The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-11 00:00:00

EtElitrii OF THE PUBLIC JOITICEALST

tionised, Ireland is in a thriving condition. Morally and
socially, she has improved and is improving. If the Lord-
Lieutenant's figures and statements are true, there is
scarcely any country in Europe which should not envy
Ireland. Judged by every test, she is better, stronger,
healthier, than she was ten years ago. Either the Irish
are a most placable people, or they have deceived us with
their tale of distress. If we had been guilty of one-tenth
of the atrocities alleged against the British rule, then it
would have been impossible for Lord Spencer to
make such a speech as that which he delivered on
Monday night. There can be no special magic in
the mere fact that a Liberal Ministry has succeeded to
power. Mr. Gladstone could not have charmed away
last year's poverty and last year's crime by the mere wind
of his coming relief ; neither is he any novelty in the
British Government. There have been Liberal Ministries
oftener than Conservative Ministries who have had to do
with the condition of Ireland; and, therefore, it cannot be
that misery, poverty, and disaffection have been scared
out of the island by the mere change of Government. The
happy and prosperous condition of which Lord Spencer
speaks, and for which Cardinal Cullen vouches, is a condi-
tion which cannot be anything else than the result of the
old system of governing Ireland—the system which the
Conservatives administered during what is acknowledged
to be the ham:iest period in Ireland's history, and which
is now threatened to be overturned by Mr. Gladstone's
Government.

The Daily News thinks that Mr. Reverdy Johnson is
likely to made his mission as a diplomatist a celebrated
one, if he fulfil his expectations. He told the people of
Glasgow on Monday night that he was hopeful that a
penny postage would be established between England and
tho united States 41,nd of the present year.
The scheme is probably the one known as • ocean penny
postage," which has been for many years so strongly
advocated on both sides of the Atlantic. According to
this proposal, the inland postage of each country would
be charged upon the letter, and a penny would be added
for the ocean transit. In this case the United States
postage would at once be reduced from sixpence to three-
pence, and it is even possible that a still lower rate might
be fixed. But whatever may be the details of the
plan, the reduction of the tariff will be a boon to
both countries. It is not commerce so much as private
friendship which requires it. The personal ties between
this country and America are most numerous amongst the
humblest classes. There is scarcely a poor Irish family
but has some friend on the other side of the water. There
is scarcely a little English village or a populous street in
an English town to and from which some friendly corre-
spondence does not now and then cross the Atlantic. A
reduction of the postage would not only increase this
correspondence, but would probably cause personal
relations between friends in the two worlds to be con-
tinued longer. To the poor on both sides a, penny postage
to America means oftener hearing from friends and oftener
writing to them. The effect of such increased communica•
tion on the relations of the two countries might not be
great, but it would tell in the long run, and would be at
least an additional guarantee of peace. Quarrels come of
not understanding each other; frequent and free com-
munications prevent misunderstanding, and therefore the
penny postman is a great peacemaker.

The Herald, in discussing the rumoured abandonment
of the T, eg Iphs Act, remarks that an attempt to reopen
a question definitively disposed of is a step which very
strong reasons would be required to justify. But if rumour
is to be believed the new Government is prepared to
venture upon it without any reason whatever. The facts
are unaltered, except by that natural growth of tele-
graphic business which constitutei an additional reason
for bringing it under State control. And those who
opposed the bill of last session do not, as we under-
stand, propose to throw the whole scheme over. They
will adopt it so far as its enabling powers are con-
cerned. But they want to knock off an as yet undefined
discount from the price which the country has agreed to
pay. Twenty years' purchase, they say, is much
too liberal a figure for the companies to get, though
it is notorious that they were by no means anxious
to sell, and believed that they would do much better if
allowed to keep their property in their own hands. Still,
if the Government holds to its bargain, and accepts its
obligation to bring in a money' bill to accomplish what the
Act of 1868 sanctions, the vendors have no power to run
back. Therefore, as it has been clearly proved that the
State can raise the money on terms which will leave it a
handsome profit, it would seem only prudent for it to keep
faith. As a matter of money, we may be sure that if an
attempt be made to vary the terms of the purchase, the
matter will be once more at large, and this will probably
lead to a delay of two or three years, during which the
companies will be increasing their business and improving
their organisation to an extent which will make it much
more costly to buy them up than now. But, pecuniary
improvidence apart, the honour of the nation is worth
considering. It will be something new for the Govern-
ment of Great Britain to creep out of a solemn engage.
ment that it may have a chance of saving 5 or 10 per
cent., with at least an equal risk of losing as much, or
more. If this be the future economy of which we hear so
much, most readers will feel that the less we have of it
the better.

