The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-18 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

The Times approves of the appointment of the Bishop of
Lincoln to the see of London. Great hopes were enter•
tain of him when he was appointed to Lincoln, but we
are not aware that he has done much more than main.
tained his reputation for secure moderation. It cannot,
in fact, with truth be said that he has yet achieved any
conspicuous success as a bishop. At the same time it has
always been thought that his steady and moderate
character would recommend him for promotion, and
his claims have often been popularly discussed for
the Archbishopric of Canterbury. A man who has
inspired so much general confidence has probably in
some degree deserved it ; and we hope he has only
wanted a favourable opening for the display of his
abilities. The diocese of London will at least offer
him a large field of usefulness and will afford opportunities
for the exercise of every kind of talent. From his previous
connection with London he ought to be well acquainted
with its wants and difficulties,. and it ought to be no little
advantage to a diocese that its bishop should have had
experience of a typical London parish. This appointment,
in short, is one with which no one can find fault, and
from which we may expect the best results. The Times
thinks Dr. Wordsworth fully merits promotion by his
learning and industry. He is a High Churchman, and it
may be remembered that he made a public protest against
Dr. Stanley's appointment as Dean of Westminster. He
has, however, been not less distinguished by the strenuous
opposition he has offered to the Ritualists and to the
Romanising party in the Church. He, too, is a perfectly
safe man, and will be sure to maintain, in every respect,
the traditional character of the Church of England.

The Standard remarks that Dr. Jackson has never been
a party man. His religious views are characterised by
breadth in the truest sense of the word, and as Bishop of
Lincoln he has displayed in !the control of his vast diocese
a spirit of fairness and moderation which have justly
earned him the respect and goodwill of the great
bulk of his clergy. Moreover, Bishop Jackson brings
to his work in London two qualifications in which his
predecessor was lacking. One of the first requisites in a
bishop is that he shall have had ample experience of
clerical and parochial work. No finer school could be
desired than that afforded by a large and populous district
like that of St. James's, Piccadilly, which Dr. Jackson
administered with singular success during his seven years'
tenure of the rectorship. Morepver, Lincoln will have
served him as a kind of training school for the yet more
anxious and engrossing duties of his new see. In con-
gratulating Mr. Disraeli on his selection of Arch-
deacon Wordsworth to fill the place of Dr.
Jackson at Lincoln, we cannot but recall it as
a reproach to former Premiers, that a divine of such great
abilities, and one who has rendered such important ser-
vices to the Church, has so long been suffered to remain
unrecognised and unrewarded. Any time these ten years
past Dr. Wordsworth has been "named " for almost every
important vacancy. It has been reserved for Mr. Disraeli
to atone for the neglect of his predecessors, and to dignify
the English episcopate with a name which stands in the
foremost rank among the scholars, the writers, and the
theologians of whom the English Church is so justly
proud.

The Times believes Mr. Lowe exaggerates the demo-
cratic tendencies of the measure which passed the Legis-
lature a year ago. Of course, it is impossible to predict
the future, and it is open to any one to assert that. NJ
have not seen the worst, and that householders and
lodgers will sooner or later do something very revolu-
tionary. But we can at least say that there are no
signs of it yet. We have never ourselves expected
any astounding change as the results of the Reform
Act, but we must confess a little surprise at the uni-
versal failure of extreme politicians to recommend
themselves to constituencies. It is evident that the
Englishman has not yet ceased to worship the respectable,
and we suspect that after all that has been said of the keen
intellect and uncorruptible souls of the artisans, they
prefer pretty much the same class of solid, fairspoken
gentlemen whom the shopkeepers have hitherto returned.
May we not at least reserve the application of our reme-
dies against democratic violence until some sign of it
appears? There will be full time to clam or divert the
torrent when it threatens to sweep away something which
men of sense wish to preserve.

