The Express.
London, England, 1847-04-29 00:00:00

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LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 29.

AT the morning sitting of the House of Commons,
yesterday, on the question of the second reading of
the Juvenile Offenders Bill, which had been intro-
duced by Sir J. Pakington, Mr. ROEBUCK moved
that it be read a second time that day six months,
stating, as his reason for moving this amendment,
that any alteration of the criminal law, without the
greatest consideration by, and sanction of, the go-
vernment, would lead to great and serious inconveni-
ence. He also objected to the bill because it gave
power to two magistrates sitting privately to hear
and determine in certain cases, which magistrates
might be fox-hunting parsons, not possessing the
slightest legal knowledge, and who therefore,
unassisted by legal aid, might arrive at decisions
wholly contrary to law and justice. The presence of
the public and the press, instead of being restrained,
ought to be invited in any and every court where the
laws of the country were administered.—Mr. BANKER
approved of the principle of the bill, but not of its
details, and should oppose it at a future stage, if a
proviso were not inserted giving a direct and
specific option the accused parties to appeal to
a jury if they thought fit en to 00.—Sir GEORGE
ORE7admitted the importance of the subject to which
the bill had reference, expressing his hope that in
committee it may be so amended as to entitle it to the
support of the government. With regard to the
exercise of the proposed summary jurisdiction in pri-
vate, he bad no doubt the hon. baronet would concede
that point, as unquestionably such proceedings ought
to be public. The whole subject was surrounded by
great difficulties ; one of the principal of which was,
how children of tender years were to be disposed of, who
were sentenced to transportation, such sentence being
generally accompanied by a recommendation from the
court, that it should not be carried out, which no one
would dream of doing. Such offenders undoubtedly
ought to be taken charge of by the government, with
a view to their reformation, in order that they should
not be thrown bank upon their parents or friends,
who neglected their education, and allowed them to
be trained up in vice and crime. Though he despaired
of being able to grapple with all the difficulties
which presented themselves, he did hope to be able
during the present &elision, to bring in a bill to enable
towns and boroughs to provide asylums for
such criminals, if they ought to be so designated,
thinking that it arose more from misfortune than
crime, that they were brought within the operation of
the law. He did not concur in the opinion that the
magistrates were unfit to exercise the proposed exten-
sion of summary jurisdiction, but he thought it
would be desirable to extend the principle of sti-
pendiary magistrates, not to the exclusion of the local
magistrates, but to act with them. He was anxious
to affirm the principle of the measure, and would lend
his best assistance, in order to put it is a more accept-
able form.—Mr. LAW urged the withdrawal of the
bill, thinking that so delicate and difficult a
subject ought not to be entrusted to any
private individual, but ought to be brought
forward by the law officers of the crown.—
Mr. B. Derasorl, on behalf of the magistracy,
protested against the proposed power being
extended to them of privately trying juvenile
offenders.—Sir J. PAKINGTON bad brought in the
bill in consequence of the government having failed
to do so ; and it had received the sanction of the
Criminal Law Commission. Ho begged to remind
the house that by the existing law, a magistrate
could commit a prisoner for twelve months, the
inquiry taking place in bis own parlour. He was
determined to proceed with the bill, having been
urged to do so from all parts of the country, and upon
the government must rest the consequences, if
it were deeted, of allowing the existing evils to con-
tinue.—The ATTORNEY-GENERAL said, that approv-
ing as he did, of the principle of the bill, he should
vote for the second reading ; but he objected to the
details, particularly as regarded private tribunals.
—After some further observations from several hon.
members, the second reading was carried by a majo-
rity of 52, the numbers being 75 to 23.—The second
reading of the Rating of Tenements Bill was opposed
by Sir 0. GREY, on the ground that a great distur-
bance of the rating of property would be created by
it, the subject requiring much more consideration
before he could consent to its proceeding further.
After some discussion the second reading was nega-
tived by a majority
of 18, the numbers being 89 to

71. Altera short conversation the 'fenante' (Ireland)
Bill (Hr. OSBORNE having moved that it be read
a second time that day six months) wv.s postponed
until Wednesday next.

