The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TlMES.—Another ex-Governor of Jamaica has
just returned to England, with respect to whose
conduct there can be no possible conflict of opinion.
Sir Henry Storks landed yesterday at Southamp-
ton, having brought to a successful conclusion the
difficult and not very grateful task with which he
was so suddenly charged. It would be unjust if
his return were allowed to pass without some ac-
knowledgment of the services which he has ren-
dered in the post he has now relinquished. Our intel-
ligence from Jamaica contains striking evidence of
the manner in which his conduct has been appre-
ciated in that country. A most numerously signed
address eulogises, in almost enthusiastic terms, both
his official and personal qualifications, and expresses
the greatest gratitude for the benefits conferred by
his administration. The inhabitants of Jamaica
have, indeed, good reason to be grateful to their
late Governor, and the English public will not fail
to do do justice to the conduct which has won this
recognition. The duty with which Sir Henry
Storks was charged was at once arduous and deli-
cate. As a mere matter of labour, it was no
light work. He had to execute all the ordi-
nary duties of a ,Governor, at a time when they
must have been ',more than usually heavy and
anxious ; while, at the same time, he had
to preside over a long, intricate, and laborious
investigation. It is suNcient praise to say that
he was equal to both duties, and has given
perfect satisfaction in • each capacity. The Report
of the Commission has happily set at rest a
painful discussion, and the island of Jamaica is
handed over to his successor in perfect tranquillity.
It is only when we remember the excitement
and the animosity which existed in the island
six or seven months ago that we can do justice to
the tact, patience, and firmness which have succeeded
in conciliating all classes to the Governor, and, to
a considerable extent, to each other. We hope that
the language of the Jamaica address may be some-
what exaggerated when it speaks of that time as
one " when the bonds of union in the several rela-
tions of society were dissolved, and disorganisation,
political and social, in its most appalling form,
threatened the island on every hand ;" but there can
be no doubt that the circumstances of the time were
most dangerous and difficult. The disputes arising
out of the late insurrection had divided the island
into two parties. Nothing but strong and excited
feeling surrounded the Governor on all sides, and,
instead of having any moderate public opinion on
which he could rely, his task was only to moderate
the extreme violence of opposite factions. The ne-
groes were exultant, and ready to interpret the
suspension of Mr. Eyre as au encouragement to
assert the most exorbitant and illegal demands,
while the planters and white population were na-
turally provoked to the opposite extreme. These
difficulties, moreover, had to be met under a fresh
system of administration. The old Constitution
was suspended, and the new was not yet in working
order. Our correspondence from Jamaica described
some of these difficulties at the time when the la-
bours of the Commission were commencing ; but
that we have heard so little of them since is the best
proof of the success with which Sir Henry Storks
has encountered them. Strict impartiality, a firm
administration of justice, and a diligent application
to public duty have had their natural effect in mo-
derating the violence of partisan feeling and induc-
ing a general sense of confidence. It is no wonder,
therefore, if Sir Henry Storks leaves Jamaica amid
the regrets of the people. He has justified his
previous reputation, and has given us ample proof
that in any similar emergency we possess in him
a public servant on whose judgment and energy
we may rely. Thus is happily concluded what we
may hope is the last act in the late Jamaica tragedy.
Before Sir Henry Storks' departure he had handed
over the Government to Mr. Eyre's real successor,
and the interregnum of the last few months was
brought to an end. The Constitution, indeed, is
changed, but the new laws are in full force, a
permanent Governor has assumed office, and all the
evidences of an exceptional state of things have dis-
appeared. We can only hope that nothing may
occur to revive the memory of the past, and that a
new system of administration will obliterate old
discords and animosities. It is very gratifying to
observe that, in his answer to the address presented
to him, Sir Henry Storks speaks of his exertions
having been seconded in an excellent spirit by the
people of Jamaica. " Not from one class," he says,
" nor from one colour, but from all, without distinc-
tion, I have met with support, good feeling, and a
just appreciation of the difficulties in which I was
placed.'.' In conclusion, Sir Henry Storks indicates
the point which is of most importance in the pre-
sent state of Jamaica. It is, he says, the first re-
quisite that " the law should be obeyed, that order
and tranquillity should be maintained." The absence
of a general disposition to abide by the laws has, in
fact, been of late the chief evil of Jamaica, and the
recent disturbances have had an unavoidable ten

dency to aggravate the danger. If the blacks are
ever to settle down into an industrious and pros-
perous community, if the commerce of the country
is ever to be restored to regular and steady progress,
it is essential that security and order should be
firmly established by a ready obedience to the law.
This is the lesson which is peculiarly needed by such
a community as that in Jamaica. It is the vice of
the whites as well as of the blacks, and was strongly
exemplified in the late disturbances, that they can-
not accommodate themselves to the steady course
either of law or of commerce, but are perpetually
struggling to advance or to avenue themselves by
some irregular or illegal means. For such a dis-
position the strong hand of rough-and-ready but
irregular justice is not the most appropriate remedy.
What is required is a strict enforcement and an im-
partial administration of law. When the supremacy
of law is forced home upon the minds of all classes
in the island we shall look forward to a speedy fulfil-
ment of Sir Henry Storks' hopeful auguries. We
cannot express a better wish for Sir John Grant in
entering upon this post than that he may carry out
the policy thus indicated to him, and may meet
with as much success as his predecessor.

