The Express.
London, England, 1848-08-23 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 23, 1848.

With a range of free states extending along its
northern frontier for about a thousand miles, it looks '
with dismay upon the proposal to flank it with a vast i
free territory to the westward. It has all the more ,
reason to apprehend this, considering that, south- I
ward, are Hayti, and the free British colonies,
with Cuba and Porto Rico in a state of incipient '
servile revolt. Slavery in America, would not be
worth a month's purchase, if the south were thus
surrounded on all sides by free populations. The
vital interest, therefore, which it has in the pending
controversy may easily be imagined.
To tho north, again, the question is equally im•
I portant, but fur different reasons. It looks with just
alarm upon the vast accession of strength which
slavery would obtain by permitting its establishment
in the new territory. 'I he compromise ryatem will
no longer avail, fur, short of the British provinces,
the. north has nothing to look to as a set off to the new
acquisition. This, 'therefore, at last brings the
question to a head—arid with this comes at last the
day of trial. The ingenuity of Congress has been
to months taxed in vain to stave rif yet again, if
possible, the issue. A compromise, on a new princi-
ple, has been proposed and adopted by the senate, a
bilihaving passed that body enacting that all th • ter-
ritory north of the 36th parallel of latitude should
be free, and leaving it to the future occupiers of that
which lay south of that parallel, to decide for them-
selves whether they would have slavery or not. But
ea very little of the new territory lay north of the
36th parallel, and as the proposal to leave
the decision of the question, as regarded
that lying south of it, to its future occu-
piers, was virtually to make slave territory of the
latter ; the norm refused to entertain the proposition.
The senate bill has been summarily laid upon the
table of the lower house by a considerable majority—
in other words, the House of Representatives has re-
-1 used even to listen to it. Congress adjourned on the
nth inst., leaving the question in this unsettled state,
as a bone of contention between parties at the pending
presidential election.
The question has now, therefore, reached that stage
that the soiner it is settled the better. Tnere is every
danger in delay. And so is there danger in approach-
ing it. But the time is now near at hand when one
or the other party must yield, or when both, adhering
to their principles, will rend the Union asunder.
This is the legacy which tiro Mexican war has be-
queathed to the United States.
The present state of the question will have one
good immediate effect, however, for it will keep CASs
from the presidency. la the existing state of the
world's affairs this will be a blessing to humanity.
TAYLOR'S chances of success are becoming daily more
promising ; but then with Txvi.ox we shall have the
whigs in, and with the whigs, it is to be feared, a
revival of high twills.

FRANCE.

l'AttlS, MP:RDAS', 11 A Y.

The military demonstration which I mentioned in
my letter of lust evening is given with more detail in
the
,journals of this morning.
Nothing, however, occurred to disturb order, and
towards the evening the troops were dismissed to
their quarters.
The commission has not published all the docu-
ments seized at Schneer', but has deposited them at
the Asse ably, so that they may be consulted by the
presentatives.
The first permanent court-martial sat again yester-
day to try Paul Saiutard, who bad been one of the
Nlontaznards, charged with having taken the com
mand of the insurgents at the barricade of the Rue du
Jardin des Plantes, thus attempting to destroy the go-
vernment of the republic, exciting civil war, and
bringing devastation, massacre, and pillage into the
capital. The p•isoner was sent. need to hard labour at
fire hulks for 10 yearr, to pay a tine of 200 f. and the
costs of the prosecution.
Another detachment of about 400 of the insurgent
prisoners ordered for transportation was sent off to
llavre on Sunday night, by the railroad, and among
them were several in the uniform of the National
(Maid and the Garde Iti,publicaine.

loyal Austriass. We fight for the liberty of the crown and
of the people—fer fraterrity and cquality."
Idolised y hie soldiers, the Beau returned from St. Joan
to Agram. In the course of this week the attack will com-
mence. The forces of the Bann are est.sated between
80,000 and 00,000 men.
It will be seen, by reference to our Italian news,
that a Croatian force, which had occupied Fiume, is
said to have marched towards Trieste.

COLOGNE, Auo. 20.

