The New York Herald Newspaper, April 28, 1848, Page 1

4 (ae le Senate empties tg Sheen a vam ote THE NEW YORK HERALD. Whole Ro, 5083 NEW YORK, FRIDAY MORNING, APR HIGHLY IMPORTANT MANIFESTO. Views of Mr. Cobden and the Movement Party in England, on the Crisis. Affairs on the. Continent, it, ite, bt, 2 THR MANIFESTO O¥ MR COBBEN AND THE MOVE- MENT PARTY IN ENGLAND, (From the Manchester Examiner, April 8 ) i When an intelligent toreigner first visits this country, his feclings are ever those of surprise and admiration. He flies from town to town, inspects great establishments, witnesses many marvellous combinations of skill and industry, surveys our streets and our public buildinge, mingles with our active merchants and manu- facturera, and in the houses of hospitasle enter- tuiners comes into con‘act with numbers of men who owe their wealth to their intelligence and their activity. Then, when tired of the din of Birmingham, or the bustle of Manchester, he runs through rural districte, where he sees old aucestral halls, venerable churches, snug recto- ries and vicarages, and many a pleasant v embosomed in hills, and enriching the la scape. Returning to head-quarters, he mu murs, “Itis a venderful country, and a sur- prising people 1” f 4 Nor is the wonder abated, when in_the quiet- ness of retirement he turns over official docu- ments, supplied by the liberality of a British statist. The figures are to him puzzling in the extreme. Accustomed to calcuiate in the small- er coinage of his own country, he cannot con- vert British sterling into francs, or florins, or rubles, without a staggering sensation. The nitional wealth of Great Britain becomes as vast and vague a thing asthe figures which r present the distance of the fixed stare, or expre: the velocity of light. In thirty years of peace we have jucreased the annual value of real pro- perty by forty millions, representing a capital of athousand millions sterling. The annual value of that property is,in round numbers, one hundred millions. Ove year with another, we build ten mullions worth of houses. The insurance so- cieties haye contracted to assure trom the risk of fire, property eqnalto the nominal value of the national debt. Life assurance societies have aceuroulated a surplus capital of not less than forty miilions. A portion of the community, including aconsiderable number of the work ing clagses. have thirty millions in the savings banks. While im ships,in docks, warehouses, roads, canals, aud railroads, we have an amount of capital sunk far beyond our toreigner’s com- prehension, to say nothing of seven millions a year for poor rates, and fifty millions for national expenses, while forty-six millions of fluctuating capital eanually pay Irgacy duty. Were our foreigner a man incapable of pene- trating beneath the surtace, he might fall into a very natural error. He might come to the con- clusion that a nation so enormously rich must be inhabited mainly by a leisurely people. In every town he visited he found comfortable mer- chants and professional men, with eve! i around them indicative of easy circum: He saw carriages, livery servants, elegant houses, rich furniture, well-appointed tables, and was entertained with music and dancing. None seemed to be poor, but the very poor— nove appeared utterly wretched, but the reckless Activity, energy, and abundance, charaeterised the habits and tne daily life of the middle and upper clase-s. To live comfortably, it was only necessary to put forth sufficient exertion; and those who did.so seemed secure in attaining enough to render life a happy mixture of mode- rate to and attractive, because polished and elevated pleasures. A little more intercourse with us would soon enlighten our foreigner. We are not a leisurely people. The gyeat bulk of the community in this country are engaged in incessant toil, whether it be with the hand or the head ; 1f mer- chant, manutacturer, clerk, or workman suspend his labors, or be compelled to suspend them, his meaus of existence vanish. The idlers amongst us wre cCOmparatively few. Few are they who, by their own exertions, or those of, their pro- eniturs, can afford to saunter leisurely through fe. Tv eerest minority of the people ot Great Bru walk their parts; all the rest are doomed to grim, earnest work, and it is our pe- caliar glory that we have no The merchant is assiduous at h 3 the ma- nufacturer active and uneasy at hie mill; the pen is as busy as the spade, and the bustling commercial traveller carries in his head more aoxieties than ever troubled the carking farmer, fretiing about mildew, or sighing for fair wea- ther. Work is our lot, a lot accepted with un- qualifid cheerfulness, whether it be overa ledger or over a shirt, provided we can live by it; and he who measures the toils, the endurance, the incessant activity of the people of Britain by the amount of suek capital which they can show in their national books, commits a greater plunder than did Louis Pailippe, when he thought his hundred thousand troops would se- cure his throne, and entrench his dynasty. Here lies the root of the evil. We have a House of Commons—a reformed House. But by the consitution of society, and the nature of our institutions, that House is composed mainly of the clasetrom whence are derived our mino- rity of idlers. There are eminent merchants in the House—busy professional men ‘d work- ing, energetic and honest representatives of po- pular opinions. But the bulk of the Legislature is composed of the* idlere—in the one house al! lords, in the other all gentlemen—the sons, and brothers, and nephews of peers; squires ot high degree; wealthy landowners, who delegate to agents ail their duties; half pay officers, whose talk 18 of commissions and vacancies. Between a busy, toiling community, and some four or five hundred gentlemen sitting in the House of Commons, who have nothing to do but attend what they ostentatiously term their ‘ public duties,” there is a ‘great gulf,” although it is not necessarily ‘‘ fixed.” e have few points of contact. ‘e do not understand each other. ‘We tave no mutual sympathies—no common ground of comprehension. The idler drives to his club in the forenoen, and te the House in the evening, and wonders what these turbulent people really do want. he has his letters to write and his committees to attend; he has to watch the division bell, and mark himeelf a unit ina division. Going through such toils, he reaents the idea of being termed an “‘idie’ man. But be belongs to the minority, who, because they have no other business, think themselves per- tectly competent 8 manage the business of the nation, Yet for that business, they are wholly disqualified by previous education and habits At Harrow or Eton, at Oxford or Cambridge, they were finished young gentlemen ; and in town they are known ia the highest circles, and ure frequently seen at the opera. When the recess errives, they drive off to the Highlands or to the Continent; and return