The Express. — London, England, 1867-11-19 00:00:00

ROME. Moat ma ovrx consomme.) ROME, roe•. 1:5. For reasons best known to themselves, but not apparent on the surface, the French are continuing to treat Rome as if it was a city is imminent l i danger, not of revolt, but of assault. Of the twelve gates five were closed by the Pontifical government ea Wed October last, they still continue closed, add inside are barricaded further with sandbags. over which a French guard keeps watch, and a French sentry warns all stray passengers against approaching too near. Workmen are still em ployed iii improving the earth battery which de fends the Porta del Popolo, and which only allows access to that main artery through a narrow side wicket. Now that the Garibaldini are dispersed. their chief a prisoner, and the Italian troops with drawn to their own side of the frontier—now, in fact, when Rome is safer from attack for the mo ment than it has been for the last twenty years, it is!impossible to conceive what purpose these mea sures of merely provisional defence can be intended to serve. Even those who inside the city are favourable to the Papal rule, can only shrug their shoulders and say, it is "to look imposing." I can hardly accept that reason, nor even that which has been also suggested, that it is to give the men something to do, for Italian labourers, and not French soldiers, are employed on the works, and their defence is entrusted to but half a company in the guardroom. All the important points in the city, as well as all the principal barracks, are occupied by the itrench defenders of the Papa-Re. These auxiliaries have no notion of being merely supporters of the proper forces of the actual sovereign ; they shoulder the latter unceremoniously out of the way, and leave to them only the minor duties of mounting guard at the Vatican, or the subordinate govenmui•nt offices. At the Castle of San Angelo, the French now place a sentry of their own, toeing the Papal Zouare, who is also for decency allowed to remain there, and apparently the foreign sentry's orders are much briefer than those of the domestic one, for the operation of relieving him occupies about a tenth of the time that the Papal corporal requires. Speaking of these mercenaries or volun teers, I must in one respect a little qualify the opinion I expressed of them in my last letter. I then spoke of them as being clean, but that idea was formed after an inspection of them on Sunday : it is now Wednesday, and the dominical purity has become a good deal modified. They have un doubtedly some gentlemen among them, b:it the majority, though fair-haired and tall, are by no means wolf washed warriors. I still retain, however, the mural impression which their faces at first suggested to me. Instead of being the cutthroat ruffians I had somehow got into my bead to expect to see, they are really very mild and harmless in aspect, with a certain curious unformed, almost infantile expressionof countenanceprevailing among them (noticed by others as well as by me), as if they had no very strong ideas about anything, or at least were not capable of supporting them with any very strong reasons. But lam bound to admit that they strike some other people very differently, for I have now before me a little tract of four pages, entitled, " From Monte Rotondo to Born," printed" by permission„"and advertised on I the walls among the sacred announcements, in which the Roman citizens are called on to lo honour to these conquering young her. es, and in • which the author apostrophises them thus : " 0 lions of Judah, I prostrate myself before you! You ate the sacred and heroic phalanx of invinci- Mee, the defenders of the faith, the crusaders of Pio IX. Reverence, glory, and honour be to you, 0 soldiers of the Papal King ; to your hands God willed should be confided the protection of the tights of the church, his sponse. You the God of armies, ordained to be ministers of His vengeance against the violators and enemies of His holy name. To you are due not the crowns and laurels which flourish on earth for guerdon of the brave, but rather to you the palms and the im perishable wreaths of glory with which the Macca bees now rejoice to adorn themselves in heaven." I have just left one of these young Lions of Judah in the smoking-room of my hotel, where he has been imbibing rather more Maraschino after his coffee than is quite good furs Maccabee who is still on earth, and where with eyes that are sleepily bright lie is telling in rapid French to some of his compatriots how when the Papal Zouaves appeared Garibaldi ran away, and how in a certain house in Rome they bayoneted six in one room, because "Mon Dieu, lee Geribaldiens aunt comme des mimeo x." One could not be angry, because it was impossible to believe that the fair-haired lad ever did anything of the sort ; but such is the talk which one hears front the "crusaders of Pio How." The French regulars, meantime, either do not seem much to like their mission, or they are fairly shamed out of boasting by the gasconade of their _Papal allies. The officers keep is good deal to themselves, the soldiers do r.ot in the lent mix either with titbit= or Pontifical Zouaves. In truth, the men seem to have hard work to make their time pass away. Few of the barracks have exercising grounds, and them is no marching through the streets. St. Peter's is a'ways a centre of attraction, and some of the men will sometimes stop a stranger in the street to ask the way to some object of interest of which they have heard, but of which they can only i.ive a very wild imita tion of the name. But they never stop to examine anything, and there is never a crowd round the most famous of antiquities or works of art in th galleries. What seems most attractive to them are the streets themselves, with their paternal., of population, and especially the windows of cheap print and photograph shops, where they can see something that they really understand. For though this is the Holy City, it is also a city in which art Immix, or dignifies all subjects, and hence, though there are none of the vulgarly nasty photographs from nature which onesees in back streets in London, there are plenty of photographic reproductions of either common prints or celebrated plating', how ever indecent the subject, and these are exposed side by side with the most sacred effigies. So when in the Corso a group of French soldiers blocks up the narrow footway, it is pretty sure