The Express.
London, England, 1848-01-08 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 8, 1848.

and wrote word to the Due de BROGLIE to accept the
English offer, in order to have a congress and a media-
tion at any price. LOrdPALMERSTON good-hurnouredl
consented at first, until Lucerne itself surrendered.
And his lordship then dcnotii ced the mediation
as a farce, whilst M. Guizor's envoy admitted the
expediency of the proposal of the English govern-
ment, that the Jesuits should be withdrawn. Had
M. Guam made as frankly the same admission,
all might have been prevented. But M. GIJIZOT
would then have sacrificed what he esteems, for the
moment, of more value than all the cantons of
Switzerland—a good and thorough understanding and
alliance with the court of Vienna.

THE anxiety professed in various quarters as to the
state of our national defences may be seen to partake
of the usual characteristics of on alarm. The pros-
pects of a danger to be apprehended are apt to be
unduly magnified ; the cost and hardship of the means
to be used for removing it will often be underrated.
In a time of present struggle with wants that are
knocking imperiously at many doors, the imposition of
new burdens, on account of any remoter objects of fear
—even were these to the full as large as fear may
paint them—must be felt to be singularly unseason-
able; still more so, should it appear that the means of
defence proposed, supposing an emergency really
proved, would not, atter all, suffice to ensure altoge-
ther the amount of safety desired, and that the extra
sacrifice demanded, while too hard on resources over-
strained already, would still be too light to accom-
plish the only rational object by which any such ex-
actions can be justified—the foundation, namely, of a
perfect system of the kind we are now taught to be-
lieve indispensable to the national security.
But if the demand for new efforts in the present
crisis be more than questionable on these grounds, if
we can ill afford to exhaust our substance for the
supply-of fresh means of prdection, there can on
the other hand be no question of the wisdom of
making the fullest use of such mauls as we possess
already ; of the folly, indeed, or something worse
than folly, of allowing them to be frustrated by the
mere indisposition of the state to perform a clear and
indisp nsable duty. A speedy and cided set-
tlement of the railway gauge qutstion is palpably
an obligation of this kind, in reference to any system
of national military defence—independently of its
claims in other respects, from different branches of
the business of this country, whose interests demand
the removal of every obstacle to a ready communica-
tion between all parts of the island by those high-
ways which now convey, wherever they are esta-
blished, the whole of our passengers and merchandise.
la any scheme of national resistance to attacks
from without, the importance of being able to trans-
mit troops and artillery with the utmost despatch
from various stations and depots to the menaced point
is unquestionable. In the peculiar condition of our
military wants, the value of a power of moving the
disposable forces backwards and forwards at a mo-
ment's notice, and with the speed of thought, must be
obvious. A small arm; may in this manner be, as it
were, multiplied: possessed of this advantage, its
efficiency for warlike purposes may become double of
that usually ascribed to a body of twice its numerical
strength ; and not only this present readiness, but
the better condition of the defenders as well, when
transported without fatigue from place to place, will
enable them to act on arrival with more than the or-
dinary energy. This great advantage the railway
system, wherever it exists unbroken, now offers to
the troops of Great Britain, in case of any foreign

