The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-21 00:00:00

EVENING, .JULY 21, Is6B.

were very many men and women NA the bull fight,
laid when Wre.! of the best plane. were fit clot tho
price of 6,6, and a francs a seat, it. to,ed not 1) •
added that they were a well-dressed A not a reli-
gious crowd.
The Havre Steeplechases were fixed for half-
past two, the bull-fight having been especially ap-
pointed for the morning, in order that tho specta-
tors of the early, may not lose the pleasure of
the afternoon's recreation. But there was a little
hour to spare, and I thought I should like to see
how it would be spent. I took a chair under
the shade of the " Trois Freres Reinhard," one
of the principal cafes in the Place Louis XVI. I
do not know that much harm is done by indulging
in a cup of coffee, a " sorbet," a " glace" or, for
there who like it, even a cigar at mid-day; but
all this might be accomplished without the addi-
tional excitement of throwing dice to know who
should pay for these indulgencies. This was not
the act of persons belonging to what H.
Thiers would call "la vile multitude," but
of persona who seemed to be of the better class.
They did not even cast the dice—three in number
—fr-om a box, but with the hand ; from which I
suppose that one of the party brought them in his
pocket as an additional source of enjoyment.
Havre has had some reputation for its regattas,
and an international yacht contest from its port
to Cherbourg and back is to take place on 'Tues-
day. It never had any fame as racing ground;
and, indeed, it was thought that no spot could be
found in the neighbourhood fit to be converted
into a racecourse. When, therefore, the first idea
of a steeplechase wee suggested by M. Blondin, it
met with no favour. But he persevered, and ral-
lied at last to his proposition the town of Havre,
the Department, the Exhibition, the commercial
men, and the town of Honfleur, near which the
course is situated. It is of easy access by omni-
bus and railway. The course to be run
is from 4,600 to 6,000 metres in length.
Prince A. Murat, who arrived here on Friday,
with his suite, has several horses entered. The
Duke of Hamilton,Count Oscar, Count de Bebiau-
court, Baron de Hezissem, Baron Finot, Bour-
net, Captain Shaw and others, have also entered
the lists. There were four races to-day one for the
Honfieur prize of 2,000 f., which was the first run
for ; one for the railway prize of 2,0001. ; one for
the prize Francis I. (1,5001.); and the City of
Havre Grand Prize, of 6,000 f.

Of the running I cannot say much, and to de-
scribe the races in the fashion of a Derby-day
correspondent would be absurd. All I can say
is, that if there was not a Derby-day gathering
and English reared horses—though I understand
that most of the horses were of English breed,
and several of the jockeys of British blood—there
was, what I never expected to see, at least in
France, " Derby champagne," and a friend of
mine, who had the hardihood to taste it, pro-
nounced it inferior to the worst British growths.

THE CAMP AT WIMBLEDON.

WIMBLEDON, MONDAY NIGHT.

More fires to-day. A large piece of the furze
and grass by the paling between Wimbledon and
Putney was in a blaze this afternoon. The
volunteers were speedily on the alert, and tearing
down the wood work of the enclosure, beat and
stamped the fire out after some half an acre had
been burnt to black ashes. Another fire blazed
for some time in the regimental camp. Nothing
will cure the incorrigible carelessnessof thesmokers,
and the guards dug a deep and broad trench
round the exhibition tent this afternoon. It was
at one time feared that this would have caught
fire, from the extensive blaze by the Putney and
Wimbledon road side. A large opening shows
now where the palings were torn down, and ad-
mits the public free.
There must be no more Sunday free admissions.
The public availed themselves so liberally of the
privilege of strolling about the camp last night as
to become a positive nuisance. The place was like
a fifth-rate Creruorne, a Highbury Barn without
the check of a refreshment ticket, an Anerley Gar-
dens with little to amuse the vacant nand. There
is a limit to all things, and it is no more agreeable
to be watched and intruded on in your private
dwelling here than it would be at home. But it
was difficult to restrain the curiosity of the British
sight-seer yesterday. He joined in conversation,
he watched toilets, he superintended meals. The
volunteers were turned into a ranee-show, just as
they and the visitors had made a raree-show of
the Prince of Wales a few hours before. It has
always been customary to leave the Wimbledon
enti ance—perhaps the other entrances—open on
Sunday. The inhabitants of the village have never
renounced their common-rights and maintain
that neither Lord Spencer nor the association
have the faintest legal authority for excluding
them from what they hold to be their own ground.
The whole question of the preservatiod of com-
mons has sprung up since the volunteer move-
ment started, and the law proceedings now pending
between Earl Spencer and the Wimbledon re-
sidents strike at the very root of the associa-
tion's title for being here, or, at the least, for
charging admission fees for entering upon common
land. As a matter of fact free tickets are sent for
the whole camp time to many of the residents at
Wimbledon, and the latter regard the open gates
on Sundays as a tacit admission of what cannot be
denied. But the men encamped were the suf-
ferers last night. Pony-carts, tax-carts, donkey-
trucks, cats'meat-carts, omnibuses, vans began
to disgorge their contents late in the after-
noon. The trains were full, and a steady
stream of arrivals flowed in from the two stations
of Putney and Wimbledon until dark. The result
may be easily conceived. The rights of free-
holders and copyholders were used as freely as if
Wimbledon-common had been Hampstead-heath,
and the people camping on it so many gypsies
grateful for notice. For the future success of the
gathering it will be desirable to know the precise
rights Lord Spencer is able to hand over tempo-
rarily to the association. Can the latter exclude
Wimbledon i If yes, let us have dosed gates on
Sundays as well as other days, and let the nuisanca
of last evening be abated or abolished.

