The republic. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1849-1853, 1849-07-11

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Correspondence OF the Journal or Commerce.
PARIS, June IT, l849.
The General Agricultural Congress of France
had been in session In the capital since the 4th IN
slant, and has just separated. 1t was composed of
men of influence and knowledge. Dupn, speaker
Of the Legislative Assembly, was chosen president
| of the Congress. The mortgage system, the or
ganizaon Of credit toncier or land banks the ques
tons of water-courses and rights of way, and most
others pertinent the objects Of the convocatlOn,
were copiousy and ably discussed 1t was affirmed
that the revolution Of February caused deprecia-
ton of third in real estate which had been valued at
fifty milIiards (billions Of frances and that moiety
of the net revenue was consumed by public charges
of one kind or other. report has been submitted
to Government, in favor of agricultural institutes,
| with professional instruction. Most of the discus
sons will be published in body.
1t has been calculated, in the British House of
Commons, that the maintenance of the public roads
cost England three millions sterling. This charge
must be heavy in France. You will find it asserted
without contradiction, in recent debate In that
| House. that the income of the real properly IN
chancery in Ireland is 1853, 900 pounds sterling a
year; that on portion of it about 300 pounds
sterling had been laid out in improvement, but on
property with rental of $780, 900 pounds sterling
per annum not shilling in improvement or for the
employment of the poor. During l84S, the private
gifts and legaces in Paris to the poor and to char-
| table institutions, amounted to nearly 232,OOO
francs, and 700 of annutes
The Chamber of Deputies of Belgium has been
diligently employed on industrial concerns Many
petitions are submitted from societies Of manufac-
lures and mechanic arts, and of literature and the
fine arts, praying special patronage and protection
for industrial, artistic, and literary property. "A
law of patents, founded on memorial of Belgian
inventors, is under consideration. On your side of
| the water imposing authority has been resisted, and
vigorous argument lavshed, for the adoption OF IN
ternational copyright between the United States and
Great Britain. The authority wins my respect,
but my mind has not yielded in the least to the
reasoning. In the British Court of Exchequer last
week case was adjudged involving an important
question Of international copyright, and had been
fully argued the preceding term. The main point
was whether the plaintiff acquired any copyright
having title by assignment from foreigner.
Chief Justice Pollock for the court: Ihe court was
of opinion that under such circumstances no copy
right was acquired A foreigner had no copyright at
common law, and could only obtain it by statute.
All the statutes relating to copyright were intended
for the encouragement and protection OF British
subjects, by birth residence. The court could
find nothing in the copyright acts to lead them to
the conclusion that the Legislature intended to pro-
tect the properly of foreigners. The Judgment
. was therefore for the defendant"
In mentioning the session of the French Agrlcul-
tural Congress, could have added that the national
vivacty Of temper has occasionally betrayed the
Congress into unseemly tumults. reporter OF
one Of the debates says:
"For some minutes it attained the height of the
most stormy assemblies. III s'est mis- pendant
quelques minutes a la hauteur des assemblies les
plus tumultueuses.
We had in the legislative hall, few afternoons
ago, this pleasant episode: "Mr. President, why
do you not keep ORDER" Dupin, the President:
"Aye, keep order; what have done but ring my
bell with both hands for half an hour Here,
(opening his waistcoat,) look at my shirt 1t is
soaked with perspiration. You are all alike. One
side is bad as the other" Universal hilarity, sub
Joins the Moniteur. Napoleon Bonaparte (son of
Jerome) was shouting 'Vive la Republique Demo-
crauque ct Sociae," and his cousin, Peter-"Down
with the Sociale! Vve la Republique honnete. v
The fourteenth report, lately published of the
inspector of the prisons of Great Britain, Is very
instructive exposition, and comprehensive as TO all
prison discipline. 1t occupies more than four col
umns of the London Morning Chronicle Our
French philanhropists and Legislators far from
being as yet unanimous touching solitary conhne
ment. The subject is now in the hands Of gov
eminent committee, two Of whom have asked Of me
a Philadelphia pamphet-"An inquiry into thu
: tendency of convict separation"-which is repre-
scented reply 10 the work of Mr.. +. G. Gray, o
;; Boston. was unable to furnish it. had distri
buted several copies of the Boston work, and thu
has exerted influence on opinion.
The opportune report of the London Genera
Board Of Health on the revival OF cholera canno
fail TO engage attention in the United States. Their,
was, from the Goth May to the Ilth inst, an in
crease corresponding to that here in the inter
! val in the number of attacks and the mortality
Your cities will not overlook ample report from
the same board on quarantine, recommending III,
substitution of sanitary for quarantine regulations
I IL is founded on principles essentially different
from those on which the present systems of quaran
=. -. ~ r.
alton, which would seem to justify the doctrines o.
The paper.
Il How terrible the official Irish Criminal Statistics
, With population not near the half Of England, tn,
amount of crime is nearly the same in both coun
tries. In Scotland in l648 it was much less pro
, portonably, than in either. IL is observed tina
famine has been the chronic disease of Ireland from
time immemorial. Mr.. Grattan said lately in the
House of Commons "The island is but one vas
poor-house." External causes account for the
: amount and increase Of offences against the laws
Hibernian idiosyncracies Of temperament do not
suffice Ii is enough to read the debates in Parla-
ment Of this month"; on the evctlons Of tenanry, the
rate-in-aid bill, the Irish poor law, the protest OF
dssentent peers against the rate-n-aid and all the
discussions Of the property pauper and emigration
topics. You may observe that, by the Official re-
turns, the poor tax Of the United Kingdom for lS4s
was FL $50 900, Of which six for England and
Wales, GOO 00O for Scotland and 81 900 for
nearly three times more Of properly in England "a
support the poor than in Ireland. By the way, We
, may be struck with the very small difference il
I the net amount Of the property and income tax o
the years lS47 and lS4S :-f5, 675,57 for lS47
f5,63S, 100 for ls4S. The Irish committas in lS4S
show increase above those Of the preceding year
Of "a, l04 cases-the whole number in 1646 being
l00,54l. The inspectors of the Irish jalls assert
that all the jals in the island capable of accom-
modating only $50 persons but last year not less
than Is, 292 prisoners were crowded into them
The packing in the African slave trade could scarce
y be worse. The mortality was nearly as fright
ful-twelve hundred
1t my purpose to dwell on other recent
British documents and debates, but must reserve
7 my notes. | merely indicate now the discus.
sion of the constitution for Australia, wherein
just tribute was paid the institution Of the Senate
D Of the United States-of Mr.. Humc's motion for
: Parliamentary reform, marked by Lord John Rus
sells testimony to the complete yet happy and
stable democracy Of the Americans, order accom-.
panied with liberty and constitution suited 10 the