The Express. — London, England, 1867-04-06 00:00:00

CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERALISM. "TUE DAY." Price One Penny.—Oflkeole, Kastu•street, Wand. GOLD CHAINS.—JOHN BROGDEN begs to eall the attention of the public to the VORM VOICE which he delivers with thitil Chains pardoned at his manufactory: s. d. To workmanship of wore pattern chain, St Inches long 2 IS 0 To !Pc carat cola, weighing 2 ova., at E 3 3s. Md per ounce, Mint price Total 1 - pm this system, the QUALITY, W YACHT, and VALUE of the gold are securately &lined, and guaranteed to the purclumera: John Monaco I..,kin; fora fair remuneration on the workman ahlp only, which is charged according to the intricacy or simpli city of the 'water]: .Iluilutat:tory. 10, Ilenrietta-street, Covent-garden, London. B ENSON'S WATCHES and CLOCKS. By Special Appointment to 11.R.11. THE PRINCE OF WALES. Prize London, elms xt ; DnbUu, Class 10. WATCH Es--Chnutoineters, Keyless, Repanters,Chronographadte. CIA EKS— For Di n ing RINI Drawing RoomsAnarriages,Churehm, etc. JEWELLERY—specialities in Monograms, Crystals, Diamonds, and Flue Gold. PLATE, and WORKS of ART In Bronze, by Leading Artists. PRICD4 and Descriptions, lee Illustrated Pamphlet, post free. Watches 3.1111 Clocks sent to all parts of the world. J. W. BENSON, 9.5, OLD tioND.STKIST. Steam Factory and City Show Rooms, SS and 60, LUDGATE-BILL Paris Fahthitiun, 1067, English Suction, Chas 23. (PRIZE. MEDAL AWARDED. ALLEN'S PATENT PORT ALS and TR AVELLI NG BAGS, with square openings. LADIES' WARDROBE TRUNKS, DEEMING BAGS, with Miner fittings. DESPATcII WINES. WRITING and DREKSING CASES, and 600 other articles for home urixinlinental travelling. Illustrated catalogues post true Also Allen's Barrack Furniture Catalogue of Portable Bed steads, Drawers, Easy Chairs, Washband.stands, Canteen; ac., I Kl i !re: 4r J. W. ALLEN, Manufacturer and Patentee, 3T, Wed Strand, Louden, W.C. DAVIES'S REST DIP CANDLES, 64d. per lb. ; palace paratlin mindtee, Is. 6d. ; sperm, Is. Dd. and le. tid.; botanic wax, Is. ; composite, lilil., 80., and 100.; moulds, Bd. ; yellow map, ;pia, 40e. , 445, and 42a. per 112 lb. ; mottled, 48s. : bmt robs oil, 4e. Gel. per gallon : fur cash, at M. P. DAVIES and SON'S, 1111, St. Martin's-lane, W.C. BROWN and POLSON'S CORN FLOUR for CHILDREN'S DIET. To obtain extra profit by the sale other Ida& are sonsedhnse offered instead of BROWN' and POISON'S. "John Brown," "John Poison." la signed by the satire on each packet. Zite erlp V efS DltyrßY LANK. This Err Imo, ROB ROiiilessn.Thelpe, T. Swlnhourne, W. Harrison, M lutyre. Barrett, and Harontwt ; Beldame' E. erna.. Y. O. Le Thiess, iludgeth, and IL litoughwn.—To conclude with WAN TRU 11U SENDS YOR 811_ labs Hudspeth. RAYMARKIT. THIN EVENING, THE Hill, AT LAW. Maim Buckstone, Chippendale. Cunipt4m, Farms, Rogers, do : Mesdames Chippen dale. Moore, A c.—THF, SERIOUS FAMILY. Messrs. Buckstone, Farrell, Ite.—And PERFECTION. Mr. Kendal and Miss Burks. PAING:MBII. TRH XVIVONG, NO. I,iiiiiNDTOß COR-NER. Weser& ii.re awl Forrester.—And IT IS NEVER. TOO LATE TO MEND. Messrs. Vining, F. Villiers. Verner. More, Callasem, And Mellon ; Mimes Page sad Rodgers. LYCKUM. Two Earaian, RAMRo6%.Liiia.llr. Moe and Mu Kate Bialvao. —And Tug DUKE'S MOTTO. Mr. Facider, Stators. Jontm, Emery, Price. WM.IIOIOIII, Fitzpatrick, Ste. ; flcnrade, E6wortby, Orattun, and Carlotta Ledercy. erz►an. TITI9 EVENTNO, SWEEfli&Aifi AHD WIVE& Mr. Rel. furd.—E-01EatALDA OS, THIS SIRNSATION GOAT. Ussart Thrne, James, Robson, aad Thrace ; Maadaasas Swan Hughes, We.ithersby, &c.—*ad THE FRENCH EICHIBITTat,' TOLBORN. Ting Errtnio, MY TURN NRXT. Mr. Delmore: Masse toot. mod Leonox.—And FLYINO SCUD. Mews. Neville, Bel sore, Blake, YeHaire, dm. ; Mesdames F. Josephs. C. &waders, Bessie toots. Rados. Luso; Rapauod. fa BRITANNIA. --...-. IHri ETEurso. FAUS T ; OR. MARGUERITE'S MANGLE. Mn. Lane and Madams Jacobs, Edwin, and Booth. -Conclud ing with THE DUSTMAN'S TREASURE; OR, MEW AND TILE BOFFINS. HIGH WATER AT LONDON THIS DAT —Morning, 2h. f4m.......Atternoon. 3h. 1316. fO-I‘olthOW—Mandag. 3h. Us...... Afternoon. 3h. G2os. LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 6. treat it so lightly 4 Evidently a political con nexion of fifty years has not impressed the House of ORANGE with a sense of any sacredness attach ing to its relationship to the Grand Duchy ; and if by the force of events a more German prince were to become master of Luxemburg, it is not the present GRAND DUKE who would have a right to complain of the outrage done to his feelings. What has happened during the last month by no means shows that the King of HOLLAND ought not to sell such rights as he has in Luxemburg, but rather the contrary. We venture to think that, since all confidence between him and his Ger man subjects must be at an end, if he could find a truly German prince, acceptable to his people, and ready to buy his interest in Luxemburg, it would bo wise now to dispose of it, even if he had to take a somewhat smaller sum than that offered by the Emperor of the lei:Km:D. It is remark able that throughout the European changes of the last twelve months the people should have shown themselves so much more conservative than their rulers. What distant and impartial observers desire in cases like these is, that the political arrangements of Europe should rest, as far as possible, on a natural basil, because only on that condition can they conduce to permanent peace. The Emperor NAPOLEON has frequently proclaimed this doctrine with all the force of sincere conviction. Luxemburg is German by its history and character. The people speak German, look back to the glories of German history, have fulfilled the duties of German citizens, and never shown a disposition to renounce their nationality. It is true the Confederation of which they were lately members has fallen to pieces, but Germany was before the Confederation, was the cause of its existence, and survives its overthrow. The temper of the people has not been changed by the pro spect which seemed to open to them of becoming members of the great military and administrative Empire of France, and partakers in the rights and liberties of the French people. While such is their feeling, untutored and undisciplined, it is plain that Germany cannot abandon, and least of all could Prussia recommend her allies to leave, them to their own resources. There is not a State in the Fatherland which has sacrificed a measure of its