The Sun.
London, England, 1865-11-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.--We might have been thought, perhaps,
rather too prompt to protest against the new distri-
bution of Cabinet Ministers between the two Houses,
and assert the consequently provisional character of
the " reconstructed" Administration. That prompt-
ness, however, has been vindicated by the readiness
with which an evident anomaly has been defended,
if not heartily, at least on principle. The arrange-
ment of Chief Secretaries in the Lords and Under-
Secretaries in the Commons seems to present itself
to some minds as not inappropriate to the compara-
tive dignity and functions of the two Houses. The
Upper men should be, it seems, in the Upper House,
where affairs are treated with more gravity than in
the Lower, where less time is thrown away in need-
less discussions, and measures can be explained with
less interruption. What is wanted in the Lower
House is a set of clever and industrious Under-
Secretaries thoroughly up to their subjects ; whether
in the Cabinet or not is really unimportant so as
they do their work well. For this purpose we only
want " rising men," who may hope to be one day
themselves Peers and Secretaries of State. The
House of Commons, in this view of the case, is not
only the battleground of parties, of the Constitution,
of the Government, and all the other public ques-
tions at issue, but also the place where clever and
industrious aspirants are supposed to be fighting for
rank and position. That there is a grain of virtual
truth in this theory is not to be denied, for it can
be supported by illustrious examples. It was in a
very humble capacity that Lord Russell himself did
the rough work of the Reform Bill ; nor was he
rewarded with a place in the Cabinet till several
years after. Lord Palmerston, as has been fre-
quently stated with a touch of exaggeration, was
only known as a hardworking official at the mature
age of 43. Had he, in due tin! e, proceeded to the
Upper House, and contented himself thenceforth
with giving the cue to his subordinates in the
lower, the precedent would have been more fruit-
ful and more applicable. But a very slight retro-
spect of our political history is sufficient to show
that, as the general rule, the best Ministers have
been good and patient subordinates. Ministers may
do their work very well in the upper House, and the
House of Commons can do its work very well,
though the representatives of the Cabinet may be
chiefly of a less important character. It really is a
question of working, and nobody can object to that
which works well. Should the House of Commons
be content with Under-Secretaries, and should Mr.
Gladstone's health, strength, temper, and self-pos-
session endure in a nightly controversy with the
entire Opposition de omnibus rebus et quibusdam aliis,
the only thing to be said of the proposed arrangement
is that it is as good as it looks, and that we seem to
have discovered, as it were, by a " fluke," a most
excellent rule for all future Cabinet arrangements.
Lord Russell would acquire the credit of having re-
formed not only the constitution of the House of
Commons, but also its due work and proper rank in
the Legislature, besides vindicating the dignity of
the House of Lords and putting the Cabinet itself
on a more convenient footing. But even supposing
a general submission to the arrangement and a
satisfactory working, several considerations obtrude
themselves rather in the way. Let us suppose a
clever and industrious Under-Secretary attacked in
a good House, not in a pitched battle, but in one of
those skirmishes that are critical because they affect
a position. What is to be done ? Is the position
to be abandoned, and nothing more to be said about
it? Or is the unsuccessful subordinate to be lopped
off and thrown to the foe? How often and for how
long is the process of minor elimination and subor-
dinate reconstruction to be repeated, and how many
changes in the visible representatives of Government
is the House of Commons to accept before it flies at
higher game and ventures upon a Cabinet question?
There is a further consideration, with a social as-
pect. In the House of Commons there are a great
number of " rising men,"_.who think themselves
" clever," and are not without industry, at least in a
mischievous sense. There are also many others who
are mot rising, but who are not the less ready to join
in an attack upon those who are. Hence it is that
the " rising man" is especially liable to be attacked,
and thus to provoke collisions with Government. It
sometimes becomes, therefore, almost a matter of
necessity to put up, not " a rising man," but a con-
siderable personage, the heir of a great title and
estate, to overawe an envious and tumultuous
Opposition, apt to degenerate indeed into a per-
sonal persecution. So, what if the Under-Secretaries
themselves should come to be men already on their
way to the Lords by succession, not creation ? To
be sure, in this case the principle of " rising men"
winning their way to rank and power comes in to
counteract the practice of noble Under-Secretaries,
and might end in their actual expulsion. If, too,
the discomfiture of an Under-Secretary is to go for
nothing, why not amputate an expectant marquis as
well as a rising commoner—that is, if the spirit of
the House should prove equal to the occasion? An-
other question presents itself. The House of Com-
mons, it must not be forgotten, is under sentence of
reform, and at this moment only waits the pleasure
of the Premier as to the execution of the sentence.
