The Express.
London, England, 1867-08-16 00:00:00

DIURY LAN&

Tins wean. TEAT TIWAL JAZIL Maws. Moose and
FevWe : Mesdames Allan. and Thompson.—To conclude with
THE GREAT CITY. Marra Cowper, IV Int Villiers, trying,
Rase, H. Itanold, It Warner; Madames Roarliaf IA Thar,.

HAYMASKILT.
Tem nmatals, THE SCHOOL FOR sCANDAL. Mama Chip-
pendale. Howe, Rocas. Kendal, Clark. Weethersby, de. ; Mes-
dames Sedgwirk, Chippendale, Mtzwill PARIS AND
BACK TOR Cs.—And THE MILK AND HOW TO USE IT.

siiNClera.
EYMrlad. THE DAY AY= THE WEDDING..—THE
MAN 0' AMIE. James Harebell. Mr. Harman Veda; Mews.
X Price, Yorreeter, Gresham, Maclean, and Elberton ; Mines E.
Stuart, Nally Moore. de.—And AN UNFROTECTED FEMALE.

TEIS Evzsma, REVELSES. Meows. Imam Parma* Rob-
son. and Swanhomugh Mesdames Ada Swanboronah and John-
stone.—And THE LATEST EDITION OF KENILWORTH.
Mears. Thorne A James; Mesdames Holt, Newton, de.

Tin avininta, MY nii7.7;iii 17Y PARTNER JOE.—The
Brothers Hanlon ; My. C. Woodman : Mr. J. Ptampton : Little
Lentte ; Jtasie Nina. the Champion iikatere—And JACt 0'
LANTERN. Mr. Reynolds and MI 3. Mlles.

HIGH RATS AT LONDON BILIDGE.
Ms DAT —Morning. th. 42m....—A1tercoott, 2IL 675.
to-IgosioN—Mornlag. SIB 131e.._..Afternoca, IX Slim

LONDON, FRIDAY, AUGUST 16.

