The Sun.
London, England, 1846-12-24 00:00:00

'elatlting '7.: Ant

LONDON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 24, 1846

Incidentally the views of the present Government
have been in a measure divulged with respect to the
propriety, the advisability, and even the necessity for
some national system of education. During the

customary proceedings at a dinner given at York, on
Tuesday evening, in connexion with the York. and
Ripon Diocesan Board of Education, the Right lion.

Chairman, Lord MORPETII, took occasion to raise a
corner of that curtain which it is to be hoped will
be altogether removed before the close of the ap•
proaching session. After an apologetic assurance of
his incapacity to enter fully into the consideration of
the various local exigencies, on the plea of his being
now " more confined to the streets of London than to
the woods and forests, with which he is nominally
associated," the Noble Lord very adroitly touched
upon that grand question which has latterly engrossed
so much of the public attention, and the settlement
of which is anticipated from the wisdom and liberality
of her MAJESTY'S advisers. The concessions, the
principles, the acknowledgments, and the half pro-
mises embodied in the expressions uttered by Lord
MORPETII will be peculiarly gratifying to the popu-
lation, as they will be regarded as an official assur-
auce that the moral and intellectual wants of the
community will not be neglected by the Administra-
tion. More than this, the observations made on
Tuesday evening by the Noble Lord, the Chief Com-
missioner of the Woods and Forests, will be devoured
with peculiar avidity by the multitude as the 19th of
January becomes day by day a more appreciable and
conceivable " to-morrow." So long has the necessity for
some State assistance to the education of the populace
been apparent, so repeatedly has the aid of the
Government been postponed, so numerous and con-
flicting have been the plans propounded, and so con-
tinually have the expectations of the public been
disappointed by the dilatoriness of successive Cabinets,
that anything like a mere announcement of opinion on
the all-important subject seems like a perceptible
step in the right direction, and is welcomed accord.
ingly. Since the last election of Lord Joss RUSSELL
as representative for the city of London, there has
been no such definite exposition of the views of the
Ministry upon the question of national education as
that contained in the brief but satisfactory remai k 5
of the Noble Lord the Member for the 'West Riding
of Yorkshire.
With a very natural circumspection, Lord Mon-
PETII deprecated any anxiety to extract from him
any inferences or conclusions as to the ulti-
mate intentions of the Legislature. "I will

not," he says, " encounter the topic as to how

far the State ought to act—how far the State
ought to move—or how far the State ought to stand
aloof with respect to the education of the people:,
That concealment of the machinery which has been,
or is being constructed by himself and his colleagues,
was indeed the only course the Noble Lord could
pursue under the circumstances. It would have been
miserably premature and marvellously inappropriate
to expound the schemes of the Government in detail,
or to commit the Ministry by any decisive declara-
tion. In making this reservation, however, Lord
MORPETM very judiciously insinuated the readiness
of the present Administration to meet the wishes of
the people to a considerable extent. " I may per-
haps," he observed, " without incurring the imputation
of great rashness, tenture to conjecture that the
fittest course to pursue would be, not that which is
indicated by an extreme view on either side of the
case." In other words, we are not to anticipate from
the Government any educational measures resulting
from the dictates of party zealots or religious zealots,
from fanatics or latitudinarians. That is unquestionably
the declaration which might have been anticipated
from a Russell Cabinet. That is precisely the prin-
ciple most in accordance with the present enlighten-
ment and with the present prostration of factions.
The Legislature is neither to be influenced by the
voice of passion nor by the promptings of indiffe-
rence. It would be equally monstrous to com-
mit the Department of Popular Instruction
to the direction and discretion of Arts-
CUARSIS CLOOTZ or of SOLOMON EAGLE. Bigotry
would be as repressive and pernicious in its effect
upon an independent people as the most frantic and
mischievous infidelity; and anything at all border-
ing on either of those extremes would be found to be
essentially prejudicial. Undue earnestness in
behalf of anything dogmatic or conventional
would exercise a baneful influence over the
intellect and morality of the people, if it did not
actually breed insubordination. Indifferentism would
in like manner counteract all the advantages which
might be otherwise experienced from a legislative
interference.

