The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-04 00:00:00

(From the Herald).

To-night the fate of the Reform Bill will be de-
cided ; and in any case, whether Ministers obtain a
majority or are again left in a minority, the measure
must be lost. Nobody now believes that it has a
chance of success. But Government, encouraged
by a last hope of retaining their places, have been
endeavouring to suggest a bargain which, while it
would involve the sacrifice of the bill, would enable
them to serve their one absorbing purpose, and.
cling to their places. It is that a certain number
of Liberal members at present hostile should be re-
called to their loyalty by a promise that in return
for their votes, should Captain Hayter's amend-
ment be rejected, the Cabinet shall for a year at
least postpone parliamentary reform. It is possible
though improbable, that the artifice may succeed ;
but it is altogether impossible that any set of states-
men in England could long continue, under such a
tenure, to hold the reins of Government. But
every likelihood points towards another defeat,
which this time must be final and crushing. At the
very twelfth hour Mr. Gladstone will surely have
made up his mind upon the course to be adopted.
According to his own statement, he had not done so
on Friday night, when questioned by Lord Elcho,
who spoke as if confident of a majority against the
bill. Any concession now must come with the
worst grace imaginable when the Government is in
a corner, driven to hay, and compelled to choose
between swallowing its pledges or surrendering its
places.

(From the Daily News.)

The division which is expected to take place in the
House of Commons this evening will decide some-
thing more than the fate of the measures which are
condemned in Captain Hayter's resolution. The
existence of the Government is at stake. There is
no use in cherishing any illusion upon this point.
'We are not surprised that the section of the Liberal
party of which on Friday night Lord Elcho was the
spokesman should endeavour to conceal from them-
selves the real nature and full extent of the issue which
is impending. They startback in alarm from the ca-
tastrophe, which they have so nearly brought about ;
and dare no longer steadily contemplate it. Out of this
mixture of fear and hope have sprung the rumours
which have lately been cirlulated in the Cave, with-
out reaching the outer world—rumours without
father, without mother, without pedigree—that the
Government do not intend to persevere with the
measures which they have announced over and over
again, by the lips of the Prime Minister, and of the
leader of the House of Commons, that they will
persevere with. Lord Elcho intimates for himself
and his friends, that if her Majesty's Ministers will
be satisfied with a nominal victory and will pledge
themselves not to make a real one, the party of
secession will again secede, and will desert their new
allies, as a few weeks ago they deserted their old
associates.

(From the .Yarning Post.)
In all governments, but most especially in con-
stitutional governments, is it essential that there
should be the most perfect good faith maintained
between the Executive and the Legislature. Par-
ties are arrayed against parties, and battles are
fought and lost ; but the parties must be arrayed
and the battles must be fought in fair and open
field. It is, therefore, with regret we allude to a
current report that the Government have made pro-
positions to those gentlemen who conscientiously
differed with them on the Franchise Bill which shall
have the effect of placing the Ministers in a majoriy
this evening, on the secret understanding that, hav-
ing obtained this majority, the Government are
afterwards prepared to give up the bill.
We do not hesitate to say that if such a compact
has been entered into it is difficult to say which
party plays the more disgraceful part—those who,
to save their places, propose such terms, or those
who, to save the Government, are willing to accept
them ; but we may presume to remark that beyond
these two parties there stands a third, namely,
the public ; and it is not to be tolerated that
on a great question affecting, to use the Chancellor
of the Exchequer's own words, the " flesh and blood
of the country," the nation is to be played off in
this manner—that Reform is to become, not a mere
game of shuttlecock and battle-dore from party to
party, but that a really great issue is to be taken on
false pretences, and when a division has given a
majority to the Government, it is given on the
secret understanding that the object for which the
majority has been registered is immediately to be
sacrificed to keep a Government in office.

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try to settle the question,
covert opposition."
Yet we hopQ we shall not hear of an " adjourn-
ment of the whole matter until the session of 1867."
If the Bill is only to be introduced in March next
year, then, encouraged by what has just occurred,
the opponents will renew the attack after the same
fashion. Mr. Gladstone will be justified in holding
out one threat to the House of Commons and only
one. Let him not menace the house with a disso-
lution—still Cfe, let him threaten a resignation of

the Ministry. But, remembering that the really
telling argument just now is, want of time—let him
calmly explain to his opponents that, if they defeat
him now, they will merely prove that an ordinary
session is not sufficient for a full consideration of
the question. Let him distinctly announce, there-
fore, that if the Bill cannot be proceeded with now,
he must ask the house to meet in November for the
express purpose of devoting four or five weeks to the
discussion of the subject, and of that only.