The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-27 00:00:00

course, it is impossible to exactly fix a day. The

Reform Bill is not like a road bill." At any rate
no time will be lost, for the right hon. gentleman

gave it as his opinion that on Thursday week at

farthest he wculd be ready to submit his measure

to the consideration of the house. Surely this is

soon enough in all conscience for any one, even

the most— ardent and zealous Reformer, to have

assigned as a limit to his impatience, and so soon,
indeed that we should not be surprised if a still
further delay were requisite and necessary.
Loud cheers attended the announcement of the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, to the effect that the
Resolutions would be withdrawn ; and we there-

fore hope that the Ministers, having in this shown
their recognition of ele general feeling' of the House,

will be met on the part cf that assembly wi;.h an

answering sympathy and good-will. No one expects

Lon. members to accede to what they disapprove

of in their honest convictions, but we all know,
from sad experience, how easy it is to admit

this or that principle to be good in
the abstract, and yet to deny the right to put it in

practice. Mr. DISRAELI declared last night that
the Government considered from the tone of the
debate that had already taken place on the subject

that any bill which might be brought forward by

them would receive a fair and a candid considera-
tion, and we do not think this impression will be

weakened by anything that occurred last night in

the course of the observations that followed, if

we except those of Mr. BRIGIrr, who showed

himself as illiberal and falso a friend to
Reform as usual. The course pursued by Mr.
GLADSTONE was as statesmanlike as could be

expected, and we are glad for his own reputation,
as well as for the success of the great cause at stake,
that it should have been so. The right hon gentle-

man was against proceeding by Resolutions, as he

had before intimated, and, indeed, he announced to
the House that the determination of the Govern-

ment had alone prevented him from carrying out
his intention of moving an amendment to the
motion that the Speaker do leave the chair. While
he reserved to himself full discretion to
act as circumstances dictated to him, Mr.
GLADSTONE did not, as we understood
his speech, seem to hold out any desire to offer
opposition to the Ministerial measure that would be
likely to prove detrimental to it. lie expressed a con-
fident hope, and further " a very earnest and sincere
desire that they might find the bill to be such that
they could not only consent to it, but even pro-
mote and expedite its passage through its earlier
stages." By this means the committee would be
the place where some issue could be best gained with
her MAJESTY'S Government. More than this, no
one can possibly ask, and this promise of
Mr. GLADSTONE, so far as it goes, signifies a
good deal, for he has had in his way as
much to contend against as the Chancellor of
the Exchequer himself. If the one has been im-
peded in his course by the tardiness and hesitation
of his friends, the other has had to run the risk of
being pushed precipitately forward by the im-
petuosity of his followers. That the combined
energy and wisdom of these two distinguished
leaders may result in the satisfactory settlement of
the vexed question of Reform is an earnest desire
—a desire that is shared, we feel convinced, by
all true liberal and real lovers of Reform.
Mr. Bnicarr's remarks were about as in-
temperate and ill-judged as we might
have expected, but la,t night a little ad.
ditional ascerbity was imparted to them
from the irritation lie felt at the tone adopted by
Mr. GLADSTONE. The hon. member for Birming-
ham seems ready to burst with indignation at the
idea of supporting the Government measure, and
upbraided Mr. GLADSTONE pretty plainly, endea-
vouring to build him a golden bridge of retreat, by
declaring that a little experience' would show him
the impossibility of carrying out his resolve. This
observation seemed topoint oat that whatever course
Ministers might take would be useless, and that they
had better not waste the time of the House
in introducing a Reform Bill at all, and actually
going so far as to say at last that the Government
should take the franchise first, as was done last
year. To this Lord J. MANNERS very properly re-
plied b) saying that the hon. member for Birming-
ham should have completed his speech by remind-
ing the house of the result of that. advice being
adopted last year. No doubt there still remains a
very difficult task before Ministers, but we hope
that the worst is over for them, and that
with firm heart and confident courage they may
march on in the path before them. He sees every
reason to expect that a settlement of this vexed
question may be come to, and if so there will be
indeed ample cause for rejoicing to all but those
who are actuated by selfish motives, and who rank
the prejudices of party before the interests of the
people.

Very great interest was naturally felt yesterday
with regard to the proceedings of the Liberal party.
The question of Reform, which has been slowly
gathering strength and gaining in importance dur-
ing the last few years, has now reached a crisis, and
much will depend on the spirit in which it is dealt

with. It is fortunate for the Liberal cause, and,
indeed, for the best interests of the country, that
the Liberal party is under the acknowledged lead of
so able, conscientious, and earnest a statesman as
Mr. GLADSTONE. His sincerity and disinterested
desire to have a good and liberal Reform Bill ac-
tually passed into law, no matter by what Govern-
ment, cannot be questioned, and he has hitherto
fully carried out the promise he made on leaving
office, that no personal disappointment should pre-
judice his judgment of the measures introduced by
his successor. He objected to the manner of prZ-
ceeding by Resolutions, and there is no doubt that
his objection weighed very much with the Govern-
ment, and influenced their decision respecting the
method of procedure. But while reserving to hitn-

self the full right of opposing any point in the bill,
or the whole bill, if he thought proper, he has
shown
,throughout a wish to give the Government
proposal a fair trial, and to see in what manner this
can be enlarged or amended. Such a course is not,
we regret to say, the ordinary course pursued by
Liberals, who, in their dislike to the general prin-
ciples or practices of their opponents, generally re-
fuse to look at any measure of Reform upon its
merits. But the point at issue now is, not whether
a Conservative or a Liberal Government can
best fill the Treasury bench, but how this
great and pressing question of national interest can
be most promptly and satisfactorily settled. It
is in this spirit that Mr. GLADSTONE has acted, and
we are very glad to find that the counsels of mode-
ration and fair play which he gave yesterday to the
large and influential meeting assemb:ed at his house
were accepted with such unanimity. No one expects
Mr. BRIGIIT to be satisfied with any Reform Bill in
which he has not been an active participator, and
he is the last man likely to accept a concession. from
his opponents, or to believe that they can offer a
good measure in real earnest. It is, therefore, no
matter of surprise to find that he Was

the principal dissentient from the line .of
action proposed by Mr. GLADSTONE. Neither
can it be very astonishing to learn that the Adul-
lamites, as represented by Elrl GRosvEziott, are