The Express.
London, England, 1861-03-26 00:00:00

THE INDIAN
_PAHINC__AND ENGLISH

BENEVOLENCE.

We wish we could regard it otherwise, but' it
sounds very like a rebuke to the British public when it is
replied to as appeal for the millions perishing in India that
we have too many simiLir appeals at home to have heart
or money for these new and remote applicants. If we
could persuade ourselves into this view of the case, end
satisfy ourselves and our readers that we are altogether
quits with these unfortunate people, that we have done
all that heaven requires of us at home, and that,
area were it not so, they have forfeited their claim
to our compassion, certainly we could get over this solemn
season with rather more comfort, and return to the busi-
ness of the session somewhat freer and lighter. But some-
thing tells us that we are not quits with India, and that her
hold upon our sympathies never dies, never will die, and
never is suspended. Grant that we have lately been
tilling up some gaps in our social system, and feeding a
few thousands starved out by the frost, or left high
and
.dry by the ebb of fashion. Grant that our legion
of institutes still increase and multiply, and that
at this moment Loudon deplores the absence
or poverty of her customs. Nor do we forget
that we are paying a high income tax, and few indeed are
the households in any rank of life which are not groaning
under the incubus of debt contracted in days when the
pulse beat quicker and the brain could do its work. But
what is all this to the fact that, according to the estimates
at the departure of the last mail, five millions of our
fellow-subjects are now absolutely perishing from hunger!
• • • We have no special taste for appeals to the
public benevolence, but we do not see how we can help
it. There is money enough in the country somewhere
or other. The otaer day a church steeple tumbled
down, and they say there will be no difficulty in
raising 50,0001. to rebuild it. The steeple can wait, but
50,0001. would be a very handsome contribution from two
or three counties to the five million victims of the Indian
famine. The Exhibition of 1862 is to met 300,000/., if the
valanous "strikes" will let it be built, and we hope it will
be built ; but surely the British Isles can as easily raise
that nun for the mitigation of a stupendous calamity, and
the saving of a million lives, as for seeing works of art. Not
to compare them, they am compatible, and the one must be
as easy as the other. Surely this metropolis is not about to
cry " Enough," when the interests of our empire and the
honour of our name are concerned ! Times.

Among the petitions which have been sent to the
Italian parliament, praying for the recall of Mazzini from
arils, the Muhl Italione publishes one from the celebrated
composer Verdi, now a deputy.

We read in Galignani :—" The rite of confirma-
tion was administered on Saturday morning by the Lord
Bishop of Mauritius, acting for the Lord Bishop of London,
in the English Church, Avenue Marbeuf, of which the Rev.
Geo. G. Gardiner is the present minister. About ninety
young persons were confirmed. It was • solemn sot im-
pressive scene ; and the earnest and affectionate address of
the bishop will not soon be forgotten by those who wore
present. The Rev. H. J. Swale, chaplain to the embassy,
assisted in the service. The Rev. E. Forbes, Archer
Gurney, J. Sergeant, and E. Lowe, British chaplain at Bt.
Germaine, were also present."
The statue of Daniel Marlin, executed by the aid
of subscriptions collected all over Europe, was inaugurated
with great pomp at Turin on the 22nd, the anniversary of
the Venetian revolution of 1848, in the presence of depute-
tions from the Senate and Chamber of Deputies, several dis-
tinguished members of the French press, the Venetian com-
mittee, the students, Sc.
_

The Djeridi lluvadia mentions that amongst the
bills recently returned to Galata from London is one drawn
by a seis (groom) one cook, and endorsed by a tahaildar
(collecting messenger). This valuable document had been
discounted by a London bank.—Levant Herald.
THE METROPOLITAN UNDERGROUND RAILWAY.—
Last evening • public meeting of the inhabitanta and
owners of property along the line of the Euston-nod and its
vicinity, was held at the Orange Tree Tavern, corner of
George-stroet, for the purpose of protesting against the de-
cision of the committee of the House of Lords, and to pe-
tition the Howe of Commons to expunge clause it in the
Metropolitan Railway Company's Amendment Bill, em-
powering the company to close the public roads for six
months for carrying on the works of the proposed railway.
Mr. J. E. Lawfurd, a member of the vestry of St. PROMS,
occupied the Asir. A number of speakers addressed the
meeting, and dwelt on the serious injury already inflicted,
and which would be still further inflicted, by Use blocking
ttp of the road aloes the line of route of the railway. This
evil, it was mid, was felt more in that parish than in the
adjoining parish of Marylebone, for in the latter the build-
ings along the road were chiefly dwelling.boueee, while
those in the latter were for the most part occupied by
tradesmen, whose business would 1* nearly, if not entirely,
ruined by clueing the traffic for the period specified. It
was ►solved to petition the House of (*.salmons against the
bill, add to request the co-operation of the borough memben
ea the subject.