The Press. — London, England, 1857-04-04 00:00:00

THE WEEK. Great progress has been made with the elections since our last. The returns present some curious results. According to present ap pearances the new House will be divided into two great parties, with a considerable majority pledged to favour some measure of Parlia liamentary Reform, but disposed to give an " independent support " to Lord PALMERSTON'S Government. The total number of members of the old Parliament actually returned is 37F ; of new members the number is 152—together, 530. Of the old members, 178 may be classed as belonging to the Con- Pervative party and 200 to the Liberal. Of the new members it appears that about forty-five may be reckoned as attached to the Con servative connection and 107 to the Liberal party. The latter will therefore receive the largest infusion of new blood. It is of course impossible to precisely define the political sentiment of all new mem bers. Many who come in under cover of the Palmerston cry have yet to disclose their real opinions. As the borough elections in England aro at an end we can esti mate our gains and losses with precision. The following list has been scrupulously revised by the best authorities : CONSERVATIVE GAIN. Leominster Blackburn CONSERVATIVE LOSS. Bedford East Retford Grimsby Ripon .. Warwick .. Weymouth Andover Wareham Mahlon Shrewsbury .. 1 Buckingham Fahnouth .. Grantham Sandwich.. Reigate 1 Cardigan Bridgewater 1 Rochester Norwich Yarmouth Bothnia Dover Bury St. Edmunds 1 Truro lielston Devonport Dartmouth Falkirk Hertford Carlisle Windsor . Tewkesbury.. Portsmouth . . Canterbury Gloucester Maidstone .. Aylesbury St. Ives Let ds Guildford Cirencester Bolton . 1 Stoke upon• Trent Stafford West bury 1 Taunton Rnaresborough Cambridge Rochdale lioniton Total Gains ...... .... 26 Total loss to the This calculation is made with every wish to arrive at a fair esti mate. The retirement of Mr. MANNERS SUTTON from Newark, of Mr. R. PALMER from Plymouth, of Mr. MASTERMAN from London, and the defeat of Lord A. HERVEY at Brighton, are not reckoned as losses to the Conservative party, as those gentlemen had never acted with the Opposition. In Ireland the gain and loss upon the boroughs is at present even : the Borough Elections 4 Gains. Waterford Lisburn Loss. Athlone Sligo There is every reason to believe that both these losses will be rectified on petition, for it is well known that in both cases the most illegal means were used to procure the return. In the counties the loss to the Conservative party is undoubtedly more serious. The losses already announced, are : West Norfolk North Nottinghamshire.... 1 Herefordshire North Lincolnshire Hertfordshire South Derbyshire And this list is unfortunately still to be augmented to some extent ; but if, as is always represented by the Liberal party, the towns are the sure index of the real feeling of the country, what is to be said of the fact, that, with Government influence and the Palmerston cry, the Government has only been able to wrest four seats from the Conser vative party, which can be accounted for by the loss of the two Government boroughs, Sandwich and Falmouth, alone? The seats gained are, on the whole, for much more important constituencies than those lost The mail from Hong Kong brings us no corroboration of that remarkable report of the submissive disposition of the Emperor of CHINA. The Morning Post this week twice published that mysterious telegraphic despatch in prominent print, and has descanted upon it freely as authentic intelligence. The Morning Post possesses pecu liar sources from whence it derives " authentic intelligence " from China. Ten days ago it published a piece of " authentic intelligence " to the effect that ALUM, the baker of Hong Kong, and a baker's dozen of his boys, more or less, had been captured, tried, and THE PRESS. SATURDAY, shot outside the town wall. By this mail we learn that Aunt and his men had been tried, it is true, but acquitted. Matters remain much in the same state in the Canton river. If the Emperor has disapproved of the Viceroy's obstinacy, it is one more argu ment against the conduct pursued by Sir JOHN BOWRING, and dis tinctly indicates to us that the true policy to have followed upon the occasion would have been to bring the respective Govern ments into communication with each other in place of hastily committing a series of cruel and barbarous aggressions against an undefended commercial city. The Post, we observe, also makes merry with Sir FITZROY KELLY for describing the Chinese as " feeble, unresisting men," and refers to the activity they display in the conduct of junk warfare. The Post has forgotten, perhaps our contemporary never knew, that the Mantchou Tartars, a distinct and warlike