The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-01 00:00:00

Tr;Lit: SUN LONDON, THURSDAY EV EPIIING, MARCH 1, 1860.

IRE NAVY.

His Royal Highness Prince Alfred passed his
examination for midshipman on board the Euryalus
the day the ship anchored at Spithead. The exami-
nation extended over three days. The King of Por-
tugal dined with the Prince and officers of the ship,
on board, on the 18th inst. The" Euryalus sailed
from Lisbon on the following day, and had a con-
trary wind until off Ushant, when it veered from
N.E. to N.W. and S.W. Off Cape Finisterre she
lost a man by falling from aloft overboard. She
passed the Channel squadron below Plymouth, at
10 30 p.m. on Sunday, standing on a wind downr,
Channel. The only foreign vessels of war in the la-
gus when the Euryalus sailed were a Dutch squad-
ron of a frigate and two corvettes under a Commo-
dore's pendant. The Euryalus is very defective,
both in her hull and machinery, and is expected to
go into Portsmouth Harbour to dock and refit.
The screw steam frigate Mersey, 40, Capt. Cald-
well, C. 8., put into Plymouth Sound on Tuesday,
with steering apparatus defective, having parted
company on Monday morning at 10 o'clock, lat. 49
SO N , long. 4 25 W., with the Edgar, the Donegal,
the Melpomene, the Algiers, the Trafalgar, the
Aboukir, the Queen, and the Royal Albert. The
flagship was ahead, out of sight. The squadron was
under canvas and steam, endeavouring to beat out
of the Channel against a strong N.W. wind. On
Saturday at 2 o'clock in the afternoon the Mersey,
which was steering W. half N., came in contact
with the screw steamship Algiers, 91, Capt. G. W.
D. O'Callaghan. Both were under all sail ; the
wind, from S.S.W., was so light that neither ship
was under full command. The Algiers lost her jib-
boom and flying jibboom. The Mersey was struck
on the port quarter, and had two of her cutters
stove in. Since then the Mersey has experienced a
series of severe storms, which have at different
times washed away her head, hammock berthing,
&c. On Monday, about noon, wind N.W. by W.,
and having a force of 10, a tremendous sea carried
off from tho main chains and drowned Henry Hay-
ward, 24, coxswain of the cutter, a native of Can-
terbury, and, from the head, John Summers, 18,
first-class boy, belonging to Southsea. The Mersey
was then under close-reefed topsails and fore stay-
sail. The yoke of her rudder has been bent by wear
and the recent violent strainings of the sea, and
this was the immediate cause of her return.
The Bacchante, 51, screw, in charge of Captain
G. T. Gordon, commanding the steam reserve at
Portsmouth, steamed out to Spithead yesterday on
her contractor's trial of machinery. On steaming
out beyond the Nab Light Vessel, going at full
speed, she stopped engines and went astern in 42
seconds. Again, at full speed, she stopped engines
and went ahead in 23 seconds. The machinery
worked most satisfactorily in every respect, with a
perfect command of steam. As this was only the
contractor's trial, no rues were made at the mea-
sured mile. Capt. Harris, her Majesty's ship Illus-
trious, and Commander Thorp, her Majesty's ship
Asia, were on board during the trial, which was
superintended by Mr. J. Dinnen, Inspector Afloat
to the Admiralty ; Mr. G. Murdoch, Inspector
Afloat at Portsmouth ; arid Mr. Miller, Assistant
Chief Engineer of her Majesty's Dockyard. The
ship is fitted with a steering apparatus on Admiral
Martin's plan, which will be more effectuatly tested
when the ship's official trial takes place.
The Immortalite, 51, screw, yesterday completed
reshipping her boilers under the factory crane in
the steam basin at Portsmouth. The last of her
boilers, weighing nearly 27 tons, was hoisted from
the jetty alongside, and suspended over the basin,
clear of her bulwarks, in 21; minutes. Mr. G. F.
Barr has joined this vessel as chief engineer.
The Briton, old sailing frigate, was yesterday un-
docked from No. 1 Dock at Portsmouth, where she
has had her copper stripped off her, and as many of
her bolts driven out as possible, their places being
filled up with trenails. She was afterwards slung
with chains, and will be moored up the harbour as
a target ship for the Excellent.
Her Majesty's Royal screw yacht Fairy was yes-
terday docked at Portsmouth for the purpose of
cleaning and examination.
The Indiana, steam screw hired transport, arrived
yesterday morning at Spithead from the Thames.
At high water she steamed into Portsmouth har-
bour, and will this morning embark a detachment
of the second battalion of the 9th Foot for Corfu,
and a detachment of the Royal Artillery for Gib-
raltar.
The whole of the hands employed in the steam
factory at Portsmouth are working extra hours up
to 10 30 p.m. each day, every exertion being made
to fit with their machinery as quickly as possible the
different large vessels recently launched at that port.
A court-martial assembled yesterday on board
her Majesty's ship Victory, in Portsmouth Harbour,
under the presidency of Capt. the Hon. Joseph
-n—sss " V
on charges of desertion. The court found the
charges proved, and sentenced the prisoners to 12
months' imprisonment each, with hard labour, in
-Winchester Gaol.

