The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-13 00:00:00

tice of withdrawing clergymen from their proper
duties to seat them on the magisterial bench, would
be the fact of their tempering law and justice with
mercy ; and by the influence of their character and
office, imparting a kindly and paternal tone to the
discharge of the judicial function. Were that done,
their presence would be felt as a moral power ; law
would become a living agency of protection and
guidance, as well as of retribution ; and the poor
would not only be secure of justice, but respect and
gratitude would often mingle with their confidence.
In what districts this vindication of keeping clerical
justices on the bench may be practically evinced, we
cannot say. We see but little of it anywhere ; and
certainly nothing at all of it in the Petty Sessions of
Loughborough.

THE onslaught of the Jesuits upon the constitution
and the liberties of Lucerne, and the successful main-
tenance of their dictatorship in a canton which every
three years is called to assume the executive power
of the Federation, could not have been supposed to
terminate the struggle between the retrograde and the
liberal parties in Switzerland. The failure of the
Corps FidliCB, in which the Liberals had enrolled
themselves to attack Lucerne, had not induced
an acquiescence in the triumph of the Jesuits.
Quite the contrary. Those liberals in politics and
in religion, enjoying the full sympathy and
support of the most powerful cantons, neither
abated in spirit, nor discontinued their old or-
ganisation. The Diet was powerless to suspend
animosities, or do more than preserve a momentary
peace. Indeed, this peace was long preserved, more
by the prudent neutrality of the great Protestant
countries, than. by the fact that the sacerdotal party
was the most numerous or most powerful.
In this state of things Lucerne took a bold step,
and formed an avowed confederation of itself and the
mountain cantons, to resist liberal or religious inno-
vation. To this they gave the name of a Concordat,
and thereby created a league of the moun-
tain, rustic, uneducated, and Catholic population of
Switzerland, against their brethren. We would
not, however, deny that the Catholic population and
the Catholic cantons had not excuses; or had not
some cause of fear from the dictation of the Radicals
and Protestants. But their idea of a confederation
was an extreme and fatal one, since its existence led
inevitably to the formation of a contrary association,
and thus led straight to civil war.
It was of course the duty of the Swiss Diet afonee
to put down such federations, whether l'rotcstant or
Catholic. It discussed the question for that purpose,
and the different parties came to a vote, which proved,
as is often the case in that assembly, a divided one.
This would not have caused much astonishment and
surprise, if it had not appeared that the non-condem-
nation of the Catholic league by the Diet, was owing
to the refusal of Protestant States to join in such con-
demnation. Geneva, especially, refused; and it was
said by the advice and influence of France. The de-
puty of Geneva was also more than sanctioned by the
Great Council, while they insisted on supporting
Lucerne and the Forest Cantons against the Radicals
of Berne.

This act of the great Council of Geneva, the
country of CALVIN, the head-quarters of education
and liberal piety, disgusted public opinion in that
city. The act was considered one of basexess and
irreligion, if not of treason. The Radicals took
advantage of it, and succeeded in swelling popular
indignation to a towering height. Some years back
the Council of the Canton of Vaud had shown a
similar desire to play the juste milieu in politics,
and the consequence was a popular revolution, which
dethroned them, and rendered Vaud an ultra-liberal
canton. The example was tempting, and the Gene-
vese seized it. There had been formerly attempts of
a similar kind in Geneva; but the citizens had then
mustered in arms, and the National Guard overcame
or deterred the populace from a downright revolution.
Now, however, more apathy prevailed. The feeling
was, that the Genevese Grand Council had gone too
far, and that it was not supported in a way suffi-
ciently general to deter or put down insurrection.
The obnoxious decision of the Grand Council took
place on the 3rd. The effervescence instantly com-
menced. Meetings were held ; protests agreed to and
published. The printers were arrested. But this
proved no check to similar proceedings. The Grand
Council then ordered the seizure of the principal
orators and movers of the resistance : FAYS, editor of
the Liberal journal, MULLEN, and VANEY. These
chiefs withdrew into the old watch-making and arti-
san portion of Geneva, separated from the more
modern town by the Rhone; and the population under
their orders barricaded the wooden bridges over its
rapid stream. The Genevese government, upon this,
ordered the militia to attack them; and their cannon
soon swept away the barricades of the bridge. But the
streets of St. Gervais were filled with armed insurgents,
The troops, in attempting to penetrate, suffered great
loss; especially that of their ola colonel, M. DE CIIA-
TEAUVIEUX ; end they retreated. The insurgents in
line passed the bridges, and soon succeeded in insur-
rectionising the town, and occupying the principal
posts. The Grand Council was under the necessity of
resigning ; and the proscribed radicals of the 6th
became the triumphant heroes of the Bth. Geneva
and its government remained in their power.
This revolution, which from the remote corner in
which Geneva is placed cannot but end in the esta-
blishment of a liberal and radical government in the
canton, will give great additional force to the power of
Berne, which soon becomes Vorort, or Executive State,
and which seems inclined to put down by force the
Jesuit regime of Lucerne. Zurich also, which, though a
Protestant canton, has hitherto opposed the wild pro-
ceedings of tiro radicals, voted against Lucerne in the
affair of the Concordat ; so that the Liberals have of
late gained much ground, and only require the ob-
servance of moderation and justice, in order to
triumph over the retrograde party.
As long as the Swiss dispute these questions among
themselves, they are not of so much moment. The
great danger lies in foreign interference, or in a state
of things in Switzerland offering pretext for such in-
terference. The French government is accused of
prompting the Grand Council of Geneva to its foolish
vote, so completely at variance with popular opinions.
But the government of Geneva is not the first that
France has overthrown by antipopular advice. Nor
will it be the last.

