The Express.
London, England, 1863-09-26 00:00:00

THE £XI BE SATUTipA.Y EVENING, SEPTEMBER "26; 1863.

should be extended "to individuals rather
" than to classes "—a distinction the deli-
cacy of which, we hope, all " individual " non-
electors then present in the Town-hall of Tam-
worth were preparei to appreciate. As to Church
Rates, Mr. CowrEs is less original in his profes-
sion of faith. He is not for abolition, but for
releasing conscientious objectors. lie is for
neutrality towards the combatants in America, and
for sympathy with the Poles. And to • Voice
from the crowd asking whether, under any circum-
stances, he would support a measure in favour of
vote by ballot, he replied without evasion or
equivocation, " No,"—a reply which to our
thinking, should entitle Mr. COWPER to the respect
and coutidence of all electors who know how rare
• virtue in " popular candidates" of this com-
plexion is the readiness to give a plain answer Ito
a plain question.
But it was not Mr. Covets, the popular candi-
date, that the people of Tmworth had come out to
see on Wednesday evening. It was the local
favourite, the representative of the borough
for the last thirteen years, a veritable Pau, not a
" namesake," but one of the very Pane who had
" stood on that platform for the last seventy
" years," and what is more, a " Sir ROBERT."
We will not be so hard on prophets in general as
to count Sir ROBERT among those who proverbially
are not honoured in their own country, but it is
evident from the proceedings in the Town•hall that
the present Sir ROBERT possesses at least that one
qualification of a prophet. He was received with
" mingled hisses and cheering," though we are glad
to bear that the cheers predominated. A Voice from
some first or second citizen politely requested him
to " shut his mouth," and asked, " Will you torn us
" out of our houses ?" an apostrophe slightly sug-
gestive of the screw. It appears that in certain
"scandalous and scurrilous" handbills or placards
Sir ROBERT, as the friend of the popular candidate,
had been charged with intimidating and coercing his
tenants. " Coercion," says Sir ROBERT, " never
" has been practised on my estate, and never
" shall be"—which is saying a good deal ; but
Sir Roarer clinched the assertion, telling • story
of a tenant who once deliberately voted against
him, and told him of it, and remained good friends
with him ever after.
Sir Rosser recommends Mr. Cowrra to the
electors as "heir presumptive to immense property in
land," a most indisputable argument. Nor in recom-
mending the new popular candidate did he forget to
say a word for the old one. He took credit for his
own moat assiduous attendance in the House
of Parliament, and for liking it. He had
often opposed the Government which had now
given him one of its principal positions, and would
do so again if be thought the interests of the country
required it. This is so true, we may remark, that
until S'..r ROBRET took office aside- Lord PALMER-
STON he was considered eligible for office under Lord
DERBY. But, as Voimuas says, little dogs, if they
had • religion, would make a god of • big clog; and
Lord I, LLYIBISTON is certainly Sir ROBERT'S "big
" dog." Nay, Sir ROBERT is actually the Pate
mr.seros of Tamworth. Like the noble Lord the
member for Tiverton, he has his B►saacrouoa—
whom the local reporter, with the aristocratic in-
stincts of his craft, describes as "robed in fustian,
" and as having the appearance of • mechanic"—to
remind him that he is mortal. And let us cheer-
fully testify that, like his great protot/pe,
Roam disposes of his BAREAOLOSON with wonder-
ful good temper, pluck, and dash. Yet how is it
that the story of the great actor and his son will
haunt us as we read the report of this performance
at Tamworth f How is it that we cannot help
regretting that Sir ROBERT, the father, forgot to
recommend his son for • peerage t

Stich is the irony of fate ! a Peer's mantle msy
sometimes preserve the name of a great comm Int r
by covering it op.

Inc Court.

BALMORAL, lisr. r. 24.
The Qaeen, sooompanied by the Prisons of
Wean and Primer Helena, drove oat yesterday.
The Primers Locum, Wooded by Lady (ameba rode
es hoesekast.

