The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-19 00:00:00

connection with the borough of Pontefract reflects
honour alike on the representati;e and the repre-
sented. At a very interesting meeting held on
Tuesday at the Town-hall a large number of Lord
HOUGHTON'S late constituents assembled to present
him with a substantial token of their approval of his
parliamentary conduct, and to express their satis-
faction with the manner in which he had fulfilled
his duties as their representative for a period of
time extending over a quarter of a century, Lord
HOUGHTON, in returning thanks for the gift, natu-
rally took advantage of the occasion to address them
at some length. His speech was what might have
been expected from a man of his refined taste and
moderato sentiments, and was certainly quite out of
the beaten track of the ordinary political discussions
of the day. It is refreshing to read or hear a speech
which contains no reference to Schleswig-Holstein
'or Federal and Confederate, and which deals rather
with the great events and characters of the past
than with the passions and convulsions of the pre-
sent. Looking back on his past career and survey-
ing so important a period of his political existence
as his life in the House of Commons, a speaker
would naturally soar above the mere partisanship
and prejudice of the hour, and deal with affairs
rather in that large and liberal spirit which allows
for exaggerations and mistakes on both sides, which
can recognise reason and good intention in principles
opposed to its own. Surveying so large and event-
ful a portion of the life time of his generation, the
mosthasty and narrow-minded of men must be some-
times forced to confess that the wisdom of the wise
has erred, that the eager advocacy and the obstinate
opposition have been often alike mistaken. The
great measures which were on the one hand ex•
pected to ensure universal peace and prosperity,
end on the other foretold to occasion national ruin,
have fulfilled neither augury, and both parties have
learned something, we may hope, from the modera-
tion of their results. Lord HOUGHTON is a man
who is especially well qualified for an address of
this character, since he has never taken part in the
angry extremes of political discussion. He says of
himself that he considers one of the drawbacks to
his parliamentary success has been the difficulty
which he has always felt in believing his own side
to be entirely in the right and his opponents entirely
in the wrong. He has never, he says, possessed
that fortunate faculty which has enabled some
eminent lawyers to accept their client's cause as
readily as his fee, and to put undoubting faith in
the right of the side which they advccate. How•
ever useful such a faculty may be to its possessor,
and however common it may be to earnest and
ardent men, it is very fortunate that we have some
parliamentary representatives who do not share
it, who are able by the enlightenment
aud toleration of their views to modify the bitter-
ness of political debate, and temper the harshness
of angry controversy. Lord HOUGHTON has always
belonged to this class of thinkers, and it is to the
influence of such candid minds, aided by the in-
creasing enlightenment of the age, that we may
attribute the dying out of much of that party spirit
which placed of old so insurmountable a barrier
between Whig and Tory. The years of Lord
HOUGHTON'S Parliamentary life have witnessed
great and striking changes in many respects; but
though the present aspect of affairs may not be alto.
gether encouraging, there is much reason to rejoice
over what those 25 years have effected for the
good of the people. Reform, which formed one of
the leading topics of Lord HOUGHTON'S address,
was viewed by him on its general principles rather
than in regard to any particular application. We
cannot agree with his convenient interpretation of
the present humiliating position of the Liberal
party with regard to this—the corner stone of their
policy, He gets out of the difficulty by saying that
in respect to Reform both sides of the House are
alike, and neither can say a word about the other's
conduct, for each has had a Reform Bill that has
failed. Unfortunately for Lord HOUGHTON'S argu-
ment, however, Lord DERBY'S Government was
defeated on their Reform Bill, were driven from
office, and have never since bad an opportunity of
renewing the attempt. Lord RUSSELL'S Bills were
withdrawn, and five years of office have not enabled
the Whigs to give us their successors. Under
these circumstances there is a difference between
the position of the two parties, which does not speak
very favourably for the sincerity of the Government
side. It would be well if all politicians would
adopt Lord HOUGHTON'S enlightened and sensible
view of this important question. He makes it
rather a matter of individual fitness than of class
restriction. On the one hand he denies the right
of universal suffrage which takes away the dignity
of the vote and confers upon the thief and the
vagrant the same voice in the direction of public
matters as the honest, upright, and intelligent
citizen. On the other side Lord HOUGHTON main-
tains that there should be no positive exclusion, that
it should not be said that such a man should never
come within the pale of the constitution. " Let it
be clearly and at once understood that it was neither
the interest nor the desire of any class in this coun-
try to prevent the admission within the pale of the
constitution of any body of men who combine an
earnest desire to possess that privilege with a de-
termination to exercise it honestly and indepen-
dently—let that once be clearly understood, and
there was an end to all danger on the question of
reform." This is the principle on which our reforms
should be founded, but to make an arbitrary dis-
tinction on account of a pound more or less in the
rent which cannot certainly affect a man's compe-
tency to judge of political questions, is to raise angry
opposition, and to create a sense of injustice. Lord
HOUGHTON touched of course upon many other
topics of the day, and his review of his career in the
Lower House was chequered by the memories of the
friends he had lost, but on the whole the retrospect
was
_a pleasant one, and he had convincing testi-
mony that he had been fortunate enough to acquire
and to retain the confidence of an ancient constitu-
ency through many years of change and trial.

Several petitions emanating from the Custom
House clerks throughout the United Kingdom have
found their way to the table of the House of Com-
mons. The petitioners allege that their salary
is insufficient to meet the expenses incident to
their domestic wants and personal respectability ;
and, taking the statement set forth in the said
petitions to be true, the case is evidently one en-
titled to attention and redress.

Much of this dissatisfaction has apparently
arisen from the want of perception in the beads of
the several departments, as to the requirements of
the service and the interests of the clerks placed
under their supervision.

Unlike the Military and Naval Departments,
whose paucity is more than counterbalanced by their
effectiveness, the Customs establishments are
equally regardless of modernizing and simplifying
their System of accounts, and of caring for the com-
forts and welfare of the clerks.
That such a system should produce a discontent
which has at length ripened into a sense of a
wide-spread grievance, is nothing more than might
have been expected. Who can reasonably suppose
that young gentlemen, possessing the necessary
education to enter the public service, will passively
settle down upon a salary of £75 a year, with a