The Express.
London, England, 1868-12-26 00:00:00

gifts yesiard4

the pavement, who stare open,
public buildings, and at such
patronise, the air of " best clothes
and the unexplainable look which
observant passe -by that they are out for the day,
make our dull London thoroughfares seem festive
for the time. It has been pleasant, too, to note
to-day the number of large establishments
which are closed. Shutters up mean holy-
days and joyous family meetings for those
who have but scant opportunities for enjoyment,
and who look forward to Christmas as an
oasis in the colourless monotony of their daily
lives. The firms which have agreed to set those
working with them free for a clear three or four
days have never been so numerous as this year ;
and signs are not wanting that the good old
English love for pastimes and holyday-making will
revive. When Puritanism was in the ascendant
it was not satisfied with abolishing sports which
were barbarous and cruel, but laid its cold hand
on the amusements of the people as well, and it is
only within the present generation that a sensible
rrsetion has been felt. The Saturday half-
holiday, the early closing movement, the
three days' grace at Christmas were all con-
demned at first by the " old-fashioned people,"
who did not know that holyday making and
enjoying is an older English fashion
than themselves. They have flourished apace,
however, and competent witnesses aver that there
was never, in the memory of the living, more
holyday-making, or greater jollity than in the
Christmas wo are spending now. It would be,
perhaps, painful to speculate upon the physical
consequences of such mighty feasting as went on
yesterday, or to ask for statistics concerning the
indigestions and the headaches of this morning. A
little latitude is given by common consent at such
times as this, and as Lelou Htnrr once fancifully
maintained that a genial, loving temper made even
the taking too much wine innocuous, so we may
fairly hope that none of the indulgences of yester-
day have bad prejudicial effect upon the pleasures
of to-day. The people who give and the people
who receive presents ; the magnates with whom
it rests to decree bolydays, and the toilers whose
privilege it is to enjoy them ; the advocates
of amusement who have an antiquarian leaning to
the customs of the past, and the eager seekers of
it who live only in the present ; the jovial convi-
vialists of yesterday's dinner tables and the poor
recipients of the festival's bounties are all earnestly
bent upon making Boxing-day enjoyable ; and
as it is a poor heart which never rejoices, so it is
a poor spirit which will not heartily wish them
success.

THE JUDGMENT IN TIM ST. ALDAN'S
RITUAL CASE.

TitE judgment delivered by Lard CATRNi on
Wednesday last, in the great ritual case of MAR-
TIN r. MACKONOCRIE, will be regarded with ap-
t royal by all but a narrow section of the com-
munity. It is perfectly lucid, it is in strict
accordance with precedent and common sense,
and it gives a deadly blow to the innovations of
the Anglican party. On these grounds, it cannot
fail to be acceptable to the nation at large. On
abstraA points of doctrine an ordinary English-
man will sometimes shrink from forming a defi-
nite opinion ; but with regard to the mummeries
of the extreme Ritualists. he has for the most
part very dteided views, and is always ready to
exprc,s them. As a Churchman, he desires to hold
by the Prayer-book ; as a Protestant, by the
; and he has a jealous dread of supersti-
tions which affect the integrity of the one, and the
j tirity of the other.
On sac h of the four points raised by the case
the decision of the highest court of law is
against the defendant, and it has been truly
said the condemnation pronouned is sufficient
to prove that the position of tho Ritualists
is u holly untenable. The court ruled, and
this is a most important decision, that whatever
ceremony is not prescribed in the Prayer-book
is on that account abolished, in contradiction
to the opinion of the Ritualists, that any obsolete
ceremonial, not distinctly abrogated, may legally
be revived. It is easy to see how through such an
open door all the follies of mediaeval Christianity
might be restored until our Protestant Church
would be transformed into a feeble copy of the
Roman Catholic system. For these ceremonies
must not be regarded as insignificant additions to
our reformed worship. They strike at the very
principles which produced the Reformation. They
are means to an end, and that end is sacerdotalism,
a system which professes that all the highest spi-
ritual blessings can be conveyed only through
the supernatural medium of priests. But England
for three hundred years has retased to acknow-
ledge this mysterious power, and through the voice
of her authorised authorities she refuses still. It
will be well for the Ritualists if they apprehend in
time the spirit of the people.

