The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The Standard, in considering the condition of the
Government, says that we are not sanguine enough to
think that the Royal Speech will do much to elucidate the
policy of the, Government on the Irish Church question.
Taking into consideration the signs of vacillation and
bewilderment afforded us in recent utterances of members
of the Cabinet, it is not to be supposed that they will be
prepared to commit themselves to a distinct programme
at the outset. Mr. Gladstone and his colleagues have
found it easy enough to ring the changes on disestablish.
ment and disendowment ; but it is a more complicated
task to define what they mean by those terms and the
measures by which they propose to give effect to them in
practical legislation. They are now confronted with the diffi-
culties which the Premier built up with such elaborate care
last session, and the device by which they expelled Mr.
Disraeli from power has now become a cause of hindrance
and embarrassment to themselves. It is not too much to
ray that up to the moment when Mr. Gladstone invented
the Irish Church question this time last year, and thrust
it upon the House of Commons as the most urgent problem
of the day, five-sixths of his present colleagues either re-
garded it with absolute indifference, or considered it to be as
"remote" as Mr. Gladstone said he thought it was in 1E65.
Neither the Liberal party nor Liberal Governments ever
recognised the disruption of the Establishment as an ele-
ment in the question as to the best means of appeasing
Irish discontent. It was the reunion of the shattered
Liberal party, rather than the pacification of Ireland, which
was the chief consideration with the author of the new

specific.
The Daily News declares that the Parliament which
has just come together for the first time for the despatch
of business meets in circumstances which, in the nature of
of things, are out of the common way. 'We must go back
to the year 1833 to find a precedent for the circumstances
in which the present House of Commons comes together.
The general election in that year gave the Government
of Lord Grey a majority so enormous as to be unwieldy,
and comprising in it sections of opinion so various as to
mar its unity of action and purpose. The great question
of the time was the condition of Ireland, especially the
ecclesiastical settlement of the country. Unscrupulous
appeals had been made by the Conservative party to
religious fanaticism, but they had proved abortive. The
Opposition leaders reckoned upon Whig mismanage-
went, and it proved their best ally. They predicted
splits in the Cabinet, and their predictions were verified.
The opponents of the present Government tell us that Mr.
Gladstone's majority is too large to be effectively handled;
that it is too divided in opinion to act with singleness of
purpose and aim; that Mr. Gladstone, Lord Clarendon,
Mr. Lowe, and Mr. Bright must sooner or later, and pro-
bably soon rather than late, develope their inherent incom-
patibilities of opinion and sentiment; and that, harassed
and assailed by a tactician so skilful as Mr. Disraeli, the
Government will speedily be thrown into confusion. We
question the assumption on which these hopes rest. The
Liberal majority, though inferior to that chosen at the first
election under the Act of 1832, is so ample that the Con-
servatives profess to place their hope not its deficiency but
in its excess. It has been chosen mainly to decide a single
issue clearly placed before it, and in protest against the
divisions of the last Parliament, which made superior
strength of little avail. Mr. Disraeli is a dexterous
opponent, but his own forces are divided. But if the
case was other than it is, the precedent of the protracted
retention of power by the Liberal party under the Act
of 1832 might damp the expectations of the san-
guine politicians who are dreaming again of a Conserva-
tive revival.
The Telegraph, in referring to the critical state of
affairs, declares that "Great Expectations" might be fairly
enough selected as the title of the political drama on which
the curtain has just risen. There have been sessions in
which the Ministers of the day promised as much. There
have been political occasions w hen some single question
not less important than the Irish Church has filled men's
minds with hopes and fears. But we do not recall any
year in which the public demand for reform was so varied,
so resolute, so searching, and so minute. On the Irish

question Mr. Gladstone leads and the nation follows ; on
several other subjects national opinion has aroused itself,
and Ministers must follow its impulse. The fact
is probably due to the influence of the Reform
Act, and the recollection of the mode in which
it was carried. Mere Conservatism, mere obsti-
nate attachment to institutions because they are
old, is now out of the question ; the most venerable
customs must bow to the new spirit, and a reason must be
given for every faith. We may also be prepared for a
session notable through the absence of the usual party
fights. There cannot possibly be any contest for place ;
and, since the Conservatives must surrender all hope of
storming the Treasury Bench, they can do no more than
develope to excess a vigilant and acute criticism. The old
game of playing off one section of the Liberal party against
another will have to be given up in face of the stern
pledges of discipline exacted at the hustings. The mea-
sures of the Ministry will, therefore, be subjected to the
severe judgment of those who, having no imme-
diate hope of power, will doubtless delight in
the consequent responsibility. We may safely antici-
pate that Mr. Disraeli will make up for his lack of votes
by his abundance of analytical attack ; while, in the
House of Lords, Lord Cairns, the new leader, will have
plentiful opportunity to exercise his unquestionably high
powers of debate. Nor will the country be slow to re-echo
Tory objections, if there be anything in them. The nation
was formerly reluctant to accept what Mr. Disraeli said,
because they saw in him a possible usurper of the Treasury
Bench; but when he assumes, for this session at least, the
less pretentious part of a Parliamentary critic, his words
will have more weight.

