The Express.
London, England, 1847-01-15 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS..

In reply to more than one Correspondent, we repeat that a new% scent
who receives armies by early railway trains, is fairly entitled to
charge Sid. The subscription for a quarter, 19e. fd., to be paid in
advance. is for copies supplied by ;lost. Whoever deniers to have a
cheap paper, can surely comply with these condition•. When sub
rend es do not pay in advance, or when special service% are per-
formed, it is • quediem of credit or of arrangement, with which tbe
Propricaws have nothing to do. We believe that all respectable
news einem supply the Erpreut by post at 19s. 6d, the quarter,
paid in advance; a dozen, or more. have announced lac fact by
Wynn/semen . If, however, any didlealtv mire. we will onderbike
to get copies supplied on receiving a P. vit:offire ma, for 19.. 6.1.,
made payable to Mr. Joseph Smith, Doily News Ofbcc, Whitch
We cannot entice, in any way, any communication that Is sent to us
anonymously : but those whochonee to address cm in confidence will
Ind theircontldence respected. NEITHEECAN WE UNDERTAKE
T.l RETURN ANY MANUSCRIVT6 WHATEVER.
A Maseuser will perhaps read the above, and then send us his
name without which we cannot publish his statement.
Advertisement. Intended Air TAP Ef ryas, Lawton evening pal er,
must be at the Oaks. by Two o'clock ou the cloy of publication.

inctr WATER AT LONDO!-BRIDGE,

11401 Dol'. 7111.111 g, 1, min. pad 0; Aftermath 43 min. pat 0.
To-Homing,—Moining, 11 min. c.o. 1 ; Afternoon, 30 min. poet 1.

LONDON, FRIDAY, JAN. 15.

We cannot look upon two statesmen, conducting
the affairs of their res.evtive countries, and called
to defend their policy by the pen, in the light of tw•o
lawyers, who appear for plaintiff and defendant, and
whose cleverness or dialectics we can criticise or com-
pare. This is the view which the Times takes of
Lord PALMERSTON and M. GLIZOT, as they figure in
the great diplomatic contest, of which we published
the lengthy, but important, proceedings yesterday and
to-day. We cannot separate the politicians from their
policy, their talents from their conduct. Read-
ing Lord PALMERSTON'S remonstrance against
the Infanta's marriage, we cannot but recol-
lect that he had but just come into power,
and found himself, without provocation, tricked,
and the interests of the country betrayed. Complaint
in such a case was a duty ; warmth, and even resent-
ment, natural. On the other hand, we are M. Gutzur,
after having stolen from England a covert and a dis-
honest advantage, and after having worked it a
wrong, which was meditated under the guise of
friendship—we see him come forward to invent
excuses, torture facts, exaggerate the pettiest circum-
stances into momentous events. and draw up his whole
story with specious plausibility and slight regard of
truth. Contemplating such a combat between such
adversaries, we have not leisure or patience to
think of their talents or dialectic merits. We
ask, which of them is honest and sincere; of
which of them do the acts and the language most
agree? The reply of impartial judgment is, that
in this ease Lord PALMERSTON, representing JOHN
BOLL, has been a much-injured gentleman, and M.
OVUM, representing France, a very cunning, and
successful, and specious lawyer. If we superadd the
reflection that Lord PALMERSTON is a man of busi-
ness, whilst M. GUIZOT is a philosopher who pro-
fesses morality, we are the more struck by the con-
trast between men and their professions.
In order, however, to form any judgment respecting
these Spanish marriages, it is requisite to consider cer-
tain circumstances connected with their progress,
which are hinted at, but not disclosed, in these docu-
ments, and which, indeed, demand to be told, in
order to render those despatches intelligible. We
shall, therefore, for a moment, abandon disquisition
for narration.

