The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The Times remarks that the inauguration of the new
procedure for the trial of election petitions is an epoch in
constitutional history ; a change in the place of trial is
in itself significant, and will tend to produce a salutary
effect. The new court has not, it is true, in the
course of a single afternoon thoroughly emancipated
inquiries into charges of bribery from their traditional
character of something exceedingly humorous and
comic in the eyes of bystanders. The removal of
the investigation from Westminster to the very scene of
the subject of trial has in some measure even aggravated
the evils of this tendency by increasing the number of im-
mediately interested spectators. The laughter which
welcomed a telling question or answer, together with the
reception accorded by the crowd outside the Town Hall
to particular persons, might seriously embarrass the course
of justice if repeated on the scale of Bristol or
Nottingham. Further on, in alluding to the
increased confidence which the country will repose
in the exposition of legal principles of the
judges, instead of by Parliamentary Committees, the
Times declares that the end to be desired in this new pro-
cedure for the trial of election petitions is that it should
be assimilated, so far as is practicable, to ordinary trials
conducted by the judges of assize. One great difference
there is, and must remain. There is no jury, and there
could not well be one, since a jury chosen from the locality
would be obviously too partial, and it would be invidious
to allow a jury chosen elsewhere to decide on the exercise of
the franchise in another community. But the want of a
jury will not in all our judgments be a defect in the con-
stitution of the tribunal. Courts of equity succeeded to
their own satisfaction formerly, and still, in the majority
of cases, succeed, in arriving at conclusions of fact without
such external auxiliaries. The spectacle of common law
judges, with the assistance of members of their own
common law bar, dispensing with juries in election
petitions, and no failure of justice ensuing, may prove a
formidable argument in favour of the heresy that juries,
even in the common trials of fact at common law, are
not indispensable for the extraction of truth.
The Post thinks that the change which has now Peen
effected will probably conduce as much to secure purity
and freedom of election as did the first assumption of juris-
diction by the House of Commons in similar matters three
centuries ago. It is, however, remarkable that the pro-
posal to transfer this jurisdiction to the common law
judges should have been mainly opposed by thein
and that, notwithstanding a strong protest addressed
in their name by the Lord Chief Justice of England
to her Majesty's Government, the House should
have insisted on their accepting these new functions. It
was perhaps reasonable that the judges, jealous of their
character and desirous to keep aloof from political strife,
should be unwilling to adjudicate in matters in which rival
factions muster all their strength against each other; but,
on the other hand, every one must feel that the appre-
hensions expressed by the judges, that their decisions
should be questioned on the ground of partiality, were
and will be utterly unfounded. A judge, and least of
all an English judge, should not fear to act in a matter
judicially in which he is personally uninterested ; and
we may say with confidence that whatever dissatisfac-
tion the decisions which within the next few months will
be pronounced by the learned judges who have under-
taken the trial of election petitions during the
present year may give to the partisans of disappointed
petitioners, or unseated members, it will not be due to
any suspicion of those decisions having been prompted by
political bias. If dissatisfaction is occasioned, it may be
owing to the time that will be exhausted in trying so
many petitions, and the consequent delay in pronouncing
on the claims of several who have been returned to the
House of Commons. It is at present quite uncertain
how long an election petition will take to be tried, but
it is supposed that the Windsor trial will exhaust a
week, if not more, and others will probably occupy
the judge two or three weeks. If this should be
so, months may elapse before all the present petitions are
tried. Power is, however, reserved by the Act enabling
the election judges to seek the assistance of their col-
leagues in the different courts if necessary. On one
point- the House of Commons and the public may rest
satisfied. With such able and experienced judges as those
who have been appointed there will be no lack of efficiency
or promptitude. The experiment which is now being
made is in every respect novel, but we have every confi-
dence that the results will be such as to induce a regret
that it was not adopted long ago.
The Herald, in examining the arguments respecting Mr.
Baxter's pamphlet, observes that it is not a question of
seats gained or lost. The Radicals have more votes than
before, but they represent a smaller number of the popu-
lation. In the new Parliament the Radicals represent
16,811,000, and the Conservatives 12,106,000. In other
words, the reduced Conservative minority represents
a population nearly half a million in excess of that
which it represented in the old Parliament, and that excess
means a loss to the Radicals to that extent. This is a fact
which cannot be diluted or obscured, and to honest and
thoughtful Radicals it should suggest materials for serious
reflection. We are told that the Conservatives are
"nowhere," and that they have no policy. The Herald
thinks that they will be found in tolerably imposing
strength when the House of Commons resumes, and
that if their ranks are thinner, their cohesive power
will be conspicuous. As to their policy, it is for the
Ministry, and not for the Opposition, to supply occasions
for declaring it and enforcing it, and when the time
comes it will be found that there is no lack of unanimity
in asserting it. Let Mr. Gladstone make known his
intentions, and the judgment of the Conservative party
will be prompt and decisive. If it is his policy to sweep
away the Irish Establishment and appropriate its
revenues regardless of justice or decency, it will be their
policy to offer him that " uncompromising resistance "
long since announced by the Conservative Premier. If it
is his policy to create a surplus by starving the defensive
services, cutting down the strength of the army, and
abolishing dockyards and arsenals, it will be their policy
to restrain him by every means of opposition within their
power. He has but to say what he means to do, and he
will find that the Conservative party are strong enough
and united enough to make their principles heard and
respected.
The Daily News remarks upon the meeting of the
ritualistic clergy, and says that it contrasted in its calm
and orderly tone with the one held a month ago to discuss
the Natal grant. Differences of opinion were great, how-
ever, for some of the clergy desired to conform to the
judgment of the Privy Council, while others were for
ignoring its effect. The situation, indeed, was very
simple. •
Resistance to the law is contumacy, and con-
tumacy on the part of a clergyman involves a forfeiture of
position and privileges. To " await the Providence of
God" in Mr. Bennett's sense, is to await the arrival of
the officer of the law who will inevitably turn you
out of your church. Much wiser were the counsels
which prevailed, although of course no clergyman is bound
by anything that was said or done at the meeting. If the
Vicar of Frome is really "unable to reconcile submission"
to the decree of the Privy Council with "his paramount
and primary duty of obedience to the Church," his fate
may be predicted, and we can only feel sorry for him.
The whole meeting agreed with Mr. Bennett that the
judgment of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council
is wrong, and that the court is incompetent to declare
the mind of the Church of England upon any subject
whatever.

