The Express.
London, England, 1859-07-30 00:00:00

LONDON. SATURDAY, JULY 30.

MR. 1:1019XAN would put us back financially to
the days before he was born. For the opinion of the
next generation he seems to care little, but for the
judgment of that which has passed away he enter-
tains an unbounded respect. BENTHAM used to
laugh at the idea of our ancestors being wiser than
we, for have we not, he would argue, the benefit of
all their experience and somewhat beside of
our own to boot ? so that, if time counts
in such matters, we ought to know better
than they. The Member for Stroud is of
a different way of thinking. In his estimation
manifestly Mr. PITT, Mr. ADDINOTON, and Mr. VAN-
EITTAET were great discoverers of fiscal troth. In
their days no pecuniary obstacle was suffered to
stand in the way of war-making. That royal and
noble pastime was generally carried on, indeed, on
the plea of necessity and self-defence, as fox-hunting
used to be excused by clerical dignitaries who de-
lighted in sport on the ground .that vermin
must be really kept down, and the breed
of horses kept up. Bat, practically, we now know
to our cost what most of the wars of the Borrowiug
Period of our history were waged for ; and we have
at least five hundred millions of reasons for not desir-
ing to see the splendid principles and spectral
consequences of those times made to walk the earth

Certain additional cost is required to put oar
island home in an adequate state of defence. The
progress of science in the arta of destruc-
tion renders many extensive changes indis-
pensable on our part, if we are not to rennin
at a dangerctui and disreputable disadvantage com-
pared with our warlike neighbours. Well, then,
let us put our hands in our pockets and pay for what
we want, looking sharp that we get the full worth of
our money. Far from wishing that the enhanced
burden should not be felt, we require the conscious-
ness of it as a moat salutary check upon our
tendency to wanton, wasteful expenditure. Mr.
/WEISMAN appears to be not insensible to this con-
sideration, but fancies that, with greater vigilance
on the part of the House of Commons, the evil
might be materially mitigated, If not altogether
averted.

How futile all reliance on such control must be,
when the one self-acting motive to economy should
have been removed, was clearly shown by Mr.
SIDNEY HERBERT, and still moos ably by Mr.
COBDEN. It is truly refreshing to hear again
the mice familiar voice of that unchanging
friend to the rights and liberties of industry.
The Member fur Rochdale has been involuntarily
absent from the debates of the Lower House during
the last two years ; and certainly there has been
little done in that time to justify the insinuation that
men of his temper and character might be dispensed
with. He resumes his place in the legislative arena
at a moment when all his high qualities of good
sense and practical wisdom are needed to
resist retrograde tendencies. The influence of
the landed interest, as compared with these of
intellect and industry, is more powerful than it has
been since the formation of the Tory Government of
1841. If it were not so, a proposition like that of
last night would never have been brought forward
by a man of ability and ambition. Mr. HORSUAN
poesseses both, and we only regret to find
him giving utterance to the long-cherished,
though long-unexpressed, desires of the
class in question. The aristocracy profited im-
mensely by Mr. Phi's system of charging the bulk
of military expense to what is called "capital at-
" count ;" in other words, by adding to the perma-
nent debt instead of augmenting taxation sufficiently i
to meet the demands of war. It was by this means
that a state of war was allowed to become chronic.
Any other system would have compelled us to relin-
quish foolish and mischievous undertakings, and to
concentrate our exertions on what was strictly required
for defence. But reckless and pernicious as the old
practice was, its defence rested always on the fact of
war. Neither Mr. PITT nor his disciples ever ventured
to carry on schemes of wholesale borrowing for naval
or military purposes in time of peace. It has been
reserved for a period when the annual income of the
country is enormously larger then it was in the
reign of GEORGE 111., and when consequently its
capability of bearing the extra burden is incalcu-
lably greater, to have a proposal made that we
should shirk the ordinary and reasonable liability
which cinumstances entail upon us, and thrust our
selfish and rapacious hands into the pockets of pos-
terity.

IT will be sees by our Parliamentary report that
the Church-rates Abolition Bill was withdrawn this
morning. The advanced period of the Session, and
the certainty that in the Lords the Select Committee
oa Church-rata would be made a reason for resisting
the progress of the measure, justify the step which
has now been taken. The opponents of Church-rates
have, however, especial reason to be satisfied with
the extent of the ground they have gained. Time,
which is the enemy of all precarious causes, is on
their side, and next Session they will be in a
position to renew the campaign with the best pro-
epees of success.

The Marquis Laikico, accompanied by the Mar-
quis Incontri, arrived last evening at Gmllion's Cla-
rendon Hotel, from Italy. Tue Marquis Laiatico
is the nobleman who advised the abdication of the
Grand Duke of Tuscany, on the morning of his
flight, as a means of saving the Lorraine dynasty. It
is understood that he has arrived on a mission from
the Tuscan government.

THE BIBLE PRINTING MONOPOLE.—The select
counnitise on this subject, of which Mr. &brad Bunn r
,-Merman, commescee its atom an Thursday, when Me,
Sponiewoode, the Quern's Printer. wee examined. It Is
probable that the committee will only asinnue to inquiries
lur • Wuxi tune, and M.'S their ouncluaimi Me another
ameba. We have TOII,OII to believe that in order to peewee
regularity, without •dopeieg • grounders decline). the so-
retneseat will renew the expiring pow fora short term
tIITITAL PALACE.—.ONE SHILLING TUE.—FRI-
DAT, JULY 29.—Admireione us paynwet, 2,932 ; ditto, by
NYCO denote, 433. Tetel Melton% 3.363.