The Express.
London, England, 1868-03-25 00:00:00

ortablishod fot exactly the same ti

others—that the Government is anxious
Roman Catholic Churthinlveland shall 10

Mr. Disaszu hinta at the latter 1.
feels that something must be done ,
Irish people. We insist upon dia.
because we know ihatissthin. g short of ___
rsitials them. Thil at once disposes of all the
charges of inconsistency so freely brought against
the Liberal party. We are not bound by the asser-
tions of Mr. Gamer( in 1813 or Lord PLtriticsrr
in 1829. They represented the feelings of a time
when the Irish Catholics were still enslaved.
Forty years of freedom have now nerved
them to demand equality. A change of circum-
stances in Ireland necessitates a change of tone in
England. Emancipation averted a civil war, and
the need for dis-establishment is not less in 1888

than the need for emancipation was in 1829. The
next weapon in the Conservative armoury is the
cry that the principle of Religious Establishments
is threatened, and that if the Irish Church falls ,
tke Scotch Church and the English Church must'
fall too. It is not too much to say that this
statement is as nearly as possible the exact
reverse of the truth. If the Irish Establishment
is maintained on this ground, the other two estab-
lishments will certainly have but a short lease of
life, since they will soon incur their full share of
lthe discredit attaching to the institution which
is kept on foot for their interest. The true policy of
those who wish the churches of England and Scotland
to remain as they are is to get rid of the diseased
limb with all the speed possible. The three cases
are altogether distinct. The special reasons which
call for disestablishmeut in Ireland have no exist-
ence in any other part of the United Kingdom.
Neither in England nor in Scotland is the esta-
blishment the church of a conquering race ;
and, therefore, neither for England nor for Scot-
land will the overthrow of the Irish Establishment
be anything more than the removal of an ano-
malous exception.

Now we axe quite willing to acknowledge that
there are powerful arguments to be alleged against
excessive smoking. We do not believe with a
very tall speaker at the Conference that the aver-
age height of Frenchmen and Englishmen has dimi-
nished in consequence of this habit, or that it is the
probable cause of diphtheria and of other dilemma ;
but that it is injurious to the young before the
constitution is formed, that it is an expensi►e
practice, that it does in some cases weaken diges-
tion, that it may in some cases produce paralysis,
that bad tobacco is wholly hurtful and good tobacco
not always beneficial—may readily be conceded.
But when we are asked to acknowledge that
tobacco must of necessity injure every one who
uses it in moderation, such a request proves that
fanaticism has got the better of sound sense.
Exaggeration always defeats its object, and if we
1 are told that our spiritual and temporal welfare
hangs upon the use or disuse of a cigar, our respect
for the good intentions of the writer will warmly
enable us to preserve our gravity. Smoking, says
one of these gentlemen, produces eccentricity. We
venture to think that not a little of that infirmity
is to be found among the rigid purists who do not
smoke at all.

Perhaps, however, the Conservative journals
do not look for much result from either of
these appeals. But a man who is prepared
for revolution, and indifferent to the prin-
ciple of endowments, may be more impressible
through the medium of his pocket. The
most deadly arrow is reserved for the last. If
lyou help to carry resolutions you may have
to stand two elections in nine months. We
wish we could feel that every Liberal member of
the House of Commons is above being frightened
by this threat. We fear, however, that there are
some whose votes can hardly be relied on in the
prospect of an immediate dissolution, and for
the sake of these weak brethren we will say a
word or two on this aspect of the question. The
course taken by the Government last session has,
we believe, made it impossible for them to resort
to a dissolution this session. Instead of providing
for a special registration, which should bring
the new constituencies into the field at
the earliest possible moment, they in-
troduced a clause into the Reform Act,
which practically postpones a general elee-
tion till the beginning of 1869. The Irish
difficulty has suddenly come to the sur-
face and disturbed all their calculations.
Of course, notwithstanding this provision, a disso-
lution is constitutionally permissible. But the
farce of making a solemn appeal to the country in
April, after expressly enacting that the real opinion
of the country shall not be procurable before
January, is so extravagant that even Mr. DISRAELI
will probably think twice before he introduces
it to the public. An election this year will
have no value whatever as an index to the
wishes of the electors. It is moat unfortunate
that such should be the case, but that it is so is
the doing of the Government. In their anxiety to
secure themselves against the danger of an
adverse verdict they Lave voluntarily cut
themselves off from the chance of obtain-
ing a favourable verdict; and, whatever threats
his supporters may indulge in, we do not believe
that Mr. DISRAELI will really attempt to defy the
consequences of his own over-ingenuity. But if
he should do so, we will add one parting caution to
waicring members. Two victories aro better than
one defeat. A Liberal who votes for the resolutions
may have to incur the cost of the former ; a
Liberal who votes against them will certainly have
to put up with the latter.

