The Express.
London, England, 1851-05-12 00:00:00

the erorrols.

TO CORRESPONDENTS.
A F. Et:Mom .1" T. kapress." oistsialsg •he mos evening's
I,..attte." is plib4:lo.l mil Tends, aa 1 Friday nigtv, in Um*

•
fer pO4l. •
M', ...meat. totemic:l ler "TM Erprem" Modes Everts, pert,
be" be et tbe teltm, I". Reemfmareet. by Tem eckek es the
dm et mboesme.

MGR WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE
Tll. I),T —limning. 111. Ift—.......Aftenvaaa. M. Ova.
7t,maaamw—llorams.l2l. 0va...--.Aftersoce. 12v.1.1v5.

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 12.

Tor: note of triumph sounded by sonic of our
ministraial contemporaries, on the strength of the
division on Mr. LINUILSICei motion, is not very
judichus. To declare that that division has placed
the Ecclesiastical Titter; Bill out of danger, is to
halloo before the hounds are out of the wood ; and,
worse, it has the appearance of talking big to con-
ceal fear. Compared with the ministerial majority
on the second reading. that on Mr. Uwe:nem s
motion make, no great show; and though his mo-
tion w:is skilfully worded, for the catching of loose'
fish, it was PO palpably factious, and came from a
quarter at which people are BO much accustomed to
laugh, that the wonder is, so many were persuaded
to exhibit themselves as its supporters.
The really dangerous assaults on the measure
threaten it from a very different quarter. Men like
tiir HMIS INGLIS and Mr. PLUSIPIKE are not likely
to be caught by motions which directly or indi-
rectly aim at diverting the expression of national in-
dignation from the Vatican. ltut they are less likely
to he proof against the temptations of more dex-
terous tactieians, who appeal to their earnest reli-
gious convictions and sentiments, by promising
to sharpen the anti-papal previsions of the bill. They
may laugh, indeed, ut the stern Staxtinars awfully
vague notice, that he is "To bring forward certain
stringent enactments." but they may snap at the
mote tempting bait of Mr. Wiirois's amendments.
It is to he hoped, however, that the very delicate
and difficult nature of the task which has been forced
upon government and the legislature by the insolent
aggression of the !Cornish court and its minions, will
not lust sight of. The nation has been compelled
to take artier" Mirasarts4 to resist an attempt to lend
to an alien priestly orAannation somewhat of the ap-
pearance and prestige of a national institution. 'f his I
ran only be draw let resorting to measures which
dexterous and unscrupulous sophists may represent
to the ill-informed or unretlecting as encroachments
ow religious liberty and the equality of sects. And,
apart front their misrepresentations, it is no easy task
to hit the exact limit which sepurates legitimate con-
trol of the machinations of pnestendt from interfe-
relict! with the sincere, though misguided, convictions
of the dupes of ambitious priests. Great care must
he taken to pay due respect to the latter, even in
the hint and hurry of our struggle against the
form, E. It cost too hard, and prolonged a contest to
estnlilish the equality of all sectaries in nwpeet of
civil rights, to admit of that principle being again
infringed.
Now, it must he clear to any one who takes the
trouble to study attentively the amendments of
which Mr. WALPOLE has given notice, that the eon-'
sequences of their enforcement would be vexatious
and oppressive to a degree not neceary to secure
In against priestly usurpation—to a degree, perhaps,
wan ely allowable even were they required to that
cud. fake for example his proposal that every per-
son traivicted or an offence under the net shall for-
kit the sum of 11511, " to be recovered by action of
debt. at the mil 1 preb,n, in one of her Ma-
r courts off law.

