The Sun.
London, England, 1868-08-05 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC lOITRILELLB,

There are few things of more practical importance at the
present momentr according to the Daily News, than that
Liberal constituencies should awake to the fact that new
circumstances require to be met by new arrangements. In
not a few constituencies, county and borough ahlce, there
has existed An ancient compact for dividing the represen-
tation—which practically means for annulling it. It
often happens that the old local party leaders are desirous
of letting this agreement continue in force. Various
reasons lead them to this. The principal families on both
sides are satisfied with an arrangement by which expense
is saved. Very possibly there is but a nominal difference
between the politics of the two representatives ; both
are of aristocratic origin and instincts, and though one
may vote for Mr. Disraeli and another with Mr. Glad-
stone on party questions, both are safe to oppose indepen-
dent reforms, to support the game laws, to resist motions
tending to economy in the army or navy, and generally
to maintain Conservatism with the smallest admissible
tincture of Liberalism. But it does not at all follow that
such motives are of weight with the great body of the
electors. These may be anxious for a real and not a sham
representation, and desirous that the representative
should be a real and not a sham Liberal.

The Herald says Mr. Gladstone's reputation is one of
the most curious phenomena of the politics of the present
day. It is not due to his political achievements, for very
few men with such opportunities ever accomplished so
little. It can scarcely be due to his eloquence, for it is not
altogether the reputation of talent or even of genius. It
cannot be ascribed to his past conduct, for that is one mass
of inconsistencies. It cannot be traced to his personal cha-
racter, for no man was ever more deficient in the quali-
ties which Englishmen most respect—in straightforward
simplicity, in sturdy manners, in loyalty to party and
fidelity to principle. Yet he is at this moment one of the
most popular men of his day. It is not due to his opinions,
for it is irrespective of his position as leader of the Liberal
party ; indeed, it is only his reputation which retains him
in that position. We will not say to what it is due ; but
we may confidently affirm that it has been greatly
enhanced by a quality which is not one of the highest that
statesmen can possess, which is not even one of the best
that he can fairly claim—his plausibility. He is ever
best liked where he is least known. In no
constituency in the kingdom is he so distrusted
and disliked as in Oxford, which he so long
represented. He is the idol of the Liberal electors;
he is hated by a large portion of the Liberal elected.
The Herald compares the result of Whig and Tory
Governments, and then makes an appeal to the country on
behalf of Mr. Disraeli, who for the future loyalty of Ire-
land, firstly on those elements to which we owe the
allegiance of Ireland in the past, and to which
Ireland owes whatever prosperity, commerce, in-
dustry she possesses; -next, to the returning good
sense of the Roman Catholic laity, and the gradual
enlightenment produced by education. On what does
Mr. Gladstone rely when he shall have disgusted and
alienated the loyalty of Ulster by wholesale robbery ?
On what, indeed; if not on the attachment which that
robbery is to inspire in the Romish clergy and their docile
flocks ? Mr. Disraeli would govern Ireland on English,
Mr. Gladstone on Romish principles. Let Englishmen
choose between them.

The Times notices that it was publicly announced a few
days since that Mr. Reed, the Chief Constructor of the
Navy, had tendered his resignation to the Board of Admi-
ralty, and intended to start as a candidate for the Pem-
broke Boroughs. It has subsequently, with the same
publicity, been notified that his resignation has not been
accepted, and that Mr. Reed will not aspire to a seat in
the coming Parliament. Such a notification would
not, in the case of an ordinary public servant, re-
quire comment in our columns. But Mr. Reed is
identified with the building of broadside ironclads.
It is owing to his influence that the present board have, in
spite of their convictions, persevered in the building of
broadsides as weak and unsteady as themselves. Shall we
be wrong if we ascribe his resignation to a proposal of Mr.
Reed's superiors to substitute a turret vessel for one of
his broadside ships, and his remaining in office to their
reversal of the too obnoxious design 2 The Times dis-
cusses the comparative merits of the different navies, and
complains that we are content to obtain all our knowledge
of turret ships from the experiments of foreign Powers.
Our present ironclad fleet is useless and obsolete.