invasion.
This very advantage, however, in all cases where a
break of gauge occurs, is pro tango withdrawn : and in
place of the uninterrupted despatch—which our cir-
cumstances must render peculiarly important in any
caseby the of resistencerence to an enemy on our own soil—there
ia, diffe of gauges, a bar placed at the
entrance of every line where a new dimension begins,
a dead point in the advance at which the progress of
the detachment must be arrested. The process of
merely discharging the troops from one set of carriages,
and re-rwranging them in another at the first joint
station, will usually exceed the whole time that would
have been required to forward the body from one end
of the journey to another on a series of uniform railways
—but when they move with head quarters and baegage
—when cavalry forms anyhiart of the force—still more
if cannon and ammunition are required to be thus
transported, the loss of time must then be far morn
serious. and the detention, if the numbers are great,
and the distance from extreme point to point is not
very considerable, may absorb the whole of the gain
from the speed at which the locomotive engine ena-
bles them to travel while in motion.
On this subject, to which attention, one would
think, cannot fed to be strongly directed, if our pre-
sent anxieties are genuine, there was some very ins-
pedant evidence given to the Gauge Commissioners, in
November, 1845, by Sir WILLOVOTIRY GOKOON,
Quartermaster-General. This officer, then already
long accustomed to despatch troops by railway, spoke
with the authority of practical experience on the
military disadvantages of being forced to change
to another width cf rail at any intermediate
point of a route. "It would," he says, "be equira-
ient in practice to the inronrenience of a ferry—to
crossing a rirer in march :" and very sufficient
reasons are given in detail fur this opinion, somewhat
to the effect of what we have generally stated above.
This evidence on the whole will be found to confirm
very strongly the view we have given of the in-
creased military power to be derived from unbroken
railway communication, and of the inevitable frustra-
tion, to a great extent, of this benefit, by any break
in its continuity. This testimony just now may be
referred to, not only as a record of considerations'
which the government overlooked, amongst others of
scarcely lees importance, when they shrank from
settling the gauge question on an occa.ion highly
convenient for disposing of it, but also as an index to
the defensive argument which mast now peculiarly
strengthen the other claims of this country on the
state for a more effectual treatment of a matter that
is of growing national consequence.
Of the general reasons for desiring a settlement—
reasons, we may observe, which principally concern
the public at large, and of the special circumstances
which make it an appropriate duty of the govern-
ment to undertake it, we have already spoken on
former occasions. What we have now to observe
refers to the value of uniformity, in the light of an
aid to military resistance. Were there any strong
reason for alarm as to the national security, it might
be justifiable to make some sacrifice of other objects
for the sake of that important end. The case for pur-
suing it becomes strong indeed, when it is found that
not this purpose only, but every other for which the
railway system was professedly designed, may be best
attained by avoiding discrepancies of standard ; that
the social wants, as well as the military demands of
the nation, agree in requiring as much uniformity as
possible.
It is understood that this question, in some form or
other, is now before the Commissioners; that is to
say, that a decision was referred to them by the
House of Lords last year, on which a report extending
over the whole of the gauge dispute, as far as its fur-
ther consequences may be concerned, is by some
parties expected. What the value of this expectation
may be, we do net undertake to decide. Of the im-
portance of the questions at issue we have never had
a second opinion. One view of the subject has been
pretty distinctly stated, both last year, and in the
previous one, at a time when the special circumstances
..hat may now give to many minds a new in-
terest in this topic, were little thought of,
and, had we ventured to mention them, would
scarcely have excited a moment's attention.t Now
the case may be different. Few persons, at all events,
will be disposed to deny that if the government be
really justified in adding some millions to our ex-
penditure for the increase of our military resources, it
cannot be excused from attempting to promote that
uniformity in the railway system which, in the opi-
nion of the best authorities, is calculated to enhance
the efficacy of those we already possess in a far less
expensive way, and by means that will promote, in-
stead of injuring, the peaceful interests of the country.

TILE Timed has endowed itself with a singular
power, the fruit of its long success and unwearied
abuse of it. This power is to invest the object of its
hostility with eminence and importance. The Times
cannot serve a friend nor save a Mend. It could not
make Mr. FERRAND respectable nor Mr. DISRAELI a
statesman. But how many a puny and middling
character has it swelled to portentous weight
by daily abuse? We will not go so far back
as COMMIT. But DANIEL O'CONNELL, how
immensely was his importance increased by
the attacks of the Times f Great as were the

