The Express.
London, England, 1867-10-18 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 18, 1867.

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN COI

PARIS, THURSDAY Entrinta.

The ministers assembled in council at 2 o'clock
yesterday afternoon, at the Palace of St. Cloud,
under the presidency of the Emperor, all the
minister; except M. Duruy being present. There
is no truth in the statement of an evening paper
that a meeting of the Privy Council had been
called.

With regard to the prolongation of the existence
of the Universal Exhibition, which the Libert4 and
some other journals stated was to remain open to
tho public until the 17th of November, the
Etendard says that no decision to that effect has
yet been come to, at the same time intimating that
such a step is in contemplation, and that the
question will shortly be determined.
Yesterday a young lady of rare beauty and dis-
tinguished manners, about 18 years of age, com-
m suicide by throwing herself from the
summit of the column in the Place Vendome, and
died in a few minutes. In her pocket were &rea-
ctions, written in pencil, that she should be con-
veyed to her mother, whose address in Paris was
given, and the unfortunate girl at the same time
bogged that the said catastrophe should be broken
to her parent as gently as possible The cause
which led to the rash act is not known, but it is
said to be connected with a love affair. This is the
second suicide within six weeks from the top of
this lofty monument ; and it is somewhat singular
that the unhappy lady fell precisely on the same
spot within the rails where a young man who pre-
ceded her in the terrific leap was dashed to pieces.
I The Bourse was much agitated to-day. The
market opened badly, and went on from bad to
worse. Tho action that would be taken by the
French government in Italy was the subject of very
general and excited discussion. The Bente, which
opened at 67fr. 20c., closed at 66fr. 05c., a decline
of 80c. Italians began at a fall of 70c., and
finished with a further depreciation at 43fr. 40c.
The value of all securities went down, without ex-
ception.

BANQUET TO THE EARL OF DERBY AT

MANCHESTER.

MANCHESTER, THURSDAY NIGHT.

The grand banquet to the Earl of Derby and
her Majesty's ministers, for which preparations on a grand
scale have been so long made by the conservative party in
Manchester, took place this evening in the Free Trade
Hall. Covers were laid for 900 guests, and the galleries of
the spacious hall, which was most tastefully decorated,
were crowded with ladies connected with the leading con-
servative families of the county and city. The Countess
of Derby was present.
The Hon. A. EGERTON, M.P. for South Lancashire,
presided. Mr. W. R. Callender, jun., and Mr. Hugh
Birley occupied the vice-chairs.
The guests at the principal tables, in addition to the
noble Premier, who sat on the right of the chairman, were
the Earl of Malmesbury, Lord Stanley, H.P., Sir John
l'akington, M.P., the E►rl of Mayo, M.P., Lord J. Man-
ners, M.P., the Right Hon. C. B. Adderley, M.P., Colonel
Wilson Patten, M.P., the Bight Hon. J. Mowbray, M.P.,
the Earl of Wilton, Earl Vane, the Earl of Denbigh, the
Earl of Shrewsbury and Talbot, Lord Ernest Vane, Sir J.
Fergusson, M.P., Sir J. H. Maxwell, Sir Thomas Hesketh,
M.P., the Solicitor-General for Scotland, the Solicitor-
General for Ireland, Sir J. Yorke Scsrlett, Meson. E. C.
Egerton, M.P., S. R. Graves, M.P., Charles Turner, H.P.,
Colonel Taylor, M.P., Colonel Gray, MY., Joseph
Fielding, M.P., G. Greenall, M.P., N. Bakersley, H.P.,
Hon. F. Stanley, M.P., W. H. Hornby, M.P., Viscount
Nevill, Sir J. Garvock, Messrs. H. C. Racks, W. B.
Ferran& Admiral Hornby, Rev. Canon Hornby, the Areh-
deacon of Manchester, Messrs. T. C. Wilkinson,
C. A. Steward, W. S. Sawyer, Joseph Fenton,
Thomas Matter, H. Gartride, James Tyre, Wil-
liam Gibb, R. S. Bowler, Q.C., C, Temple, Q.C.,
T. W. Tattoo, \V. J. Legh, J. W. Maclere,
John Monk, Q.C., General the Hon. James Lind-
say, Colonel Wroughton, and the Rev. Canon Birch.
The noble Premier and his colleagues on taking their
seats were received with several rounds of enthusiastic
applause.
The usual loyal toasts having been proposed from the
chair, and enthusiastically responded to, the Chairman
proposed " The Army, Navy, and Volunteers."
Sir JOHN PAKINUTON acknowledged the toast on behalf
of the army.

