The Express.
London, England, 1853-02-14 00:00:00

I:0N, MONDAY, FEBRUARY 11.

THE III•lso of Commons is about to afford proof of
Mr. It. I:‘..t i's nervoustass lest any passing words
uttered on this side of the Channel should give
umbra ;.• to the new E3trEttoa of the FRENCH. In
his nosiety todemonstrate the tendency of his sus-
ceptibilities on this head, ho has given notice of a ques-
tion Inc th:s. venittg regarding certain expressions
said to basil been used by Sir CHARLES WOOD at a
recent .liunt rat Halifax. The Pitv-stotNe of tne
Bout!) of CoNntot, when contrasting our own poli-
tical taatiliti ~1 with the of Frinee, reminded hi,.
hearers of the notorious fact that the liberty of
pubic disztits• on no longer existed there, acd alluded
indireetiv to the equally notorious fact that Bel-
gium bad been compelled to modify its
own laiss relating to the press at the menacing
instant,' u! the French Government. He added
that aim iugh Louts NAPULEOS had succeeded in
guggiutz press of his own country and that of his
weak..r i,,htiours, he could not succeed in gagging
ours. 'ibis is the Irevl and front of the Right Hon.
Baron. is attending; and for this the leader of the
Tory party in the House of Commons wishes to call
him to ,os ount. _ _

Mr. DISZAILLI is confessedly a great actor, and the
versatility of his 14enias we are little diistmeg be
qiieetioa. Hot we doubt whether tie new part et
Dr. I'rra at as, which he seems ambitious to play,
exactly suits him. Few men have shown less of the
qualities that aro usually considered indispensable
for the right rendering of that somewhat peevish
and prosaic character. It was but the other
day that 1w himself, when pronouncing a
parliamentary dogs on the late Duke of
Wzaalau lit? , inautged in a fling at the conduct of
our allies during the war, which was not only his.
torically uninstifiable, but politically indiscreet. The
expresstua, which was supposed to have given no
little i..ff...nce at the time to over sensitive people in
Prussia, was not uttered after dinner in a convivial
assembly, but by the late Ca INCELLOII of the Ex-
cueut:En is his place as lender of the House at
Commons. The difference between the circumstance*
and the correctness of the two expressions isconsiderm
ble. Everybody understands that what is said by a
Minis'cr, in his ministerial capacity, differs in the
'degree of ;mportance attached to it from what Weald
bya repreventative addressing his constituents. Under
despotic governments like that of France, a Minister
has sked no other capacity than that of subserving the
purpeees, or uttering the thoughts, of one imperious
will. The Members of a Cabinet like that of Louis
if tI'OLEON'S, are but so many mouth-pieces of the great
French-horn, made use of in turn accordiug to their
size ar.d the various tones which aro in turn to be
given. But in constitutional systems like ours a
Minister is also a representative. Ile has duties to
perform to the people who elect him of open and
candid advice, as well as duties which he owes to the
Crown of confideutial counsel. Ills position when
be addri sties the Legislature from the Treasury
bench is specific and peculiar, but cannot bo
confounded, without injustice and absurdity,
with that of a member of Parliament publicly
addressing his constituents, or that of a leading
Miniver advising the Crown. Words spoken in
Parliament by one who assumes to represent the
predominant sentiments there, are not unreasonably
taken f,r infinitely more than any individual'.
opinion is separately worth. His colleagues sit by
and hear him. If they do not repudiate his expres.
Mons, they are fairly held to be committed by them.
When Mr. DISRAELI, for instance, last November,
assigned as one of the reasons why the Duke of WEL-
LINGTON should have a public funeral,—that he had
triumphed at W..terloo, not only over the French,
but over the misconduct of our " scandal-
ous allies,"—every colleague who heard hired,
and who dared not dissent, felt ONSalill
that to a certain extent each was siewesalis
for the inaccuracy and mischief of the

