The Press. — London, England, 1858-06-05 00:00:00

THE PRES - S, JUNE 5, 18$8. 540 THE WEEK. . ll' . kilTO , Tar, vacancy in the Cabinet which was caused by Lord BOROUGH'S resignation has been filled up in the manner indicated as prof bable in THE PRESS of May 15. Lord STANLEY becomes President of the Board of Control, and Sir EDWARD BULWER LvTroN takes his place as Secretary for the Colonies. The writs were moved on the 31st, and both elections, for Hertfordshire and for King's Lynn, are likely to be un opposed. The Lynn election takes place this day, and the 4446 is lave begged Lord STANLEY not to incur the trouble of a journey into Yifi 'I r , merely to present himself before them. Mut 1!7 .17 Lord LucAN's proposal to amend the Oaths Bill los not quite so immediately calamitous as the charge at Balaklava, yet it was mischievous enough. It gave an opportunity for the expression of a desire on the part of two or three Noble Lords that the question could in some way or other be compromised. And this expressed desire is seized hold of on the other in , le ) and we are immediately told that " the question is virtually settled." . We owe an apology to Lord SHAVIZSBURY for having' mixed tip 'MS name with this absurd affair. A thoroughly trustworthy informant hitd assured us that the great Hebrew family which is most interesed in the question were rejoicing in the belief that the Noble Earl had eppged tq support Lord LIiCAN'S amendment. Considering this to be good Amato., rity, we reasoned on the supposed fact. But Lord SaArrEssunv's name is not found among Lord LUCAN'S supporters, and we naturally regret having for a moment believed the statement. .d•I To come to the point, however, we desire to ask—ls not the word compromise misused in this matter ? Is it a case which admits of a com promise ? A woman is either married or unmarried; a man is in possession of a certain office, or he is not in possession. Baron ROTHSCHILD wishes to be seated in the House of Commons, but he is not seated there. Between two such plain words as IN and OCT what compromise can there be? As we have already remarked, we regard this phrase "compromise " as a mere attempt to delude. The whole controversy, at present, turns upon one point : Is Baron ROTHSCHILD to take his seat, or not ? Lord LIMAN'S amendment allows him to take his seat : therefore Lord LueAx's amendment is no compromise, but a mere dispute. ion of the whole matter in The account given by Mr. HonsmAN of his indolence in the Irish Office was, in one respect, most unjust to himself. His administration of that important post was far more active than his modesty permitted him to confess. So far from be ing quite idle, Mr. Ilonsmax was most indus trious, though his energy took the unfortunate direction in keeping up a general misunderstanding with most of the Irish Members. To some of them, by his own acknowledgment, he was positively offensive. He required that the applications made by the "Independent Members" from the sister country should be reduced to writing; "he would receive no verbal request, and gave no verbal answer " to Mr. M‘Manos, the representative for the County of Wexford ; and " with those Members he " thought it right to fence round the transaction of business with a degree " of circumspection." This confession is enough to prove the offensiveneSs of his conduct. It was not amongst those " Independent Irish Members" that a JOIIN SADLEIR and his associates of the O'FLAHERTY type were to be found. And we fancy that Colonel FuLKE GREVILLF.., M.P. for Westmeath, has far higher aristocratic pretensions than the great Mr. HORSMAN ; and yet Colonel GREVILLE was one of those " Independent Members." But if Mr. llonsmAs has no ca pacity in dealing with men and things, we admit that he is gifted in a rare way with the power of seeing things that no one else could see. " There was little or nothing to be done by iiiChref Secretary," said Mr. HonssfAx, who, by such a reckless assertion, &Ai/ down a contradiction on himself from all sides, more especially from his late colleagues, Sir GEontiE GREY and Mr. J. D. PiTzuEitAto (ex-Attor ney-General for Ireland). He attempted to justify the statement by saying that " he had only one clerk, and that one was not. sufficiently employed." We cannot vouch for the working of the staff in the Irish Office (London) as conducted now, but we believe the facts to be these, The Irish Office, like the other departments of State, is worked by a ,per 7 manent staff, on whom the routine duties necessarily fall. One of the clerks is generally styled the " Acting Private Secretary " to the Chief Secretary, who may also, if inclined, nominate his own private secretary. The "one clerk" invidiously referred to by Mr. llonsmAx we take to b e one of the ordinary Raft of the department ; as it is plain that he was not nominated by Mr. Itlnfissalf himself, who knew nothing about him. The Irish Office, so grievously misrepresented by Mr. HORSMAX, has an average of business through the year quite sufficient to tax the energies of an able administrator; and it must be