The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-14 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING, MARCEI 14, 1868.

the height that was due, when .he exclaimen, " We
are all, I believe, of one religion,7' and besought the
House to act in the spirit that animated the founder
of the State of Pennsylvania, when he said that
humble, meek, merciful, just, pious, and devoted
souls are everywhere of one religion, " and when
death has taken off the mask they all know one
another, though the divers liveries they wear here
make them strangers." A dark and heavy cloud
hangs over one quarter of our Empire at
present, but we must not despond though it extends
to the feelings of those in all parts of the British
dominions. " There is a solution we may all take to
ourselves : an inspired king, a lord and prophet,
has left us words which are not only the expression
of a fact, but which we may take as the utterance
of a prophecy. He says, 6to the upright there
ariseth light in the darkness.' Let us try in this
matter to be upright, let us try to be
just, that the cloud may be dispelled, and
the change which we see will vanish, and we may
perhaps have the happiness of leaving to our chil-
dren the heritage of an honourable citizenship in a
united and prosperous empire.

We fully agree with Sir STAFFORD NoRTHCOTE,
that there is much to be satisfied with in this speech
of Mr. BRIGHT, not only in its eloquence, but also
in its earnestness. The only way to deal with a
question like this of Ireland, whether it is to be
treated permanently or temporarily is to be candid
and sincere, and the right hon. gentleman the
Secretary for India was also correct in declaring
that the discussion which has taken place in the
House has not been a useless one, or occupied the
attention of the Legislature for nothing. It had
at least brought before the House and country the
several opinions of different men, and show n what
all held to be the grievances of the country, and what
are supposed to be the correct remedies. From the
chaos of conflicting opinions order may ensue, and
out of the multitude of counsellors, if we do not
exactly get wisdom, we may at least approach
somewhere near it. Though not agreeing with
those who advocated the advisability of sweeping
changes, Sir STAFFORD NORTLICOTE spoke out, and
declared that:if he thought our Constitution to be
a faulty one, and one calculated to militate against the
prosperity of the country it belonged to, he could not
uphold it. The opponents of Conservatism cannot
at least say that there has been any attempt on
the part of the Government to uphold things be-
cause they are old, and to declare that all change is
hateful be cause it is change. On the contrary, we
have before us the words of their representative last
night, and he says most emphatically the contrary.
"It is not that I shrink from anything
new or anything old. I agree with the
hon. member that there may be times when not
only in Ireland but in England also, it is necessary
to be wise and necessary to be bold, but I say that
above all things it is necessary to be cautious and
necessary to be prudent. We are taunted with
having no policy for Ireland. I say we have a policy
for Ireland, and that the first and cardinal principle
of . that policy is justice." This is fair
and outspoken language at least, and
perhaps , the most sceptical may now be
willing to believe that a better day may yet dawn
for Ireland, and the most sanguine find their ex-
pectations not so very distant from being realised,
when the House of Commons can night after night
listen to the most masterly disquisitions and the
most eloquent speeches from the leading spirits of
the day, and when the sum and substance of all
amount to this, that justice must be rendered to
that country which has too long been our difficulty.

It is not very often that the House of Lords
divides public interest with the Commons, but last
night the proceedings in the Upper House were if
less ultimately important, 'more vivid, more ani-
moted, and more entertaining. A sharp skirmish
between two or three of the principal speakers on
either side is always a welcome relief to the tedium
of political routine, and possibly the Duke of
ARGYLL, notwithstanding his apparent acerbity, was
really actuated by the most amiable motives in
making his onslaught on the Edinburgh speech. It
appeared to the uninitiated ;to be a little late
in the day to be canvassing words and
turns of phrases, to be weighing political
reputations in the scales of hypercritical philo-
logy, and judging the personal honour of men of
tried experience and public character by a chance
expression or a casual epithet. If Mr. DISRAELI'S
political career is not sufficiently before the Eng-
lish public to enable them to form a fair and accu-
rate judgment of his merits they are never likely to
do so. Perhaps no man of our time has been more
criticised, censured, and cavilled at. Every weak
place in his armour has been detected by a thousand
jealous spies, every mistake in generalship or error
in his fencing has been promptly perceived and
commented on by men to whom it is a constant
affront and injury that genius and daring should
be sufficient unaided to raise their possessor to the
front rank of statesmanship. It is not agreeable,
no doubt, to a man bore heir to a dukedom, with
broad estates and ancient lineage, if he chooses to
enter on the race of politics and literature, to see
himself outstripped by a competitor who started
with none of these advantages. Experience has
proved that money and station—enough of them at
least to satisfy all ordinary purposes—can be won
by the way, but there are some qualities which no
lack of training nor want of friendly encourage-
ment can keep in the background. Eclipse must
win the race despite the scorn of high-bred racers,
who were educated to their profession while he was
drudging in unknown byeways ; and though we may
probably live to see the Duke of ARGYLL filling the
post of First Lord of the Treasury with credit and
confidence, we shall never detect him in the com-
mission of those imprudences which talent carefully
avoids, but of which genius is so constantly guilty.

