The Express.
London, England, 1848-10-30 00:00:00

FRANCE.

LOCAL taxation has been properly defined as the
" compulsory contribution for public or common pur-
poses, imposed and levied within certain districts of
the country, and expended within those same districts
for their especial benefit." Upon this definition the
argument has been founded which ultimately led to
the conclusion : First, that the administration should
be intended entirely to persons upon the spat, because
they only are acquainted with the lama Sesisities,l
or can know how to supply them ; and, Beendly, that
whatever money may be required must be sales&
within the district, because it is unfair that ems thr 1
Lion of the country should pay for the
ened by another. Ad by the rele=esf
oejntroyalisation, these conclusions havesu bepen carried eat
to the uttermost. The surface of the land has beemee
divided and subdivided among an almost infinite series
of jurisdictions, with purposes sometimes discordant,
and limits not always conterminou Innumeshis
acts, of special and local application, remain also is
existence, and add materially to the complication of
affairs. In passing the Municipal Corporations Bill,
which referred only to certain towns, it was
to schedule, and more or leas to modify, 1881=
of parliament; in addition to a long oatalogne et
statutes of more general scope.
Geographically considered, we find that the country'
throughout England and Wales is divided into coun-
ties, hundreds, and parishes ; the towns into boroughs
and wards, with a separate network of parish boun-
daries overlying the municipal divisions. Sub-
sections of these, and occasionally new systems upon
quite another belts, prevail very extensively, and are
determined by the authorities of each district upon
considerations of their own convenience.
Considered administratively, the jurisdictions may
be classified, so far as they are susceptible of classifi-
cation, in to the following groups:-1. The inde-
pendent districts: comprising the poor rate, the gaol
fund, the constable's rate, highway rate, paving and
lighting, end watching rates, and the militia rate. 2.
The aggregated districts, which include the county
nee, the lunatic asylums rate, the building of shire
halls rate, the burial of the dead rate, the hundred
rate, the police rate, the borough rate, the watch
rates in boroughs. 3. A miscellaneous group, appli-
cable principml7 to the independent districts and con-
sisting of church rates, bugle ground rates, sessions
rates, drainage and enclosure rates, and sundry others.
4, A special class of authorities, supported mainly by
tolls, for the purpose of maintaining turnpike roads,
canals, the navigation of rivers, ports, and harbours.
We have omitted several minor rates of incidental
character ; but the list, as it stands, is sufficiently
prolix. As a specimen of the incredible minuteness
to which the principle of subdivision has been carried,
we may quote the " burial of the dead " rate. An act
was passed only so recently as the reign of Ozottoe
IV. by which a separate rate was appointed
to be levied upon the , ' hundreds" situated
along the shores to pay for burying dead
bodies out up by the sea. The impost would have'
generally amounted to some small fraction of a far-
thing per parish. The county justices, with whom
the authority lies, dispense in practice with the dis-
trict rate, and pay the undertakers out of the general
county funds. But the law remains unrepealed to
this day.
The poor rate, being much the highest in amount
of all the local imposts, has been taken u the great
basis of taxation. Property and rent, in houses and
land, are irnsidered the chief taxable commodities ;
railways, mills, and factories contributing their quotas.
Periodical valuations are, or ought to be, taken to de-
termine in gross and detail the assessable amount, the
rate or "poundage" thereupon being fixed by the necessi-
ties of the time and place, and swelling upon occasion to
a formidable total. The machinery consists of thege-
neral constituency. of rate-payers, i.e. almost every in-
habitant except maim and paupers ; a body of guar-
dims or a select vestry, who are chosen by and repre-
sent the rate-payers; and the staff of officials, who per-
form the executive duties and collect the rates. The
taus for other local purposes are mostly mussed
upon the same kind of property, taken at
the same valuation as for the poor rate, and
are sometimes collected by the mime Wilms. The
annual value of property whereon these taxes were
levied in 1847 was- 87,291,1711. ; the grass income of
the nation being estimated to exceed 240 millions.
Postponing, for the present, the financial points of the
case, we shall limit ourselves to a consideration of the
works performed. We must also pretermit the
poor law, as involving questions of a different charac-
ter from those we are now purposing to discuss.
