The Express.
London, England, 1858-07-27 00:00:00

'I SE EXPIIPSS, TUESDAY WENING, JULY '47, 1858. •

blearing*. We knew this very well when we were
striving for the repeal of the corn-laws ; and we
find all the world admitting it, now that agriculture is
striding forwards to assume its old place at the head
of the arts of life.

One other suggestion we must recognise, among
the lessons of last week. These annual meetings
can hardly be judged of till they have been held (in
their new vigour) in so many different places as to
have drawn to them the whole farming population
of the country. Chester and its vicinity, once poor
and dreary, we shall henceforth regard as a land
flowing with milk and honey. Manufactures flourish
so near as to send commerce through the old city in
all directions; and the good gifts of the earth are
plentifully out into her lap. But, at no great dis-
tance from her, north, east, south, there is an agri-
cultural barbarism still prevalent which shows that
we have to become much better supplied with food
yet, than we are in our latest improved condition.
There are grazing districts where it is not unusual
to fled the finest young bullocks bogged, and tender
heifers exposed to storms, and a diseased beast in-
fecting a herd, and the dairy vessels never washed,
beanie it would be unlucky ; and the pigs in the
garden, and the sheep under the snow, and the cows
wild with heat and flies. There are farms where
the manure is thrown away, because it exhausts the
soil or poisons the ground ; and where the hay crop
which should have been saved fire weeks ago is at
this moment standing rank with weeds which are
sending their seeds over all the neighbouring lands,
and where wide ditches and narrow streams are
choked with whole crops of hay which, mown at
great coot, has been left at the mercy of the storms
of Bt. Swims, and where, everything being too late,
the harvest will be driven off to the short days, and
, the oats will grow yellow ia the October nights,
after having been laid by the equinoctial storms ;
and where the winter will be down on the fields
before the seed is got in. Such things are ; and
there were many at Cheater who could have bane
, witness to it. Moreover, they could have told the
almost invariable issue: discouragement, discontent,
despair, drink, and dispersion of families through
that ruin. Let the more fortunate of the " landed
"interest," and their sympathising neighbour,
of other callings, take this to heart, and see what
can be done for the old yeomanry and peasantry of
England who live remote from the high road of
agricultural improvement and prosperity. Whether
such shows as that of Chester can be carried near to
the by-corners of the land, or the primitive farmers
' and graziers of our retired districts can be coaxed
over to the shows—let something be done for those
who can do so little for themselves.

It is pleasant to contrast in imagination the pre-
sent and a former age of agriculture; but it is not
at all agreeable to pus from a meeting of the Royal
Agricultural Association to a northern county where
the farmer pays sixteen shillings a week to his
labourers, and cannot manage to live ; or to a
southern one where the wages are eight shillings,
and the master finds it almost as hard to live as the
man. It is hard to say whether in north or south
Man and Nature are most misused. Let a better
teaching become universal.

CD, Court.

OSBORNE, Zvi 26.

Her Majesty, the Price° Consort, Prises Alfred,
Princess Aline, and Priam, Helena, attended Divine Service
at Whippingham Church yesterday morning. The Rev.
0. Prothero officiated.

TIM Governor of the Hudson's Bay Company bad an in-
terview with the Right Hon. Bir E. Bulwer Lytton yester-
day. Xr. Wyld had also an interview with the right hon.
baron' at the Culosial-offloe.

Parliament bad an interview
ylatarday with the Chancellor of the Barbican at his official
residence in Downiog- street, upon tha subject °Mho report
tithe select costmines on Mr. Barber's case. The depata.
Una emasisted of Mr. Brady, Mr. A. Mills, the Right Hoe.
T. M. Gthean. the HOD. E. Take, Mr. Coact, Colonel
lri Frank, Major-General Str John Smith, Mr.
W. WI limns, Mr. U. lagnan, Mr. Charles Forster, Mr.
Collins, Mr. P. M. Calmat. Mr. W. Coninehant, Mr.
Adam Black, Mr. H. E. Beteg, Major E. Scott,
Mr. M. Sollivaa, Mr. J. Clay, Mr. E. Akroyd, Mr. G.
Haihad, Mr. J. C. Cobbolii, Mr. J. Cheatham, Mr. C. J.
Butler, Colonel Presetust, Mr. T. E. Headlam, and Mr.
Patrick O'Brien.

iespate Ise;;;ere receivvi seder:ley at the Colonial-OEllm
from the Governors of the North American Provinces and
the Lord High Commissioner of the lonian Wanda.

