Ethattl gut rntubiu inVartionaut.

PRINCIPAL BUSINESS OF THE WEEK.

House OF LORDS. Saturday, March 31. Royal Assent to the Consolidated Fund (550,000/.) Bill, the Mutiny Bills, and the Endowed Schools Bill—Income-tax and Stamp Duties Bill read a first time. Monday, April 2. Stamp Duties and Income-tax Bills read a second and third time and passed, Tuesday, April 3. Royal Assent to Income-tax and Stamp Duties Bills—House adjourned until the 17th.

House OF COMAIONS, Saturday, March $1. Income-tax Bill read a third tiine and passed—Stamp Duties Bill read a third time and passed—Sir John Barnard's Act Repeal Bill read a first time. Monday. April 2. Business of the House ; Lord John Russell's Motion—Customs Acts ; Committee—Refreshment Houses and Wine; Licences Bill ; debate on second reading adjourned. Tuesday, April 3. Electoral Returns ; Sir John Pakington's Question—Customs Bill committed pro formi—House adjourned until the Seth.

WINE LICENCES.

The debate on the second reading of the Refreshment Houses and Wine Licences' Bill, adjourned on the 16th of March, was resumed on Monday, by Mr. Croiox, who, as an advocate of the Temperance Socie- ties, opposed the bill as one likely to promote intemperance, by facilita- ting the distribution of intoxicating drinks. He moved that the bill should be read a second time that day six months.

Mr. W. D. SEYMOUR seconded the amendment. As a lover of the constitution, he implored the House not to sanction a piece of legislation which would introduce "French police with French wine, and establish an inquisitorial system.

Mr. KER SEYMER spoke emphatically in favour of the bill. It is the best part of the Budget. The present restrictive system does not check drunkenness. When the beershopa are closed, the he,ensed victuallers can keep their houses open. It is an anomaly in England that you cannot get anything to drink in eating-houses. The question is "shall the only path to wine be through the ginshop ?" Mr. Seymer made a powerful attack upon the great beer and spirit interest, showed up the fallacies of their memorial to the Government, and characterized their opposition to the measure as a selfish opposition. Mr. HARDY said lie should support the amendment of Mr. Crook. He argued against the measure at great length, insisting that it would faiLto produce revenue, that there is no call for it, that while it places an irre- sponsible power in the hands of magistrates and the police, which will make them odious, it will not enable them to cheek the establishment of disorderly houses. He objected to freedom of trade in liquors, which he contended promoted vice ; denied that wine-drinking countries are free from drunkenness ; and warned Mr. Gladstone that if he wished to place his fame on a permanent footing, to build it on some better foundation than that of the establishment throughout the country of houses for facilitating the increase of the consumption of intoxicating liquors.

On the motion of Mr. AYETON, the debate was again adjourned. The term of the adjournment is the 19th of April.

BUSINESS or THE HOUSE.

Lord JOHN RUSSELL moved on Monday, that upon Thursday, after Easter and until Whitsuntide, Government Orders of the Day shall have precedence of Notices of Motion. Colonel WiLsos Perms, admitting that Friday, a Government day, is much taken up by private Members, thought it would be only fair to independent Members to defer the motion until a later period of the session. Mr. LINDSAY took the same ground. Mr. GLADSTONE said the Government only desire to forward public business. There is the Bank - ruptcy Bill; that will occupy time in committee; there are the financial measures; supply is backward; something, we presume, must be al- lowed for the second reading of the Reform Bill. Government will only have ten nights between Easter and Whitsuntide, and they want five more. Mr. Ibssesti said he was disposed to facilitate public business, but Mr. Gladstone had offered no satisfactory reasons for the change pro- posed. It was an unreasonable demand, especially as evenings belonging to private Members have already been taken up. Lord PALMERSTON admitted that all the Government measures, except the Reform Bill, have been fairly treated. The motion was made more for the convenience of the House than of the Government. If Thursdays were not given up, Members would have to sit late in the summer. Sir JOHN Pam:limos hoped the Government would not press the mo- tion. Ile suggested a restriction on the desultory conversations that eocur on Friday evenings. Mr. Ries, and Mr, Ilzerrisex opposed, Mr. Cnv and,Colonel Passer supported themotion. Mr. DEEDES suggested that the Government should take Thursday and give up Friday. Lord STANLEY objected to the motion, aid, showed that Uoyernmeat had already occupied nights belonging to private members.