Tlw names against which the bill is levelled are
offences nut against private individuals. hut against
the mute--the aggregate of the nation. The naturul
and proper proweutorm of such offences are thy law
odieersof the crown. Tu the executive government
alone can safely be entrust's' the vindication of the
national rights in matter, or so much consequence.
There can he no risk or any government's neglecting
this duty in a spirit of unworthy muslin 111 l ise ; the
tutisessal and deep-felt indignation awakened hy the
late pipitl ag.,rremisns shows that on this subject
there is u spirit in the people Hhieh no ministers
would dare to trifle with. On the other hand, thow
of our mailer. who arm old enough to recollect thus
offensive and oppressive law pnweedings, instituted
towards the else of the reign of titutost: 111., and
in the earlier yeitrs of that of his immediate M1CC4214-
Nor. by the Society for the Suppression of Vim and
mdse (,institutional Association (better known in its
day u. " the Bridge-street gang"), will be chary of
...unsling such powers to private volunteer.. The
foolish and arbitrary prormlings of the worthies to
almost we hose adverted, enlisted ut that time a vcry
wide and dangenms sympathy with the authors of
such revolting publications as those of Cmtost.E.
Them is tuhliing so hazardous us enabling narrow-
minded and pragmatism' persons. under the intluente
of low jobbing practitioners of the law, to convert
(ander. int.. martyrs.
The amendments !imposed by Mr. WALPOLE
ought to rejerted on their own demerits. lint there
isanother reason why earnest and zealous protestant:.
'should hcaare of allowing themselves to he curried
away by their specious appearance of vigour. deem
ST N LEV and others of his Mel* g have affected
to speak dispanigingly of the Ecelesiustieal Titles
Bill as inadequate to the attainment or its professed
objeet ; but a hat 'lave they offered in lieu of it ?
Lord ST th LEV has argued for taking more tinte to
esnisider what ought to he done. The leaders of the
rouservative party and many of their follower's do not
WI were ly wish to increase the stringency of the ministe-
rial measure: on the contrary. they seek delay, in
the hope that the national irritation may subside
and admit of nothing to he done. This section of
the party will support Mr. WAt.eut.t:s reenlu-
time. aitit the view, by engrafting them on the
hill, to forte ministers to drop it, and thus lose the
session. If the zealous protestants. w Ito are most
liable to be misled by this trick, prefer the amend-
ments to the original measure, they will emulate the
folly and share the mishap of the dog that lost his
dinner by snapping at its magnified shadow in the
water.

,T as we supposed ; policemen were ordinarily
stuti 41 on either side of the Sutton 'funnel, and
had been removed to other duties during the
Chester rum week. In other words. watchmen
were placed near the point where danger was most
likely to meter when danger was lea.st limitable; hut
when the chances of danger rose• as on the Chester
Cup day, from 700 to 3.00 n, these guards were em-
ployed elsewhere. This appears to be the
plane literal truth of the matter : and. sad
to say, to have been at least the imme-
diate muse of the slaughter. For the heavy
train the feeble engine, the wet state of the rails,
would all have been guarded against had there been a
man to wave a red flag at the tunnel's mouth, as the
third train came up.
Of mars•, the meeretarr, who is also the manager.
won't admit this to have 'been in any way connected
with the fatality. But his explanation.• escus<•s, or
foneing—call it which you please—on the point.
irresistibly prove it. Policemen, he says, were placed
during die progrrss of construction on either side
the tunnel to protect landowner•.' property ; and
after the opening of the line it was thought
proper to continue them, but no new duties
were imposed on them." 'they were• according to
this person's incredible suggestion. still kept there t'
protest property which, the navvies" and other
w.erkeuen being all gone, needed no troteetion.
No new duties were imposed upon them; so, their
old duties being gone, like policemen elsewhere, they
walked about with nothing to do. One of them,
however, •" whose name was Kro,e, walked from the
Frodshant end of the tunnel to within half a mile of
the tunnel." But during Chester race week, he and
his brother peripatetic were sent to Birkenhead.
The men were withdrawn by myself on my own
responsibility." We thus get it the fact thiet men
were ordinarily there- -though for no purpose, if the
secretary is to be believed—and that they were with-
drawn on this special occasion.
The first stoppage in the tunnel shows the conse.

