The Express.
London, England, 1850-01-02 00:00:00

Vie erpreoo.

OUTGOING MAILS.
nil mails foe *Maria, the Brasile, and Buenos Agres,will
lee =ads lap as the evettire of Jas. 4.
. The mails for Lisbon, Spas, and Gibraltar will be made
up ea Jan 7.
TM nails rid Marseilles, to the Mediterranean, Bop,.
Cellos, VA* Mong-Kong, de., will be made up on
the osmium of Jan. 7.
The moils for British North Amnia and the United
Stater will be made ■pp en the evening of Jan. 11.
The West India Mails, ezeledisg Bermuda, Havana',
Moan, Hwulnrss, New Orleans, and Meals*, sad ioaluding
these fast Mstkira. Bt. Jasa-de-Niearagna, New Granada,
Chili, and Enn.will be made up on Jaa. 17.
The male for Gibraltar, Malta, Greece, the lonian Islands,
Egypt, Ceylon. India, and Miss, Ma Southampton, will
be nada up as the evening of Jan. 19.

MON WATINI AT LONDON SMOG&
To 141-114.NoiL So• Afterwo. il Ma
-Nano& M. tisa..

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 2.

Tne last mail from California has brought intelli-
gence p ste•sing • different kind of ii.t rest from that
which attaches itself to stories of mason of gold
piiked up in the beds of riven, seed rpeculstions on a
possible depreciation cf currencies by the cheap-
suing of their standard. The Californians have not
been solely occupied with "the ditgir p." They
have fond time also to construct a sit of institution.
With 111.2 active self-help characteristic of the ener-
getic people from whom they a•c an offshoot, and of
whose broad federation they already form a pert, this
motley assemblage coming together from many quar-
ters, united by no preying tie, and finding on their
arrival no constituted government to protect them,
proceeded first to organize and enforce a gs•em of
velsotary government, with the requisite sanctions,
solicient for their protection, and then nomiaated •
semeiotics:, after the usual American manner, to pre-
ps,' Republican Constitution. It is worthy of
remark how instantaneously any body of American
migrants, as soon as they have formed a settlement,
proceed to make a constitution; thcugh Furores@
authorities of no small account in their own crime,
tioo, are never tired of assuring us that constitutions
cannot be made. But while these sages are stostly
denying the possibility of moticn, the American; ore
after another, like Dlooton, rise op and walk ; and
not one stumble boo yet centred to mar the cam-
pleteness of the practical confutation. Whatever
other faults have been found with the Anglo-Areri-
can constitutions, no one has yet said that they will
not tr,,r4 : a fate so often denounced agaitst ell con-
stitutions except those which, like the British, "are
not made bat grow," or, it should rather be said, come
together by the fortuitous concourse of clashing forces.
Perhaps the truth is, that the cocstitations which will
not work are those which are made fi)r the people,
while those which do work, such as the American,
are made by the people; a feet which is in itself
a guarantee that the ideas which they embody
are sueli as the people are already familiar
with, and attached to, and are therefore both capable
and des roue of making them "work." It is so with
the constitutions which spring into existence in the
North American contineat at the rate of one in every
three or four years, namely, whenever either a new
state is added to the Union, or the population of one
of the older states MAWS (like that of New York
recently) on a general revision of its institution,. All
then systems of government have, as might be ex-
pected, a family resemblance, but each new one
affords in some one or other of its features a signi-
ficant indication of the &rection in which the general
mind of America is tending.
The convention at NI minty, comprising about
four-fit•ha of new settlers with Anglo-Saxon or Ger-
man names, and one-fifth of old S, anish inhabitants
(which is probably not an unfair proportion to the
population), has concluded its laticure ; and the pro-
duct of its deliberations is about to be submitted for
approvai or rejection to the general suffrages of the
inhabitants. This propoerd fundamental law of the
state comprises many provisions not usually classed
under the deoartment of constitutional or political
law: it includes, in fact, everything which is con-
sidered too important or sacred to be entrusted to the
discretion of an ordinary legislature, and which is
therefore inscribed in a sort of charter of tights and
liberties, not to be altered except with peculiar for-
malities, and by an assembly chosen for the express

