The Express.
London, England, 1868-04-03 00:00:00

'noV.

frailty ever latent in the oonduct'ef public affairs ; GLADSTONE is course of the deem—
a dramatic instinct which puts • grave and sten a earned for -himself the name of a "sons,
grim face on the roughest fun and the rudest " Fenian." " For 25 years," said Mr; Bursar,
farce, and never seems to feel the laughter it irfth his characteristic bluitnees, "he has bean
creates ; a really happy choice of illustrative ; "carrying the Irish Church in his belly—Noah
quotations from the most aeesssibls English , "Laughter}—yet now he comes forward on a sudden
classics (leaving VIRGIL to the statesmen), and a "to cast her off and destroy her."
at; le of solemn raillery and serious ridicule 'General Pees had been lately invited to join a
exactly suited to the temper of a public who new party, who called themselves Constitu-
pretend to be in earnest, and yet hold earnestness tionalista ; but when he looked into the list of
a bore. Nor would it be just to the member the Vice-Presidents of the Association he found
for Nottingham—a constituency, we should think, that it consisted only of his old friends, the
after his own heart—nor to the House itself, to Conservatives, under a new name. "Now,"
depict him as a mere parliamentary &muter. said the gallant General, " I don't like changing
Ridentern dicers venom quid ',fiat 1 He " names. (Laughter.) lam always suspi-
has the knack of saying what others only think ; " cious of persons having a great many
and in almost all his speeches there are traces of in- " aliases. (Opposition cheers and laughter.)
dependent and attentive thought and flashes of an " When I found that my friends the Consti-
" historic conscience," and glances of a superior " tutionalists were the very people who
self-instruction and good sense. Perhaps he has my opinion destroyed the constitution last
seldom been happier than last night in his wit I " year—(opposition cheers)—l had no wish to enrol
and humour ; certainly he has never contributed " myself among them. If I were ready to change
to a debate so sound and careful an argument, ; it my name, I would much rather go back to that
reflections so impressive and mature, information ; " under which I was brought up—that of the good
so well-considered and instructive. Mr. Lowe, " old Tories." (Cheers and laughter.) As to the
who has now resealed his proper place on the surplus revenue not required by the Irish Church,
front Opposition bench, made a masterly and I they could decide what to do with that
merciless dissection of the terms of Lord STANLET":4 when they had ascertained what the surplus was,
Amendment. Thetask was not difficult fora logicless and then the General quoted an anecdote of his
close andpresains than his own. Two defects of man-111/tether :—" In the course of the debate upon the
nee strike the warmest admirers of Mr. Lows's ora- ; " Appropriation Act of 1835 the then hon member
tory. He cannot help visibly enjoying his own wit ; " for Derbyshire quoted from Captain MACHEATH,
he has not the art to conceal the art of his peruse ; " whereupon Sir R. Pees turned round and said,
lions. Another defect that maybe noted is not in his " He was a much cleverer man than you are, for
manner, but in his matter. It is a defect of logic,' he never appropriated his surplus until he as-
which in so great a master of syllogism can only be I certainly that he had got it.' " (Cheers and
the penalty of his wilful fallacies of two years ago. ; laughter.)
He taunts the Tory Government with having set E Mr. Lowe told Mr. ROEBUCK that he had not
in motion, by their Reform Bill, that machinery : only entirely answered himself, but "sometimes
which is now grinding the Irish Church to powder, " even went so far as to answer his own answer."
and as he thinks, threatens to pull to pieces some The presence of twelve bishops in the Irish Church
other respectable institutions. Yet be is the first reminded him of the old lines,
to make use of this machinery ; he regrets that it was it in England for three million souls %Is conceded
Two proper-eland bishops are all that Unaided
not employed thirty years ago, by that famous ten- ^rts plain for the Leah half-million who want 'em,
pounder parliament which is now at its :sat gasp, 011 C-third of a bishop Is Just the right quantum.
and beyond which he sees nothing but storms and Was it wise that, after we have one by one struck
darkness. Mr. Lows complains that the House of off the fetters of the Irish Roman catholic', we
Commons is becoming more administrative every should leave these last two or three to gall and
dayin default of theinitiativeof agovemment which jingle, so as continually to remind those whom we
hasnotaparliamentary. majority. Thisstateof things wish to conciliate of the sufferings they formerly
is in many respects to be regretted, no doubt, but endured t As to the taunting question- -why had
it is by no means new. The present PREMIER 1 the Opposition moved just at this moment—they
pointed it out and lamented it twenty years ago in had been challenged by the PREMIER to teach him
his chapter on the Whig Ministry of 1848, in the I what a truly Liberal policy was. " Then," said Mr.
" Life of Lord Geese:: BENTINCE." There are Lows, "we have the only other thing that has
many reasons for it : among others, the disruption; , been wanting—the hour is come and the man"
of the Tory Party by Sir R. Pass, the painless euffoca- 1 (turning to Mr. GLADSTONE). (Loud cheers.)
I Lord STANLEY'S speech had apparently been pee-
tion of the Liberal Party by Lord PALMERSTON, the
purgation of the Liberal party by Mr. GLAD- ! Pared on the hypothesis that Mr. GLADSTONE would
STONE. The end is not yet ; but when it comes, it not explain his resolutions, and it reminded Mr.
