The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-17 00:00:00

TO I'OIittEZPOLIDIVITS.

a -.v... Mihail' 4 taper is," *mammas •he was* inneirfee
...ottte," Y yIII. ialM ...!y TernMg and Prtday •tibt. Sa time

est
A ,x.t.instrolPd for.' The Exprims,"Lf*Sae I..eoag spar,
..• as the 2oucarie•Airesl. by Two e'slasii oa tM
Jay of paSticetuns.

WAIL': AT LONDON MUDGE.
t• OAT —Murata& 71. Ils.. 111torsiss. 7k. 345.
T.. .usaus—Yenusg. 7a. N. Sern•

LO.VDON, MONDAY. JANUARY 17.

Ocu telegraphic summary of news from India has
in due time been followed by the despatches whence
it was derived, and to•day we place before our
readers the latest information of our last military
operations in Burmah. Every line of this additional
intelligence bears out the criticism we were the first
to apply to the proceedings of General Goowrie and
to the character of the war in which ho is now en-
gaged. After his enormous delays, the English com-
mander, it now seems, did at last move up the river
from Rangoon, and by the 21st of December con-
trived, with a considerable force, to reach Pegu.
General Goiortft had with him infantry, sappers,
miners, and artillery numbering 1,0430 men under
arms, to say nothing of the crews of the steamers.
Such is the policy of those who have control
in India, that in December we find General GOD-
wts moving up the stream with all the pomp
and circumstance of a great war—with steamers
and soldiers enough to capture half-a-dozen Bur-
mahs—to the very point which a dashing com-
mander required no such assistance to reach. As
if to prose the utter needlessness of the ancient
General's proceedings—and to show how dreadfully
out of proportion was his calculation of means to the
end in view—the despatches tell with cruel exactness
how speedily the city was taken. The place was
reached by Sunday, December the 21st, and no
sooner reached than mastered. Soldiers were " landed
on the river bank during the night, and after a sharp
fee from the stockade carried the place at the point of
the bayonet. The Burmese resisted well so long as
the wooden barrier existed between them and the
invaders, but bolted the instant the head of the
'eolumn showed inside."
The loss in killed was five, and in wounded thirty-
four; and this comparatively small loss, says a
writer from India, is said to have arisen from men
being unwisely " landed close under the guns of the
stockade." Some of the enemy—says the same in-
formant—" fled to Toonghoo, from whence they would
require to be frightened—beaten mow ism not apply
to inch warfare." All the evidence afforded from
Burmah seems to tell in precisely the same
direction. " Had the city been retained
when it was captured some months below
as it ought to have been," the lives lost on the pre-
sent occasion might have been spared ; and we might
have been spared too the cost of sickness and treasure
paid as the price of the delays in this snail-like war-
fare on the Irriwaddy. To cap the whole affair, and
to show by his own act General Gonwim's real opi-
nion of the military character of this post taken with
so many and such costly preparations,—no sooner
was this grand engagement over than he
sailed down the stream again to Rangoon,
only leaving four hundred sepoys to hold his
prise." Surely an enemy who needed all the
force General GODWIN led up the stream could not
be restrained by 400 men of the Native Infantry, ?
Either the General took far more men than he needed,
se he has left too few behind to preserve his conquest.
The mail which brings this news of the formal
eapture of another Burmese city, affords us also
$ farther piece of intelligence confirmatory of what
ve said when this war begun. " There seems to
be no doubt,"—says our Bombay correspondent,—
" there seem to be no doubt of the annexation
ef the country." Of course not. Everybody who
has looked at the history of British India had no
doubt on this point, from the first moment that war
was spoken of as probable. Aggression, outlay,
slaughter, victory, prize-money, titles--annexation.
These eight words summarise the whole story of past
Indian campaigns. Affghanistan told a different
tale; but the rule holds as we have briefly sketched
it. Several of our contemporaries having shared the
opinions we first expressed on this war, it is
possible that its promoters and conductors may meet
lass than the customary amount of adulation and
Seward; bat annexation is as sure, as the war on
the Irrawaddy has teen slow. Our already over-
grown empire in Hindostan will have another
huge block tacked on to one side of it, and then, as
ease possessions will abut upon Siam—a prosperous
eastern kingdom—another difficulty about 9W, may—
se in this case of Burmah—lad some day to another
Got:min-like expedition and to further annexation.
Meanwhile, every fact goes to show that re-
east annexations have weakened and impoverished
the empire they are said to have glorified. As our
Tadian empire has spread, our Indian finances have
fallen more and more into arrear. As our lands
have grown so has our debt, until, if the process is
remitted to go on unchecked, we shall some day
lad ourselves in the plight of a Protectionist
Duke—ruined by an accumulation of acres. Apart
from this financial view of the question, lot ns not
forget how dearly we pay for these barren
conquests in human life. To say nothing
about the consequences to the people at-
tacked, see how our own people fare. Every
*Adis mail has its own story of sickness—of cholera,
el fever, of brave troops decimated by climate, of
hundreds dying wretchedly like poisoned dogs for
teas who fall by the weapons of the enemy. In this
uses the news says that out of 1,400 who garrison'.
Illartaban, no lees than 870 were in hospital! Au
equal number were sick at Moulmein, whilst oat of a
empany of European Artillery, only 13 were in
&arras's' ! How can all this be excused?

