The Express.
London, England, 1866-02-14 00:00:00

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Wit has pnl
even Lord -gees blood 1
forget their colour.
The Advertiser Lade the eoedemn►tlon of Mr. Eyre in
fire aotorioss fact that there was no denier which com-
pelled the abandonmeet of oonstitntion►l forms. Mr.
Eyre bad beard that ►here were rioters or rebels in the
field. He sent out troops in abundsoce, who were obliged to
confess that there were no rebels to be found. Not a single
score of bleak men were ever to 100 mat with in arms. Not one
encounter ever took place; not use soldier loot his life at
the hand' of the " rebels.* All that Mr. Eyre can now
plead is, that there had been a rebellioo, or a riot, two or
three days before the troops reached the spot. And there-
fore—not because there was any rebellion, but because there
had been one—did the troops slaughter some 2,000 nitre-
rioting negroes ; while the Governor himself consigned a
supposed leader, who had not been nesr the scene of the
outbreak, to a violent death at the hands of a juvenile
court-martial.
The Star points out the vagueness and unsubstantial
eltarecter of much of the information given by the Times
correspondent respecting the character of Mr. Gordon.
Those who have from the first taken the strictly legal and
constitutional aide in the Jamaica discussion are by no
mesas dependent upon the personal excellence of any of
Mr. Eyre's victims for the strength of their case, but it is
naturally cheering to find the endeavours made to blacken
the reputation of Mr. Gordon aa feeble and ineffectual as
they are utterly beside the mark.

It the government bill on capital punishment is to
embody the Ernest:fon of the oommiwrion, that no
murder, unless committed in connection with some other
atrocious crime, or " with express malice aforethought,"
shall hereafter be punishable with death, bet that in the
latter caw "such walk.e is to be found as a fact by thej ury"—
Sir George Grey, the Times says, must he prepared to show
that juries will be less reluctant to find express malice as a
fact than to abstain from finding extenuating circumstances.
Serious objection. are also likely to be urged against the
paragraphs recommending that the power of recording sen-
tences of death should be restored, and that executions
should take place before select witnessee within the prison
walla. At the same time, many are naturally disappointed
that several problems of great practical interest, and legi-
timately arising out of that immediately before them,
each as the policy of establishing a court of criminal appeal,
of leaving the royal prerogative of mercy in the hands of
the Home Secretary, or of amending the legal definition of
insanity, should have been shelved by the commissioners.
Dilating upon the frightful facts which appeared in Mon-
day evening's Express in the report of an inquest
held in Bethnal-green, the Times observes that
in all such oases there are official instruments, but
they want quickening and mutual action, and that
weight with guardians, with landlords, and everybody else
which can only be acquired by determination and decision.
Why does the board of guardians leave serious hots
officially reported by competent authority to slumber for
several months in the report book ea its table ? Why does
a landlord pay no attention to the notice duly served upon
him by an officer paid for the very purpose? Wby must a
poor creature, be he the poorest and meanest wretch under
the sun, have to run about half a day seeking medical aid
for a woman in the agonise of death? Under the present
heedless system there is immense waste of official power
and official salary.
Speculating upon the probable amuse of the Lords on the
Reform Bill, the Post assumes that if the country ex-
prams a strong opinion the Peers will be led by it ; if the
public voice is neutral, they will decide on their own judg-
ment or prejudices. By the House of Commons they will
not be influenced, and a measure which addresses itself to
that house rather than to the country, will have
lase chance of success with the Peers than if it addressed
itself directly to the country by the symmetrioal j mike of
its provisions.
The /Jerald predicts; that Hr. Bouver:e's complaint will
, have a good many echoes, each laud. r and longer ; and
1
Earl Russell will most probably find in the end that Mr.
Bright's patronage, which be has purchased so dearly, will
be more ruinous then his bitterest hostility could have
bees.

The arrival of St. Valentine's Day leaje the Telegraph
to dwell upon the oourtallip of to-day as compared with
that of 50 years ay. At that date, it says, people were
not ashamed of an honourable and innocent affection, as
many of the youngsters of 1866 appear to be. Possibly
club life has a good deal to answer for in this
respect. Young men of an unsentimental turn fled
that they cur be made comfortable for a small annual pay-
ment ; that, practically, they can get what they would
most value in domestic life without undergoing any pre-
vious sawlike or running any risk. The result is a tone of
thought which considers Well refined, at the very moment
that it is most coarse and vulgar. The dread of marriage,
so common amongst clever, smart youths,is not to be consi-
dered, perhaps, as entirely their own fault. Time was when
people married in the belief that by so delog—by sharing
toils and troubles as well as enjoyments—their up-
ward path in the world would be made pleasanter ; they
looked forward, say, to twenty years of work, and then to
prosperity as its reward. This homely view—which is also
the highest—seems to have faded away. It appears to be
understood nowadays that a young lady, the daughter of
rich parents, must on 'eerie( her father's house for her
husband's be immedistely provided with all the luxuries to
which she has been accustomed. It is a wretehed theory,
and one that reduces a woman to the level of a costly doll.