The Express.
London, England, 1846-09-08 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 8.
THE intervals, sometimes unavoidable, in a life of
public exertion, are seldom filled up so gracefully and
usefully as they now seem to be by Mr. CAMDEN. It
is pleasant to turn from the reports of royal matri-
monial intrigues, of diplomatic dexterity, of the
selfish tricks of Irish landlordism in the face of
famine, and of the havoc amongst grouse and part-
ridges by legislators happily liberated from their public
functions, to the details of Mr. COBDEN'S reception in
France, and of the manner in which he responds to the
interest excited by his name in that country. They
present a picture of cordiality and frankness, of ap-
preciation and of unselfish earnestness, which it is
alike gratifying to contemplate in the givers and the
recipient of these social honours. It speaks well for
all; for the mutual understanding and harmony of
two great nations, and for the peace of the world by
the progress throughout the world of just views of
human interests and true glory.
The greeting which awaited Mr. COBDEN in
France ; the compliment, not accorded by the state-
lier, yet really, in such omissions, less civilised eti-
quette of our own Court, of a royal invitation ;
spontaneous public demonstrations at Paris and at
Bordeaux ; were all unsought for, and, as we believe,
came quite unexpectedly upon the unobtrusive tra-
veller, as he endeavoured to avail himself of the most
simple and obvious means for the restoration of health,
shattered by efforts of physical as well as mental ex-
ertion rarely paralleled. It was in the rapid suc-
cession of public meetings, in different parts
of the country, through the month immediately
preceding the opening of Parliament, when the
agitation reached its acme, that Mr. COBDEN'S
strength gave way, and a complete break-down
was threatened of his vigorous constitution. Happily
his work was then at an end. The time of triumph
was come. The rival leaders of the House of Com-
mons were ready for that portion of the task which
devolved upon them. An exhausted frame had yet
energy for utterance of a final rebuke to Protectionists
and Protection ; and the champion of commercial
freedom was at liberty for the restorative "immuni-
ties of private life," which enlightened Frenchmen
have made the means of extending, prolonging, and
brightening the lustre of his achievement. Mr.
COBDEN sought health in France, and to that blessing
France adds the meed of gratitude and honour.
We should not have expected from our neighbours
so prompt and generous an appreciation of the peculiar
merits of Mr. COBDEN. They do not judge things by
our commercial standard. To military glory they are
all alive. Literary talent has its temples, whose gates
stand ever open. For the praises of artistic genius,
they have loud echoes. Liberty, if but a word, is
still to them a word of power ; it is a spell and a
charm. But political economy seems beyond the
circle of French enthusiasm. They have shouldered
their muskets against tyranny, but never against mo-
itopoly. There is no fascination in the maxim of buy-
ing in the cheapest market and selling in the dearest.
Glory is more readily associated with storming forts,
and planting the national banner on the cathedral
towers of a hostile capital, than with the cannon-
ading of custom-houses by arguments and statistics.
And yet BAPTISTE SAY has not written in vain. The
labours of the League were not unmarked daring its
arduous progress. The fullest and noblest tribute
yet rendered, both to the workmen and the work, is
in the publication last year of " Cobden et la Ligue,
ou l'Agitation Anglaise pour la Liberte du Commerce,
par M. FRED. BASTIAT." We have, at present, no
such English record of those memorable proceedings;
and the publication shows a thorough comprehension
of the importance and general advantages of the un-
dertaking, as well as of its arduousness.
We trust it may be inferred that the honorary
movements which attend Mr. COBDEN'S progress
testify to the enlightened adoption of his
principles. We take them as presumptive evi-
dence that the doctrines of free trade have
obtained a firm hold upon French intelligence.
Their reference to the past is thus subordinated
to their mighty influence upon the future. They
promise co-operation in striking off the shackles
of industry all over the world. Towards this con-
summation all personal homage is carefully and con-
scientiously directed by Mr. COBDEN. In himself, he
only sees the cause of free trade. Its triumph is all
that he hears in the longest and loudest shout of gra-
tulation. The truth, importance, and beneficence of
free trade principles, are the theme to which he
always resorts ; and they constitute his personal
acknowledgments. He cannot separate himself from
them. They are his breath of life. On them he
plants the wreaths woven for his own brow. In
them, we speak it not profanely, he lives, moves, and
, • has his being. And thus, in the reception of praises,
he continues the fulfilment of his mission. Those
- who cover him with glory only gird him up for pur-
suing his apostleship.
How much better is all this than the fierce and
gloomy mutterings of late exchanged across the
channel! Under the truthful warmth of Mr. COBDEN'S
• addressee, the notion that free trade was only an-
- other phase of the national selfishness that had adhered
to monopoly as long as it would answer, has begun
to melt away from the European mind. His finger
unvaryingly points to the common interest of nations,
the interest of universal humanity. Every meeting
to do him honour is thus made a pledge of pro-

resolve enlightenment and enduring peace. 11.6 is an
ambassador, accredited to the world's merchants and
manufacturers, to its industrial producers and distri-
buters of every class, by authority more potential
than that of Courts. He represents truth and know-
ledge. He negotiates for no advantage that is not
mutual. And those who recognise his credentials
become fellow-labourers in the same good cause,
which, though it seems only to regard material
good, and does so in its immediate application, yet
rises, in its results, into the cause of universal peace
and progress, the pledge of good-will amongst men,
and the promise of well-being for humanity.

