The Express.
London, England, 1858-09-04 00:00:00

MB EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 4, 18458.

deck to the forward main deck. Towards evening
the barometer fell on board the Agamemnon ; the
hems freshened into a gale, and she had to struggle on
spied a bead wind, going full steam, while only
making four knots en hour. At this rats, and cm-
soloing such an amount of fuel, her oral would have
run out before Valentin could be sighted; for-
tunately, however, the wind shortly afterwards
veered round to the south-west, and enabled her to
husband her resources. Thus, day after day, with
hw incidents, save the tossing waves and swell,
which fearfully tried both vessels, and tested both
the strength of the cable and the powers of the pay-
ing out apparatus, the Niagara and the Agamemnon
steered their course to their respective destinatices.
The day week after they parted from each other
both encemsfully accomplished their minion. The
Niagara met no check throughout its course ; the
Agamemnon, after the first day, expsrienced no dis-
agreeable check till the Monday and Tuesday, on
both of which days her portion of the cable stood •
chines of being rna down by American ships. She
escaped both perils, and earned for all on board her
a deathless fame.

It is impossible to review this arduous undertak-
ing, accomplished two days after the anniversary of
the day on which CRIISIOPHISI Cotrmsus dis-
covered America, without paying a tribote to the

energy, skill, courage, sad perseverance of the
officers and crew both of the Niagara and Agamem-
non. Gallant deede have been indeed performed by
the officers and men both of the American and
English Navies, in peace as well u war. Both
navies are manned by men springing from the
same stock, the most thoroughbred and fearless
sailors the world has ever seen. Both have been
nobly represented ; both have been united in ac-
complishing a deed which may °anent a union be-
tween children of the same fathers, which may
sever be dissolved—which suggests a hope that the

gags which have been interchanged between the
two ships may serer more be raised in hostility to
each other.

That the old spirit of the*" Pilgrim Fathers" has
not died out of their sailorchildren, was well exempli-
fied by the fervid piety with which the American
Captain gave ail the glory to Con for the success
with which his work had been crowned ; and by the
reverent " Amen" sincerely responded by his sailors.
It is this deep spirit of reverence, fostered, we know,
alike by the sailors of both England and America,
that is the surest bond of union between the two
countries.

Invidious remarks have been made in reference
to this feat. Because the Americana have received
the accounts of the accomplishment of the gao-
l:Kcal union of the two worlds with more active en-
thusiasm than has been displayed by the Mother
Country, it has been alleged that they wish to
arrogate all the merit to themselves. We cannot so
read their exuberant jubilations. They are justly
proud of their share of the enterprise—of the part
their sailors and men of science have had in joining
the two worlds together. It is churlish to quarrel
with them because we ourselves have been so back-
ward in giving the due mood of praise to our own
countrymen. If England has her WILUTSTONII,
America has her Moue and her Hymns. It
is true we manufactured the cable; it is also

true we supplied the greater portion of the espitaL
But this is what might reasonably have been ex-
pected from the manufacturing resources of Britain
and from her eassualaud capital. We can boast oar
WHEArtrrosa, who first made electrical telegraphy
practical ; we first laid down a submarine wire ;
an English mechanic devised the improred paying-
oat apparatus, which has acted so sucoessfaUy on
the present occarion, and English workmen worked
it. These are laurels enough; let us not grudge
oar American brethren their share. Had it not
been for the energy, the perseverance, and the faith
in the enterprise of Mr. CYRUS FIELD, the Ameri-
can, the Atlantic Telegraph might at this instant
have been u mach an object in the dim distance
of futurity as a submarine cable to India.

Thu world is nowhere too old for credulity;
though it assumes different forms in different coun-
tries. Our much-abused modern times are not
to blame, if the laws of the universe are found
sufficient for all the useful purposes of life,
without the aid of supernatural machinery. It is nll
a question of climate and regime. Even in the
most benighted agricultural districts of Protestant
and prosaic England, riders of shining virgins in
white raiment are uaknown to the youthful shep-
herd* sad sherherAssees on our hills, the ploughboys
and milkmaids in our fields. We never hear of a
Lady from Heaven appearing at the mouth of a
grotto, and of a spring of holy water bursting
forth at the touch of her uniandalled foot. And
yet, Protestant and prosaic es we are, we can be as
credulous in oar own way as the good people in the
Haute@ Pyrenees. Protestantism, it would appear,
has its own peculiar superfmtations of faith, as
Catholicism has its own more orthodox " develop-
" menta." The simplicity of our dogmas and the
coldness of our oeremenial worship reduces the
imaginative portion of our population to the recrea-
tion of spirit-rapping in Belgravia, and to the pur-
suit of witchcraft in the neighbourhood of Bethnal-
peen.

