The Express.
London, England, 1847-10-28 00:00:00

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MAILS

The teas for New South Widea, Ven Dlemenis Land, and New
'wand will be made ap on the evening of the IA November.
The West tndls mails, (minding those for Metioo, Ifondunts, an,
he /imam* will be made up an the morning of the 2nd November.
S rt Mei
iTte ovoilmettCO Emile tor Gibraltar Malta, Grosse, the tenllin islands,
tai atm, Soothimptoo,
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The mile he lAA Nu Mar" PernamM and the trotted
ham w he NMI op es the .e at ter id Iferrember.
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etas 4111Noviester.
The Ovellend Arid Os wee, to the Mediterranean,
=A." Uwe bike New& is., will be made up on the
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will be made up en f>te morsiti et all Oft November.

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BIOS WM& AT LONDON-11141D01.
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T44111.46A—X44•LAA 24 WE. WI I I £M....... 441.. 14.44, •

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCT. 28.

SOMETHING has already been said of the mistakes
of the real conditions of railway safety, on which
was founded the Westbourne jury's advice to govern-
ment, to put the management of engines and en-
gineers under a system of partial control by a " public
officer." This was the first item presented in their
memorial. Their suggestions respecting the engine-
drivers, which form the second head, are not less er-
roneous. They proceed from a notion, which we have
often before now found prevalent amongst persons who
have had no practical acquaintance with the matter
in question. It has been ventilated from time to time
in parliament, and copiously dilated upon in the
press. AN it is founded on a complete mistake of
what is wanted in an engine-driver to make him a
safe guide to a train, and how what is wanted may
be inipplied, it will be desirable to attempt to tikrow a
light on these heads, the ignorance of which, if
it be suffered to influence the direction of the business
may lead to some unfortunate consequences.
The Westbourne jury fell into the common error of
supposing that a certain amount of science is ne-
mammy for an engineman, and advise that his
proficiency in this respect should be ascertained
by subjecting him to an official examination, such as
is undergone by surgeons, officers in the navy, &c.,
before he is allowed to ik.e charge of a passenger
train. It is obvious that more than this proficiency
cannot be tested by any such board of examiners—
that the candidate who can go through the list of
questions that may be set down for his trial in a way
to satisfy them, must, as far as their inquiry is con-
cerned, be counted fit to drive an engine, and
must be presumed to be more fit than a
man who is set to work without having un-
dergone any such formal investigation of his qualities.
Now what we have to observe here is, that what is
mainly wanted to make a good engineman cannot be
discovered by any such inquiry at all ; that the
amount of scientific knowledge he can use for the
essential purposes of his duty is absolutely nothing;
so much mere surplusage, in fact, which may be very
useful to the man in other respects when oft' the line,
bat which will leave him, as an engine-driver, no
better than he was before acquiring it; that the me-
chanical skill required to drive a locomotive is readily
acquired ; that the qualities in an engineman
on which the real safety of the train most
depends are moral, not mechanical at all,
such as no board of inspectors can test by
formal inquiries, however skilful. They can only
be judged of by those who have had the man in
their employ, and have so observed his conduct
as to find cause to trust him with an important
charge.
Here, again, we must remark, as in the case of
the engines, that the employers have already every
motive that can be imagined to make the best pos
Bible choice in such appointments. All the con
venient and profitable working of the business
depends upon the good conduct and compe-
tence of the enginemen. Every error they can
commit is a tax upon the company's income.
The utmost care is taken, therefore, to select proper
men by those who beet know what are the conditions
that make them most proper. Every inducement is
offered to encourage them in good conduct; high
wages, liberal rewards, moderate work, and consi-
derate treatment. The pains thus employed have
been highly successful. We have no hesitation in
meeting, that the railway enginemen, as a class, are,
in illness for their duties, steadiness of application to
theta, and general excellence of moral conduct,
the very finest body of working men to be found
in this kingdom ; and for this reason, above all others,
that none but good men will do for this office, and
that their employers have the strongest motive that
can prevail with men to choose the beet they can
by any means engage to this service, and keep in it.
That this is no exaggerated statement may be learned
by any one who likes to consult what the officers of
the Board of Trade have reported to parliament on
the character of that class of railway servants.
But it is not in scientific acquirements that their
merit must be sought. And, furthermore, their work is
of a kind that no highly educated person of good
character will ever be induced to undertake.
It is, and must be, a rough, dirty, employment, ex-
posed to much hardship from weather, and requiring
. .
• -- ...Iva. All

