The Express.
London, England, 1847-03-22 00:00:00

Tu!.

assuring her, that if she did not marry Don FRAN-
CISCO, she should never marry any one.
We shall not follow the young queen through her
daily scampering and her midnight racket, which
evince her royal eagerness to drown care in noise,
domestic misery in bustle and in the aemblanoe of plea-
sure. No serious blame can be attached to her conduct,
except that it is not of that dignified and orderly
kind which Spaniards
.require even in dissipation,
and the want of which in that country monstrously
diminishes the respect and loyalty. which should
hedge the throne. When any courtier, bolder than
the rest, ventures to hint that inconsiderate behaviour
in her Majesty bath the terrible:effect of increasing
the chances and partisans of the Conde de MONTE-
MOLIN, ISABELLA is said to reply, with a deep feeling
of weariness and disgust, that her cousin is welcome
to take • throne stuffed for her with thorns, and
shared by an idiot.
Louts PHILIPPE and M. Outtor are a pair of
grave and moral gentlemen. And yet they perpe-
trated this domestic tragedy, this sacrifice of a woman,
young, and a queen, and a BOURBON, to the base and
selfish policy of securing the succession of the
Spanish throne to a French prince. The great mass
of the English public may care little for Spain, for
Spanish independence, Spanish liberties or Spanish
parties. But events of this kind, when happening in
the humblest ranks of life, and bringing up their
perpetrators at the Old Bailey, do attract moral indig-
nation. And such interest the Spanish marriages
and their results ought to excite.
The drama, too, has not been played out. We are
yet but in the midst of it, and what horrors we may
have to contemplate ere its close, it is difficult for
imagination aptly to conceive. All we know and see
at present is, that the result of that marriage is the
mutual aversion of the spouses. The restlessness of the
Queen, and the acerbity of the royal temper justly
visited on all those who aided in her sacrifice, have
rendered it impossible for those personages to remain
at Madrid. Ceuta BREsSON has fled to Paris, and,
to all the entreaties that he should return to Madrid,
he declares that he will never put his foot
in that kingdom, or embassy again. He durst
not face the depth of Spanish execration. CHRISTINA,
too, who sold her daughter's happiness and crown to
France—she, too, has fled the reproaches of ISABELLA,
the curses of the country, and its prospective ven-
geance, wisely taking with her her ignoble husband,
and her illegitimate family.
ISABELLA now is left to her fate : the more faults
she makes, the more profitable it will be to the King
of the FRENCH—the nearer will be the chance of his
son and daughter-in-law's succeeding. That Spaniards
may become completely disgusted with Isenem.• and
ho leas of haecrc:rseny she can have none—
and
that they • ly may bow to the rising sun
of MONTPENSIER in France: that is all the aim;
that is the profound policy. Menrramoux will come.
The Legitimists, the clergy, and the Absolutists
will rally to him ; whilst the em's, obliged to seek
a prince to lead them, can find one nowhere
(especially since Don ENRIQUE has proved himself as
incapable as his brother) save at Paris. Such is the
plan clearly traced out and acted upon : as crooked,
as infamous, and as diabolical a plan as ever dis-
graced the page of MACHIAVEL.
In the remarkable documents laid before the Cortes
by the Spanish government there is an emphatic
letter of Mr. BuLwea's. That gentleman, addressing
Senhor Imam, drops for a moment the diplomatic
character, endear': "I wasinparliament at the period
of Queen ISABELLA'S rkuwgnition, and I can affirm
that did I then think her accession to the throne
would have drawn after it such a state of dependence
upon France as these marriages menace and evince, I
should decidedly have given my vote and support to
DOA CARLOS or his son." . .

There is great boldness, frankness, and truth in
I this declaration, which,coming from &British envoy, is
weighty and remarkable. It would seem to assert 1
that in case of the young queen's being set aside—as
is already the case, morally and prospectively—Eng-
land would prefer MONTEMOLIN and independence,
to MONTPENSIES and dependence on France. The
Conde de MONTEMOLIN is acting upon this supposi-
tion. His partisans, it appears, have organised a
wide insurrection in the north-east of Spain ; and
their present efforts are directed towards procuring
the co-operation of the Liberals and the town popula-
tions, which have been crushed and maltreated equally
with the Carlists by the Afrancesado Spaniards. An
alliance of the kind, however unnatural and dila-
cult, has taken place in Portugal, and is attempting
in Spain. Should it succeed, the years of ISABELLA'S
reign are numbered, unless the French intervene in
her behalf, and wind up their years of diplomatic in-
trigue by taking military possession of the capital and
the fortresses of Spain. .
Nothing can have been more forbearant or tran-
quil than the British parliament and press on the
question of these marriages. Silent disapprobation,
firm, bat unirritating, has been the universal tone.
Nor is any difference perceptible between parties.
Mr. Siirrne alone, in the late debate on Cracow, I
recommended a reconciliation with France. No one
will quarrel with the vague advice to obtain so
desirable an end. But what ought to be the terms—
what the basis—where the possibility? Let the ex-
Under-Secretary point them out. There never was a
moment when it was more desirable, more for the
interests of liberty, that France and England should
agree, and lend to Germany their countenance. The
fate of Europe is jeopardised by our disagreements.
But how are we to terminate it ? The blind and selfish
policy of Louts PHILIPPE and M. CIIIIZOT has gone,
not merely to produce a quarrel of a day, between
France and England, but one which has a century's
strife in it, which is most lamentably and radically
permanent, and which really one cannot see one's
way out of. Whoever could point out that way,
would do signal service to France, to England, and
to Europe.