They manage these things better in France.
There, sada the protecting patronage of • pions
and devout Government, a favoured Church is
strengthened and encouraged from time to time by
visitations of more than mortal import. These
descents, it is tree, invariably take piece
as far away as passible from the haunts
of worldly men; sad the Osiestial message is usually
confided in patois to children who can neither read
nor write. Far otherwise is it in Protestant Eng-
land. Not on the mountains nor among bibes and
eneklings, bat in the heart of the Metropolis and to
mature women of thirty-two, is the grace of faith
manifested. Oar miracles are just as aibstantial
and basinsm-like in quality as all other articles of
hems menntasture. Mrs. SALAH MACDONALD, of
Codworth-street, Bethnal-green, the Lady who pos.
seam the power of relieving from torments by
burning powders, combines with the gift of witch-
eraft the shrewdness of the trader who buys is
the cheapest and sells in the dearest market.
The " burning powders " are, by her own
smiling confession, " only common salt ;" but
with common salt she has *ban driving • trade
which:Counts might have envied nineteen hundred
years ago. And we meet canton her patients are
meth their salt. A respectable matron, the daughter
of a wealthy tiarbar-merchant, is a different fish
from • Pyrenean goatherd, sad requires a good
strong bait. Mrs. Meat Axe GABLE is worth a
down ladies in white in welt a ease. " like lays the
a esais, and indeed is very clever with them." Dr.
RAYSEOTHAY and the net of the Faculty, with all
their pills and powders, are mere bunglers com-
pared with Mn. BARAN MACDONALD'S " cracking
" sad blazing, and bouncing" common salt. "
" I felt bettor," replied Mn, GABLE to the
unbelieving magistrate. "Oh, it's true; but I
" don't believe it lies is the powders es
mach se in the words. Ills what she says when
" she buns them so mysteriously." Mrs. MACDONALD,
like other practitioners in the same line, know'

the value of an unknswn tongue, sad of a cloud of
Brooke. " And what were the weeds r asks Mr;
IYETNcourr. uOh m replied the vistim of in-
licensed priesteraft, " like took are I should not
" hear them, ar I might be se wise es herself."
Did we say they managed these things better in
France ? Assuredly, the mirsclenionger's iv a more
safe and thriving trade at Lourdes than it is in
Landon. It is actively supported by forty or fifty
thousand priests, and not discouraged by an all.
powerful Government. The local authorities treat it
with consideration and respect, and it has vitupera-
tive organs in the metropolitan prase.
It is the interest of the priests to drive a roaring
trade in bottled holy water, and to draw crowds of
pilgrim' to the sacred spot. It is the interest of the
Government to support the priests and to patronise
ladies in white raiment, whose mandate. are always
pre-eminently monarchism'. and catholic. It is the
interest of the local authorities to keep the people
ignorant and contented, and to sotto° a crowd of
wealthy pilgrim' to the neighbourhood. Only the
doctors can be hurt by the ale of water at • sin a
bottle whieh protemes to ems all diseases.

