The Express.
London, England, 1851-10-23 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 23, 1851.

be considered as tho consequences of an accidental excite-
ment, or of a purely local effervescence. At every step
made in this inquiry, the action of secret societies in the
dapartmente of the cher sued of the Itterre become more
sisterly revealed. Thaw* mooches, ethich extend into the
...try districts, which have a military organization, and
=nu facture =munition' furnish themselves with arms sad
keep the members on the alert, sometimes by demonstmtiens
and sometimes by outbreaks, while waiting for the day of
eembat. This state of things appears to me to constitute
the state of imminent peril, the existence of which, ac-
cording to the terms of the law of August 9, 1819, autho-
rises the putting into a state of siege of a part of the territory.
I have, therefore, the honour to propose to you, Monsieur le
President, to decide that the state of siege shall be applied
to the departments of the Cher and of the Nicvrc. I hope
that this measure, which is called for by circumstances, will
not be of long duration. We have to efface the traces of
revolt, and prevent a new recourse to arms. This result
having been obtained, it will doubtless become po•sible for
the government to re-establish the ordinary operation of the
laws in the two departments, which are to be placed tem-
porarily under the regime provided for by Art. WO of the
Constitution. Accept, Monsieur le President, the homage

. .
of my profound respect.
The Minister of the Interior, LEON F ECHER.

Before the cry of self-seeking and sacrificing the I
public to his own interest be opened so loudly and
generally against the President, it should be re-
membered that it is in his power at any moment to
give the eompletest contradiction to such an imputa-
tion, by following the advice of M. de Lamartine.
and withdrawing his candidature for 1852. The
President's intentions have been often described as
inscrutable; and if he has surprised the world by his
declaration of the 14th of October, he may hale more
surprises in reserve. It does, indeed, now seem that
the best policy of Louis Napoleon would be to stick
to the total abrogation of the law of May, and to
renew once more his solemn engagement to respect
the law, and withdraw his candidature if the revision
be not voted. In that case, whoever were chosen
President of the republic, Louis Napoleon would
form naturally the nucleus of the republican oppo-
sition. The republic, strengthened by his adhesion,
would triumph over the designs of the regentists
and legitimists, and in all human probability, after
four years of expiation as a private citizen and a
representative in the Assembly, of those assaults upon
liberty in which he was while in power a reluctant'
but forced accomplice, the nephew of the Emperor
would again be voted, upon the strength of his own
personal merits, by acclamation, into the presidential
chair. It is not quite fair as yet to pronounce a
verdict upon the policy of Louis Napoleon, while the
last chapter is wanting.
The municipal council of Marseilles has adopted a
resolution, expressing a desire for the speedy csta-
lishment of a line of electric telegraph between Paris
and Marseilles.

The Society of Encotiragement of National Manu-
factures has requested M. Dumas, its president, and
M. I'ayen, member of the Committee of Chemical
Arts, to proceed to the department du Nord, to study
the disease which has broken out in beet-root.

The Funds showed much firtnness at the Bourse
of to-day. The Fives closed at !10.701, with a rise of
20e. The Threes rose 25c., and closed at 50.

SPAIN.

MADRID, O. 17.
Bravo Murillo has defeated the attempts of the
puritans to get into the cabinet.
The Gazette publishes a decree for the establish-
ment of a practical school of artillery, to be estab-
lished on board a vessel of war in one of the sea-
ports. It appears that the Spanish government
intends to demand of the Emperor of Monwco a
reparation for the outrage committed by the Moors
on the Spanish schooner loven Etnilia. We find the
following in the Orden, a semi-official journal:

