The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-04 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY. JANUARY 4.

THE unopposed re-election of Lord JOHN lit s'er.u.
for tiie City of London is another proof of popular
willingness to give the new Administration a fair
trial. With their ancient trust and patience the
citizens or London have once more " listened and
believed" and the IVhig leader is sent hack to
St. Stephen's strengthened by their approval. Not
very long ago Lord JoHN RESSELL, as Prime Minis-
ter, was very generally regarded with anything but
heartiness. lie had surrounded himself in office by
a family and political clique, in the trammels of
hich he was held so fast that political progress with
him as the leader seemed next to impossible. By
the very burden of internal weakness his Adminis-
tration fell,—decided by its foes and scarcely
pitied by its friends. But the " Sweet uses
of adversity" have worked their usual wonders
oacc more—the proof in this case being the
speech yesterday uttered in the Guildhall. Lord
.Tints going out Prime Minister reappears as
Foreign Secretary, and makes a series ot explana-
tions, she lug how a period of exile from place may
sharpen a statesman's perception of what a nation's
reporements may be. After reslaying the slain
monster Protection, and giving his reply to Lord
Dmiliv's groan about the coalition, Lord JOHN very
gracefully explained how he had come to occupy his
sew position. in the arrangement of a government, the
real question, he tells us, was—Either Lords ABER-
DEEN and RUSSELL in combination, or Lord DERBY
back again. With this alternative the acceptance by
the Whig ex-Premier of a post under a Peel-
ite Prime Minister was an act which the
people will certainly be inclined rather to applaud
than blame. And the more so when the statesman
who takes the step goes on to repeat what his col-
leagues, Sir JANIES GRAIRM and Sir WILLIAM
110LESW0ItTII, had before declared, that questions of
Reform are under ministerial consideration. We are

promised such an extension of religious liberty as,
shall lelieve English Jews from the civil disabilities
under which they now labour. We are told to expect
a good measure of Customs Reform. We are allowed
to see that the former positive refusal to admit the
unequal pressure of the existing income tax is by
no means so defiant as of old, and that the new
Ministry arc ready to concede at all events the possi-
bility of making a "greater approximation" to
justice in the levy of that tax, than we find in
" the measures which now exist." Mr. GLADSTONE,
we arc told, is going to examine the schedules, and
to be more compli tely master of the subject than his
predecessor proved to be—all very well sofaru it goes.
We are next indulged with a warm denunciation of
"those scandalous scenes of bribery and corruption"
witnessed at the last general election, but coupled with
an objection to that secret voting, by which alone Re-
formers hope for improvement. Lord JOHN RUSSELL
objects to the Ballot, and is "against secrecy in
everything." This is a very poor excuse for object-
ing to the most available means for stopping
electoral abominations now no longer denied
and which even the new Ministers declare their
desire to cure. There is a time for all things, and
amongst others a time for secrecy as well u a time
for publicity. Lord lons ltessELL talks about his
"objection to secret trials in courts of law, secret de-
" bates in l'arliament, and secret voting by the great
" electoral body." All England agrees with him in
the objection to secret trials and secret debates, for
the simple reasan that by such means tyrants in
authority may oppress a people, as tyrants in this
country used by those very means to oppress the
men of this country. We have had our secret
court of Star Chamber and our secret debates
in the days of the STUARTS, and since;—but
the people obtained the abolition of the Star Cham-
ber, and Citomwei.t. taught the nation the value of
reports of the Parliamentary debates. The people have
a right to know how their elected representatives
prepare the laws, and how their judges administer
them : but their representatives have no equal right
to know how the people vote, whoa that know-
ledge enables the rich to intimidate and injure the
poor. Voters are not now allowed to exercise
the suffrage freely ; and for that reason they demand
the mode of protection already in use in clubs and
societies of various sorts. They enjoy the rightof voting,
and wish to exercise the right free from intimidation.
The three illustrations, therefore, chosen by Lord
Join( RUSSELL to help him over the question of the
Ballot are unfortunate. Secret courts and secret de-
bates are dangerous to the liberty of the people, and
were therefore abolished ; secret voting is necessary
for the electoral liberty of the people, and must
therefore be established. The intimidation and bri-
bery are admitted, and the Ballot is offered u a
remedy. Lord JOHN RUSSELL and Sit. JAMBS
GaAlism object to the Ballot, belt fail to offer any-
thing better. They talk of other means, but do not
explain what means. The inference is inevitable.
The Ballot must—and assuredly will—have a trial.
The conclusion of Lord Jetties speech was more
satisfactory than his Ballot explanations. After
the shameful treatment of Englishmen by
the Austrians—unchallenged by the miserable
Lord WESTMORELAND, and unredressed by
the incompetent Lord MALicesstrar—it is at least
satisfactory to hear our present FOREIGN SECRETARY
declaring publicly in the Guildhall of London his
readiness to watch over the interests of Englishmen
travelling abroad, and stating his belief that subordi-
nates of foreign powers " are often entrusted with
" too great power to harass and vex unoffending
" travellers." He might have added, " especially
" when our well-paid Foreign Ministers have more
"sympathy with foreign despotism than English
" liberty"—Lord WESTMORELAND to wit.
Altogether this Guildhall speech may be summed
up as one essentially of promise rather than pledge—
one in which reforms "loom" rather than obtain

definition—one more suggestive than explanatory. The
sanguine hearer or reader anxious for national pro-
gress may fill up the faint outline sketched by Lord
J. Rusam. with the details of any favourite plan
of more or less complete Reform. The allusion to
the Customs may shape itself iato a scheme by which
commerce may be relieved from all shackles, except
those absolutely needful for the raising of necessary
revenue. The glance at Education may foreshadow a
system under which every child in the empire may
secure the blessings of instruction. The simple
naming of Parliamentary representation may be
taken to indicate a new and complete law which
shall render our representative system co-extensive
with the intelligence and worth and industry of
the nation. But a closer inquirer, and one
less sanguine and .hopeful, may more rule decide
that Lord Jolts Ruasztx's speech pledges him only
in the most general and indistinct manner, and that
the most clear of his explanations is, perhaps, the
one in which he claims for the Administration of
which he is now a member, " forbearance as to the
" time and manner' in which their measures shall be
" brought forward." The honest old English pride in
itirplay may safely be relied on for the " for-
bearance" —are we as sure of " fairplay,
on the other side ?" The English people, like most
other people, are never in any very violent hurry for
change, whilst they are well off; and hence the
political quietude that met in as soon u the Tories
were driven from office. People were delighted to get
rid of the Tory incubus just in time to sit down to
their plenteous Christmas dinner and to eat it in
peace. But political quietude must not be mistaken
by Lord JOHN RUSSZLL and his colleagues for politi-
cal indifference. The people think in these days of
prosperity and fulness, and the conclusions they come
to will guide them in the coming days of political
action. The speech at the Guildhall will be taken for
fully all that it is worth—but no more. By their deeds
will theAszanun-RusszttCabinet stand or fall. The
New Ministry are on their trial—the country ready
to adopt them, if they realise fair expectations, but
not otherwise. They must not deceive the people—
nor raise false hopes—nor make false promises. The
late Government had not attached a party to them,
and if the New Government are wise, they may
secure unexpected support from both sides of the
House. They are looked to with interest and hope.

They hare official experience and aptitude, which i
people like to see, and which gives a notion of power
that is always likely to attract strength. But names
and past services are not everything, and the people's
requirements must be satisfied, or their support can
only be temporary.

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 4, 1853.