The Sun.
London, England, 1848-06-22 00:00:00

gint

LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 22, 1848.

" Religion," said the Count DE MIRADEATJ, " is a
divine institution—not a legislative enactment." MT.
BINDLEr thinks otherwise, and so does Mr. Bao-
THERTott. According to the Hon. Representatives
of Salford and Ashton-under-Lyne, morality is a thing dependent upon the divisions counted out into
the lobbies of Parliament. For our own part, we
have bees foolish enough to have hitherto regarded
the origin and destinies of Christianity as of a much
more holy and sublime character. We had certainly
formed a very different estimate of the result of that
tremendous catastrophe which shook the globe to its
centre, which darkened the face of da the veil of the Temple in twain y, which rent
, anone
the grim spectres of the dead
intod the stmreetsd of, Jerusalem. We had thought that a creed
scifounded would have lived in perpetual strength and
beauty without the aid of any human interposition.
That a Church whose dogmas had emanated from the
lips of an Incarnate GOD, and whose sanctuary had
been rendered for ever holy
ible by the awful sacrifice, ofand for ever indestruct-
the Crucifixion—that
such a Church, could require the help of man's frail
and fallible judgment had never once entered into our
imagination, or if it had, it unlit assuredly have been
regarded Isy- us as impossible and preposterous. But
in so thinking we have bean mistaken—if we
may credit Messrs. CHARLES BINDLEY and
JOsIPH BROTHERTON. Pinning down OUT
faith to the peculiar, and we will even
presume to call it eccentric, doctrines of those gen-
tlemen, we must henceforth look upon virtue as de-
pendent in a great measure upon the purchase of a
pole of strawberries, we must believe that obedience

to the commandments is incompatible with the mas-
tication of a red-herring, that public decency is vio-
lated, and eternal salvation endangered by the un-
timely purchase of a rasher of ham, or the vending
of a surreptitious lobster.
To explain ourselves. There is now before the
House of Commons a Bill, prepared and introduced
by the Honourable Members for Salford and Ashton-
under-Lyne, providing that—
"No person shall, on Sunday, keep or hold, or assist
in keeping, any market, or sell, or cry, or offer or expose
for sale, or cause to be sold or cried for sale, any goods,
chattels, effects, matters, or things whatever. The
goods of hawkers so defying the law are to be confis-
cated for the benefit of the poor of the parish. The sale
of milk, fruit, pastry, and beverages before nine o'clock
A.M., and after one o'clock P.m., of cooked meat, tea,
coffee, &c., within coffee-shops, cook-shops, or eating-
houses, before ten o'clock A.M. and after one o'clock P.M.,
the sale of meat or flesh before nine o'clock A.M. (from
the 31st of May to the Ist of October in each year),
and the vending of drugs and medicines, will not be in-
terfered with by this Act. The Act is not to extend to
steam-boats or licensed houses. The penalties for in-
fringement of the above provisions are fines varying
from sg. to 40s. Persons resisting the officers employed
in enforcing the Act will be liable to a fine of 101. The
operation of the Act is limited to the boundaries of the
metropolitan police district, and the city and liberties of
London. The Ist of October is fixed for the commence-
ment."

Considering that our old favourite, Sir ANDREW
AGNEW, is no longer all ember of the Imperial Parlia-
ment, we had hoped that such monstrous, indecent, and
most un-Christian propositions as this would never again
have been laid before the supreme Legislature. Talk
of liberty of conscience after this ! Talk of civil
freedom, forsooth, or religious toleration, or of
the annihilation of the old incubi of ignorance, feu-
dality, and despotism I Sorry, indeed, must be the
liberality of the English constitution if such abortions
of legalized morality and Parliamentary religion can
be allowed to interrupt the business of a rational
Senate. Often and often have we written down the
humbug of those pretenders to orthodoxy who have
from time to time attempted to interfere with Sunday
travelling both on the highways and up„
railroads. A number of pigheaded dogmatists
endeavoured to throw a moral
uth
barricadetese
across the line of the Glasgow Railway; but
gentlemen failed, and so, with the help of common
sense, will the two gentlemen we have already men-
tioned as adorning the Chamber at Westminster. On
a future day we shall enter more fully into the
cruelty and folly and utter indecency of this egre-
gious measure. Meanwhile we leave the Bill to uni-
versal derision.

