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

is perceived why the postage should not be /minium: eV
weight, as on letters. The weight and bulk of the snails,
which add so greatly to the cmt of transportation, an i 171-
pule the progress of the mai:, are attributable to the moss f
printed matter daily forwarded from the principal rhi....0,
the union to every part of the country. Justice r.-.,• -01
that the expense of their transportation should be pa, '. • /
the postages charged on them ; and it is believed that :ti
present rates would meet that object, if the posters e 'aid ,i
equalised, and in all cues collected.-5. The peymetit of
postage, or double postage, on all let,ers passing t'irough $
. mails for delivery within the United States, and prep ‘) menu
on letters destined fur foreign countries not having pound
arrangements with the United States, and on sit printed
matter. —6. The abolition or modification of the. t: &tilting
privilege, so as to cover only official correspondence, f.•
which payment is made to the department, by the 12th sec-
tion of the act of 1847.
The report of the state department will, according
to the Washington correspondent of the G.O ier end
Enquirer
Recommend the creation of a bunch of new ebersteships, .
or rather so many new ministers to south and .antra: An,:
rice, fur it is intended to abolish all chargeehips, and t. 'end
in future nothing but ministers resident abroad. 1 his is to
give them standing in foreign courts, and to prey-nt the di-
plomatic agents of the smaller powers of Europe t.• :...... pre-
evil. noe of our own. No serious change in t' : ,i;iirall of
these gentlemen is proposed, so that they will • • , ..e better
off in any respect alter the change, except sa fa, ~ relates to
their title. The shargeship to Rome will be t ~:.; attended
se, and will probably be given to a gentl,inan in New
York. One of the south cr central American miss
sions may Le offered to Mr. Trig. She Comniler
Bill will be alluded to ; but there is no hope of having
saythin; done to it during this session, and the um
holds of the reorganisation of the state deportee• ht whit:
his been proposed so often without effect, that • m•y n• x ! •
considered an obsolete idea. From the 11th f i .• .n
the southern mail leaves from here for Ba'• • , • . us
thence conveyed in steamboats acmes the •• . . lames
River. This was the only way in which tl .stmaster-
general could manage after the contractors on e old Wash-
ington and Fredericksburg line had given Ism notice that
they could not in future comply with the terms of their own
contract.
Secretary Walker was attacked its the Treasury
Department, says the Union, with fainting ; some
say apoplexy, but probably by extreme exhaustion.
He fell, and was taken home, where be still remained
very iIL He had been ill for the past ten days, and
had slept but little for the last five days, being con-
stantly in the department.
The steamer Monmouth, from Brazos Santiago, ar-
rived at New Orleans on the 30th, bringing General
Taylor and suite. The grand reception of the general
took place on the 3rd inst. On the 4th the presenta-
tion of the sword, voted by the legislature of Louisi-
ana, took place. It was an interesting ceremony.
The sword was presented by Goverpor Johnson, in a
long, eloquent, and enthusiastic speech. Gen. Taylor
made a short and appropriate reply. Gen. 'faylor left
on the morning of the bth, in the steamer Missouri,
for Memphis, on his way to his plantation at Tilton
Rouge. He would pass a few days in quiet with his
family, and then visit his country seat in Mississippi,
so that, if needed in Mexico, he could return imme-
diately. ____.

COLONIAL.
BRITISH NORTH AMERICA.
The dates from these provinces by the Britannia
are:—Montreal, Dee. 14; Quebec, Dec. 8; Toronto, Die. 4;
Halifax, Dec. 19 ; St. John's (N. B.), Dec. 15; St. John's •.
(Newfoundland), Dec. 14; Bermuda, Dee. 2.
CANADA.—A Gazette extra, issued on the 7th of
December, announced the disselation of the Provincial Par-
liament, and intimated that the writs are returnable en the
21th of January. The information was immediately trans-
nntted by the electric telegraph to Quebec. The notification
had been expected throughout the province for some time, •
and electioneering movements bad begun, though languidly, •
conspired with the keenness evinced throughout Canada on
recut occasions of a similar kind. This apathy has been
somewhat dispelled by the actual intelligence. By the 10th •
all the ministers who had seats in the late House of As- ;
mmbly, had left Montreal to meet their respective con-
stituent*. Mr. D. B. Papinesu, it is said, had re-
signed the office of Commissioner of Crown Lands,
and Mr. A. Macdonald had been appointed his successor. •
Mr. Daly, in his address to the electors of Megantie (Co.), 7
says: " In my connexion with the government of this great
tied growing count! y I have ever advocated the maintenance -
of t •at policy, and the adoption of those practical improve-
ments,
which, securing to every man the honourable fruits •
of his own induatry, tend at tile same time to expend the •
enterprise and intelligence of the country for the attainment
of national prosperity." At a meeting held in Montreal,
on
the evening of December 8, it was resolved to preseut a requi-
sition, then in the course of signature, asking Messrs. Laton- •
taine and Holmes to present themselves as candidates on the •
opposition interest. Mr. Lafontaine had previously declared
himself candidate for the representation of Terrebonne (Co.),
and was considered sure of bis return. What his reply to
the Montrcd requisition was expected to be, does not •
appeal. Some of the organs of the conservatives in
that city represented their party as willing to avoid the dis-
agreeable excitement of a coutest by an arrangement allowing
each party to nominate one member, so that both sides of
politics might be represented in the assembly, their expo-
nents concurring to advocate i.a concert measures concerning
the city. The feeling of the oppositiou party as to this pro-
posiil had not transpired. The conservative organs hint that •
their friends, if put to their mettle, can return two members,
and there is no detain that they did so at the last election.