can give us, their highest thoughts, their asst
workmanship. We want them to teach us :
not that our taste should guide them. But they
cannot do this without sacrifice, and it is too
much to expect that, while we English people
are so bent upon money-making ourselves,
our art-teachers should be indifferent to the
prizes of fortune. Yet there are many of
them, happily, wbo dare to swim against
the stream, and the self-abnegation which
distinguished some great masters of poetry
and painting in former ages is not without illus-
trious exemplars in our own. It is well to have
men who can testify by their work and by their
lives that truth is better than gold, and that life
does not consist in possessions. Christianity does
this, and where it fails we may be very oertain it
is spurious ; but in a lesser degree the same lesson
is taught by art, and herein lies, perhaps, the
chief mark of its nobility.

. OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

Referring to the delay which has occurred in carrying
out the negotiations opened on the basin of the settlement
agreed upon by Lord Stanley and Kr. Reverdy Johnson,
the Dina remake that England need do nothing but
calmly await the issue. If Yr. Seward proposes trilling
alterations of detail for the manifest purpose of delay, be
should be humoured, but the basis of the protocol signed
by Lord Stanley and Kr. Reverdy Johnson mast remain
axed, and will sooner or later command consent.
The Daily News, it seems, answers the question, " Shall
we give up Gibraltar f" in the afilrarative. U we ars
mediated that we can do it without defter, a amnion of
that whir, still full of noble memorise to us, cannot foil to
be bitter to her, would be timbal oi an *dead brother-
hood between England sad Spain. Oar retirement boa
Othraltar made the circumstancia isellested by our ins.
temporary would be a glorious complement to the history
of the Peninsular war ; and would be a proof of unselfish.
nem such as Europe, pothers, needs at our beads, and
such as would not fail to bring as a great equivalent of
amity and confidence throughout the civilised world.
The Tekkgraja mays that Yr. Cardwell will dad that the
two most important matters which await his peremptory
action et the War-oflios have reference, first, to the dis-
tribution of our army, and, secondly, to that vast and
reckless expenditure represented by the mosey wasted on
our permanent fortifications.
The Peet observes that if it be true, as asserted, that the
outrage at Tang-chow was occarioned more by other pro-
visions of the treaty of Tien-tiat than those protecting
the missionaries, then it seems probable that we shall and
fresh difficulties arising daring the next two years.
In the opinion of the Herald the scandal of the day is
not that church livings in private patronage should be re-
carded here and there as marketable property, but that
Mr. Gladstone and the radicnts are taking measures to
ensure that there shall be no livings to sell.

;Wei; sad thar wires, who aeseeiblell at fear reels*.
Her thijedy, aseenswaled by the Qom ?Awe awl
Primers d Pranks, Plimsoll Lemke, Parse Arthur,
Prise laspola. Frisson Beatrice, sad Primmer Merlotti
et Pram* entered the Dentate hell, where the gifts
were laid out, ewe after four &cleat.
The Cbassa thee dietrlbated the priest, eiebbed by
the royal lawny.
The Labe sad Otatlewea In Wafting were is
attestliewe.

The Inv. George Prelim*, motor of Whip,bighon
Wm. Prating and their family had the honour of being
invited to be pseud.
The QO.Bll and the Crovra Prince and Prisons of
Prussia, Prisons Isaias, Prins Arthur, Priam Leopold,
and Aimee Beanies attended Divine genies at Whip-
pingham Church thin morning, where the Gov. George
Prothro calcined.

