The Express.
London, England, 1847-03-01 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH 1.

PRINCE ALBERT is elected Chancellor of Cambridge.
With the support of the cabinet ministers and of their
predecessors, Lord LYNDHURST and Mr. GOL'LBURN
having voted with Lord LANSDOWNE and Lord GREY,
with ail who are connected with the court, and almost
all who have been, or may be, attached M it, on his
side, with the resident members of a college, which
numbers on its boards one-third of the senate unani-
mously in his favour, Prince ALBERT has polled 9.3 l
to 839, a minority which at least justifies " the pro
ceedings of certain persons," as Dr. WHEWELL cour-
teously termed, and untruly represented his Royal
Highnt es to have termed, the steps taken to promote
the election of Lord Powis. Some curious reasons
were invented for supporting the royal candidate.
Because Lord Pouts voted for the Maynooth grant,
which we have no doubt Prince ALBERT approved of,
it was discovered that the noble lord's supporters
were tractarians. The ultra-religious pretended to be-
lieve that the Prince would be a no-popery Chancellor,
and their chief representative at Cambridge exhorted
his friends to support the good cause, influenced no
doubt by pious motives, but urging the suspiciously
worldly argument, that " the nobility in London, and
others best qualified to judge," preferred the royal
Protestant.

We are not, however, disposed to criticise the com-
position of the majority too closely. It had some
disadvantage to contend with in the singular mixture
of rudeness and servility which increased the previous
unpopularity of its leader at Cambridge, and added
many votes to the unsuccessful side. The apparent
refusal, moreover, by the Prince of the proffered
honour must considerably have embarrassed some of
his supporters. There is one curious circumstance
which deserves notice: Lord POWli is known as a
public man almost exclusively by his exertions in
favour of the see of St. Asaph. tefore Lord JOHN
RUMELL*4 present administration, he was, perhaps,
the only living member of either house of parliament
who had practically and efficiently served the church
in as far as the episcopal element is essential to the
constitution of that body. In the House of Lords he
received many compliments and thanks from the
fathers of the Church. In the Senate House of
Cambridge he did not receive one vote from them.
The clergy came from all parts of the kingdom to
show their gratitude for Lord Powis's real or sup-
posed, at any rate intended, services; but not one
bishop of high or low church—of Whig or Tory
politics—thought a rescued bishopric worthy to be
put in comparison with that divinity that cloth hedge
a prince. The Bishop of LONDON, who has always
kept up the character of a model prelate, a kind
of ideal occupant of the episcopal bench, of course dis-
tinguished himself by his zeal in favour of Prince
ALBERT. It is much to the credit of his clergy that
so many of them preferred protesting against syco-
phantic adulation of rank, to the deference which
they would naturally have been inclined to pay to
their ecclesiastical superior. It would be absurd to
pretend that the university is likely to receive any
serious damage from having elected a Chancellor
who can scarcely, from his peculiar position, fulfil the
duties of the office. In practice they have long
been reduced to a mere form, and the Prince
may, if he thinks fit, easily eclipse his predeces-
sors in the pageantry of public ceremonials. In
ease of need, some peer will no doubt be found to
represent the university in the Upper House in the
place of the Chancellor; and, in the event of a visita-
tion by the crown, it must express itself through the
medium of some inferior functionary. The real
danger consisted in the degradation of conferring the
office unasked on one who, with no pretensions to it
beyond his exalted rank, could only perform its duties
unobjeetionably as long as they remained merely
nominal.
The bona fide and severe contest which has taken
place will in a great measure have redeemed Cam-
bridge from the imputation of servility, which is, if
not a national, at least an academical vice. We leave
it to the Bench of Bishops to feel enthusiasm for Lord
Powts on account of his services to the Church.
His merit on this occasion tx3naisted in giving his
name to a resistance to courtly adulation, and in re-
fusing to give up his pretensions in deference to his
princely opponent. It is discreditable to the country,
and disadvantageous to princes, that honours appro.
prated to particular classes should be laid at their feet
by wholesale, so as probably to be received with con-
temptuous indifference, with the chance that the refusal
to offer them may give rise to resentment. The
Prince's domestic virtues and abstinence from political
interference are deservedly appreciated in England ;
but it is satire in a very thin disguise to call upon
him to "protect,* se Dr. WHEWELL expresses it, the