THE Reform Bill yesterday received the Royal
Assent, and is now part of the kw of the
land. No great contest is ever decided with-
out a subsequent dispute as to the person
to whom honour should be accorded. Claimants
are wont to offer themselves for a share in
the glory on the ground that to their unobtru-
sive yet substantial services the final result was
due. It is certain that many a battle has been
won for which the general who is hailed as the
organizer of victory has deserved little credit, and
that many an invention has been rendered pos-
sible by the previous labours of forgotten men.
Thus it happens that fame, which ought to be the
heritage of the most deserving, is too often
awarded to the most conspicuous—an accident of
birth or position proving more important than
conscientious service and personal self-sacrifice.
How far this rule will be applicable to the case of
those who by their perseverance have secured a
good instalment of Reform for the country it were
premature to determine. But we may anticipate
that those who least merit our thanks will be the
most urgent in claiming our gratitude. Already
we have had indications as to what course will
be adopted. The Tories and their friends are
even now boasting about their success in anni-
hilating the Whig party, and rejoicing in having
demonstrated to their own satisfaction that the
Liberal monopoly in Reform has been terminated
for ever. Hereafter we shall doubtless hear these
opinions reiterated as if they were gospel truths.
They are opinions to which a conclusive answer
cannot be made without giving utterance to a
paradox. Neverthelese, it is a fact susceptible of
a clear explanation that the measure of the Tory
defeat is the thoroughness of the Tory victory.
The key to this puzzle will be found in a solu-
tion of the problem : why has there been an irre-
sistible demand for Reform f Neither party has
stood alone in discussing the subject. During the
past few years several members of Parliament
have endeavoured to bring about particular changes
in the representation of the people : more than one
Government has made the introduction of a Reform
Bill an essential part of its programme. Bet
isolated and collective efforts alike failed. It was
again and again necessary to postpone to a more
convenient season the accomplishment of the self-
imposed task. The majority held that the time
was not ripe for the achievement of great alters-
tier a in the constitution of Parliament. Mean-
time the country was undergoing • transforma-
tion of opinion. Meetings were held in the more
important localities by those who could no longer
brook the anomalies in our system, and who were
heartily sick of procrastination. Chief among the
Rip who presided over and gave a tone to those
meeting; we must rank Mr. BIUGHT. With an
energy sometimes in excel!' v.; what was deemed
good taste, but always in accordance with his
genuine convictions, he denounced existing abuses,
and condemned the selfishness of those who main-
tained them to the certain detriment of the country.
Frequently Mr. BRIGHT damaged his cause by
unintentional exaggeration. He was so thoroughly
• in earnest himself, so determined to' gain his
point, that he thought more about dealing hard
blows against his adversaries than about the con-
sequences which might ensue from his mode of
attack. The natural result was that he was mis-
judged. It was supposed that no one could be so
warm in demanding an extension of the right to
vote unless he had ulterior ends in view. He
was credited with desiring Reform in order to
achieve revolution. No error could be more gross
in reality or more pardonable on the part of men
who, like the mass of English gentlemen, content
themselves with conclusions drawn from a glance
at the surface. They cannot rid themselves of the
belief that every one who professes sympathy with
the people must be • demagogue who has a vile
purpose to serve. Their own patriotism is founded
on a desire to enjoy their poi:sessions in peace, to
possess the maximum of the pleasures of life
while discharging the minimum of their duties to
their neighbours. Friendship for the people is, in
their view of the ease, best exhibited when it is
possible at the same time to guide and govern the
people. They held that, were Mr. Bazoirr's pro-
jected changes realised, their position would be
altered, that the political power gained by the
mass of their countrymen would be equivalent to
so much influence withdrawn from them. Hence,
in person, and through the medium of their obedient
servants in the press, they laid to Mr. Batorres
charge accusations which were but the phantasms
of their own excited minds. When the Govern-
ment of Earl Husain introduced a Reform Bill
into the House of Commons last year, the squires
who could not reason, and • few timorous Liberals
who for the time had sunk to the level of the squires,
declaimed against Reform because it was the lever
with which Mr. Bawer had resolved to upset the
constitution. There was hardly a speaker among
those opposed to the Bill who had not a fling at
the honourable member for Birmingham. Every
writer in the Tory press maintained that the Bill
must be pernicious because Mr. Bawer had in-
spired its framers and proclaimed himself its friend.
The fallacy which vitiated all the Tory arguments
consisted in attributing to Mr. Baiorrr a power to
which he had no claim. Even the much-abused
demagogues are not so clever as is generally sup-
posed ; if they convince their fellows, it is be-
cause their fellows are open to conviction. Pro-
minent Chartists have made speeches of great elo-

quence, and conducted an agitation with great
shrewdness, but they have not convorted England
to their doctrines. It was the conformity be-
tween Mr. BRIGHT'S views and the wants of the
'entry which rendered them acceptable. The
..,fqrlieform has been answered because the cir-
,umstances of the country have made Reform in-
dispensable.
Are we, however, to applaud those who offered
themselves as instruments to do the nation's bid-
ding after having up to the last moment resisted
the nation's will ? Shall we acknowledge that the
great Liberal party has been discomfited because
its leaders are members of the Opposition at the
time when liberal principles are embodied in an
Act of Parliament ? There is much in the method
of procedure to which we must take exception : a
precedent has been set which many will hereafter
deplore ; yet now that the Bill has virtually be-
come law, we can accept it with the greater satis-
faction insomuch as its finest features are moulded
by Mr. GLADSTONE. Be has good reason to re-
joice, for he has proved a true prophet as
well as an enlightened statesman. It is but
a year since he assured the enemies of
Reform that " You cannot fight against the
" future. Time is on our aide. The great rocial
" forces which move onward in their might and
" majesty, and which the tumult of our debates
" does not for a moment impede or disturb—
" those great social forces are against you : they
" are marshalled on our side, and the banner
" which we now carry in this fight, though per-
" haps at some moment it may droop over our
" sinking heads, yet it soon again will float in the
" eye of heaven, and it will be borne by the
" firm hands of the united people of the three
" kingdoms, perhaps not to an easy, but to •
" certain and to a not distant victory." Seldom
has a prediction been so literally and speedily
verified by the event. While we praise Mr.
OLanwross's foresight, we need not condole with
him on account of his incapacity to anticipate that
the opponents to whom these eloquent words
, were addressed would ever be foremost in the
throng which should carry the banner of Reform
to victory. We do not believe that our country-
men will be too ready to honour as true re-
formers men who legislated solely to retain office.
In this sense, the triumph of the Tories is a dis-
grace. They have established the rule that foul
play is permissible in the game of politics. Mr.
Manama has gained everything except honour.
Mr. GLansross, Mr. Baionr, and the band of
true Liberals, have vindicated their principles,
and thus earned the applause of those who, not
having bowed the knee to success, regard the
maintenance of an exalted political morality as
the first duty of every public man.

