The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-08 00:00:00

zarved out into freehold holdings of fifty acres, the CCM-
pations would in a few years be multiplied fivefold, while
the number of owners might probably remain the same.
In conclusion, the Saturday says : There can be no differ-
ence of opinion as to the importance of the question which
Mr. Bright has discussed with unusual temperance of
language. Irelanctis, under the present circumstances of
America, the wealepoint of the British Empire, and the
removal of existing grievances is the first duty of states.
men. The proportion of evil which lies beyond the reach
of legislation is probably larger than it appears to Mr.
Bright.

It is impossible to conjecture what line of argument any
:pecker will take on any given subject. For instance,
judging from his antecedents, the John Bull would have
expected to find Mr. Bright advocating the American sys-
tem of education ; yet we find him this week at Birming-
ham speaking so moderately on the subject that the Times
in its leading columns congratulates him on his Conser-
vatism—a sentiment in which it entirely concurs. It
is most refreshing to find a man of Mr. Bright's stamp
speaking out his own views in opposition to those of the
party to which he is attached. What can have come
over him so soon after his most objectionable speech of the
previous evening? Is he bidding for a place in the
Cabinet? Anyhow he feels the responsibility of his utter-
ance. He has weighed the consequences, and he delibe-
rately expresses his dissent from those with whom he is
in the habit of agreeing. He tvas addressing the workmen
of Birmingham, who were met together to talk over the
Paris Exhibition. The general opinion seemed to be that
England was far behind almost all other countries in
arts and manufactures. Instead of concurring in these
sentiments, and belauding everything foreign at the ex-

pence of everything English, and suggesting that the
Government should take upon itself to superintend
the technical education of the people, he entirely repu-
diates the idea of -Government aid, and maintains that if
the first principles of reading, writing, and arithmetic are
well grounded, technical knowledge must and will be
sought by the children as they grow up. This, as we all
know, is precisely the principle on which our public
schools are conducted. The theory of the present
day would lead to a smattering of many subjects. We are
delighted to find Mr. Bright at one with ourselves on
the desirableness of laying a solid foundation on which
each one 'may build for himself in after years. Of the
American system De says nothing, save that it does not
interfere with tedinical education. He is decidedly
opposed to a system of compulsory education, and would
Lave the Government do nothing, either by rates or grants,
or a combination of both, except for those " whose con-
dition is one of (I will say), to a large extent, deplorable
ignorance, and exhibits great neglect on the part of the
Government in past times." He appears to be in favour
of the denominational system. The John Bull thinks
it a great gain that Mr. Bright should thus, to use
his own phrase, have become " slow and Conserva-
tive." He is a man who looks at things from a
practical point of view, sometimes, perhaps, a
trifle too practical, and reasons this out by what
he considers the rules of common sense, and herein he
differs from many of those who would tinker our educa-
tional system, and the result is that he arrives at an
entirely opposite conclusion to the " well-meaning people
at Manchester." Theory is all very well, but a grain of
practical common sense is worth a ton of it. Earl Russell,
Earl Granville, Mr. Bruce, Mr. Lowe, et id genus omne,
have put down vihat looks very well upon paper ; the only
misfortune is that it won't work. Mr. Bright sees this,
and before the whole world proclaims his own views, even
though he must know that they will be most unpalatable,
not only to his hearers, but also to the great bulk of his
political friends and supporters.

The Spectator, writing on the Speke mystery, dismisses
;he theory of voluntary disappearance as possible, but
purely conjectural. After discussing several other con-
ceptions, and finding them mere improbabilities, our
weekly contemporary comes to the conclusion, though
with great pain, that the only hypothesis admissible, the
only theory, that is, which meets the facts, moral
and physical, which have to be taken into the ac-
count, is murder, murder of a cool, deliberate kind,
murder planned on system, carried out relentlessly, and
dictated solely by the expectation of plunder. We shall
be accused of sensationalism, but the single theory which
seems in our jiagment to fit the facts is of necessity a
sensational one. Suppose Mr. Speke to have been decoyed
into a cab, in Birdcage-walk, it may be, as suggested, by
some story of a sick person awaiting him ; it may be, by
an arrest by sham detectives ; it may be, by appeal for aid
to a dying person in the cab, and then put under chloro-
form, all would be explained. His ,hat fell off in the
momentary useless struggle after he had discovered that
he was deceived, and the body was driven away either
to a house previously prepared, or to a bridge whence
it could be thrown into the water, or fairly beyond
town to some solitary place, altogether beyond the
range_of police inquiry. The extraordinary story related
en Wednesday by the incumbent of Savoy Chapel,
who was invited in Trafalgar-square by a sham detective
to enter a cab and be driven to Bow-street, where his
.presence was not required, suggests that a form of crime
has been invented in which some confederate drives a cab.
It is a wild theory, doubtless, but not a bit wilder than
the fact testified by Mr. White ; and we will venture,
at the risk of being thought silly, to add a supposition
even wilder still, namely, that if any such form of crime
is in operation— and it is difficult, after reading Mr.
White's letter, to doubt it —the perpetrators are foreigners.
It is too cool, too artistic, too complete, for the concep-
tion of the English criminal class, which, moreover, bad
as it is, has for some thirty years appeared, at all events,
to avoid habitual murder for money. The foreign charac-
ter of the gang would also explain the failure of the great
temptation offered to accomplices in the Queen's free
pardon, an the curiously complete absence of any inci-
dental evidence offered to the public.

