The Express.
London, England, 1868-05-12 00:00:00

81"r:ZI

Bassani)
..or can lb 'find , to aP119.14
either in • the lane or of W.
Okanwrosa. For the saoment, the alfsl
of the Ministry and the loader of tp Qpposition
are reviled in equally strong lanisage. The
former is charged with every sin of which a
minister can be guilty. He is accused of pre,
ferring " the brief enjoyment of the spendthrift
"to the permanent influence which ought to be
" the object of ambition to his party." It is
said of him that on his shoulders lies the blame
of producing a scandalous scene in the House
last week, owing to his firing a " parting shot "
at the resolutions of his opponent. He is un-
sparingly censured for likening the Opposition to
a " gang of robbers," and for employing
language, which, whether justifiable or
not in the mouths of other men, was wholly im-
proper in the mouth of a prime minister. In-
deed, nothing could be more scathing than the
rebuke addressed to Mr. DISRAELI in large type,
unless it be the abuse which, in small type, is
levelled against Mr. GLADSTONE. The leader of
the Opposition is overwhelmed with opprobrium
because he exemplifies in his own person all the
bad qualities of an incapable and pretentious
statesman. Ho "is master of everything but
" himself." The condition of affairs was such as
to give him " the greatest advantage he ever had,
" because it plunged Mr. DISRAELI deeper into that
" seething mud of humiliation which it was thought
"he had fathomed." All he had to do was to
remain inactive. Instead of this, Mr. GLADSTONE,
" by temper, gesture, and language, showed that
" there was one person who loved office more than
" Mr. Disitarit, and that one person was Mr.
" GLADSTONE himself." When counselling the
reduction of national expenditure, he merely
" let off the rest of his ill temper." His "nib-
" bling at the estimates on Monday only showed
" the cast of temper in which some people indulge
" when, annoyed by things in general, they box
the ears of the first small boy they meet." A
change, however, came over him on Tuesday. In
place of being " solemn and querulous," he was
then "only incoherent and beside himself." We
need not multiply quotations ; the foregoing are
fair examples of what is to be found in
abundance by all who desire to witness how reck-
lessly those can write whose personal hatreds are
inextinguishable. It is customary for the
Salto-day to chastise contemporaries who in
this country or the United States are con-
sidered to overstep the conventional limits of fair
and judicious criticism. Those who may have felt
aggrieved may now have their revenge ; for they
can retaliate on their censor by quoting from his
own columns specimens of writing as objectionable
as any which have ever appeared in a journal
professedly free from party spirit, and desiring to
be regarded as a pattern of refinement.

- - - -
TILE N.4VY ESTIMATES.

AN increase of ten thousand pounds—a de-
crease of men and an increase in officers--a gra-
dual and satisfactory substitution of iron•clads for
wooden ships—and a certain prospect of our costly
foreign squadrons being reduced—are the broad
conclusions to be derived from the debate on the
Navy Estimates last night. Mr. CORRY'S minute
departmental knowledge was perceptible through-
out his exhaustive speech ; Lord HENRY LENNOX
indulged in a little fling at Mr. SEELY'S
famous pigs ; and Sir JOHN HAY dexterously
pointed out the difference between proposing and
implying an increase to the officers of Marines.
But the point of most importance iii Mat the
policy of the Admiralty has changed since
Sir JOHN PARINOTON'S translation, and that the
members of the present Board are content to
tread in the footsteps of their predecessors
on the great question of armour-clads. Six
new ships of this class are to be
built this year, and the two wooden ones in course
of construction are evidently unwelcome legacies
from the late First Lord. The reductions which
must follow in the train of Mr. GLADSTONE'S out-
spoken condemnation of the practice of keeping
up expensive squadrons at foreign stations ; and
the immediate economy refused to Mr. CHILDERS,
both point to the work before the Parliament of
the future. The Opposition amendment was lost
last night not upon its merits, but from the simple
impossibility of making our guardians of the
public purse sacrifice private engagements to plain
untempting duty. With a moderately full house
Mr. Cnnotats's motion for reduction would have
been certainly carried, and the result
is that the nation is fined sixty thousand pounds
because a number of honourable gentlemen prefer
social enjoyment to the dry details of figures and
facts. With a Government prone to expense, and
a Parliament bent upon ease, an annual increase
in the estimates is as much the product of natural
causes as sunshine in summer, or flowers in
spring.

AMERICAN TRAVELLER:4.