Her Majesty's steam storeship Dee, Master Com-
mander Pullen, on her return voyage from Ports-
mouth, was yesterday hauled into basin at Wool-
wich to reship with Etcam machinery for the west,
and the iron steam vessel Harpy, after repairs, was
moored alongside the coal hulk in preparation for
sea.

TIIE ARMY.

THE STAFF COLLEGE.

Horse-Guards, S.W., Feb. 25,

The following regulations regarding the exami-
nation of officers who may be candidates for admis-
sion to the Staff College in February, 1861, are
published for general information :
" There will be vacancies for lo officers, two of
whom may belong to the Corps of Royal Artillery
and Royal Engineers.
" IfomE STATIC/NS.

" Officers serving in the United Kingdom. who
are desirous of entering the Staff College, will be
examined in London on the 16th of July next, and
following days.
" Commanding officers of Royal Artillery, Royal
Engineers, and of all regiments and depots of the
Cavalry, Guards, and Lino on the ho ne station,
will forward to the Adjutant-General, through the
usual channel, for the consideration of the General
Commanding-in-Chief, the application of such offi-
cers as wish to compete for admission, together
with the necessary certificates.
" These applications should be sent in not later
than the 15th of June, after which date the officers
approved by his Royall-lighnesl will be instructed
to- place themselves in communication with the
Council of Military Education, with the view to
their receiving the rules for the examination.
" FOREIGN STATIONS.
"At foreign stations the following regulations
will be strictly adhered to :
" The examination will be held on the 16th of
July and following days, or as soon after that date
as the examination papers shall be received from
the Council of Military Education.
" A board of officers will be appointed by the
general officer in command, and will consist of
three officers ; one of whom to be, when prActica.ble,
a Staff officer, having the rank of field officer, and
the other two, if possible, not under the rank of
captain. One of these officers will belong to one
of the scientific corps, where any such officer can
be obtained.
" The examinations will be conducted by means
of the same printed questions as are set for the exa-
mination of candidates in London, and they are to
be answered in the presence of the board.
"The board will give to each candidate a num-
ber, which he will affix to each-of his examination
papers, instead of his name. He will retain the
same number throughout the examination.

"The board will -give to each candidate a paper
of the printed examination questions on each sub-
ject, at the time specified for the examination in
that siabject.
"Tye candidates will write their answers to the
questions in the presence of the board, and their
papers, together" with 'the printed examination
questions, will be Colleded at the hour appointed,
and made up into packet, which will be sealed be-
fore being taken from the examination room..
"The board will, immediately on the conclusion
of the examination, for Ward the papers of the can-
didates to the general officer commanding for trans-
mission to the Council of Military Education, ac-
companied by a, certificate that the candidates ob-
tained no assisttnce from books, or help of any kind
in their examination. The board will at the same
time forward the names of the candidates, corres-
ponding with their index numbers in the in examina-
tion, a•separatt envelope, for transmission to the
Council of Military liklucat ion.
" The following will be the order of the exami-
nation

