The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The debate on Mr. Baines's Bill has
been distinguished by an opposition to the measure
as vigorous and earnest as that of Wednesday last,
and by a defence even more void of enthusiasm.
Both sides have evidently felt that, whatever may
be the claims of the class which is at present with-
out the franchise, whatever the shape which the
future Reform Bill may be destined to take, there
is little to recommend the particular measure which
Mr. Baines brings before Parliament. The speech
of Mr. Gregory represents the strong Conservativd
feeling which possesses the great body of the edu-
cated class on this subject. Although we do not
share all the apprehensions which are so freely ex-
pressed, nor shrink from contemplating the admis-
sion of the working men within the pale of the Con-
stitution, yet a feeling so strong and so general as
that which this speech and those of Wednesday
evince shows how slowly and cautiously the Govern-
ment must deal with the subject if it would avoid de-
feat and be able to make any beneficial change. The
present House of Commons is not illiberal. Though
elected under a Conservative Government, it soon
dismissed them, and for six years has continued to
give regular and efficient support to their opponents.
It has passed a multitude of measures. has com-
pleted the liberation of commerce, has diminished
or repealed oppressive taxes, has paid especial at-
tention to the condition and management of the
poor—in short, has done all that can be asked of a
'popular Assembly by any reasonable man. Yet the
temper of the House on this question of extending
the suffrage is unmistakable. Even with a general
election close at hand, the members are unable to
refrain from showing which way their convictions
' and their sympathies lie. When Mr. Gregory de-
nounces Democratic change and gives pictures of
Australian and American political life he carries the
House with him ; and we cannot help feeling that if
the much prized institution of the Ballot had been in-
troduced into the Commons there would probably
not have been 50 votes for Mr. Baines's Bill. Under
these circumstances, the position of Government
last night, though at first sight embarrassing, was
not really one of difficulty. Opponents may taunt
them with respect to the Reform Bills of 1859 and
1860, but such taunts are easy to bear when it is
felt that those who use them are at heart just as
uneasy as to their own conduct. The course of the
present debate is the best justification of what
Government did in the last Parliament and in the
early days of the present one. Lord Derby's Ministry
brought in a Reform Bill, which, though most
pmpe
etaltedhe
to the
re
ywe
liberal in certain of its provisions, did not provide
for the enfranchisement of the working classes by
lowering the suffrage. On this question the Con-
seeervunattryiv.es wiivehreendtehfr
nteedw,
Panaliadrthmeeynat
forced to relinquish office as not possessing the
con-
fidence of the house. The Whigs, who succeeded
them, were, of course, morally bound to bring in a
Reform Bill of their own, and this they did, and
used, as Sir George Grey tells us, every effort to
carry it. We may have an opinion that these efforts
were not very strenuous, but it is fair to admit that
the hostility of the House of Commons and the in-
difference of the country made the success of the
measure impossible. Some slight lowering of the
franchise might have been grudgingly conceded,
but it was quite understood that the members for
the small boroughs were determined not to permit
another " Schedule A," and without some strong
impulse from the country it would have been im-

possible to overcome their oppositiOn. The Lords
would have had no need to assert their rights, for
the measure would either have never reached them
at all, or have made its appearance in their House
so feeble and mutilated that the public would have
been glad to be relieved of it. The bill of 1860
failed simply through want of the common support
necessary to carry a road bill or harbour bill through
Parliament. Well might Mr. Horsman say that the
House and the country were responsible for the
result as well as the Government, and that the latter
had been fully absolved for any shortcomings on the
Reform question. But these bygones are quite
bygones. The events of five or six years ago are
thrown into the background by mighty occurrences.
The last Reform Bills were presented at the time
when Italy was in the full career of revolution, and
the period of our political inaction since has been
passed in contemplating the most momentous con-
flict since the wars of the French Empire. The ques-
tion last night was what course the Government,
with a full sense ()fits means and its responsibilities,
would take on the subject of Reform. It must be
evident that such a subject can be successfully
treated only by a strong
Ministry using all its
strength. Mr. Baines's bill, even if its principle
were adopted, could only be a part of the large and
comprehensive measure. There are counties as well
as boroughs ; there are respectable men other than
householders; there are vast inequalities in the con-
stituencies. Some five or six most important points
would require discussion and decision, as well as the
mere descent from £lO to £6 on the occupation
franchise. It was a legitimate curiousity, therefore,
which made the house dear:rotas last night to hear the
views of the Government. Destiny gave them Sir
George Grey as an exponent of the Ministerial po-
licy. He was certainly unfortunate in taunting the
opponents of the bill with being opposed to Reform
of every kind. The bill is as plain and sharply de-
fined a measure as ever was drawn ; it would give
the franchise to a single section of the working
class, and to no one else, and may fairly be opposed
by the most sincere reformers. The injustice thus
done to the opponents of the bill, coupled with his
own lukewarm statements as to the Ministerial in-
tentions, naturally took away from the effeet of the
only official speech made during the evening. But
Sir G. Grey, we conceive, duly represented the po-
licy of the Government—the only sensible policy—
which is to ascertain the wishes of the country by
awaiting the assembly of the next House of Com-
mons. He refused to be bound to the £6 franchise,
and declared that he and his colleagues did not in-
tend to ask the support of the country as the advo-
cates of a great measure of Parliamentary Reform.
