The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-01 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY MORNING, JUNE 1, 1870.

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MORNING EDITION.

made by angry and famished legislators. It is
needless to say that the Government repudiated in
the strongest possible manner Sir JOHN GRAY'S
description of the operation of the bill. Ile
himself even, in spite of self-assurance, must
have felt an arrow or ' two pierce him as
one member after another arose from the
benches around him, and, in the name of their

Irish constituents, reprobated their colleague's stric.
tures, and laughed at his vaticinations. That Colonel
BARTTELOT should attack him, and declare him
responsible for half the mischief wrought in Ireland,
Was but natural, for the gallant member is a Tory of
Tories, and an Englishman of Englishmen. But
when men like Mr. M'CAnTinc DOWNING and Mr.
MURPHY, representing the most important county of
Ireland, thanked the Government in 'the most
emphatic language for their measure, even Sir JoHN
011.1 Y must have felt thalt he had blundered,
It is to be hoped that the conviction has
now been so thoroughly forced upon him
that he will not attempt to repeat in
his journal the errors of his speech. As Mr.
NAGUIRE eloquently said, Ireland, above all things,
wants rest, and he who would give that country
this, he who would give Ireland the opportunity
of turning to account the great measure which has

just passed through the House of Commons, would
confer upon it the greatest boon that could be
bestowed. It remains very much with Sir JOHN GRAY
and his friends to say if this boon shall be bestowed.
If they are real patriots and not mere agitators, they
will use the influence which they possess in teaching
both landlords and tenants how to live peaceably and
happily under the new regime which, after three
months' anxious deliberation, the House of Com-
mons has at the last stage approved without a single
dissentient voice,

IT is to be regretted that Mr. GLA.DSTONE has not
seen his way to an amendment of the present unsa-
tisfactory regulation by which any cross-grained,
capricious, or indiscreet, though well-:meaning mem-
ber, may obtain the exclusion of strangers from the
debates of the House of Commons and the prohibi-
tion of all reports. There is no need at this advanced
stage of constitutional progress to prove that publicity
is one of the greatest safeguards of political
liberty. The over zealous member who banished the
reporters and visitors from the House last week
would certainly not deny this, But he thought the
public morals would be endangered by reading a
discussion upon enthetic diseases. They are not
a topic that most persons love to discuss, but there
is no doubt that much harm has been
done by the persistent ignoring of this terrible
plague. Our squeamishness has been one great
reason why the plague has so fearfully prevailed'.
Independently of that, Mr. CRALTFURD failed to see
that whatever objection there might be to publicity
with regard to this matter, the objection to secrecy
was infinitely graver and stronger. He knew well
enough that a considerable number of persons believe
that the Contagious Diseases Act seriously imperils
their personal liberty. He knew that this belief had
given rise to public meetingsin all parts of the country;
and yet when the measure was brought before the
great national tribunal of Parliament he resorted to
the extraordinary course of exclu-ding the nation..,
Such a power .as this ought not to be left
in the. hands of any man. The best intentions
unaccompanied by common sense may often
produce the most injurious consequences, and
it is now clear beyond all shadow of doubt that no
private member can be entrusted with such a means
of working mischief as that which the member
fol. Ayr exercised on the 24th ult. We cannot
is the circumstances under which the power of ex-
dusion ought to be exercised at all ; but if the House,
jealous of its privileges, is determined to retain this
prerogative, it ought to be accompanied by
restrictions which would make its improper exercise all
but impossible. The exclusion of strangers should
henceforth be effected solely by a motion duly made
and seconded, and carried by a majority of members
present. We are at a loss to imagine why Mr. GLAD-
STONE did not propose this very simple alteration of
a very unjustifiable rule.

