The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-17 00:00:00

WPITITT 8r- TUE PR2B9.

TIM rlrax LArD
We frankly confess, says the Times, that the VI
exceeds our anticipations. We may, indeed, be pertnitte.cti
to say that we long ar indicated ate lines upon which 1
must be drawn ••but in a design of such extent and com-
plexity there there must ever be present a fear, until tle
construction is completed, that the hand will falter 111
some part of the work, and shortcomings be
which might go far to mar the effect of the whole. The
present bill dispels such fears. It corresponds in a
remarkable degree to the scheme of its projectors.
It is an honest, thorough, vigorous effort to cope with
the evils it is designed to redress. The very completeness
of its we-1-.L.ians'ulp may make it appear formidable to
nntiy who will apprehend a plentiful harvest of litigation
am the consequence of its numerous provisions; but, Wit",
out quoting once more the oft-quoted and still doubtful
sentence of Sir John Davies it must be allowed that
opportunities of litigation cars as the bill presents 30
means to prevent litigation sing. It cannot be for-
gotten, indeed, that with respect...to Ireland there is but
permitted
a choice o f two land codes open to the statesman. lie
may adopt the principle of this bill, and provide the neces•
nary legal machinery to give the Irish tenant his just duos:
or he must be prepared to allow the atrocious code a
Ribandism to remain the ultima ratio of the Irish cults:
valor to the degradation of Ireland and to the shame of
the Empire. We must choose between the Civil Courts
.
executed by the officers of law and the decrees of secret
meetings in mountain cabins executed in deeds of ass?,:
sination. It is a case in which a sound choice brings
own reward. The proffer of justice contained in the
Ministerial scheme is intended to benefit both land-
lord and tenant, to enrich each while enriching the other,
and to make suspicion and alienation give place to trust
an i confidence. We adopt without reserve the words
used by Mr. Bright in the note read by Mr. Gladstone on
Tuesday—" I think it a just and comprehensive measure'
and I hope that the moderation and patriotism of Parlifl"
merit will enable it soon to become law." •

The Telegraph thinks Mr. Gladstone's Land Bill IntS
not been designed, like the coats of the Laputa tailors,
independent principles ; it more resembles a well-fitting
garment of elastic stuf that accommodates itself to Size
and shape. One of the great difficulties which all ob-
servers of Irish affairs recognised, was presented by the
immense varieties in agrarian life ; for there are land-
lords of every kind and degree, and tenants ranging from
rich farmers or graziers to poor cottiers with no resources.
There are rich landlords, who are liberal and skilful rn
improving their estates and in the direction an
encouragement of a thriving tenantry ; there are
harsh and needy landlords, who never spend a
pinny more than they can help, and who extort the
utmost farthing form a dependent tenantry. There are
districts where gracious customs have acquired such a
beneficial force that no improvement is needed ; there are
districts where inferior, but still useful, customs are
gradually growing up. The merit of the bill is, that it
allows free play to every element of progress and improve-
ment on Irish soil, and calls in the law only where evil is
rampant and society is disturbed. It has evidently been
framed under the presidency of two ideas ; the one, that
security of tenure is a necessary good ; the other that
legal interference with freedom of contract is at best 5
necessary evil. If asked to characterise the bill
shortly, we should describe it as a new rule with
many exceptions. The exceptions occur in every
district where there are elements of peace and prosperitr,
and will have a coercive and interfering force only where
evil is already prevalent. It is an outward application
intended, not for sound flesh, but for sores ; and the beet
proof of the success of the measure will be that, after a
time, the local land courts will have little to do. For even
the Bill itself contemplates that landlord and tenant mai
prefer arbitration; it contemplates that, even if they come
to the court, they may prefer a private hearing; in short,
it is indicated that actual litigation ought to be the
ultima ratio of a wronged tenant.

THE BOROUGH OF SOUTHWARK.
The Daily News remarks that the Liberal borough °I
Southwark has returned a Conservative to represent it in
Parliament. Yet this return, paradoxical as the state'
merit may seem was accompanied by a most emphatic de'
monstration of Southwark Liberalism. We shall probably
hear a good deal of a Conservative reaction as the expl,
nation of this anomalous circumstance, and we Nil°
make our Conservative friends, whose eyes are
wearied by long watching for a dawn of hope, a
p7esent of all the consolation they may draw fro!
the event. They deserved their victory, though they did
not win it for themselves. Theywere weak but united,
and they won ; we were strong but divided, and we lost
the battle. Yet with two Liberals in the field, each help'
ing the Tory to defeat the other, the Liberal cause cane
strangely near to triumph. Colonel Beresford polled le°'
than a third of the constituency ; the two Liberals together
palled not far from half. The majority has simply &dra'
chised itself, and the minority has got the representation.
There is a moral to this election which the Liberal pea
in the large constituencies cannot take too soon or too
thoroughly to heart. The division which split the Liberal
of Southwark into two antagonistic parties runs along °
natural line of cleavage which may only too easily become
an open split. The Waterlow party and the
Odger party in Southwark have their counter
parts in most of the large towns. The middle'
class element in the constituencies naturally leans t°
the old class of candidates ; and the working'
class element, being itself a new . power, looks for nevi
men. But the divergence of opinion which thus arise°
can surely be surmounted. It was overcome at Chelsea
by an arbitration, at Manchester by a ballot which, but
for Mr. Ernest Jones's premature decease, would have
made him one of the candidates of the united Liberal
party. We hope that this Southwark defeat will teach,
the old local leaders of Liberalism a needed lesson ; and
this hope is our chief consolation for a decisive and dis'
creditable defeat.

