The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-15 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, APRIL 15, 18G

The arrival of the Australasian from New York,
on the 3J, brings us some interesting information.
It is evident that the democratic party is rapidly
gaining strength throughout the country, whether
from the alarm excited by the financial situation or
from the grcwing impatience of the people generally
for the settlement of the Southern question. In
any case we are glad to find the extreme section
losing ground, since their reckless and mischievous
policy was most disastrous for the American inte-

rests, whether North or South. No doubt the
scenes in Congress have bad something to do with
this modification of the Radical feeling. The in-

tolerance not only of opposition, but even of discus-

sion, the arrogance and assumption of the Radical
leaders must have disgusted those who watched the

Legislative proceedings, and remembered that the

destinies of a great and powerful nation were en-
trusted to these reckless and selfish politicians.
The PRESIDENT has happily firmness and clear-
sightedness enough to foresee that the time must
come when the public would perceive the danger and
suicidal folly of the course pursued by the Radicals,
when the disorganised position of the States, the

damage done to trade and commerce by the
prostration of the South, and the pre-
vailing want and wretchedness, must make

itself felt in the national finances, and when
men would get tired of the perpetull repe-
tition of the game of wars and revolutions. In

place of the Southern States being, as formerly, the
producers of raw material, and the consumers of

the manufactures of the North, they are at once

unproductive and unconsuming, only appealing for

aid and charity to rescue them from absolute star-
vation. Half a country cannot be pauperised with

impunity to the other half, and so long as the
Radicals insist on keeping the South in a state of
disorganisation and wretchedness from which capital
and enterprise shrink, so long must the effects be
felt throughout the whole country. Now that time
has been allowed to test the grandiloquence of the
Radicals men are beginning to ask what their fer-
vent patriotism has really done for the States, and
the answer is only to be found in bounties to the
army and benefits to themselves. The result is
that the elections now going on tell a different
story from those of last year. In Connecticut the
Democrats have carried the election by a majority

of 700 votes, the result being that one Republican
and three Democrats havebeen returned to Congress.
The elections for the State Legislature also show a
considerable Democratic gain. In the municipal
elections of several districts, too, the Democrats
have prevailed so that there is manifestly a change
in the spirit of the time.

In Mississippi a movement is being made to test
the constitutionality of the Reconstruction Act,
which has evidently occasioned much indignation.
General SWAYNE, commanding in Alabama, has
announced that strict compliance with the Civil
Rights Bill will be exacted from the inhabitants,
but the negro question is still troublesome in many
parts of the South. At Charleston a riot has
occurred in consequence of the negroes insisting
on riding in the street cars. Whether
this was objected to an account of the
prejudice against association with blacks, more
common generally Northwards than South-
wards, or whether it arose from some dispute,
is not stated, but the riot grew to such a height

that it called for military interference. A conven.
tion of Whites and Blacks has been held at Nash
vine, at which the coloured speakers declared that
the Southerners and the negroes were the best of
friends, and that their interests were identical.
The present position of the blacks is difficult and
unsatisfactory, but when once definite relations
are established there will be less risk of
collision between the rival races. On the
reassembling of Congress, Mr. SUMNER is
to call up a bill for the establishment of universal
suffrage throughout the United States. Americans
generally are not yet prepared to accept such a
joctrine, and it must bo frankly conceded that the
negroes are not prepared to profit by it. How
should they bo after generations of ignorance and
degradation ? A large proportion of them are un-
willing or unable to appreciate the rights and duties
of citizenship. They are so unaccustomed to inde-
pendence that they feel it burdensome. If they
could be secured from the lash and other grievous
hardships, some of them would prefer the old
life of servility and heedlessness to the laborious
self-dependent existence of a freeman depending on
his own unaided exertions. It is not desirable to
encourage this habit of mind. The negro, able-
bodied and gifted with reasoning powers, must
learn to guide and to govern himself and his family,
to win his own bread, to provide for age, sickness, or
other contingencies, and to care for the future while
enjoying the present. But he will not do this so
long as he thinks the State will care for him—so
long as he hopes or believes that the lands of the South
will eventually be shared among his fellows. It is
necessary, of course, to protect the helpless blacks
from the consequences of their sudden enfranchise-
ment and the overthrow of the industry of the
South ; but the extreme Radicals have been false
friends to the negro, by deluding him with specious
promises and flattering hopes, instead of endeavouring
to rouse his energies and initiate him into a life of
self-dependence and wholesome industry. Time and
experience will, no doubt, soften down seine of the
asperities of the contest, and, as the angry feelings
and jealousies of race and party die away, we may
hope to see the plantations of the South once more
supplying the Southern markets, and furnishing at
the same time a resource for the industrious of the
negro population, to which their capacities are ad-
mirably adapted, and which has for them all the
attraction of custom and association.

