The Press.
London, England, 1858-12-04 00:00:00

M. DE MOSTALEMBEET shows that, satisfied with vindicating the law, he
has sympathy for genius, and respect for public opinion.

There have been several public meetings this week of more orlessin
interest. Political gatherings have taken place at Nottingham and
Rutlandshire. On the first-mentioned occasion Mr. IVALvEit's health was
proposed by a Mr. MrNDELLA, who alluded to their lion. Member's
position as the head of the English press, and of that journal whose
"thunders shook the incapable or tyrannical Minister in his Cabinet,
"made the despot tremble on his throne, and cheered the sufferer for
"liberty in his foreign dungeon." Now, all this, we know very well,
is what the Times promises its readers it will do, but we feel inclined'
like the deputation that waited on Mr. GREGSBURY, to inquire if it has
really done it—"lVhether it did not pledge itself to astonish despots, and
"make them shrink in their shoes," and whether it has "astonished
"them, and has made them shrink in their shoes" ? It appears to us that
if that incapable Minister whom the Times devoted all its thunders to
support instead of to shake, had still continued in office, the despot would
have continued to reign and the sufferer for liberty to moan until this
hour. To these grandiloquent gratulations Mr. WALTER replied, with
becoming modesty, that if he had not become Prime Minister of England,
it was only because he was the proprietor of the Times ; and he seemed to
have some glimmering of consciousness that the two positions were incom-
patible. Surely Mr. WALTER is unnecessarily fastidious for the present
age. There are gentlemen among his own staff who could show him that
such scruples are ridiculous, and that it is highly convenient for a Minister
to be able to do his own dirty work without being found out.—The meet-
ing at Oakham last Wednesday was remarkable for an excellent speech
delivered by Mr. HEATHCOTE, in which he made some very sensible remarks
on the subject of the new Reform Bill. There was one part of his speech,
however, in which we think the Hon. Member was objecting to an argu-
ment that is now pretty generally given up. It is not because the towns
are superior in intelligence that more Members are demanded for them;
but because there is an appearance of unfairness in the constituencies being
so divided, that in one place three hundred men, and in another twice as
many thousand, have only the same number of representatives. This
unfairness is more a matter of appearance than reality. But even if it
were altered, we do not think any damage could accrue either to the Con-
servative cause or the agricultural interest. For, as either the county
populations or the county constituencies outnumber the borough ones,
unless some arbitrary franchise be established and the whole Reform Bill
partake of the character of a privilegium, the counties must, on the whole,
be benefited by any equitable redistribution of the elective body.—The
religions meeting of the week was on the subject of China and Japan Mis-
sionaries, presided over by the Bishop of LONDON. The subject of Pro-
testant missions in general is one of the most interesting to which an
Englishman can listen. Protestantism is as the breath of his life, while
he rules over millions of Pagans, and is in close commercial intercourse
with millions more. But there is a peculiar difficulty in his way, which
he shrinks from looking boldly in the face. It is the very purity and sim-
plicity of his own creed, and that dislike of dogmatism which distinguishes
its ablest professors, that unfit it to cope with the coarser allurements and
more decisive action of Romanis'''. This disadvantage can only be met by
presenting ourselves to the natives in marked contrast to the Romanist on
those particular points wherein the latter is weakest. To the coercive and
irrational character of the one religion we must oppose the mild and rea-
sonable character of the other. We must make the best use of all the
material means at our disposal, and not shrink from using all theadvan•
tages which our superiority in wealth confers upon us.—A meeting was
held in the City on Wednesday last to consider the subject of underground
railways through the metropolis, in connection with the cottage-accommo-
dation scheme to which we alluded a fortnight ago. Mr. PEAItSON, the City
solicitor, Lord JOHN RUSSELL, and Baron ROTHSCHILD were among the
principal speakers.—The Middlesex magistrates have also been taking into
consideration Mr. WAKLEY'S grievance about the coroner's jury lately
noticed in these columns.

It is a melancholy fact, but none the less true, that your old-young
man and your elderly colonel never will believe they are acting anything
but a highly creditable part when they appear betbre the public in the
character of a Don Juan. The hoary-headed Corydon revels in the eclat
created by his romantic escapades in the club and the mess-room, and says,
with Tom MoonE, the poet :
Our locks, old Mend, now thinly grow,
And some hang white and chill,
While some, like flow'rs 'mid Autumn's snow,
Retain youth's colour still.
And so in our hearts, tho' one by one
Youth's sunny hopes have set,
" Thank heaven! not all their light is gone,
We're some to cheer us yet."
And so must have thought Colonel HOR'-E when he brought the case
before the public which to a great extent carries out the truth of our obser-
vations. The gallant but not juvenile Colonel is quartered at or near Win-
chester, and chance throws him in the way of a Phyllis upon whom to
throw his affection. An acquaintance springs up apparently of sc.) tender_
and demonstrative a nature that "the sweetest kisses" were freely given di
exchanged on both sides. A correspondence naturally ensues,
covered by a highly-excitable stepfather, who, instead of applying physis
r
farce to punish "the invader of the domestic hearth," proceeds in a Wm,'
novel and characteristic manner to stop the amorous Colonel's treacherous
advances. Mr. Ron, the individual in question, and stepfather to Mos,
and is dis:
CLEAYELAND, with no very apparent object, became extremely desirous 01