In a subsequent portion of his speech, Lord MOE.-
PETII expressed himself yet more definitely. "With
respect to the country at large," he exclaimed,
" I am not satisfied with the exact state of
things which prevails at present." That is

IF 51 iredly emphatic and significant enough ! That is
I i 1 tually an engagement that something will be done
the present Government towards the amelioration
of these mental wants of the populace, and this be-
es use a distinguished member of that Government
has explicitly announced his dissatisfaction with the
'existing state of things.
Lord MonrETH was not, however, contented with
this simple declaration. He proceeded further. Ile
enter into the minutiae of these national exigencies.
"I think there is a call," said he, "for more schools
than we have"—so much for the extension and diffu-
sion of education by the Ministry. " I think there
is a call for better schools than many of those we
'have"—so much for the remodelling of the sys-
i'em or systems at present adopted before the
I latter is embodied in a Ministerial propo-
si 'tion. Then, again, that little dissylable " many"
ii nplies that good may be extracted from
tI a systems of some; that all the schools at present
:isting are not improveable in every particular ; and
at advantageous clauses in the scheme to be here-
:. if ter introduced to Parliament may be drawn from
1 :perience, as well as suggested by Anticipation.
" I think," he continues, " that many of
oin r masters are ill qualified for their office;
a n d almost all less well paid than we could wish"—
t b at is tantamount to an engagement that the normal
s.tools must undergo a thorough reformation. No-
t' li ing, indeed, could be wanting to inspire us with
c o nfidence as to the intentions of the Ministry in re-
E rd to national education after the lucid and
c tl ndid enunciations of Lord Monrrru ; nothing
cos ald be wanting to confirm our most sanguine ex-
stations of the principles likely to be sanctioned by
ird JOHN RUSSELL, after these assurances from the
)uth of the Right Hon the Chief Commissioner of
h, U • Majesty's Woods and Forests.
Not the least valuable portion of the harangue de-
axed by the Noble Lord on Tuesday evening was
ti s 1 in which he directed his remarks to the children
st it vrintended by the York and Ripon Diocesan Board
ot! Education, in which he inculcated in graceful
tot ms the holiness of probity, of purity, of industry,
al ii I of morality ; in which he alluded to
a a .t superb minster, which is not only the
a, znment of the ancient city of York, but
w I ich is one of the noblest architectural memo-
rials of England. " I hope," he said, "that you will
ver look at its grey walls and massive roofs, tower-

it i g as they do above the more humble buildings
aund them, without remembering that you your-
s( A-es ought to aspire to rise above the grovelling
c t res and the low passions of the life around
yc u; and that you will never see the
fi. it beams of the morning, nor the last
h 3 es of evening reflected from its shining pyramids,
or• its gorgeous traceries, without remembering that
t} i are are still more exquisite proportions in the har-
rr e any of well-regulated affections, and that there are
sr c ,sets still more valuable in an honest spirit and in
a t veil-spent life." In upholding thus the cause of
Ii erality, enlightenment,' and civilisation, and in
Si a 'aking thus to the ductile intellect of childhood,
L t ,rd MORPETII is worthily employing one of the
nci blest prerogatives of his rank and fulfilling one of
hi loftiest duties as a Minister of the Crown.

