The Express.
London, England, 1852-02-18 00:00:00

thiv. that regitnents vfould be deprived of their old
,01,14.r5; but take any regiment ordered abroad
gad but for prisates of ten years standing would be
food in the ranks. They have either betsme nos-
pauoissaaird officers or are left with tho depots. In
this manner, not only might we possess the finest
▪ ove artily in the world, but one surely more
sonomi,al than a militia. Such a farce would
thoroughly disciplined and could mix rod
troperay with the civil population, besides which
thy prohthility of being ultimately one of this body,
ht t ail to attract a higher class of men to the
striae thin at present fill the ranks. For the pre-
sent prospect of finishing their days in the West
or Nur t Scotia gives but little impetus to the
triter eilueuted portion of the community to co-
llege( ras Idiers
The a hole attention of the country and of the
legislature should be devoted to the proper solution
el Cl, difficulty of ample defence in the best pos-
sible taxmen Whether the plan is to be a reserve
iffeC of regulars or volunteer corps, with a
p...rful 'het in the Channel, let the parliament
sad the propie decide,—but decide quickly. Lord
rastatstos wants the regular militia : he will find
s hard task to make men leave their homes to play
to soldb N. Thousands cnn neither spare time to serve
aorivirc the inoney to buy substitutes. And though
tens of thousands are ready to make all necessary
saaitio, to. national security, they are equally de-
terrain.d that the sacrifice shall nut. be unnecessarily
num