The desire entertained by the King of the FRENCH
for a marriage between one of his eons and the
Spanish Infanta is well known. England, under
Lord MELBOURNE'S ministry, would not fora moment
entertain the idea. The court of France, therefore,
turned to Austria, and hoped to obtain its support by
a variety of successive offers, the last of which was to
marry Queen IS.tRELLA to Count TRAPANI, a 'mince of
that branch of the Bourbons most closely connected with
Austria, and most under its control. This was also
the desire of CHRISTINA, herself a Sicilian princess;
and Nanv.o2 embarked zealously in the scheme, on
which he hoped to found his own greatness and
power at court.
In the mean time, the Whigs had been ejected
from office, and Lord PALMERSTON been succeeded by
a minister whose purpose it was to draw close the
links of the Anglo-French alliance, smooth away
the difficulties between nation and nation, court and
caurt,—an advance which the French King and mi-
nister eagerly met. The consequence was, that poli-
tical affairs, and the great relations of the countries,
came to be treated, as it were, en familk. The French
court took advantage of the intimacy to press their
favourite object, which, in such cordial meetings, it
was scarcely
.possible to repudiate altogether. And
the great point was gained of England's admitting
the marriage of a French prince with the Infanta,
provided the Queen should first have offspring.
Thus matters rested, when, towards the close of last
year, the state of Queen IsaristLs's condition of
health became better known. French physicians, of
trust and eminence, were sent to give consultation,
and to report their opinion of the Queen's health.
From that moment there was observed in the French
court, and its embassy at Madrid, an intention to bring
about the marriage of the Queen with almost any one,
in order that a simultaneous marriage between the
Due de MocrrrEstsma and the Infanta might take
place too. With this view it was necessary to have
a pretext for doing without English assent.
The pretext hit upon was, the existence of in-
tentions and intrigues to marry the Queen of SPAIN
to the Duke of SAXE COBURG. Who set this scheme
on foot? Who induced the young prince to visit
the shores of Spain? It was certainly not Lord
ABERDEEN and Sir ROBERT PEEL. The Spanish
court, however, seemed to enter zealously into the
project. They sent an envoy to Paris, under the
pretext of negotiating such a marriage. And the
two Queens, moreover, addressed a letter to the
English government, formally proposing it. Mr. I
BULWER was informed of the existence of such a
letter, and was asked to forward it. He was too wary
to consent; and it was forwarded through another
channel to Lord ABERDEEN. His lordship put the
letter in his pocket, walked with it to the French
ambassador, and showed it at once to that personage,
who felt or affected the utmost surprise. Now, con-
sidering that all this time the Spanish court was com-
pletely under the control and guidance of Count
Bus.ssoN, the French envoy at Madrid, can it be for
a moment supposed that he was not privy to the exis-
tence of this letter, or that it was anything than
a trap, laid at least by the Queen Mother and
Count BRESSON, to betray the British minister
into some support of the SAXE COBURG marriage,
and to their thus affording a pretext for what M.
BRISSON had long planned, a precipitate and violent
conclusion of the marriage of the princesses ?
Such, evidently, from his despatch, is the belief of
Lord PALMERSTON, such the general conviction of

those who have scanned these events with the best
opportunities of forming a sure judgment.
Now, it is out of this frame abortive plot that M.
GIJIZOT is forced to extract a pretext for the precipita-
tion of the Spanish marriage, against the peculiar
understanding of the Chateau d'Eu. Lord ABER-
DEEN carefully avoided giving the pretext. He
quitted office, however, and Lord PALMERSTON,
on re-entering Downing-street, found in it no trace,
it is said, of the stipulations of Eu, nor yet any
trace of that important memorandum of Feb. 27th,
(only to be found in the L'xi» eas and Daily News of
yesterday, and in the documents laid before the
Chambers), wherein M. GUIZOT declares that
the marriage of the Queen or the Infanta
with a SAXE-COBURG becoming probable shall
liberate him from all ties, and set him free to
demand either the Queen's or the Infanta's hand
for the Duke of MoriveriNstza. The debates
in our parliament, and the inevitable explana-
tion of Lord ABERDEEN, must throw light en this
part of the question. But, as far as yet appears,
nothing could be more innocent than Lord l'Ar.mEhs-
TON'll mentioning casually, in a note, the name of' a
Saxe Coburg in the list of candidates for the Queen's
hand, especially when he declared, at the same time,
that such candidate would by no means be proposed
or supported by the English government.
It is, however, upon this frail pretext that M.
GUIZOT founds his being warranted to cast aside all
past understanding with England, and to empower
Count Bassos to precipitate the marriages at
Madrid under circumstances most indecorous and dis-
graceful in themselves, as well as insulting to Eng-
land, without mentioning other circumstances and
antedates eosneeted with the affair, geaeraliosalp
lied stamping it with every attribute of

unfairness, and intrigue.
Our own opinion Is, that Count BRESSON is the
villain of the piece, and that the greater part of the
trickery, as of the violence, is to be attributed to his
unscrupulous and daring character. We do not think
Guizor capable of ordering or planning what
Count BRKssoN did. But now that it has been done,
and successfully, M. GnizoT has seen the necessity of
supporting IlitEssoN through thick and thin; and in so
doing, he hus, we think, made out a case for history,
very lamnatory to himself, his sovereign, and his

country.
Lord PALI! ERSTON has infinitely the better in this
diplomatic contest. llis second despatch, in which
he follows out, with necessary tedium, but with no
more than necessary patience, the winds and double•,
and special pleadings of his antagonist, is so perfect
that no fair and lion, st man could resist it.

But Lord PALIIIiRsTON'S conduct up to the
period of the Spanish marriages is one thing—his
mode of fullowing them up, and working them into
a serious and permanent quarrel, is another. On this
latter point we must await further information. But
as we long since declared, the Infanta's marriage was
an exent to have been prevented at ail risks; the
manner of it was such, as that no condemnation could
be too severe. But to revenge it by an angry and
permanent separation of the two countries, would be
a sad exemplification of the " remedy king far worse
than the disease."

