The Express.
London, England, 1848-05-06 00:00:00

The citizens of Paris and of the French towns have
displayed a courage, a union, and a resolution, which
have borne their fruits. All classes of the French have
done their duty; and the Provisional Uovernment
deserve great credit for having kept the bark afloat,
and having steered it to the constitutional haven.
No doubt, there is still much to lament and much
to fear fur. A revolution cannot be effected without
ruins; and fatal catastrophes are known to bring epi-
demy and disease after them. Not the least fearful
diocese is the unressoc that so often follows revolu-
tions, and sets not merely individuals but masses in
pursuit of new ways to human happiness and per-
fectibility. It is not the first time that an age has
spirited all its intellects to go in search of the philo-
sopher's stone. And the French are evidently at
present in pursuit of this grand secret, which is to
sweeten labour, render subsistence sure, and remove
from the working class that suspense, and guttering,
and uncertainty, which we fear must still be the lot of
humanity.
We do not not know. however, that the politicians,
who have been thrown by circumstances to the head of
affairs, are to be utterly scouted as ridiculous and fool-
hardy for making these attempts. Some of the
calmest and most philosophic minds, from M. De Sly-
?eosin down, have long denounced the principle of
competition and tree labour. And our legislature
has not shrunk from interfering to obviate and
oruhibit some of these consequences. The French
venture another way, by the government start-
ing as capitalist and employer itself. The experi-
ment, we have no doubt, will be a brief one ; but th-
sooner it is made, and the principle tested, the better.
The very main spring of society in Franco is, in-
deed, as in most countries it must now be, the content-
ment of the most numerous, and, consequently, the
most indigent class. It is a great advantage, that
this class should have a fair field and opportunity
for bringing forward all its claims, its grievances,
its remedies, its philosophy. Never was a theatre
more favourable for such an exposition and discussion
than the National Assembly that has now met. It
will contain some fifty members probably of the
working class, together with the pro'casors of those
sects which have devoted themselves to the cause of la-
bour. Paris indeed seems, in its choice of members, to
have studiously selected all who could throw light
on so solemn and important a discussion. It
has returned every shade of socialist opinion
by the side of which it has placed CUQUEREL, the pro-
testant pastor; LameNNsis' the emancipated priest;
whilst between them stands the Dominican LACOR-
!MIRE. Such a tournament of philosophy, such a
conflict of opinion, the w mid has seldom seen. And the
whole world will eagerly listen to a discussion which
will manifestly turn upon the very elements of social,
moral, and religious truth.
We need not expend criticism on the short and
very insignificant address of the l'resident of the Pro-
visional Government, and in which apparently hi.
colleagues had no hand. It affords no clue to the
policy of the government. M. De LAMARTINE and
M. LtiDRU-KOLLIN both veil their purposes and dis-
agreements, expressing them merely by taking seats
on the opposite sides of the chamber—one on the
Extreme Right, the other on the Extreme Left. In-
deed, no member of the assembly hue as yet bad the
courage to take his seat on the middle trenches.
The juste milieu has been so decried, that
none, not even the proverbially moderate, will
take his place in the Centre. All affect to be extreme ;
and yet we do not see how either party is to assume
this character. M. I /ELAM A RTIN t; recommends a con
stitution consisting of one Chamber and a President,
with a suspensive veto extending to three months.
fhe fierce democrats may demand an executive of
several members; but, after all, there is no such wide
difference. Democracy can scarcely go further, and
whatever desire certain members may have to form a
mountain, like the celebrated one of the Convention,we
rep:ly do not see with what materials or principles it
can be built. M. DE LAVARTINE has evidently adopted
the policy of leaving his ultra-liberal rivals no margin.