independence for the sake of the protection of Prussia, that would not feel in such a case that it had made a serious mis calculation, and must seek other guarantees of inde pendence than the friendship of a Power persistent in seeking its own aggrandisement, but owning no overpowering obligations to Germany. It is sur prising that the sagacious Emperor of the Flaxen should not have foreseen that the tendency of these nibbling transactions must be to strengthen the hands of Count BISMARCK and his master, and to clinch German unity with bolts and rivets more enduring than hammered steel. It has been stated by one of our Paris contemporaries that it was the request for Bavarian terri tory preferred by France last August, and represented at the right moment by Count Big- MAACK to the South German Governments, that threw the latter helplessly into the hands of Prussia, and caused the hasty conclusion of those treaties the publication of which has lately caused so much superfluous surprise. We can only suppose that in making demands of this character the EMPEROR has yielded against his better judgment to a pressure which he could not resist. If so, the result only shows how much the EMPEROR is wiser than his counsellors, without increasing our respect for personal government which in emergencies has neither a will nor a way of its own. WE trust that no new telegram may arrive to disturb the tranquillising effect of the announce ment that the King of HOLLAND has abandoned the intention of selling Luxemburg to France. The intelligence that negotiations have taken place for effecting the cession has created a painful im pression in Europe, rather on account of the prin ciples of political action which it brought into prominence and seemed to sanction than for any great importance attaching to the territory at stake. As we all know, the semi-official French journals maintain that no peculiar principle is involved in the transfer. France, they remind a too unbelieving and unforgetting world, has no ambition, no greed of territorial acquisitions, no warlike tendencies, but she has a profound sense of what is equitable, and seeing a neighbour tearing up treaties and making conquests, she feels she ought to derive some advantage from the disturbance which she has not arrested, and from the work of reconstruction that must follow. Let ns say that if impartial spectators cannot take pre cisely this view of the case, it is simply because France has taught us to judge according to other rules and maxims. It is France that has taught Europe to recognise in community of blood and language a bond cf nationality, inde pendent of and prior and superior to those pre carious combinations which diplomacy forms and the instinct of the People soon destroys ; it is France that has taught us that there is a oneness of na tional existence which is capable of supplying the place of formal political union until its forces are capable of attaining to organic expression ; of surviving the artificial systems through which it, from time to time, becomes operative, and of finally forbidding all and any combinations op posed to its own principle. We are 'there fore only apulying the doctrines of modern and Imperial France when we say that the consolidation of some German States in the Prussian monarchy, and the gathering of others together in a con federation under the leadership of the same Power, are events differing in their essential nature from the lately contemplated transfer of Luxemburg to France. The occurrences which have had the effect of making Prussia stronger have taken place within the circle of German nationality, whereas the proposed annexation of Luxemburg would have been the rending of a country from a body with which it is organically connected, and the formation of an arbitrary, an unnatural, and therefore a precarious union. The triumphs of the Second Empire have been achieved in the name of principhes by which such arrange ments are condemned as at once impolitic and immoral. It is satisfactory to be assured that the Expo has not been committed by his irrespon sible advisers to the extreme prosecution of an enterprise out of harmony with the beat passages of his own European policy. If it be true that the first advances in this affair came from the King of HOLLAND, and that the French Government has simply taken up a negotiation which, under the circumstances, it could hardly decline, it will be the easier to forget any unpleasant incidents to which it has given rise. The King of HOLLAND will be fortunate if his conduct in this transaction is soon forgotten by those whom it most concerns. With what sort of loyalty can his subjects of the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg regard him now that it appears that he was prepared to sell them at a price'? Is not the connexion which subsists between Hol land, or rather between the King of HOLLAND, and Luxemburg condemned by the very fact that the Sovereign who might have been expected to be peculiarly sensitive to the honour of his charge could THE GOVERNMENT REFORM BILL. THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, APRIL 6, 1867. OIIR CONTEMPORARIES. (THIS DAY.) by the old conservative party, led by the old protectionist leader, is a political immorality that must undermine the faith of the whole n►tion in the strength and honesty of our parliamentary system. In an article on the Luxemburg question, it is remarked by the Spectator that the re-arming of France goes for ward at a constantly accelerating speed, while Prussia is urging the South to reorganise itself on the Prussian scheme till the Bavarian Premier tells his parliament that if it chatters so much over his army bills he must perforce resign. When of two countries with conterminous fron tiers one is full of suspicion, the other of mortified pride, a very little incident may produce the explosion which both expect, and almost desire. Ordered out of Mexico, defeated at Nikolsburg, defied in Schleswig, resisted in Luxemburg, abased in Auxerre, with no liberties to offer to France, and new sacrifices to demand from his people, the Emperor, to keep his 'eat, must accomplish sonic great thing. His claim to reign is Success, and in Mexico and Germany, at home and abroad, he has of late been un successful. The Chronicle says the more hearty the liberal party in the House of Commons shows itself in the acceptance of Mr. Coleridge's resolution, the more probable is it that