The Express.
London, England, 1864-11-08 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 8, 1864.

action they believe will be most beneficial to the
community ; and although to bureaucrats and
placemen this will seem a gross perversion of poli-
tical power, we maintain that votes were given to
electors for that very purpose. The exercise of
the franchise, we are told, is a public trust, and
as such every elector is bound to exercise it. But
no one is obliged to come forward as a candidate.
if he does so, it is for him to persuade the electors
that he can beet represent them ; and no combi-
nation of voters can coerce an honest man to pro-
fess doctrines which he does not hold, or promise
to support measures which he believes will be in-
jurious. If it is suggested that candidates are
liable to be guilty of such meanness, and sell their
conscience for a temporary advantage, that is
another reason why electors should not mien
themselves helplessly into their hands. It is re-
markable that the " liberal" journalists who see
coercion in the resolve of electors to sup-
port only men of their own principles, are
blind and mute when real invasions of social
liberty are pe.petrated before their eyes. IN hen
they read that a man of no name or note has
had his house entered in the name of the law,
and his tables and chairs seized and sold to sup-
port a religious society of which he is not a mem-
ber, and which perhaps he honestly believes to
be disseminating deadly error, it is ten to one
that they turn not upon the oppressor but upon
the helpless victim, and vituperate him es a
fanatic. These people are ;tolerant of everything
but convictions. You may hold very strong
opinions loosely, but no opinion strongly. If
they really are enemies to coercion there is
just now a case at Woodstock which is
worthy of all their indignation. In that borough
a whole community finds itself virtually disfran-
chised by the determination of a neighbouring peer
to displace the sitting member and to substitute
his own nominee. But these philosophic gentle-
men, who are so ingenious as to discover a meta-
physical coercion in the customary exercise of the
ancient rights of Englishmen, have no violent ot
jection to the thiig in its concrete
We, too, are unable to support the Permissive
Bill : but not bemuse we doubt that it proposes a
legitimate end ; not because it is an attempt to
make men moral by Act of Parliament against
their will ; for if it weze possible to make me,,
peaceable, just, chaste, and truthful by that
means, we would plead for the re-enactment of the
whole Second Table by QUEEN, Lords, and
Commons. But we object to the bill because it 's
not directed primarily against a vice, but against
a general practice which becomes a vice only in its
excesses. Th's reason appears so conclusive that it
makes all other objections superfluous. The mem-
bers of the Alliance are as well entitled to give
effect to their views at the hustings as the mem-
bers of the Anti-CormLaw League were to act
upon theirs ; bat they owe it to themselves
and to the public to re-examine their prin-
ciples. At present, their proscription of the
liquor traffic confounds legitimate gratifications
and necessary comforts with the means of
excess. We oppose tneir measure, not in the
name of JOHN SMITH'S indefeasible right to make a
fool of himself, and spend in gin the money that
should buy warm winter clothing for his wife and
chodren, but in the name of the right of his sober
neighbour to buy commodities which experience
shows have a fair and proper use, and of which
therefore, it would be tyranny to deprive him.

Sultans, Stirling Castle, •Startled Fawn, Sea Hone, Sin-
gapore, 'Speedy, Saimaa, Sophia Joskim, *Southampton,
Simla, St. Philbert, Solway, Sir John Lammas% *Sir Jam-
setjee Family, Turkey, Thunder (a), Talavera, Thaliatta,
•Tartar, Tchmeays, Tinto, *MIN, Thorndern, Tomato.
•Timoor Shaw, Tamgon, Thames, Undine, Vespairian,
*Verne, Ville de St. Pierre, Victori► Bridge, Vile de St.
Denis, West, William Fairbairn, Western Star, White
Jacket, War Eagle, •Wide Awake, Winchester, Waterloo,
Western Empire, •Zeaobia.
• Larding tar Bombay.

Our Malta correspondent, ss.iting on the 3rd
inst., says :—" The following telegram has been
in circulation for two days at Malta :—‘ There has
been a frightful hurricane in Calcutta. One hun-
dred and ten ships were lest, 12,000 people
drowned, and an immense amount of property."'
The Hurknru, in the account written apparently
while the storm was raging, said :—" The state of
confusion in which the shipping appears to be
lying prepares us for talcs of danger and
loss on the river. We cannot help think-
ing, with some uneasiness, of those of
our fellow citizens who have gone holi-
day making on the Hooghly, and whose ill-
managed craft must be exposed to all the filly of
this hurricane. The loss of property in the
native part of the tow.' must be consider-
able, for we know that these people, as a rule,
postpone the repairs of their houses to the latest ,
possible minute, when not unfrequently a more
than usually heavy shower of rain brings the entire
edifice to the ground in hideous lain Many wit]
succumb, we fear, to the gale which is now roaring
arou,Al us, perhaps busying their inmates beneath
them."

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
BOMBAY, Oct. 14.

