The Express.
London, England, 1868-01-09 00:00:00

BREAKFABT.-EPPS'S COCOA.

THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY-LANE.
sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. F. B. CHATTERTON.
TO and every Evening until further not.l will be
IIMM• new and original Fare., entitled HOMDOVWS
LES. After teach will be performed the Drnry-lane
ANNUAL GRAND cinusiluS PANTOMIME , entitled YAM
FEE FO FUR, or HARLRQUIN JACK the GIANT KILLER.

according to the
for dividend on ordinary
ending 31st July, 1867 ; so
shown that their statement is
mous, or that the net revenue is likely to be
largely increased, or that the charges of that half-
year were highly exceptional, the prospects of the
ordinary shareholders are sufficiently discouraging.
It is now that the system of " reckless compete-
" Lion" and the "uncalled for invasion" of the
territory of other companies to which the Direc-
tors have committed the company, and which the
Committee of Investigation have severely stigma-
tized, stands revealed in all its injurious conse-
quences. The receipts of the line stand pledged to
pay preference and guaranteed dividends on capital
enormously out of proportion to that of the
ordinary shareholders, and that upon undertakings
which are proving and will prove a source of loss.
This is the position in which the shareholders
have been landed after adopting scheme after
scheme, every one of which they were assured
had been devised to " advance the interest& of the
" company." It is sad to see this fine property—
for such the line itself is, whatever the ordinary
shares with their incumbrancea may be—thus op-
pressed. We can only hope that most holders of
ordinary stock are at the same time propor-
tionably interested in the preference capital, and
so entitled to participate in earnings which would
otherwise escape them. There can be no doubt
that by sedulously avoiding in future all adven-
turous and unprofitable commitments, and con-
finding themselves to the development of the legi-
timate business of the company and the careful
management of its resources, the Directors may
do much to restore the fortunes of the railway,
though the recovery of its former position in
public favour can only take place under con-
ditions of which there is at present no prospect.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

(Tms DAY.)

visilis;al444 and ish, _ -
greater portion of the day, that the shops and offices in
the antra of the Nested telos lighted with gee. Rime
Arthur sad Prinse Chrislien left Knowsley-park about
10 o'clock, attended by Ned Vaasa the Hon. F. Stanley,
MP., Lord Barrington, the Reel of Stamford and War-
rington, Lord Walden, Lord Elkelmeradale, Major
Klphinstone, and Mr. Engelhardt, and drove to Liverpool,
Wilma they were met by the mayor (Mr. E. Whitley), Mr.
R. Brocklebank,Oludrman of the Mersey Dock Baird, Mr.
I John Laird, M.P.; Mr. Charles Turner, ALP., Mr. Graves,
M.P., and other gentlemen connected with the °ora-
-1 mere° and intermits of the town. They then
proceeded to impost doe enormous new weeks at the
Waterloo Dock, at the north end of the town,
the various parts of which were explained by
Mr. Ayster, the engineer to the Dock Board. They next
drove to the Landingetege, and during • royal salute
fired from her Majesty's ram Viper embarked on board
the Dock Board deem tender Alert, and smiled up the
river, poising round her Majesty's ship Doregal--which
fired • royal sande—the Great Eastern steamship, the
school frigate Conway, and the other reformatory ships
anchored in the Eiloyne. The Alert then skirted the
Birkenhead side of the river, and the visite= entered the
magnilloant dock celled the Great Float, and examined
the various appliances for the coal and grain trades
which are provided on such • °cuspids and
large scale at the Birkenhead docks. They than
returned to the Landing-stage, and having disembarked
proceeded to the Town-hall, where they were enterteined
to lunch by the mayor. The guests at the luncheos, in
addition to the prisms and noblemen and gentlemen
already named, were :—Alderman Farnworth, Alderman
Woodruff, Aldermen Morris, and Mesas. H. C. Beloit,
du. Tyree, Robertson Gladstone, 0. T. Bowring, Jaa.
Hubbnek, F. A. Clint, Jas. A. Tobin, J. C. Turner, S. G.
Rathbone' G. W. Moss, Ralph Brocklebank, and C. S.
Parker. After luncheon the princes and their suite drove
to the Free Public Library, where they met the Princess
Christian, the Princess Henriette, and a number of ladies
from Knowsley, including the Countess of Derby. The
whole party then paid a visit to the St. George's-ball,
where Mr. Best gave • performance on the grand organ.
The programme, which had been specially framed for
the occasion by the Countess of Derby, was as
follows :—War March (Athalie), Mendelseohn ; Air, Cujus
Animam (Stabat Mater), Rossini ; Tema con Variarioni
for the organ (W. T. Best) ; Fantasia on themes from the
Wert of Dinorak (Meyerbeer) ; overture, Guillaume nil, I
scored for a grand organ by W. T. Best (Roedni). The per-
formanoe lasted from about four to five. Their royal high.
nooses and party were received at the ha by Mr. Turner
and the other members of the St. George's Hall Cosa. I
mittee, and the children of the Blueocat School, about
300 in number, who had been kindly invited by the mayor
to be present, sang the National Anthem as the visitors
passed through the ball. The visitors on leaving the
hall drove back to Knowsley. There was very little bunt-
ing shown on the river, and the display of flags in the
town, the visit being a private one, was almost nil. The
royal standard floated over the Town-hall, as is customary
on the occasion of visite to the town by members of the
royal family. To-day the visitors at Knowsley will form
a shooting party, and at night will attend the grand
ball in the Liverpool Town-hall. There ware
two shooting parties on Tuesday, one of which begged
980, the other 700 head, Prince Arthur killing 67.
Tuesday, which was the first day of the royal visitors' stay
at Knowsley, was devoted almost entirely to outdoor
sport. There were two shooting parties, one headed by
Prince Christian and the other by Prince Arthur, and
among the noblemen and gentlemen composing them were
Lord Sefton, the Hon. F. Stanley, Viscount Barrington,
Viscount Walden, Lord Wharncliffe, Lord Coartenay,
Major Cathcart, Major Livingstone, the Hon. Mr. de
Grey, and Mr. Engelhardt. The parties were equal in
respect of number, and Prince Arthur's took what is
called the Rainford ground, while the Prince Christian's
shot in the Little Wood, a capitally-stocked preserve near
Knowsley-hall. The net result of the day's shooting was,
that the Little Wood party bagged about 980 and the Rain-
ford`over 700 head, Prince Arthur, as we have already
mentioned, killing 67 himself.

