The Express.
London, England, 1859-02-12 00:00:00

CONFOCATION 07 71711 CIJEGY.

Yesterday looming lb. Upper Row of Comm-
it's teems& its fitting in Qum Anne's Bounty-04os The
Archbishop presided., and there were present the Biabom eel
Lembo, Winchester, Exeter, Lichfield, Lincoln,
fit. Ala* Oxford, Olonotster and Llandaff. A low Mame
deo took plasm on the subject of periodical comettatbre
meetiop of the clergy and laity, as suggested lat • petition
from Mr. Henry Beam, the Maker, end the propo nest
with the tatiaMmous approval of Oar lordeldpe. The
Bishop of Oxford brought before the house • motion
for an address to her Majesty to appestat a royal 00m-
minion of divines, to draw up • aeries of micesienal
services to be Mewled in a appeadia to she Prayer-Look.
The Bishop said he would suggest that sputa novices
should be appointed on the °comics of °pale' churches after
restorations, for theta was • general duare among the people
that some err. molly should take piece, and yet the clergy
bad no anthonty to depart from the ordinary service of the
church. Be though/, ate, that special services should be
appointed for times of natiesel thsnliegiving and humiliation.
It would be • greet advantage if th•se mold be deliberately
put forth with the joint approval of the Convocation and the
Crown. Another !Treat awoke scold be for the ennead
ce lebretion of our sovereign's mirearion to the throne, and
anchor for the close of harvest, which wee very much de-
sired in oomitry winter. Be eakei them, therefore, to
giddiest the Crown to appoiet • Royal Commission ot Divines,
who should draw up the draft of such services, to be after-
wards hid before the Convocation of the Clergy, Convocation
being instructed to deliberate before them. They might then
be retained to het Majesty with a pope that she would give
her royal authority that they should be appended to the
Prayer-book. Th-ra was as improasion that the Prayer-book
ea it stood was drawn up by i sediment, and that it would
be non soy to obtain en act of parliament for the special
services he suggested, but that was a mistake. The history
ef tte Prayer-book showed that parliament had nothing to
do with drewirg it up. The eroen had the power, ant If it
were thought co shame to act upon the addresr there would
be no occasion to go to parliament at all. The Queen's pre-
roeive would be sufficient for all purposes.
The ARCHBISHOP said the oily p lute 00 which be had
any doubt were the services for national thanksgiving* and
oath:eel humiliations.
The Bishop of Ox FOXE. thought those points might be
esitled is committer.
The Bishop of LONDON thought that the matter should
be carefully considered before convocation pledged itself to
such • course.
After woe further discoselon, the numbers pro end coo.
were found to be equal, whereupon
The ARCHBISHOP gave hie meting vote against the att•
dres,, and it fell to the ground.
Their lordship proceeded to discuss notions on the
Diver,* Bill. the 'sport of the Lower Homo on hone and
foreign iniethoes, and at five o'clock the Pielecotor of the
Lower Rouse was sent for, and Convocation declared to be
adjourned oat 1 Thursday, the 25th of August. The met-
ing on that day will be end no further busmee con-
nected with this soolmiestlesl s nod will be trassactel until
February nest.
The Lower Home was occupied during the morning in
discuseleg Mr. Roan's scheme, and in the reception of
reports

ORIENWICII ELECTION. There wu a rumour in
Greenwich yesterday that Admiral Sir Richard Dundee
wi'l probably be a cam:tide.° for the mat for the to rough of
Greenwich, which will shortly become meet by the tetirc-
maul of Sit W. Codrington. Sir Richard was the com-
mander of the Baltic Beet, and is s lord of the Admiralty
ender the present administration. Thera Is no apperusace
at pressat of a contervathe candidata for Ms seat earatad
eaßr. Townaend, the nomination for which sill talc place
Mooday,_
EAST WOSCESTERSRISE.--The writ wu received
by the nnier.abetiff yeceeeday, but in conemossee of tbe
Ms nee of the high-eherid will not be proclaimed mail to.
morrow. It is understood, however, that the nolaillatioll
will take place on Saturday, the Nth, or Woodsy, lion
There is no doubt that both partied will go to a poll, es each
experts the groeleet confidence in the bane of the election,
sad claims a majority of promisee.
CROWN-OYFICL, Fan. 10.—Member returned to
serve in the pammt Parlismatat.—Beesegle of Banbury:
Bershord Samuels:4e, Esq., In Yee roam el Hwy William
Tancrsd, Faq., who has accepted the elk* of Steward of bit
Diailovtre Qattara liandlente-fieNtle,

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LONDON. 11411WIDAr, PIM. 12.

