The Express.
London, England, 1860-02-14 00:00:00

rgl Bomuares Bawd hm

pegranum of its prodetemor, and in mine tespeets
amended it. The votes for wages, for the Omit-
pm& links sad Whitest% far the motablish-
meats abmad sad at homer foe naval stares, are con-
iiihrahly hoseemel. Sir Joan Panama paid
the preesat ftscarrilv a headman sad evidently
a hearty sempliment on the peneversamo with
w►isk the good work wee permed. The ex-Pivot
Lod, who speaks with all the authority of his own
vigorous edmiaisteatiee, embeeed that he wee
anxiem to know hew a SECRETARY to the ADMI-
RALTY wh• ia opposition hademempieemely attacked
dockyard abuse, would deal with them es estAedrd
in Whitehall. Well, the reformer in opposition is,
woaderful to relate, a reformer in aloe ; sad with
the full assent of the Beard, Lard CLARE/OR PAGET
b pepering for the Howl Commas* a substantial
aid detailed Memorandum of dockyard expeaditure,
emir the head of the booonntant-Omeral of the
Noy se Ilia be who rune—bow mask more the
blealialwlabbstik !—will be able to tell to &fraction
how mai meg plank of every ship under every
shed at Puelmmeath or Chatham is meting, and has
cost, and Ant the British public is charged for every
Royal handspike and every national roman%
No economist could implore the Rouse more earnestly
than the SUR/TART of the ADMIRALTY did last
night to take these Memoranda seriously and to
overhaul them severely. The Doke of Boassecv
appears to be justifying hie reputation as an active
and incorruptible administrator is his present office,
sad es he has the good fortune to be well sustained by
the efficiency and real of his principal subordinate,
the country may look, we trust, for a new era in
naval management. Lord CLARLECZ PAGET AVOW.
the general belief that we don't get our money's
worth in our naval expenditure, and is almost
inclined to think so too ; bet he tells the House it is
partly their fault if the Estimates are not properly
examined, and he allots to place in their
heads the fullest materials for an annual audit.
No possible Secretary of the Admiralty that ever
was born could do more than this.

It is satisfactory to find that at length we are be-
ginning to get together • tolerable Channel fleet,
though we demur to the SECRETARY'S principle of con-
sidering the squadron in the Mediterranean as part
of the Channel fleet. Surely, Admiral FARsztwit and
Admiral MUNDT have enough on their hands between
Gibraltar and Constantinople without being supposed
to assist Admiral FRamairTLE in watching the
British coast from the Land'. End to the Downs. It
is still more reassuring to hear that for the ships
now in commission seamen eater freely, though the
bounty, which expires at the end of March, is
already diminished by more than a half. Oa the other
hand, the Royal Navy Volanteerearesadly shy of tak-
ing the retainer; they are labouring, it seems, under
a disastrous though traditional prejudice against the
people in Whitehall; and the old iron of the press-
gang has not gone out of their souls. They
talk of being " kidnapped," and all the
advantages offered to volunteers are so many
gins and traps for unwary Britons. This ob-
stacle to the success of a measure good as far as
it goes is to be regretted, but it is not surprising.
The good treatment of the crews actually serving
will in time soften away many inveterate anti-
pathies; and the just recognition by the Admiralty
of the claims of the masters, the engineer', and the
warrant officers, will make an excellent impression '
afloat and ashore. The decisive dealing with the
encumbrance of senior officers who have earned re-
tirement will quicken with new hope and zeal the
working ranks of the service.

