The Express.
London, England, 1848-05-02 00:00:00

lie re-
,le bat

nately,
do the

was an atter extinction of those magnificent craft
which, whether or not they were the missionaries of
a good or bad polity, were ever among the most Wl-
poeing objects of tho seas and harbours which con-
nect Europe and Asia. There is now to be another
change. The monotonous reign of the union jack
below Calcutta and at the Sandheads, is to be re-
lieved by here and there the flutter of the American
stars, and here and there by the more modest ensign
of our old rivals of Amsterdam and the Texel. It is
hardly likely that the variety of foreign figs will be
greater, for France has barely a single merchant ship
competent to so long a voyage, and Portugal knows
little of India save the traditions of an early and long-
laet success.
But the equalisation of the duties on the two orders
of shipping does not exhaust Lord Dattioustes re-
form. lie has also revoked the annoying customs
duties which prevailed between one port of India and
another. This is a reform locally considered as great as
the more general clause of the new statute. The repeal
of the cotton duties by Lord IIsuDINGE in Decem-
ber last had probably removed the 1 more
pressing portion of this local question, but
when the great staple of the Western Presidency had
been set free, there still remained a large and impor-
tant coasting trade which will not fail to profit by
the wise alterations that have now ben made.
Viewed, therefore, under every aspect, we congra-
tulate the Indian public on this auspicious commence-
ment of the carver of their new viceroy. Probably
the direct and immediate effects of the present change
may not be great. It is certain, that whether
great or small, they will be full of advan-
tage as far as they extend. Every additional
ship which leaves a cargo at an Indian port is a new
inducement and a new facility for the extension of
those industrial enterprises to which we must mainly
look for the substantial welfare and progress of the
country. The curse of India is the curse of a pan-
periled population living and dying upon the misera-
ble produce of a miserably cultivated soil. The
want of India is the wan: of a species of industry or
manufacture which shall relieve the pressure of the
population upon one single and insufficient resource.
The abolition of the navigation laws will assuredly
not accomplish this end, but it will do something to-
wards it ; and it is to be welcomed because it indicates
a desire, in the highest quarters, to look at difficulties
in their true light, and make laws not to patch up
interests, but to promote the welfare of all who owe
them obedience.

GERMANY.

