The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-13 00:00:00

changes and improvements had really worked out

their end without producing disastrous conse-

quences, and that they had warmed the heart of

the nation in increasing its wealth. Accordingly,
such Acts of Parliament must not be regarded only
in the light of the formal manner in which they
take their place in the Statute-book, but they bear
a deeper and a far wider significance. They should
be looked upon "as angels of mercy, ministers of

peace, and restorers of union through every
part and corner of the land." Times are changed,

,ndeed, when we thus find a leading statesman, an

important member of Parliament, and an influential
Minister of State deliberately ascribing the bene-
ficial influences at work among the community to
the good sense and improved temper of the people,
arid when ho considers it a better result of the
tactics of his party that they do not excite the
wrath of his opponents than that they have been
carried triumphantly through an opposing Senate,
and been ordained as the leaders of the land. The
days are not so very distant when no politician of
repute ever thought of appearing in public without
doing his utmost to scatter opprobrium and clever
ridicule upon his adversaries, be they good, bad, or
indifferent. In fact, it was the secret of success to
damage the opposing party more than to exalt one's
own. In the Chancellor of the Exchequer's discourse
we find a comprehensive view taken of public, party,
and social questions which is worthy of his high
position and great influence, and does honour to his
discernment and pod taste. Of course, so eminent
a scholar would appreciate the effirts made to
establish institutes and such refining and elevating
establishments amid a busy and bustling race, cone
sumed by toil and traffic, and living in the ceaseless
din and turmoil of active life and stupendous
engagements in mighty undertakings. He observed
that he had regarded with satisfaction the growth
of such institutions among them, " all of which are
a testimony to the great truth that man does not
live by bread alone—that he has a mind, a rational
and immortal part—that he is born for the fature
more than for the present, and that all real im-
provement which takes place among us is invari-
ably attended with this condition—it looks forward
to and prepares to meet the future." If such an
effect is the end of these works they can seek no
better consummation and aspire to no holier issue.
It is the chief drawback to manufacturing engage-
ments and commercial pursuits that they have a
tendency to give the material the ascendancy in the
minds and thoughts of men. Let us eat and drink,
for to-morrow we die, has been the secret
maxim, if not the acknowledged prac-
tice, of many an envied millionaire and
successful speculator, and the sentiment in a
lesser degree is shared by the smaller onus around
them. All that tends to interpose a check upon
such grovelling notions should be welcomed, and
a man of thought and experience like the CHAN-
CELLOR of the EXCHEQUER must be among the first
to acknowledge the fatal error that the acquisition
of wealth, the increase of commerce, and the pro-
sperity of trade are to be welcomed as the objects
of life, to the neglect of all better, brighter aims—
all upward, nobler tendencies. The people of Lane
cashire deserve great credit for the zeal which
they have ever and anon displayed in the fostering
and nurture of their literary institutions, and they
have reaped their reward in the thought that -they
have felt in their hour of need to meet trials with
the fortitude that befits men, and the faith that be-
comes Christians. Mr. GLADSTONE truly said that
they had shown during winters of extreme afficlion
that they need no preaching from extraneous per-
sons to tell them how to act, and to comport them-
selves in difficulties. The right hon. gentleman
alluded to the improved prospects which now
dawned upon them in respect to cotton, because the
railcar countries of the world were found to be cap-
able of supplying, in some measure at least, the
deficiencies caused by the stoppage of trade with
America. The right hon. gentleman expressed his
earnest hope and well-grounded conviction that the
present evils were temporary, though extremely
severe, and that the time was not so very far off,
when they should see " the vast and gigantic sys-
tem of enterprise ;on which the fortunes of South
Lancashire principally depend again restored to the
whole extent of its former operations, with a cer-
tainty and stability which, in the former circum-
stances, it never would have been able to attain."
There was great moderation manifested in the tone
which Mr. GLADSTONE adopted in discoursing on
public affairs and the conduct of those who took
charge of them. He fearlessly admitted that ex.
cellence was difficult to attain, and perfection im-
possible in such high requirements. "The concerns
of this vast empire are so mighty, and of so compli-
cated a character, that to handle them as they ought
to be handled, altogether exceeds and transcends
human strength." There is more real dignity in
thus acknowledging one's deficiencies than in
parading supposed successes and lauding one's-
self and one's colleagues to the uttermost.
Mr. GLADSTONE briefly touched upon the Legis•
lature as a body, and declared that it for the
most part reflected the temper of the nation, and
represented its opinions. After a hard day's
work people get tired, and thus he considered
Parliament had earned a right to rest after the
many useful acts passed of late years. The right
hon. gentleman concluded by expreesing a hope
that never again ahould we witness such a period
as that which distinguished the reign of WILLIAm
IV.—the crisis of the Reform Bill—but that other
improvements might be as successfully carried in
a milder form, and in a comprehensive spirit of
unity. It must be admitted that Mr. GLADSTONE
has made a very happy choice of his subjects,
and that he has contrived, in the limits of an
ordinary discourse, to treat upon the most excit-
ing objects of interest and importance to those
around him. Doubtless in future days those who
listened to his flowery discourse will recognise
the truth of many of his prophetic utterances,
and acknowledge that public affairs are not so
depressing as some would affirm, when they come
under the consideration of a master mind.

It was only to be expected that the news from
Lancashire should show a less favourable aspect
as the season advanced, and the Central Relief
Committee, with the prudence that has
distin-
guished their operations throughout, took
some time since to caution the public that a tem-
porary increase of distress was probable. The rise
in the number of unemployed, and the tailing of
from full time to short time, in many quarters, is
due, however, in a gr:at measure, to other reasons
than the approach of winter. It is true that the
harvest operations have hitherto offered a resource
to a gcod many of the enforced idlers, end that
these are now concluded ; but the fluctuations of
trade have more to do with the increased distress
than either the conclusion of haymaking, or even
the lack of cotton. The condition of the money
market hes, it is said, been partly the cause of the
number of closed mills ; and other commercial
reasons, including, of coarse, deficient supply of the
raw material, have contributed to check the tide of
returning prosperity. At the same time there is
no ground for panic, nor, indeed, fcr any very
serious anxiety, since the present state of affairs is
not likely to be more than temporary, and is only
What has been foreseen from the commencement of