The Express.
London, England, 1849-04-12 00:00:00

HOLLAND.

THE HAGUE, APRIL 9.—The King and Queen,
the Queen Dowager, and all the members e the royal
family, attended the Cloister Church this day, when
a funeral sermon was preached for his late Majesty
William IL, by the Rev. M. Ruitenschild, a clergy-
man of the reformed church. The rev. gen.leman
took his text from 1 These, c. iv., v. Where-
fore comfort one another with then wordy."

The Queen Dowager hu taken up her residence at
the palace built by Gen. Wanderbossche, formerly
Governor of the 'Ladies, and which was occupied by
the late Prince Alexander. Her Majesty alighted
there immediately on her arrival at the Hague.
The committee from Luxembourg. charged with
receiving the oath of his Majesty as Grand Duke of
Luxembourg, hu arrived at the capital. The com-
mittee is composed ef only four members, and the
taking of the oath, which will be attended with the
usual solemnities, will, it is supposed, not be public.
It is said that the solemn inauguration of his Ma-
jesty will take place at Amsterdam on the Bth of
May next.
The King and Prince Frederick (the brother of his
late Majesty) continue to receive various deputations
charged with presenting addresses of condolence on
the death of our late beloved sovereign. To the de-
putation from the University of Utrecht both these
Princes expressed that their private sorrow had been
greatly alleviated by the universal and heartfelt sym-
pathy of the nation.
The committee charged with the erection of a mag-
nificent public monument to the memory of the late
king, has received the national support in this great
undertaking. Some uncertainty appears to exist re-
specting the locality where it shall be erected, but
Amsterdam, as the metropolis of the k;ngdom, seems
by right to put in the first claim to that honour. The
Hague, as being the residentiary city, was named as
a matter of course in the first instance, but other
claimants who now contend for the palm may possibly
carry off this distinction.

MALTA. Aram 2. 1849.
The English screw steamer, Earl of Auckland,
came in on the 27th nit. from Constantinople, in four
days. The night previous, at 11 p.m., when about 90
mites east of Malta, the steamer struck upon a shoal
or bank, and received so maehinjsry, and made water
so fast, that on arrival the captain was compelled to
beach her in the mud at the head of the harbour, to
prevent her sinking. The existence of a shoal 90
miles east of Malta has often been ass: rted and as
often denied. In fact the English and French charts
of the Mediterranean have a shoal marked doubtful
exactly at that bearing and distance. I remember
some eighteen years ego, the master of an Austrian
brig from Alexandria, reported that when at
about a hundred miles east of Malta, he ob-
weed an unusual appearance right ahead, like a
/boa or broken water. He immediately hove-to and
vat in his boat to examine it, when it proved to be
a shoal of about 100 fathoms in diameter, having ea
it has ten feet to three fathoms, suddenly deepening
to 10, 20, 30 fathoms. The master said it appeared
like the summit of a sugar loaf mountain. This
was reported to the then admiral-superintendent
se Malta dockyard; and I believe that lieut. Graves,
then commanding the surveying vessel Mastiff; went
I. smirch of it, but without success. In addition to the
tostimony of the Austrian eaptaio, I saw an extract from
the log of a Maltese letter of marque, commanded by
Capt. Goffiero, in which was a statement of having
reen and sounded upon this sane shoal in the year
1808. Several other old seamen also asserted their
belief in the existence of this shoal. Since 1830
several captains have arrived, who have reported hav-
ing fallen in with a portion of a wreck, at about that
distance and bearing. Some have even hinted at a
shoal, but have been silenced by being told that no
" government surveyor" has ever yet been able to
discover it. All doubts about its existence most now
vanish, for here we have proof positive, in the shape
of a vessel with • hole in her bottom, caused by
striking upon it. Her Majesty's surveying
ship Velars will leave this on the 9th to
survey the island of Cyprus; probably Captain Graves
may receive orders from Admiral Harvey to seek for
it on his passage there. The Earl of Auckland has
discharged her cargo, and is to go into the dry dock
at the naval yard to be repaired. The schooner Dol-
phin, which took over die guns to Syracuse. has
returned to Malta, having landed them in safety.
They are mounted in the lighthouse battery, and in
tho battery near the fountain.
The Neapolitan consul here published a notice, on
27th ul'., that the port and gulf of Palermo, as well
es all others adjacent, will be closely blockaded by
the Neapolitan ships of war from the Ist of April,
1849, far the prevention of an importation of arms,
11131111nition, and warlike stores. This order has
ems& a little stir here, and raised a demand for all
the gnu, swords, powder, &c., that can be procured.
Upon the publication of the notice, the following letter
was addressed to the Secretary of Government:
Chamber of Commerce, Malta, March 27.
Mr--dlemeal of the Journals of this island have published
a miss hem the Camal-Gemaral of his Msjesty the King of
the Tmollisilies is Malta, for the purpose *intimates persons
be Wham that, hem the Ist of April next, the men *twat
of theltaniehtta navy monad Web& the putt of Palermo,
and elms adjutant, and well& she mums along the
isamen of Many to prweat the importation into that
Mel of mamta, arms, sod other articles of
weelboo. The shomber, reliestiog ea the *Odom cense-
r=othat wadi Noah to the omens= of this island
that, whim' the idol centime, what is
Motel is the shessaid nods* be carried into effect—
bee Akashi ear le whines peb he the purpose of requesting
yen le On us inserostiens ipso m imsmtsat a matter, that
:iemonttellbe sammenski sooM tholiarticulan of the
,so as to Me ablate tab es necessary user
sores oesid the of Si OMMOMITOiIIi relations
between Malta and y- have Si honour to be, Ms,
0. L. Sommumx, Sometery.—To the Hon. H. Imahloron,
Chief Setrotary to the Govenotont. die. ac.
Tho hawing is the answer to the above :
Chief Soareterroweles, Valletta, March 28, 1849.
Sir,— In reply to year lobar of yesterday's date, I am
gbeseed by H. Z. tbo rescuer to state to you, for the in-
feemedsm of the Chamber ef Cemmerse, that no oSeisi in-
timation has been naives by this goversatent regarding
the coNsmpiated blockade of Palermo alluded to.—l have
the Meer le be. he., , H. Luminaires Chiet Secretary to
Goosenmont To G. L. Scesuillu, Eq., Secretary to the
Chamber ef Coewasres