MR. GLADSTONE'S bill, framed upon a suggestion
of Mr. Harass's, for the abolition of Compulsory
Church Rates, passed the House of Commons atmid-
night yesterday amidst "loud cheers." Mr. lIRNLIT
and Mr. NZWDEOATI attempted to postpone the
measure, but the House was aware that thate
honourable gentlemen would find every date
unpropitious, and rejected their solicitation
by 131 votes to 28. It must be con-
fessed that the way in which Ministers and
their supporters have been scattered by this bill
is very unedifying. The latter have as a body evaded
a decision, their attachment to the compulsory
rate not being strung enough to induce them to risk
a defeat by voting for it. But from principle
or for propriety's sake a section of the Cabinet has
gone out in each division with the little hand-
ful who are unable as yet to see, with their
leader, that majorities make everything right.
The attempt at the last moment to scotch the bill
waif supported by Lord JOHN MANNELS, Sir
STAFFORD NORTHOOTZ, and Sir J. PAEINOTON,
who, with ?dr. Scrassa-Boors[ and the Arroasas-
GENERAL for IRELAND, appear on the list of Mr.
SeHRZIRER'S minority. The fate of the measure
in the Lords is uncertain ; but, at all events, it
cannot be thrown out on the pretence that either
the Lower House or the country have yet to
make up their mind about it.

Mn. C. A. Bererzi,, whose name was made
familiar to English readers by his " Five
" Years in an English University," has pub-
lished at New York, in the character of
a United States Bondholder, an indignant
protest against the proposals made in the Western
States to tax those bonds or pay them in "green-
backs." The case he puts is rather a strong one. Re-
signing the first place to those who "paid with their
"persons," as the French say, and risked their
lives on the battle field, he thinks, nevertheless,
that the bondholders are entitled to some
little credit for patriotism, inasmuch as
they lent money to their Government at
a time when the European authorities and
the Southern secessionists were proclaim-
ing that the Republic had given up the
ghost. In no succeeding year has the market
value of the bonds in gold exceeded what
was them paid for them. As the war went
on and the result seemed more and more
doubtful, they continued to lend the Govern-
ment all trey could spare. Mr. BIRISTED has
I also a word for the foreign bondholders. The
wealthy in Europe who were hostile to the North
speculated in Confederate bonds and blockade j
runners, while Vsnee who bought the United States
bonds in Germs.ny and in England were, as a
general rule, friendly to the Union. 1 'ovrarai •
said, in reference to Bran's execution, i hat the
English had shot Mt of their admirals to en-
courage
the rest, and Mr. BiliftlM suppose a that
the Western Republicasa are now preparing t. o eta-
cute the present bondholders as an encourage meat •
to patriots at home and sympathisers abroad. I

REFORMERS RUN WILD.

