The Express.
London, England, 1850-12-23 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS. MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER. 23, 1860.

rians, policy was the first and dominant priaiple, truth
altogether secondary. The divine right and super-
human minion of the priesthood haves/, been first
considered a useful dogma, logic and Iseraing have
been set to prove aid establish them Private and
personal °oaf/salon being recognised al a pereurfal
OWN of establishing sectordetal haunt* cup well-
victuals and families, Wallin and teaditioa are rani
up for approval ci so coovenient an institution.
Jesuits and Tractarians—and the identity and sands-
rity betwen then is ale curiously close—the latter
having sprung up amongst us, the former been not-
vaulty reanscitsted and restored to power and In-
fluence in all catholic esuntrin, it behoves
their opponents, who cenepetee all attached to sell-
gions freedom and manly independence to consider,
what has never yet been a subject of. reflection with
Christians, the policy of different religious organise-
d by each.
oes, with the social influence ad the means of exer-
cising power poisoned
Thine can le no doubt, that the Roman catholic
religion gradually endowed itself with all the puissant
mean of influence. It established different grades of
eeelesisstics on a par with the different grades of social
Ilia. It bed a pontiff to vie with sovereigns,
ordinals to negotiate with monarchs and statesmen,
cathedral pomp and priesthood to hold the first rank
ci civic eminenee, whilst the bare-footed Franciscan
and wandering passe pervaded the ranks of hum-
blest life. Lim all Moan policy, however, in matters
el religion, they overdid their immense influence;
sad as MS as kyosen were gathered in sufficient
amber and intelligenoe to commune and convene
freely togethar.they rebelled against the spiritual and
moral dictatorillip of men no better and no wise* than
themselves.
The Reformation was a throwing off of a yoke by
laymen, a snbetitntion of the discipline and mutual
*fleece of a community for the personal mutery
and management of priests. The old religion has
sever addressed men in the mass in any way save
by pomps and show', tables of indulgences, or fulmina-
tions and auk da fen Besides such theatrical influ-
ence, none other was exercised save the personal
admonitions and whisperings of the father confeeeor,
who penetrated to the closet and the court. The
Reformation restored the mode of addressing
large and intelligent populations in the mass,
communicating with them largely from the
pulpit, and leaving the good seed thus sown broad-
cut to spring up for a fall harveet, instead oared eccle-
siastical sower going into every corner every
patch to cultivate it specially. To use the divine
simile of Christian teachers being fishers of men, the
old system went to work with a rod and line, whilst
the reformers cut out the net.
What it is well to bear in mind is, that there
are but the two modes of moral discipline and
religions maintenance, that of the priest, and
that of the community ; the former but too
naturally exercised in the midst of ignorance
and dependence, the latter requiring a certain degree
of intelligence, fellowship, and sympathy. The dis-
cipline of the priest is rejected immediately by a civic,
well-informed, independent, and free community. Bat
the discipline of the community fails of reaching the
waif, the poor, the wandering, the destitute. For
them, especially, In Roman c aholic countries, the
state ad the church have cued. If we consider
charity alone, and how it is dispensed in catholic
countries, always in the name of religion, we
must see the great bonds of attachment which draw
the poor to the church. In England we give away
each year seven millions in charity without allowing
a religious element to mingle with them, one religious
sentiment to be excited, or one feeling of gratitude
to be awakened in the bosoms of those who receive,
for either the virtues or the creed of those who give.
This brings as back to what we have long since
pointed out, that one of the great elements of strength
or weakness in any religion is its mode of dealing
with the poor. We need be in no fear, that any
sect which takes for its fundamental prin-
ciple the superiority of a Levitical caste,
will ever acquire or exercise predominant authority
over a middle-close community, or even over a lower-
class one, provided it be educated, settled, and
allowed to have the attributes and advantages of a
comainnity. Then, as to the higher cleans, peculiar
thou and individual fancies will lead idle men into
strange funks; of those too there need be no anxiety.
But it we would have no sacerdotal sect Rain ground,
or advance towards establishing s supremacy amongst
one we must guard the poor from the weakness or the
necessity of looking to such, by raising them, u the
other make of life have been raised and been en-
lightened. It will not do for the middle class to
have raised its head above the clouds of medi seal
ignorance, if the class belo x them, instead of advanc
ing, sink back to a worse state of ignorance and
dependence than existed even in the days of feudalism.

