The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-03 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, JULY 3, 1868.

not by a member of the Opposition, but by a.t
eminent supporter of the Government party, who
only the other day was himself a minister- -by Mr.
WALIVI.E.—WSS appointed to reconsider certain
of thus° recommendations. The Select Committee
reported unanimously, and, on a division, a consi-
derable majority decided in favour of the com-
mittee's report. Thereupon the PRR.II IRR made
the declaration that the question was virtually
settled, and it was felt on all sides that one great
obstacle to an early dissolution, to an early
general election, and to an early assembling of the
new Parliament, had been removed. Yet last
night in committee on the Boundary Bill,
Earl BEauensme, an " independent" Ministorialist
(it is by the agency of his independent supporters
that Mr. DISRAELI conducts these peculiar opera-
tions), moved to set aside the decision of the ma-
jority of the Lower House and to revert to the
original recommendations of the Commission, ex-
tending the actual parliamentary boundaries of the
boroughs of Birkenhead and Birmingham, in
direct defiance of the report of the Select emu-
mit tee, accepted by a large majority of the Commons
which had retained the existing parliamentary
boundaries in those boroughs. As Lord ItANVILLE
with his usual good sense remarked, although
tie• words of the Palma MIN ISTE It ought
not to bind the House of Lords, they
ought to bind Ler Manterrv's Government. Mr.
Disuaxu's tactics consist in getting his " ludo-
" pendent" supporters in the Lords to break his
word, and to reverse, on his behalf, the decisions of
a majority of the Commons, which, as Prime
Minister, he had accepted. To those who
value the good faith of public men, and
the character of Parliament, above the sue-
cesa of this or that ministerial intrigue,
the characteristic attempt of Lord CAIRNS to make
the worse appear the better reason by dint of a
casuistry permissible to a special pleader,
seems a lamentable exhibition of misplaced and
misdirected professional dexterity. To such devices
the only response is that which Lord RtrasELL
and the Liberal peers were compelled to give last
night by declining one and all to assent, even by
their presence, to so gross and glaring a breach of
faith. Cunning, as the Duke of ARGYLL remarked
the other evening, is to weak animals what
courage is to the strong. But cunning is apt to
overreach itself. Even Lord Cemts, who is
seldom betrayed into the danger of travel-
ling beyond his brief, let the cat out
of the bag, if we may be pardoned a
vulgar but apt illustration, when he re-
minded their Lordships that their amend-
ments would not be conclusive as against
the House of Commons, since " the Bill must go
" down to the House of Commons again." No
doubt it must; and the result would be the rejec-
tion of the amendments, and all the consequent in-
evitabledelays in preparing for the general election.
That such is the stratagem of the Govern-
ment, who, by the mouths of a chivalrous
Home Minister, and a sentimental Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer, have again and again
protested their burning desire to be released
from their present anomalous position, and to
appeal to the new constituencies,the scene enacted
almost at the same hour last night in the Com-
mons, pretty clearly indicates. There it was
the Registration Bill in Committee, an
indispensable preliminary to the general election ;
and there, as in the Lords, certain " independent "
friends of the Government (two at least of
whom will never sit again) rose to complain
of the Dissolution being hastened by the Regis-
tration Bill, on the ground that it would prevent
a number of the new electors from voting. Mr.
HARDY, it is true, in deference to the decided
feeling of the House, resisted, for the moment, his
independent allies, and a division was not at-
tempted. But in the Lords it seems
not improbable that the dilatory pleas
put forward by Colonel BARTTELOT, Mr.
MELLER, and the rest, may be pressed by
unofficial Peers, who can be used and disavowed,
with a better chance of success. The secret of these
tricks is not far to seek. The Ministry have
been informed by their electioneering agents that
if they throw over the Boundary Bill they will
save three seats which will otherwise fall to the
Liberal party. And for this great object,
the Tory Peers are not unwilling to accumulate
against themselves on the eve of the first general
election after a Reform Bill, cases of disagreement
with the House of Commons. For this great
object Mr. DISRAELI is teaching his colleagues and
his party a system of ministerial irresponsibility
borrowed from the Second Empire over the water.
Talk of :Americanising our institutions ! Our pre-
sent Premier will never do that ; he would rather
Ctesarise them—if he could find a Caesar for a
master. The new doctrine of his organs is that
which the Consfaufiennel has always preached,
and M. Ileum has always practised : no Minister
to be responsible for the declarations of any of
his colleagues ; a discredited Legislature, but a
Senate whose " independence" is more Imperialist
than the EMPEROR.

United Kingdom, and the number of the shares he
holds in the newspaper if these exceed two; and
the Christian names, surnames, residences, and
occupations of the two responsible householders
who offer themselves as sureties against
the publication of libels—have all to be
sent in to Somerset House before a new
journal, or a modified or altered journal can legally
appear. The security demanded from each of the
two householders for a newspaper published in
London, or within twenty miles of it, is 4001.,
while for newspapers published beyond that limit,
two bondsmen of 3001. each are held to be sufficient.
The official form expressly states that it is "as
" sureties against the publication of libels," that
these liabilities are enforced.