It is some proof that, despite the anxious condi-
tion of public business their lordships are not over-
worked, that they should have been able to waste
an evening on 'so simple a matter. First came the
Duke of ARGYLL in great concern about the incon-
veniences of the resuscitated compound householder,
speedily deserting his client, however, to "bring to
the test of fact the accuracy and candour of certain
statements on the subject of Parliamentary
Reform, which had been recently made by
the First Minister of the Crown." The Lord
Chancellor on the Woolsack listened in some per-
plexity as to the connection between the two, until
suddenly a light dawned upon him. His legal acu-
men enabled him to discover that " personal rating"

had a double significance, and that the compound

householder whom the noble duke was " rating"
was the occupant of Downing-street. " My Lords,"
said Lord CAIRNS, " there were two parts in the
speech of the noble duke, and at first I felt some
diffkulty in tracing the connection between these
two things—between the law relating to the pay-

meat of rates and the speech of the presen

Prime Minister delivered at Edinburgh. But the
term personal rating' is an equivalent one ; and
I could not help thinking that in the latter and
longer part of this speech of the noble
duke, ho gave about as conspicuous an
instance as could be imagined of that personal
rating which in the first speech he so strongly de-
precated. But there is one most unfortunate thing

about the personal rating in the present case—that
the person rated happens not to be a member of
your lordship's House. My lords, I undertake,
without difficulty, to assure the noble lords that if
he had been a member the rating would have been
repaid." After Lord CAIRNS came Lord RUSSELL,
who went over the whole ground again, and who
in his turn was answered by Lord MALMESBURY,
who very pointedly asked whether the accused was
in so remote, and inaccessible a place that no one
could put a question to his face ? The whole argu-
ment of Lord RUSSELL would seem to imply that
the Conservatives are a set of dupes, who have
not sense to form a judgment of their own,
or shrewdness enough to detect that they are being
led one way while apparently going another. We
may differ from them on many points, but we can
hardly to refuse to admit that Conservatives, like
Liberals, are men of the world, possessed of average
intelligence, and able to obtain access to the ordi-
nary channels of information. They are not so
completely devoid of experience, of tact, or of per-
ceptive faculties, as not to know something of what
their leaders are doing without waiting to be told
that they have been deluded second-hand from the
Opposition benches. They are probably as well able
to judge on points of that political honour respect-
ing which the Duke of ARGYLL is so keenly sensitive
as Lord RUSSELL, and " attempts to bamboozle
Parliament and delude the people," need not wait
for the " moral indignation" of the Peers to con-
demn them. But the Liberals, driven from their
political preserve of Parliamentary Reform, appear
now to have adopted the easier because less tangible
domain of political honour. We should advise
them, however, to bear in mind the fact, that
honour, like credit, does not bear being too much
talked about. A ROTIISCIIILD or a BARING is not
always boasting of his solvency ; an English
statesman of tried reputation need not be
always in a fever about his honour. It
is enough for him to know that, as he will
not condescend to " the ordinary tricks of profes-
sional politicians," so the public will not suspect
him of them. Neither Mr. DISRAELI nor Lord
RUSSELL need apprehend that they will be judged
by such a standard, but Lord RUSSELL may have
the additional comfort of knowing that no one can
possibly accuse him of having in late years " edu-
cated his party " to any policy whatever, " unless
it be to " rest and 136 thankful."