IT may be a weakness, but we are not ashamed
to confess, that we are in the habit of sympathising
warmly with all those hackles spinsters who are
compelled to seek consolation and redress for violated
vows by actions " for breach of promise." It is
however quite a different matter when one of the
male sex appears as a plaintiff in such an action.
Woman stakes her whole existence on a marriage
rt; man has a multiplicity of other pur-
ifill up his mind and distract his attention.
Ani nmee don that, tears, complaints, appeals for
aid eel sommieeration, consort with our notions of
female sensitiveness and weakness ; man is expected
to be able to conquer his feelings, or at least to en-
dure in proud silence.
Even bad we been disposed to regard jilted gentle-
men
in the Name light as jilted ladies, it would have
been no easy task to sympathise with the plaintiff in
the case of " Strange v. Pope," tried last week in the
Court of Common Pleas. There was a coolness about
the whole affair that acted like a torpedo on sen-
timent.
It appears that four years ago " an attachment
sprung up between the plaintiff and defendant,
which it was thought better to break off before any
serious engagement existed." About a year ago,
lorwever, u if to contradict an old proverb, and prove
that second thoughts are not always best, the attach-
ment was renewed, and the serious engagement en-
tered into. The lady certainly appears to be the
very beam ideal of prudence; for in the very letter
written to inform her accepted lover that she has
"mentioned the all-important subject to papa," she
takes are to tell him, " I like not saying too much in
• letter in case of a breach of promise." Really after
such a broad hint, at such a moment, the gentleman
sifht have been prepared for what followed.
same letter, written on a Thursday, expreserd
a to ese him on Sonday. On Friday she nun
suss desiring him to postpone his visit till Tuesday.
Oa the intervening Monday there was • party at the
lady's house, at which the gentleman who has now
the happiness to be her husband was repent And
ea the Friday following_ she main wrote, that " one
far whom she ever had a mare attachment had
returned," and that " with her present feelings she
was bound to reliequieh " her new betrothed.
We have said that the lady was prudent ; else wee
also considerate. At the close of her letter she adds,
" I hope you will cost refuse accepting a puree I have
made for you as a smell acknowledgment of the kind-
ness I have reseteml from you." There was delicacy,
too, he this billemllem of her present, for she said
nMhieta 111.
_embed is the parse" to pay for some
little eionooasais be bad from time to time made
en brit gosunst.•
gontisessa's earwig is calculated to excite re-
putes% they were not married : they were indeed
" Moe ter pair." He urges her to recioasider her
Mak% sad soweludes by informing her that be
emeeptell her pretty pores; bat hadnot-expended for
imam* as mach s• she sent. " I have, therefore, a
lames to strike with yon, but feel in no disposition
Ie he in a hurry about it, as I hope oar future inter-
views will be long, frequent, and intimate."
Mere mature deliberation, however, Was to have
him with the belief that the Wanes wee the
I ; end soconlingly, in due time, be brought
Img sedan far r breach of promise," with a view to
newer it. The surplus over expenditure in the 61.
eamittanse was retained II security for the expected
Imps.
Our readers will agree with us that broken hearts,
or anything of that kind, are here out of the quietism
At least the judge and jury thought sot far the latter
awarded a farthing damages, and the farmer ruled
that both parties should pay their own stets.
Bo far the story is prosaic enough. But genius ma
impart as interest to the simplest, and MA a moral
from the dullest, of stories. The sharp if** Mel
Janda of the Common Plus esalaks usher .WA
will entitle it to • place in every forme callesiles et
English musts dlibres.
One of the wit muse declared upon oath that she

had seen the parties "kin each other" when they
fancied themselves alone and unseen by any eve.
.. Wha,"exclaimed the horror-otrack Chief, (little
dews. and en a frosty day l" And baying "made
a no's of ir," he rigida adverted to the enormity
In his charge.
lie told the jury that "the familiarities proved
would probably shook parsecs moving is thew posi-
tion(' but added, to show his Wetter!' and know-
ledge of the manners of different dames, that they
" would not be looked on m improper is persons
moving in a lower walk of lifer He gravely
added, that "it seemed very much ulf the persons
expected the legal suction of some egremosy to make
their conduct all right."
It would appear from the remarks of the learned
Chief Justice, that the seclusion of oar Ines of Court
is favourable to the development of a Parson Adams
simplicity and innocence of character. The venerable
judge actually appears to believe that people moving
in the position " of the jury (whatever that may be)
are never guilty of the indecorum of a kiss between
pronsessi sposi —at least, not " out of doors on a frosty
day." Nobody above the rank of an ivory merchant
or a tailor's daughter can, in bin estimatioo, be guilty
of the atrocity of indulging in such eircumstaaoes in
" a chaste salute."

FRANCE.

