The Express.
London, England, 1863-01-23 00:00:00

MOH W#TKRAT LONDON BRIDGE.

Twe an—tieratiieATigi.ir.:::llllaWooa: 4h. 59h.
10410•102Wilithita&6L it. Atherhoes. 6h. 31M

LONDON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 23.

Ever if it were not customary to look in the
January number of the Quarterly Review for a
Conservative manifesto, and indications of the
iiirecoa which the Parliamentary activity of the
Opposition is likely to take, an indictment of Lord
Pauzzarroir's Government, so elaborate and
painstaking as that just published, would be worth
notice. Whatever the origin or authority of the
article entitled " Four Years of a Reforming Ad-
ministration," it is a forcible statement of all that
an ingenious and very zealous follower of Lord
DIZBY as had to say against the Administration.

The Reviewer commences by giving thanks to
Hieaven that the Reform delusion is dissipated
he trusts that we have escaped the danger of
" being taxed more and more at the pleasure of
" the clams who habitually stand upon the
" brink of want." In the discussions which
preceded the Reform Bill, it was made
a permanent ground of reproach to the
utilitarian school of parliamentary reformers that
they built their theories upon a low and distrust-
ful estimate of human nature, overlooking its
best part. It seems, however, that nothing is too
bad to believe concerning the classes whose in-
dustry enriches and strengthens the country. By
believing the worst of them, and all that is good of
those Above them, it seems we get at the true
Tory awed. In justice, it must be said that that
of many Whigs is no better.

The complaint of the Reviewer Is the old one,
that when Reform was dispelled the Reform
Ministry was not dismissed also. According to
him, the greater part of the policy of Lord PAZ/-
imams% Administration is traceable to the MOW
fifty of finding substitutes for Reform acceptable to
his followers. It pleases him to fancy that a
sacrifice of the interests of the Church
by law established was one of these,
and that by making that Church a victim Lord
PALIVINNTON has deserved and gained the gratitude
of Dissenters. Of course it is impossible for him
to point to any action of the Government to justify
that charge. From his loose assertions we
gather that he refers to the votes which some
members of the Cabinet have given to Sir
JOHN TarA.Awirv's measure foe the Abolition
of Church Rates, Mr. DTLLWYN'S on En-
dowed Schools, Sir Morrow Pwro's for securing
Christian Burial for Baptists, and to Mr. Lows's re-
sistance at the Privy Council-office to the attempt
of High Church incumbents to force the Church
Catechism on the children of Dissenters. But, as
everybody knows, the bills we have mentioned
have been supported heartily by the beet of Church-
men, in the belief that they would strengthen and
not weaken the position of their Church.

The Reviewer appears to be acutely sensible of
the strength which the Government still derives
from its Italian policy, and complains that " when-
" ever Lord PALMERSTON ran upon a party diffi-
" culty, Italy was always at hand to help him off."
There is a measure of truth in this which Mr.
DiszAzu might lay to heart. If he does not take
care be may find to his cost that FRANCIS IL and
the POPE are no more sources of strength to an
enterprising Opposition leader now than they
were a year ago. Even the Reviewer, however,
does not seem to have learnt the moral of his own
story. He admires the firmness of Loris NAro-
max and Cardinal ArrroNima, and lays down
the rule that " complete abstinence from any part"
in the controversy between the Italians and the
foreign Government, which holds their capital is
the only right policy for England. By his own
showing it is not the policy which gains support
for a Ministry.
The Reviewer appears to conceive that the finan-
cial policy of Mr. GLADESONE is a subject to be
dealt with only at safe distance ; accordingly he has
only treated of it in general terms. Mr. GLAD-
axon; it seems, has " made the taxation of the
" country in a moment of great necessity intole-
" rable to those who bear it." He mourns
over the small taxes which it is the Cu.AN
czuoa's pride to have swept away. " The small
" taxes are all gone, and the large taxes
" are already too galling by far to bear any in-
creasing weight." He writes about taxes with all
the gusto of a tax eater, mochas a country gentleman
might about the melons and peaches which he has
raised with watchful care. That there are tax
payers as well as tax eaters does not appear to
occur to him, and of course he has nothing to say
to the stimulus given to trade and the increase of
the wealth of the country by Mr. GLADlvroxe's
reforms. Perhaps he is not to blame for knowing
nothing of the refutations of his assumptions sup-
plied by the latest revenue returns.
The proposed cession of the lonian Islands to
Greece excites the Reviewer's indignation more
than any other scheme of the Administration. It
is his humour to represent it as a "financial
" event," a " triumph of retrenchment ;" and he
carries his humour to absurdity. " We know now,"
he exclaims, "the exact value of the Paper Duties.
" If those duties had been retained we should not