The Express.
London, England, 1850-08-17 00:00:00

die erfreos.

OUTGOING MAILS.
Th. us" kg "giber. Melts. Orem, be lonian Islands
WU" Ceylon. Iselin, mad Chime. Me Southaraptem. will I
M made up es Ka mersias of Meese 20.
Ilia magi foe &kik North Ameries. Bermuda, 8414
tbe United Siam. will be med. lip ea Allem 24.
Ttte smile for British North Al mein. 14440184‘ •1481
V d States tell be made ap on Me ereaMt of AmiuSt4°.
The male Kaneilles, te tie Mediterranean. Rapt,
India, Reeset-Song, to will 814 nude tbe
amiss of Amuse 24.
TA. seine fry Linton. Spain. and Gibraltar will be made
up on the storeing of Aspen 17
TM Wet India Main, eaeludieg liondaree, Names.
eation'', *AM Jolene (St. II seism), mid Melodies Vim
mils. New (Ironed*, mad Only Town (13 c um de Niarepta)
will be made up na Me merging of September 2.
TM mein fcr llesiso will be midi sp Ls September 2.
TM mess for Kaderia.the and Samos Area, will
be malls ale es tin. evening of Sept. 4.
Tee mails fae limasaab. Honduras, Nmeem Jewel,
Chili. sad renorill be steels up oaths amain el Sept. 17.

PITOZ NATO AT UINDOII =IDOL
0.. 11/o”Teas. 101. 4.0.
T••■••••.-11.00102.10... Aftesmas. 11% 1106.

LONDON, SATERDAY, d UG UST 17.

CAWNT NESSELRODE and his master are the great
doctrinaires of the day. leased of issuing ukases,
and rtgalatiog the knout, their ambition is to lay
down the grand principles of international law.
Accordingly, when any troublous event occurs, any
difference between nay two powers of Europe, straight
the etas bids his secretary take up his pen, don the
doctoral bonnet, and the world is forthwith Moored
with a Russian supplement to Varela, that is duly
ushered to the world in two columns of the small print
of the Tinier.
We were thus favoured with a batch of April
foolery on the Greek question, full of all the subtleties
and quiddities of the Russian Gr.moserez. Bat as not
one of our readers would peruse two columns on the
Cheek gelation, we were obliged to exclude this mass
of Russian doctrine from oar columns, contenting
()erring with a shorter homily upon our TIMM
claims.
The great effort of NESSZLRODE, and of warm
of the knout-worshippers in this country, is to
prove that Englishmen abroad are merely entitled to
the measure of law meted to the natives of the country
where they reside. We need not say that this de-
pends altogether on the kind of law that prevails
there. In some countries the sovereign has full right
to all the property of his subjects, and may appropri-
ate or confiscate it at his good pleasure. Doctors
SESSELRODE and STANLEY would have English.
men abide by this rule. To which there needs
bat one reply—namely, that Englishmen will do
no such thing, but must despise the man calling him-
self a statesman who could propounds folly so servile.
Englishmen are at this moment entitled to land and
to trade in China, bet we should like to see the hardy
partisan who would maintain that Englishmen are to
be tried and executed according to the amenities of
Chinese law.
Count NESSELRODE'S doctrines may be divided into
the nonsensical and the common-place. We have
sufficiently commented upon the ote.
The other consists of truisms, which no one is in-
clined to die nte. They are so many empty nuts,
which the Russian Secretary discharges with the
same solemnity and pomp as if they were cannon
bans. Thus, quoth the Russian, if Bulls!) property
stiffer in a siege or storm, necessarily undertaken,
English residents are no more entitled to compensa-
tion than natives. We agree with this; but at
the same time must observe, that if a
government is in the habit of granting
indemnity for such losses to the sufferers of one coun-
try, the sufferers of another country have a right to
demand it. Thus the property of Frenchmen
basing been destroyed by the royal troops cf Naples,
the Neapolitan government lost no time in satisfying
their claim. We do not tee why Frenchmen or
Americans should be instantly paid the amount of
their looses, whilst, according to the Russian doctrine,
preached by Tonto and Chronicle, Englishmen mast
not third' or asking or expecting any such indemnity.
There is, moreover, a great difference between un-
avoidable damage and destruction caused by the ope-
rations of war, and wanton outrage and plunder
perpetrated by soldiers or by victorious parties after
the conquest has been achieved. The principal claim
of Mr. Hann and other Englishmen on the
Tuscan government was, we understood, for wanton
destruction of property, perpetrated, not when Leg-
horn was resisting, but when Leghorn was corn.
teLy in the power of the Imperial forces and the
authority.
Now, we say, that in such a case a government is
answerable for the misconduct of its troops. Mr.
HALL, or any Englishman who has had his house and
stores plundered at a time when war and resistance
were no more, and when each acts could only pro-
ceed from the wanton license of the sol-
diery, has a fair claim for indemnity.
He cannot be told to prosecute the regiment
that plundered him, as Nome() was told to prose-
cute the mob. A judgment in either case would not
bring a dollar back into the pocket of the com-
plainant. Tim government alone can be sued ; and
governments, sepecially foreign governments. =set
be sued in their own courts. The bare idea bespeaks
the mockery of the proposal
We were glad, therefor*, to hear that, notwith-
standing NESSELRODE'S doctoral laying down of law,
the British government had ;enlisted in its claim os
the Tama government. It is not the amount, so
much as the principle, that is important; and
never was the principle more necessary to establish
than at a time when military governments every
where prevail, and not only exist de facto, but are
recommended de 'ure as far ssperior to constitutional
or any other kind of authority or administration.
To speak of no other outrage, we know that the
usual fiscal measure of a military government is a
forced loan. According to NLSSILRODE, Lord STAN-
LEY, Times, ()wonkier, and Co., British merchants
and residents all over the world must submit to such
exactions. Lord PALMERSTON says not, and acts
upon it. And we are confident that the British public
is for the Downing-street version of international law,
and not for the pandects of St. Petersburg and of the
Times office.

