The Express.
London, England, 1849-11-26 00:00:00

FRANCIC

publicity Wag their vital principle, and their only
safeguard and claim to public adhesion and
respect. How desirable would it be to screen
the Jurymen@ in a turbulent country from the
vengeance of the party against whom they decide ? Yoe
cannot, however, surround the jury-box with a cur-
tail or snake the court hold its private sittings in a
gaol. Suppose an Oraogeniagistrate in I. eland, guilty
of a . palpable murder on a fellatio esthetic.
se ails condemned tabs hanged for the same. How
would the Irish populace be convinced of his execs-
tioa, if it took place within the walls of a gaol ? No
amount or class of witnesses would make them
believe it. We could adduce imaginary instance@
where the people of England would be equally
incredulous. There are ppp
in ulatione at pressat
France, who believe that the Emperor NAPOLEON
is still alive. You may pass. a law for private exe-
cution@ amidst mach a population, but you will never
get it to believe in them. It would coesider the
whole business a hocus pain, and never credit the
execution of a criminal which it was the interest of
the government, or the clergy, or the upper classes
to save.
Asoneination may be a word too bard for private
executions. It is not the guilt of such that is to be
stigma, iced, but the folly. In our opinion they. would
be a meet bootless @pilling of blood, answering not
one single purpose, human or divine.

IT ie certainly a strange anomaly, the arrangement
by which the city of London enjoys the self-govern-
ment of &republic, whilst the greater city of the Writ-
end is handed over to the despotism of an Empire.
The citizens of London enjoy Anglo-Saxon rights :
they meet, they disease, they choose an officer of
health, and he turns out to be a very able one. More
than this, be turns out to be a very bold man, who
speaks the truth, however unpalatable to those who
have chosen and who employ him. Those who chose
Mr. Smote have voted him an ample salary which will
be paid without grudging, as money always is by
those who direct and control its nee.
If we wander west of Temple-bar, however, we
soon get beyond the frontiers of the London republic,
and we emerge into a region of which the inhabitants
are subject to quite a Napoleonite government. A
iprefet of police, in the shape of a Home Minister,
were des them and burdens them with a weight of
taxation for his myrmidons, against which it has been
lased vain to remonstrate. Inequality of the grossest
Wad prevails between district and district, the rich
paying little or nothing, the poor ground down to
=keine poverty by the most exotbitant dues.
If we turn from the one extreme of local
end municipal government to another, we find the
West-end Commission of Sewers constituted not only
in its personnel completely after Napoleonite rules—
the bod being a crowd ot engineers—but we find its
chief,himself a military engineer, cpenly avowieg
and establishing in full court the superiority of NAPO.
Leon's system ot government. Wten he, the Emperor,
quoth Sir J. So-
decided upon anything to be
done,he charged Mr. So-and-So with th- responsibility
and the execution. Now this nr,y be all very well
for the Emperor NAPOLEON and for the miserable
French slaves whombe taxed and kicked as he liked,
or draughted to foreign slaughter whether they listed
cr not. The English will hare no Emperor Nero.
LEON, nor CESAR BURGOYNE, nor Prefect ORZT.
They are as loyal as any people, but not servile ;
and their habit and their right is to have know-
ledge and elntrol over their local and civic matters,
their local and civic expenditure.
It is impossible not to think that the late Commis-
sion of Sewers was put together, purposely of antago-
nistio principle, in order to disgust the public with
their quarrels, and consequeirly with self-govern-
ment. In that old commission a party of cffi-
cilia and innovators were pitted against a
party of old functionaries and citizens, apparently
for the sole purpose of kicking up a row. No effort
was made to act arbiter or conciliator. Lord
CARLISLE seemed merely to sit still and enjoy the
bull-bait, which was allowed to last till the public
was quite ashamed, and then came the foreseen con-
clusion. This was the elimination of the public alto-
gether, the pretended disgrace of the officials, who had
merely dose their duty, and the substitution for them
of an engineer board, into whose hands the purees and
the drainage of West London are mercilessly de-
livered.
We should have said nothing to the fitness and
eligibility of this commission, had its duties been con-
fined to that for which it is competent, viz., to decide
upon the relative merits of plans fur the drainage and
sewerage of London. What we expected from
this engineers tribunal was, that as an ex-
ceptional and temporary commission it would
examine and decide not as to amount of
I expenditure, which evidently is not of its competence,
but as to the fitness of certain plans to accomplish
due sewerage, drainage, and sanity. The Commis-
sion have been for sonic time sitting, and the public
was looking out for its decision. When lo! instead
of judgment of any kind, it comes forth to enact the
part of a permanent administration, without telling
what its ideas are, or what its plan is ; it
appoints an officer, a high and absolute and
well paid officer, not responsible to the citizens
for his expenditure nor thankful to them for his place,
not a metropolitan officer like Mr. SIMON, but a mere
nominee of engineering notabilities. Mr. FOSTER
may be a very fit person, and Sir JOHN BURGOYNE
and Mr. STEVENSON may have been most disinte-
rested in their choice. But we can safely
assert that the best of measures and the
best of appointments will fail, if conducted
in this high-handed manner, without any
ccnsultation of the rights, the wishes, the
perms, or the dignity, of such a large and in-
fluential class of English citizens as that which West
London contains.
In the sanitary reforms undertaken throughout
England, we have never objected to some degree of
dictatorial pressure or assumption of power in order
to commence the movement. As we said in a former
article, we have no objection to a dictator being
named to drive the nail. But we have
objections to permanent dictatorship. We have
jectiona to a permanent making over of the purees di
the citizens of this western metropolis to Sir GeoltOS
GREY for his police, and to Sir JOll2l BUZ.
°oyez for his sewer officers. We want eentrel,
election, discipline, liberty—not the numb-
bling of a government appointed conclave, bat
the debates of a body chosen by the citizens
directly, or by the vestries. In any great reform, or
any [peat enterprise, government and people must
go together, and rot move on exclusively or contemp-
tnously of each other. Mr. HOLE'S letter in our
Saturday's paper shows the danger of attempting an
exhibition of national industry, without the concur-
rence and support of the chiefs of that industry. It
is equally clear, that the sanitary, and subterranean
management of London cannot be conducted by
Heaven-sent functionaries, or by any who have
not a claim to the assistance and co-operation, as
well as to the contributions of its citizens at large.
to