Tut most hopeless quality of Irish nature is the
absence of all sufficing, self-governing power. No
matter what English law or institution has been ap-
plied to Ireland, demanding the co-operation of the
Irish themselves in administering and carrying it out,
that law has failed, that institution been perverted.
To begin with the highest institution, parliament
itself, such an assembly in Ireland answered not one
of its ends : it was prodigal, corrupt, tyrannic to the
lower classes—a shop of servility and jobbing to the
higher. What the Irish grand jury system was
turned to, all know: it was the same as parlia-
ment on a provincial scale. Petty juries in
Ireland are marked by every quality save justice.
Coroners' inquests difir,hring in the greatest bene-
factors of 'Mead • ty of murdering the starving
poor, in regions w ere the workhouses are empty,
and the poor-rate unlevied. Every attempt at Self-
government, even in the smallest matters, and on the
smallest scale, has failed in Ireland; not from dif-
ference of race—we cannot admit the absurdity—but
from habits of de nce, and from the absence of a
sturdy, well • middle class.
Every institution, every law, which has succeeded
in Ireland, has gone upon a principle the reverse
of that which has succeeded, or which would
be tolerated, in England; viz., upon the prin-
ciples of centralisation and government authority.
None have more lamentably failed than those which
have been entrusted to landed proprietors : witness
the grand jury, and the summary. authority of
justices. Yet, the result of attempting to apply a
remedy, by bringing a mixture of the middle clam to
control the upper—this, too, has failed : witness the
presentment lesions. In order to avoid the anarchy
of this in the Irish poor-law, the landed proprietors
are to be in adeaded majority. How will this work ?
We fear not at all. In every board of guardians there
will be a struggle, ending in the triumph or the de-
feat of the ex-officio members ; in either of which
alternative there will be abuse and mal-adminiatra-

of rateable property of 39,0001.—a union, too, in
which the proportion, of paupers must be enormous.
What vnllbe the result here, sr in unions similarly
situated ? Undoubtedly, the continuation of potato
plantipg, and of periodical famine—to meet which,
imperial resources will be looked to.
We esznet bat admit that we sympathise with
many of the fears and objections of the Irish members
to out-door relief to the able-bodied. We do not
think, however, that they have taken the right way
to meet it. Relief—plenary relief—will be voted ;
and, to make it effectual, out-door relief must be
ordered when the workhouses are full. The aim,
therefore, of the Irish party should be, we
think, to provide that the workhouse be never
full, and therefore in no case inapt for the application
of the test. The first purpose of the workhouse is to
be a test, in which, if it fail, the whole poor-law sys-
tem breaks down. In order that it should be a test,
why convert it altogether into the hospital or the
asylum? Instead of enacting that out-door relief
shall be given to the able-bodied, when the workhouse
is full, why not ordain that out-door relief shall be
infirm
given to the and sick, so as to leave room for
the working of the test on the able-bodied, and on
the vagrant ?
In the evidence attached to the second and third
report of the committee on the Law of Settlement, it
is impossible not to be struck with the justice of the
proposal of Mr. MEADOWS WHITE, which is, to give
out-door and parochial relief to the aged and infirm,
and hand the able-bodied over to be dealt with by the
union and the workhouse. To some such arrange-
ment as this we must come in England ; and it
would be advisable to introduce into Ireland rather
our proposed amendments than our old and inveterate
abuses.

Instead of making some rational or tenable stand
of this kind, the Irish landlords are exhausting their
own strength, and the patience of both government
and parliament, by vain efforts to throw out the only
apparent mode of meeting difficulties, and fixing them
to the oar of their duties. In this they will inevitably
fail ; whilst, if their efforts were directed towards
rendering the Poor-law wisely operative, and as effi-
cient a cheek upon the idle poor sa upon the lazy or
avaricious rich, such efforts might be attended with
good and important results.

