The Express.
London, England, 1862-03-20 00:00:00

TMAZGRAPHIO INTELLIGICSICIL

(awns% usanins.)
AUSTRIAN ITALY.
miLAN, )(Ascii 19.

The &Mimetic, of Brescia, says :—" A captain
and two officers, belonging to the Austrian fleet,
have been arrested at Mantua on suspicion of being
partisans qf the Italian cause. They have been
conveyed to Trieste.
" Great precautions are being taken by the Aus-
trian government on the Venetian frontiers. The
advanced posts have been doubled and the garrisons
augmented. Troops bare also been posted along
the line of the Po.

" The Imperor of Austria has left Venice and
gone to Vicenza."

GREECE.

ATHENS Corfu), Masai 15.
AU the cannon of the insurgents has fallen into
the hands of the royal troops.
The small garrison of Syra having taken posses-
sion of one of the Hellenic Company's steamers
were all captured by a royal frigate, off the island of
Cythnoe, and order, temporarily disturbed at Syra,
was re-established.

The prisoners at Chalris had succeeded iu escap-
ing, but some were immediately captured in Chalets,
and the rest were forced to surrender to the
authorities of Thebes.

PORTUGAL

LISBON, Maws 18.

A royal decree has been issued, closing the Cortes
until the 22nd April. Groat discontent prevails
against the Ministry, which does not possess a mar
jority iu the house.
Violent storms of wind and rain are still pre-
valent here.

TURKEY.

CONSTANTINOPLE MARCH 18.

A corps of observation, consisting of 20,000
Turkish troops, has been despatched to the Grecian
frontlet.

THE CAPTURI OP mit sricutirs MIMI"' BY
MB FEDERAL CRUISER.

LETTER FROM THE. MATE.

Tim following is a copy of a letter from the mate
of the Labour steamer :- '• Shop Island, Feb. 14, 1862.
It U with repot that I have to announce the seunre of the
steamer Labiate, by the United State, sloop of war Porta-
smooth, while lying off the Frio Grande, loading cotton for
Havana. This happened on the lat of February, at 4 o'clock
in the afternoon. We saw the Portsmouth in the offing dur-
ing the foreneoe, Myna( French eclairs, and taking r prise
schooner, but I thought we wen safe, as Capt. Hamshaw
told we that, in Cale we were boarded by any man-of-war,
to show them the papers which he left. Capt. liareakaw
went on shore on the 27th January and was detained oe
shore by strong gale., which prevented him from getting on
hoard. About 4.3 U the tire: lieutenant Came on beard, and
sated to see the ropers, which I showed him. He
afterwards looked down the hold, and remarked that we
were loaded with cotton, risking at the some time where
it was shipped. I till him that it won shipped from Hata-
moms He returned to his ship, and shortly after sent
another boat of officers sod men, who ordered toe to get
up steam and shift our berth nearer the Portsmouth.
I did as required, en being given to understand that
they only wanted to have the ship clear of their
gun.. Alter shifting our berth, I was ordered on board.
on toy arrival ors hoard the captain told me that be CCM-
sideml that we were a lawful prise—that we were takieg
as Americus cotton is America& waters. This I denied,
and told him that it was shipped in Matamoros, and that
we were is Magian waters-- our longitude, by a number
of observations, being 97.5 Ci W., and our lat. 25 55 N. Ile
told me that it did not matter ; ho would send us to Ship
island, to await the commdore's decision. Oa my return
on hoard I found that there were on board at least fatty
marinas sad sailors beingiag to the Parlamenti. On
Sunday they discharged the cargo of a prize whowier lab
ea. awl us Monday, the :ird February, took all the MUM
and Mr. (Mee, engineer, out of the ship, and ordered the
officer in charge to prepare to proceed to Ship Island.
Titer took all the spirits, wine, ale, and porter re beard
the Portsmouth. The captain of the Portsmouth then
motioned ma mot be attempt to retake the ship, as it would
certainly owl la war destruction. I n Tuesilargl im
4thait
3 sae-, we iluted on our voyage to Ship
we antral ea the Bth, sod find that the commodore is off
as anomie, and here we must remain until he cornea, but
en are ewe to be seat to New York. to be tried by an
admiralty court. We lave on board 439 bales cotton. On
our arrival at Now Terk I shall apply to the consul, end
act under his diregaleee—Bastera Couches Herald.

The follosrift is a comparative statement of the
revenue of dm Qsey of Jamal® for the Noma quarters
dans" taw lad two yaw% vis. t—lierek IW, 5.8,a3y.
13.. 9d. ; Is6l, 60,0041.18 e. lL Jaw, 1110. 06.3021. B'. Sd.;
1001. 55.4511. 4a. 10d. Owptasalawr, 8&0891. Oa. 3d. ;
lush , 48,7781. 6s. 6d. Dasomiar. 1110, 63,6761. Oa. Id. ;
1801, 783741.45. 7d.