The coat of maintaining _ a
to be team than that of moving him backwards and
forwards. But now matters are quite changed.
The Minister for Foreign Affairs at St. James's
may any day conclude by a letter (the return
of post being four-and-twenty hours), or electric
telegraph (in little more than an hour) any busi-
ness he has to transact with his official brother at
the Tuileries. The interposition of a resident agent
to do for him in writing at Paris what he can do for
himself in writing at London, is sheer unnecessary
complication and expense. It is like the custom in
some barbarous courts of appointing a censor to re-
peat to the King what an ambassador has
and what the royal ears have heard
well enough. In the perfected state of postal and
telegraphic arrangement that has been attained to
all the ordinary, routine, diplomatic communications
between the french and English Governments may
be carried on much better by direct, immediate com-
munication between the two Foreign-offices than by
the lumbering system of ambassadors on both
sides of the water. And what is true of Paris is
equally true of Brussels, Amsterdam, Berlin and
Vienna.
There is indeed a line ring superstition that per
resident ambassadors are of use for the
solace and support of Englishmen in foreign lands,
and for supplying our own Government with early
and accurate information respecting social, political,
and economical movements of consequence in the
countries where they reside. In so far as protection
from insult and outrage is concerned that can be
afforded by consuls, no ambassadors are needed for
that except on extraordinary occasions. Then as to
the hospitality that we are told the ambassador ex-
tends to his travelling countrymen, that is enjoyed
by a very limited circle, composed
.precisely of thins
who least need it. Any lord or millionaire who can
promote the ambassador's interests is positively per-
secuted by the ambassador's attentions and hospi-
tality. But SMITH, BROWN, and ROBINSON are
never admitted beyond the office of the secretary and
attache ; for them the ambassador and his hospitalities
are a myth.
With respect to information, a permanent Minister
is a person pointed out to the court to which he is
accredited as the channel through which it is to con-
vey all its lies to his employers. He is permanently
and incessantly mystified, and his Government
through him. The more ambitious he is of distin-1
guishing himself, the more dangerous he is ; for he
retails the greater amount of apocryphal informa-
tion, and in a more plausible manner. An instruo-
five illustration of this will be found in the first
volume of Lord Hou.s9D's Memoirs of the Whig
Party in his time (p. 69):
" Nothing contributed in that war more to the
success of the French than the false intelligence by
which their enemies, and England more especially,
were constantly misled. • • • Surprise at such
ignorance was always much diminished upon an ac-
quaintance with those employed in our diplomacy.
In Italy there was not one man of talents equal to
his situation. I might perhaps except Mr. Jscxsor,
Ilan. charge crafaires at Turin ; but he does not ap-
pear to have shone in procuring good intelligence, as
Ike furnished General MELAS with the accounts
which misled him into the campaign of 1800. Mr.
Daaxe had, indeed, been bred to business, and wrote
with eloquence and facility. Mr. Ptrr, on reading
his dispatches, was struck with his being ' the moat
accomplished man in the line of dipiomacy.'
cernment was not one of those meant lishments;
a predilection for the marvellous esodered his credu-
lity excessive, and it became more hazardous by
being supported with some degree of ingtmuity.
I met with a man who took ma pains
to be deceived. He had folios of false intelligence.
The less probable the relation, the greater he thought
Nos merit in discovering it ; and consequently the
Melia disposed was he to believe it. He read as
of the secret consultations of the Waite de
IfisrillittPublique at Paris, in which the opinions and
the motives, too, of each interlocutor were arranged
is the form of a set speech, and the whole dial
given in the shape of a debate, or rather of a t
end a very bed and improbable we; yet had ;17741
bees meet, with great despatch and secrecy, to the
rimeigsmffice, and, strange to say, read with relish
est credited by our Ministers."
It is only necessary to turn up any recent Bice
Book, relating to Italy, Austria, the affairs of the
Savant, &c., to be convinced that Mr. Dittis is a
sufficiently common-place character among diple-
:statists, and that our diplomatic poultry yard is et
pent ermined with DRAKES. They are the nate-
* and alussagy produce of the system of perma-
nent embassies. They are alternately deceived and
deceiving. They cannot supply reliable information
for obtaining which there are many other channels.
Business and family relations—facilities for travelling
and letter-writing—newspapers, and so forth, enable
any Englishman who keeps his eyes and ears open to
know as much of the continents of Europe and
America ea of his own island. The British Govern-
ment have no more need of permanent paid spies at
Vienna, Berlin, or Washington, than at Manchester
or Glasgow. Nearly a hundred years ago, the great
Lord CHATHAM revealed to the ministers of his day
the real source of authentic intelligence:
" 1 will tell these young ministers the source of
intelligence. It is sagacity; mgacity to compare
causes and effects; to judge the present state of
things and discern the future, by a careful review of
the past. OLIVER CnonwaLt., who astonished man-
kind by his intelligence, did not derive it from spies
in the cabinet of every prince in Europe; he drew it
from the cabinet of his own sagacious mind. He
observed facts, and traced them forward to their
eeosequeuces. From what was he concluded what
must be, and he never was deceived."
But however obvious it may be that permanent
embassies are more costly sources of misinformation,
and means of protecting Englishmen in foreign lands
which are unfairly transmuted into screens for their
oppressors, there are but slender grounds for hope
that they will soon be discontinued at tho great
courts. '1 here exists a superstitious faith in their
efficacy which time and argument alone can under-
mine. The permanent embassies at tho innumerable
petty states, however, fall under a different category.
No man dreams that it is of the slightest use to
know what goes on in the petty courts of Tuscany,
Darmstadt, or Nsessu. And as all these miniature
sovereignties must obey the behests of their great
neighbours, it is not of the slightest consequence
whether we enjoy their good will or not. If these
petty permanent en:lassies are to be kept up, it must
be at their present price. It is only by discontinuing
them that we con economise. And their discontinu-
tame is recommended by, more urgent motives than
mere money saving. fhey are permanent sources of '
misleading information, the more certainly the clever
and more ambitious the diplomatists who are em-
ployed on them.

