The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-02 00:00:00

of public business, and to the coat.
country. No generous man !fouls
posed to criticise too revecely -
and the language of a Governmen't slays .
minority, and against which the extreme mutant
has been recorded. The Liberal party which
synspithised so heartily with Lord Dozer when
failing health compelled him to retire from
office, and so heattlly rejoicad in his re
appearance ou the • parliamentary scene, would
willingly forgive him a few characteristic indiscre-
tions and petulant outbreaks of temper, if he would
only have the goodness to remember, when he
takes the goasm's name in vain, that he is still a
Privy Councillor, and that he has not flung away
all his responsibilities with his portfolio. It
I way be a pleasing excitement to the noble
Earl to enjoy the license of an independent
Peerwithout renouncing the position of parrain to
the Cabinet. But what neither the House of
Commons nor the public will endure is a new and
perverted theory of Parliamentary government and
of ministerial responsibility unknown to the consti-
tution of this realm, borrowed from the Paitnizies
old cenirsde, that nreat e xem plar of personal govern-
ment iv.•r the water. and carelessly sanctioned by a
reckless arateninan in retreat who, having re-
noune,cii political ditties, amuses his convalescence
! with party itianwiivres. It is not as a party
that the Liberals need regret Lord Dzam"s latest
escapade. An a party it has probably rendered
them groat service. It is as " constitutionalists"—
! if our Tory friends will permit -as the expression—
that true Liberals lament the manner in which Lord
DERBY has lent his apparent sanction to that
strange forgetfulness of the impersonality of the
!Crown into which Mr. DImRAIBLI was betrayed by
the " heat of debate- before Easter, and which his
' ! subalterns and hie agents have too readily adopted
lin cold blood.

Without for a moment pretending to be in the
secret of the conferences at Osborne, we take the
liberty to asautue and to affirm that the PRZMIKE
will return from the royal residence with a juster
sense IF. his constitutional obligations. We shall
hear no more of penal dissolutions which will punish
his own party at least as much as the Opposition.
He will announce his resignation—to the inevitable,
and his willingness to hoid office and to conduct the
public business for the remainder of the pre-
sent session, committing to the constitu-
encies at the earliest moment the ratifi-
cation or reversal of the vote of Friday
morning, which, under ordinary circumstances,
would have terminated his ministerial existence,
or sent the existing House of Commons to the
country. Mr. D'snaT.t.t, we doubt not, will make
his statement on Monday afternoon with the
beet grace ; and the House will have the charity
to appreciate the susceptibilities of Ministers
in a minority, who have consented to retain
office in this purely perfunctory fashion, and
in the simply and strictly executive capacity
of agents and administrators. On the tact
and temper of Ministers in their not very enviable
position, will depend their relations with the pre-
sent House of Commons. Let them be decently
docile and submissive. and not presume to fancy
for a moment to dictate a policy or to initiate legis-
lation, and we dare say the Liberal majority
will not grudge them the disposal of patronage a
few months longer by way of compensation for
their ungrateful iabours. Meanwhile, we beg our
impulsive neighbours over the water not to imagine
that we are lapsing into the system of provisional
governments, or administrative monarchies.

have not been converted by

NiWi staffed skein
And synspatbstie ddebsards.

And we will not dispute this matter with the
Spiritualists. But, as all that is ludicrous and
contemptible in our common nature seems to be
concentrated in their practices and creeds we may
hope that the lamentable "falling out of faithful
" Mends" which the public) are now laughing
over, may weaken the influence of profeutional
mediums by enlightening the superstitious people
who believe in them.

