The Express.
London, England, 1847-09-30 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 30, 1847.

laid down on the subject can only be exceeded in
oddity by the wonderful lucubrationof the Queen's
Bench, for the last twelve years, in the department of
parish law.
The English method of dealing with confessions is
singularly different from that which prevails in all
countries which have founded their jurisprudence on
Roman law. In France, the accused is rigorously
examined both in the preliminary proceedings and at
his trial, and in Germany even his confession is sifted
and tested by the most rigorous cross-examination, so-
that after a prisoner has been hammed and tormented
into an admission he is not unfrequently teased into
a retractation of it. It is assumed throughout the
continent that a confession is almost indispensable
to complete the evidence of guilt, and accordingly
it is a principal object of judicial tribunals
to obtain it. In England, on the contrary, con-
fessions are carefully discouraged. Prisoners are
warned of the consequences, are allowed to withdraw
a plea of not guilty, and are secure against the pro-
duction of any admission which they may have made
under undue influence either of hope or fear. In
applying this rule, we have fallen into errors of
excess and pedantry, but we have little doubt that the
English system is, on the whole, sounder than that
of the continent. The almost ostentatious fairness
of our mode of dealing with persons accused of
crime, the anxiety which is shown to avoid any undue
advantage over them, and the national custom of
allowing them, like foxes, sufficient " law," have all
tended powerfully to create' the universal sympathy
and confidence with which the administration of
criminal justice is regarded when the decision is
against the prisoner. It is, however, not unim-
portant to secure our criminal law against the corre-
sponding defect of which it is justly accused, of
favouring the guilty by straining the rules
devised for the protection of the innocent.
The abolition of grand juries, and consequently of
criminal pleading, would deprive the guilty of one
main chance of escape which they now possess ; but
it is not less necessary to check the niggling and so-
phistical minuteness which leads to the rejection of
evidence substantially bearing upon the issue. The
judges have, we think, in some cases, dealt with con-
fessions in this hypercritical spirit, but we are not
aware that any of them have gone so far as the
Recorder in the decision which we have mentioned
above. _ _ . . . .

We are not concerned to refute his objection to
the admission of DARBY'S examination as inconsistent
with "natural justice." As a late learned baron, much
given to convicting prisoners, remarked, in answer to
an oratorical defendant : "We have nothing to
do with justice—we sit here to administer the law."
If Muer was legally liable to conviction, natural
justice would certainly not have been greatly outraged
'by his punishment. It is more material to consider
" the principles of the law of England " under which
the evidence was excluded. One of the meat unde-
niable principles or propositions of that law is, we
believe, that a judge has no right to reject evidence
which he has a right to admit ; and we are at a Ices
to understand how he was precluded from receiving
the examination iu bankruptcy. The counsel for the
crown tendered the best evidence, namely, the official
copy of statements made by the defendant relating
to the subject matter of the indictment. The object
of the parties who, by their questions, led the de-
fendant to make the statements was wholly Immate-
rial. The Recorder was bound to presume, in the
proceedings of a court acting within its own jurisdic-
tion, emma rite en? acts, that no undue hopes or fears
were held out to the examinant, and that cautions
were given, if cautions were, as they are not, indis-
pensable. What is the meaning of the well-known
rule, that answers in Chancery or evidence in any
court may be brought against the person who utters
them, if it is in the power of a judge to reject them
because they were extracted with some ulterior view?
Even the ordinary caution to a witness not to crimi-
nate himself by his answer involves an admission that
he may so criminate himself, or, in other words,
that the answer, even if the caution is omitted,
may be given in evidence against the witness
on any subsequent occasion. It was never suggested
that the meaning of such a caution was, as the Re-
corder would interpret it, that it made the subsequent
statements of the witness admissible in evidence
against him. His doctrine indeed, as far as it has
any. foundation at all, is wholly misapplied. The
" principle of law " of which he seems to be thinking,
relates not to the impunity of a prisoner, but to the
protection of a witness. Even assuming, as he had
no right to assume, that the Court of Bankruptcy
had acted improperly is not cautioning DARBY, this
objection amounted to a criticism of that tribunal
and of its procedure, not to an objection to
the admissibility of the examination. It is a
principle of law that a witness cannot be
compelled to injure himself in furtherance of
justice to others. On the trial of a civil or criminal
issue, or in the progress of an inquiry such as that
which takes place into the affairs of a bankrupt, a
witness is entitled to refuse to give an answer which
may be used as evidence against him on any criminal
charge. It is usual, but by no means indispensable,
to inform him of the privilege to which he is entitled ;
but the object with which the question which he may
decline to answer is asked is wholly immaterial,
provided that it is relevant to the matter of inquiry at
the moment.
It is very possible that DARBY may have made the
statements respecting TERRY under a constructive
compulsion to tell the truth. Thecommissioner in bank-
ruptcy would no doubt have withheld his certificate,
if he had refused to give information as to a person
with whom he had been connected in business. But
this is not such a duress as to invalidate in law the
evidence which it might aid in extracting. The
examinant was entitled in law to say, I refuse to
answer any question about TERRY which might bear
upon a criminal charge against me." The court would
have allowed hie privilege, and exercised its discre-
tion in judging of his honesty. As he preferred the
course of telling the truth to the commissioner, he
was not entitled afterwards to deny that it was e.
The Recorder gives him the double advantage of
passing his examination—as an honed man willing
to give information as to his: affairs, and of being
secured against the inconvenient consequences of his
candour where it involves the admission of a fraud.