Tun will show whether any, and what kind of
action, will be taken by Congress on the touching
',presentations lately made by American Ministers
at European courts respecting high house rents, cost
of carriages and horses, and extravagant prices of
fuel, comestibles, &c. But one moral to be drawn
from these "pitiful stories" is obvious. American
diplomatists in Europe naturally contract the habits
of the European diplomatists with whom they asso-
eiate. The United States have departed from the
▪ practical, common sense views of BENJAMIN
PIANILIN and his compeers, respecting diplomacy ;
*sir vanity has instigated them to aspire to a diplo:
made establishment after the fashion of the old states
of
Europe; and it is now pretty clear, that if they
will keep this plaything, as old BENJAMIN would
have told them had he be.. alive in these days, they
oast " pay the whole price for their whistle.
There is no help for it. Any country that will
maintain permanent =bunks in all the capitals of
the civilised world must pay as much as any other.
The knowing Yankee, who looks at both sides of a
Wiling before he parts with it, and is bent upon
having money's worth for his money, can no more
help himself than John Bull, whose vanity prompts
him to pay extravagant charges with an air of
oaring nothing about the matter. The expenses of
permanent -embassies are fixed, not by the will of
the nation that maintains them,but by a conventional
agreement of all professional politicians throughout
the civilised world; against which it is vain to
rebel.