On the 6th a notice, afterwards reproduced by the Times
of the following day, was posted up at the London Ex-
change, declaring that the president of the Council of Mi-
nisters of Spain had signified to Senor Oliveira, the agent of
the British holders of Spanish bond-, that he would consent
"t to exchange 50 per cent. of the coupons that are not to be
converted, for certificates available against the government
after a period." When government was informed of this
notice, it pointed out to its agents in London the inaccura-
cies it contained. It is true that Senor Oliveira came to
this capital, announcing himself as the representative of the
interests stated above, and that in virtue of the recommen-
dation of the Minister Plenipotentiary of Great Britain, lie,
together with Chevalier Weisweiller, had au audience of the
Minister of Finance. Having expressed a desire that the
article of the law of August 1, which relates to the ac-
knowledgment of .10 per cent. of the nominal value of
the contains might he modifies', the minister declared to
hint that it was absolutely impossible to make the slightest
alteration in the said law, and that the government had
neither the power nor the will to make any. Senor Oliveira
asked whether, in ease some deputisse were to make a mo-
tion respecting the conversion of the interest the govern-
ment would oppose it, or receive it with indifference, to
which the minister answered that the goverrirueat would
not show indifference, hut, on the contrary, would oppose
such a motion at any time. Senor Oliveira then inquired
whether, in case the committee were to take an active part
in the exchange of documents, it could give a certificate of
the value of each, so far as the coupons were concerned, in
order that what was not paid might at any time be appa-
rent. To which the minister answered, that the committee
was at liberty to issue as many certificates as it pleased, but
without any participation, intervention, or compromise on
the part of the Spanish goveniment, or the signature of a
Spanish agent, since the government would never ac-
knowledge such certificates for any useful purpose at
any time, whether present or to come. This is the truth
of the ease, with nearly the same words used by
the minister in the presence of Senors Oliveira and
Weisweiller, and confirmed by him to the latter gentleman,
who had done everything that possibly could be done is
the matter. If any doubt had still lingered in the mind of
Senor Oliveira on the subject, he might have asked before
he communicated so erroneous a notice to his principals,
and in so serious and important a matter he ought not
to have risked any piece of intelligence that was not ex-
act and borne out by facts. The better to confirm what
we have said, we may out, that but a few days after the
declaration above alluded to was published at the Exchange
and in the London papers, application was made to the
royal commissioner of Spain at London to obtain his ap-
proval and signature to the certificates the committee was
about to issue, and that the wig royal commissioner pe-
remptorily refused to accede to the demand, in compliance
with the instructions he had received from his government.

ITALY.

LOMBAIM-VENETIAN STATES.

The railroad from Mestre to Treviso was inaugu-
rated on the 14th.
SARDINIA.

We learn from the it/surf/in/od,, of Twin that the
small village of St. Martin-la-Porte, in Savov, was
almost completely destroyed by tiro on the 13th, and
that out of the twenty-four families which inhabited
it seventeen have been reduced to beggary by this
catastrophe.

the liberal party. and a discovery has been recently
made which will lead to the imprisonment of a great
many of their members. A \ enctian advocate, an
ex-deputy, who had been long hiding from the
researches of the police, was kept alternately
at the houses of his friends, and was just re-
cently enjoying the hospitality of Signor Bassi. The
advoeate,perhaps with a view to some future memoirs,
had an imprudent habit of keeping a journal, in
which he noted down his wanderings, and mentioned
the people who harboured him. On going out the
other evening to take the air, he was stopped by
some sbirri, who have new a trick a stopping and
questioning almost every one they meet, on the
chance of stumbling on some stray proscribed repub-
lican ; these worthies discovered by his accent that
he was not a Roman, and oa searching him they
found some memoranda which contained names, and
looked suspicious. He was immediately imprisoned,
and his host also, and several other persons subse-
quently underwent the same fate. It is curious that
the shwri went to arrest two brothers of the name of
Caseiani, whose father is a cameriere seureto, colonel
of the palatine guard, and a man in favour with the
court. The young men happened not to come in
until two o'clock in the morning, when the slam*,
tired of waiting, had gone away from the house, and
before they returned their intended victims had
escaped into country quarters. On inquiring at the
police-office, their father was informed that there
was no charge against them. But so it is, the lives
and liberties of his Holiness's subjects arc made sub-
servient to the whim or capricious cruelty of a set of
I degraded police satellites.
This system may answer very well for the present
with the unfortunate Romans, who,crushed by the
overwhelming force of Austrian and French bayonets,
have no choice but to obey. To see the same abuse
of power applied to British subjects, however, is too
bad, especially when they are unoffending indi-
viduals, and respect the laws of the country in which
they have chosen to fix their temporary residence.
The atrocious treatment of the Maltese, Lorenzo
Balbi, to whose case I alluded six weeks ago, has
afforded matter for a very energetic correspondence
between the Papal government and that of her Bri-
tannic Majesty. Signor Balbi, a most respectable
man, landed, as you may recollect, at Civita Vecchia
on the sth of August, when he was immediately
separated from the rest of the passengers, and con-
ducted to a little kind of out-house, called the Doga-
-11(.11a, stripped by the gendarmes actually to his
shirt, and kept with his bare feet standing on the
ground at the will and pleasure of the police officers,
who not only treated him wi:h harshness and con-
tempt, but carried their personal researches even to
indecency. His English passport, granted to him
by General Ellice, governor of Malta, was taken
from him, an unheard of proceeding towards
an unoitaiding British subject, and he himself
sent on to Rome with afrilio di ria,or police permit,
such as is issued to soldiers on furlough or the lowest
class of peasants when travelling from place to place.
Oa this paper strict injunctions were written for him
to present himself at the police etfiee at Rome imme-
diatelyafter his arrival, with threats of punishment in
ease ohm-compliance. Signor Balbi's complaiuts to
the Britishconsul,Mr.Freel;o rn , immediately produced
a vuy strong remonstrance from that functionary to
Cardinal Antonelli, who, after a silence of about three
weeks, condescended to reply, stating that he had
caused a most searching inquiry to be made into the
facts of the case, and that it resulted that Signor
asaertions were utterly false, and that he had
merely been subjected to sonic measures of precaution
on account of Iris being a suspected personage. To
set the diirrid nay against a British subject's yea is
in itself sufficiently degrading, but his Eminence
seems to shirk altogether the question of insulting
behaviour towards that British subject by depriving
him of his safeguard abroad, the passport in which
the authorities of the British government expressly
" request and require" foreign powers to allow him
to pass freely without let or hindrance.
Cardinal Antonelli also affirms, that the denial of
the gendarmes is corroborated by three witnesses of
their mode of proceeding, who do not belong to the
police, but it is to be remembered that the want of
nu uniform is by no means a proof, in this country,
that a person is not a police agent; moreover, the
names of these three witnesses are, according to the
equitable style of legal procedure now in vogue here,
studiously concealed-. It is in vain for Signor Balbi
to hope bir witnesses on his side, as no one would
dare to give evidence against the police, with a cer-
tainty of going straight front the tribunal to gaol
fie his pains, but his sworn affidavit must surely go
fur something, especially as General Ellice has for-
warded A most satisfactory report in his favour from
the Malta police, stating him to be a most honoura-
ble and respectable man. A great deal of the mis-
chief is doubtless owing to the malicious misrepre-
s,ptations of the Roman consul at Malta, who is a
Maltese, and had some words with Signor Balbi,
because the latter preferred returning to Rome under
the protection of General Ellice 'a passport rather
than that of the Roman government, with
which he had travelled from Rome to Malta. Mean-
while, notwithstanding the British consul's reiterated
demands that Balbi should he allowed to remain un-
molested in Rome, where for many years he has car-
ried on the occupation of a cameo engraver, he can
only obtain permission for a fortnight at a time, and
will be probably sent out of the country at the end
of this month, and has lived t ver since his arrival in
such a state of jeopardy and uncertainty, that his
work has been a stand-scill, and his pecuniary irate.
rests consequently materially injured. To wind up
in a few words, the case stands thus :—A Billish

