The Express.
London, England, 1851-03-11 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 11, 185:

I from each, what ix to become of German indepead-
j enee ? _ . _

•
In the very same article in which the Timc4 lauds
the humbug proposal of the King of Winn:N[llElln
and denounces the Dresden conference as q failure,

it expresses a regret that the old Frankfort Diet was
not at once restored, and given power to decide by a
majority of voices.
Such .a scheme was utterly impossible. Had the
Diet of seventeen votes been called together imme-
diately after the meeting of Olmutz, Austria and the
four kings, with Hesse and the intimidated powers,
would have voted anything, and might have passed
a law subjecting all internal constitutions, like that
' of Prussia, to the regulation of the Diet. This would
have the mediatization of even great princes, and the
annulment of all constitutions. The principle of a
minority obeying a majority may be enforced in con-
sequence of the vote of a popular assembly ; but iu
a council where nine princes agree to dictate to
seven even as to their dealings with their own
subjects, the minority must refuse a submission
which is incompatible with sovereignty. A restora-
tion of the old Diet, on the principle of a majority
binding a minority in all things, would prove the
greatest and the most iniquitous of revolutions, so
great, indeed, that it must have produced war. A
Conference like that of Dresden was alone possible.
And it has failed. Why? Because Austria has
sought to take advantage of Prussian weakness to
impose so undisguised and absolutist a yoke upon
Germany, that even its humble followers, the King
of WI andthe Times newspaper, protest.
Prince St I I WAILZEN BERG is too arrogant, too
ignorant, and too incapable, to conciliate any other
powers, or to found any one institution. He can no
more establish a constitution for Germany than he
can for Hungary. He has not an idea beyond brute
force, and knows no argument beyond a battalion of
Croats. Yet it was to this man, we were told, that

the destinies of Italy, of Germany, and of Austria,
might be entrusted. The government of the
world would have been as safe, as durable, and as
wisely conducted in the hands of MAZZINI or of 111.1.7 m. '
We have never ceased to repeat, during the last
two years, that military nser.ndoney multi do nothing
towards the pacification of revolutionized countries.
We maintained that absolutism was even more in-
capable of organising or producing a system of
government than red republicanism itself. And now
our very opponents admit the truth of what we said,
and fling off their own despots and their own com-
manders in disgust. Having run the round of what
they would nut have, it is time to bethink themselves
what at last they really would have.

As the once radical Sir FRANCIS BCRDETT in his
old age lup4cd into a tory of unusual bitterness,
so his oh compatriot in the insincere radical-
ism of 1819, Sir J011:4 HOB1101:SE, has, in the fulness
of his later whiggerv: blazed up into a modern baron
by the queer and un-English. title of Lord HttorcirroN
DE Girronu; an elevation that will not so frequently
interfere with his lordship's dinner hour as a seat in
the House of Commons did.

One consequence of this newly created peerage
was of course a vacancy for Harwich, which, as all
the world knows, is a.little borough on the eastern
coast of England, where part of the constituency,
and a large part too, sell their sweet voices at elec-
tions by way, it is charitable to suppose, of compen-
sating 'themselves for its declining trade. A vacancy'
and a contest are at Harwich inseparable cause and
effect; what is only possible elsewhere being quite
certain there. So Sir Joint Hotmot'ses elevation
produced a vacancy; and a vacancy produced a con-
test ; and the result of the contest is the loss of a
vote in the House of Commons to the liberal party.
How this came about is worth noticing.
Before, however, doing that, the occasion serves to
remark that another consequence of Sir JOHN'S con-
version into "my lord" was anticipated. As yet,
however, in vain. It was his retirement from
the Presidency of the Board of Control.
For, though Sir JOHN 110BUOUSE is one of those
"eminent persons" with whom Lord ions
RVsSELL "consorts and associates," for the purity of
his politics and the elevation of his sentiments, we
lesser people never heard of any such mighty public
services to the crown or people of the United King-
dom as could entitle him to rank amongst the here-
ditary legislators of this land. And though Mr.
Purr was wont to say that every squire who derived
10,0001. a year from land had a moral right to a
peerage, Sir JOHN'S territorial qualifications did not,
it was usually understood, reach that high standard.
When, therefore, the barony of Broughton de (iyf-
ford was created in the person of Sir JOHN Hon-
110USE, the announcement was certainly startling;

