The Express.
London, England, 1850-08-09 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS,
.PRIDAT MNIPTCtI AUGUST 9, 1850.

anMesi dieltraky whit redurenee to • the sop-
ply et *sae stamps while an meet gentrally
used. la many plasm no stamps
_ma be obtain at
all era In the beet irecesnied lbgbfooes of
,Leaphil rasp speed op hem far a la
main bs mails to Gad wipe %did skinks it
wadi Ye while to mil am Uhl dlbwe that there is
=pas _wrong. It the dmismi her damps is so
it is mot worth a dealer's while to supply
them, or in oonstqamos ot their linked proems.,
the milindesioa whit* the stamp department are able
to allow upoa their sale is ow limited that ao trades-
people will sell stamps to the money, why the wooer
the a either is abandoned or put upon so ia-
pswaZ the better for the mamas es well as
ter the public.

But these are points which the CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER does not take into amount. He hes ao
notion of a great principle, or of applyirg it in useful
practice. The Stamp Duties Bill proves this. As
originally drawn, it was full of peddling departmental
regulations, sufficient to have ruined the operation of
any public measure. From many of these tlie bill has
been freed in committee, but still there are clauses—
such as clauses 8 and 10—which are the perfection of
inutility, and which can have no other end or object
than potty official annoyance and oppression, Of clause
8, which makes mildews liable for all monies due for
stamps, we say no more than that it will be utterly
inoperative except in cases where it is obnoxious and
oppreseive. But clause 10 requires a few words.
This clause, which is entirely new, professes " to
afford relief in certain cues of leases." There is a
class of leases with respect to which, es no considera-
tion passed from the lessee to the lessor (although the
lessee may have given money to an intermediate
party), it has been the practice not to attach &stamp.
A decision of Lord TENTERDEN affirmed the belief
that such a stamp was totally unnecessary, and that
decision has been acted on as law. It is now pro-
posed by the 101 clause, to validate such leases in
all cases where they were made previous to the 20th
of March last ; but, by consequence, this clause will in-
validate all such leases madesubseguently to that date.
The 20th of March was the happy day on which Sir
CHARLES WOOD'S Stamp Duties Bill No. 1 was in-
troduced : • day ever to be held memorable in the
annals of the Board of Inland Revenue. It is, we
presume, in order to perpetuate its delightful remin-
iscences that this clause 10 was added by the CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER in committee after the bill
itself had passed. He would have been the last man
to let the measure obtain the force of law
without taking an opportunity of inflicting an
annoyares by introducing a little bit of
oppressive and ex post facto legislation. The
result will be, if the Lords do not amend the
bill by striking out clause 10, that every lease of this
sod legally made since the 20th of March, 1860, will
be invalidated. And this Sir CHARLES WOOD
jorcestly calls "affording relief in certain cases of
leases."

A bill. compiled as this has been, of clauses
modified, and schedules altered, of the sug-
gestions of friends, and of provisions in-
sisted on imperatively by opponents ; a measure
treated as this has been, with one point after another
yielded with bad grace, until at last absolutely not a
single clause is loft of the bill as it originally rcod;
such a measure, what could it be but what it is—a
complete and thorough botch? A great opportunity
was afforded of correcting, upon sound and et.rtain
principles, the defects and inetralities of an impurtant
pardon of our fiscal law. the honourable renown
which is the first ambition of a statesman, the thanks
of the taxpayers of this great nation, the acknow-
ledgments and appreciation of that profes-
sion, which is so deeply interested in the
just apportionment of this description of fiscal
charge—all these awaited the financier who might step
in to effect an adjustment and reform which his great
predecessors had left untouched. We refrain, from
feelings of charity and pity, from instituting the con-
trast which cannot but suggest itself. Suffice it, if
CUARLES WOOD does ga down to posterity with
his Stamp Bill in his hand, it will be, not as a master
in the craft of statesmanship, bat as a bunglirg ap-
prentice.

