The Express.
London, England, 1866-06-06 00:00:00

STATE BALL AT BUCKINGHAM PALACE.

By command of the Queen a state ball was given
last evening at Buckingham Palace, to which a party of
upwards of 1,700 was invited.
The royal body guard of the Yeomen of the Guard ea
on duty in the Palace, under the command of Lieutenant-
Colonel Patterson, the Eton-in-Waiting, Lieut.-Colonel
Cooke, the lieutenant of the corps, also attended. A
guard of honour of the Grenadier Guards was mounted in
the court of the Palace.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princess of
Wales, attended by the Countess of Macclesfield, the Hon.
Mrs. A. Hardinge, Earl Spencer, Lord Harris, Hon. C. L•
Wood, and Lieutenant-Colonel Keppel, arrived at the
garden entrance of the Palaoe, from Marlborough-house,
about 10 o'clock.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Edinburgh arrived,
attended by the Hon. E. Yorke.
His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge arrived,
from Gloucester-house, attended by Colonel Tyrwhitt.
Their Royal Highnesses the Duchess of Cambridge and
Princess Mary arrived, from St. James's Palace, attended
by Lady Geraldine Somerset and Colonel Home Purves.
Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess of Mecklen-
burg Strelitz arrived, attended by Lady Caroline Cult and
the Cbambellan de Steuber.
The Prince and Princess of Wales, with the members
of the Royal Family, conducted by Viscount Sydney, the
Lord Chamberlain, and attended by their Ladies and
Gentlemen in Waiting, entered the Ball-room soon after
10 o'clock, when the dancing immediately commenced.
Messrs. Coote and Tinney's full orchestra was in attend
ante, conducted by Mr. Coote, and performed the follow-
ing programme of dance music :
Quadrille, Flick Flock
Valse, Juliet
Quadrille, Les Deux Arlequins Strauss.
VaLe, Clara Coo.e.
Lancers, Conte's New

Take, Jungherren-Tame
Quadrille, Thou
Vale, Burgeralnn
Lancers, The National
QuadrfUe, Bat Champetre
Take, Hilda
Lancers, Echoes o: London
Take, Fautasiebilder
Quadrille, Sicily
Valle, Marion
Gallop, Orphee

quila

('owte.

Strauss.
Strauss.
Godfrey.
Come.
Strauss.
D'Albert
Coote.
Offeubach.

Yesterday his Royal Highness the Duke of Edin-
burgh went by appointment to Merchant Taylors' Hall,
to receive the honorary freedom of their guild. The
Prince, who was attended by Colonel the Hon. A. Liddell
and Hon. Eliot Yorke, arrived at the hall, inThreadneedle
street, at two o'clock.
The Prince of Wales will lay the foundation
stone of the new house of the British and Foreign Bible
Society on Monday next, the list inst. It will be erected
in the new line of street from Blackfriars-bridge to the
Mansion-house, at the eastern end of St. Andrew's Church.
On the following Monday, the 18th inst., his royal high-
nese w ll open the new building designed for the Ware-
housemen and Clerks'Schoola for Orphans and Necessitous
Children, at Russell-hill, near Croydon.
The Owl understands that his Royal Highness
the Prince of Wales has purchased Sir Edwin Landseer's
picture of "A Mare and Foal—lndian Tent" in the exhi•
bition of the Royal Academy ; and the same authority
hears that Mr. J. R. Planche will probably receive the
appointment of Somerset Herald, succeeding the late Mr.
Courthope.
The Owl believes it is correct in stating that the
following ladies will be her Royal Highness Princess
Helena's bridesmaids : the Lady Margaret Scott, the Lady
Caroline Gordon Lennox, the Lady Bertha Hamilton, the
Lady Katharine Phipps, the Lady Alexandrina Murray,
the Lady Ernestine Edgcumbe, the Lady Elizabeth Parker,
and the Lady Muriel Campbell. Her Royal Highness
Princess Mary's bridesmaids will be : Lady Agneta Yorke,
Lady Cornelia Churchill, Lady Cecilia Molyneux, and
Lady Georgians Hamilton.

Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge
will have a party at Cambridge Cottage, Kew, on Friday
next, in honour of the approaching marriage of the Princess
Mary Adelaide of Cambridge and Prince de Teck.
The Duke of Athole is about to retire from the
Scots Fusilier Guards.

Elizabeth Lady Dashwood entertained at dinner
last evening, at her residence in Grosvenor-square, Lord
and Lady Godolphin Osborne, Lord and Lady Carew, Mr.
and Lady Cecilia Brinkman, Lord Eliot, the Hon. Henry
Cole, M.P., the Hon. Charles Caithorpe, Mr. and Mrs.
Charles Mills, Colonel, Mrs., and Miss Fame, Mr. Henry
Hobhouse, and Mr. Sava Young. - _

Mr. and Lady Virginia Sandals received at
dinner last evening, at their residence in .Eaton-equate,
his Excellency the Italian Minister, the Marchioness of
Ely, the Countess of Jersey and Mr. !handling and Lady
Caroline Villiers, Lord Courtenay, Viscount St. Lawrence,
Lady Molesworth, Lord Methuen, Hon. Gilbert and Lady
Evelyn Heathoote, Hea. Crespigny Vivian, Colonel and
Mrs. Paulett Somerset, Major Cathcart, &c.