but, the surprise over, the reflection at mice occurred
that, in some particulars at least, Sir JOHN was ripe
for the House of Lords; and consolation was found
in the anticipation that his elevation would be ac-
companied by his retirement from office.
It has not; and by this disappointment of the
general anticipation an ilijury is likely to be inflicted
on the public service. For be Lord BROUGHTON DE
Ovrroxo ever so good or so bad a President of the
Board of Control, a president of that board is more
than ever wanted in the House of Commons, just as
the East India Company's charter act is approaching
its termination; and as the terms of its renewal, if it
have to be renewed, must be mainly considered in
the lower house, the presence there of the cabinet
minister entrusted with the control of Indian affairs
would seem to be almost indispensable. Yet it is just
as discussion is likely to arise on India, its govern-
ment and its condition, that LordJOIIN RussELL has
deprived the House of Commons of the President of
the Board of Control, and left his administration
there without a responsible minister to answer even
an ordinary question about India or its vast and
varied concerns. This anomaly cannot be long per-
sisted in ; and as Lord BROUGHTON DE GIFFORD
cannot return to the place from whence he went to
the Upper House, he will, it is to be supposed,
shortly retire from the place which, though going
thither, he still keeps.
But Lord Joint ItussEm. in thus securing a new
whig (for Lord BROUGHTON DE GYFFORD cannot he
called a liberal) peer in the House of Lords has lost
for his government an habitual supporter in the
House of Commons. Probably the Treasury thought
Harwich safe ; but the Treasury should have known
better: for Harwich is never safe, not even when it
has returned its members. On the vacancy two can-
didates appeared; both connected with East Indian
interests. The liberal was Mr. ROBERT CRAWFORD,
son of the worthy gentleman of that name who once
represented the city of London, who, utter a prospe-
rous commercial career in Bombay, is now
at the head of the great commercial firm
of CRAWFORD, COI.VIN, and Co.. Bishopsgute-street.
The tory was Mr. Tummy PRINSEP, a member of the
Bengal civil service, and late of the Supreme Coun-
cil of India. This gentleman returned home some
few years, eager and desirous of playing as pro-
minent a part in English as he had in Indian poli-
tics ; and though he had been out of this country the
greater part of his life, he inaugurated his
re-settlement in it, by a pamphlet to persuade
his fellow-countrymen that dear bread was
much better for them than cheap bread.
Having perpetrated this display, he proceeded
to take steps to get into parliament and into the East
Indian direction. Not a snag little borough be-
came vacant, than down to it went Mr. 'ffloair
PttiNsEr ; and as regularly up he came again,
disappointed and defeated. Perseverance has, how-
ever, its reward. First it, or rather his influence
with the great Indian houses in the City, who now
manage these elections, got him into the East Indian
direction. And, fortified with that honour, off he
went to Harwich on a contest being wanted there.
It was in a casual, accidental way, Mr. PRINSEP
assured the electors he had first heard of them and
of the vaaancv. From whom he had gained the in-
formation, l'tfr. PRINSEP did not add. Probably,
however, from Mr. boils ArrWOOD, who is a power
and a potentate at Harwich, and who seeks to turn
it into his principality. A strange man is Mr.
JOHN ATTwooD; and stranger still are his dealings
with small, vendible, venal, corruptible boroughs.
With any constituency that is pure and clean, and
independent and honest, Mr. JOHN ATrwoon has no
transactions. But irresistible to hint is a town
flagrant and notorious in the history of electoral
I corruption ; attractive is its dirt ; charming its
l moral filth. There is nothing Mr. JOHN Arrwooo
r will not, in a spirit of benevolence a little soiled, and in
the bounty of a disposition indisposed to severity, do
for such a place. He'll buy a big house near it, pro-
: mise to reside there, lend its electors money, par-
t chase up all the small tenements in the place, and
offer its corporation no cud of pecuniary help; as

Lrno Regis, as Nis's&le, and, lastly, as llarwieb can
4k all testify. Oh ! is a kind, ana liberal, and gra-
cious into this Mr. JOHN ktrwoon--iii such locali-
ties. There is really no limit to the money he has
spent there. One hundred and fifty thousand ster-
ling would not, people do say, cover these bad in-
vestments of his.

