The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-06 00:00:00

SIR R. PEEL ON THE FUTURE POLICY.

Sir Robert Peel thus gave his opinion of the policy of
the future, addressing his constituents a day or two back
at Tamworth :—" We want, first of all, to give the
industrial classes improved facilities for education; we
want an improvement in the relations of capital to
tabour ; we want economy in the expenditure of
the national resources ; and we want some plan
for bettering the condition of Ireland. No doubt
the commerce and the trade of this country is very
great ; but there is a dark, a very dark side to
the picture, which requires to be treated by Parliament.
Commerce and trade and exports have increased. But
has there been a corresponding improvement in the con-
dition of the industrial classes? No. There are at this
moment, notwithstanding the increase in commerce and
trade, 900,000 persons in receipt of parish relief, at
a cost of £7,000,000 a year. Have the poor laws
worked to the social advantage of the poor? Instead of
elevating, as they might have done under proper manage.
ment, those laws have rather tended to pauperise the
people, and to diminish in them the true sentiment of
independence. I hope, then, that this subject will receive
the attention of the new Parliament. But in contrast
to this are the results which have been accomplished
by self-taught independence. Thus, at the present
time, there are 25,000 friendly societies in the country,
with £20,000,000 of assets, and with 3,000,00 G members.
Then, again, we want a more general system of education
not compulsory education, for I do not believe that to be
in harmony with the sympathies and feelings of the people.
It is held that the people of the country ought to exercise
an influence in the concerns of the State. Surely it is the
duty of Parliament to devise some measure for educating
them to that condition that they may be able to judge for
themselves as to what is good for the country. There is
no question which so deeply affects the working classes as
that of economy in our financial arrangements. I should
be the last man who would wish to see the army and navy,
or our defences rendered inefficient ; but I do wish to see
them made efficient without the prodigious expenditure
which they at this moment entail. We want a more
careful management and expenditure of our county funds,
and among other things an abolition of that abominable
system of turnpike, which, in this district especially,
presses very heavily upon the poor man.

