The Express.
London, England, 1847-12-21 00:00:00

ECCLESIASTICAL COMMTSSION.

Mr. HORSM AN wished to ask the right ►on. gentleman
the Home Secretary whether it was true that Lord Ashley
had declined serving any lon2er on the Ecclesiastical Com-
mis ion, and, if so, whether the vacancy bad been filled up by
the appointment of Lord Bandon ?
Sir G. GREY said the noble lord the member for Bath
had some time ago written him to say, that in consequence
of his other engagements he wished to retire. The vacancy
had been offered to Lord Bandon, partly on account of his
own qualifications and the assiduous attention of his father,
Lord Harrowby, and he was happy to say that the ruble
lord had consented to become a member of the COMMiISiOII.

Ih erpreoo.

MAILS

Tbe Medea Mosel moDy—ZMarsaWas, to the
mad
up
=AMA. I==reng. Kong, krt., will be made up on the
atlas
The re elge, °poreq Lisbon, Modefra, Cadix, and °Manila,
will be mime en the tmralee of the Vth December.
The man tar New Meth Melee Van Diemene Land, and New
Zealand Abe aria up pa the evening of the S let December.
The melte Om Britian North Amman, Berme,* and tie Unite
;bum be nude lap on the meningM t e Hsi December.
The Wee Idle Molts, excluding Bermuda, Nassau, Havana,
llocidinee. New Orleans, Vera Cruz, Trunp4oo, and Porto Rico, and
Including these for Madeira, lacmel, Carthagena, nanta Martha,
Chapel, reeema, Weg Coast of South America, and St. Juanale-
lfieengia will be made up on the morning of the 2nd Janaary.
The gal for tire Bran* the Riser Plate, Monte Video, rernare.
sees, Bak* Madeira, and Boamos Ayres, will be made lap on tie
treeing MM. 4tb Jemmy.

TO COESSITONDINTIL
• Aivernuasesto loam's.' Or Luxor; Louisa ....Li mot
b. r Or et leg. pe. beamte.TooK by T.o fieldek at Ur My et

MOH Mini A? LONDON IMIDOZ.
Tar. Drg—lionlai. f Ws. past I Mumma. tk mt. 194 I.
To-Yea•evr—MarkkAag. I, mks. put iiftiffeem k 9 aka Fast I.

LONDON, TUESDAY, DEC. 21.

THE HAMPDEN controversy is proceeding with re-
newed spirit, to the great satisfaction of the enemies
of the church, of those partisans of different sects
within the body of the church who are more anxious
to annoy their opponents and to narrow the terms of
communion than prudent or careful for the mainte-
nance of security and peace. Dr. HAMPDEN himself
and Dr. MEREWETHER, dean of Hereford, are the
last contributors to the materials of the conflict. Dr.
HAMPDEN'S letter contains assertions of his innocence
and detailed professions of his faith which will, we
think, satisfy all c7ndid persons that, whatever ex-
pressions he may have used in argument, be fully
holds the orthodox creed according to the standard.
of the church of England, and to the general belief
of the clergy and laity belonging to it. We believe
his present statements to be not inconsistent with the
arguments in the Baropton Lectures, which have given
rise to so much dissatisfaction. It is one thing
to say, as Dr. HAMPDEN is accused of having
said, that the formulas by which early and
late controversialists have sought to reduce
theology to a science are to be judged by the rules of
logic, and criticised as productions of human intellect:
it is another and a consistent allegation that the cor-
re-ponding religious facts, the practical principles,
which the dogmas of the church were intended to
protect, are of divine origin and obligation. It was
impossible that the divines of Antioch or Alexandria
could affirm or deny propositions in any terms but
those which their scholastic habits of thought had
provided them with. The language of the Athanasian
majority of the church necessarily involved assump-
tions, allusions, and distinctions, introduced into it by
the intellect of successive reasoners for non-spiritual
purposes. Dr. HAMPDEN probably wished to explain
the history and the imperfections of some of the pro-
positions which have been adopted by the church.
He now professes, and it ITEM always has professed,
to hold the same doctrines which such propositions
were calculated, perfectly or imperfectly, to express.
In this respect Dr. HAMPDEN'S letter may be use-
ful as a method of allaying the alarm which his
appointment has caused. His present language, with
its popular scriptural phraseology, will be much bet-
ter understood than his historical and logical criticism.
Candid believers will see that he adopts the phrases
which have always been familiar to them in sermons,
in devotional books, arid in the language of their reli-
gious instructors. He still, no doubt, uses dogmas
and propositions ; but they are common, easy, and
well-known. It is utterly impossible to accuse him
of sociniauism, without disbelieving the most direct
and solemn asseverations of his catholic belief. The
severer critic will not fail to see is the present
letter some characteristics which, while they