That reform, as everybody understands, is to be in
the Democratic direction ; in fact, the House is to
be a mere popular body. Is it possible that we see
here a twofold return to the simplicity of our Plan-
tagenet Parliaments ; a real House of Peers, and,
at a respectful distance, a House of Knights and
Burgesses, of comparatively humble degree, and
content with a modest share in the counsels of the
King and the government of the country ? Treated
thus, before and behind, the House of Commons
might find itself nearer the masses, but not quite so
near the elite of the social and political world.
Usage, mere usage, though now of some centuries,
has induced another estimate of the House of Com-
mons, and has made it absorb within itself power,
wealth, rank, office, and public estimation to an
overwhelming amount. But it is to be reformed, as
we have said, in its relations to what is above as well
as to what is below. It is to be taught its place ; and,
first of all, it is not to tread on the heels of the rank be-
fore it. It is thrown out, indeed, with a superfluity
of caution that the present " reconstruction" is tem-
porary and provisional. It will last the recess, and
that is spoken of as if it were the pledge of a more
enduring stability. So far as that goes, we should like
to know what sort of a Cabinet would not last till
the meeting of Parliament. It is then that the ex-
periment has to be put to proof. An experiment it
is admitted to be, and it is really an experiment,
not only on the powers of several able and excellent
officials, but also on the temper of the House of
Commons, which, we regret to say, has hitherto
shown itself not at all the body to play any tricks
with. If anything, we have had to deplore its over-
sensitiveness, its susceptibility to slight affronts, and
its disposition to underrate material advantages and
sensible arrangements when honour is in question.
It is always said in common life that when a man is
easily affronted and ready to pick a quarrel, it is
because he has himself doubts about himself and is
not quite certain of his own position and character.
But that is very much the case of the British House
of Commons. It does not quite know what it is,
and has some vague aspirations in more than one
direction. It represents all sorts, and, saving its
absence just now, is made up of all sorts. Lord
Russell thinks it ought to represent more of just
one sort, that is the people, in a pretty numerous
sense of that word. He thinks there ought to be
less doubt about its constitution, and, as it appears,
about its functions also. But the house, when it
meets, will be very apt to do as all former houses
have done. It will not he able to disguise from
itself the very mixed character of its composition
and origin. Like all new made things, it will find
that it has to make and assert its own position, and
that this process will entail the risk of collision. It
may at once see that an experiment is made on its
forbearance, and may take action accordingly. That
is a crisis which we cannot help thinking it is better
not to wait for, simply because it is better not to be
beaten in ever so trifling a matter. If the last
house, a singularly moderate and self-disciplined
body, and with Lord Palmerston face to face, com-
plained now and then that they had to deal with an
official shadow instead of the substance, the new
house is not less likely to remonstrate when they
find the Chancellor of the Exchequer the only
Minister there with a general commission to defend
the Ministerial policy. If the house is content, of
course so are we ; but if it is not, we sec no alter-
native but to support its objection.
POST.—While the financial condition of so many
continental States is hopelessly embarrassed, and
most of their Governments are asking for new loans,
it is gratifying to learn that our nearest neighbours,
the French, are practising an economy in the na-
tional expenditure which enables the Minister of
Finance to promise most satisfactory budgets. In
18G1 the ever-augmenting deficits of the debtor
creditor account of the French nation caused great
uneasiness amongst the commercial classes of Im-
perial France. All the Ministers of the departments
of Government were spending money at a rate
never before known ; each Ministry conducted its
affairs on the most extravagantly splendid scab:).
The Chambers and public opinion attracted the
Emperor's attention to a threatening evil, and the
elected of the people did not fail to listen and att.
M. Fould, the present Minister of Finance, was
called to power to practise economy, and, as it has
afterwards proved, to strengthen the peace counsels
of the advisers of Napoleon 111. At the period to
which we refer both the finance and politics of
France were in a decidedly unsatisfactory state.