THERE is not a step in politics, or a fact in political
history, which requires greater previous consideration,
or is more calculated to make one pause ere it be
made or achieved, than for one country, or its go-
vernment, to set foot, with views of interference or
colonisation, on the shores of a new, vast, and
peopled continent. But consideration has never pre-
ceded such a step. We English threw our reli-
gious communities on North America, and our trading
establishments on India, as a natural overflowing of
the religious spirit and trading enterprise of the
country. The Nation, in either case, had as much
hand in it as the Government. It was a spontaneous
act. We know the results.
In the present day, however, the world is all too
thoroughly awake for such a step to be blindly or
unadvisedly taken. All must be aware, that it is no
ordinary, no indifferent matter. If we do wrong, we
have no longer the stars to blame, but our own am-
bition or miscalculation.

The island of Borneo, on the northern and north-
western shores of which our frigates are hovering,
is a vast, a fertile, and well-peopled land. We

And the political organisation of Borneo has some re-
semblance to the state of things and of races founded
by the Normans on the shores of Europe.
Now, there could scarcely be found a population
with whom it would be more difficult to establish per-
manent influence. As long as we aided one chief or
Pangerang against another, or the sovereign against
a mutinous chief, we should no doubt find zealous
Mends and allies. But such is our policy and feeling
of humanity, that we should soon be discovered to be
the patrons of the fallen and oppressed race, and of
that exclusively. Our prohibition of piracy, alone, is
calculated to deprive those freebooting chiefs of their
main source of wealth, activity, and renown. If to
this were added the idea that we menaced their aris-
tocratic subjection of the Dyaks, we should find all
the Malays engaged in a common bond against us.
Each day, too, would make the chiefs of Borneo
more formidable foes. They are by no means des-
picable as it is, and they put to the test all the skill
and hardihood of our crews. Even these, we see, are
baulked each moment by the difficulties, the swamps
and natural defences, of the country; and a strong-
hold inland would, like the fortified paha of the New
Zealanders, require regiments to subdue them ;—espe-
daily when the Borneans had become more expe-
rienced in our art of warfare. We cannot bat fear,
therefore, that any obstinate system of warfare car-
ried
on in Borneo, accompanied by interference with
their politics and their internal quarrels, must produce
some signal failure or defeat to our small naval force ;
or that it may demand the accession of regiments and
expeditions, and lead to results similar to the costly
conquests of the Dutch in those regions.
The mere occupation of the island of Labuan; the
opening therein of a secure and well-provisioned
poet for our commercial or military marine, on this
their direct road to the Chinese seas; the making it
• at the same time the entrepOt of trade with the
Borneans; —this is so far from being objectionable,
that all must at once admit how desirable and useful
would be such a station, which, as a defence against
pirates merely, would well repay the expense of its
establishment.
But the extension of our views and interference
from Labuan to the mainland of Borneo, for which our
publicists have lately discovered so long and respect-
able a name;—that is quite another matter. We are
strongly tempted, it is true, by finding in Mr. BROOKE
an able, a chivalrous, and devoted auxiliary ; one
whom we cannot abandon; and who is already so
mixed up in the politics and dissensions of the Sultan's
court, that we can scarcely refrain from henceforth
being as much a party to them as Louis I'IIILIPPE to
the future policy of his Madrid relatives. But pru-
dence would suggest our giving counsel to Mr.
BROOKE to limit his jurisdiction rather than to extend
it. At Sarawak he is a useful and needful
auxiliary. Through his aid the English of Labuan
may master the pirates of the rivers in the immediate
neighbourhood, and may subdue their habits by sub-
stituting for them the gain of regular trade, which,
once tasted by chief and people, will prove a bond and
of compensation. If, on the other hand, instead of thus
limiting our efforts, they be extended to Bruni, to the
reforming of the Sultan's court, or to the wild idea of
giving him a successor in the person of Mr. BROOKE,
—such a gigantic enterprise would, it is to be feared,
lead us far beyond the prudent object of a little, secure
island-colony at Labuan, and embark us in the politics
of Borneo far too precipitately and too widely, not to
end in disappointment, disgust, and final abandon-
ment, if in no worse results.
We have a sufficient number of colonies for the re-
ception of emigrants, for which the climate of Borneo
is every way unfit; and we owe our chief care and
expense to those dependencies which have received an
English population, and which arc calculated to com-
plete one. In these far seas and torrid climes, what
we need aro Melina and Gibraltars, not Algerias;
ports and fortresses for shelter and for trade, not pro-
vinces to administer and populations to subdue. On
the Chinese coast itself, we might have preferred
some island less barren and more healthful than Hong
Kong; but, at the same time, some island more defen-
sible and less dependent on a Chinese population than
Chosen. Labuan, therefore, should be the limit of
our occupation in Borneo; and the support of Mr.
BROOKE at Sarawak, the limit of our ambition. If we
are to support Pangerang against Pangerang, we shall
soon find ourselves in contact not solely with the Bor-
neans, but with the Duteh,who have governor-generals
and armies, and a whole net-work of intrigues and
subsidies with the Bornean chiefs.

There cannot be a prettier or more interesting
romance than the Memoirs and Journals of Mr.
Bituota ; and, in so saying, we would not in the
least impeach their veracity ;—but Great Britain
has too many permanent sources and objects of
duty, to permit her filling up that romance by any
serious acts of policy or war. Let us settle New Zea-
land before we colonise Borneo; and d:spose of
lIEKI and RANGIIIEITA, ere we go to war with I'an-
gerang IiNiOP, and the SULTAN of Borneo.

