The Express.
London, England, 1847-02-05 00:00:00

sons which led Sir ROBERT PEEL'S Cabinet to adopt
this determination, and his successors in office to per-
severe in it, are fully detailed in a letter from Mr.
TFLEVELVAN to Mr. LADOUCIIEBE, dated the 6th of
October last.
They are in brief: that the coat of earth-works,
the only portion of the expenditure applicable to the
relief of general distress, amounts, on an average,
only to one-third of the whole ; that, suppos-
ing the sums loaned by government to railway
companies to be applied nuder the superintendents-
of the Board of Works, it would be the share-
holder and not the labourer who would be relieved;
that the class of labourers capable of this relief are
the able-bodied, those who need it least ; that the
districts through which railways are being carried
arc those in which destitution is least prevalent. To I
these arjurneuts on the merits are added a brace
resting upon legal technicalities. It is said, that
were government to lend to Irish railways to any ex-
tent there must be a double illegality. Railways are
not permitted by the it acts to borrow until one-half
of the amount cf their shares is paid up ; and of the
only two Irish railways which have qualified them-
selves to borrow, one (the Drogheda) has already done
to; and the other (the South-Western) rejected the
terms of the Engli-h l'ublic Works Loan Commis-
sion. On the other hand, the only funds that govern-
ment could legally lend are of very limited amount ;
and, in great part, pre-engaged. It was further
added that it is doubtful whether the railways for
which loans were asked would be remunerative fee
many years to come ; and that in case of their not
being so, government would be left with a bad secu-
rity on their hands.
.or. the 16th of October the determination of go-
vernment began to waver. 'flue eess-payers of Barry-
more and Imokilly offered the collateral security of
those baronies for any advances that might be made to
certain railway companies named, to construct works
within them. hereupon government so far relented
as to mutant that the commissioners of the Treasury

should sanction baronial presentments for the execu-
tion of railway earth-works as relief works, on the
following conditions:—All such transactions were
to be distinctly on the footing of loans to the baro-
nies. 'lhe arrangements with the railway companies
were to be made by, and on the responsibility of the
baronies. The presentments of railway earth-works
were to be sanctioned only as means of relief for
suffering under the failure of the potato•crop of 1816,
and subject tothe rules which prevent issues being made
which are not indispcmably r quired for the purpose
of the Relief Act. 'The railway earth-works thus
sanctioned were to be under the superintendence of
the Board of Works, to ensure the strict application
of the government advances, and the employment of
persons requiring relief within the barony. And
the security for the punctual repayment of ad-
vances was to be as complete in every respect as
if the advances were made on presentments for
other works. To these, on the recommendation of the
Board of Works, the following additional conditions
were subsequently added :—That the board is not to
advance unless the company are actually in possession
of the land : that the company must give security for
the due half-yearly repayment of the advance with
interest ; that the board are to have the entire nomi-
nation and payment of the labourers, the company
appointing the overseers, subject to the approval of
the board. _ _ .