THE debate, if it be right to call it a debate, on
Dr. BOWRING'S motion for a decimal coinage, is
very satisfactory. It shows that there is no opposition
to the proposal, except the opposition of inertia. Good
people of England, you are justly called the most
business-like people on the face of the earth. The
Chancellor of your Exchequer tells you in effect,
that he has no reason to oppose what all who have
studied oho matter know to be a great improvement
in your coinage, except your prepossessions and
prejudice s. Will you not show him that you are not
the fimls he takes yon for?
Mr. SHUT. was said to have announced it as a
result of what he called Professor DE NloncsN's plan
(but which is not peculiar to that gentleman, being
the plan of every one who would avoid meddling
with the gold and silver), that five shillings of the
new copper would IoJ four shillings and twopence of
the old. This was an error in our report. It should
have been four and ten pence. By supposing
small debts to be all paid in copper, the opponents
of the measure can get four per rent. of the
amount on which to predict disagreements
and confusion. But the fact is, that if copper be not
legal tender, nor usual tender above a shilling, it
is only the odd money, the copper residue, on which
this four per cent. of difference exists. This plan
was the only one advocated on any side ; and the
CHANCELLOR ef the Excil EiluEn, in saying that he had
no objection to make the first step, the introduction
of a two shilling coin, did all that, for the moment, we
want him to do, except propusMg gradually to with-
`draw the half-crown. We shall always advocate the
perfectly gradual introduction of this great small
change.

IT is not to be denied that Ireland at this
moment threatens to break the back of England by
the weight of its distress, and by the want both of
zeal and intelligence displayed by that country in the
efforts to right itself. There are landlords who in
the fear of disaster prefer suicide to a struggle for life,
and coolly devote themselves and their peasantry,
to the internal gods. There is capital in Ireland
without the spirit to employ it, or the intelli-
gence which might make capital return twenty-fold.
'rhe middle class denounce th, upper, and the peasant
execrates both. Landlord and townsman, spokes-
man and journilist, are loud in self-exculpation and
self-laudation, look to government and to England for
food and for employ, lavish and misuse what is
given them of thew elements of life, and then turn to
stab the hand and blacken the motives of the giver. A
more disgusting picture of pandemonium was never
presented.
And yet behind this criminal and disgusting crowd
which occupies the foreground, there lies a nation and
millions suffering, starving, rotting of fever, casti-
gated and decimated by no crime of theirs. As long us
there is money and Christian feeling in England, re-
sources and zeal, both will flow, both will be applied to
Ireland. The English government dare not relax its
exertions, dare not leave the Irish to starve. Econo-
mists may exclaim, and the Saxon denouncer of the
Celt may howl, charitable and benign feelings in this
country are more po•.verful than the malignant and
the hateful. Nor will the English, as a nation, ever
demean or unchristinnise themselves so far as to
answer the screechings of Irish ingratitude and hate
by any sounds or sentiments of the same base and
bestial kind.

The Irish must be fed—the Irish must be saved.
No legislative ignorance or weariness, no pressure or
panic of the money market can shake off that duty.
The question is not to give or to deny money to the
For millions are already voted, and all the millions
necessary must be paid. The question is, if some of
the money to be expended in mere soup distribution
might not give an equal amount of subsistence with
the certainty of repayment.
As to throwing sixteen millions on certain lines of
railroad--two thirds to go into the pockets of those not
wanting it, and one third to gangs,—that was wisely
set aside. Belt half a minim advanced for half a
year, to keep the great railroad works through the
southern Irish counties going,—we really cannot con-
sider this as either extravagant or unwise.
The pressure on the money market is no doubt
great, but its extent and probable duratien are much
exaggerated. Nor does there seem any adequate
cause for it, except in our own artificial and inex-
perienced legislation. The state sanctions and fosters
the system of conducting all commercial operations,
even foreign ones, by means of credit. Yet at the
very moment when not merely the convenience of
merchants, but the necessities of the state, require
the greatest extension and use of this medium, the
state, or one of its dependent bodies, steps in,
restrict., and cries it down. Because the more solid
portion of our currency is called abroad, therefore
the immeasurably greater and more important portion
of the currency, which is credit, is annihilated.
Better destroy the credit system altogether, and force
people to trade with their real capital, than subject
the body politic, as well as commercial, to such syn-
copes as that with which we are at present menaced.
No reasons, however, drawn front the monetary
state of a money market ought to prevent us from duly
meeting and treating the Irish qut stion. Indeed,
the plans of the government do not i;o to affect the
money market, the loans being to be advanced
from the Consolidated Fund, and do not neces-
sitate the issue of Exchequer-bills, or going
into the market at such a time. Ireland is a
gulph into which England may throw millions,
without ever descrying whither the millions go,
if the attempt to fill it be made partially, unwisely,
or unwittingly. Now is the great moment to pacify
and reorganise Ireland. If that be not done, if
pauperism be allowed to revive to its old extent, the
millions of 1816 and 1847 will have been utterly
thrown away.
Parliament has voted a poor-law, a measure which
in itself is incapable of being executed, or of produ-
cing any good effect in those districts where a great
remedy is required. If a poor-law, and a
poor-law alone, be flung to the Irish, they will
mock it, as is already done at the two extre-
mities of pauper Ireland, Westport and Bantry.
For want of such small ekings-out as this half-
million to railroads, another half-million to waste
lands, and some similar sums to emigration, the poor-
law guardians, if any be to bo found, and the poor-
law commissioners in Ireland, will let drop their hands

by their side•, trust to the soup-pots and to providence,
and Ireland will have made a retrograde elide in her
distress, instead of a forward movement.