PRUSSIA.—The Berlin newspapers of the 29th
should have come to hand, but their non-arrival ii
explained by the fact, that circumstances had not per-
mitted the printing of a single journal. The editors
of the rillSsian Stole Ga,:ette issued a notice stating
that their paper would not appear on the 29:6, in
consequence of the difference between the principals
and the workmen on the subject of wages. Thc
compositors of that journal considered that they
could not well retrain from taking part with their
colleagues, although they themselves hal no just
cause for doing so.
The state of Posen is the great subject of comment
in Berlin. A correspondent writing from that capital
says
In the midst of the general incertitude and exaggeration
in which the reports from the duchy of Posen are here
bruited about, fairness as well as humanity impose upon us
the duty to admit only such as proceed from official sources.
I should till several columns were I to enumerate all the
shocking accounts of battles, robberies, murders, and whole-
sale butcheries, which have ultimately proved false or grossly
exaggerated. 11 you meet a Pole, he will toll yon that the
origin and the fault of all the disturbances lie exclusively
with the Germane. If you take up a German journal, and
believe its statements, you will be obliged to conclude that
there could not be found on the face of the earth greater
monsters than the Polish inhabitants of the duchy. Tak-
ing, however, none hut the official statements into account,
and making eve.), allowance fur the irritation and excite-
ment on both sides, I am strongly inclined to think that
tee Pules are the more injured party of the two.
Availing themselves of the change brought about in Berlin,
and of the altered state of public opinion towards them,
they made an armed demonstration in favour of
those rights and liberties which were stipulated to
them by the treaty of Vienna. They preserved by this
means peace and order in the province. After some hesita-
tion the King seceded to their demands. The royal
cummissery, sent for the pnrpo ;0 of re-orgaaisiog the pro
wince, concludes with theta a final agreement. They lay
down their arms, and begiuto disperse. But the Germane,
enrgied st the prospect of being placed on the footing of
equality with the native populatien, take up arms, diereg ird
the royal orders, ill-treat and expel the King's commissary
from Posen, and, supported by the soldiery and the disap-
pointed functionaries, make the last effort to regain their
former ascendancy. General Colomb, instigated by Stein.
esker, .sends moving columns in every direction of the
province. The soldiers, still smarting under the re-
collection
of their defeat in Berlin, think they will re-
trieve
their fortune by attacking the inoffensive peasants.
who wire already returning homo unarmed, and in small
parties. They &WIC and burn whole villages. One of the
reports of the Polish committee says that in the village of
Najewo every man, woman, and child, has been put tu the
sword by them. I have seen to day a letter from a gentle-
man high in office, who states that their conduct at Goetyn
has no parallel except in the messacre of the inhabitants of
Osziniame by the Ru-sians. What do the Poles do in the
face of such treachery and atrocities ? They retaliate.
In spite of the efforts of the nobles, some of the 'peasants
would not be restrained from taking a signal vengeance
foe such wanton cruelties. Others have again assembled
under the commtmil of Mieroilaweki, in a camp near
Miloslaw, and are determined not to lay down their arms
until they see that the King's orders are obeyed. Such is
at present the state of things in that distracted country.
The Polish come:Attee affirm that up to the 15th inst. not a
single case of murder or manslaughter can be brought
against any Pole, whilst the nomination of Brocki—of the
two brothers Lipski, and of Count Potocki, who was slain
by the very soldier, whom he saved a few hours before from
the hands of the armed peasantry—would have given a suf-
ficient provocation to much calmer tempers than the Polish
scythemen are known to possess. It is known that Colomb
and Ve Ilse° are at daggers-drawn. The latter being here—
for he is come to Berlin to get the Kieg's ratification to his
treaty with the Poles—has no power to make his orders be
obeyed, whilst the former, placed at the head of 40,000 men,
wields an uncontrolled authority. Beuerman, the civil
governor, has stepp.el forward as pe:xemaler between them,
but with no effect. Another questimi, which widens still
mere the chasm between the two populations is the con-
templated separation of the Germanised districts from
the duchy of Posen. The Germans claim not only
the best part of the duchy, but even the town of Posen
itself. I have been at some pains to ascertain
the relative numbers of the two populations, and
I find that there are 800,000 Poles and 400,000 Germans
and Jews. Of the latter number there are only 150,000
born in the duchy, and they are almost all favourable to the
Poles. The remainder is composed of all sorts of func-
tionaries, adventurers, speculators, having no connexion
whatever with the province, and no interest in its prosperity.
The 'population of the town of Posen (40,000) is equaLy
divided, but among the 20,000 Germans and Jews there ate
7,000 temporary rcaldents, fur the functionarie., with their
families and servanos, cannot be otherwise considered. To
account for this large number it must be mentiored that no
official appointment in the province was ever given by the
Prussians to a Pole, and that even lamp-lighters and street-
sweepers are Germans generally brought from other parts of
Prussia. As to the soil, 9-10ffis is in the hands of the Polish
prcprietary. The above numbers axe taken from the census
made in 1815.
The following is also from a correspondent :
Posen, April 21.—The Polish Provisional Government
of Posen has issued a protest against the dis memberment of
the grand duchy under any pretext by Prussia, appealing to
the treaties by which the partitioning powers bound them-
selves to the rest of Europe to destroy neither tho nationality
nor the integrity of these uroeinces which they retained after
181:t. The Polish leaders complain also bitterly of the false
position in which the unsteady policy of the King of Prussia
has pieced them, he having first excited them to prepare for
an attack on Russia, and now bring induced to place fahh
in a military reactionary movement turns round upon them
and uion his own commissary-general, Willisen,
as traitors and revolutionists. Tl:e generals of the old des-
potic unfitly, system are in almost open conflict with the
new ministry et Berlin, and act independently if not in op-
action to their orders.
The appeal of the Polish National Committee is
accompanied by a sveat quantity of documentary
matter attested by witnesses before magistrate&
AL STRIA.—In consequence of the intelligence
having been received that Naples and Tuscany had
lent regular troops to the assistance of the Lom-
bards, e Austrian government, in its official journal
Of the 26th, announces that those functionaries have
rceived their passports.
The minister of war juts received the following re-
Ports from Italy :
The macer or the ordinance, C,unt Nugent, reports from
the camp of Coesignacco, under date Afro 2.2, that the
actingacin
government of Udine, in pursuance . resolutir
city, adopted. on the evening of the 21.51, entered into a ne•
gonstion with him, and that already on this day, the 22nd,
at 1 o'clt ck, preliminaries to a definite cabochon of the
provireeof Primal was concluded, which we kloPe will lead
to vary eatislactory results.
The master of the ordnance states that all the troops have
gently distinguished themselves, especially the artillery.
AThu u.
erePorle from Count Iladetsky are dated Verona,
r
No essential change has taken place in his position.
"GOIITT, Arum 2.l.—Atti r the ratifications of the con-
nation the imperial Ooops entered Udine ycsterdsy after-
nom, at 1 o'clock, Where they found weapon, animniailion,
and three field-pieces.

