The Express.
London, England, 1864-05-05 00:00:00

vie erortoo.

TO ootatspozrDzins,
dvertleaseewla talsaded kr "The Express" Landes Breaks
Paper, moat be at the oaks, 10. Bouverleatmet, by Two
o'uock on Ms day et pabneatioa.

HAYMARKET.
TNt9 Emma, AN UNLUCKY MORTAL Miss Hants.—
DAVID GARRICK. Maw% Sothern, Buckdone. Chippendele,
Rotes: Mesdames Moore, Snowdon, FliawUllam —VENUS
AND ADONIS. U 1 Leaky.—And A KISS IN THE DARK

PEINCI3BI3.

Tina Sri3ll6o, DONNA DIANA: and Mrs If Yeah'
anAd Mr.
Vining.-0031ZDY Or ELBOW The Brothers Webb.
...ce.

.111UTAlq1/4

Tap IMMO, THE LIPT-HANDED MARRIAGE Mrs. R.
Lane and all the Company.—THE GREAT GHOST EFFECT.
—DEBO-LEAR. Master Percy Resale And plume C. at. Care
and Scott.—And a grand BHAKSPIRIAN TABLYAVL

HIGH RAI= AT WIDOW =DIM
Tier DAY Ito . lb. ft..— AfltsmAre. lb. 34m
go-Nomow Moods& lb. 581 t .4111srases. lb. lam.

LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 5.

E Conference has met once more, and still
the preliminary question as to the cessation of
hostilities remains unsettled. After a second dis-
cussion it may be said, indeed, to have hardly ad-
vanced a single step towards a practical solution.
Nor isthe reason far to seek. The arrogance and
exorbitant claims of the German Powers seem
only to increase by delay, and during the interval
that has elapsed since the loot assembling of the
Conference they appear to have purposely enlarged
their demands so as to render acquiescence impos-
sible. At the first sitting of the Conference, when
the conditions of a suspension of hostaities were
discussed, the difficulty raised by the German
plenipotentiaries related to the maintenance
of the blockade. This proposal, originally
made, we believe, by the Danish plenipotentiaries,
was favourably received by the representatives of
the neutral Powers on the ground of its obvious
fairness and equity. If during the cessation of
hostilities the German Powers were virtually
allowed to retain the enormous advantages they
had gained by land, the Dane. were on every prin-
ciple of justice entitled to retain also the com-
paratively slender advantages they had gained at
sea. Had the German Powers possessed the
smallest particle of magnanimity or even of modera-
tion, they would undoubtedly have recognised this,
and an armistice might have been concluded with-
out delay. Instead of this, however, on the re-
assembling of the Conference the representatives
of the German Powers were not satisfied with
demanding the irr-nediate suspension of the
blockade, which, though an extreme and one-aided
claim, might perhaps have been conceded for the
sake of peace ; but they now openly urge fresh ex-
action; previously foreshadowed in the semi-official
journals of Vienna and Berlin, so exorbitant and
unjust, that it is little better than a mockery
to propose them at all in a Conference of
mediating Powers avowedly assembled for the pur-
pose of protecting the vital interests of the Danish
inonarahy. These fresh demands sufficiently ill.m-
trate the attitude which the German Powers, un-
der the guidance and inspiration of M. DE BISMARCK,
have resolved to assume in the Conference, and
are obviously determined, if possible, to maintain.
They openly treat the Danes as a conquered
nation, destitute alike of any powerful friends
to support them, or of any further means of self-
defence, and who must, therefore, unconditionally
accept any terms the conquerors may choose to
dictate—must consent not only to be ravaged and
despoiled at the invaders' pleasure, but to meet
cheerfully any exactions they may choose to im-
pose. That such • position should have been
assumed, and such pretensions virtually urged be-
fore the representatives of four neutral Powers
who are pledged to the treaty of London, who
have condemned the aggression of the German
Powers as a flagrant violation of international
right, and who have undertaken to preserve the
Danish monarchy from violent dismemberment, is
a keener practical satire on the wisdom and use-
fulness of the Conference than anything its bit-
terest opponents would have ventured to imagine
even in their most speculative mood. The prac-
tical results of such proposals may be easily antici-
pated. Of course it was impossible to arrive
at any agreement on the extravagant terms pro-
posed by the German plenipotentiaries, and the
question as to the conditions of a suspension of
hostilities is, therefore, again referred to the belli-
gerent Governments, the sitting of the Conference
being meanwhile adjourned nominally until Mon-
day next. Whether it will really meet again on
that day is extremely doubtful, the Powers that
have hitherto paralysed its action having a shame-
less fertility of resource in devising fresh expe-
dients for delay, no matter how frivolous or insig-
nificant they may be. And when it does meet
again, supposing any scheme of compromise should
have been devised during the interval, it may be
feared that the German Powers will be prepared
with fresh demands, amply sufficient to prolong and
perpetuate the dead lock which now exists.

