The Express.
London, England, 1846-11-23 00:00:00

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

THIS DAY. Four o'Cock.

- -
Our Irish Express, which should have reached
town last night, having been delayed in crossing
from Dublin to Liverpool by the unsettled state of
the weather, did not arrive till this morning. The
news is rather interesting.
In consequence of the recent change in the consti-
tution of the Royal Agricultural Society, there have
been some important secessions from that body. The
Duke of Leinster and the Marquis of Downshire have
both withdrawn, for the reasons stated in the annexed
letters. The former nobleman was president of the
Society. and has always taken an active part in its
ings ; the latter was one of its vice-presidents.
proceedings; to the retirement of the Duke of Leinster,
an unanimous resolution of the Society "regrets the
course pursued by his Grace, and hopes that the constant
abstinence from all discussions unconnected with the
objects of the society, may prove that his Grace's
apprehensions will not be justified by any departure
from the spirit which dictated the law." The follow-
ing are the letters above referred to :
"Carton, Maynooth, 12th Nov. 1846.
"Sir,—The special general meeting of the Royal:Agricul-
tural Improvement Society of Ireland having yesterday
decided to suspend, until April, 1847, the latter part of the
14th rule of the society, I consider it will be impossible to
prevent matters totally unconnected with the object of the
society from being diseuswd.
" i beg, therefore, to resign the honour of being their pre-
sident, and request that you will have the goodness to inform
the council of my determination.
"I am, Sir, your obedient servant, LEINSTER."
"TO E. BELLEW, ESQ.
" Hillsborough, Nov. 17, 1846.
" Sir,—llaving just read in the newspapers that the rule
(whisk has been one of the great means of bringing the
Royal Agricultural Society to what it is) that politics be ex-
cluded, has been broken intc and done away with, I beg you
will take my name off its books.—l am, &c., &c.,
" DomsoutlßE."
Upon the subject of these retirements, our Dublin
correspondent says :
Asa counterpoise to these defections, and a proof that the
general rank and intelligence of the community favours •
more extensive programme of duties than the society had
primarily cut out for itself, a great number of new names
have been admitted, at the head of whom is the Earl of
Dunraven.
But far more important than these resignations and addi-
tions is the memorial of the committee appointed last week
to consider and report on the question of productive and
unproductive labour. The committee has certainly. used
" Cl due diligence" in coming at a conclusion, hut it is un-
derstood that the government still rigidly' adheres to the
principle of the electoral instead of the townland unit.
The Notion has at length taken a line of decided
hostility to Mr. O'Connell. In the last number of
that paper, the organ of "Young Ireland," after a
disquisition on the history of Whig policy, declares
it to be a fact, that the Liberator is, as far as pa-
tronage is concerned, de facto Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland. "'There is scarcely a place between that of
policeman and Lord Chancellor, for which some can-
didate is not selected from the nicely graduated mass
of his dependents." It adds. " that of his proteges
some are non repeaters, reaping the price of repeal;
others are repeaters, who, like the Irish members and
agitators for whom Mr. O'Connell obtained place on
his former abandonment of the question, will never
lift their voices in public again."
StLF-ARMINO Or THE P,.OPLB.—A very. extensive trade
is being carried on at present in the provincial districts by
the importers of fire-arms from England. The expiration of i
the Arms' Act has left the perilous traffic quite free, and
.ej.ery individusl who can help himself to a shining piece of
P'^uineham manufacture, can have one with percussion
improvements, at a little more than cost price. The Tip-
Ix-tory Vindicator of this dry says, that a singularly brisk
ttrlededane is
denser
of going on
hin the county of Limerick, and though
acquisition is slightly exposed as
tending to no good results, it is charitably suggested
that the f milky of the purchase may have been
Promoted by the government! I am also informed by a
gentleman from Tyrone, that muskets are openly sold in the
market towns, like pedlars' goods, at the low pnce of 18s. 2d.
each, the Tower price being about 15a. each. There are also
garn-elubs organised on the model of the Friendly Societies,
Mr the purchase of arms and ammunitirm. This excites
much less surprise in the north, where the arming of the
people has long been general; hut in the smith this
ts a novel and startling feature in the social system. The
Possession of fire•arms by the multitudes is scarcely comps-
nble With the existence of order—the preservation of so-
.Y—ohedience to the laws, and the authority of the state.
Reports of all purchaser' are secretly made by the police to
tae magistrates ; but there is no possibility of preventing the
amnion of the evil.

By the arrival of her Majesty's steam•sloop Poly-
phemus at Portsmouth, we have Lisbon news to the
17th instant- When the last accounts left the head-
quarters of Saldauha, the Marshal was marching from