The Express.
London, England, 1868-08-11 00:00:00

THE QUEEN'S SWISS RESIDENCE.

A communication from Lucerne, in Galignanis
liessolger, rays :—" Queen Victoria is now settled here in
a beautifully situated residence called the Villa (Pension)
Wallis. It is built on a bill overlooking the town, with
the Righi on the left, and Mont Pilatus, distinguished by
its serrated ridge, upon the right, and the lake and snowy
fit Gothard range of the Alps immediately in front. Her
Majesty in coming here used the same train that conveyed
the royal party from Cherbourg to Paris, and in which
there is good sleeping accommodation. The distance
from Paris to Basle, on the Swiss frontier, is 323 English
miles, the route, except in the hilly wino districts, having
little of •picturesque character to recommend it. At Basle
her Majesty and the royal party took breakfast, and here
the officials of the Eastern Railway resigned their charge
of the train to the officers of the Central Swiss Railway.
That line traverses the district of the Jura through very
beautiful scenery to Olten, at which point branches diverge
to Lucerne and other Swim centres. On quitting Basle
the railway crosses the valley of the Sirs over a lattioe
bridge, the famous battle-field of St. Jacob, where in 1444
1,600 Swill' had the courage to withstand for 10 hours a
French army ten times more numerous, commanded by the
Dauphin, afterwards Louis XI. Only 10 of the Swiss es-
caped alive, and the battle of St. Jacob is still referred to
as the Thermopylae of Swiss history. The railway con-
tinues for several miles along the flat land of the Rhine
valley, and then leaving it, turns to the right up the valley
of the river Ergolz to Liestal, the seat of government of
Basle-Campagne. A wide valley opens as the traveller
approaches Olten junction, and in fine weather
the first view of the Bernese Alps may be ob-
served. On leaving Olten the railway enters a beautiful
valley, bordered by a varied outline of wooded heights,
with the mow-capped Alps in front. Passing in succes-
sion the small stations of Zofingen, Dagmerzellen, Nibi-
kon, Sursee (bistorially interesting as the scene of a
battle in 1386—the second of the surprising victories by
whist, Swim independence was established), Rothenburg
and Emmenbruch, Lucerne is approached, through
a charming district, with magnificent views on the left
and right of the town. The station here was handsomely
fitted up, and, in addition to the authorities, a number of
English were in attendanee to welcome her Majestr- The
Queen and the royal family, with the ladies in waiting,
will occupy the villa, and the other members of the royal
suite will be accommodated in a pretty chalet, situated in
the grounds of the Villa Wallis, and closely adjoining the
lake. Altogether the spot chosen for her Majesty's resi-
dence her charms of scenery of the most sublime charac-
ter, probably not to be equalled in Europe. It is expected
that her Majesty will remain at Lucerne during the next
three weeks, or probably until the first week in Septem-
ber. The continuance of the present fine weather will
in all likelihood have an Winonae maths royal move-
ments.

The Prince and Princess of Wales, accom-
panied by their family, and attended by a numerous
mite, left Marlborough Home last evening, and took the
limited mail for Aberdeen, on their way to Abergeldie
Castle, where they will reside during the shooting
mason.

The Duke of Edinburgh has left Paris on a visit
the Crown Prince and Princess of Prussia st Potsdam.

The mortal remains of the late Marquis of
Downahire, K.P., were removed at an early hour yester-
day morning from Belgravia-square, and conveyed to
Fleetwood, en route to Hillsborough Castle, county Down,
for interment. The funeral is to take place on Thursday
next at the family burial place at Hillsborough Castle.
We (Pod) understand that the marriage of Vis-
count Eialyn, eldest eon of the Earl and Countess Cawdor,
with Mies Tumor, daughter of Mr. and Lady Caroline
Tumor, does not take place till the end of next month,
aad will be solemnised at the church upon the family
estate of Mr. Tumor ta Lincolnshire.

The Duchess of Malakoff has been invited by
the EZlpress Eugenie to spend a portion of the month of
August at the Palace at Fontainebleau. Among the guests
who have arrived at this imperial nsidenoe during the
bat fortnight are M. Merisnie, of the French Academy,
and General Malherbe, recently appointed in the room of
General Bolin.

CONDEMNATION OF CIFORCH ASCENDANCY BY
Tin DUBLIN CORPOIATION. —By a majority of 28 to 23,
the Dublin corporation has rescinded the vote whereby
Mr. Votes Mackey was nominated Lord Mayor of Dublin
for 1969, on the ground that his nomination bad been
received as a declaration of the majority of the council
and of the citizens in favour of the maintenance of church
ascendancy in Ireland.