to be gathered round a window in which cardinals in their robes are exhibited in juxtaposition with suggestive scenes at the Bal Mabille, and the Pope himself, with uplifted fingers in the act of blessing, is ', i nked on one aide by a copy of the Crucifixitn, and on the other by one of Leda and the Swan. As to what the Romans themselves think of their visitors, whether they regarl them as tyrants cs protectors, I will not yet attempttogive anyopinion, for it will be easily understood that this is a matter m which, with an army of 22,009 men in possession of the city, one finds it far from easy to obtain any :suable information. It is certain that there are so overt demonstrations tither in the one way or lbs other. But it is a - so unquestionable that before the French came the authorities were in the direst alarm, and had resorted to the most extreme measures of repression. One English man who was here during that reign of terror tells how he was tired at in the street for no offence but that of being in the street after dark, and how, on another occasion, he was charged with the bayonet in apparent mere wantonness. All agree that the proclamation,which is still to be seen posted up, forbidding groups of more than four persons to assemble, was rigorously and unscrupulously en forced without notice, and often with bloodshed. It is certain also that a good many houses were en tered and the inhabitants killed, on proof, or sus picion, of being revolutionary ; and it is said on all sides that of those who were seized in the streets a considerable number were shot after a hasty ex amination. These things were chiefly perpetrated, however, not by my young friends the Lions of Judah, but by the Papal gendarmes —a very much rougher looking lot, who are dressed something like French dragoons, but are distinguished by the badge— jovial with us, sacred here—of the cross-keys in their helmets. But who can say how much or how little blood was shed in these days in a huge city where law is abrogated 1 Who knows how many were slain in Paris on the 2nd of Decem ber ? And it is a characteristic of the situation here that nobody can tell you anything positively. The government is silent as the grave, and it imposes the like silence on all. The strangest stories are current, upon no authority, but capable of no contradiction. The newspapers confine i themselves to extracts from foreign journals, but eunnuuuicate no news of [tome. One can only form an idea of what has been by piecing together the 1 little facts one learns from each individual of his f own experience, by explaining them by help of the official proclamations, with the commentary fur -1 niahed by such circumstances as seeing on a few of the houses printed bills with the words " Viva Pio IX." pasted up, as men daring the Gordon riots chalked "No Popery" on their doors for protection. Sometimes offichl documents, however, contra dict themselves, and then it is as well to recall the earlier evidence of the truth. I see, for instance, that the Moniker states the number of Garibaldian prisoners at 1,100. Now, the atonic:at di Roma, when the fact was recent, called them 300, and this agrees with the figures given by Dr. Bertani on the other side as having capitulated next day at Mentana, for none were taken on the first day. Each side states its own total number of men engaged at about 5,000, and gives double that number as the force of the enemy. It is reasonable to assume that each knows its own correctly, and is in error in its estimates of its opponent's, and hence that the real numbers were about equal. But the Papalini and French were regulars, had been well drilled, and had rifles and breech loaders. The Garibaldini were raw levies, badly armed, and collected together within the day or two preceding. I can have no doubt therefore which fought most gallantly during that long indecisive day. It is commonly believed here that the number of Papal and French troops who were killed and wounded was considerably above the official l l figures. An Englishman who visited Mentana on the third day after the battle saw the corpses of several Garibaldini and one or two Zouaves still lying unburied in the vineyards, and an American gentleman who has visited the hospital sets down the number of wounded whom it contains at nearly 200. The Garibaldian loss, which the Moniteur de clares to have been 6,000, was believed at Florence by their officers to be between a tenth and a twentieth of that number. But the nominal lists of killed and wounded Garibaldini will doubtless be soon published, and even in quoting the Mouiteur I may unwittingly be inaccurate, for I take it as re produced in the Omervatore Romano. THE ROMAN QUESTION. THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 19, 1867. TO THE EDITOR OP THE DAILY HEWN. Sic,—Parliament is about to assemble. In a few days the ministers of the crown will make known their opinion of the French occupation of Rome, and the policy they intend to pursue. The comparative reticence necessary for ministers on such an occasion will be willingly conceded. But an English minister, however guarded and con ciliatory towards every government his language may be, will scarcely be permitted, in a crisis like the present, to leave the world in ignorance of his meaning, or doubtful of the light in which he regards the renewed occupation by a French army of Roman territory. At the present moment, therefore, more than ever, it concerns the English people, who really determine the national policy, and who really suffer for national errors, to keep clearly in view the true character of the act we have recently witnessed, and to have no doubt of the policy it requires at our hands. The present is the moment to confirm the government in the right path—to check it if it is in the wrong path. The present opportunity missed we may dnd our power to make the right prevail has gone by for ever. In estimating the character of the French intervention we must put out of sight alto gether the Italian government and its subjects. The acts of the Rattazzi cabinet, of Garibaldi, and of the Italian volunteers are equally irrelevant. What ever rights as against the Italian government the Emperor Napoleon may have derived from the September convention, it could give him none as against the Romans. The guilt of the French government lies in a violation of the principle of non-intervention, not by threatening Italy, but by occupying Civita Vecchia