The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-03 00:00:00

GREAT CRY-LITTLE WOOL !

• THE ItICKETTY SESSION.
The last day of the session is now rapidly approaching,
and the Ministers are about to eat their Greenwich
dinner. Let us inquire what they have done to deserve
it. They began the session by a statement that they had
done their utmost to preserve peace, and had augmented
the naval and military forces to effect this object ; at its
close the country is at war, which they have shown
themselves alike incapable of preventing, or of conduct-
ing when it became unavoidable. In January the re-
venue was more than adequate to the demands of the
public service ; since January we have had votes of
credit, new taxes, largely increased expenditure,— with
the loss of the Tiger, with the deaths of Captains Giffard
and Parker, to show foronr money. Ministers had an
excellent cause. Justice and popular feeling were on
their side, but by tampering with despotism, waiting
for the support of Austria, and seeking for the approval
of Prussia, they have cooled the public enthusiasm and
almost begotten distrust in the cause they have mis-
managed. At the end of the session, looking more at
our own hopes and exertions than at the unexpected
successes of the Turks, the poSition of the country is
far less advantageous than at its commencement.
If Ministers had neglected the war to promote the "
arts of peace, 'or if they had treated these as unimportant .
while they bad vigorously prosecuted the war, Ye shouter
have found an apology for their failure in their oonsis-
tency. But they have attempted to do both, and have
accomplished neither. The nation and its representa-
tives, surpassing the Ministers in zeal to prosecute the
wwiatrh, haveut
a m
cheerfully
avfihyve submittedote to thedallnescesary n
supplies,
o
sie, and
f
an unamended and odious system of taxation. Minis-
ters cannot complain of money being begrudged to carry
co
onntthe
rib
nwtai
or , but h n
s havet e peoplebeen nfritteredcomplain twh at their r
thless
ly generousaw ay.
Neither by successful war, nor by useful legislation, have
they been gratified ; and at the end of six months' labour,
under the guidance of the Ministers, the Parliament se-
parates damaged, like them, in the public estimation.
In January 'the nation was promised further
reforms in the criminal and ecclesiastical law :
nothing has been done. The Royal Speech an-
nounced a measure to improve the Poor-law : such a
measure was brought in, but it was burked by the
Ministers themselves, who almost broke up their
administration by their unseemly treatment of a
subordinate, and their disunion about removing -pail
pers. For more than four months they have directed
the deliberations of Parliament to their promised mea-
sure to check bribery and corruption. It has at length •
reached its final stage, but so mangled and mutilated,
that their supporters know not what it means, and decry
it as giving a license to the very evil it was proposed to
eradicate. A plan was promised for the improvement of
the Civil Service. This is much needed, though we differ
from the Ministers as to what should be done. But
Ministers have done nothing. The Civil Service remains
unreformed, though not unstigmatised in the Royal
Speech. More than the reform of the Civil Service, which
was the measure of the Ministers, the people had at heart
the abolition or amendment of antiquated oaths, which
withhold from them the services of men they elect. Over
and over again have the Ministers pledged themselves to
remove this insulting and galling fetter. They feebly
tried, and were defeated. The honest but small
remnant of bigotry which still lingers .in the House of
Commons was too strong for their half-heartedness, and
the Whig hero of reform continues' in office, though he
was defeated and humiliated by Sir Frederick Thesiger:
Pledges unfulfilled, promises broken, hopes deceived, are
the characteristics of the session and the Ministers.
Often defeated, they practically proved before its close,
though they could not unite their heterogeneous oppo-
nents, they could disunite their friends. Powerful at its
commencement, they arc without efficient support at its
close. They are defeated night after night, -and have
only to thank the damaged character of Lord Derby and
Mr. Disraeli for being suffered to continue in office.
Though the war was a sufficient excuse for stopping
Parliamentary Reform, it did not arrest that of the uni-
versities. Off and on the Parlia nent has been engaged
for four months in improving the high schools of the
country. There was some danger in allowing this ne-
cessary measure to stand over till Parliament was re-
formed, and a vigorous ministry in office. Whenever
public opinion is fully and fairly beard; the worn-out
eniversity system will not ba very tenderly dealt with.
Tt was convenient, therefore, to promote the reform
while one of their representatives was in office ; and
while' the. Idle doctors of Cambridge and Oxford count
in the national representation for as much as the indus- ,
trions electors of Birmingham and Liverpool, or of
Finsbury and Marylebone. The time that.might have
been given to Parliamentary Reform or to urging on
the war has been appropriated to effecting a peddling
change in the universities, in order to protect them in
the possession of their immunities, and to shield their
costly inefficiency. The great measure of the session is
University Reform, which, like too many other half-and-
half and sham measures of our day, is rather intended
to cheat than to realise the just hopes and desires of the
people.

