The Express.
London, England, 1851-03-13 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, MARCH 13.

Mn. MILNER Ginsost will, we fear, have to ham-
mer for some time at the portion of our " territorial
constitution," which he has undertaken to reform,
crc he beats the agricultural clement out of it, or
makes it amalgamate, as it ought, with the general
interests and rights of property. The squires are too
strongly entrenched in their predominance over
counties, to he shoved from it by any effort short of
"a pull altogether" of that same majority which
carried free trade.
Nevertheless, some progress was made yesterday.
The same party which shelved the bill last year,
by referring it to a committee, of which seven
stanch tory members went resolutely against the
feeling of parliament, of government, and of the
country' has indeed recurred this year to the same
dodge, but no longer so eftietual a one. The com-
mittee is to hear no evidence. The Home Minister
is to make one of it and it is to be hoped Sir
JAMES GRAHAM may make another. And hopes
may fairly be entertained that a bill may result from
it, goring ratepayers in counties that control and
that station, of which they have been so unreasonably
and so contumeliously deprived.
We cannot well conceive to what kind of a future
agricultural magnates look. The result of each year
is an augmentation of the non-agricultural
tion, a diminution of the agricultural, a stride of the
commercial and moneyed interests, and a retrogression
of the other. This is not only taking place throughout
the land, but in some half dozen counties, constitut-
ing of themselves more than one-third of the entire
population of the kingdom, the agricultural interest
is as nothing compared with its rival. Yet even in
these tho landlord party will not abate one
jot of their ascendancy. They will maintain their
jurisdiction, keep the police in their own hands, levy
on the occupier what rates they think fit, and utterly
ignore either as to the electoral franchise or the local
taxation, the claims and rights of the great majority
of the property and intelligence of these counties.
And with all this arrogance is mingled the
' most consummate blindness. For whilst the land-
lords refuse to allow the owners of other property
than land to wield county authority, even in
industrial districts, they arc literally giving away,
or allowing the government to steal by degrees, the
very foundation on which local influence is built. Go-
vernment, to the applause of the squires, have already
I taken away from them the burden of prosecutions,
and of a large class of prisoners. The remainder of I
the criminal burdens, and by consequence of the
criminal jurisdiction, will follow in good time. Sir
CHARMS Woof, proposed to relieve them of pauper
lunatics, and Sir GEORGE. GREY will one day, no
doubt, rid them of the trouble of attending to rural
police. 'That, too, will be centralised, as in Ireland.
In this respect, no one has struck so sweeping a blow
at what he pleases to call the territorial constitution '
as Mr. DisitiEt.t himself, who, by proposing to
fling en maw one half of the local Surthens on the
consolidated fund. sought to do more towards cen-
tralising and Frenchifying all influence and autho-
rity in the country than any foe to the aristocracy, be
he despot or democrat.
Yet nothing is plainer than that the government
of this country cannot remain long in the hands of
the territorial party. Even without electoral reform,
or even with that moderate extension of it that is
now inevitable, the agricultural influence must
diminish in the government. And vet the squires
are giving up to the government what they might
impart with much more advantage to other interests
in the same counties with them. Was landed
property to sympathise with other property,
were the harriers of education and prejudice
more removed, a strong and compact local
interest would arise, which might defy the central
power, or the democratic power either. In such
an alliance men of birth and estate would always be
respected, always hold their own predominance.
But the squires will not meet their fellow-citizens,
will not amalgamate with men of other classes. The
evidence before the county rates commission suffi-
eiently shows, that even our*Poor Law Boards are too
rough for the gentry, who shrink from contact with
business men. And that class, whose peculiar glory
it was to mingle with and talk to all ranks,
now shrink into their llynereen, or female circles, in-
stead of having the roughness and openness of pub-
lic life. No Roman patrician ever scorned the
forting; and as soon as the Roman Patriciate did do
so, it lost its freedom and its privileges, and sunk
under the sway of a tyrant.