His Excellency the Duke of Malakoff went to
Lard's Cricket Ground yesterday, and was presented by the
sehaaribers with a cricket-bat, ball, and stumps as a memorial
of h visit.

Maria Marchioneu of Ailesbnry hu left Claridge's
Hotel for Hamlett's Park, on a visit to Mr. Harcourt and
Frances Countess Wald/grave.

The Earl and Counter of Clarendon hare left
fawn for Nanahas Part, on a visit to Mr. Harcourt and
Frozen CouutessWaidatrava.

The Earl and Countess of Shaftesbury have left
tows for Bt. Giles's, Doreetshire.

The C,onot and Countess de Flahault and Madlle.
de Fla!mutt bars arrived In town from Germany.
Viscount and Viscountess Co m bermere have arrived
at Buxton.

Lord Lyons arrived at Arundel Cantle on Friday,
as a visit to their Oracle the Doke sad Dearer of Norfolk.
Hie lordship doer not appear to be fa the outsmarted of his
and excellent health. We trust, however, that the mein-
betty of the air of Arundel will soon restore the pliant
admiral to his wonted health end vigenr.—Ssiseez Erpreaa.
This morning the marriage of the Hon. Mr.
Massfyide, eldest son of Lord Polthuore, with Wog Sheridan,
daughter of Richard Brinaley Sheridan, M.P., wes celebrated
at St. George'a, Hanover-equare,ia the promote! a brilliant
*de.

The marriage was celebrated yesterday, at St.
Uses, ?betas-square, of J. F. Baeset. Esq., of Tebidy
Park, Carswell, to t►e Hon. Heady Vanier, youngest
dingitter of Viscount Govt.

The advertised list of staucriptions towards the
Dramatic Colisp exceeds LOOM Maws. Rama and
Zradas, MINIM. Shepherd and Cruswick, sad Beirjamln
Wi*sew, Dm., ham pissed their respective theatres at the
disposal of the areamaMes, sad the company of the Olympic
lam roared Mir prialtoue aarvices fa a benefit, which
will lam plans Dime e• Saturday, Aisamat 21. At a amp
mitts* moan ma Sederday, held at the Freemasons Tavern,
it was easalmoesly remind, " That the thanks or this core-
mitts, he gives to the patianan of the press for their zealous
aced Ale advocacy al ths mass of skis lastiturioa."

A petition to the Hose* of Lords is in come of
assegai" wow, the wet Int!woad Leedom arms against
*edema intrigued by Mr. Hotel into ths new rearstre ea
ceened shoran lesiing bankers front a responsibility in
erns alms do arteehig may hare bola ROW es se to is
saps istimilts.

Ths Archduchess Elizabeth, of Austria, wife of
/Jablake Charles Foramd, yr daily delivered at VISIMI
at a timaitrar as Ili• !LL

The Prince of Orange will attain hie majority on
the 4th leek ant, when greed fetes will be given at
the Regis The Fibre, sad Prism Frederick of the Nether-
huge have peetrewel their journey to Germany won after
tint pale&

Lettere bee Cologne state that the Count tip
ahrabord mosivel a alit is that city from the Primes
&ppm d Prowls. A another of the French residents else
- lark newts to his royal highnees during his May
fie.

Tlio &widen of the Swim Council of States relative
le the reneeiredea k be 'worded to nertabees of the
Plachad Nome for Ask eerverem le, Inr. for the liking,
lift. per day kr siting as committer, sad 11r. 600. per
Ingle kr trevellieg expeneee.

TM Cbrriers Ifereantile of Genoa states from
RIM that Calla dedil Eroded was &mated there ce the
lie, aid trimeersed to tbs politleal pre» of Itaa Meisel&
,111 mom of this step la Sot stated.

LATEST INTEI4IIGENCE.
FRANCK •

(FROM OUR OWN CORUBEIPONDENT.)

