The Express.
London, England, 1867-10-22 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 22, 1867.

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRISPONDEAT.)
PARIS, MONDAY Evoisa.

A despatch from Florence, dated this morning at
10 o'clock, announces that General Cialdini con-
ferred with Victor Emmanuel as to the conditions
upon which it would be possible for him to accept
the direction of affairs which was offered to him.
Up to this moment the definitive determination of
the Italian government is not known, but it is
expected from one minute to another. The
government appears to be now actuated with
a desire to prevent the Garibaldiarus from
recruiting and throwing fresh bands upon
the Pontifical territory. The bureaux for
the enrolment of volunteers, which had been
allowed to be opened in all the principal towns,
have been closed by the orders of the government:
a great number of arrests have taken place ; and
volunteers are no longer allowed to travel towards
Rome by the railways ; to them tickets are in-
variably refused.
The substance of the news received in Paris up
to this moment tends rather to an improvement
than an aggravation of the conditions of the rela-
tions subsisting between Italy and France. It is
supposed that the resignation of Rattazzi has been
accepted, and that the King is endeavouring to
constitute en ministere (ruction. The semi-official
journals say they have some reason to hope that
the military action of France will not be necessary
to attain the end which is desired by the govern-
ment.

The tone of the clerical journals this morning is
almost expressive of satisfaction, and a ministerial
journal gives its readers to understand that there
is no reason why everything may not be agreeably
arranged.
It will very shortly be seen whether Italy can or
will give the guarantees which will now no doubt
be demanded, to cover what is looked upon as
French responsibility, and satisfy the honour of
France.

There was great animation at the opening of the
Bourse, with some notable variations in quotations,
but the market gradually assumed more confidence.
The Rente was tolerably firm throughout ; the
Italians were in demand, and finished, like the
Threes, at an appreciable advance, the former going
up 2fr. All securities showed an improvement.

A DUEL AT PARIS.—A duel took place yester-
day(Saturday) which is the subject of town talk. The
combatants were Prince Achille Murat and the Marquis
de Rouge. The marquis was slightly wounded in the
arm. The cause of the duel has been • subject of much
gossip. It appears that a gallant officer' whose refusal to
grant leave of absence to • gallant and noble subaltern was
overruled by a very high authority, wrote a letter, strictly
confidential, to one of the combatants, in which
be said that the service was going to the dogs,
and added other things not meant for any eye but
his correspondent. Somehow the letter was lost or mis-
laid, and fell into the bands of a third party, who showed
it, or reported its contents to a very exalted person. Hence
the duel of yesterday, which it is said is to be followed by
another. On dit that the exalted person to whom the
letter was shown, merely observed, " He makes me pay
very dearly for the favour I have sown him." The Figaro
publishes an account of the affair without mentioning
names, and its article was no doubt considered as rendering
a rencontre inevitable.—Paris letter in the Herald.

