The Express.
London, England, 1847-02-09 00:00:00

mciti WATER AT LO:IIDpN-BRIDOTt,

rau DAv--79:weIng. 21 min. wet 7; Afternoon, 32 dz. past 7.
To-Yosacm—Marab*, 2.5 min. pad 2; Afternoce, 3 min. put 9.

LONDON, TUESDAY, FEB. 9.

IN the House of Lords, yesterday, the Chelsea Pen-
sioners Bill was read a second time; and the Buck-
wheat, &c., Bill, committed. Lord BROUGHAM
again brought the subject of Irish pauperism in Li-
verpool under the notice of the house, and took occa-
sion to repel a charge, made against him elsewhere,
that he was inimical to Protestantism. A discussion
followed on Irish distress, after which the Earl of
Mor.vreAsnect, moved for certain returns, with the
view of showing the total amount of the charges on
land in Ireland ; but, on an intimation from the Loan
CHANCELLOR that it was impossible the required in-
formation could be gken with correctness, the mo-
tion was withdrawn.

In the House of Commons, Lord JOHN RUSSELL
gave notice of his inti ntion, on Monday, the 22nd inst,
to submit a financial statement to the house.—On
the question of going into committee on the I)estitnte
Persons (Ireland) Bill, a recriminatory debate took
place in reference to the conduct of Irish landlords;
after which, the house having gone into committee,
the remaining clauses were gone through, several
amendments were proposed and adopted, and others
withdrawn.—The Brewing from Sugar in Breweries
.nd Distilleries Bills also went through committee;
and the Customs Duties Bill was read a second time.

GrIZOT took the opportunity of stating fully to
the French Chamber of Deputies on Friday last, the
reasons which guided his policy and actuated his oon-
duct in the double affair of the acquisition of the.
Infanta and the abandonment of Cracow. Never, in
the annals of statesmanship, have motives been as-
signed for public conduct, so petty, and per-
sonal, and puerile, as those alleged by M. GUIEOT
to have been his grounds for breaking pledged
faith with England, and severing the alliance
between this country and France. M. Cluixox's
continued reproach to all his rivals has been, that
they sacrificed the granite politique to the petite.
Never surely was there an example of the sacrifice of
•great and national policy to small dynastic interests '
and ministerial piques, at all comparable to the
striking one of the Spanish marriages.
It is, unfortunately, but too evident that Lord
ABERDEEN had established a certain bond of personal
relation between the ministers and sovereigns of
the two countries, the effect of which was to render
the French court certain, that nothing would be
done or suffered by England contrary to French

views on the Peninsula. Lord ABERDEEN'S written
notes are indeed as independent and rude in the
matter of the contemplated marriages as Lord
PALMERSTON'S. But this was merely the official
, destined to look dignified on the table of
ppaarrlament. In contradiction with these, was evi-
dently the real attitude of Lord ABERDEEN towards
'the French King and minister. Both these personages
were quite assured that as long as the Tories remained
in power, no attempt would be made to ensure the
independence of Spain against them, or to secure the
succession to the Spanish throne from their machina-
tions. They were perfectly confident that full time
would be allowed them to absorb the Spanish prin-
cesses and succession at their leisure, they in turn
being kind enough to save appearances for Lord
ABF.RDItEN.

In this state of diplomatic relations between the
countries, any minister of any party succeedinn. to
Lord ABERDEEN, must have disturbed that under-
; standing upon which the French court relied. No
statesman in our kingdoms could have been found to
carry it on. And indeed Lord ABERDEEN himself
was so convinced of it, that he carried his secret
with him out of his office, and left no trace of his
occult, personal, and free-masonry understanding
with M. GuIZOT.
The retirement of Lord ABERDEEN from office was
thus, certainly, a great annoyance to France. The
7lmes,in this the organ of the Frem h embassy in London,
assured us the other day, that when the first rumour
of the Tories going out was current, and when the
Whigs were coming in, uncertain who would
be their foreign minister, M. GUIZOT instantly
despatched powers to Count BRESSON to precipitate
the Spanish marriages, the very powers on which
Count BRESsoN subsequently acted. Whoever suc-
ceeded Lord ABERDEEN WILY therefore marked out
beforehand as the victim of French treachery.
When, later, the Whigs did come in, the be-
haviour of M. GLIZOT and of M. DE JARNAC,
as evinced in their letters, is precisely that
of ladies who have lost their lovers, who
miss the wonted delicate attentions, and who
are fall of pique and quarrel. jealousy, and misgivings.
Without taking into account the haste and hurry,
the absorbing business, the labour of night as well as
day, necessary to put a now minister in possession
of the state of affairs in his office, M. Gutzoi com-
plains that his letter, written the very moment of
the new ministry's accession, was not instantly
answered. M. DR JARNAC, too, in hie correspondence,
gives himself all the airs of a petite nlitreue. He,
too, bless the mark, is highly offended, when at last
some despatch is written off to Madrid, without being
first communicated to him. This was a breach of the
entente eardirele with M. DE JARNAC.

