The Express.
London, England, 1866-05-17 00:00:00

EyPS'S HOMEOPATHIC COCOA.—This well-
known and meet desirable Innings for breakfast, Vale-
Ind and invlinating, and with ib highly attractive flavour
tendered delicate and refined by the special mode of prepara-
tion employed, Is sold In }lb., and Ilb. labelled packet&

ILB.T TVRTLE TURTLE.
Cliat TM and Invalid TOU-gIVraOICRIMr woursuay.
sT.piqurs. m, PICCAMLY.
WY. AIDA Proprietor.

L(SI4MON-mmri have a-SUPPER ant MIMIC
ROOK far Gentlemen—Resenther, ere Wait far yea u
" ILVAYFr." after the Covent Garden Opera and the Theatres.

rite erpreoo.

TO COERESPOND/CITS.
Advertisements intended for "The Express," London Evening
Paper, most be at that Odra, 10, Boum:is-street, by two
o'clock on the day of publication.

HAYMARKET.
TEM Emirate, THE BALANCE OF COMFORT. Messrs.
NOW. lowa Braid, de.; MIN AdsCavaullak —TRY FAVORITE
or rdanuir. llama Buckatone, Chippendale, and &Sheen
Yrs Ohlppaudale, tr.e.—And. A DAVORTkII TO MARRY.

MINCERS'S.
• Ems Imam A LUCKY HlT.—After which HENRY VIII.
Cardinal Ws)lacy, Mr. Charles Kean ; Queen Katherine, Mrs.
Sitarist Kean.—Oonclwilng with QUIEK LOWING&

LI MUM.

Tins Evzonte, SIMPSOtrINFFO. Mama Emery et Rora-
ima Honman.—And THE MASTER Of RAVENSWOOD.
Moen. Jordan, Horsznan, Vega, Ernory,Widdloorob, Fitzpatrick,
etc. ; Madames Ter Dan, Elswortlty, Lemma, and C. inclercq.

BBSTANNIA..

WEI ERRING, THE CORPORAL'S DAUGHTER. Mews.
Reynolds, Cranford. and lagwrond ; Mtn Clara at CUM. MSS. R
Lac and Mrs. E. Yarnold.—The &haw Family.—To nonskid
with THE HURON CHIEF. Mr. James Anderson..

mOB•WATER AT LONDON-BRIDGE.

TEO DAY 31.41 tn Afternoon, 411. 6m.
TO-dloaSOW—!Morning, 411. 28m Afternoon, 41i. 51m.

LONDON, THURSDAY, MAY 17.

THOSE of our readers who have daily to make
their way across that maelstrom of converging
traffic which surges up against the Mansion-house,
OT who have lost time, money, and patience in
the tedious transit from Temple-bar to Fen-
church-street, may feel a natural regret that the
City Traffic Regulation Bill should have failed to.
pass the ordeal of a Select Committee. It seems,
however, that the recommendation not to pro-
ceed with the measure was, on the whole,
justified by the evidence taken. What-
ever may be the merit of the proposed
regulations, they laboured under one defect, which
will appear, we think, more and more damaging in
proportion as it is examined more carefully. Tho
traffic of the City is not of home growth. Of the
thronging vehicles which encumber its streets
during business hours by far the greater number
are contributed by the surrounding districts, and
any attempt at regulating their progress while
they are within the walls may act very inconve-
niently upon their progress while they are outside.
The difficulties which already beset the traveller
from one end of Loudon to the other might be in-
definitely increased by the addition of a conflict of
jurisdiction. It is quite possible, indeed, that the
peculiar circumstances of the City proper may
require certain provisions to be enforced thurewhich
are not necessary in the less crowded thorough-
fares of the s•nburba ; but this is not at all incon-
sistent with the admission that the arrangements
for both cases alike should be issued by a COM-
mon authority. It is hard to make a rule
operative at one end of Lond.m-bridge which is of
no force at the other, or to lay down that such and
such a vehicle shall not come out of Chancery-lane
into Fleet-street, although it is permitted to come
out of Holborn into Chancery-lane. The only
way to escape this difficulty is to subject the
entire metropolitan traffic to the same restrictions
as are imposed open the traffic within the City
boundaries ; and if this is to be done, the conve-
nience of Londoners in general has a fair claim to
be considered. A rule which is reasonable
enough in Clioapside may be highly unreasonable
at Charing-cross, and if it happens that it cannot
be effectively carried out in the one place without
being enforced at the other, it necessarily becomes
a question whether the interests of London or of
Westin iz ister are tu be most regarded. The Committee
have, therefore, taken the best course open to them in
suggesting the withdrawal of the proposed Bill,
and the introduction of n " general measure to
" correct the present defects in the law, and to
" give additional powers to regulate traffic in every
" porti.m of the metropolis."
We fear, however, that those sanguine persons
who hold that for every wrong there must needs
be a legislative remedy will be a little disappointed
if they happen to look at Sir RICHARD Maysa's
evidence. A Commissioner of Police may, per-
haps, be trusted not to unduly depreciate his office,
and Sir Ricu Aso hlavN in particular has not been
usually considered a too enthusiastic advocate of
a laisser-faire policy. But he points out with perfect
truth, that any regulation of traffic by police inter-
ference is the correction of ono nuisance by ano-
ther. The very same man who complains to-day
because A s neighbour is allowed to do something
which inconveniences him, would probably be
the first to complain to-morrow if he himself
were prevented from doing something which
inconveniences his neighbour. Englishmen
are not fond of having their conduct
mapped out for them by municipal or any other
authority ; and even if we wished to see the
national character altered in this respect,
we may he pretty sure that any attempt
to invest the police with largely increased
powers would cause a popular reaction which might
end in depriving them of those which they now
usefully exercise. There is one suggestion of Sir
RICHARD MAYNE'S which, regarded in this light,
becomes especially important. He is in favour of
leaving a considerable discretion in the hands of
the police, but he urges that this discretion
should be rather "iu not acting than
"in acting." The provisions by which the
traffic of London is to be governed should, he
thinks, be laid down by Act of Parliament, so that
every passenger may know clearly what the law is,
and within what limits his liberty of movement is
to be curtailed. But ho would also have the police
instructed not to enforce these restrictions in those
streets and at those hours to which they are ob-
viously inapplicable. In this way the policeman
would appear not as the harsh expositor of a mys-
terious system of arbitrary rules, but as a benefi-
cent influence tempering and suspending the ri-
gidity of a literal code. Clearly Sir RICHARD
MAYNE must cherish a secret vision of becoming
one day a sort of tribune of the people.
That sonic little order might be profitably in-
troduced into the chaos which occasionally reigns
in a crowded London thoroughfare may be readily
admitted, but we suspect nevertheless that the
Bill which will eventually be passed on the sub-
ject will fall far short of the comprehensive cha-
racter with which the Corporation measure is in-
vested. Thus the power to regulate the routes
to be taken by omnibuses may seem at
first sight a provision of general utility,
but when it is considered that it really
amounts to forbidding the passengers in
them to pass up certain streets its value becomes
slightly questionable. After all, a man who rides
in an omnibus is the equal in the eye of the law of
lie man who rides in a cab, and it is difficult to

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