In yielding thus far government had obviously done
either too much or too little. The loan was to be granted
merely to afford relief, and the period during which
employment was to be given under the act will a ase and
determine in the course of a few months, when the
companies may not be in a condition to prosecute the
works to completion, and may thus find themselves
in a more unfavourable position as regards their pro-
prietary than at present. Besides, diffic
ulties may
arise in baronies where there is but one proprietor:
if such proprietor employ the poor, no session will be
called for and no presentments made ; a gap will thus
be caused in the line of the railway which runs through
a barony so circumstanced. The condition that the
company shall be in possession of the land, is proper
in so far as it is meant to give security to the board
against the incurring of debt ; but this condition has
been construed so literally that an advance on the
security of a presentment has been refused to a com-
pany which offered to deposit the money required for
the purcnase of the land not yet in its possession.
These conditions are such as can scarcely be accepted
by any company of ordinary prudence, if d expects
then to be enforced.
Looking back, with a view to test the validity of
the reasons alleged in justification of the government's
aversion tomakc advances upon railways, they do not
appear so weighty as to render it more advisable to
retract its slender concessions than to extend them.
The technical legal difficulties were only of force while
parliament was not sitting : now that it is in session
they can easily be set aside. It is not true that
in the majority of cases the shareholder and
not the labourer would be benefited by those
advances. This opinion rests on the assumption that
the labourer is sure of the railway employment, inas.
much as the shareholder, if no loan is made by go-
vernment, will pay up to avoid forfeiting his share.
In the actual state of Irish railway finance, it is most
probable that, in a majority of cases, the forfeiture
would be risked. Neither is the statement correct,
that the able-bodied labourer in Ireland is at present
lees in need of assistance than the weak and infirm.
Under ordinary circumstances this would be true ;
but when scarcity of food and of employment are the
sources of suffering, all classes of the destitute are
placed pretty much upon a level. Lastly, though
railways are naturally carried through the richer dis-
tricts of a country, yet, as distress at present more
or less pervades all districts of Ireland, the relief
afforded, by advances to railway companies, to the
cess-payers in the less destitute districts, will leave
them more ability to contribute to the relief of their
still more unfortunate neighbours.
Government, having given way in part, were in a
condition to listen to reasonable proposals for further
concessions. It was easily possible to whew that
they might safely and advantageously proceed with
more boldness and liberality in making advances
to railway companies, had care been taken to
guard against encouraging exaggerated expecta-
tions from this mode of assistance. Loans to rail-
way companies, with or without collateral security,
are calculated to benefit Irelind in perpetuity, more
than to afford immediate relief. They ought to he
classed among the measures intended to work out the
social regeneration of the country, by developing its
resources, and multiplying diversified means of
employment. In seeking to do this for any country
by artificial stimuli, it is always dangerous to shoot
on too far ahead of its capacity and intelligence.
Railways and canals give a fresh inapetus to pro-
ductive industry and civilisation ; but before rail-
ways and canals become possible, productive indus-
try and civilisation must already have made a de-
gree of progress which, as has been observed above,
many parts of Ireland have not yet attained. If, by
the aid of government loans, forced, hothouse railways
grow up in such districts, they will prove, like their
predecessors, the Irish canals, rank, noxious jobs.
In general, the best proof that any society is suf-
ficiently advanced to derive benefit from railway
undertakings, is the ability of that society to con-
struct them by private enterprise. Those districts of
Ireland which are capable of constructing railways
without government aid, are prevented from doing
so under the present visitation, because they as
pulled back by being inseparably linked to the les
advanced parts of their island. Theirs is an excep-
tional case ; and therefore we incline to advocate
government subventions for them, though we would
deprecate anything of the kind on this side of the
channel. Advances ought only to be made to such
Irish railways as can make out a strong case to show
that but for the universal distress consequent on the
failure of the potato crop they could have been car-
ried on without them. And parliament, not govern-
ment, ought to be the judges in every instance
whether such a case has been made out. Many who
cannot support, or wish success, to such a measure as
that introduced by Lord GEORGE, would gladly see
loans of definite amount granted to specified bowl
fide Irish railway companies by acts of parliament

ALL who complain of having their industry ham-
pered by injudicious legislation, or of having an
unduly large proportion of the public burdens sad-
dled upon them, are entitled to a respectful and dis-
passionate examination of their alleged grievances,
provided they complain in order to have them re-
moved- But the case is different when their com-
plaint is a mere prologue to the modest petition that
some other parties may be placed, or kept, ins
predi-
lament as bad as, or worse than their own. All peti-

tions of this tenor lead to a suspicion that the peti-
tioners have somehow or other contrived to turn to
profitable account the disadvantages of which they
complain; that their grievances are like beggars'
sores, kept up as a stock to trade on, by awakening
sympathy and assistance.
This is pretty much the position of the Scotch and
Irish distillers (the English appear to be com-
paratively quiet) in their opposition to the alteration
of the duties on rum. They cry out that the colonial
and East Indian distillers, being subjected to no ex-
cise constraints and regulations, tan employ the .
cheapest raw materials, and adopt the most economical
processes, without let or hindrance, while the former
1, are tied down by the excise to use only the old esta-
Wished raw materials, and work after the old unim-
I proved fashions. This is a very good ground for the
home distillers asking to be emancipated from the
espionage of the excise—asking to have the duty on
their spirits levied in the same manner as the duty on
colonial and Indian spirits ; but it is no reason fur
continuing to indict on our fellow subjects in India
and the colonies differential duties so heavy that the
have driven their spirits out of the Scotch and Irish
markets.

