The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-25 00:00:00

THE MEETING OF PARLIAMENT.

Members who spend Christmas "in town" will
be called upon by Mr. Glyn to "make a house" on
the 29th of December, so that certain writs may be
moved for which could not, on account of some Par-
liamentary formalities, be obtained when the House
adjourned. The Times states that after these have
been obtained the House will be adjourned till the
16th of February. The Lords, too, are to have a
longer holiday than they originally marked out for
themselves. Instead of proceeding to business on
the ninth of February, they will adjourn to meet
again on the same day as the Commons.

THE LAW APPOINTMENTS.

It is now definitely announced that Sir George M.
Giffard has been promoted from the office of Vice-
Chancellor to that of Lord Justice, in succession to
Sir William Page Wood, now Lord Hatherley; and
that Mr. W. M. James, Q.C., has been appointed
to succeed Lord Justice Giffard as Vice-Chancellor.
Mr. James has for some years been Vice-Chancellor
of the Duchy of Lancaster, an office which becomes
vacant."

WE now know as much of the policy of the new
Cabinet as we are likely to know this side of
February 16. Perhaps we do not know as much as
we should have known if events had occurred in the
anticipated way, if the late Ministry had met the new
Parliament, framed a Queen's Speech, and allowed
themselves to be beaten after a regular debate. Yet
we know enough to forecast the coming session.
The measure upon which the late elections turned,
and which will occupy the greater part of the session,
has been little referred to by the new Ministers in their
re-election speeches. The reason is obvious. Every-
one takes for granted that the Irish Church will be
dealt with ; everyone knows the principles which will
govern the procedure ; but the mode involves the
most careful study of details, such as there has
scarcely been time for yet, and such as no Minister
would venture to enter into upon the hustings. It
is otherwise with the other great question which Mr.
GLADSTONE and his colleagues have taken in
hand. The reduction of the expenditure can
be effected only by economising in the dif-
ferent public departments. The first step towards
effecting this change consisted in the reorganisation
of those departments. This has already been in part
accomplished. The Board of Admiralty has been
reconstituted, and the head of it will now no longer
be only
_rims inter pares, the holder of a divided
authority and a divided responsibility, but he will be
the Minister responsible to the Crown and to Parlia-
ment for all that is done by the Board. The army
has been brought under greater control by the
appointment of Captain VIVIAN as a Lord of the
Treasury, with special supervision over the expendi-
ture of the War Oflice. The work of economy
is still further promoted by the appointment of
Mr. STANSFELD as Third Lord of the Treasury.
Hitherto the Financial Secretary to the Treasury
has been an over-worked man. He has had so much
to do that he could do nothing thoroughly. By giving FINANCIAL REPORT OF THE REFORM LEAGUE.
him assistance it will be possible to watch every At the last meeting of the Reform League Mr.
Edmond Beales presided, and read the report of the
department of the public service, so that if any of
Finance Committee. It included a period of seven
them were found constantly coming to the National months, from May to December in the present year.
Treasury for increased expenditure, the whole A large sum was spent during the elections for the
expenditure would be reviewed. Everyone knows purpose of aiding the working men's candidates in
their canvass. The chairman made an emphatic
how hopeless it is to deal with individual allusion to some reports which had been circulated
items; how endless is the work, how ineffectual it is about the special fund for the election purposes. A
to keep down extravagance. What the nation wants letter was read from Mr. Morley, the treasurer
is a person at the Treasury able and willing to take of * this fund, and in this it was stated that
the management had been most perfectly
a comprehensive view of the policy and finance of carried out. Particulars of the expenses were
administration and of economy in the State. not furnished, but mention was made in general
This person Mr. GLADSTONE believes he has found terms of some of the chief causes of outlay. With
in Mr. STANSFELD, whose celebrated motion some respect to the political attitude of the League during
the late elections, it was observed that the associa-
six or seven years ago was the first step towards that tion had secured a hold upon the constituencies
economy which Mr. GLADSTONE afterwards so such as the democratic party could not pre-
successfully accomplished, and which Mr. DISRAELI viously boast of, although its members had not
achieved any success within their own ranks. Seeing
for a time undid. that the accusation of mismanagement has been
These are the two leading questions which the new made against the League, it is to be regretted that
Ministers will bring before the new Parliament. the charge has not been met with something more
But there are others that may possibly take prece- than a general denial, which, however emphatic, can
never be satisfactory. It is_ one of the articles of the
deuce of these in point of time. In the first place,
Leaguers' creed that diplomacy ought not to be
Mr. GLADSTONE has promised to remove the only secret. It is a pity that this article was not remem-
safeguard which Mr. DISRAELI succeeded in bered when they decided that the items of their
preserving for his Reform Bill. Of ten points
PROPOSED REDUCTION IN THE ARMY
upon which Mr. GLADSTONE insisted, he carried accounts should be kept secret.
letter to the Times on the subject of the Royal
nine, and was beaten on the tenth. He will lose no Marines contains interest for those who study mili-
