The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-17 00:00:00

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was meant to conciliate Ultranlontanism was absurd, as he
show ed by a recapitulation of the facts relating to the Queen's
College, which Mr. Horsman, he said, had tetally misrepre-
sented. He vindicated next the land policy of the Govern-
ment, premising that in this and all otherpoiuts the Govern-
ment had proposed, not that which was theoretically per-
fect, but which was practical and practicable. They had
picked out all those points on which there was a genera
agreement that legislation was possible, while they had
referred to a Commission those points only which were
not ripe for decision, and he characterised the assertion
that the object of the Commission was delay as "the lees
and refuse of factious insinuation." Passing to the Church
question, and admitting that the Irish Church was not in
the position ho should wish to see her, having in her com-
munion the majority of the people, Mr. Disraeli discussed
and defended the principle of ecclesiastical endowments.
Ho denied that the spirit of the age was opposed to en-
dowments, as had been laid down by Mr. Bright, who,
with the aid of the philosophers, bad apparently converted
Mr. Gladstone to the same opinion. He warned the house
that it was not the comparatively limited issue of the Irish
Church, it was the principle of ecclesiastical endowments,
an entire revolution in the national habit and character,
which was at stake. Drawing from the Ministerial
benches loud and continuous cheering, he denied the
moral competence of the house to decide that issue with-
out an appeal to the country. It was a question which
the country alone could decide. For thirty years the
Liberal party had been in power, but what bad they done
to prepare the pablic mind for such a revolution? This
Parliament, he held, ought not to decide it ; it ought to
be reserved for the new and enlarged constituencies.
Being personally in favour of ecclesiastical endowments,
he strongly objected to the destruction of the Irish Church.
The violence and confiscation with which it must be ac-
companied would be a great detriment to Ireland, where
there had already been violence and confiscation enough ;
but he reserved to himself the right of considering the
labours of the Commission now sitting, and at the same
time he expressed a decided opinion that the moment had
arrived when there must be a considerable change in the
condition of the unendowed clergy of Ireland which would
elevate their influence. By this he did not mean what was
vulgarly called "paying the priests," making them the
stipendiaries of the State, of which ho strongly disap-
proved. Referring to his oft-quoted speech of 1841, he
maintained that, though expressed perhaps with tho heed-
less rhetoric which appeared to be the appanage of all
who sat below the gangway, the sentiment of it was right,
and he concluded by avowing his belief that the Minis-
terial programme was the commencement of a new policy
for Ireland.

The motion and amendment were withdrawn, and the
debate came to a close.
In committee several supplemental votes in the Civil
Service Estimates were agreed to.
Some other business was disposed of, and the House
adjourned at five minutes to two o'clock.

IsIEWSPAPER
14_
THE -IBM CIItTR .
=
In connection with the debate on Irelan rt . oY
.stated that during the existence of the PalmeAllon-Blisell S
Administration the question of Ireland and the Irish
Church was twice brought forward by Mr. Dillwyn—on
the 19th May, 1863, and on the 28th March, 1865. On
both occasions he was met by the strenuous opposition
of the Whig Government, who succeeded in preventing
any vote being taken upon them. In the debate on the
last occasion Sir George Grey, the Whig Home
Secretary, said : " Her Majesty's Government deem
it their duty not to give their assent to the resolution
proposed." Later in the debate ?.[r. Gladstone, then
Chancellor of the Exchequer, said, against the expediency
of Mr. Dillwyn's motion : " The first question for a Govern-
ment is whether what they can do will tend to the good of
the people over whose interests they are in an especial
manner appointed to watch. The answer to that question
must govern their conduct, and it will not do for a Govern-
ment to shape their conduct according to anything ex-
traneous to that answer. If they could see their way to
the attainment of a satisfactory end it would be their duty
to grapple with all the difficulties of the case. It would
be their duty to consider—whether surplus or no surplus—
what obligations of the Act of Union remain to be ful-
filled, and how they ought to be performed. It would be
their duty to consider whether, in the event of any change
—any modification in the Established Church, the pro-
perty of the Church ought to be applied in one way or
another. But it is not their duty to consider these ques-
tions at all—it is not their duty to propagate one opinion
or another on this subject, unless they see their way by
casting their influence into the scale to bring about a state
of things in consonance with the general principles of jus-
tice, the welfare of the whole community, and particularly
with the feelings and happiness of the people of Ireland.
The dictates of propriety and good sense must govern-the
proceedings of any Administration which means to do its
duty to the country. These principles must govern us
on this occasion, whether or not we may be able to deny
the proposition of the hon. gentleman with reference to the
position of the Irish Church ; and 1, for one, am not able
to deny it. We therefore feel that we ought to decline
following him into the lobby, and declare that it is the duty
of the Government to give their early attention to the sub-
ject ; because, if we gave a vote to that effect, we should
be committing one of the gravest offences of which a
Government could be guilty-namely, giving a deliberate
and solemn promise to the country, which promise it would
be out of our power to fulfil."

