The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-21 00:00:00

‘SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The Times does not envy the new Lord-Lieutenant the
reception of deputations to present addresses. It is not
wonderful that he should be anxious to get over so trouble.
some a task as soon as possible. Lord Spencer's difficulty
is not diminished by the fact that two rival sets of politi-
cians are eagerly watching him and recommending each a
different policy. If no man can serve two masters, how
in the world is a Lord - Lieutenant of Ireland to
please two opposite political parties? The Times advises
Lord Spencer to take a hint from General Grant's
recent reception of a deputation from the South, who
wanted the assistance of the Government in improving
the levees of the Lower Mississippi. We do not think
very much would nowadays be lost, even as regards "con-
ciliation "—that will-of-the-wisp to so many Irish states-
men—by introducing into Ireland a little of General
Grant's style of diplomacy. One of the General's " points"
we specially commend to the new Viceroy's considera-
tion as likely to prove peculiarly useful and appro-
priate on many future occasions to admiring deputations.
"Let them (the levees) overflow, and let them stay
under water," said Grant, " until their owners are
willing that Northern men and Northern capital
should come in and protect and improve them. Northern
men with ample capital are ready to make a garden of
your State (Louisiana), and you won't let them do it." Sub-
stitute Ireland for " Louisiana," and for "Northern men"
Englishmen, and Lord Spencer has all ready to hand an
admirable answer for the endless deputations which will
soon begin to besiege him, proving to demonstration that
the whole prosperity of Ireland and Great Britain—not to
say the civilised world depends upon Government
money being spent freely upon this or that most
desirable and practicable scheme. Or, if the American
General's language is a trifle too plain, could not Lord
Spencer put the same meaning into more " diplomatic "
garb, and delicately hint that there is " ample capital " in
England ready enough to find its way to Ireland if Irish-
men will only " let it come " by the simple expedient of
making life and property secure? As we saw the other
day, English landlords have a prejudice—narrow-minded,
perhaps, but still strong—against being shot ; and capital,
the most cowardly of all created things, is even more timid
than capitalists.

The Post believes that the decision upon the Norwich
election would be interesting if it were only for the fact
that it is the first which has been fought out to the end,
but it is also important as having elicited an authoritative
view of what constitutes "agency," which is the turning
point of all election petitions. It will perhaps be said that
the commonsense view demands no less a conclusion than
has been drawn ; indeed, Baron Martin seems to have had
the common-sense people in his eye, for he says : " I
should be bring this tribunal or any other tribunal into
utter contempt if I failed to draw the con•
clusion that that man (Hardiment) was acting under
the authority of Sir Henry Stracey in doing
what he did." Perhaps common - sensd views
and a fear of " utter contempt " may be carried too far
in deciding as to a point which brings with it such grave
consequences ; hut, at any rate, the decision in the present
case is made, and must be assumed to rest upon a strict
and precise reading of the rule which it is proposed to apply
to the proof of agency. As such we commend it to all
candidates, and recommend them to be extremely careful
what persons are engaged in canvassing for them, though
it seems impossible to suppose that they will always be able
to keep their cause out of imprudent or corrupt hands
in its lower and less known ramifications. One feature of
this Norwich bribery which deserves mention is the fact
that, as Baron Martin says, " Up to the middle of the
day everything seems to have gone on honestly," and that
the whole of the bribery took place as the poll approached
its close, or between three and half-past three o'clock.
This would appear to be a new and strong illustration of
an old argument in favour of the Ballot ; for it is
clear that, if it had not been known how things were
going, the bribery to redress the balance would not have
occurred.

