The Express.
London, England, 1866-07-04 00:00:00

trite ennetoo.

A TO CORMSPONDINTS.
eertiesinente intended for "The Payorees," London Evening
=
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HAYMAILLIT.
TSM EVIINTRO, A ROMANTIC ATTACHMENT.—DAVID
GARRICK- Marra. &thorn, Bucksione, Chlppndsy, Rogers,
Clark. Coe. : Mrs. Chippendale, tIx,—LORD DUNDREARY
MARRIED AND DONZ YOB..—And A KlBB IN THE DARK.

BRITANNIA.
TEM IRMO THE DOWNFALL OF PRIDE. Mews. Rey-
nolds, Drummond, and illgoood Mesdames Yarnold, Macarthy,
Milan and Miss Mary Booth—Jos Load, Madame Pommlen, Y.
Williams, & Maxim & Sandera—THY DEVIL'S PUNCH-BOWL

HIGH NAT= AT LONDON BHIDGL
1 DAY —Morning. elt. 43m Afternoon. 71t 10m.
To-Moanow—lfornlng. 7h 37m Afternoon. 81L eat.

LONDON, TBURSDAY, JULY 5.

LATE in the day, but not too late to save her
honour or her vital interests as a powerful em-
pire, Austria has exprased her readiness to
cede Venetia through the medium of the
Emperor of the FRENCH, and we have reason to
hope that the armistice which his Imperial
MAJESTY has requested of Prussia and Italy will
also lead to such a settlement of the troubles in
Germany as will save humanity a repetition of the
frightful carnage which has been witnessed this week
on the plains of Bohemia. Its, is, no secret that
there are Austrian statesmen who, before the war
began, counselled the yielding up of the territory
which was necessary neither to Austrian dignity
nor Austrian power ; but their representations
were disregarded, and, trusting in the genius
of his commander-in-chief, the Emperor FRANCIS
JOSEPH entered the contest with two ene-
pies facing him instead of one, and

unable to concentrate his army against the foe
from whose ambition he had most to fear. But
at such a moment those who have the peace of
Europe and the stability of Austria at heart, will
not care to reflect upon the errors of the past, but
will rather encourage the movement which, if
successful, will retrieve them. One feeling, how-
ever, that must be uppermost where liberty
is loved, and which must gain expression through
all the reserves expediency may suggest, is
the feeling of joy that tho long looked for deli-
verance of the Venetians, in whose cause so many
martyrs have fallen, and whose claims have been
regarded as sacred by every generous mind, seems
at last about to be achieved. In the tide of
emotion which this fact will excite, considerations
as to the means and influences employed will be
lost, and we must leave to the future a treatment
of the course of events which has again seemed
to place the Emperor of the FRENCH in the
light of a benefactor to Italy, though in this
case without even the semblance of a sacrifice.
Throughout free Europe, and in the great Republic
across the Atlantic, the prospect of the emancipa-
tion of the Venetians and of their union with the
other branches of the Italian family will be
hailed as a golden event in contemporary
history, and all will join in the prayer
that the happiness of the Italians may
not be checked by any schemes or conditions
of the ceding Power or of others which would
lead either to humiliation or discord.

The relations of Austria to Prussia and of
Prussia to the rest of Germany will be re_
vised under circumstances which no one a
fortnight ago could possibly have foreseen,
and the uncertainty now is scarcely less than it was
then. Many obstacles present themselves to the
mind that dwells on the subject ; but we trust that
the desire for peace, which is still so universal in
Germany, and the counsels of wisdom and of
humanity will be paramount.

THE substance of Mr. GLADSTONE'S letter to
the London Working Men's Association must have
abundantly compensated those to whom it was
addressed for any disappointment which they may
have felt at his non-acceptance of their invitation
publicly to receive their thanks for his unwearied
exertions in the cause of Reform, and for his
generous vindication of their order from the coarse
and cowardly calumnies of some of their parlia-
mentary assailants. The good sense of the mem-
bers of the Association led them promptly to
acquiesce in Mr. GLAnsvotvz's reluctance to
extend his public appearances in connexion
with the Reform debate beyond the House of
Commons and the area of his own consti-
tuency. What is a rule for him is not neces-
sarily a rule for others. But as a past and
future Minister of the Crown, it is not for him to
undertake the role of an out-of-doors agitator.
The two bodies to which he owes responsibility—
the House of Commons, of which he is a con-
spicuous member, and the community of which he
is the political representative—have a right to the
fullest and frankest statement of his opinions. If
he did not seek to impress them upon the Parlia-
mentary associates and the constituents with
whom he stands in the closest constitutional

