancied apprehensions of men in office, and whatever
means they may adopt to emu the national safety,
like palladium of the Reripwer is virtually estin-
suisned for ever, and the Ministers who dream of re-
lying on that to secure =eke the navy in the ease
emergencies will be no better than dolts or trai-
tor,. The time has gone by when the sailors can be
treated as slaves, or in any degree worse than their
fellow-countrymen; sad-whatever plan of ensuring
their services may be adopted, it mart be bend on
the principle of treating them fairly, and of buying
their serums at the common market price for their
Was.
The impressment which 'is maid to have secured
"unwire of seems" was generally ordained by
preeleastioa et the beginning d a war, and press-
pap were farmed and armed in all the seaports to
•arise on the muses sad f:DI77 them off to the ships
et the royal navy. fimeek we-of-war were also em-
. 1761 in looking oat for .tbabeereward bound ships
taking thew crews hem them by force. The
seems freqesatly resisted; swims lights ensued;
the people of the sesportaeMed by the semen, and
the preesgsage were often debated. Lives were
lest on both sides, bat, the contest sided in
seising sash sea se mold mkt meagre, and arming
them off from their oeoapetiesso their wives, and
gamillAstrue! gold warm to load wages, from liberty
is a Bet whoa Alp
_mime got warning of
what was to some they Wit* dilp sad fled tato
the meetly, sad the pme_ail few slaves.
It the homeiraw' - Odle von poopm4 for the

FRANCE.

PARIS, TVICIDAT EVIINTNO.
The Paris Bowes to-day experienced another of
those serious declines which have of late been so fre-
quent. Notwithstanding all the effort. recently
made to impart confidence, every description of secu-1
rity has sustained a material decline. The Three
per Cents., after many attempts to raise the market,
finally closed at a fall of 0 centimes on the day's 11
operations; and the Four-and-a-Half per Cents. at
a decline of 40 centimes: the official prices being for
the former 79f 75c., and for the latter 105 f. 10c.
All that has been stated in our previous telegraphic
despatches relative to the want of confidence has
been confirmed to-day, and the opinion is very gene-
rally expressed that the Rentes, Bank stock, and
every other investment will still go materially lower.
The congress of delegates from the learned socie-
ties of the departments of France will hold their
annual session for ten days from to-morrow.
Arrangements are in active preparation for com-
pleting a line of electric telegraph between Chambery
and Turin.

A decree has been issued ordering an examination
of a project for the construction of a dock at
Marseilles. _ _ . .

Prayers have been offered up in all the churches
in the'diocese of Nantes for more propitious weather.
The Labrador, with Abd-el-Bader on board, ac-
companied by his suite, arrived at Syra on the 31st
nit. Free admission to the Dardanelles was imme-
diately granted, and the Emir was admitted to an
audience by the Sultan.
According to the last report of the Bank of
Vienna the specie on hand on the let inst. was
43,217,386 florins, and the amount of circulation
194,943,266 florins.
In the committee of the First Prussian Chamber,
the proposition of the government respecting the
peerage was adopted by a vote of 8 to 7.
The Emperor of Russia has nominated the Grand
Duke Michael Nikolajewitech as Grand Muter of
Artillery.
The great military activity in Poland increases
every day. The number of soldiers in Poland at
this moment is not lea than eighty thousand. The
*bolero has not yet disappeared.
The Russian Synod has decided to send the Mon-
' traegrine some valuable church services and orna-
ments, in proof of their sympathy.
From Denmark we learn that the telegraphic line
between Elsinore and Copenhagen is completed, and
is now in active operation. The Chamber of De-
puties has voted, by a majority of 60 to 2, the
construction of a railroad also between these
'deputation from Dijon, consisting of the mayor,
M. Andre, and M. Vernier, deputy, had a private
audience of the Emperor Louis Napoleon yesterday,
and presented his Majesty with a gold medal, com-
memorative of the inauguration of the railroad be-
tween Paris and Dijon. The Emperor expressed
his gratification at this token of esteem, and pre-
sented the Mayor with a magnificent gold snuff-box,
ornamented with the imperial portrait, and set in
diamonds.

The Arch-Duke Rainier, ez-Vieeroy of Lombardy,
died ea the 11th intent at Batas Tyrol.
I have way mew to believe that the French
government is at this mama wing all its influence
to brim *sat a seer Oast is Span, and that in
furthenase el desp4W designs e its own, fraught
with danger to the passe of the world. That the
Queen el Spain is stenefly disposed to abolish con-
stitutional government in that country cannot be
doubled. After the resignation of IL Aristabal, and
the Queues hank regig toellararvass's statesmanlike
and reliance can
lieiL=Trillsseral profemdons no that
i the present
Brave Marine's policy hes only been just
so he slanged as woe necessary to appease
a powerfal 'imposition. A hvourable opportunity to
overthrew the nnethatisa I anziouidy sought for.
In the dupe attaidineuthe enterprise lies the field
for the intrigues of theTuileries. If Queen Isabella
can be pomaded to strike tho blow, it is calculated
that she w l mmemmirily be driven torely apon French
aid awl prolutien. Isolated as she aly is from
the nevem pewees, who sympathise with the Car-
limb. and belated as she would be from England by
the asneetion of her constitution, Spain might at
say minest be made a French camp, and her har-
bones Awls he French ships of war. It is not
lightly or unadvisedly that I call attention to this
subject as ass of immediate interest, and deserving
the most swim conaideration.
_