The Right Boa. Edward Cardwell left Osborne yester-
day for London. -

Friss, Christie& of fielslaewigatoisiein visited the
Duchess of Cambridge. at Cambridge-pottage, Hew, on
Wednesday.

Casnrwr COUNCIL.—The principal members of
the Cabinet will meet on Tuesday next at the Foreign.
oboe, D iwnintatreet.
THE RIGHT How. W. E. GLADSTONE AND HIS

CONVITTI7II3I7II.—The following is a copy of the saran
of the Premier to the *lectors of the borough of Green-
wish cm his co-election :—"11, Carlton-house-terrace,
Deo. 24, IN& Gentlemen,—l again tender to you my
cordial and respectful thanks for having confided to me
the frost of representing you in parliament. Both in the
trust itself and in the =MUIR in winch it Las been ac-
oorded, I bops to end as additional and powerful imam-
tire to the discharge of my public duties.—l have the
honour to be, geatimare, your obliged and obedient
savant, W. E. GrArcrrown'

The Doke of Norfolk will attain his majority
to• aonow. sad great preparations have been in program
at Arundel Oantle for several days in order that the corning
of age of the head of the Home of Howard should be eels-
lusted with a spkedeariMeoming his ancestry. On Mon.
day mad there is to be a grand banquet in the baronial
ball of Arundel Castle, at which a very large party, in-
cluding the mobility and ratty of the neighbourhood, are
invited, and when Use young duke's trustees—Lord
Edward Fitaalen Howard, Mr. Hope-Scott, Mr. J. Abel
Smith, and Serjeaat Bellmie—will attend and take a pro-
minent part in the festive proceedings. There is not to be
a ball, as was expected. The fear following days are to be
devoted to the entertainment of the smaller tenaats, cot-
tager, school children, and haskendmen on the extensive
family estates in Surer. His grace, who was born on the
27th of December, 11147, is the sixth peer who has attained
his majority within the present year, his dye predecessors
having been the Marquis of Bute, the Marquis of Huntly,
the Earl of Ellesmere, Earl Ferrers, and the Earl of H-
amster.

The Earl and Countess Cowley will entertain a
succession of visitors at Drayeott, Rant., during the
ensuing week. The guests will assemble on Slonday
neat.

The Earl and Countess of Shannon have left
town on a visit to Mr. and Lady Louisa Mills at The
Wilderness, near Sevenoaks, Kent.

The Counte.s Ashburaham and Lady Katherine
Aebburnham left town on Thur,day fur Ashburnham.
Suesez.

Viscountess Palmerston, who left her re4.lenoe
is I'ark•lane on Wednesday for Brosulland., ILants. is
surrounded by a select family circle, including Vi4couut
and Vecuunte. Sud!ey, Viscount Jocelyn, Sc.
Lord and Lady George Quin are among the
riaitors staying with Sir John Ramadan, Bart., M.P.. and
Lady Owendolin Ramadan at Byrom, their mat in York-
shire.

Lord and Lady Edward Pelham Clinton have
arrived in Upper Belgrave-street, Belgrave-sq tiara from
Great Glenn Hall, Leicestershire. His lordship is Tory

