The Express.
London, England, 1867-08-19 00:00:00

'TURKEY.

OQNSTANTINOPLE, ACOUFVf 17.
The Viceroy of Egypt arrived here this morning.
His highness's wife, mother, and ion had arrived
previously.
The Sultan has sent thirteen Arab horses as a
present to the Emperor Napoleon, and eleven to
the Emperor of Austria.

• CONSTANTINOPLE, Atonal. 18.
The imperial transport Malakoff left yesterday
for %erns with troopeend-ammunition.
The steam yacht Quaker City arrived yesterday
from Italy with 66 American excursionists.
Of the Arab horses sent to Europe three are
intended for the Prince of Wales, one for 'the Duke
of Beaufort, and others for various distinguished
personages.
The Imperial Ottoman Bank has published the
usual monthly statement of the amounts received
on account of the government from the 13th July
to the 12th August.
The bank has now in hand the sum of 403,400
liras to meet the next payments for the foreign
loan and general debt.

THE PRINCE AND PRINCESS OF WALES,
ROTTERDAM, AUG car 17.
The Prince and Princess of Wales will not visit
this town on their way to Germany, but will em-
bark at Dordrecht, where they are expected to-
morrow at noon.

DORDRECHT, Auogsr 17.

The Prince and Princess of Wales arrived here
at six o'clock this evening on board the Osborne.
Their royal highnesses will continue their jour-
ney at 10 p.m. on board the Prussian steamer
Merkens. • -

ii;"iipoe visited irmovitiip the priataiml church
in this town.

INDIA.
CALCUTTA, JULY 19.
t of the probability of another
telegraph line being constructed between England
and India has been received with unmixed satis-
faction.

The

An article upon the Bengal administration pub-
lished by the Friend of India advocates the aboli-
tion of the board of revenue and the lieutenant-
governor's council.
The reports of the famine at Orissa are more
favourable.

The opium revenue for the past seven months
exceeds Mr. Massey's estimate by nearly half a
million sterling.
It is stated that the Viceroy is fra a scheme
for the establishment of an Imperial Bank of India,
the central bank to be at Calcutta, with branches
at Bombay and Madras, in the North-West Pro-
vinces and in the Punjaub.
A railway: has been proposed between Calcutta
and Darjeeling, and the scheme is approved by the
Bengal and India governments.
The result of explorations which have been made
proves the practicability of a road to China through
Burmah. The investigations beyond the frontier
are to recommence. . . .

The lieutenant-governor is about to visit the
tea districts.

—.....---...
Simla is reported unhealthy this year, which is
attributed to bad water, and the want of sanitary
arrangements.
The reports of the crops and of the public health
throughout Bengal are more favourable.

BOMBAY, JULY 24.

The telegraph line is greatly improved in its
working during the last fortnight, but five miles of
the Indian line between Bombay and Kurrachee
have been destroyed by a storm. Double rates are
in future to be charged on all messages from Kur-
rachee to Great Britain and France containing
groups of figures, when the commodity to which
they refer is not specified.
The Reconstruction Committee of the Bank of
Bombay has been increased. Three-fourths of the,
shares of the new bank have already been applied
for. A memorial to the government is being cir-
culated among the shareholders of the Bank of
Bombay for signature, praying the government to
bear a part proportion of the loss attending the
bad management of the bank.
The largest viaduct over the Chone Ghaut (t) hi-
cline, 160 feet high, has given way through faulty'
construction, and two trains thereby narrowly. es-1
caped destruction.

The ship Sirzah has been totally wrecked near
Alibaumh, and seven of the crew were drowned.
The crew of the Sacramento have been forwarded
to America in the ship General Caulfield.
During May over 89,000,0001ba. of cotton, to tho
value of upwards of 3,367,0001., have been shipped
from Bombay.

AMERICA.
(BY ATLANTIC TELSGRAPH.)

NEW YORK, Acorn 17, 6 P.Y.
The Inman steamer City of Paris arrived out
to-day.
Closing prices :—Gold, 141. Stirling Exchange
on London, 1091. 5-20 United States Bonds,
1133. Illinois, 120. Erie, 701. Cotton, middling
Uplands, 24.
PRILADRIA
Standard white petroleum, 28.

FRANCE.

Auousr 17.

.. ~

.

