The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-06 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Tin2es, in commenting on the debate on the Mayor
of Cork in the House of Commons, says that he will pro-
bably be surprised to find how much can be said for him.
At the same time that the copy of the bill is officially
served upon him, he will receive in due course the news-
papers with the report of the debate, and will find that
though everybody attacked him and called his speech a moat
disgraceful effusion, yet there were several distinguished
people ready to put a stop, if they could, to the measure by
which the Government proposes to rid the city of Cork of his
mayoralty. He may also be astonished to find that some
of the sharpest critics are among those Conservatives who
a short time since dismissed him from the magistracy,
Strangest of all, he will discover that the late Prime
Minister and present champion of religious property and
all our most venerated institutions in Ireland was so
carried away by his zeal that he fell foul of the Irish
Attorney-General, and alluded to that gentleman,
or rather the office he holds, in such scornful tones
as to elicit a burst of indignation from Mr. Gladstone.
The Mayor's only disappointment will be that the objec-
tions, legal and constitutional, did not succeed in delay-
ing the bill. He will probably recognise, with mortifica-
tion, that there is a kind of opposition which is not meant
to oppose. The House has given up a whole afternoon to
his case ; but, precedent or no precedent, the country will
not suffer such outrages as he has committed to pass un-
punished, and the bill will make its way without any
serious difficulty,

The Standard thinks the House of Commons has been
placed in a most invidious position in consequence of the
ill-advised steps taken by the Government in regard to
the Mayor of Cork. Speaking of the House as a body,
and always excluding the half-a-dozen gentlemen who
sympathise with Mr. Maguire, we suppose that there is
but one feeling as to the necessity of adopting stringent
measures for putting an extinguisher upon the
ill-
conditioned person who now occupies the post of chief
magistrate cf Cork. All decent society is outraged
by the spectacle of a high official, charged with
the duty of maintaining law and order, exhibiting
himself as the boon-fellow of Fenian ex-convicts, and
glorifying the would-be assassin of the Duke of Edinburgh.
Although the House, with the full concurrence of the
Opposition, has sanctioned the first reading of this bill,
there is no doubt that it raises a grave constitutional
question, which must be carefully examined and fully dis-
cussed before the bill is finally passed into law.
Mr. Disraeli only discharged his plain duty in point-
ing out the inconveniences which might attend
the mode of procedure which they have adopted;
and Mr. Gathorne Hardy entirely represented the
feeling of his party when he declared that under the cir-
cumstances he should give them his willing assistance in
furthering the exceptional measures to which they have
resorted. The effect of the discussion, we should hope,
will be to induce the Government to regulate their mode
of procedure under the bill with all possible regard for
legal and constitutional forms, and at the same time to
assure them of the hearty co-operation of the Opposi•
tion.

The Daily News declares that Mr. Maguire's theory, as
Colonel French's theory, or some other theory, distinct
from either, may be the true explanation of Mr. O'Sulli-
van's conduct. But the question which the House of
Commons has to decide is one of fact and not of motive.
Has Mr. O'Sullivan said and done the things which are
attributed to him? If the affirmative is proved, however
innocent his intentions or patriotic his purposes, he is
clearly unfit to hold any magisterial office in Ireland.
In the interests of public decency, and it may be of
public safety and order, it is imperative that he should
be removed without delay from the post which
he disgraces, under a disqualification from ever
filling any similar situation in Ireland. To proceed
against Mr. O'Sullivan in the ordinary courts of law
would be to leave him practically undisturbed during th•
remaining term of his magistracy ; and would not abate
the mischief which calls for legislative interference. Evi-
dence on oath can be taken by the House of Lords when
the bill comes before them ; and it seems natural that
legislation which departs so far from the ordinary practice
of the Constitution as the O'Sullivan Disabilities Bill
should, in its very inception, receive the sanction of that
House of Parliament which is in an especial degree the
guardian of the public liberties, and to which the Execu-
tive owes direct responsibility. It is important that the
measure should from the first be the measure not only of
the Ministry but of the House of Commons.

The Telegraph in answering the question—Why should
the Government not introduce a bill which would give the
Executive a general power of punishing such offenders as
O'Sullivan, instead of singling him out for special
vengeance ? says that the reasons are clear. Englishmen
claim to be governed, not according to the wisdom which
may guide the Executive—or, in less fortunate days, may
not guide it— but by the laws which have had the sanction
of Englishmen themselves, through their representatives
in Parliament assembled ; and the same idea, no doubt,
holds good across both the Tweed and St. George's
Channel. In the case now before us, the
Government has simply asked Parliament for authority
to remove the present mayor. Sufficient for the day is
the O'Sullivan thereof. No doubt great inconvenience,
and even peril, might occur, if such an offence as that of
Mr. O'Sullivan were committed during the parliamentary
recess ; and it is a fit subject for debate whether, after the
passing of the present bill, Parliament should not take
precautions against such an emergency. Meanwhile we
have to do with Mr. O'Sullivan. On Wednesday a parlia-
mentary messenger departed for Cork, to serve him with a
notice of prosecution. Next Tuesday is fixed for the
second reading of the bill ; and on that day—or on a later
day, should he ask for delay— the Mayor of Cork can be
heard by counsel at the bar of the House. After the evi-
dence shall have been heard for and against the accused,
it will be for the Commons of England to return a verdict
of guilty or not guilty.