Lord Ions Rot:HELL commented on the c.hange in the .aurse of busi- Sena

4" According to the old custom, the Government hardly ever brought in any measures. They proposed their Budget arid their estimates at a certain tine; but there the duty of the Government ended, and members who whaled to bring in measures on any subject did so. Of late years, however, as everybody knew, the House had insisted that the Government ahould take up any important subject which happened to require legislation. He had tried in vain to resist the pressure; but the House had always said in such cases, This is a question for the Government, and it will be disgraceful in them if they do not deal with it.' In that way, one subject after another was forced upon the Government, who were thus led to introduce many more measures than in former years. While, therefore, the number of Govern- ment measures had been largely increased by the compulsory pressure of the House, on the other hand, there was less time at their disposal. As his noble friend had shown, out of the five days, one and shelf remained for the Government, and three and a half for private members, and thus, with three-fourths of the business to transact, Government was left with one- fourth of the time." Lord John illustrated his argument with special in- stances, supplied by the notice paper.

Mr. WALPOLE, although dissenting from the resolution, declared him- self to be much struck by what fell from Lord John Russell, and sug- gested that, after Easter, those who guide the deliberations of the House on either side, should consider whether any new arrangement can be made for the conduct of public business. The discussion went on. At length, Sir GEORGE GREY moved an amendment to the effect that the words "and Notices of Motion shall have precedence over orders of the day on Fridays." On a division, this amendment was adopted by 150 to 126. Another division was taken on the question whether the motion, as amended, should be agreed to. Motion carried by 142 to 117.

In reply to Mr. Dentaxu, Lord PALMERSTON said he should, after the recess, take the Navy Estimates on Monday, Finance on Thursday, and the Reform Bill on the following Monday.

THE ADJOURNNENT.

Both Houses met on Tuesday, and sat for a short time to transact some necessary business. In the House of Lords the business was wholly formal. In the House of Commons there was a discussion of some little in- terest on the motion that the House should adjourn until the 16th. Sir Josue PASINGTON made an inquiry respecting a return presented to the House, showing the numbers of houses in cities and boroughs and their rentals. His object was to show that the return was delusive, and that Lord John Russell's estimate of the numbers that would be added to the constituency under a 61. qualification was delusive also. In 44 boroughs the numbers of 101. voters on the register exceeds the number of 10/. householders included in the return. He inferred that the number of voters added to the constituency under Lord John Russell's bill would be larger than Lord John anticipated. Mr. CHautzs VILLIERS said the return is one of the most complete and accurate ever presented to Parliament. The discrepancy referred to is very likely to exist. In many places the register has not been pro- perly revised for many years, and there would, therefore, remain upon it the names of persons who were dead or disqualified. There would also he upon it the names of others whose qualification was made up partly of a house and partly of land; and there would be in addition in souse places the scot and lot voters. These three causes would, he believed, fully account for the discrepancy in the case of all the 44 boroughs to which the right honourable baronet had referred. Great pains have been taken to get a return of all occupiers whose rates have been com- pounded for by their landlords, and only in a few boroughs, including some of the metropolitan boroughs, has it been found impossible to ob- tain a list. But additional returns are in course of being prepared, and he had no doubt that when the House resumed consideration of the Re- form Bill, it would have in its possession full and accurate information upon all points connected with the scope and effect of that measure. Mr. Euvror JAMES said that, instead of 500, as stated in the return, there will be 5000 added to the constituency in his borough, Marylebone. Sir GEORGE GREY said the estimate was exaggerated. The Govern- ment bill will enfranchise only those tenants who occupied houses of a certain value, and who should not only become liable to the payment of rates, but should actually pay them. He reminded Sir John Paldngton that a return, dated the 10th of March, had been produced since the re- turn to which he had adverted, was laid on the table. From this return, it appeared that no less than 50 boroughs had scot and lot voters, some very few, but a great proportion very many, and he was inclined to think that the majority of the 44 boroughs to which Sir John had referred were boroughs containing scot and lot voters. The discussion continued, Mr. BENTINCK, Mr. MALMO, and other Members of the Opposition, insisting that the numbers added would be much greater than Lord John Rueeell stated. Sir GEORGE LEWIS de- scribed more fully how the return was obtained.