THE zeal of social reformism too often runs
away with their discretion. They jump at con-
clusions from slight premises ; they substitute
feeling for argument, and rashly imagine that half,
if sot all, the evils of society result from a con-
tempt for the nostrum which they make it their
business to prescribe. The vegetarian tells us
that all the coarse passions of our nature are
stimulated by butchers' meat, and that if we
would but keep what he terms " a pure table,"
we should lead virtuous lives. The teetotaler
argues with great truth that drunkenness is of all
vices the most hurtful to society ; and with no
truth at all that, because the abuse of
wine and beer is bad, the use of wine
and beer is indefensible ; and then
comes forward the anti-smoker, and declares that
the root of social evil, the main cause of national
decline, may be traced to the pipe and the cigar.
The " British Anti-Tobacco Society," which held a
conference last Saturday at Exeter Hall, has been
in existence fourteen or fifteen years, and under
its auspices a number of publications have been
issued against " the pernicious and offensive prao-
" lice; of smoking, chewing, and snuff taking."
There is an Anti-Tobacoo Journal published
monthly ; there are prize essays on smoking—two
of them by young ladies ; there are handbills for I
gratuitousdirtribution; thereisaballadupontobacco i MR M&tr SUPPLY or Err°LaND•—This morn 55
for one shilling, which we can scarcely recommend ; a nears was published rebates to the past and press.
et
u a profitable investment ; and for another shilling
i supply of live and dead meat to this country and to tk e
the reader may purchase and peruse " Three rtitrikan weiSine:,:dtihne IParbitlietrva.eon t"aweimaPe:rt:tu •
" hundred and sixty five interviews with innokers, lit fu any on; -Ism, maw. " chewers, and anuff-takers," a pamphlet which lit amounted to T 83,271. The year 1866 shooed a
we are informed may be read "with something ! decrease 0145,364 en the previous year, and in 1867 there'
like a sensational interest, and certainly with ' was a further decrease of 50,087 on the number ins-
" much more profit than a fashionable novel." 'Ported in 1866. The ism period narks a &aline in the
The peculiar and copious literature of the ~..11ualber,of sheep, lambs, and swine, imported into al-
number of the two former, la 1867, MINE
" anti-tobacconists " may be commended for diver- 534-788—; atdulet the latter' 49375. The
mion if not for profit, and ea there was no argu- I emu, ettributaht, to the temperer, restricting be. I
decrees ii, e(
ment put forth at the Exeter Hall discussion in I posed to the topertntion ef cattle into this country
favour of the Society's principles, which may not owing to the cattle Awe.
be found in the Society's publications we shall do I COMMUNICATION srrwasic Harmer GUARDS
no injustice to the cause by confining our Wen- AND PASNENOIDLIL-A bill has been brought in by Mr. I
tion to the latter. I B. B. Sheridan and Bic Patrick O'Brien to save! railway
Tobacco, we are informed, is injurious to the °°l°Psni°l to °dahlia met" of "mdminfettitli tetwinti
body, and destructive to the soul, opposed to theand sad guards
divers laws of health, and to the precepts of Christianity; sv
m mile wiWcata topping. sad is this m.
it destroys the nervous power, stupefies the mind, I, soot it is substantially the same as lobe bill pre-
and perverts the conscience. One writer goes so seated by the Duke of Richmond ; but the penalty
far as to say that the massacre on St. Bart ho- ito be imlniend ta 6i., not for war/ tr.* but for
lomew's Day owed its " commotion and perpe- I every enribille, and few evert linirs•7 of such canine, tin-
" tration to tobacco influence r another that provided with. salient masses ef scaanuniession. To
the very arguments of the emehar-t;„- favour prevent any wanton or misehirress me of it, however,
weed are „ incontrovertible ;f" it;riiits;
01; any person netting it in motion without ressenalds excess
ta
" effects be liable to ape ct Si.,., ogres dare aspirin."
;" • third, that "90 per seat. mto
eat, nalty
ad. IL .4

persons lose their health arid *air lines by it ; and i satin erildshinuliss; Ind observes an lilt lilealltes of
" as for lunacy, the numbers who deprive them- : the mils en so peat that all anomie he agginate thin
-" selves of intellect by the use of snuff and lona "maim like that el • dielteldhia mein to 13.
" tobacco is doubtless far greeter than from any I 41'14 rn""ma• his imP''aia• w *lira war mods
" other cause." Moreover, he newts that I "Itttait the l"."111"t
tion with common roost te tha Pada
a distends. is eassepassee of
this practice lies at the foundation of n I the meeplance of Mr. Gladatone's renalations would be.
vast amount of immorality, and is " endan- The lung sompoises, d ooademssd osarNtasdes ma-
" goring the souls of millions of mankind." sot be pester than the moral oommtanos d a sneribm4
He brings forward a number of sensational awe- Parlisenit.
dotes in favour of his views. A gentleman tells The Pod, &daring that the days el the Irish church
him that after smoking a cigar he is uncomfortable 1,111d an
__,lmabef_a. adds that the ides
for several hours. A Dutchman who was a I —`"' 111'.'
a mtlLtew '. t"" sock d the church
is
el Ragland too absurd to be entertained in any soaleslas-
smoker one day blew out his brains. A young I boa wim
man is found with a pipe in his mouth when he I
ought to be at church. A shoemaker pawns his
bed clothes to buy tobacco. A solicitor who
smokes becomes • hypochondriac and imagines
that he has been bitten by a mad dog. A dinent-
ing minister, who enjoys a pipe and a glass of
porter, contract. pecuniary liabilities, and is
obliged to hide himself in America. Then
we are told that the worst vices to which
mankind resort are generally found to have been
perpetrated by smokers, and the most solemn
words of Scripture are applied, or rather misap-
' plied, for the purpose of denouncing this very
terrible vice.

