The Express. — London, England, 1864-12-26 00:00:00

FIELD'S celebrated UNITED SERVICE SOAP TABLETS, 4d. and 6d. each, sold by all chandlers and ilu'ollShnut the bbytdoiti bat the public should ink r.""lfteld's. sad see that nine n ot J. C. and J. YIELD le on each patio% boo, and tablet Wholesale and tor ezportation at the Work; UPPER MARSH. LAMBETH, LONDON. S., where ale° may be obtained their Prise Medal Parsnips Candles. IVEGRWITI and ZAMBRA'S One Guinea and £ Two Galata FIELD GUAM and TELESCOPES are war ranted as unrivalled for power sod brllllanw. Ds. and Ws. In can canpleta.-4 Hatton-gardsn, LC.: W Cornhlll, LC. 113. iseentetrset, W. ; WS. Fleetairest : and Crystal Palace. JOHN BROGDEN'S EXCELLENTE BIJOU *, TERIECOURANTIMODELEi SZSCIAUX isa PABILIQUE. J. B. hares been honoured with a Flret-elan Medal at the Paris Universal Exhibition, accompanied by the above nattering tes timonial, respectfully invites the public to an inspection of his GOLD CIIAIN6 and extensive assortment of JEWELLERY, all node on the p-omima —JOHN BRAG DEN, Goldsmith. liana factory, No. 16, ileuriettsstreet Covent.garden, W.C. Este. hUshed A.D. Me. Assays made of Chains and Jewellery for is. each. N.B. This establishment liaised at 6in Me evag, and on Saturdays at 1 dekict. MR. MILES'S (the ORIGINATOR'S) World-tamed Ha TROUSERS ata only be bad at 13. BROOK STREET HANOVER-BQUARE, hicio "corapetitioa Wyly diataseed by Mlles' ALFRED WEBB MLLES. ESTABLISHMA. 1841. he exprego• TO CORRESPONDENTS. ,drortliaments Int,oded for the More." London Evening t l t om u moot be b u e uyof a t t p h u e bi rtEc . e o ,..lo, liourertowtreet, by Two .H.A.YItAAULT. Tins Emma, DAVID iiißitkl7—LOßD DUNDRLARY MARRIED AND DONE FOR. Massa Bother.% Chippendale. Ruckstone. Rogers: lilasSnosrdon.—PßlNClZe SPRINGTIMR. Mr.Conapton and illas Feeley.—And A LIES Lli TRY DARK. I PEINCBSa'& TEO It THE 110 ILSE AND THE ICE MAIDEN. - tad THE antiltlS OF LONDON. Messrs. Vining. J. W. Ray, D. Rohr, D. Murray, J. Nelsoa, H. Forrester, and B. Maori . Nl= L Mardoo,ltbses Barnett and Gamma LYCIGUIL THIS EVIOIOO, MY WIFE'S OUT. Mr. Widd'comb. =TY BLAS. Mews. Feebler, Ryder, Fitzpatrick. Charles, Kay. mood. Mclntyre, Moreland, Collett, CWford Mira C. Leclart.q. And SURFACED IMPOSTORS. Mr. Widdlcomb. SAITANNLA. Tam MonalSO, at 12 a pWforniance of the Pantomime, and Toss Bemuse. LIT TLE BUSY BEE ; or, the ()la Lady of Threadneedle-street. Mesdames 8. Lane, W. Cranford, and E. Jacoba.—And TILE WORK.OIII.B OF LONDON. HIGH WATTLE AT LONDON-BRIDGE. hlOnling. Oh. 0tn...../Jterooon., Oh. lho. rogsoaaow Morning. Oh. 36m.....Attorauoa. Oh. Ohm. LONDON, MONDAY, DECEMBER 26. THE grave problem as to how we shall best deal with our houseleas poor, is not one to be set tled by the turn of • sentence or the stroke of • pen. Especially dangerous is it to pass judgment on hearsay, to pronounce without complete know ledge, or to advise without fully comprehending the difficulties of the case. On the broad question that absolutely destitute persons have • claim upon the community, and that urgent necessity entitles every sufferer to relief, we are all agreed. The law of England declares it, and the official regulations of its authorised administrators affirm it in language concerning which there can be no dispute. " If a person alleged to be destitute," we read at page 33 of " The Consolidated Orders "of the Poor-law Board," "be brought to the work " house, whether by the police or by any other " persons, without an order for admission, the "master must examine into the circumstances of " the case ; and if he find that the destitution " exists, and that there is urgent necessity in the " case, it is his duty to admit the destitute person " into the workhouse, and report the case to the guar dians at their next meeting." Again, at page 145, under the bead of " Duties of the Workhouse " Master," we find the first place given to the obligation to admit paupers, "and also every " person applying for admission who may appear to " him to require relief ;" and, without multiplying examples, we may state that immediate assistance to all actually destitute applicants is one of the fundamental principles of our existing laws. Let us further repeat that the Act of last session, on which so much stress has been laid, was in the main a mere recapitulation of clauses already sanc tioned by Parliament, and that its only novel fea ture is the holding out of specified inducements to parochial guardians to do their duty, by promising them that the expense attached to its performance shall be defrayed out of &common fund. Bearing this in mind, and knowing both the earnest efforts of the officials of the Poor-law Board, and the almost insuperable difficulties due totheir anomalous posi tion, we have noted with regret certain erroneous statements which have been confidently given to the public, and which, unless promptly met, may aggravate instead of mitigating the evils we all de plore. We do not agree with several of the opinions laid down by the officials at Whitehall, and in a recent article endeavoured to show wherein we differed, and why ; but we should be sorry to allow unfair aspersions on the results of their manage ment to pass unnoticed. It is ungenerous and un just to assert, as one of our contemporaries did on Saturday in an article headed " Onr Homeless " Poor," that the Casual Poor Act of last session " has proved a signal failure ;" it is a glaring error to suppose that " very many of the metropolitan " workhouses have no casual wards whatever ;" and it is ludicrously incorrect to assert that "the " best sleeping-place which the best refuges offer " is vastly inferior to the comparatively comforts " ble accommodation that is provided for the " same purpose in those workhouses that have " casual wards." We hare shown from time to time that the number of beds for the home less and destitute has been largely increased ; that by circulars and personal visits the Poor-law Inspectors have done their utmost to prevail upon the various metropolitan guardians to perform their duty ; and when the new Act is glibly de clared a failure, it should at least be remembered that official authority has been stretched to its utmost limit ; that the power to be exercised over recalcitrant guardians is shadowy and ►ttenuated to the last degree ; and that the failure of the workhouses to meet the emergency of the hour is