There is no Mr. pIiTNCOIIII* at Lourdes to deal
summary justice to the Lady of tie Grotto. The
aggregate wisdom of the arrondissement, represented
by the Chapter of the cathedral of Tarbes, the Cure of
Lourdes, the Superiors of the local seminary,
and the professors of dogmatic theology, of the moral
and physical sciences, is solemnly convoked by the
Bishop to examine the genuineness and authenticity
of the miracle. If the aggregate wisdom reports
favourably, the supremacy of the Church will be
ewe more incontestably affirmed by the ratification
of a direct message from Heaven, and a considerable
business, with no risks and immense profits, will be
opened to the commercial energy and enterprise ef
the resident cure. M. PIEVOST PARADOL, is an
Debate, is perfectly justified in dwelling
on the political and economical, as well as
theological importance of the episcopal decision in so
grave a matter. With admirable taste and d propos
he recalls the recent speech of M. DE Moats[, in
which the President of the Corps Legible& de-
clared himself an enemy to expensive centralisation,
and lamented that not even a well could be dug, a
read turned, or a stone removed in the remotest pro-
vince of the Empire, without authority from Paris.
Is it possible that the priests can be permitted to
sell miraculous water at one son the bottle without
leave from the Central Government, or to collect
crowds of pilgrims without the intervention of the
gendarmerie ? It is evident that their mirader
mast be authorised and protected. "W. an very
" far from complaining," continues M. Ptrvorr P•-
tt•Dot., " of the liberty accorded to Catholic miracles I
" we only demand the same liberty for Protestants
"who ascribe a saving—not to say a mirsoulous--
" grace to their Bible, and to their Bible alone."
Yet the other day the sale of the Pro-
testant Bible was forbidden by a Preto!.
No doubt we in England are sadly deficient
in sentiment in these matters ; we know not how le
turn religion " to tareer and to prettiness" ; alfll Imo
to make a commercial enterprise of Celestial vitae.
If a poor peasant child in Cornwall or in Cumber-
land were suborned by a curate of St. Bambini
to start a miracle, we should incontinently hand over
the curate to the nearest police magistrate, who
would infallibly commit him to the House of Cor-
rection. Perhaps there is something in our being
free. Miracles do not flourish in free countries.
The soil is ungrateful, end the air too keen and
bracing for delicacies which, like the liberty of the
proms, according to M. DR PERSIONT, thrive
beat in " a prepared and temperate sphere."
In an age of Atlantic Telegraphs we an
content to trust to science for miracles, and
while we manufacture idols for the Eastern
market, we do not suffer any contraband
adulterations in the care of monk at home.
M. PIOIIDHON tells a story of a country priest
who was so unscrupulous in his efforts to &Wrest a
eoogregation, that he onos gave out from his pulpit
to a church-full of women:—" To-morrow we shall
" preach to the area—wind you all come—ce sera
" sale." The French priests, if we may judge by the
miracles of Lourdes and La Salette, will stick at
nothing to steal the people's pence, and are ready to
make the most sacred objects of their adoration
accomplices in the dirty work of fraud and folly.
Assuredly neither the Church nor the State can be
the gainer by ecclesiastical impostures, which bring
all religion into contempt. Nineteenth century
miracles (es Cardinal WISEMAN can testify) are
made of sterner stuff.

Thu present age has—it would appear rather too
hastily—set down all stories of men who were
occasionally transformed into wolves as fables
It is pretty clear that the Honourable Member
for Sheffield is labouring under an access of
this mysterious disease. Re has had a very
severe attack at the dinner of the Master Cutler.
After the standing tout of " The Members for the
"Borough" had been proposed, Mr. ROKBCCK rose,
and the whole assembly "was silent expectation."
Every man expected one of those high intel-
lectual feasts which the Honourable and Learned
Member has been in the habit, on such
occasions, of spreading before them. But what
was the general utoniahment, when, instead
of delivering a well-balanced articulate discourse,
Mr. ROEBUCK, after repeatedly proclaiming that he
was "Tear-'em," proceeded to bark and snap for a
good half-hour after the most approved canine
fashion.

We have no intention to dispute Mr. Roastrot's
title to the appellation he has been pleased to
as-
ee Indeed, so long as be continues in the melam-
ebely outdates' In whisk be bas bees. ever since
that fatal attack of sea-sieksses of which he com-
plained so loudly at Trims:loth, it my be doubted
whether he could have molested one mere eactustelr

descriptive. Bat if, in his present hypochon-
driacal state, he will insist upon it that he is a
watch-dog, it could be wished that be would act
• little mars is ehanneer. Your true watoh-
dog can bay loudly enough in the darkness
of sight, when ho hears strange feet approaching,
and knows that all the houeeraates are asleep. Bat
your true watch-dog has more discretion than to
interrupt comfortable after-dinner conversation by
his howling. Watch-dogs are 'swims creators,
and are well aware that if they fly into paroxysms,
and yelp when there is no cause, they run the risk
of not being agenda to when there is. Just let
Mr. ROEBUCK ask the " whipper-in ;" and if that
functionary knows anything of his tolling, he will
tell him that any hound who gives Wove before the
game breaks cover is thought to demanro &akin-
meat. In short, if Mr. Roxsticit persists in going
from Tynemoutt to Sheffield, and from Sheffield to
" another place," barking in mason and oat of mama,
he mast be, Ilke his prototype " Tear-feu," tied up.
Seriously, Mr. ROEBUCK is at present in the coe-
dition of many worthy people who, whim an idea.
strikes them for the fret time, fancy that it never
entered into any human head before. The notion that
ddarrive maablialuasate am necessary for the pro-
tection of oar island is not quite so original se he
imagines. Thee, were brave men living balm
Aoaitmatow 1 and we hare had panic-mmigins

