The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-15 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

•
TIMES.—The only thing certain about the coming
election is that very few constituencies will remain
undisturbed. Although no great political change
is impending, and hardly any new pledges are being
exacted, it is probable that the next House of Com-
mons will differ materially from its predecessor.
Many old members are retiring, many others are
likely to be turned out, and not a few are endeav-
ouring to exchange their present seats for others.
In almost every county and borough from which we
have received intelligence a contest is expected, in
many there is a " split" in the Liberal or Conserva-
tive interest, and in several one of the sitting mem-
bers has announced his intention of seeking election
elsewhere. These facts betoken an unusually keen
competition for Parliamentary honours, a competi-
tion not arising from a peculiar activity of party
spirit, but rather from what may be called a glut in
the raw material of representatives. Never, perhaps,
in times so quiet has a dissolution been anticipated
with so much eagerness. In some counties, indeed,
the old difficulty of finding a country gentleman of
adequate capacity willing to bear the cost of a con-
test and to live in London for half the year is still
the subject of complaint. Some'boroughs, too, have
the reputation of being so rapacious or capricious
that no one but a rich adventurer can be got to stand
for them. But these are rare exceptions. In most
instances the supply of candidates greatly exceeds
the demand, as Mr. Brand must know by this time,
and popular constituencies can afford to give them-
selves the airs of a coy young lady. Knowing elec-
tion agents criticise the physical, mental, and moral
qualifications of applicants with the eye of a pur-
chaser, and no one who does not unite a long purse
and a plausible manner with local interest has much
chance of being accepted. A " strong" candidate is
one who possesses these virtues in perfection, and if
he can make a dashing speech so muchthe better ; a
" weak" candidate is one who stands on political
capacity alone, and is not good for more than a cer-
tain number of hundred pounds. It does not surprise
us, therefore, that merchants and " City men" should
be among the most prominent of the new aspirants.
Commercial pursuits have of late absorbed a much
larger proportion of youngmen of good social position
and high education than was formerly the case. Money
is made rapidly in business, and long before the
rising barrister has earned enough to justify his
looking to Parliament, his old schoolfellow in the
bank or counting-house is receiving deputations and
making his choice between fame and superfluous
wealth. So far as we can foresee, this class will
form an increasing element in future Parliaments,
for no extension of the franchise, however unfavour-
able to the influence of rank or ability, can deprive
the moneyed man of his advantage. A more inte-
resting and novel feature of this election is the pre-
sence of several ex-colonists among the candidates.
Lieut.-Col. Torrens, for instance, the author of the
Torrens system of conveyancing, and a great autho-
rity on Australian matters, is standing for the
borough of Cambridge. Mr. Gorst, whose work on
the New Zealand war has materially contributed to
modify public opinion in this country, has been
brought forward at Hastings, and other names will
readily occur to our readers. We cannot doubt that
gentlemen thus qualified would be a valuable acces-
sion to the Imperial Legislature. Not only are the
interests of our colonies bound up in a thousand
ways with our own, but colonial experience may
often throw light on questions of home policy. If
we did not borrow the idea of the registration of
title to land from Australia, it was there that it was
first shown to work beneficially, and in the late de-
bate on Mr. Baines's Bill illustrations were drawn
on both sides from the operation of the Australian
franchise. We observe that Mr. Clements, a
medical candidate for Shrewsbury, rests his claims
on somewhat analogous grounds. He urges, with
some reason, that every profession but his own
is duly represented in the House of Commons,
whereas only one member of Parliament is a
doctor. If some medical men had been in Par-
liament, he continues, we should not have seen
such ignorant and useless legislation on the im-
portant subject of the public health. Perhaps the
practical exclusion of physicians and surgeons
may be justified sufficiently by the nature of
their engagements; certainly it is not due to any
jealousy on the part of their patients. If Sir Charles
Locock and Mr. Clements shall find their way into
the House of Commons, they may do good, service
in the discussion of sanitary measures, but they
must first approve themselves as politicians to the
electors of the Isle of Wight and Shrewsbury. There
is great force, however, in the remark so often made,
that very few young men of high promise have as
yet shown themselves in the lists. It is not only to
the political apathy of the country, but to the gene-
ral mediocrity of new candidates, that we attribute
the want of individuality and original views in the
current of election addresses. Where are all the
political geniuses from our two Universities, the
heroes of the Schools and Triposs, the oracles of
the Union, the flower of our Academical youth ?