w much haidship
a good deal of physical endurance in many waya.
the knowledge of the engine required to make a per-
fect engine-driver will be learned, we say, in the fitting
shed in a very few months. More than this is merely
useless to him while ho is employed on the footplate
of the locomotive. It is the steady eye, the quick ear,
the unsleeping attention, the 'ool nerve, the good me-
mory, the strict obedience to regulations—that are
wanted beyond a small stock of easily-acquired me-
chanical skill. These moral gifts no public inquiry
can discover; without them, all the science inthe world
could not prevent the driver from being a terribly
dangerous fellow on the line. The question is,
where are we most likely to find these qualities avail-
able for railway use ? The answer is : exactly where
they are now sought and found by the extant system;
not amongst the more highly educated artisans of
clocharacter. These can never be induced to un-
do exposure, and submit to the discomforts, of
ving. No wages you can offer will be an
in to such men, who can employ themmdvas
more comfortably elsewhere. Of such a class as may
make the best display before a board of examiners,
you will only get the refuse—men of acquire-
ments it may be, but with some flaw in their cha-
racter that has thrown them into this laborious career ;
the moat hazardous persons you could possibly put in
charge of human life—restless, dissatisfied with their
work, which they will always think beneath them ;
and for this reason alone will be apt to neglect, prone
to canvas aid disobey orders, and to be thinking of
other things when they ought to be looking to their
valves and signals. To the man, on the contrary,
taken from a lower clam, who can pretend to no
scientific education, or has not much choice of a plea-
santer kind of work, the wages of the business are a
high inducement ; its discomforts are not a serious ob-
jection. Of this class of men, the railway manager
can select the flower : of any other you can only
hope to have the refuse. The labourer, whose moral
sallies are found suitable, is soon taught the me-
ehasfal of his business; and, when suffi-
ciently practical in these, he is positively the very
best and safest driver that can by any means be put
on a traia engine, although he may know nothing
whatever of the chemical properties of steam. The
choice of such men as these can only be made by the
employer; and the instruction, also, may with per-
fect safety bo left to him. The test of their moat
valuable qualities, no inquiry like that proposed by
the Westboarne jury can apply. It would either
have no effect at all, or, if it did anything,
it must be mischief. It could have no other
malt, if any, than to tempt railway managers
to relax their usual care in choosing drivers by
their own observation, and to put on, without
personal experience of them, men who might come
with official certificates of scientific knowledge, bat
might in other respects be fellows destitute of every
quality which really conduces to safety. This is a
point far too important to be subjected to meddling
by ignorant people, or to any kind of pedantic
quackery whatever. And as the suggestions of the
Weetbourne memorial tend to 'promote a movement
on the subject in this wholly mistaken way, we are
desirous that it should be clearly understood in what
direction the true requisites for safety must be sought,
and how little what they advise can do to promote it.

SOME remarks which we recently made on the
laxities which counael allow themselves in defending
prisoner, receive apt illustration from a case in the
Central Criminal Court reported in our journal of
Wednesday.
A man was indicted for stealing ten lambs, which

he sold in Southall market. On being taken into
custody, he admitted that be had sold the lambs, but
said that one ROADtiNIGHT had awakened him early
that morning, and asked him to drive the lambs to
market and sell them for him. The counsel for the
defence urged that from the very fiat the prisoner
had asserted that he was innocently employed by
ROADILNIGEIT in the transaction. If that assertion
were not true, contended the learned counsel, ROAD-
KNIGHT should have been called to contradict it. He
had not been called. The learned counsel had eli-
cited from one of the witnesses that ROADKNIGHT
was about the court. In the absence of his testimony
he called on the jury to acquit the prisoner. The
Recorder summed up in favour of the prisoner, com-
menting strongly on the fact of ROADKNIGHT'S not
having been called, as insisted on by the counsel for
the defence. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty,
after a very short deliberation.
After the verdict bad been delivered, the inspector
of police in attendance informed the court that ROAD-
KNIGHT had been subpccnaed for the prisoner. The
Recorder, upon this, very naturally expressed his
surprise that the counsel for the defence should have
observed os his own witness's not being put into the
box. The learned counsel made a number of inge-
nious answers to this, all very much from the point—
as, first, that it was right ROADKNIGHT should have
been subpoenaed. The Itecorder said he did not
complain of that, but he did complain that the
learned counselhad left the jury to infer that ROAD-
KNIGHT had been brought by the prosecutors, but
that they had not ventured to call him..as a witness.
The learned counsel attempted to parry this home-
thrust by saying. that they could not compel ROAD-
KNIGHT to criminate himself. The Recorder met
him by asking why, in that case, they had subprrnaed
him ? lie then put the fact into plain English, de-
claring that the learned counsel had led the jury to
believe that Roamottartr dared not show himself as
a witness, when the truth was that the prisoner dared
not can him. An advantage had thus been taken of'
the jug, and the court had been misled. The Recorder
himself had not the least idea that ROADKNIGNT had
been subprenaed by the prisoner. The learned counsel,
though thus driven from all his points, was not
silenced. "He could not be blamed for not getting
out a fact that would be prejudicial to his client
Neither perhaps, in his opinion, ought he to be blamed
for misrepresenting a fact in order to make it favour-
able to his client.