studies of the university. His Royal Highness is
said to be possessed of considerable attainments, but
he has, to say the least of it, cot counteracted the
mediaeval rigidity of the etiquette of our court, nor
has he, by patronage of merit or in social intercourse,
in any way shown himself exempt from the indiffer-
ence to art, literature, and learning, which has uni-
formly characterised the dynasty into which he has
been adopted. We state this undeniable fact from
no desire to criticise Prince ALBERT'S character, but
to show how exclusively he was indebted to his rank
for his selection to fill the highest academic office.
lacidentally,.and against the wish of most of his
supporters, it is possible that his nomination may
lead to good. We cannot suppose that his German
education has instilled into his Royal Highness any
extravagant love for English abuses. If he takes any
part in university affairs, we have no doubt that he
will, on the whole, wish rather to further learning,
than, as the' ultra-Protestant worshippers of the
" nobility in London" expected, to persecute Papists
and Tractarians. By a judicious and delicate exercise
of his influence he might smooth many difficulties
which have hitherto lain in the way of improvement.
It so happens that most of the worshippers of abuses,
being also fanatical admirers of worldly rank,
have supported the Prince on the present
occasion, and may, therefore, be disposed to
yield to his wishes. It is impossible that he should
be acquainted with the details which require reforma-
tion ; bat if he is not already aware of the state of the
question of religions tests, be will soon have it forced
upon his attention. It would be far better that the
university authorities should voluntarily facilitate the
admission of non-conformists, than that they should
receive them unwillingly and grudgingly. Prince
ALBERT himself once lived without the pale of the
English church, and may not unreasonably wish to
see the co-religionists of LUTHER and CALVIN, or
even those who, like one branch of his family, still
adhere to Rome, admitted to share in the benefits of
academical education as freely as he himself enjoyed
it in the unsectarian lecture rooms of Bonn.

There is another abuse which his influence might
still more easily remove. He might readily procure
from the crown a removal of the offensive and insult-
ing law which compels the university to grant de-
grees. to noblemen and their relatives after a shorter
noviciate than that required of the commonalty,
and with a ceremonial of ludicrous servility. He
might induce his supporters, the heads of houses, to
refuse admission in future to the some class, under
the distiactive title of fellow-commoners, which

entitles them; to a separate academical costume, and
leads them to associate exclusively with one another.
It is to the false estimate of rank, fostered by these
two institutions, that his Royal Highness owes his
present election. It would be a curious specimen of
even-handed justice. if, with the indifference which
princes are said to feel to subordinate distinctions of
rank, the Royal Chancellor was to take the first step
to the abolition of these disgraceful relics of barbar-
ous times.

On the whole, it is as well that the contest which
has terminated, while it involved a principle, has led
to little practical result. Lord Yowls could have
done the university little good ; the Prince may pos-
sibly effect some good, and has little power of doing
harm by his ignorance of its institutions. Any excess
of oriental etiquette in the relations of the Court and
the academical authorities would lead merely to re-
gret at the choice which they have made, without
seriously affecting the interests of the great body of
the university. On the other hand, a hearty sympa-
thy with the cause of learning and improvement, and
a judicious exercise of influence against obsolete pre-
judices, would insure an amoant of regard and
gratitude which has seldom been paid to the Reis
faineants of Cambridge, the GLOUCESTERS and CAM-
DItNB who have been accustomed to figure at the head
of the university calendar.

