The Express.
London, England, 1851-05-07 00:00:00

SPAIN.

MADRID, MAT I.
A courier has just started with fresh instructions
to the Spanish minister at Lisbon.

GERMANY.

PRUSSIA.
Our correspondent writes :
BERLIN, Max 3.
It is asserted, on good authority, that the Diet will meet
at Frankfurt on the 10th inst. One of the first questions
which will have to be dismissed by the conclave of diploma-
tists, when they shall have again assembled in their old
haunts, will be the Danish and Schleswig Holstein quarrels.
Denmark, on this question, knows no moderation whatever,
and has even pushed her arrogance so far that the Austrian
government has been compelled to assume an attitude of
opposition. Flushed by. their victory in the field, and tho
triumph of their despotic allies in council, the Hanish
government refuses t 2 listen to the advice of the Austrian
anal Prussian coinnussioners, disobeys their injunctions,
and delays at every step the establishment of a definitive
reorganisation of the affairs of the Duchy of Holstein. In
Schleswig, the possession of which they regained after the
battle of lastedt, their government has been followed by
famine and disease' the emigration or imprisonment
of the discontented, the removal from their offices
of every German clergyman and schoolmaster, and the
introduction of men incapable of understanding the only
language which the inhabitants can speak. All communi-
cation with Holstein, political or commercial, has been sur-
rounded by such barriers that they amount almost to an en-
tire prohibition. Enormous taxes have been levied iu every
direction, and where payment was impossible, the plough of
the peasant or the bed of his wife have been seized to make
up the amount. In Schleswig the Danes rule without let or
hindrance. Not so in Holstein. The link between Holstein
and Germany, as unpleasant to the Denmark as to the Eider
party, has compelled the Danish government to pursue
their oppressive measures with less violence anal precipita-
tion. Yet has their conduct gone beyond the bounds of the
elastic consciences possessed by Generals Count Mensdortf
and Thiimen ; the former has made such representations to
his government (the Austrian) that a very ener-
getic note has been despatched to Copenhagen urging
greater moderation and despatch, especially in
the convocation of the promised assembly of
notables. The Prussian government have followed the
Austrian example, and have forwarded a similar note to the
Danish cabinet. Whatever the result may be, this question
wil occupy very closely the attention of the Diet in more
ways than one. it will come before them first of all, per-
haps, in the shape of demands by Prussia fur the liquidm
tion of the claims put forward for her interference in 1848,
and afterwards.

It is reported that the Emperors of Russia and Austria
will meet together in the course of the precut month.
According to the lireuz-z,ilang, the diff,renees between
this and the court of tVurtemberg are about to be put an
end to, and the usual diplomatic connexion resumed. A
friendly autograph letter from the King of Prussia is mid
to have paved the way for a restoration of the old friend-
ship.
The finance committee of the first chamber reported to-
day on the expenditure of the eighteen millions, voted lot
'ear fur the Erfurt Union. The debate had not termi-
nated when the evening papers went to prem.
The Second Chamber is discussing the new press law,
which has been sent down from the First Chamber. The
committee on the law had again moderated the severest
but in the debate every alteration has been rejected
pasta
Right and Centre combined, and all the Ono/jou
provisions of the original law maintained.
A memorial has been Issued from the' Ministry of the In-
terior, calling the attention of the provincial governments
to the " German National Lean " prospectuses issued by
the fugitives in London, and warning them to be on their
guard against the circulars being sent about in the pro-. 1
vines.
In consequence of the great acceleration of all the mails
arriving in Berlin, the morning papers now bring all the

foreign news instead of the ell nin7 papers. The London
papers arrive now in 42 or 43 hours. The Vienna journal
arrive seven or eight hours earlier than formerly.

AUSTRIA.

Letters from Vienna of the 29th ult., state, on the
authority of the general correspondence, that a con-
vention has weed between most of the German go-
vernments, by which it is resolved that in future
passports delivered by British envoys or cousins
will not prevent their bearer's liability to expulsion,
but that that privilege shall only attach to pnssports
signed by the British Minister foz Foreign itd.urs.