in many instances not so much due to insufficient accommodation, as to the painful and offensive obstructions with • hich that accommodation is hedged about. During the bitter nights in the early part of last week, there was not a single application for admission into the casual ward of the :strand Union Workhouse. The ordeal at the Bow-street Police-office, the long, weary walk to Cleveland-street, Fitzroy-square, and finally the prospect of a bath before going to bed, made up too formidable an aggregate for the starring home less pauper, and the result was, as we have said, that not • single application for relief was made. \\•e are well aware of the perverse obstruc tiveness of the parochial mind, but we have yet to learn that many of the workhouses are at this time without casual wards. On the contrary, we be lieve that though in some instances the guardians have been both unwilling and churlish, in no one instance have they gone the length of uniformly re fusing to admit the casual poor. From Bermondsey, where " We think it will do well enough as it is " once seemed to express the spirit in which suggestions concerning the new Act were received, to elerkenwell, where the male " casual*" sleep in cellars, where the female " casuals" are packed away in lofts, and where it is decreed utterly use less to ask for the certificate of the I'oor•law Board, or to make any claim on the common fund, the winter of 1864 has seen increased provision made for wanderers and wayfarers. But let it not be thought that the beat appointed casual ward of the most luxurious workhouse of the most liberal parish ever approaches the homely comforts of such a refuge as was described in these columns • week ago. Putting aside the compulsory bath, the searching, and the police-office, all of which are escaped by the man or woman admitted to the refuge, there is a fundamental difference which is almost in separable from a voluntary as distinguished from a formally legal administration of relief. It is not merely that the food supplied is larger in quantity and more comforting in kind, nor that' , literal pennilessness is not enforced as a qualifica tion, nor that the promoters of these refuges endeavour in the disposal of the funds entrusted to them to provide some further connecting link between the English guinea and the human soul than is likely to be furnished by guardians having the fear of local constituents before their eyes, and parochial officials who are covertly hos tile ; but that the whole atmosphere of the refuge is one of kindness to and sympathy with the poor. How far this spirit should prevail in casual wards provided by the law is another question, and one not easy to answer, when the prevalence of imposture is considered. But it is as obviously unfair to call the Poor-law Board to account for the non-performance of duties it has no power to enforce, as it is to expect from a mere permissive bill the comprehensiveness of scope and rapidity of action only possible in the ukase of a paternally governed country. Our national dread of centralisation prevents our en trusting any portion of the executive with absolute power ; and so long as local boards are permitted each to do what seems right in their own eyes, so long will any popular outcry for a reform, whether in the shape of large district wards, police relieving officers, or more prompt admis sion at workhouse doors, savour of sentimental impracticability, and be miserably partial in result. THE announcement of a reduction in the rate of discount of the Bank of France appears to have taken most people by surprise, but the state of the published accounts sufficiently warrants the change. The last weekly return shows that the bullion has increased nearly 500,0001., while the bills dis counted have fallen off by 1,000,0001. The note circulation has also decreased by over 710,0001. It is remarkable that while our Bank is obliged to retain its rate at 6 per cent., in Paris, where the monetary position is certainly not more favourable than here, it has been found not merely possible, but advantageous to lower the rate to 4i. The difference is easily accounted for by the opposite currency systems of England and France. Both have their merits, and both their defects. The golden mean has yet to be discovered, or if discovered already, to find sufficiently bold supporters. Many persons will be ready to advocate a change, but few will be prepared to initiate it. For years past the management of the Banks of England and of France has been more and more nearly assimilated. In the time of NAPOLEON I. the Bank of France was considered an insti tution devised to keep the rate of discount at or under a certain point. The idea was of course fallacious, but, to • greater extent than political economists will allow, it had • cer tain foundation of fact. It is perfectly true that in money, that is to say, coin or bullion, as in all other articles, the law of supply and demand will meet any contingency that may arise. Plenty of reasons have been adduced against an over-issue of paper by writers who fail to grasp the equally great evils of an under issue. The fact seems to be that the effects of an over exten sion of the system of paper money have been far more patent than those in the opposite course, and at the same time much more often exemplified. A whole nation perceives readily enough the depre elation of the currency, but it is only indirectly that a general withdrawal of credit, fully as serious an evil, is really felt. A tradesman can easily under stand the hardship of being compelled by law to take • bank-note for double its actual worth, and raises his prices accor dingly—he knows the cause and provides against it. The possibility of a mercantile crisis and the failure of some of his beat customers is naturally considered but little at all beforehand, and when it happens is usually borne in silence. There can be no doubt that many households have suffered seriously during the present year in con sequence of the contraction of trade through the high, rates of discount. Still there are no public complaints, although they would be com mon enough if the loss proceeded from • more thoroughly appreciated cause. An appropriate proof of the effect produced upon general com merce by these apparent matters of detail has been afforded by the different action during the present year of the