The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-19 00:00:00

LoNDON, TUESDAY, FEB. 19, 1867.

The hydra-headed question of Reform showed
itself several times in the course of last evening's
deliberations. There is manifestly a strong feeling
of interest, if we must not say ;curiosity, felt
among hon. members regarding the revelations of
Monday next. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
has no easy post of it during the present week. As
the sphinx who is to solve the insoluble, he is con-

tinually appealed to to give now this clue and now
that to the grand unravelling. Mr. KINGLASE,
Mr. WALROND, Mr. SCLATER-BOOTH, Mr.
BAINES, Mr. AYRTON, had aach at different
times of the evening something to say about
Reform and the action of the Govern-
ment. Mr. KINGLAKE and Mr. WALROND
had both noticedof motions, the former anticipatory
of the Government statement. Mr. SCLATER-BOOTII
required to know the relationshipbetween uniformity
of asiessment and the principle of rating ; Mr.
BAINES asked for early information as to the pro-
posed amount of the county and borough franchises.
Mr. AYRTON took a wider range, and criticised the

action of the Government, though, as he declared, in
no hostile spirit. Mr. DISRAELI, in answer to se-
veral inquiries, declined, as he well might, to give
specific information on particular points; but, in
reply to Mr. AYRTON, he entered at some length into
the motives which had actuated the Government
as to the course they have pursued. They thought
it, he said, absolutely necessary to have recourse to
resolutions ; and who can honestly say that he be-
lieves a Reform Bill in the present state of parties
could have been carried through the House ? " If,"
added the right hon. gentleman, " when I addressed
the House a week ago, I had confined myself to
arguments in favour of that procedure, and had
given the reasons which had induced the Govern-
ment to adopt that course, I should have been
strictly in order, and nothing more would have
been required of me." But representations
having been made to him from both sides
of the House that it was desirable that the
general character of the resolutions should be
known he thought it best to explain their nature,
and show that they indicated principles rather than
expressed details. The Resolutions are on the table
of the house, and we fully agree with the right hon.
gentleman that it would be most irregular to enter
into casual and preliminary discussions respecting
them. The much-talked-of delay is really only no-
minal. A fortnight is certainly not too long for
deliberation on principles which are to influence so
powerfully the future destinies of the coun-
try. If the Government had fixed an earlier
night, say last evening, there would have
been loud and not altogether groundless complaints
that they were trying to hurry or smuggle a bill
through the House without giving time for the
verdict of the public. Gentlemen who have patiently
endured that the whole question should be left in
abeyance for seven years cannot now brook a de-

lay of twice seven days. So recently as the opening
of the session it was quite uncertain whether
Lord DERBY'S Cabinet would bring in a bill
at all, and probably no one would have been
much surprised if the leader of the Commons
had announced that they intended to defer its con-
sideration till the latter part of the session. Neither
in presence of the great accumulation of neglected
measures could they have been justly blamed had
they adopted such a course. Bat as yet they have
manifested no desire for delay. The QUEEN'S
Speech referred directly to the subject. On the
very first night of the session Mr. DISRAELI fixed
an early evening for explaining their intentions,
and within a week from the meeting of Parliament
the Resolutions upon which the Government pro-
pose to found their measures were laid on the table.
A fortnight was then allowed for their considera-
tion in and out of Parliament, and already half of
it has elapsed. It would be an unwise and unjust
manner of submitting the details of the measure to
the House and to the country to answer now this
question and now that ; to enlarge upon the best
means of defining the boundaries on Monday and
of redistributing the seats on Friday. No measure
could be fairly judged if thus partially explained
and considered. Mr. DISRAELI gave another
reason for declining preliminary explanations.
The House, he said, " might wish to modify
the form of the Resolutions, and he thought it

would be most unwise on the part of the Govern

ment to lose the advantage of the discussion on the
Resolutions. He distinctly disclaimed any desire
for procrastination or postponement, and boldly
stated that the Government were resolved to use
the utmost energy in forwarding the question ;
they had put their hands to the plough, and would
not desist from their work unless arrested in their
labours by the House."

