The Express.
London, England, 1868-10-27 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 27, 1868.

MR. BRIGHT AT BIRMI.VOHAIL

No sooner has Mr. GLADSTONE concluded his
preliminary electoral campaign than Mr. Batour
appears on the scone. Ilis speech at Birming-
ham last night presents a remarkable contrast
to those great addresses he was delivering a few
years ago, which used to be followed by column
after column of vituperation in the Conservative
papers, and even in some journals which now ap-
plaud his moderation and acknowledge his states-
manlike breadth and evenness of purpose, and insist
on his taking a seat in the next Cabinet. And yet
Mr. BRIGHT'S political faith is precisely that which
it was five or ten years ago. He is not changed.
If ho was an agitator then, it was because the
cause for which he combated was then resisted
by the party which has now surrendered arms,
flags, and baggage. In those days be was de-
nounced as a revolutionist, a republican, an
Americanizer, and what not, because he de-
manded a reform in the representation
of the people which the Tory chiefs of
to-day make it their proudest boast to have ex-
ceeded, under pressure of their adversaries, for
the sake of place and power. If the tone of his
speaking was more vehement when he was lead-
ing a forlorn hope against privilege and preju-
dice and obstruction, it is now subdued to
the calmness of a conqueror, who knows the
virtue of clemency and is incapable of abusing a
victory. Among the common-places of calumny
which formerly assailed him, there was none so
frequent or so trite as the accusation of " setting
" class against class." What are his counsels to
his constituents now ? "We must have done,"
he said, in his peroration last night, " with every-
" thing that is intended solely to please and
" elevate one class as against another class. We
" must be one people, and we must have one
" paw, and one measure of justice, and one great
" equality in our institutions "

. . . . . Years ago I appealed to you from this place on
behalf of the franchise, which I said you had • right to,
and which must shortly be conceded to you. I did
not appeal in vain. I reminded you then of what
your fathers had done, the men of thirty
years ago, when they had shaken the fabric of privilege
to its very base. I appeal to you now. Ever since I
have been permitted to speak in these open councils of
my countrymen I have pleaded for their political rights.
You have now to • large extent obtained those
rights. I plead to you once more, that you should regard
those rights as a sacred trust in the eyes of all your
countrymen, in the eye of Heaven itself, and that you
should use those rights as an instrument only of good,
that you should seriously weigh the claims of all those
who seek your suffrages, and that you should so vote
that you may expect to influence any imperial
parliament, and the legislation of your country,
so that you may advance the happiness of all its
families and the grandeur and security of this nation.

A SON-IN-LAW of the Bishop of OXFORD, the
Rev. HENRY Jonrt PEE, Rector of a large parish,
and Prebendary of Hansacre, in Lichfield Cathe-
dral, has gone over to the Roman Church,
thereby setting an example to his ritualistic
friends of sincerity and self-sacrifice. Mr. PEE
was trained for Anglican orders at the Bishop
of OxFosn's Theological College, and has pro-
bably worked out to the satisfaction of his own
-----*

~ and at a cost which entitles him
to the respect of those who lament his
secession, the logical results of his spiri-
tual discipline and instruction at Cuddes-
don. On such a text as this the Standard dis-
courses against those who, " within the Church,
" are placing stumbling-blocks in the way of
" their weaker brethren, and those who are
" constantly invoking the spirit of intole-
" ranee and persecution which has told so
" cruelly against its truest interests." Whether our
contemporary in this sentence points at the de-
fenders or the opponents of ritualistic practices
within the English Church we must leave our

mdse to judge. But when the filtatsdard
• gas oa to attack Mr. CHADerotri for
having "at such a oriels" that is,
at a time when a Bishop's eon-in-law
and disciple goes over to the Church of Rome—
choren to weaken the buttresses of the Church of
England by proposing the dieestablishment of the
English Church in Ireland, we cannot help remark-
ing that the Bishop of OXFORD had been for years
the great patron of " Anglo-Catholio" theology and
rites in the Church of England before he became
one of the most fervent champions of the tempo-
ralities of the Establishment in Ireland.

OUR CONTEMPORARIES.
(THIS DAY.)

rues AND WAIL

The Times observes with satisfaction the avidity
with which the Preach peas has welcomed Lord Stanley's
arguments in favour of pesos, disarmament, and economy.
Nevertheless it la but candid to acknowledge that Frans
has, if not greater reason, at any rate greater temptation,
to collect her strength at this moment than in former days,
for the simple reason that the result of the war
between the two great powers in Germany left
the French with some excess for dimatiafaction.

When England claim' credit as tar as Europeon politics
are concerned, for absolute inoffe•sivenees, she exposes
herself to the retort of well affording to be content,
because the great wars of the revolution left her in the
position of • conqueror with no other object than to
keep what she bad got. The actual state of Europe,
at the present day, is far more agreeable to
some powers than to others, and the incentives
to war will remain so long as the ceases for dissatisfaction
exist. Not until nations have learnt to give no offence,
and to be slow in taking it, will peace prevail and perma-
nent disarmament be practicable. If, indeed, the pinions
which lead to war be cherished and encouraged, peace
will not he preserved by ostensible disarmament,; but ar-
=mob are now felt to be such intolerable burdens that
n•tioaa, it is hoped, will discern and follow the true way
of escaping from the calamities which thej entail.