The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-08 00:00:00

POLITICAL ITEMS.

A rumour prevailed in London on Friday night
to the effect that the Premier was suffering from sud-
den indisposition, and was therefore unable to leave
his room. This statement is now authoritatively
denied. ➢lr. Gladstone, it seems, is in good health,
and able to attend to the business of his office.

That he will not want a policy those who have so
valiantly challenged him to bring forward one may
be well assured. Not to mention the Irish Church,
the criminal question, and the County Financial
Boards, measures on which the country has been
promised "action," the Government, by its very con-
struction, is pledged to carry on several other
reforms. The Star is enabled to state that they
have resolved to adopt the Universities Tests Aboli-
tion Bill of Sir John D. Coleridge.

The John Bull says that the proposed banquet to
her Majesty's late Ministers has been postponed owing
to Mr. Disraeli's inability to attend consequent on
the death of his brother. In default thereof, Com-
mander Pym is devoting his festal energies to getting
up a dinner to the honour of Lord George Hamilton,
M.P. for Middlesex. The gallant officer has, much
to the regret of our contemporary, chosen a Wednes-
day in Lent as the feasting day. Mr. Disraeli's be-
reavement, we may add, permits him to continue
the policy of silence he has so discreetly
observed since he left office, the policy which led
Lord Stanley and Mr. Hardy to disappoint the
Cardiff banqueters by absenting themselves from
their table.

The silence policy was much condemned at Glouces-
ter the other day. The Liberals of the town, when
they held their banquet, had Mr. Lowe to " draw ;"
but not one of the Conservative gods would come
down when the Conservatives had a dinner. The
diners had to be satisfied with Sir Michael Hicks
Beach, Sir George Jenkinson, M.P., and one or two
local magnates. These, however, appeared. to
be in very good spirits. They had no idea
of giving up the Irish Church as immediately
lost. A large number of Governments would
probably rise and fall before Mr. Gladstone's
measure would pass. There was a great impression,
however, that the Church would ultimately go. Sir
M. Beach described the present Government as Jews
and Infidels, Papists and Puritans, Ritualists and
Dissenters, every form of .unbelief and extreme
belief, banded together in an unholy alliance for the
perpetration of a special piece of plunder. The
description was not original, but it was "telling," and
therefore, we suppose, fulfilled its end. Colonel
Lees, who was defeated tit the last Gloucester
election, offered to fight the battle again when
required.
Mr. Powell, the Conservative candidate who
defeated the Adullamite Lord Andover at Malmes-
bury, has been celebrating his victory in the cus-
tomary way. In an after-dinner speech, the new
member denied that there had been intimidation,
and challenged Lord Andover to petition against him.
He said that the Liberals were " going ahead too
fast," that they "wanted to deface everything, the
House of Lords, the House of Commons, and the
Constitution, and, to tell the truth, " God only knows
l
tplathvolealohra‘Dva;etaeettlbit.hiltl
e‘yel.weeer, they do
ssi
wdsli
aendoetbeh:sv:iri!rchc.o,
good
member
satisfactory
vromH:dt
De wrtt
ehhodniaisi
ttda
resistcamefn wleloitotir:
explain.
toetd:c:l passis
o nkrfellow-diners
the
tshlowhtteana
enonMon
oislryvit.
Thea-Atil:waic:o/kdn.
things as he described.
state-
ment that Mr. Trevelyan resigned his post at the
speech Admiralty ofd :to hisn e not
didverydiscreetaccept
not
the resignation, and Mr. Trevelyan thereupon
sleq'amuPeYrn.cGeGalzaette confirms the
expressed. to the Commander-in-Chief his regret in
a manlier which was at once accepted by his Royal
Highness.

THE LATE GENEEAL ELECTION.
The amount of "m )ral" that has been got from the
general election is something astonishing, especially
when the diversity of it is borne in mind. Mr.
Dudley Baxter draws one conclusion, while his
opponents draw a totally opposite one. To one mind
the present system fails in that it does not return the lower class; to another it is defective because
all the great men are not returned. Mr. Mill
has the mind of the first-named class; Lord
Campbell of the second. The one would
provide machinery for turnin out workin
men M.P.s ; the other would like for more certainty that men of genius should be returned. Mr. Mill's plan
has been communicated to the public through the
Legislature, and in. various other ways. Lord
Campbell is now propounding his in a series of letters
to the Pod. Ills complaint is this : that a small
constituency can, and in some cases does, prevent the
return to Parliament of a man whom the public (as a
whole) wishes for. The state, with " unmeasured
liberality," imparts to every constituency the power
of appointing representatives—and these for the
empire at large—without retaining any veto.
Thus, a popular Premier, a Secretary of State,
an Attorney-General, &c., &c.,. are kept out of
office simply because of a local whim. This same
uncertainty is an evil in another direction. Politics
are a life-long study. A good M.P. can be ob-
tained only after years of training. Yet, by limiting
this training, by excluding a promising man from
Parliament, just when his education ought to be
carried on, the class from which statesmen must
thpring
erefore, is
ota niccaodreding small.to
Lord Campbell,
our present system,
the public
will is
trained, and the result is that there exists a general
ncarried out. M.P.'s are not properly
desire to obtain what (as in the case of non-aristo-
cratic members of the Cabinet) the present system
prevents.

AfIMY AND NAVY NEWS.

The Earl of Lauderdale will succeed Sir Thomas
Pasley as commander-in-chief at Portsmouth on
March 1. Sir Alexander Milne will succeed Lord
Clarence Paget as commander-in-chief in the Medi-
terranean on April 22. Sir Frederick Grey will
succeed Sir William Martin at Devonport, and
probably Vice-Admiral Warren will succeed Sir
Baldwin Walker as commander-in-chief at the Noro
on April s.—The Army and Navy Gazette says that
if Mr. Childers ever entertained the intention of
superseding the various superintending officers at the
different dockyards he has now abandoned it.—The
sum of money devoted to experiments in the navy
will be reduced from £12,000 to £2,ooo.—That
famous old ship, the Victory, Nelson's flagship at
at Trafalgar, is at last about to end her
llailcbeouj:stahnindk of her bel
retirein toip4 brokeniva
telife.up i
On:
th-jes ,thli7t.
breaker's yard.

It is stated that tne coming reducticii% in the
army staff are so numerous that few appointments
will be vacant this year or next. The same condi•
tion of things applies to the Army Medical Staff.

THE VOLUNTEEIL CONTROVERSY.ry
The Army and .21ravy Gazette will not undertake t.,1
say if the Volunteer is worth only the 30s.
capitation grant he now gets, or the 60s. which
Lord Elcho asks. But there is great room for
improvement in the force, especially in the officering
of the corps. At present no provision is made for
securing efficient officers, and many of them are
notoriously incompetent. The state of discipline is,
to say the least, doubtful; the officers are frequently
elected by the men, who practically have the power
of dismissal, since they can, and sometimes do, for
very trivial causes, resign in a body and break up the
C.Olll/4.