The Express.
London, England, 1867-10-04 00:00:00

LYCEUM.

Tim Eyintnio, THX 31I:11117:4 OM THE MILL—THE
LADY OM LYONS. Mr. Yachter, Mears. Jordan, Addison,
Ca'Mem, Mellon, Dalton. Stuart, end Frances; Miner Els.
worthy and Carlotta Lectercy, Mn. Stanton.

STRAND.
Tho WWWW. OUR DOM VATIC'S. Mews. Psnelle, Thane,
sad James: Mesdames Johasimas & Weatherby.—TITS LATE3T
EDITION OT KENILFORTIH. Mews. James* Marne : Mes-
dames Ada awaaborough, 11011, &e.—And DRAY AS A YOST.

BRTTANWIA.
TNT RVINTPc. TITE WAIT/ OR MEXICO.—TIIE TWO ORE-
GORIVI. —The American Minstrels and Japanese Timmy . the
tweolrona Gymnasts. MC Contain'. and Ellice —And ALONE
Mi TUN PIRA 'l'ls LAIR. Jar. Reynolds: Rise Coreney.

HMO WATCH, AT LONDON BRTDON.
MOT DAT —Monstim, Mk. 40m.... _Afternoon, 61t. Mm.
tWilonow—lloralsi, lb. 21m.. —..Aftirnoori. 4h. 43m.

LONDON, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4.

TER good people of Belfast are in the vein of
h3spitality. The levelling philosophers of the
Social Science Association, with their new-fangled
theories and strange doctrines of political justice
and economic freedom, have no sooner departed
than fresh guests arrive to receive a not less gene-
rous welcome. The Lord-Lieutenant of to-day,
and the Prime Minister of yesterday, the official
representative of Irish Toryism, and the veteran
leader of thu English Whigs have entered Bel-
fast side by side, in the same railway car-
riage. The wolf and the lamb lying down
together is scarcely • more millennial spectacle
than the interchange of civilities between Lord
Russaxx and Lord Aimacosay. So, at least,
the Orangemen of Belfast appear to have thought.
But such • millennium is not to their turbulent
taste. They are as indignant and amazed as Mr.
Pickwick was when his counsel shook hands with
the counsel on the opposite aide. They seem
to have expected that the two statesmen
would scowl moodily and keep apart ; or
at any rate, that if they did enter the same sa-
loon carriage it would be only to adjust their
political differences by an animated interchange
of manual compliments. One thing they were de-
termined on, that Lord RUSSELL should not, by
stealing in in the train of Lord ABERCORN'S pe;.".
cession to
any part of the throat-splitting acclama-
tions intended for the VICEROY.
Muss, gam forst Agrippa forts tn.
lurtuta ingenuorn ralpes tinitata Worm

The part they designed for the late Prime
Minister in the procession was that filled by
RICHARD H. in the triumphal entry of Bouwa-
intoxii. " The deadly foe of Irish Protestantism,"
however, who, in the language of an Orange
" Proclamation," came to Belfast under the
wing of tho Loan-LiKIITENAN; like &wow
stealing into the Protestant Troy, remained quietly
in the railway station, avoiding unooveted ap-
plause, insignificant hisses, and a few possible
brickbats. By the great bulk of the population
of all parties in Belfast, Lord Rossstr., we may
hope, would have been received with the courtesy
and respect duo to his age, to his character, to the
great part which ho has played in the history of
his country, and to the position which ho has
occupied for more than a quarter of a century in
the councils of the Sovereign. The reception given
to the Louu-Lanurewawr does not seem to
have been a party-welcome, though in some quar-
ters probably political sympathy gave it increased
cordiality, and the respect felt for the personal
character of Lord A BERCORN in the province in
which he is known as an exemplary gentleman and
just landlord, mingled with the recognition of his
position as the official representative of the
Crown.

