The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-03 00:00:00

TI-1E SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, AUGUST 3, 1863

petitive examination at the hustings in what is called gradual
progress. When canvassing for votes they are all loud in
repudia tin g the obsolete notion of its being possible to stand
still. They are all ready to move on at the proper pace and
at the proper time, but it is clear that their only notion of
either consists in what may be necessary to outflank their
Whig rivals in a forward march. When, therefore, these
latter have shut themselves up in quarters which they have
no mind to change at any ascertainable time, the only busi-
ness of their unadventurous adversaries is to lie in their
trenches watching them. The one side won't venture out,
even to forage for fresh provisions; and the other does not
get the word to try and break in. So the grass grows high,
and the weeds thrive all round and between them ; and if
it were not for the honour of the thing, both might as well
leave off sham soldiering and take to some unpretentious
and inexpensive branch of industry. There are those who
fancy they can explain the listlessness and fruitlessness of
Parliament by asserting that under the terms of some mys-
terious form of courtly truce all legislative contention and
competition has been indefinitely adjourned; and that to
secure the kbservance of this parliamentary cartel the
command of both hosts has been confided to the same
hands. But, for our parts, we are very sceptical about the
personal reading of events, and we every day become more
so. We do not believe in Lord Palmerston's power of po-
litical mesmerism. On the contrary, we are inclined to
think that if the veteran minister saw any strong disposi-
tion on the part of either people or aristocracy to move, he
is just the man who would most adroitly place himself at
the head of the movement. He has never been a theorising
or inventive statesman, He never initiated any great change
of policy, and no statute bears his name. But the same
may be said of nearly all those ministers who for a long
time have held the chief place in the Government of this
country. The prime knack of retaining office under a con •
stitutional system like ours consists not in originating but
in conceding popular measures, when they are ripe for con-
cession, and not before. A minister with strong tendencies
towards resistance and reaction may ne doubt do something
(though not so much as some people imagine) to keep back
the growth of opinion and to delay useful change. But
every minister who has guided long the administrative
councils of England has contrived to do so in tho main by
watching carefully how the current sets and how the wind
blows, and in trimming his sails accordingly. We give
Lord Palmerston credit for no little sagacity of this kind ;
but how can he exercise his skill in steermanship when
there is nothing beneath him but stagnation, and nothing
aroma(' him but fog? If nothing has been done in the way
of legislation during the recent Session worth thanking for,
it is because nothing has been seriously or earnestly asked
from Parliament by the people. Ours is, after all, neither
more nor less than a representative system of rule ; and if
good desires are not distinctly and decisively expressed in
Parliament, no Administration can be expected to carry
great or good measures, fur practically no Administration
is or can be able to do so. It is mere shabby hypocrisy to
pretend the contrary. Government has been asked to do
nothing in the Session of 1863, and has constitutionally
done it. It may be much to be lamented that parliamen-
tary rule should thus become discredited in the eyes of the
world, and the more so at a time when various empirical
devices, professing to be better, are set up for public admi-
ration. But the real question is—Who is to be blamed ?
And, as old friends of the people and of progress, we say
unhesitatingly the people, or at least the constituencies,
themselves.
- - -