seriously indisposed.
The extinction of the barony of Belhaven, which
was noticed a day or two ago, recalls attention to the fact
that there are now six fewer peerages on the roll of the
lords than there were twelve months ago. The earldom
of Cardigan Las been merged with the tnarquisate of
Allesbury, while the marquise.. of Hastings and the
baronies of Belhaven, Cranworth, Dunfermline, and Wens-
leydale, have become extinct. Thus the extinctions have
very nearly kept pace with the creations, which have been
eight in number.
On the re-assembling of the House of Commons,
on the 29th instant, amongst the writs to be moved
will be the following:—Clare count on Sir Colman
n' 0' Loghles acceptance of office as Judge-Advocate
Mr
Gene-
ral ; the Wigton district of burghs, on . Young's ap-
pointment as Solicitor-General for Scotland • the county
of Kerry, on the acceptance by Lord Castlerosse of the
post of Vice-Chanaberlaia of the Royal Household ; the
county of Kildare, on Lord Otho Fitzgerald be-
coming Controller of the Household ; the county of
Louth, on the a • dent of Mr. C. Forteseue as Chief
Secretary for Ire Lad ; the borough of Mallow, on Mr.
Sullivan s
heomotion to the office of Attorney-General for
'reload ; t counties of Cleckmannsn and Kinross, on
Mr. W. P. Adam's acceptance of a lordship of the trea-
sury ; the county of Westmeath, on the nomination of
Captain °resale-Nugent as Groom-in-Waiting to the
Queen ; and for the border district of burghs, on Mr. G.
o.lty Trevelyan taking the duties of Civil Lord of the Admi-
ra.
NICR.—The Crown Prince and Princess of
Prussia ere expeded at Nies after Christmas. Magnate:
part of the Hotel Luxembourg, on the Promenade des
Anglais, is engaged for their reception. The English of
distinction at Ain this mean are few, but Russian and
Spanish nobles are numerous. Amongst the English
wintering at Nies ate--The Duke and Duchess of New-
castle, Lady Combermere, Lord Rokeby, the Dean of
Windsor end Mrs. Wellesley, Lord Albert Gower, Lady
Blantyre and Miss Stuart, Sir H. Dupuis, Lord and Lady
Vivian, Mr. Henry Baring, Mr. Oswald, Colonel Ouseloy
Higgins, Sir H. Telly, Lord Blayne', Mr. 0. Needle,
Lady Largan and family, ke.
Tun NATIONAL BANK.—The Dublin Express
says :—" The changes in the management. Ike., of the
National Bank, suggested by a deputation of share-
holders, and brought under the notice of the directors,
are, we think, wise and practical, more especially
those relating to the abolition of the office of
macaging director, and the institution of •
thorough scrutiny of the accounts of the lank. The
system of audit adopted in the pug has not beau
satisfactory to the shareholders. It is of the last iin-
portant.e to an institution depending for its success upon
credit, that every possible means should be employed to
ins) ire confidence in the minds of thou.) inte in its
pi apt rity, and we hope this will be the aim of the ma-
nagement in future. It is not sufficient that an institu -
tion of this kind should be properly managed ; it is ne-
cessary that the public should be convinced that this is
the case."
Mn. FRANK IVES SCITDAMORE.—It is currently
reported that this able and distinguished public servant
will shortly be removed from his present position, that
of Second Assistant Secretary to the Post-office, to
the ; when his great administrative talent
and powers of organisation will have a
more ample for their exercise, In the preparation
ef a greet meow whit& die Premier, aided by
Mend Mises and litmeisid, is said to have in
Ike the rano end reorganisation of the
whole Civil Mr. ilssderness b at poosist
in cosjasetica with Mr. Porde4lo'esominien fra:tisat
room, in revising soma el Se eases oil wood at
the sio Sams, It is ossllledly anticipated, by a
iiiii Its euralnose smainety sow in am, and
a ePslinn of the ditties el sevesol of these
node, Mat es inoreseed Minima logetbst =I •
t
wake earaaway la their administration, will be brought
abed by SO faintly sow
Armoruzinfe MALL.lPltilir=era of Exami-
nes bold lad, the ildionig
lekturcoed the Mender asemary ezaahnlissik were.=
of the Soong of • vie.: Knob
William Prided: Aimee of (
Respite) ; Josiah Areal Bows, _ _ near
Pren, Lancashire (Liverpool gibed of ) ;
Raked William Unitised books. of Nieddreet
it: lif a College
rdablze = ; Henry 9atacey Bearaear,
Cooties, of Xeidigaillibilanials Hospiter V
I
cot kl=n4 Weigitela=°:,
Elan seas lesse =ors
illeiltolatLA
ow lahoul:
stew's ; lhedertinoo,—"Wais, C
Soma Mire gal) ; and
I= ). :
Nethisy, Tosinhire
the ruse court the f&e.
novel examinations, vis.:— 3 11111
Ma=
Olive Sires Shaw, and =ward NW/ all of Guy's
Radial ; Frederick William Joy. di
Pol,tacti TiliriertakßartbolaattLi'leUgg i sad; Themes
H :v
Marshall Wilkinson, of Si. Thomas's
• MIDLAND ILtiLwAT.—We are oikintly in-
formed tint Mr. James Williams has bees appointed
the secretary of this company. and will ester apes the
dative of the cake as the Ist of January nest.

