The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

The Times points out that what the Ministry have to
consider is, whether the's, will at once resign or persevere
in holding office till they can appeal to the reformed con-
stituencies, and, until better informed, it must condemn
the suggestion of an immediate dissolution as an inven-
tion put forward to work on the terrors of members, and
which has signally failed of its effect. It is worth while
to consider what it involves. The necessary business of
supply is so much in arrear that it would be impossible
with the greatest expedition that Parliament could be
dissolved before the end of a month, or, in other
words, before June. An appeal to the country would
then be an appeal to the old discredited constitu-
encies and to the old limited class of voters. The
result of it would be the return of such a Liberal
majority that at the beginning of July Mr. Disraeli
would be peremptorily ousted on a vote of want of con-
fidence, and a Liberal Government would be admitted to
office iinNediately before a prorogation. An autumnal or
early sp..:: vould follow fsr the pur; passing
Scotch s • ; I.; .1i reform Bills, immefliat-13- •.'ier which
another (:;ssolution must ensue, in order that the newly-
enfranchised voters in the three kingdoms might re-
turn a Reformed Parliament. What excuse could
be offered for this absurd and vexatious course of
proceeding ? It was suggested by those mho affected
to believe in its possibility that the triumphs at
Bristol, at Cockermouth, and in East Kent had intoxi-
cated the First Minister, and that he was bent upon
hazarding everything on a throw of the dice. The excuse
admits of examination as little as the proposal itself. The
triumphs at Bristol and-in Kent are capable of the most
easy explanation, and it would be farcical to crow over
Cockermouth. There has always been a large-Conserva-
tive party at Bristol, and, indeed, at the last election but
one the late Sir Frederick Slade was defeated by a majority
of eighty. At the last election a Liberal of Liberals,
a Dissenter of Dissenters, was accepted with enthusiasm
as a member. Mr. Gladstone and Mr. Disraeli
went out of their way last year—it is not clearly
apparent why—to testify their admiration of Sir
Morton Peto, but the revelations of the Bank-
ruptcy Court cannot have gratified the Liberals of
Bristol. Some of them hid not improbably, in reliance
on their trusted member, taken shares in the London,
Chatham, and Dover, or in his American railways.
There is, of course, no connection between Sir Morton
Veto's creed and his financial speculations, but can it be
surprising- that when another Dissenter of Dissenters,
another Liberal of Liberals, another enemy of licensed
victuallers, a person, in a word, of the exact type
of what Sir Morton Peto has been taken to be,
resented himself in opposition to a banker of the
city, known to the constituents all his life, and
whose family had been local diyinities before the birth
of the oldest elector, he should have been defeated
by the enormous majority of 196 ? Bristol was not
lost because the constituency has turned Tory, but because
Sir Morton Peto has for a time " discredited his order."
In East Kent a Conservative seat has been retained by
tia increased majority, and the supporters of the Govern-
nent are justified in exulting over the defeat of a candi-
late almost unknown to the electors, and little fitted to
yin that intensely English constituency. But Mr. Dis-
raeli must indeed be ignorant of the temper of the nation
if he ever dreamt of appealing to the country because of
these exceptional victories. He must see that he must
either resign at once or hasten his appeal to the Reformed
Parliament. There is no third course open to him.
The Post declares that the distinction between this vote
and that which closed the first debate is very important.
On the former occasion the House simply evinced its
readiness to entertain the proposals of which Mr. Glad-
stone gave notice ; but it has now, after mature delibera-
-I in, declared that those proposals are sours', and pmcti-
; de, and the different complex;on o: the vote must lead
sto anticipate a different course-of action c•t the part of
II Government. The Ministry cannot regard the vote
iLow given with the same indifference as that by which the
Mouse of Commons decided on considering the resolutions
It committee. A distinct course of action is now resolved
i pon, and as the Ministry cannot edvise her Majesty to

piction that course, nothing is left them but to resign.
Axe there any insuperable difficulties to the disestablish-
tent of a Church which, ex conceals, no Parliament would
place on its present footing ? The majority of the House
of Commons are of opinion that no such difficulties exist.
This is the meaning of this morning's vote. The House,
by an undeniable majority, has now for a second time pro-
nounced the doom of the Irish Church. Its disestablish-
ment is affirmed to be not only expedient, but practicable.
The second and third resolutions are but corollaries of the
first, and it may therefore be said that now the most
important party contest of recent times has been lost and
won.

