The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, iNION)AY EVENING, APRIL 19, 1869

The section to apply where the salaries are re-
ceived under warrant of the Lord-Lieutenant (G.).
Provision to extend to vicars-choral and choirmen
(Mr. VANCE). 17. Compensation to organists,
vergers, and others. Compensation where such per-
sons have received income from property vested in
the Commissioners (G.) The notes of amendment
are printed in small type, and the letters D. and
G. denote those which are to be moved by Mr. GLAD-
STONE or ➢lr. DISRAELI. Such is a specimen of the
amendments as they stand, when arranged in the
plainest and easiest form by our ingenious contem-
porary.

THE Italian convict was allowed to select
between ten years at the galleys and read-
ing through GUICCIARDINI'S history of Italy,
and he chose the first. We claim equal clemency
with regard to the debates on the Irish Church.
Meanwhile, until our prayer is granted, we are com-
pelled to go through the weary tas!i of listening to
the monotonous chime of Conservative voices pealing
forth " spoliation " and " sacrilege," " political pro-
fligacy" and "national apostacy," until we nod, and
have far more reason than JUPITER had. We will do
Mr. DISRAELI the credit to say that he does his best
to rouse us. It is scarcely possible for him to be
dull. So long as he can put forward a paradox
which is not too absurd, Ile will do so out of the very
kindness of a heart touched with compassion. His
latest argument (if argument it can be called) in
behalf of the Irish Church, is that the Roman
Catholic Church in Ireland is virtually an Established
Church, and virtually connected with the State, be-
cause it acknowledges the supremacy of thePOPE, who
is a temporal sovereign, and therefore in order to main-
tain an equality between the Protestant and Roman
Catholic Churches the Protestant Establishment
ought to be continued. Was there ever so fantastic a
notion as this? Where is the POPE'S supremacy
shewn in Ireland? Has lie established any
ecclesiastical court in Ireland ? Does his
authority over individual Romanists depend upon
his being Sovereign of Rome and the adjacent ter-
ritory? Is there one single point of similarity between
his headship of the Roman Catholic Church and the
QUEEN'S headship of the Irish Protestant. Church?
Moreover, what has the objection to do with the
matter under discussion ? That matter is simply
this. The Church of a few hundred thousands is by
a fiction of the law considered the Church of the
whole nation ; that fiction is now to be abolished,
and that abolition involves certain redistribution of
revenues. The QUEEN will still maintain her supremacy
in the courts, but henceforth there will be no
special courts for the trial of ecclesiastical questions.
These will be decided by the Church itself, and only
so far as they affect the right to hold property will
they be brought under the jurisdiction of the Crown.
In fact, the 500,000 Irish Churchmen will hold
exactly the same position to the QUEEN that the
10,000,000 English Nonconformists hold. Even Mr.
DISRAELI will scarcely venture •to affirm that
these acknowledge the supremacy of any other
sovereign than Queen VICTORIA.

