The Express.
London, England, 1867-09-19 00:00:00

LYCKI7II.

Tine EVIIIINO, THE OF THE MILL—THE
LADY Or LYON' Mr. Feebler, Messrs, Jordan, Addison,
Calhsem, Mellon. Dalton, Stuart, and Franca : Misses Lis-
worthy and Carlotta Leclereq, Mn. Marston.

BuTANigu. •
THIN EVENING, ME YOBJIAT Or BONDY. fir. W. Cran-
ford. —MM. Contellier and Ellice, the Yreuch Oymna.te:
The American Minstrels and Japanese Tommy.—With THE
OItAY LADYS.

WON WATS& AT LONDON BRIDGE,
1/Nlll DAT —Yards& ai. To..._...Attornoon. 6h. 29m.
tirldosaoe—Marata& Li Ma.— —Afternoon, SO. I3m.

LONDON, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 19.

Tile personal incident described on Tuesday
in our columns by a correspondent at Homburg
is ono to which we should not have thought it
necessary to invite special attention but for infer-
ences which a contemporary has taken pains to
draw from it, and which appear to us to be as
much opposed to the facts as they are injurious
to a gentleman who, by various titles, repre-
sents on this occasion the honour of his country.
Mr. HENRY LABOUCIIZILE, the Member for Mid-
dlesex, was at Homburg early in the present
month, and while in the Kursaal observed a M.
FARINA in the company of some American ladies
of his acquaintance. He immediately signified to
one of them that FARINA was a person with whom
they could nut converse without compromising
themselves, on account of his antecedents.
FARINA, noting a change of manner in the lady,
mentioned the fact to the husband, and com-
plained that something bad been said to his disad-
vantage. The husband declined to give any ex-
planation, beyond saying that he held himself an-
swerable fur anything that his wife had done or
said. Mr. LABOUCHERE, however, in order to
take the full responsibility upon himself, subse-
quently went up to FARINA, avowed his conduct,
and told him that ho accepted the position of
having advised the lady to avoid him. Upon this
FARINA grew violent, and was proceeding to as-
sault Mr. LABOUCHERE with a stick, when the
latter seized him by the throat, and was about to
treat him in the usual way, when the spectators
interfered, and put an end to the conflict. Since
the publication of these facts M. FARINA has ap-
pealed to the public in a letter in which he con-
tests the accuracy of Mr. LABOVEMIRL'S narrative
in some particulars, which, to plain English com-
mon sense, seem to be of very secondary import-
ance. One point he makes, however, which the
Times considers cardinal. He asserts that the lady
with whom Mr. Losoucinee was acquainted was
not at the same table at which he was seated.
The Times admits that if a lady of Mr.
LABOUCIIRRE'S acquaintance actually formed one
of a party which had been joined by a man of
bad character, it was certainly his duty to put
her on her guard ; but, accepting the state-
ment of M. FARINA, who charges Mr. LABOUCUERE
with impertinence, alleging that he had no right
whatever to meddle, for that he had no kind of
concern or connexion with any of the party, our
contemporary comes to the conclusion that Mr.
LABOIXBERE has acted in a manner which does
not seem justified. As the question thus raised
is one of veracity, we prefer for our part
to believe our countryman, whom we know,
rather than a stranger. Mr. LABOUERERE
is a more competent witness as to his acquaintance
with the lady referred to than M. FARINA. But
we may look beyond the assertions of either party
to the probabilities of the case. Mr. LA-
BOUClfiltli, although young, knows the world as
well as most people, and has had some continental
experience; and holding the opinion of FARIN♦
which he avows, it is most unlikely that he
would expose himself to contact with him fur the
sake of a lady whom he did not know. Further,
there is the conduct of the lady's husband, of
whom Mr. Laisoueuniz says that he refused to
give FARINA explanations, while FARINA alleges
that he " placed himself at his disposition,"
but who in either case acted like a man
to whom a service had been rendered by Mr.
LABOUCHERE. He was not in a position to
welcome the interference of a stranger alleging
that his wife had been in the company of
an improper character, whereas on the supposition
that he and his wife were of Mr. Lisorcaxes's
acquaintance his conduct appears perfectly
rational. All the circumstances, therefore, ad-
monish us not to withhold from the statement of
our countryman that credit to which his character
entitles him. The remark that Mr. Losorainti:
should not have taken everything into his own
hands one day, and remitted everything into the
magistrate's hands the next, is one which we find
it difficult to understand. A person may warn
his own friends against the advances of a stranger
of equivocal character without being called to
make the character of that stranger a
matter of police investigation. Moreover,
there may be matters which make a person
an undesirable acquaintance which no one
would ever think of referring to the
police. Nor is the readiness of the police
authorities of Homburg to investigate a visitor's
sources of subsistence to be inferred from their
exclusion of M. FARINA from the KU/111141, after
his presence had caused scandal. When M.
FARINA'S violence had provoked Mr. Lowrance
to retaliate, and the spectators and the police had