The Sun.
London, England, 1869-01-13 00:00:00

THE ELECTIONS.

Mr. R. Dudley Baxter comes forwara to piny the
part of a political Mr. Toots. He is a Conservative;
and has been trying to get comfort to himself from
the returns as to the elceions. He finds, according
to his own calculations, that there is a Liberal
majority of 111. But he assures us, as a
party man, " it's of no consequence." He
discovers the Liberal majority to have increased
by 37 votes since the last Parliament—but it's
of no consequence. He acknowledges that both
Scotland and Ireland have pronounced unmistake-
ably for the disestablishment of the Irish Church—
but it's of no consequence. The Reform Bill of Mr.
Disraeli was a satisfactory measure, notwithstanding
that it has destroyed its author's Ministry and disor-
ganised his party. Mr. Baxter chews reason for his
jubilation. The Reform Bill of 1831 positively for
the time destroyed the Conservatives, and made them
powerless until the new voters became what Mr.
Baxter calls " conservatised." But by the new bill
only nineteen seats have been handed over to the
Liberals—" a mere nothing when compared with so
great an enlargement of the suffrage." Besides, the
Conservatives represent a larger number than the
Liberals. Mr. Baxter has made calculations, and
finds that on the population the Conservatives have a
net gain in the United Kingdom of 430,000. More: in
England there is a net gain of 2,ooo,ooovoters, besides,
which the Irish Church as a question by itself decided
the elections, and, seeing the number of Dissenters in
Ireland and Scotland, the vote must of necessity go
against the Conservatives' position. Mr. Baxter
hopes, therefore, that the next elections will chew a
reaction. The Times, in criticising the letter, declares
Conservatism to be dying. What it wants is a man
like Peel, courageous enough to free himself from
mere party traditions, and strike out a path. of his
own. Such a man the "leading journal" thinks the
Tories have not got.

MR. MORLEY, M.P., ON THE LIBERATION SOCIETY.

Mr. Morley's withdrawal from the Liberation
Society since he became member for Bristol, has
excited some comment among his co-religionists. In
reply to a letter from a Bristol Nonconformist, Mr.
Morley says that he holds, as distinctly as ever he did,
the opinions that religion is hindered and the
spiritual character of the Church injured by political
interference. But his conviction deepens that the
cessation of such interference is not to be brought
about by an assault on the part of Nonconformists,
but by indoctrinating the public mind with right
views as to the separate functions of the Church and
the State, and by encouraging Churchmen to seek
more liberty. His chief objection to the Liberation
Society consists in the declaration of its wish to
apply to secular uses the national property of the
Established Churches. He could not be committed
to this hard-and-fast line, and therefore, while he
has cordially co-operated with the society in efforts
for abolishing church rates, opening the universities,
and securing the right of burial in churchyards, he
cannot continue a member of the association. This
is a remarkable statement, coining from such a
quarter. It seems to indicate that there is a party,
even among the opponents of State Churches, who do
not wish to secularise Church property ; in a word,
that while Mr. Gladstone will have their assistance in
disestablishing the Irish Church, he must not count
upon their unconditional support-when he comes to
disendowment.

THE IRISH BISHOPS

According to the _Record, the Irish bishops have
been holding a meeting at Dublin, to consider what
ought to be their course with respect to the disesta-
blishment of the Irish Church. The variety of the
proposals made showed, according to our con-
temporary, how entirely the bishops were without a
policy, and how soundly they had been slumbering
until the enemy was thundering at the doors. It
was found impossible, from a want of unanimity, to
carry a proposal for confiding the defence
of the Irish Church to the two arch-
bishops and a suffragan, who were to act
as delegates in London. But at last it was
resolved that there should be a memorial to the
Crown, with the view of inducing the Government
to assemble the two Houses of Convocation of both
provinces, which are, in fact, under the patriarchal
iurisdiction of the Archbishop of Armagh.

A STRANGE STORY.
There is an exceedingly strange story, which we
can hardly credit, in the Live)7)ool Porcupine. And
yet it is one which would not be told without some
foundation. A correspondent writes :—" The new
Liberal brooms are making a clean sweep of their
new establishment, and in doing so have discovered
a number of very foul spots which their Conservative
predecessors have left behind them. Amongst the rest,
it is positively affirmed that the new heads of depart-
ment have made the startling discovery that immense
sums of public money have been illegally expended in
a vain attempt to keep the late Government in power.
It is further stated that the Bank of England has
advanced money on loan for the same purpose, and
that the sum total so obtained and expended will
greatly astonish the nation. Mr. Lowe is said to
have got a full scent of this terrible mare's-nest;
and, as his budget is to be produced about the middle
or latter end of February, the public may reasonably
look forward for disclosures of a most sensational and
scandalous nature. As a matter of course the illegal
transactions to which I allude were unknown to
the responsible Ministers in whose departments they
occurred." -