The Committee •
ee appointed to inquire into the
causes of the recent commercial distress, and how
far it has been affected by the laws for regulating
the issue of notes payable on demand, have made
their first report. They have concluded their inves-
tigation so far as relates to England, and have given
he result of their opinions on that branch of the
subject, to the country. The document is (if pos-
sible) more meagre and unsatisfactory than was an-
ticipated even by those who discerned the nature of
the ingenious device for shelving the question until a
period when the public mind might be less excited
on the subject, when Ministers might announce with
safety their determination to abide by the stringent
provisions of the Bank Charter Act, and to refuse
the slightest modification thereof, notwithstanding
the numerous deputations and remonstrances that had
been forwarded from every part of the country.
No doubt could have been entertained by any person
at all cognizant with the avowed opinions of the
majority of those selected to form the Committee,
that they would arrive at the conclusion that no
alteration should take place in our monetary code;
but it was expected that some plausible reasons would
have been put forward in its defence, and that those
who had laboured for months, and who had examined
divers witnesses, would at least have stated the
grounds on which they might have formed their
judgment. Nothing, however, of the kind has taken
place. The report simply states that " the Com-
mittee, after a careful review of all the evidence,
are of opinion that it is not expedient to make any
alteration in the Bank Charter Act of 1844." Such
is the magnificent result for which Parliament was
summoned at an unusual period, to the great incon-
venience of its Members, who were drawn from
their usual avocations, at a period when their pre-
sence at home was of unusual importance to them-
selvs and their tenantries.
It is, however, satisfactory to state that the Com-
mittee were by no means unanimous in their conclu-
sions ; that the report was only carried by a
majority of four, while a resolution moved
by the Honourable Member for Montrose, to the
effect " that the laws for regulating the issue of
bank-notes payable on demand had aggravated the
commercial distress of England in the year 1847,"
was only defeated by the insignificant majority of
two, the numbers being eleven in support of the re-
solution, and thirteen against it, including the mem-
bers of the late and of the present Administrations who
were placed on the Committee. Such a defeat is
almost tantamount to a victory, and it will, we trust,
not be lost sight of by the community in general,
when the demand is made for a revision of the pro-
visions of our monetary code, and the adoption of a
currency not subject to those ruinous fluctuations
which have so injuriously affected all the
industrial pursuits of the country, involving
those who gave employment to the labouring classes
in the deepest distress, and compelling those wbo
under more propitious circumstances could obtain a
comfortable livelihood for their families, by their own
honest exertions, to take refuge in the union work-
houses.

The Committee state " that there has been a
g.eneral concurrence of opinion among the witnesses
examined ; that the primary cause of the distress was
the deficient harvest, especially of the potato crop, in
the year 1846, and the necessity of providing the
means of pr.yment in the year 1847, for the unprece-
dented importations of various descriptions of food
which took place in that year." They also state that,
" among other causes, the deficient supply
of cotton ; the diversion of capital from its ordinary
employment in :commercial transactions to the con-
struction of railroads; the undue extension of credit,
especially with our transactions with the East, and
exaggerated expectations of enlarged trade, have been
stated by some of the witnesses, as having contributed
to the same result;'' and add, "they see no reason to
doubt that these causes have, in different degrees, in
different parts of the country, produced the effect
thus ascribed to them."
This is simply a repetition of the speech of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer on the 30th November
last, when moving the appointment of the Committee.
In fact, the precious bantling bears undoubted evi-
dence of its paternity, and it is scarcely necessary
to inform any person who has attentively perused the
speech in question that the subsequent document was
prepared by the eulogiz ,r of the Bank Charter Act.
The censure that was cast on the 30th November
on the Bank directors has been repeated in a modi-
fied form. They have, however, promised to be
better behaved for the future, so no immediate mea-
sures are to be taken, the Committee declaring
"that it is unnecessary to impose such duty
by law, as there can be but little doubt that
the permanent interests of the Bank are identi

tied with those of the public at large." They also

state " that they feel confident that the change which

has taken place (in the mode of appointment of the
Governor and Deputy-Governor), and the greater
experience which has been acquired during the events

of the last two years, will ensure to the public in the

future management of the Bank of England greater
benefit from this national establishment than it has

hitherto been tha means of conferring upon the
country."

The above, with an allusion to the serious
consequences of the panic and the want of confidence
that existed, which, however, " was immediately re-
moved by the letter of the 25th October," and a
statement that the evidence as to the effects of the Act
of 1844 was contradictory, appear to be the only
grounds put forward for the positive decision they
have come to. We shall on early occasion return to
the consideration of this most important subject.

