The Express.
London, England, 1863-02-07 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 7, 1863.

Warrior and other such vessels had been indebted
to the specification in Mr. Ciraz's patent, or
indeed that the specification was sufficiently
explicit to enable any person to derive from it
any definite idea of his design. The matter was
of importance, because Mr. CLARE'S claim against
the Government was enormous, and because, if
Mr. CLARE had succeeded in establishing that claim,
he would have had the power of stopping the con-
struction of our iron fleet, except so far as he
chose to permit it. In addition to which, the
case in question was the first which had been tried
under an Act passed last Session, on the sugges-
tion of Mr. &war., by which the proceedings in
a petition of right are greatly simplified.
The interesting part of the case was Mr. Crass
himself. In these days, when the public mind is
so deeply absorbed in the study of the means of
destroying our fellow-creatures and protecting our-
selves, those who sit in high places at a public
department like the Admiralty are not to be
envied. No doubt officials have an infinite
variety of precedents for choking off en-
thusiastic patriots and their new plans.
But in Mr. CLARE'S case they seem to have
been singularly patient, and to have treated him
with great forbearance. Mr. CLARE was a man
full of crotchets. Be had novel ideas, not only
as to ship-building, but as to the mode in whch
the fitness of those by whom his plans were to be
considered was to be judged. Thus he wrote to
Lord CLARENCE Paola that he should not be
satisfied with any opinion which might be given by
" the executive of the Admiralty Department,"
unless the Lords Commissioners were prepared to
call in the aid of the novel science of " phrenophy-
scometry." According to Mr. CLARE, the craniums
of all the gentlemen in the Surveyor's
department must be examined by "Mr. BRIDGER,
" the practical phrenologist, and by the aid of
" geometry," before he could submit to have his
plans reported on by that department. The sys-
tem of examination conducted by the Civil Berms
vice Commissioners has been thought to furnish '
the only practical test for obtaining competent
public servants, or at all events for excluding
those who are incompetemt. The system
suggested by Mr. CLARE for measuring
the heads of the candidates, and judging
of the merits of those who wear them by the
rules of "phrenophyscometry," would perhaps
supply an easier test. But we are tolerably safe
in predicting that this reform is almost as remote
as the reform of appointing Mr. CiAas, the
quondam-broker, constructor of the British navy,
and paying him a salary of 100,000/. a year.
The world has suffered much from crack-brained

visionaries. Mr. CLARE has proved himself one,
and, happily for the Admiralty and the Trea-
sury, this man's extravagance and self-conceit
have for ever freed these departments of a model
public bore.

' DEATH OF CAPTAIN GLADSTONE, M.P.

(THIS DAY.)

We regret to learn, by telegram received at noon
this day (Saturday), the death of Captain John Neilson
Gladstone, M.P. for Devises,which event took place this (Sa-
turday) morning, at mix o'clock, at Bowden-park, near Chip.
ma'am. The death of the hon. and gallant member was
occasioned by carbuncle between the shoulders ; he had
for some days past been in almost a hopeless condition.
His brothers, Sir Thomas Gladstone and the Right Ron.
W. E. Gladstone (the Chancellor of the Exchequer), and
other relatives, were with him at his death. The lamented
gentleman was the third sou of the late Sir John Gladstone,
Bart., and was born in 180'. After receiving his education
at the Royal Naval College, Portsmouth, he entered the
Navy in 1820, became a Commander in 1842, and a Captain
in March, 1880, but, for some years past, had not sought
active service, eo that he might be considered to have left
the Navy.
••• ' • '

