The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, VtitIMAY

"SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times remarks that Mr. Stansfeld acquitted himself
4t Halifax on Tuesday last, of a comprehensive task with
:Ina' candour and ability. He undertook to shew that
:he Administration to which he belonged had redeemed
Its promises in the past, and might be expected to fulfil
its obligations in the future. Mr. Gladstone's Ministry,
tie said, succeeded to power with distinct duties and
.esponsibilities. It was first bound to settle the Irish
Jhurch Question, then to restore economy in the finances
of the country, and finally to turn the new motive

tower of a Reformed Parliament to account in measures of
utility and promise. The Irish Church Question was
settled accordingly, nor was it any reproach to say
that the settlement had not produced the instanta-
neous pacification of Ireland. Mr. Stansfield, in-
deed, had the courage to go a bit further, and
acknowledge frankly that even the termination of the Land
Question itself could not be expected to achieve such an
.mpossibility, or to satisfy all the hopes that might have
neen conceived. With these glimpses we must content
Jurselves for a fortnight longer; but, after the Land Bill,
what is to follow ? On this point Mr. Stansfield spoke
with great hesitation, as if the figure of six omni-
uses abreast were before his eyes There was the

,bolition of university tests, a subject of great importance,
Ind one, too, on which "the Liberal party were united
pen a solution ;" yet Mr. Stansfeld hardly expected to
tee the University Tests Bill carried. He had more con-
fidence in the Licensing Bill, though it is hard to see why
;his should take precedence of the University Bill, except
s less likely to provoke opposition. Then there was edu-
cation and the ballot, the latter question, including a
.omprehensive reform of election procedure. Of the
,rmy Mr. Stansfeld said nothing, but as regarded the
,avy he declared himself in a position to affirm that
we were actually stronger than we were before. He told
cis hearers that the Admiralty reforms had not only
liminished expenditure, but " had led to a positive
increase of the real naval power of the country." Of
effective ships and effective seamen we ha7e a more
powerful force than ever. By and by we shall probably
he wondering why reforms at once so obvious and so pro-
ductive were left so long unattempted, but in the mean-

I time we may allow fair credit to those who first effectually
I undertook the work.

The Standard trusts that the recent meeting at the
Mansion House in favour of emigration was only the fore-
runner of various other gatherings of the same kind. The
abject of the National Emigration League is one which is
most legitimately a matter of public agitation. It has
passed out of the domain of party action, and it cannot be
aged as a pretext for political manoeuvres. We have a
sufficient guarantee in the names of the men who
cave lent themselves to this movement, to be con-
rinced that this is purely a national question, which
nust be urged, if at all, by the voice of the whole
people of the country. We claim the support of
ill in favour of it who are interested in the well-
.seing of England and of her colonies. We claim especially
the support of the masses of the working men, whose
searest and best concern this is. If only the working men
will persevere in this most patriotic agitation there is no
government strong enough in England to resist their
lemand. They must not be put off with the usual excuses
A Liberals in office ; they must not submit to be told that
'here is no way by which the State can carry out a scheme
A national emigration. It is the business of the Govern-
nent to find a way. They are there for the very purpose
;hat they should govern, and government does not mean
silly the reduction of expenses and the elabora-
,ion of theories. A Government which turns away
thousands of workmen, and itself contributes to
the national distress, is especially bound to provide

ieasures of relief. A Government which can undertake
.0 do what this Ministry have undertaken to do in respect
o the grievances of Ireland cannot shirk the more press-
ng duty of satisfying the wants of the people of the whole

mpire. A Government of which the members talk of
free land" for the Irish, is under a peculiar obligation
o open the way to the lands which are already free--
which may be obtained without wrong to any one, which
equire only that the road to them should be bridged in
3rder that they may become accessible to the teeming
nillions of this kingdom. A Government which cannot
lo this—which is content to see the life-blood of England
stagnate in poverty at home, or go to nourish the strength
3f our enemy, has no claim to be reckoned patriotic, much
less, a Liberal Government.