We are glad to find the Home prepared to take
a more conciliatory and tolerant view of the
question than heretofore, and the Chancellor
of
,the Exchequer expressed this belief that the
home was prepared to give the measure submitted

to its consideration a fair and candid trial. We
hope that all Liberal members of Parliament will

bear in mind that their own leaders have already
tried and failed, whether from defects in their mea-

sure, or from the disloyally of their followers, and
that consequently, if they reject the opportunity
now before them, they have no security that another
or a better bill will be presented by the Whigs.
At the present crisis the words and the conduct
of the leading politicians out of office are
naturally subjects of great interest. A
striking contrast is offered to the readers of this
day's intelligence by the language of the more pro-
minent members of the Liberal party. Mr. GLAD-

STONE in the House last night criticised and cen

cured the Government plan of action.

He ex

pressed his own dislike t 9 the mode of proceeding
by Resolutions; he declared his apprehension of
further delay, and manifested a great desire for
full and prompt information. At the same time
he showed every desire to give the Government not

only a fair hearing, but a fair trial. He declared

his conviction that the country at large was deeply

anxious that the question should be settled during
this session, and, for his own part, he distinctly dis-

claimed any intention of unnecessary pressure. The
assurances of support, which he had previously

given the Government, provided their bill was such

as he believed to be really a fair one were repeated,
and coming from Mr. GLADSTONE such assurances

are something more than mere words of course.

Factious opposition, petty intrigue, loud profos-

sions, contradicted by inconsistent practice,
personal jealousies and party prejudice, aro
unworthy alike of his character and his reputation.

So far as he could answer for the conduct of his fol-

lowers, he distinctly intimated that the proceedings

of 1859 (with which he had individually nothing to
do) should not be repeated. Being, as no one can

doubt, heartily and conscientiously interested in the
prompt and satisfactory settlement of this great
question on public grounds, Mr. GLADSTONE

can leave prejudice and faction behind him,

and discuss a national question in a national and

patriotic spirit.

Coming to the member for Birmingham, we
find him adopting a very different course. Mr.
BRIGHT has not yet indeed favoured the
House of Commons with his views of the
Government resolutions ; perhaps, indeed, he
thinks that assemblage too contemptible for en-
lightenment. To the Bradford Branch of the Re-
form League, however, he is more communicative.
The course taken by the Government is " au insult
to the house, and a gross offence to the whole body
of Reformers in the country." The Administration
is " bitterly hostile to Reform," but has not cot6age
to say so, and therefore seeks to " murder the
Cause by a course odious to all honest men." After

a little more in the same strain Mr. BRIGHT
concludes by declaring the Government to be abdi-
cating its functions, and ready to betray both
QUEEN and people, that they may remain in office
another session." Mr. BRIGHT, in spite of other
failings, is at least consistent. lie practises what
he preaches. He has set up the American Consti-
tution as our model, and he does his small part
towards producing a national copy. His political
language is no unsuccessful imitation of gentlemen
who exchange the epithets of " liar" or " traitor" on
the floor of the Representative Assembly, even as his
political conduct bears strong affinity to the tolera-
tion and love of free thought and speech manifested
by the majority of the American Lower House. Mr.
BRIGHT is not fortunate enough to have a President
to abuse, or a South to trample under foot, but
within a more circumscribed area than Fate has
allotted to Messrs. THADDEUS STEVENs and
SUMNER he does his best to excel.

