The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-20 00:00:00

S D. i7l: OF VIE PUBLIC JOUL:TALS,

At length, says the Times, we have had a church rate
debate in which almost everybody has been of the same
ro:nd.. Only one or two members of very extreme or of
very immovable principles refused to join in the general
harmony. This happy result is, indeed, simply the ac-
knowledgment of a fact which has been perfectly apparent
luring the last few years. That fact is, as Mr. Gladstone
said, that " the principle of church rates " has been prac-
tically surrendered on all sides. No one seriously proposes
to enforce the principle that every member of the com-
munity is liable for the maintenance of the fabric of the

church. The principle may be right or wrong, but it is
;onfersed to be impracticable. One eiception Must be

made, perhaps, if it' be worth while to mention it. Mr.
Newdegate conceived the idea of converting what
is practically a voluntary rate upon persons into
a compulsory charge upon property, which would,
of course, fall upon persons in the end. He
ilreams, in fact, that Dissenters would be content
that the grievance should be substantially aggravated,
provided it were inflicted with less personal annoyance.

With this exception, all were agreed, in some way or
other, to surrender the compulsory powers of the existing
law— in other words, to preclude :for the future the possi-
bility of any man having to sacrifice his tables and chairs
in the name of conscience, and consequently to remove the
occasion of a bitter party fight between the clergyman and
h.s Dissenting parishioners. There remained only a differ-
ence respecting the way of doing it. The Conservatives
long ago proposed, says Mr. Hardy, to exempt anyone
from payment on his declaring himself a Dissenter, and
accepting some consequent disqualifications. This scheme
under various forms has been renewed every session, and
has of late been promoted by Mi. Hubbard and the party
with which he acts. It was properly objected to this plan
that it stamped Dissenters as a distinct party in the parish.
Mr. Bright, again, had suggested that all that was neces-
sary was to abolish the bailiff and the summons, leaving
everything else as it stands ; or to abolish what was
obnoxious in the existing law, and nothing more. This
idea caught the attention of Mr. Gladstone two years ago,
and he has since been endeavouring to put it into a prac-
tical shape. There is every reason to hope that he has at
last succeeded. The authors of the other proposals, Mr.
Newilegate of course excepted, are disposed to waive their
measures in favour of his. Mr. Hardcastle withholds for
the moment his proposal for total abolition, and Mr. Hub-
bard and the Government are alike ready to accept Mr.
Gladstone's scheme as the basis of a settlement, into which
any special provisions they may think desirable may be
afterwards introduced.

It is not likely, says the Herald, that any such solution
as that proposed by Lord Russell with regard to the Irish
Church would put an end to the strife of parties in Ireland.
It falls far short of the programme of Cardinal Cullen and
the Limerick separationists on the one hand, and on the
other it would evoke the indignant remonstrance and re-
sistance of the Protestants throughout the kingdom. The
argument which is advanced for the destruction of the
Irish Establishment and the spoliation of its revenues
might be applied, with almost equal fitness, to the Church
of England on a future occasion. Considering the rate at
which Roman Catholicism and Dissent are progressing in
this country, the argument as to numbers is one of those
two edged weapons which should be very warily handled.
Moreover, Lord Russell's proposition involves this special
grievance in the case of Ireland, that under the pretence
of removing a fancied grievance it creates a real one, and
that it gratifies Roman Catholic jealousy at the expense of
Protestant money and Protestant scruples. A Church
supported by the contributions of its own members can
hardly be a grievance to outsiders, but to appropriate five
ia• six-eighths of its revenues to the endowment of a hostile
Church is surely a manifest wrong. And it is none the
less patent because it is inflicted upon that section of the
Irish people which is conspicuously loyal to the Crown, in
order to conciliate another section, the allegiance and
fidelity of which are certainly not above suspicion.
The Standard discusses Mr. Mill's Irish land scheme.

The general purport of Mr. Mill's argument, cleared of
the passion and prejudice with which it is clothed, is that
Ireland must he governed, not as England is governed, but
upon Irish principles and according to Irish ideas. The
excuse that there is one law for both countries is not only
no excuse for the English, but a proof and an aggravation
of their incapacity for ruling Ireland. Among the Irish
ideas is, that the land is the property, not of the rent re-
ceiver, but of the cultivator. "In the moral feelings or
the Irish people the right to hold the land goes, as it did
in the beginning, with the right to till it." The landlords
are an excrescence and a burden upon the land. Such
being the prevailing Irish idea, England is abused for not
comprehending it, and for not legislating according to
its spirit. Before making any apology for England,
in iniquitously and basely insisting upon treating
the Irish as though they were English, it may be
remarked that Mr. Mill himself is untrue to his own
theory of a sound government for Ireland in the very pro-
posal which he makes—the only tangible remedy of any
kind which is offered in relief of the monstrous wrongs
which he recites. He has proved agr at deal too much
for his own case. For if it is necessary that we should
govern Ireland according to Irish principles, and if one of
those pfncip7es- is that he who cultivates the land is its
real owner, it is clear that Mr. Mill's scheme of a kind of
general copyhold system of land tenure will not meet the
required conditions. If the Irish right is to be interpreted
iu the Irish sense—that is, in the Irish tenant's sens 3—
then we must not only give fixity of tenure, h. we must
yield absolute property. There is nothing to spew that a
system of copyholds is in accordance with Irish ideas ; it
is quite certain that it would be no remedy for Irish dis-
affection. It is not for the privilege of paying rent in
perpetuity that the tenants are agitating, if they are
agitating at all ; but it is the immunity from all payment
that they desire.

