The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-15 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, OCT. 15, 1868.

The public are much indebted to Mr. GLADSTONE
for enlivening this dull season by his flights of
fancy and flashes of rhetoric. Whether we agree
with any or with none of the voluminous remarks
that are put before him, the reader who takes up
the right hon. gentleman's speech knows full well
that a master of his subject is before him, and that
his words will be worth reading, for themselves
alone, quite irrespective of the meaning they con-
vey. Liverpool, last night, was the favoured spot
chosen for the exposition of his sentiments,
and a crowded meeting attended at the
amphitheatre. Mr. GLADSTONE spoke at
great length, and was in no wise deterred by
the recollection that forty-eight hours previously
he had delivered a long address in another part of
the county, though he did remember that mercy is
a part of justice, and excuse his hearers from a lec-
ture on retrenchment. He could not contrive to
get much novelty of subject, however, because he
had to fall back on Reform, which will now be ex-
communicated by lovers of taste and worshippers of
the sense of propriety from all political discourses
and essays, as the similes of the " phoenix"
and the " oasis" in the desert are eliminated
from the records of polite literature. Now,
if ever, we must be resigned to the re-
surrection of the subject, and as a galvanised
corpse it must do duty at the electioneering cam-
paign. In some respects Mr. GLADSTONE'S remarks
are somewhat refreshing, because he goes back
cautiously to the measure of 1866 instead of con-
fining his observations to the more recent bill,
which finally obtained the sanction of Parliament.
The right hon. gentleman is not ashamed oI having
declared that they had broken their bridges and
burned their bands on the memorable occasion
when he went down to harangue his constituents
on the subject of his measure for the Represen-
tation of the People. From the vantage ground
he has gained by the fulfilment of the pledges made
upon that occasion, he expects that the promises he
and his friends are now making will be scrupulously
believed in. The question of Reform has reached
a point which he admits involves a " great popular
triumph, but, unhappily, it is not one of which he
can conscientiously advise us to take leave." Mr.
GLADSTONE called back the compound householder
from the silent land to which he had been consigned
by the common consent of Parliament, to present
him to his audience as a most injured being, and
one who was "no better than a British citizen,
fulfilling all his duties of citizenship," though
a system was adopted by members of the
Government of sneering at him. Nothing
in the whole of the new Reform Bill has
offended Mr. GLADSTONE so much as the clause
enacting that payment of rates should be the sine
qua non of the permissibility of the voter to pos-
sess the franchise. How it can be a " pure
working" is difficult to see, because the man who
is in the confused state which Mr. GLADSTONE de-
picts about the meaning of the matter cannot be
competent to vote, and if he refuse to do so it can
be no loss to the Legislature that he has not
availed himself of the privilege conferred
upon him. The labouring men of England
are not so unequal to the task assigned
them as the Opposition leader would have us make
out, and unless to gratify his own feelings of annoy-
ance and disappointment, we do not see the object
of all these strictures on a subject that has been
settled.

It is amusing to see how men read the votes of
Parliament, like the events of history, by the light
of their own judgment, and according to their own
wishes. Thus Mr. GLADSTONE does not at all con-
sider the question of Reform settled by the decision
of the Parliament just expired, while he insists that
the Irish Church has been definitively doomed by
the expression of opinion of the House of Commons.
All the liberality we meet with is comparative,
and no matter how vehement a statesman
may be on this point or that, we shall not find one
that checks his advance. Mr. GLADSTONE after his
flourish comes to a sudden halt, an is obliged to
say " especially those of us who object to the
ballot," in discussing the question of the advisa-
bility of the voting paper system ; so that, after
all, it does not do to pin our faith to those who are
themselves so much given to crotchets and addicted
to one-sided theories. The minority clause has
given great offence, and it is not surprising, there-
fore, that the right hon. gentleman should discuss
it rather tartly. One crumb of comfort may be
found for the hapless supporters of the Govern-
ment, for Mr. GLADSTONE, in his righteous li
indignation had rooted out ten of the chief evils
that existed in the redoubtable mea3ure, anl cer-
tainly he forgot one, as the ninth was passed over,