The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-17 00:00:00

ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE. AND CIRCUS, HOLBORN.

THIs EVENING, the Great Carre Troupe and magnificent Stud
of 50 Horses; also Alfred Bradbury, A. Carre, &c., and the
Salamander Home.

OBRISTY MINSTREIS, St. James's Hall, Every Night; at 8
Wednesdays and Z'aturdays, at 3 and 8 all the year round.

ST. GEORGE'S THEATRE, REGENT STREET.

THIS EVHNINH, at 8, THE ROYAL ORIGINAL CHRISTY'S
MINSTRELS' Ethiopian Entertainment: and the Burlesque
Extravagsnza, THE VERY GRAND DIITCH—S

ROYAL AL 11 AMB RA PALACE. THREE BALLETS
Promenade Concert. Band of 60. Begin at 8. ls. Box-oft:leo
open from 11 to 4.

ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS, Regent's-pack, OPEN daily (ex-
cept Sundays). Admission, ls.; on Mondays, 6d. Children
under ttrelxe, 6d.

„cf.. 7 ,
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tolirt

LONDON, SATURDAY, APRIL 17, 1869.

Another swingeing majority in favour of the Irish
Church Bill in the House of Commons' Committee !
Clause Number Two—dissolving the Legislative
Union between the Churches of England and Ire-
land—is affirmed or approved in a house of 565 ; for
the clause, 344, against it 221—otherwise, 123 as
the last of these great majorities on the side
of the Government. The result is certainly a bad
augury for Mr. DISRAELI'S long string of amend-
ments. The tug of war comes on the very first of
them, with a back-fall at the close of it, thus disastrous
and overwhelming. Ex uno—we all know the rest.
Is it worth while—to no end whatever—frittering
away, thus, the time of the Legislature ? Are there to
be divisions upon all the amendments, one after
another—with a dead certainty beforehand of pre-
cisely these tediously iterated results ? Last session,
during the old Parliament, the clear majority sup-
porting Mr. GLADSTONE in his Irish Church policy
wavered between Sixty and Seventy. This session,
in the new Parliament, it wavers between 120 and
130. The monotony of the thing is becoming tedi-
ous. What is possibly to be gained by a persistence
in this course, it is difficult to conjecture. The pro-
gress made is like that of a raw recruit on a greased
pavement, marking time, at the goose-step. It is
worse than simply ridiculous. It is outraging one's
common sense, merely to watch it. Whatever may
be said in support of these amendments, as was in-
stanced only last evening in regard to the first
on the long list, it all comes to the same thing
in the end the whips are plied sharply on
both sides, on the side of the Government,
and on the side of the Opposition, with a clear ma-
jority to the former, to be expressed only in three
figures. Mr. DISRAELI was as heartily i❑ earnest as
be could be yesterday—but all to no avail. Prefac-
ing his speech just before the division with the ac-
knowledgment or declaration that the Prime Minister
had accurately described his intention as springing
out of an earnest wish to level a mortal blow at the
Bill, the Leader of the Opposition shrank not from
asserting— " If I could devise any plan to defeat a
measure which the thought of every day the more
convinces me is the most pernicious measure that
has ever keen introduced in my time into this
House, I certainly should not shrink from any
fair attempt to accomplish that end." But--
is this a fair attempt ? This hopeless dividing
of the House over and over again, -without the
slightest chance of turning the tables against the
Government? The other night the majority on the
side of Ministers was one of 126. Last night it was
a majority of 123. Are we to look on complacently,
and without a murmur of impatience, while the
changes are being rung on those numerals, through
a long series of amendments, designed apparently
only to delay and obstruct the course of legis-
lation ? If there were anything to be gained by it