The Express.
London, England, 1866-11-10 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 10, 1866.

THE ROMAN QUESTION.

The Moniteur of yesterday contains the following
correspondence, dated Florence, Nov. 3 :
The Italian papers publish the text of a circular which
the President of the Council and Minister of the Interior
has just addressed to the prefect, of the kingdom, and the
object of which is to induce or prepare the return of the
bishops who "by a necessity of local or general security
had previously been removed from their sees and sent to
a forced retreat." The writer of the circular recalls the
excektional circumstances which led to these rigorous
measured, which are now to be discontinued, end dwells
upon the favourable conditions created by the completion
of the national unity, which permits now a return without
danger to the policy of conciliation. By a coincidence
which b not at all surprising, as showing that the
same pee-occupations simultaneously prevail in Rome
and Florence, the Pope, almost at the mane moment in
which Bleasoli's circular upon thereturn of the bishops was
published, touched upon the same subject in a oonsistorial
allocution. According to the terms of that allocution as
they have reached us here the Pope is said to declare
null and void the laws passed in Italy against the rights
of the church ; he deplores and condemns the persecu-
tisnthe bishops, the priests. the monks, and the
a suppression of the monastic orders, and the
incameration of the property of the clergy. Finally, he
renews his ordinary protests against the occupation of
the provinces which recently formed part of the
Pontifical States. But at the same time the
Holy Father has confirmed the benediction given by him
at the commencement of his pontificate to "Christian
Itcly," in recalling the initiative taken by the Holy See
for the purpose of restoring the bishops to the vacant
dioceses, end has expressed the hope that " those even who
would not then second that initiative will return to its
arms, which will always be open to them." In the
opinion of everybody who has closely and attentively fol-
lowed the events of the last few years in Italy, there is
not one of these various points which is not susceptible of
an arrangement that may appease every interest. The
pontifical allocution, therefore, has in no way shaken the
confidence of people with moderate views it the
possibility of an arrangement. The circular of Baron
Ricasoli is already, with regard to the question of
the bisheps, a commencement of satisfaction given to the
preoccupations of the Holy See. As for the revolutionary
programme which claimed Rome as the capital of Italy,
everybody knows that this pretension, proclaimed at the
beginning as a symbol and a necessity of the national uni.
fioation, has lost its signification and its threatening bearing
in proportion as unification has been accomplished by other
means, so that now, not only has the conquest of Rome
by revolution been eliminated from the programme of
the moderate party, but even the movements of the
party of action itself are less to be feared than
formerly. The political mind in Italy is less im-
pressed therefore with the fears which the language of the
Holy Father expresses than with the hopes it awakens,
and many people see in the confirmation of the benediction
to Christian Italy, and in the passage respecting the bishops'
the prelude to a renewal of the Vegerri mission."

Tai REFORM 110 V EMENT.—The adjourned
meeting of delegates from the trade and friendly societies
of the metropolis in reference to the forthcoming
Reform demonstration was held last evening at t'm
Sussex Hotel, Bouverie-street, Fleet-street, Mr. George
Potter in the chair. There were about 200 delegates
present, representing 150 of the leading societies. The
chairman said he was happy to ere the way in which
the societies of London were doing their duty. There
could now be no doubt that the intended demon-
stration would be one of the most effective
that had yet taken place, and when the Govern-
ment became fully aware of the materials of
which it would be composed it could not fail of baying
its due weight with them. It would be an unmis-
takable demonstration of the bout fide working men of
London such as no man could dispute. Working men
often lost a day's work to honour a royal procession or show,
but on the present occasion they were going to give a day
to reform, to show they were in earnest in their demands.
The secretary then read the report from the demonstration
and organising committee, by which it appeared that nearly
ever), society in London of any importance had given
in its adhesion to the movement. Meetings of the trades
would be held in their various localities every evening dur-
ing the next three weeks for the purpose of completing the
arrangements for the demonstration. Deputations were
expected from all the trades' councils throughout the kina-
dum, and the workmen in the various large towns in the
circle of 30 miles around the metropolis were organising
themselves to attend the demonstration en maw. Mr.
IleAles, as President of the Reform League, had accepted
the invitation to be present in his official capacity. In-
vitations had also been sent out to the whole of the metro-
politan members, and also to the liberal members
for the house counties. Extensive preparations were
being made by the larger trades who would take part
in the procession with their trade flags and insignia, and
were vieing with each other as to who should make the
best display. The report concluded by expressing the hope
of the committee that they would be able to prepare the
programme by next meeting. The report having been
adopted, the delegate from the General Union of Car-
penters moved, and the delegate from the tailors seconded,
the following resolution:—' That this meeting of del -
gates, representing a large proportion of the metropolitan
trade and friendly societies, is of opinion that Monday, the
Ad of December next, should be generally observed by the
working classes as a Reform holiday, and hereby calls upon
the employers of labour, as far as practicable, to close their
workshops on that day." The resolution having been sup-
ported by several delegates, was then carried by acclama-
tion. The Demor.stration Committee having announced
that they should meet every night until the day of the
meeting, the general meeting of delegates was then de-
clared to be adjourned until Friday evening next.

