The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-01 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN GOSSlP—Saturday..

The announcement which was first made in. your
columns with respect to the withdrawal of our troops from
the colonies is confirmed byto-day'salmy and navy papers.
The Conservative organsi affected to disbelieve the
announcement. T 1,4 hoped' that economy would be con-
! fined to such matters as quills and whitewash, so thattlkey
' might hereafter be able. to laugh at Mr. Gladstone and
quote Horace about the mountain and the mouse. Ent
the recall of troops is quite another matter, especially
•_
wlitn taken in connection with the withdrawal
of our naval squadrons from the least important stations.
These changes involve far more than a diminished expendi-
ture on our army anl; navy. They imply an organic
change in our colonial and foreign policy. They mean
that henceforth our colonies must shift for themselves, and
that we shall no longer tax the pauper of Bethnal-green
in order to protect the rich squatter of New South Wales
or the still richer trader of Victoria. They mean, too,
that henceforth English statesmen will no longer feed_the
national vanity at the expense of the national purse,-by
scouring the waters with ships in order to maintain- the
" supremacy of the seas." So far as regards the colonies,
it is only fair to point out that one of the earliest advo-
cates of the new policy was a Conservative member, Mr.
Arthur Mills, who then represented Taunton. After
many speeches on the subject, in which he was occasionally
counted out, a select committee was appointed to inquire
into the subject .of colonial charges upon the imperial
exchequer. A very good Feporkwas drawn up, embodied
in a blue book, and shelved—Tor was not Lord Pal-
merston (Civis R m'pzus) in Office, and was not " a spirited
foreign policy" the cry of the time? To-day we are more
modest and more wise.
Among the other changes announced is the establishment
of a Central Council at the War Office. Its members are
said to be Lord Northbrook, who is now, as he was when
Mr. Baring, Under Secretary for War ; Captain
Vivian, the War Lord of the Treasury, who some
years ago, when member for Bodmin, gained great
reputation by a speech he made exposing the
circumlocution at the War Office; and Sir Henry Storks,
who was recalled- from Malta to reorganise the War
Department, but who finds himself left in the rear by
his new and energetic superiors. Colonel Milward will
act as secretary. A minor change rumoured at Pall Mall
is the dismissal of alai:tie-number of clerks and the placing
of those who remain on an allowance out of which they
must provide themselves with stationery. The waste
rich now goes on in that commodity is enough to make
Mr. Greg's hair stand on end.
I am told that Lord Malmesbury's retirement from the
leadership of the Conservative party in the House of
Lords was by no means spontaneous. Mr. Disraeli said at
the time the Cabinet was reconstructed, after Lord Derby's
retirement, that Lord Malmesbury would lead the House
of- Lords, "if possible "—a joke whose point was not at all_
blunted by the Liberal journals. The leadership has_

proved to be impossible. The Tory peers refuse to be led

any longer by the ex-Privy Seal. • They are, in fact, fol-
lowers who will not follow, with a leader who cannot lead.
So his lordship has been given to understand that
while the Conservative nobles will not interfere with
his intended triumph in the dining-room, they
must have another general in the House of
Peers—they will eat his dinner, but not do his bidding ;
they will acknowledge the chef, but not the chief. In all
probability the Duke of Richmond will succeed to the
leadership. He represents one of the great Tory houses,
is a very respectable po:itician, and will at least keep out
of scrapes. Lord Cairns is, of course, a far abler man, but
then he is a " new " man, and it would be a sad confession
of decay on the part of the old families if they were
obliged to put themselves under a nobody (genea-
logically considered) in the Lords as well as in the
Commons. Moreover, the office of leader is almost incom-
patible with that of Lord Chancellor; and so, if Lord Cairns
were put into the first, it would impy that his party had
very little hope of seeing him restored to the second.
Extreme pressure is being used to force the Govern-
ment to increase the capitation grant to Volunteers. Lord
Elcho hopes to get up, during the first week of the
session, a great meeting of members of both Houses
who belong to the Volunteerservice. I doubt, however,
if Liberal M.P.'s will give him much assistance.
They remember the history of 1866: they distrust the
Adullamite member for Haddingtonshire, and they will
not embarrass the Government in its laudable attempts to
reduce the public expenditure. Colonel Acland, M.P.
for North Devon, has already protested against the present
demand for Government asAistance. Meanwhile the Govern-
ment are receiving powerful help from a very distinguished
compels
I in,
(eioloi
certainly
military authority,
,ep,
nhass uyo
xrnt veo
reduce
sari, t:uty:
clitesl..l3)vot tt:•ipyhr
:very
regular
ing rlac;g theramntarcsmeao nytpto.
ielfmsansty:ltliabl
syhrodoenitd\
to
that the
Volunteer
plume
st
btaie
necessity
erolyreetf
ll
matters, I-may mention that, according to present inten-
tions, the Review will not take place at Portsmouth
this year, as it did last year, but either at Dover or
Pr' t,liton
•