toating-00-ei, they emit stews away by pilot
vessels,- or land 4 them at the extreme point of the
coast and risked shipwreck rather than run their men
into the danger of impressment. More thanes= the
seamen oa the north and east coast added to r.O
desertion, sad oarryingca thier vessels took
is large numbers in Hound. Such horror
be reviewed and extended were ire t revived.
The streets of the sea-ports w d be filled with
violence, outrage, and murder, and the seamen forced
late wroag by the State would seise the ships they
meld lay leads on, and take refuge in America.
The advocates of imps...client laboured under a
*lmp delusion. We know that there are always
plenty of men to be had he adequate wages, and
that in proportion es the national capital II directed
to manning ships, men certainly will be found for
them. Impressment began in utter tgnpnnoeof that
great fact. proclaimed that the naval service was so
coerces that no wages could induce men to serve,
and that force was necessary to compel them. At
the very time that it was desirable to make the navy
attractive and secure the attachment of the seamen,
impreascuent slums wads it Jtatsfol,—for seseguluF is
not an unpleasant occupation.—and drove them into
hostility to the State. It was an act of do-
lmas*, and required the application of
to bear on the seamen which ought to have
power n
directed against the enemies of the State.
Hence press-gangs, prison or guard-ships, men-of-
war cruising against our own merchant vessels,
tenders, soldiers, and officers, to take care of the'
impressed men—and hence on the breaking out of
war a rash application of the national no men to
commit oppression on the seamen at home instead of
directing them to resist the foreign enemy. But
men taken into the service by force must be kept
obedient by force. There was a continual dread
that impressed men would break into mutiny sad'
disobedience ; in fact, mutiny was almost as meek
the rule as the exception, and, consequently.
the whole discipline and government of mea-1
of-war was one continual outrage, the cat,
or the whip, or the starting-rope, being con-
tinually hung over the het* of the seamen, or up-
plied to their backs—just a* the government of a
gang of slaves. The officer who relaxed the system
could get nothing by his humanity, acid cruelty
was generally recommended for its efficiency.
From impressment grew a great multitude
of costly officers, to keep impressed men obe-
dient, and a far greater expense than would
have purchased the voluntary service of twice the
number of seamen that ever were employed. What
the Reviewer therefore calls the "palladium of our
safety'" never was put in *practice for a day without
exposing us to great dunger, and inflicting on us
great evils. That it was legal was sometimes
questioned; that it was just or reasonable was
denied by the whole civilised world. It filled our

I am informed that the budget contains an aug-
mentation of four millions under the bead of the
marine department, and that an explanatory note
appended to the item is to the following effect :
This slight augmentation will enable us to re-establish
the moan squadron, to Masses our armed ships of the line
from eight to twelve, to finish Cherbourg, and to arm the
MAW
It is quite clear from the above that the navy will
be turthwith plaza' on a war footing. Bowides the
present establishment at Toulon, there will 5 or 6
armed ships ready for sea at either Brest or Cherbourg.
The " ocean squadron" has not existed since the expe-
dition to Algiers. So much for the value of peaceable
professions. The ridiculously small sum of four mil-
lions, which it is thought advisable to mention in the
first instance will, of course, be but a trifling instal-
ment of the expenses which all the warlike prepara-
tion alluded to in the note will entail. But supple-
ments to French budgets, like the postscript to a
lady's letter, are commonly the most important part
of them.
In the list of bankrupts now posted at the Bourse
may be seen the name of Maret de Beaune, 19, Place
Vendome, as wood of the Bone Mining CompanytAl-
gieria. If the French law required the venous
designations by which a bankrupt is known
to be published with all the particularity
enforced in Portugal-street, it would have been
necessary to add to the above description " Now
Duke of Bassano, Grand Chamberlain to his Impe-
rial Majesty Napoleon III„" for such is the proper
style and title of the manager of the Bane mines, and
I understand the shareholders are loud and bitter in
their complaints against this exalted personage for
having led them into a bad speculation.
I have just heard a striking instance of the way in
which ducks and drakes are made of public money.
M. Thayer, a member of the present Senate, had a
pension under Napolion I. of 2,000 fr. for "services
rendered." This pension, like all others of the same
class, ceased with the restoration in 1815. M. Thayer
has just been rest .red to the pension list, and has
moreover been paid the whole of the arrears:, amount-
ing to 74,000 fr. lam told that on receiving the
money he exclaimed: " Well, that is so much re-