will be the reconstitution of a Liberal majority. Lowe "of the guns in the Bosphorus, built
"in the wall, which would blow a vessel to
And the result of a parliamentary majority will be a
"Pieces if it would only be kind enough to pass
strong Liberal executive. Mr. ROEBUCK'S re-
" exactly in front of them. (Much laughter and
markable performance last evening points to
the reconstitution of s Liberal majority. It "cheering.) But if it did not, the guns won't tra-
was rumoured that he was going to oppose Mr. " verse, and their cententa go into empty air." But
Gsaossosis resolutions. Whether the rumour Mr. Lowe saysso many good things that we scarcely
was utterly baseless will remain an historic doubt know where to stop. He represented Mr. Thaw=
for those who saw and heard him in the House yes- ii
as tailing
us that our chief means of civilisation is
terday. After presenting a couple of petitions just, the Church of Ireland, and said that his letter to
Lord DARTMOUTH "was intended to assure a cer-
received from Sheffield—one from an open-air
meeting of 7,000 or 8,000 persons under the Fe- " tam party that their interests ware safe in the
sidency of the Mayor in favour of the re-
" hands of him who in his time has played many
"
solutions, and another from an incumbent parts, and now stands forth as the great Prete,-
of • parish and some of his parishioners " tent champion. (Laughter.) The experience
against the resolutions, he his s h
" that the right hon. gentleman has had of man-
bypeec
the sentence which should bega
have ended it. " kind has told him to rely much on their gullibi-
He intended to vote for Mr. Guiesromee re- " h.q. (Hear, hear.) I am sorry to say I
solutions, on principle, as an enemy to all I " have contributed a little to his successful action
" in thisspirit of late. (`Hear, hear,' and laughter. )"
church establishments. And then he went on to
show that the Irish Church establishment was not The Government, instead of initiating measures,
an Irish grievance, and that the present throws out, like the cattle fish of which we read in
Vicroe Hermes novel, all aorta of tentscula for
moment was the worst possible for dealing
with it. Had he come to curse and remained the purpose of catching up something which it may
I appropriate and make its own. "First one thing
to bless the Resolutions? If he blessed them it
was in a single sentence. All the remainder of
" is thrown out and then another ; and when any-
his speech (composed, perhaps, before the receipt " thing does not take it is withdrawn
of the petitions of Sheffield) was • malediction " immediately, and the Minister repudiates it,
upon them. But we take pleasure in acknow-
" and disavows those who brought it forward."
ledging the extraordinary scarcity of the personal Mazes-ems united the dead to the living body,
because his object was to kill, and he knew the
pronoun in this speech. The first person singular
corruption of the dead body would destroy the
was conspicuously absent. To be sure the absence
was more than atoned for by Mr. ROEBUCK'S living one. "Your object," exclaimed Mr. Lowe,
definition of his proper and peculiar function "is to save, and yet you adopt the same process
"with regard to the Church of Ireland and the .
m the political world. We have long been waiting
for it, and here it is in his own words. Mr. " Church of England. Asa Missionary Church ithas
ROEBUCK is "an Imperial Englishman." We con- " failed utterly. Like some exotic brought from a
gratulate him on the word. It is truly menu- " far country, with infinite pains and useless
mental, and will says him from a longer epitaph "trouble, it is kept alive with difficulty and ex-
which might describe him as having combined at
" pea in an ungrateful climate and ungenial soil.
"The curse of barrenness is upon it ; it has no
a period of life which often belongs exclusively to
"leaves ; it bears no blossoms ; it yields no fruit.
reason and reflection, the cold convictions of the
" Cut it down ; why cumbereth it the ground?' "
youthful Bentbamite with the ardent passions of
the aged Tory. (Loud cheers.)
We have left ourselves too little space to corn- Mr. RUM AL OSBORNE told Mr. ROEBUCK that
meat upon the speeches of Mr. HENLEY and he was an "imperious " rather than, as he had
General PEEL. It is not from disrespect, but from called himself, an " imperial," Englishman. Lord
sincere reverence that we will say
no Bruiser had said to the Opposition side of the
more of Mr. HENLEY'S solemn admonitions House, almost in the words of his great prototype
and adjurations, and of General PzEs's and namesake in RICHARD 111. :
confessions and regrets, than that they are very Prepare thy battle: early In the morning.
I, as I may—that which I would I laughter;
interesting to the antiquarian, and, we may With best advantage wal deceive the time,
And aid thee In this doubtful shock of arms ;
add, refreshing to the moralist who con- Bat on thy aids I may not be too forward.
trusts this uncompromising outspoken honesty The Tory sentiments uttered by Mr. RAEDY, Mr.
of conviction and of utterance with the Ossoaire thought had beenburied toms ago with " the
half-hearted equivocations of the present time, late Mr SPOONER in Kendal-green." The Protes-
There is a degree of respect which no question tents in the South of Ireland, according to the hon.
of opinions can alter or impair. General member for Nottingham, are for the most part the
PEEL represents what Mr. Diastusi has descendant.—" respectable descendants now—of
defined—" the aristocratic principle " as dis- "an aristocracy, consisting originally of Cum-
time from the aristocratic caste. No man " WILL'S troopers and trumpeters. (Laughter and
can represent it with greater _ dignity. " cheers.) And these respectable gentlemen