The Government did not mean to -take credit foe doing what was their manifest duty, but the return now on the table was an attempt to lay before the House a complete statistical account of the basis on which it was pro- posed to found the new extended franchise. The instructions for making this return were very precise and detailed, and certainly the efforts made by the Government to obtain accurate information were unquestionably honest and sincere. The House would hardly suppose that the Government had had any sinister object in seeking for this Information. The only infor- mation which it was possible for the Government to obtain, was an accurate abstract of the poor-rate books, and such the present return was. He wished the House clearly to understand what was the nature of that information. According to the existing law, the rate-book contained two columns, one showing the gross estimated rental. That column showed, or ought to show, the rent really paid for the tenement; and it was his belief that in the great majority of instances it did fairly indicate the real rental. Perhaps Sir John Pakington had confounded two different things. The second column represented the rateable value upon which the rate was actually assessed, that being subject to certain legal deductions for repairs and insurance, so that it was considerably reduced from the gross estimated rental ; and it was also sometimes further reduced by improper deductions made by overseers. The rateable value did not exhibit the rental, but the first column did in the great majority of instances. It had been said that the return did not go low enough, and that the House did not know the total number of per- sons whose rental was 6/., because the rateable value was lower than the rent ; but he thought that it would turn out on investigation that the fi- gures in this return in respect of the grata estimated rental of 61. would ac- curately represent, with the exception of tenants compounding for their rate, the total number of occupiers to that amount to be enfranchised under the Reform Bill, subject, of course, to Anther deductions to be made fel various causes connected with the qualification.

The motion was of course agreed to.

THE Govenrearnyr Answee co M. THOUTMNEL.

On Monday, Lord Jostle RUSSELL laid on the table further correspon- dence relating to the affairs of Italy, saying :—

" Sir, I wish to state shortly the general contents of those papers, and the present state of affairs, as far as, consistently with my public duty, I can do so. We have thought it ftlit to lay upon the table the correspon- dence with M. Thouvenel, in answer to the despatgh -which has already appeared in the public papers. That correspondence closes with a deapatch of . Thouvenel, and the reply upon our part that we intend to keep the question of the neutralized parts of Savoy 'separate from the general ques- tion of the annexation of Savoy. There are likewise papers from Switzer- land, containing an appeal to the great Powers who signed the treaty of Vienna, upon behalf of the neutrality of Switzerland, and asking those Powers to most in conference upon the subject. We have expressed no ob- jection to go into conference if that should be thought the best mode of treating the question. There is likewise among these papers the treaty of Turin which has been communicated both by Lord Cowley and Sir James Hudscin. The second article of that treaty says that it will be for the Em- peror to come to an understanding with the Powers with respect to the neu- tralizedportions of Switzerland. We conclude, therefore, that there will be a serious examination of this important question—that it will be dis- cussed with reason on all sides—and that such propositions may, we hope, be made as may be satisfactory to Switzerland, and as may meet the views generally of the Powers of Europe."

The most important of the documents is the answer of the Govern- ment to M. Thouvenel's despatch of the 13th of March relating to the annexation of Savoy and Nice. As it contains a full statement of the views of the Ministry, we reprint it verbatim.

Lord John Russell to Lord Cowley.

"Foreign Office, March 22, 1800„ " My Lord,—I transmit to your Excellency herewith copy eta despatch addressed by M. Thouvenel to the Comte de Persigny, which was placed in my hands by the latter on the 15th instant.

.'The Emperor of the French pledged himself in his Imperial Majesty's Speech to the Legislative Chambers that he would submit the question of the annexation of Savoy and the county of Nice to France, to the wisdom and equity of Europe ; and the accompanying despatch—oommunications similar to which have no doubt been made to the other great Powers—pur- ports to have been written in redemption of that pledge. "M. Thouveners despatch explains the reasons on account of which the Imperial Government makes claim to the cession of Savoy and Nice, and it states the principles upon which the French Government considers itself justified in making that claim.

"it is with great regret that her Majesty's Government feels obliged to say that they cannot admit the force of those reasons, and that they are un- able to subscribe to the justice of those principles. "li. Thouvenel adverts to the events of the last twelvemonths in -support of his arguments. Her Majesty's Government would wish shortly to advert also to three events.

"The immediate cause of the war which broke out in Northern Italy in the spring of last year was the invasion of the Piedmentese territory by the Austrian army. "The Emperor of the French marched a large force to the assistance and support of his ally, the King of Sardinia.

