The Express.
London, England, 1847-03-17 00:00:00

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17.
GOVERNMENT seems likely to fare better with its
Irish Poor Law, than might have been expected from
the opposition threatened. But the Irish landlords
tarn out to be not so black as they are painted.
Scarcely one of them stood forward to denounce the
measure, or to echo the Recorder of Dublin, always
the leader of a forlorn hope, in his attack of the other
night. All were ready to vote for it, even Mr. Some
O'CONNELL. The coming forward of such men as
Mr. VILLIERS STUART and Lord COURTENAY in sup-
port of the ministerial proposal, spews that the mea-
sure must pass, and that the Irish proprietors, how-
ever dubious and distrustful of some of its probable
effects, prudently see that there is really no other
alternative.
If there was lakewarmneas of attack, there was
also lukewarmness of support. Even Mr. LABOU-
CHERE's answers to Lord JOHN MANNERS and
Mr. SHAW, was far from being imperative.
The Secretary for Ireland admitted that, were all
Ireland like Mayo, the property of the country would
break down, and we might despair. The Poor law
would, however, act as a stimulus, and Irishmen, he
had no doubt, would get through the difficulty. This
only shows that the Irish government, even in pass-
ing the poor-law, is fully aware of all its difficulties, of
its unequal pressure, and of the necessity. of remedy-
ing and equalizing by administrative justice, and
skill, the inevitable general operation of a measure
which, en forced without discernment, would begin
by sweeping the poorer raters off the face of the
earth, and would crush the rich, thereby drying up
rather than augmenting the sources of employment
and labour for the poor.
There was one quality of the measure which evi-
dently proved a strong recommendation in its favour
This was its being the most stringent absentee-tax.
In order, however, to give the law full effect in
this, it would be better to restrict the area of rating,
even to the limits of private estates, as proposed by
Sir WINSTON BARRON. The result of this, in many
cases, would be that the beard of guardians, or the
date, would have to take possession of the neglected
or absentee property, and administer it for the benefit
of the poor.
Indeed, whatever the area of voting, the great
fear as to the result of an Irish poor-law is, that it
would in time convert the state not only into gene-
ral and sole poor-law guardian, but into general and
sole administrator of Irish property. We see enough
in the blue-book which records the elections and the
working of Irish boards of guardians to per-
ceive the strugle that will instantly take
place in all—of-the priest and peasant against
the landlord. We have seen in the present-
ment sessions what will be the result. The landlord
mast either go with the stream, even to the voting
away of his own property, or he must absent himself
altogether, and leave it to the government or its
functionaries to fight his battles. This will end by
either government or popular party conquering, and
whichever conquers dealing with the landlords as
they please.
Of the two alternatives we should prefer the
' government dictatorship; and the best plan might be
fa government to assume at once this dictatorship,
sad apply the property of Ireland (after the present
°Late &arms has passed awa
ey) to the settlement and
maintenance of its poverty. This would be the most
somomical, the most efficient, the most speedy
remedy. It implies indeed a suspension of many
of the rights of private property, and of all the
privileges of loaf inflame. It constitutes Ireland
m the dupe of a minor, whose property
is under tutelage, and whose freedom of action is
annulled. Such a power would be only tolerable as
temporary, and as necessary. All the insuperable
objections to centralisation, government interference,
functionary despotism, would be met by the great
muse, that all this was temporary, and that after
three or five years' rule of a dictatorial board, to act
ia arbiters between the poverty and the property
of the country, things might be returned to a
! normal state, a law of settlement passed, the levy
• sod management of the poor-rate restored to local
boards of guardians, and the great foundations of the
system laid, the landed proprietors might resume
their influence, and the poor their claim to sustenance,
both being in reconcileable proportion, and not, as
now, necessitated to crush or to eat up one another.
i, not the application of the English poor-law to
relsad will lead to dictatorial necessities of this kind
wete. are perfectly convinced ; and we should prefer
mg them wielded and acted upon at once, and have
then over in a definite time, than embarking govern-
asp
landlords, ander people in a mike, in which each
have alternately the upper hand, but out of which
:eewill room unacathed, or without mutual feelings
lad P
u4racety, tending to any result save the tranquillity
rosperity of Ireland.