LETTER.

(PIM ONO OWN eolizseromener.,
FARM. Feresy Briar's°.
Pinerd hes written the following letter to
the Paris :

In your somber of December 22, I mad the followiar
pangraph :—" There was iamb talk yederday about this
phrase—the laost endow of all—in the Emperor's letter
to M. Pinata:

' A wrong eeeetroctioa pot upon a resolatte• of a minis-
terial council owspele me, notwithstanding all the meal
you have shown, to smith:testa your dedros and swept
your reogastios.' "

- I writhe the mosl positive dseh►l to this statement.
L the litter which the Emperor did me the hamar to
write there was no sentemo at all like the on♦ you cite.
Receive, de., _

So far we know, on the best evidence, some-
thing that the Emperor did not say. Why he
did dismiss his Minister of the Interior, of course
M. Pinard cannot tell without leave.

The Figaro says the order of the day in the
newly organised bureau of the prose in the
Ministry of the Interior is "to be extremely
agreeable +.17. the Parisian provincial and foreign
press." Esperona k.

- The ex-Queen cf Spain, accompanied by the
Prince of Asturias, paid a visit this week to M.
Delaunsy, the cure of St. Etienne du Mont. It
was this priest who administered the sacraments
of baptism and the first communion to Madame
Duruy when she was converted from protestantism
in 1866. M. Delaney belongs to the Dupanloup
school of churchmen. He is the author of a widely-
eirculeted commentary on" The Imitation," which
ho ascribes not to Thomas I Rempis, but to John
Gerson, the Belgian. The early part of his career
was passed in the chaplaincies of different French
embassies. Out of the pulpit he is a man of
courtly manners. The Queen has made up her
mind to confide the education of the Prince of
Asturias to the Jesuits instead of sending him to
the Lyede Bonaparte, as was talked of when she
first came to Paris. Yesterday evening the Queen
and her husband, returning from one of their
frequent visits to watch the progress of furnishing
in the Hotel Basilewski, were seen walking down
the Camps Blysees arm in arm, like Darby and
Joan, and quite unattended.
N. Marion is in treaty for the splendid mansion,
in the Avenue de l'lmperatrice, belonging to M.
Hartmann ; the price asked is 48,0001.
Mr. Jefferson Davis, with his family, is expected
at the Grand Hotel to-day, en route for Nice, where
he proposes to pass the winter.
An action by M. Guertlionoff, manager of the
St. Petersburg Theatre, against Signor Fraschini,
the celebrated tenor, has just been tried in Paris.
The plaintiff claimed 100,000 fr. damages fur
breach of an engagement to sing at the St. Peters-
burg Opera last season. By the terms of the con-
tract, the defendant was to perform for thirty
eights during four months, at a salary of 2,630 fr.
per night. The season was to begin on Nov. 11 last.
His name was announced in the preliminary bills
as one of the leading stars of the year, awl the
pie, es which be had selected were put in rehearsal.
On October 9 the plaintiff received from the agent
through whom the engagement had been effected,
a telegram thus worded :—" Fraschini ill, try and
get somebody else ; I send you a medical certiti-
cate—Ronzi." The manager being very sceptical
about indispositions of singers, telegraphed to a
confidential agent in Paris to know the truth, and
received the following reply:—" Fraschini very
well and in first rate voice; plays Trorafore to-
morrow, and Rigolett.) Tuesday. Rather think ho
wants to go to Madrid." M. Carraby, the plain-
tiff's counsel, read a number of Paris theatrical
critiques of the tune referred to, all stating that
Frasehini was never in better voice and was
enthusiastically reoeivcdby the public. Anticipating
the defence, he said medical certifitstes were always
to be had in these cases. Hippocrates said yes,
while Galen Fah! no. M. Fraschini, it was certified,
had chronic granulations in his throat. He, M.
Cerraby, had been assured by an eminent phy-
sician that all actors, professors, preachers,
singers, advocates—all people in the habit of
speaking in public—were never without these
granulations more or less. That the malady in
M. Frasehini's case could not have been such
as to prevent him from fulfilling his engagement
was conclusively proved by the public verdict in
Paris at the very time when he telegraphed the
excuse of sickness. He was now at Arcachon, on
the borders of Spain, and nobody could say that if
he now got a verdict he would not go to sing at
Madrid. Admitting, however, that the defen-
dant, who was a grand seigneur and wealthy, had
changed his mind, and on reflection preferred to
winter in the sunny south rather than in St.
Petersburg, that was no reason why M. Guedion-
off should be subjected to severe pecu-
niary loss. The court had once awarded
100,000 fr damages against a French actress
who had gone to St. Petersburg in breach
of an engagement with the Theatre Francais, and
he hoped equal justice would be meted out to the
Russian manager.
M. Nicolet, for Frasehini, said he was really ill.
He had completed his engagement in Paris at the
cost of much suffering, and the statements of friendly
newspaper critics as to the state of his voice in
October last ought not to be taken against him too
literally. Ile had every interest to have got the
large sum of 80,000 fr., which was the total pro-
mised fur the St. Petersburg season, instead of
doing nothing at An:schen. But the fact was he
was advised by his physicians that he could not go
to a northern climate without serious risk of his
life.