again to maunder through another season. Som they preside at a charitable dinner, or at [ and they can make a good eet speec' tion and distressed needle women, or the necessi- ty forsanitary reform. But never were men more ignorant of the nature of that great heart which beats inthe body of the toiling multitude. The millions who live day by day, as they best cap; the anxious shopkeepers, who see customers cropping off from their doors, and whose books are overciarged with bad debts; the busy ma- nufacturer or merchant, who knows that his own profita are dependent on the prosperity of his work people—all these are really unknown to the small minority of idlers who undertake to rule the destinies of a great commercial and manu- facturing country. Then Shy did we not do better, and send men to the House of Commons at the last general election, who would truly represent our wishes and oor feelings? The question is almost an in- sult, Poor men aud adventurers do contrive to get into the House of Commons, but their posi- uuen is one of constant and irksome struggle with necessity. ‘To be influential there, a man must be rich and leisurely. We did remarkably well at the last general election, for we sent into the House of Commons a larger number of men positively identified with commerce, manufactures, and trade, and with the interests 4g the batk of the people, than had ever previously been seen there. Bur what avail these men, when theif voices are drowned by a fall chorus of generals, admirals, voloatis and captains, barristers who hope to ¢ by the aristocracy, and connections of of- ficial men, omitting lords’ sons, brothers and nephews? Every right had we to look forward cacerfaily tothe work which this House of Com- mous would do. Grievously have we been dis- appounted—the eligarehical influences are too many tor the yetteeble power of commerce and trade, when advocating tne interesta of the com- mianity. | n ry « Now, ia it not au irritating thing to an anx- Ba - i ious, toiling communitv, to see their money flung away, at the very time when they have so little to spare? Manchester sends two members to parliament, and so does Maribororgh, which has only 230 registered £10 electors. The vot of the members for South Lancashire, with ite 800,000, or rather 1,000,000 of people, and 24,000 electors, may be neutralised by such a filthy hole as Harwich, where the poor wretches, “free and indevendent electors,” value a vote as one might estimate a stale fish—to be got rid of as soon as possible, at the highest price it will fetch. The West Riding of Yorkshire, with its 1,200,000 inhabitants, and ite 36,000 electors, has no chance against Horsham and Woodstock, each of whom muster between 300 and 400, who vote either as they are ordered, or as they are bought. Leeds, Birmingham, and Glasgow, each of them with a swarming population and large constituency, are on the very same level es Lyme Regis, Bewdley Lincoln, or Kinsale, places always to be let, and where honest men would scorn to possess the franchise, lest they should be implicated in the disgusting practices by which seats in parlia- ment are to be procured. No wonder that geue- tals, admirals, colonels, captains, commanders of yeomanry, militia, Yorkshire Hussars, or “Royal Meath Regiment,” should be sble to laugh down the appeal for economy in the na- tional expenditure, and, with an aristocratic sneer, to ‘‘powh-pooh” everything which would reveal to the legislature the real condition of the country. This state of things can be endured no longer. We of the middle classes have a vast stake in the welfare and well-being of the country. Our facto- ries, our shops, our counting-houses, and our warehouses, have cultivated and enriched the soil, and augmented the value of land tent The brawny arm of labor has drained the morass, reared the streets, dug our canals, and construct- ed our railroads. All that renders Eagland worth living for is the achievement of the middle and the working classes—capital, skill, and labor, are the supporters of throne, institutions, and public order. Are we torun great risks, because a few puerile idlers will not or cannot comprehend the necessities of the age, or the exigencies of the coun- try? Are we forever to have around us a dissa- tisfied, discontented population, standing as it were constantly under arms, and encamping over against the peace and prosperity of the country? Or shall we not endeavor to take them out of the hands of pike and bluanderbuss men, of wild theo- rists, and dangerous demagogues, and, by preach- ing blessed words of sympathy and encourage- ment tothe manly and thinking portion of the people, cool the fever of their souls? Yes—the hour is come—we want the men. We require an organization of meu suck as those who achieved the peaceful revolutions of bygone times. There is no fear of a violent revolution in this country; for all sympathies are on the side of order and peace, but there is something worse than folly in permitting even the idea to be enter- tained, of demands to be enforced by riot and bloodshed, which can be obtained by peaceful und constitutional exertion. The points of union for an organization of the middle and working classes are numerous and palpable. We want sufficient power ia the House of Commons to en- sure a thorough revision of all taxation, and a complete control over the national expenditure We want electoral districts, in order to extin- guish the disgusting bribery which is practised small boroughs, and by which idlers aad seat- gers buy their way into the legislature We require an enlargement of the suffrage, vote by bal- lot, and substantigl justice to [retan What else ts Tequired need got now be indicated. Are there honest, earnest men amongst the middle classgs ready to enter into such an or- ganisdtion? It there are, let them read what was written in the year 1819, by professor Goer- ree, and for which the late king of Prussia caused him to fly from his native country. They are words full of prophetic power, aud though nearly thisty years have elapsed, most signally are they descriptive of the great want ot the present hour. Thus spoke the prophetic Goerres :— © The persons of whom history is now in want are not amooth,euperficial, worn-out courtiers, who pursue un- meaning intignificancy as = study, and inanity aca trade; nor ministers, who can only set (themselves ut the end of a long row of clerks, and then 4: ‘a mer. tery of the letters of the alphabet, but who know no-’ thiog of the workd or life; mor generale, who bold the scabvard higher than the sword, and who esteam the ap- vesriag to advantege ina court drawing-room as the highest blessing on carth ; mor men in office, and rol- diers, whose whole vigor evaporates in empt w Ef- Gsient, active, and experienced m: ted, in is life and spiri:, who are ready to sacrifice aud their pleesares te the claims of the esteem forms according to their worth, but disdain to be slaves to them—mon who cn