purpose.
On the vital question of negro slavery, this consti-
tution is irreproachable. By an express provision,
" neither slavery, nor involuntary servitude, milers for
the punishment of crimes, shall ever be tolerated in
thug state." California has thus the honour
of being the first southern state which
has constituted itself free from that curse ;
and it the example be followed by New Mexico
and the other rates which will be formed in
the newly-acquired territory, th- iniquity is doomed.
The slave-owners are well swore of this result; they
have long ago declared that the question of the ex-
tension of slavery is the question of its existence;
that once hemmed in within a corner of the confede-
ration, it cannot long survive; that the joint mural
and economical effects of closing the new territories to
the export of slaves, wit be rapidly fatal to the in-
ati.ution. In this point of view, the determined re-
jection of slavery by the first new s'ata constituted
in the territory whica was s ;tight and conquered (it
is said) mainly for the perpetuation of slavery, the
heaviest blow which that form of qranny has re-
ceived in the United States, and is thus no unimpor-
tant event in history.
On one subject connected with the rights
and interests of women, the Californian delegates
have afforded an example which legislatures of
greater importance in the world must ere long imi-
tate. They have deemed it a fit thing to be not only
ensctel, but to form a part of the ei nstitution of the
state, that women shall hsve a right to their own
property. The laws of most of the American states
are on this point less unjust and irrational than those
of England and of other countries of Europe. "All
property, both real and personal, of the wife," say
the Californians, "owned or claimed by her before
marriage,and that acquired afterwards by gift, devise,
or descent, shall be her separate property ; and laws
shall be passed more clearly defining the rights of the
wife, in relation as well to her separate property, as
to that held in common with her husband." It must
be by an oesreiaht that the wife's earnings are not
included in the property which is to be at her sepa-
rate disposal. As the words stand, she will have (if
the phrase " separate property" is to be understood in
its obvious sense) exclusive control over what may
devolve on her by any mode of acquisition except
her own labour. But even thus, how superior to the
law of England—which on this, as on many other
subjects, remains very little altered from what it was
in those times of barbarism when the wife was
literally the slave of the man by whom she had been
appropriated. . .

"AnOther highly creditable part of the Californian
constitution consists of its provisions for education.
A superintendent of public Instruction, elected by the
people. is to be one of the render officers of the
govrroment. All lands belonging to the state.
and ail property of persons dying intestate and
without heirs, together with a tax (to be solicited
from Congress), of five per cent on all sales of land
within the state, belonging to the federal government,
are to be formid into a permanent fund for the sap-
ped of common schools ; and a groat of unappro-
priated land is to be solicited from Cl:agrees for the
support of a university. This is 'wording to the
laudable example of the New England States, which,
of all communities existing, have made, in psopa
to their population, the most munificent provision for
general educatiou ; and of whose people it has bean
said, that they would as soon expect to be made to
pey individually f.rr the use of the streets, as for that
of the common schools.

The Californians have taken precautions against
both the burthen of a national debt, and the scandal
of repudiation, by prohibiting their legislature from
incu►noC debts or liabilities exceeding in the aggre-
give 300,000 dollars, " except in can of war, to
repel invasion, or suppress insurrection i" or unless
expressly " for s'.me spiciSed object or work."
The remaining provisions of the new constitution do
not very materially from the beadier features of re-
presentative democracy, u found in the older free
'states of the Union.

Tnz proceedings of the Judicial Committee of the
:Privy Council will occupy a position in the annals of
the English Church exactly similar to that occupied
by the proceedings of the Council of Trent in the
annals of the Romish church. This council did Lot
sorririssate say of thou dogma which Low form a