America his hitherto reconciled the severe cco-
loamy of its government with those spendthrift
habits of diplomacy by making rich men its amber
seder% who have been willing to pay out of their
private ketones for the privilege of standing in
that dignified &neuter before foreigners. Nor has
firs practice he manned to America. In the
private papers of the I, Lard MALMEsBUItIr (and
ethers or his clam) that have been allowed to see the
light, we find frequent complaints of the extent to
which Ambassadors' expenses have eaten into their
private fortunes. And in the selection of noblemen
is figure as special envoys at the courts of France
and St. Petersburgh on great occasions the choice has
generally been determined by the ability and incli-
tattoo of the individual to incur an enormous espen-
dkuse fur the sake of vain glorious display.
Few words are required to show thlt ibis halfing
ohs outlay between the Ambassailor and the country
is a purblind and unreal economy. In the first
paw, if the possession of wealth, instead of the
possession of talent and experience, is to qualify for
each cmploymeat, the country is pretty sure to be

inadequately served. And in the „second place, . FRANCE. . . • •
these generous spenders of their own money, foe . , •
their country's honour and glory, generally contrive -: . , PARIS •
to pay themselves back in the. low tun i pee The 1• . , fluxnav Evannto.
r contains the following article, eel-
MALMESBI:itt paid himself,witifinterest, by hicm-
dently preeeeding from a hirer quarter, in reference
five sinecures which he contrived-I:Sigel jaeapeA upon.
W recentliticles in (pertain English nenepapers:
himself and his son. While. all governments strive to maintain the meet
friendly relations between different countries, at • moment
If we are right in this inference, that permanent
"utetrii.::t powersofinn eagle sort associate themselves with the
embassies at all, or the greater part of our civilised
eourts—with permanent palatial residences and am- Emperor, and ther :re services rendered ing
by ehiri:tehUCZor rad:rw,
baseadors with staffs of attachis, secretaries, chap- certain foreign journals persevere in their deplorable aye-
brine, and so forth—if to be kept up, can- tem of falsehood and insult. They appear to suffer at the
not be so at lees cost than at present, spectacle of peace and public confidence. Their excesses
showe :low fortunate. it
a is faoratbeapcaceaodf the world and the
the question is opened whether something
may not be done in the way of national economy by fps" prosperity states. testa. 'l': must,ida however, I m
eatiaodnm7totierelgtoov 'Orr:
dispensing with the whole, or a greater part of these honour of the foreign press that these excesses have be-
costly establishments. The services of an Ambas- come more rare. In Belgium nothing more was required
antler are only required occasionally and at intervals. than to call the attention of the government to the license
and dangerous character of certain newspapers in that
Is it not lolly to keep one permanently on a spot
y to enlist against them the opinions of all honest
where he may notbo requited for years ID The consul c°mejun,tarnd to bring them under the 'nit authority of the law.t
is necessarily a permanent officer. He has minis- Even in England, journals which 'at first were among %
terial and judicial functions to discharge, under the 'must hostile to the new order of things in France, have
recognised clear law of nations. His continual reen unable to resist the evidence of tams Although nut
alwaysina within
generally
i bounds of truth and propriety, their
presence is as indispensable as that of a judge or a
dig-
guardian of the poor. But an ambassador's business a ,ata.gelltst:tg'Shis islliostplii,.'neg, moreive thirtcl,ll'.7,j*oe
is to supply by negotiation and convention deficiencies nab. Some of them, among which are particularly to be-
in the law of nations as they present themselves from remarked the Mernong Chrotsiek, the Timer, and, above
time to time. He is only wanted at intervals fur all, the l'unignit Advertiser, seem to redouble their hawed
special taaks. and to carry impudent calumny and grass insult beyond all
limits. It is in vein that the Emperor, in the most solemn
circumstances, has protested his sincere desire to preserve,
The notion of maintaining permanent ministers at
foreign courts gained ground insensibly at a time to con
that hseli.daticiuceivieren,gthttaitsereraonicetrazonrid. It is in vain
respect of having no to
when communication by letter, and personal localise-. envy other nations in
tion, were difficult,eensive, and irregular. Having now aspired only vo the peaceful conquestsrg glory
planted an ambassador at a foreign court on one civilisation, and found, in the colonisaCtar of Algeria,
e completion
the ofsiron the
special occasion, it was found no bad economy to let in th
amelioration cat lot her lineaof
intercommu alcati
of the *working classes, in thpro-
him remain there till he should be wanted again. gress of industry and art all necessary aliment for her fruit-
him at a distance was found ful acti, lease so forms' declarations, so; by
_ .