USEFUL and valuable u the report of the committee
on Oficial salaries is in its way, the sum tutal of its
recommendations shows how very little can be saved
in the national expenditure, even by cutting down
the rates of remuneration fur political et rvsces to a
proper standard, and by abolishing political offices of
little or no service to the state; and how, for any
material reduction in our taxation, we must turn to
those greater items of expenditure, the army, the
Levy, and the ordnance.

The comparative insignificance of the saving to be
made on official salaries is not, however, any reason
why they should be allowed to continue inordinately
large, or why unnecessary offices should be prrterved,
and the committee have done well in recommending the
reduction of several large salaries, the abolition of
several useless offices, and the ccnsolidation of our
diplomatic staff is Central Europe and in Italy.

High political service seems to have found more
favour with the committee than either judicial or
diplomatic employment; and naturally enough. For,
day by day, and hour by hour, the members of the
committee see the labour, the toil, the exhaustion of
lite of such services ; and every one feels how price-
less are the labours and the toil of a real statesman
and a great administrator to this country. They,
therefore, admitted that 5,0001. a year each to the
First Lord of the Treasury and to the three Secreta-
ries of state was well paid, provided those high
office, were competently filled. There seems, how-
ever, to be some little inconsistency iu giving equal
remuneration to the head and to the three principal
members of a ministry ; some distinction, however
small in unseat, would appear to be only proper to
mark the superior responzibility of a prime minister
over his subordinate though important colleague.,
jut as the heads of our law courts have larger sala-
ries than the Risme judges.
Connected, too, with ne office of Prime Minister is
a practice which the committee have passed over, that
might hays been properly and appropriately referred
to. Etiquette gives to the Prime Minister the right
of claiming for the remaieder of his life certain reel-
deuces belonging to the Crown in agreeable sad plea.
ant situations, should they fall vacant during
his tenure of power. Thu, for example, Lord
SIDDIOUTH presented himself to Pembroke-lodge,
in Richmond Park; and on his demise, Lord JOHN
RUSSELL being then Premier, entered into possession
of that delightful residence. So, too, Mr. Pirr had
Wilmer Castle; subsequently Lord LIVERPOOL; and
after his death it descended by precedent to the
Duke of WELLtxoroz, who then presidtd
over the Iron Administration. Now, these are
contingent advantages belonging to the office
of Prime Minister, not small in them-
selves when enjoyed; and which, when fairiy looking
the duties and the remuneration of the pos tin the face
ought not to have been unnoticed. It may be proper
to throw the chance of such residences iuto the bir-
gain made with oar Premiers; but if so, let the coun-
try understand that those hard-worked, ill-paid states-
men
have the chance of falling intogreat country seats,
not only rent free, but maintained' and one, at least,
furnished, out free for the remainder of their lives.
For our part, we confess the chance appears one of
the last remains of a bad system ; and the sooner it fol-
lows the other puts the better. At all events, it is a
system which ought not to have been extended to
Secretaries of State, M it was in Lord ABSILDSEN'S
case, whom a royal lodge, near Greenwich, was
granted to, as incompetent a minister as ever neu-
tered into Downing-street.
Two offices called political, the committee recom-
mend the summary extinction of, viz., the Privy Beal
and the Mastership of the Mint; a recommendation
no one can possibly object to; because they are posts,
which though oocuionally filled by able ran, have no
particular political functions attached to them; and
are therefore political shams. The only argument
ever used in defence of maintaining the office of
Privy Beal in its peanut position, Is the advantage of
having a cabinet minister who an be sent on special
=mum in great emergenriesrequirieg the utmost con-
fidence and high authority, without the interruption to
ordina duties at home. Thus, Lord DURHAM, when
Privy Seal, was despatched to St. Petersburg ; and
Lord Mitr°, later, while holding the office, went to
Italy on his famous tour. But, in these thus, we
cannot afford to keep up a post which is egoism at
home on the chance that its occupant may some time
or other be usefully sent abroad. As for the Master-
' ship of the Mint, there is not even a bad reason for
its continuance u a political °Moe ; so it must go ;
and the Mint be henceforward a subordinate depart-
ment of the Treasury.