Banks of England and of France. The former has been conducted necessarily in • spirit of self-protection characteristic rather of a private than of • public enterprise, while the latter has in a greater degree realised the duties it owes to the people as • State institution. We have no desire to impute any fault to the management of our Bank ; for in fact it has been as good as very small discretion which the Directors are allowed to exercise can permit it to be. The Act of 1844 has so narrowed their functions that they have scarcely anything to consider but the state of their reserve. If it amounts to a given sum, the rate ought to be reduced or advanced, as the case may be. The whole question has been brought down to the con sideration of the figures of one item in the weekly account. It might happen, as it has frequently done, that the general trade of the country lhas suffered from this peculiar calculation ; but this is a question with which the Directors have nothing to do. When matters come to the worst they are the foremost to come forward to suggest, and, if need be, to advocate the efficient ! remedy of suspending the present law ; but except on such extreme occasions their hands are tied. The case is different with the Bank of France. The Directors there are in some degree hampered by the action of the Executive Government, but they are at least free from the trammels of an impracticable law. Political reasons may some times influence their decisions in an unfavourable sense, but for all economical purposes they have full discretion. It is of course comfortable in many cases to know that you are hound to a par ticular line of action, and that you have come ; quently no necessity to exercise your judgment lone way or the other. Irresponsibility has its ' charms, but whether it ought to be enjoyed by persons of high official position is at least • matter of reasonable doubt. At all events the principle does not apply to the Bank of France, and, as far as can be judged, the result is more satisfactory than with us. As no system in the world has been devised which shall at all times be perfect, the best plan is clearly to leave the matter to be de cided by competent persons as any difficulty may arise. It is in this way that the Directors of the Bank of France possess a liberty of action which is not allowed here. The discretion that is thus given certainly gains in the comparison of results, the experience of put years showing an absence in Paris both of commercial crises and of those important variations in the rate of discount which have latterly so effectually dis organized our general trade. According to theory, as we find it applied to our own trade, such dis turbances might be expected to occur far more frequently in France than here. The difference arises from matters of every-day management being left to the discretion of practical men of business, instead of being governed by a rule presumed to be applicable at all times and in all circumstances. The defenders of our present system have but one argument to allege in its favour, that it secures the convertibility of the bank-note. As a strict logical argument the reasoning is worthless, but as the practical ground is taken that so many note. are sure to be in circulation, and so forth, it is as well to contrast the position of our Bank with that of our neighbours. No one will venture to deny that a French bank-note is as readily convertible as one of the Bank of England. If the larger issue is certain to depreciate the currency, how is it that it has not done so in France ? This point has been urged over and over , again, and never been answered, for the best of all possible reasons, that it is unanswerable. One thing is very certain, that the management of the French Bank is far more favourable to the deve lopment of commerce than that of our own. A comparison of the last account shows that with an amount of bullion of 14,307,760/., we could only lend on discount to the extent of 18,754,485/. ; while in France, with the bullion at 14,560,0001., the commercial bills held were no less than 22,452,000/., without reckoning large advances which in this country are included in the former item. The note circulation was at the same time about 28,860,0001., against 19,217,4301. here. This contrast will sufficiently prove which system is the more consonant with the requirements of trade. Our own is considered good enough for the present generation &imply because it was thought advisable twenty years ago ; the other has at least the merit of being far more adapted to the growing exigencies of the time. In the meanwhile, until our high authorities can work the matter out to their own satisfaction, English merchants have the privilege of paying 6 per cent. for their money while foreign competitors pay only 4.1. THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 26, 1864. Cbt Court. OSBORNE, Dze. 24. Prince Artbur, attetded by Major Elpbinstone, arrived at Oaboroe from Greenwich-park this afternoon. DEC. 25. Her Majesty the Queen diatributed Christmas gifts yet terday afternoon to the wives of the labourers sad others on the Osborne estate, and also to the children of the Whip. pingham School, who meembled a little before 4 o'clock. Soou after 4 the Queen, accompanied by Princess Helena. Princess Louise, Prinams Beatrice, Prince Arthur, sod Prince Leopold, entered the servants' hall, when the gifts were laid out. Her Majesty thee, misted by the royal family, distributed the articles of clothing to the women, and toys of various descriptions to the children, for whom also a Christmas tree was prepared. Her Majesty was 'Wooded by the Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting. Despatches were received on Saturday at the Colonial office from the Governors of the Cape of Good Hope, Natal, and St. Helena. Despatches were sent to the Go- Torpors of the Noith*American provinces and Bermuda. Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston bave been entertaining a select party at Broadisnds, Hants. Among the company have been the Countess Cowper and Wks Cowper, Count Stralecki, Viscoust Sedley, Viscountess Jocelyn and the Hon. Misses Jocelyn, the Right Has. Wm. F. Cowper, Mr. Barrington, &c. Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess d'Aurnale will not arrive at Strawberry Hill, on s visit to Frames Countess Waldegrave and the Right Hon. C. For tonne, H.P., WI the 3rd of the sossiss mouth. The Duchess (Dowager) of Sutherland, accom panied by taw sorra, Lords Albert and Korrekt Levesoo Gower, is passing the Christmas with the Duke sod Duchess of SatherLod at Trentham, Staffordshire. The Marquis of Hartingtou, M.P., left Devon shire House on Saturday for Trentham, on a visit to the Duke and Duchess of Sutherland. The Lai and Countess Spencer are surrounded by a select party, principally confined to the members of the family, at Althorp. The Bishop of London has appointed the Rev. Charles Waldegrave Sandford, Senior Caesar and Student of Christ Church, Oxford, and t►e Rev. William Frederick Erskine lisollys, M.A., of Merton Conn*, Oxford, incumbent of Aldborongli H►tch, is the county of Essex, and diocese of London, to be two of his lordship's chaplains. Lord 'Wharncliffe writes that the refusal of the Federal government to distribute the money raised for the Coafedernto prisoners will not practically affect the dia. tribution of the fund, "for which," he mays, "unhappily, we can find but too many recipienta." ARRIVAL OF LORD LYONS ♦YD PROVE:AO& GOLD WIN SIIMI IN LIVERPOOL.—The Royal Mail steamer China, from New York on the lath last., arrived at Liverpool yes. terday morning. Among the passengers on board were our late Minister at Washington, Lord Lyme, arid Professor Goldwin Smith. THE Fossime-Onicat.—Mr. Murray, the assis tent undereemetary. who teeently met with an semdent at Mr. Bun's seat, Aldermaston Court, has, in 000sequeoce of the injuries sustained, had to undergo the operation of having his left eye removed, the sight having tees *stately destroyed. THE INTERNATIONAL VOLUNTEER MATCH, TROPHY FUND.-A memoraodum has been published by Lieutenant- Colossi the Hon. C. H. Lindsay, u chairman of the corn. mitten which has been formed for the purpose of establish ing a challenge trophy in coonexioa with the internatiooal volume's match with the goversmeet ride between the efficient ride shots of England and Scotland. The memo- randum sets forth the plan to he adopted for raising the necessary funds. Individual subscriptions are uotexpected to be lase than Is., or mon than 51., special instructions are to be sent to volunteers of influrmos in their respective counties and Im:elitism and oases, to collect the contributions, and artists are to be in vited to tender designs for a suitable work of art which shall not he of laws vain. than 1,000/. The committee urge those favourable to the scheme to make their subscriptions as soon as possible, that plaster casts of the model may be ready for inspection at the last general meeting of the Nation a l Hide Association before the &noun, pthering at Wimbledoo. The London and Westminster Bank, Temple bar, and the Commercial Bank of Scotland, have been selected for the purpose of opening an account ; and Earl Grosvenor, Lieutesent-Colooel the Hon. C. H. Lindsay, and Lieutedant-Colonel ll'Leod of M•Leod, have consented to act as trustees of the fund. The present honorary cap tain' of the loternatiorial Volunteer Match—Captain H. H, Williams, 19th Middlesex, and Captain Mackenzie, Ist Roes-shire Administrative Battalion, have omeented to act conjointly, during their tenure of office, is hon. secre taries to theoommittee. _ CLERGYMEN W FOR CRYLOR.—Tbe Bishop of Colombo wishes to obtain the services of two clergymen from Cambridge for three or four Years. They might be in deacea's orders, or if not ordained he would receive them as candidates for holy orders. They would be employed on the coffee estates in Ceylon. in visitiog the planters end holding services in the different parts of theirdiatrict. The income would he 'Mi. a year, and the keep of a horse allowed. The work is in a healthy part of the island, on the hill., when the climate would probably benefit rather than p ag a irre the onostitntios. The lieshoo's commissary in is the Veit. Archdeacon Wise, March, Cambridge. shire, who will receive applications and answer inquiries. CHURCH RESTORATION.-011 Friday the restored church of sit. Mary, Steam, near Ware, Herta, wee opened, the Lord Bishop of Rothmeier preaching oa the oecasioe. The structure is one of great littered, the chancel, with re markable chancel arch, Early English, and the nave deco. rated. The latter has been Teetered at the cost of the parishioners and the fri•ods of the Rev. C. Puller, the vicar, and the cbsocel at the cost of his Grace the Duke of Wellington, Messrs. G. and 11. Godwin being the archi tects. After service a luncheon was given by the parish- Innen. Mr. Abel Smith presidia& supported by the Bishop, Mr. Wigram, Mr. l'ullev. Mr. Hanbury, sod shoot 200 friends. The chancel is elevated some ten or twelve steps above the mire, and his at the east end a fine triplet win dow, filled with stained glass, a memorial of the late Mr. Puller, M.P., subscribed for by the county. LATER` INTELLIGENCE. CANADA. THE DISCHARGE OF THE CONFEDERATE 4, RAIDERS." MONTREAL, TossDAY, DEA 1.3. The case of the St. Alban's raiders was reopened to-day before Justios CoursaL The court-room was well filled with spectators. At the commencement of the proceeding Mr. Kerr ob jected that the court bad no jurisdiction in the case. He denied in tote his Honour'. right to sit there st all en this investigation. Mr. Berlin said that after having granted a delay of a month, they had now met to hear the evidence for the defence, not to listen to a legal argument. After a few words from the wart, and from Mr. Johnson, Q.C., Mr. Kerr was allowed to go into the argument as to the jurisdiction of the court in the premises. After some discussion between the counsel, the court said this was a matter of most grave importance, involving his right of jurisdiction, sod consequently, the validity of these proceedings from their commencement. He should, therefore, take time to consider it before proceeding further, and for this purpose the court would adjourn until 2 o'clock, p.m. The court reassembled at 2 o'clock this afternoon, and was densely crowded. Mr. Justice Coaxial, on taking the bench, said the matter in question was most important, slow hie authority bad been denied. lie had given the argument on both aides his most serious consideration, and had come to the conclusion that the cue came under the imperial act, and that he was bound to obey the imperial authority. In a national quer tion like the