We are glad to meet again with our able corre-
spondent wko signs himself " A Lover of Historical
Dates and Facts," and his remarks will be found
generally interesting to all who would realise the
true state of parties and politics in the country, and
not jump at hasty conclusions in order to suit the
particular views of the moment. It is really surpris-
ing, when one dwells on the matter, to notice how
little the Whig party has done for the country,
and how much it has professed to do. The fact is,
that the popular sympathies have been so long on the
side of that party that it has taken a mean
advantage of circumstances, and the consequence of
all this has been that the general interests of the
country have suffered. It is time now, however, to
awake and dispassionately to consider a little whi-
ther we have been tending of late years, and what
have been the principles of those who have so long
monopolised the high places of the land and reserved
to themselves the gains and glories of office. Vox
et prcterea nihil has been the motto of all those who
have ranged themselves under the banners of
Whiggery, and sad has been- the result to
the real interests of the community. Of more
consequence than the mere delay in the passing of
this and that measure, no matter how important
such might be, has been the want of faith intro-
duced into the tone of public matters. People have
grave suspicions, and no wonder, at the immense
parade that they have witnessed when a new Ad-
ministration came into office, and the recollection of
how little can be seen when retrospect takes the
place of prospect. Hence it has become the fashion
when Ministers talk of doing great things, for wise
men to shake their heads and look incredulous.
" Wait till the end of the Session" has been their
rejoinder to the Utopian schemes held out to them,
and how often has their fatal prophecy been ful-
filled to the letter in the do-nothing policy that has
prevailed.

How true is this definition met with in the letter
referred to just now. " The Whigs, it is true,
for the last half-century, have made a cat's-paw of
several liberal measures, in order to obtain the
sweets of office, but no sooner had the mooting of
such measures proved a good and safe bridge to
carry them into their harbour of refuge than they
were only too glad to send it to the winds." Let us
look, for instance, at the manner in which Reform
has been shelved during the last seven years ; and
although it has been the fashion to put the blame
on Lord PALMERSTON, that has been a very
convenient excuse, the late noble Premier not
being so much to blame as many of his colleagues.
Mr. DISRAELI showed pretty plainly in his remark-
able speech of the other evening that when Lord
DERBY last assumed the responsibility of office
he was assured by Lord PALMERSTON of his
willingness to assist him in any attempt
he deemed necessary to make in the, matter of
Reform. With the exception of the first Reform
Bill, the Whigs have passed no truly great or im -
portant measure at all. For many years in opposi-
tion they were in favour of the repeal of the Test
Act and Catholic Emancipation, but it was not a
Whig Government which carried them at
last. The course pursued by the Whigs
to the Roman Catholics is aptly described by
the lover of historical dates and facts as something
"like that of the devil in one of his journeys to the
earth, to kick away the stool from your friend as
soon as ever you have made your fortune by him."
After a long course of trickery Lord RUSSELL gave
the crowning blow to the union between the Whigs
and Catholics when he penned his famous Durham
letter iu 1850. Let us also reflect upon the very
different conduct of the Conservatives. Catholic
Emancipation was introduced by. WILLIAM PITT,
as yell as carried by a Tory Ministry. The endow-
ment of Maynooth was Sir ROBERT PEEL'S ,doing.
In short, the greatest measures of reform and
progress have been carried by Tory Governments
alone. The law reforms on which Lord GREY'S
Government of 1855 prided itself were in con-
sequence of the commissions that had been ap-
pointed Ly the late Duke of WELLINGTON and Sir
R. PEEL. In 1857, Lord DERBY'S first Administra-
tion, there were more law reforms placed on the
Statute Book than had been done for years before.
This zealous searcher into the historical scrolls of
the past has also expressed a fear of the finesse
tricks of Lord RUSSELL, and it would seem as if it
was the last thing he arrived at to be straightfor-
ward. In 1835, ho turned out the Government of
Sir R. PEEL upon the first tithe question, and
three years afterwards he carried the very same
measure himself. This is all of a piece with the
course pursued is 1859, when the Conservatives
were turned out on the policy afterwards held by
the new Ministers. In 1798-9- the Whigs were
against the introduction of an Income-tax by
the Tories ; seven years later, when in office theth-
selves, they doubled it. Again, in 1842, they op-
posed Sir R. PEEL'S proposition, and in 1818, when
in office, they wished to double it. The conclusion
arrived at in this summary of the doings of
Whiggery is a very just one, namely, that
it should be long before the affairs of
the country are entrusted to their manage-
ment, or rather to their mismanagement.
Allowing, for the sake of argument, that the pre-
sent Government was against all reform—which no
one has yet found it to be—an open enemy is better
than a false friend. For the Whigs the cold shade
of the Opposition will be by far the most salubrious
atmosphere for some time to come, and as it is
complacently said in this illustration of parties—
" The country is in duty bound to give the present
Government a fair trial." If it refuse to do so, we
feel convinced that the lo,s to the Conservative

cause will be nothing to that inflicted on the in-
terests of the nation, and it will be long before the
injuries thus produced will be forgotten or forgiven

by all true patriots.