"First Day—Military drawing, 3 hours ; ditto,
,3 hours.
" Second Day—Fortification, 3 hours ; ditto, 3

ht curs. .
L
portion,
paper,
Ist 'per,
and o.lti
. .‘, Third Day—Mathematics—Obli rmtor
3 hours ; obligatory portion,
..Intary portion, Ist Paper, 3 hours. i-
't Foui- Day—Mathematics—voluntary portion,
th
.2d Paper, 3 hours; military history, Ist Paper, 3
tout*.
' F fifth Day—Militar history, 2d Paper, 3
y
hours ; ditto, 3d Paper, 3 hours.
• ' Sixth Day—French, 3 hou rs ; chemistry, 3 hours.
",St ,venth,Day—German, 3 hours geology, 3

T
hours.;
,"hl Ire will be in all cases an interval of not

less than one hour between the two periods of exa-
mination on each day.
" The papers will be collected at the appointed
hours by a member of the Board. Any candidate,
however, who may have finished his examination
paper on any subject before the hour named may
deliver it into the hands of a member of the Board.
" Candidates will bring their writing and draw-
ing materials, instruments, &c., and also the tables
of logarithms they are in the habit of using. /No
other books or notes of any description will be
allowed to be used.
" It is scarcely necessary to observe that no com-
munication whatever will be allowed between the
candidates at the examination.
" Officers commanding regiments abroad are to
transmit to the general officer in command a return
of the officers desirous of competing, together with
a medical certificate of good health and fitness for
the active duties of the Staff. Such officers will
then be ordered to join at head-quarters for exa-
mination, or at any other places which may be se-
lected for the convenience of those at the more dis-
tant stations.
" With reference to paragraph IV. of the revised
regulations for the Staff College, published with the
General Order, No. 743, of the 23d ult., which di-
rects that if the commanding officer of the regi-
ment, or the general officer commanding, cannot
recommend the application of any candidate, the
grounds of objection are to be distinctly stated,'—it
is to be observed that, as there will not be time at
distant foreign stations to refer to the
iAdjutant-
General on the subject, such officer should, n all
cases, be permitted to undergo his examination, on
the understanding, however, that the objections
urged against his application will still be submitted
for the decision of his Royal Highness the General
Commanding-in-Chief.
" General officers commanding at foreign stations
will place no restrictions upon officers competing,
further than the exigencies of the service may ab-
solutely require. It will be understood that the
rule by which only one officer can be spared from
a battalion at a time, for the purpose of studying at
the Staff College, does not apply to candidates from
battalions which have officers now at the College,
but whose course of study willterminate in December
next.
" General officers commanding at foreign stations
will select the hours for the examination which aro
best suited to the climate and circumstances of the
country, taking care, however, to conform strictly
to the number and distribution of the hours, as de-
tailed in the foregoing regulations.
" On the completion of the examinations at their
head-quarters general officers commanding should
transmit the candidates' papers immediately to the
Vice-President of the Council of Military Educa-
tion, 1, Whitehall-yard, without waiting for those
of out-stations ; and in like manner they should
forward, without delay, the papers from each out-
station as soon as received. In the event of there
being no candidates, general officers commanding
will notify the fact to the Vice-President of the
Council without delay.
" Officers serving abroad, who may be successful
candidates, will be allowed the regulated passage-
money home on joining the Staff College.
"The names and examination numbers of the can-
didates who are successful in the competition, as well
as of those who prove themselves qualified, and the
examination-numbers alone of candidates who fail,
will be published immediately after the reports of
the examiners have been received by the Council of
Military Education, with the total number of marks
gained by each candidate, and his place on the list.
—By order of his Royal Highness the General Com-
manding-in-Chief,
" G. A. WETIIEItALL, Adjutant-General."