Tux alleged flatness of the season has not
affected the sale of pictures at the exhibition of
the Royal Academy. The high pric.•s of the last
few years show no signs of diminution, and the
great hulk of the good pictures of the year have
is en sold fur sums at which the collectors and
dealers of a quarter of a century ago would have
stood aghast. Indeed, the good or bad old days,
when the uneiteur buyer could till his galleries for
to no, with the certainty that their contents could
be disposed of fur hundreds at his decease—
the times when a collection worthy of a
nation's acceptance could be acquired at a com-
paratively small outlay—have fled for ever. The
professional dealer now steps in between the artist
and what used to be called the patron, and a high
and progressive rate of prices has been the result.
There never was a greater demand for good pic-
tures than now. Young artists, whose profes-
sional spurs are yet unwon, or are but newly
worn, have but to paint well to command a pur-
chaser at once. The visitor to the Royal Academy
to-morrow would find on inquiry that nine-tenths
of the pictures ho admires most are sold, many of
them before they were ever sent to the Exhibition
—others on the day of the private view, and
that it is a comparatively small number
of his favourites which have been picked
out by the general public since. One well-known
firm of picture-dealers did business to the extent
of 23,0001. on the private view day alone. The
pictures displayed then were sold from to that ex-
tent. The records of the dingy little sale-room at
the Royal Academy show moreover that tho prices
paid this year have been both handsome and appre-
ciative. In whatever other branches of art or
luxury the scarcity of money may have been felt,
we are glad to find that the painters and sellers of
pictures have little reason to complain.

FOREIGN NEWS.

(THIS DAY.)

TILE SERVIAN ASSASSINS.

The Theme Agency contains the fullowing cor-
respondence, datAxl Belgrade, Juno 28 :
. .

The trial of the tustaseins was concluded in a single
sitting. There was no necessity for prolonging the trial
as the 13 prisoners confessed their crime. Accordingly
nu witneeses were examined. One of the accused said that
be was not aware of the assassination plot, although he
knew there was to be an attempt at revolution. Maritch,
a former magistrate, who had been condemned to twenty
yearn' imprisonment for the murder of his wife, and the
actual 110441111141 of Madame Alike, said that he was prompted
to commit the crime to avenge an unjust condemnation.
Stanvie Rematch, an aged man between sixty and sixty-
five years of age, with flowing white beard and
hair, likewise said that ho was influenced by par-
senal feelings. lle lust the property of some land
in a lawsuit under Prince ?Alleged, the father of Michael.
lle k. pt an exact account of the rents, and asked Prine3
Micicul to recoup the amount. Prince Michael paid no
regent to the lipplicstion, whereupon Itognitelt resolved
to kill him. " There wax no justice," lie said, "k.
be obtained under the Obrenoviteli, and therefore
I was anxious for the restoration of the Kunigeorge-
lack" Constantine Itattonovitch ileelared that he was
actuated by no personal feelings against Prince Michael.
He killed him because his brother Paul asked him
to come and do so. George Radovanoviteh like-
wise obeyed the instruction of Paul, who was
the agent of Prince Alexander Karageorgevitch, and his
political correspondent in Belgrade. This fact wax not
denied, and could not be denied, because a correspondence
in cypher with Prince Alexander was found in Paul's
house. A fourth brother, Lyonbonier Radonovitch, who had
been condemned to 10 years' forced labour for forgery,
was also accused. Panl seems to have been the soul of the
conspiracy. There is no truth in the statement that a
captain was shot in the fortress of Belgrade.
The North-East Correspondence, in a letter dated
Belgrade, June 29, says :

To-day Captain Mirz;nloviteh, who endeavoured to
make the troops revolt at the moment of the assassination,
was shot on the glacis of the fortress, in presence of all
the officers of the garrison, two companies of infantry,
and the militia. Be fell pierced by four bullets. An
immensecrowd was present. The Minister of War published
the following order of the day on the occasion :—" Prince
Michael organised the army for glorious deeds. He did
not believe that in its ranks would lso found traitors as
on the field of Casson in 1389. One, however, there has been,
Captain Mirzailovitch, to dishonour the flag, to betray the
people, and to league with assassins. Our brave army re-
sisted the seduction of the wretches. To-day the vile
Dfirzailovitch has been shot. Brave soldiers! let him
descend to hell."

Emperor's timAch had yet las n brought forward.
The news from the seat of war was not very
satisfactory. Two skirmishes had occurred at the
Chaco, where tho Paraguayans at both places
were dislodged. The Brazilians were endeavouring
to cut off all communication with the Chaco.

Ilumaita, though completely besieged and bom-
barded by the fleet, was still in the hands of the
Paraguayans, and it was supposed would be
assaulted on the 30th of May. The import trade
was dull. In the export market produce ruled
high. Government stock, 873. The unsettled
state of affairs in the South, the prolongation of
the war, the electoral crisis at Buenos Ayres, and
the monetary panic at Monte Video, all tend to
demoralise trade; and Exchange transactions were
precu ritll,l, closing; at 17d. for Bank end 17311. for
private bills.