The Express.
London, England, 1847-04-19 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, APRIL 19, 1847.

dence and strength sufficient to defy the efforts and
wear out the resources of the Queen's marshal, SAL-
DANHA. In order to compel him to retreat back upon
Lisbon, the Junta of Oporto have despatched an ex-
pedition to the south of Portugal, that old and oft-
repeated move, by which each party which has
obtained the good wishes of the population at large
can always reduce the capital.
For the second. time within a few months, the Queen
is reduced to an extremity, and, as usual when so
reduced, she beseeches English succour. This time,
however, there was no use in her Majesty's demand-
ing our diplomatic interference. The insurgents bad
had quite enough of that before, and would probably
not listen to another attempt to amuse or delay them. Her
Majesty has, therefore, been compelled to ask of those
British naval officers, whom she would scarcely notice
a week back, their armed intervention and protection.
A promise of this, to a certain extent, has been made:
we trust not to the hnlath which our Contemporaries
=Dunce : for this would be a full sanction to the
Queen's assumption of dictatorial power, and of her
resolve, avowed by proclamation, to reign without
Cortes or constitution. Such a move on our part
would, of course, have the effect of striking their arms
from the hands of the l'ortuguese constitutionalists.
Their courage and constancy would forsake them.
The achievement of their liberation is impossible, if
opposed by the troops of England. And there would
be nothing left for them but to surrender to the
tender mercies of a Queen whe would infallibly
transport them to Angola, or some African desert—
more cruel than FERDINAND VII., who, if he sent the
liberals to African presidia, selected at least the more
healthy stations of the Mediterranean.
Should these accounts turn out to be true, we do
think that the liberals of Portugal, nay, that the',
Queen herself, will have much reason to complain of
the vacillating and mysterious conduct of the British
government. If we were all along determined that
no resistance to the despotic power of the Queen,—
no insurrection in favour of constitutional rights,
should succeed against her Majesty's 1' divine
right to govern wrong,"—we should have said so
at the first. Such a declaration would have saved
months of civil war, and bloodshed, and proscription.
If the Queen of PORTUGAL be a female hnspodar,
whom England, imitating Russia on the Danube,
is to support in every encroachment upon her sub-
jects' liberties, or whom we are to guarantee from ,
the consequences, then it were better to inform the

Portuguese constitutionalists at once that we not
only no longer countenance them, but that we throw
them off, proecribe, and shall lend our marines to
defeat them.

Such a declaration from so great a power as Eng-
land would rrobably reconcile the Portuguese to any
degree of slavery. It might, to be sure, set them
wondering for what cause Don MIGUEL had been ex
pelled at all. For if despotism is to be the rule, and
the throne is to be macro sanct, surely Don MIGUEL is as
good an occupant as Donna MARIA. Moreover, they
might inquire why, if this policy was to be pur-
sued by England, it was not pursued at first,
instead of, by affecting impartiality between the
Queen and the liberals, deceiving the latter into
the belief in our neutrality. As it our temporary
countenance of the Portuguese liberals has proved to
them a " delusion and a snare," which will unite the
English name with curses in the mouth of every one
in Portugal devoted to the constitutional came.
If such conduct as this on the part of our foreign-
of m has been produced by a wish to allay the
fears and captivate the confidence of the new
Pacheco ministry in Madrid, the motive is the more
dishonourable. It is better that an abandonment of
friends and principle should be owing to caprice,
than that we should sell and sacrifice them to politi-
cal combinations with Spain, or with any set of
Spaniards. We have often made a very foolish
figure in the Peninsula, but this is preferable to
making a disgraceful one.
We will not however believe that the instructions
of .the British admiral, or of the British envoy, can
have permitted them to effer more than our own cor-
respondent announces. It is very probable that the
court, getting this promise, has exaggerated and
falsified, and made the most of it, in order to deceive
and intimidate their enemies by much the same kind
of trick which SALDANIIA played in similar circum-
stances some months since, when he published an in-
correct version of one of Colonel WYLDE's conversa-
tions. The accounts published by the Times in all
probability emanate from these sources, and will
be found, we trust, devoid of truth.