To Pis. the County Rates Bill, so often proposed by
Idr. Mit i n Cowes, and as often defeated by that
highly int, Ligent section of the opposition, the coun-
try• justice.. stands for second reading in the House
of Commons. We have repeatedly expressed our
opinion oi. that measure. It is a compromise at the
he.t, and. if it were not fur the great principle eon-
tained in it, we should think it scarcely worth striving
for. principle is the right of the county rate.-
poser to some voice in the assessment of his rates,
and sonic control over their administration—in
other words, local government by local re-
maculation. It is a method of government which
we have shown to be essentially English—
farnishiag the model upon which the parliament—
itself a modern institution in comparison—was
fashioned in the days of the PLANEAGENETs : a
method in action down to the Revolution of 1688,
and confiscated at lust by the minister. to the profit
ouly of the seplitrarehy, and to the decline of every
other interest. The movement, to which Mr. MILNER
Gtessits's bill has given occasion, is so far welcome,
inasmuch as it tends in the true direction ; namely,
that of restoring to the people valuable rights
of which they have been so lung, violently, and
injuriously deprived.
In this sense. and to this extent, we rejoice in any
prospect of success that may dawn upon the County
Rates Bill. But we continue in the opinion we have
always expressed, that the bill itself is but a most un-
skilful and insufficient method of working out its own
avow eel pi inciple, and in the belief that, when it posses,
theexist u., niovement, far from subsiding, will be only
stimulated into tenfold energy, for the revision of its
▪ n fault. add the completion of what it leaves unfi-
nished. To refer the affairs of the county ratepayers
to a beard, composed half of self-elected justices of
the peace, and half of delegates chosen by the guar-
dians of unions under the Poor-law—thew unions,
in many instances, not being co:lterminous with the
counties whose boards they arc to constitute—appears
to us both a clumsy and an incongruous application
in the concrete, of the theory- unequiiomby recog-
nised as the principle of the plan, that the local rates
ought nut to be levied nor administered but by the
representatives of the local ratepayers.
Far be ,ter would it have becu, as we have more
than once had occasion to point out, to adopt for the
general management of county rates and expendi-
ture, the plan of the late National Schools' Association
fur the conduct of the public schools to be este-
bibbed and maintained by rates specially levied for
the purpose. According to that plan, the county
board a ioild be chosen by the ratepayers themselves,
in hundred court assembled ; and the number of re-
presentatives for each hundred would be determined
by the number of its townships. In that way, the
two difficulties which so much perplexed Mr. Mit-
ten' Gig'ot's committee of INLII would be com-
pletely met. It would not be necessary to endure
on the one hand the inconvenience of
one large central election for the whole, shire;
nor vet. on the other hand, that of a too numerous
board, the inevitable consequence of an election by
township. If the hundred court continues to be
available for the yearly presentment of other local
(deem such as high constables, high bailiffs, and 8o
forth, we do not see why it should not be equally so
for the larger and more important functions involved
in the scheme of local organisation which we
recommend.
We could, therefore, wish that the promoters of
these two most important measures—the County
Rates Bill and the Secular Schools Bill—would en-
deavour to come to some understanding, and proms
cute in common their common cause. To have
ale form of local organisation for one local
purpose and another form for another, ap-
pears to us sadly at variance with every
sound principle of political and social economy,
and ten much in keeping with the pernicious and
wasteful legislation of the past. There are the
turnpike roads trustees, and the surveyors of
highways, the poor-law guardians, and the justices
in sessions, the boards of health, the lords lieutenant,
the commissioners of police, and the Secretary
for the Home Department! Surely there is
already here chaos enough, and waste of energy
too, without adding fresh ingredients to the caldron.
We would rather say, 'that the time is come when
the attempt should be made once for all to reduce all
these elements to order and harmony, and when a
municipal organisation of the shires and rural dis-
tricts of England far all purposes, and upon a great
and comprehensive principle, should bo commenced
in good earnest.
It has been repeatedly stated in parliament,—and
we believe that of the fact itself there is no doubt,—
that such a measure was for some time under the
consideration of Lord MELBOURNE'S ministry, and
that the tato King, WILLIAM IV., gave it his strong
personal recommendation. But the lively interest
which the SoVERZION took in its success was feebly
responded to by. the cabinet, and Lord JOHN Rots-
SELL himself having obtained the consent of his col-
leagues to the bill for the reform of the municipal
corporations of England, and Wales, and Ireland,
was contented to relegate the question of the rural
municipalities of the country- to the Greek Kalends.
The desultory efforts of Mr. HUME and Sir RICRAIIIII
*Wilt %VI. is 1g36-9. to supply that vast defect were
ill-seconded by the liberal party, and proved wholly
unsuccessful. In the present parliament Mr. MILNER
(Vacua his made several endeavours to compass the
same praiseworthy object, at least in part, by his
Bill for County Boards, which seems now, after re-
peated failures, to be accepted be his magisterial op-
ponents in the style of a compromise. That bill simply
proposes that nearly all the powers now vested in the
j county ustices at sessions shall be vested hencefor-
ward in a council or county board, periodically
elected, one half by the justices themselves, the other
by the boards of guardians. Beyond this no muni-
cipal functions are designed to be conferred upon the
new council. It is obvious that when this bill be-
comes law much willyet remain tobedono before the
municipal organisation, which it nevertheless via,
tually recognises to be necessary for the cheap mai
efficient administration of the counties, can be mid
to have received its completion.

Ctrr COMIIIIIEOSZI4I OF 81F11133.—Yesterday the
tenttei..innees oesamakti ha the OMhilts% Mr. Deputy
Peatork in the Ask. n• shaman observed that a de-
tailed aeopuet of the Mow of the City Commiodeor re of
Pewees for the whole of het year hod boss dome Üby
the sums/or. It vigil ha son that wbolovor Efolit be
said againtt the Cooprooths of tie OW of ihs no.
altar/ condition usi rbo umbra of disk adiFF4dillonto
formed an wrostiol eliost is theorise of dor mart. The
report war wisroll kis /rioted awl dioldbobil amongst
the tnernhen of the oserlitati°°-
NEw AND CRIMP therriPCBl/2. ifillkidery a
number of sew od ormidbms SISIMFDeed
mooing between the tomilams of doe Cheat
WeMere Railway awl the Marileera stalks, at
'ins'. eras. The fare is 2d. kw the ea** distorter.
FIPP. DAWITORD.—The fireless of the Loudon
brigade, with a strata Dumber of hired analllaries, have
been sanely employed ever .inec their snivel cm Saturday
amht in •ndarrourthe to list the fire at the Phenix Paper
entirtly ertiosubbed, but up toted evesbrg have beat
maatiereasfal, sad a mass of fin still remake imaseth tho
table 200 wawa were employed is the WU, all of whom
have born thrown out of work.