The Express.
London, England, 1868-07-22 00:00:00

ICE.

Tux hot weather has as usual taken us unawares,
and is smiting ua hip and thigh. Neither in dress,
habits, nee diet are we prepared for the enemy
which has opened upon us in full blaze. Ice is a
luxury only attainable in certain parts of London,
and has to be negotiated for with forethought,
instead of being common as water. The tepid
streams which dribble from our street-fountains
are enough to make the thirsty soul for-
swear water for life; and there are few pri-
vate dwelling-houses, either in London or
its suburbs, in which the luxury of a draught
of cold fresh water can be obtained. Here and
there, in such places as the Temple or Covent-
garden, a well-known public pump exists to bless
the dwellers near; but it is quite pitiable to think
of the thousands upon thousands of Londoners
who are practically debarred from the most refresh-
ing liquid of all. But ice might be made nearly
as common an auxiliary to household arrange-
ments as fire. The clear solid blocks of Wenham
Lake might remain an imported luxury, as now,
but the rough block ice, of which we have
abundance every winter, would, if it wore pro-
perly husbanded, render us ample service
through the summer months. Let the perspiring
traveller who reads this sheet in omnibus or rail-
way, or who languidly takes it up at home,
picture to himself ice as an article of
constant use in every house he visits. Let him
indulge in a cool vision of dripping blocks

atoning for the fietealsys.of the my and -making
the necessary act oPlisting and drinking lea s
nuisance than a delight. It is quite true that
people who stand well with their fish-
monger, and who are. resolute on se-
curing their personal comforts, do have
ice upon their tables with some regu-
larity now. But in a large majority of
middle class houses it is looked upon as an
exceptional luxury. Yet nothing is easier
than to preserve ice which has been
blocked and stored away in the winter. Millions
of tons of it aro allowed to waste every year
simply because no one troubles to house it pro-
perly. Will no genius rise up in our midst, and
show the melting Englishman of to-day how he
can be cheaply and regularly iced P

M. EMILE DE GrzweDns has found and pro-
mulgated in the Lamle one of those neat mots
which particularly strike the French mind, and is
especially applicable to a situation in which the
Imperial Government pleads the obstinacy of
" parties" as a reason for exercising pressure
upon universal suffzago:—" Unless every party
can hope to become a government, the govern-
ment must always be a party."

IF any Londoner thinks the line of KEATS,
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
a fantastic one, let him watch oven the hardy
sparrows under this blazing sky. The children find
them easy to catch, and Paterfamilias, preparing
for a mid-day bath in his room, sees—twice
within a month—a poor little panting
thing fly in at the open window, and
nearly drown in the attempt to got at the
water in the bath. The butterflies, who have
shown in extreme profusion this year, are the
only creatures that seem to make high jinks of the
hest. There is ono little symptom of irritability
caused by the weather which can scarcely have
escaped the notice of Londoners—namely, the
increased number of small street quarrels;
chiefly between little boys.

A conalterornnarr informs us that a respectable-
looking man, with whom ho got into casual talk
in an omnibus yesterday, made the fol-
lowing avowal :—" Franchise t I call it a
" job. If the Government had given me
" a vote because I was a man, ra
" have scorned the action ; but now they've
" given it to me because I pay rates, and made me
" pay a great deal more than ever I paid before,
" because they did away with compounding, I
" shall just sell my vote to the highest bidder;
" and what's more, I say it's a fair transaction."
As this is not weather for indignation, we draw
no moral.

IN the Paris Chamber to-day M. Piurrite
is to ask a question which will probably afford
some amusement. The new member for the
Allier is to take his seat, and M. Paz ustalt wants
to know out of what fund he is to be paid, as the
money allotted for the salary of members is ex-
ihausted, and they have been for some tins woikr.
!mg' for nothing.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

TR! 11102110 TILSGILPH DIM

In the opinion of the Times an attempt to re-
open the proposed purchase teems from the electric tele-
graph companies would simply mean throwing back the
whole question to another session, when higher terms
would probably have to be conceded, in order that another
government might carry out the scheme. The advan-
tage is not worth the cost. It is clear that the companies
withdrew their opposition on the faith that parliament
would sanction certain bargains entered into between
them and the Postaterter-Cleneral, which bargains were
before the committee ; and if the bargains be repudiated,
the companies may assume their former position of anta-
gonism. The terms have been made unnecessarily high,
but they will never be lower. It is idle, now that shares
have risen to 2001., to expect that the government can
compel a sale of them at 1801. The delay has been ex-
pensive, and if there is fresh delay, it will be followed by
fresh expense. The Times, in short, believes Parliament
acts wisely in accepting the transaction as it is now pro-
posed to it, lest worse should follow.