The Express.
London, England, 1851-10-14 00:00:00

lIIGH WATER AT Lt
1,.• 16.10 e.
—3le-tuag. 41. 1,75.

that universal suffrage had done was to disinherit
the old. corrupt clique of politicians that had mono-
polised place. These by the law of May have re-
covered their old advantages, and hence the 111363 of
petty and personal intrigues that disgrace the
country, confound all principles, and render uncer-
tain all results.
To these arguments LOUIS Narosrox has added
his own. In them he has declared his opinion. that
there are hut two solid sources of governmental autho-
rity, hereditary kingly right, or popular elective
right ; and that both must be perfect, for that no
quasi-legitimacy, or quasi-elective will hold. The
executive of prance must, therefore. he chosen by
the whole people or by none. A portion will not
suffice. The remark that rises to every one's
lip, is, why this very fine and proper
chain of reasoning did not oecar to l'rince
Louis NAPOLEON, when he sanctioned his
ministers in introducing the law of May, disfran-
, chising the millions? The entire political world in
France is disputing about principles, when it is clear
that no one party in power has the least sincere
respect for principle of any kind. It is mere time-
serving, gilded over with fine and ambiguous words,
the Prince himself setting the example.
But although lAiels Naeostox gave himself up
from the first to the guidance of the reactioni,ts, he
is had still, from time to time, fits of
awakening to liberal ideas, and to a con-
,
sciousness that they alone could save him.
hence tho letter to tolonel °roma against the
conduct of the Roman government, and hence so
many liberal sentiments, and resolves, and stray
speeches, at odd momenta These, however, arc
but faint flames, that light up from smouldering
mhos, to die as soon as born. The President's regret
for having disfranchised millions of those who voted'
for him is one of those vain coruscations, those idle
regrets, which lie has the weakness and wilfulness to
betray, but not the morase or constancy to act upon.
If the President got rid M. FACCIIER to-morrow
for such a cause, where is he to find a minister?
M. Rumor certainly. would not volunteer to servo
him, or to embark in a contest with the Assembly,
for any aVe ,Vilioljonieniie however just. Whatever
desire the hapless Prince may have to become libe-
ral, it is now too late. What real liberal would now
trust him? Ito must lie on the bed of state that he has
made himself, propped on those conservative parties
who arc openly betraying him, yet whose momentary
countenance and support he cannot dispense with.
Repeal the law of the 31st of May he cannot, with-
out a coup rl flat, and he has for that neither the
courage nor the chance of success.
To all appearance now there is little chance of re-
pealing the law of the 15th of May; and without its
repeal, or even with it, there are less and less
chances every day of any candidates getting the
requisite number of suffrages for the definitive elec-
tion. The idea has gone forth amidst the provinces that
IssutsNirossoN may not be elected. A 9 he was before
chosen so unanimously from the belief of every one
that he would command a larger majority, so now
the doubt of his uniting any such nuinlsT of sup-
porters is sufficient to chill many who before voted
for Isis name. How much that name has lost of its
splendour we need not say. The refusal to permit
W. transit of KOSSUTH is alone a meanness that
must strike the commonest judgment. It bespeaks
at once illiberalism and fear.
The chances are that since no candidate musters
a sufficient number of votes for the presidency,
the decision of so important a question will conic,
as by the constitution it is ordained, to the
National Assembly. And this, elected under the
law of the 31st of May, will in all probability be
neither Napolconian nor republican. By introduc-
ing that law Prince Louis betrayed tho republic;
but that same act of treachery contained within it
retribution, for it hung a millstone round the neck
of the Prince himself. It is difficult to say whether
the universal indifference, aversion, and contempt of
the French will be greater for the President who
is about to be degraded, or for him who is about to
be promoted.

