The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-05-01 00:00:00

haprily disappointed.,_' .Ity4-Onaains to be seen
whether the gentlemen and`,, yeomen of England
,are'tot as justly entitled to ,distinction for their
eie4i4Use of tlie rifle as,haiiebeen the volunteer
riffekeU:Of Switzerland, the Tvrol, and America.
Every clay brings forth additional evidence of the
fac4ha:t:the great VOlUiteer rifle movement in this
cbuitiT is now to be looked upon as one of our
pertianent institutions; and we are much mis-
taken if, before long, our patriotic countrymen
do-aot justly achieve ft:Warne for excellence- in
''eVery department of volunteer: duty, especially in
drill and in--aim, which-the rest of the world, if
it ctn equal, will not dare to surpass.
There seems to be only one difficulty univer-
sally acknowledged to stand in the way of -the'
little Reform Bill being thrown out, withdrawn,
or postponed sine die. The present Ministry
came into power wholly and solely for the pur-
pose of passing some such measure; and if the
bill now before the House is shelved, they have
nothing. betwixt them and shipwreck of all good
faith and of their oft repeated solemn
:promises,
but a return to the same awkward predicament
lo brave the same difficulty over
again, is like dying twice. It is now universally
admitted that it would have,been better AO have
allowed Lord Derby's Reform Bill to have gone
into committee. It would have saved an enor-
mous amount of- most precious time. To have
passed some Measure would have been infi-
nitely better than to lieve left the matter
entirely open; for 'it is nowhere asserted
that even a single step in' advance has
yet been made in the solution of this difficult
question. It is just where it was when. Lord d.
Russell carried his, factious resolutionS:---or, rather,
it if oossible; even further than ever from an
easy 'and satisfactory soltition. The cry now is
from all, quarters `.f do pass something," compro-
mise difficulties in any way most likeable, but let
something be done. These "horrid Tories" have
been solicited, entreated, arid badgered in Vain to
perform the part ot obstructives, so as to save the
Whigs from themselves. The Whigs don't wish
to pass their own measure, and they are ashamed
to withdraw it. The case is quite 'diStract-
ing. Cloak it as they; May., and give it
what final turn they choose, there can be

little doubt of the Whig-Liberal conspiracy
to kill off their Own bantling. Of the
ultimate withdrawal of the measure we have
scarcely ever entertained a doubt. ,It, will only
be in consonance with all Whig-Liberal prece-
dents. We pause, however, to hear that universal
shout of abhorrence and disgust with which such
hollow and treacherous pretensions, when plainly
made bare in their natural ugliness, will certainly
elicit from the people of this cothitty, who have
so long and patiently endured the 'disastrous
and dishonotiring incubds of this unprincipled
Coalition Ministry of Whigs, Liberals, and
RadiciLis:

. . , .
In the House of Lords, last nighi, the bike of
Marlborough gave notice that on the motion for
the second, reading of the Church-rates Abolition
Bill, he should move that the bill be read a second
time that day six months.. On the motion of the
Earl of Clancarty it was agreed, after some dis-
cussion, to produce the copy of an address
presented in 1839 to the Lord Lieutenant of
Ireland from the Irish Roman Catholic bishops,
in reference to the system of national education
in Ireland. Lard WcidehotiSe; in reply to the
Marquis of Clanricarde, said that a congress had
been proposed on the subject of the neutralised
provinces of Savoy, but it was not yet decided
when or where it would take place. The
Marriages (England and Ireland) Bill and the
DivdrEe Conti Bill Were read a third tine and
passed.

In the Rouse of Commons, after some notices of
motions, by way of amendments on the Reform
Bill in committee, Mr. Laing, in reply to Mr.
Thompson, stated that the Government had
no intention of imposing any new liabilities
for stamp duties on railway coupons or
dividend warrants, and that, . according to the
opiniOn of the hoard,, the Starcip Act would
impose no such liability. The adjourned debate
an the Reform Bill was resumed, and after some
doTen-and-a-half (many of them long, and all Of
them most wearisome and Uninteresting) speeches,
leaving the matter much where it was, the ourn-
nieiit agreed to till this dvehilig..
We learn by telegram from' the Poste Paris
correspondent that Garibaldi and his staff had set
off for Sicily. If it be so, this truly may be only
the beginning of the end to the insurgent move-
ment in that quarter—and that an end not hitherto
predicted. But, of course, the news wants cor-
roboration:

Ti z vfeissitudes in the Anti-Church - rate dues
tion, up to last sriday. night, form a very remark-
able chapter in the history of public opinion.
There is nothing that modern social philosophers
believe, in more strongly than in the inevitability
of social and legislative progress. Of course, as
philosophers are some of a Conservative, and some
of a Radical turn, the view Which they_ take .of
the movement before them will receive its com-
ples ion their oi;vri original temper Of mind.
What one calls progress, in the. good sense of the
word, the others will stigmatise as the path of
decay and destruction. What one considers to be
in necessary accordance with the advance of
civilisation,. and the natural fruit of the spread of
knoWledge arid the triter ph of opinion, the other
dreads as the lawless Aeveloptheiit of the huinlan
mind, contemning old principles and following
v.ttcr it§ 9711 Bid both sorts of thinkers
have been pretty well agreed on one point. Each
tells its own CiiCle of disciples, the one with
despair, and the other with holie, that tlae VELA
social and political movement in which England
is inextricably involved, has got- into;a direction
which there is no chance of ever being changed,'
and into a course which, in the nature of things,
can never be stopped. The Conservative, indeed,
fights the gronnd inch by inch ; bat he itellS us it
is with the prospect not of iireventiOn, but of
delay. The other, sometimes, gets on less
quickly than he could have wished, but if
ever he has to retire from ! a top 4 premature
advance, never loses.his. confidence as to -ulti-
Mate success: *d are told that .no legisla-
tive change has taken place of late years, of
which previous legislation did not contain the
.germ ;which could not have been, and in fact
had not been, prophesied as inevitable. The
admission of Roman Catholics to the House of
Commons was a natural consequence of the ad-
mission of Protestant Dissenters; and the success
still later of what was called. Jewish Emancipa-
tion, was the logical result of both. It this way,
no doubt, it will be seen by. our logical descen-
dants that exclusion from any State office—from
the Throne itself, if the Throne should last a
generation longer—onemount ofreligiocis opinions,
is inconsistent with the principles which have been
acted upon through so long a political history.
England may, when that age, of development
arrives, become familiar with the idea of a Roman
Catholic Lord Chancelliir, or a 'Roman Catholic
King. So it is maintained, that the democratic
,principle of the present RefOrni Bill: was fully
contained in the provisions of the first, and it is
a necessity now embodied in modern politics, that
the franchise should be largely extended. : There
is no doubt, that if we' once admit this, we cannot
avoid contemplating universal suffrage as the last
step in a f cries all predicted beforehand, and of
which the one supposes the other. This seems a
very desperate view to take, of the future;.
yet, if it is
.logic, what Can we do P.
especially when 4e- '717245, with an
aversion to democracy, givea up, the question.
Final*, to come to the Church-rate question,