The following letter from a correspondent who
knows the county of Caithness well, will convey to
our readers an accurate idea of the actual position and
prospects of that part of Scotland. It is obvious that
in the lowland and well cultivated part of the county
the failure of the potato crop is viewed with as little
alarm as in the counties south and east of the Highland
line. The destitution, in Scotland, of which we hear, is
confined to the H cbri des, and the immediately adjoining
mainland. In that region there is perennial destitu-
tion. We are familiar in London with the faces of
eloquent divines and laymen, who, in tho Egyptian
Hall of the Mansion House, mendicate from time to
time for that unhappy region. It is well that govern-
ment has laid on steamers to distributeprovisions there ;
but this step will only meet the present emergency.
Unless something more be done, we shall have another
application from the same quarter next year, or at
the furthest in 1848. The real evils of the district
are an excessive (cottier) population and bankrupt
landlords. The estates are almost all entailed, and
almost all managed by the trustees of the insolvent
heirs of entail. The trustees cannot, without risk to
themselves, relax their gtspe on the starving tenantry.
The tenants, more numerous than the soil can sustain
(multiplied in some localities under the stimulus of
the kelp manufacture, now destroyed), have nothing
to pay them. Year after year, large droves of lean
cattle are sent from these districts to the southern
pastures, coniposed almost exclusively of seizures for
rent. The destitution in tho islands and western
highlands of Scotland may be worse than usual this
year, but it is always existent; and nothing can re-
move it but the breaking up of the entails, concurrent
with a large emigration.
" Regarding potatoes, the crop in Orkney and Shetland is, I hear,
gone, or going. As to Caithness, I can speak more confidently : from
one-third to one-half is rotten. The greater part is still in the
ground, and has not become worse during the last three weeks,. In
favourable situations we hope to save seed, and perhaps sufficient for
farm servants and labourers till the end of December. Near the
towns of Wick and Thurso, where the land is fad of manure, and has
been growing potatoes for half a century, the decay first manifested
itself; and the crop which is planted by the inhabitants of these
towns in patches of land (on the large farms) rented for the season,
will In many cases not be touched, but left to the farmer to deal with
as he pleases. This willaffbet the supply of food in labourers' families
to the extent of owe-fourth, or in some eases one half for eight
months. But there is no panle--not much anxiety among
the industrious part of the inhabitants; for work is very abundant,
wages high—that is, for ordinary labourers, from I Os. to 12s. a-week, and
6.. to 55. for women and boys at farm work. The labourer with us
I ha: a house andrightof fuel for 20s. to Ms. 3-year; oatmeal is 20s. to
71s. the boll of 140 lbs.; barleymeal, 145. to 15s. ditto; beef, 4d., and
mutton, 3)d. per lb. ; eggs, 4d. a.dozen. The corn and turnip crops
are abundant ; toe quality very fine. Bear in mind that this is a
level, well-cultivated, corn-growing district; breeding Leicester
sheep and short-horn cattle; inhabitedby a comparatively industrials
rare, principally Scandinavian, with a dash of Norman blood. We
have a Celtic race in the higher parts of the county, towards
Sutherlandshire, who are, as a body, ho law. On the Dukeof Suther-
laniCsestates there isa large Celtic population ; the extent of failure of
potatoes with them Is not yet known. Like the Irish, they live, or
exist almost solely on potatoes for eight or nine months of the year,
and will not work unless compelled by hunger. We have employ..
ment here for as many of them as are able to work. While living on
oatmeal they work well ; but as soon as their potatoes are ready (or
eating, they leave you, no matter how urgent the work or high the
wages, sad nothing will tempt them to return until the potatoes
fail in spring. The claw in our lowland country likely to feel the
potato failure most, are the small tradesmen in towns, and the small
farmers of from 10f. to 291. rent—a nondesiript class, properly
neither farmers nor labourers, We most find them work, and grant
them indulgence in exacting the rents due in 1847. Of food them
I will, thank tied, be plenty.'

, .
have not wrongly styled it a continent, such is
its extent. It is peopled, not with savage tribes, but
with a population which has made no small progress
in civilisation. It contains a healthy, robust, active,
and intelligent native race, which has been conquered
awl rendered subject by a conquering race, the latter
in it,• turn displaying the manly virtues of an heroic
cute. Theite 2eople cre pirates. So were the Normans. I

The Dsbats of Monday drops the subject of the
Spanish marriages; the'Prease, however, makes up
fur this by four columns of more than commonly
furious invective. The Prose, in fact, becomes rabid

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 13, 1846.