EDUCATION WREN!.

In the opinion of the Deily New the scheme introduced
last night by the Duke of llariberongh marks an utterly
inadequate sense of the public manta, though some of the
proposals are in the direction of reform. The conversion
of the revised code into an sot of parliament, in
which no improvement could be introduced without
repeated repeals to the House of Commons, is
a retrograde movement, reducing to insignificance the
duties of the proposed minister of education. The govern-
ment proposes, " on public grounds," to make the accept-
' mos of a conscience clause a condition of Privy Counall
pants in eases where only one school in a locality can be
aided from the public funds. In other cease, managers of
schools receiving State aid are to be at liberty to continue
their present practice of imposing their denominational
teaching upon all the children whom they admit to secular
instruction. The bill is to contain no provision for rates
in aid of schools, even in places where it is proved that
education is most deficient, and voluntary aid least to be
relied cc. The Duke's greet objection was that the reli-
gions difficulty would be found so great that the schools
would become secular ; and yet by this very measure he
proposes to give secular schools amass to the Privy Council
pants.

The Times will not be surprised to find that parliament
eventually resolves on something which will be a com-
promise between the government bill and that of Mr.
Bruce. As to the proposition to create another secretary
of state, a new cabinet minister is certainly not necessary
to do merely what this bill allows to be done. While the
government plan falls very short of efficiency, and takes
refuge in imbecile optimism when pave defects are visible
to all beside, improvements are, nevertheless, suggested
in the practical worldng of the present system. The
relaxation of the stringent rule requiring a certificated
teacher in every school that receives a government grant
is a step in the right direction.

The Star sari the introduction of such a bill at the pre-
sent moment gravely cumulates the proofs of Mr.Diaraeli's
unfitness, and of the wilful powerlessness of his party to
meet the righteous demands of the times. The fact that
both Houses of Parliament were largely occupied with
education last night is only one instance of the exigent
mood in which she subject is now regarded ; the pettineus
of the government measure is a sufficient instance of their
inability to meet the exigency which all but thentselvei
acknowledge.

The Telegraph considers the proposals good u far as
they go, but they are painfully insufficient. The troth is
that to compulsory rating, or to some scheme den equally
sweeping character, we must speedily come. The duke's
plan has good points, which must not be lost ; but the
beet thing that his grace could do would be to incorpo-
rate his bill with that eif Mr. Bruce. United, they would
form one of the greatest measures which, within the pre-
sent generation, any statesman has been privileged to
bring before the parliament of England.

as es
metropolitan street 4 o wtioh need
illistihs most will be appmentlythe last to obtain
and if the simile of the Timm be just, and
" the Strand • kind of aneurism in the most vied
part of the body," more prompt and vigorous
treatment should be adopted than there are
any tokens of as yet, The noble space
taken from the Thames is enclosed but
not reclaimed, and as we recently pointed
out is not useful because of its wilfully
unfinished state, and of the contractors' rubbish
with which it is bestrewn. The congratulations

