The Sun.
London, England, 1869-07-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JULY 19, 1869.

that the wishes of the nation in regard to the set-
tlement of the Irish Church Question, as embodied
or realised in the Government measure still before
the Legislature, were never expressed at the
last General Election. They maintain, for that
matter, that the wishes of the nation upon
that Question could not then, by any possibility,
have been articulated, seeing that the mode of settle-
ment was not then decided upon. Disestablishment—
Yes ! Disendowment•—or, at any rate, this particular
form of Disendowment—No ! That is the Lords' ar-
gument. They insist upon it, that at the time of the
last General Election, the question before the coun-
try, the question which was then unmistakeably
answered by the country, was this—Shall Mr.
GLADSTONE be made Prime Minister, and shall
he be made Prime Minister for the express pur-
pose of sweeping the Irish Church altogetlim. out
of existence as a state institution or establishment ?
The answer given—was given, as we have said, in a
manner quite unmistakeable. It was articulated so
clearly and so authoritatively by the Constituencies
that, before the newly-elected House of commons
could be called together, Mr. DISRAELI had vo:un-
tarily given in his own resignation and that of his
colleagues collectively. Mr. GLADSTONE was called
to power—and immediately the House of Com-
mons had been constituted and had settled
down to its sessional labours, the promised Bill iu
regard to the Irish Church was introduced by Mr.
GLADSTONE as Master of the Situation and as Leader
of the Government. Thereupon, according to the
Lords, according to the Conservative majority of the
Lords, it became at once apparent—immediately,
that is, that the Government measure came to
be scrutinized—that the issue before the country
in the December of last year, was, in the March
of this, in a very great degree transformed,
was, at any rate, in several particulars, altoge-
ther different from what had been foreshadowed
in hustings' speeches, and more especially in hustings'
speeches in Lancashire. That was the Conservative
conviction in regard to the Bill, as indicated plainly
enough, first of all, by the minority in the Commons,
and afterwards, when the right time came for their
so doing, by the majority in the Lords. Mr. GLAD-
STONE'S supporters in the Lower House were, there,
in such overwhelming numbers, however, that, so
far as that branch of the Legislature was con-
cerned, the Opposition was powerless to obstruct or
even to retard the passing of the mea-
sure, precisely as that measure was submitted to
the consideration of Parliament by the Leader
of the Government. Not so, of course, was it to be,
was it for one moment likely to be, in the Lords.
There the majority was altogether the other way—
not for the rejection of the Bill as a whole, it is true,
but certainly for what the Conservative peers con-
ceived to be its emendation. Hence the amendments
introduced into the bill during its passage through
the hereditary branch of the Legislature. Those
amendments, as we know, have since been swept out
of the Bill again by the bold and inexorable hand
of the Prime Minister, he being enabled so to do by the
" tyrant majority," as it is called, at his back. Natu-
rally enough the Lords don't like to be thus ridden over
roughshod by the House of Commons. Their lord-
ships conceive themselves to have constitutionally a
will, a power, an opinion of their own. Their Legisla-
tive function, as they opine, is not simply to endorse
or countersign the Acts passed by the House of Com-
mons. An insulting letter, penned by Mr. BP.IGHT,
they can, as it seems to them, with no derogation to
their dignity, allow to pass by with comparative
indifference. But to have the whole of their
amendments erased almost scornfully—certainly, it
must be said, very summarily—by the Commons,
exceeds their lordships' powers of endurance. The
result of these last few weeks' contention between
the Lords and Commons, in regard to the Irish
Church Bill, will, at any rate, become apparent to the
comprehension of us all to-morrow evening. Every-
thing will of course depend upon the decision which
may then be announced in the House of Lords by the
responsible leader of her MAJESTY'S Opposition.
That decision, we feel assured, will be one mainly
significant, as evidencing the fixed determination of
the Lords to vindicate what they (not unnaturally)
regard as the outraged dignity of their House,
as the hereditary branch of the Imperial Legislature,
as the second of the three great estates of the realm,
as an integral and not insignificant part of the deli-
cate and complex machinery of the Constitution.

