The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-29 00:00:00

his doing so. There is always mischief-making in
these uncertain and mystifying schemes, and we may
rest assured that in nine cases out of ten the true
meaning is not allowed to come out, because the
originator of the plan does not care to have it known
until it has become too late for people to draw
back. At this time of the session it would be little
short of madness for the House to agree
to an abstract resolution of this kind, and 1
the best thing that can be done will be to follow
the course pursued with Lord GREY'S proposal
other night, and reject or negative it at once. Lord.
HALIFAX'S resolution will take precedence of all.
amendments, as he moves it upon going into com—
mittee, and hence it is justifiable to regard it as a
regular stumbling-block upon the threshold, a
stoppage in an important work, and an insidious
attempt to mar the effect of all that has been done
already. If Lord GREY has an amendment to pro•
pose, to the effect that the limit of the borough
population shall be extended from 10,000 to 12,000
in these boroughs which lose one of their two mem-
bers, this might have been a desirable arrangement
had it been carried out at the outset, but the various
delays that occurred, and the complications that
arose, prevented the House of Commons from
dwelling for a very long time upon certain details.
As it however, it seems unadvisable that the
vexed question should be re-opened, and it may be
borne in mind that, besides the loss of time in the
present instance, the House of Commons will
have to come back to it again in considering
the Lords' amendments. Lord CAIRNS will move,
upon the Lodger Clause being introduced, that the
qualification should be fifteen pounds instead of
ten ; Lord RAVENSWORTH at the same time pro-
posing that it should be twenty pounds. It seems
a pity that this part of the measure should be in-
terfered with at all, but no doubt Lord CAIRNS has
well considered his course, and deems it advisable
to meet objections half way. It will be a great
advantage if the fifteen pound proposition be
carried, even though regrets may linger at the
clause not being accepted as it came from the
House of Commons. Lord CAIRNS has also under-
taken to move, after Clause 8, that at a" contested
election for any county or borough represented by
three members, no person shall vote for more than
two candidates ; at a contested election for the city
of London no person shall vote for more than three
candidates." This brings back the old question of
representing minorities, which has been so much
talked of. It is difficult to say what reception this
proposal will meet with from the House of
Lords, for the subject has not come under notice
there of late years ; but there can be no objection to
the question engaging attention, and as it has been
made the theme of controversy for a lengthened
period by experimental Reformers, the Committee
may as well have an opportunity afforded to them
of testing its merits.

It will be seen by a glance at the list of amend-
ments and clauses that Lord GREY is to be very
busy indeed. We hope that he will not prove
of the meddle and muddle class, but it
is suspicious at any rate that he should
seek to alter so very much. As we said
just now there is little or no time left for
the consideration of all these schemes, even if
they were desirable ones, and to carry even half
of the noble lord's plan into execution would pro-
bably take too long. What with his grouping of
boroughs and taking one member from every
borough below twelve thousand he would have
many more seats for redistribution, and the con-
fusion of settling who should be fortunate enough
to obtain. these may be imagined. Surely Mr.
GLADSTONE and his frieuds and followers, with others
who acted independently of them, have done enough
to interfere with the character of the bill without
such factious attempts being made in the other
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dependent of all this. It can pay sufficient deference
to the proposals of the noble lord, and determine for
itself the fit and proper course to pursue. That
course is plain to all who rightly estimate the exi-
gencies of the case. It should be no party con-
sideration that influences those now about to
meet to settle this great question, and no claims
of a secondary nature cau be allowed to interfere
with the one thing needful, the passing of the Re-
form Bill during this Session. Let the House then
be prepared to undertake the work to-night with
this great end in view, and so deal with factious pro-
posals and suspicious resolutions that nothing shall
hinder the realisation and completion of the great
object of securing the measure, and then there will
be nothing to fear.

We are very glad to find from the Duke of
BUCKINGHAM'S reply to Lord LICHFIELD on Friday
night that the Government have not forgotten their
promise to consider the question of the agricultural
gangs. Public opinion was deeply shocked at the
revelations made a few weeks since by gentlemen
conversant with the management of labour in the
agricultural districts, and the residents in country
parts were already aware that there was much that
was painful and shocking in the gang system. The
Government promised to consider the whole subject,
and the Duke of BUCKINGHAM said that it was their
intention to introduce a bill requiring the masters of
the gang to be licensed, and prohibiting the employ-
ment of mixed gangs. This will remove the worst
features of the system, because the license will give
some sort of guarantee for the conduct of the mas-
ter, and will be a means of checking or controlling
his authority. At present the children he employs
are at his mercy, and many instances of cruelty
and excessive overwork are reported. Children of
very tender years have to work for long hours,
exposed to many variations of weather ; and the
labour in the fields, especially after a wet season, is
very heavy and exhausting. Then they have some-
times to walk a mile or two home, and to come
again the same distance in the morning. The
masters naturally vary a good deal in their treat-
ment of the children. Some are mild and equitable,
others are harsh and cruel ; but whichever they are
the children must endure their fate. Then the pro-
hibition of the mixed gangs is an important point.
The moral evil of the reckless association of boys
and girls, of men and women, is worse than the
physical ill-usage of the children. The effect upon
the girls is unanimously described as most disas-
trous. The mothers themselves confess that their
girls are never fit for domestic life afterwards. They
miss ali the best part of a working woman's educa-
tion, and when they grow up and have families of
their own the miserable condition of their cottages
testifies abundantly to the consequences of mis-
spent girlhood. We should be glad to see such
work for girls done away with altogether, but
i❑ waiting for that it will be at least an
important step gained to have the gangs kept sepa-
rate, more especially if we can have some security
that the master is a man of decent conduct and
ordinary humanity. We hope the session will not
be allowed to pass over without the Government
redeeming the pledge which they have given.

'The variations of the English climate are so
incessant that they succeed in astonishing the most
experienced meteorologists. Last winter a mild,
damp Christmas threw us off our guard, and rendered
us more susceptible to the sudden attacks a Jack