For all this kindness Mr. JOHN Anwoon, how-
ever, expects some little return. Only that his
candidates be returned at elections. Ile asks
nothing more: nothing less will satisfy him. Yet,
personally, Mr. JOHN Arrwoon cares little about
polities ; for when once a member he rarely went
into the House of Commons. What he seems to toil
and spend for is power ; power to send other men
into the house. Why he seeks this sort of influence
is a mystery. It used to be said that a peerage was
what he aimed at. Hut he long ago effectually
destroyed any little chance of that sort he could ever
have had, what it is now he -,,ants he himself only
knows.

Well, though Mr. TitonY PRINSEP only heard of
Ilarwich accidentally, no sooner did he arrive there,
than Mr. Jonx Arm's Ws agents, friends, and
tenants, surrounded him. They canvassed for him ;
they breakfasted with hint; they dined with him;
and they supped with him ; they came out curl•
with hint in the morning, and they went home late
with him in the evening. At lust, by dint of great
exertions, supported by much beer, they returned, by
a small majority however only, Mr. THOBY PitixsEr
as member for liarwich by the grace of Mr. JOHN
ATTWOOD.

In the straggle Mr. CRAWFORD did all that an
honest man could do: nothing more, for his expenses
did not, it is said, exceed 150 t.—a sum the old corrupt
electors think incredibly mean, but for limiting his
expenditure to which Mr. CRAWFORD deserves the
thanks of the whole liberal party. For the shabby
majority by which Mr. THOM' PRINSEP has for a
season achieved the object of his parliamentary am-
bition shows that even in Harwich an improved
morality is gaining ground despite of all Mr. Jonx
Arrwoo's thousands, and suggests a hope that
hereafter Harwich may be won even by fitness, not
by money, if indeed Lord lons ltrKsELL's new re-
form bill shall leave to Harwich the opportunity of
returning members at all.

TIIE Bishop of BATA and WELLS having been
asked in very courteous terms by the protestant
churchmen of his diocese to express publicly un
opinion as to the danger of tracturian principles and
practices, and being informed at the same time that
such an expression coining from his lordship would
tend to give confidence to the laity wider his charge,
has returned an answer which is modelled apparently
upon the famous reply of IlExia VIII. to his thithful
commons when they were guilty of the consummate
impertinence of venturing to make a remonstrance on
the subject of the supplies. The king, we know,
expressed himself more astounded than indignant
that base-born commoners should presume to offer
advice upon subjects with which high and mighty
princes alone were conversant. In like manner, his
lordship " feels that it would he needless to point out
the great impropriety which attaches to any self-
constituted body of persons addressing themselves in
a tone of dictation towards one to whom the govern-
ment of the church in this diocese is lawfully com-
mitted. And I cannot but think," his lordship
goes on to add, "that it would be well if you [the
chairman of the association] were to place before
such association, at any future meeting, that it is not
consistent with their duty as members of the church
of Enghind to be parties to any such address to their
bishsp."
A protestant ibishop, then, is the only being left
now in this age of revolutions to whom it is imper-
tinent to offer advice. Deputations of plebeians wait
upon her Mmir.srY, and tender her their advice on
questions of government. Prime Ministers, Chan-
cellors of the Exchequer, are obliged to listen to
counsel not always very courteously framed, and
show themselves sensible of the good intentions of
the counsellors. The figment of infallibility which
civilised Europe has scoffed at for three hundred
years, which it was thought had been hunted out
of decent society, and driven to hide itself under the
petticoats of the imbecile old lady in scarlet at Rome,
Is now paraded before the eyes of the English pub-
lic by a bishop of the church. Bishops alone are in
need of no advice.