on this topic. In the bushel of chaff which it has put
forth we find, however, some grains which have
weight enough to entitle them to be picked oat The
writer gives what he pledges himself to be en
authentic and precise history of the marriage question
from its origin. "We can,' says the Presse, gua-
rantee the exactitude of the following details, which
will give the lie effectually to all the assertions of the
journals, whether of London or Paris, which have
defended the proceedings of England in this matter."
Considering that the Prone is one of the court jour-
nals, we may therefore regard the following as an
official defence by the French government of their
conduct in this matter:
" While Sir Robert Peel was in office, France and Eng-
land were in perfect harmony on the subject of the Spanish
marriages. Putting aside all personal pretensions, France
agreed, and even prepossd as the best arrangement, that the
two Spanish Princesses should be united to their two cousins,
the sons of Don Francisco de Paulo, in which the British
Cabinet agreed. This arrangement, however, was rendered I
impossible by one of these Spanish Princes breaking sud-
denly and scandalously with the Constitutional party. Then
occurred those conversations at Eu of which so much has
been said, in which the French Minister proposed the ar-
rangement now carried into effect. Lord Aberdeen replied
that he saw no objection, especially (surtout) if the Queen
should have an heir to the crown at the time of the solem-
nization of the marriage of the Infanta. Tnis was the posi-
tion of things when Sir Robert Peel resigned. On the
accession of Lord Palmerston, the French Cabinet neces-
sarily put itself on its guard. It soon learned that Lord Pal-
merston, corresponding with Mr. Bulwer, was endeavouring
to substitute a Prince of Coburg as a candidate absolutely
on the same footing as the sons of Don Francisco. It was
known that Mr. Bulwer had indicated Don Henry us the
proper husband of the Queen, and that England was doing
all that she could to bring to a conclusion a marriage with
the Prince of Coburg, and that already the Spanish cabinet
being reluctantly forced to adopt a course, gave ear to the
propositions thus made to it. Under such circumstances,
France was compelled to act, and how could she act other-
wise than she has acted? She gave notice to England that
the latter was departing from the course agreed upon, and
receiving no answer, and knowing that the Coburg inuigue
was still proceeding she gave definitive notice that she
would hold herself 'free to act as might seem most con-
ducive to her interests, and would marry the Due de Mont
pensicr either to the Queen or the Infanta. This
communication, which dates so far back as last
May, was followed by the proceedings the issue of
which is now manifested. Such are the facts, the exactitude
of which we defy the English ministerial journals to disprove,
or to show that the French government throughout this ne-
gotiation has exceeded the strictest limits of good faith. Let
English diplomacy, caught in its own nets, cry out against a
result which it might have prevented by observing the neu-
trality agreed on between the two cabinets. Let it try to
distort the facts, and to east upon France the wrong of its
own defeated duplicity. Nothing is more natural. Let the
French opposition journals seek satisfaction in the clamours
of the English press, and mingle in foreign declamations
against us. Nothing, to our shame, is more common among
us. But let any man of good faith and good sense, having
the facts before him, say whether the conduct of England
has not justified that of France ; even admitting, which we
do not, that France has need to consult England in such a
matter."
This account differs but immaterially from one re-
cently put forth in the pages of the Beetle des Deux
Miaides—
" When," says that journal, "the English Government
was animated with the sincere desire of maintaining the
entente cordiale, it acknowledged that France had an inte-
rest as well as a right to turn all her attention, all her solici-
tude, to the question of the marriage of Queen Isabella and
of her sister. To understand thoroughly this discussion, it
is necessary to bear in mind that wlam Lord Aberdeen ac-
companied Queen Victoria to Eu, he there held serious con-