activity. ,upported
the fact of the redaction of the sum, have obtained from
these journals nothing but an insokst contradiction. Ac-
cordiug to them, France and her chief breathe nothing but
war, and wait but for an opportunity to rush upon Europe.
A new coalition is necessary to resist this insatiable ambi-
tion. And, as if fearing that France was not in reality
what they represent her to be, they incessantly irritate her
pride and insult her affections. In their eyes, the French
people in acclaiming Louis Napoleon emperor, were the
vilest arm most contemptible of people. The statesmen,
generals, the army itself, all who concurred in the saving
set of DT. 2, are but miserable slaves, or hungry instru-
mesas of tyranny. " Benspertiem" says the Morning
Chromic' hoot Jan. 1, "Bonapartiem without military glory and
without territorial aggrandisement is an absurdity. A pro-
found mistrust of Louis Napoleon prevails in all quarters, a
suatimeat attributable partly to his character, partly to his
deeds, bet principally to the souvenirs of the empire. . . .
The usurper, aided by a band of adventurers, has set about
eleepeasing the imperial government, etc." The Times of
rheumy 2, alter having drawn a picture of the pretended
Usurpations by which Louis Napoleon successively raised
himself to the empire, adds " A senate more cowardly
.than
that of Tiberius has given the Emperor mast exorbibmt
power, and has killed at • single blow all the guarantees
that remained to the nation. Favourite,* gorged with ho-
nours, functionaries without conscience, unheard of ether
tions, such is the government. But chastisement is in pre-
paration. Europe is already ueon the qui Mee
And the year will not go by without spew
thing terrible occurring." As the llfornissp Ad.
vertiser, it exhausts the vocabulary of Jesuit
the chief of the state. Its tone may be judged Write
following extracts from its number of January 7: " here
is nothing on the surface of the whole globe comparable to
the despotism which weighs upon France, and the degrada-
tion into which she is pluoged. The liberties of the country
are under the heel of Napoleon, whose name is synonymous
re with oppression and tyranny. . . . Louis Napo-
leon is. nothing else than the greatest tyrsat, the
most criminal perjurer, that ever stained the earth,
and the most abominable monster that ever shamed
humanity. The art of writing will soon be completely
abandoned by our neighbours. To exercise literary talent
is a crime. Intelligence is put in iron.. In the press, in
the street, in society, no one dares to open his mouth. la
a short time the French will be plunged into • state of bar-
barism for which no parallel can be found in the history of
nations." But why multiply citations? These are sufficient
to show in what terms certain journals speak of a friendly
nation, and of the sovereign called to the throne by that
nation's enthusiastic acclamations. The indignation raised
throughout Europe by the odious manifestoes of the demi-
ster, against the re establishment of the empire will yet be
ellessibered. England itself was astonished that they
to whom she extended the benefit of her hospi-
tality should dare to take advantage of it to publish
those savage provocations. The same disgust, the same
universal reprobation, will befall the language we have
just iiuoted. What an opinion do these journals give of
the liberty of the press of which they put themselves for-
ward as such haughty defenders? What I in • country
where this liberty has existed for centuries, there yet
exist writers who make use of it to foment hatred
and propagate lies. The French government is
assuredly far above such insults. In the spectacle of the
public prosperity, in the confidence and affectioa of the
people, at finds sufileiont to inspire disdain fur all such
ealleages. It knows, besides, the sentiments of English
statesmen ; it knows that the mass of the nation is animated ,
he a sympathetic feeling fir France. The multi-
plied and intimate relations now subsisting between
the two nations have taught them reciprocally
to esteem each other. They have every; inducement to
shake hands and to aid each other in the acoomphshinent of
their providential task. But it is precisely for this man
