The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-04 00:00:00

POSTPONEMENT OF THE REFORM BILL.

Ministers have decided to postpone the second read-
ing of the Reform Bill from the 13th of March to the
27th of April. As everything concurs to impress us
with the conviction that they are sincerely and reso-
lutely bent upon carrying the measure, we have no hesi-
tation in saying that we believe this postponement to be
wise and well judged. Our conviction that Ministers
are really anxious to carry the bill rests upon various
grounds. In the first place we have confidence in
Lord John Russell ; for, independently of the noble
lord's well-earned reputation for integrity, it is upon
his Reform measure that he has latterly, more than
anything else, reposed his claims to the confidence
and support of the country. Again we have, on the
question of Reform, confidence in Lord Aberdeen. We
have been diametrically opposed to his Lordship's policy
in the Eastern question, and we have not been slow to
express our antagonism. But even in that matter we
must admit that Lord Aberdeen never deceived us ;
never said one thing while he meant another. We
think Lord Aberdeen is sincere, whether we may think
him in the right or in the wrong : and, having found
him sincere while erring on the Eastern question, we
are bound to give him credit for sincerity when
he is right on the question of Parliamentary Reform.
Lord Aberdeen has been compelled by the gross and
palpable abuses in the representation to become a Re-
former.; and the very tardiness of his conversion—unex-
aggerated as his confession of it is—ought to be received
as a guarantee of its sincerity. Predisposed on these
grounds to place reliance on the professions both of the
Premier and Lord John Russell—of the head of the Mi-
nistry and the Minister more especially charged with the
introduction and promotion of the Reform Bill—we are
further convinced of their sincerity by the reasons they
assign for postponing the measure, and the unexaggerated
phrase in which these reasons are worded. When he
introduced the bill, Lord John Russell intimated that
before proceeding farther-with it, he felt the necessity of
getting through the financiai business of the session, in
eider that in the event of war becoming inevitable the
exertions of Government against the enemy should
be free and unhampered. This financial business
cannot possibly be completed by the 13th of March,
the day originally fixed for the second reading of the
Reform Bill ; it therefore becomes necessary to take a
lenger day for that step. Even though no treacherous
and insidious opposition to the measure had been
threatened it would have been the duty of Ministers to
postpone the second reading of the bill. But the Vane-
Dering conspiracy must not be left out of account.
Were Ministers to insist upon having the bill read a
second time on the day originally fixed—before the
discussion of the budget was well over—before the mes-
sage from her Majesty respecting the relations of this
country and Russia, which must be presented to the
house before the close of the present month, had been
brought down —the reasons assigned by the mouth-
piece of the malcontent Peelites, and the mouthpiece
of the territorial Whigs, might have appeared plausible
to some weak though well-meaning members of Parlia-
ment. But by the 27th of April there is good
reason to hope that the preliminary preparations
for war will be concluded, and none who really
are friendly to the Reform measure can be then
misled by the Van-Dering fallacies. Sir Edward
Dering, if the vote were to be taken on the second
reading immediately, might be supported -by many
whose eyes will be opened to the factious char-
acter of his opposition by the 27th of April. By
postponing the second reading, therefore, Ministers
have actually strengthened their position. We have
hinted that the quiet, matter-of-fact, business-like tone
in which the intended postponement has been intimated,
both by Lord John Russell and Lord Aberdeen, in itself
smacks of sincerity. We may also say that the announce-
ment by Lord John that the Irish and Scotch hills will
be ready before the day now fixed for the second read-
ing of the English bill is—seeing that he has hitherto
declined to specify a time when these bills should be
brought in—is an additional proof that Ministers are
earnestly and steadily maturing their whole scheme of
Reform, with a view to have it made law without delay.
If anything more were needed to show that the pros-
pects of ultimate success for the Ministerial measure of
Reform are increased by the postponement, it would be
found in last night's displays of Mr. Disraeli and Lord
Derby. The bitterness of Mr. Disraeli's comment upon
the announcement of Lord John Russell betrayed his
consciousness that in consequence of the postponeMent
he will have to play a losing game, and Lord Derby's
angry interpellation of Lord Aberdeen betrayed the same
conviction.

To say that we acquiesce in the propriety of the post-
ponement would, therefore, be an inadequate expres-
sion of our opinion. We are glad of it ; for we be•
lieve that, by waiting till the preliminary arrange-
ments in reference to Russia have been got through,
and by at the same time peremptorily fixing a day
for the renewal of the discussion, and showing
that they are busily at work on the complementary
Bills for Scotland Ireland, Ministers have increased the
chances of their bill being carried. And it was necessary
for them to take every precaution--to omit nothing that
could strengthen their position, seeing how false and un-
scrupulous is the opposition with which they are threat-
ened. The re-actionary Derby-Disraeli faction see clearly
that the success of the Ministerial measure will effectually
take the sting out of them—render them impotent for fu-
ture mischief—and are therefore waspishly inveterate in
their hostility. The smooth traitors who have post-
ponement in their mouths, while in reality their
object is to burke a measure which endangers their
ill-won seats in the Legislature, are seeking, amid
friendly professions, to tie the hands of Ministers
while the ultra-Tories attack them. And certain
professors of extreme liberal opinions are doing
their little utmost to ridicule and vituperate the Minis-
terial measure, because it will not enable them
to bring a greater number- of their tail into the House of
Commons. Thus attacked from so many quarters—by
so many heterogeneous and incompatible assailants dis-
honestly allied—Ministers are right to choose their own
time for fighting.—Daily News.