The Express.
London, England, 1864-07-07 00:00:00

HORRORS OF THE RUSSIAN RULE.

Accounts from Warsaw of the 2nd inst. state that
300 persons, sentenced to Siberia, bad set out on
the 22nd ult. The greater number of them be-
longed to the upper classes ; they were dressed like
convicts, their heads shaved, and were chained toge-
ther two and two. Several of these prisoners died of
hunger and fatigue. More frightful accusations are
made, and women have torn the skin from their
faces and otherwise disfigured themselves to save
themselves from the gallantry of their oppressors.
In Lithuania Manravieff transported the popu-.
lations of entire villages. Such has been the fate of
the inhabitants of the village of Prujany, whose
crime was to have bastinadoed a person whose con-
duct appears to have richly merited that punish-
ment. The goods of the victims were sold, the
I Russian officers, as usual, having laid bands upon
whatever was most valuable. The farms of the in-
habitants of Prujany will be distributed to Russian
cultivators brought from the neighbourhood of
Moscow.

Mouravieff has, by a recent decree, declared
every master who may be guilty of speaking any
other language than Russian to Ws servants liable
to a fine of 300 roubles.

Tsz Pzosirscre or DENMARK.—The indipenciance
Bdge ssys :—" The situation in still very serious io Copen-
hagen. War cannot improve it ; peace, with the ameifices
its setae, would have not lea fatal consequesess. The
pretenders who dispute the duchies no looger cootie* them-
selves to claiming the ducal crown ; one of them, the Prince
of Home, presumptive heir to the electorate, esteada his
pretessiosis to the crown of the monarchy itself, the Mogi-
dation of the treaty of London reviving the rights he had
renounced. King Christina IX. is therefore directly
menaced upon the throbs of Denmark, and he must wish
for peace to coma quickly and terminate all the clink:maim
which are arising. It Is perhaps with this wish that we
must associate the journey of his brother. Prince John of
Gluckaborg. who has jest passed through Lubeck on his
way to Berlin."

The interest attached to the Danish atcuggle has
taken to the Danish headquarten at Pones shoals of Emilia
toarists—officers of the Indian army, oadeta from Sand_

bunt, Lc

"Adriees from Denmark," says the Patrie, "sr-
noun*, that the Premien' have blown up the fine railway
bridge which ermine the river Oedemas, near Lenges, at the
central point of the network of Jutland. This bridge,
which was completed In 1862, at a cost of more then two
millions of franca, is entirely destroyed, and there is scereely
a vestige left even of its enormous granite piers. This act
of vandalism, which wantonly ruins priv►te property, was
ordered under the ridiculous pretext of 'strategical
mesons.'

The Moniteur Vinieote again refers to the circular
of the minister of commerce on the subject of the frauds
committed by French wine merchants bottling their wine
for exportation in bottles not containing fair measure. It
mys that the fraud by bottles not containing sufficient mea-
sure is practised in Paris with au audacity which renders its
impunity distressing. It adds that there is not one restau-
rateur to be found in a hundred, or retailer io five hundred,
who observes the law which declares that a bottle should
contain 75 centilitres, with the exception of a bottle of
champagne, which should contain 85 centilitres.

On Monday night Madame Riatori appeared
again oa the boards of a French theatre. Her reception
was tumultuously enthusiastic, despite the emptiness of
Perla.

A MAMMOTH RFAIMENT.—The Sixteenth New
York Volunteer Artillery, commanded by Col. J. J. Morri-
son, headquarters at Yorktown, Virginia, is tbe largest
regiment ever rearnited in the United States, and haa men
in the following places :—At Yorktown, 1,140 ; at WMiams-
bunh, 733 ; at Olooeseier Point, 147 ; at Retreads Hun-
dred, 270 ; potting up Mimes* 50, with 148th New Yea
Volunteers, 48; with Ist New York Mounted Rifles, 222
transferred ; with 85th New York Volunteers, 45 ; with
light batteries United States , 22 ; with Army of
the Poleame, 201—treosferred;—malting a total of 2,928
men and 53 alloors.—lNew York rums.

SWED 1811 AND 1401.W1161AN ExiosA.nis.—Three
beadred Swedish and Norwegian esaigraate arrived is
Mow on Sunday inorning by the • SontJaera
Railroad. One portioe of the will go As gad
tits ober portion kb kr Ibiasesi

MUSIC.

HER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.

