The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-30 00:00:00

PLAIN JOHN ORPINGTON.

"It was not his broad flat face, it was not his heavy
under-jaw, it was not even the unwholesome hue of his
complexion that inspired a prejudice against him. Neither
was it that his hands were red, or that his lank hair looked
draggled and damp: But the eyes, the terrible eyes—eyes
not remarkable for form or colour—in them it was that
Blanche Mort,n read the expression of what is, perhaps,
the most dangerous agent of evil upon earth—a pitiless
will. A cruel will, rampant, merciless, unscrupulous,
strong with the blithe strength of the serpent that can
twine his loose folds, as if in sport, around the trembling
antelope, and presently crush the bones and devour the
carcase. Poets have described eyes as the windows of the
soul. What sort of a soul was that, thought shuddering
Blanche, that glared out upon her from under John
Orpington's black brows ?"

How this pitiless will is exercised, and how Blanche's
terrors become justified and confirmed we shall not
reveal. We have said enough to promise the sensa-
tional reader a rare treat, and we may congratulate
the author of " Lady Flavia" on the production of
another clever novel, although the hero selected is
most repulsive, and the main incidents of the story
are not of a pleasing character.

The Quadrilateral. One Vol. Saunders, Utley,

and Co.

A volume of graceful verses written by three
friends and dedicated to a fourth—" the fourth
angle of our quadrilateral " in a complimentary in-
troduction. Some of these little poems are above
the average merit of such productions, and almost
all are melodious and attractive.

Mr. Gladstone as Leader of the House of

Commons.

" Warder," in the Sunday Times, writes : " I
am sorry to be driven to the conviction that
Mr. Gladstone has, in his first experiences as leader
of the house, systematically, and apparently with
deliberation, pursued a course of conduct disre-
spectful to, and inconsiderate of, that house. It was
an act of ostentatious distrust of that house to sepa-
rate the question of the re-distribution of seats from
the question of the extension of the franchise. Mr.
Gladstone told the representatives of the people, in
so many words, I have no faith in your integrity,
your sincerity, your patriotism, your honour.' Such
a challenge had in it not much that tended to lay a
foundation of future confidence, or to generate warm
personal sympathies. It was rude, dictatorial, and
defiant. Then, in smaller matters, Mr. Gladstone
has exhibited a lack of tact, ready judgment, and
practical wisdom. It was eminently injudicious, for
example, not to meet Sir Fitzroy Kelly in a more
amiable spirit in reference to the postponement of
the discussion on the malt tax. By not giving a
promise to provide that learned gentleman with an
early and suitable opportunity of bringing his mo-
tion before the house, he irritated a great number
of gentlemen whose feelingi it should have been his
aim to soothe, and offended the most earnest of his
own partisans by an apparent indifference to the in-
terests of Reform. He lost a clear night to the
great debate, and thus forgot what was due to the
convenience of the Legislature in particular and the
country in general. The same mistake was most
flagrantly committed on Monday night last. Every-
body had expressed a desire that the debate should
not be prolonged until next week; and, therefore,
it was felt that none.of the time of the Legislature
should be wasted which could by any means be de-
voted to the all-absorbing question. Mr. Sheridan's
resolution on the Fire Insurance Duty, however,
stood for Tuesday night. Mr. Gladstone is known
not to entertain the most amiable feelings towards
Mr. Sheridan ; and it may be presumed, therefore,
that he did not feel disposed to place himself
under any obligations to the courtesy of the hon.
gentleman. The consequence was, that another
night was sacrificed by Mr. Gladstone's peevish
egotism. This is a comparatively trivial incident,
perhaps, but it affords a significant illustration of
those elements in Mr. Gladstone's character which
disqualify him for the finer and higher responsibi-
lities of official statesmanship. It not only reveals
poverty of resource, but serious defects of temper.
And, above all, it forms another instance added to
many previous instances, of Mr. Gladstone's habit of
looking at the House of Commons rather as a play-
thingd of his policy or the ladder of his ambition, an.
not as the responsible representation of that public
opinion against the majestic resolve of w hick
it is
tensions
absurd in a man of even Mr. Gladstone's pre.
f
to contend. But a more characteristic exhi ton o
impatient vanity remains to be recorded. On the
introduction of the (ludic:4a of parliarnentary reform,

