The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-22 00:00:00

DISTRIBUTION OF PRIZES-THE REVIEW.

Lady Spencer having consented to present the
prizes to the successful competitors, this ceremony
will commence to-day at 3 o'clock punctually.
The hour named for the troops to be on the
ground is 5 o'clock, so that if punctuality be ob-
served by them the review may IN., A,mp00t.042140 com-
mence almost as soon as the distribution of prizes,
which always an interesting -ceremony, has con-
eluded. e.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—In the elections which were held yester-
day fortune was again favourable to the Liberal
cause. No less than three counties which in the late
Parliament were represented entirely by Conserva-
tives have been successfully attacked, and one
Liberal seat has been gained in each. Even in the
stanch Conservative county of North Essex the
Liberals have been successfully'lcd by Sir Thomas
Western, and the celebrated Conservative champion,
Major Beresford, has been defeated. Mr. Du Cane,
the other Conservative member, retains his seat.
The Liberal cause has achieved a similar success in
Hertfordshire, where the eloquence of Sir Edward
Bulwer Lytton has not availed to prevent the Hon.
W. Cowper from being returned at the head of the
poll. The contest in this instance has been remark-
ably severe. Mr. Cowper is but 70 ahead, and the
numbers polled for Sir E. B. Lytton and Mr. Surtees,
the second and third members, are exactly equal.'
A considerably larger number of electors, moreover,_
have been polled than on the occasion of the last
contest, when, in 1864, Mr. Cowper was defeated
by Mr. Surtees. The third county which the Liberals
have successfully stormed is North Wiltshire, in
which Lord Charles Bruce, the Liberal candidate, is
returned, at the head of the poll, with Mr. Long.
The defeated Conservative candidate is Sir G. Jen-
kinson. The amenities which passed between this
gentleman and Mr. Long at the commencement of
their canvass will not have been forgotten by our
readers. These three successes in counties which
might have been thought secure to the Conservative
side would seem enough for one day of county con-
tests, but we have another success to add to them,
Which, though not so marked as a victory over an
character The
possession,two new iseNvenscamtsorefoirmpthoretasnotuitnheirtns
part of the West Riding
Bhaavuemont, been
thcearrtiwede
by Lord Milton and Mr.
Liberal candidates. These two seats were created
in the course of the last Parliament by the ap-
propriation of two seats which had been for-
feited for bribery. The present, therefore, was the
first occasion on which this constituency has been
poßed and the Liberals have established themselves
in possession on the first opportunity. There are
many persons living who remembered when the re-
presentation of Yorkshire was in a very different
condition and was very differently decided. This
great county, which, with the addition just made,
now returns eight members to the House of Com-
mons, was represented as late as 1820 by no more
than two, and the struggle at a contested election
was one which none but giants in purse or influence
could maintain. At Wilberforce's last election up-
wards of 23,000 persons voted, the poll was kept
open for fifteen days, and the costs are said to have
been
not less than half a million of money. Tfie
change from this cumbrous and extravagant system
represents an immense advance in political science,
and the increase in the number of members is equally
significant of the development of the county in
wealth and population. The remaining elections of
yesterday have probably not affected the strength of
the Government. In South Durham a sharp con-
test has left the representation in the same state as
in the late Parliament. For the county of Dublin
the Conservatives retain their superiority, although
Captain White, the Liberal candidate, has polled a
very considerable number of votes. There now re-
main but 19 or 20 seats to be filled, of which 13 arc
to be decided to-day, and as the general result of
the election the Liberals will be able to count a
list of gains which even Mr. Disraeli may be in-
duced to consider of some importance. The dinner
at Newport Pagnell appears to have happened at
the most opportune moment for the ingenious con-
solation which the Conservative leader adminis-
tered to his followers. A day or two later and the
numbers might have surpassed even Mr. Disraeli's
ingenuity.
POST.—Wbatever opinion the public generally
may entertain with regard to the performances of
the last session of the late Parliament, we feel as-
sured that by one class at least of her Majesty's
subjects a grateful recollection of some of its acts
will long continue to be held. The debates on the
subject of Canada, although revealing the fact that
time actual circumstances and condition of that coun-
try were but imperfectly understood by some of
those who took part in them, nevertheless possessed
an interest not only for Canada, but for the whole
of the scattered colonies of Britain in every quarter
of the globe. Persevering efforts bad been made

