The Express.
London, England, 1864-07-04 00:00:00

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MARRIED AND DONE POlL—Aiad TURNING THE TABLE&

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CHEISTr3 COLOURED COVlDLANE—Meadssoes lasstAnl
MI Constance —Aid THE DOWNFALL OF PRIDE

SIGH WAITI AT LONDON MUDD/

Mt DAY 17(nrotop. !h. 10•1... !IL Elm
TO-zomow Yarning. lb. AM.— kissaims. th. Us.

LONDON, MONDAY, JULY L

Tam evening, in the expiring days of the Ses-
sion and of it. own existence, the Home of Com-
mons will for the first time enter upon the free
discussion of the most important subject with
which the Government has been occupied these
ten years. It will discuss the affairs of Den-
mark, bat not as it might have done six months
ego, to evoke and organise public opinion, to de-
Sae the interests of the country, and to lay the
foundation of a policy. All this it has been
the wisdom of Parliament, instructed by
Lord PALMERSTON and Mr. DISB.AZLI, to
avoid. The action of Ministers in the
Dano-German quarrel will be called in question
to-night, not to serve any public object, but for the
purposes of party. Out of doors nobody asks
whether Parliament is going to vote for peace or
war, for Germany or Denmark. Nobody expects
this debate to exercise a perceptible influence on
our foreign policy during the next six months;
it is a struggle for office, and not a solemn de-
liberation on national policy, that we are about to
witness.

Mr. DISRA ELI 111 prepared to maintain that
the course pursued by her MAJZSTY'S Govern-
ment has " lowered the just influence of
" this country in the Councils of Europe, and
" thereby diminished the securities for peace."
Supposing that proposition to be true, is it for the
House of Commons to affirm it and at the invitation
of Mr. DlessELl ? What has that right honourable
gentleman been doing while Ministers have been
weakening and degrading the country and endanger-
ing the peace on which so many and so vast interest.
depend 1 Mr. DIBRAEL/ frames • resolution for
the House of Commons as he might construct •
paragraph in a criticism for the Quark-Hy Ittrietc.
Criticism, not policy, is the proper, if not the
exclusive function of the press. As the servant
and representative of the public, an independent
press fulfils its office fairly and adequately in finding
fault wherever fault is to be found, whether in
the conduct of Government, in political parties, in
the Legislature, in the administration of the law,
or in social institutions and arrangements. Criti-
cism is no doubt one of the proper functions of, •
parliamentary Opposition also, but certainly it
can never be the only or the principal func-
tion of the responsible leaders of a parliamen-
tary Opposition. A man who accepts a seat in Par-
liament does so under the obligation of placing his
judgment and courage at the service of the coun-
try. If this is the duty of the youngest and least
known member of the House of Commons, it can-
not be that superior knowledge, experience, and a
place among the sworn advisers of the %mercer,
dispense any member from the same obligation.
Mr. DLSRALLI., motion would well become any one
who had done his best in Parliament to prevent the
mischief he alleges to have been accomplished.
But he has not only abstained from discussing
Danish affairs while discussion might have had
practical effects ; he has stifled debate, and
maintained a theory by which discussion is
forbidden to the House of Commons at
the very time when it would be useful. If the
policy of the Government be as reprehensible as he
affirms, then he, and the House of Commons with
him, is answerable as conniving and abetting.
Parliamentary criticism is perhaps the only
kind of criticism which is not entitled to claim
the exemption which Dr. Jointsow claimed when
he asserted the right to criticise a pudding though
he could only eat it, and was not prepared to make
a better, or even a bad one. The leaders of a pulls-
mentary Opposition are something more than advo-
cates or critics. They are, to all intents and pur-
poses, Ministers, expectant or presumptive. When
they condemn the pudding or the picture they are
bound to be ready at a moment's notice to prove
themselves better cooks or painters. They are
necessarily ambitious menof the highestpretensions,