POLITICAL economy has certainly a thorough-going
representative in its godson, the Economist, which
continues to exclaim in the name of its paternal
science against everything that has been done in the
I way of charity or interference by government for the
alleviation of Irish distress. Government, according
to the Economist, is, or ought to be, a business of
police, and nothing else. It ought to preserve order,
clear the way, sweep mendicants from the high roads
of life ; but, to feed, or to employ, or to take more
count of the existence or sustenance of the poor, than
providence does, is heresy on the part of a govern-
ment: it is worse than heresy ; it is a blunder, that
only aggravates the ill.
The Economist follows up this dignified and pater-
nal view of the duties of a government, by telling the
present one, that, what it ought to have done alter
learning the total failure of the potato crop, was to
" let ill alone," and to fro forth and proclaim by herald
that it would neither import food, nor distribute food,
nor lend money, on mortgage or in any other way.
The only effect of the approaching famine upon
Lord J. RUSSELL, as Prime Minister, ought to have been,
according to the Economist, to make him tighten the
strings of his purse, or of the state purse, more
closely than usual, and then go to parliament for an
increased police force to keep the peace, and quell
any impatience of the starving Irish, until they should
be sufficiently reduced by famine. Instead of labour-
rate and relief bills, we should have had a coercion bill
and an insurrection act. Such is the recipe of the poli-
tical economist for governing Ireland.
The result, according to the journal, would have
been, that the landlords would have found both
money and employment and food for the poor.
The Economist does not say where. From two-
thirds to four-fifths of their rents were lost
to the landlords, all of whom, almost, had in-
cumbrances to pay off to an amount far greater
than what remained. The tenant, who had lad his
store of provision, kept what money he could for the
inevitable hour of famine. The refusal even to lend
money to a nation, which for the season was reduced
to pauperism, was at the same time to inform the
corn trader that there was no use in sending provision
to Ireland, where there were no funds to pay for it.
What the Economist recommends, was a decree of
forced starvation, with fetters and constables' staffs
to render starvation palatable.
There is but one way of reading and comprehend-
ing this recommendation, which is, that, when by any
mal-administration, or neglect, a population has been
allowed to grow up in a country beyond what can be
subsisted in times of scarcity, it is the duty of go-
vernment to project and provide for the extinction
and starving down of the surplus. The law of
NIALTIICB should be rigidly enforced, not merely pro-
spectively, but retrospectively. Whenever a famine
threatens, then is the time for a wise government to
exert itself, to arm its police, and to see that the
process of starvation, as ordained by providence, be
effectual and universal.

If the F,conomist does not mean this, it means
nothing. It is absurd to lay down as an abstract and
unexceptionable rule, that all countries produce food
enough for their population, or, in case of crops. failing
by blight, have wealth enough to buy provisions for
the year. Is this true of Ilindostan ? When the rice
crop fails there, the portion of the zemindar, or land-
lord, perishing with that of the ryot or cultivator, and
that in a country where there are neither roads nor
trade, ie government to look on and see the whole po-
pulation perish ? Government alone can there make
an effort to keep a spark of life in the people.
This is one extreme. The other is that of a wealthy
country like Holland or England, where landed pro-
duce forms but a third or a fourth of the annual re-
venue, and where, even in times of famine, the wealthy
portion of each district may, perhaps, be left by
government to find food and employ for the more in-
' digent. But is there no middle state—one in which
the better classes of the afflicted district can do much,
but cannot do all—in which government, especially
where it is the government of a large and wealthy
empire, can and ought to interfere to save life in the
more ind*eat and pestilence-stricken province?
Undoubtedly. As there are states in which government
alone can come to the relief of famine, and states
where government interference is not needed, so there
are states where government must partially interfere,
and aid the propnetorial classes in what they cannot
do altogether of themselves.
The difficulty. is to fix the due proportion, not to
allow the proprietary and monied class to shirk their
duties, yet not to drive them to ruin, and despair, and
dissffection. No doubt it is difficult to hit the proper
medium ; no doubt it is difficult to keep to it even
when found. Joint undertakings are tasks of the
greatest perplexity ; and whatever be the wisdom, the
fortitude, the vigilance of government, it will be
assailed by the poor, and their tribunes, for doing too
little; by Irish landlords for the same fault, coupled
with the crime of pressing too hard upon them.
English economists, at the same time, will cry that