"The declarations which his Imperial Majesty, upon several occasions, made as to his intentions, and as to the objects of the war, led the powers of Europe to believe that the war was undertaken without any view to acqui- sition of territory by France, and that its object was to restore Italy to her- self, and to solve, in favour of Italy, that question which it was alleged the conduct of the Austrian Government had brought to an issue, namely, whether Austria should have dominion up to the foot of the Alps, or whether Italy should be free from the Mediterranean to the Adriatic.

"M. Thouvenel says that solemn acts, freely concluded after a campaign which had been successful for the arms of France, are an irrefragable proof that the French Government had not for its object any territorial aggran- dizement when it was led by the force of events to interfere in the affairs of Italy. But he adds that, lough the French Government could not but foresee hypothetical circumstances, in which disinterestedness would have to give way to prudence, the treaties of Villafranca and Zurich entirely shut out such a contingency.

"This statement seems to explain the assurance given to your excellency by Count Walewski in July, 18o9, when the Count being asked as to the truth of rumours that, notwithstanding the declarations and proclamations of the Emperor, there was a negotiation on foot for the cession of Savoy to France, asserted that if such a scheme had ever been entertained, it had been then entirely abandoned.

" Her Majesty's Government are led to infer, from M. Thouveners de- spatch, that the hypothetical contingency to which he alludes was the eon- quest of Venetia by France, and its transfer to Piedmont, and that in such case it had been contemplated that Savoy should be demanded by France ; but that the agreement of Villafranca and the treaty of Zurich having left to Austria the possession of Venetia, the idea of a cession of Savoy to France, which it now appears had been entertained, was given up, as stated by Count Walewaki.

"If. Thouvenel, however, goes on to say, that combinations in Central Italy, different from those which the French Government had fruitlessly, laboured to bring about, compelled the French Government to consider the injury which new arrangements in Rely might carry with them to the in- terests of France; and he proceeds to argue, that when Sardinia, by ac-

quisitions of territory in Central Italy, was about to increase her population, from 4,000,000 to three times that amount, it became necessary, for the security of France, that Savoy should be ceded to her, in order that she might have in her own hands the northern slopes of the Alps. The new danger to which M. Thouvenel alleges that France would thus be exposed would be invasion from Sardinia alone, or from. Sardinia acting as a mem- ber of a confederation of hostile Powers.

"But her Majesty's Government would beg to observe that to imagine

that Sardinia, even with a population of 12,000,000, would ever think of invading France with a population of 36,000,000 is to suppose that which amounts to a moral impossibility. Sardinia, so augmented will become a respectable State, capable of attaining a great degree of internal prosperity, and sufficiently strong to defend herself against any other Italian Power ; but that the French Empire' the first military Power of the Continent, with a vast, compact territory, full of natural resouroes, and with a population characteristically warlike, should be in danger of being attacked by her far weaker neighbour, is not in the nature of things. There are, besides, many political considerations which go to show that the tendency of Sar- dinia must always be towards maintaining the most friendly relations with France. "We may then at once dismiss the notion that France can require any

other guarantee thin her own inherent strength affords her against any at- tack from Sardinia acting alone. " But M. Thouvenel conceives that Sardinia might be a member of a con- federacy arrayed against France, and by having both sides of the Alps she might open the road for other Powers to make an invasion of the territory of France.

" Now on this her Majesty's Government would observe that there never can be a confederacyorgamzed against France unless it be for common de- fence against aggressions on the part of France, and that, therefore, France has it at all times in her own power to prevent the formation of any such confederacy. There is no Power in Europe that does not wish to maintain friendly relations with France, and there is none that could hope to reap any advantage from voluntary and unprovoked rupture with so powerful a State.

"But the chances of Sardinia becoming an instrument of such a confede- racy have been diminished by the events of late years, and by the new ar- rangements of Northern and Central Italy.

"Till within the last fifteen years, the Government of Sardinia was swayed by the influence of Austria, and ..might have been supposed to be likely, in the event of a war between Austria and France, to give passage through Savoy to any Austrian force which might have wished to enter France in that direction ; but, of late years, Sardinia has broken away from her connexion with Austria and has looked to France and not in vain' for friendship and support. Sardinia, therefore, is less France, than ever wil- lingly to give passage to a hostile force wishing to enter France ; and it is obvious that Sardinia, increased in strength while the Austrian frontier is thrown back to the Mincio, is less likely than when she was much weaker, and when the Austrian frontier was on the Ticino, to yield on compulsion that passage to Austrian troops which she would not concede of her own free will.

