The Express.
London, England, 1853-03-17 00:00:00

financial affairs were always large oiler, and that all pre- I
sent had shown the greatest desire to conduct the public
business with the utmost economy and with the strictest re-
gard to the claims and rights of all classes of ratepayers.
What was the practice when any unusual expenditure was
proposed? In the county of Worcester, with which he was,
of course, better acquainted than with any other, a large'l
number of gentlemen assembled to discuss subjects of com-
mon interest to the whole body of ratepayers, and the ques-
tion was frequently determined by a division. On what
pt:uciple, laciple, then, of justice, of fairness, or of common sense,
were the magistrates to be deprived of their functions ?
The proposed attention would be a departure from the
principle that those who paid the rates ought to have a
voice in controlling tho expenditure. Let the ratepayers
elcct representatives if they pleased. Though he did not
like the principle of e double election, he was perfectly
williag that one or two sate-payers should be selected Irons I
each union to join the hello\ and have a vo:re in that ex- I
penditure, to which they con:riouted in a much smaller de-
gree than the landowners. There would be no difficulty in
choosing amongst a hoardof guardians men of business whe
. .

were quite competent to deal With such matters. The in-
terest would be a common one—that of managing the
finances of the county in the most economical and efficient
manner; and he ventured to predict that in a board
so constituted every proposal which was founded in
justice would meet with approval. lie did hope
that his proposal would be accepted, and the object
aimed at would then be effected without creating
that dissatisfaction tench must be felt by the magistrates
from one end of the country to the other, if they found
themselves unfairly and unjustly deprived Or powers, which
they had so loag and so beneficially exercised.
Mr. M. GIBSON said be could not assent to the amend-
ment; it would be fatal to the bill—(hear, hear)—being
entirely adverse to the principle of a fair rept eseutation of
the rate-payers. (Hear, hear.) What the tight hon. baronet
proposed was, simply that the boards should be elected in
the way in which the bill provided, but that their number
should be increased by addtng to them the rest of the magis-
tracy. (Hear, hear.) In the cage of his own cout.ty
there were 583 magistrates, and 13 unions ; and thus
there would •be 13 gentlemen selected by the rate-
payers and 583 magistrate. This was indeed a homecopa-
tffic dose of the democratic principle. (Laughter.) He
could scarcely believe that the right hon. gentleman was
serious in such a proposal. The effect would be that the
rate-payers would be placid in a rediculous minority. It
would be difficult, he thought, to show that the justices of
the peace had any prescriptive or vested right to spend the
mom) of the rate-payers without responsibility or control.
All that was possessed by the magistrate in virtue of his
commission was power to administer justice, and to act in
a judicial capacity. He would like to know whence was
I derived the " right divine" of irresponsiblecontrol ? The
argument which was used on that point might equally be
urged against the House of Commons. It might be said,
the House of Lords is composed of men who are possessed
of large property, and who pay a large proportion of the
public taxes, and therefore they ought to be the sole and
exclusive guardians of the taxation of the country. (Hear,
hear.) Tho right hon. baronet's proposition resembled a
proposal to add ten members of the House of Commons to
the House of Lards and then leave the House of Lords to
control the public expenditure. (Hear, hear.) He hoped
that even hon. gentlemen wl:o were adverse to the bill
would not listen to so eccentric a proposition after the prin-
ciple of the bill had been agreed to.
Mr. HENLEY said the right hon. gentleman (Mr. M.
Gibson) having admitted amendments contrary to his own
iodisation, had no right to object to that which was now
proposed, on the ground that it was opposed to the scope of
the bill. The principle of the bill was, that the repre-
sentative system should be partly applied to the control
of county expenditure; and what the right bon. baronet
proposed, was to leave the present system alone, and add
repreeseutation to it. (Laughter.) The attempt to set up
entirely new machinery, must be attended with many in-
conveniences. As regarded the number of magistrate', it
