The Express.
London, England, 1849-06-19 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, JUNE 19, 1849.

Tux policy and the exploits of Field-Marshal
OUDINOT—he can look to no less a grade—are only
to be equalled by his bulletins. Nothing. since CER-
VANTEN has been so ludicrous, nothing since ATTILA
so barbarous. To any one who has seen or taken a
ride round the old walls of Roms the affectation of
digging trenches, sinking parallels, and making re-
gular approaches to ttem, must forcibly recall the cam-
paigns of Corporal Tam and my Uncle TOBY in
Flanders. In most places these walls are ill-
formed to resist the old classic battering rams,
but the idea of not only bringing cannon to'
bear on the masonry of Aunnwe, but of undermin-
ing them by the art of VAUBAN, are acts of absurdity
sad big pretence, to be smothered by universal
['slighter,[ but for the ind:gnation they excite. From
the Porte Pia, all round to the river, near the church
of St. Paul, full two-thirds of the city's circumference,
there is no part of tte wall that would stand five
minutes cannonade, nor that would keep out • band
of smugglers. There is neither bastion nor out-
work, fosse, nor glans. Nor could any conceivable
amount of force that Rome might muster ever man
this extent of tottering wall. The affectation, there-
fore, of laying siege to Rome is one of the monstrosi-
ties of the French invasion.
If General OUDINOT had any desire to engage in
cintest with the Romans, there was nothing to pre-
vent his march;ng into that vast uninhabited space
within the walls of ltsme—nothing to prevent his
reaching the forum or taking possession of the Aven-
tine. His difficulties would commence at the en-
trance of the first street or the first lane that ho
attempted. For this, hiwever, General OUDINOT has
neither intention.nor taste. His profound military,
science and great strati gy are limited to the aim of
stealing into Adrian's Mole and getting pos-
session of the old round tower called the
Castle of St. Angelo. This is the only pretence at
fixtress or fortificaion which old Rome possesses,
and could the French general get penniless of it, it
would answer his mighty purpose. It would enable him
to issue a bulletin announcing himself the conqueror
of Rome ; and should Austrians, Spaniards, or Net-
p3litans co tie, it would enable the French general to
facilitate their attacks, yet, at the same time, secure a
permanent and safe post whereon the French tricolor
might fiy.
Tee Romano, poor simple souls, could never have
imagined that such a beggarly fist could be the aim
of a French commander. They had imagined
OUDINOT'S purpose to be to best themselves and take
their city. They have, therefore, fought the French
valiantl where the French showed themselves, at San
Pancrasioy., and the Janicalam. But OUDINOT'S but-

OCR column of naval news has announced the pro-
motion of Lieutenant GEORGE. PARKER to the rank
of commander. We do not wish to be ill-natured, and
inquire whether certain reports we have heard regard-
ing the abilities of this young officer be or be not
destitute of foundation, but justice to upwards of
two thousand lieutenants, who have been more or less
slighted and injured by Commander PARKER'S pre-
mature promotion, compels us to state that nothing he
has ever done, no services he has ever rendered, no
talent he has ever shown can be for a s'ngle mo-
ment supposed to have had the most remote influence
in securing his advancement over these two thousand
officers, all his seniJrs, and many of whom have in
the most distant climes, and under the most trying cir-
cumstances, exposed their lives iu the service of
their country, and proved their capability of
holding responsible command. Commander PAR-
KER owes hie promotion solely and entirely to the
influence of his father, Vice-Admiral Sir WILLIAM
PARKER, and must, therefore, point out the great
evils which are produced in the naval service by this
practice of rewarding both father and son for the
services of the father only. Sir WILLIAM PARKER
is an officer who has shown considerable ability in
the various commando he has held. He conducted the
war against the Chinese with great vigour and bold-
ness ; and his subsequent conduct in tee Mediterra-
nean, if marked by certain injudicious and unkind
attempts to limit the indulgencies, and break down
the traditional rights, both of officers and seamen, has
been upon the whole satisfactory. But has
he not been rewarded for his services? He
obtained for his services in Coins a baronetcy, about
forty thousand pounds in prize mon and freightage,
and the command in the Mediterranean soon
after his return from the East, the income of
which is something more than three thousand
per annum. Besides this he holds other lucrative ap-
pointments in the shape of naval aide-de-camp to her
Majesty and other comfortable little sinecure plurali-
ties, which we believe would be considered as fall and

fair rewards, abundant rewards, for services ren-
dered. There is no other little vacancy for himself,
and therefore he say', " My son GEORGE has just
served his time as midshipman, pray make h'in a
lieutenant ;" and this is done on the very day the
young gentleman has completed the period of
service required by the naval regulations. When
