The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-14 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PtITILIC JOURNALS.

The Government, says the Times, has come to the House
of Commons for support. They did not, indeed, ask directly
for assistance. The Chancellor of the Exchequer made a
simple statement. He explained, in moving for leave to
bring in his bill for amending the law of election petitions,
that an unexpected difficulty had arisen in the way of
carrying into effect the decisions of the select committee
of last year. The judges had remonstrated against the
proposal to confer on them the duty of trying election
petitions in local courts. In the face of such a remon-
strance the Government felt themselves constrained to
depart from their original intention of adopting the
amended bill of last year as it left the select com-
mittee. The respect due to the bench had induced
them to abandon the design of referring election
petitions to the common-law judges, and to
create another tribunal to be charged with the
special duty of trying election cases. We do not quarrel
with this decision of the Ministry. It was proper to
remit the question to Parliament. We are disposed to
agree with Mr. Bouverie and Mr. Gladstone, that no other
course was open to them. Not the less clearly, however,
do we hold it to be the duty of the House of Commons to
insist on the original proposal, if that proposal seems in
itself good. In this divergence of opinion between the
Legislature and the judicial bench Parliament is bound,
in the absence of better reasons than those which we un-
derstand have been given by the judges, to follow its own
counsel. We think it plain that the Government must
be held to have come to Parliament for support, and we
have little doubt that it ought to be given. The judges
are very eminent public servants, and deserve the greatest
respect and deference ; but they are, as Mr. Lowe
said, no other than public servants, and are bound to
perform the duties imposed upon them. It is instructive
to note the amount of authority in favour of this transfer of
jurisdiction. The select committee of last year was unani-
mous in recommending it. The Chancellor of the Exchequer
has declared that the Ministry agreed with the committee.
Mr. Gladstone expressed a similar concurrence. Others
who were staggered for the moment at the reported oppo-
sition of the judges manifested a strong opinion in favour
of the original plan, and were only deterred from pressing
it by the habitual respect they felt for the bench. There
were, in fact, only two members of any eminence who
objected to' the principle of this transfer of juris-
diction to /- court of law Mr. Henley and Mr.
Bright, who objected on the ground that it would
give the Lords a control over the election of
members of the House. The Times contends that if the
common-law judges are not to try election petitions, but
some tribunal appointed for that purpose alone, the altera-
tion of the law will be for the worse instead of the better.
In fact, if the plea of the judges prevail, the bill must be
abandoned. It rests with the House of Commons to de,
termine whether this shall happen and the suspicion of
insincerity already attaching to its members shall deepen,
or whether the timidity of the judges shall be overborne
and a beneficial alteration of the law effected.
Failing to obtain the assent of the judges to their pro-
posal, the Government conceived the idea of creating a
special tribunal, to be composed of three gentlemen with
a yearly salary of £2,000 each, and a clause was accord-
ingly introduced in the bill to carry this scheme into
effect. Now it may, observes the Post, be said with truth
that not one member was found on either side of the
House to support this proposal, and we can only express
our surprise that it should ever have been seriously made.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer was reminded that
the special committee had consented to recommend the
House to part with its exclusive jurisdiction in election
petitions, on the sole condiction that such jurisdic-
tion should be entrusted to the highest tribunal in
the land. If, however, it was inexpedient to adopt
the suggestion of the committee, there could then be no
object in giving such jurisdiction to a special tribunal
undistinguished by any particular characteristics, and
whose decisions would scarcely command as much respect
as those of a special committee in the House of Commons.
The objection must be considered as fatal, and therefore
the only issue for the House to decide is whether it will
compel the judges to discharge an invidious duty, or retain
the jurisdiction which from time immemorial it has exer-
cised. It would certainly be scarcely decent, as Mr.
Bright well put it, for the English House of Commons to
refer all matters respecting the validity of the election of
its members to a third-class tribunal composed of three
gentlemen whose sole merit might consist in being barris-
ters of seven years' standing.
The result of the conversation in the House of Com-
mons on the Bribery Bill introduced by Mr. Disraeli, was
not, the Daily News remarks, favourable to that measure.
Every variety of opinion was expressed on the general
question. On one point alone was there unanimity, and
that was the unsatisfactory character of the Government
Scheme. Mr. Disraeli's introductory speech made it
clear that he had no belief in it himself. There is no
sufficient reason for charging Mr. Disraeli with insincerity
in his dealings with this question. He would probably be
proud to emulate the noble brevity of the inscription which
declares that in the grave of John Wilkes lies the body of
a patriot, and to have it recorded that corruption lies
buried—we mean no double entendre—in the tomb of the
statesman who extended the franchises of his countrymen.
But a Minister in a minority is not a free agent. Bold
and searching measures cannot be looked for from a poli-
tician whose first object is to evade responsibility and
disarm opposition.