'Destitution, and pestilence, and famine now reign
in Ireland. At present their only active opponents
art British wealth and British sympathy. The misery,
ho'r wever, that now overwhelms that unfortunate
cct untry does not spring from recent events, it has
0r,,:1y been aggravated by them. If the true annals of
It v2land be searched at almost any period during the
la s t six hundred years, they will be found to afford,
in the quaint language of Lord BELLAMONT, " a
pf criodio record of progressive ruin." Living for ages
up on the edge of famine, a slight increase of their
usual misery has been at all times sufficient to pre-
ci i)itate myriads of the Irish people into that fearful

During the reign of ELIZABETH, so prosperous for
E c.gland, the Irish seem to have descended to an
abrvss of misery deeper, if possible, than the present ;
for " notwithstanding," saith the poet SPENSER, " the
x+vince of Munster was a plentiful country, full of
noun and cattle, yet they were brought to such
w r etchedness as that any heart would rue the same.
Oiut of every corner of the woods and glens they came
ciloeping forth upon their hands, as if their legs could
nut bear them ; they looked like anatomies of death,
they spake like ghosts crying out of their graves ;
they did eat the dead carrion, happy when they could
find them—yea, and each other soon after, insomuch
that the very carcasses they spared not to scrape out
of their graves."
Coming down to a later period, we find Mr. FITZ.
GIY3BON, the grandfather of the present Lord CLARE',
dee.cribing Ireland, in the year 1763, in the following
ter ma :—" It is always with regret that I discover the
nakedness of my country, but upon this occasion I
ought not to hide it. Upon this occasion I must
remind you that Ireland is not more than one-third
poopled. This island is supposed to contain three
trillions of inhabitants, and of these two millions
lire like the beasts of the field upon a root picked out
of the earth, almost without hovels for shelter, or
clothes for covering. 'What method can be found to
prevent the ruin of a state in which these evils not
only continue, but increase ?"
These evils have notoriously continued and in-
creased up to this very hour. Why have these evils
so long existed in Ireland ? Why does the state of
Inland differ so widely and so miserably from the
state of England ? The reason is plain and undeni-
thle; it is because the laws—those great trainers
and educators of nations—are different, and have
always been different, in the two countries. Every
one can point out active and immediate causes of
Irish evils, but few will take the trouble of tracing
them to their ultimate cause—the difference of laws,
which we assert, without fear of disproof, to be the
common origin of all the woes and agitations of
Ireland ; for what, after all, have these agitations
been but irregular efforts to redress injurious laws,
resembling in this respect blotches upon the drunkard's
face, which are only violent efforts of nature to
remove the poison improperly admitted into the
system.
Holding this opinion as to the cause of the evils of Ire-
land—an opinion entertained, we believe, by nine-tenths
of the educated inhabitants of both islands—we read
with hopeful pleasure a report of an argument lately
made, at an Irish court of registration, in which it

was insisted, that under the articles of union with

Ireland, all statutes attempting to establish a differ-
ence in civil rights between the two countries, are
ipso facto null and void; and that, consequently, Ire-
land can obtain perfect equality in such rights by an
appeal to the existing laws. We noticed this argu-
ment in a former article, and pointed out what would
be the results of establishing its correctness. We
resume the consideration of this argument, and shall
here shortly consider what is the nature of the in-
strument commonly called the Act of *Union between
Great Britain and Ireland, and by what law its pro.
visions are to be tested. In the argument to which
we allude, the origin, objects, and nature of the Act
f Union are thus stated :