And all these petty, beggarly, boraluir passion%
more fit for a novel of the Marquis DE LA
PAittrreatE, than of grave statesmen, are brought
forth solemnly by M. Orizar as the pretexts of a
breach between two great countries. M. Ot•izirr's
impassioned reproach to Lord Pni.mkairros is, that
he actually wrote to Mr. BULWER a letter in which
the name of Coburg occurred, and the word France
was not to be found. And this grave state reason
for resentment is arranged in an epigram, " trig
Cabourg dt plus, et la France de maim," worthy of
Punch or the Charirari. This surely is not politics,
nor even comedy : it is farce.
If, however, the accession of the Whigs, or of Lord
PALMERSTON, really alarmed the French government
for the emcees of their secret designs on the Infanta,
they should, as M. Tftixas alleged, have been frank,
and stated their suspicions, instead of acting secretly
upon them. M. °emir should not have gone on with
that long series of duplicity, assuring Lord NoR-
MANBY, up to the last moment, that the marriages
would not take place en m'me temps, and afterwards
excusing himself by saying, that not en ',Wale temps
meant, that one marriage would precede the other by
two or three minutes. On this point M. Gutzirr says not
one word in his speech. We cannot indeed say that
M. GUIZOT'S attempts to disprove the charge M. trea-
chery are a failure. For, in fact, the attempt at
refutation is not made. The treachery is admitted ;
and the excuse offered is the old one, " the end has
sanctified the means."

"These marriages," exclaimed M. Gutzon, "are
the only great feat that France has achieved, by
her own solitary efforts, since 1830." If M. Omor
had boasted that France, under his guidance, had
achieved a victory in the field, and braved a potent
foe in open campaign, unaided and alone, there
might be glory in the vaunt. But to boast
of an act of larceny committed alone, of an
act of treachery auccesafully achieved in secret, of a
friend tricked and overreached ;—in such a feat M.
OUIZOT should not boost of France being without an
accomplice. Where should she find one?
Such is the fable, such the moral of the Spanish
marriages! But M. GUIZOT gives at the termination
of his speech a still more fabulous account of the
present and future, than of the past. Ile insinuates,
lor indeed plainly represents, the present cabinet of
England, as making offers to the absolutist powers to
unite them against France, and form a new coalition :
—a likely story. At a moment when the utmost
that statesmanship in England can effect, is to remain
passive, or confine political aims merely to that which
none can oppose ; at a moment when a majority for
even twenty-four hours is the Cynthia of the minute,
to be caught and fixed ere it evanesce, and when ten
Englishmen can scarcely be got to agree upon the
most pressing interests of the pocket or the mind ; that
at such a time England should furnish forth u Pirr
to concoct a new continental coalition, is an idea
which does some credit to M. GUIZOT'S imagination,
but none whatever to his common sense or good faith.
This spectre of a new European coalition, M.
OUIZOT goes on to tell the French Deputies, may be
conjured and defied by the said deputies remaining
good boys, and Conservatives, and, above all, by their
eschewing M. 'NIERS. If M. THIERS was to come
in, the coalition of M. Grain's conjuring would
surely fall upon France. According to M. GUIZOT,
all would be well in the east but for M. Timits, and
all in England would be as France wishes it, but for
Lord PALMERSTON. GUIZOT'S sole principle and
secret in policy consists of personal sympathy and
antipathy. Such is the wisdom which decides the
fate of empires, and the peace of the world.

Tin object contemplated by the bill which Lord
GEORGE tir..vrtNt K obtained leave to bring in on
Friday night, is too urgent and important to admit of
time being wasted on the contradictions of its pro-
moters. Lord GEORGE BENTINCE, it is true, states, as
one recommendation of the measure, that it will

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enable shareholders "to get rid of their shares at a
premium ; " while Lord STANLEY, as peremptorily,
declares that its object " was not to raise the price of
shares, or facilitate the sale of them." This incon-
gruity, however, only shows that the bill (in common
with many others) labours under the disadvantage of
being ushered into the House of Commons by
parties who neither devised nor drew it, and who
but imperfectly apprehend its scope and tendency.
Any imperfect acquaintance which the noble lords
may have shown of the object of the bill, to which
they have stood godfathers, leaves its real merits un-
affected. It would be about as fair to set it snide on
account of the incompatibility of their arguments, as
to dismiss it on account of Lord GEORGE'S schoolboy
rhetoric when he declared that its authors' time " was
measured by moments" (m the time of most people is)
" and its value by flowing gold."
The bill proposes to raise sixteen millions on re-
deemable perpetual annuities, or annuities for terms
of years. The Commissioners of the Treasury are to
be empowered to advance loans to Irish railways to the
Isame amount—in the first instance out of the" growing
produce of the consolidated fund," or by the issue
of exchequer bills. Applications for loans must be
sanctioned by public meetings of the companies in
whose behalf they are made. The railway commis-
sioners are to examine the works of the railways to
construct which applications for loans are made, and
report on their adaptation to afford employment, and
the prospects of their being remunerative. The Com-
missioners of the Treasury are to act on the reports
of the Commissioners of Railways. When loans are
granted, security is to he given by mortgage for re-
payment, in terms of not less than thirty years. The
rights of prior mortgagees are to be secured;
the companies are to be taken bound not to
exercise further powers of borrowing without the
consent of the commissioners. The commissioners, in
case a company proves unable to complete the works,
are empowered to enter into possession and execute
them ; sell the railway when completed ; and until
sale to lease it or let the tolls. Repayments are to be
made into the Bank of Ireland, and the receipts of the
Commissioners of the Treasury are to be sufficient dis-
chnrges. Provisions aro made for the regular pay-