The Express.
London, England, 1847-02-16 00:00:00

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LONDON, TUESDAY, FEB. 16.

WE have paid little attention to the gossip of 'M.
GeIZOT'S and Lord Nouussiny's personal differences,
or to the rumours of the former personage being
about to be sacrificed by his master. That he
would be sacrificed, if there was any price to be
paid, or specific advantage obtained, may be well
believed. If England would promise to waive all objec-
tions against the succession of the Dcc DE MONTPEN-
(HER to the throne of Spain, for example ; to the
gaining of that point, we may feel pretty certain, that
not merely M. Cum); but a wilderness of French
ministers would be sacrificed. But the English
cabinet, though very quiet, seems determined ; and it
has just acquired considerable support, in the adhesion
of the Prussian cabinet to the views and the judg-
ment of the British government, with respect to the
marriage of the Infanta.
We were the first to announce this important fact,
which our Paris correspondent forwarded, and enabled
as to publish on Thursday last. Important in itself, it is
more important from Prussia's taking such an attitude
at the very. time, when it also proclaimed a constitu-
tion. Austria,we learn,refuses to join the court of Berlin
in a public condemnation of the Spanish marriage.
But this is motived by the circumstance, that the
court of Vienna views with equal disapprobation the
accession and the intermarriage of the female
and the younger branch of the Spanish BOURBONS.
Austria trembles lest French enmity should
throw its influence to excite the POPE and the King
of SARDINIA still more in the path of liberalism. And
Prince Merrell:4am therefore, refuses to give any
provocation to the French. But the true sentiments
of Austria are no secret.
Now, this state of things betokens, not a coalition
dwar, bat a common understanding of the powers
Europe condemnatory of France, and of its
dynasty, and of its doings, which is about the most
untoward and unwelcome result, that any combina-
tion of French policy could bring about. It was this
that M. G1:17.0T pointed to, when he said in his speech
that the influence of England was still exerted to
bring the northern powers into disapprobation,
and worse than disapprobation, of French con-
duct. We may feel confident that LOUIS
PHILIPPE does not sleep easy under the weight of
such results. He sees his own old age besieged by
the same enmities, and the same prospects to his de-
scendantsas LOUISTHEFouRTEENTII,and for precisely
the same cause, the inordinate ambition of both
monarchs to appropriate Spain and make it a family
apanage.
How is the French King to allay each a storm?
We shall see in time. But for the present his resolve
seems to be to brave enmity, carry a bold and me-
nacing face, and support M. GCIZOT. We have
already a striking and unpleasant proof of this.
Our readers are all aware of the lamentable and
anomalous state of things in the River Plate. An
English agent lately went thither, and succeeded in
making a satisfactory arrangement, when the pleni-
potentiaries already accredited there, especially the
French minister, succeeded in defeating it Mr.
HOOD returned, and Lord How DEN was appointed to
use his skill and endeavours in the task. Lord How DEN
proceeded to Paris to come to an understanding with
the French government, and it was hoped that ere this
his lordship would have been on his way to effect
and enforce a restoration of peace and of trade.
Private letters from Paris, however, now acquaint
us, that Lord HowoEN finds the French government
completely indisposed to do anything fair or
limitable, or to issue such joint instructions as would
ensure the success of an attempt similar to that of Mr.
HOOD. Every obstacle is thrown in Lord Howneses
way. And because the English goveniment will not
approve of all M. GUIZOT's doings at Madrid, M.
OCIZOT will thwart all British wishes in the Plate, al-
though those wishes are merely to restore peace and
trade in favour of all Europe.
Some people surmise, writes our correspondent,
that the French cabinet is actuated by the Prince de
JOINVILLE, and by the desires of that prince to
render Brazil once more mistress of Monte Video. We
do not place credit in any such scheme, and merely
think that the obstacles thrown by the French govern-
ment in the way of Lord Rowney are merely
traeasseries, chicane, and ill-humour, destined to
make the English feel the bad consequences of a
breach of the entente eordiak.

Be the cause what it may, it will entail upon the
British government the necessity of acting for itself,
and of at least ceasing the absurd and inglorious
task of blockading and coercing Buenos Ayres,
in order to produce a peace which the French
ministers in Paris and in the Plate are both
determined to interrupt. If the French have chosen
to marry the Spanish Queen and Princess without
esen consulting us, in the midst of common alliances
and understandings, surely we may proceed to settle,
as far as is in our power, the affairs of La Plata, with-
out waiting for what is insidiously withheld, French

