The Express.
London, England, 1861-10-30 00:00:00

THE srArs or "was.

"We can guarantee," says the Sielde, " the
truth of the following anecdote related to us by ► most
respectable French gentleman recently returned from
Venice. A French ecclesiastic of some note happening to
p.m through Venice, hail reason to complain of the usual
annoyances inflicted on travellers by the Austrian police
with regard to pasmorts, no matter what pains may
have been taken to have them perfectly err rifile.
On making his complaint, the clerk at the pass-
port-office thought proper to consider himself
insulted by the ecclesiastic, who had spoken somewhat
boldly in his presence, and accordingly bad him arrested
awl lodged in prison. Here lie was kept two days
before he coeld communicate with the French Con.
sul. These two days afforded the prisoner an opportunity
of seeing with his 011.1 eyes many things which he
would previously have declared impossible. He found
himself in the midst, of Hungarian•, who were eon.
fined for no other reason than their nationality. There
was also • Venetian lady with a sucking child, who
had been arrested because she refused to discover the name
of the person through whom she hail remitted money to
her exiled husband. Several ladies, her friends. had for
some time vainly endeavours-di to obtain permission to visit
her. At last they were admitted, but found themselves
likewise detained as prieoner4, and were informed that they
would be liberated on paying each 1,00 or 1,213 florins,
we me not certain which. We need hardly say that the
French. Consul immediately procured the release of our
countryman, who was satisfied with merely insisting that
the clerk who had fancied himself insulted should sign •
formal pure .e.rerbal acknowledging his ignomace of the
French language, and that he had not understood a single
word the ecclesiastic hal said to him. All comment on this
little incident of life in Venice would be superflous."

" It is now nearly certain," says a Berlin letter,
"that the fixed bridge over the Rhioe will be built at Due•
melded, which place has bees fixed on in consequence of the
line of railway running to it."
The Palace of Kienigeberg, which has not been
hitherto much inhabited, is about to be repaired and put in
• state to receive any members of the royal family that may
feel inclined to go there. An annual sum of 30,000 thalers
has been allotted for the repairs.

The Duke d'Oporto mud the Duke de Beja,
brothers of the Kiag of Portug►l, who were present at the
coronation of the King of Prussia, are expected in Paris
in the early part of November.

A Warsaw letter of the 24th, in the Wanderer of
Vieona, says :—" Among the persons struck without any
cause on the 10th was au Englishman, named Mitchel, who,
by appealing to the diplomatic representatives of his coon.
try, might probably have caused the Russian government
some embarrassment. The military authorities seem to
_ _

have thought so, for they meet after Mr. Mitchel, who had
left the town, a special =meager to apologise for the treat-
ment he had received."

"In Russia," says the Dresden Journal, " some
nobles possess from 70,000 to upwards of 1C),000 serfs.
Count Schermelyeff, who is considered the wealthiest noble
in the country, is the owner of 120,000, and some of those
, men are themselves wealthy. The count's revenue is
estimated at 6,250,000 fr. per annum. Each serf pays his
master 10 or 15 roubles a year, so that the possessor of
100,000 serfs cannot have a revenue of less than 4,000,000 fr,
without counting what he derives from forests, mills,
manufactories, lie. The total number of serfs now in
Romig, exceeds 74,000,000, and calculating each to be worth
only .t roubles (1,250 fr.), the lose which emancipation
will occasion to owners cannot be inferior to 26,750,000,000 fr.
Assuming interest on capital in Russia to be 5 per coot.,
the loss of annual revenue to the nobles will not be lower
than 1,675,000,000 ft, which is more than double the
interest of the English national debt."