The Express.
London, England, 1861-02-26 00:00:00

CHINA.

Further correspondence respecting affairs in
China has just been presented to the House of Lords. It
relates exclusively to the opening of the two ports of
Han.kau and Kin-Kiang in the Yaag-tse to foreign tads.
Mr. Bruce writes to Lord John Russell OD Dec. 2, It6o, that
under the treaty of Tien-tain we had technically no right to
insist on the immediate opening of the river, but the cap.
lure of Soo-chow by the iusurgeuta, and the bearing of the♦
incident awl of the progress of the rebellion particularly on
the import trade, rendered it most desirable to rind an on.
interrupted channel of communication with the western pro-
vinces of China.

In furtherance of this object a correspondence took
place between Mr. Brune and Prince Kong. Mr. Bruce
informs the Prince that he regards it as expedient
that for the present but two ports should be opened;
namely, Han-kau and Kiu-Kiang ; and in order to the pre-
vention of abuses in the present disturbed slid the
river he would propose that the trade wi these
be carried on under the following regulations : duties
leviable under the new tariff upon import or export cargoes
on board British vessels proceeding up or down the river
will be payable at Shanghai or Ching-kiang-fu, and the
customs authorities will take such steps as seem to them
necessary for the enforcement of this rule. Every British
vessel proceeding up or down the river shall be permitted
to carry for her protection such an amount of arms and
ammunition as shall appear to the Chinese customs to be
reasonable, and this amount of arms and ammunition shall
! be entered is &certificate to be called the "Arms Certifi-
cate," which shall be delivered by the customs to any master
of a British vessel applying for it. Any vessel trafficking in
arms or ammunition, or carrying an amount of either in
excess of that specified in her arms certificate, shall be
I liable to have her cargo confiscated sod to be prohibited
from farther trading ou the river.
Mr. Bruce concludes by requesting bin Highness to aline
the seceassry instructions. Prince Kung replies, agreeing
to Mr. Bruce • proposals. On Dec. 6 Lord Elgin writes to
Lord John Russell, from Shanghai, where be was engaged
in considering, with the officers of the Imperial customs and
some of the leading merchants, the conditions under which
the opening of the river might be carried out :
" If a legitimate trade can he eatabliahed on this river I
believe that great advantage will accrue from it, both to the
people of China and to the foreigners who engage in it; ,
more especially at present, when the communication be-
tween the producing districts and the ports on the seaboard
are obstructed by the rebellion. It will go some way to-
wards affording to the inhabitants of the interior a market
and security, which are all that • Chinaman requires to
render him one of the most valuable customers. But very
different consequences will, I fear, ensue from this measure
if smugglers and filibusters, under the protection of
terror and exterritoriality, are enabled to avail themselves
of this channel of communication to introduce foreign arms
and recruits into the disturbed districts, and thereby to
extend and perpetuate the reign of anarchy which threatens
to convert one of the meet fertile regions of the earth and
its industrious population into a wilderness haunted by
heeds of ruffians. Irregular profits on consignments of
guns and gunpowder will be dearly purchased if they are
obtained by processes which will dry up the sources of pro-
duction in the tea and silk-growing provinces of China.
Your lordship can well understand the anxiety which I
feel to frame such regulations for the trade on the Yangtze
as shall keep in some check, if they do not altogether pre-
vast, this great mischief."

The Colombo °teener of the 30th ult. says :
" Sir Edward Creasy has just afforded the inhabitants of
Colombo a very high treat, in the shape of a lecture on the
belief of the ancient Greeks in a future state. We Lead not
say that the lecture was rich in classical allusion and is
poetical sentiment, rich too in lessons of instruction. The
Chief Justice is now in ?lowers Ellis with his family."
We learn from the Bombay Gazette that an action
for libel in the Supreme Court of Bombay is about to be
instituted against the publisher of the " Vesouv Punch," •
Gujrati journal, by a Mr. Gunputram, a Brahmin who
lately married a widow of his own caste. By doing so be
incurred the indignation of many of his countrymen, and
was subject to constant annoyance from them. The
" Venue Punch" became the vehicle of this abuse.

Among the individuals who have been expelled
from Rome, the followed are specified by name :—This
brothers Gulmanelli, one • wine merchant, and the other
an engraver ; Signora Bartolomeo Polverosi (well known
amongst Anglo-Roman followen of the hounds) and Tittoni,
extensive landowners; Del Nero, merchant; Sellini„
lawyer ; Baldelli, shoemaker; the brothers Fideli, Roselli.
and Loesuxini, • post-eflice unplogf.
THE CAIRO COURT-MARTIAL—The revelations
made by the Cairo court-martial are destitute of interest.
Four officers were tried, but the witnesses who were called
forward were generally more in fault than the prisoners.
On what principle the prisoners were singled out appears to
be quite unintelligible. One witness admitted having said,
" How d'ye do, old fellow," as the Niche peened him in the
mosque, but in a very low tone of voice. The others
implicated merely laughed and bowed in the mosque and •
overturned earthenware lamps in the street. The evidence
failed fully to convict any of them of being intoxicated on
the occasion. The sentence of the courtmartial is not yet
known. The singular story of Lieutenant It. C. Kennedy
is one of the subjects on the topic at present. This
gentleman, when at IMSOILICUS, thought proper to dress,
speak, and act like • native of the place, chiefly,
as he said, to perfect his knowledge of Arabic.
He gave out that his mother was a Mahommedso, and ad-
mitted having married a Musoulinanee in Damascus while
he had a Muasulman wife living in Bombay. The STIM.M4
charge against him was that be spoke apinst the BriUsh
government, and wished well to the cause of the rebels.
He has been dismissed from the army by order of the
Secretary of State.—Orrrland Friesd of Isdia, Jan. V.
MURDER OF AN ENOLISH CLOWN AT CONi4TANTING•
ria.—On Monday evening a cowardly murder was com-
mitted near the Til6., under circumstances of such trivial
provocation as give to the crime an unusual degree of guilty
cruelty. Three masquen—one of them a woman-
-were swaggering noisily down the street in the quarter
in question as Howard, one. of this English clowns at
Boulher's Circus, and some friends were leaving a cafe in
the neighbourhood. The dominoed ruffians, with whom
scurrilous license passed for wit, addressed some remark
of the former sort to Howard end his companions, to which
the Englishman promptly replied. From " chaffing" the
wordplay soca grew to worse, and, the mammon
still coming off second beet, one of them sidled up to poor
Howard and stabbed him deep into the abdomen before the
cowardly intention could be perceived. The ruffians then
fled, but pursuit being made, the woman was seized—her
male companions succeeded in making good their escape
down a couple of the narrow and dark lanes in the neigh.
bourhood. The victim of this diudardly act was
speedily carried up to the hospital of the Sinters of Charity;
bat, though every care wee there lavished upon him, the
poor fellow died during the night. The actual auesein is
said to be an Italian, known to the police. One of his all°
elates, a tinker named Marco, and who is believed to have
been his companion on Monday evening, is in custody:.
/emit Herald, Feb. 13.

--.-.-, -
FATAL ACCIDENT BY FALLING FROM • WINDOW.--•
This morning a fatal &oddest 000arred to Mary Ann Reeves.
ned 38 years, who resided in Dover-street, licasdillys
Illiellwaa cleaning the windows upstairs when *be ws•
seized with vertigo and fell, fracturing her skull in •
most frightful manner. She was conveyed to St. George's
Hospital, where death ensued.