The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, Al() WAY EVENING, JUNE 14, 1869.

ously, as Mr. DISRAELI counted immediately before
the last General Election upon that ignis fatuus, that
fata morgana, that mirage, that chateau en Espagne
of Tory Optimists, what is called a Conservative
Reaction. The anticipation proved, in November and
December, entirely visionary. It would prove quite as
visionary in July and August. The majority of
Sixty in favour of the Suspensory Bill rapidly ex-
panded, as we all know, into a majority, of a Hundred
and Twenty in favour of the Actual Measure for the
disestablishment and disendownment of the Irish
Church ! And this as the direct and deliberate and
most emphatic response of the enlarged constituencies
—to whom? To the very Minister who had sum-
moned them into existence as enlarged constituen-
cies! And in answer to what? Why, in answer to his
earnest and even impassioned app al to t!:e Con-
servative Reaction he was either seriously counting
upon, or, at the least, affecting to believe in !
And in reference to what measure ? In reference to
this very measure relating to the Irish Church—its
Di (establishment and its Dis±ndowmCnt ! Never did
the two great political parties come before the
country with a di.tin.lter cry on the part of
each. One was for the preservation of the
union of Church and State in Ireland. The other
was for the complete and immediate severance
of the bond connecting those two great. insti:u-
It was a question of Yes or No. The
constituencies thoroughly understood that ques-
tion ; awl how they answered it is now seen by
the very constitution of the present House of Com-
mons. The Liberal Party were returned in
such overwhelming numbors that Mr. DISRAELI,
who has never once during the whole of his remark-
Leta •• S.•••<•••••• •• ••• • - • • • • • •

machinery out of tar, is not to be thought of. If
the Lords,reject th bill for disestablislaing the Irish
Church, the natm will speedily come to the
conclusion that ii is necessary to disk stablish the
House of Lords. lerefore it is that we 1, )ok forward
to the events of tis week with so much a tuiety,

We say anxietyfor it must not be supposed that
in predicting wha•will happen we intend to threaten.
We state simply what every well-inf( 4lned, dis-
passionate stateslan knows well, whi it men like
Lord SALisnunythe Duke of Ricllsiorixr, and Lord
DEVON, whose Caservatism is unquestioned, know
well—that powerhas passed out of their hands into
that of the Comnons, and that it is use! ess for them
to oppose the ,ational will as repret .ented by the
national assemby. They may regret this. Lord
SALISBURY and I.ord CARNARVON, wikio opposed the
Conservative Reorm Bill, may even reproach their'
former colleague with having brought about this
change ; but the: recognise the fact th It it has taken
place, and they xe too wise to resist the inevitable,
or to aggravate i; by attampting to iesist it. They
and we believe that the abolition of the Upper
House would hex matter of deep reg ret. They and
we see that the Irish Church is only one of the sweep-
ing measures wlich will infallibly be brought forward
before long, and that moderate men of both parties and
men who belong to neither party, will .be asking the
aid of the Upper House in order to resist changes
that are either hurtful in themselves,orcrudein their
conception. They and we shrink from a course which
would lead to the humiliation of one of the Estates
of the Realm. They and we see that all chance of
resisting hasty legislation hereafter will be destroyed
if the Lords attempt to resist the matured decision
of the nation on the present occasion. It is these
considerations which make the week upon which we
have just entered, so eventful. Glad; indeed, shall
we be if prudends nrevails if, profiting by the crisis
„of this time twee years, ,
_.-..rwcipT
GLADSTONE Administration was defeated and a
moderate Reform Bill was rejected, only to prepare
the way for a sweeping Reform Bill and a
GLADSTONE-BRIGHT Administration, the Peers
determine to accept a moderate change, lest, by re-
jecting it, a worse thing befall them.

ions.