itsleiry into the operation of the navigation
lame comes, indeed, at the eleventh hoar, in the pre-
lent session ; but it in nevertheless welcome. Ac-
es in from all Dorn-growing countries, to the
4"__,""net there is ere want of grain if there were but
ve„."'s4 to carry it. About Ilk millions of quarters or
ow, maim, barley have been announced by mercantile authorities as available for shipment
Ear n, he e °ming of the navigation in eastern
; but everybody is startled at the

amount of required to carry so much.
Assuming, in =numbers. five quarters to repre-
sent one ton, a fleet of 1,200,000 tons burthen would
barely suffice to convey that quantity to our shores.
Tws thousand four hundred ships, of 500 tons each,
or four thousand eight hundred vessels, of 250 tons,
being more than all Europe possesses of either class
alone, would but suffice for the emergency. Still,
under the influence of the high freights now paying
for grain, we may assume that it will all be sent for-
ward in successive shipments, although at the risk of
displacingtallow,hemp,and linseed to a large amount.
But the abstraction of this amount of tonnage from
the usual course of our merchantmen will obviously
be of serious detriment to the channels of trade which
they usually teed. To deprive our cotton, linen,
wool, or steel markets of the means of obtaining the
raw material on which they depend, is to take the
means of payment from the people whom we are
supplying with objects to purchase. Corn et market
is of little avail to the operative who gets no wages,
se well as to the manufacturer who has no profits
wherewith to buy it; and earnings must be preceded
by importations of raw materials.
Stated in this simple manner, the want of shipping
at such a moment will be acknowledged by all parties
to be a misfortune. Nay, were it possible to supply
the deficiency by the temporary imposition of a tax—
a shipping rate—resembling the labour rate of each
bed credit as we all remember—such a rate would,
doubtless, be cheerfully submitted to. Could land-
owners, master-manufacturers, or merchants only
subscribe ships as easily as they draw cheques
upon their bankers, what a fleet should we not com-
mand? The tntliti Cost of the tonnages we have
described would amount to something less than th.e sum
voted without debate to relieve the necessities of Ire-
land. It would not much exceed half the sum proposed by
Lord G. BENTINCK and acquiesced in by Lord STANLEY
as a reasonable vote of credit to the sister country. But
unluckily, in the matter of shipping, charity and
legislative power are equally at fault. We can sub-
scribe, and can borrow pounds sterling, but not ships.
For once we come to a pas where parliamentary and
philanthropic crotchets are of no avail. A merchant
navy is the creation of the unseen, unpretending ex-
ertions of men whose life is spent in the homely
occupation of supplying their neighbours' wants in
the only feasible manner in which it can be done 'or
a continuance—that is to say, by making it the
means of earning their own livelihood. Their efforts
stimulate trade as the soft still rain aid
the silent sunshine promote vegetation. A par-
liamint or a despot can foil their efforts, but can-
not replace their untiring perseverance and patient
skill.

