The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-05 00:00:00

THE -SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENINGt,- JULY

'MISCELLANEOUS NETVS.

CONCERMENT ENDOWMENT.

- -
The Rev. H. R. Haweis, whose name was appended
to the petition to the House of Lords against con-
current endowment, writes to the Daily News giving
his reasons for signing that petition. He thinks
levelling up to be opposed to the principle of the
bill, as the measure denies the right of the Church
or other ecclesiastical organisation in Ireland to the
endowments. He urges, further, that the Romanists
have not asked for the money it is proposed to give
them; the Dissenters as a body are opposed to all
endowments; the endowment of the Roman Catholics
would stultify the position of the Church of England
for the last three hundred years ; the principle of
religious equality is carried out by the bill as it
stands ; the measure will be rejected altogether if it
is carried down to the House of Commons saddled
with proposals for concurrent endowment ; it is not
consistent for the House of Lords first to pass the
second reading, and then to reverse their dec:sion by
altering the whole scope of the bill ; it is impossible
to say whether Mr. Gladstone will allow any modifi-
cations ; and it is the duty of those who acknowledge
the justice of the measure to stand by the framer of
the measure. For these reasons Mr. Haweis opposes
levelling up.
LORD CAIRNS.

The Spectator considers that Lord Cairns is a
failure as a party leader. It is no secret that the
Conservatives think so too. Lord Cairns is too
much of a lawyer to be a leader. True, Lord Lynd-
hurst was a la wyer but then he succeeded in spite
of his profession. Moreover, he was educated at the
Common Law Bar, which is a much better training
for the Senate than the Chancery Bar. Lord
Cairns is a Chancery barrister, and loves to narrow
all the issues of a debate down to points on which he
thinks he could convince a judge, but as to which a
jury would think he had surrendered his whole case.
Moreover, he has none of the fire and vigour which
made Lord Derby in his best days so popular a
leader. Instead of feeling in him anything of the
joy of battle, instead of loving to" Drink delight of
battle with his peers," he gets up at the close of a
great debate with a languor and a stiffness of manner
which it is utterly chilling to behold. Mr. Disraeli
has never been chargeable with this defect. The
time to hear him is somewhere about two in the
morning at the close of a four night's debate. Lord
Cairns, on the contrary, looks as if he Itished him-
self in bed. The difference is not so much his fault
as his misfortune. lle is in bad health ; would pro-
bably have killed himself before now if he had
continued at the Bar, making his twenty or thirty
thousand a year, instead of being, as now, ex-Chan-
cellor with £5,000 a year. The contrast betweer
Lord Cairns and Lord Granville as a leader
is startling. The Liberal leader is fast
becoming as popular with the Lords on
both sides of the House as Lord Palmerston was in
the Commons. For that very reason the Conser-
vative peers are, at least sotto voce, demanding a
change. They would like to see the Duke of Marl-
borough or the Duke of Richmond at their head.
The great nobles do not like to think that there is
no leader among them all, and that they have to ask
a Belfast barrister to be their chief. It is not, from
their point of view, seemly that the great Conser-
vative party should be led by an Irish lawyer in the
one House and by a Hebrew gentleman of the Press
in the other. It is not unlikely that we may hear of
changes before long, especially as Lord Cairns, out
of deference to his Irish and Orange friends, has
refused to join with his party in defeating the
Govermr ent upon the concurrent endowment
scheme.

with the country properly developed, as it would no
by the Canadian Government, the plots of land
which the company would be entitled to would yield
more than the whole territory had been valued at,
and the business of the company would not be of the
speculative character that it had been.

-5, 1869,

CONSULAR COURTS IN EGYPT.

The Law Journal understands that the Consular Court
difficulty in Egypt has been settled. Nubar Pasha,
the able Minister of the Khedive, has at length
succeeded in his negotiations with France in regard to
the abolition of the Consular Courts in Egypt, and the
establishment of local International Courts. The con-
currence of England, Austria, and Italy had already
been secured. The main features of his scheme are the
repeal of the capitulation; the organisation of courts pre.
sided over by two European judges and one native judge,
exercising complete jurisdiction over all causes, civil and
criminal, as well between natives and Franks as between
the suitors of various nationalities, and administering an
uniform system of jurisprudence based on the Code
NapolJon. The independent jurisdiction of the Consular
Courts has been very grievous to the Egyptian Govern-
ment, which was often set at defiance by foreigners who
claimed the protection of their Consuls. The English
Government has long been convinced that the change
which is now to be made will be beneficial, and the oppo•
sition of France has for some time been the chief difficulty.
The consent of the Porte, however, has yet to be obtained.