Mr. Gladstone gave the house pretty distinctly to
understand that they need not expect any explana-
nations of the financial policy of the Government,
or of the financial condition of the state, until that
matter was disposed of. This was said with a cer-
tain tone of vaingloriousness and self-complacency,
as though Mr Gladstone was firmly persuaded that
the interest of the house in his financial measure was
so. great as to constitute an inducement to hurry
the Reform Bill through the house against its in-
clination. On Thursday night he treated the house
to the very antithesis to this insult. He coolly
announced that, as it was agreed to close the debate
on the Reform Bill the following night, be should
make his financial statement on Thursday next !
He, in fact, assumes that he shall be in office at that
time. 'With the cunning of ar. electioneering dodger,
he pretends to entertain no doubt whatever of the re-
sult
ofthe division. He is as certain of a good
working
majority as though the lists were already
in his hands. This is not amusing; is is not even
clever ; it is simply undignified and tricky.
" All these indications of moral infirmity have
had an unquestionable effect upon the House of
Commons, with whom Mr. Gladstone's relations are
at the present moment anything but comfortable or
encouraging ; and, whether the second reading be
carried by a majoriy of two or twenty votes, ven-
ture to predict that the right hon. gentleman's reign
over that assembly„m___ is virtually at an end."-

A Possible Coalition.

