The Express.
London, England, 1868-11-20 00:00:00

THE CONSERVATIVE PAM&

"WHILE we lire we'll crow" should be the
motto of the Conservative press. There is some-
thing touching in the desperate hardihood with
a Lich our contemporary the Standard, for example,
reads success in failure ; and at every fresh mos-
sege of disaster smiles triumphantly ea if weleotn-
ing a victory. It is an old joke that nothing can
In so fallacious as figures except facts; and the
ordinary newspaper remits who turns from say
the limes to the Standard must endorse the
aphorism as a sober reality. The primary rules of
arAhmetic—nay, the election returns in its own
columns—are blandly set at nought by this brave
Spartan, who smiles and gambles and proclaims
" All's well," eve► while the pain and torture of
defeat is gnawing at his heart. " The great con-
" atitatneies of the country," Feriae Standard of
this morning, " continue," let the reader mark the
" continue," "to declare themnives Conservative;
" and as the small boroughs in which the Liberals
" have by the employment of corruption gained so
" considerably, are now polled out, tho returns of
" the day's elections begin to show a marked Con-
" rervative superiority." It is impossible to with-
hold admiration—of a kind—to boldness such as
this. It is so sweeping, so downright, and so in-
different to the stupid shackles of responsibility
which snore timid people are accustomed to attach
to emit:one publicly made. " The great con,ti-
'• tuencies of the country e3ntinne to dad ire
" them elves Crnscrvative." Just FO. Thera has
lx ea an immense preponderance of Conservatism
A the metropolitan boroughs, for example, where
one Tory has been returned 1 retimately, and
another has crept in through the oiseratiun of t'ie
minority clause. Leeds, Sheffield, Birmingham,
Edinburgh, and the large totem of the Neeliern
and Midland districts, bare prove 1 thomseh e Con-
it restive too ! The Liberal ira,:ority is a figment
of the brain and sense ; the new Parliament is op-
pored to Mr. GianwrnEE! This is What our Con-
temporary is saying in practice, occasionally going
into detail to prove its case. "In North
" Devon," it remarks, " Mr. ACLAND has been
" displaced by Mr. WALUOND ;" a statement at
•eria t.• •• with its own list of the new Parliament
published on an adjoining page, and in which Sir
ETAFIORD NORTDCOTE and Mr. ACLAND arc given
as the sitting members of the division referred to.
But the election agents are doubtless mistaken,
end our contempeney is right. There has been
stud is no Liberal triumph. Figures are illusory,
and returns an unhealthy stimulant to the imagi-
nation. There is a unanimous obstinacy, however,
about the country, and the press, which makes
these refuse to see the truth as the Standard sees
it. Perhaps, after all, our contemporary is only
indulging in a playful game at brag, keeping
meanwhile an astute eyp on the result of its
policy upon the county elections.,

Dretti OF LADY BDTON.—The death of Ludy
Beton, wife of Sir Marks Hay Baton, Dart., is amounted.
Her ladyship was the daughter of Mr. Walter Parry-
Bodges, formerly recelrer-genersl of the county of
Dorset •

MI CROWN PIIINCF.fI op PRUSSIA IN WAR-
WicreNTßß.—ller Royal Highness the Crown Princes of
Aussie, aroompanied by her Royal Highness La Ditches,.
intimate, and attended by the Counties of Cork, the
Countess Rubenlobe, and the Baronets de • p,
honoured Stratford-on-Avon with a visit oo W
sderuiday
afternoon. The royal party visited the poet's birthplace
in Henley-street, and also the church of the Holy Tri
where his remains are intoned. There the dbelnguished
viiitors were met by the Rev. G. H. Gulliver, who re-
ceived their royal highnesses in the abeam" of the vicar.
Dr. Kingely, mayor of Stratford, had the honour of being
introduced, and, with the Rev. H. V. Scrim, pointed
'out end explained the varions 'obpieb of 4atereet•to i the
royal Abbrs. The tint excited peat interest is the
!Keough.

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