Ir is rumoured, we beer set with what truth,
that the delay in the precludes stair lows Pune°.
roses plans fur providiag Ihr the defence of the
country by the easy, is awed by important differ-
ewes of opinion en that subject within the Cabinet.
It le ales agate asserted that an extensive system of
fortifisatiena has received the partial eased= of the
Government, and is bluely to ho Ineeskt shortly
under the consideration of the Ligislaturs. That

scheme is sot, it sear, to consist of ra oratiawas line
of cavemen/Mien, bat of a aeries of fertifeatiens,
properly so tensed, placed at intervals along the
whole of our seaboard, so as to afford stress& sad
protection to en army of defence. Could it be demon-
strated that worha of this description weirs asesatial,
no rational man would venture to spree their
immediate adoption. Bat if, cm the other head,
any portios of the suss is question b le be eneshisred
but so a preliminary instalment es sessantef a sestly
alteversi. tellhaele, Wads the masest (sweeties e.
hardly hope to see esespistede me tram that se mewl-
ibet • job will be diewased with all the weep
that the moan= demon& We have had too messy
inesseess of late years of the allbsb of seismitting
ousel.« to uodertakiep imperatively requiring
vets after vote for an Mt/mixable period, Meg after
their worthlessness Ma be.. proved eves to the
wet esepticaL Take, foe that atepeadoes
folly et Deur Harbour, whisk spicily seralphe
1101101110 in hawked@ of thomeads, and will madame
to de ee keg after its perejesters ham mosidered
into dust. Seses years age, whim the ometwidse
of this Rniege—new allowed by all peastion nose
ts be mselms—was determined open, it was plemdbly
urged, ea behalf of its expediency, that " a large
".m might fairly be upended. that locality, be-
" came Dover was the.spot whines to west peed
" over the Channel, in enter to prevent busies
" lad to maintain our naval sopreisarry ; it woo.
however, admitted, at the muse time, that "it
" would not do to Aare sentral Th.rers."
Let it be considered fora moment what • mediae
femme is, and what it involves. Then is
in the first instance, the patches' of the
sit*. then the preparation of the premed,
the erection of the outworks, and, within Mess, of
massive bastions connected by "curtains' of spas
pew masonry, capable of resisting the tremendous
shock of modern artillery. In the coot» thew
most Decessanly be bomb-proof casemate, with me-
guius and storehouse', all of the most solid struc-
ture ; and if a rough estimate be needed of what all
tide would amount to, some idea may be farmed from
the fact already cited, that our precious martello
towers—insignificant in comparison, never having
bees intended to carry more than one gnn—oost as
upwards of 24,0001. each. Bet, assuming that it is
not in contemplation to protect the British Ides by
means of a number of fortifications similar in she-
fader and dimensions to those of Antwerp at of
Ehrenbreitatein, and that the proposed works ars to
resemble rather what French engineers term places
did movies 4 or field fortressee—even to these, several

of ths above objections would apply with equal
fore,. They an regarded by some authorities,
it is true, as entrenched posts only, intended to
oocsaiou delay by compelling an enemy to go
through the tedious preliminaries, if not the entire
process, of a siege ; but in order to do this they must
be executed with sufficient care, and possess almost
the powers of endurance of a first claas fortress. In
the Peninsular War the importance of inch places
was proved on more than one occasion, OA at Peniche
and Abrentts, where field works of great strength
were thrown up with tolerable rapidity by the
English Army, and at Salamanca and Burgas by the
French; cad though the celebrated fortef Matagorda
does not quits ease under this category, Its defence,
nadir the gallant Bic ANCHILLD MACLAINE, is one
arum most memorable sweats in the annals of war,
and proves more forcibly than any other ease that
could be cited what a brave officer, judiciously
posted, can accomplish. Here it wee that hlnctditsE,
styled the links " the bravest of the brave," with
only 115 men, resisted, for nearly two months, the
united efforts of Marshal SOULT, with 8,000 picked
troops übder his command. No doubt, therefore, that
a well•conoected writs of such forts would possess
unquestionabh. advantages, by impeding the march
of an advancing fo, ; but es they would unfortunately
not be moveable, and as the commanders of an in-
vading army would naturally wiled roots' whereas
such obstacles did not exist, it seems difficult to
understand what possible object there would be In
OW possessing any number of form of the kind that
could re monably be constructed, unless we rendered
it at the MEN time an imperative necessity upon the
part of an ~my to occupy himself in attackieg titra
in 'accession heforestriking a vital blow at theCspitsi.
Besides, with the limited numbers disposable to
protect our shores, in comparison with the armed
hosts of the rely Power ever likely to invade them,
every fort such as we have alluded to, if net oneeetial
to the system of defence, would be an absolute
source of weaklier, owing to the garrison it would
abstract from the effective forces at eenamail.
W. knew sot how snarly of these fortification@ it
is in ciontemplation to erect; but seeing that the
seaboard of the British Wee *Lends 3,000 miles
be et say am whatever these ought to be at hut a
maple of keedred or seek etransholds at intervals
&Di ear MAIL Nee eegl4 sea art to esetala

I a garrison of much les than a couple of thousand
men. Even with our twenty thousand Militia re-
cruits, the few disposable Line Regiments left at
home, together with the Household troops, it seems
difficult to imagine how even a tenth part of these
fortresses are to be manned on the outbreak of
a war, leaving at the same time an adequate body
of men to be moved, possibly at a few hours' notice,
to support any of the various vulnerable points
that would be simultaneously menaced.
It scarcely requires further argument, then, to
expose the futility of the whole project, and we
hope seriously that our authorities will pause
ere they venture to bring it forward. If after all
that has been said and written on the national
defences, this notable scheme, the offspring of
the collective wisdom of the Ministry, is the
beat that has suggested itself, we cannot but
lament the want of that fertility in resources which
I might to be the concomitant of foresight, and we base
sot much reason to be over confident as regards
the future.