(Flom ova SWN CORWIPONDINT.) ; ■

PARIS, SATURDAY Eviiiirsta
The difference between France and Italy on the .
subject of General Dumont's mission to BeUR
which the semi-official prints audaciously maintait
was never of much importance, and has now been
completely removed, still subsists, and is yew se:i-
leum. The Italian government not only calls for •
lacer and positive repudiation, instead of an eva-
sive explanatien9f the.Yannch general's conduct
in Rome, but regramsoarantees against the re-
currence of any smart intervention on the part of
France contrary to the convention of Sept. loth. '
It were idle to deny, after the publication of Mar-
lshal Niel's official letter as Minister at War to
Colonel d'Argy, commanding the Antibes legion,
that France, after in the most solemn manner
undertaking to evacuate Rome, has, by assuming
a jurisdiction over the French volunteers, acted in
'a way which, if not at once protested, against,
might very soon amount to a renewal of the mul-
-1 pation in another form. It is perfectly astounng
to hear the French Minister at War telling a regi-
ment of papal troops that they are still French
soldiers, not merely in regard to privileges reserved
' when they may wish to claim them after their term
of service with the Pope, but in regard to their
conduct and discipline while in Rome ; and that
such of them as desert and are caught in France
will be drafted off to penal companies. M. Rattazzi,
L confident, I must suppose, in expectations if not
positive promises of Prussian backing, is taking a
very high tone with France on this subject. He
feels it the more necessary to do so, because he has
long laboured under the suspicion of being
' too subservient to the court of the Tuileries.
I have reason to believe that when 34.
L Nigro returns to his post here—and Ratarsi
only consented to send him back on condition
that the obnoxious Baron de Malaret should be
withdrawn from Florence—he will come armed
with instructions, leaving him no choice but to
demand a revision of the convention of September
of a nature to put a stop to any more missions like
that of General Dumont, and letters such as that
of Marshal NieL

I hear from an Italian source that General Prim,
who was yesterday at Genoa, has sailed for Cata-
lonia ; that he is well provided with money by
Paris bankers, and that we may neat expeot to
hear of him at the head of an insurrection in
. . _

The Bourse was extremely inanimate. Rentes
fell 10c. for cash, and tic. for account, closing at
69.70 and 69.6,5. Mobilier fell 1.23, and Italian 15c.

ROADS IN FRANCE.

LETTER OF THE EMPEROR, TO IL DE LAVALETTE.

(92CTZII'S TIMMS.)

The Moniteur of yesterday contains the follow-
ing letter, addressed by the Emperor to M. de
Lavalette, the Minister of the Interior :

CAMP OF CHALONS, Aucusr 16.

Monsieur le Miaistre,—You are aware what importance
I attach to the prompt completion of our means of com-
munication. I consider them one of the surest ways of
increasing the strength and riches of France, for every-
, where the number and good condition of the roads are
one of the most certain signs of the advanced state of the
civilisation of peoples. I have already given instruc-
tions to the Minister of Public Works to pursue the
examination and prepare the concession of new lines of
railway. Be will at the same time molt the means of
improving our canals and the navigation of our
rivers, which are modifying counterpoise. to rail-
road monopoly. But our efforts must not be me-
i fined to this alone. The agricultural commission has

demonstrated in an evident manner that the can.
atruction of a complete network of parish roads is an
essential condition of she prosperity of the country and of
the well-being of those rural populations who have always
shown me so much devotion. Pre-occupied with the
realisation of this project, I had instructed you to examine,
in concert with the Minister of Finance, a series of mea-
sures which might permit of our terminating within ten
years the network of parish roads by the triple concurrence
of the communes, the departments, and the state. Be-
sides this, desirous of facilitating in the case of the com-
mun. the means of participating in the expense I had
requested you to prepare for the creation of a special
fund destined to advance them the necessary sums by
means of loans granted at a moderate rate, and repayable
at long periods. I approve the note which you have ad-
dressed to me, and the principle which serves it as
basis. But as before presenting to the; Legislative
Body any definitive resolutionsl there are several im-
portant questions to examine, I beg you to prepare °Dm-
plete and precise elements of information. The delibera-
tions of the municipal councils will evidently require to
be the point of departure of this labour. But I desire
that, in the invest'gation which is about to be opened,
a large part may be left to the members of those de-
partmental assemblies with whose patriotism sod devo-
tion I am acquainted, and whose concurrence I know
will not fail me. I rely upon the enlightened
teal and the energetic activity which you have
shown since I placed you at the head of the
department of the Interior, to rapidly bring to ► termina-
tion this administrative 'needles' ion, and to lay before the

Legislative Body at its next sitting a bill which may ensure
the execution of the work, the realisation of which I have
greatly at heart.

Hereon, Monsieur le Ilinistre, I prey God to have you in
his holy keeping. Neroutox.
M. de Lavalette has published a report, dated
IGth inst.; relative to the execution of the measure
proposed in the above letter, and a ministerial
decree, convoking the municipal councils during
the first ten days in September, in order to revise
the a: ossification of the parish roads. The Minister
has also addressed a circular to the prefects con-
cerning the application of the decree.

