The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT 01? THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIME s.—A curious declaration of Frederick Prince
of Wales is preserved in " Smollett's History of Eng-
land," whereby his Royal Highness engages, in the
event of his coming to the Throne, " totally to
abolish any distinction for the future of parties." As
Providence had decreed that he should not survive

his father, this remarkable experiment was never
tried during the last century, and it has been reserved
for our own generation to witness what an economist
. .

would call a "stationary state" of party politics. It
is not that parties no longer exist, or that England
" loves coalitions" any better than heretofore, but

that the one party had been compelled, for the pre-
sent, to adopt almost entire the creed of the other.
The difference between them consists mainly in this
that the one foresees more or less distinctly, while
the'other studiously ignores,the coming problems of
the future, This difference, however, can hardly

show itself in Election Addresses, which are scru-

•
pulously confined to the questions which happen to
be uppermost for the time being. Scarcely a word
is to be found in any of those hitherto issued about
such topics as the codification of our law, or the re-
form of charitable endowments —topics of the
greatest importance in themselves, but for the pre-
sent dormant and unexisting. Even the abolition of
capital punishment, on which public opinion has
lately been very much excited, has not yet, we are
glad to observe, become a hustings question. The
hustings questions of the day, in fact, are not more
than about half a dozen in number. Church rates
and the extension of the franchise are the only real
chevaux de bataille, and even on these there is no
shibboleth or formula accepted by either party col-
lectively. The Conservative thinks it highly desirable
to settle the former controversy with due regard to
the rights of the Establishment; the Liberal thinks
the same, adding only that he believes the Church
would be strengthened by an opportune concession.
The Conservative is fully prepared for a well-consi-
dered measure of reform designed to admit the most
intelligent of the working classes, while he protests
against the despotism of numbers; the Liberal pro-
fesses confidence in the people, but even Mr. Glad-
stone advises him to qualify it by prudence, and he
evinces no practical intention of going much further
than the Conservative. Such, at least, is the
pression which we derive from the perusal of the
Election Addresses hitherto, and if it were trust-
worthy the benevolent resolutions of Prince Frede-
rick would appear to be almost realised. The les-
sons of history, however, forbid us to anticipate the
extinction of party spirit, and justice compels us to
attribute its temporary suspension in great degree
to the moderate and successful policy of the present
Government. Perhaps the most controversial ad-
dress that has yet been published is that of Mr.
Goschen, who, with Baron Rothschild and Mr.
Crawford, solicits re-election for the City of Lon-
don. Baron Rothschild and Mr. Crawford do not
spare the Opposition, but Mr. Goschen handles
them with much greater severity. During the last
two years; he says, " the country 'has been divided
less on questions f principle. The best measures.
brought forward by the present Government, or
from the Liberal side,have been opposed by the Con-
servatives, not, indeed, from any factious desire to
overthrow the Ministry, but from a deep-seated
difference of spirit and view, which Conservatives
often disguise in their Election Addresses, but almost
invariably display in their Parliamentary Votes."
He then reviews the home and foreign policy of the
Opposition, andinveighs against the inconsistency of
obstructing every reform successively, and the accept-
ing it with perfect self-complacency. Altogether
this address contrasts rather curiously with the
studied mildness of those put forth by Messrs. Lyall
and Fowler, the two Conservative candidates for the
representation of the City. Two very outspoken
professions of a Liberal faith are to be found in Mr.
Morrison's address to the electors of Plymouth, and
Mr. Brassey's speech to the electors of Devonport.
This constituency, owing to the course taken by Mr.
B. Osborne, is invested with a kind of " prerogative
vote," which will not be without effect on the result
of the forthcoming election. Mr. Brassey is fortunate
enough to combine with other qualifications one of
which he makes no secret, and which is a sure pass-
port to the favour of a borough accustomed to pat-
ronage. " By the accident of his birth he happened
to be intimately associated with those who were en-
gaged in great and important works in this and
other countries, and this connexion might, he trusted,
enable him to render great and valuable services to
the electors of Devonport." It is unlucky for him
that his opponent, Mr. Fleming, is able to boast of
a similar claim on their esteem •, but Mr. Brassey
does not stop here, and justifies his motives for
coming forward in a way which does him honour.
" No young man," he says, " could have a more
splendid opportunity than he of engaging in com-
mercial pursuits, and he paused gravely to consider
