The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

LONDON REVIEW'.—Sir W. Atherton, in the
miedie of the noses, has thrown up his attorney,
geeeralship, after refusing probably hell a dozen
puisne judgeships. An amusing and not altogether
uninstructivo volume might be et ritten on the
career and demeanour of rising lawyers in the house
of Commons. For the present a few passages must
must suffice. Every lawyer on the Ministerial side
—almost every lawyer in the house indeed—" goes
in" for the reputation of a legal reformer, and a
few years ago a certain hon. and learned gentleman
took up the law of partnership. He made a good
speech in favour of the principle of limited liability,
and might have been delighted to witness the una-
nimity with which his motion was received by the
house if he had not discovered, by a friendly whis-
per from Mr. Hayter, that the Government were
in danger of being defeated if he pressed his motion
to a division. They had just been beaten on some-
thing else, and it was an object with them to avoid
another defeat just then. The hon. and learned
law reformer was found by the Secretary of the
Treasury to be no stubborn and impracticable poli-
tician, for he manifested an instant and eager desire
to withdraw his motion in deference to the appeal
of the then Attorney-General. The house, however,
did not appreciate as it ought the alacrity with
which the mover of the resolution consented to give
the go-by to the principle which he had just de-
scribed as one of so much importance and such press-
ing value. The purity of his motives was not quite
so distinctly recognised, perhaps, as his desire to
avoid any appearance of factious opposition to the
Government, At ally rate a storm of " oh's" and
cries of" divide" greeted the hon. and learned, gen-
tleman's willingness to withdraw his motion. He
had only been too successful in his argu-
ments, and was appalled at his triumph. A
great 'commercial authority, the lamented Mr.
Ricardo, declared that he had never known
the house more unanimous in any debate within
his recollection. A dozen other M.P.'s joined
Mr. Ricardo in protesting against the withdrawal of
a reasonable resolution, on which the house was
agreed, because an Attorney-General had promised
that the question should be seriously considered by
Government. So the resolution was literally taken
out of the hands of the hon. and learned mover, and
carried in spite of him and against the Government.
It did not surprise any one when, after a decent
interval, this gentleman received a silk gown. But
it did astonish a good many M.P.'s a session after-
wards to hear him enter upon an elaborate defence
of abstract resolutions, taking credit, at the same
time, for his own, and complaining of the readiness
of the Government on such occasions to " coma in
at the death and bag the game." The hon. and
learned gentleman began after this to be talked of
for the next Solicitor-Generalship. He has not belied
the promise of his early career, yet a dozen times the
prize has evaded his outstretched hand, He has been
rather too Ministerial for a good many of his cone
stituents, and a little grumbling was now and then
heard. But he has been patient inside and outside
St. Stephen's. He has waited well. He took any-
thing in his way, was made Judge Advocate of the
fleet and counsel to the Admiralty. He drew up
resolutions on the defeat of the Paper Duty Aboli-
tion Bill, declaring that the Lords had committed a
breach of constitutional usage, and had encroached
on the privileges of the Commons, but allowed Lord
Palmerston to take the matter out of his hands. He
has volunteered speeches in defence of the Government
when it has been hard pressed. He now reaps the re-
ward of his patience. At the levee he will go to Court
as Solicitor-General, He will receive the honour of
knighthood. His voice may be heard more frequently
in the courts of law, and in due time Sir R. Perrett
Collier will doubtless make a verv'respectable puisne
judge. It is one of the scandals of our party system
of government that the highest judicial prizes—the
" cushions," as they are called, of our common law
courts—are not awarded to the highest judicial
eminence, but are left to be scrambled and competed
for in the arena of the House of Commons. Lord
Palmerston deserves great praise for having so often
gone out of the House of Commons to find the fittest
judges, regardless of anything but merit and learn-
ing. Would not a Prime Minister also deserve well
of his country who should break through the legal
etiquette which gives the Attorney-General a claim
to be Lord Chief Justice or Chief Baron, and pro-
mote occasionally to a vacant " cushion" the most
able, learned, and impartial among the puisne
judges? About the same time that Mr. Collier was
so seriously alarmed at the Frankenstein he had
created, and just after he had deprecated the passing
of his own resolution, an hon. and learned sergeant,
sitting on the same benches, considerably his senior,
became involved in a sharp dispute with the First
Minister of the Crown. The Irish members brought
in a Tenants' Compensation Bill, which the Govern-
ment tried to lick into shape. This hon. and learned
sergeant made a violent personal attack upon Lord
Palmerston, declaring that the Government were
not giving a bona fide support to the bill. Our noble
Viscount replied with more spirit and indignation
than he had manifested during the whole of the ses-
sion, and said that if Irish members objected to the
reasonable amendments he proposed it was only be-
cause they were afraid of losing a hustings' grievance.
