The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-25 00:00:00

LONDON. TUBSDAY. JANUARY 23.

tistics of every detail of the measure beautifully
is
mapped out upon ruled paper, the rat society w*
peradventure wait upon our own P ter-0
and not, without a show of merited lifactiotht,
the subject of *international ni
r% 2°4l° *1
a
in posse which it only lama Jro his ontpAija
accomplish in ease. Bu erg theiutisfme
reality, be met by its firseserious check) for, from St.
Martin s-le-Grand it will be transferred to that red
tape purgatory, the Treasury ; and, from the
Treasury into that official Had,., the Foreign-
office ; in which a three years' imprisonment
is the least that must be expected for it.
1 Diplomacy abroad and diplomacy at home
stiffly attired in . gold-bioed uniforms will indite
Idrafts, and preliminaries, and protocols; will send
off despatches b 3. QUEEN'S messengers; will plot,
and intrigue, and negotiate about impossible contin-
gencies and impracticable advantages to be gained
by one court over other courts; and those courts will
plot and diplomatise in return. There will be dis-
putes innumerable, and delays interminable. Every
one of the friendly assurances in the hopeful album
will be found, on closer examination, to bear a double
meaning ; and, in the end, the movement instead of
having advanced, will have been twisted into a tangle
of red tape and gold-lace complication which no craft
nor canning at the command of the Association will
be able to unravel. I
_ _

LORD Joue Russm.t. bas, at the instance of the
Manchester Commercial Association, instructed Mr.
DRUM MOND HAY. our Consul-General at Tangiers,
to use his beet endeavours to induce the government
of MULE/ ABDUR-ItAIIIMAN to remove at least the
more recent obstructions to the development of owe
trade with the empire cf Morocco. To effeet mute
Is the way of improvement the Association is, bow-
ever, of opinion that the representations to be nab
should be of a personal character, and that say
mission sent from Tangiers to the capital, Morocco it•
self, should be accompanied by " some British mar►
chant acquainted with commerce in all its bearings,
with a view to show the people how much they
would be benefited by the commerce which we se
much desire." Whether Lord Joni Russimt. or his
successor will go so far as to despatch such a mimics
to the coast of Morocco remains to be seen. Bat
ordinary people the establishment of enlarged
commercial relations with a State so near, so popu-
lous, and so accessible both from the shores of the
Mediterranean and its coasts on the Atlantic; which
has for centuries been accustomed at once to oar
fame and our trade—would appear to be a much
more likely and rational object of ambition than
expensive conquests of Pegu, or another useless
serWasy to Siam.
What gardens and Paradises these very Muss of
Morocco once made of the south of Spain,—what
lourishiog cities and towns, great castles, and charm-
ing palaces they scattered profusely over A ndalusis,
Grenada, and Arragon ; and how to this hour Spats
suffers from the expulsion of a race so intelligent,
skilful, and industrious. Contrast that period of their
greatness with the present plight either of Morocco
generally—the remnant of a Saraceaio power
—or of their seaboard towns, Tetuan, Tangiers,
Sallee, and Mogador, now ail, more or less, in decay
and ruins, and we see what scope there is for im-
provement. Nay, even later than the period of its
glory, Morocco was still of great importance; it fur-
nished the Peninsula with food ; it contributed very
largely to the trade of the Levant; and it spread
terror by its Rovers both in the Mediterranean and
the Atlantic. In the early part of the French war,
its friendship was of military value to England
and after the close of that great struggle we took the
first opportunity that offered of repeating and eoa-
Inning those commercial stipulations which we had
formed during its progress. Since then, however,
our relations with Morocco have been very little
heeded ; its rupture with France turned attention
to its shores for a moment—but, deprived of Euro-
pean interest, little thought has since been given be
the country, although its Sovereign has not beta
backward in showing courtesy to Queen VICf/ORIA
• present of Arab horses.
The proper way to regard the African shams
of the Mediterranean is to include thaw, if
it be possible, in Europe, and the aussagde
of the French in Algeria, and our own
success, still greater, in Egypt, show that this
is not, after all, an impossibility. To neglect these
countries is to promote their isolation from Eu
and to consign lands of exceeding fertility and the
highest political importance to barbarism. Look at
Morocco. It stretches, for hundreds of miles, aloes'
-• A:......nean with a coast indented by a wigs