The arrival of the English mail on Wednesday
night, with telegrams to 27th September, reporting
a heavy fall in cotton at Liverpool, caused at
first a petty panic among speculators. The
publication of the full political intelligence
in the morning papers yesterday restored confi-
dence, the general feeling now be,ng that the
news is favourable, as the chances of peace in
America have become extremely slight, and the
fall in cotton at home is only in consequence of
a passing tightness in the money market. The
price of cotton for November delivery, which had
fallen to Rs. 510, has risen again to Rs. 545 per
candy. Yesterday there was much inquiry for all
bank shares, and we note a general advance of 3
or 4 per cent.
Freights—We have had another dull fortnight in our
freight market, and the news from England has been of so
con ilicticg and unsatisfactory a esters that merchants have
been at a loss how to act, and business in consequence has
been almost entirely suspended. On the Bth instant
intelligence was received of a great hurricane
having taken place at Calcutta, in which it is re.
ported upwards of 200 vessels have been either wrecked,
disabled, or gone chore, since receipt of which news ship-
masters have refused to entertain any offers made, and
already several ships have left for that port seek;ng. We
hear as high as 4/. se. has been refused for a general cargo
from thatport to London, shipmasters anxiously awaiting
the arrival of the incoming mail, hoping that if the advice'
from home are satisfactory good rates wi'l yet be obtain.
able here ; but in this we fee- they ere liable to d;slp-
pointment. The amount of tonnage overdue is very large,
much in excr-s of oor requirements, and the uncertainty
which overhangs the cotton market and fear of deer money
causes cotton shipper, to act very cautiously, and as soon as
relief is afforded the market by fresh " arrivrls" of tonnage
we are inclined to think rates offered to-day will not be ob-
tainable then. As regards the probability of scarcity Of
tonnage at Calcutta we shell probably be able to supply
their requirement., without raising rake s:th us.

(aErjma's TELEGIIL3IB.)
FRANCE.

PARIS, Nov. 8.

M. Boudet, M;•iister of the Interior, has been
nominated Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour.
The Colutitutionm/ of this moraiug publishes an
article, signed by M. L'ruayrac, comparing the dr-
sp..itches of M. Drouyn de Lhuys and Cavalier di
Fii;ra. The writer shows that a complete wider-
standing has been established between the French
and Italian govel.imenta relative to the sense and
bearing of the Convention.

AMERICAN MAILS.
SOUTHAMPTON, Nov. 8.

The Hamburg and American Company's steam-
ship Borussia, having been redttvd with a new fan,
resumed her voyage for New York thi• mousing.
The Bavaria having finished repairs, sails for
Hamburg to-morrow.
No news has been receive d of the overdue steamer
Sa•:on&a, from New York on the 15th ult.
The North German Lloyd's steamer Bremen
sails to-morrow for New York direct, with
upwards of 400 passengers.

The memorial statue of Prince Albert was un-
veiled in Peel-park, Salford, yesterday, in view of •
number of spectators. The Bishop of Manchester, Mr.
Massey, the member for the borough, and the mayor and
corporation of Salford officiated at the ceremony. The
statue, by Mr. Noble, is • remarkably fine work of art.
It represents the Prince Consort in the robes of the Chan-
cellor of the University. The figure is at once graceful and
natural, and as a work of art Salford may justly be proud
of it. The statue was erected by public subscription.
The following is the latest bulletin issued re-
specting the Princess Louis of Hesse (Princess Alice) :
" Her Royal Highness the Princess Louis is now com-
pletely convalescent, and, as well ss the young pi:oness, is
in good health. No more daily bulletins will now be issued
Dr. Priestley, Dr. Weber. Darmstadt, Nov. 4, 1:44.4
Her royal highness had received visits from the Prince and
Prioress of Wales, on their way through Germany; acid
from Prince Alfred, who had travelled to Darmstadt from
Boon, where he is at present residing for the purpose cf
completing his studies.

EARL IItS.SELL'S VISIT TO A BERDEEN. —As prca
viously announced, Earl Russell will be inst►lled u Lord
Rector of the Aberdeen University on Friday, the 11th
inst., the inauguration ceremony taking lilacs in the Hall of
Marimba! College Buildings, at 12 o'clock, while the Man.
gond address will be delivered in the Music-hall at 1.
His lordship is expected to arrive in Aberdeen on Thurs-
day, the 10th, and leave on Saturday, the 12th. He will
be the guest of John Webster, Esq., advocate, dying his
stay. —..ll,vdren Herald.

'Menotti Garibaldi was in Turin last week. He
brings a very satisfactory report of his father's health. The
General's wounded leg is all but restored to a soiled
condition ; and he scarcely requires the aid of a stick in his
long walks and constant exams..