" For some time prior to the year 18CO3 no power on earth
(to use the words of the declaration of Irish rights) had
authority to bind the people of this country, except the
King, Lords, and Commons of Ireland. In that year a
treaty was entered into and concluded, for the purpose
of uniting the kingdoms of Great Britain and Ireland
into one kingdom. This treaty is commonly called the
Act of Union. This instrument is not, however a mere
Act of Parliament, but a treaty—it is so expressly
termed in the second paragraph of the fourth article,
which runs thus:—' That such Act as shall be passed to
regulate the mode by which the Lords Spiritual and
Temporal, and the Commons to serve in the Parliament
~f the United Kingdom, shall be summoned and returned,
shall be considered as forming part of the Treaty of
[Lion.' No other Act of Parliament is styled a treaty.
What is the meaning of the word treaty ? It does not
signify a law enacted by a governing body to bind its
subjects, but it means a compact entered into between
so-ordinate and sovereign powers. The co-ordinate and
sovereign powers who were parties to the Treaty of Union
sere the separate and independent kingdoms of Great
Britain and Ireland, represented respectively by the
King, Lords, and Commons of each kingdom. The
Treaty of Union commences with the following recital :
Whereas, in pursuance of his Majesty's most gra-
cious recommendation to the two Houses of Parliament
in Great Britain and Ireland respectively, to consider of
such measurs as might best tend to strengthen and to
consolidate the connexion between the two kingdoms,
the two Houses of Parliament of Great Britain, and
the two Houses of Parliament of Ireland, have severally
agreed and resolved that in order to promote and secure
the essential interests of Great Britain and Ireland, and
to consolidate the strength, power and resources, of the
British empire, it will be advisable to concur in such
measures as may best tend to unite the two kingdoms of
Great Britain and Ireland into one kingdom, in such '

manner and on such terms and conditions as may be es-
tablished by the Acts of the respective Parliaments of
Great Britain and Ireland. And whereas, in further-
ance of the said resolution, both Houses of the said two
Parliaments respectively, have likewise agreed upon cer-
tain articles for effectuating and establishing the said
purposes in the tenor following.' Immediately after
this recital, the treaty sets out the articles of union,
eight in number. These articles were first settled by the
Irish Parliament, and sent to England as the terms and
conditions upon which Ireland would consent to be united
to England. England accepted these, conditions with
some slight alterations. Ireland agreed to these altera-
tions, and confirmed the articles so
;altered. The ar-
ticles of union thus became matters of stipulation and
bargain between the two independent kingdoms of Great
Britain and Ireland. Great Britain solemnly pledged
herself to an exact observance of these terms and con-
ditions, and Ireland confiding in that solemn pledge, con-
sented to the union, which she was at that ,time fully
competent to reject."

The statements above quoted are no doubt histo-
rically true. The Act of Union is a treaty entered into
between the two kingdoms of Great Britain and Ire-
land, at that time sovereign and independent, and
connected only by the golden link of the Crown ; the
very nature of the instrument would prove it to
be a treaty even although that denomination had not
been affixed to it, as in point of fact has been done in
the fourth article. A treaty is a common law enacted
and ratified by two or more nations for the due
execution of which each nation, party to the treaty,
pledges itself to all the other nations parties to the
same. The paragraphs or divisions Of a treaty are
not termed sections, as in an Act of Parlia-
ment, but articles, and a treaty is said to
consist of so many articles. All these
forms are observed in the Treaty of Union.
It consists of eight articles, and the ratification of
these articles was thus solemnly declared by the Le-
gislatures of Great Britain and Ireland :—" In order,
therefore, to give full effect and validity to the same,
be it enacted by the KING'S most excellent Majesty,
by and with, &c. &c., that the said foregoing recited
articles, each and every one of them, according to the
true intent and tenor thereof, be ratified, confirmed,
and approved ; and be, and they are hereby declared
to be, the articles of the Union of Great Britain and
Ireland, and the same shall be in force and have effect
for ever, from the first day of January, 1801." And
as if to mark a difference between the Treaty of
Union and an ordinary Act of Parliament, and to
intimate a superior and more lasting obligation, the
Sovereign did not give his consent in the usual
form of Le roi le vent, but on the part of the nation
solemnly swore to observe it, by saying, " So help me
GOD I will maintain this Act."

