The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-18 00:00:00

5111.111 T OF THE PUBLIC JOTYRNALS.

The Post thinks that the session will be a very busy one'
and that plenty of work will be done. The Ministerial
notices, as distinguished from those made by private
members, were to some extent fulfilments of the pledges
given in the Speech from the Throne. The Attorney'
General will on Friday week bring in a bill for the amend'
ment of the law of bankruptcy. These measures have, A°
Lord Cairns pithily observed in the House of Lords, be"
come "annuals ;" and we can only reciprocate his Wish
that in the present session some bill will receive the assetit
of the Legislature which will remedy the glaring evils
existing under the present system. Mr. Forster intimated
his intention (though without naming the day) of bringing
in the promised measure for the better regulation °
endowed schools ; and Mr. Ayrton, in his official capacity'
will on the Ist of March ask the House to consider in
committee the Acts which at present enable her Majesty
to recompense the services of persons holding high civil
office. The question of official salaries is one of perhaps
the most important that can be submitted to the
House of Commons, and opens a field of discussion
which is absolutely limitless. Lord Robert Montagu hag
already introduced the bill for the amendment of the exist'
ing Acts for the prevention of infectious diseases in cattle
of which he gave notice ; and the Solicitor-General will,
notwithstanding his accession to office, bring in the bill for
the Abolition of University Tests, which in his capacity
of an independent member he introduced in the 0P"
Parliament.

The Telegraph remarks that Lord Cairns, as the Conner'
vative leader in the House of Lords, furnishes another
remarkable evidence of the readiness with which the aril'
tocracy of England welcome the foreign aid of high lute:
lect in their political work. To those who represent that
England is ruled by titles and influenced by rank, it urir
be some answer to point out that, of the four leadl
men in Parliament, three Lord Cairns, Mr. Olt,
stone, and Mr. Disraeli are sprung from te
middle classes, and owe no public advantage to their
birth. The political career of any of the three is possible
to the son of any member of the middle classes. 1
Gladstone's elevation to the Premiership over the heads °
many Whig Peers is in one sense remarkable, 810E3111
because the Liberal party, as a rule, have generally °a/
ample supply of ambitious noblemen who are able an
ready to take the first place. The Tories have been led /3",
Canning, Peel, Disraeli ; while their Liberal opponetitli'
have been ruled by Lords Grey, Melbourne, Busse;
Palmerston. Why is this? Why does the 01°.e,
popular side adopt the less popular plan? Why
has
party usually opposed to excessively aristocratic privilegeh
selected, as a rule, aristocratic leaders ? It may be throw ti
personal accidents, or because Liberalism has 10 /
somehigh charm that stimulates to activity men who inherit
In rank. Conservative nobles submit to the leader.
ship of a parvenu with a consent which springs fr°:
the essence of their creed ; they seem to say, ,
matters it who saves us, so that we are effectually savea:,
But when a peer becomes a Liberal he so far surrender'
any exceptional claim arising from his birth. The tWcl°
actual leaders of the new Toryism—Mr. Disraeli and 14°',
.Cairns—are notable for nothing but mental power ; an
It will be curious to trace the effect produced by thel-
unign on the tactics of the party.