streets with bloody outrages, and our ships with covered from the enemy." I know not where this
mutineers: it oppressed the national finances with kind of thing is to stop. The name of those &An.
what is still known as the dead weight, and it made lug to be creditors of the empire is legion.
our professions of humanity and justice the mockery The Petrie states that the Sultan has caused to he
and the scorn of all other nations. , announced officially to the Emperor Napoleon lIL
In conjunction with Corn lA*•,.and Navigation• that the blockade:tithe-northern eoastot Ajbltnia
Laws, impressment was not incompatible with • eat- a Turkish sipadroa, its reoltseqwerstrthelotette*
taro degree of national success sad tuitional great- Montenegro', will be An force. froniAbe moment tti
nese, but as the nation has thrives, sad eh Wing ;the arriegit the squadeoe.
has increased from the abolition of Corn and :Ntivi- The Cursed Chamberlain of the Eatleror has glean
gation Laws, we have obbiined a tall assiraies Isotiotifinat fines the Ise At neat ascot is geista
that they were not the causes of our prosperity. go admitted to the reception at the Tantrism must &p-
-m:re we have attained a full conviction that impress- pear in uniform or in full dress.
ment, which was • part of the same system thrnt b 1.4 -1;;;;-
tioe and coercion, was not the means of securing the peeved once that period, has been restored, and is to
triumph of our fleets. They were successful not in occupy a platform in the grand gallery of the Luzern-
consequence, but in spite of such an outrageous viola- bourg, on the occasion of the ball to be given to the
Lion of the rights of seamen ; and to secure their success Emperor by the Senate on the 23th.
hereafter the State must disavow all belief in the vir-
tues of impressment, and all intention ever again to
have recourse to it. The Reviewer defends one out-
rage by referring to another; but England is not
France, nor can its people be made soldiers by a con-
scription nor sailors by a forced registration. It
is merely contemptible for the statesmen of a free
eouotry to look for any kind of guidance to the acts
et a despotism. The two ere governed by wholly
different principles, and • system of naval or mili-
tary service there may be congenial to slavish habits,
while here it is a gross outrage. To the writer of
the article in the Quarterly Review—who has grown
old in defending the political wrongs of a semi-bar-
barons period, and whose original perception of right,
never very acute, seems to have been extinguished by
his official habits of doing and advocating injustice,—
it is in vain to appeal. But to the editor and the pro-
prietor of the Reviews we appeal, in the name of
humanity and our country's reputation, to cancel and
expunge from its pages the deliberate approval and
recommendation of a great and scandalous public
orime.

SPAIN.

The followings the best answer which, after
three weeks' deliberation, the Spanish ministry is
able to give to the too truthful letter addressed by
Nazism to the Queen :

" Ministry of War.
"Excellency,—Her Majesty the Queen having
read with atoniahment the exposition addressed by
you to the throne, under date of 15th December last,
and clandestinely distributed in the shape of a dying
sheet, and being painfully affected by the tenor of
that document, characterised not miff by a want of
respect for her royal person, but also by excessive
personal praise,unbecoming comparisons, and an ab-
solute violation of the 2nd, sth, 6th, and 16th clauses
of the Second Treaty, tattle 17th, of the Royal Ordi-
nances and the present law on the press, her Majesty
has deigned to command, as I hereby inform you by
her royal order, that I should tell you that the con-
tents of your exposition have excited her deepest dis-
pleasure. The desire of her Majesty is also that her
orders be strictly executed, and that, consequently,
your excellency should proceed forthwith to execute
her royal order of the 9th of December, 1852, inas-
much as you are concerned.
(Signed) "JUAN LARA, Minister of War.
" Madrid,Jan. 11, 1853.
"To his Excellency the Duke of Valencia,
Captain-General of the Army."
The royal order of the 9th December, 1852, en-
joined General Narvaez to repair to Vienna to study
the military archives of Austria. Of the conduct of
Narvaez in power we have expressed a pretty intelli-
gible opinion ; but the Queen of Spain is the last
person in the world from whom an indignity to the
fallen Marshal ought to proceed.
The Electoral Committee of the moderate opposi-
tion has published an address to the electors of the
capital requesting them to vote for M. Mon, M. Pedal,
M. Mendizabal, M. Lajan, &c. The government has
authorised an electoral meeting of the moderate
party. The Heraldo publishes an article, in which
it supports the demand of the holders of coupons to
have them entirely converted into 3 per cent. De-
(erred Stock, instead of remaining reduced one-half
as they have been. The Heraldo says that the
claim is not only just in itself, but if granted, would
open the principal money markets of Europe to Spa-
nish Stock, and would enable the government to con-
vert great part of its floating debt, which is very
burdensome, into permanent stock.

Letters from Berne of the 14th state that on that
day the Council of States granted concessions for
the Zurich and Ounterswyl—the Zurich, Winterthur.
and Egg—the Lea-on-Frauenfeld and Romanshorn
—aysnd the Wallenatadi and Glarus (left bank) rail-
wa.
It woe stated, from the Valais, that the people had
accepted the new constitution.