powers, and wonderfully favourable as was the cause
of O'CONNELL, be would have sunk a hundred times
into syncope, even in Ireland, but for the stream
of abuse poured upon him from England. This
afforded matter and pretext for reply, placed him in
the advantageous light of the great foe of
the great great target aimed at by the organs of England.
It is really doubtful whether O'CONNELL was moat
magnified by Irish adoration or by English spite ;
for the former was, in a great measure, the more
offspring of the latter.
We are very sorry to have to say—but we must
say it—that did the liberty of the press not exist in
England and Ireland, nineteen-twentieths of the
international animosity would never have existed.
The present animosity and mutual hatred of Celt and
Saxon are nothing but press-created sentiments.
English journals feed and echo English prejudices.
Irish journals trumpet and exaggerate Irish preju-
dices; and, between them, everything like humane,
sensible, and Christian feeling, is utterly lost. The
language of tho Times and the tory papers on
this side of the channel with respect to the
Irish, and of the repeal and tory journals on
the other side, is absolutely cannibal. And even in
deprecating and denouncing Irish assassination, the
Times expounds and diseeminates those hateful senti-
ments which in the ignorant aro only satisfied by
assassination.
We speak thus strongly, not from any feeling of
newspaper rivalry, but because we perceive with re-
gret that the Thnes is at this moment raising Father
fd'ilaLr. into an importance and eminence which
will make him an ecclesiastical O'CONNELL. The
continued vituperation of him, the respect paid to his
words, the columns of even British journals open to
his interminable and empty letters, a tirade of British
peers, starting up one after the ther to intermllate
and adjure him; all this will snake a Sr. PATRICK of
the Archbishop of Tatar, if Saxon apostrophisers
do not take care.
Lord ARUNDEL and SURREY, Lord SIIREWBEURY,
and Lord BEAUMONT, forget altogether that their
words reach no Irish audience. except in a shape, or
through a reply, which makes the prelate merely
the victim of English hatred and animadversion.
These protests are indeed curious and honourable.
Catholicism in England is that of the 19th century,
in Ireland it is that of the 14th. No wonder that
British peers should protest against the fraternity ; as
little wonder, that Irish priests should not even com-
prehend the accusation. Catholicism is singularly
adaptative. In England, at present, it is spiritualiscd
and refined, so that one does nut at all wonder to see
Mr. NEW MAN and the Puseyites drop into it. In
Ireland it is still the peasant religion of the
middle ages, without even the small 'mining of the
monks to gild its clay. The Irish priests
are the peasants, and sympathise with the peasantry ;
nay. must do so, in order to live. The bedizening
them with titles cannot change them. Nor can all ,
the flattery of English statesmen, nor the abuse of
English political writers, whether peers or journal-
ists, alter their feelings,.principles, and position.
Such being the case, it would be far better to leave
these prelates in the obscurity to which they natu-
rally
belong. By parading eitherconnivance at crime
or their exculpation of such conduct before English
audiences, disgust nd hatred may be created here, but I
nelher amendment nor good result of any kind
there. By attacking any Irish penman or spokes-
man, the press on this side of the Channel do but lift
him up to a throne in the opinions of the public on
the other side. Now, we really have had enough of
an O'CONNELL reign sincerely to deprecate a NPIIALE
one. And as none of the O'CONNELL family seem in
a position to assume the hereditary crown of Ireland,
it might too readily be united with the mitre on
the head of the Lion of Tuam. There is but
one way of barring Father .11'HaLE's acquirement
of this crown, and that is to leave him alone, not to
listen to him, or print him, much less answer kim,
and give him a peg whereon to hang epistles from St.
Jarlath's. When will the press of England learn to
give no more immortality and power to the most
knavish and foolish of our national foes?

Sin ROBERT PEEL'S government determined to
suspend transportation to Van Diemen's Land for
two years. Lord Jolts ItesseLh's resolved to abolish
transportation, as hitherto understood and practised,
altogether. The present ministers intimated their in-
tention to permit criminals who had passed several
years in penitentiaries and given evidence of reforma-
tion, to emigrate as exiles to the colonies. It was a fea-
ture of the new system that these penitents
should be sent to their destinations in ouch a
manner that their previous career should not be gene-
rally known, and that they should be sent indiscri-
minately to all the colonies. The Australian colonies,
however, were mentioned with a frequency that
showed them to be uppermost in the thoughts of the
speakers. Still it was generally assumed that the
luckless Van Diemen's Land, already saturated with
convicts, was not immediately to have more inflicted
upon it. Lord Jonx RUSSELL and Earl GREY ex-
pressed themselves most forcibly on the necessity of
making their experiment in colonies where the mass
of the population was free and uncontaminated. Van
Diemen's Land was to have wholesome bleod infused
into it.
Retaining these facts fresh in our recollection, it is
not without deep regret that we see preparations mak-
ing for the immediate dispatch of some -V i 0 or 300 ticket-
ofleave men from Bermuda to Van Diemen's Land.
Such a step cannot fail to perpetuate the distressing
state of society which has now prevailed in that
colony for ten years.
When Sir GEORGE ARTTIER left Van Diemen's
Land, in 1837, life and property were nearly as
secure there as in England, the free emigrants were
prosperous, and property was steadily rising in value.
Since that time transportation to New South Wales
has been abolished, and the tide of England's felonry,
instead of setting in, as formerly, upon Australia
generally, has been directed exclusively towards Van
Diemen's Land. The consequence has been the accu-
mulation in that island of a felon society, almost, if
not quite, as numerous as the honest society. the
means of superintendence and control over the con-
victs have been insufficient, and life and property
rendered insecure. The free labouring emigrants have
in many instances been driven out of employment by
the pressure of competition from the ticket-of-leave
men. Parents have found it impossible to keep their
families aloof from the contaminating contact of
English-bred rascals, further degraded and imbruted
by a residence at the penal stations. All these com-
bined influences have made proprietors eager to sell
in order to quit the island, while they deterred
purchasers. the value of property has be-
come little better than nominal. Other circum-
stances doubtless have concurred in creating the
pressure experienced in Van Diemen's Land
of late years; bat the existence and powerful influence
of those we have enumerated is proclaimed alike by
casual visitors and permanent residents, by settlers
and by government officials.
We make every allowance for the pressure under
which ministers act. The difficulty of realising their
great measure for amending the system of secondary
punishments can hardly be overrated. It can
hardly be practicable to devise means for dis-
posing of our redundant convicts, while the depots
destined for their ultimate deposit cannot yet be com-
pleted for their reception. It is natural to say, " send
them in the mean time to the only colony to
which (with the exception of Bermuda) we are
still authorised by the law to send them." In so fares
England and the reform of oar Venal law are concerned,
no objection can at present be urged to such a pro-
posal. But what is, for us in the mother country,
merely the inevitable postponement of a desirable re-
form, with a good riddance to counterbalance it,
is destruction to Van Diemen's Land. No one knows
better than Earl GREY how true is every, word of the
description we have given above—how inadequate it
is to convey a full sense of the misery of the
respectable colonists. The gentleman deputed to
represent their case to his lordship does ample justice
to the patience and acuteness evinced by Earl GREY
in investigating it. And that nobleman's known
sense of justice will, we are convinced, induce him
to seek out some means of averting this additional
visitation from the colony, more especially since he
has within this short time received additional petitions
from it, praying for (in so far as it is concerned) the
4 immediate and total abolition of transportation.
I
not

