The Express.
London, England, 1848-01-20 00:00:00

taken place. During, the late crisis, ripe has been
known to be sold for the mere freight. All descrip-
tions of produce have declined 30 to 40 riaent. in
price, and considerable sacrifices are still made
by import merchants to get it off their Mei" 1.•47
property, Exchequer bills, and fudditir=rs:
still much depressed. Their owners,
means, may be able to bear with difficulty the same
public burdens which premed lightly on them be-
fore, to say nothing of additional imposts.
This is not all : independent of deteriorated veins.
which make it more difficult to raise or spars Me
money for paying taxes, there has been beyond doubt
an actual diminution of the national capital. The
Messrs. Du FAY, of Manchester, in their circular of
January 1, submitted to their correspondents& tabular
statement of capital lost, and capital locked up during
1846-7, " based upon something like sure data." Its
figures will enable the rtsder to form en approxima-
tire estimate of the difficulties encountered, and the
losses sustained by the people of this country during
that period.
Invested In railways is 1846-7, at present unprofitable 487,843,000
Irldi leen 10,000,000
lapletstion swiss atm Is 1$ niontba, en a madden
wed Were the trade ander the new law
bad Ire rapier thserals
adored - by the Moms at mercantile Arms,
sermid hi the swept, to amount to 30,000,0004
eradird mutual Inv 10,000,000
Ran cdr In the cotton trade In 1847 ocenpared with
1846, r Mows by oar comparative retraced
Without undertaking to vouch for the correctness
of these figures,or to determine the exact extent of the
diminution in the national capital indicated by them,
it is certain that the authority by which they are
stated creates a presumption in their favour, and that
the only inference to be drawn from them is, that the
amount of the national capital has actually been di-
minished by recent events.
We draw attention to these facts for the purpose of
reminding ministers and members of parliament, in
the homely phrase of the old proverb, that it is weer
eery to cut your coat according to your cloth. The
amount of national taxation ought to be regulated,
not only by the real or imaginary exigencies of public
business, but by the ability. of the people to pay.
The people are at present not in a condition to pay aug-
mented faxes, perhaps not oven able to flay the present
rates, without suffering severely. This is no time for
indulging in fantastic or experimental expenses, or
for shrinking from any possible retrenchment by
which national expenditure may be diminished, or
from any re-adjustment or reduction in the rates of
taxation by which national burdens may be lightened.
Financial questions will occupy a large share of
blic interest and attention for some time to tome.
public
In discussing them we will never leave out of view the
principle that government is teneceessi7 of life,snd that
taxes required for defraying the legitimate and useful
expenditure of government are money as well spent
as any we lay out—one of the justest debts we owe.
But the con,ideration of the present diminished
amount and reduced value of the national property
shall controul and guide us is canvassing every esti-
mate, and all the items of ways and means. And wo
would anxiously impress upon the public at large the
necessity of adopting and adhering to a similar re-
solve. Ministers can scarcely be expected to give
this consideration the full weight to which it is en-
titled. And as to so-called independent members of
parliament, an experience of some duration, has
brought us reluctantly to the conclusion that most of
them shrink with terror from opportunities of rea-
lising their own principles, when they involve any
novelty in practice, and only assert them boldly when
sure of au overwhelming majority against them.

THE death of Lord Yowls will excite no political
interest. He was neither eloquent nor busy, nor a
party leader ; bat the comparatively prominent posi-
tion in which he had been more than once placed by
circumstances within the last few years, may justify a
passing notice of an event, which was unexpected,
and in its circumstances singularly melancholy.
Lord POWS'S position in the world was one of the
happiest and most favourable which can be imagined.