The hon. and learned sergeant retorted still more
angrily, and Palmerston was even more severe in
his rejoinder. The Irish members were furious,
and it is doubtful whether the rupture has ever
since been healed. They declared that they
would vote against the Ministry on any pretext.
The Government, on their part, hinted that they
meant to carry the Irish Tenants' Compensation
Bill into the Lords in defiance of the learned ser-
geant and his party of malcontents; while English
and Scotch M.P.'s, with more reason, doubted
whether a measure of this kind, abandoned by its
authors, and not very enthusiastically supported by
the Government, would weather the opposition of
Irish landlords in the Upper House. A personal
squabble with a Prime Minister is not a thing to be
looked back upon with any complacency by a
lawyer who has his way to make. So, when an
occasion arose on which the hon. and learned ser-
geant could make the amencle, he availed himself of
it. When the Opposition followed Mr. Whiteside
in his disastrous move upon Kars, Sir E. Bulwer
Lytton and the learned sergeant rose late at night
at the same moment—the former to move the ad-
journment, and the latter to make his peace with
the First Minister. The great novelist gave
and the learned sergeant expressed an
the treaty of peace with Russia (lit: opinion "on
'st published, but
not then before Parliament:), which. derived some
importance from its r7Lception by the House. He
said, " The noble lord (Palmerston) has prosecuted
with the utmost vigour, and to a most glorious and
successful termination, the war in which this:coun-
try has been engaged. The noble lord has concluded
that war by whit will no doubt be declared by this
House to be a safe end honourable peace." This
assertion was said in tones which seemed to invite
contradiction. The Conservative benches were at
that moment thoroughlyand were
just in the temper whe
hon.out O. humour,On
to anything debateablen members cry _
sergeant's . Yet although the learned
declaration was greeted with loud
cheers by the Ministerial benches, not a
single cry of it Oh !"
was heard from any part of
the House. There was not even a murmur of dis-
sent, however slight. The Opposition had not
arranged its policy, and was taken somewhat un-
awares. Silence was taken for assent and approval,
and every one felt that the learned sergeant had
rendered the Government an essential service.
During the rest of his career he gave the Premier
no serious cause for complaint. But at the last
general election, Ministerial proclivities and pos-
sible Ministerial advancement were no recommen-
dation to the favour of an Irish constituehcy, and
the electors of Kilkenny deprived of his seat a mem-
ber who would have served them well, and who had
notwithstanding, some claims on the Government.
Westminster Hall, we are told, regards Mr. Sergeant
Shoe as at least as good a lawyer as Mr. Justice
Mellor. But the latter learned judge was never
involved in a squabble with the head of the Go-
vernment, and preserved his seat until the moment
of his elevation to the bench. These little matters
go for something even in daysiof political purism,and
Mr. Sergeant Shee must bide his time, and wait a
little longer.
SPECTATOR.—Wo have begun the civilisation of
Japan by bombarding, and apparently destroying
one of its cities, known to be populous, and said to
contain no less than 180,000 inhabitants. Now we
have never been disposed to admit the claim of bar-
barous, or even of semi-barbarous, nations to seal
themselves up hermetically in a social life of their
own, and to forbid the approach of every other
People. History shows that every great step in the
progress of nations has been marked by a new in-
tercourse between different races—even when that
intercourse has been forced by conquest. It was
conquest that moulded the national life of Israel,
conquest that spread over Europe the laws and
civilisation of Rome, conquest that made England
one of the greatest of European peoples ; and
though to the scrupulous equity of modern feel-
ing it might be exceedingly difficult to justify
some of these proceedings, no thoughtful man
can doubt that conquest has played one of
the most important parts in the Divine govern-
ment of the world, and that there must be some
sense or other in which the higher civilisation has
a right to demand admittance to the lower, and to
take upon itself the government of barbarous States
which prove unwilling or unable to w
painful but salutary process of moral andecionine the
intellec-
tual grafting. We are not now going to discuss
the limits under which this right must be asserted,
though, of course, there are obvious limits, without
which it might be made the mere plea for spoliation.