The Daily News declares that the universal approval
with which the change .in the telegraphs is made is a
:cmarkabpa testimony to the general efficiency of post-
)ffice management. No other Government department
:ould ask to be allowed to supersede private enterprise
with any chance of public approval. If the Board of
Trade proposed to absorb the railway, or the Admiralty to
work the great steamship lines, or even the Home Office
so supply us with cabs, the proposal would be received
with general antagonism and suspicion. But the post-
Ace is popular. It does for us what private
enterprise would never do. In handing over the
telegraphs to the Post-office the public has, therefore,
mly completed the recognised function of the department
is the great engine of intercommunication in modern civi-
sisation. The demand that everything shall be saciified to
security and despatch has double force now that the whole
telegraph system of the country passes under Government
tontrol. An uniform fare must be accompanied by nn
uniform service. To cultivate places which pay w,;11,
and neglect those which pay badly, is just what
tan be done, and has been done, under the
.ystem of trading companies; we look to the
iovernment to do more and better than this for us,
snd to treat all places alike. This consideration alone
iustifies the monopoly which tho Post Office has asked
end got. The Government must not work the telegraphs
.nerely for revenue—must not regard them as a source of
revenue; but must work them with a single eye to the
zonvenience of the public. If this is done, the transfer to
cc begun to-morrow will be an unmixed benefit to the
.lountry. A telegraphic system as complete as our Post
Office system, as efficiently organised, and as admirably
worked, may be as great a gain to the country as the Post
Office itself was when it was first established, and may
oecome as essential an element in the business and social
life of our posterity as the penny post has become in our
own.

The Pall .3fall Gazette observes that the tendency of all
departments to grow, and to find work for themselves to
chew the necessity for growth, is proverbial. It has never
however, been illustrated so forcibly as in the forma-
tion of the control system by the War Office. The
theory favoured by the chief has been that the
department's stores should be regarded as a huge
shop ready to supply from a central point all
military requirements ; and although the expense
of carrying out this idea has added enormously to
the cost of a great part of the stores, the real
object has been thoroughly attained of keeping a host of
officials at the War Office, at the Tower, at Woolwich,
and all large stations, constantly supplied with a sufficient
amount of correspondence. In the attempt to divest com-
manders of the responsibility hitherto strictly enforced
upon them by the War Office, the Administration
has unknowingly gone further towards the crea-
tion of an irresponsible bureaucracy than the
Government of any free nation ever went
before. In fine, we have still our dual government of the
army; and the net result of the present state of things is
that, in order to make both ends meet, Mr. Cardwell is
about to cut down dangerously the working combatant
portion of the army; to reduce the military staff in such a
way that there will henceforth be no object in any officer's
qualifying himself by study for any higher than regi-
mental duty; and at the same time we are erecting a
huge army within an army, a War Office within a War
Office of extravagantly paid and comfortably lodged
officials, neither soldiers nor civilians, realising Dryden's
satire on the militia of his day—
" Mouths without hands, maintained at vast expense ;
In peace a charge, in war a weak defence."
From first to last, no greater tissue of administrative
mistakes has been made than in the form and manner of
erecting a department which apparently conceives the
army as made for itself instead of itself for the army.'
The Telegraph says that a question has arisen under the
Friendly Societies Act which seriously affects the inte-
rests of a class peculiarly deserving of sympathy, The
Act of 1855 defines the objects for which such institutions
may be established, and among the purposes specified is
" the relief or maintenance of the members, their hus-
bands, wives, children, brothers or sisters, nephews or
nieces, in old age, sickness, or widowhood." The question
is whether "sickness" includes mental malady—in
other words, whether a member who unhappily be-
comes deranged can be relieved by these societies.
The late Mr. Tidd Pratt, who was a lawyer of great ex-
perience, held the opinion that the managers would not
be justified in giving relief to a member so afflicted ; and
the deceased Registrar also considered that a provision
for the insane could not legally be inserted in the
rubs of such an association. Mr. Elliott, the police
magistrate at Lambeth, takes a contrary view, and
on Tuesday he gave an extra-judicial opinion, that
lunacy might be included under the word " sickness." The
authority of Mr. Tidd Pratt is deservedly high, and, in
view of the degree to which administration and contribu
tion rates have been guided by the accepted rule, it would
be most undesirable to invoke any hasty treatment of the
question ; but the interpretation of the statute
given by Mr. Elliot certainly seems the most rea-
sonable. " Sickness " is defined in our dictionaries
to be " disease; disorder of the body ;" and what
is madness but a disease of the brain? There is a custom
of speaking about bodily and mental maladies as if they
were quite distinct; but, strictly speaking, a man never
goes mad without that part of his body which is the seat
of thought becoming diseased, and his affliction may there-
fore be aptlyexpresited by the significant old English word
I.'ll/91601110...