the government will ultimately acquiesce. If it does not acquiesce, the duty of the opposition will be manifest, and their power as certain as their obligation to use it. If any considerable section of them are callous to that ob. ligation, the opportunity may indeed be lost ; but at least the party will have vindicated its political intelligence, and effectually, if tardily, redeemed its honour. cuss THE MEETING OF THE LIBERAL MEMBERS. The Times regards with disfavour the policy agreed upon at yesterday's meeting. Practically the in struction to be moved substitutes a 51. rating franchise for the borough franchise proposed in the government scheme, the defence for this being that in boroughs under the Small Tenements Acts such a franchise would admit more voters than a household rating franchise limited by the condition of personal payment of rates. Whether this would be so or not must, however, turn upon the facilities offered to the compound householders to become personally rat'id ; and when yesterday's meeting was held no one knew what facilities would be found in the pro mised clauses of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is at leant rash to give notice of a motion which may prove useless before It can be debated, nor can it be denied that it is extremely questionable whether the policy of a uniform rating franchise is, on the whole, to be preferred to that of a franchise limited by the personal payment of rates, as long as no artificial obstacles are opposed to their payment. But the gravest objection is that it perils the settlement of reform. If it is rejected, the opposition will go into committee with broken forces. If on the contrary the ministry be beaten, there will be an appeal to the hustings, and if the ministry obtain an accession of strength, the next bill will certainly not be more liberal than the present. Those who hold that the government bill may, with the promised altera tions, become a satisfactory measure, cannot be too cir cumspect as to the course into which they are drifting. The Daily Neill represents Mr. Coleridge's motion as an attempt in good faith to promote the settlement of the question this year, and denies that the proceeding is dic tated by any hostile feeling towards the government. The terms are strictly relative to the bill, and there is no valid reason why the instruction should not be accepted by the government. It gives effect to their professed objects, and removes only those accidents of their scheme which would have defeated its essence. Mr. Disraeli will, it is to be hoped, be wise enough to adopt it now, if be has not been wise enough, acting upon previous hints, to antici pate it in the additional clauses which he has promised to lay on the table. The Herald has authority to state that the instruction to the committee on the Bill for the Improvement of the Representation of the l'eople, which is to be moved by Mr. Coleridge on Monday next, and which strikes at the principle of personal payment of rates, on which the mea sure of the government is founded, will not only be op posed on that account, but will be treated by them as a vote of want of confidence in the administration. The Standard is confident that this pretty scheme of hungry placehunters will not succeed. The Post thinks the meeting was calculated to reassure the leaders as to the tractability and discipline of their followers, and to dissipate the sinister rumours which have of late been current as to the disaffection said to exist among them. The TarTiraph enjoins upon the liberal party the neces sity at such a crisis as this of united support of the line of action which has been agreed to. In the words of Mr. Gladstone, it is not only the government, but also the op position, whom the country will hold responsible for the failure or success of this measure. The power of the liberal party is perfect, but success in the great work on which they are engaged depends upon their union. While supporting the motion, the Star does not conceal its opinion that a stronger, broader, more imperative, and more comprehensive resolution would better have befitted the occasion. Certainly, if ever a party deserved credit for forbemance and self-abnegation, it is that which Mr. Gladstone leads, and if a real reform of the representation results from the present complication, theirs emphatically will be the glory. But to the attainment of this object the triumphant adoption of Mr. Coleridge's resolution is essential. The Day earnestly hopes that the government will yield no further. They are now in an admirable position for a pitched battle. They could not accept it on a better issue. And itthey are to win at all, they must win on the ground they now occupy. THE WEEKLY PRESS. The Examiner says that for a resolution like thnt which Mr. Coleridge is to move, men of the most opposite opinions may vote. The seceders from Lord Derby's cabinet will, it is understood, give it their sup. port, reserving to themselves the right to draw at 6/., or 10/. a year, the undetermined line below which all are to be disfranchised, and above which all aro to pay their own rates ; while liberals may take their aid to carry the motion, inwardly resolved to fix the line at a 5/. rating, which will be equivalent to a 71. rent. If minis ters stand firm, next week will be consumed in a struggle which may possibly decide the fate of parties and probably the fate of the bill. With a view to what was felt to be coming, Mr. Disraeli has made an ingenious counter move. He last night laid upon the table clauses regarding compound householders, which would compel the insertion in the rate-book of the names of all occupiers, and which would enable such of them as desired the franchise to pay their portion of the compound rate, and to have credit for it as part payment of rent, the owner being in every such case exonerated from the liability. In other words, these clauses appear to be intended to make good the right of household suffrage to every man who cares for the possession of it sufficiently to take the trouble of paying what he now pays in one sum called rent, the same amount in two sums, the one called rent and the other compound rate. Without such clauses the bill could not, indeed, have been accepted by the friends of house hold suffrage; and without them it would have had no chance of passing through committee. There can be no disguising the fact that they look with grave distrust upon