The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-14 00:00:00

THE SrJN, LONDON, MONDAY

be pre dieted. S'
Ile is the only umpire that can
heal tl: e prevai' ting discontent, and
"Fro settle danger pluck the flower safety,"
u thO
But nutl- her to do so the assistance of the
Western Powers must be freely and cordially
rendered . There must be no hanging back or
t o
halting on half measures. It is essential to show
that r e are really in earnest, and that their parts
have : dready been deliberately chosen. The want
of dee ision led to the Russian War. The Austrian
and I talian Governments should not be permitted
to dot :eive themselves, or to suppose that France
and .
England will maintain an inglorious
itr lity in the event of any complications.
It t
t be clearly and unequivocally intimated
eu
mua.s
thatintervention will be tolerated, and that
h
ationa. and movements of the People
roas no,oh .
shall not be cEecked by German bayonets. The
Pontiff .bas 'only maintained his position by
French as; well as Austrian aid, and France has
a right to demand that he shall make the need-
ful reforms, or if, through the undue influence of
his Ministers, he refuses to do so, to withdraw
the troops that alone afford him the means of re-
fusing the just demands of his People.
If the English Cabinet be in earnest, it would
be well if the Ministers at the Courts of Florence
and Naples should be instructed to support the
just cause with all their energies. It is, however,
more than hinted that the Marquis of NORMANBY
thinks more of his ancient friendship with the
Grand Duke LEOPOLD than of the interests of
Great Britain—that he strives rather to " make
things pleasant tm the ruling powers than to
awaken them to 'a true sense of the position in
which they are placed, or to recal the dangerous
nature of the volcano that is already heaving
beneath their feet. It will be well that this
should be forthwith altered, and that the British
Minister should really represent the feelings and
wishes of the British Government and of the
British People. If the Marquis of NORatANBY
will do so, well. If not, a person better suited
to the emergency should be procured—one who
will not permit his private or personal predilec-
ti•ns to influence his conduct, or prevent the
efficient discharge of the duty which ho owes to

his country.
We should have been better pleased had the
matter fallen into other hands than that of the
Noble Lord the Member for the City of London.
He has already so palpably failed in the hour of
trial, has permitted himself to be made so com-
pletely a tool of by Austria, that he has lost the
confidence of the people on all points of foreign
policy. Besides, it is possible that he contem-
plates avenging the trip he received from Lord
PALMERSTON in 1852. We do not now want a
Peelite Ministry, nor Mr. GLADSTONE in the role
of Premier. Lord JOHN, it is said, has come to
terms with the leaders of the party. Although
we may object to many points in the PALMERSTON
programme, wo must say that we are by no means
willing to exchange PALMERSTON and CLARENDON
for GLADSTONE and RUSSELL. We could certainly
easily spare the Baronets, WOOD and LEWIS ; but
it is even doubtful if the improvement that must
inevitably take place in the Admiralty and Ex-
chequer would not be more than counterbalanced
by the deterioration in other respects.

The Early-Closing Association is now to succeed
as a matter of course. It has reached WILLIS'S
Rooms, and Lords both spiritual and temporal
have said " content" there ; although, wisely
enough, the Association has turned aside from
Westminster and the House of Lords. The
Appellate Jurisdiction there is confessed to be in so
unsatisfactory a state that it seems truly unreason-
able for suitors in a great public cause to early
their appeal thither ; and the fashion will doubtless
grow of appealing from Lords in the House to
Lords out of it. Lords, like absolute Monarchs,
seem to have such an easy patent for popularity,
that reflecting people wonder they use it so little.
The disposition is almost universal to seek the aid
of men with "handles to their names." Even
sturdy business companies often like to ornament
their board with a coronet ; it takes well both with
natives and foreigners ; but if it be a social or
philanthropic movement, a Lord as Chairman,
patron, trustee, or president, is almost indispens-
able. Even political reformers like to head their
list with a Member of the Upper House. It is
curious enough to notice the different feeling
towards Lords in the House and Lords everywhere
else. All the well-known judgments on the conduct
of respectable men in a corporation, and in private
life, are held almost doubly applicable in the case
of Lords. To the House of Lords, as to Chancery,
no one goes, if he can help it ; but a Lord is
thought to be quite a desideratum for every public
meeting. Indeed to do their Lordships' justice,
they appear of late to have courted the people
individually, as much as they have kicked them
corporately. No one hopes for anything from
" the House," but pious and benevolent ladies,
secretaries, treasurers, and committeemen hope
for everything when the placard announces that
Lord somebody will preside. Anything is hazarded
to get a title ; we remember a Bible Society
meeting, for instance, at which the naval mag-
nate who presided declared that he was no
speaker, and that all he could say was that " the
Bible was a d—d good book 1"

The Lords spiritual and temporal who honoured,
and were honoured by, the meeting at WILLIS'S
Rooms, were, of course, Lords suited to the occa-
sion. Otte of them, however, had just before
voted against Jewish emancipation, and last year
even headed the Opposition to it in the House of
Lords, though we believe he subscribes to a cleri-
cal society for the " conversion of the Jews."
The same Noble Lord is an active member of the
"Evangelical Alliance," an institution for bring-
ing different Christian sects, if possible, into har-
monious co-operation ; this out of the House ; in
it he voted point blank, the other night, against
admitting Dissenters to equal position with Church-
men in the University of Cambridge. We believe,
however, that such narrow-mindedness will never
mark the conduct of the other Noble Lord
who made the speech of the mooting.
True, he is a peer's eldest son, and as yo
a Lord by courtesy only, but when he leaves
the Lower House for the Upper—may the time
be far distant, for we want him where ho is—he
will be Lord STANLEY still. Ho is a politician,
but he is one who has no fear of investigation,
and is consequently a man of too strong convic-
tions to change with change of House.
His speech, on the occasion referred to, as usual
exhausted the topic, and it gave renewed assurance
before so important an assemVage that it was to
their moral influence alone, and not by obtaining
legal enactments, the Association looked for suc-
cess. This course will be its strength. It
excite no ill-will. It has secured, in this unob-
jectionable way, the co-operation of a list of influ-
ential business names, on which stress was very
properly laid, and it will go on securing additional
names till late closing and working oa Saturday
afternoons will become the exception, not the rule;
and till, as Lord STANLEY expressed it, hosing gained
the majority, "We enlist on our side imitative in-
stinct, which makes the majority of men regulate
their conduct by their neighbours' sense of right."