The whole conversation is humiliating. It exhibits
to us a member of a profession claiming for itself
respect and honour, its ranks supplied by men of
education and character, guilty of an obvious
quibble, to call it by its lightest name, in order
to procure an acquittal for his client. This quibble
involves a concealment of the truth ; and on this sup—
prem.° reri is based a suggesti,, fitisi. The counsel for
the prosecution had no opportunity of calling Hato-
NIGHT. His name was not on the indictment. The
prisoner's solicitor had appropriated him, probably
for the purpose of furnishing the very argument and
suggesting the very inference which obviously
weighed so much with both judge and jury.
And yet on the absence of this witness, whose ab-
sence was due solely to his client's soliciter, the
learned counsel for the prisoner rests his defence.
He knows the facts, and uses them adroitly to sup-
port an inference which, when honestly explained,
they contradict. lie forces from the judge the re-
mark, perfectly borne out by the facts, " that the
court had certainly been deceived." Not satisfied
with drawing down this discredit on himself and his
profession, he declares his intention of doing the same
thing again under the same circumstances. It must
be confessed that the learned counsel is consistent
throughout. When his trick is detected, he defends
it by sophistries. When his sophistries are exposed,
he resorts to audacity, and announces his readiness to
repeat trick, sophistries, and audacity on the first op-
portunity.
It is satisfactory to find the Recorder using strong
and homely words in characterising this conduct. We
have thought it worth while to reproduce the whole
case in a more prominent form than the common law
report, though we have little comment to add to its
facts. It illustrates what we said of the liberties
which, in their defences, counsel consider themselves
justified in taking with troth. It shows how the
common practice of such cases deadens the sense of
right and wrong in the class which, of all engaged
in criminal law administration, should be most alive
to it. If this is the opinion and practice of that branch
of the legal profession which boasts of the high at-
tainments and character of its members, and the
stringent control of its etiquette, what are we to
expect from an inferior professional class—such
as prisoners' attorneys, or the still lower officials
of our police and criminal courts? Such conduct as
that of this " learned counsel " is calculated to throw
discredit not only on the profession to which he be-
longs, but on the whole administration of our criminal
law. The court which to the ignorant and unprofes-
sional spectator ought to be the shrine of justice on
earth, is lowered to an arena for rival tricksters, in
which the judge sits not so much to expound the law,
as to guard the jury from the delusions of skilful and
shameless sophists.
The high court of the bar, which is so strict in
visiting certain infractions of its conventional code,
ought surely to visit sharply and promptly such vio-
lations of truth and honesty as that which has sug-
gested these observations.

WE have already stated the crying necessity
for an ample and secure record-office. Whether
the present ministry or their successors will
enjoy the credit of establishing such, and of
taking the public records out of that state of
jeopardy " to which no merchant of ordinary pru-
dence would subject his books of account," will be
seen in a few days. If the Rolls estate in Chancery-
lane is to be employed as the site of the new building, as
proposed, an Act of Parliament must sanction the pro-
oeeffing, and notices must be given before the end of
the coming November, to the occupiers of those pro-
perties which will be required for the purpose. The
church doors in the neighbourhood of Fleet-street in a
few weeks will let us know whether this never-ending
question is to be concluded or not this year. A con-
temporary, the Spectator, reminds us that just two
centuries have elapsed since a general record reposi-
tory was first mooted. In November, 1647 the sub-
ject was first broached. It is, therefore, high time it
was definitively settled : and nothing now seems to
be wanted but the word of authority to say, " do it."
It must be admitted that Sir GEORGE GREY and
Sir CHARLES WOOD have not neglected the pledges
they gave, that this subject should be forthwith at-
tended to. We have now the results of their promise
in the shape of a blue book, being the sixth report of the
commissioners of metropolitan improvements, which
has recently been issued. It appears from this report,
that Lord MORPETH, in the early part of this year,
directed a survey to be made of the Rolls estate„with
reference to its eligibility for the purpose of a record
office, and plans were prepared accordingly, which
was done by Mr. PENNETHORNE; and the erection of
the record office is made, as it were, the nucleus of a
metropolitan improvement, for a long time projected,
and much wanted. It is proposed that the record
office shall form part of a new line of street, to com-
mence at Cheapside, and passing through Paternoster-
row and over Farringdon-street, terminate in Long-
acre. But even if the making the whole of this street
should be delayed, still the record office is made aux-
iliary to the enlargement and improvement of Fetter-
lane, and to the promotion of a better communication
between Holborn and Fleet-street. Mr. PENNE-
THORNE'S plan was referred to the commissioners for
metropolitan improvement, and is confirmed by them.
It is estimated that the space to be provided, necessary
for accommodating the public records now existing,
and likely to increase in a century, is about 3,000,000
cubic feet. The building to give this enormous
amount of room will consist of two sides of a square,
about 600 feet on each side. It will be insulated
from all other buildings, as a precaution against fire,
and will, of course, be built on such a system as to
give the greatest amount of what is called "fire
proof." The cost is estimated for a brick building, at
206,5001., and the cost of the clearance of the ground,
and the opening' of new streets, is estimated at
243,0151., of which 130,1071. should be put to the
account of the record office, and 112,9081. for the
improvement of the thoroughfares. This sum in the
gross Is certainly large, but its very magnitude is a
reason for looking the necessity, which is most urgent,
boldly in the face, and for beginning the work at
once. We may . hope that when Mr. AIONCIiTON
MLLNES is again inquisitive, the Home Secretary will
and
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office, without which previous reforms are almost
nugatory.

