The Express.
London, England, 1865-07-07 00:00:00

ELECTIONS.

During the Elections, in addition to the ordinary
afternoon issue of the EXPRESS, which will
contain she latest intelligence from the various
Counties and Boroughs up to the hour of going
to press, an EARLY EDITION will be published
each day shortly after noon, containing telegrams
of the Nominations and Pollings received up to
that time ; and in a LATE EDITION the Close
of the Polls will be given.

Advortieeesesta 'Maeda for the TAUT EDITION want
be reeieved We: thee 12 o'clock.

Tao Metropolitan coonty is not, after all, to be
denied the pleasing excitement of a contested oleo-
tion. By a masterly flank movement, Lord
Rowinaon bias left Bodmin to its fate, and now
solicits the votes of the electors of Middlesex. In

the immediate neighbourhood of his own head-
quarters, he may perhaps have thought it nnneoes-
nary to adopt the military phraseology which lent
such charms to his Cornish address. At all events,
the civilian element has re-asserted itself, and in-
stead of a series of extracts from the Infantry
drill-book we are treated to a chapter of political

philosophy. The change, however, has brought
with it its own difficulties. Lord RAKILAGH
finds himself in a position one degree worse than
that of ADAM immediately after the creation.
ADLIg had only to name everything else ; Lord
RANELAGH has to name himself ; and he seems
to realise with the utmost vividness the extreme

inoonvenience of the operation. "In these dap'
" of transition politics," he plaintively tells us,
" when the Tory is dead, the Whig fait dying, and
" their descendants meeting half way under the
" guise at all events of modified designation,
" it is as difficult to detect as to describe the

" actual opinions held by men either in, or seeking
" to be in, Parliament :"—in this uncertainty as to
what to call himself, Lord Resuroa Sada his
religious convictions of immense use. He holds,
it appears, " the great principles implied under
" the head of Church and State," and his

knowledge of the former hes doubtless sug-
gested to him that the duty of naming
the child belongs to its godfathers and godmothers.
Of course a " thorough believer in the policy so
" consistently upheld by Lord DERBY, whether in
" or out of power," can be at no lon where to
look for a sponsor ; and if Lord Rairarron should
be returned, we hope that the leader of the Oppo-
sition will lose no time in informing the electors
what is the " modified designation " " under the

'7l;use.' of which " their representative is to be

known for the future.

- _
Mr. GRANT, the Conservative candidate for
Kidderminster, is troubled by no such uncertain-
ties. He is prepared to stand by his party, and
we are bound to admit that, if his party succeed■
in achieving all that Mr. Gausr is ready to
attempt, it will be quite worthy of his adherence.
Hitherto it has been supposed that if yon
want to operate upon effects you must begin
by operating upon causes ; but Mr. GRANT is
anxious to "change all bad results of the existing
"system of representation to good results" with-
out any such preliminary process. He proposes
also to " experience how improvements are to be
" effected " before he attempts to effect them, and
when the horse is thus kept in its right place by
the cart being stationed before it, he pledges him-
self to give his " most strenuous support to a well-
"digested scheme of voluntary reform." Fenced
round by these safeguards, and fortified further by
the conviction that "it is to the Conservatives
"alone that the people of England must look for
4' inch • measure," it must be • great satis-
faction to Mr. GRANT to reflect that no man can I
be tempted to violate a pledge which he will
never be called upon to make good. Oa the ques-
tion of Church Rates, Mr. Gwor's sentiments
may serve to interpret Lord R•trimson'e. The
latter professes himself " willing to meet the rea-
" mashie objections of our dissenting friends to
"the present system," and as the former is "pre-
" pared to relieve those persons who at present
" have to support their own places of worship as
" well as those of the church to which they do not
" belong," it may perhaps be assumed that the
objection to paying for other people's religion as
well as your own is now considered, even by Con-
servatives, • " reasonable objection." If we un-
derstand Mr. GRANT'S theory rightly, the exemption
from payment ought only to extend to those who
contribute towards some place of worship of II
their own, and in that case the scheme
may fairly be described as • proposal
to substitute, under certain circumstances, a
chapel rate for a church rate. This bears a very
auspicious resemblance to endowing, or, more cor-
rectly, guaranteeing the endowment of, all religious i
denominations—a very revolutionary suggestion to
come from a member of the " greet Conservat►ve
" Party." We only hope that this will be one of
the improvements which Mr. GU= Will " expo-
" rienoe " before he attempts.
Electioneering is • dull business after all, and
we are consequently grateful to anyone who does