The Express.
London, England, 1858-03-31 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 31, 1858.

Commons. The Secretary for India may therefore I
be at any time excluded from that House, and no
substitute is provided for him when that shall
happen. It is a trifle, and yet not unworthy of note,
that while Lord PALMERSTON'S Bill declares that
the President and Council may sue and be sued,
Lord ELLENBOROUGH'S Bill exempts the Secretary
of State from this conjoint liability with the Council.

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(710 N 0171 OWN

PARIS, TIIINDAT EVIENISO.

Count de Persigny has, I believe, arrived in Paris,
although without having taken formal leave of the
Queen. Ifs will of course return to England for
that purpose.

The inference we would draw fro m this review of
the two measures is, that it would be dangerous to
allow Lord PALMERSTON'S Bill to become law,
because it vests the entire power and pa-
tronage of India in a small and manageable body of
nominees of the Crown ; and that it would be equally
dangerous to allow Lord Iluasnoitonort's to be-
come law, because it vests the whole power and
patronage of India in a Secretary of State, whose
tenure of office depends upon that of his party—the
Council attached to him, although in part the off-
spring of popular election, being utterly powerless to
do or prevent anything. Both of the Cabinets
who have tried their hands at the experi-
ment of constructing a good Government for
India have lamentably failed. Were the issue
in our power we should say to Parliament,
Postpone legislation till a really unexceptionable
measure shall be submitted to you. You already
have a Government in India which all parties concur
in saying has worked not much amiss. Why change
it before you have a tolerable certainty of obtaining
something decidedly better in lieu of it? But we
are told that Parliament, having already declared
that it will legislate for India this session, must keep
its word. The declaration appears to us to belong
to the rash and ill-considered class which there
is more honour in abandoning than in adhering to.
But if Parliament will fetter itself by a mistaken
pride io unreasonable consistency, let it at least avoid
adopting an objectionable Bill for no other reason
than that it is offered as a substitute for another
equally objectionable. The great fault of Lord
PALMERSTON'S Bill is that it places India at the
mercy of a few irresponsible nominees. The great
fault of Lord Extr.unonouGn's Bill is, that the Coun-
cil, though sufficiently numerous and not exclusively
composed of nominees, is utterly powerless. If no
party in the House of Commons is prepared to offer
a third and better Bill, let the House at least make
an attempt to combine the better features of both
the Bills before it in one. Let the two Bills be re-
mitted to a Select Committee, with instructions to
retain that part of Lord Psameasrox's Bill
which delegates the Government of India to a Pre-
sident and a real Council ; to enlarge the Council to
the number proposed in Lord ELLENSOROVOH'S Bill;
to adopt the elective principle embodied in Lord
ELLENBOROUGIIS Bill, with an improved consti-
tuency ; to retain the provisions in Lord PALMER-
STON'S Bill for ensuring the presence of an official
representative of the Council of India in the House
of Commons ; and to make whatever amendments on
this combination of the best parts of both measures
may appear to the said Committee advisable.

The Patrie contradicts the assertion that the
French Newfoundland fleet is stronger than it was
last year, and adds:

As to the assertion that the French commander is ordered
to proceed this year to a new interpretation of the treaties
between England and France, we do not require to know
the instruction of Captain La Mildewe to be sure that this
Is a mistake. Whether the new commander may have re-
ceived more extensive powers than hie predecessor, we ere
not aware, but we think we may affirm that all the rumours
of the journals on the subject are at least inexact.

News has arrived by telegraph that the Austrian
government having decided to form an army of ob-
servation in consequence of recent events in Herze-
govina and Montenegro, the first detachments were
embarked at Trieste on the 28th on board the steam
frigate Danube and the screw corvette Elisabetta,
which both left the next morning for Cattaro. The
troops destined to form this corps d'armde, which is
not intended (it is said) to be a large one, will be
concentrated at Cattaro, a small territory jut-
ting into Turkish ground. Two battalions of Foot
(Masseurs and half a battery of Mountain Artillery
are immediately to take up a position on the eastern
frontier of Albania, near the Sappaya Fort on the
Antivari road. Field-Marshal Mamula, Governor of
Dalmatia, will go to Cattaro in the early part of
April to examine the state of things for himself. In
the meantime he has given strict orders to com-
manding officers to keep their troops within the Aus-
trian boundary.

