The Express.
London, England, 1866-11-10 00:00:00

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

(THIS DAY.)

Though possessing many of the same qualities
as the late Lord Palmerston, to whom it was as natural to
speak at a public banquet as to talk at his own dinner
table, Lord Derby feels the responsibility, not to say diffi-
culty, obser►es the Times, of the position be occupies ; and
hence, in his addresses as Prime Minister, a certain reserve
which marks the statesman whose achievements are still in
the future. That he did not break silence last night
respecting his coming measures is no reason for complaint.
There are still three months left of the recess, and the
government has a right to take all the time it can for the
consideration of its measures. The most important point
in his speech is the intimation that a proposition for the
arrangement of the differences between America and this
country with respect to the Alabama claims would he
favourably entertained, and that the duties of neutrals in
maritime war might, if necessary, be reconsidered. Lord
Derby's government is, happily, able to approach these
questions without suspicion or prejudice. And while it
would be almost impossible for Lord Russell and his col-
leagues to approach these discussions with a fair chance of
success, they will not the less, we may hope, give cordial
support to their successors in any attempt which may be
made to remove' a cause of offence which appears to be
deeply felt on the other side of the Atlantic, and to achieve
a substantial and permanent reform of international law.
Though it is almost in the nature of things, and is cer
tainly for the advantage of the country, that the liberal
petty should be for the most part in office, and that the
conservatives should perform their appropriate function of
checking and regulating the stream of legislation, yet sea-
sons recur at which it is beneficial that this relation should
be changed, and that the party generally in opposition
should be called upon to act where they have been accus.
tomed only to criticise. The present, the Times conceives,
is one of those seasons, and Lord Derby and his colleagues
have once more the opportunity of gaining a higher repu-
tation than that of clever opposition orators.
In another article the Times draws attention to a draft
report prepared by Sir J. Pakington on the subject of
national education, and published, though not adopted, by
the select committee of laat session. Sir John proposes
to create a ministry of public instruction ; to appoint edu-
cational boards for counties or dioceses throughout the
country ; to give the power of compulsory rating in cer-
tain defined cases ; and to make the insertion of a con-
science clause in the trust deed an indispensable condition
to a giant. A third article is devoted by our contempo-
rary to the extraordinary combination which was
formed at Glasgow to buy up the stock of the
Grand Trunk Railway of Canada. These gentlemen,
it is evident, had not in the first place the
money, or the " margin," as it appears to be called there,
for the pueblo • of these shares bought in their names,
and they could eel, hope to pay ont of the proceeds of
the ultimate re-sale. Then, it is confessed, that the shares
were boa even bought to the extent of the engagements to