Not sharing in any degree in the Recorder's moral
indignation against the solicitor who procured the re-
acted evidence, we nevertheless believe the judge
lieved that he was acting in accordance with law
and justice. We think it right, however, to take this
opportunity of calling attention to the extravagancies
which some of the judges who can make law have
introduced into the doctrine of confessions, in the
hope that they may be startled by the improvement,
even on their own refinements, which the Recorder,
though he cannot make law, has on this occasion
attempted in practice.

IF the secure enjoyment of the railway* already
completed be a concern not so much of the wealthiest
as of the industrious and frugal members of the middle
classes, it is also of the highest importance to the
working men of this country that no vexatious acts
on the part of the state, or uiconsiderete popular out-
cry, should check the reasonable progress of works of
this kind. To the labourers, artisans, and mechanics
of England, the construction of railways and of the
implements for their service, has opened a fund of
employment, the closing of which would soon
be felt in quarters and in ways that heedless
declaimers against the railway system little think of.
When it is remembered that, up to this time (or
within about seventeen years), there have been
expended upon making railways something near
100 million. of pounds sterling in the wages of
labour, and in the machinery and stock which the
artisan has been paid for making, independently of
the sums given for land or otherwise spent—lnds-
pendently, too, of the wages of men engaged in work-
ing them—it will be seen that the healthy progress of
a liminess which now expends at least seven millions
annually on British labour, is of far more moment to
our working men—to that useful portion of society in
short, which includes the poorer and the middle
classes—than to any fancied party of capitalists, whom
alone it is usual to speak of as having anything to care
for in this matter. Theoperationof making railways, in
fact, if welook at the effect of the prooees on the working
poor, is to provide largely for their support in the way
of a voluntary rate, contributed by those who have
some money, for the employment of hundreds of
thousands who would otherwise have none—with this
' advantage, meanwhile, to distinguish it from compul-
sory levies for the aid of indigence, that here the em-
ployment is fruitful, and the assistance is afforded
by means that rather elevate than degrade those who
are so benefited.
At the present moment, when certain parties are

loony demaediag the steivege of all further runway
expeedittixe, it is importsnkto keep this side of the
gasseies aserly, in view. 'Mee whe would abruptly
cut oft the sitpplies by means of which vast numbers
of the *taking class are now mulvly employed,
nnw well be required to explain how they are pre-
pared to meet the destitution which must be caused
by suddenly throwing the greater part of these hands
out of work ; and in what manner, if the railway con-
traeta are suspended, the mass of labourers, artisans,
and: mechanics whom that measure would tarn out
—to say nothing of the tradesmen, manufacturers,
and shopkeepers who supply their consumption and
the materials they handle—are to be kept throughout
the coming winter ? The process is not finished by
merely forbidding railwav companies to spend any
more money, to make any grther calls. The mouth
hitherto supplied with honest bread in this way,
must still be fed ; you cannot get rid of the working
men by stopping the works that employ them now.
It is, therefore, worth while to inquire what would be
the financial gain to the country,of converting a large
class of its inhabitants from labourers into paupers at
the present juncture :—in other words, of throwing
them for subsistence upon the nation at large, to be
kept in idleness, instead of letting them continue to
draw the support of industry, from the means of cer-
tain persons who are willing to spend their money in
giving them employment. This alternative must be
proved likely to amend the state of the country,
before the stoppage of railway expenditure can be
regarded as a wholesome relief in its present diffi-
culties.