net
d
= with itta •;* P "did what
is
.Ito the
tit Trade. these is really not mush in whet is
The grained is, first, to redoes the salary
hem 2•0001. to 1,6001. a year, and to maks the Vim-
President also Paymaster-General of the Forces and
Treassew of the Navy; all these offices being at pett-
iest held hy Lord Giativiu.n, who to paid 2,0001. a
Lear kr This is said to be a hard easseure. It
of the art. 'The Viee-Premidemy of the
el:rdliall Trade is is itself as melees Abe;
sad the duties of the other two poste are
filmset nominal I the real work of these de-
=ts being dear by the War-oleco sad ihe
ty. How great ajob the Board of Trade sad
Plantations wee in its origin and early career, BUSES
iss taught min his great speech on seesornioal re-
, form. fhe mistake was to bestow on such • depart.
swat the form of a board, and that mistake rims
through its °methadon yet—still obstructs the trail.
Imam of busies, and even now mitigates Individual
esegemibility. What is wanted is not • Board of
Trades bet a single responsible minister of trade,
presiding not only over oar commercial policy, but
aupervirdng oar great public works. Instead
of that, Ifs have a great cumbrous board,
with a president, a vice-president, two pidd
secretaries and various little departments within the
greater department; the whole eatine the aunts"
me-third at least more than a well constituted
ministry would do; and doing the business confided
to it slovenly, imperfectly, and ignorantly.
The diplomatic recommendations of the committee
are, we think, superior in importance to the strictly
political or the judicial. The anomaly of having as
ambassador representing the person of the Sovereign,
as distinguished from the political government of the
country, is Paris, the seat of a republic; or at
Constantinople, where the Sultan is ;personally
rarely to be seen, was too great to escape the
committee. So,_ accordingly, they recommend
negotiations with a view to the sobstitution
of a minister of the second class and salary in those
espitals. And though they do not in words use
mend a total abandonment for permanent purposes of
the ambassadorial system, they do in substance, by
proposing that henceforward none of our representa-
tives shall receive more than the very handsome al-
lowance of 6,0001. a year, a reduction which would
affect some of Cour missions—Madrid for instance.
When the personal will, disposition, and feelings
of monarchs influenced the foreign relations of
their kingdoms, representatives of their persons
at other courts might have been eppropriate • bat
sow that such relations depend on the material in-
terests of the various peoples, it is governments not
sovereigns that are to be represented; and it will
become France and England to follow the example
set them on this point by the United States and
Russia.

The wholeof our minor diplomacy in Germany is
a piece of useless and mischievous expense. Heal
business of international policy there is none to be
transacted at Hanover, at Munich, at Stutgard, or at
Dresden : it is at Berlin or Vienna that the policy
of Central Europe is to be discussed ; it is at the
courts of Prussia or Austria that real business is to be
transacted. The rooter oar diplomacy may be safely
and advantageously withdrawn from Germany.
So, too, in Italy the Fiorence mission may be advan-
tageous'y united a ith another, or better still, be re-
moved to Rome, where our present representative at
Florence would, it is known, be vary acceptable to
Pto Novo, and have a better field for the exercise
of his undoubted ability.
Of the judicial recommendations we must reserve an
opinion until we have space.

RESPITE FOR WILLIAM Ross.—We are informed
that a respita for a week was forwaTded last evening
from the Home Office in the case of William Row,
now under sentence of death in York Castle. We
regret that the execution originally fixed for Satur-
day (to-morrow) Las not been postponed fur a longer
period, but we have strong hope, that within a week
additional evidfinc.l may be forthcoming to satisfy the
Home Secretary that the unfortunate soung man
is not guilty of the crime of which he his been con-
victed.

