The Sun.
London, England, 1870-03-12 00:00:00

2IIE WEEKLY PRESS.

THE WEAKNESS OF THE GOVERNMENT.
It is not for us, says the Saturday Review, to 011-ggeil o
popular topics to the Conservative party, but we can 4.
understand that there is a weaknessin thepresent Gov A,9,0
meat which the Opposition might make more of nal
egg
unexampled seem capable of doing. Very apt in legislation,
_.11,,
unexampled powers of originating and devising mess'„ •
the present Ministers are exceptionally weak in
tration. The English people are a law-loving and order.g
folk ; and the state or Ireland really does fill thera
alarm and solicitude, not so much for the mere amok co.
crime committed as because the Government seems infot
pable of dealing with it. What we are yearning f.. 8,
is law and order and security. It is not ;Lye
land alone, but in lesser things and in ad%-lit
stration generally, that we want it. We ,"
security in person, and in public. Wo waixbodi
poverty question dealt with, not talked about. We of
to know whether we are drifting on to Communviwk4
not, or, if not, whether we ought to be: We are alarmed
a good many at least of us are—by the constantly rec„re
ing imbecility of the Home Office, no matter who jt,
sides over it, in the presence of crime and insolenco.,ir
Minister who is successfully defied by the cabmen is
temptible ; and we are not -yet prepared to acquiesce;to
the unavoidable necessity of contemptible departnv:'"et
of State. We do not like to be assured by a Cab,.„ne
Minister that it is not the duty of any department of of
to compel tradesmen to be honest, and that the line
the subjects, just weights and measures, and the full,o
mental laws of society are not the first, or indeed an 91144
cern of Government. Here is the weakness Mr.
stone's Ministry.

THE BOISTEROUS CONSERVATIVES.
Age j*
The Spectator states that Mr. Disraeli was "
—and Lord Derby and Lord Salisbury apparently' u 1344
oii
—to attend the Conservative banquet in the City.co,
Wednesday, but perhaps the absence of keen and ertio•
eyes put the boisterous Conservatives, of whom the ivg
queters chiefly consisted—Sir Stafford Northcote
In
the principal exception—rather more at their ease, la
enabled them to indulge more freely in those frothare
Tory wines by which the failing spirits of the imitiray
from time to time wisely exhilirated. Mr. -0-i'
was not fortunate in his tentative definitions
wherein he seemed to be following with uneert4o,4
steps in his leader's track. Conservatism, he says, illeald
" loyalty to the throne, justice to the rich, justice to .0
poor, and freedom to everybody:" As that' definite
might have equally truly (and equally uninstructive
have been given of Liberalism, Radicalism of Fie its
ism, and every political " ism " practically foun,ew
these islands short of Fenianism, we cannot
thinking that it is somewhat defective in defining btie
And this is really absolutely all of Conservative prins3te
in Mr. Gathorne Hardy's oratio ad familiare,s, Pri'ool
confidences to the chosen of his heart—the boister
11fo,
Right Centre—the Tory Protestants. A political ._.'
ralist studying the speech in the vein of the diamay
"Happy Thoughts," to get a specimen of the true Ors f
Tory for a work on Typical Developments, would fa
find a trace of a political type in it. It is an evil day eh
Conservatism when its chosen prophets show so ralto
division in its own ranks and so much confusion as
proper principles.

OUR COLONIAL POLICY. tXt
The Economist gives its cordial support to the 0010ng
policy of the Government, which is moreover the
one in the field. The Conservative party certainly sv°o
refrain from backing Lord Carnarvon, and the Q,4,
nsi
critics of Lord Granville, especially Earl Grey, had OT;,,
obsolete alternatives to suggest. Earl Grey frankly 0;1,
dared that if the colonies would not accept English
trol, they were not entitled to assistance ; and it :01,
foregone conclusion that they will not bear our COn otO
We may accept it as settled then that the idea of Eire 6
to any colony for the management of its affairs is,-0V
nitely given up ; that the extreme rule will be carried cal
in the extreme case of New Zealand with the Prac—s
assent of all parties in the State. Lord Granville rulloci.
little risk of obloquy in case of a colonial mishap °loll
dent with the final carrying out of the rule, but nore,iaeid
postponingcan be assigned for postponing the order. The past
has been very much too great.

f fic°
I An inquest Ins been held on the bodies o „t
persons who met their deaths on board the sloop Sarabo
Hull, some days ago. The jury found that death res
yq
from suffocation caused by inhaling fumes arising fron3
water ; and they were further of opinion that the orp-
lvaa"-
of the sloop were to blame for not having properly d-
paired the tanks from which the dangerous fluid e'c-
„p
Messrs. Newton, Chambers, and Co., of the Th°,lrll;..
entre Collieries, published a statement the other daYqod
ing the earnings of their late workmen. It is undeT.,h,
that the men on strike are preparing a statement, vi',lll-eir
they say, will put a very different complexion on
of
tag
earnings from that which appeared on the face °
umtuff otatemelats. - •

..~s~