Tae opponents of national education in Leeds
have won each a victory as the Jesuits obtained in
Lyons some years ago, and as the enemies of educa-
tion in Ireland acquired in the early existence of the
National Board. The three temporary triumphs
were obtained by the same questionable means, by
the same doubtful artifices, and by the use of very
identical and glaring misrepresentations. To make
the coincidence more complete, all three had under
other circumstances advocated state-interference with
education; the Jesuits supported it when Queues X.
was on the throne; the opponents of the National
Board had done the same so long as grants were made
to the Kildare-place Society; and the Leeds Mercury
had taken a similar course when, for sectarian pur-
poses, its proprietors deemed it expedieatto raise a cry
against the Wesleyan Methodists. All these opponents
o national education advocated the system so long as it
seemed probable that their sect or order would be
likely to obtain " the lion's share" in the "direction"
of the system ; but the Jesuits turned round when they
I saw that the University of France would have more
power in the management than the hierocracy ; the
violent protestants of Ireland made a similar evolu-
tion when they saw power transferred from their
packed committee to the National Board ; and the
Leeds Mercury commenced its coarse of self-refuta-
tion so soon as it appeared that the Established
Church was about to abandon its claim to exclusive-
ness, and to join tke rest of the community on equal
terms for the general education of the people.
The cry raised by the anti-educationerts of France,
Ireland, and England, is so nearly identical, that the
peroration of the memorable pamphlet issued by the
Jesuit DE-scatters would have served equally for the
confraternities of Lyons, the Church Education Society
of Dublin, or the majority at the late Leeds meeting.
"In conclusion," says the worthy Jesuit, after having
exhausted his vocabulary of vituperation, "we con-
jure the Catholics, and all good men everywhere, to
sign together, and everywhere, petitions in sup-
port of freedom of instruction not an indefinite
liberty, but such as exists in Belgium—a liberty in-
compatible with diplomas, testimonials of competency,
and certificates of morality." For this Jesuit liberty
Mr. BAINES is a strenuous advocate; he, too, opposes
any inspection to ascertain the competency of teachers
and the efficiency of their instructions. Like Desai-
NETS, he is quite content that schoolmasters should be
incompetent, and schools, consequently, worthless,
provided they are left under the control of himself
and his associates. The Jesuits contended for their
order as Mr. BAINES does for his sect, aad both were
equally consistent in their advocacy of state inter-
ference, and in their subsequent opposition to it ; just
as PROTEIIS continued to be the same man, though
self-interest led him to assume a variety of forms.
Sectarianism, whether exhibited by an established
church, or by a dissenting body, is a principle adverse
to the best interests of society; it brings out selfish-
ness and exclusiveness with a rancorous strength
which men would be ashamed to exhibit in their in-
dividual capacities ; and it too often suggests

Thatneat Stake, a factious cry.
Which Ws talky., anti Immo apply.
It is, therefore, with serious sadness that we find
ourselves obliged to bring the charge of sectarianism
against the .&eds Mercury and Mr. BAINES, junior;
it is with painful feelings that we have to charge the
paper and the person with the adoption of the same
untiur courses, which all the honest journals and
journalists of Europe have stigmatised with just re-
probation when pursued by the Jesuits of France.
In 1839 the Wesleyan Methodists adopted certain
resolutions on the subject of national education, in
which they expressed some fear that the state would
not make sufficient provision for the religious instruc-
tion of the children in the national schools. The
Leeds Mercury, as the organ of a religions body
strongly opposed to the Wesleyan Methodists, took
the opportunity, of rebuking that very respectable
body in the following courteous terms: " We call
upon the public to observe that if cavilling like the
above is to succeed in obstructing the government
plan, the effect will be altogether to prevent any
aid being given by government to the education of
the people." The Wesleyan are then accused, not
only of cavilling, bat of bigotry, and one of their most
distinguished preachers is invidiously pointed out
by name to public reprobation : " Let Bishop Ikon-
/Inn and Bishop BUNTING say what they please,
we believe neither the Church nor the Wesleyan.,
much less the Dissenters, will take up arms against
the amended project of the government, which is the
only feasible plan for assisting and stimulating the
all-important march of national education." We re-
member the resolutions thus condemned ; they were
more temperate and candid than those which Mr.
BAisse recently proposed at Leeds; we differed from
them, then and now, but we deny that they were
tainted with cavilling or sullied with bigotry ; and
there certainly was nothing in them to justify the
epithet invidiously and insultingly given to the Rev.
JABEZ Burrrinti. Then, and now, we thought that
the Leeds Mercury had allowed its sectarian rancour
so far to mislead the judgment as to permit the
calumnions misrepresentation of a large and respect-
able religious body,----a body to which we do not
belong, and to which we may therefore the more
readily bear testimony of having done much for
the cause of rational freedom and its best security,
social order. It seemed that the Leeds Mercury had
learned some of the arts which the Jesuits practised
spinet the Jansenists as a preliminary to the know-
ledge of those arts which the Jesuits have unscru-
pulously employed in France against the university
and the state.