We are glad to find that the affairs of Hungary
are progressing much more satisfactorily than we
had any reason to expect a short time ago. Yes-
terday an Imperial rescript was read in both houses
of the Hungarian Diet. In this it is announced
that the EMPEROR agrees to the demands that were
embodied in the Diet's address of the 19th January
last, respecting the re-organisation of the army; and
he has ordered that the question be left for Parlia-
mentary treatment. Expression is used, however, of

the EMPEROR'S desire that the Diet should support
as readily as possible this plan of the EMPEROR'S in
consequence of the necessity that prevails for filling
up the gaps in the regiments, and likewise remo-
delling the army. The EMPEROR further declares
that the doubts he once entertained have now dis-
appeared, and he restores the Hungarian Constitu-
tion ; concluding with the emphatic wish, that the
peoples of Hungary will defend the Throne, the
Crown, and the Empire, even as he desires the
integrity of Hungary, and will defend her Consti-
tution. Of course the greatest enthusiasm pre-
vailed in consequence of the receipt of this intelli-
ence, and a deputation will be appointed to carry to
the EMPEROR the thanks of the nation. This will
not be glad tidings for Prussia, and we can fancy
the Berlin Government feeling very much chagrined
when they hear of it. The Emperor FRANCIS
JOSEPH has shown himself equal to the occasion
before him, and we feel convinced that he will have
no cause to regret the important step he has just
taken. Had he done so a year or two ago he would
now be in a far better position, but better late than
never is true in this as in other cases, and we heartily
congratulate him upon this proof of his wisdom and
confidence.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, Monday Evening.
The bulletin of the Moniteur says :—" A letter
from Civita Vecchia, dated Feb. 12, announces the
arrival in that port of several vessels laden with
corn which the Government of the Holy Father
had purchased abroad to insure sufficient food for
the inhabitants of Rome until the next harvest.
Thanks to the precautionary measures which had
been adopted, the price of bread has not risen
during the last six weeks. The Syndic of Genoa,
accompanied by four members of the Municipality,
had left for Venice to present an address for the
inhabitants of Genoa to the Venetians, and to offer
to them as a testimony of friendship the busts of
Vittorio Pisani and Pietro Doria."
A despatch from St. Petersburg says that the
most important fact which has arisen there for some
weeks is the dissolution of the Provincial Assembly
of that city. These provincial assemblies replaced
the ancient assemblies of the nobility, which only
met at intervals of three years. Their attributions
are purely local and municipal, and politics were
excluded from their consideration, but having
recently discussed political matters the Emperor
thought fit to dissolve them.
The Moniteur has received a communication in
regard to the composition of the new Italian
Ministry, but it does not seem to rely upon it, as it
says it publishes the news " under all reserve."
However, according to its correspondent, M.
Ricasoli will retain the position of President of the
Council and Minister of the Interior ; M. Visconti
Venosta will still be Minister of Foreign Affairs ;
M. Cordova will be Minister of Commerce ; and
General Cugia Minister of War. M. Depretis,
instead of being Minister of Marine, will be