r 'W."111
permanently part and parcel-of tll Brit
is n empire.
We believe they are sincerely anxious, as far as
their peculiar circumstances will permit, of follow-
ing the mother country in her free-trade policy,
and of establishing closer political and commercial
relations with the parent State. This satisfactory
state of the public sentiment in the British North
American provinces is, we think, in a great measure
to be attributed to the liberal policy of the Imperial
Government, to the courteous attention which has
been paid to all their representations, and to the
marked consideration which the late Parliament
gave to questions in which their vital interests were
concerned. The paragraph in her Majesty's speech
referring to the proposed confederation, and recog-
nising the devoted loyalty of all her British North
American subjects, will, we have no doubt, be re-
garded by the latter as affording an additional proof
of the interest which her Majesty and the people of
this country feel in the present prosperity and
future destination of the nearest and most advanced
portion of our colonial empire. Whatever amount
of regret and disappointment the temporary failure
of the Confederation scheme may have occasioned
in this country and in Canada, it is perhaps, after
all, for the best that the fusion of all the interests
of British North America, which cannot be deferred
for any great length of time, should not be com-
pleted in a hurried manner. The union of the
provinces under one strong central Government for
defensive purposes was of much more importance
six months ago than it is at the present time.
The judicious conduct of the Canadian Govern-
ment in amicably settling grave matters recently
in dispute between themselves and their powerful
neighbour, and the manly and consistent course
pursued by the Government. of Lord Palmerston
throughout the late American civil war, no longer
render it necessary that every part of the Canadian
frontier should bristle with arms .to repel the ad-
vance of an invading host. Happily for the inte-
rests of mankind in general a friendly understand-
ing now subsists between England and the United
States, and there is no reason to fear any sudden.
disturbance of these good relations. It is of the
utmost importance to the interests of both nations,
kindred as they are, that perpetual peace should, if
possible, subsist between them ; and we arc sure the
wise and statesmanlike policy of the present Govern-
ment towards America fully entitles them to the
gratitude and renewed confidence of the people of
this country As regards the question of the Con-
federation of British North America, the idea,
although only within the past twelve months brought
I prominently before the English public, has for more
than a quarter of a century been familiar to the
minds of our Transatlantic fellow-subjects. It has
over and over again been mooted, and laid on the
shelf until the proper time should arrive for the ac-
complishment of so great a project. We believe
that the time has come for carrying into effect what
has until lately been a fond dream with the colonial
statesmen, and we are confident that the labours of
the delegates from the several provinces who as-
sembled in conference- at Quebec last year, and
agreed upon a basis for establishing one general
Government for all British North America, will not
prove abortive. Although local jealousies and sus-
picions may for a time retard the progress of the
Confederation movement, it has now acquired such
a strong hold upon the minds of the people of Bri-
tish North America that its ultimate success appears
to us a matter of certainty. Nova Scotia has sent
over two of the members of its Government to con-
fer on the subject with her Majesty's Ministers, and
New Brunswick has also sent a deputation for the
same purpose. We can only express a hope that
the conferences between the several deputations
from the provinces and the Imperial Government
will have a favourable result for the Confederation
tphreojelacstt;
saenssdi,eash heebrseMrvaejdes, tbyr,iinhgh earhsepaete
scahehina unionclosing
of the provinces as will afford them additional
strength,rovemt
sand giv
eWe
facilitiesthinkit f
not for many
m that
all improbableanyinternal im-
Pone of the first bills to be submitted to the new
Parliament will be one for uniting, under one gene-
ral Government, the various provinces of British
North America.