The Express.
London, England, 1867-12-05 00:00:00

manager entitles his opinion to respect, impresses
upon us the importance of the " double shift"
system as a means of preventing explosions, or
of limiting their destructive effects upon life. On
that system two relays of men, working seven
hours, follow each other, instead of the whole
number of men working eleven or twelve hours
together, and consequently an explosion occurring
at any time would only affect one-half the number
that would be affected in a pit working
on the single shift system. The great advan-
tage in this respect, accruing from the double-shift
system, appears, however, to arise from the
limited extent of the workings as compared with
what is required by the " single-shift" system.
As only half the number of men are at work at
one time, only half the number of working places
have to be provided, and consequently little more
than one-half the surface of gas-exuding coal is
exposed, as compared with the other system. As
the number of passages is reduced by one-half,
the system of ventilation is greatly simplified, and
we can easily see that the danger of explosion is
correspondingly diminished. But the English col-
liers object to this double-shift system, and the
employers cannot succeed in introducing it. Mr.
NIXON proposes that legislation should forbid
the working of collieries liable to give off
explosive gases on any other than the double-
shift system. In the case of an industry neces-
sarily subjected to exceptional legislation, mea-
sures may be proper that would in any other case
be objectionable as interferences with individual
freedom, and no doubt this suggestion will obtain
due consideration when an inquiry is made into the
working of collieries.

WE are glad to report that the Cab Strike is at
an end. That is a singular strike in which capital
and labour, masters and men, act cordially toge-
ther ; but by whatever name the late movement
should be called, its termination was much to be
desired by all parties. As was most proper, a
concession has been made to the cab-owners. They
were entitled to it. In no other trade would the
Government think of lowering the price of an
article—or, what comes to the same thing, re-
quiring that its quality be raised while its price
remains fixed by—Act of Parliament. Mr. HARDY
undertakes that the requirement of lamps
shall not be pressed at present, and that
the whole question shall be investigated
anew. This is only fair and right. The
cab proprietors have no unreasonable objection to
lamps, although they very much object to have an
additional expense thrown upon them without
compensation. If lamps are necessary in well-
lighted streets, the public which demands them
should be prepared to pay for them, either by higher
fares or by a corresponding remission of duty ; and
we believe it is perfectly willing to do so. Un-
fortunately the matter has until now not been
treated as one of interests, to be adjusted by
mutual concession, but as a subject of arbitrary
police regulation. Nothing would be easier than
to arrive at an equitable compromise if the affair
were taken in hand as a strict matter of business ;
and of this we trust there is now a prospect.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIN DAY.)

PHISIDIINT JOHNSON'S MISSAGN.

The abstract of the President's message, sent by
telegraph, if it is a correct representation of the text,
proves, in the opinion of the Time, that hehas transcended
himself in imprudence, and has thrown away the great
opportunity which the recent elections had given him.
Conjuring up the improbable event of the abolition by
Conran of the post of President, he declares in so many
words be would prevent this by force, although it is
plain that under the constitution be would have nothing to
do but to acquiesce in the will of the nation, if expressed
by constitutional means. This declaration would pro-
voke, if anything could, the very policy thus violently
threatened ; and men of sober sentiments, who had never
dreamt of destroying the independence of the executive
government, might, upon seeing the pretensions which the
presidential power can generate, deem it prudent to abolish
it altogether. With regard to the arbitration question,
the Times looks forward to no very distant period when •
successor to Mr. Seward will be able to free himself from
the embarrassment of that gentleman's impossible proposi-
tions. The suggested step with regard to the naturalisa-
tion of foreigners is conclusively answered by the
fact that if a naturalised citizen returns to his place of
birth the country which has n►turalised him must appeal
to the law of nations in justification of any claim to his
allegiance or of any attempt to protect him, and no muni-
cipal law, however solemnly enacted, could have any
bearing on the question.

The telegraphic summary exhibits Mr. Johnson, says
the Daily News, in the old antagonistic attitude and
querulous temper with which the public is so familiar.
The President has never recovered from the delusion which
—very much through the fault of Congress—took firm pos-
session of his mind in the first year of his office, that he is
the legislature of the United States. Accordingly, he
speaks in this message of " congressional legislation" as if
it were a rival and irregular power. The same blinding
egotism leads him to introduce a wholly gratuitous threat
when he foreshadows the abolition of the presidency ; anal
a statesman in the presidential chair would, above all
things, have avoided such language. His extraordinary
language may signify that he has been encouraged by the
recent elections to push his dispute with Congress to ex-
tremides ; but it would be consistent with his antecedents
if, after a barren display of temper, he were to relapse
into inaction. Noting the remarkable statement of
the Secretary of the Treasury that the public debt has been
reduced within the year by about 13,000,0001„ the Daily
News concludes with the observation that the extraordinary
arguments resorted to by Mr. Seward in his correspondence
had prepared MI to bear that oar recognition of the Con-
federates as belligerents is regarded at Washington as in-
tervention on behalf of the seceded states. On this point
certainly we should have nothing to apprehend from the
decision of an impartial arbitrator.
The Standard thinks the game is really in Mr. Johnson's
hands. and that be an keep the ground open for the
conciliatory labours which may now be expected from
the next Congress. According to the Herald if the