CANDOrfL—The Times professes sympathy
with the " disapprobation " expressed, by Lord
Brougham and the Houma of Lord., "of the discour-
teous and unbecoming terms "applied "elsewhere"
to his lordship's judicial labour.. And the Tunes
then proceeds to speak of his lordship in the following
courteous and becoming terms:—" We feel bound to
add, that amidst all the aberrations of the politician,
and all the eccentricities of the man, that noble and
learned person has adhered with laudable constancy
to the strict path of judicial duty, and that he has
seldom shown any disposition to deal lightly with
the sacral functions of an English judge." Not astir-
fied with thus asserting that the noble and learned
lord has sometimes (though "seldom") sf•cwn a die.
position to trifle with those sacred functions, the
Times go:. on, undrr pretence of sketching a vision
of the future, to pet sent its readers with the following
very slightly caricatured portrait of the put :
" Assuming the separation from tle great seal of the
equity jurisdiction in the court of chancery to be the
basis of the project [for radioing the appellate
jurisdiction] we hope that government and
its advisers will fully weigh the inconvenience
of making the future Lord Keeper virtually a sole
supreme jailge of appeal in the Houss of Peers, even
after he has ceased to sit in any other court of justice,
and when he is confessedly chosen upon political
grounds." We have bad many a tilt with L
Brougham and may have many more, but we would
scorn to put him off his guard by pretending that we
were on his side, in order to get an opportunity of
dealing hint a knock down blow from behind. Well
might Sir Peter Teazle say, "I am never so much
alarmed for the reputation of my friends as when 1
hear Candour undertake their defence."

•

FRANCE.
FARIS. Tuttasoav InwINO.
In the sifts of yesterday the represenlltatives of
the majority took counsel together on the form in
which It would be advisable to couch the resolation
to be proposed in the emtneihr-gmeral relative to the
revision of the constitution. The form generally ap-
proved of and adopted by the majority was ae
follows :—w The council expresses the wish that,
the constitution should be revised as soon as
possible.* It tau thought that this resolution
would be voted by the great majority of the councils-
Tael, notwithstanding the intrigues of the ultra-
I:ingots. The representatives of the majority
w re members of the councils will move the rega-
-1 lotions. No obstacle is apprehended from the pre-
fects. The note which I mentioned in a previous let-
ter as on the point of being addressed to the councils.
general will be conceived in the sense of the obis* 1
result of yesterday's deliberation. The idea of pro-
posing a prolongation of the President's powers in
conjunction with the revision of the constitution, has
been completely dropped. You may see from this
fact alone how completely the attitude of the majority
has changed towards the President within the last
few months.
The main questions to be agitated in the legitimist
conferences at Wiesbaden will be these two: Fusion
of the two branches before the death of Louis Philippe,
and the amount of support to be given to the Presi-
dent of the Republic.
Yesterday, after the review of the gendarmerie
mobile and the republican guard, the President in-
vited the officers and sub-officers to dine at the
Elyse", as I announced to you some days ago that he
would. The excuse assigned for showing such a
marked favour to the two corps is, that they could
not form part of the division destined to occupy the
camp at Versallee, who were all intended to partake
of the President's hospitality. Although the idea et the
camp has been abandoned, in consequence of the object-
Lions of the parliamentary majority to vote the ne cee-
eary credit for.that undertaking, the President still ad-
heres to his intention of treating successively all the
officers and sub-officers of the regiments of the garri-
son of Paris. This resolution, which is announced in
the semi-official Constilationne has produced a good
deal of sensation. The President's practice of treat-
ing the troops meets with very general disapproba-
tion among all parties but the little Bonapartist
faction ; nor could any means of squandering the three
millions settled upon him be devised which would
prove more objectionable to the great majority of the
contributors than this mode of pampering and cor.
ruptiug the army.
In the Assembly yesterday the Colonial Press Bill
was passed. The first article of this law states that—
The former enactmentson the press are to be still executed
in the French colonies, but with the following modifications :
Art. 2 declares that sny offensive article, when copied, can
be prosecuted and pnidehed as if an original article. Art. 3
states that any direct or indirect provocation to the re-esta-
blishment of slavery; any resistance to the authority of the
mother country, any excitement to hatred between the various
dusts of the population, any publication or circulation of
false news, nr of excitement to the re-establishment of
slavery, can be aubjemed to an imprisonment of from three
months to two years, and to a floe of from 600 fr. ti 4,000 fr.
At:. 4 extends press °Benue to such persons as shall be found
engaged in circulating or disseminating incriminated articles.
Art. 5 gives authority to the governor to suspeod any jour
nal which may be found to gravely compromise public order.
Art. 6 declares that if, notwithstanding the suspension,
any journal so proceeded against should continue to appear,
it should be puLished by the same pi patties as it would be
liaSle to if appearirg without having lodged the required
amount of caution-money. Art. 7 declares that Art. 463 ol
of the penal code is applicable to the offences mentioned in
Are. 2,3, 4, and 6of the pre.ent bill. Art. 8 declares that
the constitutional jurisdiction is to continue to take cog-
nize/toe as previously of libels published against private in-
dividuals; and Art. 9 gives to the local government in the
several French colonies power to apply the 4,14'6 )n now
prevailing in the mother ccultry relative to printing licenses,
and the sale and hawking about of journals.