A rumour that the Hon. P. M'Gill was to resign his seat in
the legislative council, to admit of bis being brought forward •
for Montreal in the conservative interest, had been contra- •
dieted. At Quebec Messrs. Aylwin and Chabot were, at the
date of the latest intelligence, the oily candidate, in the
field. The conservative journals were however doing all in
their power to inspire their friends with resolution to take
the field. The Solicitor-General was to be opposed by Mr.
id`Donald ; and in Buren (Co.) Mr. Galt, of Guderich,
was to oppose Mr. Cayley. Mr. C. R. Gowan, formerly ,
Orange Grand-master, haul addressed the electors of Leeds,
declaring : " My political love is for loyal . hearts, and my
political aim for liberal measures. lam neither a bigot nor •
an exclusionist, and I look upon every good subject of her
Majesty, whatever be his creed, his country, or his party, as
entitled to equal rights and privileges."
The weather had been of a vsriaule kind rarely witnessed
in Caned* in December. Oa the 3rd of that month a frost
that seemed likely to be permanent gave way at Montreal to
'sudden thaw, and the atmosphere became as mild as it
usually. is in October. On the 4th there was a fall of snow,
and sleighing set in. It was understood, however, that be-
yond the limits of the macadamised roads in the vicinity of
the city, the country was almost impassable. The market
supplies were in eonsequence cut off, and prices were at the
highest. On the evening of the Bth, three barges from
Kingtton, laden with flour, were towed into the Lachine
Canal. At Quebec there was a fall of snow to the depth of
two inches on tne night of the 3rd, and at the latest date
travelling was practieal•le and easy.
It was the dead season of the year for business. Large
sales were, however, reported at the latest dates in stock of
the Montreal Bank, and 6 per cent. premium. The other
banks were at par, except the City, which was at discount.
Nothing was doieg in mining shires. Railway shares were
at a discount. Shares in the Electric Telegrh Company
had been sold at 2i per cent. premium. The Mantreal Ga-
zette observes:—
' It is a subject of much satisfaction, that notwithstanding
the depressed state of commercial aflei,s, the business of the
savings banks continues steadily to progress. We see, by
the remade published statement of the , City and District
Savings Bars' which occurs in another column, that the
increase in Its deposit., since the 30th July, amounts to
13,6361., wheal fact, together with the large amount due to
depositors, bespeaks public confidence in the soundness of
the institution, and the excellence of its management."
The mail oags, with the English newspapers of the 4th
of Nov., reached Montreal on the lit of December. " Their
contents," says the Montreal Gazette, "showed visible signs
of tear and wear in crossing the wilds of New Brunswick—
' many of them ' tattered and torn' like the hero of the nursery
ballad, who was so polite to the' maiden all forlorn.' The
wonder is how at this time of the year they get here at all."
The post-otfice department in the colony is not, however, it
would appear, from the following paragraph in the Montreal
Herald, altogether inactive :
We are much gratified in having it in our power to
state that the co emissioners appointed by Nova Scotia and
New Brunswick, to examine into, and report upon, the ex-
isting order of our postal arrangements, with a view to
the adoption of a system and rates of postage more is ac-
cordance with the times in which we live than now pre-
vails, have, with the lion. Mr. Cayley, the commiesioner
appointed for Canada, unanimously adopted a report, which,
Hatted upon, will give the inhabitants of the British North
American colonies the' advantage of a uniform rate of in-
land postage; and that each rate will not, at all events, be
hijAher than that now in force in the neighbouring republit.'a
The following, from the Qu,bcc Gazette of Dec. 6, has a
beering on this subject:
"St. John (N. 8.) papers of Nov. 27 are received. Some
interesting extracts relating to the railway between Halifax
and Quebec are inserted in this day's Ga:ette. It is a pity
that this railway is not in operation. We could supply our
friend, in Nova Scotia and Nee 13n.aawick at a much lower
rate than 400. for flour, their present market price."
As also the following from the same paper of the 3rd :
"Some of the men employed by the exploring party to
lake St. John have COMO to town. They left on Nov. 27, and
report that the straight line from the south-west corner of
Stoneham, in the direction of lake St. John, had been run
for about 30 miles, but with great difficulty, on accou it of
some mountainous tracts thickly timbered with fir trees.
The explorers on each side of the line for a road hail, how-
' ever, been successful, and hail marked out a practicable tract
tweontdildthperocir
seedurveays s
fropecinditl
tfohrrwou'agrdh
wsoimthepproar,...tsiot. fanordseitulwemu esainta
that
tparatey haexpillogorenne
on a depot of provisions at the lake to complete any part of
the road which may be left wifiaished. lhe distance from
the place where the party was left te lak St. John may be
Quebec Mercury that tyl
that city
about 60 miles." yheaslakix"ie tobleCricolauktimie St,
John, to
etc'peenxd-
We regret to learn from the folios • aatement in the
'• While in Quebec we cannot procure • • hospital to
protect ourselves from typhus, the people of Torouto—who
are more inflicted by ismer., and disease than we—have peti-
tioned to be taxed for the maintenance of a similar institu-
tion. Some people say there is no cause for alarm, no pro-
w an alarming
extent
l'Ages in and around