The Express.
London, England, 1867-03-20 00:00:00

pFITANNIA.

TIT la EVININfi, TOP, }LIM. 51t...r4 nolda. Cranford,
and Mr. Lane et Wad:mei Edwin and Sfacartliy.
A Iter wholl TIIP: W.IrEII.IIAN. Mina Esther Jacobs.—To con.
dude wit!, lIIE 1..V41 LINK OF LOVE. Masa S. Mlles.

ffloll WATER AT LONDON BRIM&
TRM DAY 2/1. 2R.
TO-Moßßow—lforning, 211. I.rn Afternumy 30. 2m.

LONDON, IVt'UXE.'DAY, MARCH 20.

Me. P. A. Tavern; undertook a ;painful but
necessary task yesterday evening, in bringing
under the notice of the House of Commons,
in an dole :eel temperate statement, the recent
elevation of Mr. CH RCH WA RD, of Dover, to
the Commission of the Peace. That gentleman
has achieved an unfortunate degree ppf notoriety.
He has occupied much of the public time and atten-
tion. His conduct has been on two separateoccasions
the subject of Parliamentary inquiry and Parlia•
mentary condemnation. In 1853 a select committee
of the House of Commons decided that he had
been guilty of bribery at the election for Ply-
mouth in the previous year, by precuring
offices, in return for their pledged votes,
for the electors of that borough, or for
persons in whom they were interested. We
are sorry to find that Mr. WA L POLE o n Friday
palliates' this conduct. He drew a distinction
between bribery by money and bribery by pa-
trnage. If tho magnitude of the offence is
dependent in any degree upon the value of the
illegal considerations offered, we agree with
Mr. TAYLOR in thinking that Mr. WALPOLE'S
casuistry inverts the relative guilt of the two
kinds of corruption which he compares. A provision
for life is a larger and more seductive bribe than
a provision for a few days, or weeks, or months,
in the shape of a 51., or 101., or 1001. note. If
the consequences of conduct affect its moral
quality, Mr. WaLeotz's judgment is again at
fault. To traffic in Government offices, and to
confer them upon men certainly corrupt and pos-
sibly incapable, is to degrade the character and to
detract from the efficiency of the public service.
The good people of Plymouth may not have been
aware, as the Committee of 1853 charitably
assumed, that to bribe by the promise of place
is illegal ; but a practised eloctioneerer like
Mr. CHI7RCH N. ARD cannot have shared their
error ; and his offence is not lessened
by the plea that he imposed upon an ignorance in
which he did not participate. Mr. CH ERCHWARD'N
Plymouth exploits would probably have been
forgotten long since, if the memory of them had
not been revived a few years later by his appear-
ance at Dover in a yet more equivocal character.
In 1859 a Select Committee of the House of
Commons, after patient inquiry, adopted a Re-
port in which they recommended Parliament to
annul a contract into which Mr. Cueitenwaan
had entered with the Government, on the ground
that ho had obtained it by the employment of
"corrupt expedients." The Committee delibe-
rately refused, by a majority of eight to six,
to substitute the milder phrase, "undue in-
" fluences," and the condemnatory paragraph was
carried, in all its uncompromising severity, bya ma-
jority of nine to four. In the following year, Cap-
tain LEICESTER VERNON, then member for Dover,
moved a resolution in the House of Commons
designed to reverse the decision of the Committee,
but that decision, after a long debate, was sus-
tained and reaffirmed by 162 votes against 117.
Mr. WALPOLE explained that the LORD CH•N-
-czcLoß. was ignorant of these facts in appointing
Mr. CHURCH WARD to the magistracy. Forgetful-
ness in a busy lean is natural ; still, considering
the noise which the CHERCHWARD scandal made
at the time—considering also that the Govern-
ment of Lord DERRY, in which Lord CHELMS-
FORD was then, as he is now, Lord Chan-
cellor, was involved in the reproach, and that
one or two of his present colleagues were for
a time under a cloud of suspicion, which has
since been honourably dispelled, it is matter for
surprise and for regret that a high official should
not have a longer memory. But though the plea
of ignorance may excuse the original error, it does
not excuse persistence in it when the ignorance
has been removed. The inaction of the Govern-
ment, now that it is reminded of the facts, impe-
ratively requires the action of Parliament ; which
can only be set in motion by the course which Mr.
TAYLOR has adopted. It is easily conceivable
that members of an administration and of a party
which Mr. CH URCHWARD has efficiently served,
should be reluctant to be themselves the prime
agents in proceedings which bring personal
friendship and party relations into conflict with the
paramount claims of public duty. They ought,
therefore, to welcome the intervention of an Oppo-
sition member, as relieving them from a position of
great pain and embarrassment.

