The Express.
London, England, 1846-10-31 00:00:00

to mg*

MAILS.
The West India nutria, Including these for Sfe•:;ro, Tionduras, and
Havana, n ill be ,mule up on the monlinguf the 2cd November.
- - - -

71+0 ovrrlend wail. for Gibraltar, Nlidm, Greece, the lonian Idanila,
Egypt, Aden, Ceylon, India, llong-Kong, and China, ria Southampton,
will be made up on the morning of the 3rd November.
_ .

The mils for British North America, Bermuda, end the Tbitid
States, will be made up on the evening of the Sd November.

The mails for 'Madeira, Timzils, and Limnos .►yres, will be mule up
a the morning of the 4th Nor.

The mail. for Corunna, Vigo, Oporto, Madeira, Cadiz, ar.d
Gibraltar, will be made up on the morning of the 7th November.
The overland closed maiN, via Marseilles, to the Mediterraman,
Egypt. Aden, Ceylon. India, Hong-Kong, he., will be made up on the
evening of the 7th November.)

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

We cannot notice, in any way, any communieition that 1. sent to tta
*mint mously ; but those who choo.e to =hire. UP in confidence will
find their confidence respected. NEM lER CA N WE UNDERTAKE
TO RETURN ANY MANUSCRIPTS WIiATEVEIt.
••• AdrerMements intended Tor TA. Erpress, London evening paper,
must be at the Office by Two o'clock on the day a.f publimtion.

ITIGIL WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE,

Tins DAT. 2iICTTIiiI4.IOII7. past 11; Aftensuon. min. past 11.
1%.•-atoaauw.—Morning, min. put —; Allem:au. 2 nuu. plot 0.

LONDON, SATURDAY, OCT. 31.
THE Ga:rtte of last night announces the proroga-
tion of Parliament to the middle of January.
Thus, one of the questions, which occupied the

consideration of the Cabinet, has been decided. It has
not been judged prudent to call Parliament prema-
turely together, in order to sanction extraordi-
nary measures for the alleviation of either Irish
famine or English scarcity. Government does
not stand in need of any fresh supply of wis-
dom or experience to grapple with these evils.
Neither does it want the courage to apply the
remedy, provided the existence and gravity, as well
as the continuance of those evils be proved and
shown beyond a question, and provided that those
most interested and implicated in the removal of the
pressure make, of themselvt,s, fair efforts to shako
it off.

As to parliament meeting in order to indulge itself
and the country in another corn-law discussion, no one
could have dreamed of so gratuitous au infliction. It
requires something more than arguments about free- •
trade, or speculative theories of any kind, to warrant
the breaking up of a settlement so lately made. Facts,
urgency, necessity—a manifest prevention of evil, can
alone do that. And of this urgency ministers must
be fax better judges than Parliament, to which they
might look for indemnity or for support, but nothing
else. Neither risk nor party difficulties, how-
ever, are likely to deter ministers from pur-
suing the course which duty points out, in the
present trying circumstances of tho country.
It would be unfair to expect or demand, that they
should lay hold of distress, es a pretext for getting
rid of a law which they always disapproved. To
play with parliamentary decisions in this way would
be unwarrantable. But should the circumstances of
the country demand it, the ministry, we have no
doubt, will be found equal to meet them.
Irish distress is, however, a much more complicated
question than even English scarcity, and one which,
for this reason, might require the early and anxious
consideration of parliament. No doubt, too, that
every regard and every attention, in seeming as
well as in reality, is due to the suffering Irish. But
unfortunately it might bo found, that whilst parlia-
ment had congregated to.devise plans of relief, those
who should have improvised and practised such plans
upon the spot, would have paused and flung off the
certainly onerous task, and coolly transferred to par-
liament those duties which they should have per-
formed themselves.

This is not to bo tolerat..d. It is an imperative
duty to lend a hand to a settering and fellow way-
farer. But if one is obliged to take him altogether,
and catty him upon one's lark, whilst he makes
no exertion for himself, the probable result might be
that the strong would fail as well as the weak, and
both drop together into misery and inanition.
We are not surprised, therefore, to learn, that the
reasons drawn from the state of Ireland for calling
Parliament prematurely together, have failed to con-
vince the Cabinet. With respect to the other ques-
tion, trial Of opening the ports, it is a measure fully
within ministerial competency to decide.

The prorogation of Parliament is, therefore, no de-
cision of that important question. Nor does the
non-appearance of what was expected by some, an
order, simultaneous with the prorogation, for opening
the ports, imply either that the question is decided.
Even were its expediency much more fully proved
than it is, there would be Foinething indecorous in
proroguing Parliament in the very same breath pith
the assumption of extraordinary powers. Tho
legislating by ordonnance, whilst discarding and
adjourning the legislature, might be taxed as arbitrary
and unfair.

We can, however, only form conjectures as to the
reasons which weighed upon Ministers. They may
have been influenced by other considerations. To
open the ports at the moment that corn had reached
its toiaximtt»t price, and was tending to decline of
itself, would not be warranted. And some assert that
such is the present situation. We are of a very con-
trary belief, and feel confident that a few weeks can-
not elapse without making more manifest and more
imperative to the country and to the government, the
necessity for getting rid of the four-shilling duty.

Is our columns of Wednesday the 14th inst.,
occurred the report of a case connected sl,lth a henyit
society, as it is called, which ended, as so many of
these cases do, in a wrong without redress as sought.
Mr. WAKELING, a solicitor, who appeared for a
poor woman without a fee, because he considered that
the case was one of oppression, stated to the magis-
trate at Clerkenwell that this poor woman had been
refused 12!., due to her as the widow of a subscriber,
first, with an assertion that there were no funds,
though an advertisement of recent date, a trap for
more subscribers, set forth that the society was
flourishing; and afterwards on a pretext of some in-
formality. The party refusing was the treasurer of
the society, the landlady of a public-house. The
magistrate could not interfere, because the society,
which was regularly enrolled, had a clause in its laws
enacting that all disputes should be referred to
arbitration. _

It would seem as if, in this case, the law which
was meant to secure to the poor an easy mode of re-
covering their rights, acted as a barrier to even as
much as the necessity of hearing what the parties
accused of fraud had to say, in answer to a strong
prima' facie case against them.
By 4 and 5 Will. 4, cap. 40, the society must
appoint arbitrators, :and on their refusal, any two
justices may determine the cause. There is then a
remedy : bat in law as in physic, when remedies aro
often necessary, there is something wrong in the
system, which will end in its destruction, unless effi-
cient aid be afforded to remove the primary cause of
the disorder. The benefit societies call loudly for the
attention of the legislature : the cases of hardship, of
fraud, and of ignorant misunderstanding of the true
intent of such unions, arc becoming so frequent,
that no one who knows the vast importance of their
existence will hesitate to aid us in pressing the sub-
ject upon the consideration of members of the Legis-
lature, at this favourable moment, when party move-
ment at least, if not party feeling, is in vacation.
We say that a radical change is necessary: and
meaning to return to the subject, we shall endeavour
to bring the public round to our opinion by easy
stages. We say that this change is necessary, even
though there had never been a single case of oppres-
sion or fraud. We will make the opponents of tho
change, if there be any, a present of all such cases;
and we will forbear to put them in as proofs of the
policy of such a change, reserving them only to show
the urgency of a speedy settlement.
We may stand well, if we can rest our feet upon a
basis which already stands well. The savings banks
exist in safety and honour ; the benefit society has a