The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-09 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

It is a great satisfaction to the Times to be set right
upon what the present Premier did say at Edinburgh.
Mr. Disraeli will not have it that in the social excitement
of the hour at Edinburgh he revealed the truth about the
" education" of his party. And there is no getting out of
ft. Mr. Disraeli was not guilty of the frank arrogance
with which we credited him. There is, indeed, abundance
of secondary evidence that he was thus imprudent. Did
not one Conservative county member grumblingly com-
plain almost immediately of Mr. Disraeli's ingratitude in
stigmatising as doltish and ignorant those who had fol-
lowed him so faithfully ? But the primary evidence is
conclusive. The contemporary report in our own columns
and the authorised edition of the speech published by
Messrs. Blackwood differ in slight particulars, but
the substance is the same. The egotism of" I" is softened
into the official " we," but otherwise the two reports agree.
In both Mr. Disraeli boasts that the Conservative party
had been " educated," but the education he speaks of was
given between 1859 and 1866, and was, as far as he stated,
confined to five principal lessons, among which the accep-
tance of household suffrage does not count. The school-
master, in truth, dwelt only upon the elements of the in-
struction he had imparted, and left the crowning grace to
be supplied by the memory or the gratitude of others. Far
from being boastful, Mr. Disraeli was pitiably modest.
This, however, is not the worst. We must acquit him of

the fault of which he had been accused, but it is impossible
not to see that a new charge must instantly arise against
him. What we had believed was that Mr. Disraeli had made
a perfectly accurate but very arrogant statement;
what we are driven to recognise is that he made a very
modest statement, but deficient in every element of accu-
racy. Let us consider what Mr. Disraeli did say at Edin-
burgh. He declared that he had, as the spokesman of the
Conservative chiefs, taught the Conservative party be-
tween the years 1859 and 1866 five things, which, as a
large party slow to move, they had to learn " under pres-
sure." In the words of his letter on Saturday, " the Tory
party after the failure of their bill of 1859 had been edu-
cated for seven years on the subject of Parliamentary
Reform, and during that interval had arrived at five con-
clusions." The real truth is, that four out of the five they
had learnt before, and the fifth, so far from being instilled
into the minds of the docile party at the back of the
Premier during seven long years of apprenticeship, was
learnt by a flash of intuition —by the power, as
Mr. Disraeli himself expressed it, of "unerring
instinct " in the course of a couple of nights.
On the whole we think, with the greatest respect for Mr.
Disraeli, and owning the too probable laxity of our own
virtue, that we should have preferred to let the matter
rest where it was. It is not easy to get rid of a fable
which has so much truth in it as that which represented
him in a boastful mood at Edinburgh ; and in the attempt
to do what he cannot hope to succeed in accomplishing the
new Premier has drawn attention to a string of inaccu-
racies which had passed unnoticed. To be arrogant is,
after all, not the highest of crimes, especially when your
friends have condoned it, and Mr. Disraeli's defence is
only another proof of the dangerous facilities of pens, ink,
and paper.

The Post compares Mr. Disraeli and Lord Stanley to
the two persons who perform " Punch " in the street.
There is no concealment about Lord Stanley. He does
the drum and fife part of the business admirably, and
gives the requisite respectability to the whole concern.
His vindication of his Alabama policy was at once mas-
terly, clear, and straightforward. The cordial cheers
amidst wiiich he resumed his seat were well deserved, and
the first idea which must have crossed the mind of all who
heard him was Oat they had been listening to a Minister
"in whom there was no guile," and that if such lucid
explanations and so straightforward a policy were to
be the order of the day fluring the present Adminis-
tration, there would probably be little room for
doubt or uncertainty as to the principles which
would guide, or the followers who NvottNsupport, them for
the future. But turn to the declara.tio,:m of the Prime
Minister on Thursday night, and the second personage in
the street drama is unmistakably brought before you.
Here, indeed, is the mysterious man behind the curtain.
All is vague, all indefinite. Deep indeed may be et: e
policy within his breast, but his words no more convey that
policy than do the squeaking tones of the concealed actor
convey any idea of the nature, habits, and opinions of the
man ; and, to make the comparison still more complete,
the House of Commons, like children and nurserymaid;
appear to be amused and delighted at the darkness which
shrouds the performance.