was wall known that practically only a very limited propor-
tion tuck part in the discussions, many being prevented
front doing so by old age, infirmity, or some other cause,
The right hon. gentleman opposite need not be alarmed,
therefore, on that subject. For many reasons, it appeared
to hint desirable to keep alive the existing corporation, and
to add to it only so much of the representative influence as
was consistent with that object.
Mr. lIUME was very sorry to see hon. gentlemen oppo-
site indisposed to do justice in this matter. All that was
wanted was to give to county ratepayers the power already
possessed by borough ratepayers. The country gentlemen
would under the bill have their share is the elections. He
was bound to say that on examining the account" of the
Norfolk magiatrates last year, he found them very well
kept—(hear, hear)—but he must also add that, notwith-
standing that the ratepayers of the county demanded to be
put on the same footing as those of the towns. (Hear.)
Mr. BUCK said nothing would please him better than to
see ratepayers attending to their own interests, but he was
not prepared to disfranchise the magistrates of this country,
to whom the ratepayers were deeply indebted for the man-
ner in which they had conducted their affairs. The injus-
tice of the representative system when carried out to the
fullest extent was obvious from the state of his own county
(Devonshire), where there was a town rated at 9td., while
the rates in the agricultural districts were only about 2td.
Before passit.g this bill, they ought to feel satisfied that
the borough rates were managed better than the county
rates. (Hear, hear.)
Mr. H. DRUMMOND said he had always supported the
principle of this bill ; but what he meant by the principle
was that persons should be selected by the ratepayers to
join with the magistrates in controlling the expenditure ;
beyond that he had never gone and never would go.
(Cheers.) lie did not believe that such an alteration would
diminish the expe diture by one farthing; but as a foolish
feeling had arisen in Lanesehire, I e thought it well that
the ratepayers should have an opportunity of seeing whe-
ther or not their intereds had been properly attended to.
lie acquitted the Home Secretary equally of being the
father of the bill and of being responsible for it ; but as to
the talk of respect paid to magistrates, why the preamble
of the bill declared that the " powers, authority, and duties
now vested in magistrates shall cease," and if that
were not abolishing, by a aide-wind, the magistracy which
had existed for five or six centuries, he knew not whet
would he. (Hear, hear.) That such was the intention of
the framers of the bill there could not be the smallest
doubt; it was manufactured in Lancashire for that purpose.
and for that purpose had been proposed over and over
again ever since he first obtained a seat in that
hotter. (Hear, hear.) The whole bill was perfectly im-
practicable, because the counties were as different
from each other as wire England, Ireland, and
Scotland. (Hear, hear.) There were certain gentlemen
who thought that what was good for Lancashire must he
good for all the world ; but they (the Opposition) would sit
there Wednesday after Wednesday until they had knocked
into their heads the truth. (Opposition Cheers.)
Mr. FELLOWES agreed with the hon. gentleman who
had just spoken that the bill would be found impracticable.
In his own county, Huntingdon, the financial board Inlaid
consist of twelve members, three of whom were to be a
quorum. Was the most important question to be decided
by three gentlemen ? lie admitted that the smaller rate-
payers should have some voice ; but unless the county bu-
siness were transacted by one body, there would be nothing
but dimension and confusion.

PALMERSTON may think fit to say on the subject, this
night is to show; and it will then remain for tho
country to form its own verdict upon the temper
with which its reprcsentativts treat these illustra-
tions of the different way in which justice is adminis-
tered and punishment awarded—on the one hand to
the ready tool of the wealthy corruptionist ; and
on the other, to n wretched penniless woman, who
in the agonies of hcr condemnation allows license to
a loose tongue.

FRANCE.

PAINS, WEI:1E881U% EVENING.

Accounts received from Herne to-day state that
Austria, without intending t.) occupy. the Canton of
Ticino, has resohed to maintain indefinitely the
blockade.

The house of Meehanezola, at Vienna, has sus-
pended payment. The deficit is stated at :120,00J
florins.