WREN are the Americans of the United States to
get into Mexico ? A line drawn from Mazatlan, on
the Pacific, passing to the north and east of Durango
and Zacatecas, cutting off the southern half of Nueva
Leon, and terminating at Tampico, will indicate the
northern boundary of old settlement, city. life, and
comparatively dense population in Mexico. The
towns of Monterey, Saltillo, Cohuahila, and Chihuahua
—a line pawing through which will be nearly parallel to
the corresponding part of the former—are outposts of
civilisation, thrust forward into a territory in the
progress of colonisation. Brazos, Matamoras, Soto-
la-Marina, Tampico itself, are new creations—corn-
mercial entreporsof later origin than the independence of
Mexico—stations at which the merchants trading with
the interior meet over-sea customers half-way. North,
east, and west of Monterey, Cohuahila and Chihuahua
are the lands of the Indians, where widely-dispereed
eillages have been formed by the efforts of the mis-
sionaries; encouraged by the neighbourhood of which,
isolated families of colonists (rawheres) have settled
upon farms, or a few traders have collected in small
towns like Santa Fe. Fully a year has elapsed since
the Americans forced the stockades erected on the
boundary line of what themselves admit to be Mexican
territory ; till the late affair near Saltillo, they have
not fought another battle that deserves the name; and
still we do not hear of their having entered the settled
country of Mexico.
On the 26th of April, 1846, General TAYLOR ad-
vised the war department that hostilities had com-
menced ; on the Bth and 9th of May he gained the vic-
tories of Palos Altos and Resaca de la Palma ; on the
20th of May he had his head-quarters in Matamoros.
The government at Washington left to his discretion
the operation' on the Rio Grande, presuming that he
would occupy both banks of the river, from Matamoros
upwards as far as Loredo, as a basis for future opera-
tions. At the same time General KEARNEY was sent
at the head of an expedition against Santa Fe, with
instructions, if he found it practicable, to push on to
California. General WOOL was ordered to concen-
trate a force at San Antonio de Behar, in Texas, to
be moved upon Chihuahua. General KEARNEY'S
command was independent of General TAYLOR;
General WooL's was nominally under him, but the
direct correspondence with the war department gave
it also a quasi independence. Not long after this,
Tampico was taken by the American naval
force in the Gulf, and General PATERSON was ordered
to concentrate a force there with a view to contingent
operations inland ; he also was nominally under
General TAYLOR, but, as in the case of General WooL,
his direct correspondence with the war department
conferred upon him a quasi independence.
It was believed that there are four practicable roads
for an army withartillery and waggonstoadvance upon
the capital of Mexico : from Santa Fe by Chihuahua
and Durango ' • from the lower Rio Grande by Monte-
rey and San Luis Potosi ; from Tampico ; and from
Vera Cruz. Of the last-named we shall immediately
have occasion to speak ; the Tampico route, it is now
believed, is not practicable for artillery or wheeled
carriages. But, independently of this consideration,
General TAYLOR'S indignant remonstrances on account
of his being weakened by the quasi-independence
conferred upon Generale WOOL and PATERSON, were
so far regarded by the War Department at Washing-
ton, that he was enabled to absorb their forces into
his columns. The only attempt to advance into the
interior, of which we have yet any account, is that
made by General TAYLOR On the line of Monterey
and Saltillo.

General TAYLOR'S plan was to avail himself of the
Rio Grande during the season when it was at its
height, to move his men, stores, and artillery, up to
Camargo, and to march thence, accompanied by his
guns and by proper means of land carriage, by the
valley of San Joan upon Monterey. Having established
himself at Monterey, his next object appears to have
been to occupy Victoria, on the S.E., which com-
mands a pass by which the Mexicans could have
poured down cavalry to take him in the front
and rear as he advanced; and then to march onwards
by Saltillo upon San Luis, or, if it should seem ad-
visable, even the capital. In executing this plan,
General TAYLOR complains that he has been thwarted
and obstructed from the beginning. lie was not
supplied with river steamers early enough, or in suf.

ficient numbers. The duties of the quartermaster's
department were entirely and ecandr.lously neglected.
He was encumbered with new volunteer forces, of
whom he had to make soldiers ; and a sufficient num-
ber of regular troops to form them upon was with-
held. And finally, the greater put of his force, in-
cluding, with the exception of a small number of
Dragoons, and four field batteries, all his regulars,
were withdrawn from him, alter he had advanced
upon Monterey, to be employed in a new plan for oc-
cupying Vera Cruz as a basis of operations against
Mexico, the execution of which was entrusted to
General Scorr. .

