The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-26 00:00:00

METROPOLITAN GOSSlP.—Thursday.

Surely never did Session open more tamely than this.
Yet it is expected to be the stormiest for many
a year past ; and remembering those of the last three years
that is saying a good deal. By common consent there is
to be no preliminary skirmishing, but the strength of both
armies will be reserved for the great battle close at hand.
This rigid rule of self-restraint which the Conservative
leaders have laid down was amusingly illustrated a few
nights ago. Sir John Hay, a Lord of the Admiralty
in the last Administration, got up proprio motu
to ask whether Sir Sidney Waterlow meant
to vacate his seat, on the ground that he had a
Government contract. Sir John did not content himself
with asking a question, he tendered advice, which, coming
from a political opponent, the London alderman was not
at all likely to accept. Hon. members were beginning
to get excited, and there was every appearance of
a division, when Mr. Ward Hunt rose, and snubbing
his colleague so effectually that Sir John left the
House in a pet, agreed to the proposal from the
Ministerial side of the House that a committee should
he appointed to inquire into the matter. Sir John, in his
eager partizln4lip, had forgotten the old proverb about
sauce being equally appropriate for the goose and the
gander, that if he succeeded in ejecting the Liberal member
for Dumfriesshire, he would also eject the Conservative
member for Manchester, who is in exactly the same
position, and that while the Liberals would
probably retain the first seat on a fresh election, the
Conservatives would certainly lose the second. So Mr.
Hunt interposed to good purpose, and up to the time I
write the Conservative managers have done their work so
well that they have not taken a single division, have not
once given visible prcof of their arithmetical inferiority.
It would be absurd to trouble you with long speculations
as to the measure which is to be introduced on Monday.
A few hours now will shew whether the Government
has mastered or bungled the most difficult question pre-
sented to Parliament within the lifetime of most of us.
If the hints given by journals supposed to enjoy a certain
amount of inspiration be worth anything, the measure
will be "a very simple one," in which case it can scarcely
be very thorough. On the other hand, the numerous
meetings of the Cabinet, and the long sittings, extending,
it is said, to seven hours, would certainly imply that some-
thing more than abstract principles are under discussion,
that it is details of a very numerous and complex kind
which are under consideration.

Mr. Bright seems to feel the collar a good deal. His
speech at Fishmongers' Hall about the bishops was indis-
creet, to say the least; his speech last evening at the dinner
of the Associated Chambers of Commerce, shewed also how
restless he is in harness. During Tuesday's debate on local
taxation he kept his mouth with a bridle, even though the
country squires were before him; and, being apparently
better informed than Mr. Goschen as to the intentions of
the Premier, he did not attempt to answer the arguments
which came from the Opposition bench. But all the time
that he was musing the fire burned. He could not restrain
himself for more than 24 hours. The Westminster Palace
Hotel gave him an opportunity for kicking over the tract,
which had been denied him at Westminster Palace, and
he proceeeded to deliver himself of all the reasons
against granting the country gentlemen's request
which he had kept in pato on the previous
night. Considering that his chief had granted this request,
and pledged his Government to effecting the required
changes, this was scarcely fair to Mr. Gladstone. If Mr.
Bright thinks it necessary to prove that he still retains his
independence by criticising outside the House the mea-
sures which by bis silence he sanctions inside, he will find
himself attempting to perform a feat long considered dan-
gerous, if not impossible—sitting between two stools.

So Scotland is to set us an example in bankruptcy as
well as in banking. Scotch banking bas long been the
model system, and after many years of scandalous failure
on this side of the Tweed, we Southrons are about to learn
from the Scots how to wind up bankrupt estates. The
revelations which Sir Robert Collier made at the Chamber
of Commerce dinner were, though out of regard to the
n b
is nrioetf,
geominign etnotlwyassatteisftaimcteoriyn.
Trebspeepertesdeunet toGovernment Parliament,
over that conspicuous failure of a very clever
but most unsuccessful man, Lord Westbury's Bankruptcy
Bill of 1861, but will reform the system altogether.
M.P.s and frequenters of the lobbies of St. Stephens
will miss the face of a gentleman very well known to
many of them—Mr. John Curling, who died a few days
ago. He was the son of a Surrey country gentleman, who
had taken a prominent part in local politics, and his
son was no less keen a general politician. He belonged to
the now almost extinct race of old Whigs, believed
devoutly in Lord Russell, and dreaded, not to say bated, Mr.
Gladstone. He was known to a large number of M.P.'s,
admeibgniteiodn tow astaltko
pwaistsh
tbhiamt
daosor,ananedqubael.
and even the stern janitors at the door of the House
s egvreeraatl
maHdeis
attempts to go through the preliminary ordeal of election,
, offering himself to Dartmouth, Tavistock, and Devizes ;
but in vain. By profession be was a solicitor, and was
employed chiefly in parliamentary work. He drew up
several bills, amongst them some eccentric measures intro-
duced by the Marquis Townshend. Between the Mar-
quis and Mr. Curling there was a bond of sympathy in
their love of animals. Mr. Curling was one of the pro-
moters of the refuge for dogs, and he never stirred out
without carrying a supply of biscuits for distressed dogs
and cats. He was a remarkably handsome man, and
dressed in the fashion of the beaux of thirty years ago—a
fashion which some of the young swells in the War Office
are attempting to revive.

There is one new member of the present House whereof
great things are expected. It is Mr. Charles Wentworth
Dilke, 14.1.1', for Chelsea, and on of the proprietor of the