The Sun.
London, England, 1858-07-10 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 10, 1851.

The session is now rapidly approaching its ter-
mination. For once noble lords and right hon-
ourables and honourable gentlemen will be per-
mitted to depart before August, and that although
the'Ministers were not regularly installed in office
and re-elected until the close of the second week
in March. They have certainly not been idle during
tbninterval. The vexed question respecting the
future government of India has been satisfactorily
disposed of. The property qualification has been
for ever abolished, and there is every reason to
hope that the discussions and divisions which
byre taken place will lead to the settlement of
questions in which the community at large take a
deep interest, including the Ballot, the Extension
of the Franchise, and the Abolition of Church-
rates. Ministers have acquired a high reputation
for the zeal, energy, and ability displayed. They
have shown that they were a vast im-
provement on the select family party whom
they superseded, and the hints thrown out by the
Chancellor of the Exchequer indicate that much
more will be ,done when time and opportunity
are propitious.

Mr. DISRAELI last night answered several inter •
rogatories that had been exhibited during the
evening,- and in a perfectly straightforward and
satisfactory nnaiiner. There was no mystification.
He spoke plainly, and distinctly, so that "he
who runs might read," and clearly understand
the real state of the case.

The first point• referred to the creation of a
department of justice, in conformity with the
resolution of the House of Commons, adopted two
years since. It was carried, on the motion of
the Right Hon. JOSEPH NAPIER, now Lord
Chancellor of Ireland, and was supported by those
whd now occupy the Ministerial benches. The
members of the Cabinet would, therefore, rejoice
in bringing to a satisfactory conclusion a measure
entirely their own, and for which they could
claim the entire credit, and which had been ne-
glected by their predecessors for two entire years.
Considering the vast amount of pressing business
that could not possibly be postponed, the country
]tea every reason to be satisfied with the intima-
tion that, " when the necessary information on
laio_ subject was supplied, he (M
x_r. DISRAELI)
*odd be prepared to act in accordance with the
tesolution at which the house had arrived."

On the all-important question of Church-rates
that now occasions so much vexation and annoy-
ance, and Which ought to be disposed of, no less
for the sake of the Church by law established,
than for that of the numerous and influential
congregations of Dissenters who conscientiously
object to the . impost, Mr. DISRAELI declared
that "her MAJESTY'S Ministers did not relinquish
the hope of settling the question, and that they

would taste the earliest opportunity, after the
re-assembi ing of Parliament, to ask the opinion of
the Legish aura upon a bill which he.yrould intro-
duce, in the hope and belief that it would be
accepted as -a satisfactory solution of a long-con-
troverted subject." This is as it should be. It
proves that the Government are not deaf to the
voice of public opinion, and that there is a far
better prospect of obtaining really liberal mea-
sures at their hands than there would have been
had their predecessors remained in, or been re-
stored to office, and Lord PALMERSTON had esta-
blished a political dictatorship such as that at
which he aimed.

Another point, and one of no ordinary impor-
tance, was also adverted to. The Government
acknowledge the propriety of holding autumnal
Sessions of Parliament to pave the way for the
despatch of business, before the heat of the wea-
ther, and the filthy Thames, combine to drive
members of both Houses to their country seats
and amusements. Lord STANLEY has already
powerfully advocated this great improvement. He
has shown how much better the business of
the country could be transacted under more
judicious arrangements than are at present in
operation. We cannot hope that the beneficial
change can be inaugurated during the present
year. There are abundant reasons for not inter-
fering with plans already formed, or imposing
additional labours on those who have, under so
many disadvantages, so well performed their duty.
But there is every reason to hope that during next
session a system will be introduced which will at the
same time be conducive to the public interest and
in accordance with the wishes of those who
undertake the labours of legislation. Should
Lord DEEIY's Cabinet be enabled to effect
these matters, and to carry a large and compre-
hensive measure of Reform, the people will have
reason to bless the moment that replaced those
who called themselves Liberals, but were very
ultra Tories at heart, by those who, Tories only
in name, were desirous of introducing wise and
wholesome enactments.

