The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH_ 24, 1868.

members of the Liberal party to come forward on
this occasion, as they have so often done before,
and render good service to their party and
the country by preventing the House from
agreeing to Mr. GLADSTONE'S resolutions. We
may add that the right hon.fgentleman himself,
for his best friends and numerous admirers, will not
desire to see him assume the responsibility of office,
and enter upon a task for which he is well fitted,
with the stigma attaching to his political reputation
that he has not been sufficiently careful in his efforts
to win the prize.
Of course, any statesman has a right to make due
exertions so reach the goal for which he is fitted,
but the time and place must be taken into ac-
count, and no one can say that this last
session of a worn-out and doomed Parliament,
overburdened with work and almost weighed down
by the accumulation of back ward business, is the
appropriate time to debate on the abstract question
of the Irish Church. Such is the plain truth, and
we say it quite irrespectively of party feeling or
prejudice, and entirely apart from the actual merits
of the case. The Irish Church Establishment will
not last, and another Parliament will not pass
away until the question of its establishment is
settled ; but looking to the present, and not
to the future, we must protest against this
hurried and inopportune conduct of Mr.
GLADSTONE. He is making this desperate
venture in support of a cause which he never advo-
cated when in power, and he is confusing the House
just when it is important that immediate at-
tention should be given to other matters of impor-
tance. Let us hope, then, that this most undesir-
able and inappropriate discussion of next week will
but afford another opportunity for the House of
Commons to display its sense, spirit, and patriotistn,
and by so doing it will deserve the confidence of
the country, and set a good example to its succes-
sor to discriminate between the devices of faction
and the claims of important public questions. In
the best interests of all concerned in the affair, we
must hope that Mr. GLADSTONE'S motion will be
withdrawn, or else rejected by a large majority.

There is invariably a good deal of discussion in
the House of Commons on the introduction of the
Army Estimates, though, as a matter of course, the
Minister at War while he is answering the charges,
deprecating the complaints, and parrying the ques-
tions, knows that he will get what he wants, and
that when the House has gone through the regular
formula the votes will be agreed to without altera-
tion. Hon. members having a vague idea that
more money is spent than should be, and proud,
perhaps, of their position as national purseholders,
feel it their duty to criticise a little the formidable
estimates submitted to them, but no one has a
definite policy to propose—a fact plainlf indicated
by the family resemblance of all such estimates,
whatever Minister be at the head of the War-office,
whatever ,party sit on the Treasury Bench. The
army is like the navy, a costly and cumbrous esta-
blishment, which every one admits calls loudly for
reform, but which no one knows how to set abou
to reform. Now that we have seen Parliamentary
Reform pass into the region of historical fact and
out of the hopeless list of theoretical improvements,
we may hope perhaps that one of these days a new
House of Commons and a strong Ministry may
have courage sufficient to assail the War Office, the
Horse Guards, and all the stately, and costly, and
useless paraphernalia which now serve to provide
sinecures, amuse the country, and empty the Exche-
quer. Last year there was much discussion about
the increasing difficulty of procuring recruits, and
though the extreme depression of trade, and the
consequent slackness of employment throughout
the country, has probably modified the reluctance of
young men to enlist, we shall have sooner or later to
deal with the question in the abstract. The fact is we
branches thepresent f
up-
per ranks consist mainly of younger
wealthy and aristocratic families, to whom the life
and the occupation are full of fascination—who
have interest to help them, and who regard the
social position of au officer as a much more impor-
tant part of the profession than either military
knowledge or experience. The rank and file, on
the other hand, are drawn for the most part from
the lowest ranks of the populace. We have a good
share from the agricultural districts, it is true ;
but the idlers, the worthless, the dissipated, those,
in short, who cannot, or will not. succeed in other
pursuits, take refuge in the army. It is plain that
we want greater inducements held out to the great
middle classes. We want to make the army, both
for officers and men, a profession in which an able,
energetic, and high-principled young man can feel
that he has a good chance of rising in the world by
his own merits, his own abilities, and his own exer-
tions. As it is, the first question one naturally
asks when told that a young man holds a
commission is, " Has he any interest ?" If
that is answered in the negative, the next query
will be as to his means of buying his promotion.
Nobody is Quixotic enough to inquire as to his
military talents, the extent of his studies, his atten-
tion to his duties. This is not the wav to obtain
good officers or good soldiers, for it needs a good
officer to get and to keep good soldiers, and to help
in improving the position of those below him. We
have, in fact, to thank our national qualities
of stubborn courage and determination for much
of our military success, for the means we
adopt would, if tried among weaker framed and
tamer-hearted nations, prove anything but satisfac-
tory in their results. The men, too, have much to
complain of, and the temptations incidental to their
life in: the abstract are increased tenfold by the
manner of our military administration. If Sir JOHN
PAKINGTON can suggest a few remedies for open
and acknowledged evils he will do the country
good service, and he may double his estimates next
year, if he is still in office, without doing himself
or his colleagues any harm.