popery leads to the same results that unreasonable
ued of philosophy haa produced in France : but
the question of Catholic endowment hes just as little
to say to national education at this side of the British
Channel, as that of the liberties of the Gallican church
had at the other. There is a spite in England against
the Maynooth grant, as there was a spite in prance
against the revolution of July, and in both countries
the spite was shown on the question of national edu-
cation, which had no earthly connexion either with
the grant or the revolution.
As their struggle grew more hopeless, the Jesuits
of France showed themselves willing to fraternise
with the republicans, the ultra-democrats and
the anarchists of France : Mr. BAINES, in servile
imitation of these tactics, appeals for support
to the Chartists. To them he addresses his bug-
bear that the measure "is calculated enormously to in-
crease the influence of government, and to destroy the
manly independence of the nation." Now Mr. BAINES
knew well that the appointment of pupil teachers and
stipendiary monitors is to be placed in the hands of the
local managers, and not in the hands of the govern-
ment ; and he further knew that the measure dimi-
nishes the patronage of the government by securing
for educational merit offices which are now given at
pleasure.
Mr. Csneurr, the " ditto to Mr. BURKE " of the
scene, took up the statistics which BAINES has aban-
doned as hopeless, and described the results of a system
unlike that of the Committee of Council —founded, in
fact, on directly opposite principles—and thence
argued for the rejection of the government measure.
We readily acquit this gentleman of having studied
Jesuit logic, or any logic whatever: we recommend
him, however, just to inquire how a measure similar
to that proposed has worked in the United States of
America, and not to weary himself and others by idle
disquisitions on the effect of a totally different system
in Germany.
In France, the Jesuits have succumbed : in Ireland,
the opposition to the national board has died away:
in England, we firmly believe that sectarianism can
never be • guiding principle. It Mr. BAINES does
not take care, he will stand in the ridiculous position
of Mr. NANGLE, of Achill, whose appeals for protec-
tion against an imaginary Popish conspiracy have
just ended in the conviction of his principal witness
for perjury. It is not safe policy to hazard assertions
capable of decisive refutation, but it is not easy to
avoid each a course, when men begin with a deter-
mination to oppose the government, and trust to
chance for supplying them with plausible excuses
for their opposition.

THE German papers bring ms the account of the
commencement of a new era in Austrian legislature.
A serious debate took place in the Chamber of the
Landstande of Lower Austria on the etk of March.
It has hitherto been usual to convene the body that
kept up the shadow of popular representation, at
Vienna, en the let of Octor. Some tact was shown
by assembling the Diet of the other seven provinces
on the let of September. These assemblies consist
of a bench of prelates, one of nobles (herren), and
one of knights (rider), sitting in their own right.
In Tyrol, the peasants and deputies, originally the
landstande, exerted a very serious control over
the acts of the sovereign ; and, at the period of the
Reformation, the landstande of Upper Austria,
uniting with their brethren at Vienna, presented
a demand to the bigotted FILIIDINAND 11. for tole-
ration for Protestants in his palace at Vienna.
The tyrant was about to sign the paper granting
the request, when the clarions of DAMPIERRE'S dra-
goons were heard, and the regiment, riding into the
court-yard, drove the astonished members out of the
palace. This regiment has, since that epoch, pre-
served the privilege of passing through the palace,
which, like St.. James's, is open to the public, with
music and flying colours. The same epoch marked
the commencement of a aeries of persecutions Nptinst

the Protestants, which depopulited Upper Austria
and part of Styria, as well as Bohemia. The power
of the Landstande was annihilated, and although the
form of summoning them was kept, yet they only
met for a single day in the year to hear the sum an-
nounced which the province to had pay in the shape
of direct taxation.

The Hungarian diet alone preserved its rights, and
a few years back these were confirmed and strength-
ened by several popular concessions on the part of the
crown. Since then, the diets of Lower Austria, in
which Vienna is situated, and of Bohemia, have ven-
tured to rummage out of their archives some docu-
ments tending to prove a right to discuss taxation
propositions. About two years beck the Vienna diet
took heart, and complained, rather in tones of la-
ment than resentment, that their advice was never
asked on the subject. To their great surprise, this
piece of audacity seemed to occasion no anger. In-
stead of a rebuke, they were invited to prove their
charter, which they had no great difficulty in doing.
On the present occasion, their activity has been re-
markable. Not only was a petition agreed to that
many articles of food nosy liable to excise duties
should be exempted, end an income-tax on the rich
levied instead; but a remarkable insight into a finan-
cial difficulty, that threatened to render a great im-
provement nugatory: was solved in a manner deserving
of serious attention in other countries.