THE HEREFORD MUSICAL FESTIVAL
(rack ova anew. oonsarcurrarr.)

HEREFORD, SATURDAY.
The festival which is to commence on Tuesday next
will be the one hundred and forty-fourth annual
meeting of the three choirs of Hereford, Gloucester,
and Worcester, each city being alternately the
scene of these musical gatherings. The benevolent
object of these meetings seems to have originated
in the year 1724, when Dr. Thomas Blase Chan-
' caller of Hereford and brother of the then bishop,
proposed that a collection for such purpose should
be made at the church door on these occasions—a
handbill to the following effect having been circu-
lated in the year already referred to:—" These are
to give notice, that to-morrow' viz., Thursday, the
10th Mat. (September), there will be a collection
made after morning service, at the cathedral-door,
for placing out, or assisting to the edu-
cation and maintenance of the orphans
-01 the poorer clergy belonging to the dioceses of
Gloucester, Worcester, and Hereford, or of the
members of the three respective choirs ; to be dis-
Iposed of by six stewards, members of the society, a
clergyman and a gentleman respectively belonging
Ito the said dioceses." The proceeds of these col-
, Motions are now distributed, in aid of the widows
land orphans of clergymen of the three dioceses, by
the respective treasurers thereof. Although the
origin of the purpose with which these festivals
have ever since been identified was as just stated,
meetings of the choirs of the three cathedral cities
referred to were held for several years previously,
there being in existence " A sermon preach'd in
'the cathedral church of Hereford, at the anni-
versary meeting of the choirs of Worcester,
Gloucester, and Hereford, Sept. 7, 1720 ; by Tho.
Biase, D.D., and Chancellor of the said church.",
I Another name deserves record, as having aided in
originating this excellent object—Mrs. Catherine
I Bovey, who died in 1756, and is commemorated by
a tablet in Westminster Abbey.. For which facts
we are indebted to the notes added by the well-
known musical antiquarian, Dr. Rimbault, to the
new edition of the Rev. Daniel Lysons' " History
• of the Meeting of the Three Choirs."
I The early festivals of the three choirs consisted
I chiefly of performances, by the united choriaters,
of cathedral music, including the introduction of
new anthems and services ; miscellaneous concerts,
I chiefly of secular music, being soon afterwards
given in the evening, at some public room of the
city in which the festival was held. These festival
performances very speedily assumed a more impor-
tant musical aspect, and also answered more effeo-
' twiny their benevolent purpose. So early as 1739,
only three years after its original production,
Handel's Alexander's Feast was given at tho Glou-
cester meeting ; while, at the same place, in 1745,
A eis atulOalatea, and in 1748, the Dettin enTeDeem
and Jubilate, the Coronation Anthem and Samoyed
the same composer were given. In 1759 the Messiah
I was performed entire at the Friday morning's per-
I formance at Hereford, being the first instance of a
complete oratorio being heard in a cathedral, por-
tions Mily of the same work having been given
at Salisbury Cathedral in 1752. After these
dates we find the oratorios of Handel forming
important and special features of the music-
meetings of the three choirs ; which, with some
temporary fluctuations, have, as already said, now
attained an importance and are attended with a
pecuniary result far beyond the imaginings of their
original founders. During the pest half-century
the attendance at these festivals has risen from
an average of 9,000 to one of nearly 10,000—
the collections for the charity having, for some
years past, averaged 1,1001. It must be borne in
mind, that the receipts for the musical perform-
ances generally entail a loss, which is guaranteed
by the stewards, now increased to the number of
sixty-one—the president being again on this occa-
sion the Right Hon. Lord Bateman, Lord Lieu-
tenant, the Vice-Presidents being the right revs.
the Lord Bishops of Hereford, G louoester and Bristol,
and Worcester. On the occasion of the last Here-
ford Festival, in 1864 ,the deficiency was unusually
small, the receipts having been 2,9121. 11c, against
3,0601. 15s. 6d. expenses, leaving a loss of only
1481. 4a. hid., while the collections for the charity
realised 1,1001. 14a. The preparations for the fes-
tival about to commence are now complete, a
preliminary rehearsal of Mr. Otto Goldschmidt'a
new sacred pastoral Ruth having been held at
the Hanover-square Rooms in London last Friday ;
ands general rehearsal being appointed for Monday
morning in the cathedral here, and another in the
Shire-hall for the evening of that day, when the
I whole of the performers, many of whom have
already arrived, will be assembled. As at
, many past festivals, Mr. Henry Blagrove, who
, occupies the position of principal violin, is
' actively aiding the orchestral arrangements; the post
I of principal second violin being held by Mr. J. T.
Willy, Mr. R. Blagrove being principal viola, Mr.
G. Collins principal violoncello, Mr. Howell prin-
cipal double bass ; while, as heads of the wind-
instrument band are Messrs. Pratten and E. Card
(flutes), Nicholson and.G. Horton (oboes), Lazarus
I and Tyler (clarinets), Waetzig and Anderson (bas-
soons), T. Harper and Ward (trumpets), C. Harper,
Mann, &c. (horns). The orchestra, which is nu-
merous, cannot fail to be effective, comprising as it
r does many of the principal members of the Royal
Italian Opera band. The chorus—larger than that
I of the last festival—is selected from the three cathe-
dral choirs, and the choral societies of Hereford,
Gloucester, and Worceeter with additions from
Bristol, Bradford, Oxford, London, &c. The list
of solo singers comprises : Soprani, Madame Lind-
! Goldschmidt, Mdlle. Tietjenti, and Miss Edith
Wynne • contraltos, Miss Julia Elton, and
Madame Patey-Whytock ; tenors, Mr. Sims
Reeves and Mr. Montem Smith • basses,
Mr. Sande, and Mr. Weiss. Mr. Done
will preside at the organ at the festival perform-
' ances in the cathedral, while Dr. Wesley will
officiate at the previous morning services ; Mr.
Townshend Smith, organist of the cathedral,
acting as conductor of the festival in addition to
the onerous duties of honorary, secretary, 111 which
capacity his active business talents have on this, as
, on many previous occasions, been of great advantage
• to the general arrangements.
The present festival promises to be more success-
! ful than any of its predecessors—the sale of tickets
having been almost unprecedented. All the num-
; bered seats of every class for Thursday's and
Friday's performances, it is said, are already dis-
posed of, those for Wednesday being nearly ex-
, haunted.