government is doing too mach; and in their abstract
wisdom will appeul to the anti-Irish prejudices of
Englishmen, thus swelling the dry and hard-hearted
absurdity of impracticable logic into the passionate
and irrational cry of Saxon and Celtic antipathies.
It has evidently been the aim of government to
steer between the two extremes, of the non-interference
and economist principles which would let ill alone,
and the all-interference demands of the Irish. As to the
economists, they are of themselves neither numerous
nor formidable; but they unfortunately lend their
respectability and show of reason and of principle to
another party which is both numerous and formidable,
and which consists of those who hate Ireland for
its creed, for its poverty, for its misfortunes, for its
impracticability, and for the vengeful feeling which
it harbours and vents against English supremacy and
the English race.
On the other hand, the all-interference party would
be little formidable, were it merely Irish. But, most
unaccountably, the English protectionists and their
singular chief have turned aside and stooped to flatter
the most selfish and most extravagant of Irish hopes
and demands, and thereby rendered them so ram-
pant, that Irish extravagance in the way of argument
and proposal has passed all bounds, and has provoked
from the exclusively English and the economists a
series of taunts and recriminations, which have done
more to sow hatred and separation between the'
countries and the races, than years of administrative
wisdom and liberal policy can be expected to coun-
teract

know how dangerous it is to interfere between
such parties. Mr. JOHN O'CoNNELL, who stood up
on Friday evening in parliament to denounce the eco-
nomists, turned upon us too as having denounced the
ustoward effects of Irish exaggeration. In the article
which the honourable member alluded to, we men-
tioned the distrust entertained of the statements and
arguments of Irish politicians, a distrust occasioned
by the strained logic and distorted arguments of, now,
many years' standing. We regretted that this feel-
ing at present stood in the way of full cre-
dence being given to accounts of Irish distress,
which, wo feel convinced, are but too true. Irish
argument has been long calculated to intimidate, not
to convince ; to produce effect rather than to manifest
truth. In the present state of Ireland and its relative
position to England, sack a school of eloquence is
misplaced, whilst the simple and the true style of
natures not easily found and improvised by those
who have so long deserted it.
For our part we are determined to keep the middle
path between Saxon and Celtic exaggeration, between
economist and mendicant, between the supercilious
contempt and the rancorous hatred thus mutually
generated between the intemperate, the ignorant, and
the selfish en both sides of the Channel.

e shall have the struggle now violently renewed
in parliament. The Irish poor-law is about to come on
for discussion, and will mil forth every discordant opi-
nion, every struggling interest, letting loose passion
and prejudice in the fullest extravagance of expression.
There could be no debate, which, if fairly and calmly
undertaken and carried through by English and
by Irish, could be better calculated to offer full in-
formation to both, or one which ought to excite
stronger feelings of mutual charity and respect Let
it be considered how one intemperate speech, one in-
considerate word, mars all this. The first requisite
for such a discussion is temper : wisdom itself is but
the second.

MR. WARD had to perform a very ungrateful task
on Friday. He had to unfold estimates of increased
expenditure to a parliament, upon, which the list of
domestic exigencies had so lately made such a heavy
impression. He NI as compelled to talk of foreign
rivalry to politicians of a most pacific temper, and
had either to gloss over the abuses of an old and
rotten system, or, by exposing them, embark
upon a sea of reforms and innovations, that might
raise a very emeufe of old stagers and red tape-
men. Personally, too, the Admiralty Secretary had
not a few difficulties. _ _

_
All have been well braved and surmounted. The
necessity of rivalling and competing with France
was stated frankly and unprovokingly. The expe-
diency of increased force, augmented means of de.
fence, and better pay to that class of soldiers requiring
some scientific knowledge and experience, was ad-
mitted and well received. It is fortunate for the
country that party struggles are not carried on this
year upon small or vital questions ; such is the ad-
vantage of having on the benches of opposition, men
who have been ministers yesterday and may be
ministers to-morrow.