The Daily News, in in its weekly article "Trade and
Finance," gives its opinion that the anticipated conse-
quences of the fatal facility which long existed for nego-
tiating foreign loans is now likely to arrive. Large States
do not altogether repudiate their debts. That would
hardly be safe. A better expedient is to be found in re-
ducing the dividends—not in nominal amount, for that
would be actual repudiation, as Spanish and other bond-
holders are well aware, but by imposing a good high
income tax. To strike off in this mode some Bor 10 per
cent. of the charges on the public debt would necessarily
afford a sensible relief. Then, also, it has the unquestion-
aide merit of saving appearances. There is no denial of
liability to pay the full amount—that is even ostentatiously
acknowledged- but simply the avowal that the State is
obliged to levy a tax upon incomes in general, and that
incomes from the national debt must come like others
within the category. This appears at first sight fair, for
the income is earned in the country making the tax, and,
therefore, is quite equitable. But the Government having
made a contract to pay the full amount, and having carried
out that contract so long, has no right now to violate it.
With regard to repudiation in the United Statc3, our con-
temporary hopes the public will not hear much more of
the proposition.

The new Chancery appointments, the Herald remarks,
have been made in a spirit which ought completely to dis-
arm the fury of that malignant criticism which has so often
made its envy heard, when commenting upon the extra-
ordinary succession of legal prizes which the Conservatives
have had to dispense during their present tenure of office.
No one has had a word to say against the elevation of Lord
Cairns to the woolsack. The Lord Justiceship which was
thus vacated was offered to Sir W. Page Wood, whose
political career was one of active and consistent opposition
to the party which has thus practically and emphatically
recognised the proved judicial capacity of the late Vice-
Chancellor. For some few days it was reported that the
honour thus offered would be declined from a not unnatural
desire to end a long and laborious life in the enjoyment of
that otiunt cunt dignitate to which every judge who has
served his full term is of right entitled. We are happy,
however, that his lordship has sacrificed his private in-
clinations to the public service. The higher offices having
been thus disposed of, the vacant Vice-Chancellorship
remained open, and this, as we announced on Saturday, has
been offered to and accepted by Mr. George Markham
Giffard, the equity Queen's Counsel, whose fitness for the
post no one will dispute. The learned gentleman was
called to the bar in 1840, and " took silk " in 1858, since
which time he has obtained an increasing amount of lead-
ing business. He comes to the bench, therefore, with
ample experience, and with the prestige obtained by a long
and successful forensic career.

On the subject of the impeachment of President Johnson
the Standard observes : President Johnson's Message
completely vindicates his conduct, and establishes its abso-
lute legality. He is charged with removing Mr. Stanton
in disobedience to the Tenure of Office Act. He replies
that that Act only forbids the removal of an officer during
the term of the President by whom he was appointed (a
limitation introduced in order to secure that "distribution
of spoils" at each change of Government which is the
worst scandal of American politics). Now, Mr. Stanton
was appointed by Mr. Lincoln, and therefore, even if the
Act be valid, it does not apply to his removal by Presi-
dent Johnson. Secondly, Mr. Stanton, in common
with the rest of the Cabinet, had advised the President
that the Act in question is distinctly unconstitutional, and,
therefore, null and void. Thirdly, Mr. Johnson's object
in removing Mr. Stanton and nominating a successor was
to bring the question as to the validity of the Act under the
cognisance of the tribunal expressly empowered to decide
such issues. He is impeached, therefore, first, for at
endeavour to obtain a legal decision upon a question of
law—that is, for doing his constitutional duty ; and
Second, for violating an Act which expressly excepts the
case on which he is impeached. But this defence, con-
clusive as it is in the eyes of every intelligent and impar-
tial; person, will not avail the President with his present
judges. Our contemporary continues to say that in its
opinion the President is identifying his cause with that of
the people, and concludes : What may the immediate
issue of the conflict between Congress and the P
between
one cannot pretend to say ; the issue of a struggle
Congress and the people, between a faction and the nation,\veen
it needs no prophet to foretell.
The Telegraph takes up the sentence of Mr. Bouveri°
that the Liberal party possesses leaders who do not lead.
Our contemporary says that this really means that Cllr.
Gladstone is too honest to lead after the old, easy, and
convenient fashion. He is guilty of the pestilent fidelity
to his diity, so that he would rather give up office than
forfeit political consistency. To honest and consistent
Liberals of the party—who are, to tell the truth, a little
"clubbed "—the Telegraph would point out what is the
strength and the weakness of the present singular
situation. Making what allowances we must for
the disloyal elements in our ranks, Mr. Glad-
stone's side of the House is really "in power."
Mr. Disraeli most constitutionally reigns without
ruling ;he is—and nu man knows it better than he does—
Prime Minister quam diu Gene se g csserit—king only during
good behaviour. Indispensable to his own side, he per-
fectly well understands that he may be Premier just so
long as he does the work required by the nation, in the
shape of measures dictated by the opinion• of the day.
Mr. Gladstone's real function at present is almost exactly
that of the Roman " Tribune of. the people," who could
veto any and every " rogation." He, with his majority
behind him' sits as the ex officio judge of the conduct of the
Vovernment, to say whether it is doing,' its duty, and, the
moment it defaults, to force it up to the mark of its " truly
14iberal policy," •