The Express.
London, England, 1864-02-10 00:00:00

invited toconsider whether it might be. " possible
" or advisable" to shell it. Upon this quadinnable
suggestion our representative in Japan look ac-
tion on board the Admiral's ship; and they shelled
the Prince's palace the day after therhad silenced,
the batteries, and burnt the city of Kagoaima,
filled with that " multitude " of people with whom we
are informed by authority we are cultivating peace-
ful relations in this manner, and "encouraging "
trade as British admirals were encouraged by the
murder of Admiral BYNo. This "barbarous act,"
however, as one gallant officer described it last
I night—this "damnable outrage," as another gal-
lant officer characterized it, was, as Sir JOHN HAY
emphatically insisted, "but the culminating point
"of the course of policy which her Kumar's
" Government had chosen to adopt in the East."
Now, if this had been said by a Manchester mem-
ber, flatterers of the Government in the House
and in the press might dismiss it with a sneer se
" un-English language." But the remark fell
from the lips of as brave an officer ea ever trod a
British deck ; and it opened a vast field of discussion,
into which Mr. LAYARD galloped as gaily as might
be expected. He asked whether it was passible that '
a large, populous, and flourishing island, situated
on the vast highway of the commerce of India,
China, and Australia, could remain isolated from
European civilization 1 It was a delusion to sup-
pose that Japan had been a Paradise before Europe
entered it ; according to the beat informed autho-
rities on the subject, the mass of the Japanese
people had suffered want and misery under the
oppression of an oligarchy of feudal nobles.
Was England the first or the only Power that
had " forced its trade upon the Japanese
Were not the United States and Russia before us;
and how had humility been found to answer in the
case of the Dutch settlers I They had been reduced
to conditions so miserable that they had retired
altogether. And at the present moment
were we alone in our pushing policy in Japan ?
No, the French, the Russians, the Americana,
were with us ; and the American Consul, who had
resided in Japan for years, bad in the autumn of
last year, in a despatch to Mr. S sir Lan, confessed that
his opinions had undergone a great change ; and that
whereas he had formerly been desirous of trusting
to the peaceful influences of trade, he was now de-
sirous of following the example of the European
Powers, and of behold* a powerful American
squadron anchored in Japanese waters, for the II
purpose of promoting peace and amity with the
Japanese government and people.
Mr. LAYARD, however, concluded his very clever
but discursive speech with an avowal worth all the
fanciful apologies that preceded it. He cast the
blame of the confused and violent policy in the
East which Lord STANLEY and Mr. KINL LAHE had
so keenly criticised, and Sir JOHN HAT
had so unsparingly condemned, upon that modern
class of promiscuous traders—a very different clam
from the British merchant of the stage and the
novel, and,lwe may add, of reallife intheCity—who
rush on every new populous and promising market
with the morality of buccaneers and the conscience

of crimps. These are the men who rule our con-
sulates and our fleets in Eastern waters, and make
the very name of England a satire upon Christian
civilization. For such men the ideal British Admiral
is an executioner of their hanks ancres. They
disgrace us in the East, and when they core
westward again they infect English society with
the mir-ma of unholy gain. Mr. Laviao was
better inspired in casting the blame of transactions

of which all England is ashamed upon somebody
than in attempting to divide it between the wind
and sea, and the wooden houses of the Japanese ;
between accident and necessity ; between the ine-
vitable and the irreparable.

lATIST LITILLIGENCE.
ALLEGED ARMIBTIOE BETWEEN THE
GERMANS AND THE DANS&
We (Timm 'bond edit m) received the following
from an authentic source :
" Wedneeday Morning.

"A telegram has been received by a financial
house in the City announcing that an armistice has
been concluded between the Germans and Danes."

MAK OUR OWN

We are authorised to state that the Prince of
Wales will hold levees on behalf of the Queen at
St. James's Palace on Wednesday, March 2, and
on Saturday, March 12.

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENDIck, FEBRUARY

XPRESS FROM PARIS.

PARK TUMIDLY EvNiMill.

The Pays says at the head of its leading column :
"All other political and diplomatic news is eclipsed
by the importance of the language used by Lord
Palmerston in the House of Commons last night."
From its subsequent remarks it appears that this
journal, having, however, only the telegraphic
summary of Lord Palmerston's speech before it,
interprets hie declarations as threatening inter-
vention, the idea of which, from the general tone
of the English press hitherto, it might have been
thought had been rejected.
The same journal rallies the Pattie without
mercy for having circulated the sensational but
false news of a revolution at Copenhagen, and
finds it convenient to forget to-day the complacency
with which only yesterday the Pays itself took
credit for having prophecied that such a revolution
would surely take place.
A letter from Trevee, in the Petrie, adopts all
the recent stories about the duplicity of Prussia
and affirms that she has invaded Sleavrig as a
desperate expedient to prevent revolution at home,
K de Biamark feeling confident that with an
army "covered with laurels" the King will be
able to do as he likes. That Prussia means to have
the fortress of Rendaburg and the port of Kiel is
also reiterated in this letter, which asserts, more-
over, that the English envoy ►t Berlin is on very
bad terms with the court to which he is accredited.

A letter from Rendaburg narrates the following
anecdote :

The day before hostilities were to commence, three Prus-
sian officers went to General de Mesa at fileswig, to announce
to him that he would be •resckr I on the following day if
he persisted in not evacuating the town. " Skewig is Danish
ground," replied the general, " sod the last Dane will
perish there rather than retire. My reply is, therefore, •
formal No.' But," added he, " there is no reason, be-
cause we shall fight to-morrow, that we shall sot dine to-
gether to-day. You are my guests, and you most allow me
to offer you • place at my soldier's table." " Thank you,
general, but we cannot aleept." " Really' Wdr, then, I
make you prisoners, and as each I most feed you. 8010
Guards!" exclaimed the general with • half-oomic, half
tragic accent, which would have dome honour to a first-
rata actor. The officers bowed with • smile ; the guards
did not make their appearance, and the party dined gaily,
drinking French wines. The following morning one of the
officers fell dangerously wounded by a Danish ball.

The above pretty story is taken from a letter of
the Patrie's correspondent, M. d'Arnoult, the
gentlemen who was a passenger in M. Nadar's
balloon, and wrote a somewhat imaginative ac-
count of the feria! voyage. To-day the Patric,
losing sight of the above statement of its correspon-
dent, imputes to General Meza language more in
accordance with his subsequent conduct. It now
says that his resolution to evacuate Sleswig city and
the Thuinewerke was taken from the very first, and
that he explained the grounds of his determination
in these words :—" I prefer a check to a disaster—a
retreat to utter ruin."

The Pays says that the most eminent men in the
City of London are parties to a project for founding
a bank in the city of Mexico, with a capital of 50
millions of francs. There is to be a branch at Vera
Cruz. It adds the reflection that "the establish-
ment of this bank with English capital sufficiently
proves the confidence of our neighbours in the re-
vival of monarchical government in Mexico."
The Bourse lama been heavy, with little business
doing. Lord Palmerston's speech was interpreted
in a sense unfavourable to peace. Rents fell lOc.
for cash and 20c. for account, closing at 66fr. 25c.
and 613 fr. 35c. Mobilier fell llfr. 25c.