The Express.
London, England, 1866-08-16 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, THURSDAY EVENING, AUGUST 16, 1866.

honest, earnest, and able ; but they are not I
statesmen. A great party surely never had mare
unworldly and impracticable leaders. With a'
good cause, with the best strength of Northern
opinion on its side, with a reconstruction policy
which, as represented by the proposed Constitu-
tionff Amendment, is both wise and just, and with'
an overwhelming majority in Congress, it is in
danger of serious defeat. The Confederate victor
ries were won by the bad generalship of the earlier
commanders of the loyal armies ; and if the Demo-
cratic
party, and those who would support the
PRESIDENT in bringing back the South without !
constitutional guarantees, gain a victory in the
elections this autumn, it will be due, not to their
own inherent strength, but to the bad generalship
of the Republican leaders, and the consequent
temporary demoralisation of the Republican forces. I

It is evident that a serious crisis in the affairs
of the Union has come. The political horizon is
unquestionably darkening, but we think that the
clouds which some of our contemporaries seem so
much to dread, and of which our correspondent
himself speaks so seriously, will pass away without
the predicted storm. American politicians seem
now as ready to believe in civil war as they were
before the rebellion reluctant to believe in its pos-
sibility. Then an undoubting faith in the sta-
bility of the Unionounl an unwavering confidence
in the peaceful evolution of its destinies, pos-
sessed all but a far-seeing few. The
war destroyed this faith, and produced a
reaction in the other direction. Hence the present
talk of civil war. But, looking on from a distance
which separates us from the passions which political
conflict excites, we see as yet no signs of such a
solution of the present difficulty. It is probable
that Northern opinion may be seriously divided,
and that the distrust the Republican leaders have
so needlessly excited may seriously compromise the
success of their reconstruction policy. But the
worst result to be anticipated from the success
of the Philadelphia Convention is the popular
endOrsement of Mr. JouNsoN's pro-Southern
plans. The South will fight hard to get
back into the Union with all its old
power intact, but it will not again rush
into civil war. Mr. JorrNsoN will do all he can
to help it, but he is not likely to resort to force.
Little as he understands his Northern countrymen, ho
knows at least their tenacity of purpose, and is
in some degree aware of their invincible determi-
nation not to lose the results of the terrible sa-
crifices they have made to preserve the Union and
to emancipate the slave. And there are sonic
reasons which suggest, if they do not even justify,
the expectation that the wretched general-
ship of the Republican leaders may not be entirely
ruinous to the Republican cause, but that it will
be in the electoral campaign as it was in the mili-
tary struggle that that cause will exhibit a surprising
power of recovery because it represents, not the
temporary mood of feeling, but the enduring con-
viction and settled purpose of the Northern
People.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.) '

menu, has given a hint which even King William, in, the
Intoxication of success aad impunity, dares not neglait.
The Tao; rag thinks that a European council can alone
satidschwily deal with the existing di/Acuities.

The pacific and moderate answer of the French Emperor
will no doubt (says the Star) stultify these who have been
looking sod longing for another war, who regard Napoleon
as a kind of malicious ogre ready to dash to earth the hopes
of peace just as they were on the point of fruition, and who
imagine that he watches the events of Europe with the
sole sinister design of aggrandising himself at the ex-
pense of others and in defiance of right and justice.
Whether the Emperor acted wisely in putting forward a
demand, even in deference to a certain kind of public opi-
nion in France, when he was not prepared to go the whole
length which such a policy naturally indicated, is another
question. Corning so sharply after the abortive cession of
Venetia and the disregard of his mediation which both
Prussia and Italy openly exhibited, the present result may
be damaging to the popularity of the Emperor. Mistakes,
like crimes, always conic home to roost. were is the
Empress Charlotte of Mexico in Paris—the repre-
sentative ef one of the greatest failures King or
Emperor ever made—a failure which has not only exposed
French policy to derision abroad, but wbich seriously com-
promises the honour of the French army. Napoleon has
committed the mistake of building up his dynasty upon
the success of his foreign policy. The policy is all right
enough so long as it is a BUCCCRA, and Napoleon has been
very fortuate both in the causes he has adopted and the
allies he has chosen. But when a blunder is made—when
the time of retribution comes—it sinks deep into the heart
of the people.
Drawing a comparison between the British and Prussian
armies, the Times observes that it is remarkable how
closely the military forces of Prussia appear to resemble in
numbers, constitution. and division the military forces of
this country. A standing army of 200,000 men, supported
by reserves of 3.50,000, would serve for a description of one
establishment almost as well as of the other. It is only,
however, on paper that this likeness can be traced. Prussia
is poor ; she is not thickly peopled ; and her administration
is one of the most frugal in the world. Yet from her
population of, at most, 19,000,090, and at a cost of leas
than 7,000,0007., without encroaching on the claims of
industry, or deranging the conditions of social life, she can
put into the field at the first call 500,000 soldiers who have
not found their equals in one of the most famous armies
of Europe. We ought to learn something from such a
lesson. We have a population of 30,000,000, instead of
10,000,000 ; we have a revenue of 70,000,000/., instead of
20,000,0001.; and we spend upon our army 14,000,0001.,
instead of 7,000,0001. Havewe anything like proportionate
results to show for these resources? The advantage on
the side of Prussia is owing, in the opinion of the Tines,
to the superior organisation of her reserve force.

principle of a " rectification" would be received,
and that if par impossible this demand were
listened to, he would only accept the boon by way
of instalment. As I have before submitted, the
frontiers of 1814 would in no way add to the se-
curity or power of France, and would not weigh a
feather in the scale of the equilibrium which, ac-
cording to the French argument, should be read-
justed for the benefit of France in a degree
equivalent to its disturbance by the aggrandise-
ment of Prussia.

At the Assize Court of the Aisne on August 11,
a priest and schoolmaster, named Abbii Richer,
aged 45 years, was tried with closed doors on a
charge of having committed a series of assaults
upon his pupils of a nature unfortunately not un-
common of late years. Being found guilty he was
sentenced to imprisoment with hard labour fur
life. At the same assizes another priest was tried
for a similar offence, but the jury, against the
strenuous exhortations of the public prosecutor and
the summing up of the judge, acquitted him.
The weather, though cold and cloudy, is rather
better than it has been fur several days ; and some
patches of blue sky towards noon seem to promise
that the ftc will be spared rain. The doors of the
theatres, where gratis performances begin at 1
o'clock, are not besieged by quite such great crowds
as I have seen there on former years ; women fear
to expose their toilettes to a shower. By the way,
I observe that on the promenades winter rather
than summer dresses predominate—a striking
commentary on this exceptional season.
The hulipendance of Brussels notices that since
the return from Vichy the seizure of " many"
foreign journals has been a leading feature in Paris
news.