The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Saturday Review observes that the prediction that
the electoral contest in France would really lie between
different sections of the Opposition has been signally
verified. The Government will again command an immense
majority in the Corps L6gislatif ; it is in the composition
of the minority that the revolution effected by the elec-
tions will be chiefly seen. It is impossible to mistake the
significance of the changes in the representation of Paris,
Lyons, and Marseilles. The great cities desire revolution,
not reform. Indeed, to judge from the defeats sustained
by almost all the leading members of the Moderate Oppo-
sition, thekwish for reform as such can scarcely be said to
exist in the constituencies. The supporters of the Govern-
ment in the press declare themselves thoroughly satisfied
with the turn that affairs have taken. They argue that
the issue between the Empire and revolution has now
been plainly stated, and they anticipate that the alarm
which will thus be excited will greatly strengthen the
hold of the Government on the Conservative feeling of the
country. That there is considerable truth in this view of
the situation is undeniable. There is no longer any sub-
stantial grievance weighing on the French peasant
from which he can hope to escape by a general overturn.
I6lnust not be forgotten, however, that this is only one
siddtof the picture. The other side is, that the Empire is
at length face to face with a foe with whom it is impossible
to compromise, and that this foe has gained a great acces-
sion of strength within the last year or two. That Paris
is hopelessly hostile can never be a pleasant reflection to a
ruler of France, and there is too much reason to fear that
the day when concession can be of much avail has passed
away. The Emperor has refused to conciliate the Constitu-
tional Opposition when it was in his power to do so, and
things seem now to have come to a pass at which any step
he may take in this direction will be no longer worth the
sacrifice it would involve. He would be forced to quarrel
with his own friends in order to gain the support of a
party which the elections have shewn to be practically
powerless in France. The satisfaction of the Imperialist
writers at the result of the elections may perhaps be
attributed to their perception of this fact. To them no
revolution could be more disastrous than a reconciliation
of their master with the Parliamentary Liberals. With
the concession of a responsible Ministry their occupation
would be gone, and in the withdrawal of the principal
inducement to such an experiment they may see a legiti-
mate cause for rejoicing. It does not follow that the
Emperor has equal reason to congratulate himself on the
work of the week.

The Spectator says that France has begun to weary of
the government of Napoleon. That is, stated broadly,
the result of the elections. The Opposition, which recently
numbered but five members, and even last year scarcely
exceeded twenty-five, will, there is reason to believe, this
year approach, perhaps exceed, ninety, or nearly a clear
third of the legislative body, and this after counting every
official candidate as devoted to the Empire. The intelli-
gence of France, the brain which, fevered as it may be,
is still nobler than the body, has condemned the Empire,
condemned it furiously, condemned it with needless words
of shrill insult. To the Emperor himself the stroke must
give almost unendurable pain. His is no peasant intelli-
gence, no mind which can reckon only material results,
no temperament content with daily food. He wants to
represent these very men who scorn him, to be their
accepted chief, their pride, their leader even, not merely
their master, resting on bayonets, like any monarch of the
old world. He has watched Paris, courted Paris, flattered
Paris, and Paris at every election, in higher and sharper
tones, responds only with the cry, "Ad (cones!" It is
to the lions, to the men who would devour him, to the
" irreconcileables," who would despise heaven if he ruled
there, that his capital has striven to throw the Emperor,
No ruler with a brain better than that of a tortoise could
listen to such a cry unmoved ; and there is little consola-
tion to be found as he looks abroad. The great cities
respond to the summons of the greatest, and though the
little cities do not, they also swell the ranks of the less
fervid opponents of the Empire ; while, if our view of the
result of the second ballot is correct, the Emperor
has lost a fourth of the representatives for the
departments, and nearly a half of the total electorate.
The Emperor may divert all France from politics by
plunging into the great war, by fighting out the postponed
duel with Germany, with Belgium fur the stake. The
military party wish that, and it is useless to deny that
much of the unpopularity of the Empire is due to Sadowa,
to the foreign policy which has ended in diminishing the
preponderance of France upon the Continent. This is
for England the most unpleasing of the solutions ; but
Napoleon has to think of an opinion other than ours. The
stakes are terrible, France does not wish them played,
there may be other plans in that many-counselling brain ;
but still victory there, is victory once for all. The con-
queror of the Rhine might grant liberty, and yet sit upon
an easy throne. There is a week for thoraht, the second
ballot before ; but if it results as we believe it will result,
the chances of European war will be terribly increased.
The Economist says that the French elections teach us
very plainly that France has not yet ceased to be the
centre of political unrest in Europe. The intermittent
fever, which has periodically beset France ever since
1789, taught the French people the greatness of their own
power and the instability of any principle of authority
which fails to meet with their favour, shews great signs of
vitality. The Emperor, indeed, retains what he has
never ceased to keep—the favour of the rural pea-
santry—and will command a vast majority even
in the new Chamber. Even if the most sanguine hopes
of the Opposition are fulfilled, their parliamentary force
will not be swelled much beyond ninety votes ; and it is