The Bourse was somewhat uneasy to-day, in con-
sequence of the Swiss news. The Rente fell 20c.,
both for cash and account, closing at 70fr. and
70fr. dc. Mobilier fell 10fr. Railways were from
2fr. 50c. to sfr. lower.

The Emperor, pursuing his inquiries into the
financial state of the country, presided at a sort of
council of bankers held at the Tuileries to-day. In
addition to the financiers, whose names I have
before mentioned, M. Mires was present at this con-
sultation.

The two guns sent by Queen Victoria as a present
to the Emperor arrived at the Tuileries this morn-
ing, and were inspected by the Emperor and Em-
press and several officers of rank, among whom was
General Lahitte, the former Minister at Wax, now
Inspector-General of Artillery.
On Sunday last, as the Emperor and Empress
were taking an airing, their carriage stopped at the
door of a small wine-shop, near Sureane ; a servant
was sent to say that the Empress was hungry, and
wanted a piece of bread ; a long loaf of dry bread
was brought out to the carriage, and after each of
their Majesties had broken off a small piece, a
Napoleon was given in payment.
A cafe, kept by a M. Bonnafotta, at Narbonne,
has been closed by the Prefect on the ground that it
is a place in which socialist and anarchical ideu are
propagated. This is the short and easy method in
which they deal with " discussion forums" in
France.

The Prase Bays in its weekly commercial
review:

To the announcement made lard week that several of our
Paris manufacturers had received some few orders from the
United States, we can now add that some have also arrived
from Italy and Spain, and that the provincial commis-
sion agents are asking for samples. These are but
very feeble indications of ► resumption of business, but they
have sufficed to restore a little hope to our producers, who
have not for a long time seen such a prolonged stagnation as
that which has prevailed ever since November last. We
must not, however, reckon much upon foreign demands.
Exportation cannot be considerable until the foreign markets
shall hare relieved themselves from the glut of European
goods with which they are still encumbered. The Monitrur
lately gave some important details on a subject which had
produced a great effect both in France and abroad. It had
been said that a considerable quantity of English goods, for
which no market had been found in the United States, had
been re-shipped to Europe, where they were now selling at •
km of from 26 to 70 per cent. It appears that these state-
ments were much exaggerated. Some merchants did indeed
send back goods to Europe in place of remittances. Some
English merchandise, to the value of from 15,0001. to 20,000/.
steeling, consisting principally of silks, woollens, and ootton
tissues, were returned to London; but this relatively small
quantity can have had no effect whatever on quotations M
the English market. Letters from our principal manu-
facturing towns announce a partial revival. Some of the
great houses, thanks to the prudent system which they have
adopted forthe lest six months, have got rid of their accumu-
lated stocks. Roubaix, Tnrcoing, LUIS, R 011.332, and Mul-
house are in this case with regard to the greater part of their
tissue, more especially cottons. A few buyers have appeared
at Lyons, where there is • little more activity in some of the
factories. But the great incubus upon the Lyon. trade is the
existence of a quantity of silk, manufactured expressly for
America, and which Ma long been offered is vain at a very
heavy sacrifice. There is, however, but • small stock of raw
material on hand, and should the season begin well in May,
there will be a considerable demand for Organxines. Cereal'
remain in • state of complete calm. There are no specula-
tive pnrebsees, and holders think present prices so low that
they decline to submit to further concessions.

ITALY.