The news from the United States continues to be
watched in this country with the deepest interest,
and the excitement in America itself increases as
the time for the trial approaches. It is a noticeable
sign of the spirit which animates the Radicals that
they are apprehensive of losing a moment. From
the time when they decided upon proposing the
Impeachment of the PRESIDENT they have urged on
matters with desperate speed. It might have been
imagined that in an affair of such moment, so often
talked of, so often abandoned, some deliberation
was necessary. The impeachment of the chief ruler
of a great nation surely calls for more
circumspection and caution than the mere intro-
duction of an ordinary measure into Con-
gress. But haste has been the predominant
motive with the Republican party. The Senate has
voted the suspension of all other business, and we
now learn that the Court has ordered President
JouNsoN to file an answer to the Articles of Im-
peachment on or before the 23d inst., the Ccurt
meanwhile adjourning to that date. It is a clear
case of prejudging a prisoner, of a jury who would
willingly, if they might, not only convict but hang
the accused without giving him the opportunity to
defend himself. We know what impartiality to
expect from one at least of the jurors, who openly
declared his conviction some time since that the
sooner the PRESIDENT was got rid of the better.
Senator. SUMNER is not alone in this feeling, for
there are other members of the Upper House of
Congress who, if more reticent, are not more un-
prejudiced. The most important item of news
brought by the Cable yesterday is the resig-
nation of the Attorney-General for the pur-
pose of defending the PRESIDENT at the
trial. In Mr. STANBERRY Mr. JOHNSON will
have not only an able advocate and cordial sup-
porter, but one who is well versed in constitutional
law, and can, so far as words go, turn the tables
upon his accusers, by showing how completely the
whole tenour of recent Radical legislation is opposed
to the spirit and the letter of the Constitution of
the Republic. Attorney-General STANBERRY, too,
is familiar with Cabinet secrets ; he is acquainted
with the whole of the transactions respecting
the War-office and General GRANT, and
can at once disprove the assumptions
of the PRESIDENT'S accusers. The Attorney-
General has already appeared as a witness for Mr.
JOHNSON, as have also Judges NELSON and BLACK,
and Generals CURTIS and EWART. It will need
little evidence and little logic to disprove the reck-
less and vindictive charges dictated by personal
animosity and political ambition ; but owing to
the constitution of the Senate Court the American
people have little security that the cause of their
PRESIDENT will be fairly and fully judged. But
after all, whatever the foregone conclusions of
Mr. SUMNER and his associates are, it is with the
people themselves that the verdict of acquittal or
condemnation must rest, and on the justice and
clear-sightedness of this supreme court of appeal
President JOHNSON may confidently rely.

SPEAKER'S LEVEES.—The Speaker will hold his
levees on the evenings of Wednesday next, March 18, and
following Wednesday, March 25, at ten o'clock p.m. Full
dress.

FIRE AT TRURO.—TRURO, Saturday, 1 30 a.m.
—A destructive fire has been raging in the central and
most important part of Truro for the last three hours.
Three large warehouses and their valuable contents have
been totally destroyed—one belonging to a grocer, an-
other to a draper, and a third to an ironmonger, all carry-
ing on wholesale and retail businesses. The fire is spread-
ing rapidly to shops and dwelling houses, and the damage
already amounts to several thousand pounds. The two
local engines are of scarcely any use. Other engines have
been telegraphed for, and groat excitement prevails. The
wind is rather high.

THE PRIME MINISTER ONCE A LAWYER.—It has
been said, and as often denied, that the new Premier was
once articled to a solicitor. We believe there is no doubt
rie k's
Swain,whatever that
Stevens,B ivenajpalmesi,npDeairssrea,eli was articled to Messrs
place, Old Jewry. He, however,atandretenutp, of
his F
articlesre
be-
fore their expiration.—Solicitors' Journal.
ACCIDENT TO THE HON. H. G. LIDDELL, M.P.—
The Hon. H. G. Liddell, M.P. for the southern division of
Northumberland, has had a very severe fall in the hunting
field, in Northamptonshire. Happily the reports of his
condition are very favourable, and it is hoped that in the
course of a week or ten days the hon. gentleman will be
able to resume his Parliamentary duties.
We understand that the paragraph which we
quoted from the Pall Mall Gazette, stating that a reconci-
liation had taken place between Lord Chelmsford and Mr.
Disraeli, was incorrect. The ex-Lord Chancellor still
considers himself aggrieved by the Premier's treatment ;
and the report of his having shaken hands with Mr. Dis-
raeli is untrue. lie has not seen the Primo Minister since
the day he went to Osborne to resign the Grout Seal.—
..Miming Post.

