The Express.
London, England, 1851-08-30 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, AUGUST 30, 1851.

duce of the land, without any reference whatever to 1 The municipality of Dijon, in imitation of that of
the cost of production. Whether the crop was grown Paris, has resolved to undertake important works, in
on a rich alluvial soil, where the cost and toil of order to afford employment tothe workmen. Amongst.
growing it are at a minimum, or whether it was other things it has resolved to effect a complete res-
raised upon poor laid, or on land difficult to cultivate, toration of the old palace of the states of Burgundy,
where a large proportion of the gross produce con- at an expense of 230,000 f. The plans have already
mists of capital necessarily expended by the farmer been submited to the minister of the interior.
in order to grow a crop at all, the tithe-owner came A decree of the President of the Republic directs
in and claimed a tenth part of the produce in both that henceforward in the ports of Cherbourg and
cases. The tithe system was in fact a bar to many Loricnt, all captains in the navy with the rank of
of those important improvements in cultivation by major shall bear the title of major-general, as is the
which farmers and landowners, since the commuta- practice at Brest, Toulon, and Rochefort.
tion, have largely profited. If, therefore, the tithe The Mountain committee of surveillance met to- !
. rent-charge does fall somewhat heavily in cheap sea- day. M. Joly, bell., presided. After sitting for an
I sons by reason of its being regulated by the average hour they sent the following note to the republican
of seven years' prices, it is but common justice to journals :—" The committee appointed by the republi- i
bear in mind that heavy as the rent-charge may be can opposition has assembled to-day. The calm'
I temporarily. it is light in comparison to the old claim which prevails in Paris and in the departments will '+
of the tithe-owner to take bodily one-tenth part of 1 reassure public opinion. The attitude of the people
the year's produce. 1 contrasts admirably with all the violent excitations
It may, perhaps, be said, that practically tithes of a portion of the press of the great party of order."
I
were taken in kind in only the minority of instances, The committee has adjourned till next Friday.
and that in most eases 'the tithe-owners received At the commencement of the Bourse to-day the fall
money rents for their rights to tithe; and this is of the last few days made further progress, and the
perfectly true. But, whenever the tithe was not I Five per Cents. m ere at one time as low us 94f. 10c.
owned be the same person as the land, the power They afterwards recovered, and closed at 94f. 50c.,
fossessed by the tithe-owner of taking his tithes in I being a rise from yesterday of sc. The Three per
ind operated nearly as prejudicially to impede . Cents. rose 10e., and closed at .513 f. 45e.
improvement, and prevent the adoption of new I _
modes of cultivation, as the actual taking up of tithes
The endless disputes about tithes, which rendered
them a fertile source of litigation, and their inter-
ference with husbandry, are bygone evils of the
tithe system never to belost sight of when we advert
to the inconveniences aol inequalities to which our
present tithe rent-charges subject us.
- • -

SPAIN.

MADRID, Ara. 2t.
The Clamor Public has been seized to-day. It is
reported that M. Juan Martinez Villergas has been
arrested for the publication of a pamphlet, entitled
A Parallel between Generals Espartero and N'ar-
vaez."
Great uneasiness is felt at the non-arrival of the
French mail, which it was feared must hard been
stopped by brigands.
The journals impatiently demand the convocation
of the Cortes.

In some places, however, the tithe-owners never
obtained the full value for their tithes, and there, when
the tithes were commuted, the money payment as rent-
charge became greater taan that which had before been
paid as rent of the tithes ; and when in such cases
the burthen became aggravated by the operation of a
seven years' average tithe payment on falling
markets for grain, much, and not unnatural, irrita-
tion and complaint arose amongst the tithe-payers.
It is by private adjustments and arrangements
amongst themselves that occupiers of land, landlords,
and tithe-owners can alone settle these various ine-
qualities; and now, when by the repeal of the corn laws
all those unnatural fluctuations in prices which resulted
from a vicious and artificial system have been got rid
of, we do not apprehend that there will be long any
difficulty in so doing. Landowners ought always to
pay the tithe rent-charges apportioned to their estates,
and let their farms tithe-free; and they will ever find
it their interest so to do,for apart from the annoyance
of a yearly fluctuating rent-charge, the farmer will
generally prefer to make one payment for rent to
one landlord than, after he has made his bargain for
his principal rent,to find he has a second rent to pay to
another recipient.
We observe that the tithe commissioners in their
last report state that the work of tithe commuta-
tion has been "substantially achieved," and that
after some unfin.shed and minor portions of the
work have beencompleted,they recommend a quieting
act for finally extinguishing all claims to tithe
' which had not then been commuted, merged, or
• redeemed. The sooner this is accomplished the
' better.

FRANCE.

PARIS, FRIDLT ETININO.

At the sitting of the court-martial at Lyons, on
Wednesday, the President inquired of the prisoners
if they had made choice of any advocates to replace
those who had retired? They answered that they
did nut intend to choose any. Thu President then
informed them that he had assigned theta counsel
who were present in court, and whose names he
read. All the prisoners, with the exception of Pasta,
declined to accept their services.
Capt. Merle declared that the government with-
drew from the prosecution as against Pasta.
There will therefore be no speech for the defence,
and the verdict will probably be given this day.