The Telegraph believes, from the meeting at the Free-
masons Tavern, that the " Anglo-Catholic Party" does
not mean to leave the Church of England, or to propose
an open defiance of the law. In commenting upon the
future that lies before this extreme section, the Telegraph
observes that the best course for the ritualists to pursue
was that suggested by one of their cleverest advccates,
the Rev. Mr. Littledale. In effect, he advised them to
accept the recent judgment, to accept it readily, and to
strive for such an alteration of the Prayer Book as would
give the Anglo-Catholic party more room for action. By
the help of their position as members of the Esta-
blishment, they had, he said, done much to change
the features of the Church ; why then, he asked, give
up that advantage at the very hour when it was
most needed ? Precisely the same question is asked even
by those who stand farthest apart from the ritualists in
doctrine. With ritualism the bulk of the English people
have but little sympathy—on that point it were fatal to
use ambiguous words ; but the English people have no
objection to give the most extreme High Church party
fair play and plenty of room for honest discussion. Least
of all do the Liberals wish to see the Church split up into
two parts on account of a difference of opinion respecting

the value of altar lights and genuflexions. If, indeed, the
Anglo• Catholic doctrine should some day be found to
conflict with that of the English Establishment on a vital
point, such as the Real Presence, and if no common term
should be attainable, then, indeed, many might deem
themselves bound to leave the Church. But that day has
not yet arrived, and the meeting of yesterday wisely
rejected the proposal that for the love of altar lights the
extreme High Churchmen should resist the law—or, in
other words, banish themselves from the Establishment,
and forfeit the possession of its magnificent appliances for
the spread of Christian truth.

The installation of the Right Hon. the Earl of
Carnarvon as P.G.M. of Somerset, has just taken place at
the Masonic Hall, Bath. The ceremony drew together a
very large number of the fraternity, not only from the
immediate, but from other provinces.
The following gentlemen were on Monday called
within the bar in the Court of Queen's Bench, and took their
seats accordingly :—Mr. W. G. Lumley, Mr. Edmund F.
goore, Mr, B. A, Ore,Ryllll JSeracreet.*r, Parker 134!incl.
Volt% LUOkintvii.