The Express.
London, England, 1868-01-28 00:00:00

of Bobleawipl

character of a large portion of t,
unusual accommodation requied.
order to be able to reduce

ture that the Directors seek au
- - .

working interests of the Brighton
ing companies ; and of the prospects of the line '
under those conditions they venture to indulge
" a very sanguine hope that not only will the
" Preference dividend be secured, but that
"an honest dividend may, before long,
"be earned on the ordinary stock." Even
this modest hope, which the Directors consider
sanguine, is qualified by the remark that " the
" problem of working with a closed capital
" account is one that remains to be solved."
Further on, however, as are glad to observe, they
take heart, and declare that with traffic increasing
and expenses diminishing, there is " every reason
" to hope" that the Company will be able to pay
all its preference charges, and that when the work-
ing agreement with the Southern and Chat-
ham Companies is in operation, " not only
" will this be the case, but the ordi-
" nary stock will be placed in a position in
" which it will reap the benefits of all further de-
" velopment of traffic in a dividend which,
" although small at first, will be constantly pro-
" greasing." It must be remembered that the
Brighton line must be worked for 55 per cent. to
pay its preference charges ; and that the average
working rate of the railways of the United King-
dom is 50 per cent.
The Brighton Directors are well aware that
their statements must be most unpalatable to share-
holders who have been carefully misinformed as
to their real position ; but they are not respon-
sible for the evils under which the company is
suffering, although it falls to them to apply the
sharp remedy. The stern facts of the case are
that during the last ten years 8,000,0001. of
fresh capital have been added to the original
capital of 8,000,0001. without producing a single
sixpence of net revenue, and that working ex-
penses have been increased until a gross income
of 1,200,0001. yielded no more net return than
was formerly afforded by only 750,000/.

Her Majesty the Queen will hold a Council at Osborne
on Thursday next, the 30111 inst.
Despatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-
ogles from the Governors of the Strata Settlements, the
West lad= Islands, Bermuda, New Zeeland, Malta, and
Gibraltar. Despatches were sent to the Governors et
Malta, the Mauritius, Ceylon, Hong Kong, lAbumi, the
Australian colonies, the Straits Settlements, the Cape of
Good Hope, and Natal.

The eon of a farmer named Howard, living at
Benny Bridge, who by the loss of one of his legs has been
Incapacitated from following his ordinary pursuits, recently
sent to the Princess of Wales " • true lovers' knot,"
which be had carved out of wood with his own knife, and
which he offered to her royal highness as • mark of re-
spectful attachment. Howard has just received the
following unexpected acknowledgment, dated from Sand-
ringham Palace !—" Bir,—l have received the commands
of the Princess of Wales to thank you for your kind atten-
tion, and to say that she has pleasure in returning the
offering which you have sent her, and that she regrets
the circumstance under which your ingenious work was
executed. Her royal highness has further directed me to
enclose a cheque for ten guineas, as • little pecuniary
acknowledgment, to which she hopes there will be no
objection. I am, sir, your obedient servant, HERBERT
FISHCIL—Mr. Howell Howard."
We (Iferald)are happy to state that the improve-
ment in Lord Derby's health continues, and that there is
every expectation that the noble Premier will take his
seat amongst the peers on the opening of parliament.
The Duke and Duchess of Northumberland ar-
rived at Northumberland House yesterday from Albury
Park, Surrey.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Hastings re-
turned to Donnington Park on Friday from their visit to
the Duke of Rutland at Belvoir Castle.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Bristol's party
at Ickworth Park, near Bury St. Edmunds, where they
have been entertaining a imooesaion of visitors, separated
about the middle of last week.
The Marquis and Marchioness of Ailesbury's
party at Savernak• Forest, last week, included Maria
Marchioneu of Ailesbury, the Earl and Connteu of Dun.
more, Viscount and Viscountess Powerscourt, Viscount
and Viscountess Somerton, Viscount Canterbury, Lord
and Lady Charles Bruce, Lord and Lady Cecilia Bingham,
Colonel Hon. H. and Mrs. Byng, Colonel Maude, &c.
The Earl and Countess of Shaftesbury and
Ladies Ashley are shortly expected to arrive in town from
Nice. - - .

to inspoot . body
Gazette of Vienna publishes the following protocol
drawn up on the occasion :
The undersigned, haviag bee& celled on to examine the
body of the late Emperor of 3dsidoo, met in the refectory
of the Capucin Convent, and afterwards proceeded to the
vault wherein repose the members of the Imperial family.
The (wenn, in grenadine wood, brought from Mexico by
Vice-Admiral Tsgethog, and deposited en Saturday.
January 11, 1868, after the funeral ceremonies on that
day, was opened and found to contain a corpse embalmed
and still well preserved, which the undersigned unani-
mously recognised as that of the Emperor above-named.
The identity of the body having been thus saoertainsd, the
coffin was re-cloud. The Grand Master of the Court then
delivered up the key of it to the Secretary, in order that it
might be deposited in the Crown Treesun. Whereupon
the present protocol was drawn up. (Here follow the
signatures.)
The New Free Press gives the subjoined descrip-
tion of the dead body :
The face haa become exceedingly dark, and the forepart
of the heed is deprived of hair. At the temples, where the
balls struck, some mall piece; of velvet were seen ; the
beard is well preserved. The dress is composed of a close-
fitting black jacket trimmed with velvet, and dark grey
trousers. The hands are covered with blast gloves and
the feet encased in patent leather shoes.