What Mr. WARD was obliged to tell of French
preparations and Frenefl resources is calcu-
lated to make a deep impression. It need
not, however, excite either alarm or despondency.
The picture of the good working condition of the
French dockyards would be more startling than it now
is, if the French government did not betray such an
over inclination to rely upon the efficiency of its
fleets and armies as insuring the power of the state.
Competition in the field of peaceful rivalry seems
either to be undervalued at Paris as a source of in-
fluence, or to be rejected as hopeless. The money
spent in France in the last ten years in fortifications
and warlike preparation would, if allowed to circa-
late peaceably in trade, have done much more to ele-
vate the nation and to strengthen the ruling dynasty,
than all the steamers or the dockyards that have been
built. Even now the works at Toulon depend in
great measure on English aid, both for workmen
and machinery, whereas it has been possible to allow
the government workshops in England to run so low
in point of efficiency, on account of the aid which
the crown can always command from the private
workshops at all our principal ports.
It has, however, been wisely felt that it is not merely
money, or materials, or carcases of vessels, which con-
stitute strength, nor even men, so much as the spirit
which animates men. The p ...scions, and valiant,
and indomitable spirit of the tritish seaman still,
no doubt, exists, and would be found effective as ever.
But science has introduced into the navy a new ele-
ment, in which intelligence and education play a
much greater part than formerly. And to meet this
new state of things, as well as to vivify what remains
of the old, it was necessary to introduce new mo-
tives, new rewards, new principles.
The system of appointment and promotion accord-
ing to fitness, character, and education, is now to be
introduced into certain classes of the navy. We may
hope that it will one day be introduced as the law of
higher grades. But let DS be contented with the pre-
sent instalment of the principle, which Mr. WARD
has smuggled in, and which is as much calculated to
Five an impulse to education as to ameliorate that
important class of petty officers whom it concerns.
Sir JAMES GRAHAM spoke like himself and Mr.
GORLBURN'S four years tip, and not like Sir
ROBERT PEEL'S colleague of 1848, when he caviled
about increasing the pay of engineers. We are much
mistaken if a general increase of the pay of seamen,
in some proportion to that of the merchant service,
would not be found in the long run, and on the ay..t-
rage of years of war and peace, a saving, independent
of the increase of our resources and of confidence in
them, so well calculated to deter au enemy and pre-
vent war altogether.

The Paris journals of Saturday contain nothing of
general interest. The projected changes in the se-
condary ministries continued to be spoken of, but ne-
thing positive was as yet decided. The law relative
to transatlantic correspondence was still under dis-
cussion. _ . .

We are assured that communications by letter on
public business between the British ambassador and
the Ministcr of Foreign Affairs have been resumed ;
the ambassador having addressed a despatch to M.
Guizot on Friday. It was mentioned in the salons,
and repeated in some of the journals of Saturday, that
NI. Guizot had consented to avail himself of the first
opportunity which shall be presented in the Chamber
to make such an explanation on the subject of the
offensive expression in his late speech as would, or
ought to, satisfy Lord Normanby. The opposition
journals seek to envenom the quarrel by declaring, in
advance, that such a proceeding, on the part of M.
Gaizot, would be base, and would for ever degrade
him in public opinion.
The Epoque, a journal which was understood to be
under the pztronsge of M. Guizot, and to have a
semi-official character, has ceased to circulate, being
absorbed by the Presse, the proprietor of which has
purchased the interest in its existing circulation. The
cause of the failure of this journal has been erro-
neously stated in the Paris correspondence of the
Morning Herald of Thursday last, In which the
writer says, that "with a large subscribed capital,
backed by ministerial influence, and sustained by
subscription, the Epoque has, nevertheless, failed,

