The Sun.
London, England, 1852-06-18 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY. JUNE 18, 1852.

The Coming Elections cast their shadows before—
and the possessors of the franchise are, generally
ape` king, already on the tiptoe of expectation for the
moment when the appeal to the country will be made
by her MAJESTY'S Government. Yesterday, more-
over, the progress of business in both Houses was
mach as to afford some reasonable prospect of the
termination of a session even now sufficiently pro-
tracted. No lees than serenty Bills—having pass
through the requisite stages la the Lords snd Corn-
wons--received last evening the Royal Assent, and
vversi thus transformed into substantial enact-
ments. In the ocpar House, likewise, the
Passengers Act Arnendtter4t Bill was read a second
time, the Copyaliold Enfranchisement Bill
p
through Committee, as also
WilB the case with the
Ali!ilia Bill, with the TurnpFlikeax
Trusts Bill, and with
-faithheile Senatchsec3ofnidll3 for
reading w,s(lreland) Bill, I
accorded to
the Trustees' Act Extension Bill, and to
the Suitors in Chancery Relief Bill, the General
Enar dof Health Bill being read a third time and,
passed. Yet more remarkable was the
amount of
business " got through" lest evening in the Comnion3.

native and foreign agriculture shall be demonstrated

by the crops to be impossible. For their own interest,
therefore, it will be advisable for the Cabinet to go to
the country almost immediately. From a speedy
dissolution, nevertheless, we have every expectation
of witnessing results, in all respects, satisfac-
tory both to Free-traders and to Reformers.

Whatever probability of success from the elections
the Government may have would be diminished by
protracting the existence of the present Parliament.
That is all we imply by insisting that self-interest
alone should conduct the FEmIE MINISTER at once to
the momentous ordeal of the dissolution. Our con-

fidence in the triumph of Liberalism over mere
Toryism remains, under all circumstances, unshaken.
We have heard, indeed, from the lips of the First

Lord of the Treasury himself an acknowledgment of
the exceeding improbability, even in his sanguine
_ _

mind, of a working majority in favour of the prin-
ciples of Protection. About the indestructibility of
the Free-trade system, indeed, there is no longer en-
tertained any doubt whatsoever. Ntitber, in a com-
mon-sense view of the age, can any uncertainty be
felt by the discerning as to the utter futility of any

attempt to retard the course of our chief measures ()

social and political improvement. Toe itnFtus im-
parted of late years to reform has rendered its future

.progress irresistible. A Cabinet might as well at-
tempt to stop the diurnal motion of the earth round

its axis, or to slacken its annual motion round the
sun, as to dream for an instant of preventing, or of
even impeding in any perceptible manner, the onward

movement of civilization.

When the Copyhold Enfranchisement Bill was re-
ferred to a Select Committee of the House of Lords,
a torrent of reproach and obloquy was discharged
upon the devoted head of the LORD CHANCELLOR,
Notwithstanding his express declaration to the con-
trary, it was assumed that he was hostile to the prin-
ciple of the measure, and that his object was to put it
"on the shelf " for the present session. From that
assumption it followed, by an easy train of reasoning,
that " he was true to his antecedents," " the oppo-
nent of all legal reform," " the impeder of progress,"
&c. In vain did the Noble and Learned Lord de-
clare that it was impossible to overrate the incon-
veniences resulting from the copyhold system, and
that " it was expedient to remedy the evils, so far as
it could be done without trenching too much on the
rights of property." In rain did he declare " that he
did not make the suggestion with any view to the
Bill not being passed this session," that "he had no
such object, but would go into a Committee with the
determination to give the measure his best attention,
and to render his honest assistance in carrying it into
effect." It was still taken for granted that there was
no prospect of the Bill being carried previous to the
dissolution, but that it was deliberately and de-
signedly rejected, the LORD CHANCELLOR having
been " more true to his past notoriety than to his
present fame."
Last night's proceedings, however, proved that we
were fully justified in saying that we gave full
, credit to the assertion of the Noble and
Learned Lord. The measure was returned to
t..,be House in a greatly improved shape,
"len? serious defects had been removed, and Lord
rtions
Ll:rstEoriaan's was highly complimented by Lord
exe
uarr and several other Peers on his unceasing
for the improvement of the measure. The
necessity of the refeipece was admitted on every
side. Those who had most strongly objected to the
Select Committee acknowledged that " the Bill
had been greatly
improved," and bore testimony to
the "earnest, unremitting,
and impartial endeavours
of the Committee" .
to do Justice to both lords and
tenants. It might, t,
, er"ruen, have been supposed that
, erroneously censured the LORD
who bad
ELLos would
have withdrawn the charge,
etts es c
acknowledged the . .
and mistake into which
tlinedoovuaniutr4tirmeesure•
Such, however is not the
morning
they bad
Cont ' •
emporary, in a leading
case. We
article this day,
finfadllaez).
speaking of Lord Sr. r ,
The mistake should be
A,EONARD s as
having ~ changed his mintah:Pioninfillyethiaic.:::: suapreo;:gnyd
honour and credit for so
giving him all
efficient a pe-
nitence." This is certainly not aau .
luatetila
for an unmerited censure.
candidly acknowledged as
atone-
ment for the injury previously
We may now congratulate
vir-
tual passing of this important e
Henceforward heriots will only be mutters of his-
tory, and improvements in the way Of building
or
draining will not be practically prohibited
by a knowledge of the fact that the lord
of the soil will derive the lion's share

