The Express.
London, England, 1867-09-03 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(MOM ODE 01n1

PARIS, MONDAY EVENING.

Politics to-day " mark time. " The three
speeches—those of Arras, Lille, and Amiens [Lille
No. 2 is scratched and apocryphal]—are univer_
sally spoken of as still the leading topic of the day.
But I find no comments of any novelty worth re-
cording except in the Gazette de France, whose
article I transcribe :
The Emperor's speeches have not the merit of throwing
any light upon the situation. Before he spoke some had
said we must have war ; others were sure of peace. We
have sought in vain to find out what the Emperor means
to tell the country ; he predicts neither war nor peace ;
that the situation is embarrassing is all that we can gather
from his words, and it is because be says nothing
precisely that his speeches appear to us so serious. When
the head of • state so powerful as Napoleon 111. speaks
to an intelligent nation like France, it should be to give •
clear idea of his resolutions. Wuen a sovereign, on whose
will our destinies depend, doe, not tell us in intelligible
language what he has decided, the inference is that the
situation must be too complicated to admit of a plain
statement. If the Emperor e not speak out, the reason
was that he could not ; and herein our national amour
• is fitmrifisted: ?en ran ago the Emperor
had no such hesitation ; then be spoke of Euro-
pean questions without ambiguity, and did not
shrink from proposing the solutions which occurred to his
mind. He boldly proposed • European congress to settle
all pending questions. At Auxerre he proclaimed his
" detestation "of the treaties of 1815. These were im-
prudent words very likely, but at any rate they showed
a settled plan. Now we hem neither of existing
treaties nor of treaties to be torn up ; nothing of
ill-advised conventions, nor of a false balance of
power in certain states. The language used is uni-
formly hazy and ambiguous, • certain proof that it
would be impossible to speak plainly without provoking
• storm. During fifteen years the Emperor felt himself
able to speak his mind freely to all the states of Europe,
but as time progresses our influence is less, and our speech
not so confident as formerly. Accomplished facia have so
altered the regular tonne of things that we cannot stir •
step without the risk of setting fire to Europe. M. de la
Valetta, in his circular of Sept. 16, said the hori-
zon was clear of " threatening eventualities.' M.
Rouher told the Corps Legislatif that the Mexi-
can check was only a " black point in • brilliant
picture." But the Emperor seems to have a longer sight
than these two ministers. He tells us that there are bleak
points (in the plural number) on the horizon. We are glad
to find that the Emperor has not the illusions of MM. de la
Valette and Bomber, for when the captain of • ship sees •
storm coming there is hope that he may prepare to
meet it. To govern is to foresee. We must, however, unfor-
innately admit that government in France of late has con-
sisted in putting up with facts either unforeseen or which,
if foreseen, we had no power to avert.

You may see by reference to the Übe's, Temps,
Avenir National, and many other French journals,
that I was not perverse or singular in saying I could
not make out what section of society the Emperor
means to refer to by the " small number whose
excitations" were not to destroy the hope of peace-
ful liberal reforms. Ido not know yet what the
studiously ambiguous phrase meant. The doubt
is so general, and so generally expressed, that I
think M. Communiqui must shortly speak upon
it ; but I am far from confident that he will make
the matter more clear.
At the Bourse there were considerable fluctua-
tions. Rente having oscillated between 69fr. 75c.
and Mfr. 57c., the closing prices, 69fr. 70c., both
for cash and account, were the highest of the day ;
' they show a fall of sc. for cash and a rise of tic.
for account. Mobilier was unaffected by the
firmness of the Rente and fell 18fr. 75c., closing
at the unprecedentedly low figure of 277fr.50c. The
, influence which long sustained the speculations of
this gigantic society must be exerted to the utmost
if the catastrophe which is every day thought
i more probable is to be averted.

