The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-23 00:00:00

REFORMATORY SCHOOLS.

The furore which raged during the winter on
The subject of our criminal classes has now subsided
somewhat, but not before it has resulted in a bill to
punish habitual criminals. A general sense that
something must be done to put down the great evil
now prevails. Those who advocate reformatory
treatment have just held a two days' conference in
London. The Right Hon. Stephen Cave, M.P.,
the Earl of Lichfield, Mr. Baker, and others took
part in it. It was urged that the Government
ohould care more immediately for the reformatories
And refuges. It is better to prevent than to cure. If
the seeds of thievery can be removed ere they have
:borne fruit, society will benefit. The best plan of
working the schools was considered, but on this
4ifficult subject there was no general agreement.

THE YOUGIIAL ELECTION.
Judge O'Brien in delivering judgment on the
Toughal election petition, unseated Mr. Weguelin, but
said that he would report to the Speaker that corrupt
practices did not extensively prevail at the election.
;One would like to know what the judges mean by
:the adjective "extensively." Mr. Weguelin polled
127 votes, and these votes cost him, according to one
account, £B,OOO, according to another, £12,000.
,Taking the lower estimate, they cost sixty guineas
a-piece, and as it does not appear that any large
sums were paid to particular electors, we are com-
pelled to come to a different conclusion from Judge
O'Brien's. The
.fudges hitherto have certainly done
,little to make bribery a heinous offence.

THE SUPREMACY OF THE CROWN.
What is the ecclesiastical supremacy of tho
Crown One makes it a mystical doctrine, involving
:the representation of the Deity by the head of the
Church ; another explains it as merely a title, carry-
ing with it the right of presenting bishops ; whilst
another gives it as a merely civil supremacy, making
the sovereign the first in rank, whether amongst
laymen or clergymen. By some—by a great many
Dissenters—the Queen is supposed to occupy the posi-
tion of a Pope; by others her ecclesiastical position
is looked upon as a mere accident consequent on her
civil supremacy. Mr. Hubbard would have it that
,she is not supreme head of the Church at all ; that
she is merely a governor of the kingdom. " Angli-
canus," in a letter to the Times, takes another view.
I" The Bishop of Capetown, Dr. I'usey, and others
•-who are rejoicing in the supposed freedom which the
Irish Church, and, if so be, the English Church is
hereafter to enjoy by separation from the control of
'the State, will find that, unless expressly excepted
by an act of the Legislature, they will merely pass
from the mixed tribunal of the Queen in Council to
'the purely lay tribunal of the Queen in Chancery."
Anglicans " declares that until an Act be passed
;expressly forbidding the Imperial Legislature, or the
great organs of the State, to intervene in ecclesias-
tical matters, and precluding all appeals from eccle-
,eiastical bodies to the civil courts of the realm, the
work of Henry VIII., of Edward VI., and of
Elizabeth will not be entirely undone, nor the teach-
ring of Cranmer and Hooker entirely repudiated.

TEE SPEAKER'S COMMENTARY.

Is this long-delayed work really about to appear at
last ? There are symptoms of it. We notice that the
Speaker has just entertained at dinner a number of
archbishops, bishops, and clergy, and among the
latter we observe the name of "the Rev. Canon
•Cook, editor." This looks as if the Commentary
,were at least not abandoned. We doubt, however,
if dinner parties are calculated to "hasten " the corn-
pletion of this prolonged project, however "slowly."