The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-15 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

TDI FS. —The 'Emperor Napoleon bad yesterday a
most difficult Speecli to deliver. It was a confession
of mishaps in his foreign policy ; a profession of in-
tended reforms in his home policy. It, would hardly
be generous to dwell too long on hi: apology for the
past. According to a sayine. lats.ly attributed to his
Imperial cousin of the Parais-Royal, the Emperor
has been by turns an under-rated and an over-rated
man. We have never thought Oat he took 4on
lihnSelf any credit for ty,and we now read in
his Speech a candid ack no wledginent that
he has more than once been disappointed
in his expectations. It is singular to see
how naturally crowned heads, under trying
circumstances, attribute to supernatural agency
the blame of all their - failures. With Ger-
man Sovereigns of the North or South the responsi-
bility is invariably laid upon " Almighty Pro-
vidence." The Napoleons look to their " stars" for
success, and in any case of reverse they succumb
to " fate." There was a." fatality,"• the Emperor
tells us, in the fulfilinent of the events which have
lately astonished the world.
The captive of St.
Helena had in some manner foreshadowed them,
when the sunset of life gave him preternatural fore-
sight. He had pointed to the inevitable agglomera-
tion of great, nations • he had divined the rise of
Germany and Italy. The Emperor cannot see why
the formation of those two States should cause dis-
quiet to France. Secure in her strength as a homoge-
nenous and indestructible body, France could neither
grudge nor fear'auy result that. might possibly arise
from the conflict beyond the Rhine. She never added
one soldier to her formidable army; she never moved
forward'a single regiment. She observed a strict
neutrality ;
and had yet sufficient influence to dic-
tate her own terms to the conquesor, and to make
him avoid any act which.might arotise-French .sui-
ceptibilities. In Mexico, again, the Emperor's plans
were thwarted by the concurrence of inauspicious
circuinstaneei. Nothing could be loftier than the
ideas which led to that Transatlantic expedition ;
bht, rather than incur sacrifices far exceeding
thzinterests at stake, the Emperor spontaneously
dbtermined to recall his army. Such is the Im-
perial version of two, great incidents in modern
history. Proceeding to affairs still pending, the
Emperor of the French stands on the safe ground
of a European concert. In the East he relies on the
joint action of the Great Powers. At Rome he feels
secure ; Europe is equally ready to uphold the tem-
poral power of the Holy See=-all Europe, that is,
England, Prussia, and Russia, no less than Bavaria
ancf'Spain. There was once a time when the Pro-
tectorate of the Papacy was exclusively exercised by
the eldest daughter of the Church, who would have
resented any other interposition. There was once a
time, too, when her patronage was extended to the
Papal Court, on the condition of reforms in its Go-
vernment. Now that Government has entered upon
a fresh phase. It maintains itself by its own strength
—it is above all human help, as it is past mending.
In other respects, the Emperor's relations with
foreign Powers could not be more satisfactory.
Prussia and Russia are of one mind with him upon
the chief European questions. The same perfect ac-
cord exists with Austria, 'Spain, and Italy, while
with England increased intimacy springs from the
harmony of policy and the multiplicity of commer-
cial relations. Having thus disposed of the sore part
of his subject, the Emperor renews his promises of
the 19th January. He lays before Parliament the
bills which offer new guarantees for political liberty.
What it is that induces him to realise the wishes
of his people after 15 years' expectation the Empe-
ror does not tell. But, to those who know how
to read, the second part of the Speech is only a
corollary to the first. France has had enough of
personal government; Mexico, Italy, Germany,
Denmark, and Poland have laid upon the Emperor
an immense weight of responsibility. However
great his genius, it has not in all instances success-
fully grappled with fatality ; it has not risen superior
to an adverse combination of circumstances. He
had failures to gloze over; blunders to explain
away. Henceforth the blame of failure shall not
rest on him alone. A Sovereign and his people will
deliberate with greater success than either of them
alone, and will share between them the reSponsi-
bility. It is impossible not to agree with the
Emperor as to the ephemeral character freedom
has invariably assumed in France. It has been
the constant habit of that nation to run from
liberty of licentiousness, then to shrink back from
disorder, and seek shelter no matter under what
form of absolutism. Fifteen years ago France gave
her chosen Ruler far more than he asked ; she May
now possibly recover more than she aspires to ob-
tain. Doubts as to the sincerity of the Emperor's
liberal intentions dwell, we are aware, in the minds
of many an earnest patriot in France. Napoleon,
it is true, looks upon the public liberties of his
people too much as his own property, to give or to
take away according to his own good will and
pleasure; and it is felt that so long as he in-
sists upon being his own Minister there is an
end to all hope of responsible Government. The
systematic breach of the secrecy of private cor-
respondence at the Post-office throughout France
in quest of so paltry a document as the letter of the
Count of Chambord, is also a somewhat sinister
prelude to the new laws which are to emancipate
the Tribune of the Chamber and secure the free
utterance of opinion throughthe Press. There is
no doubt in our mind, however, that the Emperor
is ready to give up
as much as the French are able
and willing to ask for. His confidence in himself
is evidently shaken, and there is hardly anything
he would not grant for the sake of free,
support. There
warm, hearty
is hardly a mea-
sure connected with either home or foreign
policy about which the Emperor has not lately
given symptoms of uncertainty and vacillation.
Take, for example, the scheme for the reorgani-
zation of the army, which is now reduced to such
modest proportions as to " lighten the burden of
the conscription in time of peace." Any approach
to the Prussian military
system would doubtless
combine strength with economy, lay the burden on
the people in just proportions and satisfy the pfin-
ciples of equality.
But the Emperor is aware of
the difficulties his original scheme would have to
contend with, and he abandons it. We regret,
however, to see him asserting that " the influence of
a nation depends upon the number of men it is able
to put under arms,"
Happily, the claims of France
to the respect and even the gratitude of foreign
nations need no longer rest on her " big battalions."
What renders, her invulnerable is not her power to
overstep her borders and to carry slaughter and
desolation across the Rhine, the Alps, or the
Pyrenees ; it is the perfect assimilation and ardent
patriotism of her people. The Emperor invites
them tt to march with him with a firm step on the
path of civilisation." But peace, progress, and huge
armies will not easily be made to flourish,. toge-
ther.
The first condition of 'European advance-
ment lies in the reduction of our excessive military
forces. It is a necessity for us all, but one which
France is free to obey sooner than any other, inas-
much as her Sovereign well knows how " homoge-
neous and indestructible" a body his country is, and
conviction he has every reason to est-
sturbed."
twehrtaat stronginthat" peace will not be di