With this view of the subject—perhaps the most
important of all, and to all, in times like ours—we
shall for the present conclude. Already our examina-
tion of this matter has taken up a consider-
die space ; yet it has by no means exhausted the list
of topics that belong to a full view of the question ;
sad %ass we have treated have been merely discussed
in a summary way : from which details of the matters
of fact crowding to be presented in evidence, and all
nicer ramifications of argument, were necessarily ex-
cluded. We have only pretended to give outlines of
the general figure of a matter which has been too often
treated with the inconsiderate haste of ignorance, and
at times with the mischievous arta of malice. It
will be seen, at least, on a mere survey of the various
essential points raised for consideration in these no-
tices of ours, that the subject is not quite so simple
and trivial as to be despatched in a few ex porte sen-
tences ; that the interests at stake are too serious to
be a safe object for rash experiments.
Let us recapitulate some of the principal results of
our inquiry. As far as the public are concerned, it
appears that to them, in any sense implying default,
the railway system owes nothing, and has given
much: that they travel more cheaply, faster, and in
every other respect are better treated than they
were before railways were. As far as the state is
concerned, we have seen that whatever it has
granted they have fairly purchased and honestly paid
for ; that it declines the useful province they have oc-
cupied ; and that its late attempts to act in it were in
the nature of a punishment in return for past good
done, and of an impediment in the way of future
good. That there is no visible necessity for taking
the conduct of the machine out of the hands of its
framers ; and that, did the necessity exist, there is no
reason to conclude that a transfer into the hands of
the state would produce any improvement ; while for
the latter to interfere at discretion by fits and starts,
without wholly undertaking the charge, could only
mischievously perplex its movements. That by the
system which the government of this country has de-
hberately chosen, it has been agreed that these works
should be made by private means, the owners of
which were induced so to employ them by ex-
pectations of profiting thereby ; that their profits,
hitherto, have been made on a scale of charges
and of service better than the compact with
the state enjoined, better than the people of
this nation ever enjoyed before; that, such being
the case, the promoters are fairly entitled to the full
reward of their enterprise; and that the nation has
no right to demand the forfeiture of their profits
merely because it may desire to have still more
conveniences, and to pay still less for them. And it
may be added that such an act of injustice, if com-
mitted, would, as all wrong-doing will, result in the
end to the detriment of those who might think to
gain by it ; that the material, to say nothing of moral,
effects of destroying the security on which private
men have made this venture, with infinite advantage
to the state, would ultimately be to paralyse the body
that committed the wrong.
As for the railway interest, such as it now is,
it appears that it is by no means the monster that
some persons have taken pleasure in de *cting, but
a body from whose activity has proceeded the most
valuable material boon that this nation has received
in the present century, and against which no authentic
proof of malfeasance has yet been produced ; that it
is governed by, men of reputable station, not wholly
engrossed in its gains, but intimately connected with
many other great national interests, and, from this
and other causes, sensibly alive to popular influences;
unlikely to jeopardise their characters by sordid or
rookies§ woduct ; and, as late years, especially, have
shown, quite as eager to promote the public objects of
the system as to look after the dividends of the share-
holders. That in such hands the public interests run
no risk of being overlooked ; and that, were any such
default to take place, the public are quite able
to procure sufficient redress, without calliag upon
other influence than their own combined powers, and
the existing laws for the regulation of railways.
Finally, we have seen that a pretty large section of
the public itself is now concerned in the three
hundred millions' worth of property thus created:
that, if its revenues are forcibly seized upon, or seri-
ously maimed, the chief weight of this injury will fall
upon persons of moderate or narrow means, invested
by a class deserving of protection rather than severity,
on the good faith of the legislature; and that, should
the interference of the state by such acts create a dis-
trust of its safety, or in other ways impede the further
progress of the system, not only will a stop be put
to a process by which the nation is sure to gain,
whoever else may win or lose—a process which,
if private capital is frightened out of con-
tinuing it, will come to a stand-still, the state
itself being neither able nor willing to take
it up—not only will this happen, we say, but a source
of profitable employment, directly medal to this
country, of the workmen of this country, will be
dried up ; and the capital, which has of late been a
maintenance to the labouring classes, of some seven
or eight millions a year, will be apt to flow into
other, and perhaps into foreign channels, barren at
good to England.
The sum of these considerations, we think, is obvi-
ous. There is no adequate ground for state inter-
ference, or for confiscation of property, in this matter.
The kind of interference lately proposed, tending to
rsecute rather than to improve, may therefore fairly
be deprecated. Lastly :to lay a rash hand on the
present outlay of capital in useful works, will be a
questionable, if not dangerous, measure.
Such is the conclusion to which a deliberate
examination of the points we have briefly toached
upon, will be apt to lead an impartial judgment.
On many of these heads we have rather given
hints than attempted a thorough exposition,—
which, however, there will be no difficulty in under-
taking hereafter for any of the matters too briefly
handled, should a more detailed inquiry be needed.
Our present design has been simply to lay down
some well considered positions on a subject which
the press has been apt to dispose of in a very random
fashion, and which appeared to deserve on every
account a more serious treatment. This we hope has
now in some measure been accomplished.