The French system established in 1830 had some
excellent arrangements, although neither the monarch
nor his minister would lend themselves to carrying
them nut. They—that is, Loris PitittrrE—were all
for centralisation, which produced the convulsion of
1848. and had rendered it incurable. One of the
great institutions of 1830 was that of depart-
mental councils to vote and control local ex-
penditure. These bodies or boards were to
be elected, of course, from the most capable country
gentlemen. And amongst the categories established
of dignitaries, without haying reached which no one
could he a peer, was that of having been elected to
the departmental council. Thus the monarch
might make the country gentleman a peer, but he
could not do so, unless the squire had so far acquired
the confidence of his fellows as to have been elected
to the departmental council. But, unfortunately,
the centralising government would give the depart-
, mental council nothing todo. Andhence the want of that
political instruction, independence, and weight, only
to be found in countries with free local institutions,
local development, local independence. England
has a great deal of all three. But, of late, things
have taken a dangerous course. The gentry have
held aloof, have constituted more and more a caste
professing to have and to guard exclusive interests,
and either subjecting or repelling the classes around
f
adrtitonmpge eke
ont
Totihffecoy,nil.
)vt,
reeo t:enererd
x.nmeantenaipoi
may
them. For the sake of the gentle class this
it
should be put an end to. Distinct ion will
remain, aiithdt
in the r
e concernss )h e will
h oughta n
experience, there
thatA honestysotfolir.
s itirittinGtellitliiogeNn.ces
bill,.
be styled a Manchester one, we are confident that it
will be even more salutary and will be more wel-
comed in agricultural counties.

In a cabinet council held in Berlin on the I Ith, it
was resolved unanimously, says the Nene Prosssisrfic
Zeititlig, to draw up a memorandum giving a full
account of the demands of Austria and Prussia, and
to transmit this paper to the cabinet of Vienna. A
memorandum much to this effect, the Kolner Zeitany
says, has already been prepared by one of the members
of the administration. Thnt journal gives the heads
of this document as follows :
The official proposal of the board of Nine is not
therein denied, but the consent of the small states is
insisted on. The demand for the '•Parity" is prominent.
With respect to the collective entrance of Austria, it is
said that Prussia supports it neither directly nor
indirettly. Prussia yields it, but will not enter the Bund
THE BEITISII ASiOCIArION.—The meeting of the with the rest of her provinces which are now
emphasis is
isFlreoindchon ptroh:etci,tmeisai
avelsoentmmenucteioun.edith.
Association at Ipswich is to commence on Wednes
Noupt
reference to Prussia, greofatietm.
day, July the 2ad, and extend over seven or eight days,
unu'inoton the
supattioanndtlitttaprussia might
that such a duty would be subordinated to higher state
The officers selected by the London council are : President
—Professor Airy, Astronomer Royal. Vice-Presidents—The
Bishop of Norwich, Professor Ilenolow, Professor Sedg- interests. On this last point we are less confident than on
wick, Sir J. P. Boileau, Bart., Lord Rendlesham, M.P., the preceding particulars.
Sir W. F. F. Middleton, Bart., J. C. Cobbold, Esq., M.P., When the post left Berlin a conflagration was
T. B. Western, Esq. Treasurer—J. B. Alexander, Esq. consuming the meeting-hall of the Upper House of
Local Seeretariesl-C. May, Esq., W. D. Sims, Esq., G. A. the Prussian Parliament. The fire broke out at
Biddell, Esq., G. Ransome, Esq. There is no doubt, from 8 p.m. on the 10th.
the presence of all the most distinguished scientific men fhe free trade question is again much occu_pving
throughout the world in Englandduring the ensuing summer, the attention of the German papers. M. von Ptord-
in consequence of the Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, that ten, in answer ton question in the Munich Second
this will be the most brilliant meeting the association has Chamber, as to whether he was prepared to re,ject
ever had. The local secretaries have already received the the overtures of Austria on the Zull union project,
names of several hundred intending visitors, amongst whom eulogised the Zollverein, but added that a more COM.
are Lueign Buouoparte, Prince of Canino; Sir R. Fehensivecommercialsystem,whieh should includeall
chison, sir la B,che, Sir W. Jardine, Sir C. Lye'', Germany and all Austria, was necessary to make Ger-
Sir D. Brewster ; l'rofessors Daubeny, (of many a great commercial power. That the Zollveroin
rite). Owen, Ansted, and the celebrated naturalist, M. Lor- , we/if/004,1nd that the system he alluded to, which was
rillier, a relative of the late Baron Curter.—Bury Post. l fully explained in the Bavarian memorandum