M. Gu:zot has laid before the committee of the
Chambershia diplomatic correspondence on the affairs
of Italy. The friends of M. Guizot are, however, cla-
morous in their triumph over them, as affording a
complete and conclusive answer to all the charges of
favouring Austria and the retrograde party in Italy.
These document:, (say the Journal des Dade.) are the

best answeele all the aliened reports et witch our govern-
ment hes kale the object, relative to the conduct it has per-
med beleild the Alps. There is not one phrase, not one
word in all these despatches, which does not testify in the
highest degree the interest and affectionate solicitude with
which our government hos ever encouraged the endeavours of
those Italian princes who strive fur the regeneration oft he
country. On the intelligence of the amnesty granted by us
IX. M. Ouizot was eager to be the interpreter of the public
sentiments to the illustrious head of Christianity. Mailing
in the melt noble language the first act of a reign the me-
mory of which will never perish, he declared he therein saw
the prelude and the pledge of other acts which were to give
satisfaction to the public opinion without weakening the
authority of sovereign ; ho has never ceased to desire
that the Holy See should proceed without delay in the ac-
complishment of those reforms which had been decided
upon. At Florence, as at Rome, as everywhere, the French
government declared it had no intention whatever of
interfering with the internal affairs of the Italian states; at
the same time M. Ouizot took care to express the most sin-
cere desire to see the Italian governments accomplish those
moderate and practical reforms which the social condition of
their people claim, and which tend to give fresh strength to
government, by placing it on a larger basis. In every cir-
cumstance our government has sympathised with the Italian
states. At the time of the occupation of Ferrara by the im
peria 1 troops M. Guizot lost not one instant in reeve sting
the government of Austria the re-establishment of the
eau quo, and he has been ever since unremitting
to bring about the arrangements which have just
taken place. If the states of Rome and Tuscany have ob•
trained in France, and that on such favourable conditions,
the arms necessary for the national guard, they owe it to the
friendship which our government bore them. M. Ouizot
was aware that the population of Italy had in some places
shown themselves very hostile to the French government.
In his: despatch to M. Burgoing, he refers to the fact, but
testifies no surprise at it. lie declares the government of his
Majlety would consider itself culpable if it were to
push Italy on to the fatal brick over which the spirit
of faction was about to precipitate her. Be despises
the insult' directed at him, but does not caw to protect
the cause of the reforms in Italy. After having read these
despatches it; is probable the friends of anarchy will be more
indignant than ever, but those who bear a real affection to
Italy, who desire sincerely the regeneration of that noble
country, will acknowledge that M. Ouizot has a right to be
counted among those who have contributed, in the most WE-
cacieus manner, towards the welfare of that country.
The committee of the Chamber of I)cputies has
heard the explanation of the ministers, whom they
had called before them, and have nearly laid the
principal bases of their work.
We are assured that in consequence of a perfect
harmony of opinion between the ministers and the
majority of the monbcrs of the committee, it has been
decided that in answer to the paragraph on the
reform banquets every dangerous appeal to any
violent debates of the tribune should be carefully
avoided. The committee will meet to name their
reporter. It is generally believed these functions
will bo entrusted to M. Wet.
The King presided at a council of ministers on
Wednesday at the 'Tuileries, immediately after which
a courier was despatched to Marseilles.
The Git:ette de Lyon, of the 4th January, says,
that Abd-el-Kader had arrived at that city, and woo
at the Hotel de 1' Europe. The other Lyons journals
of the same date do not allude to such a fact.