The Association will, therefore, do wisely to defer
pursuing its foreign aims until it has pertormed its
colonial mission. To that, all its resources and all
its energy should be at first directed. The establish-
ment of cheap postage between the mother-country
and her colonies is oppressing a necessity that a ioner
or later it must be conceded; but, by the efforts of
the Association, that consummation may be mato-

rially hastened:
The rush of emigration to the Australian colonies
will soon, by dint of mere transference of popu-
lations from this part of the globe to the antipodes,
place the Imperial Government in a position more
politically difficult than the Colonial-office will be able
to cope with. The fewer the facilities for intercourse
between the people who have gone away and the
people who have stayed behind, the more rapidly
those difficulties will increase; and the wisest stroke
of policy which the Imperial Colonial Government
could effect would be to establish the cheapest, safest,
and most rapid interchange possible of thougbts,
sentiments, information, and commercial advices.
Even if cheap postage were to occasion a small
pecuniary loss to the postal department, that loss
would soon be compensated by enormous gains to
other branches of revenue from the new impulses
it would give to trade, and the good understanding
it would maintain and cement between worldwide

communities.
But we are prepared to prove that a sound system
of cheap colonial ocean postage would not occasion
loss even to the Post-office revenue. As it is, the

charges upon that establishment are not fairly made
in respect of the packet service. The greater portion
of the item of nearly 800,00 W. per annum paid by
Government to various steam-ship companies for
the conveyanoe of mails, and debited against the Post-
office, might just as reasonably appear in the
accounts of the Duchy of Lancaster. It was known
when those contracts were made that the revenue
derived—or possible to be derived—from sea-borne
letters could never, under the present system, reach
above a tenth of that sum ; and surely, if the
early expense of those vessels to Government
six times greater than their postal earnings, it
must follow that we are taxed on the balance; and,
being so taxed, the difference ought to be charged in
the accounts of the department which is benefittd by
the outlay. That undoubtedly is the war depart-
ment. The only parties to the contracts are the
Admiralty and the steam-packet companies. "My
Loris" tie down the contractors—very properly and
wisely —to build the mail-packets in such a manner
that they may be converted, on the shortest notice,
into war vessels. The Postmaster-General has little

or no control over them; he is no party to the con-
tracts under which they are built and employed; he
is not even the sole regulator of their departures and
arrivals. So little, in short, has the Postmaster-
General to do with the matter, that hs is in the
position of a man who has the pleasure of paying for
what he does not possess, and has no control over.
Putting, therefore, the greatest impulse to moral
and social improvement that this age has seen—
namely, cheap postage—upon the narrow ground of
profit and loss, there can be little doubt that in
reality, there would be no greater balance of deficiency
created than already exists, were a low and uniform
rate of colonial postage at once established ; for who
can doubt, after what has happened with regard to
Penny Postage, that the number of letters would
be so enormously augmented as to bring, in a very
short time, an amount of revenue much greater than
that now derived from ship-letters? while the ex-
pense of conveying them would not be augmented.
The difficulties of detail anticipated in extending
the ,irinciple beyond sea are of a simple and technical
character, and are easily surmounted. We question,
however, whether the Colonial and International
Cheap Postage Association are wise in pressing for
a penny colonial rate. The more practicable limit
would be—at all events at first, and until the experi-
ment is confirmed—a penny for transit to the port of
departure; another penny for freight across the see;
and a third penny for delivery in any part of the
colony to which the letter is destined. et three-psnny
rate would lessen whatever little rick might attend
the experiment on fiscal grounds, and would prepare
the way for any reduction that may be found practi-
cable in future. Let us, then, advise the Association
to concentrate its strength for the present upon the
effectual extension of cheap postage to the colonies.
That once brought about, they will have so strength-
ened their canoe that even diplomacy itself, whether
at home or abroad, will be unable to withstand them.
Cheap postage once existing for the colonies, inter-
national cheap postage will soon force itself into
existence.

