The Express.
London, England, 1847-02-24 00:00:00

lege of Physicians has recently gone so far as to refuse
a license to practise in London to members to whom
it had previously granted a license to practise in
the country ; thus absurdly announcing that her
Majesty's subjects require different medical treat-
ment in Loudon from that which they require in the
country.
We would not charge upon the individuals con-
stituting the executive of those institutions all
the blame of the present unsatisfactory state of 1
medical law : we do, however, accuse them of an
attempt to support those privileges which the
ignorance and the necessities of past times have
conferred upon them, and of attempting to frus-
trate the introduction of those measures of reform
which the present state of society and the practise of
medicine in this country alike require. For the last
twenty years various attempts have been made to
place the medical profession in a position which
their important services in the community
I demand; but they have failed, not because'
public opinion has been opposed to them, or the great
bulk of medical men themselves, but on account of
the opposition of the few irresponsible examining
medical boards. Every session of parliament has
opened with the promise of some efficient measure of
medical reform, and has closed with its defeat.'
During the last session Sir JAMES GRAHAM took
this subject under his especial care ; but although
he worked very hard, he failed to please all
parties, and withdrew his bill. Mr. VARLET,
who took a principal part in opposing Bic
JAMES GRAHAM'S bill, has promised to take
up the subject this year, and has made public
the draft of a Medical Registration Bill which he in-
tends to bring before the house. In the meantime,
the College of Physicians and a new corporation, the
National Institute of Medical Practitioners, have pre-
sented memorials to Sir G. GREY. Mr. WAKI.ET'S
bill is a comprelicns;ve measure of medical reform.
The memorial of the College of Physicians prays for
another charter, with a renewal of its peculiar privi-
leges somewhat more adapted to the spirit of the
present day. The memorial of the Institute seeks the
establishment of another medical body with power to
examine practitioners of medicine. We shall refer to
these on another occasion.

We have received our l'aris Express of Monday.
A ball given by the lady of the British Ambassador
at Paris has been rnsendied by the phantasmagoria
.e
of party to the dimensions of n great political event;
the cards of invitation have been laid before a
I cabinet council, and the question of acceptance or
I refusal gravely delrted ! This is no exaggeration,
but the literal truth. The subject, moreover, has in a
great measure engrossed the columns of the leading
' journals, and exercised the abilities of the most emi-
nent publicists of the moat enlightened city of conti-
nental Europe. The report of the impending depar-
ture of the ambassador, which had been generally
credited on the preceding days, was definitively con-
tradicted on Monday. The ambassador continues in
the Faubourg St. Honors, and a cordon sandoirc is
drawn between that and the gnarlier des affaires
eirongOrcs.
At the Cabinet Council, nt which it was resolved
to decline in a body the invitation to the British
Embassy, two members, Marshal Soult, the president
and nominal premier, and M. Duchatel, the Minister
of the Interior, manifested much hesitation before
they yielded to persuasion to acquiesce in the decision
of the majority of their colleagues. When the deter-
mination was finally tsken,tiiese ministers respectively
addressed apologies for their absence to the noble host
and hostess, conceived in those terms which the utmost
politeness and urbanity suggested.
An approaching change is announced in the
cabinet. M. Passy will, as is supposed, succeed
M. Lacave Laplagne in the department of Finance.
M. de Salvandy will replace Admiral Mackau in
the Marine, and will be succeeded by M. Liadieres
in Public Instruction. General Schramm will take
the portfolio of War, M. Hebert that of Justice,
and M. Muret de lord that of Agriculture and
Commerce.

Count Walcwski has been nominated to the mis-
sion to La Plata, to co-operate with Lord Ilowden.
Don Enrique arrived at Toulon on the 17th, aad is
hourly expected in Paris.
The opening of the railway from Amiens to Abbe-
ville, which bad been announced for the Ist of March,
will not take place till the 15th.
The anxiety which we have frequently noticed re-
specting the question of subsistence, continues to be
painfully felt in the highest quarters. The impossi-
bility of obtaining any reliable data as to the actual
amount of subsistence at present iu the country com-
plicates the embarrassment. Meanwhile, the rise in
the market is steadily progressive and general through-
out the country. Within the radius which supplies
Paris, the rise in the last week has been from 11 to -1j
per cent. on the actual prices. A few of the markets
have not risen but none have fallen. It was
expected that the arrivals at llavre and other ports
would have lowered the adjacent markets, but this
hope has been disappointed. The grain is absorbed
as fast as it arrives; the demands are incessant, the
smaller farmers having nothing in their granaries,
and the larger proprietors having sold two-thirds of
their stock. Flour sells at present in Paris at 98 to
105 francs the sack of 157 kilogs., being at the rate
of from 265. to 28s. per cwt. The price of bread in
Paris for the first fortnight in March will be raised
to 55 cents per kilog., being equivalent to 'Lid. per
lb. exactly.

