The Express.
London, England, 1868-09-29 00:00:00

Q UEEN ISABELLA AND HER FRIENDS.

Sin GEonos Boirma, as the standing defender
of ultraniontane Catholicism, is naturally con-
Tned for the prospects of the Queen
of SPAIN ; but there are others who move
his s)ruptithy still more. When the supposed
interests of his church are at stake, the
honourable baronet Las a Quixotic passion
for the unpopular. and the more intense the odium
in which a Churchman is held, the more ex-
travagant Sir GEOIWE BowvEn's affection. The
prisons of Naples were abodes of light, and King
Fusxcis the meekest of saints. There are two
individuals at this moment to whom the ruin of
Qm 4 n I,ALELLA is tsiissially due, the woman
culled Sister ParnociNto and naisignor CLARET,
the royal confessor. Both are loathed by educated
Spaniards, and both stand high in Sir GEomiE
BowvEn's regard. "In the first place," he tells
us, •• Sister Psmoctsuo is not a bleeding nun," a
somewhat superlative assurance for Protes-
tant readers. She was convicted of lending
herself to an imposture, and sentenced to
a period of penal confinement in a reli-
gious house. She is " now a very devout
" and exemplary nun in the convent of Aranjues."
This convent is a royal foundation, and the
GtrEEN " naturally visits that house, and occa-
" sionally secs Sister Rtiiinctmo. But Mister
PATRocixul has not the slightest influence in
" any political matter, and she is a person in-
" capable of understanding anything of the sort.
" She is entirely confined to her devotions and
" her conventual life. She knows nothing what-
" ever of the external world, and has not an idea
" beyond her prayers anti her ascetic life." As
to the QUEEN'S confessor, he is only legs
of a saint than the QrEEN herself. " His
" whole life is devoted to charity and piety.
" He is universally venerated as a most devout
" and pract ieal Christian. Hi is the QUEEN'S con-
" feskor. But as for politics, he knows nothing
" shoot it. He is simply a very pious, simple-
" minded clergyman, without any idea beyond
" the functions and duties of his sacred office."
It will be lung, we hope, before this sort of piety
finds favour here. The system which has Queen
Ism:ELLA, Sister PATROCINIO and Father CLARET
for its models has nothing in common with Eng-
lish Was.

A c tillOl7M paragraph which was in circulation
day or two ago, iviserted that Pope PII'S IX.
is a freemason. It is now said that the
Emperor NAPOLEON is a canon of St. John
of lAteran. A corresponilent of the Si ede
Inters into some historical details respecting
an old custom by which the Emperor of
GERMANY was canon of Mt. Peter's at Rome, the
King of FRANM Canon of the• Church of St.
Martin at Tours, the Dukes of BERRY the Canons
of St. John at Lyons, and so on. BoNlv.tca 111., it is
when in pressing need of money, sold the title
of canon to laymen, and laical canonries were a
long time hereditary. The Sie:de amuses itself by
supposing the Emperor of the Fatoseu to claim
the office of canon, and in virtue of it to be
present at the approaching (Ecumenical Council,
" in which C 11.40 lie must put on the surplice, and
" dress himself with the canon's moss and
" mozette. The right of canons to be present at
" the council was recognised by the fourth council
"of Carthage, held in the year 393. Thus are
" we progressing towards the separation of the
" spiritual from the temporal !"

Early in thm present month Mr. R. N. Fowler,
the treasurer of the Aborigines Protection Society, for-
warded a i'u mortal to the Prime Minister, offering some
observations on the cession to Canada of the Hudson's
Bay Company'■ territory. It pointed out the duty as
well as the expediency of extinguishing the native titles on
equitable principles. Without distrusting the good faith of
the statesmen or the people of Canada, and without asking
Mr. Danish' to take any fanciful or philanthropic view of
the matter, the memorial suggested that, in transferring
the ceded territories, stipulations should be made for th
peaceful extinction of the native titles, and for within
apart a reserve for the civilisatbm of Rupert's Land. In
acknowledging the receipt of the document, Mr. Disraeli
promisee that he will not fail to give the subject his

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(MB DAY.)

ma SPILI/11113

Our contemporaries this morning regard the
latest news received from Spain as very unfavourable ti
the royal muse. It is evident that the insurrection is ex-
tending in every part of the country, and that nowhere
luive the Queen's general. as yet gained any denials° ad-
vantage. The limn looks upon the defection of the navy
es a remarkable and most important event. This
ir, indeed, the heaviest blow to the royal cause,
since it takes away from the government and
gives to the insurgent' the power of communicating
by sea with foreign countries, and obtaining arms
and storm for civil war. The strife certainly seems
ominous of ruin for tho government and system that have
lately obtained in Spain ; but between the overthrow of
the government and the dethronement of the dynasty
theirs is a long stop, and Queen Isabella has still a chance
of retrieving her position.
The Lady Aews remarks upon the absence of revolu-
tionary fervour amongst the people, and, in view of that
f set, considers the future course of the insurrection to be
doubtful. The probability is, however, that the people
are waiting for a victory by the revolutionary
generals. and when that has been achieved the
whole nation may spring to its feet, and the revolution
be accomplished at once. The dynastic possibilities of the
situation, however, constitute ono of its difficulties. I'he
moviment is anti-dynastic or nothing, and it must end
eithir un the victory of the Queen herself, or in the over-
throw of her dynasty. As to the question of successorallip,
it is scarcely likely that Spain will bo willing to change one
lloulbou tor another; nor is it probable that a republic
lw+d en 1111iTOMI suffrage will be ottablished ; but, if the
moor meld spread, a republic might at least be atternpVl
in the difficulty of finding a new occupant for a revolu-
tionary throne.