The Express.
London, England, 1849-05-22 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 22, 1849.

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111011 WATTS, AT LONDON 21111111
Two DLT —ttawdow,lB stla. mat I ; Anuses. 111 K. pot I.
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LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 22.
The division on Lord STANLEY'S amendment on
the first clause of the Navigation Bill must be
gratifying to all lovers of order and rational legis-
lation. No efforts were spared by his lordship's
whippers-in to obtain a majority. Itie leather lunge
of Lord BROUGHAM were put in requisition, to sleek
against time, till a last attempt was made to sum-
mon reluctant friends from dinner parties and other
snug retreats, whither they bad betaken themselves
to escape the necessity of voting against a measure
which they have the sense to see is inevitable. Bat
all in vair. Common sense prevailed, and a majority
of 110 to 103 declared that the peers of England are
MO au-4;d7 too high-minded, or too wise in their gene-
ration, to defeat by, insidious matceuvres what they
cannot defeat in a fair stand-rip fight.
Lord STANLEY'S tone was last night subdued sad
insinuating. He was only the more to be dreaded on
that accnunt. TM venomous snake which gives
warning of its attack its rattle or by its vindictive
hiss, is Ms to be dreaded than that which coils itself
noiselessly around its prey.
Lord STANLEY last night conceded, in terms, the
great principle foe which the friends of free trade and
promoters of the Navigation Bill are contending.
He professed to be walking in the footsteps of Mr.
Husxissox, assumed the character of a disciple of
that statesman—of the disciple upon whom his mantle
had fallen. He proposed so to alter the bill that the
relaxation it is intended to introduce into oar
system of navigation laws shall only operate
in favour of those countries whieli meet is
half-way. This, Lord STANLEY says, will offer an
inducement to other nations and governments to
adopt the Fame liberal principles of commercial
legislation in respect of shipping as Great Britain is
anxious to establish. Lord STANLEY must, therefore,
believe that it would be bo ter for all governments to
impose no restrictions—no exclusive privileges in
favour of their own subjects on the ocean carnage of
merchandise. Lord STANLEY is, or professes to be, a
free-trader, and above all, a free-trader in the carriage
of goods by sea. He: profeist not to differ from
ministers in the end he aims sr, but only in the
mode by which he seeks its attainment.
Let us examine the means of emancipating the
carrying trade of the world which Lord STANLEY
recommends as preferable to that contemplated by the
authors of the Navigation Bill. He would vest is
the Quzzx in council authority to concede to the ships
of any and every nation any and every extension of
liberty to fetch and carry all sorts of merchandise to
sad from this country, which the government of that'
nation are willing to confer on the ships of Groitl
Britain. The effects of such a statutory enactment
would be twofold. In the first place it would make
the commercial policy of Great Britain dependent
not upon the judgment and insight of the British
people and their statesmen, but upon the views, it,
might be the whims of foreign governments. What-
ever system of legislation any foreign governmeat
might think proper to adopt in respect of its
marine intercourse with this country, our genre-
moot would be compelled, by eet of parliament, to
adopt towards it. In the second place, the power of
determining the commercial policy of Great Britain,'
in respect of our commercial marine, would be taken
from parliament, and vested in the Queen's ministers
for the time being. So long as the commercial policy
of the nation is determined by parliament there will
be a certain degree of fixity and consistence about it.
The convictions of the people do not change from year
to year, or with every change of ministry ; and parlia-
ment will more or less faithfully mirror the prevail-
ing convictions of all the constituencies. But a cibinet
is accessible to a multitude of subordinate and unseen
influences. The broad leading principles of our
navigation law (whatever it might be) a ministry
would not dare to counteract openly, but modified as
that law is by reciprocity and other treaties a ministry
might, if invaded with the powers Lotd STANLEY
seeks to confer, purchase a prolonged tenure of office
by concessions in favour of this or the other interest,
which leaving the general principle of the law as it
stands, might yet compromise large amounts of pro-
pert, and valusble classes of the community, and might
even lead to unpleasant cos troversits and collisions,'
with foreign powers. Even a bad law, if certain and
defined, is preferable to the vacillating and uncertain'
will of a ministry whose component parts are conti-
wally shifting.
Even on the assumption, then, that Lord STANLEY
eke in perfect good faith when he professed to offer
his amendments on the Navigation Bill as a surer
method to attain the ultimate emancipation of the
carrying trade of the world, these amendments de-
served rejection. They would deprive this nation of the
power of originating its own commercial policy ; and
they would place our shipping interests, and all who
are concerted in manufactures and merchandise, at
the mercy of the mutable views and interests of party
alliances.
But is any man se simple es to believe Lord
STANLEY sincere in the professions he made? Mr.
HUBKISSON'S principles and practice are mat-
ter of history. It is notorious that in his
reforms of our commercial legislation he did
what he could, not what he wished. His principles
would have led him to much bolder changes, but the
constitution of government and parliament, awl the
unripened state of public opinion in hie day, com-
pelled him to pause where ho did. Now that the
obstacles have been removed which arrested Mr.
BusiiissoN'S career, it is rank affectation in Lord
STANLEY to quote Mr. Hemmen:4's authority fir
weeping short, where Mr. HUsHisSoN was reluct-
antly obliged to stop. With a landlord and West
India parliament, it was a wonder that Mr. 11111:1s-
SON accomplished so much as he did, but he would not
have been satisfied with that, had he had a
free trade House of Commons to back him.
The difference between Lord STANLEY'S policy and
Mr. HusKissoN's is this : the latter got as much
good out of a protectionist House of Commons as be
could ; Lord STANLEY, finding the House of Commons
no longer protectionist, but anxious to carry out Mr.
Hrsetssox's principles to their full legitimate iesues,
would persuade the house to concur in an act tying
up its own hands, and transferring to the ministers
of the crown for the time being the exclusivepower
of doing what it is the right and duty of the-House
of Commons to do.
There can be no mistake as to the object of Lord
STANLEy in seeking to deprive parliament of the
power to decide what shall be the commercial policy of
England. The majority of the people of England are
free traders. No House of Commons, however picked
by the sinister influence of landlords, would dare to
legislate in contradiction to the views and wishes of
that maiority. But a Houtie of Commons might be
got together by the unscrupulous exercise of landlord
Influence, that would place and keep in power a pro-
tectionist ministry, and excuse themselves to their
constituents by the allegation that they. supported
that ministry, not because of their anti-free-trade
practices, but in spite of them, on the ground of their
being friends to the church in danger, or any other
pretext that might be found most palatable
at the time. Lord STANLEY'S associates
and allies have not teen so cautions as him-
self in veiling the reasons which make them'
hunger and thirst after office at the present moment.
Their object is avowedly to arrest and turn beck the
rising tide of free trade. And a navigation bill
" cooked " by Lord STANLEY would be a most service-
able instrument in their hands fur the attainment of

