The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-07 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times remarks that, an objection urged by Lord
Salisbury against a provision of the Habitual Criminals
Eill shews a misconception of the real principle of the
measure. The bill empowers magistrates to prohibit for
qt year the grant of licenses to beerhouses by whomsoever
at the time kept, in the event of two previous convictions
having been obtained against former keepers. Lord
Salisbury argued that this was to make a landlord respon•
'Bible for the character of his tenant, and asked why the
same principle should not be applied to all other kinds of
property. It is certainly true that the provision makes a
person innocent of the particular offence charged liable,
in some respects, for it. But it is undeniable that a
Jandlord has it far more than anyone else within his power
to secure his property against being made a stronghold for
marauders against the peaceably disposed. Under the
circumstances contemplated by the bill of open war
having been long waged against society from these localities,
a proprietor can hardly complain if society, in the exercise
of its duty to protect property generally, brings pressure
to bear upon him to cooperate with it mere energetically
and directly than would ordinarily be his duty. When
Lord Salisbury can discover other kinds of pro.
perty equally of a nature with the premises in
question to be made instrumental to crime, and also
equally capable of being marked as having been so
applied already, it will be time to consider whether their
owners should not have the like obligation laid upon
them.

The Standard complains of the manner in which Irish
Churchmen are dealt with, and declares that if anything
could be more shameful than the iniquity of this contrasted
indulgence to Popery and harsh dealing with Protes-
tantism, it would be the way in which Mr. Gladstone has
met the exposure of his injustice. " Very well," he says,
enforce my pledge, if you will ; recall the Maynooth Grant,
in toto, if you like ; but I will revenge myself by robbing
Trinity College of every sixpence it possesses." Such is
the menace he holds out to us through his respectable and
influential organs in the press. AS if there were
the least relation between a parliamentary grant and
corporate estates enjoyed for centuries by a private society 1
As if the exaction of the fulfilment of a promise connected
by Mr. Gladstone himself with the disestablishment of the
Church could afford a plea for the vindictive spoliation of
a college whose only offence is its connection with the
Church and the support of Mr. Gladstone's opponents !
What must be the feelings of the Irish Protestants under
such aggravated wrong and insult and injustice as this?
What can they think of the Parliament which can tole-
rate such proposals ; or how must they regard the rival
Church which is to be " conciliated" by such lavish indul-
gence, while they are treated with suchunmerited insolence
and unfairness? And what will be the state of Ireland
when the consummation of wrongs like these shall have
effectually alienated from the English Government its
most reliable supporters, and inflamed the hearts cf the
plundered Protestants with that resentment towards their
Boman Catholic countrymen which men of spirit and
sensibility cannot but feel towards those who have been
elevated by their degredation and enriched by their spoils;
who triumph in their wrongs and insult their helplessness;
who have brought about this robbery and assisted in it in
deliberate violation of solemn engagements, of reiterated
pledges, of every obligation that could bind the consciences
of Christians or the honour of gentlemen?
The Times, in discussing Mr. Graves's speech in favour
of cheap postage, thinks it unreasonable that because a
penny was the charge fixed for an ordinary letter in days
when the post was hardly used at all for the conveyance
of printed matter except a few newspapers, therefore the
smallest coin for which the Government will carry any
communication, written or printed, is still a penny.
The] consequence is that England instead of being in
the van of postage progress has fallen into the rear.
Toreign countries give special facilities for the circulation
of printed matter, whether in the shape of newspapers,
literary magazines, or circulars of every kind. The post-
age of a circular in France costs one centime, in Italy two
centimes, in Spain less than a farthing. The postage on
newspapers is equally low. In France one-fifth of a
penny carries a letter even into Algeria. In Tuscany,
the Netherlands, Brazil, Portugal, the charge is only one-
fourth of a penny, while in Switzerland it is one-third of
a penny. Many other instances equally remarkable could '
be produced. There are few English travellers in the
United States who have failed to observe not only the
number of newspapers, but also their wide diffusion. In
a moderately-sized town of one State you will find at any
public room papers from every other State, many of them
published at places of no great importance. The cause of
this is the special facility which the Government gives for
the transmission of printed matter. Newspapers are
taken at the lowest possible rates, and within certain dis-
tances a number of them are carried gratis. Small publi-
cations, such as magazines and serials, have similar
advantages. If this can be done over an immense territory
where, notwithstanding the enterprise of the people, the
means of communication are still in a rude state, how
much better can it be done in these small and and thickly-
populated islands, where there is hardly a village which
cannot be reached in two or three hours from a neighbouring
railway station ! There is ample evidence to shew that
the high postage acts as a powerful hindrance to the
spread of intelligence. Even if a certain loss were incurred
by the giving of new facilities, it would be a wise policy to
submit to it, for, though no one will despise the surplus
derived from the Post Office, still a gain on this depart-
ment ought to be a consideration second to that of efficient
service. If every newspaper were carried for a halfpenny,
it is impossible to over-estimate the advantage to all
parts of the kingdom, and especially to the rural districts.
The immediate consideration of the Government has been
promised, and the arguments in favour of further reform
are so convincing that there can be no doubt of the
result.