PARIS. SATO/DAT Beams.
The proceedings of the Legislative Assembly were
of more general interest to-day than they have been
for some time pest, in coraellnei oe of the notice giteti
that the scandalous frauds committed in Paris during
the last few months bj means of lotteries, were to be
brought forward. The lotteries in quesion have
bean got up for the 'rational purpose of twisting
grants wishing to go to California, and the Prefect of
Police is said to have been an active promoter of
them, if not more. Other names are mentioned as
being deeply implicated, and as prreonaities have
always a certain attraction, an unusually large num-
ber of the representatives attended.
Tne business of the day was commenced by M. Pas-
cal Borst, who stated that he rose to put some iater-
pellations to the Minister of the Interior relative to
the lottery known by the name of the Loimie des
Lingoes d'Or. He commenced his speech by stating
that the government had not contented itself with
simply authorising that lorery, but that it had patro-
°lora', encouraged, supported, and propagated it with
activity, through the medium of the Prefect of Police
and his agents. M. Duprat then went on to show that
the organisation of the lottery of the Lingoes d' Or,
so far from presenting the ;marmite.* usually enacted
for the protection of the public, was got up solely with
the view of gratifying the cupidity of certain specu-
lators ; that the affair could have no other result hut
that of being a pubic scandal, and that alrrady mat-
ters had come to such a point that two hon. members
of that assembly, namely, M. Poiron and M. Clary,
who had been placed on the council of surveillant* of
the lottery, bad found it necessary to withdraw their
names, in consequence of the disgraceful nature of the
enterprise and of the alarm they felt for the results
of an exposure. In a letter addressed by M. Clary
to the Prefect of Police be stated distinctly that he
could and would not continue any longer to deceive
the public. He then oomp'ained of the indifference
of the ministry as to the affair, and declared that in
his whole experience he bad never known so shame-
ful a disregard of the public interest, or so disgraceful
a job for the benefit of speculators. M. Paged
Duprat spoke for upwards of two hours, and, contrary
to the usual habit of the Assembly when a member of
the Opposition speaks, was listened to with the most
serious attention. The only time there was any in-
terruption was when he alluded to a report said to
have been addressed to the Minister of the Interior,
exposing the crying abuses of the Leterie des Liege*
d'Or, a report which M. Band* declared that beheld
never received.
M. Potion then roes to give some personal emplane.
Lions. He declared that he had consented to become
a member of the Council of Surveillance simply be-
cause one of the most honourable of the mayors of
Paris, M. Decan, was also a member, and that he left
it because he found that the Council of Surveillance
interfered also in the administration.
M. Clary then roee to explain his share in the
matter, and expressed himself pretty nearly in the
same terms as M. Poiron. He added that he would
not have joined it had M. Poiron not been a member ;
that his sole object in doing so was in the hope of
being useful to his old comrades of the Garde Mobile,
and that he retired solely bemuse the ship which was
to have sailed with emigrants in the mouth of Novem-
ber did not go.
M. Baroche entered into long details to show that
the government took all the means in its power to
protect the public, and had dune its duty. He stated
that the number of lottery tickets already distributed
amounted to 687,8901., out of which 468,0001. had
gone to the expenses of getting it up.
M. Coquerel blamed the lottery as immoral in its
objects.
M. Benjamin Delmont proposed the following
order of the day—" The National Assembly, re-
gretting the abuse which had been made of lotteries
called' charitable,' and desiring that the government
should limit them more strictly for the future within
the limits of the law of 1836, passes to the order of
the day."
The order of the day, pure et simple, having been
demanded, was rejected by a majority of 416 to 192.
This result created an immense agitation. A crowd
~atbered round the ministerial bench, and the mem-
bers appeared to indicate that they would retire. A
vest number of representatives crowded into the tri-
bune with orders of the day motivis.
M. de Girardin proposed an order of the day to the
following effect :—" The Assembly, satisfied with the
explanations of the ministry, passes to the order of
the day." The house is still sitting, and the agitation
is very great.
The custom home authorities have just published
a list of the imports and exports and exports for the
first eleven months of the years 1850, 1849, and
1848. The return is not very favourable to the pre-
sent year, aa will be seen by the result of the =-
poets for those periods, which were :
la 1848 80,447.893
1849 117,487,282
1850 114,883.627
being a diminution of nearly three millions in 1850
as compared wish 1849. The following are the de-
scriptions of merchandise which have the most fallen
off since last year :

