The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-04 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times notices the acceptance of Mr. Lowe by the
University of London. That institution has been re-
garded, ever since the foundation of the college in which it
wascradled, as the supreme effort and perfect work of
Liberalism. It was to b 3 the fruitful parent of secular ideas
and popular movements. Thirty years ago it seemed more
.than conceivable—it appearedhighlyprobable to many edu-
cated men—that a university on the principles of Gower-
street would revolutionise the country. Such a university we
have now, and the first name it is about to enrol in the
list of its representatives is the man who, till a few months
since, was straining every nerve and perilling a great
reputation to turn back, if possible, the tide of Parliamen-
tary Reform. The Times attributes the favour shewn by
the University to Mr. Lowe to his endeavour to raise
the intellectual and moral standard of the country.
Nor is that all. It sees in him also a man
of various and exact knowledge, a scholar in
many languages and literatures, a deep and honest
thinker, and pre-eminently a working mon. Sue' quali-
ties will always have their weight and their influence in
the country and on the age. It is by them that truth is
attained and progress made. Whether they are equally
available for political exigencies, and whether truth and
policy can always be found good yokefellows, is another
matter, and one which has recently received some striking
illustrations.

The Post says the language which Mr. Disraeli put into
the mouth of his sovereign when proroguing Parliament
dispels all doubt as to the line which will be taken by
that Minister and his supporters at the forthcoming
elections. The cry will be not merely " The Church is in
danger," but " Civil and religious liberty are in
danger." In other words, Mr. Disraeli will solicit the
support of the new as well as of the old constituency
on the faith of the assurance that if the policy
of the leader of the Liberal party is persisted in, all that
an- Englishman holds dear will be inevitably sacrificed.
As a piece of electioneering tactics, most persons will feel
inclined to condemn, as unworthy of Mr. Disraeli's astute-
ness and ability, so barefaced an attempt ; and even
those who might otherwise be predisposed to en-
dorse the policy of the Conservative chieftain will
find themselves compelled to condemn a Minister
who has for a second time in the course of
the few months during which he has occupied
the post of First Lord of the Treasury placed his
sovereign in the van of, the battle, and sought to concen-
trate upon her the odium which he knew would not fail to
be excited by his doubtful tactics. The Post reviews the
conduct of the Reform Bill and the position of the Irish
Church, and concludes that the result of the elections will
be unfavourable to the Conservative party.
The Herald suggests that what is needed is a thorough
inspection of all buildings devoted to public gatherings,
with the view to ascertain, in the first place, that they are
constructed with sufficient strength in the walls and floor-
ings to meet the utmost strain to which they can possibly be
subjected ; in the second, that they are provided with means
of egress ample both as to number and facility. No building
should be allowed to be used for public purposes without a
license, and the fulfilment of all these requisites should be
the condition of obtaining that license. Surely the Board
of Works might undertake this department. Private
householders are sufficiently harassed with the often
trivial and vexatious requisitions of those obnoxious but
useful functionaries the district surveyors. Why should
they not be directed to turn their attention to regulations
for ensuring the safety of the public in public buildings?
The Daily Telegraph alludes to the effect of the Reform
Bill. We now enter upon a new regime. The late ex-
tension of the borough constituency is an approximation
—though only an approximation—to that which pre-
vailed in the earliest times. Every householder is hence-
forth to have a vote if he have resided for twelve
months, and duly paid his rates. This condition of pre-
payment of rates is a modern innovation. There is
riot an iota of evidence that it was exacted under our
ancient constitution ; for, though the town elec-
tors in the . Plantagenet times were frequently
described as the scot-and-lot voters—that is, the persons
who contributed their quota to local burdens—the phrase
was merely a general description. A defaulter in such
payments was liable to legal process for. arrears ; but we
have not a trace of any law or custom which disfran-
chised him for
.non-payment. However, the ratepaying
clause has been adopted in conformity with the precedent
of 1832, and there is no doubt that it will have a can-
siderable effect." Many thousands will be excluded from
the autumnal registration, and for several reasons we may
conclude that for the present the extension of the franchise
will be less than was generally anticipated within the first
year. We have only just created a new and complicated
machinery, and a considerable time is required to get it
into full operation. It is therefore true only in a limited
sense that the appeal is about to be made to the new con-
stituencies. Even if the cumbrous processes of the Reform
Act should not be simplified and amended hereafter—even
if the law next year should be just the same as it is now—
it is certain that another registration will be more produc-
tive than that, which is now impending. Men will be
more familiar with their rights, will understand better how
to assert them,'and organisations of various kinds will Le

invented to assist them in enrolling their names.

