The Express.
London, England, 1868-12-14 00:00:00

OLOBE THEATRE ROYAL.

TBlO, E.rorivn. at 7,000 U FOR NOZUINO.—At • j top,
E. J. Bryn'. uriginal Comely. in Fire Leta, CYRIL'S RUC-
CEeIB. -am E. kinnihall. *um .t. Vernon, Fisher. Newbours,
3nl J. Clarke, Ice.; Nl::ftlames Thome. Hocks, &e..

BRZTANNU"

Too Warms, LION LIMN, KING OF THU SOLTH SEA
ISLANIs Yrwn Rryaold, rstt, B'U. ?.nd Dior lnd ;
Madam.- COV: 'lrv. M. Booth, and liftrerourt.—Miw 1.. Bhrgrintr-
toa and Mr. F. Iii*IIMEr.—TLIE StAItLET MARK. Mrs. d.
Lan..

11101LWATEE AT_LONDOr DRIDGP._

To- A T —_ litar.-1707 (AM.
otaing, I is. -
To-M• know —Moralag, 41ra......,41t0ran05. 3k. OM

Porters of Bmrits, 114aii;iza,--asil Thum, us nestle
mitt t 2 o'clock for fakrartion saw evaohor. Pan IL ild.

LoNDOY, MONDAY, DEC. 14.

THE POPULAR PRE3fIER.

Mn. Ct. cnsTosn once more appeals to a popu-
lar constituency for n renewal of the trust
already reposed in him. There can be little
doubt or anxiety as to the response which
the generous electors of Greenwich will return
to the appeal thus made to them. It seems to
ns that there is something almost pathetic in
the popularity of a Prime Minister. To be
sure the people are always apt to be more gene-
rous than discriminating in the choice of their
favourites But, in spite of the proverbial
tickkness of the popular breath, the buoyant
hope and eager expectation with which the
advent of a Prime Minister who has hap-
pened to reach the public heart and to
touch the public imagination, is saluted as with
something of a personal and private joy, is
a far more serious, and to a thoughtful and dis-
enchanted observer perhaps a fur more mournful
subject of reflection. The instinctive impulses of
crowds are almost always wholesome and true as
nature itself. The pit awl gallery applaud every
noble sentiment and revolt at every base action,
though the " gods " and the " groundlings "
probably contain a considerable admixture of the
viler elements of mankind. The enthusiastic sen-
timent of the great masses of the English people—
the dumb, the inarticulate, and the articulate
mamas—towards Mr. GLADbTONEt has been abun-
dantly ridiculed by that agreeable cynicism
which thinks all enthusiasm contemptible.
Assuredly, if the gratitude with which
the popular instinct repays by anticipation the
services of a Statesman were nothing more or
Letter than a lively sense of favours to come, it
would be liable to bitter and clangorous disap-
pointment. The truth is that the trustful and
affectionate devotedness with which the imagi-
nation of the " masses" of his fellow countrymen
(and as he was not ashamed to call them his
•• fellow-creatures") has long contemplated Mr.
Gemperrorte's political fortunes, and made them,
so to speak, their own, is in a great measure due
to those qualities of character, which dis-
tinguish the PRZYIZR from almost all con-
temporary Statesmen. We mean the warmth
of sentiment, the breadth of sympathy, the
sensitiveness of conscience, the earnestness,
the intensity of heart and mind. Add to
thew qualities the insatiable passion for
work. awl there is more than enough
in Mr. GLLIerrOICZ'a character and career
to explatin the entbusiami of the people for
Lis mono, the reverent belief of the people in his
(*peaty for good, the idea that in placing him in
power the people have secured the hest use of
power in their own behalf.

It would, of course, be a great injustioe to the
present hero of the people's choice to forget that
he has earned it by many years' labariou,, public
services, in lightening taxation, in liberating :n-
-41 ustry, in cheapening necessaries and comforts,
and in enabling the cause of the poor to be pleaded
by unshackled press. Yet the mournful side
of this more than ephemeral or superficial
PogoloritY must readily occur to such a mind as
Mr. OLanfrrowe's. Bow little can the best of
winiaters really do to alleviate the lot of the great
majority of his " fellow creatures " How many
drops of comfort can the best and greatest of
Prime Ministers, with all his political and admi-
miArolive genius and goodwill, pour Into the vast
14nd lonely saa of human misery that bests and