relation, and to stir both up to la stlial action in
their behalf, he would be guilty of a tame of
public duty. But to pass beyond them"; limits
would be to afford a pretext for the charge of
aiding to manufacture the public opinion on
which, in part, his advice as • counsellor of the
Sovereign assumes to be based, and of creating a
factitious necessity for the sake of obeying it.
The victories of the English have often been
said to arise from a constitutional peculiarity—that
they do not know when they are beaten. Rather
they are not prone to fancy themselves beaten,
before being so. They do not despair because
they are not in a moment victorious, nor take a
repulse for an overthrow, nor a temporary
discomfiture for a general rout. The language in
which Mr. GLinarows speaks of Reform shows a
similar temper and resolution. He, and the col-
leagues and followers in whose name he speaks,
have nailed their colours to the mast. They
will not " recede from the ground on which they
" have stood during the contest." If they appear
to retreat, it is only to advance with the
greater impulse—recu/sr pour mieux mster.
" I look," says Mr. GLADSTONE, " upon the
" resignation by Earl RussELL's Government
"of their offices as one more onward step
" towards the accomplishment of their object, and
"in the hour of defeat I have the presenti-
" ment of victory." It is in this spirit that vic-
tories are won. If the Liberal forces had been
as well commanded in previous conflicts, the strug-
gle would before this have been over. It is, indeed,
impossible to over-estimate the enormous strength
of Mr. Gx.ansroya's leadership. His surpassing
gifts of eloquence and his still more attractive sin-
cerity are united with a force of character which
subdues men, and a tenacity of purpose which
never abandons an object once deliberately and
conscientiously embraced—which confronts and
beats down open opposition—and which patiently
but relentlessly tracks evasion through all its
windings until the game is felt to be up. But
Mr. GLADSTONE has other sources of power than
this. It is scarcely extravagant to say that he is,
se far as any public man can be so, a necessity to the
commerce and industry of the Empire ; for that con-
fidence which is the life of trade is reposed almost
exclusively in him among living statesmen. The
mercantile classes view with impatience and un-
easiness his absence from office. On the more
intelligent portion of the working classes he has
even a stronger hold. They have not only shared
the prosperity which his commercial and financial
policy has diffused through the community, but they
are thankful for wise and considerate schemes
framed for their more especial advantage ; and they
look to him for the great social reforms which the
age• needs. When a statesman, thus strong in
himself, and strong in the gratitude and hopes of
the immense masses of his countrymen, identities
his political career with the passing of a measure
of political enfranchisement, it would be faint-
hearted in friends to despond as to the issue ; it
is blindness in enemies not to perceive it.
The course taken by the late Government and
the late Opposition during the earlier part of the
present session foreshadows very plainly the line
of conduct which each will adopt now that their
relative positions are changed. Mr. DISRAELI
and his friends sought pretexts for delay, and they
will continue to seek them. Mr. GLADSTONE ex-
posed those pretexts and disallowed them, and
pressed on to immediate action ; and he will
doubtless continue to do so. Tho desirability
of further inquiry, the need of additional statis-
tics, the propriety of referring the question of
Reform to a Royal Commission, are topics very
"I't to be urged by a Tory Cabinet, As in op-
position they endeavoured, for the moment whit
success, to defeat the measure of the late Govern-
ment without openly declaring against any one of
its provisions, so in office they will probably attempt
to get rid of Reform in the guise of Reformers.
They will endeavour to pay the long-standing debt
and its accumulated interest in flash notes and a
forged coinage. The arch-enchanter of Toryism
will try to pass off the false DUESSA for the true
Usa. Against these arts we are glad to find Mr.
GlantrroNs not only on the watch himself, but
emphatically cautioning his followers and allies :
" To wait with patience the course of present
" events, to be especially on our guard against any
" illusory or reactionary measure simulating the
" name and character of Reform, to encourage
" the calm, serious, orderly, and temperate ex-
" premien of opinion, these seem to be the chief
" duties of the hour."

In these words Mr. GLenstorrs points to the
great danger of the time. There is, it must be re-
membered, a class, happily only a small class, of
dupes ready made to the hand of any deceiver,
—men of the best intentions and the worst
judgment, whose hopes and fears are in a per-
petual conflict. They wish to be liberal, but are
mortally afraid of being democratic ; they are
anxious for the substance of Reform, but
are always seeing behind it the shadow of Revo-
lution. In short, they desire at once to stand
still and to move on,—to reconcile the preserva-
tion of things precisely as they are with the
modern spirit of improvement. A scheme for
elaborately doing nothing, a mechanism, wheel
within wheel, for producing a dead-lock, is their
ideal of political ingenuity. Such anti-reforming
Reformers are the real, though unconscious, allies
of the Tory party. They have something of
Mr. Gr.snaroNs's subtlety and of Mr. Min's spe-
culative refinement, without the strength and
penetration which, in the cane of these eminent
men, balance and check otherwise dangerous
gifts. Weak themselves, they strengthen Conser-
vatism.

In return for Mr. GLADSTONE'S exertions and
advice, the working classes owe him support.
They must give that by showing, in every lawful
and constitutional way, that the desire for Reform
is general among their order, and is accompanied
by the determination to have it. Petitions are
good for this purpose, but public meetings are
better, and we trust they will be frequent and
crowded, but, above all, orderly and temperate.

For the first time, the anniversary of American
independence was yesterday celebrated conjointly by the
ships-of-war of England and America in an English port.
Her Majesty's ships Victory, Capt. the Hon. F. Egerton
C. 8., A.D.C. to the Queen, the flag-ship of the Port.,
Admiral and Naval Commander-in-Chief at Portsmouth,
Duke of Wellington, St. Vincent, and other vessels in
commission at Portsmouth harbour ; the United States'
paddle steamship Augusta, 10 guns, Captain Alexander
Murray, with her Majesty's ships Pallan, Captain M.
Connolly, and Amazon, Commander Hunter, at Spithead,
all dressed in colours at 8 a.m., her Majesty's ships flying
the American flag at their main-royal-mast heads. At
meridian a national salute of 21 guns was fired from all of
her Majesty's ships carrying above 10 guns, from the
Augusta, and also from the garrison saluting battery on
the King's bastion of Portsmouth town fortifications. The
Augusta will fill up with coal at Spithead, and after-
wards join the Miantonomoh turret ship, Captain Beau-
mont, in the Thames, on the arrival there of that vessel
from Cherbourg.

According to the new postal law in New York
State prepaid and free lettem are to be forwarded, at the
request of the party addressed, from one post office to
another, without additional amp, and returned dead
letters restored to the writers thereof free of portage.

. .;OUR CONTEMPORARIEI
(THIS DAY.)