1830. 1849.
Cocoa
Coffee 13,289.070 16;136,2e1
Cora
Raw Nam 11,972,834 13.383,988
Olive all 8,988,487 7,913,881
Gioia ragar
Oa the ether hand. the duties received on the follow-
ing mesdruidies show as isersam in 1860:
1860. 1849.
law and linen thread 172,723 664.287
Hem% menage
ensue mei
Ond &WM 446,790
load
Hew wed. thil,l7/1 7,971,0 00137
NUM 730,
PM
Lam m
ass hey dead 1,116373 1.030,390
ranks law 16,8411,084 12.674,741
Reallry asersheadise 17,674,1148 16,720,213
Bonnet ETIMING.
111 the Legislative Assembly yesterday, after your
=l left, the debate on the lottery of the Liar*
have rim to a some of t confusion, M.
de Guardia having an order of the
day to the effect that " The majority, satisfied,
1 Poem to the order of the day." Toe motion was
leaked on as an insult to the Assembly, and a vote al
1 immure was aseordiagly passed on M. de Oireadin,
with exclusion flies Vie hoses for three days. Twisty.
two different seesiatioss were them brought forward
by dilemma emmlime, bet ultimo.* it was resolved
fiat a Miss abseil be taken is that proposed
lull. ?need lehlt wee to the following erect :
°Me MINIEIIO,, 0861111 OR ia the solicitude of the
=Waye to the order of the day." This motion
wee d by a majority of 376 to 232. The 1
Aiewahly adjourned at a quarter to 7, in a state of
swat agitation.
This debate was very mar bringing shoat the
overthrow of the 'Mammy. IL Bombe was not
very happy in hie system of defence. Is cot
only Mil to mimines the alsrity of the party
at the Geweemat, bet he Moe the members who
mezer enpruthitatheisicediesznehmsthadtettere,
wee see a pad id d Wolk la the rumoured spem-
Mims la Vide thearkbelies of the new lotteries
Ifili Milli 10111addews. This explains why the
miler d is ti's per at dude, was not adopted.

'.----;-..---------
The majarity did not wish to blame the government,
but w' td to give them an amicable warning. The
order of the day motive, brought forward by M.
Benjamin Delessert, would undoubtedly bam been
adopted had it not been for the mai-address of M.
Emile de dirardin and the Lelt, who came forward
with their ordinary violenc. As it is, the affair will
not lead to any changes in the cabinet.

WEST INDIA MAIL,

The royal mail steam packet Avon, Captain Hut,
arrived tat Southampton on Sitorday, and larded her
mails under the charge of Lieutenant Percival, R.N.,
Admiralty agent.
The dates received by the Avon arse.,Grey Town,
'
Nov. 17 ; Panama, Nov. 21 • Chag Nov. 24; La
Oneyra, Nov. 26 ; Carthegens, Nov. 27; Havanna,
Nov. 23; liondana, Nov. 19 ; Jamaica, Nov. 28 ;
Demerara, Nov. 27 ; Grenada, Nov. 27; Barbidoes,
Nov. 29 ; Antigua, Dec. 2; Porto Rico, Dc. 1 ;
Martinique, Dec. 1; Bt. Thomas, Dec. 3.
The Avon had forty-two passengers on baud.
The freight on board consists of 1,009,977 dollars
from ports in the Pacific in gold dust, silver, and
specie, on account of merchants, &c. ; 59 serous of
ochineal, 105 bales of tobacco, 46 cues of cigars, 105
bolas of sarsaparilla.
On her homeward voyage the Avon had fine
weather end light winds from SW to BE from the
4th of December (the day of her leaving St. Violas)
till the 14th; from the 14th to the 18th heavy plea
and bard squalls from SW to NW, with a heavy sea.
lOn the evening of the 18th the gale abated, end
from the 19th to the 21st there were light breezes
and fine weather.
On the 4th of December the royal mail steam
packet Tel, was on the Spanish Main; the Gnat
Western in the Gulf of Mexico; the Conway and
Eagle at St. Thomas t and the Derwent at Barbodoes.
On the 17th of November H.M.S. Inflexible, at
Grey Town, had 30 men on the sick hat with low
fever, ;;,it none considered in a dangerous state.
During the five days that the Avon was there, the
rain was incessant and heavy. The rainy season,
however, was nearly over, and fine weather daily
Cl-.
The dates from Jamaica by this arrival are less
recent by three days than those received yesterday via
New York. As however a painfully intense interest
is at this moment felt with regard to the sanitary con-
dition of the island, we give our correspocdent's
minute history of the progress of cholera, in addition
to the information brought by the Europa. The
intelligence from the other colonies is considerably
more recent than that which has reaencl us by way
of New York.