The Express.
London, England, 1848-06-22 00:00:00

ITALY.

The Ris,owimento of Turin, of the Fith, publishes
the text of the convention concluded between Sar-
dinia and Lombardy. The Provisional Government
retains its power till tho fusion of the two states has
been accepted by the king and the Sardinian parlia-
ment. The libaty of the press as existing at
present, the right of association, and the institution
of the national guard, aro guaranteed to Lombardy.
The actual laws of Lombardy are maintained. The
king's government is not to conclude political or
commercial treaties without the consent of an extra-
ordinary Consulta, composed of the members of the
Provisional Gov. rnment. The electoral law will be
founded on the principal of universal suffrage.
The /tafia of Pisa, of the 13th announces that a
Sardinian sub-intendant has taken possession of some
points of the Lunigiara, declaring that he is acting
under the orders of Turin. and that the whole of
Lunigiano, will soon become Piedmontese.
Il Cuntemparanet), of the 13th, states that in its
sitting of the 12th the Chamber of Deputies at Rome
elected the Professor Sereni as its president; and
that in the sitting of the Upper Chamber of
the 9:b, M. Marchetti, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs, read the programme which M. Maniani had
previously read in the Deputies. MM. the Marquis
Guiccioli, Professors Nerd-tied and Pullelli, and M.
Pantini, were in the same sitting elected secretaries.
A bulletin of the Committee of War of Rome,of the
10th, states that amongst the Austrian soldiery there
were 100 Austrian ladies, disguised in uniform, ac-
tually saving.

NEWS FROM GERMANY.
BOMBARDMENT OF PRAGUE.

(By the Electric Telrgraph of Oro Slitth Ehttern Raibra9.)

We have accounts from Prague to the mot fling of
the 17th. The bombardment continued throughout
the 16z12, and was attended with great slaughter.
When our despatches left the barricades were still
up, and the fire would be immediately resumed if
the city did not surrender.
The insurrection in the Tyrol has become general.

FIRST REPORT FROM THE SECRET COM.