I THE reflections which the Queen of Seares mar-
riage might suggest, and the hopes it might excite,
assuming for certain that betrothal of her Majesty to
the eldest eon of the Infante Don FRANCISCO which
has since been made officially known, were last week
anticipated in 'this journal. There was no marriage
that Queen ISABELLA could have contracted free from
serious objections. A en.__Buito would have suggested
the idea, without the reality, of British ascendancy.
A French Prince would have been a restoration of
the Family Compact and of Spain's vassalage to the
Tuileries. A TRAPANI marriage was scouted by
almost all Spaniards. The family of Don FRAKasco
alone seemed to satisfy the national suffrage ; that of
Don CARLOS being for obvious reasons out of the
question.

Nevertheless, despite its national and liberal charac-
ter, the family of the Infante was hardly that from
which a girl and a queen would select mate and con-
sort. We never beheld the diminutive stature, peaked
beard, and singular features of the Infante, without
instantly recalling VELASQUEZN portraits of the Bois
faineant of the Hispano-Austrian race. The bigot
education, childish cares, grave etiquette, and political
nonenity of all Spanish kings, seem to have reduced
these royal patients, no matter what their diversity
of race, to a kind of uniformity of expression, which
it would be uncivil to characterise when we add that
the living members of the family resemble the type,
and that it is about the most unpromising for the
founder of a dynasty that could be invented or
imagined.

However, the physical or intellectual qualities of a
king of Spain are matters, it would seem, not worth
consideration. That ho should be of the pure Bourbon
race is the sine qua non: not only uncle or cousin to
the royal bride, but the most cretin of uncles and
cousins. Common reputation had fixed upon the
second eon of lion FRANCISCO as the prince who
had most escaped from the hebetude and nullity of
the family. Of this, indeed, Don ENRIQUE had given
proofs. But as his talent was tinged with liberalism,
it was thought dangerous; and he has been set aside
for the elder brother, who better represents the race,
and who will more fully satisfy the sinister purpose of
reducing it to the old /ailment standard.

The arrangement that Queen ISABELLA'S younger
sister is to marry the Due de MONTPENSIEB, will not,
it is understood, take effect till the QUEEN shall give
signs of offspring. That the family tie between
court and court should be drawn thus close, and a
French Prince made at least presumptive heir to the
Spanish throne,—it is impossible that we should not
think dangerous. We can see no other result await-
ing it than a general and strong dislike amongst the
Spanish people. The French may indeed stifle the
popular voice, and that of the Cortez, by means of
a military government; but in this case the indepen-
dence of the peninsula must be considered at an end,
or become a thing to be won and vindicated by
revolution and the sword. Either of these alternatives
is bad ; destructive to Spain and its prosperity. We
cannot, at the same time, perceive by what dictation
we are to prevent two courts and two allied families
from entertaining intimate relations ; and to foresee
dangers is easier than to provide against them.
It is a satisfaction, at any rate, amid these
doubts and dangers, to see the Queen married
into a family which has given pledges to liberty,
and which has shown its attachment to the
constitution. Had ISABELLA married her uncle
TRAPANI, and her mother CIIIUSTINA remained
thereby uncontrolled mistress of the palace, no
liberal or constitutional minister would have coa-
-1 sidered himself safe, or installed in office for other
than treacherous purposes. On the contrary, the
choice of the Infante's son to be King Consort, and
his influence in the palace, will be a guarantee to the
liberals, at least till proof arises to the contrary,
that it is meant to deal fairly by them, should the
alternations of representative government bring them
into power.
But, as we said the other day, it remains to be
seen in what spirit and policy this marriage will be
inaugurated. Such an event is the most auspicious
and natural epoch for an amnesty, not a partial
but a real one, such as even the Popo has
extended to those who rebelled last year. A mere
amnesty in name would be dangerous and idle. It
must be accompanied with such changes in the
policy of the government, and in the restoration
of constitutional rights, as would content the
exiles, and enable them to have confidence in
the Queen's intentions, and hopes connected with
her reign. This would be a bold act for ISTURITZ,
once an ultra-liberal, then an ultra-regimist, and now
leaning to liberalism again. Some policy of the kind
is necessary in order to rally all liberals, even the

Esparteristi, around the throne. For one result
of the marriage will be, by destroying the matrimo-
nial hopes of the Carlista, to throw them once more

into schemes of insurrection. These may break oat
with serious magnitude; such as may require the
efforts of the liberals again in union to put down
and extinguish for ever. Nor can ISABELLA'S throne
be considered firm, nor her rights be recognised by
Eastern Europe, till the pretensions of CAELOS have
been met by the national unanimity, and, in case of
insurrection, crushed by a final blow.