which kept so many in hospital. Notwithstanding,
however, these precautions, two who had fainted
in wart were taken off to the hospital. Look at
them, and you would expect the great proportion of
them to fall down from want and disease. The busi-
ness of the morning was dull, being relieved here and
there by some special incident. A government spy,
called Amato, accused a great number of persons not
of facts but of opinions, and opinions not proved, bat
supposed by him to be entertained. After an ex-
amination of half an hour, which awakened uni-
versal indignation, he was sent oat of court by a
back way, that he might not be hissed and whistled
at by the accused. One of the prisoners, called
Metusee, asserted that after they had surrendered
and were imploring for their lives, the urban guard
still fired at them, and beat them down with hatchets
and sticks ; that not one of them was wounded before
the surrender, but afterwards many were killed.
He himself had been robbed and struck down by an
axe. One of the witnesses amused the court by
stating that he and his companions had taken •
blunderbuss, carried by one of the prisoners for a
trumpet. Another witness, an urban guard, was
recognised and accused as the man who had robbed
a prisoner of twelve piastres.
There were present in court yesterday Mr. Acting
Consul Barber, Signor Faseiottt, the Sardinian consul,
Cay. Provana, captain of a Sardinian frigate (to
decide on the spot where the Cagliari was taken),
Mr. Roskilly, and your correspondent. Mr. Roskilly
reports Park ill, with gastric symptoms and a cough,
attended by spitting ; he was ordered to be bled, and
kept quiet. This will be the fourth time that he
I will have lost blood since his imprisonment, whereas
during the whole of his previous life nothing of the
kind had been necessary; nor had he ever had a fit.
I visited him during the day, and he gave me
another accidental proof of the innocence of Watt,
saying that he had done all he could to prevent one
man from leaving the vessel, to land in Ponza,
thereby endangering his life. The number
of persons reported ill amounted to seventeen,
and one was carried off to the hospital
during the morning. Permission was given to
Signors Csstrioti and La Francesca to introduce
witnesses from Genoa to decide on the course of the
Cagliari, and Signor Laurie presented his documents
in defence of Watt and Park. They were to prove
that no other papers than passports were required
by the Sardinian government of engineers, and pals-
ports Park and Watt had. They proved also that
they had been long in Rubattini's service, and had
by them been transferred to the Cagliari. Only two
of the witnesses summoned had arrived from Genoa;
as to the reasons which prevented the other three
from coming, it was unnecessary to particularise
them. The fact was, they would not come unless
they had the guarantee of the British government.
All these persons are to be examined on or after the
9th of April.
A series of witnesses were then called to prove the
attack of the insurgents on Sanza, whilst a man
called Lanegira was under examination a prisoner
rose, " I wish to tell the truth. After the con-
flict, our General, Nicotera, told us to hoist the white
flag, cry ' Viva il Re,' and surrender. We did
so. The armed force then bound us and gave
us a ' hello ricattamento.' They beat us with their
gun barrels and hatchets, and struck Nicotera on the
head with a hatchet ; this they did not for zeal for
the government, but because they were assassins.
They then took many of our companions and shot
them a capriccio." Nicotera confirmed this state-
ment, with this exception, that he did not order
them to cry " Viva il Re." He directed hostili-
ties to be suspended, because there were many
women mixed up in the crowd, and because the
case was evidently hopeless. Pisacane and Falerni
were both butchered after surrender, and there were
many witnesses he could call to his having been
struck by an axe on the head twice after he had
given himself up. The witness now before the court
was one of several others who had robbed Nicotera.

The Attorney-General insisted that these details
should not be entered in the " Verbale." The ad-
vocates said it was of great importance to the de-
fence to invalidate the character of the witnesses.
The President said that if any notice were taken of
such acts, it should be in the form of a prosecution ;
but the Attorney-General protested against any
threat being held over the witnesses. The judges
retire, and decide that no details shall be asked or
registered on theme subjects.

A MINISTRY OF "PUBLIC SAFETY"
CREATED IN SPAIN.

The Madrid Gazette of the 26th contains a long
report from the Minister of the Interior to the
Queen, which, after stating in general terms that
the maintenance of order is necessary for the pre-
servation of liberty and commercial prosperity, and
that consequently "offences which violate directly
or indirectly the political or administrative order of
the monarchy !must be checked," delares that " after
a scrupulous and profound examination of the causes
of the evils which afflict the nation, the minister is
firmly convinced that it is of indispensable necessity
to re-form in the administration the branch of public

safety, so as to give it a new organisation and cen-
tralise it in such a way that all the provinces of the
monarchy may participate in the prompt and effica-
cious impulsion required for the preservation of
public peace and the safety and the interests of in-
dividuals." The report, in consequence, proposes
the establishment of a general direction of public

safety, and promises that its powers shall beexer-
cised " paternally." A royal decree enacts that
such a direction shall be established, and that it
shall be composed of functionaries of the Depart-
ment of the Interior. Another decree enacts that
" for the preservation of public safety in the capital"
a battalion of infantry and two squadrons of cavalry
shall be formed, under the title of Urban Guard of
l'iladrid, and that whilst the organisation and disci-
pline of the raid guard shall be under the control of
the Minister of War, the Minister of the Interior
shall direct the manner in which it shall be em-
ployed.