The Express.
London, England, 1863-08-29 00:00:00

JAPAN.

The intelligence from Japan published in our
columns yesterday is confirmed by despatches from
Vice-Admiral Justr-es, received by the French
government. The whole of the indemnity on account
of the assassination of Mr. Richardson had been
paid, and diplomatic relations between the English
representative and the Japanese authorities bad
been renewed. The position of affairs was still,
however, very unsettled, and it had been
arranged that the defence of the town
of Yokohama and its environs should be
entrusted to Admiral Juarez. He was to place his
troops, if he thought fit, upon the bills which
surround the place, in order to exercise whatever
surveillance circumstances might render necessary.
"The forces at the disposal of the French admiral,"
says the Moniker of yesterday, "together with
those commanded by Admiral Kuper, ensure the
security of the foreign residents."

Last year a very extraordinary scene presented
itself at the church of Montmartre, Perin, on the day when
the young females of the parish take their first communion.
Upwards of fifty of the young communicants ware suddenly
seized with convulaions, and some of them with epilepsy.
This year the same circumstance has occurred upon •
smaller scale. About • dozen of the communicants have
been similarly attacked. Those that were taken to the
hospital have been cured almost without =dieing. It ap-
pears to be rather • religious fanaticism than aay real
malady. The singularity is the periodicity of these con.
enigma, and the rapidity with which morbid sympathy is
conveyed amongst so many individuals.
A letter from Alexandria, of the 19th, says :
" The Nile is rising so rapidly as to excite great apprehen-
sion ; it is already 14 feet higher than last year at the same
season, and it hasyet 45 days to rise. The governmeet has
despatched by rail a large quantity of timber and piles to
&threat points, to be reedy to dam the gaps in case the
dykes give way ; and men Sr. employed in raising the
banks along the river. Should such a catastrophe occur se
in 1861, when the Nile burst its banks and inundated Lower
Egypt, the cotton crop would run the greatest risk, and a
large portion would certainly be destroyed."
The Times thinks that the obstacle to more
liberal coosumptioa of the French wines lies in the short-
sighted obstinacy of hotel-keepers. They have not yet in-
troduced claret to their tables on such terms as would in-
duce ordinary customers to call for it. They still persist in
treating that wine and champagne as expensive luxuries,
and in charging for them such prices sa exclude them from
common consumption. The treaty has left the old system
in this respect quite untouched. "Champagne is still 10e.
or 12s. a bottle ; claret of very moderate quality 4a. a pint.
Even the new joint-stock hotels are not free front this fault,
though their managers ought to be ►ware that most visitors
by this time are perfectly able to appraise the wines put on
the table. There is something almost ludicrous in the
extravagance of the wine lists which are paraded in print
over the mantelpieces or sideboards as reasonable sod sttsse-
tire tariffs. Every article in the catalogue might probably
be reduced 50 per cent in price, and yet leave the seller
with as fair a profit as he obtains in other departments of
his businw. it is really • marvel that this should go on ;
and if one of the numerous hotel companies now adver-
tising themselves in our column* would bat isitiate a
radical reform in this particular it would soon find its ac-
count in the practical discernment of the pablie."
The steamer Louisiana, from New York on the
15th inataet, vita Halifax, pssd the harbour of Queens-
town at 12.30 p.m. yesterday. She brings 190 paeseagers,
and the crew and p•esengers of the wrecked steamer
Georgia. She landed 20 passengers, and proceeded. Her
news has boa anticipated.