If Captain Fowkes had not been blessed with
a very happy temper, the month of March might :
have seen him driving headlong to a mad-horse.
He has put together his great building to the'
best of his ability ; and as plain wood, iron,
ekes, and bricks have refused to look like those ,
delightful pictures of the new palace painted by
imaginative artists, he has had to stand as a target 1
for a thousand critical arrows. His conception
may or may not have been the result of a diatom- I
payed dream, in which a cathedral had somehow got
mixed up with a railway station ; but one thing is
certain—it war built upon a very clearly defined !
plan, and reached its climax of beauty about the'
middle of February. Although remarkably hollow
and incomplete at that date, it was just possible to
see through it and across it • but since that happy
time—that day of joy for the unfortunate architect
—the whole building has gone rapidly backwards.
The most energetic exertions are supposed to be
bent upon its completion by the let of May • ' a man
fs killed on one day, a boy is crippled for life t
on another • a groat contractor looks on ooni-
plaoently it the chaos of work, or touted
through his servants, in several languages, for
orders for fittings ; clerks of works hurry about
with papers, dogged by foremen and labourers ;
groups of workmen stand in convivial groups, and I
Ulm hourly iwfrealiment from overflowing beer I
etanit a dozen reed congregate round a hole, or a
pieceef timber, or balance themselves upon swing-
ing scaffold poled, and act as if six hundred years
were allowed them iu which to complete the build-
ing ; hangers of pictures shut themselves up in
the galleries (by strict official orders) and do their
work in solitude and silence, as if it were a mystery
of Isis ; sappers and miners seem to spend half
their lives in taking instructions from clerks about
canister stoves • exhibitors look in to learn some-
thing from observation about their space, and
shake their heads when they see the rain dripping
through the glue from a thousand crevices ;
rain', who have more respect for stone statues than
for the well-advertised reputation of Hamra Kent
and Lucas, decline to send in heavy works in this
order of art until the flooring of the picture gal-
leries is largely strengthened ; clumsy carts come
rumbling slowly into the centre of the building
with overhanging loads' and the horses shake their
harness as they hear the thunder of the falling
timber under the eastern dome. All this may be
active work, and there may be a thousand, or
there may be two thousand working men in the
building but every plank that is laid down
or raised, every nail that is driven in, certainly
puts the structure in a worse position. One half
at the southern courts—once pleasingly called the
" open or glans courta"—is now boarded off for the
great French arena, and in another week this great
slice of space will be as private as the inside of a
booth at a fair. ACoordmg to the tradition which
we believe is popular in Paris, we thought it was
the Englishman who was inclined to fly from
society ; and we never recollect hearing it admitted
that the Frenchman was at heart an unamiable
recluse. International exhibitions, however, are
supposed to teach us many lessons in foreign
manners and customs ; and we must not be asto-
nished at this revelation of French character.

-- • ------ -
The enclosure of the French industrial court is
high, complete, and perfect, and It even goes to the
leugth of having a grand private entrance built
between two of the columns at the western end of
the nave ; hut there are other enclosures, which,
though smaller, are inure hideous. The north-west
transept is now filled in along its centre with three
or four large square boxes, that look like gigantic
packing-cases. These may probably be intended
for other foreign courts (we really have not had the
heart, to haat out the proper official to inquire), or
they may be intended for snug little offices, where
large orders may be taken away from the crowd, or
international thimble-rigging way be carried on
without the knowledge of the commissioners. Other
structures of the same hideous kind seem to be threat-
ened in different parts, to judge by the timber pre-
parations, and even now the day has passed when
it was possible to get a good perspective view of the
building.
There must be • weighty official reason for
allowiug these industrial pens to be erected, and
probably the public would like to know it. If it is
true that the engineers in charge of the building
will not allow even a high-art door-mat to be hung
from the galleries—if it is true that those tolerably
graceful airways are built more for show than for
substantial use, then we can have nothing more to
say about this unseemly boarding. Vertical space
must be had in other pieces as well as against the
outer brick walls ; and if this necessity has not been
provided for by the architect and contractors, the
oversight only matches that carelessness which for-
got to make proper doorways to the building.
The painting is not yet finished in the western
dome, and therefore the huge scaffolding—a forest
of timber—looking at a distance like fine lace-
work, is still standing. This wooden web is made
of about 40,000 cubits feet of timber, and is really
such a wonderful example of human labour and
ingenuity, that it would not disgrace the commis-
sioners if it were to stand as part of the exhibition.
The eastern annexe, where abort 36,000 square
feet of open-air space is to be left, is still iu a very
backward condition. It was the last extension of
the building decided upon by the commissioners ;
but that is no reason why little or no exertions
should be made to finish it. Labour is plentiful
enough at fair market rates, and the building is
large enough, and the work scattered enough, to
employ a much larger number of men than those
now put on by the contractors. No bickering
with the commissioners, no complaints about official
delays leading to extra cost and uncertainty, will
absolve the contractors from their obvious duty to
the exhibitors and public. If they regarded the
commissioners more as masters, and leas as tenants-
at-will, it might perhaps lead to a happier and more
business-like state of progress in the building.
The arrivals of British goods have now reached
more than a hundred cases ; and many fittings
of various degrees of beauty and size have been
delivered in this department. In the foreign
department the deliveries still come in very slowly,
although it is understood that many goods have
arrived at the outporta, or are warehoused in dif-
ferent parts of London until the courts are a little
more ready to receive them. About twenty cases have
come in from France, half the Prussian goods, and
the contributions of several minor states, but hardly
anything has yet been seen from Austria. The three
greatest coverers of space will be France, Prussia,
and Austria, and France has got about • third of
the whole foreign division. The boarded French
Court, which we have just alluded to, is being
rapidly filled with fittings for Lyons silks and other
specialities, and it is understood that the centre
will be devoted to a great trophy formed of the
Ville de Paris table plate. The Americans have at
last decided nut to exhibit nationally, and what
goods are sent will be individual contributions.
In Clan I.—the department for mining, quarry-
, ing, metallurgy, and mineral products, which is
under the management of Mr. Robert Hunt, F.R.S.
i —we shall have a very large and important collec-
tion, although the commercial motive to exhibit is
weaker than in any other class. The transport of
the specimens has been costly, and few of the exhi-
bitors can expect any reward except thanks for
having contributed to an instructive and interesting
collection.