This is not, however, the course they have
taken, nor the spirit in which they have acted.
Major Dicasos, who is now, as Captain LEICESTER
VERNON was in 1860, member for Dover, rose to
vindicate the character of his influential consti-
tuent, in terms for which he was presently called
to order and compelled to apologise. In compa-
ratively moderate and, as it seems, Parliamentary
language, he intimated that Mr. TAYLOR had been
made the tool and cat's-paw of a personal enemy
of Mr. CRURCHWARD. The propriety of this lan-
guage in itself is more than open to question : its
decency in the mouth of a gentleman who stands
to Mr. CHURCHWARD in the relation which every
member for Dover must occupy towards that local
potentate is more than doubtful. But the
accusation is absurd. Mr. Tstrioa's motion does j

not rest on private information. It is based on
the facts contained in the reports of two commit-
tees—one of them, and that the more important,
solemnlyreaffinnedbythe Houseof Commons itself.
Major DICKSON attempts, therefore, to go behind
these decisions, and to prove that they are not
warranted by the facts, but were dictated by per-
sonal and party animosity. To clear Mr. CHURI•II-
- he blackens the House of Commons and
the Executive. It is just possible that the Select
Committee of 1859, the House of Commons and
the Government of Lord PeemEssroN, may have
been mistaken ; but while the condemnation of Mr.
Cif URCHWAttIi is on record, and unreversed, it
must be considered valid against him. The Govern-
ment of the day, whatever the private opinion of
its members, has no business to ignore a thrice
confirmed decision ; least of all, a Govern-
ment which was involved, though hum-
cently involved, in the proceedings called in ques-
tion. Sir STAFFORD NORTHCOTE, who, as Secre-
tary of the Treasury, represented the Ministry of
18$9 in these transactions, refuses, with mistaken
chivalry, to accept the discrimination of the
Committee in his favour. Ho protests that, if
Mr. CHI RCHWARD was guilty, he was guilty too.
But, in so speaking, he probably intends to do no
more than to give strong rhetorical expression
to his conviction of Mr. CHERCHWARD'S inno-
cence. Upon this subject he is not, perhaps, the
oust impartial of judges. If he considered him-
self to be practically labouring under the same
stigma as that which has been imposed on Mr.
CHURCHWARD, he would certainly hold himself
disqualified for the high office which he fills, or
for any post under the Crown. He has no busi-
ness to accept the judgment of the Committee by
halves—to avail himself of his own acquittal, and
to dispute Mr. Cur Romano's condemnation. The
spectacle of a Loan CHANCELLOR and a Sun RETARY
of STATE practically setting at nought the mire-
versed decision of Parliament is a scandalous one.
The duty of the present Government is clear. If
they think that Mr. CitracuwAan has been un-
justly condemned, let them institute a new in-
quiry. While the present decision stands, the
appointment of Mr. CHI:RC/MARI, to the magis-
tracy is disrespectful to the House of Commons,
and a slur upon the administration of justice.
Mr. TAYLOR was very foolishly censured for
singling out Mr. CHURCHWARD for special attack ;
and for not generalizing the terms of his motion,
after the manner of the amendment proposed by
Mr. BENrisex. But, as Mr. GeeorroNE pointed
out, the case is peculiar. Mr. CHURcHWARD has
been condemned, both by an authority far higher
than that of an Election Committee or Commis-
sion, and for an offence far graver than ordinary
bribery. But, independently of this difference,
Mr. TAYLOR very properly and naturally takes the
occasion, as it arises, for asserting a princi-
ple, which, established in one case, will
be a precedent for all others. It is clear, how-
ever, that the supporters of Mr. CHURCHWARD be-
lieve less in his innocence than in the veniality of
the offences with which he Is charged. The un-
retracted action of the LORD CHANCELLOR, the
palliatory language of the Home SYAMETARY, the
ill-timed jocularity of the CHANCELLOR of the
ExcnEeurit, and the demeanour of many members
of the House, show a lamentable laxity of
sentiment. Mr. CHURCHWARD, Major DICKSON
said, is held in great honour at Dover ; ho is an
officer of volunteers, and we know not what
beside. The fact that ho is so only shows
the necessity of correcting, by the action of the
authorities, an uninformed and perverted state of
the public conscience and feeling, with respect to
some of the gravest offences against political
morality that can be committed. If it is unsatis-
factory to find that a majority of the House of
Commons has declined to accept a motion for
Mr. CHURCHWARD'S removal from the com-
mission of peace, it is a consolatory cir-
cumstance that they have not ventured to do
more than try and shelter him amid a mul-
titude of similar though minor offenders ; and
that there has been a sentiment in the House
strong enough to hold them as a reality to the
general condemnation, which they accepted as a
trick, and only for the purpose of evading a par-
ticular censure.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