The Star appeals to Mr. Mill for ad..lee in the case of
the Welsh Tory landlord. It says, we want to know what
these people are to do. Of course we know what, in a
high moral sense, they ought to do. We know what an
Andrew Marvel or a Stuart Mill would do were he placed
in such a position. He would vote as his conscience bade
him, and order, as Ulysses says, his brave soul to bear the
consequences. But the political system stands self-con-
demned which can only be carried out by men of rare and
stubborn virtue. All our systems must be matte for
average men ; and no average men of any class whatever
could be trusted to bear up against the temptation to pur-
chase quiet and immunity from punishment by succumbing
to such landlord tyranny. Nay, we have no right to
expect that ordinary men will run such risks. It is our
business to protect them against having the exercise of
thair free vote made subject to penal consequences.

MARTIN V. 3/fAcKoNocam.—This appeal to thO
Privy Council will appear in the next list. The defen-
dant has not appealed, and the only questions to be raised
will be on lighted candles and the payment of the costs in
the Arches Court.

Some velocipede amateurs of Marseilles are
arranging a long journey with this new means of locomo-
tion. The velocipedes are to start from Marseilles for
Genoa, by Corniche. From Genoa they are to proceed to
Turin and Susa, over Mont Cenis, and return to Marseilles
by the valley of the Rhone.

ALLEGED PROMOTION OF AN EXTREME RITUALIST.
-It is stated that the Rev. James Bunt, of Northmoor-
green, whose ritualistic proceedings excited attention some
months ago, has received the appointment to a valuable
living in the north of England, the gross income of which
is estimated at £1,200 per annum, and that he will enter
upon his new duties in the course of next month.—
Weekly Paper.

FREE LABOUR v. TRADES UNIONS. Trades
unionists consider that it is right for men of all trades to
combine ; let them ask themselves the question what the
result would be if the farmers throughout the country en-
tered into a powerful combination and (being supported by
the importers of corn) doubled the present price of bread.
Why is there not to be free trade in English labour as
well as in corn, cattle, coffee, tea, sugar, rice, &c. ? Were
these necessaries of life produced under the rules of trades
unions the cost would be so exorbitant that nine•tenths of
the world would die of starvation.—Builder.

TELEGRAPHIC BLUNDERS.—If a record were kept
of the whimsical blunders that arc constantly occurring in
connection with the special wires, a most amusing " Joe
Miller" might easily be compiled. The matter often
arrives so late at its destination that there is no time for cor-
rection of the press, and the public are consequently treated
to much that is equally humorous and inexplicable. The
reader, for instance, comes across the following sen-
tence, and is much disquieted : " The speeches in
the Reform debate threaten to stretch to the crack of
the door.' He may ruminate upon the matter as long
as memory holds her seat in his distracted globe, without
being able to solve the mystery. The correspondent in
London alone has the key, and the knowledge of the
fact that he wrote " crack of doom." Telegraph-clerks,
however, in the full heat and fervour of their driving, should
not be held responsible for a knowledge of Shakespeare.
Again, one might think that the House had
forgotten its dignity, aml the marvels of the olden
time bad again come back, upon seeing the
statement in prominent type that " Colonel Taylor, the
Conservative whip, has forty members on his back who are
desirous of speaking in the great debate ; " the words " on
his back " being, of course, a sapient substitution for " on
his book." Paterfamilias may, if he be sedulous in
politics, have to lament the questionable delicacy of such
a sentence as : " Mr. Lowe made a furious attack upon
the Treasury Bench, and succeeded in touching the shirts
of the Government ; " the latter being a transmogrifica-
tion of " vexing the skirts of the Government." In
like manner, "Each says" suffers a sea-change, and
comes forth to the sun as " Sach says," and is looked upon
as the name of a possible German professor. Grammarians
not unfrequently have their parsing powers tested by the
examination of such sentences as these : " The weather
at Newmarket to-day was so favourable, the sky being
dull and clouded, while torrents of rain fell very fre-
quently,e much interest attachei to the Biennial,
Friponnier's defeat was the topic 9u the course."—
characrie t 791417,44