Despatches were received yesterday at the ColosiaLonise
horn the Lard High Commissioner of the Isaias Was&

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge re-
turned to tows yestorday from visiting tee Fart sad Coma-
tose at CheitarGold at OfMar Lodes, Noels.
His Grand Ducal Highness Prinoe William and
bur Imperial Highmes Princess William at Beds. have
arrived at Oisrides Hotel from Torquay.
His Highness the Prince Maharajah Dkuleep
Snit las arrived at Cleaddres Hotel trout Yorkshire.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Clauricarde,
Lord litrattard de Badoliife, Lord illio Browne, the Ramp
of kips aid Mrs. Iticharststh, Dr. and Ma. Vaaphaa.
Yes A. Hayward, Q.C., klr. aid Mee Woatworth, &a., are
at preset on a visit to Mr. aid Lady Margaret Besaamet
at Braaten Park, Yorkshire

The Earl ;ad Countess of Darby returned to
Heowiley Peek yesterday free 'hither the Marl ead
Causation al Chieterheld at Ceding Park, their Net le Not.
tiagbanshire.

The Earl and Countess of Darnley left Cobham
Hall, near Gtoresend, a few days since as a tour to
The Right Hon. W. F. Cowper, M.P., and Mrs.
Cowper, left town yesterday for Paris, en route far Bore.
The Hon. Spencer Cowper has left town to join
the company about to amenable at Broadleaf, on a via to
Viscount sad Viscountess Palnierstaa,
The regular lecturing session at tho Hat:ley In-
stigation, Southampton, u.' sosentenee an the sth preaden.
The milealiSe lecturers wi'l be Dn. Band and Leakage,
Capt. Drayeon, and Protean Hunt sad Hawkins.
The first oratorio given by the Sacred Harmonic
Society this winter will, it I said. be Minor Oada's
The eighth season of the Royal English Ores,
Coyest Garda, Indic the seiteopmeat of Miss Liam
Prig sad Mr. W. Harrison, will commeace an Mouday,
October 12. A sew opera, by Yr. W. V. Wallas. satitled
The Desert Plower, will be produced.
Ws read in the Athencnint :=" IJiader the
peradonne of Wycliffe L.oe, a noel, 'My Geed for
Nothing Brother,' was pablehed I. the 'prism with a
mom whine was doe to the real merits, the arignalir,
and the excelleot promise of the work. It remains the
int and last work at its gifted author, Mrs. Edmund
Asap, at Haw Una, Heat. The head is cold which
wren i•. and we have Oa par►miaded, dear-beaded, and
bib-principled author the less, jest too whoa writers
of week meaty an least to be spared. Or skean-
enlace romans Wycliffe Law's book clearers to be re-
corded. A hording publialsag.bolae retuned the author's
manuscript, unaccepted ; bat after the lost editier, pot
forth by another houee, had teen favourably received by
the public, the boon which had decked the fink pub.
heed the second edition."

The Duke of Coburg's late journey to North
Attica Is about (eats the Reader) to fors the abject el
splendid week aow la preperatioa. It will be is this. pads.
Theo int will crisis the Janney to Eger, the stay at
Cairo sad Alersedria, a Nile journey, the journey to the
Red Br and Yearns. The nosed pert, mitre by the
duke himself, will describe booties sad dowries adven-
tures In the aiou stars of Abyssinia, sad will facade
observations ea the Bogs. countries and their inbehirets.
The last part will coder a history of the rests whir
lidel lie toivelber compry at Marra, the raters err
Egypt, the greed stay at Cairo, a visit el the !rise d the
hares, end the lower hems. Twisty abraso-btb•
041611, after original water.ecdoer drawings by Robert
Kzetchaer, mad soratido Wands will osender the wort.
it is to appear is /up fair sad it. prise ie Saul at about
en pounds.

than the Dutch man-of-war steamer Medusa. Ratrhig met
and spoken with the Slenchaug, she knew what to expect.
and the Japanese found her tougher than the others.
On the 11th ultimo, at 7 a.m., the Molar entered the
straits and was saluted with a salvo of ten guns—twe
from a battery end eight from • brig of war. Those
on board waited in Weems for the first hostile ball, though
it was feared that the Japanese would not have courage to
fire upon • vessel able to retaliate. This wu a mistaken
fear, for a heftily of eight 32 pounders, and a broadside
from each of tho two vessels ►nchored under the town sent, •
shower of iron over their heads. The Medusa at once
replied with all her pieces on the port aide, wl•ich
told effectively both on the batteries sod the
ships of war. Unfortunately, • bank of sand pre-
vented the Dutch steamer from getting near enough
the Japanese vessels to sink or capture them ; she
was exposed to • cross-fire from the batteries, was hulled
by sevens shots, being struck in 31 places, and bad three
or four men killed by shells. The correct firing of the
Japanese made the captain of the Medusa fear for his
boilers or rudder, so he steamed off after having been an
hour and a half under fire. The Netherlands' Consul.
General was • passenger on board, and narrowly escaped
being struck ; he bears the highest testimony to the be-
haviour of all on board.

