The Express.
London, England, 1847-02-05 00:00:00

Oparreogs.

MAILS.

The mail. for Vigo, Orilto, Lbibuin, Madeira, Cadiz, sod Giteraft.
will be mode up on the tautening of the Mb February.
Tho overLoid &red to sin Ntero4ll,., to the Metlit,rearmen,,
Egypt, Aden, Croton. imam, Ilona Bong, n.c., will be muds up on Big
evening of the silt rehrunr.
The Vi'eot mails including tho.e for Me‘ioo. Hooduren, end
'hr ti:iy,oeudt, will be ninde up on the olorniug of the nib Feb=,.
TI., Cilliriltar, Matti, Grfl the lonian I.
Erwin, Aden, Ceylon, Indio, Ifoir:.honn. and ( Tiler, gin siminamplak
will be made up on the morning of the 2 .W of l'el.riiry.
'The mittl., for New South \\ 01,, Van Dit.ll.oo, land, sad BM
Zeilkind will to' mode up 00 the eeenim2 of the is.. )I.,gelt.
The moil, for litili.h North Amerie.t, Bermuda, am! the Vining
Slatt,, will be mode up on the (wining of the kit Milrilt,
The maik for the the Li, et Mate, Boat, Vlico, Ferrara.
bum, Bahia, Mil trim, and Buenos Ayres will be mode op on u
evening 01 tine CI, March.

TO 0011 RESPONDENTS.
We canna notice, In any tray, any untununieution tt I sent to at
anonyoLowly ; but thaw wboobodon to ad4rere w in confidence wit
find theirwockienec reopected. NGITIMLICAN WY. UNDERTAKE
T rc .; AN T 11ANUKCILIPN WiIIATEVEIL
• Adtertinements intended for The Elpresa,Lortflonewritnc ppm,
wing be at the Office by Two o'clock on toe day of toilkeotiou

mon WATER AT LONDON-111410GL.
Tnts DAIN-14(irDing, :9 min. past 4 ; A,,noon. Uinta, pia 1.
To-31easow -Morning, 29 min. past 5. Aftuncco, 46 mu: pm

LONDON, FRIDAY, FEB. .5.

The Indian Mail of the 2nd of January, from Bom-
bay, which Mr. Wacuone's energy enabled the
DWI!, News to publish exclusis ely in all its editions'
of yesterday, and which our contemporaries unscrupa-
lounly and ungenerously condescended to borrow, and
to print in second editions without acknowledgment,
is certainly the most important that has reached
England since the celebrated victories upon the
Indus.
It announces the decisive act of Lord HARDINGE is
removing Leen Sixe, the paramour of the Maha-
rajah's mother, from the Vizerat of Lahore, in conse-
quence of the discovery of his having spirited up the
chief of Cashmere to resist Goofau SING, nominated
by the British government chief of the upper
country. Instead of replacing Lau. SING by
Jowatintl, by LENA, or any of the many
pretenders of the SING tribe, the Lahore
court and government have felt the necessity of
flinging themselves on British protection altogether,
and of demanding the permanent occupation of the
country by a British force, to be paid out of the re-
venue of the Punjab, our Resident virtually exercis-
ing the powers of Vizier during the minority of the
prince.
There is no denying, that such a step throws a great
deal of responsibility ou the Indian government; that
it infringes upon that discreet and unambitious policy
with which Lord HAIIDINGE set out, and which care-
fully avoided the provoking of new enemies. It
places us once more in direct contact with the Af-
ghans, and makes us the lords of a most troublesome
frontier. But the question is, was there a possibility
of avoiding it? The withdrawal of our forces from
Lahore, in the present state of that court, could have
had no other result than a struggle between dissolute
and selfish chiefs, in the midst of which the young
Maharajah would probably have perished, like all lus
relatives. In that case our troops would have been
obliged to march back to occupy thecapital, as well AS
to undertake the direct administration of the country
—a most difficult task, in any eastern region, till it
has been in a degree Europeanised, or at least
accustomed to submit to the rule of Europeans. The
Punjab is certainly not ripe for that. Scinde is too
near an example of the folly of prematurely superseding
native for European rule, which becomes so trying to
the finances of the state, and the health of its soldiers.
It is satisfactory to find that, for the present at
least, the Afghans seem indisposed to give any annoy-
ance either to the government of Lahore or to that of
Jumnoo. It does not appear that they were at all
mixed up with the insurrection of Cashmere. The
Affg,han princes have had too bitter proofs of our
power to provoke it. In Persia, at Herat, and
the western chiefdom of Afghanistan, fear and
rancour may be both increased by our permanent rule
at Lahore. But we shall probable find the robber
tribes of °Miele and Belooeh for a long time the only
formidable disturbers of our empire in North-
Western India.
Whilst Lord HAIMINGE is thus organising and set-
tling, we trust, the last great conquest of our Indian
empire, he is not neglecting the important task of
internal reform. None was more called for than an
abatement of the rate of postage in India, which
often amounted to a complete suspension or bar in the
way of all communication. The preposterous abuse
of paying ten pounds a year postage for the receipt
of an Indian journal was something incredible, and
tended to render public intelligence, what it is to this
day in Austria or Russia, the exclusive apanage and
luxury of the rich.