Thelmpeachment trial, we learn by the Atlantic
Telegraph, came on yesterday before the Senate,
when the old animus of the Radical party was once
more strongly displayed. President JOHNSON'S
counsel filed an answer, denying all the impeach..
meat charges, and they applied for a delay of thirty
days to prepare for the trial. The Senate refused
this application by 41 votes against 12, being, as
we know, most anxious to press on the matter to
an abrupt conclusion. If we are to judge of the
temper and judgment of the Senate by these figures
there is not much chance of a fair, patient, and
impartial trial. The accused, we may well be-
lieve, is already prejudged by those who are
bound by their office to investigate the
charges laid before them, and to give the accused
every opportunity of stating his case. Thirty days,
however, was too great a trial for the dominant
party, who do not wish to give the country time to
declare itself, or to allow any other opportunity r
the friends and supporters of the PRESIDENT to de-
feat their machinations. What time the Senate did
allow for the preparation of the defence is not stated;
but we learn one thing by the brief summary before
us. Mr. JOHNSON intends to appear by counsel, and
to answer the charges made against him. At one
time it was said that he would refuse to ro-

cognise the legality of the trial, and would
make no attempt to defend himself. The course
which he has adopted, however, is wiser, more po-
litic, and more constitutional, and, in a country like
America, will be more popular. The facts of the
case on. both sides, the arguments to be urged by
the counsel, and even the decision of the tribunal,
are already in possession of the public. They form
the subject of every conversation, and have supplied
matter for comment and speculation in every circle
in New York and Washington. But it is more be-
fitting the dignity of the Presidential office, more
respectful to the country at large, and more be-
fitting his character to meet his accusers face
to face and rebut their charges. The PRESIDENT
has never shown himself reluctant to meet an enemy
or timorous in dealing with difficulties. His faults
have been rather on the other side ; he has shown
a degree of boldness which has amounted to rash-
ness, of independence which has given needless
offence. This occasion, however, is one which
calls for boldness, and unless the evidence to be
produced at the trial be altogether different from
the statements already made by the parties con-
cerned, it is difficult to see how even Radical
prejudice can convict the PRESIDENT of treason to
the State upon such shallow grounds.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

PARIS, MONDAY, March 23.

