The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-10 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE ,TUBLIC JOURNALS.

Commenting on the proposed scheme for reforming the
War Office, the Times says that it wishes to see the finance
and the control departments united under the control of
one man of ability, andhimself trusted and well supported
by the War Office. But it is quite possible that this may
e done even under the conditions which the Treasury
Las imposed. The definite scheme of the Government is
the appointment of two officers, with equal rank and corre-
lative duties, instead of one more highlyplacedadministra-
tar. Sir John Pakington, in his speech last night, said that
Sir Henry Storks was strongly of opinion that the Con-
troller-in-Chief ought not to be an Under Secretary of
State, and that whoever held the office of Controller-
in-Chief must be, and ought to be, subjected to financial
control and check. There is, then, it would seem, no such
breach between this experienced officer and his employers
as was suggested in one of the speeches. It may be that it
will be found advantageous at some future time to give the
controller a higher position ; but we cannot see and
reason why the experiment of the new office
should not be tried on the conditions approved
by the Government. Yet, whatever may be
the inters al arrangements of the War Office, whoever
may be the controller, and whatever checks he may bt
subject to, this must be borne in mind—that Parliament
and the country will know no ono but the Secretary o'
State. He is the Minister to whom alone the nation will
look, and he will not be allowed to shift the least portion
of responsibility from himself and his colleagues on to thi
shoulders of his own subordinates, whether temporary of
permanent, whether soldiers or accountants.

The Standard is not at all satisfied with the proposal:
for reforming the War Office. It deeply regrets that it h
obliged to dissent, in more than one particular, from the
views expressed in the correspondence by the Lords Corm
missioners of her Majesty's Treasury. Those views appear
somewhat narrow, and likely to do harm by the undut
preference of economy to efficiency, and the introduction
of a new element of confusion into the War Department in
place of the extremely simple arrangements proposed b 3
the Secretary of State for War. The Lords Commissioners
(not the Government, be it observed) consider that for the
future the Controller-in-Chief should not have the rank
of Under Secretary of State, and that his salary should
be reduced from £2,000 to £1,500 per annum.; and they
propose to create a principal financial officer with
the same salary, "to comment and advise upon the pro-
posals" of the Controller-in-Chief, and they invite the
Socretary for War to Inn-I,P any suggestions he may think
fit with respect to the subordinate organisation of the de-
partments, and the salaries to he attached to the offices of
cdntrollers and other offices necessary for giving practica:
effect to the reorganisation of the War Office. As a
Matter of course, the War Minister can only bow to the
decision of the Treasury, though he is responsible to
Parliament for the army estimates, and can show
an actual saving on his own proposals. The
result will be, that instead of the best men
being induced to take these posts, than which their
are no military offices of greater importance, the Control
Department will cease to be attractive, and men of higl:
ability will refuse to quit the service, in which they have
at all events the possibility of command, for a civi;
appointment of this nature that is indifferently paid. If
is not intended-to lower either the salary or position of the
Controller-in-Chief so long as Sir Henry Storks fills the
appointment ; but even though he is not to be treated like
an occasional waiter, as Colonel North remarked, hi:
successor will, if the proposals of the Treasury be carries'
out, enter on an entirely different footing, and in a posi-
tion altogether inferior.

The Times thinks that Lord Shaftesbury has little
reason to be dissatisfied with the debate on his bill for
securing uniformity of public worship. It chewed to the
country, and to the Ritualists also, that all persons of
authority, including the Archbishop of Canterbury, are
prepared, if necessary, to repress extreme Ritualism by
force of law. The question is merely when and how
this shall be done. That, as it appears to the Times, is a
very important result, and will answer all Lord Shaftes
bury's purposes. Two reasons were quite conclusive
against a direct sanction of his bill at the present
moment. One is that, according to the Lord Chancellor,
there is every prospect of the Judicial Committee
pronouncing a final decision respecting incense and altar
lights before the end of the year. It is obviously deli•
rable to take advantage of this opportunity to know
Pxactly how the law now stands. Should it prove that
the existing law condemns those practices, the desired
restraint will be obtained far more satisfactorily than by
any fresh legislation. Should the contrary be the case,
Ive shall know, at all events, the ground from which we
start. The other consideration is, that no measure of the
kind ought to be adopted except upon the responsibility
of the Government. The question will doubtless be
resumed next session under better auspices.