The county rate stands next in importance. Its
amount in 1845, the last year for which we have the
total returns, was 1,870,0001. collected by the parish
overseers. The administration lies, however, entirely
with the magistrates of the county At quarter see-
aim, in an open and public court, all works are or
;bred accounts passed,and officers appointed. In the
thievish' some minor matters are, by various sets, en-
treated to the authority of "two or more Patio's at
the peace." The purposes to which the county rate is
appropriated are threefold; relating to criminals,
lunatics, and public works ; and the proportionate
cost of each we may estimate from the return of the
expenditure in Lancashire during 1847, amounting in
the whole to 188,5281. Of this large amount the
imignilicant sum of 8,2321. appears set down to
"county and hundred bridges," such being the only
items in the account bearing the character of panne
works. The lunatic asylums figure for 48,84&, and
the enormous residue is devoted to the IMIIMMIIMI of
prosecutions, witnesses, prisons, house et carna-
tion, and constabulary, together with the salaries ret
the county officials.
While the House of Commons continues to leave
unfulfilled its often repeated promise to remodel the
criminal law, we must perhaps admit that the county
magistrates have nothing to do with the expenditure
r that head, except to pay it. The legislature
appoints the tribunal and decrees the sentences. The
aunty, which may be supposed to have nurtured the
criminal, is mtdoted in M coat of catching, .b.y,
and punishing him. lids, in prutice, does not i cult
quite fairly. The shopkeeper in a town, who may
have his pods stolen, gets the felon sent to the
county gaol, promoted, and possibly transported, at 1
the expense of the county, although he may not him-
self contribute a farthing to the county rate. And
on a larger wale there are probably few counties
which do not seas doubly from the skill which the
London third moires in the metropolitan seminaries
of vice; first, from his depredations; and secondly,
from the expenses attending his prosecution. It is true
hat the government has partially softened the aspe-
td tido ee this Mice by a contributioa, in aid of the
criminsl ex out of the general fund of the
country. ten years from 1835-45, the
as thee from the consolidated fund
exceeded a million sterling.
But theme's other portions of the expenditure eon-
!mated with the treatment of criminals which are Isa
more within the discretion of the county matrates.
And it is these points that we meet Sithe lust
urgent d mal-administration. /See mow
pie, in the repot for Lancashire, to which we have
referred, between 50,0001. and 80,0001. set down to
the exposes of gaols and lunatic asylums, were in
reality, we are Whittled. expended in the erection of

eiplents.
The curse of Ireland, and its permanent sore, is the
onntempt with which one class looks down upon an-
other :and the hatred with which the contemned clam
naturally and justly returns it. We are sorry to say
that this mutually fratricidal feeling originates with
the most educated class—nay, that it is part of the
wisdom taught in their schools and universities as
well as in their family circles. The education of the
upper class in Inland, with its aristocratic and religi-
ous admixture, ineti, mere fanaticism and poison,
than would germ of itself even in the class-mind. And
we can imagine Galway and Cork colleges perverted
into similar distilleries of learned malignity, should
the hll into the bands, as they must, of hyper-
It has unfortunately been the policy of
wherever they found one of the oontendiqlptTiessit
the Irish strongly entrenched, not to destroy these
entrenchments, but to est about building an antago.
nut fortress with deeper and more hostile entrench-
ments. Thus, the protaitants baying got a protestant
scedentio stronghold in Dublin, it was pro-
' posed to erect catholic strongholds in the
Provisoes. And the protestant church in Ire.
land being an immense and battlemented pile,
Rase whence the land may be larded, it is proposed to
street a catholic cast* with paid episcopal wardens,
right against it. What is this bat sowing the dragon's
teeth—but perpetuating the wee.? Thu policy arises,
se doubt, from wealenem--from inability to reform a
shading abuse, the next way to reforming it being
to est up another abuse to counteract it. But
this is peddling, ineffective, and expensive
. Nothing oan braking dons ,
akiag the twobe parties la Irelandy
esegista
equal not in inciessed lams ef eseehating sack g
bat in depriving bath deg seinaeat anemia or son
efleeloarY. This net is be ears try Oft op, bag
rsatiaZteraa—Sea hs:n 151T271.11.1.11 d •
the resat MAN illellemeur which semale in tne smi
lan% privileges Is preserve—the ether fajwides
iv and
Engsiyesp away.
lish public in general do not know
Idle the Irish mean by repeal. Now what
hirbuleslly means is this—that it would
at ape reverse the mutual position of the
denims* and subject class—of the protest-

PARIS, SATVSDAT, 6.30 P.M.
