The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-02 00:00:00

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NEW s

1

their construction. Le second circiunsttitte ton
which the Commission appeal as justifying cautioil
in estimates of the future may be expresSed in one
word—Mexico. They point out that among the
estimated receipts both of 1865 and of 1866 is a sum
of £1,096,000 to be paid by Mexico. By the terms
of the treaty, Mexico has undertaken to pay an
annual sum of a million, by way of indemnity to
France, and £96,000 towards the expense of the line
of packets between the two Empires. The Commis-
sion will not allow themselves to supposethat Mexico
will find any difficulty in making the first of these
payments ; but, strangely enough, they think it may
be necessary to add the smaller sum to the debt
which France is accumulating against the younger
Empire. Those who are not so deeply interested in
the solvency of Mexico may be pardoned for think-
ing that the probability that a million will be
promptly paid is not increased by the confession
of a doubt with respect to £96,000. Mexico furnishes
the occasion of another alarm sounded by the com-
mission. The extraordinary expenditure of the
current year includes, as we have said, £1,600,000
on account of the charges of the French troops
serving with the Emperor Maximilian. In the
estimate of 1866 this item disappears. "If," report
the commission, "we shall still have next year,
contrary to our hopes, troops in Mexico, the cost of
them will fall upon the retificatory budget of 1866,
without any supplementary resource being forth-
coming by way of compensation. The possibility
of this eventuality is another reason not to proceed
at present upon calculations of a problematical sur-
plus." It is tolerably evident that Mr. O'Quin has
transformed the equilibrium bf 1864 into a defi-
ciency of a million, the probable surplus of £720,000
in the current year is in his mind what mathema-
ticians call a vanishing quantity. As for 1866, he
scarcely ventures to speculate upon it ; and yet he
and his associates are hopeful. The deficiency of
18064,44. the smallesLwhich has happened for many
years. The rectificatory budget of the current year
also shows a considerable decrease on its prede-
cessors. The direct taxes produce a larger re-
venue yearly, and the indirect taxation increases,
although, or rather because, free trade has brought
reduced tariffs. But the commission see that while
all these influences produce some improvement in
the condition of the Imperial finances, something
more is wanted to restore them to a perfectly sound
condition. They echo in faint tones the wishes
which M. Fould almost plaintively expresses. Both
agree in desiring that the time may come when the
Budget will be relieved from the charges included
in it on account of distant and costly expeditions.
The Commission venture, indeed, a little further,
and hint at the possibilty of a reduction in the mili-
tary establishment of France. They are half afraid
to make the suggestion, and almost seem desirous
of withdrawing it after it has been made but it re-
mains. "We perceive," they say, "in this the pos-
sibility of serious economy; and if there be a people
for whom it offers no dangers, it is assuredly that
people whose children would become on the very first
call from the country irresistible soldiers."
POST.—The action of the Liberal party in election
matters leaves very much to be desired. It has
scarcely improved since Horner alluded to the " per-
fect specimens of wrong-headedness, men of a dis-
senting, provincial cast of virtue," who procured the
defeat of Brougham more than 50 years ago. The
conditions of the approaching contest at Chester
have just been described by Mr. Gladstone, and the
same state of things in Westminster has led to the
retirement of Sir John Shelley. Lambeth and Fins-
bury are in a similar dilemma, while Brighton and
Exeter presently witness to the inevitable result.
The moderation and prudence essential to the pro-
per management of political business are disre-
garded, and imperial interests are sacrificed to local
jealousies, impracticable ideas, and crotchetty con-
ceits. At Chester there are three candidates for one
seat. Mr. W. H. Gladstone stands upon a requisi-
tion signed by 800 electors, out of a constituency of
1,900 ; but as the Liberals are divided by the can-
didature of Mr. Fenton, the Conservatives conceive
that the breach thus made is wide enough to admit
of the election of the candidate they have brought
into the field to profit by the opportunity. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer explained on Wednes-
day evening that his son had, under his advice, de-
clined to accept the invitation of nearly half of the
constituency until he was satisfied that the responsi-
bility of dividing the Liberal party rested upon Mr.
Fenton ; and, as a matter of principle, it is, of
course, immaterial whether the division does or does
not answer to the expectations of the Conservative
minority. Their game is so far honest that there is
no concealment about it, and, what is more, from
their point of view they are playing for a national!
