The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-30 00:00:00

THE CHANGES IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS.

According to the computation of the Daily News,
the changes in the personnel of the House of Com-
mons have been more numerous during the year than
usual. Not only has there been more than the
average number of deaths; the election judges
have been the means of erasing a large
number of names from the roll of the 6.58.
Since the general election, and exclusive of the re-
elections consequent on the appointments in the
Government, 20 constituencies have been called
upon to return members to Parliament, viz.:—
Twenty cities and boroughs, eight counties, and
one of the two Scottish University constituencies.
Of these 20 elections, 22 were contested, ani.
in only seven cases was no cpposition offered
to the return of the new members. Ex-
cluding the convict who was sent to Parliament
for Tipperary, Liberals were succeeded by Liberals in
fifteen constituencies, whilst Conservatives were re-
placed by politicians holding similar opinions in seven
constituencies. The balance of party (says the Daily
News) remains undisturbed, for, against the Liberal
gains in the City of London, Bewdley, and Brecon,
the Conservatives point to victories in Dumfries-
shire, Stafford, and Glasgow and Aberdeen Univer-
sities. This statement is not strictly correct, for
the Liberals gained a seat at Taunton by the substi-
tution of Mr. Henry James for Serj cant Oox. Eleven
deaths have occurred : Johnstone, 70
years of age ; Mr. F. North, (19 ; Mr. D. Williams.
63; Mr. C. Mo 65 ; Mr. C. Bell, 64 ; Sir A. W.
Buller, 60; Mr. E. C. Egerton, 53; Admiral Sey-
mour, 51 ; Sir R. J. Clifton, 43 ; Sir T. Gresley, 30
and Captain Speirs, 28. Seven of these were
Liberals, and four were Conservatives.

LAND TENURE CONFERENCE IN DUBLIN.

The tenure agitation in Ireland is assuming
an imposing magnitude before the meeting,
of Parliament. It is proposed to hold a con-
ference in Dublin at an early date to consult on the
best means of securing the tenant-farmers against
"arbitrary increase of rents," and to "protect their
right of continuous occupancy from capricious viola-
tion without infringing on any of the just rights or
legitimate influences incident to the enjoyment of
landed property." Lords Granard and Greville,
fourteen members of Parliament, and several mayors.
deputy-lieutenants, and magistrates, signed the requisi-
tion to this conference.. It is proposed to assemble:
representatives of the Lords and Commons, the
clergy, landed gentry, and municipal and poor-law
authorities.

THE LATE PUBLIC ORATOR AT CAMBRIDGE AND

TESTS.

An attempt is being made to use the recent letter
of Mr. Clarke, the late public orator at Cambridge,
resigning his orders, as an argument against the
abolition of University tests. There is evidently
great religious disquietude at the Universities,
arising out of the incessant clash of opinion.
Much of this continued unsettlement is attri-
buted to the latitude claimed by the supporters
of an abolition of tests. Parents are asked whether
they would care to have their sons brought con-
tinually in contact with—nay, ruled by and taught to
honour—men who say publicly they do not believe
God spike words that the Scriptures declare came
from Him. A member of the Cambridge Senate
hints that the recent Liberal movement in the
universities comes from men who are in somewhat
the same position as Mr. Clarke. He must have been
same time considering this subject, and .yet he slid
not a word of his doubts until he resigned his place.
The plain deduction to be drawn from this is that
the moment the tests are withdrawn we shall have
a number of repressed doubts taught openly. The
member of the Senate sees nothing immoral in a
system which, according to him, leads the chief
public teachers to narrow their minds against the
investigation of religious questions. It does not
strike him that if whet he says is true—and it is a
mere assumption—a large number of professors are
untrue to themselves and the world.

THE AMERICAN DESPATCHE3.

"Ilistoricus" writes a- severe letter on the un-
happy Alabama correspondence which has been pub-
lished to make " the saddest season of the year" still
sad ler. "Ilistoricus " exposes the mis-statements
of Mr. Fish very much as Lord Clarendon
exposed them. "Since the famous bulletins of tl:e
First Napoleon such liberties have probably never
b,:ea taken with facts for political purposes as those
ventured upon in the despatch of Mr. Fish." The
rifutation of arguments based upon assertions whisk
all the world know to be unfounded is superfluous.
Bet one point in this remarkable document is worthy
of note, and that is the passage in which the Aue-
r:can Socretary claims that English sympathy ought
to have been given to the North on the ground that
the object of the civil war was to put down
slavery, which the Southern secession was meant to
uphold. " Ilistoricus" points out that if we had
paid attention to the merits of the dispute between
the two parties, we should not have been neutrals at
all. A neutral has no business to express any
sympathy ; it is essentially his province to be not
olly lukewarm, but cold. If this claim means
alything at all, it means that the Northern
Government, having regard to the merits of
their cause and the demerits of that of their
a lversary, were entitled to expect that England
should not be neutral, but should from the first have
espoused their side.