of the profit, by insisting upon two years' improved
value of the lands, in the shape of an arbitrary fine
on death or alienation. The success attending this

Several Bills coming under the designation of pri-
vate business were read a third time and passed.
Afterwards came the public business, and a glance at
the Parliamentary report e$ ill testify that some degree
of activity was displayed by the Cabinet in dissipating
the languor of debate and pressing a variety
of questions
to a conclusion. Considerable discussion took place du-
ring the consideration of the Metropolis Water
Supply Bill, a variety of clauses in which were agreed
to without any necessity for a division. Subsequently
the Metropolis Burials Bill was read:f second time,
and ordered to be committed at noo on Monday.
The Metropolis Sewers Bill was .assed. through
Committee. A second reading was '
granted to the
Consolidated Fund Bill and the Militia Pay Bill,
while the New Zealand Bill, after a rather sharp dis-
cussion upon one portion of which the House di-
vided, was read a third time and passed. A variety
of miscellaneous measures, some of them of no tri-
vial importance, were forwarded with rather unusual
rapidity ; and altogether the activity displayed was
such as to yield fair promise of the speedy arrival
of the dfssolution.
Everything considered, the above summary of the
more noticeable business transacted yesterday within
the walls of the Legislature must be regarded, we
aeeume, as in the highest degree satisfactory. The
House of Commons especially appears to have at
length awakened from its lethargy, and to be alive to
the necessity for :Aft snore strenuous exertions in
the way of carrying on the labours of the Le-
gislature. Occasionally, too, and this more
frequently than had of late been observable,
the Peers have evinced more energy in the
discharge of their duties as senators. Sometimes
even the public have been amused by witnessing
some new illustration of the justice of the facetious
remark made, if we recollect rightly, some fire or
six years ago, by the present CHANCELLOR of the
EXCHEQUER :—" Divisions in the House of Lords
are nowadays so thinly scattered, that when one oc-
curs the Peers cackle as if they had laid an egg—
they are quite proud of the proof of their still pro-
creative powers." It will be found, moreover, from
the very commencement of these comments upon
yesterday's Parliamentary proceedings, that the
SOVEREIGN simultaneously evinces a solicitude
to forward, as far as is practicable, the business
of the session, so as to prepare the way for the long-
delayed advent of the dissolution. Matters, in truth,
could not under any circumstances have continued
much longer in that state of stagnation which was
becoming every successive day more and more unen-
durable. The summer has already become so far de-
veloped that we are even now within a few hours of
the longest day. Autumn must, therefore, be within
view before the general, election can by possibility
terminate. Fortunately, there is every pros-
pect of a harvest more plentiful than any
the country has enjoyed for many seasons.
The barley crop has even in several parts had
to be thinned. With a dry March, an unusally
late spring, and not merely a showery but a soaking
June, the grain promises such abundant returns that
the bone will be taken out of the argument of the
Protectionists. As a mere party contrivance, there-
fore, the delay of the elections until the summer shall
be getting into " the sere and yellow leaf "—when
the corn would be ripening and the result of the
harvest matter of very easy calculation—would be
singularly injudicious. Such we do not, how-
ever, conceive to be the intention of the
present Government. Ministers can discover no
possible advantage to themselves in delaying
much longer that appeal to the country upon the con-
sequence of which their possession of power is de-
pendent. Rather the reverse. They must necessarily
have a larger- chance of success by submitting their
policy to the judgment of the various constituencies,
before the danger of any serious competition between
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