and Rome. If Victor Emmanuel has violated the treaty he made with Napoleon, it is for him and his subjects, not for the Romans, to pay the penalty. While the Roman States are again invaded let not dust be thrown in our eves by talk of the intrigues of Rattazzi, of the liwlessness of the volunteers, of the rashness of Garibaldi. Nor, on the other hand, let us forget that the violation of the principle of non-intervention is not less gross, the obstacle to the formation of a strong government and of habits of settled order and steady progress is not leas, but more formidable, when a foreign power intervenes for the protection of a sovereign against his subjects, than when it intervenes for the purpose of giving subjects aid against .their sovereign. Both kinds of interven tion (except under most rare circumstances the latter) are alike lawless acts of violence, and un justifiable breaches of European order. The Pope, moreover, is estopped from pleading that the pre sent intervention is for his protection against a foreign enemy. He is estopped by the fact that a foreign army restored him to his throne ; that at a time when he had none to fear but his own sub jects, it was to a foreign army he looked for pro tection ; that at this moment his own army is not national, but almost entirely composed of hired soldiers and fanatic volunteers from other countries. He is estopped, lastly, by the constantlyrecurring fact that the withdrawal of his forces from any town in his dominions is invariably followed by pebiscites repudiating his sovereignty. Turn it in what light we will, the act of the French government is nothing lees than a high handed violation of public law—nothing like it would be tolerated from a weak power. Not for • moment should we tolerate a similar act directed against ourselves from the strongest power. The condemnation of the American Fenian, is universal among us. In what enterprise are the catholic I bishops now engaged, in what service are the French troops employed, but in that of a con spiracy against freedom and order in the Roman States, analogous to the conspiracy of the American Fenians against order and freedom in Ireland. It makes no difference that in the one case the object is to upset, in the other to uphold, a foreign government—that in the one case the motive is sympathy with misdirected patriotism, in the other religious passion ; that in the one case the chief conspirators are French,-English, and Belgian pre lates, in the other American citizens. Of this more shameless conspiracy the catholic bishops are in fact the head-centres. It has its organs in the ultramontane press, and, for the time at least, in the official press of France. Like the Fenian leaders, the bishops issue manifestoes, though in the form of pastorals ; col lect funds; enrol volunteers, and by masses and processions celebrate the departure of the adven turers from French ports. Only the political in fluence of the prelates, greater than that of the Fenian!, has engaged the services of a powerful sovereign in the task of keeping a people deprived of its freedom. But Fenianiam is not less Feni anism, filibustering is not less filibustering, vio lence is not less violence, because its authors sit on imperial and episcopal thrones. This matter con cerns us. It is not our sentiments only that are wounded. Secure and permanent peace, steady progress, are English "interests." Great arma ments, high-handed acts of violence, constant rumours of war, half • continent subject to the will of one man, and he able to work his will in a month or a week—these things are insurmountable obstacles to pr ogress , flagrantly oppo s ed to " Eng lish interests . " But they are the natural results of a political system in which no power can be counted on to aid another to main tain peace and uphold right. For this anarchy we are chiefly responsible. It has grown up under England's practical abdica tion of responsibility for what is done in Europe. Yet, though our power to act alone in Europe way be small, our power to act in alliance with other states is great. The material constituents of our power are vast ; but the fact that we covet nothing on the continent of Europe doubles our power, because its exercise could not be imputed to jea lousy or rivalry. It is not easy to conceive a wrong done or contemplated in Europe which, if this nation had the will, and statesmen competent to execute it, we could not redress or prevent. For it is hardly possible to conceive a wrong meditated in Europe, or an injustice hampering progress and crushing national life, for checking or redressing which we could not rind a competent ally. The knowledge that we were ready to resist violations of public law would, of itself, go far to change the moral atmosphere of Europe. Our present policy is a betrayal of the intelligence and the conscience of Europe ; through our inaction they are left with an almost powerless voice in literature and society, while the better hopes of this generation are lost in that open rivalry between one military power and another in which are spent the resources of states. Let us beware of any longer accustoming our own and other governments to the spectacle of mere force setting itself above law in Europe. The twentieth year of French intervention in Rome approaches. For a far longer period than twenty years Italy called in vain for aid from the great powers of Europe, who at the Congress of Vienna had fixed upon themselves responsibility by deli vering her to Austria, unconsulted, unconsenting. Entrenched in our insular selfishness, we denied, we scarcely even discussed, our responsibility. A military power, the rival of Austria, hampered, therefore, by the suspicion of mere lust of self aggrandisement, was left to do the work alone, which was ours far more than hers ; for we were conquerors, she the vanquished at Vienna. Left to herself, unrestrained by an ally, the military power, according to its nature and its traditions, made the just war the occasion of a new crime. We have left Poland and Denmark unaided ; and the time for aiding either has now gone by. This is the policy of England : we take a cynic's estimate of our responsibility, a miser's estimate of our power, and yet there are ipeople who expect great armaments will be discontinued—great armaments, of which every year records the success, which serve the cause in turn of every ambitious power, and which alone give protection to any state. There