and majestic image of French regeneration. We may
now despise the efforts of calumny." Still however
excellent in some particulars the Constitution of 1793
may have been, there was a capital error in its mode
of inauguration—an error which led to its speedy an-
nihilation. It was traced in letters of blood. In the
beginning of June, 1848, another body of revolu-
tionists have framed another Constitution for Repub-
lican France—a constitution which resembles its pre-
decessor in some particulars, while in principle it is
directly opposed to it. In comparing the drafts of
these two constitutions we recognise the rapid de-
velopment of civilization and Christianity during the
last half century. The framers of the first Repub-
lican Constitution aspired after liberty, it is true, but
it was a liberty of that spurious kind where
men " call it freedom when themselves are
free." One of their first liberal acts was
to declare liable to arrest all persons who "by
their conduct, their relations, theirconveorfsattyiroann,iolyr
their writing, showed themselves partisans
or federation, or who had not incessantly manifested
their devotion to the Revolution,"—that is to say, all
persons who might happen to differ in opinion from
themselves. The new Frenche
its
rtCs
tohnhi
nsrtgsi
first
u‘ta,irioatnietdlheeesc,lraitgrhehastLt,
r ithheertyc,o,nconsists
, ianmoonnge
of associating; of petitioning; of exercising one's
religion ; of manifesting his thoughts and opinions
by means of the press or otherwise' The exercise of
these rights has no other limits than " the
strikingt rightsh e
public
haldnd libertiesieiferseenccuerity of other nations, and
b.:twee
Annotthheesre anda
Constitutions
is, that whereas in the former, according to the
ironical but truthful remark of CHABOT, the
guarantee of liberty was the guillotine, the first
article of the latter declares the fundamental prin-
ciple of social duty to consist in the practice of that
sublime maxim so beautifully termed the golden rule
of Christianity—" Do unto others as ye would be
done by." The recently formed Constitution is
almost as democratic in form as that which ROBES-

PIERRE styled the most democratic that ever existed

and we are inclined to consider it infinitely more
liberal in effect. The only respect in which it
may appear less democratic than its predecessor,
is in its proposing triennial in place of annual Parlia-
ments. In its other articles it realises the Utopian
dreams of Chartism. Every citizen aged 21 years is
to be an elector, and every citizen aged 25 is to be

eligible as a representative. A direct tax can be fixed
for one year only. Trial by jury is to be very gene-
rally applied, and in the jury of the High Court of
Justice, before which crimes and offences against the
State are to be tried, the verdict of guilty is to be
decided by a majority of two-thirds. These are some
of the most important innovations suggested in the
draft of the Constitution. The whole document, which
is very lengthy, is well drawn up, but for the
most part it only contains an enumeration of
those great maxims which are the groundwork of
social community and of those liberal institutions,
with the value of which we ourselves are practically
acquainted. A Constitution may look well on paper,
it may even elicit applause when delivered from the
tribune by the earnest voice of ARMAND MARRAST,
but for all that it may be found worthless in practice.
Such, however, will not, we are inclined to think, be
the fate of this Constitution, because, although
aiming after the perfect in theory, it condescends
to the possible in practice. It is certainly
far inferior as a composition to that sub-
lime declaration of rights of ROBESPIERRE—a do-
cument containing an eloquent demonstration of
human perfectability--a document which might be
treasured up by the Christian and the philanthropist,
were it not sullied by the blood-stained hand which
traced it. We shall more particularly analyse this
new Constitution when it shall have been adopted
by the National Assembly. In the meantime we are
satisfied with the practical liberty which it promises
—a liberty not likely to degenerate into tyranny in
the persons of the powerful few, nor into anarchy in
the hands of the mighty many. Nevertheless, while we
rejoice in finding how greatly the spirit of moderation
has become developed during the last fifty years, let
us not forget that, without the violent Republicanism
of 1793, we should not, perhaps, have witnessed the
moderate Liberalism of 1648. In the first revolution
the people were like slaves newly emancipated from
their fetters. They felt their powers, and they disco•
vered their rights, but they neither knew how to use
the one nor how to obtain the other. An impos-
sible ideal enthralled the imaginations of the
nobler spirits of that epoch, but, practically, the
liberal dogmas of the multitude were but the bab-
blings of children unlearned in their mother. tongue.
Fifty years of apprenticeship (we may suppose)
taught them their lesson. We shall now (let us
hope) witness the realisation of those sublime visions
which agitated the enthusiastic heart of ROLAND,
which inspired the earnest eloquence of VERGNIAUD,
which gleamed through the dismal philanthropy of
ROBESPIERRE, and which have recently found such
an able interpreter in the ardent and high-sou;ed
LAMARTINE.

In the beginning of June, 1793, the National
Convention of France promulgated the Constitution
of the new Republic—a Constitution which had been
drawn up in eight days, and which ROBESPIERRE de-
scribed as " the most democratic institution that ever
existed." "We can now," he said, " offer to the
universe a constitutional code, infinitely superior to
any that has ever existed, which exhibits the sublime

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY .E V NING, JUNV 2g) 1848.