hardly probable that the seeond ballot which takes place
a fortnight hence will give them so many. Even that,
however, would be an enormous increase of power over
the knot of twenty-three which made up the Opposition
of the last Parliament. And even this does not appa-
rently represent the real force of the Opposition in the
country. If the French papers can be trusted, the Oppo-
sition have polled 3,248,885 votes, against only 4,053,056
for the Government. If this were really an increase in
the power of the Constitutional Opposition, if it meant
that the party of progress had gained thus much on the
party of Imperial absolutism in the country—if it meant
what a similar increase in the strength of English libe-
ralism would have meant some forty years ago - we should
have no ground for any feeling but congratulation. But it
has become clear to everyone that this is not its meaning—
that the remarkable successes against the Government
have all been gained by the party which does not so much
wish to improve the Government as to revolutionise it.
In France political feeling, when it rises at all, becomes
too keen and personal, too much saturated with the
passions of individual and social life, to admit of restraint
within the bounds of political principle. There is a
hectic flush about the character of French elections in
times like these, which plainly expresses that the nation
is not so much avowing its political creed, as giving vent
to its almost hysterical feeling. This is the real cause of
the little progress which Constitutionalism makes in
France. The people when they get disgusted with the
ruling power feel quite as much disgust for any party
which purposes only to modify, and not to sweep away,
the object of their disgust, and consequently throw those
who would be favourable to modification on to the side of
the Government as the only alternative except revolution.
If self-government, as we understand the phrase in Eng.
land, be a good thing, we cannot see cause for satisfaction,
we can see only cause for anxiety and regret, in the recent
French elections.

The John Bull declares that it is preposterous to allege
that the House of Lords should admit the principle of
the Irish Church Bill by reading it a second time. How
can it be logically contended that there should be repeated
divisions on principle in the House of Commons, where
we merely expose our weakness ; and that in the House
of Lords we are to ignominiously cave in ? But we are
convinced that such a craven policy will not prevail.
The independent Conservative Peers will not tamely sur-
render the citadel and sign their own death warrant ; for
if the House is to be a mere court of record, it is difficult
to see its utility. The Peers are surely too far-sighted to
listen to the voice of the charmer who would fain persuade
them that if they allowed the bill to pass a second reading
the House of Commons would submit to any amendments.
The country would be just as angry if the bill
was rejected on the third reading as on the
second, and principle would have been abandoned for
an imaginary expediency. The Liberal papers,
though it is their cue just now to be civil to
the House of Lords, have amidst the proper phrases as to
their confidence in its judgment, inadvertently let slip the
expression of their belief that if the Lords can be got
over the hedge of the second reading, the ditch of the
committee will prove a very minor obstacle. Honesty in
in this case, as in every ether, is the best policy. Their
lordships believe the bill to be a dangerous and revolu-
tionary one. Their duty is plain—viz., to give the coun-
try time for reflection. The Government, they may be
stile, will neither resign, dissolve, laGi' swamp the House of
Lords. But if all these things were to happen, their
course of policy would be none the less clear. The coun-
try is sick of mockery and unreality. It will rally round
the House of Lords in a way they little dream of if they
see principles boldly asserted, and false expediency scouted.
"There will be a division on the second reading." We
little envy those Conservatives who by their lukewarmness
diminish the majority of last year.