The Germanic Diet have decided on an increase of
only 50,000 troops, instead of 200,0;0 required by
A ustria and Prussia.
The Emperor of Austria intends spending soise
months at the baths of Isehe. RS soon as the weather'
improves. The Archduke William is to preside at
the privy council during his Majesty's abseuce.
It is announced that a grand tete will be given to
the Emperor and Empress by the city of Paris on
the 2nd April. The particular nature of the enter-
tainmsnt is not yet known.
An article iu the _Whiten). de rArnitle throws con-
aid, cable light upon the vexed question of the reality
of the reduction in the French army which has been
announced with so much ostentation as a guarantee
for the peace of the world. The professed object
of the article is to show that the fact of the
usual contingent of 80,000 men being voted for
1833 is no proof that the officially unnouuced reduc-
tion of 50,000 will not be really effected. But the
facts and the argumeuts adduced are manifestly ad-
dressed to the army for the purpose of satisfying
them that the milkers power of the government was
never more efficient than now. It is beyond ques-
question that in execution of the pacific demenstra-
Uou which the Emperor at the present moment de-
sires to make in the eyes of Europe, orders have been
given, and will doubtless be acted upon, for dischurg-
irg by anticipation 30,000 men whose term of ea-
vice is about to expire. But the mess-room journal
explains, what I have more than ouce told you, that
three tneu, although struck off the present effective
list, will yet belong to the army of reserve. They
remaiu bound to the very latest hour of
their seven jcurs service, and might be embodied
in a week. This fact is dwelt upon as an
argument in favour of the credibility of the
French government when it solemnly- announces
a reduction in the army. You can have no
difficulty, it is said, iu substance in believing is the
reduction of our military force when wo tell you that
the reduction is of such a nature as to leave us as
strong as ever. It appears that, although since 1831
a vote for 80,000 recruits has been taken annually,
nothing like the whole number has ever been called
out. The nearest approach to the embodiment of
the full contingent voted occurred in 1515, when
68,0j3 soldiers and 7,033 saiiors, making in all
75,068 men, W. 11: recruited. In 1533 the total raised
for the two set vices was only 01,01, in 1850 it was
hat 36,811, and in 1831 the number was so low r.s
33,051. It is obvious from these figures,
that without the fracas of calling out the
army of reserve the French government, so
disposed, might at once, quietly and without Ea-
rope knowing anything about it, nearly neutralise
the effect of the discharge of 60,000 men, by the
simple process of embodying the whole of the 80,001)
recruits of the year, instead of the small proportion
of them which, excepting in 1813 only it has been
the practice to call out during the last twenty-two
years. The Mondeur de i'Arniee shows conclusively
that tor those who may not be disposed to rely ins•
pile:fly upon the word of the French government,
there is no assurance whatever that the army may
not be even iu the course of the current year enor-
mously increased instead of reduced. It calculates
that if the whole 80,000 men allowed annually
were to be incorporated in the army, the
number would be 300,000. To that force, it sass,
must be added voluuteers, ever and above the annual
contingent, 39,300, re-enlistments, that is to say,
soldiers whose seven years term is expired, and who,
at their own request, are retained upou the effective
list, 17,300; gendarmes, 23,300; veterans, staff
officers, &c., 3,700, and, lastly, officers of tell ranks
not reckoned in the annual contingent, 15,000. The
total of these figures amounts to 679,000 men, whist',
says the Mweitetir do C-Iralec,is the formidable army
that France could unite under its glorious flag, if
dangers, happily not now in anywise threatening,
were to require an appeal to our reserve, and
doubtless this number would be immensely ex-
ceeded by voluntary enlistments if the national
independence were in peril. What took place in
1830 and 1811 sufficiently proves this." In calling
your attention to these unquestionably important
facts, I wish it to be distinctly understood that I see
nothing warlike in the tone of the Nei:deur de
e.druit'e. But it does result from the statement made
that, so far as anticipations of peace may be based
upon the belief that the French army is potentially
less efficient than before the recently announced re-
duction, such expectations rest upon no solid foe:tida-
-1 tion. The conclusion of the article' leads to the be-
lief that a larger proportion than usual of the
80,000 recruits will actually be called out this year,
but it is stated that the custom is to incorporate
only so many men as may be strictly necessary to
fill up the vacancies caused by the nermai or ant,et-
puted discharges. The italics are those of the Ana:-
tear de 1 '..drate'e.
I am positively assured by a person likely to be
well informed of what is ret' on at the Tuilsries,