•
stumbling-block to the rest of Christendom. The
dogmas were already in existence, bat they were sot
hardened into definite consistency; they floated
amidst the great mass of papistlo theolvy, shapekss
and yielding to the lightest pressure if they came in
contact with opposing force. The Council of Trent
separated them from the mass and orystalli&ed them
round a stubborn frame-work, where they now re-
main, hard and unyielding.
The Privy Council is now doing kr ow at the doc-
trines of the Church of Ragland that which the Conn-
cil of Trent did for all the doctrines of the Church of
IRome. No person can deny that at this present me-
i mint there are thousands of clergymen in the English
Church who hold opinions on the subject of baptism
diametrically opposite to the opinions which will be
declared orthodox by the sentence of the Privy Coun-
cil, no matter what that sentence may be. It is not
at all uncommon to find the rector of the parish hold-
ing, and his curate denying, the doctrine of baptis-
mal regeneration. The church dem:rine was sup-
posed to oscillate between these two extremes. This
has been the case any time this last 300
years. If there was a view of the doctrire which
might be considered absolutely and exclusively true,
it did not appear upon the surface, it was as it were
held in solution with other views. The Bishop of
EXETER insists upon the application of a kind of
theological chemistry to the solution, so that the
truth, according to him, may be precipitated.
What, in the present state of the church, will be the
effect of these proceedings? Will it settle the ques
tion at issue? We feel certain that the seteknenit
will be further off lhan ever. If indeed the church
wire to bow to the decision of the Privy Cenocil,
there would be no alt..rnative left for honest men who
hold opinions contrary to those contained in the sen-
tence; but to give up their p-esent positions on which-
ever side the judgment leans, the secession from the
cobweb, thus neereeitatrd, would be greater than at any
previous period in the history of the church.
It is said that the evangelical clergy, in the
event of an adverts judgment, are determined
that a schism shall not take place in the church
until the party ceasing a secession shall be com-
pelled to decisrc openly what are its real views.
A stand therefore wed ba made upon all points of
&chine which are at present at issue between the
high sad low church parties, and it is supposed that
if the same principles are allowed to operate se those
which influenced the decisi,ai of Sir H. J. FUST in
the previous stage of the present controver-y, Lord
CAMPBELL will be able to point out still treater ana-
logies than he has yet discovered between Protestant-
ism end Popery, and to declare that "as far as infant
baptism, confession to the priest, priestly absolution,
the yes °penal/in in the Eucharist, adoration of
saints, and prayers for the cead, are concerned, there
is no difference between the doctrines of the Church of
Rome and those of the Church of England." Leaving
the latter church in pcsseesion of treasures of such
doubtful value in the eyes of most protestant& the
seceders Rill be able to declare liberarimus animas
nostras, and to justify themselves in the eyes of all
Christians, in protesting against the retention of the
dignities and wealth of the Church of England by a
party thoroughly adverse in principle to the spirit of
the first founders of that church.

We are, however, at some distance from such a
consummation as this. It is even whispered that all
opportunity for a schism will be destroyed by an in-
definite postponement of the judgment, by means of
some legal quibble. It is whispered also that the
Bishop of EXETER. yielding to suggestions proceed-
ing from " high quarters," will withdraw hie opt
ni-
tion. How true this may be we know net : we trust,
however, that the authorities sill not fluter them-
selves that this shirking the question will amount to
the same thing as e.t.lirg it.
The wiy settlement possible f.r there and similar
questions which are destined to arise in the English
church, is the establishment of a tribunal which the
church will recognise, and the determination of the
written authorities which may be appealed to.
Let the church have a c ,de of law, and
' proper judges. These it has a right to
demand. We are net solicitous by these
means to limit the comprehensiveness which has
been hitherto the boast of the church ; we wish
only to make the comprehension safe to those who
take advantage of it. The captain of a steamer acts
upon a sorry principle of czmprebension if he takes
on board enough passengers to sink his vessel. No
bishop ought to have the power to turn round upon •
minister who has entered the church upon the faith
of the latitude of its principles of comprehension,
and say, "although the church has rot denied you
the privilege of coming in, it has given me the right
t turn you out."