The Star takes a very hopeful view of the prospects of
Government, and says that Ministers make known to the
nation and to Parliament, through the accustomed medium
of the Queen's Speech, the general outline of the policy by
which they intend to be guided during a session likely to
be as eventful as any in the recent history of this country.
It:it not difficult to forecast with substantial accuracy the
principal features that are likely to present themselves in
the Speech which Lord Hatherley will read, on behalf of
Tier Majesty, to the members of both Houses. The occa•
sion is an imposing one, and pregnant with the gravest
issues of political strife ; for we may feel assured that any
indication of backsliding on the part of Mr. Gladstone's
Government would be the signal for a general dissolution
of party bonds anda revolution in the political organisation
of England. That no such indication is apprehended, that
it is indeed hardly within the range of possibility, may be
accepted as satisfactory proof of the confidence with which
the present leader of the Liberal party has inspired the
nation.

The Times, after recapitulating the chief points of Mr.
Edwards's official explanation of his dealings with the
Corner House, asks whether a more astounding, not to say
a more discreditable story, was ever told. At the time
when the house of Overend, Gurney, and Co. was regarded
in the City as nearly as safe as the Bank of England, they
had placed themselves at the absolute mercy of an official
assignee in the Court of Bankruptcy, and one of their part-
ners is alleged to have been in debt to the same man in a sum of
£ll,BOO. Within the short space of three years they had so
bound themselves hand and foot that they were obliged to
concede to this man everything he asked ; and in the end they
could not get rid of him without writing letters at his
dictation in opposition to their own convictions, and paying
him any sum of money he chose to demand. What may
be the end of all these confessions we confess ourselves at
a loss to imagine, but the history of the last ten years of
Overend and Gurney will certainly he the most extraor•
divary disclosure the commercial world has ever seen.

SUICIDE Ey A. NEWMARKET TRAINER. 1.1/(:
have t,,) record another sudden death in connection with
the turf, of which there have been not a few of late. It
appears that Mr. llichard Cotton, well known as a trainer
of racehorses at Newmarket, on Sunday afternoon lef'
London by the down train, due at Cambridge at five
o'clock. Near Stanstead he got out of the window of the
carriage, and threw himself down. The great wonder i,
that he was not killed dead on the spot. He was found
shortly after, and lived only about an hoar. The wife of
the deceased is an inmate of Fulbourne Hospital, and h,
has within the last few days urged as an excuse for im-
bibing rather freely of drink, that he had heavy trouble
to bear. Deceased used to train for Mr, 0, ,Alwjanderi
and Messrs. Swinclekancltepheinnt die leEslitired
f9lll:lNNigt

The Times, after surveying the long list of perplexing
questions which await the solution of Parliament, observes
that it is plain the amount of work to be submitted tc
the Legislature will be enough to satisfy the most ardent
devotee of parliamentary life. The central question of
the day—that upon which the present Ministry entered
into office—must involve so many branches in detail that
it will require a firm but delicate hand to repress intermi•
nable discussion. Some may hope that a general weariness
of the subject will in due time supervene and serve to exile•
dite its despatch, but this anticipation rests on no solid
ground. The majority of members may indeed grow sick of
the subsidiary details of the question, as they have of many
other questions, but a comparatively small number is
sufficient to maintain a continuity of discussion in com-
mittee. The watchwords of the Ministry must be, and
we doubt not will be, certainty and resolution. To have
certain plans at the outset is the first necessity of their
situation ; to adhere without wavering to them when once
enunciated is the second. If these conditions be observed,
a mass of work even greater than that before Parliament
may be transacted; if they be neglected, the smallest
programme is sure to prove too extensive. The character
of the Ministers will not allow us to doubt that they know
the secret of parliamentary action, and will act upon
their knowledge.