A. BILL for amending the laws relating to the
property of married women has once more staggered
through the second reading, and will now undergo
the dangerous, though sometimes inevitable, ordeal
of a select committee. In what shape the measure
will emerge from this trial experience of select
committees forbids us to predict; but it is
just possible that an Act of some kind may be
passed this year. The system of taking a generation
to bring about a social change is not yet extinct;
but it is surely not unreasonable to hope that a
reform which meets with such very general support
may not, like many others, be deferred to the consi-
deration of our grandchildren. Beyond doubt, the
Married Women's Property Bill as it now
stands is intended to bring about a great
change. The time-honoured, patriarchal system
of family government will, in principle, no
longer be retained. The early legislation of most
nations in respect of marriage has been founded on
the model of the Boman familia; in all domestic, and
social relations the family was supposed to have but
one head, in whom the property of all its members
was vested, and who was responsible for all except
criminal offences. The wife, and the children under
age, could have no property, and could incur
no responsibilities. The Married Women's
Property Bill puts an end to the legal principle by
which man and wife are regarded as one person. All
the property held by a woman before marriage will
remain absolutely her own. After marriage her
earnings or other acquisitions will be beyond
the control of her husband. She may " alienate,
devise, or bequeath" any of her possessions.
In short, in all matters affecting property she will
occupy the position of a single woman.
The innovation is one of grave importance, but the
balance of argument is so decidedly in its favour
that its acceptance can be only a question of time.
Even the opponents of Mr. RUSSELL GURNEY'S
measure admit that the law as it stands is decidedly
unsatisfactory. Everyone can call to mind instances
of very lamentable results arising from the uncon-
trolled power of a husband over his wife's property
and earnings. The case of a husband permanently
living upon his wife's industry is of the
commonest character. If the man will not work
the woman must support herself ; but under the
present law the whole of her earnings belongs to
her husband. It is true that if her property were
absolutely under her own control she would often
voluntarily share it with her partner. But this
would be a matter of choice ; now it is a necessity.
Still more distressing cases are not unfrequent.
Should a separation take place, the wife's
home may be at any time broken up.
Should the husband desert his wife, he may still
claim " his rights." In short, the happiness, almost
the subsistence, of a woman of the poorer class
depends entirely upon the character of the man to
whom she is united by a lifelong tie. If the law in
this case were the same for the rich and
the poor, the argument in favour of the
Married Women's Property Bill would be
less unanswerable. But though in theory legislation
acts equally, in practice there is one law for the rich
and another for the poor. The women of the
well-to-do classes can always retain full control over
their property after marriage. For them there is the
perfectly just resource of a marriage settlement. In
the case of the rich, indeed, the Court of Chancery has
unceasingly laboured to counteract the harsh pro-

visions of the common law. It cannot be doubted

that if the daughters of the rich had not found pro-
tection in marriage settlements and other proceedings
in equity, a " Married Women's Property Bill "
would have been passed long ago. The measure now

proposed does not, therefore, introduce any new
principle. Its real object is to give protection to
all classes alike ; to equalise and simplify a pro-
cedure which is now in full operation. In every
case of a marriage settlement the stipulations of the
common law are set aside. But if the common law
is bad in this respect—and the systematic recourse
to settlements proves that it is—why not
change it once for all by a statute ? In
fact, the system of domestic Government
indicated by the Roman term fainilia—the incorpo-
ration for civil purposes of the members of a family
into one person—breaks down altogether. in the
complex society of civilised life. We, in common
with other European nations,copiedthe Roman model,
and the idea of making the husband the one authority
is thoroughly consonant with English social tastes.
But it must not be forgotten that this

system originated at a time when the woman was

considered as a slave, and when the relations of

society and the nature of property differed wholly
from those of the present day. Land was
then almost the only source of wealth, and
subsistence was derived directly from it.
There wa4 then comparatively no opportunity

for the husband to jure his wife by the wasting of
her dowry. But asi c'ilisation progressed the Romans
themselves gradual' diminished the power of the
husband, whilst in the palmiest days of the civil
law it remained buthe shadow of what it formerly
was. But we retainthe law, after everything which
gave rise to it has ben changed.

The requirements)f the case will not be met by a
compromise. Some favourable to a change, think
that an extension o the existing protective provi-
sions would be sufliont, and would leave the natural
authority of the hu)and intact. At present a poor
woman may, in extrme cases, get a protection order
from a magistrate, *d may thus be preserved from
depredation. But if tis system be extended sufficiently,
it will amount to Wing the wife control over her
property without ay of the certainty and facility
which might be pro\ded by a law. It is notorious
that an application or an "order," like a summons
for an assault, tends o weaken the confidence between
husband and wife, and to destroy the chalice of a

reconciliation. Th 3 result could not follow if the
law were a standig protection order. But, above
all, the advocate: of this kind of compromise
strangely overlook-that " protection" is in nearly all
cases sought 01313
after some injury has been en-
dured ; and that, Ihilst the law would be a preven-
a cure. The sole argument tion, protection isonly
proceeds on an assumption which for a compromise

known facts that the pro-
is contrary to
posed change nil invalidate the institution
of marriage by ieposing the father from supreme
authority, and veting the rule in a partnership. If
marriage were a aere question of property, this fear
would be well grounded ; but the authority of the
husband by no mans depends upon his sole control
over all the housetold goods. Where his authority
is respected at all he is the recognised
head of the faaily, not because of his legal
superiority, but lecause that is his natural position.
Nobody ever hearl that the institution of marriage
was invalidated inthe upper ranks of life because the
wife keeps her property by a settlement. The posi-

tion of the husland in domestic life is determined
by the natural relation of the sexes ; it is not a
question of pounds, shillings, and pence.

