The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-01 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS.

The Times thinks the remarkable reception given to the
American yachtsmen fully deserved, for they have accom-
plished a race which surpasses just as completely all the
races we have ever designed u the yacht which they
sent over when they first began the sport beat everything
in these waters. In fact we should have thought of
such a thing. It involves just so much of genuine Trans-
atlantic exaggeration as to be beyond our sphere. The
longest race and the biggest stakes in the world are true
American conceptions, but the actual success of the
scheme is a real American triumph. We astonish the
people of the Continent, and the Americans, our own
kinsmen, astonish us.
Without chiming in with the vulgar cry against any
man who has laid open one of the wounds of society with
the intention of applying a cure to it, the Daily News feels
bound to express its conviction that the terrible suspicions
which Dr. Pusey, in defence of his system of confession
has been scattering as to the morality of English youth,
have their origin mainly in a monkish imagination, stimu-
lated by the logical exigencies of an equivocal cause. The
peculiar ethics of his school lead them to be always looking
out with a somewhat morbid vigilance for tendencies of
this kind. They regard marriage itself as a sort of fall
from what Dr. Pusey, endorsing the language of another
writer, calla • " higher and more angelical state."
As to confession—what has the confessional done
in France, in Italy, in Spain! Can it be
alleged without absurdity that the standard of
personal morality in protestant England without the con-
fessional has been lower, according to any rational esti-
mate, than that which has prevailed under the influence of
the French, the Italian, or the Spanish confessor!

The Standard believes there is no foundation for the
report that the commander of the vessel which took off
the Candiote refugees has been superseded by the au-
thorities at home. Her Majesty's government intend to
pursue a rigid neutrality in the affair. They have de.
dined to allow their representative: in Greece to become
associated with the Philo-Cretan demonstrations, and they
have refused to station a British man-of-war oil the island
of Crete for the purpose of receiving the sick and wounded
of the insurgents. On the other hand, they have not
interfered to dictate the policy of the Greek government ;
but they have informed it that if its policy should even-
tuate in a rupture with the Porte, Great Britain will not
intervene to avert from it the consequences of its own
action.

WATERFORD ELECTION. DUBLIN, MONDAY
NIGHT.-At the official declaration of the poll to-day,
the majority for Mr. Dc la Poer was stated to be 4:07.
No life was lost at Dungarvan, but several persons were
severely injured. _ _ _

In many of the parish and district churches
last night there were midnight services. At Bt. Clement*.
Danes the service was conducted by the Rev. R. H.
Killick, M.A. ; at st. Luke's, Berwick-street, by the Rev.
Harry Jones ; at West-street Chapel, St. Giles's, by the
Rev. R. W. Dibdin, M.A. At some Independent and
Baptist chapels there were services, tut they were not so
general as amongst Churchmen and Wesleyan..

The following is an extract from a private letter
dated from Alexandria, in Egypt, Dec. 15:—" It is
thought that during the ensuing year there will be a con-
siderable decline in the high prices which have prevailed
here m long. The climate is truly delightful during these
winter months. but the absence' of green fields gives the
place • very desolate appearance. I have not yet made
any excursions into the country as there is nothing of in-
terest to be seen without undertaking • very long journey.
Cairo is seven hours distant by rail. The most interesting
place which I have seen is the spot on which the battle of
Alexandria was fought between the British under Aber-
crombie and the French. The mosque, into which Aber.
crumble was carried, is still to be seen, as also the cannon
balls embedded in the walls of an old Roman camp, the
scene of • terrible encounter, where 600 French were
killed."

How singularly a man may sometimes love his
life was a few days ago exemplified at Berlin. A city
functionary rode with a lady in a cab to the Frankfurt
railway terminus, whence the lady intended to depart in
the next train. As the cabman drove very slowly, the
gentleman put his head out of the open window in order
to admonish the cabman to make haste. At the same
moment another vehicle which happened to drive past
pushed against the door of the cab in such a manner that
the neck of the gentleman was • jammed in, and his head
remained outside of the cab door, his neck being so
severely injured that he died in consequence of the acci-
dent by bleeding to death.
Some of the boys at Russian public schools at
Moscow, Petersburg, Kiew, and Kasen have sent Count
Bismarck a warm letter of thanks for having so greatly
facilitated the study of the most difficult part of European
geography—namely, the political geography of Germany'
The Honorer Courier has published a few speci-
mens of answers which have been given at the recent
examinations for admission to the class of one-year volun-
teers referring to mathematics, geography, history, agri.
culture, music, &c. A. declared Julius ewer to have
been a Grecian king; B. believed Wallenstein to have
been a Swedish general; and according to C., Mary Stuart
was an English princess. D. thought that the source of
the Rhine was in Bohemia ; E. that the Elbe flowed into
the Baltic ; while F. could not remember any river that
flowed into the Baltic ; and G. and It were not agreed es
to the whereabouts of Odessa, which the former believed
to be in the north of Russia and the latter in Spain.
K. ascribed the alternation of day and sight to the revo-
lution of the earth round the moon.