upon the speed_trelief of the people panning from
the Temple to Westminster seem hollow when the
facts are realised, and the arguments concerning
the benefit to accrue to legal industry, to parlia-
ment, and to the City from the determination to
open out "the finest thoroughfare ever con-
structed" lose half their force when it is seen
how small and comparatively useless is the portion
immediately available.
The only part of the Thames Embankment
which can really be spoken of as " completed " is
that lying east of Somerset House. Here, though
the wall is unfinished, the ground between it and
the houses has been levelled, and could be opened
for traffic at once. The visitor to the Temple
Gardens, or to some of the waterside streets run-
ning down front East Strand, finds huge hoardings
and unfinished masonry impede his view ; but a
closer inspection shows him that the space enclosed
is level as a grass plot, and that not remains
but the large and ugly wooden sheds planted at
right angles across the roadway, to prevent its
being used forthwith. But this bit is compara-
tively unimportant, and the view westward
from Waterloo-bridge tells a very different
story. At the ordinary rate of contractors' pro-
gress, a month must elapse before that wild chaos
can be subdued. The iron rails of three separate
tramways intersect it, along which small locomo-
tives and " trams" have been plodding their busy
way. Very few people seem to be at work, and the
whole place looks terribly deserted and desolate.
At noon to-day the constant chip chip of the stone-
mason's hammer could be heard, however, above
the din of the streets, and a railway truck full of
brieks stood ready for use in what will be the new
thoroughfare. The ground, save where the little
tramways run, is full of inequalities, and cranes
and disused machinery are plentifully dotted
along its surface. Vast mounds, like waves of
earth and rubbish, rise incontinently where conve-
nience demands a level ; while holes and valleys
correspondingly deep assert themselves like candid
pitfalls to the looker on. The blocks of timber
strewn carelessly about and across these undula-
tions, and which look precisely as if they had been
washed ashore and there left, would make rafts for
an army ; while the temporary structures, the
wooden bridges to the steamboat wharves, the huts
for workmen, the old iron, and the upright beams so
fixed as to represent an ancient gallows-tree, pre-
sent formidable obstructions to the explorer.
Some deep and heavy ruts in the dry mud by
Waterloo-bridge show that carts and waggons
can be driven up it, but we venture to
say that nothing with springs would survive
the perilous course from Westminster. Nor,
judging from what we saw this morning are proper
efforts being made to smoothe the way. Nothing was
being cleared up ; no one was constructing a road ;
the signs of active life were absent. Such men as
wore at work were engaged rather languidly upon
the stone, and the future thoroughfare looked as
neglected and forgotten as it has done for months
past. Let the reader take a ship-breaker's lumber-
yard, a stone-mason's quarry, some pit tramways,
an out-door hospital for incurable old stores,
deserted gravel pits not yet beautified by growing
grass, and mix them together in incomprehen-
sible confusion, and he will see the greater portion
of the Thames Embankment as it is. To speak of
a roadway through and upon this being opened
" forthwith " is to assume the aid of magic or of
infinitely more energy and enterprise than has yet
been shown ; and, however excellent may be the
intentions of the Board of Works, unless the con-
tractors are stimulated beyond all precedent we des-
pair of seeing the really valuable part of the new
thoroughfare in use until long after the present
session has expired.

'THS E 'RESS, WEDNESDAY ' ' lii I 1 wi MARCH 25 il : ;,.a
—..: , ••
isineanitellBl;itiou:'4l6("thei the i ileirday" Cit
in"
..' ;. ' : :4Mr, .111111.
A 'it'. '',4` •1 . . ' . '" P°RAR I :P.:
'I .. ; B iv''' Hifilii :: . ):RMENENDri-Wif
, : I DAY.) ,
id shall beendowed. 1 impossible to • ' even one oigar of I, '
paoposallsmamie he , 'glib and wane at the ohm of ev . , RIP, i ''rem -' % /Amp Tin °memos. it,
~,,- • ovu
m. in the Times as
)ne to conciliate the ' " out enervating both the physical . mental ! The rim, rejects altogether the idle terror held , inimediate benefit to be conferred by
113 dieratablishment I " constitutions." More persons, he safe, are . oat by istineard won= au rho diamigiiiimi al embankment is not corroborated bJJ
hart of this will coo-, enalaved by tobacco than by strong drink ; more the /A a
sh ura to list the int Asp to the ankle& . nonainun in which we And it this I 1
.. __ _. _II ~..- ............ 1...... 41...1- 1...u5. --a 4u.5..u..... 11. 14. .....1 —.m.a J-211.1---.2.-.. --a -L---- An-A .2.- maa—m— -a Pwrtanno of metropolitan street 111=ch s