which they may be called upon any day to justify
by the test of opportunity and of action. Ia
short, it is not enough frif the leaders of lee
Opposition to find fault; they must be always'
prepared to do something different and better. It
is not enough for them to detect and expose the
blunders and shortcomings of a Ministry, or to
nibble holes in its policy ; they must be in a con-
dition to announce and to act upon another and •
better policy of their own. Now, this is just what
the authors and promoters of the Tory resolution,
to be moved to-night, are, on their own con-
fession, utterly incapable of doing. Their manifesto
is the merest negative criticism of the
policy of the put ; for the future, they
' have absolutely nothing to offer in its stead.
They may declaim and perorate by the hoar,
and say some very sharp and telling things about
the just influence of England; they may 'ally
' make out • case against the Government of
failure in negotiation, of incoherence and un-
steadiness of purpose, of uncertain languor
towards belligerents and towards affies ; but when
they are asked, as they will be *eked, what other
course they would have pursued in this contest
between Germany and Denmark, or what other
course they will pursue, in the event of succeeding
to power, they can only answer—" We are not
" your advisers. Call us in, and we will prescribe.'
Now Parliament and the country are perfectly
willing to listen to patriotic declamation from any
quarter, and to applaud it, for what it is worth,
but neither Parliament nor the country is dis-
posed to exchange a Government with • policy
of peace for a Government with a policy of war,
or no policy at all.

A Cabinet Council was held on Saturday at the
official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury,
in Downing-street. The ministers present were
Viscount Palmerston, the Lord Chancellor, Earl
Granville, the Duke of Argyll, Sir George Grey,
Earl Russell, the Right Hon. Edward Cardwell,
Earl De Grey, Sir Charles Wood, the Chancellor
of the Exchequer, the Duke of Somerset, the Right
Hon. T. Milner Gibson, the Earl of Clarendon,
Lord Stanley of Alderiey, and the Right Hon.
C. P. Villiers.

THE DEBATE TO-NIGHT.

(Prom tes !inn.)

The programme of a debate is a matter not always
in the hands of either government or opposition. Any in-
dependent member may throw himself athwart the battle-
field, and compel the fight to take his come. It sou the
wish of her Majesty's ministers to meet Mr. DimasWs reso-
lution with • decided negative; but Mr. Hinglake unex-
pectedly occupied the ground with • resolution which raised
a new issue. There were thus, therefore, two distinct qua.
Cons before the bowie, and between them it was probable
that some member, might be puzzled, and the speakers
themselves might not know to what point their arguments
should be mainly addressed. Mr. Nivea° was ac-
cordingly urged to withdraw his amendment, in order
to leave to government the exclusive command of
the reply to be made to Mr. Disraeli. Mr. Hinglake,
however, stood by his resolution, and would not give
way. lf, then, • confusion of argument, and perhaps some
division of forces, were to be avoided, the only coarse left
sou to accept Mr. Kinglake's resolution, and do battle
upon it alone. Mr. Disraeli will, It is expected. begin this
evening at 5, and is expected to speak till 8. Notwith-
standing the very scant ►ttendance usual at that hour, Mr.
Gladstone will, we believe, rise to reply. We are not
able wry why so effecti►e • speaker is not to have a bitter
hour and • later evening ; but as all the considerations that
rule these arrangements must be present in the minds of
those that make them, no doubt this is for the best. It is
needless to observe that It is really • question of confidence,
and is so understood by both supporters and opponent, of
her Majesty's government.

EXPECTED DISSOLUTION OF PARLIA-

MaiN'T.

Some of the journals this morning take it for
granted that whatever the fats of the vote of name, as
soon as the necessary business can be got through, the
present parliament will be dissolved. It is believed there
O nothing in the state et public huskiess to throw any ob. li
stale in the way of such a proceeding. The Private Bill
1. Committees are bringing their labosars to a close. The
public committees of the house have either finished their
L,bours, or are engaged in maltase and considering their
reports. The estimates of expenditure which give rise to
the greatest discussion have already been passed, and if
members are disposed to forego in favour of the speedy
despatch of business their right to interpose other questions
before the hone resolves heel! into committee of supply,
tun important breach of business, by which the duration
of the session is really measured, may be speedily concluded.
" There is no legislation on band that we know of," rye
the T'inses, " which would stand in the way of a dissolu-
tion for a single day. The bills on the paper are few in
number, and all of secondary importance. The hones is
like a well-pregared penitent, and, when dissolution over.
takes it, its worldly affairs will be toned to he in good
order and mealy wound up, sod its mind, we trust, tolerably
reconciled to the change." As to the data of the election,
the TiIIVA sesames that they will be got over beers the
harvest is upon us. " The last two elections took place in
the later part of the spring, but these matters will not
arrange themselves so as exactly to suit everybody's con-
venience, and, oonaiderisig the advantages we derive from
our constitution, we may well be content to put up with
far greater annoyance than is likely to ensue from a long.
delayed appeal to the country."