quence of the withdrawal. No sooner had the first
train ntuck fLit. than, with an instinatire sense of
danger. I, :wt. the fireman of the engine, in dread,
attempted to signal the danger; off is engine he
get, and on his way down t,lat tutinel,nmeting DOYLE
the guard of the second train,.-which bv that
time had entered, bid him to go' bail for
that purpose. Here then we have evidence of the
anxitty of these poor fellows to signal from the
mouth of the tunnel; and bow they, knowing that '
there was no one there to do that duty, rushed
back to perform it themselves; in short, to uct as
policemen, and firemen, and guards, or any way
else, to save life and limb. Hero we have the highest
order of evidence as to the necessity of having hatl,po-
!icemen there ; and of the imprudence of the secretary
in withdrawing them on his own responsibility.
To do, however, that officer justice, it must be
stated, that though the engine driver on ordinary oc-
casions
did see policemen at the mouth of the tunnel,
DAVID EVAN,. " did not," he says," know what they
were there for." Still, he thinks, that had he seen one
on entering the tunnel that day, he should have left
word with him to stop any train behind. So that
had not the secretary, on the Chester Cup day, re-
m wed these men who there, to use EvaNs s signifi-
cant words, " walked about" on other days, notice to
stop the third train would have been given, and
the fatal collision prevented. But, the service of
the company not having strength elsewhere
for the extraordinary traffic of Chester races,
the policemen were removed, and, before the
guards of the two first trains could signal at the
tunnel's mouth, the third train had entered, bringing
with it death and destruction.

The same miserable system of cruel and dangerous
economy seems to prevail throughout the management;
the guard.s have no watches, they are not allowed hand
lumps, though they have to pass through a tunnel a
mile and a half. long; there are no tail lamps
to the trains "at that hour of the day," viz.,
half-past seven o'clock in the evening; there
were only three attendants on trains contain-
ing 1,500 passengers; and men discharged for intoxi-
cation, an unexptable offence in well managed compa-
nies, from other lines are employed on this line.
Putting these statements in conjunction with the fact
that policemen were taken away from the mouth of
the Sutton tunnel when most required there, because
there was an insufficient service elsewhere, no ma
sonable being can, we think, doubt where the blame
of this awful slaughter really lies.

FRANCE.

SATCAGAT EVENING.

The event of the day is an article of the Cbnstitn-
tionnel, which has been almost the sole subject of
conversation all this afternoon in the Assembly. Dr.
heron proclaims his opinion that if the old majority
is nut prepared to vote unanimously the revision of
the constitution, the government ought to bring for.
ward a bill for repealing the law of May.
It is needless fur me to repeat here the frequent
alarms which the ambiguous countenance of the
Elysee towards that restriction of universal sutfr.ige
has occasioned to the old conservatives, and the
various occasions upon which M. Waisse.

•
the late Minister of the Interior, was obliged
to come forward and categorically disavow
on the part of the government any design
for evading or repealing the reformed law of eke-
tion. And now, although Veron expressly says that
he is stating his own personal sentiments indepen-
dently, the parliamentam majority regard this
article as a threat used to force them into embracing
revision. One thing is, however, pretty certain,
namely, that Leon Faucher can never he the minister
emploSvd on so arduous a task ; for he has repeatedly
given distinct pledges of his unqualified ad-
hesion to this measure, on which you may
remember that he was the Burgrave com-
mittees reporter. I explained to you during the
ministerial crisis that the removal of sonic of the
xatious restrictions and formalities imposed on the
exercise of the franchise by the law of May was the
pivot of the programme proposed to the President by
thhimi Ihriat. The 00;411a's...wart, which lately
adopted the most hitter tone against Burrot, and at-
tacked him with the fiercest virulence, really because
he declined co-operating with Fould and Burmhv,
now seems to admit the wisdom of his views, and to
grant that the grand means of disarming the so-
realists would be to snatch from them their banner,
which is inscribed with the repeal of the law of May.
It is at the sonic time incontestable that the must re-
solute sticklers for that law are to be found in
the club of the Rue des Pyramides, on which the •
government relies mainly for support. The menace
thrown out by the Oomlihttionwl must therefore
be worded as a symptom that the government is nut
satisfied with the Orleanists of the Rue des Pyra-
mils, who under the auspices of the fluke de Broglie
will not probably consent to follow the ministry in
their design of passing the revision by a simple ma-
jority instead of the required majority of three-
fourths. Veron says that if the old parliamen-
tary majority would agree to vote the revision,
there nerd be no apprehension of the issue
of the struggle in ease of .rorste ; for
the majority %via be then as strong and
united us it NV:L.4 at the end of May, 18,10,
when insurrection shrunk from them into nothing.
Hut if they will not vote ivvision, why should the
President Lc expected to maintain a law which is
or, judicial to his own re-election ? Is it not rather ;
his duty to remove the cause of civil war beforehmid,
when the divisiims of the party of order seem to
render the triumph of the socialist not only possible
but probable.
Every day more discouraging accounts are reyeived
by the government of the state of political feeling iu
the provinces. The seditious preparations of this
sotialists are ceaseless, and their organisation is very
formidable. Large supplies of arms are in tlrcir
possession ; and the government knows not whets
to put its hand ou the depots notwitluitand-
lug the activity of its police, and is unable
even to prevent an immense quantity from being
smuggled over different points of the frontier. Lyon*
always seems on the eve of a movement ; a consuks-
able number of manufacturers and others have left
or are leaving it to establish themselves in Switzer-
land. It is beeoeuing mom and more sensible to mo-
derate men that nothing but the firmest cemented
union of all the fractions of the party of order will
enable France to conic unscathed out of the critical
struggle of 1&.2. Yet in the midst of all this danger
never were the various shades of conservatives di-
vided by deeper dissensions or agitated by bitterer
animosities.

