The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-12 00:00:00

THE SUN,
.LONDON,_ SATURDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 12, 1870.

dealing with the National Debt. He said the object of
the bill was to carry out more fully the policy of last year
in regard to this question. It would give greater facilities
to the holders of public debt. Last year's account
authorised the payment of dividends without requiring
the personal presence of holders of stock. The present
bill would increase the number of payments from
twice a year to four times, which would be a great boon
to the poorer classes of stockholders.
Mr. CRAWFORD said he believed that the public
would look upon the proposition of the Chancellor of the
Exchequer to pay the dividends quarterly as a boon, but
the placing a charge of ss. upon the conversion of Consols
would render the other portions of his scheme abortive.
Mr. BOOTH also thought the payments of dividends
quarterly would be a public convenience, but the other
portion of the scheme was not quite so satisfactory.
Mr. BARING : As the conversion was optional,it could do
no harm, but he questioned whether the measure would
do all the good he expected.
After a few observations from Alderman SALOMONS,
the resolutions upon which the vote would be founded
were then agreed to.
PARLIAMEIsITARY AND MUNICIPAL ELECTIONS.
On the motion of the Marquis of HARTINGTON, the
select committee to inquire into the present mode of con-
ducting parliamentary and municipal elections, in order
to provide for further guarantees for their tranquillity,
purity, and freedom, was afforded.
SAVINGS' BANKS BILL.

The CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER moved for
leave to bring in a Bill to amend the law relating to
savings' banks. The object of the bill was to reduce interest
now paid by them for the use of the funds of the savings'
banks, from £3 5s Od. to £3 Os. Od. The payment of the first
named sum occasioneda loss to the taxpayer, and therefore
he did not see why it should be continued. There were prece-
dents for doing as he proposed,as he foundout fromtheyear
1817 to 1828 the Government paid the sum of £4 lls. 3d.;
as the interest from 1828 to 1844 the sum was
£3 16s. Old., and from 1844 down to the present time,
it was £3 55., and now he proposed to make it £3, in order,
as he had before observed, to relieve the taxpayer from a
loss the present arrangement entailed.
Leave was given to bring in the bill.
MARRIED WOMEN'S PROPERTY BILL.

Mr. RUSSELL GURNEY obtained leave to bring in a
bill, which was read a first time, to further amend the
law relating to the property of married women.

RAILWAYS.

Mr. WHALLEY moved for, and obtained leave to bring
in a bill for the amendment of the Railways Construction
facilities Act 1864.

Mr. LEFEVRE said he could not, by assenting to the
introduction of the bill, bind himself to assent to any of
the provisions of the bill.
THE BRIDGWATER COMMISSION.

On the motion of Mr. HEADLAM, the petition he
presented last night from the electors of Bridgwater, was
ordered to be presented with the votes.

PAROCHIAL BOARDS.

Mr. GOSCHEN obtained leave to bring in a bill to
make provision for the proceedings of Boards of Manage-
ment and Boards of Guardians upon the dissolution of
Districts and Unions or the annexation of Parishes to
Unions.
The House then adjourned.

WEIRIT OF TEE PuBLIO aouREATA6-

The Saturdag .Review declares that the Queen's Speech
was in one way a very agreeable disappointment, for
although, if possible, more confused and incoherent than
usual, it had the great merit of promising plenty of work.
The Cabinet have evidently been animated by a reaction
from that indolence of despondency to which Mr. Bright
a short time ago confessed he was becoming a prey. Par
from thinking one omnibus enough to get through Temple
Bar at a time, they are bent on starting half a dozen, and
on filling up the interstices with all the carts and
" crawlers " they can get hold of. There is scarcely any
department of legislation in which some improvement is
not to be attempted. The Irish Land Bill was of course the
most prominent, and its contents are already so far foresha-
dowed that it has been announced that the acquisition
of land, as well as its occupation, is to be considered in the
scheme. If the roundabout and tortuous phraseology of
a Queen's speech meant anything it would also be natural
to anticipate that some special advantages are to he given
to the Irish agricultural labourer, as he certainly belongs
to one of the classes that make up the bulk of the Irish
population. Education followed, and Lord Hartington is
to take the necessary steps that are considered properly
preliminary to the introduction of the Ballot. The aboli-
tion of 'University tests was introduced under the quaint
shape of a measure to make the Universities more
respected, which to most Heads of Houses will seem like
adding insult to injury. Heaps of minor measures were
also described as part of the work of .the coming session;
and although it was expected that the Government would
take up some of these, it was impossible to antici-
pate that it would encumber itself with so many. Diffi"-
cult, however, as the other tasks may be which the
Government has set itself, they are all easy by the side
of its one great difficulty—the government of Ireland.
The language referring to the efforts, the sorrows, the
hopes, and the disappointments of the Cabinet in their
most ineffectual attempt to keep order in Ireland was,
as Lord Cairns said, a most curious piece of patchwork.
The framers of the Speech were evidently distracted
between the perception of the obvious fact that things
are going on most deplorably in Ireland, and
the feeling that abstractedly it is impossible
things should go on badly anywhere under such
a clever and well meaning Government. It is
something, however, that a public avowal has been made
that the state of Ireland is very serious, and that the
Ministry is pledged, if disorder continues, t o put it down
firmly and sternly. Mr. Gladstone even chewed that he
had learnt to face the possibility that he would have to
lay his Land measure aside for a time, in order to restore
order in Ireland; and although every one in England
must sincerely hope that it may not be necessary to resort
to so extreme a course, yet it is satisfactory to be assured
that the Prime Minister is not going on from day to
day merely shutting his eyes to the reality of things,
and that, if the worst comes, he will not shrink from his
duty.