among as before Mr. Rona& Have we not had
a Noble Lord, now no more, shaking in hie shoes at
the prospect of the Guards marching out of London
as a French army marched in ? Even in a more
sober view of the importance of national defences he
has been forestalled. It may be that the actual view
of the fortifications of Cherbourg, and the actual
clamour of their thousand guns, were required to con-
vince him that war is a possibility ; but other people
have long been aware of this, and provision has been
Nude accordingly, without any such appeal to the
senses. It is possible that additional precautions
may be needed; bat they willbemost effectively taken
if set about in silence and without ostentation. The
effect which the sight of Cherbourg hes produced
upon Mr. Roasucx's own excitable imagination
ought to be a warning to him of the effect likely to
be produced on our susceptible neighbours across the
Channel by any marked display of warlike prepara-
tion on this side. The improved organisation of our
111/My and navy, the improved distribution of our
ships in commission, the substitution of entrenched
camps for expensive and obsolete modes of fortifica-
tion—these and many other squally important topics
bearing upon the national defence may be discussed
without those (*natant allusions to Cherbourg which
have a most undignified appearance of emanating
from a state of funk. And surely Britons may be
brave enough, and enough on their guard, without
screaming at the tope of their voices that all French-
women are ugly, and that all Frenchmen resemble
Cochin-China fowls. An Adonis, like Mr. ROE-
BUCK. to be sure, may justifiably be scandalised
at the lengths to which the Norman woman
carry the privilege of being plain; but that
Cochin-China metaphor was an unlucky one. It is
so apt to suggest a retort about Bantams. To
return to Mr. Roaancx's more recent and
IMO ClltTillh metaphor. WALTER. SCOTT was
indeed assured by a respectable housebreaker, for
whom he once acted as counsel without a fee, that
a little terrier was a far better safeguard than the
most powerful watch-dog, because it is always
awake, and always making a noise. We confer,
however, that to us the authority has always ap-
peared rather suspicions. It could scarcely be ex-
pected that the honest gentleman who was ficorr'e
informant, would tell the truth to the detriment of
his own profession. We confess we prefer to the
terrier, which makes a great noise when he supposes
thieves are approaching but can be kicked aside with
little trouble, the bull-dog which lies silent but pre-
pared till they are within his reach, and then seizes
; them by the throat.
, Mr. Rorancr, when he pleases, can talk to better
purpose than he has of late been doing. We cannot
; forget all his many and great services, whatever
freaks he may indulge in. It is our love that speaks
in our present rebuke. Much though we love to
hear " the watch-dog's honest bark," we wish that
" Tear-'em" would shake off his new monomania,
and talk as he used to do.

EXPRESS FEOM PARIS.