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.

We have Cape journals to the 28th of Sept., six
days later than our last advices.
The governor, Sir H. Smith, was at Cape-town.
The excitement relative to the arrival of the convicts
cif the colony continued unabated. The Anti-Con-
vict Association had addressed powerful appeals to
the governor to induco him to take npon
himself the responsibility of sending the convict-ship
and her freight to Ascension or any ether place, but he
steadily refused, and in a manifesto returned to the
asiceation a day or two prior to the sailing of the
Minerva, Sir Harry expressed his deep sympathy
with the cause of the colonists, but objected to act with-
out orders from the home government, and set forth the
ex•reme danger of any interference with the destine-
'ion of convicts, as a measure fraught with the most
fatal consequences—as, in the event of their being
illegally transferred to any other port than to that
oae to which the constituted authority consigned them,
they could rise and massacre the whole crew of the
ship, and sit themselves free,as &justifiable act under
such circumstances.
The colonists had prohibited supplies to the army,
navy, and all government establishments, and no sup-
phi s accordingly were granted. The governor was
compelled, in this state of things, to make bread in
his own house, as wLs Commixture Wyvill.
11. r Majesty's ships Castor and Geyser and the
storeehip Seringapntam were in Simon's•bay. Her
Majeety's ship Eurydice had sailed thence for Eng-
land, and the Orestes for the Nl,szimbique.
T. v. liaLrva cncotitlterca a ...r..., t'fal gale off the
I Caps.