The very fact of this assumption of freedom from
all responsibility—an assumption which would not
hare been put forward by any prelate on the bench
twenty years ago. is sufficient to justify the intcrfer•
enee of the association in question, inasmuch as it is a
proof that the tractarian heresy has produced its
worse effects in episcopal palaces. The language
employed by the prelates and other dignitaries
of the church since the publication of the
Oxford Tracts is of a character remarkably
different from that which was prevalent amongst
' the same class before the said publication took
place. There is scarcely a bishop to whom
this observation does not apply. There is studious
exaltation of the church, as a Issly of clergy, above
the laity whom they are to teach. There is a con-
stant reference to the one church which has existed
in all ages—the historical church, namely, preserved
by the succession of the bishops downwards—and a
subdued denial of the right of any other body of pro-
fessing Christians to the title of a church. There
is a marked abstinence from the use of the words
protestant, reformed, and all such expressions as
tend to imply acquiescence in the doctrine
that a revolution is as applicable to a church as
to a country. There has been, in fact, an evident
tendency on the part of the hierarchy to disseminate
in the nation, that there is positively no essential differ-
ence between the Anglican church now and before the
Reformation ; the trilling alterations in doctrine and
discipline being, that we have diminished our sacra-
ments and increased our popes, each diocese having
the privilege of maintaining an episcopal infallibility
of its own.

Now, that this idea of the total independence
of the clergy is not only erroneous and mischievous,
but wholly unnational and unhistorical, it would
require but little labour to prove. Whoever
has read WILKINS'S " Concilia," must have been
struck with the fact of the preponderance in
number of the influential laity over the clergy in
many of the ancient councils that were called to-
gether to settle matters ecclesiastical, both in Eng-
land and Scotland. The same fact is visible even in
later periods of our history. When the national mind
first had a free voice in the time of the revolution,
the nature of the church reform that took place
shows how predominant was the feeling that the
laity constituted an independent portion of the
church. The important part assigned to a church-
warden in the administration of a parish in the re-
formed church of England is a plain tribute to the
assertion of this feeling.
Strange to say,the principle for which we are con-
tending, and which is treated with such contempt by
the Bishop of BATII and WELLS, is occasionally
admitted by the great traetarians themselves. In
the latest publication of Dr. PUSEV, the doctor save,
" Those with whom I have thought and have acted
have not objected even to the nomination to
bishoprics by the crown, with the limitations under
which we believe it to be exercised ; but they do
claim that the ancient right of the clergy and /aity
to offer objections either as to faith or morals in the
bishops elect, shall not be trampled under foot."
Now. a body of men who are supposed to be capa-
ble of forming a sound judgment as to the fitness of
a bishop for the performance of his duties; a body
of men in whom the law, theoretically at least, vests
the right to exercise a veto on the appointment,
must surely be supposed fit to offer an opinion as to
the right path to be pursued by the prelate when
elected; and if fit, then legally competent. For
unless there is any enactment against giving counsel,
or any scriptural prohibition against the same, we
have a right to conclude that it is both legal and
harmless.

The bishop's " pointing out the great impropriety,
&c.,': must then be taken as a piece of gratuitous im-
pertinence, as a wanton insult offered to men earnestly
occupied in the performance of what appears to them
a religious duty. They believe that the principles of
their church are being disregarded, they are filled
with alarm at the progress of what to them seem
pernicious doctrines; they tremble for the purity of
the faith handed down to them from their fathers;
they are sensitively anxious lest their children should
be indoctrinated with errors ; fears in fact teset them
in regard to the holiest of all subjects. and they apply
to one of the heads of the church to have their
doubts removed. To their surprise, they are bid
to begone. They are accused of the commission of

lan impropriety, and told to have religion to those
whom it concerns.

There must surely be a speedy termination put to
such scenes as these if the church desires to maintain
its position in the nation. In the meantime evet7
effort ought to be made by the laity to fix responsi-
bility somewhere. We should advise the assoemthm
which has been so unhandsomely treated not to let
the matter drop. Why not appeal to the ARCTIBINTIOT,
and then in the case of meeting with no redress, to
the QUEEN ?

