The Sun.
London, England, 1867-02-20 00:00:00

their scruples against the method .of Resolutions,
and, consistently with this determination, they will
wait till the Resolutions are completely explained
by the Chancellor of the Exchequer before
taking action. The moderation of the House
of Commons must not, however, be misunder-
stood; and, indeed, if the Government be wise,
they will take care not to misunderstand it. The
signs of the times are unmistakeable. A straw may
show the current of opinion, and when Mr. Darby
Griffith gives notice of his intention to ask the
Chancellor of the Exchequer whether the House of
Commons is to be invited to come to a conclusion in
favour of the reduction of the franchise without
being informed what that reduction is to be, it must
be evident that the absurdity of such an attempt to
induce—w e will not say to beguile—the house to
take a leap in the dark is apparent to all men. The
House of Commons, to use an expressive phrase,
" means business" this session, and it will not sanc-
tion party movements, because it " means business."
The object for which the house thus protects the
Government makes it incumbent upon the Govern-
ment to be precise and businesslike in its proposals,
and ought also to serve as a discouragement to all
discussion which is merely theoretical. The House
of Commons will not consent to waste time in talk-
ing about Resolutions which may mean anything or
nothing; and for the same reason it ought not to be
asked to entertain propositions which are wholly.
impracticable. We observe that Mr. Mill gave no-
tice last night of his intention to move a new reso-
lution in committee, which is sufficient of itself to
occupy as much time as the 13 resolutions of the
Government put together, and yet cannot be re-
garded by the most sanguine political philosopher as
a possible basis of present legislation. Mr. Mill pro-
poses to ask the House of Commons to declare
" that in order to secure to the utmost possible ex-
tent the real and equal representation of every eke-
tor, it is expedient that when the electors amount
to a certain number they shall have the power of
voluntarily combining with one another to elect their
own representative." We cannot forbear asking Mr.
Mill, in all seriousness, whether he conceives the
adoption of this resolution possible. The principle
of it is not easily intelligible, and the machinery
necessary to carry it out is highly complex. The
House of Commons is a representative body, and,
whatever faults may be laid to its charge, it must be
allowed that it represents with rare fidelity the
aversion—we may perhaps be allowed to say the in-
aptness—of English people to entertain new ideas.
The propositions involved in Mr. Mill's notice of
motion may serve him as the text of a valuable
speech on the true principles of representative go-
vernment, but if it were discussed for half the ses-
sion the result would be that, perhaps, twenty mem-
bers of the House of Commons would understand it.
We must creep before we can walk. It is of the
highest importance that the objects for which Mr.
Mill now contends—the representation of every
section of opinion, and the protection of minorities
from being extinguished by numbers ever so little
superior to their own—should be insisted upon ;
but these ends must be secured by simple methods
easily understood by the people. Let Mr. Mill lend
the weight of his authority to secure what can be
done in the time and with the means at our disposal,
rather than afford an opportunity for the concealed
opponents of Reform to dissipate the rest of the*
session in the investigation of utopian theories
and in discussions which must be fruitless. The
House of Commons has one object in view, and
from that object it must not swerve. Parliamen-
tary Reform has been a Ministerial question for
15 years, and in those 15 years five Reform Bills
have been brought into the house, only to pass to
the limbo of unaccomplished projects. Reform was
caught up in 1852, when the Russell Ministry was
perishing from sheer debility, and the Ministry,
feeble before, fell almost as soon as it had grasped
the new weapon. From that time Reform has
been the catchword of party. Men repeated readily
enough the orthodox formulas of Liberalism, until
it was seriously proposed to put their professions
into practice, and then they became alarmed. To
persevere in the use of phrases which mean
nothing is happily no longer possible, and Parlia-
ment must now in self-defence carry through that
revision of our electoral system which is required
not only for the sake of redeeming its honour, but
as a means of improving the.constitution. To carry
a real and effectual measure of Reform is the task
of the Session. If the Ministry will help it for-
ward, they will be supported ; if they do not,
nothing else they may offer -to do can save them.
Administrative improvements, simplification of the
law, schemes of social improvement, are trifling
compared with it. The best chance of carrying such
a measure this year is through the agency of the
present Administration. If they rise to the height
of the occasion, if they prove by definite proposals,
by prompt action, by zealous co-operation with the