ONE of the effects of the scarcity in Ireland is,
that it has taught the people they have a govern-
ment. To men accustomed to hear the Saxon

denounced as a hard and unfeeling tyrant, the active
humanity of the Imperial Legislature must have
appeared startling. It could hardly fail to suggest this
question, Could so much have been done, or so well
done, by " a parliament sitting in College-green?"
We find, from the correspondence lately published,
that it has had precisely this effect. We hear of such
remarks as " This is the sort of repeal for Ireland and
may the Almighty bless our QUEEN." " After all
PEEL is a true man to old Ireland, and the right
sort."

If the emergency has corrected many of the pea-
sant's prejudices against a Saxon government, it has,
on the other side, exhibited to England the poorer
classes of Ireland in a remarkably favourable light.
The patience with which the pinch of hunger has
been borne ; not, be it remembered, the hunger with
which the Irish peasant is unhappily familiar for at
least three months of the ordinary year, but something
bordering closely on starvation ; reveals to us more
than the mere habit of endurance. In no case has
any outbreak occurred on the part of the really
distressed. The attack which was made on one
convoy was got up by a set of habitually disorderly
" Tipperary boys ; " the regular fomenters of
_ . .

feeling and discontent, thrown out of their ordinary
Ribbon or Molly Maguire practice by the present
overwhelming calamity.

It is true that there has been much complaint of
laziness on the relief works. This was due in part
to the carelessness with which the relief committees
granted their tickets, in part to the remissness of
those who should have shown the poor man a better
example, and in great part also to the very vague
notions of what a government really is, which pre-
vail among the inhabitants of the wilder districts.
To their apprehension, PEEL was the distri-
buter of inexhaustible funds. The money spent

in wages was no object whatever to those
who tarnished it. The peasant who would have
toiled like a horse for the farmer, idled on the relief
road: but it was in the security of him who fancies
he has discovered a treasure, not in the spirit of the
discontented and sulky pauper.
The patience and innate honesty of the labouring
class of Irish is proved by the fact that, under the
pressure of unexampled distress, with fat cattle
grazing in the fields, and deprlts of government
meal almost unguarded, no attacks on property, with
the exception mentioned above, have taken place
since the commencement of the relief efforts.
The very spirit in which they viewed the disaster,
indicates a practical piety and trust in Providence
rarely found even among the educated classes of Eng-
land. Captain PERCEVAL writes to Mr. TREVELYAN,
" The poor fellows bear it very patiently : they seem
to take it as a judgment from God for their sins. I
had heard that the Sabbath was not well observed, so
I asked one if that was the case, when he said, 0
don't say that, your honour, for we shouldn't work on
Sunday for the fear of man, let alone the fear of God;
but if we don't work, we swear and blaspheme on
the Sabbath, and that's worse,' Another said,
' It's the wrath of God, sir, for the sins of
the people that's on the land.' Another, ' The curse
of God is on the land, and no wonder.' " The letters
of the commissariat officers testify to the thankfulness
of the people, and the perfect absence of any riotous
disposition. We know few utterances of poverty and
helplessness more pathetic than the following, which
was found posted in the townland of Moyglass, county

Roscommon :
" To the Honourable and Committee of Public Works,

" We the indigent and needy and distressed class of Work-
men of this part of the Vicinity having no means to procure a
subsistence, can no longer bear the merciless pangsof hunger,
humbly deprecates the Committee will take into considera-
tion and commissemte the awful and melancholy state of
those humble and peaceful People, and give theta employ-
ment, according to every other part of the Country, before
they are exposed to the impending danger of present /Maine
which has neither shame nor honesty, and before We violate
the ties of honesty which we were bred to. We desire Work,
and nothing bid Work, and hope the Committee and Gentle-
men of the Vicinity will find that for us, and hopes the
honourable Gentlemen will not be offended at this Notice,
because We are no Molly., We distain it.
Let no person take this down."