one under consideration, the imperial act was absolutely supreme, and must be his guide. Our own provincial act to carry into effect the Ashburton treaty had not received the special royal emo tion requisite. The case was a most exceptional one, and being • treaty matter between the two nations, he could do no other than allow our own act to give w►y before that of the imperial legislature. The revised imperial art most role herein ; and that act re quired that the warrant under which the prisoners were arrested should be Mimed by the Governor-General. If the court could have reserved the point for a higher tribunal, it would most gladly have done so. But linos the liberty of the subject was involved, there admitted of no delay ; end since be had sot had the warrant of the government, he had come to the conclusion that the court possessed no jurisdiction in the case, and he must order the immediate release of the prisoners. The announcement was received with applause by a num ber of persons present, bat the demonstration was instantly checked. Mr. berlin then arose, and, in • most impassioned ' speech, implored his Honour not to discharge the prisoners upon the remaining indictments, but, in fairness and justice both to the counsel for the United States and for theses of the private prosecutors (the banks), to allow of • hearing. He contended that the prisoners could be discharged only on this one particular indictment, and the court owed it to the counsel to be heard on the others. Should it be said in an English court of justice that the judge having de cided in favour of the prisoners in one case, immediately discharged them in six others? What would be said outside• The counsel for the defence themselves knew that the course which the court had taken wee unprece dented. Had not his Hooour issued six warrants, and yet he had but one warrant before him? He called solemnly on the court to hesitate. He (Mr. berlin) could not remain silent while thirteen men, charged with robbery and even murder, were allowed to go at liberty without their several oases being investigated. Our good name for justice and fair play wag at stake, and though some among us might be sympathisers with the primmera, he had yet to learn that they set ►t naught the jewel, fair play. He spin called upon the court to besit•te before discharging these men, and give the counsel for the prosecution • chance of being hand; for here the most important interests of ell were at stake, viz., international oriel. He again implored the court not to order this wholesale delivery. He would put it to the court, was it treating the counsel for the defectors with fairness? if the court should per- Mat be doing this, then we must be papered to take the ethesqueocea No country had dealt fairer with England is extradition matters than had the United States. Their judges combined to give effect to the Extradition Treaty. The judges of our Supreme Court had concurrent jurisdiction with his Honour, and had the counsel leviers of the probable course of his Honour, they would have desired the court to allow these judges to have a seat on the bench along with him. Mr. Derlin again, for the last time, besought his Honour to hesitate before he filially ordered the liberation of the prisoners. Mr. Johnson, Queen's Counsel, arose and said that both those who represented the United States and those who represented the private interests in this affair had upon them • grave responsibility. Bat he thought Mr. berlin was mistaken in the view which he took of the judgment of the court. The court meant the prisoners were discharged on the one charge which had been investigated. The court here said Mr. berlin had understood the jodg meat rightly. The prisouers,were discharged in every came before him. Messrs. Kerr, Abbott, and Laflamme, counsel for the pri• soners, obkrcted to any calling in question of the judgment. Mr. Rose, counsel for the United States, wislied to speak. I Remid be did not intend to call his Honour's judgment just delivered in question. The court declined to hear further, saying that if he bad no right to arrest these men on one chirp, as be held that he had nut, then neither had be a right to detain them on any other. These .E/1111 had been arrested on magistrates' warrants, upon his own, and then on motion of the police, and now, when his Honour s own jurisdiction was called in question, because his warrants were null and void, he saw that he had been mistaken. And it was the duty of every British judge, on finding that, to rectify his errors. The court, therefore, ordered that the prisoners be immediately discbsrged, and was prepared to incur the responsibility of its own act Applause again broke forth, but it wu again instantly Shacked. In a few minutes the prisoners walked through the court room. and were congratulated by a few of their acquaint ances ; and after they emerged from the building a few voices were mimed in something meant to be a cheer. They then separated, looking pleased at their enlargement, and the crowd at once dispersed. —.Mew York Tines, Dec. 14. (SLOTS'S EXIRESS.) AMERICA. LIVERPOOL, Sr:rpm The Royal Mail steamship China, Captain Anderson, from New York on the 4th instant, arrived iu the Mersey this morning. A private letter from Madrid says that the chief topic of conversation at the Spanish Court is the scandal occasioned by the recent marriage of the divorced wife of as ambassador to a grandee of the first class, in whose veins the purest sawn aryl is supposed to flow. It appears that the queen has notified to the duke her regret that it will be impossible for her to receive his fair bride at Court, as sbe cannot incur the risk of exposing the ambassador of one of the great Powers to the uppleaaant aituations which would arise from the fact of his meeting his former wife at the Palace. The duke, on receiving this communication instantly returned to her Majesty not only all his order*,. but his gold key as one of the court chamberlains. " Paris letters mention," says the IndFpendance, " that the explanations brought by M. Benedetti from Ber lin on the German question appear satisfactory to the cabinet of the Tuileries. This impression also seems to be coofirmed by the manner is which the semi-official press now dismisses the subject. The satisfaction is, however, far from being shared by the German journals. According to them everything appears obscure, undecided, and coa tintl ictory." ST. 1 5 ACL'.4 CATHEDRAL. .