CANON MILLER was so severely taken to task for
his letter upon the 'Ritual in which he
said that all parties ought to obey the law, that he
has since then been endeavouring to assure the
organs of his party that he is still a party man.
Recently he has complained that, in consequence of
the abolition of church rates, the income of his church
has fallen off, and that the church " has
not been cleaned out for a twelvemonth, the lamp
glasses in the gallery are in a state that no gentle-
man would allow those in his own study or
office to be in, and the matting is constantly
tripping people up." Various expedients were
suggested. At last a Mr. FOUNTAIN proposed to try
the weekly offertory, mentioning, by way of
encouragement, that at St. Alban's £1.50 had been
collected in this way on Easter Day. But the Vicar
of Greenwich could not tolerate the notion.
The fact that St. Alban's had the offertory
was in itself an insuperable objection in
his mind, although, we believe, he has no objec-
tion to a pulpit or to the Church prayers, which are
also to be had at St. Alban's. Besides, the offertory
would drain his congregation dry, and he would get
nothing from them when he preached a missionary
sermon ; an idea completely negatived by those who
have tried the system, and who find that "giving
grows like hoarding," that the more people are
asked to give, the more ready they are to give. The
Vicar thought also that it was unfair for the congre-
gation to have to pay the cost of maintaining the
Church, though who should do so if they did not
is by no means clear. Filially came the crowning
objection. It would be necessary for him, after
leaving the pulpit, to go into the vestry and put on
his surplice, and leave his people " gaping about"
while he went away " like a jack-in-the-box " to
effect the change. Is it really necessary to make the
change at all ? Cannot Can on MILLER preach
except in a black gown ? If so, is he not, at least,
as much a " jack-in-the-box " when donning the
surplice for the gown as when donning the
gown for the surplice ? We had thought
that Canon MILLER was not a man to attach
any value to vestments, whether coloured
or black. But if he is determined to lose
all the money that he might get through the
offertory, if he is resolved to let his Church remain
unswept, and his lamps dirty, if he is determined to
let his congregation be " tripped up" because he will
not adopt the means of raising money which is in
use in. countless Dissenting chapels South of the
Tweed, and in almost every church North of the
Tweed, he will get small pity, however loud his
lamentations.

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HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, April 18.
The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louise,
Princess Beatrice, and the ladies and gentle-
me❑ in waiting, attended Divine service this morn
ing in the private chapel.

LATEST INTELL MENGE

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

TURKEY,

CoNsTANnicoPLE, April 18.
The Levant Herald of to-day publishes a sum-
mary of the Turkish Red Book. The volume con-
tains despatches on the affairs of Crete, Servia,
Roumania, on the closing of the Dardanelles to
foreign war vessels, and some reports on internal
affairs.

HOMEWARD (HEAVY) INDIA, CHINA, AND
AUSTRALIAN MAILS.
GIBRALTAR, April 18.
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Bangalore arrived at two o'clock, and leaves for
Southampton at five this afternoon, where she may
be expected early on the morning of the 23d inst.

AMERICA.
QuEEritrowN, April 19.
The Inman Royal Mail steamer City of Cork,
from Halifax, arrived at 6.15 this morning, with
$6,000 in specie, and having landed mails and
passengers she proceeded for Liverpool immediately.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS,

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, SUNDAY, April 18.