subject has been deprived of his passport, and
treated by the Papal police with violence, indecency,
and derision. The Batiste consul's claims for repara-
tion and punishment of the offenders are supported;by
11.101. government, hut refused by the cardinal se-
cretary of state, who alleges that Balltiwas a suspected
I person (although he cannot even pretend that such
suspicions were founded), and that his complaints are
exaggerated. Will the British government consent
to be so snubbed, and thus expose other British sub-
iects to a repetition of such infamous treatment ? It
is to be hoped not.
It would be far more to the interests of us
foreigners and travellers, if the papal government
would occupy itself less with apocryphal political eil-
krings and take a little mote care to keep the high
roads iree from brigands. It was only three days
ago that 1 had a narrow escape. myself on the road
hoar Viterbo to Rome. I was in the diligence, and
thought that the patrols of gendarmerie and dra-
goons, and the platoons of infantry, that we met
every now and then,hail a somewhat unusual aspect.
The postillions, too, who had driven at a good pace
heretofore, began to ride in slow and solemn sadness
after we passed Roneiglione, and mysterious whispers
were exchanged between the conductor and the post-
masters. At the inn of Settevene, five and twenty
flutes from Rome, we saw a carriage a good deal
battered; and learned that its owners, an Italian
family travelling northwards from Naples, had been
assaulted and robbed that very morning about 12
o'clock, by three brigands, one of whom was armed
with a gun, another with a pair of pistols, and the
third with a hatchet, which he employed in furiously
dashing in the windows and panels of the coach.
The robbers obtained plunder to the amount of five
or six hundred dollars, with which they were so far
appeased as to offer no further violence to their vic-
tims, who proceeded from the scene of their mishap,
between Baecano and Settevene, where the road tra-
verses a lofty desert ridge called the I'oggio della
Sella, to the inn, where we found them reposing and
recovering from their terror. The robbers probably
made for the woods immediately with their booty,
and will most likely elude the researches of the
Roman gendarmes and soldiers.
Meanwhile, as night drew on the fright of a
Genoese cavaliere, who, with his wife and daughters,
were my travelling companions, increased; and
peaceable pasturi and mounted herdsmen were trans-
formed by the ladies' vivid imaginations into blood-
thirsty brigands and mosstrooping marauders, until
the cavalicre bribed the postillions to take us quickly
over the last dreary stage from La Storta, which
they did with such good will that we were very
nearly running from Scylla into Charybdis,
• and breaking our necks by an upset in order
to keep our bones whole from the bandits hatchet.
I The postillions are usually cautious to drive slowly
through suspicious or dangerous passes, because they
know that, if they attempted to escape, the first
shots of the brigands would be directed at them.
Two French officers of engineers, who have been
missing since Sunday morning, when they are
known to have been out in the Compiegne, are sup-
, posed by some to have fallen into the clutches of
banditti ; but their brother officers hint that they