—Tbe following are the preachers appointed by the Bishop of Lowden at the special Sunday Evening services for January, 1865 :—Jasuary 1, the Lord Bishop of London ; January 8, the Bev. James Morehouse, incumbest of St. • John's, Fitzroyequare ; January 15. the Ray. W. W. Champitsys, oleos of St. Paul's ; January 22, the Rev. H. P. Liddoe, student of Christ Church. Ozford ; January 29, the Rev. W. 0. Lake, rector of Huntspill, Somersetsture. Telegrams can Dow be sent from London to Histehm, the !metier lowa of Cabo. vie St. Petersburg. A merieon paper. The old homestead of the celebrated Jefferson, is MooDeelle, U.S., has been sold for 89,500 dollars.— Canailsonpaper. EXPRESS FROM PARIS. (nod OUR OWN PARIS. SUNDAY ZVININO. This is the coldest Christmas-day that Paris has wen for many years. The sky has been cloudless, but the bitter north-east wind smells of snow, which it appears has fallen almost all round the metropolis. London letters were not delivered till 3 in the afternoon. The appointments of MM. Conti and Frances chilli Pietri are gazetted in the Moniteur, and there is now no doubt that the former has the highest rank. M. Conti, whose name comes first, is de scribed as " secretary to the Emperor and chef du cabinet ;" M. Pietri is called the Emperor's " private secretary." The moat terse and caustic asunit , I have yet seen of the Pope's new condemnation of " modern doctrines" is to be found, strange to say, in the France. It is difficult to conceive how Viscount de la Gueronnibre, the valiant champion of the tem poral power, will be able to explain to his confessor such writing u the following : The sacrificial letter of December 8 calls to mind the celebrated one of 1852 ; it is inspired by the some spirit and formulates the same condemnations. Liberty of 00110601 M —liberty of worship—liberty of opinion —and the complete independence of the civil power in regard to the religious power, are described as detestable and pernicious errors. The theory of the Pope comes to this—peoples should be in the hands of their princes ; and princes under the authority of the Pope ; the Pope to an extent and in a degree of which hen the sole judge can interfere in the temporal affairs of nations ; princes must on no pretext whatsoever meddle with religions matters ; the catholic tell gion alone has • right to public worship ; princes are under an obligation to protect catholic worship and to put down every other, sot merely in the interest of public order, but because all other worships are contrary to true religion. The Church has a right to punish by cor poral penalties those who violate its laws, and the crime of heresy which has been effaced from all modern codes should be revived and punished as it was in the middle ages. I think Italy owes an immense debt of gratitude to Pius IX. for this plain speaking. PARIS, SATURDAY EVIMUNG. The Patric, in announcing that the Emperor's " Cabinet is definitively composed," gives the names of the staff is the following order : " M. F. Pietri, attache to the private secretary ship, is appointed private secretary to the Emperor. M. Conti, councillor of state, is called to the func tions of chef du cabinet. M. Sacaley remains sub chef du cabinet. MM. Pietri and Conti have en tered upon their duties." Readers of the above must suppose that M. F. Pietri is intended to take higher rank than K Conti. That would be contrary to what has been generally understood ; but 1 cannot say what the fact may be. M. Mocquard was both chef du cabinet and private secretary, but the former was considered the higher designation. It turns out to be true, as I surmised a few days agq that the office is put in some sort in commission. I believe Colonel Faye, though not expressly gazetted, will be employed by his Majesty in the military corre spondence. The dory told by the independance that the Prince de la Tour d'Auvergne, Baron de Malaret, and two other first class ambassadors, were to be assembled in Paris to confer with the Emperor on the subject of his new year's speech, is contradicted. It is by no means certain that there will be any new year's s peec h at all. Baron de Malaret has,lhowever, arrived in Paris from Turin. A government print, the Berne de Paris, has got its patrons into an awkward predicament by "too much zeal" Wishing to justify the coup d7tat, and all that was done in consequence of it ; and forgetting that the least said on the subject the better, the Revue affirmed that all the people tsansported to Cayenne in 1852, and more particularly those confined in the lie au Diable, were " bad characters undeserving thesym pathy of any honest man." What made this state ment the more insulting to the political victims to whom it applied was the fact that this article was signed by M. Jotuwelin, a former governor of the colony. Now, it happens that one of the transports alluded to is M. D4l6cluse, Commissary-General of the Republic of 1848, and a member of the Consti tuent Assembly. He has written an answer in the name of himself and his companions in captivity, which the Berme de Paris refuses to insert, and now he brings an action to compel the insertion. M. E. Arago will plead for the plaintiff, The case promises to be interesting, but efforts will no doubt be made to bark it. The young Duke of Hamilton has left Oxford for Paris to pass his Christmas holidays. It is said that a new journal is about to appear in Paris, for the express purpose of treating of Algerian affairs, and that the necessary funds have been found by Arab chiefs. M. de Toulguet, for merly a prefect in Algeria. and M. Ernest Feydeau, the author of "Fanny," are spoken of as con tributors. The frost is severe, and there is a bitter east wind. Snow has fallen at Lyons and other parts of the south of France, and the late delivery of Loudon letters leads to the supposition that there must be snow northwards. The six great central post-cocas in France, de creed on December 4, are to be at Arras, Alencou, Toulouse, Poitiers, Lyons, and Nancy. The French Jesuits have just founded a Catholic College at Constantinople. The Bourse has recovered the slight fall of yes terday, Rente being 10c. higher. Railways are fully 2.50 to 5 higher- a more decided movement than we have seen for some time. THE CONDI:NNW MURDERRIIS AT KIRK DALZ GAOL —Eau' Gress, Henry Brown, and Thomas Liodoe, condemned to death by Mr. Justice Mellor at the recent Liverpool assizes, are still unreprieved. Ellis Green was convicted of the murder of his sister.io-law when be was in a state of furious intoxication. Green has a wife and eight chaldree. sad since hi, condemnation he has been visited by several members of his fatuity. Mr. Appleton, the gaol chaplain, reports the prisoner is serious and M- I unties to spiritual ministrations. It is stated that a peti. Hoe is to be forwarded to the Home Secretary on Green's behalf, praying for • commutatiou of his sentence. Lioden was sentenced for the murder of Thomas M'Carthy, a person of bad character, who was an saeociate of the I miner. Brown has been visited by his wife, father, and sister , in.law. Mr. Appleton has been diligent in hie ministry ' tions to Brow; and Linden, who is a Roman catholic, has beerivisited by the catholic chaplain, Mr. Gibson. Liudoes mother, aunt, sister , and MOM have visited him during the week. Laudon is much buoyed up by the fact that th e jury recommended him to mercy. Should no reprieve arrive all the criminals will be executed on Saturday, the 7th proximo. DENTITCTION AND MALARIA IN BETHNAL -GRIM —An inquiry was held on Saturday evening by Mr. Hum phreys, Middlesex coroner, at the Black Boy revere, Churchatroet, Bethnal-green, respecting the death, wider very shocking circumstances, of Robert Bloom, aged 10 years. Emma Le Serf, 6, Gloucester-place, Betbrial.green, said that the deceased was ber father, and be lived at No. 2, Shepherd's-court. Old Nicholl-street. He was a cutler. Bhe saw him on Thursday last, and be was so ill that she went to the workhouse for • doctor, but when she came back she found him deed on the floor. There was no bed or table in the room. There were two broken chairs and a broke. box. He paid 51s. a week net. The small butt in the yard supplied six hones, and all the families in these six house, had only one privy, to which n o water was laid on. She th o u g ht deceased had enough to eat. Rebecca Bellamy, who, with her 1011, lived with the deceased, gave similar evideece, and said that the landlady was Mrs. Merriam; who lived in Nichol! street.—Dr. W. Gaytoa said that be Naiad the demised deed in • room, dirty, ill ventilated, and unfit for human habitation. Four or five weeks ago he was called to • family in the next room, one of whom had fever. In the house next the privy five penes's— father, mother, sad three chili:wen—had fever at oar time. There was always surface-water in tbecourt-yard, which wee unpaved. Deceased's death resulted from etudes on the brain and diems' of the lungs ; but the dirty, ill-ventilated state of the room, and the condition of the surrouoding atmosphere, would tend to accelerate death. It would lower vitality. In the room noderosath lived • man end his wife and' Su children. The jury returned the follow. ing verdict :—" That the deceased died from the mortal effects of effusion on the brain and &seam of the lungs, arising from natural causes • but the said death was ac celerated by destitution, and by living in an ill-veutilated room, and in • court wasting in sanitary requirements." AMERICA. We have news from General Sherman, through the Richmond papers of the 13th, the substance of which is communicated to Secretary Stanton by General Grant. They state that General Sherman'. army was on the 10th within fifteen miles of Sayan. nab, and in their latest despatches announce that he had arrived at a point within less than five mile, of it, and was drawn up in line of battle, but hal yet made no attack. They say that be was con- fronted by a large Confederate force, and had yet bad no communication with the coast. Sherman has severed the telegraph running from Savannah to Richmond, and the papers of the latter city b. 1%., to receive their intelligence of his movements front Charleston. The Confederates profess to be in doubt whether he would attack Savannah or move around the city and strike the coast south-east of it. The following are the official despatches respect. ing Sbermau's movements referred to above War Departanat, Waahiogioa, Dec. 1;. To Major-Gomm' Dix, New York. —The Richmond pa. pars of yesterday report General Sherman it Bloomiogdale, fifteen miles from Savannah, on Saturday. He is reported by this morning's, Richmond papers, as will be men by the followiog telegram from General Grant, to be in like of battle not five miles from Savannah : City Point, Va., Dec. 1 s. lion. E. M. Stanton, Secretary of War.—ltichmo: ! papers of to-day contain the following :—The ItichtcoL ! buipatch ears, "Sherman is near Savannah, probably five miles distant. Ile has not yet made an atto,..k. ;: . 3 still doubtful whether be will do so or make for the coa.t southeast of the city. It is very certain be has not ya opened communication with the coast. though he may do so very soon. Later.—A telegraphic despatch from bclori Charleston states that Sherman was in line of battle (s e will not say where), confronted by a strong Conlederde force." Another paper stews, "There has been no .Ifivct communication with Savannah for several days, but we op. prebeod the wires have been cut between that place w.,1 Charleston."—V. S. GRANT. The severity of the weather has prevented any importast movements by either side at Nashville, Nothing of import &ace is reported to-day from the armies of the Potomac ci of the Shenandosh.