The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-27 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, APRIL 27, 186 G.

The political situation at this moment admits,
we cannot but think, of being pretty clearly defined
—even through all the mists of uncertainty en-
veloping it, and through a very hail-storm of flying
rumours. Upon the division which is to take place
to-night, or rather to-morrow morning, depends
not the Fate of Reform, but the Fate of the Go-
vernment. About the necessity there is of dealing
with Reform—all parties are agreed. The only con-
tention there has been all along in regard to that
part of the question, has had reference to the ad-
visibility of dealing with Reform partially or
completely, bit by bit or, as a whole piecemeal, or
according to one comprehensive scheme of recon-
struction. As to putting Reform on one side,
nobody dreams of it. It were idle, now to attempt
anything of the kind. The Conservative followers
of Lord DERBY are not less distinctly committed
to the cause of Reform than are the Whig
and Radical followers of Lord RUSSELL. It
is not, therefore—let this, at least, be understood
quite clearly before the division takes place—it is
not that Lord GROSVERNOR'S Amendment involves
within it the alternative of dealing with the problem
of Reform in some way at once, or of putting it
aside indefinitely for some future settlement ! The
alternative set before the'House by this Amendment
is, on the contrary, Whether, in dealing with the
question of Reform at all, the House of Commons is
prepared to do so with its eyes open or hoodwinked !
The Administration has acted with such. astonishing
perversity in this matter throughout that it has itself
absolutely necessitated the Mterposiing by some-
body.—no matter by whom, it may be as well by
Earl GI:OSVENOR as by any one else—the interpo-
sition between the House and the Second Reading
of precisely some such Amendment. The Minister
of the Crown having dealt with the Question and
with the House thus perversely and thus haughtily
—the Commons of England ask themselves, or
rather are asked by Earl GROSVENOR, through his
Amendment—Whether they are prepared to walk
meekly under the Caudine forks at the wanton
dictation of a Government that (judging of
it by its acts) seems for some inex-
plicable reason known only to itself to have
been, bent
(suicidally, as we believe) from the
l'erY atilt uPou subjecting the popular branch of the
Legislature Ito 4h-
" la utterly needless and wholly
uncalled for humiliation.
and shut your eye " Open your mouth
see what we will give
you !" That is lit„4:,cl
uY the childish programme
of Reform announced by the Government. And—
irk obedience to that
protra
ho—the House is
expected to open its mouth
and titisteisyeasffo!rdAeds
an assemblage of rational mon, however,u
the opportunity, through thaAmendment
the noble lord the member f of
or Chester,
of answering, "No we will not
shut our
eyes at your dictation ;we will not even k
our mouths at your bidding—we will take what you
offer us into our hands, and, after examining it
(with our eyes wide open) in Committee, we
then decide, but not earlier, as to whether or not we
will swallow it !" That is, in plain and simple
terms, the meaning of the Amendment. And upon
the division consequent upon the submission of that
Amendment to the House will depend, we repeat,
not the Fate of Reform (the fate of which, one way
or the other, is perfectly secure) but the Fate of the
Government.

Thanks to the egregious blundering of her MA-
3EsTY's Ministers in this matter, the prospects held
out by the division are, unhappily, only too clear.