"We may consider, therefore, as groundless the apprehension that Sar- dinia, retaining possession of Savoy, might open a passage through that province into France to the troops of a hostile confederacy. "It seems, then, to her Majesty's Government, that the argument in fa- vour of the annexation of Savoy to France, founded on the assumed inse- curity of the French territory bordering upon Savoy, falls to the ground when it comes to be fairly examined. "If. Thouvenel says that this demand for the cession of Savoy to France ought not to give umbrage to any Power; that it is founded on a just ba- lance of forces, and is especially pointed out by the nature of things, which has placed the French system of defence at the foot of the western slopes of the Alps. "But her Majesty's Government must be allowed to remark that a demand for cession of a neighbour's territory made by a state so powerful as France, and whose former and not very remote policy of territorial aggrandizement brought countless calamities upon Europe, cannot well fail to give umbrage to every state interested in the balance of power and in the maintenance of the general peace. Nor can that umbrage be diminished by the grounds on which the claim is founded ; because, if a great military power like France is to demand the territory of a neighbour upon its own theory of what con- stitutes geographically its proper system of defence, it is evident that no state could be secure from the aggressions of a more powerful neighbour ; that might and not right would henceforward be the rule to determine ter- ritorial possession ; and that the integrity and independence of the smaller states of Europe would be placed in perpetual jeopardy. "But M. Thouvenel appeals to historical precedents in support of the claim now made.

"Her Majesty's Government will not enter into an examination of what took place in regard to the succession to the throne of Spain, or in regard to the succession to the throne of Austria, because the transactions of those periods have no practical applicability to the present state of European af- fairs ; but with regard to the later transaction to which M. Thouvenel ad- verts, namely, the arrangements of the treaty of 1814, her Majesty's Go- vernment would beg to observe that the arrangements of that treaty by no means bear out the claim now made by France, and that it cannot be with reference to the stipulations of the treaty of 1814, that the demand for the • cession of Savoy and of the county of Nice can be termed by France a revendication. It is to be observed with regard to the term revendica- • tion ' that it is stated that 'is revendication a lieu lorsqu'on reclame une ' chose I laquelle on pretend avoir droit.' "Now the arrangements of the treaty of 1814 were of short duration, and having been superseded by those of the treaty of 1816, they cannot be appealed to as the foundation of any right to be claimed by France. "But the treaty of 1814 did not give either Savoy or the county of Nice to France.'

"Article III. of the treaty of 1814 did, indeed, leave to France a very small portion of Savoy ; but that portion was immediately contiguous to the French frontier, and was at a distance from the slopes of the Alps. The • words of Article III. on this point were as follow :— "In the department of Mont Blanc France acquires the sub-prefecture of Chambery, with the exception of the Cantons of L'HOpital, St. Pierre d'Albigoy, la Rocette, and Montmelian ; and also the sub-prefecture of Annecy, with the exception of the portion of the Canton of Faverges, situated to the east of a line passing between Oure-chaise and Marlene on the side of France, and Martha and Ugine on the opposite side, and which afterwards follows the crest of the mountains as far as the frontier of the Canton of Thones. This line, together with the limit of the Cantons before mentioned, shall on this side form the new frontier. "It follows, therefore, from what is thus stated, that if France claims Savoy and Nice on the principle of a revendication'—that is to say, on the principle of claiming that which she has at any time had a right to—her claim cannot be founded on the treaty of 1814, but must go back to the time of the first French Empire; and it is needless to point out what just alarm the whole of Europe must feel at a claim which, however limited in its pre- sent application, is susceptible of being extended to such vast and dan-

gerous dimensions. M. Thouvenel, indeed, records the declaration spontaneously made by • his Imperial Majesty on ascending the throne, that the governing rule of his relations with Europe would be respect for treaties concluded by pre- ceding Governments of France, and M. Thouvenel declares that this Is a principle of conduct to which his Imperial Majesty will always make it to himself a law to remain faithful.

"The declaration referred to by hi. Thouvenel was no more than might have been expected from the just and enlightened Sovereign-I/ay-whom it was made ; and the assurance given by M. Thouvenel that it nfill,he strictly rind inviolably observed must be gratifying to the allies of France and sa- tisfactory to the whole of Europe. But M. Thouvenel alleges that pre- sent is an exceptional case, that changes which have taken place, and which are about to take place, in Italy, involve changes in the ternitorial arrange- ments established by existing treaties, and that those treaty arrangements ought not to be altered to the detriment of France.

