The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-20 00:00:00

iHE SUN, Lot ON, TRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 20, 1868.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The nines thinks the close of Mr. Disraeli's speecli io
his constituents on being re-elected was conceived in a
serious and even solemn spirit not unbecoming the occa-
sion, and truly characteristic, as we believe, of the better
nature of a Minister of whom it may be said that none
but himself can be his parallel in English history. Mr.
Disraeli feels that the verdict of the nation has gone
against the Administration ; his words are words of abdi-
cation. Mr. Disraeli does not redeem the character of
his Government for thriftiness, and he is equally unsuc-
cessful in his oft-renewed attempt to claim exclusive
credit for the conduct of foreign affairs. If it were true,
as Mr. Disraeli now suggests, that the state of our
foreign affairs in 1866 was due to . the personal
influence of Lord Russell alone, the argument would be
worthless as a reason for retaining the present Ministry in
office, unless the alternative were that Lord Russell must
again obtain complete control over our foreign relations.
The moment Mr. Disraeli confesses, as he now does by
implication, that the management of the Foreign Office is
not an art peculiar to Lord Stanley, his claim for support
on account of it falls to the ground. The Times declines
to accept Mr. Disraeli's miserable diagnosis of the disease
of the Irish nation. The wrongs we have remedied
have been followed by a great improvement of
the people, though it has not, rrhaps, been
rapid enough for those who do not recognise how
slow must be the advance of a nation ; if we pro-
coed to redress the last traces of injustice, we may
reasonably hope for a more rapid and constant progress.
The contrast between Mr. Disraeli's speech in Bucking-
hamshire and the speech delivered ten days since at the
Mansion House marks the approach of another crisis in
hi 3 mixed career. As he told the electors of Bucks, " a
great deal has been said dur:ng the past fortnight without
much regard to precision of statement," but he practically
acknowledged that the time to be frank, to be simple, to
be open had arrived. We hear no more of " tom-toms "
and " arms of precision." We have instead an appeal to
the sympathetic criticism and judgment of his contempo-
raries, and we make bold to say that, whatever be the
issue of the coming month, the severest political condem-
nation of Mr. Disraeli the Minister will always be
tempered by feelings of personal kindness towards the
ma I.

Tbe Telegraph remarks that no one can vad that long
harangue without admitting that Mr. Disraeli's thoughts
are all in the past, and that his political future has, as
regards the questions of the day, neither hopes, aims, nor
policy. He dwells with painful minuteness on all that
his party has accomplished in administration during the
period they have held office ; but he has not an opinion to
express on the conspicuous problems of the day. To hind
the future is only an unintelligible void, whence in due time
something may emerge, but which he cannot at present
fathom. He does not, indeed, even seek to do so ;he
retir,,, from the effort, and abandons the task to others.
Skilled in deciphering the present and its signs, the
Premier has read the fate of himself and party at
hundreds of polling - booths, and prepares to
bow before the mandate of the British people.
He announces no policy. The explanation is simple,
Now that, for good or evil, the Imperial Parliament is all
but constituted, nothing said at Aylesbury can do much
to modify its elements ; yet, such as it is, the speech of
Thursday challenges doubt and denial. If the English
people had been at all disposed to hesitate in their
verdict on the First Minister, such a speech must have
decided them. They demand a politician who entertain
clear convictions as to the needs of the time, and has the
will to carry those convictions into fruitful action. They
seek, in two words, a statesman and a policy for the(
future, and they have now learned that all which the hest
of the Conservative party can offer is aimless criticism on,
the measures of his opponents, bookish theories on 04
origin of existing evils, and expressions of a vain hope
that those ills may work out their own cure—if statesman.
ship will but stand aloof, with hands folded and averted
face.

Mr. Disraeli makes, so far as the Daily News can judges
only one contribution to the settlement of the Irish quea.
tion. The Irish people rebel for the fun of the thing
" The Irishman is a very imaginative being. He lives in
an island with a damp climate, and contiguous to a
melancholy ocean. With extraordinary talents, he has
no variety of pursuits. Well, then, these men are
discontented because they are not amused." If
this be the real explanation of the matter, Mr.
Disraeli is certainly a statesman qualified above
all others to abate and remove Irish discontent ; for no
one can deny him the faculty of being amusing. The
theory that the whole Irish nation is suffering from
nothing worse than ennui, and that it is bored by the
material prosperity of which Mr. Disraeli describes the
growth, does not promise much in favour of the industrial
remedies at which he hints. The Prime Minister's view
is briefly this, that the Irish people feels itself " blue-
moulded for want of a bating." This doctrine of governing
by amusement originates, we fancy, rather iu Mr. Disraeli's
taste for imperialism than in any deep study of the Irish
temperament. But it is very characteristic of the author.
Mr. Disraeli's speech was generally a dull and common-