If Belfast has much to learn from the pro-
fessors of social science, it has something to teach
statesmen. Lord ABLECORN, fresh from the
repression of Fenianism which has entered Ulster
only as it has entered England ; Lord Russm.z.,
newly arrived from the south and west provinces
of Ireland, ought to find political lessons in the
spectacle which is presented to their eyes, as the
image of it must often have been to their thoughts.
What has made Belfast and Ulster so different
from the rest of Ireland f There is no special
virtue in the soil. In the time of CROMWELL
the value of land in Ulster, as shown by the
terms on which it was distributed to the adven-
turers of that day, was less by one-third than
it was in Connaught, leas by more than
half what it was in Munster, and less than
two-thirds what it was in Leinster. The value
of the land in Down and Antrim now does
not fall short of that of the most thriving
agricultural counties of England, while in the
south and west of Ireland it is declining to-
wards zero. The centre of this prosperity, the
heart of the province, whence the stream of wealth
flows, and to which again it returns, lies in Belfast.
Inthereign of ELTZ&BETH, the keen eye of Essex and
the sound judgment of Sir JOHN PEREAT saw the
opportunity which the " mouth of the ford"—
Bealafarsad, or, shortly, Belfast—offered for
trade, and advised the building of a dock. The
population, which now probably exceeds 150,000,
was then to be counted by scores. Its progress has
been most rapid, however, in recent years. Within
the last half century the inhabitants have multiplied
more than fivefold. The rate of wages has in-
creased more than 50 per cent. The value of
property, according to official estimate, is greater
by one-third now than it was half-a-dozen years ago.
The tonnage and revenue of the port have at least
doubled. The various manufactures of linen
and cotton, its foundries and shipyards, its
streets, and quays, and harbour overflowing
with the signs of energetic and thriving industry,

witness to its prosperity. The growth of Belfast
in wealth and numbers has been more rapid than
that of any other town in the empire. It is
absolutely unique in Ireland. To what is this
exceptional prosperity due ? We hear conflicting
answers. By ono we are told that it is attributable
to the Protestantism of the community. But a
third and a constantly increasing proportion of its
population is Catholic. By another we are
assured that it is due to the superior indus-
trial energy of the Anglo-Saxon race. Yet
the town is constantly drawing into its borders,
by an internal migration, the Celtic people of the
remoter counties of Ulster and of the three other
provinces. Roman Catholicism is, perhaps, more
favourable to a dependent than to an energetic
frame of character ; the Celtic race may be infe-
rior by original endowment, or through lack of
the appropriate training, in the hardy, patient,
and sober qualities which contribute to worldly
success. But be this as it may, there is abundant
evidence to show that a Celtic and Catholic people,
forming part of a Protestant and Teutonic society,
acquire speedily the spirit of the community
among whom they live. Belfast flourishes, not
simply because its people are endowed with native
force of intellect and will, but because the peculiar
circumstances of the district in which it is placed
have afforded an indispensable condition, denied
elsewhere, of commercial and manufacturing pro-
gress. The wise policy of the CHICHEIITERS, to
whom, in the reign of ELIZABETH, the mouth of
the ford and the adjacent country fell, on
the forfeiture of the O'Neius, gave the town
standing room and growing room by means of
long leases which were granted for small SWIM
What the wi•edom of the founders of a noble house
begui, the fully of one of its later representatives
carried yet further. The doctrine of MANDEVILLE,
that private vices may be public advantages,
receives some sort of countenance from the
history of the manufacturing and commer-
cial capital of Ulster. As one of the
best authorities upon Irish economy has re-
marked, "Belfast has in one generation
" sprung to its present importance through
" the land on which it stands becoming the pro-
" perry of its citizens, from being the property of
" a single proprietor, hampered by settlements
" and incumbrances, and by no means brought
"up to industry." Without coal or iron, it has
become the seat of one of the chief industries
of the empire, and of a varied manufacturing en-
terprise. The Bounder agricultural economy of
the province, in the security which it gives to the
grower, has contributed to form the bracing moral
atmosphere in which the industrial virtues
grow, and to supply the sap which feeds
them. But there is no reason, save
vicious social arrangements, and the popular
habits which are the result of those laws, why the
prosperity of Belfast, and the group of towns
which cluster about it, should be exceptional.
The same, or yet completer, freedom of industry
elsewhere, in regard to the commodity which is
the first source of all wealth, the land, would pro-
duce corresponding effects. There is no cause
in the nature of things why the linen manufac-
tories of Ulster should be confined to that pro-
vince, nor why the old woollen trade of Ireland
should not be revived. Sheep are the only live
stock in Ireland the numbers and value of which
exhibit an increase. The streams in which the
country abounds, and her turf-bogs, would supply
the needed power and fuel. If the distinguished
statesmen now visiting Belfast will, in considering
its exceptional prosperity, seek economic effects
in economic causes, instead of wandering into
obscure controversies of race and religion, they
will understand the spectacle before their eyes,
and learn a lesson (rent Which L'Z'siussi and tme
empire may benefit.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)