MITTEE ON COMMERCIAL DISTRESS.
The secret committee " appointed to inquire into
the causes of the recent commercial distr, as, and how far it
has been affected by the laws for regulating the issue of hen
notes payable on demand," and who were empowered to
report from time to time to the house, have taken the subject
fully into their consideration, and have agreed upon the fol-
lowing report:—
'
In obedience to the order of the house, your committee
have inquired into the matters referred to them, and having
concluded their investigation, so f.r as relates to England.
have thought it advisable to report to the house their opinion
ou this branch of the subject, together with the evidence.
To comp'et the I,hour entrusted to them, the ienniry
must toe extended to Scotland and Ireland, and the committee
will proceed on this duty without delay.
During the period of difficulty, deputations from Liver-
pool and Birmingham had communicated with the govern-
ment. Yon? committee therefore thought it best to corn-
wence their inquiry by examining Mr. Hodgson and Mr
Turner from Liverpool, and Mr. Mentz and Mr. Salt fmm
13ierningham.
Mr. Gurney, an eminent bill broker ; Mr. Bates, of the
firm of Baring Brothers ; and Mr. Bevan. a London banker,
and selected by the London hankers, were examined by the
c mmittee, more espeeally with respect to the distress and
difficulty which had been experienced in the metropolis.
Mr. Birkbeek, a private banker. selected by the counter
bank, ro, and Mr. Pease, connected with the northern coal
districts, were also examined in the coarse of our investiga-
tics.
Full evidence respecting the proceedings of the hank were
given to the committee by Mr. Horsley Palmer, a director;
by the governor and deputy governor, and by Mr. Cotter,
w ho was governor of the Bask in 1844. The Bank has also
furn'shert to the committee much information in the returns
which will be fo.ind in the appendix.
Lastly, the committee thought it advisable to call before
them Mr. Jones Lloyd, Mr. Tooke, and Mr. Taylor, gentle-
men who are well known to have given much attention to
our monetary system.
There has been a general concurrence of opinion Amongst
the witnesen examined before your committee, that the
primary cause of the distress was the deficient harvest. espe-
cially of the potato crop, in the year 1846. and the eecessitv
of providing the means ornament, in the year 1847, for the
unprecedented importations of various descriptions of food
which took place in that year.
Among other causes the deficient supply of cotton, the
disersion of capital from its ordinary employment in com-
mercial
transactions to the constructon of railroads, the
undue extension of credit, especially in our transactions
with the East, and exaggeratol expectations of enlarged
trade, have been stated by some of the witnesses as having
contributed to the same result.
Your committee see no resort to doubt that these causes
I have in different degrees, in different parts of the conntiy,
produced the effect thus ascribed to them.
For the further development of the views enterta,ned on
these various points by the gentlemen whom they have ex-
amined, they must refer to the evidence.
With regard to some of the circumstances above referred
to, provision has already been made by parliament, and it
mu.t be obvious that others are beyond :he control of legis-
lative enactment.
Many of the witnesses, including the governor and de-
pu7 governor of the Bank of England, have exnressed
their belief that earlier steps in the autumn of 1846 and
the spring of 1847, on the part ef the Bank of England,
might have obviated the necessity fur the more etringent
measures which circumstances compelled the directors to
adopt in April, and might thus hart prcv,nted the alarm
which was caused by those measures. The grounds on
which that belief is entertains t, together with the onside-
' rations which influenced the proceedings of the Bank, are
explained in the evidence of those witnesses who were ee-
-1 &mined on this branch of the subject. It is one, in respect
to which • wide discretion must necessarily be left with
those who are charged with the management of the business
of the Bank, and your committee true. that this discretion
will he exercised with due prudence, if similar circumstances
should again occur.
An opinion appears to have been entertained by some per-
sons, though not by the governor and deputy-governor of
the Bank of England, that the Bank is released by the act
of 1844 from any obligation, except that of consulting the
pecuniary interests of is proprietors.
It is true that there are no restrictions imposed by law
upon the discretion of the Bank, in respect to the conduct of
the banking, es distinguished from the issue department ;
but the Bank is a public institution, possessed of special and
exclusive privileges, standing in a peculiar relation to the

won filament, sod exercising, from the magnitude of its re-
:tourers, great it.fluence over the general mercantile and
monetary transactions of the country•.
These circumstances impose upon the Bank the duty of a
consideration of the public interest, not indeed enacted or
defined by law, but whirh parliament in its various transac-
tions with the Bank has always recdgnised, and which the
Bank has never disclaimed.
. _

It is unnecersary to impo‘o such duty by law, as there can
be little doubt that the permanent interests of the Bank are
identified wi•h those of the public at large.
That identity of interest gives both to the public and to
the proprietors of B.ink Steil a deep interest in every
measure calculated to ensure an enlightened administration
of the affairs of the Bank. _ . _