ardent, not to say intemperate,
thilirsEtiliourjnknowledge which has possessed itself of
Lord Robert Montagu and Mr. Bernal Osborne
will hardly, we apprehend, have been even tempo-
rarily appeased by the answers they received last
night from the Chancellor of the Exchequer. But
have
udedi resolution,the
uind
-
derstaudings of many well-meaning people. No
although the noble lord and the honourable gentle-
man took nothing by their 'notions, the public is
I
emphatically the object of the Go-
decidedly a gainer by them. Mr. Disraeli had
the opportunity, of which he happily availed him-
self, o, re-stating
vernment in procegiei
whichg by
andtht is
mofiscodiislpeeeplltiito,
thanks, however, to either of his questioners.
Their purpose can hardly have been friendly.• At
all events, if they meant well they did not show
it. That Mr. Bernal Osborne should try to put
' lacontusion
i good deal of the ray of
lo ai
a spoke in the wheel of the Government machine
is natural enough ; and, expecting nothing better
from the honourable gentleman, we will not quarrel
with him for not disippointing us. But Lord
Robert Montagu is nominally a supporter of the
Government, and the question from bun whether
the Government is acting sincerely and honestly
came with a very bad grace. Lord Robert may be
animated by a warm regard for the Ministry, bathe
certainly managed last night to dissemble his love,
and even threatened that he would do his best to
kick them down stairs. Lord Robert Montagu's
question, as it stood upon time order book, and with-
out
the elucidation he afterwards gave it, was
neither very important nor very offensive. His
lordship wanted to know whether the. Government
would endeavour to bring in, as early as possible
in the session, a Reform
,Bill to carry out what-
over resolutions the housemay. vote. Mr. Osborne

asked what -wag to be the exact amount ofvthe

reductions in -the occupying franchise, and what
the character of the new franchises. Mr. Disraeli,
answering the two questions together, observed