The redemption of the labour rents in all the pro- I
vinces has been an object of great solicitude. As it
involves money payments both for rent and labour,
provision has been made for an extension of the cir-
culating medium, and the erection of a bank for ad-
vancing on the security of land, whether the
property of nobles or of peasants, has been ap-
proved. By the side of these two admirable pro-
positions, a debate on the propriety of allowing
the citizens of Vienna a share in the deliberations of
the diet does not lose in interest. The good burghers
(it must not be forgotten that all bankers, large
manufacturers and merchants can now take out letters
of nobility) until last year stood under the door to
hear the imperial taxation ordinance read. They
were then allowed to sit down. It is now proposed
that they shall both speak and vote. Count BREUNER
and Baron Srurr are recorded as the first "Herren"
who found the use of their tongues.

We have received our Paris express of Saturday.
The close of the week in Paris was marked by a
degree of excitement and astonishment among the
public which has rarely been witnessed, except in the
case of some great popular movement 'When the
annoriacement of the Russo-French financial trans-
action appeared on Wednesday night in the Moninsair
Parisiss, it was regarded by many, among wham
were individuals prominent at the Bourse, as a hem
The press on Thursday was all but silent I. met •
line of comment was uttered save by a angle rend
out of the twenty which issue daily. On Friday emd
Saturday, however, the subject engreeseithe attiwilea
of the entire prem. The miniekeial. sews sr=
it with timid and doubtinkapprobahon ; the
organ gave it as a harbinger of that alliance be
France which for so many years It has
advocated. Most of the opposition josh.=
their ingenuity to discover in it a politkals=seno
insinuating that there must be secret
known only to M. Ouizot and a higher persons.% to
be fulfilled hereafter. Meanwhile, no deacnptlos se
convey an adequate notion of the bewilderment at the
Bourse. The mortification of the =Li( *A
arena at being kept in the dark iota geilkellion
in the Moniteur, was extreme end in
which Rothschild himself ebsswi es haply es ethics.
The Journal des Dioats was of course sought with
extreme curiosity and solicitude. Here is the sub-
stance of what it has put forth. It admits the
universal astonishment, in which it shares; in a
financial view there is cause for
lion ; the bank will be relieved from its
embarrass-
ments without deranging commerce or disturbing
public credit. It is s' act of friendship of the Ern-
. ,