Our Paris despatches and journals have reached
us. The charges made against the French govern-
ment by some of the Roman journals, of having
treated the agent commissioned to procure arms for
the national guard, with unfairness and inattention,
having detained him unnecessarily at Paris, and ulti-
mately having sent kim to Toulon, where condemned
or unserviceable arms only were sold to him, has
been retracted in very ample terms by the journals in
which they appeared. The muskets which are to be
supplied are not, as wan affirmed, the obsolete flint
locks, but the beet permissions, and are, in other
respects, of the best quality. Every desirable facility
has been afforded by the French government to the
court of the Vatican for the payment for these arms,
which are also given at a very moderate price.
An agent of the Sonderbund, who has been for
some days in Paris, where he has had frequent inter-
views with the highest diplomatic personages, left
on Monday for Vienna.
The following announcement is put forth in a curi-
ously pompous form in the official and semi-official
journals of the government :
As Marshal-General of France, Marshal Duke de Dalmatie
will take precedence of all the marshals of France, and re-
ceive throughout the French territories the military honours
flood by the marshals of France within the limits of their
command by the decree of 21 Messidor, year XII. Even
within the precincts of the royal residence he will have at his
bowie two sentinels, chescn from the compagnies d'elite.
_ '

It is reported that government will, during the next
session, brinfein a bill to repeal the law which excludes
the Bonaparte family from France.

The Madrid mails of the 20th and 21st have ar-
rived. Their contents are quite characteristic of
Spanish politics. The late Minister of Finance, Senor
Salamanca, is charged with the illegal and surrepti-
tious issue of Three per Cent. Bonds to the amount of
160 millions of reels, about one-third of which, it is
affirmed, were appropriated to pay the arrears due to
the royal household, the stock being estimated at 33,
when its price on the Bourse was only 26. As to the
remaining hundred millions, it has been spirited away
and passed into some unknown purse. Some insinuate
that the late favourite attracted it. The explanation
of Senor Salamanca on this subject will be seen in the
letter of oar correspondent, given below.
A ministerial crisis was spoken of on the 20th, and
the probability of the Duke of Itianzares being ap-
pointed to the post of Minister of War; M. Mon,
Finance; Fidel, Interior; Gonzales Bravo, Foreign
Affairs ; with Narvaez still Premier.
General Portillo, the suitor of the Infanta Joeefa,
has been transported to the Balearic Isles.
A singer who had the part of basso at the opera
was suddenly arrested by the police and sent out of
the country, without any reason assigned, on the
morning of the 20th. Of course in the atmosphere of
Madrid the philosophers of the salon were not long
in getting up an hypothesis to explain this pheno-
menon. The fact assigned as the rera eauaa was that
this artist was seen emerging from the palace at an
unseasonably early hour in the morning, and the public
are left to infer the rest.
The Leo del Comereio says that a report prevails'
that the Duke of Montpensier was to come to Madrid
at the end of the month, and the Clamor Public° says
that the command of the army of Catalonia was to be
intrusted to him.

It was said that Narvaez had written a very
friendly letter to Espartero, and that the embassy in
London would not be disposed of until the answer of
the latter should be received.

Letters from Lucca of the 12th my, that the
Tuscan troops which arrived there from Florence the
preceding day were received with general acclama-
tions of joy, and conducted in triumph through
the city. The Marquis Azeglio, who commanded,
found it difficult to restrain the populace from
manifesting its hostility to their late sovereign by acts
which would have drawn on them the condemnation
of all rightly thinking persons. It was with difficulty
that he saved from destruction the beautiful statue of
the Duchess Maria Louisa, the mother of the present
duke, one of the finest productions of Bartolim. A
deputation was sent to the government to ask permis-
sion to destroy the guillotine, capital punishment
having been abolished by the grand duke. The ob-
noxious instrument was accordingly burned amidst
the acclamations of the populace. In the evening
there was great agitation in the city, but the national
guard was organised and called out, and order was
preserved.
A letter from Rome, dated 18th, says :