The Committee of Secret Service Money yester-
day called before it the Members of the Executive
Government, to demand explanations of the manner
in which 1,200,000 f. had been—disposed of in the in•
terval between the 24th of February and the Ist of
June. M. LEDRU RorLIN, through whose hands, af•
Minister of the Interior, this amount of 50,000/.
sterling passed, was the chief object of their inter-
pellations ; every effort was made to resist inquiry,
and the traditions of the monarchy were appealed to
as to the privilege of the Executive to dispose of such
funds without rendering an account. The Committee,
however, declared that under a republic such secresy
and irresponsibility are inadmissible, and M. LEDRU
RO;
tee the vouchers necessary
M. RECUR; were ordered
to
application
pss
ul
isbcua. cetclooemn os smo
f the large sum which has
been disposed of.
supplys
'h Lo IwN thea nt
do

Herr Camphausen ; Public Worship and Education,
Auerswald ; Finance, Milde ; Interior, Pinder, or
Eichmann ; Public Works, Hausemann ; Foreign,
Usedorn, or Lychnowski ; War, Schreckenstein.
The Prussian Government has recalled General
Vox CoLomn from Posen, where he distinguished
himself by his severities against the Polish inha •
bitants. He is replaced by General VON BuuNsiscx.

POSEN.

The Oberlandesgericht- Assessor (Assessor of the
Supreme Court) Fischer in Posen, has made the fol-
lowing protest against the choice of electors and the
election of a Deputy from the district of Posen to the
German National Assembly :
When his Majesty the King had by a Cabinet order
of April 12th declared, in accordance with the
opinion of the Ministry, that the organization promised
to the Polish inhabitants of the Grand Duchy of Posen
should not extend to those portions of it where the
German nationality predominated, but that on
the contrary the annexation of them to the
German Confederation should be demanded without
delay from the German Federal Assembly, the latter,
on the application of Prussia, in its 39th session, April,
22d, resolved—
" That several districts of the Grand Duchy of Posen,
adjoining the German federal territory, in which the
majority of population, amounting to 593.000 souls,
should, according to the wish of the inhabitants, be re-
ceived into the Germanic Confederation."
By a supreme Cabinet order of April 26th, again,
several portions of the Grand Duchy of Posen were ex-
cluded hers the Polish organization, and on May 2d, in
the 45th sitting of the Federal Assembly, upoit the ap-
plication of Prussia, the city and fortress of Posen, with
the districts connecting them with the above-mentioned
territory and a population of 273,500 souls, were also
received into the Germanic Confederation.
The first application, according to the tenor of which
the annexation to the Germanic Confederation was to be
effected agreeably to the wish of the inhabitants,
contained an untruth, because the will of the people
had pronounced itself against it in a legal
manner, through its usual organ the assembled Diet ;
because another organ for ascertaining the will of the
people was yet wanting, and not heard ; because only
individuals and individual communities had pronounced
themselves for the annexation to Germany, wheeenq
the opposed will of the Polish people had manifested
itself unmistakably, especially: by the general wearing
of their national colours ; and, finally, because the Po-
lish population, trusting to the public promises of the
Government, the fulfilment of which it expected, had
no cause for general and open pretests and declarations.
The second declaration violated the promises made to
the Poles ; it put in place of justice, which Germany
and her organs asked for, selfishness—and instead of
separating the German from the Polish nationality, and
putting an end to the oppression of the Poles, a fortress
which, with its surrounding forts, is as much built for
oppressing the Poles as for repelling a foreign foe; a few
Germans, who for the most part had left their German
fatherland, already under ancient Polish rule, were
taken as a pretext for annexing to Germany hundreds
of thousands of Poles living on the land inherited from
their forefathers, against their wish, and even without
being listened to ; they were made the pretence for
severing the greater half of the Polish population of
the Grand Duchy from that portion which was to be
re• organized.
General Von Pfuel considerably increased the por-
tion annexed to Germany by his declaration of May 12,
by which pure Polish portions of the districts of Shroda,
Adelnau, Shrimm, Posen, Kosten, Krilben, Krotoshin,
Mogilno, and Wongrowiec, are excluded from the orga
nization, and united with ,the Germanic Cenfederation.
General Von Pfuel was not authorised by his instruc-
tion or powers to make this declaration or increase.
Now, in this part of the ancient Polish kingdom, almost
entirely inhabited by Poles, in which only the city of
Posen contains a considerable German population—out
of 40,000, about 9,000 souls exclusive of the families of
civil and military officers, and mostof those descendants
of Germans, who by virtue of especial privileges had
settled in the old Polish kingdoms ; now, from this part
of the country a deputy is to be chosen for the German
National Assembly, and I, as a German employe, not
having been able to leave this territory, notwithstand-
ing reiterated requests, have been summoned to take
part in this election.
I protest against this election, because the ancient
Polish territories can only then be received in the Ger-
manic Confederation, when after the re establishment of
peace and order in the land, after the cessation of the pre•
sent rule of force, the will of the people, can unreservedly
and distinctly pronounce itself ; and when upon the de-
mand of the inhabitants of each and every district, that
desires a separation from the Grand Duchy, the Ger-
manic Constituent National Assembly on the one hand,
and the legal organs that are to be constituted by the same
Assembly on the other band, have concluded the act of
annexation to Germany, and because only after this an.
nexation the respective members of the Union are en-
titled to send representatives to the German National
Assembly.
I protest against the election, which is to be proceeded