The Herald predicts that Mr. Gladstone will get OA°
difficulties if he departs from his original programme, an
appoints a royal commission to decide about the eeque„,-'
tration of the revenues of the Irish Church. To do theL"
justice, the political Dissenters are not prompted by any
mercenary motives in assuming their present attitude on
this question. They look upon the disendowment of the
Irish Church as a secondary consideration in comparison
with its disestablishment. Their object is 74,1:
rending of the tie which unites the Church
the State, and the motion for the Ist of Argeid
fully answers their wishes in that respect. It
very different, however, with the Roman Catholic;
Very dear to them is the prospect of seeing „,116
Protestant Church degraded, but they cherish theme %
that a more solid gratification is in store for them.
n.,Ly
them the doctrine of " revendication " is a passion.
hold with inflexible pertinacity that all the property°
the Anglican Church acquired previous to the Refornlr
tion, whether in England or Ireland, is the lawful prePert!t
of the Roman Catholic Church, and that sooner or later I
must revert to her as the sole rightful owner. The Pr:i
tests to the contrary of Cardinal Cullen and his episode
brethren are of no more worth than those of their Pre-jg
cessors at the time of the Emancipation Act. They I°%,
to hold once more in some form or other the revenues t°9
possessed by the Protestant Church in Ireland, and then"„f
is little reason to conclude that they will be patient ,:.
course of action which will indefinitely postpone the real'
sation of their dreams.
The Daily News considers that one paragraph ill tlicle
Queen's Speech will have been read with satisfaction ant
relief in nearly every borough in the kingdom. It 1,:t„ ii'a
in which her Majesty recommends that an inquiry
be made " into the present mode of conducting l'3rli
;30‘
mentary and municipal elections," with a view t°l3;
vide "further guarantees for their tranquillity, if:
and freedom." Such an inquiry will give universalsa;
faction ; but probably the most satisfactory pare of
iry
the inhabitants of municipal boroughs is that the ingu-to
is to embrace municipal elections, and that an effort iS
e 0
be made to apply to those elections some gur-IW3t
of purity. The great defect of the present lg,
is that by making municipal corruption practiea it
safe it enables timid hands to learn the trade' tio
is like an elaborate sham fight, in which, livitil°of
much danger, they can learn all the mancellvres,
real battle. No effort to check electoral corruption gijjlo
therefore, be of the least avail tit municipal corraPti°l6lvg•
c,
put on the same basis. The law as it now stands
courages prosecutions for municipal bribery. It offerl 0-
st
motive to prosecute. It inacts certain penalties AP-fit,
it, but makes no effectual provision for their enfo.-eceule-
ii t 034
In all these matters any parliamentary inquiry 112-e a io
sult in assimilating the two modes of election, the
making the guarantee against corruption one an vet,
same. The revelations of such an inquiry will, h°videe'lloo
show all mere penalties to be insufficent. Mr. Alu,n-aed
knew what he was speaking about when he 8316'4)f-the
that the result of the inquiry would be the adoptioner
Ballot. It is only by rendering all external influences-I:loll
a man's vote utterly powerless to affect it that iv
make either municipal or parliamentary elections r}+,
or "provide any further guarantees for their trancluw"
purity, and freedom."

.beral
The Star in discussing the prospects of the "1 the
candidates for Bradford, expresses great anxiety f°l: jro
return of Mr. Aliall. When a public man of gr• gi/It,
distinction appears as a candidate for a seat in Parliaine- t
every genuine Liberal naturally feels the keenest illter;
in the result. Mr. Allan is the representative N°ne-t,
formist of our day and generation. lie was the
Plop
the able and arduous advocate of a cause which nol,vPr'A-53,ei
to be in the ascendant. There can be no one who Will
of
advantage of Mr. Miall's presence in the g°llBTrish
Commons during the approaching debates on the ;-.1
Church. His exclusion from that assembly at Bo er'"-ncid
a time would be a public misfortune andahnost a I:l3ti
rg°- °A
reproach. lie does not in this instance appear in Pe jl6l,
as a candidate for the representation of Bradford. to
stands simply and solely on the merits of his own rePo,i
tion and services ; and in this connection the electc'il
body who have to choose between him and gr. ThoniP°o
should remember that although he occupies a consPiell°o
position as a champion a • P ting i°
been no o • ccasion on which he has been wan t„,•
of religious freedom,
fidelity any of the great questions which for
,t;e4
X 0 C Mrifl?.?4 tho Libeat jart kit:3o
g
tia cum tO4l spooot 141116 there 13

The Times remarks that the question of the Irish
Church is very considerably complicated with that of
national education. The Irish Catholics have always
demanded a denominational system of education, 011 the
ground that the English have it. The other alternative
is that the national education of this country, too, AO
be deprived of its present denominational character. The
educational question, which the Conservatives profess
themselves so anxious to see cropping out in the Present
war of political and controversial elements, would cer-
tainly bring up with itself the question of the religious
character to be imparted to the English village school, or
allowed to remain in it. It is hardly to be imagined
that half a million more will be granted to our
schools for the poor, whether out of the taxes
or out of the rates, without our own Dissenters,
Roman Catholics, and others having a good deal to 01
to the theological uses that may be made of it. We
ought to see our way to the principles on which the clues•
tion of the Church and the school is to be decided, before
we plunge hastily into the creation of several thousand
new schools, and the reconstruction of still more upon a
new system. For the present, at least, we should
it would answer the purpose of the Conservatives, and of
all good English Churchmen, to regard the English Part
of the question as still awaiting a final settlement'
If it is distinctly and decidedly recognised that the
English national system is denominational, and that
every respectable denomination in this country Ineir ,s
demand its full measure of State aid for a school in which
its tenets are taught as it pleases, and none other allowed,
then it follows that the Irish Catholics, in this their bout
of triumph and virtual establishment, will be deemed en
an equality in this as in other respects. We conceive,
however, that the true spirit of the Government measure
before the nation is not in this direction, and that we are
not going to strengthen and extend our religious establish-
ments, whether they be called churches or schools. Still'
cient for the day is the evil—and the work, too—thereof,
and we cannot embarrass ourselves with the attempt
to perform simultaneously various tasks, just possible
when taken in due sequence, impossible when accumlated.