The Post observes that on Thursday the Irish Reform Bill
. was read a third time in the House of Lords and passed,
thus marking the settlement of the entire question of
Parliamentary Reform so far as regards the extension of
the franchise and the redistribution of seats throughout
the United Kingdom. That the settlement which litti
-thus been arrived at of a question which for years has
been warmly agitated, and which proved a fatal stumbling.
block to more "than one Administration, will be final, is
more than can be expected ; but it is certainly not mina-
Boilable to suppose that for at least a quarter of a century
we shall hear nothing of the intolerable grievances of
: those who are kept " without the pale of the Con-
stitution." The fact is, that the measure introduced
by a Tory Government, .but practically carried by a
Liberal majority, has left so few outside that pale that no
further advance can be made except by the establishment
of universal suffrage. The hard and fast line has disap-
peared in boroughs, being replaced by a simple rating fran-
chise ; and although still retained in counties, will only
vanish in them when the tide of democracy, having swept
"jaw ay in boroughs the distinction between those who pay
and those who do not pay their rates, will deal similar
liavoc in the agricultural districts. If it be a merit, our
Reform legislation at all events possesses that of leaving
very little to be done in the same direction by those who
succeed us.

The Daily News, commenting on the Euphrates Valley
Railway, declares that the real difficulties of the scheme
'are political. The road would be immensely useful,
would probably pay well, and would open new fields for
commercial enterprise ; but how shall its continued
possession be guaranteed to its owners? The Turkish
Government might even guarantee interest on the capital;
but who shall guarantee the guarantors? France might
look with more favour on the English scheme than that
with which England regarded the favourite speculation of the
French ; but even the Western Powers together might
hesitate to guarantee the perpetual neutrality of a line
which ran through the outlying territory of a decaying
State, and not far from the lands and seas of an ambitious
and unscrupulous neighbour. What our own Government
' can do in the matter it is very difficult to see. There are
some schemes which are born before their time, and whose
realisation must be delayed, some things which must be
spoken of for years before their accomplishment is possible,
-.and we fear that in the present state of the Eastern clues-
, tion this is one of them.

The Telegraph notes the death of Samuel Lover, one of
-toe most charming songsters of his time—a songster, too,
..who could compose the Irish melodies to which he wrote
;inch tender and graceful poetry. Nor did Mr. Lover's
claims to notice rest here. His mind offered a happy
:but uncommon combination of the literary and the
;artistic capacity. He was a poet, an accomplished musi-
'cian, and a most talented artist. Years before " The
angels' whisper," the " Four-leaved shamrock,"
and the " T.ow-backed car" had made him
celebrated, he was known as a very able minia-
ture painter. He was a skilful etcher, too, and with
his own hands illustrated two capital novels
which he wrote, and the titles of which, at least—" Rory
o' More " and " Handy Andy "Lam as familiar in ow•
mouths as household words. Mr. Lover's genius, perhaps,
was not capable of the sustained flights which enabled
Moore in the pride of his intellectual maturity to under.
take the composition of laborious histories and voluminous
biographies, and to emulate the Oriental triumphs of
Byron in " Lalla Ilookh." But his genius, if not vast,
was sure.

ENGLISH TAUGHT GRAMMATICALLY. —We have
received from St. Gall, Switzerland, a circular, giving the
prospectus of what is described as " The Students' Private
Pension." Said " private pension" appears to be a
Roman Catholic boarding-house, which, besides being
situated near several pnblic schools, offers "to give a
good occasion for acquiring and perfectioning (sic) the
knowledge of the principal modern languages, gram
rnatical instntAion being united with practical exercise:
At the head of the list of modern languages is placed
"English," and tha ability of the writer to give
" grammatical instruction " in it may be judged from
the following—one of the paragraphs of the circular:—
" The high recommandation, to which happily can be
referred b, will be for this a better garanty as one's ovine
repeated aseertainment.3, but it may additionally be men-
Coned, that the reverend professor of catholic religion
with the above named schools, as an early friend to the
keeper of the pension, will do his best to aid him in the
work of education." The last paragraph in this prospectus
is, in its way, a gem of the English language:—" The prize
of pension is fixed from 5 to 62 the month, depending from
the exigence of more or less troublesome private instruc-
tion including the pay for service, light heating and wash.
ing. It (what? the washing?) is to be performed in
tviva.246 e7ery three nritithz, .