~~_

THE EXPRESS, WEDNESDAY EVENING, MARCH 20, 1867.

tained, and that when they are abandinted the bill will, in
all probability, go with them, and the ministry with the
bill. The whole question will then have to be reopened
again under wiser management, and with the advantage
of past experience.
The flovad says the conservatives have given up some-
thing, but they may even give up more. They have never
regarded the dual vote as a mere arithmetical equipoise to
the enfranchisement of numbers, and the Herald does not
believe that a revolution will follow even though we ad-
mitted all the rated householders to the franchise. The
conservatives have no more reason to be afraid of them
than their opponents, and if it is the desire of the country
that household suffrage shall be the basis of the new
Reform Bill, without any direct increase of the influence
of property, the ministry are bound to yield to this extent,
even although their submission may cost theist a few of
their supporters.
The Standard counsels liberal members to support the
second reading, and in committee improve the rate paying
clauses, and if they like reject the dual vote. Without
the clause of the double vote, the bill is still the hest yet
offered or likely to be offered. The Standard dwells a
great deal on what it considers the intemperance and
bitter partisanship of Mr. Gladstone.
The Telegraph says the liberal party ought to meet the
motion that the bill be read a second time with an em-
phatic negative.

To the Star it seems that there are certain conditions on
which, and on which alone, the liberal party may fairly
allow the bill to get into committee. These conditions
are, that the government abandon the dual vote, the ex-
clusion of compound householders, the ratepaying clause,
and the doubled term of residence ; that they de-
clare the fancy franchises and the amount of the
county qualification nut vital ; and that they either post.
pone or thoroughly reconstruct their scheme of distribution.
It may be that Mr. Disraeli has the agreeable surprise of
some such announcement in store for the house on Monday
night. .Mr. Disraeli is evidently anxious to drag the
house a little further to committing itself, and the liberal
members must be all the more determined to know exactly
what the government really mean to do before they allow
the bill to make one further step of progress.

inte Court.

BVCKINGHA3I PALACE, MARCH 19.
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise and
Prince Leopold, arrived at Buckingham Edam shortly
after 12 o'clock from Windsor Castle.

Her Majesty travelled by special train to Paddington,
and drove thence in a carriage and four, and escorted by
a detachment of the 14th Hussars, to Buckingham
Palace.

In attendance were the Countess of Caledon, Major-
General Hon. A. N. Hood, Colonel Hon. A. Hardinge,
and Mr. Legg.
Prince Arthur, attended by Major Elphinstone, an ived
at the Palace from Greenwich-park.
The Earl of Derby and the Chancellor of the Exchequer
arrived at the Palace, and had audiences of the Queen.
The Queen held a council to-day at Buckingham Palace
at half-past 12 o'clock, at which were present the Duke of
Marlborough, the Duke of Richmond, the Earl of Brad-
ford, and the Earl of Derby.
Lord Robert Montagu and Colonel the Hon. Percy
Herbert were introduced and sworn in as members of her
Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, and took their
seats at the board accordingly.

Mr. Dlinund Harrison was Clerk of the Council.

Previous to the Council the Duke of Marlborough had
an audience of her Majesty, and delivered up hie wand of
office as Lord Steward, which her Majesty afterwards
conferred upon the Earl of Tanker.ille.
The Earl of Tankerville had an audience of her Majesty
and delivered up his badge of office as Captain of the
Honourable Corps of Gentlemen•at-Arms, which her
Majesty conferred upon the Marquis of Exeter.
The Marini' of Exeter bad an audience of her Majesty
and delivered up his wand of office as Treasurer of her
Majesty's Household, which her Majesty conferred upon
Colonel the Hon. Percy Herbert.
The Marquis of Exeter then delivered up to her Ma-
jolty the insignia of the Order of the Garter worn by
his father.

