The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-26 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPT. 26, 1868.

The new Reform Bill among its awkward changes
has set the members for Chichester in opposition to
one another after a long joint tenure of the seat.

lowever, they seem inclined to fight the battle
'airly and good temperedly, so that in spite of the

interruption which encountered Lord H. LENNOX
in his speech on Thursday evening, the novel inci-

dent of a contested election is likely to pass over

quietly in the old cathedral city. Lord A. LENNOX
naturally had a good deal to say in favour of his
own Government, and as he addressed an open air
meeting in the market place, he was able to make
a strong point of the confidence which the Tories

had shown in the working classes. For twenty

years, he said, the Liberals had gone about trading
on the credulity of the country as being
the only persons who could give peace

Europe, or reform to the working

classes, and, having done neither one nor the other,
they have now taken up a new cry. After touch-
ing on the principal features of our foreign policy
of late years, Lord 11. LENNOX referred especially
to the case of Luxemburg, when the mediation of
Lord STANLEY happily averted a European war,
and to our present relations with America, which
augur well for a future cordial alliance. These in-
stances, he said, were sufficient to prove that the
boast of the Liberals that they were the only men
who could preserve the peace of Europe was unten-
able. " How stands it then," asked the noble lord,
" with the cry that they were the only men who
could give the working classes reform, and that the
Tories were afraid of admitting those classes to the
exercise of the franchise?" Having disposed of these
questions to his own satisfaction, Lord H. LENNOX
proceeded to defend his consistency as an advocate of
religious freedom. He had always, he maintained,
voted in favour of religious liberty when it was less
popular than now. "It was a Tory Government
which first gave chaplains to Roman Catholic sol-
diers. It was a Tory Government that first gave
permission to Roman Catholic chaplains to visit
prisoners of that creed in their prisons." For his
own part he had opposed the Ecclesiastical Titles
Bill, and therefore must not be accused of intoler-
ance in objecting to disestablish the Irish Church,
on the ground that as every other denomination
would retain their endowments the Protestants
were entitled to keep theirs.
Coming to that branch of the public service with
which he was more immediately connected, the
Secretary to the Admiralty answered at some
length the charges brought against the
Conservative Administration by Mr. CIIIL-
DERS and Mr. STANSFELD. These charges were four
in number, and Lord 11. LENNOX examined them in
turn. The first charge brought by Mr. CHILDERS
last week was that in producing the Estimates the
Conservatives had no new economies. To this the
Secretary replied, that during the two years iu
which he has filled his present post they have re-
duced the amouni, asked from Parliament for naval
stores by £:300,000. The sum for the coastguard
also has been reduced by £lO,OOO, and the dock-
yard rate by £150,000. Various other items were
mentioned in evidence of the economy practised of
late years ; and in answer to the second charge of
extravagance, Lord 11. LENNOX, referring to the
archives at the Admiralty, discovered that during
the six or seven years of Liberal Government a
sum of £258,000 per annum had been added
to the Estimates for allowances, pay, half-
pay, &c. Mr. STANSFELD'S criticisms had
reference to the ship-building of the two