Criticising the Italian debates in the French Chambers,
the Daily News points out that against the intemperate
haran;nes of cardinals and of a few doting and querulous
senators, who had sworn allegiance to we know not how
many governments, but whom no oath has ever found
faithful to a fallen dynasty, the Italian parliament will
count the eloquence of the illustrious chiefs of the liberal
party in the Legislative Body, the representatives of the
great centres of intelligence and independence. But if, as
disinterested and dispassionate well-wishers, the Daily
Nears:might take the liberty to oiler • word of counsel
to all parties in the parliament at Florence, it would be
to think less of what is said in France, and more of what
should be done in Italy ; to abstain from heating them-
selves and each other by unprofitable and injurious recri-
minations; to pay more attentiontothe common necessitiee
of their country, and spare lees time to sentiment and
passion ; to remember Cavonr's constant admonition that
the safety of the state must not be risked for any cause ;
to bear in mind that any government is better than none ;
and that one of the two primary duties of a parliament
under a constituted monarchy is to sustain the honour and
dignity of the crowd'

So many of the speakers in St. James's Hall last night
having dealt in historical references, the Tines reminds
them that no Italian can peruse his national annals with-
out ascribing to the Papacy all the most fatal and most
constant calamities of his country. From the days of
Pepin and Charlemagne to those of Louis Philippe and
Louis Napoleon, Papal ambition alone stood in the way of
Italian unity ; from the days of Charles of Anjou and
Charles of Valois to those of Oudinot and De Failly, Papal
self-interest has been the main cause of the invasion of the
Peninsula by foreign oppressors. From the fierce Ghibel-
line, Dente, and the mild Guelph, Petrarch, down to the
stubborn Nicoolini and the gentle Pdanzoni, every thinking
and feeling Italian has been taught to look upon " St.
Peter's Patrimony" as not only the scourge of his native
land, but as a great scandal to the Christian church.

Whe Court.

WINDSOR CASTLE, DEC. 4.

The Queen walked in the grounds and drove
yesterday afternoon, accompanied by Princess Beast°. ;
and her Majesty went out this morning, attended by Lady
Churchill.

Prinome Louise went ont walking with the Hon. Ekes
Macdonald.

His Highness To Rugawa Mimbutaiko, brother to the
Tycoon of Japan, attended by the Minister Plenipoten-
tiary of Japan in Paris and the Chamberlain of the Ty-
coon, arrived at the Castle this afternoon, and was pre-
sented to the Queen by Lord Stanley, Secretary of State
for Forcige Affairs.

Her Majesty, aocompanied by Princess Louise, Prince
Leopold, and Princess Beatrice, received his Highness in
the White Drawing-room, where the officers of state ac-
companying his Highness were also presented to her Ma-
jesty by his Highness.
Major Edwards, Royal Engineer', and M. Von Siebold,
interpreter, were in attendance upon his Highness.
Lady Churchill, Lady in Waiting ; Lord Raglan, Lord
in Waiting; Major-General F. Seymour, C. 8., Groom in
Waiting ; Lord (Charles Fitzroy and Colonel du Plat,
Equerries in Waiting ; and the Master of the Household,
were in attendance upon her M►jezty.
His Highness was received at the railway station on his
arrival and on his departure by a guard of honour of the
Grenadier Guards.

Royal carriages conveyed his Highness and suite to and
from the Castle.

Princess Henriette of Schleswig-Holstein, and Lieute-
nant-General Hon. C. and Mrs. Grey, and Mrs. William
Grey, dined with the Queen and Royal Family yesterday.
Lord Raglan and Major-General F. Seymour, C. 8., have
succeeded Lord Skelmersdale and Colonel Cavendish as
lord and groom in waiting.

This morning, at half-past 10 o'clock, the Queen
and Princess Louise left Windsor for London, intending to
stay fora short time only.

The Count and Countess of Flanders, attended
by the Baroness Snoy d'Oppuen and Colonel Burnell,
left the Clarendon Hotel yesterday for Brussels. Their
royal highneases were accompanied to the Charing-cress
station by hie Excellency the Belgian Minister (Baron
Dujardin), end the personelle of the Belgian Legation.
The Duke and Ducheaa of Beaufort are enter-
taining company at Badminton.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Aileabury have
gone on a visit to Viscount and Viscountess Sydney, at
Frogual Lodge, Foot's Cray.

The Earl and Countess of Derby are expected to
leave town on Saturday next for Knowsley for Christmas.
The noble earl and countess will receive a suocesnon of
visitors at Knowsley during the ensuing month.

The Earl and Countess Granvillo, who have been
daring on a visit to the Doke sad Duchess of Beaufort, at
Badminton, leave for Windsor Castle to-day, on a visit to
her Majesty.
_ _ _

The Earl Percy left Northumberland House
yesterday for Oxford, to resume his studies.
Viscountess Bury and family have arrived at the
family residence at Prinoes-gate for the winter. Viscount
Bury and Lientenant-Colonel Loyd-Lindsay, If.P., bays
left England by the Peninsular and Oriental steamship
Nyanza for Gibraltar, whence they start on a riding tour
in Spain.

The lords present at yesterday's sitting of the
Judicial Committee of the Privy Council were Sir
William Erie, Bir J. W. Colvile, Sir E. V. Williams,
and Sir R. T. Bindersley.
A Committee of the Lords of her Majesty's most
Honourable Privy Council sat yesterday, at the Privy
Council-OMo., Whitehall, on the subject of quarantine.
The lords present were—the Lord President, Lord Robert
Montagu, and the Right Hon. Stephen Cave.
Despatches were reoeived yesterday at the Colonial-
office from the Governors of Ceylon, Hong Kong, Malta,
Gibraltar end Prince Edward's Island.
THE rATRIOTIC FUND.—A meeting of the Com-
Wagoners of the Patriotic Fund was held yesterday, at
the Palace of Westminster. Present : Earl of Hardwieks,
in the chair ; Lord St. Leonards, Lord Linden, General
the Hon. J. Lindsay, Sir John Pakington, Right Hon. H. T.
Lowry Corry, Sir John Burgoyne, Sir IL Ross. Captain
E. G. Fishbourne, R.N., and Brigadier-General Lefroy,
8.A.. the honorary secretaries, encoded.