Yoe; committee have learnt, therefore, with satisfaction,
that the attention of the court of directors has been given to
this subject, and that a change has been made by teem as to
the selection of the governor and deputy-Governor, calcula-
ted, in the opinion of your committee, to improve the consti-
tution of the governing body of the bank.
They feel confident that the effect of this change, aryl the
experience which has been acquired during the events of the
but tact learn, will ensure the public, in the future manage-
ment of the ank of England, greater benefits from this
national establishment than it has hitherto been the meson
of c inferring upon the country.
Your committee have received with deep regret from
many witnesses evidence of the extent of loss incurred by
commercial houses in the course of last autumn, from an
unprecedented combination of the circumstances above re-
ferred to, and seriously aggravated by the want of confidence
which prevailed i t consequence of the numerous failures,
and which induced bankers and others to retain • reserve.
both of end of bank notes, to a very great extent. It is
to be obseeved, that this took place with a very large amount
of more in the hands of the public., exceeding, in the
opinion of a witness most competent to form an opinion, by
no lees than 4,000,0001., " the actual requirements of the
public at the time.'
The feeling of alarm which prevailed appellee to have
been immediately removed by the issue of the letter ad•
i dresae2 to the Bank of England, on the 25th of October, by
the Feat Lord ut the Treasury and the Chancellor of the
Exchequer.
The issue of that letter was, no doubt, an extraordinary
exercise of power on the part of the government; but the
house has decided that, in the peculiar circumstances of the
period, they were justified in taking that step. It will be
seen, from the evidence of Mr. Cotton, the governor of the
Bang in 1844, that the p asibiloy of circumstances arising,
in u hich some extraordinary measures might be called for in
consequence of a state of monetary crisi", was not unfore-
seen by the government at the time when the act of 1844
was passed.
The evidence which has been given as to the effects of the
act of 1814 has been contradictory. Its beneficial effects,
as regards the issues of the country banks, have been ad-
mitted by many of the witnesses, and although some have
suggested an alteration of its provisions, very tew have con-
tested the general principles on which it is founded.
Your committee have hint under their consideration,
whether it is advisable that powers should be conferred by
law upun the government, to enable them to meet the eccur-
fence of any circumstances which may call for extraordi-
easy rence; but they have come to the couclusion
that, looki, g to the impossibility of :oreseeing what the pre-
cise character of the circumstances may be, and also what
may b.: the measure beat calculated to meet them, it is more
expedient to leave to those with whom the responsibility of
the government may Teat at the time to adopt such mea-
sures as may appear to them best suited for the emergency.
Your committee, therefore, after a careful review of all
the evidence, are of opinion that it is not expedient to make
any alteration in the Busk Act of 1844.
June 8, 1848.

LETTERS TO WORKMEN AND THEIR
EMPLOYERS.Lerrzu 111.