M. Isaac Pereire and Baron de Heeckeren,"
says a Paris letter in the indipcsdance, " who are in reality
in Madrid, notwithstanding assertions to the contrary, are
at the present moment negotiating an increase of capital
for the North of Spain Railway. This augmentation ap•
peen to be necessary to the undertaking."
It now appears that the liabilities of the failed
firm of Messrs. J. M. Porno and Co., of Amsterdam, which
were originally thought to be 80,0001., are 170,000/., and
according to report the assets are not expected to yield more
than 10 per cent. to the creditors.

The C,,m.spondenria of Madrid gives the fol-
lowing account of a fight between a Ceylon elephant and
two hulls, which took place last week at Saragossa :—"The
elephant was walking quietly about the arena when the first
bull was released, and rushed at it with all his might. The
elephant received his antagonist with great coolness, and
threw him down with the utmost ease. The hull raw strain
and made two more attacks, which the elephant assented by
killing him with a thrust of his tusks. The conqueror did
not seem is the least eirc;ted, but quietly drank some water
offered by his keeper sod ate several ears of Indian eorn.
A second bull was then released, and in a few 'missies Pat-
tered the isms fate as the tint .^

TEMPORARY OPENING OF SOUTHWARK-
BRIDGE.-(THIS DAY.)

To-day at high noon, but in the total absence of
the noonday sun, whose season of hybernation—at
least, in so far as the City of London is concerned
—has long since set in with more than its usual
severity, the Lord Mayor of London for-
mally although, alas ! only temporarily—
threw down the barriers which had so
long divided large masses of her Majesty's
subjects, and transformed the large district
stretching southwards from Bridge-end to
the " Elephant and Castle " into a desert
without an oasis. The crowding, cramming, and
crushing of the traffic both vehicular and pedicu-
lar, which Is continually to be witnessed on the
City side of Southwark-bridge' are familiar to
every eastern wayfarer, and not less remarkable
has hitherto been the sudden transition from life
and bustle and animation to a solitude only broken
by the presence of one or two desolate-looking
stragglers, who seemed merely to have gone there
to ascertain the fact of its existence. But all
that is at an end now, for nobody be-
lieves that Southwark-bridge, having been left
open for six months to the whole tide of metro-
politan traffic can ever again relapse into its now
abandoned exclusiveness. Moralists who had
nothing else to do, and were in search of a topic,
might write whole chapters on the extraordinary
influence which the mere presence of a halfpenny
toll exercised on the fortunes, the population,
and even the physiognomies of a district. The
curious observer, who crosses Waterloo-bridge,
even since the presence of the South Western
Railway Station hanging " midway down," like
Shakespeare's samphire gatherer, Lae given a
vitality to the district, is at once conscious of
a marked difference in the aspect of houses,
shops, vehicles, promenaders, in fact everything
le sees around him. But in the drear
expanse which has hitherto been baited by inexor-
able Southwark-bridge from free communion with
civic civilisation, the difference has been far more
conspicuous. There the comparative solitude of
Waterloo had become the desert absolute. The half-
penny toll, like a upas tree in copper, bad blighted
everything. The Waterloo population could, it
appears, make some struggle against a halfpenny ;
but iu Southwark-bridge-road the blight was fatal,
and the few iurpove,:shed inhabitants lay prostrate
under the enormity of the fiscal burthen.
The ancient and ever liberal corporation of the
City of London being cor*'nisant of these facts, and
being benevolently bent on finding, if possible,
some means for the reinvigoration of a race,
held council with the Southwark-bridge com-
missioners, and the result was that the en-
franchisement of Southwark-bridge for a pe-
riod of six months was agreed upon. This morn-
ing the formal opening took place, but it was nearly
as informal as so itupirtant a ceremonial could be,
and would hardly, but for the Mansion luncheon •
with which it terminated,be a thing which was "plea-
sant to be remembered hereafter." A few modest
flags decorated the now closed and empty bridge on
each side. The tollkeepers kept guard at each end,
with the grave and saddened aspects of men who
were so soon to be relieved of all public function,
and the Lord Mayor's never-failing garde mobile
of ragged little boys was densely massed at each
end ready to take their turn in cheering
for and in supporting the civic authority.
His lordship strived as the clock struck twelve
with his usual punctuality, thereby anticipating the
city police who it appears had not anticipated such
sharp practice. His lordship was in his state
carriage accompanied by the Lady Mayoress, his
chaplain, and sword-bearer, and was most cordially
recogoised by all the bystanders, the garde mobile in-
clusive. A few private carriages belonging to the
members of the corporation followed, and the pro-
cession was completed by the arrival of the Bridge
Commissioners, who fell in at the foot of the bridge.
A Lilliputian band had come over the bridge from
the Surrey side, and to theirimusic the cortige pro-
ceeded formally to open the river highway.
Barriers which had been put up merely to be
thrown down were thrown down accordingly, the
bridge was passed at a walking pace, and at a
walking pace it returned, the only interruption to
its monotonous course being the reading of the
following notice, which took place at each end of
the bridge: