The Express.
London, England, 1866-12-22 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS•

Europe.
A new feature at the general durbar lately held
by Sir Jas. Lawrence, was the presence of nine native gen-
tlemen, summoned to receive rewards for special services
to the state, in education, literature, or loyal acts. Baba
Khen Singh Ikdee, one of the number, has done much to
extend female education in the Punjab. Baboo Shevaper-
cud is the great scholar of Benares, who has written so
many works, in which he communicates to his learned
but superstitious countrymen the results of European
science. Syud Ahniud Bahadoor is the remarkable sub-
ordinate civil judge of Bareilly—a Mugu'man, who has
established an important literary society, translated many
English books, and especially is the author of a transla-
tion of and commentary on the Bible on a gigantic scale,
in the course of which, as a Mussulman, he attacks Bishop
Colenso and seeks to establish the authenticity of the
Pentateuch.
It is said that when the Maharajah of Jeypore
paid his private visit to Sir John Lawrence at the late
Durbar at Agra, along with his litt'e eon, Sir John play-
fully asked him where his nuzzar or tribute was ; for his
attendants alone offered tribute. Taking his boy in his arms
and folding his hands in the usual form of Oriental sup-
plication, he said, " This is my offering ; take my son, the
most precious gift I can place at your excellency's feet."
During the reception of the Jodhpore Maharajah, a Rajpoot
chief of equal rank with Jeypore, but far inferior in cha-
racter, another curious incident occurred. As usual, Sir
John asked his highness how many children he had, and
with the true Oriental affectation of dignity and indiffer-
ence be turned to one of his sirdars for the information,
saying, " How many children have I?" " Eleven, your
highness," who, forgetting his assumption of hauteur,
indignantly shouted out, " More than a hundred." The
crest-fallen Birder thereupon explained that he meant
eleven by lawful wifes, and had not dared to allude to the
numerous progeny by concubines, but he now begged to
inform his highness that he was bleared with more than
a hundred children. Thereupon the Jodhpore chief
gravely repeated to the viceroy the interesting fact.
A PRESENT FROM SIR JOHN BOWRING Ti) THE
QUEEN.—Her Majesty having expressed her gratification
at receiving a copy of the German renderines of the poems
of Petofi. the popular poet of the Hungarians. which had
been sent to her from the Continent, Sir John Bowring has
asked for leave to offer to her Majesty his En_lish version,
which has just appeared. To this request he has received
the following gracious reply :—" Osborne, De^. 18,
181 ii.
My dear Sir John,—l have not failed to present your
pretty little volume to the Queen, who commands me to
return you her best thanks for your kind attention in
sending it to her. As time allows, her Majesty will be
much interested in looking over its contents.—Believe me,
yours vet 7 truly. C. GREY."
The Lord Chancellor has added the names of
Mr. C. Bromley, Sheriff of Southampton. Captain Vim
cent, Alderman Lamb, and Measrs. O. Dunlop and E.
Mayes to the list of magistrates for the borough of South-
ampton.

NORTH BRITISH RAILWAY.-111r. Beaumont, of
Huddersfield, has, we learn by telegram, resigned the
chairmanship of the North British Railway in favour of
Mr. Stirling, of Kippendavie. Mr. Beaumont has been
elected deputy chairman.
LIFE IN PARIS.—" The company present at the
dinner of which we give the bill of fare to-day, under the
heading ' Our Gastronomic World,' (says La Liberte),
was entirely composed of literary men. Amongst them
were M. H. de Page, editor of Le Petit Journal, MM.
J. Noriac, Richard, Claretie, Maillard, Lacour, Baron
Brisse, Ice. All the guests were dressed in cook's
costume ; the older guests wore the classic cotton cap, the
younger ones the moue. M. Claretie made up excellently
ninnea scullion." After givingr was the menu Baron Brine writes
La " T d given by and prepared
under the direction of M. J. Gouffe. 1 had the honour of
being one of the guests, and when leaving I decDred to
him, on my honour, that I never in my life
Theate dinner
more deliciously and skilfully prepared. 20
December, ISial, will remain a date illustrious in the
culinary
.fasti of the 19th century."
FETES AT AORA.—The review and durbars were
but the set ions events amid a succession of gaieties and
fetes, which have at last exhausted even the Governor-
General. Balls, state dinners, and parades we may pass
over, but there have been two fetes in the T
th eaj gardens
worthy of mention. The first was given to y
and all Agra by the municipal authorities. Then the
solemnly beautiful concave of the dome of the Taallj waits
s
lighted up as at noon with magnesium wire,
bidden glories of carving and ornamentation displayed as
they have never been before. Finer than even this was
the illumination of the Janina, as only Hindoos can
light up a river. On a slight wicker framework
thousands of lights were floated down its sluggish
stream. For miles, as far as the eye could reach, the
the
Janina seemed a river of molten gold, combining with
purity of the 'raj and its decorative designs in jasper,
cornelion, and a hundred other stones, to form, as the
correspondent of one journal has said, "no unworthy
realisation of the vision of St. John when he saw the
new Jerusalem descending out of heaven adorned as a
bride fur husbaniL" The lighting-up of this queen
of buildings in the far: given by Sindia to the Viceroy
a few nights after surpassed the efforts of the muni-
cipality. All who have seen continental gardens lighted
up can realise what those of the T
lines weofre.
the Bu
vast
t to
see the exquisitely proportioned out
gateway—itself a wonder—the colonnaded approach, the
two great mosques, and the graceful kiosks, all brought
out in splendid relief by millions of Oriental " chirags,"
while the Taj itself—too pure to be defiled by oue light
placed upon it—was illumined by the electric light from
its four miners and the mosques on either to see
this, as it was seen for the first time in our rule last
Saturday night, is to have witnessed a spectacle
clthat
nd the
wealthiest capitals of Europe could not ma,i, a
poet alone could fitly describe. On the sandy ridge
thrown up by the Juliana on the opposite side, wher
can still be seen the foundations of the tomb Shah
Jehan meant to erect for himself, gorgeous fireworks
were exhibited, reflected in the water, with
taste and an art the pyrotechniats, as they cal
th emselves, of Europe have yet to learn. The Maha-
-1
rajah spent about 3,0001. on this fete, which closed
with a champagne supper in one of the mosques
given to upwards of ROO English guests. The Viceroy and
Sindia, hand in hand, walked through the gardens and
witnessed the spectacle. To-day all the festivities of the
fortnight may be said to have an end, when Sir John
has
Lawrence pays a flying
visit to Gwalior. Nothing
marred the success of the pageants save one or two acci-
dents at the review, a few cases of cholera in the camp,
and the serious illness from sunstroke of Major Vicars,
one of the Viceroy's aides-de-camp. The power of the
san's rays is certainly unusually great for this season of
the year. Among the visitors in camp is Major J.
Augustus Grant, C. 11., of Nile celebrity.—Letter from
Agra in the Timer.
THE Ot'EAN YACHT RACE. THE START.—At
this time, 5 minutes to 1, the Henrietta had set her fore-
sail, mainsail, jib, flying and jib ; the Vesta flying jib, jib,
fore and mainsail ; the Fleetwing, mainsail, foresail, jib,
flying jib, main gaff to. nail. The three yachts looked as
seaworthy boats RA could possibly be found, and as the nun
shone down on their white canvas, they certainly ap-
peared as pretty crafts as ever sailed on any waters, whe-
ther hay, lake, river, or ocean. Everything was in rea-
diness, and immediately at 1 o'clock, Captain Fearing
gave the signal for the yachts to go, and obediently they
bounded forward. Then followed a scene baffling descrip-
tion. The steamers again commenced moving ; the re-
port of cannons, whistling of steam whistles, cheering,
hurrahing, singing, inlaying of the various bands—all had
an effect at once striking and exciting. At the start the
positions of the yachts' were as follows :—The Fleet-
wing was the northernmost boat in line, and the Henrietta
tothesouthward, and the Vestain the centre. The Henrietta
at th • start took the lead, having from her position the full
benefit of the wind, while the others did not get so much
from their lying to the leeward. The River Queen and the
other vessels then visited each of the yachts in turn. On
board the Henrietta all was activity, the men ready to
hoist the squaresail at a moment's notice. Mr. J. G. Ben-
nett, Mr. Lawrence Jerome, and Mr. S. K. Fisk stood in the
stern sheets, and as the various steamers approached the
Henrietta these gentlemen were made the recipients of
cheers as hearty and prolonged RS ever issued from human
throats. The band on the River Queen struck up
" Auld Lang Syne." and all on board caught up the strain.
and joined in thus wishing Mr. Bennett a safe voyage.
Then cheer again echoed after cheer, and " Yankee
Doodle" vied with the " Star-spangled Banner" for
mastery, while " VivaL'Ainericeiniaisted on having a good
show, and beating The Henrietta never looked
better than at this motment, and bets of 1,01/0 to $OO
on the Vesta were freely taken by her hankers.
Her captain, Mr. Samuels, is one of the most expe-
rienced and fearless sailors to be met with. In this
latter trust he will agree well with Mr. Bennett, who
dues not care what canvas, or how much be carries,
provided he gets in ahead of his competitors. Captain
Samuel. was for several years in command of the Dread-
nought. and in ISriri made the greatest passage ever known
for a sailing vessel, i.e., from Liverpool to New York in
thirteen days and eight hours. From the Henrietta the
Vesta was visited, she was some short distance behind,
her jibs flapping slightly. A splendid crew on her deck
returned the hearty cheers which she too was made the
recipient of, and afterwards the Fleetwing came in for her
share of encouragement. Having gone so far as the bar
with the yachts the steamers turned towards new York.
So long as a glimpse could be had of the racers every per-
son remained on the deck and watched for any move-
ments. But the position of the steamers prevented any
further observations as to their bearing.—. New York World,
Dee. 12.

)
(FROM OUR OWN CORRESEONDENII.
PARIS. FRIDAY EVENING.
It has been arranged that Mr. Bigelow will pre-
sent his letters of recall to the Emperor at the
Tuileries, at 1 o'clock on Sunday. General Dix,
the new minister, will have an audience imme-
diately afterwards, to present his credentia:s. Col.
Hay, the first secretary of legation (who was
secretary to President Lincoln), remains here, and
will be re-presented to the Emperor by General Dix
at the same time with Colonel Hoffmann, newly
arrived as second secretary of legation, to replace
Mr. Pomeroy, resigned. It will be observed—
though the fact is doubtless quite accidental—
that the new United States Legation in Paris is
composed exclusively of military men, the minister
being a general, and the two secretaries colonels.
Djemil Pacha, who some time since arrived in
Paris as Turkish ambassador for the third time,
and has hitherto been prevented by indisposition
from presenting his credentials, will also be re-
ceived by the Emperor on Sunday.
A great deal has been said about the Pope's
civility to M. Tonnello, the Italian special envoy,
with a view of inferring the opinion that concord
between Italy and the Papacy was at hand. I be-
lieve it will turn out that the Pope did not allow
M. Tonnello to say a word about the objects of his
mission, but left him to treat of them with Cardi-

nal Antonelli.
Although it continues to be affirmed that the
Empress will leave for Rome on Dec. 26, I observe
that the 3finwrial Diptomatique, rather a high
clerical authority, still uses an " if" in reference to
the subject.
It may be remembered that Lieutenant Lannes
de Montebello, of the French navy, some time since
resigned his commission for reasons which have
never been publicly explained. A few days ago
his father, the Duke de Montebello, wrote a letter
to the papers stating that his son had been forced
to give up a profession which he loved, and in
which he might have hoped to achieve a distinc-
tion worthy of his name, because, while on
board the flagship Themis, in the Mexican waters,
he had received an unpardonable affront from the
captain, for which he could obtain no redress. The
MuiLitear of to-day contains the following note on
the subject :
Several journals, in announcing the resignation
offered by M. Bermes de Montebello of his grade
as lieutenant in the French navy, have alluded to a
fact supposed to Lave led to the determination taken
by this officer. DI. de Montebello did, iu reality, during
the month of December, Diciri, address to the Minister of
Marine in the usual manner a complaint against the com-
mander of the frigate Themis, on board which he had
embarked. In conformity with the provisions of
the code of justice for the land and sea forces, this
complaint was referred to the rear-admiral com-
manding-in-chief the naval division of the Antilles, who,
according to law, had to se, if there was reason to pro-
ceed with the case. That officer, on receiving the
minister's orders, prescribed an inquiry and nominated
Captain Clone, commander of the naval subdivision of the
Gulf of Mexico, to undertake it. Captain Cloue, after
having collected the testimony and considered the facts
which had led to the complaint, addressed to Rear-Ad-
miral Baron Didelot a report declaring that there was no
reason to continue the proceedings. That determination
was adopted by the admiral, who declared that it was
useless to open any further inquiry. All the rules pre-
scribed by law have therefore been observed.
It is very possible that the rules prescribed by
law may have been observed, but the Mouiteur
gives the public no information as to the merits of
the affair. This emission is, however, supplied by
a Toulon journal, which states that the affront
complained of was nothing less than a blow ad-
ministered by the captain to the lieutenant on the
quarter-deck, and that according to the usages of
the French navy this was an outrage which left
Lieutenant Lannes de Montebello no alternative
but to blow his brains out, or to leave the service
in order to be able to send a challenge to his
superior officer. It is further stated that Rear
Admiral Didelot, the officer who reported that the
lieutenant was entitled to no redress, has been
obliged to resign his command in consequence of
the unfortunate business, so that more may pos-
sibly yet be heard of it.
At the Bourse Credit Mobilier continues to fall.
The decline of to-day was 6fr. 25c. Rente remains
steady, at yesterday's quotations.

MILITARY INTELLH:F.Ner, OF NEW YORK.—THE
7TH HEEINIF.NT AND THEIR PRoPosEn VISIT TO PARIS.—
The 7th Regiment having voted to decline the invitation of
the Americans resident in Paris to visit that city during
the Great Exposition, Colonel ('lark has forwarded to l'aris
the following official communication :—" lierulquarten
7th Regiment, N. (1. S. N. Y., New York, Nov. 2.G, ltitki.
Rev. A. It. Burlingame and others, Americans resident in
Parisi. Gentlemen,—Your very kind and flattering invita-
tion to this regiment to visit Paris during the Great Ex-
position in Isll7 having been carefully considered by its
officers and members, I am directed, as their official repre-
sentative, to respectfully decline the same. Although fully
appreciating your partiality and favour in desiring that
this regiment should represent the citizen soldiery of the
1 great republic on that occasion, and although recognising
the fact to which you allude—that such a visit would pro-
bably revive old associations and cement the friendship
which has existed, without interruption, between the two
nations since the war for American Independence—still,
business pursuits, domestic ties, and the large expenditure
of time and money necessarily involved, compel the officers
and members of this regiment to forego the pleasure of a
trip to Paris in lfai7. Hoping and believing that the
genius of America will be fully and truly represented at
1 the Great Exposition, and that you,Aniericann, resident in
Paris, will have additional reasons to be proud of your
country and your countrymen,—l am,&c.,l:lOlONR CLARK.
Colonel Commanding 7th Regiment N.G.S.N.Y."—.Nete
York Herald.
ADMIRALTY, DEC. 2I.—APPOINTMENTS. Naval
Cadets (nominated).—L. Dod Sampson and It. M. Parker.
COLLIERY EXPLOSIONS. BIRMINGHAM. The
Msyor of Birmingham convened • meeting in that town
I yesterday ; it was resolved to raise a subscription in aid of
the sufferers and bereaved ; upwards of 4001. was an-
nounced in the room. The artisans in the manufactories
are holding meetings, and in all probability • considerable
sum will in that way be subscribed. In one instance 401.
was raised.