The Sun.
London, England, 1870-10-31 00:00:00

IHE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY, OCTOBER 31, 187 C.

possession of their inheritance, duly confirmed to
them by Act of Parliament. Their leaders will share
their triumph. Some indeed have fallen in the
ordinary course of nature, dying in a good old age.
But the greater part of them are alive to this day.
The vacancies' which death has made have been
abundantly supplied. The pioneers have seen them-
selves joined by men of great social standing, of
great intellectual eminence, by men high in
the Church and in the State, men whose names
forbid any longer that ridicule which used to be once
forthcoming in the place of argument. When men
like the Archbishops of YORK and WESTMINSTER,
the Bishop of EXETER, and Sir CHARLES TREVEL-
YAN are found associating themselves actively. With
the Alliance, contempt becomes contemptible. None
know it better than those who, in the abundance of
their scorn, used to "spit upon" the Permissive Bill.
Where are they now ? What meant that scene at
Westminster on July 13th, so graphically described
by an official of the House of Commons
to Sir WILFRID LAWSON ? How was it
that when the division bell rang to summon
members to vote on the second reading of tie Per-
missive Bill, crowds of them who formerly voted with
the Noes were seen trooping out of the House as fast
as their legs could carry them ? They used to be
very jubilant and shout with delight when" the
Alliance "fanatics" were defeated by seven to one.
They were prepared not only with their saliva but
with their cheers, even when the majority was re-
duced to two against ono. But this year the cheers
came from the other side, for the kyes
were found to be within thirty-ono of the
Noes. The reason of this change is the best of
all reasons. I'he country has in large measure
come over to the Permissive Bill, and in most consti-
tuencies the number of its supporters is so great that
M.P.'s do not venture to vote against it
Some of them, lagging behind their consti-
tuents, are not yet prepared to vote for
it ; and thus it came to pass that at about
five in the afternoon of last July 13th scores of
members were seen beating a retreat, whereby they
accomplished the double feat of saving their con-
sciences and saving their seats. -
It may be said that we are too sanguine with
regard to the early settlement of this question. Well,
'tis never wise to prophesy unless you are sure, and
so we will not prophesy. We will marely point
out the circumstances which seem to indicate
the near approach to the devoutly-wished-for
consummation. We have already mentioned one, and
that the most important, the support of the constitu-
encies and the neutrality of former antagonists. But
the operation of this change of sentiment does not
end here. M.P.'s like Mr. KENNAWAY, who spoke
against the bill but did not venture to
vote against it, are finding their position
intolerable, and they, especially if they are Liberals,
will urge Mr. BRUCE to extricate them from their
embarrassment by settling this vexed ques-
tion once and for all. Now, Mr. BRUCE is a man of
excellent intentions, but of the feeblest possible per-
formance. In " consideration " of a question he
whips all creation, as the Yankees say ; but, in
practical legislation he is about the most signal failure
that ever adorned even the Home Office, not excepting
his predecessor, that man of tears, Mr. WALPOLE. Only
think for a moment of what Mr. Bnucu did not do
last session. He did not pass the Mines Regulation
Bill, he did not pass the Merchant Shipping Bill, he
did not pass the Table of Lessons Bill, though half-
an-hour would have sufficed to save thousands of
bookbinders from semi-starvation, he did not pass,
or even introduce, a Licensing Bill. His sole
achievement was to raise the fares of the London
cabmen provided they also raised tin flags. The
fares remain raised, but in all the metropolis, from
Stratford to Shepherd's Bush, from Hornsey to
Brixton, there is not now a tin flag to bo seen.
Therefore we expect nothing from Mr. BRUCE ; but
we do expect a good deal from Mr. BRUCE'S inca-
pacity. His weakness will be the strength of the
Alliance. He has no policy ; they have. He will
seek to please the publicans and the Temperance
party, and he will fall between those two
stools. The Alliance, whom their bitterest
opponents can never accuse of seeking to serve two
masters, will, with their single purpose„ their
harmonious action, and their powerful organisation,
be able to carry everything before them. Let
it not be supposed that this is a case of mere
political exigency, much less of brute force.
That which the Alliance proposes is in strict
accordance with English feeling and English principles.
They ask only that the people should decide a ques-
tion in which the people are most deeply interested.
They ask that it shall no longer be left with irre-
sponsible persons, themselves often personally
interested in the multiplication of drinkshops,
to decide if crime and pauperism shall be
increased by the granting of licences. They ask that
they may be allowed to stay, with the local popular
veto in each town, the plague which the imperial
assembly sitting at Westminster has not been able
to abate by four hundred Acts of Parliament.

THE gales which have been visiting our shores
during the present month, and those which are yet
due to us after an unusually protracted season of
calm weather, may well make us anxious respecting
our Fleet. Unseaworthy merchant ships need never
go to sea. If there are any seamen fools enough to
venture out in some of the Yorkshire colliers, which
have been aptly called living coffins, if there are
passengers unwise enough to make voyages in vessels
with a deck cargo, they have themselves to blame.
But ships of war are experimental ships, because war
itself has become experimental The gallant men
who command or serve in our iron clads necessarily
do so at the risk of their lives, not only in
time of war, but also in time of peace. The
" Captain" was an experiment, and we know
what came of it. Yet there is still a large class of
naval men who believe in the turret system. The
Army and Navy Gazette will not give it up. Mr.
CHILDERS is still enamoured of it, and, if report be
true, is busy in drawing up a report which will show
that no one is responsible for the foundering of the
Captain, after the fashion of MoLIERE's doctor,
who proved conclusively that his patient ought not
to have died. Mr. CHILDERS may be right ; poor
Captain COLES may have been right in declaring that
his ship would go •round the world, and beat any
other vessel afloat; but at present appearances are
against him and the First Lord. We " want
to know," as the Americans say ; we want
to ascertain if this idea be well founded,
for we do not wish to sink any more
ships, to lose again 500 men and 500,000 pounds in
an ordinary gale. Nor is this all. We want to
know something about our other ships. Is the
"Monarch" safer The Times, though we believe
incorrectly, has implied that she is not. Is the
" Audacious " and are her sister ships safe? Report
says very much the reverse. Is the " Cerberus "
safe ? Hero again rumour is so unfavourable that
it has been found impossible to get her complement
of men.

It may be replied that the information we seek is
now being obtained by the Admiralty. Every ship
about which there is any reason to entertain appre-
hensions is being tested for stability. This is
well, and may, so soon as the information is pub-
lished, help to relieve a good deal of the alarm now
felt. But this information will not tell us what, as a
nation, we wish to learn—the kind of ship which we