The Express.
London, England, 1866-04-16 00:00:00

TO THE ETHTOR OP TIM /SIMMS.

to-day's Times there appears a letter
signed, " Etoniensis, Ex-M.P.," charging Mr. Mill with
misquoting Horace in his speech of Fridaynight. Thefactis
that Mr. Mill did not mention Horace at all, and I
have no doubt never meant to quote from him.
The phrase, " babes pretium ; crud non tiger*"
is doubtless one of those proverbial sayings which were
current in antiquity, and in familiar use amongst learned
-men after the revival of classical studies. The " Adagisi "
of Erasmus, as is well known to scholars, is full of such
phrases.
While correcting " Etoniensis " for saying that Mr. Mill
quoted from Horace, which he did not, permit me also to
draw attention to the unfairness of the Times in attributing
to Mr. Mill in its leading article of this morning an opi-
nion which, for aught I know, Mr. Mill may or
may not hold, but which he certainly did not express
in his speech. The opinion attributed to Mr. Mill is this—
that " he thinks that every class has a right to be re-
presented by men of its own class, and representing the
views and interests of that class." What Mr. Mill said
was this : " You (the opponents of the Reform Bill) say
that its classes and not individuals who are represented
in the House of Common. ; very well, in that case, which
is yours, not mine, the working class ought, as a class, to
be represented here."—l am, &c.,

ONE WHO HEARD THE DEBATE.

LORD RICHARD OROSVENOR,M.P., AND HIS

CONSTITUENTS.

(From the Liverpool Mercury of this day.)

A great degree of surprise was experienced in
Flintahire when Earl Grosvenor gave notice of his amend-
ment on the Government Franchise Dill, and much anxiety
was evinced to know the course that his brother Lord
Richard would take ; but all doubt on the point was soon set
at rest by the announcement of his resolve to support the
amendment. The amount of indignation felt at this open
breach of trust, and the annoyance at the time, trouble,
and expenditure that many of the liberal party had In-
' curred in securing hie lordship's return for the mere pur-
pose , as it would appear, of his turning round upon his
friends and supporters by opposing them, may be more
eisily imagined than described. But the constituency
have spoken out distinctly and plainly, and in all the
towns of the county where the leading liberals are to
be found the expression of disapproval has been
universal and unanimous. The first meeting was held at
Rhyl, when resolutions in favour of the bill were carried
with enthusiasm and a petition to the House of Commons
was adopted, with directions that it should be forwarded
to his lordship for presentation, and • request that
he would support its prayer. To this request he
returned a supercilious reply that he could not
I support its prayer, adding that all " deep-thinking
men, with very few exceptions," agreed with him
and not with them, and assuring them that if they would
wait until theybeard what would be said by the opposition
in the forthcoming debate they would speedily adopt his
views, and this was said to men many of whom were old
enough to be his lordship's father, and who have been
actively engaged in political life from a date prior to his
lordship's birth.
An open-air meeting was subsequently held at Dyserth,
;in the neighbourhood of the Great 'ranrgoch Mines,
when resolutions were passed not only in favour of
the bill, but directly censuring his lordship for his conduct
and inviting Sir John Hanmer to come forward as a candi-
date for the county at the next dissolution. On Tuesday
last a large meeting was held at Holywell, where the same
unanimous condemnation of this political backsliding took
place. The electors of Mold, in addition to adopting a peti-
tion in favour of the bill, have sent his lordship a firm pro-
test against the gross breach of trust he is committing; and •
meeting of the inhabitants of Flint was held at the Town-
hall in that borough on Friday evening last, presided over
Iby Richard Muspratt, Bag. (mayor), and at which the
chairman and Mr. Ellis Eyton (town-clerk), the Messrs.
Hall, and several other speakers, one after the other, ex-
' premed the deep regret that is felt at this first °cession
ever known of the liberal member for Flintahire deserting
his cause for that of the tones. The electors of Caerwys
have, in addition, forwarded to his lordship • petition in
favour of the bill for presentation.
Notwithstanding all this he has shown not the slightest
sign of altering his determination ; but should he, as it is
feared, proceed to carry it into execution, hie chanter of
I being re-elected are gone. Already some hundreds of the
i electors have declared that they will not support him ; and
the conservatives, who are pretty strong in Flint-
] shire, will no doubt take advantage of this split in
the liberal party to bring forward a candidate of
I their own in the hope that he may slip in between the
two. It is, however, hoped that his lordship will have the
good taste to withdraw from a constituency to whom his
sets have become so distasteful ; and whether he dace so
or not it seems pretty certain that Sir John Hanmer will
be brought forward far the county by the liberals sod wens
other gentleman for the borough, so that in any case Lord
Richard's reign is over.
It is • noteworthy fact that the constituencies of every
renegade liberal member who has announced his intention
of rapport* the amendment have protested against their
represestatives' act, including those el Earl Grosvenor,
Mr. Lowe, Mr. Harman Mr. Edward James (of Man-
chester), and last, theogh not least, Lord Richard
Grosvenor. go this Vat &haw may new be added.]