We have received the Madrid mail of the IGth inst.

The Gazette of that date contained the royal
decrees accepting the resignation of General Pavia,
and appointing in his stead, as Minister of War,
Don Marcellino Oraa. Another royal decree
appoints Don Alexandro Olivari Minister of Marine.
It was reported at Madrid that the Queen Mother
was to leave for Paris immediately, owing to a
rumoured indisposition of the Duchess of Mont-
pensier.
The Duke of Saragossa, D. Jose de Palafox y
Melei, died of apoplexy on the morning of the 15th.
the 16th being Mardi Gras, the Bourse was closed.

GERMANY.—HAMBURG, FEB. 18.—The lames
of ice at Wittenberg, which had been set afloat by the tide
yesterday afternoon, have been again firmly settled there
by the east ebb tide. In consequence of this, the exit of the
ice on this side is impeded, and it will be some days before
we can look for any improvement, oven should the present
mild weather continue.

CRACOW, FEB. 12.—General Rudiger, commander
of the Russian troops on our frontiers, is at present here,
but we are ignorant of the character is which he has come
to us, whether as a private individual, to share in the files
of the Carnival, or in his capacity of a Raul= general and
the commander of a large body of troops. Large reinforce-
ments of troops have been dispatched from Galicia to the
Prussian frontiers, and it is currently reported that the half
of the very strong garrison of our town will shortly take its
departure, with several cannon. Apprehensions seem to be
everywhere entertained of some senous outbreaks on the
side of Austria. We have the best authority for stating that
Castiglione has given orders that all the military in garrison
here shall be in readiness to march at a minute's notice;
only one-half are permitted to go to sleep every night, and
both the officers and men hare been enjoined to observe the
stricrostpunctuality, vigilance, and order.—German Paper.
RUSSIA.—THE GRECO-RUSSIAN CHURCII.—Ths
Emperor of Russia has recently issued a decree, the object of
which is to prevent proselytism in favour of any other re-
ligion than the Greco-Raman. The first article declares
that any person abjuring the Greco-Russian religion shall
he placed at the disposal of the ecclesiastical authorities,
shall be disinherited by such of his relations as profess that
relision, shall have all his fortune placed under control,
and shall not be allowed to reside in the district in which his
property is situated. if he returns within the bosom of the
Established Church, these penalties arc to cease ; but if he
does not return within the time Bred by the ecclesiastical
authorities, he is to be cited before a criminal tribunal, which
cannot inflict a penalty less than that of perpetual detention is
a convent, with unceasing sets of penitence and contrition.
The fourth article provides that whoever shall deliver dis-
courses, or publish writings calculated to MUM persons who
belong to the GrecL-Russian Church to abandon their faith,
shall lon the prerogatives of his rank, and be condemned
to from one to two years' imprisonment. if the same
offence be committed twice, the delinquent is to be con-
demned to the loss of civil rights. and to hard labour in a
fortress for from four to six years ; if a third time, he is to be
exiled in Siberia, and, in addition to all this, he is to receive
the knout if he belongs to the clauses subject to cur.
poral punishment. Article 6 declares that fathers and
mothers belonging to the Greco-Russian Church, who shall
cause their children to be baptised in another form of faith,
shall be punished with two years' imprisonment, and shall
have their children taken from them, and educated by
other members of their family of the Greco-Russian reli-
gion; and in case there be no relations of that creed,
then by persons nominated by the government. Any
person preventing a member of another religion from
, embracing the Greco-Russian, is to be imprisoned for several
months.—Galignani.
THE CAUCASUS.--A correspondent writes, on the
Bth, from Warsaw to the German Journal of Frankfort,
that great preparations are being made for the nest cam-
paign
in the Caucasus, and that a very large supply of