Captain Gladstone was a conservative in politics, and was
first elected to the House of Commons for the borough of
Walsall, in February, 1841. In 1842, he was retorted,
with the Earl of Desert, for the borough of Ipswich ; but
that election being declared void, he was spin, the same
year, a candidate, when he was placed at the head of
the poll. At the election of June, 1847, he unsuccessfully
contested the borough, being defeated by Mr. J. C. Cobbold
and Mr. H. E. Adair. Since the general election in
1852, the hon. gentleman has represented Devisee in
parliament, and a vacancy consequently arises by his
death in the representation of that borough. Captain
Gladstone voted against the repeal of the corn laws in
1846, but, like many of the early opponents of that measure,
subsequently held that it was neither practicable nor desirable
to restore protection. He was a strenuous supporter
of the agricultural interest, and a constant adherent
of the conservative party, with whom, on all party
questions, be voted.
The respected and lamented gentleman married, in 1839,
Him Elisabeth Honoria Bateson, second daughter of Sir
Robert &teem, Bart., of Belvoir Park, County Down. She
died 11th February, 1882, and was mother of the Countess
of Belmore, =datable of Mr. Thomas &teem, Y.P.

TREATY FOR THE MARRIAGE OF THE
PRINCE OF WALES WITH THE PRINCESS
ALEXANDRA.

LLTIZIT INTELLIGENCE.

RUSSIA.

The Official Journal of Bt. Petersburg of yester-
day says We do not deny that the recruitment
in Poland was conducted in an unusual manner,
and pressed heavily on the towns while sparing the
country population ; but the government had been
aware for months that the recruitment would be
the signal of an insurrection. Being unable to
reach the chiefs, who are in foreign countries, it
was compelled to punish their unhappy instru-
ments."

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(71101 OUR own

EUtif3, FarDAT EVZIIING.

The Bishop of Amiens, yielding to the manifest
feeling of his flock, has announced that the collec-
tion for the St. Peter's pence, which was to have
been made on the first Sunday in Lent, is post-
poned till Whit-Sunday, in order that it may not
compete with the subscriptions now urgently needed
for the distressed cotton districts. Moreover, notice
is given that all monies which, up to Easter, may
be thrown into the St. Peter's pence boxes in the
churches will be applied to the relief of the opera-
tives out of work. "The Holy Father," says the
bishop, "however great hie wants," would not wish
to diminish the pittance of his unfortunate
children. In commending the Bishop of Amiens
for his very just and wise determination, I can,
at the same time, console him about the personal
wants of the Pope. I see this very day, in the
Temps, a letter from a trustworthy Roman corres-
pondent, which states that the Pope never in his
life had the fingering of so much money as he has
now. Formerly the papal revenues were filtered
through the adhesive hands of so many administra-
tive cardinals that, comparatively, very little
reached his Holiness for pocket money. He has
now at his personal disposition at least three times
as much as he had before his "poor and distressed"
condition was made the ground for a general and un-
remitting appeal to the pockets of the faithful.
I The Pope, good easy man, no more knows the
meaning of financial difficulty than a Grosvenor-
square footman knows " what is taxes." The
deficits in his state accounts are alternately filled
up by loans and paper issues. The cardinals are
described as now quite jolly about finance, because
they argue that the happy reaction in the dis-
position of the French Emperor must lead to the
restoration of all the Pope's lost provinces, and the
St. Peter's penny, started for an emergency, is now
BO thoroughly organised that it may be kept on foot
as a perpetual institution.
It is whispered that at the fancy ball at the
Tuileries on Monday, there will be, by imperial
desire, a set of characters representing the principal
personages in Flaubert's new and successful novel
" Salammb6." Here is the costume of Hamilcar's
daughter, as described by M. Flaubert :
Her hair, coloured dark with violet powder, and built up
in the form of a tower, made her look taller than she was.
Plait.' of pearls were attached to her temples, and descended
to the corners of a mouth rosy as a bursting pomegranate.
On her breast hung a vast collection of sparkling jewels,
resembling in their motley confusion the scales of a lamprey.
Her arms, ornamented with diamonds, but otherwise naked
to the shoulders, escaped from • tunic studded with red
dowers on a black ground. She wore a chain of gold be-
tween her ankles to regulate her steps, and her flowing
mantle of dark purple, made of an unknown material,
trailed behind her as she walked, like a large ways.