PARIS, SATITZIMI, 6.30 r. N.
It is now three weeks since the menage of the
president of the republic was followed by the die-
missal of the BarronDufaure ministry. The presi-
dent then recommended a policy of action, and it was
exposited that he would have followed his own pre-
cept en order to prevent a majority, at heart kindle
to him, from rali;molter the blow that be bed
struck. Louis N , on the contrary, has ire-
noised supine. ' rue be abolished the certificates of
studies hitherto indispensable to every student de-
@irons of following a career, but this is a Esseconsw
which, though of vast importance in future, burs
not in the slightest on the present. It made &ow
fore no noise. Matters cinnot and will Let
remain in this state : the president must de
something. Nay, he has prepared something that
may create considerable astonishment in the country.
A few months rip a project of law was deposited en
the table of the Legislative Assembly, having for its
object the formation of a pension fund for workmen,
who should be called upon to deposit a certain sum
annually, in order to be entitled, at the expiration of
a given number of years, to a pension, consisting ut
the amount paid in and the interest, compound and
simple, of that amount. This project of law on what
has been christened misses de amour', was withdrawn
by M. Dumas, the present minister, as incomplete,
and that gentleman informed the Chamber that a i
much improved plan would be submitted.
If therumours wafted from the Elyse' are to believed,
it is this very improved project of law that is to startle
the country and the Chamber in the course of next
week. The law as it previously stood would have
been followed by no effect of course for a considerable
period after its passing. Workmen would have must
have their quota yearly or monthly, and years must
have elapsed before the necessary age had revolved
for any of the subscribers to be entitled to retiring
pensions. Like the ordonnanoe above mentioned,
relative to certificates of studies, the law would have
without benefiting the President of the Repub.
riacirany extraordinary way. Vastly different, how-
ever, is the plan which is now in course of elaboration
If my information be correct, it is proposed to arant
to all workmen of a certain age, say 35 or 60, retiring
pensions, as if they had been paying in to the fund
all their lives. How this plan is to be worked out

_
.
mum yet to be seen.
The Chamber to-day was occupied solely with

petitions.
There was an important sitting yesterday evening
of the Club du Conseil d'Etat. A member cf the ma-
jority having complained of the formation of so many
new parliamentary meetings, MM. Collet and Geo.
de Grammont, who are both of them members of the
Napoleonian meeting of the Beaux Arta, answered,
saying that the new club was instituted in order that
the members might be better acquainted with each
other, but that it was not their intention to become
separated from the majority. M. Buffet, not satisfied
with this statement, persisted in blaming as danger-
ous the tendency to form separate meetings. M.
Bsze, however, sad he thought there was no harm or
danger to be feared, inasmuch as these meetings were
men subdivisions of the larger club. This opinion
was allowed to appear general.
M. Mole informed the meeting that the board had
decided not not to take any, steps as regarded the elec-
tions that are about to take place, as it wu best to
leave all the care to the electoral committees of the
capital and departments.
SUNDAY, 5 30 P.N.
General Lamoriciere, envoy at St. Petersburgh,
and M. de Beaumont, minister at Vienna. have sent
in their resignation to the President of the Republic;
their determination is founded on the recent chsnge
of ministry here.
The duel pending between M. Pierre Bonaparte
and M. de Rovigo, took place this morning with
swords. The former having received several slight
wounds, succeeded in disarmuig the latter. M. Bona-
parte wished to continue the duel with pistols, but
the seconds of M. de Rovigo refused to accede to the
proposal.
It seems that the project of law on pensions to the
labouring classes is creating a considerable degree of
excitement. Though its exact tenor is generally un-
known, is so far at least as details are concerned, mazy
people at the Bourse were discussing the subject yes-
terday. But the public anxiety is based more
perhaps on the fact that the new law is
the subject of considerable bickerings in the
cabinet. It is stated (sa)s the Srecley that the
President of the Republic had charged the minister
of commerce aid egriculture with presenting the pro-
ject of law in question to the Chamber, without
in-
forming the rest of the cabinet of the fact. M. Dumas,
in order to palliate anything unusual that might be
found in this conduct, communicated the project of
law to the Committee on Public Assistance. Hence,
great discontent of the President on the one band, and
of the ministry on the other, M. Fonld, especially,
being very much annoyed by the steps taken by M.
Dumas. Hence, also, rumours of M. Fould's re-
signation. It is now said that the project of law will
meet with so many obs'aeles that it will not be pre-
sented.
Amongst the petitions which were rejected in the
Assembly yesterday, is one for replacing on its
pedestal, in the Court of the Louvre, the statue of the
Duke of Orleans.