=7

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

THE JCDCRENT IN THE CANE OP °PERINI), GURIET, AND CO.

(L 1111711)

The judgment delivered yesterday in the House
of Lords confirming the decree of Vice-Chancellor Malin
u to the liability of the shareholders of Overend, Gurney,
and Co. (Limited) to contribute to the fall extent of their
unpaid calls towards the payment of the creditors of the
co.npany will surprise no one, says the Thies, who has
fully considered the law which now regulates the
position of joint-stock companies. It would, in-
deed, have been • national disaster if our Courts
of Equity had been compelled to decide that a
creditor dealing with a joint-stock company may never
know to what persons and to what resources he is to look
for payment. The register of shareholders of Overload,
Gurney. and Co. (Limited) consisted of eight persons who
originally signed the memorandum of auxiaticon, and of
676 others who acquired shares in the company by allot-
ment or by purchase. If the appellants could have sue-
ceeded in their contention, the creditors would have lost
all remedy against the 676 shareholders, and against the
three millions sterling they were liable to contribute, and
have been remitted to their rights against the small resi-
duum of 8. Had this been settled law, it is no exaggeration
to state that all Joint-stock enterprise would henceforth onus.
It is only justice to the directors to add that, if they pear-
teed fraud on the shareholders, they participated with
them in the risk. Each of them embarked a large capital
in the company, and though the shame, with 181, paid up,
rose to a premium of between W. and 101., none of than
sold any shares, but retained them to the last. What they
recommended to others they did themselves. But, though
this may exonerate them from the imputation of an intent
to injure u well as delude, none the less are they to be
blamed by every honest man for the statements they put
forth and the knowledge they withheld.
_

The Daily News likewise,-after giving a deteseent of
the wet affirm, the substantial jtailce as well as the
iechnieal legality Cf the decision. It strongly condemns the
persons who got up the new company. The additional
capital was obtained, and could only have been obtained,
by unscrupulously persuading the public not only that the
old firm of Ovoreud, Gurney, and Co. was solvent, but
that the business was such as " could not fail to ensure a
highly remunerative return to the shareholders ;" whereas
at the very time when this representation was made, those
who made it knew that the seamen was insolvent to the
extent of more than this, millions.

The Pod, SandArtl, and Ttiegreph have articles as the
woe subject.

TEN PARIS

After • personnel's* worthy of • better and a happier
cause, Mr. Hardy has succumbed, and the Parka Regula-
tion Bill has disappeared for the session. The Times eon-
gratu/ates the public on this concession. It is, however,
to be regretted he should proclaim that ho yields solely to
compulsion, and that he withdraws the bill only because a
strong-lunged minority threatens to talkfor a month rather
than let it pass. Kr. Hardy, who has been, perhaps,
secretly incited by a desire to avoid the weakness of his
predecessor, appears in the end before the public in not
a vary different guise ; for both ministers, after challeng-
ing a pertinacious opposition, have yielded to it at the last
moment, and the victory of Mr. Beale' outside the house
is not very unlike that of the radial obeiznotons within it-
Hyde-perk has owe more been the scene of a ministerial
defeat, observe' the Daily NC/08. The ground does not
seem at all suited for tory manoeuvres, and air. Hardy has
been no more suocesdul than Mr. Walpole. When next
the subject is mentioned la parliament we may hope that
many things which have embittered the recent disenesion
will be forgotten, and that all parties may approach its
discussion in a deliberative temper.
The Herold sad Standard are both eery Irate at the
conduct of what they call the " extreme radicals" of the
house, and admit that Mr. Hardy had no other coarse
open to him under the circumstances than to yield to their
obstinacy. On the other hand, the Telegraph and Star are
quits jubilant. The former remarks that poor Mr. Wal-
pole bad gone out of °Moe weeping and discomfited, and
Mr. Hardy concluded that his line must be to bloater and
talk big, and draw up heroics hills. " Trafa/gar"-square might
have suggested to him those words of Nelms, " Anchor,
Hardy, anchor." He bad only to bold his tongue, and he
would have been troubled with no meetings in the park.
The Star observes that the firmness of a few liberals has
saved the government from a great danger and the
country from a great disgrace. Of course, the bill is done
with for ever. The tranquil experience of the rooms is
sure to prove incontestably that it is not wanted, and we
may depend upon it that as the next election approaches,
the tory managers will become less sad less inclined to
provoke the public.