The law of nations is the interpreter of all treaties.
The law of nations may be cited and relied upon in
all British courts of justice, for it is part of the law
of England. In the case of TRIGUET and another
v. BATH, 3d BURROWS, 1478, it was decided that the
law of nations in its full extent is part of the law of
England, and that the law -of nations was to be col-
lected from the practice of different nations and the
authority of writers, such as GROTSUS, VATTELL,
BARBEYRA C, BLNKERSHOEK, &c. To the test of the
law of nations all questions of law arising out of the
Treaty of Union must therefore come, and by the
rules laid down in the law of nations the British
courts of justice are bound to decide all such questions.
That the Act Union is a treaty, and that the law
of nations is its proper interpreter, thus appears to
us to be positions altogether undeniable. We pro-
pose, in another article, to apply the test of the law of
nations to the sixth article of the Treaty of Union,
and to examine whether, according to the strict rules
of law, that article can bear the interpretation at-
tempted to be given to it in JACKSON'S case; that is,
whether that article extends to Ireland, as of right,
all British civil privileges, and restrains the United
Parliament from passing any laws which would de-
prive our Irish fellow-subjects of any civil rights
privilege, benefit, or advantage that is possessed by
the subjects of Great Britain, and thus affords to
Ireland the means of acquiring every British civil
right by an appeal to the ordinary legal tribunals of
the country.

At the adjourned Middlesex Sessions, which com-
menced last Monday at the Court-house, Clerken-
well, the Assistant-Judge, in the presence of a full
bench of magistrates, addressed the grand jury upon
two important subjects ; the first related to the insti-
tution of the grand jury ; the second to the impera-
tive necessity of taking some decided steps with the
view of effecting the reformation of juvenile
offenders. Upon the latter topic we have for a long
time cordially concurrred in the opinion entertained
by Mr. Sergeant ADAMS, and have frequently
pressed its paramount importance upon the attention
of our readers, But, upon the former, we differ very
widely from the leaning which, as elicited by his
recent observations, the mind of the Assistant-Judge
evidently manifests in favour of the abolition of grand
juries. His opinion seems to have been formed from
the following considerations :—The fact, that a com-
mittee has been appointed to report upon several
presentments made- by Middlesex grand juries, de-
claratory of their comparative inutility, regard
being had to the nature of the charges brought before
that Court ; the belief, that police magistrates had
the fullest opportunity
.of judging whether the
charges preferred were prima facie supported or not;
the evil and useless system of bringing, 24 times
every year, never less than 36, and frequently 72,
gentlemen from their different localities ; and, lastly,
the circumstance, that statements are often made be-
fore grand juries quite at variance with the original
depositions taken before the committing magistrates.
We except to very much of these several allegations ;
but, even granting them all to be true, we deny them
to be of sufficient weight to warrant the object
for which they have been specifically enun-
ciated. In the first place, it would not be
wise to attach much importance to the above-men-
tioned presentments of the grand juries, seeing that,
if they were abolished, they would be freed from a
duty which must necessarily entail some personal
sacrifices ; and men are not unfrequently spurred on,
from selfish considerations, to recommend changes in
existing institutions, of either the origin, or present
value for which, for the protection of the reputation and
liberty of the subject, they may be in comparative
ignorance, or upon which they have never been at
the pains to bestow any deep reflection. The
Assistant-Judge concedes that, " when grand
juries were first established, they were a most
important institution, to counteract any ten-
dency to despotism by the coroner, or to lessen
the evils of popular excitement ; but that, at
present, their appropriate sphere of utility seemed to
be in the higher criminal courts." We answer, that
to-morrow a man may be exposed to be harassed by
the despotism of a coroner, or the pernicious effects
of popular prejudice; and that as against the injury
of continued persecution, to the accused, who is con-
scious of his innocence, the grand jury presents a
powerful bulwark for his protection. The graver the
offence imputed, the greater is the necessity for such
an institution ; and we confess, therefore, we neither
admire the discrimination of the Judge, in limiting
the superior criminal tribunals as the only appro-
priate sphere for grand juries, nor can we extol the
judicial perceptions of the several grand juries, who
seem so ready to concede their " comparative
inutility, regard being had to the nature of the cases
brought before them," when, in the very last calendar,
65 of the 68 prisoners, whose names it contained, were
charged with felony. Keeping in mind the heavy
sentences to which persons convicted of felony are
liable, we hope this country will never be without a
grand jury to intervene between the prisoner and his
threatened appearance in a criminal dock before a
petit jury. We protest against a judge lamenting, in
the presence of grand juries, the inconvenience to
which they may be occasionally put by having to
attend the sessions ; and we have no sympathy with
men who grudge the time which they are herein
called upon to devote to the public service. It is a
duty, grave and humane, which they owe to the
State. The protection which it is benevolently
meant they should give to the innocent, overtaken, it
may be, by adverse circumstances, speciously, and
perhaps vindictively concatenated, which have led an
ignorant, or weak-minded, or prejudiced magistrate,
to commit him for trial—the like protection, which it
is the solemn duty of every grand juryman, by
a rigid and impartial investigation, to afford
to a subject, thus unhappily placed, it may
be his own lot to look for and desire, before the close