Things are not going well in France. Discontent is
becoming very general, and is intensified every day as we
see that the Emperor, while talking of peace, continues to
increase his armaments. It was bad enough when the
Army Reorganisation Bill was being discussed ; but now
that it is being actually enforced the irritation is increasing
to a formidable extent, and people are asking why they
should be called upon to endure the burdens of war when
they are compelled to knuckle under in every diplomatic
negotiation. The most serious manifestation has taken
place somewhat significantly in Bordeaux—the city where
Napoleon some twelve years ago made his famous declara-
tion, l'Empire c'est la paix. The Bordelais will
have it that the Emperor has altered his epigram into
l'Empire c'est epje ; and they do not at all like the altera-
tion. I mentioned yesterday what the Etenclard said of
the disturbance which took place in the metropolis of the
vineyard: Friday. But as I suspected, the account was
very much under-coloured. It appears that there was
actual fighting in the streets. The mob were armed with
great hammers and formidable sticks. The police first
attacked and got severely handled. Then the prefect ap-
peared on the scene with his guard, and at last troops
charged with drawn swords and the bayonet. This last
was too much for the people, and there seems
to have been a general stampede. The same even-
ing there were indications of fresh disturbances.
The crowd began to reassemble in the principal
streets, and thereupon the lancers were sent to disperse
the people. Troops continued to patrol the city until two
on Saturday morning. Some thirty or forty arrests were
made. At Rennes " anarchical placards," as the Etendarcl
styles them, have been circulated, and three young men
have been arrested on the charge of writing them. Another
significant symptom of the prevailing discontent is, that at
the elections which are taking place from time to time,
both for the Corps Legislatif and the Conseils G6n6ianx,
the Government finds it necessary to abstain from putting
forward candidates, in order to avoid defeat. The Impe-
rial pamphlet has afforded another opportunity for
expressing the popular dissatisfaction. It is quite true,
4ay the Liberal journals, that Citizen Louis Bonaparte
obtained so many votes ; but why ? Because he swore to
maintain the Republic. By way of shewing that the
Emperor has been guilty of perjury, they republish the
solemn declaration which he made when elected President.

The semi-official Constitutionnel gives an absolute denial
to the rumour that the Emperor intends to visit Berlin
and St. Petersburg in the spring. Circumstances alter
:vases. The statement may have been true a week ago, be
false now, and true again next week. Prince Napoleon
returned to the Palais Royal last night at ten o'clock,
having visited Liege on the way.
I am afraid that we are about to witness a severe fight
in the Corps L6gislatif with respect to the Anglo-French
commercial treaty. The severe depression of trade is
making the manufacturers clamorous for a return to pro-
tection, and it is understood that they will make a great
effort to induce the Corps L4gislatif to take that step after
the Easter recess. If they succeed, this disaster will be
another of the lamentable effects of the present enormous
armaments. It is these which check industry, and which
alone render the Protectionists formidable.

Father Hyacinthe, the great preacher, has been treating
of peace and war in his Notre Dame Conferences. He
said that war presented itself under two aspects—now it
was at the service of passion, now at the service of
justice. He then made a long diversion in order to advo-
cate the claims of small States. They were, he said,
intended as a buffer to break the shock of two
great nations coming into collision. Their capitals,
such as Prague, Geneva, Brussels, and as Florence and
Bologna formerly were, are centres of intellectual enlighten.
ment. To make war upon them was a Pagan war ; to
make war in their defence was a Christian war. He
then went on to speak of the effects of peace. Peace
'ed to the accumulation of riches, and the accumulation of
tithes to the corruption of manners. The result was that
/lass was set against class, and there was need of a con-
queror to restore purity anti equilibrium. He then
referred to Austria as an illustration of the national
regeneration that often followed a calamitous war.

English traders with China are very anxious to obtain a
revision of the Treaty of Tien-Tsin. The Tien-Tsin com-
raunity have addressed the British Minister at Pekin, Sir
Ctutherford Alcock, on the . subject, and they suggest,
.mong other changes, that all foreign teachers of Chris_
ianity shall be placed on an equality as to rights and
privileges Nthich may hereafter be granted by the Chinese
;overnment ; that foreigners shall be at liberty to buy
hind or houses, to build boats, to construct railways and
telegraphs, to own mines, and to importsalt. They also ask
('.tat the whole of
_China proper and its dependencies shall
e thrown open to foreign intercourse ; that the naviga-
tion of the Yellow River shall be opened ; that bonded
warehouses shall be established, and that if goods, after
icing sent up the interior, are returned unsold, the transit
luties shall be remitted. This memorial is similar
navy respects to others from Chambers of Commerce in
Mina, and also from leading China merchants like
rardine, Matheson, and Co.

