The Express.
London, England, 1862-07-31 00:00:00

SPAIN.

MADRID, JULY 30.

M. Gonzalez EwaLuite is named Consul-General
for Spain in Paris. It is not true that the court of
Madrid has the intention of recognising Don Juan
as Infante of Spain.

THE EASTERN QUESTION.

MABSPIII.F% JCILT 30.

Letters from Constantinople of the 23rd state
that Sir H. Bulwer has announced that England
has induced Austria to sit at the conferences on
Semis with the Italian ambassador. The first sit-
ting was occupied with the affair of Belgrade. The
Sultan's government positively refuses to agree to
the demolition of the Turkish fortresses. The
superior officers and the pashas of the garrison of
Constantinople are to receive eight months' arrears
of pay. They will be paid in securities, losing 30
per cent. Three battalions are about to be sent to
the Servian frontier. Omer Pacha has requested
to be allowed to take up a position on the Berrien
frontier, leaving the Montenegrins to be dealt with
by Dervisch Pacha. The Turkish army in Monte-
negro are to receive medals.

(agorza's TIZIGIUM& )
FRANCE.

PARIS, JULY 31.

The Moniteur of this morning announces that K
Rouher has been entrusted ad interim with the
Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

ITALY.

TURIN, JULY 30, Emma.

The contract made by the Italian government
with Messrs. Palmer and Co., of Newcastle, for
running postal steamers between Italy and Egypt,
was approved by both chambers to-day.

The steamers are to commence the service in
October, and will open the most expeditious route
for communication with the east, and for the passage
of the India mail.

NAPLES, JULY 30.

The Pungolo of to-day says :—" At the dinner
given in honour of the Marquis di Pallavicini, at
Palermo, Garibaldi proposed a toast which con-
cluded with the words, ' Rome or death ; but at
Rowe with Victor Emmanuel at our bead.' "

PORTUGAL.
LISBON, Jou 30.
The government has reduced the interest of the
floating debt to 6 per cent.

THE HERZEGOVINA.
TREBIGNE, JULY 29.

Early this morning the insurgents attacked the
Turkish militia at Zubzi. All the Turkish military
officers in this town have hastened thither. Fight-
ing is still being briskly carried on.

THE PENINSULAR MAIL.
SOUTHAMPTON, Jinx 31.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steam-
ship Tagus, from Lisbon on the 25th inst., has ar-
rived here.

She brings 13 passengers, 6691. in specie, 2201.
worthof diamonds, 136 packages of eggs, lemons,
and tomatoes.

On the 25th inst. the Tagus spoke the steamer
Vasco de Gams, and on the 29th a French line-of-
battle ship.
The British steamer Meander and a Dutch
frigate arrived at Lisbon ou the 23rd inst.
The wreck of the American ship Joseph Howe,
which was picked up 200 miles north of Finisterre,
waterlogged and abandoned, was in Vigo harbour.
The Portuguese gunboat Same sailed for Italy
on the 23rd, and the corvette Bartholomew Dias,
for Madeira, with troops, on the 25th inst.
Exchange on London at Lisbon, bn ; on Paris,
5.30 ; on Hamburg, 4.800 ; on Amsterdam,
4,250 ; on Genoa, 5.27 ; Three per Cent. Rental.,
461; Coupons, 451; Deferred, 43 ; Lisbon Bank
shares, 658 milrais ; Oporto Commercial and Mer-
cantile Banks, 258 milreis,

lOXYIU SS leltolll PARIS.
(viooa owx comustimmw.)

PARIS, WIDIMIDAT Emma
You will /lave seen that the Monitear &Blades to,
but does not think it expedient to lay before
French readers, the text of the correspondence be-
tween General de Lorencez awl General Zaragoza,
which I forwarded to you three days ago. The
miraculous success of two companies of the 99th
Regiment against 2,000 Mexicans under Ortega,
whom they surprised on the heights of Mount Bor-
rego, afforded Lorencez a fine opportunity, which
he was not slow to avail himself of, to speak with
scorn of Zaragoza's summons to capitulate only
two days before. I noticed what I called the
"subdued" tone of Lorencez's answer to
that summons. That I had rightly con-
strued it is now officially admitted, for the
general's report, published in the Moniteur,
says that in consequence of the low state of the
garrison of Orizaba he thought it prudent to
"conceal his indignation" and give an "evasive
answer." There is a celebrated definition of an
evasive answer which greatly resembles the nwt of
Cambronne, but General de Lorencez's reply
was nothing of that kind—he merely
said that he had no diplomatic powers
to treat on the footing proposed by Gene-
ral Zaragoza, and referred him to M. de
Saligny, the French envoy. lam quite sure that
Lorencez was as much surprised as his enemy at
the brilliant triumph of the 99th, which now
enables him, with the laugh altogether on his aide,
to treat his letter, which the Moniker does not
publish, as a joke.
"We learn," pays the Gazette des Hdpitaux, "by
a letter from Mexico, that two medical men of the
French troops, Drs. Verjus and Bintol, were taken
prisoners in the combat of Puebla."