A NEW phase of the agricultural question has pre-
sented itself. Within the last few weeks a fresh de-
velopment of "the agricultural mind" has occurred,
which promises some important results, and deserves
attention and encouragement from the rest of the
community. This is no less than a very extensive
movement amongst farmers in favour of Mr. Pussy's
Tenant Right Bill, which has been bat coldly re-
ceived by the land-owning section of the House of
Commons. Indeed, the bill is threatened with the
most strenuous opposition by the class of political
proprietors of land, who once arrogated to them-
selves the title of " farmers' friends." That the
tenant farmers of England, to a man, desire some
such measure is certain, and many of them believe
that it will afford much greater benefits to the cul-
tivators than we think at all probable. We have
before stated the extent and nature of the advantages
which Mr. FUSEE'S Tenant Right Bill, as originally
introduced--for the select committee to which it was
referred has reduced ft to a shadow as a practical
measure—would confer upon agriculture and bus-
bandmen. They are of two kinds, permanent and
temporary. The permanent use of a measure for
giving a going-off tenant a legal claim to be paid
for unexhausted improvements, is very considerable.
It will prevent that running out of land which is now
a matter of necessity and self-defence on the part of
a tenant who knows that he is about to leave his farm
in two or three years. And the landlord, or his next
tenant—practically the same thing—is at least as
much benefited by this as the outgoing tenant. It is
the capital represented by manures, tillage, sad so
forth—the mechanical and chemical condition of the
land producing fertility—for which the landlord or
hie incoming tenant would have to pay, and which,
when had in combination with the farm is, out of all
comparison, more valuable than the absolute amount
of capital so invested. By such a valuation the out-
going tenant would obtain considerably more money
than he could make by any system of driving the
farm during the last few years of his occupancy; and '

