The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-17 00:00:00


APIRIT PUBLIO nIIRNALS;

The Star is satisfied that we cannot point to any urgent
reform demanding instant consideration, of which we de
not find promise in the Queen's Speech. With all th° i
reforms, indeed, for which the nation is calling out, t
would be hopeless to attempt to deal in the space of 0 i
single session, which we might deem well spent were t
only to see the accomplishment of the pledge of religions
equality given last year to Ireland. Some questions of,
the !highest importance can merely be submitted to 16
searching investigation during the session that has been
so fairly inaugurated ; and others, the magnitude of which
no one will dispute, must be postponed till a part, get
least, of the task now undertaken has been brought to
completion. The promises of reform comprised in het
Majesty's Speech are numerous, and attractive both to
speculative and practical politicians ; yet, perhaps the
announcement which will peculiarly and most keenly ar
gage the interest of the majority of readers is that which
was addressed especially to the " Gentlemen of the House
of Commons." That the estimates of the public expen•
diture for the ensuing financial year " have been framed
with a careful regard to the efficiency of the service" 1°
not less satisfactory than that " they will exhibit se
diminished charge upon the country." Mr. Lowe's first
Budget will, then, be presented under favourable auspice°,
of which, no doubt, he will avail himself ; and amongst
the promised measures of reform there are none, aliPs;
rently, that are likely to call for an increased outlay
the public money.
The Telegraph, in referring to the changes which hilre,
taken place since the resignation of the last Liber°4
Ministry, says was, in truth, striking to glaze°
at the serried senators in the Reformed House, and to
think what an excited and momentous interval had elapse'
since the chief figure on the Ministerial bench sat last 111
the same place. Then Mr. Gladstone was but leader of the
House and champion of the rights of the working classee
to Electional Reform. Last night he sat first in the
Chamber, the natural chief of a Parliament reformed 131
nothing so much as by his own eloquence and constancy,
and having at his back such a majority as no Minister
has wielded for nearly forty years. To the place of power
so well attained he has come from that less responsible
position opposite, where the impassive countenane°
of the ex-Premier once more brooded, and perforce recalled
the " Night of Defeat," when, on the point of abdieatia
in order to defeat the intrigues of traitors and the hoe°
of oligarchs, Mr. Gladstone said, " The silent forces of
the time are upon our side." It is not often that a pre•
diction is so soon fulfilled ; but that lofty boast has been
abundantly justified, and a short and costly success hag
been followed by a defeat which has effaced the old TorY
party, and introduced a new period of political historl•
Altogether there was a strange atmosphere of change i,°,
the Chamber—a sense that the "old order "had "yielded'
—a testimony everywhere afforded that the difference
between " what has been " and " what will be " is deep
and wide. Perhaps nobody in the new Assembly Per•
ceived it better than the silent man who sat opposite W.
Gladstone, and whose " educational system" had welid
nigh " improved" his pupils off the political stage.

The Standard thinks that things may not turn
out an
'-
badly after all if the Government take heed to their wile
in the question of the Irish Church. On the gre°,,t
question of all the two great party chiefs both spoke with
especial reserve and studied moderation. Mr. Disraelh
frankly acknowledging that the unmistakeable declaratios
of the country had transferred to Mr. Gladstone the
direction of the Irish question, deprecated any premature
discussion upon the subject ; awaiting the detailed,
proposal soon to be submitted by the Minister, and
promising it a consideration as careful and candid el
befits the gravity of the occasion and the dignity of the
House. In Mr. Disraeli's view, as in ours, it is the
business of an Opposition under such circuit"
stances to take the Ministerial proposition into
consideration, and to see whether it is such e°
they can accept, modify, or make the subject of
compromise, before they nail their flag to the mast and
resolve to hazard everything upon the issue of battle. 111,1
proposition may be—there is much reason to fear it
be—utterly intolerable and iniquitous, and in that case svo
have no alternative but to fight to the last. But 10
Disraeli, at least, will not assume that this must be sa
He will give the scheme a fair consideration from vl
Conservative point of view, as the scheme °
one to whose hands "an unmistakeable declaim'
tion of the country" has for the time entrusted
the. guidance of its fate. Mr. Gladstone, on hi!
part, professed an anxious desire to shape bj!
measures, both on this and other subjects, in such a manna=
as to conciliate the sympathies of as many, and to prover.
the antipathies of as few as possible—in short, to avoid
far as may be everything needlessly painful to Protest
feeling or wounding to Conservative honour and principle.
If he can keep this promise things may turn out nil
more happily than has hitherto appeared probable.
not, the storm which is at hand will fully realise the LIPPre;
hensions which are plainly to be read in the tone 01"
manner of Parliament during the " lull " which precede°
and presignifies it.

