The Express.
London, England, 1861-10-24 00:00:00

EXPRESS FROM PARIS.

(nom OUR OWN

PARIS, WI:DMIESDAY Evman.

M. Ratazzi, who was to have gone to Compiegne
yesterday, received an intimation overnight that the
Emperor was coming to pass the day in Paris and
would see him at the Tuileries, where 1 believe the
interview took place. I find in Bullier's Cor-
respondence a laconic phrase which, I am afraid,
fnUy paints the situation :—" K Ratazzi appears
to accept the necessity of the adjournment of the
Roman question." He cannot help " appearing"
to accept this necessity. It is the Emperor's will
to protract for an indefinite period the unsettled
and distracted state of Italy, occasioned by the
machinations of the Pope and Francis IL, carried
on under the protection of the French flag, and, un-
fortunately, Napoleon LH. has the power thus to
disappoint the hopes which he has encouraged,
without giving his reasons to anybody. The Pre-
sident of the Italian Chamber of Deputies is to dine
this evening at the Maison d'Or, with several
French journalists and correspondents who were in
Italy during the war. Ido not know whether ho
is the guest or the entertainer.
The Bourse was in a negative state all day.
Rents left off heavily at yesterday's prices. Mobi-
lier fell Ifr. 25c. There was scarcely any change
either in the quotations of the Italian Loan, or of
French railway shares.
There aro rumours this evening of disturbances
both in Pesth and Warsaw.

The theatre at Toulon has been closed by the
municipal authorities, in consequence of serious
disturbances having taken place in it. The Opinion
Nationale says the provincial journals have been
ordered not to publish any particulars of the event ;
it has received a great many letters on the subject,
but does not dare to publish any of them.
The views of that section of the liberal press
which refuses to join the &Me, Opinion Nationale,
and Prase, in applauding the government for
breaking up the Society of Saint Vincent de Paul,
are very clearly expressed in an article of the Temps
this evening, from which I make the following
extract:

We see with pain the flag of liberty and democracy used
to cover a system of denunciation which appears to us en
unworthy of an independent press as it is hurtful to the
cause which it is pretended to defend. In our opinion the
beet way to strive for a rigime of liberty, undoubtedly
much to be desired, is not to protest against any liberties
*eyed by our adversaries but to claim the same rights for
ourselves. We derive no satisfaction from the thought
that our own hard case is shared by political enemies. If
we do not like the clerical party, if we 111 V determined to
fight it with all the arms of honest discussion, the main
rearm for our hostility is that it is intolerant and illiberal.
Our best argument is to show that we ourselves are liberal
and tolerant. The Sack calls this fanciful—we call it
logical—and we are astonished to arse the immutable prin.
eipk• of liberty and democracy micrificed to an accidental
hostility.

Apropos of this question, I must correct a gross
error launched by the Moniteur yesterday, adopted
with ignorant glee by the Constitutionnel and Opinion
Nationale, and which is likely to be repeated as
gospel in every journal of France and Navarre.
To justify the interference of the French govern-
ment with charitable societies, the Constitutiounel
sneeringly says that the " example is borrowed
from England, the boasted country of self-govern-
ment," and to make out this assertion it cites from
a London correspondent of the Afoniteur a para-
graph about the labours of the English Charity
Commissioners. Because there exists in England a

special tribunal for the due administration of pro-
perty dedicated to charitable uses by dead men,
the French journals represent to the world that
living Englishmen cannot form a society for cha-
ritable purposes without being subject to govern-
ment surveillant*. M. Netftzer, in the Temps, ex-
poses the mistake.

A letter from Vienna states that the accouche-
meat of the Empress of Austria is expected to take plow at
the commencement of February, and that her Majesty will
previously remove to Venice.