account for the existence of the charges agaimit
Dr. HAMPDEN, go far to take off their
force. It is evident that the bishop elect is
a most awkward and obtcure writer. The inelegant
and cumbrous style, which makes it difficult to read
through the present pamphlet, notwithstanding its
temporary interest, must be a very inadequate vehicle
for subtle distinctions of logic and of critical investi-
gation. We by no means doubt that he understands
himself, and, as far as we have seen it is not difficult
for a candid reader to conjecture his meaning ; but
the want of transparency in the style is an excuse for
the incapacity of well-meaning inquirers to recognise
their own opinions under its veil, though not for
wilful perversion or studied misrepresentation. It is
unfortunate that Dr. HAMPDEN appears to have written
his letter in a state of angry excitement, which,
if we may believe Lord .L ItesseLL, would, if felt by
the opposite party, show "a sad want of Christian
charity." His antipathy to the tractarian body aught
not to have led him to attribute exclusively to them
the act of five-sixths of a university, which, as he
well knows, contains a considerable anti-tractarian
majority. Lord J. Russetes language, in speaking
of the vote of convocation as an unworthy proceed-
ing, was, probably, stronger than any phrase of cen-
sure applied by a minister to a corporate act of auy
public body within the memory of man. Dr. HAMP-
DEN, who is himself a member of the governing body
of the university, and who apparently approves of as
exactly similar proceeding in the case of Mr. WARD,
ought to feel that the blame attached to a corporate
resolution cannot fall exclusively on an obnoxious
fraction of the majority which sanctioned it. Dr. HAMP-
DEN has, no doubt, reel iced much annoyance, or, as
he calls it, suffered "cruel persecution. Neverthe-
less, we think it would have been better if he had
treated his opponents, who are like himself within
the pale of the church, with more courtesy and
temper. He can hardly think that all the bishops
who oppose him are semi-papiets. It would have
conciliat.d many opponents if he had shown a dispo-
sition to interpret their conduct favourably. Par-
tisans, and especially enemies of his impugners, will
welcome his querulous language, or any other
element which may add bitterness to the controversy.
Those who stand aloof from ecclesiastical contro-
versies will regret to see the desire on Dr. HAMP-
DEN'S part to stigmatise his opponents as heretics,
while they continue to disapprove of the correspond-
ing charge against himself which has provoked him
to retaliation. We repeat that on the main point,
the charge of heterodoxy, his exculpation seems
complete.
Dr. MEREWETHER'S memorial is a more singular
step in the proceedings. It is drawn up with ability
and care, apparently by a lawyer, and contains a
prayer to the Queen tither to revoke the nomina-
tion of Dr. HAMPDEN, or to appoint some proper tri-
' bunal to consider the justice of the sentence pro-
flounced by the Convocation of Oxford. We believe
that the Dean of HEREFORD is not one of the Tracts-
rian body denoanced by Lord JOHN ItussELL and Dr.
HAMPDEN; but in this case he has committed an act
of indiscretion, which is more tangible and more
properly within our cognisance than the vague charge
of hostility to protestantism. We certainly did not
expect that the dean would court the martyrdom of a
preenaunire : and wo are satisfied that if the penalties
supposed to be incurred were of a less monstrous and
preposterous kind, it would not have occurred to any
functionary that it was his duty in the present case to
brave them.