What fortune may attend this fourth movement of
toe Americans upon the Mexican frontier it is impos-
sible to conjecture : as yet we only know that it has
sailed—some 12,000 or 15,000 men strong —from Llobos.
General KEARNEY occupied Santa Fe and leaving the
main body of his command there, pushed forward to
Monterey in California. ..t,g;o-Amerleitti governor nta
were organised in that capital and in Santa Fe. Accord-
ing to the latest accounts the Ames icans at Monterey
were surrounded by Spaniards and Indians in arms,
whose natural dislike of the invaders was heightened
by the exhortations of the priests. A Mormon battalion
of some three hundred men, on its route from Santa
Fe to their assistance, was last heard of not
far from Arispe, little more than half-way. In
New Mexico, the American gov. rnor is reported
to have been cut off by an insurrectionary movement
of the natives • the fortifications of Santa Fe had not
been completed, and the half of the American troops
appear to have been lured onwards to Chihuahua in
the vain expectation of finding General AVoot there.
In that part of Mexico which corresponds to the
backwoods of the United States, the few straggling
invaders will have enough to do to keep their ground
against the assaults of the guerilla foes who surround
them.

General TAYLOR'S position on the line of the ad-
yenned townships is little better. his outposts have
been driven in, and himself compelled to fall back
before a superior force of Mexicans. Though
our information respecting the affairs between
Aguas Nuevas and Monterey are derived ex- 1
elusively from American sources, we believe
they will ultimately be found correct on the
whole. The disproportionate loss of the Mexicans is
not surprising. General TAYLOR'S men have been
many of them a year in active service, while SANTA
ANNA'S were raw recruits; the Americans were
posted in a district where food and water were
abundant, the Mexicans had just crossed a long dry
desert; besides the Anglo-Americans are morally
and physically a more robust race than the Mexi-
cans. In addition to all these advantages, the
Americans were strongly posted and had four field-
batteries, while the Mexicans had not a single gun.
We sincerely believe that the battle was gallantly
fought by the Americans, but it was after all on their
part merely a desperate stand in an advantageous posi-
tion, in the midst of a retreat to beat back a too closely
pursuing enemy and gain time. But SANTA ANNA'S
rear-guard had still to come up, and with his
forces thus augmented and refreshed at Aguas
Nueva', he was prepared to resume the pursuit. It
i 8 wmrtte4 ;le Americans that the Mexican
infantry charged again and again up to the moatha
their cannon. Meanwhile, TAYLOR, having been
obliged some time ago to call in the detachment
which had occupied Victoria on the S.E., and General
Wool's brigade, which occupied Parma on the N.W.,
two passes from the high table-land, practicable for
cavalry, were thus left unguarded oa either flank;
and through these passes Mexican guerillas have
poured in and cut off his communications with the
Rio Grande. On even- side of him, too, the Ran-
cheros were joining the Mexican cavalry under MINON
and URREA, or forming themselves into independent
troops. And, what is still more strikingly indicative
of the national feeling, American letters state that
even before SANTA ANNA'S appearance the inhabitants
of Saltillo kad betaken themselves en twine to the
Ranchos in the interior.
When will the Americans reach Mexico? For,
supposing General SCOTT in possession of Vera Cruz,
CANALIZO can bring down upon him from Oaxaca,
Mexico, and Jalisco, as numerous an army as SANTA
ANNA has collected in San Luis, Zacatecas, and
Durango to oppose TAYLOR ; and the inhabitants of
Vera Cruz and Mexico are more numerous and quite
as brave and intensely national as those of Nuevo
Leon and Tamaulipas.

The French journals of Friday and Saturday were
so extensively occupied with the reports of and corn-
ments on the opening of the Prus•ian states as almost
to exclude domestic or other foreign topics. The
chamber has definitively adopted the project of law
on the Bank, having rejected all the amendments
which proposed a further reduction of the notes to
100 f. From the tenor of the debate, however, and
the feebleness with which the opposition to these
amendments was made, it is probable that ere long
the paper circulation of France will be put upon the
same footing with that of England by the issue of
loot notes. The project of law for granting the
government steam-ships to the company proposing to
ply between Havre and New York has finally passed.
A royal ordonnance has just been issued, appointing
a general committee on railways, being a sort of rail-
way. board of control. It is divided into four sections,
having respectively the direction of, first, the selection
of lines; secondly, the mode of working them in the
engineering department; thirdly, the mode of work-
ing them in the commercial department ; fourthly,
thebye-laws or regulation& Each section is to be con-
sulted on those questions whick peculiarly belong to
its functions.

