The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-04 00:00:00

THE CONSERVATIVE PARTY.

The London correspondent of the Manchester Examiner
says that formerly, when Mr. Disraeli was absent, Mr.
Hardy took the seat he usually occupies, and thus, as it
were, filled his place. But now Mr. Hardy leads from
his own seat, and carefully avoids going near that of Mr.
Disraeli. If his former course implied, as it seemed to
do, that he was only a deputy, does his present one mean
that he is setting up for a leader on his own account ? I
cannot help thinking that to some extent it does mean
so. There is certainly, from all I hear, a screw loose in the
relations between Mr. Disraeli and the party. The review
of Lothair' in Blackwood may be a feeler, but it is one
that chews how the wind blows."

THE REVISION OF THE SCRIPTURES. •
The English Independent, on the EpiscoJal.scheme for
revising the English Bible, says it will be impossible for
Dr. Newman to comply with the bishops' invitation. His
name must have been put down on the list for the sake of
fair seeming. And, beforeanyNonconformist divines could
possibly accede to the bishops' request, they would require
to be informed upon several particulars, and one very re-
mrkable omission in the " fundamental principles " would
have to be supplied. They could never consent to join
the " companies " unless the principle upon which eccle-
siastical terms are to be dealt with was strictly determined
and defined. The Nonconformist considers that the
bishops have chosen their helpers with great judgment and
fairness. Theaccuracy and breadth of their scholarships
will give the public confidence in the result of their
labours. The general principles that have been laid down
for the guidance of the companies also indicate great
judgment, and if they should be faithfully followed, as
will no doubt be the case, the work which will be done
will be of inestimable value, and, in the course of time. of
paramount authority.

DEVONSHIRE VIEWS ON EDUCATION.
A large and influential meeting of clergy and others was
held at Newton Abbot on Thursday, to protest against
any system of education being adoptedsby the Legislature
which should not be connected with religion. The Earl
of Devon in opening the proceedings, also expressed
his entire concurrence in the movement, which
was, as he understood, to express an opinion to the effect
that in any measure of education that should be sanc-
tioned by the Legislature religious teaching should not be
separate and distinct from general teaching. A resolu-
tion was proposed and carried accepting the Government
bill as it at present stands, and condemning any
interference with the present system except to
the extent of enforcing the conscience clause. The
Dean of Exeter, in moving a petition to Parlia-
ment on the subject expressed his opinion that
no education would be complete unless it was based
on religion ; but he did not think it advisable that the
clergy should refuse to yield anything, for if they did he
believed they would lose a great deal if not all their influ-
ence over the education of the people. They might
depend upon it that when rate-aided schools came to
work against voluntary schools the latter would go to the
ground.

LITERATURE, SCIENCE, AND ART.

The Athenaeum says :—We are authorized to announce
that Punch has been fortunate enough to find its second
editor in Mr. Shirley Brooks, who, although he enters on
office at a rather mature period of life, is in the fullness
of intellectual vigour, and in every respect worthy to
occupy the place so long held by Mr. Mark Lemon.—Mr.
C. G. Leland, the author of the now famous " Breitmann
Ballads," has been travelling. in Europe during the last
twelve months, for the benefit of his health, and is ex-
pected to arrive in London shortly. We trust he will
meet with a warm reception at the bands of his many
admirers.—We hear that the late Prof. Grote left his
"Examination of the Utilitarian Philosophy" complete.
It had not, however, been finally revised, and has, there-
fore, been edited by Mr. J. B. Mayor, who has illustrated
the text by notes.—England in the Nineteenth Century,
which has been advertised of late, is not a book,
but a monthly magazine, edited by Mr. George Augustus
Sala. It is designed to illustrate social features and to
discuss social problems.—The art of publishing books by
subscription seems highly developed in America, and some
of the works thus brou"htg out have attained a large cir-
culation. The Civil War has " furhished," says the
Nation, "not only popular subjects for book-making, but
a host of cripples to serve as agents." Between 1861-68
there were issued in this way thirty books at Hartford,
Connecticut, the sale of which amounted to 1,426,000 copies.
We understand that the Commissioners for the Interna-
tional Exhibition of 1871 have adopted the report of the
committee recommending that the judges for the admis-
sion of pictures shall be three laymen and six artists, and
that the Royal Academy, the Society of British Arts, the
old Water-Colour Socie, and the Institute of Painters
in Water-Colours, have each been invited to name one
artist, the remaining two being elected by the whole com-
mittee.

THE WORKING OF THE NEW BANKRUPTCY

LAW.

In an application which was made to the Chief Judge
in Bankruptcy yesterday an extension of an interim
injunction granted at a former sitting, Mr. Bagley, in
opposing the application, strongly denounced the
abuses which had crept in under the arrangement
clauses of the Act. Short as was the time during
which the new Act had been in operation, it was well
known, he said, that those liguidation cases were fast
becoming a scandal, and realising what Mr. Justice
Willes had said of deeds under the Act of 1861, that they
were a system of legalised plunder. The debtors who
petitioned for liquidation were much more numerous
than bankrupts : and if they had a hostile
creditor nothing was more easy than to omit him from
the list ,• he was not summoned to the meeting ;
and in this way majorities were obtained for any pro-
posal the debtor chose to make. Unlike bankruptcies,
the proceedings in those cases were initiated by the debtors
themselves and whether they would ever be carried out so
as to benefit the creditors it was impossible to say. Of all
portions of the act that required to be watched
with the utmost vigilance. Unless it were done the inte-
rests of creditors would be seriously compromised. Mr.
Reed, though opposed to Mr. Bagley in the case before the
court, agreed with him as to the necessity of the court'
regarding those arrangement-cases with a vigilant eye ;
otherwise the bankruptcy law would be open to
frauds of all descriptions. The Chief Judge said that
it always had been so. He quite agreed as to the neces-
sity of the utmost possible vigilance being exercised in the
working of this branch of the law. No doubt in the hands
of dishonest men the law as it stood furnished means of
attempting fraud, but they would always find that the
law was quite strong enough to prevent the actual perpe-
tration of fraud. It had always been possible in bank-
ruptcy to attempt fraud, and sometimes the attempt had
succeeded. It would be the business of the court to en-
deavour to prevent the success of any such attempt, if
made under the present administration. He was glad
the matter had been discussed, because it would let every
one know that the court would exercise its own vigilance
as far as it could do, and creditors would see the necessity
of their doing the same ; but no doubt fraud might be
attempted, and where was the branch of our social
system in which frauds might not be attempted ? He
was sure that the learned counsel who had brought the
matter before him would do all in their power to expose
and prevent such frauds.