The Sun.
London, England, 1867-11-19 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

Tats DAY.—Morning, 7h. 20m. I Afternoon, 7h. 56m.
To-31oRitow.-Morning, Bh. 35m. I Afternoon, 9h. 17m.

4 tir
,
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LONDON, TUESDAY, NOV. 19, 1867.

An Autumnal Session of Parliament is not a
very frequent occurrence, and it usually indicates
a disturbed condition of the political barometer. A
war in progress or in anticipation, the recent change
of a Ministry, or an appeal to the country, and a
consequent desire to test the feeling of the new
House, such are the only reasons which of late
years have summoned the weary M.P's. from their
rural sports or learned leisure to resume their seats
on the green benches. Of course every one is very
well aware of the motive for beginning the session
of 1868 on this side of Christmas ; and most of us,
indeed, were able to foresee the necessity of it
before the recess. Some very unnecessary strictures
have been passed upon the Government
for withholding information from Parliament ;
but the fact was that the Parliament knew as much
as the Government. It was the absence of infor-
mation that compelled action. When the Houses
broke up it was still possible that THEODORE might
be brought to reason or terrified into concession.
There had been no sign of feeling on the part of
the Commons or the country to indicate a desire
that the prisoners should be left to their fate, that
the accredited representative of the British Crown
should be suffered to languish out the rest of his
days in captivity, if spared torture and death. If
such a wish exists the Ministers are certainly ex-
cusable for not attributing it to their countrymen ;
and as guardians of the national honour and inte-
rests, they could hardly have acted otherwise than
they have done. The autumn months of the year
are, as is well known, the only available ones for the
purpose, and it would have been worse than folly to
have needlessly increased the risks and difficulties of
the expedition, as well as unnecessarily endangering
the captives, to have postponed the arrangements
until the consent of Parliament had been first for-
mally asked and granted. There is not much rea-
son to apprehend that Parliament will withhold the
necessary supplies, or that the House will manifest
any displeasure at the lengths to which the Govern-
ment have found themselves compelled, on their
own authority, to go. If our Army is to be
something more than pasteboard soldiers, and
our Consuls are really to represent the
power and the dignity of England, we
have no choice but to rescue Consul CAMERON and
his companions at any hazard, or should that un-
happily prove impossible to make the barbarous
Emperor feel the weight of our displeasure.
So far, then, as the most important paragraph of
the QUEEN'S Speech is concerned there is not likely
to be much difficulty. Criticism and censure as to
matters of detail will no doubt be plentiful enough,
but with respect to the main facts to be laid before
Parliament there can scarcely be much difference of
opinion. The cost of the expedition and the
manner in which it is to be defrayed will be a dis-
agreeable topic, but very few, we should imagine,
will begrudge the unavoidably, though unwelcome,
outlay.
There is plenty of other work in store for the
newly-assembled Parliament, though probably we
shall not see much other business transacted before
the Christmas holidays. There is the old question
of Reform, whose ghost is not yet finaily laid. Re-
distribution, with all its attendant terrors, lies in
wait, to say nothing of the Scotch and Irish Reform
Bills. Then the House and the Government have
promised to undertake a very hopeless task—the
prevention of bribery and corruption at elections.
Unless they will boldly face the difficulty and adopt
the only plain and secure means available, throwing
aside prejudice and interest, there is not much
chance that their ingenious and laboriously-con-
structed acts and clauses will do any practical
good.

A social subject of very great importance, too,
calls loudly for attention, and when the
reports of the several commissions which
have sat on Trades' Unions are ready it is
probable that Parliament will be called upon to dis-
cuss the subject. It is not consistent with the dig-
nity of the Crown or the rightful supremacy of the
lam that a system of outrage and intimidation
should be tolerated among us ; and however jealous
public feeling may usually be of any official inter-
ference with individuals or associations, there will
be no opposition to some vigorous measure for the
prevention of such crimes and offences as have been
deliberately confessed at Sheffield, Manchester, and
elsewhere. If the liberty of the subject is to be
anything more than a name, means must be devised
to repress that system which makes a man not his
brother's keeper, but his brother's gaoler and execu-
tioner. It will be a difficult subject to deal with
fairly and fearlessly, but Parliament must not shrink
from its manifest duty.
The Earl of DEVON has promised that tke condition
of our sick poor shall not be left longer unnoticed.

Mr. HA.RDT has effected a great deal, but that more
remains to be done is abundantly proved by the
recent revelations at Farnham and elsewhere. An
important step has been gained in forcing on Par-
liament and the public the conviction that our
workhouses, as at present populated, are in reality
hospitals rather than infirmaries, and it is a fact
which, once acknowledged, is not likely to be for-
gotten. It is hardly to be expected that the old
and new systems will work together harmoniously
for a time, and some opposition to the inauguration
of reforms was naturally to be looked for ; but if we
decide that our paupers are not to be longer treated
like criminals we shall have gained a good deal.
Sickness, like death, is a great leveller, and neither
industry nor providence can avert its direful con-
sequences from the sick or disabled poor. Parlia-
ment has of late shown considerable anxiety to re-
de em its former neglect, and we may hope to see
11368 still further carrying out the good work begun
in 1867.