11e paidlisiion of this correspondence appears to
have opened the eyes of the Neapolitan consul, that
the proper channel of making his instructions known
would have been through the government to which
he was aecteiited, for he the next day sent a copy of

Le 24
joanalii, tits
imagine 0.-
-

to
Opt public
them? It eavilis4 to
Apia prom
did warding of *Vita in the
„ant die* and signature, oni is led to . that
the Neapolitan oonsuf oonaldered Malta In A Pet t and
parcel -tithe kingdom of Naples) the more especially
as he appeared to take no natio, of the gov.nment.
In ISW-this- aeltsame eosin( induced some of the
officials of our delectable oourt of justice here to cite
two -13iitish subjects to appear before the court of
Catania, in Sicily, there to be tried end adjudicated
for an alleged offence. For this the officials were
punished, and the consul got a wigging from General
Bouverie, tke then governor.
The Rev. Mr. Hatfield has resigned his situation'
as principal of the protestant school at St. Julian,
which has tuned out a complete failure, as far as re-
gards the expectation formed of ootaining filly or
a hundred rpholars. It has never numbered more than
a dosen pupils.
Warm weather is setting io, and our winter resi-
dents are leaving us fast. H.M S. Queen is hourly
expected from Palermo, on her way to England to be
paid off.
The mania of gold hunting has extended to the
usually unsraculatiog isle of Malta. An Eugltsh
brig, the Lord Bruce, Capt. G. Poole, has advertised
for passengers fur San Francisco, in Upper California.
Some forty ?enema are about to start with a full
cargo of masa oil, &c. They will leave on the
25th April.

