The Express.
London, England, 1853-08-11 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING. AUGUST 11, 1853.

Ceti bout/ Why shouldwe copy the continental sys-
tem of mart ial.hiss and show, and sputter without real
use? When that reality in petticoats,Queen ELIZABETH,
went to master the English forces at Tilbury, there
were reasons of the soundest fur the step. It was a
great cccaaion. There was national peril. An in-
vasion menaced our shores, and happily for England
there was • monarch and a ministry equal to the
needs of the hour. The great English QUEEN rode
along the Essex shores like another BOADICEA, over-
shadowed by a happier fate. She was there to
rally the patriotism and the loyalty of the
realm—to do what Ecglishmen have ever
been ready to do—to spill their blood fcr
a good cause. There was a noble response. There
was real business on hand—great work to be done—
an enemy to be fought and beaten. The pulse of the
whole land beat higher, and as the fleet went forth
to meet the Spanish PHILIP'S Popish Armada, the
beliefs, the blessings, and the prayers of
England went with it. The Tilbury gather-
ing was a real review,—there was purpose,
object, intention, meaning, in it. There was a task
on hand, the most holy that a nation can undcr:ake
—t he overthrow of an invader: and hence to this hour,
and whilstEnglaud has a history with Englishmen
to read it, the muster at Tilbury will be reckoned

among the stepping stones of that greatness which
this country has attained. But the review at Spit-
heal ? What does it mean? Are we to have a
huge fleet out to burn powder for mere idleness?
Is the firing of forty-eight-pounders to be sanc-
tioned for giving a new excitement to the "wed up"
M.P. and the blast• man about town? Are the
noble fellows who man our unequalled fleet to
ise disturbed in the routine of their du'ies to make
diversion for the idlers who have exhausttd all the
novelties of the season, from the Budget of
Mr. GLADSTONE to the Adee Lilliputians ? If
this Naval Review at Spithead is not a mere
freak—is not a mere whim of the Court,—what dues
it mean ? Abroad it is the fashion to have reviews
of all sorts. Soldiers are at once the tools and the
playthings of Royalty on the Continent. The mili-
tary there keep down the people and keep up the
pride of the Sovereign. But in England
hitherto the system has been widely dif-
ferent. Our troops may sometimes, as in
Burmah, be wasted on absurd conquests or ; as at
the Cape, be destroyed in Maytag savages who have
been unjustly deprived of their lands. But wherever
English soldiers or sailors have hitherto been active
it has been in real work. We have not seen our forces
busy with shams. When our men have been called
upon to suffer fatigue it has been—for something real;
when to fight—it has been in earnest. Is this
likely to be changed? Are the Two Services to be used,
like the Woolwich Horse Artillery, as playthings
to please visitors? Is the morale of either service to
be petaled by mimic employments? We hope not.
The officers and men of the English Navy are un-
equalled, in their way, in the world. We never,
perhaps, had so fine a fleet, for its number, as that
this day floating at Spithead. The force of steam
ships is something marvellous in its way, and
is sure, should a war come, to let us know what that

power, hitherto untested on a large scale, can do•
To-day's show will be a grand one; for the waters off
Portsmouth, or of the world, never saw so vast an

assemblage of material power fitted for the destruc-
tion of an enemy. But the very reality of this
power and force, whilst giving dignity to the fleet,
suggests, also, the very best reason why the ',hips
should not be used as playthings. Whilst our
foreign interests are entrusted to despotic Austria, and
our foreign relations are kept secret by an ABER-
DEEN Ministry, we arc offered the divertissement of
a naval review at Spithead. But great fleets of
great nations are meant for other work than the
amusement of sea-sick spectators. To-day's proceed-
ings are sure to do credit to that gallant service
which bas done its duty in every sea on the earth's
surface. Bat the experiment is not one to be re-
peated. Do not let us degrade the Navy by using it
as a plaything. HEttems should not be asked to do
service as a ballet-girl.

'Fa& such, that Sir JOHN only survived until the next
morning.

The plaintiffs life, according to his own statement, I
which was certainly not very coherent, has been "
remarkable for its vieissitules. This abatement was
to the effect that he remembered being at
nurse at the ago of three years old, with
a woman named Rem; that he was re-
moved from this place by GRACE, Sir Iketu's
butler; the person who is accused of concealing from
Sir Ikon the fact of his sun's being alive. After
receiving instruction from various quarters, he was
entered at Winchester College as a Commoner under
Dr. GODDARD. His bills not being paid he left
Winchester in 1810, and was advised by Dr. GOD-
DARD to proceed to London, and call on the Mar-
chioness of BATII, who, with Lady IsABELIA
THYNNE, had been accustomed to visit him
when at school. The Marchioness refused
to give him any information respecting
his mother, but put him in possession of a
sum of money to the amount of 1,4001. or 1,5001. in
notes, which had been left him by the mother,
Shortly after tLis he travelled, assumed the profes-
sion of a lecturer on education, and afterwards came
to England, where he became acquainted with the
nature of his claim, and made the communication to
the tenant of the estate, which was attended with
the fatal consequences above alluded to. It is not
necessary to follow the plaintiff through a detail of
circumstances the falsehood of which became gra-
dually apparent under the searching examination of
Sir F. THESIGER. It will be sufficient to proceed at

once to the startling termination of one of the most
singular cases that has ever been brought into a court
of justice. The first decisive blow given to his story
was when it was shown that a letter in his handwrit-
ing, sealed with the SMYTH seal, was dated the 13th of
March, ho having before sworn that he did not ob-
tain an impression of the seal before the 17th, and
had then to get it engraved. What defence he
would have made at this point in the evidence it is
impossible to say : he turned pale, and requested
permission to retire. At this moment, when the
skill of the counsel had brought the witness to a
stand-still, a mightier power was at hand
to crush him with its evidence. While he was
uttering his perjuries, in the full persuasion that
he should be enabled by their means to commit a
gigantic robbery, the lightning was flashing along
the wires, and conveying the most incontrovertible
proof that his whole story was a fabrication. An
electric telegraphic message from London brought
the news that the police had discovered that the
witness had, in January last, applied to an
engraver in Oxford, to place the Bandon
crest on a ring which ho had produced
as a family relic. The evidence was com-
plete. The criminal was detected. The counsel
for the defence was deeply moved. The Court was
hushed in silence. All were impressed with the
solemnity of the scene. Sir F. THESIGER showed
that the witness had been previously found pill
on a charge of forgery, and sentenced to transporta-
tion. The counsel for the prosecution threw up his
brit f, and the detected criminal was committed to
gaol to take his trial for forgery and perjury.
Who will say, after this, that the events of modern
life are not as full of romance as the most laboured
fictions.