MR. GUSCHEN, Olv COMIERCIAb
AFFAIRS.

At the annual meeting of the Liverpool Chamber of
uommerce, Mr. Goschen, M.P., said that there had seldom
been a time in the history of commerce when there was
more pressing need for commercial legislation. He was
sure the country was greatly mistaken if it thought the
merchants of every class were not as keenly alive to every
sentiment of honour as any other class of the community.
People said a great deal about the greed of gold. He
believed that, if it existed, it existed in every class, for
everyone was anxious for success. It was not always a
simple desire to get rich. To succeed in business was as
great an ambition of the commercial man as the
lawyer or the physician. But it could not be denied that
the events of the last few years had put the commercial
classes upon their defence. Everyone was looking for the
causes which had brought about both commercial depression
and that which he feared he must call commercial dis-
repute. Probably no single cause had brought it about.
The greater portion of commercial delinquency was due,
not from the desire to get rich, as from the fear of getting
poor. It was when a fortune accumulated was melting
away that its owner was put on its trial. The great mis-
fortune was that during the last ten years there had been
very little of steady business. People now seemed to fancy,
and with some justice, perhaps, that legislation, if it had
not much „to do with the causing of the existing state
of things, might at all events have much mitigated the
late frauds and scandals. The systems of laws which had
principally been taken to task were the legislation with
regard to limited liability, and that with respect to bank-
ruptcy. He strongly cautioned them against calling
for remedies too strong, which might defeat their object.
He regarded the doctrine of publicity as a sine qua, non in
limited liability, and he thought that it should be still
further extended ; but they could not have Government
interference. They could not have a Government certifi-
cate to tell them that all was going on right, though they
would be very glad to have it. One of the suggestions made to
the committee of last year was that limited companies
should not be allowed to trade until a certain amount of
capital was paid up, or until all was paid up. Such a pro-
vision, he thouelit, could not work in all cases. The re-
medies,shoud
only he
elthought,eet
directorswere
couldthe
trust,shareholders
and
toshrsour
and notthtaekree
should shares Nbvelletnhe they did not know
y theAdsirerce:
garded railways, it had been asked, should they have a
Government auditor of accounts ? As affected the
shareholders he said No ; as affected the general
public, who were great'y interested in the
.proper
iie a mindtnbtoetigahntc,e p
sasniy the
Yes. safe
eworking
pot! y
Br
naymsv,
being prepared embodied the new principle of . the
future acquired property of the debtor being appropriated
for the-payment of his debts. If that principle were once
adopted, they must then reconsider their whole ideas of
bankruptcy, because the change was so great that every-
thing else would have to be remodelled. At present it Was
punishment to the bankrupt to refuse an order of dis-
charge ; then it would be a punishment to the creditors,
bgr,:oeientmuatuer
change
het
property,
roa intotgplliveeoruld keep the bankrupt from acquiring more
property. He did not know of any more radical or strin-
tion. He had ttehy,rfa:t
formerly
do.rtefeim,s appropriationaiasttneleo,:ritie
cchom-
bine en
prevailed.er
sopf
responsibility
theiroidf e
tazbatuv
but he
eecyo hadha dde
nowrna o-
sihlitNyenet..thNhleetllif7tbe disgraceful system which
lricieult,likt+likighs9tntlheeylati
nowawiavy/
and
some
rh .s
to
ot
be
ead liableee
the
future
each tmust
whetherdr,editor
ofin court, the ually, oarnatthi
ethaen,wi
Abot undern
f the jurisdiction
ormed a minority
of two in favour of the latterY
condition. 'hhoxgh out-
numbered then, he was glad to find that opinion
changed, and that the principle of making thea debtorince
liable to the body of creditors only had been adopted
the present bill. He would also advocate only a partia l
appropriation at a time, so as to encourage him to go on
and clear hims&f. It was important that commercial men
should now make up their minds what they wanted, and
be ready to define the direction in which they desired
legislation. They must bear in mind, however, that
no legislation could prevent panics. In conclusion, he
hoped that the year 1868 would inaugurate a better state
of thi4B.st