The conge d'elire which issues from the crown to
deans and chapters to elect a bishop, has been from
its origin, centuries before the Reformation, a mere
formality as far as the cathedral bodies were concerned.
The long struggles of the kings of England, as well
as of other European sovereigns, with the Papal see,
for the right of investing bishops, were on both sides
conducted without any regard to a supposed right of in-
terference by subordinate ecclesiastical functionaries.
The king claimed to admit the bishop to his tempo.
ralities by homage, while the Pope required that the
pall should be received from Rome, as a condition of
exercising spiritual power. The deans and chapters
were merely the organs of the power which disposed of
episcopal sees. When HENRY VIII. finally broke with
Rome, he naturally left the functicns of the chapters as
he fsund them. They had no claim to prefer, and no
power to abdicate. The king grasped the power of
the Pope, in addition to that which his predecessors
had exercised; and adopted as the ministers of the
royal prerogative those who had formerly owned a
divided allegiance to their own sovereign and to
Rome. There was no need to guard against a claim
of the cathedral bodice to choose a bishop. The only
danger to be apprehended was, that they should per-
severe in obedience to Rome. It was with this view
that the much-talked-of Act of 25 Henry VIII., c. 20,
was pasted. It was afterwards, with many others,
for, similar purposes repealed under PHILIP and
MARY, and re-enacted by 1 Elia. c. 1. The act provides
that the dean and chapter shtul proceed to election of
the candidate named in the king's letter within 12
days after the receipt of the cove trelire, and in de-

fault of their so doing, it provides that theme
absolutely appoint the bishop by letters Waal
this distinct and intelligible clause had stood eke;
we suspect that Dr. MEREWETIItieI memorial, ut
many of the reclamatioas which have precede' .
would have remained unwritten. The act cd
chapter is so clearly ministerial that a meadree
would lie to compel them to perform it. PriLe,
an indictment for misdemeanor would also lie it't
disobedience to an act of parliament; bit the
remedy is the Queen's Bench would be quite set
ticient. There are hundreds of similar duties ea
upon public functionaries by our law; je4;
must sign overseers' accounts without caddie,
them, nor will the Queen's Bench alloy durel
refuse. Indeed, we may lay it down as a soandrie
position, in morals as well as in law, that *psi s
mandamus lies, conscientious objections are oat
place. In almost all offices the party who elects erd
appoints is different from the party who foram
admits. A ministerial duty can never be 'Vaal
to involve a right of discretion. If any amid,*
proof of the true character of the duty thrown op tie
chapter were wanting, it is supplied by tee bet
Edw. VI., which recites that the election under to
cow crelire is a mere form, and nut a real elect*
and that it is indeed somewhat derogatory to oe
prerogative; and accordiagly proceeds to curt,
that certain fees shall be paid as provided —no doubt
to some friend of the good cause and of the pie%
protector. All that the dean and chapter have tack,
is to see that the eonge d'elire is in due form. ids
minister has forged the Queen's sioiature, they lay
resist without memorialising. If Dr. NlEurweren
is really anxious to avoid undue resistance to eh
lawful prerogative of the crown, he would still u
well to withdraw his remonstrance, which is fon*
on a misconception, and on an imaginary rtspe.
(Ability.