The Judge Advocate Manuel expressed an opi-
nion that the medical certificates were not conclu-
sive, and that the court should appoint a commis-
sion to examine M. Fraschini at Arcachon. The
court, however, after taking time to consider,
thought it sufficiently established that the defen-
dant was not well enough at the time of the cause
of action to go to St. Petersburg, and gave a ver-
dict against the Russian manager with costs.

Mimi Minnie Hauck's debut it the Italian Opera
is fixed for Tuesday next, when she will appear in
the Somaambula. Prime Poniatowski is oom-
posing an opera expressly for this new Ameriwn
star.

A velocipede accident occurred yesterday in the
Champs Elysfes. A lad of 13, said to be a mem-
ber of an English family named C—, was bowl-
ing along in the broad space near the Are-de-
Triomphe, when two hones drawing a private car-
riage took fright at the velocipede, ran away, and
epee! the object of their terror, which was dashed
to pieces by the shock. The young man was very
much hurt.

Tuz ROYAL 'KARIM—The Army and Nary
Gs:6M denim that the retirement of Major-Onamal
'Damn was heetened by the eartimplated redaction in
the force of Royal Mariam The UMW davit* Gana&
sire. annum to • rumour that the eolonele-ooni-
meadeal of .11 the divticas are to be removed, and the
appointment of colonel-eoransandant, one of the very few
epee to the veteran dime of the Nubian is to be en-
tirely lost to the tome.
*MOM PALLOR. Ota BRILLIMO D•lfe...
iIIZZAT, Dno. 11L—Ailmirelms by tieliele. L. lin;
aft ea payiesi. ant kw visible% 4.784.

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thee" thej all hive, The result is of eourseastrimental 4 *hi lute- 06BORIf8. M.
rhioh tells the least rests of art. We want the best our mertal genius Her Majesty the Queen distributed Christmas _ .
........* ff. &kw flaw. ma !PIS as. their Behest thourhts. their lbw* Sift ralardff afterwmei to the Mourne ea the Olbaca• H. Pin