The Express.
London, England, 1863-12-31 00:00:00

Kiel W#ll3l AT LONDON BILID4II.

is OAT 7--iiiiii—ticloisT7iitig;e7-41. —a. 56a.
TPIIOIIIIIOIII.. Miellibg, Ob. 16in... .Allorsoce. 6b.

LONDON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31.

Ix looking back upon the year which expires
to-night, the first peculiarity which will strike
Englishmen will probably be that the excite-1
ments of one of the most agitated years of the
present reign have lain abroad, while all has been
quiet at home. The foreign interests began with
the new year, for it was on its first day that Presi-
dent Lntoomes Proclamation of Emancipation was
promulgated. The day had passed without any
menace to any Power from the Emperor of
the Fasscia ; but the month did not end without
anxiety for the peace of Europe. On the 14th of
January the Prussian Chambers met, and renewed
their demand for a constitutional procedure Which
)h9 Roo and !Ile inflater' had not the
slightest intention of agreeing to ; and on
the 22nd took place that rising in Poland
which still continues as a civil war of
Eurapean importance. It was on a January
night that the Russian authorities brought this
rebellion on themselves by the intolerable con-
scription in Warsaw, which stands as one
of the disgraces of the year. The King of
Denmark, not destined to see another year, began
the present by announcing his intention of im-
proving the constitutional relations between the
provinces of his kingdom by the act now so well
known as the patent of the 30th of March, which
his successor withdrew, as one of the first acts of
his reign. The King of ITALY had his new year's
hopes, and he expressed them publicly and with
great earnestness—that there would be no more

ill-considered agitations and risings, and that the
southern provinces would be delivered from
brigands and put in the way of order and security.
Our session of Parliament opened on the sth
of February, and we were reminded of the passage
of time by the share which the Royal Family had
in the Qrrze's speech and in the earliest pro-
ceedings. The speech, delivered by commission,
announced the approaching marriage of the Prince
of Warms, and the election of Prince ALPUD to
the throne of Greece ; and, before the address was
moved, the Prince of Wsure took the oaths and his
seat among the hereditary legislators. He appeared
in the House on more than one occasion afterwards,
and thus encouraged the hope—which may be called
national—that he will use the precious
years of his early manhood in practically
studying the great political interests among which
the chief duties of his life must lie. His demean-
our on these occasions was all that could be desired
in its modesty and sincerity ; and his first en-
trance on political life will be remembered by
others than himself as one of the interesting events
of the year. In five weeks more he was a bride-
groom, the Princess ALEXANDILA of Denmark, sc.
oompanied by her family, having arrived at the
Nore on the sth of March, landed at Gravesend
and been carried through London on the 7th, and
married in St. George's Chapel at Windsor on the
10th. This reception and marriage were the great
national holiday of the year. Parliament endowed
the Parsee and his bride handsomely, assented fully
to the reasons assigned for declining the throne of
Greece for Prince ALTRZD, and was willing to
yield up the lonian Islands to Greece, if the other'
Powers concerned should *auction the cession.
The way seemed clear when Prince Gaon°, of
Denmark was invited to fill the throne of Greece,
and his father had, after deep consideration and
some reluctance, accepted the crown for him.
Everybody outside of Bavaria seemed pleased ;
and England was ready to grace his union with
(hewn by the rich portion of the Seven Islands :
but the islanders themselves, who had so long
clamoured for this very annexation, declined
the conditions on which it was offered. Difficulty
being once introduced in such cases it is pretty sure
to be followed by complications, and we have
accordingly seen Austria imposing a condi-
tion to which the Greeks as well as the lonians
object—the destruction of the citadel of Corfu.
As the year closes the affair is still unsettled ; and
the question is asked by one citizen of his neigh-
bour, whether it is not as difficult to give away
territory u to acquire it.

Some mistakes of a former time, and some, we
fear, for which this year is answerable, harm:soiled
us our worst troubles this autumn. Nothing
that we have suffered from the gales and tempests
of the last three months, or from the spread of
■mall•pox and typhus in the summer, or from the
dread of financi►l pressure in November, has caused
us so much pain as the sews from Japan, China,
and New Zealand. We must wait for authorised
explanations of the burning of Kagoeima, and for
a clear exposition of our policy in China, before
we pass s final judgment ; but the general im-