remembered that under our Parliamentary system it is expected that our leading officials should make work for themselves, and rmt take merely r ou ti ne duty. Even if there was little or nothing to 'do, Mr. HORSMAN might have managed 'to have remained on friendly terms with the Irish 'Members. Not one' of them, Conservative, Whig, or Independent, raised a voice for hintiiestirrhursday. He was condemned openly by some, he was tacitly rebuked f , by others, and his statements were conclusively refuted by several; but he was warmly praised, sincerely respected, and affectionately encouraged by—himself. The truth is, that Mr. lions :um.: is not so much In"be blamed after all. When he offended the Irish Members, the itlihiliOLGintleman was only acting on the example of liiiiosiffielil superiors. W"Ciinbridge-house" and its clique had a right to 9144r : its disdain or the' Meat Liberal party—if Lord PALMmuTrox could say . that • 'fiat dire what Lord J. RUSSELL, or Mr. GLADSTONE, • . ~ . thought uppn the, matter," possibly Mr. IIoRaMAN supposed that he Might have . a right to show his superciliousness to the Irish Members. ' They have, •hOwever, completely disabused him of his mistake; and when he regards himself in his flattering looking-glass, he will in future be More likely to take 'elk 'finer narrey of liis' own natural dimensions. : . :. , ,1 , ~,,J- 1 :. 11 jjr 71 ' :: 'r• ',' if _ , '"(Ill i ‘.11. , ... rli! WO r/ r --t i i, ' 1 -, r • 11 !crib 7 1 . I Oq a l t ,. the last' contest, for the present session, is to take place in the' Hones of Commons on the. . Church-rate question. We already know that by the greater activity and greater pecuniary expendi ture of the Dissenting party, a majority is secured which will send the Bill up to the House of Lords. But this knowledge ought not to make Churchmen relax in their exertions. We already see, in the case of the Oaths Bill, that it is not the bare fact of a majority in the House of Com mons that weighs with the Peers ; but the largeness of that majority, and the persistence of the Lower House in reproducing the Bill. year after year, for a long time together. No one expects, we apprehend, that the House of Lords will receive with any satisfaction a measure which in effect goes to remove the Church from its position of a National Establishment, and to reduce its members to the position of a sect. But even now, on its first appearance in the Upper HOuse, it is desirable that the Lords should know that the opposition to the measure in the House of Commons was not a weak or insignificant one. No friend of the Chtmll, therefore, should be careless about his attendance on Tuesday evening. As to the House of Peers, we do trust that on so high and all-impor tant a question as this, no petty party feeling will be allowed to interpose, but that Whigs and Tories will concur with almost absolute unanimity in the rejection of such a measure. For the question, in short, is nothing less than, Are you for an Estab lished Church or against it ? In the Lower House there are some two hun dred members who represent borough-towns where Dissenters abound, and these gentlemen willingly catch up the cuckoo-note, " The Church will do better without Church-rates than with them," and so manage to curry favour With, tholr constituqta on the one hand, and yet to quiet their own con sciences on the, other. But, the Peers know nothing of this sort of " pres sure from without," They can, and we trust will, act from principle only. Let thtm believe Lord JOHN RUSSELL, then, who has explained more than once that there is no principle which condemns Church-rates which is not equally . cogent against Tithes—that if it be wrong to make a Dissenter con tribute/towards the stipend of the parish clerk, it cannot be right to make him contribute to the income of the rector. In short, that the principle of an Established Church involves at once Tithes and Church-rates and all similar payments ; and that to challenge the justice of any one is to chat. lage Vie indite of all. In short, it is the existence of a National Church that if in question f and a nation which had got rid of its Church • , r3illitilotiongil* , eficumbered with a Peerage or a Queen. ,n , • e we write these lines , the recollectidll'ciosses our minds that .•., erthfir,cimistion, anterior to this, hangs stilt' doubt. It has long been 49 1 444,by„js numerical majority ig l the house of Commons, that the Legislature itself need.not be even Christian. And it is now said that the I,'eers are.dispue l ed to." compromise " this question. But we cannot blind our : eyes to the fact, that when Christianity has been " compromise," the Church cannot long expect to find a better fate. I fa e fc ti Is IC it lc th he ly id TA a sh t of to to Si tld or qr, sa he 0 co Ts. ien pi be Pa th of ke fa Ve C 4 di- I; the th Ike th the ad lx - irr aid Pc tar, be Ise he oes nc Ind 31 its uld pats re, 1 1 H ior- ose, LT c in tu ht tab- tut ii - and rt do 61 irry al ton- al res- ily. tl at hau not ton- take of ot it At all of !rah e( [rcb se in ha' een If the the ind in tbk! lx