The Express.
London, England, 1848-11-27 00:00:00

of all governments, has at last cost Mexico one of hee
finest provinces.
The termination of the American war, as we hue
said, left Mexico no alternative but national instil.
venev, or a revision of a commercial system, thee
overflowing in evil consequences—a system which, by
impoverishing the community disorganised the state.
And to do the Mexican Congress justice, it has not,
in such an emergency, failed to choose the people
course ; it has preferred free trade to bankruptcy,
The subject of the tariff wee referred by the chambers
to a committee, consisting of the most distinguish"'
members of the legislature; and by it g
new scheme of duties has been recommended;
the enactment of which by .Cosigreta we are glad to
hear, there is very little doubt of. Nothing could be
worse than the tariff for which these duties are to be
substituted. While on the one band it gave an eaon
mous protection to native manufactures, on the other
it forbad the admission of the raw materials of thou
manufactures ; and by this duplex piece of mischie,
one leeslation, it left the peasantry half clad. h
placed a heavy duty on the most valuable article of
Mexican exportation, and thereby, of course, is.
creased the cost of those articles of importation, :n re„
turn for which it was exported. It absolutely prem.
bited the entry of commodities of primary necessity,
and let in articles of luxury at a low rate. Wines it
enabled the rich to drink moderately cheap; but Ewe.
peen clothing it compelled the poor to pay most erre-
bitantly for. The consequence wee, an amount of
smuggling that was not large because the means of
the smugglers were not great; and ministers thensselrai
gained by the defeat of the tariff they had enacted,
M. OUVRATID relates, that at a late period of the
Spanish colonial domination, he entered into a mond
commercial partnership with the King of SPAIN, and
that one of its term; was, that his Majesty should
furnish him with the licenses necessary to introduce
all manner of goods free of duty into Spanish Ame-
rica. And so it was in Mexico ; there was a unity
of interests between the contraband importers end
the ministerial excludere.

The new scheme of duties recommended to tba
Mexican legislature is based on tar different pried.
pies. It propos, s to abolish all prohibitions, and to
replace them with duties that will be substantially
productive to the 'freasury. These prohibitions
affected the raw materials of manufactures and arti-
cles in a semi-mat ufactured state, such as raw cotton
and cotton yarns, grey, white, and coloured. On
them it is proposed hencer ,rth to place moderate
revenue duties, except in the case of coloured yens
on which the intends d tax will, it is appohended, be
too high to lead to much business. On manufactured
cotton., woollens, and linens, it is proposed to rams
the existing import duties n, arly 50 per cent.; rosi
on silks nearly 40 per cent. While en silver and
the export duty has to be lessened from 6to 2 per
cent.

Such are in substance the proposals of the new
Mexican •ariff; and considering all the circumstances
of the case, they will have to be regarded, if adopted
by the legislature, as one of the largue• steps ever
taken by a state from restriction to fre..dom of trade.
Oa foreign commerce with Mexico they will hared*
moat importan` bearings: for, in point of fee, to
British manufactures and to American raw materiel,
they will reopen a large and populous and
wealthy state. By stimulating trade they mil
convey means to the treasury ; and tiler, by do more
for the bondholders than the discovery of new beds
of silver. But it is on the people, on the pevantry,
of Mexico, that freedom of trade will pour down its
choicest blessings. It will confer on th. m the fruits
of independence; and just es under its influence they
improve in comfort and in subsistence, so will they
learn the value of stability in government and order
in society. If this policy be persevered in, a new erg
will dawn on Mexico; its great resources will be de-
veloped ; its natural character will be improved by
industry and material prosperity; its independence
will be preserved ; and the flow of Anglo-American
aggression may yet be arrested by the regcnerationof
the Spanish race in the New World.

