The Express.
London, England, 1867-02-13 00:00:00

LI CEUM.

Tms F.VENTVI, TY74I-gia;:. Mr. Wildicomb.—And
ILOCUE ►.l' NoIR. Messrs. Feaster, Emery. Cowper, Moreland.
Eitsputri. k. Usltun, Reynolds, Lomas, Audrey.., Prii.e.
Mrs. L. Murray, and Misses ileuraile, Grattan, and C. Leclereq.

STRAND.

THIS Evvinto, YEIGIIItiiii-.4-Latter which will be pmdoced
• Brand Burlesque, UUY FAWHY.3.—muI A SUIT OF
TWEED'i.

110 Y .BORN.

THII XVgNINCI, MY TI EN NEXT. Mr. Itelmore: Misses
Foote and ',allot —And FLYING CIJD. Messrs. Neville, Bel-
mar., Blake, Nollsire, : Mesdames F. Josephs, C. nauuders,
Berle Foote, Fkides, Lennox, Raymond, ate.

BRITANNIA.

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OR, TIIE THREE KINGtvnIA Or PEARL, GOLD, AND
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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 1:1.

THE incidents of last Monday lend countenance
to those sceptics who deny that there is such a thing
as political experience, and would leave us nothing
for all our pains and toil but an act:mutilation of
isolated and barren facts. Experience certainly
did not much profit certain of our instructors last
week, when they were forecasting the complexion
of the occurrences appointed for tho 11th of
February. They told us to expect that the
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER would take a
straightforward English course, while the working
population were to fill our streets with disorder
and havoc. The occasion is past. The Reform
demonstration has taken place, but the Guards
were not wanted, except to start by railway train
in the dead of night to defend Chester Castle
and astonish the natives of a tine old city. In
London not a special constable was sworn in,
and Mr. BEAL= is still at large, Lord DERBY not
having had an opportunity of "holding him re-
" sponsible " fur anything that has happened.
The fears and the chidings of the PnratiErt's
speech in the House of Lords last Friday remain
on record to show how little he understands his
=enfranchised countrymen, and with what
thorough want of sympathy he repays their die;
trust. Probably, however, it is only his strong
Constitutionalism that makes Lord DERBY so ap-
prehensive ; and we doubt hot that if the smile
men hail vats, he would have the fullest confi-
dence in their good behaviour.
Mr. DISRAELI, like Mr. BEAMS, had his hour,
but was unable to improve it. The occasion was
one altogether suited to his genius and tempera-
ment. The political map of England lay before
him for reconstruction. The errors of his predo-
tessera were there to warn him. The voice
of public opinion invited him to be for
once real and courageous. His colleagues
looked to him for strength and prestige, his oppo-
nents watched to see if he would break away from
his antecedents and take a bold line of his own.
All were alike disappointed, and Mr. DISRAELI
showed on Monday, that instead of being a states-
man ho was still only a pompous rhetorician.
There is no mistake about the effect of his speech;
friends end foes have only one opinion regarding
it. There is no satisfaction in crying, " I told you
" so," as often as factitious hopes collapse, but if
political observation is worth anything at all it
ought to protect us against needless surprises.
Mr. DISRAELI'S performance on Monday was what
those who knew him best had most reason to
expect. When they predicted just such a failure
as has taken place, they were told they
were the slaves of prejudice, and that it
was improper to state a foregone conclusion.
But, after all, there is such a thing as permanent
character as a ground of conduct, bearing its own
native fruits and not those of another soil. It is
of course right to cultivate a state of mind which,
withoet too much emotion, can recognise grapes
even when growing upon thorns ; but nothing is
gained for truth or convenienw by pretending to
expect to find them there. Mr. DISRAELI was never
more himself than on Monday; hisapeechapparently
was exactly what ho wished it to be. He will
point to it with pride, and succeeding generatiens
will learn from it how it was that one of the
cleverest men of his age could never win the confi-
dence of the English people.
Mr. Dissatett's speech gives us the measure of
the capacity of the present Government to deal
with the question of Reform. If either House of
Parliament is to treat that question successfully it
must be the House of Commons ; and if there is
one man of the Conservative party who can con-
duct the deliberations of the House, it is Mr.
DISRAELI. But that he is unequal to the task is
now demonstrated. His constitution and habit of
mind do not permit him to perceive oven the
elements of the Reform question. It is for him a
mere Parliamentary difficulty : its causes are to
be discovered and its history traced in Ilatward,
and its settlement it to be secured by satisfying
merely Parliamentary interests. Of the popular
sentiments of the day—of the desire felt by the in-
telligent artisans to take a part, however small, in
the government of the country, he knows nothing,
and believes himself all the wiser on that account.
While he was speaking at Westminster on Mon-
day the largest meeting ever held under an
English roof was assembled at Islington, im-
patient of delay, and resolving that the
just right of the people to be represented in
their own House of Parliament should not I
be evaded. It is idle to look any longer for
Parliamentary Reform from the present Adrainii-