The Daily News approves of the course pursued by the
rival factions, and says that the Parliamentary Session
183 J has come in like a lamb. It may complete the
reversal of the old proverb, and go out like a lion. 33,.:
this as it may, nothing could exceed the harmony a the
proceedings of both Houses yesterday. Possibly till°
unwonted display of mutual good feeling may be due!!
the mildness of the weather, which has quickened t'-`"
better nature of rival statesmen, and ripened their kindly
sentiments into early bloom. Lord Cairns and 14....°r`.A
Granville in the Upper House, and Mr. Disraeli and ivirs
Gladstone in the Lower, abounded towards each othet
in the courtesies and amenities of debate. The (Peed!
Speech, in conformity with recent usage, was, indeed, 55
framed as to avoid opportunity for contention. The 04,
taste of shunning unseemly wrangles over messages fro
7
the Crown is obvious, and the good sense of not Witt;
pating debates and divisions for which' there is 131/—/
to be abundant occasion late in the session is
less apparent. Mr. Disraeli last night frankly admitted
in words, what he has even more emphatically confessed
by his conduct, that in the general election the caul
declared with unmistakable plainness its desire tlis:
Mr. Gladstone should be entrusted with P°/ve„-;
and that this declaration had especial referen;
to the great question of the Irish Church.
avowed his hope that the proposals of the Ministry
when the proper time comes, be gravely and impartia..;
considered. Mr. Disraeli is too shrewd a man not to s'",
—especially since the conclusive failure of his own ached
for securing religious equality by levelling upwards—'7g
the Church question in Ireland can be settled in one
only. A wise and patriotic acquiescence in what he Peul
ceives to be the irreversible deaision of the nation Well
secure him the respect and gratitude of his countrY,,'l
and cast many errors into the shade.

The—rime; thinks that the lamb-like character of the
spelling night of the session may be partly attributed to
the fact that the battle of the Irish Church has been
Already fought and won. It is known now as fully by the
front rank of the Opposition as by the Treasury Bench
that the destiny of the Irish Establishment is a question
of the past. As Lord Dufferin truly said at Belfast last
Week, there are certain declarations for which the world
waits, but when once made they cannot be recalled. Like
the Duke of Wellington, when he said that either Catholic
Emancipation must be conceded or a rebellion be
encountered ; like Sir Robert Peel, when he declared that
the corn laws must be repealed or the guilt of an aggre.
stated famine borne by Parliament—and as in each ease
the Legislature ratified the opinions of its leaders—so now
,the word has gone forth that the Irish Establishment
must be abolished, and all men know that it must be abo•
fished. So it may turn out that the session will be a ses-
sion of equanimity, varied by fierce but transient and
harmless contests, for it isa session devoted to the sanction
of a foregone conclusion. It is to the Ist of March
that we must look forward to discover the dis"
tinctive character of the session, for on that evening the
real work of the house is to begin. The session of 159
may not be masked by the narrow and doubtful contests
of fprrner years, but it must afford enough to satisfy all
moderate ambition. Mr. Gladstone said yesterday, with
a frankness which provoked an ironical laugh from the
Opposition, that the Government would be happy if the,
accomplished everything they had ventured to recommend.
This is the simple truth. We are entering on a session
which must be a session of hard work, if of nothing else.
From the Ist of March to the Ist of August there will
scarcely be a day of leisure for those whose business it is to
.
go down into the great waters of political life.
The Morning Post says that whatever objections the
hypercritical might take to the clumsiness of the language
employed by the composers of the speech, none could
with any prospect of success have been raised to the
policy indicated, and the Conservative leader showed
his accustomed sagacity in permitting this portion of
the speech to pass almost sub silentio. The Ministrl
will at an early period submit their scheme to the
House of Commons, and then, under the leadershiP
of the right hon, member for Buckinghamshire, the Con-
servative party will no doubt fight gallantly in what theY
conceive to be the cause of Church and State. With
peace abroad and at home, the Reformed Parliament coo'
mences its first session under the happiest auspices. We
re-echo the concluding prayer of the Speech frog'.
the Throne, that its labours may be brought to a haPPI
issue.