The Express.
London, England, 1867-12-02 00:00:00

ibn
THE EXPRESS, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBE:

prolong to the former their personal power and
unhealthy control of a magnificent revenue, and
give to the latter unearned profits, with the hope of
equally keeping up an undue market value of
their stock. The illustration lies in a very small '
circle, and the figures we have cited bring the
issue to a strictly mathematical conclusion. Rail-
way traffic for the last twenty years has exceeded
in growth all estimates, butcapital expenditure has
gone on at a greater pace during the same period.
The man of figures who invests, or
wishes to invest, in railway securities is driven
to the mathematical conviction that if a capital
account is never to be closed, and if the accounts
of railway companies are to show on one aide so
much expended every twelve months, and so
much declared to be profit, railways are not a safe
property, and he decides that it would be better
for him to invest elsewhere. We suffer at this
moment the disastrous consequences of this ruinous
finarcial neglect. Take, for instance, the Brighton
Railway, once called " Railway Consols." The
original stock, which for a series of years com-
manded the highest repute in the market, and was
a orth 20 premium, paying 6 per cent., has sunk
to 50 per cent. discount, and the company is
compelled not only to compound with its bankers
for their advances, but also to suspend payment
of interest on even its guaranteed stocks.
At this very crisis there are those who argue
that you cannot close the capital account of a
railway. The answer is very clear : we point to
the loss from keeping it open indefinitely year after
year. Moreover, in no other department of
business is such a system so perpetuated. If
every increase of traffic must of necessity
involve an addition to capital, then the increased
weekly receipts, however large, are virtually an
evil, not a gain ; inasmuch as they are sure to be
accompanied by further outlay. Under the pre-
sent state of circumstances railways have almost
become a national reproach. Individuals have
been enriched enormously. Contractors, lawyers,
engineers, landowners, and too many others, have
acquiredgreat fortunes. Bankers have given too free
facilities to a state of things which helped the evil
course, and it is no wonder that at this time
the questions should be currently asked, "Are
" railways a real property ? and is the old system
" to go on ?"

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

EARL RUSSELL'S EDUCATIONAL RESOLUTIONS.

In the opinion of the Daily News the above re-
solutions, to be moved in the House of Lords this evening,
assert principles of the highest importance, and the adop-
tion of them would change the whole scope of our public
educational effort. The right of every child to the
blessings of education is asserted in order to place that
right under the guardianship of the state, and upon no
narrower foundation than this proposition can a super-
structure of primary education worthy of England be built.
The country is rapidly coming to acknowledge that the dif-
fusion of instruction ought not to be hindered by religions
differences, and the least that can be asked in the name of
public economy and public justice is that no school shall
be maintained by public money in which any child is
obliged to receive religious instruction to which his parents
object. But even this concession will not meet the re-
quirements of many large sections of the population. There
are districts in which schools are wanted which must owe
their origin to public bodies, municipal and otherwise, and
the arrangements and administration of which must be
untrammelled by ecclesiastical pretensions or prejudice.
The Times enlarges on the difficulties inherent in the
state of things which stands opposed to the educational re-
former. All the powers and personages who fight for the
privilege of communicating education in England are
fighting it out, and will long continue to fight it out,
without coming to that happy consummation when some
one element of the British character is to destroy or to
absorb all the others. Such a state of things leaves fearful
gaps and shortcomings, and therefore cannot be left alone,
but ever calls for interference. But it is not to be met by
a scheme for merging all peculiarities and differences under
the administration of a minister of public instruction.
According to the Standard, Earl Russell's resolutions
are instigated by the characteristie disinclination of the
whig leader to see the tory party dealing with those large
questions which the liberals have either shirked or merely
dallied with. Lord Russell is never so seams a reformer
as when he is out of office. If these resolutions were
passed to-night, and Lord Russell were Premier to-morrow,
he would not attempt to carry out his own programme ;
his first effort would be to dilute or explain away the
effect of the principles he has himself enunciated. Cons.
pulsory secular education is the logical meaning of these
disingenuously-phrased statements, and Lord Russell
knows perfectly well that neither the country nor the
legislature is prepared even to entertain such a proposition.
The Standard goes on to argue that if education is secularised,
the support of the religious men of all creeds will be for-
feited. They have no motive in upholding secular in-
struction, and they will either close their schools or main-
tain them in zealous rivalry to the state *drools.
The three central principles, says the TelerrapA, which
Earl Russell is to advocate to-night are—firstly, that the
education of each British child is a parental and also •
state responsibility ; secondly, that doctrinal teaching
must not stand in the way of secular teaching ; thirdly,
that education must be free of religious disabilities for
high and low alike, for scholars as for hawbucks, in the
universities as well as in the parish schools. These points
together make the Magna Charts of our forthcoming edu-
cational period. Not one of them can be compromiesd—
not one must be paltered with.

