The Sun.
London, England, 1868-10-10 00:00:00

LOIVDON, SATURDAY, OCT. 10, 1868.

Mr. GLADSTONE'S address has at last appeared,
and is a very characteristic one taken altogether.
The right hon. gentleman evidently feels that he is
deeply injured, and has many wrongs to complain
of, hut his language is more moderate than might
be expected under the circumstances, and contrasts
favourably with his celebrated speech at St. Helen's
at the outset of the electioneering campaign. After
all the talk there has been about Mr. GLADSTONE'S
seeking new quarters, it appears that he does not
contemplate a move, but will solicit the suffrages of

the electors of the South-Western district of Lan-
cashire. First of all, he acknowledges the " pecu-
liar kindness he received from them three years ago
when he was elected under rather unusual circum-
stances." He then proceeds to remark upon the

leform Bill which the RUSSELL Government in,
xoduced to the House of Comnymi, and althougi

that now belongs to the past as much as if ten years
had gone by since its first appearance, it is not unna-
tural that some reference should be made to it by
one who had so much to do with it as the right hon.
gentleman, and that he should advert to it when ad-
dressing his constituency for the first time since his
retirement from office. He explains the failure of
the scheme in the interpretation he himself puts
upon it, when he says that they extended the fran-
chise in a manner " studiously limited." It was
that very limitation which aroused suspicions, and
the jealousy they so sedulously sought to disarm
was kindled by the appearance of a double entendre
in the affair. By resignation the Government of
Lord RUSSELL believed that they would best secure
the triumph of Reform, but that they desired the
Conservatives to secure that triumph is another
thing ; and certainly the course pursued by Mr.
GLADSTONE and his followers since has not sub-
stantiated it. It is really too bad of the right hon.
gentleman to blow hot and cold at once ; he will
neither praise heartily nor condemn in
toto, but calls the measure " unequal" at one
moment, and the next declares that that intro-
duced by the Government was amended and almost
transformed "by the Opposition." But this is
not quite the true explanation of matters, because
it was only by the direct interposition of his own
followers that Mr. GLADSTONE was prevented
from destroying the measure altogether, and ever
afterwards he aimed a side blow at it, which the
partial defection of his own supporters prevented
from taking effect. Besides, Mr. GLADSTONE gives
hints that the new House will soon alter the ob-
noxious feature of the bill, and thus again
shows his jealousy at his opponents having been
more successful than himself.

Of course something must be said about expen-
diture, and accordingly the right hon. gentleman
expresses a hope that the interest of the newly-
enfranchised classes may operate to bring about a
a change in this respect. Here, again, we

must complain of Mr. GLADSTONE'S want
of straightforwardness. The answers he has
already received on this subject are either true
or not. If the first, why ignore them and reiterate
the charges they repel; if false, why not say so
in a bold manner, and prove how he denies them?
All that the electors of South Lancashire are told
is that the present Government have spent three
millions more than they ought, and he draws a veil
over the shortcomings of their predecessors which
led them to do so. It is a bad service to render
his party to fight its battles in the language of
equivocation ; and if put to the proof, he would be
puzzled to show how the Ministry could have
escaped condemnation had they not increased the
expenditure. After mentioning some subjects of
interest, and regretting the impossibility to touch
upon all, Mr. GLADSTONE concludes his address
by referring to the Irish Church question. The
present House of Commons has been called
upon four times to suspend the Act for securing
personal liberty in Ireland, and this naturally calls
for reflecaou ; but it must be remembered that Mr.
GLADSTONE was in office when the first proposal
was made ; and, therefore, the present Administra-
tion merely followed in the steps of their predeces-
sors in renewing it. It is surely a mistaken policy
for the leader of a party to give in to disaffection,
asit were, and to indicate that the actual temper of
some of the people towards the Throne and Go-
vernment demand care, &c. This is true in the

abstract, but what is meant is that some sacri-
fices n•ust be made to Fenianism. We are
all familiar with Mr. GLADSTONE'S arguments on
the subject of the Irish Church disestablishment,
and although this time last year he did not utter a
syllable that could induce any one to prophesy his
present course, he has now arrived at the con-
clusion that no time must now be lost. It
is no new thing, however, to find that
times have changed, and that Mr. GLADSTONE has
changed with them. After being years and years
in office, the trusted representative of his party,
the leader of the House of Commons, the weighty
adviser in the Cabinet, and all this time quiescent
on the subject, and indeed so recently as at the
last election declaring that in his time he might not
have to discuss the propriety of the disestablish-
ment of the Irish Church, Mr. GLADSTONE now
discovers that it is a " national, almost world-wide
reproach, and a condition indispensable to the suc-
cess of every effort to secure the peace and
contentment of the country." He concludes by
seeking to throw upon the Government the
onus of desiring to maintain the Irish Church as
it is, which they have certainly never declared to
be their wish, and of despising the new revelations
of the Royal Commissioners, which is likewise a
suggestion of his own exuberant imagination. The
policy of the Opposition is, he declares, carried out
by those who do not shrink from its avowal , but
with all this he does not yet explain what is to be
done with the funds when diverted from their pre-
sent form. All that can be learned is that the new
Government are to decide upon that point, and the
whole spirit of this address indicates that nothing
but a speedy installation of that Government can '
coincide with the prosperity of the country.