sucztessfully it may generally be
cannot be surpassed.
When this is dog
f my rifled musket, which
consideredlv ith re
regard
dt
ttc; eh re ecsouslti
has been stated to be an impediment in the way of
its adoption for tht service, I may state that there
would be no diffict dty in adapting the machinery
, and plant already in operation at Enfleld, or any
requisite portion of . it, for making rifles on my sys-
tem. The change w ould not cause an increase in
the manufacturing e xpenses ; and, supposing the
quality of the workma, nship and materials to remain
the same, the advanta ;es arising from the use of
my bore, and turn, and L ard-metal projectiles would
double the efficiency of t, he rifle without increasing
its cost.
At the same time I am
.of opinion that by going
to a slight extra expense i n manufacturing the bar-
rel more carefully a better rifle may with advan-
tage be supplied to the service.
This is what I recommended some time ago to
the Government when I offered them my services,
gratuitously, in aiding to adaot the Enfield esta-
blishment to the productirn of rifles on my system.
It is true that I proposed to supply for the use
of the service some rifles at a cost of £lO, but
these were to be all superior weapons, well
finished, and in shooting qualities equal to my
other rifles. It would not, however, be fair t 3
take this sum as representing the cost of manufac-
turing military weapons on a large scale in a com-
pletely organised establishment. The offer involved
considerable pecuniary sacrifice, considering that
means of supplying the demand for my rifles are at
present limited, and it arose from the desire which
I always had, and still feel, of rendering all the
assistance I can in arming our soldiers with the
most efficient weapons.—l remain yours obediently,
JOSEPH WHITWORTH.
Manchester, Feb. 28.

TILE NEWSPAPER AND PERIODICAL

PRESS ASSOCIATION.