The year 1861 showed a deficit of 161,903,104 fr ,
and France was engaged in the Mexican expedition',
a war of a most expensive character on account of
the enormous cost of the transport service. We
have always regarded the occupation of muicc, and

14. 1...,

the foundation of an empire in that far off Trans-
atlantic continent as one of the most unhapPY
inspirations of the far-seeing Sovereign who per:
sonally directs the acts of the French nation, and
as specially identified with national success or
disaster. France has not only supplied the men
who occupy Mexico, but France has found the
money to establish the empire of the Austrian
prince, Maximilian. The Finance Minister must
have found his budgets very much crippled by the
Mexican item, although the national Treasury. _
enriched with a mass of Mexican obligations which
it would be difficult perhaps to turn into hard cash
at any possible price. A Chancellor of the Exch.e
quer when he comes into office inherits not only the
debts, but the politics of the State. M. Fould could
not put a stop to the Mexican expedition,
fore had to provide for it, as well as for the military
operations in China, Cochin China, and Rome.
Fould. however, has gradually cut down the Ilan
and military expenditure of France, and we are glad
to learn that his anticipatory Budget for 1867
further proof of the Emperor's apparent intentions
to turn more from the arts of war and foreign
material
progress. peditions towards the arts of peace and
and th. ere-
progress. Whilst the two great German powers are
keeping up " exaggerated armaments," France, th!fu..
neighbour, proposes to reduce her warlike exp.eow,
ture in 1867 by some 15,000,000 fr. The sum is not
a. very large one, but we think it is a significant fact'
interesting to the rest of the world, that Franc's
continues to economise in the army and the navy
There There will be a reduction of about 10,000 men. 1-
the.effective of the French army, and a slight di"
nution in the expenditure of the navy. The effective'
in stead of 400,000, will be 300,900. Such a red
tion might be made, doubtless, without any refer-
ence to the permanent military strength of France,
as the army of occupation at Rome will in 186.7tha
at home. again. What we rejoice to recognise is ",.,0
decidedly peaceful tendency which the EmPerc.6o.
present policy appears to indicate. The coming
French Budgets also promise further economy 1.0
domestic administration ; in fact, retrenchmeot.d,
.every shape and form is evidently M. Fould's gul
mg star, and if no unforeseen events occur, the
present Minister of Finance promises to place. the
nation's accounts in such a satisfactory condition
as Frenchmen have not greeted for many lean
The largest sums of the new Budget are recorde"
web'
to the Ministry of Public Works, but this is
money well spent. A nation is always made p00.,11.
b y a war, but new ports, roads, and public bt
i n"
ngs add to a nation's wealth. We confess to 11
unable to understand by what process the money id
found to carry on the immense building operation;
now in progress not only in Paris but all olds
France. The traveller who visits Marseilles f 311,0
a new town ; Havre is half rebuilt ; gigantic icor;
going on at Lyons ; Nice growing into a mag.l,4.
cent city ; and what the capital will be in all°" Tt,
ten years can only be imagined by those who Iv` a
ness the present rapid rise of the series of handsorn
white stone houses churches, and public buildings'
which are now radiating from certain metropohtlile
centres in every direction. It is calculated that t"
national wealth of France has doubled since NaP°i
Icon 111. came to the throne. What is patent to
the world is the wonderful. and constant spread.
French commercial interests. Foreign loans, foreiri
railways, foreign credit societies are now contracted
for in Paris to an extent which is incredible to those
who remember the state of commercial France
twenty years ago. It is doubtless of the ntinerh
importance that the national finances under nit,
circumstances should be in a sound and solid e,°ll
dition. National credit means national wea}
The coming budgets, as far as we can comprehelleh
those ever-complicated statements of Fret!,o
finance, with their retrospective and prospeotl',
features, will be satisfactory. The Emperor re..4fl
look forward to close his reign with a penn'
policy, and leave the finances of the nation 01 t
condition to meet the demands of war, should the
scourge to humanity again visit Europe. In rye
practical resolutions his Majesty appears to ha
been supported by the majority of his Cabinet, a Ain
perhaps by none more efficiently than by M. Fow"'
the Minister of Finance.