place one, and might have been made by Mr. \Yard
Hunt or Sir John raking ton, or any other of the
heavy respectabilities of the Government, with perfect
dramatic propriety. But this is of little moment. Mr.
Disraeli sees that the end is coming, and he
drapes his robes gracefully around h:m and falls with
decorum and dignity. The indulgent interpretation he
claims for the incidental errors of a long career will not
be denied him by any generous opponent. We have not
the slightest disposition to doubt that the good opinion of
his countrymen has always been dearer to him than any
sinister self•interest. It is to be regretted that he has so
often mistaken the means by which alone that good opinion
can be won and securely retained.
The Standard says :—The importance, however, of the
elections decided on Thursday lies, we must repeat, not in
the personal changes made in the three or four seats
gained by the Conservative party. Their significance is
their further testimony to the Conservative sympathies of
the great constituencies which really govern England,
although their votes may apparently be neutralised by
those of the small boroughs, in which the supporters of
Mr. Gladstone have bribed and intimidated with so much

success. .We will not say that Mr. Gladst me may not
have a majority of sixty in the new Parliament, although
we have very good reason to believe that he will not, but if

he has, what would it represent? The great commercialand
industrial centres of England? Certainly not. Themasa of
the population or the electors? As certainly not. It will
represent the small boroughs which he of late years has
denounced as corrupt and stupid, which Mr. Bright
insists should be disfranchised in the very next session of
Parliament. We do not envy him such a victory. We
know well enough that, with a majority furnished by the
small and the priest ridden Irish constituencies, he will
not dare to act with any energy or decision, and will soon
be at loggerheads with his few honest supporters. The
Government, on the other hand, whether it has a majority
or not, will feel that it is supported by the country, and it
will meet Parliament strong in the consciousness of the
confidence of, the largest, wealthiest, and most intelligent
constituencies.

According to the Post, it is p'ain that the country is, as

it ever was, averse from p )11 tfc 11 or social innovations.
No one can fail to remark that a gr( at Liberal majority
has been returned with a Conservative end in view;
Apprehensions respecting the English. Church Establish-
ment have, perhaps, exercised some influence, but
generally we believe that the views 'which have made
the • Liberal majority a real constitutional security
have contributed to the Conseriative gains. The
circumstance that the majority against a professedly
Conservative Government is a majority in favour

of a truly Conservative policy explains itself. The
country is prepared to support any Ministry, Liberal
or Conservative, which consults its interests and inspires
its confidence—that is to say, on the understanding that
measures of improvement are to be practical measures,
that progress shall be steady and safe, and that there is to
be no running off the line ; but a Ministry which is all
things to all men, which makes expediency the rule of its
conduct, and denies to argument what it concedes to agita-
tion, is neither Liberal nor Conservative, and, in its
infirmity of purpose, a danger as veil as a delusion.

The Morning Summary notices that the Liberal papers,
uotwithstanding that their outrageous prophecies regard-
ing their own gains are by no means likely to be fulfilled,
continue their strain of jubilant exultation. They each
blow their own trumpets ; some sonorous and deep, others
shrill and clear as penny whistles, with praiseworthy
energy. Disappointments are cleverly kept in the back-
ground, and nothing is done to dishearten their deluded
followers in the counties that eventual success is certain
and further failure impossib!e. Added to the sound of
their own self-blown trumpets, we get a hammer-
and-tongs chorus from enthusiastic correspondents ;
while ,the intricate mathematical calculations regardin&
the election returns, the artful contrivances for making
the best of their case, and the unblushing impertinence
of the advanced prophets, shew most clearly that the
boastful confidence of a month past is by no means so
sure as it then was. So that the grand and magnificent
flourish of trumpets in which the Times and other Liberal
papers have indulged may be found, after all, to have
been singularly premature and complete'y a mistake.
Amid the thunder of the Cockney thunderer we hear the
undignified brag of Mr. Gladstone in his kt.•st speech.
The thunder is only of the stage, stagPy ; the brag, though
grand and high-sounding, is premature and poor.

The rioting at Newport has caused the death of a
wi,man and her son, who were in the crowd when the
charged, and were caught by bayonets. Another boy
i lin the same way is not expected to live out the
thl

METROPOLI7AN GOSSIP--Thursday.