lx attempting to present to our readers an estimate
of the immelliate and prospective effects of actual I
prices of agricultural produce, on the condition of
the British fanner, we may run some risk of making
statements, and arriving at conclusions, which will
not be altogether satisfactory, either to those who
sec no hope, or those who have no fean; forour husband-
men. We have always been earnest and thorough-
going free-traders; we know, and always knew, a
repeal of the corn laws, and all similar restrictions,
to be an indispensable preliminary to the business of
fanning becoming one of ordinary hazards, and
ordinary productiveness; and we spared no pains
to aid in such repeal, and to reconcile farmers
to that inevitable necessity. But we never did, and
cannot now overlook the fact, that the present
generation of farmers have grown up under a system
of protection, that their habits, ideas, and calcula-
tions have all been created and founded upon an ar-
tificial and unnatural state of things --not merely in
reference to prices, but in relation also to nearly
every act and contract of the farmer's business—and
that they ran no more get into a sound, wholesome,
and natural condition, without pain and suffering,
than a nun who has long disregurdul the physical
laws of health and well-being can recover his natural
health without depression and self-denial. Neither
do the case, of the removal of protection, or the
withdrawal of a monopoly from manufacturers
—the silk trade, fur instance—offer any com-
plete parallel to the case of the farmer,
under existing circumstances. The difference in
price of Isis commodity, and the liability to open
competition with other manufacturers who could pro-
duce more cheaply or supply n superior article, were
the only substantial difficulties the unprotected manu-
facturer had to contend with. Secingthe necessity of
exertion to retain or enlarge his market, and knowing
at once in what particulars he was inferior to any of
Lis competitors, lie could forthwith take the necessary
means for cheapening or improving his manufacture,
or doing whatever else might be necessary to enable
him to compete successfully with his rivals. Ile had
only to know the necessity and will the adequate
means for business exertion. The benumbing opera-
tion of monopoly over his mind and his business ceased
with the removal of the monopoly. Nut so in the case
of the farmer. The artificial system of protection
had rendered him in a measure incapable of
exerting himself, though Le sees that great and
immediate exertions are absolutely necessary to save
him from ruin; for he has enterca into engagements
with his landlord, and has become involved in an

erroneous method of management, front which
neither landlord nor tenant can alone find the means
of extrication. It was not merely that the corn
laws promised, and perhaps sometimes gave, the
farmer higher prices than he could have obtained in
a natural market, they induced also great fluctua-
tions in price, from which some farmers occasionally
did, and all hoped, to protit ; but these fluctuations
rendered both landlord and tenant alike averse to
entering into permanent and prospective engage-
ments. The one feared that if the times went un-
towardly or the crops should fail, his tenant might
nut be able to pay his rent, and then, it' he had a lease,
there might be some difficulty in turning him oat; so on
I the other hand the tenant was equally. unwilling to be
held toe tenancy which, in certain contingencies he be-
lieved possible, might become ruinously-burthensome.
Both parties entertained an exaggerated notion of
the effects produced by the corn law upon prices,
and both felt that the loss of protection was a hazard
constantly impending. Conscious of having an un-
just law made in their favour, to which the rest of
the community never patiently submitted, and which
I was constantly- undergoing some change or moditica-
I tion, all the relations of landlord and tenant. all the
terms of the contract of ter.ancv, became temporary
and provisional. Often during the last thirty-five
I years have hundreds of tenant farmers gone on for
years together without knowing exactly what their
rent would be until they received the fiat of the
I steward, perhaps on the very rent day.
When prices were depressed, landlords made
temporary abatements of rent as mere matters of
grace and favour, but without altering the peruaa-
neat rental. Often and often have we seen tenants
come into the steward's room on the rent day expect-
ing some, but not knowing what, abatement they
were to receive, or rhether they were to ihave
any allowances whatever ; and in many, perhaps
most of such cases. they had made serious sacrifices
of their produce in order to be prepared with the
full amount of their re 11'4. So again we have often
known farmers holding on for years together with
the determination that, if " times did not alter"
or the landlord make a considerable abatement