The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-17 00:00:00

much, seeing that, as he explained the other day,
he does not read the newspapers. And if he is
content to know eo little, how rain and idle, hove
truly reprehensible, must be the unofficial curiosity
which is always asking for more. It is true the pees.
tion may be asked—if Lord Palmerston does not
know what our bankers and merchants are r
anxious to learn, does not know whether the work.;of the Conferetet is advancing steadily and slowly
to a safe conclusion, or in likely to break up in utter
helplessness, who is in charge of our affairs. The
House of Commons laughed at the illustrious know
nothing, and in that laughter Lord Robert Cali
may see the fate of any movement which his pa !tie
may make as long no the Danish question reenato.
undecided. Certainly, in this ease the pleasure of
being cheated is not small. The House of Cool'
--
mons, curious as it can be at times, does not Wa,i'!
the knowledge that brings responsibility. It lace':
when the Head of the Government declares he.l7
ignorant of the most important political fact of al'
day ; laughs, not simply as a man might laugh NO°
should see at the window the master whom the se"
vent has declared to be not at home, but with tho
superadded satisfaction of one who has escaped °I
bore. The House may well love a Minister who sn'
cheerfully relieves it of heavy responsibilities which
it desires to evade, and the laughter which expresses
its profoundest satisfaction ought not to be con"
founded with the ebullition of a light and frivolous
temper. 'When the country is committed irrevocably
to a course, when either our ally and protege is de-
stroyed or England is at war, then no doubt tb
House will rise to the level of the occasion, and b°
grave, statesmanlike, eloquent. And yet, if not for
its own sake, for the sake of those whom it rePre.
sents, it may be wished that it were the habit of ~
Premier to deal more faithfully with the House °
Commons. The temper of that House will alicaY°,
be to a great extent what its leaders make it, but
its obligations cannot be relaxed by the indulge!"
of a Minister. The engagements which the Go-
vernment of the day contracts with foreign powers
in the name of the country are matters of the higbe'f
concern, and the functions of the Grand Council Od
the nation cannot be in any measure transferee
to a Conference, or its rights be impaired of
the agreements or disagreements of a knot °
foreign diplomatists. Perhaps Lord Palmerston
was not called last night to make a formal and
:
solemn statement on a easual question put by
t
opponent. But if he had thought proper to base
candid with the representatives of the nation, thete
is no ground to believe that he would not have heel
met in a reasonable spirit. It would, no doubtahaye
been disappointing to the House to be told that the
Queen's Government, after having proposed a ce"
tain division of Sleswig, in which the Danish G°'
vernment had brought itself with much difficulty
to acquiesce, had subsequently thought it right, iii
the endeavour to appease the Germans, to propos'
another line of division much less advantageous t:n
Dentr ark, and that the necessity of referring tb
proposition to the Government most concerned hai"
caused delays and postponements. On the
there is a strong disposition in the House of Cora'
mons, which in this respect at least represents the
country, to make every allowance for the difficut.t
situation in which the Queen's Government 19
placed. It is only necessary to glance at the foreign'
and especially the French scmi.official papers, to
perceive that Lords Palmerston and Russell hsce
more to consider than simply how German ambit!°il
may be checked. But the obstacles with which
Ministers have to contend are known to the worlds
and the elements of national policy are discussed by
the newspapers, and it is not fitting that the House
of Commons, which has spent so much time on
foreign affairs for which it is not answerable,shollid
remain a silent spectator of transactions deeply
concerning the honour of England, and reserve for
itself nothing but the right of approving or On"
demning an arrangement that has become comp
and irrevocable.