The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-21 00:00:00

regulating a power which, kept in due bounds, is a 1
friend to progress and an -aid to civilisation, but
which threatens occasionally to override and ON vr-
whelm us, should occupy serious attention and en-
gage universal care. The Chairman adverted to
the difficulties which lay in the way of proper 1 egis-
lation, in consequence of the railway interest !pre-
ponderating so greatly in the House, it being com-
puted that nearly two hundred of the new Partia-
-1 meat are railway directors, so that their settlexo ent
of the matters in dispute will be more difficult than
ever. Another question of almost more magnitude in
some respects, and certainly more unlikely to be
disposed of, is that of pauperism. As Mr. BAT"-
BONE stated, few could go into the courts and alleys
around them and say that this subject did not de-
mand and deserve all the care of the stategman.
" The mass of degradation, crime, and misery that
seethes there," are, indeed, most eloquent witnesses
on behalf of those who tell a busy and prosperous
community that they will fail in their duty to GOD
and man if their generation passes away without
any material improvement being visible in these
respects.
-

The conclusion which the Chairman drew

from these premises was a very correct
one, and the truth of it cannot be
gainsaid. He said that we should appreciate and
admire those who approach these subjects in a
" calm philosophical temper of the late Sir
CORNEWALL LEWIS,"•who was a worthy exemplifi-
cation of this class of politicians, who are
valuable beyond measure in the servces they
render. As mentioned here the important social
creditors of the day must not be treated in the
shape of party questions, and they must there-
fore be tackled by those who bring to their con-
sideration " patient, searching, passionless investi-
gation." "It is because," said the Chairman, "we
believe that Lord STANLEY, in common with a few
of our statesmen on both sides of the house, has
undertaken the study of politics as a science in
this spirit, as well as its practice as an art, that
I ask all here of all shades of politics, and I don't
think there is an unrepresented man who would
not do cordial respect to the manly, conscientious
thoroughness with which Lord STANLEY grapples
with any subject he undertakes•"
Lord STANLEY, in responding, declared that he
felt an additional pleasure in being present on
that occasion, when he reflected upon the union
and fusion of interests which the assembly presented.
" I came here," said the noble lord, " being in-
vited as a neighbour and one connected with the
landed interest of this county ;" and he went on
to explain how he considered his meeting represen-
tatives of the greatest mercantile and manufactur-
ing communities of the world as a type of the great
and beneficial change we see around us. It is not
yet perfected, but it is steadily and surely adTanc-
ing." Lord STANLEY assured his hearers—and no
one who has studied his course in public life has
any reason to doubt the accuracy of his observation
—that this union has always been his earnest desire,
and he justly congratulates himself upon its accom-
plishment. Wild enthusiasts and excited demagogues
may find it to suit their purpose to foment angry
feelings, and talk of the chasm that yawns between
classes, but the noble lord has more wisely, faith-
fully, and hopefully presented the state of the case
to us in saying, that if we measure time not by the
lapse of years but by the progress of ideas, we are
far removed from the days when speakers at public
meetings entertained their hearers by talking of
"government by a half-feudalised aristocracy, which
looked with contempt upon trade, which was always
ready to drag the country into quarrels, and multiply
military armaments for the sake of their relations
and connexions." Such days are happily gone by,
and for nothing is this generation more honourably
distinguished than the fusion of classes, and the
many points of interest which have been found to
exist between the aristocracy of rank and that of
commerce. The noble lord took a comprehensive
survey of the case, and declared that he saw on the
one hand many of those whose fortunes had been
made in the great towns among the best land-
lords ; and on the other hand, he found
the gradual and well-nigh total disappearance
among the landed classes of their former
prejudice against bringing up their children to in-
dustrial occupations.

In reference to the subject immediately before
them, the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, the
noble lord stated, what is curious enough, that the
commerce of England nearly equals that of all Europe
put together. Local associations for the discussion of
mercantile matters have been given very little heed
to. This is in every respect a state of things that
needs alteration, and in this as in some other
notable instances the Continent has set us a praise-
worthy example, these institutions are also
flourishing in the New World. In answer to
the question which materially arises in the minds
of the uninitiated—What is the use of Chambers
of Commerce ? The noble lord emphatically de-
clared that they serve as authoritative exponents of
commercial opinion. They are of great use to men
engaged in public life, who are apt to hear only the
opinions most noisily expressed, but which are sel-
dom the truest or the wisest. Great advantages
accrue from the establishment of these institutions,
and the noble lord cited a case in point to testify to
their merits. He is now sitting with some influen-
tial persons on a commission to inquire into the rail-
way system generally, and the very best evidence on
our side have been f urnishedby individuals represent-
ing and delegated from the Chambers of Commerce.
Of course, this influence can be applied with advan-
tage to other cases besides railway investigations,
and it is well known that private individuals often
object to come forward, however well informed they
may be ; but if they represent an association, it is
otherwise, and they obviate an awkward sense of
responsibility, and the insidiousness of appearing
to thrust themselves forward in a pretentious sense.
Lord STANLEY thinks it would be desirable that the
association which meets yearly in London should be
joined by all the Chambers of C ommerce now existing,
and they might go so far as to invite expressions of
opinion from the representatives of great " com-
mercial centres" in other parts of the world. Con-
cerning another important matter, the establishment
of tribunals of Commerce, Lord STANLEY does not
commit himself to a positive expression of opinion,
but he declares that it is a question that "is ripe
for consideration, but hardly ripe for action." The
speech of the noble lord was one of those suggestive
discourses which throw out many useful hints, and
give rise to reflections that cannot fail to profit. It
was an appropriate acknowledgment to the compli-
ment which was paid to him by the influential
Society whose importance he so justly estimates,
and whose interests he so ably advocated.

As the opening of Parliament under the auspices
of a new and professedly Reform Ministry grows
nearer and nearer, we find increasing evidence of
the general interest taken in the matter in the
number of criticisms, schemes, and suggestions
which are brought before the public. We have,
naturally enough, all shades of feeling and opinion
represented in these plans and projects. We have
the extreme Radical, whose views, if fully carried
out, would
-probably startle himself by the substi-