There is nothing of greater importance, in a
commercial point of view, than the improvement
of our communications with large and rising
colonies in other hemispheres. Any appearance
of apathy or carelessness on such a point may be
productive of the very worst results. Our colo-
nial fellow subjects are naturally irascible, and
what we may deem impatient, at any appearance
of negligence. They feel their own importance
and naturally require that the service, for which
they are willing to pay most liberally, should be
efficiently and fairly performed. They will
not tolerate jobs very prejudicial to their own
interests. Of course there may be an occasional
failure, from causes that could not be anticipated,
but such accidents should be the exception, not
the rule ; and when they are of almost daily
occurrence, they may justly complain of the de-
fective arrangements under which such a state of
affairs can possibly arise.
A very slight amount of geographical know-
ledge, such as would be required by any candi-
date for a clerkship t Somerset-house or in the
Customs, would show that the route via
the Isthmus of Panama possesses extraordi-
nary advantages over any other that can be
devised. It will not at the present time be
deemed sufficient to transmit our Australian
mails, either by the Cape of Good
Hope or Cape Horn ; and that by the Over-
land route has certainly not fulfilled the
reasonable expectations that were indulged
in ; with anything like proper management
the time might be considerably abridged. The
Panama Railway conveys, securely and
speedily, large amounts of specie from Cali-
fornia to New York. It, might therefore,
be entrusted with the conveyance of Aus-
tralian gold and Australian correspondence.
There is no extraordinary difficulty in the way, no
impediment that may not easily be surmounted by
ordinary care and attention. Ili We trust, then,
that no time will be lost in introducing a better
system ; one that will be satisfactory to the
inhabitants of Great Britain and beneficial to
those of Australia.

Many of the Liberals in the House of Commons
are getting uneasy. They have again, we are
told, made an attempt to re-unite, and again
failed. We believe there will yet be many such
failures, and there ought to be failure after
failure, till either a decidedly Liberal leader
comes forward, or till the old ones adopt conduct
worthy of their name. In some quarters, where
we ought not to look for it, there is no little
bitterness against Mr. MILNER GIBSON, Mr.
BRIGHT, and the other independent Liberals, for
their refusal to act a factious part, and for their
obtaining liberal concessions from a Conservative
Government. The latter, certainly, is wholly
the fault of Whig Administrations, which left
these measures for their successors. And one
would suppose that the former, although veiled
under the more plausible charge of " deserting
their party," is an accusation which can do
little harm. The truth is, there are in
the House of Commons, as in . most really
popular bodies, TIME PARTIES. This fact
the Whigs ignore. They always boast as
if the Radicals belonged to them. The more in-
telligent section of that party no more belong to
them than they do to the Tories. Their avowed
rule is measures, not men ; and since the Whigs
uniformly desert them when they bring their own
most highly-prized measures forward, they can
claim no right to their allegiance.
A Dissenting quarterly of no humble preten-
sions, so far as bulk and rather heavy but
.solid
knowledge-are concerned, actually takes us, and,
we believe, the great majority of Dissenters
too, to task, for making hay under a Tory sun.
It " protests against the political immorality of
those Liberals who seem well pleased to carry
liberal measures by squeezing them from the grasp
of an illiberal Government." Such conduct, it is
stated, will " school men into contempt and
loathing of their rulers," and those " whets should
have been guardians of pure political feeling,"
will do by it " the worst possible mischiefs." In-
deed ! in our simplicity we thought we were
doing the greatest passible good, politically.
Our wisdom (or our partisanship) may not
equal that of the Reviewer in the British Quar-
terly, but we beg to protest too ; and our protest
is against the very easy argument of branding as
immorality what it would be, as we conceive, diffi-
cult enough to prove to be so. Does not the Editor
well know that had Lord PALMERSTON, or his pet,
Lord JoHN RUSSELL, been in power, we should
have equally been compelled to use the squeezing
process ?. We should like to know what really
liberal measures could be got from our so-called
Liberal Governments, except by " squeezing
them from their grasp I" And, also, what earthly
difference it makes, either in morality or expe-
diency, whether we squeeze them from one section
of an unwilling aristrooracy or from the other ?
In our view of the position of the honestly
Liberal party—the party,. we mean, which can
trust the people with real power, for that is our
definition of the Liberal party—it must fight for

