The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-13 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times thinks that Monday night's discussion in the
House of Commons may be accurately described as
"Much ado about nothing." The only objection possessing
any semblance of importance raised against the Budget is
that founded on the allegation that the balances in the Ex-
chequer will, by the accumulated receipts of taxes in
January, be starved from October to January, and be
superabundant from January to April. Mr. Lowe'sretort,
that the money market must look after itself, would have
been more satisfactory if the disproportionate receipt of
revenue at one season were not in itself an inconvenience to
the Government as well as a possible cause of disturbance
to the public. It is plain that the Government must
either borrow before Christmas, or have a large sum, even
after payment of dividends, lying idle after Christmas ;
and in either case there is a diminution in the national
economy of money. The balance of certain advantages
against uncertain dangers must lead us to accept Mr.
Lowe's scheme if it be impossible to dispel the apprehen-
sion of disadvantage; but if the possibility of incon-
venience could be removed without altering the essential
points of the Budget, we cannot pretend that we should
not be better satisfied.

The Daily News, in discussing Mr. Hunt's analysis of
the Budget, says that he objects that Mr. Lowe's remis-
sions of taxation are made at the expense of posterity.
What Mr. Ward Hunt probably means, and there is a
certain degree of truth in the statement, is that tly,
present year financially is enriched by crowding into it
payments which, if matters had been left in their old
position, would not have been made until the following
year. Mr. Lowe replies that if the year 1569-70 steals
from the year 1870-71, that year in its turn may steal
from 1871-72, and so on ad infinitum, to the last syllable
of recorded time. What may be done in the final year
of grace, which has no successor to borrow from, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer professes himself unable
to conjecture. But as in all probability he will not
be holding office at the time, he makes his mind
very easy on the subject. The Chancellor of the Exche-
quer of that time, whoever he may be, if he be at all con-
scious of the position in which he stands, will probably be
thinking of something else than his financial arrange-
ments. If neither he nor the millions whom he taxes are
aware of their situation, they will wake very calmly in
eternity to the discovery that they have paid in advance
for an unborn year in time. Mr. Lowe's illustration,
however, though a tolerably good joke, is not a very sound
argument. Though taxpaying is not likely to cease so
long as sun and moon endure, individual taxpayers
are not immortal. The anticipation in one year of the
revenue of its successor means that the taxpayers who die
in the first year will nevertheless contribute to the expenses
of the second, that is to say, a portion of the money which
would otherwise go to their heirs will fall to the State.
There is no disguising this fact, and no need to disguise
it. It is price paid for a great administrative reform.
The diminution of taxation, both by the reduction of its
amount and by a cheaper and more efficient system of
collection, is an improvement which, in the mere money
point of view, is well purchased at the cost at which Mr.
Lowe offers it.

The Standard declares that the meeting of the Oppo-
sition at Lord Lonsdale's on Monday afternoon gave a
tacit, but emphatic and conclusive, contradiction to the
insinuations of those Liberal journalists who, making
fancy supply the place of fact, and guided in their fancies
rather by their wish than by their knowledge, are never
weary of assuring us that the Conservative party is
divided and disheartened, disgusted with its leaders,
shaken alike in its allegiance and its principles, doubtful
of its present course, and hopeless of the future. Looking
back as far as the first beginning of our acquaintance with
the tactics of political warfare, we can remember no
session during which tho •-;aine allegations were not made
as loudly and repeated as frequently as now. Con-
sidering how often the Conservatives have been
crushed, annihilated, destroyed as a political power.
they are marvellously tenacious of life. Considering
that they are on,:e a year, at least, on the verge of
a general breaking up, it is marvellous to see how close
and perfect their cohesion is, and how vainly their oppo-
nents look to their parliamentary conduct for any signs of
that relaxed discipline and dire discouragement which their
guides in the press have bidden them to expect. What is
required from the leader of such a party at such a crisis is.
not that he should stimulate the fervour and maintain the
cohesion of his followers, but that he should moderate
their vehemence and direct their counsels judiciously ;
that he should have the tactical skill to make the best use
of the forces which their enthusiasm and devotion place at
his disposal, and to avail himself to the utmost of the
strength of his cause, the courage of his adherents,
and the blunders of his opponents, and no one will deny
to Mr. Disraeli the capacity to direct a parliamentary
campaign with skill and ability, or question the good for-
tune which has placed the management of a contest like
that which impends in the committee on the bill in the
hands of the first political strategist of the day.