It appears after all that M. Lefebre Dornfle's
amendment, proposing to extend the term of cages-
'ion in favour of the railway companiea for five years,
was lost. An official communication appears in the
Ifortiteur to this effect. The verified ballot gives
261 votes for the amendment, and 274 against. The
numbers announced in the sitting were 263 for, and
231 against, which presents exactly the same majo-
rity of 13.
General Oudinot presented yesterday bis report on
the grant of 12 millions demanded by the minister of
war. It states that General d'Hantpoul had declsred
in the committee that the project of the camp of
Versailles was abandoxed by the government. The
committee regrets that the la.e period at which the
minister's application has been made does not permit
tho verification of the figures set down until after the
prorogation.

111:butaure has been appointed reporter by tie
e mmission of inquiry on the state of the marine de-
partment,

In the Assembly's sitting of to-day, which was
taken up with the reading of petitions, M. Dames,
Minister of Commerce, presented a law relating to
the institutions of landed credit (ercalit fowler). M.
Charles Lagrange demanded to have his motion, pro-
posing that all members of the Assembly present in
Paris should have the right of attending the sittings
of the Committee of Permanence, should be placed on
the orders of the day. This demand was rejected by
the Assembly. Intetpellations of M. B. Respell, re-
:ative to the dismissal of functionaries, were adjourned
until after the prorogation. The Assembly then ad-
journed. A bitting w ill take place to-morrow.
' M. Rasped announces, in a letter to the
Meld, announces that immediately after the great
thunder-storm of the 29.11 of July, the potato &lease
showed itself in the neighbourhood of Doullens • and
infers that wherever that storm passed it will be
found to have been attended with the tame call-
mitring result. M. Revisit was led four years ago to
the conclusion that the potato disease was the effect
of a meteorological influence, from having observed
its eruption after the storm of Montilla and Ms-
launay.
The Duchess of Orleans is to be at Ems on the
17th, with her children.

The Norval steam-packet, which left Civil& 'Vecchia
on the let, arrived at Toulon on the 3rd, bringing
352 civil and military passengers. M. Cernuschi, the
chief of the barricades, and the commandant of the
civic guard under the government of the Roman re-
public, has arrived by her, and has taken up his
residence at an hotel, waiting the orders of the go-
vernment. It is known that Cernuechi has been
twice tried and acquitted by the French court-martial
at Rome, and that the government of the French
republic refused to deliver him up to the papal
government, which made very earnest demands on
the subject. M. Cernuschi, after his two acquittals,
remained for some time on board a French steamer at
Civita Vera:his, and it was only by the last mail that
the French authorities at that port received orders to
send him to Franc*.

The Bourse was greatly agitated by rumours about
imperialist demonstrations at the military banquet
yesterday at the Elysi.e.