The Spectator thinks that the first debate of the session
has not been a reconnaissance in force, even if it has been
so much as a sounding of the call to arms. Mr. Disraeli
and Lord Cairns were alike careful not to permit the mem-
bers of their party to commit themselves till the voices of
their leaders had given them the cue. Mr. Disraeli and
Lord Cairns were, moreover, alike careful not to commit
even themselves to any explicit censure of the general
Irish policy of the Government. Mr. Disraeli declared in
so many words, admidst the silent dismay and chagrin of
his party, that the bad condition of Ireland was certainly
not due to the policy of the Government. Lord Cairns
did not go so far as this, but while attacking the Liberal
administration of Ireland, he carefully avoided any explicit
censure of the Government for not having asked for a
Coercion Bill, or a new suspension of the Habeas Corpus.
Both the leaders of Opposition eschewed recriminations
on the Irish Church Act of last session. Both of them
kept themselves absoluteiy free of any hampering decla-
rations as to the Land Bill of this session; and by shutting
the mouths of their followers—which was effectually,
managed by the leader of the Opposition rising imme-
diately after the AddresS had been moved and seconded,
so that the debate was all but closed by the replies of the
Liberal chiefs—they managed to keep the Conservative
party in both Houses from in any way anticipating the
decision which must be taken next week after the l'rime
Minister has explained the provisions of his great Irish
measure. The other point in connection with Irish policy,
illustrated by the debate of Tuesday is Mr. Disraeli's evi-
dent hope that he may reconcile his party to a tolerably
strong land measure, so long as it is called by some mild
name. We are cheered by observing that Mr. Disraeli
evidently wishes to accustom his party to thinking mildly
of very strong measures indeed, and tries to reconcile
them thereto by vituperating in the most unreasonable
language proposals differing from those for which he sug-
gests at least every excuse, only as far as we can see by
sounding stronger, though actually being decidedly
less strong. We argue, at all events, from Mr, Disraeli's
language, that he is preparing his party to con-
cede a good deal—that he is teaching them to
ohjnni chiefly to the name of a strong measure
on the land tenure, not to the reality—and that he
wishes to use that " bustling" politician Sir John Gray as
a soft of bite noire to frighten his followers into acquies-
cence in any measure which has no alarming sound about
it. "If you are not reasonable," he seems to us to say to
his party, as mines say to children, "the black man will
nne for you. Lard Granard and Sir John Gray, with
their fixity of tenure, are already waiting for you. Mr.
Isaac Butt, after all, was net so 'outrageous,' not so revo-

lutionary.' If the Government are only as mild as Mr. Isaac
Butt, much more if they ask for what sounds milder still,
you will be very unwise to be violent. You might go
farther and fare much worse." On the whole a line of this
_ .

kind is of good augury.

A very anxious crisis for the English Church has just
passed, says the John Bull, leaving behind it, we trust and
believe, more good than evil. The Bishop of Exeter's
withdrawal of his essay from any future editions of
"Essays and Reviews " is a sufficient—however tardy and
reluctant—admission of the justice of the Church's con-
demnation, ten years ago, of that essay and that volume.
Until this was done no possible
i explanations or state-
ments of Bishop Temple could n tho slightest degree
satisfy either the honour of the Church's Synod, or the
deep disquietudes of the Church and of the clergy of his
own diocese, especially as to his complicity with the
frightful doctrines of the Essayists. But now the great
point which we have laboured so long to arrive at has
practically been reached. It can no longer be flung in the
teeth of the English Church that she has a fautor of here-
tics and semi-infidels among her bishops, or that she has
a Synod whose authority can be set at nought. We are
aware that attempts have been made by the Dean of West-
minster to deny, or disarm of significance, the statement
made by the Archdeacon, and confirmed by the Dean of
Exeter, that the notorious essay was withdrawn. But it
is certain that Archdeacon Freeman was authorised to
make, " whether in Convocation or elsewhere," exactly
the statement that he did make. And nothing can be
more petty, or a more sure proof that Dr. Temple hag
really done the very thing that he ought, than the dismay
which the proceedings in both Houses of Convocation
have given to his quondam friends. For ourselves, we are
not disposed to cavil at the secondary circumstances of
this important avowal. It is less direct, less humble, than
might have been desired. But the Church, having
attained her end, can afford to be generous in common
Matters ; and we earnestly trust that the chief obstacle to
the utility and efficiency of Dr. Temple's episcopate will be
held to have been removed; and that the clergy of his diocese
more especially will be content with the present, and hope
the best for the future. A solvent has at length been
found—we care not what—which has broken down the
" dull hard stone of the mind "in which Dr. Temple had
entrenched himself ; and there is every reason to hope
that contact with Church work and sound men will clear
and ripen his views, and enable him in duo time to
counteract, by his active labours, the mishief heretofore
done by his speculative errors and his evil companion-
ships. And if this prove to be so, we shall have not a
little besides this to place to the advantageous side of the
Church balance-sheet.