Among these intelligible motives the following
may be mentioned as abundantly apparent :
The circulation of Russia is a paper currency, the
amount of which may be taken at about 80 milhor.s
sterling. This is guaranteed by reserves in specie,
deposited in the fortress of St. Peter and Paul at St.
Petersburg, which at the commencement of the pre-
sent year amounted to above 100 millions of roubles,
equivalent to 16 millions sterling, being one-fifth of
the paper circulation. Owing to the large exporta-
tions of grain which have since taken place, and the
still larger orders transmitted, a considerable increase
of this stock of bullion is expected. France
has little export trade to Russia, and consequently
mast either procure the grain she wants in countries
prepared to receive her exports or send specie
to Russia. The drain of specie which has already
taken place has nearly exhausted her coffers, and it
was not improbable, therefore, that her custom might
have been withdrawn by necessity from the ports of
Russia and transferred to those of the United States.
The eyes of the , Emperor and those of his advisers
were wide open to this state of things.
The unexpected expedient which has been so sud-
denly. adopted offered a combination of advantages to
Russia. It supplied an advantageous investment
for a mass of capital lying in the vaults of St.
Petersburg. The French stock purchased by this
would be obtained at a favourable moment, the funds
being low. A rise would be almost certain, and, be-
sides the interest, a handsome premium would be
realised on the principal. But what must have
weighed much more powerfully with the Czar was
that French commerce, about to be directed to the
porta of the United States, would be brought back to
Odessa, and that a market would be sustained for the
enormous masses of grain which Russia produces, to
the great profit of Russian commerce and the benefit
of the imperial treasury.
In addition to these substantial motives based upon
financial considerations, it is impossible not to admit
that the Emperor of Russia must be duly sensible of
the advantages which must arise in the present rela-
tions of France and England, from an act which
would mitigate the hostile feelings entertained in
France towards the destroyer of Polish nationality.
There is no road to the heart of a commercial nation
so sure as through its pocket.
The objection which has been advanced by some of
the opposition journals that a dangerous power of
acting on the public credit of France will be placed in
the hands of a foreign, and hitherto unfriendly, sove-
reign, is rejected with something like contempt by
financial men.
Such appear to be the conclusions on this exciting
question at which the most sensible and influential
portion of the commercial world had arrived in Paris
on Saturday.
It bad been stated that the initiative in this pro-
ceeding bad been taken by the Bank. This, however,
is contradicted on authority by La Presse, which also
;
states that the committee, before which the proposition
of the Emperor was first brought, consisted of four,
and not of three, members of the council, as had been
previously stated; these members were—MM. Odier,
Jaques Lefebvre, Pillet-Will, and Hottinguer. The
Bank is to deliver an amount of 5 per cents., repre-
senting an annual interest of two millions of francs,
and of three per cents. representing an annual in-
terest of 145,000 fr., and it is to be entitled to draw
bills for the amount of the principal thus represented
at from 35 to 90 days' date. Thus specie will not
have to be directly imported. These bills will pan
into circulation in the usual way, and will find their
way through the usual channels of commerce to
Russia, a considerable portion of them being of course
transmitted in payment for the grain which has been
and is to be imported.
Among the establishments which will derive more
immediate relief from this measure, will be the Bank
of Marseilles. That institution, than which none can
stand higher in point of credit, had been ea ex-
hausted of specie, that recently it had absolutely sus-
pended its discounts. The drain of specie from Mar-
seilles will now cease. The bills on the treasury at
St. Petersburg created by the present transaction,
will be transmitted in lieu of it.
Although the present importation of grain has
largely operated in producing the existing finan-
cial embarrassment at the Bank, it is far from
being the sole cause of it. The extraordinary ex-
tension of public works, and especially railways,
which are and have been in progress, have rendered
necessary an increased circulating medium. The
rapidly increased extension of general commerce
through the country has contributed to the same
effect. Now, it is well known that the currency by
which these extensive operations are effected is com-
posed almost entirely in France of five-franc silver
pieces.
The relief which will arise from the present Rus-
sian transaction would be more than sufficient to ease
the pressure for the
.present on the Bank ; but when
the law which has just been adopted by the cham-
bers, authorising the issue of notes for 200 francs,
takes effect, followed, as it probably will be speedily,
by a farther reduction of the amount to 100 francs,
general ease and security may be anticipated.
Advice, have been received in Paris from Odessa,
which have had a still more favourable effect on the
prospects of the country. Notwithstanding the enor-
mous quantity of grain exported last year, which,
from that port alone, exceeded 1,700,000 quarters,
there was still in store . there, at the commencement

of the present year, little lees than 1,200,000 quarters.
Before the beginning of April large supplies were
expected from Cherzon and Bessarabia, and in May
from Podolia and Kiew. The price of grain at
Odeon last month was higher than it had been for the
last forty years. The winter corn of the beet quality
was sold at about 20 shillings per qr. It was estimated
that the value of the corn exported in January was
1,400,000 silver roubles, equivalent to about 224,0001.
The value of the imports in the same month was under
3.10,000 roubles, or 36,000/.

The Madrid mail with letters and journaLi of the
15th has arrived.

Tho cabinet continues at Madrid in an agitated and
uncertain state. Each mail brings an account of a
ministerial crisis which the next contradicts. The
ministry tenders its resignation to-day, the Queen
says she will consider of the matter, to-morrow gives
no answer, and the ministry keep their seats.
The Queen had signed the appointment of General
Serrano to the captain-generalship of Navarre, who
was accordingly ordered to leave Madrid for that
province. He did not comply with this order bat had
remained at Madrid. The ministry hastened to con-
voke an extraordinary meeting of the cabinet to deli-
berate on this delicate affair. This council was
attended not only by the members of the ministry,
bat also by MM. Narvaez, Martinez de is Rosa, Mon,
Pick], Donoso Cortes, the Marquis de Girone, the
Marquis de Villuma, Gonzalez Bravo, and other lead-
ing members of the Moderado party. The ministry
before acting in this matter wished to consult with
all these influential persona. It was decided that
General Serrano must be brought to trial for having
refused to comply with the orders of superior autho-
rity. On the 15th, at 3 P.M., all the ministers attended
the senate, where they announced the official nomi-
nation of Generals Serrano, Ezpeleta, and Fernandez to
make the military inspection in the provinces. The
Gazette of the 15th publishes these resolutions.
The ministry also read an exposition of General Ser-
rano, which gave an account of all that had passed
during the last two days, between the cabinet and
him, and which demanded of the senate to decide
whether he ought to quit Madrid in accordance with
the orders of the cabinet, or to continue to hold his
seat in the senate. The cabinet further demanded
the authorisation of the senate to bring General
Serrano to a trial for disobedience of orders.
The President of the Council, the Duke of Soto-
mayor, after these documents were read, explained

