The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-06 00:00:00

ever.

Sir G. CORNEWALL LEWIS would, doubtless,
rejoice at being enabled to evade the serious re-
sponsibility. But if he feel incompetent to
grapple with the difficulty, or to meet the im-
pending crisis, he should vacate the important
position which he occupies, in order that the trust

may be reposed in more efficient bands. A fort-
night ago .ire referred to the opinions so clearly and
distinctly put forward by Mr. JAMES WILSON,
and although we cannot concur in all the views
entertained by that Hon. Gentleman, it is mani-
fest that he has the stuff in him, and could fairly
undertake the arduous and all-important matter.
He has already declared himself in favour of a
large issue of really national notes of the smaller
denominations, and receivable in payment of all
taxes and duties. It is true that he insisted on
convertibility, as an indispensable adjunct, which,
as he pointed out, could be secured beyond the
possibility of doubt, by a sufficient reserve of bul-
lion. But although we differ from him on that
point, we are convinced that the experiment to
which he gave the sanction of his name, would
establish the safety of the inconvertible notes we
advocate, and that while it would operate
as a large instalment of justice, even supposing
that it led to no ulterior results, it would eventu-
ally produce the soundest and most judicious
system of currency ever brought into operation at
any time or in any country.

The Times itself has declared that a " a re-
discussion of the whole question in Parliament
cannot be arranged too soon." We fully concur
in this opinion. It is all that we now demand,
convinced that the truth will prevail, and that,
when public attention has been sufficiently directed
to the subject, that which is for the benefit of tie
community will eventually be established, despite
the interested opposition to which it may, and
unquestionably will, be subjected.

To-morrow evening the important and interest-

ing question of "Life Peerages," will be brought
under the consideration of the Upper House. The
veteran Lord LYNDHURST has undertaken the

duty of bringing the subject before their Lord-
ships, and there is no doubt that he is fully quali-
fied to place it in the clearest possible light be-
fore those whose privileges and position are so
greatly concerned in the result.
Two questions have been raised in reference to
the recent elevation of Lord WENSLEYDALE—bet-
ter known as Baron PARKE—.4O the Peerage,
without any limitation over either to the heirs
male, of his body, or of any kind whatsoever.
Its legality has been directly impugned, by no
less an authority than the Lord Chief Justice of
England, and many other eminent jurists, while
its policy and expediency have been far more
widely questioned. It has very gene-
rally been regarded as " the introduction of
the sharp end of the wedge," which if suffered
to operate without resistance, may, and most pro-
bably will, lead to a total change in the organisa-
tion of the hereditary branch of the Legislature.

It is admitted on every side that there could
not be a better subject for the experiment, than
the new Peer, Lord WENSLEYDALE. The Noble
Lord has no surviving sou whose rights could be
compromised by the restriction. Nor is it likely
that in his case the question could ever be raised
by an interested party. His character and posi-
tion is so high, that no future person could com-
plain of an indignity in the following up of the
precedent established with respect to Sir JAMES
PARKE. The opinion of Parliament can there-
fore fairly be taken on the point, without any in-
jurious consequences, should it be held that the
Royal Prerogative had been strained or injudi-
ciously exercised.
We shall at present restrict our observations
to the latter portion of the case, without entering
►nto the question of legality, -which must inevit-
ably be considered and adjudicated on by a com-
petent tribunal. We confess that we entertain a
very strong opinion on the point, but that opinion
may more properly be deferred until a future op-
portunity, when the issue has -been fairly raised
un both sides.
It is, we believe, agreed on all sides that there
is at present an urgent necessity for Law Lords,

business after so many campaigns, and when they
know that righteous terms will be the result of
refusing a compromise.
On the question of Church Rates it were far
better for Churchmen to strike while they may.
They are now becema a national nuisance, and
the dirt of them all sticks to the Church. Dis-
senters gain credit for their uncompromising man-
liness, while the Church is regarded as a stickler
for extortion. The tone of public feeling is
wholly changed from that which some years
ago laughed at six-and-eightponny martyrs.
Partly the Census has revealed the unfairness of
of a personal tax levied by the wealthy minority
of worshippers on the poorer majority, a majority,
too, which has no 5,000,0001. per annum to ease
its shoulders of the burden of supporting its
clergy. Partly, also, the gross abuses perpetrated
by Church Commissioners and Bishops with the
public property have irritated the people. More
than enough has been squandered, literally squan-
dered, on the mitre and its adjuncts, than would
pay Church Rates, if applied to that purpose.
There is beside, no doubt, even alongside the
Puseyism of the day, a growing sense of what is
due to Christians of communities diverse from our
own ; indeed we must acknowledge that the so-
called Evangelicals are much bitterer enemies to
the social claims of Dissenters than the Ro-
manisers, the latter generally evincing far more
of that pecuniary liberality which is the only
basis of thorough ecclesiastical freedom.

