The Express.
London, England, 1867-06-24 00:00:00

ITALY.

FLORENCE, Jura 23.
In yesterday's sitting the Chamber of Deputies
commenced the discussion of the budget of the
Ministry of War. The Committee on the Church
Property Liquidation Bill have appointed Signor
Ferraris as their reporter. The Florence Gazette
asserts that a perfect understanding on the subject
of the bill exists between the committee and Signor
Rattazzi, the President of the Council. The
eipisioile states that the plan of the committee
reserves the provisions of the law of 7th July,
1866, with the additional stipulation that a portion
of the ecclesiastical property subject to conversion
shall be appropriated to the purposes of public
worship (I) The alienation of tho church pro-
perty requiring to be brought to a termination
within a few years, the committee, it is thought,
will propose to authorise the government to issue
credit securities, such as mortgage bonds, redeem-
able at a fixed period of the year, out of the pro-
duce of the same property. The issue would re-
quire to be made, one moiety by public subscrip-
tion in the interior? and the other procured
by negotiations with public credit establish-
ment& at home, or with foreign houses.
"It is added," continues the Opinion,
" that the committee, fully recognising
that the proposed issue could not be effected in
the present position of the national finances but on
onerous conditions, has decided to defer the opera-
tion until an imposition of fresh taxes or a change
in the existing taxes shall assure the treasury about
80 millions (lire) of increased revenue. The
Official Gazette of to-day publishes a decree order-
ing the execution of the Franco-Italian convention
for the apportionment of the Pontifical debt.

PORTUGAL.

LISBON. Jmtz 22,

The Chamber agreed to an amendment to the
civil code proposed by the committee, which
had already been approved by the Ministry and
by the Chamber of Peers. The general budget
and the bill on the reform of the jury system were
abio adopted.

TURKEY.
CONSTANTINOPLE. Jinn 22.
The Animism Grand Duke Alexia arrived here
yesterday on board the Olga and was presented to
the Sultan just before his departure.

AMERICA.
(sr ATLANTIC TELZURAPH.)
NEW YORK, Jon 22, 6 P.N.
President Johnson and Secretary Seward have
gone on a masonic visit to Boston.

The steamers leaving to-day for Europe take out
500,000 dollars. The Canadian mail steamer
Austrian arrived at Quebec on the 18th inst.
Gold, 138. Sterling exchange on London,
110. 5-20 United States Bonds, 1101. Illinois,
1204 ; Erie, 804. Cotton : Middling Upland, 26/c.
Petzeleum: Refined, 24c.

THE CAPE MAIL.
PLYMOUTH, June 23.
The Union Company's steamer Roman arrived
here this evening, from Table Bay on the 19th ; St.
Helena on the 27th ; and Aseension on the 31st
ultimo. She brings 125 passengers, seven cases of
specie, and a large cargo, conaisting principally of
wool, copper ore, coffee, and oil. • .

. .
NO fuither steps had yet been taken upon the pro-
posed withdrawal of the troops by the imperial go-
vernment. Public feeling bad grown a little quieter
on .that subject, but was still strongly opposed to
the, measure. The Colonial Secretary had intimated
in ins. place in parliament that the government,
would not initiate any legislative action in connec-
tion with the withdrawal of the troops, but would
co-operate as far as possible with any course
adopted by the two houses.
A long series of resolutions of remonstrance were
about to be moved in the Cape parliament against
the withdrawal. The colonists urged that the
compulsory annexation of British liaffraria to
them had been enforced by the home government,
notwithstanding the protest of the Cape parlia-
ment, and yet now they were called upon to defend
that district. The home government's despatches
on this measure had been published, and strong
feeling was exhibited against the governor, Sir P.
S. Wodehouse, for the part he had taken in the
matter.

Bishop Colensohad tried the Rev. J. Green,
Dean of Mauritsburg, the Rev. T. G. Freone,
Archdeacon of Durban, and the Rev. J. Watson,
incumbent of St. John's, Pinetown, for resisting
his episcopal authority, and had sentenced them to
suspension and deprivation.
Dr. Mellor, curator of the Botanic-gardens of
Mauritius, and formerly a member of the Living-
stone expedition, had arrived at Cape Town. He
considered the intelligence respecting the death of
Mr. Livingstone to be authentic.