The Earl of SHREWSBURY also in replying to the toast
said, that as an independent member of the House of Lords
he considered the course taken by the noble earl st the
head of the government with respect to reform as most
patriotic and honourable, and he, for one, gave him hearty
thanks for it. The whigs having failed to redeem the
pledges which they had put into the month of the sovereign,
it became the imperative duty of the noble earl to try and
redeem those pledges, and to retrieve the good faith of par-
liament. In that attempt the noble earl and his colleagues
had most happily succeeded. (Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN next proposed the toast of the evening—
" The Health of the Earl of Derby, Prime Minister of
England."
The toast was drank with great enthusiasm ; and
The Earl of DERBY, on rising to respond, was received
with a perfect ovation, the whole assembly, including the
ladies in the side galleries, rising en masse, and waving hand-
kerchiefs and favours. The noble earl proceeded to ex-
press his regret at the absence of his colleague (Mr.
Disraeli) to whose tact, temper, and judgment the
success of the arduous undertaking of last session was
mainly owing. With regard to his (Lord Derby's) action
during the cotton famine there were many others to whom
gratitude was much more due, as they could less easily
afford the time. The sympathy of the manufacturers and
' the patience of the hands during that period had struck
him as • matter of peculiar consolation. Coming to poli-
tical subjects the noble earl said that the liberal party
had for years and years been talking about reform, but
" Unhappily, their efforts have been confined to talk.'
The conservatives had never, as a body, been opposed to a
safe and liberal measure of reform. He complained that
the late government did not fix on any definite principle
on which to establish reform, and that they made the mis-
take of imagining they had the power of driving the Holm.
of Commons into the adoption of their measure. Having
alluded to the circumstances under which the present go-
vernment abandoned their minor and inferior measure and
adhered to that larger and infinitely more satisfactory one,
which, be was happy to say, was now the law of the land,
the noble lord proceeded to express his conviction that
the wage-paid classes are loyal to the throne and in-
stitutions of the country. They would rise as a man
to defend the throne—they did not desire, as • body, to
subvert an established church, which of all establishments '
known on the face of the earth is the moat tolerant and
the most liberal—they had a deep respect for old esta-
blished families—they did not desire to alter the constitu-
tion of the House of Lords—and they entertained a deep
appreciation of the legislative wisdom of the House of Com-
mons. His lordship then proceeded to warn the working
classes against returning special representatives to parlia-
ment or entertaining any expectation that parliament
would pass any measure attemptieg to regulate the rate
of wages. " Don't let me be misunderstood,"
continued the noble earl, " I am no adversary or
opponent of trades unions. I think that confined to their
legitimate object they are useful and salutary instruments
for maintaining the rights of the labouring classes—
(cheers)—and 43 years ago I was a member of the House
of Commons which first recommended and succeeded in
carrying the abolition of those laws which made it illegal
for workmen to agree to combine together
not to work under a certain amount of wages.
I therefore hope that what I say may be understood as
not proceeding from one who desires to oppress the work-
ing men. I say chat even strikes, objectionable as they
are in principle, and injurious as they are to the working
classes, are not an illegitimate or illegal mode of proceed-
ing ; I say that if capital and labour cannot agree toge-
ther, the only mode of bringing them together is
the absence of one or the other—the capital to
employ the labour, or the labourer to give the
capital. I go further, and I say that so long as trades
unions are charitable associations, and their contributions
go to the relief of those who are thrown out of work by no
fault of their own, they are unobjectionable and meri-
torious ; but from the disclosures we have recently heard
it appears the y have gone far beyond those acts. Ido not
mean to refer to those gross acts of intimidation, picketing,
rattening, and acts leading to murder ; they are seta
which no persons will defend, and the members of tholes'
unions themselves shrink from acknowledging their par-
tieipation in them. (Hear, hear.) I say that these 1101041iL•
tions go beyond their limits when they agree not only
themselves not to work, but to prevent and intimidate
other persons from working. For my own part, looking to
the public and private interests of the members, I cannot
for the life of me understand how English workmen,
entitled to make the most of their own industry and
science, can submit to the tyranny under which they
are groaning. (Cheers.) Gentlemen, the whole course of
our legislation for the last, I won't say how many years,
has been a protest against class legislation. It has been
an argument in favour of the free admission of all foreign
goods ; an argument in favour of free trade ; an argument
opposed to all class protection. Wh►t would you say if
in this city of Manchester government were to impose,
as in continental cities, an octroi duty on the importation
of every article of agricultural produce ? The whole city
would be in an uproar ; and yet you submit to the bye.
laws of associations which say that not only shall
a tax be paid, but not • single brick shall be laid
in Manchester that is imported—not from a foreign
country—from beyond a single district—even beyond
the breadth of a canal. We are speaking here in the Free
Trade-hall. What do you say of bye-laws which say that
not a stone shall be worked in a quarry to save an enor-
mous additional amount of labour in carting it to the place
where it is to be deposited, but that it shall be brought in
bulk and worked by the workmen, and if it should have
been worked in the quarry, then the farce is to be gone
through of working it again by workmen in Manchester ?
If this system is to prevail, what is to be-
conic of our threshing-machines and our steam
ploughs, our mowing and reaping machines!
You would have to resort to your old flail and other oboe-
tete implements, and in manufactures to old hand-loom
weaving : you would have to do away with the power•lmm