All conversations turn upon the csndidates for the
presidency. The names now mentioned by various
parties are, besides Prime Louis, Cavaignac, Ledru
Rollin, Rasps% de Lamartine, Thiers, Mole, Bugeaud,
and Changarnier. Of these, however, the three first
only can be regarded as serious ostdidateships. MM.
Thters and Mold are understood to decline. It is said
also that M. Bugeaud is about to withdraw. Prince
Louis Napoleon continues to have incalculably the
best prospect. In the centre and in the east entire
departments will vote for him.
In the Assembly to-day the discussion of the articles
for the election of the president was continued. After
some discussion an amendment was adopted, which
conferred upon the president the executive power,
but reserved to the Assembly the power of making

and peomulging laws.
The Monasur of this morning contains the appoint-
ment of M. ltecurt as Prefect of the Seine.
A report is spread this afternoon, the grounds of
which I cannot di cover, that the committee of the
constitution are about to propose a new article, in-
tended expressly to exclude Prince Louis Napoleon
from the presider cy.
The Journal des Debate publishes the following
letter, addressed to it by M. de Lsmartine, dated Bt. I
Point (near Macon), the 26th:
Sir,—l read in the Danis an article borrowed from the
Carrier de la Gironde, and beg petiolate& to realty it. I
mad* the following answer to a essimpeneeld at Sew-
deaux:—" I do not put myself forward as a madidate he the
Presidency. I pray to Oed and my friends to keep ham see
a burden so much beyond my. strength. But, if the es
should think proper to appoint me to this magietraey,nl
not think I have any more right to refuse it than I thought
myself warranted on February 24 to refuse the design
of the people, and leave Paris without a government. Ida
not believe that 1 am, in any degree, threatened with seek a
danger, and I only rectify the Courier de la Gironde Is
order to avoid all misunderstanding. To solicit the Prat-
deny would be ridiculous; to desire it would be rash ; to
refuse it would be wanting to the republic and the earufsp.
I am devoid of this ambition, but incapable of such ma tat 41
cowardice."—Lusteariss.
The administration of the Poet-office his published
a notice that the uniform postage of 20 centimes for
letters not exceeding 71 grammes in weight, will
come into operation on let January next. Pre-
payment will be voluntary, and postage stamps simi-
lar to those in England, but bearing the head of the
figure of Liberty, will be prepared.
SUNDAY, 11.30 A.M.
Before the result of the election of the National
Assembly was known universal suffrage was the pal-
ladium of France in the opinion of the ultra-demo-
cratic party. But the result of the elections,
as exhibited in the National Assembly, has
marvellously changed the sentiments of the ultra
democratic party. Instead of finding itself as it ex-
pected in an overwhelming majority it sees itself in a
small minority. Accordingly the ultra democratic
psrty, without openly renouncing universal suffrage,
is now trying
.by ell sorts of indirect means to cripple
and curtail it in the election of the president.
Extraordinary exertions are being made by the
local authorities in the departments to promote the
election of Gen. Cavaignac to the presidency. I
The Assembly yesterday concluded the discussion,
upon the decree for the election of the president. The,
following are the conditions as finally settled :
The election is to commence throughout France on the
10th December. All citizens inscribed on the electoral lists
for representatives shall have a right to vote for the President I
of the Republic. They shall vote at the chief place of the'
canton, or in such commune u the load authcrity shall
direct. The vote shall be by tallot. No bulletin
not written on white paper shall be received.'
The army shall vote on the same day. The president, to be
qualified, mast be born a Frenchman, of at least thirty years
of age, and never have lost the quality of a Frenchman. The
votes shall be collected in each chief place of the canton, and
in each section appointed in addidon. The result of
these shall be taken to the chief town of each depart-
meet, where the verification shall take place. The result
of the' eighty-six departments shall he transmitted
to a special commission of thirty representative, named by
the National Assembly, to proceed to the general and
definitive verification. The president must have
more than half the whole of the votes given, and at least
2,000,000, to be elected directly by popular vote. If, then,
the two conditions of an absolute majority and at
least 2,000,000 of votes, be not fulfilled, the As-
sembly shall elect the president among the five
candidates having obtained the greatest number of votes.
