The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The Times, whilst allowing that Mr. Murphy is of a ram
type, and granting that policemen's staves and a relegation
to gaol are the only arguments of any force with the
actors in the disgraceful scenes of Saturday and Sunday,
yet thinks there are persons, whose subordinate Mr.
;Murphy himself is, who ought to be not altogether beyond
the reach of persuasion. Cau these persons seriously
believe that good is done to Protestantism or harm
to Romanism by displays of this description? It it
hard to suppose that any one can in the wildest
flight of imagination persuade himself that the
Roman Catholics among the lecturer's hearers will
be turned from the error of their ways by coarse
insults levelled at their common sense and their morality.

But perhaps it is, after all, only the fervour of Protestants

themselves which it is proposed by this eccentric machinery
to cherish and animate. In such case surely there are
Protestants elsewhere, ardent or lukewarm, who might
be harangued on the vices of the rival creed without
putting the country to the cost of a riot for every

discourse. We have suggested to Mr. Murphy's patrons
tlil duty of weighing the re3ponsibility his demeanour

imposer on them. But we dare not hope to find them either
able or willing to conjure down the storm they have helped
to raise. Our trust is rather in the vigour of the magis-
trates. A critical exigency like this may excite their
energy, and any occasion which has that effect will not
have been without some beneficial result. The dis-
coverers of " good in everything" may detect in
Mr. Murphy the nuisance whose final cause it is to rouse
borough magistrates to a sense of their duties and powpro.
These functionaries may zest satisfied that in the present
case the country will be with them in any exertion they
make of their very ample jurisdiction to put down thit
particularly obnoxious form of outrage.
The Daily News observes that Murphy has simply
learnt the lesson thus taught by a small dominant esta-
blishment in a more direct form, and illustrates it in a more
open and avowed manner than many of his brethren of
the same colour. But if somewhat candid and outspoken,
he still faithfully reflects the spirit and policy of the order
to which he belongs. His persistent attempt to dis-
turb the public place, to provoke, if possible,
by evasions of the law serious riots, and directly
endanger the lives and property of large classes of
the community, he denominates zeal for Protestantism,
and claims on the strength of these mischievous and dan-
gerous demonstrations to be the champion of beleaguered
Protestantism as represented by the Irish Establishment.
This claim, too, is recognised and formally endorsed by
the Manchester Orangemen, who are his supporters and
admirers. At the meeting on Saturday, in the very midst
of the riot, they passed a resolution declaring that William
Murphy was a fit and proper person to represent Pro-

testant interests in Manchester in the House of
Commons. We earnestly commend the entire proceed.
ings to the notice and criticism of those who identify the
cause of Protestantism with the defence of the Irish
Establishment. The real truth is, that by the intolerant
spirit it has nourished, and the breed of malignant fanatics
it has engendered, the Irish Church has done more to dis-
credit Protestantism and disgrace the very name of
Christianity than their avowed enemies could have
effected.

The Star suggests as a solution of the present difficulty
that the privilege of entering the stations be made a
matter of arrangement between the cabmen and the com-
panies, so as for the former to agree to be inspected and to
pay a slight toll—say a penny—when they have occasion
to take their places on the stands within the stations.
The men, if reasonable, would agree to divide amongst
the whole trade on these terms, the privilege now enjoyed
by a minority. The control of the company's officer must,
of course, be absolute. Any cab in any way objectionable
must be liable to be immediately ordered out of any
station. But on such a system there would be found
amongst cabmen a general disposition to secure, by the
satisfactory neatness and cleanliness of their vehicles, the
opporLunities which are now secured by the insignia of
railway privilege.

With the question between the "privileged and the
win-privileged" the public (the Standard thinks) certainly
will not interfere ; but one result of the strike must
be to draw public attention to the intolerable
nuisance of these modes of bargain, and to
dispose them to demand legislative protection on
their own behalf of such a kind as will render the nuisance
impossible in future. Let the cabmen have full redress
for all their just grievances. Let them be relieved of the
excessive license fee, and permitted even to exact higher
fares for a proportionate kind of service. On the other
hand, let us have a decent and reputalle class of public
conveyances, always available, with extra comfort and
speed for those who will pay for them. This is the true
cab reform which is wanted ; and the one good result which
we hope from the present strike is that it will render this
reform imperative.