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CORRESPONDENCE FROM FARTS

tittOlt OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)
PARIS, FRIDAY, Maitch
The debate oh the Public Meetings Bill began yesterdo:
Gamier Pagbs made a speech strongly denouncing 04
bill. He declared that it was a retrogressive measure, and
was intended as a snare to catch candidates at the sp•
preaching elections. He warned the Imperial Government
how it followed the example set by the Government of
Louis Philippe, and bade it remember that it was through
attempting to prevent a public meeting that the last King
of France fell. The speech was constantly interrupted,
and there was considerable excitement. When the speaker
sat down the debate was adjourned until to-day.
The disturbances at Toulouse turn out to have been very
much more serious than the Government papers described.
They were renewed in the morning, and in one place the
people attempted to raise barricades, but were prevented
by the troops. It is rumoured that the soldiers had to use
their sabres, and that one of them was killed by the
people ; this requires confirmation. It was that an
eineute would have taken place at Lyons and one or two
other important places.; but up to the time I write no
news of any such event has been received.
The Situation having spoken of the present Legislative
Body in very uncomplimentary terms, declaring that
it is powerless to pass laws, and will probably
drag on its miserable and ricketty existence until
July, an application has been made in the Chamber
to prosecute that journal, and also the Figaro,
which has been guilty of a like offence. The matter was
referred to a secret committee, which granted the neces-
sary authorisation. Surely the Chamber cannot now
with any show of decency refuse the demand which has
been made by the journalists against M. Kerv6guen. If
the Chamber does not like to be slandered en bloc by jour-
nalists, still less do journalists like to be slandered per-
sonally by deputies. If redress is given to the one it
should be given to the other.
The newspapers, in spite of all the restrictions under
which they labour, do certainly contrive to keep them-
selves well before the public. Thus we are told that imme-
diately after M. Peyrat left his prison in the P6lagie, it
was occupied by M. Jules Vall'es, another journalist.
General Failly, whose celebrated eulogium upon the
miraculous achievements of the chassepot at Mentana you
will remember, has just been raised to the dignity of
senator. It remains to be seen if he will " do wonders" in
his new capacity.
I am almost weary of referring to Prince Napoleon's
tour. I mention it again only because it is now affirmed
that after his Imperial Highness has returned to Paris he
will set out on his travels afresh, and visit Vienna, Bucha-
rest, and Constantinople. Clearly, Plon-Plon is taking
upon him a new part—that of the olive-bearing dove. It
is to be hoped that he will succeed better in this capacity
than he did in that of the war-eagle. By the way, the
Prince is going to pay a visit to Krupp's great gunworks,
in order, I suppose, to prove the pacific character of his
mission.

The accounts from Algeria are "horrible, heartrending,'
as Lord Russell said of your army in the Crimea. The
people in their distress have turned cannibals. The
Government has now despatched two vessels laden with
wheat —one to Algiers and another to Oran. But what
these among so many starving people ?

There is a serious agitation going on in Nova Scotia
against the Confederation. It will be remembered that
when the scheme was in progress the Nova Scotians en-
treated that the matter might be postponed until after it
had been referred to the people at the then impending
elections. This request was denied, it being well
umlerstood that the vote would be hostile ; and the
new dominion was constituted against the wishes of the
great majority in this particular colony. The
colonists are now very sore. They say that they
have to bear all the onerous taxation of a large
empire without deriving any advantage. They urge that
if they are not relieved they will seek to be joined to the
United States, and that if they once entered the Union,
Halifax would become the most prosperous port in the
world. This is a serious matter. We cannot afford to
give up Halifax unless we are prepared to give up Canada
also. The port is the key to the whole of our Ncrth
American possessions, and it would be to place ourselves
at the mercy of the United States if we were to surrender
to them that indispensable position.