this object.
The rejection of Lord STANLIT'S amendmen's in the
form in which he proplees them does not however en-
sure the safety of the Navigation Bill in the only f‘vm
in which it can b- passed with saf:ty to the constitu-
tional authority of p irliament and the proept•rity
of the national commerce. Ocher noble lords,
and some of them professing friends of the

melaures have given notice of amendments
which would equally well subserve the purposes of
Lord STANLEY and his allies,. Not one of •hem can
be adoptel without danger of neutralising the bill.
One and all of them must be resisted to the utmost. If
carried in committee, an effort mast be made to resew,
them on bringing up the report. If incorporated into the
bill u passed by the Lords,, the Commons must refuse
their assent to the mutilated and emasculated

measure. The people of England have a right
to know what navigation law they are bound
to obey, not to be subjected to the fluetuating
views and wishes of ever-changing courts and
cabinets. Itis grievous to be obliged to submit for
another year to the unwise navigation laws which
are sought to be got rid of, but infinitely better than
to have the arbitrary will and sinister influence of s
cabinet substituted for a published and intelligible
law. That the supporters of the navigation law most
be beaten in the long run, if the people and their re-
presentatives in the House of Commons are true to
themselves, is certain. The protectionists may pro-
tract the struggle in their last citadel, the House of
Lords, but they must at last surrender at discretion.
In the name of the people end free traders of Eng-
land, we declare that we can and will " bide our
time;" but we neither can nor will consent to ensnar-
ing compromises.

