The Sun.
London, England, 1866-05-29 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—The first Division after the renewal of
the Reform debates is one which may justly be re-
garded with dismay by all who desire to see a mea-
sure of moderate and constitutional Reform adopted.
Last night the two bills for the Reduction of the
Franchise Qualifications and the Redistribution of
Seats :were, on Mr. Bouverie's motion, referred,
without discussion, to the same Committee of the
whole House which was instructed to consolidate
them into one measure, and thereupon Sir Rainald
Knightley proposed a further instruction to the
Committee to niake provision for the better preven-
tion of bribery and corruption at elections. No ob-
ject can be more desirable than the prevention of
bribery, but there is a time for all things, and Sir
Rainald Knightley's motion was resisted by. the Go-
vernment as a device which would certainly smother
the Reform Bill. There can be just as little doubt
that this was the effect intended by its mover and
supporters as that the Government, in a House of
nearly five hundred members, was beaten by a ma-
jority of ten. The victory was magnificent, but
nothing will come of it. The Division may show
the temper of the House of Commons, but that is
all it can show. " Any stick will do to beat a dog,"
and the world will interpret this defeat of the Go-
vernment as nothing more than an expression of
disinclination on the part of the majority who voted
last night seriously to consider a measure of Reform.
The debate was short and spirited ; the House hot,
eager, excited ; the enthusiasm over the victory im-
mense, and all about a motion to which few attached
any real importance, save such as it might possess
as a straw to show the current of the stream. The
Government very properly declared their intention
to proceed with the bill in committee, and we only
hope the serious discussion of Captain Hayter's
Amendment will not suffer from the purely party
skirmish which preceded it. It must, however, be
confessed that the little disaster of yesterday is
ominous. We do not look upon it as foreboding
the certain defeat of the Government scheme ; in
fact, the deduction is rather the other way. It seems
as if those who like the Reform Bills were unwilling
to criticize them openly, and consoled themselves by
defeating the Government in a skirmish, which has
no effect whatever in the result of the campaign.
We must protest against a policy as paltry as it is
fatal. The grave defects and errors of the Redis-
tribution Bill were one by one pointed out last night
with great force in the excellent speech of Captain
Hayter, and we appeal to the members of the house
on all sides who desire to settle the Reform ques-
tion to dismiss from their minds Sir Rainald
Knightley's Instruction, and to devote their atten-
tion to Captain Hayter's argument. Captain Hay-
ter had, indeed, a very good case, and he made
such use of it that the Government must by this
time be convinced that it would have been better if
they had left Wells alone. He read, moreover, to
the house an opinion of one whom many members
will regard as the highest authority on what is
practicable in Parliamentary Reform—Sir William
Hayter—who condemned the bill on the sufficient
ground that it could not settle the question. And,
indeed, unless greatly amended, it is clear that the
Redistribution Bill will not in any degree settle the
question. It was concocted in haste, and has all
the faults which might have been expected in a
measure so quickly cobbled together. There is no
branch of the bill which is not easily susceptible of
improvement. It leaves untouched many old ano-
malies; it creates some anew. One of its principles
is that all boroughs having a population exceeding
8,000 shall preserve their privileges undiminished,
and therefore any borough, however little above
thislimit, which returns two members, will continue
to return two, although none of the new groups will
have two members unless their population exceeds
15,000. This is an anomaly which Mr. Goldsmid
shows can easily be avoided. He yesterday gave
notice of his intention to propose in Committee that
one member shall be taken from all boroughs having
a population between 8,000 and 10,000 and return-
ing two members, and with the seats so obtained all
groups exceeding 10,000 can be permitted to have
two members. A graver blot in the Government
bill is the omission to couple unenfranchised towns
with those already enfranchised. This defect is so
palpable that it is not easy to understand how any
degree of haste could have occasioned it. Nothing
provokes more jealousy than the total exclusion
of a municipality from Parliamentary representa-
tion. Men can tolerate with equanimity an insuffi-
cient share, while they resent absolute exclusion ;
and even if a group has but one member, it must
be conceded as a merit of the principle of grouping
that each town in a group will exercise an influ-
ence exactly proportionate to its own importance.
