The Sun.
London, England, 1866-06-25 00:00:00

t;1 THE FUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JUNE 2a, 1860.

THE MINISTERIAL DILEMMA,

Ministers have carte blanche from the Queen to
remain in office themselves in spite of the late divi-
sion in the House of Commons, or to dissolve Par-
liament whenever they please if they should be so
minded. There can be no explanation until to-
morrow evening. Her Majesty, in fact, will only by
to-morrow morning have returned from her high-
land palace in the far north, six hundred miles from
the central seat of Government. Until to-morrow,
therefore, the House and the country must wait
patiently for the Ministerial explanation.
Meanwhile the following are among the opinions
and announcements put forth among our contem-
poraries :

The Observer says :—lt is intended to give
notice on Monday next of a motion of confidence in
her Majesty's Ministers, coupled with a declaration
that the house will consider in a liberal spirit any
Reform Bill which her Majesty's Ministers may bring
forward in the next session, with a view to the
settlement of that question. Should this motion
pass it will rest with her Majesty's Ministers whether
they will continue in office or not. Should the
Cabinet determine, after communicating with her
Majesty, to dissolve Parliament, there will be no
.necessity to bring the motion to a vote.

The Sunday Gazette says :—There is a great de-
sire on the part of many members of the Liberal
party to bring forward a motion of confidence in
the shape of an address to the Queen, expressing
approval of the Government on the ground of its
financial legislation and foreign policy, praying her
Majesty to retain them in the face of the present
crisis on the Continent, and asking her to instruct
them to prepare a measure of reform for next year.
But such a whitewashing would scarcely be accepted
by men of spirit. It would not obliterate the broad
and ineradicable reverse involved in the rejection of
a feature of their principhl measure of the session,
which they themselves describe as one of its essential
parts.

The Times says—What so easy, as that some
independent member should challenge the House to
declare its wish that things should remain as they
are, and that the Government should thus retain
office and satisfy their honour? It is said that some
independent supporter of the Government will
adopt this course—that he will give notice this
afternoon of a vote of confidence in her Majesty's
Ministers ,which shall at the same time affirm the
desire of the House to settle the Reform question.
It is hoped that in this way all difficulties will be
smoothed over, and the Government will be con-
firmed in office with a promise that it will approach
Reform another year with better knowledge and
greater prudence. _ _ _

The Morning Post says—lt would be most anoma-
lous to appeal to the country in August, and to con-
duct its business without the intervention of Par-

liament till February next. The proceeding could
admit but of one construction ; the transaction
would be transparent. To carry on the Queen's
Government on conditions so abnormal must neces-
sarily tend to discredit the Executive authority,
which is by no means an unimportant consideration.
There are things which the nation tolerates at a
distance, as it were, but which, if brought promi-
nently under its notice on the hustings, might be
condemned at the poll.
The Daily News says—A vote of confidence
couched in general terms will not meet the necessi-
ties of the occasion. What is required is a vote in
_ _

favour of a specific enlargement-of the franchise.
In this way, and, so far as we can perceive, in this
way only, can the house at once preserve to the
country the benefits of an Adniinstration which it is
anxious to maintain, and perpetuate its own ex-
istence, otherwise doomed beyond retrieval.
The Morning Herald says—Dissolution would be

legitimate enough, if, after the failure of the Con-
servatives to form an Administration, the Govern-
ment should bring in another unsuccessful Reform
Bill. if Lord Russell and Mr. Gladstone find that
they are the only possible Ministers, and the House
of Commons still refuses to accept their measures,
they will have the right to appeal to the country ;
but until the ordinary constitutional course has
been gone through, until the leaders of the bulk of
the members comprising the majority by which they
were defeated confess themselves too weak to form
a Government, or, having formed one prove them-
selves too weak to maintain it, dissolution would
be most unconstitutional as well as most mischievous.

The Daily Telegraph says—Rumour, which is
seldom wholly in the wrong, whispers a third possi-
bility—a course which shall neither disgrace the
Ministry by entailing on them the forfeiture of their
pledges, nor inflict on the community so shortly
after a general election the cost and perturbation
of another appeal to the constituencies. If the
proposal be made in terms so submissive that the
Government can withdraw their ultimatum, the
Tories are condemned to silence. For them such a
majority would be fatal, since it would express the
consternation of Parliament at the result of the recent
vote.