A meeting of this association was held yesterday
in Peel's coffeehouse, Fleet-street—Mr. E wart, M.P.,
in the chair. There were present also, among others,
Mr. Robertson, M.P. for Berwickshire, Mr. Morris
M.P., Mr. 1). N. Chambers, Mr. Lucas, Mr. Petter,
Mr. Ireland, of the Manchester Examiner, &c.
The CHAIRMAN, ou rising, after returning thanks
for the honour conferred on him by his being called
on to preside, paid a coinplimant to the ability of
Mr. M. Gibson, the :ormer president of the associa-
tion, for the triumphant manner in which the asso-
ciation, under his direction, had proceeded step by
step, towards the object they had in view—the re•
peal of those taxes which pressed on the diffusion of
knowledge. He next proceeded to direct attention
to the special business of the meeting, and to read
several requisitions from proprietors of provincial
newspapers desiring that the meeting should
be called, that entire co-operation should be
secured in resisting the amendments on the budget
of which notice had been given, to continue
the paper duty, in opposition to her Majesty's
Ministers. After expressing his satisfaction at
meeting with those provincial friends who were pre-
sent, the speaker proceeded to direct attention to
the great opposition they were likely to meet in
endeavouring to carry out their purpose, both from
avowed and from latent opponents under the name
of financial reformers. But let them present a firm
phalanx and stand by the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer until his budget was carried triumphantly.
He considered the present one of the greatest eras
ever opened to mankind. If supported by France
a bright period was opening for the world. But,
combined with commercial prosperity, the spread
of education was demanded, and he hailed the time
when knowledgeshould be free. He hoped that all
monopolies connected with the press would now be
removed. No man could look on the young press
without feelings of pride. Since the removal of the
taxes on advertisements he was bound to say that
the cheap press had been a benefit to the country,
and he believed that the removal of all impediments
on the press would tend to its greater and higher
usefulness. In reference to the notice of motion
that had been given to oppose the movement, he
trusted that a voice would be raised from the re-
motest end of the kingdom to support the Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer, and that no effectual means
would be overlooked, while members of Parliament
did their duty within the house, to obtain support
at the same time out of doors. Aided by such sup-
port, he believed that a victory would be achieved
which would redound to the glory of England.
There might be a few newspapers opposed to the
measure, but he trusted that the stream of public
opinion would soon work its way among them, and
that it would be found that all restrictions were
removed.
Mr. FRANCIS, the treasurer of the association,
next proceeded to detail the progress and operations
of the association since its formation 11 years ago,
WlSlllenfatldburmnim-anyiNnAM'lliFn'artiOW
former president, Mr. Gibson, Mr. Gladstone, Sir C.
Lewis, and Lord J. Russell occupied the Treasury
benches ; and that if it were supposed that they
might be unsuccessful on the present occasion what
would be the result ? Would the association be
discomfited ? Would it cease its operations ? No;
it was their firm determination to go on until the
Speaker of the House of Commons pronounced,
with reference to the motion—" The ayes have it."
Mr. LUCAS rose and proposed the following reso-
lution :—" That this meeting reiterates its often•
expressed conviction that the Excise duty on paper
presses most severely on newspapers and literature
generally, and particularly on elementary educa-
tional works, thereby checking the spread of politi-
cal and general knowledge ; that it places a most
disastrous limit on numerous branches of commerce,
and restrains to a highly injurious extent inven-
tion, enterprise, and the welfare of a large class of
the community, and, learning with surprise an op-
position is likely to be made in the House of Com-
mons to the wise and beneficial repeal of the paper
duty included in Mr. Gladstone's budget, and
affairsthei
regarding resolution,
l to
of
otiet nhxe of
other
r paperhl
explain
o motionn adopted by her Majesty's Ministers, it expresses its
determination to use the most strenuous efforts for
the accomplishment of the object for which the as-
sociation is formed." The speaker, after reading
ther
utgldivystl
William
nletTilmh—
oomonef:
Miles,mti oi esn bsci emst'There
bearing,o ufallweretehr
the repeal
direct
andr twoe e noticesa o
theion
opposition
h first was in effect that an export duty and an Ex-
cise duty be levied to place English manufacturers
on an equal footing with those of France. The
second motion of Sir William Miles was to place
the paper tax against the increased income-tax
by simply moving that the previous rate of 9d.
should be substituted for 10d., as it now stood in
the budget. The latter was the most dangerous
motion for their object, and even on this ground
the public were more interested in the repeal of
the paper duty than in the reduction of
the income-tax. The speaker continued to
designate Sir William Miles as an obstructionist
—one of those men who stood in the way of all
progress—and declared his belief that if England
had been inhabited by Sir William Mileses in the
infancy of our civilisation we should yet have re-
mained in a state of barbarism. He was-surprised
t b Houseyth
e s
d i
budget
of ci
that any member of the Liberai party should sup-
port the motion. In regard to the appeal of the
chairman to the press, he felt certain that the press
all over the country was in favour of the measure.
In regard to the limes, he did not know. •He had
been told that a gentleman connected with the
Thnes was going about canvassing the Liberal
members to oppose the repeal of the paper duty.
Whether this were true _or not he did not know
and he did not care, but he felt certain that the
press throughout the country would support the
movement.

Mr. LEVY, of the Daily Telegraph, rose to second
the resolution. As showing the manner in which
the limes had dealt with the question, he read a
quotation from a leading article in the issue of the
13th ult., referring to the decay of village paper-
mills, and read a second extract from a paper
termed the Sussex Advertiser, written, he informed
the meeting, as an attempted burlesque of the style
of the Times, showing that the sheet of the ?tines
on which this statement was printed carried the
water-mark of " Taverham Mills," which were
situated in a small country village.
Mr. IRELAND, of the Manchester _Examiner, ex-
pressed himself in favour of the resolution.
The Rev. P. ITATELY WADDELL characterised
the paper duty as an imposition on written thought,
vs unjust, as a gag placed in the mouth. lie sup-
ported the motion.