By this time the representatives of the insulted flags began
to take action is the matter. America was first on the field,
her minister sending the W yomiog to take vengeance. The
Wyoming is not a formidable vessel, her armament being
four 32 pounders and two pivot guns : but she did her duty
bravely if not effectively. Four of her men were killed out.
right and seven wounded (one since died). The light arma-
ment of the Wyoming being opposed to six shore batteries of
an average of three guns each, the 'argue Mx, the brig eight,
and the steamer two—making in all 34 gane, mostly n
pounders ; Captain M'Dougal very wisely concluded to with.
draw from so unequal a oontest, and proceed to Yokohama
for more form. The captain, all his officers and crew, be-
haved with the utmost coolness and bravery. The
Wyoming was ran into the midst of the enemy's vessels,
receiving and retaining broadsides at pistol-range, at the
same time sustaining a hot and continuous fire from shore
batteries. When the successful shot struck the steamer
r.rcrewgavethreeheartycheers. The action lasted one
hour and ten Moutes ; we were bulled eleven times, and
reoeinl twenty or thirty shots in the masts, rigging, and
smoke-:tack. One 32-ponod she" came through immedi-
ately below the tackles of the forward broadside gun, and.
exploding, killed one man and wounded five others
The French men-of-war Semiramis and Tancrede pro-
ceeded to the spot on the 16th July. They met with little
opposition, the Japanese evidently preferring to fight with
as enemy over whom they have an advantage. Having se-
lected a battery of five 25-pounder grins, the Admiral (Jaunt)
decided upon destroying it ; no opposition was offered, and
the battery was demolished ; a party was next seat en shore
with au explanatory proclamation, saying that the unarmed
inhabitants of the villa:lee would not be molested. The
party was politely received by the Mayor of Teoaura. and
thanked for the proclamation which it brought. While
on shore, firing was heard, and it proved to be the
Tancrede engaged with another battery near Shimo.
nesaki, which was soon abroad. A force of 250 men were
landed, and, while marching among some bashes, received
an irregalair fire from Jamas.* troops in ambush. They
were immediately engaged and bayonetted, moat of them
saving themselves by flight. Having destroyed the

batteries, eat fire to the gun-carriages, and thrown the
ammunition into the sea, the force finished up by setting
fire to a powder magazine, which exploded as they were re.
embarking. The Japanese had removed all their
wounded from the captured batteries, bnt the pools of blood
showed that damage bad bees done. Oa the aide of the
French, three men were wounded. A body of 2,000
Japanese troops was noticed approaching the village where
the French force bad gone to fire the magazine (and whieh,
though deserted, was evidently the abode of 'oldie's only),
bat a few wellslireeted shells caused it to retire la con-
fusion. Such is the result of the first hartile operatioas in
Japan. Although the Japanese make good artillery prac-
tice, and are lively before a weaker enemy, they appear to
shrink in the promos of an equal form.

CHINA,

THE REBELS JOINED BY A BAND OF
AMERICANS.

The China Mail states that Gordon gained a vic-
tory on the 27th July, which would be important
under other circumstances than now existing,
in the capture of Wu-kiang, a walled city fifteen
miles south of Soochow, and interrupting the
communications between that stronghold and
Hangchow, as well as with Shanghai., the source
whence the rebels still draw largo supplies of arms
and men ; but,