courageous- ly bestride the rapid courser, and govern its wild itm- petuosity.” AFPAIRS OF ENGLAND AND THE CONTINENT. (From the Manchester Examiner, April 8 ] Public affairs have not, at this moment, a cheering aspect. In London and in Manchester, @ gloomy epirit prevails, as if some undefined ca- lamity were impending ; and the cold, incessant rain which hus succeeded the sudden and pre- mature, heat is not calculated to lighten the at- mosphere of opinion, or impart to desponding hearts that feeling of confidence which can ral- ly a commercial and industrial communit Yet we really cannot see any substantial cause for allthis despondency. It 1s true that a chart- ist convention has been sitting in London, and foolish or excited men have uttered threats of contemplated violence, and urged the necessity for a positive resort to physical force. The go- vernment have also deemed it necessary to issue 4 proclamation, through the medium of the me- tropolitan commissioners of police, interdicting the announced great meeting on Kennington Common, and the contemplated procession to the House of Commons. We shail not comment on the inconsistency of a whig government (which, at the time of the reform bill agitation, was 60 indebted to displays of physical force,) intér- dicting a popular assemblage on the strength of an act of the reign of Charles the Second. they were to carry out that act in its integrity, liberty would be a mere name in this country The Daily News points out that the act of Charles the Second can be applied to any popular meet ing whatever, and is so constructed as to be ef- fective for the suppression of that right of peti- tion which was secured to us by the revolution of 1688. Bat all this we pass over, because we are averse to demonstrations which are not guid ed by men in whom we can place confidence, and because we feel persuaded that a procession of fifty or a hundred thousand men, bearing to the House of Commons a petition demanding a radical change in th entire constitution of the country, has an appearance of intimiaation not compatible with the freedom of a representative form of government. Yet even the Morning Chronicle, so long the servile organ of the whigs, admits toat the Cnar- tist petition is drawn up with becoming gravity and decency. “The petition,” says thé Morning Chronicle, “ir the clearness of the lan, eam the alm: for The supposed right of every mento the elective fran- chise is the foundatis f the entire fabric While that foundation lasts, the tabrio will stand —the moment it is struck away, the fabric will come dowa. But it must bs yy by argument, not by constables’ staves ; ‘these may be highly u-eful to prevent any un- seemly interruption of the controversy.’ _ In addition to interdicting the meeting at Ken- ningtoa Common, the government, through Sir George Grey, the Home Secretary, have brouzht in a billtor **the better security of the Crown and government of the United Kingdom” At the moment at wich we write, we are unable to say what is the character ot this measure, al- though the ministerial Times hints that it 13 merely to remedy the defects of the law with respect to seditious meetings, and to extend it to Ireland. But it must be very narrowly watched Under a colorable pretence, a fatal blow may be struck at constitutional liberty—those who made the grievances of Ireland their stook in trade, and afterwards gave it a coercion bill, are p:tfectly competent to perform a similar service tor Mogland Like all feeble admiuistrations, ministers are agmewhat divided amongst tnem- selves, although the tendency of the majority is to work ea the fears of the upper and middie classes, and thus endeavor to carry on the go- vernment ina pay conservative 8 virit. In that cage, there will probably be secessi: ns, Mr. Mil- ner Gibson, who, though not of the cabinet, be- ing mentioned as likely to be one of the depar- tures ; and even Lord Juhn Russell is erid to be anxious to escape from the post of Prime Minis- ter, to the duties of which h-» teels himself physically and mentally woequal Tretand is in its chronic state of insurrection, although the deputation from the [rish contede- rates, composed of Mr. Smith O’Brien and oth- ers, with the address to the French provisional government, was received and answered by M. de Lamartine in that tone ot chivalric courtesy and discreet caution which have rendered his conduct so re! je. But a circumstance of a very ugly nature has occurred in Dublin, rais- ing the suspicion that the Earl of Clarendon cannot escape from the old Lrish policy of spies, inform nd legal bloodhounds,—the ** Paddy M’Kea” system, which has been the oppribrium of Irish government. Colonel Browne, one of the heads of the Irish constabulary, officially re- sident at Dublin Cestle, has avowed his coanec- tion with an individual whom he employed as a spy, and who endeavored to entrap a blacksmith into the manufacture of pikes, which were to be used hereafter as evi ence of the treasonable de- sigas of aconspiracy, We are glad to see that the ministerial Times is shocked by the disclo- gure, although its 1udignation is vented on the false position in which the government has been Placed by the *blundering conduct” of its offi- clals! i aeatht the exosntion of two interesting but brief discussions on Monday and Tuesday nights, and ths coercive announcements of the government, the proceedings in Parliament have not been re- markable. Messrs. Gladstone, Cardwell, and Bright, raised the question of the navigation laws, and pointed out the fact that there were cargoes of cotton lying at Havre, which could not be brought to this country, because of these laws. Yet, although a government measure on the subject was announced in she spzech from the throne, ministers were unable to say when it could be brought in. Disereet Mr. Labouchere “fully admitting the hardship, but such was the law—cotton must £P back trom Havre to Ame- rica, betore it could be admitted into this coun- try!” At last, Lord John Russell, feeling that it was impossible to trifle longer on a question of such importance, rose ina fit of desperation, aad declared that betore Easter the country would be put in possession of the intentions of govern- ment! - Mr. Hindley has given notice that he will, after Easter, call attention to the condition of the industrial classes of this country. The paralysis of monetary affairs extends itself —and the English funds h sunk lower during the week than at any period since the French revo lution, There hag been also a great tall in the value of all securities in Ireland—the panic fear of an outbreak causing a simultaneous rush to “sellout.” In France, and the continent gene: tally, commercial affairs are as bad as they cao possibly be; and since the announcement of the intention of the provisional government to take the railroads into their own handa, French rail- way shares have sunk to avery low stage in depreciation, The invasion of Lombardy by the King of Sar dinta raised some conversation in the House of Lords on Monday, the Earl of Aberdeen affirm- lig the aet to bea direct violation of express treaties, and of public law—as of course it is ‘The Marquis of Lansdowne said that the Eng- lish Ambassador at Turin had, in obedience to instructions, repeatedly recommended neutrality But Charles Albert 1s not the man to be diverted from his objects. With a large army, he is ia Tea ot Radetzky, who, with twelve thou- sand troops, was expelled trom Milan, by citi- zens awkwardly handling a tew hundred rusty muskets, and who will ee find ita hard task to secure his retreat from [taly. An allianee, offensive and defensive, has been eatablished between the different Italian States against Aus trian, whose three centuries of dominion in Lombardy is now brought to a final close vleantime, the provisionul government at Milan is acting with liberality and moderation While we are still boggling about admitting Jews to legislative rights, the Milanese have invested them with fu i political and civil privileges Al- together, although this Italian movement mus: uecessarily recast the framework ot European nationality, the work of Italian regeneration has proceed-d, as yet, with as much moderation as enthusiasm. i ss German nationality occupies the attention of the Franktort Congress; and in Berlin it, is steadily progressing. That vnited Diet which atwelve months ago, was iaaugurated with so much pompous dispiay, meets, for the list time, preparatory to that new representative and con- stitutional form of government whicn 13 to foi- What they fear is democratic ability. It will be an error to reckon every man a representative of the people who professes anti-aristocratie princi- ples, tor there are no greater slaves in pubiic life than some of these personages—radical toadies who can be bought with a small place, and, though rich, seduced by an invitation to dinner. 5 Mr. Hume is almost unique in parliament. The machinery of a powerful and organised agitation brought into parliament Mr. O’Connell and Mr. Cobden. The middle classes are glad to see Mr. Hume and Mr. Cobden embodying their feelings in reference to the unjust pressure of taxation. But the middle classes have at pre- sent no organisation to secure an increased sup- ply of such men, and the oligarchies have clubs and corruptions in abundance to prevent their increase and weaken their efficiency. The num- ber of men who will vote for the separation of church and state, and for enfranchising every man supporting himself by his independent labor, and an equitable adjustment of taxation—the number of members sincerely hostile to the es- sentials of aristocracy—shows the strength of the oligarchies, and the weakness ot the people in the House of Commons. “ But thepress is free” Isit? Persons who say this do not know any thing of the British press ‘The oligarchies are the masters of the press. The daily press of the metropolis, with the solitary exceptions of the Morning Advertiser and the Lelegraph, are the veriest tools of either the pro- tectionist, the conservative, or the whig sections of the oligarchies. Small places for editors and contributors, and baronetcies for proprietors, suffice to make the daily press of London subser- vient to the dirtiest purposes of the ‘cliques. Oc- casionally there is a grumble heard among them, but the purport of it is that the party journalists are very angry at their share of the common snoil; and no wonder, when the price of a faith- ful editor is only an inspectorship of education or poor laws, or a clerkship in the Duchy of Lancaster. 2 The journalists of the oligarchies contrived to make simple people believe that the corn bill was obtained beceuse we had previously had a retorra bill. But Mr. Pitt was a tree-trade mi- nister, and the first legislative adoption of the ideas of Adam Smith was in the year 1786. The tact is, that the retorm act secured the monopoly otcorn so well that the assailants of it were compelled to use the corruptions and trickeries of the electioneering agents to destroy the corn laws. Priorto the general election, the anti- oribery society declared that the reform act had increased the crimes of the electoral system. No man practically acquainted with the subject could deny the asser.ion, and certainly no one will now listen patiently to a doubt of it who has read the revolting exposures before the election committees. __. (Brom the British Banner } ‘ Nothing has tended more to excite the griet of patriotic men, and to awaken their worst fears, than the treatment received during the present session, by Mr. Hume, Mr. Cobden, and other patriotic members of the House of Commons, whose warnings are treated with derision, an whose protests are received with scorn. When Mr Cobden told them that he despaired, with respect to the vote of seven millions one hundred thousand pounds, of being able to “ bring them back toa sense of duty,” he was met by a tor- rent of ‘ironical cheers ;” when he told them there was great discontent rising up in the coun- (ry, again his voice was drowned by “ ironical cheers ;”? when he hinted to them ‘hat the peru- sal of his letters received that day from the country might change their tone, again the house resouaded with ‘ironical cheers ;” when feeling among the middle classes, again he was met by “cheers and laughter.” When he told them they had few partizuns among the work- ing class+s, again they replied by ** laughter ;” when he asked them, if it was not a reproach tor them to vote money before they had devised IL 28, 1848, he charged them with ignorance of the state of as the howlings of a handful of the vilest rabble. He considers it absurd that a government ed up out of the kennel, should put forth its statements ag the legal expression of the will of the country. Having opened with such observations as the foregoing, upon the general character of the revo- lution and the government—observations which, it will be admitted, show a very pretty talent for ahusiveness—the writer proceeds to notice some of the acts of the revolutionary government. rst aot of the provisional iovereasres was the proclamation ofthe republic. By what right? By what right dared they inter! with the sacred crown of the Count of Paris? Forgetting, I repeat, its orign—the puddle of Paris—it despatches proclamations into ever’ corner, promising order and trenquillity. But who answer for its promises? The first howler of the corner who can assemble a band of men dressed in blouses and armed with sticks hes a right to expel the members of the government, and place themselves in its place. It must be confessed that the French have arrived at that point that the fi-st who takes a stick in his hand is their master, Such are the fine fruits of their rsvolutions. It istrue thet the French republic han preserved the Galilc cook, the true emblem of thoss noisy and boast- ing railors, They assert that there will bo no war Wo shall