in order to preserve the judicial privileges of the
House. It is the ultimate Court of Appeal, the
decision whereof, must be final and conclusive in
every important case. When questions have been
determined in the Exchequer Chamber, or by
the Lord Chancellor and Judges of Appeal,
in Equity, they may still be carried to the House
of Peers. It would be a farce to have the judg-
ment of such eminent men 'over-ruled by others
of inferior character. It is clear, then, that either
the judicial privileges of the Upper House must
be waived, or new blood infused, so as to render
the decisions satisfactory.
In the latter case there may be the danger of
abating the dignity of the Peerage by the intro-
duction of parties, who, although they have ample
means to maintain its honour during their own

It is instructive to notice the seemingly con-
stant flow of Voluntaryism. It appears to have no
ebbs. Lord STANLEY has predicted that whether
we like it or not, whether the change be for better
or for worse, Voluntaryism will. be the creed
and practice of another generation. If our most
important colonies react at all upon the mother
country this must be the case, and nothing seems
more natural. Canada has already liberated her-
self, and now the " Times correspondent" from
Melbourne sends home some facts which must be
most unwelcome to Lord Joux RUSSELL. His
Lordship was most resolute when giving the colony
a new constitution to saddle it with 50,0001. of
reserved revenue for the clergy. We are now in-
formed that there is a current of agitation setting
in against this reserve ; not a demagogue agita-
tion, but one carried on by the most respectable
portion of the community, which_ will certainly
in a few years compel its renunciation. That
even now those who depend on voluntary sup-
port are practically surpassing their opponents in
energy and promptitude of action. Lord JOIN
RUSSELL has outlived his age ; he will, we sin-
cerely hope, live to witness the extinction of
Church Rates, or we should lose him sooner than
we wish ; and probably live to see his Australian
Clergy Reserve kicked after his Canadian Clergy
Reserves—nay, he may very likely have as before
to aid in the task himself.

lives, have not accumulated and realised property
to bestow on their successors adequate to the
positions which they may be called on to assume.
A pauper nobleman has, indeed, a hard card to play.
He cannot discharge the claims incidental to his
rank, and is debarred from many occupations by
which he might, as a Commoner, have earned a
comfortable livelihood. What, then, can he do ?
Ho must endeavour to quarter himself on the
public, and be prepared to barter his venal vote
for an adequate provision. This alone would be
an evil to be especially deprecated, but with the
actual necessity for Law Lords it cannot ' be
averted, save by the creation of life, or possibly
ex-officio, Peerages. On the other hand, it will
scarcely be possible to maintain a hereditary
House, when an actual majority may be obtained
on any question of importance by the creation of
a sufficient number of life Peers. If the
principle be established and acted on, the English
Peers must be placed in the same category
as their Scotch and Irish brethren, and a
limited number elected either for the Parliament
or for life. We believe that this would be the
most eligible course, but at present we must re-
frain from further observation on a point on which
so much may be said on either side of the question.

Odessa is still the basis of sinister Russian ope-
rations. It had its share in the slaughter of
Inkerman, and it now seems likely to share in the
negotiations of Paris. The late accounts from it
inform us that " the accumulation of troops on
the Danube is suoh that no quarters can be
found for the new arrivals ; that Ismail, Bender,
and Chotym have 'seen placed in a state of com-
plete defence." Of these places, Bender only is
entirely without the imaginary line drawn by
Austria for the Allies ; a line which it turns out
so splits Bessarabia lengthwise,_as to leave Russia
all the fertile soil, and to add little besides barren
steppe to the territory of Moldavia. The Aus-
trian negotiators, being Austrian, would not go
back to the Treaty of Jassy, and demand the
Dniester as the natural river boundary of BOO-
sarabia. Had they done so, the pet Odessa would
still have been Russian, and Bender once more a
Turkish, or rather a Moldavian, fortress. Ismail
is, of course, whollyand deeply within the territory
to be ceded, and Chotym is the very important
fortress from which the proposed line starts, and
which, if the new territory is to be safe, ought to
belong to it.

There can be but one interpretation of the
crowding forces, otherwise much needed else-
where, into these places. Russia must intend to
say to the Plenipotentiaries--if you want the
security you demand in this quarter, come and
take it. We are ready in that part for anything,
and we do not mean to surrender without being
dislodged. In other words, it is her intention,
by an imposing display of troops in the very
quarter where the Allies have most to ask, to be
in a position to refuse all they can. She
will make a merit, perhaps, of withdrawing
a large garrison from Ismail and as to
Chotym, will declare it to be out of all
question to surrender it, it being, we be-
lieve, new a much stronger place than Ismail, and
of the utmost importance as the most advanced
post for the defence of the provinces against the
future movements of Russia. It is to be hoped
Lord CLARENDON will allow -no quibbling or
tergiversation on these important items of the
Five Points. Messrs. COBDEN and BRIGHT would,
of course, exclaim, then you are going to War
again for Chotym—a place of which few of you
knew the name till the ether day ; and Mr.
GLADSTONE will follow with his fractional calcu-
lations, and prove that we have got seven-eighths
of what we ask, and then fight for the eighth.
Of course the answer is—but Russia fights for it
too. If she deems it worth fighting for rightly,
then she justifies us ; if wrongly, then heap half
your abuse on her also. These gentlemen would
also do well to remember that Russia would fight
about stolen towns and territory which are only a
44 years' theft after all, and that we should be
merely claiming what no time could make right-
fully hers.