" Viator " writes to the Spectator a most interesting
account of the state of Orissa. He says that along the
high roads every trace of the great calamity has nearly dis-
appeared. The lands are all cultivated, the people and the
cattle in good case, and but for the absence of old people
it would be difficult to believe that so stupendous a
calamity as the great famine had taken place less than
two years ago. In a very few places the fields are still
whitened with the skulls of those who lay down to die.
Among them the bones of very young children and of
aged people are predominant. In the north of Orissa there
are new crops on nearly every field where crops grew
before the famine. In most districts food is now so
abundant and cheap, that it is believed the province will
in three years entirely recover as regards its agri-
cultural products. The works of the East Indian
Irrigation Company are magnificent, and when completed
will render famine in Orissa impossible. As regards
the communizations, there is very little improvement
except so far as the canal is concerned. The Uriyas are
intensely bigoted, and have suffered severely thereby.
When the embankments gave way during the great floods
of 1866, not a single inhabitant could be induced by any
amount of wages to assist iu repairing the breaches and
saving his own property from destruction. One curious
result of the famine is, that the women who were aban-
doned by their husbands during the famine, and who
obtained work and food from the relief centres, have now
waxed so fat that they kick against their spouses, and will
have nothing to do with these indolent drones. Mr.
Hepworth Dixon will be glad to hear that the principles
of " free love" have found their way into Orissa. Theso
women are singularly grateful for all the kindness which
was shewn to them during the famine by the Europeans.
There is one young civilian whom they almost worship,
and they have done him the greatest honour which can
everbe done to a single person by a race of People—they
have made his name a synonym for all that is kind and
benevolent. Any European who shows more than usual
consideration for them is now, in honour of this young
man, called a " Kirkwood." A short time ago he visited
Cuttack, the scene of his philanthropic labours, and the
beople surrounded his palanquin, took it away from the
earers, threw open the door that they might look at him,
and shouting in triumph, carried him off to their bunga-
low. This may not seem very extraordinary to us
Englishmen accustomed to the political enthusiasm of the
lower classes, but it is nothing less than miraculous when
we remember the timid retiring character of the women of
Orissa.

The Italian papers mention that there has just died at
Naples a man named Carlo Felice, who was 103 years old,
and the father of twenty sons, of whom the eldest was 83.
Carlo preserved his faculties, both mental and bodily,
until the last. A montjs ago he joined a merry party ill a
visit to Vesuvius. We suspect that Sir George Lewis
would have rejected this story.

As the debate of Friday night almost exclusively
monopolises the columns of the papers, so the respective
speakers get their share of criticism in the steal e of
leading articles. There is a general concurrence in saying
a good word for the speech of Mr. Bright. The Times
calls it one of the most effective addresses which the hon.
member for Birmingham has ever delivered. It does not,
however, approve his land scheme. Although more
moderate than Mr. Mill's, it is open to the same objec-
tion—that it makes the State, that is, the English
Government, the creditor of a large class of Irish-
men, and thus gives them a direct inducement to
evade their liabilities by sedition or political intrigre.
The Herald, too, praises the speech as one of great elo-
quence and power. It admits that no element of confis-
cation enters into his scheme. It is ecommically unsound,
but it certainly is not unjust, except so far as English tax-
payers may complain of the assumption of liabilities for
such a purpose. With regard to the Church, Mr. Bright
was, of course, very decided and dogmatic, but there was
not in his proposal that "malevolent injustice which cha-
racterises Mr. Mill's schemes." The debate is expected
to be brought to a close on Tuesday night.
The Times founds a leader on the passage of arms which
took place on Friday night between the Duke of Argyll
and the Lord Chancellor. Lord Cairns seems to have
enjoyed the idea of giving a brother peer a "personal
rating," quite as much as did Eldon and Brougham more
than a generation ago. Still, lively as the episode un-

doubtedly was, the Times trusts there will be no more
mangling of the slain. It hopes that the hatchet will
now be buried, that no one will be tempted by letter or
speech to revive the pa6sions of Friday, and that Vie
atmosphere of the House of Lords will, before Monday,
be restored to its accustomed serenity.

Some days ago the Scotsman foreshadowed the probabi-
lity that a motion of want of confidence in the Govern-
.ient would be the consequence of their failure to meet
expectations and necessities in framing their Irish policy.
The impression now is that the motion of want of confi-
dence will actually be proposed on Tuesday, or on an early
day thereafter ; but of course, so long as the Irish debate
is unfinished, and Mr. Disraeli has not spoken, it is possible
that something may occur to modify, postpone, or dissi.
pate the intention.

Lord Cranborne's influence over his younger brother
appears to have prevailed, and Lord Eustace Cecil has de-
clined the Secretaryship to the Poor•law Board. The post
has been accepted by Sir Michael Hicks Beach, M.P. for
East Gloucestershire. The hon. baronet, who is about 30
years of age, has been in Parliament since July 1864. The
oalary attached to the office is £l,OOO a year,