The Express.
London, England, 1865-12-18 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 18, 1865.

money market becomes disturbed the result is •
weakening of confidence, and ooniequently of
credit. A trader who can obtain a reasonable
amount of accommodation at 6 per cent., finds it
very difficult when the rate has risen to 7. This is
especially the case, as we have already had ocossion
to remark,when the firm isof fair standing but not of
first-class reputation. At the present moment the
terms in the general diesonnt market are higher
than at the Bank, not from want of money, but
from excessive caution. It is very well known that
the supply of capital in all quartets is large, but
there is scarcely any disposition to lend. Every-
one is waiting for the Bank rate to be up to 7 per
sent., with the natural desire of securing the
largest profits possible. A first-class banker might,
perhaps, be able to borrow considerable sums, for
a few days only, at 5i per cent., but for ordinary
three months' trade bills it would be difficult to
obtain discount at Gk. It is in this manner that
the general commerce of the country is constantly
being checked. A series of operations highly ad-
vantageous in themselves, but causing for • time •
drain upon the specie reserve of the Bank of Eng-
land, act in precisely the same way es • real
diminution in the resources of the nation.
When we consider the wealth of England and
the large amount of capital that is being accumu-
Lated from year to year, it seems strange that a
temporary withdrawal of 700,0001. from the Bank
should exercise so great an effect. It is equally
singular that any stress should be laid upon the
arrival of the Great Britain from Australia because
she carries 500,0001. in gold. To say the lesat,
it appears humiliating that the position of the
greatest commercial country in the world should
be really affected by the voyage of one gold ship.
The fact nevertheless remains that the Great Bri-
tain is looked for with no little anxiety, and that
any delay in her arrival might be easily productive
of serious consequences. The same thing occurred
at the commencement of October, when it is not
too much to say that two gold ships from Mel-
bourne and the packet from the West Indies
brought sufficient specie to save us from what was
very nearly a commercial crisis. The Great Britain
will hardly arrive at as opportune a moment, but
will be the no leas welcome. No surer proof
could be given of the fallacies upon which our
currency system is based than the extraordinary
interest that attaches to the shipments of bullion
from Australis and America, while no attention
whatever appears to be paid to the possibility of
obtaining supplies from our nearest neighbours.

make way for • militia ship nada all eircumstancies
sad conditions of wind, tide, end course, and ser
seeding to this rile the final came of the aogidona
or Wrilloriff night, Rate not with lie barque bat with
the stingray. Oa such • night an old and experienced sailer,
having only his ship's safety and his own to provide for,
would here waited for daylight to wow the Shahs, bat
the travelling public combining with the ignoesnos of
landsmen the impatience and recklessness of their Taos,
will have their twelve knot* an hour in a fog, and if they
occasionally come to grief they have themselves to thank
for it, not the oeptein of the steamer who takes them over
safely ninety-nine times in • hundred.
The Post aye the public for some time to come will feel
ooesiderable timidity, and it must be admitted that
the conditions for iuspiring confidence are lamentably
deficient, whether in the steamers themselves or in
their general belongings. Both the Daily News and
the Post notice with sympathy Mr. Fowler's project,
now before parliament, for building boats large and strong
enough to allow the railway carriages, with their paean.
' gers and luggage, to be put bodily on board, to lift them
off their wheels and hoist them up and down from the rails
• to the deck, and thus transport them from one shore to the
. other, so that the whole distance between Loud= and Paris
may be compassed hi some eight hours. By this means, cold,
wet, and sea !dams' will become things unknown on the
Channel purge.

lIISCILLANSOUS TOPICS.
The Times sees a controversy rising respecting re-
form, which may end in an agitation, and wishes to ask
what the leading idea of the bill is to be, trusting that it
will contain no startling innovations on our old system ; ne
intention, on the face of it, to transfer the go.
vernment of this country sad its numerous poets
of public responsibility to a lower class of men ;
DO intention to give labourers greater immunity
in poaching ; no intention to enable working men and arti-
ma to dictate terms to their employers and lay down
laws for trade. Than in plenty of work for a reform bill
without venturing upon • single new principle, or even
attempting to alter the social position of a single clam.
The Telegraph praises Mr. Seymour Fitzgerald for the
argumentative and dispusionate character of his late
speech, and proceeds to reply to some of his arguments
against lowering the suffrage.
The Daily News is surprised that Sir Robert Clifton
should have made still more prominent by a trial in a court
of jostles the odious scenes, the rioting, the destruction of
property, and every species of outrage committed by his
"lambs" at the Nottingham election in the summer. The
Legume of the Pafriot was unneeemarily offensive, but
imputations much more grave, and words much more
serious, had been applied to him in a local journal.
Sir Robert acknowledged that he said at a public
meeting, " Shame on the mayor ; shame on the
magistrates ; damnation to them." And this is the man
who brings an action for libel ! Again, in the course of
the election, the committee-room of Messrs. Morley and
Paget was gutted by Sir Robert Clifton's men, and
Sir Robert acknowledges that he said that it
served them right. If a " desperado and lawless rowdy "
had been in Sir Robert Clifton's place at the Notting-
ham election, weld be have done more than cures the
magistrates and give his approval to riot and outrage ! If
Sir Robert had been well advised after the election he
would have kept clear of the law courts. He came before
the Court of Exchequer as a country militiaman and landed
proprietor to oomplain of wrongs which, supposing the
jury to have taken his view of their nature and extent,
could not be redressed except by the award of exemplary
damages ; and he has gone away, situ making most
humiliating admissions in the witness box, with just fifty
A sterling.