THE INCORPORATED CHURCH BUILDING SOCIETY.
—The annual meeting of the Incorperated Church Building
Society was held on Friday, the Bishop of London in the
chair. The Bishops of Ely and Llandaff, Lord Lyttelton,
Mr. Birley, M.P., and Canon Gregory were amongst the
speakers who advocated the claims of the organisation to
tlaiunort oL the Christian pub

THE RIGHTS OF DISSZVTING MINISTERS'

Vice-Chancellor Stuart had before him on Friday the
case of Cooper v. Gordon. This bill was filed by the trustees
of the Independent Chapel, Br oad-street, Reading, for the
purpose of restraining the Rev.: Jamuel Clarke Gordon from
preaching or officiating in that chapel, and from acting o-A
attempting to act as pastor the real , and also from recei-"ing
or collecting rents payable for per is or sittings in t:de said
chapel, under the following ciwumstances. Fir many
years previous to 1865 the R 4 v. William tegg was
pastor of the congregation of Is dependent or Oongrega-
tionalist Dissenters, to whom the chapel belonged.
In that year it was considered a ivisable by the congre-
gation that he should have aria tance, and the defend.
ant, Mr. Gordon, was .api 2ointed as co-pastor
with Mr. Legg. After scant: tame, however, dis-
putes arose, and in the, result, as it was
alleged, the majority of the congregation passed
a formal resolution (with the assent of Mr.
Legg) deposing Mr. Gordon from. the office of co-pastor.
The bill filed by the trustees statet I that, according to the
fundamental principles of the Cc ngregationalists, every
church or congregation had alt inherent right to
elect and dismiss their pastor at any time, unless
there was a special agreement or established usage
to the contrary, which it was wild '..here was not in the
present case. It was stated by counsel for the plaintiffs
that there was no imputation v, late ver upon the charac-
ter of the defendant, but the lnajoi ity of the congrega-
tion did not choose tohave him. The- defendant confended
that he had a life interest in his appointment of co-
pastor. In every case in which the court had interfered in
the manner suggested by this bill there had been either
misconduct or neglect of duty on the part of the Dissent.
ing minister, against whom an injunction was sought, but
in the present case neither misbehaviour nor neglect of
duty was alleged. It would be unjust to leave a Dissent-
ing minister to the mercy of the majority of a congrega-
tion. The evidence chewed that the majority of the per.
sons whonow attended Broad-street Chapel were in favour
of the defendant.

The Vice-Chancellor said the evidence shewed that a
great number of the persons who used to attend this
chapel had left it because Mr. Gordon continued to act
as minister there, and the majority of those who ought
to be regarded as the congregation were clearly
against Mr. Gordon. The court was of opinion
that the majority of a Dissenting congregation
were entitled to dismiss their pastor. A recusant minority
might form themselves into another congregation, and
thus peace could be maintained. It was better that a
contentious and recusant minority should do so than that
the peace of a congregation should be disturbed by
feeling and passion, which ought not to prevail
among persons who met together for public worship.
The argument that a minister of a Dissenting congrega-
tion had a vested interest in his appointment was unten-
able. There must be a decree that the defendant was not
entitled to officiate or preach in the chapel in question
against the will of the majority of the trustees and of the
congregation, and an injunction must be granted against
him in the terms asked by the bill.