is not one of the European questions to which reference has been made upon which, while imposing appropriate concessions upon the assailed (for the assailed is often in the wrong), we could not have formed an alliance powerful enough to check the assailant, and so prevent more brigandage, or the continuance of undoubted wrong. It is per fectly certain that at this moment an alliance could be formed powerful enough to compel France to submit to public law. It is perfectly certain that the troops of France would soon leave Rome for ever, if Napoleon were convinced they could only stay in Rome at the risk of a war with England. But the whole of our policy within living memory has been such as to assure him that, so far as Eng land is concerned, he or any other sovereign may do exactly what ho pleases—saving, perhaps, the annexation of Belgium. Let us abandon once for all this miserable policy of acquiescence in what ever wrong is committed by a " great power." It is a policy of hazard and disaster. There is not a state in Europe that has not, or may not come to have, selfish objects, which, if there is no law in Europe, it will only await its hour of strength to accomplish. England is not immaculate. Our own government will, sooner or later, be tempted to redress the balance by some new and easy act of wrong. Even now our possession of Gibraltar is imposed on us by the condition of Europe ; by the necessity of having strong military positions, if we are to hold our ' own in the midst of the armed camp into which Europe has been converted. Only by a system of alliances, combining all other powers, or a sufficient number of them, against the power which for the time being is the wrong-doer, can each in its turn be restrained; the supremacy of right and order be gradually established ; and an era of security and rrogreas commence. Blows we scarcely think of, wounds more lasting in their results even than the Napoleonic wars, may yet be dealt by ambitious and unscrupulous sovereigns to the cause of pro gress in Europe, if the belief is allowed to continue that England declines responsibility and refuses to incur any cost or ruu any risk in European affairs. Let the will of England to vindicate order and law be undoubted, and even the lesser dangers that all believe to be imminent may disappear. We may not have to see the spectacle of the fall of Switzer land ; of the forcible annexation to Germany or France of Belgium and Holland • a long period of mutual suspicion and distrust, feeding costly arma ments and fed by them, leading at last to the long averted European war—a war then of military ambition, of empire against empire ; not a war to vindicate law or uphold rights unscrupulously assailed. There is some reason to hope that the Emperor is not unwilling to bring his intervention to an end. But if this is his desire, there is a powerful party in France which does not desire it. Against this putty a clear declaration of opinion from the British Cabinet would strengthen the hands while it gratified the secret wishes of the Emperor. The first thing to be done at this moment is to obtain a clear exposition of the opinion of Lord Derby's Cabinet. Do they regard the occupation of Rome as not unwise only, but also as a lawless act, incompatible with order and progress, and such as cannot long be tolerated by nations who them selves observe the principle of non-intervention I In any event, let us cease to under-estimate the power and deny the responsibility of England. Let us not forget the vulnerability of France. Many sentiments make the Emperor Napoleon prize the English alliance—pride, fear, a knowledge of our power, mat erial prosperity. keen sense of the value of prosperity. But if Napoleon prizes our alliance, let him feel that the inexorable condition of its continuance is the abstinence of his government from lawless acts.—l am, &c., Nov. 17. POLITICUS. REGISTERED Lanasts POE THE PHILIPPINE NAM:in.—As the Post-office authorities in the Philip pine Islands have now consented to give receipts for e letters sent from this country the registration r of=addressed to the Philippine lellands ie whieh was discontinued in November of last Tear, will resumed. Upon such letters the registration fee of fourpence, together with the postage, must be paid in advance. ISSUE OF AN EGYPTIAN LOAN FOR 2,080,0001. Through the Imperial Ottoman Bank the pro spectus has been issued of an Egyptian Nine per Cent. Loan for 2,080,0001., of which bonds for 2,009,2001. are now offered for subscrip tion, the remainder (70,8001.) having already been redeemed at par by the first year's sinking fund. The price of issue is 90 per cent., and the instal meats are payable at monthly intervals up to the 22nd of May next, when the first coupon for 41. 10s. per cent. becomes due. The bonds are to be issued in sums of 201., 1001., 5001., and 1,0001. each. Apart from the advantage derivable from the delay in the payments, this 9 per cent. stock at 90 yields 10 per cent. per annum, in addi tion to the bonus involved in redemption at par in fourteen years. Besides the list in London, sub scriptions are to be received in Paris, at the agency of the Imperial Ottoman Bank, 15, Place Ven dome, and at Messrs. Oppenheim, Alberti, and Cie., 17, Rue de Londres ; also at Alexandria, at the Imperial Ottoman Bank, and at Messrs. Hermann, Oppenheim, Neveu, and Cie. The distinctive feature of this loan is, that the bonds offered, though those of the Viceroy of Egypt, are secured not only by the free revenues of his Highness, but also by the spacial guarantee of the Egyptian government, with whom are de posited the title deeds of the property purchased. The price of Egyptian stocks was prejudiced to-day by a statement in the telegrams from Alexandria relative to the embarrassments of the Daira, or pri vate treasury of the Viceroy. The Daira has always paid the claims upon it, but has not done so lat terly with punctuality, whereas the engagements of the Egyptian government have always been met faithfully to the day and hour. The present opera tion is understood to be prompted by the wish of the new minister to see everything connected with the finances of Egypt put upon a satisfactory footing. An article was published in the Money Market Review of the 14th Sept. last, in which it was shown that, irrespective of the private loan of the Viceroy, which amounted originally to 1,693,6001., but has since been reduced by the operation of the sinking fund, the