so he ought, for the money so paid by the incoming
tenant would be to him a great saving. Inatead of
losing time, temper, and means to recover the land
from au exhausted condition, he would find it fit for
immediately profitable culture. Let any one who has
entered upon a dilapidated farm and got it into high
cultivation say whether it would not have been better
to have paid any conceivable valuation and to have
received the land in good heart. The difference is in
truth incalculable. Now, to legalise tenant right, a
strict inevitable right, would in this case effect a per-
manent improvement in agriculture.
But there is another benefit of a more temporary
kind which tenant right, the legal right of existing
tenants to be paid far unexhausted improvements,
would confer upon agriculture. And this benefit
would chiefly accrue to the tenantry—that is, its
direct and immediate benefit ; fur, indirectly, it
would be of at least equal advantage to the honest
owners of land. To explain this fully would require'
a longer examination of the progress of husbandry as
a business in this country than our present limits and
objects permit. But the result is, that from a combi-
nation of causes, the tenant farmers of England are
farming too well for the terms on which they hold
their land. There is scarcely any moderately good
farmer whose yearly outlays arc not such, that four
or five years' occupation at the least is necessary to
enable him to get back the proper proportion of his
farming capital with the ordinary rate of profit. And
this goes on from year to year. These tenants hold,
in general, front year to year, and they are thus at
the mere mercy of their landlords. A tit of spleen,
a change of steward, an offence given to the
gamekeeper, a vote disliked by the landlord, or a
change of ownership, may, at any moment, lead to
the dismissal of a yearly tenant, and the consequent
confiscation of a large portion of his capital. It is as a
protection against the continuance of this ano-
malous and unjust state of things farmers look
to legalise tenant-rights. Is it. therefore, surprising
that the tenant-farners of England are everywhere
petitioning for Mr. Pe SEY'S Bill? They do not concern
themselves so much with the greater or less efficacy of
the measure as with the admission of the principle.
It is stated that, at Devizes in Wiltshire, farmers
occupying 64,000 acres of land in one day signed such
a petition. And elsewhere the same thing is taking
place. Indeed there can be no doubt that such a
demand will be universal; for farmers, though slow
to move, when once excited, rush on with an unanimity
equal to that of their own flocks.
Bat what say the landlords to all this? They have
hitherto held the farmers in leading-strings; they have
acted in the Lame of the tenantry, and have derived
therefrom much additional influence. Hitherto, in
all politico-agricultural questions, though the voice has
been Jseon's, the rough hand of ESAU has been used—
we bad almost said, as a blind. The various periods
of agricultural distress have seen the 'squires coming
to parliament for relief, either with the tone of sturdy
beggars, as in the palmy days of the corn laws; or
with " a whine," as on the eve of the downfall of the
food monopoly. But in all and each of these moods,
it was not on their own account, but on the behalf of
their industrious tenantry, and the lusty labourers, that
political landlords professed to vex the public with
their loud complaints. There has now, however, been
much change in such illusions. The beginning of
the end of all that, has come. Tenants are not only
acting for themselves, but are acting in direct opposi-
tion to their former landlord leaders. The political
landlords, too, have been compelled to cast aside the
guise of " farmers' friends," and to come forth airainst
the tenant right bill in their true character. In this
the landowners of Lincolnshire have taken the lead,
and have embodied in a petition to parliament their
objections to Mr. Pussy's bill. It is this petition of
which Mr. CHRISTOPHER has given notice of his in-
tention to present " on the motion that the house
resolve itself into committee to consider the Agricul-
tural Tenant Right Bill." Tho committee has been
postponed to the 13th of May, and in the mean time
the farmers are vigorously getting up counter-peti-
tions. Some of the allegations in the landlords' peti-
tion are instructive, as marking how readily they
adopt the free competition theory against their
tenants. la one sentence they say the bill is " perni-
cious and impolitic, inasmuch as it interferes
with the private agreements made between the
landlord and the tenant, and must inevitably tend
to destroy the mutual confidence at present
existing Letween them." How that which does not
exist, except in the imagination of the Lincolnshire
squires, can be " destroyed " we know not. Do the
stringent and absurd covenants, by which landowners
seek to bind their tenants, indicate confidence on the
part of landlords ? Aud is not the demand for tenant
right by tenants the immediate consequence of their
insecure position? Talk of mutual confidence between
landlord and tenant, indeed! Why, there are no
classes in this country, between whom so much mutual
distrust exists. Nor can there ever be any confidence
between them until the engagements for Cams assume
a more commercial and business-like character than
is now usual.

After this flourish about " mutual confidence," the
landlord petitioners say :
That it is retrograding in legislation, as the supposed im-
provement of late years has been to leave all classes to de-
pend upon their own skill, talents, industry, and capital.
And again :
. _

That it is most unjust to the landowner, who is now ex-
posed to the most unlimited competition, to fetter him by
legislative enactments, and to prevent him cultivating his
land himself, or by others, in the mode and upon the terms
he finds most conducive to his interests.
Most true economical propositions certainly, but
which are somewhat new in the mouths of the Lin-
colnshire landholders. Why, these very petitioners
and their fellow-proprietors have been teaching their
tenants that nothing but legislative enactments could
avert the ruin of the whole class of farmers ; and
having by their own course of legislation and instruc-
tion got the farmers into the false position we have
described, they now turn rotted upon them with the
most strict rules of political economy, and say each
class must " depend on its own skill," and so forth.
But what is sought does not offend against any sound
economical laws; it is not wished by farmers to
" fetter " the landlord, or to prevent him from culti-
vating his land as he pleases; they only desire to pre-
vent the landlord from appropriating to his own use
a portion of the tenant's capital. The exercise of the
legal rights lands possess over their yearly tenants,
in the actual condition of agriculture, would be in the
highest degree dishonest, and most landlords would
scorn to do so. Still, tenants feel they have no secu-
rity, and this landlord hostility to so mild a measure
of protection to tenant farmers, fully justifies the
farmers' anxiety on the subject. The petition after-
wards thus states, and truly states, the principles
which must ultimately regulate contracts between
landlords and tenants :

That it is unnecessary to make legislative agreements be-
tween landlord and tenant, inasmuch as the competition be-
tween the home and the foreign grower of agric•.dtural pro-
duce must erentually compel the landlord to concede the mon
beneficial agreement in each particular district, as on no
other terms can the profitable cultiration of the soil be
carried on.

