The Express.
London, England, 1867-01-11 00:00:00

SPAIN.

MADRID, JAN. 10.

The Epoca of to-day says :—" After tho compli-
cations which have occurred in the Pacific, and
the abandonment of St. Domingo, a radical domi-
nation in Mexico would be fatal to the interests
of Spain."

THE BANK OF FRANCE.
PARIS, JAN. 10.

The return of the Bank of France for the week
ending to-day shows the following changes com-
pared with that of hat week :

Notes . .

INCREASE.

Cash in band .
Bills discounted

Advances

. fr. 16,100,000

. . fr. 17,666,000
. . . 12,500,000

. . 1,000,000

Treasury balance . .

. 24,000,000

Private accounts . . . . 23,500,000

INDIA.
(5T DIRECT OVERLAND TELEGRAPH.)
BOMBAY, DEC. 29, 3.50 P.M.

ilbs. shirting', 6r. 12a. ; Bjlbe. ditto, Sr. Cotton
advancing. Dhollerah, 273 r. Shipments of the
week, 15,200 bales. Exchange on London, Is. 110.
Four per Cent. Government Securities, 881, ; Five
per Cent. ditto, 106 ; Five-and-a-Half per Cent.
ditto, 111. Freights to Liverpool, 225.

CALCUTTA, DEC. 28.

8/lbs. shirtings, Br. 6a. Jute slightly firmer.
Saltpetre unchanged. Rice held firmly. Exchange
on London, ls. Hid. Freights to England, 604.

MEXICO.

The 3fortiteur of yesterday says :—" The steamer
Panama, of the Transatlantic Company, arrived
yesterday at St. Nazaire, with despatches from
Mexico to the 9th December, and Vera Cruz to
the 14th. The return of the Emperor Maximilian
to Mexico, stated to be imminent by the last mail,
had not been announced at Vera Cruz up to the
14th December. The movements of our troops in
the various provinces of the empire have nut so
much the character of military operations as
of preparations for returning home, and all the
dispositions are taken in order to keep the enemy
at a distance, and concentrate our columns upon
the points indicated by the Commander-in-Chief.
At San Luis de Potosi, General Mejia,whose health
has improved, has obtained results which have
raised the spirits of his troops and the inhabi-
tants. Three successive sorties, vigorously exe-
cuted, have driven back the enemy upon Bocos
with considerable loss. The 2nd and 3rd
lbattalions of Cazadores were preparing to
march to San Luis, where they will replace
the two battalions of the foreign legion left with
Colonel Guilhern. General Aymard is at San Andres
with a column, constituted with sufficient strength
to watch all the country around Perote. Canada,
and Palmar, as well as Orizaba and Tehuacan.
Porfirio Diaz does not appear to have any intention
of again taking the field ; he hasdisiniased several
battalions and destroyed part of the defences of
Oajaca. Some misunderstanding appears to exist
between him and Figueroa. According to a de-
spatch from Tehuacan, Saline's, lieutenant of Por-
firio Diaz, is said to have been completely defeated
near Tehuantepec by the imperial troops under
the command of Colonel lieragoza ; the dissi-
dents lost WV men hors de combat. The sanitary
state of the army is highly satisfactory."

GYMNARTICS IN FRANCE —A Paris letter in the
Nord says it is contemplated to give greater importance to
gymnastic exercises in all the colleges in France. Each of
these establishments I. provided with a gymnasium, and
the pupils are furnished with a special dress, but the
exercises, which at present only take place once a week for
an hour, are to be renewed more frequently. This modifi-
cation, which cannot fail to be advantageous to the health
of the children, will also prepare them for marching and
military mano,uvres, and render inure easy the training as
soldiers and the management of arms, which hence-
forth
they will have to learn when they have reached the '
age for the conscription. The enfants de troupe in the
line, and especially in the guard and the engineers, early
habituated to tender their bodies supple, are rem►rkable
for their agility and physical address. Amongst those of
the latter corps it is not rare to find some who perform on
the trapeze like Leotard, while at the same time they pos.
sees scientific attainments, and are capable of arithmetical
or even algebraical calculations which the celebrated
gymnast would doubtless be puzzled at, and even many
pupil■ in the colleges would find a difficulty in solving.
VIOLENT Di PLONACY.— An ambassador of a power
of the first rank, at one of the principal Italian courts,
discovered that his despatches were regularly communi-
cated to a neighbouring government before they reached
him. He suspected that the traitor was to be found in
his own chancellery, and took the following extraordinary
means of detecting him. There were numerous
brigands on the roads, and the courier bringing
despatches for the above-mentioned diplomatist
was attacked on the way, and fell dead with a
bullet through his heart. But they were not ordinary
brigands who did this. Their next and chief care was to
carry the despatch bag to the ambassador, who, on opening
it, discovered the clue to the spy. The latter was dia-
-1 missed ; the courier was believed to have been killed by
I brigands ; his widow received a pension, and the person
who conceived this extravagant mode of diplomatic dis-
covery sat some time later in the Chamber of Peers.—
Revue des Deus Mondes.

The Edinburgh Town Council have resolved to
petition parliament in favour of the total abolition of the
duty on lire insurance, and have appointed the Lord Pro-
vost and Bailie Falshaw members of a deputation of public
bodies which proposes to wait upon the Lad Advocate on
Monday nest, to urge upon his lordahi the desirability of
an extension of the arose of chargeability for relief of the
poor is Boatload.