The Telegraph, in commenting on the meeting at Lord
Lonsdale's, says that the chief of the Opposition spoke
with vigour and effect ; the meeting was unanimous and
entln.siastic, and his words were received with manifest
confidence and approval. The rractical result of the
gathering was that. though not without some
spiritual distress, disestablishment must be accepted
as a foregone conclusion. The fight on that ground
is fairly given up. Whatever else the Irish Church
may save out of the fire, it will not preserve its connection
with the State. Thus, at the outset, more than half the
campaign is over. The coming debate, then, will be, as
we had anticipated, not an uncompromising battle
between the two great parties in the State, but a House
of Commons' discussion in which every member of the
IlOuse may freely join. It would be idle to deny
that if the Conservatives wilt frankly accept the bill in its
principle, they must obtain a locus standi for their amend-
ments ; and should those amendments be urged in a spirit
worthy of the crisis, because above the habitual
manceuvring of faction, our opponents will find the
Liberals giving to their suggestions a kindly and states.
manlike consideration.

The Herald says that two at least of its Liberal contem-
poraries have found out that Lord Stanley is not a Liberal
after all; and one of them, with more courage than
candour, pretends that it never intended to claim him as
such. We need not concern ourselves with this les.
ingenuous portion of what is a substantial retractation.
It would be no more a waste of time and an insult to the
understandings of our readers to argue that we are in the
month of April, than it would be to adduce proofs of the
notorious fact that ten dug or a fortnight ago the entire
Liberal press was busied in the endeavour to spread thz
impression that the late Foreign Secretary was entirely of
their way of thinking in politics, and that nothing but
filial pietywithheld him from improving their prospects by
accepting the bait so often held out to him to supersede
Lord Clarendon. But it is of some interest to note that the
ingenious misrepresentation has already collapsed. No
true Liberal, we are told, would think of claiming Lord
Stanley after the Glasgow speech as a statesman whom
he could with any satisfaction see acting in coalition with
the present Government. According to Liberalism, all
the preceding policy of the nation has consisted, to use
Mr. Bright's phrase, of acts of sheer madness. According
to Conservatism, it has been sometimes wise and some-
times unwise ; but even where it has been the latter, it has
entailed certain consequences which we may modify, but
cannot safely attempt to extirpate. This is avowedly
Lord Stanley's view of things. One of our contemporaries
says it does not matter what we call a man when we
know what he is. It does not much matter to the man,
but it matters considerably to the reputation for good faith
and good taste of those who call him what they know he
is not.

Sir Massey Lopes's question to Mr. Gladstone on the
expediency of providing for the retirement of aged and
invalided bishops suggests to the Times that it is certainly
time that some public notice was taken of this subject.
It has for some time been a topic of private remark, and
the observations it prompts can hardly be to the advantage
of the Church. At this moment the greater part of
England south of the Thames is destitute of what Mr.
Gladstone called " responsible Episcopal Government."
There are hut two conclusions possible— either that the
existing laws and customs of the Church expose hermembers
to grievous injury, or else that bishops are of less
importance to the spiritual welfare of their flocks than we
are wont to suppose. Of the correctness of the former of
these conclusions there can be no doubt. Sir Massey
Lopes is one of the members for Devonshire, and is pro-
bably aware from experience of the serious damage
inflicted upon the Church in the West Country by the
prolonged abeyance of episcopal superintendence. It is
not merely, we fear, that the Bishop is not seen, but that
he should appear to cling to his office when he has long
been incapable of performing its functions. But, after ad.
muting all these considerations, it must still beremembered
that bishops were made for the Church, and not the
Church for bishops ; and, in addition to the loss of episco-
superintendence,prelates in the position we are noticing
eK:,,so both themselves and their Church to grave miscon-

4;,tions. Something ought to be done to facilitate, if not to
r the avoidance of bishoprics when their occupants
I:cco;ne incapacitated. Mr. Gladstone observed on Thurs-
-lav that it was a somewhat delicate thing for the
Government to take the initiative in such a matter, and
we are glad to understand from his language that the
Bench of Bishops have the subject under consideration.
It is undoubtedly a matter which concerns them, their
order, and their Church more nearly than anyone else,
and they may he sure that it cannot be neglected with
safety. The Government will be ready to concur in any
reasonable proposal, and, with the aid of the Ecclesiastical
Commissioners, it ought not to be difficult to devise some
arrangement which will render impossible for the future
such a state of things as now exists' in the Southern
dioceses,