have merely taken French leave to escape from the
monotony of Rome, and that, as soon as their freak
is over and their money exhausted, they will return
from Naples or elsewhere, to undergo the trifling
penalty which their misdemeanour will bring upon
them.
It is rumoured that Messrs. Lion Faucher and
Barrot arc soon to arrive here, in order to have a
kind of congress with Cardinal Antonelli, the French
ambassador, and the ministers of Austria and Russia,
so as to concert the mode in which the Roman ques-
tion is to be upheld in the ensuing campaign on the
opening of the French legislative assembly.

- -
NAPLES.
The King of Naples has issued a decree, establish-
ing an asylum for orphans and foundlings at Avig-
nano, in the province of Basilicata.
NAPLES, Ocr.
It is very generally reported in the court circle
that his Majesty 1611 crc long grant a general am-
nesty for all political offenders. I hope there is
some truth in the assertion ; I have little belief in it
myself. The government now is in a worse
.position
than ever; having endeavoured to defend thew illegal
acts, and failed in proving that the political offenders
arc guilty of anything but constitutional opinions,
how can they bo amnestied, without returning to
npresentative government? It should be remem-
bered that the policy of the present Neapolitan go-
vernment is not its own, but that of despotic Europe.
The King of the Two Sicilies is hand in hand with
our brother of Austria, the Grand Duke of Tuscany,
and the Pope. How can he then be either loyal
or just ? I know there are some who have urged the
King to be both. But how is this to be done with
the present state of France and Germany ?
M. Barrot who represents (I will not say France)
Louis Napoleon in Naples, has left for Rome; report
says to confer with the Pope on a change of
.policy
both in Rome and Naples. The Russian minister
gives no advice at all, and Austria supports the ri et •
armis of the present system. With such a state of
things I have little hope that English influence will i•
save the king and his dynasty.
Admiral Parker's Beet is now at Genoa. The

.....
Dragon still remains at Leghorn. A French squa-
dron is expected here.
The charitable have subscribed nearly 50,000 ducats
for the sufferers at Mehl, the scene of the late earth-
quake. The authorities were proved to be so dis-
honest that his Majesty left. Melti in disgust. Up to
this day, I am assured by one of the medical com-
mission, the ruins have nut been cleared, and there
can be little doubt many perished undor the fallen
houses, who, had they received timely assistance,
might have been swell. His Majesty appears to
have done everything in his power except remove
the mayor, the principal cause of this neglect.

NOTE OF LORD PALMERSTON TO TILE
NEAPOLITAN MINISTER LN LONDON.

The InVitendance of Brussels publishes the fol-
low•ing note, as addressed by Lord Palmerston to
Prince Castelcicala, the Neapolitan minister in Lon-
don :

---- -
I have had the honour to receive your letter of the 9th,
accompanied by a pamphlet intituleil " The Neapolitan
Government and Mr. Gladstone," and copies of which you
beg me to forward to the royal ambassadors at the dilferent
courts of Europe. I beg to reply that I cannot accede to
your request, not wishing to assist in dissimulating a pub-
lication which, in my opinion neither does honour to its
author nor to the government which it seeks to defend, nor
to the political party of which he makes himself the
champion. I feel myself compelled to declare that
tha letters of Mr. Gladstone to Lord Aberdeen pre-
sent the aid picture of a system of illegality, injustice, and
cruelty, such as no one could In here could have been prac-
tised in our day in a European country. The information
which I have obtained from different sources have led me to
the conclusion that the English writer has in no way exag-
gerated the evils which he depicts. On the contrary, the
author appears to have for object to call public :Ittentont to
abuses which, if they were to continue, would necessarily
overthrow the foundation of the Neapolitan government,
and would open the read to those violent explosions which,
sooner or later, burst forth when injustice is prolonged and
aggravated. The Neapolitan government besides deceives
itself if it thinks that a tissue of unfounded assertions and
hazarded cobtradictions. mingled with gross attacks on poli-
tical parties will render it any real service, nod assist in at-
taining the object it pursues. In conclusion, I will remark
that, in the publications of M`Farlanc, are contained direct
and inditeet avowals which, contrary to his intention, con-
firm rather than destroy this couviction.
(Signed) PALMEUSTON.