Science and experience contribute to the perfection of
every art ; but this march of progress is not without incon-
venience. One of the effects of scientific advances is a
very undesirable improvement in the art of coining. Sc,
much progres has been made in this respect that there is
but too much reason to apprehend a large and inevitable
admixture of bad money with that now in circulation.
The coiners of France and Belgium have just hit upon an
extremely ingenious, and withal dangerous, expedient.
They are coining twenty-franc pieces in platinum. The coin
thus produced satisfies what has been hitherto the great
desideratum of the "smasher." The weight is exactly
equal to that of a gold coin. The sound so nearly resembles
the ring of gold that only the most experienced ear can
mark the difference. The imitation at first sight is per-
fect, the reliefs only being a little weak. But when con-
fronted with a piece of good money the platinum coin has
a slight reddish reflection, which gold does not give forth.
Then, again, platinum being heavier than gold, it is
necessary to snake the false coin a little thinner than the
true one, in order to keep the weight exactly equal.
These are the principal differences. But new money is
clearly a dangerous innovation.
People here are much rejoiced at the tone of a discus-
sion which has just taken place in the North German
Parliament. At present the political direction of the
Confederation is under the control of the Federal Chan-
cellor—Count Bismarck—assisted by commissions chosen
by the Federal Council. No parliamentary responsibility
attaches to this Administration which is preferred by the
smaller States, because it leaves their special rights and
private affairs within their own control. But the Prussian
Liberals wish to change this system, and establish in its
place a Federal Ministry which will be responsible to the
North German Parliament. This assembly, composed of
a large majority of Prussians, would thus virtually
direct the affairs of all the States. Prussia's satellites would
yield up the last remnant of their autonomy. Prussia has
but seventeen votes out of forty-three iu the Federal
Council, and as the commissions which assist Count
Bismarck are chosen from this body, and are not responsible
to the North German Parliament, the small States manage
to preserve some sort of independence. But under a respon-
sible Ministry, their existence even would be at the mercy
of the assembly. Hence they stoutly oppose this Ministerial
scheme, and Count Bismarck, too, has felt himself obliged
to go against it. When the project was discussed on
Friday, the Federal Chancellor declared that it was
equivalent to a vote of no-confidence. "It would," he
said "also tend to augment the antagonism between
imLt,u ants tss...su ceermany, wincu sac at present, sesT
little disposed to unity." This remarkable confession
has caused infinite gratification here. The Liberte prints
that " confession " in that mixture of capitals and italics of
which M. de Girardin is so fond, and which sometimes
gives his paper the appearance of one huge advertisement.
The semi-official papers, I need hardly say, are not back-
ward in manifesting their delight. Everybody knew
that the Southern State were jealous of a Prussian alliance
through fear of sharing the fate of Hanover and Saxony,
but few imagined that the sentiment was so strong an to
lead to an open acknowledgement from Count Bismarck.
The Liberte and the Siecle are clearly neglecting their
duties as organs of public opinion, which have at
least one common object. Their quarrel about
M. Emile 011ivier goes on from day to day.
M. de Girardin has been challenged to a duel, and has
refused because he has once experienced the overwhelming
shame of killing an antagonist in the process of demanding
this sort of " satisfaction." He has never fought since,
and declares that he never will. But he fights unceas-
ingly with his pen, and seems to overlook the fact
that whilst he is cannonading the Siècle, the cause of
"Liberty under the Empire," which he proclaims so
loudly, is in danger of languishing. If the Left wish to
weaken the bonds of despotism, they must be united. But
though there may be some doubt as to the consequence of
this ill-advised rupture, there can be none as to the
uneasiness which prevails in high places. The Left, with all
its divisions, is formidable, but this is not all. Amongst
the supporters of the Government—amongst some of
its warmest supporters—there is a decided bias in favour
of independent candidatures. Many, attached by all their
antecedents to the existing Kginie, and classed by one
consent in the ranks of the Conservatives, are seen throw-
ing off official control, figuring in the committees, and
supporting candidates, who, though not hostile to the
Government, are unmistakeably hostile to*the system of
official candidatures. Some of these candidates, who
possess great personal influence, have shewn a decided
inclination to reject official patronage. A considerable
return of such men will be quite equivalent to an increae
in the numbers of the Left, perhaps more so.

ITALIAN DIFFICULTIES.