that one cannot help feeling • painful impression in reams-
lag that at the very moment when governments and be
dissect men are working together to extirpate the prejs-
dives of another age, which have been so fatal co
both aides of the Channel, unworthy writers should do their
eleecot to revive our ancient divisions. The good settee of
lie English will do justice upon a press which so unworthily
mistakes the sentiments an true interests of its country,
and to condemn those excesses it will suffice to hold them up
to the ban of public opinion.
The French government would be in a better posi-
tion to complain of the license of the foreign
.press,
if it permitted freedom in its own. It Li ab-
surd is Louis Napoleon to talk about the
oon&leaes and affection of his people, and
to t France as insulted in his person by the
attests of English newspapers, while nothing
but the " despotism " and tyanny "of which
he thinks it so very: hard to be reminded,
has protected him from at least equally rough
handling by three-fourths of the Parisian journals.
At this moment he has not a single independent
supporter in the whole metropolitan press.
Not all the success of the election of Decem-
ber 20, 1851, the elections of the Corp. legislatif,
the triumphal progress. of last summer, the
proclamation of the empire, the settlement of the I
constitution, the undeniable improvement in trade,
nor the recognition of the empire by the great
powers, haseonverted so much as one newspaper. The
Debate, Assemble., Union, Gazette de Francs, Press I
Siecle, Clariecri, all "resist the evidence of facts,']
and either maintain a dogged silenee on political
subjects, or criticise the present regime with as
much severity u they dare. By whom era the..
journals supported, and where do they find subscribe
rsif it be true that all France is so delighted vith her
Emperor' The plain truth is, ring the changes as
you will upon "8 millions of votes," " popular en-
thusiasm," "imperceptible minority," and so forth, the
intelligence of the country, which must ultimately
govern the country, is hostile to the government, and
if there were a free press, the Bonapartist system
would not last a week.
Official notification is given of the proclamation of
, the French Empire at Tunis on the 2nd inst. The
I Bey ordered the event to be celebrated by firing. a
volley of a hundred and one guns from the batteries,
a salute which was acknowledged by an equal num-
ber from the French frigate Mogador, statbned in'
the harbour.
Abd-el-fader arrived at Messina on the 2ird De-
cember, at half-past four in the evening, after a jour-
ney of lees than three days. Great attention had
been paid to the Emir on his route by the King of
the Two Sicilies. The ruins of Etna particularly
excited Abd-el-Kader's attention, and the civilities
of the authorities were acknowledged with all the
florid gratitude of Arabian custom.
Various decrees, renewing the laws of 1826 and
11836, in reference to the navy, are published in the
Moniker, but none of them are of particular interest
out of France.

PARIS, SATURDAY EVENING.
The accounts of the Bank of Fr.ince, published
yesterday, are thought to have had a benefitial effect'
upon the funds. It is especially considered a favour-
able
symptom that the advances upon stock and mil-
way shares have diminished, although bat in a
slight degree within the last month. It is hoped
from this that unsound speculation is on the decline.
From a table published by the department of Pub-
lio Worn, it appears that the total length of railways
in activity in France in 1851, was 1,307 kilometres
(about 2,200 English miles), and in 1852, 3,T08 kilo-
metres; that the total receipts of the first year were
106,967,496 E, and in the second 132,277,903 E ; and
that consequently the receipts per kilometre rose
from 32,345 f. in 1831, to 33,873 f. in 1832.

The indirect taxes and irevenues, aooorling to a
return published in the Mositesr of this day,
amounted, in 1852, to 804,334,000 fr., ir 1831 to
737,843,000 tr., and in 1830 to 738,242,000 fr. The in-
crease in 1952 was consequently 66,491,000 L compa-ed
with 1831, and 66,092,000 fr. oumpared with 1850.
The items of increase in 1832 aro these :—ltegistra-

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVkfIgNG, JANUARY 17, 1853...