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

op in the esh city • •short time since, and
iL,
.0,1 taken elaborate precautions, as they believed,
• prevent the recurreoce el an act of the kind.
R is now stated, I know not with what authority,
aim lately a number of strangers have been
~s.errol in the city, several of whom have
•,•vu seim loitering about the gunsmiths' shops. 1
sir. Alport's visitants seem to have made
•,i,ipelves well acquainted with the interior
I his place, as they needed no assistance to find
best revolvers and the cartridges suitable for
As a matter of course the affair, following
F.,aty outrage, has given rise to the most alarm-
„,l,iinuises, and people here are persuaded that
at the verge of a fresh insurrection. It
,3 much more likely that both enterprises were
..p.ivrtaken for the purpose of creating terror, by
as they do the comparative powerless-
i the authorities, while at the same time it is
• ng much needed supplies to the limited
my of the insurrection. It is, however,
tta question that the Fenian organisation in
• t..tith has fur several months past been regain-
and numbers, and is now nearly as
, • as ever, and somewhat more daring.

e7tI:IST.IIAS AT GURRNSEY WITH VICTOR
HUGO.

---
On Thursday last, the 26th inst., M. Victor
Ilncu
.• at noon, the sixth yearly fete to forty poor
I.l3il.lrun t hi- residence, Hanteville-house, a large num-
h r of iteheatial ladies and gentlemen being also present.
The ft consisted of three parts—first, the luncheon ;
the poet's oration and the presentation of gar-
thin!. the distribution of articles from the Christ-
. During the first
I.part, shortly after twelve, the
st entered the room, greatly applauded by the company,
:... children and the visitors having already commenced
• .1.0..ing of refreshments, the same quality being offered
without distinction of rank. It should not be for-
a:. I, that the children are always sure to obtain an en-
, Oh. ti, the file. for it is considered that it is peculiarly
1.. a. own. Thus, at least, once a year, are we taught
• respect the pui:r;x/ a man whose authority is immense.
'tarty The 'rty then into another room, where Victor
I iu4o delivered a speech, of which the following is a sum-
,ry. lie said that he had been requested to repeat the
• q.lanation, he hail already given on the subject of his
stekly dinner, and, ea the end he hail in view was to be
ita fah he would rapidly go over the same ground.
tit then tell us that poor children require proper
nourdinient at least once a motthithout which their
lealth would he Mtn to suffer. w
It was for the in-
terest of the future that children should be loved by
the rich In osier to have a fair future, it was neces-
sary, cod helping, now to set a good example. He
indicated ri simple means to arrive at that end. He
hod entaliledied dinner for forty poor children, divided
into two ban& of twenty, which dine alternately. In
order to he invited to the dinner, poverty was the
only reauisite no distinction between creeds or nationall-
iii.. was maile ; Roman catholics, protestants, French,
del Engli-.11 were dike welcome. This little institution,
shildished in Id, house, had been brought under the
.ticc of continental readers, for almost all the European
sewmapera hail republished the reports of the Christmas
I. tes. Ile had two objects in view ; first, to show that
the hyui. ne which he carried out was a success ; and
to spread the knowledge of the reasons why be
Nt• the dinners. If it was only forty children who were
the matter would be most insignificant ; hut it was
Tortmit that the example he had set should be eaten-
ly followed. He heel received, the day before, the
I. l'ih4, which recommended strongly the formation of
::,filar institutions : and on last year's fete-day he hail
o ail a letter which had appeared in the Times,
ttitur, that, in imitation of the children's dinner
•.e rmoy, the Lev. Mr. Wood hail established for poor
i!oliben in London a dinner, at which three hundred and
tai my were fed ; thus the forty had increased to three
I, oelie.l and twenty. (Cheers.) This year Lady Thomp-
• treasurer of the children's dinner, Marylebonc, had
t• it hint a letter, published in the Guernsey papers, which
Ca speaker noticed. It stated that six thousand children
I al dined Miring the few months of its establishment.
tirst, then, there were the forty, afterwards the three
hundred mid twenty, and now the six thousand: thus the
little stream of Guernsey had become a large river in Lon-
don. lie begged now to thank Lady Thompson and her
odlengues for their endeavours. (Cheers.) Addressing
himself to the ladies, be asked them to think of
their children whilst beholding the poor ones pre-
,et ; and requested them, who were happy and favoured
mothers, so to inculcate from childhood the fra-
ternity of men, that the little rich should not be envied
by the little poor. let us sow the seeds of love ; thus we
.11.114.30,13 the future. He wished that the children
bmb) have one day of joy out of the year of misery. To-
day they had hail a luncheon, and now clothes were shout
to lie distributed to them, and, in the third place, they
share the joys of a hristmas tree. (Cheers.) Every
out of us, said M. lingo, hair here below duties of different
ortx ill 'terror'''. Cod imposes on us, in the first instance,
rious duties —we must struggle in the interest of all men;
must combat against the strong and the powerful;
• diet the strain; when they abuse their strength,
,a 1 against the powerful when they badly em-
. 'oy their power ; wo mm st take by the collar the
mot. whileter be be, from the carter who ill•treats a
to the king who oppresses a people. To be success-
hi and to ate fig: are rude necessities ; life would be
if it only cote laird of that. Sometimes after useless
ile,eours 3oh respite from duty ;we drag ourselves
into tit, lireseti.a• or conscience. and conscience replies that
a.• ma,: :main,: in duty. The struggle, however, is in-
tempted, to ma:templet. these poor little ones, whose
faulaeolourtsl Casts are both lighted and rosy by the
.plemlid dawn of life. We feel moved; we pass from
iislignation to t. tiderness, and we understand the
• of life. Tons we thank God, who, though
g I,lllg us to combat the powerful and the wicked,
Diu-. n. yet to succour the innocent and the feeble—
aiel w ie., ',ale by side with the grave duties of
life, has placed the elteerful ones—the latter to uphold the
tt tr".•t soplause.)
At the coneltision of the speech garments were distri-
kited to the then the company passed into the
" tapestried where M. Hugo superintended the
.... tine lIIIIIIVTOUd articles welch were on the
t lot dloat..t it . er which hepresented sontepiettea of music
to set end of t ,e ...diets as a souvenir of the fete, and a large
l.kaa ..f c,u t•• was drawn for by lot. The Pte ended
shortly I. ft••• p.. 11. From two to three hundred visitors
were pie ht.

