The Express.
London, England, 1851-04-15 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, APRIL 15, 1851.

license of the Crown. Here at once he comes into
collision with the state ; here he is at issue with the
royal prerogative ; here he is aiming at giving a
, practical, effective, real action to the pnneiples he has
only before propounded in words ; here he seeks at I
obtaining from his clergy an assent to opinions, !
which assent, when obtained, he means to apply in
justification, not merely of restricting the spiritual
freedom of all the clergy in his diocese, but of cur-
tailing
the rights of patrons in dealing with the tem-
. porul affairs and property of the church. lie is, in
short, trying to do in the established church that '
which Cardinal WISEMAN has not yet dared to
attemptinhisvoluntarychurch. Willtheerownsubmit
to so flagrant an attack on its prerogative as this?
An attack, too, for which Bishop PIIILLPOTTS with
all his research can produce no authority, for which
he has no precedent, on behalf of which the utmost
that he can say is, that Bishop IiALL thought dioce-
san synods " ht and desirable," and that Dr. THOMAS
JACKSON, in the reign of JAMES 1., " remembered with
y of heart the synods of the clergy in which he was
bred." Forgetful, however, that the church itself, in
convocations of both provinces, only a few years after
JACKSON wrote, repudiated, in the canons of 1640, this
very right of calling svnods, as the following passage
from the first canon abundantly shows:
The power to call and dissolve councils both national and
provincial is the true right of all Christian kings within
their own tcrr tories. And, when in the tint tintec of
Christ's church prelates used this power, 'twas therefore
only because in those days they had no Christian king. And
it was then so only used is times of perseeution, with suppo-
sition (in case it were required) of submitting their Wry
VMS to the very laws and commands even of those pagan
princes that they might not so much as seem to disturb these
civil government, which Christ came to confirm, but by no
means to undermine.
This is both the law of the church and the law of
the land. The QUEEN, and the quEEN alone (her Ma-
jesty being, we suppose, even Bishop PitiLLevers will
allow, a Christian sovereign) has power, and au-
thority, and jurisdiction in tins realm to call synods
of the church either in its provinces or its dioceses.
And, when Dr. PitaLeorrs states that he has sum-
moned a is nod of his clergy to assemble in the
Cathedral of Exeter, there to protest against the law
of the land as administered by the QUEEN herself on
recommendation of the Judicial Committee of her
Privy Council in the Goitictst cose—,there also to de-
' liberate on "other matters whether affecting the
church at large or our own diocese in particular,"—
lie hats announced a breach on his part of the royal
prerogative so flagrant and audacious as cannot be
endured; he has called together an assembly so
illegal as to require the intervention of the police
for its dispersal.