Is it possible, inquires the Herald, that any single per-
son genuinely concerned in preserving iu this country the
connection between Church and State cannot see that if
they be severed in Ireland they will almost immediately
be severed in England as well? It is idle, if it is not
downright disingenuous, to allege that the two cases
have nothing in common. They have so much
in common that they are nothing less than one.
A principle of political and social government under-
lies both alike ; and the arguments which are held to be
valid against the one will soon be found to be conclusive
against the other. The Mezentian metaphor that has
been used so often and so freely is quite foreign to the
purpose. If the Protestant Church in Ireland were
already dead, why should such infinite pains be taken to
kill it? To say that the Church in Ireland is a corpse,
and the Church in England a living, breathing, active
entity, and that it is only in obedience to the common
dictates of humanity that the Radical party longs to sever the
unnatural links which bind them together, is a pretence too
transparent to mislead even the most unsophisticated. Itis
precisely because the Church is alive—keenly, sensitively,
actively alive—in Ireland as well as in England, that this
operation of severance is so much insisted on by the
enemies of both. The union which they really wish to
sever is the union which is the secret of all force. Divide
et impera is a►n instruction how to deal with your foes, and
not with your own forces.

The-Standard finds it very hard to comprehend theprin-
mple upon which the " philosophers "—there is no other-
name for them—object to paying for their election to Par-
liament. Putting aside the vulgar explanation that they
wish to save their money, which we are convinced is not
abstruse enough to solve the question, we should like to
have it explained by what process of reasoning a man con-
vinces himself that it is very wrong for him to pay his own
election expenses, but not wrong to allow a public appeal to
be made for the money, nor to contribute himself towards the
election expenses of othus. Mr. John Stuart Mill, for
example, will not pay a shilling towards his own return,
but he has sent £25 to the secretary of the Gladstone com-
mittee at Greenwich. If the electors alone ought to pay
for the return of their members, Mr. Mill has acted im-
properly in sending this money, and also in permitting an
appeal to be made to the general public on his own behalf.
That a man does any honour to himself or to his country by
avowi,ng that he is willing to levy a sort of tax upon all his
friends for the advancement of his own ambition is a proposi-
tion which it is difficult to accept. There is a subtlety of
morals hidden away somewhere in the question, and it
satisfies Mr. Mill's conscience. Mr. Fawcett's plan of
throWing a part of the election expenses on the rates was
at least intelligible. But to send round the hat among
one's friends for the sake of getting into Parliament
cheaply is a scheme which seems to common observers to
have little to do with patriotism, and to have its origin
chiefly in hypocrisy or selfishness.
The Northampton electors have for ten or twelve yeas.
wen represented by two Liberals, Mr. Charles Gilpin and
Lord Henley, and during the whole of that time their
votes have been sedulously and constantly recorded in
behalf of all Liberal measures. The Telegraph protests
against a change which it is now proposed to make. Lord
Henley has given offence to some of his constituents, and
it is proposed to substitute Mr. Bradlaugh. This gentle-
man is the editor of an obscure Secularist newspaper, and
is an itinerant lecturer against the Christian religion. At
various times he has been the defendant in prosecutions
directed against him for using blasphemous language
in public, and be has endeavoured, hitherto without
success, to obtain the repute of martyrdom on account of
his theological or anti-theological opinions. With the
truth or error of his peculiar tenets we have nothing what
ever to do ; and we are not prepared to say that men whe
hold his faith should not make known their convictions
gravely and solemnly. Still, apart from the question of
religious truth, the majority has a right to claim that its
opinions and beliefs shall be treated with decent respect,
and we protest against the vulgar insolence of tirades like
those of "Iconoclast "and his fellows against what ninety.
nine Englishmen out of a hundred deem holy and sacred.
Mr. Bradlaugh cannot possibly be returned ; the great
bulk fof Liberals would rather vote for the rankest Tory
tha" t
for "Iconoclast, and the Telegraph hopes his name
will be withdrawn at once. He is merely risking the
return of a Tory.
The Post, commenting on the folly and absurdity of the
'soldier's costume as at present ordained, suggests a few
improvements. We want a soft light woollen cap for
marching, working, and fighting in : the Glengarry is the
nearest approach to this, and if nicely ornamented would
look uncommonly smart and serviceable. That other
abomination, the leather stock, should vanish, ant'
its place be taken by either a small "soft
stock or a kerchief. The standing collar shoull
give place to one permitting the most complete freedom
of the neck. The coat should resemble in shape the nen
patrol jacket which the officers now wear, and which is a
very neat and comfortable garment, permitting the wearer
to move freely and clothe himself in accordance
with the temperature. Knickerbockers would decidedlj
be the most desirable nether garment ; but if we art
not sufficiently " educated" for this tremendous innova
thus, the trousers should be made wide at the upper
hart, and only large enowli to allow th I
foot to pass through below. The present "ankle
*cks " should be replaced by shooting-boots of the Bal
oral shape, and all the hard, thick, pipe-clayed belt!
s'iould be rejected for plain leather belts, stained or dyei
to a rich brown or other suitable colour. Thus dressed
and carryin,, the improved knapsack, which we shall, it ii
to be hoped, soon have, the soldier would not only bemucl
more comfortable than he is at present, but he would Ist
enabled to undergo an amount of fatigue which would nos
simply prostrate or incapacitate him for further and im
mediate movements.