The nomination of Marshal Soillt to the honorary
dignity of Marshal-General of France has already ex-
cited the remarks of the oppoeitioa against the en-
croachments of the royal prerogative, and ridicule at
the grotesque attempts of the monarchy of July to ape
the forms of the ancien regime, whilst it cannot grasp at
the power. The royal ordonnance announcing the new
I dignity of the ex-president of the council is followed
in the Moniteur, as we stated yesterday, by a sort of
apologetic, explanatory note, vidicating two prece-
dents on which it is implied the present measure
rests—those of Turenne and Villa». It is, how-
ever, advanced against this that precedents which date
before the revolution have in this case no force, be-
cause the royal will, or motu preprio, was then unre-
stricted, whereas at present the sovereign acts within
limits prescribed by the constitution. It is contended
that the charter confers no power on the crown to
create a new military dignity. It is insinuated that
the present is an attempt, characterised by a sort of
cunning with which a certain personage is endowed,
to create a high military position. which cannot be

in the course of nature long occupied by an octo-
genarian, and which will fall very conveniently and
naturally in a few years on the Duke de Nemours.
The following, from the Slick, may be taken as a
fair sample of the irony with which the opposition
papers treat the nomination of the new marshal :
fn presence of such an act, must one laugh or feel indig-
nant I Is it • plaything thrown to Marshal Souk to amnia
his second infancy, or a measure calculated with the double
object of satisfying the demands of an old servant of the sys-
tem, and of establishing a new dignity for the purpose of
hereafter investing one of the King's eons with it? Let us
leave its puerile side, and examine this ordinance seriously.
First, is it legal ? It seems to us that the dignity of
marshal was created by a decree making part of the
constitutions of the empire, and that in creating another
superior to it, there is insolence in dispensing with the co-
operation of the legislative power. In nominating a marshal.
genera: u: we armies, die government 'nag not ou:y e.evatea!
a man to the summit of military honours, but has caused ,
to be displaced from the first rank all those who believed
they had attained it. Why this exception ? Why this title
which the empire knew not? Why these comparisons
which falsify history ? After having lowered, degraded all
the institutions, all the recompenses which the preceding
age left to ours, could not the government respect at least
our old military glory Turenne was the first captain of the
old monarchy; the esteem of the world has even placed him
above the grand Conde. Does Marshal Soult believe himself
equal to Turcnne ? 1 shays had the extraordinary happiness
of saving France, exhausted, invaded, and of preserving to
her the greater partof her conquests by his victory of Denairi.
Is Marshal Soult very sure of haring saved France at Tou-
louse, and of having preserved her in 1815 from the disasters
of invasion ? We will not, however, discuss the military re-
nown of Marshal Soult. Our readers know how far we have
carried respect for his labours and for hie age; but since we
are provoked we must tell the truth. To-day we will confine
ourselves to asking this simple question: If Marshal Soult
had not disowned the Emperor, and carried a wax-midis,
under the Restoration ; if he had not covered by a cowardly
complaisance, royal irresponsibility under the present rule,
and with ministries the most different ; if, in short, there
only remained the useful, the honoured part of his career,
would it have entered the idea of the government to bestow
upon him an extraordinary title, and would there have been