At the Argentine theatre " Ernani" has been performed
for five SUCCOIIIiTO lights to extraordinarily numerous au-
diences. The public required that, instead of the words in the
finale, when Charles V. pardons his subjects and imitates
Charlemagne, other words relative to the affairs of Italy,
and in honour of Pius IX. should be substituted. In com-
pliance with this desire the actor who represents Charles V.,
after having pronounced the words pardon to all, came for-
ward to the hunt of the stage and said: "Let liberty be
ever cherished ; to Pins IX. be eternal glory ;" the chorus
repeating , " Glory and honour be eternally to Pius 1X.,"
while a large flag was displayed, on which were inscribed
these words "We are all soldiers of Pius IX.; long live
Pius IX. ; &lengthened existence with honour to Phis IX."
All this was accompanied with applause from the audience,
and loud acclamations of patriotism and enthusiastic love for
the sovereign.
A letter from Florence, dated the 15th, says that
on that day the Grand Duke and his consort went to
Lucca to receive the homage of their new subjects.
On the preceding evening Count Brawn, ambassador
from France to the court of Naples, was received in
private audience by the duke.
A letter from Genoa of the 18th, &nominees the
arrival in that port of the French man-of-war, the
Jena.

Reports of military preparations of every kind—
marches and oonnter-marohes, the throwing up of re-
doubts, the calling out of landwehre, the inspection of
the troops d'aite and militia, arrive by every mail
from Switzerland. Oar present advices come down
to the 23rd, when no ground remained on which •
hope of peace could ran. A report prevailed, that,
to prevent the effusion of blood, the Pope had desided
to recall the Jesuits, but this was sot etsemod,
and probably had no other foundation thaw the
conviction that such a measure alone could save
the country from the horrors of civil war. Lucerne
is the theatre of the most important military opera
dons. The laadwehr was summoned for the 20th.
On the 19th, a battalion of troops di' Fatewas advanced
to °Milken. The bridge was oeso= detach-
ment of the corps des M.
Amman.. Besides the = misled at the by
iffidee
of °Milken, three others were threw* op
Abwyl, and upon the thdeharg. ,The genaramatt of
Lucerne published, on the 19th, the !cawing regu-
lations of police :
1. Every ate not a citimn et the canton, and who say
visit the tows of Lucerne in the quality of a traveller, is to
declare at the bureau of tie esieMnal police the motive of
his arrival at Lucerne, the OM he intends remaininqu.ere,
and the person he iamb to virit ; after which pre
ries le is is =sive bib orb de ~WI. 2. If, daring hie
stay. be den am est lasselhemity with the dabble gave is,
or lt heninhe any saw geistesisses, and, ia 'moral, if he
believe is sash a smug es to mute samisisa, he is to be
deprived OM eerie do astral, soil treated se abio% ere
swillitely •11 el the alba S. Oa Ns out of
the tows she the agleam et Ms tine of stay, each
traveller is to dillies up hie est* eh issereM to the entry on
duty at the gate of the lowa. 4. The dbestien ef *splice
is entrusted with the sussatioa and patillostion at the pre-
med order.
This ordonnanos le espied word for word from the
police regulations ei Vienna. Reports of military
preparations in the cantons of St. Gall, Argau, U.
terwald, Tessin, and Vaud, are given in d 4 I,R
the journal'. Accounts have been reoeived del
Berne to the 23rd. In consequence of reports bus
Lucerne, additional neaps have been ciUsd Mk erd
one party of them has marched in the direction 'el
Lucerne, and the other in that of Fribarg.
A letter from Lucerne, dated the 23rd, says that ea
that morning the federal commissioners, depute/ te
Lucerne and Uri, returned to Berne.

Advices from the Levant by the steamer Helles-
pont were received at Marseilles on the 23rd. Tr.
news from Constantinople hi to the 12th. No ma-
tion is made of the asged &snoring= glen to
Greek vessels to carry one anstiag Wage =ler
the French flag. The of the pas= Orsek
cabinet was expeoted, and it was seemed that M.
Menne would be authcaind to form a sea ministry.
The Austrian steamer Prince Metternich had arrived
at Constantinople, from Trebisonde, on the Bth, and
had brought the intelligence that the cholera had
nearly ceased in that city. The official reports of the
board of health announced that, from the 27th of
September, the epidemic began to abate. Not more
than from live to seven cases were then reported per
day. The mortality continued unabated among the
sufferers, but new cases were rare ; and the mortality

itself was, in a great degree, produced by culpable
neglect of regimen. The same abatement of the in-
tensity of the malady was reported at Samsoun and
its environs.

MADRID, Ocr. 20.