LONDON REVIEW.—The Parliamentary session of 1863
will not occupy a distinguished place in our legislative
annals. The Government opened it without professions,
and they have closed it without conspicuous achievements.
During the session the House of Commons sustained, in the
death of Sir G. C. Lewis, a loss which is not likely to be soon
repaired. Calm, sagacious, candid, he had inspired an
amount of confidence second only to that which is felt in
Lord Palmerston himself. Ills death leaves Mr. Gladstone
without a competitor for the leadership of the Liberal party,
just when he has succeeded in making it clear that he is
incapable of discharging the duties of the post. Still un-
rivalled as an orator he has seriously compromised his
authority with the House of Commons, by failures of tact
and temper; and by an apparent incapacity for appreciat-
ing the feelings and modes of argument of average English-
men. The loss of life which unfortunately occurred during
the popular rejoicings on the marriage of the Princo of
Wales roused Sir George Grey to a momentary exhibition
of vigour. But the bill which he introduced for amalga-
mating the city with the metropolitan police was opposed.
by the united force of the municipal dignitaries of England
and Wales; and the Home Secretary was fain to retreat
from the storm he had raised, under the shelter of a techni-
cal objection to the manner in which his measure had been
proposed. A similar want of success attended his efforts to
save garotters from the indignity
of flogging ; and as he
suffered severely in the debates which arose out of his con-
duct in the M'Lachlan case, and also out of some other acts
of his administration, it can scarcely be denied that his de-
partment of the Government' has fallen materially in
public consideration during the session. The most mortify-
ing Ministerial defeat was, however, that which attended
their proposition to purchase the Exhibition building. at
Kensington Gore. The support of Mr. Disraeli and Sir
S. Northcote was unavailing against the general sus-
picion of a job, and the universal determination to throw
off the yoke of a well-known clique. Success was, no
doubt, hopeless under any circumstances. But, for
the contumelious manner in which the vote was negatived,
the Government have mainly to thank Mr. Gladstone's in-
discreet and irritating advocacy. The Chancellor of the
Exchequer had an opportunity of carrying through the
financial measures of the year with general assent But
Mr. Gladstone was not content to reap the advantages of a
safe but commonplace unanimity. Although he might have
enjoyed the popularity of remitting taxes without the sub-
stitution of new burthens, he deliberately preferred the
gratification of a morbid taste for financial perfection. In
order to round off a few angles and fill up a few gaps which
seemed to mar the fair proportions of our fiscal system, he
proposed to compel clubs to take out spirit licences, to abolish
0 upon the
renn. country,e They for theewere
e still sake
less of
the exemption from income-tax enjoyed by charities, and to
levy an additional duty on carriers' carts. The House of
Comm i
Commons were naturally indisposed to inflict a large amount
of petty
annoyance
adding some
3000 to the ve
inclined to mulct our great charitable and educational in-
stitutions.
COURT JOURNAL.—
parliament has been prorogued at a
somewhat momentous time, when we should have been
greatly content to have still had its advice and decisions on
some of the questions which are now agitating Europe in
every direction. But we suppose it would have been too
much
teoyhsahvoeuladsksetodpofinvLnderoYmean nyM.P.'s or noble lords
that during all this heat and
dust, even though the peace and prosperity of England
were dependent upon their doing so. Certain it is that her
peeeh that there was a painful embarrass-
men
do, or ot heetransactions few
Majesty's Government have no very great cause to congra-
tulate themselves on the session just brought to a close, nor
at the prospect for the future, and it was very evident
in the
in eanoeynadlSvouring to avoid any allusion to impend-
ing difficulties, and that the Government might make
m e a
whichurTe sa Taking
nwgthhi
all
which
e
theythe mosthav capital
have
proposed,
opose out fth
thhaivnegscairrntihedneonnsiwdeirthatiofonr,ew cannot but feel glad at the
course which the Ministry have pursued with regard to theigu Governments.
contest in America, and that they have very wisely alike
disregarded the taunts and insults of the Northerners and
of their allies in England, and the fiery, impetuous appeals
made by such ardent admirers of the South as Mr. Roebuck
and Mr. Lindsay. The quarrel is one of the moat savagely
and fiercely conducted that has ever been witnessed in the
course of modern history, and, as is the case with all hot-
headed combatants, they would only shower their blows on
the head of any unfortunate but well-meaning person who
ventured to step in and interfere between them. But in the
other dealings with foreigfi Powers we cannot so warmly
approve of the policy which the Government have thought
fit to adopt. In fact, they have succeeded most where
they have been content to leave everything alone; but as
that has only been the case with regard to America, we find
that affairs look anything but promising in those quarters
where our Government have chosen to interfere. The se
of the session has been marked by a very sad series of losses,
or changes, amongst the greatest of the land. First, the
Duke of Hamilton was suddenly snatched from his family,
and, not to speak of the recent deaths of Lord Downes, the
Earl of Mornington, Lord Macdonald, General Halkett, and
Sir Cresswell Cresswell, we have sustained a severe loss by
the unexpected demise of the Marquis of Normanby, a
nobleman greatly respected and admired by all with whom
he came in contact, however much they might differ from
him in politics. His loss will be greatly felt abroad, where
he was perhaps better known than in England, owing to
the many years during which he lived at Paris and Florence
as the Ambassador of Great Britain. As a thoroughly sincere
and very able supporter of the fallen dynasties of Italy, the
opinions of the deceased nobleman must at least command
our careful attention ; but when he generously came for-
ward as the champion of the oppressed, and the enemy of
the bigoted, the knavish, and the tyrannical, when he de-
s ounced misrule, as much under the sway of a professedly
liberal Government as under that of a Bourbon or aDuke
of Parma, none but those whose nature is incapable of sym •
pathising with liberty and toleration can fail to respect the
advocacy of Lord Normanby, or to regret that the present
Government was not more willing to listen to his earnest ad-
vice. A future age will, perhaps, be better able to appreciate
his qualities and talents, for then the vices of the Italian
Government. which he has so strenuously denounced, will
stand forth unscreened by the blind partisanship of the
multitude ; and the nation, moreover, will not merely think
of him as the opponent of Victor Emmanuel in the English
House of Lords, but will regard his character and career as
a whole, as a statesman, orator, author, and the life-long
friend of the oppressed.
TKE LAW TIMES.—The session has closed, and its results
are before us. Law reform, which has filled so prominent
a place for many years, has come to a sudden stana .s. ill,
but one measure of this class—the Expurgation of the
Statutes—being among the doings of 1863. There are many
small bills effecting trifling improvements, but for these the
country is indebted more to the activity of private members
than to the energy of the Government, which seems to have
been for once well pleased to delegate its duties to volunteer
law-makers; but, fortunately, with such good effect, that
it is to be hoped that the example thus set may be more ex-
tensively followed in future, and private members permitted