The Morning Advertiser says—Sincerely believing

that the cause of Reform would not be served by a
sudden and passionate sentence of extinction passed
upon the present House of Commons, we trust that
a majority of the members of the Cabinet will reject
any such proposal. If not, the proposers of so vio-
lent a course may yet be checked in their perilous
career.

The Morning Star says—All who are sincere
Reformers want a dissolution. Meetings after
meetings have declared the fact. All who openly
oppose or secretly dread Reform are against disso-
lution.

The London Review says The unfortunate
absence of the Queen at Balmoral has delayed the
communication to Parliament of the decision at
which the Government has arrived. There is, how-
ever, reason to believe that Earl Russell has ten-
dered to her Majesty the resignation of himself and
his colleagues. In some quarters an opinion has
been expressed that the Ministers should have ad-
vised a dissolution. But we are inclined to think
that resignation is the wiser course, and the one
most likely to promote the ultimate success of their
policy. An appeal to the country will come with
vastly increased effect if it be made after the Earl
of Derby has either failed to form a Ministry, or
has broken down in the attempt to conduct the
business of the country. The air of the Opposition
benches, breathed for however short a time, will,
moreover, have a very salutary effect upon a good
many weak Liberal constitutions. Public opinion
requires stimulating and developing, and, for that,
time is necessary. Upon the whole, therefore, the
Government seems to have arrived at a sound con-
clusion in determining to throw upon their oppo-
nents the responsibilities of office.
The Saturday Review says that at last there is an
end of the Reform Bill, and probably of the Minis-
try that introduced it. Even if at the eleventh hour,
by some unforeseen stroke of fate, the Ministry
were reconstructed, Mr. Gladstone could not possi-
bly retain the position he has chosen—that of a
leader imposing, by the sheer force of his will, an
immature and unwelcome measure on a reluctant
party. It is with a feeling of real sorrow, and yet
of a sorrow that has something ludicrous in it, that
we think over this collapse of a great measure, a
great opportunity, and we will add, in spite of all Mr.
Gladstone's faults, a great man. We find the leader
of the llouse of Commons, threatening and threat-
ened by his supporters, insulted and yelled at in the
moment of his defeat, wrecking himself and the bill
on which he had set his heart, and baffling the na-
tion in its honest desire to have the leading princi-
ples of Reform discussed and settled. No man of
honour and self-respect could, when beaten on such
a division, hold office v Willingly any longer ; and in
whatever else Mr. Glad. 3tone may have at any time
shown himself to be d teficient, in self-respect he
has never been wanting.. No one can say that he
is inclined to cling to o Ince in a slavish and sub-
missive manner. And he would be clinging to office
in a very submissive manna r if he saw with indiffe-
rence his party not only r( :volting from him, but
announcing their revolt tc his enemies and the
world. Ten years ago the, .resignation would have
been accepted or rejected ;within 24 hours, and the
necessary measures for secu. ring the services of com-
petent successors would h ave long since been
adopted. The country would L'. deeply disappointed

if any morbid feeling should produce an inaction
which would leave the 'powers and duties of the
Crown in abeyance. There can be no doubt that
the impending decision of the Queen will be in-
fluenced by the purest and most patriotic motives,
but the apparent sacrifice of public interests to
private convenience or inclination has already pro-
duced a painful impression. Every subject has a
vested interest in the prerogative, and has a right
to protest against any course of action which may
even remotely injure a cherished dynasty. Habi-
tual deference has perhaps led to some misapprehen-
sion and genuine attachment is not incompatible
with sincere remonstrance.