CHERBOURG, JULY 26.

The stranger who arrives at Cherbourg by rail
from Paris is struck by the evidences of extraordinary
haste to open this important line which meet his eye
continually on this aide of Caen. From the latter
place to Cherbourg there is at present a single line
of rails only. The second will not, in all probability,
be laid down for some time to come, unless the go-
vernment, for strategetical reasons, shall see fit to
make a new contract with the Western Company.
At present, the company is under no obligation to
open a second line until the traffic between Paris and
Cherbourg shall produce a sum too large to be
realised very soon, although I think that, considered
in a commercial point of view only, the value of
the channel of communication now established
with the extreme north-west point of France
will speedily turn out to be greater than
has been anticipated. The one line which I
have mentioned goes over a good deal of low marshy
ground in the Cotentin country, which must, I
think, be liable to be flooded in winter. For several
miles in this district there are now ponds on either
side of the embankment on which the rails are laid.
These hollows were made by the company scooping
out earth for the purposes of their railway close to
the line. It is perhaps to be regretted that at the
sacrifice of more time and money they did not cart
their earth from a greater distance, for it is certain
that the water hereabouts has a tendency to sap the
foundations of the railway. A good deal of rain hie
fallen in Normandy within the last three days, and
the trains are now compelled to proceed so slowly
through the Cotentin that it is impossible for them
to keep regular time, more especially is, there being
but a single line, the up and down trains are fre-
quently obliged to wait for one another. As
you approach Cherbourg most of the stations
are unfinished. The " busy hammers" of the
carpenters, " closing rivets up " to make all in
readiness for the Emperor's passage on the 4th of
August, give as noisy, though not so dreadful, a
note of preparation, as did those of the " armourers
accomplishing the knights " on the morning of the
battle of Agincourt. And, by the way, an English-
man, passing from one end of Normandy to the other
in a few hours by steam, cannot help thinking a
great deal about these same knights, his ancestors.
Normandy is at this day more like England than is
any other part of the Continent. The architecture
of the village churches, the greensward, the cut of
the woods and old pollards, the gates, the stiles, the
footpaths, hedgerows and orchards, the shape and
size of the fields, the cottages with their thatched
roofs, the arrangement of the farm homesteads,
and the well tended gardens of the country
mansions, all remind an Englishman of his
home, and fill his mind with a strange interest at
the reflection that these are the undoubted models
of that rural life which he has loved from his in-
fancy, and had always thought to be exclusively
English. And then the names of towns, villages,
and hamlets, as you whisk by, read like a leaf out of
" Domesday Book." There, with but now and then
slight differences of spelling, brought about by eight
centuries of time, you find the origin of troops of
English nobility; the Devereuxe, °royale', Pereys,
Beaumont', Bohune, Carteret', Neville', Braces,
Pierrepoints, rum mukis alas. To return to the
railway : notwithstanding all impediments, what is
called the express train does the journey from Paris
very comfortably in tlf hours. It will ultimately
be done much quicker when arrangements
shall be made for trains going at somewhat
greater speed end stopping at fewer stations.
I have no doubt whatever that this line will be used
to a great extent this very summer by English
visitors to Paris. The sea voyage from Southampton
to Cherbourg is shorter by many miles than that to
Havre, and although the railway journey afterwards
is somewhat more expensive (the first class fare is
41f.), this will be bat a small consideration for
thousands of tourists who have never yet seen
William the Conqueror's grave at Caen, or his wife's
famous tapestry at Bayeux, both of which inter-
esting old towns are upon the line, and form con-
venient halting places. Cherbourg itself, besides its
attractions as a great military port, has a great deal
to recommend it considered merely as a town.
Many of the streets are wide, clean, and well paved.
There are good shops well stocked with colonial pro-
visions, aid it is famous for claret, which it
imports direct from Bordeaux. The immediate
environs of the town are singularly beautiful. The

wood-crowned heights within hail' an hour's walk
cannot be matched by anything near Boulogne,
Dieppe, or Havre.