QUIENSTOWN, JrNE 23.—The Cunard extra
steamship Heel& arrived here at 1.20 p.m. to-day, with
,121 . She landed 19 Tessellates sad Le &la-
, pate es, and prooeeded for Liverpool at 1.30 p.m. All
walk

The present generation scarcely remembers so
great a night at the Theatre Francais as there was
on Thursday for the revival of M. Victor Hugo's
Iferttant. All his dramatic works have hitherto
been remorselessly proscribed in France, ever since
the rov frdat, and that not because there is in
them anything specially hostile to Napoleonic in-
stitutions, for they were written long before the
second empire was dreamt of, but for the utterly
unjustifiable and unavoidable reason that M.
Victor Hugo, au irreconcilable opponent of Napo-
ltain 111., is popular in France, and that the govern- I
went would not allow the public an opportunity to
applaud the literary works of an influential poli-
tical enemy. The Emperor, wisely yielding to the
manifest spirit of the time, has withdrawn the
interdiction, and I am not one of those 'who think it
was worth while on the .part of liberal politicians
to go to the theatre for the solo purpose of under-1
lining, by. uproarious and protracted applause,
any expression which, .by the , most strained
construction, be interpreted as • hostile" t..) the
existing dynasty and existing institutions. The
government journals complain that this was done'
by the majority of the audience. Some few lines
were, I believe, omitted or mutilated, by order of
the censorship ; and these alterations, instantly
perceived by the watchful house, provoked loud
cries of " The text, the text !" But in Rome'
instances " the text" was cried with indiscreet
zeal, for the text had been revised and changed by
the poet himself. Apart from the political aspect ,1
of the wings it was an immense success for Victor
Hugo. Men of all parties were there, the courtiers
Niouwerkerke and Chaix-d'Est-Ange sitting cheek
by jowl with the republicans Criimieux,
Marie Eugime, Pellutan, and Jules Simon.
The Grand Duchess Marie of Russia occupied the
Emperor's box. Prince Napoleon, A über (now 85
years old), and Alexandre Dumas were among the
audience. The critics' bench in the stalls was am
grand coplet. Old playgoers mognised the prin-
cipal survivors, now bald or white-headed, of that
enthusiastic young band of frequenters of the
Francais which fought the battle of the romanaptes
against the date/gins when Ilernani was played for
the first time in 1830. These "centurions of
1830," who formerly fought so hard, now gained a
bloodless victory. There was no sign of opposition—
nothing but applause from first to last, and ap-
plause so frantic as to make • it impossible
for anyone who did not know the play to follow
the actors. Mdlle. . Favart, who played the part
originally assigned to Mdlle. Mars, was certainly
equal to her great foregoer, if applause may be
taken as the standard of excellence. Bressant and
Delaunay came in for a full share of enthusiasm.
Cries of " Viva Victor Hugo ! " `‘ Vive )'exile !"
were frequent all the evening. There is no doubt
that this revival of a piece of which it has been
well said that, without reference to its merits
critically considered, it was the cannon-ball which
broke down a formerly impassable wall, is destined
to attract crowds for a long time—unless, indeed,
" political " visitors to the theatre should furnish
a pretext for its withdrawal, from considerations of
public order. The most remarkable of the lines
omitted was the one—
Crois-tu done qua les cols it moi me 'Meat amnia?

Berezowaki's attempt was too recent for this to be
permitted. .F/eniani, though the prohibition of
it on the stage was reserved for Napoleon 111., was
sedulously kept from young men by schoolmasters
in Louis Philippe's time. Many who saw it played
with delight on Thursday remembered that they
had read it en eaehette in their youth.
The veteran actor Lemilitre, who played Robert
Macaire at the Olympic Theatre in London thirty
years ago, is still on the boards in Paris, and draws
on the Boulevards. Gill, the great caricaturist of
the Lune, lately asked him for his autograph to
lithograph at the foot of a dtaryle of him which he
proposed to publish. M. LemAitre's answer, now
to be seen in all the shop windows, is original and
touching. He says, " Lune—Caricature young
people ; Time does the work for the old."