The Berlin correspondent of the Daily News says :
"About three or four weeks ago very serious anxkty was
felt here in higher regions than it would be discreet to
fpecify, lest the Emperor Napoleon should find himself
anequal to the task of keeping down certain hostile par-
ties in France, and should rush into a sudden war with
Prussia as the only hope of self-preservation." It is be-
lieved now that the danger is past, and that the political
oarometer once more points to peace.

Prince Napoleon has nfused to pay a visit to Prince
Frederick of Augustenburg, the late pretender to
schleswig-Holstein, whose claims kindled two wars. The
?rench Emperor used to patronise this Prince ; as the
Emperor's cousin has not done so, the inference is that
Prussian ideas are in the ascendant at Paris.
King George of Hanover has declared that his crown
has been conferred upon him and his house by God, and
that he will not abandon the least portion of that Divine
eight. Whereupon the Etendard shrewdly remarks how
Is it that all these princes who claim to be crowned by the
Divine will never admit that they have been deprived of
their crowns by the Divine will? If they will read the
Old Testament they will find p'enty of instances in which
'led has changed dynasties. He does not create only : He
overthrows and destroys, and the annihilation of a monar-
chy is as much His attribute as the erection.

Whether there be a political alliance between Paris and
rierlin is a matter still disputed ; but that there is a grow-
'ng u nanimity of moral sentiment is only too clear. Parisian
plays of the very laxest kind have been brought upon
the Berlin stage, and at last some of the Borlin school-
-casters have addressed the gentlemen of the press solicit-
ing' their co-operation in the good work of raising the
moral tone of metropolitan society.
Vesuvius has been doing grand things. Such a long-
:ontinued intense eruption is not on record. On the
-lights of the 10th to the 14th the spectacle was very sublime.
Che intensity of the fire was so great as to penetrate and
-elight the blackened walls at the top of the mountain, so
that the entire summit of Vesuvius was one solid mass of
3urning fire. At times light clouds swept across the
column of burning stones, cutting it in too, yet far above
it rose the missiles, so large that they could be indi-
vidualised even at Naples. This display was preceded by
tremendous thunderings, which shook the strongest nerves.
M present it seems as if the well-known observatory must
be destroyed.
It will have been seen, from the Prime Minister's ob-
servations on Monday night, that the right hon. gentle-
man's intention is to dissolve Parliament at the beginning
of next year, when the electors created by the Act of last
session will for the first time exercise the privileges of the
franchise. The Scotch and the Irish Reform Bills and
the respective boundary arrangements will have been
passed and determined upon this year. It is inferred by
many, from the tone of the right hon. gentleman's
remarks, that the Government would quietly accept a
defeat on Mr. Gladstone's motion, and push on the public
business as though nothing had happened.
The eve of the Easter holidays will speedily become as
famous for party struggles as the eve of the Derby a few
years ago. Last session, on the night before the House
broke up for the recess, Mr. Gladstone sustained his memo-
rable defeat on the personal payment of rates principle ;
this year Easter is a week earlier, and again has the eve of
the adjournment been fixed for a division which is to
decide the fate of a Ministry. The leader of last year's
secession (Mr. Dillwyn) is one of the bitterest enemies of
the Irish Church in the House of Commons, and can now
have no possible excuse for refusing to follow the chief
whom he then repudiated.

Mr. Blanchard Jerrold does not seem to have been in
earnest in his candidature at Coventry. Mr. Carter has
been prosecuting a vigorous contest in the Liberal interest,
and Mr. Staveley Hill is actively at work on the side of
the Conservatives. The nomination will take place
tomorrow, and the polling on Thursday.

Two important Lancashire towns are earnestly contend-
ing for the honour of receiving the Royal Agricultural
Society in 1869. On Monday an influentially-attended
meeting was held at ISlanchester, the Mayor in the chair.
It was determined to take immediate steps to secure, if
possible, the meeting for next year in that city. A com-
mittee was appointed to make the necessary arrangements.
Liverpool, not to be behind her old rival, lead a public)
meeting on the same day, and with a similar object. An
invitation to the Royal Agricultural Society was for.
warded, and a minimum contribution of £3,000 towards
Cho expenses was guaranteed.