entire debt of the Egyptian government has been reduced from (in round numbers) 12,000,0001. to 11,000,0001. up to the present date. We have reason to know that the particulars given below are accurate : The issue of the Brat Egyptian loan for 2,195,2001. is 1862, at the price of $2 per cent., was • doubtful opera tion ; but its great success put at once a stamp upon Egyptian credit here. Consequently, • few months after the firstliasue, the second loan for 1,097,600/. was offered at AV, per cent., which, calculating the interest accrued, made the price identical with that of the first issue. The neat loan of 1864, for 5,704,200/. was issued at 93 per cent. of which 2,000,000/. was subscribed for privately before the publication of the prospectus. Early in IS6O we bad the Egyptian Government Railways Debenture Loan for 3,000,000/., issued at 92 per cent. The following will give the special particulars of the several loans : Isfined Redeem- Amount. at per able at Secured on the Egyptian Go- cent. par. Revenues of vernnientLoan let brae .... A 2.196,300.. 821.. In 30 years.. The Pmvhsoes of the Delta. Do. tad d 0.... 1,097,600.. S 4 ..In 30 years .tcl claim on ditto. Do. of 1864 .. 5,701,200.. 93 _la 15 years.. The Provinces of Detahlle►, Char !deb, and &hers. Egyptian 110- ennnent Rail way Deben ture Loan.... 2,000,000.. 92 ..In B yeas..AU the Egyptian Governmentßail- Z. 11,997,000 ways, and di rect liability .1 Government for anT ;fenJrWei — Of this amount there has already been redeemed at par: Of the let tome £146,200 Of the 2nd Niue Of the 11364 Loan "2:1,700 £e43,000 Or, in round figures, of the debt of twelve millions sterling. one million has been paid off. We may remark, with regard to the value of the revenues which are specially hypothecated to the payment of the interest and sinking funds, that the provinces formed by the Delta of the Nile are the most fertile and productive in Egypt, and the estimated revenue is stated to amount to more than 600,0001., whilst the annual sum required for interest and sinking fund does not exceed 264,0001. Tbe provinces of Deitahlieh, Cluirkieb, and Behen, whose revenues are estimated at 700,000/., whilst the demand on the same amounts to 0n 1 y 1 620,0001., are adjacent to the Delta, and are almost equally fertile, besides comprising some of the most important towns. The revenue of the Egyptian Government Railways is stated to exceed 800,0001. per annum, whilst, until the end of 1868, the total annuity amounts to only 210,0001. After that date it will be aug mented to 710,0001. by the operation of the sinking fund, by which 500,000/. will be paid off annually ; so that the lees will be wholly extingued in 1874. THE FENIAN EXECUTIONS. (From the Daily News.) A paper has been left at our office purporting to be a copy of a circular addressed to the agents and friends of the Irish Revolutionary Government residing abroad. It is dated Dublin, Nov. Ili, and of course bears no recognisable signature, but is subscribed in cipher by a person styling himself the Secretary of External Relations. It begins by giving the views of the body to which the writer is attached respecting the trials at Manchester arising out of the rescue of Kelly and Deasy. The purpose and character of that outrage are thus described: In September last two Irish officers, Colonel Kelly and Captain Deasy, while on secret and special serv;ce in Man cheiter, had the misfortune to fall into the hands of the civil authorities of that city. As it was of the utmost important* that those officers should regain their liberty at any cost, a plan of rescue was decided upon, and a party of men detailed for the duty. On the 18th of the same month that party attacked a police van which was convey ing prisoners to the gaol, and successfully rescued therefrom the prisoners in question. In forcing open the van it was found necessary to discharge a pistol into the lock, and it happened that the shot killed a police officer who was on duty inside the van. This mans death was not essential to the success of the I rescue, and was therefore not specially sought. In fact, his slaying was accidental, and primarily owing to his own honourable fidelity, for he had refused to pass oat the key of the door, which would have rendered it unnecessary to resort to the (for him) fatal expedient of firing into the lock. This act of rescue and all its accompanying circum stances was of course an offence against the laws of England, although one inseparable from political motives and a political object. Disregard for the laws by which an oppressor seeks to protect himself is, however, the first and necessary principle in a rebellion against that op. pressor. The insurgent breaks the law at his peril, the oppressor enforces the law on the same condition. Hu manity has stepped in to mitigate the evils selich would result from the extreme application of this rule, and in every civilised country insurgents who refrain from all wanton and unnecessary acts of violence are, when cap tured, treated differently from common law breakers, who act from no political motive. Hitherto the Irish insurgents against England have honourably fulfilled their share of this moral obligation, and neither in Ireland, England, or Canada have they been guilty of any acts with which they can be reproached, although both enemy's life and property have frequently been, and still are, at their mercy. E n gland has not acted with corresponding mode ration, but she has hitherto refrained from deliberately putting to death any of her Irish political prisoners. In the case of certain Irishmen condemned to death for the attack upon the van she seems disposed to depart from that practice, and it is not impossible that some of them may be executed on Saturday next at Manchester. She has an undoubted right to do so, but the exercise of that right will leave this evernment free to exercise the right and power of retaliation, which it amply possesses. The attack on the police van, the writer alleges, was successful ; " its probable cost was estimated beforehand, and the actual cost was less than esti mated." The writer next proceeds to attack, in language which we need not repeat, and which is strangely at variance with the admissions of the prisoners' counsel, the fairness of the trial, and the impartiality of the judges. Coming then to what seems the actual business of the circular, he con tinues : As yet, however, England has not resorted to the open