The victory is more than counterbalanced by the aeocesion
of Bargain* to the rebel ranks, with, it is said, 500 row-
dies of all mations, chiefly American, who have bees con-
veyed in batches to &allow. Burgevine's designs were
openly diseased In the settlement for upwards
of • week before be actually left the place, and
herby noshed the can of the Chinese authori-
ties, they os➢ed upon the American woad to
prevent his departure; as was expected, how-
ever, nothing of the kind wu done, and Bargains openly
left Shanghai> on the 29th of July, and on the 2nd of Au-
gust succeeded by a coup de main in carrying off the Chinese
steamer Kow.jow from Sunkiang just as the was sec►oriog
►t the latter place un her return from Shangbas. Burge-
vine has been elevated to the rank of Waog,
with the title of K Jai, or Honourable, by the
rebel chieftain, and, although neither his owe
military capacity nor the prowess of his than sod bobtail
crew of rowdies need inspire apprehension, he is dangeroaa,
owing to the influence he is supposed to retain among a
portion of Major Gordon's force. On the other
hand, it is well ascertained that, although Soochow
is well defended and thoroughly fortified, the gar-
riot is suffering from scarcity, and the arkt
blockade which the recent snowmen of the Imperialists
enable them to maintain at Nanking will prevent supplies
from being introduced from that direction. An embargo
ha recently hems imposed at Shanghae on the transport of
rice to the interior, as it was alleged that 00011120 W sup-
plies found their way to the interior, end into rebel bands.
This has caused • panic among the large holders of rice is
Shangbaa.

-

the famine which prevails in Lower Hungary, and
solicited the Emperor to accord an advance of
750,000 florins for the Altold Railway, with an
allowance of 10,000 florins for the purchase of
tools. His Majesty discussed the question of the
Altold line with M. d'Ecetvo3s at some length, and
ended by acceding to the request of the baron, who
returned immediately to Pestb, where he opened
on the following day the assembly of the Society of
Hungarian Naturalists and Physicians, of which
be is president."

ROMAN CATHOLIC CONGRESS AT
FRANKFORT.

A Roman catholic congress has been sitting at
Frankfort, at which the fo'dowin resolutions were
adopted "The congress repeats its demand
for equal rights and liberties for all confes-
sions. It asks for the condemnation of the fanatical
calumnies scattered in science and in the press
against the catholic church. It declares it to be
the duty of all catholic. to oppose by all legitimate
means all laws which fetter the liberty of the
church and are opposed to the complete de-
velopment of catholic life. The congress
says it is the right and duty of the church to
judge of, according to the rules of divine revelation,
the efforts of science when it enters on the domain
of religious truth. The congress protests against
every attempt to separate church and state.
It claims for the church the right of esta-
blishing schools and for families the liberty
of catholic education. It pronounces against the
horrid deeds committed on both aides in Poland.
Finally, it repeats its protest against the curtail-
ment of the temporal power of the Pope, and ex-
presses its desire that the zeal of the faithful in
contributing Peter's pence may not grow cold."

(130711e8 TZLEGRAML)
FRANCE.

PARIS, Si??. 26.

An imperial decree, published to-day, orders that
the class for philosophy in the Imperial Lyceums
shall henceforward embrace the four matters indi-
cated in the decree of 1862, and historical studies,
the programme of which will be announced here-
after.

The )(unitesr of this morning announces that
the Emperor paid • visit to K Fould at Tarbes,
and that his Majesty was cheered by the people.

The Courrierdu Dinkins& of today states that
Count Rechberg saw with regret the insertion in
the Monaeur of the Polish memorandum. It
further says :—" Baron Gros has informed Earl
Russell that the opinion of the French government
relative to the negotiations on the Polish question
was that it was preferable to close • useless dis-
cussion."

The same journal says :—" The mission of Nubar
Pacha is stated to consist in laying before the Sees
Canal Company the bases on which the Porte and
Egypt would wish to negotiate. These babes are
said to be :—L The company would entirely relin-
quish the conceded territory. 2. The Porte would
on the other hand authorise the Egyptian govern-
ment to furnish contingents of workmen on con-
dition that they did not exceed 6,000 men at a
time."
The Courtier du Dimanche doubts that the condi-
tions will satisfy the company.

THE POLISH INSURRECTION.
WklitBAW, Szrr. 26.
_ .

The Police Gazette publishes an ordinance to the
effect that in future every house from which a shot
should be fired, or in which an attempt should be
made on the life of a public officer, wol be confis-
cated, and the inhabitants imprisoned and rendered
responsible for the offence. Kochanski, • national
gendarme, has been hung.

INDIA.
711110/L4PII MOM NM.)
BOMBAY, &err. 9.
The Ajmere prisoner has beau finally proved not
to be the Nana Sahib.