,vcd.

The Madrid mails of the lst have been receive.
The charge against M. Salamanca was laid on the
table of Congress on the 31st. The debate was to be
commenced the next week. The impeachment was
signed by Senores Fidel, Seijas, Tejada, Itios Items,
Gonzales Bravo, and Moron. The ministry adopted
an attitude of neutrality in this affair.
On the 31st a motion was made in Congress that a
message should be addressed to her Majesty, suppli-
cating her to invite the Infanta, her sister, to come to
Madrid, and remain at her side while next successor
to the crown. This proposal was, as usual, signed by
seven deputies.
The Minister of Finance brought in a bill to autho-
rise the government to collect the revenues.

Letters from Naples of 29th ult. state that the
of Serra Capriole had firmly refused to accept office ex•
cept on the condition of being allowed to adopt a re-
forming policy, which the King obstinately refused,
and so the matter stood. A petition for reform from
the city of Palermo, with 10,000 signatures, had been
sent to the King at Naples, who haughtily refused
to receive it. On the news of this arriving
at Palermo the population went in tumultuous pro-
cession to the Monte Pellegrino, and took an oath to
take arms and die in defence of their political rights
ik tho King persisted in refusing their just demands.
These events, which occurred at Palermo on the
23rd, were known at Naples by telegraph on the 26th.
Innumerable clandestine publications were circu-
lated among the soldiers at l'alermo. These were in
general indignant protestations against the abuses
of the government, and against the continuance
of Del Carretto and M. Code in the govern-
ment. Discontent had been manifested among the
troops. The cavalry had mutinied, under the pretext
that their bread was of bad quality.
The reports we have already wren of the popular
movement at Naples on the 25th are confirmed.
Government had taken extraordinary measures for
military resistance.
fhc letters from Italy bring the report of the
important meta proiffio of Pius IX., which has been
so anxiously expected, the object o which is to re-
organise the council of ministers. This decree esta-
blishes nine ministries, and, for the first time, intro-
duces into the administmtion of the Roman states a
proper division of duty. The nine ministers are to
meet weekly in a cabinet council, under the presidency
of the Secretary of State, who is to be also Minister
of Foreign Affairs.
The Secretary of State is to be a cardinal, and his
under-secretary to be a
.prelate. All the other
ministries are open to the laity.
By this decree the Council of State is invested with
the right of giving its opinion upon all public questions
before the Council of Ministers. This was a point on
which considerable uneasiness was felt, and the pre-
' sent decision has given general satisfaction.