(warint's maaivars.)
THE ABYSSINIAN EXPEDITION.
(sr MALTA AND ALEXANDRIA TELEGRAPH.)

ALIIXANDRIA. JAN. 27.

Intelligence has been received from the captives
to the 16th December, at which period they were
in good health. Menelek has retired without
attacking Magdala. The troops at Senaf*S are in
excellent health. The mortality among the mules
continues.

i~B'

: •

,aatislity ta Othello, which English
Mare .oblige 4 .40 pronounce in • manner
t front the vernacular, not to shock the
public ear too much, is ejaculated over and
again without any disguise. The end of the
is that the good grey-headed old sculptor, a
type of the heavy stage father, persuades his son
to return to his virtuous wife, and the erring and
impetuous adulteress marries the villain for no
other purpose than that of confirming her real
lover in his virtuous but vacillating resolution.
Such is a faithful, and scarcely incomplete, sketch
of a play which it is the fashion of the hour to
hold up as the tee }Alta ultra of French dramatic
genius. The principal parts were reasonably well
played by the old hands, Got, Delaunay, Coquelin,
Mdlle. Favart, and Madame Victoria Lafontaine.

MR. COLE'RIDGE, M.P., ON THE PERMISSIVE'
AND SUNDAY CLOSING BILLS.

Last evening Mr. Coleridge, M.P. presided at
the anneal meeting of the Exeter Liosnied Victuallers'
Association. With regard to the measure which had been
loosely and vaguely called the Permissive Bill, it must be
rembersd by its promoters, said the hoe. gentleman, that
although it might be suitable for the south of England it
might not be so for the north, and vice rend. Every mime-
' able modern, and candid man, mustreeollect in dealing with
an act of parliament, that the habits and manners of the
people were different in different parts of the country.
With regard to Sunday lemSlation, no man would ever
induee him to lend himself to anything which bad the
semblance of class legislation. One class should not
legislate for another class, in ignorance of the feelings of
that class, and without regard to their prepossessions sad
prejudices. When it was said that the man who
wanted a glass of beer on the Sunday in •
public-house was not to hare it, he (Mr. Cole
ridge) asked himself the question, "How can I go
to my club and take • glair of sherry, and at the same
time consistently in ere with what, for aught I can tell,
may be a most reasonable, proper, and excellent relextion
for the working man?" (Cheers.) It was • relaxation
upon that one day and that day only, the man having pre-
viously had • hard week's work. Every Englishman must
desire the innocent, healthy, and religious employment of
Sunday for all classes of the community, but if taking a
glass of sherry after dinner and then going • walk
te the country did not interfere with the proper observance
of the day, which God had oonmerated to himself, pray
why should not the working man be allowed to have a
walk in the country also and take his glass of beer at
some public-house! (Cheers.) This was the spirit with
which he desired to approach this question, but he would
not pledge himself as to what course he should take in
parliament. Let the publicans who wanted to close the
public-houses on Sunday, in order that they might
have more recreation, petition parliament accordingly, but
for himself he was not prepared to support any bills
limiting further the present limitation—the closing of
public-houses on Sundays. Adverting again to the Permis-
sive Bill it could not be said that the present system of
licensing was at all satisfactory. He bad practised as a
barrister at quarter sessions, and with all respect for con-
stituted authority he could conceive that the licensing sys-
tem could be better conducted than by the magis-
trates of quarter sessions. The drunkenness of this
country was most discreditable to it. Free trade with
respect to the granting of the licenses had been adopted
in one part of the country ; but be did not think that com-
plete free trade would answer. The magistrates of Liver-
pool, declining their jurisdiction, had given licenses to all
comers. and the results had been most disastrous. The
principle of the Permissive Bill was well and reasonable
enough in theory, but in his opinion it would work ex-
tremely ill. (Cheers.)

WWATHER REPORT.-(THIS DAY.)

TCESDAI..IA:4CART Si, 8 A.M.

ligar I
1$4;411 !..111111VIRE-3
s 114_ .1\
A 1 I Cib. JANUARY
71.
thoimp; sad 't LA TINTELLIGENCIL • , very ni
0.1 *
wo.i. g;pendb. • top. ygr THIt 1001 BROR MAXIttIRW. '• •
morning, In order legally to prove the death of the late 04 pub
Emperor Maximilian, a commission two clays back over ag
Wann
anialwithgamaneiati:uli„oref. attgldeedQuildeell-therileesowalkputhauledChri:ltelbeß°thezburg7Cdee4ollfroietio repaired to the imperial vault, and there proceeded
reified+ of the of Schleswig-Holstein, and Prins* Arthur also went out. to impost the body of the deceased. ►rh° Official type of
whole b