—Enwut M. 12/LINTON. Secretary of Wee. The movement of General Warren, from the Arn.y of the Potomac southward, has been couclud...l. The expedition was for the purpose of destro)iu 4 . the Weldon Railroad, and inflicting damage upon Lee's line of communications to a point as far south as was practicable. The force penetrated as far as Hickaford, on the Meberrin River, 48 miles south of Petersburg, completely destroying the railroad the entire distance, burning bridges and ties, bend. ing the rails by heat, dzc. The troops safely returned to camp on the 11th and 12th. " No movement of particular importance has vet occurred in the vicinity of Nashville, the (Ad weather interfering with operations on both sides" (says the Herald of the 14th). "There was some skirmishing yesterday, but apparently without re sults of consequence. The portion of Hood's rebel army which, under General Lyon, crossed to the north side of the Cumberland river, 20 miles above Fort Douelson, a few days ago, is said to be moving on Hopkinsville, Kentucky. This force is (.NU mated at from two to four thousand, and it is said that if it attacks llopkinsville the Union garrison there will be compelled to fall back, as it is very small. The brigade of Union soldiers under command of General Cooper, which was cut off at Centreville when General Schofield moved northward from Columbia, Tennessee, arrived safely in Nashville on the Bth inst., having per formed a march of over 160 miles, moving com pletely around the enemy's lines, capturing a rebel cavalry outpost, and losing in all only ten men, who being tired out fell behind and were murdered by guerillas. General Breckioridge is reported to be at Sparta, Tenneasee,with 10,000 men, endeseooring to form a junction with Hood, in which it is thought lie will find more difficulty than he anticipates." The St. Alban's raiders, for some time past undergoing examination at Montreal, were on the 13th discharged by Judge Coursol, ou the ground that his court had no jurisdiction. The hew York Times of the 14th thus comments on this occurrence : There is an end to the St. Alban's burglar trial in Mont real. Mr. Justice Coursol has discharged the accused on the technical ground that the court over which be preside, has had, from the first, no jurisdiction in the Families. It appears that on the re-uaembling of the court yesterday at Montreal, the counsel for the primulas raised the question of juriadictioo, and that, after deliberating for some time, Judge Coursed summarily assented to the arguments of the counsel, ►nd decided that, as the case came uuder the Imperial Extradition Act, by virtue of its involving a question of national policy, and as the Provincial Act, intended to give effect to the Ash burton treaty in the colony, had never received the royal sanction, he must allow the colonial set to give way before that of the Imperial Legislature. The British act, accord ing to the judge's ruling, required that the warrant under which the prisoners were arrested sLould be signed by the Governor-General. The judge eves found it impossible to hold the prisoners for trial before a higher tribunal, inns much as " the liberty of the subject" was involeed ; sad the instant discharge of the prisoners, in spite of the protest of one of the counsel acting for the United States. was therefore ordered, amid the loud applause of a crowded court. Not the least singular part of this Moisten is that the counsel acting for the crown (Mr. Johnson), and one of the counsel acting for the United States (Mr. Ross), appear to have thrown up the prosecution without even the semblance of a protest, both of these gentlemen apparently giving an instant and unqueetiocieg assent to the correct. nem of Judge Courson' siding. In the absence of a full report of the arguments, we cannot, of course, un. dertake to meet the points of municipal or inter national law which the case involved. The tele• graphic abstract is altogether too meagre to pre• sent the beads foe an intelligent opinion. But, on the face of it, we can readily accept Judge Coursol's assurance that "the case was a most exceptional one." We hare greater difficulty in understanding how the judge, with six separate indictments standing against the prisoners, found it so absolutely incumbent upon him to discharge them shoo. lately on the single count thus far embraced in the trial. The matter, apart from its judicial bearings, is one alto gether of a dangerously unpleasant kind. It will be bard to convince the people who are exposed to these border robberies that there is not a species of connivance between the robbers and those who so heartily applaud their reissue in &Canadian court of justice. . - In au article referring to the discharge of the St. Alban's raiders, the Herald of the 14th says : "Curiously enough, just at the moment when we received this news we also learned that one portion of the legislative branch of our government at Washington had adopted the measure of increas ing our squadron of armed vessels on the lakes, and the other portion had agreed to a resolution giving notice to Great Britain that the reciprocity treaty with Canada should be terminated ; and this, too, without any provision for the eubst,ruC• Lion of a new treaty. " We learn from Washington that the Howe adopted, by a vote of 85 to 57, the resolution re• furred to above, giving notice of au intention to terminate the reciprocity treaty. INTEILISTING STATE DoccnENTS. Sir Julie Remaly, at the recommendation of the amoorllor of the Exchequer, has forwarded to the ordusece y acpart• meat is Sc.athamptoss a collection of flatland documents, to be copied by the photoznacographic proosu. This caller tarn contains the most iuterestiog semis of charters, treaties, and letters, which it was possible to select out of the Record-office. They illustrate the history of the country from the oommeocement of the taiga of William the Con queror to the sod of the reign of queen Ana*, all of which will be published in chronological order with translations, so that we shall hare in this collectioa an illustration of the gradual cheap in the leninage, sod is the mode of writing during the last 800 years. The seals that are attached to some of the documents ars also of great interest ; that which is attached to the treaty of peace between Hoary the Eighth of England and Fraacis the First of France is is gold, of wards 31 four inches in diameter, and exquisitely carved is relief by Beeeveouto Cobra. The gold seal attached to the West of knighthood conferred on Prince Edward by the King of Castile is also of great interest, and there is the gold seal attached to the Pope's Bull conferriag the title of Defeader of the Faith oa Henry the Eighth. Amongst the docuaeata is so original copy of Magna atarta.--Swilii misprint rims. The planters in Maryland offer to pay their dare.; from GO dole. to 100 dole. per annum. it is said that go- veremeot wilier. that no oregera will be permitted to truth nohow they with to.—New York /Mel dail whit land (300 11 In add ahipine the Ea • Inc These nftide week has contract, offered tc sluicing f‘ tezday at the prase the mewl about thi The whol number— s/bet Um 607 of ET. 5,97( total of CT. 63,0( With the moo Travers THE Public h of Jolla attire will Caroline quarters, WedevOf -- ... tbs allot lad prep as dread