The Duke de Broglie is nominated to succeed Count
St. Aulaire in the embassy at London.
Lord Cowley is announced to be considerably better.
Union Mon4rchique has the following in refer-
ence to the ball given at the British Embassy on
Wednesday last
All the salons of Paris are at this moment in a Sate of in-
expressible excitement, in consequence of a singular circum-
stance, which involves the double question of politics and
conversance. We give the fact as it has been communicated
to us by one who we have reason to know is well informed
on the matter. Since the famous soirée, exclusively Eng-
given by Lord and Lady Normanby, immediately after
another Pe, not lees celebrated, from which the French
society thought proper to absent themselves, no great assem-
bly had taken place at the English embassy. As time, how-
ever, rolled on, old enmities seemed to be forgotten, and none
of the high French society acquainted at the English em.
busy hesitated to accept the invitation addressed to them by
Lord and Lady Normanby for Wednesday last. The COM-
pany was, therefore, very numerous, and no unpleasant
recollections nor marks of national susceptibility interrupted
the pleesnres of the party during the commencement of the
evening. At midnight, however, • splendid supper was
sewed is the grand gallery, and all the ladies present were
invited to the table, but scarcely had they been seated 'when
a curtain, at the upper. extremity of the gallery, was with-
drawn, and disclosed, In a species of recess elegantly deco-
rated with flowers, a table of from fifteen to twenty covers.
At the sure time the British ambassador, in a loud voice,
requested certain ladies, foreigners of high rank, to place
themselves at this small table, at which Lord and Lady
Normanby themselves did the honours. Among the ladies
who became objects of this amiable attention were the Princes
de Lichtenstein, the Countess de Dietrichstein, the Princess de
Ligne, Lady Holland, Lady Grenville, Lady Aylesbury,
&c. Not a single French lady was invited to the table.
The first effect produced by this species of coop de theatre,
was a general movement of stupefaction, mingled with anger,
among ell the persons seated at the large table in thegallery.
For a moment there was • disposition to quit the room in
a body, but, on reflection, it was thought that the fittest
course to take was to laugh at the adventure, and to observe
with maliviant curiosity what passed at the table de maitre,.
Soon after, the ladies seated at the unfortunate privileged
table hastened ens after another to quit the place, not
wishing to be the butt of the general sneer. We will not
accompany this recital with any irritating comments. We
may, however, be permitted to observe that we have arrived
at sa epoch of International manners very different from that
in which France and England saluted each other before they
exchanged their fire on the field of Fontenoy.
We give this specimen of malice on the part of
the French journalist, placing no reliance upon its
correctness.
- - -

In the chamber, on Saturday afternoon, a peti-
tion was presented demanding the recall of the
surviving members of the family of Napoleon to
France, and to place the image of the emperor on the
Cross of the Legion of Honour. Also to change the
name of the town of Bourbon-Vendee to Napoleon-
Vendee. A violent debate ensued. The first part of the
petition, for the recall of the imperial family, was lost
only by a email majority. The other parts of the
petition were referr to the President of the Council.
These motions were strongly opposed by the ministers,
who have sustained thus another check.

The mails from Madrid, with the journals and cor-
respondence of the 11th, were received in Paris on
Friday. In the senate, the Marquis do Miraftores
interrogated M. Pacheco with regard to General. Ser-
rano : he observed that it was with great reluctance
that the late government had instituted the proceed-

ings against General Serrano, and he was glad to see
that the affair was at an end by the exercise of the
royal will ; but as the senate had, by an almost
unanimous vote, given authority for the prosecu-
tion, on the ground that the general, although
one of its members, was bound as a military
officer to obey the instructions of his go-
vernment, he wished to know whether it was to
be now understood that a person who should be at
the same time a member of the senate and a military
officer could, in the event of hie receiving orders from
the government, disobey with impunity by declaring
that he could not be called upon to abandon his
legislative duties. M. Pacheco replied that the ques- I
Lion put by the Marquis de Miraflsres had never
formed the subject of discussion in the council of
ministers, and therefore, if he gave an answer it must
not be taken as that of the government. As far as
he was personally coneerq:t., 1”27:21-zr, he would
say that he thought a senator had the right to choose
between his senatorial duties and those which he
might be ordered to perform as a military officer, so
long as the senate should not have expressed ita ac-
quiescence with the orders given by the government.
Consequently it appeared to him that General Serrano
was justified in declining to obey the orders of the
government at the time when he refused to do so. The
conversation then dropped.
Reports continued to be received at Madrid of the
departure of Queen Christina from Paris for that
capital. There is no doubt that such a step was con-
templated, but was fortunately delayed by prudent
advice received from the Tuileries. The arrival of
General de la Concha at Paris has, it must be pre-
sumed, completely put an end to the project.