are bad, prices very high, and as the stores
are frequently licensed to sell beer and spirits,
the Truck system is a very unnecessary
encouragement to intemperance. The man is
a slave, and his wife and family are compelled
to exist on what is left from the ' extortion of
the employer and the drunkenness of the employed.
Unhappily this inquiry into the state of affairs in
Scotland cannot claim the poor merit of revealing
a novelty. It has not required nearly forty years
to reveal a mode of evading the Act from which so
much was expected. It was evaded almost imme-
diately. The system adopted in Lanarkshire was
common in 1842, when a select committee investi-
gated the subject. This committee found that
the Act had done little or nothing, and that
the evils of the truck system were still felt all
over the country. In 1853 the Government em-
ployed a Mr. BURTON to make inquiries, and this
gentleman found the very system of monthly pay-
ments and advances which we now hear of flourishing
in Scotland at that time. It is evident that the Act
of 1831 has proved of very little utility, and that the
evil can be repressed only by much more effective
machinery. Mr. BURTON was of opinion that it could
not be suppressed at all—that the Act of 1831 only
promoted the truck system by bringing about
more perfect organisation on the part of em-
ployers. This conclusion seems to be as hazardous as
it undoubtedly is deplorable. Legislation can never
be expected to wholly exterminate offences ; it can
be beneficial only in proportion as it renders
them more difficult. That no effective improve-
ment on the crude Act of 1831 is possible
is a decision which ought not to be
accepted without experiment. Despite Mr.
BURTON'S authority, there can be no doubt that the
law might render this indirect truck system more
difficult, for, in fact, nothing could be more easy
than the present evasion of the statute,
The intervals of time in which workmen's
wages are payable, the increase of penalties, and
a system of inspection, are all matters for considera-
tion. There can be little difficulty in discovering
where this indirect system is practised ; and why
should " indirect truck" be less punishable than
direct ? It will be deplorable indeed if we have to
confess that the evil is one which must go unchecked.
because we can do nothing with it.

WE enter upon this week with some anxiety.
The points upon which the two Houses of
Parliament are opposed are now narrowed to a
very small compass. Concurrent endowment
is dead ; was, in fact, never really alive. On
some important points Mr. GLADSTONE has made
considerable concessions. There are but two
points which now remain open, and out of which
a dangerous collision is likely to arise. The first is
the Appropriation Cause—and here we do not
despair of a compromise which will allow the bill to
pass. The Lords want to get rid of the clause which
specifies the uses to which the fund shall be applied;
and in this they are supported by a considerable
number of Liberals, who hold that the objects named
by the Government are not the best, and will open
the door to jobbery. The Lords want also to strike
out that part of the preamble which forbids appropria-
tion to ecclesiastical purpcses. This is the second point
of difference. Now, it is clear that the two points
here raised are widely different. Mr. GLADSTONE
is pledged over and over again in the most solemn
manner that the fund shall not be applied to eccle-
siastical purposes, and rather than yield that point
he will resign, and call upon the Conservative party
to undertake the hopeless task of forming a Ministry.
But while he is thus resolute as to the pur-
pose to which the fund shall not be applied, we
see no indication of such a resolution as to the
purposes to which it shall be applied. In fact, Mr.
BRIGHT defended the Ministerial scheme more as a '
pis-aller than upon its intrinsic merits. No one,
he said, had devised a better. But that is no reason
why, if time were granted, a better should not be
devised hereafter. This is the feeling which
influences a large number of Liberal M.P.'s,
a much larger number probably than those who
had the courage to vote against their party on _Friday
night. The argument that the want of unity among
the critics proves that the Government ought to persist
with their own plan will not stand. It does not follow
that because no better plan has been thought of none
is possible. All may be bad, the Government scheme
included, though we do not think it is, rather we
believe it to be good. But if so, it will stand
the test of investigation and competition.
Moreover, it is possible that there may be
enough money for both the Ministerial scheme
and some other, such as that which Earl
RUSSELL means to propose—educational purposes.
The money will not be in hand for
some years to come. And though the history of the
Appropriation Clause thirty years ago may make
Ministers anxious to avoid keeping this question open,
a very-strongly pronounced opinion in favour of that
course ought to have weight when it is urged by
their own supporters. We need hardly add that
such a concession ought to be accepted by the Lords,
and all the more because it would, according to the
opinion of many of them, still render it possible to
do, so far as legislation is concerned, that which we
believe to be really impossible.

LATEST INTELL MENCE

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AMERICA.

NEW YORK, July 17.

One hundred and forty men belonging to Colonel
Ryan's filibustering expedition have been captured
on Gardener's Island, and sent as prisoners to the
Brooklyn Navy-yard.

