The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-19 00:00:00

THEATRE-ROYAL, HAYMARKET.

THIS EVENING, A PRETTY PIECE OF BUSINESS: Messrs.
Backstone, Howe, &c. After which, LEAH: Messrs. H owe, Ro-
gers, Kendal, Braid, Clark, P. Buck!3tone, White, Weathersby,
Sce. ' • Mesdames Bateman, Francis,Wright,MaccabP, Fitzwilliam,
Laws, Coleman, &c. And FOUNDED ON FACTS. Mr. Comp-
ton. Commence at 7.

On Saturday the Conservative candidates also
addressed a portion of the electors of South West
Lancashire, and a numerous meeting attended at
Southport to hear from Mr. CHARLES TURNER and
Mr. Cnoss an exposition of their policy. The Chair-
man, in referring to the great change which had
come over Mr. GLADSTONE since he was elected for
Lancashire, observed that he was now ahead of Mr.
BRIGHT himself, for that hon. member had rebuked
Mr. ERADLAUGII, while the leader of the Opposi-
tion but encouraged Mr. FINLAN in his determined
efforts to gain popularity. Mr. TURNER said that
he asked the electors for the third time for the
renewal of their suffrages, and in the course of an
interesting speech showed come of the fallacies of
the opposite party. As for the truth of what was
said of their passing the Reform Bill, Mr. TurtNEit
reminded his hearers of the meetings in Carlton
House-terrace, and one in particular, when Mr.
GLADSTONE besought his supporters to throw out
the bill on the second reading, which was, indeed,
a curious way of supporting it. After that Mr.
COLERIDGE, with the sanction of his lea•ler, put a
notice on the paper of a character hostile to the
spirit of the bill, and it was only by the refusal of
the Radical party to support it that the measure
was brought into committee. There was some
truth in the retort of the hon. member to the effect
that Mr. GLADSTONE was on the horns of a
dilemma with respect to the Expenditure question,
because if he disapproved of the Government
scheme he should have said so in the proper place,
in the House of Commons, and not waited till the
elections came on. In discussing the Irish Church
disendowment, Mr. TURNER referred to a re-
mark of Sir ROUNDELL PALMER'S, Mr. GLAD-
STONE'S Attorney-General, when he said that it was
a question of " confiscation," and nothing more
nor less, arguing ; also that there was no definit
secular purpose for which these funds were wantel
that he had ever heard of. Mr. CROSS spoke at
great length, and criticised some of Mr. GLAD-
STONE'S charges against the Conservative party and
the present Government in particular. The ad-
dress of the Opposition leader was calculated to
mislead people to begin with, and did not set the
question of the policy pursued towards Ire-
land fairly before the " public. The Church
question was put to the front, and the
land question left in the back, and then the
right hon. gentleman turned round and blamed his
opponents for neglecting a point so essential to
the interests of the community, while all the time
it was he who put it in the background by his
hasty and inconsiderate policy. Mr. GLADSTONE
has made a great deal of the Habeas Corpus Act
being suspended, but, as Mr. CROSS very truly
said, it was not suspended as against the Irish
people ; and if the disturbances which took place
in Clerkenwell and at Manchester had been re-
ported, no one would have objected to the
Habeas Corpus being suspended in England.
Mr. LAIRD'S opinion of Fenianism is more
correct than Mr. GLADSTONE'S, and it
comes with the more weight, as the right hon.
gentleman is himself in favour of the disendow-
rnent of the Church. He declares that the Church
is not connected with the Fenians, and that the
notion that it is, is a ridiculous one to entertain.
As for the second question of expenditure, the
speaker turned the tables on Mr. GLADSTONE and
his friends by saying that they bad been so long in
office that the chief blame in the matter rested with
them as regarded general details, while in regard
to particulars nothing was left to the Conservatives
but to make up for their deficiencies. They left
the defences of the country in a very
unfinished state, and an army badly provided for.
The contest in South-West Lancashire bids fair to
be a sharp one, and the various combatants have
set to work in right earnest. Much interest will
attach itself to this election on account of Mr.
GLADSTONE'S presence among the candidates. All
that can be expected is that the several claimants to
popular favour will make the best of their own
cause, and submit with a good grace to the verdict
of the constituency, but it will not do for either
side to prejudice the voters against their opponent,
and each should stand or fall by his own merits or

shortcomings.

The difficulty of dealing with the v:.grant poor is
one which presents itself to the parochial authori-
ties of the several unions of London, and it i 3 one
with which it is confessedly vary perplexing to deal.
Guardians and workhouse officers naturally look
with no great favour on this class, who add to their