unlucky phrase. Yet lie one whom we remember on
the liberal side of the house thought it worth while
to cavil at the terms of this singular escapade. It
was treated by those who thought worst of it &&
mere rhetorical efflorescence not worth plucking out
of the somewhat ill-chosen garland which the official
orator thought fit to place upon the hero's tomb.
Bat when Sir Cu tELES WOOD, on a festive occa-
sion, among his old friends, forgets the habit of
Ministerial reserve for a minute and a half, and
during that guilty interval relapses into the practice
so common amongst English gentlemen, of telling •
/plain truth in plain words, all Toryism is shocked and
soandalised, and ebullient. And the most un-circumspect
of leaders—always excepting Lord DERBY himself—
feels called upon to put a solemn question in Perlis-
iment regarding the occurrence. The Tories would
have it understood that the feelings of their Imperial
friend, the man of the coup d'ital, are not to be trifled
with, even in &chance phrase, with their assent and
.maction. The notoriety of the fact adverted to, and
the truth of the comment made on it by Sir CHARLES
WooD, is rather an aggravation than otherwise of
his crime. That crime is nothing short of treason
to European absolutism—and as such, no doubt, de-
serves; in their estimation, condign punishment. It
!le almost a pity, we think, that the wary HENLEY,
or the pragmatical Pausoros, was not
'in preference commissioned to wield the laws
the offending baronet, instead of Mr.
against
The passages of personal enmity be-
itween the two ex-financiers are rather too fresh in
people.' recollection to render the part of accuser, to
say nothing of that of executioner, appropriate; and
as if to mark conspicuously his own unfitness for the
office of accuser in the present case, Mr. Disaseu
he. himself fallen into a still greater and more
serious blunder by the manner in which he has
'chosen to shape his question. His interpellation,
instead of being addressed to the prudence or dignity
of the phraseology used (which neither the mem-
ber for Halifax or any one else, we suppose,
would think it worth while to stickle for),
the Tory leader requires to know whether
Lord Joins RUSSELL, Lord ABERDERN, and
the rest of the Cabinet ministerially adopt the un-
official expressions alluded to, because, if they do, it
were well to know it " before voting the Army mad
Navy Estimates !" If this be intended as a joke, k I
is certainly a bad one. Mr. Disitazu ought surely
to recollect " that petulance is not sarcasm ;" and If,
upon the other hand, it be really intended as an in-
dication of the logical consequences which Mr. Dis-
RAELI desires to have drawn from a casual phrase,
then ho has fallen into the worst, because the most
unpatriotic of errors, that, namely, of trying to make
serious mischief for the public out of a trifle which
personal spite alone cannot afford to forget. If Mr.
DISRAELI insists upon driving every man of sense or
discretion into the invidious alternative of police like
obsequiousness to foreign despotism, or the defence
of casual words true in themselves, though ill-ad-
vised, because of ambiguous interpretation, ho will
find to his cost, and that of his party, that the people
of England would rather tolerate many rash expres-
sions from a Minister than one indicative of mean
subserviency to the silly vanity or overbearing in-
fluence of s foreign power.

SUSPECTED CHILD MURDER—Late on Saturday
night the body of a remarkably fine newly-born male child
was found on the ate, of the house of the Rev. Conrad
Winiberly, 30, Mornington-crescent, Regent's-park. Intl-
station baying been given to the policeman on duty, the
body was immediately conveyed to the St. Pancras work-
house, where Mr. Waldegrave the house surgeon, made •
minute examination of the body, from which there is no
doubt that the child was born alive. It wu enveloped in •
piece of white calico much stained with blood, and over
which wu closely fuldkil a piece of black glazed calico.
'The police have rectivcd instructions to make the most
rigid search for the inhuman parent. In the meantime
notice of the occurreno•Jus been fjrwarded to Mr. Wakley,
aba coroner.

TUE SITUATION OF CuLT.I.CTOR OF CUSTOMS AT
SountAnrros is likely shortly to be vacant. Although
Southampton is sot a tirstsclata p,.st the situation of col-
lector is every lucrative one, owicg to the profits arising
from collecting the light dun of the port, such profits being
attached to the dike.