with, on the ground of acts lor which neither his Ma-
jesty the King, nor the Ministers of the State, nor the
Germanic Confederate Assembly, were competent, at a
time when the people and their rights are no longer ob-
jects of the absolute will of Governments—when the
only existing legal organ of the land has pronounced it-
self against the annexation;to Germany—has never been
heard on the subject of the projected parti-
tion—and when more than half a million of
Poles protest against this act. The law of the
22d May, 1815, had, in section 4, pronounced, that the
attributes of the representatives of the laud are to ex-
tend over all subjects of legislation concerning the per-
sonal rights of every member of the state; the Legisla-
ture of the states had confirmed these rights;—and
should we now dispose of man's most important right—
his fatherland and nationality—without listening to the
people or its representatives, amidst the thunder of can-
non mowing down those that oppose such a proceeding?
I protest against the election, because all bonds of
order and law in the Grand Duchy of Posen are riven
asunder, and because the law is violated not only by the
Poles, Germans, and Jews, but also by the authorities,
supported by 30,000 to 40,000 bayonets.
General V. Pfuel and the highest civil and military
authorities of this province have violated every legiti-
mate authority by proclaiming martial law, which is
abolished by a supreme Cabinet order, and which re-
moves the inhabitants of the Grand Duchy in certain
cases from their personal judge to the discretion of mili-
tary authorities; they have done so without the pro-
mulgation of a law for the purpose passed in a legiti-
mate manner; they have done it of their own accord,
without full powers, or even the assent of his Mtjesty
the King or his Ministers, although, by virtue of the
most recent changes in the constitution, even his Ma-
jesty has the power of reintroducing it (martial law)
only with the consent of the representatives of the
nation, since this law comes within the category of ex-
ceptional laws mentioned in section 2 of the decree pro-
mulgated April 6, concerning several fundamental points
of the future Prussian Constitution.
This is not the place for deciding who is the cause of
the present condition of this country, in how far it is to
be attributed to the patriotism of the Poles, to their
long oppression, to the measures of the authorities, to
the prevailing want of confidence in them, aggravated
by the treatment of the Poles and broken promises; to
excesses and abuses on the part of the Poles; to an un-
restrained agitation of such Germans as have left their
German fatherland, and are afraid to lose the open
arena of their egotisticiactivity ;—it is not for us to
decide in how far the measures for the protection of
Germans—to which they are entitled even in a foreign
country—are necessary, and will be so for a longer
period; but, in the present state of this country, to pro-
ceed with elections which are to decide on the most im-
portant rights of a people, is a measure on the part of
the authorities which puts their relation to the move-
ment in this country in its proper light—a movement
which has been distorted in the eyes of Germany, dis-
torted even by official accounts, if I may believe the
words of German eye-witnesses, officers and actors in
those events.
Wo still have in this province the same authorities
(I do not speak of highly honourable individual excel).
tions) whose doings the Supreme President Flottwell
has so well described in his well-known report, pub-
lished March 15, 1841 ; we have still the same military
rule and German bureaucracy, which shows itself now
in its most unrestrained and most barbarous form—
which laid hold of excesses committed by individual
Poles in order to render itself, as a consequence of its
own measures necessary, and now, for its own protece
lion, proceeds to elections, by the results of which it
hopes to justify the previous accounts of its steps.
They proceed with the elections at a time
when everywhere the most respectable Poles—
who have not yet fled their country—if they allow
themselves to be seized, without any legal ground
from pretended precaution, upon a mere suspicion, upon
the denunciation of a Jew, are arrested by the military,
dragged to the fortress, often liberated after a longer or
shorter imprisonment, arid often detained; at a time
when Poles, arrested upon a mere suspicion, are mal-
treated and shot by ,the troops during the transport--
when Polish prisoners, escorted by soldiers, are in the
streets of Posen publicly beaten with clubs by Germans
and Jews, excited by members of the so-called German
Committee—at a time when hundreds of arrested and dis-
armed Poles are butchered by the soldiery with bay-
onets or the butt-ends of their muskets—when mansions
and villages are plundered and reduced to ashes—when
the plundering Prussian soldier, after murdering and
chasing away the inhabitants, burns the sick and
wounded Poles in the dwellings which he has plun-
dered—when I hear German officers and officials ask
each other, with a feeling of horror, whether this bar-
barity of the infuriated, uncivilized Germans—whether
this bestial desire for murder, which delights in tor-
menting and exterminating even the conquered enemy,
is inherent in the nature of the German—they proceed
with the elections at a moment when no Pole can show
himself in the streets of Posen without being ill-used
by Jews and Germans; when Poles are disarmed, and
Germans and Jews provided with arms; when Poles
dare no longer to meet in consultation on their affairs,
for fear of being attacked, maltreated, and arrested for
some pretended plot, lay Jews, Germans, and soldiers; at
a time when, in a word, the Pole appears to be an outlaw
IN HIS OWN NATIVE LAND.
These facts are here well known and publicly related;
I do not doubt their truth, because I know the spirit of
the civil and military authorities in this province, and I
am ready to adduce more circumstantial facts, and bring
forward witnesses, Germans as well as Poles.
I do not believe that these facts, omitted by our au-
thorities in their official reports, were unknown to them,
because I have heard persons; who surround them con-
verse about them.