The name of LUCRETIUS has been generally asso-
ciated with a poem which is remarkable alike fur
the beauty of it■ versification and the variety of
its contents. Henceforth it will be as natural to
think of Lrusirrius in conjunction with TRNNY,ON
as to couple King ARTHUR and the exploits of his
knights with the most illustrious of modern poets.
We are studiously cautioned by " the proprietors
" of Macmillan's Magazine " against reproducing
I the new poem which TENNYSON has given to
the world through the medium of their popular
publication. The puzzling yet terrible provisions
of the Law of Copyright see invoked by anticipa-
tion against those who shall reproduce " either
" the whole or the major part of Lucretiva,'" on
the ground that this is " not needed for the legi-
" timate purposes of criticism." Judging from
recent experience, this threat did not seem one
which ought to inspire terror on the part of news-
paper critics. The poems which Mr. TENNYSON has
thought fit to publish in magazines have been quoted
rather because of his reputation than on account
of their intrinsic excellence. However, " Lucre-
" ties" is anexception to whatthePorr LAUREATE's
admirers feared had become the rule. It is a
poem which stands out from among the mass of
contemporary mediocrity as strikingly as any
statue by a Greek sculptor would shame the
feeble efforts of living and renowned hewers of
marble. The argument is as original as it is
appropriate to the personage—the verse is at once
effective and highly polished. Here and there a
line or an allusion jars upon the mind and
appears as opposed to classical traditions as it
would be to arm the man who only knows how
to thrust the pilum with a SNIDER rifle. For
instance, if we may venture upon a short quota-
tion, we should say that the following lines are
out of keeping both with the subject and the
context :

I often grew
Tired of so much within our little life,
Or of so little in our little life—
Poor little life that toddles half an hour,
Crown'd with a flower or two, and there an end.
In expression this is thoroughly Tennyeoniaa, but
in idea it is unclassical. The ancients thought
more about the uncertainty of life than its short-
ness. Moreover, such a philosopher as LUCRITI
was of all men indifferent to life, because he had
neither dread nor hope of a great hereafter.
This, indeed, is exquisitely put in other lines, of
which the melody and statuesque simplicity are
typical of the entire poem. It is sufficient to
quote them in order to give a fair sample of this
beautiful effort of Tssrsysores mature powers, and
to induce all who read them to turn to the poem
itself with a curiosity which will be amply repaid.
Describing the contrast between his earthly
struggles and the supreme placidity of the great
Gods, LUCILETI Us is led to argue that, they, too, on
his theory, should be subject to chance and change,
and he says : _ _

The Gods, who haunt
The lucid interspaoe of world and world,
Where never creeps • cloud, or moves a wind,
Nor ever falls the least white star of snow,
Nor ever lowest roll of thunder moans.
Nor sound of human sorrow mounts to mar
Their mimed everlutin? calm ! and such,
Not all so Sae, nor so divine • c►lm.
Not such, nor all unlike it, man may gain
Letting his own life go.

A Ciactaaa has been issued by the leader of the
Opposition urging the Liberal members to attend
the House of Commons on Monday, in order to
support by their votes the motion for going on with
the resolutions respecting the Irish Church, in the
event of opposition being raised to this course by
Her MAJESTY'S Government.

A MEWING was held yesterday, at Devonshire
House, of the Liberal county members, and of
those Liberal borough members who are affected by
the report of the Boundary Commissioners. Several
propositions were discussed, but eventually a
Committee was appointed, including Mr. BRIGHT,
Mr. GLADATONE, and the Marquis of HARTINGTON,
to consider what course shall be taken -in the
matter.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

The Time," regards a dissolution as morally im-
possible, and assumes that Mr. Disraeli cannot have ad-
vised the crown to have recourse to it. If the government
stays in it must he on the condition that the second and
third of Mr. Gladstone's resolutions be accepted without
division, and that her Majesty should be advised to give
a gracious answer to the third. The commons must, in
short, have the control of the national policy. The great
difficulty of the government must be the clashing of
opinions within its own borders, and this, the Times sug-
gests, may lead some indispensable member to retire at
all hazards from an equivocal situation.
The determination of the majority in the House of Com-
mons, as embodied in the resolution which Mr. Gladstone
is to move on Monday, to take the conduct of business
into their own hands, is, says the Daily News, one good
result that has followed the indiscretion of Lord Derby.
Possibly Mr. Disraeli's acquiescence may remove the asses.
sity of pressing this motion, and if he and his colleagues
can endure the humiliation of their present position, the
liberal party need not grudge it them. In the event of
contumacy effectual measures must be taken for enforcing
their resignation and the formation of a government
having the confidence of the House of Commons, but the
Daily News hopes that these extreme steps will not be
necessary.