Miss Coutta entertained at dinner last evening at
her residence in Stratton-street, Piccadilly, the Earl and
Countess Grey, the Archbishop of Armagh and Mrs. Beres-
ford, the Queen's Advocate and Mrs. Phillimore, Viscount
and Viscountess Torrington, Viscount Pollington, Lord
Lyttelton, Lord and Lady Manners and Miss Hughen,Lord
Uanover, Sir Massey and Lady Lopes, the Attorney-General
and Lady Laura Palmer, Colonel and Mrs. Maud and Miss
Maud, Mr. John Abel Smith and Miss Emma Smith, Mrs.
Napier and Miss Napier, Mr. f3erjeant, Mr. and Mrs. Lowe,
Mr. Thomas Baring, Mr. C. Villiers, Mr. and Mrs. Young,
Miss Young, Captain Latouche, Mr. Fenwick, Mr. and Mrs.
Knoi, Mrs. Malcolm, Mr. Layard, and Mr. Wade.
Lord George Manners, M.P., has left the Royal
Horse Guards and gone on half pay.
We (Post) understand that the Hon. Henry
Frederick Villiers, brother of the Earl of Jersey, will be
shortly gazetted in the Soots Fusilier Guards.
General Sir Harry D. Jones, G. 0.8., governor of
Sandhurst College, has been seriously iIL Yesterday there
was some improvement, and we hear his medical attend.
ants have hopes of his recovering.
To-morrow Mr. Candlish will move for a return

of the names of the several miadonaries who participate
in the grant this session of 2,013!. made by parliament to
" Missionaries of the Society for the Propogation of the
Gospel," the amount paid to each miisionary, where each
is stationed, and how long each has received a grant from
parliament.

Mr. Berkeley's ballot motion is fixed for the 3rd
of July.

•!€l''''
Ig6t

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

THE CRISIS.
Now that the idea of a Congress has been aban-
doned, the rival cabineta may be said to have re-
turned to the status quo ante, and each seems to be 1,
manoeuvring with the view of getting its adversary
to strike the Ent blow and thereby make ,
it responsible before the public opinion of
' Europe for the calamitous consequences of war.
Herr Von Bismarck is said to have been overjoyed
at the poxition assumed by Austria in reference to
the congress and to have gone at once to the
palace, saying to the King, " You see, sir, Austria
is bent upon war," to which the King replied,
" Yes." The generals it will be seen are still
concentrating their forces on the respective
frontiers.
A correspondence from Vienna, under date of
June 2, says :
War is more than ever believed to be inevitable. The
despatch of troops to the North is continuous and unin.
tempted. Regiments are forwarded from all quarters
for concentration on the Prussian frontier. Some
ides may be formed. of the immense concentration
of troops in that quarter from the fact that the railway
directors have received instructions to be prepared to
transport 40,000 men to augment the army of the north.
Admiral Tregethoff, who has assumed the command of
the Austrian fleet, has addressed the officers and men,
calling upon them to display their patriotism and courage
in the event of a war.
The movement of Austrian troops in Venetia
also continues. A reserve force of 60,000 men is
said to be concentrated at Lnbiona. The forced
Venetian conscripts are sent forward to the north.
The exasperation of the people is at its height in
, the Venetian Province.
A correspondent from Verona writes to the Ben-
tinelfa as follows :

...
We are here in the midst of frightful desolation, being
crushed under the weight of taxation. The severity cies-
eised towards those who are suspected of being liberals, that
is, of those who are opposed to the domination of Austria, is
becoming unendurable. If anyone capable of military
service is suspected of an intention to emigrate, he is
seized by the police and forced to wear the Austrian uni-
form ; if unfit for the army he is put into prison. Yes-
terday a priest named Combatti was seized while saying
mass. No one can explain the reason of the arrest. I can
give you no army news.
The Italian fleet is now collected at Tarento, and
its commander is momentarily expecting to sail.
The Austrian fleet is at Pola. Garibaldi is ex-
pected to appear at any moment on the Italian
continent.
- -

The Vienna Gazette, defending the conduct of
Austria in referring the question of the Duchies to
the Diet, says :
If the principles and conduct of Prussia are not deter-
mined by the desire of temporary advantages, if that
power still retains a particle of fidelity to the Con-
federation she will, in the midst of her policy of military
conventions, her separate alliances and intrigues with the
foreigner, comply with the resolutions of the Diet. Her
rivalry with Austria ought not to guide her resolution, for
Austria, by opening a fresh pacific outlet, has left
the ground free without either injury to Prussia or prejudice
to the final decision. Should Prussia refuse to take
advantage of this opening her refusal will be directed
against the Diet. She will break the bond which
unites Germany when she refuses to submit to the
decision of the Diet. May they form in Prussia
a clear conception of the consequences which will read
from the next resolution of the cabinet of Berlin ! May
this resolution be dictated by a truly German sentiment,
by a sentiment free from passion and a false appreciation
of the future destinies of the Prussian nation which have
too long regulated the policy of that cabinet !
The Paris correspondent of the Indipendanc e
says :
Francae will not immediately assemble an army on the
East, or on the Rhine, but she will take measures which, in
ease of necessity, would enable her to have 100,000 men at any
nearest point in three days' time. For this purpose the
railway companies have been directed to concentrate the
largest quantity possible of the rolling stock at the termini
of the Seine. This direction, which was simply a notifica-
tion, is now to be made an imperial order.

(annzies =soluxe.)
AUSTRIA AND PRUSSIA.
BERLIN, Jume 6.

The Prussian government has addressed a de-
spatch to Vienna, declaring that the measures
announced by Austria in the Federal Diet violate
the treaty of Gastein, and cause the suspension of
the co-possession as now existing in the Duchies.
The two powers are therefore restored to the po-
sition and rights accorded them by the treaty of
Vienna, which retains its European validity.