The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-02 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

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LONDON, THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 1868,

To-night the struggle begins again, and after the
sort of breathing time that has been allowed, we
may expect to see the combatants reappear in full
force and with fresh vigour. Perhaps the omission
of a day in the debate may prove to have been o
great service to those who would fain take a dis-
passionate view of the question if they are only
allowed a little time to do so. It is amusing to
notice the anxiety that is displayed in some quar-
ters to magnify trifles and to invent when facts
cannot possibly be distorted. The last grand coup
in that line is thepretended discovery that Mr. HARDY
and Lord STANLEY have been quite at variance in the
tenour of the remarks that they addressed to the
House. This is really quite absurd, and it cer-
tainly shows the very insufficient ground which
these backbiters have to go upon that they thus
have recourse to so petty a style of argument, and
so unwarrantable a mode of attack. Why not
keep to the plain matter-of-fact part of the ques-
tion, and state the case broadly, for the edification
of Parliament and the public. Animated by a
sudden zeal, Mr. GLADSTONE has thought
fit to provoke a contest upon the merits
and demerits of the Irish Church Establish-
ment, and has determined to try the strength
of the Government upon the issue of it. The
Ministry have acted like wise statesmen in refusing
to consent to the extravagant proposition of the
leader of the Opposition ; and it is no exaggeration
to say that had they done so they would have for
feited the confidence of their party and compro-
mised themselves in the opinion of the country. It
is, in the first place, a most unpopular thing this
disestablishment without let or hindrance, and
numerous petitions have testified to the truth of
this, as well as influential meetings. It is true that
there have been counter demonstrations, but they
have not been of so significant a character as the
others. Perhaps the indecent haste in which Mr.
GLADSTONE has acted could not have been better
exposed than it was by Mr. HARDY, when he said
that the Opposition could not even wait for the re-
port of their own commission, for it was by Lord
RUSSELL that this proposition was first of all made.
The more we look upon the Resolutions now before
the House the more unconstitutional do they ap-
pear. In his extreme anxiety to drive the Ministry
from office, Mr. GLADSTONE has acted in a manner
quite inexcusable for one who has been so long in
office, and knows, or ought to know, so well the
rules of the House and the forms of the constitution.
He utterly ignores the existence of the House of
Peers, and goes on as if Mr. BRIGHT'S millennium had
come, and, like our brethren across the Atlantic, we
had no such troublesome appendage belonging to us.
How can this House of Commons dictate a policy
to the next one, and that next one to be constituted
so differently in some respects, but also how is the
House to pray the Crown to act upon these Resolu

tiuns in defiance of the privileges of the other branch
of the Legislature ? It is really quite preposterous ;
and if, on the other hand, it be argued that nothing
practical will come out of them, why take up the
time of the House already so valuable by the dis-
cussion of a question only raised for party pur-
poses ?

We have as yet met with no speaker on Mr.
GLADSTONE'S aide who has condescended to inform
us why the sudden change referred to should be
made. Mr. BRIGHT has been the most explicit, but
he has rested his claims too much on Fenianism to
secure approval or win confidence. Let it not be
said that the dastardly efforts of Americanise I Irish
and disaffected parties had any weight in shaking
the trust which we as a nation put in the power
and value of our time-honoured Constitution.
Such an argument is an additional reason for
delay. By the time the new Parliament
should have assembled it will be more competent
to deal with the difficult question, because a great
deal of the excitement now prevailing will have
passed away. When the Report of the Commission
shall be laid before Parliament, then, and not till
then, will be the right and fitting time to settle what
changes, alterations, modifications, and improve-
ments may be required in the Irish Church ; and,

if need be, the House might take steps for its abo-
lition ; but that would be quite another thing from
rushing into extremes and jumping at conclusions,
as Mr. GLADSTONE so imperiously demands
that the House of Commons should do.

Far from the critics who assail the Government

being borne out in their animadversions or justified
in their impertinent surmises, we wonder that they
have got out of the difficulties that lay before them,
very successfully as yet. Lord STANLEY COM-

manded the attention of the House from first to

last, and his speech will long be remembered as a

masterpiece of its line, which was that of clear and
concise reasoning and common-sense definitions.

Mr. HARDY'S speech was one of more impassioned
eloquence, and took up a different view of the
question from that of the noble lord, but we
defy any one to say that they disagreed in the
main point at issue. The very mention of this
style of criticism shows, however,
show little the
advocates of Mr. GLADSTONE can find to say in his
defence or for his advancement. Abuse is not
argument, and seeking to damage an opponent by
the utterance of flimsy charges like these is quite
contemptible.
Surely in all conscience there is enough, and
more than enough, to occupy the attention of that
class of politicians in accounting for Mr. GLAD-
STONE'S extraordinary discrepancy of word and
action, as seen by the Oxford letter and the present
Resolutions. Let them explain this if they can, and no
doubt if they ever attempt to do so, it will occupy
them till long past the termination of the debate, and
afford each useful occupation for the Easter Recess.
It is greatly to be regretted that people cannot
confine their attacks more closely to those points
which immediately and directly affect the point at
issue, and not wander away to some personal at-
tack and political invective. That is the great evil
of making a party question of such a subject as
this, and Mr. GLADSTONE is much to blame for having
done so, in the fullest acceptation of the term.
It is idle to say that this is not a party manoeuvre,
and a factious move on the part of the leader of
the Opposition, for all who think a moment on the
subject must see that it is so. Let the House of
Commons recognise their position, and resolve to
act with becoming spirit and dignity. They can
best show their zeal for the observances of Parlia-
mentary usages, or their real devotion to the inte-
rests of the country, by refusing to be made the
tools of those who substitute one reason for another,
because their real motive is not likely to enhance
their renown, or to gain the confidence of the
House of Commons.

