The Sun.
London, England, 1858-03-03 00:00:00

valuable hint. We may therefore reasonably
anticipate that he will profit thereby, and produce
something that will go far to emancipate " the
Fourth Estate" from the undue restrictions to
which it is still subjected. We do not ask that
any allowance should be made for malicious
publications, or that the freedom which we seek
should be permitted to degenerate into licentious-
ness. But let it be shown that there is express
malice, not merely implied in respect of matters
that come within its legitimate functions. We
would not screen the wilful and deliberate
libeller, or slanderer, from the consequences of
their offences. But we would provide the utmost
possible protection from those who act fairly and
above board in the discharge of their duties.
Lord Camrnes.r. has extended, or rather proposes
to extend, the s'Egis of the Law over those who
publish fair reports of the proceedings of Parlia-
ment and of certain other public bodies, re-
specting matters of general or local interest. But
there are other classes of publications that should
also be sanctioned, so far as journalists are con-
cerned—matters which could not be omitted
without seriously injuring the overcautious
Editor, by whom it was neglected or withheld.
The great cause of the grievance arises from the
unnecessary distinction maintained between oral
defamation and libel. Why should the editor,
or the proprietor, or publisher of any newspaper,
the latter of whom is probably totally unac-
quainted with the contents of the publication,
be held responsible in person as well as in pocket ?
The malice, if any there be, is with the original
promulgator, but, in consequence of the state
of the law, the really malicious person
will be exculpated, unless he imputes
something that would subject the party to criminal
punishment before a competent tribunal, or sub-
jest him to special damages, while the innocent
publisher of his falsehoods is liable to the
penalties and annoyance which the slanderer
ought to sustain. It is surely time that these
absurd quibbles should be dispensed with. Assi-
milate the law of libel and defamation. Let the
defamer be enabled to justify, if he can, his
statement, on the ground that it was made without
malice and for the public benefit, and on the other
hand let the journalist, who can also show an
absence of malice, prove that his report
was a fair one, and furnish proof sufficient to
bring it home to the original wrongdoers, and be
exempted from responsibility. This is a reasonable
and moderate demand, and we trust Lord CAMPBELL
may take it into consideration. There is no reason
why the stump orator who wantonly invades the
sanctity of domestic life should be exonerated and
the innocent journalist punished, because one has
only spoken, while the otherhas printed the charge.
Nor would we shield those who indulge in scandal

to take what is thrust upon their acceptance, And
then, remember how very heavy and how very
solemn indeed are, at this singular crisis, the
responsibilities actually devolving upon the
newly installed Administration. There is, first of
all, an affair of the utmost delicacy, if not of
absolute difficulty to arrange between the British
Cabinet and the French Government. There is
the revolt in India still remaining to be crushed
out, its suppression having only in truth but just
commenced. There is the future Government of
those vast Asiatic possessions still to be organised.
There is a gigantic war with the Chinese Empire
—an empire consisting in round numbers of some
400,000,000 of human beings—upon which we
may be said to have only yesterday adventured ;
although that war was in fact proclaimed months
ago in direct antagonism to the then DERBY-DIS-
RAELI Opposition the now DERBY-DISRAELI
Government. Besides all this we have a monetary
problem of the most complex character to be solved
by Parliament under the direction of her MAJESTY'S
advisers. And, to crown the wkole formidable
catalogue, there is the Reform Bill—a difficulty
ultimately not to be shirked or evaded by any con-
trivance, no matter how ingeniously prearranged.
A. difficulty with any Minister, but most of all, it
might be feared by some, with a Ministry formed
from the old Conservative Opposition. The
Noble Earl at the head of the new Cabinet has
already, however, given the eountry more than
.
one signal guarantee—nay, on Monday night,
in the House of Lords, ho gave the country a
distinct assurance that he has no intention at
all to shirk the arch-difficulty among all difficul-
ties, that presented by the inevitable new Parlia-
mentary Reform Bill. Corroborative of this,
there is his preliminary advance to Earl GREY
—and more than that; if possible, as a most
significant evidence of his proposed policy
upon the subject, there is the instalment of
the Noble Lord the Member for King's Lynn
in the Colonial Department of the new
administration. Lord STANLEY, as surely as he
is heir to the Earldom of Derby, is, by his
antecedents among the more advanced of our libe-
ral politicians. Consequently there is a peculiar
significance, to our mind, in His acceptance of
office in his father's Administration. It is be-
cause of all these weighty considerations in
regard to the difficulties of the present crisis
that we conceive the Ministry of Lord DERBY
in a manner, entitled to a respectful hearing, to
" a c'ear stage and no favour," on the part of the
Liberal Opposition both within and without the
walls of the Imperial Parliament.