The Time' points any person, who is inclined to'doubt
the liberty accorded to Irishmen, to the accounts which
reach us from Ireland of the demonstrations cm the part of
the press and populace in connexion with the late execu-
tions at Manchester. Is there any other country in which
any newspaper would dare to print such language ? What
would have been the fats of a Southern newspaper in New
York, a Polish journal in Warsaw, or a revolutionary print
in France which ventured on the least approach to such an
experiment ? The Tine, confesses, indeed. to a certain
doubt whether the prudence of foreign governments might
not be justifiably imitated when the provocation has
reached this height.
The Daily News quotes a case which has occurred at
Marseilles in illustration of the way in which ordinary civil
justice may be perverted by the spirit of the government
under which it is administered. It is that of a judge of a
new civil court, who, on taking his seat for the first time,
tells his colleagues of the local bench and his brethren of
the local bar that they should prove their gratitude to the
government for establishing the court by voting for the go-
vernment candidates for the legislature. Such, it seems,
is the form of electoral corruption under a personal go-
vernment. It is not the corruption or the intimidation
which in England is purchased by wealthy candidates or
powerful supporters. It is corruption organised by the
central administration, and imposed as a condition on all
its functionaries and agents, including the judges who in-
terpret and administer the laws.

A communication appears in the Poet signed "An ex-
Minister," on "The Plague of Clerks." According to this
writer the permanent clerks in the government offices are
the gentlemen really responsible for those mistakes which
are always getting our public men into trouble and lou of
reputation. A " little war," producing great expense and
disturbance, is a distressing result of clerkly meddling
with aff►irs beyond not only the competence of an
Assistant Under Secretary, but beyond what can be
expected of • person wt., has passed the best portion
of his life in docketing other people's letters.
It is not putting the ease at all strong to say that every
minister, no matter bow eminent, able, and well meaning,
has bad at heart the humiliating conviction that he was
a mere puppet in the hand/ of some clerk ha scarcely
knew by sight.

The Star supports Mr. Otway in the opinion that a
short declaratory act should be passed at once disfran-
chising Yarmouth and Nines, and removing their mem-
bers from the house. The Reform Bill only makes the
disfranchisement take effect from and after the present
parliament.

the (curt.

WINDSOR CASTLE, Nov. 30.
The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon, accom-
panied by Princess Louise ; and her Majesty drove in the
grounds this morning, attended by the Duchess of Rex-
burghs.
Princess Louise, attended by the Hon. Flora Macdonald,
went out walking.
Prince Leopold also walked out, attended by Mr. Duck-
worth.
I Princess Beatrice rode in the Home Park,
The Duke of Nemours. the Duke d'Alencon, and Princess
Marguerite d'Orleans arrived at the Castle yesterday, on
a visit to her Majesty.
Prince and Princess Christian and Princess Henriette of
Schlerwig-Holatein dined with the Queen yesterday.
After dinner her Majesty's private band played in the
drawing-room before the Duchess of Cambridge, Prince
and Princess Christian, Princess Louise, Prince Leopold,
the Duke of Nemours, the Duke d'Alencon, Princess Mar-
guerite d'Orleans, Princess Henrietta of Schleswig-Hol-
stein and the Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting.
The following had the honour of receiving invitations :
His Excellency M., Madame, and Mies VaticleWeyer, Lady
Emily Seymour, and Lieutenant-General Hon. C. and
Mrs. Grey.
The band played a selection of music under the direction
of Mr. G. Anderson.
The Duke of Nemours, the Duke d'Alencon, and
Princess Marguerite d'Orleans left the Castle this morning.
The Duchess of Cambridge has &leo left the Castle, at-
tended by Lady Geraldine Somerset and Major-General'
Lord Frederick Paulet.
Lady Churchill has succeeded the Duchess of Roxburghe
as Lady in Waiting.
The Duchess of limxburghe remains at the Castle on a
visit to her Majesty.
DEC. 1.
The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon, accompanied
by Princess Beatrice.
To-day is the birthday of the Princess of Wales.
Prince Arthur, attended by Major Elphinstone, arrived
at the Castle yesterday.
The Queen, Prince and Princess Christian, Princess
Louise, Priam Arthur, Prince Leopold, Princess Beatrice,
sad Princess Henrietta of Schleswig-Holstein, and the
Ladies and Gentlemen in Waiting, attended Divine service
this morning in the private chapel.
The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of New Zealand
preached the sermon.
The Lord Chancellor and the Right Hon. Gathorne
Hardy arrived at the Castle yesterday, and had the honour
of dining with the Queen and the Royal Family.
Mr. Vinter has had the honour of submitting to her
Majesty his lithographs of the Queen and the Prince
Consort, from the chalk drawings by Sir Edwin Landseer.

Prince and Princess Christian, attended by Lieutenant-
Colonel and Mrs. George G.Gordon, returned to Frogmen
on Friday, from visiting the Dake and Duchess of Marl-
borough at Blenheim.