the proposal of Mr. Coleridge, which they reasonably regard as certain to be followed by a practical denial and rejection of the principle for which they contend. . . . . To the Examiner it seems fatally plain that if the popular party in parliament were to substitute for household suf frage a 6/. or even aSL rating, agitation would be certain to re-commence in a spirit more dangerous and subversive than auy we have recently known, because embittered by the loss of all faith in the professions of parliamentary men. At all events, let the liberal leaders make up their minds before next week's debate begins to say unmistak. ably what they are going for, and to what use they would put their success were Mr. Coleridge's equivocal motion carried. It is the legitimate child and successor to the memorable amendment of 1t439, which, professing solici tude for popular enfranchisement, delayed all reform from that day till now. The Saturday &view admits the difficulty in which the liberal party is placed, but thinks the worst way of getting out of this difficulty would be by making what would seem a harsh us:: of what may be a numerical majority, and by defeating the government, until, after full discussion, and after every effort has Len made to give an opportunity for concession, the government positively refuses to give way on one of those few points on which the liberal party must resolutely insist, and on whichl the country would clearly and warmly support them. The Saturday Renew remarks that for a moment it was thought that an entente cordiale between France and Austria would be the first result of Prussian supremacy in Germany, but it would seem that the Emperor of Austria and Baron Beust are superior to the short-sighted revenge of calling in the foreigner to readjust the balance of German power. It is thought that French influence has thus received no less a check at Vienna than at Munich, and that a frank adhesion to the great changes iu Germany I has been promised by Austria to Prussia. If this be so, France is again really isolated, Her ambition was arrested fifty years ago by a coalition of monarchs. It is equally arrested now by a coalition of peoples. The great diffi culty is that France is not accustomed to bear such things lightly, and that her diplomatic mortification, have a ten dency to bring about either war without or revolution within. To the Spectator nothing an bo more disgraceful to the House of Commons than the success of Mr. Disraeli's man‘euvres. If Mr. Gladstone's proposal is to be carried, it should have been carried by the only party which can properly propose it, the party who proposed its equivalent last year, and not those who passionately condemned and successfully obstructed it. If the more extreme proposal household suffrage, is to be carried—as is most likely— it should be carried by men who honestly believe that it will be a just concession to the abstract rights of the people, by such men as Mr. Peter Taylor or Mr. T. B. Potter. But for either of these proposals to be carried PROPOSED REGULATIONS AS TO RATING. In the parliamentary order book for the ensuing week notices of motion in connexion with the Reform Bill occupy eight pages. Of these motions 9 are to be proposed on going into committee, the members proposing them standing in the following order : Captain Hayter, Mr. Buxton, Mr. H. B. Sheridan, Mr. Scrape, Mr. Berkeley, Mr. Darby Griffith, Mr. Baillie, Mr. Coleridge, and Mr. J. S. Mill. In committee, amendments, insertions, or omissions, are to be moved by Mr. Torrens, Mr. Roebuck, Earl Grosvenor, Mr. Watkin, Mr. Rardcastle, Mr. Dillwyn, Mr. J. 8. Mill, Mr. Fawcett, and others. The following are the new regulations as to rating which are proposed by the Chancellor of the Exchequer : "Clause to follow Claim 35—(Regulations as to Rating) : "The following enactments shall be made for the par paw of giving facilities to occupiers desirous of acquiring the franchise under this act in respect of dwelling-houses in boroughs in which the owner is liable by act of parliament to be rated instead of the occupier:—(l.) The full rateable value of every house in a borough, and the fall rate in the pound, and the name of the occupier, shall be entered in the rate-book. (2.) In every borough forms of claim to be used by an occupier desirous of being rated for the purpose of acquiring the franchise under this act shall be obtainable, free of charge, at every post-ofttee in the borough at which money orders are issued. (3.) The form of claim shall have printed thereon the addressor the overseers, and when signed by the claimant shall be transmitted free by the post to the overseers. (4.) On the receipt of any such claim the overseers shall return an answer stating the amount of rate, if any, doe in respect of the premises. (1.) The overseers on the receipt of the claim and on the payment of the rate, if any then due, shall make an entry in the rate-book declaring the liability of the occupier to be rated and pay rates in respect of such house, and such occupier shall be liable accordingly, and the overseers shall give notice to the owner that the occupier has so claimed as aforesaid, and thenceforth the owner shall be discharged from his liability to be rated or pay any rate in respect of such house until the occupier makes default in payment of such rate as hereinafter mentioned. (6.) Where the occupier of any dwelling-house that has been let to him free from rate claims to be rated, and to pay the rites for the purpose of acquiring the franchise under this act, he may deduct from any rent due or accruing due from him to the owner, any sum which the owner would have been liable to pay if the occupier had not paid the rates in pursuance of such claim as aforesaid. (7.) Where the occupier of any house having claimed to be rated and to pay rates as aforesaid in respect of a dwelling-house makes default in payment of the rates due from him, the overseers shall give notice of such default to the owner, and thereupon the liability of the owner to be rated and to pay rates in respect of such house shall revive in the same manner in all respect. as if no claim had been made by the occupier ; but the owner shall be entitled, if the occupier is liable under a contract with him to pay the rate, to compensate himself for the default so made by the occupier by adding to any rent due or accruing due from the occupier any sum which he as owner has thus become liable to