The Express.
London, England, 1866-04-10 00:00:00

THE PRINCE VON TEM

His Highness the Prince von Teck, whose ap-
proaching marriage to the Princess Mary of Cambridge we
announced yesterday, is the only son of his Royal High-
ness the Duko Alexander of Wurtemberg (uncle of the
late King William of Wurtemberg), who was married
morganatically on May 2, 1835, to the late Claudine
Countess of llolienstein, Countess of Kis-Rhede. The
Duke Alexander is a general of cavalry in the
Austrian service, and proprietor of the 11th Regiment
of Austrian Hussars. Prince Francis Paul Charles Louis
Alexander, who is about to become allied to the Princess
Mary, was born on August 27, 1837, and is consequently in
his 29th year. His highness has two sisters, the Princess
Claudine, one year his senior ; and the Countess Amelia
von llohenstein, who was married at Vienna, 1863, to
Paul, Baron von Hugel, a retired captain of cavalry.
Formerly the eldest son and daughter of the Duke Alex-
ander of Wurtemberg were styled Count and Countess of
Hohenstein, but by a royal decree, dated Dec. 1, 1863,
they were raised to the dignity of prince and princess, with
the title of highness. .

The royal family of Wurtemberg are, of course, of the
Lutheran faith.

The Countess Russell's party, which was post-
poned from the 21st March, will take place on
Wednesday evening, the 11th instant, in Downing-
street.

Their Royal and Imperial Highnesses the Duke
and Duchess Philip of Wurtemburg, attended by the
Countess run Auersperg and Count Gronsfeld, hare left
the Clarendon Hotel for the continent.

His Excellency the French Ambassador enter-
tained his F.7:cellency the Russian Ambassador andßaroness
Brunnow, his Excellency the Austrian Ambassador and
Countess Apponyi, his Excellency the Saxon Minister, the
Earl and Countess of Dudley, the Earl Cowper, the Earl of
Sefton, the Countess of Airlie, Marquis Cauniont la Force,
Viscount de Viral, Baron Baude, General Sir Edward ('ust,
Sir Ralph and Lady Howard, Mr. and Hon. Mrs. Petre,
&c., at dinner last evening, at the French Embassy, Albert-
gate. - - .

The idea of forming a national portrait gallery,
suggested by the one lately established at Kensington, is
to be carried out on an extensive scale during the gre:lt
Exhibition in Paris, and is likely to prove an interesting
addition to its manifold attractions. A building for the
reception of portraits is to be erected in the Champs
Elysees. The celebrities whose likenesses are to form the
gallery will be grouped according to the age they illus-
trated, and their portraits classed by centuries.

Mr. Philip Wykeltain Martin intends, on the
motion for ;piing, into committee on Representation of the
People Eill, to move, "That in the opinion of this house
it would be neither just nor expedient that any class of
persons who are entitled to vote at the election of members
to serve in parliament, against whom no corrupt practices
have been proved, should be deprived of their franchise by
the present bilL"
Mr. Ewart will ask the Secretary of State for the
ime Departiumt to-morrow whether his attention has
been directed to a statement in the public journals relative
to Mary Ann Ashford, executed at Exeter on the 2tth
March ; to the effect that, after having been pinioned by
the executioner, she was obliged to be carried up the steps
to the gallows, and supported by three men, in a helpless,
though conscious state ; that the execution being imper-
fect, the executioner was obliged to seize her by the leers
from below, and draw down her body with all his strength
till she died ; rind whether there is reason to believe in the
accuracy of this statement.

Lord C7anhorrie disputes Mr. Gladstone's state-
ment that tho imputation that some hon. members
"treated the working men as an invading army" was
warmly accepted as a perfectly true description of the
views taken by those hon. gentlemen, and says the asser-
tion that such assent was expressed "is a pure creation of
Mr. Gladstone's imaginative memory."

M. Ernest Renan's new work on the Apostles
will be published the week after next.

The Italian government has organised a complete
system of meteorological observations according to the
system of the lamented Admiral Fitzroy, but with some
improvements and at a less expense.
Earl Russell has sent to Senhor Jose de Vascon-
cellos e Sousa, Portuguese Minister in Rio de Janiero,
gold snuff-box, richly ornamented with brilliants, and
having on the lid a portrait of Queen Victoria, as a testi-
mony of consideration of his services on the occasion of the
mediation of Portugal in the Anglo-Brazilian question.
MuNIrreENT Gis-r.—Mr. Peter Pantia Ralli, of
5, Connaught-phi:se West, Hyde-park, the eminent Greek
merchnnt. has just presented to the committee of King's
College Hospital, through Dr. Priestley, the munificent
sum of 6,000/.' for the purpose of establishing a ward for
Far sick children in 0,0. institution. The ward is to be
culled the " Yantis Ralli" ward, in memory of the late
Mr. Pantia Rani, the father of the generous donor.