If the unenfranchised towns had been associated
with those already enfranchised, one source of dis-
content would have been removed. As for the groups
actually proposed by the Government, Capt. llayter
yesterday exposed their shortcomings in a way which
left nothing to be said. Towns are strung together
almost at haphazard, and groups are formed by rules
of arithmetic, instead of principles of policy. No
attention seems to have been paid to local influences
or to local character. The single thing the Govern-
ment seems to have desired was to avoid any
appearance of jobbery, and even in this they were
unsuccessful. The adoption of the limit of 8.000
has exposed them to suspicions, to avoid which
was one great object of their adherence to figures.
It is plain that the Government scheme of redis-
tribution must be considerably remodelled, if we
would secure any settlement of the question giving
a promise of reasonable permanence. The Ad-
ministration must have confidence in their own
honesty, and in disfranchising, enfranchising, and
grouping act upon more rational principles than are
consistent with a slavish observance of numbers. A
physician consults the temperament and the consti-
tution of his patient ; a quack has one remedy for
every ailment, one cure for every sufferer. The
reform of our representative system requires at least
as much care and discretion as are found necessary
in combating disease. There is no doubt much that
impossible,
but, should like to have done which is
but, unfortunately, the Government have not at-
tempted all that is possible. It is the interest, no
less than the duty of all members of the House to
assist in amending the Government measures, so as
to secure as good a scheme of Reform as the circum-
stances of the time will allow. Whether the com-
pletion of the task is possible this Session, or whether
it must be reserved for an Autumn Session, remains
to be seen ; but we hope that
an attempt will be
seriously made to have done with it now, and that
we shall hear no more of such proposals as Sir
Rainald Knightley's, or of such victories as that of
yesterday evening. The time before us is too limited
to be wasted on unreal discussions, which only serve
to discredit the House of Commons and to blunt the
edge of genuine criticism.

THE " SPECTATOR " ON HAIR-DYElNG.—Dyeing
may be immoral possibly, but dyeing red cannot be
more immoral than dyeing black. The world does
not greatly condemn a fair woman whose beauty is
spoiled by untimely greyness for removing the
blemish—feeling, though not acknowledging, that
beauty is a gift which it is as right to preserve as
health or eyesight—and if white hair may be made
black, surely brown may be made golden. At all
events it is made_ every day, and if those who make
it would only remember that the golden locks of
Flavia, who has a cheek like a peach and a brow of
milk—not of alabaster, 0 minor poet ! healthy flesh
never being absolutely bleached—will not neces-
sarily suit Lalage, who has a face carved out of
Derbyshire cheese and a forehead which cannot tan,
the golden hair would add to the grace and variety
of assemblies. So rapid has been the spread of this
fashion that the resources of chemistry have been
ransacked for dyes, and we have before us a large
volume of receipts for the production of almost any
shade. They are all very nasty—nastiness is the
real objection to hair dyes, as it is to rouge and
chignons, and is not to false teeth—and all subject
to one fatal defect. They do not change the in-
herent colour of the hair, which grows every moment
as it was originally made; the pigment therefore
must be incessantly re-applied, and the hair, instead
of being dyed, as, for instance, a topaz is dyed by
burning, is only painted, by no means a very
pleasing idea. One would think it prima facie pos-
sible to make a radical change, the colouring matter
being an oil held as it were in a tube, and impreg-
nated with substances the character of which has
been discovered. According to Mr. Cooley, " The
chemical constitution of the hair was first made
known by Mr. Hatchett, who showed it to consist
chiefly of indurated albumen, together with a little
gelatine, or miter that yields it. Soft and very
'flexible hair is said to contain the most gelatine.
Subsequently, Vauquelin discovered that hair con-
tains two different kinds of oily matter—the one
white and bland, common to all hair ; the other,
coloured, and on which in part the particular
colour of the hair depends. He also found small
and variable quantities of mineral substances
in hair. In light-coloured hair he found mag-
nesia, and in black and dark hair iron and sulphur.
It is the presence of these last that mainly gives to
dark hair its colour. Fur, wool, bristles, and spines,
in their chemical nature, structure, and mode of
formation, resemble hair ; as also, to a very great
extent, do the feathers of birds." We ought, if
that is correct, and we knew how, to be able to feed
people into hair of the wished-for colour, but then
we do not know how, and so are driven back on
devices many of which are dangerous or disagree-
able. It is easy enough and safe enough to darken
the colour. A weak solution of acetate of iron dis-
solved in water and mixed with a little glycerine
will, if rubbed daily into the head, gradually and
permanently darken the hair and benefit the health
besides, a hint we recommend to red-haired beauties