with her, and there cut his throat with a sharp knife she had
bought on purpose, nearly severing the windpipe, and with
such strength that the knife broke and cut her fingers. She
then rifled him. The unfortunate man endeavoured with
the little strength that was leR him to stop the blood with
WA shirt. A person in the house, attracted by his grown.
burst into the room and found him weltering in his blood.
The woman was arrested by a commissary of police as she
was leaving the house. On the following day she was Con-
ducted to the Morgue, where she was shown the corpse of
the murdered man, and made a full avowal of her crime.
BELGIUM.-2BRUSELs, MARCH 18.—The
tion of a free-trade in corn excites considerable intermt,
especially as it is feared that the recent changes in Holland
may be unfavourable to Belgium if the protective system is
maintained. Yet there is little hope fur free-trade mealtime
in the present chamber of representatives, which has a
mejority in favour of protection. The Antwerp merchants,
several leading manufacturers of Ohent, and the Brussels
Anti-Corn-law League, continue their agitation for a free
trade in corn. There has been a fall in the price of corn in
several important market, of Belgium, although the genera/
average prices of wheat and rye show a alight increase, at.
cording to the last quotations.
S W ITZERLAND. SCARCITY. Accounts from
Berne of the 15th inst. state that misery prevails to a fright-
ful extent in that canton, usually regarded as one of the mast
opulent in Switzerland. One of the journals estimated the
number of persona subsisting on public charity at no lam
than a hundred and some thousand', which is equal to one
quarter of the population of the canton. In some of the
districts, especially in the Berneee Oberland, provisions are
so scarce, and of so bad a quality, that some epidemic disease
is feared in the spring. Bankruptcies occur daily, ao4 sales
by auction increase on a similar scale. It was remareed that
during the whole year of 1807 there 'were fewer bank-
ruptcies than are indicated in one of the last numbers of
"Official announcements" of the canton. The budget of
the town of Berne for the present year show d a deficit of
127,5760, or about one-tenth of the cantonal deficit. The
scarcity of food increases. Domiciliary visits have been
made by order of the authorities in the establishments of cer-
tain individuals accused of boarding up stores of grain, bet
I they led to no other result than to prove the universal want
In the midst of all this misery, party spirit is as violent as
I ever. The organs of the Radical party, which had seemingly
become quiet, have burst forth again with renewed violence,
and a rising of the corps francs is expected, if the Catholic
league refuses to disarm, which is more than likely. The
canton of Friburg, which, owing to its geographical pod.
lion, is more open to an attack than any of the other
cantons, is making the preparations necessary for defer.
ITALY.—ROME, MARCH 9.—The sovereign puttiff .
has appointed a commission to draw up the statutes for an .
order of chivalry. The order is to be the reward of merit
and good scions without regard to the faith and the country
of the individual. It is to be divided into two classes. The
first will confer hereditary rank, the mond nobility for the
iife-time of the member. The order is a star with the motto:
Virtue: et merito. M. Fornari, papal nuncio at Paris. has
been recalled, and is to receive the cardinal's hat. Owing to
the high price of provision, and not to deprive a number of
persons of the meant of earning their bread, the Pope has
authorised the theatres to remain open during Lent. This
is the first example of such a measure. A law on the liberty
of the press, drawn up in a rational and liberal spirit, is
shortly to be promulgated. The difference which had arisen
between the Holy See and the Abbe de Lamennsie, will be
shortly settled. Great astonishment will be felt at this affair,
which has as yet been kept a profound WIWI.
NAPLES.—AN ANCIENT AMPRITHEATRE.—It is
stated, in a letter from Naples' that the ancient amphi•
theatre of Polmsolei has been freed from the earth that var.
rounded it, and may now be examined in all its parts. The
dens of the animals, which are situated under the arena, are
of extremely solid masonry, and in a state of excellent pre-
servation. Lamps, parts of columns, and remains of archi-
tectural ornaments, have been found in them.
GERMANY.—A letter of the 13th from Berlin
states that the health of the Queen of Prussia had become
so much improved, that her Majesty had been able to leave
her bed for several days.
AOBTRIA.—VIENNA, MARCH 9.—FIIMT PUBLICS.
?lox or DEBATES or ens Ars-IRIAN Dien.—The Aar-
Owl Gasette of the 14th inst., contains • remarkable an
of the times. For the first time the debates of the assembly
of the states of Lower Austria are published. The debates
began on the Is% and were closed on the Bth lust. They were
carried on with much spirit. Among them may be men-
tinned, In the first place, the royal rescript of the insulation
of the states in June relative to the taxes for 1847. The
eaks have resolved on an humble petition to the Ring,
l
that he would take into consideration
_a reduction of the