pay on account of rate by reason of the default of the occu pier, and shall have the same remedies for recovering the same as if it were rent in arrear ; but no notice shall be given to the owner by the overseers under this section of the default of the occupier until the overseers have served notice on the occupier stating their intention to apply to the owner for payment of the rate due, and the occupier has made default in paying such rate for seven clear days after the receipt of such notice. All expenses incurred by the overseers under this section shall lie deemed to be expenses incurred in the registration of voters, and shall be allowed accordingly." The practical effect of the proposed arrangement would be that every occupier of a house rated under the com pound rating system, who wished to secure a right to vote would do so by paying to the overseer the amount of the rates, and would receive back from his landlord the amount which be hail paid, aa tenants who have paid the income tax now deduct it, in the settlement of the rent. THE GOVERNMENT REFORM BILL DEPUTATION TO THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXOREQUKR.-(Tillf) DAY.) This afternoon, ie reply to a deputation from the Manchester Constitutional Association and other conservative associations, The CHANCELLoR of the EXCHEQUER said the contest was in fact only beginning. There had been a great deal of skirmishing and a great deal of movement on the part of their opponents. As to the amendment introduced last night, though there might be some doubts as to its precise meaning, there could be no doubt that it was an attempt on the part of a large party to defeat the effort which was being made to settle the question of reform on rational principles. The depu tation might rest assured that the cardinal points of the bill would be retained, and the government felt sure that if it should become necessary for them to appeal to the country they would not appeal in vain. Under no circumstances would the government concede the vital point of the rate-paying clause and an adequate residence. Cite Court. WINDSOR CASTLE, APRIL 3. The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon in a carriage and four, accompanied by Princess Christian, and attended by Lady Churchill. Her Majesty went out this morning, accompanied by Princess Louise. Prince and Princess Christian drove out ; Prince Leopold, attended by Mr. Sshl, went out walking, and Princess Beatrice rode in the Home-park. A Committee of the Lords of her Majesty's Most Hon. Privy Council sat yesterday, at the Privy Councibaioe, Whitehall, on the subject of the cattle plague. The lords present were the Lord President the Duke of Richmond, the Duke of Buckingham, Lord Robert Montagu, the Right Hon. Spencer Walpole, the Right Hon. H. L. Corry, and the Right Hon. Stephen Cave. Mr. Harrison and Dr. Alexander Williams attended the committee. Cienmr COU NCI L.—Summonses have been issued fora Cabinet Council to-day at the First Lord of the Tree• Bury's official residence in Downing-street. His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge, as Fieldaarshal Commanding-in-Chief, held a levee yestcr. day at the Hone Guards, at which upwards of 120 officers attended. Prince de Tech has communicated to the High land Society of London his desire to join that society. The Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg- S trelitz honoured the Earl and Countess Stanhope by her company at dinner yesterday evening, at their residence in Gros venor-place Houses. There were present to meet her royal highness the Austrian Ambassador and the Countess Apponyi, the Duke of Cleveland, the Marquis and Mar chioness of Salisbury, the Marquis of Bath, Viscount Newport, Lord and Lady Cecilia Bingham, Hon. Percy and Mrs. Wyndham, the Right Hon. Robert Lowe ; and Lady Caroline Cust and Baron Lithe, in attendance on her royal highness. The countess afterwards received a swell and select party. The celebrated annual Tichborne dole was dis tributed at Tichborne, in Hants, a few days since. The dole consisted of 250 gallons of bread. It was distributed in the name of Sir Henry Alfred Joseph Doughty Tich borne, the infant son of the late Sir Alfred Tichborne. This dole was oi:ginated by the Tichborne family in Henry the Second's time. WINDSOR, FRIDAY NIGHT.—This evening a telegram was despatched shortly after seven o'clock from Windsor Castle to Dr. Farr, in London, requesting that gentleman to attend her Royal Highnc is Princes. Christian of Schleswig-Holstein. Arrangements were made at Paddington for Dr. Farr to proceed to Windsor by the 8.10 or a subsequent train. The doctor caught the espreva, and aniv Mg at Windsor at 8.50, at once pro ceeded to the Castle. THE " ROYAL PREFERENCE BOOK."—We have recently been reading one of the most charming little volumes that have ever come into our hands. It is no less than the royal " Preference Book," the pages of which are filled up by their Royal Highnesses the l'rince and Princess of Wales, and the Princess Mary of Cambridge. This in teresting record, which is an original and authentic com position, is an account of the likings and dislikings of these who, next to our gracious Queen herself, command, beyond all others, the affectionate homage and respect of all loyal Englishmen and Englishwomen. And, as taste is an index to character, a book of this kind gives us a greater insight into the disposition of the writers than as private indivi duals we could possibly obtain in any other way. Our readers are perhaps aware of the general arrangement of the work. In answer to the first question, "Who is your favour ite queen r the Prince and Princess Mary treat the question historically, and unite in admiring Mary Queen of Scots. The Princess of Wales, on the other hand, selects a more modern instance, and dutifully gives the preference to her own royal mother. Upon the subject of kings there has been a great difference of opinion. The Prince has writ ten " Leopold, King of the Belgians." The Princess is in favour of the warlike Cmur de Lion ; while the Princess Mary, with womanly pity for the unfortunate, gives the palm for Charles L Nelson, Marlborough, and Welling ton are the favourite heroes ; Shakespeare the favourite poet of the Princess, and Byron that of the Prince and Princess Mary. Raphael, Ruben', and Sir Joshua Rey nolds are selected from the list of artists. As an author the Prince prefers Macaulay to all others; the ladies