The report of the Finance Committee has been pre-
sented to the Assembly. it is against the proposi-
tions of the Minister of Finance, Whom it accuses of
blunders and of miscalculations. The report calcu-
lates the deficiency of revenue for the year at onehundred and fifty million francs.

The receipt of the direct taxes, which for the month
of March was 57,580,100 f , and for the month. of April
42,007,000 f., fell during the month of May to
22,222,400 f. The extraordinary impost of 45c.,
though liable to be immediately exacted, has not been
better paid than the ordinary tax. Of the 191,270,0001.,
to which it amounts, only 51,585,600 f. were recovered
on the Ist June.

A letter from Napoleon Vendee (formerly Bourbon
Vendee) says--__

" One of the officers of the 46th regiment of the line,
with his company, being detached on the coast, surprised
an English vessel at the moment when its crew was oc-
cupied in disembarking muskets destined to arm the
Chouans of the country. About 3,000 stand of arms
were seized and transported to Napoleon Vendee."
We can scarcely credit this statement. If it be
true, we trust that the English Government will at
once, and unasked; put the Ali. Act in force
against those foreign intriguers (for the arms must
have been purchased by foreign intriguers located in
England) who abuse our hospitality by plotting
against the peace of a friendly Power.

The Finance Committee, at its meeting yesterday,
fixed the salary of Ministers at 36,000 f. per annum.
Under Louis PHILIPPE the salary of a Minister was
80,000 f., with the exception of the Minister for
Foreign Affairs, who had 100,000 f. M. THIERS de-
fended high salaries on the ground that low salaries
were aristocratic, as none but rich men could accept
high places under Government.

The Sardinian Minister has demanded of the
French Minister of Foreign Affairs an explanation of
the hostile expressions in the exposi des motifs, rela-
tive to the Garde Mobile. M. BASTIDE declared the
only object of the measure was to defend the integrity
of France.

There has been an emeute at Nice, in which the
people attacked the office of the Echo, a French
journal, and did considerable damage to the property.
This may perhaps increase the unpleasant feeling
existing between the French Executive and the King
Of SARDINIA.

There was a duel yesterday between M. NA-
POLEON BERTRAND and M. GODCHAUX, the SOD of
the banker, in which the latter was wounded. The
difference was a political one, BERTRAND being a
Bonapartist and GODCHAUX a Republican.
BOURSE.—PARIS, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 21.
THREE O'CLOCX.—This has been another day of
stagnation at the Bourse. Every one is waiting to see
what the Assembly will do with the railways, and
until that question be settled, matters will continue
here is a state of doubt and depression. The Rentes
and Three per Cents. were both weak, and gave way
slightly. Vieille Montagne Shares have fallen
75f. to 2,07 i. For the Account, the French
Three per Cents. have fallen 50c.; Five per Cents. have
fallen 25c. For Money, the Three per Cents. and Five
per Cents. have fallen 25c. each; Bons du Tr6ior are at
23 to 24 dicount; Bank of France Shares have fallen st.
Belgian Bank Shares not quoted; Belgian Two-and-a-
Half per Cents, not quoted; Spanish Actives, nothing
done; Roman are the same as yesterday; Rothschild's
Receipts, at 71f. 50c. Railway Shares for the Account,
Settling of 30th June:—Northerns have fallen 27f. 50e.;
nothing else done.' For Money, Orleans, Rouens, Mar-
seilles, Bales, Bordeaux, Northerns, Nantes, and Lyons,
have all fallen lf. 25c. The rest are the same as yes-
terday, wit the-exception of the Montereau and Troyes,
which have risen sf.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK-EXCHANGE. JUNE 21.
Dutch Rhenish, 1/2—Luxembourg, I—Namur and Liege,
2.