His contempt for the new-fangled =blame of
Constitutionalists which the new generation of
Tories has adopted, and even his avowal that
he spoke and voted against Catholic Emancipa-
tion forty years ago, and has never regretted
either vote or speech, although he has no objection
to Roman Catholics as individuals, are moat
refreshing and invigorating in these days of false
Toryism and false Liberalism, and will do more
good as examples of high public honour than they
can possibly do harm as professions of faith.

" whose ancestors in other days not only
" derided Episcopacy, but destroyed the mo-
" narchy, are now high Conservative gentry."
The only clams interested in keeping things in their
present state were the members of the Fenian con-
spiracy. "No persona would be so delighted as
" they to see these resolutions rejected, and
" nothing done for Ireland. (Hear, hear.) But,
" air, this House may rest assured that a good deal
" may with truth be said of the exigencies of the
" case, and that the present position of the Irish
" Church is not alone injurious to Ireland, but also
" disastrous to the English nation." (Cheers)
Sir STAFFORD NORTRCOIIII task was so extremely
delicate, and he was so anxiously bent upon pre-
serving his balance between Lord Sr airtsr and Mr.
HARDY that we are unable to add anything from
what he said to our " Ana " of the debate.

As Parliamentary phraseology mid practice are
so obeenre that experienoed menthe= like Mr.
Yoitas ani Lord CAA:maws have to beg the
SPIAILIR to explain them, ordinary rends= may
be excused a little uncertainty. Before the
Brum:Vs remarks last night, it had been the
general opinion that the fret vote of the Howe
would be on Lord firAxiar's amendment, and
the Ministerial circular explicitly stating that
the vote would directly Arm or negative
Mr. GLADSTONVII motion to go into committee was
thought to be a mistake or to presuppose the