As we have indeed shown, the act of Henry HE
does not even trust to the ordinary legal methodic/
enforcing statutory duties. If the dean and chapter
fail to elect, the right of formal election lapel ;$
the crown, and may be exercised by letters pent
It seems impossible that even ez abundant., meal
the royal prerogative could have been bettercured fa.
but the King who, as it is well known, ivasaccastotosi
himself to draw and settle his own acts of parliament,
had some favourite formulas expressive of his oil
peculiar tastes and practices, which were liberelly
appended to his enactments; especially on maw
of religion. After tying up the nominal electors of
bishops by ordinary civil and criminal mead.
ties for their obedience, and farther providing
against their possible contumacy by pssiag
them orer altogether in case of need, the Kit
winds up the act by a string of prannunires direehel
against all possible persons who should interfere in
any way with the act, or with the royal supremacy,
eluding deans and chapters who fail to obey the oogf
d'Rire. Oddly enough, in this penal clause it is es.
sumed that they have twenty days to obey the man-
date, while the enacting clause allow., them only
twtlve. It is this provision which the Buthop of
nurrut justly stigmatises as the most outrageous
relic of tyranny still existing in the coneritution. It
SW we have seen, not only oppression, hut wholly
superfluous. It is a ghost of extinct persecution
which tempts the appearance of martyrs.
We have throu,ghout this dispute endeavoured to
assuage its violence, and recommended those who are
dissatisfied with Dr. HAMPIWS'S appointment to re.
consider the objections, and at least to submit
to irresistible and lawful power. We hope
that the appointment will, on the other hand,
be carried through calmly, firmly, nod without
producing unnecessary irritation. There are, tio
doubt, persons ..cho, in the excess of their anti-cleriesl
zeal, have become fanatical supporters of the prerogs.
tive; and who will urge the application of lIP.NRT
THIS Etennt's tyrannical punishments to the recusant
functionaries. If statesmen wish to see the whole
tide of public opinion turned in favour of the oppo•
vents of Dr. HAMPDEN, they had better inflict ups
them the monstrous martyrdom of forfeiture of pen
perty and perpetual imprisonment. Some of
.the
same batch of statutes may easily be raked up we
the importers of Routish hulls; and we may have vet
prisons filled, as in the time of HENRY VIII, hit
self, with catholic and protestant confessors for thee
respective churches. It is true that Dr. 11E1EWETHQ
can be compelled to elect br mandamus ; it is to
that it is wholly immaterial whether he elects or aet
It is possible to create a general disturbance, sal
that hope is to religious partisans a sufficient motive
for endeavouring to realise it.
Lord JOHN Russet', has thus fir the matter in hi
own hands. He mar make the chapter elect, without
persecuting the members of it, or he may elect with.
out their assistance. If Oxford or Peterborough sue
the vacant see, instead of Hereford, there would le
no cove (retire issued—the crown would present It
once. The practical supremacy of the crown sll
moderate men would unite to uphold, if it was se
dangered. This being secured, the less that is said
about the abstract claims of different authorities the
better. When will churches learn the wisdom of the
rule, quieta see movere

THE rise and progress of that most complicated d
national diseases, which has afflicted, and which hoe
not yet left Ireland, form the subject of an importing,
intelligent, and, from its tenor, apparently official,
article in the number of the Edinburgh Reriew noir
in course of publication. The description of the
disease and its nature is followed by an ample state-
ment of the various and successive remedies applied,
by which all at least that was acute and imminently
menacing of the malady was obviated and altered.
The history of this disease—this crisis, as•the
reviewer terms it, forms, indeed, the " great fact" of
Lord imam RUSSELL'S administration, and on the
whole, notwithstanding many inevitable errors, the
way in which it was met, and its worst results lire•
vented, offers la monument of humanity, zeal, rig'
lence, and exertion, triumphing over a mass of sea
appalling and prodigious obstacles, such as no govern•
went of the present, or indeed of any past age, his
raised for itself.
"Organised armies, amoun'ing altorther to some hundred,
of thousands. had been rationed before; but neither socket
nor modern history can furnish a p the tact that
upwards of three millions of persons were fe: very by
the neighbourhood of their non homes, by administrative
arraneeinvata, emanating trim, and conttolled by, enema•
teal office."