Carrrsasrax rhoczax.—The Rev. W. Benham
has been collated to the vicarage of Addington; the Rev.
W. Cameron, ?LA., has been nominated to the perpetual
curacy and new church of St. Saviour, Croydon ; and the
Rev. Arthur Thomas Brown, RA., has been nomnated to
the perpetual curacy and new church of the Holy Trinity,
Croydon, all in the county of Surrey. The Rev. Horace
?deers* has been licensed to the curacy of Horsemonden ;
the Rev. Morton Amos Leicester, M.A., to the cure of
Biddenden ; the Rev. Reginald Hay Hill, LL.B., to Lad.
denham ; the Rev.Thelwall Wollaston to ?dolash ; the Rev.
Alfred Tinsman Brown, M.A., to Baddleeniere; and the
Rev. George Thomas Piper Streeter to Bickley, all in the
county of Kent.

.
AN IMPUDENT VOTAGER.—A young man of
aristocratic appeannes was brought before the stipendiary
magistrate at Liverpool, on Saturday, charged with having
come as a stoaway from New York, on board the Cunard
steamer Russia, which arrived at Liverpool the preceding
evening. Shortly after the vessel sailed the prisoner re-
presented himself as a first-class passenger, and occupied
state-room, and lived in first-rate style. From the evi-
dence of the purser and steward it appeared that his bill
for wines, &c., amounted to 311. The prisoner, when the
a voyage was nearly at an end, avowed tht he had neither
money nor ticket, and was, eonsequamtly, given into
custody when the vessel arrived. The magistrate cha-
racterised the prisoner's conduct as the mat impudent he
had heard for some time, and inflicted the full penalty of
201., or three months' imprisonment.
ROMAN CATHOLIC CHILDREN IN WORICHOURIFL
—At the last weekly meeting of the newly-elected board
of guardians of St. Pancras, a printed order was received
from the Poor-law Board, directing that one of the work-
house children, a boy who had no parents, should be given
over to a Roman catholic school, and that hie care should
be paid for by the pariah at the rate of six shillings par
week. In the course of inquiry it came out that this step
had been taken by the Poor-law Board through the inter-
ferenoe of a Roman catholic priest, who had represented
the boy's uncle as being a catholic. Mr. Ross opposed the
order, on the ground that the boy's uncle being a Roman
catholic, was no evidence that his parents were, and that,
being left without parents and thrown upon the parish,
the guardians became his natural parents, and were the
proper persons, having to provide him with education and
maintenance, to judge of the mode in which he should be
brought up in life. It was deeply to be regretted that the
Poor-law Board could not find a more useful occupation
than such interference ; but it was the duty of boards of
' guardians not to submit to much orders without expressing
their strong disapproval of the Poor-law Board interfering
with matters of that kind. He looked upon it as being
only the thin end of the wedge, for the intent and purpose
of paving the way for introducing catholic priests and
catholic chapels into workhouses. (Hear, hear.) The Rev.
R. Littler concurred in the observations, and in the course
of further remarks, coinciding with the previous speakers,
it was stated that the order of the Poor-law Board in such
a case was peremtory.
DIABOLICALOUTRAGE IN Instawm—A shocking
outrage has been perpetrated on the person of a farmer
neural Clancy, residing at a please ailed Ballyluskin, not
far from CasheL Just before daylight three ruffians, die-
guised with blackened faces, came to the gate of the farm,
and made such a noise as to cause the dogs about the
place to keep up a constant barking, no doubt with the
object of inveigling the poor man out of his house. The
ruse succeeded, and Clancy went out. He was not far from
his own door when he was pounced upon by the
three men, two of whom took bold of him by the arms
from behind and held him as in a vice, when the third
deliberately set about mutilating the person of their un-
fortunate victim. This atrocity was fully effected before
any assistance could reach hint. The ruffians then de-
camped, and medical aid was immediately procured. The
unfortunate man was soon afterwards removed to the
county infirmary, and, desperate as was the injury inflicted
on him, the doctor has some hope that he will not rue-
, comb to it Two men have been arrested on suspicion, with
whom Clancy had some quarrelling about the trespassing
of his cattle on their land, and who had used threats
towards him.

Solna Kixerricrrorr Musztnc—Visitors during
th• week ending August 31 :—On Monday, Tuesday, and
Saturday,free, from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., 18,961; on Wednes-
day, Thursday, and Friday (admission 6d.), from 10 a.m. till
6 p.m.,1,407 ; National Portrait Exhibition, by payment,
7,519 ; total, 27,877. Average of corresponding week in
former years, 13,561. Total from the opening of the
Museum, 6,946,939.