all concessions as much with one aristocratic.
clique as with the other. The difference is the
Conserv/it-iv-631111M; 'pen, manly opposition, the
Whigs by evasion and trickery. We prefer the
former as enemies. TI Ley do not make false pro-
fessions, at least ; and they yield when they are
fairly beaten.
We have some know pledge of Dissenters. We
have always heartily joined them• in battling for
their liberties, from the e Test and Corporation
Acts contest, to the lasi' fight in the Lords over
Church-rates, and vie az a confident that they do
not as a body denounce the conduct of indepen-
, dent journals or indepew lent members as " poli-
tically immoral," in Vile course they have taken
with the !DERBY Ministry. The weekly journals
of the mast ability araongs t them—the Freeman
amongst the Baptists, and the Nunconfurntist
amongst the Independents —have ably supported a
perfectly independent corn Use, and have thought
it perfectly moral to get HI. feral measures from any
Government which would g ive them. The oldest
review amongst dissenters a dopts the same course.
Indeed, we must retort rathoer the charge of poli-
tical immorality on those who would persist in
treating as Liberals, Ministers who would make a
Cabinet measure of no liberal demand ; who year
after year could shuffle off a Reform Bill, and who can
persist in refusing a 10/. County. Franchise, the
Ballot, and the abolition of Church-rates. Why
we should care to keep such men in power, or to
restore them to it, passes our comprehension.
There must always be testing questions of the
day ; we take those above-mentioned as fairly
coming under that name ; and we beg to inform
the men who deem themselves Opposition leaders,
that while they are unprepared to make Cabinet
measures of these three liberal demands, they may
continue in opposition for all that we shall do to
give them a vote. The Home and Foreign
Administration of the Tories has pleased us better
than theirs, and we await therefore their political
enlightenment, before we shall think it politically
moral to reinstate them.

There will be no return of the Liberals to
power till their leaders can agree upon a distinct
policy satisfactory to the country. They may
meet in committee-rooms, and grumble in a few
prints, but they will not regain office until they
can send down to the electoral constituency an
issue worth voting on. The last election was, as
far as Lord PALMERSTON could make it so, a
confused affair. Liberal questions would turn up,
but the Premier tried hard to keep to the cry,
" PALMERSTON or DERBY." He cautiously ab-
stained from mooting political questions, and gave
the electors, in fact, only a Chinese puzzle. That
so Liberal a Parliament, under the circumstances,
was returned, is entirely due to the increased
Liberalism or liberty of the electors. Still the
result is a Parliament pledged to no great poli-
tical principles or measures. Of course, Lord
DERBY, if there is to be a dissolution next spring,
would not wish it to be on a Reform Bill. Yet,
we verily believe that unless the Whigs will fol-
low the majority of their party—the majority of
the Liberals wa mean, and make the Ballot the
point by which they will stand or fall, they wilt
have no chance, and they ought to have none.
If they constructed a Reform Bill, it would differ
from one carried by the Tories in a single point
only—it would arrange the constituencies more
favourably for the Whigs. If the Tories bring
forward a bill, it will be as liberal as that of the
Whigs, but it will arrange the constituencies so as
to secure more Conservative members. This will
be the easiest thing possible now concurrently
with a large extension of the franchise ; and it is,
we are strongly inclined to think, the very thing
Mr. DISRAELI Will do. He will extensively en-
franchise, but not, we fear, emancipate the
counties. If he would do the latter, he would
have a larger majority than PALMERSTON had last
year.

BAYMARKET THEATRE.

Mk BUOKSTONE'S BENEFIT.