The great inference drawn, and the great truth
illostratid, in the remarkable history here given 01
the Irish crisis, is the superiority of a purely eleemo-
synary system to the more specious plan of giving
food in exchange for labour. When ministers first
took into consideration the best mode of relief, they
shrunk from adopting either the poor-law system
authorities, or divisions, as the basis of any of their
operations, not wishing to compromise that new sad
invaluable institution by the pressure, failure, a
odium, of a necessarily hurried sod gigantic plan d
temporary relief. Time has shown] t hat the poorkw
system, though but in a skeleton state, would have
been far the best and most economical to have pa
upon.
"This system reached its highest point in Ju1y,1847, Id"
out of 2,010 electoral divisions, into which Irel.nd is divide'.
1,826 had been brought under the operation of the set, sol
3,020,712 persons received aerate esti ins, of ekes
2,265,511 were adults, and 755,1,8 were children. Ths
prase was moderate compared with the magnitude at thu
object. The amount at which it was originally estimate"
by the commission was 3,000,0001. Parliament was Wadi.
provide for 2,200.0001., and the sum actually expended uses
1,557,2121., of which 146,6311. was paid to the commissars'
for meal from government depots."
The superiority of eleemosynary to labour-rate r
lief is summed up by the reviewer in the following
Paggage
'Another point which has been established by the resultd
these extensive experiments in the science, if it 61.1 tf
called, of relieving the destitute, is, that two thine. oug°l "
be carefully separated which are often confounded. Improve
meat is always a good thing, and relief is oecarionally ase
sensory thing, but the mixture of the tiro is aPaost sleep
bad ; sail when it is attempted on a lance scale, sndril
proper means of keeping it in check, it is likely to affect al
very injurious manner the ordinary motives and mau
which the business of society is caned on. Relief, takes.
itself, offers, if it is properly administered, no motive**
represent the condition of the people ; and being hole'
some to the higher, and distasteful to the lower dasessj LI a
capable of being carefully tested and subjtcted to effoor
control. But when relief is connected with profits* '7"
provements and full wages, tho most influential porous •
each locality become at once interested in establishing 5_.,0.•
in favour of it, and the higher are always ready t 0.140
the lower classes in pressing forward relief works olt g
of urgent general distress, which it may be impost:Rals!
analyse and difficult to resist. Relief ought to be con
as much as possible to the infirm and helpless. Wafist."
mesas of which improvements are carried on, should begT,
by preference to the able.bodied and vigorous. Belief olle'
to be on the lowest scale necessary for subsistence.
.yrig
should be sufficiently liberal to secure the best exertions.
the labourer. Belief should be made so unattractive 0*
tarnish no motive to ask for it, except in the absence of Mil


ether means of subsistence. Improvements should be enema-
Too and urged forward by every practicable means, both u
regards the parties undertaking them, and those by whom they
are executed. If labour is connected with relief, it should only
be es • test of the destitution of the applicant, and of his
being consequently entitled to a bare subsistence, in the earns
way as coofinersent in a workhouse is also a test; and the
Ina way to make relief conducive to improvement, is toes*
the rich no choice between maintaining the able-bodied poor
in idleness. or employing them on lull wages on profitable
win. and to take care that the poor have no reason to
prefer living in idleness on public alma, to the active exercise
citheir industry."
Notwithstanding the force of these arguments, we
cannot say that we are at all oonvinoed, nor do we
think that it should be allowed to pass altogether
into an unquestioned axiom, that in all cases of great
motional destitution and distress of the lower orders, no
remedy should be tried but gratuitous relief, and that
co possibility should exist of turning that destitution
to the national advantage. by the employment of the
semeee, when possible, in enterprises of productive
labour.
The objections of the reviewer apply to districts
in which there are numbers of resident landlords
whose duties a labour-rate system usurps, and
whose exertions it supersedes. But there are districts
in which there are no resident landlords, and in which
there is a numerous pauper population Idle, without
occupation or prospects, the soil affording no rent,
but still monopolised by en owner, to whom its only
value is in name, and in futetro. In such districts, or
in districts approaching to such a state, we do think a
reclamation of waste lands law would have been
feasible, economical, and just. Commissioners with
full powers should compel the landlord to part with
what is of no value to him—viz. land—for the purpose
of employing and raising food for a population which
only demands the means of work. Even now, in the
western parts of Itelind, where, for want of rent or
value, poor rates and the poor law are a nonentity, it
would still be preferable to set the able-bodied to work
upon their hills, instead of pretending to do what is
impossible—viz., immure them in a workhouse.
Another prominent portion of the article in the
Bdinburgh Reniew is, what most writers now love to
indulge in—a funeral oration on the potato. We fear,
the epitaph is premature. The patient has certainly
had a very severe fit of illness—influenza to begin
with, and cholera to finish. But Potato is not dead.
Corn of all kinds has had its blights, and has failed
for years successively in certain soils and climes, yet
the agriculturist has persevered, and corn been sown
and consumed. That the potato will resume its sway
in Ireland, we may conclude from the fact that no
satisfactory mode has been put in operation for super-
aeding it.
We cannot but think it a mistake to throw so mach
of the cause of Irish degradation upon the potato, or
b consider the Irish as fallen from any hater diet or
position down to the potato and the mud cabin.
The Irishman was never io tter. Nor do we believe