verse with M. Guizot on the affairs of Spain. Concessions
were made on both sides. As regarded the marriage of
Queen Isabella, England withdrew the idea of proposing a
Coburg, and France withdrew the Duke of Montpensier.
It was agreed that the young Queen was to marry a descen-
dant of Philip V. As for the second marriage, the French
Government engaged itself to adjourn the union of the Duke
of Siontpensier with the Infanta until the Queen had presented
Spain with an heir to the throne; but it was likewi-te
understood that France was to be free of all engagement if a
Coburg was again brought forward. In this maniocr the
question was solved fur the future prosperity of Spain, and
without disturbing the good understanding between France
and England. This is what the upright and loyal-minded
Lord Aberdeen had sincerely at heart. But there was a
third person much interested in these matrimonial alliances,
who was but little pleased with this arrangement. Queen
Christina was canvinced that great inconvenience would
arise if the two marriages, of the Queen and of the Infanta,
were not concluded at the same time, that adjourning the
second was leaving a door open to eventualities which might
prove serious. The obstacles which presented themselves in
the way of Count Trapani are well known. There was,
fir a short time, a lull in the question of the maraiags. It
was, no doubt, owing to those ceaseless difficulties that Queen
Christina, tome months back, sent an agent to Prince Ferdi-
nand of Caburss, who was then residing at Lisbon
with his sun Leopold. It will be easily guessed '
whether those overtures were listened to. if we are well
informed, the British minister at Madrid enter: d into the plans
of the Queen-Mother. Mr. Bulwer is a man of talent, and
it has always been a point with him to endeavour to cutwit
France, even at the risk of disturbing the existing harmony
between the two cauntrir s. He set to work in the cause of
the Prince of Coburg with a real which, it is said, called
fo-tlt a reprimand from Lord Aberdeen. Lord Aberdeen re-
minded him of what had passed at the Chateau d'Eu ; and,
in the uprightness of his heart, condemned projects which he
was aware tended to compromise the good feeling between
the two countries. Mr. Bulwer was so hurt at the disap-
probation manifested by his principal, that he offered to re-
sign. It was at this juncture of affairs that Sir 11. Peer and
his colleagues retired from office. As soon as Lord Palmer-
ston was installed in the department for Foreign Affairs, the
French government, it is asserted, made several communica-
tions to him concerning Spanish affairs. To numerous ques-
tions on this subject, Lord Palmerston replied only by
silence or evasive answers. He professed unlimited respect
for she absolute freedom of action of Spain, and at the same
time he informed Mr. Bulwer that he only regarded three
candidates as eligible for the hand of the Queen of Spain—
namely, the Prince of Coburg, the Duke of Cadiz, and Don
Enrique. It was thus that Lord Palmerston respected the
independence of Spain, and cut out France altogether.
French diplomacy was not to tolerate such a position. A
struggle enmed between Mr. Bulwer and M. Bresson, in
which the latter proved victorious."
A telegraphic despatch, dated Marseilles, 18th
October, and received on Saturday night by the
French Government, announces that lteschid Paella
is promoted to be Grand Vizier, and Ali Effendi
appointed Minister for Foreign Affair", in the room of
Iteseltid Pacha. The information was given from
Therapia, under the date of September 28.
M. de Bois Le Conite, French Minister at the Hague,
will, it is stated, replace as Ambassador at Rome the
Comte de Rossi, who will receive another appoint-
ment The latter arrived at Marseilles on the ith on
his way to Paris.
Le Mesaager publishes n report of Captain Brunt,
late Governor of the French establishments in
Oceania, dated Papeiti, Jure 3, 1816, giving an
account of the late engagements between the French
troops and the Otaheitans. It appears that the latter
were successively dislodged from all their positions
but the last. There were two days' fighting, on the
10th and 30th of May. The French lost two officers
and six men; six officers and twenty-one non-com-
missioned officers and men were wounded.