CRYSTAL P.u.sca.—The fireworks announced for
the 73rd inst. will take place a day earlier, viz, on Thurs-
day next, combined with a display of the great fountains
and • vocal and instrumental concert, commencing at
4 o'clock, and other attractions.
The Bishop of Durham, at a recent church con-
Clangs or • Stull. YACHT. —The cutter-yacht ! secretion dinner, told his hearers that their church was
Lens. Kr. J. Morison, Edinburgh, owner, has arrived at the church of the people—of the poor as well as the
Granton, after a cruise of a mouth in the German Ocean rich—but if they were called upon to lay claim to that
and Engliah Channel. The Irene, which is well known title, a great deal more must be done before they could
in eastern as well as western waters as a fast sailer, and say that the church in the work was the church of the
winner of more than one regatta prize, is only thirteen I poor man. Owing to the great political changes which
toss register, and was built by Fyfe, of Fairlie, on the would shortly occur, they would, no doubt. during the
Clyde. She is owned by an enthusiastic yachtsman, who next few years be tried by no friendly criticism, and
has piloted her during several rather venturesome voyages. therefore it behoved them to exert themselves and to
This summer he determined to' visit the coast of France, labour for the better supply of spiritual instruction of
sad leaving Grunion with • fair wind on the 12th July, their poor brethren. He was now speaking to laymen as
the yacht stood down the Eirth in grand style. well as the clergy. Let them do more for the spread of
Arriving at Scarborough on the 17th, a short stay the truth of the gospel than they ever had done before,
was made, when she proceeded to Lowestoft, and thence and then be believed the church of England would rise in
to Dieppe. On anchoring in Dieppe harbour, Mr. Mori. the affection of the ptople more and more.
son found that a regatta was about to take place, and NORTH NOTTS HOP MARKET, AUGUST 17.—The
there being an open race, he at once entered his yacht for hop plant is this district is making very little progress.
the event. The party on board visited Paris, and the The unseasonable weather to which it has been exposed
yht afterwards cruised off the French coast between ' has brought blight, filth, and smut, and prospects are of a
ppe and Boulogne. The yacht behaved admirably, ; most discouraging character. These remarks apply to the
and, saving a very narrow escape from being run down by district around 011erton, Walesby, and indeed nearly
a large foreign brig, no accident happened throughout the ! through the whole of the hop-growing district of North
adventurous voyage. ; Hotta.
HOSPITAL FOR DISEASES OF THE CREST, VICTORIA- I BEN* RETAILERS. —The sections in former acts
r•as.—The number of patients relieved at this institution ' requiring beer retailers to enter into bonds are repealed
during last weak was 1,228, of whishißtil were new cases. by the new Inland Revenue Act.