A letter from Vichy of the 28th gives a few par-
ticulars of the ball given there on the previous
evening by the Chasseurs of the Guard :
The locality 'elected for the ball was the camp close to
the town, and for a week past the soldiers h►ve been busily
engaged in preparing and ornamenting the ballroom in the
open air. Two large stands were erected for the ladies, acid
another for the orchestra. The space intended for the
dancers warn surrounded with festoons of dowers and bril-
liantly illuminated. Most of the ladies were in walking
costume, and the men in every imaginable style of dress ;
there were also crowds of villagers of both sexes. The
Emperor, who had declined the honour of am entracte
for his special use, sat on a bench in the midst of
the crowd, and for an hour or so contemplated
the animakd scene with evident amusement. Allot a sudden
his Majesty rose and selected a young villager as his partner;
his of followed the example, sod then commenced au
imperial quadrille not less gay than those which had pre-
ceded it. It would not be easy to give an adequate descrip-
tion of the enthusiasm which seized the spectitors of this
improvised dance, or the fervour with which all joined in
crying " Vive l'Empereur !" When it was over, others fol-
lowed, and the Emperor meanwhile walked about the camp,
The crowd, composed of elements no diverse, the noise, the
movement, the illumination, the trophies of foliage aid
Dowers, the mixture of the fashionable toilets of Paris
with the picturesque costumes of the peasantry, all combined
to form a most striking example. The Emperor withdrew
early, but the dancing continued long after.

The aspect of the Bourse is totally changed to.
day. The settlement for the end of the month is
going decidedly against the bulls, and the rise of
the last two days is more than effaced. Rente fell
30c. both for cash and account, closing at 68tr. 65c.
and 68fr. 80c. Mobilier fell sfr., and the Italian
Loan 25c. The Orleans Railway fell Bfr. 7bc. ;
Northern, 6fr. 25c. ; Lyons, 12fr. 50c. ; and the
other lines from lfr. 25c. to 2fr. 50c.

The important question, whether a French
priest, choosing to set Rome at defiance, can enjoy
the full rights of a citizen, and take unto himself a
wife, is about to receive a solemn decision. In the
case of the Abbi Brou, who brought an action
against a mayor for refusing to marry him, M. Jules
Fevre pleaded, some time ago, before the civil tri-
bunal of Pirigueu 1, with so much effect that the court
was equally divided ou the subject. The legal con-
sequence of such a state of things is, that the cause
must be re-argued before the same tribunal, re-
inforced by an additional judge. M. Jules Fevre
excused himself from going down to Pdrigueux a
second time on the ground that aa, in any event
an appeal was certain, his client would not
suffer by his absence. The second argument
has been going on for some days at
P4rigueux. The public minister made a
very violent speech against the priest who wants to
be married, hurling at him among other opprobri-
ous epithets that of " infamous," and stating as
evidence of his infamy that be was lately heard to
say that if a certain supplementary judge sat he
should gain his cause, whereas if a certain other
one came he should lose it. The French legal
fiction of the absolute perfection of all judges en-
abled the Imperial Procureur, without making
himself ridiculous, to say that they never bad any
prejudices, and that it was an insult to allege that
they could possibly have any opinion at all on a
case before they had heard the arguments on each
aide. In England, where the judicial character
stands much higher in public estimation than it
does in France, and consequently has less need of
legal protection, a man would certainly not be
stigmatised as " infamous " for the expression
of a belief that on a point of theological
controversy—the case of " Essays and Reviews,"
for instance—a judge would be likely to decide, not-
withstanding all the arguments he might bear, in ac-
cordance with his notorious preconceived opinions.
The Procureur Imperial called upon the court to
protect the catholic religion,tbe religion of two hun-
dred millions of men, the religion of thirty millions
of Frenchmen, the religion of Him who eighteen
centuries ago planted upon Golgotha and watered
with his blood " the first tree of liberty that was
ever seen in the world." Judgment is to be given
to-morrow.

