The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONOO

them free from Poland, and sent them to the
Crimea. Is it to be tolerated that such a traitor
power should filch an inch of territory as a re-
ward for her bane cowardice and treachery ?

There are other weighty matters on which the
House of Commons ought to pass distinct resolu-
tions if Ministers put off the country with the old
cant about " securing an honourable peace." It
should be laid dowil especially that no country
which has been, or may be, conquered from
Russia—as the Aland Isles, Circassia, the Pro-
vinces, the Crimea, or Poland—shall ever revert
to her again. The country ought to be assured
that Lord JOHN and his time-serving declaration
are gone together, and that we mean to deprive
Russia of all the usurped domains we can. In
like manner we ought to be assured that other
places on the Black Sea are to share the fate of
the towns on the Sea of Azoff. Odessa at this
moment is aiding the transit of troops from Po-
land to the Crimea. We have a right, too, to
require that 10,000 Poles shall not demand in
vain to desert from the garrison of Cronstadt while
we continue our pusillanimous course in deference
to Austria and the Coburgs.

For a business people we have the most incon-
gruous notions of legislation that can well be con-
ceived. At all events, this is fairly deducible,
from the procedings of our legislators, however
little it may be warranted by the fact. Session
after session bills are brought forward with no
earthly chance of passing, and, unless to gra-
tify two or three over-grown constituents, with no
other motive than to afford an opportunity for
the delivery of some insufferably tedious harangue.
This were bad enough if confined to private
members, but perhaps the Government is the
greatest culprit of the two.
Only look at the Scotch Education Bill, and
the farce enacted in the Lords last night in con-
nection with it. The bill, as the Duke of ARGYLL
admitted, is one which pleases no party in Scot-
land ; indeed, by a singular process of reasoning,
his Grace proclaims that to be its great recom-
mendation ; has been thrice, we believe, brought
before the Commons by the Lord Advocate, with,
he could hardly fail to be aware, no chance of its
ultimately passing, and as often before the Lords,
who last night gave it, we trust, its final quietus,
in a manner which was sufficiently ridiculous.
After considerable palaver, as usual, and the waste
of much useful time, the noble mover, beginning
to anticipate an ignominious defeat, expressed a
desire to withdraw the measure. To this, how-
ever, with a fine sense of retributive justice,.
a formidable minority of their lordships refused
their consent, and the result was Ministers had
to vote against their own Lord Advocate's Bill to
insure its rejection—one only, as it were to in-
crease the fun, voting for it.
We don't mean to say anything about the merits
or demerits of the bill, and are magnanimous
enough to leave the consideration of the Duke of
ARGYLL'S novel mode of ascertaining the merits of
a measure to the more metaphysical of his coun-
trymen ; but we do most earnestly protest
against the practice of thus bringing forward
again and again objectionable and impracticable
measures, with no prospect of success and no
other recommendation than that of aiding
to demonstrate how mortally mischievous and
destructive argumentative dullness can be.
Not a session commences but useful measures,
with a prospect of receiving the sanction of the
House, are spoken of so as to encourage a hope of
their being passed, only to be disappointed at its
close by finding them thrown into the Parlia-
mentary waste basket, among its incongruous
contents. Surely some attempt to put a stop to
this increasing evil will shortly be made. The
debt-is of a session is perfectly appalling. Of so
many ambitious legislators, is there not one dis-
posed to immortalise himself by concocting
a bill to lessen the evil ? Can it be that
the task is hopeless, or is it that the
cure lies with the constituencies ? Do the
latter choose their men for their fussiness and
wordiness rather than their business talents and
good sense, and thereby hold out a premium
to vanity and the commission of the evil we de-
plore ? If so, and in any case, they cannot look
to it too soon. Their own credit, as well as the
public interests, are involved in their dealing
with it.