Minister of Finance in the room of M. Scialoja ;
M. Mari, now President of the Chamber of
Deputies, will be Minister of Justice. In short, to
those not familiar with the names of Italian
diplomatists, it may be necessary to state in a word
that the new Ministry is a hash of the old Cabinet
—a distinction without a difference.
The blue book, a large volume of 300 pages,
gives a mass of interesting miscellaneous informa-
tion relative to the internal position of France. It
contains the following statistics relative to the
newspapers : —On the Ist of Jan., 1866, the num-
ber of political journals was 330, of which 63 were
printed in Paris, and 267 in the provinces. On
the Ist of Jan., 1867, the number of political jour-
nals was 336, of which 64 were printed at Paris,
272 in the departments. On the Ist of Jan., 1E66,
the number of nen-political journals was 1,307, of
which 703 were published in Paris, and 604 in the
departments. On the Ist of Jan., 1867, the num-
ber of non-political journals was 1,435 ; that is to
say, 710 in Paris, and 725 in the departments. In
the course of 1866 the Government authorised the
e 067 32 the Ist
publication of 6 new political newspapers, 1 at
oPfarisJan.a,ndsin th
1866, to the departments.id flB F
judi-
cial condemnations were pronounced against news-
papers, 13 at Paris, and 19 in the departments.
This book gives important statistics in regard to
the steam fleet in the course of construction in the
building yards. It includes 28 vessels of 12,670
horse power, viz., 4 ironclad frigates, of 3,800
horse power; 7 ironclad corvettes, of 3,150 horse
power ; 3 ironclad coast guard vessels, of 1,590
horse power ; 2 ironclad floating batteries for
coast service, of 300 horse power; a screw fri-
gate (not ironclad), 480 horse power ; 3 screw
corvettes (not ironclad), 1,350 horse power; 7
screw avisos, 1,500 horse power ; one transport,
500 horse power. The number of sailing vessels
in course of construction is 82, to which number
should be added many vessels intended for police
service and the protection of fisheries. In the
principal ports of France there is great activity in
the completion of some vessels of rather a for-
midable character.

Asto h
I gather from the
book that the merchantF h a
English Government
re French
navy, v y,
have been for some time in communication with a
t e
view to the abolition of onerous differential duties,
and also to establish one uniform system of mea-
surement, and to facilitate as much as possible the
regulations in regard to ballast and the shipment of
spare stores in place of ballast when the ballast is
unladen. The whole tendency of the facts and
arguments published in this portion of the book is
to exhibit the desire of the French Government to
promote the principle of free trade in regard to navi-
gation and commerce.

The Siecle, in a review of foreign affairs, has
some sensible remarks in regard to Prussia. It says
—" Prussia, according to the statement in the Im-
perial Speech,
is making every exertion to reassure
us. We believe, in fact, that without France she
would have gone farther than she did—in Saxony,
for instance. But she would not have gone so far
with an armed neutrality; and we regret that the
pressure put upon her prevented her. We do not
deny the great results announced in the Speech.
Our simple mediation has destroyed the Quadrila-
teral, emancipated Italy, and saved Austria. Here
is an immense result. According to- the Speech
from the Throne, and the blue book, which forms
a commentary upon it, our relations with Prussia
are good. We will even add that, according to
the most recent manifestations of public opinion,
that public feeling, so sensitive in Prussia, has not
been irritated at the anticipation of history. In
other times if it had been said to the Prussians
that they had been stopped at the gates of Venice
all the organs of public opinion in Prussia would
have felt their national pride wounded. There is,
therefore, some progress there. As to Austria
she ought to be abundantly satisfied with the Im-
perial Speech. The Emperor declares that the
greatness of that empire is necessary to the gene-
ral equilibrium. Such a declaration is as good as
a treaty."

According to the Italie the Pontifical Budget for
_ _ _

the curreut—year will present a deficit of 37i mil-
lions of francs. But as this deficit will be covered
by the sum of 20 millions, which the Italian Go-
vernment is to pay into the Roman Treasury next
month for the arrears of the public debt since 1859,
and also about 18 millions due from Italy for
annual interest of that part of the Pontifical debt
connected with the ancient provinces of the States
of the Church, the Holy See will, in 1867, have
sufficient funds to provide for its expenses.

This morning early it was a frost. As the day
advanced came a little rain, but with still less sun,
and as I enclose my letter the frost seems half made
up its mind to return.

LAW EXPENSES OF THE ECCLESIASTICAL COM-
MISSIONERS.-By a return issued yesterday it appears that
the Ecclesiastical Commissioners expended nearly £7,000
in legal proceedings having reference to manorial and other
rights in the county of Durham.