are unanimous in favour of Charles Dickens. The virtues of honesty and charity receive hearty sympathy, as might well be supposed, at the hands of those to wh om th e y have long been familar. The Prince's favourite colour is tae Gimere mixture known as " I Zingari ;' the two princesses manifest • national partiality to "True Blue." When we come to the subject of the "inner man," we find the Prince—with unques tionable taste—recording his admiration of Truffe.. ass Perigord, an opinion with which we respectfully and most heartily agree. The Princess, however, scorns "foreign kickahaws," and confesses " a weakness " for Yorkshire pudding. The Princess Mary is equally in favour of French tart. Among flowers, the Prince and Princess Mary are again of the same mind. They select the rose, and the Princess of Wales gives her vote to the modest little forget-me-not. The Princess Mary prefers her own name to all others ; the Princess of Wales her bushand'e second name, Edward ; the l'rince himself selects Louise. His royal highness has answered the next question, " What is your favourite occupation ?" in a most moral and praise. worthy spirit, " Improving my mind." The ladies are not so severe in their taste. " Playing on the piano" is the answer of the Princeu : and " Itculing aloud" that of the Princes Mary. Hunting, riding, and driving ponies form the chief amusements of the royal trio in their " hours of idleness."' Then we come to the mot toes. These are very appropriately and gracefully selected from the armorial bearings of the selectors ; " Ich dice," by the Prince ; " Honi soit qui mad y pence," by the Princess ; and " Dieu et mon Droit," by the Princess Mary. The Prince hates " cowardice and avarice ;" the Princess, " slander ;" and the Princess Mary—bleu her kind heart—has no particular dislikes. We hope and trust the Prince will not go yet awhile to his " favourite locality"—the Sandwich Isles ! And long may the Prin cess remain in the land of her choice—" Great Britain." And nowhere, we think, is the Princess Marymore admir e d and beloved than "at home." Ambition has its charms, but the moderate ambition of the Prince and Princess CM lead them to no harm : "To attain fame without seeking it ;" " Non-interference in other people's busi ness." The Princess Mary sensibly adds, "Not for being fiat ;" and so, with the signatures of the royal writers, these interesting memoranda are brought to a close.— The Day. LATEST INTELLIGENCE. LIJXEMBURG. In the Temps of to-day the Luxemburg question is explained in the following pithy manner by M. Charles Dolifus : To whom does Luxemburg belong? By whom are the Luxemburgers put up to auction in the mart of territorial politic ? Nobody knows, no one can at the present moment tell. "They are Hollanders," ways the King of Holland, and so they say themselves. "That cannot be denied," says Count Bismarck, "Luxemburg was a part of the old German confederation, but that blessed confederation exists no longer. and Luxemburg has returned to her sovereign," still the Prussians are in occupation. Are they to be always there? IVill it be laid down that the Luxemburgers are Dutchiandthat never theless the fortress of Luxemburg is Prussian ? This would be very sublime political metaphysics—too sublime for our intelligence to comprehend. M. de Benningsen seems to think that the Luxemburgers are Germans, and that Lux emburg is German territory. If Germany agrees with him, here are a people who are and who are not Germans. Who are they ? Profound mystery ! Strange enigma ! Antinomy is Prussian ; it flourished with Kant at Konigs berg ; thesis, antithesis, synthesis, have been professed by Hegel in Berlin. In the present case the thesis is that of N. de Benningsen ; the antithesis, the reply of M. do Bis marck ; and the synthesis, the occupation of the Prussians. The fortress to the Prussians ; the inhabitants to the King of Holland ; let who will retire. We should like to see the Prussians retire, without the French entering; for simple good sense (that poor, wretched, humble, and despised thing) rya that if Luxemburg is for Luxem burgers, that the Luxemburgers are and wish to remain united with Holland—Luxemburgers, Luxemburg, and the fortress of Luxemburg, belong neither to Prussia, nor to Germany, nor to France ; and the natural, rational, andlegitirnate solution is, that the Prussians should retire and the French not occupy. But they are Vauban's fortifica tions! Vanban's ? Truly that is irresistible. But let us proceed. This strategical point is necessary to France against Germany ; it isneceasary to Germany —say the Ger mans—against France. Ah ! gentlemen of Germany and of France. since you will not and cannot cede Luxemburg, agree to retire, both of you, and leave Luxemburg Luxem burg. But this is too simple and just to go down. And yet it is the only way of saving us from a war for an atom —an abominable war, and which, if it takes place, we shall ask permission to call "the war of fools." Such a war would be the disgrace of both nations, and the disgrace of humanity. THE AIISTRO-PRIISSIAN ALLIANCE. The Vienna Gazette of April 2, eaye : In presence of the obstinacy with which persons endea vour to mislead public opinion by seeking to spread the news of an Austro-Prussisn Alliance, we cannot too plainly affirm that no negotiations in this sense exist or have existed. (REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.) THE HUNGARIAN DIET. PESTH, Arm. 5, EVENING. In to-day's sitting of the Lower House of the Diet the Minister of Justice declared that the government will introduce as soon as possible dur ing the present session, bills on naturalisation, on civil equality before the law, the equal rights of all religious confessions, and the regulation of all feudal questions connected with landed property. The Roumain member, Herr Babes, asked why the meeting of Roumains at Logos had been prohi bited. The Minister stated that he would reply to this question on Monday next. The Croatian question will also be discussed on that day. The Croatian Diet will reassemble on the 26th April. Baron von Beust has returned to Vienna. The Aulic councillor, Herr Cseh, has been sent as royal commissioner to Fiume. Meetings are taking place in all the towns and comitats of Hungary, on account of the approach ing municipal elections. THE ITALIAN MINISTRY. FLORENCE, ATM 6. The King has entrusted Signor Rattarzi with the formation of a new Cabinet, General