found a soldier in the army, a citizen in the country,. who
would have dared to say that Marshal Soult deservedto be
elevated to a rank of fortune and honour which had been
occupied neither by Marshal Davoust, nor Marshal Lannes,
nor the intrepid Ney, nor Messena, the greatest of all
It is in vain that the government,through its organ
of the press, affects to treat at one time with silent
contempt, and at another with ridicule, the reform
movement now in progress throughout France. Not-
withstanding all the repression and discouragement
which the government is so easily enabled VI exercise,
public opinion is too strong for it, and finds exprea-
Ilion in spite of it. The reform demonstrations accord-
ingly continue. On Sunday last a meeting of 750
persons was held in the tennis-court at Meaux, to
record their protest against the present system.
Among these were three members of Councils
General, a president of a Board of Trade, six
councillors of the arrondissement, and seven members
of the Chamber of Deputies, among whom were
MM. (Millen Barrot, George and Oscar Lafayette,
and Ferdinand and Jules de Lasteyrie.
The Duke d'Aumale left St. Cloud on Monday
morning for Toulon, where he will embark on Satur-
day next for Algiers. He is accompanied by his
aide-de-camp, Baron Jamie, member of the Chamber
of Deputies, the Marquis Beaufort d'Hautpoul and
the chief of the staff, Donleet,as officers of ordonnance.
The Duchess d'Aumale and her children will join his
royal highness at Algiers in November.
The Conserrateur (a new journal, understood to be
published under the auspices of the cabinet, and occu-
pying the place of the defunct Epoque) carries out
the article lately published by the Daute, and says
that the difference between Austria and Rome on the
Ferrara question has been adjusted. Austria, through
Count Lutzow, her ambassador at Rome, agrees to
limit her occupation to the citadel, and to withdraw
her soldiers from the guard-houses and barracks in the
city of Ferrara, which are to be surrendered to the
pontifical troops. It is admitted that the temporary
occupation of these was a measure dictated only by
the necessity of protecting the Austrian garrison in
the citadel. The commander of the Austrian troops
is, however, to be accommodated with quarters in the
ancient convents of Santa Catterina, Santo Benedetto,
and Santo Domenico, situate outside the citadel. This
arrangement, which has been concluded at Rome, only
awaits a formal ratification at Vienfia to be carried in-
to execution.

The Madrid mails of the 2.5 th have been received,
but their contents are unimportant.

Farther advice have been received from different
parts interest.
Italy, but they include no events of consider-
able

The Piedmontese Gazette of the 24th inst. says, that
the Prince of Canino, after his expulsion from Venice,
passed through Ancona en route to Rome, where he
wished to address the people, but was informed that
the inhabitants of Ancona needed no such stimulus to
their loyalty, and the address was declined.
Letters from Leghorn of the 20th inst., quoted also
by the Turin Journal, say that a reactionary plot, in
Which the police were supposed to be implicated, had
been detected there. The superintendents of the po-
libe suddenly abandoned their poets with the purpose
of opening the prisons and giving arms to the pri-
soners. Ihe carbineers and civic guard were called
out, and several individuals were arrested.
The Duke of Lucca and the hereditary prince, who
lately quitted their duchy, were received on the 18th
at Modena, by the sovereign of that principality. The
government of Parma had decided on sending two
companies to the Tuscan frontier. It was reported in
that city that 3,000 Austrians were expected to arrive
there. _ . .