The deputation to Mr. Gladstone on the subject of trades
unionism has not, in the opinion of the Post, thrown any
new light on the matter. The organisation and action of
trades unions, in their character of a Power assuming to
control, and actually controlling, the free development of
capital and the free employment of labour, whether by
him who seeks to engage it or by him who possesses it and
desires to take it to market, still remains a difficulty to be
dealt with. If demand and supply, and supply and demand
could be so perfectly adjusted that they exactly dovetailed
and were exactly equivalent at all times, the problem would
be solved and trades unions would be dispersed. There would
be no such things as commercial speculations, manufacturers
would have no ups and downs, accounts might lie kept in
accord with perfectly logical ideas, as Mr. Chadwick
phrases it ; the streets would be paved with gold, and the
ducks would fly about ready roasted—not crying " Come
eat me," but scientifically silent, as knowing that the
demand would exactly, and without pressure or advertise-
ment, absorb the supply. But we 'nave not come to that
yet ; and till we do we fear it will be found necessary
that the country shall insist upon IVir. Potter and his
friends substituting simple combination for complex
unionism.

In dealing with the case of Crossley v. Elworthy, the
Daily News observes that the proceedings illustrate only
too well other defects in commercial practice besides the
mode of cheating by false directors' reports. The cheating
was here so gross that the most moderate degree of care
would have discovered it. What were the other directors
about that they made no examination ? What were the
auditors about that they made no comment? One of them,
indeed, we perceive, has been already served with a writ
for passing the accounts. But, finally, what were the
shareholders about that they made no inquiry, or were satis-
fied with stupidly false answers ? How often must the
lesson be taught that there is no way in the world of making
safe and large profits without even the trouble of
superintendence ? Twelve and-a-half per cent, covered all
blunders and blinded the recipienti to all frauds. Perhaps
some lurking suspicion that it was not really earned may
4ave.crossecrthe minds of some, but if sJ it was dismissed
as too uncomfortable. The rest simply accepted the bribe
to make no inquiry into their own affairs. It is this blind
and greedy confidence that encourages the frauds of
managing directors. Let us hope that a sufficiently fre-
quent repetition of the lesson will at last cause it to be
learne
of wealth sepop le have bome satisfied that uin in-
stead the probable consequence of re neg-
lect of the ordinary rules of prudence, British trade will
grow sounder, and then British credit may be expected to
revive.

Discretion is the better part of 'valour ; 'but discretion,
says the Telegraph,
Ofyvbi) carried so - far as to leave no
room for the display
likely to be ascribed7th thaeorur.• An excess of prudence is
members of the Univer-
sity of Cambridge. After having sent sent a
.challenge to their
Ox-ford competitors, and
their offer accepted,
the captains of the college begat?
to compose the club
have thought fit to withdraw from
Roe approaching con-
test on the plea of the death of the Gordon, who
Cambridge
was to have been a prominent membe:Trii
crew: Now, in so far as the resolutionttrms suddenly
et caused
Gentleman we
adopted represents the genuine and heartfeltgreengtr
ho are
by the untimely fate of that unfortunate
gallant can have no word to say against it. Only these
acquainted with the intimate ties of friendship
n-ct men rowing in the same crews, can fully appreciate
that c.en.
the shock which the melancholy death of the
oarsman must have caused to his comradesY°nall'lll
fePow athletes. We cannot wonder if, in the fir' i
moment of sorrow, Mr. Gordon's friends should feel as if
they could take no : -rt in a contest from which he was
removed by ceath. :;ut further reflection will probably
whew the 'Confabs that second thoughts are best. TlO
champions of the Light Blue cannot seriously believe
theMselves, or expect the world to believe, that because
Mr. Gordon died in February their depression of mind
will be too great to allow them to row in April. If the
university race is to be kept up as a permanent institution,
its continuity should be maintained at some sacrifice.
Moreover, the aquatic honour of Cana); idge is at stake.
For many years past the representatives of tot Cam have
been defeated by the heroes of the Isis ; Lnd it is matter
(y common notoriety that this year was expe ted to add
another to the well-earned triumphs of Oxford. Serious
difficulties have been experienced in composh g a Cam-
bridge crew which could enter for the great Thames
struggle with any chance of success ; and the p: blic, with
its rough, but not unfair, judgment will assure,' y assumethat Mr. Gordon's death has been seized on at a prete
for escaping from inevitable defeat.

P

THE ADVANCE INTO ABYSSINIA.

The letters received from Abyssinia bring us intornation
from Senafo up to the 2nd inst. All, or nearly all the
great difficulties encountered at the outset of• the expedi-
tion seem to have been surmounted. The first considera-
tion is the route. There is now an admirable road through
the Sooroo Pass. The huge boulders which bestrode the
narrow pathway, like Apollyon, frowning down contemp-
tuous defiance upon the pigmy pilgrims who dared dispute
the pass with them, and looking as immoveable as the moun-
tains they garrisoned, have disappeared as if by magic or
miracle. The Raraguddy defile, and the steep ascent ap-
proaching Senafe, are now as practicable for all the purposes
of the expedition as any turnpike road. In the matter of sup-
plies, also, the greatest difficulties have been overcome.
Norton's pumps, although somewhat delicate, have worked
admirably, and in addition to these there is now one at
Mayen, of Bastier's, which supplies 700 gallons in an
hour, and is worked for fourteen hours a day.
Beyond Senaf6 the troops seem to be drawing ample sup-
plies from the country. Thousands of sheep and cattle
can be purchased in the country through which the
army will have to pass ; hay is now brought in by the
Abyssinians, or cut by the native followers in such quanti-
ties as to supply, not only Senafe, but Raraguddy and
Undal Wells besides ; and the officer in command of the
Scinde Hone at Focada can buy four times as much grain
daily as his horses require.