The Spectator says—The Queen's absence at Bal-
moral in the middle of a session of critical conflict
compelled the adjournment of the House till Mon-
day, and even then Mr. Gladstone's promised ex-
planation cannot be given, as the Queen does not
burly her departure from Balmoral, and is not ex-
pected to arrive at Windsor till Tuesday morning.
It was impossible of course for men aged and out of
health, like Lord Russell and Lord Derby, to flit
forwards and backwards over 600 miles, with no
further result perhaps than to despatch Lord Stanley
or the Duke of Somerset on a similar errand. And
as the whole brood of political possibilities cannot
go to the Queen, she must necessarily come to the
possibilities, and herself turn one or other of them
into a reality. As it must be done, and in the mean-
time the country is in a state of suspended political
animation, we wish it had been done quicker. There
is an apparent ungraciousness in fixing a day for the
Queen's return later than that to which Parliament
had adjourned, in the full belief that it was an ample
term for the purpose, which is unfortunate. The
Queen will not, we trust, in future imitate the sun
in selecting the longest day for her time of apogee.
The same journal remarks that the Queen having
retired to the desert there can be no official
announcement until Tuesday, but it would be affec-
tation to doubt that Ministers have resigned. It was
open to them of course to appeal from Parliament to
the people, but there:were many objections. It is not
usual to dissolve in its first session a Parliament
called by the Ministry which dissolves it, and un-
usual acts are in England often called unconstitu-
tional. Moreover, the cry is a bad one. There
was a real chance that a dissolution upon a
bad bill brought in for a good end might re-
sult in a great, if temporary, loss to the great
Liberal party. The only remaining course en-
durable by Mr. Gladstone's honourable pride
and Earl Russell's fixed belief in the advantages of
Reform was resignation. We need not say how
deeply we regret the necessity, how utterly we dis-
trust the uses Tories may make of British power
during a Continental crisis, but we cannot blind
ourselves to the fact that it was a necessity never-
theless. It seems clearly understood that the Ministry
have resigned, but by no means clearly understood
whether their resignation will be accepted by the
Queen—whether the Queen will not urge, or has
not already urged, the Cabinet to withdraw their
untimely though almost compulsory abdication. We
cannot help thinking that it would be best for the
Liberal party, whatever it might be for the country,
to accept the natural consequences of the recent
defeat.

A MERICA.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)
ARRIVAL OF THE MARATHON.
QUEENSTOWN, June 25.

The Cunard extra screw steamer Marathon, from
New York, arrived here at 2 a.m. to-day with 71
passengers and $360,000 in specie for England.
She landed 14 passengers, and proceeded for Liver-
pool at 2.20 a.m. All well.

liament was opened for the first time at Ottawa,
the new seat of Government. The Governor-Gene-
ral, Lord Monck, in delivering an Address from the
Throne, referred to the termination of the Recipro-
city Treaty with the United States, and the neces-
sity of extending commerce in other directions.
With this view a deputation had been despatched
to the West Indies and Brazil, to ascertain the
means of developing and extending commercial re-
lations with these countries. The deputation had
just returned, and the report was not yet prepared.
His Excellency goes on to congratulate the country
on the prompt manner in which the invasion of the
lawless band of marauders, styled Fenians, had been
confronted and compelled to make a precipitate re-
treat. He alluded to the proclamation of the Pre-
sident declaring serious infractions of the laws to
have been committed by evil-disposed persons within
the jurisdiction and territory of the United States
against the British possessions of North America,
and requiring every officer of his Government to
exert every effort for their suppression. The satis-
factory results of the commerce of the country dur-
ing the past year has increased the revenue so largely
over the estimate as to enable the Government,
without inconvenience, to meet the heavy and unex-
pected charges entailed upon the country. The
position the great question of the union of the pro-
vinces of British North America has assumed is
such as to induce the expectation that the mission
will shortly be carried into effect. His Excellency,
therefore, believes that the next Parliament held
within those walls will be an Assembly of the Re-
presentatives of all the colonies of British North
America. Immediately after the delivery of the
speech a bill suspending the Habeas Corpus Act was
introduced and passed without discussion. It passed
the Upper House, and immediately received the
Governor-General's signature and seal. The an-
nouncement was received with loud cheers by num-
bers who thronged the building. On its becoming
known many persons left the city on short notice.
Fully 35,000 men, including regulars, are now
under arms, and the Government are still arming.
We learn by the St. David, via Greencastle, New
York, June 9, that General Sweeny and staff have
been placed under arrest by General Meade at St.
Albans, and held to bail to stand their trial at the
July term of the Vermont District Court—Sweeny
in $20,000. Roberts has been arrested in New
York, and stands out on his own recognisances.
General Spear, Sweeny's second, crossed the Lower
Canada line, about 2,000 strong, near St. Armand,
and encamped at Pigeon Hill on Friday. A bat-
tery of artillery, regulars, and volunteers, from St.
John's, advanced in the direction, and were within
three miles of the enemy. General Meade has pro-
hibited railways from transporting, and telegraphs
from sending messages, for Fenians. The Rescue
is stationed off Goderich, Lake Huron ; another
vessel is at Collingwood ; a third, the Michigan, is
on the Detroit river ; and there are three on the
Upper St. Lawrence, between Kingston and Corn-
wall. Her Majesty's ship Pylades is at Montreal.
The flagship Duncan has brought the 17th Regi-
ment from Halifax to Quebec, and H.M.'s ships the
Aurora and lVolverene are also at Quebec. Several
Fenians are reported to have been captured near
St. Armand, and the latest news given by the Times
reports the Fenians to be falling back on the United
States line and the British troops to be in hot
pursuit.