Cine of the earliest measures of the session intro-
duced in the very first week was the bill to simplify and
improve the public accounts. This practical measure
has long been demanded by liberal reformers as neces-
sary to clear up mystery, to enable the public to
understand the public accounts, and become acquainted
with the actual cost of the Government. Mr. Gladstone
and his friends took great praise to themselves for intro-
ducing it, and made out of it a great heap of political
capital. A few items were to be transferred, it was
said, to the Consolidated Fund, but a much larger
amount of expenditure, all the charges for collecting the
revenue, were, for the first time, to be brought under
the supervision of the House of Commons, and annually
voted. Estimates of the charges were prepared and laid
before Parliament. The measure was cordially hailed'
by the liberals, and was even applauded by Mr. Disraeli..
What has become of it ? Till the end of June it was
allowed to lie unheeded on the table of the Commons,snd
was sent up to the Lords about the middle ofJuly, early
teinoonu, and too enough o allow
late fo
themr :h oepopularsubject
poweri tt o athx
fierceeeexr at
t examina-
tion, i
itself
should the Lords mishandle the bill. To subject, any
excite the displeasure of all the apprehensive pensi
permanent appropriations to annual revision was suorneetroo
in Parliament, and Mr. Gladstone had not so carefully
drawn the bill as to secure it against all feasibleoobjoo.
tions. It interfered with one or two permanent Scorn
who bear the character of judges. It even brought the saki!,
rad
we
mayhas
was sufficient
bill,reason to
interested opposition plausible: The though
of the Lion King of Arms—Great Herald of the te Empire
—under revision, and there
make an
wholly referring to revenue, and wholly a money bill,.
d
hoerg
t he, n
beenwas sseon tl
otnoga delayed Select
f the
this year get even an instalment of this much-needed
reform. Committee
d doubtful b w
Almost every reign commences in exultation and ends
-in despair.. Many a young monarch mounts his throne
amidst the applauses of his people, and ere he quits it
hides himself in the recesses of his palace from their hatred
and their curses. So it is with Parliaments. Yell. after
year, they assemble amidst the hopes and the acclama-
tions of the people only to dwindle away at the close of
the session amidst their jeers or their hisses. From an
and year
pyPeeoaaprr
ei a,amf
tieetrn t
iystehaairnt
inexcusable
sdabibes
laeepn p ttoroi inetdee
dxypetehe
untried King the vulgar may excusably expect unknown
benefitsar
ho afterpes
year,o; f from
t ahoe
ct
good. Somewhat, therefore, the people are always
to blame for renewing each January the hopes that have
been disappointed in the previous August. Such has
been for some years the annual course, and there is no
reason why 1854 should differ from its predecessors.
But the Coalition Ministry—proud of their concentrated
abilities, promised largely and encouraged great expec-
tations, while they have effected next to nothing. Nei-
ther successful in war nor in the arts of peace, they aro
an example of failure which excites astonishment eves
where failure is habitual. Many bills have indeed been
brought in, and an almost equal number of points have
been unsettled. The mercantile marine has been legis-
lated about, but not satisfactorily, and a Secretary. of
War has been established and his salary provided.; but,
except one Measure, all useful reform has been stifled or
• withheld. The act for opening the coasting teadei,e;the'
sea
n„:' ~.
only real extension given in this long and laboriatu,s
sion to the freedom which is the boast of Enploat
d
by whieli, alone she can influence the world
News.

- -
THE CRYSTAL PALACE.—The glass of the Crystal
•Palace at Sydenhain, when illuminated by the sun, may
be distinctly seen by a person with ordinary eyesight
from the fields adjoining the national school-house at
Billericay, a distance of at least twenty-six miles,
Essex Herald. "
HORRIBLE ATTEMPT TO MURDER A CHILD. —The Mei
tropolitan Police have received information that a man
named Burke has attempted, in conjunction with
i d alarmed
woman with whom he travelled and cohabited, to a
der a child by burying it alive in a field near St. Albans.rni".
They had dug a hole, and commenced throwing
the til in
the
ptriincattendok. At
flight, leaving the child, who was at oncecncexn
parties implicated.
earth, when the terrific
hfsaecyerttenaamkse of
some labourers in the vicinity, and the
trh,ea native of the county
active pursuit is being made7ofi,
The •Lemheasni
aass dressed in dark velvet jacket
isn
about height,
bou t 5 thin
fe
eptal:
fxtßacetairy,koejtrehdlweasnhcdrisi,kbaeebdrsoa,usvgt
iannedh
ep
so ri dnur
height,oy trousers.
full
breasted, and pitted with the small.
believed, is. the illegitimate offspring of the female.
pox. The child whom they attempted to murder, it is

ROYAL OLYMPIC THEATRE.
Lessee and Manager, xs..A. mon.
THIS EVENING, ArraveT 3,
Will be performed TO OBLIGE BEYON. Supported by Messrs.
Emery, Robson, and Leslie; Miss Marston, and Miss E. Turner.
To be followed by THE FIRST NTGEIT. Characters by Messrs.
Alfred Wigan, Leslie, Harwood Cooper, and Vincent ; Miss P. Hon
ton, and Miss Emily Orm ,m le.
To conclude with the Farce of THE WANDERING MINSTREL,
Jem Baggs, Mr. F. Robson.