that the peasant in rade and undeveloped countries, is
anywhere much better. As long, indeed, as rude and
uncultivated countries have no distant markets, no
outlet for produce, no means of converting surplus
into monit d rent, then indeed, the labourer
may get a sufficiency of substantial food and
rade comfort. But with export of produce begins the
landlord's prosperity and tire labourer's decline. Paid
in kind, his wages di not rise, whilst the agricultural
produce, which was of old the peasant's food, becomes
too valuable to be spared him, and he is put off from
year to year with cheaper and cheaper, worse and
worse, till he is east to the wall like the Irishman.
The true salvation of the lower class is, that a por-
tion of that lower class become something else than
agriculturists, that come trade or manufacture should
arise, to take a portion of the population, better it, I
give it new claims, new ideas, new interests. Of a
population thus divided, one half will improve
the other, the manufacturing portion will raise
the agricultural one. This is the true cause
of the comfort and elevation of the English lower
orders. And we do believe that it is the best remedy
for the degradation of the Irish lower orders. The
Edinburgh reviewer, following the usually received
opinion of the day, thinks the contrary, and asserts
that Ireland and its population will rise and thrive
purely by better agriculture and increased exports.
For our part, we would have complete freedom of
trade, and when the tend, ncies of capital and industry
were to the land, we would let them go thither. But
let trade be equally free; and when there is &tendency
to manufacture, let it not be discouraged by theory.
Notwithstanding the immense advantages possessed
by the coal districts of England, the water power,
cheap provisions, and humble wants of the poor in
Ireland go far to counterbalance them. Manufac-
turing speculations are the first that attract capital,
and until they do so in Ireland, we doubt much that
capital will be largely ventured in land. The present
is not a moment for speculations in land, above all in
Ireland, where the first requisite is to know the popu-
• ktion, the landlord goes to live among. The old
Mogen in that country can press, and ejel, and
mainage the people on their estates, whilst a new I
comer or capitalist with a hundrtd times more hu-
manity, and outlay, and means, and wishes to
improve the condition of the labauring classes,
would by his ignorance of their ways probably
thwart them, fall into disfavour, and be sacrificed.
We doubt,therefore, the possibility of at this moment
replacing the present proprietary body of Ireland to
any large extent. Nor do we think that the salvation
of that country can be effected by a speedy redistribu-
tion or new manipulation of the land.
Bat, however oiffering from the reviewer on minor
points, we cannot but be grateful for his lucid state-
ments, his calm and liberal discussion, his cheerful
and humane views, of Irish suffering, policy, and
prospects.

The following appeared in part of oar last evening's
bonze.

We have Paris letters and journals of Sunday.
The first act of the new French Chamber will be
one which, according to the explicit declaration of the
Journal des D"bats, will involve the fate of the pre-
sent cabinet. The ministerial journal has nailed its
colours to the mast. If M. Sauzet be not re-elected
to the presidential chair of the Chamber of Deputies,
the cabinet, whose sentiments are expressed in the
columns of the Journal des DAnts, will resign.
The organ of M. Guizot gives formal notice that, if
M. de Maleville be re-elected one of the vice-pre-
sidents, that minister will withdraw the light of his
countenance, and give place to the guests of the
Chateau Rouge.
According to the Debella, there i. only an alterna-
tive offered to the chamber and the country, M. Guizot
or anarchy.
The oppo.ition journals comment with much
severity on the arbitrary manner in which M. Bakunin
Las been compelled to quit Paris, as we stated yes.
terday, in twenty-four hours, in consequence of having
delivered a speech reprobating the policy of Russia
in relation to Poland. M. Bakunin is a Russian, and
Dot a Pole.

