The Express.
London, England, 1849-05-31 00:00:00

SPAIN.

The following circular has been addressed by the
Spanish government to all its plenipotentiaries in
foreign courts :
The melancholy situatien in which the h ad of the Catho
lic religion is placed, fugitive as he is, and reduced to accept
en asylum of a foreign power, senders It necessary for the
over, meet to reflect sefe.usly upos the means to be taken
to avoid the evils which threateu chtietanity, if the tribute-
tations which affect the sovereign pontiff are no:
x °eddy pet an end to. The government of her majesty,
which for some time previous had foreseen the pro-
ba.ility of the Crelati now occurring, seeing its tore.
heduige realised, has been able to offer the holy father the
serious support of Spain, and is determined to afford the
Pope the necessary as.istance to enable him to resume his
entire liberty and the independence and majesty indispen.
sable to the exercise of his wend functions. From these
motive.. the government, on hearing that the Pope
had been obiiged to fly from Rome, addressed the
French government, which had just shown favourable view,
is the liberty of the holy father, and Invited it to join with
the cabinet ef Madrid in everything touching the dignity of
the heed of the church, and thus to make this a cimmon
question to the two natioas. But this no gotiatiin, the
object of which was to prevent any inconvenience that
might aria from the opinions of the two governments as to the
opportunity of the timewhen the measures adopted should be
execute], may at the present be cons'dered as i nautticiere,seei ng
the progress that events have been making lately in the cis
pital of the pontifical state,. The question is now no loeger
that of defending the liberty of the holy father, which is
threatened by the exces-es of his subjects, but it may be al-
moot considered as reeled by the departure of the holy
father from Rome. Besides tele, however, there is another
question, the importance of which is no leas gr. at, and in
which the catholic powers are equally interested, and that
ns in the question of eur i ing n a permanent manr.er the
supreme authority of the pontiff, by placing it under shelter
against ail appearance of violence, of whet-ever nature it
might be, which would be calculated to be fatal to the cause
of the church ar d the peace of Europe. Your excellency
knows the solicitude that has always been felt for ensuring
to the head of the church a really independent posi-
tion. The very organisation of the politics' states,
en organisation respected during to many centuries, is an
irrefragible proof of this proof; catholic nations have indeed
always guaranteed the temporal sovereignty of the Pope, in
order that the influence of the foreigner might not cast a
shadow of suspicion on the spiritual authority exercised by
hint ov r catholic nations. This situation is one of
such vital interest to the people of all ehris-
tisni.y, that it cannot remain at the mercy of so
small a portion of it as exists in the Roman states. Spain
does not pretend to meddle is the internal policy of the
states, but it cannot, any twee than other states, consent to
h.ve the liberty of the head of the church at the mercy of
the city of Rome, and, at the time that el the powers are
offering to the Pope the homage of their respect and
veneration, allow a single town to outrage his dignity
by reducing the pontiff to a state of dependence,
which might end in an attempt one day against religious
authority itself. These considerations have so much weight
that in tee cAtsideration of her majesty's :government they
have led her to invite the catholic nations to come to an

agreement as to the means to be adopted to avoid the evils
which mutt inevitably happen if matters remained in the
state they are now in. The interest of Spain is not here ex-
clusively Spanish, it is universal and common with that of all
catholic powers, whom the uncertain situation of the Pope
must throw into perturbation and disorder. Therein's, if
these powers were animated with the same snitiments Si it
is to be hoped that they are, it would be most important that
they should act in common accord, and that it should be
fully established that the object of their conferences is purely
religious. In order to obtain these desirable results, the
government of her majesty has addressed the cabinets of
France, Austria, Portugal, Bavaria, Sardinia, Tuscany,
and Naples, inviting these powers to name plenipo•
to/diaries and to state where they are to meet. With the
object of avoiding delay, government proposes to have them
either at Madrid or in some sea coast town on the Mediter-
ranean. However, on this point the government is ready to
hold them on whatever other point the powers may think fit.
The circular concludes by miring the ambassador
to whom it is addressed to do all in his power to for-
ward the views contained in the despatch. The cir-
cular is signed Pedro Jose Fidel.

WILFUL DAMAGE TO THE ELECTRIC TELE-
°RATH —The first instanoe of nsacicioas injury being done
to the electric telegraph ha just occurred on the Loudon
and North Western Railway, between Clifton Bridge eni
Rugby, by the twisting of the wires, and by which the com-
munication was broken off between London and Rugby
down, and Liverpool, Manchester, and Birmingham up.