Besides, the Scotch and Irish distillers choose to
overlook the fact that if they are placed at some die-
advantage by the meddling of the Excise, they enjoy
in other respects much more than counterbalancing
advantages over the colonists and East Indians.
The Scotch and Irish distillers have their customers
at their own doors: their East and West Indian
rivals have to pay heavy freights for the conveyance
of their rums to the markets where they come in
competition with British spirits. In addition to the
expense of freight, the M cat Indians have not only
to pay exorbitantly high for labour, but in most of the
colonies they find it scarcely possible to obtain conti-
nuous labour at any price. In the East Indies, on
the other hand, where labour is abundant and cheap,
capital is only beginning to flow into the business,
and skill is at a very low ebb. Even if we admit
that the Scotch and Irish distillers are as much
hampered as they say, the advantages which they
owe to their local position and ready command of
skill, labour, and capital, far more than compensate
for the disadvantage.
A Greenock distiller, whose letter we insert to-day,
complains that he cannot understand an argument we
used on Saturday last. We will try whether we can
make it level to his apprehension. A manifesto
issuing from the " Leith distillery " maintained that
Scotch distillers pay (in the form of malt and spirit
duties) 4s. 4;d. on every gallon of spirits. To make
this out, it is assumed that only 16 gallons of spirits
are produced from a quarter of malt. We stated
that 18 gallons was understood to be nearer
the mark ; and our correspondent admits that
" during some months of the year " the quarter of
good malt yields nearly "IR gallons. He admits
therefore, that the Leith Distillery manifesto has
under-slated the yield of the quarter of malt. This
piece of disingenuity entitles us to set aside their
evidence on this point, and assume that the board of
excise are in the right when they state it to be " the
generally-received opinion" that a quarter of malt
runs from 18 to 19 gallons of spirits. Taking 18 as
the quantity, the malt and spirit duty together paid
by the home distiller on a gallon of spirits will be, as
our correspondent states, 3s. 91d. per gallon. The
duty on rum (in Scotland) is to be 4s. 2d. per gallon,
giving the Scotch distiller a protective duty of 2;
against the colonist, whereas the statement which our
correspondent takes upon him to defend, represented
him as being culled on to pay 21 per gallon more
then the colonist. Yet he " fearlessly aswrts" that
" every line" of that statement " is correct."
The writer to whom we address this explanation
complains of the Scotch distillers being identified
with Lord GEORGE BENTINCK, when " only
one individual " has addressed his lordship.
Ile this as it may, the Scotch distillers are
making common cause with Lord GEORGE and Lord
STANLE'., in order to perpetuate the heavy duties
on rum. Three measures have been introduced by
government, partly for the purpose of relieving the
present distress, partly for the purpose of removing
unjust burdens and restrictions imposed on colonial
and East Indian produce. The distillers would not
object to have sugar (or even molasses) allowed to be
used in breweries and distilleries; the landowners
might not offer %very serious opposition to the equal-
isation of the duties on rum and home-made spirits.
But a compact is entered into between the distillers
and Bentanekiter, the former agreeing to oppose the
bills they wish to see carried, if the latter will oppose
the bill they fear. The distillers have allied them-
selves with the fug-end of the old protectionist p city,
to run counter to the interests of the general com-
munity.