A DISPUTE between the directors of a railway OM-
pony and their engine-drivers is an occurrence of pub-
lic interest : for it may, in its consequences, affect
public safety and convenience; the supply of compe-
tent drivers not being as yet so large that the deser-
tion of that class of railway servants can be easily or
adequately supplied. We have, therefore, thought it
a duty to furnish our readers with full reports of the
dissensions existing between Mr. Goocri, the new
superintendent of the Eastern Counties Railway, and
the engine-drivers over whom he presidia
These reports are necessarily one-sided; they give
the cave of the men only, and do not furnish the
grounds on which their masters have acted. The
facts as therein dated may be exaggerated ; and the
inferences drawn by the men from the course Mr.
Gooch has thought it his duty to pursue may, it is
gaits possible, be altogether unjust. It is indeed more
than probable that the fears entertained by the drivers
are not wholly justifiable; for a strike of engine drivers
appears to follow every change of superintendent on
oar greater lines. When Mr. Bassi was succeeded
on the London and North Western by Mr. Connau,
the drivers on that line, in their hers of reduced
Usand greater stringency of regulations, left in a
ye;and LOW that the Eastern Counties have got a
new broom wherewith to sweep clean, the men there
have, with just as much unanimity, given Dodos to
quit before they have had a month's experience of
their new master. They may, of course, have good
grounds of complaint, and fair reasons for apprehen-
sion, but it can hardly be said that they have given
Mr. Ganca sufficient trial. Nor do they seem to
have taken as a body those means of communicating
and seeking explanations which it is indispen.
liable to their own justification they should have taken
before resolving on a step which may affect the public
service.

The engine drivers of railways generally are as
exemplary body of met : intelligent, skilful, aboriona
and sober; taking a pleasure in the duties for which
they are eisgaged a pride la the punctuality sad
regularity with which they perform their jourseye
and acting venally under a doe mane of the heavy
respeaeibilitiee of their ratite. A good engine
driver is, it truth, as invaluable esnuat : for not
only dose he by his pemeteality maintain the repots-
limi dids line in pablie opinion, bet by taking oars
Ms mew, by hie mummy of feel and of oil, he is