-0-
Lord Derby is possible, but he has no majority,
and would be compelled to rely every day on Mr.
Bright's forbearance, and would be unable to deal
in any satisfactory way with the inevitable difficulty
which will meet any Ministry in the preparation of
a Reform Bill. Lord Stanley would have more
chance, for many Liberals have confidence in him,
the bulk of the Tory part would follow him as their
best alternative, and the mass of the Undecided
would be pretty sure to approve his administrative
measures. He would be as little likely to plunge
us into a war with America as Earl Russell, and
might by dint of audacity and painstaking prepare
a Reform which both parties could accept as a set-
tlement of the question, a Reform which, admitting
the workmen to a hundred seats and redressing the
balance as between North and South, should not
establish a precedent leading directly to numerical
rule. If he could but rid himself of Mr. Disraeli
either by sending him to the Peers, or to Paris, or
to both, he might found an administration which
could really work, which would at intervals hold
power for considerable periods, and which would in
the end remodel the platform of the great Conser-
vative party.
This, though unnoticed, is perhaps the greatest
result to be expected from such a coalition. There
exists in England visibly and at all times a great
mass of conservative or, to express it more perfectly,
of contented feeling, which ought to be, and usually
has been, fully expressed in Parliament. Owing
partly to the unfortunate blunder which induced the
Conservative party to stake its existence upon an
unsound fiscal policy, with which its principles had
no more to do than with the fashion of dress or an
improved system of gardening, and partly to the
advance of opinion, this feeling has been thrown
out of rapport with those who profess to express it
it Parliament. Commercial conservatism, profes-
sional conservatism, labouring conservatism are
scarcely expressed at all, and the Tories, resuming
the old name—a fact of curious significance—have
degenerated into a mere party of squires. They
can compel legislation against a cattle plague, but
on any non-agricultural subject are in a hopeless
minority. The truth is, that from the Protectionist
taint they have so long preserved, and the ex-
cessive incapacity of some of their leaders,
city conservatism is ashamed to act with them,
and they have driven the average members
who want to improve- things, but not to make
great changes, and who see no incompatibility
between wise finance and belief in agriculture, so-
cial reform and a variety of grades, religious liberty
and a Church Establishment, into the Liberal ranks.
Lord Stanley himself, but for the circumstances of
his birth and some peculiarities of temperament,
would long since have been driven away, and the'
party threatens every day to sink into a position in
which the functions of her Majesty's Opposition
could no longer be performed. A few more such
elections as the last, and it would practically be, as
in its present form it ought to be, extinct. If it is
to survive, it must be remodelled, and the governing
idea of renovation must be made to express, not
agricultural, or reactionary, or even stationary ideas,
but the thought of that great mass of Englishmen,
proprietors, traders, and even workmen, which,
though hostile to every felt abuse, is constitution-
ally indisposed to change, by habit distrustful of
mere ideas, and by position inclined to believe that
most visible evils are not organic, but only super-
fluous, to be removed by pruning instead of eradi-
cation. A party which followed Lord Stanley
would be sure to drift into that position, to consi-
der the Constitution as almost the only fixed datum,
to remove abuses, yet to be reluctant to make ex-
periments, and therefore to receive the cordial sup-
port of all Conservatives, whether urban or agricul-
tural. ,It would be again en rapport with the age,
just as the Peelites were while Peel was alive, and
might be as strong as they were, to the immense
advantage not only of Conservatism, which is get-
ting weak, but of Liberalism, which is getting in-
effective by reason of the completeness of its victory,
and therefore to the great advantage of the country.
For such a policy men could be found in plenty,
and though they would in the end be beaten, they
would succeed in compelling Liberals to close their
ranks, think out their policy, and propose reforms
large enough and sound enough to enlist the hearty
support of the people.
No such coalition could be or ought to be led from
the Liberal side, and we trust the experiment will not
be seriously tried. The need of the country is to re-
invigorate the Tory party, not to enfeeble the Libe-
ral one, to have both kinds of opinion expressed well
and fully, not to have only one expressed very badly
indeed. A Conservative Ministry dependent for
support on Whigs is a Ministry in cautious motion ;
a Whig Ministry dependent on Tories is sure to be
nearly immovable. A renewal of Lord Palmer-
' ston's reign would be an intolerable evil, one which
would in the end provoke Mr. Gladstone and the
country into a line of action far more hostile to true
Conservatism than anything yet attempted. Such a
Ministry would be compelled to lay all projects of
Reform aside, and so live perpetually at the mercy
of those who are pledged chin deep to Reform,
would see the Radical party grow daily stronger,
and would fail entirely to utilize the most detest-
able faction within the house, the men who at heart
hate Lord Stanley because he is sensible as
much as Mr. Gladstone becauce he cares for the
people, who subscribed for the South and justified
Mr. Eyre, who would keep Dissenters out of the
Universities not because of their religious ideas, but
because of their social position, who hold in their
hearts that God created the world for " gentlemen,"
and who consequently turn the house every night
into a bear garden by au attempt to supply
deficiencies in wisdom by their proficiency in
in
uor
'and
and clamour.
gahcLttoivrLtidzS.l',lley could utilize
itlli.inenitshfeiirt
they could not at all events vote
make the Lord Clarendon, or any other greaagit:Erthi4r,
not, except by concessions which
t_ :1%; a
Government
coalition worse because weaker
It is a Con-
could
he d set.
le \grub
iirge,
dir i
ft
Navc'eliurtld's-u:tt;teto:Cn
pftaonrayseerrivoleyantei:cveaohtmiccalhla.ll'iLitoloivoloolliirnsleidl,
composed exclusively
swehriveahtiivser-
-0 OD
such an administra-
adffe
el ac yt
isn
ga
promotions,
oemf foo rct t o
paralyze
z ewil will
theirfi
tion we may,, Liberals,
avoid course a tnhye reeh :nig] gseo
tgbreeantsluyal
and appeals to Lord Derby and jealousies of
Stanley, but if the division is such that Mr. Glad-
stone cannot or will not remain in power, a coali-
tion of which Lord Stanley would be the leading
spirit will, we think, be very nearly inevitable. it
or anything else, Tcry Government included, would
be more acceptable to the country than a renewalof
the late interregnum. Coalitions are never popular,
and this one could not last, but it would afford time
to the Liberals to rearrange their ranks, harden
their resolves, and select, finally, the men who are
to lead them, while it would secure in the end what
we as Liberals believe to be a great object, the
thorough remodelling of the now dying Tory party.
—Spectator.