slaughter of Irish political prisoners, but should she do so, I am instructed to say that for every judicial assassiuAtiou she is guilty of, the life of s prominent Englishman will be exacted by this government, and you will point out that upon England must rest the odium of having tint inaugn• rated the policy of assassination in her present struggle with Ireland. Whether the persons to be put to death by England on account of the van incident belong to the Fenian organisation or not, a full measure of retaliation shall be exacted on their behalf, in recognition of their claims as Irishmen. This extract no doubt contains the pith of the circular. In the belief that the Queen's govern ment is too strong to be deterred from doing its duty by threats, and too generous to allow its consideration of the case of the convicts to be prejudiced by the acts of anonymous and irrespon sible persons outside their prison walls, we give it publicity. THE CONDEMNED IdNIANS AT MANCHESTER. EXTRAORDINARY PROCEEDINGS AT THE HOME-OFFICE. Yesterday afternoon a deputation, appointed at the meeting held on Clerkenwell-green on Sunday morning, attended at the Home-office for the purpose of presenting a memorial to the Home Secretary, praying that the lives of the condemned Fenians at Manchester might be spared. The deputation, which was composed of between 60 and 60 working men, assembled in Whitehall shortly after two o'clock. Before that hour an intimation was conveyed to some of its members that Mr. Hardy would refuse to re ceive them, and that a letter to that effect, written by the private secretary of the right hon. gentleman, was await ing Mr. Finlen, who had written to ask for the in terview. Mr. Finlen, however, accompanied by his friends, entered the Home-office at half-past two o'clock, and after some parleyingwith one of the officials, succeeded in obtain ingadmisaion to a room immediately adjoining that usually occupied by Mr. Hardy. An " indignation" meeting was immediately constituted, and Mr. Finlen, who was ►y general assent voted to the chair, read the following com munication, which evoked loud and strong expressions of disapprobation: " Sir,—l am directed by Mr. Secretary Hardy to acknow ledge the receipt of your letter of this date, acquainting him that a deputation had been appointed at a meeting held yesterday at Clerkenwell-green, to wait upon him in reference to the Fenian convicts under sentence of death at Manchester, and expressing a hope that he would re ceive them this afternoon. Mr. Hardy desires me to inform you in reply that he has already declined to receive depu tations on that subject, and equally declines to do so in this instance, though prepared to receive any memorial that may be sent for his consideration". An official of the Home-office here interposed and in • formed the deputation that noisy discussion could not be permitted, whereupon Mr. Finlen peremptorily ordered him to hold his tongue, telling him that he was " a mere servant of the place," and not a member of the deputation. Mr. FINI.E.N, addressing those present, said he hoped their endeavour would be regarded as a work of humanity. They had no political sympathies in this matter—they simply desired that Eng land should not he disgraced by handing over four political offenders like those of Manchester to Cal craft. (Cheers.) In that Home-office, and before the Queen, he would say that they would move heaven and earth to defeat Mr. Hardy. (Loud cheers.) They would go to Manchester, Liverpool, and Birmingham, and arouse the Irish spirit; and that spirit would be responded to by the Irish in America, and the government would bring blood upon its head if it did not receive the overtures for mercy which were being made to it. (Applause.) Mr. Hardy committed a disgraceful and egregious blunder, but nothing better could be expected from a member of the party which was designated as " the stupid party." Mr. CLEGG said that not a stone would be left unturned in arousing the Irish spirit in the principal cities and towns of England. They looked upon the condemned men as their brothers, and as their mission of mercy had failed, they should adopt other measures with theview of meeting with success. Mr. ot(BOBNE begged leave to move that they adjourn to make arrangements for a great torch-light meeting on Clerrkenwell-green. The spirit which animated them wss abroad, and it only wanted calling out to enable them to hold a meeting of 20,000 people on Thursday night. Mr. M'SweExer drew a parallel between the course pur sued by the government in the case of the Six Mile bridge riot, when the presiding judge ruled that conviction could only ensue upon the positive identification of soldiers as having caused the death of one or more persons, and that adopted at the recent trials in Manchester, where the us cused were convicted upon evidence which failed to show that they were the actual perpetrators of the act which resulted in the death of Sergeant Brett. Mr. CONNOLLY said that as there were certain forms to be observed on occasions of that kind, he regretted that the members of the deputation had not got a member of parliament to introduce them. He attended there, not as a sympathiser with the Fenian., because his experience led him to the belief that the redrew of national grievances could be obtained by peaceful means. (Mr. Finlen—ln this country.) The condemned men, if hanged, would be dignified by the titles of martyrs ►nd apostles of liberty, whereas if they were dealt with in a different manner, they would not occupy the same position in the minds of their countrymen and others. If the sentence on Burke had been carried out, he would now occupy a more digni fied position than he does in the eyes of the Irish people. If the government hanged the Manchester Fenians, they would incite the spirit of revolt in the young Irish mind, whereas if they adopted a different course, and dealt with them as ordinary criminal., they would be advancing a step towards making Ireland a source of immeasurable strength to England, instead of being a source of weaknees to her. Mr. F. CAMPBELL, addressing Mr. Finlen " as the Home Secretary pro tem.," asked why he was denied an inter view because there was a rent in his garment. If an Byre were there he would be received, but because the depute. tion was only composed of working men Mr. Hardy de clined to receive them. (Cheers.) Mr. FINLEN said he would make this question too hot even for en obdurate