The Sun.
London, England, 1869-08-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times observes that, unfortunately, the questioa
brought forward last week by Sir Roundell
though of the utmost importance, is just one of those
which are too often postponed without scruple to a 111°1•°
convenient season. Perhaps no one but himself COub'
have induced the House of Commons at this period of the
session to listen with patience to an exposition of the COw
flict between the Marriage Laws of England, Scotland
and Ireland. Everyone is award of this conflict, an
admits it to be a great scandal, from a scientific point 0'
view, but no one is specially concerned to remedi,
it. Moreover, in this instance the injury inflicted
on the whole community is not at first sigbt
apparent. The inconsistency of requiring marriages
to be public in England, yet allowing R°111313
Catholic priests to celebrate secret marriages in It elan',,
is rarely brought home to the popular mind, except wile
it is illustrated by a great scandal like the Yelverton case;
The Scotch marriage, by rerba de pra-SC2lii, is concleinacu
by every jurist out of Scotland, but Scotchmen are seoe;
what loth to part with it, and there is no strong practical
motive for interfering with them. In short, the establish
meat of an uniform marriage law for Great Britain all
Ireland is essentially a work to be undertaken by a str°,,
Government, but a work, it is to be feared, that a strg'
Government can afford to put off indefinitely. The
course for the commissioners would doubtless have beepto
ignore all distinctions grounded on differences of creed, to
prescribe general rules for previous notice, public att's•
tation, and subsequent registration, leaving each ele
nomination to add its own religious ceremony. C°,11.;
sidering what has been done even in Roman Cath°ll-
States on the Continent, and considering also the Pre•
vailing tendency of opinion in this country, we are 11
prepared to adopt Sir Roundell Palmer's view that e 31.1.1
a settlement wauld have been utterly hopeless. -At tl,B
c;
same time the commissioners probably judged vvisel3:l4
preferring the other alternative, and recommending tel
for this purpose all duly authorised ministers of 4.,
denominations should be made registrars by the State'
The paramount objects, as we have so often pointed oat,
are due notice, full publicity, and the preservation °
trustworthy evidence. So long as these are adequate!,
secured, it is a point of secondary moment whether t'l"
matrimonial knot is actually tied by a civil registrar a'
clergyman.

The Foci remarks that few animals without the Pel'll
of expressing themselves—not even the lion anti the
unicorn—have exercised such regular and strong Polibflie
influence as whitebait. For half a century nearly
dinner to which they give a name known throughout t°,
civilised world has been a bond of union keeping states
men together, and a solace to which wearied Cabinet,:
harassed with foolish catechisms, bitter oPPenello
and untoward events, have looked forward
the reward of patience and perseverance. 14,
whitebait dinner of Greenwich is the landnelv
that speaks to the wet and weary mariner, who has bee o
tempest-tossed by the sea of politics, of the haven Wiler,
he will be at rest—where he may sleep without watell
and eat his dinner instead of merely bolting his f°°t,
The Ministerial whitebait dinner had become, in isc.f
an institution of yearly inauguration, the celebrationove
which was impressively announced and joyfully reedit' Ai
public newspapers. It was the precedent of the )Zola
; it was the harbinger of the State Coach P'l:,
the cream-coloured horses and the Life Guards' esceiri:i
of the Prorogation and the Grouse Shooting.
great institution is in danger. The rutitio
Spirit of Revolution that has overthrown
Established Church in Ireland has not hesitated to oi°,
deadly blow at the Greenwich dinner. A voice of larroof
tation has come up to us from that ancient borough
picturesque one-legged and one-armed sailors, of tea t.
shrimp shops, and of lordly hotels ; and it says that et.
Cabinet, of which the member for Greenwich is the corao
stone, will separate without drinking the stirrup col'r
either the Trafalgar or the Ship. The Gladstone Greveo
ment will not do the whitebait dinner. t
The Standard says that the other day the Presiders for
the Board of Trade was asked about a recent action
negligence brought against a railway company by 5
professor of calisthenics, who caught her foot in a l9i,
eno.
the carpet of a station waiting-room, and sued the cOB
pany for damages. Not only does he look upon the e'ro
as " most monstrous," but he had no end of hard Ow
for persons injured in railway collisions. He cited to
case of a man brought into court on a stretcher, of sr ent
the judge spoke as " near death's door," and he then Tio
on, in his favourite vernacular, to describe "a s)d6iitst
which he considered to be little better than swill to
practised upon railway companies," who, accordiago
the theory of the President of the Board of Trade, cl°o,:sl
make themselves interesting subjects for leg'isl3ad
sympathy by killing a few dozen passengers a year 014
reducing several hundreds to a condition of hopeless 110
t
life-long suffering. 'The Standard protests against
introduction of this new fashion of reviewing the care
considered decisions of duly-appointed tribunals, gybe
Cabinet Minister, who began by acknowledging td- IJII
did not know whether the judge was right about the ~00
or the jury about the facts but who nevertheless Wen' of
to use language implying that a large el3q:011
severe sufferers are little better than profesT
swindlers. Railway companies have at le" sa`
ample means of resisting unjust claims, ,01.4,
of detecting fraudulent ones as any private indivl,os`beiv
and, F) far as we can judge from reported cases,
quite an average amount of readiness to avail 00'4 t,ll
of them. Mr. Bright can hardly be unaware of a' rt t
and therefore it is altogether inexcusable on his Pa-ver
act as if ho were vested with a censorial jurisdietio,,afactS
the judges who lay down law, and juries who fiol..„00.:
which militate against the interests of those great eTs'por'
tions by which the carrying trade of the country
conducted. of
The Star says it is possible that some of the A°,oo9',
parliamentary procedure might be advantoe-0-the
shortened, but the real hindrance to business lies Icessitice
abuse of them, which in practice gives an also
power to insignificant minorities. It may --stilt' 0
observed that administrative reforms are con of tild
retarded or prevented by the organised resistance, ye3s
great public departments. The Admiralty for illatyeeic,
may be said to have defied its assailants and cent
its responsible chiefs to inglorious inactivity acco a
we know, has at length been lauclahlY 11°0
plished by Mr. Baxter. In other services ego,
has been done. Mr. Cardwell has yet tto°
distinction as a military administrator, and ‘:-ous.dist
that lie is superior to the portentously sage
John Pakington. The reorganisation of the,h grey
Department advances but slowly, whilst on '6OO 0
questions of military education and prom sslvised
purchase, the Horse Guards and its irresponsible -OtielJ-0
have so far held their own. On both of the last-Ille 115ve,
subjects there has been abundant inquiry, and 1 refc
right to complain that no well-considered Pla,n„°o Boole,
is yet before the country. Difficulties will, ",;oers'est
have to be encountered, but they are not in s:11 Yoo't
and it must not be forgotten that ea' to fr,
that we persist in an obsolete system add
sin,
v,
expenditure and increases our weakness as a na it
Cardwell has a great opportunity before him. to ecl
something for the friends of popular institutleforinot
that their hopes are not disappointed, that ,„a ,reruinoly
Parliament has given us wiser and better u,.°',essr cot
and added to the happiness of the people. Tue a grstg
stituencies enabled Mr. Gladstone to perforn'tonoo,lo
deed of national justice, and we believe that in `,.00
a liberal and beneficent policy he may
continued support and undiminished slmpathy.