The grand topic of talk at this moment in what the
papers call political circles (which I presume embrace the
whole population of Madrid, from ministers down to
match-sellers), is the startling discovery of a secret issue of
three per cent. bonds to the amount of 160 millions of reale
a few days before the expiration of the month's existence of
the Goyena-Salamanca ministry. The pretext for this un-
scrupulous proceeding was to cover the arrears of pay which
were owing to officers in the royal household. But it
seems that of the 50 millions of reds owing to these func-
tionaries, not more than two-thirds were discharged, while
the remaining paper disappeared in a mysterious manner.
The type fixed for the conversion of the royal household
debt was 33 ; that is to say, that tot every 33 reale owing to
him, the creditor received 100 in the three per cents., equi-
valent then and now to about 28 reals. The bonds walked
off with are suspected to have gone into the pocket of the
then influence ; and to have been applied to the purchase of
the famous encomienda, or estate, of the order of Calatrava,
in Estremadurs, known by the name of Piedra-buens
which was lately sold for about a quarter of its
value; bidders being scared by the known intention of the
Names ministry to repeal the decrees of Salamanca, and
among them probably the one relating to the sale of the
estates of the four military orders, issued during the Pacheco
ministry. A letter addressed by Juan Perez Calve to the
I Clamor, of the 20th, confirms, beyond a doubt, the fact of
the issue of state paper to that amount. At the risk of re-
petition, I borrow the following pauses from Calvo's orim-
munication I can affirm to you upon my personal re-
sponsibility, that the report which you published yesterday
concerning the capitalisation of the arrears of the royal
household in three per cent. stock, to the amount of 160
millions, is unfortunately perfectly true. The conversion
took place under the Salamanca ministry, at the type of 33.
The points to be determined, upon which perhaathe Faro and
other paper' will be able to throw some light, are : Whether
the 160 millions which unquestionably issued from the public
treasury, have entered into the treasury of the royal house-
hold ) Whether. having entered, the transaction appears
justifiable? If, instead of the 160 millions, only two-thirds
of that amount have entered? What person or per-
sons have been the pipers and dancers who walked
off with the little trifle of fifty and odd millions,
apropos of which the purchase of the famous property in
Egtremodura may be taken into account ? And finally
whether, this act being more scandalous and illegal than all
the decrees of Senor Salamanca put together, the ministerial
papers are disposed to demand its immediate revocation, and
that the person who has taken such a leading part in the
transaction should answer with the proper securities fur his
conduct. —JUAN PERU CALVO."
The very possibility of clandestine proceedings of this kind
is quite sufficient to account for the miserable state of dejec-
tion in which the Spanish funds stick. As long as the public
have no guarantee against such fraudulent issues of state-
paper, how is it possible that any one should have the least
confidence in the continuance of the:payment of dividends ?
What increases the farce of this business is that Salamanca,
while he was ostentatiously straining every to raise the
Three per Cents. from their depression, was doing his best
underhand to ruin the public credit. However, it is safer
for the present to suspend one's judgment concerning the
guilt of the fallen minister, whose character has not hitherto
been blurred by any charge of =detention or fraud.
At the tame time that Salamanca has been dragged before
the public in such a questionable shape, the inexorable
Gazette has just published the repeal of his most popular
measure—the abolition of the gate duties. The preamble of
the decree, which restores this vexatious impost in its full
extent, declines entering into any discussion as to the merits
of its abolition, It is enough, says Senor Orlando, that when
this measure was proposed to the Cortes in 1845, they re-
jected it; and until the public expenses are reduced suffi-
ciently for the country to dispense with these contributions,
or until they are replaced by some mere convenient form of
taxation, the government are of opinion that this source of
revenue ought not to be abandoned. The date proposed for
renewing the duties is the let of November; the public,
therefore, will have enjoyed their -emancipation from this
most galling of all tributes not quit; a moath.
This ostentatious regard for the Cortes comes with pecu-
liar consistency from a ministry presided by the man, who
Ia the middle of March, 1846, la company with the Arran-
egad° Burgos, issued a manifesto abolishing the whole re-
peeenntative system. If the principle is to be acted on of
all decrees anterior to the present ministry, upon
repealingthe Cortes has not been consulted, the last four years
will offer an admirable field for the disorganising activity to
which the government has been prompted by its zeal for
legality. How far back does it intend to stretch its ripping
task? Its principle at present is quite undefined, and, car.
ried out, would lead to chaos.
The Hera/do borrows from the evening moderado journal
the following remarks with regard to the arrest of General
Portillo As the proyesista press are likely not to miss
this occasion for complaining in their usual style of the acts
