The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-31 00:00:00

HOLBORN_.

THIS P.VVIINO, MY TiT NIXT. Mr tem< re: Mimes
Foote and Louses —and FLYING SCUD. Means. Neville. Bel-
mar*, Blake, Vonalre. de. : Mesdames F. Jesel.m, C. minders,
Sande Fools. Skids', Lemma. Salludad. 4.c •

BRITAIRILII.

Tin, Minna. THE SHAMROCK (Jr IhELAND. Mn.s S.
Lan—AULD WEIN DRAY. Mews x. Mass& J. Cormier.—
And THE VOLUNTEERS. Mr. Bigwussi and Miss A. Edwin.

NIGH WATCH AT LONDON BRIDGE,
UPI DAT —Mondog. Oh. On.-- ;4ocu.
To-MOlMow—Manalog. of Wok.......Attaroook

LONDON, FRIDAY, MAY 31.

Y. Council of the Society of Arts have re-
solved to raise a fund to be employed in aiding a
number of selected workmen to proceed to Paris
and remain there a fortnight or three weeks, for
tin. purpose of making a careful study of the
Exhibition, and of such factories and workshops as
they may desire to visit. The Prince of Wates
has contributed thirty pounds to this object, and
the Camel' of the Society of Arts gives one• hun-
dred guineas front its funds, in the belief that
such a visit is calculated to exercise a beneficial
influence not only on the men themselves, but also
on the progress of !industry throughout the
country. We wish them every success. Eng-
lishmen of all classes are the better for knowing
what foreigners are doing and can do in their part-
cular line, and if half of what we hear of the pro-
gress of continental manufactures is true it is just
now of great importance that our artisans should
be in a position to compare what they produce at
home with the best specimens of foreign industry.
The number of persons sent by the Society will of
course depend on the amount of support its plan
receives from its members. In any case it must
be more r 'ted than is desirable. The men sent
out will 1,0 the most intelligent and skilful of
their class, those who are already taking good
wages mid in a fair way to become foremen. What
is uvonj more wanted, however, is to bring masses
of our workmen, if that be possible, into con-
tact with the results of foreign compe-
tition, and on this account it is desirable that less
restricted plans for sending working men to
Paris, such as Mr. Lsv.tau and other gentlemen
are promoting, should also be well supported. Too
much is being made in some quarters of the
Paris Exhibition by those who insist on seeing in
it 1.11 adequate representation of the industries of
the world, and drawing final conclusions from the
comparisons made there. This is a false method.
Theseaocalled International Exhibitions are after all
little more than great advertising stations. Their im- '
portance in that point of view is incontestable,
but it is not in the nature of such au Exhibition
to secure a full and fair representation of the
comparative state of manufactures. Still, if only
the young and pushing firms of each country
sent their goods, the inspection would be
sufficiently instructive to make it desir-
able that the Exhibition should be largely
visited by our working people. Mr. D. S.
rime& has pointed out that neither the Bessemer
process of making iron nor our aniline dyes are
represented at the Exhibition, although they are
among the greatest improvements which have been
wade in the application of physical and chemical
science to manufactures within the last ten years.
A valid comparison of our position as manufac-
turers with that of our rival,' implies a c!ose prac-
tical acquaintance with the manifold conditions
under which industry is carried on in countries
differing in the intelligence, skill, and energy of
their people. Those who have the best opportu-
nities of judging are, we believe, most confident
in our ability, nut only to contend with the
world, but to uphold our supremacy, if only
the relations of capital to industry can be satis-
factorily adjusted. On this point, however, it is to
be regretted that much misconception prevails even
among those who have many qualifications to be
leaders and organizers of industry. When we
find men of great manufacturing skill unable to
discern, in the present dissatisfaction ui workmen,
as exhibited in frequent and disastrous strikes,
nothing but the work of paid agitators, we may
see how far we are from a remedy for our present
disorders.

FROM the details of corruption, the Committee
was invited, last night, on the motion of Mr. MILL,
to the consideration of the theory of personal re-
presentation. In a speech lucid and able, as all his
speeches are, the member for Westminster ex-
po Jaded and illustrated the much-discussed scheme
of Mr. HARE. The impatience with which his re-
marks were received, and the rude interruptions
in which that impatience was now and
then manifested, would be in the highest de-
gree discreditable to the House of Commons if they
had proceeded from more than a few of that very
noisy class miscalled "silent members," because as
they are devoid of the powers of artic,llate expres-
sion, their Parliament utterance is confined to cries
and shouts. That the House of Commons con-
tains men so ignorant of political literature and
so far behind the knowledge andintelligence which
prevail out of doors as to Le unaware of the
place which Mr. HARE'S scheme holds in practical
and speculative politics, is an instructive revelation.
Of course, it was impossible that such men as Lord
CIUNIDORNR and Mr. DIRRAELT should share
" that contempt all blockheads have for brains,"
to which Mr. Serjeant GASRLEE alone gale arti-
culate expression ; and their expressions of sym• ;