The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-02 00:00:00

claims. They are not less strong than his personal.
It was the opinion of Lord Eruort that no man ever
lived to whom the character of a great common law-
yer was more properly applied than to Mr. Serjeant
WILLIAMS; and it was only the jobbing propensity
of Lord ELDON, which could have withheld from the
bench the advantages of so much learning and
genius. The Chancellor's admirers refer to a letter, in
which his sense of duty is alleged to have
weighed against his desire to promote this
distinguished lawyer. "\o man in the profession,"
this letter runs, "stands higher in my regard than
WILLIAMS. I certainly had a full conviction that the
labour of the King's Bench was such as necessarily
to lead me to think of others; and, ander that con-
viction, whether I was right or wrong, the matter
was, in fact, over when I received your letter." We
confess we think that if doubts on the score of ill-
health, or incapacity for labour, had not occurred to
the serjeant himself (who certainly expected this
promotion), or to the chief of the court in which he
aspired to sit (Lord ELLENBOROUGII was the most
earnest seconder of his claims), they need not have
occurred to Lord ELDON. As it was, the increased
exertions consequent on his continued pursuit of the
more arduous duties of the profession to which he
was so strongly attached, wore out his strength ; and
he died after some few years (during which no second
opportunity for promotion seems to have occurred) of
premature old age. Every one will rejoice that
honours so justly due to the father, and so unhappily
intercepted, should at length, and with the universal
concurrence of competent judment, ha been granted

to the son.
We can imagine no appointment to the bench
that would have been more popular in Westminster-
hall. Little known to the public beyond the limits
of the South Wales Circuit, Mr. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS
has long held foremost place in the Courts at
Westminster as an authority in pleading ; in rela-
tion to which, sustaining the reputation of hie father,
he has been even less remarkable for acquaintance
with its forms than for knowledge of its principles.
With these his mind is richly stored. He belongs,
in that respect, to a class of lawyers now unhappily
rare, and not ill represented by the famous work (in
its way a genuine classic) with which his name is more
particularly associated. He has his superiors at
Westminster in the application of old principles to
modern relations, and his equals in acquaintance with
the books; but we doubt if he has any competitor
in the capacity of dealing with the system of logic
which was in vogue with the elder judges and text
writers. His power of seizing and eliciting the com-
mon sense principle from beneath any conceivable
amount of pedantic fonnuls, is astonishingly great
and certain ; and we can hardly conceive a more
dangerous judge to that class of eminent pleaders
whose familiarity with what may be termed the
minute anatomy of law too often enables them to
triumph over the just inclinations of the Court, than
Mr. VAUGHAN WILLIAMS.
We have not referred to Mr. WILLIAMS'S political
opinions, for we are not acquainted with them. We
see that some of our contemporaries claim him as
belonging to the anti-ministerial party. It may be
so : but we believe it to be very certain, if he has
any political bias, that it is unknown to the great
mass of his competitors in Westminster-hall. They
will gratefully recognise in his promotion a testimony
of a higher kind, to the honest claims of professional
distinction, and to the pure administration of justice.
lu such appointments Lord JoHN RUSSELL gives a
fresh guarantee of that superiority to mere party
, considerations, in which all who wish well to his
government must feel that it strikes its deepest
foundation, and rests its safest title to continued and
even general support.

The French Court Journal, or Debate, of Wednes-
day, continues its running comments upon England,
and upon its opinions or no-opinions with respect to
the Montpensier marriage. There is talk, saith this
journal, of the English parliament assembling in
November; but let not our readers be alarmed,—the
English parliament does not meet to discuss Spanish
marriages. Corn and Sugar are the topics that
interest an English public. It would disdain to give
a moment's attention to an old treaty concluded at
Utrecht, except so far as it might contain a clause for
permitting Spanish sugar to enter British porta. For
a great moral end, such as the abolition of slavery,
the English might become enthusiastic. But when
neither morals, nor religion, nor commerce are con-
cerned, it is all one to the English people what
takes place. Let our good French public not be
alarmed; if ministers meet and Parliament assemble,
it is to discuss Irish famine, not Spanish marriages.
Such is the language of the Journal dee De:bats ;
which very much resembles the encouragement of a
thief to his associates, assuring them that the hang-
man sleeps, and that the constable is on quite another
beat.
The Epoque,the other French ministerial paper,
reckons for French impunity, not like the Debate, upon
John Bull's absorption in domestic matters, but upon
his assumed hatred of Lord Palmerston, whom, it
boasts, that the French government can upset, if his
Lordship dare show his teeth. These arc singular
polemics.
The National, speaking of the marriage of the
Infanta, says:
" Nothing can be more unpopular in Spain than the
mirriage of the Duke de Montpensier. That question
has roused all parties, and it meets with a strenuous and
warm opposition even amongst the most considerable faction
of the Conservatives. The Tienapo and Espanol, organs of
that faction, wage as fierce a war against it as the Progresista
journals. If the government had been assured of the public
assent, what need had they of increasing their violence
against the press, of :seizing five journals in one day, of arrest-
ing one five times in a week,ofsending police agents to suppress
an article at the moment of printing it, of menacing citizens
guilty of signing a petition, and of patrolling the streets of
Madrid with strong detachments of infantry and cavalry ?
And all that proves that Spain anxiously and joyously ac-
cepts your marriage. You must suppose your readers to
possess an extraordinary portion of credulity to dare to affirm
it. ' Revolt has not yet taken arms,' writes our correspond-
ent, but it is to be found in every heart. I know not at
what hour it will burst forth, but I am certain that every
moment advances the hand which points to the hour.
Christina has played a terrible game, but she shall lose it.' "
Their Excellencies the Marquis and Marchioness of
Normanby left Paris yesterday on a visit of a few
days to Count Mole, at Champlatreux.
The Marquis de Valdespina, Generals Gomez and
Villareal, and M. de Vargas, who were resident at
Bordeaux, have been transferred to the chateau of
Blaye.
The Angebuig Gazette states that overtures, which
are said to have had their origin at St. Petersburg,
will soon be made by the three protecting powers of
Cracow to the governments of France and England,
relative to Poland in general, and Cracow in par-
ticular.
A letter from Vienna confirms the statement of the
states of Bohemia having come to a legislative de-
cision relative to the land-tax which pressed so heavily
on the tenants or peasants. This impost exceeded by
a fifth the contribution of the same kind paid by the
landlords or nobles ; and the states have voted this
surplus to the profit of the peasants. This is no
inconsiderable favour, as several great landed pro-
prietors, in consequence of this arrangement, will
have to pay taxes from 15 to 25,000 flonns, or from
37 to 63,000 fr., more than what they paid previously.
The Aulic Chancellor's Court of Vienna has consented
to approve of this reform, but only for one year.

Our Madrid letters are of the 25th. Their most
important contents are Mr. Bulwer's letter to Gene-
ral Serrano, which the Clamor Public° published, and
for which publication all the numbers of that journal
were seized.
General Serrano, under date of 20th, requests Mr.
Bulwer's opinion of the singular expressions used by
M. Isturitz, at the previous sitting of the senate, when
he spoke as follows, in replying to the general :
" What will you think, if I declare that the marriage
most opposed by the British plenipotentiary, is that of her
Majesty the Queen ? What will you say, if I add that the
desire and intention of the British Cabinet was to present, as
sole candidate for the Queen's hand, another prince, in op-
position to the existing arrangement ?"
Mr. Bulwer's reply is dated 21st. After stating, in a
prefatory manner, that the British government was
too loyal and candid to involve its views with mys-
tery, his Excellency states that
' With respect to the Queen's marriage, the uniform wish