Mr. Thackeray describes in an amusing passage the
Parliamentary aspirations of Cambridge undergra-
duates in the good old days before the Reform Bill.
There was a tradition among them " that the great
leaders of the Opposition and Government had their
eyes on the University Debating Club, and that if a
man distinguished himself there he ran some chance
of being returned to Parliament as a great noble-
man's nominee. So Jones, of John's, or Thomson, of
Trinity, would rise in their might, and, draping
themselves in their gowns, rally round the mon-
archy, or hurl defiance at priests and kings, with the
majesty of Pitt or the fire of Mirabeau, fancying all
the while that the great nobleman's emissary was
listening to the debate from the back benches, where
he was sitting with the family seat in his pocket."
Has the passion for senatorial distinction died out
among the successors of these youthful orators, or
has the extinction of rotten boroughs made them
despair of success, or is the elite of the Universities
no longer derived from the same favoured class
in society ? We believe the last explanation to
be the true one. Whatever be the reason, and
however brilliant the exceptions, the highest
honours at Oxford and Cambridge are generally
carried off by the sons of professional men,
who have their way to make in the world, and
are compelled to stifle this kind of ambition.
Mr. Thackeray's Jones and Thomson must have
been even less prudent, as well as more sanguine,
than most of their age, if they set their heart on
Parliament without leaving the means or leisure for
Parliamentary life. It must be presumed that they
were the eldest of peers or large proprietors, and it
is because youths of this type, combining pecuniary
independence with great natural gifts, are very
scarce now-a-days, that few election addresses are
issued by senior wranglers or double first-class men.
No one acquainted with the present state "of the
Universities will be disposed to charge them with
any intellectual degeneracy. There is plenty of
ability among the students, bat the noblemen and
gentlemen commoners do not contribute so large a
share of it as before ; the cleverest men are seldom
the richest, and the richest men are seldom the
cleverest. Hence the absence of the great Univer-
sity reputations among the novi homines in our list
of competitors. There will be " fresh blood" in
the new Parliament, but not much, we fear, of that
quality which makes great statesman. It may be
unavoidable, but we cannot help regretting it, and
it is a point which constituencies might do well to
consider. Mr. Gladstone's plea for his own son at
Chester was a good word for all young candidates
of merit, and merit may surely be discerned by local
committees as well as by individual patrons.
POST.—The defeat which Russia has just sus-
tained in Central Asia is not only serious in itself,
but is likely to be followed by important conse-
quences. According to the intelligence which has
reached us, one hundred and fifty thousand men
had been mustered for the defence or Tachkend,
the place which the Russians have been so long in-
tent upon seizing, and in the recent attempt upon
which they have met with so signal a reverse, A.
defeat of this kind must necessarily be attended with
a great loss of prestige. The populations whose
interest or supposed interest has made them
friendly to Russia will lose confidence in her, while
her enemies will take heart at her overthrow. It is
stated that the Khan of Bokhara has sent a sum,
of money for the service of the Khokanese, and
has stationed a large army of observation, under
his personal command on the frontier, in
the neighbourhood of Samarcand. Russia
had been enabled to purchase the friend-
ship of some of the neighbouring popula-
tions, who, impressed with an idea of her power,
seem to have thought she would be a useful protec-
tor or ally; but, after what has just happened, their
feelings towards the would-be conqueror of Central
Asia will no doubt undergo considerable modifica-
tion. It will be convenient before entering into a
more ample discussion of the late events to sketch a
brief outline of the object which Russia appears to
have had in view in making an attempt in which
her arms have so signally miscarried. Tachkend is
a place which constitutes a strategic point of great
importance to a Power with the designs whichßussia
has long been so energetically prosecuting. It forms
alike the key to the Khanat of Khokan and theKha-
nat of Bokhara, and if once in the possession of
Russia would place both almost at her mercy. No
inconsiderable diplomatic strategy was requisite to
pave the way for the military enterprise which was
entrusted to General Endokimoff, who, with a force
of some fifty thousand men, besides cavalry and
artillery, under his orders, was commissioned to ob-
tain possession of the important strategic point in
question. The Kaissaks, an important tribe below,.
ing to the Khanat of Khokan, had been gained over
by the Russians. This rude population has been to
a great extent Russianised by the assiduous policy of