Bat we do wish to assert very strongly that it is a

barbarous and monstrous thing to interfere et all
with n power like Japan, if our only purpose in in
terfericg is to thrust in one heed., laden with vier •
chandise, through the door of unwilling communi-
cation, end take revenge with the other for injury
then inflicted by such frightful acs of retaliation as
this. In what we have just done we were reveng-
ing the murder of Mr. Richardson. The Central
Government of the Tycoon had paid the fine de-
manded, but had pleaded its inability to give up or
punish the murderers in consequence of the great
power of the Prince Satsuma, who sheltered these
murderers. The fleet therefore immediately goes
down to Kagosima, a city in the territories of this
semi-independent noble, and demands the rendition
of the mu, derers, which is refused. The shore bat-
teries opened on the fleet, which thereupon bom-
barded the forts and town, and the last report was,
" The whole town is in flames. The city is one
mass of ruins—palace, factories, arsenal, &c. Three
steamers of Satsuma are destroyed completely. Such
is the result, and, probably, not the worst result,
of forcing a commercial treaty from an exclusive
and reluctant people, whom we are not prepared
to conquer and govern, and whom we only
wish to force into an exchange of merchandise.
The chain of moral necessity is this :—We insist
on a treaty with an overawing force, and get the
treaty ; the reaction naturally sets in in Japan, and
the party hostile to foreigners comes into the as-
cendant; outrages are committed on our subjects;
we demand redress, do not get it, and make an ex-
ample of a recalcitrant Prince by burning down a
large city, and driving all its inhabitants to despair.
Is it possible for any man with the slightest preten-
sion to Christian politics to justify such a policy—
foe the sake, not of civilising the Japanese with any
of the higher resources of a European Government,
but of compelling them, against the will of a large
party, to trade with us ? We should assuredly not
scruple at any attempt of the English authorities to
inflict condign punishment on Mr. Richardson's
murderers. But on what possible principle can we
inflict such wide-spread misery on a great city which
is accused of nothing but lying in the territory of a
man who screens these murderers ? Even in Euro-
pean and American wars, the bombardment of cities
is thought discreditable, and we have heard no
slight denunciations of the American generals for
bombarding Charleston after asiix months' notice.
But how infinite is the gulf between the responsi-
bility of the Southerners for the events which led
to the bombardment of Charleston, and the respon-
sibility of the Japanese of Kagosima for the murder
of Mr. Richardson ! War in Europe and America
means war with a people who have, at least, freely
and intelligently taken the steps which they knew
would lead to war—taken their side, and prepared
for the sacrifice—and yet we hesitate to inflict such
wholesale injuries. War in Japan means war at most
with an individual, while all the misery is inflicted
on creatures who, probably, know and understand
nothing of the cause. Nor is ;t even for a political
end. The only political result will be to shake down
the ee&eting Government, as we have done in
China, while we repudiate, and have, perhaps, never
even thought of substituting, anything better
and stronger in its place. Is there no limit at ell
to the duty of national retaliation on these Oriental
peoples ? Would it really be held a crime rather
to have let Mr. Richardson's murderers go nu-
punished—there is, indeed, no proof that they were
punished, even at last,--than spread this wholesale
murder among an inoffensive people ? Woulea it
not be better a thousand times to give up cenemerce
where commerce necessitates such cries s, if it is
only for the sake of commerce that ws, go there ? A
civilisation which only demands., at best, the right
to exchange English linen an !'a cotton for Japanese
copper, and enforces the* demand by destroying
cities on the first outbreak of barbarian malice, is
not a weapon of 'Which we need be proud. If we
were prepared to rule even a portion of Japan, as
we are now ruling India, and beginning to rule
China, we might have something to give worth
fighting for, though not worth fghting for in this
way. But to civilise only by selling cotton and
hardware, and following them up with gratuitous
bombshells whenever the barbarian spirit bursts
forth against us, is to present Japan with a type of
Christian civilisation it may take many generations
to forget.
SATURDAY REVIEW.—If her Majesty could, with-
out disrespect, be supposed to share the crotchety
ambition of the King of Prussia, she might cons
gratulate herself on the remarkable exemption from
hostile attack which her Ministers at present enjoy.