.4 The Istperiid trims, fa their progress from Tarris, et.
(tensity attacked ths enemy at Ponteho, and forced him to
retire.
" Expresses are being sent off in all directions throughout
the province of Friuli, for the purpose of suspending hostili.
ties, and of rendering the roads secure.
" This day the troops are continuing their much from
Udine, and will besiege Codroipo. " Count li.tarto.
"To His Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs."
According to the Austrian Allgenun.
iie Zeitung,
published at Vienna, the chief officers of the circles
in Galicia are organising a peasant force to act in
concert with the military; the officers are named from
the numerous officials employed by government, who
are almost all Germans. The proceeding has very
much alarmed the landowners, especially as direct
proof has been obtained of efforts made to set the pea-
sants once more at variance with them on the subject
of the labour rents. A certain commissary named
O,termann (a German) has been named in an affi-
davit attested by SO nobles and landowners, as hav-
ing told the peasants to put no faith in the offers
of the landowners to release them from the labour
rents. The landlords, it is asserted, wish to be in-
demnified for what they give up out of the national
revenues, but the Emperor has the intention of
abolishing these rents unconditionally, and will
effect his purpose at the latest in July next. The
province is said to be kept in a sadly disturbed state
by these proceedings, which have been moat actively
adopted by the magistrates of Przemyol and Stanis-
lawow. The Bohemians, it is said by the Austrian
Allnsinrine %sitting, have refused to send deputies to
the Diet at Frankfort.
The superior, President Tinder, has published a
proclamation of the imperial commission at Cracow,
which sa)•s: " In order to prevent the further ingress
of the Polish emigrants, who are pressing in large
masses on the Royal Prussian territory to Cracow and
Galicia, the frontier towards Prussia is occupied by
military, and the frontier authorities are commissioned
not to permit any Polish emigrant, who is unable to
prove that ho is an Austrian subject, to enter the

country.
BAVARIA.—PubIic tranquillity was seriously dis-
turbed at Nuremberg on the 25th ult., in consequence
of a quarrel in a tavern between some soldiers and
people: the house was torn down. Assistance coming
on both hands, the drum Ira to arms, and the gar-
rison as well as the civic guard turned oat. Several
were wounded on both sides and ono killed. At mid-
night order had been restored.
BADEN.—We have announced the capture of the
republican leader Struve and some of hii companions,
at Sackingen. It appears that es soon as the fact of
their arrest was known threats were made that the
town would be burnt if they were not set fres, and
accordingly the municipal authorities ordered the
liberation of the prisoners, and they made their way
safely out of the grand duchy into Switzerland.

DENMARK AND THE DUCHIFS.

The most important intelligence from this quarter
is the fact that Baron Von Oxholm, Chamberlain of
the King of Denmark, who was sent on a special
mission to St. Petemburg, to ask assistance from the
Emperor fur his country in the war with Prussia, bad
met with a decided refusal. The Emperor declared
that he should not interfere in the affair at all.
Accounts from Flensburg of the 27th state that a
Danish messenger had come to parley. The result
was not known. A regiment of guards had mean-
while received orders to advance towards Iladersleben
against the I)aues there. General Halkett had or-
dered an attack against the island of Alsen.
A letter from Schleswig of April 27 says " Apen-
rade is garrisoned by the Germans. Here we have
about 600 wounded. Yesterday 11 soldiers were
buried ; the day before 121 men, among whom were
5 German and 4 Danish officers. Yesterday 3 Danish
officers, among whom was a colonel, were brought in
prisoners. Everything is perfectly secure on the road
between this place and ltendsburg, even daring the
night"
M. Tatin, the Prardan Consul at Copenhagen, has
tendered his resignation.

Cbe Court.
The court will, it is expected, leave Osborne this
day (Tuesday) afternoon for Buckingham Pelee..
The Right lion. R. Vernon Smith had an inter-
view with Lord John Russell yesterday at his official resi-
dence in Downing-street.
Major-General D'Aiguilar had an interview with
Earl Grey yesterday at the Colonial-office.
The Duke of Cleveland had an interview with Sir
George Grey yesterday. Lord Ashley and Mr. D. %V.
Harvey had also interviews yesterday with the tight hon.
baronet at the Home-office.
Mr. Borthwick, agent for the Jamaica Chamber of
Commerce. and Sir Alexander Crichton had an interview
with the Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday, at his offi I
621 residence in Downina.strect. Colonel Anson had also
an interview yesterday with the right hoa. baronet.
Despatches were received yesterday at the
Colonial office from the governors of Hong-Kong, Ceylon,
New South ales, South Australia, %Vest Australia, and
the Mauritius.
Despatches were sent off last evening from the
Colonial-office for the governors of the Cape of Good Hope,
New South Wales, and the West Indian colonies.