MERE was some very strong language in com-
mittee on the navy estimates, somewhere about mid-
night of Monday. Listening to the charges made by.
one member after another, one would have supposed
that the present Board of Admiralty was not only the
most tyrannical, but the most corrupt, since the days
of Lord MELVILLE. Oil was bought for the navy from
a personal friend of the Secretary, and the oil was
very bad. Coal was bought of a political supporter
of the Government, and the coal caught fire, and
nearly destroyed one of her Majesty's ships. Sur-
plus stores had been sold with such reckless
profusion that if a war were to break out
it would be impossible to furnish the navy,
and Mr. CHILDERS and his colleagues would be dri-
ven from office amid the execrations of the people.
Every, story is good until another is told ; but Mr.
CHILDERS and Mr. BAXTER made short work of their
accusers. No oil is bought at Dundee. No friend of
either the First Lord or the Secretary is engaged in
purchasing for the Navy. The coal that caught
fire ought to have • beeh mixed with other
coal. The surplus stores, Mr. BAXTER showed up
upon a former occasion, and his list excited the un-
controllable laughter of a House that was too much
amused to be scandalised at the shameful waste and
jobbery which had formerly prevailed. Then when
the Secretary to the Admiralty, with pardonable
warmth, denounced these personal attacks
and the recklessness which prompted them,
the assailants, a little while before so bold, re-
plied that they did not mean to do any
harm ; but these reports were current out of doors,
and it was therefore well for Mr. BAXTER to have
an opportunity of answering them. "I am
quite able to take care of myself out of
doors," was Mr. BAXTER'S reply, and he added
some deservedly severe comments upon the
manner in which his opponents were now endeavour-
ing to sneak out of their attacks. The country will
share Mr. , BAXTER'S indignation. The character of
public men must not be slandered in this
reckless manner: We think that the Admiralty
has made some mistakes, especially in connection
with the discharge of Dockyard artizans, but
we believe the administration of the navy
to be thoroughly honest, and animated solely
by the desire to get for the nation its money's
worth. Those who are always making charges
of corruption and favouritism, which they are not
able to establish, must not be surprised if the public
puts it own interpretation upon the matter. Men who
are over suspecting evil cannot be wholly unac-
quainted with it.

strength of the troops at the various points
where attack was apprehended. Nearly the who'e
of the afternoon and night were spent in (iisctiss;ng
matters connected with naval affairs. In Comtnitt
on the Estima' es several grants of money were made,
and shortly after the llonse had resumed Mr. G;ad-
stone moved an adjournment until Thursday next.

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HER MAJESTY.

BALMORAL CASTLE, May 80.

The Queen., Princess Louise, and Princess Beatrice at.
tended Divine service yesterday in the parish church of

The Duchess Dowager of .A.thol and Lord C. Fitzroy we
in attendance.

The Rev. Norman .31'Leod officiated.

Tho Princess of Wales drove out yesterday morning and
again in the afternoon.

The Prince of Wales - paid Prince Leopold a visit a
Windsor Castla. His Royal Highness afterwards called of
the King of the Belgians at Claridge's Hotel.

FASHIONABLE ARRANGEMENTS TO-DAY.
The Derby—with the journeying down to Epsom and back
again by road and rail.
Lady Gerard's Concert, at 35, Grosvenor-square.

SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS—To-DAY.
The Ethnological Society, at 8 p.m., when Mr C. Spence
Bate will deliver his "Report on the Pre-historic Antiqui-
ties of Dartmoor."

SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.
THE SESSION OF 1870.

The Times observes that the' session has received the
second of its Three Warnings, and there is some reason
to hope that the lesson of the event will not be neg-
lected. The arrival of Easter was the first reminder that
the time for work was slipping away, and now Whit-
suntide is upon us impressing the same truth. It is certain
that the break of Easter did a g,reat deal of good. Up to that
time the progress of business had been alarmingly slow.
But with the re-assembling of Parliament after the
Easter holydays a new spirit was manifested. The House of
Commons has been sedulous in the despatch of business.
Much unfinished work still remains before Parliament,
and it is evident that a great part of it will not be finished
this session, but a methodical spirit has been developed.
With all drawbacks the session will not be unfruitful.
It will have settled the greatest social difficulty of Ireland,
and have grappled, not unsuccessfully, with the greatest
social evil of England; and if it achieved no more than
this, it would amply deserve to rank with equal honour by
the side of its elder sister of 1869.