CONVERSA.TIONS ON THE PARABLES of the New
Testament, for the use of Children, by EDWARD,
Earl of Derby. (Society for promoting Christian
Knowledge).
Probably most of our readers are as little
aware as we were but a few days ago, that Lord
DERBY was a theological author. Such, however,
is the case. And having obtained his book, and
glanced through its pager, we confess to being
much pleased with it. The little work was first
published, it is true, just thirty years ago,
and when, therefore, his Lordship was nearly
thirty years of age ; but it would be well worthy
the maturer years of any man of cultivated
intellect interested in the religious welfare of
children, and interested specially in the por-
tion of Holy Writ to which it refers. The
Conversations are dedicated to a lady, by whom
the noble author was encouraged to write them,
and whose approval of them he also records.
We should think they would be found very
useful by mothers and other ladies
-.1,,,. wish to interest the children under
their care! in an intelligent study of the parables.
The language is exceedingly simple and natural,
such as most well-educated children, especially with
a teacher's aid, would comprehend with ease, and
there certainly are no moral or religious lessons
in the world, which if properly understood, equal
in simple beauty and in power the Parables of our
LORD.

and by—
" The whispered hint, the shrug,, the hum, or ha,
These petty brands that calumny doth use,"

wilfully injure their fellow. One accusa-
tion may be of the most fearful charac-
ter—may charge a wife with adultery,
a maiden with want of chastity, a man with some-
thing nearly allied to swindling ; but if the charge
does not show that they had incurred the penalty
of a criminal offence, the sufferer could not be
justified ; while in a journal, anything calculated
to bring into contempt or disrepute, although merely
repeated, and its author stated, might be subject
to heavy damages and costs, and, at all events, to
its own expenses. This should be remedied. Let
Lord Cimritm, undertake it, and he will build
for himself " a monument more enduring than
brass." A law that will ever be associated with
his name, and render it illustrious when other
honourable acts mazy hwantt....

The Government of Lord Rutz; from the
very peculiarity of its position at the present
montent, appears to us in a manner to demand

