The Express.
London, England, 1868-11-27 00:00:00

Illi'fAINIA.

Tie Rwanss, THE BCattLET KARR : OR, THE WITCH,
THE EON kv, SRI/ THE MYSTERY. Mrs. N. Lane.—Ml4.4 L.
Flicerlngios and Mr. P. M•Hallie.—And WAIT TILL I'3l A
MAN. Mi. te. ; 110A.Lmos Harcourt, Y. Booth, t..

MON WATER AT LONDON WOOL
To-Ilmr —Nonlimr, oh. um. Afberboaa. Oh. 17a.
tb-N•uow—Yeedng, Ob. 38a. .Afterboos. Oh. 67m.

NOTICL
roams a Bans, 111Liaarman sod Doom', as received
vain if o'clock to location woe ambit. Pries So id.

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LONDON, FRIDAY, NOV. 27.

A FRENCH PARALLEL.

A PROWn CI.U. election has recently taken
place in France which exhibits the ruling
powers in that country in a somewhat ludi-
crous aspect. There were three candidates.
One was a thick and thin adherent of the
fs'eoond Empire, who immediately after the
(rep d'f,tat found his name on the " Consul-
" tative Commission," which was supposed to
include the most devoted approvers of the events
of December, though, as a matter of fact, it was
made to include more than one eminent public
man—notably M. DE MONTALEMBERT—who re-
pelled the proffered honour with indignation and
disdain. A second candidate was a gentleman
who, although willing to be counted among
" el) nestle" candidates, and anxious to preserve
and consolidate the existing institutions (no can-
didate, indeed, can be otherwise than dynastic
according to the law and constitution, since the
oath of allegiance is an indispensable condition pre-
cedent), had the temerity to appear as an independent
representative of his constituents with principles
and opinions of his own, and a determination to
criticise and control the acts of the Government
without respect of persons. Under these un-
usual and untoward circumstance, the Government
professed to stand aloof from the election, so far at
least as the two " dynastic" candidates wore con-
cerned, and to oppose only the third Liberal
candidate, who, although prepared to take the
preliminary oath of allegiance, was, in
fact. the representative of the Liberal op-
position. Notwithstanding its pretended
neutrality and reserve, every functionary of
the Administration, from the Prefect to the gen-
darme and the garde champetre, was actively
employed in the interest of the thick and
thin Imperialist, M. Boterr. The result of
the first ballot was so equally divided be-
tween the two " dynastic " candidates that
neither was elected, and a second contest was re-
quired. On this occasion the electors who had
thrown their votes away on the third opposition
candidate rallied to the independent " dynastic "
candidate, and carried his election by a considerable
majority. Now this candidate had in his address
to the electors criticised the foreign and domestic
policy of the government with unsparing severity.
Ho bad signified his resolve to prevent so far as
in bin lay the repetition of such ruinous and
discreditable adventures as the Mexican expedition ;
he had denounced the Army Bill, which paralyzes
the productive force, of the country, deprives the
land of labour, and exhausts the population; be
had demanded a policy of peace and
liberty, and, in short, bad insisted on the
right of a representative of the people
to control the Executive, instead of blindly obey-
ing its behests. Such is the " dynastic" candidate
whom since his election the organe of the Govern-
ment profess to accept as a devoted Impe-
rialist of the purest strain. It seldom happens
that the Government and the Opposition are
equally satisfied with the same candidate, and the
independent journals are making merry at the
expense of an Administration which is so easily

plierd, and smiles with so wry a face. Perhaps
our own general election has presented some
analogy to this dismal comedy of a defeated go-
vernment delighted in spite of itself. Have not
our Tory contemporaries been proclaiming, day
after day, their perfect joy at the contemplation
of a contest which has resulted in giving a majority
of more than a hundred to Mr. Gr.snitrown ?
Who would be so churlish as to refuse to an adversary
such unselfish exaltation ? Let us do Pasties to
our Constitutionalide. At least they have that
_ _

admirable quality which the Lit NiPOl4Oll im-
puted to the British argay--thwy dew% buoy wham
they are beaks.

'RESS

~~- ~-- =-

Fries

MR. DISRAELI AND THE MAALOX.
—..---
Paw will wonder that Mr. DURAILI Wifehood
a peerage. The real power at hie oommand as the
leader of a powerful party in the Haw ot Com-
mons is too keenly enjoyed to be Olen ng for a
nominal elevation in rank. Mr. Diaskoz.i in 'the
House of Lords would be politically satinet. The
uewnees of bis title would more than counter-
balance the power of his intellect, the strength of
his will, and the resources of his boundless tact.
The delights of political strife, the pitting of skill
against skill, and of bringing intellectual achieve-
ments to bear against foment worthy of his steel;
the excitement of battle and the joys of victory
—all these would have to be foregone. Hamra-
11A11 himself was not more painfully out
of his element in the sober calm of
the Upper Chamber, than the successful soldier of
fortune would be who is now at the head
of affairs. Moreover, Mr. DISIPAILLt has no
heir on whom the peerage could demoted.
Mr. DIBRAILI was wise, therefore, in refusing the
coronet offered him by the QUINN ; indeed, his
acceptance is hardly to be thought of save as an
heroic, and, as matters stand, as a needless, act of
self-abnegation. Mrs. DISRAZIS, " the severest of
" critics, but a perfect wife," to quote her hus-
band's published words, will take the rank of
Viseeteteee BEACONSPIRLD, with the oongratula-
tit ns of the country ; and Mr. DIEULABLI will remain
in the arena in which his position has been won.
This is natural and proper, but still it is suggestive
of something anomalous in the position of the two
Homes that the world, excepting Sir RAINALD
KNICHTLEY and his friends, should so eagerly con-
gratulate a man of ability upon keeping out of the
(me which is theoretically the higher; but which
is regarded as a sort of Sleepy-Hollow fatal to
genius and enterprise. Commiseration, mixed,
rhaps, with alittle contemptuous wonder, would
have been the prevailing feeling if Mr. Dtsa.tau
Lad consented to be made a peer ; and this feet,
combined with the comparative indifference with
which the elevation of serviceable nonentities is
r,exiced is not without its significance as a sign of
the times.