because it attempted, against the experience of all its,
contemporaries, to publish at half price." This is
altogether contrary to the truth.
The annual subscription to the leading Paris
journals, the anstitationnel, the Presse, and the
SU'ele, for example, was 401., at the time the Epoque
commenced. The subscription to the Epoque was
32f., being, therefore, 30 per cent. abort the other
I journals. Instead, therefore, of being published at
half-price, the Epoque was actually published, as the
correspondent of the Herald ought to have known, at
a higher price than the journals with which chiefly
it had to compete ; and this was obviously one of the
causes of its failure. But the statement of the cor-
respondent of the Herald is in spirit even more con-
trary to the fact. Some years ago the annual sub-
scription to all the leading journals of Paris was 80f.
The instinct of self-interest prompted some of them
to lower the subscription one-half, and the others,
with the sole exception of the Journal des Ik-bats,
which still retains the original annual subscription of
sot:, soon followed. The result was, that the circulation
was immediately increased in &large ratio. At present
the Journal des Debuts, conducted by the first lite-
' racy talent, enjoying exclusively the advantage of
the earliest communications from the government,
always the first to give the intelligence of the tele-
graph, and the contents of cabinet expresses, has a
circulation ander 10,000, while Le Siecle, as opposi-
tion paper, having none of these advantages, has a
circulation of upwards of 3.3,000. La Presse, not-
withstanding the unpopularity of its contract with
the Russian legation and Marta Christina, has a cir-
culation of above 26,000, and the Constitutionnel
23,000. Such are the consequences of half-price, to
which the corn spondent of the Her.sld ascribes the
failure of the Epoque.
An interview was to have taken place on the 27th,
at five o'clock, at the house of Count d'Appony, the
Austrian ambassador, between M. Guizot and Lord
Normanby. The effect of this interview would pro-
bably be a reconciliation between these two states-
men. Count d'Appony was chosen as mediator, and
his mediation will no doubt produce the most favour-
able effect. A correspondence had already been ex-
changed between M. Guizot and Lord Normanby,
which had led to the hope that a reconciliation might
be possible. It is therefore probable, that on leaving
Count d'Appony's, M. Guizot and Lord Normanby
will be on the best terms.

The Madrid mail, with correspondence and journals
of the 22nd inst., was received in Paris on Saturday.
The Chamber of Deputies continued its debates on
the address. M. Cortina made a speech against the
ministry, and was followed by M. Hos de Olano. On
the morning of the 22nd, M. Pidalcommenced his reply,
and continued, according to some of the journals,
amidst murmurs from the Opposition. At the de-
parture of the mail he had not yet touched upon the
foreign questions.
Great alarm was felt respecting the Carnet move-
ments. The chiefs of the insurrection were in Cata-
lonia, where Forcadell had been named Captain-
General by the Count do Montemolin. The other
chiefs had all received from the same authority
provincial commands. The reports were con-
tinued that Cabrera was in Spain, and only waited
for a further enrolment of troops to open the cam-
paign. On the evening of the 21st, it was said that
ristamy had entered Cervera with 30 men, and the
next day a colonel, two commanders, three captains,
and a company of soldiers, had joined him. At
Lerida a detachment of the regiment of the Princess,
in spite of the entreaties of their officers, submitted
to the insurrectionist chiefs. The government authori-

ties have required the inhabitants to give up their
sporting arms for the public defence. The whole
province is in a state of alarm.
El Clamor Public., says, that it was reported on
the evening of the 21st, that the cabinet had resigned
in consequence of a difference of opinion among the
ministers, respecting the dismissal of General
Breton, a measure which has been strongly urged by
all the deputies from Catalonia.
The same journal states that letters had been re-
ceived from Portugal on the 21st, in which it is
stated as certain that one of the queen's generals who
had attacked some troops that had made a sortie from
Oporto had been completely routed.
Letters from Galicia said that the insurrectionary
bands there were daily reinforced, and that a great
number of the alcades and '-."-kaers of police