His possessions in Shropshire and Montgomeryshire
made him one of the wealthiest of the aristocracy ;
and he lived in a part of England where the influence
of the great landholders is more thoroughly unshaken
than in more sophisticated regions. From Powis
Castle, which was the pi operty of the late earl, even
during his father's lifetime, he could look over a wide
and luxuriant landscape, which scarcely included •
farm belonging to any rival owner. By marriage he
was connected with ,
a proprietor even wealthier than himself, re-
presented one division of the same county
which, for its other division, returned the heir of the
home. The earl himself was lord-lieutenant of an
adjoining county, where his maternal ancestors had
been predominant for centuries, while in the male line
he represented one of the greatest of modern war-
riors. Lord-lieutenancies indeed; and garters, attach
themselves so naturally to rank and wealth that they
amount to a recognition rather than an increase of the
docorations of aristocracy. To the mere important
dignities of office we are not aware that Lord Fowls
ever aspired ; though we believe he once held some
subordinate office under Lord LIVERPOOL'S admini-
stration. We believe be bore the accumulated advan-
tages of fortune with propriety and good feeling.
He displayed the popular English tastes for farming
and other country pursuits, and the still more popular
virtues of domestic life. We believe that he was
personally popular in his own county, as wealthy
noblemen of goad character always are. The English re-
spect for rank is mixed up with some debasingelements:
but one of its most innocent elements consists in a
natural sympathy with prosperity and apparent hap-
piness. A romance teeming with good fortune is
always pleasant to read; and for much the same
reason, apart from political speculations, the life of a
wealthy earl,who seems as much exempt from human
cares as the gods of Emenaes, and who yet is not,
like them, debarred from the exercise of a wholesome
activity and from s due influence on the affair of
the world, forms a kind of ideal of worldly prosperity
more unclouded than the uncertain brilliancy which
accompanies the anxious career of the statesman or
the general. We neither approve nor blame this
tendency to admire the rich; we merely point it out.
The championship of the see of St. Asaph, when its
existence was threatened by. the Ecclesiastical Com-
missioners formed the principal act of Lord Powis's
public life. Of the merits of the question it is not
necessary to speak. Most persons probably now think
that the change would have done little good or harm.
St. Asaph might have done without a bishop, as well
as many a place of greater pretensions—ri adsie non
recuso ; si obsit non desidero, is the proper expression
of the ordinary orthodox layman's feeling to a con-
tingent bishop. There was, however, no question
that the feeling of the clergy was opposed to the
change ; and a kind of dilettante Welsh nationality
came in aid of ecclesiastical associations. It was,
perhaps, rather creditable to Lord Powis than other-
wise, that he shared in a feeling which at the time
was generally expressed. At any rate, it is credit-
able to him, having determined on his object, to
have effected it. The man who has done something is
entitled to precedence over the man who has only at-
tempted to effect objects which may, perhaps, in
themselves be of much greater importance. We
have seen too many instances of sham reputations,
founded on the profession of popular opinions and the
affectation of advocating some cause, which never-
theless remains where it was, to withhold a
certain amount of approbation from an in-
dividual who has successfully influenced pub-
lic affairs, even to the extent of rescuing a bishop
from annihilation. The undertaking was not with-
out difficulty, if it was of little importance. The go-
vernment of the day had no sympathy with what are
called high church views. Sir ROBERT PEEL
thoroughly sympathised with the economical reforms
of the commission, which he had himself originated.
Lord ABERDEEN is a Presbyterian. The Duke of
WELLINGTON is by no means an ecclesiastical enthu-
siast. The repeal of the St. Asaph Act did not call
for great ability or eloquence ; but it would have
failed but for the calmness and steadiness which
were brought to bear on it by Lord Fowls.
The same qualities were shown on the last occasion
which brought the deceased earl into public
notice. Having accepted a proposal from the
authorities of his own college to become a
candidate for the vacant chancellorship of the
university, he was afterwards informed that
Prince ALBERT was in the field against him. Some
of Lord Powts's more dignified supporters were will-
ing to open every facility for his retiring from the
contest; but he never hesitated este the course which
became him as a gentleman. lie had given his word
to hie supporters, without guarding against the pos-
sible contingency of a royal opposition; and it did
not occur to him to leave them m the lurch from the
fear of possible court disfavour. That some firmness