The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-19 00:00:00

LONDON, 7UESDAY, MAY 19, 1868.

The country by this time must be heartily tired
of the tactics of the Opposition, and should they
carry their point of an immediate dissolution they
will be told pretty plainly what is the general
opinion concerning the course they have thought fit
to take. After many persons had believed that the
rest of the session would pass quietly, to all intents
and purposes, the decision of the committee on the
Scotch Reform Bill suddenly brought the house
face to face with another of those Ministerial crises
now unhappily so frequent, and the Chairman was
ordered to report progress, the further con-
sideration of the bill being fixed for next
Monday. This is unfortunate in all re-
spects, and the most absurd thing is that
the matter is not of such infinite importance after
all, besides which the attendance was thin at the
time when the decision of the Committee was
arrived at. Great credit cannot be given to the
judgment of those who supported Mr. bouvErim's
amendment, and it is not saying too much to pre-
mise that some of them really did not understand
the whole bearing of the thing. A very hasty de-
cision was come to at last, and, after futile at-
tempts to overrule the objections, Mr. BOUVERIE'S
amendment was carried triumphantly. The confu-
sion which reigned in the House, the divergence of
opinion, and the unsatisfactory conclusion arrived
at, and the postponing the consideration of the
measure, must be attributed to the tactics of the
Opposition. They are evidently relentless ; and
Mr. GLADSTONE pursues his purpose of harassing
and annoying the Government at every opportu-
nity—much after the fashion of the Indian, who
follows the trail of his enemy, so he persists at all
hazards in his course. The Government had earlier
in the evening consented to the adoption of Mr.
BAXTER'S proposal for providing the extra seats
required by Scotland in the representation by
sacrificing the smallest boroughs in England ; but
Mr. BOUVERIE'S amendment was another thing.
He desires to give up the rating proposal altogether,
and to convert practically the borough franchise into
household suffrage. We wonder that when the com-
mittee consented to so extraordinary a proposal the
Government should have deemed it advisable to desire
time for consideration as to the course they should
adopt. To show how inconsistent people can be
when it suits their turn to be so—for Mr. GLAD-
STONE was last year very much against the scheme
of the Government as going too far—and now he
and his friends advocate the adoption of a principle
which goes mach farther, and which, if given into,
will, as all must recognise upon reflection,
compro-
mise the English Bill. It is most likely that
many who agreed so heartily to the amend-
ment of Mr. BOUVERIE. will regret it this
morning, if they did not last night, when
they realise the complications it had given
rise to. This is the more likely, because the Scotch
rating did not entail by any means the changes
brought about by the English system of last year.
It may not be understood very clearly by all that
in Scotland there is no compounding, and hence a
much simpler process is arrived at ; every house-
holder who paid rates would be able to record his
vote. A thin house is often very apt to jump at
conclusions, and this was fully proved by the result