at the outset of its existence as a right, almost as
a debi of gratitude, at the hands of the Liberals
—a patient hearing and respectful consideration.
Whatever the circumstances may have been in
consequence of which Lord PALMBRSTON'S Admi-
nistration came the other day to an unexpected
and untimely-end, they were not of Lord DERBY'S
contriving—neither did they trace their origin to
the ingenious device of any one of the noble earl's
supporters, whether within or without the walls of
Parliament. The majority, not, remember, upon the
second reading of the Conspiracy to Murder Bill,
but simply upon Mr. MILNER GIBSON'S very adroit
and persuasive amendment—may certainly, with-
out doubt, be again designated " a fortuitous con-
currence of atoms," but it most positively cannot,
with any show of reason, be seriously termed
for one moment a factious combination. The
situation took its rise in the first instance
from a vexatious act of—,what we may accu-
rately call—Ministerial reticence. There was
a despatch unanswered—a despatch very sin-
gularly worded, to say the least of it, and
communicated with what our neighbours across
the water call a considerable amount of empresse-
ment to her Britannic MAJESTY'S Government—
Lord PALMERSTON'S recent administration. This
despatch coming to us from a "faithful ally," was
nevertheless so strangely and so strongly expressed
throughout that a good many of us—[a rather
moderate computation we take that to be, all
things consideredj—a good many of tl3 would have
vastly liked to have had that same despatch an-
swered, and that moreover befittingly and be-
times. It was not answered. The mem-
ber for Ashton proposed to the House of
Commons that it should at any rate precede the
vote for the Second Reading of the Conspiracy
Bill with an expression of regret that the despatch
referred to had not been answered. Thereupon
a clear majority of nineteen decided in favour of I
Mr. GIBSON'S amendment. And thereupon, as a
further consequence, the Noble Viscount the ex-
Premier decided upon tendering his resignation,
and that of his colleagues, to his SOVEREIGN.
Hence, and not by any wily contrivance of the
DERBY-DISRAELI Opposition, the dissolution of the
old and the formation of the new Government.
It is not, however, by reason of their eager-
beTr he Duke of Newcastle left town yesterda for Glum-
ness to partcipate with the Hon. Member for
Ashton in his jealous protest against the Ministe-
early in April.
rial reticence, just particularised, that wo conceive The Marquis de Castella has taken his departure from
the new-born Ministry possesses at this moment a the Brunswick Hotel, St. James, for the Continent.
claim upon the consideration of the Liberal part His Excellency the Ambassador of Francs and the
It is rather thus Countess de Persigny entertained a select circle at dinner
of the general community. last evening, at Alpert-gate 11 _oU6e. Tue Countess
according to our thinking, because the Earl of
received a small party in the evening.
DERBY and his colleagues—not having sought out His Excellency Baron Brunnow, the newly-appointed
the means for ousting their rivals from office— Russian Minister at this Court, and the Baroness Brun.
not having in any way intrigued to this end for ni6owth,
iaretexfprecmteßd
Belgium.
oivarmrive at Chesham House on the
party purposes, and through that for their own
The Ea.rl and Countessg of Hardwicke are expected in
personal advantage and aggrandisement—not to wn about the middle of the present month, from
having contrived the present " situation "—have, Wirepole Hall, for the season.
nszteirutlagetloesasc,cohpets,itaatteadvneort
critical
eicaml moment in con- The E ,r 1 and Countess of Chesterfield have arrived in
melt ill,peo,n t.hicseaurnreoen&dthe.
weighty responsibilities of very
map
Drum-
nothing,
says
the ,_aeiriarr!.ly,
Government. The corne-
o.utgoing Administration
" Thank you for
juncture,
Weitriesit:eally With Dover-street, from S. Leopards-on-Sea, where they
dayshave past.been staying at the Royal Victoria Hotel for some
Portal and Miss Portal have arrived in town
from Mrs.
Park, the seat of Mr. Henry Drum-
mond, M.P.ury
mentary sarcasm ofu's HI: —with the supple- Mlarr..
ERdawlparhd Earle, late attache to her Majesty's
But—consider for a moment that tmaguaalira°" 1"
the strictest regard to truth
the In-coming Ministers Did Not Seel:atkheci- that
EtomtiressyatParis, of the
been appointed private secretary
Chancellork korotyde,
1.F.., Exchequer.
and Mr. Mark Drury
have
eleeft_Fenhton'til Hotel for Bankfield, Halifax.
sent accession to power : that it is not saidpfraen cpi,iid.rat,l:ll:7l.y
esvening
e lastn to it 's
the Hotel Siamese
Ht 'rg
exhibition of Madam Tussaud. Ambassadors
Theyone.x-
taatiollyi but literally, that they Consent simply ygrrou Lia 1
.„ trust:Lyn touch pl • .
eased with the various
VII pt EKUM contained in the exhibitiore

But in the spirit of which party are the con-
♦ersations written ? will be the first question of
this controversial age. We reply,l not in the
High Church nor in the Low Churcb,iot in the
Evangelical Church or in the Puseyite Church
spirit—but in the spirit of the parables themselves.
Except, indeed, by a few references, it would
hardly be known whether the author was aChurch-
man or a Dissenter. So completely are the par.
ables made their own interpreter, and so strictly
is the endeavour adhered, to to make the whole
intelligible to children, that while many of the
thoughts are weighty and the expositions
beautiful, there is a careful avoidance
of those mysteries which to children
must be mere words. We thought, however,
while perusing the little work, that the very ab-
sence of extreme views either way is an indi-
cation that the writer does not hold them.
Persons who do so can rarely write or speak on
religion without introducing them. They acquire
a perfectly factitious importance in their minds.
A writer who like Lord DERBY sees so much value
in those essential points of the Christian creed
in which all agree, is not likely to be
an enthusiast for the " mint, anise, and cum-
min." This little pleasant and natural volume,
obviously the offspring of the heart as much as
of She head, does, however, but harmonize
with the language of Lord DERBY in the House of
Lords, when he avowed himself equally opposed
to both the extreme parties in the Church. His
little work is, therefore, one which religious
teachers and parents of any party can use with
pleasure. It is as neutral as the New Testament
itself; its merit is that of a most simple exposition
't of the mind of the Great Master.

MINISTERIAL ELECTIONS.

DROITSVICH (THIS DAY.)
(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
Sir J. Pakington, First Lord of the Admiralty,
was re-elected this morning without opposition.