.0
to
00s tfia
Humour, according to the Daily News, se jeclk,,or
rapidly passing into the domain of disused andrle6l';oer
faculties. The outrageous word-twisting of the od de"iti
writers has almost extinguished that finer
rather tbsl
sense of drollery which consists in ideas tions °flea
safely co in'
sounds, and there are no pleasanter manifeastteele'fiftl
than in the periodical writings of Addison and of Pi
few more powerful than in the scathing Page'e-vver
The finest productions of humorous genius arriousPod
thought and observation, with something of A lit
brig pot vo
pose visible at the bottom of the
flashing stream of fancy. Could antuee
Y itso
profoundly sensitive and meditative na ?
produced the great works of CrevantVow rO,Oll
the lowest of Shaky eye's drolleries, and J!, ancl;',ol,
matter you find in them. Take the'ltighertol, Polost:
might expand them into books. Falstaff, in sea
and Bardolph—what a riot of fun there lfulaes?„001
characters ; and yet what a mysterious welts,oa oi
10'.
depth of life ! What intuitions of human,_„t
what suggestions of charitable allowance, nian, oat
the wonderful, incornprehensible nature i,iegree,tor°
through all ! The same in kind, if nut Chs_geri
be said of all great works of humour:,eir. allow
comic characters are alive at this day ; taessentgoit
does not depend on the delineation of terms,e t
nerisms, or the reproduction of slang er 131. JP,
of the dramatists contemporary with Slialgje' for hi
same kindly faculty, though none to the
_IP' for I,ltistple'l.o
the eighteenth century was remarka,bre_i 610.14_
throughout. Fielding, Smollett, Sterne, o,fitroinico!s 0,01;
were only the most illustrious of an army „tioe,!
of the most genuine order. These are ti.ve_ (ran, it
have added largely to the mirth of succesSi f
_r
„oar
of Englishmen, and who will continue tc, be '
matter and their style as long as the Lug em la"teer°
shall endure. yohin,cf
the or di,
The Telegraph thinks, on the whole,
on their f evio
may, perhaps, be satisfied with the report °n pulse °f eat
ance at the Wimbledon Review, which tlN,,ie doqusiss'ot
bridge has rendered to the War Office.
not drawn up in terms of indiserintinat.ee'edrerttisisiiilo4l3l
laudation ; indeed we may question wn ;_reasts evols4s
strike a of disappointment into the n
at tilefislin'.si
who were present, as actors and speetatorsitoysj siva
jeep
scene of July the lith. And yet 1,21 warra!eirscs,
has said nothing that is not fairiY,,ie parti p,
the facts of the case. No doubt, At, force,rs too.
of a regular force in the review—a rel-1 to,o opej-,to
with much preparation, halt marched for_.,n,eut
tur.
present in time—permitted the coin:nein,
tions at a stated and comparatively ran M. 4
doubt, also, the attendance of Volunteers:_
vile' peen:, fnicreitv
not so large as it might, and should, I_.'iforttionesivelloo
necessary consequence, there teas all ":_ie brig3,ol /jlOl.
up of uniforms some battalions rt;:lescoili,rsaicicoens.,e•teter,o;otoift
could not but detract both from the apl7 1.111 us to
the thoroughl easy movement of
teers as a holy are so sensible, sass]
their inevitable inferiority in cif
feel '.onicide" is
the regular army, that they wind rt(o)n
their
nt th,rie„icl
any criticisms which may be pase tit Prese eri"stilY
failures in matters of detail.
Butthe't its Presl?„,,,,p,stie,
throughout the force a vague sense „flisialtv„ to 40!
efficiency are not so much the obrcte rea.t!„'re of
and desire as they should be. 'I here.aillst
to eel's; se's:eel
pose that the Duke of Cambridge
sinrtiog ulert. 11°seal,rjr,
sitive body of intelligent men, sme
minded and self-distrustful Volunteer, its
neglectsatisfac
satisfactory
indifference iffseuriesntcaen
substance
et
iiis headquarters'reportrinay tone i
6°17
rigs PaiosaAtructiQD•