Mr. FIELD expressed his belief that the duty on
paper was the only impediment to the beneficial
working out of the periodical penny press, in proof
of which he proceeded to read' a lengthy extract
from some periodical, amid numerous cries of
" Chair, chair." After several appeals to the chair.
man,,he was ultimately put down, after, it was un-
derstood, supporting the motion.
Mr. Moms, M.P., expressed his belief that no
Government could long occupy the Treasury
benches, and withstand this movement for the re.

peal of the paper duty.
Mr. 13ETT, of the Society for the Repeal of
Taxes on Knowledge, stated that he had been in-
formed, on good authority, that many members of
the Liberal party were prepared to enter the lobby

with Sir W;Miles.
Mr. ROBERTSON, M.P., rose to state that the
former speaker, in his opinion, had been misin
formed. He eulogised the budget as a whole, and
believed that 99 out of every 100 of the Liberal
party were prepared to vote for the repeal of the
paper duty. lle would rather have a free press
than all the venal Acts of Parliament. He believed

Sir W. Miles had no intention of pressing his mo-
tion. He supported most cordially the resolution
read.

One or two other speakers followed, when the
motion was put to the meeting and carried unani-
mously.

Mr.FRANcTs proposed a vote of thanks to the
chairman, after which the meeting separated.

LORD T. RUSSELL'S RL'FOR2II BILL.