And now concerning the great question of the
approaching fetes. I have seen some of the highest
functionaries here, and they all say that with respect
to the Queen's proceedings nothing is yet definitively
settled. This much is certain, that great efforts
are making, and will continue to be made, to induce
her Majesty to stay longer than she at first proposed
to do. The people of Cherbourg positively refuse
to believe that she can come to this port without
setting foot on shore. All classes, from the highest
to the lowest, entertain the very best feeling towards
her, relate anecdotes of her former visit, and
express great pleasure at the prospect of
seeing her again. The Maritime Prefect, Admiral
Bourdon, with whom I have had the honour of an
interview, told me that on a former 000111ACKI her
Majesty said to him in the kindest manner, " Now
that I know the way to Cherbourg, I shall corns
again." I know from the best authority that the
municipality has sent en invitation to the Queen to
the ball which is to be given to the Emperor and
Empress after the inauguration of the new basin on
Saturday, August 7, and great indeed will be the
disappointment if her Majesty'sengagements should
be found to be absolutely incompatible with her
presence at this entertainment.

The exact naval force at this moment lying in the
harbour is as follows : first and principally, the Toulon
squadron, consisting of the magnificent screw three-
decker, the Bretagne,l4o guns (Vice-Admiral Romain
Desfosse's flag); the Donawerth (Rear-Admiral
Lavand's flag); the Napoleon, Ulm, Arcole, Auster-
litz, and Eylsu, and the frigate Isly. In addition
to the above, there is the Saint Louis, towed out of
the Bastin o Flot this morning, the frigate Alexan-
dre from Rochfort, and the school frigate Somme
from Brest These eight vessels (osiootaux) and
three frigates will, I believe, after all be the extent
of the force to be shown to the Queen on her arrival.
The Brest squadron will not come, as was reported,
and indeed I have relation to believe that it is not
ready, and could not be got reedy for the next
two months. Now that the Saint Louis has
been got out there is no other armed ship
of any kind in either of the bides, but
there are five or six laid up in ordinary. Now,
if the Queen should come with Admiral Lord Lyons
and the six ships of the line, six frigates, and seven
yachts, which were at first officially announced, she
will have a more powerful force than the French.
It is, however, currently rumoured here that her

a.
Majesty will be much less struily escorted ;
official people talk of her coming with two ships of
the line only and some corvettes and yearns.
A sad auddent occurred yesterday on board the
S.. Louis as she wu preparing to leave the port. A
cLimney fell and struck down two men, one of
whom was killed on the spot. I saw the poor fel-
low, a fins lad of 18 carried away, his head com-
pletely smashed. The St. Louis was a sailing ves-
sel, and has been in dock to be transformed into a

After the inauguration of the basin, on August 7,
two vessels will be launched in the Emperor's pre-
sence—the new ship, the Ville de Nantes, 90 guns,
begun June 20, 1854, and the Bellone, a ship which
has been repaired.
The equestrian statue of Napoleon 1., about which
a great deal has been said, is at this moment being
put together on the quay facing the Place d'Armes.
While I write, the horse, all but his head and tail,
with half of the man upon his back, are
upon the pedestal. Judging from the frag-
ments, this statue, which is the work of a local
artist, M. Leveel of Briquebec, appears to have great
merit. It has, I believe, been stated that Napoleon
would be looking towards the ses, with his hand
pointing to the English coast, as if encouraging an
invasion. I am happy to be able to contradict this
report.. Whatever may have been the original
intention, the statue is now placed with the horse's
flank, and not his head, towards the north. The
Emperor's hand points due west, towards the pert
which he appears to indicate as his work. On the
pedestal in the following quotation from an expres-
sion attributed to him at St. Helena:—" J'avais
resole de renoaveller 1 Cherbourg les merveillee de
l'Egypte."
I must conclude this preliminary reconnaissance
of the Cherbourg fêtes by a word about the prospects
of visitors in search of lodgings. The rapacious ex-
pectations of the inhabitants exceed the most extra-
vagant stories of parallel cues that I have ever
heard of. Everybody in the town has lodgings
to let. Prices are quoted at from 11. sterling to 4!.
per night. People, however, will not engage before-
hand by the night, but for the whole duration of the
fetal, which they estimate at four or five days.
For 100 f. you can only retain a very miserable bed,
indeed such a one as no one not steeped in poverty
would like to sleep in. 200 f. is the price asked for
a merely commonly decent bed room. Garrets with
one window a foot square are offered at the rate of
20f. per night. A landlord who showed me
these excused his extortion by saying that he
would have to pay sf. per night for the hire of a
mattress, and 6f. for bedding. One good old lady
who keeps a sausage shop showed me two clean but
small rooms in her cottage, for which she asked jest
161. She calculated that six people might peek in
these two rooms, and observed that they might save
a great deal of money by allowing her to provide
their board. This is a good illustration of the de-1
mented state of the population. Is it possible that
people riob enough to pay such unheard of prices for
crowded sleeping-room would be content to feed in a
bed-room on coarse bacon and sausages, and that in
holiday time? I have no doubt that the
Cherbourg people will outstand their market,
and that when the fêtes begin there will be
plenty of beds to be had at cheaper rates than they
can now be hired at beforehand. There are 'a great
many villages with plenty of house room at easy
distances from the town. The principal hotels in
the place are the Hotels de l'Europe, and the Hotel
de Paris, on the Western Quay, the Hotel de France
in the Rue de Bassin, and the Hotel du Commerce in
the Rae des Fontaines; these are all pretty good,
but with a wide margin for improvement. A mag-
nificent new hotel, called the Hotel de l'Univers, is
now finishing in the Rue des Fontaines. It was
taken by the railway company for their friends, but
they have been obliged to give it up to the Emperor.
They are making preparations to accommodate their
guests under tents and in railway carriages.