A letter from Florence of the 16th instant an-
nounces a fact of some importance in the present rela-
tion of the Italian states. On the evening of the 11th
the Chevalier Jules Martini, secretary of the Grand
Duke, left for Turin, charged with an extraordinary
minion to King Charles Albert. Hitherto Tuscany
has been represented at the court of Turin by the
Austrian minister there. This gives the measure
above-mentioned a certain significancy.
It is to the kingdom of Naples, however, that all
eyes are directed at present. There the two great
principles are in direct and open struggle. No one,
save the blind and infatuated despot who presides
over the destinies of that country, doubts that the re-
form of the vast system of abuse and corruption
which eats into the vitals of the state is
the only effectual remedy for the existing
evils, and the only expedient by which the general
excitement and irritation can be allayed. The means
of preventing intelligence of the real condition of the
country from reaching the rest of Europe, to which
the Neapolitan government has resorted, do not pre-
vent us from making certain inferences from its own
public acts. Thus, when we find in the Giornale del
R. dells due Sicilie that in spite of the alleged suc-
cesses of the royal troops, reinforcements consisting
of moveable columns, infantry, cavalry, and light ar-
tillery, are daily sent into the Abruzzi, the Capitanate,
and tke province of Molis, which include the entire
extent of the kingdom from the frontier of the ponti-
fical states to the heel of the boot, the whole of the
vast tract between the Adriatic and the Appenines, it
is not very difficult to infer the truth of the reports
brought by individual travellers that the entire king-
dom is in a state of insurrection.
The report of the conflict between the troops under
General Nunziante and the insurgents under Romeo,
which has arrived, says that 300 of the royal troops
were killed or wounded, among whom were fourteen
officers. The victory was claimed by the insurgents,
who were immediately afterwards strongly reinforced,
the chief towns on the coast of, the Adriatic having
declared for them. After the battle at Gerace, Romeo
is reported to have proposed to General Nunziante an
exchange of prisoners, to which the general replied
that the application was too late, all the prisoners
having been immediately shot, by order of the king.
The consequence was, that the royalist prisoners
taken by the. insurgents were ordered to be shot.
As to the rest, the following letter addressed to the
Constaulionnel by an intelligent correspondent,
writing from the very theatre of these events, on the
18th, affords a lively, and, according to all appear.
ance, a just, picture of the situation of the country.
It is dated
NAPLES, SEPT. 18.—The situation of the kingdom of the
Two Sicilies becomes more complicated every day, notwith-
standing the assurances given to the contrary by the 4ournala
of Naples and Sicily. In order to form &just estimate of
this situation, it is necessary to enter into some particulars, I
For some years back the kingdom was a scene of the most
serious abuses; but things have come to such a pitch that
there is no remedy possible hut in the most extensive re-
forms, or in a revolution. King Ferdinand, an unenlight-
ened man, has let corruption invade the administration,
even in its minuted wheel-work. The sale of places, how-
ever important or obscure, is now a public fact: every office
is sold to the highest bidder. The great vender of all public
places is the king's confessor, Bishop Cock. One place is men.
tioned, for the granting of which the bishop received 40,000
ducats. He does not disdain the smallest sums for places of
minor importance. Five persons, among whom are found a
coach-maker, an apothecary, and s priest, keep an open shop