taxation, especially on the necessaries of life and on stamps.
As a compensation to the revenue, an universal income-tax
is to be recommended.—Another topic discussed by the
esionahly was one on which the states have been intent foe
some years, the improvement of cross country roads between
the provincial towns, to communicate with the great roads.
A committee has been appointed to draw ups report of plans
of roads in other countries, to be laid before the next as-
sembly of the states, which will, probably, take place in
May. The royal resolution of December 14, for the aboli-
tion of the roots and tithes (the taxation so complained of
by the Galician peasant.] officially announced to the
states, was most cordially received, and the states una-
nimously resolved to petition the king for certain
regulations necemery in order to carry that &boll- •
tion into effect as speedily as possible. A very
interesting debate arose on the educational men-
sores of the government, and especially on the neces-
sity of means for the improvement of the condition of
parish schoolmasters. For this purpose a committee was
appointed. The most important point, however, was the
question of the representation of the commons (den violets
oder Biwyeretandee). All the share which they have hitherto
had in legislation has been confined to attendance on the
opening of the States-Assembly to hear the government
statement of taxation, after which they are required to re-
tire before any discussion commences. A few years since
they wine not allowed to enter the house, but had to stand
in the doorway and listen to the proceedings. At the re-
cent session, on the occasion of a question of taxation, Count
Breuner (a genuine Tory in the most liberal sense) pat a
que-tion s i to the mode in which the commoners had been
reduced from their old constitutional rights to their present
minimum of representation. Count Brenner understood tla
royal message calling the fourth state to the assembly as an
admission that they bad a right not only to hear, but also
to take a deliberative part in the proceedings. He proposed
that it was now the duty as well as the right of the com-
moners, to claim a share in legislative measures. This pro-
posal led Baron Von Stifft into an historical statement of
the legislative functions of the commoners, from the opening
of the Austrian Assembly to 1790. Several speakers followed
in favour of the suggestion made, and Count Becomes
proposal was unanimously supported. There is good reason,
therefore, for supposing that we shall find the fourth state at
the next assembly no longer in their late passive situation,
but assuming a therein the discussions.
HANOVER, MARCH S.—GAME-LaWa. —There are
some particulars worth mentioning in the latest discussions in
' the assembly of the estates ; above all the resolutions of the
I second chamber to propose the revocation of the enactment
of the game-laws of 1840, by which it is allowed to fire at
poachers who take flight. In the debate on this primal,
several lawyers gave statistical information respecting the
eoneequences of this enactment, which were so horrible that
even thu authors of that law, many of whom have still sells
in the chamber, were deterred from opposing its revocation.
It is hoped that government will take advantage of this pro-
posal to ameliorate the law.
HAVARIA.—A letter from Munich of the 11th, cape
that now regulations in a liberal spirit will be shortly pro-
mulgated relative to the liberty of the press In Bavaria. The
King was confined to his rooms from illness. According to
the Cologne Gazette of the 19th instant, the A1161711E1
ambassador to the Court of Bavaria left Munich en the 14th,
with the whole persormel of the embassy, leasing only a
secretary behind. This sadden departure is said to be in
connexion with the late event', and it was said that the
ambassador left without demanding a farewell audience of
the King.
POLAND.—The Co/ogne Gazette announces that
the Grand-Duke Michael of Russia is to be nominated Vies-
my of Poland, with the same power and attributes ewers
exercised by the Grand-Duke Constantine up to 1830. To
this rotten% in attached an agreement concerning the
Catholic Church in Poland. A papal nuncio is expected It
Warsaw.
THE CAUCASUS.—TYPE MAsSACRE OF A TRIM
—A letter received at Constantinople from Circa's% gives
an account of a terrible sot of vengeance taken by Cl
on the tribe of the Athena*, for in act of treachery en
part of the latter. The Russians had persuaded the tribe of
the Achenes, who had made their submission to them, 19
✓ind messengers to Chamyl, demanding of him to send them
1,200 men to aid them in rising against the &ciao.
o=l, not suspecting anything, sent the 1,200 men ne-
, who were received in the most hospitable manner by
the Athens. The 'mimed% was to take place on the
15th of January ; but on the night of the 13th, the
aided by a regiment of Camels, fell the Joll=l
Chamyl and measured the nu.ii; some,
escaped, and carried the to the Ciresitheal=
After the massacre, the Athena the Reedans rvitta
session of the village of Cassabas, whisk they
Meantime, great activity prevailed in the Ckosillim Nob '
numbering 60,000 drone: they swore by Aids ass Mk=
living soul. On the 27th January they applied
Cambia ;on the following day they stormed ths l
and man, woman, and child, Russians end Aries% vea:a
to the weed. On the evening of the 28th 5,000 Has
been destroyed. The few Achenes who contrived%
crossed the freatiow, and bare been distributed anseegelit
different Borman forte in the Crimea. The last two stosseto .