The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-21 00:00:00

LYCEUtL

Ten IWirmia, 8AM1354.0471. Mr. Pries and Mlle
Ire ittshop.—Tll6 DUKE'S MOM. Mr. redder, Marrs.
Emery. With Womb, Jordan, Price, ate. ; Mbar likwortkr, Hea-
ly* Grattan. and Carlotta Lociercq.

Tem Emma. WAITIN6—POR TILE 17NDERGEOUND. —THE
LITTLE AAVAGV.. - - PYGM LIONI ; OR. THE STATUS PAIR.
Mama Thorns, Jams, ote. ; Mesdames Swazi Raynham
Marlsad,Jsbnstone, Holt —And THE IitENCIL DATION.

HOLBORN.

TITS Nvmsino, YY TURN NUT. Yr. ReMore; Lim
twee and Lasso' —And FLYING SCUD. limes. Nevins, M-
ysore. Blake, Voltaire, dr.c.. Mesdames Y. Jambs, C. ismien,
Male Foote. Lewin, Raymond. &c.

BRITANNIA.

Tins F.v➢.NTNn, THE SHAMROCK OP !BRUNT. M. R.
bum—THE vol.! STEERs. Mr. Ingswood and Mtn
—And THE OLD MAID IN THR WINDING,SHICT. Mims N.
Mlles & J. Covenny.

HIGH WATER. AT LONDON BILIDOIL
TB DAY —Morning, A. 39m Alternooh Si NM.
To-Ifoutow—Morninx. 4h 120 Aitiesoce. 444. Dia

LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 21.

COLONEL Knox appears to have come from
Ireland in a very uncomfortable state of mind.
He is taking his fair share in the debates of the
amnion, and he is pretty sure to have some griev-
ance, although when the real grievances of his
country are discussed he is equally sure to oppose
their redress. Apparently he wants the Govern-
ment to do something very terrible in Ireland.
Three months ago an Irish member mildly asked
in the House of Commons that persons arrested
under the Habeas Corpus Suspension Act
should not be subject to solitary con-
finement before trial and conviction. The
suggestion brought Colonel Knox to his feet,
to protest against the " ruffians in custody "—so
be designated indiscriminately men taken up on
mere suspicion—being treated with common justice,
and to express his trust that such an application
would not be listened to. On that occasion he
was told by Mr. Bawer that his sentiments were
"atrocious." At the beginning of May, Colonel
Knox distinguished himself by opposing the read-
ing in the House of Commons of a petition praying
for the lenient treatment of certain of his country-
men who had broken the laws, and further by
moving that it should not be received. Un-
deterred by failure, he is busy again. Not
content with opposing the free expression of
opinion in the House, he fancies that
he can step it in the Press. We
venture to tell him that he will fail
even more signally in this field than in the
one in which he is more distinguished. Twice
within these few days ho has called the
attention of the Government in the House of
Gammons to the opinions on Ireland which the
Greek Professor at Queen's College, Galway, has
expressed in a letter to the Daily News. Colonel
Knox is impatient to bear that the Government
bas deprived Professor THOMPSON of his post for
writing that letter. This is the first thought that
naturally rises to the mind of the class of Irish
landlords whom Colonel Knox represents in Par-
liament : somebody has displeased them—then he
must be evicted. It is easy to understand how
inconvenient it must be to persons of this class to
have an independent Englishman of education
planted on their flank in Ireland, a close ob-
server of their doings, and with courage to
speak out. We will not do the Government
the injustice to suppose that it shares the
passion and prejudice of its excited adherent ;
but even Colonel Knox cannot suppose that Irish
landlordism is to be protected from observations
in the newspapers by the process which is so freely
applied in their country to refractory tenants. The
public would not be without the means of forming
• judgment of the causes of Irish discontent even
if Colonel Knox saw his dearest wishes satisfied.
In truth, Colonel KNOX, though probably without
knowing it, has himself contributed to make the
muses of that discontent plainer than they were.
He has shown us a specimen of one of the wrongs
of Ireland. In a country the legislators and
landlords of which were as ferocious, tyrannical,
and vindictive as Colonel Knox would be if he
were fairly represented by his speeches, there is
scarcely any conceivable form of revolution that
would not be justifiable.

