The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-15 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TEE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

bill Toriesthe oughtGwhTennEth'r
Government ntmrlean t. i a
0.
tnArhoTi
nothing
RI
nn' 'g ON PARTY PROSPECTS. —T h e
and person
as
asking
ion
gd
weninthnoturyt ahascPoryEi nsie rfnt,
any particular at the coming elections, for
to clo a Tory is the natural
For the first time since the reform
going to the country without
danger of intervention son, without a programme, and
ring nothing, promising nothing,
There is nothing lig except not to be discharged.
stirring in foreign affairs, for the
in America is over, and the
questions. We the moment forgotten all other
haveand although
not even an Asiatic campaign
on our hands, athough there is of course a little
war going
mon—England never being at peace for
more than three months at atime—no party at home
is earnestly favourable or opposed to the war inNew
Zealand. Government do what it likes, one
party as much as may
the other, and nobody will be re-
quired even to
professrhe his faith as to the matter on
the hustings. only great colonial question in
hand, the confederation British North America,
is only understood by a few,ofand those few on both
sides of the house unanimously
hid down by the Colonial Minister. support the
policy
Tister. There is not
at this moment a subject
which public opinion isoutside these islands upon
seriouslywhich divided, not a
visible project of actionwill lose or attract a
hundred votes. Nobody is •
going to do or to endure
anything, and when there is n •
othmg to be done or
endured even Lord Malmesbury
considered
efficient. At home the absence may be
purpose is even
more conspicuous, so conspicuous
On
that it is hard to
believe it is not designed. question which
most interests the most powerful the
of all the minori-
ties, Parliamentary reform, Government not only
produces no policy, but distinctly
ltdeclares that it
does not intend to produce one.accept the
decision of the people on whichever will
side
il it may be,
and carry it out obediently, but it
working
take no lead.
It does not wish to admit men to
the franchise, or to reject them, or tog suggest a
compromise, and it is at the same timeby no means
unwilling to do any one of the three. On ecclesi-
astical affairs it has nothing to d
a vise, and indeed
no tendency to reveal, for if the Lord Chancellor
is a foe to Church action,,
high ideas of Church independence •if Lord as
is oh '
Pal-
merston nominates Recorditeßps Mr. Gladstone
Pusey. Indeed
has been endorsed by Dr. Puse righteous-
ness and peace have kissed each other in the shape
of Dr. Pusey and the Record, and for the hou r the
Church parties have nothing to quarrel about.
There is no ecclesiastical question beforethe
country
except that of Church-rates, and on that Govern-
ment. expresses no policy except a profound llin
ness to do as it may be bidden. On finance,tlg-
i
malt tax excepted, the nation is unanimous, and thee
malt tax does not to any perceptible
degree interest
the boroughs in which the campaign must ulti •
matelY.
either
be fought out. Nobody is very anxious about
expenditure or economy, for parties shrink from an
avowed cry for outlay7—though they will have to
risk it one day in the Education Department—and
the pressure of taxes has been so lightened that a
cry for economy seems a work of supererogation.
Upon that subject Government '
prontses nothing
except to`spend as little as it can manage " consist-
ently with the efficiency of the public service,"
which efficiency it Will define in accordance d with the