The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-04-24 00:00:00

cerely desire to see a proper rncacure of Reform
issed., and are ready to go on.'with the conside-
ion of " the The great and in Tor-
taut truth thus elicited is, that, after all, the Con-
2er,-atives ha,,;'e proved themselves the only real
and willingly active refOrmer:3'; while the Whigs
are only pretenders, who have made the subject
of t.eform a stalking-home to power. Last nirAt
Massey \via:drew his motion , but nobody
~
knows what will be the next turn of these pre-
cious reformers.

Yesterday evening the House of Lords discussed
the diplomacy of Lord Cowley with reference to
the question of Savoy; The public is already
-Well aware. that Lord John Russell; as Foreign
Secretary, and not our French ?ambassador, is to
blame, for the fact that private, communications
• .
on a most important public question were
ex-
changed, without any adequate official record
having been made of the import of these momen-
tous 'conversations and correspondenceS; for the
benefit of Parliament,. or of those who might
happily be called on to occupy the office which he
now diigraces. Lord Cowley's statement was
plainly and moedStly' put ; and there seems to.
be now no doubt in anyone's mind that, to the
extent of his abili ties at all events, he had done
his. duty. There was no one, however, to defend
the weak and disastrous policy, if so it may be
called—for the course pursued scarcely deserves
the, name of a policy of any sort—of that well.
tried and signally proved diplomatic failure, the
present Foreign Secretary, Lord' John Russell.
The adjour:ned debate on the second reading of
the Reform Bill occupied the House of Commons
last night; arid, after a protracted discUssion, as
will be seen by our telegraphic report, it was
again adjourned: till Thursday. The general
tenor of the debate, even upon the showing of
those who • usually support the authors of the
bill, was decidedly such as must, tend to lower
every loyal and sensible man's appreciation of
the tneasttre. It is tithe impossible to avoid,
the conviction that Sir G. C. Lewis would be more
than satisfied by a reference of it to a select com-
mittee. His best and most tellingl a'4 rguments in
its favour were such as can only be understood to
mean that, after all, there was very little ileforml
in the measure, and that, therefore, there could be
the less harin in agreeing.to_it. The indifference
of the House was more than ever manifest ; and.
the loudest expressions of members who 'seethed
to interest themselves in the matter, were in
evis:Wdo bf the. universal disgust and aversion
manifeSted towards it out of doors.

It is so far encouraging to the :lovers of consti-
tutional freedom and progress to find that the
proverbially obstinate House of Hapsburg has at
last chosen the path of concession to the people,
rather than that of challenging insurrection—and
that it prefers yielding tardy justice to running
the risks of civil war. After a struggle of many
long Sears, during which the advocates of consti-
tutionalism have been exiled, imprisoned, hanged,
or shot down, the .victory has apparently been
given to the cause of the oppressed. It is
doubted, however; . whether these . concessions
do not come too late. Austria has so often
promised, and as often mot fulfilled, that
it. is now- a difficult question how: far. these
professions of reform are worthy' of serious
credence, or will meet with practical reliance.
Certainly, mere words, without deeds, or some-,
thing . like ~ substantial and material guarantees.
in one shape or another, will not satisfy the
people already driven to the very verge of civil
war. It is to be hoped that all will be ultinaately
arranged well for the safety of the Governitent
and the welfare of the people.
After all the intriguing of French agents, and
the guilty concurrence iirtheir manoeuvres on the
part of Sardinia, it is a well-known, but not less
remarkable. fact„ thlitlthe inhabitants of Nice
have not been nearly so unanimous in favour of
annexation to France, as. the French Government
has wished Efirope to believe. Of course we
know that in any state of the vote that may
be upheld, . the 'whole proceeding is a farce
and imposition. It is all the more remarkable,
however, to find that in: the face of every
de-ice and stratagem to deceive the good people
of that Italian county, not less than five thousand
Nicois not only would not vote, but have7O-liinly-
'protested against the foul deed. They most
righteouslY demand; who has a. right to order such
a vote or accept such a deciSion as that now
artfully obtained. For certain, we have not heard
the end of this Inisiness.
The Sovereign of the new Italian Kingdom has
beenotaiing his royal progress through his new
pinVinees attended 'by
~ei-ifylmssible demonstra-
tion of pomp and, power. Count Cavour has
on this, as. on all congenial occasions,' been
in illimitable activity. Gunpowder has been
consumed to a dreadful extent in salutations to
the royal visitor, and the broad Italian tricolor, so
lately contraband, has boastfully floated every-
where in the royal route. The breath of the mob
has been all but spent in enthusiastic huzzas for
the newly7chosen King. The .enormously pro-
tracted triumphal processions we are told of
althoSt exceed. belief ; and the conduct of the King
rose with the great occasion. His bearing is
described as firth, erect, easy, and bold, graceful,
manly, massive, and royal. Never was such a
time known in Central Italy.

MOST of- our readers will have seen the letter
recently addressed- to his laity by the earnest-
minded and energetic Bishop of London. The
subject, which Dr. TAIT has adopted a some-
what unusual mode of pressing upon the notice
of his diocese; is that of Church-building; and no
apology is needed. for applying the lessons and
admonitions thus addressed to our fellow-church-
men of the South to the state of, things too pre-
valent in this the next, most populous diocese,
and in this the next most popUlOns town, in
England.

•
: This is pre-eminently a poor. man's question.
It is as such that we take it up. It is. not as
involving points of religious dispute, or the ques-
tion Vetween this sort of churchmen and that
sort of churchmen, or between the Church of
England and other religious bodies, or between
those who condemn and those who advocate
State endowments,—it is simply as a question
addressing itself to the consciences of Churchmen
only, involving the claims of destitute or neglected
populations, and the imperative demands which
the poor man has upon the rich,
,the workman
upon the employer, the producing classes of
society upon the propertied classes, the capital
which reaps twenty, or fifty, or a hundredfold
profit from labour, and the labour which repre-
sents the pittanced millions whom capital makes
its supporters. In short, we simply make this
question of Church-building or. " Spiritual Desti-
tution " one branch of that still larger question
which goes to the bottom Of the social fabric, and
upon whose solution depends the real well-being
of 'states,—the relation of capital to labour, and
the duties and responsibilities which the repre-
,entatives of each owe to the other.
We do not wonder to find in the nations of
antiquity that heathenism failed in its practical
appreciation of this branch of social duties. But
ye do wonder to find through history, down-
yards, that Christianity has so often found itself
enable to establish these relations upon a religious
End humane footing. True, at the present day,
to boast of the great diligence and philanthropic
roirit of the efforts made to ameliorate the condi-
ton of the labouring chisses. The " men of the
true " point to the mechanics' institutes, the
'vorking men's reading-roonis, 'the cheap litera-
tire, the freosehools, and, moreover, to the ten-
'ancv of modern legislation not only to protect
!tie labourer from oppression, but to extend to