The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-16 00:00:00

Ehe erpreoys.

TO 001.1tESPONDINTIL
dyietlaemenla Mended for "The gxpreme," London Evening
ZtrPer mast be at the Mee, 10. Iloayeete4treet, by Two
on the day of pubileatkm.

DRURY•LASE.

THIS EVTNING. THE izai(o• VOICE. Mr. Phelps, Marra
J. C. Cowper, 11. Sterl.dr, E. Phelps, Barrett, Temple, ke.. Sin.
Her nano Vann, Min Grattan,de.—And THE LADIES' CLUB.
Mesdames Beatrix &darkly and Kate Ilarßear.

ILITNATUIZT.
'rms EVENING, THE WINNING CARD. Mr. Comptsn --orn
ANKRICA.N COUsIN. Messrs. wt iii. Marrs,
Itgraus34l, Clark Gordon, 4cc. : )lee lamas 11,1wrts..1), Dalton,
Nuke, @c.—Aoct FISH OCT OF WATLR. Mr. Cutuptuu.

rznirczera.
Tine Eregigo„ A LITTLE FLlRTATlON.—Afterwhich ARRAN
NA Milt! IL Merry Newtown, Vining, D. hurry, J. G. Shore,
G. Y. Neville. tn.: Miss Hughes end Mn. Boucleault.—And NO.
ONE, HOUND THE CORNER.

LYCEUM.
THIN !VINING. TILE MISTIV.se UP I,l} MILL.—And
HAMLET. PRINCE UV DENMARK. Mr. Fechtew, Messrs.
Emory, Ryder, F. Mathews. thslariem, Mellon, and Dalton ;
Aliases k.ls worthy, Bishop, and Carlotta Leclereg.

TEM EVENING, THE FRENCH EXHIIIITION.—KIND TO A
?AVIS Mr. Pune?lea Mims Hughes.—And WILLIAM TELL
WITH A V F:NGIIANCE. Meson. Ilsmsne, James, and Fenton;
Mesdames Gwyune, Johnstone, Molt, and Wasthersby.

HOLBORN.
TRH EVENINO, FOR LOVE Beam 11. J. Montague, Trier,
Genteel. Weitl ued, and 11. Wldjieutb• Mesdames fitephenet,
Beneade. C •nu mien, tte.—Aad MARY TURN=; OR, TIIE
WICIOUB WILLJN. Rim Jesephs.

sarnanna.
TRT EVENGIO, THE SPANIAIi PAGE.—TIIE MARRIAGE
CERTI FIC ATE En & Lam —Mr. J. IMlllceat Mr. and Mn.
Langan, Ethh,pisn Autocrats: Mn. V. Phillips; 3latriltotiLe
Ontati —With WILD CHARLIE. Mesura It. Howe& Charlton.

HIGH WATER. AT LONDON HMOS.
Tin DST —Yarning, 4L. 38e..--Atterpooo, sb. la
Tolloßiow—Korulai. 16. i7m......ati•tuaow 41. 64m.

LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER IG.

THE King of PRUSSIA met yesterday for the
first time a Parliament representing the ➢fonarchy
as it has been enlarged by the victories of 1866.
Hanover, Schleswig-Holstein, Hesse Cassell, and
Frankfort have sent deputies to sit side by side with
those of Brandenburg and Pomerania. The KING
may be excused for speaking with some pride, as
he looked on this reflection of his acquired great-
ness. And yet, in the very act of congratulating
the deputies on the aggrandisement of Prussia, he
had to perform an ungracious task ; he had to
remind them that if Prussia was greater their im-
portance was diminished. The members of the Prus-
sian Parliament are drawn from a wider area than
they ever were before, but to transact business of
inferior importance to that which has occupied
their predecessors. Great departments of income
and expenditure, especially those which relate to the
defence of the country, have been wholly trans
ferred from the Government of Prussia to that of
the North German Confederation. Out of Prussia
the KING'S speech will be read chiefly for the sake
of its references to foreign affairs and the general
state of Europe. These topics, however, are
passed over very lightly by the KING. The rela-
tions of Prussia with foreign powers are stated
to be altogether of a friendly character. The
language in which the recent difference between
the French and Italian governments is spoken of
is very guarded. The limes Government con-
siders that the grounds for the anxiety recently
felt for the disturbance of peace between those two
nations, " both amicably connected with Prussia,"
have now disappeared. The Conference on the
Roman question is not expressly mentioned,
but it is referred to, inasmuch as the KING
foreshadows a policy on that subject for which
he could hardly find a field except in the
common discussion of the affairs of Italy by the
assembled powers. Prussia will take part
in the Conference if ever it meets ; her
Government will then show its care for the " dig-
" nity and independence "of the head of the
Roman Catholic Church ; but no promise is made
to sustain the Temporal Power. On the other
hand, Prussia has to perform " duties which arise
" out of the political interests and international
" relations of Germany "—words which may mean
nothing in particular, but which are likely to be
understood at Florence as indicating the KING'S
sense of the value of the friendship of Italy. The
tone of the Royal speech is conciliatory, and its com-
position has been governed by a determination to
keep unpleasant facts out of sight. If the prospects
of Europe are so settled as the Kino's language
implies, the Italian Government is needlewdy
spending money which it can very ill afford in
its vast military preparations. And yet Count
MENARREA and his colleagues are cautious and
conservative statesmen.

