The Express.
London, England, 1867-02-27 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 27, 1867.

5-20 United States Bondi, 1101 r; Illinois, 116 ;
Erie, 56.

NEW YORK, Fmk 26, 5 P.M.
The House of Representatives has passed a reso-
lution restoring the tax upon cotton.
Closing Prioes :—Gold, 139 ; Sterling Exchange
on London, 109 ; 5-20 United States Bonds, 11l ;
Illinois, 116 ; Erie, 56. Cotton : Middling Up-
land, 31.

The lumen steamship City of New York arrived
out to-day.

ROME.

(nox OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.)
ROME, FEB. 21.

By way of preliminary to the Carnival festivities,
which are advertised to commence on the 23rd,
and in order, I suppose, to overawe the turbulent
spirits among the Roman populace, the Holy
Father marched his army through the streets of
Rome yesterday afternoon, out of the Porta del
Popolo, into the grounds of the Borghese Villa. As
it was generally reported that the Popo was
to pass his troops in review in person, an
immense crowd flocked out of the city to witness
the spectacle, but as 2 p.m.—the hour fixed for
'The ttlispaciittus---la, I understand, at the same time
the hour at which his Holiness dines, his absence,
which created a good deal of disappointment, may
be easily accounted for. Although advertised to
begin at 2 p.m., the review, inspection, or what-
ever it was that took place in the Piazza di Siena—
a picturesque amphitheatre in the heart of the
grounds—was well over by 2.15 p.m., when, fol-
lowing the stream of the crowd, I arrived
at the inner gates of the Villa Borghese. What
may have been the occasion of this extraordinary
despatch of business, so unusual in countries south
of the Alps, where time is generally supposed to
be of no particular value, and punctuality hardly
exists, oven in idea, I am quite at a loss to conceive,
unless General Kanzler was in a hurry to lead his
troops back into Rome, for fear the Romans might
have seized on the occasion of their absence to make
a revolution. However, although I arrived too
I late to witness the manwuvres, if any were per-
formed, I was in time to see the march past, and
was thus enabled to reckon up approximately the
number of men on the ground. Amounting, as it
is generally believed to do, to a force of 8,000 or
9,000 men, the Papal army, as represented yester-
day in the Villa Borghese, fell short of reaching a
total of 4,000, apportioned as follows :—Gen-
darmes, 200 ; rifles, 600 ; regiment of the
line, 550; Zouavea, 1,200; Antibes Legion,
650 ; artillery, 250 ; cavalry, 300; total, 3,750.
Allowing 300 men for the guards on duty at
the twelve gates, and 700 for those stationed at
the guard-houses in the fourteen rionee or regions
into which the modern city is divided, we have
1,000 to add to the above total, which would make
the garrison of Rome amount to something under
5,000 men ; or, including the gendarmes, of whom
but a couple of hundred were present at the re-
view as a specimen, to an effective total of 6,000.
This, if general report be correct in reckoning the
Papal army(including the gendarmes) at 9,ooomen,
would leave a force of 3,000 men, or one-third of
the whole, for the provinces.
About the appearance of the troops, as they
marched past yesterday, there is not much to be
said beyond the general observation, that, on the
whole, they presented a creditable aspect, and
wore, as an enthusiastic lady near me remarked,
" tutti polite e ben restite"--all clean and well
dressed. At their head rode General Kanzler and
his staff, which, but for the presence of a couple
of white Austrian uniforms, and one light
blue Bavarian, which lent some feature to it,
would have presented a very poor appearance.
The figure which attracted most attention during
the march past was that of the virandiere of the
Antibes Legion, who wore an exceedingly pi&
turesque costume, consisting of a white, flat-topped,
silver-embroidered Japanese hat, a dark green
tunic, profusely barred across the breast with silver,
and red pantaloons. After her an Englishman on
horseback was most successful in making himself
conspicuous by the odd freak of wearing a snow-
white head-piece, meant, I suppose, to be a pro-
tection against the sun, on one of the dullest
and most leaden days we have had this winter in
Rome.

On the appearance of the artillery a voluble
female neighbour exclaimed, with great glee,
" Here comes the cavalry. The cavalry is what I
like." Upon this a friend ventured to correct her,
suggesting that the force approaching was artillery,
and not cavalry. To this the lady remarked,
" Artillery on horseback I call cavalry," which
settled the matter for the moment. The question,
however, was not set at rest for good, for only the
foremost guns were drawn by horses, the rear being
brought up by mule batteries, which must have
been a sad blow to the enthusiasm of my female
friend, who could hardly have extended her appli-
cation of the term " cavalry " to artillery mounted
on mules.