The Economist observes that the great success of Mr.
Lowe's payment for the telegraphs—a success which shews
that he is au excellent man of business, and well knows
what he is about—raises, however, some serious and
almost undiscussed questions as to the position of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer in the money market, and as
to the degree to which he can affect the price of public
securities without anyone's knowing how or why. Such
powers may be good; the present position of the Finance
Minister in the money market may be right; but at all
events they should-be distinctly seen, and now they are
not. Ought these great Powers to be exercised without
our being able to watch them as we watch other State
Powers, and to see from day to day what is doing? No
one, time out of mind, has suspected an English Chan-
cellor of the Exchequer of corruption, and no one is likely
to suspect him. But at the same time it is a serious
question whether all such powers ought not to be placed
under the greatest possible supervision, and exposed to
the keenest and most instant discussion. People have
lately wondered that the funds did not rise; generally
they have risen when things begin to get better, but this
time they have not. The reason is now understood to be
that a large though unpublished amount of new stock has
been created, which has naturally depressed the price. We
ought now-a-days to watch these powers more carefully
than we used to do. A change is coming over our poli-
ticians. Formerly the " City " was one place, and the
West-end another. The ignorance of politicians about
Lombard-street, and the ignorance of Lombard-street
about politicians was curious. Our Ministers were very
much chosen from a single semi-aristocratic class, closely
connected with agriculture, and entirely disconnected
from money dealing. But now men pass from the City to
the Cabinet, and from the Cabinet to the City. This
charmed division is effaced, and it cannot be revived.
The old race of public men could not make a bad
use of secret powers, for they did not know how to
set about it ; but the rule is passing to men am
familiar with the City as with Downing-street, and.
who will thus have no inaptitude to keep them back.
If the Chancellor of the Exchequer gave a constant
account of what he did, we might give him powers which
in theory ho certainly ought to have, but which now lie
has not. By a curious anamoly, the Secretary of State
for India can lend in the money market, but the Chancellor
of the Exchequer cannot lend; and yet the Chancellor of
the Exchequer is a great hanker, who peculiarly ought to
be able to lend, and the Indian Secretary, as a rule, has
little to use but his own money, and is not a banker at
all. We do not see why the Chancellor of the Exchequer
should be bound to buy with the savings' bank money
securities by which he is likely to lose, instead of lending
a largo sum on similar securities, just as the Indian Sec-
retary, and so protect himself from loss. A frequent and
complete account of the operations of the Finance Minister
would, of course, include such loans if made, and all crea-
tion of stock under unusual powers, such as those given
last session, as well as all the transactions with the Bank
of England on " deficiency bills," which are rarely under-
stood now; and if Mr. Lowe would give us such an
account, he would make English finance even more certain
and reliable than it now is,

'FOREIGN NOTES.

THE CAPLISTS tN SPAIN.

The Carlist organs in Spain publish simultaneously a
notice, stating that the Marquis of Villadarias, Presi-
dent of the Central Junta of Catholic Carlists, has had
the honour of receiving a communication from the Duke
of Madrid, in which Don Carlos VII expresses his
approval of the Constitution of the Junta. He felicitates
it on the valour and patriotism not only of those who
form the Junta itself, but of all those who took part in the
electoral struggle. It is also stated that the same party
is forming a Provincial Junta in Lerida composed of 15
persons. The Impartial, in referring to the prevailing
agitation in Navarre, announces that the Carlists are
organizing a similar movement in Lerida, Barcelona, and
other provinces, and that there is every reason to
believe that in the spring they will take the field. The
same journal states that several individuals belonging to
the Federal party have started from various provinces in
the direction of Bayonne, where a grand meeting is to be
held, at which the Carlist chiefs who are on the frontier
will be present.