THE GOV 31iNMENT AND THE
•• g'SLEGRAPHS.

In one of the recent reports of the administrators of
the Belgian telegraphs the following passage occurs :
" Our reduction of tariff has a double object. First, to
place the means of communication within the reach of all
classes of the people, and to make it serviceable in all the
relations of life ; and secondly, to increase telegraphic
correspondence to the largest possible extent, and by thus
stimulating the system, to make even those lines which
are now unproductive yield a fair profit." The Chancellor
of the Exchequer can require no better text than this when
he introduces the bill which proposes to place the tele-
graph system of the United Kingdom under the manage-
ment of the Post Office. Until the intimation conveyed to our
readers some weeks ago as to the intended opposition
of the railway companies reached us, we were under the
impression that the question of the transfer would be
mainly a financial one, and confined to the telegraph com-
panies and Government, and we are still at a loss to under-
stand on what ground the threatened opposition is based.
Doubtless railway telegraphic systems and those of tho
companies are based on a plan of mutual help, and we
apprehend that they would have to be so continued under
the proposed Government regime; but beyond this, and
probably the fear that if the telegraphs go the rail-
ways may be expected to follow, we can see no reason
why railway companies should set up an opposi-
tion to the unanimous approval which the project
has mit with at the hands, not only of the press,
but of the highest commercial authorities in the country.
Did we not remember how a sore break-down and disap-
pointment were predicted when the penny post was inau-
gurated, and how wondrously the elasticity and vigour of
the postal system met and conquered all the obstacles and
difficulties which hedged it round, we should doubt whether
a department which transmits upwards of 800,000,000 of
letters, which manages a money-order business amounting
to upwards of £40,000,000 a year, which has within a
few years added to its cares the management of an
enormous savings bank business, and more recently
that of life insurance, could efficiently bear the
additional strain of the work connected with the
telegraphs. But we have seen all these various
systems worked out with a precision and rapidity
which has won the admiration, not only of the people of
this country, but of every civilised nation in the world.
The defects and shortcomings of the administration of the
telegraph companies have too frequently been experienced
by the public to require any proof now. If the amalga-
mation takes place the Post Office authorities would be in-
duced to consider the vexed question of a Sunday delivery,
and would send out no letters save those which bore a
" stamp of urgency," say of at least sixpence, a boon
would be conferred on the 20,000 hard-worked employes,
which the public would not grudge them, and which they
would deeply appreciate.—Eastern Morning News.

Lord Alfred S. Churchill and Sir John Lubbock,
Bart., F.R.S., have become vice-presidents of the Public
Museums and Free Libraries' Association.

RATING BURDENS IN LIVERPOOL. -A crowded
meeting of Liverpool ratepayers has been held, when reso-
lutionsprotesting against the present very heavy rates and
urging the corporation to practise the strictest economy in
its expenditure were agreed to.