Here we have a full and distinct admission that
it is only by offering beneficial terms to tenants that
the most profitable cultivation can be carried on ; and
we have no doubt that this principle will eventually
work out the redemption of the tenant-farmers as a
class. But in the mean time mach individual suffer-
ing will be the result. Before a firmer, or a body of
farmers, can act with effect upon their landlord, they
must give up, or be prepared to give up, their farms.
This will scarcely be brought about without some pre-
vious collision ; and in most cases new tenants would
be preferred to the old ones. This is avowedly the
case on the Duke of NORTRUMBERLAND'S estate, and
is pretty general elsewhere. We think, therefore,
the farmers are right in making a general effort in
favour of tenant right.

MB answer of the King of PRUSSIA to the some-
what remonstrant address of his states, was looked to,
as we mentioned a day or two ago, with much anxiety.
This answer, read on the 23rd in the states, will be
perused with pleasure. It is highly conciliatory, con-
fiding, and liberal. It fully meets every objection of
the address : promises the regular summoning of the
states; declares that the law, though unalterable in
its fundamental principles, is still open to development
and improvement (bikrungs fahig). The King repu-
diates the doctrine of finality.
The discrepancies said to exist between the inten- '
tions of the late King with respect to imperial states,
and the fulfilment of them by the present King, are
denied to exist, and the remonstrance of the assembly,
the monarch declares, he does not receive as a symp-
tom of mistrust, but as the result of a right feeling to
defend and understand their rights.
The royal answer seems well calculated sad de-

serving to allay any cause' of discontent, and will no
doubt have the effect of removing the misgivings and
ill humour which the first speech from the Prussian
throne called forth. The riots, which proved destruc-
tive to many bakers' and confectioner.' shops on the
22nd, had died away. The King had made his ap.
pearance on the Linden, the scene of much of the
uproar, accompanied by a single aide-de-camp.

The French cabinet sustained another cheek in the
Chamber of Deputies on Monday. The debate on co.
lonial slavery did not admit of the process of sla".
tion which the ministry endeavoured to apply to it,
The shocking disclosures made in the speechee og
MM. de Lasteyrie and Ledru-Rollin, literally spread
horror through the assembly, and at length made the
ministry feel that the only safe course was to yield to
the result of the unanimous burst of indignation to
which the Chamber gave utterance. It will he revel.
leeted that the debate took place upon petitions
against colonial slavery, bearing 11,000 signa•ores. It
was proposed by the opposition to refer these petition,
to the consideration of the president of the council
and the colonial minister; this the cabinet opposed
through the colonial minister, who insisted en passing
Ito the order of the day. Towards the close of the de-
hate, however, the revelations made by the ndvoeates
'of the petitioners, produced an explosion of feeling,
and M. Guizot himself exclaimed from his seat that
they would no longer oppose the proposition. At the
suggestion of M. Dupin, the petitions Wa re referred
also to the minister of justice, which was intended u
a rebuke to the insufficiency of the colonial mi.
nister. The desire of the French nati in to se.
complish the abolition of slavery led to the
adoption of a law in July 1843, intended as the
forerunner of that object. 1 his project provided for
the establishment of free workshop, the granting one
day a week to the slaves to enable them by their
industry to purchase their freedom, the limit ;tion of
the hours of labour, the encouragement of niniringe,
and the promotion of education. The in,trumeuts by
which these several provisions were to rec:ice effect
were the colonial magistracy and the slate-owners
themselves, who also constituted the majority of the
former body. The practical effect has beer. !list the
law has become a dead letter, a!1 its provi; being
utterly abortive, and the condition of the sli% es, phy-
sical and moral, being worse than ever. There is, ta
fact, 110 administration of justice where a ri.aedy is
sought by a slave against his proprietor. The tri-
bunals are composed of a majority of -owners,
and if there be a few individuals in the min e ity dis-
posed to administer justice, they are overruled by
public opinion in the colony. To such a seandalou
pitch has the flagrant di fiance of every principle of
, justice in the conduct of these tribunals been carried,
that in some instances where they have pronounced
an acquittal or a nominal punishment againe
delinquent proprietors, the atrocity of the criminal
has been so great that the colonial governor has felt
compelled to exercise a discretion with which he is
invested by exiling the offender from the colony. We
know not in what terms to impart to the English po.
lie an adequate notion of the crimes perpetrated by
masters against slaves disclosed in this debate, ethers
which we believe have no designation in the vocabu-
lary of erimival jurisprudence. We can only select
one or two of the many instances given by M. Lednt-
Rollin and M. de Lasteyrie.
We have already mentioned that the minder of a
slave by a master is visited by the tribunals with the
nominal punishment of a few days' imprisonment.
Hut murder is the most venial of this catalogue of ini-
quities. An aged mother is tied naked by the four
limbs, and her sen is compelled to hold her while the
whip is applied to the naked tack of the woman, until
her offspring is covered with the blood which spouts
from her.

