The Express.
London, England, 1847-02-09 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 9, 1847.

ment of labourers and due attention to their comfort
and health.

_ .....
We think we have stated the tenor of the bill fairly.
It is one of which the author has no reason to be
ashamed : it evinces respectable powers of combination
and adaptation; and with regard to its technical pre-
patation it is decidedly superior to V.e average of
bills introduced in the House of Commons. Never-
theless our first impression, that if passed into a law '
it would seriously embarrass the finar.cial and mone-
tary relations of the country, without effecting any
corresponding benefit for Ireland, is increased instead
of diminished. . _

The proposal to add sixteen millions to the national
debt at this time is of itself sufficient to give pause.
Our readers will remember the petition of the
Manchester Chamber of Commerce in 18-10,
relating to the management of the Bunk of
England in regard of the currency, and the committee
lof the House of Commons on banks of issue, appointed
lin consequence of that petition being presented. It
1 was proved by the Manchester gentlemen before the
committee that towards the end of 1835 and beginning
of 1836, great fluctuation in prices had been occa-
sioned by the Bank of England's departing from the
principle upon which it usually regulated its conduct
as a bunk of issue, to the senous embarrassment of
trade, and the ruin of niany individuals. It was
proved by directors of the Bank that their deviation
from their general practice had been forced upon them
by the consequences of the raising of the West India
loan. That loan amounted to fifteen millions: the
first instalment was paid in August, 1835; the last
in September, 1836. If the raising of fifteen millions
had such an effect on all our markets at a time when
trade was otherwise prosperous, what will the raising
of sixteen millions have at a time when pressure is
felt from a scarcity of provisions; from a short crop
and low stocks of the raw material of our principal
textile manufacture; and the paralysis of foreign de-
mand for our manufactures, occasioned by the
wide extent of deficient harvests? In 1833-6
there were no other loans in the market ; but the go-
vernment has already incurred, and is about to incur,
liabilities for tae relief of Ireland to the amount of
at least nine millions, which in the present state of
trade are not likely to be provided fur otherwise than
by loan.
The money liabilities which government would
incur under Lord GEORGE BENTINCK'S bill are not
the only, nor even the most weighty, liabilities to
which it would subject them. The clause em-
powering the Commissioners of the Treasury
to enter into possession of railways, com-
plete the works, and sell or lease when
completed, is the most alarming part of the act.
It contemplates a contingency—a certainty of govern-
ment being compelled to take in hand a large amount
of railway property; to incur upan that property in-
definite expenses ; to manage it, it may be, at a large
yearly loss, or dispose of it for a small fraction of what
it cont. In accepting Lord GEORGE'S bill, parliament
would accept a bill for an undefined and undefinable
sum ; would pledge the national credit to they know
not what.

This indefinite liability parliament cannot be mad
enough to incur. The definite liability of sixteen
millions might, in the face of all hazards, be incurred,
if it could be shown that the expenditure would really
benefit Ireland, or that the money could not be laid
out in some way better suited to benefit our country-
men there. Let us dispassionately inquire what kind
and amount of relief this large outlay is calculated to
afford.

Lord GEORGE'S bill is not calculated for the relief of
the immediate exigencies of this year of famine. It is
one of those measures which can only promote the per-
manent amelioration of the social and economical con-
dition of Ireland. The rail wav companies must meet and
resolve to apply for loans; the railway commissioners
must examine into the actual condition of the applying
companies, the progress of their works, the prospect
of returns on the capital, and so forth. W e ask any
man acquainted with the history of Irish railway
speculation within what period are such inquiries, if
conducted bund.firk, likely to terminate ? We say no-
thing of companies got up by needy landlords to pro-
mote sales of patches of land at unreasonable prices ;
nothing of London speculations, where half-a-dozen
gentlemen, managers in as many railway companies,
lend to those in which calls are not paid the money of
those whose shareholders are gulls enough to pay.
We take the Great Southern and Western--a line
in part opened for traffic, a line which ought
to pay—as a specimen of the reckless in-
volvement of Irish railways. By the balance-sheet
produced at the last half-yearly meeting of this com-
pany, it appears that it has received a loan of
.50,0001. from the Bank of Ireland, and has made
" investments" in, or, in plain English, lent to four
other railway companies 26,50 W. Within what given
time will the railway commiadoners be able to un-
ravel such tangled and complicated accounts ? What
clue will they find to guide their estimate of the
probable success of such entangled speculations?
These facts, which show that considerable time must
elapse before the sixteen millions can be made avail-
able for the use of Ireland, are also of a na-
ture to damp our hopes as to the benefit
of the application. The loans to railway companies
will enable them to remit or modify their calls; and
by enabling some to proceed which otherwise must
have been at once abandoned, will admit of labourers
being sooner set to work. But the loans will not re-
establish Irish railways in public confidence as a mem '
of investment. The value of Irish railway shares had
begun to fall before the effects of scarcity were felt in
the money market, and they have fallen from the loss
of character consequent upon the reckless and incon-
siderate (in many cases stronger language might be
used) mismanagement to which we have been advert-
ing. The loans advanced by government will not
restore the confidence of parties who are capable of,
paying future calls ; such men will not thereby be
induced to risk their money in them, on the faith of
booty inquiries conducted by the railway board. The
loans administered in the way Lord GEORGE BENTINCK
contemplates will only enable the works to be carried
on for a short time, then to stop, and leave the face of
Ireland burdened with constructions as incomplete

