The Express.
London, England, 1851-12-18 00:00:00

SPAIN,

SETTLEMENT OF THE CUBAN AFFAIR.
MADRID, DEc. 12.
It is very doubtful whether the session of the
Cortes will be resumed after the Queen's confine.
ment. 'I here is a talk of approaching changes in the
corps diplomatique.
The following is the note of the Hon. Daniel
Webster (referred to in yesterday's Express):—
" The undersigned, &c., has the houour of acknowledging
the cote which Don Angel Calderon de la blares, Minister
Plenipotentiary of her Must Catholic Majesty, did him the
honour to send him on the 14th of October, with reference
to the exces-es committed in New Orleans. M. Calderon
de la Bares has written and acted on that occasion with his
customary zeal and fidelity to his government, and has
found, and will find, the government of the United States
disposed and ready to listen, with the greatest respect, to
all his representations, and to do everything that the
honour, good faith, and friendly relations that exist between
the two countries appear to require. The first rumour of
the outrage committed in New Orleans induced the govern-
ment of the United States to adopt means to learn all the
details. l'ursuant to this determination the district attorney
of Louisiana inquired into and reported upon the subject.
His report, and that of the Mayor of New Orleans,
are sent herewith, in order that M. Calderon may take
cognizance of the same. From three reports it appears
that on the morning of the 21st of August, the steam-boat
Crescent City arrived at New Orleans from Ilavannah,
with the news of the execution of the .ii/ men captured near
the coast of Cuba. On board of this vessel came M.
Mimic., the secretary of the Spanish consulate, and it was
assured that the captain-general of Cuba had delivered to
him the letters which the men executed had addressed to
their friends in the United States. Instead of putting
these letters in the post immediately, he detained them as
was supposed. From that originated the idea th it his con-
duct was improper, and it soon became reported that the
consul had refused the letters of those who called for them.
After detailing the outrages committed, Mr. Webster goes
on to any that the outrage was committed by a crowd of
persons entirely unknown many of the authorities or agents
of the authorities in New Orleans, that none of the agents
of the government were concerned in the outrage,
but on the contrary did all they could to prevent it, that
public faith and national honour require that such outrage
be condemned, and their authors punished whenever it is
possible to submit them to the action of public justice, and
that a complete satisfaction be given. The government of
the United States would be steeply sorry for any offence
made in tune of peace against the ft ig of a nation so ancient
and so renowned as that of Spain, Cie flag of Castile, which
in former Cantu was raised as, high, and which has waved in
fields of recognised and distinguished exploits, which has
streamed unstained in every sea. The governint lit of the
United States admits that the conduct of the crowd in in-
, suiting this flag does not admit of any justification.
However, M. Calderon and his government know
that recent news had just been received from Devon-
' nab, news of a nature to create a popular excitement,
1 in a great city, and to produce popular excesses. And if
these be unjustifiable, yet it may tie remarked, in exteuua-
-1 tion, that the outrage was committed in a moment of' popu-
lar ferment, and not in consequence of any plan, or with
' intention of injury or insult. The people or the United
I States arc accustomed in all eases of supposed crime to a
• slow and minute investigation, and to a deliberate trial, be-
fore sentence of condemnation, however great the crime
may be. It is not therefore to be wondered at that the
t news of this execution, so immealiate upon the taking of
these men, many of whom were known in New
Orleans, and who were taken, not in Cuba, but
at sea, in attempting to escape from the island,
' should have produced the belief that they hail been exe-
cuted without form of trial, and should have produced an
' agitation in the city, which the authorities could not foresee
l nor at first prevent. The congress will be called upon to
l pass a bill according an indemnity to the Spanish consul ;
the Spanish subjects who have suffered losses will have jus-
ri t:
isbi administeredcaletl.eiueant:ii,iwfpo,iNew
iienoebotnwesduliblrrsol.derreadittnenuh:
orders will
i accordingwirtotiin ,;:ov,ibeiihimi flag,
vats
,tc,a_oin,t
obtirhft
courtesy,
:: law.tthllee r
al'. fit° at
hia lhoe-1
he come eanind aa
Spanish vessel, as a mark of respect to let him and his go-
, %eminent know that the government of the United States
, reprobate the enormous injustice made to his predecessor by
, tau unbridled multitude. _ __

(Signed) '. DANIEL WEBSTER."

GEILIIANY.

It is officially announced that Lord Westmoreland
had nn 'interview with the Emperor of Austria ou
the 13th to present his credentials.