DEATH OF CA NON O'NEA L. —We regret to
announce the death of the Very Rev. James Canon
O'Neal, Vicar-General of the Roman Catholic diocese of
Westminster, which occurred on Sunday night. The de-
ceased had been for many years one of the pastors of the
Church of Our Lady, Grove-road, St. John's-wood. He
was one of the leading men among the Catholic clergy of
the metropolis, and a zealous promoter of all works of
charity connected with the communion to which ho
belonged.
THE REPRESENTATION OF HUDDERSFIELD. —The
greatest interest is felt in the election, and both parties
express themselves sanguine of success. It is felt, however,
that the withdrawal of Mr. Wright Mellor and the unity
of the Liberals places Mr. Leatham's chance of victory be-
yond all question. Mr. Sleigh addressed three meetings ou
Monday. In the evening the meeting held in the Theatre
was a very disorderly one. Mr. Sleigh admitted that he had
contested Lambeth on Liberal principles in 1862, but said
his views had since been considerably modified. A resolu-
tion in his favour was negatived by a large majority.

AN INTERNATIONAL EXHIBITION FOR WORKING
MEN. —The Duke of Rutland, Earls Spencer, Lichfield,
and Dude, the Right Hon. W. F. Cowper, M.P., and H.
A. Bruce, M.P., Sir John Bowring, LL.D., the Hon. G.
Denman, M.P., Messrs. A. H. Layard, M.P., D.C.L., T.
Hughes, M.P., A. S. Ayrton, M.P., C. S. Butler, M.P.,
J. B. Smith, M.P., J. Stansfeld, M.P., Wingfield Digby,
Alderman J. C. Lawrence, H. Cole, C. 8., Titus Salt,
Hugh Mason, and Elihu Burritt, have consented to be
vice-presidents of the Workmen's International Exhibition,
1869.

A gentleman named Leach, of Alexandria, nas
forwarded to the Museum of the Hartley Institution some
specimens of arrows used by Abyssinian warriors. They
are above three feet long. The sticks are made of vine
branches and other tough woods. The heads are of iron.
Some of the heads are of the ordinary lance shape—others
are shaped like a flattened fish's head, and are barbed.
One of the heads is an ugly weapon consisting of a sharp
iron spike about six inches long, with a twisted serrated
edge. Some of the heads are inserted into the sticks ;
others are fastened very securely with a cord made of the
skin of some animal, which is twisted round the stick
when wet. Mr. Leach writes word that the Abyssinian
spear is five feet six inches long, and is a formidable.
looking weapon.

LETTER OR MR. COBDEN.—The following letter
was written by Mr. Cobden at a season which was perhaps
one of the greatest political depression which the Liberal
party has experienced since the Roform Bill of 1832. It
was addressed to Mr. W. D. Christie, who sat in the House
of Commons which repealed the Corn Laws, and voted
with Mr. Cobden on that, as on all other questions of
Liberal policy, throughout the struggle : " Midhurst, Dec.
12, 1863.—My dear Christie, I am at this moment over-
whelmed with communications about my correspondence
with the Times, and the plague of answering people must
be my excuse for making but a brief reply to your letter.
It would give me great pleasure to be able to help you in
your views on the House of Commons. There is a sort of
freemasonry always with me that identifies me with
all tho.e who took a part in our League struggle ;
and, with regard to political principles, I dare
say we should now agree pretty much as we
did on the corn question. But I really think lam
about the least potential man alive in election matters. I
am never consulted by anybody. There seems to be no
principe • l s at stake anywhere, and the usual result is that
the constituencies give themselves up to some rich man in
their neighbourhood, or to the influence of a great railway
or steamboat company. It is always so, that when great
public questions are in abeyance the mean and unworthy
motives grow into a force. Now, such a state of things is
very unfavourable to my influence, for I am neither a
rich man nor a railway or steamboat proprietor. How,
then, can I be of any use to you ? This is really my
whole case. I am willing, but incapable.—Ever yours
truly, H. COBDEN."