The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-05 00:00:00

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THE " SPECTATOR" ON MR. DISRAELI'S CHANCE.
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---- 7 '\_,,•!,/ - ''''L LV -7-‘*/41. —Mr. Gladstone has the best of it this Will-
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ter. Ile has gone to •witness with ii..it—ell4re—nt
eyes, under au Italian sky, and in a scene
alive with associations, the final struggles and throes
amid which the last great spiritual power left on
earth is to shed its earthly skin. Mr. Disraeli, on
the other hand, has come up in execrable weather to
the greyest and gloomiest of cities to try, amid
tuneinduce v
hiachlinSapyy cfl'itanr-linitY to
whistling a the
Nc'oC
mine
bb
ef fogs,
hawk outside. He has to devist!! a Reform Bill
which men like Lord Cranborne and Mr. Bright,
Mr. Hardy and Yr. Miall, Mr. Lowe and
Odgers, oligarchs and republicans, Churchmen and
Nonconformists, advocates of capital and fanatics of
labour, can be equally induced to accept. His bill
must seem conservative to squires and progressive
• to Radical manufacturers, must conciliate the Cathe-
drals and Bethesdas, must be reassuring to men who
dread the people, and to the people, who, knowing
themselves dreaded, are suspicious of every con-
cession. He may do it, for he has one emi-
nent qualification for the task —perfect imparti-
ality. If Mr. Disraeli has a belief in the
would beyond his conviction that the source of
prerogative is race, it is in Csarism, and if
he spoke out he would probably define the Radical
view of Reform as " parochial " and the Tory view
as " bucolic." As it happens, impartiality, though
it be only an impartiality of intellectual scorn, is so
absolutely needed iu the manager of .Reform, that
Mr. Disraeli by virtue of that attribute alone may
be able to produce a satisfactory bill. He is no ad-
ministrator by nature, as he showed in his India
bill, which was laughed out almost without discus.
sion ; but administrative ability is not required,
only a clear perception of the point at which the
two parties come most nearly into contact, and
that Mr. Disraeli is very- likely indeed to perceive.
-Unfortunately for him, he has not only to frame
his bill, but to convince his own party that it

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SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