- -tH---E EN OLIBII---.;i PAH 11.Li‘6;111;ert;you may,"
writes a Paris correspondent, "you meet with the good-
natured face of the broad-built Englishman. He looks a
clean animal, familiar with superior old brown Windsor
soap and the tub. Guide-book in hand be walks along
with a thoughtful, half sad expression, at a pace somewhat
quicker than we Parisians indulge in. He is not only visit-
, ing the Exhibition, but the many sights of this show city.
There are men of all ages, and many.shaped beards of
various colours, which one wishes to see shaved off, for
they give a slovenly appearance to old men especially.
The operaglass hangs from a black shiny belt, the travel-
ling cap prevails, the ' ditto' costume triumphs, and the
boots look sensibly large. The noble Britain is at one.'
distinguished amongst our cosmopolitan street population.
I am happy to say that some of the artisan class (how pale
; and anxious these younger men look) hare brought over
their wives and sisters. The toilette of the latter is cha-
racterised by an air of cheap finery, and not in good taste.
English women of the less rich class seem always to desire
to dress like grand dames with pretentious rubbish. Never
were seen so many English in Paris."
THE CALEDONLAN RAILWAY. —With regard to
the panic in the shares of the Caledonian Railway, it is
, affirmed that there is nothing in the position of the ac-
counts of that line which was not fully stated in the
report of the auditors for the six months ended the 31st
of July, presented to the meeting on the 23th of Sep-
tember, when it was formally notified that with the ex-
planations given "the dividends proposed to be declared
were Wad ?file, after charging the revenue of the half-year
with all expenses which ought to be paid thereout." A
conviction is also expressed that the directors ale prepared
to maintain at the special meeting intended for January
next the correctness of the representations made on the
last occasion. Under these circumstances it would ap.
pear that if the holders of the stock are still disposed to
give way to alarm the only course for them will be to
take the prescribed steps for calling a meeting prior to the
date at present contemplated. It will then he open for
them to endeavour to offer reasons for their distrust, to.
gether with the requisite proofs, and should they succeed
they can take the opportunity of revolutionising the
management. By giving way to fright, without adopting
measures at once either to justify or dispel it, they simply
leave their property for the manipulation of speculators.—
Times' City Article.
THE " BORER."—How many of your readers, I
wonder, have beard of the " Borer"? I never myself re-
member to have seen its name in any English newspaper.
But here, in Madras, it has long filled the columns of our
press and lorded it over our dinner tables, until just now
it had to give place to the Abyssinian expedition. It is a
kind of small grub which infests coffee plantations', and
which in the coffee districts of this presidency has done
and is doing mischief incalculable. A planter told me
yesterday that on one of his estates, 3'20 acres, or about
400,000 trees, had in one season been entirely and
irretrievably destroyed by it. He estimated the
yearly produce of these trees at 10,0100/., and con-
ii)ilered that of this about one-half was net profit,
The destruction was so sudden as to be inevitable. He
had no intimation whatever of danger until he saw the
leaves turn yellow and droop, and the trees were then past
all hope. This may have been an exceptionally bad Case (I
mean as regards the extent of the calamity, not as regards ,
the nature, which is almost invariably the same), but '
them are many more very like it. Hem and there planters
have been poritively ruined, and obliged to give up their
estates and lave their homes. There is a report that the
Madras government think of appointing a special com-
missioner to investigate the subject, and it is, without
doubt, well worthy of government notice, for though raspy
doughty champions have entered the lists against him,
and many schemes have been confidently recommended for
his overthrow, the Borer does not yet seem to have found
his match.— Times' Correspondent at Madras.
THE FENIAN CONVICTS FOR AUSTRALIA. —A let-
ter addressed by Hugh Francis Brophy to Tie mother, pre-
vious to his departure on board the convict abip Huguenot
for Western Australia, gives some particulars of the treat-
ment of the Fenian convicts. He says: —" The political
prisoners are all together in one department—l thiak be-
tween 60 and 70 altogether—and so fine and so good a lot
of men I never met before. I wish some of our pious
slanderers saw them collecting one another for morning
and evening prayers, or saw them on Sunday or Sunday
week, with scares an exception, going to the altar, they
would came to defame any longer the virtuous children of
poor unhappy Ireland. May God enlighten and forgive
them, I sincerely pray. So far our treatment since wo
came on board is very good. The rations are excellent ;
we are allowed a glass of wine a day, and are to go on deck
any time we like. In fact, lam told by men who know the
difference, that we are as well treated as emigrants are on ,
board a well-managed emigrant ship. I meet a (mammy 1
men I knew before my conviction. They are all well, but
too numerous to mention by name."
Bourn KENSINGTON Musruss.—Visitors during ;
the week ending Oct. 19, 1867:—0n Monday, Tuesday, r
and Saturday (free), from 10 a.m. till 10 p.m., 9,237 ; on '
Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday (admission lid.), from
10 a.m. till 5 p.m., 1,510; total, 10,747 ; average of nor.
responding week in former years, 10,685 ; total from the
opening of the museum, 7.027,324. i
GALLS, Ocr. 14. —The Meesageries Imperiales
steamer Alphas, left bare today with the homeward India,
China, and Japan mails. She has 60 passengers and 2,200
bales of silk on board.

AMERICA.

(MOM OTTE SPECIAL CO]

NEW YORK. Ocr. 10.

The elections in Pennsylvania, Ohio, lowa, and In-
diana have come off, and have terminated very much
as I predicted in my letter of Sept. 12. The repub-
licans have lost Pennsylvania by a small majority ;
in Ohio the amendment to the constitution admit-
ting negroes to the suffrage has been defeated, but
the republican candidate for the governorship has,
it is believed, been elected. In lowa and Indiana
there is also no doubt of a republican triumph, but
what is the size of the majority is still uncertain.
The untoward result in Pennsylvania is due of
course to the fact that the officer for whose appoint-
ment the election was held was a judge of the Su-
preme Court, and, as I intimated some weeks ago,
there is a considerable number of persons in the
republican party in Pennsylvania who care more
foe judicial independence than they care for
universal suffrage or the congressional plan of recon-
struction. Judge Sharswood, the democratic can-
didate, was the present occupant of the place. He
is a lawyer of very high standing, and en-
joys the respect both of the bar and the
public. But in his politics he is a demo-
crat of the copperhead type, although I have
never heard that he displayed his political opinions
either in an unbecoming manner, or in any manner
at all. In fact, beyond his holding these opinions,
and his having in a bond fide case brought regularly
before him, decided that the issue of legal
tender notes was unconstitutional, I do not believe
the republicans had any other fault to find with
him. As occupant of the seat he was presump-
tively entitled to election for another term, accord.
ing to all sound views of the position the judiciary
ought to hold ; but simply because this decision
indicated hostility to republican ideas, they put
another candidate in the field, inferior in every
way to Sharswood, and, to make matters worse,
almost unknown. The result has been what might
have been expected. The bar in Philadelphia, and
a large mass of the best portion of the republican
party, voted for the democratic candidate, so that
in the city the republican party was almost swept
out of existence, and in the State at large lostheavily,
and there is hardly a member of it who, now that
all is over, will deny that Judge Sharswood is '
ezttitled to his place.
In Ohio the defeat of the amendment to the con-
stitution removing the discrimination against
our is an awkward fact—much more awkward
tliari when it occurred in Connecticut. Connecticut
lois long been famed for its conservatism, while
Ohio has been, ever since the free soil agitation
began, the Massachusetts of the West, a radical of
the radicals, and has during the war given the very
largest majorities in favour of an extreme policy.
The votes which have been thrown against the
amendment represent no doubt that large body of
persons who have in every State in the Union been
forced into the republican ranks rather by the vio-
lent and outrageous course of the South than by
their own sympathy with the negro. These persons
have supported the imposition of universal suffrage
off' the South rather as a measure of necessity
than because they are themselves enamoured of
absolute political equality. They will stand by
Congress in all its dealings with the South through
thick and thin, but they will not agree to admit
the negro in their own States to a share in the
government. Therefore, while supporting the re-
publican candidates for office, they vote no on
the constitutional amendments.

To these causes of the falling off in the repub-
lican majorities must be added the widespread dis-
gust with the revelations of corruption amongst its
working politicians which are every day made. If
this corruption had not grown up, the party would
not be composed of human beings. It has en-
joyed power almost without limit ; it has had the
disbursement of almost incalculable sums of money,
and has been supported by the people with a
vigour and enthusiasm such as no other party
has ever before experienced. Moreover, its
long tenure of office has had the usual
eflect of drawing into its ranks vast numbers of the
political thieves, tricksters, and intriguers, men
who live by jobs, and who are always on the side
of the party which has, and is likely to retain, the
distribution of the offices. The malpractices and
frauds of these people have naturally more or less
injured its credit, and it is no easy matter to get
rid of them. Moreover, if they, too, were not
thieves, in the present state of the civil adminis-
tration, it would show that they had far more vir-
tue than the rest of the community, instead of
having none at all. When men are sure that their
tenure of office will not last over three or four
years, they naturally and inevitably set about
featherin? ,their nests the minute they get into
them. Nothing but a total change in the system
of appointment will effect any improvement.
Under the present system no change of parties will
be of much use.

MORE IHRAhTEES AT SEA.—At the Liverpool
Underwriters'-roomsyesterday another long list of shipping
disasters was posted up. The ship Schleswig Bnde,
bound from the Clyde to Bombay, is reported to have ex-
perienced fearful weather off the Cape of Good Hope, and
shifted her cargo. In order to lighten the ship 500 tons
of railway iron had to be thrown overboard, and the vessel
is reported to be very much strained. The Benin, a West
African trader, whilst on tbe homeward voyage from Benin to
Liverpool, got on shore OE the French ooast,but was driven
off llurande Hock, Gastoun, on the 19th inst., and became
a total wreck. Three hundred casks of palm oil have
been washed ashore. The Wellington, of Waterford,
foundered off the Salters on the 10th inst.; but the crew
were fortunately picked up and landed safely at Water-
ford. The ship Oriental, bound to Conway from Quebec,
is high and dry near Penzance. The copper sheathing is
being stripped off, and the cargo will shortly be removed.
In the sours of the next spring titles it is expected that
the vessel will be dotted.
THE PRICE OF BUTCHERS' MEAT.—A resident
at Kensington, complaining of the despotism of trades.
men, says in the Tiatea:—" A year ago we in this dis-
trict were paying lid., Is., and 13.1. • pound for meat.
At that very time the Army Commissariat was buying
meat for the troops at a pound, and married officers in
the pariah were supplied at that price. If good meat
could be sold at 5?,..1. a pound, all parts included, I Rill
sure that the best parts of that meat could be sold at 7d.
or sd. a pound at a fair profit. But no ! our masters the
butchers must make their 100 or 150 per cent. profit !
The same with fish. The lobster which in Cornwall costs
3d., and in Billingsgate costs Is., I must pay 3s. for here.
Mackerel, cod, and other fish are in the Name proportion.'
Fishmongers, butchers, factors, and grocers, are all bent
upon making a treat fortune in a few years. "Go into
any village within 20 miles of London, you will find the
great house of the place, or the squire's estate, bought by
some butcher or fishmunger from the West-end, or some
publican from the East-ead." And this is not the fruits of pa-
tient diligence but of an audacious system of combined ex-
tortion. Talk of trades' unions ! they are not to be com-
pared to tradesmen's unions for the ruthlessness of their
exactions. With • remark that in Kensington the rest-
dents suffer especially, everything from house painting to
a rump steak being charged 50 per cent. over and above •
fair profit, the correspondent asks if some persons will not
at once combine to form " a housekeepers' so-operative
association." Another correspondent in the Tinua begins
his letter, " Sir,—As the father of a family having nine
bellies to fill every day in the week, will you allow me to
say a word or two on the great meat question !"