preelleally one-third at lead cheaper to his a.
than an indifferent, careless, or u'iskillkl .as.
boars of work are, no doubt, long and laborious;
he generally averages 160 milestru a ditylag day.
peoperly regulateteempanies he is add[ h
eat.
ployed in driviag every day in the week; but
huedaring cos or part of one day, compare-
lively light work in the engine-boner, where be
is occupied in what is called fitting. Hie
work, too, is hinmedone, and armee health; an
enginwdriver is generally the f.rst to suffer from aeoi-
iota, and constant exposure to the weather renders
bias liable to complaints is tho glands of the throat ;
bolos thebolwarks of kerchieflp with which the neck's
of drivers are reteeted. But for hard and hazardoss
week engine-driven are highly paid; the wages of •
flesbelsm driver will average from flu 6d. to 7s. 6d. a
day, and the remuneration deny man resit y eompetest
hides an engine rarely descends to less than ss. 6d.
=lion on Sundays, too, is deemed overtime, for
they receive, at proportionate rates, extra pay-
ms nt& Care is, moreover, taken by the larger com-
petes to bring their servants of all classes home every
medal; to the plume of their residence, and, where
that is impossible, a money allowance is made to
them for the double sleeping aooommodation which
Is rendered necessary by the requirements of
the company. The Directors of these companies also
eseosrege and a.sist benefit clubs; a variety of
modes of improving the moral condition of the
ass have been established by them; and in cases
of accident the most skilful surgical aid is supplied,
sad every care and attention is taken of the sufferer.
In these times of the reduced cost of living, the poli-
tics, the pay, and the other advantages of engine
drivers are vastly superior to the plight of tie work-
In%lrian., enerally.
high rate of wages is, of course, the close-
✓ince cf that inevitable law of supply and demand
which regulates all prices, be they of bread or of labour.
The demand for first-class engine drivers is still
greater than the supply, therefore their remuneration
Is large; when the supply exceeds the demand, their
wages will fall. If, then, Mr. 00ocu be attempting,
by extending the system of fines to occurrences and
to incidents for which the drivers are not really
tayeasible, to deprive the engine drivers of the
Misters Counties of that fair though high rate of
remuneration which is the consequence of the relation
of the supply of engine drivers to the demand
far them, he is acting not only foolishly, but anjeally I
foolishly, because he will not succeed; unjustly, be-
sans@ success would, to the extent of the savings
it accomplished, amount to confiscation of the 1110101
legitimate earnings. His proper policy, as it is that of
all railway., is to increase the supply of engine
drivers, and so le*sen the demand, and reduce the
rate of remuneration. Any other attempt to coun-
teract the greet low of political economy will recoil on
railway companies themselves.
If, however, on the other hand, the Eastern Cone.
ties engine drivers an, because of the deficient supply
of their class, and of their consequent power over
their employers, endeavouring to ',cape from a sys-
tem of fines necessary to the proper working of any
line, and indispensable to rescue the .Bastern Counties
from the ill repute it has for the irregularity of its
trains, they are acting most injuriously to their own
interests. For that is a tyranny to which employers
will not and cannot submit ; and its certain effect'
will be that railway companies will adopt means they
have not hitherto resorted to, to increase their supply
of engine drivers, and so bring down wages.
While, then, the misfortunes or low rate of divi-
dend of a company cannot form any proper reason fur
lowering the wages of itsservants—wages being re-
plated by principles and laws which the pecuniary
condition ought not to influence—on the other hand
any combination on the part of the men to free them-
selves from fines required for the efficient woikieg of
the company is equally unjustifiable.
Between the directors of the Eastern Counties and
their engine drivers in this dispute it is not for us to
decide : indeed the materials for forming a sound
opinion on their diff.rences are obviously wanting.
But where the rules of conduct of both are so clear,
it will be little to the credit of either employers or
employed, if thv public suffer inconvenience by &con-
tinuance of their disagreement.

TnE Board of Health's wafer-cart stops the way,
London can get no improvement of its present water
supply—in respect of quantity, quality, or distribu-
tion—simply hem's° governmeEt has undertaken to
amend it.

Government some time ago took upon it to re-
form the system of metropolitan water supply,
and as a first step called upon the Board
of Health to report on the subject. An
elaborate report was completed by the board
about the end of lut May. It was printed
and presented to both houses of parliament. A
promise was given that the evidence upon which it
' was based should immediately follow, but Parliament
has been prorogued, and the evidence is not forth-
coming. Government has postponed all action in the
mutter till next session.

