The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-18 00:00:00

ME2ROPOLITAN GOSSlP—Thursday.

I did not think when I wrote my'raeletter that the
great topic of to-day would be, not the Irish Church, but
Mr. Bright. The right hon. gentleman's letter has done
the Government such serious harm that it is not sur-
prising there should be to-day a current rumour of
his resignation. That he has offered his resignation, I
should think must be a matter of course, after the
condemnation passed upon him by every journal
except his own particulat organ. That Mr.
Gladstone will accept it remains to be seen, and will
probably-be known before this letter meets the eyes of
those for whDm it is written. If the Irish Church Bill
should be rejected in the Upper House, the event will be
due in no small'measure to the President of the Board of
Trade. Perhaps he is not altogether free from the wish
that it might be rejected, and perhaps that wish had
some part in the production of the letter. That the
Lords will throw out the bill, is the constant
and fervent prayer of the advanced Radicals. These
see that such a step would - seriously damage the
Upper House, and having, like Mr. Bright, a deep-rooted
aversion to it, they would welcome a blow dealt at it,
and all the more if dealt by that assembly itself.
Will the Peers grant the Radicals their request? That
question I ani not able to answer. No one will venture to
do so. Reasoning a priori, putting myself in their pace,
I should say that they would most certainly nut
do so. The perils which would beset such a
course, the strong remonstrances of several mem-
bers of the late Government, the conciliatory
attitude assumed by Lord Granville (unfortunately more
than neutralised by Mr. Bright's unlucky letter), the
course adopted by the Archbishop of Canterbury, a pre-
late whose judgment commands the respect of all parties,
411 point to a policy of prudence. There is a still stronger
reason why they should adopt that policy. No one can
fail to see that a rejection of the bill would, from the purely
party point of view, suit Mr. Gladstone's purpose far better
than its acceptance. Reject it, and the country (which
cares comparatively little about the Irish Church) would
be at once aroused by the fact that the Lords had taken
upon themselves to overrule the decision of the nation.
Accept it, and then the various sections of the now-
divided Conservative party would reunite in order to
enforce large amendments which Mr. Gladstone could not
advise the House of Commons to reject without incurring
a prolonged agitation, from which he may well be sup-
posed to shrink. If the bill passes a second reading, the
difficulties of the Government will only then begin. The
Lords will, in all probability, insist upon the amendments
which were rejected in the Commons, will demand, for
instance, that the clergy shall be allowed to retain their
parsonages and glebes ; that the date for the retention of
private grants shall be put back from 1660 to 1560 ; and
that some arrangement shall be made for the capitalisa-
tion of the revenues for the Protestant clergy, so that an
Irish clergyman shall be enabled to receive his life
interest in a lump sum. It is by no means certain
that the moderate Liberals would care to run the risk of a
serious breach with the LOrds, nor incur the labour of
fighting the battle of the Irish Church Bill over again
next session by refusing their assent td these amend-
ments. Mr. Gladstone would then have to decide
between these moderate Liberals on the one hand, and the
advanced Radicals on the other—a choice involving much
perplexity, and perchance the entire disruption of his
party.

But while all the arguments seem to me in favour of
passing the bill, it is by no means certain that they will
prevail. Each party is resorting to the trick of pretending
that the other is sure to win, the object of each being to
deter waverers from voting on the 'other aide, and to induce
waverers to vote on its own side. It is said that fifteen
bishops will vote for Lord Harrowby's motion, and that
five will vote against it. The latest converts against the
bill are the Bishop of Manchester and Lord Shaftesbury.
The first will possibly not vote at all, being induced
to refrain from supporting the bill by the strong
representations of the Manchester merchants. The
second and his organ, the Record, have been
won over to the Opposition policy by the threat of a
few High Church Conservatives who oppose the hill, and
notably the Bishop of Gloucester and Bristol, that, if it
is carried, they will go in for a concurrent endowment of
the Roman Catholic Church. The Bishop of Oxford has
been working very hard in behalf of the Govern-
went, having been induced to do so, it is rumoured
among his friends, by a pledge on the part of
Mr. Gladstone that the Government will repeal
the law of mortmain, so as to enable the English
Church to become possessed of land in the same way as a
school or a hospital is, and thus enable it to meet the
shock of disestablishment and disenclowment, which every-
one believes to be msrely a question of time. There are
those who say that Lord Derby is riding not to win ;
how far this is a true assertion his speech will
reveal to-night. There is undoubtedly a large number of
Conservative peers who would gladly let the bill go into
committee without a division. It is this circumstance—
the absolute undertainty as to what course will be, taken
by some twenty or thirty peers—which renders it impos-
sible for anyone to tell with certainty how the division
will go. • Meanwhile another vigorous " whip " is being
male to-day on both sides.