BIRTHD Y OF THE DUK E OF WEL LiNGTON.—
Ycsterday, b( ing the birthday of the Duke of Wellington,
when his Grace completed his 79th year, a numerous party
of his tradesmen and their friends assembled to do honour to
the occasion at the Albion, Aldersitate-street, where a very
elegant entertainment was proeidcd. Mr. Sheriff Cubitt,
M.P., in the chair.

THE CHAR'fIST ASSEMBLY.
Yesterday. being appointed for the congregation of ;
the delegates in the lecture•room of the Literary and Scien-
title Institution, John-street, Fozroy-iquare, many. of the ;
leaders in the recent " demonstration' on Kennington-
common reappeared on this their former arena. Mr. Feargus
O'Connor and his ally, Mr. Cuffay, were however absent. ,
After a delay of upwards of two hours, business was cons- ,
menced by Mr. William Dixon being called to the chair, by ,
Mr. bit'Rae being chosen as deputy-chairman, and by the
appointment of Mr. Sharron as secretary.
The CHAIRMAN then read the credentials certifying the ,
election at public meeting' of the subjoined &legates : 1
Tower Hamlets, J. Shaw and A. Shaer.; Sheffield, T. Clarke And
Town Councillor hiring' Nottingham, the HET. T. O'Malley and Is
M'Douall; Bristol, S. Bartlett; Norwich, W. Dixon; West London
Vernon; titalrybridge, J. Crossley; Lancaster, J. Matthews
Bolton, AL Stevenson; Hyde, G. ; Northampton, J. Pehunly
Paisley, K. Cochrane; Dundee, 1. feltae; South London, T. M.
Wheeler; Itarnsley, J. Shaw; Lynn, J. Thwahcs; Halifax, E. Jose.;
Glasgow, A. Harley and J. Adms; Oldham, S. Kydd; Leeds, W.
Brook and J. Barker ; Falkirk, S. Nt'Lran ; Edinburgh, J. Cumming I
and H. Ranker.; Manchester, J. Leach Donovan; Hanley and
the Potteries, P. 11.tirath ; London, J. Pamela and H. Child.
Several other delegates, whose credentials had not arrived,
were in attendance, and by a resolution of the assembly
were allowed to take their seats.
Mr. CLAIAKH announced that he had received a letter
from Mr. Mitchell, of Dublin, 'dating that though he had
been elected as delegate for Rochdale, he did not think ho
should be able to take his seat in the National Assembly.
The CHAIRMAN having announced that the object of the
present National Assembly was to memorialise her Majesty
to call such ministers to her councils as would adopt as the
basis of their measutes the principles embodied in the
" People's Charter," an order was made that the public
should be admitted to the galleries on the payment of one
penny each, and that to the body of the hall visitors shnuld
be received on the free orders of the delegates, a privilege
which in the course of the day was extensively exercised, and
the result was a crowded assemblage.
After some unimportant business the assembly (at one
o'clock) adjourned as usual.
When the delegates re esaembled athalf-past 2, the Chaim
man called attention to some 'natters of routine business
which required immediate attention, and accordin sly a
finance committee, a general business committee, and lastly
an " agitation committee," to direct and conduct the move-
ment in the metro,:olis, were severally appointed. We may
also add that the election of a money-taker and a chef k-
taker to officiate at the doors farmed part of t'ao resumed
proceedings.
Capt. O'BaYAN was called upon by the chairman and, in
obedience to the call rose and adireased the assembly, but
in so low a tone as to be almost wholly in to us, as
the a" quel will show he was to many of the delegates. As
far as we enuld catch a word, we uulentooil tee gallant
gentleman to say that, in accordance with tho
ir-
vitation of the late convention, he had been deputed,
together with Mr. DJ'.crp y, by the Irish Coot deration
I to state that the confralerstion had studied the statute com-
monly known as the Conn.:l6,m Act, and had corns to thus
opinion that, under existing circumstances in Ireland, it
would not be prudent send delegates from Irciand to this
' national assembly. The existing euvernmeet bad eheadl
commenced a ruclilem and cruel prosecution against some of
Ireland's best and bravest SODS. The state of things at
r present existing in that country showed that the g
teero-
went meant to proceed in a cruel, and, he would say, blood-
• thirsty, manner. Under such eircumstauces h had eon.
, suited his own solicitor, who be in gof opinion that it would not
ho prudent for him, an Irish confederate, to sit at the al-
-1 sembly of any coastituency whatever, he had therefore re-
solved to forward to the Eliglislimen who had chosen
s him as their delegate, his resignation of that trust and
honour; and after making this announcement he
, should withdraw, with urgently recommending the as-
sembly to organise a well-arranged agitation in this country:
it was determined such an agitation should be pursued in
• Ireland. By these means the government would he wholly
- disabled front concentrating (as they designed) their who'c
, fames in Ireland. Such we gatherei, to bc the seatontes ad-
dresind the speaker to the Meeting.