However much these utterances may contrast with the
reforming sentiments which were fashionable when
this Parliament
they arewas young, the division last night
proved acceptable now. The result
that
of the discussion has undoubtedly been to strengthen
the resistance which will be made to the democratic
tendencies of any future Reform Bill. The question
is at an end as far as the present Parliament is con-
cerned ; but there is nothing in the decision of last
night against well-considered changes in the repre-
sentation, such as shall admit to a vote numbers
of men who are now excluded. The progress
of education and of political knowledge has been
such during the last thirty years that a much larger
proportion of the people is capable of wisely using
the franchise ; but even the unenfranchised feel that
at present there are more theoretical anomalies than
practical wrongs. The immobility of the working
class is a tribute to the excellent legislation of Par-
liament as now constituted. The practical good
sense of the people tells them that Reform is not a
question to be angry and noisy about. We shall be
glad to see a measure passed without commotion,
and in a liberal but moderate spirit, for the improve-
ment of our electoral system ; but in the meantime
the country has no reason to be dissatisfied with the
House of Commons as it is.

POST.—The American news which we publish this
morning is of a varied and an interesting character.
By a curious accident of retributive justice,
Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Mr. Lincoln, has
himself been shot through the head, while in the
act of resisting capture by his pursuers, who had
tracked him to his last hiding-place. Booth and
a man named Harrold, a supposed accomplice, in
order to escape detection, appear to have adopted
the expedient of dressing themselves in the uni-
form of Confederate soldiers. To this they added
the further device of vehemently denouncing the
crime which one of them had committed. But
neither pretence was of any avail. The
detectives traced them to a swamp in St. Mary's
County, Maryland, and subsequently to Garrett's
Farm, near Port Royal, on the Rappahannock.
Here they locked themselves into a barn, which was
set on fire by the soldiers who had surrounded it;
and who had thus cut off all chance of escape.
Harrold was taken alive. Booth was shot as we
have described, and died after lingering a few hours.
He exhibited a characteristic desperation to the last,
reproached his associate with cowardice for suggest-
ing a surrender, and fired upon the soldiers. The
fire was returned, and he fell. The persons at Gar-
rett's Farm who had harboured him have been
arrested, and declare that they had no knowledge
of the real character of their guest. When Booth
escaped
i on horseback immediately after the mur-
der, he s supposed to have met with an accident,
for he had sustained a severe injury in the leg; and
a Dr. Mudd, of Maryland, who had set the limb
and supplied his patient with crutches, has been
arrested on suspicion of complicity. It is stated
that the man who attempted to murder Mr. Seward
has been discovered and captured ; and there were
reports purporting to be based upon official an-
nouncements that the conspiracy was being traced
to its source. On these points, however, we must
wait for further and more ample information. The
military intelligence renders it somewhat doubtful
whether the war is really at an end, upon a large
scale, or not. General Sherman appears to have
considered it competent for him to exercise a wider
discretion and an ampler power in negotiating with
General Johnston than his Commander-in-Chief
had asaumed in dealing with General Lee. The
orders of the Government addressed to General
Grant were to hold no conference with General Lee
except as a preliminary to surrender. The corre-
spondence between these commanders, prior to the
surrender of the Southern army of Virginia, shows
hew these orders were obeyed. It was natural that
the new President should have adopted and con-
firmed the same arrangement with regard to all the
Federal armies on service in the South. General
Sherman, however, entered into negotiations with
Johnston upon a much wider basis, including the.
political as well as the military relations of the belli-
gerents--subject, however, as a matter of course, to
the ratifications of the respective Governments.
According to this arrangement hostilities were im-
mediately to cease until 48 hours' notice of their re-
sumption on either side, the Confederate armies
were to be immediately disbanded, and their arms
deposited in the State capitals, there to be placed at
the disposal of the State and Federal authorities. The
remainder of the stipulations, however wise and
politic in themselves, appear to transcend the powers
with which a general in the field is invested. The
recognition of the State Governments by the Fede-
ral Executive; the settlement by the Supreme Court
of the questions raised by the conflict of State
Governments arising out of the war ; the procla-
mation of a general amnesty and the immediate
cessation of the war; the assurance to the people
even the Commander-in-
should obey the laws—these
are
Commander-in-
Chief, of the South by the Federal Government of their
rights
absence they
whichsence of special powers, could have
, matters as i
n
no authority to treat. It might be expedient and
wise to come to such arrangement as this in the
end,Washington Government not unnatu-
rallyo have thought that Sherman had ex-
ceeded appear t
baupttp thehee
extent
of his commission. Whether all
the reasons alleged for repudiating the unauthorised
engagement of their officer
be sound and wise or not
is another question ; but it is not difficult to anti-
cipate what those reasons would be, nor to compre-
hend the force of them from the point of view likely
to be taken by the Northern belligerent. It was
objected thdt the arrangement was a virtual recog-
nition of the Confederate Government, and a no less
direct exemption of the Confederates from liability
to punishment—that it would enable them to estab-
lish new State Governments with slavery ; might
render the Federal Government responsible for the
Confederate debt; would afford no firm basis for
peace ; and would even enable the Confederates to
renew the war when they had recovered their
strength. General Sherman was consequently or-
dered to resume hostilities, Grant himself imme-
diately proceeded to
the seat of war in North Caro-
lina to direct operations in person, and notice was
given to General Johnston that the truce was at an
end. In the meantime orders had been given to
the Federal Generals Meade, Sheridan, and Wright
oy,
tooffm
joovhoefsotorwn,asrdrewti!eta.
with all . despatch and cut
As it stated that this
..ander now in the
i
t
field,Ge General, raatl ,
the t hd the
ea only Southern
a uothonersnidcoorTm4biire
arm was read
terms as Lee, had not
Shermanosurrender
nt ;rater upon larger negotia-
tions, it is probable mat, surrounded as he must be
on all sides, he -
oonse on thee dto same
fill not unnecessarily sacrifice the