A female, five months gone with child, is bound
upon a ladder by the four limbs, a billet of wood
being stuffed between her bosom and the ladder, to
render her back convex. The lash is then applied,
until premature delivery is produced under the opera-
tion of Cm torture. The blows inflicted upon her
head have broken out her teeth, destroyed one of hee
eyes, and deprived her of hearing; and "the man,*
exclaimed M. Ledru Rollin, " who thus proved him-
self more cruel than the executioner, and more in-
exorable than the guillotine, being brought before
the correctional police, was sentenced to ffievn days'
imprisonment .^'
Another female, also pregnant, was submitted to
the whip until her back was covered with bleeding
wounds, and then, by a devilish refinement of torture,
a solution of pimentum and lemon-juice was poured
into the wounds.

A child was suspected of having poisoned an or,
which had died. The head of the ox cut off,
wan suspended round the neck of the child, who wee
comrelled to carry it until the effluvia proceeding
from the decomposition of the flesh relieved the little
victim from its torments by death.
The Minister of Marine mode a feeble and stammer-
ing attempt at some excuse for the colonial autho-
rities, and was persisting to demand the order of the
day, when M. Guisot perceiving the sense of the
chamber on the question, exclaimed from his place,
.‘ II n'y a pas d'opposition."
' It was reported in the evening of Monday, that
M. de dachas (colonial minister) bad resigned, as
M. Dupin clearly indicated he ought to do, but there
appears no foundation for this.
There is little doubt that the cabinet proposes, be-
, fore the close of the session, to introduce a project of
law into the chambers for the continuance of the free
importation of every species of alimentary sub-
stance, including live cattle and cured meat, until
July, 1848. The Journal des Debate, acting as is
understood under the inspiration of the court and
cabinet, persists in advocating this measure. Another
able article on the subject appeared in that journal on
Tuesday.
We have frequently stated that among well-
informed persona in the financial and commercial
circles, a persuasion prevails that before the close off
the session, a loan will be effected. This belief gains
ground from day to day, and we have reason to
know that conferences on the subject have been
already held between M. Lacave Laplagne and the
bead of the wealthiest financial house in Paris. The
funds have been for the last few days declining! and
as this impression becomes more general, will fell
still lower.

We have received advices from Madrid to the 22d
inst. The rumour which we mentioned on a Neer
day, of the intention of Gen. Narvaez to decline the
embassy to Paris, is definitively contradicted, 68
General having officially communicated to the senate
the necessity under which he is placed, of absent*
himself from the sessions of that body, be rearm
of his appointment as ambassador of the Ilueee of
Spain to the French court.
The King is reported to have intimated hie per.
sonal request to the friends of Gen. Serrano, that the
General should immediatly return to Madrid from
Aranjuez, whither he had gone for the restoration d
his health. The General had accordingly arrived
the capital.
A project of law has been brought before the senate,
by the cabinet, having reference to the refusal of Gen.
Serrano to comply with the orders of the late minatt7.
It is proposed that the cabinet shall not have the
power of ordering any state functionary, who g a
senator, to leave the capital during the session of the
Cortes, without the previous assent of the snate.
It was expected that the report of the committee
on the indemnity for the arrest of MM. Chico end
Avirancta would be immediately presented to the
chambers, and would there produce a genii
discussion.

PRUSSIA.-THE KING'S ANSWER TO TSB

ADDRESS.
BERLIN, APRIL 23.—The four estates met at half-
past eleven, am., fn a cons',ined court (rereinigle% Karig).
The marshell of the liernen Stande announced, after GI
minutes of the preceding meeting had been raid, that 40
first communication he had to make was the King's snore
to the addren. It was accordingly read, and is as follows
" We, Frederick William, by the grace of God, Kiod_l
Prussia, d: c., greet our estates assembled in their Ent
diet. We have received with pleasure the exprenion draw
tude and confidence contained in the addressor ourloyslestral
of the nth inst., and with still greater ntisfectiso
the intimation it contains that they recognise it to be ttire
constitutional function to co operate with the crows
the provincial estates to promote the future prosPoritY
oftQ
fatherland. We, too, regard this r the duty theY ate
upon to discharge. We will not, because our loyal whets
have—seeing that many of their number failed to Moir!.
• complete harmony in the older and more recent legidstos
respecting them—deemed it necessary to enter a protest Is
the address in support of their constitutional rights, attritlit
this expression to any mistrust of our royal der, nark
ti me to protect and maintain all right+ ; still th.
truth and frankness which ought ever to be pnssrsd
undimmed between us and our people, dommadsol
unequivocal reply. When we issued, in virtue of (11K rf•