Tao prospects of the French President and the dif-
ficulties of his task mud continue to occupy the first
place in every public man's anxiety. Though war
rage upon the Danube and insurrection on the Rhine
although the Austrians are destroying Bologna,
under what pretext itwould be diffieultto discover, and
shooting the inhabitants of Leghorn like wild
beasts—though the French have an army in
the Campagna, of which neither general nor
soldiers seem to know what they have
come to do, except, in making slaves of the Romans,
to make very disgraceful fools of themselvcs—though
GARIBALDI has beaten the Neapolitans, and Base,
having converted Transylvania into one vast fortresp,
defies the Russians—in the midst of all these battles
and bombardments, uncertain of issue, there is some-
thing mere uncertain and important still, and that
is to discover what turn French politics will take.
A terrible spark Las been struck from the flinty
paving stones of the Parisian barricades, a spark that
has kindled mighty conflagrations, which generals
have sought to quench in blood, to crush under the
wheels of cannon, to tread out with the heavy
iron of the law, and military repression. All in
vain. Defeat and slaughter, and famine, and inso-
lent logic, aid ruthleaa deportation, have not extin-
guished in the breasts of the Parisian people the prin-
ciple of socialism.
And what is socialism? He who would limit it
to the flattering theory that the accumulated wealth
of the rich should be the employment of the poor,
would give but a delusive picture. For this principle of
socialism is that which nature praotiees in every day
life, and, certainly, in a manner more beneficent and
vast than a Minister of Labour could devise.
Socialism may exist as a theory for a few, but
for the formidable many, that master under the
banner, it merely means disgust of old things,
old ideas, old celebrities, awl an ardent de-
sire that the aspirations and conceptions which
germ in popular minds, may have fair play,
consideration, trial. Of these conceptions we are fully
convinced, that the greater par: are futile. But we
have all along thought that more leniency, and scope,
and allowance might have been made them. Huw-
ever dangerous may have been the irresolute dallying
with ouch doctrines and such parties by LAMARTINE
and the Provisional Go crnment, when such
doctrines and parties were armed to the teeth,
nevertheless that degree of deference which Ca-
vatoNAc showed them even in his victory, appeared
to us more likely to appease the fury of tLe many-
headed monster, than downright severity and de-
fiance were ealcolatA to extinguish and to render
them harmless.

The friends of "order, " however, thought
otherwise. They rejected CA c.ttoNsc, because
he would not consent to appoint a ministry
of repression. Louts N.trot.Box was chosen in
his place, and that personage hes hitherto honourably
kept his word to the party which advanced him
to power. lie has given full scope ta the moderatos
to rule after their ideas. Tne result, however, has
been decidedly antower.l, that result being to favour
the development and strength of both the extreme par-
ties, both of those who would govern by force,and those
who would leave public opini m uncontrolled. The
legitimist, the imperialist, the Or 1( anist were grouped
in the one, an amalgamaion of obnoxious names,
stamping the party as splenetic and reactionary.
As to any middle party, however it may came to ex-
ist in the Asaemlply, It has been in • great measure
ignored by the electoral mind. The plain meaning
of the elections, indeed, is, that ti eat organised
parties have alone had influence, their ticket having
been adopted, whilst no attention was paid, or place
left,to individuals, of whatever eminence sr character,
who stood aloof and wore not taken up by the mon-
ster clubs on either side.