The question from which so many and so import-
ant results were expected in the French Chamber
has, to the surprise of the public, been allowed to pass
almost sub and had a narrow escape of not
even being pressed to a division. The paragraph of
the royal speech referring to the Spanish marriages
was to have been the great question of the address.
It came on for discussion on Tuesday afternoon,
when, after two maiden speeches, M. Dufaure
moved the amendment, of which notice bad
been given by himself and his colleague, M.
Billault. M. Guizot refused to enter upon
the question. M. Thiers, frequently called to
the tribune by the Chamber, remained nailed
to his scat. 111. Odillon Barrot, in the name of his
party, declined supporting the amendment, and at
half-past five o'clock a division, without the appel
nominal, took place, the result of which was that the
ministerial party and the great mass of the dynastic
opposition voted together against the amendment and
in favour of the address, making a total of 212 voices.
MM. Billault and Dufaure, with their small knot of
adherents, made up no more than 28 votes in favour
of the amendment, while the members of the extreme
left retired from the Chamber without voting.
Such are the fruits which the Guizot cabinet has
gathered from the schism which has been manifested
among the constitutional opposition, and such the
revenge which M. Thiers has taken upon the de-
serters from his flag. It is clear that a successful
session is now before the Guizot cabinet, un-
less the forces of the constitutional opposition
shall succeed in quelling the mutiny that has taken
place among them.
Accounts continued to be received in Paris on
Wednesday of the corn riots in the departments. As
fast as these inteutes aro repressed in one place they
break out in another.
The King and Queen of the Belgians left Paris for
Brussels on Tuesday morning.
The prices of cereal productions within the circle
from which Paris derives its supply, are undergoing
fluctuations, which are probably ascribable to the
great elevation of price which was recently mani-
fested attracting for the moment an excessive supply,
and being followed by a reaction. Thus in the mar-
ke s of La Brie, La i3eauce, and Picardy, there has
been lately a sudden and considerable fall. This
effect, however, is ascribed by some to the unhealthy
operations of speculators. It is considered that the
latter cause only is sufficient to explain the sudden
fall at Chartres and Etampes of three and four
franca per hectolitre in wheat, and four to six
franca in barley. In Champagne, Lorraine, and
Alsace the prices still continue high. Wheat, in the
market of Troyes is quoted at 36 f., and at Strasburg
at 38f. 30c. per hectol., being equivalent to 795. and 84s.
per quarter. In the Vosges, i)oubs, and Lyonnais,
the population are suffering under such severe pres-
sure from the scarcity of grain, that government has
supplied several steamers to transport corn from
Marseilles to Lyons.
Fifteen individuals have been arrested in Paris
charged with political crimes. The Gazelle des
Tribunaux gives the following account of the affair
For some days a vague rumour spread that arrests con-
nected with political matter+, had taken place. Several
names even were mentioned which had been remarked in
the trials of the republican party. From the inform ilia°
ws.ich we have procured, it results that certain individna's,
15 in nnmber, all belonging to that part of the republican
party whose intelligence has been troubled and instincts
perverted by the reading of communist writings, have been
arrested antler various charges, all of a very grave descrip-
tion. These individuals, for the most part forming part of
the least enlightened classes, had given to. their association
the characteristic denomination of Societe des Malirial-
isles. The object which they proposed to themselves was
to put in practice by every means the principles de-
veloped in those writings where it is announced, that pro-
perty is the frail of robbery. Amongst the inchvidneds
arrested by the care of the prefect of police, several are
acewed of thefts or crimes of a still graver character. One
of them even considered his position at desperate, that when
taken to the prefecture of police ho blew out his brains with
a pistol which he had contrived to conceal."
( Two amendments have been presented in the
Chamber of Deputies on the paragraph relating to

Cracow. M. Leap4ne proposes to add to it the twa
following phrases:
" Our wishes and hopes in favour of this illustrious
nationality remain unchanged. Nations may wait in the
present day, for they no longer die."
The other amendment is from the AY Gcnoude,
who proposes to draw up the paragraph in these
terms :
An unexpected event has allured the state of things
founded in Luropc by the lost treaty of Vienna. The repub-
lic of Cncow, au independent and neutral state, has been
incorporated with the empire of Austria. France desires
tine rely the 14.11(1.t ct due to the independence of states. She
protests againA the treaty Of 181.5, which was a nee atom k
not only on the old Polish nationality, but on the inde-
, pendenee of nat ions.
-

There was a alight improvement at the Bourse on
Wednesday, which was ascribed to the pacific cha-
racter of the debate in the Chamber on Tuesday.