and worthless as the two canals from Dublin to the
Shannon.

And, by thus throwing away sixteen millions the
country will be disenabled to expend money for other
purposes that would really benefit Ireland.
IVe have formerly stated, and now repeat our belief,
that a certain amount of money, judiciously applied,
might be devoted with advantage to the promotion of
railways in Ireland. We concur with Earl FtrzwIL-
LIANI (in the general view expressed by that noble
lord—not in his details) in thinking that the employ-
ment on railways afforded by this means might be
beneficially combined with an extensive system of
emigration.

FRANCE.—M. d'Haussonville, who was lately
commissioned by the French government to bear some recons
1 ciliatory explanations to the I- lynch ambassador at the Court
of St. James's regarding the Spanish marriages, has returned
from London ; and reports say he has succeeded in the object
of his mission.—L'Esprii Public, Feb. 6.
NETHERLANDS.—()CCCeSTION OP LABPAN.—
According to the Nieuwe Rotterdanache Courant, Feb. 6,
there is considerable excitement among Dutch politicians
with regard to the occupation of Labuan. The Courant
complains especially of the terms in which the Morning
Chronicle anonunced the fact, on which it comments as
follows England could never be jealous. The more con-
temptible, then, must he the condo-% of a wealthy elate in
grasping the possessions of a poor country. How is
the act to be juatificd ? It has been proved, even
by the travels of Brooke, that Sarawak is a dependency
of Sambas, which is undoubtedly a Dutch possession.
But it there no pretext for the occupation ? Certainly ; the
paper abovementionefl has found it, and it is this: A Danish
vessel was eapturid by pirates. The Singapore paper,
changed the Danish into a Dutch vessel, and from this
mistake of the papers, the inference is drawn that the
Netherlands are too feeble to defend their pease...ions, and
that generous England, therefore, met take them under
her protection. 0 disinter sted England! who does not see
further spoliation in perspective ? a plan of occupation going
on from Labuan to Sarawak, thence to other part. of
Borneo, and (ruin Borneo to Java ?"
GERMANY.—.% MODERN HENRY Vlll.—Prince
Hatyfeldt, a member of the Roman Catholic aristocracy
in Silesia, intends to dirwilve his present marriage, and con-
tract another. As it is only in very few cases that his Holi-
ness at Rome grants the dissolution of a marriage, the
piece inteods to embrace the Protestant faith, a mecum-
dance which is much talked of, and causes • great sensation
in the higher circles. Prince Hatyfeldt is a brother of the
Countess Ilatyfelilt, whose law-suit lately made so much
noise.
VIENN.I.—The counsellor of state, Baron Werner, is
appointed so depute of Count Vou Munch Bellingliamen,
▪ president of the biet, whenever he should be absent from
Frankfort. Count Vou Munch Bellingbausen still remains
president of the Diet ; but, in order to relieve Prince Met-
ternich from the weight of business, will always make a
considerable stay here, and not return to Frankfort except
in urgent eau, s.
SWEDF:N.—STOCKIIOOI, J ‘l4. 30.—The greatest

activity prevails at present in all the departments of govern-
ment. The object of this is the preparation mammary for
the approaching Diet.
GREECE.—The Augsburg Gazette of the Ist con-
tains advises Imm Athens to 3 so . 19. The Chamber d Deputies
was occupied with different bills, ea the budget wee still in the
hand. of the emarnimion. Col. Spiro killing, who had oh.
tamed a leave of rong,, to proceed to Naples, was at Corfu,
and held in bin heads the thread. of a conspiracy, the aim
of which was a well organised armed descent into the north-
west provinees
AMERICA.—EXI'wsIoN or A LOCOMOTIVE.—A
disa.trous explstdon occurred on the Reading Railroad, lest
es ning, near Philadelphia. A locomotive exploded, killing
seven persons. The report was heard four miles di.t.ust. The
mangled limbs of the unfortunate person. were thrown a
great distance. The concussion hrnke every pane of glass in
a house in the vicinity.—New Ycr* Express.