Her Majesty afterwards entered the Audience-room, ac-
companied by Princess Louise.
The Duke of Beaufort was then introduced by the Lord
Chamberlain—Sir Charles Young (Garter King-at-Arms)
being present—and her Majesty invested the Duke of
Beaufort with the riband and Image of the Order a the
Garter.

Lord Crofton (Lord in Waiting), Lieutenant-f'.olonel W.
IL F. Cavendish (Groom in Waiting), and Major-General
Hon. A. N. Hood (Equerry in Waiting) were in attendance.
Her Majesty left Buckingham Palace at half past four
o'clock, accompanied by Princes. Louise, and visited the
Queen of Denmark and the Prince and Princess of Wales
at Marlborough-house.
Her Majesty drove from thence to the Paddington rail-
way station, escorted by &detachment of the 14th Hussars.
The Countess of Caledon, Major-General the Hon. A. N.
Hood, and Colonel the Hon. A. Hardinge wero in
attendance.

Prince Leopold, attended by Mr. Legg, met her Majesty
at Paddington, and travelled in the same train to Windsor.
Prince Arthur, attended by Major Elphinatonc, left the
Palace for Greenwich-park.

Mr. Henry A. Isaacs (Chairman of the Coal, Corn, and
Finance Committee of the Corporation of the City of Lon-
don), and Mr. Corrie (Remembrancer), had an interview
with Lord John Manners, at the office of her Majesty's
Works, Whitehall-place, yesterday.
A committee of the Lords of her Majesty's Most Honour-
able Privy Council sat yesterday at the Privy Council-
office, Whitehall, upon matters relating to the cattle
plague. The ►ords present were the Lord President, the
Duke of Richmond, and Lord Robert Montagu. Mr.
Harrison and Dr. A. Williams attended the committer.

A deputation, consisting of the Marquis of Downshire,
Mr. Innes, M.P., Mr. Vance, M.P., the Right Hon. W.
H. F. Cogan, M.P., Mr. Whitworth, M.P., Sir James
Power, Bart., M.P., Sir Patrick O'Brien. Bart., 31.1'.,
Mr. M'Evoy, Major Knox, M.P., Mr. E. W. Verner,
M.P., Mr. D. C. Brady, and Mr. Plunkett (secretary), had
an interview with Mr. Ward Hunt, M.P., at the Treasury,
Whitehall, yesterday, respecting the Newry Navigation
Company.

LORD CHAMBERLAIteI4 OFFICE, MARCH 18.—
Notice is hereby given, that her Majesty's birthday will be
kept on Saturday, the 25th of May next.

Her Majesty the Queen, through Sir Thomas
Riddulph, K.C.8., has forwarded her usual liberal annual
subscription of 501. to the National Lifeboat Institution.
The Earl Grosvenor has been confined to the
house during the last week by a sharp attack of influenza
from which be to now recovering.

Last night the Lord Mayor and the Lady
Mayoress entertained the Earl of Carnarvon and a dis-
tinguished company at a banquet, which was served in the
Egyptian Hall of the Mansion House.
_ _

A marriage is arranged to take place between the
Duke of St. Albans and Miss Sybil Mary Grey, eldest
daughter of General the Hon. Charles Grey, C.B. It is
said that the wedding will take place in June.
The Owl states that Mr. Spencer Walpole has
been appointed inspector of Ileheries in succession to the
late Mr. Ffennell. Mr. E. A. Perceval has been appointed
private secretary to the Bight Hon. S. Walpole. The Duke
of Buckingham has appointed Mr. H. S. Bryant, of the
Privy Council Office, to be his private secretary. A mar-
riage is arranged between Captain Burnt, aide-decamp to
Lord Strathnairn, and the Hon. Evelyn Browne, youngest
d►ughter of Lord and Lady Ellin:tine.
The Rev. Sir Christopher Bellew, Bart., one of
the Jesuit Fathers, died on Monday evening at their house
in Gardiner•street, Dublin.

Tho Right Hon. Mr. Corry, First Lord of tho
Admiralty, was re-elected for the county Tyrone yesterday
without opposition.
. .

Colonel Fano, M.P. for South Hants, is in
Rome.