ROME, APRIL 5.
Yesterday, while the pontiff was in the act of
blessing " urbem et orbem from the porch of St.
Peter's, before a concourse of over 200,000 Christians
of every creed, a slight disturbance arose, which
might have had bad results. The civic guard (of
which he is colonel) had petitioned to be allowed to
put their hats up on the points of their bayonets, and
to cheer, which had been allowed, but the troops of
the line made a similar application, which had not
been successful, and in consequence Zamboni, the
commandant, had countermanded the order of the day
as regarded the national troops. The people did not
know of this, and when the Pope arose amid a deep I
silence, and his silvery voice was distinctly heard over',
the crowd, a sudden burst from the wuole multitude
greeted him, and all eyes were turned on the national
guard for their expected manifestation ; their attitude
of simple " attention" did not please the Romans, and
a row would have ensued but for the timely explana-
tion of some officers, who were on the qui vire. The
Pope. was escorted amid wild enthusiasm back to the
Quirinal.

Clubs are getting quite into vogue here. The
nobles have not any longer the monopoly of casinos.
The merchants have got up a club—the artists have
got one. The Germans had taken the lead in club-
bing, and were soon imitated by the French. The
English have a well.appointed one in the Piazza di
Spagaa—a kind of semi-political club, called Il
eireolo Romano. It members already 300 members,
and all the papers of Europe are taken.
A funeral took place last week of some importance,
as showing how the middle classes are emerging from
nonentity into importance and self-respect. A coffee-
house keeper, called Ricci, who had been distinguished
as the first Roman who brewed gas for the lighting
of his splendid saloons in the Palazzo ltuspoli (the
putting out of which gas-pipe I enumerated last year
on the 4th of April, among the doings of the
late Governor Marini), having died, was convoyed
to his last resting-place by several thousands of
his fellow-citizens ; the corso was resplendent
with torches, and the National Guard, of which
he was a soldier, turned out in force to honour their
worthy comrade ; he was the great support of the
poor exiles, and a stout reformer. You will find the
speech pronounced over his grave in the pages of the
Gotemporaneo. None but a noble or a " saint " ever
had honours of this sort in Rome. The mezzo cete,
have begun to understand their own worth.
Rocca, the president of the Equator (Quito and
Guyaquil), has sent as ambassador to our court the
Marquis Lorenzana.
The first merchant vessel (built at Ancona) called Pio
Nono, entered Civita Vecchia last week, and received
a royal salute from the batteries. You would do well
to hint this matter to the Peninsular and Oriental
Company, when they next destine a steamer for our
Italian and Southampton line, and are puzzled at the
christening. May they have more luck than with the
Tiber!

Last night the dome and colonnade of St. Peter's
blazed out with a million lamps, and the spectacle
from the Pineian hill was, on account of the dusk of
the sky, brilliant beyond custom. 'Twas as if a
fragment of the "New Jerusalem" had been let down
from the empyreum by a golden chain.
Among the odd regulations which from time im-
memorial have obtained in Rome is the law by which
goats are not allowed to enter the city until after
Easter Sunday. In consequence the town was
thronged at an early hour this morning with herds
of horned visitors from the Sabine hills, their udders
full of milk and their odour recognisable through
every thoroughfare. Carriages could hardly go at
any pace for the obstruction. Why they are ex-
cluded during the Lent's holy fast, I do not pretend
to discover; possibly it may have some mysterious
connexion with a passage in the beautiful old dithy-
ramb "Dies km," sung on mournful occasions of the
church service : _

Inter oyes locum preen!
Et ab /lades me aequesCra
Statue= in parte demo!