The Star thinks that the advocates of cheap postage
must now be satisfied, since after sixty-four members have
*been found to stand against a combination of parties in
defence of a halfpenny postage for books, packets, and
newspapers, the topic cannot be trifled with. Mr.
Mundella tells us that it actually pays to send batches of
circulars intended for English destinations abroad to he
posted. He tells us of 400 circulars being despatched
abroad to addresses in this country for 3s. 3d., which, if
put into the post at St. Martin's-le-Grand, or anywhere
in England, would have cost .£5. Such anomalies as these
cannot possibly be defended. To name them is to mark
them for removal. All testimony shews that, h.aving
once got the idea of the penny postage from us,
foreign countries have developed it to an extent and with
a nicety which we have never achieved ; and that cheap-
ness—the leading idea of our penny post system—has also
been the leading idea of the foreign improvements upon it.
A newspaper goes from Palermo to Aberdeen for a less
fee than would frank it from Fleet-street to Hornsey.
This proves, not that the Italian Government have adopted
a whimsically low scale of charge, not merely that the
British Government have given a foreign Power by treaty
advantages which they do not reciprocate, but that our
Post Office, with all its efficiency, has not grasped the
real extent of the service which it may render to the
public. The question of bulk is undoubtedly a serious
one, but it is too late to permit it to stand between us
and a copious extension of the parcel service of the Post
Office.

The Post considers the condition of Ireland, and affirms
that we must not blame the Irish constabulary, who have
repeatedly proved themselves to be an active and intelli-
gent body, for failures which are in point of fact inherent
in the circumstances under which they are placed. The
suspension of the Habeas Corpus Act was directed ex.
clusively at the Fenian agitators, and with the extinction
of Fenianism—properly so called—it was finally imagined
that no further necessity would arise of resorting
to so harsh and unusual a measure. But the
fact is that these recent agrarian outrages, as they are
called, are virtually only a different symptom of the same
inveterate disease, that they owe their impunity to
the same causes, and that they require the same treat-
ment. Severity has been tried in Ireland, and severity
has failed ; liberality—reckless liberality—has been tried,
and that, too, has failed. Why not combine the two? Give,
and give liberally, those concessions which they can fairly
claim to the just demands of the Irish people ; but while
you concede so much with one hand, let the other restrain
with prompt severity the excesses of a set of ruffians whose
hearts, if they have any, your legislation can never reach.
The time is ripe for a strong and decided policy. Mr.
Gladstone, a Liberal Premier, at the head of the largest
majority which has been seen in the present century, need
not fear the assaults of any political detractor ; and the
author of a measure so broad, so wise, and so truly Liberal
as his Church Bill, cannot be accused of a disposition to
resort unadvisedly to tyrannical measures. Sweep away
the " alien " Church, restore religious equality—go further
if you like, and modify the laws which adjust the relations
between landlord and tenant—but be as s!r ,ng as you are
wise, and fortify
the hands of the officers of justice by
another temporary suspension of the -Habeas Corpus Act,
till you can afford to the loyal inhabitant of Ireland some
security from acts of personal violence which are a stain
and a disgrace to our boasted civilisation.

A VERY CURIOUS PEOPLE.—The Ameer of
A IT•zhanistan is described, by one who had the best oppor-
tunity of judging, as a clever well-informed man, with
considerable knowledge of European politics. But his first
experience of Anglo-Indian drawing-rooms is said to have
greatly surprised him. "The English," he remaiked,
" are a curious people ; they can fight, work, and bear
hardships as well as any of us ; but when they are in
quarters just look in what good order and how clean they
have everything." He then contrasted this cleanliness
wits the needleis dirt he h4d-left behind him at Calm':