The Express.
London, England, 1849-03-06 00:00:00

Bile OppreS

MAILS.
The malls foe Vigo, Oporto, Usbon, Madeira, Cull:, ard Ohs
will be made up on the morning of the 7th March.
The malls. cis Marseilles, to the Mediterranean, 1f7%
Ceylon, Hoog-Kong, Pm, will be mide up on Ste
of tbe 7th March.
tv
Mails will be made up on the evening of the 7th inst. Os lea
to be conveyed by 11. M 8. Sappho, which le appointed to 111
Portsmouth on the Bth inst. The poetage on letters for Berndt
be le. No charge will be made on newepapers. All tenet fu
tended to be forwarded by this vowel must be eponslirile
By 11. hi. sloop Sappho."
The malls for British North America, and the MI
will be made up on the evening of the 9th March.
The West India Mails, excluding Bermuda, Hamm It
Honduras, New Orleans, and Mexico, and incledmg tler
Madeira, St. Jami.de.alicangtut, New Granada, Chili, sal hr.
be Made up on the morning of the 17th of March.
The mils for Gibraltar, Malta, Greece, the lonian Ishadt
Men, Ceylon, India, llong-Kong, and China, via tionthaara. ,
te made up on the morning of the 10th March.
The mans foe New South Wales, Van Dterean's WO"
Zealand will be made op on the evening of the Met Mara.

MOH WATER AT LONDON TIRIDOIL
Tao Da• —slacaln.t. 0 Ala. past 0: Altentooa, If MIL PI
Tolgoaacow —Moraine, 41 asla. pot 0; Allmon, II La to •

LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCI

Tim " farmers friends" will not be allow
shuffle out of their anti-malt tax profession+,
the vague and mystical phraseology of Mr.
motion. Mr. IltrwE has given notice of an Cr
merit upon that motion, which is, in poistcft
merely an expression in intelligible and usomi
English, of the meaning which Mr.Disitssuat
friends wish the farmers to attribute t 3
meaning verbiage. It declares that 0 with the
of giving speedy idiot to the agrieultiag
other interests of the country, without dnaf
to the claims of the national creditor, the
expenditure, now excessive, ought to be br
reduced, so as to enable parliament to repel Of
the duties on malt and hops, and to remove, NO
as practicable, other taxes which impede NO,
of agricultural and commercial industry.'
amendment will test the sincerity of the
members who have pledged themselves to vat
the repeal of the malt and hop duties; Pi
gentlemen, if they have bee a paying any swat)
the language held at recent meetings in the elf
tarsi districts, can have no doubt that the fit)
arc keeping a steadfast watch over their condretl
reference to these imposts.
It is indeed difficult to recollect a time
stronger or more universal sense of ill, and r
ciency of the government to remedy it,
at present. We hear of nothing save in
sociations, of all classes atall places,
against the malt tax, of 'the landlords
farmers, of the industrious classes
expenditure, of the philanthr
war either in theory or in
to taxation, the whole island seems t
of standing committee on the subject,
to one scheme, the other to another. Ant
financial reformer? So necessary, i•

take that popular uniform, that many
for mako-believo financial reform, see got
cannot conceive to what end.
Take, for example, the "numerous
spectable meeting of the inhabitants o
of Bridgcnorth," who aro overwhelmed
poor rates and decreasing trade. Yet It
remedy ?—" to curtail the allowances of
and honorary offiosrs, with the salaries
created commissions." What would Pr
them ? What economy in civilian ex,
be felt if that of military expenditure is
Better far not to meet or talk, where 7
mealy-mouthed as this, and stand in '
military Don.
We are indeed startled to find that
out far more boldly, and to the purpose, at
meetings than even at civic ones.
One thing is remarkable throughout, s
meetings, whether rustic or civic ; this is,
absence of anything like menaces, of the
allusion to physical force, or even to '
numbers. There were indeed many r
upon courtiers and strong antipathy to
of the bedchamber, but no voice, nit
destruction is applied to any of the pl!,.
or state. All perceive that nothin- Is to
without agitation, nothing to be obtained
clamouring for it, so that these meet'.•
ations, and clubbing of energies and
literally become part end parcel
sad political being. Mr.
think them very dangerous, but Mr.
feels them only as they were a
of a century back, when association and
were half way towards rcbellioa. Whereas

