The Express.
London, England, 1867-11-19 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 19, 1867.

The most conspicuous parts of it are its omissions.'
Its silence about Mexico, about Salzburg, is almost
eloquent. Thu "dark spots" have disappeared from
the horizon, or have resolved themselves into
nebulous " disquietudes." Since the Chambers
separated in the summer, a vague uneasiness
has somehow arisen in the public mind
concerning the relations of France with',
Germany. " The belief has been spread "
that the changes which have taken place in Ger-
many were not regarded with perfect equanimity
I. the French Government. Considering the
I anticedents of the Seconci Empire, a belief of this
kind was perhaps more unfounded than sun
prising. But what excites the painful astonish-
ment of the EMPEROa is that tin: :ecic.ratlooli
of
his official orators and his official and semi-official
!journals, instead of appeasing, have increased the
prevailing disquiet and uncertainty. Tho public
mind in free countries is so unreasonable! Even
when the Moi.itcur was repeatedly declaring that
the French Government never contemplated any
change of government in Mexico—even when it
, informed the world that the Empire of Masi-
MILIAN was secure, and that the French army
would not return until the last traces of the
Republican " rebellion " were trodden out—there
were still found incredulous readers of the
Monifeer. So again, when M. Revues declared
in the Corps Idgislatif that no despatches had
passed between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs
and the diplomatic representative' of France at the
Hague and at Berlin, there were people who were
not at all surprised by the publication,
a little later, of a whole series of French despatches
precisely such as M. Rouliza had denied. So again,
when the whole semi-officialpress,derivingits inspi-
rations from one Ministry or another, and several
other journals notoriously authorised and founded
with the assent and the assistance of the Govern-
ment, were clamorous, day after day, for war with
Prussia, there were, " notwithstanding the de-
" claration of my Government," people who could
not be convinced of its peaceful disposition.
However, it is not the less agreeable to read the
EMPEROR'S present assurance that so long as the
interests and dignity of France are not threatened
by Germany ho will not interfere in her domestic
arrangements. But who is to be the judge of
what "the interests and dignity" of the Second
Empire demand? The "interests and dignity"
of a Power which presumes to assure another
great Power that its national independence shall
be respected, must be of rather a sensitive and
irritable order. Count BISMARCK will be pleased
with the promise of conditional impunity ; but it
would probably be more satisfactory to him to under-
stand how " the interests and dignity " of France
may be affected by " changes that take place
"on the other side of the Rhino." If Germany
were Italy and Berlin were Rome, the state of
uncertainty about French feeling towards Germany
would endure a little longer.
The EMPEROR evidently finds relief in
passing from Germany to that " imposing spec-
" tack) of conciliation and peace " which is
disappearing as fast as possible from the Champ
de Mars under the pressing injunctions of the
Ministry of War. This imposing spectacle was
opened amidst a panic of impending war ;
it was closed amidst the preparations for
armed intervention in Italy, and rumours
of war grow, like rank grass, over its ruins and
remains.

guishes it from some other memorable usurpations
and expeditions, and particularly from a certain
Roman expedition "in the interior " which
was prepared and performed sixteen years ago.
We are to understand that the second occupation
of Rome is undertaken for the " protection of
" the power of the Holy See ;" a power quite
separable from the Temporal throne. The power
of the Holy See should be nothing but spirittiii,
but why does France go back to Rom tc protect
what has never been assailed eve...
republi-
can government in 1849 1 by the
The EMPEROR replies,
"The Convention of,
lated ;" geptember has been vie-
" but;lt forgets to add, " by the Second
Eir-;rrt, :ry the formation of the Antibes Legion
:1 out of the French army, by the mission of
" General DUMONT, and by the letter of Marshal
" /Ctn." This Convention NAPOLEON declares to
be still existing. But as there are two parties to a
contract, and the present contract has been broken !
Iby one party and denounced by the other, the
Italians will certainly not wait for another inter-
national transaction of a Conference which will never
meet to consider the Convention of September as
blown into the air by the Chassepota at Mentana.
On the Eastern Question the Speech " breaks no
I " bones." It is equally agreeable to Turk and
Christian, and equally profitable, and if Russia is
satisfied the unanimity will indeed be wonderful.
Nor, to do it justice, is it altogether wanting
in a certain boldness of imagination. It invites
the Chambers to the consideration of domestic
reforms, because the atmosphere of politics is
so remarkably clear. The Estrzaos has been
delighted with the enthusiasm and loyalty of the
populations in the North and East ; he speaks of
the completion of the parochial roads as an act
" almost of gratitude " to the people who will
have to pay for them. If there are some
embarrassments of a commercial and indus-
, trial nature in the situation, arising from a
deficient harvest, and from that " general un-
" easiness" which "the good understanding pre-
vailing between the Powers" will remove, never-
theless, " we may be allowed to foresee the period
" when a reduction of taxation may be taken into
" consideration." This " permission to foresee "
is like the permission to "calculate the proximate
" time when our troops will be recalled from
" Rome," a liberty which, we trust, will not, like
the new laws on the press and on public meetings,
" expose the public mind to excitement and to
" dangerous impulses." How, by the bye, can
the "introduction of new liberties," which have
not been introduced but postponed since the
beginning of the year, expose the public mind to
dangerous impulses t What are these liberties,
new to a country which has enjoyed six and
thirty years of parliamentary government f They
are a Press law which substitutes for imprisonment
fines so heavy that few newspapers could survive a
second, and leaves the press at the mercy
of police courts constituted ad hoc by
the administration ; and a law on public
meetings, which authorises the electors of a dis-
trict to meet ins closed building a few days before
a general election, under the supervision of a'
Commissioner of Police, and permits closed public
meetings to be held at other times upon other
than political matters, subject always to the per-
mission of the authorities. The EMPEROR is surely
justified in counting upon the common sense of
his country, and the energy of the ruling power
in suppression, to render these " new liberties"
tolerably harmless. We only hope he has some
!stronger reason for his unshaken faith in the future
of Imperialism.

THE CLEIMENWELL DEPUTATION.
The Post makes sport of the scene yesterday at the
Home Office, in Whitehall, and the Telegraph thinks
that each of the misguided men now under sentence of
death at Manchester may well exclaims in bitterness of
spirit, "Save me from my frier as
That the Home
Minister, the responsible adTsser of the crown in matters
affecting it'll PrerClatiTO as the fountain of mercy, the
member vf the cabinet whose functions partake most of a
• character, should be threatened in the execution
of his official duties by a rowdy mob, is what the British
public will certainly not tolerate. English feeling has no
sympathy with so lawless an inroad on the course of
justice, and English habits of thought witness such usur-
pation with abhorrence.
The Star thinks Mr. Hardy ought to have received the
deputation. English working men ere not usually very
unreasonable, and a little attention and 'Aindly considera-
tion would have gone a long way with .he deputation who
afterwards became so noisy and rade. No one can for a
moment suppose that Mr. Ha-.dy would have refused to
receive a deputation on the very same subject composed
say of peers or members of parliament. One thing the
Star is sure Mr. Hardy, whatever mistakes he may make,
will not do. He will not allow the ineseumble violence
and the silly menaces yesterday employed to prejudice him
against any appeal that may be made in the cause of
mercy.