free retolve and eovereign power, the patent and ortlinsucos
et the 3rd of February of the present year, we not sole con
ennea
of our Royald!, and to the best of our knowledge, fulfilled the
"'promises (ewe now with God, but conferred
itpon our loyal estates still more extended etlential rignts ;
whatever interpretation and extension we have added to
these promises are conceived in the only sense in which wei
believe them to he compatible with the inatitutions
end prosperity of our common country. For thin
reason we ran acknowledge in the combined diet, called
into existence by our edict nf the 3rd of February
of this year, no other kgitiniate powers thou what
see conferred upon it by that law, or may hereafter
be added by ourselves in a constitutional way. Our loyal
n our meet strenuous support in their
Wars may rely upo
exercise of these legitimate powers, and in return we confi-
dently expect to find them naming themselves within those
limits, and discharging their corresponding duties. The
ordinance of the 3rd of February of this year is in its fonds.
mettal principle unsitseeptilde.of change we do uot, how.
ever' on th a account, regard it as final, but rather as pro-
/waive (bildosyrfarlig). For this reason we have opened
to our loyal estates away by which they may present to us
Toroth., having for their object its gra lual corn-
pinion ; and when we receive such proposals, we
will examine them with attention and glatly accede
to them in so far as they appear compatible with the
inalienable rights of the cron, and the prosperity of the
country. In the tame constitutional manner, explanations
may be obtained of all doubts as to the evict meaning of
the her, We will also, inasmuch is proposals and
wishes emanating front the first combined diet must of
serewity be deficient in practical experience, at the same
time that they can (in conformity with the 12th section of
the lat ordiuunce of the 3rd of February). only proceed from
the combined diet, gladly assure our loyal estates,
that we will anin convene them within the term of
four aeon, fixed (in the '2nd section of the 2nd
ordiMr,ce of 3rd February), for their periodical convocation,
even though none of the reseals enumerated by the law
for cants them together should exist, in order that the
fruits of a ripened experience may be turned to account. We
remain graciously disposed towards our loyal estates.—
Given at Berlin, the 22d April, 11117.
REDERICK Wittiest."
The answer is countersigned by the whole cabinet.
on the motion of the Marshal of the Diet, the king's
answer t the request of the diet, that ft prolonged term
might be granted for the presentation or petitions, was that
his majesty contented to extend the term to the Ist of May.
There being no other business before the diet, it adjourned
at a quarter past 11.