111111:71P/au 0071•131;

The conduct of the members of the flaw-Orinden•
Volon of Sheffield, in deliberately associating with
Crooke. and Broadhead, is severely commented on
by the Doug Pew. The social cancer Si Sheffield
le deeper seated, it say; than any of um had sup-
posed. Of an the heathens to whom we send mis-
sionaries, none more need to be converted than these
anion caw-grinders. Living in the bosom of a Christian
society, they are a set of Thugs. Nobody has ever painted

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, AUGUST 16, 18$7.

them blacker than they have now painted themselves.
They have made their own position, and it is their ersk
fault thakintessforth tiny most be sham& like lepers by
all who are not as depraved and reprobate as themselves.
The Standard remarks that the mark of Cain is so deeply
branded upon these men, that in any other society than
that of Sheffield they would be hunted out of the eyeshot
and earshot of honest men.

In the opinion of the Telegraph it would be perfectly
useless to argue with the saw-grinders. No discussion is
possible with men who deliberately shelter • Broadhead
and a Crookes. They are not indeed outside the pale of
the law, but they are outside reason and remonstrance.
Fortunately, they are but a small minority, who are re-
garded with as much abhorrence by the rest of the working
classes as by the other grades of society.

LATEST INTELLIGENCEI,

(tainTia'a TaLsGRAIM.)
AMERICA.

The royal mail steamship Persia arrived A'
Queenstown at 9.30 a.m. to-day (August 16), with
84 cabin passengers and 7,000 dole. in specie. She
landed all the mails, consisting of 116 sacks, and
15 passengers, and proceeded for Liverpool at 9.40
a.m. All well.

NEW YORK, AVOOST 7, Mortmo.
The democrats carried the elections in Kentucky by a
majority of 60,000, electing Kr. Heins governor, nearly all
the members of the legislature, and Mr. Galleday am mem-
ber to congress, to fill the vacancy ceased by the death of
Kr. Rise.

General Sickles has ordered the postponement of the re-
assembling of the North Carolina Legislature until further
notice, and has directed the suspension of trial by jury
until the jury lists are revised.
General Pope has ordered all civil suits against officers
for acts done in pursuance of military orders to be aban-
doned.

General Sheridan has removed the ell treasurer of New
Orleans, and appointed his successor.

The State military authorities of Tennessee have &mourned
the protection of all negroes discharged by conservative
employers for voting the radical ticket.
The Union meeting held at Covington, Kentucky, cm
the evening of the 3rd inst., was dispersed by a mob.
Negro troops, armed and equipped, participated in the
radical procession at Prattsville, Alabama, on the 3rd.
The Attorney General has received complaints that the
military-commander at Wilmington obstructs the serving
of civil procemaes issued by Chief Justice Chars in North
Carolina.

Genera Michel ham resigned the command of the
military forces in Canada.

Advice; received here from Tees Cruz, to the 24th ult.,
state that the city was healthy. The presidential mamma
wee prang quietly.
The Austrian frigate Klinairth was about to return to
New Orleans, the Mexican authorities refusiug to sur-
render to the commaader the body of the late Emperor
Maximilian.

All the foreign caw& at Vera Oxus, except the
American, had lowered their national lags.
It is reported that Marques, the brother of fdiramon,
and other generals, are organising a large force in the
mountains.
Losada still defies Juarez.

Admiral Palmer, et the United States Navy, hu gone
to the capital, it is reported to demand the penon of Santa
Anna, who is still a prisoner at Campeche.

r, Auoaer 16.

The National Steam Navigation Company's
steamship Pennsylvania, from Liverpool, arrived
here at 11 o'clock last night, embarked her passen-
gers, and sailed at 11 this morning for New York.