The Standard admita that under ordinary circumstances
such a defeat as that sustained by the government would
render either dissolution or resignation imperative ; but
it is argued that the present circumstances are altogether
exceptional. The House of Commons can nto sense be
said to be a fair expression of the present mind of the
electoral body. Therefore, it is impossible for ministers
to regard the vote of Friday morning as a popular
condemnation of church and conservative principles.
The inoonveniences of an instant dissolution are great and
obvious. Not only is there the important business of the
session to be completed, but the constituency itself is in
process of reconstruction ; and to complete this work the
dissolution must be postponed until January next. That
is, it must be delayed for about five months. during which
time the present government would of course remain in
office. This would be the natural, convenient, consti-
tutional course ; sail it is the emirs to which the Ministry
would probably incline, on partly puirlio rather than en
personal grounds; that is, cutlass the opposite party mike
the further tenure of °See imposing*.
The Star insists that the edema and third resolutions,
if carried, require immediate settee on the part of the
mown—either compliance, soemdinn to constitutional
111411011, oe 11401161 headeall to the unconstitutional and
dangerous advice of Mr. DionselL The question, it argue,
cannot be postponed till January, unless we ere to arum*

PR! S.

The Saturday Review remarks upon the insignifl-
canoe et the debate on the Irish rhumb oesp•red with
the impartanee of the vote which followed. Then is
not in any quarter whatever at present any sign that the
inajerity of sixty-five does not represent the deliberate
judgment and resolution of the Segni& people; sad, it
so, the establishment is praetically ended. The
ministry is the most unlucky of this generation.;
To be sure it had the countenance and sup-
port of its friend and protestor, Lord Derby ;
but all of • sudden this friend and protester has, although
in • friendly and retooling wsy, done his best to damage
it. Nothing, indeed, could exceed the glaring impropriety
and imprudence of the eosins taken by Lord Derby en
Tuesday last. His lordship's declarations—one pointing
to • possible conflict between the House of Commons and
the crown, and the other to a possible conflict between the
Howe of Commons sod the nilaistry--are declarations of
the gravest and most seriatim kind, and ought not to have
been made, carelessly and out of run pique, by a peer who
has an indirect power to pledge the government, and yet
has no precise title to represent them. With regard to
the ministry itself, it is obvious that Mr. Disraeli
must either resign or dissolve now, or announce
his intention to dissolve early next year. A
dissolution at the present time, however, would be
in no way justified by the position of the ministry.
They have no right to inflict so great • burden on the
country unless they are morally certain of altering their
position. It they dissolved and were beaten, as they
probably would be, this would be only a costly and cum-
bersome method of resigning, and they had much better
resign at once.

The leaders of the liberal party, says the Saturday
&rim, are almost embarrassed by the weakness of their
opponents. Mr. Gladstone is, for the first time, at the
head of a united party which may at any moment resolve
to profit by its strength. and Lord Derby's speech con-
tained an indiscreet challenge, which may possibly be ac-
cepted. The liberals will hereafter have • more falai-
dello enemy to fear than the party which has long fur-
nished then with an excuse for existence, and with suc-
cessive opportunities of easy victory. The Irish church
will be the last of the flagrant abuses which have been
overthrown by parliament in the course of 40 years.
Slavery, protection, ►nd religions disabilities have fallen in
!succession ; and Mr. Gladstone has represented, in the
more or less rapid changes of his opinions, the
progress of thought in the country at large.
The new constituencies, or their probable leaders, are not
devoted to the study of political economy, and the inners-
' tions which they will desire are alien to the traditions of
English statesmen. Hence, argues the Saturday Retiree,
the difficulties with which the liberal party will have to
ooetend.

The Examiner expresses its belief that Mr. Disraeli will
tell the Queen he is still ready to carry on the government
to the close of the session, provided he be armed with the
alternative of dissolution, in case he is arrested in his
course by a vete of want of oonfidence. He has already
made preparations for an announcement that the Scotch
and Irish Reform Bills once passed, the ordinary pe-
riod for completing the registers may be shortened, as
was done in 1832, in order to have a general election before
the close of the year.
The n,ajority for Mr. Gladstone's first resolution,
would, says the Spectator, if the constitution were not in
a state of coma, be fatal to Mr. Disraeli's government.
That government maintains that the Irish church ought
to continue ; the House of Commons has formally decreed
by a heavy majority that it ought to cease ; consequently,
the government has on a cardinal point of immediate
politics lost the confidence of the country, and is bound by
all precedents to resign. Mr. Disraeli went on Friday to
Osborne, and it is of course within the range of possibility
that he may adopt a manly course ; but, aware that be
can never be Premier again, he is as likely to try to stick
on, announce that he shall dissolve in February, and con-
fine the work of the session to formal business. The
Sp& tutor hopes he will, for it does not want the liberals
to be discredited by the attempt to lead this bad parlia-
ment—the worst we ever had.

