The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-06 00:00:00

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Lord DERBY considers that the members of the

Upper House possess special advantages, for they
represent the average opinion of the educated classes,
and are not responsible to any fraction of the public,
but to the whole community. While they
were bound to obey national opinion, and
had shown their readiness to do so, they
could afford to be indifferent to temporary or
local prejudice. In this lies the real strength of
the House of Lords ; and if it would preserve the
regard and respect of the country, it will not be
unmindful of it. As it can afford to be indepen-
dent of local prejudice, it should be careful to act
with a due regard to the general interest ; and as
it must sometimes assume the position of an arbiter,
it should exhibit a calm judgment and an independent
spirit. Lord DERBY concluded by pointing out the
changes that time may make in the condition of
the House of Lords. " Professions, which were
combative took precedence of those which were in-
dustrial in their character," and hence it came to
pass that the House of Lords contained so large a
proportion of persons who had been placed there by
naval and military or legal success, but he believed
the " next generation would see the list of those
who owed high positionto industrial occupation consi-
derably increased." It is satisfactory to find that
Lord DERBy entertains so cheerful an expectation of
the future of the House of Loi ds, and can thus give so
complete an answer to the taunts and insults which
from time to time have been heaped upon it by those
who do not rightly comprehend its true position in
the State. At the same time that he defends its
privileges he proclaims its duties, and points out
that its illustrious members have no call to emulate
the rois faineants of a departed
_age. There is work
for them to do, and plenty of it if they set vigo-
rously to the task ; and if it should sometimes ap-
pear tame and trivial, its results may not be less
important ; than more showy performances, for to
fill in details is often a greater effort than to
sketch elaborate outlines.

THERE never was a case in which the arguments
were so entirely on one side as they were in Wed-
nesday's debate on the Women's Disabilities Bill.
Not only were the arguments strong in themselves,
but they were strong relatively—strong by contrast
with the objections. When the utmost that the oppo-
nents of the bill could say was that women would bribe
by means of their pocket handkerchiefs, and that it
was unpleasant to read in the newspapers of women
lecturers going from place to place, the game was up.
It does not seem to have struck Mr. Beresford Hope,
the eccentric father of the first brilliant idea, that
women have not been accustomed to resort to this
kind of bribery hitherto, have not hitherto been in the
habit of canvassing electors and shedding tears on
receiving an unfavourable answer, and that it
is not likely they will resort to this trick when they
have an opportunity of influencing elections in a
more direct way. Nor does it seem to have occurred
to Sir Herbert Croft, the originator of the other ob-
jection, that as lady lecturers already go from place
to place, that very highly reprehensible custom
cannot be attributed to Mr. Jacob Bright's Bill. All
the talk about women not being fitted for politics,
about the drawing-room and the nursery (why not
add the scullery ?) being their proper place is simply
"bosh." A man does not become a bad son, brother,
husband, or father, on attaining the franchise ; why,
then, should an enfranchised woman cease to be
a good daughter, sister, wife, and mother ?
Most married men will rejoice in the thought
that their wives will have one more object
in common with themselves, one more subject
in which they will be educated, and which will serve
as a welcome diversion to the interminable talk
about the excellencies of " baby" and the sins of
" cook." Besides what right have men to
withhold the franchise from such women
as it is proposed to enfranchise ? These
are owners of property, managers of businesses,
payers of rates and taxes, and why should they be
excluded from a privilege which men enjoy precisely
upon these qualifications ? The present system is
untenable. We have already applied to women the
principle that taxation and representation shall go
together, by allowing them votes as ratepayers
and as members of a municipality it is absurd, there-
fore, to refuse them votes as tax-payers. We allow
them to vote for the men who decide what number
of police shall be employed, we have until now
forbidden them to vote for the men who
shall decide what number of soldiers and
sailors shall be employed. The distinction cannot
be maintained for a minute, except by mere force of
numbers. Happily men are not so selfish as
women have sometimes thought them to be, and
although they have the power to keep the other sex
disfranchised, it would seem as if they do
not mean to exercise that power any longer.
As to the argument that if we allow women
to vote for members of Parliament we must
allow them to become members of Parliament we re-
ply that if they are competent by all means let them
be chosen; but it no more necessarily follows that they
will be elected M.P.'s than guardians or churchwardens.
They'are eligible in these capacities. Yet we do not find
women filling them, and we do not expect to see a
ladies' bench in the House of Commons, though it is
possible that they may obtain the removal of the
bars of their present gilded cage. Finally, if the ad-
mission of women will increase the strength of the
Conservative party, as is alleged, we say that we can-
not help it. Mr. Mill's reply to this objection
was obvious and unanswerable. If the women of
this country are as a rule Conservative, then
Conservatism is not properly represented, has not
its fair share of legislators. It is possible, and not
altogether improbable that when women become
enfranchised they will also become "educated"
with a raniditv that will astonish even Mr. Disraeli.

THE SUN, LONDON FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 6, 1870.

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LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

F RANCE.

PARIS, May 6.

A person named Serrail, who is said to be seriously
compromised in the plot against the Emperor, was
arrested yesterday.

The Official Journal of to-day publishes a despatch
from Algeria, stating that during the night of the 3d
inst. the troops were successful in two encounters
with the hostile tribes, whom Gen. 'Wimpffen com-
pelled to accept terms of peace.
BOURSE, May s.—Three o'clock—The marl et
closed as follows :