of the government, it will be well to notice-1. That the
lifitimer of War may command General Fortino to quit the
and designate what quarters he pleases for that
retwithout the least shadow of arbitrariness. 2. That
the present step has nothing whatever to do with politics.
3. That the government has done its strict duty in opposing
, the pretension which General Portal() designed to prefer at
the feet of her Majesty." This pretension is, as you are
aware, the general's claim to the hand of the Infanta Jossfa,
whom he has been for Nome time besieging with his ad-
dresses.
There are some important nominations in the Gazelle.
General Dominguez, having resigned his post of second
commander of the Halberdiers, has bees replaced by D. Juan
Bautista Mather', Conde de Panonrcetro. D. Javier Rope-
lets is appointed captain-geaeral of the Canaries, in place of
D. Segundo Clibarri ; D. Juan Prim is appointed captain-
general of Puerto Rico, is place of D. Rebel de Aristegui,
Count of Miresol, who has repeatedly *elicited his dismissal.
I think I gave you very early intelligence of Prim's appoint.
went.
The following political chiefs are said to have been named
For Barcelona, Gainza ; Malaga, Diu ; Seville, Cabestany;
Granada, Campos; Toledo, Tenorio ; Lugo, Rodrigues
Guerra; Almeria, Ennis; Iluelva, Bremen; Castellon de
la Plana, Campoamor.
Oa the 19th there was talk of the place of Secretary of the
Clenmell of Ministers being restored, which existed during the
01Metry of Gonzales Bravo. Zaragoza is the person fixed on
be MI this lo*.
The 1140 talks of a ministerial crisis. The Duke of Riem-
an' is to be, *wording to its report, Minister of War, and
Ilea and Pidal are to come in.
Oat. 21.—Serrano is expected here to-morrow. The
wesasoirof We return is derived front a letter received by his
ablielonssap, the content* of which were pretty generally
eammlninsWed to the &events/. of the Progransta Club
ha This letter, written by &Immo himself, enjoined
Ws sot to set out for Granada, as .W intended
tail= •Ci ncyps=al, and to return to Madrid
the Isis farourito is coming to
awn Oaf ;min the repeal of ids mars to town to turn
eat Wee) sem m pot be say gemod. It I. highly nape*.
bible that Somme would Moose Madrid for a reeldenoe, at
a stosnent whoa the litemils are so justly exasperated against
=Mid when &I party who have profited by hie apoetacy
ilitenglo to gemisa him dekncelees to MS they of
fait alotist nes won to he reduced to the MOM
The nalasa ihreeso h that he cense upon roesseing the
Milmirserat lea
ions al de pm" wall
lately
exP.lltiniendastias
bens et tbs Throe pr Cast steak sod in this
seigioyeastof thee hods, hew dram ham has Sale-
mar to the Claswr, asd Peas Aga" bamisets side
▪ lompobahl, to the whisk :Zia away mere
pate of the temeadion wi sham
pate The he is this: the ialawaingo at bee
r▪
ooressasd the aseshierablet amewat alt mama dace=
tispartaad whin. NUMWDIMI amnia, the webs
Was whit ralail
148 ai ;end gadmany, slat
wpwegger a . ark the admen' (=
warrants, et nee de Emma or
fends) which le. hold to her Majesty." He
threw* dohs& that tags amid be declared mu-
tralisable, osaartibis fres Throe nor Clem Hoods, as
bad boa demoO `eta dada, ages. This animalism passed
the dat jihad," nonorel e asements and
alas which lisadial dds, awl then to the
Jests of of moans W
ed as toessary, with
whale I, as vaisdam sonihnesd, dedezing
troliabl• the weal &Medi whichlenet meat to the
third part dthe man dos, semi width ad net dime as
sash, bat as ananteenta of as, nation sat satisfied.
Whoa her Illagentialgood laq iptation as di-
sbar at P. as retard el Meemation wen
follow-
ing its esnaeo ; mod at hat tide of liquidation
bad net hosed lie seers he ties dslimay etas bonds to the
Intendests el r royal besnelaid. What has canned sines
I have no herded. ad"
Panay Arsawe's animation is as follows " Fortunately
there is no frith la eider of the two fiefs, as Mated by the
Clamor (namely, the ism of the bads and themamas-
tion) ; since all the armee of as royal leusdheld bays
not been pail with Them gar neat Sects, ha sly Set
portion whisk assists al greased iliversi liaise
converted in ersionsinsilltie law el VW 14, ill. The
record (expedients) width las been dewed el this tremor
non in Pinanmodise sag
deputy, to the Cartes ripe
patios el any masks esand the legality of
the poeseedin added his as ha Is ibe
malvematisa of the ma lads, it is enough to IV AIM
Mao which the gemmed hashitherto given biro
• ads into the treenuy silks meal household, lung,
ay adminandsa sat a into maravedi has
1.2 am, without the doe intonation a the
alga et assants, and whheat the Begat el all va.
addle demo." The delmseirmarin: "Toast he Waded
ef the and handrehl Wane that the islermar
whit wars is amnia .1 as royal Wm
sonvertal lace Time yet Oat. Dade ; lbe ef
Plasm he edam* eroded a eassepardiag salsa et'
sce•eagodeis. Hew itis well lama emsforea faker
°Me pastamparandritooseary beaselidweeess &saw
platten of tho opealademes el the band, re; what dine
of thele=tlil have always he- id wo
mats. that Qui pstrhasay
yeti
vita iiiimmer, best glees de sessamosemsat
of the essidestiewal speck, and ghat Ms he N-
komo', wW s earoad to buss ataifaYynL
Bea dash fora' sow la the mast leash et de patine
debt ibr the animist, as is Denorel; OHO millions of reels."
I - diskr till to morrow d surialining observations of
the Beraisel, which seem to UMW= mad Impartial upon
Ws madiskedy intricate boiasea The
_meal belief is,
that bads to the amount of awe flaajireas of reale have
head their way into the al 'NMI
Peas y Agnayo, auolaft tit the Plus, has boon dismissed
has his place.