GERMANY.

ENNA, Orr. 18.

Very great stress is laid by the whole Austrian
press, whether governmental or not,upon the railway
treaty recently concluded with the Italian States, Mo-
dena, Parma, Tuscany, and the Pupal States. It is
in fact a measure to which too much importance can
hardly be attached. It is another link in the chain
by which the Austrian government is fettering Italy
to the throne of the empire. Austrian soldiers keep
under and in fact rule in every one of the states in
question, excepting the Roman, though in each the
farce of separate and independent civil administra-
tion is maintained. Postal treaties have placed the
letter traffic, railway treaties the goods and passenger
traffic in the hands, or at least under the controlling
influence of Austria; and negotiations arc in pro-
gress for the fmnation of au Italian commercial
league, composed of the same states, with Austria
at their head. The triumphant tone of the govern-
mental organs of the empire is therefore well founded.
As the Oestreichlache Corrotponden: very truly
says : " As far as the traffic of the South of Italy
with the North and East of Europe is con-
cerned, it must proceed in the paths pro-
vided by Austria." The truth of this statement
is undeniable; not so, however, the reasoning which
Mows in the article from which the above sentence
is extracted. The government organ considers, that
under the circumstances alluded to, the well known

project for carrying a line of railway from the heart
of Piedmont through Switzerland will, of necessity,
be abandoned. In this sentence there is put forth
another, and perhaps one of the chief reasons which
have actuated the Austrian government in pursuing
this policy of uniting Italy. Every ono of the
treaties is directed against Sardinia. The constitu-
tional government of that country must either bo
cajoled into the union, and thereby deprived of its
independence, and the liberties of tho Sardinian
people be crushed, or by exclusion front the advan-
tages, which so facilitated and greatly improved
system of communication affords, be driven to com-
mit political suicide. The Oestreichimehe Curreapm-
den: WIN too plainly what the motives of the Austrian
government really are, and while the agents of the
latter arc hard at work in Turin, striving to
affect the royal mind of Victor Emmanuel, other
agencies are also used, and that most unsparingly.
Even the opposition press of Vienna is blinded by
' the fallacy of national glory and prosperity into
recommending Sardinia to join the railway, postal,
and commercial unions Mate Austrian government.
The fears of the Sardinian government arc kept on
the alert by constant allusions to the Italian emi-
gration; its hopes arc weakened by frequent recur-
rence to the distance of England, and the small
prospect of steady or material support from Lord
Palmerston, and its complications with Rom held
up as irremediable, unless the assistance of Austria
be applied for, assistance which the Sardinian go-
vernment is reminded has resulted in a most favour.
able concordat for Tuscany. The weakness, insub-
ordination, and inefficiency of the Sardinian army is
not forgotten. If the king of Sardinia and his
ministers really were inclined to unite with Austria,
, they would indeed find more motives for doing so in
the Austrian press than they could ever have ima
pined to exist. It is to be hoped that they will find
I at home an easily sufficient motive for remaining
without the Austro-Italian railway, postal, and cons-
mercial league.

NATIONAL FREEHOLD LAND SOCIETT.-1116 so-
ciety is extending its operations in the southern counties.
It has made another valuable purchase, consisting of as
estate at Chichester, within three-quarters of a mile south-
east of the city walls, on the Bognor-road. The estate is
already laid out in a picturesque manner, and is intersected
by a good road running from c ist to west, calledWickham-
road. At a meeting of the society, held at Chichester, s
few evenings ago, to celebrate this acquisition, the chair
was occupied by the Rev. W. Malden, a clergyman of the
place. Mr. Clarke, of Walthamstow, delivered an address,
in which he pointed out the desirability of the inclu,trious
classes availing themselves of this excellent opportunity, of
obtaining the franchise by such a small outlay. Mr. Whits
tingham, the secretary of the society, detailed its operations
from the commencement showing that the scheme bad

flourished fur beyond the most saninine anticipations. He
trust, d that the advantages held out by their having ob-
tained an estate in close proximity to the stronghold of pro-
tection would not be lost sight of ; at the same time he dis-
claimed any political bias for the society, its object being to
widen the franchise for the benefit of all parties.