race, form the military force of the empire. A few months ago we directed the attention of our readers to the peculiar and abnormal character of the slavery question in America. We said that— Had the question admitted of a calm and rational solution, surely some of the many efforts in that direction must have been, at all events, partially successful. But a history of American compromise is a history of failures The South is now resolutely bent on a contravention of the whole tone of thought on this subject, which has prevailed since the foundation of the Republic. It is no longer content with acquiescence. It is resolved on aggrandisement. These remarks have now received a startlingly rapid confirmation. It has been decided, says the Daily News, by the Supreme Court of Judicature in the United States that all limitations on slavery enacted in the Legislature, and upheld by the courts from 1787 to the present year, are unconstitutional, and as such null and void; that there is no power in existence which can exclude slavery from any province in the Union, nor any mode by which any citizen can exempt himself from participation in it. It follows, of course, from this that the Fugi tive Slave Law must be everywhere enforced, and all the results of seventy years' (humane legislation are swept away by a single stroke. It is useless to dwell on the means by which such a decision has been obtained. They aro unhappily not unknown amongst our selves. The persevering promotion of one particular party has quite overthrown the balance hitherto maintained between the rivals, and given it an official preponderance which will evidently be used without scruple till it drive the minority to measures of desperation in their own defence. There is a point, happily but seldom reached, when obe • (hence to law becomes violation of conscience, and nothing remains for the unfortunate dissentients but emigration or resistance. If matters come to this pass in the United States, there is no doubt which alter native will be chosen. It is shocking even to dream of the possibility of a great American civil war. The atrocities which must infallibly be perpetrated under the peculiar circumstances of the contest are dread ful to contemplate. The result, perhaps, we ought not to consider doubtful. Yet the victory of the Northerners would by no means amount to the extirpation of slavery; and on the whole, any good that might be hoped for from bringing the question to an issue seems most woefully disproportioned to the mischiefs and the horrors by which the struggle would be attended. The resignation of Dr. HINDS has thrown another episcopal appointment into the hands of Lord PALMERSTON. After all that has passed, we shall watch the choice of his successor with peculiar interest, and not the less because we observe in a Ministerial organ the most extraordinary arguments in favour of the recent promotions. Some allowance wo are aware must be made for our contemporary, whose theological leanings are sufficiently well known. It is morti fying, after writing up Tractarianism so long, suddenly to find out that that is not the card, and to be obliged to write up Evangelicism. The Coldness and ingenuity with which the Post combats this embarrass ment really deserves admiration. Nothing we are told can give more satisfaction to the extreme High Church Party than the elevation to the Bench of extreme Low Churchmen—a sentiment faithfully reci procated by their rivals, who would, we are to suppose, greatly prefer Mr. DEsisorr as Archbishop of Canterbury to any clergyman of more moderate views. The obvious absurdity of this proposition the Post judiciously veils under an assertion that " the earnest men of all parties" must be glad to see earnestness in the ascendant. It maybe as well briefly to point out the two very glaring blunders which characterise this reasoning. In the first place, it would force us to believe that none but a violent partisan can be sincere. Now, no doubt it is quite true that the more sincerely a man holds his principles, the more will he desire to carry them out, and that, therefore, if his principles be extreme, his preaching and practice will be extreme too. But it by no means follows that a man may not be equally sincere in the profession of moderate principles. In the second place, if we grant unconditionally all that our conteni. porary says on this score, and admit that the Bench is to be recruited from the ranks of our most violent controversialists, we must never theless contend for an equitable distribution of its honours. If the Rev. Mr. CLOSE be promoted to-day, let the Hon. and Rev. Mr. LIDDELL be promoted to-morrow. For if earnestness be all that is looked for, it must be taken wherever it can be found. I 336 11.111011.