Th
mass recolioteitll,a time
andremedy it, rZd
ung save meetings la
all places, of the
the landlords
ions classes Ili°
philanthropists
or in Pte'
id seems to forms
se subject, one attrc
another. And who is
dee • d, is
ecessary, 1D
o, that many ace
reform, are got
d. I
numerous and 114
habitants of the
rcrwhchacd by in
trade. Yet what ni
allowances of diFl
h the salaries of
hat would all this
civilian expenditec,
xpenditure is an .
talk, where people
A stand in fear of
to find that orators
) the purpose, at
IC once.
;lc throughout all
or civic ; this is,ta
menaces, of the
or even to the FL'
imar
eed many an
otipathy to loras aa*
D VOICC, mach leas
ny of the pillars (ibt
a
nothing is to
r to be obtained,
these meetings and
'es and resource'
Let el of our
Uraliss
roux, but Mr.
were a
theY. og
aosocsation and
- .Choreal

from being a step to rebellion, they lead quite the
other way, and have oome to form the everyday
machinery of our constitution. Of old, homer,. r, we
had powirful minieters to intimidate; now we have
weak ministers to impel. Of old we had a parlia-
ment of boroughmongers and squires arrayed in direct
opposition to the people. Now parl ament dont do no
more than turn a deaf car, or mock simmeesfully what it
duvet Lot seriously resist, if seriously pressed upon it.
The present parliament. as well as all popular
ministries, would in fact become effete and power-
less, if the people were to become apathetic, and if
contending interests were to cease all pr.aturo and
all strife.

At such an epoch it is of vital importance that no
rest idcu, no fundamental principle of improvement
reform, should to left in abeyance. No doubt ex-
travegant taxation presses most, and e .ch class will
sect end will league naturally for the removal or al-
leviation of their material burdens in the first instance.
But we are much mistaken if they succeed in making
any great or satisfactory impremon upon parliament
or the governing classes without at the same time
labouring to diminish the undue influence of that class
over the franchise and consequently over parliament.
it may be alleged that F.ng'and has made great
advance of late years in the path of electoral Nutt ity
and reforms, that the franchise has been extended,
rotten boroughs reforms', and the middle
clam endowed with greater scope and power
of being represented. But, even if this
be so, we assert that, on the other hand, the depen-
dance of the many upon the few has been greatly in-
creased. Of old, when the franchise was limited,
that franchise was exercised by a greater number of
Independent persons ; whereas now, such is the dis-
tribution, inch the value, of property to England, that
all daises are in a state of dependence, and
are compelled to square their actions, and
even their votes and thoughts, by the caprice
of their employers, their customers—of the
preteens or the c'asto on whom they depend. Eng-
land. which was once the land of free men and free
thoughts, has become essentially a population of de-
pendents. In such a state, without the ballot, with-
out eatended reform, Englishn-rn will not even pre-
serve their ancient fry d.m of action, and of will.
Brea at the present moineA we see how few durst
make efforts for aught beyond en alleviation of
material burdens. One e.lirs confines its
efforts to the malt tax, and pleads distress
as en excuse—for it seems to need excuse.
Another is for repealing the window tax, but dreads
to breathe a word of anything more. Oar Bridg
north trice& could not make e'en a reflection upin
military expenditure ; they take a safe shy at diplo-
matists. In fact, it is not turbulence or disiffeetion
that is to be feared from existing popular agitation,
but cowardice and hes:tat/on.

We aro sled, therefore, to see, that at least in
the !metropolis en association has been got together,
not merely for the purpose of financial eco-
nomy, but ter that of electoral rtf.rm,
of the ball* of extension of the franchise, and in
every way protecting ant stieugthening the people's
interest in the Hou c of Commons. We yesterday
published the prammo el' this association, ef
which the president is Sir JoAnne Watustel, who
so lately proved his energy and fitness for such a part
by his w.naing the Bolt election. It is no argu
merit ag4iust the founding of such an roweled n,
that the popular current flows in another course,
towards more palpubls and pressing reform.
If the popular current should fail in cleating
Itself a channel, if it should be driven hack by these
aristocrati3 obstructions, that chew few symptoms
of removal, financial reformers will have to apply for
support to the constitutional reformers who would go
regularly to work in undoing and destroying there
otaitructions, which will for ever, or, at lea-t, as long
as they are allowed to continue, impede fiscal as well
as political justice and equality.

