The Express.
London, England, 1860-09-12 00:00:00

FRENCH INTERVENTION.

The following statement was published by Le
Nord in a very prominent =Liner in its paper of
Tuesday
" We have been for several days in possession of
an important communication, which we have hesi-
tatsi until now to insert, notwithstanding the con-
fidence we hme in the correspondent by whom it is
transmitted to us. We give it to-day, after
having received from him a confirmation of its cor-
rectnass. It appears, moreover, to us to be enough
in keeping with the present situation of affairs.
" It relates to an arrangement under three heads,
which has quite recently taken place between Eng-
land, Austria, and Prussia, and which has for its
object to prevent any ulterior intervention of
France, by arms, whether in Italy or elsewhere.
The three points referred to are these :—The throe
powers would engage—
" Ist. To oppose any military intervention of
France in Italy, under whatsoever pretext.
" 2ud. To oppose any other military intervention
of France in Europe without a previous under-
standing with the powers.
"3rd. To oppose any territorial extension of
France, whether by means of conquest or of bargain.
"If we publish to-day. these particulars, which
have been in our possession for several days past,
it is because we have ground for believing that we
are not alone in our knowledge of them, and that
the principal cabinets of Europe are already ac-
quainted with them."
In another editorial article Le Nerd proceeds to
say :
"We will not dwell upon the above statements ;
not, indectl, that we have the least doubt of their
authenticity, but because we do not think it would
be opportune for us to aggravate, by exposing their
eventual bearing, the impressions they are calcu-
lated to produce."

PIEDMONT.

A letter from Turin of the Bth es :

---- -
I have just learned that it is Count Vella Minerva, who
a year ago was Sardinian chard, d'affaires at Rome, that
has received orders to convey the ultimatum of the
Piedmontese Cabinet to Cardinal Antouelli. I learn also
that Count Cavour is about to address to the Sardinian
agents in the different courts of Europe a copy of
that document, with a circelar note in which the cou-
duct and the acts of the government will be explained
and justified. To give explanations in that manner on grave
affair' is traditional in Sardinian diplomacy, and in such
serious circumstances as the present the custom could not
be departed from. M. Poerio and M. Mancini, who were
the only two Neapolitan deputire who refused to return to
their country after the amnesty, are now preparing to leave.
They are warm partisans of immediate annexation to Pied-
mont.

The municipality of Marseilles has adopted an
ingenious manner of celebrating the visit of the Emperor
and Empress to that city ; it has decided that 100 f. shall
be deposited in the savings bank for every female child lore
of poor French parent. in Marseilles on the Bth, 11th, and
10th of the present month.
M. C. Berrier, a manufacturer of Liege, recently
deceased, has bequeathed to the civil hospitals of the town
the sum of 223,M0f., and the reversion of his dwelling-
house, on condition that the administration of hospitals
shall pay to hie widow en annuity of 10,000 f. during her
lifetime.
DIMPLE/TT or Tug SEXE3 IN VII/FORIA.—Some
remarkable facts respecting the disparity of the sexes in
this colony are disclosed in the census of 1837. Sir Henry
Barkly, the goveruor, in noticing these facts, says in a
despatch :—" It now appears that, though considerable Me
prweement in this respect took place between 1854 and
1857, yet that the effective disproportion at the latter
period was far more serious than would be deducible from
the fact of there being 153 males to every 100 females in
the entire population. Since tabling the portion of it
above the age of 20 years. there were no less than 217
males to that number, the proportions below that age
being pretty nearly equal. The effect of this disparity may
be more clearly deduced from the tables relating to
the "conjugal condition of the people," which show that
there were 88,335 unmarried men of 20 years of age and
upward*, to but 12,541 unmarried women of corresponding
nes ; ar, to raise the age of marriage for men to 21, and
lower it. to 15 for mimeo, there was still an excess of
61,850 bachelors, not to add 5,112 widowers. Even this
comparison, however, fails to convey a full sense of the
evil as it aerate- the gold fields, when) it appears that
the per oentage of unmarried men is to that to be
found- in the seaport towns as 61 to 39 ; or, to state
the case in another form, where the bachelors are to
the spinsters in the proportion of more thee 9) to 1. There
ere, moreover, 8,096 mimed men, chiefly iu the mining
districts, whose wives are not in the colony. It has been
allegOil during the agitation of the laud question that this
state of thins is attributable to the difficulty of buying
small allotments suited to agricultural purposes (for the
miner's right itself sanctions a certain area for residence) ;
but this idea is not borne out by the figures, which mani-
fest an extraordinary disposition on the part of the gold
diggers, despite the unsettled nature of their mama, to
enter into matrimony. This may be judged from the fact
that only nine per cent of the women on the gold fields
above 20 are unmarried; and whiht in Great Britain the
proportion who marry under that age is only 21 per sent.,
these tables show that 30 per cent. of the girls between 15
and 90 are here married.