The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE FUBLIO JOURNALI

The Times renets the reluctance of the invalid bishol
to take advantage of the Bishops Resignation Act, all
hopes the time is not now distant when the South d,
England will again possess the advantage of efficient epis'
copal services. The appointment of Dr. Moberley ta
Salisbury provides a worthy successor to Dr. llamilton 1.11
his most active clays, and makes an auspicious breat
in that "spiritual destitution" which lately prevailed
in the matter of bishops from the Land's End to Canter
bury. It is very unfortunate that, either from habit,(!t
from the force of circumstan( es, bishops should
so much reluctance to withdraw from their posts in we l'
ness and age. An impression is encouraged that bc.-ql°.;
the functions assigned to a bishop are but few, it is but
little matter how they are performed, so long as some °l'd
in episcopal orders can be obtained to perform them. 'lb°
truth is the very opposite. The more solemn the duties
discharged by a bishop, the snore imperative it is fled
should be well discharged. A bishop's voice is hear'
at the most critical moments in the lives both of tn°
young in general and of the clergy in particular. No °ll°
can say how much may be gained or how much maY
lost by neglect or feebleness on such occasions. 11'8
fact that those whom a Bishop addresses are themselves
anxious and impressible gives him the means of exerting
immense influence. With the young in general the Bishops
possess advantages which no other public teachers elijql
and an English Bishop has probably the most splet'di"
opportunities in the world. These powers involve pre•
portionate responsibilities, and the Bishops themselves
ought to be the foremost in providing for the etlide/11.
discharge of their duties. Under a prolonged episcopateci
diocese is almost certainly invaded by monotony an
lethargy. The great duty of a Bishop is to unite his die'
cese, not to divide it by leading a party within it.
much-belied "articles and formularies" might even 31!:
in judicious hands, be made the protection Of
classes in the Church. All have a settled rule to go
and if they would be content to appeal to the lawfa
authority to interpret it in cases of doubt, and lirdai
abide by his decision, the attention of the clergy anj
~
,
people might be more completely directed to t`'
"weightier matters of the law." If the Church cannot
do what is required of her with the means, and svitliai
the limits, of her present organisation, she will neve-
r
accomplish it by changes and controversies, Now, tueit4/.6
than ever, we need in the rulers of the Church men Kr"
pious, moderate, and wise.

The Standard thinks that the Workshop
Act may be said to mark an era in the history of labeen.
Mr. Mundella was not very precise in his language 'rile:
he said that under the new law " the man who emPlt
fifty children is subject to inspection, but the inallsv'k-
employs forty-nine escapes inspection altogether," it ;
true that in certain cases the extension of the Faet°n'
Acts does not apply to establishments where fewer thse
fifty persons are employed. But at this stage the Work;l
shop Regulation Act steps in, and, with one OP;
exception, comes down even to the level of a "workshop
employing a solitary child, young person, or worst°.
Yet Mr. Mundella declared that these new Mt:
" were an injustice to the large employer." Injustice
was certainly perpetrated before these -B,,e:r
were passed ; when factories of one degree were enact
-Regulation
inspection and factories of another degree were not. Dig'
Mundella referred to a visit recently paid to Shale° Zo
one of the Government inspectors of factories, w;
endeavoured to persuade the local authorities to enfelr,c;
the Workshop Act. " I should be very sorry to
courage you in your attempt to do this," said :1;r;
Mundella, " but I say you cannot do it." The sre'""it
contended that it was impossible to carry out the law
now stood, and he seemed to think that if the law 'veto-
carried out, the educational good resulting from it w°ll,o
be very much less than most people expected. Wldle°ll
cannot see the logical correctness of the opposition wb,,c,
prevails at Sheffield, we can quite conceive that t"0
tendency of things is to extend the law downward'' so
as to bring the smaller establishments more geller:-'t
under the same rule as the larger ones. 13'1„it
would have been hopeless to have proposed this at "I",g-..
The law is tentative in its character. It would be warm
on the part of the Sheffield authorities to enforce "
Workshop Act as vigorously as possible, and—if t!eio
think fit—to agitate for something more. If the law -f
defective—as Mr. Baker seems to allow—the inertness
:sr
the Sheffield people is making matters worse. The ract°3.
Acts Extension Act of 1867 is not dependent on the goon
will of the local authorities. Whether they like it or 1111,
the Government inspectors carry out the law. If
must
Workshop Act is to be a dead letter, injustice inue„,,
perpetrated, and the so-called " handicrafts" will e°"-of
pete with manufactures. But the general sale,
employers is in favour of the Workshop Act, though
the hotbed of unionism it meets with disfavour.