FILANCE.—PARIs, APRIL 27.— FRENCH CRAM-
nras.—ln the Chamber of Deputies, the debate opened on
the project of law for granting an extraordinary credit of
one nair.iou of franca for the secret service. M. I'llerhette
spoke spent the project, parting in review the different
ministers and their administration, attacking especially the
Minister of Finance ant the Minister of War. This called
fora rply from the Minister of Finance, and the debate
was assuming rather the nature of a personal discussion than
of one nn the Secret Service Money Bill. The debate still
continued when oar reporter left.
NICROLAS SUSSE scstY.—Among the numerous
nits, actions, and other legal proceedings arising out of the
will of the late Marquis of Hertford, with its numerous
codicils, those of the rxecntors against Nicholas Suss.), the
valet of the testator, have stood prominent. One of thew
was for the restitution of inscriptions for French renter
amounting in value to 700,000 E, which belonged to the
Marquis, and which his executors inserted Susse had sur-
reptitiously taken out of his drawer, alter the death of his
master. For this imputed act of robbery, they prosecuted
Busse criminally in England; hut, on trial at the Old
Bailey, be was acquitted. Notwithstanding this
.aertuittal,
the executors, as the inscriptions were deposited in It ranee,
instituted a suit against Susse, in the Tribunal dos
Premiere Instance, for their restitution. The Tribunal
decided in favour of the executors, and the inscriptions
were ordered to be restored to them. This, however, was
not the final termination of the claims of the executors. They
afterwards discovered that, while the inscriptions were in
his Rands, Some had received dividends to the amount of
77,710 E, and for the resti.ution of this sum another action
was brought by the executors; but, in the first instance, they
were defeated. Against this decision an appeal was brought
before the Cuur Royale, and it came to a hearing on Mon-
day. After a repetition of all the circumstances, and of the
arguments of counsel on both sides, the Cour Royal quashed
the judgment of the court below. and desired Susse to repay
the 77,710 f. to the executors. There was also an appeal by
Sums against another part of the same judgment of the in-
ferior tribunal, ordering him to restore other dividends re-
ceived by him to the amount of 41,000 E; but this the Cour
Royale confirmed.
BELGIUM.—BRUSSELS, APRIL 26.—The Emanci-
pation, of Brussels, says That the negotiations for a com-
mercial treaty between Belgium and Naples, which have
been eonemeted by the Prince de Chimay on the part of Bel.
gium, have just beenbrought to a satisfactory conclusion. The
treaty embraces commerce, navigation, and some branches of
industry. As regards commerce and navigation, Belgium is
placed on the same footing as England and France. In two
branches of industry, 'hat of arms. and that of machines, we
have obtained a special favour. The reduction on the pre-
sent duties which is accorded is 20 per cent. for the former,
and 30 per cent. for the latter. On Some other brooches of
lea importance we have obtained the advantages which were
accorded in a preceding treaty to France.
SWITZERLAND. GENEVA. The Berne de
o,*m,ve of the 24th Inst., states, that the Swiss chargé,
d'affaires at Vienna has received an official communication to
the effect that the Emperor has decided on revoking, at
latest on the Ist of May next, the decree passed by the Lom-
bard authorities, forbidding the exportation of corn from
Lombardy into Switzerland. Absolute necessity will alone
prevent the revocation of this decree for a short time longer,
but, in any event, the cantons of Lucerne, Uri, Schwyts,
Linter. alden, and Zug, will be allowed specially to be =-
emoted from it if they so demand it.
FRIBUII.G.—The council of state of this town have
decided on setting at liberty several of t heir political prisoners;
these are Messrs. Remy, formerly Vice•Chaneellor ; Blame,
Weiss, and Dr. Huber.
ITAI.Y.—FLORENCE.—LeLtere from Florence have
been r tceived in Paris, announcing the fact that the Grand
Duke of Tuscany has granted the liberty of the press to his
states, it spite of the remonstrances and opposition of Anstris.
Rentz, APRIL 18.—A grand banquet is to be gives'
on the 21st, the anniversary of the foundation of Rome. It
is to he held in the Gentle dells Terme di Mo. Covers will
be laid for 700, and the idle-wolf of Rome will be carried is
triumph.—The Infant Don Enrique of Spain is here with his
Toting bride, Dona Elena de Castellar, and her parents, the 11
Count and Countess Caetellar. The Infant has requested
the Pope to bless their union, but Pius IX. does not wish to
meddle in an affair of so political a nature. The arrival of
the prince having given rise to various reports, the Infant
has addressed a letter to the Diorio, in which he states that
his only remota for coming to Rome was the desire to get the
Pope's benediction to his marriage.—The Pope had ad-
dressed a pastoral letter to the bishops, calling upon them
to make collections for the suffering Irish.
A letter from Faenza states that a cure of that
town had been assassinated ; this deed was attributed to the
liberals. At Farn, Cardinal Ferretti, perceiving thee his
commands regarding free trade in grain were disre-
garded,
entered that town on horseback at the head of some
hundred soldiers. This so frightened the seditious that they
no longer opposed the exportation of corn. M. Rowoni, de-
legate at Ancona. has, on the contrnry, prohibited the expor-
tation of grain from one district to the other, declaring that
the stores of corn were the property of the government,
which had the right of fixing the price.
PORTUGAL—The Nautilus arrived at Liverpool
yesterday with the despatches mentioned by our Lisbon cor-
respondent in his last letter. They only contain the heads
of news which we supplied from Portuguese papers received
by the Iberia.
NIEMEL, APRIT. 15.—0 n the 13th a Russian
steamer, called the Irrwisch, left Curisch-Haff Bay for
Tilsit, notwithstanding the sea was full of ice. It first of
all made its way through the numerous floating pieces, but
on arriving before Windenburg, where there wore .ome
large masses, it sustained some serious shocks, which did it
great injury, and at the same moment a fire broke out on
board. The vessel went down in about a quarter of an hour.
The passengers and crew, 32 persons in all, were saved by
the exertions of the inhabitants of Windenburg. The value
of the steamer and its cargo is estimated at 42,000 silver
roubles (about 168,000111.
GREECE.—ATHENS, APRIL 11.—The Allgemeine
Zeitung announces the resignation of M. Poniropulos, the
minister of finance. The anniversary of the deliverance of
Greece from the Turkish yoke was held as usual at the mo-
nument of Karim Kakis. King Otho and his brother were
present.