Our gaieties are ended; the current of events flows
again in its wonted channel, and we may calmly re-
view the incidents of the last few days. The King
of Prussia's excursion to Cologne to meet the Vicar of
the Empire and the parliament fell upon the same
days which the l'rince of Prussia selected foe an ex-
eursion to Stettin to witness an expression of the sen-
timents of " the pure Prussian blood." Whilst the
King was exchanging felicitatious with the parlia-
ment, the Prince was in the north of Germany taking
a census of the friends of the ancient state of things.
The King of Prussia was drinking the healths of
people who are the sons of a revolution at the same
time that the Prince of Prussia was drinking the
healths of people who remained faithful to anti-revo-
lutionary I elieth and holes.
This is the double face which Prussian politics wear
at this moment, and which shows itself everywhere.
There are many people who believe the Kiog sincere
in his revolutionary and liberal demonstrations ;
there are others who look upon them as a farce. For
my part, I am of the opinion of the former, but this
does not set my mind at ease. The King is energetic
by starts, but he is not stable and firm in his resolu-
tions, and no one can 'predict what he will desire and
think to-morrow. But there are indications which
warn us that, notwithstanding his liberal protesta-
tions, we ought to he on our guard, and not take them
tbr more than they are worth.
Many people have been struck by the "accidental"
forgetfulness of the King to invite Baron Von Arnim,
formerly the Prussian ambassador at Paris, and more
recently Minister of Foreign Affairs, who resides at
Bonn, only two mi!es from Bruhl. They ask why
M. Von Arnim was left out? And this is the answer.
"It was M. Von Arnim who prompted the King to
say, Prussia mast resolve itself into Germany'
(Prenssen muss in Deutschland anfyehn) ; and th ■
expression was and is the cause of the ex-ambassador's
and x-minister's disgrace. The who!o court is
eta-aged at this expression, and the King thinks as
the court thinks; or, if he thinks otherwise, has no
wish to quarrel with the court for the sake of a
displaced mini-ter. At all events the incident
is full of meaning, when vie wed in con-
nexion with tie toasts and speeches of these
last tow days. The parliament at Frankfort
in‘ists upon Prussia becoming a province of Germany;
the King of Prussia drinks the health of the parlia-
ment ; and at the same time he keeps at a distance
tee only minister who appears to comprehend the
true position of Prussia in a consolidated German
em ',ire.
From all this it mast be inferred that if the King
of Prusaia is sincere his position is neither clear nor
satisfactory. It may be that he desires the unity of
Germany; but ho desires it after a fashion of his own
—after the l'russian fashion. lie wishes Germany
to become Prussia, not Prussia to become Germany.
It is also remarked that the king drank the health of
the members of the parliament, but that he did not
drink success to parliament; that the Priece of
Prussia, when in the north, did not once mention the
words " Ge•many " or " parliament ;" and that he
talked about nothing but Prussia, and the loyalty of
the subjects of I'russia to their princes, and their
immediate country.
This exclusively Prussian party in Prussia can
never have the ascendancy ; it has in its favour only
some of the provinces—and even in them there are ac-
tive and devoted friends of the German cause—and a
f, w towns in the west. But this party is backed by
the court, and by a good many of the high civil and
military functionaries. For the moment, this party is
all-powerful .n the upper regions of society, and the
consequence is that in the lower regions many dare
not express their real sentiments for tear of incurring
he of their superiors. Hence, too, we
witness many demonstrations in favour of this
party in localities where it is the reverse
of popular. This was the case, for example,
even here in Cologne. The soldiers of the regiments
stationed at Cologne are not re-actionariee in the
mass. It ever they are called upon to choose between
l'ruesia and Germany they will show their German
patriotism. But that has not hindered the officers
from placing on the principal barrack in Cologne the
insc •iptien —" Frederick William we are thine "
(Friedrich Wilhelm win rind ein). The public was
disgusted at this device; many of the soldiers were
indignant; but nobody hooted it, because such an
expression of feeling would have led to a brawl, and
that was to be avoided during such a festival.
A similar expression of sentiment at Dusseldorf
has produced a lamentable result there. The
excessive zeal of the Prussians par excellence pro-
voked a counter-expression on the part of the Ger-
mans, and some anarchists have carried their opposi-
tion to revolting brutalities. There is reason to
apprehend that these are not the last excesses that
may have to be recorded ; but there is every reason
to hope that parliament, acting as hitherto with firm-
ness and prudence, will in the end overcome all
resistance, and compel Prussia to "resolve itself into
Germany," notwithstanding the disgrace which has
struck the man who first uttered this historical ex-
pression.

AUSTRIA.—VIENNA, AUG. 17.—1 n consequence of
the heavy raise, storm', and partial rain spouts which Man-
dated the country during the nights of the let and 2nd July,
the greater part of the circle of Villach, in the government
of Laybach, in Austrian 11lyria, namely in Tarvia, Korte►-
chach, Spital, Cii-mfenberg, and Upper Villach, has been
devastated and destroyed to a moot tearful extent, and hun-
dreds of families have been brought to beggary and the ut-
most distress. The damage sustained cannot he less than
several thousmd guilders. A public subscription has hen
opened in Vienna by the city police authorities, and it is
earnestly hoped that the distress with which this large
portion of our fellow-subjects have been so unexpectedly
visited will be mitigated by those who have been spared a
similar visitation of Providence.
IMAZILS.—By the French steamer Magellan,
whi. h has arrived in France with Baron Oroe on board, we
have dates from Rio Janeiro to the 2nd of July. The
arrival out of the news of the blockade of the Elbe had
off •cted commercial matters to such a degree that exchange
fell to '23d.