see that. At all events, it is not with his lyre that M. Lamartins can repel foreign bayonets. [t hes the vilest flattery on the mob of Paris. It promises them @ million of francs. The people will at least have as much money as will afford them means to get drunk! In a word—effrontery, folly, quackery, such are the dis- tinct characteristics of this government of butfoons, whioh is not ashamed to invite the world to follow the example of Paria Itisa@real pasquinade. And where is all this passing? Ins country which boasts of being the most civilised in the world, and im the mintoenth century |” a a * To these severities the National, which they say in Paris is the organ of the provisional go- vernment, replies that ‘the republic” has no re- ply to make to them. Its contempt is too pro- found for utterance. The National, however, proceeds, on its own account, we presume, to point attention to some facts which are assumed to give an ancwer of themeelves to the writer in the Petersburgh journal :— “ Facts, moreover, have repiied in thirty days tothe prognostios of impotence of the revolution of Paris. The Russian publicists have only to look round them— Vienna revolutionized and constitutional—Lombardy ereot—the Miedmontese at Milan—the abdication of Munich—the transformations of Southern Germany— the revolution at Berlin—the empire changing its oen- tre—conatitutions or republics established everywhero, and ths various armies of the German Confederation uniting of their own accord to oppose the Russians should they sone fy to traverse Germany. Such are the impotencies of the revolution of February. fro pheoies bring misfortune on those who proguosticate ageintt the people. Nicholas himself shall seon learn, not at Warsaw, but who knows? perhaps at St. Peters- burgh itself? | iy ae 2 It is not surprising that the journalizing friends of the new order, or disorder, of things in France, should resent the unmeasyred abusive- ness of the northern critic. Morcover, it is evi- dent that the critic was wrong in regarding the revolution of the 24th of February as a contemp- tible affair with reference to European conse- quences. The whole continent of Europe, ex- cept Russia, seems to have been, some how or another, ripe for revolt, and this ir in Paris just gave the impulse that was necessary to set the revolution going. In that point of view, the conduct of the Parisian populace has indeed led to, or, at all events, has hurried on, most im- portant changes 10 the political state of Europe. It would be well, however, if the friends of the new French revolution would go far set aside their resentment es to consider how much of truth there may be mixed up with the abusive- ness of the St Petersburg rtatemeat. When the provisional government was formed, the first emotion of all calm observers in tnis couutry was one ot respect for the courage and decisiov with which matters had been apparently taken out of the hands of an excited mob, and brought into something lixe order. Such a city as Paris, absolutely at the mercy of a wild, furious, tri- umphant mob, was a spectacle too fearful to be contemplated with calmness. Every one was the means of raising it, the reply was, ‘ta laugh;” when he asked them whether they were prepared to meet the discontent that was rising up, not ‘iow. Prussia is to have un elective franchise, approaching to universal suffrage, a free press, and full freedom of meeting and discussion, in dependence of judges, and publicity of judicial uroceedings, equality of civil and political rights to all religious pereuasions, a popuiarlaw of elec- tion, and various other things, unheard of in Prussia before. As for Austria, its future is stil! uncertain—there are none to guide it; while the Emperor of Russia, although he is gathering a great army on the frontiers, believes that tne better part of valor is discretion, and announces iis intention to preserve a strict neutrality—un- he is meddled with. [From the Soottieh Press.) _ 1f we were asked to hit off a description of the British constitution, we should say—‘“‘It is a despotism of two elective oligarchies.” Such might be our approach to the facts. It is a des- potism, undoubtedly, notwithstanding all our af- ter-dinuer prating about freedom. It is a des- potism, for the people are nothing without the help of the one or the other of the aristocratic factions. They are cyphers, unless marshalled after either whig or tory numerals. If preceded oy two or three hundred aristocratic someb- dies, the millions of nobodies may become for- midabie enough to carry areform bill ora corn bill. But without the figures which give them consequence, they can do nothing, and are no- thing but shopkeepers and mechanics, to be taxed and despised. The whig end tory oli- garchies do not include all the members of the aristocracy, but only the active and com- bined fractions of the aristocracy—the mem- bers of the permanent leagues among the rich and titled, whose objects are patronage and place. Everything, froma chancellorship to a gaugership, from a marshal’s baton to a police- man’s staff, the archbishop’s mitre and the bea- dle’s hat, any berth witn aught of comfort in it on earth and se+, is in the gift or in the posses- sion of these factions, the aespotic patrons o! every sweet loaf and every fresh fish provided by the couatry forthe army, navy, church, law, police, and public offices. The rule of the oli- zarchies is despotic, because it is irresponsible. he Hanoverians have just wrung from their Orange king, the Austrians have just extorted {rom their despot emperor, what is culled the re- sponsibility of ministers. But the people of the caree kingdoms have it not. The British oligar- chic factions are not fesponsible to the British eople. They can calleach other to account, hut the people cannot call them to account. They have conventions and compacts of corruption, some tacit and some avowed; and while thes: sre kept, they screen each other: and even when these ure eurpassed, their interests are identital against the people. There is scarcely an act of bribery, corruption, or venality, re- apecting which the one dare throw stones at the other, tor fear ot the frightful scandals and_re- volting exposures consequent pen recrimina- tion. Despotic, because responsible only to each other, and because engrossing all the patronage of the country, they are despotic also because they have the command of the whole of the physical force of the country. They oflicer (he army, navy, yeomanry aud police. Corrup tion, bayonets, and irresponsibility, make th real, practical, every-day constitution of this country, a despotism of two oligarchies. Readers who will acknowledge the truth thus far, will, however, exclaim, ‘but the despotic tactions are elective, and the press is free.”” lt seems so, but it is net so. The factions are not elective. Their power in the House of Lords is obviously not elective But neither is their power in the House of Commons