This proposal, the Herald complains, did not receive
justice in the discussion. It was assumed that the court
must necessarily be composed of men who would not com-
mand the same confidence as the judges ; but the assump-
tion is a very groundless one. The duties of the new court
would occasionally be heavy, ordinarily they would he
light. The salary proposed is not large, but it is quite
sufficient to secure the acceptance of the new judgeship by
men of the very highest character and the most marked
ability. Two thousand pounds a year and an honourable
position would have a considerable attraction for men of
the very highest rank, who might be unwilling, from con-
siderations of health or from a love of leisure, to under-
take continuous labour, and yet would be willing enough
to make occasionally a great spurt of work. Indeed, we
can hardly see how, if this jurisdiction is to be parted with
by the House of Commons, the necessity of establishing
some such tribunal can be avided. As Sir Roundell
Palmer shewed, it would be impossible to use the judges of
the common-law courts for this purpose unless at least four
Or five more were created, and it would be hard to know
how to use them at other and ordinary seasons.

THE PRINCESS OF `WALES.—Their Royal High-
nesses the Prince and Princess of Wales, attended by the
Countess of Morton and Colonel Keppel, honoured the
Haymarket Theatre with their presence on Thursday
evening, to witness the performance of the new comedy,
," A Wife Well Won." This was the first appearance in
public of the Princess of Wales since her long and painful
illness.

Mr. Sheridan, M.P., has received deputations
from various bodies at Dudley. The first was from a body
of voters who wished to consult the hon. gentleman as
to his views upon the bill introduced by ➢lr. Abel
;Smith, M.P., for the closing of public-houses on Sun-
days. Mr. Sheridan said he should take the bill into
serious consideration, and in giving his vote should
consult the wishes of the majority of his constituents.
He remarked that sudden alterations, of the magnitude
contemplated by Mr. Smith's bill, would always conduce
to strong opposition.

DIPLOMATIC MOVEMENTS.—His Excellency the
;Austrian Ambassador returned a few days ago from visit-
'inn his daughter and her husband, Prince and Princess
Borghese, at Rome, in order to resume his duties as
.Ambassador to the Court of St. James's. His Excellency
;,he Italian Minister, the Marquis d'Azeglio, has also
xeturned home after passing several months at Nice. It
is not yet. definitively decided who succeeds his Excellency
as Italian Minister at the British Court. It is understood
that the Marquis d'Azeglio will relinquish his diplomatic
post early in the ensuing month.

MARVELLOrS ESCA.PE. —A singular incident is
related in connection with the storm which lately passed
over Scotland. About four o'clock in the morning the
house of John Grant, Tain, Olrig, was struck by the
lightning ; all the family, father, mother, son, and two
daughters, being in bed and asleep at the time. The fis
seems to have first struck one of the gables, through which
entered, descending by the chimney vent, entirely sepa-
a-Ating the gable from the walls, cracking the top of the
building, and separating part from the roof. Striking to
shivers a clock suspended from the wall, it tore
the doors entirely off from a wooden press,
breaking all the. crockery, knocking off the hinges, and
i:rojecting one of them through the lid of a clothe,
Of two windows, one disappeared bodily
chcst. _ . _

r.nd the other was smashed. • A large stone at the
door, which three ordinary men could barely lift, was
protected a distance of twenty-two yards, and several
othcri of less size were wrenched out of Itte gable walls,
and thrown even greater distances. The wo daughters
sleeping together, on awaking, found a large stone lying
13(tv,,tn them, and the room a complete wreck. The bed
cn which the son lay was also struck by the lightning,
1 rs-:3l:ing the top and back, and tearing away one of the
feed, and finally making its exit through the floor of the
house, passing under the foundation, and again coming
out from below the ground in the cabbage garden. Aniid
such destruction not the slightest injury was done to any
of the family. That five persons, sleeping in three beds,
5n rooms where such destruction was wrought, should have
escaped without a scratch or a scorch, is certainly
.one of the most OltrwranAry eecape4 frown danger ever
1104'd ph .