The Express.
London, England, 1867-02-25 00:00:00

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Closing prices :--Gold, 138 i. Sterling exchange
on London, 108 f. Five• Twenty United States
Bonds, 111} ; Illinois, 116} ; Erie, 57. Cotton :
Middling upland, 32.

THE MEMBERS FOR LEICESTER AND THE REFORM
ger-meas.—At the reform meeting held at Leicester on
Friday evening, briefly reported in our last impression, the
following letters were read from the meinhers for the
borough:—" House of Commons, Feb. 20, 1867.—Dear
Sirs,-1 thank you for the note received last evening, end
for the invitation, and should not hesitate to break my
engagement here to be present at your meeting, on Fri-
day, if anything new or important should arise—but I
cannot conceive that such will be the case—or that any
course of action will be decided upon until we have heard
the statement promised by the Chancellor of the Exchequer
for Monday next. The government proposal to proceed
by resolutions,' and the resolutions themselves, are
alike unsatisfactory. It is not possible to say what course
will be pursued by the house, but I trust the liberals will
be united, otherwise there is no hope for the settlement
of the reform question on a good and sound basis this
session. The meeting at Mr. Gladstone 's is postponed
until after Mr. Disraeli's further explanation.-1
am, dear sire, yours truly,—J. D. Hasuum.—To
Messrs. J. Thompson, Emery and Kempson."
" House of Commons, Feb. 20, 1867.—My dear Sir,—
I entirely agree with the two first resolutions which are, I
am advised, to be proposed at the meeting, on Friday, over
which you are to preside. I trust that the course adopted
by Mr. Gladstone will be such as entirely to justify the
third resolution, and therefore it appears to me to be
unwise for member of parliament to pledge themselves to
any course until they know what our leader will recom-
mend. You are aware that the meeting of the liberal
party bas been postponed from to-morrow to Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the people must be right to express them-
selves, for the issue really now lies with them. lam sorry
to say that the only object of the great majority of this
house is to stop agitation by administering the smallest
conceivable measure that the people will socept.—Yours
very truly, P. A. Tanoe.—Mr. T. T. Paget."
REPRY.SENTATION OF NORTH SHROPSHIRE.—We
believe that Lord Newport will be the conservative candi-
date for the vacancy in the representation of this shire,
caused by the succession of the Hon. A. W. Oust to the
peerage, and that it is likely his return will be unoppoel-
THE "SUNDAY EVENINGS FOR THE PEOPLE."—
The announcement made in the papers on Saturday last,
that Mr. Poland, the barrister, instructed by Mr. Baxter,
the chairman of the Lord's-day Observance Society, had
applied for and obtained a summons at Bow-street against
the proprietors of St. Martin's-hall, for allowing the ball
to be used on Sunday evenings for the lectures and sacred
music popularly known as the " Sunday Evenings for the
People," with a view to their suppression by law, had
the effect of drawing an unusually large audience to St.
Martin's-hall last evening, when Professor Camel] was
announoed to lecture on the " Reciprocal Influence of
French and English Literature," and Mr. Baxter Langley,
" On the Indifference of the Working Classes to the Ordi-
nary Religious Services." At the conclusion of the lecture,
a selection of sacred music was sung by Mira Susan Galton
M+llle. George, and a moat efficient choir, under the direc-
tion of Mr. .Tenningit. Mr. B. Langley thenannounced the
attempt about to be made to put down, the " Sunday
Evenings," on the present occasion by the aid of a police
magistrate. The oommittee,however, under whose auspices "
these Sunday Evenings" were got up, were determined
to fight the battle to the last.
ADMIRALTY, FEB. 23. APPOINTMENTEL—Staff-
Surgeon Dr. W. Roggen, to the St. Vincent. Midship.
men W. J. Moore, to the Bellerophon ' • M. X. Hall, to the
Zebra (supernumerary). Engineer T. Barrett (addi-
tional), to the Pisgard, for the Rover.
CRYSTAL PALACE FREE LECTURES.—MT. W.
Lovell, jun., delivered the lecture last Thursday afternoon
to a very numerous and fashionable audience. The subject
of the lecture was " John Howard, the Philaa
CZYIPTAL PALACE. HALF-A-Caowiiihrt::
SATURDAY, Fin 23.—Admissions on payment, 1,466; ditto
by lama tickets, 6,769 ; total visitors, 7,226.