FLORENCE, DEC. 11.
The Count and Countess do Mouton°lin have ar-
rived at Bologna.

TILE MORAL AND RELIGIOUS BEARING OF
LOUIS NAPOLEON'S COUP-D'ETAT.

Political religionists and rabid sectarians have not
at times been particularly straight-laced in judging
the characters of their leaders. Henry VIII. was a
" defender of the faith ;" Charles IL was a " nursing
father of the church of England;" Luther and the
whole Sanhedrim of Wurtemberg connived in the
Landgraf of Ilesse's having two wives ut once ; and
the Huguenots affected not to sec (a belie Gabrielle
or any other of the thousand and one mistresses of
Henn IV., so long as he remained a Huguenot. So
we need not wonder that Louis Napoleon has been pro-
claimed a leader of the faithful as well as his betters.
The Horning Post vows that he is an "instru-
ment of Providence ;"—and, as a matter of course, all
that numerous class of professing pietists whose no-
tions of providence closely resemble those which
courtiers entertain of a king,—are eager to pay their
court to its new vice-gerent. The l'airers and the
Tablet have done their best to win him for the ultra-
montane party of the Runtish church, while the
Standard and Herald have been putting in a good
word for Orange protestantism—reminding him that
" mon oncle," on his death-bed, bitterly regretted
that he had not made France protestant. Louis
Napoleon stands between these rival aspirants to his
favourable regards, like Macheath between his two
=stresses.

The modern Macheath, flushed with his late high-
way robbery of French liberty, obviously inclines
more to the ultra-montancs than to the Orangists ;
like his prototype he whispers, in an audible aside, to
his Polly that he is her " partner fur life, because
they are legally married," though he does not abso-
lutely turn his back on the vixen Lucy. His recent
good luck on the road puts it in his power to be liberal,
and he heaps presents upon the reigning favourite.
He has given the church of' St. Genevieve to the
Jesuits, and he has promulgated an edict for the
better observance not only of the Sabbath, but of
saints days.
In this, as in all his proceedings, Napoleon 11.
treads with servile imitation in the footsteps of Na-
polcon I. " Mon oncle," when he put an end (pro
tempore) to the revolution, abolished the observance
of the decade, and reinstated that of Sunday. But
Napoleon the Little aspires to be called, like
Napoleon the Great, the restorer of religion
and morality in France. There remains some-
thing more for him to do. "Mon oncle" was a
married man ; and one of his first steps was to banish
Madame Tallien from his court circle, and oblige
Talleyrand to marry Madame Grant. It is in the
power of "le neveu demon oncle" to make a still
greater sacrifice to social and domestic decorum. Ho
need not be merely a vicarious penitent like his pre-
decessor; instead of merely compelling his prime
minister to marry his kept mistress, he can in propria
persona marry his own.
After the splendid demonstration of entire sub-
mission to the new sovereign of France by the
Bishop of Chartres, there is no alternative but to
make that prelate the prince's confessor. And in this
capacity, he of course will not omit to remind his
penitent that he has now reached a time of life when
he ought to have done sowing his wild oats. In this
pious endeavour he will no doubt receive the strenu-
ous support of M. de Muntalembert.
When we think of the more than equivocal repu-
tation of the Elysec—when we recollect that the wife
of a prime minister who resigned not much more
than a month ago declined to be presented on ac-
count of that reputation—we cannot hope to see the
Tuileries quite such a model of domestic decorum
and morality as Windsor and St. James's were in
the days of George 111. But Louis Napoleon may at
least come up to the mark of Pope's Sir &damn—

Seldom at church, was such a busy life.
. But duly tent his family and wife.

PROPOSED DINNER TO THE HON. MR, WALKER,
AT SOV7II•3IIPTON.—Tho following requisition to the
Mayor of Southampton is in course of signature in that
town:—" We, the undersigned merchants, traders, and
others connected with the port of Southampton, hereby
request the favour of your inviting the Hon. obert J.
Walker, late Secretary of the United States Treasury, to a
public dinner on such day as may suit his convenience.
We do this, in order to show our appreciation of the advan-
tages which have accrued to the port of Southampton by
the establishment of a line of American steamers between
this port and New York, and which was in a great measure
broueht about by the support given by the cabinet at
Washington, of which Mr. Walker was a valuable and in-
fluential member; as well as further to evince our most cor-
dial feelings of kindness towards that crest nation of which
he is so distinguished a eitisen."