We really believe the only thing that is utterly
ineradicable from the human mind is superstition.
Homer, indeed, could perceive that the one best
omen was to fight for one's country, but the truth
that was revealed to Homer was concealed from
Greece in her civilised age, and the wise Socrates
and the brave Scipic were content to steer their
course in life by omens and portents. Even in this
land of inductive philosophy and free investigation,
how many people arc there that shrink from sitting
down to a dinner party of thirteen, and who have
not shaken off the coiviet.ion that Friday is an un-
lucky day ? The most prevalent firm, however, in
which superstition exhibits herself in modern times
is in the eelebratior and observation of anniver-
saries. In this, France, and among Frenchmen
Napoleon, has the undisputed lead. There is the
10th of August, dreaded by monarchs, and the 31st
of May, fatal to Republicans ; the 27th of July, that
overthrew Robespierre ; the day of Friedland, the
day of Austerlitz, the day of Marengo, and the day
of Borodino. If men must fight, they wait till a dies
fastus, the anniversary of a fortunate event ; and, if
a great victory has been gained, there is no time so
propitious as the anniversary of a day on which a
great victory has been gained before. Now, there-
fore, because on the Ist cay of March, 1831, Lord John
Russell introduced a Reform Bill, which, after many
changes and many reverses, became the law of the
land in 1832, the same Lord John Russell has con-
trived that, on the same day of the year 1860, he
shall introduce a bill for the alteration of the for-
mer measure, for which he trusts, by securing the
same day, to procure the same results. When Mo-
rier's Hadji Baba had made up his mind to make an
offer of his heart and hand to a young English
lady, he inquired of one of his married friends under
what circumstances he had performed the same
ceremony, and, finding that it was under an um-
brella on a rainy Sunday going to church, he made
his proposition under exactly similar circumstances,
and was, to his astonishment, peremptorily rejected.
So far from the selection of the Ist of March as-
sisting Lord John Russell in the performance of his
task, it only serves more distinctly to mark the dif-
ference, not to say the contrariety, between the
state of things that existed then and the state of
things that exists now. When Lord John Russell
rose in li3l to propose his Reform Bill there was a
feeling of intense curiosity as to the probable nature
of the measure he would produce, for the interest of
the revelation he was about to make was in no de-
gree forestalled. In 1831 there was, strange as it
may appear to the generation which does not re-
member those eventful times, a real and heartfelt
interest in the subject of Parliamentary Re-
form. Many hoped, and some feared, but
very few were indifferent. The public mind was
earnest and excited. People were deeply discon-
tented with the existing state of things,and desired
Reform, that it might furnish them with an apt in-
strument for working out a complete and satisfac-
tory remedy. They wished for a revolution, and
they made it; they desired the overthrow of a nar-
row and unconstitutional oligarchy and they sought
that overthrow through Reform. The middle
classes were determined to force their way into the
fortress of the Constitution, and the working
classes lent their whole combined strength to the
effort. It was under these auspices that Lord John
Russell, not then a member of the Cabinet, rose to
expound the Ministerial plan of Parliamentary
Reform. Nine-and-twenty years are past, and we
have the same hour and man before us again ; but
this time it is the man who fixes the hour, and not
the hour that calls forth the man. Time has dealt
gently with the knot of statesmen who directed the
destinies of this country in that stormy period.
The impetuous Secretary for Ireland, Mr. Stanley,
is now the veteran leader of the Tory party. The
then President of the Council has retired from
active political life. The then First Lord of the
Admiralty still, after his checkered career,
maintains a foremost place in the House of Com-
mons. The then Postmaster-General, the Duke of
Richmond, still occupies a seat in the House of
Lords. The then Foreign Secretary is our present
Prime Minister. The then Indian Minister is still
among us. The then Lord Chancellor has survived
his Attorney and Solicitor-General, and still adorns
the House of Peers. But, though so many of the
111431711'11/9c, W.lerflnfaltliThili'Metiteralded the
advent of the first Reform Bill? Who believes that
any measure that is likely to be carried will have
a decided effect in the improvement of our Govern-
ment, and who is there who would not cheerfully
give up all the good he hopes on condition of being
delivered from all he fears from the impending
change? The first Reform Bill was sought as a
means to an end for the sake of changes which it
was believed it would produce. The second Reform
Bill is sought for no ulterior good, except deliver-
ing the public from the discussion of an unwelcome
topic. Lord J. Russell was the child and the crea-
tion of the Reform Bill of 1831; the Reform Bill of
1860 is the child and the creation of Lord J. Rus-
sell. The object of the first was national ; the ob-
ject of the second is personal. We all know why
the first was proposed. We know the just cause of
the public discontent ; but we also know that the
second is proposed only because it has been repeat-
edly promised, and because, though the public has
never been eager to demand a performance of the
promise, the men who made it insist upon being al-
lowed to accomplish it. The subject has been played
with and trifled with till it has become serious.
Pledges have been made because they were never ex-
pected to be enforced, and the necessity that compels
their performance comes from above, instead of from
below. The very novelty of the measure has been
discounted by an indiscreet disclosure. All these
things being considered, it is indeed very question-
able whether Lord John Russell has done wisely to
give the contrast the utmost sharpness possible by
fixing the anniversary of the first Reform Bill as a
day of good omen for the introduction of the second.
In contrasting the two periods we have necessarily
passed over in silence the long space that has inter-
vened between them ; but we must not forget that
Lord John Russell has not during these 29 year's
been by any means inactive on his favourite sub-
ject. Possibly a retrospect critically conducted
might not tend to increase our confidence in the
hands into which this question has fallen. While
the great experiment was yet fresh—while its
working could not be foreseen or predicted, Lord
John Russell braved considerable obloquy in claim-
ing for so vast a change the superhuman privilege
of finality. While all men doubted, he was assured.
But years passed on, the measure became better
understood, many misapprehensions were removed,
many fears were shown to be groundless, and if
Reform did not do all the good, neither did it realise
by any means the evil that was expected from it.
The minds of men became habituated to the
change, and the practical English race soon re-
conciled itself to novelties which had at first been
repulsive. Then it was that Lord John Russell
announced to us that the days of finality
were past, and that henceforth the orthodox
j faith was to believe in the necessity of a new Re-
form Bill. For four years practice was allowed to
lag behind theory, but in 1852 a new Reform Bill
was produced, though the Ministry died in giving
birth to it. The leading characteristic of the mea-
sure was the aggregation of boroughs, and, hap-
pily for the reputation of its framer, the bill
dropped before the principles of the aggregation
could be minutely investigated. In 1854 Lord J.
Russell introduced another bill, the main peculiari-
ties of which were a franchise and a clause for ,
the representation of minorities. The Crimean War
nipped this blossom in the bud, and for five years
the country contentedly acquiesced in the absence
of a Reform Bill. The Tory Government attempted
one last year, and perished in the attempt. And
now to dey Lord Jelin Russell rises to propose a
measure founded on very different principles from
any of its predecessors—with what prospect of suc-
cess so many failures forbid us even to conjecture.—
Times.

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THE RECENT GALES.