Now to what result will the examination into the
effects of the navigation laws lead ? It is e to
place in strong light the enactments by the
British legislature to impede the exertions of this me-
ritorious class of citizens, which does not even lay
claim to praise as public benefactors, and yet whose
co-operation is manifestly indispensable, if we are to
be supported and enriched by trade. The efforts of
shipowners are known to be paralysed by the uncer-
tainty of their prospects.
But we suspect even few out of the bitterest adver-
saries of the navigation laws are prepared to find
their case so strong as the evidence, if well taken, can
be made. It will scarcely be credited that an im-
mense amount of tonnage is annually thrown away
under the influence of those Laws. Ships make
voyages in ballast under their operation, from ports
that have enough to export; and it is well known that
freights to England are invariably higher than
outward-bound freights. Still lees is the com-
mittee or the public, as we suspect, prepared
to hear, that these laws oblige the nations of
Europe to keep larger navies than are resuisite for the
average demands of trade ; and yet this is the case.
Their vessels are only partially employed : part of the
time they are going about empty. Nearly one-third
of the trade carried on with the great altorin=
of Europe— with Trieste, Leghorn, Genoa,
Antwerp, Rotterdam, and the Hanse-towns--is one-
sided, as far se regards the shipping employed. The
foreign carrying trade is to a large extent managed
by Danish, Swedish, Hanoverian, Sardinian, Greek,
and other vessels. These ships may convey the
produce of Russia or of Austria to the storing
harbours, but they cannot be used to convey the
produce of the countries where they unload to Eng-
land, where it is mostly consumed. The result is, that
one-third of the ships so employed leave those harbours
in ballast and go to seek a cargo where they are
allowed to take it. This is of course equivalent to
saying, that one-third of the ships employed in the
carrying trade of foreign countries are usually going
about empty. It is not easy to give a correct idea of
the number thus wasting the time and wages of the
crews, and the profits of the owners, without any
benefit to the public, but in the course of the year it
amounts to some thousands. In ordinary years, of
course the shipping of Europe is more than it need
be, by the amount of tonnage thus wasted. Freights
are necessarily high enough to cover this loss of time
and waste of capital, although not sufficiently so to
induce British capitalists to compete with foreigners
in shipping investments. Otherwise, we should not
have, as is now the case, nearly one-third of our trade
carried on in foreign bottoms.
The advocacy for a continuation of the present re-
strictions on navigation is but a leaf out of the primer
of the corn law defenders. Not content with the
natural market provided for them by the wants of
society at large, protectionists will have a market
created by artificial contrivance. That the growth of
demand is the consequence of an increase of
population, and of supplies of necessaries on
cheap terms, is too prosaical for those legislators.
They will acknowledge nothing to be useful that
has not been established by parliament. With these
philosophers, not what is, but what they decree, is
right. To this, then, have they brought us, that with
the avowed intention of discouraging foreigners from
building ships, our continental neighbours have for
years had one-third more ships at sea than would
have been built if we had not interfered. When, too,
an emergency like the present occurs, and high
freights appear likely to induce an increase of foreign
shipping, we are told by the friends of restrictions
that temptation should be offered to British merchants
to withdraw their capital from trade and manufac-
tures, that they may invest it in shipping. In other
words, parliament is expected by this party to decide
upon the question of profitable investment of capital,
a matter which the capitalist alone understands.
We can only infer from the arguments advanced,
that if no costly inducements are held out to English
shipowners, our continental rivals are expected to go
on Increasing their shipping in the great dispropor-
tion to the ordinary wants of trade that they have
hitherto been obliged to keep up to. In our opinion
a simpler remedy for this evil, if it be one, presents
itself. Let the foreign shipping now afloat be made
fully available : freights would then drop to their
fair leveL We should add nearly one-third to the
foreign tonnage at present at oar command, without
any abstraction from wages and profits in England;
and oar continental neighbours would henceforth
maintain mercantile navies proportioned to the natural
demand, and not measured by the crotchet, of half-
informed or interested rivals.

We have received our Paris Express of Monday.
The question of electoral reform is debated between
the principal organs of the Paris press in a tone
which indicates a serious apprehension on the part of
' the conservative party and the government, and some
confidence on the part of the different sections of the
liberal opposition, that the day is fast approaching
when a revision of the present system must be con-
ceded. The Journal des Dibats and the Constitu-
tionnel were occupied on Monday with arguments on
the subject of electoral reform ; the former maintain-
ing that the condition of France would not permit
with advantage the same representative system as
was established in England under the administration
of Lord Grey. The opposition organs, on the other
hand, desire to adopt the English system as a model.
The partisans of the revolution are scandalised by
certain monarchical and arictocretic tendencies be-
treTed in recent proceedings of the cabinet, one of
which is that the ministers insist upon being ad-
dressed as Your Excellency. 'This point is now
gnvely disciused in the peer and in the chambers.
The Journal des Debats defends the tide, on the
ground that in the United States the same mode of ad-
them is conceded to the President ; and to those whom
the DEbals miscalls " [overawe of provinces.." The
DEbats ought to know that there are no provinces in
the United States, and that what it miscalls provinces
are sovereign states, the ensemble of which makes
the confederacy. The functionaries which it calls
these governors of provinces are in fact the sovereigns of
states, invested with as much power as the