signed the Premiership before the meeting of the new
Parliament, and resigned it frankly and chivalrously
into the hands of his arch antagonist !
Mr. DISRAELI might, ander the circumstances,
had he so pleased, have advised her MAJESTY to
send for Earl RUSSELL, or to send for Earl GRAN-.
VILLE, instead of for the ex-Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer, the now Prime Minister, the then very
recently rejected candidate for the representation of '
South West Lancashire. Instead of doing which, Mr.
D ISRAELI, refraining from any unnecessary delay of his
own resignation and the resignation of his colleagues
at once, unhesitatingly, indicated to her MAJESTY as
his obvious successor in the conduct of her MAJESTY'S
counsels as the one only statesman to whom, un-•
der the circumstances, ought to be confided
the responsibility of constructing her MAJESTY'S
Government—the junior member for Greenwich, the ,
man whose name as associated with the projected
abolition of the Irish Church as a Sta.e institution,
had given to the Liberal Party its overwhelming
majority in the new Parliament. Mr. GLAD-
STONE, as the recognis!d Leader of the Liberal
Party, found himself carried to the height of
power and backed by a larger majority than has been
at the command of any Premier since the House of
Co:ninoni was first reforined—t) the express end that
he should in the first place deal with this very eyes-
Lion of the Irish Church, a question which had just
then been distinctly put to the country, and to which
the country had, then and there, quite unuiistake 'My
responded. All this—Es the immediate consequence
of Mr. Disnaufs reliance upon the so-called Con-
servative Reaction, and as the response to his
impassioned appeal to what proved quite as
imaginary, the ardent enthusiasm of the
Electors of the United Kingdom for the
maintenance in Ireland of Protestant Ascendancy !
Ireland being known all the world over as intensely,
iuerradicably, incontrovertibly a Catholic country.
the dogged maintenance, there, over Catholic Ire-
land of that cruelly, unnaturally, arid most
tyranicany pieced Protestant Ascendaecy•—which
Mr. GLADSTON2, and the House of Co ramous, and
the people of the United Kieglom zire firmly resolve I
slial no longer be maintained--is wh it Lira DERBY,
and his dwindling followers ie the Ilotne of
Lords is now confidently bent upon, 1y the help of
that Will o' the Wisp the soi-disant Conservative
Reaction—iu spite of Mr. GLADSTONE and of
the Liberal Party, an 1 of the House of Com-
mons, and of the People of the Ui.ited Kingdom.
A formidable Cave, precisely at the worst moment for
Lord DERBY, iS opened in the House of Lords on the
side of the Opposition. A Cave so formidable that,
since it first came to be recognized, there have
been audible, at intervals, more or less con-
fid.nt rumours, that the new and the old
leader of the Conservative Party, meaning of course
Lord DERBY and Lord CAIRNS, had, in the presNic.i
of it, and at the approach of the eleventh hour,
fairly caved in. The anticipation of any such lower-
ing of the battle pennon by the RUPERT of
Debate before the ihock of arms had actually
commenced, has, however, as any one might
readily enough have conjectured would prove to be
the case, turned out to be altogether illusory. The
Forlorn Hope of the Irish Church Defenlers, will be
led into the breach this evening, with what result the
Nation, rather than the House of Lords, will, sooner
or later, have to deci'le.

LATEST INTELL MENGE

(REU'"ER'S TELEGRAMS.)

FRANCE.

PARIS, June 14.

The Official Journal of this morning publishes
an account of the disturbances which have taken
place at Paris, Nantes, Bordeaux et Saint Etienne.
It says :—" The authorities had very exact infor-
mation that a certain party, using several organs of
the Press as weapons, had determined to raise an
an emeute upon the 6th and 7th inst. The precau-
tionary measures which were taken prevented the
agitation from assuming a more serious aspect. After
reciting the particulars of the disturbances,the Official
Journal proceeds to say :—" Justice is now in pos-
session of evidence .of all the facts which provoked
and accompanied those deplorable outbreaks. It
belongs to justice to trace their authors and origina-
tors, and also to discover the tactics whereby these
revolutionary agitations were set on foot, which are
not only hurtful to the pub'ic welfare, and specially
to commerce in such large cities, but are also at-
tempts against the law of the country. It belongs
to justice to show by evidence collected and by the
proofs obtained what complicity might exist be-

tween the instigators of the various movements
referred to.