of his life. It is all very well to observe that police
magistrates have the "fullest opportunity " of decid•
ing whether charges are prirnd facie borne out or not.

The opportunity may be the best possible, but if the

magistrate be incompetent. to avail himself of it, what
becomes of its vaunted val ue? Country magistrates,
taken as a body, are sha; n' afully unfit for the functions
incidental to their office; and the indiscretions of the
metropolitan are not so •". few and far between " as to
sanction the abolition of tine " most important" insti-
tution of the grand jury.. Statements may be made
before these bodies diffe sing considerably from those
received by the magist !rates. These discrepancies
may often be the result of a venial humanity. With
the subsidence of the vari at is gusts of passion by which
the mind of an injured pl tr ty may have been prompted
to put the law in motion against his aggressor, and
the subsequent knowledg ;e of marks of deep contri-
tion on the part of the ofl a nder, the prosecutor may
be benignly disposed to SF iv e the prisoner from suffer-
ing further punishment ; nd thus, yielding to the
pardonable errors of his rtat -ure (if such they be), be-
come the means of prevent ing the grand jury from
finding a true bill. That, on the other hand, the
ends of justice are defeate d by witnesses being tam-
pered with, and bribed I,y " hush money," may not
admit of dispute ; but t his corrupt practice is not
confined to witnesses befoft ; grand juries—it is noto-
rious that witnesses are, by, the like means, kept out of
the way when they ought to be forthcoming at the
trial itself. But would this constitute an adequate
reason for abolishinglrial by common juries? Would
it not at once be said that its advantages .far counter-
vailed the solitary abuse ? We give theTharne response
to the project for sweeping away the venerable and
valuable institution of the grand jury.
We have so recently \written upon the desired
reformation of juvenile delinquents, that it is
unnecessary to dilate furtl er upon this subject at the
present moment. Five hu udred of these youthful
offenders, whose ages var 3 from seven to twelve
years, have been committed to prison within the last
twelve months. A boy was last week sentenced to
six months' imprisonment, iwhich the Assistant-Judge
intimated he would gladly have avoided passing, had
the law left any other coui-w open to him. Shall this
conflict between law and philanthropy be longer en-
dured ?

Madrid papers to the 14th have arrived.
Senor PIDAL, on the sec,xad election, has been re-
turned for Madrid, by 287 :against 214, the number
of votes polled for the Marquis DE SOCORRO, the Pro-
gressista candidate. The manner in which the Count
DE MONTEMOLIN has been, received in London has
created a great sensation in the Spanish capital.
Senor Mori had been clofeted for some hours with
Senor BRAVO MURILLO ; the subject of the confer-
ence being, as is supposed a modification of the
Cabinet.

MADRID BOLSA, DEC. 14.—The Three per Cents.
were done on the 14th at 3414 for cash ; the Four per
Cents. at 21; the Five per Cents. at 21*; the Vales
at ; the Debt without :Interest, at 6i. ; and the
Coupons, at 191-.