The Post says it was perfectly well understood that, so
far as any event depending on human efforts might be
regarded as a matter of certainty, the Government would
be defeated in the elections by a very considerable majority.
Still, there were, as there always are, some good simple
people who fondly fancied otherwise. They seem actually
to have entertained the preposterous idea which Mr.
Disraeli, the great master of mystification, had
half frenetically and half facetiously suggested, and in the
depth of their credulity conceived that it might be
realised. Nor are we now at all sure that they will
recognise the fact which is staring them full in the face.
The contest, they may say, is not over, and no doubt to
the very last success will be promised. 'Those who leaned
on a broken reed have fallen to the ground, and a mis-
fortune arising out of prejudice and fanaticism must not
be described euphemistically as an accident. It is all very
well to throw the blame on Mr. Disraeli ; but it is not as if
Mr. Disraeli had descended from the clouds, and those
who have followed him as a " heaven-sent Minister "
have no right to complain now that they find they are in
the broad way which leads to destruction. They went
into it with their eyes open, after " a leap in the dark,"
after every tie that bound them up as a Conservative
party had been broken, and, as they will now be ready
enough to admit, in the teeth of their own misgivings.
They made Mr. Disraeli their conscience-keeper, and if
he has betrayed their trust they must at least share the
responsibility, be it what it may, which appertains to
trading with convictions.

The Daily News remarks that the late member for
Westminster has himself principally to thank for his
defeat. The great follies of small men, and the small follies
of great ones, may be dismissed with contempt or with in-
dulgence; but the serious errors of a man of Mr. Mill's cha-
racter, intellect, and reputation are too mischievous to be
passed over in silence. Still, after all deductions
have been made, his brief parliamentary career has reflected
honour on himself, has clone something to introduce a
higher morality into politics, and has not been without
practical usefulness of a more direct kind. Perhaps the
spectacle of perfect singleness of purpose which it presented
needed for its complete exhibition the unfettered display
of those honest but fatal eccentricities which have helped to
cut it sb rt.

The Sear says of the rejection of Mill that it is an event
which will cast a black reproach not only upon West-
minster but on the country at hrge, in every enlightened
European community, and it is one for which it is im-
possible to find an excuse or a palliation. It
must be remarked, however, that the difference
between the votes recorded for Mr. Mill and those
recorded for Captain Grosvenor is so small as to shew
that the party voted well together, and that the tpecial
calumnies aimed so profusely at the world-renowned phi-
losopher and patriot had no appreciable effect on
the result. Such a result cannot endure. The
election virtually made the Tories not merely the
conquerors of Mr. Mill, but the masters of the
Westminster representation. From this position they
must be dislodged. The whole strength of the best
Liberal management must be directed to this object, and
a genuine public feeling must, moreover, be excited in
order to remove the stain Of political cowardice or frailty
from a vast number of electors whom intimidation has
coerced, or whom interest has debauched.

The Morning Summary reviews the history of Irish dis-
content to the present time. A Whig Government, in
1866, under Earl Russell, suspended the Habeas Corpus,
and the fortunately immediate succession of a Tory
Government again pacified this hapless country. Fenianism
was snuffed out by their vigorous measures and generous
concessions, and lo ! Mr. Gladstone starts up and tries
to out-Herod O'Connell by raising the traitorous cry
of Irish Disestablishment, masking it as a " panacea "
for Irish grievances. The true Irish grievance is of far
deeper import. It lies in the present system of tenant-
right, or rather no right, and this question the Govern-
ment will deal with broadly and comprehensively, if they
succeed, as we believe they will, in stultifying Mr. Glad-
stone's flagitious attempts at seizing power at a sacrifice of
Constitutional principle. " Disendw.vment" is only
another word for " nvolution " in its worst form.
Destroy the Chnrch, confiscate its revenues, place it at
the mercy of the schismatic and atheist, and you destroy
the State ; you place tha; beneath the feet of the Socialist
aud Jacobin. You give your neck to the slaughterer and
your property to the spoiler. Let electors ponder on these
things and vote for Gladstone and anarchy v they dare!

A mission from his Highness Sayyid Majid, the
Sultan of Zanzibar, accredited to her Majesty, has arrived
in Loudon, and is staying at the Langharn Hotel. It is
composed of his Excellency Sayyid Mahommed Gin
,Salim and Sayyid Ahmel Gin Suleiman, two Arab
chiefs of the highest rank at his Highness's
Court, and Hajee Mahommed Bakushmir, the con-
fidential secretary of the Sultan, accompanied by
.nine Arab attendants. The object of the mission is
connected with the suppression of the slave trade on the
ea-st coast of Africa, and the revolution at Muscat, where
Sayyid Thowenee, the elder brother of his Highness, was
•. some time ago cruelly murdered by his own son. Major-
General Rigby, late her Majesty's Consul and Political
Agent at Zanzibar, has been requested to take charge of
this mission during its stay in this country,