The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-30 00:00:00

zhe erpreoss.

TO 001111,1SPONDENT9,
dverttsemento Intended kw The 1.:" London Evening
Pamper, must be as the Mee, le, ftenteleiarett, by Two
'Walk on the day of palaelles.

psirsi!'-LANz.

fall EVENING, THE DOGE OF VENICE., Mr. Phelps, Messrs.
J. C. Cowper, H. Mnelalr, IL Phelps, Barrett, Temple, .tc. , Mn.
Her naan Vesta, MI Grattan, te.—And THE LADIDI CLUB.
Mesdames Beads Shirley, Kate Hardens, H. Vandenholf, etc.

funwitar.
*ars amnia, TIM WINNING CARD. Mr. Compton.—
BROTHER YAM. area Sothern, Blackstone, Compton, John-
son, Rs.: Ma.lame Chlppendals. Robertson, Lewin. eto.—And
MY WIFE'S MOTHER. Monaca Chippendale and Howe.

PROICZSTS.

Tan EyEnna, A LiTilairtht—TATlON.—Atter which THE
COLLEB !SAWN. Mews. Doukaslt, D. Manny, E. Atkins, O.
Neville, J. O. Shore. U. Mellon, dc. : Mrs. Basicicenn, i Misses
Barnett and Elsworthy.—And NO. ONE ROUND THE CORNER.

LYCEUM.
TRIM EYElcnca, PERFECTION. MUG Maud Shelley.—And
ROMEO AND JULIET. Masora W. Lacy sad Ryder; Inas
Yestyall, Mrs. Marston, sad Mica MWy Palmer.

ITEM%
Tins EVENING, NOTHING TO /MESH Yr. Thorne and Mlse
Ne.ton.—K INDTO A VAULT. Mn.e Nowlin, Belford, end
James Mesdames Johnstone, Gwynne, and Hughes.—And
WILLIAM TELL WITH A VENGEANCE.

HOLBORN.

Term Enema, FOR LOVE. Masts. 11. J. Montague, Price,
Garden, Westland, sad H. Wlddleamb: Mesdames Stephens,
Benrade, C. Saunders, &c. —And MARY TURN/1R; 08, TOR
WICIOUS WILLIN. MLr Josephs.

BRITANIFIA.
THIS Evienno, THE KING'S DEATH-TRAP. Masora Rey-
nolds, Leslie, &e.: 3lra & Lane—Hr. Mark Floyd ; Mr. and Mrs.
Langan and Mr. J. SHllleent—RlP VAN WINKLE. Mr. Howe.
—And MARY BLANK Mr. F. Charlton and Miss Courtenay.

NIGH WATU AT LONDON DIMON
TOM DA! —llkeulag, HA 15a....—Afternoon, 412. 3!m.
fO-11( Rao w—NaralAst, 4.11. Wm— ..Afteruoca, 4h. Ara.

LONDON, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 30.