The Madrid mail of the 28th brings news to the
effect that the ministry had not yet been defiaitively
settled; but it was understood that M. Castro y
thvacco was about to submit to the Queen the follow-
ing programme : M. Casa Irujo, president; Bravo Ma-
rino, Justice ; Tcjas, Interior : Roca de Togores, Public
Instruction; Sautellan, Finance; Manso, War; and
IBaldasano, Marine. El Tieinpo stated that they were
to take the oaths on the 28th. _

M. Mariano del Prado, of the Foreign Affairs, had
arrived from London with despatches for the govern-
ment. The partisans of Count Montemolin had spread
the report that the pretender was about to marry the
Princess Adelaide of Cambridge.
Disorders continued to prevail in Navarre and the
Basque provinces. Enier7tes had broken out at Ta-
falda, Estella, Lariaga, and in the valley of E-chauri.
At Puerto la Reyna the populace ran through the
streets. breaking the lamps, and cr)•ing " Death to
the Liberals." fhe town was obliged to be occupied
by the troops. The system of recruiting continued to
meet with general resistance, compliance being every
where refused, and the recruits throwing themselves
into the mountains. An insurrection was expected
at Pampeluna, where the civic guard was organised
until troops could be obtained from the neighbouring
provinces.

Advices from Switzerland say that much disquietude
has been excited among the liberal party by the fact
that the French ambassador had gone from his resi-
dence at Berne to Lucerne to make a visit to M.
Sicgwart, the chief of the Ultramontane League, and
M. Salis Soglio, the General of the Sonderbund. If
this report be true that an ambassador of one of the
great powers has put himself officially in communica-
tion with the leaders of a body which is formed in
open resistance to the acknowledged government of
the country where that ambassador is accredited
there would appear to be good grounds
for discontent on the part of the legitimate
authorities. It is contended by the liberal party that
such a proceeding, even if mediation were meant,
must operate injuriously on the federal government,
establishing, as it would, a certain equality of con-
sideration between the League and the Diet. The
sinister suspicions which this proceeding has raised
in Switzerland against the French government are
increased by the fact that arms have been sent from
the arsenal of Strasburg to Lucerne. When one de-
sires is assume the part of a mediator and peace-
maker, it is not by supplying arms to one of the
combatants that one would commence.

The Russian consul at Jassy has just officially an-
nounccd that the Czar would throw open to the'
children of the Moldavian. and Walachians the
public schools at St. Petersburg, and lest this offer'
should not be voluntarily accepted, the Russian
government has required that the hospdars should
impose upon the youth of their country an obligation
to avail themselves of it. In consequence of this a
law is about to be proposed to the chambers of Jassy
and Bucharest, to the effect that every subject of Mol-
davia and NValachia who shall be educated in France
shall forfeit his civil and political rights ! The pro-
position of such a law to such chambers infers its
enactment, for the chambers are in fact composed of
the nominees of the Russian government.

PARIS, FEB. 3.