Menabna having declined to accept office on account of the recent death of his son. SPAIN. MADRID, APRIL 6. A motion has been laid on the table of the Senate declaring that that body view with regret the measures which were taken by the government against Marshal Serrano, its late President. On the 22nd ult. Mr. Peabody gave a magni ficent banquet to General and Mrs. Grant and the trustees of the Southern FAucationul Fund, at the Fifth Avenue Hotel, New York. After Mr. Peabody had replied to the toast in which hie own health had been drunk, he ex pressed the hope that her Majesty Queen Victoria would long live to rule over the country in which, under Provi dence, be and others had prospered. He gave as a con cluding toast, "The country in which I have long lived and prospered, and its honoured and beloved Queen." Our Malta correspondent, writing on the 29th March, says :—" It is rtated on good authority that his Excel lency the Right Hon. Sir Henry Storks will take his depar turn from Malta for England in the middle of next month, having resigned the governorship of these islands. Lieutenant-General Sir Patrick Grant, is men tioned as the probable successor of Sir Henry Storks." General Sherman, in his report on New Mexico, says that the United States have held that territory for 20 years at a cost of 100,000,000 dollars. The population is 100,000. It requires • military force of 2,500 men to go vern it, and the cost of every soldier is 1,000 dollars a year. The Indians, consisting of nearly 9,000 souls, are collected together on a reservation 40 miles square, and they are maintained by the government at • oast of above 60,000 dollars a month. It has been found cheaper to feed than to light them. _ _ iChica g o paper says :—" Massacres and scalp ing by the Indians have become so common now that an army officer in the Indian country writes as follows to a friend:—' I would send you a lock of my hair, but I fear it would a fraud upon the savages of this vicinity. There is a fair prospect that one of the noble red men will be my barber before spring." Tits LATE MR. CORDON.—Mrs. Gordon writes to the Tinto: :—" Sir,—Your report of the recent pro ceedings at Market Drayton given special prominence to certain statement. touching the character of my late hue band, G. W. Gordon. I did not wish to become his vin dicator, feeling assured that time would do him justice, but lam ur ged by many friends, whose entreaties I can no longer resist, to protest against those assertions as utterly false and calumnious. As the widow of a man who was wrongfully put to death, I ask at your hands the insertion of this protest from me, and I would request the additional favour of your publishing the subjoined tes timonial to his character, signed by persons whose repu tation for integrity has never been questioned. Iu a despatch front Mr. Eyre to Mr. Cardwell, dated King's house, January, 1666, to be found in the Blue Book on the Jamaica disturbances, entitled Papers laid before the Royal Commission of Inquiry by Governor Eyre,' the following paragraph appear* at page 196, paragraph 4 It is also well known out here that Mr. Gordon was universally regarded a. a bad man in every sense of the word. Reported to be grossly immoral and an adulterer, a liar, a swindler, dishonest, cruel, vindictive, and a hypo crite—such are the terms applied to the late G. W. Gor don, and I believe abundant proof might be adduced of all these traits.' The undersigned, having resided in the island many years, and having had very considerable op portunities of knowing and forming an estimate of the late Mr. Gordon's character in his various relations, do hereby protest against the foregoing allegations as made by Mr. Eyre, and declare them to be utterly without foun dation. Signed—James Phillipps, lien., Baptist missionary, Jamaica ; William Andrews, attorney-at-law, Kingston, Jamaica; Robert Osborn; James Bell; Alexander Fuldes. F.R.C.S., Edinburgh ; Andrew Lyon, Common Council man of the city and parish of Kingston ; Thomas Geddes, missionary, Savana-la-Mar ; James Scott, M.R.C.S., Eng land; Abraham Pinto, merchant ; 31. Ramos, merchant ; Robert Gordon, priest of the church of England, head master of Wolmer's Grammar School, Kingston.' One of my greatest consolations in my present state of bereave ment is my conviction of my husband's innocence, and of the thorough uprightness of his character, and that one day these will be fully established. —I am, sir, yours obe diently, M. Goapon.—Watford, Herta, April 5." EXPRESS FROM PARIS. (rßox o OWN PARIS, FRIDAY Emma. I again quote an article from the Libette, allow ing how the many faults of the foreign policy of the empire are now freely represented to the French people : If after the peace of Nikolsburg France had not put for. ward any claim to territorial compensation, Prussia would have met with serious resistance from the small t.ennsa states. If the other day M. Brsher, when replying toll. Jules F►vre, had made a profession of disinterestedness, M. de Bismarck would have had a hard fight with the liberals in the Reichstag. But the raising of the Luxemburg question has removed all the obstacles in M. de Bismarck's way. It may, there. fore, be said that not only did we prepare German unity by nut preventing the war of 1846, but that we actively contributed to form that unity by our vain threats. It is high time to renounce the policy of threatening wi t h. out striking, and raising questions which we cannot ',be. We threatened without striking Russia, and we have loss by it the friendship both of the Russians and the Poles. We threatened without striking America at th e time of the secession, and we have lost the friendship of the Americana, who have now h e . come the allies of Russia. We threatened without striking in 1866, and the consequence we reap is the may of Germany. We are now threatening without striking about Luxemburg, and the only thing we shall do is to accelerate the consolidation of German unity, and perhaps an Austro-Prussian alliance. If we are strong enough to do it, and if we think it worth while to make war for an extension of frontiers, let us begin at oece. Prussia, heaven knows, gives us provocation enoush. But if, after having spent ten milliards of franca in the budget of glory, we are not ready for war, let us keep a civil tongue in our head, and not raise questions which w e cannot go on with ; to do so is to play the game of M. de Bismarck. The Temps