The Express.
London, England, 1868-08-01 00:00:00

HIGH WATTS AT LONDON BRIDOL

To-DAT =1;;Ing, IC 311;1- -I.ll;eikocat,- C.
To-It•now —Yorning, lb. 23m .Aftemoon, lb. uso.

NOTICE..

advertisers are tecaeated to jail; Poet-offlos orders payable
to kr. Josi La aninroros, Post•edloe, Meet-A:est, MC.
FOTICIS of Bums, MARRIACIII, and Deems, are resolved
until ii o'clock for imertion same ermine. Price 7a. 114.

A SECOND EDITION of the EXPRESS,

corm:lrmo
The Latest Foreign Telegrams; the Latest City;
Railway, Mining, and other Shares; Sporting,
and General Intelligence,

111 PIIBLIZEID

EVERY EVENING.

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 1.

AN ELECTION IN NOtEMBER.

Tug Royal Speech yesterday announced formally
that " the benefit of the extended system of re-
" presentation," and the people's " expression of
" opinion upon the great questions of public
" policy," yet undecided, are to be sought on the
earliest possible day. In other words, the general
election will be in November, and the members
elected will assemble in the following month.
No new Parliament has met in December since
1806, and then as now, the affairs of Ireland were
among the chief cares of English statesmen. The
insurrection, which culminated in the murder of
the best of the Irish judges, Lord EILWARDMV,
and in the execution of Ex mitrr, was still smoulder-
ing in the land. The claims of the Irish Ca-
tholics had been dangerously revived by the un-
accountable publication of some private letters
written by Lord REDESCOALE, the Chancellor, to
Lord Posam.L. Their insults to the Catholic body
and the doubts expressed in them of the loyalty of
the most eminent Catholic gentlemen had exaspe-
rated the people almost to madness. In conside-
ration of the anxieties of the State the leading
Catholics had agreed not to press their claims for
the present; but the knowledge that the second
functionary in Ireland had so expressed himself
concerning the majority of its population fanned
the sense of oppression into a flame and it needed
all Lord NARDWICEVS conciliatory tact to prevent
another outbreak. There was little currency.
Metals were hoarded up secretly while the land
was flooded with paper-money. A spurious coinage
was given and received until suddenly refused by
the government offices and the tradesmen. Riots
followed, and the bakers' shops had to be
guarded by the military. The local banks
issued notes for as small a Sum as half a
crown ; and the continued suspension of the
Habeas Corpus Act was affirmed by large ma-
'Titles in Parliament. It was when a French
don was dreaded, when the Continent was
• under NAPOLEON, when the lessons of
and Jena were teaching men to ask
, what next and next ? and when the

TIE

petitions of the Irish Catholics had been•igain're-
jected, that the last November electieir fbe a new
parliament took place. Prrr had died in the pre-
lims Jannery without seeing the Catholics
righted, and the sullen clisoontect with whioh
the Irish asked how far the Union had ful-
filled its promises, caused the gravest fears that
they would make common cause with France.
Snob was the state of Irish politics the last time
a new parliament met in December, and a pa-
rallel might be drawn by the curious between
many of the election pledges of that period,
the refereneee to suppressed disaffection, and
the hopes of loyalty, and those to be given
from the hustings next November. That tho
Edintanyk Review for 1806 should insist that
the Volunteer force of the day was " too
" good to be parted with," but that it
needed training, and to "bo carefully exorcised
" in firing at marks, and in suddenly dispersing
" and assembling in small bodies, as well as in
" accomplishing considerable journeys," points
another analogy between that time and this. But
" 'tis sixty years since," and what is really
implied by an election in November is
as unfamiliar to the people of to-day
as the incidents in " Waverley " wore
to the generation which read thorn first.
Other circumstances have not been fully eon-
isidered. It will be dark before the polls are closed.
It may be foggy while they are open. The anti-
thesis between the fall of the leaf and the budding
of new political life is complete. The character of
the season, the diminishing light, the decay
around, the dulness and the gloom, are all
strangely at variance with the uproarious gaiety,
the reckless mirth, the ambitious hopes, and the
turbulent disorder of an election. Fancy the can-
didates addressing their constituents in the dark !
Fancy rival mobs shouting against each other
through a dripping autumn mist. Think of
the impersonations, the false swearing, the con-
fusion possible under such circumstances. A
conventional November in England is the time
above all others for secret deeds. There are, of
course, bright, crisp days then, just as there are
dull and gloomy ones in Spring ; but the pro-
cess of returning members to Parliament in this
month is so unusual, that it is fair to speculate
upon the anomalies it may cause. The atmo-
sphere may hang over the proceedings like a
pall ; and may give to open voting the privacy
of the ballot. It may confuse friends and
foes. It may lead enthusiastic believers in
Mr. DISK ELI and the maintenance of the Irish
Church into the Liberal fold. It may send the
supporters of Mr. Gurorroza to Tory voting
booths. The splendour of election favours may be
dimmed, and crowds be so mixed np that their
component parts are united against their will.
We know how often electioneering eloquence is
reduced to dumb show. Take away the element
of material light, and what is there wherewith to
appeal to electoral intelligence ? When sight is
unable to supplement hearing, Dzmosrmanis
himself would be puzzled to sway an audience.
Candidates must be prepared with special blan-
dishments, agents will find their astuteness taxed,
committee men must provide themselves against
the exigencies of the season. An election in No-
vember! it is like a wedding ceremony at night with
the candles burning low. The ceremony, tho guests,
the preparations for festivity, the love of the
couple about to plight their froth, may be all
there, but the time is inappropriate, and the pro-
ceedings seem to read backwards. Londoners
who know what " a dark day before Christmas"
means, can picture to themselves its effect when
the hustings are up at Guildhall or Covent-
garden. Dwellers in maritime towns who have
frequent experience of a sea fog can guess its
operation when their polling places are busy.
Few autumns pass in the metropolis in which
there are not days when ordinary traffic has to be
suspended, when the ancient " links" are necessary,
and when in spite of every precaution lives are lost
and damage caused by the accidents of the hour.
Imagine an election suddenly enveloped in an
atmosphere of pea-soup, cabs unable to run, pedes-
trians helplessly at fault, and polling clerks blear-
ing at each other, helpless and unemployed. May
not the returns be seriously affected ? Are there
not lukewarm or valetudinarian politicians who
will prefer their fireside to the polling-booth P It
becomes a nice question as to the relative
stamina and courage of the respective parties;
for it is certain that the ordinary machinery
of an election may easily become useless, that
fresh requirements may assert themselves, and
that the clerk of the weather may exercise an
embarrassing influence over the clerk of the
poll. The worthy gentlemen who are already can-
vassing and who are sanguinely counting promises
should remember how easily the elements can de-
feat calculation. Again, to take another view, what
arithmetical mistakes may not be brought about
by the meteorological obfuscations of the month ?
A false return would be an almost pardonable
error, and a mistake in addition be attributed to
the difficulties of the time. As for the humours
of an election—the personal squibs, the jests, the
caricatures, the indiscriminate wassail—they must
be all tinged with autumnal melancholy. Chair-
ing the members will suggest another ceremony,
when men are carried by human bearers for the
last time ; the brightest rosettes and party colours
will assume a sable hue, and the banner-carriers
and organised followers will be like so many hired
mourners at a public wake. An election in No-
vember ! It suggests a masked ball by daylight, or
a pie-nie in the rain.