THE sixrenny rate, with all that appends thereto,
was thrown last night idto utter insigaificaree
by the astounding scheme that Sir Bonsai. PEEL
&closed and roc •mmended,— isfeduro, to be sure,
but still a scheme well calculated to arouse conteo-
versy at the present, for it throws the gauntlet down
to the p eeonomiste,jars considerably on the
rejudiees of the protectionists, whilst it twits the
inactivity and merely tempota,y policy of tit e wbigs.
Sir ROBERT PEEL is indtecl the great coiner of
political ideas. He enjoys the seignory and the
monopoly of affixing his stamp to portions of
such metal, and thereby rendering them current
Doctrines, th it have been slighted as mere dust, how-
ever Californian, and schemes of the richest vein of
sagacity were still slighted and refused, until the
great assayer had declared them genuine. And even
now, in the new coin which it has pleased this
master of the mint to utter, we think we perceive
much of the same metal that lay worthless in other
hands.
The proposal of Sir ROBERT PEEL is no less than
that goverument, or a commission, should purchase
the land of the one and twenty distressed unions of
Ireland, and re-sell them, of c urse in moderate pro-
portion, to a new proprietary. As an illustrat on of
this scheme, Sir ROBERT referred to the plantation of
Lister,' in the reign of JAMES 1., which out of a
disaffected and barren region made the most indus-
trious and wealthy province of the island.
There is much that is valuable and true in those
proposals, although, perhaps, there is not much that
eriginal. But there are also many difficulties,
many mittakes, many objections. We agree ter-
fectly in the nc:emity of a new proprietary to be
introduced int, a much greater portion of Ireland,
than the unions already submerted by the poor
law. But we doubt the possibility of recolonisirg Ire-
land, or •ny large portion of it, in the same manner that
Ulster was colonised in the 17th centary. With ra-
rixd to violence and entffiecatien, that, of cum, Sir
ROBERT PEEL himself does not dream of : but the
new undertakers and lords of the Ulster soil were
from a fereign country, and were bound to bring with
them tenants and labourers from their own 000ntry,
—a thing not to be attempted now. TR, row pro-
pristcr of Connaught will have a Conn sught poen-
laticn of labourers to deal with, and the Irish
farmer, middleman or small capitalist, form the only
class likely to do that wish success. But in order to
transfer the incombered end half cultivated land into
their hands, is it necessary fr government to become
a purchaser ? If government, in imitation of JAMES
the FIRST'S plantation, most make loss of the sin of
2,000, 1,600, and 1,000 acres, who are to
be the lords of the s,it and to sublet it, then
we must confess that we doubt if such adventurous

lords are to be found, or, if they were found, that the y
are likely to find farmers. It would be far better, u
Mr. °swank proposed, to allow portions of the land
to be aid for the payment of rates, and let the
midd'e and the farm►ng class acquire the property.
This is the true and the only home colonist-
ticn of the present time. And any effort to make a
feudal plantation, alter the model of the retenteenth
century. will ut'crly fail.
It will be remarked, that Sir ROBERT Pm has
always been oppos-d to schemes for the reclamation
of waste land. This was one of the eelobratsd series

of propositions propounded by Lord JOHN RUSSELL
on his last assumption of office. And it was hooted
down by Sir Rosaar PeeL's explosion of ridicule.
His lisine colonisation, therefore, is confined to cul-
tivated land, which he would rename by a fresh
proprietary. This proprietary, however, would be
precisely of the old kind ; and how he would prevent
It from lapsing to the usuil rack-rent nature of a
Connaught proprietor, especially in these districts of
beg and moor, Sir Boxcar does not any.
Still, great praise is due to the right hon. member for
Tamworth for having impressed on parliament and
on the ministry the necessity of something more than
mere eleemosynary measures. Ministers are scarcely
to be blamed for not proposing others ; for, in truth,
tbey had done so, the home would have mocked,
and Sir ROBERT himself scouted them. Bat coming
from his mouth, a propoeal of this kind has a fair
chance of being reshied, for ministers need not reject,
though they durst not originate.
The proudest man in the tome ought to be Mr.
POCLUT Scam , for certes the scheme of the ex-
=approaches nearer to his ideal than to any
or abetted by any other member.

ROME, Iris. 24.
The freshest intelligence here tells of two 13 wise
regimente, one hussar regiment, acd several other de-
tachments of Lezzsroni troops, in all, 17,000 men,
with some 20 guns, being at or about Nadi, a dozen
miles from our frontier town of Terracina. Report
nye that the hero (botcher of Messina) Filangieri is
to command this horde of invaders, who promise

themselves snug quarters shortly in Rame. I have
strong mason to think that most of them will lay
their hoiatilin the Pontite marshes.