ajpeei pale; ad. though limmisil ea the south by
the great Sams and wandn hip navigabh
rivers. containing nevertheless $ es 'gable of
yielding in see at once the simple productions
of Europe, Ai/ emil Aeries.
But its people—they are mil te be its curse ; they
are hopeless. Let us not beim mere that this is net
a prejudice. That which the Mews accomplished is
Spain, there can be no names why they should not
again display in Northern Africa. The Moors still
form the aristocracy, the intelligence, and enterprise
of Morocco; Englishmen who have visited their ports
some away with the impression that they have
seen a race of gentlemen in their higher
classes—wealthy, dignified, and moral—and in
every respect they are vastly superior to the
Berber and Bedouins who occupy the interior, and
the great chain of the Atlas. Nor ought we
hastily to condemn a people, however differently and
discordantly composed, who submit to a constituted
government, or think too lightly of a government
that has maintained itself for ages amidst such dis-
united elements, and fulfils all its internal relations.
The trade of Morocco is almost exclusively in
the hands of the Jews. The Jews of Gibraltar
supply their brethren across the /Waits, and
of Sallee and lidor, on the Atlantic coast.
.Ted by Cue liar returns the bade is but
se, not exceeding, both in imports ansorts,
one maligns sterling annually, of which England has
at least five-sevenths. But the real state Morocco
cannot be so estimated; for the vice of their com-
merce is its smuggling character. The facilities for
smuggling keep gin inferior hands, and by diminish-
ing the imperial revenues, tend to protium that Is-
security and those irregularities now complained of
The Emperor of Moaocco, like other potentates,
wants revalue. The general run of duties
which he imp impose on imports is not by any
means heavy ; bat, failing to receive them, he resorts
to unwise and arbitrary means of getting what he
must have,— . Thus lately IkItILIIIT MIDIII-
- decreed all the skins and hides of his
;spire should belong to him. After wool and grain,
Woe are the most important article of export, and
the sleet of this royal confiscation was that his sub-
orning to kill their goats and their cattle. Thus
ga.
sans without the Court of Morocco being en-
And. In like manner, the Eierazoa has had
seesisse to • sessopely of other articlee—with almost
opal lack efprolt.
Uwe widi be extend our trading relations with
Ikea" we Ind de so honestly. We must consent
to par meleue dodos; to tsseh WHIT ABDO?,
RAMAN peset that trade is more profitable than
thYrefiene. We must repress smuggling ;
and appear in Warl/M• with clean hands. This,
no
doubt, will be Meek ; for illicit trade ins chronic
complaint at Gibraltar; but though in Spain it has
its reasonable imams, there is much less apology
inert in the African States. Irregular trade
is always demoralised ; it runs great risks
and sometimes makes great profits; but it is carried
on by unworthy hands; it is subject to constant in-
terruptions ; and it is rarely an increasing commerce.
The remedy on such a coast is not, however, easy.
But this part of the subject, at all events, deserves
the consideration both of the Manchester Com- 1
saercial Association and the Foreign-office. Other-
wise, when a mission, with its mercantile assistants,
gets to Maroooo, MILEY ADDIIII.-RALIMAN may very
reasonably complain that a low tariff has not pre-
served him from the inroads of dishonesty and loss
of revenue. If we want Fns Trade in Morocco we
mast have fair trade also.

Tne Colonial and International Cheap Postage I
Association will owe most of it■ difficulties to red
tape. At prompt its gallant efforts to obtain the
greatest and most civilising of social blessings—
& quick and easy community of written thoughts
across the globe—seem, superficially, to be prosperous
enough. The honorary secretary, Don MANUEL Di
YAMII, is at present assiduously travelling on a tour
of persuasion amongst the various Courts and Post-
muters-General of Europe. Armed with unanswer-
able arguments, backed by facts, fortified with expe-
riences of the unhoped-for success of cheap postage
in this country, and in every other in which it
has been established, his mission will bo apparently
triumphant. Already the postal chief of all the Rus-
Wu has " pronounc.d" in favour of the scheme in
a private no'e, which has no doubt filled the com-
mittee at home with the liveliest hope. Similar notes
full of the distinguished-assurances of estcum with
which the writers remain the Assoeiation's most tic-
voted servants wi I, doubtless, soon fill its official album.
With that volume big with certificates of the Cra-
nimity of All Nations, accompanied by plans and eta-