elective. Their acres are their votes, Their ten pound houses are their votes. Cheir secret conspiracies, called associations in the Carlton and Reform clubs, and in every cou- stituency in which they need such help, are not elective. Respecting these things the people have no election whatever. But these sources of legisla- tive power, enable the oligarchies to return fully 500 of the 650°members of the House of Commons, and to decide the personal choice in nearly the whole, so far as to secure the exclusion of every man whom they dread and dislike, whois not backed by a power- Sul organisation of the people. In reterence to election, they have the power of land, houses, skill, and the whole of the regources of the go- vernmeant, and all the might of constant comoi- nation, and habitual practice, and unceasing agency. But these things are not elective, and the people, ruled by the despotism they establish, have neither choice nor voice respecting them. We have said the oligarchies elect about 500 ot the members of the House of Commons under the reform act. The assertion could be proved by statistical tables, and made undeniable by any honest man. But the readiest prooi is the number of men returned, in defiance of both sec- tions of the aristocracy, since the year 1832—we mean, of mea honestly and sincerely men of the people, and men of any purpose and ability The fo4 ok goon have not any great objections to i see radical constituencies returning nobodies. among the working, but the middle ciass of socie- vy in this country, the.roof-tree resounded with loud cries of ‘Divide! divide ;” when he en- tered bis protest against the recklessness with which they voted the money before they consi- dered how it was to be raised, and hinted they might possibly repent of the deed, again he was visited by ‘laughter and ironical cheers.”” Now, we must say, that such a scene, in such a place, and under such circumstances, is, in the highest degree, discreditable to the senate house, and reprehensible to those who occupy it, with par- ticipation in, or approval of, such proceedings. Let it not be forgotten who was the speaker, and what was the subject ; that speaker was the first of practical statesmen, afd the chosen repreeen- tative of the greatest constituency in England, and that the subject was one involving not sim- ply the rights, tne comforts, but almost the exis- Lsehor millions. Never was ‘‘iaughter” go mis- placed! 5 i But the matter did not end here. Mr. Bright, Mr. Cobden’s great compeer, and fellow-worker for the good of mankind, followed in a speech worthy of himselt and the occasion, in the course of which he met with even more insult and obstruction than the member for Yorkshire. Had Mr. Bright, instead of being a speaker of the highest order, and a representative for Manches- ter, been some poor, ignorant, degraded nomi- nee, sitting for a rotten borough, he could scarce- ly have been treated more contemptuously. At every sentence he was met with cries of ‘Oh, oh!” “Question, question!” ‘*Divide, Divide!” When Mr. Bright solemnly told them that sixty millions of taxation could not be continued tobe levied without exciting dangerous: discontent, the response was, “Divide!” When he re-as- sured tkem that, trom his knowledge of what was passing inthe country, efforts to raise that taxation must be uneuccesstul, he was over- powered with shouts of Oh, oh!” and “Divide, divide!” Thus, it seems, we have reached a pass in the people’s house, when reason, justice, and facts, as indicative of the wants and wishes ot the people themselves, are no longer to be neard, and no longer necessary to enable the Senate to come to adecision. It requires but small sagacity to foretell the consequences of such a spirit, and such a proceeding. Comparing what is passing before us with the records ot the historic page, we are filled with sadness Agsuredly, force in Senates is the precurser of forcein nations! This isa@ game which two can play at; a truth which was never so palpably brought home to the minds of men as at the present moment. A large portion of the members give themselves no concefn with anything beyond the division. During the argument of Mr. Hume, the people’s friend, there were but six persons on the opposition benches, which were * well filled’? when the vote came on; end when Mr. dume indignantly reproached them with this neglect, the response, as usual, was ** laughter;”’ yut when the minister of war had finished the statement which involved the expenditure ot this sum of millions, condemned by Hume, Cob- den and Bright, on resuming his seat he was “loudly chered from both sides of the house.” This is but a glimpse ot the unseemly scene presented by the house on what ought to have been a very solemn occasion. These are not days when it is meet, or comely, or safe, for the senates of nations to become halls of mirth fal uproar and vulgar buffoonery. Jt is high time that the chief performers should give place to serious yea who will fect that they are engaged in serious wor! OPINIONS IN RUSSIA OF THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, RIC., RTC. (From the London Post, April 1) A newspaper of St. Petersburgh has published a stinging and abusive article on the new French revolution and the provisional government. It 6 in the form ot a letter trom Paris. The French journals have atteched importance to it, because ihey assume that tne Abeille du Nord, 1a which t appears, is an organ of the Emperorof Russia Che Parisians are se accustomed in their own city to the use of newspapers as organs of the opinions of influential individuals, that they are apt to make assumptions of this kind without any other foundation than their own tancy. The probability is, that the Emperor Nicholas would no more dream of using a newspaper tu express his views upon big public matter in St. Peters- burgh, than the Duke of Wellington would in Loudon B The Ruasian journal, or its correspondent, cousiders that the revolution whieh overthrew the monarehy of July, 1880, was perfectly acci- dental, and that it was »ccompanied with horrors and scandalous excesses. He accuses the provi- stonal government of shameless boustings, and scorufully reproves it for daring to set itself up as the arbiter of the destinies of France. He thankful for any rescue from such a position; and it was manifest that the members of the pro- visional government had exercised both c_urage and address in managing and restraining the wild rabble that had broken loose. But trom the moment that Messieurs the mem- bers of the provisional government undertook to conduct the business of the State, they appear to have managed exceedingly ill. Had they been discreet—had they shown themselves rational triends of France, their first object would have been to abate the public terror naturally follow- ing from such a revolution, and to keep up the public confidence. They were, indeed, pledged to a republic, but they were not pledged to