The Express.
London, England, 1847-10-11 00:00:00

SCOTLAND.

EIIINBVION,.Ocr..B.

A meeting of the Excise Association was'held here
yesterday, for the purpose of considering the Act 10
Viet., cap. 23, which practically, although probably
not intentionally, prohibits Scotch merchants from
sending foreign spirits to England. The prospect of
relief was gloomy in the extreme. The board of ex-
cise, the Attorney and Solicitor-General have all de-
clared against them ; Lord John Russell has had two
letters sent him which remain unanswered ; the Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer has had one, and is equally
silent. As a last resource, a deputation is to wait on
the Lord Advocate and Mr. Gibson Craig to learn
their opinions, and afterwards to correspond with
Glasgow and their ports as to a combined movement
against the grievance. It were well if something
were done in this matter—the act in question is an un-
doubted shackle on commerce, and as the association
is daily gaining electoral strength, which they will
not be slow to using, their just complaints are cer-
tainly entitled to consideration. Whether government
be willing to relax the excise system or not, the inci-
dental remarks of some of its members are strengthen-
ing the agitation against it. Thus, at a recent interview
with an excise deputation, the Lord Advocate ad-
mitted that he experienced great difficulty in con-
ducting cases before the Exchequer Court, hom the
complicated state of the laws, and instanced the case
of one distiller, wherein, after exerting all his in-
genuity, his lordship failed in obtaining a conviction,
and yet the prosecuted party had to pay 1001. of
costs.

The contemplated parliamentary investigation of
the Peebles election has caused a temporary consoli-
dation of the scattered liberals of Edinburgh. At a
private and preliminary meeting, held for the purpose
of assisting Mr. Carmichael in unseating Mr. Mac-
kenzie, the Lord Provost was in the chair, supported
by other well-known members of what is locally
termed the clique, while Mr. Cowan, 'M.P., moved
the first resolution, and one of hie chief supporters
seconded another. Since the palmy days when
Jeffrey, Moncrieff, Cockburn, Abereromby, and Gib-
son-Craig were in their prime, the clique, or liberal
party, have fallen off sadly—these relerans of famous
service never having been adequately succeeded,
while change of circumstance' has gradually peeled
off portions of the section on whom actual service de-
volved. Thus, the free church party represented by the
Witness threw off their allegiance some five years
age, and the voluntary dissenters, of which the Scot-
tish Press is the exponent, have cautiously been doing
the same for the last two or three years. Stereotyped
in their views, the old liberals either did or would not
see this, and, mistaking their remanent strength, al-
lowed Mr. Macaulay to be defeated. Formerly,
municipal contests were a species of training for par-
liamentary electioneering ; but now, Mr. Cowan has
thrown town-council honours in the shade, and red
cloaks and chains are looked at askance, instead of
being coveted. Time was, when an aspiring citizen
would contentedly burrow away at a commissioner-
ship of police, " creeping, creeping where no fame was
seen," trusting in due time to become councillor, dean
of guild, bailie, and even casting a daring thought at
the provostahip itself ; but the " unprecedented leap "
of Mr. Cowan from his counting-house to the floor of
St. Stephen's, has thrown all intermediate greatna's
into the shade ; and rather than hazard a comparison
with him, eligible men will prefer the laurels of pri-
vate life. In due course there will be a reaction,
' but, at present, this is the state of Edinburgh burgh
politics.
The adage, " that it never rains but it pours," has
been but too forcibly verified in Perthshire, as will
be seen by an account of the overflowing of the Tay,
which we quote below. Perth has had its sufferings,
as well as Edinburgh, from want of rain, which has
now, however, descended in such torrents, that parts
of that "fair city" are a half-fathom under water.
F.dinburgh could, however, from its elevated situa-
tion, withstand a deluge ; and what has been
a curse to Perth has proved a blessing to the
metropolis. The recent showers have relieved
its citizens from much privation and expence, and
have increased the supply of the indispensable fluid
to the inhabitants from about 750 to upwards sf
1,800 gallons per minute. A local paper remarks :
" It is fortunate for the community that this is the last
time they are likely to be subjected to the privation
to which for the last month they have been e
the directors of the company being confidentTrettß