The Post observes that Mr. Bright shares King
S
mon's impatience of fools, with this difference, that iqr,
Bright's fools are rather a more numerous class, since tihlefit
arc everybody who does not agreee with hint, and this
i
his impatience is therefore all the greater. Mr. Brig'j•
aware that besides fools there are knaves the won t;
but it would seem that, having smashed all his opP°ll,,ellos
up in heaps in the first category, he has nobody left w'
he cares to put into the second, and the consequetecd
that in the letter which he has just written he Pr°:tiel
the painful impression that while he is very angrY 1" DO
with fools who write pamphlets "in Bedlam," be 4'l
no anger left for the knaves who "prey uP-
them. Mr. Bright, however, possesses the faetlitee
telling useful truths in a disagreeable way. It has
lately argued by some of their false or indiscreet ft'
that the working classes have suffered by Free Trade,ajoil
now need protection for native industry in the Inca':
trades, as agriculture was supposed to need it in tuepotlf
generation. Against this fallacy, Mr. Bright velleni-,, He
protests ; but he is, after all, only " slaying the 813111.0
would render much more effectual service to the e3llDa
economical truth if he were to set to work manfully 0o
convince the working classes that it is Protection, iuriog
specious form of Trade Unionism, that is InJ
them now. It was Protection in the sense °dot/
eluding foreign corn and cattle and other Pro tisi
which was said to be starving them Prier
,tfnaise!
establishment of free trade in HA It is trade tv"- and
which, by seeking to make labour artificially seanc:por
dear, has had the effect of preventing it from helf
chased at all. In other words, the shackles and 'IOO
imposed upon capitalists and employers by trade sus
have prevented them from being able to com Pete '-eieeet
cessfully as they were once able to do with the fore
in the markets of the world. Great and disastrone7.,o
effects, not only direct but indirect, of the cotton 1709
undoubtedly were, there can be no question that
unionism has very much to answer for in respect; nfon°
dull trade which has prevailed so long, and whiclt -
as if, in some quarters, it never would revive.
so
osej
The Telegraph says that all Tories have not the pet
and useful common sense of Mr. Henley ; °el ocl „
know, as he does, when it is time to go to sleeP',,g
the "great world spin " past their old-fashione%oci
marks. They tried to chatter down the Irish L'
Bill when it had been proved useless to oppose it ;60
wise Mr. Henley was sound asleep in his place, pelf, srt'9
.
amid his " forty winks," that the Conservative Pen',
4014"
far " better a.-bed" than occupied in struggliaglerrecdti
the inevitable. If the same useless scenes shoal sa°
next year, we shall count upon the good selllo °
patriotism of the right honourable gelltiernio sled:
move, " that the Tory party do now ge for
e -
without snoring:" and then whatever the f oole;
of the House would permit in the way ° aD
niferous indulgences—as, for instance, niglitcal" by
pillows—would surely be conceded with readiness hii
th
delighted Chamber and a grateful country. ted,
usual wisdom, Mr. Henley has herein demonstio
col
point of fact, exactly what his party ought to dlo,
pliance with the laws of its inevitable transforrne pa°
sluggish organisms which suffer periodical Chang Coil;
through an interval of profound repose ; and er fit;
servative party is one of these. It changed and
_„d e°l.
under Canning, under Peel, and under Disraeli ;
f`o"ncien;
another great change is coming, for the grub ° ,tote
Church and State views will pass to the butterfly Potiveisi
new ideas and brilliant necessities. The CePsarsesoior
cannot, therefore, do better than hybernate for
ratio) f°
or two, as the appropriate and pleasing PrePs oe,rovilla
that new life which will find them disinterestedly
ing the edifice" of the next grand reform.
rent 04
The Daily News observes that the late Generalay
viol
Thompson ought not to be allowed to pass uw sodel'!%
boot sou
0
a word of honour and regret from the couuttlbe le
served for three score years, and which is the otaso
his having lived. The services which General 1-1:31,
rendered to the cause of Free Trade were, pert
obisq)oo
most useful achievements. His " Corn Law C:tepositvl 0
and his other economical writings occuPY of jte'of
intermediate between the theoretic cepositions
Smith and J. S. Mill and the
Mr. Cobden and Mr. Bright l' his ()f
position he occupied at different std 0101 0101 ,of
life. Together with Mr 'Roebuck, Mr. Grat.c,s 110,1yrio,
Molesworth, he' belonged to that sek.tc Pof
relined and scholarly men who rescued deu2clivi ono,'
ciples from the coarse hand of the Cobbetts. a.na so,i,lc
Popular Teldiatorla,io
llunts, and gave their professors intellectual
standing. Later in life he formed the colon ",f. 1)1 ;ct
between the cultivated and fastidious' schoolc, uroog",,/
sophical Radical and the more robust al,.(s;;Iio
Radicalism of Manchester ; between the '.`„wy
review and tbo Freetrade I fall. Though a llTof r1;11ig
who had seen service, and a European GoverP9!_ and,.llo
colony, he was humanitarian in his syrnpatme'4 .I',o
early zeal against slavery and the ill-treattplwilictio,in
subject races found vent in the indignation witj officero
branded the military excesses of some of r
"the 3AlMtio°
the suppression of the Indian Mutiny and tiger of
Promotion ; but he was rewarded with the e_ IP
unfashionable
ples npgso lifelr.cvoeudrabgiescout)sirfiodfrelgie°ole-)l 6
the people, and with the respect even a those
cordially hated and feared him.