for this traffic. A very piquant fact is told on this subject:
an individual solicited the place of professor of chemistry;
the pries agreed on was I, WO ducats ; payable, one quarter
tardy money. This quarter had been paid down, when an
unforeseen event occurred, and frustrated all their combine.
lions- The same place was solicited by another person, a
relative by marriage to the Procureur-General u /a Cour de
Caseation, and who had given lessons on chemistry to his
majesty. The procureurienirol, who at this moment has
frequent interviews with the king, informed his majesty of
his protegee desire. The king, remembering the services
rendered by the appLenint, took it into hie head to hays the
ordinance of nomination draiinup,;,t.-.:-e ienanie, ants ;lone:,
it. It is easy to conceive the disappointment of the'first
applicant, who immediately claimed the money already paid
down; the bishop refused,under the pretence of force majeure.
A law suit ensued ; but after the summons had been sent, the
poor man was made to understand that if be did not destroy
the deed ho should end hie life in shg Castle of St. Elmo.
rue aiTair was tia`iie,l up. About a month since a very vio-
lent pamphlet was spread throughout Naples in the course
of a few hours ; it was thrown to the King in his carriage.
The sensation was great, the greatest agitation ensued, the
council of ministers was convoked, and the King issued a
proclamation, in which he recapitulated the services he had
rendered his people, and declared he took off a, third of the
duty on salt. This concession, which was insufficient, could
not appease the public mind. Disturbances broke out in
Calabria and Sicily. The journals say Sicily has returned
to order it is utterly false. The only certain fact
is, that some Sicilian officers, brought secretly to Naples,
were shot a few days since in the fort of St. Elmo.
Very serious engagements have taken place in the
Calabria and in the Abruzzi. Two chiefs directed the in-
surrection; the brothers Romeo; one has been killed, the
other still resists, at the head of 5,000 men. Yesterday,
three columns of troops were sent from Naples, commanded
by an officer of the name of Truffiano, to the theatre of the
insurrection. An engagement is said to have taken place,
in which the troops had 250 men disabled. On the grand
review of the Bth, the troops had their firearms loaded. The
discontent—we might say irritation—is general; the least
spark would suffice to create a general coettagration, and
overthrow the throne of Ferdinand. The King's inconside-
rateness is extreme—the ministers themselves deplore it, but
the excessive fit of devotion which has taken hold of him has
placed the reins of government wholly in the hands of his
confessor. Of all the governments of Italy, that of Naples
is evidently the most in danger, and gives Austria the
greatest reason for uneasiness. The French squadron is still
in the Gulf; this stay, the duration of which is without a
precedent, is evidently connected with the pre-occupations
inspired by the political state of the kingdom. It is clear to
all that a catastrophe is now imminent.
The Nourelliste, a Marseilles paper, gives the fol-
lowing front Naples, dated the 21st, still more recent
than the above:
A report is current that Girgenti and Marsala are in a
state of insurrection; but there is nothing positive on the
subject. What is certain is, that arrests continue in Sicily,
and the popular irritation is at its height. A general rising
is hourly expected. The government continues to send mu-
nitions of war to all points. In the province of Molise all
the districts of Larino hare raised the standard of revolt. In
Calabria the insurrection has extended to Catanzaro, and the
insurgents are said to have fortified themselves in Greece.
At times divided into guerillas, at others acting in a body,
they fall on the royal troops, and cause much ravage in their
ranks. It is said that the Bth regiment of the line was not
inclined to fight, but was compelled to do so by the colonel,
and sustained great loss. The arms and uniform of the
dead, which were brought to Naples, are considersb'e in
number. The insurgents of Casenza, against whom General
Statella had been sent, have joined the bands of Romeo. A
general amnesty and a reform are spoken of ; but little credit
is attached to the report. It is asserted, however, that an
important labour with this laudable object has been entered
upon by the prime minister, Pietracatels, with the authori-
sation of the King.

Accounts have been received from the eastern fron-
tiers of Morocco, which, althoogh not as precise and
certain as could be desired, are more consistent than
the vague reports hitherto brought from the theatre
of the operations of Abd-el-Kader. Fugitives who
had escaped from the massacre of the two Arab tribes,
the Ben Amers and the Hachems, and arrived at Ne-
mours, a town in the French colony near the frontier,
are the chief sources of the present information. It
will be remembered that in the course of last month
these two tribes, consisting of about 1,500 persons of
both sexes with their children, who had been settled
within the French colony, emigrated at the instance
of Abd-el-Kader, and crossing the frontiers of Mo-
rocco, settled down at a place not far from the
city of Tara. Here they were assured of the
support of the forces of Abd-el-Kader, in the event of
their being attacked by those of the Emperor Abder-
rahman. It seems, however, that from misgivings
of the promised protection of the Emir and from ap-
prehension of an attack from the imperial forces, this
unfortunate population decided, on the 15th August,
to retrace their steps eastward towards the frontier.
They continued their march for three days unmo-
lested, but when they had nearly reached the frontier
of the district of the Kabyles, they were attacked by
the troops of the Emperor, commanded by his son,
and massacred with all the circumstances of savage
cruelty so common in these nations. They offered for
three days and three nights a desperate resistance.
At length the few survivors, sinking under hunger,
thirst, and fatigue, laid down their arms. The men
were instantly slaughtered without resistance, the
children were flung down the precipices and thrown
into the ravines, and the women were distributed as
booty among the conquerors.
Abel•el-Kader, being informed of their danger, was
on his march to their protection and defence, when
ho was met by the tidings of their destruction. The
Emir is reported to have been profoundly affected by
this event. Notwithstanding this circumstance, there
is as yet no indication of any intention on the part of
Abd-el-wader to discontinue his movement against
Morocco. On the contrary he is still established in
the district of the Kabyles, with every present sign
of unaltered purpose.