PRESENTATION OF CLOTH BY THE COR-
PORATION OF LONDON TO HER MA-
JESTY'S MINISTERS.

The presentation of four yards and a half of " the
finest black cloth that the country could produce" to
certain officers of the Crown annually forms a regular
item in the " City's Estate " accounts from year to
year, the amount per annum being set down at
£230. Upon making inquiries into the particulars of
this singular entry, we find in the Liber Custumarum,
In the reign of Edward 1., it was ordained by the
City " that no one should cause cloth to be woven for
sale except in the City, or in the Portsokene, or within the
franchise of the City, under pain of forfeiture and loss of
such cloth," and that this, with other ordinances, "should
be proclaimed throughout the City after the feast of St.
Michael in every year." It moreover appears that at this
period (1272-1307) the citizens possessed the right of the
Metage of cloth, as well as that of corn, fruit, &c., in con-
nection with the Blackwell-hall factors, and by virtue of
which ri they measured all cloth sold or received in the
City for sale. At that early period, it seems, the civic
authorities sent year by year to the principal Ministers of
State " four yards and a half of the finest black cloth that
the country could produce," and the custom is continued
up to the present day. The opinion of most competent
authorities as to the reason of this singular presentation,
in kind, to the high officers of the Crown and others
appears to be rather conflicting, but it is generally
believed that it must have been " for the purpose of
encouraging the woollen manufactures in their earlier
stages, and to show to the highest in authority the
progress that was made from year to year in that par-
ticular branch of industry. From a list which has been
kept in the Chamberlain's office for nearly the last cen-
tury, it appears that the gentlemen who receive the
compliment are the First Secretary of State, the Lord
Chancellor, the Chamberlain of the Household, the Vice-
Chamberlain of the Household, the Lord Steward, the
Comptroller, the Lord Chief Justice of the Queen's Bench,
the Lord Chief Justice of the Common Pleas, the Chief Baron
of the Exchequer, the Master of the Rolls, the Recorder of
London, the Attorney-General, the Solicitor-General, and
the Common Serjeant, and for the due receipt of which
the Corporation hold the ordinary voucher in each case
respectively. Why the custom should be continued at
the present time, and so long after the juzisdiction of
the City over the sale of cloth has ceased, and why the
expense should not have been long since discontinued, it
is not possible to say; but there it stands, as a charge
upon the City cash, as another evidence of the fact that a
custom once established is but very rarely repealed
voluntarily.