The Express.
London, England, 1863-04-16 00:00:00

vrcurit.

Tlll.l livotnto. A [Mai; ARAM Xman non and
Widdloomb , Hu. Hours& and lira Lea—And THE DIMES
MOTTO. wawa FachOr, Shore. Brougham. and Raymond;
MIMI C. Leolaroq, L. Terry. aod EJaworthg.

BRITANNIA.
Two Fromm TER WIDOW AND ORTHANS.—FAITH,
DEANS. Hr. and Mr
HOPI, AND CHARITY, wltli Preferostapiar britClllAL
ILLUSION.—JEANNIE Dn S. Lane.
—And nu CIRCLET OF GOLD. Mr. and MI His..

NUM WATIIL AT LONDON ESIDOL
TINA DAY --Manilas OR SUL ....Afesurroa IL Oa
TaitomoV-11art/s& 14 imas.....Ananops. IL 42a.

LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 16.

Tau lions Szcarrasv ia, it appears, about to
act on the suggestions hastily made in favour of
amalgamating the City Police with the Metro-
politan force. A Bill for this purpose has been
given notice of, and will be introduced by Sir
Gigolos GREY early next week. The change thus
proposed is, on constitutional as well as other
grounds, a serious one, and it is important that no
attempt should be made to effect it hurriedly on
the spur of a temporary excitement, or without
full time being afforded for considering the pro-
posal in all its bearings. It is possible that there
may be some powerful reasons in favour of the
proposed amalgamation, and if so it is extremely'
desirable that they should be stated and fully dis-
cussed. Meanwhile, however, it must be noted,
that none of the reasons hitherto offered in support
of the change will bear serious examination. The
chief if not the only argument urged by the advo-
cates of amalgamation is the break-down of the
Police arrangements in the City on the occasion of
the PfIDOSMS ALEXANDRA'S entry, and on the night
of the illuminations. This comparative failure

undoubtedly furnishes good ground for searching
inquiry on the part of the City authorities, and,
supplies them with a cogent reason foe securing
greater rigour and efficiency in the administration

of the force under their control. But in itaelf the '
insufficiency of a special arrangement supplies no
valid argument whatever in favour of organic
change. The best institutions fail, or partially fail,
occasionally, bat it would be not only irrational
but most unjust to stigmatise them as radically
vicious and urge their abolition on the sole
ground of the temporary failure. Constitutional
monarchy, for example, breaks down now and
then, from the perversity or incapacity of the
reigning sovereign ; bat the usual antidote for
this serious evil is the substitution of a better
king, not the abolition of the monarchy. In
like manner the partial collapse of the arrange-
ments made by the City Police for meeting an
unexampled and overwhelming pressure is no
good reams for condemning the whole system of
administration. And that it is really no better
than a pretext with many who employ it for this
purpose, may be sufficiently proved by a simple
inquiry. Had the case been reversed, had the
confusion and delay occurred on the Metro-
politan instead of the City side would thous
who now clamour for amalgamation mkt a
central authority have been equally loud in
demanding that the Metropolitan should be awl-
inflated to the City Police, and placed under cue-
plete municipal control f But had the distin-
guished Chief of the Metropolitan Police unhap-
pily been removed just before the entry of the
Penmen, it is quite conceivable that some confu-
sion in the arrangements, or partial failure in eer-
rying them out, might have occurred west of
Temple Bar. Should we in that came, however
have had an agitation in favour of breaking tip the
Metropolitan force into Marylisbane, Westminster,
and Lambeth divisions, and placing each under
local control f Such a proposal would, never
&ekes, as the offspring of a special experience,
have been supported by the very arguments
now most strongly urged in favour of amalgamation.
No system, good in itself, is to be condemned
from an exceptional instance of inefficient admi.
nistration, and the ugly rush at the Mansion-bonus
lad month supplies no sound reason for so sweep-
ing an organic change as that involved in the
abolition of the established municipal control of
the City Police. That ugly rush, it is true, seri-
ously reflects on the City management, and has
very naturally, for the moment, excited a strong
feeling against the system. Bat legislation
ought to be founded, not on feeling, but
on