nays : By putting forward demands for compensation inune. diately after the battle of Sadowa, we threw Southern Germany into M. de Bismarck's arms ; by this Luse". burg business we have completed the reconstruction of great German empire. The Echo du Nord says : Another financial catastrophe has occurred at Rou A banker in that town, named Ecrepont Brain; 4311 arrested yesterday in Lille. A large deficit, affecting i.na. cipally people of small fortune who entrusted their aaviv to him, is apprehended. The Socists Iminobiliere took particular pains, not many days ago, to impress upon the public mind that the Universal Exhibition would not occasion any rise in the tariff of the Grand Hotel and the Hotel du Louvre. You must have seen an echo of this announcement in some English journals. But now anyone may see on the chimney-piece of the coffee-room in each of these monster establish menta a new scale showing that the prices of every species of accommodation and refreshment in the establishment are from one-fourth to one-third dearer than they were. It is but right that this should be known. Both of these exceptional hotels are, I believe, though Paris in general is by no means crowded, as full as they can hold. The Socidtal Immobilihre is quite justified if it thinksit good policy, and for the permanent interest of its hostelry establishments, to profit to the utmost extent by the laws of supply and demand. But what it is not entitled to, and what the unsuspect ing public should be protected against, is the benefit of more or less disguised advertisements that its prices were not to be raised. The ordinary necessaries of life are certainly not dearer in Paris than they were a month ago, and the vaunted expectations of some tradesmen that prices would be doubled when the Exhibitios opened have been signally deceived. In the Quartier Latin, however, where students live is proverbially wretched lodging-houses, several pro prietors now ask three times the usual rent. students have obtained leave to hold • pub meeting on the subject in the Ecole de MM. cine on Sunday next. There is a atatemen• in some of the papers that dormitories to be prepared in the school for students w cannot afford to pay the rates demanded of them. but I suspect this to be a canard. There are plea? of apartments to let in Paris at present, and tha exorbitant letters of students' lodgings must neat wily come down. There was a panic at the Bourse. In spite d great efforts made to sustain the Rente, it fell tot lower point than has been touched since tht Luxemburg question was first mooted. The dosin; quotations were 68fr. 30c. for cash, and &qr. 22}c. fix account, being a fall of 35c. and 30e. Credit Fon fell 15fr., Comptoir d'Escompte lOfr., and Mobil . lfr. 25c. The Lyons Railway fell 11. fr. 2.1 c. Eastern 7fr. 50c., and Northern sfr. Bah rose 35c., the prospect of a new ministry, with Ratazzi at its head, being rather favourably garded. The Libcrti says in its money article : There is a talk of an opposition to the cession of Lir, in. burg to France being made by Rumia. If this should. continued, events must move swiftly and fatally. Whetiet France advances resolutely, or draws back to temp,r , v, there must be either an immediate panic or permanent U. easiness—in either ease, a great blow to the market. Several Roman coma have recently been found in the neighbourhood of Andover, is Hampshire. Arsa.,; , : them are • Trojan, • Maximenus, • GaMenus, 'HAIM nag, • Coastantins, • Valentinian, and a Valerian. FOREIGN-OFFICE, APRIL s.—Her MajtAty's No cipal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs km re:. :• 4 the followaig despatch from her Majesty's Anthearad..:A Paris :—" Earl Cowley to Lord Stvaley.— Park, —My Lord,—On receipt of your lordi`iip's of the Ist instant, I caused inquiries to be moic fat Prefecture de Police with reference to the panizr.fb the Mani?ror on the substitution of documents of for passports in the ease of foreigners visiting the Exhibition, and I am informed that these arrows' I? are not applicable to Ihitish subjects, who in this remain upon their former footing whilst in Pratte''' Gazette. FOREIGN -OFFICE, A PRIL 3. The Queen hi been pleased to approve of Mr. James Jerrom Fran , coma in England, to reside in London, for the Herb: of South Africa. The Queen has also been phase , : approve of Mr. J. H. Randow as consul at 1.. Gerlach as consul at Rangoon, and Mr. E. Pardee consul at Akyab for his Majesty the Eniperur of Ah' ir '' —Ca:etle. METROPOLITAN BOARD OF W. , n s. —The b O,O met yesterday at the offices ii, Spring-gardens; ,41 ' Thwaites in the chair. The following ro c umetet e lation agreed to :—" That a communication he addreawd Snell, in reply to him letter adverting to his sehene the improvement of Park-lane. by forming a roils' through Hyde-park, that thin subict was brought info her Majesty's government by the hoard in the lir instance, but that they were unable to obtain tin , . tion of government to any interference with the I , `' itself." Mr. Ragalgette (the chief engineer) re'se'nt`' usual re on the progress of the Thames ffahank: works, from which it appeared thnt on nsgarde.l the I" tion of the Northern Embankment I.etteeeu IVestainst and Waterloo bridges, :1,2111 feet of the low heel 2,477 feet of subway, 2,9 0 5 feet of email dr."! and 320 feet of the Westminster steatelestps had been constructed. Eastward of the e" 720 feet of the river wall bad been Ism' above Trinity datum, and In feet of the para pet Lei formed thereon. Progress had also been made wit-' Charing-cross steam-bust pier and the Adelphi stairs. The works in connection with the W a terloe Whitehall Railway tube were proc e eding. and had been effected to the value of I .2teif. The total . `:''f, of works done under this contract amounts to 31,, As regards the contract between Waterloohri4 Temple-gardens, satisfactory progress Lund been ion& the Temple steam-boat pier. The riser parapet lisa. Progresse d, .2o3,6l7l. The The d the total Abbey Mumtalvalim j o u r g ks m cs Aiu ota . ; w also going on in a satisfactory manner, the boiled , were being put together, and the eNeavations to On . tent of .t6.,,000 cubic yards had been mil., and yards of brick-work had been laid. As to the Sea:nl:l Embankment, the total amount of work completed s,' t ; the value of 100,0001., of which 5,01 W. npre.ente:..h, progress made in the past week. Adopted. business was then disposed of, and the howl adjeutto I