The Patrie has an article headed " symptoms," I
which would be truly alarming if it were possible to
suppose that it had the smallest foundation in truth.
It asserts that a plot has been discovered for
murdering all the officers of the army at the same I
hour, so that at a given moment, the army being
without any chiefs, a revolt of the troops may second'
the rising of the socialists. The officers are to be
murdered by the soldiers. This monstrous plan, it !
says, is not a dream; the country will shortly receive '
a startling and judicial proof that it is only too
much of a reality. The Patrie claims to have this
story believed upon its own bare word, for it con-
' eludes, " We have the symptoms ; let them suffice to
warn us. Let us act, without waiting for the results,
and without asking for proof. It would be too late."
After such a harrowing announcement it is some re-
lief to know that the only symptoms of slaughter upon
such a gigantic scale, is that a solitary gend'urme,
the bearer of a despatch in the arrondissement of
Largentiere, has been shot at and dangerously i
Iwounded by three men who are not yet in custody.
This assassination is asserted to be a part of the vast
scheme which is shortly to strew the whole soil of
France with corpses. It is a comfort to think that
I the intelligence of the conspirators is not equal to
their wickedness, or they would not prematurely
sound the alarm by firing in the highway upon a
single victim. The disposition, too, of the French
army—not very prone to wholesale cold-blooded
assassination—is some guarantee that the authors of
the plot must have miscalculated their resources for
its execution. But none of these considerations

occur to the Patric—a privileged journal, sold in the
streets, and enjoying an immunity from government
prosecutions—which announces the plot, with the
aid of large type, in the manner most calculated to
alarm the public mind.
M. Lamartine has written two articles in the Pays
against the presidency of the Prince do Joinvilie,
Which he says would be deplorable for the republic,
deplorable for royalty, and deplorable for the prince.
The following extract is at once a specimen of M.
Lamartine's feelings on the subject, and a summary
of his whole argument :
•

All would be trouble, suspicion, conspiracy against con-
spiracy, panic, treason, trembling, expeetation,restless days,
sleepless nights, in a republic under the presidency of a
prince, the son of a king, the brother of a regent, the
uncle of another king in leading-strings, the cousin
of another king in negotiation with him for the
throne, the accomplice, real or supposed, of every
royalty in every court in Europe, interested in
overthrowing by his hand a republic committed to the cus-
tody of the Tenpins. Is that what France wants? Let
her then say so! She will see what a country is that has a
false name for its government, a false king for its republic,
a false republican for its royalty, a country so corrupt and
so vile as to mock at itself in the face of nations, a country
that can make perfidy an institution, and set up treason for
a magistracy! Such a spectacle the world has not yet seen
—an Orleanist presidency would show it to you ; but
no, it never will show it to you, for neither
the country nor the prince would lend themselves
to such a mockery of the republic. Let honest men
of all parties look to it. The peace of the coun-
try cannot be played with with impunity ; governments
are not the dry bones with which the idlers of Athens
amused themselves. We are on the morrow of a revolution
greater and deeper than you suppose; we are not far off
from another much more terrible and still more radical, if
we do not take care, and if we think, like careless children,
that we may sport with a sleeping lion. The time is puerile
only because of our weakness and frivolity, but it is serious
in respect of the ideas, the problems, the necessities, and
the popular forces with which it is pregnant ; do not let us
laugh at it too much. To escape from radical revolution,
and from impossible royalties, we set our foot upon a republic,
timidly, and feeling our way as we went along. We found that
the ground bore ; we may rest upon with all our people; we
' may live, possess, increase, labour, progress, develope, and
grow great. and be the founders of a wise and pure demo-
cracy in Europe. But it is upon one condition—upon the
condition that we shall be what we are, and not something
else ; that is to say that we shall be a republic—for in a rno-
narchy we sank; it is the republic that has supported us.
Let us, then, consider well with ourselves. Shall we return
to monarchy ? Let us have no lying, intrigue, cunning, or
tergiversation ; it is unworthy of a great country. Let us
' speak out frankly.; the ballot-box is open ; universal suf-
frage is there • universal suffrage is the sovereign—let the
sovereign speak! Let it say monarchy if it dare! Let it choose
. a king if it can ! France is free to contradict herself, free
even to enchain herself! But in that case reject all repub-
lican institutions, presidency, sovereign assemblies, univer-
I salsuffrage or restricted suffrage ; the king is king or he
t is nothing! But will you remain a republic? Remain so
• then, but be a real republic, without any leaven of royalism,
without pretenders, dynasties, without vestiges or expec-
, tancies of royalty. Choose your representatives from
among men who do not deny their opinions, bat who will
• not delude their consciences • choose for your president a l
r man for whom the presidential chair will be neither the '
• fragments of, nor the materials for, a throne.