• ATHENS, Miami 28.
Before Sir Edmund Lyons lett Athens for his new
appointment in Switzerland, he and Lady Lyons were
received in grand audience by Otho and his Queen.
His Majesty received Sir Edmund very affably and
I courteously, and expr, seed his regret at his departure
from his court; the Queen also received and treated
Lady Lyons very ersciously. The day following, Sir
Edmund dined wi h the King, and as there was
neither an English nor a Freneh steamer in the
Pincus, offered him the Greek steamer Otho to convey
him to the Isthmus of Corinth. Sir Edmund left on
the 26th, accompanied by a crowd of carriages to
the Pireus, where M. Thouvenel, the Frecoli
' minister, awaited to conduct him aboard in
a boat belonging to a French corvette. When
on board, he was received by Mr. Perriany, the
Russian minister; in fact, never has any foreign
minister been so honoured as Sir Edmund Lyons.
After crossing the Isthmus, Sir Edmund will embark
ia an Austrian Lloyd's steamer foe Trieste, touching
on his way at Pairs. and Corfu.
The ministry is falling to piece by degrees. M.
Bulgari had a set-to with the President of the Coun-
cil, and finding that be was no match for him at
" Bi,lingsgate," he asked for his discharge ; he has
contented to hold office until some one can be found
to relieve him. M. Glarakis, too, had a skirmish
with the President; in fact, the ministry is a perfect
Babel, or something worse.
The question of the re-establishment of the sup-
pressed convents continues to absorb all other ques-
tions with the public. Those who think correctly
see with sorrow that an important part of the pro-
perty of the state will fall into wicked and unpro-
fitable bands.
Robbery and peculation still flourish, especially in
Attics. A party was plundered a few days ago at
the village of Daphne, about five miles from Athena.
A deficiency of 15,000 drachmas in cash, and about
60,000 in bills or bank bonds, has been discovered
in the military chest at Athens. The ex-paymaster
general has been arrested and placed in confine-
ment. The reason why the heads of depart-
ments never grumbled at not receiving their salaries
is now apparent—they paid them-elves. This affair,
like a dozen others of the same sort, will be all hushed
up ; for no doubt, on investigation, some certain
names will appear to be so indirectly mixed up with
it, that "silence will be the better part of discretion."
Something is going on in continental Greece which
I cannot unfathorn at this moment. All the dis-
posable troops—horse, foot, and artillery—are march-
ing in that direction. The town of Vrachori is the
headquarters of Western Greece. Large b3dies of
frontier guards and gendarmerie are marching upon
other points of the continent.
Mr. Griffith remains as secretary of legation until
the arrival of Mr. Wyse.

CONSTANTINOPLE, MARCH 26.

After the excitement caused by the removal of
Riza Pacha, the orders far the augmentation of the
army, the calling in of all furloughs, and the refusal
of the Sublime Porte to allow the Russian fleet to
pees the Dardanelles—we have become quite calm
again. The premiums are all pretty tranquil, without
any apparent tendency to an outbreak.
It is a lucky thing for Turkey that the Russian in-
trigue to overthrow Reschid Pacha was diaooveted in
time. Had it succeeded, and Riza been installed in
his place, the Russians would have obtained all they
wished.
The fitting oat of the fleet goes on expeditiously.
It will be ready in April. Rifaat Pacha, the com-
mander-in-chief of the Turkish army in Moldavia,
arrived here • few days ago, and hal a long inter-
view with Reschid Pacha and the Sultan. Reouf
Bey has been appointed Pr. sident of the Admiralty,
vice Mahmond Pacha, appointed to another office.
Letters from Beyrout mention that 90 houses have
fallen at Beyrout, their foundations having been de-
stroyed by the waters. A great number have been
destroyed at Babba and Choutifet, as also some 200
at Z,hle, ',Rusted on a plain at the foot of Mount
L-benon, from whence the waters rushed in streams
like rivers from the late rains and melting of the
scow.

A letter from Galatz states that a quarantine of
three days has been established on the frontiers of
Moldavia and Wallachia : the regulations, even to
the government couriers, are strictly enlaced, ncder
the protection of guards of Russian troops.
Business lately has been brisker : about 4,000 qrs.
soft wheat have been sold for England, 16 piastres
ithe bushel, or 23.. the qr. Freight for same, 6s. to
16s. 3d. per qr. Three English vessels have chartered
to load ; one at Rerch, 50s. per ton ; two a, Az)ff at
603.; another to load in the Danube fur England at
lls. per qr. Aznff hard wheat is now 21 to 22 p.
the kilo; Bessarabia, 20 to 21; Roamelia, 18 to 19;
Ibraill, soft, 12 to 14 ; Roumelia, do., 16 to 124;
barley, 7 to 71 ; Indian corn, 12 to 13; rye, 9 to 10;
oats, 7 to 71; exchange on London, 110 p. the pound
sterling.