We have received the Paris papers of Tuesday.
The affairs of Germany and of Spain are com-
mented on in these journals. The Courricr Francais
thus describes the state of opinion in Germany, and
the alarm prevailing there. We fear that the state-
ment of the Courrier, that the free states of Germany
have nothing to hope for from official France, is but
too true

" The state of opinion in Germany seriously alarms
the three Powers. That alarin betrays itself in all
their official organs, whose diplomatic correspondents
bitterly reproach the German press with making common
cause with the French press. The petty states of the
Confederation, menaced in their existence by the
destruction of Cracow, look up to France for protec-
tion. They have, however, little to expect from that
quarter, and they are told by the diplomatists of Vienna,
that the protest of the French Cabinet, on which
the Germans appeared to rely, had produced less sensa-
tion than even the English note.' Now, we know with
what indifference Lord Palmerston, entirely preoccupied
with the Spanish marriages, protested (hypothetically)
against the incorporation of Cracow. We may judge
from that of the tenor of the note -of M. Guizot. The
Germans, consequently, have nothing to hope from
official France. Still they hope, knowing well that a
brave and humane nation is to be found behind a false
and egoistical Government. Moreover, Germany has no
choice left. All that badly balanced scaffolding, raised by
the treaties of Vienna, threatens to crumble entirely
under the states of the Confederation, shaken in their
very foundation by the downfal of Cracow. None of
them are sure of their existence for one day, being
surrounded on all sides by predatory Powers. Upon
what country should they rely in their imminent
danger, if not upon France, the only supporter of
democracy in Europe? Dreading the effects which French
ideas still exercise in Germany, in spite of the pitiful
attitude of our Government, Austria preaches a crusade
against France. One day she asserts in the Austrian
Observer. that we dare not accept war, and that were the
Powers to share among themselves axony and a.l the
states of the Confederation, France would look on as she
did in the case of Cracow. The next day.M. de Metter-
nich writes to the Augsburgh Gazette, that if France de-
termined on war it would be to absord Rhenish Germany,
as she had lately absorbed Spain and Italy, as she pre-
viously absorbed Belgium, and we know not how many
other imaginary countries. Behold M. Guizot and the
Court of the Tuileries denounced to Germany—and by
Austria!—for their extravagant ambition. Louis XIV.
and Napoleon are outdone by our sublime Minister for
Foreign Affairs, who must certainly wonder at himself,
and perhaps consider himself bound to refute such an
imputation. It is reported that the Germanic Diet will
refuse to recognise the act of incorporation of Cracow.
Germany, they say, ought to decline all participation
with the three Powers in the political complications
that may arise from the violation of the treaties. The
commercial cities, injured by the incorporation, in
their interests and their relations with Cracow, loudly
complain and expostulate. Breslau has sent deputations
to Berlin to demand that Cracow should remain a
free city. Prussia perceives, rather late, that her
connivance with Austria and Russia has estranged
from her the affection of Germany, and is now endea-
vouring to justify herself in the journals devoted
to her cause. ' In conjunction with the London and
Paris press,' says the Universal Gazette, the Ger-
man papers particularly attack Prussia in the case of
Poland. Nevertheless Prussia does not possess I-30th
part of the partitioned kingdom. She could not,
without endangering her own safety, oppose that par-
tition, and it did not behove her to undertake, for the
restoration of Poland, what England and France de-
clined to do. Did she not alwa3 s treat the Poles with
kindness ? &c. Would Prussia make use of that lan-
guage if she did not find her influence compromised in
Germany? And, if the fate of Cracow excited such
agitation in the public mind, what shall be the alarm
produced by the last absorption of Poland now ef-
fected by the Czar, and which is the mere conse-
quence of the act of Cracow ! That absorption of the
kingdom of Poland places Russia in the heart of Ger-
many. The Czar dreaded so humble a state as Cra-
cow. What jealous domination will he not now inflict
on Germany, from which in future no barrier will se-
parate him?"
On the subject of Spain the National says that the
Ministry is dislocated; that- Mr. BULWER has re-
sumed his influence with the young couple, and that
the departure of CHRISTINA for France is probable.
But still it contends that the desire of independence
on the part of ISABELLA has as yet produced no fruits ;
the scandal of the Palace has not affected general
politics, and, although the Ministry is dislocated, the
person charged with its reconstruction is Senor .1110 N,
the creature of the Count BRESSON.
The Constitutionnal, in noticing a rumour which
prevails in Germany, that it is the intention of the
Emperor of RUSSIA to destroy even the name of
Poland, and to call that portion of it which is sub-
mitted to his yoke New Russia, expresses its dis-
belief of the rumour, (because there is already a
province named New Russia, of which Odessa is the
capital ; and, secondly, because Poland, being an
older country than Russia, to call Old Poland New
Russia would be a solecism. There does not appear
to be much force in the latter objection. One who,
like the Emperor of Russie, has set all rules of
morality and justice at defiance, will scarcely be re-
strained by the rules of grammar.

