The Express.
London, England, 1866-07-17 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS,_ TUESDAY EVE'Nfirg,, JULY 17, 1816.
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LAtiEST INTELLIGENT
v,
E E WAR.
.4./4
,The neVrthladgled from the various s of war.
in Germany are to-day very meagre. We publish
elsewhere a few details of the battle of Aschaffen-
burg between the Prussians and the federal army
under Prince Alexander of Hew. The latter are
reported to have formed a junction with the Bava-
rians. Why they did not do so before they were sepa-
rately attacked and defeated by the Prussians appears
to be but one of that series of blunders which has
characterised the movements of the adversaries of
Prussia from the beginning of the war. The only
instance in which the Prussians seem to have been
fairly met and repulsed was, it is singular to my,
by .the flying Hanoverian corps, who were said to
be without food, and almost without mentions of
war.

live by that of the Plantagenets, and juste the muzzle-
loader has been reduced so a mere fraction of its value by
the invention of breech-loaders, the ships which twenty
years ago were said to make England impregnable, and to
console us for the want of unlimited armies, are now
found to be useless against a ship that hardly shows itself
above the water, and that can discharge with perfect
steadiness and accuracy a projectile which even our best
armour-plating is not quite proof against. But it
is almost oppressive to think of the immense amount
of resistance that will inevitably be roused by
any attempt to bring our navy up to the mark of the day.
Our naval officers will especially not easily be persuaded to
live below the water line and to be supplied with air by
steam-engine. It is said that these vessels are much more
comfortable and agreeable than could be anticipated, that
there is no feeling of ingenuity, and that the temperature
is well kept down ; bat when we see the obstinate unpo-
pularity of our ironclads, we can scarcely hope to see the
day when the flagship of the Mediterranean fleet will only
rise 36 inches out of the water. We wait for war to con-
vert old sailors to such a novelty as this. But how many
ships and how many noble crews that no moneycan replaoe
may be seat to the bottom before admirals can be brought
to reason.

The Prussian ermies, under the royal princes, are
continuing the march steadily and uninterruptedly
towards Vienna. The behaviour of the troops
towards the inhabitants is represented as excellent,
and is admitted to be so even in Vienna. In the
capital of the Kaiser a mingled feeling pre-
vails—terror, and the desire of vengeance. The
press of the city bears evidenoe of this double
sentiment. The former is indicated by the depar-
ture .of the Empress and the Imperial children ;
the sending away of the Imperial treasures to the
fortress of Comorn, in Hungary, and the visible
preparations which are being made in high and
ministerial quarters for leaving the city. The de-
lire of avenging the late disasters is shown in the
preparations which are being made for the defence
of the line of the Danube. On the 12th the first
contingent of the southern army, consisting of
from 20,000 to 25,000 men, arrived in the city
from Venetia, and trains filled with troops con-
tinue to arrive every moment since then. The
catastrophe which betel the Austrian army of
'the north is now attributed not so much
to the efficacy of the needle-gun or to the
incapacity of Benedek as to the aristocratic and
supercilious feeling which animated the great lords
in command of the various corps in the Austrian
army, who could not brook to receive orders from
"a Hungarian, a protestant, and a plebeian" like
Benedek. The new Austrian general, the Archduke
Albrecht,will have a formidable armybefore Vienna
—some go so far as to say 300,000 men, and on him
and his troops depend the fate of Austria as a
great German Power. It is very doubtful whether
he will be able to receive any help from the
Austrian army in 0111101 z, which is watched by the
corps under the Crown Prince of Prussia. It will
be seen by the telegrams of to-day,
a slight engagement occurred near Olmutz on
Sunday, the 15th, in which the Prussians were
victorious. In the event of a defeat of the
Prussians before Vienna the Austrian army at
Olmutz might inflict a severe blow on them by
striking on their flank and rear.
In Northern Italy Cialdini is advancing rapidly,
having by the last accounts reached VicenrA, where
as lieutenant-colonel he was wounded in 1848 when
defending that place against Radetzki.

(MUTER'S TELEGRAM)
THE WAR IN GERMANY.
BRUNN, SuLY 16.

Since the 13th instant the Austrians have been
withdrawing, hard pressed, behind the Taya towards
Vienna. They are evacuating Moravia without
attempting to make any resistance.
The burgomaster of Brunn has addressed a tran-
quillising proclamation tothe inhabitants, in which
he draws their attention to the severe discipline
prevailing amongst the Prussian troops.
The Austrians commenced a partial evacuation
of Olmutz on Sunday last. The vannard of the
Elbe army occupied Znaim on Saturday without
I meeting with any opposition. To-morrow the whole
army will cross the Taya and occupy Lundenburg.
The royal headquarters will remain here.