A painful accident happened at Liege just as
King Leopold'a carriage was leaving the railway station.
An immense crowd had collected in the street, and in the
foremast rank was an old invalid with a wooden leg, who
wanted to present a petitioa to his Majesty. Just
as the royal carriage approached, the old man stepped
forward, but was thrown down by the pressure of
the crowd, and fell under the wheels, which passed
o►er him, the cheering of the crowd having prevented the
postillions from hearing the order to stop. The King and
princes, who saw the accident, uttered an exclamation of
horror, but were greatly relieved when told that the poor
man had received no serious injury. His Majesty directed
that every necessary attention should be paid to him, and
also sent him a present in money._

The Bury and Norwich Post says :—" Among
those who have been arrested by the Medan authorities at
Warsaw on the occasion of the last popular demonstration
and consequent declaration of a state of siege, is the son of
the Count Zamoiaki. This gentleman has,we balieve, a pecu-
liar claim upon our sympathies, having been forsome time a
resident in this town as a pupil of the late Dr. Donaldson,
whose house he left to take his part in public life, and fit
himself for whatever duties might be incumbent on the
rightful heir to the Polish crown."
FRENCH Pswpntars.—M. Dente, the well-known
publisher of pamphlets, has addressed the following letter
to the journals :—" The Mealier- of the 16th announces
th►t the government, on account of certain recent publica-
tions, is about to take measures relative to anonymous
pamphlet'. As publisher of most of those which have ap-
peared up to the present time, I cannot help feeling
quietude at a note which menaces both the liberty of writers
and the interests of the publishing trade. But for
my part, I believe that it is not my publications which
have in any respect excited that determination. If
the personal interest of the publisher was only in
question, any measure tending to diminish the grave re-
sponsibility which the present state of the law throws on
him must be considered by him as an advantage. The
publishing trade has not, in fact, participated in the liberal
measures which have mitigated for journals the rigours of
the laws on the prem. But in this matter a higher interest
is at stake—that of printing a man's thoughts, which is one
of the mast aimed rights of modern societies, and which
the ifimitesir threatens to restrain, as if there were not
already in oar laws enough of restrictive and repressive
enactments."

Novel, Cnaustuaa.—Tbe barristers usually in
attendance at our Borough Quarter Sessions, finding
nothing to do there on Monday afternoon of a legal
character, thought they might as well amuse themselves
in the constrained leisure into which they were plunged
by a game at hockey. They forthwith visited our
Grammar School, and challenged the boys to play. The
Head Master, nothing loth, and feeling sure his boys
would beat the barristers, forthwith gave them a boll.
day, and the game commenced. The game had not gone
on long before it was quite evident that the confidence of
the master would be fully borne out by the skill of the
boys, and that the barristers might retire to their benches
satisfied of the present superiority of many juveniles over
an equal number of men, if not in the solution of nice
pante of law, certainly in the active cunning of the game
of hockey. The challenge of the barristers was instantly
and cheerfully accepted, the game was cleverly and skil-
fully played, but it is a fact to be mentioned in chancery
that the boys banged the barristers.—Bury and Norwich
Post.

OOLCHNSTER OYgTER Fasur.—Thia annual enter-
tainment was held on Monday. In the course of the pro-
ceedings, Mr. Papillon, M.P., read an extract to show that
the grand secret of suocessful oyster culture lies in the fact
of the seed obtaining au immediate and permanent resting
place. In order to afford points of attachment the French
piscieulturista have hit upon the plan of sinking in the
water a series of twines, constructed out of branches of
trier, and these, resting upon an artificial bottom composed
of tagmenta of stone and brick and pieces of broken
ware, afford capital breeding ground for ate
tiryiegoyeters. As a proof of this 20,000 small
found attached to a branch plucked from one TtrosZer.
One of the official reports of the fisheries states that
the total expense of forming an oyster bank was 221 fr., and
if 300 famines laid down upon it be multiplied by 20,000
the number ol oysters they contain, it would be SOW that
6,000,000 were ned, which at 20fr. per 1,000, would
products 120,0001 r. for the 221 fr. originally expended.