The Standard declares that the Conservative triumph at
Southwark. on Wednesday may worthily take rank
the most clistinguished successes gained by the Constitutional
party in the electoral campaign of 1868. It would be
difficult to name a borough in which, on the Liberal
theory, a Conservative candidate had smaller chance°
of success. Southwark is distinctively a working'
class constituency, and it has always been an
article of faith with the Liberal party that
where the working men hold a predominant position
the seat is the rightful property of the Radicals.
Ai a Tory candidate Colonel Beresford stood up in South-
wark in the guise of a poacher on the Liberal preserve.
He boldly strode into the lion's den to demand the piace
vacated by that peerless Radical, Mr. Layard, to snatch
fo;• the Tories a seat that was in the keeping of working
men. Loud, and bitter, and sardonic were the gibes
levelled at such presumption. The Liberal press greeted
the spectacle with an irrepressible guffaw ; the City knight
and the working man candidate professed themselves entireli
assured of their ability to " keep out the Tory;" and onl
on Tuesday one of the twain blended, with the prognostl
cation of his approaching victory, an expression of meg'
nanhnous compassion for " the poor colonel." It is upon
occasions such as that furnished in the Southwark elec-
tion that the real sentiment of the working classes
finds voice and expression, and we feel convinced that
whenever a Conservative candidate can be found to
provide an opportunity, the • same judgment Will
be uttered with equal emphasis. Colonel Beresford has
played his part in this important contest with courage,
energy, and admiral perseverance. Heedless of the sneers
and obloquy flung at him, he has pursued his course nthunfaltering determination and unflagging industry. ill
has well won the honours which have fallen to him, and
deserves the best thanks of the Conservative party.

THE MINORITY CLAUSES.
The Pall Mall Gazette observes that whether the inn'
pending attack upon the minority clauses in the Reform
Act of 1867 will meet with immediate success depends
mainly, if not entirely, upon the resolution with which it
is pressed. Indeed it is difficult to believe that any of
those who supported the clauses in 1867 will care to defend
them now. Whey were avowedly introduced into the Act
by way of experiment, and with the hope that their opera'
tion would be so admirable as to disarm all opponents-
Whether the fault be in the clauses or in their
opponents, it is notorious that no such effect has
occurred, and that it would be as easy to re-
produce the £lO householder as to extend three'
cornered constituencies. That being the case, the present
state of the law inflicts substantial injury upon large
bodies of people. The House of Commons is a law-making
as well as a law-debating assembly ; and, as regards the
former function, the ordinary effect of this exceptional
representation of minorities is to reduce a constituency
like Liverpool or Manchester—to which on account of its
importance Parliament has assigned three votes—to the
level of the smallest borough. The hardship of the minority
in these towns being unrepresented was as nothing to this.
The Liverpool Liberal and. the Manchester Conservative
had abundance of mouthpieces in the House of Commons
whether he was or was not represented there by the
member of his own choice. But the minority which
finds its voting power brought down froth three to one
has no compensation for the loss except so far as some
other majority of opposite principles is suffering under
the same deprivation.

MERCHANT SHIPPING.
The statement of Mr. Shaw Lefevre, in moving fa
leave to bring in a bill to consolidate and amend the laws
relating to merchant shipping, has, the Post believes, given
general satisfaction. Ten years ago there was a feeling ill
some quarters that this important national interest was in
a depressed state. But, whatever may have been its con-
dition at that date, its increase since then has been great in
itself, and, in comparison with the increase of other nations,
still greater. The Government have arrived at the
decision that the time has come when the compulsory
employment of pilots may be dispensed with. The set-
tlement of this matter has been made the matter of a
separate bill, and proyisions have been framed by which
the interests of the existing body of pilots will be
protected, should the abolition of compulsory pilotage be
found to operate injuriously to them. The loss of the
Spindrift has created a popular interest in this question it
would not otherwise have had. One consequence is that
in the event of a collision or other accident the owners are
released from liability. Again, it is not to be supposed that
the pilot can have the same knowledge of the sailing qualities
of the ship which the captain has. The pilot's proper
position would seem to be rather that of an assistant, or,
as it has been well expressed, of " a speaking chart," than
of a substitute. The captain should never be wholly put
aside, but this is inevitable under compulsory pilotage-
We cannot doubt, therefore, that the Government is right
proposing to make it voluntary. That is already its
character on some parts of our coast, and it has yet to be
shown that either the interests of shipowners Or those of
pilots have been injured in consequence.