The extraordinary season, which has extended
over an uninterrupted period of five years, ter-
minates this evening with the benefit of the spirited
lessee Mr. Buckstone ; after which this favourite
place of entertainment passes into the decorator's
hands, in order to undergo a complete renovation
previous to the new campaign, which will
commence in September. Many of the most
accomplished artistes on the London stage.
have volunteered their services, and an even-
ing's entertainment of the most recherche kind
may therefore fully be anticipated. The great
feature in the " bill of fare" is the revival of the
capital comedy "The Way to Keep Him," in which
Miss Reynolds will sustain the part of Mrs. Love-
' more, Mrs. Charles Young that of Widow Bellmore,
and Mr. Buckstone that of Sir Bashful Constant.
Previous to the comedy Miss Talbot will appear as
Mrs. Trictrac in the farce of the "Married Rake,"
and at its termination Mr. Buckstone will address
the audience in one of those witty and humorous
speeches for which he is so justly celebrated. A
number of other attractions will bring the enter-
tainments to a close, and we sincerely hope that an
overflowing house will testify the high appreciation
the public entertain of the great endeavours Mr.
Buckstone has made to cultivate and keep alive a
taste for genuine English comedy.

We are requested to state that Mr. Benjamin
Webster, proprietor and manager of the Theatre
Royal, Adelphi, now in the course of reconstruc-
tion, is not connected, directly or indirectly, with
any other theatre in the Strand.

The Pries Lovofi has arrived at Wallace's Hotel, St.
George's-place, Hyde-park.
The Marquis and Marchioness Bandini and family
have arrived at Claridge's Hotel from Paris.
The Marquis de l'Aigle has arrived at Fenton's Hotel
from the Continent.

The Marquis Trotti has returned to town from a tour
in Scotland..
THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EXCHEQUER IN BELFAST.—
A Belfast paper states that its announcement of the in-
tended visit of the Right Hon. the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer to Belfast has given great satisfaction to the
public of all classes ; and already a requisition has been
numerously signed by the leading magistrates, bankers,
and merchants of the town, inviting the distinguished
gentleman to meet them at a public banquet. It is ex-
pected that Mr. Disraeli will arrive in Belfast about the
middle or latter end of August, and, should he accept
the invitation, the banquet will then take place.
VICTORIA STATION AND PIMLICO RAILWAY COMPANY.
—The directors of this company have issued a circular,
in which they state The directors have the satisfac-
tion to announce, that sanction has now been given to
the bill, and also to the East Kent Extension Bill, in
both houses of parliament ; and arrangements are made
for the immediate commencement of the works of both
undertakings. The agreements that have already been
made with other companies secure a minimum return of
about 4A per cent. to the shareholders in this company ;
but the directors have every reason to believe that nearly
double that rate of interest may be relied on as the
actual result of the arrangements."
OBSTRUCTING A RAILWAY TICKET COLLECTOR.—
Henry Clark, residing in Devonshire-terrace, Amer.
sham Park, New-cross, and holding an appointment in
the War-office, was fined yesterday 205., at the Green-
wich Police-court, for obstructing John Nash, a ticket
collector in the employ of the South-Eastern Railway
Company, in the execution of his duty.
CAPTURE OF A " MERMAID."—In the nets of Mr. John
Anderson, on the Forth, a mermaid, or angel-fish, nearly
six feet long, and 100 lb. weight, was caught this week.
The wings of this " wonder of the deep," which has a
face like that of a frog, and a tail like that of a shark,
are eight inches long. Before being caught, the fisher-
surateeth being
re et across
the like' fisher-
men saw it raise itself upright in the water, and then fly
over the surface like a bird. While diving it was caught
in a turbot-net. The
belly is pure white ; the back is
light
thick
cflkeh k
brownsmateea; .the
au t
k
e eb u ;
and
rough
or dog-fish. The wings are not unlike the two wings of
a
resemblethosethat
wta :I'l ff. I
a at
w shark.
The sharki
ll
be shown to-day at Mr. Anderson's
establishment,
- Georgeltreet.--49(mn,