NORWAY.

CmOn A

ORRISTI&NIA, Oct. 11;
On the 10th inst. the foundation stone of the
new Storthing House was laid, just forty-seven
years from the day on which Christian Frederick
of Denmark abdicated the throne of Norway.
During the whole of the last winter workmen were
busily employed in blasting and making prepara-
tions for the foundation, and it had been the gene-
ral expectation that the ceremony would have
taken place on May 17, a day dear to the memot7
of every Norseman ; but for some cause or other it
was postponed till the autumn. It was rather
a singular coincidence that the ceremony should
take place exactly on the anniversary of the ab-
dication of Christian Frederick ; it wag, however,
purely accidental. The site chosen is on an emi-
nence at the beginning of Carl-Johan-Gade, facing
the New Palace. When finished, the building will
form a handsome addition to the growing beauties
of the town.

The previous days bad been exceedingly rainy
and unfavourable for any out-of-doors demonstra-
tion, but a brighter October morning never dawned
than that which ushered in the 10th.

When all were seated, Provost Jensen, who offi-
ciated for the Bishop of Christiania, amid a pro-
found silence, stepped into the middle of the amphi-
theatre, from whence he delivered an eloquent and
fervid address, briefly sketching the past history of
Norway, the progressive steps it had made onwards
in the march of civilisation, and concluding with
the words " Here shall the nation dwell, here shall
the nation work, here shall it write its history,
here receive its guests ; and these guests are the
counsellors of the King—the King himself ;" and
pointing to the palace, " Yonder is the King's
la,oe, here the nation's house, facing each other,
front to front, while midway lies the seat of
learning and science, a bridge between the two,"
&c. After which he offered. up a short prayer,
when the whole assembly rose as oue man, aril
with bared head and uplifted eye heartilyresponded
"Amen."

Thereupon the first Stataraad, who, with the
other members of the council and presidents of the
last Storthing, were seated on a dais elevated in
front, stepped forward and read a telegram from
the King containing expressions of regret at his
absence, and good wishes and congratulations to his
faithful subjects, and descending from the platform
and proceeding to the centre of the room, was met
by the building commissioners, each bearing the
usual implements. Then, having deposited a silver
box containing coins in a cavity hewn in the block
of granite, he adjusted the mortar and tapped the
stone three times with the silver hammer, when,
simultaneously, the fortress guns fired a salute.
The other members of the Statsraad and high func-
tionaries next approached the spot, and each struck
the stone three tun•is. The procession then left as
it had entered.

Viewed simply as a mere ceremony, I have
never seen anything arranged better. Good reason
had every Norwegian to feel proud of his free
country and his free constitution on this day.
Would that an abler pen than mine had been pre-
sent to convey to the world at large a more graphic
account of this interesting, and to every lover of
constitutional freedom, gratifying event.
Precisely at 2 p.m. a procession, consisting of the
various ecclesiastical, civil, naval, and military
functionaries, together with the Tore consuls
with the chief officers of state, started from the
University (midway between the palace and the
new Storthing House), and wended its way to the
enlivening strains of music down Carl-Johan-Gade,
a distance of perhaps 300 yards, the centre of the
street having been boarded and covered with cloth
from the University to the site of the Storthing.
On entering the precincts of the site a band
struck up the national anthem, " Gamle
Norge." It was a picturesque and heart-
stirring sight to see the cavalcade enter-
ing the amphitheatre (which will be the Wor-
thing room), their varied uniforms and waving
plumes flashing and glittering in the sunshine,
while outside were seated rows of elegantly dressed
ladies, adding a plesaing finish to the whole.
Thanks to the arrangement of boarding the ground
one could form an excellent idea of what the dimen-
sions of the grand room will be, while flags bearing
the names of the different districts represented in
the Storthing, tastefully arranged round the out-
skirts of the building, showed at a glance the shape
of the projected edifice.