Elm Court.

OSBORNE, MAY 1.

The Queen drove out yesterday afternoon, ac-
companied by Princeu Louise, and attended by Lady
Churchill.

Major-General F. H. Seymour was in attendance upon
horseback.

To-day is the birthday of his Royal Highness Prince
Arthur.

Her Majesty walked and drove in the grounds this
morning, accompanied by Princess Louise, Prince Arthur,
and Prince Leopold.
Viscount Royston, M.P. (Comptroller of het Majesty's
Household), arrived at Osborne today, and presented to
the Queen an address from the House of Commons re-
specting the recent attempt upon the life of the Duke of
Edinburgh.

The Prince of Wake rode out yesterday, attended by
Major Teesdale.
The Princess of Wales drove out, attended by the Hon.
Mr.. Stonor.
Major Teesdale his succeeded Major Grey as Equerry in
Waiting to the Prince of Wales.

Despatches were sent yesterday from the Colonial-office
to the Governors of Gibraltar, Malta, Ceylon, Hong-
Kong, Labnan, the Straits Settlements, the West India
Islands, and the Australian Colonies.
The International Coinage Commission oat yesterday.
Present—Viscount Halifax, the Right Hon. C. P.
Villiers, the Right Hon. Stephen Cave, the Right Hon.
J. Wilson Patten, the Right Hon. M. Longfleld, Sir John
Lubbock. Bait , Mr. Thomas Baring, Baron L. N. de
Rothschild, Mr. J. B. Smith, Mr. Thomson Monkey,
the Governor of the Bank, the Astronomer Royal, the
Muter of the Mint, and Mr. Rivers Wilson (Secretary).

CABINIT CouNcu..— A Cabinet Council is ap-
pointed to be held on Monday afternoon at the
First Lord of the Treasury's official residence in
Downing-street.
Her Majesty the Queen and Royal Family are
expected to return to Windsor Castle about Friday next.
The Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Duke
of Sutherland, Colonel Harding*, Major Teesdale, and
other gentlemen, honoured the Strand Theatre with their
presence last evening. _ .

Her Royal Highness the Princess Mary Adelaide
has consented to open the new wing and infirmary of the
National Orphan Home, Ham-common, Surrey, on Wed-
nesday, the 3rd proximo.
Prince and Princess Christian of Schleswig-
Holstein and the infant Prince Christian Victor returned
to Windsor on Thursday evening. Their royal highnesses
have taken up their residence at Frograore House. Wind-
sor-park, where they await the return of her Majesty to
Windsor previous to proceeding tollsliners!.
The Duke and Duchess d'Aumale have issued
invitations for a large dinner at Orleans House, Twicken-
ham, on Saturday, the 16th brat.
The Lord-Chamberlain has issued cards for a
full-dram ball at Buckingham Palace, on Friday, the 15th
instant.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Westminster
and Lady Theodora Grosvenor are expected to arrive at
Grosvenor House about the 20th inst. from Motcombs
House, Dorsetthire.

The President of the Royal Society, General
Sabine, gave his seoond soiree on Saturday main, at Bur-
lington Rouse. The display of apparatus and art objects
was of high interest, eleotriaal apparatus of the Ent order
being markedly in the mondani.

The Sultan lately witnessed a representation, got
up supremely for him, at the Italian theatre at Pere. Se-
lection. from Le Barbidre, an sot of Norma, and one of
Awn, were performed. The Sultan mu aseempenierl by
Peed Pasha, All Pasha, Ifidhat Pasha, aled sewed other
ministers and high personages of the empire. Os the 15*
his Ottoman Majesty repaired to his rammer residues at
Beyleberg, on the Asiatic oust. The Sultan offered • col-
lation to the Archdukes of Austria, who were is leave
Constantinople on the 28th ter Vises&

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