LTZI3T INTELLIGENCE.

(asovas ennuis.)
BELGIUM.
SPEECH OF KING LEOPOLD IL
BRUSSELS, D. 18.
The presentation of addresses to the King by
the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies took
place yesterday evening. The Queen, the royal
children, and the Count of Flanders stood by the
King, and the foreign Princes were prompt.
The Prinoe de Ligne read the address of the
Senate, which expressed sympathy in the loss
which his Majesty had (suffered, but congratulated
him upon his accession to the throne. The address
further announced the unalterable devotion of the
Senate, and concluded with expressions of homage
to the Queen.
The deputies were immediately afterwards ad-
mitted to the royal presence, and the President
read their address, in which they assured the King
of the attachment of the Belgian people to the con-
stitution, and its deep love for his dynasty.
The address also expressed the conviction that
the King would preserve that which the courage of
the people had founded, and the wisdom of King
Leopold I. consolidated.
The King returned the following reply :
Gentlemen,—Belgium like myself has lost • father. The
unanimous homage which the natioe renders to his memory
fittingly responds to the affection which he cherished for it
during life. I am touched as wall as grateful on this
soootint. Europe herself has not remained indif-
ferent to this mourning : the foreign sovereigns
and prinoes have desired to participate in the
lest honours that we render to him whom they placed
so high in their confidence and friendship. In my own
name, and in the name of Belgium, I thank them. Suc-
ceeding today to a father so honoured during life, so re-
gretted after death, my first undertaking, before the elect of
the nation, is religiously to follow the precepts and example
which his wisdom has bequeathed to me, and never to forget
the duties that are imposed upon me by this precious in.
baritones. If I neither promise Belgium • great reign,
like that which founded its independence, nor a great
King like him whom we mourn, I at least promise the
country a King—Belgian in heart and soul, whose whole
life belongs to it.
The first King of the Belgians to whom Belgium has
given birth, I have shared since childhood all the patriotic
emotions of my mmitry. With it I have joyfully followed
that national development which fecundises in its bosom all
the sources of strength and prosperity. Like it, I
love the great institutions which at once guarantee order
and liberty, and constitute the most solid basis of the
throne. In my thoughts, the future of Belgium has always
been connected with my own ; sad I have always considered
it with the confidence inspired by the right of a free,
honest, and courageous nation, who desire independence,
who have known how to achieve and show themselves
worthy of it, and will be able to preserve it.
I have not forgotten, gentlemen, the marks of goodwill
I received at the period of my majority, when I came to
share your legislative labours, and upon my marriage
some months subsequently, with • Princess who
enters into all my feelings towards the country
and instils them in the hearts of our children.
It has been very gratifying to me to witness
in these spontaneous manifestations the unanimous
accord of the populations. For my part I have never
made say distinction among Belgians. All devoted
to their country, I include them all in one common
affection. My constitutional mission places me above the
conflict of opinions, leaving the country itself to decide
between them. I earnestly desire that their differences'
may always be tempered by that spirit of national fraternity
which now unites around the eons banner all the children
of the Belgian family.
Gentlemen,—During the last 35 years Belgium has wit-
nessed the accomplishment of overate that in a country of
similar extent to ours have rarely been realised by a
single generation. But the edifice whose foundations have
been laid by the Congress can be raised and will be raised
still higher. My sympathetic osuctirrenm is assured to all
who shall devote to this work their intelligence and
labour. It is by persisting in this course of
activity and wise progress, that Belgium will still more
solidly establish her institutions at home, and will preserve
that esteem abroad of which the powers guaranteeing her
independence and other foreign states have never eased to
afford, and now again renew benevolent testimony.
In amending the throne my father said to the Belgians :
"My heart knows no other ambition than that of seeing
you happy."
Those words, justified by his whole reign, Ido not fear to
repeat in my own name.
God has graciously granted the prayer they expressed.
May He hear it again to-day. May Hs render me the
worthy successor of my father—and I beseech Him, from
the bottom of my heart, may He continue to protect our
dear Belgium.

