The Express.
London, England, 1851-03-06 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 6. 1851

GREY'S letter to Earl GREY of 20th January. 1847.]
And to whatever province free men of this class were
sent, care should be taken to promote simultaneously
an emigration to it of considerable numbers of pop.
sons untainted by crime. [See Earl OnEv's reply te
Sir G. GREY, of the sth of February. 1817.] Plow,
this projected new system has never been substi-
tuted fur the old m:sie of transportation. Van
Diemen's Land, as overrun with convicts, and'
having at present no room for free people, was
clearly unlit to receive even the emancir4s.
Vet, before the end of two years, all_the con-
victs of the empire were again turned into that !
limited area; sent there as ninricts, and therefore;
unable to quit the island; sent there collectively in
violation of the promise held out in Sir G. GREY'S I
letter; and sent there without any free emigrants in
violation of the pro:nise held out in Earl GREY'S
letter. The only colony to which convicts could not
be sent consistently with the promises of government,
was the only colony to which convicts were sent.
Let us see how Sir WaLiAsi DENtsON, the gover-
nor appointed b' the home government, interprets
their " pledges: Ile had recommended the con-
tinuance of convict transportation to Van Diemen's
Land, in opposition to the wishes entertained and
expressed by the colonists. But after the letters
to which we have referred had been com-
municated to him, and published in the colony,
he thus addressed Earl GREY :—" As her MAJEsti's
government has derided that transportation is to
craw, and as that derision has been publicly made
known in the colony, I do not consider that it would
be possible or desirable to attempt to carry out the
suggestions contained in my despatch No. 83. The
feelings of a large portion of this community are so
fully enlisted in the opposition which has been raised
to the convict system here, that any attempt now to
revive the system, in any
.Artn, would be looked
upon by them as a breach of faith, and would cause,
I have no doubt, feelings of hostility which would be
very embarnessing to government." [Despatch, 20th
August, NM] Sir WILLIAN DENisos could have
no desire to misinterpret the despatches of Earl
OnEv—to quote isolated passages apart from the
context with a view to misrepresent their meaning
—and we sec how he, as early as 1847, before any
controversy had arisen, professes to base understood
them.

It will he observed by those who take the trouble
to compare the speech delivered by Earl GREY on
TULN4iLIV with that which he made on a similar oc-
cos' last session, that he has become much more
guarded in his language. Ile now admits that some
wrong has been done to the colony, and he labours to
shift the blame from Downing-street to the two
Houses of Parliament. Ile asserts less confidently
the right of this country to perpetuate convictism in
the colonies, and is less confident in the enunciation
of his views respecting the matetial prosperity
which he alleges to be the rrsult of transportation.
This change of tune would be of good augury, but
fur the miserable special pleading by which he
seeks to vindicate the conduct pursued by govern-
ment tow-m. 64 Van Diemen's Land. _

In reply to the noble earl's insinuations, that the
hostility towards convict immigration is abating in
V.ut Diemen's Land, we need only point to the
anxious intreaties to he liberated front it which con-
tinue to flow in upon the legislature and government.
A fortnight ago Sir WILLIAM :11mi:swan-Di pre-
sented a petition to this effect in the Commons, and
on Tuesday Lord Mosnatax presented one in the
Lords. These petitions, it is clear from the teno r
of the proceedings at public meetings in the
colony, express the universal sense of the free
colonists. And in addition to them a memorial
front the women of Van Diemen's Land, of which
we made mention on a former measion, is actually
in the hands of a noble lord for presentation to the
Qr rxx.
Lim' GREY would have us believe that the northern
Australians are anxious to have convicts sent to
them. If so, why does he not send his convicts to
hi dispersed over the distant sheep walks of that im-
mense interior, instead of continuing to cram them
into the luckless island of Van Diemen s Land, where
among their fellows in crime sent before them they
can hardly find elbow room?

FRANCE.

PARIS, \Vrna►roi Erv 4

In the reconstitution of the bureaux, which is the
last event of any significance, I have already noticed
the exclusion tot the members of the Left, as a result
of the alarm endured by the phantom of terrorism
which emerged from the speech of M. Ilufraisse, and
shook its gory locks at the majority. As children
cower together under the influence of fear, so the
divisions of the Right have been for the moment
closed by this daring demonstration of revolutionary
doctrines. But, as usual when men act under the
influence of passion, the work has been overdone;
and not only the members of the Mountain, but the
moderate republicans of the Durance school have been
shut out as well from the boards of the bureaux.
This tends as much for the moment to strengthen the
as the Right, for the bigoted rejection of mode-
rate liberals by the conservative party will throw the
latter into more decided opposition, and nip in the
bud all tendency in them to become converts to
royalism.
'the .Ibniteur announces that four of the oldest
regiments at Paris are going to he replaced by others.
In fan it is the custom for all the regiments to form
pan of the garrison of Paris by turns, not only from
residence in the capital being an object of ambition
but the pay is also higher. The common tenn is
about three years. When any partiality is shown in
favour of retaining any particular regiment in the
garrison for a political or other motive, it causes
great irritation in the army, and furnishes the '
I enemies of the government with a dangerous handle
against it. Thus, when it was the turn of the 62nd
regiment to leave the garrison, and orders had been
actually issued from the War-office for it to month to
Lille, the famous review of Satory intervening,
where a battalion of the 62nd cried, 4. Vive Mtn-
penour r the regiment was countermanded from Ver-
sailles to Paris, and the 4th was stout to Lille in its
place. This was one of the main accusations alleged
at the time against Louis Napoleon, and afterwards
furnished a weapon of attack to M. Thiers and
others in the debate which upset the ministry of
Baroche. Sonic of the regiments which leave
now are going to the eastern departments. The :19th
is ordered to Bourg (dc l'Ain). It is announced
that at the same time occasion will be taken to
operate some changes in the distribution of the corps
funning the garrison. In the highly excited state of
jealousy of the legislative against the executive power
alterat ions of this kind extended to the corps in the quar-
ter of the In valides, commanded by General Forey, and
specially dedicated to the service of the Assemble.
I might tend to produce some irritation. Meanwhile
the reasons assigpcd by the Mmitrur for the changes
is, that each portion of the troops may take its turn
in the forts about Paris.

The funds continue to rise slightly. The Fires
closed to-clay at 91i•!M), with a rise of IS centimes on
yesterday. The Threes closed at 58-10, with a rise
of Sc.

SPAIN.

The Madrid Gazette of the 2Sth alt. publishes a
royal ordonnance naming the Marquis of Bcnalua to
th.e root of Minister Plenipotentiary to the court of
Berlin. Senor Juan Villalonga. Captain-general of
the province of Valencia. and Senor Melchor Ordo-
nes. civil governor of the city of Valencia. have been
dinnis;sed by the Spanish government. They are
replaced respectively by General Caned°, captain-
general of Galicia, and. Senor Carbonell. a deputy.
The Chamber of Deputies was on the 28th ult. still
occupied at past-hour with the discussion of the bill
concerning the sale of the mines of the Rio Tinto
and other places. At the commencement of the
sitting, the report of the commission of the settlement
of the public debt was read. It is on all points
favourable to the government project.
A Madrid letter, of the 28th ult., states, as a ru-
mour. that the Concordat is to be shortly published.
and that the Minister of Foreign Atfiirs 1,4 in con-
stant conference with the Papal Nuncio on the
subject.
The king is still at Rio Frio. It is reported that
the Count of Lueeno is to be appointed ambassador
;at Paris. It is and that the Convordut is to be pub-
, I fished in a few days.