The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-18 00:00:00

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LONDON, 2 UESDAY, FEB. 18, 1868.

The Scottish Reform Bill has been brought in,
and read a first time. The Government have thus
kept faith with the House, and we are glad to find
them prosecuting their task with so much eager-
ness. One good effect of the short session before
Christmas was that it paved the way for a future
period of legislation ; and it may fairly be said that
the House is now as forward as it generally is a
month after the opening of Parliament. There
have been no flights of eloquence, no figures o
speech to take up the time of hon. members, and
let one day succeed another with very little
being effected. All is now very plain
and prosaic ; but it may be that the country will
benefit by this so far hum-drum style of procedure ;
and the fact that a Scotch Reform Bill has been
actually introduced and read a first time seems
proof positive that this supposed idle and useless
session is to see some work performed in earnest
The bill as it stands seems good so far as one can
form a hasty judgment of it, and met with no seri-
ous opposition, though a few Scotch members were
inclined to find fault. It is, Lhowever, not easy to
please all parties, and if one thing exceeds another in
difficulty it is a question of reform, no matter to what
country it belongs. We hope that a wise reflection
will bring these dissentients to a wiser frame of
mind, and they will lay to heart some of the plain
truths which were told to them last night in two or
three quarters. A great deal of harm is often done
by people being over-anxious to secure perfection all
at once, and then arises the hasty point of discus-
sion what is the best thing to do, and amid the
confusion of argument and the conflict of opinion
the main chance is lost sight of, and
the accepted time passes by without any-
thing being done in a lasting manner. This
sort of management caused the%hipwreck of the
several schemes of Reform that the last fifteen
years have seen put forward. Mr. DISRAELI gave
some excellent advice to the Scotch members, when
he said that they had better not think too much of
the virtue of the Reformed Parliament, but content
themselves with the moderate plan which was pro-
posed; and if the present House were willing to pass
a substantial improvement in the representation of
Scotland they ought not to be running after such
jack o' lanterns as had been indicated to them
on that occasion. Nothing could be fairer
than the proposition of the right hon. gen-
tleman. He declared that the Government
wished no one to pledge themselves hastily ; all
they wished was that the Scotch members should
read and consider the bill then brought in ; further
on they could consider in committee the merits of
the measure, and this is, of course, the wisest thing
that can be done. We agree with the Chancellor
of the Exchequer that it is difficult to understand
how any one professing liberal opinions can make
up his mind to oppose a bill which gives a great
extension of the franchise in the first place, and
which lays down the principle in the second place
that the representation of Scotland should be in-
creased.

The Franchise part of the bill is the same as the
English one, and that is a recommendation to al
who approved of the former scheme. As for the
representation, seven members are to be given, and
the representation of minorities is to be followed.
As for the objections that were put forward last
night, there is nothing in them of sufficient im-
portance that cannot be settled in committee,
which is indeed the proper place for such matters i
and we hope that no opposition worthy of the
name will be given to this measure so that its pro-
gress will be stayed, for it is of consequence that it
should be speedily settled.

The brief discussion in the House of Lords last
evening on the subject of our Harbour and Coast
Defences was not altogether satisfactory. Our Go-
vernment, as is often the case, seem to have been
seized with a fit of economy in the wrong place.
The manner in which our Admiralty authorities
attempt to make their occasional and spasmodic
efforts at retrenchment reminds one of the famous
couplet in lludibras." They compound for their
regular course of lavish expenditure and costly
blunders by suddenly declaring that they are afraid
to undertake works of real national value and
importance on account of the expense ! The
yearly estimates laid before Parliament would
frighten any more impressible assembly than the
House of Commons, and even then we have annu-
Illy a little grumbling. But with it all we never
have what naval critics consider a thoroughly effi-
cient and serviceable fleet ; nor have we any pro-
perly organised system of harbour and coast de-
fences. While members of Parliament and Admi-