Our Madrid letters and correspondence to the Gth
inst. have come to hand. They do not add any
particulars to those we have already publishes.
There are long details of the entry of the French
Princes into Madrid on the Gth. They dined at the
palace with the Queen, the Infanta, and a select
party on the following day. The French Ambassa-
dor was to give a grand banquet and a splendid ball
on the 15th inst.
The Royal marriages have brought into Spain and
Madrid a considerable number of foreigners. All
the vehicles on the roads were engaged and the want
of horses and mules has been such, that the ordinary
mail has been, during the last week, several hours
daily behind its time.
Cabrera is said to be travelling through Spain
under the name of Jose Lopez, a merchant of
Madrid. His description has been sent to all the
authorities, and if taken he will be instantly shot.

CONSTANTINOPLE, Seer. 27.
Upon the conclusion of the commercial treaty with
Russia the Porte gave notice to the embassies of the other
powers that the commercial treaties in existence with them
would be handled in succession, beginning with the English
treaty, for the purpose of revising their articles, and remodel-
ling them upon the basis of the Russian treaty. The English
ambassador accordingly sent instructions to the various
consulates to prepare a report, setting forth the advantages
or disadvantages to be derived to British commerce from the
changes which the Ottoman government contemplated intro-
ducing into the treaty of 1838. Most of the reports will be
shortly sent in to the English minister, Mr. Wellesley. I
understand that their general tenor is greatly opposed to the
adoption of the Russian treaty: and all the British mer-
chants resident here are of opinion that our trade would be
greatly damaged by the threatened remodelling of the con-
vention of 1838. The consular protests relate mainly to
three heads.
1. They object to the prohibition, in the 6th article of the
treaty—against any Russian engaging in retail trade, or
setting up a shop—being extended to British subjecte : a
great number of the latter, under the denomination of
lonians and Maltese, being engaged in the retail trade, and
having shops and magazines which hare been established
here for many years.
2. They object to the Porte's reserving the right of stopping
the exportation of grain whenever it may, find convenient to do
so. This objection is evidently founded on the fear that the
right in question will be frequently exercised, not for the
purpose of protecting the subjects of the Forte against