On Saturday evening last, the 16th instant, a
bloody passage of arms took place outside the Porta
San Lorenzo between eight police officers and three
burglars or brigands, notorious malefactors, who
for some weeks past have been the terror of dwellers
in solitary vineyards without the walls. Between
the city walls and the open campagna, which is a
huge grassy wilderness, intervenes a belt of vine
yards and market gardens, about two miles in
breadth, intersected in all directions by narrow
lanes, running between walls, which are so high
that nobody ever saw over them, and which are
the despair of pedestrians condemned to take their
exercise in such dreary passages. In these walls
occur occasional gates, seldom or never opened,
giving access to vineyards and forlorn casinos,
looking mostly as if they had been long since rifled
of anything worth robbing. Nowhere could you
find a region more desolate, or more admirably
adapted for the perpetration of every dark crime.
Some weeks since Signor Pecchia, the wealthy
proprietor of a vineyard called " Braccio di
S. Lorenzo," received threatening letters, demand-
ing an exorbitant sum of money as the price of
being permitted to live on in tranquillity. Deter-
mining not to comply with so unreasonable a
demand, Signor Pecchia proceeded to the director
of the police, and laid the Cabe before him. In the
meantime, before the arrival of the day on which
they were to call for the money demanded, one of
the robbers turned, Queen's I was going to write,
but I suppose it would be more correct to write
Pope's evidence, and put the police authorities in
possession of such particulars as enabled them to
lay the trap into which the robbers fell.
The execution of the operation, which turned

out most successful, was entrusted to the Cavaliere
Luigi Beldoni, Capitano delis Guardie di Polixia,
who is described in the Ossernatore Bemuse as an
" intrepid and intelligent officer, who in the most
hasardous enterprises goes always at the head of
his men, and is the first to expose himself to
danger." Having given directions to his men to find
their way singly to the scene of the action, the
captain repaired thither himself soon after night
fall, and proceeded to dispose his force about the
premises. While four of the abirri or gendarmes,
whichever they were, were left concealed outside
the casino, the captain, with the other three, took
up a position inside, the captain, with an officer
called Dragoni, secreting himself in a room to the
right of the entrance, while the other two took up
their position in a room opposite. They had not
long to wait before the three assassins, as they are
styled by the Osecroatore Romano, were seen ap-
proaching with drawn daggers. While one re-
mained outside to give the alarm in case of acci-
dents, the two others were observed by the captain,
who was looking through a crack in the door, to
mount the steps leading to the main entrance.
Directing Dragoni to open the door to them the
captain took up a position within the right-hand
chamber. Falling instantly upon Dragoni, the
assassins had time to inflict three wounds upon
him, before the captain could come to the rescue,
and get a fair shot at them with his revolver.
The captain, however, reserved his fire
to some purpose, for he had shot one
man dead on the spot, and wounded the other
mortally. By this successful double shot, the
captain saved Dragoni's life and his own, for Dra•
goni being disabled, the captain would have been
left to cope single-handed with the two assassins,
who had succeeded in effectually preventing the
other two police officers from getting out of the
left-hand chamber.
Meantime the assassin who had been left
outside, found himself engaged in an unequal
contest with four officers, and after wounding
one of them, was in his turn mortally wounded by
the other three, and died almost immediately.

Thus two of the assassins were carried dead off
the ground, and one mortally wounded. The lat-
ter, who was taken to a hospital within the city,
confessed, just before his death, to having been
guilty of several other murders, and among them
of that of the wine-dresser Cecchi, who was recently
assassinated outside the Porta San Giovanni.

Foasturt-orrica, Fan. 18. —The Queen has been
graciously pleased to appoint Randal Callender, Esq., now
her Majesty's consul at Stockholm, to be her Majesty's
consul for the provinces of Rio Grande do Sul and Santa
Catarina, to reside at Rio Grande do SuL The Queen has
also been graciously pleased to appoint Gerald Raoul
Perry, Esq., lately her Majesty's consul at Rio Grande do
Sul, to be her Majesty's consul for the Eastern Comet of
Bwedea.—Garetre.
MILLINER-9' AND DRESSMAILIRS' PROVIDENT AND
BZNICVOLENT INNTITUTION.—The annual meeting of this
institution, the objects of which are to provide medical
advice and temporary pecuniary assistance for its mem-
bers
in oases of sickness or distresa, and to secure parma- I
nent pensions to such as may in old age become dependent
upon its resources, was held last evening at Willis's
Rooms, Mr. Watson in the chair. The report of the direc- !
tors congratulated the members and subscribers on the I
steady growth of the institution. During the past year
the capital fund had received an accession of MI., while
Biz new members had joined the institution, making the
total amount of the capital fund 9,6171. 19s. 2d., New ,
Throe per Cents., and the number of members entitled to I
Ms advantages of the institution, ltts. The year upon
which the directors had now entered would, they trusted,
be marked by the completion of the capital fund, and a
large increase in the number of the members, especially of
those for whose advantage it was chiefly designed—the
young. And it would be peculiarly gratifying to those
who for so many years bad contributed an amount of inte-
rest and effort which could not be estimated, were the
year that witnesses the completion of the capital fund to
be signalized by such an addition to the membership as
would make the number at least two hundred. The mem-
bers of the institution continued to possess the privilege
of the services of its medical officers. To these gentlemen
the best thanks of the institution were due. Mr. T. D.
Berry had kindly accepted the office of honorary secretary
lin sneoession to the late Mr. Bhuter. The report was
adopted, and, after various addresses in furtherance of
the altercate of the institution, the proceedings termi-
nated.