the two years a lieutenant must serve before he is
eligible to the rank of commander have elapsed, the
old gentleman again says, "Dear Sir FRANCIS—Pray
promote GEORGE," and GEORGE is promoted accord-
ingly. Tne fleet was unfair enough, but not likely
to be so injurious in its consequecces as the second,
because this is calculated to place a young man of 22
in command of a ship belonging to the nation worth
upwards of a hundred thousand pounds, and to en-
trust to his abilities and discret: on the lives of 130
men and officers. But this is not all. Two thousand
lieutenants have their promotion retarded by Sir
WILLIAM PARKER'S interest, and finding that
their exertions are passed over unrewarded to
make way for favouritism, are dispirited and
discouraged, their zeal is damped, they see that
merit has no chance in the struggle with interest, and
accordingly give up the attempt t 3 earn their pro-
motion by their own labours. rhe evil effects of this
up•rn the service must be too apparent to need a
moment's explanation; wo will therefore only just
add that the only "reward of mirk" offered by the
Admiralty is one lieutenant's commission to the mid-
shipman who passes the b.st ecient'fic examination at
the Naval College at Poi tsmouth, and tole only once
a year. There is no way in wh"ch a lieutenant may
earn his commission as • commander in any simi-
lar conflict of ability. He is entirely dependent
upon the First Lord of the Admiralty, and from this
specimen of what he is to expect from Sir FRANCIS
BARING he may See that the rewards of ability are
not likely to be so numerous as to encourage him in
his lendable efforts to advance himself by serving his
country with energy and talent. We had hoped
better things from the new first lord, and trust the-
this proof that he will not be allowed to use his influ-
ence without some salutary checks from the organs
of public opinion will a t be lost upon him,
and will ensu,e something approaching to fair-
ness for the future. But it is not the
press which should be the sole tribunal before
which public men and their actions ought to pass for
judgment. Sir FRANCIS BARING at the very outset
of his career has been guilty of injustice, and we
do trust therefore that some member of the House of
Commons, truly independent of the various little in-
auences, direct and indirect, though hidden, of cfficial
connectior, will require from Sir Fit aNt i-, in his place
in parliament some explanation of the grounds upon
which he has sanctioned the promotion upon which
we have been compelled to comment, and thus cut a
slight upon such • numerous and gallant body of
"*n officers.

letin tells that here the fighting has been all a
feint. He has erected batteries and laid waste
the suburb, destroyed the villas, battered the
temples, and occasioned a very large loss of
life, both to Romans and to French. But
this is all a faint! It was done purely to amuse
the Rename whilst the power of French engineers
and military scienie was directed against the little
Castle of St. Angelo. What an amiable and glorious
profession war is thus made! How dignified such
culling of laurels by the needless hacking and sacri-
ficing of human life—in the name of what right,
cause, or principle, we defy any Frenchman to state ;
and we might defy any Frenchman to attempt
to state it without blusaing. We stall probably
learn in due time of the capture of the Tower of
San Angelo, and we shall have a magniloquent
bulletin thence from OUDINOT, whose guns, if cue-
reseful, well be pointed from thence upon tee
Romans, whose encounter the French general shrinks
from. We shall hear of Papa rights and Roman
wrongs, with the cowardly savages of Spain and
?ferries sneaking in behiud tee French guns to
plunder sod to was-acre. All this we shell near of,
with M. BARROT'S Paeans in the French tribune, and
equally glorious and righteous allocations from the
Pope. All of which put together will serve as a fit
funeral service for the civil and religious freedom of
the unfortunate Roman,.
It is curious to observe that the Roman government
and tepablic set up since the withdrawal of the Pops
has been far more peaceful, re gnlar, and more supported
by the unanimous adhesion of the population, them
any of the governments wno have combined to pnt I
it down. Spain made the first move to intervene for
t! o restoration of the Pops—Spain, that Las exiled
its own legitimate princes, confiscated its claw eh pro-
perty, disowned papal authority, and which is itself
but a military government, shaken by monthly insure
reetions in the provinces, and every now and then a
conspiracy in the capital.
/Creaks was the next firmly fixed and regularly
governed kingdom that proposed intervening for
the Pope, and at a time when the King of
NAPLES was not sure of his crown on either side the
straits. Austria, with a ho-tile flag waving in
sight of Vienna, and only kept from floating over its
very palace by the calling in of the Cossacks—Austria
is another sick empire, which interferes to cure the
,arse. France stip foremost of the league, less from
a direct political aim than to seize for herself the
honour and the influence of dominating Rome ; and
without other excuse than this, France proceeds to
the work of devastation.
