The Express.
London, England, 1866-03-06 00:00:00

INTHIIILHEEB FOR THE RICK.

Offering no opinion upon it the Times puts the question
—Ought the metropolis to pay all the cost of those who
happen to fall sick within it, and should the
charge fall wholly upon houses and land' If the
great work to which the metropolis is now
roused must be done, and if half the metropolis is too
poor and toe burdened to do it, there is no other way but
a subvention out of the taxes. Things cannot remain as
they are. The contrast between the sick poor as they ate
and the aick pour as eiley one'. robe is too &great, and
too deeply marked on the public mind, to be suffered
much longer. The contrast does not exist merely
in ideas and estimates, nor yet merely in the
comparison of England with its nearest neigh-
bour, but in this metropolis itself. Ito hospitals are magni•
ficent, both in the building ►od the management. But
their inmates are a mere handful compared with all our
sick, and even of those who suffer acute disease and want
the best accommodation and are the greater part are left
to boerds of guardians, whoever they may be. Where are
all these sick' Who knows anything about them' Till
we can give a better account of the mass, the well•managed
" hospital" only reveals that while we are nr•glectiog a
great public duty, we are also sunning against better know-
ledge.

The Telegraph tbioirs a great deal can be said io favour
of the proposal of the gentlemen who demised the sulject
at Willis's-rooms on Saturday, that the metropolitan work-
house infirmar'es be consolidstel into half-a- %zoo large
establishments, and that they should then be placed under
uniform management in czonezioa with the Poor-law
Beard. Office! supervision might be made a reality when
there were only half-a-dozen places tote examined ; and the
responsibility of the managers should be greater and more
distinct. To preserve the reality of local self-government
the new infirmariee might be placed under the control of a
representative committee, elected by the various parishes,
while the go►ernmental members of the board would occupy
a strictly impartial position.

WS TOPICS.

The Times amoebas it wou'd not be fair to expect quite
so strong an ebullition on any political subject as that on
the first Reform Bill at so short an interval as a geteration,
but thinks there must nevertheless be either • cer.ain
decay of centrel heat somewhere, or the occasion must be
considerably lets then when we lest re-adjusted our reps,.
'entities system. We have almost to fors* our curiosity
with arguments drewo from our own coesciousness,
fa order to care much what this bill ➢a to be. Sketching
the oharscteristics of the English artisan as distin-
guished from the small shopkeeper, the Tema thinks the
latter, in his character sad poeitioo, on the whole, been
• Omar affinity to the state, though it is from the artisans
that the 1 ()ninth Gewalt eocries ere now to be recruited.
Bat both claws, if aimitted to power, will be arex,ous to
meet their els...orb. Let the government we that their
measure shall not be such as really to alt, r the government
tad policy of this empire, bat if they undertake it at all
such as shall net rfy sad settles.
The Daily lvewsremark§ Chit the explanations offered
last 'light la ref,r nos to the action of the Admiralty is

the matter of the Devonport election petition pleas the go.
veransent is a much better morel position than that which
it occupied on Thursday evening. The Admiralty Is not to
be blamed for its telegram or for the mode of giving offset
to the order, but incidentally a serious question is raised as
to theaoustitution and administration of the Admiralty. A
department which acts on the stressgth of a private letter
addressed t • subordinate °Mow, without the minimums of
its he►d or of its representative in either house of parlia-
ment, may seem to be in a somewhat disorranised and
anarchic condition. The Duke of Somerset and Lord
Clarence Paget do not need to shelter themselves under the
plea of ignorance of the action of the board. The action
was innocent ; the ignorance requires to be explained.
The Star ridicules the position of Mr. Banks dtsuhope,
who his been in parliament the advocate of the most ex-
treme and energetic measures for the prevention of the re-
moval of cattle, and who has jut been fined 201. for as ie-
fraction of the very measures which he insisted that his
neighbours ought so cheerfully to bear.
The Time expects no lass from the good sense and judg-
ment of the Americus people then their approval of the
presidential veto of the Freedmen's Bureau Bill. In this
eciantry the courage and decision exhibited by Mr. Johnson
will confirm the respect in which his policy has been held,
and will entitle him to credit as one of the ablest states-
men who have ever conducted a great nation successfully
through a perilous crisis by firmness, moderation, and
wisdom. _ .

The Herald *uteri into a etatement with regard to the
evidence before the Jamaica commission with the view of
proviog that it teada not merely to the exculpation but to
the thorough and triumphant vindication of Mr. Eyre, and
the superior military authorities. The testhnoay intended
to pro►e particular acts of cruelty has turned out to con-
sist of ow mass of /lamellas and stupid perjury which any
careful sad scrupulous lawyer would have detected in Ave
minutes' examination.