Count Dietrichstein, fbrmerly Austrian ambassador
iii England, has arrived in Paris. lie is negotiating
with the view of pushing Sehwarzenberg's VlCheme of
the incorporation of the non-German provinces of
Austria in the Germanic Confederation.

The Assembly proeenk-d to discuss the Western
Railway Bill. M. Sautayra moved once more an
amendment to the first article. proposing that the
railway should be executed by the state, which was
njected. The house then proceeded to the (whirr
dr. charge.. A lung debate took place on the "7th I
article, fixing the term of the concession at 99 years. i
.t (ter heating 11 M. Barthelemy St. Hilaire. Gustave dt.
lkvwamt. Poujeard. St. Belli c, Cremieux and Magne,
Minister of Public Works, the Assembly rejected nu
amendment limiting the concession to .10 years. An-
other amendment of M. Poujt.ard. on the same
article, was also rejected. The article then passed.
The cahier des cl.aryes will not be finished to-day. I
The new committee of initiative has decided that
motions for the revision, if rejected, may be renewed
after two months.
The committee on the La Plata treaties has decided I
to-day, after hearing M. Baroche, in favour of the I
subsidies to Monte Video. M. Larrabarr is appointed
1 reporter.
I. Leon Faucher was examined by the committee
ou the E.eetric Telegraph Bill.
• Letters from lfigne, Poitiers, and Stumm concur
' , in stating that the vines in those localities have been
•I, much injured by the frost of the past week. Entire
' communes have suffered so severely that the crop is
7 looked on as lost.

that a ;pi:vane.% which they regard as intolerable,
be removed. The Notional says: „Give us back
universal suffrage, and we srtll promise you peace
and order." The Presic, while regretting the dis-
as owel of the Catstdationael bb the usual organs of
the Blys7'fe, hails, nevertheless, the conversion of Dr.
eron is a salutary symptom of liberal leanings in
the l'resident, and a great accession of strength to the
partisans of universal suffrage. The Siick, like the
Natianal, is satisfied that no other step but the re-
peal of this law is necessary to restore complete calm.
The Pays calls the recantation of Dr. Wron "
.'e coup
(Tito( du bon sena."