The Telegraph refers to the death of Mr. Charles Bell,
the Conservative member for the City of London, and
declares that whatever advantage the Liberals may
derive from this sudden decease, no mere considerations of
Party politics can weigh against the loss which the House
of Commons has sustained by so melancholy an occurrence.
We differ from the political opinion which Mr. Bell was
pledged to support ; we disapprove of the scheme to which
he owed his election ; but no stretch of the charity which
bids us speak well of the dead is required to dictate a
hearty and sincere testimony to the worth of the late
member for the City. Politics apart, he was well qualified
to represent the metropolis of commerce. He
belonged to one of those great English firms for
whom a long course of commercial enterprise, good
faith, and honest dealing have obtained a European
reputation ; and on all the intricate questions of commer•
vial law and morality which are likely to occupy the early
attention of Parliament, Mr. Bell would have been heard
with the respect due to a long and unblemished career as a
merchant. Moreover, from the circumstances of his life,
the deceased gentleman possessed an intimate personal
knowledge of the position, prospects, and resources of the
Russian Empire, in which he was equalled by few Eng.
lishmen, and certainly by none of his colleagues in the
House of Commons. It seems only too certain that
within the next few years the relations of Russia
to Turkey and to Central Asia will occupy no
small share of public attention; and the valuable
information which Mr. Bell could have given
on these or kindred subjects would have been of real
public value. During the heat of the election contest the
late representative for the City used violent and indiscreet
language, on which we had to comment at the time of its
utterance. Great allowance, however, must fairly be
made for the position in which Mr. Bell was placed, Rh
the candidate of a minority ; and his opponents, as well
as his friends, would have been honestly disappointed il
his conduct in the House of Commons had not amply
redeemed any shortcomings in his demeanour as ahustings
orator. Death has already been busy among the member*
of the new House of Commons • but as yet the House ha*
lost the services of no new recruit equal in weight or stand
ing to the deceased partner in the firm of Thompson,
Borax. and Co. • •

The Times, in referring to the speech of the Archbishop
of York at Fishmongers' Hall, observes that it is remark-
able that at a conjuncture like the present a public
banquet should have elicited from one of the Primates of
the Church a speech upon the functions of the House of
Lords. Of the special duties of bishops as life peers Dr.
Thomson spoke with a frankness which we are happy to
recognise. There is no doubt that life peers, as distill.
guished from hereditary peers, do constitute a species of
Liberal element iu the House of Lords, and we may
say, indeed, that the bishops generally represent,
within certain limits, that kind of personal or profes-
sional eminence which would, if life peerages were
established, be likely to lead to that dignity. Agreeing,
therefore, with the Archbishop of York on this point, and
borrowing his own assertion, that bishops are not only
prelates of our Established Church, but peers, and Liberal
peers, of the British realm, we hope we may ask them
to remember that capacity in the consideration they
must presently give to the Ministerial proposals. They
are bound to think not merely of the class to which
they belong, or of the Establishment they superintend,
but of the whole British Empire and its true interests.
It is claimed for them by one of their own order
that they are not only bishops, but life peers—peers
owing their seats, not to descent, but to selection, and
therefore representing a principle of political Liberalism.
Let them justify this pretension by their votes. To
" scrutinise " the measures sent up to them is not only
their right, but their duty ; but the public may expect to
see this scrutiny applied on liberal principles and with
disinterested candour. It has now been admitted by an
eminent prelate that a bishop does not simply represent
his own diocese, nor a special class of constituents, but
interests of a far wider character, and these are the inte-
rests to be promoted by imperial legislation. If, then,
the bishops will consider, not merely what the Church
may think upon the Irish question, but what the country
has said, they will justify their claims to public respect as
peers essentially Liberal by preferment and position.
The Standard remarks upon the speech of Earl Spencer
at the banquet on Monday, and contends that if Ireland is
so prosperous as he makes out, some credit is due to the
Conservatives. The Viceroy of Ireland, the officer of a
Government which has just entered office on the under-
standing that Ireland was a down-trodden and discon-
tented country, could think of nothing better with which
to entertain his host and the oppressed and miserable com-
pany than a lengthy dissertation on the peace, the happi-
ness, and the prosperity which Ireland is now enjoying.
According to this representative of a Ministry which owes
its return to power purely to the credit it has acquired in
connection with the wrongs, the distress, and the tur-
bulence of the Irish people, it is the fortune of Judah, not
of Issachar, which is the portion of Ireland. She is
not the over-burdened ass, but rather the lion's whelp.
All is exuberant, vigorous, healthy growth in her
condition ; and, by his Excellency's account, must have
been so for some time previous to his coming. Never was
a country so prosperous, or blessed with so many reasons
for contentment. In spite of the dryness of the last
season, and that " unfortunate conspiracy," even before
the Church is disestablished, and the land tenure revolu-
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