The Express.
London, England, 1860-06-25 00:00:00

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LONDON, MONDAY, ITINI 11.

Ws should be heartily glad if we could regard
tho probability of • war with China as at all
diminished by the news which reached London on
Saturday morning, and was published in all the
newspapers. Without prejudging what Lord Ewer
may have done since Mr. BRUCE received from the
Imperial Commissioner Ho the letter of the Great
Council, in which that functionary was informed
that the English ultimatum was wanting in de-
corum, and that our demands had better be
dropped, we may point out that whereas
this news of peace, which comes by the
unaccustomed route of Japan, San Francisco,
Springfield (Missouri), Boston, and Queenstown,
is dated China, April 10, we published, a fort-
night to-day, a long letter from Hong Kong, of
April 24, describing the incessant labours of the
Quartermaster-General's department in organising
the expedition, the harbour full of transports, the
little army of commissaries, storekeepers, and pur-
veyors, the bullocks from India and the ponies from
Japan, the Chinese Coolie Corps, or " Bamboo
" Rifles," and ahu ndred other preparations for carry-
ing on the war, of the active prosecution of which
nobody doubted. But we need not go any further.
In the haste of preparing his despatch Mr.
Rat-rra'a agent at Queenstown has made a mistake.
His rumour is • fortis*. .rider than authentic
news from China published here a fortnight ago.
The same remark applies to the news from
Japan. The assassination of the Emperor of
JAPAN is another version of the attempted mur-
der of the Regent, fully narrated by Mr. Atcors,
our Plenipotentiary at Yeddo, in a despatch
which has been in England long enough to have
been presented to Parliament. Mr. Auoc
wrote from the capital of Japan on the 2nd of
April, making no allusion to the assassination of
the Emperor which, according to the American
account, had taken place on the 15th of March,
more than a fortnight before.

We regret to be compelled to destroy illusions in
which the humane feelings of the public have
found a momentary satisfaction ; but whatever
Lord ELois's diplomacy may be able to accomplish,
certainly the prospects of peace with China remain
unimproved. Despatches received from Shanghai
by the ordinary route of the overland mail, and
dated April 28, reached London last night, and
apprise us that, as our correspondent had led us
to expect, pending the receipt from the Chinese
Government of a reply to the second communica-
tion of the British Minister, the allied forces oo-
cupied Chusan on the 21st of April without oppo-
sition.

Tee Grand Review on Saturday was in all
respects a triumph, such as those who witnessed it
are not likely to forget. No such sight has been
seen in our days. We have had indeed military
displays that have been on various accounts
brilliant and impressive, but none so perfectly
national, none that combined elements of such
peculiar and stirring interest as this great
pacific demonstration. The moral significance of
the whole is summed up in the one fact
of its beng a Volunteer movement. Those fine
bodies of trained men that marched to the ground
CM Saturday with a precision that delighted pro-
fessional critics knew nothing whatever of military
discipline a year ago. At most twelve short
months, and in many cases little more than half
that number, have sufficed to convert a hundred
thousand busy citizen& into effective soldier.. No
business or professional occupations have been sa-
crificed to produce this result. It is the rich fruit
of scanty leisure freely dedicated to • noble pur-
pose. Under these conditions the change appears
litt'a short of miraculous, and we cannot wonder
at the exclamations of surprise, admiration, and
delight which greeted the Volunteers on Saturday.
But the explanation is simple enough. The per-
fect discipline of the men represents the energy
and determination that has been thrown into the
movement. The sudden creation of this vest
national array is a miracle which the love of " Eng-
land, home, and duty" easily works amongst a brave
and patriotic people. It expresses the stern but
enthusiastic attachment which true liberty inspires.
The mere whisper of danger to the land that
enjoys it, and the institutions in which it is em-
bodied, has profoundly moved the whole nation.
It has summoned bands of volunteers in every part
of the country to the unaccustomed disci-
pline of arms, and, were danger immi-
nent and threatening, the same impulse would
multiply their number tenfold. This is the
meaning of the demonstration of Saturday. It
was the fete-day of constitutional freedom ; and
everything conspired to render its proceedings
worthy of the occasion. As a mere spectacle
nothing could be lair than the appearance of the
Park at the aseilisring of the Volunteers. The
day was of the best possible kind for out-
door activity gad enjoyment, bright and cheerful
but not too brilliant, bits of blue sky chequering
the masses of cool grey clouds that moved slowly
across the sky, and a pleasant breese tempering
the heat and giving freshness and elasticity to the
air throughout the day. Then the arrangements
on the ground were most pisturesque. The
actors and spectator* enclosed the open spaces of
the Park so as to turn its beauty to the best