stake. As to vulgar vituperation and factious
mendacity, that is almost beneath the notice of a
Minister whose private virtues are not less con-
spicuous than his public services. We do not look
for truth or refinement in a contested election,
and Mr. Gladstone is, by reason of his character
and talent, a mark for envy and detraction. Mr.
Fenton's opposition may also be susceptible of
some explanation and we quite understand that a
candidate who thinks he can command a majority
at the close of the poll would refuse to submit to a
preliminary trial of strength, either by a show of
hands or a ballot. Mr. W. H. Gladstone's eight
hundred pledges are securities for so many votes,
but a promise is one thing and a vote another.
Any election agent up to his work would reduce the
eight hundred by a very simple arithmetical process;
and yet there is no reason to doubt that the requi-
sition expressed the opinions of the persons who
subscribed. Mr. Fenton may, therefore, be pre-
ferred bef9re the son of the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, and his election would in a sense justify
his candidature. But in Westminster another side
of the picture is visible. There three Liberal candi-
dates claimed two seats, and the Conservatives nomi-
nated Mr. Smith. The retirement of Sir John
Shelley now places the Liberal party in a somewhat
better position, and if his friends and the friends of
the two remaining candidates unite, one of the
principles Mr. Mill is pledged to support can be
controverted by his election. An influential mino-
rity,would be left unrepresented, while the working
classes would be represented by the great thinker
of the age, whose thoughts are above their com-
prehension, instead of by a gentleman who has
honourably raised himself from their own estate
to a position from which he is qualified to
solicit their suffrages. The fact, too, would
remain that Mr. Mill or Captain Grosvenor
compelled Sir John Shelley to retire; and without
at all going into the merits of the case, it must be
said that this discloses a reckless indifference to
obligations which, however out of fashion, are based
upon the principles of Constitutional Government.
Altogether, however, this is a very old story, and
Mr. Bernal Osborne, with his habitual candour,
lately pointed its moral pertinently and personally.
But Mr. Gladstone is, if we mistake not, consider-
ing the subject comprehensively and practically.
He regrets the abolition .of the scot-and-lot con-
stituencies, and is probably of opinion that the plain
honesty of the educated men of the working class
would produce a salutary effect on the existing
electoral body. Mr. Gladstone is certainly far
from being what is called a theoretical reformer ; he
keeps a high moral purpose in view, and his expe-
rience at Chester will no doubt serve to strengthen
the resolutions he has formed. Nor will his pene-
trating intellect fail to trace loose practices to their
relaxing cause. Under the old system of represen-
tation, if members were virtually returned by in-
dividuals, they went to the House of Commons to
maintain intelligible principles. They were
nominated and elected to support a party, and
that party was organised on broad national con-
siderations. Now, there is, more or less, in many
bel des
It
isncoritbed as a
whether a
boroughs,commercial wiliinadtersctaannclionngly.
candidate is qualified to discharge the duties of a
representative with credit to himself and to the
public advantage, but whether he has it in his power
to benefit the locality which elects him ; and when
of change,or the
Opposition,
politics are primarily regarded, it is not the general
respect b but
t o
theua
rtGovernmentmeasure
which pledges are exacted. Conservatives oppose
b
Mr. Gladstone, and Radicals declare that Lord
spoomliceypaorftic
oPfarlmefeorsrnito;n is the
yg ro adt
th ose
ostumbling-blockpoints
the
they
n wthe way
t
look. Mr. Bright despairs of progress, because he
pretends that it is impeded by the Premier, forget-
ting, as it would seem, that the force of resistance
he ascribes to a Minister must have its source in the
mind of the country ; and in like manner the secu-
rity of the Church is said to depend on the rejection
of the Chancellor of the Exchequer by the Univer-
sity of Oxford, as if a national institution, reposing
firmly on its catholicity, could be endangered by
one man, no matter how able or persuasive. Now,
this may be the representation of mediocrity, as
Mr. Disraeli has used the word ; it may be a re-
presentation of class interests, and of the prejudices
of cliques and sections of the community ; but it is
certainly not the Parliamentary representation of
the people contemplated by the Constitution ; and
it is this growing conviction, or something closely
resembling it, which is gradually leading up to the
concltaion thoughtfully and cautiously expressed by
Mr. Gladstone—that it is desirable to extend its
foundations for the purpose of exal ing its
character.

MONSTER CASTING.—On Wednesday an anvil
block estimated to weigh 210 tons, and said to be the
y
largest hitherto manufactured in England, was cast at the
into the mould.
tooklron
eighta hoursndSteam t Co ori 1:ttl p
na's Works, Bolton. The metal