Garibaleli is an the look-out, and there are fully
25,000 Roman troops of all arm*, between the frontier
and the walls of Rome. The late inroad on Ferrara,
in which Gen. Haynan showed himself an accom-
plished pickpocket, carrying off 208,000 dollars from
that poor and beggarly broken-down city, has roused
a spirit of resis'ance to all similar incursions, such as
never existed since the days when the field on which
Hannibal encamped was pat up for auction, and
broftht 21 years purchase.
All the homes of the " apostolic" stables and of the
late noble guard have been seized for the artillery
waggons, by a decree of the 1 Nth, and by a subsequent
vote cf the National Assembly on the 21st. After a
serious debate, the whole property of the church was
ordered to to taken up by the state, a suitable provi-
sion being reserved for the w.irking clergy.
The enormous revenues attached to the various
prebends of St. Peter's, held mostly by pluralists, and
the similar allnwances from laude' property attached
to St. John Lateran's church (having no c mgregation
whatever), and to St. Mary Major's (which is merely
visited by cogacseenti and 'beggars), will lapse
into the public treasury. In compensaticn for the
money sacked at Ferr,ra by Haynao, all the Austrian
Iproperty in palaces and moveables within the cite (of
isome considerable value) has been declared national
property and confiscotaL
The town council of Civita Vecchia, seeing no
reason why that district shou'd continue to pay Car-
dinal Lawbruschini 3,000 dollars a year, for the
honour he confers on it by beinz its bishop, he never
having resided in the diocese save on the nienrra-
ble occasion when he fled hither from Rome, on the'
failure of the July conspiracy of 1847, have come to
the absurd resolution of impounding the cash until
they get a resident and boa fide bishop.
On Momloty last Copt. Ceneoli of the Rowan
dragoons, stationed at Terrseina on the fron-
tiers of the kingdom of Naples, forwarded to
the Minis'er of War a communication he bad
just received from Cardinal Gizzi, inviting him
;porieVe immediately to Gaeta with his troops, and
ng him the rank of colonel if he abandoned his
posh The letter was signed Cardinal Girzi, "It noon-
liinirtAr," and warned him of the terrible effects
d ingumannicition attaching to him and his family
is mu d refosaL He since has received promotion,
bet sot to the extent he would have got at Gaeta.
Tbo cardinals row in receipt of the usual
snowmen bent the exchequer are those who con-
tinue to reside within this territoey—vas., Merso -
fante, who is in very bad health, I regret to state;
Marini, who prudently has taken up his quarters at
Aggiainui ; Toed, who manages the great workhouse
of Rips Grande, and has enough ti do to keep his
people in order (they being as unmanageable as if
they belonged to the union of Castlebar) • Bianchi,
who is up at Camaldoli, beyond Subiaco ; daetrseane,
and another whom name just now I can't remember.
Though I have seen nearly 20 carnivals in Rome,
and many distinguished for the exhibition of wealth,
rank, sad beauty, 1 never maw se thoroughly humor-
otes and racy a festival as theiste tea days' toinitiolery I
the abuses of any foreign c!craent left the natives to
their own resources, and certainly they contrived to
ammo each other and the public in the most success-
ful manna; and the middle class of Romans aro a
race not surpassed anywhere for graceful aspect,
cheerfulness, and intelligence.
Contrary to my anticipation Mazzini was at the
head of the poll for the vacancy in the city represen-
tation. The Rev. Carlo Arduino was next. with a
poet of some talent, Del Ungar°. In all, eight ream-
nee have been filled up. Mamiani has retired into
private life.
Canino Bonaparte makes a very good vice-president.
I believe they put him in the chair to keep him quiet,
for be was hitherto as perpetual a bare as your
Anstoy or Grattan.

NAPLES, Fin. 24.