The suggestion anode tin these columns for an
" Inquiry Tent " finds favour with all who under-
stand the needs of the enclosure. Two or three
years ago the Volunteer Service Gazette, which is
the official organ of the association, and some-
thing more, for it gallantly insists upon its right
to criticise freely, and to censure where necessary,
projected a camp directory. Every volunteer's
name, description, tent, and line were to be printed
in alphabetical order, and the whole list was
to be sold for a nominal sum. But
the population here was found to be too
fluctuating. Men came up for the Queen's Prize
—perhaps sent up and franked by their local corps
—and left, as they have done this year, directly
they were knocked out of the competition. Other
causes led others to leave' and it wee discovered
that in practise the directory became obsolete every
twenty-four hours. But inasmuch seethe "Morning
States " are made up with military regularity for
the authorities, it only needs a little organization
and management to make the location of each man
an easy matter. The first requisite is to relieve the
quartermaster of idle questioners ; and the next,
to centralise the returns from the various camps into
one methodical whole. This will cause a little
trouble, and give employment to a clerk or two ;
but it is quite as n as many other reforms
which the council has opted after suggestions
publicly made. That the firing points should not
have some intelligible notice-board at each, with
the programme of proceedings at each plainly put
forth, is so obviously an omission that it will be
doubles. rectified another year. The National
Bite Association is after all a trading body. Its
objects are patriotic and its usefulness is undeni-
able. But inasmuch as the larger its receipts, the
more pronounced its success, it must consent to be
governed by the plain common-sense rules which
govern traders. It is well enough to let the public
pay a shilling to wander to and fro as it likes;
but what exhibition-company in the world, save
one with aristocratic amateurs for directors, would
expect their patrons to guess at what fib:rest;
them most, and to be indebted to the eirrac^ c-mr-
tell. of their fellow patrons fur the knq .ele I ;
eat the Jer.r.iten is moo WI 1614 464.- 3f

Queen's, and that public schoolboys do not com-
pete with military lamchlouders % Captain Mall-
way's urbane retitpneo would be Nally tax., 1 if
Le were oompelled tai snowier one in one litindrei of
the questions to which the ulpie ice of tot:, '-
hour& give riFt. The sight:lig fur the se • crl
stair of the Queim's, the cotupetition for which
begins to-morrow, has gone on all day, an.l loud
aro predictionx and manguine the hops% 114 tAI the
recut.

LAW INTELLIGEATC'FI.
COURT OF APPEAL.- JuLy 20,
(Before Vice-Chancellor Sir J. Stuart.)
BY.AIIMONT V. OLIVVIII.A.

Mr. Benjamin Oliveira, late M.P. for Pontefract, by his
will, dated the 11th September, 1865, bequeathal several
legacies, and among them he left to the treasurer for the.
time being of the Royal Society, 4,00 W. ; to the treasurer
for the time basing of the Royal Geographical S,iciety,
10001. ; to the treasurer for the time being of the Ito,yal
Humane Society, 4,0001. ; to the treasurer for the tine
being of the Marylebone School for Girls, 4,0001. ; and to
the treasurer for the time being of the Albert Orphan
Asylum, 4,0001. ; and directed all the said charitable
legacies to be paid out of hie pure personal estate. Mr.
Oliveira died on the 28th September, 186-5. His debts had
been paid, and he left • considerable amount of pure per-
sonalty, some leaseholds, and some real estates in Madeira,
but not sufficient property in the whole to pay all the lega-
tees named in his will infull. The questions argued in the
case were, whether the Royal Society, the Royal Geogra-
phical Society and the 'Royal Humane Society were
charities P. whether the Madeira property, which had been
sold and had produced about 8001., was pure personalty ?
and whether the five societies were entitled to be paid their
legacies out of the testator's pure personalty in priority to
all other charges on it P
Mr. Bacon, Q.C., Mr. Greene, Q.C., Mr. Dickinson,
Q.C., Mr. Pearson, Q.C., Mr. Wickens, Mr. A. Smith, Mr.
Langworthy, Mr. liagaltawe, Mr. A. Bailey, and Mr.
Davy were for the several parties.
The Vice-Chancellor was of opinion that the three Royal
Societies, viz., the Royal Society, the Royal Geographical
Society, and the Royal Humane Society, were charitable
legatees ; that the proceeds of the wile of the Madeira
estate must be considered to be pure personalty ; and that
all the five societies were entitled to be paid their legacies
out of the testator's pure personalty in priority to all other
charges on it ; but that those legatees must bear their own
costs of the suit.