" Sourrnlxo must be done." This, we suspect,
is the num, rather than any substantial advantage
to be attained, why Mr. WALPOLE makes • Sale of
Poisons Bill, part of the early and urgent business of
the smaion. In the alarm that has followed the acci-
dents which have occurred, the crimes which have
been committed, owing to the too easy accemibility
of poisons, some people have cried out for fuller rules,
sharper restrictions, and aggravated penalties, to
guide, restrain, and punish the dealers in durum.
drop. Usteemion Mr. WALPOLE Gofer deferred to
this dimmed es to introduce to the House of Com-
mons a Bill which might have been entitled
The Tonne Chemist's Guide." The maws-
tire of the shop, the ooloars and shapes
of the bottles, end the claseitloatien of chard-
ads, were all premeribed with a minute exact-
nem which took seeenat of everything except the
character of the objects regulated, and the possibili-
ties of trade. There were poisons arbitrarily consti-
bated such by Aet of Parliament, and limited to the
little chamber of hewers which every pharmaceutist
was required to set up; and again there were
malignant drugs left with liberty to be at large en
the general shelves. The new Bill is a great advance
on that measure. A good half of its childish regal/i-
-dolss have been knocked away. A few remain, jest
to remind the chemist that he is the heir of the
suspicion which the Middle Ages attached to
alchemy. The fourth clause, which enacts that
surgeons and apothecaries shall keep certain
medicines in vessels labelled not only with
CM proper names of their contents, but with the
word " Poison" in conspicuous capital letters, moot
have been suggested by some member of the " British
" Oellege of Health." Of a large number of the
ehmamts of the phommespccia it may be said, that
if they were sot rims they would not be medi-
cines, the scone prepertior being their title to both
iheigmatlens, their various operation depending
simply ma the mode and degree in which they are
received late the system. The repulsive worth are
ealoulated to alarm the uslesimed, while they will
have little err someaning he these who ere enjoined to
use them. Bat we seed set dwell on this, nor oa the
et►er rostristive shame of the measure. The chemists
and druggists will probably balance what they
New egaiest what is imposed, and not oppose this
Bill, as they did the lest. Probably no mown at all
of a petal character could worry them less. The caw
mon-place precautions which they have been in the
habit of observing will not become more troublesome
by reesiving the sanction of an act of Parliament.
The diffiealties thrown in the way of mks of poison
will diminish the number of such troublesome tramp
sedans ; bat, en the other hand, by inducing
esseemen to bey larger quantities at a time
they will inaeaee the stores of dangerous drugs in
private Ueda. Bach are the difficulties which beset
attempts to supply by rule the leek of self-act-
lag diuretics. We have always maintained that
the oily way to increase the security of the public
is le tales and permits* the character and qualifl-
satins et the closer to whom the dispensation of
dangerous drugs is entrusted.

Ha Elm last night stalled the attention of the
Govorament to a matter which, alight as it may
appear on a first glance, has been regarded with con-
siderable apprehension by a portion of the busy
public—the POSTMASTIA-01SUAL'I order directing
that all lettere posted without payment shall be
opened by the Post-office authorities and returned to
their senders. With a stroke of the pen, and with-
out the aid of Parliament, that noble functionary
has destroyed the sanctity of the seal in which Eng-
lish letter-writers have so long been accustomed to trust.
It is a matter of coarse that this stretch of adminis-
trative power has not been well received, especially
whoa the best reason that can be assigned for it is
the atrivenience of a Departmirit. It is obvious that
the efficiency of the service would be immensely is.
erased if payment by the sender were the universal
praetiee, according to the original design of the
rounder of the Penny Post, and to that we must
come in time. If it were universally understood
that the postage of every communication must be
paid by the sender, then writers intending to post
an unstampea letter would know that they were
inditing for the Post-office clerks, and not for the
person to whom they Inscribe their correspondence.
But a fair warning has not been given of the change.
The Porrtrestra-Oagraet's order is only dated the
37th alt, and it took effect last Thursday.
There are thousands of persons in the osisatry, sad
hundreds arriving daily from abroad, who, ignorant
of the new regulation, and without ready seem a
stamp', will post letters announcing arrivals, sick-
ness, or urgent business—letters which will never

roach the hands of those deeply interested in their
content.. The time for the execution of this west
ought to be extended. By the middle of next week
the Post-office clerks will have got over the extra
business of Bt. Valentine's Day, and it would be
well if immediately afterwards the order were rr
called, oe its operation postponed for at least six
swaths, by which means the merlons threatened in-
convenience might be avoided.