The National Committee for this class drew up a
scheme' with the view of suggesting, to some extent,
the nature of the objects which it was thought de-
sizable should be exhibite.l in this department of
the Exhibition.

The committee suggested the desirability of keep-
ing the size of mineral specimens within moderate
limits, u being more convenient for display, and
better adapted for exhibiting special peeuharities

In meialluigy, the examples of iron are numer-
ous, and, at the same time, as nearly all varieties
of pig iron will be found in the Exhibition, there
will be some of the most remarkable examples
of rolled iron that have ever yet been shown.
Rails from sixty to one hundred feet in length,
without a weld ; bars of remarkable size and
length ; sheets of iron of mast unusual dimensions ;
and armour plates which have resisted the battering
power of Armstrong's gnus, will be there. Cranks,
one weighing above twenty-five tons, and beams of
singular size and strength,lwill prove the capabilities
of British forges.
The spe=ens of gold from Devonshire and
Wales will probably be general objects of interest.
Two monolithic obelisks, belonging to this depart-
ment, are erected as trophies in the nave—one
made of Cheesewring granite, twenty-seven feet
high, after the design of Mr. John Bell ; the other
made of gray granite from the Ross of Mull,
thirty-five feet high. In the mineral court there
will also be a beautiful serpentine obelisk, fifty
feet high ; and a fine collection of Derbyshire spars,
principally black marble, the celebrated fluor-spar
being ugly exhausted. Mr. Birley.bas sent a richly
inlaid table that may be regarded as a perfect work
of art.

The only metal exhibited which has become an
article of commerce since 1861 is aluminium ; and
of this there are numerous specimens, both manu-
factured and uumanufactured. This metal cost
fifty-five pounds sterling par pound in 18E4 ; in
1808 it was reduced to five pounds a ton ; and now,
we believe, it may be obtained at a much lower
rate. It has a fine white colour, slightly inclining
to blue, especially after being well hammered ;
when cold, like silver, it is susceptible of a very
fine matting, is easily burnished or polished or
drawn into wire, and can easily be beaten out,
either hot or cold, to the same extent and as per-
fectly as gold and silver. It is much lighter than
ordinary minds ; its elasticity and tenacity are
about the same as those qualities in silver, and it
is easily run into sand and metallic moulds.
Perhaps the most generally interesting objects in
the mineral department will be the model of the
celebrated Barrow works near Ulverstone, and
some working models of mines, set in motion by
water power, showing every feature of this under-
ground branch of industry.
The local subscription to pay for widening the
Bronipton road seems to have taken a ready-money
form, for labourers are now heartily workingon this
very necessary task. The Boulevard is condemned ;
the axe is laid to the roots of the rotten trees ; the
forecourts are being torn up ; the local tradespeople
look hopeful and cheerful, and in about another
fortnight or three weeks the thoroughfare will be
widened from the Horse Repository to the Museum
bend at least oue-half.

Nothing definite or official can be stated about
the programme for the opening on the let of May,
beyond the fact that the band and chorus will
be ou a gigantic scale, under the direction of Mr.
Costa. Mr. Bowley, the general manager of the
Crystal Palace, has a share in the direction of the
musical arrangements. Mr. Cole, C. B. ,we believe,
has been put in office to do his best to seat thirty
thousand people within view of the ceremony, and
if be falters, Mr. Bowley will, no doubt, be able
to help him.