The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-31 00:00:00

THE SUN.

LONDON, FRIDAY, MAY 31, 1881.

The remarkable triumph achieved by Ministers
last evening was beyond what had even been anti-
cipated by themselves. The wriggling snake of
Opposition—so manifold and tortuous in its wind-
ings hitherto —is at length no longer scotched
merely, but killed outright. Its neck may be said
to have been effectually broken by this last division.
In reference to which division, by the way, we
would at once direct public attention to what is
certainly a very odd coincidence. And the coin-
cidence is this. Upon the last great party division,
namely, the division in the House of Commons on
the 2d inst., in Committee of Ways and Means—the
aggregate of the minority trooping together upon
the side of the Opposition was identical with the
aggregate of the minority now again trooping
together on the side of the Opposition !
On Thursday, the 2d of May, 1861, and on Thurs-
day, the 30th of May, 1861—there were collected
together by the Opposition whips 281 against her
MAJESTY'S Government. The Ministerial majority
upon the former occasion having been Eighteen, and
upon the latter occasion having been Fifteen, while
the Opposition minority has remained in each in-
stance at the same dead level—it is obvious that last
night there was a falling off of three upon the side
of the Government. Whereas Ministers told
off into their lobby 296 yesterday, or more
strictly speaking this morning, they told off as
many as 299, but just one short of a round three
hundred, upon the former occasion. To signalise
the peculiarity of these almost exactly balanced
divisions, we will give each here briefly in a tabular
form, so that they may be contrasted at a glance :
DIVISION" OF TILE 2D MAY, UPON MR. BARING'S AMEND-
MENT FOR THE REDUCTION OF THE TEA DUTY.
MiniEterialists .. 299
Opposition

Majority for the Government.... 18
DIVISION OF THE 30TH MAY, UPON MR. SEYMER'S
AMENDMENT FOR THE RETENTION OF THE PAPER
DUTIES.

Minister'slists.
opposition ...

296
281

Majority for the Government.... 15

So far, however, from the circumstance of that
falling off to the extent of three in the Ministerial
majority between the 2d and the 30th instant
telling against the Cabinet, the fact is directly
otherwise. That it is so, cannot fail to be recognised
upon a calm consideration of the actual circum-
stances. Recollect that ever since the former divi-
sion forced upon the House when in Committee of
Ways and Means, by reason of Mr. BARING'S Tea
Duty Amendment—the efforts made by the Oppo-
sition to strengthen their hands against the Go-
vernment have been most energetic and determined.
Nothing has been left undone in order, if possible,
to justify that very singular outburst of cheering
with which upon the former of these two recent
divisions the Minority greeted their own discom-
fiture. Those enthusiastic cheers showed that they
were then still sanguine of success, notwithstand-
ing their immediate defeat by the supporters of the
Administration. And since then they have striven
heart and soul to swell their own numbers, and con-
sequently to diminish those of their antagonists.
With what result has at length been rendered
clearly manifest. If they have not fallen off even
by the minimum of a single vote, they have not by
an unit advanced their own aggregate.
And this, moreover,. in spite of a very pro-
mising windfall in the shape of that broken
allegiance of the Irish Liberals to the PALMERSTON
Government! That actually alone will go pretty
far to explain the fact of the list of Ayes now
being minus sundry Celtic names occurring in
the earlier catalogue of the Government sup-
porters. To give a single instance—whereas in
the Ministerial Majority of the 2d of May, the
name of " MAGIIIRE, J. F." duly appears alpha-
betically in its right place—it will be looked for
vainly in this division list, either on the side of
the Government or of the Opposition. So might
it be said, too, of others
among I •
the
Irish represen-
tatives. And it is the surprising diversity of
names noticeable here and there, both in the lists of
the Ministerialists and of the Opposition, under date
May the 2d and May the 30th, that renders so
very singular as a coincidence of numbers the
dead-level kept at by the Opposition, and the