Gemara Pandio ►as been deported to the Balearic Idea.
The Gamete contains sow la:Tondo:a domes promulgated
by the otlaider of the Interior, re-orgadairte the iv:halide-.
nation of his department, lead the aondeatita of the near
politlehl adobe.

FRANCE.—PARIS, Ocr. 26.—SAVINOS BANKS.—
The following is the result of the operations of the Perin
Sayingabank for the week ending Oct. 23 :—Money received
by the Paris Savings-bank on Sunday, 24th, and Monday,
25th inst., from 4,261 depositors, 620 of whom are new ones,
679,370 f. Reimbursementa during the same week to 1,980
depositors, 547 paid out, 608,964 f. 26c. Stock bought in at
the request of depositors, for an amount of 87,382 f. 43c
Damao.
HOLLAND.—THE HAGUE, OCT. 24. In the
sitting of the Second Chamber of the States General, this
day, a royal message was communicated, accompanying a
project of law, and an explanation of the motive respecting
the prolongation of the terms for the withdrawal of a portion
of the paper money. 'The project of law is as follows On
the 31st Dec., 1847, there may be left in circulation a
quantity of hills in paper money, emitted by virtue of the
law of the 18th Dee., 1845, the value of which shall not ex-
ceed the sum of twenty-one millions of florins; but which
must be changed before the 31st Dec., 1848, for gold or silver
specie"—The reply to the speech from the throne has been
completed by the committee, and will be presented to the
consideration of the sections this evening. A public session
was to be held on the 26th, to discuss the address in reply to
the speech from the throne.
HANOVER, OCT. 19.—The ratifications of the
treaty between this kingdom and England, which was
signed in London on the 24th August last, for the reciprocal
protection of literary and artistic property, and the reduction
of duties en the import of books and productions of the fine
arts, has just been exchanged. Similar treaties exist between
England and Prussia, Saxony, and Bavaria.
AUSTRIA TRIESTE, Orr. 17. —The cholera
morbus has broken out at Perecop, which is 50 German miles
distant from Odessa, but it has not appeared at Odessa itself.
It has entirely ceased at Taganrog and at Marcanopcl, ports
in the sea of Azoph. The Lloyd has just launched a new
steamer, which has received the name of Venezia. It will
ply front Trieste to Venice.
PRUSSIA.—LEIPzIC, OCT. 20.—The members of
the congress appointed to be held in this city, for the pun.
pose of devising a uniform system or law relating to bills of
exchange, assembled this day at the Erainerhaus. Deputies
Iron the fallowing countries were in attendance—Austria
(and Leichtonstein), Prussia, Luxemburg, Ankalt.KOthen,
Anhalt-Dessau, Anhalt-Bernburg, Waldeck, Lippe-
, hechingen, Saxony, Hanover, Wurtemberg, Baden, Hesse,
Denmark (on account of Holstein•Lauenburg), Saxe-Wei-
' mar, Sue-Meiningen, Saxe-Altenburg, Saxe-Coburg and
Gotha, Sehwarsburg.Rndolstadt Reuu, Nassau, Brunswick,
Mecklenburg, Lubeck, Frankfort, Bremen, Hamburg. Up
to the present time the electorate of Hesse, Oldenburg, and
Schaumburg-Lippe are still unrepresented. The Saxon
minister of state, Von Konnerits, was elected president of
the congress ; the Prussian plenipotentiary, Von Patow, vice.
president; and Dr. Rinsed, secretary.
RUSSIA. SPREAD OF THE CHOLERA.— ST.
Prrsassuao, Ocr. 14.—Letters of the above date in the
Frankfurter Journal of the 25th, announce the appearance
of the cholera in the governments of Tschentigow, Riasan,
and Tula, and in the cities or towns of Kazan, Ssamara,
Niasehk, and Jefremow. The marshal of the nobility, Von
Witebsk von Cechanowiek, a nobleman well known by his
extensive travels in Europe and the East, was lately shot by
• gamekeeper, who mistook him for a wild beast, on account
of his head covering. The dying man fully exculpated the
innocent author of his death.

POLAND.-IVeassw, Ocr. I7.—The greatest
apprehension is felt here at the approach of the cholera. It
has carried off three-fourths of the population of Karkow,
whence it came to Warsaw. Although it was the time of ju-
bilee, the churches were filled at all hours. The wetness of the
weather has destroyed the potatoes and wheat, both of which
are rotting in the ground, and everything announces a cruel
famine. Crowds of poor persons, scarcely clad in rags,
throng the streets. The charity of private persons and of
benevolent societies is quite insufficient.

GERMAN4.—THE OVERLAND MAIL—The Silesian
Gazette states, "on the best authority," that from the let of
Jan., 1848, the East India overland mail will pass by Brea-
law and Berlin en route for London. It is added that Herr
Schwarzer, the editor of the Austri in Lloyd's Journal, has
made an arrangement to that effect with the Prussian go-
vernment.