Tie report of the extraordinary meeting of fallen
women which took place at St. James's Restanrant,
in the small hours of lest Thursday morning, on the
invitation of some ministers of religion, came sad.
dimly upon a public hardly prepared by experience
for so frank a mode of dealing with the open profeesors
of vice. Accordingly we hear the most contradictory
judgments passed on the policy of that proceeding,
The measures of the benevolent promoters of that
meeting do violence to a most immoral oonventioo
which we should none of es be willing to avow, but '
which is nevertheless all bat universal, the tacit
understanding that for all things there a►e placesl
and tithes, and that the grand aim of oar social
art angement is to secure " propriety." On the on.
band we set apart building* and hours of the week
for religion, and in return we surrender whole streets
for a part of the night to harlotry, and we expect
the pact to be observed. Proper strait-laced people
may no more trespass on the walks of " gaiety "
than loose women may invade the temples et wor-
ship. But we live in an age which makes light
of treaties. Mr. BAPTIST Non. and Mr. BROCK have
broken through the long-standing arrangement, and
nobody can tell whither we may be led. A dreadful
return of Chace is apprehended. The question is
asked, or rather insinuated, Why cannot holy men
walk in the purity of their maintship, and leave
Regent street and the Haymarket to their brief
pleasures ? Unless they will do so religion will be
dlahonoured, and the popular notions of moralit7
confused. We suppose the answer would be that if
the Christian religion is a regenerating power it is
the very need of these women who, in all the
finery and jewels with which they appeared at the
St. James's Restaurant, have the best title to the
current designation of their class—" unfortunate
is other words, that they who are whole need not a
physician, but they that are sick. At all evente,
it wee resolved to make the experiment. That it
wail a evacuees thing to bring two hundred and fifty
°steam women together in the name of religion
must be admitted. It is not everybody's work to
reclaim the members of this degraded class : there
are thousands of truly excellent people who ought
not on any account to touch it. But when men like
Mr. Non, and Mr. Baocx, men of years, of solid
character, and considerable knowledge of the world,
undertook the conduct of the work, all who knew
thus even by repute felt that in their hands it wee
sale. How strange and astonishing, how overpower-
ing to many in that singular company, the victims
of "the deceitfulness of sin," strangers to pure affec-
tion, must have seemed the tones of genuine benevo-
lence and paternal tenderness in which Mr.
Nou addressed his " desr young friends."
What poignant recollections of loot happiness must
have been revived in many breast,, and what long-
extiagaished hopes must have revived, as the offer
of resew and an entrance into the way of peace was
presented to all wha would accept them. It will be
said that this diem is only momentary; that the
good impressions produced on that occasion will be
effaced, in most uses have been effaced ; and that
probably most of the young women present on Thurs-
day morning have already returned to a life of sin.
We fear this is not only too near the troth, but that
the general remark may be extended to most efforts
for the moral and spiritual improvement of mankind
from the days of Elwell and NOAH, end probably
much earlier, to our own. Bat thou who mean to
turn life to account, and not lees it in vain aspirations
and regrew, will nevertheless try to do what good
they can, convinced that so endeavour or sacrifice
dictated by sincere love to their fellows is lost.
We have been privately informed that, as a result of

)AY

- asess the St. James's Restaurant, ea may
tL our Ituthed young women have to he
admitted to penitentiaries and house of Meer. We
shall net speculate on the amber of these who
will be permanently reclaimed. Doubtless some
will grow impatient of necessary restrietione ; some
will lve unable to endure the motion from a life of
excitement. This is according to all human experi-
ence—it is according to the Parable of the Sower.
On the other hand, is the minds of many who may
net be disposed to ahead= their present mode of life
the seed of warning and instrnedon may fall, to lie
unfruitful only uatil sometime of trial makes the pro-
digal child remember the home where, as the yoang
women were told last Tkereday, a pitying Father is
waiting their return. We are therefore not only
unable to concur in the censures which have been
passed on the promoters of this special appeal to the
outcasts of society, but think them worthy of great
praise. At the same time, we hope they will discern
and acknowledge the very narrow limits within
which the assembling of young women of the de-
graded clue can be either useful or safe. The meet-
ing last week fulfilled a special purpose—a message
was to be delivered, a demonstration of true friendli-
ness to be made. It has been done, and done
completely. The way of purity and peace has been
made plain to all who may wish to enter it. The
repentant know where they may obtain aid and
succour. What more could be gained by holding
similar meetings ? Nothing remains but iteration
and importunity—in a word, downrightsermocising.
We regret to me by the published letter of Mr.
Lamm= that a second midnight meeting is to be
bald. Even if such a convocation is thought desirable
we should most earnestly deprecate its previous
announcement in the newspapers. Such publicity
can serve no purpose, it fosters a spurious excite-
ment, acts unfavourably on the minds of those whom
it is sought to benefit, and occupies the mind of the
public with an unwholesome topic. In their nature
these meetings cannot become an institution; they
ought to be strictly occasional, having a special and
well defined object, and they should be carried oat
without fuss. In different parts of the metropolis
many sincerely benevolent persons are zealously
labonriug to restore these lapsed ones to society
without noise and show, and they succeed. The work
commenced last Thursday should be prosecuted
quietly by those who are duly qualified for it; but the
way to mar it and convert it into a veritable social
evil is to make it an affair of secretaries, and parade
it in letters to the newspapers.