The Express.
London, England, 1866-08-18 00:00:00

THE WEEKLY PRESS.

In an article headed " Mr. Eyre's Last Utter-
ances," the Examiner says Mr. Eyre is making himself
understood. It is clear that he Mu; not a notion of justice.
He says that the execution of Gordon had more effect in
preventing further risings than any of the other steps taken
by the government. But a man is not to be put to death :
for purpose* of prevention. A man is not to be allot or '
hung, not for what he has done, but because of some
absurd idea ignorant people have about him. Colonel
Hobbs made ► target of • man to show that he was not
invulnerable, steam which would have been more humanely
taught by • volley at twenty nvva, M. Eyre saw nothing
but effect in Gordon's execution ; whether the guilt was
proved was not the point. An innocent man hanging
from a gallows served the purpose of the impression de-
sired as well as a guilty one, perhaps better to strike terror.
It is frightful to think that for twenty years a man has
been invested with high colonial authority who is ignorant
of the first principles of justice. Mr. Eyre does not know.
and is apparently incapable of learning, that intention is
the very essence of crime. Gordon's agitation may have
tended to the outbreak at Morant Bay, but if it was with-
out his complicity, or instigation, he was not criminally
responsible.
In another article on the Primate's prayer the Examiner,
quoting the following passage—" We acknowledge with
shame and sorrow that we have shown ourselves unthankful
for Thy mercies ; wo have followed our own will rather
than Thy holy law, and have not in our prosperity
honoured Thee as the author and giver of it all "--asks
does any one believe that we have, as • nation, deserved
these grave reproaches, and, if a particle of them were
true, was it not the duty of the prelate to have raised his
voice against the sins before they rose to the pitch of
iniquity described! Where are the evidences to support
any of the charges? At what period in the history of the
country has it been in a sounder state as regards religion
and morality' There must always be much that is amiss,
much that should be amended, but there has been no dete-
rioration ; and, whatever may be the faults of the nation, they
arenot of recent growth, nor of increasing perversity. But the
archbishop has unfortunately thought it necessary to ex-
aggerate our offences, in order to justify the Almighty's
wrath in the visitation of the cholera. Here is the radi-
cal error. Why is he to assume that the cholera is a
judgment! How can he pretend to penetrate the in-
scrutable wisdom of the Almighty? How can he presume
to say that this present infliction may not be for ultimate
purposes of benevolence! See the charity it calls forth,
mark the improvements to which it points in the sanitary
condition of the poor. If the ever-destructive typhus be
ever cast out from amongst them, it will be through the
transitory cholera. It is the cholera that has compelled
attention to water, air, and cleanliness. Nothing but the
visitation of this frightful disease has prevented things
going from bad to worse in all that relates to the condition
of the poor within the last 34 years.
The &runless Review, referring to the French claims on
Prussia and their withdrawal in presence of the flat
negative of Count Bismarck, says it is premature to specu-
late upon the consequences of what at present can only
be imperfectly understood. The sycophants of the
. imperial throne will of course be in ecstasies at the
magnanimous policy which recedes from an insolent
demand when it is found that the proposed victim is
too strong to be robbed with impunity. But there
I will be many who will only be able to see in
this magnanimity • humiliating defeat—not quite the
first, but the most serious which has overtaken the luckiest
and, as some think, the deepest schemer in Europe. One
thing is quite certain, that the Imperial policy, whatever
it may have been, stands rebuked by a superior will, or a
superior power, or • superior duplicity. To suppose that,
affecting only to represent French opinion, the Emperor
• made a demand which be never intended to enforce,
; merely for the pedagogic purpose of teaching his children