The Herald cannot understand the conduct of the fifty
Ritualistic clergymen who have announced their intention
of continuing the use of altar lights, leaving it to those it
authority to interfere or not as they may think fit. Those
who submit under protest, who endeavour to procure a
reversal of the judgment, or who conscientiously leave
the Church, deserve respect. But publicly to notify the
intention of disobeying the law is a different thing. This
is no time for putting forth the " non-natural" interpreta-
tion of the doctrine of the Royal supremacy, for the men
who advance "non-natural' interpretations are condemned
beforehand. Nothing was said as to the incompetency
of the Judicial Committee while the case was pending.
It is too late to repudiate its decision because it happens
to be unfavourable. No doubt its deliverance would
have been joyfully accepted and endorsed if it had sus-
tained the judgment of the Court of Arches, as was the
case when it gave a substantial victory to the Ritualists
in the Knightsbridge churches case. These clergymen
must be taught that it is not permissible for them to
comply with or violate the law of the land according as it
may chime in with their caprices. The guarantees under
which our civil rights and our civil order are secured
would be disastrously impaired if it were to be tolerated
that the law should be set at nought by a kind of organised
revolt. We are thankful that the number of these mal-
contents renders their action so comparatively insignifi-
cant, but they have told " the authorities" publicly that
they will not comply with the law unless it is enforced
against them individually ; and it rests with " the autho-
rities " to answer the challenge promptly and decisively.
The Standard considers that the Drogheda petition has
tested the new Bribery Act most satisfactorily. That the
new system of trying elections has so far worked effec-
tively in Ireland is a matter of great moment. This trial
lasted four days, all the principal actors in the election
were produced on the spot, and the decision is not that of
some unknown tribunal to which every kind of political
influence might be attributed, but of a single judge
whose whole life and career is familiar to his
countrymen. The calm judicial investigation of the
election proceedings by an unprejudiced tribunal on
the spot, and the prompt decision so soon after the
election, cannot be without their effect in pointing out
both to candidates and electors the folly as well as the
guilt of the practices established at Drogheda. The
general characteristics of Irish elections are two—mob
violence and undue influence, chiefly exercised by the
Roman Catholic clergy. The Drogheda election must
have borne the palm amongst Irish elections for both the
one and the other, and the singular fact in the case is that
there appears, however acquired, to have been all along
a good working Liberal majority. The partisan
decisions of the Waterford and Tipperary election
committees in the last Parliament did much to shake
the confidence of reasonable men in the possi-
bility of constitutional government in Ireland. Now,
however, the Drogheda election is au earnest that
mob violence at least may be found a very unsafe resource
for a candidate or his supporters. It is to be hoped that
the new system will be equally efficacious in bringing to
light and rendering dangerous the more secret forms of
clerical influence. If these evils are seriously checked,
the result of the new system in Ireland will be very
remarkable, for bribery there is but an inconsiderable
element compared to those two great engines of elec-
tioneering power—generally, too, as in this case, acting
together—the mob and the priests. If candidates are
obliged for the future to keep clear of both, a most salu-
tary revolution will have been wrought in Irish politics.
The Telegraph refers to the calculations set forth by Mr.
Dudley Baxter, at the Statistical Society, on Tuesday,
and it considers that his statement will not banish the dis-
trust with which most people read statistics. Mr. Baxter
will not, we fear, produce any wide-spread feeling of con-
tentment by the argument that the burden of taxation is
laid with a close approach to fairness on the several classes
of society. An idea has long existed that, in proportion
to their means, the poor contribute a larger sum to the
Exchequer than do the upper and the middle classes.
And how does Mr. Baxter refute that opinion?
Appealing to the famous chapter in which Adam
Smith states the principles of taxation, he first
lays down the maxim that men should " con-
tribute in proportion to their income." It is rather unfor-
tunate to find a statistician tripping on the threshold of
the inquiry ; but the fact is that Adam Smith really says
nothing of the kind. The great economist argues that
men should contribute in proportion to their " abilities ;"
and, as Mr. Baxter himself presently admits, no other
system would be tolerable. At first sight it might seem
fair to exact 10 per cent. upon the income of every citizen,
whether tho gross amount were £50,000 or £5O. In
reality, such a system of taxation would produce
unbearable hardships. As Mr. Mill observes, in his lucid
and masterly chapter on the subject, an income may he so
small that it will afford the necessaries of life, and no
more. If we assume that in Tendon a working-mar:
cannot feed and clothe himself, his sflfe, and his two chil•
dren on less than £7O a year, then every pound which the
payment of taxes deducts from that sun inflicts actual
privation. Such a workman, therefore, cannot afford to
pay a shilling into the Treasury ; and if a charge of 10
per cent. be exacted on his income, he may be plunged
into misery.

THE PROPOSED INTERNATIONAL OCEAN YACHT
RACE.—The Cambria, Mr. James Ashbury, is now hauled
up at West Cowes, undergoing such alterations as may be
deemed conducive to her greater speed for competing with
the American yachts at New York, in the autumn. The
Cambria is to have the hollow of the bows filled up. Her
masts will be lengthened by three feet, which will give her
a greater spread of canvass, and three tons of lead will he
placed on the keel. A mong her interior decorations will
be four large paintings, representing incidents of her
inatchiisiwin