The Church is just now fighting hard for two
incompatible, liberty to tax others and liberty to
govern herself. She sighs for a Convocation en-
dowed with legislative powers, but groans at the
thought of losing a Air& rate, or a burial fee.
Give her five millions per annum and self-govern-
mentand the Church, that is, as Churchmen mean—
the clergy, will be the happiest corporation in ex-
istence. But rude and troublesome is the breath
of lay commonsense ; that of Dissenters distress-
ingly so, and that of non-clerical members of the
Establishment, who think the body of some use to
the head and members, hardly less. Mediators
arise to soften things 'a little, Archbishops have
allowed a " consulting ConVoca i t*
on to become_
Bishop WILBERFORCE tells us—an established fact,
of
portion of
and Mr. PACKS labours to save some
Church Rates to his worried mother ; but it will
not do. The talking is all that the Rouse
of
Commons will allow to Convocation ; a reasonable
thing, too, since it finds by experience that there
is nothing like it for the obstruction of business,
and it is determined that Convocation shall do
nothing. Neither will the PACKE. and Canter-
buryproposals do. Dissenters
won't Church -Rate
have they will fight it out rather.
them ;
My, at least, know better than to half do their

It is because of the danger of concessions of the
kind indicated that our Ministers eight to work
under the eye of their masters. Of what earthly
service can it be to us to turn out our Cabinet,
the only punishment to which they are now liable,
when they have done all the mischief. The pre-
rogative of the Crown is, in a constitutional
monarchy, to carry out the will of its subjects.
Even Lord JoaN BISSELL dares not maintain that
the Crown has any rights conflicting with those
of the people. As Mr. nRIGET was forward
enough to argue on another question—the Ameri-
can complications—" What would be the result
to the Manchester merchants if they confided the
management of their affairs, the buying of their
cotton and goods, and the conduct of their export
and import trade to some concealed conspiracy
among their servants." We are happy to agree
with Mr. BRIGHT for once, only we fear " the
concealed conspiracy " more in the Russian, and
he more in the American business.

A Cabinet Council was held yesterday afternoon at
the Foreign-oflice. It was attended by Viscount Pal-
merston, the Marquis of Lansdowne, Earl Granville,
Earl of Harro Nby, Sir George Grey, Earl of Clarendon,
Lord Panmure, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Sir
Charles Wood, the Right Hon. R. Vernon Smith, Lord
Stanley of Alderley, and the Duke of Argyll. The
Council sat two hours. -
The Marquis of Clanricarde, as colonel of the Gal-
way Militia, gave a grand entertainment to the officers
of that regiment, at Aldershott, last evening.
The Countess
Granville has cards out for a receptio
co 4 Wedinsda r nut.

SA, &N AN; WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 6 1856.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT,

-v--

HOUSE OF COMMONS—(This Day.)

The SPEAKS:II took the chair at two o'clock.
NEW MEMBER.
Mr. LABOUCHERE took the oaths and his seat, on his
reelection for Taunton.

BOARD OF FISHERIES (SCOTLAND.)
On the motion Mr. E. ELLICE copies of any Trea-
sury minute or minutes since 1854, relative to the Board
of Fisheries in Scotland ; and, of all correspondence
since 1854 with the Lords of the Treasury relative to
the same subject, were ordered.

POOR RELIEF (SCOTLAND).
On the !notion of M'r. E. ELLICE an address for
return in reference to the record of applications to the
Board of Supervision for relief of the poor in Scotland,
stating in each case the amount of relief, whether in
money, food, clothing, or any other shape (but if not in
money, then giving the money value of such other de-
scription of relief), which formed the subject of com-
plaint ; the decision of the Board as to such allowance
being insufficient or the contrary, and in cases where the
ground of compla int was removed, stating the additional
amount and kind of relief that was granted, from the Ist
day of July, 1854, to the 30th day of June, 1855 (in
continuation of former returns) was ordered.
PETTY SESSIONS (IRELAND).
On the motion of Mr. HORSMAN, a return of the
names of the several petty sessions districts into which
each county in Ireland is divided under the Petty Ses-
sions (Ireland) Act, 1851 ; with the name of the clerk
appointed for ea th district, and the amounts of fees and
other emolurte its received by such clerks respectively
for each year since their respective appointments was
ordered.