The Express.
London, England, 1846-12-12 00:00:00

LATEST INTELLIGENCE,

THIS DAY. Four o'Clock.
We have just received a telegraphic despatch an-
nouncing the arrival of the Madrid from Lisbon,
which was due on the 6th inst., at 3 30 P. M. at South-
ampton.

At the time of going to press, there was no account
of the arrival of the Great Western, from America
at Liverpool.
It is understood that Lieut. Colonel Sir Gaspard
le Merchant, at present commanding the B.3th Regt.,
has been appointed Lieut. Governor of Newfoundland,
in succession to the lion. Frederick Bruce.

Our foreign express, arrived this morning, has
brought Parts letters and journals of Thursday.
The discussions in the latter are chiefly confined
to disputes relating to the protestation of M. Guizot
against the Cracow measure, which would be unin-
• teresting to the English reader. Their contents are
otherwise unimportant.
The misunderstanding between Admiral Dacres
and M. Barbet de Jouy, the French consul at the
Mauritius, appears to be exciting some discussion.
The affair is thus stated in the National:
" Such are the facts reported. The offence appears evi-
dently to have been given by an English agent to a repre-
sentative of France, and yet England has been the first to
eemplein ; for we are assured that M. Guizot has received
from London a despatch couched in very strong terms,
demanding the recall of If . Barbet de Jony, and threatening,
in case of delay, to withdraw his exequatur, which is saying,
in fact, that he shall be turned out of the island. It is thUS
shown that Lord Palmerston eagerly seizes all opportunities,
good or bad, to excite misunderstanding and create a quarrel.
But this time neither a marriage nor a dower is in question,
and though he spends his ill-humour upon another affair, he
a convinced that he will find M. Guizot as yielding and
accommodating as he was haughty, stiff, and tenacious in the
matter of 30,000,000 f."
The Quotidienne says, " This dispute is not the
least of the embarrassments, which we shall have to reckon
among the precious erects which M. Guizot will leave behind
him when he departs. The premeditated insult upon our
consul by the commandant of the British naval force
is the more grave as the consul of the United States,
who stood exactly in the same position with the
admiral, has been treated by him with an aggra-
vating courtesy. Most assuredly M. Barbet de Jolly,
a man of as much knowledge of what is due to him-
self and to others, as be is of uprightness and firmness, can-
not bate rashly engaged himself in a quarrel of mere eti-
quette. lie, as well, as all our representatives abroad, knows
how much he exposes himself to the ill-will of his masters,
and their disavowal when a just and careful regard is paid to
the dignity of his nation and the honour of its flag. Our
consul, therefore, must have weighed with full judgment his
duty towards the nation and the personal risk he incurred."
We find no confirmation of the rumoured decease of
Prince Metternich.
Paw', Dec. 10.—Three per Cents., 80 90 ; Flee per Cent's., 118 35 ;
Fourend.e.Hail per Cents, —•—; Four per Cents., 105 60; Belgian
Five per Ceuta., 1840, 100 i ; ditto 1642, 101; Naples Rentce, 102 50;
Roman Loan, 100 ; Bank Shares, 34 90. Exchange on London, 30
days, 25 971,; Ditto, 90 days, 25 33, 25 324 cash.
Saws, Dec. 10.— Paris and Orleans, 125575; Parts and Rouen, 890;
Strasburg and Bade, 218 75; Bordeaux, 560; North, 645; Paris and
Strasburg, 480; Paris and Lyons. 510.

The Madrid journals and correspondence of the
4th were received in Paris in due course en Thursday.
The elections which are at present in progress in
Spain arc attended with peculiar interest, as being
the first practical test of the new electoral law. The
ministerial party professes to have done everything
which lay with itto secure the complete freedom of elec-
tion. In the provinces which had been in a state of
siege, that condition had been removed. The two
extreme parties—the ultra-monarchical on the one
hand, and the Progressistas on the other—who for-
merly
determined to abstain from all share in the
elections, have now shown a disposition to enter
upon the struggle with extraordinary ardour. The
Liberal party has, through its organs of the press,
formally renounced all idea of resorting to violent
means of accomplishing its policy, and has declared
its intention of endeavouring to attain its ends by
legal and pacific means.
The Conservative party, placed between these ex-
tremes, consists of two sections, the greater of which
supports the present Cabinet, and the lesser, called
the Puritan, acknowledges M. Pacheco, who resigned
in the late ministerial crisis, as its head. This divi-
sion will necessarily strengthen, more or less, the
party of Progressistas, towards whom the Puritans
will lean. The effect will, however, be more felt in
Madrid than in the provinces, for it is understood in
the latter that in the electoral colleges, where ultra-
monarchical, or Progressista candidates, shall offer 1
themselves, two sections of the Conservative party
will coalesce against them.
Although it is believed in general that the present
elections will result in a considerable Conservative
majority, yet all parties will be represented in
'mare's by the most eminent men to be found in
their ranks Among the Conservatives returned for
Madrid will be Martinez do la Rosa, Mon, and Pidal ;
and among the Progressistas, Cortina, Sancho, and
General San Elbigucl. M. Mendizabal will be
returned at Jaen, and M. Olezega at Logrono. It is
thought that M. Tejada, one of the leaders of the
Ultra-Monarchical party, will be re-elected.
The Count de Thomar (Costa Cabral) had delivered
his credentials as ambassador from Portugal in a
Private audience to the Queen. El Tiempo states that
. the Infant Don Enrique will marry a sister of Maria
Christina.
Business was a little more animated at Madrid,
where a light improvement took place in the funds.