The Express.
London, England, 1862-09-13 00:00:00

A ST LE VS.

Twin Eiminea. MAZEPFiT=ii.;; which 9CENE3 IN THE
CIRCIS Millie. Masotti, Madlie. illieop, and Yount Devereux.
—To 4oeclude with a comic BALLLT ,u which the Aliases G=-
164 will appear.—Commeuce at 7.

BLOB tv ATLI( AT LONDON BRIDOL
TMIS DAT -•• P4OrninlC 4h. 45m.....Atiormimm. 6h. Om.
Tu-motiow—llmmlaq. 211121.. „Afternoon. 60. Ssm.

LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 13.

Tea detailed reports of what has been done at
Sydney and Melbourne to relieve Lancashire dis-
tress are such as to make us proud as Englishmen
of our brethren in Australia. These have proved
themselves generous in the best sense, and what
they have done may show the world the spirit in
which free men can and should help one another.
May the noble sentiments which have been ex-
pressed follow the contributions which represent
them to the manufacturing North, and help to
comfort and sustain those who are called to bear
the cruel trials of these times.

The people of New South \Vales send home
about 5,5001., and those of Victoria about
4,500'. by this mail, sums made up of contribu-
tions from all classes of the community. It is
always satisfactory to see the common participa-
tion of a people iu measures prompted by public
considerations; but in a colonial population,
when the relief of misfortune is in question, this
community of action has a peculiar significance.
Large numbers of our colonists have good reason to
know what sharp distress is, while they are not
hardened by the luxury of artificial life, and
tempted to drown the recollection of past trials in
the enjoyments which are opened to them by suc-
cess. There is more than benevolent pity in the
exertions made at Sydney and Melbourne ; there
is the intelligent sympathy of one industrious
population for another, and mingled with this an
honourable jealousy for the self-respect of those
who, through circumstances entirely exceptional, are
for the moment in a position to receive assistance.
Governor Sir JOHN YOUNG undertook to declare
thifeeling of the community in this respect. He said:
" We are not here to dole out alms of our super-
" fiuity to helpless paupers ; wo are not met to
" give assistance to those who cannot help them-
" selves, but we are met to render the sympathy
" of generous hearts to honest industry and self-
" relying manhood. (Applause.) We are met to
" say, in reference to these men We are your
" equals and brothers, and to you, as equals and
" ' brothers suffering • calamity which ought not
" to fall on you alone, we are ready to; tender
" the full measure of our assistance, and at the
" same time, in so far as we may do it, to ex-
" press our full concurrence in that principle of
" non-intervention, and that respect for the
" rights of other States which every free man
" must feel, and which it is the duty and the
" interest of every free man to maintain
" ' inviolate and sacred.' " (Continued cheering.)
This sentiment pervades the speeches made at the
meeting at Sydney, and is most honourable to the
speakers. There is nothing interested or selfish
in the high respect and admiration which the re-
solution moved by Mr. Speaker MURRAY ex-
pressed. We can all appreciate the convenience
which flows to us from the virtues of others ; but
the colonists do not immediately profit by the
patience they extol.

From a political point of view it is satisfactory
to remark the complete and unanimous approval
by the principal Australian colonies of the strict
neutrality which the Imperial government has ob-
served in relation to the American war. Not a
doubt is expressed as to the propriety of standing
aloof, not a hint is dropped that any other prin-
ciple than that of non-intervention is applicable ;
and this not because there is not the greatest
freedom and some difference of opinion about
the necessity and propriety of the war. At
the Sydney meetings some speakers, like the
Rev. Dr. LANG, thought the people of
the Northern States of America, instead of
fighting, should have cried " Good riddance,"
and left the Slave States to rot in isolation ; others
thought differently. Nobody, however, was found
to say a word for the barbarous slave oligarchy;
nobody suggested that England ought to take it by
the hand and lead it to a place among the nations
of the world. Such unholy sympathies cannot
germinate in • community which recognises the
source of its prosperity in the energy which the
freedom and equality of its members inspires, and
which thereon founds its hopes of greatness. Free
themselves, and devoted to industry in its various
forms, they have the thoughts of freemen about
others, and can feel nothing but contempt for •
pretended " chivalry " which supporta itself by
the degradation and robbery of an oppressed race.
It is not easy to read the report of the Sydney
meeting without being impressed with the convic-,
tion of the speakers as to the superior eligibility of
colonial life for large masses of the population who