FIGHTING BEFORE OLMIITZ.
PRUSSIAN HEADQUARTERS, BRUNN,
Jur 16.
A successful engagement took place yesterday
before Olmutz between the Prussians, under the
Crown Prince, and the Austrians and Saxons.
The Prussians captured six guns. Other engage-
ments are expected to take place to-morrow
between the first Prussian army corps and the
Austrian forces now withdrawing from Olmutz.
General Benedek, who has been relieved from his
functions as commander-in-chief of the Northern
army, remains commander of an army corps.
An attach 6 of M. Benedetti, the French ambas-
sador at Berlin, left here on the 14th for Vienna.
The railway between Prague and Brunn is being
employed for military transport.

THE ENGAGEMENT NEAR ASCHAFFEN•

BURG.

EISENACH, JULY 17.

According to details received here the Darmstadt
division attacked the Groben division on the 13th
instant near Lanfach, but was repulsed with
great loss by the Wrangel Brigade, which had come
up to reinforce the Groben Division. The
Groben Division was vigorously attacked on
the following day by the united Austrian,
Darmstadt, and Electoral Hessian forces. The Prus-
sians, however, stormed Aschaffenburg and the
Federals were driven back across the Main. Many
Austrians were taken prisoners.
The Prussian loss was small.

ITALY.

FLORENCE, it ax 16, Rnornco.

The ministers Riess°li, Depretis, and Borgatti
have been re-elected members of the Chamber of
Deputies.

THE CAPE OF GOOD HOPE.
PLYMOUTH, JULY 17.

The Union Company's steamer Briton, from the
Cape, has arrived here. Her dates are—Cape of
Good Hope, 13th June ; St. Helena, 21st ; and
Ascension, 25th. She brings 90 passengers, one
package of specie, 1,300 bags of copper ore, 980
bales of wool, 800 hides, 150 cases of aloes, 31
tusks of ivory, 12 cases of ostrich feathers, 12
casks of wine, and one case of rhinoceros horns.
At the Cape the principal political event of the
month had been the election of the new members
of the Legislative Council, in accordance with the
provisions of the Annexation and Representation
Act of last. Mews. J. C. Chase, D. H. Kennelly,
and R. J. Painter were returned for the eastern
province, and Messrs. Hare, Barry, and Dr. Aber-
crombie for the western. There was a strong feel-
ing evinced in the colony by these elections for
responsible government.
The Kaffrarians still regarded their annexation
with great disfavour, but were gradually adjusting
themselves to the new order of government.

Her Majesty's ship Valorous returned to the
Cape on May 18 from taking formal possession for
the Imperial government of the unclaimed guano
islands at the northern extremity of the colony,
Penguin Harbour. The Mercury Islands and
Ichaboe are now in the absolute possession of the
British government.

The peace between the Orange Free State and the
Basuto' was being faithfully adhered to on both
sidei ; but the Basutitowere dissatisfied, on the
ground that toe mu* of their territory had been
'ceded, and that they had not sufficient left to live
*
The Norseman had arrived out, June 11.
Captain Kidadale, of the Natal, was drowned,
having fallen overboard as the vessel was going into
Table Bay.
Some of the churchmen of Natal had requested
the Bishop of Cape Town to resign or with-
draw any claim for control over that dio-
cese, whether as metropolitan or through
his vicar-general. His lordship had given no
reply, consenting to submit the question to the de-
cision of a provincial council, consisting of consti-
tuted representatives of the church of South Africa,
provided that Dr. Colenso would do the same with
his claims.

Bishop Gray had also been served with a cita-
tion to appear in the Supreme Court of Natal on
the 2nd July, and show cause why the cathedral
vested in him in 1850 should not be transferred to
Dr. Colenso as his legitimate successor in the
Bishopric of Natal. This suit is considered some-
what awkward, because if Bishop Gray makes his
appearance it will be an admission pro tanto that
Dr. Colenso is what the citation represents him to
be, the legal holder of the bishopric. If Bishop
Gray does not make his appearance judgment must
be given against him by default.
President Pretorius, of the Transvaal Republic,
has visited Natal, and been very cordially received
at Durban and Maritzburg.

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(rsoli OUR ow ooaßraroaDirr.)

PARIS. MONDAY Evsma.

The unanimous vote of the senates connate*
by the Senate without any consultation at all pro-
vokes very little observation from the Paris press,
which feels, even without the warning of the black
man, that the subject is one on which discussion
will not be permitted unless proforma. It is highly
disgraceful to the Senate that no voice should
have been found to utter a word of protest
against the reactionary measure but that of the
eccentric Marquis de Boissy, and even he did not
dare to support his rambling speech by his vote.
The dveinir National ventures to express surprise
that men like M. de Sacy, an old redacteur of the
Debate, M. de la Gueronniere, a man who
abounds in the expression of liberal opinions, and
the Duke de Peraigny, who has frequently taken
upon himself as a private individual to criticise
the constitution of 1852, should not have had a
word to say against the gagging act. The data?
continues : _

All is now over. The constitution is modified, and mo-
dified in such • way that journalists and even the
members of the Corps Legislatif can no longer suggest
any change in it. The constitution has become • dogma
—an article of faith ; it is guarded by a veil of silence,
which the public must not tear, and which forms • break-
water to free inquiry, unless, indeed, in the form of •
book containing more than ten sheets. Thus, a constitu-
tion declared in its lust page to be " perfectible"—that is,
susceptible of change—can only be discussed by the
Emperor and the senators nominated by the Emperor.
The Bourse was bad. The silence of the Moniteur
is interpreted as evidence that the news which I
discredited last week, of France, Prussia, and
Italy being at one, cannot be true. Recite fell
40c. for cash and boc. for account, dosing at 68fr.
10c. in each case. Mobilier fell 13fr. 75c.; Credit
Funcier, 2fr. 50c.; and Italian, 40c.