The Senate Committee on Commerce have re-
ported favourably on the House bill for the con-
struction of a ship canal around Niagara Falls.
The bill will therefore pass without doubt. The
effect will be to facilitate the transport of Western
produce at reduced rates and time to the seaboard.
The project has been vehemently opposed by the
Erie Canal interest and the canal towns in
Western New York. The construction of the canal
will, no doubt, vastly increase the transportation of
produce from the West, and it is probable the in-
crease may for some years to come go through the
St. Lawrence. It is a pity so great a work requires
so long a period to complete, for the present is a
most favourable time to give a spur to Western
producers. The war on the continent of Europe
has already caused a rise in the price of wheat and
of meat in England; and the tendency is, no doubt,
upwards. The city of New York can be little
affected by a portion of the great increase of pro-
duce being;shipped from another port, and the coun-
try will be directly benefited by giving to the West
every facility for reaching the sea.
It is said that Edwin Forrest, the tragedian, who

is now acting in California, purposes on his return to
Philadelphia, his nativo city, to found and endow there a
home for retired actors.

F. C. Collingworth, at Washington, made the
extraordinary run of 2,256 points at a game of billiards on
the 29th of May last.

Samuel Kennedy, the last survivor of the
Wyoming massacre, died near York Springs, Pennsyl-
vania, last week. He was 93 years of age, and was carried
away by his mother from the horrid butchery, when five
years old.

Right Rev. Thomas Atkinson, Bishop of the
Diocese of North Carolina, is about to leave for Europe on
account of his health.

An adventurous fellow, named Ludlow, from
Winchester, Kentucky, attempted to cross the Covington
and Cincinnati bridge on the 17th of May. When about
half way across, he fell into the river.

The New Orleans Times notes the arrival in that
city of General C. C. Andrews, who, it says, is celecting
material for a history of the campaign which ended in the
capture of Mobile.

Mr. Thomas W. Birdsdale, President of the
Society Fire Insurance Company, of New York, com-
mitted suicide in that city, by taking a dose of strychnine.

Cause—financial troubles.

The Department of State at Washington has
been notified by the American Minister at Paris that if
naturalised citizens of the United States, liable to conscrip-
tion in France but for their naturalization, will report at the
head-quarters of the district in which their names are en-
rolled, and produce evidence of their naturalization in
America, they will " probably " have their names erased
from the conscription list.
At a recent meeting of the American Philoso-
phical Society it was stated that the native Flora of Penn-
sylvania was rapidly yielding to the inroads of a foreign
Flora. Plants which one of the leading botanists in the
United States had described as rare were becoming plenti-
ful, and had taken possession of the valley of the Susque-
hanna. Numerous plants, not indigenous, had appeared
in the yard of the convict prison at Philadelphia. In this
instance the strangers were supposed to have been intro-
duced in the wool brought in for manufacture by the con-
victs ; but the change of the Flora on the large scale was
attributed to the spread of railways ; and some of the
botanists present at the meeting expressed their opinion
that the "foreign" Flora would supplant the native in a
comparatively short period.
One thousand and twelve churches, of all denomi-
nations, we're burned in the Southern States during the
late war, involving a loss of $5,000,000.
Professor W. Byrd Powell, an eminent American
physician, who died recently in extreme old age, left a
will, which contained the following paragraph :—" Fur-
thermore, I give and bequeath to Mrs. T. H. Kinsey, of
Cincinnati, Ohio; my bead, to bo removed from my body,
for her use, by A. T. Kockeler, or his agents." Dr.
Powell was an enthusiastic phrenologist, and Mrs. Kinsey
was one of his pupils. Three weeks after the body had
been placed in a vault of a cemetery, the executor of the
deceased employed Dr. Curtis, of Cincinnati, to take off
the head, which was done at the cemetery in the presence
of a number of spectators, and it is now in the possession
of Mrs. Kinsey.

