The Express.
London, England, 1847-02-13 00:00:00

Now what are the facts? The Ariel, employed
to convey the mails from Alexandria to Malta, is one of
the fastest steamers in the world ; the Ardent,
employed to convey Lieutenant WACIIIORN'S
despatches to Trieste, is one of the slow'
Mediterranean packets. The average speed of
the Arid is from 12 to 14 miles an hour ;of
the Ardent from 7 to miles. As far as
the part of the journey performed by sea is
concerned it is Lieutenant WAGTIORN who has the
"difficulties to contend with." With regard to the
land carriage, we have only to remark that the postal
communication from Alexandria to Marseilles, and
thence to London, is an established organisation of
some standing in the hands of only two governments;
while Lieutenant IVaonofor has had to organise his
own services through a multiplicity of states. The
result is exactly what might have been anticipated on
the assumption that his route was naturally the best.
For the first four trials the competitors were neck and
neck. It was difficult to work the new and irre-
gularly organised line, while all went smooth
on the accustomed road. WAGTIORN won the
first heat ; the government mails the second and third,
each time by a few hours; WAGIIORN, the fourth, by
eleven hours ; and the fifth, by two days. But, beat-
ing or beaten at every successive trial, WAG-
HORN'S arrangements were working more freely, and
his three last trips have been characterised by steady
improvement, enabling him to bring out the capabili-
ties of his road. He has done this, too, be it re-
marked, under the greatest disadvantages he is ever
likely to encounter ; he has carried his despatches
swiftly and punctually across the Alps in the severest
I winter that has been experienced for twenty years.
We leave these facts to speak for themselves.
They place the merits of Lieutenant WAGIIORN, and
the importance of his services to his country, Ma clear
light. And these are, after all, the great questions for
the country. It is mortifying to our amour propre to I
our esprit du corps, to see the paltry spirit in which
the two contemporaries we have named tamper with
these truths. Poor DENNIS has long been a laughing-
stock for running sway from Dover, under the belief
that Louts XIV. had fitted out a man-of-war to cap-
ture him, and take revenge for his newspaper stric-
tures on the Grand Monarque. The attempt of the
Times and Herald to write down the Trieste route,
because it has been the means of mortifying their
vanity and convicting them of an error in judgment,
is in quite as magnificent a strain as Detcsts's flight.
But DENNIS had no reason to be ashamed of what he
had written : it might be petty in spirit, but it was
no statement of what was untrue, uttered to hide the
sale of stolen goods.

FRANCE.—HsvltE,FEß.lo.—Theroadathroughout
the whole province of Normandy have become, within these
few days, nearly impassable, from the great fall of snow,
which commenced on Monday night, and has continued almost
without intermission. The fill was preceded in the early
part of Monday night by a violent storm, that 'mused consi-
derable damage throughout the country. The night mail
front Paris did not reach Havre until near three o'clock in
the afternoon of Tuesday, although its usual time of arrival
is six o'clock in the morning. The violence of the wind was
so great on Monday night that it carried away nearly the
entire roof of extensive buildings used as smiths' workshops
for the Paris and Rouen railway. The buildings are situated
at Sotterille, on the very edge of the railway, within half a
league of the Rouen station; and the roof, u it was blown
away, was carried upon the vii,, thus blocking up the
passage of the trains. On the approach of the train, fortu-
nately the obstacle was noticed. This detained the train
near four hours.
CORN IlloTs. —A battalion of infantry was recently
sent from the Havre garrison to Caen. This gave rise to
rumours, which appeared in several journals, of food riots
having taken place there ; but those rumours were entirely
unfounded. The troops were sent to Caen to replace the
garrison that bad been removed thence in the direction of
Rennes and St. Malo, riots having actually taken place in
the departments of Ile at Vilaino and the lower part of Cal-
vados. In consequence of this withdrawal of troops, the
Guard National of Havre has been called upon to do garri.
son duty.
RUSSIA AND POLAND. It is stated that the
Russian government has removed all prohibitions of imports,
and have considerably lowered the tariffs in the provinces
beyond the Caucasus. This measure will be of great inte-
rest to German commerce.

SWITZERLAND.—BERNE.—Advices from Swit-
zerland continue to arrive, and to be regarded with much
anxiety by all who desire the maintenance of tranquillity in
Europe. The concentration of the Austrian troops on the
frwatters of the canton of Ticino caused the government of
that canton 'to send M. Pioda, councillor of state, to Berne
to communicate with the Vorort on that subject. Y. Pioda
bad arrived at Berne on the 3rd, and had several interviews
between that and the Bth with the president of the
directory. Explanations had been previously demanded
of the Austrian cabinet respecting these military pro-
ceedings, to which answers had not yet arrived, but
it was believed in the meanwhile that it was agreed
that the cantonal government of Ticino should be
prepared for the contingency of military intervention.
Dissentious had broken out between the Vomrt and the
cantonal government of Schvyz on the subject of the answer
made by the former to the note of the three powers. Tho
operation of the French law and ordonnances of the 30th
Jan., suspending the transmission of grain and cereal supplies
across the frontier has severely affected those districts of
Switzerland, bordering on France, which hitherto bad de-
rived their supplies of grain from the latter country. The
executive council of the Canton of Berne has been forced
into a similar measure, and has published an ordonnance
forbidding the exportation of all farinaceous productions until
the last day of July next.