THE DIET OF FRANKFORT IN RETREAT.

The correspondent of the Temps, writing from
Heidelberg on July lb, says :
I went to the station yesterday, at 1 o'clock, for the
purpose of being present at the great battle which
had been announced for some days as likely to
take place at Frankfort. At the terminus the
station-muter informed me that a special train
wen due bearing the German Diet and its fortunes. This
was not the moment to leave Heidelberg, and in a quarter
of an hour later my curiosity was gratified. Some forty
travellers, civil and military, with a propor-
tionate number of persons, arrived at the station.
These were the " most serene " Diet who were making
a change of residence from Frankfort to Augabourg. Some
saunterers who were about took off their hats. Were they
offering their respects at a burial? Two hotels divided
the honour of giving shelter to the fugitives. The Diet,

properly so callea,engag ed the fichriedeihotel; themilitary
Commission, with its president Herr von Packer', went to
the Hotel de l'Kurope. Alter dinner they went to the
Castle, and, like simple tourists, took an airing before the
Cuji-rectourant. I shall be able to say to my grand.
children, " I have seen the German Diet sitting amid
the rains of Heidelberg Castle."

BRELCH-LOADINO CARTRIDOZA.—The officers 01
the Ordnance Select Committee of Woolwich Arsenal
yesterday terminated a course of firing to test the
efficiency of Colonel Boxer's improved breech-loading
cartridges. They are adapted so sa to suit and be perfectly
applicable to the various grooves of each kind of musket to
be used in the service with a rifling of '377 bore. The
following have been used in the experiments with a satis-
factory result :—The Enfield and naval rifles, the artil-
lery carbine, and the Lancaster rifle. An order has, in
consequence, been received from General Peel, advising
Colonel Boxer to prepare an unlimited amount of these
cartridges for the general services of the army, as Colonel
Dixon, Superintendent of the Royal Small Arms Fac-
tories, has et-de(' his intention of forwarding to the Mili-
tary Store Department at Woolwich, with the joint assist-
ance of the various contracts about to be lamed, not fewer
than 150,000 breech-loaders before the close of the present
year. The strength of the cartridge-filling branch of the
Royal Laboratory is consequently to be augmented by
some 500 or 600 lads and girls. The department, during
the Crimean war, was organised so as to be carried out on
an extensive scale in the Plumstead marshes, and on a
principle to exclude, with ordinary care, the 'inability of
much danger, each shop being separated by • high mound
of earth, and a plentiful supply of water being ready at
hand. The most complete arrangements are also mado for
the comfort of the young people employed. A spacious
garden surrounds the little territory of shops, which pro-
duces an ample supply of vegetables at a cheap rate and,
together with a moderate provision of meat and bread,
under careful and well-directed supervision, MSS dinners
are provided at a few pence per head. In the evening the
young people are conducted in pngs to their respective
abodes, and are reassembled similarly each morning with
great care and punctuality.
JAMAICA.—Mr. C. Ruston pre notice last night
that he would on Tuesday, July 31, call attention to the
concluding paragraph of the report of the Royal Jamaica
Commission, viz. That the punishments were exces-
sive. 1. That the punishment of death was unnecessarily
froquent. 2. That the ft • were reckless, and at
Bath positively barbarous. 3. That the burning; of 1,000
houses was wanton and crueL" And would move
the following resolutions :—" 1. That this house
deplores the excessive punishments which followed
the suppression of the disturbances of October last
in St. Thomas-in-the-East, Jamaica ; and especially
the unnecessary frequency with which the punish-
ment of death was inflicted. 2. That the house, while ,
admitting the praise due to Governor Eyre for the skill,
promptitude, and vigour which he manifested during
the early stages of the insurrection, at the same time
approves the course taken by her Ma' ty's government
in recalling him from the governorship of the island
on account of the excessive severity with which the
disturbances were punished. 3. That the house con-
curs in the view expressed by the late Secre-
tary of State for the Colonies—that 'it will not be
desirable to keep alive in the colony the heartburnings
connected with these lamentable occurrences by any very
minute endeavours to vanish every set which may now be
the subject of regret. That great offences ought to be
punished,' and that it is the duty of her Majesty's govern-
' meat not to pass over grave excesses of severity on the
, part of either the civil, naval sr military officers en
in the suppling.= of the 4. Thattat
opinion of the house it is the duty of her Majesty's govern
nient to empower the governor of Jamaica to award com-
pensation to those
cruelly desires:Ad to the families of those who were
put to death "