We believe that the Bishop of EXETER in acting
in this manner has violated principles which have
barn forcibly assumed as rules of action by the great
body of English prelates. There are few clergymen
who have not tales to tell relating to themselves, or
to others, of cases of conscience which have been
eubmitted to the bishop before ordina.ion. ARNOLD
refused to be ordained until the bishop had received
his prot:st against some obnolone features cf the
requirements at subscription. The Bishop of LIN-
COLN, when sated Fy a c'ereyman whether holdir g
opinions contrary to those deduced from certain parts
of the Athanasian creed, and certain passages in
the Litursy, comstitut-d any obstacle to admissios
into—and therefore, u fortiori, continuance in—
orders, replied that it did not. The Bishop of
LONDON and the late Archbishop of CANTERBURY
gave the same answer. It is evident, then, that the
maintenance of slay set of doctrines which may be
deduced from the church formularies could never, in
the opinion of these prelates, be made a ground of
emulation against the party holding them, however
directly those opinlots might contradict other doc-
trines deducible from the same. We would have this
tacit convention made into positive las', in order that
bishops of the nature of HARRY of EXETER might be
debarred from disturbing the peace of the church and
persecuting individuals. Unless something of this
sort is done the paths of the church will be as danger-
ous to clergymen es the walks around Louts the
Eleventh's Palace of Piessis les 'lours to unwary
travellers ; the pleasantest of paths leading to a pit-
fall or a mantrap.

HOLLAND.—Tint NAGUL—The Stadia Courant
publishes the law adopted by the two chambers,
by which the capital of the deferred debt is, by pr,s-
longation of the delay first accorded, transferred to
the Active Debt Two and-a•half per Cent, until the
30th April, 1850. We hear from Rotterdam that
two-thirds of the city is completely inundated from
the high tide. Very considerable damage has been
oecesioned by it. The S:ock of Holland, that famous
exterior dyke, has also sustained a breach, and the
Nienwland is completely submerged. Should the in-
terior dyke, which is not we ry strong, give way,
serious accidents may be apprehended.
_ _

GREECE.—A letter from Athens, of the 12th ult.,
states that the British ambassador had presented a
note from the Lord High Commissioner of the lonian
Islands, demanding the annexation of two Grecian
islands, Sapienza and Elophonich, to the lonian is-
lands, but the Greek cabinet had protested against
the (lemma

Tns NAVIGATION LAN'S.— Yesterday the new
mallelies hies cue into force. The sot of lest session (12
13 Viet, c. 29) has repealed siatutes and parts of statutes
from then Om. 111. to the 8& 9 Viet. Some pasts of this
l'irsSlew have already been noticed in the Daily News,
eeellisre the substance of the act itself may be briefly
seam& The coasting trade is to be confined to British
vessels, and British main us to he employed. Regarding
reelproity with other magas, M ijesty in council may
isos. esiflas to impose
are
of
duties on foreign
silly ahem our goods are not 'dallied, as may
wake to her blej iry to countervail the dread-
mategm to which British trade or navigation is
sulflesesd by prohibitions end restrictions of other nation..
The metiers am to be published in the Linda; Gazette, and
tiii=fy the vessels to which theyapply. A new fora of
a of regietry is Try* scribed kir
registering British
owner., as am a declereti in tomare by the Owne
tMlagvissels me registered. It is enacted that if my goods
be i.peeted, exported, •r carri.d coastwise contrary to this
aet, all sae►rags shall be tor.ei'ed, mei the master or the
ship In whit& the same are so imported, exported, or carried
sesetwas, shell forfeit the sum of 100 i. exeript where my
ether penalty is specially Impo el
.—T by the act.—Bitarrox,
Jam. Ihis being the day in ich cow shipping law
tames into operation it bed been currently reported that 'he
slipping In the harbour, generally, would host their flags at
half sea m a sane of mourning for England's departed
glory." So ter, home, r, fr ra the folly gemerally prevail-
leg, bet very few vessels were Frailty of it, and thee' prin.
cipelly of a smell clam and connected with one firm
THE WEATHER AND THE PARE'.—There having
hem a 'harp freer on Monday night, the tee on As waren
of the 'sirloin mest-e-d parks was in tolerably good con
dilate yesterday, and was thronged by skaters and sliders
A few accidents of a trivial nature occurred, but the suf-
ferers were promptly relieved by the officers of the 114iyal
Humane Society, &buyers in attendance.