The Sun.
London, England, 1866-03-23 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.--The condition of the political world at
this moment suggests rather the eve of a coup d'etat,
or the proceedings of our misguided fellow-subjects
in the other island, than the ordinary course of a
constitutional and self-governing country. On the
one hand a small knot in the possession of power
and some adherents out of doors are dark as night
as to their intentions in a matter of the utmost and
most immediate importance ; and on the other hand
we see first one man, then another, protesting
against being either a conspirator or the victim of a
conspiracy. On Tuesday Lord Grosvenor and Sir
William Hutt broke loose from an understanding,
which, however tacit, they felt to exist till repu-
diated, and to be against the public interest. Mr.
Oliphant and Mr. Kinglake have followed their
example, the former asking for statistics, through a
Royal Commission, for the new adjustment of
borough boundaries and redistribution of seats; the
latter giving notice of a question, with a view to
proceeding by resolution, and not going on with
the present bill till the introduction of a bill for the
redistribution of seats. There is a good deal more
than impatience here, and something more even
than the highly respectable objection which every
man of independence and common sense must have
to a leap in the dark upon any matter whatever.
There is more even than the very valid objection
which open-handed diplomatists have to the secret
agreements of which public treasures have some-
times been made the opportunity and disguise. There
is the principle, which lies at the base of our whole
constitutional and social system, that legislation re-
quires all possible information and light. The Reuse
of Commons expects to know all the facts of the
case, the whole policy intended, and anything that
can bear upon the question in hand. Of course, there
are limits to forethought, and it is not possible to
foresee the consequences of a great change beyond
a very short period. But that is no reason why all
that is possible should not be both known and also
brought under simultaneous and comparative con-
sideration. To be told half a measure, and denied
the least glimpse of the other half, is to be received
with the right hand, while the left is kept,under a
cloak. Why should we have mountains of Blue-
books, why nightly notices of questions that must
be answered, why a Parliament with open sittings
at all, if it is expected to accept a proposal the chief
import of which is that it will put a far more im-
portant one, with which it is inseparably connected,
out of the power of this Parliament ? Whether it
be, indeed, Constitutional or not, it certainly has
not been the practice of the House of Commons to
legislate in the dark. A dark curtain, never un-
drawn, may be a very convenient piece of machi-
nery in a novel which cannot otherwise sustain the
interest of the reader, and which only dooms it to
disappointment ; but in every department of real
life it is a suspicious and intolerable circumstanze ;
nor is endured a moment longer than can be helped.
In the old nursery tale it might be very undutiful
to feel such a hankering after that one forbidden
room, but the result justified suspicion, and the dis-
obedience was rewarded. But, while men of note
in the House of Commons insist upon knowing all
about it, and resolve not to be hoodwinked, the
domino is still in vogue down in the country. In
places which arrogate to themselves special interest
in popular institutions there is performed the solemn
farce of a secrecy worthy of the Inquisition or the
Council of Ten. You have to go at least a hun-
dred miles from the metropolis for the best English
specimens of organized hypocrisy. The theatre has
driven it out of the market here, and it is only
where men don't know what acting is that they are
duped by the unprofessional actor. There has been
a special meeting of the members of the National
Reform Union " in a drawing-room" at Manches-
ter, attended by forty or fifty respresentatives of
branch associations. The object was to obtain
unanimous resolutions, as if by working men, in
favour of the Bill now in Parl4ment. Of course
everybody knows what the gentlemen who spoke
on this occasion would like to see done. But the
order of the day was to say nothing about anything
else but the bill. There was not one of the speakers,
we feel pretty sure, who had not had it dinned in
his ears a hundred times over, to the very moment
he rose to speak, " Now, mind, say nothing about
anything else. Stick to the bill. Don't drop a word
about rotten boroughs, new districts, or ballot, or
anything else. Leave all that to another day." As
far as this sort of men can be drilled into anything,
they showed wonderful discipline, but that which
was really uppermost in their minds could not help
coming out, and the worthy managers of the per-
formance must have been a little disconcerted now
and then. Here and there, in the midst of political
aspirations of a loftier and vaguer character, we
have some bits of common sense. Several of them
let out the fact that many populous villages in the
North, considerably larger than many Southern
boroughs, have positively no share in the represen•
tation, and would get very little by this Reform
Bill. They are included in no borough ; they have
very few freeholders, and, we presume, only a small
class of £l4 occupiers. These disclosures, of
course, were inopportune, but we cannot say they
were wholly gratuitous, for it so happens that
nearly the whole of the Branch Reform Associations
represented on this occasion are situated in villages
.or townships of that very class, and have therefore
very little interest in the bill now in Parliament,
except as the means to future arrangements, in-
cluding a redistribution of seats and an extensive
alteration of boundaries. All, indeed, were im-
pressed with the belief that this measure once
passed, they would be able to pick and choose from
a dozen other measures of more direct interest to
the working man. We are by no means sure they
are correct in this belief. All we see in the bill is
this—that if it does more than waste much valuable
time, and really becomes law, it will lead to an
early dissolution, to be followed by a general elec-
tion, in which money will flow more freely and to
more purpose than it ever did before, but whether
ending in a Liberal or a Conservative triumph it
passes our skill to forecast.
POST.—It is not difficult to understand that the
approaching downfall of an Administration which
includes many able statesmen necessarily inspires
some regret. The feeling which we have ourselves
expressed is, we believe, very generally 'expe-
rienced. In the course of the evening on which
Lord Grosvenor gave notice of his amendment, Mr.
Adderley accurately interpreted the sense of the
house in the high encomium he passed on the con-
duct of the Colonial Secretary, an I Mr. Cardwell
is not the only Minister whose services the country
can ill afford to spare in the present juncture. At
the same time it must be recollected that the Cabi-
net collectively is responsible for its departure from
the sound policy and the national principles which
Lord Palmerston observed and carried out. The
Premier has not been advised so plainly as he might
have been that his position was untenable ; and
though the reticence of his dissentaneous colleagues
cannot for a moment be imputed to any un worthy
motive, the hesitation which happens to be a public
misfortune is a political error it would be idle to
attempt to dissemble. The explanations which are
ordinarily made in such cases will be construed most
charitably. Even as regards Lord Russell, Parlia-
ment and the country will be disposed to make
every allowance that can in reason be expected.
But the question of confidence must be considered
on other and higher grounds. This will not be the
first time that Lord Russell has upset the coach he
undertook to drive, though it is an aggravated in-
stance of indiscretion. He had a tractable team, an
excellent start, and a straight road before him. He
was not labouring under any public pressure ; there
was nothing to excuse rashness ; and it was next to
impossible for him to miss his way. Of course it is
easy enough to go wrong, and if a man will gallop
down hill to the edge of a yawning gulf the chances
are ten to one that he comes to grief. Lord Russell
apparently conceived that he had a special mission
to fulfil, and, as Mr. Gladstone stated with re-
markable composure, less urgent matters were post-
poned to promote its success. At the very first
Council over which he presided the interesting sub-
ject was brought forward, and from that time to
this there has been no peace in the Ministry. The
Cabinet was made a nursery, and the country was
invited to rock the cradle of Reform. . That, how-
ever, the country could not be prevailed upon to do.
It had nursed and racked into many of these abor-
tive creations, and besides, the c,audle was thin and
watery. For months nobody cared to know whether
Reform was living or dead and when at last it was

