The Sun.
London, England, 1866-07-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF TIM PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—On Monday evening Mr. Gladstone pro-
nounced a few words, which, no doubt, he will
amplify hereafter into a grand oration, but which
language can surpass in importance and
In four lines of our report he an-
nsiognfiefiactsanc of
e.
an-
nounced that he would have to propose to-morrow
the withdrawal of the four Reform Bills which have
occupied the entire heart of a critical Session, cost
an untold amount of official labour, wrecked a strong
Government, stranded a popular party, and deprived
some forty gentlemen cf their important and lucra-
tive positions at the head of this great Empire. Had
Lord Russell made an auto da fe of all the obsolete
and useless ships in the Royal Navy the act would
hardly be more costly than the application of the
match to these Bills. Indeed, it is scarcely possible
to exaggerate the sacrifice and its mortifying cir-
cumstances. For any parallel we have to imagine
immense ingenuity and labour lavished upon some
calculations bea imaginary
upon a Ptolemaic or some project
impossible,dis-
iarYgin aaaif Sir Isaac Newton had
eb
wastedoaysiesr efdo
life'sautnod teo
e b
hypo-
thesis. The Reform Bill was the chief personage
in this annual 44 custom,” but it was well attended.
There are tribes where is not enough to bury a chief,
but wives, concubines, slaves, horses, dogs, and
weapons of war are all thrown in after him. The
new Government has decided opinions upon Bank-
ruptcy Reform, and will see whether it cannot make
a better bill than that before the House of Com-
mons, which accordingly will be allowed to retire
with all the honours of War as soon as it has re-
ceived the last touches from the hand of its author.
The Irish Landlord and Tenant Bill met a more
summary fate, and with only the slightest possible
hint of what might be done in a future Session. In
both cases It must be said that the new functionaries
buried the work of their predecessors with all possible
respect. After the discovery that the Imperial Par-
liament can have nothing to say to colonial bishops
except of a most negative character, the bill for
defining their position must wait for further light,
which a new Government will acquire, if possible,
before next Session. Then followed an obscure
crowd—small reforms that requiredthe kindest hand
and the most favourable circumstances, infant mea-
sures, baby bills. They are dropped and crushed in
the crowd. The hours are now counted, and what
time is there for the improvement of legal forms and
procedures, in the smallest and simple't matter, or
in any matter at all? Something remains to be
done, and it is to be hoped the two sides of Parlia-
ment will agree to pass the measures about which
there may happen to be no division of opinion.
There is no more room for mutual jealousy. There
will be no iiarvest Home to celebrate the huge

crop of useful life-supporting measures safely
reaped and gathered into the great barn. No orator
will declaim his hour upon the achievements of the
Session, and no antagonist enumerate its casual-
ties and its defeats. All its interest is absorbed in
one struggle and one catastrophe. As the year 1832
is memorable for the Reform Bill that did at length
pass, the year 1866 will be not less memorable for
the bill that did not pass and the Government that
did not survive that defeat. The retrospect
of a Session, as of a life, cannot be so agree-
able as the anticipation. People never begin to
look back till they have little to look forward to.
Before us we see an enterprise, an excursion,
a march, a voyage of discovery, a crusade,
something, with its chances, which we count in our
own favour. In the past we read a story that can-
not be written again. But this is great reason why
we should dwell a little more on th sad, veritable,
unchangeable lesson of the past, and not plunge at
once into the false lights of a future. At this moment
the history of the last session is worth much more
than the possibilities of the next. We have sacri-
ficed this session with no other result thin to ascer-
tain, what really might have been known without
this sacrifice, when and how Parliamentary Reform
is not to be attempted. A prodigious and costly
operation of war has only ascertained that the enemy
is in overwhelming force, that it is impossible to
steal a march on him or surprise him, that the
ground is all in his favour, and that our movement
has given him quite as much information as it has
procured for us, at vast cost to ourselves, and no
cost at all, but only gain, to him. This is the moral
of the session, and it ought well to be considered
before we plan the next campaign. If they had to
live their lives over again, people say, they would
avoid this or that error. They are seldom so foolish
as to say what they would do instead, but they will
be wiser than to repeat the fatal follies that haVe
taken away so much from the value and the happi-
ness of a life. All this is only reasonable ; a new
session is a new life, and the expiring session need
not pledge itself by anticipation to repeat the mis-
takes of the last.
POST.-At length Prussia has condescended to
explain, in the columns of the official Staats-An-
zeiger, to what aim her policy is directed. She has
not demanded, and does not require, the cession of
Bohemia and Moravia. The acquisition of those
provinces of the Austrian empire would, she thinks,
be undesirable—not, however, as regards the inte-
rests of Europe, but with reference to her own con-
venience, which is, of course, a matter of far more
importance. Connection with countries " only in
part appertaining to German nationality" would, it
is apprehended, place. obstacles in her way. Prussia
wishes to establish a new Germanic Confederation,
and to convoke a German Parliament--the former,
we presume, to include all the States that appertain
wholly to German nationality, and the latter to re-
gulate the destinies of the Fatherland, which has
been emancipated and consolidated by the sword of
Prussia. This is candid as well as considerate. No
one may now affect not to know what Prussia
wants. Her proclamations to the Bohemians and
Moravians, and her relations with Kossuth and
Klapka, are simply what the Americans called
" war measures." She entertains no paternal inten-
tions in respect to those " oppressed nationalities,"
nor any permanent interest in those " illustrious
exiles." It comports with her ideas to speak
softly and to act liberally. Fair words and a
moderate disbursement of thaler notes—that is all
Prussia is doing. She has modulated her voice to
the key of nationality, and she can afford to sweeten
the bread of exile ; indeed, her generosity savours of
thriftiness, for she is utilising the Magyars whom
the fortune of war has thrown on her hands. But
as to the rest, Prussia's territorial ambition extends
not beyond the union of Germany, and her political
purpose is Parliamentary Government. Stich is the
substance of the official programme, and it will be
immediately observed that in scope and in expres-
sion it is peculiarly Prussian. The idiosyncrasy of
Bismarck is conspicuous ; the aggressiveness of the
Great Frederick is decently draped in the fashion of
the present day. It is impossible not to admire the
skill of the artist ; the millinery of the policy is all
but perfect. In fact, one must look very closely
into it, and hold it up in the light of history, to de-
tect the imposition. Prussia is acting her part with
consummate ability, and, as is almost always the
case, her success commands applause and procures
obeisance. Only the other day there were none who
cared to pay her homage ; she could 'not even get
what was due to her ; and men went out of their
way to pick up stones wherewith to pelt her. But
now the name that was a byword has become a
rallying cry. Prussia has plated her wrongdoing
with military prestige, and it passes among a crowd
of sycophants.