The English government has kept pretty clear ot
this nefarious intervention. Lord PALMERSTON'S first
despatch, published by us yesterdey, shows how im-
possible at is for the Poem to govern the Re-
man population wiiely and well. Ile is a prince
elected not by that people, but by &conclave of priests,
the majority of whom are foreign to Rome. His tem-
pond authority there is thus subservient to his other THE UNITED STATES.
authority and interests—a subservience quite mon-
strous for the Roman people to submit to, and an A summary of the intelligence brought by the Ca-
anomaly that 00 constitution-mongering can cure. ledonia was published in yesterday's Express. We
With Lord PALMERSTON'S second despatch we are now give the letter of cur New Yo k correspondent;
by no means !..0 well contented. His lordship there the only item of news we have to add to it is, that
lays down the rule that— Colonel Rowan had succeeded Sir Benjamin I)'Urban
" Her Majeey's government deprecate in principle as commander of the forces in Canada.
the employment of a foreign =Mary force to settle NEW YORK, Jose 5.
internal dissensions in a state, except in extreme and At last we have a movement at Washington which
perilous cases." affects our diplomatic circles &breed. Mr. Abbott
This exception is quite wide er ough to destroy the Lawrence, whom, at an early day, I mentionee as a
rule, as every mil-Amer will think his own case prominent friend of Gen. Tayler, and likely to receive
extreme and peculiar. Dees Russia need any other some distinguished mark of his consideration, has
words to warrant her invasion of Hung cry ? Certainly been offered the mission to England, which Mr. Ham
the caae, however. flagr lonia hot h extreene and peculiar. croft, it is understood, is pile ly willing to make
After what we have ourselves done in Portugal and vacant. Mr. Lev rence is a merchant, and an mown-
elsewhere, it is no doubt difficult for whig r tory plated one, and will fall very naturally into the
minister to lay down the broad and open principle of circles of your eminent benkers and traders. Ile
non-intervention. lint until a government can he makes a very g.od speech, reel will be found to int(-
' found, able and willing to do so, the less that is said rest himself in all those lelevolent and scientific
On the subject the better. For such !insertions with institutions, from which he can borrow some advantage
such exceptions, do but weaken the principle, and in- for our own. It is su, posed he will accept the offer
validate the beet rights of independent nations. mule him. We are, per contra, looking for t,c ro rival
We are much mistaken if the correspondence of our of Mr. Bulwer in this country, and it is hoped he will
foreign secretary be not found to discontentall bring with him not only a fall suiteof attaches, but
parties. The ultra papists will object, to the pointed that the ambasoadress will have an escort of some of
recommendation to separate "the spiritual authority your brilliant and accomplished ladies of rank, to
front the temporal power s and institutions of the enliven and grace the diplomatic circle at Washing-
state," carefully as this is worded. The not very ton; should they not be heiresses so much the better,
complimentary allusion to the influences at Gaeta since there are men of fortune and of education in this
will displease in the same quarter. On country who would not hesitate to endow them with
the other hand the door is thrown open all their worldly good..
for the military interference of at least Dalin* Mr. Rives, of Virginia, is to to our minister to
states, and it but toe cle +fly warrants the Jazzy o.ne Frew& He was there, you remember, in
inroad of his Maje-ty of NAPLES. Other Julian 1830, and he understands French politics there
states, in fact, could interfere, but as the cat's-paws roughly. You may remember teat a writer
of greater and more foreign ones. The humiliation in " Blackwood" charged him with having
would be greater, the repression more barbarous and been the cause of the eleemion of Louis Pailippe. If
severe. this be true, the explanation of the circumstance is
Common shame, however, ought really to keep eery curious. It is said he persuaded La Fayette to
horn interim ddling and dictating to fore gin cone- espouse his cause upon a pledge from the Duke of
tries such eovernments as have no fixed Fria- Orleans that, on coming to the throne, he would rc-
ciples or solidity of their own. The idea of commend and procure the recognition of our claims
Signor GIOBERTI, or M. Blamer, or Count on France, and that this influence on the part of Ls
STADION settling the institutions of Heine, when they Fayette, thus to be exercised, was the one the Ameri-
cannot even lay the corner-stone of their own erSIIIR- cons depended upon for their payment. Certain it is
tiers and independence, is the most monstrous piece of the King did recegnite those claims and urge them
affectation and impertinence. Here is Austria, who open his reluctant chambers; and it is also true that
cannot defend Vienna, oven unning Tuscany and the in consequence of the d lay which occurred in their
Legations. Spain and Naples are more ludicrous in discharge, G. n. Jackson swaggered a good deal, aware
their pretensions still. How lamentable is it, that there probably of the state of the case and the guaranty of
dies not exist in Europe one great, disinterested, the royal word. Allusions have sometimes been
liberal and respected power which, without war, made to this transaction in our newspapers, but Mr.