GOOD NEWS FOR• FOXIIUNTERS.—If " coming
events cast their shadows before," the sons of
Nimrod in the district around Windermere have bright
promise and prospects before them. Never were the hopes
of the hunter so brilliant. In the large spreading woods
and covers of Graythwaite foxes:are as "plentiful as black-
berries," and in the plantations of the Heald they aro
fairly swarming. That there are many and numerous
families of tho vulpine race the keepers of prize poultry
and fancy fowls have found to their great grief. There is
hardly a hen roost in the neighbourhood that has not been
visited, and many in the broad daylight. Dorkings that
have taken prizes at the Birmingham exhibitions have
been snatched away in bright sunshine. The squire's
game and geese, the quaker's fat turkeys, the farmer's
lambs, and the cotter's hens have all shared alike. It will
be interesting to some naturalists to learn that in one
of reynard's well-stocked larders two wrens and a couple
of mice were found.—Westmoreland Gazette.

The Prince Imperial, among his other accomplish-
ments, is to be taught printing, and a press has been set
up for his use in tho Tuileries. M. Forestier, jun., formerly
a printer at Montauban, is to be his tutor.

Prince Gortschakoff, letters state, has addressed
to-the agents of Russia in foreign countries a cir-
cular relative to the present affairs in Germany.
This document is said to announce that Russia is
resolved not to take any part in the events of which
Europe is at present the theatre.

SPORTING INTELLIGENCE. fi

Stewards—Viscount Malden, Major Whittingstall, Captain
Halsey, Lieutenant Bishop, Lieutenant Binney, and
Cornet Wilson.
The FIRST CUP ; one mile and a quarter.
Mr. Ashby's bk m Black Swan, 12st 71b (Mr. Baker 1 1
Mr. Purrott's br m Brown Doe, 12st 71b (Owner 2 2
Mr. Nightingall's b h, Young Swordsman, 12st 71
(Mr. Warby) 3 0
Mr. Peace's br h Viscount, 12st 71b (Owner 0 0
Mr. French's gr h Young Harkaway, 12st 71
(Mr. J. Clarke) 0 0
Mr. Goodwin's br m Barnet, 12st 71b (Owner) 0 0
Mr. J. Dickinson's br g Little Tommy, 12st 71b
(Owner) 0 0
First heat.—Won easily by three lengths. Second—
Won by a neck.
The SECOND CUP ; heats ; one mile and a quarter.
Mr. J. Chennell's b m Laura, 12st 71b... (Mr. Ashby) 1 1
Mr. S. J. Bond's br m Agnes Locke, 12st71b (Owner) 2 2
Mr. Ginger's br h Cocktail (late Birthday), 12st 71b
(Mr. Goodwin) 3 3
Mr. Evans's b c Flying Dutchman, 12st 71b Owner) 0 0
Mr. Sheather's gr m Gay Lass, 12st 71b (Owner) 0 0
Mr. Edwards's ch h The Screw, 12st 71b Owner)) 0 0
First heat.—Laura made all the running, and won easily
by two lengths ; same distance between second and third.
Second Heat—Laura again won easily by two lengths.
Cocktail beaten four lengths from Agnes Locke.
The OFFICERS' CHALLENGE Cur ; two miles.
Lieut.-Colonel Malden's Queen Bess, 13st (J. Parrot) w.o.
The THIRD Cur; heats ; one mile and a quarter.
Mr. Jackson's b h Nottingham Weasel, 12st 71b
(Mr. Goodwin 1 1
Mr. Blain's b m Vesta, 12st 71b (Owner 2 2
Mr. Scales's br m Honesty, 13st (Owner 3 3
Mr. Beecbener's b h Broadwater, 12st 71b
(Mr. Warby) 0 0
Mr. Atkins's b m Donna Clara, 12st 71b (Mr. Baker) 0 0
First heat —Nottingham Weasel made the running
throughout, and won in a canter by four lengths ; a bad
third. Second heat.—The winner again made all the
running, and won almost as he liked.
The FOURTH CUP ; heats ; one mile and a quarter.
Mr. Clark's ch h Once More (late Here We are Again,)
12st 71b (Owner 1 1
Mr. Chedzoy's b h Brougham, 12st 71b (Mr. Goodwin 2 2
Mr. Sadd's b h Willy, l2st 71b (Owner 3 0
Mr. King's b h Struggle, 12st 71b (Mr. B. Warby 0 0
Mr. Chalkley's ch m Nally, 12st 71b (Owner 0 0
Mr. Jewison's br h Fishery Colt, l2st 71b
(Mr. Dickinson'
Mr. Rose's gr h Earnest, 12st 71b (Mr. Scales;
Mr. Lawrence's b m Polly Perkins, 12st 71b
(Mr. Baker) dis
First heat.—Won easily by two lengths ; a bad third.
Second heat.—Won cleverly by three lengths ; the others
beaten off.

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