The Express.
London, England, 1864-03-01 00:00:00

PRINCEWIL

ISO Ecrtcd, PACI:9 REfORS. Mews. Vining, Neboe.
Mesdames Marston end Kate hwitld—TlE COMCDV
OF ERRORS. Messrs. Vining. Nelson, and the Brothels Webb.
—And JACK'S ARRIVAL PROM CANION.

.Lvestrm."

Missrills Ingmea, alii-e'ELD. Mr. Wlddloomb sad
P. Loclercq.—BEL DIMOIIIO. a Love Blom Messrs.
feehtet. Brougham, Irmo, Charles, and Jordan; Mame
Kate Term loveaue, and Bleirarthy, sad Msa laa

IMITANNIA-
Tura Eeritsa. THE OUTCASTS. Messrs. Reynolds. Cnn.
ford. and Drummond: Madames Yarnold and Mika—And
HICKORY, DICHORY, DOCK. Mesdames & Lae and Cranford.
Tbe Fr.och Clowns -The Ildry /osairda.

RIGA WATER AT LOIDON BRIDGE.
TI DAT Weida& 4 301a...••ADITIALTAL
IGolloßao, Monde& 7b. Tom M. 6

LONDON, TUESDAY, MARCH 1.

IN the month that has elapsed since the meeting
of Parliament Lord DERBY and his chief sup-
porters have bad such an opportunity as a party
in opposition rarely enjoys of displaying before the
country the qualifications which form the ground
of their pretensions to office and power. Ministers
met Parliament surrounded with embarrassments
and weakened by difference of opinion. It was
notorious that a large body of their adherents were
dissatisfied with their neglect of domestic reform,
while their policy abroad, which had long been
accepted as some compensation for their omis-
sions at home, had in two most important direc-
tions resulted in failure. Prudent opposition
leaders would have known how to turn this
situation to profitable account. In exposing the
errors of the Administration they would have
taken care to give evidence of their own superior
discernment. They would have seen the impor-
tance of establishing a reputation not only for that
ability in which neither of the great parties is
deficient, but also for those sober and
statesmanlike qualities that inspire the
confidence which the public withholds from so
many whom it unhesitatingly admires. The course
taken by the chiefs of the Conservative party in
both Houses, from the very meeting of Parliament
down to Mr. Disaszu's speech of last night,
has been the very opposite of this. It has,
indeed, been recklessly and indecently fac-
tious. From the experienced and generally
judicious leader of the party in the Lords to Mr.
SEYMOUR FITZOERALD and Lord ROBERT CECIL, its
members appear to have been animated by the
merest party spirit. A great deal that is smart
and clever, and even true, has been said from the
Opposition benches. But of English statesmanship,
of clear and decided views, of coherent purposes,
and firm, steady resolves, we have heard nothing.
The public has seen its most important interests
sacrificed by the Conservatives to objects for which
it could feel neither sympathy nor respect, and it
estimates their position accordingly. On the great
questions of the day, and especially on those which
have furnished occasions to their sharpest criticisms
on the Government, Lord DERBY and his friends
have found nothing to say which affords reasonable
evidence that they would have managed the
affairs of the country better than the
statesmen in office, while they have had
the folly to identify themselves by their
advocacy with causes inimical to the welfare of the
country. They have done more than probably
any party not burdened with the cares of office ever
did iu so short a time to neutralise their chances
of arriving at power. Whatever prospects seemed
to open before them a month ago have now dis-
solved ; and when men are disposed to complain
of Lord Patimisrox's Government, they will
suppress their murmurings as they think of the
intolerable alternative.

In nothing has the wantonness of faction been
more strikingly shown than in the attack made
upon the Government on account of its dealings
with Mr. LAIRD iu respect of the Confederate
rams. The assault of this day week, although
committed to a subordinate, had the full
sanction of the leaders of the party, and
was premeditated. Lord Deasy had threatened
it on the first night of the session, and never
did a great party make a baser interest
its own. The extravagant charges vehemently
urged against the Government because it had
taken a course called for by public opinion and
dictated by duty to a friendly nation, show an utter
abandonment of principle, and well mark the cha-
racter of a party whose hopes rest not upon the merits
of its members, but upon the accidents of the day.
The speakers of the Opposition were unable to deny
that the rams were intended for the Confederate
Government, or that the building of them for such a
purpose was contrary to the spirit and meaning of the