that Mr. Osborne's was based upon a miscon-
ception of the object of the Government. "The
main object of introlaling these resolutions
is, that we should obtain Vie s motion of the lion :e
to the principles upon which the bill which wo hope
we may introduce. should be base.l ;"- the purpose
of this procedure to render i:npos,ii)le a reso-
lution of censure foul, led upon an atta* of eome
particular principle in th bill. That is to sly, the
Government wants, first of all, to come to an under-
standing wit!, the house as to the principles of the
bill. That arrived at, it will proposi such an app!i-
cation of those principles in a bill to be immediately
introduced which it filly julge best- fur the public
interests, best with a view to the future constitution
of Parliament, and best with a view to the chances
of a settlement-of the question. These applications
will be matters for discussion in committee. Where
the house shall express a decided opinion in favour
of an amendment of the details of the Government
scheme, the Government will, if it be possible to
do so consistently with the principles upon which
it has undertaken Reform, accede to that opinion.
As a matter of course, therefore, the Government
cannot enter into the details of its franchises before-
hand. It asks the house to come to an agreement
on principles. It will then, on its own responsibi-
lity, apply them, and ask the assent of the house. If
the application is unsatisfastory to the house it can
either amend the clauses in consort with the Go-
vernment, or amend them against the Government,
in which case it will be for the Government to de-
termine whether it will proceed with the bill, and in
the event of its declining to do so for the House of
Commons to determine what steps it will take for
the enforcement of its wishes. Directly the reso-
lutions are passed the Government will introduce,
in the shape of a bill, its adaptation of.the princi-
ooldvLiaeilr
ittOhberr
t.
xiTohnatt
gwuas. Alliri
a. DI
oiistirisi ip'
s
declared that the- Chancellor of the Exchequer had
p however,lansweresei embodied
bt (nlinot satisfied; he sprang to his fp4.
not understood his question—as the Chancellor of
the Exchequer might well be excused for not doing
—it being impossible to suppose that the noble lord ;
meant to be as offensive as he now explained had
Government wished honestly and sincerely to gatherall along been his intention —and asked whether

the opiuions and wishes of the house, and embody
them in a bill, or meant only to bring in a bill to
carry out certain foregone conclusions of its own.
In other words, the noble lord said to Mr. Disraeli,
" Are you playing a farce or not? Do you wish to
settle this question, and consequently intend to
bring in a bill which will conciliate the support of
a majority in parliament. Or are you merely trying
to gain time, intending, after all the palaver over the
resolutions, to bring in a bill which, not regarding
the wishes and opinions of the house, will inevitably
be rejected ?" The reply of Mr. Disraeli was con-
clusive--" So long," he said, " as we are allowed to
conduct the committee in which the resolutions are
to be moved it will be our duty to act upon them,
whether we propose them or any member of the
house ; but we reserve to ourselves the-privilege of
free men, that if resolutions are carried which, we
cannot carry out, we may decline to do so, and not
act upon resolutions which we do not approve. We
do not suppose that in passing these resolutions we
pass a reform bill. The reform bill must depend on
its.merits, but what we supposed was that by this
means we should obtain a fair hearing for our mea-
sure." Mr. Osborne now was, in his turn, irregular.
He wanted to know when the Chancellor of the Ex-
chequer would name the precise sum at which he in-
tended to fix the franchise. Mr. Disraeli answered
in substance, as soon as the resolutions, among which
is one affirming the desirability of lowering the fran-
chise, are carried. The bill will come on as soon as the
resolutions are passed, the particular franchises by
which the principles affirmed in these resolutions are
carried out are details to be settled in committee.
The house and the country cannot now pretend not
to understand the intentions of the Government.
The Government has invited the house to affirm cer-
tain principles as the bases of a bill which is to be
an adaptation of those principles. If, therefore,
the House of Commons will affirm the expediency
of reducing the franchise, of establishing new fran-
chises, of partly disfranchising certain boroughs,
and giving the members taken from them to popu-
lous towns, or groups of towns, at present unrepre-
sented, of revising borough boundaries, Scc., the
Government will bring in a bill proposing such
reduction of the occupying franchis.•l such new
franchises, ani such a redistribution of seats as it
may consider a fair and prudent expression of the
principles of the. resolutions. The more Or less of
these-reductions, the expediency of the- particular
new franchise, the justice and wisdom of the redis-
tribution, will all be questions upon which the
House of Commons will have ample opportunities
for forming and expressing its opinion. If the
Liberal party object to a reduction of the franchise,
to all fancy franchises, to the partial disfranchise-
ment of small boroughs and the appropriation of
the seats taken from them to new towns, to better
provisions against bribery, and so on, they will, of
course, bo quite right to oppose the particular reso-
lutions affirming those principles. But unless they
do object to these principles they will be acting a
dishonest part in opposing the resolutions of the
Government by a cunningly framed resolution of
. their own. They give up in no respect their control
of the Government by accepting its resolutions.' If
the particular expression given to the resolutions in
the bill dissatisfies them they may substitute an ex-
pression of their own, it' they have a majority in the
house ; and if they have not a majority they must,
of course, bow to the force they now, fancying it
will be on their side, so freely invoke. It is quite
clear that a Reform Bill which will satisfy all mode-
rate men, do justice to • all classes, and settle the
question for our time at least, may be passed this
session if the plans of the Government are not
thwarted by a factious Opposition resolved to take
no bill from a Conservative Ministry.
THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE ON PERSONALITIES.
—We have become accustomed to the phrase
tc xtra-Parliamentary utterances," and we arc now
becoming equally accustomed to the fact of extra
Parliamentary personalities. In the House mem-
bers are restrained by certain rules from attacking
each other beyond due limits. But when among
their constituents, or when glowing with post-
prandial exultation among admiring followers,
they are not so fettered, and can speak more
freely of the absent enemy. Yet these person-
alities will not be forgotten in the House, and may
seriously affect proper and requisite deliberation, as
well as the progress of business. In all disputes,
to lose one's temper is to give an immediate ad-
vantage to the other side, and makes it more
difficult to come to a right or a peaceable conclu-
sion. When two boys disagree, arguments heat
their blood, and with the quickening of the pulse,
the flow .of words increases and grows more
angry, and the rights of either side are less likely
to prevail. At last it comes to personalities ; ugly
names and abusive epithets are bandied about ;
faults in the disposition and character of the other
are thrown in his teeth, or some ugliness in his
features described to him in the most disagreeable
language, and personalities lead to threats. The
epithet personal " you big fool," is met with the
retort personal " you great ass," and language
like this Will be all that is left in the way of argu-
ment ; fists are doubled and displayed in a
threatening manner, until one or the other ven-
tures on a blow, and so the disagreement has to
be decided by who can inflict most punishment
upon the face and features of the other. It may
be said boys are boys, but men are men,_a_n,
and do
not act like this ; still less do members of lar -
ament. We think they very often do. lists may
not be as often resorted to, but when-two men, or
women either, engaged in dispute or argsurin.nenetd
get as far as personalities, they may be. reta 1
by circumstances from inflicting bodlly
injury on
much
each other, but -there is not
the truth or right at issue being settled between
them, Or, if we watch the progress of an e
same interna-
tional dispute, we shall find very much
th
state of things. If the courtesy and politeness
of diplomacy does not settle matter, the
despatches of the respective governments become
more curt and cutting. Insinuations of the lie
oblique are met with the lie direct ; the respec-
tive pulses of the two national bodies beat
quicker and quicker, each nation doubles up its
-fist, and at last the matter is settled, and the right
supposed to lie on the side of whichever can kill,
maim, and destroy most men on the opposite side,
and can inflict most misery and injury on the
enemy. And when this has been effectually done,
the matter in dispute will probably be found
to remain exactly where it was when person-
alities and threats took the place of argument and
diplomacy. It is true that men in hot dispute do
not, as a rule, end in taking off their coats and
proceeding to the infliction and reception of black
eyes and bloodynQies ; and if they do proceed to
extremities which cannot be otherwise settled, they
can always resort to the quieting climate of the
courts of law. It is not probable that Nlr.Bright
and his faithful brother, Jacob, will settle -
the quarrels they have on hand with -Mr. Lowe,
Mr. Garth, and others, and which have undoubt-