whether he should adopt a line of business before
him, or endeavour to become a useful and indepen-
dent citizen by representing an English constituency
in Parliament. He chose the latter course from a
desire to serve his country as a useful citizen, and as
Providence had been so gracious as to place it in his
power at a comparatively early age, and when he had
time before him to make a study of statesmanship,
it was his duty to waive personal interests and adopt
that line which Providence, if he might humbly say
so, had been pleased to put before him." This
language argues no little self-reliance, and it will
be for Mr. Brassey, if elected, to show that he has
not mistaken his vocation. In the meantime, we
are willing to give him credit for sincerity, and to
welcome him as a hopeful recruit into the Liberal
ranks. There are very few young men in the same
position who can say as much with any approach to
sincerity. The sons of great capitalists seldom display
any Parliamentary ambition, and there is no part of
England where good candidates are so scarce as where
large fortunes are most rapidly made. In the great
boroughs of the North the choice too often lies be-
tween some resident manufacturer of mature age
and a stranger despatched from London to fill a
gap. The young mill-owning aristocracy indulge
very different aspirations, and see no particular
advantage in toiling gratuitously for the public ser-
vice. Comparatively few of them have enjoyed the
benefit of a University education or felt the stimu-
lating breezes of intellectual rivalry. The conse-
quence is that the House of Commons draws its
young blood chiefly from that class which is least
acquainted with business and most addicted to
" country pursuits." Elderly men who have made
their money and heirs apparent to peerages furnish
too large a proportion of its members, for neither
have an adequate incentive to sustain exertion.
Messrs. Morrison and Brassey are exceptional in-
stances, and represent a section of our youth which
will form a new element in Parliament. It is to be
feared that the metropolitan boroughs will do little
this year to repel the charge of returning political
nonentities. We observe that Mr. Mill's Committee
have felt the necessity of making common cause
with Captain Grosvenor against the redoubtable Mr.
Smith. This, no doubt, is good strategy ; but it
seems to imply that the publisher is gaining upon
the author in the estimation of Westminster elec-
tors. Finsbury has been " open" until very lately,
if it is not open still ; but the Islington wire-pullers
think they have discovered the coming man in Mr.
Torrens. He was duly heralded by a resolution,
" That the great and varied interests of a metropo-
litan constituency peculiarly require that its repre-
sentatives should be men of tried ability and known
experience in public life." Thereupon Mr. Torrens
addressed the meeting, pledging himself to vote,
" not only for househod suffrage, but for anything
better that might be proposed." Skilfully taking
advantage of the Duke of Wellington's manly
letter, encouraging all his tenants to vote
according to their conscience, he actually em-
ployed it as an argument, not against, but for
the ballot, holding that remedy to be neces-
sary " until all gentlemen of position " did the
same. He was also for the ultimate abolition of
the income tax, a sentiment which appears to have
been received with loud applause by the Finsbury
taxpayers. We believe they are perfectly right in
preferring Mr. Torrens to his competitors as the col-
league of Mr. Cox, but there seems to be some radical
source of mismanagement in the conduct of metro-
politan elections, which we suspect may be traced to
the entire want of municipal pride. A city or town,
however corrupt, is a real thing ; it has an indivi-
duality of its own, and is bound together by com-
mon interests, perhaps by historical associations.
Finsbury and Marylebone are mere electoral dis-
tricts, and the consequence is a fatal weakness for
the purposes of representation.
POST.—On Monday night Mr. Cardwell laid
before Parliament the papers explanatory of the
arrangements which have recently been concluded
between her Majesty's Government and Canada
with regard to the future relations of that province,
and we may say of British North America, with the
mother country. We trust the public will be satis-
fied with the manner in which so important and
difficult a question has been solved. With reference
to the confederation of the prwiinces, we have
always looked upon their eventual union as a matter
of time, and we believe that the result of the late
conferences will very materially aid in bringing
about the accomplishment of that project on an early
day. It would be an injustice to our fe.llow subjects
in the several colonies of British North America to
believe that they are incapable of appreciating the
advantages which must flow from their union under
one strong central Government, or that they are
really unwilling to sacrifice mere local interests for
the common good. The principles upon which the
proposed consolidation of the colonies is based appear
to every disinterested person well calculated not Only
to do justice to all, but to secure for the whole of
British North America a prosperous and brilliant
future, the question Qt the proposed defences 4or