The Daily „Ye-us obseives Vint by a larger majority than
that which affirmed the propriety of taking into conside-
ration the condition of the Established Church in Ireland,
the House of Commons has pronounced in favour of the
disestablishment. The majority before Easter was sixty;
on this occasion it is sixty-five. Ministers have lost five
votes. Those who now went into the lobby with Mr.
Gladstone were numerically identical with his supporters
ou the 3rd of April. The consequences of the division are
matter of cr,njecture. Mr. Disraeli has taken time to
consider his course by moving the adjournment of the
House of Commons until Monday next. It is consti-
tutionally impossible that he should dissolve ; it is
'sot necessary . that he should resign. His position
In relation to the present House of Commons is not, as be
pretended, altered. It would have been altered if he bad
been victorious. It is to-day what it was before the
Easter vacation. His duty is to accept the decision of
the majority, to facilitate the progress of Mr. Gladstone's
second and third resolutions, and of the bill based on
them, and to reserve his appeal to the constituencies until
1869. It is satisfactory to find that be has disclaimed the
intention of advising the sovereign, as Lord Derby sug-
gested, to act in contradiction to the declared will of the
House of Commons, and refuse her consent to the
introduction of a bill, should Mr. Gladstone's second and
(bird resolutions pass. It is to be hoped that in other
respects be will manifest equal prudence.
The Herald lays down that the result of the division will
rurpthe nobody. Mr. Gladstone was secure of a majority.
The House of Commons has affirmed by a vote, the im-
portance of which we have no idea of contesting, the de-
sirability of disestablishing and disendowing the Irish
Church. Pot dePs the House of Commons Break the
feeling c; corn Lry? We deny it, and the recent elec-
tions endorse our denial. The Government has naturally
asked for time to consider the course which it should take
under the circumstances. What that course will be the recent
manifestations of public opinion seem to show clearly
enough. Whatever may be the announcement made by the
Premier on Monday—and it is proper, of course, however
confidently we may look to a particular declaration of
policy, to assume the possibility of the adoption of another
course— we have no hesitation in saying that the branch of
the United Church of England and Ireland established in
Ireland is not shaken at all by the declaration that it
ought not to exist any longer. It has survived a good
many abstract resolutions, which had an honest although
mistaken conviction for their cause, and it will not sue-
sumb to an abstract resolution' which, by the admission of
its proposers, is only designed to further the meanest and
paltriest personal ends.

The Standard regards the most significant utterance os,
the earlier Not of the evening as that which came from
Sir C. O'Loghlen, who began his rambling and incoherent
address by the startling observation that the question
whether a minority should remain in office was to be
shortly brought directly to an issue. That means, we
suppose, that if their defeat on the Church question do
not drive Ministers to resign, they will be met with a
:Erect vote of want of confidence. It is hardly necessary
to waste many words in comment on this threat. • Every.
one knows that Ministers have the right to appeal from
the House to the country; everyone knows that this
appeal cannot be made, save at great cost and public
Inconvenience, till January next, and that it will in any
case be made then or very soon after. With what purpose
then, can the Radicals propose a vote of censure on tht
Government ? Clearly, either with a view to force their
to an immediate dissolution, or to compel them to resign
.without dissolving ; that is, either from pure wantor
desire to do harm and hinder public business, or from tht
desire to seize an illegitimate advantage, and force their
way into office by a dishonourable use of accidental cir
cmnstances. We leave it to them to explain, when tat
time comes, which of these is their actual motive.
In any case, the attempt is wholly and obviously un
justifiable. The assault on the Church, considering
its time, its conditions,- and its motives, is disgrace
ful ; but the contemplated shatagem would be
a more audacious experiment on the credulity and
. the patience of the country—the most barefaced ano
disreputable party manoeuvre on record since the coalitior
of Fox and North. It seems skilfully planned, so far as
parliamentary tactics -go ; but it is hardly likely tc
entangle the admirable tactician against whom it is aimed
and it is still less likely to impose upon the nation at large
It will end, as so many of Mr. Gladstone's stratagems
have ended, in simrnal discomfiture and disgrace to himself
and his party ; and if it should entail a delay in carrying
out the promised completion of the Reform scheme, or tht
inconvenience of two elections within eighteer
les the sole
, the Collllry* t will understllud on whom
office ce

mono.

1 prerrf,t

section at the present time, the Telegrapl
r. om:Lt not to be contemplated
rsea by the opinion of the people
-t t,;tional right to the two es!..a
--olution or resignation. lit
which has distinctly repudiated his
" truly
pol'cv," and calmly adopted in principle that
...eh he has called a " vast and violent " change.
was not elected under a Conservative Cabinet,
and was not the expression of any distinct appeal to
the constituenr,qes up•oi the subject of the Irisl
Church. The Premier mayquite fairly plead that the WO(
was hardly mentioned at the hustings ; he might, there
fore, under ordinary circumstances, claim to submit hit
" conduct and character" to the deliberate verdict of the
country. Technically, so' far as Ministerial precedents
and the admitted practice of Premiers in difficulties go
no one can deny the right. But circumstances alter
everything ; there is a political equity as well as a politica
common law, and that equity forbids Mr. Disraeli th.
luxury of mettilig the 'louse of Commons in this manner

Rnd will not

of (li;