The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-25 00:00:00

THE WEEKLY PRESS.

The Saturday Review takes a retrospect of the,
history of parliament during Mr. Disraeli's five
months' tenure of office. Whether it is that the right
hon. gentleman has had a special run of bad luck, or
whether it is that he has really been tested and found
wanting, ho has certainly passed through a time
which has shown his defects in strong relief,
and has not brought out his political excellences into
prominence. He has talked of himself and his col-
lea.ucs as a novellist talks of the hero and his
Mends. Ile has sounded with unblushing effrontery the
trumprt of his own praise. In short, he has se m in his
own elevation the proverbial luck of a hero of romance ;
toll he has spoken of himself, and speculated on himself,
and regulated his behaviour, as if he were at
onoe the artist and the object of art, • hero and
the inventor of the hero offered to our notice and
admiration. Our contemporary adds, that that which
is most strange, and most illustrative of his "rest powers
and success is that, although Mr. Disraeli has done all this
be has not lost by doing it. His system of government
was justly pronounced dangerous, in the long run, to the
country, but it did net bring any new discredit on himself.
The Salwrday Review, in another article, reviews the policy of
the opposition, and contends that the history of the session
has been of great encouragement to them, because the
liberal party has shown a power of uniting itself, because
it approaches the new constituencies with the prestige of
success, and becalm it is going to fight • battle on a deft-
, rite issue.

There is something to the mind of the Spectator not a
little humiliating in the discussion raised by Sir William
Hutt about the interference of peers at elections. It
suggests that there are still many men in the Liberal
party who are as math slaves of use and wont as their
opponents, who are unwilling to surrender a tradition,
even when it recalls nothing but a humiliating recollection
of former weakness. The proposal of the hon. gentleman,
however, was mere talk, intended for Gateshead, rather
than for the house, but it was objectionable for other
reasons than mere expediency. Peers have as much right
to vote as any other citizens, and so far from diminishing
their power and influence over elections, the proposal of
Sir W. Hutt to make interference on their part a misde-
meanour, punishable with imprisonment, would greatly in-
crease both. Secure in his castle, protected in his seclusion
by law, the great peer appears to the elector' a very mighty
and somewhat mysterious personage, whose wrath may
bring down endless calamities; and the way to dissipate
his injurious prestige, to reduce him to the standard of
ordinary mortals, is not to deepen the seclusion, but bring
him into the light, make him sign his own edicts, and ex-
press his own wishes, and hum and ha before a hostile
crowd like everybody else.
The Loudon Review says the Electric Telegraphs Bill is
one of the few measures which will relieve the present
session from the reproach of legislative barrenness. Vari-
ous objections to the plan were raised, but it is now ad-
mitted, says the writer, that there is really no
practical difficulty in carrying out the new arrange-
ment, which provides for a wider and cheaper diffusion of
telegraphic communication through the whole kingdom.
The only real point pressed by the critics of the bill was
the objection that the country was required to pay too
high a price for the telegraphs, and our contemporary
thinks there is some ground for the objection. Although,
however, the bargain is not the best that might have been
made, it is not a bad one.
The Examiner thinks the policy of the government in
rejecting Mr. Fawcett's proposal in reference to the pay-
ment of election expenses will prove to have been short-
sighted and subversive rather than conservative. It is the
open refusal to adapt constitutional usages and maxims to
changes that are irrevocable. It is a weak confession of
fear on the part of the oligarchy, that the new franchises
conceded may be used adversely to them ; that, notwith-
standing all the odds of birth and wealth, there is a shrink-
ing from fair competition in the race for popular favour.
But in the new House of Commons we are likely to see
measures much more searching and stringent brought
forward; and the Examiner suspects that it will no longer
be possible to meet them haul cis boa, as these milder pro-
positions have been.
"Mr. Gladstone Descends into the Gutter," is the head-
ing of an attack in the Saturday Review upon the right hon.
gentleman for his reception of Mr. Finlen and his col-
leagues on the subject of the Hyde-park " demonstra-

tior;" concerning tie Irish church. "Ever; week', =Pe-

rience," taws the writer, "shows Mr. Gladstone's deplo-
rable incapacity for supreme power; and the lcader who
in the blind last for adulation submit* to the greasy hug
of the panderer to obscenity and the accomplice of blas-
phemy, and the avowed advocate of Fenianism, which
Finlen is, mast not be surprised if he alienates the confi-
dence of friends, and, while exasperating; the acrimony
of enemies, repels the sympathies of the serious and re-
flecting."

Reviewing the position of the Credit Foncier, the Econo-
mist says the debts are reduced from 120,0001. to
about 90,0001., and the essential characteristic of the
position is that the company is now going through
a process which is virtually a winding up in
almost all respects, except that the disagreeable inci-
dents of ofilcial liquidators, heavy law *spewed, and
calls are wanting. The company can do little actual busi-
ness, but must confine its exertions to the tedious work
of realising the estate. Referring to the large sums pea
in the shape of commission to the directors, our contemporary
says that according to a statement made by the
chairman, the company must have divided out of its
capital all= which in no sense, could be con-
sidered as all profit even earned, until the
company was free of the responsibility it undertook,
but which, in point of fact, was never got in at all.
And the directors must have had their commission in
real cash on theme sham profits. This matter, if not
the whole business. certainly requires explanation. Cer-
tainly, it the statements made are true, it would only be
right and proper to restore the large sums which were
paid as commission on profits that *ero never really
made.

Mr. Hepworth Dixon expresses his belief that
the autograph of the recently-published poem attributed
to Milton is the poet's, and that the signature is "J. M."
An English yacht, belonging to a gentleman
periled Pegler, was at Cherbourg a few days ago, and the
crew were invited to a fair in the neighbourhood. There
were about twenty standings or booths, and behind each
there was an enormous fire, at which three sheep, each
cut in four parts, were roasting. Sixty sheep were
toasting at one time. The meat is sold to the frequenters
of the fair, and people eat roast mutton there who never
taste it at any other time of the year. Punch and Judy
shows, at which Punch spoke in the English language. to
the great amazement of the French people, were exhibited
at the fair.