Oar opinion of the report has been expressed on
more than one occasion. It is wild and impractical
in the extreme. It proposes to abandon all sources
of water supply hitherto depended on, and to have
recourse to one exclusive source, demonstrably inset-
ficient, sod likely to yield water of a very indiffereot
quality. It reasons about the different qualities of
water in a manner that shows its authors to have
dipped into some authorities on the subject, and
written about it with much the same amount of
knowledge and modesty as is exhibited by a certain
den of reviewers who undertake to refute a scientific
Illik,from which they have gleaned all the little know-
ledge they possess of what it treats about. The report
recommends costly engineering operations, respecting
the nature and practicability of which it is obvious
that no accurate investigation can have been made by
a practical or experienced engineer.
The report of the Board of Health on the supply of
water for the metropolis never can be acted upon. if
la the next or any future session of parliament go-
vernment is to introduce any measure to promote this
object, they must first call in the aid of more trust-
worthy councillors. Government have at this moment
no plan for supplying the metropolis with water is
view, and it is unposaible to conjecture when they will
be provided with one.
Meanwhile the declaration of government that they
are resolved to keep the teak of improving the metro-
politan system of watersupply in their own hands keeps
other parties inactive. Several of the old-established
water companies have matured plans for substituting
new, better, and more abundant sources for those
upon which they have hitherto depended. More
than one new company—the London (Watford)
Spring Water Company—may serve as • tamp%
composed of bona fide substantial capitalists— are pa-
pered to come forward and otter advantageous Isms
to the public. But government having indioalei
disposition to act upon the recommendations et the
Board of Health, and vest the management of do
metropolitan water ',apply in a government bard,
none of those bodies dare move. If they are to apply
to parliament for acts next session, they mast give
the statutory notices in November, and from taking
such a step the declaration made by Sir Gamin
GREY on Wednesday deters them. The Home
Secretary frankly told them that in existing circum-
stances it would be the height of imprudence on
their part to incur any great expenses.
Government and thew Board of Health are in this
matter playing the part of the dog in the manger.
They have taken n of the question of London
water supply, an while they either cannot or will
not do anything themselves, they will allow no other
parson to act.

Nsw BMW( Bolan.—The London, Brighton, and
South Cart Railway Company have sods aniutpaisats
for resin • stsoesar twit* • week, la majaaillea with the
railway, Winos Nimbus or Newhays• (ostordisi to tide,
wind, and other sheaminses) sad the Chsasellislands. The
only cromesalsados What° Wires& the Wash sad this
country hes been hp way Sontliaaeoloa. The sow coats
Was opened on W , whoa thollhddisr,Clapioia
demon,lisa-
left Shushan kr Jitney with • loop amber et
peaspagers.

Tat POTATO Caor.—The blight, m are many to
soy, WM prevails ray widely, MI Is appertain sztoadiag
the leaves sod ;saw of_the potato ; bet moms, ea with
we eat My, ben the illibMs mot Masked repressm the
tither seemed, sliest whims We lava it ea
the beast awshcalty that ia a maws et this man a
Boa eke woe geld that the whole orsp me sae*,
modl trial te he saMe by balm la mod Nib.
dye nere *el Missal reet. We thesabs• least
that Mae will be sellollsro Inroad TIM it met Mirahle
Se poems the revival of a rums amebae, la Oa pale
hod for the psetjTate maths' =
hr passel home
ki le skis" Main regrew
'myth's' looks most themb".
—F.4.afpwar,

PARA Avo. 16.

Far
Money.

„dug Wert topeat. Ckring.
———
6 per Ceuta. —.. l5 13 54 23 66 40 39 35 36 40
6 per Coats. 96 liti 9693 97 10 96 43 1/7 10
6 do. New Lm 0 so .• m
It
4 per Orb. II 09 .. a
4 par On% lt .. ...
Buiaage at : at diet. S9OD; MI dap. 115 -
fwd 4 MO 3001 lioney. Naples Beatra..... km*,
149 LOCI . Rome Loma 11149
Do. — .. Da 1460 79
De. .. Treexery Bands— 4 ..”
Plebeaat 6 peroa4la. 95 15 Bre I 1330
Bomma—Tsrailller OW Conk), 155; Perliimiailleee. 777"60 ;
Paris awl BPS" 146; Yews and Hater 9111 60; Ar4ese sad
ilarmekw. 179; Illreelaaarg and Hats, 116 XII Odom and Vkwace,
6eo; Woo mad Bordeaux. 39113; North, 4I q 90; reek rd etn, .
boar', 244 76; Tour. and Noatis, 136; Itsdosas and Amlarli
17760.