It is true that this patience under suffering may
cease to be a virtue, when it passes certain limits.
Often the mere lowness of the standard of personal
comfort may engender it. But when it is accompa-
nied, as in Ireland, with an active imagination, a
cheerful temper, and a readiness, even on the part of
the very poor, to extend aid to the still poorer, there
is in it a good material to work upon. The

iforts of such landlords as Lord GEORGE HILL show
what may be done against all the disadvantages of
great ignorance, stubborn prejudice (the indication of
a lurking virtue in men situated as the poorer Irish
have been for centuries), and long-continued neglect.
It is easy to upbraid the poor labourer with duplicity
and irreclaimable laziness. What has been done by
his natural teachers, the rich and educated about him,
to shame the one or remove the other ? Except the
priests, who has been the poor man's friend
in Ireland ? If anything were wanting to
confirm the charges that have recently been
made against the Irish landholders, it is their
conduct during the present distress. While the
peasant has borne patiently the intolerable load of
want, they have querulously struggled against the
burden of relief. The former has been grateful for
all that government has done to aid him ; the latter
has complained that the executive has not released
him from the duty of aid altogether. We speak with
full sense of the activity of local committees. The
clergy of all denominations, and the residents
of the middle class, have done their duty. If
extensive landholders and middlemen had, generally
speaking, done as much, the task of government,
instead of being, as it is, almost too much for even
public resources, would have been comparatively light.
All parties, all bloods, all religions must divide the
weight of the imputation among them; but certain it

is, that property in Ireland, while clamorous for its
"rights," has acted as if these involved among them
. .

that of entirely shirking its "duties."

OUR last review of the evidence taken by the
Andover Union Committee, enabled us to form some
conception of the functions or no functions of the
" senior commissioner." The three days' examination
of Sir EDMUND HEAD throws a little more light upon
the constitution and moduli operandi of the Board.
With the graphic talent of his family, Sir EDMUND
brings that anomalous body very characteristically
before us.

"Generally speaking," said Sir EDMUND, explain-
ing how a Board is constituted, " two sit together in
the Board Room, and the papers are laid before these
two commissioners, or the greater part of them."

" Two commissioners are competent to act as a
Board, and the presence of the third is not
necessary." The other commissioner is not
merely exonerated from attendance at the Board,
but apparently, unless a spontaneous fit of activity
seize him, from any labour whatever. " If any other
papers are looked over by the other commissioner, he
reserves such as he thinks ought to be reserved, and
1 those that appear imprtant are laid before his coi-
-1 leagues." Being asked how long a period was
referred to in the phrase "generally speaking," Sir
EDMUND replied, "ever since Mr. NICHOLLS returned
from Ireland ; ever since fee had three commissioners
to act together." It seems rather Irish to assign
the having three commissioners as a reason for only
two acting.

Sometimes, however, the three do meet at once, and
then it would appear to have been Sir EDMUND'S
business to lecture Mr. NICHOLLS ; Mr. Ntcßou.s'
not to attend to Sir EDMUND ; and Mr. Lewis's to look
" grave and severe." When told that Mr. NICHOLLS
distinctly asserted that no review had been made of
Mr. PARKER'S conduct, "I cannot answer," said Sir
EDMUND, " for the effect on Mr. NICHOLLS'S mind ;
but I myself spoke to Mr. NICHOLLS, with that paper
in my hand containing the abstract from Mr.
PARKER'S diary ; Mr. NIERou.s may not recollect
it." When asked whether Mr. LEWIS did not look
greatly offended at Mr. PARKER : " I do not remem-
ber that Mr. LEWIS looked greatly offended. His
manner throughout the interview was grave and
severe; it always is whether he is speaking to me or
any one else ; it was exceedingly grave." CRUIK-
SHANK might paint the Board from these hints.
In addition to the thankless task of lecturing the
inattentive Mr. NtatoLEs, Sir EDMUND Seems to
have been employed to prevent any of the officials
in Somerset House from having direct commu-
nication with the Secretary of State, except
himself, Mr. LEWIS, and Mr. LUMLEY. Sir
EDMUND arrived in town at an advanced hour in
the afternoon of the day when Mr. PARKER bad his

celebrated interview with Sir JAMES Gamum. On
the score of Mr. Nicholls he felt quite at ease. He
has seen Mr. Nicholas at the Home-office, but that
was " some time ago "—a two or three years ago."
Being told, however, that Mr. PARKER had gone to
the Home-office, he immediately rushed thither after
him, and " sent in word to say I was there." He came
too late. " Sir baths GRAHAM then said with regard
to bone-crushing, it was evident there were great
objections to it ; and he said, ' Have you the power to
put it down ?' and looked to me inquiringly. To which
I answered,' I think we have by way of regulating the
labour in workhouses.' And I turned to Mr. PARKER,
as soliciting his assent to that observation ; and Mr.
PARKER assented to it." But Mr. PARKER did
more than assent. A letter had been put by him into
Sir JAMES GRAHAM'S hands before Sir EDMUND
arrived, which showed that the commissioners
had asserted the power : " that we had done so after
a letter from the medical officer, and I have an im-
pression that the letter was there; but how it got to
the Home-office I cannot tell; I cannot say whether
or not Mr. PARKER brought it down."