APRIL B.—You may look out for a speedy adjust-
ment of the question of Rome and England inter-
change of diplomatic relations. Her Majesty's am-
bassador at Naples has just arrived here ; and, if his
visit to Rome had merely a recreative object, he
would scarcely have chosen to come after the Easter
attractions had ceased to render oar city interesting,
and just when the season of Neapohtan festivity
opens. The Hen. Mr. Temple and our late English
minister at Vienna, Sir Robert Gordon, do not appear
idle ; and though this business belongs properly to the
department of our Florentine envoy, Mr. Hamilton's
continued illness has rendered the services of another
official personage indispensable. To lay the founda-
tion of an embassy at Rome (tanta molls era, !) would
seem a work of sarpassing gravity ; and the brother
of the late as well as the brother of the present occu-
pant of the Foreign-office are not too many for the
task. May the mother of the graces smile on the
undertaking
Sic te diva pours Cypri
Ede (mute Relate, Weida Altera'.

for, in a case like this, one may be allowed to draw
upon both Horace and Virgil for illustrations.
Lady Susan Percy, while at her toilet yesterday,
dropped dead on the carpet ; ossification of the heart
is supposed to have brought on this sudden calamity.
Yon will convey the first news of this additional be-
reavement to the wide circle already placed in mourn-
ing by the demise of the chief of the house of North-
umberland. She was kind and charitable.

Letters from Paris to the Irish College here prepare
the members of the clergy and other admirers of Mr.
O'Connell for his immediate arrival by sea at Civita
Vecchia, from which he will have, owing to the horrid
state of that road, a most tedious drive to Rome. The
town is fast getting empty, as usual about this time
of the year, and next month the heat will begin to be
intolerable, so that the baths of Lucca, or some other
cheerful retreat, would be a more sensible move. He
will find here, in a state of bodily and mental debility
equal to his own, in an advanced age, the only living
daughter of Curran, the sister of her of whom it is
written, in pages that will never die:
me li, far from the lea where her roans hero sl, ke.
If he is enabled to climb the Janiculum bill, he will
trace on the marble floor of the church of :Nlontorio
the newly repaired and refreshened epitaphs of two
Irish chieftains who did not confine their aspirations
against the Saxon to mere talk, but wasted both life
and fortune in the hopeless endeavour to create an
independent Ireland, to
Right her wrongs in !Wile line.

Helc Jacent
O'Neallua, nano de Dungannon, =gni Magoon Mina ; et O'Don-
nell. Comes de Tyrconnel, qui contra baereticco In lityliernil mhos
annce certlruat, 1609,_
- - - -

All the disponible part of the Roman population is,
while I write, flocking out towards the Ponte Mole,
there being held a grand steeple-chase along the old
Flaminian Way, and the jocky mania being as preva-
lent here as it has become within a few years at Paris.
Prince Odercalchi is in the van of these manly pur-
snits, and they are something better than effeminate
fiddling buffoonery and debauchery which were the only
previous resources of patrician life in these dominions.
I may as well mention, fur the enlightenment of such
dull dogs as imagine field sports to be an abomination

in the eyes of the church, that at one of the lat
meetings of the fox-hounds, Cardinal Piecolomini
rode out to witness the throwing oft' of the pack, aod
the common sense of the Romans saw nothing to wan.
der at in the presence of an additional red uniform
where all wore the obligato scarlet. It is but fair to
add that Piccolomini's mother was an English lady of
the old Yorkshire family Scrape, and thus akin do the
fiery archbishop " of that ilk " in Shakspeare. There is
not in the whole colt, ge of cardinals a more 801114
and sensible divine, and he has the best collection of
ehibouks, and the most delicate Turkish tobacco in the
Eternal City.
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's 'tamer
Tyber, which brings Gibson's Queen, is cramful of
pictures and sculpture. The Royal Academy will
be great prigs indeed if they object t!teir "pay
regulations" to the reception of the statue.