FRANCE.

PARIS, MONDAY EVENING.

The committee on the National Guard Bill heard
this morning the explanations of the Minister of the
Interior, who asked for two days to reflect on the ad-
visability of presenting a transitory law• adjourning
the elections.

There was a good deal of talk to-day in the As-
sembly about the imminent formation of a definitive
ministry. Barochc and Itouher were mentioned
as likely to re-enter the cabinet. It was said
that M. \Vaissc would be made prefect of
Algiers. But the ambition of the transitory
minister probably aims higher. It is observed that
M. Waisse is the only member of the cabinet of
transition who has put a successor into his old place.
MM. Giraud, Brenier, and Royer arc still without
successors to their former functions, and seem to
keep their old places open to fall back on when the
definitive cabinet shall have been formed.

It is reported upon respectable authority that M.
Berger, the Prefect of the Seine, is going to be re-
placed; and it appears probable that M. Waisse, if
not made definitive Minister of the Interior, will
inherit his office.

I hear that M. Itomieu is to be appointed special
commissioner to proceed to the llerault, to inquire
into disturbances which have taken place there.
To-day the Assembly was occupied with one of a
class of questions, which, properly studied, would
throw much light on the most dangerous leaks of the
French exchequer. It was called upon to vote a
supplementary credit of 123,136 fr. on the budget of
ism to reimburse the canal company of the Oise.
The committee on supplementary credits, which has
examined this demand, has proposed its being
granted. It has on this occasion submitted to the':
Assembly a list of the receipts and expenses of ten
canals conceded, from which it results that the state
must every year take from its budget about eight
millions in order to fulfil the engagements entered
into by it with the different companies. This dis-
astrous state of things, which may be rendered still
worse by the establishment of railways, must be pro-
longed fur several years. The amount of loans from
the government to canal companies was on the Ist
January, 1851, 83,436.625 fr.; the reimbursement of
Ithese different capitals will not be terminated until
the loth April, 1870.
In 1821, the government, wishing to improve in-
land navigation, concluded arrangements with com-
panies which now can impose what tariffs they please.
One of these companies, that of the Trois eanour,
obtained such favourable conditions, that its treaty
ought long ago to have been annulled, on the ground
of public utility and morality. This company en-
gaged to advance to the state a sum of three million
francs, to improve the navigation of the Oise, from
the canal of Manicamp to the Seine. It was a loan
—nothing but a loan—made by the company to the
state, which executed the works, managed the canal,
and ran all the risk. In exchange for this sum the
government of the restoration engaged loamy fipercent,
interest, per cent. prem.,and 1I" cent. as a sinking
fund, or 74 per cent. in all, when money was barely
fetching 5 per cent. in the market. If the revenue
of the canal should not cover the expenses and the
225,000 fr. allowed to the company as interest, &c.,
the state was to pay the difference; whilst, on the
other hand, if the receipts exceeded the expenses,
the company enjoyed all the benefit. As soon as the
sinking-fund had reimbursed all the capital ad-
vanced, the company was still to be entitled for fifty
years to one-half of the net profits yielded by the
canal.

The 125,000 fr. to be voted to-day are the profits
realised by the state on the navigation of the Oise.
Thus, besides the 225,000 t. it takes every, year as
interest for the three millions, the company has
already received profits amounting to 2.3410,000 fr.
Now, as this state of things has yet to endure some
70 years, it appears that the company has advanced
three millions, the whole of which will have been re-
paid by the sinking-fund, and has received. not only
the exorbitant interest, but a sum of about thirteen
millions of francs.

M. do Versigny undertook to explain these facts
to the Assembly, and moved the reduction of the
credit to 26,632 fr.
M. do ltavinel, the reporter, opposed the reduction,
and insisted upon the obligation of the state to exe-
cute the terms of the agreement, as concluded thir-
teen years ago. M. Dupont do Bussac coincided in
opinion with M. Vcrsigny, whose motion, however,
was, after speeches from MM. Germiny and Fould,
set aside by the previous question, and the credit
voted, by a majority of 413 votes against 206.