The North German Lloyd steamer Rhein ar-
rived here at 4 a.m. to-day, and the Leipzig at
Baltimore at 9 a.m. to-day.
The steamers which leave to-day for Europe
take out $450,000 in epecie.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
CLOSING PRICES.
Gold closed at 136 the highest quotation dur-
ing the day was 136 ; the lowest, 1351.
Sterling Exchange on London llOl.
5-20 U. S. Bonds, 1882 l23k.

11
" 1885 l2li.
" 1867..0,• l2Ol.
10-40 11
Illinois l44k.
Erie 29k.

Cotton—Mid. upland 34/le.
Petroleum—Standard White 3lle
4 •
Flour, extra state, $6.20c. to $6.80c. Corn, old
mixed, 100 e.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, SUNDAY, July 18.

The new Ministry has made its appearance in the
columns of the Journal Officiel. We expected that it
would be an ordinary affair, and our expectations have
been realised. Five new Ministers have been appointed;
the rest retain their portfolios. The Prince de la Tour
d'Auvergne will leave the Embassy at London to become
Foreign Minister. He belongs to one of the most illus-
trious of French families, and has passed all his life in
diplomacy. As a politician he is making his first essay.
M. Duvergier becomes Minister of Justice. He has been
one of the leading French barristers for the last thirty
years. In 1855 he became a member of the Council of
State. He is old man—born in 1792—but still hale and
active. M. Alfred Le Roux, the banker, has been Vice-
President of the Corps Ugislatif since 1863. He now
takes the portfolio of Commerce and Agriculture. He
is a politician of very polished manners. M. Bourbeau
takes the Ministry of Public Instruction. He is Maire of
Poitiers, and i a new member of the Corps Legislatif, but
his reputation as a jurist is considerable. The Count tie
Chasseloup-Laubat commenced political life about forty
years ago, and has already been Minister of Marine and of
Algeria. He now becomes President of the Council of
State.

All the new Ministers are Imperialists. Not one of
them claims fellowship with the Moderate Liberals, and
only one, M. Bourbenu, was amongst the famous Cent-
Seize who got up the demand for Ministerial responsibi-
lity. The new party has been excluded. There
is no • doubt that the claims of MM. Segris,
de TalhouCt, and 011ivier, the leaders of the
moderate Liberals, have been considered by the Emperor,
but this consideration has not ended in their appointment.
The new Ministry is of the old materials. The Moderates
are angry at the result, and, judging by the tone of their
representative, the Literte, I should say that they intend
to make a further attack upon the Imperial system,
reformed though it be. It appears that offers were made to
some of the Moderate Liberals, but the changes which the
Emperor offered to make were not deemed sufficiently
trenchant by 011ivier and his colleagues.
The dissatisfaction at the prorogation of the Corps
L6gislatif is by no means on the decrease. It is now cer-
tain that the step was taken on the advice of M. Schneider,
the President of the Chamber. The Emperor admits that
it was an error, and we are in full expectation that the
deputies will be summoned together again in aday or two.
Our Members of Parliament, as you know, are paid about
£4OO for a session's work. For this supplementary
session they were to receive a sum of £lOO ; but
the pay office has been closed, and no money distributed,
showing that the supplementary session is not yet at an
end.

A mine was exploded in a quarry near Marseilles a day
or two ago. A mass of stone, weighing fifteen tons, was
detached, and hurled over the brow of the hill by the
force of the explosion. It rolled down gathering impetus
as it went, carrying everything before it, and finally
breaking through the wall of a church at the bottom of
the declivity. It made a hole five square yards in extent,
and destroyed part of the altar. The block had to be sawn
in pieces in order to get it out of the edifice.
A strange story of the adventures of a French crew
comes to us from New Orleans. In the month of August
1863 the French vessel Adelina Eliza left Bordeaux
for Hong Kong, and was never heard of after rounding
the Cape of Good Hope. A hurricane in the Indian
Ocean drove her for thirty days towards the Pacific, and
at length wrecked her on a coral island. The crew took
to their boats, and reached the island, where they were
assailed by savages. Only three escaped, and of
these two speedily died. The third managed
to reach another piece of land, in a canoe.
This proved to be part of South America. The
solitary sailor crossed the whole of the Continent on
foot, enduring incredible hardships, until at length he fell
in with some Spanish Americans. He has recently
arrived at Bordeaux, after six years' absence.