In consequence of the measures adopted by the
English Government for the reduction of the duties

on 'sugar, produced by free labour, some of the towns
in the Nord have demanded from the Minister of
Commerce permission to export, free of duty, beet-
root sugar taken direct from the manufactories. The
Minister has acceded to this application.
The Minister of Finance publishes the returns of
the quantity produced and the consumption of beet-
root sugar during the present season, from which it
appears that 293 manufactories of the article were in
operation on the Ist of December. The quantity
manufactured down to that date amounted to
16,559,180 kilogrammes (16,559 tons) ; that sold
for consumption amounted to 7,355,886. The duties
levied on beetroot sugar during the year amounted
to 14,217,916 f.

It was not yet known on what day the KING and
QUEEN of the BELGIANS would leave Paris for London.
Their MAJESTIES would, however, spend the Christ-
mas holidays at Windsor.

Prince VICTOR DE RORAN• GTJEMENE, Duke de
Bouillon and de Montbeloo, expired on the 10th
instant at the Château of Sichrow, in Bohemia, in the
81st year of his age.

We read in the Journal du Hc;vre .

"A letter from Vera Cruz of the 25th of October,
speaks of the arrest of a midshipman of the French navy,
on suspicion of having carried ashore some dispatches of
the American Commodore. After having kept him a
week in prison, it was discovered that the pretended dis-
patches were merely an American newspaper, which this
young man had carried by order of his captain to a com-
mercial house. The discovery was rather tardy, and,
consequently, the French commandant had expressed
great indignation at this conduct of the Mexican autho-
rities towards a French officer."

Some fluctuation took place on the Paris Bourse on
Tuesday. In the end prices improved, but no reason
for it was stated.

The Three per Cents. cloned on that day at 80f. 80c. ;
the Five per Cents., 118 f. 65c. ; the Orleans Railroad Shares,
1,2651. ; Rouen, 9101.; Havre, 660 f. ; Great Northern,
6481. 75c. ; Avignon, 885 f.; Yierzon, 61014, Bordeaux,
5621. 50c.; Troyes and Montereau, 346 f. 25c.; 'Tule, 2201. ;
Dieppe, 360 f.; • Paris and Strasburg, 485 f.; Tours and
Nantes, 490 f.; Paris and Lyons, 511 E 25c. ; Lyons and
Avignon, 490 f. ; Bordeaux and Cette, 451 f. 25c.; Spanish
Do,restic Debt, 32:ri.
MARSEILLES, Dr.c. 17.—Marseilles and Avignon, 850 f.;
Northern, 643 f. 75,:.; Paris and Lyons, 505 f.
BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOCK EXCHANGE, DECEMBER 23.
Boulogne and Amiens, 15—Dutch Rhenish, 4;l4—Lux-
embourg, %—Namur and Liege, 314—Northern of France
Constituted, 10%—Paris and Lyons Constituted, 8 li—Paris
and Strasburg Constituted, 41/2—Sambre and Meuse, 4%.