The Express.
London, England, 1866-07-14 00:00:00

MR. DISRAELI. 4 SPEECH.

It must be an exacting opponent, says the Times,
who will complain of Mr. Disraeli's reticence. It is satis-
factory as to foreign matters to find him having such
strong opinions in favour of British neutrality. While
Mr. Disraeli cherishes these peaceful visions, and Lord
Stanley's character guarantees us from imprudent decla-
rations and meddlesome despatches, the most suspicious
liberal ought to lay aside for the time his distrust of tory
foreign policy. Descending to domestic affairs, Mr. Disraeli
is large in promise, even hinting that he has some
invaluable remedy which will keep men in Ireland, where
they can earn only Is. a day, when their kindred are
calling them to another where they can earn a dollar.
Parliamentary reform he discusses as if the government
had half made up their minds, but they should remem-
ber whoever raises expectation raises difficulties. If Mr.
Disraeli's colleagues can settle the Reform question, no
one will rejoice more than the Times ; but if they
are not prepared to undertake it, the less they discuss the
subject and hold out vague hopes the better.

The Dail y.Yrws sees one advantage in Mr. Disraeli's speech
over Lord Derby's manifesto—namely, that he does
not pretend in taking oflice to have been surprised by the
result of his own contrivances. The speech would not of
course have been Mr. Disraeli's if it did not propound a
handful of paradoxes. The thorny of non-intervention he
defends on the ground that England is less a European
than an Asiatic lower. In other words, the doctrine is
one of the forms of the Asian mystery. An historical
paradox is the astonishing assumption—never' heard
till yesterday—that the great Reform lull of 1832
was mainly devised by Lord Derby, and was entirely
carried by his energy. In parliamentary reform he dis.
misses altogether every idea of political justice, and asserts
the inalienable prerogatives of the few over the many.
His belief that the time has come for the legislature to
ameliorate the condition of society, and to extend the
blessings of civilisation to every part of the world only
means, it seems, some bills as to Cockneys, paupers, and
bankrupts. A fatal flaw, in short, mans through the ad-
dress. He is a conservative minister speaking at a liberal
majority in parliament and the country ; and in the effort
to accommodate himself to a false position, he has ex-
pressed neither his own thoughts nor theirs. Hence the
alternation of caution and extravagance—of commonplace
and bombast—which detracts from the effect of an other-
wise very rhetorical effort.

The only part of Mr. Disraeli's speech which the Peat
is disposed to question is that which seems to infer that
we can look with indifference on the struggle between the
states of Europe for supremacy. The Po.:: would be sorry
if it was taken for granted that our interest in the affairs
of continental states was of Lo aught a character as to
render our intervention, except in vet/ extreme cases,
altogether inadvisable.
The Tdcgrapit characterises the speech as mere flourish
and platitude—all smoke and sound—the mere echo of
the Prime Minister's policy-and-water language of Mon.
day last.

When Mr. Disraeli, the Star thinks, goes on to insist
upon England's right and readiness to interfere in Asia
" because she is more of an Asiatic than a European
power," and in Anstral'a and Africa as well, he only re-
presents and panegyrises the most pernicious from of the
diplomatic delusion which cost England in past years so
much of her treasure, her blood, and her reputation.