An influential meeting, convened by the com-
mittee formed to secure for schools and charitable insti-
tutions generally continued exemption from rating, was
held yesterday at Willis's Rooms, to forward the objects
of the committee. The Earl of Shaftesbury presided, and
among the speakers were the Earl of Harrowby, Arch-
bishop Manning, the Hon. and Rev. Grantham Yorke,
rector of Birmingham, Mr. Baines, SIP., Mr. Tite,
and Mr. Barclay, M.P. Resolutions to the effect that it
is impolitic and unjust to subject hospitels and dispen-
saries to the payment of rates, and that the recent deci-
sion of the courts of law rendering schools and charitable
institutions generally liable to the payment of rates, is
contrary to the spirit of the law, and tends to discourage
educational effort, were passed. A deputation was ap-
pointed to wait on the Premier.

Dr. Mary Walker lectured in Southampton on
Monday night to an attentive and respectful audience.
The marriage of the youngest son of King Victor
Emmanuel, the Prince Amedeus of Savoy, with Millie. de
la Cisterns, is fixed to take place on the 19th of this
month. It will be celebrated with no great solemnity in
the chapel of the Palids Royal. The nuptial benediction
will be pronounced by Mgr. Casablanca, the new Arch-
bishop of Milan. King Victor Emmanuel has just con-
ferred upon the young „ion*, as well as her mother, the
title of highness.

The marriage of the Count of Flanders with the
Primer of Hohenzollern is to be celebrated on the 23th of
April at Berlin.

The political agent at Zanzibar writes :—" I
have personally made inquiries among the traders of
Keelwa Koinga, and have gathered information there
which tends to throw discredit on the statement of the
Johanna men, who allege that they saw their leader dead.
The evidence of the Nyasa& traders strengthens the sus-
picion that these men abandoned the traveller when he
was about to traverse ► Maaite-haunted district, and for
aught they know to the contrary Dr. Livingstone may yet
be alive. I purpose sending details by the next mail."

Count de Slunchausen, formerly minister for
Hanover, finding himself hurt by certain expressions of
Count de Bismarck in the German parliament, demanded
an explanation, which the latter refused, averring that he
had no recollection of having used any words calculated to
give offence. Reference was then made to the stenogra•
pbic report of the sitting, and it was admitted that the
language of the first minister applied to a part of the
Hanoverian press ; on which Count de Munchausen de-
clared himself sati+fied.

A royal ordinance, published at Berlin on the
14th inst., fixes the allowance to the members of the North
German Parlisunent at 15fr. per day. They are also to be
paid the cost of tirst•class places in the trains to Berlin
going sad returaing.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

RIOTS AT NEW YORK

A telegram from New York, dated. Monday,printed
by the Tina. s, says:
" Several riots have taken place, and collisi.ms
between the Irish and the police have occurred.
Many persons have been injured."

(IMUTER.A TELe(RANI:.)
AUSTRIA.
VIENNA, StAtli( 21).
The contract for the fanning of the tobacco
~,,,, poly has been concluded for tire years.

HUNGARY.
PESTI!, MARCH 19, EVENING.

The Deak party have agreed to accept the pro.
portal made by the committee of '67 upon the future
relations between Hungary and Austria, the Hun-
garian ministry having declared their intention of
resigning unless these proposals are adopted by tho
Diet. The party of the Left intend to propose ms
adjournment of the question. Yesterday and to-
day the Hungarian Ministers met in council,
Baron Von Beust will return to-day to Vienna.
The Emperor and Empress will be crowned at
the same time as King and Queen of Hungary.
Herr Liszt has composed the coronation mass.
SERVIA.
r.ELGRADE, MARCH 19.
Prince Michael of Servia will set out on Monday
next for Constantinople.
TURKEY AND CANDIA.
(via M►rseilles.)
CONSTANTINOPLE, MARCH 11

Further Turkish reinforcements are being sent
to Crete under the command of Hussein Pachai
who has received orders to strike a decisive blow
at the insurgents.

THE BOMBAY MAIL.
MARSEILLE4. DlAncn 20.
The Ripon arrived at 1 a.m. to-day.
The mails leave for Londun at 11.30 a.m.

BOMBAY (EXTRA) MAIL.
SITU. MARCH P.
The Malta, from Bombay March 6, arrived at
10 p.m. to-day (Monday).