King of the French. The division demanded by M.'
Lherbette on the propriety of
expunging the ob-
noxious expression, did not take place in the sitting
of the chamber on Monday, and that gentleman
finally withdrew his proposition.
A cabinet council was held at the Tuileries on Sun-
day, at which the ordonnance appointing M. Hebert
Keeper of the Seals and Minister of Justice and
Public Worship, in place of M. Martin du Nord, de-
ceased, was signed, and M. Hebert took the oaths and
his seat at the council. M. Hebert vacates the offices
of Vice-President of the Chamber of Deputies and
Procureur-General of the Cour Royale of Paris. His
nomination is understood to have displeased that sec-
tion of the conservative party represented by La
Presse.

The state of subsistence continues from day to day
to be the object of the most ar.xious solicitude with
all parties. The rise in all the markets is unceasing.
Bread rose in Paris on Monday even higher than was
anticipated, the price of the loaf of 2 kilog. being
If. 16c., which is equivalent to something more than
100. for the 4 lb. loaf. The rise in flour is even
more alarming. It had reached 122 f. per sack, being
equivalent to 31s. per cwt., and it was expected that
it would immediately rise still higher.
The present condition of France may perhaps, be
best estimated by comparing the prices of subsistence
now, and at the corresponding date in 1846, which
was by no means a cheap season. The price of wheat
at present within the radius that supplies Paris is on
the average 45f. per hectolitre; at the same date in
1846 it was 221 f. The price of flour is at present
123 f. per sack i at the :" 1846 it was 66f,
It is
apparent that the most necessary
article of subsistence is at present 100 per cent. above
its price in seasons not the most favourable.
The municipality of Paris continues to supply
bread of the best quality to the poor at 2d. per lb.,
paying the supplement out of the city revenues.
Within the three months ending the 31st of March,
the sum expended by the municipality in this way
will have amounted to nearly 120,000/.
The railway, extending from Amiens to Abbeville,
was opened for public traffic, and the transport of pas-
senger 3 on Monday morning.
Queen Christina arrived in Paris at noon on Sun-
day, at her hotel in the Rue de Courrelles, and was
soon after visited by the King and Queen, and other
members of the royal family.
Mademoiselle Mars, the celebrated actress, is at the
point of death. In the delirium of fever, she con-
tinually declaimed passages of the parts in which she
has been most celebrated.

The Madrid mail, bringing letters and journals from
that city of the 9th and 10th, was received in Paris on
Monday.
General Pavia, who had been nominated Captain
General of Catalonia, had departed for that province.
A report still prevailed that General Oraa would pro-
bably be replaced in the ministry of war.
An inmate took place in Sarragossa on the sth
inst., on the occasion of the celebration of the anni-
versary of the defence of that city, of which the fol-
lowing notice is given in a letter dated Sarragossa,
the 6th, published by El Espanol.
YeeterdAy was • day of festivity and rejoicing. The shops
were closed, and the whole of the population, in their best
clothes, were scattered over the neighbouring country places
of amusement. The air resounded with cries in honour of
the Queen, of liberty, of the constitution, of General Ca-
nedo, and especially of Espartero, who was designated as
Duke of Vittoria, Count de Luchana, and even by the
popular epithet of El Abuelo. All passed off quietly during
the day, but, in the evening, large masses et people gathered
in the Corso and princinal streets with cries of " Long live
the constitution of 1837 ! down with the constitution of
1845 !" Cries of " Long live Espartero !" became more and
more frequent, mingled with shouts of " Long live Ca-
nedo ! death to the traitors, to the Afrancesados, and to the
Carlists !" The quantity of wine which had been drank during
the day contributed in no small degree to the general excite-
ment. No steps were taken by the authorities before whose doors
these cries were uttered; no patrols were ordered out. At
eight in the evening the crowd dispersed, and all was again
tranquil. It is true that the garrison received orders to be
wider arms, but the troops were consigned to their barracks.
The political chief published a bands in the evening, prohi-
biting assemblies in the streets and public squares, end ail
shouts and demonstrations, under penalty of the law of 11th
April, 1821. The joy of the population was in honour of the
ninth anniversary of one of its days of modern glory. In-
vestigations have been set on foot by the President of the
Tribunal. - _ . _ _