HERALD.-Mr. Bright's whole career is a consis-
tent and standing testimony against him. He has
engaged in every political cause which could be con-
verted into a crusade against the landed aristocracy
and gentry of this country ; against wealth, and
birth, and culture j he has turned into that channel

every cause in which he has ever been engaged.
With him the Anti-Corn-Law agitation was a war
against the landed proprietary ; the anti-church-
rate movement a conspiracy against the educated
clergy, the Conservative influence, the aristocratic
upholders of the Church of England ; the pacific
creed of his sect a mere text for slandering the upper
classes as the authors of all war, and the army as a
system of out-door relief for the younger sons of
noblemen ; Reform itself is dear to him only in so
far as it threatens to transfer political influence from
the hands of the landed gentry, and the great mer-
chants and manufacturers who aspire to rank with
and actually sympathise with the aristocracy, into
the hands of middle-class demagogues like himself.

One great occasion occurred during his life when ---a

great blessing to the working class —could be secured
without inflicting loss, inconvenience, or annoyance
upon gentlemen. The maligned aristocracy gave
their zealous support to a law designed to secure good
education to the children of the working man, and
protect them and their mothers from hard work for

Unlimited hours in an unwholesome atmosphere.
That law was eagerly demanded by the working
class and by their real leaders ; they now value it
as their true charter of personal liberty and domestic

happiness. Of that law Mr. Bright was the bitter
and determined opponent, and he has never re-
tracted or apologised for his opposition. lt is im-

possible to read his speeches or watch his career
without seeing that his temper is destructive, not
philanthropic ; that he is not a Liberal, but a level-
ler ; not a lover of those below him, but a bitter and

malignant hater of those above. Ite is a Democrat,
not because he cares for the people, but because he
is moved to vindictive animosity by a painful con-
sciousness of the superior culture, breeding, and
manners of the aristocracy ; and in the agitation
of the greatest questions his language ever be-
trays the influence of the paltriest and pettiest
motives. There is a brief and conclusive answer

to the long and unfounded invective against the
Conservative and Liberal-Conservative parties—
against Lord Derby and
.11Ir. Lowe—which forms

the staple of Mr. Bright's harangue. The question
before the house of Commons was not, as .Mr.

Bright represents it, whether the working class°
should be admitted to a share of political power.
They possess that share. It was not whether that
share should be enlarged. That point was scarcely
raised on the Liberal side, and certainly not con-
troverted on the other. The issues raised by tlig
Gladstone-Bright Reform Bills were shortly an
chiefly these. Whether the share of political pore!,
enjoyed by the urban population, already out of all
proportion to their wealth and numbers, should be
enormously increased ? To this the Conservatives
returned a decided negative. Secondly, whether a
reduction of the franchise from £lO to £7 in
roughs would, as the late Ministers, and notably
Mr. Forster, contended, have the effect of enfral3-
chising the elite of the working class without giving
them an absolute control of the election—a result
which all admitted to be desirable—orwould result in the ascendancy of a single class in
all the greater towns, and add enormously i 0 81l
.0
others to the mass of corruptible voters, 'which II
already the nuisance and scandal of our electors_
system? Whichever conclusion were adopted there
could be no insult offered, as there was none in;
tended, to the working classes. The question et:
whether
class ascendancy was one of figures ; the question
of corruption one:of historical experience. The,'":o
guments of Mr. Lowe, so nitch perverted and so
grossly abused, were directed to show that in the
places where corruption already prevails to a large
extent, a reduction of the franchise, by introduol
a poorer and more dependent body of voters, won
increase the evil ; a conclusion which seems too ,_,
vious to be disputed, and too harmless to provol",
any resentment, inasmuch as it simply assumed this
human nature is the same in the artisan as in the
shopkeeper, in the £7 householder as in his I'l'
neighbour. It is simply untrue that Parliament de-
decided against enfranchising the elite of the work'
ing class. That question was never put ; if it "-
~,,n
put it would certainly not be answered in the nega-
tive., What Parliament did decide was that the
of the late Government was not a right, safe, or ins)
way of attaining that and several other objects pr?",
posed ; and of that decision no one is entitled t.u,
complain who does not think that his judgment an
u
'knowledge, as to the operation of such a measnre"
are sounder and deeper than those of the majority
of the House of Commons.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

MARKET HARBOROUGH.-TUESDAY.

Not much passing in wheat. Barley a meagre
and prices same as before quoted. Oats were limited, all
prices were slightly in favour of the purchaser. Wans
t
were not quotably altered. All the crops in this distric,
look well. A good breadth has been already cut al
carried. Wheat will be an average yield. Barley Will
a very good crop both as regards quantity and qualiq:
Oats are turning out well, and beane and peas will be a fad
yield. 36
Old white wheat, 53s t0'575; new red 48s to 54$ per
stone. Barley, line, —s ; other kinds, 28s to 38s per 3,1,6 d
Oats, new, 26s to 32s ; old, 30s to 34s per qr. Beans,
52s to 545; new, 48s to 50s per qr.

L IVERP OL—T UESDAY.
Da
There was a good attendance at to-day's market, 9
wheat was only in moderate request, at a decline of 2d Pe
cental. Flour dull and 6d per sack lower. Indian COrxi
steady, at 26s 3d for mixed American. Oatmeal''
Beans firmer. Oats unchanged.

RUGBY—TUESDAY.
Wheat came freely to hand, and the demand be„.19,,45
u
heavy prices declined 9d to is per bag. Harvest work ";
progressed very well during the week, the weather 1)&115
more favourable. Wheat is proving a fair crop, and W
be about an average yield. Barley has done exceedingi
well, and will be a heavy crop and quality good. Pastaret
aro very healthy, and there are no complaints of the rOO
crops.