EDUCATION DDSCUSBION AT HALIFAX.—HALIFAX,
WEDNESDAY SYMONS. - Sir F. Crossley, M.P. ; Mr.
Stansfeld, M.P. ; Mr. T. Hughes, M.P.; and Lieutenant-
Colonel Akroyd, M.P., attended the annual meeting of
the Halifax Mechanics' Institution to-night, and made
speeches on education. Most of them advocated the
adoption of compulsory measures, and contended that the
time for a permiseive measure, such as that introduced
last session by Mr. Bruce, was past. Mr. Stansfeld was
specially urgent as to the question having reached matu-
rity, and as to the necessity of a compulsory measure. The
present system had been patched as much as it could
bear, all sorts of experiments had been tried, and all
kinds of inquiries made ; nothing now .was left but com-
pulsory education, and this the country was prepared for.
Rear-Admiral Halsted resigned the secretaryship
of Lloyd's yesterday. It was understood to have been
• "

accepted by the committee.
An important sale of ground-rents has been an-
nounced to-morrow by order of the Metropolitan Board of
Works. The property comprises the whole of the ground
of Garrick-street, Covent-garden, including that of the
edifice built and occupied by the Garrick Club.
Mr. G. T. Smith, who is mentioned in " The
Life of Mr. T. S. Dunoombe" as that gentleman's private
secretary, says in the Timer—" I could easily convince you
that the Prince Napoleon never exchanged a word with
Mr. Dancombe either in conversation or writing, and biz
Royal Highness the Duke [of Brunswick] has reason to
deplore he ever knew Mr. Dancombe. What object is to
be attained by publishing such falsehoods with all parties
living to contradict them I confess puzzles me, ►nd I will
leave all right•minded men to say whether the publication
of private and confidential letters is a breach of all that is
honourable or not. At any rate, it is questionable taste."

The Paris Magazine has just published portraits
of several of the official ladies. That of the Princes'e
deMetternich is as follows :—" She is said not to be pretty.
Listen to the enumeration of her beauties : eyes which
have the sweetness of • German reverie ; teeth of brightest
enamel ; a forehead smooth and clear as an infant's,
high and wide as that of • thinker ; and abundant
silky brown hair. People seem not to notice
two particular beauties of her Austrian highness—
the form of her head, as Greek as that of the
Venus of Hilo ; her ear like a pink shell—whereas, every
one does justice to the beautiful fall of her shoulders, the
eaquisite form of her arm, the long aristooratie hands, end
the narrow, dainty foot. Be she dressed in blue, red, or
yellow ; be she *edited with her toque over her eyes, or
with • sergent-de-ville's cap, as she appeared one day at
Tuileries—she is and remains a princess; and there are
not many now. Witty, with a heart of gold, and ex-
tremely charitable, she is the adoration of the workmen's
families she visite in the Faubourg Ss. Antoine ; jimmies
the children on her knees, washing them, kissing thee,
sitting on a stool if there are not chairs enough-6110h is
the woman. Devotedly and fondly attached to a geed
man—Prince de likt end e ll—suc h is the wife."
A letter from Mexico of the 9th nit., says
" Hitherto marriages in Mexico have not been consielseed
' respectable' unless performed in the Lam of the chunk
and by a priest, although under the republic civil contrasts
of marriage have always been held to be legal. Now the
tide seems to be setting the other way, and not only are
there more marriages than ever by the civil law, without
any ocelesiastical ceremony, but maples who have
been married by the church, end have lived
together for yeas under the nineties of that union,
ace now being married ever again by the civil
magistrates, to the great stands' and wrath of tie
priesthood, who have lately Wan great pains to proclaim
from their pulpits that marriage by the civil law is con-
trary to religion Gel geed morals. Among the paeans
ache have bees thus tyke married' is General Eamon
Corona, General Devotee, and Olsoral Nazi—all well-
known *Seers of the army of the Mobile- I I,llPPiso
this must be set down es an evidence of the growth of
disrespect for the priesthood, and of • dispositise to at-
tain tenatielpelles from its till' slaves—a dispreition width
prevails among the odious of the liberal army to a sele.
sidsrakie extent, although they are all seminally NAM
bre"
" M. Firmer, the newly appointed Minister
the Interior In Belgium," says the Nord, !' has bad a
severe fall, by which he sprained his ankle, and is obliged
to keep his room for some days."

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