In the session of the Chamber of Deputies of the
10th, the Minister of the Interior, when noticing this
movement, declared that the cabinet were determined
to conduct the government with a spirit of tolerance
and conciliation, which would not exclude firmness
and the steady administration of justice. This state-
ment was received with much satisfaction by the
chamber. On the 9th, a debate took place on the
motion of M. Segasti for the production of the docu-
ments relating to the succession of Ferdinand VII.
This was opposed by the ministry, and rejected by a
large majority.
It is reported that four millions of reals had been
given to Queen Christina by the Minister of Finance
for the expenses of her journey to Paris. The Faro
del Comercio says that it Nought explanations
on this subject, and that the director of the
treasury replied that he had not made such an
advance to the Duchess de Rianzares. The jour-
nalist adds, however, that this does not amount to a
denial that the four millions have been supplied
through another chasm&

CONSTANTINOPLE, FEB. 27.
On the 24th init., Ali Effendi, the Minister of
Foreign Affairs, communicated to M. Argyroponto the
ultimatum of the Parte relative to the difference which has
arisen between Greece and Turkey. The Porte granta one
month to M. Coletti to comply with its demand ; and if, at
the expiration of that time, be persists in the determina-
tion expressed in his despatch of the 13th Feb., relation. will
be suspended between the government of the Sultan and that
of King Otho. Every impartial observer must approve of
the conduct pursued by the Turkish government. The des-
patch of Ali Effendi to M. Coletti, dated Bth February, wes
written-in the sense suggestgd by the representatives of the
Ave great powers. It would be, therefore, compromising its
dignity to a most unpardonable extent, if the Porte were to
diminish, in any way, the amount of satisfaction which it
requires from the government. I am grieved to say, that
France has been, throughout the whole of this affair, playing
• double game. It is not her interest, at this moment,
openly to break with Reschid Pasha; but, at the
same time, she shows • fixed determination to
support Loletti. The fall of this corrupt minis-
ter would have been inevitable, but for the intrigues of
M. Piecatory at Athens, and the underhand proceedings of
M. de Bourqueney at Constantinople.
A collection has been made here for the poor Irish. It
was originated by Mr. Wellesley.

AMERICA AND MEXICO.
ARRIVAL OF THE CAMBRIA.

At nine o'clock yesterday morning, the Cambria,
Captain Judkin, arrived at Liverpool. She left
Boston on the let, and Halifax on the 4th. On the
evening of the 4th she fell in with a floating bed of
ice. One of her paddles was much injured, and her
sides were torn with the ice, but her firm build, ad-
mirable appointments, sad able commander, enabled
her to surmount all difficulties, and, bearing to the
south, she escaped further danger, although she
passed through crowds of icebergs.
The commercial news is favourable as to the
amount of bread-stuffs available for export, but un-
favourable as to prices and the exchanges. The latter
are slightly against us, and the former, considering
the high rate of freightage, intimate that either prices
mast advance here, or great losses must be sustained.
Flour, at New York, was seven dollars a barrel, and,
in some instances, 9s. was demanded as freight, and
Be. paid.
Cotton had declined three cents. but freight was
one penny a pound ! Vessels continued to arrive in
great numbers, bat no abatement would be made by
shipowners. Stocks were rapidly diminishing at
New York, but there was no diminution at New
Orleans. When the canals open, large quantities at
food were expected in the northern ports.
Congress had only three days to sit on the 2Sth
ult. Nothing definite had been done with the Three
Millions Bill, and the Slavery Abolition Bill was lost
in the Senate. The project for appointing a general
offioer to command the troops of the United States in
Mexico, had been again brought up, but in a new form.
It is proposed to give the President the power to wafer
seniority of rank upon any one major-general, with-
out reference to the date of his commission. Mr.
Benton will be made major-general under the Organi-
sation Bill. The president can then make him senior
major-general, which would entitle him to the com-
mand of the whole army.
The committee of the House of Representatives, to
the

whom the President's message on _ Mexican war
had been referred, had made their report. It stated
that the unanimity with which supplies had been
granted by Congress showed the national resolution
to prosecute the war. The war was represented as