I)ukt

MADRID, DEC. 31.
Today a most important motion was to be made
in Congress—nothing less than that a message should be
addressed to her Majesty, supplicating her to invite the
Infanta, her sister, to come to Madrid, and remain at her
side while next successor to the crown. This proposal is, as
usual, signed by seven deputies. of course ultra-moderados.
Yesterday, the Minister of Finance read in Congress the
project of law for authorising the government to collect the
revenue till June, 1843. This step was evidently necessary
to keep up that strict adherence to legality in point of form
as well as substance, which forms so emphatic a feature
in the ministerial programme. For, as their present
authorisation by the parliament to raise the taxes expires
to clay, and the discussion of the budget may be
expected to last some time, unless a new Lill of this kind
were immediately passed, the government would be,
for a greater or less period, exposed to the charge of
ille.:al tax-gathering. But the bill of Bertrand de Lys has ,
another side, which disposes both sides of the hours to regard
it with some apprehension ; and this is, that once paned, it
will enable the ministers to dispense forthwith with the
legislative assembly, and to prorogue the Curtee at any pe-
riod,
and for as long as they please, till it becomes necessary
to appeal to the national representation for a new grant. ,
The modes ado majority, alarmed at a prospect which nifty
emancipate the government from its present dependence
upon them, are said to be getting ready their great field-
piece, the impeachment of Salamanca, which they have
kept still in reserve, as a means of embarrassing tae
nistry and displaying their power, as well as of punishing
the puritan rival of .Nion. It is said that a near day will be
fixed for bringing forward this motion.
The estimates of receipts for the next year have been laid
on the table. Among the sources of revenue presenting a
notable augmentation since Mon's budget of 1845 are—
tobacco, estimated at. IGO millions of reale, instead of 135, as
then; salt, 100 millions, instead of 33; stamps, 21 millions,
instead of 17 • lotteries, 70, instead of GO millions;
130 millions, instead of 121. The minister observes that the
customs would be susceptible of a much greater expansion
with a reformed tariff; but this subject being attended with
such serious difficulties for the present, there is no hope of
such a reform being carried through the legislature speedily
enough to affect this portion of the revenue during 1848.
However, the government has iu contemplation a measure
for reforming the tariff, which will be brought forward in due
time. As Bertrar.d de Lys is so advocate for free trade, the
measure in question may be expected to throw open the
Spanish ports to foreign trade to a much wider extent than
has yet been undertaken by any ministry. Among the
branches of revenue whose amount has diminished are the
excise duty, valued in the present estimates at 160, instead
of ISO million. ; the industrial and commercial subsidy at 34
millions, instead of 40 ; the impost upon grandeeships and
titulos fallen from near four millions to half a million ; and,
lastly, the arrears of suppressed contributions, now valued at
46 millions, instead of 110. The excise diminution is rather
in appearance than fact, as it never reached the 130 millions
assigned to it in 1845. The same may be said of the indus-
trial and commercial subsidy. The reduction in the branch
of titulos is due to the law of Dec. 1846, which abolish( d the
very onerous and complicated duties levied under the name
of " lances."
The important preamble to the budget of Bertrand de
Lys deserves a more patient and impartial analysis than it
has received at the hands of the Madrid press. Its most
striking feature is the determination expressed by the minis-
ter to cut down the expenditure of 1840 to a level with the
receipts. The estimates of expenses, according to the pre-
sent system, exceeded 1,500 millions of reale, while the re-
ceipts could not be calculated at more than 1,250 millions.
The reductions made in each ministerial department to cover
the deficit of 25.5 millions are as follows Ministry of
foreign affairs, 1,018,720 reale ; ministry of grace and justice,
1,340,400 r. ; ministry of war, 68,679,207 r. ; ministry area-

Ale, 36,913,156 r. ; ministry of finance, 47.861,800 r. ; minis- I
try of theinterior, 16,212846 r. ; ministry of commerce and
Instruction, 22,278,665 r. The sum apportioned to the secular
'clergy also suffers a reduction of 18,359,042 r. The passive
:classes also come in for their shire in the pruning, an
calve nine instead of twelve monthly payments ; by which,
however, their condition is considerably improved, as they
have never hitherto realised on an average as many as nine.
Not being any more than his predecessors able to fulfil the
ohligations of the state towards those foreign creditors, whose
claims have been 110 long and so shamefully neglected, the
present Minister of Finesses, although extremely anxious to
bring this question to a satisfactory isso•, is obliged to con-
ks his efforts for the present to assigning forty millions of
reals to be distributed among the unfortunate holders of
Spanish bonds, and promising to bring forward a bill during •
the present session for the settlement of the debt.
The rumours which have prevailed for a day or two past
that the " impeachment" in contemplation agates the
Puritans will be confined to Salamanca, may be considered
an a favourable symptom of the influence of the ministry with
the majority, and as a sign, perhaps, that later the metallic
will be abandoned altogether. When it is recollected that
Salamanca, by ordering the trial on the Alicante smuggling
affair to be superseded, caused a loss of 10,0001. to Canja
Arguelles, intendente of the province of Madrid, when
the fraud was discovered, and of 20,0001. to Mon,
miniater of finance at the game time, which sums
accrued to those persons as their shares in the
property forfeited, it is clear that these two in-
Ifuential ultras have weighty personal motives for
crushing the ex-Minister of Finance. It is said that
some friends of El-puler° intend to demand satisfacion
from l'idal for the insulting mode in which he spoke oft the
Duke of Victoria in the debate of the 15th. Pole, I believe,
ignores duelling, but looks u if he could handle a stout
cudgel well.
There is a good deal of talk in circulation about the expe-
dition to the Chafarina isles off the African coast. I have
heard, upon doubtful authority however, that 0.-n. Serrano
will repair to Certhagena to take the chit f command of the
es edition. His friend, Roe de Oiano, now Captain-General,
will join him,
Yesterday 24,0001., all the money which was in the Caja
do Amortization, or fund from which the Three per Cent.
dividends are paid, was miming from the chest. The money
had been sent a few days before by the Minister of Finance.
The party who has walked off with the money has nut been
yet discovered, but is supposed to have been one of the
clerks. Of course this accident will not prevent the divi-
dends from being paid.

