The Sun.
London, England, 1867-05-24 00:00:00

is at last in view, however distant. All parties and
all politicians will no doubt be heartily glad to have
the matter settled, since the disturbed and uncer-
tain condition in which it threatened to remain was
damaging alike to the general interests and to the
reputation of our public men. Last evening the
Chancellor of the Exchequer informed the House
of the mode in which the Government intended to
proceed with the measure. He promised that to-day the
plan for carrying out Mr. lIODGICINSON'S amend-
ment should be in the hands of members to-day,
and he told them that the Government found upon
consideration that they would be able to deal
both with the Small Tenements Act and the Private
Rating Acts. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
proposed that after disposing of the 4th clause,
which relates to the county franchise, the com-
mittee should pass at once to the consideration of
the 34th, so that the borough franchise should be
finally dealt with. Another suggestion made by Mr.
DISRAELI for the conduct of public business is likely
we believe, to be received with favour. The Leader
of the house suggests that the Reform Bill after
this week should be taken on Tuesdays and Fridays
at morning sittings, and that to make these more
practically serviceable the hours should be for this
session at least changed. Hitherto, as we all know,
morning sittings began at twelve o'clock, an hour
which fotind the house very thinly a tended, what
with the duties of Parliamentary committees, the
claims of private business, and the fatigues of
fashionable life. Then at four o'clock when the most
of the M.P.'s had an hour or two to spare, the sitting
broke up, the House resuming ag tin at six, though
there was seldom much accomplished until the ine-
vitable dinner hour was over, so that with a good
many hours apparent business comparatively little
was usually really done. Mr. DISRAELI'S proposal
will alter all this. He suggests that the morning
sittings shall this session begin at two o'clock, and
be continued till seven, when the two hours interval
will first adapt itself to the customary dinner hour.
We have little doubt that this plan will be favour-
ably received by the Commons, and we may hope
that it will assist the rapid and steady progress
which all desire to see made with the Reform Bill.

With regard to the bill itself, the proceedings of
last night did not help it forward very far. The
House resumed with clause 4, the county franchise,
when Mr. VIVIAN moved an amendment extending
the franchise to all leaseholders for terms over sixty
years of the annual value of not leis than £5, which
the Chancellor of the Exchequer did not oppose,
and which was, after some little discussion, accepted
by the committee. A little further on, however,
a hot dispute arose, and the figures in the divi-
sion lists presented some curious variations.
Sir C. COLEBROOKE proposed an amendment de-
signed to prevent the creation of faggot voters,
which required that a dwelling-house should in all
cases form part of the occupation qualification.
Two divisions took place on this proposal, which
singularly enough contradicted each other. The
first division, proposing to omit the words of the
clause, left the Government in a minority of 3. The
second, proposing to insert the amendment in the
vacuum, left the Opposition in a minority of 3 !
The difference was explained by the entrance of
some additional members, but the result
was a condition of hopeless perplexity.
Some hon. members, in despair, took refuge in
proposing that the Chairma❑ should report progress,
which the Chancellor of the Exchequer strongly
objected to, observing that it was unreasonable to
talk about morning sittings and adjourn at eleven
o'clock ; as is often the case the dispute about the
adjournment filled up the leisure interval, and at
last finding nothing was to b:! done, the le ,der of
the House agreed to report progress, and the Bill
stands over till Monday.
Mr. BRIGHT took the opportunity of deprecating
party fights on the clauses, and said he un-
derstood it was agreed that all parties were
to do the best they could with the measure
before the House. He objected on his own part to
doing anything which might limit the franchise ;
at the same time it was necessary to take some
security against the creation of faggot votes, which
all parties were agreed in opposing, as they were
as likely to be played off against one as against the
other. He proposed that the Chancellor of the
Exchequer should take the matter into considera-
tion, and see whether he could not find some
means of meeting the views of both sides of
the Hons.!. No doubt Mr. DISRAELI will be
able to accomplish this, and if the House will give
its candid and unbiassed consideration to these
minor difficulties, we have no fear but that they
may be dealt with in a fair and liberal spirit. Very
' much has been already gained, since we find the
heads of the rival factions no longer attacking one
another, and disputing the ground inch by inch for
the mere pleasure of party triumph or oratorical dis-
play, but combining their energies to improve and
consolidate the measure before them, which all
have apparently agreed to accept as a foundation
for practical legislation.

The Bill for Suspending the Habeas Corpus
Act in Ireland was read a second time last night,
but not without a fierce discussion taking place.
Mr. MAGUfRE delivered one of those intemperate
speeches which are happily now but rarely heard in
the House, and which cannot possibly further any
end of justice or improve the state of things referred
to. The attack made by the hon. member upon the
Government was quite unwarrantable, and we are
not surprised that Mr. ROEBUCK should have taken
the matter up so strongly as he did. In short, Mr.
MAO VIBE'S criticism amounted to this,that everything
the Government had done was wrong, they were
wrong in having relaxed the stringency of the law,
they were wrong in having sought to resume its
powers, and the worst of all was their present
attempt to continue it -for a prolonged period.
Abuse is not argument, but it is quite impossible
to persuade prejudiced persons of the fact, and this
speech is a case in point of the injustice that can be
done by those who work themselves up into a
frenzy of indignation. The hon. member had taken
great pains to provide himself with quotations from
various sources respecting the wrongs and misery of
Ireland, but, like many others similarly situated,
he did not keep to the point. The subject before
the house was, whether it was necessary, under
existing circumstances, to keep the unusual autho-
rity now vested in the Executive in Ireland ; but,
to judge from the tmour of Mr. MAGUIRE'S dis-
course, we might well think that the debate was
addressed to the consideration of the state of the
country in the abstract, and not to any particular
case or individual proposition. Accordingly, un-
sparing censure was awarded to the Government,
and one extract after another was adduced to show
that, no matter who wrote, spoke, or thought about
Ireland, arrived at the conclusion that it had every
ill under the sun to complain of, and therefore there
was no wonder that disturbances and discord were
rife among its people. It is scarcely possible to
exaggerate the mischievous tendency of such lan-
guage, and as it is utterly impossible for any Go-
vernment to attempt to satisfy such complainants,
all ends in talk—that is to say, as far as the busi-
ness of the house is concernel ; but who can esti-
mate the injuries inflicted by the perusal of such
high-ftmu statements by those who are mffieieutly