The Express.
London, England, 1851-02-27 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 27, 1851.

rioters, had previously told the magistrates " that
the fanners bid him when he came to the house to
kick up a row;" advice he very faithfully fullow•cd.
These are, of mum, allegations to be supported by
evidence before they can be received as facts. But,
admitting that, there is, we must say, a very
disagreeable combination of circumstances in
the case. First we have the union-house be-
coming, habitually overcrowded just as parlia-
ment meets ; them we have riots nicely fitting in with
and supporting statements of agricultural distress,
in the House of Commons, these riots attended with
unnecessary and useless military display; and all
taking place in an union where the rates are
light, where the demand for labour in February
ought to be rising, not falling, and where
the substantial rents at which farms are let can only
be paid by a large employment of labour; but where
protection has become a passion, and the dislike of
free trade risen to fun•.
The case is at least suspicious; and the facts must
be obtained, whether they make for or against cheap
bread ; for, as Sir James GnAtust remarks, the time
has come when truth must be told.

church. What a state of things nut of the pale of the
church' Have we not seen lately, to the great disgrace of
Christ...adorn' a subordinate of a church carrying on a legal
dispute with his bishop--one whom he was bound to obey
on every point of doctrine—on a matter of opinion con-
nected with so important a subject as regeneration? And
have we not seen that dispute settled at last by a purely
civil council ? . . . I fear not but that the chair of St.
Peter will last for ever. Did nut ignorant men say lately,
when Napoleon carried ufr its occupant (whodied in prison)
—Look, the Pope is dead ; then is an end of the Popes !
And was that the case? And Inure lately still, when that
same nation did itself immortal honour by restoring the
poutitf to his thr.no, do you think that if they had not been
moved to this act by God, even the Turk., by the combina-
tion of political movements, would not have been impelled
to restore him ?

This idea of the Turkish crescent and Papal keys
floating in triumphant union from the castle of St.
Angelo is certainly very rich, although not much in
harmony with the bygone crusades and the more
recent battle of Lepanto. Would the Papal govern-
ment be equally anxious to aid in the restoration of
the Sultan, who is, after all, a Pope in his own way,
and a very important one too, should a revolution in
Constantinople drive him forth from the Seraglio?
I fear not, but reciprocity is not the fiirte of the
Roman cabinet, as we have been plainly shewn by
its treatment of protestants in Italy, and its claims
for religious liberty elsewhere.
The manner in which Papal reciprocity is carried
out cannot be better exenipliiicd than by what is
now going on with respect to the new catholic chapel
at Geneva, as contrasted with the treatment of the
' protestant Swiss chapel at Florence. I mentioned to
you a fortnight ago the efforts of the Roman clergy
to get the latter closed ; but they triumph, notwith-
standing. greatly, in having obtained permission from
the radical government of Geneva to erect a second
catholic church in that city. The ecclesiastical paper,
the Osserratore ROMallO, has the following pithy
remarks on the subject.
Protestantism in Geneva is routed—her temples are nearly
descrted—radiealism demolishes. stone by stone, the edifice
of protestant institutions. In the midst of the political and
religious quarrels which waste the descendants of Calvin
and Luther, the final and fatal stroke will he the erection of
a catholic church in the bosom of the protestant Itotne—on
the highest bastion of her recently dismantled fortifications.
..... . London, Berlin, and Geneva formed the
pernicious triangle of protestant strategies. God has dio-
Posed events in ouch a manner, that the sovereign Pontiff,
ius IX., in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, has bean
able to break through this triangle. Let us appeal to the
piety of the Romans and the provinces to aid in the execu-
tion of the great work. The Holiness of our Lord has
already deigned to head the list of subscriptions by sif,oning
with his own hand for the contribution of one thousand
dollar., the moot eminent pro-Socretary of State for a thou-
sand francs, the Countess Bentourlin for 200 francs, and
many other distinguished clergymen and patricians fur va-
rious aunts.

Ready as his Holiness may ever he found to second
the views of his ecclesiastical subordinates in reli-
gious matters, it is to be hoped that he will not
always continue so docile to their political sugges-
tions as at present, nor do I mention this at random,
as I have it on excellent authority that uneasiness is
again beginning to prevail amongst the Cardinals
with respect to the Pope's versatility of character,
their Eminences justly surmising that if the actual
iron sway of the government should be once relaxed,
they would soon have, in their own words, " tutto
da (Ivo," everything over again. His Holiness has
recently been heard to exclaim frequently that
things could not go on in the present style, and
complained of his painful position only akw days
ago to Count Pieinciani (who, although not a liberal,
is capable of affording good advice), saying, "Alt,
Count, you are the only honest man I have
about me r Certainly, an enlightened and
really liberal French minister, setting aside
the republican principles which a republican nnslxw
sailor might be reasonably supposed to entertain,
would be able to to effect much for the good of the
Homan people, now that such misgivings arc again
finding their way into the sensitive heart of Pin Non° !
Pars sanitatis relle aauuri. Should the desire for
political ameliorations be sincere, the means of f-
foiling them might soon be procured. Meanwhile his
lloliness has been providing a arnsernir for the diplo-
matic omipanions of his a jour at Gaeta in the shape
of 13 gold tntslals, very large and handsome, the
value of the gold in each being 200 dollars. The
die, which was broken immediately after the coining
of the 15 medals, was executed by Cerbara, and re-
presented the Pope's head on the obverse, and a view
of Gaeta on the reverse. This token of l'io Nouns
gratitude will shortly be presented to the antlkmat-
dors and ministers who followed him in his temporary
exile.

The Austrian commander, Count Nobili, has pro-
claimed the penalty of death, without form of judi-
cial pmceedins, against all persons found with arms
in their possession, and whoever harbours, provides
food for, or gives information to the brigands. Four
or five and twenty of those concerned in the assault
on Forlimpopoli arc reported to have been captured.
At lesi two gendarmes and a volunteer were recently
killed in an encounter with some townsixsple of the
lower order, whom they wished to arrest for singing.
The culprits, to the number of fifteen or twenty, were
subsequently imprisoned by some troops sent from
Ancona, ana have already been well bastinadocd for
having thrown, either by design or accident, a bit of
cigar on the Austrian sentry below the gaol window.
A wretch who had murdered his mother, and pre-
viously caused the death of his wife, was shut hate
on the morning before last, there being as yet no
guillotine for the purposes of justice.