AUSTRIA.—The Gazette de lireslau says
Baron Kubeck, minister of finance, in Austria, is indisposed,
in consequence of the very lively discussion into which he
was to enter at a sitting of the council of state when
it wits agitated how means should be found to curer the
enormous sums r. quince fur the extraordinary expenst s oc-
casioned by the Austrian policy in Switzerland and Italy.
Baron Minium, ambassador of Wurtemburg, at the Diet of
Frankfurt, is now at Vienna. It is said that he has been
called thither for the purpose of giving information as to the
position which Wurtcmburg will aksumo in the affairs of
Switzerland. We may state as a signiflearit fact, that after
the Ist of Jan. all the legitimist journals of France are pro-
hibited at 'Vienna. The Austrian government deeming
itself the intimate ally of Louis Philippe, desires to show its
disapproval by this interdiction- of the continual serious
attacks which the journals make against the dynasty of
Orleans. Tho Allgoneine &dung says, Count Arnin has
been takrnill at his castle of Boitzenlxiurg, which will pre.
vent him taking part in the work of the committee charged
with drawing up the project of the penal code, which ism be
submitted to the delegates of the state.
ANI ERICA.—The packet-chip Yorkshire arrived
at Liverpool yesterday morning from New York, which she
left on the Pith ult., bringing no later dates than those
which have already appears,. She cenve3 specie to the
amount of 42,50U1.