SENHOR BRAVO MURILLO has certainly a fair
excuse to present to those very justly discontented
holders of the public debt of Spain, who resisted the
offers lately made to them as insufficient and dis-
honest. Ile and his administration have just been
very nearly overthrown by the parties in opposition,
which objected to his scheme as Mr too favourable to
the foreign creditor. It is unpopular in Spain, it
appears, at least in political circles, to pay the
foreign debt at all. And of course such honest
financiers as Senhor Moc are ready to make politi-
cal capital out of repudiation, mid oust the minis-
try for having dared to propose any thing in the
way of a proposal for settling the debt.
this is very disgraceful on the isirt of MON, whose
principle seems to be that there shall be no financial
operation except such us he is allowed to finger. At
whatever unfair or unfavourable terms BRAY°
MURILLO proposed to pay the interest on the debt,'
and however repudiating his proposition of the out•
standing interest, still he made no selection of con-
tractors or 'special holders of any particular kind of
debt to favour, es Senhor MON did in the creation of
his Three per Cents. Ihetvo Mumma:is scheme of
adjourning the payment of the Three per Cents. to
future years and throwing the Coupons overboard
almost altogether—this, however unsatisfactory to
the creditor, was evidently more than the old packed
Cortes would tolerate. The military and the floc
parties united to defeat it, and throw out the
ministry along with it. But this has led to the very
best nsult, a dissolution of the Cortes.
Spain will now have the opportunity of returning
a body of representatives who shall truly express the
feelings of the country. The military party, which
presided over the lust elections, and intimidated the
citizens to elect the goverioneut candidates, is now
out of power. And although the army and Senhor
BRAVO Mulatto arc Moderados, they are not of the
old dietat sial school. There does not reign that
fear of insurrection and disorder, which prevails in
France, to throw the electors and the elected of that
country into one of two extremes. There is room
1 and there is calm in Spain to permit of the wen-
dancy of a really moderate and liberal party, which
shall obliterate and übsorbthe old and now idle distinc-
tion of Modreado and Era Ma". When NARVA kr/. him-
-1 self for sonic time before he fell,was very willing tohave
allied with the Exaltados, could that party, so many
of whose eminent men he bud proscribed mid even
executed, have forgiven him, there can be no harrier
towards a fusion of parties, should the result of a
general election render it favourable.
It would be too much to hope for great progress
in commercial liberalism, as well in political progress,
from the next election. The very advances which
the towns and districts of Spain have made of lute
Tenn' have still left some one or two, or at most a
knot of capitalists, lords each of his district. In no
country have the aristocracy of wealth so completely
taken the place of the aristocracy of birth as in
Spain. And the influence of the one great merchant,
the one great landowner, is irresistibly predo-
minant. Such a government as that of 'NARVAEZ
might silence or neutralise the few of these
magnates that were liberal or hostile. In most
eases, he allied with them, and favoured them.
And we need not say that one of their demands has
been, and will be, commercial monopoly. No free
trade, no British cotton, no English iron, will be, as
it has been, their cry ; and how fur the influence of
government and of more enlightened statesmen
will be able to overcome such interested retrogradism
is more subject of anxiety than of hope. One cir-
cumstance indeed is good, that the stupid predos
miumwe which France has hitherto exerted over
Spanish councils must be much diminished;
and such questions as those which Mr. Ax-
nEnsos urges for the doing away with the
differential duties so unjust to English shipping,
or that the bondholders, with the aid of our foreign
secretary, may urge for a fair settlement of their
claims,—these will find in future governments a
I inure favourable car than in past ones. Spain, too,
may stand in need of foreign aid. Her hold of Cuba
is manifestly insecure. To keep there an amount of
military force at all times capable of defending it
were merely to consume its resources, and cat
up a fruitful source of revenue. It would be 1
more efficient and economic to depend for its safety
on a combination of foreign powers, guaranteeing it
to Spain. In return for which Spain must at least
act honestly by the subjects of those powers, who
in past times lent Spain and its constitutional govern-
ment and dynasty their money.
We should be sorry indeed to see an English am-
bassador interfering, identifying himself with any
party, or lending his support to any. mi-
nistry. Spain is out of such leading-strings.
But we may expect more advantages here-
after from the legitimate exercise of diplomatic
influence. We are glad to see that since the retire-
ment of NARTAEZ, we have heard less and less of the
private doings and intrigues of the court. I'revious
to the general's fall, we had the QUEEN, and the
QUEEN MOTH ER, and the KING CONSORT dragged
forth every week before the public as the actors in
some sorry squabble or discreditable plot. Since con-
stitutional government has become more a reality,
r all this has disappeared, the scene of the great
litical drama being transferred, as is right,
the saloons of the palace to the halls of the
Cortes. There was a spice, indeed, of the old in-
trigues, in the opposition of Senhor Most, and the
defection of Senhor NEGRETE, one of the cabinet.
But the prompt resolution which dismissed him mid
dissolved the Cortes shows, that there are civilians
still in Spain who can unravel the Gordian knot of
politics without the sword, and crush intrigue with-
out brutality or bloodshed.

LEITH DISTRICT OF BURGHS.—Tho Lord Adro-
Tate Monereiff, Esq.) delivered addresses on Thursday
and }rids,. last to the electors of Leith, Newhaven, Mus-
selburgh, and Portobello, in explanation of his political
sentiments; and resolutions to the effect that his lordship
was a fit and proper person to represent the constituency in
parliament were adopted at all the meetings. No other
candidate has taken the field, although Mr. John Mitchell,
the Belgian consul at Leith, bas hinted that he has some
' intention of coming forwald.