TIMES.—It is one of the conditions of success for
any man who makes it his business to address large
audiences that whatever he says must be simple and
easily understood. This, of course, is no difficulty
where the subject is itself simple ; but it is a very
formidable obstacle where the orator has, so to
speak, to create a simplicity which does not really
exist. He is driven, under such circumstances,
either to omit the qualifications and limitations to
which every proposition that he lays down is sub-
ject, or else to suppress the real state of affairs, and
to impose upon his audience instead of it something
wholly and essentially different. Such was the
dilemma in which Mr. Bright found himself when
he undertook to address a mixed audience of Irish-
men on Parliamentary Reform. His case in Enc.,-
land is simple enough :—" The people are divide'd
into those who have the franchise and those who
have not; the former are actuated by a narrow
oligarchical spirit, and really do not represent the
country at all, the latter are really and truly the
nation, into whose hands political power ought
without delay to be transferred." We shall not
stop to inquire how far this notable formula repre-
sents the real state of things in England ; it was at
any rate accepted without challenge by the thou- 1
sands whom Mr. Bright has been addressing, anti
'
has doubtless passed into their minds as an incon-
trovertible political truth. It has every element of
attraction : it flatters vanity, and it gratifies envy ;
it holds out vague hopes for the future, and it de-
preciates a present which can scarcely be regarded
with satisfaction by those who occupy the lower
rounds of the social ladder. The question was how
this theory was to be adapted to the existing state
of Ireland. Mr. Bright is bold, and has probably
achieved, for the moment at least, a good deal of
that success which generally waits upon the bold.
He assumes as the basis of his argument that the
great mass of the Irish people hold opinions and pur-
sue objects with which the great mass of the English
people cordially sympathise. He assumes that the
common enemies of England and Ireland are the
present possessors of the elective franchise in both
countries, and that the policy which the great mass9s
of England and 'lreland alike desire is a cordial
union with each other and a general attack upon the
privileged classes in both countries. Now, is this a
true representation of the case? The very inter-
ruptions with which his speech was encountered
showed plainly, what every one acquainted with
Ireland must know, that it was not. When he
spoke of union between the people of the two nations
he was met by cries of " Never !" When he talked
of acquiring land by purchase he was encountered
by the suggestion " that it had better be got for
nothing." And when he spoke of justice to Ireland
he was emphatically referred to the West, in oppo-
sition to the East, as the quarter from which it must
come. The fact is, lie was talking Radicalism to
an audience that was thinking Fenianism. Every
supposition on which he started is disproved by
notorious facts. The great mass of the Irish people
have, we are sorry to say, neither unity among
themselves nor sympathy with the people of Great
Britain. Those who are under the influence of the
priesthood are under leaders professing a creed en-
tirely hostile to the doctrines of Mr. Bright and his
associates, for it is a mere truism to say that the
Church of Rome holds doctrines, which she never,
fails to enforce where she has the power, . utterly
opposed to all the maxims of modern Liberalism.
Whatever side the Irish priesthood may choose to
take for its own purposes, there is really no doubt
whatever as to the motives which lie at the root of
its conduct. Still less sympathy is there between
the Fenians and the people of England and Scotland,
towards whom they stand in a position of direct and
avowed hostility. The two leading principles in the
Irish peasant's mind, so far as he concerns himself
with politics, are the antipathy of race and religious
hatred. The race that he hates is the English ; the
religion that he hates is Protestantism in all its
forms and varieties. It requires, then, no ordi-
nary degree of confidence in the speaker's oratorical
powers to start with the theory that these two races
are actuated by the same feelings, pursue the same
objects, and are capable of being united in cordial
and hearty co-operation. And yet, unless this be
so, unless the numerical majority in Great Britain
be one in sentiment and feeling with the numerical
majority in Ireland, what have they to gain by uniting
in a common effort for the establishment of a joint
democratic rule? The truth is, Irish politics mean
one thing in England and another thing in Ireland.
In Ireland the political conflict lies between two hos-
tile factions, Orange and Catholic, which are per-
petually defying each other to mortal conflict, and