Without waiting for Royal exhortations, which,
indeed, might not produce the desired effect, con-
stituencies and public meetings almost unanimously
approve the foreign policy and domestic inaction of
the Government. It matters little whether the law
officers are addressing the electors who have just
confirmed their appointment, or Major Beres-
ford is lamenting at an agricultural dinner
that he can find no political ground of com-
plaint. On the whole, perhaps, the Ministerial
members approach more boldly than their oppo-
nents to the limits of criticism. Mr. Collier
reminds his constituents that he has once or twice
voted against the Government; and Mr. Lefevre
hints, with the hasty irreverence of youth, that it
is Lord Russell, and not the country, which ought
to " rest and be thankful." In the long and useful
career to which Mr. Lefevre may fairly look for-
ward, he will probably pass through seasons of
agitation which will contrast more or less agreeably
with the present calm. Lord Russell, who was the
last of his contemporaries to acquiesce in the expe-
dieney of letting things alone, represents for the
moment, more accurately than his impatient cen-
sors, the wish or instinct of the community. It
may be perfectly true that dormant liberalism is
not altogether intelligible to eager partisans, but
the country at present cares little for party. It is
hard on Major Beresford to have to discuss the
price of flour and the construction of labourers'
cottages, instead of denouncing the mietonduct of
the Government ; but the attention of politicians
has for several years been directed almost exclu-
sively to foreign affairs, and Lord Palmerston and
'I
Lord Russell have interprted with unusual success
the spirit ofj the national policy. It may be a
matter of conectv
':e whether the majority of Eng-
lishmen inch» .1 to the North or to the South in the
American quarrel, and perhaps the dispassionate
obeee
.rers who suspend their prepossessions and
s
opinions may claim to be the most faithful expo-
nents of public opinion ; but as to the practical re-
sult of perfect neutrality there is really no difference
of judgment. The few who profess to understand
the affairs of Schleswig and Holstein agree in
deprecating an unintelligible war ; and as to
Poland, there is a general consent that Russia
is wrong, and, at the same time, that it is not
the business of England to correct the in-
justice. Sir Roundel' Palmer, who was not
long since reckoned by many persons as a mem-
ber of the Opposition, gives the strongest or
most xealous evidence in favour of himself and
his colleagues. He would not consent either to sit
in Parliament or to hold the most lucrative office in
the gift of the Crown, except with a view to the
public services which he is prepared to render, and
the good which he intends to effect. He will "never
for a moment have the feeling which would prevent
him from preferring the interests of the country to
the interests of party, or to any personal interests
whatever." It is gratifying to know that the At-
torney-General is so conscientious, nor is it possible
to doubt his testimony to the kindred virtues of the
Prime Minister, the Foreign Secretary, and the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. "If ever there was
a man who loved his country, that man is Lord
Palmerston," and Sir Roundel' Palmer is "pro ad to
serve under that man." Lord Russell has adminis-
tered foreign affairs as they were never adminis-
tered before, and " in our revenue we have the ad-
vantage of a Minister, the object of perpetual
obloquy to his opponents, who triumphs over that
obloquy by his disinterestedness and success." lc
would not be easy to quote any attempt during the
last two years to throw obloquy on Mr. Gladstone's
financial policy, and there is much reason to hope
that in the next session it will once more be his
pleasant duty to reduce taxation, with the certainty
of receiving universal approbation. Yet it is, per-
haps, not altogether judicious to eulogise Hercules,
or to proclaim with too vociferous a repetition the
justice of Aristides. The Ministers are very tolera-
ble Ministers, and Sir Roundell Palmer is a highly
competent Attorney-General; but a reaction may
sooner or later be provoked, if the country is ex-
pected to be incessantly admiring the rulerst may at
it has no desire to disturb. A mere accident
any time produce a change of government,andit
is extremely doubtful whether the dominant party
could hang together iu the absence
of
Prime Minister. The recent elections
thehpavreeseinnt:
creased the strength of the Opposition by two
three votes, although Richmond and i
and Devonport remain faithfulartnostp
theiraie h
cueatsompaarry.
allegiance, and although B
tially compensated the reverses of Coventry and
Tam worth. The general election which must take
place at furthest within two years may possibly
substitute a hostile majority for the fine balance of
parties which has prevailed for several years.

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The weather has been more favourable foreseed sowing
this last week, and a fair quantity is already in the ground.
—New white wheat, 41s to 44 = ; red, 39s to 41s per 36
stone. Old red, 39a to 118 per 36 stone. Barley, malting,
new, 34s to 38s per qr.; grinding, 29s to 325; old oats,
25s to 30s; new oats, 22s to 25s per 24 stone. Beans,
old, 38s to 42s per 33 stone : flour, 30s to 35s per 20 stone.