The Sun.
London, England, 1866-08-11 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.-After a stormy session, the Queen's Mes-
sage dismisses the members of both houses for the
year. There must be always some embarrassment
when those who compose the Speech at the proroga-
tion are the successful rivals of those who composed
the speech at the meeting of Parliament—when those
who have to speak of the session's performance are
the adversaries of those who made its promises, and
are conscious that they are partly to blame that the
achievements of six months' legislation are no greater.
Probably there never has been a session of the Re-
formed Parliament whichhad so little to show in the

way of important measures. The necessary current
lawmaking of the country, the bills relating to all
sorts of special and local interests, have so largely
increased that, so far as regards the number of acts
passed, the present year shows the usual average ;
but there is hardly anything tnat touches the great
questions of the day. The Oaths Act, passed at an
early period of the session, is the only victory of civil
and religious liberty ; and the most important measure
of the session belongs to the non-political department
of sanitary reform. There are, however, large mate-
rials fora Queen's Speech ; for the present year, though
barren of legislation, has been most prolific of events.
The greatest changes which Europe has seen since
1815 are in progress on the Continent. The over-
throw of Austria, the utter collapse of the German
Confederation, the proved nullity of the minor
States, have made the consolidation of Germany into
two Powers, if not into one only, an easy and
speedily accomplished task. The words in which her
Majesty mentions the German war are dignified, and
befitting the head of a neutral State. It was impos-
sible that the Queen should avoid an allusion to the
House of Hanover, whose ancient sovereignty is now
about to be swept away. The great family which sat
on the Throne of England for more than a century
will probably be reduced to the rank of vassals of the
King of Prussia, or will return to this country to
assume the position of British noblemen. We sin-
cerely believe that it is for the good of Germany and
of Europe that the change should take place ; but it
is not the less humiliating for the dispossessed
House. The fate of the Duchy of Hesse Darmstadt
may also be supposed to be a matter of interest to the
Queen of England. According to the accounts of
the Prussian intentions that have been published,
the part of the Duchy which lies north of the Main
is to be retained by the King of Prussia, while the
Grand Duke is to be compensated with Rhenish Ba-
varia. Although, no doubt, the Darmstadt Sovereign
is leniently dealt with, and may possibly owe his
comparative escape to the connection of the heir to
the Duchy with the Prussian Royal Family, yet his
fate hung long in the balance, and may well have
inspired anxiety to the reigning house. But the
public is chiefly concerned in knowing that these
natural sympathies have not been allowed to influ-
ence the policy of England. Her Majesty " has
not deemed it expedient to take part in a contest
in which neither the honour of her Crown nor the
interest of her people demanded any active inter-
vention on her part." The present Government
has certainly not departed from the principles
which have been accepted by the nation during the
last few years. It has shown no leaning to the side
of Austria, and no desire to prop up the tottering
thrones of Hanover, Nassau, or Hesse Cassel. We
cannot, indeed, say that Lord Stanley has had any
great temptation to interfere, for events have moved
so rapidly and decisively that the remonstrances of
neutrals would have been unavailing. But yet in
the conduct of affairs during the last few weeks and
in the paragraph of the Queen's Speech we have a
guarantee that the Government will act with caution
in any further disputes which may trouble Europe.
In default of measures on which to congratulate

Parliament, the Royal Message gives much space to
the troubles which have been successfully encoun-
tered during the session. A well-deserved tribute is
rendered to the late Government for their success in
dealing with the Fenian conspiracy, and the act just
passed for prolonging the extraordinary powers of
Government is justified, while a hope is expressed
that it may be possible soon to return to the regular
course of the constitution. The financial crisis is
then reviewed, and Parliament is informed that

though her Majesty had empowered the Bank o:
England to infringe the law, no such infringement
has in reality taken place. The cattle plague and
the cholera have each their place, and the Atlantic
telegraph is mentioned especially as a means of ex-
pressing kindly wishes both for the British Provinces
and " the great Republic of the United States." The
present Government has had so little concern with
the measures of the present year that it may be ex-
cused for not laying a greater stress upon them. The
Oaths Bill could hardly form the subject of con-
gratulation in a Speech composed by the
Cabinet of Lord Derby ; and some other
bills that have struggled through into law were
hardly worth a special notice. On the fierce
fights of the session the veil of silence is wisely
drawn. The great Reform debate is, perhaps, the
more conspicuous for not being mentioned, and the
momentous nature of the question is recognised by
the unwillingness of the Government to commit it-
self by any utterance on the subject. Her Majesty
could hardly be made to say a word on Reform that
would not be a censure either on her past or her pre-
sent Ministers—which would not tend either to pro-
voke the former or to embarrass the latter. The
best thing was to make no mention of the unfortu-
nate measure that was cradled in dissension and
strangled in a fit of irritation by those who gave it
birth. The Government has now six months for de-
liberation, and the nation has also time to recover
its calmness, and to review the question undisturbed
by the excitement of the late party conflict. By
next session the hastiness of Mr. Gladstone and the
violence of his opponents will have been for the
most part forgotten ; people will bury the dead past,
and will only ask what are the intentions of the
present Government, and how far it may have the
ability to carry them out. By its acts it will be
judged. The House of Commons, though the ma-
jority of it is not Conservative in a party sense, is
willing to give it a fair trial ; and the same feeling
is prevalent in the educated class throughout the
country. Lord Derby and his colleagues are fairly
strong in administrative ability, and probably will
be inclined to make administration their title to con-
fidence. But a Government cannot live by admi-
nistration alone. We have had one lost session •, we
cannot afford another. Hardly anything has been
settled. Reform, bankruptcy, church-rates, public
schools, punishment of death—in short, almost
every important subject on which the late Govern-
ment undertook to legislate is still in abeyance.
Next session may profit by the failures of this ; if
it does not, the negligence may be fatal to the Con-
servatives in their turn.
ANGLO-AMERICAN TIMES.—The weak point of
American institutions is the shifts to which parties are
compelled to have recourse to gain their great object
of a numerical superiority which alone can carry
their party triumphantly through elections. Prin-
ciples are often sacrificed to obtain this end, and we
have now an instance in the measures adopted
by one of the great parties to secure the Irish
vote. The action of the Executive of the Ame-
rican Government against the Fenian invasion
of Canada has, of course, given offence to that
large body, whose votes weigh equally with those of
men who care nothing for the objects of the Fenians,
and in their hearts condemn their proceedings. In
the close struggle which is drawing near between the
supporters of the President's policy of Reconstruc-
tion and the Republican majority of the Congress, the
vote of this large section is of paramount importance.
The Report of the House Committee on foreign
affairs recommended a revision of the neutrality
laws, and reported a bill repealing their stringent
provisions, and modifying the penalties for their
violation. The bill provides that the law shall not be
construed so as to prevent the sale of American ships,
steamers, and war ammunition to the inhabitants of
other countries or Governments, not at war with the
United States, and repeals the Acts requiring the
owners and consignees of armed vessels departing
from America to give bonds for good conduct ; and
the Act commanding collectors of customs to seize
and detain vessels whenever they shall have cause
to suspect them to intend acts of hostility against
other Governments. This bill unanimously passed
the House of Representatives, together with two
resolutions—one requesting the President to urge
upon the Canadian authorities and the British Go-
vernment the release of the Fenian prisoners cap-
tured in the raids on Canada, and the other
requesting him to discontinue the prosecutions in-
stituted against the Fenians in the United States:

... ..--"

These may be .very good tactics to secure the votes
such measures are intended to obtain," and as a
means of embarrassing the President, but we
doubt their wisdom as a national policy. Few
acts of the Union have obtained for her so
much
respect as the conduct of her Government in sup-
pressing the Fenian raids. Although it may be the
policy of some violent men to make it appear as if
the American people condemned the action of the
Executive Government, we are satisfied that in this
matter they misrepresent the country. Their ob-
ject is too well known to deceive people for
moment, and its . only effect will be to gain the
worthless Irish party and to lose the respect of the
world. If the President be embarrassed by the un-
scrupulous action of some of his opponents, he will be
supported and encouraged by the warm sy mp a t1:1
everywhere extended to him, and the powerful awl
which the world's decision will give. The American
people, when the heat of their party warfare sub-
sides, will be disgusted at their country being inad.e,
the tool of Fenian conspirators, and a reaction
surely set in against those capable of sacrificing
the true interests of their country to secure their
own ascendancy. The Fenian schemes, like
most Irish schemes of the class, are wi▪ ll
absurdities. They point only to piracy an
brigandage, and yet may be the fruitful source 01
incendiarism and murder; but they contain no pos-
sible end for good. Not even a Fenian will contend
that Canada wishes to become a Fenian province 7
and those best informed on the subject are well
aware that Irish regeneration can only be worked
out by just and equitable laws passed in the Briti▪
sh
Parliament. Ireland, free from English influence
for a week, would be a scene of such confusion as
would obliterate every trace of civilisation. Ameri-
cans are not generally aware that there are two
equally balanced parties in Ireland, because they
only see and hear one of these. If England with-
drew her officials and every soldier from that island,
and left these parties to fight out the battle of
ascendancy, it would be a difficult matter to
predict
which would be the victor. Not long since there
were riots in Belfast, which illustrate what would
be the condition of Ireland if England withdrew from
the field. In her efforts to legislate fairly between
the contending factions she has as usual secured the
enmity of both. But her main difficulty is to main-
tam the peace between these two factions, and to
prevent the Orangemen and Ribbonmen from turn-
ing the island into a scene of bloodshed. Every law
to ameliorate the condition of one class is met by
the fiercest opposition of the other, and the Repub-
lican party may form a conception of the difficulties
of legislating for the country by considering the
difficulties which meet them in legislating for the
South. In backing, then, the Fenian movement,
they are simply backing a class in Ireland
against another class, and were the success of
the conspiracy possible it would be the greatest
calamity which could befall any country. The ideal
then, which the Fenians have spread abroad 10
America that their object is to strike for the free-
dom of their native isle is a mere delusion, and it is
recognised and well known to be so by almost every
respectable inhabitant of Ireland without distinction
of party or creed. At the same time it is honestly
confessed in England that for centuries Ireland has
been the scene of the grossest misrule L---that the un-
just laws have produced most bitter fruits to both
the islands—that for forty years the great object of
this country has been to undo the work of their
forefathers. Every unjust enactment but one has
been repealed, and that one is doomed. However
strong may be the opposition, the establishment of
the State Church has lasted pretty nearly its time,
and with that Church will go the last grievance of
Ireland. The Times uses Ireland to point a moral
to the consideration of the very Republican partY
who hope by Irish aid to establish a system in the
South which that journal considers has been the
same which has brought all this trouble upon the
British people, and it predicts a like hatred and ran-
corous enmity will arise and be perpetuated in the
Southern States, which in future years will equally*
embarrass the Government of the United States, If
the Republican party are triumphant in carrying
out their measures. It is deplorable to see the re-
putation of this great party damaged by such action.
—a party to whom the nation owes so deep a debt
of gratitude as to secure' their just ascendancy for
many a long year to come.