Whatever difference of cpinion there may be as to the
result of the division there is none at all as to the character
of the debate. It is pronounced on all hands to be one of
the finest examples of Parliamentary oratory ever heard.
This is the more remarkable because the subject had been
so thoroughly discussed that people were weary of the very
sound of the Irish Church. A great deal of the effect is
due, no doubt, to the infusion of the Constitutional
question—the relation of the Lords to the nation.
The scene of excitement during the Bishop of Peter-
borough's speech was almost unprecedented in that
usually sedate assembly. It must have teen a splendid
triumph for the bishop, all the more striking if he hap-
pened to remember that it is but twenty years ago since
he was a curate at Bath, in the receipt of £BO a
year. Just as he had concluded his speech
two incidents happened. One peer exclaimed,
excitedly, " Why, 'tis tenfold better than the
Bishop of Oxford's!" and just at that moment Bishop 'Wil-
berforce passed, and no doubt heard the comparison which
will tend to put him upon his mettle to-night. The Other
incident was exceedingly comic. A peer, dressed in a blue
coat and brass buttons and white choker of the antique
style, and who had been dining, not wisely, but too well,
came up to Bishop Magee, and attempted to thank him
in words that went tumbling over each other in a very incon-
sequential manner. The Bishop gave his admirer a good
snubbing. This same ancient peer is an object of great
curiosity. No one can tell who he is, but he is supposed
to he an importation from Ireland, where, I am inclined
to think, he was not acquainted with the late Father
Mathew.

Lord Stanley of Alderley has gone at last, after linger-
ing on for many weeks. He was not a great man, though
the Times attempts to make him out one. His successor, if
not great, is at least eccentric. The common rumour is
that he is so fascinated with Mahometanism that he has
always avowed his intention to build a mosque upon his
estate as soon as he came into possession of it. One of
the late Lord Stanley's daughters was married to the hope
of the Russells, Viscount Amberley.
'While Mr. Bright's letter is calling down universal
condemnation upon that indiscreet Minister, another
member of the Government is adopting in private
the same offensive policy. Mr. Lowe's mode of
receiving a deputation is now become a stand-
ing joke. If he can tread upon anybody's corns
he never fails to do so. His time is so much occupied that
while he receives a deputation he continues to read his
correspondence, and as he is so intensely short-sighted
that the paper which he is reading must be held quite close
to his eye, the effect is not encouraging. A few days
since a deputation, consisting of the managers and clerks
of savings banks, were pointing out to him that if
he did so-and-so these institutions must cease to exist.
Mr. Lowe coolly replied, " Why should they exist ?"
The question might have been pertinent in the House of
Commons, but to officers whose living depended upon
their continuance it certainly was not a conciliatory mode
of treating the subject. If a deputation asks a question,
the purport of the reply usually is, " I don't know ;'' " I
shouldn't tell you if I did ;'' and " It is very wrong of
you to ask the question."

The subject of a halfpenny postage fur a packet of
printed matter is now fairly under discusaion, and the
result of its consideration can scarcely fail to bathe adop.
tion of the principle. 9u such a point we cannot afford to
remain far behind France, America, and our own colonies.
As to the conveyance of newspapers bypost, I believe that a
far more efficient and economical system will be adopted
than anywhich prevails at present. It is proposed to carry
newspapers by the hundredweight without requiring a
stamp. The newspaper proprietors would be allowed to
deliver sorted packets of newspapers to the railway
station just upon the departure of the mail
train, and pay for the gross weight. The Post Office would
thus be relieved from the trouble of sorting and obliterat-
ing the. stamps, and the proprietors of newspapers would
hare the advantage of delivering their papers at the last
moment. '.Chia arrangement would save cost and trouble
to all parties, and enable later news to be given to the
public.

The outcry against Mr. Hammond increases from week
to week. Scarcely a day passes, in fact, but what some
letters are published, mainly in the Pall Mall Gazette,
against the conduct of the Foreign Office towards the
members of the foreign service. Of course, Mr. Ham-
mond, though not named, is the person pointed at; for he
is virtually an autocrat. Would it not be possible to give
him some appointment in India or the colonies, and so
get rid of hirg as ALL Childcrs has Fist got rid of Atr.
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