The Atlantic Telegraph brings us news from
Washington, dated yesterday, which gives us some
important information respecting the impeachment
trial. Already there is a division in the camp, and
signs of approaching difficulties. Chief Justice
CHASE, who presides over the Senate Court for the
impeachment, has claimed judicial power during the
trial—a claim, as we may easily imagine, resisted
by the managers of the prosecution and by some of

their allies in the Senate. The Senate itself, how.

ever, was not so lost to a sense of its own position
as to oppose a claim founded so clearly on law and

justice. The Chief Justice is virtually occupying the
position of judge, it is his place and his duty to see
that the accused has a fair trial, that the proceed-

Lugs of the Court are conducted with due regard to

justice and truth, hat no attempt is made to coerce,
to intimidate, to mislead, or to silence witnesses,
but that full and free information should be obtain-
able on all disputed points. It is quite impossible

that he should be able to do this unless he is in-
vested with supreme powers, and he bas already
had a specimen of the manner in which the Radicals
propose to conduct the case. An impartial hearing
is the very last thing which they wish for, and
their resistance to the claim of the Chief Justice.
Mr. CHASE, as we have previously heard, feels that
the honour of the country demands that, in a
matter of such vital moment, the trial should be
conducted with equity and impartiality. By this
he has already excited the anger of the Radicals,
who have denounced him in unmeasured terms, and
who have not scrupled to affirm that he has made a
compact with the Democrats to let off Mr. JOIIN-
SON, so as to secure his own nomination as PRESI-

DENT by their party. Mr. CHASE, whatever his mo-
tive, will certainly raise himself iu public estimation
by the firmness of his attitude, and America will owe
it to him if the great constitutional trial is car-
ried on with the dignity befitting a national court
of justice, instead of being, as it threatened to be,
an object of contempt and ridicule to the enemies
of the country, and of sorrow and shame to her
well wish ers.

By the City of London, from New York on the
21st ult., we learn that the House of Representa-
tives has passed a bill providing that, in case of the
death or disability of the Chief Justice of the Su-
preme Court, the senior associate Justice shall

act as his substitute until a regular appoin

ment can be made. The louse of Representatives,
too, we find, intend being present in a body at the
Senate during the Impeachment a somewhat

alarming prospect for the Senators ! The eagerness
of the feeling of the Lower House on the subject is
Janifested in every way, and their animus cannot be
hid. The public opinion on the subject is certainly
not reflected by the popular representatives. Even
in Pennsylvania the Democrats are gaining ground,
the late elections showing their gains. It is highly
improbable that the Radicals can maintain their
numerical superiority in another Congress, and as
they feel their power slipping from them, they be-

come more anxious to retain it at all hazards,

The present crisis is a momentous one for all parties.
and much will depend on its issue.

The appearance of the revenue tables is always
looked for with interest, although of late they have
not afforded quite so much ground for satisfaction
as formerly. The last tables of 1867 were indeed
fully in accordance with the depression everywhere
perceptible during the year, and although there is
happily now a decided improvement visible% we
cannot reasonably expect to find the returns assume
altogether their old character. There are, however,
quite enough signs of a change for the better to
reassure the public, and the, fact of the increase
which is apparent both on the quarter and the
year being distributed over almost every source
of revenue is more encouraging than if it was de-
rived solely from one head. On the quarter there
is an increase of £20,000 on the Customs and of
£911,000 on the Property-Tax, though the latter
is, of course, due to the increased impost. On the
year the Customs show an increase of £847,000, a
hopeful sign, somewhat counterbalanced by a de-
crease of over half a million on the Excise—a sure
test of the prosperity or adversity of the labouring
classes. There is, however, ground for encourage-
ment even in this respect, for the quarter
shows a manifest improvement the Excise
figuring under the head of Increase instead
of Decrease. As compared with the corresponding
quarter of 1867, the Excise shows an improvement
of £207,000, a fact IN hich may displease the friends
of the temperance cause, but which really testifies
no change for the worse in the habits of the people,
since the forbearance which is due to necessity is
no virtue, and the consumption of malt liquor is, as
we know, a wholesome counterbalance to the ex-
cessive use of spirits. Altogether the Returns are
as satisfactory as we could hope for, and indica-
tive, we may trust, of returning prosperity.

A marriage has been arranged between Mr.
William Forbes, of Callander, and Edith, third daughter
of the Rev. Lord Charles and Lady Harriet Hervey ; also,
between Miss Harvey, daughter of Mr. Harvey, M.P. for
Thetford, and Mr. Lacon, son of Sir Edmund Lacon, Bart.,
M.P.—The Owl.

SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS.—Her Royal High-
ness the Princess Louise, attended by Lady Caroline Bar-
rington and Colonel the Hon. A. Liddell, visited the gal-
lery of the Society of British Artists, Suffolk-street, Pall-
mall, yesterday. Her royal highness was pleased to express
herself as much gratified with the exhibition.