TOWARDS the middle of last September on applies.
tion was made at \Vorehip-etrret police-ottl-e by the
wife of a reclaimed convict, who along with eleven
others had been assisted to (migrate by some humane
individuals, of whom the moat prominent and attire
was Mr. JACKSON, an agent of the City Mis,ion. The
case, and its circumstances, as then stated, can asurely
yet have passed away from the memories of oat
readers, for it excited a considerable sensation at the
time, and was commented on in no very lenient

terms.
That modest and excellent institution, the City Mis-
sion, has deemed it necessary -0 devo'e the whole of
the November number of its magazine to an espies*
tion of this case. The main objects of this esplanades
are to show that the " Loudon City Mission as a body
has had nothing to do with the emigration
movement ; " that its missionaries are directed
" to confine themselves strictly to their legitimate
work of seeking to instruct and convert those that are
ignorant and out of the way, holding themselves
aloof (as far as practicable) from all meddling with
secular even though benevolent objects ;" and lastly,
that Mr. JACKSON, who clone, upon his own sole re-
sponsibility, was concerned in assisting the emigration
of the reclaimed thieves in question, hes not ren-
dered himself liable to " the charges of imprudence
almost amounting to reckless carelessness brought
against him." Into these gm-lido-9 it s not our to-
tentinn to enter further than to state, in justice to the
mission and Mr. JACKSON. that to our minds they
have satisfactorily established all three positions.
Faes are elicited in the course of the diactuaks
which immeasurably outweigh in carious interest and
practical importance the questions directly at isane,
and to these we would invite attention.
It appears that Mr. JACKSON, appointed so long
ago as 1839 to be the society's missionary in the dis-
trict known as Goodman 'a fields, or Rag-fair, cc
Rosemary-lane, had occasion to visit in 1842 a lodt
ing-house occupied by, reduced tradesmen, gamblers,
thieves, and abandoned women. His first impresske
from the scenes he warmed there and the tales be
hard was, atter despondency. But, rallying, he ob
taiued leave from the inmates to visit and read the
Scriptures to them. Ile soon gained a great influence
over them, for these outcasts are extremely (or
ceptib'e to kind treatment. Next year he was ap-
plied to by two thieves to procure them admissics
into an asylum. He succeeded, and one of them is
now a re-pectable tradesman. In 1844 he prevailed
upon 30 inmates of the lodging-home to attend a
prayer m-eti ; four appear to have been per-
manently reclaimed, in consequence of what they
there heard. Sinco that time he has con-
atantly been visited at his house—which is always
apen to them—by young persons who have imbibed
vicious habits and become outcasts, and by parents
bringing their erring children to him. His zeal and
comp irative success in this peculiar field obtained for
hint the designation of the society's " Thieves' Mis-

stonary.
A copy of Lord ASHLEY'S speech on emigration as
a means of providing for the most promising among
the pupils of the ragged schools was in the month of
June or J uly last sent by that noblemen to Mr. JACKSON.
The missionary had found insurmountable difficulties in
procuring admis9ion into asylums for the greet- majority
of his penitents. Lord ASHLEY'S plan seemed tomato
a wider opening to him. He suggested emigration to
the next two young thieves who came to consult him;
they talked of it to their associates, and Mr. JAcKAS
was soon after invited to attend a meeting of the fra•
teruity. He communicated their views and wishes to
Lord ASHLEY, who resolved to meet them in persoa.
A. that interview no lees than 207 protessed thirlo
were assembled. The circumstances of the meeting,
as stated in the socie:y's report, are extremely cs•

Several of the suet known and most experienced thieve
were stationed as the door, to prevent the admieion of sof
hut thieves. &ume lour or five individsals who were not sr
first known, were subjected to a more public exa mina' ion, ad
only allowed to remain on their stating who they were. end
being reenguised as members of the dishonest fraternity:
and before the proceedings of the evening commenced,
eke
question was carefully put, and retested several times,
then any one was in the room of whom others esigr'
coined doubts as to who he was, The object of dd. sere tot
as no many of them were in danger of " getting into trouble,
as they call it, or in other words, of being takeel„.,W
for their crimes, if discovered, to aocertain whew".
any ore who should betray them were Pressgs'
and another intention of the scrutiny was, as
give those assembled, who naturally would feet conriderable
fear, a fuller confidence in opening their minds The meet
log commenced wilt the singing of a hymn and with
prayer. What was the real state of the heart of those
.psf
sent, while these devotional exercise. were pruned*,
of course impossible for any man to say : but the appstsaf
fervour and earnest attention exceeded what is pallor
scarcely ever to be witnessed, even in a church or chapel,
Some curious details illustrative of the characters
thus assembled were stated in an addrkse to Lad