The debate on the address will commence this day,
and threatens to be much more stormy than was
at first anticipated. The publication of the despatches
of Lord Normanby has been a blow to M. Guizot,
from which he cannot recover ; so general, in-
deed, has the feeling against the minister become,
that even those members of the opposition who
approve of the marriage of the DU de Montpensier,
arc humiliated when they see the affairs of France
conducted with such evident want of good faith.
Much exaggeration has taken place on the subject
of the dissensions amongst the members of the oppo-
sition. The fraction under Messrs. Billault and
Dufaure amount in number to no more than 20 or
25 at the utmost, and they are resolute in their in-
tention of attacking M. Guizot, as the amendments of
the two chiefs will show ; nor will any attempt to
detach them from the mass of the opposi-
tion succeed. The left and left centre have
prepared a plan of campaign, the fire of
which will be kept up till the end of the session.
The rekpective friends of M. Thiers and M. Barrot
have never been on better terms, and ten commis-
sioners, chosen amongst the men of both parties, are
appointed to study and discuss the budget The
phalanx of the centre seems at last to be shaken. A
group of thirty or forty members is mentioned as
likely to secede from the majority on certain ques-
tions. This fraction generally meet at the house of M.
allandrouze, member for Aubusson. The new members
have a marked tendency towards disapproval of the
policy pursued by government. As a last symptom, I
should mention that there is a division amongst the
members of the ministry. For a long time past M.
Duchatel has been laying himself out for the place
of President of the Council, and future Minister for
Foreign Affairs. He heads the majority of the
ministry in council, and opposes M. Guizot ; and it
is said that all the toning down of the despatches of M.
Gnizot in the affair of the Spanish marriages, all the
concessions made to the northern courts on the Cracow
annexation, have been mainly owing to M. Duchatel.
The Minister of the Interior foresees that M. Guizot
will be sacrificed, and he puts himself forward as a
likely person to succeed him. In such a combination
M. Nlontalivet, the favourite at the Tuileries, would
become Minister of the Interior, and M. Duchatel
Minister of Foreign Affairs, and France would fall
lower than ever into corruption, and a government of
mediocrities. O.

CHAMBER OF DEPUTIES—Fan. 2.
At Italf-past one all the tribunes were crowded; most of
se foreign ambassadors and their secretaries were present.
M. Les-rps addressed the chamber against the paragraph.
-M. Sc La. ergne spoke for the project of the address.—M.
remieux said the marriage might be regarded as an affair.:
familk.
In the siring of the 3d in'tant sections 4 and 5 were

adopted.
M. Thiers then rose.—Gentlemen, he laid, section 6 is re-
lative to the abolition of the little free republic of Cracow.
Before entering into the discussion I should like to reply to
a few remarks made yesterday by the Minister of Foreign
Affairs. lie seemed to challenge us to a discussion on the
Spanish marriages. Trench was his intention I have a few
words to reply. (Ser.aation). The section of the marriages
has been adopted, but it is difficult to discuss the sections
relating to Cracow without tracing that event to its source.
If the -Minister for Foreign Affairs thinks that the discus-
sion on the marriages was Incomplete, I am quite prepared to
take it up again when the subject of Cracow is under debate.
—M. Guizot denied having challenged a debate. lie had
merely said that the government had published all the docu-
ments relative to the marriages, and the reason the govern-
ment did not seek a discussion was, toavoid irritating the
public feeling on either side of the channel, but that he
should not seek to elude it —M. Thiers : The minister spoke
of dangers in examining into this affair, still pending before
the two tribunes. Does he believe iu those dangers ?--M.
Guizot : I alluded to the dangers of a passioned and violent
discusesion ; but I never thought there woe any objection to
a sincere and moderate debate. lam still prepared for a dia.
tuition of such nature.—M.Derryer here remark( d that § 2 on
the confidence of the government in the assurance of peace
was not to be put to the vote till after the adoption of 3 and
6, relative to the marriages, and to Cracow, and that he had
therefore suposed the discussion would have been complete.
He therefore demanded how § 2 could be adopted, if they
had not come to an understanding on their state of security
in regard to their foreign relations.—M. Gnizot replied that
the government did not seek discussions. It had notified Its
acts and published its documents.—M. Thiers said
his intention was not to raise debates which might prove
hurtful to the country ; but he thought it the duty of the
government to enlighten the chamber on the disoentions
which had arisen between the French and English govern-
ments.--ht. Gnizot 'aid the documents laid before the
chamber were a sufficient reply to his demand.—.M. Thiers
denied that the documents contained everything. M.Geizot hod notobjected to a discussion, and he Old. Thiers)
should, therefore, open the debate.—M. Guizot ; I ac-
cept; and we shall each take our share of re-
sponsibility in the disunion. (Rumours.) —M. Cra-
mien: wondered M. Guizot had not replied yesterday.
M. de Mornay made a few remarks, and was followed by