time in reversing that defeat by abolishing the per- tary matters. The writer trusts that the pruning=
sonal payment of rates. We shall then have house- knife will not be applied to certain corps, among
which he ranks the Royal
.Marines. In connection
hold suffrage pure and simple. It may be asked how
with this subject of reducing the army, he takes for
will Mr. LowE be able to accept this ? The granted that a number of regiments must be with-
answer is not difficult. Mr. LOWE opposed any alte- drawn from India and the colonies. He puts forth
ration of the franchise, but as the nation has decided a programme calculated to suit the requirements of
the case,
and advises the withdrawal of thirteen
otherwise he will not feel bound to maintain a provision regiments from India,to reduce our forces in Canada
which inflicts the maximum of inconvenience without by two regiments, to withdraw the regiments now
any counterbalancing advantage. There are other at Bermuda, the troops at the Cape of Good Hope
matters connected with the franchise which will cer- to be limited to one regiment at Cape Town, and other
arrangements of a similar character in other places.
tainly be brought up in a few weeks. One of the Some battalions, he considers, may be disbanded ;
most influential of the new members, Sir HENRY among them the third battalion of Grenadier Guards.
BULWER, has given notice of a motion in favour of It is suggested that the War Office should consider
the Ballot. Mr. BRIGHT told his constituents on the propriety of breaking up the depot battalions.
The abolition of purchase is mentioned as among the
Monday that there was scarcely a member of the subjects that Parliament will look to with the view
Liberal party who was not in favour of that of improvement, and the return of Sir J. Lawrence
measure ; and Mr. GLADSTONE'S speech at Green- will be of essential service in assisting the reorgani-
wich can scarcely be misinterpreted if we say cation of a native army. in India and the enlistment
of Europeans for special service in the East. The
that he too is prepared to accept it. Even the Con- letter concludes with the suggestion that it should be
servative organs are treating the matter as one made conditional with officers retiring to the half-
which they are ready to consider. The recent elec- pay list that they should give their services to the
tions have shewn the absolute necessity for other militia'
alterations in the means of conducting these contests.
Mr. BRIGHT has pronounced himself favourable to
the abolition of public nomination, to the closing of
public-houses, and to the diminution of the costs
imposed upon the candidates. There can be no
doubt that all these details of a most important
question will be brought forward, and that at least
one of them—the discomfiture of the publicans—will
be adopted.
There is another class of subjects demanding atten-
tion, but which will probably have to wait, though it
must be confessed that they are in everything except
political exigency more urgent than the disestablish-.
ment of the Irish Church. There is Pauperism—the
bankruptcy of the million, as Mr. GOSCHEN calls it—
with its increase of 20 per cent. in the pauperism of
London during the last two years. There is Education,
concerning which Mr. FORSTER tells us only that he
will not recommend compulsion unless the nation is
ready for it, and that we must not be impatient if the
matter is not legislated upon at once. There is Law
Reform, especially the reform of the Bankruptcy
Law. These are all first-class questions, more than
sufficient to occupy a session in which there was no
Reform Bill to be reformed, no Irish Church to be
disestablished. If we get through half of this work,
we shall be happy beyond all expectations. And,
alas ! the sky is by no means clear. There is a
cloud in the horizon, somewhat bigger than a
man's hand already, and only too likely to blaze
forth with the lightning of war. Sixteen years ago
we were engaged in constituting a new Ministry, the
Ministry of All the Talents. It gave us a splendid
programme, and the nation rejoiced in the prospect
of a strong Governinent at last. But almost before
a single measure was passed, theEastem question arose,
and the programme had to be torn up, and
the Ministry was defeated by perhaps the largest
majority ever known. Once more we have a Ministry
of nearly All the Talents ; once more we have a
splendid programme ; and once more the Eastern
question threatens to deluge Europe in blood. Lord
STANLEY foresaw this disaster six weeks ago ' • Mr.
LA.Y.kItD declares that Lord STA-I=Y provoked it.
However that may be, Abeit omen,

THE ADMIRALTY ESTESIATES ADRIFT.

Government secrets sometimes leak out in a very
unexpected manner, though a street cab is hardly the
vehicle for conveying them to the public. It appears,
however, from a case which came lately before the
Lambeth police magistratethat the world had a chance
of getting some insight into the Naval Estimates
for the coming year, through the 'very simple circum-
stance that some official of the Government just gone
out, or of the one that has newly come in, was care-
less enough to leave a cabful of papers at the door of
the South London Music Hall. The cab was engaged
by n apntlemnn of inenendent mAna who
leaving the hail, and who was prooabiy the =me-
diate successor f the previous imprudent occupant,
and this gentleman found the documents just referred
to in a bag, or lying about. The police, having got
scent of the value of the papers, were in such haste
to secure them that they apprehended the holder of
them without the formality of applying for a war-
rant—rather a bold course of proceeding, surely,
It considering that the gentleman could so easily have
been compelled to give up the papers on a proper
order being made. Whether the Circumlocution
Office will take any notice of -this astounding example
of " how not to do " business properly, the world will
probably never learn, though the Admiralty is likely
enough to inquire into it.