The Sun.
London, England, 1860-06-26 00:00:00

the questiOn that is, whether the electoral power i
should be taken from landlnrdi and millionaires,
and conferred on the electors themselves—
\will not brook persistence in putting to them all
the little question, what is your religions profession ?
They will excuse his excuses for evading surrender
of aristocratic power, but they will not excuse his
sacrificing those whose supporthe asks to the party

who desire to take his place, and that too on a pro-

posal very offensive to them, while its withdrawal
will wrong no one.
it is wonderful how often the Whigs in office
have been their own enemies. We all remember
how Radical members, when censured by some
for not letting Lord PALMERSTON eject the
Tories almost as soon as he bad let them
in with the intention of so doing, re-
plied, Ist—We will support Tories as readily
as Whigs, while their measures deserve it, but
they added, 2dly, in very suggestive tones—per-
sonally, if we have representations to make to Mr.
DISRAELI and his colleagues, we must acknow.
ledge, we are treated with a measure of respect and
consideration to which we have long been strangers.
There is no disguising the fact, that the very man-
ner of the Tory leaders in refusing to accede to the
wishes of the " Advanced Liberals," secured them
more goodwill than the Whigs gained by their
haughty cold compliance with the requests of their
supporters. While men are men, so it will be,
we may say so it ought to be. Courtesy is not
fawning, and we heard it from many members
themselves that the gentlemanly courtesy of the
Tories in office, when compared with "the cold
shoulder" so often turned to them. by the Whigs,
was one important element in the success_ of the
former. There is barely time for Lord PALMER-
STON to "consider his ways." The irritation is
becoming marked. Numerous members have de-
clared they cannot and will not disoblige their
active supporters as well as go against their own
feelings; and the sooner Lord PALMERSTON
permits Sir G. C. LEWIS to give up the words,
which we are now assured he forced ©n the Home
Secretary, the better for his party.

The House of Commons only did its duty las,
night by a timely division on the subject of com-
pensation. Sir RICHARD BETHELL, indeed, took
the amendment very angrily, but the country has
only to regret that similar amendments have not
been proposed or successful in many other cases.
The evil of compensation for the loss of offices or
of practice, under a certain arrangement of things,
is very great. There is not only the direct cost
to the country of the reforms which have
been made, but the hindrance to many de-
sirable reforms. We want to get rid of
some antiquated court or mode of procedure ;
it is very desirable all acknowledge ; but then there
is the frightful cost of compensation, a charge
saddled upon the country for years to come. We
are even now paying heavily fur compensation to
the gentlemen who had to give way under the first
bankruptcy reform; and while, like Joß's messen-
gers, they are annually making their sad demands
upon us, behold another Bankruptcy Bill becomes
a sheer necessity, but it tells us the same sad story
—we must pay those who did service under the old
one for long years to come of doing nothing.
We question whether it would not be well to
enter at once upon a better understanding with all
officials in every department in the country ; a Re-
solution of the House, perhaps, might give warn-
ing, that henceforth compensation eo nornine,
should cease ; that every person accepting office of
any kind in the Government or administration of the
country, must take into consideration the probability,
or the contrary, of the employment which he under-
takes, ceasing to be necessary. This principle
might have an extensively retrospeotive. applica-
tion, but its future application would of course be
easy. It might be a clause in every act creating
new or modified services, that should the act be
repealed and the services be no longer required,
those who performed them should have no claim
to compensation. The question of retiring pensions
is altogether different ; even in regard to that, the
fairer principle is to pay all persons what will
enable them fairly to provide their own pensions
by savings, or by the purchase of Deferred Annui-
ties; still the country will never, knowingly, see old
servants treated shabbily. It is for Courts and the
Horse Guards to pass over old Peninsular veterans
in favour of Palace scribes. Reformers would do
wisely, we think, to get into some authoritative
shape the principle which really decided the vote
of last night,—that men in the prime of life, able
yet to do plenty of work, ought not, simply, be-
cause their particular offices were abolished, to
absorb the hard-earned money of the country
without continuing, in some other form, to render
a quid pro quo. Sir H. WILLOUGHBY and the
House deserve our thanks, but the Bankruptcy
Bill must not be thrown up because Sir It. BETHELL,
its able proposer, desires to fee the lawyers so
splendidly at the cost of the country.

The intelligence from British Columbia is any
thing but satisfactory. General HARNEY is at it
again, and this time somewhat rancorously. There
is a desided obj; ction, it appears, on the part of
that amiable Marplot to the recently devised
arrangements for the solution at last of the San
Juan problem, by means of a joint Anglo-Ameri-
can occupation of the disputed little insular ter-
ritory. According to General HARNEY, this scheme
of a joint occupancy of the island is altogether
inadmissible—the United States claiming there
still to the last the solo right of sovereignty.
Now all this, it cannot but be remembered, is
directly counter•to the designs of General SCOTT,
the Pacificator, as he may be called, on behalf of
the Government at Washington. General SCOTT'S
proposition—the proposition eventually acceded to
by Governor DOUGLAS—Was, it cannot be for-
gotten, the temporary location upon the little
island of San Juan of a small body of troops,
separated from each other by the breadth of the
island, and holding joint possession of it thus until
the question of Sovereignty should be ultimately
decided by deliberate diplomatic negotiations be-
tween the respective Governments. The chief pro-
portion of the American armament actually disem-
barked a year ago upon the shores of San Juan,
and encamped there like so many fillibustering
marauders, General SCOTT contrived to have with-
drawn to the mainland, leaving upon the disputed
island no more than Captain HUNT'S small com-
pany. At another part of San Juan, distant about
fifteen miles from' Captain HUNT'S party, a force of
British marines was landed in March last by order
of Admiral BAYNES, with all regard to military
etiquette and with all desirable courtesy to the
military occupants of the island already there in
the service of the United States Government. Thus
matters continued to be situated for the best part
of a quarter—the question of sovereignty being
left wholly in abeyance for ulterior decision by
mutual consent of the British and American
Governments. The utmost unity all the while
prevailing between the English Marines and Capt.
HUNT'S Company. According to all that can be
learnt in regard to their mutual bearing, more
admirable discretion could hardly have been shown
upon either side than has been shown under