Foreign Enlistment Act. They could sot pretend
that Earl Rues= had not treated Mr. Lusto with
a degree of consideration which appears uttsrly un-
merited when we consider the extent to which he
was prepared to sacrifice hie country's interests to
his own. When the facts were fist brought to his
knowledge the FOREIGN SECRETARY invited Mr.
LAIRD to state for what foreign government they
were intended, and received for answer that •
French gentleman, Mr. BAYR.AT, had ordered them
for the Pacha of Eom. But inquiries made of
the Egyptian Government showed that Mr. LAIRD
had been misinformed, and that notwithstanding
the Egyptian names given to the vessel the Pause
knew nothing about them. The Foreign-office was
then obliged to institute inquiries upon its own ac-
count, and found much difficulty in getting at the
truth. The American Minister was of course ac-
tive meanwhile in remonstrating with the English
Govenruent, and representing the urgency of the
case, and the danger that the rams would escape,
as the Alabama had done, while the Government
was deliberating. It is not pretended, however,
that Earl Brum permitted himself to be ad-
dressed otherwise than as became the re-
presentative of England. As long as the
information at Earl RrasELL'a command was
vague and uncertain he forbore to act, but
when it had acquired a sufficiently tangible cha-
racter his promptitude and decision were equal to
his former caution, and an embargo was laid upon
the rams. A month was allowed to Mr. LAIRD to
give a straightforward account of the destination
of the ships ; but this he was unable to do. The
Government then offered to buy the vessels, but
its offer was refused. It was not till then that the
rams were seized in the QUEEN'S name. And it is
upon such facts as these that Sir HUGH CAIRNS
and Mr. WALPOLE agree to build a charge of op-
pression and of usurpation of unconstitutional
power by the Executive.
There is something fitting in the association of
the so-called Conservative Opposition with this
wretched case. Their politics bear pretty
nearly the same relation to real statesman-
ship as blockade running and Confederate ram
building bear to the legitimate commercial and
manufacturing interests of the country. As Mr.
THOMAS BARING—who to his great honour dis-
avowed the tactics of his party in the recent
debate—remarked, no country in the world has so
deep a stake in the observance of the duties and
the assertion of the rights of neutrals as Great
Britain. It cannot be shown that in any case,
from that of the Trent to that of the Saxon, the
Government has failed to assert those rights as
against the United States ; and the Conservatives,
by resisting the performance of the correlative duties
devolving upon us, have shown themselves heed-
less of the interests of the country, and have justly
forfeited the confidence both of the public and of
the more disinterested and patriotic members of
their own party.

CDt Court.

WINDSOR CASTLE, Fxs. 29.

The Queen, accompanied by Princess Helena
and Princess Hohenlobe, went to London this morning by a
special train on the Great Western Railway, and visited
the Prince and Princess of Wales at Marlborough House.
Her Majesty afterwards visited the Duchess of Cambridge
and the Grand Duchess of Mecklenburg at St. James's
Palace. Her Majesty then drove to Buckingham Palace,
and returned to Windsor at a quarter after one o'clock.
Viecounkes Jocelyn, the Hoc. Mrs. Bruce, Major-General
Seymour, and Lieut.-Colossi the Hon. D. de Roe, were in
attendance.

Priors Arthur, attended by Major Elphinstone, returned
to (;reenwieh Park this morning.

Her Majesty the Queen, accompanied by the Princess
Helena and the Princess Hohenlobe, riaited the Prince and
Princess of Wales at Marlborough-house yesterday morning
and remained till noon.

Her Majesty was attended by the Viscountese Jocelyn'
the Hon. Mrs. Brace, M►jor-General F. H. Seymour, and
Lieut.-Colonel the Hon. D. de Ike.

At three o'clock in the afternoon the Lord Mayor of Lon-
don, with the sheriffs, and •deputation consisting of a large
number of the Aldermen and other members of the Corps"-
ration, together with a deputation from the Court of Lim-
tenancy ; the Lord Mayor of Dublin, with a deputation
the Lord Provost of the City of Edinburgh, with a deputa-
tion ; and the Lord Mayor of York, with a deputation,
arrived at Marlborough-house to present addresses of con-
gratulation to the Prince and Princess of Wales upon the
birth of the infant Prince.

The Prince and Princess, attended by the Coasters De
Grey, Lord Barrie, Lord Alfred Hervey, Lieut• General
Knollys, Major Teesdale, Colonel Koppel, Captain Grey,
the Hon. P.. H. Meade, Mr. C. Wood, and Mr. Fisher, re-
ceived the civic dignitaries in the drawing-room. The de-
putations. attired in their State robes, were severelly in-
troduced by Lord Alfred Hervey. Their addreases having
been read and graciously received, the deputations retired.
The Prince of Wales afterwards rode out on horseback,
attended by Major Teesdale.