The Express.
London, England, 1866-11-22 00:00:00

OUR CONTEMPORAALES.

(TIM DAY.)

IHE MANCHESTER REFORM BANQUET.
According to the Times the presence of 900
guests at the Manchester banquet does not prove the
existence of any intense interest in reform but rather
evriesity to hear one of the best orators of the day.
Mr. Bright's speech mainly consisted of abuse of
the late Reform Bill, and, to do him justice, he never
said more for it than that it was a lever, which he would
like to have in his hand, with a good fulcrum to work
upon, and the British constitution at the other end. He
takes Lis stand on the principle of a rating or a household
suffrage, but says notl'ing as to how the principle is to be
applied, and it cannot be applied except together with
other principles. As to his pietcm of the three classes,
nothing can be further from the reality. The tt ath is,
England does not stand upon classes, and her whole system
is adverse to lines of social demare—tion.

.-
The conference and banquet, Omer yes the Daily News,
afford gratifying proof of the unanimity and resolution
of reformers—a unanimity very disquieting to their oppo-
nents. For men to refuse to act together now because
they differ as to the abstract pt;nciples of representation
would not be honesty but stupidity. It is sufficient that
reformers heartily desire all that they join in demanding—
that is, a household franchise not falling short of the
measure proposed by Lord Palmerston's government in
lrek. The capitalists who are taking part in this movement
probably perceive that the real danger against which we
have to guard is in keeping the gates of the constitution
obstinately closed. No form of conatitutional government
can reckon upon permanence under which the enormous
majoi:ty of the population is excluded from a direct in-
terest and participation in the working of public institu-
tions. Manufacturers who know the power of the trades'
unions shrink front the idea of allowing a class which has
numbers, and physical power, and enthusiasm, to organise
itself outside of the representative system of the nation.
Reform is also needed for the better securing the ends
of good government. As things aro the nation is
convinced years before any impression is made
upon parliament, and great changes have needed
the apprehension of some physical calamity to drive houre
arguments hither in unavailjpg. The Manchester Con-
ference acted wisely in declining to commit itself to the
details of a particular measure, and the position which
they take towards the present government is not justly
open to censure. They simply decline to place themselves
in the attitude suggested to them of respectful expectation.
The Herald thinks the catalogue of the names of the
middle class who were present but a scant roll, and the
whole character of the proceedings as unenthusiastic and
tame. No one will gravely asset. that the motive which
brought these nine hundred gentlemen to a "sumptuous'
banquet at Manchester is the same as that which recently
tilled the streets of Glasgow, Birmingham, and Leeds. The
banquet is a demonstration of nothing except that a cer-
tain number of noblemen and gentlemen desire to see a
change in the present system of representation, and in
this opinion Lord Boughton and his friends have no mo-
nopoly.
The electric telegraph blundered in transmitting a sen-
tence of Mr. speech, in which he spoke of the
nutubern likely to attend the great demonstration in Lon-
don. lie said 200,000,but the telegraph sent it as 1,000,000,
and several of Or^ contemporaries 63 printed it. But why,
asks the Star, only '200,00! Leeds ("1 as much, accord-
ing to the most ti tistworthy accounts, and Birmingham
also. Why not aim at something even greater? for now is
the time to impress upon the ruling class the hopelessness
of fur.her resistance, and the policy of making large and
liberal concessions to the people.