THE so-called Liberals who distinguished them-
selves by charging Mr. GLADSTON E with im-
petuosity, cannot accuse him of having rashly
committed himself to a special and unwave.ing
course of policy during the present session of
Parliament. He has neither employed the recess
in explaining and apologising for his conduct
during the past session, nor has he issued any
pompons manifesto for the instruction of his
party during the approaching struggles. It is
probable that the persistent fault-finders are as
much annoyed at his reticence now as they were
aggrieved by his open declarations on former occa-
sions. They have certainly some cause for com-
plaint, because, in the absence of a distinctly
settled programme, it is difficult for them to chal-
lenge the wisdom of the arrangements to which he
has pledged himself. As it is, he enters upon the
political campaign with unfettered hands. His
strategy may be none the less skilful because the
secret of his tactics has been judiciously kept.
His friends have little reason to object, insomuch
as they have never yet had occasion for doubting
either the ability or the uprightness of the leader
under whom they are proud to serve. Now that
a Cabinet Minister who, when a member of the
Opposition, persistently opposed every great mea-
sure of improvement introduced by a Liberal
Government, is vaunting that " there is no one
" great remedial measure affecting the social,
" moral, or domestic improvement of the people
" which has not been mainly supported and carried
" by the Conservative party," it is well to recall
what was really done by those on whom the bur-
den of governing the country has chiefly rested.
None but a Tory whose memory playa him fan-
tastic tricks, or whose conscience is very elastic,
can deny the incalculable services which, as a
financial reformer, have been rendered to the
State by Mr. GLADSTONE. To the success of his
bold yet well-calculated policy when Chancellor of
the Exchequer is attributable the major portion
of the popularity enjoyed by the governments of
the late Lord Patxraeros. Genial as that
deceased nobleman undoubtedly waa, consti-
tuted as he was by nature for winning
the admiration of the undiscerning and un-
cultured crowd, he would assuredly have
been less idolised alike by the county squire
and city merchant had it not been that he pos-
sessed a colleague who knew how to lighten the
taxation of the country without detriment to the
due discharge of every national obligation, and
without hindrance to the continuous increase of
the country's revenue. Hardly a single proposi-
tion made by Mr. GELDSTO3I2 was welcomed by
Mr. DIEULLELI. Indeed, the favourite occupation
of the latter was to give expression to carping
criticisms upon the budget speeches of the former.
The leading members of the Opposition readily
seconded him in these attempts to impugn the
policy of his rival. That Mr. DIBBAHLI could do
nothing more than utter ineffectual denunciations
was owing to the refusal of his party as • body
to support him with their votes.

For the moment Mr. DISRAELI, Lord Joni'
Mammas, and others, have forgotten all this.
Indeed, it would be very inconvenient for new-
fangled Radical Reformers to bear continually in
mind the circumstance of their having so recently
acted as Tory obstructive*. When men devote
themselves to writing the romance of history, it is
natural that they should unlearn, or forget, the
facts of history. But those on whom devolves the
duty of undeceiving a too credulous public are
bound to prevent unnecessary and injurious con-
fusion between historical truths and romantic
fictions. Now, the more clearly the real state of
the case is known, the easier will it be for mem-
bers of Parliament to determine whether the
leader of the House of Commons or the leader of
the Opposition ought to win their confidence
during the financial debates which are to be the
first business of the session. As yet, every
budget which Mr. DISRAELI has carried is the
counterpart of what Mr. GiArerrows world have
proposed. Once the former endeavoured to show
that he, too, could devise new financial schemes,

but the experiment led to his being driven from
office. Last session he contented himself with
adopting, as well as eulogising, the policy of his
rival. If in finance as in reform he has deter-
mined to educate his party till it will approve of
everything which heretofore it has opposed, we
have no other objection to make except a protest
against a party claiming to have a distinct policy
at the time that it commits wholesale plagiarism.
We are not convinced, however, that Mr. DIS-
B.AELI and his colleagues have become imbued
with the spirit of Liberalism simply because they
have succeeded in appropriating and wearing
Liberal garments. It is doubtless very important
to get possession of an adversary's weapon, but
unless the skill in using it can be acquired also,
the gain is hardly worth reckoning. When FRIDAY
took ROBINSON CRIME'S gun in his hand he did
not know what to do with it, so he worshipped it
as a god. In like manner the members of Lord
Dcaity's Government are more likely to do harm
than good to the cause of Liberalism when they
advocate or introduce Liberal measures. This has

been proved by the manner in which they have
dealt with the question of Reform. The " grin-
" ciple " of the Bill, about which they all boast,
and for which they combated so strenuously—that
of the personal payment of rates—has already
proved to be a delusion. They have voted for
clauses so imperfectly framed as to permit of that
being done to which they professed to be unflinch-
ingly opposed. The ArroRNEY-GENERAL last night
explicitly acknowledged that, so long as the land-
lord pays the full rate, his tenants may claim to
be put on the register. The personal payment
of rates is an exploded Conservative fiction.
If the foregoing considerations are replete with