-----
Tai HEALTH OF LONDON.—It appears from
the return Issued by authority of the Registrar-General
that in the week that ended on Saturday, February 23,
the births registered in London and twelve other
large towns of the United Kingdom were 4,707 ; the
deaths registered, 2,987. The annual rate of mortality
was 25 per 1,000 persona living. In London the births of
1,178 boys and 1,164 girls, in all 2,342 children, were
registered in the week. In the corresponding weeks of
ten years, 1857.66, the average number, corrected for
increase of population, is 2,193. The deaths registered
in London dung the week were 1,337. It was the eighth
week of the year; and the average number of deaths
for the week is, with a correction for increase of popula-
tion, 1,566. The deaths in the present return are leas by
?.19 than the estimated number. Zymotic diseases in
the aggregate destroyed the lives of Zl3 persons;
193 of whom were under twenty years of age.
Whooping cough is the most fatal disease in the
Zymotic class, and caused the deaths of 75 children and
one adult ; 19 of these cases occurred in the north, 20 in
the east, and 17 in the south districts. 34 deaths occurred
_ . _ .

from typhus ; 7 in the west, 4 in the north, 6in the cen-
tral, 8 in the east, and 9 in the south districts. Twodeaths
in the London Fever Hospital, Islington, are referred to
the districts from which the patients bad been brought.
The ravages of fever, especially In the poorer districts of
the metropolis, are great, and demand urgent attention.
Unlike cholera, which visits us at lung intervals, fever is
always more or leas prevalent, and its baneful effects are
seen in the numbers which swell the weekly bills of mor-
tality. 33 deaths from small-pox, 7 from measles, 20 from
scarlatina, and 9 from diarrhoea were registered last week ;
one death from choleraic diarrhea was also recorded.
SCURVY IN THE MERCANTILE MARINA SERVICE.
—Yesterday afternoon an ad(ourned inquiry was held at
the Bee-hive public-house, Greenwich, before Mr. C. J.
Cartier, coroner, into the circumstancesattending the death
of John Ashley, aged 27, a seaman on board the ship
Timour, belonging to Misers. Ashton (of Manchester) and
Rathbone (of Liverpool), who, with eight other seamen
belonging to the same vessel, were admitted on board the
Dreadnought Hospital ship suffering from scurvy con-
tracted while on the homeward voyage from Calcutta to
London. At the conclusion of the evidence, which was of
considerable length, the coroner said be could not see
why the supply of lime juice should not be made
as arbitrary as the requirement of vaccination in
relation to smallpox. An act of parliament was
urgently required on the subject, and ought to be ,
taken up by the government or some member of the
House of Commons. Had it been proved in the present ,
ease that deceased's death bad arisen from the bad quality ,
of the lime juice, he should have had no hesitation in
ruling that the persons supplying it were legally respon-
sible, but this hail not been shown, the captain acting to
the best of his judgment, and not giving it for dysentery.
The jury returned a verdict of " Death from disease of '
the lungs, accelerated by scurvy," and also expressed an
unanimous opinion that the lime juice tested by Dr. Dick-
son was of bad quality. Dr. Dickson said he thought it
only right to add that by direction of the Board of Trade
he had made inquiries and found the ship to have been
well found in other respects with good accommodation, but'
a supply of good lime juice was nevertheless requisite.
Ties EASTER MONDAY VOLUNTEER REVIEW.--1
Yesterday a public meeting was held at Brighton to con-'
' eider the advisability of taking steps to secure the forth-
coming
volunteer review being again held ou the Downs
neer the town. The Mayor presided, and there was a large
and influential attendance. Anxiety was expressed to ,
have the review at Brighton this year, but the different
speakers seemed to feel that the general body of the corn-
mantling officers had a preference for Dover. It was,
however, resolved that an invitation should be given, and
conditional subscription lists were opened in order to ,
defray the expense attendant on damage to crops, &c. A
letter was read from Mr. George Hawkins, traffic manager ,
of the London and Brighton Railway, stating that a
board meeting was to be held the same day on the aubjecti,
of the review, and that nothing had yet been decided as to
fares or facilities. He had little doubt, however, but that
his board would grant the same accommodation as in pre- ,
vious years, and for himself he would endeavour to remedy
whatever causes of complaint the officers and troops bad I
last year as to the manner of conducting the traffic.