The Jewish Disabilities Bill has been passed in
the House of Common., by a majority of 61 in a
house of 407. Out of doors the majority in its favour
is overwhelming. In spite of earnest and not over-
scrupulous appeals to public prejudices, only 4:3,169
persons have petitioned against it, while to the spon-
taneous petitions in its favour no leas than 295,733
signatures have been appended. The result is cre-
ditable to the !Louse of Commons, and still more so to
the country at large.
The triumph of the promoters of the bill in point of
argument, has been even greater than their triumph
in respect of numerical support. Sir F. THENIGEIt en-
joys deservedly the reputation of a man of high talent
and a skilful advocate, but what a crudo mass of
I degrading anilities was he reduced to utter, in come.
lqueriee of undertaking to oppose this measure ! The
dull spirit of his cause ditfuseu itself through his mind
and lowered him to the level of the most unreasoning
of his coadjutors. This sharp lawyer and dexterous
detector of flaws in argument began by stating he
would not oppose the bill on the ground that to pass
it would unchristianise the legislature : and two
minutes had not elapsed when the House heard him
declaring that the application of the Jews to be re-'
ceived into parliament must be rejected, because
" the duty of the legislature was to insist on
inscribing over the portals of that house,—' This is
the temple of Christianity.'" This candid reasoner
declared that " in his opinion J-daisra was nothing
hut deism dressed out in the worn-out robes of the
Jewish hierarchy." The Jews tell us that they be-
lieve theirs to be a revealcd religion, and forthwith
Sir F. TIIESIGER charges them with falsehood and
hypocrisy. This professed believer in the divine
orkiu of Christianity states it as his opinion that oar
holy religion would have " no security to stand upon"
if avowed deists were permitted to sit in the legisla-
ture—he seeing no dauger in allowing such as do not
publicly proclaim their opinions to enter. As to
the wind-up of his speech, it is difficult
to say whether its insolence or its ignorance
be tie more offensive : "He was willing to give the
Jews every fair right and privilege. Let them do as
their ancestors were required to do in Babylon—let
them plant gardens, let them take wives and beget
sons find daughters, let them seek the peace of the
land in which they dwelt, and if they please, let them
pray for that peace." If this irreverent jester, who
parodies the words of scripture to recommend men
to pray whom he had a few minutes before declared
destitute of religion, had ever read the sacred volume
of that faith for which ho Olds so much zeal, he
would have known that during the Babylonish cap-
tivity more than one Jew held the office of minister
of state. Of the dii minores gentium—the small fry
of the orators against the bill—the CAMPBELLS and
RAPIIAELS,we say nothing. But Sir F.THESIGER knew
that in making such a speech he was making a fool of
himself. He made it with the contingency of a tory
cabinet and a chancellorship as vividly in his mind's
eye as ever lie had his fee there while descanting on
a brief. Ile has carried into the legislature that Old
Bailey license which, on the trial of Coultvotstsa
and in come recent caws, shocked the moral sense of

the nation.
The Jewish Disabilities Bill having received the
sanction of the House of Commons, and of what
lienthamites call the "public-opinion-tribunal," the
nation now waits, in a hush of curiosity, to see what
the Lords will do. Will they, after so many defeats
experienced within the last fifteen years, whenever
they have set themselves to oppose the popular will, do
battle with it once more for the sake et' retaining the
last miserable rag of persecution for conseienee-sake ?
The dissenters have been liberated from the bondage
of the Test and Corporation Act ; the Roman Catho-
lics have been emancipated from their disabilities ; the
whining cry of the bigots is, " Will you take the Jews
from us else? They are so very few you need not
grudge us the pleasure of keeping, them under
foot." If the House of Lords reject the bill, it will
thwart the national wish to retain the con-
temptible pleasure of excluding a few thouteend of
respectable British subjects from the full pi ivileges of
citizenship. Far from us be the presumption to pre-
tend to scrutinise the mysterious recesses of their
lordships' minds. We will not take upon us to say
that eo paltry an object is not a bait sufficiently
tempting to lure them to encounter the hostility of the
rest of the community. But if they do, we shall be
excused if we in turn employ this,
fortheir egregious
folly, as an additional argument a refotm of the
House of Lords.

AMONGST the correspondents who have remarked
upon the striking illustration we lately offered of the
unequal pressureof the probate and legacy duties,
there is one, and one only, who objects that tl.o posi-
tions we then as,-erted s% ore " t'ue re...uit thatwant of
lmowledge and he goes on to say " land is