IF we were sure of a locus standi we would inter-
pose a word on behalf of a better treatment of our
Conservative contemporaries by the Government.
It is a delicate matter for us to meddle with,
though perhaps we might claim to say something
on the score of public decency. Again and again
this session have Ministers left their devoted
supporters in the press to exhibit themselves in
untenable attitudes and situations through miscon-
ception of their patrons' intentions. On Saturday
last our contemporary the Standard was allowed
to be very entertaining on the subject of Mr.
Honoxymox's amendment. That the Government
could or would accept it never occurred to the able
writer,who censured the hon. member for Newark
for bringing on a question which had already been
virtually decided. Had Mr. HODOLINBON'S
amendment been carried, said the Standard, it
would have thrown half the parochial vestries in the
kingdom into dire financial confusion. The amend-
ment having been lost—upon this theory the article

was framed—it was to be hoped, proceeded our
ingenious contemporary, that the friends of the
compound householder would reconcile themselves
to the cruel necessity which requires him to go to
the post-office for a printed form of claim as the
sole price of enfranchisement. The acceptance of
the amendment by the Government has led our
contemporary to take a more hopeful view of the
subject. The Government, it was perceived yes-
terday, are not called upon, in receiving Mr.
HODGKINSOWS amendment, to sacrifice their
convictions and their consistency, to change
their policy, and to eat their words. The
spirited speech of the CHANCELLOR of the Ex-
CUEQUER sufficiently disposes of any hypothesis
of this kind. The Government are not pledged
to the compound householder, nor have they ever
professed an exaggerated admiration fur the Small
Tenements Act. This amendment is, after all,
not antagonistic, but ancillary to the principle of
the Bill. In abolishing the compounder it makes
the householder a personal ratepayer, and thereby
fulfils all the conditions which the Bill has attached
to the franchise. This is a sound and wise con-
clusion of the Standard. No doubt it represents
the genuine opinion of the journalist, and would
have been expressed on Saturday but for a
desire to serve the Government. We submit to
Mr. DISRAELI that, even if good service should
not bo thought to deserve better treatment than
this, there are public proprieties in these matters
which should be consulted.

Liar February, when the Government found
great difficulty in deciding what scheme of Reform
to launch, we heard much of the advantages of the
" tentative" method of legislation. Since then
we have seen tho process at work, and all sorts of
proposals have been " tried on," to be with-
drawn, if not received with manifest favour.
Judging from an answer which Sir JOHN PARING-
TON gave in the House of Commons last night,
the Government is so well satisfied with the result
of this new style of doing the business of the
country that it has adopted it as part of its per-
manent system. We do not know how otherwise
to account for the explicitness with which the
SECRETARY of STATE for WAR acknowledges it
as the rule of his action. Being asked by
Mr. 0. STANLEY whether he intended to stand
by an extraordinary clause in the Militia
Reserve Bill, by which officers of militia may sen-
tence deserters to twelve years' penal servitude in
the army, Sir JOHN PAKINOTON " was glad of the
" opportunity of stating that he had not the least
" intention" of persevering with it. The clause
had been pressed upon him, and "he put it in
" the Bill, not with the least intention of proceed-
" ing with it if he found, as possibly he would,
" that it was likely to be objected to in the
" House." This is the tentative method with a
vengeance. It is in legislation what the famous
Hyde-park proclamation was in administration.
Let us hope—Mr. LOWE'S gloomy predictions not-
withstanding—that a reformed House of Commons
will give us a Government that knows its mind :
capable of framing wise measures, and pawing
them.