seizing every opportunity that is afforded them to
come into violent collision with each other. The
whole difficulty of the Government of Ireland, till it
became complicated with the Fenian question, con-
sisted in holding some sort of balance and keeping
up some kind of impartiality between these two rival
forces ; but in the House of Commons very little is
said by Irish members about these internal discords,
and the Irish question is represented as turningein-
tirely on. the treatment of Ireland by England.. i‘ r.
Bright has adopted - this latter view, which is cer-
tainly better fitted for the purposes of an agitation
the leading idea of which is to enlist Ireland in sup-
port of a democratic change for England and Scotland.
Setting aside the ordinary arguments against Go-
vernment by a numerical majority, the case of Ireland
herself seems peculiarly unfavourable for such an ex-
periment. Nobody can doubt what the feelings of a
numerical majority of Irishmen would be with regard
to Protestantism, and very serious apprehensions
might not unjustly be entertained as to the views
which a number of Irishmen, counted by the head,
might be supposed to entertain on the subject of
Fenianism. Entirely to swamp the Protestant mino-
rity, and to place the whole power of the country in
the hands of the Roman Catholic majority, would not
be the way to soothe internal discord ; and the Pro-
testants, powerful in the possession of property, of in-
telligence, and of superior organisation would not feel,
we apprehend, disposed to submit to political anni-
hilation without a further appeal to that violence to
which they have shown themselves, even without
any special provocation, always so ready to resort.
The proposals of Mr. Bright, as far as they involve
political considerations, would seem to offer no
prospect but that of further and worse discord, more
agitation, and more violent internal animosity. But
Mr. Bright has another plan for the regeneration
of Ireland. He does not, it seems, as we have under-
stood him, propose to buy up by compulsion the
estates of absentees,—he proposes that the State
should offer to their owners considerably more than
their worth, and then sell them in small allotments
to persons willing to purchase them for a certain
annuity to be added to the rent ancl spread over
some fifteen or twenty years. The Government is
to become a land jobber, to buy land wholesale and
sell it retail, and in that capacity to come into direct
contact with its own subjects. And thus the people
of Ireland are to be placed in possession of her land.
We do not exactly see who is to be satisfied by this
scheme. Not the proprietors of small portions of
land in Ireland, for the Government by forcing
large quantities of it into the market will, of course,
artificially depreciate its value ; not the taxpayers
of the United Kingdom, who will find themselves.
burdened with a bargain which is avowedly a b. a.cl
one, and the loss of which they will be obliged ;1
bear. The only persons who we can suppose ur
be gratified by the arrangement will be
chasers from the Government, and theirits,
blout alloy.
will, we should think, be by no means A V
allotments,
If they are to be allowed to sell theirlarge estates
the process of aggregation by which
13ot these
are formed will soon begin over aptlell
the Govern-
persons will stand in two relations to satisfaction
will,
chasers. What
ment—those of tenants
is to-happen-if any default
ment of the rent or
fixed rules, or is
Government to act
leniency
and forbearance
b,aelinitdbade eartlltiirt)!E thlespatyhe-.
it to exercise that
enare so frequently called
which private landlordslftlie former, a new means has
upon to show ? the English Government
ato okfinlrgeland by clothing it with
hard creditor and unrelenting
the functions
the
latter, a new instrument of
landlord. If
beenhatef ult the discovered
()p ooafp
most
te
lhikaselbyeeten detvhieserde,alliiatbyleotio the
e
sus o
Pending the paymentof the annuity,
whom
cor-
ruptioni)c itli;bidtaisniedn.fl
is the property to vest, the Crown or the
purchaser? Vest it in whom you will it must
be
during the period of the annuity in a transition and
ill grossestwo
anomalous state— property deprived of the incidents,
the responsibilities, and the advantages of property.
It would substitute an uncertain for a certain tenure,
and form an estate which prudent melt would be
unwilling to improve or to advance money upon.
There would be nothing to prevent any amount of
subdivision and subletting, and the purchaser not
not being required to find ready money would
naturally become a sort of middle-man between the
cultivator and the Crown. If the property were put
up for sale to the person who bid the highest
annuity, we know well that a price woilld be offered
far beyond that which a solvent purchaser could
afford to give. If the annuity were a fixed sum,
how is the State to determine which of several can-
didates is to have the preference ? These estates

