The Express.
London, England, 1868-03-02 00:00:00

MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS.

The Daily News quotes from some letters which were
read by the chairman of a joint stock company the other
day, to show that a number of shareholders are ready to
consent to, and even demand, to receive a dividend from
whatever source. In the case of the Caledonian railway,
every shareholder has had it shown to him th►t the divi-
dends paid in 1866-67 had not been earned ; and yet they
have given to the chairman and the old team such a pre-
ponderance of support that those of the body who have
laboured to establish the prosperity of the line upon a real
foundation, have seen their labours frustrated, while the
authors of fictitious dividends appear to be stronger than
ever. Like the five shareholders who wrote to the chair-
man of the City company, they want dividend, and do
not care were it comes from.

Commenting upon the operation of the personal
rating clauses, the Star contends that the right
to vote has no more to do with a man's
payment of his poor's rate than with his pay-
ment of his baker, although, indeed, the attempt made in
parts of the country to extend the penal principle from
poor's rates to all other rates as well, shows an inclina-
tion to make the new system an engine of oppression
hardly less fantastic and cruel than if the Reform Bill
were only a modern adaptation of Alvit's famous tax on
buying and selling. Whatever is done or left undone
thii session we must get rid of this absurd appliance for
petty torment. lest year we abolished the system of
compounding ; this year we must invite it back again by
repealing the ratepaying climes.
The Tiraes and one or two other papers treat at length
of the singular career of the late ex• King of Bavaria. The
Tata describes him as • placable man. He had his
choice of the royal residences in town and country, but he
became • wanderer, and was to be seen at Rome, at Nice,
at Perim, wherever the skies were bluest, wherever men
made colours, or forms, or sounds, or dreams the real
business of life. A courteous Prince, and sociable, sympa-
thetic gentleman ; a poet, too, in a small way, leaving
behind three volumes of his juvenile pieces ; taking his
diamond collar from his neck at Weimar, and putting it
with his own hand round Goethe's neck ; he had a gracious,
winning, kingly way of his own, and, many as were his
faults and his foibles, neither his son nor his grandson has
supplanted him in the affections of the Bavarian people.
Granted, says the Daily News, in reply to " Historians,"
that it is unprecedented to accede to • proposal to refer to
an arbitrator the propriety of our having recognised the
belligerency of the South, what follows were we to stretch
a point and make a precedent Why, that precedent
would tell in our favour in the future. We should then
be entitled to appeal to it in support of any claim which
we might have to urge either against the United States or
any other power. Onr present sacrifice would thus re-
dound to our ultimate advantage, and if statesmanship
consist in providing for possible contingencies as much as
in meeting present demands, then to he strengthened for
the encounter, cannot, in fact, be termed a loss, although
it may involve a fancied diminution of dignity.
The Herald is end to see the supremacy of the law vin-
dicated by the conviction of Mr. Johnston, the grand
Orange master in the north of Ireland, for violation of the
provisions of the Party Processions Act, and hopes the
people of Downpatrick will be completely disabused of the
commonly-entertained idea that an Orangemen would
never be brought to justice by a conservative government,
and be induced by such a proof of the untruth of the sup-
position to place more reliance on the impartiality and
good intentions of the administration.

SEA FISHERIES.—The bill drawn up for the pur-
pose of carrying into effect the convention between her
Majesty and the Emperor of the French concerning the
fisheries in the seas adjoining the British Islands and
France,and to amend the laws relating to British fisheries,
was issued this morning. It has been prepared by Mr.
Stephen Cave, Mr. E. Egertos, and Mr. Shaw Laterite.
The caravan of the pilgrims of Mecca left
Damaseoe on the 6th of February, with the ancient and
traditional ceremonial observed on these oessaions, Aw
cording to custom it will stop for a period of 15 days at
Mezerib, a village situated about 60 kilometres from the
city. This halt is made in order to give time for the
partite in the rear to elms up, and it will hardly be be-
fore the 22nd tbatthe whole of the pilgrims will definitively
net out for the two sacred cities. Their number is com-
puted at from 1,200 to 1,300.

A vessel arrived last week at Southampton with
6,000 quarters of wheat from the Black See, the largest
cargo of wheat ever brought to Southampton in a single
vessel. Egyptian wheat L now being imported into
Southampton for the purpose of being ground into flour.
Hitherto it has only besa mod for other purposes than for
human food, but by means et a patented process to which
it is now 'objected, it can be adapted for the miller and
kker, and converted into wholesome food.

A vessel laden with brandy arrived at South-
ampton a day or two since from France. The captain re-
ported that be had been frozen in for three weeks in the
river Charente. Suoh severe weather is never remem-
bered to have been oxperleaced before. The captain aka
etates that in me* with brie portions of callow of
wrecked vessels, each se spirit auks and butter tubs, an
his passage, which betokens omen weather and &atm-
don of shipping.