711 R. G. HARDY ON MR. GLADSTONE AND
THE LIBERAL PARTE

Mr. Gathorne rlardy, in a speech delivered on Thurs-
day, at Maidstone, attacked very energetically the Liberal
party. Their creed, said he, may be summed up in one
word—Mr. Gladstone. It is a remarkable thing that
Mr. Gladstone was in power in the year 18G5, when the
present Parliament was elected; that he had then a majority
of some seventy members, and that the very gentlemen
who are now setting up his name as a standard and rally-
ing point for the whole country shewed at that time no
very strong disposition to support him, and to enable him to
remain in office. He has now been in opposition during
more than two years. All those gentlemen, as we are
aware, recently combined upon a vital question. Mr.
Gladstone places himself in front of the Liberal battle. No
doubt his name is a distinguished one. It is the name of
a man of great genius, great eloquence, and great ability,
but I think it is also the name of a man who is a dangerous
politician, who is liable to be swept away by the
vehement impulses of his own mind, which often
carry him further than anyone could have anticipated,
or than he could have anticipated himself. Let
ns look at those with whom we are coming into collision,
because until we know their composition we cannot have
a true idea of the quarrel in which we are engaged.
There are first the old Whigs, who seem to have at length
given in their adhesion to Mr. Gladstone. But I think
anyone who has observed their history—who knows what
they think and what they express pretty clearly, if not in
public at least in other places—must he prepared to say
of them what was said of the followers of Saul when they
elected him king, " They followed him trembling." Then
we come to the Radicals. Ido not wonder that they rejoice
in having at last found a useful leader. For a long time they
had been discredited in this country; they found no leader
in whom the country would place confidence ; and we
must not, perhaps, feel surprised at the extravagant and
almost grotesque adulation with which they welcome into
their ranks Mr. Gladstone—the man who had long been a
Conservative of Conservatives, a Tory of Tories, and who,
I am bound to say, now advocates their principles
with the zeal of a neophyte. I wonder that the
Rationalists support him. It does not appear that he
has adopted their views, and it seems somewhat strange,
remembering what are the opinions he has hitherto
maintained, that they should follow him as their leader.
All those gentleman now form a combined party ; but I
believe that if they were to get into office that combination
would not long continue, and that if they were to sit in the
same Cabinet their theories would be found very consider.
ably to differ. That which was the tail among our opponents
is now becoming the body, and the views of the Radicals
are manifestly in the ascendant among the Liberal party,
however much they may conceal them in order to put for-
ward Mr. Gladstone more prominently as their leader. Now
the objects of the Radical party are, I believe, irreconcileable
with the maintenance of our existing institutions. They
are so wholly inconsistent with those institutions, that they
would practically introduce a new system of government
into England. The object which the party that now
supports Mr. Gladstone has in view is, I believe,
a fundamental alteration in the political and reli
gious life of this country. We know that many
of them are beginning already to threaten the H ouse
of Lords and to advocate further and violent changes
in the franchise, which many people think has already
been too much extended. Thus they seek to reopen a
question which we thought was in a great measure closed
for the present, and they threaten changes in the House
of Lords which would be entirely subversive of the
dignity and independence of that assembly. These
are the things we have to look to, and these
are the institutions we have to defend, if we be-
lieve that they are calculated to promote the greatness and
prosperity of this country. Mr. Hardy next referred to
the Irish Church, and argued very forcibly against its
disestablishment. Passing to education, the right hon.
gentleman said : " We know already that a large number
of the adherents of Mr. Gladstone are the supporters of a
system of secular education—that is to say, education from
which religion is eliminated as far as the State is concerned
Theywould leave voluntary efforts to provide for or to neglect:
as people might please, that religious training, which is the
vital part of all education. You must send men to the
next Parliament who will support that educational system
which has hitherto been so well conducted among us, and
which would, I believe, if carefully maintained, ensure the
perfect education of this nation. The principle of that
system is assisting voluntary efforts ; for it is a very re•
markable fact that, however philosophers may declaim, no
education has ever been given upon the voluntary principle
in any country by men who were not actuated by religious
motives. Where are the schools of the philosophers ?
Where are their colleges ? Where have they ever sub-
scribed funds, apart from the money supplied by the State,
for educational purposes? It is true they have appro-
priated the public money to this object ; it is true they
Ihave diverted to this end religious endowments ; but it is
for you to say whether you will allow these endowments tc
be employed for any other purpose than that for which
they were founded."

SANITARY COMMISSION.—We understand that it
is the intention of her Majesty's Government to issue a
royal commission on sanitary matters, and that our
member, Sir Charles Lanyon, has been nominated by the
Government as the Irish representative on the commis-
sion.—Bc/fast News Letter.

At a meeting of students favourable to the elec-
tion of Mr. James Moncreiff, M.P., as Lord Rector of
Edinburgh University, held on Wednesday night in the
the University, it was announced, amid great cheering,
that Mr. Alfred Tennyson had written a letter to the
chairman of his committee, refusing to be nominated as a
candidate for the office. Resolutions in favour of the can•
didature of Mr. Moncreiff were passed, and those present
pledged themselves to do all in their power to secure that
gentleman's election.

An inquest was opened by Mr. Carter yesterday
upon the body of James Bancroft, who was killed in the ex-
plosion at the saw-mills in the Waterloo-road a few days
since. The coroner said that very probably the case might
resolve itself into a charge against the engineer of the
works (Bushby by name), and as that person was unable to
be present he could only take preliminary evidence to-day.
The doctor in attendance on the engineer said that he was
very severely hurt, and it would be at least three weeks
before he could be examined. The inquiry, therefore, stands
adjourned.

THE SEE or CANTERBURY.—A meeting was held
at the residence of the Dean of Canterbury, on Wednes-
day, to take into consideration the advisability of drawing
up a memorial to the Government praying for a change
of residence of the future archbishops, or for some redis-
tribution of the diocese, in order that the archbishop may
with greater ease become better acquainted with all parts
of the diocese. The bishop of the see has no residence
within fifty miles of his cathedral city. The late Primate
but a few weeks ago was deeply regretting the inconve
nience of his position, which precluded his seeing more of
his clergy; and two memorials, the result of Wednesday's
meeting, are to be presented, the one to the Premier, and
the other to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners. They are
signed by Lord Fitzwal ter, the high sheriff of Kent, the
Dean el ObuterizarY, aud i any of the lictiah clergy.