THE CAMBRIDGE UNION SOCIETY . —The new
officers for this term are, Mr. H. L. Anderson, Caius Col-
lege, president ; Mr. W. Kennedy, King's College, vice.
president ; Mr. W. A. Lindsay, Trinity, secretary. Act-
ing upon the advice of Lord Houghton—not to debate
exclusively upon subjects connected with the politics of
the day—the following was debated on the last occa.
si n : That this house looks back with grief and
shame upon the Act of Uniformity of 1662:
This was moved by Mr. A. S. Wilkins, St. John's,
and supported by Mr. F. T. Payne, Trinity Hall ;
Mr. J. F. Moulton, St.. John's ; Mr. J. K. Sandys, St.
John's ; and Mr. W. G. Forest, St. John's. It was opposed
by Mr. C. Greene, Trinity . Mr. N. Moore, St. Catha-
rine's ; fdr. R. Purris, Downing ; and Mr. J. W. Tipping,
Trinity. The division was—For the motion, 48 ; against,
fid ; majority against, 32. The subject for the next de-
bate is, " That the total exclusion of women from the
franchise, who are otherwise qualified, is an insult to the
sex, an injustice to the claims of property, and a loss to the
country,' to be moved by Mr. G. C. Whiteley, of St.
John's College.
THE NOBLE. ART.—In a case that came, last
week, before the Wolverhampton county court, the public
were initiated into some of the unattractive mysteries
through which prize fighters have to pass, prior to their
public perf,rmances. It appeared from the testimony of
:Ebenezer Hicken, " Champion of the Light Weights,"
and his trainer, Moseley, that the dietary of these inte-
resting creatures, when in training, is as follows :—A glares
of sherry with a new-laid egg before the early morning
walk ; a steak cut from a leg of mutton and tea for break.
fast ; a glass of ale and dry toast, with tea, for tea (a com-
bination sufficient to disarrange the stomach of an ostrich):
and a glass of ale and dried toast for supper. Between
these repasts the prize fighter had to walk several miles
in company with his trainer, whose duty it was to prevent
his charge from tippling at public-houses, and to rub him
down and put him to bed when be returned home.
It appeared that it was usually the custom for a
publican to give gratuitous board and lodging to the prize-
fighter in training, in return for the custom that be
brought to the house. It also appeared that it was
the custom of prize fighters to engage " roughs" who
should attend them in their fight and 'see all fair ;" and
that " the man who had the greatest number of roughs had
the best chance of winning." This was the ingenuous tes-
timony of Mr. John Hall himself • prize fighter, who con-
fessed that he had more than once fought to lose, "because
be got inure by losing than he should have done by win.
ning ;" and it appeared that in this honest gentleman's
prise fight with Mick the Grecian, five or six borough
policemen who came to put a stop to the encounter were
taken into a public-house and treated with ale until the
fight was finished. Mr. Hall also said that, for want of a
proper band of rough., be had once lost a prize fight ; and
that foe providing these neoesary ingredients for Mr.
Hieken's contest, that gentleman had given him 4t. We
commend these facts to the notice of the patrons of " the

noble art."—Lenedes Review.
The Michigan Southern and Rock Island Rail-
roads opened their new depot at Chicago on the 9th inst.
The pessenger de is one of the finest and snort osplle•OS
buildings of the lind in the eountri., being 612 het in
length, sad 160 in width. The freight-house is an im-
mense structure, 600 feet in length by 52 feet wide.—Nres
York Times.