Canada no doubt presented an aspect of difficulty, ana
without the intervention of a conference between
the colonial deputies and the Imperial Govern-
ment much misunderstanding could not fail to
exist. It is satisfactory to know that a mutual
understanding has now been arrived at, and that
the larger question of a comprehensive scheme for
the future defence of all British North America has
been arranged between the two Governments. The
debates in Parliament on this subject seem to have
had a depressing effect upon the loyal sentiments C 1
the people of Canada, especially in the western part
of the province. This arose simply from the lac.'
that they could not understand the principles urn
which our Government proposed to confine their
share of the defensive works to Quebec and Mon-
treal. They claimed in their character of British
subjects their right to be protected with all the forc.e,
of the empire if necessary, and were willing to fun,
with their means and lives to the utmost. But tho
it should seem to be the policy of the Imperial Go-
vernment to defend Quebec and Montreal alone
could be to them no cause of satisfaction. The'
fears on this account, however, have since been
allayed, and they now have reason to believe that it
is the deep-seated feeling of the English people that
at
not one inch of Canadian soil should be lost to
empire. The question is certainly one of national
as well as of provincial importance, and it is but
just that,the expense should be fairly shared between
the colony and the mother country. It might be
urged, indeed, by the colonists—inasmuch as Eng-
land cannot provide the requisite garrisons for such
extensive fortifications as those proposed, and that
Canada must be at the charge of keeping up an
efficient militia for this object—that a larger propor-
tion of the cost should be borne by the Imperial Go-
vernment. The arrangement, however, now come
to on the subject appears likely to give general satis-
faction, The Canadians will no doubt gladly un-
dertake the defences of Western Canada, with the
understanding that England provides the necessary
armament in addition to fortifying the whole of
Lower Canada. Should the province obtain the
Imperial guarantee for a loan, the proposed fora-,
cations will no doubt be immediately commenced
both in Upper and Lower Canada. The advan-
tages to the colony will be immediate as well as
permanent in their nature. All the money re-
quired for carrying out the defensive scheme will be
expended in the province, and it is of consequence
that the works should be begun simultaneously,
all the vital points along the frontier, and cameo'
to completion without any intermission. This
would require a large body of labourers, and ope-
rate as a direct stimulus to immigration, which,
above all things, is the great desideratum in British
North America. When the defences shall have been
completed, the militia and volunteer forces sufa-
ciently trained, and the extensive frontier as well asthe important centres of commerce so thoroughly
guarded as to prevent an enemy from permanently
occupying any portion of the country, the advan-
tages which such a state of things would confer
upon the province can hardly be exaggerated"
Secure against foreign aggression, a new era 13.11.
prosperity will dawn upon the colonies, capital Iv
flow into the country, and its varied and inexhans:
tible resources become rapidly developed—in fact'
every material interest will be advanced to an elc:
tent hitherto unknown. The deepening of t°,°
existing canals, and the reconstruction of a ship
canal somewhere in rear of the present settlements,
removed from the possibility of being seized upon
by an enemy in case of war, will be a work of great
commercial and military importance. With respect
to the Reciprocity Treaty, we trust that the effor.tl
of the Imperial and Canadian Governments wilJ
prove successful in restoring the former, on an ill 1;
proved understanding between the colonies and the
United States. It is gratifying to observe, in t 1!
meantime that the trading community of America'
particularly the great producing States e,
the West, are at this moment energetically
co-operating with the leading mercantile men
Canada in endeavouring to establish a new an
improved international commercial treaty. Earle
in July a convention is to be held at Detroit lcci
this object, for which the province has been invited
to send delegates. The Western States are deter;
mined to have an unobstructed and the neare,o
8
communication with the sea-board, in spite of t°o
monopolists in the great Atlantic cities, by 10°s,
influence and exertions the Reciprocity TreatJ
was abrogated. This they can only obtain hY.
way of the Lakes and through the St. Lawrence.
The friendly relations now existing between Grea
Britain and the United States, and the acknov`:
ledged benefits which reciprocity has conferred on
America and the British Provinces, lead us to hope
that this matter will, without difficulty, and at an
early day, be definitively arranged between the tw°o
countries. The difficulties with regard to defining
the western boundary of Canada have not been
found to be insuperable. It is in every way grr
tifying to know that perhaps the finest part of to'
North American continent is likely before long tl
be opened to British and Canadian enterprise, and
that the claims of the Hudson's Bay Company t°
the valuable agricultural.part of that territory are,
in a fair way of being extinguished, to the mutual
satisfaction of the company and the people of Ca:
nada. In conclusion, we cannot but think that be
people of this country will view with much satisfac-
tion the results of the negotiations between the folci
penal authorities and the Canadian delegate:,, and
that the latter are well entitled to the hearty cool'
mendations of their constituents.