The arrival of the China from New York, on the
30th ult., brings us no very exciting intelligence,
but it is evident that the same unsettled feeling
continues in the Southern States. The negroes are
not gaining in favour, the whites appearing to
have had quite enough of association with them on
equal terms. The Georgia Senate has tabled a bill
declaring negroes ineligible to hold office, and has
rejected the bill securing equality of rights for
whites and blacks in public places and public con-
veyances. This does not show a very friendly
feeling towards the black man, whose mistaken par-
tisans have forced him into positions for which he
is naturally unfitted, and have thus lost him more
than he could ever gain by such a course. In
Louisiana a bill establishing equal rights of
colour has been vetoed by the Governor,
on the ground that it was superfluous
legislation ; and as the veto was sustained by the
House we may presume that the enthusiasm for the
black man is dying out in that State. Equal rights
before the law should be guaranteed to the negro
in every State, but when this is once done the rest
may be left to time. It is impossible to force a social
equality upon those who are naturally unequal,
whose tastes, habits, manners, and feelings are
altogether distinct. There is no more sympathy
between the active, quick-witted, enterprising Ame-
rican and the lazy, self-indulgent negro than be-
tween the inhabitants of two different spheres ; and
enforced equality and constant association will only
produce irritation instead of fostering kindliness
and interest.

The perplexity about the threatened disturbances
continues, and while on the one hand appeals are
constantly made to Washington for assistance, on
the other they are as constantly contradicted and
explained away. Thus the Alabama Delegation
formally presented a memorial from the State
Legislature to the PRESIDENT asking for the aid of
the national troops to preserve peace. The Governor
accompanied the delegation, but not with the view of
supporting their appeal, for be declared that he could
enforce the laws without the aid of Federal force.
The PRESIDENT got out of the difficulty by assur-
ing the delegation that General MEADE should
dispose h'• troops so as to be ready to aid the civil
authorities if necessity should arise. In Virginia
and Mississippi the leading Democrats have deter-
mined to hold a Presidential election, and to
demand, under the Constitution, that their
votes should be counted. This, as we know,
is opposed to the provisions of the Re-
construction Act, but in the altered state of
public feeling it is possible that the demand may be
conceded.

The condition of the national finances does less
and less credit to Radical management, and is ill
calculated to restore the public confidenee in their
administration of affairs. Mr. DELMAR, Director of
the Bureau of Statistics, in answer to inquiiies from
N ew York merchants, has just furnished an estimate,
placing the national expenditure of the fiscal year
ending June next at $176,000,000, and the receipts
at 321,000,000. We may hope long before Mid-
summer to see a change in the spirit of the Govern-
ment. Such an estimate alone ought to convince
the commercial and mercantile interests of the mad-
ness of continuing the present policy towards the
South.

Very busy are the M.P.'s, present and prospec-
tive, and very numerous are the meetings and ad-
dresses constantly going forward. It is amusing to
contrast two or three of the speeches made by
rivals in the field, and to see white become black,
or black white, according to the side from which
a question is regarded, like the old fable
of the two knights, who looke I at the
shield from opposite sides, and fought a
battle royal in consequence. Sir HENRY HOARE
tolls the Chelsea electors that the Conser-
vative Government has done nothing whatever but
spend English money. Mr. GREAVES, at War-
wick, accuses the Liberal Government of
having left the defences of the country in an
inefficient state, and so increased the expen-
diture. Mr. OVEREND, Q.C., wiser still, promises
the constituency of East Derbyshire that he will
if elected, watch the expenditure of every Govern-
ment which may be in power that unnecessary
extravagance may be prevented. The Hon. A.
WALsri is prepared "to resist to the utmost" the
Liberal attack on those institutions " which the
wisdom and courage of our ancestors have be-
queathed to us ;" while Mr. SCHOMBERG is assuring
the electors of North Wilts that the Whigs have
" preserved the British Constitution, which, if left to
Tory apathy and procrastination, would have suc-
cumbed and induced a Republic." Who shall decide
when doctors disagree. But so long as the choice of
the electors is left free and unfettered, all such diffe-
rences are really to the public gain. In a Parlia-
ment like our own we want representatives of the
most opposite opinions, men of all shades of party,
and holding every sort of view in matters religious,
political, and social. By such means we secure
a full and unfettered discusion of every great
question effecting the main body of the people.
Argument, and fact, and illustration meet and
answer each other until when some great political
problem has been thoroughly debated and discussed
session after session. The public are then familiar
with it in all its branches. When the
final decision is arrived at, although
there are always some malcontents and critics,
there is a general feeling that it has been fairly
decided, and a step thus taken has seldom to be re,