The Madrid mails of the 14th have arrived. There
is no news of general interest in the journals.
Private letters contradict the report of a misunder-
standing between Narvuez and Queen Christine.

Letters from Switzerland indicate a curious confu-
sion likely to ensue from the discordant opinions of
the government and legislature of Neufchatel and its
sovereign prince.
The cantonal government and the assembly have una-
nimously agreed on accepting and submitting to the
decree of the Diet, and paying the fine inflicted upon
it, for its misdoings in relation to the late war, and so
getting rid of the affair. But while this wan going
on the sovereign prince of Neufchatel (the King of
Prussia), after secnring the concurrence of the French
cabinet, has come to a resolution to sustain the refusal
which he assumed that the canton would return to the
decree of the Diet!

The provisional government of the Valais has or-
dered the Jesuits, and all societies affiliated to them,
to quit the canton in three day.. The property of
these societies has been confiscated.

We have received the journals of Constantinople to
the let ins ant. No new cue of cholera was reported
during the lut four days.

COLONIAL.

---- ---
WEST INDIES.—DEMERARA.—The Standard, ar-
rived at Liverpool, Am brought advice. from George Town
to the 10th ult. Though several days later than the West
ladia mail's letters there is no news.

HAMBURG, Dec. 13.—The administrations of
the rallway from Kiel (Holstein) to Hamburg, and from this
town to Berlin, hare just t animated an agreement, haring
Smite object to create an uninterrupted line of electric tele-
graph between Berlin and Kiel. The governments of the

countries through which this railway passes have already
authorised the establishment of this telegraphic line, the works
of which are to commence in the beginning of April nett,
and perhaps at a cull more early period,

Cbt court.

Her Majesty and—Prince Albert, accompanied by
the royal children, and attended by the ladies and gentlemen
of the royal suite, will, it is expected, leave Osborne this
&yin'. incisor Castle.
Tle Dake of Cambridge visited her Royal High-
ness the Duchess of Gloucester yesterday, at Gloucester-
house.

A Cabinet Council was held yesterday afternoon at
the P‘weign-oftice It was attended by Lord J. Russell, the
Marquis of Lansdowne, Sir G. Grey, Viscount Palmerston,
Earl Grey, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Earl of
Auckland. Sir J. Hebb Gum, Lord Campbell, the Marquis of
Clanricarde, Viscount Morpeth, and tile Right Hon. T. B.
Macaulay. The council set two hour,.
The Bishop of Tasmania had an interview with
Earl Grey yesterday, at the Colonial-office.
Mr. Charles Boller, chief Poor-law Commissioner,
. _

had an interview with the Chancellor of the Exchequer yes-
terday, at his official residence in Downing street.
The Duke of Wellington attended the e►rly service
in the Chapel. Royal, St. James's, on Sunday. The Duke
and Duchess of Beaufort and the Marquis of Winchester
were also among the nobility present.

ECCLESIASTICAL COMMISSION.—Lord Sandon is to
he a member of the Ecclesiastical Commission, in the room
of Lord Ashley.
GENERAL ESPARTERO.—The Debars of the 19th
has the following We hear from Madrid, under date of
the 13th of December, that General Espartero is expected
there on the 20th of this month." :he Debate' information
is a little premature. We understand that General Espar-
tero does not leave London till this day.
RESTITUTION OF A LARGE SUM.—We are autho-
rised to state that the bank notes and cheques, to the value
of 7,8881. Os 7d., stolen from the clerk of Morn. S•rahan,
Paul, and Co., in February last, have been sent back to the
banking-house, in a parcel, containing the identical notes
and cheques, with the exception of one country bank note of
the value of 51.