The two great subjects that at present occupy
public attention art the Sicilian question and the difference
between the ministers and the chamber,. I recently men-
tioned the decision of the deputies to grant the direct taxes
tor the first two months of the year, and the indirect up to
the 31st March. The bill was then sent up to the peers, and
on being referred to the committee of finance, a report was
by it immediately drawn up and presented to the chambers,
Imunting that the time permitted by the deputies was in-
sufficient for the purposive of the sate, until the budget
should have been eliecuseed and passed; and suege,ting that
instead of two, four months' direct taxes should be Fer-
mi:nod, and the indirect until the budget should have been
passed. The suggestion of the committee was supported by
many members, two only speaking against it, and represent-
leg it u unconstitutional for the prelate interfere in any money
bith. It was proposed by the peers that instead of four, the time
shield be extended to six months., This was however re-
andp thesuggestion of the committee was adopted and
by a majority of 49 against 2, granting the direct tame
four months, and the indirect till the budget should be
passed. The LOeral pivot has since that time been perfectly
right, thawing the worst consequences and attributing the
want motives to the ministers in thus placing the two
elthithese in direct opposition to one another. On the 19th
the pnesident announced to the deputies that he had received
h =mege from the peers with the amended bill on the time
he be 'ranted for the taxes, and recommended its being taken
he. immediate consideration by the commitee of finance.
TM tarothaor of finance (Ruggiero) was asked how be could
rib if eimbining the grave responsibility of him office after
Isaias bees signal y defeated in the deputies, and
annipperted by the peers, to which he answered
that the rejection of a motion seconded by him-
self be did not consider as a defeat in the
peers. On the eammittee bringing up the report on the bill
es amended by the peers, Maki& who seems to have
much Inisesee, recommended • conference between the
chambers, is ardor to produce • conciliation—a procedure
'high be add was *Ailed by the usages of other p,rliamen-
tory beffiesomd
_did set compromise the liberties of that
etwashent; hand, the right of the Initiative of all money
bills was preserved in all its integrity to the deputies. The
entggentiss ed the committee wee adopted by a majority of
9=st 6. This sitting wee a very stormy one; the
of Finance being whistled down and prevented
hoes speekhig. A message was sent to the peer;
requiring
ask which was given, and the conference is to take
ly. Another interesting eubjeetdiscussed has
= the reformation or the revival of the liberties of the
maricipalities. "At present the communes are under the
despotic power of the Intendants of the province.,"
aid the Deputy Pepe, in a long and admirable speech,
" who in some places lied recently taxed the people to three-
fold the amount of the land tax. Indeed, so vain and ruinous
was any communal office to the person holding it, that it not
unhequently happened that parents would not eend their
children to the primary abode, in order that they might
avail themeelves of the excuse that they could neither read
nor writ* to escape from the expensive and vexatious honour of
being in °Mae. A law misting to the effect that no one can
sane ea syndic, elect, or deenrin, who cannot read and write."
,Us matfon of Pepe was as fellows : " That the ancient
mietheipalities be restored with their free popular 'paula-
mb ; that they shall be independent in the administration
of their affairs, in the di liberation and execution of every
public work, in the imposition of taxes for their local wants,
end is the election of their officers, who should be chosen
mndly, but might be re-eleeted." As to provincial &dna-
nilthaion, he proposed that the intendants should have no
immithea with the police, and that the administration
lithe prothrial funds should be melded to a provincial
The motion was rushed with loud applause
Cilia .iila's I. i us of the chamber, and • future day was appointed
her Ste diosetion of it. The reddest gave notice aho that
attbo aim time would be latrodesed a smears for the to-
moloaillia of the national surd.
Mihlags Amin as they are, and ministers still matinee
WWII th• MN of government. I ham been given to ender-
Mimi that meat' el the liberal member will retire altogether
Min thou tamely to be laughed at and sot at defiance.
awasttdai not, and shortly will, be done—probably on
the polosalatioa of the address to his Majesty. A report is
in alreslaties that at a resent council of ministers, fire spoke
in firma of a dissolution of the chambers, and three for the
resignation of ministers—a result which it is said Filangieri
is not hostile to. A few days will wive the difficulty.
Hi. Majesty still continues at Gaeta, paying court to his
Holiness. Five thousand Neapolitan troops have been
marched off to the frothier, lus extend, and some left on
the kith.

With regard to Sicily, at the hour at which I write no
agreement has been come to between the Neapolitan govern-
ment and the repraentatives of France and England. What
may take Sue tomorrow, or the next hour, it would be
useless to prophesy, u throughout the negotiations this quer
Eon has amassed so chameleon a form, as to set at defines
all the lintel rules of probability. The rock on which diplo-
macy km split is, I andentsnd, the occupation of the Tut
of Palermo by Neapolitan troops, a point insisted span by
the King, and rejected by the foreign representatives.
The first occasion on which it was known that there was so
fatal a divergence was at the Academia Reale (Neapolitan
Almack's) on Monday night. Admiral Bsudin I observed
there, and in close conference with several of the ministers;
from that night rumour bee been active, and now there east
be no doubt that the diplomatists are at sea erg 'a. The
greatest activity has prevailed ever since at the embamia and
public offices. On Wednesday night the King came over
from Gaeta; a cabinet council was held the same night,
and eat until put 1 o'clock. lam assured that there was a
most sternly discussion, and that Ruggiero thrutentd to
redgn—indeed, by many it is believed that he has le-
'wad ; there can be no doubt, however, that a modification
dike ministry is Imminent, and that Ischistelia will be re-
p/used. On the next day, Thursday (22nd inst.), there was a
conference held at the British embusy, which at from 12 till 4
o'clock, at shish NUS present Mr. Temple, M. de Raynevath,
and Admiral' Bandits and Parker. Any conjecture otthe result
I cannot send. I only know that despatches were sent off to
Malta, a feet which has excited mach curiosity. It is said