tory government. (Loud cheers.) Mr. M'Swrizert moved a vote of censure on Mr. Hardy. (" Hear, bear," and chgers.) Mr. Furcsat—So faro this government is concerned—l say it in this Home-office, under the roof of authority— that it has disgraced itself by refusing to meet a body of working men who have sacrificed • day's work to come here. (Hear, hear.) I say deliberately that I would throw all the tory governments that ever existed into the sea rather than see those glorious, brave, and plucky Fe nians, who had rescued Kelly and Deasy, immolated on the scaffold. (Loud cheering.) One of the messengers h►ving attempted to put a stop to Mr. Finlen's remarks, Mr. Filmy( told him he would not be prevented from giving expression to his feelings, and continued. If the government abed the blood of these men, their lives shall not be held sacred, or their position as advisers of a good Queen rendered secure, by their paltry, bloody, and mi serable conduct. (Enthusiastic cheering.) The deputation then retired, and on leaving the Home office they found that their proceedings had caused a de tachment of police to assemble in front of the building, and that Sir Richard Mayne and Captain Harris had thought it their duty to appear upon the scene. A large crowd had also assembled. The deputation afterwards met at the Nag's Head, Leather-lane, and Mr. Finlen gave in a report of the pro ceedings at the Home-oflice. Several strong speeches were made, and a resolution was adopted pledging those pre sent to hold public mooning' on Tuesday and Wednesday evenings on Clerkenwell-green, and to send deputations down to Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham, and other great manufacturing towns, to hold public meetings there, and request the inhabitants of those places to send depu tations to a great torchlight demonstration to be held at Clarkenwell-green on Thursday night. It was further de cided to Mime placards calling upon the people to meet to petition the Queen upon the question of the fate of the convicted Fenian. NEW HOMPrEkL IN SUFFOLK.—The foundation atone of St. Leonard's Hospital was laid on Friday last by Major Parker, M.P. The re were presen t th e V en. Lor d Arthur Hervey, Archdeacon of Sudbury, Lord Augustus Hervey . , M.P., and the neighb our i ng gen t ry an d c l ergy. The building is being emoted on an eminence at the en trance to the borough of Sudbury, and will command a fine view down the valley of the Stour. It will afford accommodation for twenty patients. The necessity of such a building has long been felt, as Sudbury is sixteen miles distant from any general hospital. The building is faced with red brick', and the whole expeedisure including land, is not expected to excee d 1,10 W., three -fourths of which have already been promised. Mr. Salter, of Sudbury and London, is the architect. The hospital is named after a local charity, from which an annual income of between 4(0. and 50f. will beobtainod. tab) intelligence. COURT OF QUEEN'S BENCH. —Nov. 18. Sittings in Banco.—(Before the Lord Chief Justice and Justices Mellor, She., and Lull.) DARBY r. MALES. After the termination of our report yesterday, The learned counsel raised the question of waiver sad also that of fraud in making a false representation as to meow._ Mr. Justice Shea said it could hardly be supposed that so many old stagers, men who bad been thirty-six years at the bar, would slow themselves to be deceived by a law student. (laughter.) He was not dissatisfied with the verdict. Mr. Quoin said he was not surprised to hear that his lordship tont so strong a view of the plaintiff's case that he did not give him (Mr. Quoin) a chance from beginning to end. The Lord Chief Justice said there would be no rule on the point of excluding from the jury the question of the original agreement, but there would be • rule with to those who cleaned to be committeemen after the a ar cit May, upon the question of waiver. There would be no rule on the question of fraud, but the court would grant it on the question of misconduct. There was some doubt whether the learned judge had or had not misdirected the jury on that point. COURT OF EXCHEQUER.—Noy. 18. Sittings in Banoo.—(Before the Lord Chief Baron and Barons Bramwell, Channel', and Pigott.) PERGCbON V. THE WA4HOE UNITED GOLI) AND SILVER MIMING COMPANY (LIMITED). This was an action to recover damages for the breach of a contract to allot the plaintiff certain shares, and for money lent by him to the defendants, and had been turned into a special cue by order at nisi prius. The plaintiff had lent the company 5001. for a period of two months, with the option at any time while the money re. mained unpaid of taking 500 shares in the company with 1/. per share paid up, instead of the money. It appeared that subsequently some good news front the mines wag received from A.merica, and in consequence the shares went up greatly in price. The company having ample funds in hand, were desirous of repaying the loans they had received, and they sent a cheque to the plaintiff for his .7)00/., with interest. This the plaintiff refused to accept, and he returned it with an applicati on f or 500 shares with 1/. paid up. The company did not allot the shares, and the plaintiff lost his action. The question therefore was whether he had a right to exercise his option to take shares at the time he did, and whether the company were guilty of a breach of contract in not allotting the shares. Mr. Mennen argued the case for the plaintiff, and Mr. David Keane Q.C., (with whom was Mr. Talfourd Salter), on behalf of the company. The court unanimously delivered judgment in favour of the plaintiff, deciding that the amount of damages to which he was entitled was 1,500/., being 5001., the amount of the loan, and 1,0001. for the 2 per cent. premium at which the shares stood when he made the application. It transpired during the argument that the company was now being wound up. COURT OF BANKRUPTCY.