The nmiu,! .1i itribution of prizes gained by the
the Leeds School of Art took place
the Galt Institute on Monday.

The tilif,o lomat, Stage cirpenteirs employedi at
Is.r Majesty's Theatre at the time of the late calamitous
tit, lay Iw.,e their tools loft the means of providing for
their families. We have applied," they say, "to the
hon. secretary of the Employes' Relief Fund, and have
bent taut that the rum collected is not ready yet for distri-
bution, and that we must wait ; but, sir, we beg leave to
say what 7,entlem..n call waiting is starving to us, and that
could we only get part of our tools to go on with we should
feel grateful."

I strike among the South Yorkehire ironworkers
,pleura to tw inns nding. There was a meeting of the men
room eted wi-.11 the Parkgate works, near Rotherham,
yesterday, to on-ider the notice of reduction of ten per
e,•ut. in the wAg. +, and a resolution was passed against
returning to woe; until the notice is withdrawn. It is
feared that the s Imo comae will be adopted by the men in
other Ow. s, lie the ParkgAte men usually take the lead in
th. se natters, and guide the rest.
•

"We think," says the PM " thaewe are in a
I.osition to announce that Mane. Patti will shortly be
:uari:,..l to the Marquis de Calm."

The Vienna journals publish some details re-
l., ctiu,.: the treasures which King George of Hanover has
taken to that city. The plate comprises a valuable

his ice in gold and another in silver. The cabinet of relicts
of church utensils and of objects brought in
1172 by Duke Henry, the Lion, from the Holy Land, &o.
roileet;on of coins numbers nearly 22,000. The
piaures, remain, at least for the present, in
Hanover.

A frightful fat::ine, reminding one of that which
.lesaNtatt ill IS, last year, is at present ravaging Algeria.
The E•;,,, of ( )ran (my. :—" On the 3rd of December inst.,
the 4rli,h of ten natives who died of hunger were found •
at M.,,c au On the following day 14 perished in a like
manner and on the tith 7.1 of these poor creatures were
carried to the cemetery by their 00-religionaries, who only
submitted to this luty under blows. The total number of
victims in thee, dare was 47."
It is eta t‘,l that, according to the last accounts
from the ialarpl of St. Thomu, the work of the divers was
Progressing. A company of American divers, using
lleinke's apparatus, were also in operation ; but the earth-
quakes entirely unsettled the labour of tho negates, and
yellow fever lad nterfered with the engineering bands.
Hew,. Easton ant Amos have lost one at work in the
dock, and one of Mr. Heinke's men has also died from the
effects of the climate.
Plurarn BILLS IN PARLILILENT.—The examiners
of petitions for private bills in the House of Clocomons
Ilk Charles Frere sad Hr. French) Palgrave) will co.os
tome their sittings en Saturday, she lab bast. at
11 o'clock.