(nos °us °wit ookanroximurT.)

PARIS, MONDAY EVIKIKO.

The Bourse has been dull with very little busi-
ness doing. The Rente fell 10c. for cash and
remained without alteration for account, closing at
68fr. 16c. and 68fr. 25c. Mobilier was without
change. Railways were from Ifr. to 2fr. 60c. higher.
The indipascleste of Turin says that the Paris
Conference will have terminated its labours before
the Cherbourg fêtes, and that the pacific restate will
be announced by the Emperor in the presence of
Queen Victoria and !II? Ambassadors who will
meet her at Cherbourg. This the Indiperideltie
professes to give from a " certain source." I have
heard nothing of the news in any other quarter, nor
do the Paris journals give any confirmation of a
rumour mentioned' by the Isedependanco Beige that
Count Cavour has been to see the Emperor at
Plombieres.

Mlle. Eveillard, the heroine of Jeddah, has take n
up her abode in Paris with M. Cintra, director of
archives at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, an old
friend of her father.

AUSTRIAN ITALY.

MILAN, JuLT 23.

The Archduke, it was well understood, had re-
solved not to return to Lombardy without obtaining
from the Emperor some considerable reforms.
Whether he has succeeded to the full extent of his
demands is not known, but we learn from a good
private source that he has certainly been promised
the following ameliorations :—ln the first place, a
oommission will be appointed, composed of three
members of ea& 'a of the two central Italian congre-
gations, and of other members chosen by the finance
minister, to revise the system of taxation. At pre-
sent the inhabitants of Lombardy, though forming
but a sixth of the population of the Austrian em-
pire, pay no lees than one-third of the direct taxes.
The commission will be instructed to frame a new
scheme of taxation, on the principle of
perfect equality. Secondly, the contingent of
marmite for last year, which was found to
press so hardly upon the population that it oonld
not be raised, will be dispensed with ; thus liberating
many only sons and married men from a liability
which had spread desolation in many parts of the
country. Thirdly, the Emperor has authorised the
Archduke to improve the position of the communal
surgeons, called eadotti. Their salaries will be
augmented, and retiring pensions will be allowed
them Lastly, and out of consideration for the fine
arts, which are a necessary of life in Italy, the two
academies of Milan and Venice will be united with
the two institutes of sciences and letters under
one president, and their power will be greatly
increased. In a word, the direction of all the
artistic parts of public works will be con-
fided to the Italians. This emancipation from
German influence is an acceptable homage to Italian
genius. This is all that is at present decided. In
a political point of view the concessions are not
much ; but it is a great thing to have broken the
ice, and it is moreover reported that the decree
relative to the above measures states that the Arch-
duke is specially charged to consider what other
changes the country stands in need of,

INDIA AND CHINA.