WLS.XI EDUCATION CONFERENCE.

An Aberystwith corretpondent telegraphs that at
the conference which met in that town yesterday to
consider the prospects of the University College for
Wales, a committee was appointed to endeavour to procure
a grant from the Government. It was also resolved that
requests should be sent to thirty gentlemen, asking
each of them to lend £250 for Lye years without interest,
in order that the college may open at once.

FREE INQUIRY IN RELIGIOUS MATTERS,

A paper has been read by the Solicitor-General before a
very influential body of London clergy and others, on the
" Limits of Free Inquiry in the Established Church." No
report of the proceeding appeared at the time,
but the Inquirer gives an outline of some of the most
prominent sentiments expressed. Mr. Coleridge pro-
nounced no opinion upon the question which now divides
the Church of England, but he dwelt on the political nature
of the Establishment, and, being a political institution, a
wide latitude of ideas was necessary. If a Church
ceased to represent differences of opinion, it ceased to be
national. The penal laws by which the Established Church
in Ireland had been supported were without a parallel :
it was a shameful history, and it was a matter of congratu-
lation that the supremacy of the Church in Ireland hadnow
been subverted. Mr. Coleridge also said, in the course of
his remarks, advocating fne discussion and inquiry in
all religious matters, that the Church, in the cha-
racter of an establishment was a national insti-
tution as much as the Houses of Parliament
or the army and navy, and that those who dissent from its
formularies have as Englishmen an interest in it, and a
right to interfere with its constitution.—ln the discussion
which followed Dean Stanley took part.

PROFESSOR MORLEY ON KING ARTHUR.
Professor Henry Morley has delivered his second lecture
on "King Arthur, his place in Literature, from Geoffrey of
Monmouth to Tennyson,"in the Birmingham Institute. He
took up his subject at the time of Spenser, and said up to
that point the King Arthur legends originated in a true fact
of history, and probably a true person. The historical fact
was the struggle of the Celt against the Saxon, which
brought out the best energies of the Celt, and brought out,
too, a strain of poetry. Geoffrey of Monmouth, was the
originator of the Arthur stories, and Walter Map, a man of
rare genius, was the :harmoniser of them. When
we read Tennyson's "Holy Grail," if we have
read the version in Sir Thomas Mallory's book,
we cannot help feeling how bright the old story
was, nor that the poet of our own age has not ex-
pressed it morebrightly or more truly than it was expressed
by Walter Map. Sir Thomas Mallory's arrangement of the
King Arthur Stories was printed by Caxton, and thence-
forward we have the King Arthur Stories as he arranged
them. Professor Mcrley then entered at considerable
length into the poetry of Spencer, whom he classed among
the four great poets. Shakspere and Chaucer represented
universal genius ; Spencer and Milton, the individual
Englishmen of their time. The old Arthurian legends
were adopted by Spenser in a high and spiritual sense,
while Milton conceived an epic on King Arthur, but
he abandoned it for "Paradise Lost." Dryden's
"King Arthur" was written at the end of the reign
of Charles 11., but not produced till after the Revolu-
tion of 1688. It was very artificial, and only
deserved mention because Dryden's name was a name
of honour. Later on we have a snatch of " Morte
d'Arthur," by Bishop Hober, who made his Guinevere a
village maid. Then came Lord Lytton's epic, whose exe-
cution was not equal to his ambition, but whose treatment
of the subject was in full accordance with the whole treat-
ment of the Arthur legends. Mr. Morley is to deliver a
third and concluding lecture on the subject in the course
of a few weeks.