The Express.
London, England, 1861-02-06 00:00:00

THE UNITED STATES.

We have received New York papers of Jan. 23.
A telegraphic summary of their Intelligence ap-
peaml our paper yesterday.
In the Senate, on the 21st, a question arising in
regard to the position of the absent senators from
seceding states, the Vice-President said there was
no record of such absence on the journal ; he sug-
gested that the Senate should instruct him as to
whether he should recognise their absence. After
debate, the Senate declined to take any action upon
the matter, and thus no notice of the withdrawal
of the absent senators will appear upon the record.
Mr. Powell, of Kentucky, urged the adoption of
Crittenden's resolutions.

Mr. Dix, Secretary of the Treasury, communi-
cated to the house an important document in reply
to Mr. Sherman, chairman of the Committee on
Ways and Means. It gives the items of the public
debt iu detail, the amount of the floating debt, the
unpaid balances, claims, acceptances and other ac-
knowledgments of debt by the government •, also,
the facts connected with the recent sales of Trea-
sury notes, and the amount required to paythe
public dues accruing prior to the Ist o July,
which is estimated at twenty millions, in addition
to the revenue and other sources of income. It
suggests measures to raise the amount, and among
other means refers to the surplus revenue deposited
with the States in 1838, as a specific fund which
might be pledged or recalled. The communication
shows the precise condition of the Treasury.
Mr. Douglas has prepared an amendment to the
constitution, consisting of eight sections, and will
offer them as a substitute for Mr. Crittenden's
resolutions. Section first provides that Congress
shall make no laws in respect to domestic servitude
in any territory of the United States, and that all
territorial governments shall be formed on the
model and in the terms of the Compromise Act of
1850 ; that no new territory shall be organised
until it has 25,000 white inhabitants, nor no
new State admitted until it has the requi-
site population for a representative to Con-
grtes ; that the Supreme Court shall determine
the validity of territorial enactments. Section
second declares that Congress shall have no
.power
to abolish or interfere with slavery either in the
States or iu any place under the exclusive jurisdio-
tion of the United States, and that Congress shall
not have the power to interfere with or prevent the
removal of slaves from one state to another. Sec-
ition third for ever suppresses the slave trade. Sec-
tion fourth gives greater emphasis and efficiency to
the claim already in the constitution concerning
persons held to service or labour escaping, etc.
Section fifth prohibits the elective franchise
and the right to hold office, whether federal,
state, territorial, or municipal, to persona
of the African race, in whole or in part.
Section sixth is in these words :—" The United
States shall have power to acquire districts of
country in Africa or South America, for the colo-
nisation, at the expense of the federal treasury, of
such free negoes and mulattoes as the several
States may desire to have removed from within
their limits, and from the district of Columbia, and
such other places as may be under the jurisdiction
of Congress." The seventh section provides for the
payment for fugitives, if the officers in search of
them are prevented from doing their duty by vio-
lence or intimidation, and the eighth section pro-
vides that the first and second clauses of the first
section of the second article of the constitution shall
read as follows :

The executive power shall be vested in a president of the
United States of America. The president and vice-presi-
dent shall hold their offices for the term of six years, and
shall be ineligible for the office of president for the ensuing
six years after having performed the duties of president,
and shall be elected as follows : The legislature of each
state, at its first session after any federal census, shall
divide said state into as many congtessional districts as it
shall be entitled to representatives in congress, which dis-
tricts shall be as compact in form and nearly equal in popu-
lation as practicable. In each of said district, one elector
of president and vice-president shall be chosen by the
people thereof having the qualifications requisite for
electors of representatives in Congrea, and In addition two
electors for the state at large shall be chosen by the mem-
bers of the legislature assembled in joint convention for
that purpose, ou the day appointed by Congress.
The Boston Daily Courier of the 23rd says :
All fears of a collision between any of the state autho-
rities and the general government may be set at rest, at
least until the Ith of March. There have been rumours
that Fort Pickens in Florida was invested. Major Chase,
who is in command of the state troops at Pensacola, has
telegraphed to the Florida senators at Washingtuu that he
would neither attack the fort nor intertere with vessels
paring peaceably in or out of the port. This is under-
stood to be the policy of all the Southern States.
The anticipated attack on the Brooklyn Navy
Yard, on the night of Jan. 21, and the precautions
that were taken against surprise, arose front this
fact :—During the afternoon information reached
Captain Foote, in command of the yard, in the
absence of Commodore Breese, that an attempt
would be made by a mob from New York to gain
possession of the Navy Yard that night. Captain
Foote immediately sought a conference with the
Mayor of Brooklyn for co-operation to protect the
public property, which was readily granted. An
extra police force was placed on duty, the fifth
brief° of militia was mustered, and the seventieth
regiment was ordered from duty at the State
Arsenal. In the Navy Yard, the marines were
served with ball cartridges, and the guards were
doubled at all points. It turned out, however,
that the information upon which the commandant
acted was false.

