The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-09 00:00:00

,SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOITRIVILL

The Times has already indicated the proportion in which
the uncontested seats are divided among the Ministry and
the Opposition, and, in spite of the appearance of some
half-dozen gentlemen who would in America be called
" bogus" candidates, the balance of -uncontested seats
remains nearly as was estimated a week since. The result of
the contests in the English boroughs will resolve the
greater number of the doubtful elements in the question
how the next Parliament will be divided, and we antici-
pate that on Wednesday morning of next week it will be
seen that the Opposition have an assured majority which we
may now cautiously describe as approaching a hundred.
The contemplation of the events to be expected after Par-
liament meets is at present obscured by the more pressing
questions as to what will happen before Parliament meets.
2den are too keenly interested in the elections to look for
12e moment much before them. A slight interval of
rest may, perhaps, be acceptable when the general
election is over ; but it is doubtful whether it would not,
on the whole, be more agreeable to reduce this interval to
as short a period as possible, so as to allow of a longer
recess at Christmas. The necessity of determining the
future policy of the nation towards Ireland, and inde
dentally the fate of the Ministry, makes it imperative
that the debate on the Address should terminate not later
than Friday night, the 18th, or Saturday morning,
the 19th December, and it follows that Parliament must
assemble and the members be sworn in at the latest in the
week ending the 12th December. But the business now
before the nation is the first step to this consummation.
The conflict which will be decided at Westminster must
be preceded by scattered fights throughout the kingdom.
It is for the electors to choose the representatives who
shall carry on the latter part of the work ; and although
the general result is already assured, no one will on that
ik,c count relax his efforts in the particular constituency with
which he happens to be connected.

According to the Herald the terms on which the greater
of modern political contests in England is to be conducted
play be said to be now fairly settled. The champions on
each side are mustered, and the lists all but closed. A few
snore competitors have probably yet to be announced, and
not until the day of nomination shall we know precisely
the relative strength of the rival camps. In the mean-
time, so much is certain, that the battle will be the
closest and most desperate ever fought at the English
hustings. Upon the magnitude of the issues involved
we need scarcely dwell. No question of equal
importance to the people of this country was ever
submitted to their judgment. It is not whether one
party or the other should be in power. It is not whether
Mr. Gladstone or Mr. Disraeli is the better administrator
of the affairs of the nation. It is not even a controversy
whether on the whole the principle of what is called pro-
gress should prevail over the principle of order. For the
due maintenance of the constitutional form of government
in this country it is necessary that one party as well as the
other should have its fair share of the responsibilities of
office. Without allowing Mr. Mill's dictum that the Conser-
vatives should never be in power, it is as impossible for them
to be permanently in office as it is undesirable for the Liberals
to be perpetually excluded. It is in the wholesome antago-
nism between the two rival schools of thought that the
true safety of constitutional government in this country
consists. It is by these periodical appeals to the general
sense of the community that the machine of the State
is kept in a just balance—that excesses of individual
opinion are corrected, and undue personal ambition is
repressed.

The Post says that no man did more towards reconciling
the people of this country to a Tory Government than
Mr. Bright, and, as it appears, he has no t yet come to
understand that if Liberals could discern no alternative
between Toryism and the endless agitation he contem-
plates with satisfaction, they would not hesitate in choos-
ing their part. He fails apparently to perceive that the
better half of the distrust which is working against Mr.
Disraeli arises out of the conviction that the institu-
tions !he promises to defend are not safe in his hands.
Mr. Bright, in his speeches at Edinburgh, has pointed to
a revolution which can only be accomplished by measures
opposed to the feelings and the interests of powerful
classes. The repartition of taxation and the subdivision
of landed property are set forth by him, not indeed for
the first time, as the ulterior consequences of the
reduction of the franchise ; and practically it is
equivalent to offering Mr. Disraeli the change of
venue by which the issue that ought to be deter-
mined in the elections may be evaded. Mr. Bright can
never resist the temptation to a little bit of socialism when
it conies in his way. He can no more tolerate the exist-
ence of anything which he regards as anomalous than a
cat can tolerate the existence of a mouse ; and yet the
fact is that our Constitution is full of anomalies, and,
theoretically, open to a host of objections. The 'Ministe-
rial party might gain advantage from this if their leaders
could be trusted, for we are not all prepared to accept the
government of numbers as a steppingstone to the realisa-
tion of republican ideas.

The Standard thinks that Mr. Bright's speech at Edin-
burgh is so frank, so boldly subversive, so provocative of
revolution, that we are able to feel what we have not felt
for some time—that John Bright is himself again.
Perhaps it was the bracing air of North Britain, perhaps
the fostering warmth of extreme compliments, that
lured the honourable gentleman once more into an
honest exposition of the future which, with the indis-
pensable and now assured aid of Mr. Gladstone, he
proposes to provide for us. Be it due to either of
these reasons, or to the mere reaction of a violent and
indiscreet temperament against the caution so long im-
posed on him by that prudent gentleman Mr. Glyn, the
astute whipper-in, certain it is that Mr. Bright's assumed
moderation has once more prematurely deserted him, and
that he has let the cat out of the bag ten days before he
ought to have done. We cannot compliment his good
sense, but he is heartily welcome to our very best thanks.
Mr. Bright " jogging Mr. Gladstone's elbow " precisely
represents the situation, and we are deeply grateful to the
graphic portrayer of it.

If Mr. Smith should succeed in displacing Captain
Grosvenor, the Star would be very much grieved to see
a sterling Liberal politician supplanted by a follower of
Mr. Disraeli ; but beyond that feeling we should not
be called upon to notice more sharply the untoward
event than if it had occurred in any other constituency.
But it is notorious that the audacious attempt of
Mr. Smith is directed much more strenuously
against Mr. Mill's seat than against Captain
Grosvenor's. Mr. Mill, by some of his public acts and
=any of his public utterances, has excited, as the Tory
wire-pullers calculate, in the mind of some unsteady
Liberals, that aversion which it is natural for a weak
spirit to conceive towards a strong one, and an over-
prudent spirit towards a daring and far-reaching one.
The Star criticises the conduct of the Conservatives in
raking up the Eyre controversy. It is difficult to under.
stand the frame of mind to which a prejudice merely
personal in its bearings could bring any elector assuming
the name of Liberal so far as to lead to the rejection of
Mr. Mill, either because of his share in the action of the
Jamaica Committee, or of his support of the claims of
artisans to direct representation in the House of Com-