The first question, then, for the President to ask
himself is, whether a ministry should be formed of •
middle party, which, though of small number or
weight, was still best calculated to conciliate and
steer between parties. M. DUPAURE is the natural
head of such a party—a statesman known for his
talent, probity, and moderation, and also known to
have avowed his resolve to stand firm
by the republican constitution. Tte success, how-
ever, of such a ministry is improbable, for certainly
the ideas dominant in the elections arc extreme, and
the parties which they represent will but too naturally
rush to collision, and cannot in the natural course of
things be likely to consent or bow to the arbitrage of
a middle party, till their zeal has been blunted and the
first burst of their passions exhausted.
In France, however, rulers and politicians are but
too mach inclined to appeal to public opinion, inde-
pendent of parliament or chamber. And there are
many who whisper to Louis NAPOLEON, that as both
populace and army have been corrupted by peace, the
only care for socialism is to fling the country into
war. We neither believe in the
For
or in
the success of this war party. For the socialists
have forsworn fighting, and the French constituency
will pay no taxes for any cause, that even Lott.
NArotEox could find for his banner. General
BEDEtt: is the chief man of the war party, and it
sufficiently bespeaks its sagacity that it has for its
leader a man so null. General BEDEAU, if his coun-
sels prevail, will be the Minister of Foreign Affairs
of the new cabinet. General LAMORICIERE was
sounded as to his willingness to take office. His
answer was, that he would only accept office as one
of a liberal ministry, and of a ministry determined to
maintain peace; such being, in his opinion, and in
that of General CAVAIONAC, the true interest of
France, and the great necessity of the world.

THE representatives of the monarchs who have
met in congress at Berlin, with Von RADOWITZ
at their head, have determined on a reline of the
Frankfort constitution, with one or two not very
considerable alterations. Their sovereigns, that is,
the Kings of PRUSSIA, SAXONY, HANOVER, and, it is
believed, BAVARIA, unite in proclaiming on the 25th
this constitution for Germany. The chief alteration
is the doing away with the suspensive veto imagined
by the Frankfort Assembly, and the substitut on for
it of the absolute veto.
The other alteration, made in deference to the Kings
of GERMANY, is the salastitution of the title of
Reichs Schirm Herr, or Lord Protector, for that of
Emperor. Much as we blame the King of PRCSSIA—
much as we condemn his recent policy and execrate
his ministry, we still would be glad to find that this
new imperial constitution would satisfy Frankfort,
and put a stop to those republican uprisings and re-
eistance, which convulse Baden and the Palatinate, and
seriously meaace the peace of Germany. Such a
cabinet, indeed, u that of Berlin, and still more such a
one as that put together by the Archduke JOHN,
is quite sufficient to provoke the patience even of a
German public. But as they could be expected to
co-exist with no constitution whatever, the issuing of
one presupposes their dismissal.
The new imperial constitution will immediately be
proposed for the acceptance of the Frankfort parlia-
ment, from which, fortunately for the success of the
scheme, the Prussian deputies have not withdrawn.
The act recalling them, issued by BRANDENBERG, at
the very time that Von RADOWITZ was con-
cocting the imperial constitution, shows what
queer and contrary eets of political doc-
tors and ideas the King of PRVSSIA keeps
in his palace-closets. Should the Frankfurt parlia-
ment accept, the peace of Germany will be restored,

for the republicans themselves would then not be hft
an excuse for resistance. A new parliament would
forthwith be elected and convokc d to Frankfort ; and
with a liberal and moderate minister, like Von GAGEBN,
to conduct that portion of the German government
which is imperial, the chief aim of the revolution
would be attained, being the unity of the country,
and what is more important, its parliamentary unity.
Austria gives its fall assent, and thereby finally ex-
cludes herself from all interference and control in the
affairsof imperial sad federated Germany. This is what
we have long untended for as equally requisite and
advantageous both for Austria and for Germany, the
career of the former, if it survive, being henceforth
irrevocably Selsvonian, whilst Germany, concentrated
in its national interests, will form the true bulwark of
central Europe against ambition, or encroachment, mi-
litary or political, whether it proceed from the bar-
barism of Russia or the overweening civilisation of
the French.