Among the most powerful of the arguments maia-
tattled by these who demand a complete reorganisation of
society, and its establishment on some artificial system, is
this, that civilised nations aro becoming too populous—that
misery and destitution are rapidly increasing, and that we
are coming to that stage where the workmen, like the crew
of a starved ship, will die off, becau•e there is not t nough
to supply them all. There ever will be more or less fluctua-
tion and distreu among the pia rer portion of the community;
but there is alwaye a propensity to rate the public cilami.y
of the moment as the greatest Ova ever existed. Netwith-
standing the many shocks they have lately been subject to,
there is uo doubt that the general position of the working
damns has, with that of all others, bens for centuries making
gr ,dual progress in the direction of amelioration. Death by
starvation is the most frightful type of national destitution
and calamity, and its prevention is the first main object of
all racial institutions of an economic character. That
we have so entirely guarded against this calamity as
to prevent it from sometimes overtoking isolated
unfortunately cannot bo said even in Britain; and late meta
Lave teo tragically proved that our means of palliation, how
ever energetically employed, may. not yet be sufficient to
protect the poorest part of the United Kingdom—lreland
from the ravages o' famine. But not even the sad calamities
of that unhappy country in 1847 could approach the horrors
of the famines that swept England in " the good old times."
In the year 1258 a large proportion of the people died by
want. A like famine desolated the land in 1316 and 1317 ;
and the annalists darken the horrors of a countless multitude
of deaths by stating that a large part of the population were
driven to cannibalism, and gaunt wretches were hunted
down and slain by the fellow sufferers whose strength aid
ferocity survived their human sensibilities and appetites.
All suffered, from the highest downwards, and sufficier t pro.
visions could not always be found for the royal table. Nearly
the same tragedy was enacted both in France and England
in 1439. and the pressure of the famine may be COlL-
ceive,t from the statement of the historians, though it
is evidently exsgzerated, that the price of provisiona rose
ten-fold. Surely we may safely believe that this land has
paid a long farewell to such horrors, mud that the more
partial operation of modern scarcities chews that fast as our
population has increased the means of ita subsistence have
increased in a still greater ratio.
It is in the f ice of such facts as these, and of the palpably
enlarged distribution of all the comforts of life among the
humbler classes, that If. Louis Blanc minds the ocean-ity for
hi• new social system. on the certainty th d it the world take
its own way population will out-run subsistence. He targets
that it is possible far the numbers of a people to increase in
such a manner thot each member of the large population
shall possess more than each member of the smaller. This
is no Utopian project of a new sec al philosophy—it is exem-
plified, and may be seen. London with its two millions of
inhabitant* is less over-peopled than the Wentern Highlands,
where 300,000 people are spread over 130 times the area.
It is customary to be eloquent about the mien
and vice of the metropolis, but it might be a not less cotge.
ni a task to a mind alive to the progress of the human race,
and confiding in the wad on that has mode the natural pro-
pens:ties of mankind conducive to their gradual elevation, to
look roan 1 with respect on the untiring and varied cn.rgy,
the enlightened enterprise, the self-restraint, the intense
competition that is everywhere visible in the commercial
capital of Europe. Here that comp.tition which Louie Blanc
desires to abolish is carried to its utmost scourge, and et it
may be fairly pronounced that the average Londoner is a
happier man than the average inhabitant of the Isle of Sore,
where com,,ctition is nearly as let nt as the comraunuts
could de• re it to be. There doubtless was a time
when the area of London contained some two thousand in-
habitants, not individually enjoying the same comforts now
dispersed among the two millions. Here, then, is an instance
—not, it is admitted, capable of being artificially imitated—
where population has been multiplied a thousand fold, with-
out outrunning the increase of the means of subsistence ,•
and with such a phenomenon before us, we may valely
all phi!ontltropists limit the:r operations, like sensible physi-
claw, to aiding nature instead of revolutionising the system.
Tl.Jaouis Blanc has given an argumsnt in the form of a
shortllialoaue, which he thinks is of itself a demonstration of
the necessity for reorganisation. Ile says:
" Is competition the way to secure work to the poor ? But
to put the question in this shape is to solve it. Whit is
competition with respect to labour? It is labour put up for
auction. A speculator requires a workman. Three present
themselves:
I " ' How much for your labour ?'
I " ' Three francs. I have a wife and children.'

.
s'Good. And you?
" ' Two franc. and a half. I have no children, but I have
a wife.'
" Indeed ! A-d you ?'
Two francs will .ontent me. lam single.'

" You, their, are prelerred.'
" It is ae: The bargain is struck. But what becoses
of the two rejected workmen ? They will die quietly of
hunger, it is to be hoped."
Fortunately,in I his husycountry,whieh the author represents
to be so deeply cursed with competition, the horrible fate he
depicts is not so frequently ex mplifiad as in these ind lent
populations where competition is unknown. Sue a
fret at oi.ce suggests th .t there is seme enormous tailaey
in his reasoning, and it is not difficult to fiud it. Be ova-
I‘oks entirely the circurosonce that competition io.crea.es
t'ie fund for distribution, and re-acts so that the 'roil:van'
with his wife and family may so tar increase the value of
his lahcur, that some other speculator, desiring to have it,
comes and °fees him four, five, or it may be six francs for
it. The proof that this is the effect of competing skill is
simply to be found in the variations pervading the universal
scale of wage.. Eves within the walls of the manuf ictory,
where uniformity is most nearly approached, the cootras's
are considerable. Take up the inquiry into manufacturing
distress in 1827, called the " Report on Emigration ." you
find that in Lancashire the net wages of the handloom wi av-
ers are stated at 4s. 6d. per week (Q. 349). Oa the very mat
page the same witness is found speaking to the wages of
men employed in combined operations, " partly power-
machinery and partly the dandy loom." Thus, " warp-
dressers, men [rem 25 to 40 years of age and upwards,
ordinary or coarse work, 20s. to 2.55. per week; floe work,
that is, when fine yarn is spun, 30.. to 40.. per week."
Are these distinctions merely accidental ? are they
made by the arbitrary will of the manufacturer No; they
arise out of a law of nature as strict as the laws of vegetable
vitality, and the 40s. compared with the 41. 61. represent as
surely the difference between skilled energy and la-
, rifle's as the heavy wheat crop and the scanty
field of oats, respectively, represent the rich and the bar-
ren foil. I remember a braver ones saying, that he could