Wu° is it that persuades the Christians of Crete
to reject every offer of accommodation made by
Turkey, and to prepare for the renewal of an
unequal war f It is just possible, but highly
improbable, that the resolution just notified by
the Cretan Commission to the foreign Vice-Consuls
at Reraclium, and which is summed up in their
motto, "Union with Greece or death," represents
merely a blind instinct of patriotism. It is more
likely that it rests on the expectation of foreign
aid, in the hope of which the miseries and
horrors of the last campaign are forgotten. We
can admire heroism while regretting its illusions,
but the conduct of a government which for its
own ends should encourage these brave islanders
in a desperate struggle without any intention of
aiding them, would be detestable. Four Euro-
pean Powers—France, Russia, Prussia, and
Italy—have just published a declaration, which
they have jointly made at Constantinople, and
which could not fail to have its influence
with the Cretan leaders. In declaring that the
Turkish Government had provided no remedy for the
abuses which provoked the rising in Crete, and
that the protesting governments left the Pour!
responsible for the consequences of its acts, they
have given the utmost possible encouragement to i
the insurgents to reject the conciliatory proposals
which the GRAND VIZIER carried to the island.

Accordingly, wo hear that both sidos are preparing
with augmented resources to renew the struale.
The policy of Russia we know ; while Italy and
Prussia will only play a secondary, though perhaps
an important, part in Eastern affairs. All turns
upon the action of France. But France—there is
good authority for the statement—while joining in
this very strong and almost minatory declaration
to the Porte, has given the Ottoman Government
to understand that she means nothing serious by
it ; that, in fact, she has only done so in order
to establish for herself a footing of equality
with Russia in the affairs of the East, and
that her feeling is not unfriendly. It is
to be hoped that a similar explanation was given
to the Cretan leaders, and that they have not been
left to collect the views of the French Government
from its public acts. A knowledge of the real
wishes of France could not but have great influence
with the intelligent portion of the Cretan chiefs,
and it would be a pity if they were added, a few
months hence, to the number of those who, like the
POPE, the Italian Government, legitimate sove-
reigns, and revolutionary leaders, have at various
times proclaimed themselves the dupes and victims
of a policy which is always ambiguous and often
equivocal.

WE trust it is not true that the old mistake is
about to be repeated at Manchester, and that the
Liberal party there is to be weakened by divisions
in presence of a Ministerial candidate. Alderman
BENNETT stands on very intelligible ground ; he is
a Conservative, and wants to go to the House of
Commons to support the present Government.
Mr. JACOB BRIGHT has been accepted as their
candidate by the great body of the Liberals of the
city. Under these circumstances, we find it some-
what difficult to understand the position of Mr.
MITCHELL HENRY. He announces that the signi-
ficance of his canditature consists in the opportu-
nity it gives the constituency to " select its own
" member, and not to submit to the dictation
" of any association, however powerful and well
" organized." This is the usual language of can-
didates who, unable to command the support of their
party, resolve to disregard its interests in order to
secure personal support wherever it may be found.
It is not too soon to point out, in prospect of a dis-
solution next year, that if influential gentlemen of
the Liberal party are to act thus independently,
while the Conservatives remain united, the effec-
t:ve organized action of the party will become dif-
ficult, if not impossible. It is these " indepen-
" dent" candidates who,whileboasting of delivering
the constituencies, really hand them over to the
enemy. We nevertheless hope better things of Mr.
MITCHELL HENRY. We readily admit that he has
claims on the Liberal party which only the grossest
unfaithfulness on his part could forfeit.
We cannot forget the public spirit with
which ho contested Woodstock at the last
general election, when its Duke was
offensively asserting his right to do what he liked
with his own. His personal qualifications and
standing well entitle him to aspire to a seat in
Parliament ; but we must nevertheless
sincerely deprecate his present action. If
elected in preference to the rival candidates, he
could give no Liberal vote which Mr. JACOB
BRIGHT would not be certain to give. If he failed
at the poll, he might nevertheless so divide the
Liberal party as to allow the Conservative to win
by a small majority. If his presence induced Mr.
BENNET-1. to retire, and he were returned substan-
tially by Conservative votes, he would only suc-
ceed to the invidious position which the late Mem-
ber was so unfortunate as to accept. Having the
fullest confidence in Mr. MITCHELL HENRY'S poli-
tical integrity, we trust we may soon hear that
he has reserved himself for some better work than
that of aubserving the interests of the Man-
chester Tories.

A CALAMITY as awful u the imagination can
' conceive has just overtaken one of the British
islands in the West Indies. Tortola has sunk
below the level of the sea, and its 8,600 inhabi-
ter:a have perished. This is all we are told. No
details are given, but the announcement in its
naked absoluteness is far more striking and im-
pressive than any mere accumulation of details
could make it. We are left to imagine a destruc-
tion from which nothing has escaped, as when a
noble ship goes down in the open sea. The
probability is that the sinking was sudden, the
continent with which the West India Islands
are geologically connected being liable to
similar subsidences. Tortola was the most im-
portant of the British Virgin Islands, about seven-
teen miles long by two wide. It was a mountain
mass, broken up in every direction, its highest
summit being 1,600 feet above the level of the
sea. The island had been a British possession for
just two hundred years. It was very near to St.
Thomas's, where so much damage has just been
done by the hurricane, but from this no commu-
nity of origin between the two disasters is to be
inferred.