—Noy. 18. (Before Mr. Commissioner HatOyd.) IN BE T. W. AUSTICf. The bankrupt was described as a oonuniesion agent, of the New Stelae, Brighton, and other places, oonunoniy known as "Captain Austen." His debts are 4,1001. ;no &meta. Mr. Sykes appeared for the official assignee. There was no opposition, and his Honour granted the order. ric RR MARSHALL AND VERRALL. The bankrupts were ironmongers, of Blackheath. Debts 8,700/._ . . Griffiths, for the assignees, stated that the bulk of the property was in the hands of Mr. Nicklin, of Birm ingham, to whom the bankrupts had made an assignment, and proceedings were about to be taken for the recovery of that property. It was asked that the bankrupts might pass, and that the order of discharge should be adjourned. Order accordingly. Mr. Reed, on behalf of one of the bankrupts, stated that when the assignment was made there was an estate suffi cient to pay 40s. in the pound. He asked for an allowance for the bankrupt. The assignees consenting, an allowance of 2/. a week was ordered. CENTRAL CRIMINAL COURT. CAarles Savage, 17 pleaded guilty to a charge of forging I an endorsement to a cheque for 44/. Be. M., with intent to defraud. Mr. Sleigh was instructed to prosecute on behalf of the Bankers' Association. The prisoner was clerk to a firm of solicitors in the City, and he had been entrusted to post a letter oontaining the cheque in question to a gentleman at Plymouth. He I sent the letter but kept beck the cheque, and haring forged the endorsement of the gentleman to whom it was made payable, he obtained the money from the bankers and expended a great portion of it in the purchase of jewellery and other articles of that description. The prisoner was sentenced to 18 months' hard labour. SINGULAR CRAWS OF FILONT. William Mutant, 48, and (home Cowan Little, 36, two well-dressed men, the former of whom wan described as a cloth merchant, and the latter as a salesman, were charged with stealing a quantity of carpet, the property of the Midland Railway Company. Mr. Poland and Mr. Bailey conducted the prosecution ; Mr. Sleigh defended Eutaw ; and Mr. Collins appeared for the other prisoner. The charge against the defendants was preferred under rather peculiar circumstances. It appeared that on the 2.lrd March, Messrs. Shown and Co., carpet manufacturers at Huddersfield, consigned a quantity of carpeting to Messrs. Eastern and Co., of Fell-street, in the City, which was conveyed to London by the Midland Railway, and sub sequently delivered to one of their carmen for delivery. By some mistake, arising probably from the illegible manner in which the address was written, the car peting appeared to have been delivered at a ware. house in Phitiplane, where the prisoner Eustace carried on business, and was assisted by the other prisoner Little ; and the fac t did not seem to be disputed that the property had been applied by one or other of the prisoners to his own purposes. An inquiry took place at the Guildhall police-court into the circumstances, and Little, who had been summoned before the magistrates to account for having taken possession of the property, upon that occasion set up that he was merely the servant of the other prisoner Eutaw, who, it appeared, was out of the way and could not be found.' A warrant was obtained for his apprehension, but he was not discovered until recently, and the present charge was then preferred against both prisoners. At the clam of the came for the prosecution it was con tended on behalf of the prisoners that a charge of larceny could not be sustained upon the facts before the court. It was argued that no fraud or false pretence of any descrip tion bad been practised by the prisoners to obtain posse, sion of the property and that under those circumstances the charge could not be supported. The Recorder, after some technical discuesion had taken place upon the point, overruled the objection. The learned counsel for the prisoners consequently ad dressed the jury in their behalf, and they contended tb whatever might be thought of their conduct in disposing of the property, there was nothing to show that any frau-I had been practised by either of the prisoners in the first instance, and that it would be a great act of injustice to convict them of felony under such circumstances as existed in the present case. Witnesses were called for the defendant Enstece, among whom was Lord John Chichester, who stated that the pri• soner was an officer in the same regiment with him in the year 1841, and that at that period he was always considered a gentleman and a man of honour. He subsequently joined the Dragoon Guards and served in the Crimea, and engaged in the memorable Balakiava charge. The pri soner appeared to have subsequently engaged in some trade speculations, which did not seem to have turned out successful. The Recorder, in summing up the case to the jury, told them that as this property had been wrongly delivered I/ the carman by mistake, he was of opinion that it Wu belonged to the railway company in law, and he directed them that, if they should be of opinion that the rrt. or either of them, had fraudulently appropriated it to his own use, having an opportunity of knowing to whom it really belonged, they would be guilty of the offence with which they were The jury retired to after a long consultation in the box. About an hour subsequently they returned into court with a verdict of Guilty against both priAoner4, whom they recommended to mercy on account of their p viotis good character, and more especially Little, as harm; acted under the orders of &Waco,. The Recorder, in passing sentence, said he could n,.t help observing that in this case the fraud had apparently not been originally concocted by the defendants. It was mistake made by others which threw the goods into their bands. Desiring to give effect to the recommendation of the jury, the sentence of the court upon Little would he threecalendar months' imprisonment with bard labour. and that upon Eustace sic months' imprisonment with hard labour. Prvieriek Jame*, 2.3, carman, was indicted for atealit,,, two sold ns, three finger rings, two brooches, and I writang case.chai The prisoner was in theemploymentof the South Eastern Railway Company, and broke open a box in oourse of trie• sit from Gravesend to Brighton, abstracting therefrom ;0/. mirth of jewellenr, which be sold for about 71. He plaided guilty, and was sentenced to 18 monthi im prisomment. Previous tothe rising of the enure Mr. Macrae ?Aar, bar ristar, made an application with reference to a care—the Queen v. Brown and others—which had been disposed of A a previous session. The prisonen, three in nem' ber, were implicated in a silk robbery in the City, and there ware three counts for stealing end three for receiving. The actual thief was put into the witness box, and at the close of the cromaxansination of this rut' ness one of the prironers intimated that the properly fated to by him was not the same as that specified in the