ought to be framed as he has framed it, and has,
therefore, to tinker his work till it runs a strong

chance of being spoiled. The Tories of the future,
who will probably call themselves Constitutionalists,

headed by Lord'Stanley, are willing to agree to a
compromise which shall admit the masses without

depriving the landowners of all their power. The
Tories of the present, headed really by Lord Cran-
borne, who, like Mr. Lowe, is chief of a Cave of

Adullam without being a David, are unwilling to
accept any compromise which includes more than a
fraction of the unenfranchised, and which
does not leave the landlords undisturbed. To
_

put it concretely, Lord Stanely would like house-
hold suffrage if new seats could be given to
counties, and Lord Cranborne would tolerate a
reduction in boroughs to eight pounds if the bill
contained nothing else. Mr. Disraeli has to recon-
cile in fact the Conservatism which loves the Consti-
tution in spite of its abuses, with the Conservatism.
which loves the Constitution as it can be abused,
and in the effort to reconcile the irreconcilables in
his own camp will probably disappoint both them
and the adversaries outside. For his natural lin-
, pulse will be to fall back upon a trick, upon s
stroke of administrative finesse such as woulddeg-
light the East, but in Europe is quite certain to
fail. Ile will think that if he can give the crypto-
Tories in the House an excuse for supporting the
open Tories he may gain a majority, and it is pos-
sible he may, for one hour, to see agitation recom-
mence more bitterly the next. Ile will think this
the more readily because he has always recognised
what the Spectator alone among Liberals has always
argued, that members are more important than
electors, that if a narrow constituency elects John
I Smith, and the same coustitueucy widened elects John
Smith all the same, the widening of the franchise has
produced no result, except a multiplication of noughts
after the. decimal unit. Ile sees, therefore, that if lie
can admit another million of electors without ad-
mitting any new representatives power will remain
where it was, and so it will. And runninc, through
all his speeches are traces of a plan to effect this
which is tolerably mature in his mind, a plan which
would concede household suffrage to attract Mr.
Bright and dispose of small boroughs by turning
them practically into little counties, to conciliate
Lord Cranborne. Such a bill would in fact include
a £lO suffrage for counties, household suffrage for
great towns, and a landowner suffrage for little
boroughs. Ile would thus grant the request of
the artisans, abolish the anomaly of very little con-
stituencies, and leave the landlords as completely
masters of the country as they were before. That
trick would no doubt be excessively clever if two
propositions were granted, that the parties were
nearly equal, and that the device could be concealed.
Unfortunately for him, the Liberals have among
them men who cannot be hoodwinked or cajoled
.upon Reform, and a majority which, on a question
like that, could be used with crushing effect. There
are not ten members among the Liberal party who,
once the Radicals were clearly aware of any trick
contained in the new bill, would dare to refuse to
enterthe right lobby. Earl Grosvenor might, because
nothing short of revolution would so alter English
society that Earl Grosvenor would be left out in the
etoßpcluhetoasotehsdee,
mass d so might a few more eldest
cold, and so might Mr. Lowe, as long as Lord Laps-
eoefnthfieddeofiutybttfoul
tLhiebirerpaalsrtwould
sons.dhaovwen
idvihsnoiliessaslubflecienat puwouldblicpilaf ess, awnidththtehecoGntorvoelronfmethnet
once more into Mr. Gladstone's hands. If Mr.
Disraeli cannot avoid this danger—a distinct party
vote hostile to his bill—he and his measure will be
lost together, and if he tries any trick of any sort
he will Ise unable to avoid it. His only chance is to
trust his own intellect, without any reference either
to his own Cave of • Adullam or that which exists
among his adversaries, and bring in a bill which the .
nation will be ready, if it is rejected by Parliament,
to accept on a dissolution. The nation, as opposed
to any party within it, really desires, it may now
be said heartily desires, three things—that the arti-
zans of the towns be admitted to the franchise, that
the middle class of the counties be admitted to the
franchise, and that the private or corrupt seats be
abolished in' favour of some better way of repre-
senting the minority. Any bill which secured those
three ends; in Parliament, as well as on the hust-
ings, would have a fair chance of being supported
by at least 250 Liberals and and 150 Tories within
the house, and by a far greater majority out of
doors. From every side and every division of
the three kingdoms assurances keep coming 11,13
that the Liberals have rejected Mr. Bright'sna..ds
vice, and will accept a Reform Bill at Tory,lklal3l that,
provided only it be a visibly honest
is, provided it does not increase, as its Richt.
v result,
like Sir
landlord power. When hereditary
.1c Liberals like
Knatchbull Hugessen and pliilosop i
the
Government may be
Foster in making that offer
do not keep it, the
sure it will be kept, and
ift feo-r the future.of the
Mr. Clay, agree with 'determineed Radicals like Mr.
nation will. Better by
the new " Cave" at
Tory party, to quarrell
once, to let Lord congenial darkness, than
with him go forth into hCriaetebWorne and those who think
shall have of a reall3r
a bill which Liberals can ac-
spoil the last b
Constitutionalists pass with-
nciple.. It will be lost if Mr.
euna
ptt
ti
aowndiaetlrheßpl
dereliction
ortni
rcoeiß
andilrl
Is own sup-
ones, for to conciliate
porters, must trick at least one. The only votes
the three be incurable T •
be those of the boroughs which any
Disraeli yields oat he to the Radicals, to h'
decent Reform Bill would. totally sweep away, and
twill not be sufficient to give him a majority
sufficient to resist the cry that will instantly rise
outside. The Plutocrats will be exchanged for the
ganinndut•oillth.e
landowners, and though we admit the latter are
they aareforyniiseo!
willthe
lie will
the better of the two, still the country will
suffer from an indigestion of landlord. The struggle
for Reform would reduced almost avowedly to
contest
t esbetweent
which townth sq andn cires, ountry,
carefully avoid. We have said nothing of the
rumours about increased budgets, expenditure on
the Navy, expenditure on the Army, new projects
for the pacification of Ireland, new modes of con-
ciliating the clergy. They are all unimportant, for
a reformed Parliament will be able to deal with all,
and an unreformed one will almost certainly make
a muddle of all.
Commission If the report of the Recruiting
justifies him, General Peel will have his
money, and no naval vote has ever yet been deli-
berately
rejected. Those things are, comparatively
speaking, trifles. The point is, with whom is sub-
stantial power to lodge, with the nation, or only a
section of the nation'? and it is by his success or
failure in settling that question, in adjusting the
dying formula to the living fact, that Mr. Disraeli
must stand or fall. Ile will fall if he tries to trick
the Liberals by creating forty or fifty new counties,
under pretence of sweeping away rotten boroughs.
We are not going through a revolution in order to
have a Cattle Plague Act a year.

TIIE STEAMBOAT EXPLOSION AT BRISTOL.—Three
of the bodies of those killed by the explosion of the Black
Eagle steamtug in the Avon at Bristol have been found—
uiz., those of the captain, William Woodman, the mate,
James Living, and the engineer, George Ledger. The
coroner opened the inquest on Friday at the Generul Draper
publiehouse, the Hotwells, when the bodies were identified.
In reply to a juryman it was stated by the captain of the
.Dolphin tugboat that there was no Government inspector
of tugs, but only of passenger steamers. The inquiry has
been adjourned till Tuesday next, when two practical en-
gineers will give evidence as to the state of the boilers of
the Black Eagle.