CHATHAM, AUGUST B.—His Royal Highness
Prince Arthur, RAI, having completed his studies in en-
gineering and fortification at the Royal Engineer estab-
blishment, Brompton-barracks, left the garrison this
morning, on leave of absence until the let of November,
although it is now generally understood that his Royal
Highness will not again return to Chatham. The Queen
has presented Captain W. a Stewart, C. 8., super-
intendent of this dockyard—in whose house Prince Arthur
resided during his stay at Chatham--with a magnificent
silver vase ; and, before leaving this morning, hie Royal
Hi es presented the rupsrintendent of the dockyard
police, Mr. J. Strength, with a massive gold pencil case, at
the same time expressing his thanks to him for the efficient
manner in which the whole of the police is
bad been carried out during the time his Royal hnes
was resident in the dockyard.
ROYAL Bourn° SOCIETY, REOL"Te
The twenty-ninth anniversary of this society took place
yistarday, 'Lord Chasharn in tile chair. The usual ballot
for council and officers for the ensuing year resulted in the
election of the Earl De la Warr as president, Mr. Edward
Marjorilianks, treasurer, and Sir Francis Goldamid, Mr.
Edmund F. Mocce„and Mr. R. I. S. Vyvyan as new
members of council. The annual report from the council
and auditors stated thatl3B new fellows and Members bad
joined the society during the year, this number being above
that of any one year since 11369—the total names now on
the books 2„422. The receirita had beici6,946L—or 8531.
above the total of last year. Several alterations in the
arrangements of the exhibitions, kc., had been carried
out during the season, so as to continue the flower-shows
during several days, and give greater facilities for the
fellows and their Invade seeing the pleats ;, total visitors
during the year, 118,340, an increase of 11 614 above 1887.
Plans are prepared for the enlargvanarit of the comer-
' vatory, and for a corridor or covered way to connect it
with the public toad, and thus make it available as a
winter garden during inclement weather. A subscription
commenced among the fellows for this purpose is pro-
=g thee
very satisfactorily. The Secretary' mort men-
special value of the edneationals anCeomiggio
.department of the garden; 130 artiste and stncimbritere
-admitted tree, and 6,246 cut specimens distributed for
illustrations. Amongst the many new, curious, and in-
_teresting plants added to the collections during • the
year may be mentioned the vine producing the
Levant or pudding currant so extensively in
at time. The eelebrated Baobab
erederjdgeriea, and the candle tree, whale fruit so resem-
bles candles that groves of these trees in South America
have been likened to chandlers' shops ; the belle pepper—
cashew nut—sweet scented tonquun bean—the tumiag
agent divi-divi—and other economic and medicSnal
Alants. The remarkable plants Poen:v.oy%, Lougarva,
gave, Dasylirioides, Alpine Natans, Theobroina Varw,
&c., had flowered during the year. A collection of
200 Abyssinian plants were grouped in the garden, but
tines had not yet sufficed for the growth of many bulbs
sad seeds lately received from that interesting country to
determine their names. The usual votes of thanks to the
president, council, end officers was paused, and the meet-
ing broke up.

•Gfli NEWS.
(THIS DAY.)

" IS TT PEACE OR WAR?'

The Infl:pendance Beige, commenting on the
reply of the Emperor Napoleon to the Municipal
Council of Troyui, in which he declared " that
there was nctLing to trouble the peace of Europe,
and that they might have confidence in the
future," raga:
We wish it may be 60, but we have little hope of it.
Undoubtedly the language of the Emperor is perfectly
clear, and his affirmation precise. There is no reserva-
tion to weaken the 1 url o:t of the words, no ambiguity
to obscure their =caning. Yet what a contra-
diction to facts, and what an unfortunate
contrast between universal armaments and these words of
peace ! Indeed, we shoed not be surprised to axe the laa-
gnage of the limps or commented upon and interpreted,
in spite of its undoulted ameba, in • sense the very op-
poaite to its nate, a! baring, and perhaps even there will
be found pessimists who will maintain that if peace is so
possitwely affirmed to-day it is because war is at hanl.
And in confirmation of this, the Opinion Notion ole of to-
day, although aware of the Emperor's declaration, 1.10,N
not hesitate to affirm that, for the last two days, we
have been sci.ddiug full sail to war:ike roiolutious.
The Parisian jturta! does not I xpla'n Vie subject of dis-
pute, nor the jx,weis to ba es:gaged ; aid we think we
may consider the al prohensious of which it is the echo
wholly without foundation. But the rumours which it
circulates, at the very moment it priuts the assuring
words of the Emperor, prove that these words do not
banish uncertainty and incredulity.

The Paris correspondents of the Belgian journal
write as if war was certain, but not immediate.

(11111k017GII IMITEVII ACIINCT.)
AMERICA.
NEW YORK. Atrourr 10.

The Allan steamship Nestorian and the Guion
steamship Manhattan arrived out to-day. The
Cunard steamship Malta has arrived at Boston.
Closing Prices:—Gold, 1461; sterling exchange
on London, 110 ; 5-20 United States Bonds, 1882,
1141 ; ditto, 1885, 112; ; 10-40 Bonds, 109:.
Illinois, 149; Erie, 581. Cotton: Middling Up-
land, 29,1. Petroleum, standard white, 34. Flour,
extra State, 9 dole. 24c. to 9 dole. 80c. Corn,
old mixed, 1 dol. 17c.