When the formidable organization of the socialists,
and the disunion of the repressive party, arc weighed,
it is highly probable that the great mass of the bour-
geoisie has been gradually becoming more sensible to
the hazards of a desperate struggle, such as the
maintenance of the law of May would certainly occa-
Ishin, and more distrustful of the triumph of the con-
servative party. Hence, the Conseitatiannel, which
is essentially the organ of the middle commercial
class, in trimming on the law of May, has sagaciously
hit the tendency of tl.e great majority of its readers
to acquiesce in the course which is safest and most
quiet for the moment, deferring combat until some
certain advantage may be gained. Truth to say,
the C'uaslitutbasael is at the present moment, with
an enormous circulation (esceeiling that of every other
paper), quite as valuable as a test of what its readers
think, as of what the President intends. For the
rest, this change has nothing startling. Men whose
prosperity depends on peace and industry, and)
whose minds are continually alarmed by rumours of
imminent eoneates, are not so keenly sensible of the
advantages of a limited suffrage that they will not
gladly come to a compromise with the fierce unpri-
vileged classes, in order to be released from the evils
of a permanent state of conflict. At the same time,
they withdraw their confidence from those politicians
who cleave fanatically to a principle which com-
promises the very cause of order which they profess
to serve. As soon as people see that the great storm
of which they are hourly reminded as impending in
1852 may lie conjured down by concessions not
obviously ruinous or even harmful to their cause,
they naturally prefer disarming their adversaries by
those concessions to persevering in a state of defiance
to retain a privilege which may be fruitless. Univer-
sal suffrage has once given the most signal pledge in
favour of order, while restricted suffrage would be a
certain signal for disorder. I therefore make no
doubt that the policy of the parliamentary majority
in favour of maintaining, without compromise,
the law of May will gradually lose the
confidence of the nation, and regard the change of
the C'anstitutionnel on this question as the first im-
portant step towards a pacific solution of the crisis
of 1852, by coming to an undertanding with the de-
mocratic party on the question of electoral reform.
People speculate much on the exteut to which dis-
avowals of the Coastitat .. ~, art by other organs of the
Elysee are to be trusted as authentic echoes of the
President's sentiments. A personage in the position
of Louis Napoleon is in some measure constrained to
dissemble, in order to have elbow-room for playing
his game, and to keep in his hand all the cards that
may serve him at a pinch. To embrace frankly, with
entire self-abandonment, a positive line of policy,
where all around him is heaving with change, and
pregnant with unguessable results, would argue very
shortsighted generalship. Too much importance
must nut, therefore, be attached to the isolated voice
of any ministerial organ, whether the l'«trie and
Ilaildia (Is l'aris, which speak the sentiments of
Leon Faucher, and deny the authority of M. Vcron,
or the Oaistitritionarl, which is ever flashing forth
some new solution, alarming to M. Rothschild, the
commercial public, and the party of order. In
the meantime this much is certain, that a money
question has something to do with the relations of
the C'osistitrotiotinci with the Elysie. You may
remember that about the time when the stamp was
inflicted on the French newspapers, M. niers, having
i withdrawn his support from the President, came
down upon Dr. Vcrou for the 100,000 fr. which he
had given in aid to the funds of the o»istitationnet
This gap in the funds of the journal was soon more
than stopped by 150,000 fr. which M. de Morny, the
friend of the Elysee, offered on behalf of M. Mossel-
man, with the condition of political subordination on
the part of the subsidised paper. For a time all went
smooth ; but, the financial crisis weathered, symptoms
of mutiny appeared in the Constifittionarl; and when
reminded of his bargain, the independent-spirited
editor offered to repay the loan. fhis alternative
was niused, the other party insisting upon the per-
formance of the agreement. " Aelhae saline:ire 14
rd." Renee the tmernufes of the Bullrlin Ile Paris
against Dr. Veron.

-1
have already alluded to the meeting of the com-
mittee of the electoral union on Friday, to deliberate
on the question whether they should use their organi-
sation for the purpose of propagating revision. The
decision of this body is looked forward to with much
eagerness, as their adhesion to the cause of revision
would he tantamount to a declaration in favour of
the prolongation of the President's powers.
A new red" organ, entitled Joarnal Irma San, is
announced as on the eve of publication. On the
other hand, a fresh Bonapartist paper is going to
appear, under the designation of the Prorogation.
Eighty Isslitical prisoners, transported to Africa,
were pardoned on the Ith of May.
M. Adolphe parrot will remain as the representa-
tive of France at Lisbon, until replaced by M. Ma-
reschalchi, present charge traffairts in London, who
will await the arrival of General Au pick.
M. de Kisselef has presented to the President the
credential letters of the Czar, appointing him to an
extraordinary mission, and confiding to him the
direction of the Russian embassy at Paris.
A hundred and one officers of the national guard
of Grenoble out of one hundred and sixty having re-
signed, General Parthomeaux has ordered the dis-

armament of the guards, with the exception of the
company of firemen, none of whose officers have re-
signed.
A royalist print, the Gazette de Cmtinsunes, has
been 'wins', and will be prosecuted, for the uncon-
stitutional announcement of its political programme.