FRANCE.

PARIS. DEC. 18.

The Moniteur of this morning publishes a report
of the deliberation of the Council of the Academy
in the case of the five medical and two legal
students who took part in the congress at Liege.

THE DANUBIAN PRINCIPALITIES.
BUCHAREST, DEC. 1i

Prince Couza has made a speech, in which he
declared that he was always ready to abdicate if
his retirement could assure the realisation of the
wishes of the country ; that he had proclaimed his
readiness to do so when only a simple deputy, and
repeated it now after his double election.
The speech elicited enthusiastic applause.

SWITZERLAND.
BERNE, Die. 18.

Large populous meetings were held yesterday at
Langenthal in the Canton of Berne, and at Coire
in the Grissons, when resolutions were passed in
favour of summoning the Federal Assembly for
the object of again revising the constitution.

THE FUNERAL OFBELGIANS. THE LATE KING OF
THE

The solemn funeral of the late King Leopold
took place on Saturday in the presence of an
immense concourse gathered together from all parts
of Belgium. The route which the cortege followed
was thronged with sympathetic groups. At about
10 in the morning the foreign ministers in mourning
carriages, the public bodies, and deputations from
the provinces commenced arriving at the
palace, where they were ranged in order.
About 11 the new king entered the first
saloon, where the diplomatic corps were assembled.
His royal highness was accompanied by his brother,
the Count of Flanders, the King of Portugal, the
Prince of Wales, the Crown Prince of Prussia,
Prince Arthur, the Duke of Cambridge, Prince
Auguste of Saxony, the Duke d'Aumale, the Duke
de Nemours, the Prince de Joinville, the Archduke
Joseph of Austria, and Prince Louis of Hesse. The
Emperor of the French was represented by the Duke
de Bassano, the Queen of England by Lord Seymour,
the Queen of Prussia by Count Hompech, and
the Emperor of Austria by Field-Marshal Nesperg.
The entire Diplomatic Corps was there, with the
exception of the Nuncio, whose absence occasioned
much remark. The catholic clergy of Belgium,
however, were represented by their archbishops and
bishops, who saluted the King and then withdrew,
not entering with the rest the chapeile ardente.
The King, followed by the princes and his family,
then proceeded to the ball where the body was
lying. The chaplain of the late King, K. Becker,
they delivered a funeral oration, in which he said
that the grief of the Belgians would not discourage
them in maintaining either their independence
or their liberty. Sixteen non-commissioned offi-
cers belonging to the different corps of the army
then raised the coffin and placed it upon the funeral
car, • veritable monument, designed with great
art, which was drawn by eight horses, preceded by
the bodies of the state, and followed by the King and
the other personages already mentioned to Laeken.
Amongst the carriages was especially noticed that
of the English Minister in a splendid mourning
livery of black and silver. The functionaries and
provincial bodies followed on foot. The cords of
the car were held by the President of the Senate,
the President of the Chamber of Deputies, the
Minister of Foreign Affairs, the Minister of
Justice, the General-in-Chief of the Civic Guard,
and the Commandant of the Territorial Division
of Brabant. The journey from Brussels to Laeken
occupied upwards of three hours. Most of the
route is lined with houses, and the balconies were
all hung with black. Outside this line, kept
by the civic guard on one side and the regular
troops on the other, was an immense crowd, sorrow-
ing and silent.
The body was placed in the vault of the church
of Laeken, where reposes that of the Queen
Louise; but, the late King having been a protestant,
a large chapel had been specially erected, in
the form of a parallelogram. After the
psalms had been sung a second funeral oration,
shorter than the first, was pronounced by M.
Vent, president of the Lutheran Consistory. A
prayer and some funeral chants terminated the
ceremony. The coffin was carried into the
family vault by a special entry which had been
made in the wall of the church, where it was placed
on the right of that of the Queen of the deceased
monarch.
King Leopold IL, the Count of Flanders, and
the King of Portugal took a farewell look into the
grave before leaving the cemetery, and a canticle
was very sweetly sung by the members of the
Brussels Musical Society. The inscription on the
coffin is as follows :
S. M. LEOPOLD I.
George Chretien Frederic,
Roe dee Beiges. ,

By the time of the return of the cavalcade nearly
all the symbols of mourning had disappearel from
the city, and the tradespeople and householders
were busily testing, for the morrow, the trans-
parencies and gas inscriptions bearing the brilliant
letters, " Viva Leopold IL"

,-(THIS DAY.)
la. • A.M.