but merely by the majesty of its word, might Rives has never noticed them.
enforce non-intervention, might hold the shield of Mr. Graham, an ex-gevernor of North Carolina, is
her authority over countries righteously struggling to be our minister to Spain, a country with which our
for independence, and might bid the military em- rotations are small and of no accent. It is an ap-
pires, those great images of clay, though girt around poimment thut is never sought tor by our first-rate
with armour and the sword, that they must confine men. and is considered more of a political reward
their efforts to their own affairs, nor stretch abroad than a sphere of exalted action.
their arms to enforce a system of tyranny already Mr. Marsh, a member of congress elect from a die-
sueeranented and rotten in its native centre and trict in Vermont, is to have a mission to Berlin or
home. We can well conceive a policy to have been Constantinople (rather a difference in the places, it
followed by us during the last quarter of a century, must be admitted). But it matters not, provided, as
which would have made England that great umpire, we ay here, the applicant gets the "wax," a ith the
sending forth at this moment &voice potentitheequiring.
person of superior ability, a fine speaker, a ripe
" purtenances thereat." Mr. Marsh, however, is a
neither fleets nor armies to be obeyed. But, instead of
this, England has frittered away its energies,
spent its echo ar, and a scientific man. He will unquestion-
enthusiasm and its' resources, and remains so crippled aley distinguish himself, ai.d will probably be as
every way, and damaged, morally and
physically, it.. much admired as Mr. Wheaton was, by his legal and
character, in revenue, and in the once generous senti-
antiquarian researches.
ments of its people, that England is at this moment A son of Governor Crittenden is to be the Arne-
"! rican consul at Liverpool, and Mr. Lorenzo Draper,
no more than one of the helpless family of bi
children which brawl throughout Europe under pre-
now a resident in Paris, is to be our consul at Havre.
tence of governing it, and are respected neither by )they appointments of a similar character will be
equals nor inferiors; which await and undergo events, made, and they are all very respectable. In the
meantime, quite a number of persons is disappointed.
neither knowing how to meet or to guide them, and
which float like c ,rks on the ocean of polities, upper- Colonel Webb, of the Courier, was very desirous of
most indeed, but, at the tame time, the sport of every going Merced, either to Madrid or Berlin. This gen-
wave and the slave of every current. tlemen has no claims whatever to such a situation in ,
the opinion c f the public, and thus far he seems to I
have made but little headway at Washington.
We have heard nothing of Mr. Secretary Clayton's
expedition in search of Sir John Franklin. The pro-
ject bus been chromed in the newspapers so ably that
it has probably received its quietus. It was, at any
rate, time eneuih to have made such. a
suggestion, on our part, when the British
government knocked &tour door and asked our Resist-
ance for " sweet charity's take." And in that way she
never will present herself, of course.
Since my last, a bearer of despatches has arrived at
Washington from California, a Lieut. Beales, and his
statements have astonished even those who believed
everything before. The despatches are from our
squadron, and relate principally to its own affairs.'
But Lieut. Beales, on his way through this city, freely
communicat.d all he knew on the subject of the gold
regions, and that communication found its way into
the newspapers. He wore a watch which had a
heavy case of native gold beaten into shape by a Cali-
fornian blacksmith, and the links of his watch chain
were filled up with the same metal. He alto carried
about with hem some lump, that were "a good deal
bigger than a piece of chalk." The following is a resume
of the condition of California. Notwithstanding the
vast influx of adventurers, good order was
prevalent in the settlements and in the diggings.
The local tribunals exercised their authority by the
mild c consent, and in the most summary way. All
crimes had but one penishment—eleath! Three per-
sons had recently been hung "in short order" for
stealing. Tier y had a trial by jury in the usual way,
but the proof was too strong, and they had to die.
This remarkable severity had, however, produced the
desired effect. Very few offences against good order
are now committed, and life and property are pro-
tected in California. We leave it to the philanthro-
pic to bewail the fa'e of some half a dozen men who
have thus loth their lives without even a space tar
repentance, but we imagine the Californians do not
regret that they have got rid of some scoundrels
who, if spared, would have proved a curse to the in-
dustrious and peaceable inhabitants of that region.