The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-20 00:00:00

gress, though it is only right that the matter should
be thoroughly sifted. There were several sus-
picious circumstances attending BOOTH'S pursuit
and death which have enabled all parties to bandy
accusations against their opponents in a manner
little creditable to American politicians. It is time
that this should be put an end to, and if the late
Government really countenanced the execution of
Mrs. SURRATT, while retaining in their own hands
the evidence of her innocence, they deserve public
exposure and rebuke. No doubt SURRATT'S coun-
sel is glad to take advantage of the general excite-
ment created by BUTLER'S revelations in favour of
his client, though it does not follow that the missing
pages would have cleared the accused of compli-
city. Meanwhile public opinion seems to be
growing more and more favourable to the
Democrats, and every successive election gives in-
dication of their increasing strength. They have
carried the municipal election at llartford by an
increased majority, and we may hope that their in-
fluence will gradually make itself felt. The Senate
has rejected the nomination of the new Minister to
Vienna, as indeed it has become a matter of course
that they should do. It is sufficient for the PRESI-
DENT to have selected a man for a particular post
for the Senate to decide against him. The feeling
against the Reconstruction Act still prevails strongly,
and a fresh petition to the Supreme Court against it
is reported from Georgia. The Radicals cannot
therefore boast of having satisfied the country by
the scheme. Various small disturbances are
chronicled from different parts of the States, though
there is no serious outbreak. The General com-
manding at Charleston has issued a circular to the
freedmen, advising them to be less violent in de-
manding their rights, and large meetings of blacks
and whites have been held in some places. It is
worth notice that these mixed meetings are gene-
rally on the Democratic side, so that we hope the
more moderate party is gaining ground among the
freedmen. Hitherto they have been chiefly under
the dominion of the ultra faction, who have misled
and excited them into the belief that the State was
bound to support them in idleness. Such professions
are only made to gain influence for the time, and
the leaders who talk the loudest about dividing the
lands among the negroes would be the first to over-
look their just claims when the temporary advan-
tage to be derived from their support was over.
We hear no more of the foreign relations of the
States or of any fresh development of Fenianism, so
that we may hope the aspect of affairs is more tran-
quil and satisfactory.

Mr. BASS has written a letter to the members of
the Derby Liberal Association, which is in every
way worthy of notice, and we commend it to the
attention of all who would understand the difficul-
ties that the cause of Reform has to contend against
—difficulties that arise in a great measure from the
Liberals themselves. In this communication he
explains the motives which induced him to vote
with the Government in the celebrated division
which took place before the recess. "My reasons,"
said he, were " first to save the Reform Bill. Mr.
DISRAELI was pledged to throw up the bill if Mr.
GLADSTONE'S resolutions were carried ; whether
those resolutions were or were not designed to
throw out the ;bill and the Government, that was
clearly their import." We can easily understand how
any member of the Liberal party who was earnestly
desirous of seeing the vexed question of Reform
settled should have appreciated to its full extent
the importance of assisting the Government in the
emergency they were in. It was a time for action,
and not for words, for following the dictates of
one's own mind, and not listening to the insinua-
tions of those who put party before everything.
Mr. BASS is not an unqualified admirer of the bill
in question ; he says that he is against the "rating
provisions ;" indeed he censures them as much as
Mr. GLADSTONE himself can ; but we recognise the
difference that exists between Mr. GLADSTONE and
those of his followers who voted with the Govern-
ment in this, that the right hon. gentleman seized
upon any point that he disapproved of in the mea-
sure, and would have been very glad if any division
on its merits had chanced to throw out the bill alto-
gether ; while the others saw the danger that they
run of losing the substance while they grasped at
the shadow. Besides this cogent reason, Mr. BASS
gives us another important consideration which in-
duced him to go into the same lobby with the Mi-
nisters, and this was that the bill of Mr. DISRAELI
offered the Household Suffrage, which he truly re-
gards as " the only lasting settlement of this great
controversy."

We suspect that neither the Leader of the Oppo-
sition nor his friends will like to read the plain
truths which are set forth in this letter, nor like that
others should see them either. " Mr. GLADSTONE,"
the writer observes, " from all I have heard from
him, publicly or privately, will not entertain it for
a moment. He has denounced it ; yet the most
Conservative member of his late Government, Sir
ROUNDELL PALMER, and the most Radical member,
Mr. FOSTER, have alike declared in its favour."
" Then, again," he adds, " that Mr. LOWE, Mr.
HORSMAN, and Lord CRANBORNE, who threw out
Mr. GLADSTONE'S bill last year, are now doing their
best to throw out Mr. DISRAELI'S, for they say it is
revolutionary.' " " What is a plain man to do ?"
exclaims the persecuted leader of Reform. " I
voted against men who have been the most marked
enemies of Reform, and whom I voted against last
year." Considering the difficulties of the question,
we do not think that Mr. BASS could have given a
better account than he has done, and
while he says nothing that has in any way of-
fended oth_erh, he vindicates himself, and that
most successfully from all charges brought against
him. Mr. GLADSTONE'S rival Bill rests on a £5
rating franchise, which has no element of " per-
manency" in it ; and even Mr. BRIGHT, in his at-
tempted defence of it, admitted that he preferred a
£4 rating. We think that Mr. BASS settles the mat-
ter very satisfactorily when he declares that " out
of a political paradise" it is impossible to please
every one, and therefore members are thrown on
their own resources. It is worth noticing, in con-
clusion, that Mr. BASS observes that every Liberal
member he conversed with, who voted with Mr.
GLADSTONE, expressed satisfaction at being out-
voted. "No," he adds, " there was one Liberal
who said, BASS, you ought to be ashamed of your-
self.' " Mind, he was in high office under the last
Government, and wants to get back with the least
possible delay. These people cannot patiently
endure to be kept out in the cold." Of such as
these there can be but one opinion as to the value of
their arguments and the worth of their remarks,
but, in the judgment of impartial men, those Libe-
ral members who voted with the Government the
other night acted in a patriotic manner, and the
thanks of the nation are due to them, for their public
spirit and decision have rescued Reform from its
peculiar position, and rendered to the country an
important service in settling the vexed question,
which has so long impeded progress, and disturbed
the state of the public mind.

The Prussians are evidently resolved to outrage
public opinion to the uttermost, and to show that
they care little or nothing for what is expected of
them, or for what the laws of nations may demand
from them. Some mistaken notions have induced