OUR PARIS LETTER.

(1,11031 OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, MONDAY EVENING.

The arrival of M. Henri Rochefort at Brussels
is telegraphed, but I believe the news given by
the Journal de Paris, that he left France because
a warrant was out for his arrest, is not true.
Such a proceeding, as a preliminary to the prose-
cution of the Lanterne, would have been grossly
illegal, and I do not think it was contemplated.
Government agents do not, however, shrink from
illegality, for in many instances they snatched
Saturday's Lanterne out of the hands of people
who were reading it in the streets. In
one case, that of a barrister named
Perilher, the policeman tendered him
40 centimes, the price of the pamphlet. That was
only adding insult to injury. There is not the
least doubt that the warrant of seizure only autho-
rised the confiscation of the Lanterns in the office
and the libraries. TO snatch a copy previously
bought out of the hands of a citizen, was an assault
and an attack upon private property impossible to
be justified. M. Rochefort will republish Saturday's
edition of the Lanterne altogether, and I should
not wonder if he were to expatriate himself, and
bring out the Lanterns at Brussels permanently.
The public meeting yesterday at the Waux-
hall was dissolved by the president, M. Horn,
without proceeding to business. Such a row was
made in the body of the hall that he thought it
the wisest course to leave the chair. In doing so,
he by no means intimated his own opinion that
public meetings cannot safely be held in Paris, as
well as anywhere else, but only imitated the con-
duct of that well-bred dog who retired when ho
saw the probability of being kicked out. The
police commissary in his scarf, who by the new law
is entitled to be present, and is empowered to
dissolve all public meetings, was there on the
watch, and M. Horn, as a liberal man, was glad
to take the wind out of his sails, and prevent him
from giving a proof of his zeal. It is thought, as
it was last week, that secret police agents were
the principal disturbers of order.

A sergent-de-ville, well known and much
esteemed in the quarter of the Faubourg Mont-
martre, an old soldier, named Thiesen, who wears
the Queen's Crimean medal among many other
decorations, threw himself resolutely the other
day in front of a horse who was running
away at a great pace with a brougham
along the Boulevards in front of the
Cafe Vachetto. He succeeded in chocking the
horse sufficiently to enable the coachman to re-
sume the mastery over him, but at the price of
being knocked down and run over, and he now
lies in a very precarious state. The neighbours,
with whom he was a favourite, make frequent in-
quiries at his lodgings.
At the Bourse Rente fell Sc. for cash, and 21c.
for account, closing heavily at 70fr. 20e. and 70fr.
30c. Hobiliee was again higher, in consequence
of rumours of new arrangements with the Societe
Immobiliere. Italian rose 23e.

The Belgium papers announce that the number
of victims by the explosion of Sainte Henrietta is fifty-
four.

It ia said that M. Louis Blanc is to be one of
the candidates for Paris at the ensuing general election.

A letter from the Hotel d'Angleterre , Chamounix,
dated the 6th, says:—" A few minutes after my arrival
here there was carried past the window of this hotel the
dead body of a young lady, Miss Stevens, who was killed
at the Mer de Oltee. She was here on a visit with her
mother, brother, and sister. Prom what I can gather,
this unfortunate young lady was with her friends, and
happening to touch something with her alpenstock, a
very large dose became detached, and falling upon her
head killed her instantly. The event has naturally thrown
a great gloom over the place.—Your obedient servant,
I'. La= Calm."

The last survivor of the party of young ladies
who strewed flowers in the path of Washington as he
passed through Trenton, in 1789, on his way to New
York, to assume the presidency, is Mrs. Sarah Hand, now
nearly 90 years of age, and a resident of Cape May
county.

People who know most European cities ( writes
Oro Penis correspondent of the 7tei my the asap
hers of Paris, u regards variety and quantity, are the
cheapest in the world, and provincial Frenchmen declare
you can dine better in Paris for Ur. (Is. than in
any other city of imperial Prance. The Italian, Oer-
mkn, Spaniard—people in feet of =oat countries--are
suirprised to find that whilst a small ordered dinner
at a fashionable restaurant creeps up to nearly 20fr.
(les. Bd.), you can dine at the Palais Royal eating salons,
elegantly appointed, and looking on to the gay central
garden where the bend plays, for 4fr. (38. 4d.). 3fr. (2s. 6d.),
2fr. 60c. (2s. Id.), lfr. 60e. (ls. 4d.), and at a morehumble
establishment not generally known to foreigners for lfr.
(10d.) The high-priced restaurants give you eight or ten
different dishes of soup, fish, fifth, fowl, made dishes,
fruit, ice, &c., and all give from five to six different plates,
quality and quantity varying of course according to
price.

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