"Her Majesty's Government think they have shown that no detriment or danger to France would be the result of the changes now in progress in Italy ; but there is a State in whose integrity and independence all Europe takes a deep interest, and whose integrity and independence France, among other Powers, has pledged herself by treaty to respect and maintain, and that State would suffer the most serious detriment, and would be exposed to the most serious danger by the proposed transfer of Savoy from Sardinia to France. It is needless to say that this State is Switzerland. " By the treaties of Vienna, of 1815, the Powers of Europe, France in- cluded, acknowledged, and guaranteed the integrity and the perpetual neu- trality of Switzerland, and as a security for that integrity and that neutral- ity, it was stipulated that the provinces of Chablais and of Faucigny, and

all portion of Savoy which is north of 'Cline, shall form Fart of the neutrality of Switzerland, as acknowledged and guaranteed by the contract- ing Powers ; and it was further stipulated that, in consequence thereof, whenever the Powers, neighbours of Switzerland, should be actually at war, or whenever there should be an imminent danger of war between them, the troops of the Bing. of Sardinia, the Sovereign of Savoy, which may happen to be in those provinces, shall retire therefrom, passing, if necessary, through the Valais, and that no armed troops of any other Power shall either tra- verse or be stationed in those provinces and territories, except such troops as the Swiss Confederation shall think proper to place therein. " It is plain that these engagements about Savoy, to which France is a party, were intended as a security for Switzerland against danger coming from France; but what would become of that security if Savoy were an- nexed to France and if the very Power against which this access to Switzer- land has been barred should become the owner of the barrier thus erected for the protection of the Confederation ? It is, indeed, implied in the despatch of M. Thouvenel that France, in taking Savoy, would accept also the en- ementa b.y which the Bing of Sardinia i bound in regard to the neu- tralized portion of that country ; but it is no disparagement to France to say that neither Switzerland nor the Powers of Europe could consider such an arrangement as affording to the integrity and neutrality of the Swiss Con- federation that security which the above-mentioned stipulations of the treaty of Vienna are calculated to afford ; and her Majesty's Government contend that it is not competent for France and Sardinia, by any compact between them, and without the consent of the other States of Europe, so materially to impair, as the proposed cession of Savoy would do, an element of security which a great European compact has provided for a State whose indepen- dence is an object of European concern. " Nor can it be for the well understood interest of France herself to break down the barriers by which the neutrality of Switzerland is secured. It must surely be acknowledged that the neutrality of Belgium at the northern, and of Switzerland at the southern, extremity of the eastern frontier of France, is of advantage to her, as well as to Europe. The neutrality of these two States narrows the line of frontier along which hostilities between France and Germany- can take place, and, adding to the security of both, it tends to give stability to the general peace. M. Thouvenel alleges that the proposed cession of Savoy and the county of Nice to France raises no question incompatible with the best established and most rigorous rules of public, law. He points to similarity of character, of language, of habits ; to the geographical configuration and to commercial intercourse, as having prepared and adapted 'he people of those countries for annexation to France ; and he says that the Alps ought to be the line of separation between France and Italy, and that thus the new boundary which it is proposed to establish between France and Piedmont finds its sanction in the force of things. This statement, indeed, opens a wide field for conjecture as to the future, and though it is immediately followed by the somewhat inconsistent assu- rance that it is not upon the ground of ideas of nationality, nor upon that of natural frontiers, that the cession of Savoy and of Nice is demanded, those arguments cannot fail to give rise to the most serious reflections. Her Ma- jesty's Government, then, would beg to submit that no ease has been made out to justify this cession on the ground of necessary defence for France, and that this cession would most unjustly, and in violation of treaty en- gagements, materially weaken a defensive arrangement which united Europe has provided as a security for the neutrality and integrity of Switzerland.

"Great Britain has no direct interest of her own in this matter, and it is from no unfriendly feeling towards France that her remonstrances on this subject have proceeded. Her Majesty's Government, indeed, are deeply im- pressed with the conviction that any territorial advantage which France might gain by the proposed annexation would be far more than counter- balanced b/the distrust with which it would inspire the other States and Powers of Europe.

"The calamities which overspread by turns almost every part of the Con- tinent of Europe during the closing years of the last and the early years of the present century, are still fresh in the memory of mankind : their re- newal would, indeed, be a deplorable misfortune and it cannot be sur- prising that the attention of nations and of their rulers should be directed, with anxious solicitude, to events which have a bearing both on the in- terests of the present and on the destinies of the future.