PARIS, Nov. 24. Poe leer Amount.
Mosey. ppening Iliisbeet. Lowest.' Maim

------ --. 1 --.
5 Per Cents. ....... 37 • , 57 0 37 5 56 85 56 9S
5 yes Cents..
I 44
69 90 89 90 89 20 89 75
S do. New Loan-. n n
41 per Cents.— —. 7876 i ~ 44 n ..
I Per Cans . n ' ~ .4 "
Exchange on Lunen: 30 days. 25 50;90 days, 25 33.
Went, 5, 1840
Ds 3, 11142
Do' y
Do. 91
Boutan—Parle and Orleann,' 740 ; Paris and ROOM 5!693;
Strasbourg sod Bale, 103 75 ; °intro (Vinson), 302 50; Bordann,
39; 00 ; North, 449 50 ; Parts and Btrasboarg, 356 15; Tour. and
Nantes, 980; Waterton and Troyes, 110; *dens and tontine,
137 50 ; Versants, tight bank, 940 ; Vanities, lilt bank, 170.

11[imam Nov. 20—Three per Cents., 26 9-16 account ; Four per
Ceuta., Ili ; Fire per Came, ill paper; Coupoos, 6i ; Bank of St.
Ferdinand, 77 paper. Ezehange on L00d0n,20.40.

ITALY.

SARDINIA.—The King of Sardinia hu issued the
following proclamation, dated the 21st inst. :
In the midst of the serious circumstances of the moment,
the loyalty of which I think I have given proof by words
as well as by sets ought to have been sufficient
to have removed all uncertainty from the public
mind. However, I feel the desire of addresaine
same words to my people, which will be the (mots
nano( truth and sinmity, and at the same time a guarantee
of security and peace. The dissolution of the Chamber of
Deputies does not in any way compromise the liberties of
the country, which ue under the protection of the venerated
memory of my father, Charles Albert, entrusted to the
honour of the house of 13svey, and protected by the oaths
that I have taken. Who under these circumstances
can have any fear for them? Before assemblies
the parliament I addreesed some honest words to the nation
and to the electors. In my proclamation of the 3rd July,
1849, I exhorted them to act in such a manner as that the
statute should not become in future an impossibility. But
a third of the electors only responded and took put In the
electicns ; the remainder reglected the exercise of a right
which is at the same time the duty of every citizen in a free
state. I bad dose my duty; why did they not do theirs.
In my speech from the throne I made known the sad situation
of the state. I showed the necessity of • truce between
party feelings, and of asp edy resolution of the vital questions
which kept affairs in check. My words were dictated by a
deep love for my country and an unstsized loyalty. What d:d
they produce? The first sets of the chamber were
hostile to the crown. The chamber made use of its right
but when I had forgotten, should it not also forget. I
shall be silent on the unreasonable struggle engaged by the
opposition against the policy which my ministers honestly
followed, and which was alone possible. I shall also be
silent as to the attacks made &plan' the prerogatives ethich
I hold from the law of the state. But I have the right to
demand a severe &anent from the chamber of its last acts,
ant I appeal without fear from it to the judgment of Italy
and of Europe. I concluded a treaty %kb Austria, which
was honourable and not ruinous, and tech as the public
welfare required. The honour of the country and the oath
which I had taken required that it should be religiously
executed, and without subterfuge et afterthought. My
ministers demanded the ratification by the chamber,
which, however, rendered it impossible, by destroying
the reciprocal independence of the three powers
of the state, sad by violating the statute of the kingdom. I
have sworn to maintain junto., and the eillTeite by eicb of
his civil rights. I have promised to save the nation from the
tyranny of parties, whatever might be the profession, name,
or rank of those who cnreposed them. These promises and
these oaths I have kept by dissolving a chamber which had
become impossible, and I fulfil them tty convoking another
chamber; but it the country and the electors refuse me
their support, the responsibili:y of the future must be no
longer on my head, and the disorders which may ensue must
be Liken as the result of their own fault. It 1 have thnui,ht
necessary to an Min espressioas on this musics, I hope