The Daily News condemns the present system of credit
at the universities as the root of the whole mischief, the
parent of extravagance, which ought to be banished. No
person with an available fixed income should ever resort
to credit for articles of consumption. If the law expressly
declared that the debts which minors contract in univer-
sities should not be recoverable, no one would complain,
and many a worthy parent would be spared a load of
grief. At present, however, the law is a snare to all
parties, and a suit little better than a lottery.
The Standard draws attention to the address of Sir
James Simpson to the medical graduates of Edinburgh,
which contains at once a promise and a confession—the
latter to the effect that his profession have hitherto made
but little way in the mysterious world of human suffering ;
the former to the effect that we may yet hope that medicine
and surgery will become positive sciences. Mankind, to
tell the truth, are wearying of the old experiments and
processes—a fact which gives enormous encouragement to
quackery. Yet the literature of the subj ect is of overwhelming
bulk ; the discoveries announced every year arc numerous,
and, we are assured, important ; while in point of skill,
and of the implements necessary for its application, we
are supposed to make progress almost daily. Neverthe-
less, the ancient enemies of humanity do not appear,
computing from one generation to another, to have been in
the least subdued. It is true that medicine can never
hope to meet all the demands made upon it, and
that there aro not a few, like the invalid of
ninety-eight, who complain that nothing has been
invented to cure their particular complaint. Although
Sir James Simpson rambled into fancy while
endeavouring to stimulate the imaginations of his auditors,
and indeed to provoke their ambition, he pointed to not a
few absolute facts scarcely creditable to the medical
science of an advanced epoch like our own. Whatever
the surgeons of the nineteenth century may be, the
physicians, or rather the curative means at their
disposal, have decidedly not progressed in a ratio
with those who command other sciences. Taken
for all in all, the health of civilised communities is
not in any appreciable degree improving. This may be
because the object sought is more difficult to attain. But
so it is. The evidence comes mainly from the profession
itself, which is continually calling attention to the short-
comings of medical science. Consequently there is nothing
Invidious in accepting Sir James Simpson's predictions as
an ironical commentary upon truths which he might
prefer suggesting in any other form, but which, no
matter how stated, he would probably be the last to
deny.

The Telegraph believes that Australian governorships
are becoming the fashion, and that the day of half-pay
captains and colonels is gone by, so far as the rule of the
Antipodes is concerned. The new governors of Tasmania
and South Australia have both enjoyed one paramount
qualification for their office—parliamentary training—
and will bring to bear on their new life a considerable
experience of men and affairs. Their duties under
what is called " responsible government " require all,
and more than all, those qualifications ; for, as
affairs in Melbourne have amply proved, a governor's
position may at any moment become exceed-
ingly onerous and irksome. With perfect impar-
tiality, rigid adherence to the constitution, and
total abstinence from gossip—a self-denial often hard in
the dullness of colonial life—they may reasonably hope to
steer clear of difficulties. The personal influence of an
Australian Governor on questions social and political can,
if he has tact, delicacy, and discretion, make itself most
beneficially felt ; but in a colony the appointment of a
man wanting in these qualities would be a calamity far
greater than those accustomed only to a great community
can understand. We have ground for demanding that
these most important appointments shall never be made
subservient to merely political exigencies.

BLACK BCD. -A report from a parliamentary
committee of the session just closed states that thesGentle-
man Usher of the Black Rod receives 6s. Bd. a day for his
attendance on the House of Lords during the session. His
real emolument arises from fees in respect of private MIFF,
causes, &c. These fees vary greatly in different years, and
the committee recommend that they should be commuted
into a fixed salary on the next vacancy in the office.

FENIAN SENATORS IN CONGRESS. Fenian
senators from various Northern and Western States are
now holding a mysterious session in Buffalo. Their assem.
bling was unknown to the rank and file, and as they
sit with closed doors, guarded by armed sentinels, it is
believed that this secret conclave portends evil. A Fenian
picnic is proposed for next week, but it is hardly believed
that this would have called for an extra session of the
" Fenian Congress."—New York Times, July 23.

MURDER.—A master in the French navy named
Le Corre, residing at Brest, has just murdered his wife
by stabbing her to the heart with a knife. The woman,
in consequence of the menaces of her husband, bad taken
refuge in the room of a neighbour, to which he followed
her and there committed the crime. He then returned to
his own lodging, and went to bed as if nothing
bad happened. He was arrested OD the following
day, and Alleged that he had been driven to
commit the dead thrQuila Aho infidelity
wife,