On Jan. 22 the Senate of Rhode Island passed an
act repealing the Personal Liberty Bill by a vote of
21 to B. The house, after some discussion, post-
poned the further consideration of the subject.
The capital of the nation had begun to present a
military aspect. A company of Flying Artillery
from West Point was expected to arrive ou Jan.
22. The government will continue to concentrate
troops there until the 4th of March.

THE EARL OF DERBY AND THE ITALIANS.

When Lord Derby denies that the later eon.
eentr*tioa of Italy has been a consequence of Italy having
been left alooe, and when lie alleges the Sardinians
and Oaribahlians as instances of foreign interven-
tion, he becomes more iutolerant even than Metter-
, nich, and denies to Italy the poor gratification of being con-
sidered as even " a geographical expression." Lord Derby
may have no faith in Italian unity ; he may believe Habana
to be all doge together; but they have hitherto given
him no facts to justify such • judgment, and there is
nothing in their conduct to render it just for the leader of
• great party to say of the united races of Italy that—
, "As shoughs, water-rugs, end demi-wolves are clepod
" All by the name of dogs,"
so "the same idea may with justice be applied to
the difference which exists between the
"popula-
tions occupying the several States of Italy. One
of the most wonderful circumstances of this most
wonderful revolution is the meaner in which their
ancient differences of race and politics have been merged in
the Italian nation. Have we heard a wordof the ancient pre-
tensions of Florence to be the salt of the earth '.' Has not even
Rome been protesting with inconvenient eagerness her desire to
be annexed to Piedmont? Has Milan remembered her old
feuds ? Fora year and a half this long disunited people have
come together with a marvellous sacrifiee of all little
selfish objects, and with • hearty enthraissin for liberty
which we should have thought must strike the
sympathies of a *choler, and could not fail to arouse the in-
terest of a greatstatesmen in free England. If the struggles
of a people entinst cruelties which Lonl Derby fully ad-
mits, while lie claims all our pity for their author, could
not divert him from his attack upon Italy, he might
surely have given her some credit for the example which she
has just given to the world in the moderation of her
elections. All these "shoughs and water-rugs nod
demi-wolves" seem to have been of one mind. They
have returned moderate men of excellent character,
constitutional mouarchista - and good It alines. Every aided
wants its seasoning. What would our own House of Cones
loons be if it lost Roebuck! So there are a few Republi-
cans and Resalable+ in the new Italian Chamber ; but these
are not one-twentieth of the whole body. Lord Derby
takes no note of this. Ho has been unjust to Italy,
and his bohl injustice leads us to suspect that those contests
which he intimates as likely to occur at a later period of
the session are not imminent, or, if imminent, are not so
serious as might be implied from his language. A man
aspiring to the immediate direction of the foreign policy of
this country would not speak thus of Italy.—Times.

GARIBALDI AND TIER CII4 Or LONDON'.—Notion
was given to the town clerk on Monday that as Garibaldi
had written to say that though it was hie desire to visit
England, ho ems not able Gory when, it was Mr. Richard•
sons intention to withdraw the motion be intended to
make in the Court of Common Council on Thursday next for
granting the freedom of the City to the illustrious generale
y.ger&y morning it was withdrawn accordingly.