In view of these facts and probabilities it be-
comes • very serious public duty to ask again
whether any good end is likely to be attained by
protracting the sittings of the Conference under
such conditions. Unless the neutral Powers have
agreed, or can agree, on some line of action, some
scheme of equitable compromise which they are
resolved to enforce, it is obviously worse than
useless to prolong a hollow form of mediation
which, frdtn being a mere delusion, must rapidly
become a pernicious snare. M. DC %ma•ce is
the ruling spirit of the German councils, and he
evidently not only knows what he wants, but is de-
termined to have it in spite of the mediating Powers,
and even in mockery of their efforts, unless they
effectually combine to resist his policy. There
seems to be little prospect of this, and it is
assuredly neither for the honour nor the interests of
England to remain in a Conference merely to share
M. DE BISMARCK'S crimes by assisting in the for-
mal registration of his decrees. It must be remem-
bered that the British Government is responsible
for the assembling of the Congress, and will be
bound by its acts. If, after all, it should merely
endorse .the wanton aggression which enlightened
and impartial opinion has everywhere denounced,
we should not only he covered with merited dis-
honour, but become direct accomplices in the
greatest international crime attempted since the
partition of Poland.

A rouce case heard at Bow-street on Tuesday
brings out the singular fact that hue coin has a
strong tendency to the altar. The other day a
clergyman tendered at a house near Charing-cross,
in payment for some refreshment, a half-crown,
which was perceived to be spurious, and was
thereupon given into the custody of the

police. When he was brought up at the
police-court the incumbent of the church of
which he was musts attended, and offered an
explanation which was accepted as astiafac-
tory by the law advisers of the Mint, and which
led the sitting magistrate to observe in discharging
him that he left the court without a stain on his
character. According to this witness, the Rev.
IE. DAVIDSON, the half-crown in defendant's pos.
session had formed part of the money collected on
the previous Sunday at the Offertory, " and he
" grieved to say that the practice of contributing
" spurious coins on these occasions was so
" common that he had been obliged fre-
" quen•ly to allude to the subject from his
" pulpit." The rev. gentleman added, that
on inquiry of the wardens of other parishes he
found that they had been repeatedly imposed on
in the same manner, and that the practice, un-
happily, was only too general. This evidence
opens a curious side of human character to view.
We sometime' feel astonished at church as we hear
in the Epistle of the gross offences against which
the Apostles thought it necessary to warn their
Christian brethren. The next generation would per-
haps experience a similar feeling on reading a
sermon of the period A.D. 1864 against the sin of
ANANIAS and SAPPHILL. Why should people
give bad money at all at the Offertory, and how is
it that the spurious coin is of the larger denomina-
tional Is it done in ignorance f This must be ad-
witted as at least possible ; at all events, the con-
tributors are entitled to the presumption that the
coins that could deceive a curate, though not the
practised eye of a London waiter, might have
seemed good to them. The clergyman, however,
took a less favourable view of the matter from the
pulpit when, as the report says, he frequently
complained to the congregation on the subject.
Has the practice grown up merely as affording to
thoughtless persons an easy way of getting rid of an
accidental and unpleasant encumbrance, or is it ex-
pedient for amplifying a " respectable appearance"?
It may have occurred to some utilitarian worshipper
that the purpose of "setting a good example," that
end of so many of our religions observances, may
be served just as well by a bad half-crown as by a
good one. We are sorry to learn, on the authoritj
of the churchwardens, that the practice of giving
bad money at the Offertory is only too general.
But while it only affects the half-crowns there is
hope. The worst consequences may be apprehended
when our widows begin to give pewter mitea.

THE CONFERINCL—The representatives accre-
dited by the European powers to the London
Conference met yesterday at the official residence
of the First Lord of the Treasury in Downing-
street, at one o'clock, and sat till half-past two.
All the members of the Conference were present.

t•
Iva • - • I
:001 !•4' I •
•••••••

et: