The Express.
London, England, 1860-07-21 00:00:00

-Abe eaVVrefso-

aiollemeats friiw lir "A; lambs twin
Pim nut be at She dim 10, MooolloolWook b 7 Two
• desk IS Ow Ilig at '

IILAnUIZW,

TVs Lam, TEL OVZILLILIID 11.HYTZ. Maim Chlppest.
Me. INDIC. Mathew,: Itn.C. Mghews.
HID RIC G NCT. Kr. sod Mrs. C. Mitaews. —And THZ
BOAADI NO SCHOOL NarranCink fees; 1114,./Itairttham.

macaws.
Term Evanik 11111CIANT 0/ MUM Mr. MM.;
Mine Atkins .n. Mime ladorm.—AM NICZOLAS FLAX. E.
Maps. Garden, Widdiumab,M M 4owk ; lOr km L.dsroq
Mrs. treeton.—Commutm M T.

IMITANDLL
Wm Drama, OLD DOOM, TR MAXIM OW STUMM/AM.
—Me greet irAciranis will eve Wresowned SMARM, N-
-111O4T. —1(Ir NOD LIAR AND SITS TA YTHIF ULL MOLD
Mr. S. Sidney.—And OUR swam lir. W. cruder&

RION ILITIR AT LONDON LUDO&
Tun DAT —lirsift SIL an..... Afilmosok 4k U.
TO-1011.1wW—Winiag, 4i. nr.....AAnuosa. li. les.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 21.

WHEN the Reform Bill was withdrawn many
men thought that by its removal from the scene
a fairer field was secured for the legislation which
they distinguished as practical. We took the
liberty of openly dissenting from that opinion ; we
said that the success of the material reforms pro-
posed by a government depended much more on
the internal and conscious vigour of the Ministry
than on outward circumstances, and we saw
in the abandonment of the chief measure
of the session a disastrous disclosure of
moral weakness, which, acting on the House
and on the supporters of the Government, would
impair their influence for the rest of the session.
And so it has been. One by one they have given
up the measures which constituted the promise of
the year, the Bankruptcy Bill now crowning the
series, and leaving them absolutely nothing more
to surrender. The session, and probably their ad-
ministration, will prove a legislative blank. Those
who counselled their unfaithfulness in June now
try to hide the impotence which is its natural con-
sequence, and childishly throw the blame on the
forms of parliamentary procedure. But no system
of standing orders that can be devised will ever
give efficiency to a Ministry which lacks firm con-
victions, and the courage to assert them.
The abandonment of the Reform Bill was
rejoiced over by those who had predicted and
compassed its loss. We, who predicted the
failure of the Bankruptcy Bill, regret that it has
not become law. Not that we have any doubt
that the ArroLNEY-G&NEILIS, whose ability and
energy deserved a better reward, exercised a wise
discretion in its withdrawal. The bill as submitted
was an economical and comprehensive measure ;
sound in principle, though unnecessarily elaborate
in detail. The details might have been altered or
amended, but if the principle of the Bill had been
allowed to remain intact, we should have had an
act of Parliament that would have been hailed
with equal satisfaction by law reformers and the
commercial classes. Bankrupt estates would no
longer have been kept out of the Bankruptcy
Court, and the present abuses and anomalies of
Bankruptcy and Insolvency Laws would have
disappeared. But the House of Commons had
so dealt with the essential principles of the Bill,
and had so mutilated its main and fundamental
I provisions, that it seemed likely to come out of
the crucible unrecognisable by its friends. It
suffered from the indifference of lukewarm sup-
porters, from the ill-concealed antagonism of vested
interests proposed to be abolished, from the petty
but too successful carping" of ignorant sciolista, and
from the avowed hostility of the aristocratic
classes, who refused to be put on an equal footing
as to payment of their debts with others equally
wealthy but less favoured by accident of birth.
And against all this the Arroessv-Gammax
stood alone. None of the gentlemen so urgent
elsewhere on law reform stood up in the House to
advocate retrenchment and consolidation. Now
of the representatives of the large towns ease lee-
ward to support the wishes of the trading oar
munity, whilst the proffered aid of the ex-Attorney
and ex-Solicitor General might well be sus-
pected. When, then, the rejection of the
abolition of the distinction between traders and
non-traders at length impended over the
Bill—a rejection which would have necess-
sitated a thorough re-casting of the
whole measure—the Armee eir-Gairezu., after
so many defeats sustained, chose a wise and
dignified course in abandoning the Bill rather than
risk further disgrace and discredit to the measure
of which he was the author. The retention of
the present insolvency jurisdiction is only defen-
sible on the very lowest grounds of expediency. Its
pernicious effect on society, on the State, and on the
debtors themselves has been so often and so con-
clusively demonstrated that we are almost ashamed
again to have to point it out. But surely no un-
prejudiced person can be found to assert that it
is desirable to be compelled to imprison an insol-
vent before his property can be divided amongst
his creditors, or that it is seemly for
an insolvent to be able to evade such

—.opulent and consequent distribution by going
abroad, or that it is advantageous for an insolvent
after having once made • cessio bonorum to be
liable to the forfeiture of aftereequired property.
if there be any distinction between the debts con-
tracted by, and the credit given to, traders and
non-traders, it is a distinction without a difference,
and • distinction which it would be for the benefit
of all to sweep away. Nor do we admit that the
provisions of the new Bill would have borne with
any new hardship upon insolvents, as indeed is
self-evident to any one who will take the trouble
to read its clauses. But the opponents of
the Bill had not read or would not under
stand its enactments, and so the Bill is withdrawn ;
and the Augean stable of bankruptcy boa yet
to be cleansed. Nevertheless, bankruptcy re-
formers must not be disheartened : they will hive

INWRELLIGENOW;Iw.
prstu.
ritorett INTERVENTION.

onitetor of to-day nays:—"Letters from Bey-
rout contain details respecting the horrible mas-
sacre at Dear-el-Komar, and pointing out the odious
conduct of the Tiniish authorities and of the Go-
vernor of Beyrout."
The Cloattitutionnet publishes an article, signed
by M. Grandguillot, of which the following is a
sunnier, :

"Europe will, like Frans, answer by the most
energetic adhesion to the noble initiative of the
Emperor. Nobody will be astonished to learn that
French troops will very soon be embarked in order
to carry assistance to the Christians in the East,
and thus to support a canoe which is common to all
the interests of Europe.

"The peaceful and lawful existence of the Chris-
tians in the East has been guaranteed by the powers
who signed the treaties of 1856. The initiative
which we are taking is, therefore, but the faithful
execution of our engagements.

"The Sititan has well understood this when he
addressed his letter to the Emperor. Unhappily,
it is to bb feared that Turkey is incapable of arrest-
ing the massacres of the Christians, and it is im-
possible to allow the hazards of an uncertain repres-
sion. The defection of the Turkish troops is
also possible. The destinies of the inhabitants are
placed under the double safeguard of the treaties and
of the honour of France, It is evidently in concert
witb the powers and with the Sultan that France is
about to act in Syria.
"The Eastern question has for a long while been
considered as one of those which may most disturb
the world. The best means for preventing grave
complications is to resolve, by a decisive and
sincere course of action from the beginning, those
difficulties which the want of energy and frankness
might perhaps render irremediable."

G., JULY 21, 18(M.

RR.
460. omi 0404.640.1..)

QAI PARES.

• PARIS, FRIDAY EVINING.
Thete was a very serious fall at the Bourse,
which, however, cannot be attributable to the note
inthe Moniteur, relative to intervention in Syria,
because. the Rente opened at a quotation...nit We.-
lower than yesterday. In the course of the day it
was rumoured that England was not agreed with
France upon the subject of the intervention, and
in consequence business became very heavy indeed.
The Rente closed, with a fall of 50c. both for cash
and account, at 68fr. 25c. and 68fr. 20c. Mobilier
fell 20fr. The Orleans Railway fell llfr. 25c ;
Lyons, 7fr. 50c. ; Northernand Eastern, Mr. each;
Western, 2fr. 50c. ; and Southern, lfr. 25c.
It is rumoured that the Emperor gives the
powers only three days for the answer to his
proposals.
The Union de la Haute Marne has been convicted
of a contravention of the "law of signatures."
The offence consisted in the insertion of a protec-
tionist petition from certain ironmasters of the
Haute Marne, which petition the local public pro-
secutor chose, or perhaps was instructed, to consider
as a political article requiring a signature. The
court, while admitting the good faith of the editor
and the authenticity of • the document, said that
sine the government thought lit to prosecute,
they had no choice but to convict. The defendant
was sentenced only to pay a fine of
500 fr., a light punishment in itself, but pos-
sibly very terrible in its consequences, be-
cause two judicial convictions, fur however light
a cause, necessarily entail suppression according to
the Napoleonic laws of 1852. Ido not think that
any inference, one way or the other, can be drawn
from this prosecution, touching the real policy of
the government in the question of free trade. The
petition, appearing at the time when it did, was cal-
culated to create some irritation in the department,
and that was a fully sufficient cause to stimulate
the seal of the authorities to institute the very
paltry prosecution.
The Opinion Nationale says that in spite of the
repeated denials of the Pays and Patrie, which
assert that General Ooyon has only left Rome
en e9nge, he has in reality been recalled, and that
he will be replaced by a simple brigadier-general,
M. de None.

It is announcedthat M. Kossuth and family have
arrived in Paris.

The great match of reaping machines (French
and foreign) has been put off till August 2 in con-
sequeaoe of the backward state of the harvest. It
will take place, as already announced, at the impe-
rial farm of Fouilleuse, near St. Cloud. The price
of admission is lir.

MOIRE OP BRITISH STEAMERS BY THE

NEAPOLITAN GOVERNMENT.

(From the Liverpool Daily Tines, July 20.)

By a special despatch from our foreign corre-
spondent we are informed that a Liverpool meaner, the
Ellen Vermin, and four other steamships, have been seized
by the Neapolitan eovernment. The cause assigned for the
seizure is, that the government, having learned that Gari-
baldi had funds in the hands of Neapolitan agents, 11111.
posted that they were in treaty for purchase of these
vessels ; and, aoconlingly, orders were issued to seize and
detain them at Naples. This circumstance has caused
great excitement among the commercial community.

:88, SATURDAY EVENTI
--, ... - .. „
hieNtoqiinry, sotii:luti Ipt if :.LA TR. "i: Pc
ly faiusleed. I
he Hoeile of C,oillasoens • V itillisy 1 ".
°
aPliiiiiiie on ild-tobjeeVilinvise , t,
MOM
have been leas rashness and ins illpricy
in the debates. It is evident that it is ~et Mlle' deli]"4l