arguments that will bear
the fullest and moat deliberate investigation.
Nothing is more dangerous in its tendency, more
injurious to the public interests, than the attempt
to make serious legislative changes in osseous of
panic and on the spur of some momentary excite-
ment. Only a few months ago, during the garotting
panic, a violent outcry was raised for the abolition
of our existing penal system, and a return to the
old plan of transportation. According to the penis-
mongers there was no time for debate or delay, and
immediate legislative interference was loudly a.-
nuoded. Had this demand been complied with,
we should by this time have been involved is
a desperate and perhaps fatal quarrel with oar
most flourishing colonies. Now those who made
the demand are congratulating themselves and the'
public that nothing was done. So in this caw, if
the momentary feeling against the City Police aye-
tem is founded in reason, the reason ought to be
stated and fairly discussed before any step is
taken by the Legislature. If it can be shown
that the system of municipal Police administration
is vicious in principle, or necessarily inefficient in
practice, there would then be at least some show
of reason for the proposed legislative interfer-
ence. But this has not hitherto been attempted.
No advocate of amalgamation has ventured to
condemn the principle of local self-government
as radically vicious, for the very sufficient
reason that in this country no intelligent and

patriotic citizen would listen to such a doetrine. '
' The proceedings of municipal boast and the
details of their local administration are some-
times amusing enough, and afford a broad and easy
mark for the shafts of ridicule and satire. But
while we smile at the inflated language of some
local administrators, it must not be forgotten
that the system is one of the greatest safeguards
!of public liberty, and that not so much in its
direct results as in its indirect influence. The
actual government locally secured may in some
cases be imperfect enough, but the process of ad-
ministration is of incalculable value in helping to
keep up the public spirit and local patriotism
of the citizens. In the special case of the City
Police it is, as a matter both of principle and
policy, extremely desirable that the existing muni-
cipal control should be maintained. The principle
that the City Corporation should provide for the
protection of the citizens has always been re-
garded as wise and salutary, for the obvious
reason that it is better for the public that power
of this kind should be distributed amongst the
citizens than that it should be concentrated in the
hands of the Government. Nothing has occurred
that we know of to show that the principle is
either unsound in itself or incapable of ap-
plication in practice. No one pretends
to say that thorough efficiency is incom-
patible with the existing system of Police adminis-
tration in the City. Such a notion has been suf-
ciently disproved in times past by the fact, and
the defects which an exceptional experience re-
cently revealed can, of course, be easily corrected
without the interference of the Home Office. No
one can deny that thorough efficiency may be as
well secured under the citizens as under the Home
Office. Inefficiency may, of course, reveal itself
under either system, but if ithad done so under the
Home Office, that would not have been converted
into a reason for abolishing the central adminis-
tration, and localising the Metropolitan force.
Nor ought the insufficiency of the recent Police
arrangements in the City to be used as a pretext
for abolishing the system of Civic rule.

Cbt Court.

WINDSOR CASTLS ATIUL 15.

The Queen, accompanied by the Prinow
Helena and attended by the Hoe. Harriet Phipps, drove
out in a carriage and four yesterday *Hamm.
Major-Usual Seymour attended osi bonebselt.
Her Majesty, attended by Lady Augusts Bruce, drove out
this =msg.

Colocal lion. A. Harding, wiz in attendance.
Prince Leopoidand Princess Beatrice went toXondon, and
I visited the Zoological-gardens, attended by lady Caroline
Barrington and Captain Sir W. Haste.
Captain 800. F. Egerton, R.N., arrived at the Castle
yesterday.

_
Lord Crunorne and Captain Sir W. Host* bare ano.
eroded Lord de Tabby and Lieatenant•Colonel Kinpoote
as Lord and Groom in Waiting.
The Marchioness of Ely has succeeded the Curlew of
Athol. u Lady in Waiting to the Queen.

A Cabinet Council was held yesterday, at
the official residence of the First Lord of the
Treasury, in Downing-street. The Ministers pre-
sent were Viscount Palmerston, the Lord Chan-
cellor, Earl Granville, Sir George Grey, Earl
Russell, the Duke of Newcastle, the Chancellor of
the Exchequer, the Duke of Somerset, the Right
Hon. T. Milner Gibson, the Right Hon. Edward
Cardwell, and Lord Stanley of Alderley.