As a test of the view which the authorities take of

this state, it may suffice to mention, that on inquiring
whether the prisoners were marked, as I was told by
some Poles, I was informed that they had one hand and
one ear blackened with some permanent chemical pre-
paration, but by an order of General V. Pfuel, they
had now only one hand dyed.
I think that amidst such unfortunate circumstances,
every upright German ought to abstain from the elec-
tions. fie will, on German soil, among our honest Ger-
man people, insist on his full political rights; but the
rights which he claims for himself, he claims also for
other men and nations. He desires a separation of the
German and Polish nationalities,—unconditional pro-
tection of the Germans settled here; kit he does not
desire, in favour of those Germans who have left their
German fatherland, to rob, by immoral means, the Poles
of those rights which are due to them, as the ancient in-
habitants of this soil.

(Signed) CHRISTIAN FISCHER.
Oberlandesgericht-Assessor in Posen.
Posen, May 19th, 1848.
The above protest was sent to the municipality of
Posen with the following note :
Worshipful Magistrate,—At the primary assembly of
electors for the. 2d electoral district of Posen, which
met to-day for the election of an elector, who might
take part in the choice of a Deputy to the German
National Assembly, I was going to make a protest
against this election, but, it was rejected by the presid-
ing Ueknomie Rath Wendtlaud, because, by virtue of an
instruction given him by a worshipful magistrate, the
election was to proceed without any discus,ion.
I know but two organs tor exercising political rights,
the Primary General Assembly and the Assembly of
the Representatives of tie nation.

In tl,e first, where alone every individual has a right
to present himself, I think I ought not to have been re -
fused to make my protest against a violation of rights.
I thereture pray a worshipful magistrate to insert my
protest, which I have been obliged to make in writing,
among the minutes of the election proceeding of the
2d electoral district, and to communicate the same to the
German National Assembly at Frankfort.
(Signen) CHRISTIAN FISCHER,
Posen, May 19th, 1848. 0. L. G. Assessor.

—Frurn the Berliner Zeitungs Belle, May 24.

ITALY.

LOMBARDY AND VENICE.

Padua has capitulated to the Austrians,aUd..Ge-
neral PEPE, who was in command there has fallen
back upon Ferrara. The probability is that ere long
the Austrians will have re-conquered the whole of
the Venetian territory. On this subject the French
Presse says—

" The capture of Vicenza renders the state of the Ve-
netian provinces very precarious and alarming. These
provinces had no regular army to protect them except
that under General Durando, which has just been
obliged to retire for three months from the field.
Treviso is only defended by a force of 2,500 volunteers
and a small number of Pontifical grenadiers. At Piave
de Cadore the brave mountaineers, after a heroic de-
fence, which lasted more than a month, have been com-
pelled by hunger and the want of ammunition to
abandon that important position. The number of the
enemy is increasing on the Isonzo, the Tagliamento.
Livenza, and the Piave, and the Austrians have advanced
posts as far as the Sile. Their forces sire distributed in
the following manner:—
At Belluna and Piave de Cadore
At Montebelluno, Povegliano, Pordenone, Cor-
droipo, and Udine 4,000
From the Livenza to the Isonzo 5,000
At Osopo
Near Palmanova

19,000
" The latter place is closely invested by the Austrians,
and is defended by the brave General Zuechi.
" On the confines of Italy and of Istria, from Cuer-
dale to Gradisca, the frontier is guarded by 15,000 men,
which have between them 18 pieces of cannon. It is
impossible that, deprived as she is of sufficient force,
Venice can withstand the Austrian forces whenever
they direct themselves en masse against any point as
they have done at Vicenza.
" It has been stated that Charles Albert was to have
attacked Verona on the morning of the 14th. The
Italia del Popolo of the 15th announces, in a second edi-
tion, that the Piedmontese having learnt that Radetzky
had re-entered the place at the head of 14,000 men, had
given up the idea of the attack, and had resumed their
former quarters at Valeggio. The heights of Rivoli
are still occupied by a Piedmontese regiment.
" M. Vicenzo Ricci announced in the Chamber of De-
puties of Piedmont, in the sitting of the 15th, the offi-
cial union of Lombardy to Piedmont, and at the same
time communicated the convention which was entered

into on the 13th, between the Sardinian Government
and the Provisional Government of Lombardy.
" The principal bases of this convention are the fol.
lowing:—ln one month after the union an electoral law
shall be published, according to which the deputies to
compose the Constituent Xii;:embly shall be elected, and
which will assemble at the latest on the Ist November
next. The electoral law has for its bases universal suf-
frage and vote by ballot. There is to be one deputy for
every 25,000 inhabitants. Every citizen of 21 years of
age is to be au elector. Until the meeting of the Con-
stituent Assembly the people of Lombardy are to pre-
serve the political guarantees which they now enjoy—
liberty of the press, right of association, and the Nationl
Guard.