mob- government. Had they possessed prudence and discretion, they would have labored to convince France that no more changes would be made im- mediately than were absolutely necessary upon the cHange in the form of government. It was their business to have greatly extended the basis of election, but not to have broached the idea of summoning work people and peasants to reconstruct the government of France. It was right, indeed, to recognise the working classés, and to give them such political privi- leges as could be given consistently with justice to other classes; but the claims of property to influence and protection ought to have been as much in the view of the provisional government as anything else. By neglecting this, and iden- tifying themselves with one interest only—that of the multitude—they have destroyed all confi- dence in everything which exists in France. The destructive propensities of the multitude are notorious. To admit them all at onc without training, without experience, with- out habits of observation and reflection— to the supreme government of the political concerns of France, is folly such as no lan- uage can too gravely or too earnestly con- \ Satna. We do not see the use of applying angry or opprobrious epithets to the provisional government of France ; but, as advocates of justice and prudence—of dignity, moderation, and good sense in the management and arrange- ment of public afflairs—we really think that no language can too strongly condemn the reckless- ness which the provisional government of France has displayed. _ . Behold the fruits. Financial confidence and commercial credit in France are destroyed. All peaceably disposed persons who can get away without ruin are leaving the country. Every one fears further change, and not that gradual, considerate change which is consistent with safety, but violeut, destructive change. ‘The revolt of the populace of Paris msy have given the impulse to populsr revolt elsewhere ; but does not the present condition of France, tuat is, of all holders of property in France, deter every man in Europe who possesses property from giving any sort of countenance to such a revolution as that which Paris his accomplished ? Does not every honest and in- telligent mind in Europe turn away with dis- gust from the palpable violations of all reason- ableness and all true liberty of which France is now the scene? What do we readin the Reformé? What but this singular specimes of freedom and justice?— “The club of clubs, where delegates of @ hundred clubs had assembled ) eeterday, voied the prictiog of « million of copies of the ‘Rights of Man.’ They alo una- nimously voted imperative und absolute iusiructions to the members of the National Assembly.” Now, when such proceedings a8 these go on in the name of “liberty, equality, and fraternity,” who shall say that, with reterence to them, the Petersburgh writer is far wrong in accusing thy French revelutionists of “‘effrontery, folly, and quackery 7’ The fact is, that milder terms of description cam hardly be resorted to without some sacrifice of truth. Ss We know not whether the provisional govern- ment has not advanced too far in its career of er- ror and extravagance to make it possible for it to retrace its steps; this, however, We are sure 1, that it France would escape the doom of becom- ing contempuble in the eyes of all Europe, it must exhibit very different public acts trom (hose which, in tue lastthree weeks, hive cost Frauce so many millions of property, end have disgust- ed every triend of justice, good order, and ra- tional liberty, in ait parts of Europe. ASPECT GF AFFAIRS ON THK CONTINENT OF BUROPE. (from the London Chronicle, March 30 } ‘The tames of revolution, with which the at- mosphere oi Europe is now heavily charg: d, sem to have fairly intoxicated our German kins men, To judge from the overt acts by which public feeling has hitherto manilested itself, we shouid be led to suppose that their thirty-six mil- lions of heads are, vy this time, spinning rouud atarate which altoge ier blinds their eyes io the suggestions of sober judgm nt and practical experience. The organic changes now demand- ed of the King ot Prussia, are of the most sweep- ing character, involving universal suffrage, Ue says itisa burlesque government, sprung from the gutter, and that it makes one blush tor hu- manity to see such a thing setung ifseli up es an example for other natious, The decrees and manifestoes of the present government he treats complete separation of church and state, and th absolute annihilation of the Modicum of politics! power still retained by the aristocracy—in short, the Belgian constitution, and something mo: Nor are the effects of the powerful stimulant they are imbibing confined to the circle of do- mestic politics; they are but too visible in the posture which the yet undeveloped empire, con- federation or republic—be it what it may—is even now beginning to assume tewarda ita eurround- ing neighbors. It is commonly remarked, that when very sober, peaceable people, allow them- selves to be seduced into a drink ing-bout, the first organ tickled by the vinous influence, as it as cends into the brain, is the organ of co ness. Your regular water drinker is the most quarrelsome man in the world when drunk. A somewhat similar result, if we may be permitted the use of so vulgar an illustration, seems to have been, wrought upon the German mind by the restlessness inseparable from political change, and the inebriating prospect of the speedy reali- zation of their favorite scheme of national unity. Who would have thought, two months ago, of seeing Germany equariag up to the Czar. shaking her fist in the face of the King of Denmark, scowling at France, and turning her back on Eag- land? Who would recognize in the bellicose peraonage whom we behold tucking up his coat cuffs with so much emphasis, and expressing his determination to fight his huge Russian neighbor in a month, and thrash his diminutive Scandina- vian one “before the harvest,” the social, kindly, sedate, speculative gentleman, with whom we lntely smoked our pipe, and talked Greek and metaphysics ? is The rupture between Denmark and the Duchies of Sleswic and Holstein offers a ready conductor to this irrascible spirit of nationality, and can hardly failto provoke a war, unless the Danes submit to the conditions propored to them, and ac- quiesce in the severance of Sleswic from the crown of Jutland and the Isles. Unfortunately the quarrel 1s too ancient, and too much embit- tered by animosities and heart-burnings of a character not merely political, and the loss of territory involved in euch a concession would be too, ruinous, to make it probable that they will yield except at the sword’s point. So early as 1665, five years alter Frederic IIL. had estab- li-hed the descendibility of the Danish crown in the female as well as the male line, that mo- narch commenced his efforts to effect a corres- ponding modification in the