House of Commons, that they are sincerely de-
sirous of bringing about the end which all men
desire, great will be their reward ; if they decline
the chance before them, and endeavour to escape
from the obligation they have assumed, the House
of Commons must vindicate its own sincerity, and
free itself from the suspicion of complicity with
deceit by withdrawing its support from men who
will have forfeited all claim to its indulgence.
THE WESTMINSTER GAZETTE ON THE DESIGNS OF
THE NEW PALACE OF JUSTICE.—In criticising these
designs -we must not shut our eyes to the magni-
tude of the task submitted to the competitors ;
the, difficulties attendant on this very vastness,
and all the complicated arrangements of ground
plan and detail it involved ; the important ques-
tions connected with ventilation, lighting, warm-
ing, &c. ; and the enormous amount of thought,
experience, and labour necessary to grapple with a
mass of building some acres in extent. But,
without having any intention of discussing these
particulars or of chronicling the undoubted merits
of many of the compositions, we propose noting
down their shortcomings—for they are sufficiently
numerous to startle one into a conviction that
in the mass die designs are a failure. That a frac-
tional part bears the marks of true genius, and
that a larger proportion evidences talent, archi-
tectural knowledge, and research, is patent to all.
There are fine elevations; there is much satisfac-
tory grOuping ; there is, comparatively, however,
only a small amount of pleasurable outline ; there
are graceful columns and arches •, elegant shafts
and tracery ; massive piers and elaborate mould-
ings--but, what is the impression with which a
student of European architecture comes away from
an inspection of these drawings? "I have seen so
much of them before—such a tower or dome is
from such a place—that arcading has a world-
wide fame—those windows I remember well in one
building, that roof in another—and of these mem-
bers one is exaggerated, another distorted ; one
don't fit in like the original, and another is totally
inappropriate." The result of this is a feeling of
unsatisfactoriness with what we see before us, and
a craving for something better ; whilst at the
same time it lays Gothic architects open to the
charge of being mere copyists and adapters. This,
then, is the first fault we have to find with these
designs. Whatever may be their merits, they
are not in the main the creations of true genius ;
they lack its fire and are not penetrated by its
force. In a work of genius there is a certain
inner life, a mighty soul full of creative power, and
brilliant with the light of original ideas and con-
ceptions.' And, as in other arts, so in architec-
ture, this living soul will manifest itself unmis-
takably, and peer out and flash upon you in a
thousand different ways with startling impressive-
ness. It seizes hold of you, as it were, and satis-
fies you at once that the work in which it is embo-
died is a true creation of art, stamped by the marks
and notes of genius. Now this is what we feel to
be wanting in the greater portion of some of the
designs, and entirely in others. They do not give
you the idea of a man, who, relying on his own
powers alone, shuts up every book and chases
from his recollection all the choice bits and
favourite examples he has collected, and then
thinks and studies, and works out from his own
brain a realisation of the ideas which, emanate from
his genius. If, in listening to a piece of music, we
were constantly recognising ideas and passages
from the works of various composers, however
skilfully they might be appropriated or dovetailed
into the new work, we should feel impatient, dis-
contented, and dissatisfied. There is not, perhaps,
an exact analogy between the two arts ; but there
is certainly a sufficient one to show how very dif-
ferent an effect is produced .on the mind by the
original creations of true genius, and the far in-
ferior talent of using up, no matter with what
professional knowledge or tact, the choicest ex-
amples of the most correct architecture. This
we believe to 'be one of the main causes of the
scornful dissatisfaction with which many educated
people view the generality of Gothic designs. It
is not that they dislike mediaeval forms or fail to
appreciate true principles, or that the pointed
style is archaic and unsuitable, or gloomy and in-
convenient ; but that they, have a natural percep-
tion of the presence or absence of those higher
gifts and powers without which no work of really
eminent exalted merit was ever achieved. As they
can judge of poetry or music, without being poets
or musicians, so they can judge of architecture
without being architects ; and they will not fail
to recognise the merits of a good piece of archi-
tecture any more than of a grand poem or musical
composition. What we want in our day in this
great dirty city is not a reproduction of the dome
of Florence Cathedral, or of the Baptistery at
Pisa—not an appropriation of arcading from Venice
or windows from Rouen—not the transplanting of
a tower from Avignon or a roof from Belgium—
not a ransacking of the works of Violet Le Due or
Pugin (valuable as they are for purposes of

