The Express.
London, England, 1866-04-21 00:00:00

2

GOLD CHAINS.—JOHN BBOGDEN begs
to mil the attention of the public to the /OEM of IN-
VOICE which he delivers with Gold Chains purchased a d.
" hii
manufactori: A
To worinnsasiiip-ol Diana aux as who. keg
To ail) wet solia; weighing ea. dlit. grt , at
CS Ss Bid. itta: (Mace; Mint *lee

_ Teed
Upon this system, tba QUALITY, Wii.oll; and = 1-,ToT
the gold are actually defined. and guadadd•ad ibe
John Brogden looking fora fair remuneration on the workman-
ship only, which is charged according to the intriceor or ablMU-
city of the pattern.—Manufactory, re, Heartettaatreet, Covent-
garden, London.

(PRIZE MEDAL AWARDED.)__
ALLEN'S PATENT PORTMAsq AIIS and
TRAVELLING BAGS with uare openings.
LADIES* WARDROBE TRUNKS, DRESSING BAGS, with
silver Maga
DI
BOXES, WRITING and DRESSING CASES, and
800 other articles tort,
bonze or continental travelling. Illustrated
catalogues post tree.
Also Allen's Barrack Furniture Catalogue of Portable Bed-
steads, Drawers, Saar Chairs, Winhhandatanda Canteens. Ea.,

wit
J. W. ALLIN, Manufacturer and Patentee, M. Wed Strand,
London, W.C.

TURTLE, TURTLE, TURTLE.
char, Thick, and Invalid TURTLE SOUPS always ready.
ST. JAMESE-HAL L. DL,
ONALD ItKOENT.STREET, PICCADILLY.
WE, Proprietor.

gite erpreflo.

TO COB.RESPONDECP3.
Advertisements intended for " The Itriprese," London ginning
most be at the 001ce, 10, Bouverieutreet, by Two
Paper
o'clock on the day of publication.

HAYMARKET.
TRU mum, A Rolik.vrit: ATTACHMENT. 31essra
Compton LAW. Yaffe° Miss AdaCavendlah —THE FAVORITE
OF FORTUNE. Meson Buckstorw, Chippendale, and Bothern ;
Mri Chippendale, dc..—And A DAUGHTER TO MARRY.

PRINCESS&
Twcs EVENING, A GHOST IN SPITZ Ol HINSELF.—After
which THE STREETS OF LONDON. Meer& Vining. T. Mead,
D. Murray, Shore, and Villiers ; /dm 8. Massidla and Mow L
Blamed and K. Rodgers.

LYCEUM.
Tuts 'Mimi°, A DAY AFTER THE WEDDING. Main.
ROCSIIIIID, Fitzpatrick, sad Mord ; Mr.. Heensini. do—And
HAMLET. Messrs 'reenter, Emery, Addison, Widdiromb, Vezin,
Jordan, Fitzpatrick, le.: Mesdames Elswortby and C. Lidera'.

BRITANNIA.
TRIS Eva:eras, THE DARK KING OF THE BLACK MOUN-
TAINS. M 1 Clara SR Came, Mrt S. Lane.—Master K Sanders
—The &hum Family.—And TILE SCOTTISH CRUZ. Mr.
James Anderson.

HIGH-WATER AT LONDON-BIM/GS
THIS DAT —Morning. 6h. 20m Afternoon, AIL ellm.
To-MonnOW—Horning, 7h. 17m Afternoon, M. 61m.

LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 21.

Tux House of Commons last night most narrowly
escaped involving itself in an absurdity and much
consequent derision. This would have been the
inevitable consequence if its members had been
resolute in the determination to which they were
much inclined at first, namely, to call the Sheriffs
of Middlesex before them to answer for the sup-
posed arrest of Sir Robert Clifton, whilst
he was still a member of parliament. On
the one hand stood Lord Cranborne, as-
suring them with the earnestness of genuine
conviction, that the arrest had taken place,
and actually had been effected in the sacred
precincts of parliament ; on the other arose several
members equally positive that the supposed cap-
tive was still at liberty and disporting himself under
the Opera colonnades. It was certain that the arrest
of Sir Robert Clifton in the interval of time
between the announcement of the decision against

him by the committee on his return for Notting-
ham and the act of laying the committee's decision
upon the table of the house would have been a
breach of parliamentary privilege. The informa-
tion also on which Lord Cranborne acted
was so authoritative that he was evidently
fully justified in bringing the matter forward.
And so effective and urgent was his advocacy of
the dignity of Parliament, the insult to the assembly
appeared so provocative, the house so promptly
entered into the humour of the position, and into
the prospect of seeing the Sheriffs at the bar, that
it needed all the quieting influences of the govern-
ment to stay them from making the order at once.
The prudence of the advice that suggested delay
and the production of undeniable evidence was
soon proved by Sir. R. Clifton's reappearance in
the lobby of the house. The majesty of parlia-
ment after all had suffered no apparent inroad.
Precipitate as was the motion itself, it may be
observed that the form of the motion was not less
Precipitate. It was not the Sheriffs, but the
sheriffs' officers, the actual offenders, that the
House should have sent for. It is certainly some
way back in time that a precisely similar case,
namely, the arrest of a member while the House
was sitting, occurred. The interval of 273 years
has elapsed since it took place, when, on the bth
April, 1593, Mr. Neale complained to his col-
leagues that he had been taken in custody on the pre-
ceding Sunday ; and then the House, as it did on all
subsequent occasions of a parallel nature, directed
its wrath upon the persons who had been imme-
diately implicated in the offence, and not against
the Sheriffs, whose authority they had abused.
Judging by the past, however, emergencies of this
kind are not likely to be so numerous as to need
much forecasting, or anxious study of prece-
dents.

THE Clerkenwell guardians have played their
last card. Henceforth no independent witnesses

are to be permitted within their workhouse walls,
and the hopeless paupers immured there will be at
the mercy of men who are proved to have betrayed
their trust. There is no reticence as to the motive
prompting this resolution. The guardians are
tired—not of ill-doing, not of neglecting their
duty, not of setting the laws of decency and health
at defiance, but—of " being abused." It is the
penalty of their offences, not the offences them-
selves, that is unpalatable, and by excluding every'
one not a delegate of the Poor-law Board, theyhope to
avert the criticism which has made them notoriously
pre-eminent, even among parochial bodies, for
cruelty and neglect. As amatterof coursetho making
an order from the Poor-law Board the condition
of admission puts an end to investigations having
fur their sole object ensuring fair treatment to the
poor. The delicate duty of pronouncing where,
and how flagrant abuses have arisen is no longer
possible when it can be performed only by favour
of one of the institutions on trial, and there is
much of the wisdom of the serpent in the restric-
tions placed upon free inquiry by the Clerkenwell
guardians. Elected for life, independent of the
rate-payers they misrepresent, able to snap their
fingers at the central authority, and hitherto
callously indifferent to the ignominy which has
fallen on them, the intelligence that properly
appointed casual wards have at last been hired by
those gentlemen will doubtless be received with
some suspicion by the public. If there is nothing
to conceal why should these new wards be
hid away from sight ? And if the workhouse
is now fit for the uses to which it is put, why
is the good news limited to the Poor-law Board and
the guardians themselves 1 It is no answer to say the
guardians are " tired of being abused ;" for if the
evils complained of are remedied abuse would be
impossible. The real sting of the strictures passed

lay in their simple unexaggerated truth ; and the
pauper's chances of fair treatment, now that he is
left to local sympathy and official inspection, will
be beat understood by a recapitulation of the