law of succession in both the duchies The same object was kept in view throughout the quarrels in which the branch of the house of Oldenburgh, reigning in Denmark, was afterwards cngeged with the Dukes of Gottorp, who participated with the tormer in the government of Sleswic and Hol- stein, and adhered to Den:nark’s enemy, the king of Sweden. In the course of his ware with Sweden, in the latter half of the seventeenth century, the king of Denmark had been com- pelled to abolish the teudal connection of Sleswic; but this only increased his desire to possess himself of it entirely—a design in which he experienced decided opposition from the emperor of Germany, and several of the German potentates, who took the part of the Duke of Gottorp, Thue, when, in 1683, the Duke Pe titioned the Emperor for protection against his encroaching partner, it was objected, at Copen- hagen, that Sleswic did not belong to the Ger- man Empire; and that even Holstein, being united with Sleswic, was equally exempt from the imperial jurisdiction. With regard to Hol- stein, indeed, the cdaim thus set up was after- wards abandoned; but the kings of Denmark never relaxed their hold upon the sister duchy. In 1713 we find the Czar entering into an en- gagement with Frederic IV., that he “ would not hinder his Majesty from reaping whatever advantages he might, one day, in making peace, be able to derive from the side ot Sleswic;” an: two yearaluter, the exclusive enjoyment of the portion of the duchy called the ducal portion, to distinguish it from that originally possessed by the reigning Kings of Denmark, was guaran- tied to him by the King of Prussia, and by George I as elector of Hanover. Simi ° ranties were given in 1720 by Great Britain and France, upon the conclusion of the peace of Friedensburgh; and in the following year all the inhabitants of Sieswic, who had up to that time obeyed the joint government, or had been the private subjects of the Duke of Gottorp, swore allegiance to the King of Denmark as “‘sole so- vereign lord” of the country. Upon this act of homage, upon the letters patent which beer ad nied it, and upon the renunciations obtained in 1750 and 1773 trom the Swedish and Russian lines of the house of Gottorp, the controversy between the Kiel professors and the doctors of Copenhagen principally turna—the former con- tending that their effect was only to incorporate the ducal with the royal portion of the duchy; the latter, that they extended to the absolute merger ot the Sleswic law of succession in that of the monarchy of Denmark. Holstein has since joined the German confederation as a so- vereign duchy, which all the states of the con- federation are, and must be, according to its fun- damental laws, whilst its connection with Sles- wic, and tne relations between the latter and Denmark remain the same, except so far as the recognition of the status quo at the peace of Vi- enna may be deemed to have guaranticd their continuance. | pay ate : " Into the various knotty ihe, involved in this interminable dispute we shall not attempt to en- ter. To Europe at large the question has no fur- ther interest ‘than, it derives trom the fact, that the decision of it one way would effectually cripple the power which at present holds the keys of the Baltic, even if it should not eventually lead toa new Union of Calmar, and place the gries of the Sound under the guardianship of weden. But to the party principally coneerned it is a matter of life and death. The Scandina- vian subjects ot Denmark are firmly convinced that their sovereign, as King of Denmark, has a right to Sleswic, whilst the German inhabitants of the duchies are determined to break off the connection. The quarrel has been taken up throughout the length and breadth of Germany, by men of all classes and all parties, not altoge- ther, we suspect, from disinterested motives.— The want of a seaboard is keenly felt in the States of the Zollverein, and it could not but be foreseen that one of the first acts of the new German com- monwealth would be to make itself master of Kiel and Rendsburg. Frederick William, as al Emperor of Germany, challenges the Denmark to resist or submit; the King, beset by his Danish subjects, must either take up the gauntlet or jeopardize his crown. Russia, too— Russia, which sees herself threatened by Ger- mavy at home—has an interest, and not a very remote one, in the issue, and Russian ships have been observed dodging suspiciously about in the Seley Altogether it is a ‘mighty pretty quar- rel. But afar more ominous cloud is rising over the Vistula. The specniation, tor such it resuscitating Poland as an impassable bai between Russia and the constitutional prince Germany, is one which involves the heaviest responsibility to all who are actively concernec init. Frederick William has already signed the warrant which erecta Prussian Poland into a separate State—one of the States which is his in centingency. To such a proceeding Russia is not, of course, entitled to object. But if any at- tempt be made to countenance the threatened in- surrection within her own territories, she will, and must, retaliate. Deprived, as she now is, of the support afforded to her by Austria, and menaced With the growth of independent Scla- vonian States upon her frontier, she may pos- sibly think the boldest course the safest, and pro- voke, rather than avoide war. But she must be sensible that it will be a struggle out of which, unless she be victorious init, she cannot come alive and unmutilated. Whatever the issue, there can be no doubt that as soon as a German soldier crosses the Polish frontier, the temple of Janus is opened, not for Germany only, but for Aurope. We do not, of course, lose signt of the fact that the veices through which Germany, at pre- sent, speaks to foreign ears, are principally ut- tered on the Rhine. What may be tne feelings and inclinations of the bulk of the Prussian peo- ple we are unable to divine by the course pursurd by the king himeeli, who appears, voluatarily or iavoluntarily, to be playing tor aa imperial crown in the North, whilst the wise men of Heidelberg, in the South, are probably concoct ing something much more like a republic. We can but trust that the Germans huve not lost all their good sense, acd that the re-actiot ‘which we may hope it willeventually occasion, may not coine too late Army Lutestigence Daring the past week several huadred new reerui the Mis-ouri and iLinols regiments, which have been bled at Jetierson barracks, under command of bare left for Fort Leavenworth. — Si. a, 17th inst, Tne steambost Aibamobra, terday from Cinein: bring’ dred and thitty recruits from ed for serviog in the 6:a Iadivna, regiments These troops were in the charge of ‘eo Jonn @, Hughes, A. Andcews Quartermaster, HW. Jones, 2 Lieut och Ind'aca vorunteers, aod Ht H- keek, The rtenmbowr A brought down from Jeflerron d and seventy-six sola WO Briockle arrived y 029 Cayt. M. M. © for (hs 2ad regiment | june, LOLA inst.