The Times refers to the Great Temperance Demon-
stration at St. James's Hall, and declares itself opposed
to the principle of the Permissive Bill, preferring to look
for the repression of intemperance to the moral and
material improvement of the community. Nevertheless,
the Times is forced to acknowledge that the advocates of
the Permissive Bill have strong arguments on their side,
and says it is always with regret we find ourselves opposed
to any effort on the part of those who are struggling to put
down intoxication, even when we have not the slightest
doubt they are in the wrong. Not only are their sincerity
and disinterestedness above all suspicion, but there cannot be
two opinions as to the magnitude of the frightful evil
against which they contend. We do not mean to say we
quite accept all their accounts of it. Starting with a fore-
gone conclusion in search of certain one-sided evidence,
they naturally find only what they seek, overlooking or
undervaluing the facts which tell against them. But still
one need not be a teetotaller or a temperance orator to
appreciate the vast mischief done by drunkenness. From
murder to insolvency, there is not a form of human sin and
sorrow in which it does not constantly play a part ; and
yet—which is, perhaps, the most trying consideration to
sanguine reformers—it is, perhaps, the only formidable
evil for which there seems a remedy at once simple and
sure. They may feel that the extinction of such evils as
cruelty, lust, or fraud implies something very like a com-
plete revolution in human nature, and can be hoped for
only in a millennium. Poverty, again, with its twin-
sister, ignorance, presents so many and such complex
ramifications that the social reformer scarcely knows
where or how to begin his grapple with them. But with
intemperance, though by far the most fruitful of all
sources of crime and misery, there is not the same diffi-
culty. Only take away from the intemperate minority
the facilities which they now enjoy for getting intoxicating
drink, and the battle is all but won. The temperate
majority have the power to do this if they would but con-
sent to use it.

The Star says that the rejection of the Alabama Con-
vention has not been rendered more agreeable by the cir-
cumstance that the blow which struck it down was dealt
by a friend. Mr. Charles Sumner first achieved his
reputation as an advocate of arbitration. Yet he has
been one of the chief means of destroying an instrument
which, considering the important nature of the issues
involved, was the most notable recognition of the
principle of arbitration ever made by the representa-
tives of two great nations. The impression generally
prevails in this country that we are responsible
for the losses inflicted by the Alabama and by
her sister pirates, which were built, equipped,
and floated in British waters ; but if we are
responsible, it is not on moral grounds, but because, either
by negligence or connivance, we have violated the recog-
nised principles of international law. We have no desire
to ignore the moral considerations which bear on this
subject. The full extent of our legal responsibility was,
we think, embraced in the Convention. Our moral respon-
sibility is another matter and cannot be determined by any
human tribunal. If the Amer:cans look for mural redress,
there !s every reason why inolal redress should be
Mr. Cl:c.nrErt, irdced, fr;:rn piece in the
icunte, cAls upon us to cede Canada as a compensation
f,r the injuitiee with which we have treated his country.
Ent this gentleman runst Le aware that Canada is not
ours to give. 'The day has gone by for the bar tering away
in this fashion of great and free cowmunitics. The
people of Canada are masters of their own destinies; and
their fate can never be ileciduil by any bargain struck iu
London or in Washington. We are glad that the Nett
York Tri'ilnie has taken Mr. Chandler to task for a speech
which suggests that one wring should be patched up by
creating another, and that, too, a wrong inflicted upon a
people who, at all events, are not responsible for the depre-
dations of the Alabama or the shortcomings of tags mother '
;9144trY.

THE CO LINT OF PARIS ON TRADE

UNIO.I7S.

A royal author has just produced a remarkable book.
The Count de Paris has chosen for his subject trade
unions, and bestowed the greatest pains upon the work.
He has studied the evidence taken by the English royal
commissioners. The Count is not an advocate for trade
unions; but he believes, after careful investigation, that
they must exist, and that the State should allow
them free action if they keep within the limits of the
law. He states that it is his purpose to pursue his study
witbout being influenced by party feeling, and that the
subject should be treated In a practical manner. He pays
a high tribute to the working-classes, and expresses his
conviction that their solid qualities "constitute the
strength and the honour of every great nation." The
first chapter of the book contains a description of the
doings which were the subject of inquiry before the Shef-
field Commission. It is worthy of notice that the Prince,
writing before the report of the commissioners was made
public, predicted what has come to pass, that a split
would take place, and that they would not be able to
sign a common report. The first attempt at combination
on the past of labour was in 1348, when the plague had
carried off a fourth of the population. An account is
given of the unhappy struggle of the Luddites, which was
brought about by many causes, and resulted in a ♦eritable
insurrection. In speaking of the organisation of trade
unions the Prince (the author) declares that when the
unproductive expenses of strikes shall no more
absorb the greater part of the funds of the union
a new element of prosperity will be found for
the working man. In the chapter on "Strikes,"
it is said that the general body of trade unions ought not
to bear the reproach which attaches itself to the " iso-
lated villany" of some. An allusion is made to the great
work of " conciliation " between master and workman,
and the enterprises of well-intentioned individuals in that
direction. This work is written in French, and published
in Paris, but it will possess an interest for many English
readers, expressing, as it does, the views of one who duly
appreciates the importance of his subject and its connec-
tion with all classes of society.

THE MAY MEETINGS.