THERE was one great fallacy running through the
whole of Lord GEORGE BENTINCWS argument about
railways last night. Ile attributed the improved
condition of English commerce within the few last
years entirely to railways ; to have attributed the rail-
ways entirely to oar expanding commerce, though not
exactly correct, would have been nearer the mark.
There can be no doubt that the introduction of power-
thl steam locomotives, propelling enormous burdens
along roads upon which the resistance of friction has
been reduced to a minimum, by increasing the facility
of transit and communication, has given a fresh
im-
petns to our productive industry. But had not that
productive industry attained the high stage of dere-
lopment it had reached previously to the introduction
of railways, it would have been impossible to (stabil!'
them. Without undervaluing railways we must is
allowed to bear in mind that they are not the creators
of commerce, but only its powerful subordinate Mitre-
ments.
The fallacy of Lord GEORGE'S view is laid bare as
soon as he comes to apply it practically to Ireland.
When the Liverpool and 'llinclieriter Railway wee
opened, England's trade and manufactures were
matured and colossal except in the west of Ulster,
in Dublin, Cork, Limerick, and a few other
other towns, there is in Ireland neither the one
nor the other. It is not enough, then, to say
with Lord GEORGE that Ireland has
the same population as England and Wales,
I might therefore support the same extent of railways.
Ireland has neither the capital nor the employment
ot England. It is nothing to the purpose to say that
the number of travellers by the Irish railways already
opened is as great or greater than that of the tea-
yellers by English railways; for the Irish railways
in operation are confined to those districts which
some degree resemble England.
The object of these remarks is not to argue that
government cannot, or ought not, to do anything is
promote Irish railways, but to protest against the
lavish and injudicious manner in which Lord GEOaOll
would have it set to work. His bill is the concoction
of gentlemen for whose opinion, on matters relating
to the constructing and working of railways we re
tertain the most sincere deference and respect, bet
in whose power of estimating aright the function and
importance of railways in social economy. we hays
less confidence. They are railway enthusiasts, Sol
imagine that railways can do everything. They
would give the Irish more railways than they Ca
make use of. They would lavish so much moneyfas
the construction of railways not needed as mast DP
cessarily lead to waste and jobbing. Lord GEOROiI
bill, with the large sum it places at the disposal d
government, and the indiscriminate manner of die
tributing that money which it leaves open, would, id
a country like Ireland, be a dangerous instrument at
the nearly approaching general election.
We regret the introduction of a messure which we
moat call injudicious, as tending to defeat the ea
which it professes to have in view. The opportnnitar
had offered for a judicious attempt to induce veers-
mint to make reasonable advances to real ana Bab-
strudial railway undertakings in Ireland : Lard
GEORGE'S proposals may confirm them in their
already faltering resolution to make no adrenal
whatever.
Since this question was first brought on the tapir
the view taken of it by government has *lnd=
considerable modification. The genesis and
change of their opinion may be traced in that seeks
of the voluminous correspondence relating to the
relief of distress in Ireland, just presented to par-
liament, which embraces the correspondence of tie
Board of Works.
Up to the 16th of October the uniform reply of the
Treasury to all applications for advances to railway
companies, either from the companies themselves or
others, was—" after a full consideration of the ribjeet•
it has been determined not to adopt loans to milt's,
companies as a means of relieving the eratfm-hi
arising from the failure of the potato crop." Thar*