The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-09 00:00:00

ITALY.

FLORENCE, MAT 8.

To-day in the Chamber of Deputies the Minister
for Foreign Affairs laid before the house the treaty
of Commerce and Navigation with Austria, and
the Portal Convention with Spain. The Premier,
Signor Rattazzi, announced that the Great Powers
had decided to invite the participation of Italy
at the London Conference, as an element of
European order and peace. He hoped this
news would be received with satisfaction.
Signor Rattassi also announced that the marriage
of the Duke d'Aosta with the Princess della
Cisterns will take place on the 30th instant, at
Turin. Signor Rattazai then read a letter from
the King, in which his Majesty declares he con-
siders it his duty to give the first example of
economy at a time of financial distress by re-
nouncing annually the sum of four million lire of
his civil list. (This announcement was received
by the Chamber with loud cheers.) His Majesty
expresses the hope that his example will be fol-
lowed in all branches of the administration. A
deputation was afterwards appointed to present
the King with the thanks of the house.

THE RUSSIANS IN CENTRAL ASIA.
ST. PETERSBURG, MAT S.

The Emir of Bokhara has gone to Samarcand,
and, fearing an attack from the Russian forces,
has ordered fortifications to be erected. He is
said to have invited English co-operation for the
reorganisation of his army. Ho has broken off
relations with the Russian authorities. The rela-
tions of Russia with the Khan of Khokan are of
an extremely friendly character.

INDIA.
BOMBAY, MAT 2, 6.36 P.Y.

71b. Shirtings, sr. 14a. ; 84113. ditto, 7r. 2a. ;
40's mule twist, 13a. Cotton quiet : Dhollerah,
215 r. Exchange on London, Is. 114 d. to Is. 114 d.
Four per Cent. Government securities, 87 ; Five
per Cent. ditto, 1051; Five-and-a-Half per Cent.
ditto, 1084. Freights to Liverpool, 60e. to 655.
The latest London date is April 26.

As ill all former cases of the meeting of a Euro- I
peen conference, the papers state that the plenipo-
tentiaries take the most solemn engagement among I,
themselves not to divulge their proceedings ; and 1
the same papers give news which, if true, can only
have been obtained by a violation of theengagement. 1
We have various bits of news to-day ; but they are
conflicting, probably but conjectural, and of course
unreliable. The France says the verification of
powers having given rise to no objections, the Con-
ferenee was enabled to proceed to business imme-
diately after its meeting. Lord Stanley read a ,
project of an arrangement " drawn up and ,
proposed by England." This project met with no •
fundamental opposition, nevertheless " one or two
plenipotentiaries"—those, as the France is assured,
most recently called in—not being provided with
sufficient instructions, begged to refer to their go-
vernments, and the Conference was " for that rea-
son" adjourned to Thursday. The correspondent
of -the France thinks himself able to state—and a
wonderfully enabled perion he must be to do so—
that at the second meeting "all questions will be
settled.,"and nothing more will remain than todtar
up the conventioniagiviiiirttpOn
The Pectiie; which assumes like the France to have
excellent private information, says two plans for a
settlement were read, one proposed by England
and the other by Russia, but that there were only
formal differences between the two. It seems to
have no knowledge of the last coming plenipoten-
tiaries having referred fur further instructions ;
and undertakes to say that everything is going on
" most favourably ;" but, instead of prophesying a
final issue for Thursday, thinks the deliberations
may be continued till Saturday, but certainly not
longer.
Telegrams from London by the Reuter agency
are leas reassuring. They speak ominously of
" some difficulties" having arisen; of not " one
or two," but all of the plenipotentiaries having
telegraphed to their governments ; and, more
serious than all, of Prussia " insisting " un guaran-
tees which England " hesitates " to give.
The Moniteur du Sair, in announcing the meeting
of the Conference, merely says :
During the previous stages of the negotiations the Em-
peror's government, desiring to act considerately in regard
to all "susceptibilities," stood aloof, said left it to the
powers to seek in concert the best means of assuring the
consolidation of the general peace. The cabinets having
exchanged their ideas have come to an agreement to re-
commend, as the basis of the arrangement to be made, the
neutralisation of the grand duchy, with the consequences
following from this principle, namely, the evacuation of
the fortress by the Prussian garrison. Guided only by
ideas of moderation and disinterestedness, France has
rallied to this programme, and thus given • pledge of
conciliation, for which all Europe must give bar credit.
The sentiments with which the powers are animated per-
mit the hope of a favourable solution.

The Vigie; of Cherbourg, says that the Minister
of Marine is endeavouring to recruit merchant cap-
tains fur the imperial navy, in which they are
offered officers' commissions. This is one more
of the many symptoms of preparation fur war in
France which very naturally excite the " suscepti-
bilities" of M. de Bismarck.

A good joke is attributed to M. Thiers, who is
of opinion that the policy condemned by the war
party as a reculade resemble, that which lashed
French Chauvinism into fury when the Orleans
dynasty declined to make war about Don Pacifico.
The story is that M. Thiers being asked what he
would do at the present juncture if he were prime
minister, replied, " 1 would send Prince Napoleon
to England to bring the remains of Louis Philippe
to France."

The text of the judgment of the Court of Cessa-
tion, in the matter of the defamation of dead
people, only published to-day, shows that the
general question remains as open as ever. The
decision expressly excludes the case of historical
disquisitions on the memory of public men, which
it declares to be " much more complicated." In
the case before the court, the words charged as
slanderous were uttered by the defendant in
a public place in the presence of the daughter of
the deceased ; and the court finds expressly that
they were uttered with the intention of insulting
and defaming the plaintiff ; and under such circum-
stances as necessarily to throw upon her the odium
of the fact imputed to her father. There is nothing
shocking to common sense in holding the defendant
liable on a case so stated ; and I can onlyiwonder
that the judge reporter in his summing up should
have spoken of the solemn judgment about
to be rendered as one that would settle a great
controverted question in all time coming. The
judgment of the supreme court, on the contrary,
evades every question upon which there can be
much controversy, and in particular avoids de-
ciding that • dead person is a " person" within
the meaning of the statute under which the action
was brought, being of opinion that in the case
before it the living plaintiff was the " person"
defamed.
At the Bourse " discounts" to an unusual amount
continued to prop up prices, but the market closed
with manifest weakness. Bente, after touching
68fr. 55e. for account, left off at 68fr. 321 c., with a
rise of 20c. The rise for cash was 10c. Italian
rose 40c., Credit Foncier 12fr. 50c., and Northern
Railway sfr. In other securities little change.
There is a passage in Scribe's comedy, the Verre
d'Eau, which gives a life-like description of the pre-
sent position of Luxemburg. It is the scene in
which the simple girl Abigail unfolds to Boling-
broke the grief which oppresses her at the thought
of the two court ladies who are setting their caps
at her lover, Maaham :
Abigail—What am I, a poor girl, to do! How can I
hold up my head against two ladies of quality!
Bolingbroke—All the better for you! Two rivals are less
formidable than one.

Abigail (much interested)—Ah ! if you could convince
me of that.

Bohn' gbroke—Notbing more easy. Suppose a great king-
dom wants to annex a little province ; there is no help for
it, the weak state is lost. But if another great empire
simultaneously covets the same place, there is a chance of
salvation for it. The two great powers watch each other,
thwarteach other, neutralise each other, and the threatened
province escapes the danger—thanks to the number of
its enemies.