instruction for Tories who have placed too great
confidence in the assertions and assurances of their
leaders, they ought to prove still more useful as
warnings to the well-meaning but rather vain
Liberals who plume themselves on having enabled
Mr. DISRAELI to settle the question of Reform.
It is possible for party discipline to be too stringent
and party leaders to be over-exacting. The mem-
bers of the Liberal party are least able to waive
their opinions in order to obtain a purely party
victory. They are entitled to claim great latitude
in interpreting the limits beyond which they are
not expected to follow the standard of their chief.
But they are equally bound to refrain from sacri-
ficing the cause for which they combat, merely
because they can urge a frivolous pretext against
a system, or because they entertain a petty dislike
fora man. If true alike to themselves and their
cause, they must always be prepared to forget
everything that is merely paltry and personal
when that cause is imperilled owing to the wily
tactics of its hereditary foes. Unhappily, this was
not the sentiment which, during the last session,
animated the breast of every member of the
Liberal party. A section considered it right to
unite with the Tories in order to carry the Bill.
It was thought prudent to get Reform at any price.
In this, as in other cases, the course taken by
the Liberal malcontents might have been defended,
if not justified, had it proved wholly successful.
But their conduct is condemned by this, that not-
withstanding the parade of Household Suffrage,
the new Reform Bill is not, in reality, a Liberal
measure. As soon as the Liberal party shall be
again united, and, because united, invincible in
the House, its first duty will be the recasting of
the Bill which the Tories pride themselves on
having carried, and genuine Liberals regard with
disdain. Let us hope that the lesson may prove
salutary, and that the party may act in unison
during the present session. Should any who have
hitherto ranked as its members prefer the tortuous
policy of Mr. DISRAELI to the straightforward
policy of Mr. GLADSTONE, and consider the
Liberalism of the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER
to be more genuine and more thorough than that
of the leader of the Opposition, let him definitely
change his seat and renounce his allegiance. Next
to Tory prejudice nothing lees merits respect than
the professed Liberalism of him whose vote is
always ready to uphold a Tory minister.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

The Times indirectly suggests that tho Emperor
Napoleon, in his proposition of a oonference, is anxious to
solicit the consent of the European powers to the stctus
quo till the next vacancy of the Holy See, and then " the
Vatican and a garden" for its new occupant as his only
kingdom in this world.

In other articles the Times treats of the defects of poor
law inspection, the report of the Irish Registrar-Oeneral
on agricultural statistics, and the mail contract with the
Cunard Company, which terminates at the does of the
present year. The new arrangement in the latter case is
as yet only made for a short time, and the terms are much
more favourable to the public than in the case of the
Peninsular and Oriental Company.
It is observed by the Daily New that if a conference
, were to declare the present bounds of the Papal territory
inviolable, it would be • return to the principle and
practice of the Holy Alliance, and would perpetuate
foreign military interventions in Italy. A conference might
give the authority of • collective European sanction to the
ample securities which Italy is reedy to offer, and the
Pope refuses to accept, for the independence of the spiritual
sovereignty ; but it will never abolish the temporal
power.

The relations of India to the Abyssinian war and the
proposed impeachment of President Johnson are smog the
other topics disowned by the Daily News. The Daily News
expects to see Congress continue practically in seism till
the close of Mr. Johnson's term and of its own. By so
doing it will deprive Mr. Johnson of opportunity to frus-
trate its measures, will keep • firm hand on all removals
and appointments, and will be able to keep an active watch
over the reconstruction of the South.

The Herakl contends, in opposition to Sir R. Collier,
that the principle of the personal payment of rates is not
destroyed by the payment of the rate by the landlord. In
soother column the Herald protests against the gran an-
nonnoement by the Mon item. that Allen, Gould, and Larkin
were banged for high treason and not for murder.

Never, says the Star, was there so ridiculous a pretence
as that which was made last session of the personal pay-
ment of rates operating as a security. The Attorney-
General's declaration last night brands it as a complete
delusion.