produced in the House of Commons, Mr. Gladstone
himself was constrained to own that he did not half
like its appearance. No one ventured to speak a
hearty word in its behalf, and its parents were flatly
told that their precious offspring would never be
able to walk alone. Nevertheless it was all they
had to show, and they could only say that they bad
done their best, which, as they were not asked to
do anything of the kind, was confessedly a poor
apology for exhibiting such a skeleton. So the affair
rested up to Tuesday evening, when the fatal amend-
ment was announced ; and the circumstance that
Ministers were, and it may be still are, determined
to persevere in defiance of public opinion, must be
taken into account in appraising their responsibility.
It cannot fail to be observed that Lord Russell
is committed to a course which does not commend
itself to the judgment of the country, and be
ought to be the first to perceive and recognise the
fact. Practically, however, this is the least im-
portant point. It is inconceivable that the Liberal
party can be brought to act together under the
leadership of any statesman who suffers himself to
be influenced by its Radical section. Mr. Bright
has never yetsupported a Ministry or a policy that
corresponded with the requirements and the senti-
ments of the people of this country. The difficulty
seems rather to be that, zi-s Mr. Disraeli has said,
" England does not love coalitions ;" and further,
that, except with respect to Reform, the facility of
forming a Coalition Ministry is by no means
obvious. If it was-thought necessary to bring in a
welll-considered and comprehensive Reform Bill,
that might doubtless be done without the concur-
rence of Lord Russell, Mr. Gladstone, or Mr.
Milner Gibson, and the measure could not be im-
peded by their opposition. Still, what the country
wants is a firm, steady Government, and it is not
self-evident that a mixed Administration would be
a good working machine.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

MANCHESTER—TmatspAy.

There was an average attendance at our market this
morning. English wheat was in very limited request ;on
the best samples no reduction could be noted, but other
sorts were is per qr lower; foreign was also neglected•
There was so little passing in flour that prices were alto-
gether nominal ; to effect sales a decline of 6d per sack on
both English and French would have been submitted to.
In oats and oatmeal no material alteration was observable,
and the same may be said of beans. Indian corn sold
slowly, at late rates.

BRISTOL—THURSDAY.
The market was but moderately supplied with English
farmers' wheat, but the demand was sluggish, and a limited
business was done at prices below those current on this
day se'ennight. In foreign there was nothing doing.
Malting barley was in good demand, and last week's prices
were supported. Grinding qualities are scarce, and 6d per
quarter more money was obtained for them. The demand
for oats was not active. For maize 6d per qr. advance
was obtained.

BURY ST. EDMUND'S—WEDNESDAY.
We had a fair supply of wheat here to-day, the condition
of which was much affected by the damp weather ; the
trade ruled dull, at last week's prices. The show of barley
was small ; last week's rates barely maintained. Oats,
beans, and peas without alteration.
White wheat, 538 to 558 ; old red, 46s to 48s ; new red,
40s to 44s , malting barley, 35s to 38s; Page's prolific Par-
ley, 39s to 41s per qr.
averages :—Wheat, 839 k qrs, at 42s 4d ; barley, 1,490
qrs., 36s 7d; oats, 7i qrs, 22e Od.

BIRMINGHAM—TanitsnAv.
There was a small supply of wheat at our corn market
to-day, for which the inquiry was slow at about the cur"
reniies of the week previous. The demand for barley was
fair, and sales were effected at full) last week's rates. For
oats the demand was quiet at previous rates. There was
a fair inquiry for beaus at fully late rates. Peas main"
tained previous quotations.