The Easter recess has never occurred more pro-
pitiously than it has done this year, for its leisure
will afford politicians of all sides leisure to correct
themselves, and to calm down from their excitement
into proper working order. Last week was indeed
a momentous one, and its memory will long live in
the recollection of all who mingled in its stirring
scenes and took part in its storms and struggles.
The Government gained two victories, the one sig-
nificant of their moral force in the House, and the
other a complete and decisive triumph, such as
rarely occurs in a public career. Of one thing we
may all be certain, namely, that the result of Fri-
day's night's defeat and Saturday morning's divi-
sion will be to strengthen the hands of the Govern-
ment, and enable them to complete their work in a
satisfactory manner. It is true that theirs was not
a party triumph, but it was something far better
than that—it was the success of popular principles
over shallow prejudices, and it greatly redounds to
the credit of all who conspired to produce the de-
sirable conclusion. Mr. GLADSTONE'S course was
most factious, and deeply to be deplored in every
respect. The only thing is that one feels so glad
that he lost that one is tempted to overlook the
errors of his conduct in seeking to carry his point.
We hope and believe, however, that the right hon.
gentleman has put on record a useful warning to
those who follow him as a leader, on whichever side
of the House it may be. They will see that the
mightiest become powerless, and the most gifted are
nonentities, when they persist in acting in diame-
trical opposition to the general feeling of the House.
We do not imagine that the right hon. gentleman
was suffiAently endowed with the spirit of MARCUS
CCRTICS to have willingly or even resignedly sus-
tained so signal a defeat in order to procure for his
party the benefit of this boon, but he has done so
. nevertheless, and they had better profit by the op-
portunity. Perhaps the chief secret of Mr. GLAD-
STONE'S failure may be found in the fact that he
has made too personal a matter of the affair, and
acted too much as if he were a Member of

Parliament of great reputation, but still in an iso-
lated position, instead of being the head of a party
and a chief whose actions to a great degree com-
promised his followers. It will never do if he goes
on in this way, and so he will find to his cost.
Adversity, we all know, teaches salutary things,
and hence it is not unreasonable to hope that the
Leader of the Opposition may come out of the fiery
furnace into which he persisted in throwing him-
self against the advice of friends and foes, a
sadder and a wiser man, and that during the
rest of the session he may devote his great abilities
to the task set before Parliament of consolidating
the measure of Reform, which is now happily iii

committee.
It adds greatly to the satisfaction which all feel
at the virtual settlement of the Reform question
which Saturday brought U 3 to reflect upon the
length of time during which it has been on the tapis,
so to speak, of public life. It has been the bite noire of
Cabinets, it has been the fruitful source of dissension
in all circles and coteries. It has been the subject
of the most noticeable paragraphs in Royal Speeches,
and formed the most telling passages in the orations
of demagogues. What arguments, what tirades,
what denunciations, and what exhortations has it
not originated and enforced, until it at last reached
a point that caused the greatest anxiety to all ex-
perienced judges. Perhaps the most convenient
way of getting out of the awkward task of
awarding the praise of its final solution
will be to bestow the palm upon the
House of Commons. That maligned and insulted
body has come nobly to the rescue, and established
a spirit of patriotism that will long command respect
and honour. Whatever may be the errors and dis-
crepancies of the present system of Parliamentary
representation no fault is to be found with the
House collectively, and it would be a matter of
deep and lasting regret were its character ever to
change. It has saved the Government from
bringing in an incomplete measure, it has
rescued the Leader of the Opposition from stultify-
ing himself by going to the country as the enemy
of Reform, and it has triumphed over party utter-
ances and personal jealousy in declaring that now
is the accepted time for doing the work of the coun-
try and satisfying the just demands of the people.
Mr. DISRAELI, who is generally a pretty correct
prophet, said from the commencement of the ses-
sion that the Government relied on the sup-
port and the sympathy of Parliament in the
critical position in which they found themselves, and
expressed a hops that the " House of Commons
would rise to the occasion before it." It has done
so, and no one can over-estimate the importance of
the fact. It stands to reason that the best way of
deciding this vital question of Reform is by taking
it out of the hands of Ministers and Opposition
leaders, and making it the task of the members
of the House. By this means the talents, the
energies, and the resources of all are combined,
and men of eminence are induced to help instead
of hindering. Far from assisting a rival or en-
courage his work to perfection the best are tempted
to pick holes in the scheme before him, but the
best and safest way is to meet on neutral ground,
and make common cause of a national question.
We may hope for great things in the way of im-
provement, now that it is required on all sides that
there should be no more trial of strength, and that
to finish speedily and satisfactorily is the main object
of the committee.