"From the present ti meat he executive power is in the
hands of the King, who cannot, however, enter ints any
political or commercial treaty without previously refer-
ring it to a special committee, composed of the members
of the Provisional Government of Lombardy."
By the Turin journals we learn that in the
Chamber of Deputies of Turin, on the 15th, a Bill
was presented for authorising an extraordinary levy
of 6,000 men, to replace the 12,000 who have en-
gaged not to combat for three months in consequence
of the treaty of Vicenza. The bulletin of the 15th,
published by the Provisional Government of Lom-
bardy, says—
" The Italia❑ army cannot yet be in a position to
attack Verona. and the Piedmontese divisions main-
tained the line of their positions from Goito to Pas-
trengo. The heights of Rivoli, the Mont della Co-
rona, and the passage from the Adige to Dula are
occupied by the Italians. It is said that the Austrian
troops which have entered Verona with Marshal
Radetzky amount to 14,000 men. It is announced from
Rocca d'Anfo, where the Lombard troops were, that in
the night of the 12th the enemy abandoned the posi-
tions which he occupied to beyond the bridge of Caffaro.
A revolution, it was said, broke out at Trent at the mo-
ment at which the Austrians fell back on it. The tocsin
was heard at Condino, Darso, and in the neighbouring
villages of the Italian Tyrol."

By the latest accounts received from the seat of
war, it appears that the head-quarters of the Pied-
montese army was on the 16th at Alpo, on the Mincio,
to which it had been obliged to retreat on learning
that Vicenza had fallen into the hands of the Aus-
trians.

COMMEMORATION OF PURCELL
IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY.—(THIS DAY.)
This morning, at ten o'clock, a grand sacred musical
performance took place in the new choir of Westminster
Abbey, in commemoration of that great musical com-
poser, Purcell, when some of his best and most effective
sacred compositions were executed in a style worthy
their great master, by a choir most effective in every
part, and one seldom brought together, even within the
walls of Westminster Abbey. The exertions of the
present Dean to repair the errors, or the omissions of his
predecessors, are already well known to our readers.
He has completely remodelled the whole of the
choir of this splendid building, and made it in perfect
keeping with the rest of the Abbey ; but not satisfied
with this, he has shown his determination that the choir
shall be devoted to the production of some of our most
able sacred composers. and an earnest of that determi-
nation may be found in the selections ot this day. The
Te Dium and the Jubilee were given with great
pathos and depth ot feeling ; and the anthems, " Out
ot the Deep," " 0 Lord God of Hosts," and
" 0 give thanks," were performed in a manner
worthy their great beauty and the excellency
of their musical composition by Purcell. In addition to
the usual choir, several most eminent choristers were in
attendance, and added greatly, by their excellent ex-
ecution of some of the most difficult solos, to the beauty
and effectiveness of the performance. The Queen's
chorister boys were also in attendance, attired in their
rich scarlet dresses. The Abbey was crowded in every
part, and amongst the most prominent personages pre-
sent we noticed his Royal Highness the Duke of Cam-
bridge, the Bishop of Gloucester, Sir George Clarke,
the Dean of Hereford (Dr. Mereweather). Sir C. Thorn-
ton, and Canons the Rev. J. Jarning and Dr. Words-
worth.

THE ASSAULT ON BOARD TUE ERA.—J. Green
and J. Robinson, two of the crew of the Era steam-
boat, were indicted at the Middlesex Sessions for
assaulting Mr. Waugh, solicitor, of Great James-street,
Bedford-row, on board that vessel. The facts of this case
were reported in the police intelligence on Tuesday.
The defendants pleaded guilty, and through their coun-
sel, Mr. Payne, expressed great contrition for their mis-
conduct. Mr. Waugh said he considered this case one
of importance to the public, and he had brought it for-
ward on public grounds. He did rot press for any pu-
nishment but such as the court might think proper for
the protection of the public travelling by steam-boats.
Mr. Sergeant Adams sentenced each of the prisoners to
14 days' imprisonment.
DEATH Of LADY ELIZABETH MONCRIEFTE.—
This lady died on Saturday last.
at her residence in
Chapel-street, from the effects of the injuries she sus-
tained by having accidentally caught fire. The deceased
was born the 6th of September, 1769, and was second
daughter of George, eighth Earl of Dalhousie, therefore
aunt of the Governor-General of India. She married
13th of April, 1786, Sir Thomas Moncrieff:, Bart., and
was mother of the late, and grandmother of the present
Baronet.—Last night an inquest was held by Mr. Bed-
ford on the body of Lady Elizabeth Moncreiffe, aged
79, who lost her life by her clothes accidentally taking
fire. The jury returned a verdict of " Accidental
Death."
A Mon ORATOR.--Mr. John Abraham Bell, a
popular snob orator at Manchester, who has repeatedly
declared his willingness to die for his country and the
charter, has absconded, leaving his wife and childr‘n
chargeable to the pariah.—Leeds Mercury.