The polliim will remain open on the 10th and 11th Ds-
ember. The collection of the votes in the cantons will take
place on the 12th and 13th. The verification at the chief
plus of the department will occupy, so far as we may
jade,the 14th end 15th. Add to this the time necessary to
Itsaospet to Paris the visions documents end the general
sad verification by the oommitte of the National
Assembly, and we may 'appose that the election will be no-
tified about the 20th December.
It is announced that a telegraphic despatch was
received in Paris yesterday giving the intelligence
that Vienna, completely invested by. an army of
120,000 imperial troopa, was beginning to suffer
from the want of provisions, and must necessarily
surrender without much further delay.

provisions.
The commandant of the national guard has issued
an address to the commander of the advanced posts at
Floridadorf (the corps of Windiechgratz), in which he
declares that he has been entrusted with the protee-
tion of Vienna. It is not, he adds, stated against
what enemy protection is to be given, but the public
sees an enemy in all troops. whose commander acts by
virtue of orders countersigned by no revealable
minister. Such orders are unconstitutional, and the
people of Vienna, supported by the decisions of the
Diet, protest against them. On these grounds be
calls on thasaid commandant to depart, and not allow
his troops, like those of the Ban, to commit enemies
against the inhabitants, or else he shall be held re-
sponsible for the consequences.
A letter from Olmlltz, dated Oct. 20, Fay, : " The
following is a list of the new ministry : Prince
Schwarsienberg, Minister of War ; M. Mayer, Minis-
ter of the Interior; M. Bruck, Commerce and Public
Works. The present ministers, IVeseenberg, %rani,
and Bach, the latter of whom has arrived as a
fu,gitive at Nuremberg, will retain their portfolios.
The court has not appeared in public, except on
Sunday, the 15th, and to-day at the cathedral. On
Sunday next, the 29th, there will be a solemn thanks-
giving, and to-day there were prayers for peace."
A letter from Lemberg, in the Augsburg Gazette
of the 20th, says : " There is no longer any doubt as
to the entry of the Russians. The two Hungarian
regiments garrisoned at Lemberg, which appeared
inclined to set out for Vienna, as well as a regiment
of infantry which testified sympathy for Vienna, have
been declared in a state of war.'
The commissioners of the Frankfort Assembly,
Welcker and Mode, have proceeded to Olmutz. At
Passau on the 19th they timed a proclamation in
the name of the N fear of the Empire, stating that that
high functionary had sent them for the purpose of
bringing about a peaceful termination of differences,
and to give the assurance of constitutional freedom,
life, and welfare, endangered by the disturbances of
the country. Their =S EM is entirely. one of peace.
All rumours of the marching into Austria of Prussian
or Bavarian troops are untrue. The object of the Vicar
of the Empire in sending them is to unite Austria with
Germany, and to prevent bloody conflicts by peace-
ful negotiations.
The following is a report of the proceedings of the
Diet from the 19th to the 21st :
In the sitting of the 19th, Schuselka, on the part of the
committee of safety, stated that a letter had been received
from Count Wickenburg, Governor of Styria, to the follow-
ing effect : " The province of Styria has learned with grief
that some of its members to the Diet have left their poet in
the hear of danger, and it begs that their names may be re.
ported to them." The committee of safety proposed that the
request be complied with, because those that are wanting
may be replaced by new elections. After some debate on
this proposal, the vote was postponed on account of the pre-
sence of only 183 inembers.—Schuselka said : To-day a placard
has been issued which ham infused fresh hope into the popo-
I'll= of Vienna with regard to the Hungarians. The
placard says that the Hungarians are ready to help
us if they receive an intimation to that effect from
the competent authorities. There is not, however,
any legal authority in Vienna which can call to
its substance an army which is under the orders of a
foreign ministry. The Diet has to choose a constitution
and not to wage war against the Emperor. Pulsky has
•
himself stated that the Hungarians do not wish to fight
against the Emperor ; neither the Diet nor the communal
councilcan legally call upon the Hungarians to advance, and
thereby cause a battle, Neither does it appear in the Her
address that we should call upon their army to come.
