The Express.
London, England, 1867-08-24 00:00:00

enough they have come from three different
classes of representatives. A Scottish Conserva-
tive county member, a Liberal member for a
large and not well-satisfied constituency, and
a Tory representative of • little borough, have
all lately addressed their constituents on the
great question of the day. Sir GRAHAM-GRAHAM
MONTGOMERY, in speaking of the Reform Bill to
the farmers of Peebleashire, could only plead that it
was absolutely needful that Reform should be
settled, and that the new Act had settled it. Mr.
WALT= MORRISON, speaking to his constituents at
Plymouth, had some difficulty in explaining his
reit& on to the celebrated gathering in the tea-room,
and confessed himself to have been "rather stag-
" gored," and some of his weaker brethren to
have been " much staggered," when they were
brought face to face with the startling
possibility that the Bill might become
a measure for household suffrage, pure and simple.
It was this staggering, no doubt, which made the
course of some Liberal members a little unsteady
for a time, but they are now quite accustomed to
the new sensation, and will walk henceforth in
the ways of regenerated liberalism with unfalter-
ing steps. But the most curious and characteristic
declaration with which the recess is likely to fur-
nish us was that made by Mr. HARDY, the Tory
member for Dartmouth, to his little handful of
constituents on Monday night. He told his Tory
supporters that he owed them an apology, but to
his Liberal constituents he owed none, for he had
answered their most sanguine expectations, and
even gone beyond them. His apology for the
measure was, that he hoped the bill would
turn out better than they could expect.
For his apparent change of opinion he apologised
by saying that "he should not so far have cow-
" witted himself had he not been driven to it ;"
and in the matter of his opinions he felt as some
of his constitivents might feel " when they had a
" 101. note, which when partially changed soon
" went altogether." Mr. HARDY is one of those
men who are chosen by little boroughs for pure'y
local reasons, and whose change of policy may
-.aye no influence on his seat. He could afford to
MIL1:8 this open and candid confession, and he is just
the man to blurt out feelings which more culti-
vated men and better politicians would hide
away from vulgar eyes. No doubt he has given
us the true account of Tory acquiescence in
Reform. Mr. DISRAELI drove them to
it. He go;. them on the slope, and
they found the descent easy. He persuaded
them to make a small change in their principles,
any they found that when once those principles
were partially changed they soon went altogether.
But perhaps Mr. HARDY will be almost alone in
publicly confessing this to his constituents and the
public.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.

(THIS DAY.)

Alone among the Teutonic and Scandinavian
races Englishmen, says the Times, have remained faithful
to thaw rural instincts which distinguished the northern
from the Boman world. It is not extreme heat or malaria
fever that at this time of the year empties London
of its Upper Ten Thousand. September is the plea-
nantest of the twelve months in town, no less than out
of town ; it bouts the freshest air and the most
genial temperature. The Latin races never acquired the
love of the country ; the Transatlantic Anglo-
Saxons have lost it. In Rome even the farmers, or mer-
e:anti di compagna, have their homes within the city walls.
But, adds our contemporarf, it is not at Buxton or
Brighton, at Torquay or Cheltenham, any more than in
London, that we look for our homes—for the homes of our
preference. Our English homes, palace homes or cottage
homes, are scattered " all o'er the pleasant land;' and to
these we own, back, even when caprice or love of change
has induced us to fritter away some of our time with our
neighbours at their summer idling placed.
Discussing the topic of the composition and summoning
of juries, the Times observes that the acts of parliament
on this subject are not free from defeats both of omission
I and of expression, but the machinery provided for the ex-
ecution of the acts is the faultiest part of the whole. If
the law were fully and impartially enforced, and all who
fall within the terms of the qualification were required to
serve in turn, the burden would not fall very heavily upon
any ; but it IN administered in each a manner, there
are so many avenues to escape open to the instructed,
that the wonder is the public discontent has not almady
manifested itself more openly and unmistakably than it
has. Common to both special and ordinary juries is the
essential grievance of the defects in the jury lists. The
Times hopes that the select committee on this subject will
be reappointed next merlon, and continue to its close the
investigation they have so carefully commenced.
In an article on the Spanish insurrection the Day/revs
thus speaks of Name; the present ruler of Spain :—His
public career has been one of alternate violence and in•
trigue, like that of most of hie colleagues and competitors.
What distinguishes him from the rest is that his violence
has succeeded better than his intrigues. He has been the
man of extreme situations—the last resort of the clerical
and reactionary parties, and of the permanent conspiracy
of libertinism and superstition which reigns in the recesses
of the royal palace. From time to time this sanguinary
political Sangrado has been summoned bythe ounarills. who
had disgraced him from an exile not so voluntary as he
wished it to be believed, and which he always declared to
be a perpetual retreat from publics affairs, to try a course
of drastic measures and copious bleeding. His one idea of
government Is brutal terrorism.

_
Refei.ing to the speech of the Bishop of Rochester at
Wolverhampton, and to the severe work of the Bishop of
London, the Pat says that the case for more bishops is
fully made out by the facts with which bishops have to
deal. Whether these additional prelates should be in all
respects as important in social rank as those which now
obtain is a matter for consideration. We do not want
more spiritual peers, or more dignitaries as such, but that
the populous parts of the oonntry want more episcopal
superintendence is beyond dispute. If this necessitates
that the bishops should be peers and have 5,000 f. a year,
that is the fault of the state, not of the church, only do
not starve the church in deference to a whim of the state.