edly reached the length of personalities. It mie:ht
I be a good thing for - the nation if they would.'
I But what we contend is, that whengentleinen who
are Parliament get beyond the grave
argument and discussion which really seeks to
arriv.! at the truth, and come to personalities,
ther_ is _very little chance left of any useful de-
batia,;, or of the desired end or purpose being
arrivA Parliament is abo.,f;- reassemble.,
an" there is an imniease quantity of matters which
requir; its most urgent attention. The Govern-
ment is iMiding out hopes of doin4 a great deal.
The terrible and increasing-extent of poverty is
to be grappled with, and the administration of the
poor-law looked to; the scandalous bankruptcy
laws are to be reconstructed; Irish tenants are to
be put in a better position with their landlords ;
the disastrous break up of companies limited is to
lead to an amendment in the law of joint-stock
companies, and other things are promised, all
of which are urgently required by the country at
large. But the Reform Bill blocks up the way,
and may be the cause of next session beinc, as
useless as the last. The country is sorely in
need of the legislation which looks solely to the
country's good. It wants a strong Executive which
will take matters in hand and shape them accord-
ing to the country's requirement. But if mem-
bers oppose whatever the opposite party pro-
poses, and simply on that ground; if their vaca-
tion
personalities cause them to oppose and vote
against the measures of particular persons, chiefly
from personal antipathy, there cannot be much
chance of true argument, or just rights and neces-
sities prevailing. Reform has been the occasion
of gross and most improper and undignified person-
alities from members ,of both sides of the douse,
and is becoming a perfect btigbcar awl nuisance to
the country. And if members allow their personal
and party antipathies to prevail where-there
should be nothing but fair
,argiuneit and earnest:
deliberation for the practical good of the. people,
and not for the advancement of a party, in that
case we fear there will be Jittle more chance of
any satisfactory conclusion to our approaching
parliamentary struggles than to the fisticuffs of
our pugilistic boys.