That document says that the army has received order, to
follow Jellachich wherever he may go. We have done all
we wild, but we can give no such order to the Hungarian
army. It is ramoureri, besides, that the Hungarians are
seeking to come to a peaceful understanding at (Smut&
Consequently the Diet must do all in its power not to enter-
tain the people with false hopes. We have informed the
Ban that we cannot pus a decree calling on the Hungarians,
and we now publicly declare it here that we car not now all
them in. Otherwise the dispute must be widened, civil war
be lighted up, and the fall of the state is unavoidable. After
this statement, which seems to have excited no comment,
the number of members present being 192, the project of the
committee with reference to the Styrian deputies was adopted.
The Diet having adjourned reassembled in the evening,
when Peltier and Goldreark proposed that all absent depu-
ties shall return within ten days after the time of the pro-
GERMANY. clamed= of a decree to that elect. This was adopted, and
a decree in accordance, calling on all members of the Diet to
---- return within the period above stated, or new elections will
STATE OF AUSTRIA. be proceeded to.
The accounts given by us on Saturday respecting In the sitting of the 20thh2achuselka informed the Diet
that the communal seat an address to the Ba-
the state of affairs in Vienna, reached to the 21st
prior, pressing for s peaceful termination of differences. In
instant The intelligence since received is no later in Branca ho proceeded, dietarbances have occurred. The
dates, but is fuller In details. The PitSl4l Gazette military have not oaly deprived the national guards of their
up to the 20th has reashed tae. but It eentaino nothing =but of money. In consequence of this the national
that has not been previstisiff give% Ira the excep. la Brune rose and occupied the main guesthouses,
mei the refractory military were olaeed in barracks under
tion of the sitting it the Met' "lt MN" below' the wee et the asthma gum& sulfa Schmid had sent a
On the evening of the 19th it woo that the doretwen, ea,,,,,embug lima, ts=l,B affair.up to
greatest excitement wee caused avnenot the people tae mum m erfa piempadis Prom were!
di:p of the capital by the following preelimalbe, headed : parishes k RAN& bysl =see have been received,
Dacusamox mow ma CLIO ON Utfr littlftanix• as else sae free. . tletuteellta then read a pub-
Amtv.—The Horseshoe masa his been basal Om °navies den Maths id Of Liming, complaining that
by most intimate ties of breassiteed to the people of kw they bed beta • isms Ins brthwith carried,
trig ; and the constitational bash= whido lie me* of the evilds. Coast Asse~s_ return to the national game
iiiimmoby fought for in Meek and venial tiegeeer of Linen end other dammed localities, the arms of whisk
granted, sirer4dresed *an flea it I. sir doss la paws they have been depetved. Seltsesika then further stated eat
:;lisal oodedmehreal freedom The stay eesmemiesiess es the Taber Use WWI Old off, and moved a
iscieres that It bailees s• the mitoses et Amnion MINI d dwell Olt komPlett de yeasty, orders from*.
bnowon new in dagger, me that it wth wow lye elmmktes elf ably Si 'Dow the hes of previsions,
uremia& sew, which Wag &Ma est of H lose the Diet sesset preserve pesos order whilst hanger
has kir waste tie fields or Amstria. We ere 03S tila is fed. WI Plied WS adopted. Stelffielka then laid lo-
ws shall de the rosins tempt to the freedom of our smother fore the Diet a isfrfrumnst from the communal council to the
De o*, as well as to the dynasty end the united monarchy, abet that the mm of 090,000 1. e. v. voted for the supped
by alie disosnion of the hostile army of Jellabich trom Aut. of the pimple, woo osilautod, and inking for 200,00011. moor
ww, and by the „sturgeon of the free saportgeong, paseure. The committes proposed to secede to the request, and let the
and comm imereerata of me dr, of Vienna The money be takes frost the 2,000,0001. already voted for the
Hungarian army LI ready to live and die for the united inks- iniustrions skew This proposal was 'doped.