EVERT ministry, that we can remember, has taken
a malicious pleasure in the prolongation of au Irish
debate, which allows so much venom and impatience
and crude political ideas to vent themselves, harm-
lessly except in the murder of time. It was last year,
as it is this, the session troublod with bursts of
petulance, with eager hopes of overthrowing the go-
vernment on the Irish question. Sir ROBERT PEEL
allowed them a nine days wonder of a debate, during
which the a ewe', of the house disported like por-
poises in a summer sea. Each took his jump and had
his "say;' and all were in better humour afterwards.
We expected such a debate this session, but cer-
tainly not upon Irish railways ; a subject more fit to
call forth the opinions of the specially informed, than
of the general mass of politicians. It is painful to
see so many good arguments and good wishes thrown
away. Of the good that railways would do to
Ireland, there can be no doubt. But when great I
English capitalista come forward to point out the
good, with the possibility of doing it, and the
certainty of its being ultimately profitable, all im-
partial persons entertain the conviction that capi-
talists will be found to undertake these philanthropic
and profitable speculations without the state either
paving them, or encouraging them to do it.
The best Irish railroads, like the best French ones,
were set a-going by British capital, which acted as an
example and &stimulant to the bringing forth and risk-
ing of native capital. When a chill or a crisis, political
or monetary, came, the foreign capitalists sold, and the
native ones were so poor and so alarmed, that they
shrunk from paying up ; shares were at a discount,
and works at a stand. In France all camo right
aril!), without government interfering, or when it
did interfere, there exist the strongest proofs of its
folly in so doing. In Ireland it will be the same.
And Lancashire, the milky mother of railways, is
far more near to Ireland, more cognizant of Ireland,
and more interestml in it, than Westminster with
all its assemblage of wisdom. The speeches of Mr.
WILLIAM BROWN and of Colonel MURE, however,
sufficiently bespoke the sentiments of the English
Mid Scotch capitalists of those regions nearest to,
most interested in, and best acquainted with, Ireland.
TheY strongly deprecated any plan like that of Lord
ueoltaa Battalfiett. Sir WiLLZ4M CLAY'S was a very

sensible speech on the other side of the question.
But, on the whole, the debate, notwithstanding Mr.
lltsnsErl's figures, was neither very instructive, nor'
convincing, nor enlivening.
We cannot dose these few remarks, without ad-
verting to Mr. Srorrtswoona's proposal to the Irish
party, to add his singular rider to Lord GEORGE
BENTINCICS bill. Mr. SPOTTISWOODEN volunteered
representation of the City was a perfect farce. The
notion of an issue of exchequer bills to be infused into
Ireland in aid of the local currency, was first broached
in the Circular for Bolger. of Saturday last. The
proposal did not go to placing this sum at the disposal
of private companies on their security, but was sug-
gested u the means which government might avail
themselves of, if railways were to be executed by a
specially chartered company, of which government
might become the principal shareholders, retaining all
the control. With the tact of a City man, who has per-
ceived the want of elasticity in our currency, the
author of this proposal would include only exchequer
bills of 10/. value, and would leave the Irish banks to
fight out the IL note issues as local currency. The
preference shown by the Irish peasantry for notes
over gold which the blue-books point out, may give a
useful lesson to currency innovators.