This is certainly rather a " loud" costume for a
young lady, and one calculated to exercise the in-
genuity of a fashionable dressmaker. About the
jewellery and the nudity there will be no difficulty,
for they are quite in keeping with the present taste
of the court ; but the chain between the legs may
be found awkward in dancing the polka, and where
shall the "unknown" material be found for the
mantle I

The Emperor has a silver vase in his bedroom,
which was lately found by the diggers on the site
of the ancient city of Aleeia. His Majesty has
persuaded himself that it belonged to Julius
Ceesar, and has taken an extraordinary liking to
it. People say this vase was in his mind the other
day when he spoke of works of art as evidences of
the civilisation of the period at which they were I
made. Everything smells of Csisar now-a-days.
The court writers have his name always on the
tip of their pens. The Emperor's own history of
Cuaar, which has been so long coming out, is not
yet announced "as in the press," and is not
indeed talked of quite so much as it was • few
months ago. But meanwhile M. Gastineau has
published "The Wives of the Caesars," • well-
chosen tale, and one that will certainly command
I a certain amount of sales.

In the time of Louis Philippe the Gazette de
France was prosecuted for having published a fac
simik of a letter addressed by Marie Amalie to her
husband in 1810, from which it appeared that at
that perioi Louis Philippe d'Orleans had made
great efforts to obtain a command in the Sp►nish
service against France, and that he even then con-
templated getting possession of the French throne,
to the prejudice of the elder branch of the Bour-
bons. The original of this letter was produced at
the trial. It is now republished, together with
several other documents which are thought to be
damaging to the reputation of the Orleans family.
There has been some difficulty about the publication
on the part of the authorities, but these are now
removed, it being probably thought that the
correspondence may be useful as an antidote to
Orleanism at the coming elections. The work
appears at Denta's with the title " Correspon-
dance, Mdmoire, et Discours inedits de Louis
Philippe d'Orlel.ns."
"A new bishop," says the Monde, "who leaves
for Texas, carries out with him 44 missionaries and
eight women devoted to religious and charitable
acts."

Advices from Madagascar to the 24th November
mention the death of Itahaniraksi, Minister of Foreign ,
Affairs, after an illness of two months. He had been
brought up in Eoglaod, and maintained relations with
several protestant missionaries, " without. however," mays
one account, "having embraced their religion.* M. La-
borde, junior, was said to have been chosen by King
Ba-
dama to fill the vacant post.
CitYgra, Pauacrt—Tbe annual bird show opens
this day with a greater number of entries than on any Pre-
vious occasion. The show of Norwich canaries is exceedingly
good, as is also that of the Belgian, London fancy, and
Lizard varieties. Many beautiful specimens of canary mulls
are also exhibited. Of canaries alone there are upwards of
250 entries. The British birds form quite a show of them-

selves, mid include several very curious specimens, inch as
white thrush, blue robin, and some Tay rare hybrids. The
foreign classes comprise many variation of parrots, cockatoos,
love birds, poroqueta, kc., which if not the most interesting
portion of the exhibition, are certainly the noisiest, and,
according to the programme, include some excialleat
vocalists, musicians, and orators.
BISHOP Coumeo.—We are authorised to state
that at the meeting of the Bishops at Lambeth on Wades'.
day there was an unanimous condemnation of Bishop
Coleuses book, though a small mioority differed from the
rest as to the mode in which it was most expedient to act
Any action will most probably be taken through Bishop
Colenso's immediate metropolitan (the Bishop of Copetowe),
but as we bare before intimated, the bishop is awaiting the
decision et the appeal of " Long against the Bishop of Owe.
town," now pending before the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Connell. 8011.
THR LONDON THAD/ BOCIRPIRB.—A meeting of
the odious and leadieg membersof the Loodos Trade Societies
was held last evening, at the Brown Baer Tavern, Broad-
street. Bloomsbury. for the purpose el organising a demon-
stration of the trades unionists and society men of Londe*
in support of the North and more emancipation. It was re-
solved unanimously that • public meeting of trades unionists
and society men generally should be hold es au early day at
Exeter.hall. A subcommittee was appointed to