Letters from Berne say that a petition is in (*arse
of signature to the grand council, praying that the
question of peace or war with the cantons of the
league shall be submitted to decision by the votes of
the entire population taken in communes. The
liberal party, being sure of attaining its ends by the
ordinary means prescribed by the federal constitution,
repulses this project. The little doubt which re-
mained, depending on the decision of the cantons of
St. Gall and the Grisons, is now nearly removed.
I Meanwhile the cantons of the league display the
greatest activity.

MADRID, SEPT. 23.
The ministry, although they cannot any longer
blink the Cortes question, seem resolved to put off as long
as possible any distinct profeabion of their intentions as to the
dissolution. Twe ankles long as Lent (as they say here)
have appeared upon this subject in the semi-official Correo,
out of which it is impossible to pick the smallest hint aa
the course which the government will take. But this =s-
pews, which arises perhaps from the continuance of internal
conflict in the cabinet, can hardly last long. In a few days
we shall know whether ministers intend to govern by de-
cree-law, to convoke or to dissolve the present Certes.
The Foment° of Barcelona has published an article which
has drawn much attention. It professes to give an account
of the bases of a commercial treaty drawn up by Mr. 13n1wer
and Senor Salamanca, but rejected by the Englishgovern-
went, and the eubatanee of an official note addressed
by Mr. Bulwer to the Spanish government on Aug. 28.
The leading articles of the projected treaty were
them 1. English productions and manufactures, with
the exception of cotton, to be admitted into Spain upon
payment of a duty of from 25 to 28 per cent. ad valorem.
Spanish produce and manufactures to be admitted into Eng-
land upon payment of a similar duty, with the exception of
wines and spirits. 2. Upon cotton manufactures Spain
might impose a duty of from 28 to 32 per cent ; and England
a similar duty upon Spanish wines and spirits. Mr. Bulwer
is made to say in his note that the government of her
Britannic Maiesty is of opinion that it will be better for
both the contracting powers to treat this subject as a domes-
tic question ; that is, Spain doing what appears most conve-
nient to her for her own interests with respect to duties, and
England the same.
Don Ignacio Ourrea the private secretary of Eepartero,
arrived a few days back, and has presented a letter from the
ex-regent to the Queen, containing grateful acknowledg-
ments of the favours lately conferred upon him by her
Mojesty, and warm assurances of his devotion to the throne
of Isabel 11. Sig. Ourrea has also communicated to the
ministry Esprit:tercel' acceptance of the appointment of
senator of the realm. _

Rooms are said to be preparing far his reception in the
new house built by Senor Cordereia the Calle Mayor.
Don Antonio Cabaleiro is appointed sectary of the su-
preme tribunal of war. Don Antonio was minister of the
same tribunal, and head clerk of tho War-office.
Salamanca has put forth in the Gazette of to-day a royal
order in answer to the petition of the manufacturing junta of
Catalonia, which begged that the decree of Aug. 1, relative
to the free circulation of articles of trade in the interior of
Spain might be abolished ; and, If not, that the execution of
the same might be put off till tranquillity was restored. The
royal order has consented to the suspension of the decree, u
far as concerns the four provinces of Catalonia, until a more
favourable moment occur for carrying the same into exe-
cution.

The Eco del Comercio reports that General Rodil is going
to be made senator._

The despatches from Catalonia Matt that a Carlin briga-
dier (Pep de 01i), and three Carliat coloneta, attempting to
penetrate into Spain, have been detained on the frontier by
the French authorities.

9ii:i,il;;;T;itifiarid for La Granja on Tuesday, but
he is expected back to-morrow.
The Faro says it was affirmed yesterday, by the friends of
Salamanca, that the greater part of the plans of that minis-
ter had passed in the ministerial council, and were shortly to
be published. Whatever truth there may be in this, certain
it is that the moderado opposition has greatly increased in
violence during the last two days, which is an expressive