crams oak owe oraiansroarmro
PARIS, FIIDLY EVIININO.
You will have seen by my Hegraphio despatch
that the Patric was mistaken in announcing the
appointassot of General M'Mahon as " Governor-
General" of Algeria, because, by a decree in this
day's lefoaiteur, that otfico is abolished,* in order to
give wider scope to the initiative of the Prince
Napoleon, who proposes, as be tells the Emperor in
his report, to govern the colony from Paris upon
the principle of granting more liberty to the inhabi-
tants, assimilating the native races by persuasive
means to French civilisation, and promoting ooloni-
intim, which has hitherto been altogether " insig-
nificant." General IPMehon, instead of being
governor of the colony, is only " Commandant
Superior of the land and sea forces in Algeria."
There is, however, a rather curious clause in the
decree constituting his new Aloe, under which, in
case of need, he may exercise quite as much power
as the governor-general could have done. Art.
4 authorises the " Commandant Superior" to take all
measures necessary to " canoe the authority of the
Emperor to be respected, and to ensure the execu-
tion of the laws and enable him in case of urgency
to suspend the execution of measures ordered by the
generals and prefects." It is clear, therefore, that
while, Prince Napoleon will have full latitude to try
his hand as a governor, General M'Mahon is em-
powered to declare himself dictator in Algeria when-
ever he pleases. General M'Mahon, whose high
military character I spoke of yesterday, is in the
prime of life, under fifty years of age. He is a tall
handsome active man, of gentlemanly manners, and
large private fortune. He has been twenty-five
years in the army, and before the Crimean war saw
a great deal of service in Algeria, where
he now goes with such a high command.
It will be remembered that General M'Mahon was
the only senator who voted against the " Public
Safety Bill" in February last, and it is to the credit
of the Emperor that this act of independence has
not stood in the way of his promotion.
The complexion of the Bourse, so brilliant of late,
is altogether changed to-day. The Rents fell 30c.
both for cash and account, closing at 71fr. 30c. and
71fr. 46c. Mobilier fell 47fr. 60c. The railways
were heavy; Orleans and Lyons fell 16fr. each ;
Southern and Western 10fr. each ; and Northern,
Bfr. 76fr. Eastern was without change. The fall,
for which no particular reason was assigned, is not
surprising, after so great a rise, and does not shake
the confidence felt in the upward tendency of the
market

M. de Thouvenel is coming home from Constan-
tinople en cony!, and it is rumoured that he will not
go out again, but will be succeeded by M. Benedetti
_ _

A despatch in the Nord of Brussels, stating that
the French, Greek, Austrian, and Ameriean Consuls
had been murdered at gumlike, is explained by .a
subsequent despatch, as meaning the French Consul
only who represented all the other powers. The
news altogether requires confirmation.
M. Fould is somewhat indisposed at Vichy ; and
although his Moms is not considered serious, Paris
physicians hare been sent for to hold a consultation.

A letter has been reoeived from Madrid which
discredits the report that the Spanish government
was preparing an expedition against the Riff
pirates.
It may be remembered that some months ago a
provincial tribunal was called on to decide whether
or not an aseiciation got up ostensibly in connexion
with the famous Icarian oommunist scheme of the
late M. Cabet was or was not to be oonsidered a
secret political society—and that it decided the ques-
tion in the affirmative. Three days back, fourteen
soi diamst Icarian. were tried by the Tribunal of
Correctional Police of Bordeaux on the charge of
having formed part of a similar society. They ear-
nestly professed that they were simple-minded devo-
tees of the Icarian doctrine, which, in their eye, was
perfectly harmless ; but it was proved that they held
meet meeting., had in their possession sedi-
tion. pamphlets and even arms and ammunition,
were in communication with chiefs of the revolu-

tionary party, and had raised money on pretext that
it was for a great Icarian loan. The tribunal
acquitted oue of the prisoners, and condemned the
other thirteen to periods of imprisonment varying
from a fortnight to six months.

The Prefect of the Lot-et-Garonne has addressed
a circular to the mayors of that department, relative
to frauds which are practised in the preparation of
prunes, and recommends those functionaries and the
commissaries of police to exercise a strict Burwell-
lanes over a branch of businem the amount of which
in the department exceeds six millions. The cir-
cular states that the fraud consists in gathering the
fruit before it has attained proper ripeness, then,
after immersing it in boiling water, placing it in an
oven, by which the skin alone becomes properly
cooked, and the purchaser is thus deceived is the
weight, while the fruit itself, remaining unripe in
the inside, will not keep, nor be fit for exportation.
The Noniterr publishes a decree nominating three
engineers of the Ponts-et-Chausfies to the rank of

knights of the Legion of Honour.
The Minister of the Interior has addressed a cir-
cular to the prefects of departments, in which he
recommends the councils-general to vote a small
scan annually to enable a few village schoolmasters
and schoolmistresses to be sent to Paris, in the va-
cation of each year, to acquire the art of teaching
deaf and dumb children, so that they may be able
to give instruction to such as belong to their respeo-
tire places as have not been admitted to any asylum.
The minister states that the system of teething the
deaf and dumb by ordinary schoolmasters and
sebeebniatreseeslsas already been practised with mo-
ose. in Paris, atilithat it entails little expense.