The Express.
London, England, 1853-10-06 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCTOBER 6.

TIIE " Court Circular" possesses at present a more
than common interest. Wide eyes may be opened
at this assertion by those who only care to peruse
that courtly chronicle in the fashionable season ; but
it is nevertheless true. It it impossible to read the
simple annals of the tranquil and rational life lcd by
our beloved Ws:re at Balmoral, and not contrast it
with the feverish and nightmare existence of conti-
nental sovereigns. From France, we hear inces-
santly of political arrests. indicating the fears that
cootinualy haunt its Emexiton ; the King of Pars-
STA, when he gives audience to the municipal
council of any petty borough he stops at in
his travels, deems it necessary to tell them
that their townsmen have been disloyal
subjects, and that unless they mend their manners he
will never more come near their town; the Emperor
of At''IRIA, with scarcely • florin left in his ex-
chequer, can persuade no one to lend him money,
and trembles at the prospect of war; the Emperor
of itt ssIA begins to suspect the existence of pitfalls
and man-traps on the banks of the Danube, and yet
is ashamed to draw back. As for the chronic fret
and worry in which small deer like PIO Noxo and
King liumnA live, all the world are aware of it. If
Kings were wise, and would read the English Court
Newsman, they would sigh to be relieved from the
burden and sting of that despotic power which they
hug so madly, in order to enjoy the wholesome days
and quiet nights which fall to the lot of an English
constitutional Sovereign.

The Queen of EN .i.tso's power to promote what-
ever is just or benevolent is immense. She can do
it by merely setting an example and making such
conduct " fashionable." She has, too, ker seasons of
regal state and pomp after the fashion which abso-
lute Sovereigns love, when she passes her soldiers in
review, or witnesses at Spithead the manteuvres

of a &et that has no equal. She has had prouder
triumphs, when—as at the opening of the Great
Exhibition in Hyde Park—she astonished foreigners
by Employing the nation at large as her body guard.
And then she can withdraw to tho secluded Balmo-
ral, where " beauty smiles in the lap of terror," and
bid the world pass while she enjoys the careless
felicity of private life.

Om day we read of her listening decorously on
the Sabbath to the homely eloquence of some shrewd
Presbyterian minister, and partaking thereafter of a
quiet dinner with the mother who so well and wisely
watched over her childhood, and who now reaps, in
the prospect of her daughter's happiness, the rich
reward of her care. It is the happy Lady of the
Glen, not tho responsibility-burdened Queen we
read of.

Oa another day we read of what our northern
countrymen call " a grand ploy " at Balmoral.
The foundation-stone of the principal tower of her

MAJEsn's new residence is to be laid, and her
lkLuEsrt, setting aside that mysterious functionary,
the Right Worshipful Grand Master of the'
Grand Lodge of Scotland, performs the cere-
mony herself. Careless of her apparel, she
mixes the mortar with her own trowel, and spreads
it on the stone; she applies the mystic and typical

level ; she pours the meaning-fraught corn, Rine,
and oil; she gives the three conclusive allegorical
taps with the mallet. No "free and accepted
mason" could have done the job in a more workman-
like fashion. The mystic brotherhood has hitherto
excluded the fair sex from its ranks—unless credence

may be given to a legendary story of one female
who wu reluctantly admitted, as a pis-aller, after by
lurking in a lodge she was found to have made her-
self mistress of the whole secret. But, after
Queen VICTORIA'S workwomanlike display, really
this ungallant exclusion ought to be recon-
sidered. The scandalous allegation that women
cannot keep a secret is untenable ; for certain
secrets we will back the tenacity of a woman
against that of any man. What a spectacle it would
be to see the Queen of ENGLAND, bedecked with the
jewels of the craft, opening a duly " tried" lodge
and gravely interrogating her wardens respecting
their duties and the discharge of their onerous
functions!

Yet another day and her MAJESTY is breasting the
steep ascent of some highland hill, and through the
pure transparent mountain atmosphere casting a glad
glance over leagues of rock, heather, and forest,
where the red deer stray ; or she is enjoying the
humours of a rural cattle fair ; or she looks on, half
proud, half amused, while her husband and children
Tie with the sturdy peasantry in their exertions to
extinguish an accidental fire.

All these simple excitements she can enjoy, and
forget for the time that there are such things as
Eastern questions, Burmese wars, Sanitary Commis-
sions, 00111 AX cams, or Ecclesiastical Controversies,
and all the bores of audience-giving, from foreign
crowned heads down to Aldermen. She can thus
forget herself, for she knows that there is not one
disloyal subject in her British Islands, and that the
=saline of government will work on while she
slumbers. In her cue, at least, it is not true that
" uneasy lies the head that wears& crown."
These are the fruits of recognising the rights of a
people ; of accepting the responsibilities of a crown
along with iu power and pre-eminence; of leaving
the aggregate citizens of a nation to act for them-
selves, where the interference of a central or arbitral
authority is not needed. When the Sovereign,
when a succession of Sovereigns, have done this
rival ambitions wrestle in front of the throne with-
out unsettling its repose, and rival interests wage
their spiteful wars without including it in their ran-
corous feelings. The perfect majesty of repose is
gained by simply abstaining from interference where
interference it unneeded.

It was not the wisdom of ancestral kings that
made the gainful sterifice. The Kings of England
clung as wilfully to the visionary power of absolute
rule, and endured as anxious days and miserable
nights to retain it, as any of tho living despots of
the Continent. And political history is but " the
everlasting to be that bath been." Absolute mo-
narchs will continue to make themselves and others

miserable—to goad men to madness by oppression,
then tremble before the -wrath they have kindled,
and listen with the ears of a thousand spies for the
ru.hiag sound of the rising flame--until the people,
with more or less gentle hand, curb their insane
licence.

FELS ST MILITIA 01110.136.—Yesterday a return
procured by Sir De Lacy Evans was printed, relative to fees
charged on the isonmisainn of deputy lieutenants aol whin
oaken of Militia in England and Wales. It appears that
in Miaillweez the d-pasty lieutenants pay a fee of ton rid-
likte ; colonels of Militia pay_ 91.2. lieut.-vslocels 71. 194.;
ri. jor.. 61. 18e.; septains, 61. 17s. ; lieutenaate. 41. 16a.;
ensigns and second lieutenants. 31. las.; and eargeons and
auietnitsurgeons,6L 17s. aad 41.16.. The fees Sr. not so
large is ethos antatise.