,e..,.....

study), but a real bona fide working out and appli-
cation of true principles to every style of architec-
ture, thereby reducing it to the obedience necessary
for satisfying all modern wants and requirements.

And this must be the work of the brain and not
of the hand. This fundamental fault of which
we have been speaking necessarily entails others,
which are lamentably perceptible in the designs.
Where compositions are made up from a collection
of examples from different places, naturally there
results great confusion of outline, a want of bal-
ance and symmetry, a disproportion of parts and
a fanciful application, or even a positive distor-
tion of features. Thus we have before us roofs,
a mere confused mass of pointed turrets (Mr.
Deane), apparently taken from a church at Prague
—a long row of attic windows immediately above
a row of large church-like windows with tracery—
(Mr. E. Barry)—diagonal lines, instead of being
subservient, forming a marked and leading feature
in the building—(Mr. E. Barry)—a gable appar-
ently crested from an early French metal chasse—
(Mr. Scott)—a tower admirable enough in the
Low Countries, where there is nothing but brick—
(Mr. Street)—three pointed roofs perched one on
the top of the other, through which grows a tall
chimney, as far as one can make out—(Mr. Seddon)
—the Sainte Chapelle with an apse at each end
adapted for a central hall—(Mr. Brandon)—not
to mention a frightful misapplication of pinnacles,
cuspings, parapets, crestings, crowns, mouldings,
gables, turrets, dormer windows, vanes, panelling,
sculpture, &c. How all this must destroy unity
of design, and that natural growth of one part
from another, which is such a charm in good
architecture, it is needless to point out, especially
when a man is a skilful adapter without much
power of original design. His own portions of
the mass are common-place and of no account,
whilst his carefully-culled examples stand out
with a painful prominence, and form a sad mis-
alliance with each other and with himself. Before
noticing the designs a little in detail, let us say
that considering the magnitude and importance
of the works to be executed—the ample remune-
ration given for the drawings—and the princely
advantages accruing to the successful competitor—
not one of the present designs comes up to the
standard of excellence we had formed for our-
selves, whilst the want of care, and the inartistic
touch exhibited in some of the drawings, is any-
thing but creditable to the
..draughtsmen. We do
not hesitate to maintain, therefore, that the judg-
ment in favour of any one of the designs submitted
should be withheld, and a larger number of archi-
tects allowed to compete. There are many names
occurring to us, belonging, most undoubtedly, to
men very far in advance of a full half of the
present competitors. Surely one amongst the
architects of England can be found who is quite
competent to produce a building, marked by the
originality, vigour, and power of true genius—a
building which, by its stately presence, and beauty
of feature ; grand simplicity, and grace of outline;
correct proportion and patent truth ; flash of expres-
sion, force of nature, development of sinew, power-
ful bearing, and perfect anatomy of all its mem-
bers, shall attract, charm, and convince at a
glance without hesitation ; and at the same time
mark the age to which it belongs, instead of being
a mere rechauffe of world-gathering examples, or
a pile comprising cathedral, castle, town-hall,
monastery, college, prison, bazaar, crypt, arc*,
all in one—the reflection of a past century, not the
genuine creation of the present.

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