The Official Journal bears witness to the admir-
able patience, firthiless, moderation, and courage
displayed by the authorities and their civic and
miiitary organs. Nowhere, it adds, has the Govern-
ment been compelled to resort to the use of arms, a
proceeiing which, the moment it had been neces-
sary, would.have been no less decisive than terrible:
The Government sees with satisfaction that it has
succeeded without blOodshed in quelling the distur-
bances everywhere they have occurred, and that it
has fulfilled its mission of protection and humanity.

The same journal announced that M. Sipicre I as
given a sum of 10,000 fr. to be diAributei among
those public agents who by their firm yet moderate
conduct bad made good their claiin upon the graC-
tude of the citizens of Paris.
No fresh disturbances occurred. Perfect tran-
p.m. the Emperor visited the
quillity prevails.
p3t.3oThe interview lasted more than
Viceroy
.oye rodfa yE
gayt
an hour.

WE have entered upon what may prove to us the
most eventful week of the century. There have been
grave crises before now which threatened serious
results ; a battle of Austerlitz which laid Europe at
the feet of NAPOLEON; a Reform Bill rejected by
the house of Lords ; a 'free trade controversy ; a
Crimean collapse ; an Indian mutiny ; but the
mischief which these events brought with them was
corrected. NAPOLEON was sent to St. Helena, the
Lords accepted the Reform Bill which they had
thrown out,free trade was yielded, Sebastapol taken,
India reconquered. The foreign influence of England,
the social prosperity of England, the colonial empire
of England, the political constitution of England,
remain unimpaired, nay, increased and improved.
But who can believe that the last of these will not
suffer if the Conservative Peers carry out their
threatened purpose and veto the Irish Church Bill ?
The acceptance or rejection of the measure is a com-
paratively small matter in itself, but it involves con-
sequences of the greatest magnitude. No one supposes
that the success of that measure will by itself restore
tranquillity to Ireland ; few persons suppose that it
will seriously affect the stability of the Church itself.
But it is a very serious thing that a measure passed
by an overwhelming majority of the House of Com-
mons, elected for that very purpose, should be rejected
by a body which in no way represents the nation,
and which exists only upon sufferance,. It is
a very serious thing that this measure,
after having been brought for judgment be-
fore the two million electors whom this kingdom
contains,
ttolafeftt their
having been sanctioned by a large
m
oirrerepthreasnenatatmhoyes, shoofultdhebehrouulsle ofified
Lords by something under 200 gentlemen who repre-
sent only themselves. And the seriousness of it lies
in the fact that the controversy cannot end here.
tI eet
Iribseh granted i
r chthat
ot o tamf
tterry ciahrees
ellietetti b
s o
ft
last November that is a large assumption), still the
country does care a great deal about having its clearly
and decisively-expressed will set aside by a couple of
hundred persons. No one can suppose that if the
English Constitution were to be drawn up now for
the first time, the existence of such a body as the
House of Lords would be tolerated or dreamt of.
That House exists because it has existed for so
many centuries, because it is a part of our
constitutional traditions, and we in England
are slow to make organic changes, pre-:
ferring rather to reform than to destroy.
But that this body should have the power of steppinz
•i legislation, of Ihrowiug the whole legislative

DEMONSTRATIONS AGAINST THE IRISH iington for the occasion, was crowded in every part, the
Cil URCH BILL I red coats of the Life Guards, a large number of whom
were present, forming an effective contrast to the more
sombre apparel of the majority of the audience.
Lord George Hamilton, M.P., occupied the chair, sup-
ported by Lord F. Kerr, Lord Augustus Hervey, M.P.,
and Mr. W. H. Smith, M.P. The usual resolutions were
passed with acclamation.

The Conservative papers are full just now of demonstra-
tions against the Irish Church Bill. Manchester,
Liverpool, York, Kidderminster, Bolton, Cambridge,
Chester, &c., &c., obeyed the beck of the Conservative
organs, and turned out in full force on the two last days of
the past week to express their abhorrence of "the Glad-
stone Robbery Bill."

BOLTON.

There was a demonstration of Conservatives at Bolton
on Saturday. The various Orange lodges and Constitu-
tional associations in the neighbourhood assembled on a
large space of ground adjoining the Church Institute. A
petition urging the House of Lords to reject Kr.
Gladstone's Irish Church Bill on the second reading was
adopted.