MONTREAL, MARCH 27.
The governor has spoken ; taken his fit ,t step end
retraced it; made an advance and been repulsed. 1 wi
let the facts precede the comment. It seem. that Lord
Elgin, desiring to attach to hit government the French
1 Canadians, and after basing treated them with much per.
' sonal consideration and kint:iiess in the social intarceune he
has generally maintaiei d with Montreal society since hie
arrival, thought the time for corning to close flaunts with
the party had arrived ; and he accordingly mi le a written
statementpioood inof
thhisosehontilidmre onf onetstowardsthem,
ort discreet and criur and rol
sedthirseg
be
iinto:ivTu.7hoCiopiiertrasLortuaesaltecidi.:.-tolsfitooCritonell
lo lordship'soth.oroouthrough
hhi
et brother.hirre
dißthrlipsce"edisc,
of the most amiable and enlightened of his race, and who*
a short time filled the chair of the House of As mbly. lye
views themselves are understood to have comprised all that
could be desired by the French Canadians, so such, and the
information sought from Mr. Morin was, whether any oh.
stacle stood between his friends nod the preten• administra-
tion to prevent a junction. It ie understood th it his excel.
lencv made no offer or promise, hut limited the paper he dm
liveied to an expression of his wish that the public men ef
the French Canadian party poseesaiug the confidence of their
countrymen, should be seated in the eeccutive ceurteil upon
terms of equal justice as between them and miter parties and
races, provided always this could be done without the tar-
render of any public principle. His excellency intimated
that the true interests of the country would entitle him to
expect some sacrifice of difficulties upon inertly persona
grounds. The answer to this addreess was, that Mr. Morin
was not entitled to speak in the name of the party to which
he belonged that that party counted other member, than
persons of French Canadian origin among in numbers • sad
that, speaking only for himself, it was his belief that hie
political friends would not feel disposed to unite with the
members of the present administration.
This answer would seem to close the door against .2
further efforts either on the part of Lord Elgin in person, or
of any of his council, to negociute the introduction of the
French Canadians into the government. The two documents
referred to have not yet been given to the public, and their
literal contents will not probably be made fully known
before the meeting of the legislature, when ministerial or
opposition "explanation" will bring them out, or Lord
Elgin may himself lay them formally before the chamber,.
A knowledge of their contents has been guinea chiefly
through the newspapers, which have raised a controversy on
the subject.
It is contended by the opposition press, that Mr. Lafon-
taine, as the acknowledged parliamentary leader of the
French Canadians, should have been addressed either we-
bally or in writing by the Governor-General—that thigh
the pretieeter th; .;s, ;on at house, and consistent with
the priaciples of responsible government here. On the other
aide, it is contended that this is a matter of etiquette that
ought not to have precluded the parties addressed, or any
one of them, from meeting a new governor tendering the
hand of friendship to a race, whose chief grievance has ha►
tofore been their alleged exclusion from office on account ef
their origin, from meeting him in the same spirit, and Weed-
ing him every information and assistance in their power. It
is thought that the answer was rather more curt than was
either politic or becoming—not in its terms, for a more bland
or courteous gentleman, or a more benevolent spirit then
Mr. Morin there is not in this country ; but in its &abstains,
and in the position that the party assumed by that answer.
Mr. Lafontaine and his friends in Lower Canada him
formed an alliance, as is well known, with Mr. Baldwin sad
his reform party in Upper Canada, and a negotiation to tale
office without concert or participation with his allies might
strike Mr. Lafontaine as not within the strict limits of politi-
cal principle. This, however, is a new position of the patty,
or of the Lower Canada section of the opposition
twelve months ago, Mr. Lafontaine was not in • le
treat with Mr. Draper for admission to office oil the •ei
what was called the " double majority"—that is, that the
parliamentary majority of Upper Canada, which is cornetts-
tier, should be represented in the council by its political leaders,
and the parliamentary majority of Lower Canada, which is
French Canadian, and professes the liberal reform principles
of Mr. Baldwin, by its political leaden. This negotiations(
last year did not go on, and Mr. Lafontaine complained el
its being dropped-, and he disclosed all the details in the
House of Assembly. The effect of the proposed union ea
this principle would have been to throw Mr. Baldwin
and his minority in Upper Canada into the shade of a
double nrajerity, amounting almost to the political cities-
tion of the party. Mr. Baldwin was probably able to env
wince his ally of his mistake in separating his forces fan
him ; and hence the new ground upon which he now stands.
The prints in Mr. Lafontaine's interest give out that his
party will not treat with the governor so long as he has a
constituted ministry • that when cakedupon, after the re-
signation or dismissal of a ministry, to advise upon the
formation of a new one, they will feel themselves at