THE success of the Atlantic Cable has given a
new intere:it to the history of electrical science,
and it is not surprising to find that a contro-
versy as to the first invention of the Electric
Telegraph is now attracting public attention.
It is remarked that while honours have been
freely distributed upon the success which has I
attended the laying of the Atlantic Cable which
carries the telegraph, none have been conferred on
those who first invented the electric telegraph
itself, or who by various improvements have
brought it to a state of such perfection that it has
been long in general use all over the world. In
short, that those who have conferred on the world
one of the greatest benefits of modern times have
been passed by wholly unnoticed in the recent dis-
tribution of public honours. The enthusiasm
which attended the miecess of the great Atlantic
experiment appears to have obscured for a time
the merits of those whose previous labours had
already produced such vast results, and but for
whose discoveries the Atlantic experiment itself
could never have been so much as tried. Yet
among others the name of Mr. Wnssrsromg is
well known, and a leading journal has loudly de-
manded for hint the merit of the first invention
of the electric telegraph, and the honour to
which such a claim, if well founded, would justly
entitle him. This claim, however, is not unchal-
lenged. It appears from a letter which we lately
inserted from a correspondent that fifty years ago
Mr. FRAN,IS ItoNALPs, a gentleman devoted to
scientific pursuits, and still living, invented and
offered to the then government an " electric tele-
" graph " which ho had constructed and put in
operation. The reply which he received from the
Department of the Admiralty is a curious instance
of the official tone. Sir JOHN Battnow, the Secre-
tary, informed Mr. Po ,NALos that " telegraphs of
" any kind were then wholly unnecessary, and
" that none other than the one then in use would
"be adopted." Well might Mr. BARROW per-
form a filial duty in writing, as he has lately done,
to the Editor of the Pall Mall Ga:ette, in which
an account of this affair had appeared, that his
father, in sending this reply to Mr. RONALDS,
acted as " the organ of the Board, and not on his THE PROsECUTIoN Or MR. ETRE.
" own responsibility." Mr. RONALDS, however, The Daily NeKS thinks it plain, from the constant con•
not satisfied with the opinion of the Admiralty, junction of the two arguments used by the friends of Mr,
published in 1823 a pamphlet entitled " Descrip. Eyre—that lie did nothing but what was lawful, and that
" tions of an Electrical Telegraph, and of ho is to be relieved from penalty because of his inten-
"t, arena—that t
ishrit
theirthri have
ant : confidencen
tinnocence.beialgon
some other Electrical Apparatus," describingassertion inof the law
what he had (lone, and illustrating his inven- their side which makes it absolutely necessary to try the
tion by drawings. He there predicts with a question. Toe Daily News proceeds then to notice a work
remarkable foresight some of the purposes to which Mr. Finlaisou has just published, in which that
which the invention might be applied ; for he lawyer seeks to prove that every one of Mr. Eyre's acts
says, " Why should not our Kings hold councils is strictly authorised, not merely by local Jamaica law,
"at Brighton with their Ministers in London T but by the law at this moment prevailing in England.
Tocha.tirolaartioafl-lafowreniivay
war,in orthisa
coconsuiltry,
" Why should not our Government govern at be
orP a rio.tmedtheant
" Portsmouth almost as promptly as in Downing- when proclaimed, government may at its discretion attest,
" street 1 Why should our defaulters escape by at any spot within or beyond the proclaimed district, any
" default of our foggy climate 1" . . . " Let one suspected of complicity, may transport him in custody
" us have electric conversazione offices, communi- to the jui,s,lictiou of a drumhead coort-martial ; that this
" eating with each other all over the kingdom, if tribunal may judge him on any evidence, however scanty,
y
ireanmdocteon,dwiemthnlahiwnliesstodeeddesat.hthfoart
haeoLcaontnheeNnioz,
fohrothwev.tehr
`t we can." A more striking instance of scien-
tific foresight cannot well be imagined. Mr.
shot ; and that for all this nobody is liable,y and nu proof
RONALOS, being probably more of a philosopher of innocence is admissible to procure any redress—such is
than a man of business, took out no patent ; and the law, 'slt. Finlaison and Mr. Eyre's friends tell us, we
it was not till 1837 that the first patent was taken are living under now. His accusers demand a judicial de.
out by Messrs. COOKE and WHEATSTONE. j
donation whether such is the law, whether our liberties
We cannot see, therefore, how a priority of in- and lives stand in such hourly hazard, in order, not chiefly
that Mr. Ej re may be punished, but that either we may
vention over Mr. RONALDS can be claimed for
know that the law is not so, or that we may by legislation
either Mr. WHEATSToNE or Mr. COoKE. But
make it not so.
however this may be, and whatever may be the The Tekovroh, though on the side of Mr. E).-e on the
relative merits of these gentlemen, it would be a general question, protest. against the letters of Liente-
strange thing, considering the unspeakable benefits nant Brand. His courage, it says, is so noisy that one
to the world of the electric telegraph, if the men would rather not have been under his protection during the
who first discovered, or developed and brought rebellion. He could in no way have better served the
to perfection, the most wonderful and use-
cause of the Jamaica committee than by writing letters
filled with everything that a person in his position should
ful invention of modern times should be
not say. When his precious epistles are read, the ones-
deemed unworthy of the slightest public lion will be asked, was this a man to trust with matters
notice on an occasion when the subject of life and death?? And if an answer be given prejudicial
is under consideration, and when so strik- to the cause of Jovernor Eyre, we may object to the con-
ing an instance has occurred of the successful elusion as illogical, but we certainly cannot call it nn-
application of their labours. One would have natural. Lieutenant Brand may be still an officer, but
thought no pains would have been spared to seek et, e Telegraph cannot in its conscience call him a gen-
out, if they still lived, those to whom the eTrreu Brand •
world was so deeply indebted. No one grudges correspondence, the Star ways, has done more
than a hundredweight of blue books could do to illustrate
the honours bestowed on the men who have, with the nature of the tribunal which tred and hanged
infinite skill and perseverance, succeeded in laying Gordon, and which for successive weeks sported with the
the Atlantic Cable ; hut many will ask, Where are lives of men and women as if they were rabbits or rats.
they by whose previous labours and discoveries it Lieutenant Brand is the officer who, when asked before
became possible that there should be a cable at all ? the Jamaica Commission whether he had ever said he
Do you ennoble those who laid the electric wire would have great pleasure in banging Gordon, made
across the sea, and forget the men who have answer, "No ; but I may have said it about Flemming'
because I did have the pleasure of hanging him, and it was
enabled you to control to useful purposes the a great pleasure !" He is also the officer who himself de-
magic power which it contains? It would seem im- tailed in his evidence the following gallant and seamanlike