"Your excellency will read and give a copy of this despatch to M. Thou- venel.—I am, &e. (Signed) J. RUSSELL." On the 26th of March, M. Thouvenel rejoined. He regrets that he has not been able to modify the opinions of the English Government, and as further discussion could lead to no practical result he confines himself "to asserting that Lord John Russell's despatch has not the character of a protest." "In a word, the Government of her Britannic Majesty declares that it does not share the opinion of the Government of the Emperor ; but this divergence does not constitute an opposition of a nature to affect the rela- tions of the Cabinets of Paris and London. I am sincerely pleaaed at this, M. le Comte ; and there are only two points in Lord John Russell's argu- ment which I wish to examine summarily, so as to leave in the mind of her Britannic Majesty's Principal Secretary of State neither a misunderstand- ing nor a doubt as to our intentions. I believed that I had established that the Emperor, in making use of his speech to the great bodies of the State of the word revendication,' had never had an idea of referring to any diplo- matic act, or to any circumstance of other times. The explanations which I have given on this subject to his Majesty's representatives at the German Courts have been everywhere considered as satisfactory as possible, and I had requested you to transmit to Lord John Russell a copy of the despatch which contains them. I renew these explanations today with, the confi- dence that, on examining them closer, her Britannic Majesty's Government will not receive them less favourably than the Powers to whom they were more especially addressed.

"As for the neutrality of Switzerland, M. le Comte, which Lord John Russell considers to be menaced by the annexation of Savoy to the territory of the empire, I will content myself with remarking to you that France attaches the greatest interest to preserving it fromany injury. 'The Emperor's Government, therefore, has not hesitated, in order to prove the sincerity of its disposition in this respect, to insert in the treaty which it has just con- cluded at Turin a clause an these terms :— " It is understood that his Majesty the Ring of Sardinia cannot transfer the neutralized portions of Savoy except on the conditions upon which he himself possesses them, and that it will appertain to his Majesty, the Em- peror of the French to come to an understanding on this subject both with the Powers represented at the Congress of Vienna and with the Swiss

Confederation, and to give them the guarantees required by the stipulations referred to in this article.'

"It appears to me that all apprehensions should disappear in face of this spontaneous engagement, and that henceforth her Britannic Majesty's Go- vernment, certain of having the opportunity of discussing the guarantees which shall, in pursuance of an European agreement, be judged to be best fitted to realize, in their relations with the permanent neutrality of Switzer- land, the object of the stipulations relative to the contingent neutralization of a part of Savoy, has no reason to fear that this interest, the importance of which we have thus recognized, will not be settled in a satisfactory manner."

Swap-Durres AND THE INCOME-TAX Brus. On the understanding that a general debate on the financial scheme of the Government shall take place in the House of Lords after Easter, the Stamp-duties and Income-tax hills were read a second time on Monday, and the standing orders being suspended, they were read a third time and passed.

-Tnr. TAX ON PACKAGES, &c. In Committee on the Customs' Acts on Monday, Mr. GLA.DSTONE moved certain amended resolutions varying the taxes on packages, and substituting for the penny tax on export-packages a tax of Is. 6d. on bills of lading. The first resolution charged upon all ar- ticles, except corn, grain, or flour, and timber and wood goods, upon im- portation, per package or parcel, ld. ; animals, per head, id; goods in bulk, for each unit of entry, M. ; with power to the Lords of the 1 reasury to frame regulations for adjusting the amount of such payments in certain eases by altering the unit of entry, or quantity or number of goods, so that the charge shall as little as may be exceed one quarter per cent on the goods of the lowest value ; and on each entry of goods for exportation, being a copy of the bill of lading, with the particulars and value of the goods en- dorsed, a duty of 18. 6d. This resolution, after considerable discussion, was agreed to. The next resolution charged a Customs-due of 108. per cent. on the amount of Customs duty payable on goods warehoused and removed under bond from one place to another, and of 5s. per cent on goods ware- housed and not removed, to be paid in each case on taking such goods out of bond for home consumption ; tobacco to be chargeable with only half the above rates, and no more than 5s., in addition to 58. per cent, upon any single delivery of sugars when removed under bond. This resolution was likewise agreed to, and, with the other, ordered to be reported. The House then resumed.