FROM the official version of the speech explanatory
of the budget, delivered to the Chamber of Deputies
by the Minister of Finance, we published yesterday
those portions which most interest the English general
reader—the explanations offered respecting the state
of the Bank of France and the gross estimates of
expenditure for 1848.
fhe " diseours" from which these extracts are
made is characterised by much artistical skill in its
composition, and ultra-conservative language. The
great duty of Government and the Chambers, accord-
ing to the Minister of Finance, is "to avoid parsi-
mony as well as prodigality, to resist the seduction to
realise too speedily the numerous reforms demanded
by an advanced ctvilisatiou, and not to shrink from
imposing oa the country the sacrifices required to
assert the rank which is its due." Rightly under-
stood, there is a good deal of truth in these maxims,
but the evident gusto with which they are announced
would inspire us, were we Frenchmen, with a mis-
giving that the orator might be disposed to carry his
principles to extri me&
The business of a French minister of finance is to
show how the deficits of lormer years are gradually
being liquidated by the reserves set apart for that pur-
pose ; to explain in how far the credits asked for
the current year vary by excess or diminution front
the estimates for its various services sanctioned last
session by the Chamber; and to intimate the votes
that will be required for the ensuing year. It was
the unpleasant task of the present Minister of Finance,
on the late occalion, to intimate that the liquidation of
former deficits is not proceeding so rapidly as had
been hoped; thatconsiderable additions to the estimates
voted last year for the service of the present will be
asked for; and that the public expenditure in 1848
will probably be still further augmented. In order
to explain this state of affairs, and vindicate the
management of himself and colleatues, he enters into
a review of the actual economical and financial state
of France. It is to this the French, and generally
the European public are indebted for his exposition
of the position in which the Bank of France at pre-
sent finds itself.

If the view taken by the Minister of Finance of
the Bank's condition can be looked on as correct —and
it is plausible—it will also be re-assuring to those
who have been anxiously anticipating a derangement
of the monetary affairs of this country from a drain
of bullion originating in France. The Minister
states that the bullion and specie in the coffers
of the Bank of France have been reduced
far below the proportion to its liabilities re-
quired for the maintenance of a sound circulation.
The Bank, he admits, could only have prevented this
reduction by restricting its accommodation to the pub-
lic, and the adoption of measures tending to that end
might have produced general and dangerous embar-
rassment. But the most important part of his state-
ment is, that the diminution of the cash held by the
Bank has not been occasioned solely by drains from
foreign countries. "As soon as the deficiency of the
last harvest was ascertained, government judged that
the most efficacious and equitable means of coming to
the assistance of the people was, to impart greater
activity to the works in progress in all parts of the
kingdom. On the Ist of December, the expenditure
for this purpose exceeded the expenditure of the
preceding year by seventy millions [ot francs]. If to this
sum is added what the companies themselves have ex-
pended in the departments, it will be obvious that there
must have been a sensible increase in the transmission
of money from Paris to the provinces, and diminution
in the transmission from the provinces to Paris. This
double action has necessarily affected the coffers of
the Bank in the relations of the central establishment
to its branches, to the general commerce of the nation
and to the treasury." The minister also alludes to the
limited circulation of paper money in France, and the
disposition to hoard specie so prevalent among the
rural population. He denies that the drain upon the
Bank has been materially increased by the action of
the treasury ; but vindicates the abstract right of that
I department, if it should see need, to postpone theinterest
of the Bank to the public services, or to the security of
the public monies, even though the circulation might
be thereby injuriously affected.
Satisfied that he has thus succeeded in showing
that the present monetary crisis in France, though
grave, affords uo cause for despondency, the minister
proceeds to account for the slow progress of liquida-
tions and the increased estimates for 1847.

With regard to the liquidations. The deficit of
1844, originally amounting to 5,807,773 francs, has
been reduced to 181,530. The deficit of 1845, ori-
Finally estimated at 18,949,118 francs, by economy
in certain departments in 1843-4, and the non-em-
ployment of some credits in 1845, was transformed
into a surplus of 1,932,085 francs. Under these cir-
cumstances it was anticipated that 1846 would
see the extinction of these deficits, an event
which would have rendered the reserves al-
lotted for their liquidation free for the public
services. The deficit of 1846 was expected
to amount to rather more than 25 millions of
francs, but owing to the
for the army and nac.,
harvest, to 33 millions

opened for Algiers, to
expenditure, and other
will exceed 60 million.

1817 will in so many
1848, that the deficit in

estimated at leas than

however, it is hoped, will
crease in the receipts, with
oondttion of the general
hope to keep the unfunded
489 million', though in
L millions. To effect this,

the increased prices of rations
ivy occasioned by the deficient
ions of extruoroinary credits
14 millions of additional naval
icr causes, its actt.ial
.._...,.
ions. The cireaft -...... ... g>
ny respects reserislo tliesiglif, i \ :ri
trii;iesro
in the current year . '• :•-•:
61 millions of - isi --'
will in part be mat .by : lit...' - -:
anticipated from
It .
rektor ,- - 1
'
.Al 4 -::
icral revenue.
coded debt at as fair L as' -4', .-2
in 1845 it am efiaget 419•."..1
hie, much confidence` i :dils......jtig