DIPLOMATIC CORRESPONDENCE RESPERT-
ING THE SWISS CIVIL WAR.
The Foreign Minister of France has laid before the
two Chambers the ufficial correspondence which has taken
place in reference to the civil war in Switzerland. The docu-
ns, ma are twenty-two in number ; the first being a copy of
the Meaty of alliance of " Federal Pact " of the Swim can-
tons, which was concluded on the lfith August, 1814. We
translate the most important of the remaining documents—
namely, Nos. 9, 10, and 17 :
ss. ovum TO COUNT PLANkIILT.
PARIS, OCT. 24, 1846.—/d. de Thom has communicated
to me the two despatches addressed to him by Prince Mct-
ternich, en the subject of the affairs of Switzerland ; one
elated 11th of this month, the other elated the 16th. When
tha first was written, the events of ti were not yet
known et Vienna. This despatch is an answer to the areaunt
given by M, de Thom to Prince Metternich of his It rmer
conversations with me on the state of Switzerland. M. de
hletternich is happy to find my ideas coincide with his, and
to see the government of the King disposed to receive his
proposal of a concerted action between the great courts to
regalate, in common, their conduct and attitude in the crisis
in which Switzerlend now tiuds itself. He expresses hope,
but doubts if the confederacy will, of its own accord,
resume a state of order. He sees the possibility that
e eternal intervention may one day become necessary and
lawful, but he only admits its pomibility in the case of a
civil war prolonged for an indefinite titac, or an oppression
exerche.l in Switzerland by a military and violent govern.
ment, and provided the intervention was demanded by the
confederacy keel,: He also thinks, like me, that no inter-
vention can be made by one power alone, and that any act
of the kind must take place in concert and in virtue of a com-
mon resolution. He also shows that if intervention becomes
necessary, it could have no other object in view tkan the
pacification of Switx.rland. and not the personal or ambiti-
ous views of any of the cabinets. Wnilst he thus explains
his views on the general ehnraet.r of the conduct to be fol-
lowed, Prince Metternich put certain questions to be re-
Folved on the occasion of the transfer of the federal direc-
tory from Zurich to Berne. Where is the Swiss diplomatic
corps to reside in Switzerland ? M. Metternich has tempo-
ra
Wrily ord, red the Austrian legation to be fixed at Zurich.
hat answer shall be made to the installation of the new
Vorort at Berne ? Will the simple admission of the recep-
tion be all that is 'tsunami.), to recognise the new state of
things, or will it be proper to insert a phrase calculated to
produce a certain effect on the public mind in Saitzer-
land, and which without being textually yet should
be morally the same WI to intent in the answer of
the several powers? The second despatch is, as I have
already told you, subsequent to the events of Geneva.
Prince Metternich greatly deplores them, and sees in them
the sad accomplishment of what he had foreseen and
announced in the communications he had already made to
me. He asks first how we can, and whether we shall, re-
cognise, the new government at Geneva to which this revo-
lutionary crisis has given rise ? It is next asked, what value
can henceforth be attributed to the vote of that canton in
the Diet ? Lastly, he earnestly insists on the urgent necessity
of concerted action between the great powers, as the only
means of deciding the questions and preventing the compli-
cation. to which the state of Switzerland might lead. I
stated to M. de Thom that the government was convinced,
both as regarded the interest of Switzerland and that of
Europe, et the necessity fur this concerted plan of action,
directed by the views and regulated according to the condi-
tions set forth by Prince Metternich.
1 acknowledge that the question as to what part of
Switzerland the diplomatic agents were to reside in after the
first of January next, was one which should be attentively
considered, and I promised to obtain the King's orders on
the subject.
I admitted that a phrase analogous to that suggested by
M. de Metternich was necessary in the answer we should
have to give to the notification of the installation of the new
Vorort of Berne.
With respect to the government about to be established et
Geneva, I have said that we have absolutely nothing to do
or to say regarding it. During the create which have recently
taken place in Geneva we have found ourselves placed in the
same position in which we have already frequently found
ourselves when similar events occurred in the canton of Vaud
and in other cantons. We shall eventually see what course we
ought to have adopted.
I have lastly admitted the urgency as well as the
necessity of concert being established between the
great powers, in order that, on the affairs of Switzer-
land, they may regulate their position and actions in com-
mon, and I have declared that the government of the King
was prepared to take part in such an arrangement.
You will convey these views to the Prince Metter-
nich, in communicating this despatch to him; and you
will make him acquainted with our adhesion to the esta-
blishment of the union he proposes, and the general views
which he points out as needful in forming the base of the
line of conduct which the powers should pursue in thus
combining.—Accept, &c.

M. OUIZOT TO COUNT FLANAULT, AT VIENNA.
PARIS, JUNE 2.6, 1847.—M. le Comte,—As you had pre-
viously informed me, Count d'Appooy came, on the Nth 's(
this month, to read me a document he had received from
Prince Metternich on tho affair; of Switzerland. Of the
three despatches which compose this document, the most im-
portant is a summary of the state of affairs in Switzerland,
and the views of the cabinet of Vienna on the subject.
The recent elections of the canton St. Gall have submitted
twelve cantons to the istiuence of the radical party. This
party, formerly in a majority in the Diet, will decree the dim
solution of the catholic league and the expulsion of the
Jesuits. This decree, with an armed force, would be soon
accomplished. Even thtiugh the Diet should not consent to
it, the free corps would soon enforce it. The fear of civil
war is therefore very imminent, and the powers have not a
moment to lose to adopt measures to prevent the fearful con-
sequences. Areordiug to M. de Metternich, there is a way
to attain this object; which is, that the powers should de-
clare to Switzerland, at a proper time—that is to say, before
a decision from the Diet should have tonna the cause of the
confederation to that of radicalism, " that they will not
suffer the cantonal sovereignty to be violated, nor
that the state of peace which Switzerland enjoys
at this moment should be troubled by an armed force, on
whatever side it may take place." Such a positive declara-
tion, come to unanimously, could alone be really efficacious.
Deputies of the Diet will, in tact, be furnished with instruc-
tions which will prevent them from refusing these extreme
measures, should they even have the wish, " unless a supe-
rior force should oppose itself to the development of this ,
plan, and justify the delegates of the cantons, if they pro.
ceeded no farther." M. de Metternich is convinced that, if
this superior force should appear, the ihet would no longer
proceed, and that not twelve votes would be found to sup-
port a civil war, when Europe had declared that she would
not tolerate it.
Is it necessary that we should ask England to join in the I
policy of the continental courts—and can it be presumed
' that she would do so ? This is a point on which Prince
Metternich has not ventured an opinion. As to France, if
we should, as he desires, accede to his proposition, the