Goanotro MiniUs, or Minna, as the Italian ver-

Mon has it, produced on Tuesday night, has had what may
be called a snoods, though not very triumphant, nor likely,
we apprehend, to be lasting ; "bailer, in short, to what the
opera had when originally brought out • few months ago
at the Theatre Lyrique. This comparative failure may pro-
bably be ascribed to the weakness, as the vast popularity
of Pau+ has been in • great measure owing to the
strength of the drama. The music of Mini& la as good
as that of /hest, perhaps in some respects better. Faust
Is the `rand and terrible peem of ; Merolla is •
little itlj Il—pretty, and interesting enough to serve as the
groundwork of a slight romantic opera of a couple of sots,
but quite indffiloient to bear the ponderous superstructure
raised upon it. Hence the piece is immoderately spun out ;
the interest is exhausted, and the beauties become so few
and far between that at length weariness becomes the pre-
valent feeling of the audience.
The incidents are few and simple. The scene is laid
in the south of Freese. The heroine, the daughter
of • wealthy farmer, is • village beauty; the idol of the
neighbouring youths, who strive in vain for her love—all but
one, a poor basket-maker, Vineeemo, to whom she has
given her hart. But her father favours the suit of a young
herdsman called Urias, • truculent savage, whose addrcesei
are received by the girl with aversion and contempt. Her
father, solicited to consent to her union with the poor young
basket-maker, sternly refuses ; whereupon Mirella declares I
that she loves Vincenzo, land vows that she will wed no
ooe else. The father—a domestic tyrant—casts kis daughter
nff, and is with difficulty restrained from personal
violence ; while the savage Uri e, .who witnesses thee:ewe,
vows to be revenged on hie favoured riveL This vow he
speedily keeps ; for, waylaying Vincenzo in a solitary spot,
he attacks him, strikes him down, and leaves him for dead.
The unhappy Mimi* meanwhile, remise in her father's
house, sunk in despondency. In this condition she hears of
the outrage perpetrated upon her lover. In her despair
she determines on a pllgrimagetto a distant/shrine, that she
may pray for his recovery. She begins her weary journey; but
fatigue under • burning sun disorders her reason. In her mad-
ness she beholds afar off a beautiful city, which she believes
to be Jerusalem, a vision which,' though existingfonly in her
brain, is represented to the eyes ofithe audience. At
length she entree as the and of her pilgrimage. A pro-
cession of pilgrims is entering the church, and she is about
to enter with them, when her father (sow repentant of his
cruelty) and her lover, who have followed her, make their
appearance. But they arrive in time only to witness her
death. Soddenly the back of the church dirap-
pears, "and the saints," says the libretto, "sur-
rounded by a bright glory, are seen blaring
Viooeozo and Mirella," who expires in a rapture
of religious joy. Such is the original termination of the drama.
But we must add that this mystical dinotiement was
avoided at Her Majesty's Theatre. As Miran" seems about
to recognise her lover ; the curtain falls, sod wear* allowed
to suppose that she does not die, but is re-united to her
lover ; the most rational conclusion, after all, for the fatigues
and hardships of her pilgrimage have not been sufficient to I
render her death a necessary catastrophe.
Now this is a pretty little pastoral tale, but it cannot
bear to be dragged through five ads of an opera, nor to be
mixed up with • load of superstitious mysticism out of
keeping with the simplicity of the subject. The rustic
heroine is pleasing and interesting, but her lover is a weak
and lackadaisical personage. The savage Uries, who strikes
terror around him by his strength and fiercest.'" makes
uncouth love to his mistress, and strikes down his feeble
rival with his club, is a sort of Polyphemus, and would
almost make us believe (were such a thing imaginable) that
the French playwright had read Asia and Galatca.
The most pleasing part of the musk, we think, is con-
tained in the first and second acts. Few modern
operas have overtures, simply, we believe, because few
modern opera compeers have scholarship sufficient for the
production of • masterly dramatic prelude. The composi-
tion of such things as the overtures to Don Giovanni,
Iphigenia, the PreivcAtliz, Euryanike, Jasoncla, or the
Bartiere di Sirigfia, is a lest art; and • modern overture,
when such a thing is attempted, is merely a medley of ear-
catching tunes. Such is the overture to this opera, which
seems to be • string of popular melodies of the south of
France. The choruses of country girls pursuing their
rustic labour of mulberry gathering are deliciously
fresh, and there in • duet between Mirella and Vineenzo
(Tide"' and Giuglini), which is beautifully simple and
Wider. A similar strain of sweet and natural melody per-
vades the second act. A joyous chorus of country people,
I drinking, dancing, and singing, in the market-place of Arles,
is full of gaiety and local character ; and another duet be- '
tween the lovers, is which there is the ancient peculiarity
of • rhythm constantly alternating between duple and triple
time, is one of the gems of the opera. A little
melody song by Madame Trebelli in the ohs-
I racier of • fortuneteller (a small part which has
little to do with the plot) attracted much attention by its
quaintness. In this act, too, the savage Urias appears, in
the person of Mr. Bentley, and singe some uncouth, Poly.
phemus-like music, which is very characteristic. This act,

moreover, has for its Hoar the scene where Mirella, avow-
ing her love for Vinoenro, is spurned by her enraged father ;
a scene written with great dramatic power, sod admirably
acted and sung by Thiene, Giuglini, Jura, Crania (am
Vincenzo 's father), and Sootier. Hitherto the performance
went off with all possible Eclat, but from that point it
began to drag ; and, though there were from time to time
effective morossnx, such as (burgles air I. the third act,
" Ah, se de' prieghi mid." yet the excitement of the audi.
encs fall lower and lower, sod where they were moved, it
was more by the pathos and beauty of Mlle. 'Mena' act-
ing and singing than by anything striking in the music.
It would be impossible to prim too warmly the manner
in which this opera has been put upon the stage. The
freshness sod beauty of tho scenery, the splendour
of the spectacle, the power of the instrumental orchestra
and the chorus—all contribute to give the performance ad-
vantages which it could not have in the small Thatre
Lyrique, where the piece was first produced.