THE VICEROY or Eoyrr.—Every exertion is now
being made to complete the alterations of the Vice-Royal
steam-yacht, and it is expected that his Higher= the
Viceroy, will leave England next weak. Mr. Ward, of
Auburn. New York, bu just completed for his Highness
seta of the ocean telegraph—day sod night signals—similar
to those recently adopted by the Admiralty, and now used
on board the 'mak of the channel feet.
TEMPORAL AND SPIRITUAL.—The Opinions of
Turin relates the following anecdote, Illustrative of a Dew
method of paying for one a diaper. A reverend gentleman
of Herculean frame, and endowed by Nature with a magni-
ficent apparatus of mastication, eat down to dinner at one of
the eating bounce which skirt the Italian capital, and
partook aboodently of the good things laid before
him. But on the waiter's making his appearance with
the bill, his reverence declared his inability to meet this
exigency of the moment, otherwise than by saying two
masses for the landlord. Mine boat, on being called, de-
murred at first to the kind of coin offered, but eventually,
bethinking himself of his many sins, accepted it, and
allowed the worthy priest to depart. On this the Ophrione
makes the following redaction :—`• If the reverend priest's
dinner costa him two mama, dace by the laws at the
church be ass °sly say one mars per day, it follows that he
can only dies coos every other day !"
CAPTURE OP • STEAMER RY THE FED/2AM --
Lrvzsivou JULY MTh, Emile (British steamer), for-
merly the William &Amok, of Clutriestan, was
as the 7th July off Bull'a Bay, sear Charleston. satriV
voles showed as asserted cargo. but there were reasons for
opposing that there were old arms, Confederate binds, sad
specie cc board.
Reruns's]) Lsrrnns.—The fee for registering
letters will he reduced from and after to-morrow (August
1), front sixpence to fourpence, and the time of regietratio•
will be extended until the closing of the letter-bag for each
dispatch. Letters containing coin must be registered in
fraWre, or they will be liable to a double resist:sties fee,
404misse se delivery.

MUSIC.
--....--
EXETER-HALL.

An oratorio, entitled Irate, Return from Babylon,
by Herr Joseph Radelph Scbachner, was performed lust
evening, in behalf et the British Columbia Female Relive-
tion Society. The performer* was got up on a very large
and expensive scale. The principal solo singers were Mdlla.
Tarns, Madame Laura Baxter, Mr. Sims Reeves, and Mr.
Weis. The chorus was eqaal in magnitude to that of the
Sacred Harmonic Society ; sad the instrumental band
contained • host of the most eminent per-
formers, the principal violin being no less a per-
son than Herr Molique. Mr. Alfred Mellon acted as
the conductor. Though Herr Schack:ler is • conspirer
unknown here, none of his works, as far as we am re-
member, having ever been performed in public, the produc-
tion of this oratorio seems to have excited considerable at-
tention, for it attracted • large audience, and many persons
[ distinguished in our musical circles were present. The
music had evidently been carefully rehearsed and was
admirably performed, the eminent performers wehavenamed
having made strenuous exertions to do it all possible justice,
and the result was that the oratorio went brilliantly off.
Every air and chorus was more:or ler applauded—some were
encored; and at the end the composer wee called into
the orchestra and received the honours of an " ovation."

We cannot take upon ourselves to judge decidedly, on •
single beating, of a work of such pretensions. There is no
doubt that it has considerable merit ; but the oratorio
belongs to the highest order of composition—it is the epic
poetry of mosio—and therefore, in criticising a work of this
clue, it must be tried by the highest standard. Mediocrity,
in the oratorio, cannot be tolerated, unless in the cams of a
young musician whose immature effort gives pre-
mise of better things hereafter. The names of all the
greet oratorio-oomposers who have ever existed may
be written in two or three lines ; and if the author
of a new oratorio is not entitled to have his name added
to this small list, his work (except in the one case already
mentioned) had sa well never been written. We are not
prepared to try Hen Bchachner by the standard of Handel,
Haydn, Spobr, or Mendelssohn—the standard by which it
must ultimately be tried. If int success has really been
such as to induce • repetition, we shall probably be in • con-
dition to form a more manor* judgment on ite beauties and
defects than we are able to do at present.