liberty to obey the call, but not otherwise. The peti-
tion of the parties is thus pretty accurately defined.
The Lafontaine-Baldwin alliance stands compact, ready for
the field. The united party will come into office only ae
victors, after defeating their adversaries by a parliamentary
majority. In answer to this menace, the conservatives at
Upper and Lower Canada, who were split up into several
knots of parties, seeking different ends, and entertaining and
sowing distrust of each other, have dropped their differences,
and allege that they are now firmly united, resolved to keep
out the common enemy; and for that purpose counting a
clear parliamentary majority of 12, which, in a house con-
sisting of 84 members only, is equivalent to a majority of 80
in the House of Commons, which, I presume, in your eons.
try would be called a "good: working majority."
Lord Elgin is, of coune, blamed by both parties—by the •
French, because he did not take the right course to place •
them in office—by their opponents, because he even thought
of doing Bush a thing. It is said that as a politician who
knew the value of prestige, he should not have subjected
himself to the possibility of a refusal from any party. A
denial is never pleasing, and least so, perhaps, when given
to a proffer of friendship. Thus you have his lordship's
exact position so regards ministerial matters and party
politics within the sphere of his government.
These sentiments of the responsible government party am
wide-spread throughout both divisions of the province. A
conservative ministry, which seems now all but inevitable,
will have much to do to bring tranquillity into the country;
and I see no power that looks promising to still the angry
pamions of political sects. I allude to a conservative minim,
osebortiorgrocupooonhoothoeooroldreroooe
tort' fancily 7
to
men acting upon enlightened views, however they may call
themselves conservatives. compnagtgparitinoncipolef geartsy
The winter for the last fortnight has been temporarily
broken up by a thaw, but it is not gone. It has bees snow-
ing heavily for twenty-four hours. During the night, the
wind blew in hurricane gusts, and it has continued with
violence during the day. The anew-dribs must be three
feet deep in some parts, rendering the roads impassable.
The Oovernor-Oeneral is completely snowed up at Mole
land', unable to come in but on snow shoes. The mail iar
England is appointed to start this evening ; but I see titb
prospect edits being able even to cross the river.
I'.S. Since writing the above, I find that Lord Elgin. ha/
actually come in upon snow shoes, to transact business Ira
his council before the departure of the mail for England. 1.
BERLIN, Arson 14.
The forcible, unwritten, and somewhat menafair
expressions which were not " put into," but wheels velem
tidily issued from, the mouth of his Majesty on Slidell". 1.
at the opening of' the united diet, have caused moans*
stir, even in Prussia. The speech was eagerly Fervisibr
the public; many a head was shaken, many a shoulder win
shrugged, and many a monosyllabic expression of retails-
ment escaped the readers and the auditors in the cediamy
places of resort. Few, however, ventured in Fab**
riextypressof
manokyionirpinthioondo, far—roottontd—lirregreis to
gbeerouondsieor theßetti eatent•it
speak on political matters even in moderate language.
have good grounds for stating that 1 members of mu •
diet were (te say the least) greatly afflicted by the relator
course ; that not a few amongst them would prefer theme
turning to their homes to remaining in this capital;
that many entertain the doubt whether it was etrellyvar
to limit in a united diet the privileges possessed bye
ones, without previously consulting the latter. IM ray
stringent limitation of the right of petition is the mere ear
prising, inasmuch as that restriction forms, in fact, anedno
Wvier between the king and his subjects, and it wr
chely in order to keep up the old confidence, and the &lir
relations existing between prince and people, that his Mr
jetty (as be himself stated) would net consent to sale*
le any so-called representatives of the latter.
This day the section of the diet resumed its 'shown is
drawing up an address in reply to the King's spood'•__.
is thought that it will not be presented before Friday_l7;
and that it will be drawn up in language respectful,
firm.
England, are two ladies, who are peeresses in their own
Herren-stand,
worrortorihy oofr
urepmprarrh
Hthoaotora:nuonpwot thooemmeetimortnidythet_
right,
t viz., the
e Princessae Din o,ofthSeag°llT, alllellanenliedv'ebe,
former derma her title of princess from her estates es
Silesia, and the latter from some property in
Seats were reserved for both at the opening of t
woos
ooTheir sex, however, compels them to vote by polio!,
oftteenwa
better
as the the M
Prince Talleyrand, and the Countess of Kielmarweggn
0.!
they have already chosen with the consent of the king.
P.S. The Allgemeine Preusskhe Zeitswott the
..
otlßtra
publishes in full the debates of the United Die 01, T,dh
Lower House, on the 12th inst. The grand man
diet, the Prince of Solms Lich, urged the members to
themselves worthy of the royal confidence reposed _
end then proceeded to nominate eight secretaries. 100
propositions already referred to in a former err
Lo '
were next laid before the chamber by the mond:tee=
as
interior.
A committee was nominated in order to .
the propositions. The Count of Schwerin proposed