account. They were arranged in • vast oval
amphitheatre, or long ellipse, lying north
and south, the eastern line being a crescent
of gaily-dressed spectators, and the longer western
line covered with muses of thej volunteer troops
in position, each line having us • background
noble screen of wood. The intervening space was
brightened with moving uniforms, and animated
with martial music ; while all round surged the
II great tide of the many.voiced and ever-moving
multitude. Such a crowd of excited holiday-
, keepers has not filled the metropolitan Park for
many • day.
No praise, however high, could well be deemed
excessive for the Volunteers themselves. In
their discipline and soldier-like bearing they I
exceeded the expectations of the most sanguine.
If there were any who doubted either of the
reality or national value of the movement,
those doubts must have been set at rest. No
proof could well be stronger of the deep
hold it has taken of the national mind
than was given on Saturday. Apart from
the time devoted to the arduous work of
drilling, these Volunteers have spontaneously
taxed themselves to what is in the aggregate an
enormous amount. Taking eight or nine pounds
as a moderate average for the outlay of each in
dress and accoutrements, the various corps
throughout the kingdom, consisting for the most
part of melt belonging to the middle and mer-
cantile classes, and necessarily of moderate means,
have contributed nearly • million towards pro-
moting the most vital and effective part of our
national defences. This pecuniary contribution
is no alight sacrifice, but the time and energy
given to the work of training is a still stronger proof
of earnest and devoted patriotism. But the
sacrifice has not been in vain. We may see
already how much good the movement has effected
at home in the altered tone of public feeling.
It has steadied the more excitable portion both of
the press and of the people, and prevented them
from running, as heretofore, into the discredit-
able extremes of offensive bravado or senseless
panic. We have happily lost the old tone of in-
solent swagger in referring to other countries or
speaking of ourselves, once too prevalent, but which
is only a sign of conscious weakness. The country
is no longer distracted with alarm by doubtful tele
grams, by excited appeals from home agitators, or
false rumours in foreign journals. Our dangers, what-
ever they may be, are certainly not less now than
they were twelve months ago. But the tone of
public feeling is very different. There is a calm-
ness and quiet confidence springing up in the public
mind, which blended with increasing vigilance and
determination is the happiest sign of conscious
strength. The demonstration of Saturday will
deepen and intensify these feelings throughout the
country.

There is another important aspect of the Grand
Review which ought not to be overlooked. It
goes far towards settling the vexed question of
our national defences. Every one must have felt,
in looking at the almost endless succession of fine
corps that passed before the Qt Lax on Saturday,
that such a force was after all about the beet
protection any country coulll ponces. Volun-
teer troops that consecrate their hours
of leisure to military drill, until they
have acquired the knowledge and skill of
tried soldiers, will prove, we may be certain, a
most effective defensive force. If they have done
so much in comparatively quiet times, they would
do ten times more in seasons of actual alarm.
There is, in fact, nothing that men of tbni stamp
would shrink from in a crisis of national danger.
Prevention is bettxr than cure ; and the posses-
sion of such a force is undoubtedly the best
security against their ac.ive services in
the field ever being required. While this is
amongst the most effectual, it is at the same
time the moat econon•ical of all national defences.
Military men are just now debating whether
various schemes of stone fortifications would be
useful and effectual or not ; but no man doubts
the use and value of the masses of living fortifi-
o. tions that paraded in the Park on Saturday.
If an invasion ever were to take place,
the business would in the end be settled
not by stone walls, but by the masses of men that
could be brought to oppose the foe. We need
scarcely waste time in discussing, or money in expe-
riments as to the best protection against invasion,
when we have before us the simple maxim—
" Multiply the volunteers and we are safe." That,
we believe, is the actual truth. Two hundred and
fifty thousand of well-trained Rifle Volinteers
would effectually prevent this contingency. We
earnestly hope that some means may be devised for
extending the movement, so as to embrace all
classes, and thus make the force not only large,
but what it ought to be in the truest sense—
national. We have the best possible material for
effective rifle troops in the more skilled and intel-
ligent workmen and art'sans of our large towns.
They would gladly join in the movement, but they
cannot afford the preliminary expenses. Surely
some means might be devised for meeting this
difficulty ; and if so, while it still continues to
spread amongst other classes, we should in a few
months obtain double the present number of
volunteers. With 250,000 volunteers in regular
training the question of national defences would
be practically settled in the cheapest and most
expeditious manner.

Tar accounts received from some of the textile
manufacturing districts during the last week indi-
cate rather a dull state of trade, although there
appears to have been little falling off in the
extent of employment. At Manchester the
principal depression is in the market
for manufactured goods, in which the
recent reduction in prices has not yet etimu•
lated the demand. From the increased number of
inquiries on the part of buyers for the Indian
market it was imagined that trade in that direction
was about to experience a partial revival, but a
fresh check seems to have been given by the
advice. received on Tuesday from Calcutta, and
on Thursday from Bombay. The demand his
accordingly slackened again. A sufficiently inde-
pendent position, however, is maintained by many
of the manufacturers, who are still, in some
instances, delivering goods under old contracts
entered into at high prices. The loss that has been
incurred, as a matter of course, does not fall upon
the manufacturers, who, on the contrary, derive a
considerable advantage from the fall which has
taken place in the price of cotton since the date of
the contracts in question. As regards yarns,
there has been some revival of business, and in a
few instances prices are a little firmer.

The woolleii trade is rather dull, owing partly
to the backward state of the weather. In some
quarters a diminution has taken place in the
employment of the operatives, but this is excep-
tional, and, upon the whole, there is little
actual complaint. The principal degree of acti-
vity seems to prevail at Huddersfield. The silk
trade throughout the kingdom is depressed, and a
considerable number of hands are out of employ-
ment In the hosiery districts the amount of