The Liberals of Norwich, Wiser than the Conservatives
of Plymouth, decline to accept as their candidate a gentle-
man who has been mixed up with questionable City
transactions, and Mr. 'Warner has therefore retreated to
the background. It is not improbable that Mr. Milner
Gibson will be selected as the Liberal candidate. Failing
him, there are plenty of good men unseated at the last
election, who are not directors of finance companies.
`Nothing more is heard about the petition against Colonel
Wilmot, the new M.P. for South Derbyshire. County
election petitions are costly luxuries. Mr. Evans has
issued a circular to his friends, thanking them for their
support, but giving no intimation that he means to contest
the decision. Should Serjeant Cox be unseated at Taunton,
the Conservatives. will probably bring forward Sir John
Kerslake, the late Attorney-General. The Liberals will
run Mr. James again.
Lord Russell's letter has been severely handled on all
sides. Yet he has some distinguished apologists. At a
meeting of the London clergy, held at Sion College on
Thursday night, Dean Stanley delivered a lecture, 5*
which he strongly advocated the co-existent endowment
of the three chief Churches in Ireland. He said that
if the "cry" that the State ought not in any way
to countenance the doctrines of the Roman Church had
any reality in it, half the Constitution ought to be
repealed. Already the • Roman Catholic religion had
received a large amount of recognition and endowment.
He instanced Malta and Canada. He argued that unless
theßom an Church were c nnected with the State in Ireland
it would lose what liberality it possessed; and that if the
Protestant Episcopal Church were separated from the
State it would become an aggressive Episcopal body.
This expression reminds one of Mr. Disraeli's warning
against proselytism. The Liberal Dean and the
Tory Premier seem to be agreed in thinking, that for a
Church to make converts is the worst of calamities. Dean
Stanley was supported by Sir Charles Trevelyan. He
declared with vehemence that to cast the Esta-
blished Church adrift' would not be just, would not be
common Christianity, would not be tolerated when the
matter was fairly laid before the country. Sir Charles did
not state how it could be more fairly laid before the coun-
try than it has been. He strongly deprecated the appli-
cation of ecclesiastical revenues to the aid of the poor
laws or to education, or to improvement of the land.
Such expedients would only relieve the taxpayer and lead to
jobbery and waste. Mr. Milman, son of the late Dean, I
believe, said that in principle he agreed with Dean Stanley,
but that practically his scheme of triple endowment could
not be carried out.
The tact that the blue ribbon of the schools at Cam-
bridge has been carried off in two successive years by a
gentleman who does not belong to the Church of England,
will greatly aid the Liberal party in their endeavour to
abolish religious tests at the universities. Last yrear the
senior wrangletwaS a Baptist. This year he is a Jew. It
is impossible to suppose that in,the face of such triumphs
as these, the exclusive system will continue much longer.
Ten years hence we shall look back upon it with the same
amazed contempt wherewith we now regard the Test
and Corporation Acts.
The London papers of yesterday and to-day have con-
tained two horrible, heartrending, accounts of death by
starvation at the East-end. In this the wealthiest city in
the world, where the streets are all but paved with' gold
(the purchase money of land would nearly cover
it if paid .in gold), women find it impossible
to get a mouthful of bread,.and (lie from sheer famine, as
much as though they were in the most inaccessible
.parts
of India. And yet we are not cruel ; we are not miserly.
Prove to us Londoners that there is " a case of real distress,"
and we send our guineas in bagfuls. What we want is
some means of bringing us into communication with this
real distresses ; some means of knowing that it is real. What
opportunity
.has Paddington or Belgravia of hearing at
all of the wants of 'Bethnal-green and the Isle of Dogs,
eecer.t by chance softie fearful tale like these of the last two
days gete into the papers ? Even then,what are we to do?
if the Poor-law Loard, with its organisation, cannot ply-
perzons from dying of famine, though that
c-Tecl:-.1 duty, how are we isolated individuals to 1,--.:cvent
Co we sit down helpless ; and them is despair at the
Leet-ord for .wsne of help, and despair at the West-end
fc-: wailt of knote:reg the way to help. The Minister who
wie.ld being East al. 4 V Vest together would be 'die greateet
etstesman of the age.'
I have tidings this merning of the dez..th of a veteran
7iit,:ecleer, Robert Eyres i:•andor. He was the brother of
Wel tee Eav:ege Landor. and le country clergyman, the meter
ni Uirlingham, near Persliwe, Worcestershire. He
the a,.,thor of "The Fountaireof Arethuea" read "
Fawn (~,f SeAorinsi" two sez woriza full of
original and eteiking thenghte. He hid the highest
•t.nlen':l oz his great,- s- arcs emee
rn in —I
tilat adroir- •1.
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