TEE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 25, 1853.

influence, the Pays affirms that French monarchs have
seldo.isymarrieci with& view to anything bet personal
con*iisjsee, o' the interests of their internal detains-
tied. lathe present degraded state of the French
goverdniert press, to examine toyer their arguments
seriously. would be se idle se to investigate the civi-
h.
olt Mother °stick's cloud was really like a whale
or a *easel. The amusing feature of the present
effort of the Pays is this, that while the Emperor, in
hie speeeh, declared that incorporation with the great
royal family of the world was an object that every
sensible Frenchman would desire for France, he,
from peculiar exceptional circumstances, was justified
in following a " new policy," his most devoted
journal argues that he has done nothing but follow
the old monarchical tradition. In truth, Louis Na-
poleon's declaration that he is a " parvenu" has pro-
duced much confusion in the ranks of his supporters.
They have been at infinite pains to show his " legiti-
macy." History has been ransacked to prove that
neither the Carlovingian, Merovingian, nor any
other line of French monarchs had in their inception
so many distinguishing features of a royal dynasty
as the Bonaparte family. The legitimist journals
have taken advantage of the opening afforded them to
contrast the now admitted experimental charac'er
of the empire with the tried principle of which they
are the supporters. They rejoice in perceiving that
Louis Napoleon's speevh draws a broad line of de-
marcation between himself and the other sovereigns
of Europe.
he following anecdote of Mdlle. Montijo appears
in the Bulletin de Paris:

Some of the innumerable acts of generosity of the Duchess
de Teba (Mdlle. de Monello) are known among the working
classes. Lately, u the Duchess was passing in her carriage
through one of the quarters which are so miraculously
transformed at this time by the will of the Emperor, at the
moment when a poor workman had jut fallen from
a scaffolding, she immediately stopped her carriage,
alighted, and went to the man, whale injury for-
tunately was but slight, and gas, him eminent*.
Another day, when near the Barriers de l'Etoile, a poor
wornan,half-clothed, and carrying two young children on her
arms, who appeared both cold and hungry, attracted the
attention of the Duchess, who stopped and questioned the
poor wom in. Without allowing her to complete the re-
cital of her mi-fortunes, she took a wrapper from her car-
riage, which she threw over the woman and her children,
and then emptied her purse into the emaciated hand of the
poor creature, and disappeared.
A great nnmber of high functionaries and persons
of distinction yesterday entered their names at the
Palace of the Elysie as a mark of respect to the
future Empress.

The commercial bulletin of the Presse gives an
unfavourable account of the state of trade generally
during the past week, but regards the depression as
temporary.
_ _ .

The Consulting Railway Commission has of late
met several times at the Ministry of Public Works,
under the presidentship of the minister. The Com-
mission has been occupied with several questions con-
cerning tariffs, and with a plan proposed. for extend-
in the railway from Rheims to the Belgian frontier.
It has heerd the reports and representations of the
various parties interested, relative to the direction to
be taken by the line, which the government appears
to regard as of general interest. Several sub-com-
missions have been formed for the purpose of urging
on the examination of the various matters on which
the Consulting Commission will have to pronounce.
An account was given some time ago of the trial
and condemnation by the Tribunal of Correctional
Police of Nantes, of M. E. de la Rochette and other
gentlemen of that city, for having assaulted M. 0.
Merson, editor of the Falstaff, who had attacked
them in that journal. A duel was subsequently
fought between M. de la Rochette and M. Merson,
and the latter was slightly wounded. In conse-
quence of this M. de la Rochette and the gentlemen
who acted as seconds for both parties, were on
Thursday tried by the Tribunal of Nantes, on the
charge of wilfully cutting and wounding. M. de la
Rochette was fined 100 fr., and the witnesses, M. de
Is Palme, M. Coquebert, M. Cornilier, and M. De-
merle, were severally fined 60fr.; and all five were
jointly condemned to pay the costs.