All these larger topics may very well be deferred,
as they probably will be, for consideration in the
new year. But there are some humble claimants
whose necessities should not, we think, be so long
overlooked. The poor stall-keepers of Whitechapel,
numbering with their families some thousands of
persons, see their occupation going from them with-
out any prospect of another filling its place. They
have no other means of livelihood, many of them
having followed the same calling for the greater
part of their lives. They are of considerable
service too, to the poor population among which
they live, for they can afford to sell cheaper than
the highly-rented shops, and have a good stock of
customers, who prefer buying at stalls to the more
regular method. It is but an inclement season for
a sudden failure of income. The rates are already
heavy enough without forcing these poor people on
them. The substance of their appeal to Parliament
is, that the severity of the clauses of the new
Traffic Act may be modified, and only enforced where
absolutely necessary. By some strange oversight
their claims were never mentioned during the pro-
gress of the Bill through the House, but it is not
too late to lessen the pressure upon them, and we
hope that their humble petition will obtain a suc-
cessful hearing•within the next few weeks.

It is certainly a strange coincidence that the
French Chambers should have been opened the day
before the autumn session commences in England.
This year also the Emperor NAPOLEON has antici-
pated the time for meeting his Parliament, on
account of important affairs arising which have
claimed his attention, and called for the earnest con-
sideration of the Government. According to his
usual custom, the Emperor delivered the speech in
person, and more than usual interest will attach to
it in consequence of the rumours that have been
afloat for some time past about the probability of
war. Not only, says the speech, is there the "ne-
cessity " of resuming the interrupted discussion of
important laws, but recent events have further
caused the desire to appear before the Senators
and Deputies, to have the benefit of their assist-
ance and sagacity. The period which has elapsed
since the French Chambers separated has indeed
been rife with incident, and that of a kind that
more or less affected France in an intimate degree.
The public mind of Europe has been disturbed by
the constant disquietudes that have arisen from
various causes—first in Germany and then in Italy
—and also from the reports that have followed upon
them. Industry and commercial transactions in all
quarters have been greatly disturbed in con-
sequence, and monarchs and statesmen may
well deplore the sad results. It will furnish
a solemn warning to those who needlessly disturb
the peace of nations to reflect upon the catalogue
of disasters that may be enumerated as the sequel
to the vanity and ambition of those who rush to
extremes, reckless of consequences and regardless of
the suffering and loss occasioned thereby to others.
It appears to cause the EMPEROR great annoyance
that the repeated assertions of his Government can-
not be credited, and that many will persist in finding
occasions for its making war, or at all events sug-
gesting motives which will induce it to mix up with
the disputes of other nations, and thus hopelessly
embroil itself. To each and all of these evil har-
bingers of strife and discord the Emperor NAPOLEON
gives a flat contradiction, and denies in the most
emphatic manner the probability of their prognos-
tications being realised. Thus we find him stating
that the state of uncertainty about Germany cannot
endure much longer, and that there is no cause to
fear the likelihood of a conflict arising from the
modification of its internal system. It is necessary
" to accept frankly the changes that have taken
place upon the other side of the Rhine, to proclaim
that so long as our interests and our dignity shall
not be threatened, we will not interfere in the trans-
formations effected by the wish of the population."
This is decisive language, at any rate, and
must be accepted as conclusive for the
present. The EMPEROR is certainly so far
consistent that he can appeal with perfect jus-
tice to his often-repeated assertions as to the Em-
pire being peace. "My Government," says he,
14 has never varied in its pacific attitude ;" and
yet, strange to say, more is predicted of the warlike
intentions and startling policy of the Government
than any other in Europe. Of late, indeed, there
has been ample cause for these rumours on ac-
count of the extraordinary course pursued by
BISMARCK, and the very supercilious manner in
which France has been treated. If ever one people
felt to go to war with another, not only for an
" idea," but for a reality, it is the French senti-
ment concerning Prussia. Over and over again has
the intolerable assumption, or the impertinent in-
terference of Count BISMARCK provoked and irri-
tated the French beyond endurance, and yet
through all peace has been maintained between
the two Governments ; and that peace, we hear,
on good authority, is to be maintained unbroken.
One advantage of this is that a general feeling of
security will be established in many quarters, and
where doubt has prevailed as to the inconvenience
of war, there will now succeed a more settled
state of things. So far so good, for we cer-
tainly need a change for the better iu
many respects ; and a war now breaking
out between France and Prussia must
inevitably increase the feeling of depression
already prevailing to so sad an extent in the busi-
ness concerns of this country and of other nations
on the Continent. The unsettled state of affairs on
the Continent conduced in a great measure to bring
about the fearful climax of last year among mer-
cantile interests, and ever since little or nothing has
tended to imj art stability to foreign policy, or to
increase the confidence that must be felt before
trade can revive and speculation flourish anew.
We rejoice, then, for several reasons that the oracle
of the Tuileries has not declared the gates of Janus
are to be opened, but our feeling of satisfaction in his
having done so is a mixed one for many reasons. It
cannot be conceded that the doings in Germany
have been brought about or are still maintained by
the wish of the population, and those who can see
and judge for themselves know this right well, and
appreciate it accordingly.

The EMPEROR makes but brief allusion to the
recent events in Italy, which is perhaps as wise a