The Express.
London, England, 1853-10-27 00:00:00

tales of each other which nobody had suspected be- I
fore. Panic-stricken officials betray, by their eager
haste to soften or explain away their incautious
worth., the rigid discipline by which secretly
is cuforced within the prison walls. It is
apparent that the Winchester magnates fear
to have the light of day admitted to
their prison. But after the revelations that have I
taken place at Birmingham and Leicester such con-
cealment will not be endured. A scrutiny as public.
as unsparing, as that which visited Birmingham and
Leicester impends over Winohester. And the
nation will not tolerate any misjudging lenity to the
Hampshire magnates in the event of their being
proved to have offended. Neither, it may be added, ,
will the nation patiently endure the extension of
immunity from:punishment which it seems intended
to confer upon the convicted offenders of Birming-
ham. The abuses in prison discipline, which appear
to have spread so widely, must not bo merely
inquired into—they must be punished and reformed-
Lord PALNEKSTON, so vigorous in other things, will
surely see to this.

WE still get only " rumours " in place of " facts
frum Russia. its savage re glens yield only such in-
formation as itedespotic ruler chooses to have known-
We are now told that the CZAR will give way in the
Principalities rather than tight there. To this every

one is ready to respond : "Of course he will—if
obliged to do so." If the invader finds himself
likely to be beaten out—if he foresees in store the
punishment ho has so richly merited—he may be
glad enough to sneak back from the point he went np
to as a bully. It is stated also—and this rumour
comes recommended by its probability, and its coin-
cidence with certain statistical relations which have
been made public for some time—that the Russian
forces at present occupying the Principalities are in
a condition which ought to make the Autocrat
regret that he bad ever sent them there. It is stated
that they do not amount to anything like the vast
number that has before been alleged, and the forces'
which do exist are being decimated by disease. The
sanitary condition of the army is moat unsatisfactory.
A large proportion are in the hospitals, and supplies
are deficient. This condition of things affords matter
for grave consideration. It is well known that famine,
pestilence, and starvation, were the most potent allies
of the Turks in their last contest with Russia, and
that they would have been sufficient to turn the scale
of victory, had it not been for the operation of other

causes. Bat the Turks are in a far better condition
to make use of such allies now than they were at the
time spoken of. They had then nothing but the mere
skeleton of an incipient force. The national troops
had been slaughtered, and those who were to supply
their place hated the system under which they
were about to be trained, and of which they
had had scarcely any experience. All these condi-
tions are changed. The artillery, by the CZ.lled own
confession, is amongst the best in Europe. The in-
fantry and cavalry have been subjected to many years'
training. The national spirit is aroused. The troops
are burning for action. The general is impatient at
delay. All these are most important elements in
the decision of the most important contest which has
agitated Europe since the last grand settlement of its
destiny at Waterloo. If we are to credit these reports
of the weakened condition of the Itussian forces, both

u to number and efficiency,we find great hope for good
results should OMER PACRA cross the Danube. The
justice of the cause, the better condition of the
troop., their numerical superiority, and their
enthusiasm can scarcely fail of giving vic-
tory to the side which is in the right. Such a result
would be invaluable. A decisive battle in the Prin-
cipalities, ending in favour of the Turks, might be a
turning point in the history of the world. Scarcely
any one of the victories chronicled by Professor
CREASY as the decisive battles of the world would
surpass it in importance,—in the magnitude of its re-
sults. Dr. ARNOLD used to express in vivid terms
his delight at the discomfiture and slaughter by
ARMINJUS of the Roman Legions under VARI:S.
The Tories, both of the ancient and the modern world,
looked upon that defeat of the Romans as a rude stop
put to the progress of civilisation which was then
following the course of the Roman standard. Dr.
ARNOLD saw clearly enough that the march of
Roman civilisation meant nothing more than the
extension of Roman centralisation. Tho Romans

crushed out all nationality, brought all active life in
the subject nations within the attraction of one grand
system of centralisation, and then boasted that they
had done something towards the education of the
world. Their defeat by AIMINIUS stopped their
progress. It left, in spite of their partial success
afterwards, the northern nations in peace, to culti-
vate their strength and to prepare themselves for the
time when they should pour down upon the
effete Roman world, and inoculate Europe with
the idea of individual freedom. A defeat
of the Russians by OMER PACIIA would have a simi-
lar effect. It would put off for an indefinite period
the progress of Russia, which at the present moment
threatens the civilised world with greater danger
than those with which the nations of the old world

were menaced by the Romans. With a few excep-
tions the whole of the continent of Europe is subject
to despotic rule. It is the avowed object of the Cr.ut
to extend despotism. He believes it his minion.
Luckily at the present moment his opponents, the
Turks, give strong grounds for trusting that the
Autocrat may be interrupted in his course. Should
hostilities begin, a decisive victory obtained by
OYES, PACIIA la then to be looked forward to
with hope as one of the events which may take
rank in history with the great battle which left the
Greeks in peace to educate themselves, and the
future world—or that obtained by CONSTANTINE,
which left the government of the world in the hands
of Christians ; or that gained by QUILLS MARTEL,
which prevented the Saracens from overrunning
Europe; or that between the English and Spanish
fleets, which left England to be the nursing mother
of freedom and civilisation ; or in fact, any other
which has taken place at any crisis in history and
has influenced the destiny of nations for centuries.
The Principalities may thus become as memorable in
history as any other locality in which the battle of
humanity has been decided.

TTIE ARCTIC EXPEDITION.—The Lords of the Ad-
miralty have signified to Captain Inglefield, of the Ill.:mil:,
their "great satisfaction" at his proceedings. "My lords
highly approve of the firmnes., energy, and good judgment
with which you have carried out their instructions, a d of
all the steps you have taken in the execution of their
orders." Their lordships also signify " the deep regret
with which my lords bare heard of the untimely death of an
officer so math esteemed by them as Lieut. Bellot, of the
French navy."

FIZZ TN= FREETIOLD LAND SOCIETT.—Last
'Teals( S 11•111118111 I meeting of the members and supporters
of tale radish ess bald in the large room of the Whittington
Cluliztinthemielselmost, Strand, Mr. Wyld in the chair.
In the meeting, the chairman said the society
had adopted designation of "Free Trade," not with
any view te the pasmotioa of the walled political dogma
in its general Missitation, but only with a view to its pro.
motion in matter' of land, so that the middle and working
dams in this eaustry, by the possession of a right to the
asa, might be the better able to evince their attachment to
its govessmowt sod sesstitution. Col. Dickson, Mr. Grattan,
an other gentlemen addressed the meeting, and in the
course of the pesseedings, Mr. Martineau stated that the
subscribed capital of the society since August last had
amounted to 40,0001., and that two estates had been pur-
chased (for which a ballot to rights of choice took place at
the close of the meeting), one at Anerley, near the Crystal
Palace, and another near Canterbury. These would be
divided into lota of a quarter of an acre, and allotted to the
holders of forty shares.