Ir appears to be a settled matter in old England
that nothing is to be gained by the people or conceded
by government, except through the instrumentality of
agitation. Everything, from negro emancipation and
parliamentary reform to the penny postage and the
prohibition of the truck system, has been agitated for.
This mode of originating legislation has its advan-
tages: it promotes public discussion, and a thorough
sifting of every argument or pseudo-argument. (in
the other hand, it has its disadvantages, and of tlwse
the worst are the exaggeration and partisan spirit
which it necessarily engenders. Cautious truths are
not such good materials for speeches meant to deter-
mine the volition of large meetings, as bold exvge-
rated averments. And when men have learned to
pride themselves in the unwavering advocacy of as
abstract opinion, they are apt to deal rather uncan-
didly at ftmes with any facts that may tell against it.
As a corrective of this tendency in the public mind
it is sometimes doing good service to administer
slight doses of simple statements, unaccompanied
with argument or controversial parade. If some of
your hot disputants can, by such means, be induced
to apprehend facts in their simple reality, without
asking themselves at the moment whether they tell for
or against their preconceived notions, they may be the
more likely to arrive at truth when they afterwards
try to reconcile fact and thdory. An interesting and
instructive report on the tea-trade, prepared, at the
request of government, by Mr. MONTGOMERY MAR-
TIN, while acting as Colonial Treasurer at Hong
Kong, and published in his Chins—Geographical,
Political, Commercial, and Social; has tempted us to
try the experiment in relation to a controversy in
which the disputants on both sides have keenly con-
tested the laurel due to bounce and exaggeration.
In a rapid review which he takes of the European
tea trade, Mr. MARTIN places in a strong light the
extent to which the quantity of tea consumed in a
country is liable to fluctuate with the fluctuating
tastes of a nation. "Itis a marked indication," he
says, " of the indispensable necessity
.of carefully at-
tending to the importation of a foreign, and indeed
an artificial, article, such as tea, that in some countries
of Europe the use of tea was formerly considerable,
even when its price was great, and the difficulty in
procuring it enhanced; but now, when freight,
insurance, &c., are low, and tea exceedingly cheap,
the importation is extraordinarily lessened. Sweden
offers a confirmation of this remark. The Swedish
exports of tea at Canton, from 1767 to 1786, were
60,960,4731b5. ; from 1787 to 1806, they were
21,208,4231b5.; decrease on 20 years, 39,752,0521ba.
At present, I believe, there is very little tea imported."
Frame is another example. From 1783 to 1793 the
French exports of tea from Canton amounted to ,
15,122,1301b5., an average of a million and a half per
annum. For the ensuing ten years they amounted
only to 333,33311 s. The restoration of peace and in-
creased prosperity of the people have not brought
back the days of tea-drinking in France. The tea
imported into that country from 1820 to 182.1 ranged
from about 170,000 to 150,000 lbs. The consumption
is almost confined to the English residents. The
Danes, too, who at one time imported and consumed
considerable quantities of tea, now use very little. The
duty on Tea in Denmark is only two per cent. ad
valorem. In England the consumption of tea has
gone on increasing, till the quantity consumed here
amounts to more than double of what is consumed in
all other countries (China and Japan excepted), not-
withstanding our heavy duties.
Mr. M tIITIN points out a process by which the
price of tea is likely to be materially diminished,
even though the duty remains at its present rate.
The export trade of tea has hitherto been concentrated
in Canton. The Canton merchants are earnestly
striving to maintain their monopoly. Their large
capitals and extensive credit enabling them
to mike advances to the tea cultivators and
keep them in their debt—the adherence of the Chinese
(and indeed of all mankind) to old-established chan-
nels of business—and even official edicts, have been
brought into play for this purpose. But all these
will, in the end, he unavailing against superior ad-
vantages of local position. Mr. Conant ALCOCK has
ascertained that tea can be shipped at Foochoo for
20 per cent. less than the Canton prices. Shipments
have already been made direct for England from
Ningpo and Shanghae. The tea-growing populations
in the vicinity of these ports will save at least as
much in the purchase of English goods sea-borne to
their immediate neighbourhood, not laden with the
heavy cost of land-carriage from Canton. To main-
tain their ground, the Canton merchants must lower
their prices to those of their competitors in the northern
ports.
Mr. MARTIN corroborates the statements of all
his predecessors respecting the comparatively li-
mited range within whfeh tens suited to the
English market are produced. The tea consumed
in Europe and America is chiefly grown south
of' the Yang-tee-Kiang. Between the 27th and
31st degrees of north latitude, and from the sea-coast
inland for five or six hundred miles, may be considered
adapted to the culture of this class of teas. But not
every soil, or every exposure within this district, pro-
duces tea fit for our English markets: the plant must
face the south ; the soil must consist of the minute
debris of granite and a ferruginous sandstone. Be-
yond the district indicated, teas are no doubt grown,
but coarse in quality, fit only to be made up with an
admixture of some glutinous matter into the " brick
tea" of which the inhabitants of Tibet and Tartary
make a kind of soup. Even the existing demand for
tea to export is sufficient to make the adulteration of
tea in China a profitable trade. Mr. MARTIN visited
a "tea manufactory," north of Canton, where he
found 500 persons employed in converting the
greatest refuse of tea, or the leaves which had passed
through the tea-pots of the Chinese, into teas for
exportation. The proprietor told him that the green
tea thus prepared was largely sold to the Americans.
An extensive importation of such spurious wares
might go far to destroy the national relish fur tea.
Mr. MARTIN'S account of the fluctuations caused
by speculation in the tea market during the late
misunderstanding with China, is entertaining. The
railway share market has scarcely at any time been
more wild than the tea market in some of its
paroxysms. In the beginning of June 1839, congou
was about le. per lb., on the 2nd of December it was
2s. 7d.; on the 16th of January, 1840, 3s. 2d. ; in
April, 2s. In August, 1841, the siege of Canton, its
surrender, the local truce, the indemnity of six
millions, &c., caused large operations in what arc
called "time
,bargains;" a gambling called " pate
and calls " came into play--one person purchasing
from another the right to buy from or ea to him a
specified quantity of tea at a certain price on a given
day. Expresses were established between Marseilles
and London; forged letters were palmed off upon
newspapers, and published in second editions : for-
tunes were made at GARRAWAY'S in the morning,
and loot ere night.
Incidentally Mr. MARTIN touches on the morality
of tea-drinking :
Row far the emotive use of strong tea inCbins,"bessys.
"by alternately elevating and depressing the nervy= system,
may have led to the craving desire for opium as a counter.
stimulant, is deserving of consideration. Certain it is, that
string coffee (among the Turks and Persians) and strong
tea (among the Chinese) are aimrlar in their elementary
qualities, and followed or preceded by the use of opium or
similar deleterious stimulating narcotics. It is slatted that in
the manufacturing districts of Great Britain, where tea is
very largely consumed at all meals, opium is now being in-
troduced.'
We are inclined to think tea, like every thing else,
as wholesome in moderation, and pernicious only in