The Express.
London, England, 1867-04-27 00:00:00

THE WEEKLY PRESS.

The Saturday Review, considering the question,
" Will there be war?" eonfidmitly says that the Germans
most certainly will not give way. If the French nation
thinks its honour involved in turning the Prussian garrison
out of Luxemburg, there must be war. A few weeks ago
it was perfectly indifferent to Luxemburg and its garrison.
Nor does it much care about either now. But a great
many Frenchmen feel sore about Prussia. They think
they have cut ► very poor figure last year; and somehow,
although they do not clearly know how, they now find
themselves in such a position that, if they let this Luxem-
burg question drop quietly, they think their conduct will
be ascribed to fear. Almost the only hope of peace being
preserved lies in the possibility that Prussia may be per-
suaded to place Luxemburg under the mme guarantee as
Belgium. This is not a solution of the difficulty at all
agreeable to us, for Englishmen view with the utmost dis-
like all projects for extending our engagements to defend
foreign soil. Bat, as we have guaranteed Belgium, we
should not be running a new risk. Or if, in a remote way,
our risk is increased, this perhaps is not too great a sacri-
fice to make in order to preserve peace.
The main cause of the reluctance of some of the liberal
party to follow Mr. Gladstone is in the fact, the Saturday
Review says, that he is too much in earnest for the House
of Commons. He cares about reform, and the majority
of the house does not care about it. But the liberal party
in the country is much more liberal than the liberal party
in parliament, and liberals outside the house may manage
to give a new tone to liberals inside. This is what is
wanted to make Mr. Gladstone's leadership effectual. It
is not by the late division that we judge the liberal party
to be half-hearted about reform, but by the notorious de-
clarations of many members, by the cabals and intrigues
that half-heartedness has made possible, by the indescrib-
able difference that pervades men's leeks and words and
whole conduct, according as they are in earnest or not.
A little enthusiasm in the country, not so much for re-
form as for political sincerity, would do much to alter
this, and the letter of Mr. Gladstone itself appears already
not to have been wholly ineffectual in bringing about a
change.

The Examiner refers to wh►t it terms " the arts of
defamation and detraction resorted to by foolish flatterers
of Mr. Gladstone and obligate organs of Mr. Bright," and
says that in spite of them the people, wherever they have
assembled out of Birmingham, have refused to east a hint
of blame upon the slandered men whom they were asked
to brand as renegades because they would not throw out
the first bill that ever contained an acknowledgment of
the true principle of hearth-hold enfranchisement. In the
rest of the article the Erautiner shows some soreness as
to the remarks of Mr. Bright respecting costermongers, de-
serters, tea-room traitors. be. How, it asks, is any semblance
of concert possible, if day after day false imputations are
flung, and approbrious epithets applied by the soi-diaost
spokesmen and penmen of the leader of the liberal
party

_
Mr. Gladstone speaks of being quite willing to attempt
" concerted action" again, whenever " suitable occasion
shall arise." It seems to the 4dtddor that suitable occa•
sion will arise at once. Because some of his troops have
taken advantage of a favourable construction which might
be put on their desertion in the last battle to desert, need
be fear to lead them into action again, when no such
favourable construction could be put on their desertion,
and desertion therefore must lead to punishment? For
Our own parts, we think that the more divisions there are
in which the wish of parliament to enfranchise the best
class of artisans is clearly tested, the more chance Mr.

Gladstone will have of gradually chaining his selfish sad
disunited army into courage, discipline, and fidelity.
With regard to the continental excitement the Spectator
says there is nothing as yet apparent in the struggle to
which the British mind can fasten itself with a sense
either of liking or antipathy, and public opinion, though
fretted as usual by the annoyance consequent on war,
awaits events in a spirit of the coolest criticism. If there
is a bias at all, it is towards the Prussian aide, partly from
a latent fear for Belgium, partly from a liking for any
power which seems at once strong and unaggressive, but
chiefly from cordial appreciation for Count von Bismarck's
bulldog courage. To take a menace from France unmoved,
seems to the average Englishman the perfection of politi-
cal nerve.

Mr. Gladstone's decision to persist no longer in moving
his amendments, at once disposes, in the opinion of the
Chronicle, of the false issues which have perplexed and
divided the opposition, and brings home to those who may
hereafter support the government bill the full responsi-
bility of their acts. It puts an end to the delusion that
the bill can be regarded as a settlement of the re-
form question ; since it is clear that inch a settle.
went cannot be effected by any measure which
is not acquiesced in by the representatives of the
party specially connected with reform, and specially
trusted by the leaders of the reform movement. That
section of the opposition which has persisted in treating
the importance of passing a good bill as altogether sub-
ordinate to the necessity of settling the question in some
way during the present session has no longer any standing
ground. This ambiguous position being no longer tenable,
the broad principles which have all along been at issue
resume their proper place in the conflict ; and it becomes
necessary for men to choose their sides, or to confess
which side they have chosen. The present Reform Bill,
if passed at all, cannot be passed with the concurrence of
any sound liberal.