The Express.
London, England, 1864-07-25 00:00:00

PRINCEM IL

THIS ItTIMM. BORN TO GOOD LUCK. Mr. D. Horny.
—And THE BIONAsTRRY ET. MST. Messrs. Vining.
Marston, Nelson. By, and Manes Millie. Stella Colas and
Mrs. Marston.

asrraWNlA.

TITTS Marina. THE—silil of CRIMF. - Ringing by
Mesdames Lose bd. Constance. and Mr H. Baker. -Danang by
Millie. C. Stephan. -And THZ TALLTUAN.

KIER WATER AT LONDON BRIDE&
TRW DAT Montlmg, Mt. 18m.. . Aftiroads, 6111.
To-moaftow —Morning, 71t. .Ahmstoos. 71% 81m.

LONDON, MONDAY, JULY 25.

No speech in the debate on Mr. Diaeszti's
Motion of Censure left so deep an impression
upon the House and the country as that of the
boo. member for Rochdale. There were many,
perhaps, on either side of the House who were
not prepared to accept the dogma of absolute non-
intervention in the sense of the isolation, and inau•
lotion, of England from the destinies of Europe ;
but very few on either side, except the merest
official claps Pins or mutes, listened without satis-
faction to the calm and penetrating criticism of a
futile diplomacy. Mr. CORDES raised the party
question of the hour into a question of national dig-
nity and prudence, made passion thoughtful, pre-
judice attentive, and faction itself judicial. There
is a virtue in simplicity, an artless art in sincerity
and disinterestedness,which wins its way insensibly,
and sways the intelligence and the conscience
of a political assembly. In the actual
dearth of statesmen and legislators worthy of
the name it is beginning to be discovered with
something like relief that Mr. COBDEN is not a ,
mere " Manchester man," whose one idea was ex-
hausted when he had carried free trade and nego-
tiated a commercial treaty. To some he may
appear still too exclusively under the domination of
a commercial habit of mind. But a shrewd, clear,
practical, business-like brain accustomed to think
with clearness and precision, and to make its thought
run clear in language, is a real power it a
Parliament which, although prodigal in its
youth, is, in its latter days, re-norsefully bent
upon administrative economy and efficiency, and
painfully anxious to convince its constituents that
they have their money's worth in the security and
strength of the kingdom. At such a time
Mr. Connes is heartily welcome when, instead
of expatiating on the follies of war or echoing
the hollow watchwords of the hustings, be
shows himself a man of his time and of his coun-
try, with whom all good and true servants of
their country may work for the common good.
Anyone who has the slightest acquaintance with
the House of Commons knows too well that there
is little to choose between Liberals and Conserve-
tives in practical neglect of the d-y business of the
State. Liberals and Conservatives alike will
proclaim themselves to their electors enemies to
extravagant expenditure; yet night eter night
they will suffer millions upon millions to be voted
away in a House that might any moment be
counted out. It is therefore no slight cause for
congratulation when Mr. COBDEN takes up the
old abandoned banner of retrenchment—not
to flaunt it idly in the air, but to lead
it to victories in which the whole nation will
triumph. Mr. COBDEN'S public usefulness has
been impaired by the impression which his adver-
saries have taken no pains to weaken, that because
he hated war he was for peace at any price. We dare
say there are some important persons who would
rather that the Member for Rochdale should be a
fanatical apostle of universal peace and national
renunciation, than that he should devote his
attention to dockyards, arsenals, and armaments,
and make a speech on government manufac-
turing establishments so lucid and so cogent
that even the Under Secretary of War was
fain to applaud while he controverted it, and
every member, from the honest Tory Colonel who
seconded the motion, to the Lord of the Admiralty
who recognised its value, listened to the sermon
with all the fervent sympathy of a congregation of
concerts.

Nut that Mr. COBDEN'S positions, his facts and
figures, were unassailable—not that, while most
cordially welcoming his criticisms, we should be
prepared to accept, absolutely and without conten-
tion, his proposals. The subject is a large
one, full of difficult detail, and too complicated to
be pronounced upon offhand. Nor is it any dis-
paragement to Mr. COBDEN'S treatment of the
question of Government Establishments to say that
it was eminently that of a commercial man.
While be repudiates the bare supposition
that there is deterioration of quality
with reduction of price, he argues as if his whole
idea were cheapness. The tendency of trade
is to facilitate reproduction and reduce price ;
quality is put very much out of the question,
while increased consumption and demand multiply
small profits. Now in the public service profit
cannot be an element ; efficiency should stand in its
piece. Cost is nothing as compared with efficiency in
agnn. Stringent inspection may be able to insure this
efficiency in articles furnished by private makers,
but the inspectors are themselves not proof against
flaws. In Government establishments there is not
the same temptation, and profit's not there a neces-
sary element. There is a distinction between manu-
factured material supplied to Government and
their own construction of that material. So much
is done on the principle of piece-work in great
private establishments that the article is liable to
be made up in an inferior manner, which at any
rata need not be the case in Government factories.
Moreover, does not Mr. COBDEN lay too much
stress upon the principle instead of upon the