A Cabinet Council was held on Saturday, at the
official residence of the First Lord of the Trea-
sury, in Downing-street. The Ministers present
were the Earl of Derby, the Lord Chancellor,
the Duke of Marlborough, the Earl of Halmos-
bury, the Right Hon. Gathorne Hardy, Lord
Stanley, the Duke of Buckingham and Chandoa,
Sir John Pakington, Sir S. Northoote, the Right
Hon. H. T. L. Corry, the Duke of Richmond,
Lord John Manners, the Earl of Mayo, and the
Right Hon. Spencer H Walpole.

Despatches were received on Babarday at the Colonial-
office from the Governors of the Settlements on the West
Coast of Africa. Despatches were sent to the Governors of
the West India Wands, British Columbia, Bermuda, and
the Australian Colonies.

His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge left
town on Saturday to visit the Prince and Princess of Wales
at Sandringham.
The Duke of Rutland has arrived at Belvoir
Castle, and has commenced hunting for the season. His
grace is about to receive a succession of %loiters at his
princely country residence.

- The Earl of Carnarvon left town on Saturday to
join the countess at Torquay.

. . .
Visoount Cranborne, MY., left his residence in
Mansfield-street, on Saturday, to join Viscountess Cran
borne and family at his meat in Hampshire.

Prince Minbnutaiyou, brother of the Tycoon,
and salts, was to leave Calais at 12 noon to-day by special
boat for Dover, and thence by special train at 2 p.m. for
Charing-cross.

MR: DISRAILL —With the exception of the attack
of lumbago from which the Chancellor of the Exchequer
is suffering, and which at present confines him to his
room, the general health of the right hon. gentleman is,
we are informed, excellent. The health of Mrs. Disraeli is
gradually improving.—Obserrer.

THE FUNERAL PROCESSION AT CORK.

CORK, SUNDAY.

The funeral procession in memory of the three
Manchester convicts was manballed in the following
order :—Drum and fife band ; about 500 school children and
1,500 women ; a bier, drawn by six horses, with the name.
of Larkin, O'Brien, and Allen in large black letters on white
cotton on the aides of the bier; then followed a brass
band, playing the "Dead March" in Saul , followed by
the trades and others, marching four abreast. The total
number in the procession was computed at about 7,000.
and there were probably some 4,000 more walking on the
pavement. All were exceedingly quiet and orderly. The II
proceuioniets and those walking in company wore arapel
bands tied with green ribbons. There were five bands of
music in the procession. All the public-houses were cloud.
After traversing the streeta the procession arrived
at the Botanic Gardens and the burial service vru gone
through. There was no interference, and perfect order and
sobriety prevailed.
Twenty-two magistrates met yesterday and decided not
to prohibit the demonstration, but to have all the public-
houses closed during the day.
Preparations are made for a great procession at Kul-
' turk to-morrow. There will be high masa and office for
the dead.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

THE TEMPORAL POWER.

TheArener National says :

The departure of our hoop; from Roam is being hurried
on. It appears that only a single brigade will remain at
Dirks Vecchia, yet the Onerratore Romano remarks that
" order is tar from being established in Boma." Strange
and humiliating confession ! What does the
Roman government want to make it secure?
It is protected by Providence, by the
_love of
its subject' ; by the Antibes legion, by the Pontifical
Zotutves, by the Chassepot rifles. What addition can be
made to all this marvellous protection? The lamentations
of the Pontificals are becoming comical. The Papacy cries
out for help at noon ; at 1 o'clock, it says it wants no one's
assistance ; at 2 it summons its guards to the rescue
once more. This brings to mind the celebrated carica-
ture of M. Daumier. A Frenchman who got hold of an
Arab cries out " General, I have got a prisoner." " Bring
him here." " I cannot, he will not let me go." It is not
Garibaldism, stopped by our troops when it was about to
triumph ; it is not Mazzinism,which menaces the tottering
Papacy in spite of the most singular and carious consulta-
tion of armed doctors that ever took place ; it is modern
ideas, progress, the genius of civilisation, and
against such enemies no Chassepot can prevail. The
catholic church with its inquisition and its pyres were
powerless against Luther. We axe about to have a repe-
tition of the same kind. M. le Baron Dupin defends it.
But, if Troy fell in spite of the valour of Hector, what has
the temporal power to expect, when its titled Hector has
already so vainly and so unfortunately defended so many
different causes?

(REUTZR•e TIMOR•118.)
FRANCE.

PARIS, Dam 1, Evionas.
M. Oscar Vallee has been appointed a councillor
of state.

A despatch from the Governor of Senegal dated
'Nov. 15 states that the sanitary condition of St.
Louis Gorea was most satisfactory. Since the 20th
October no cases of yellow fever had occurred.

ITALY.

FLORENCE, DEC. 1, EVENING.
The Senate has been convoked to meet the
public sitting on the sth inst.
The electoral college at Dealt, has elected Count
Borromeo Secretary of the Interior.