point to two men working at piece-work, side by side, in his
shop, producing the same article with the game tools, of
whom the ens could make 41. a week, and the other only
11. ; and thattbere were workmen in the establishment of
every variety of intervening grade. Now, if one hand-loom
weaver lumen to make four times as much as anerher, he
would require to work four times as long. But not so the
brazier—the secret of the best workman's success was in his
skill, which made every blow from his hammer worth four
blows by the inferior man. The man was a very remarkable
instance of skill in the work. He had in fact carried it to the
utmost experienced point of perfection. He was as great in
braziery so Hardwick in law, or Cooper in surgery. His
chief employment was is making the finest kind of hollow
copper wares, tea-urns, lamps, &c , of graceful forms, and
his wonderful skill was produced by bestowing thought
and study on the economising of his labour, so ILI to
produce the desired effect with the smallest possible Humana
exertion. Now this man added 31. a week more than his
less skilful companion to the fund for general distribution,
instead of encroaching on any other man's share; in spending
that sum he kept in employment the woollen manufacturer,
the calico printer, and the cotton weaver. Might not the
champions of emigration look et this, and see if there are not
sterile wastes in man's capacity fur superior productiveness
to be bought into cultivation, and co. eider whether th
education that vial open them up and make them accessible
may not be a cheaper operation than conveying surelus popu-
lation to the antipodes?
There are two very different kinds of competition, which
the Communist confuses together. There is the competition
to partake in soma limited subsistet.ce-fund—a species of
competition which may undoubtedly involve the probability
of the person who is outdone in the hungry battle suffer-
ing the fate of Louis Blanc's rejected w, rkman. We ban
something only too like this in the struggle of the Irish
cottager, for lend. But the competition of industrial pro-
duction widen's the fund of division as it proceeds: it is a
self-creative power, making more than it absorbs. The high
gains of the well-skilled workman are the representative less
of what he takes from, than of what he adds to, the common
fund. His humbler fellow-workman is not depressed by the
higher grade he has reached, but rather has hie Gan field
left more open. If we could at this moment take half the
shirt-makers of London, and make them producers of a
higher order, we would not only give them the meaus of im-
provin t their condition, but give • batter chance of subsist.
thee to the remaining halt'. Production, discreetly and skil-
fully d—the new production of things which !lumen
beings want, and will make an effort to obtain—does not
supersede, but foetere, oceupa'ions already in existence.
When Rubens anti leembrendt excelled all the other
painters of their day, the physician and the lawyer studied
harder, the merchant made his spoculations with m..re
energy and ardour, the manufacturer produced and sold
more, that they might possess their fine pictures; and the
crowd of inferior artiste, instead of being superseded, had
their condition raised by the propagation of • general love
of art, which increased the dignity of their profession. A
native of Mauchlin became renowned for the beauty and
finish of his wooden snuff-boxes. A sagacious friend, who
was practically acquainted with the maraet for ortianiental
manufactures, recommended hits to eularge his trade, and
augeeeted other articles, such as aid-cas: s, paper-cutters,
tea-mtldies, &c., to whines the manufacture would apply.
The hint was token. The new productions were readily
bought. The impulse of competition vice applied to the atl.•i-
tional hands employed, by their wages being fixed according
to their sk.ll, and now there is an extensive manufactory in
Msuchlin, where many men are employed at high wages, in
the production of goods universally admired, and. very exten-
sively purchased.