The Conservatives kept their word in contesting every
metropolitan borough, but they had better have refrained
from the attempt ; it only shewed how hopelessly they
were in the minority in the majority of instances. In
Westminster, as I warned your readers many weeks ago
would be the case, Mr. Mill had a most formidable
opponent, and, as it turned out, a victorious one. In
the City also, as I predicted, the Conservatives won
the minority seat ; but at one period of the day they
had nearlywon three seats,'and at five o'clock great was the
rejoicing in the Conservative committee-room at the
announcement that they had carried all their men. But
the danger had been foreseen, and during the last hour of
the polling the Liberals dropped Baron Rothschild, and
concentrated all their votes upon their three other candi-
dates. As it was they carried three of them by the
narrowest majority. The event shews that they ought to
have dropped the Baron before going to the poll. He
was their weakest candidate ; he was of no sort of use to
them in the City generally, or in the House ; he
did but represent a principle —the right of non-Christians
to sit in the House—and that is represented by half a
dozen other Jews. In the Tower Hamlets the contest was
close only because there were five contending Liberals,
but it was not until the official declaration of the poll that
it was known if the second seat belonged to Coope,
Samuda, or Beales. In allthe other metropolitan boroughs,
even in newly-enfranchised Chelsea, the Liberals have been
returned by very large majorities, in spite of the great
exertions of the clergy. The result of the elections, so far
as London is concerned, is, that whereas it before
returned sixteen Liberals and no Conservatives, it now
returns nineteen Liberals and two Conservatives, two new
seats having been given to Chelsea, two to Hackney, and one
to London University. If Mr. Gladstone should secure his
re-election in South Lancashire, it is probable that Mr.
Mill will be asked to stand for Greenwich, or, failing him,
Mr. Austin Bruce, who has been most unfairly treated at
Merthyr. _

The strong Conservative feeling in Lancashire, of which
I spoke some weeks ago, has been abundantly manifested
this week. In Bolton the Liberals lost a seat ;in Black-
burn, Preston, and Clitheroe the Conservatives retained
all six seats. They won the minority seat in Manchester,
and almost a second; and they won the new borough of
Staleybridge. But the most extraordinary incidents are
the winning of both seats at Salford, the defeat of Mr.
Milner Gibson at Ashton, and the all but defeat of two
Liberals at Oldhain. These are events whose significance
cannot be denied, nor explained away by a Liberal victory
in Wigan or Warrington. They augur ill for the success
of the Liberal candidates at the forthcoming county
elections. If you ask the reason of this unkoked-for
deposit of Conservatism in the lowest class, I answer that
it is due to more than one cause. First and foremost, I
ascribe it to the antipathy which exists between the.
English and the Irish operatives. Hence the fact that the
principal measure now before the country is one for
pleasing the Irish would in itself be sufficient to induce
the English operatives to vote against it. This
animosity has been heightened of late by the
incendiary Murphy, who, while exciting race against
race and causing much bloodshed, has been a valuable
ally of the " Constitutional " party. In the next place,
the operatives have very little love for their employers,
and have not forgiven the opposition which was offered
by the latter to the Ten Hours' Factory Bill. Thirdly,
they still remember with gratitude the active part taken
by Lord Derby during the cotton famine, when men
like Mr. Bright held aloof from the Relief organisation.
These circumstances together have proved too much for
the Liberal party in Lancashire, and hence a serious loss
of seats amounting to a net loss of three, or to four, if we
include the loss at Stockport, which place, though actually
in Cheshire, is virtually a Lancashire borough.
The episcopal appointments have caused very great
dissatisfaction to the Conservative party, as was not
unnatural. Both the bishops who get promotion owed
their elevation to the bench, in the first place, to Liberal
Premiers—the Bishop of Lincoln to Lord Aberdeen, the
Bishop of London to Lord Palmerston. This fact alone
tells against them in the eyes of Tory Churchmen. But
what vexes these most is that the Bishop of Oxford
has not been promoted. They would have borne
the elevation of Dr. Tait to the Primacy with
equanimity, if Dr. Wilberforce had been - translated
to London. But now there is immense disgust, such as
might have seriously influenced the Oxford election if Sir
A. Palmer had gone to the poll, and which did influence
many individual votes throughout the country. Another
cause of disgust is that Mr. Disraeli kept the appoint-
ments a profound secret even from his own colleagues. It
was known, indeed, on Sunday at Whitehall (where the
Bishop of Peterborough was consecrated) that the Bishop
of London had accepted the Primacy, but he
did not know who his successor would be, and
expressed the hope that it might be the Bishop of
• Oxford. On Monday morning the Standard, which has of
late been exclusively favoured by the Government with
ecclesiastical news, announced the three appointments,
and this was the first information that even Mr. Hardy
had of them. No doubt he would have remonstrated in
behalf of his supporters at Oxford if he had been informed
of the Premier's intentions. It was probably for that very
reason that Mr. Disraeli kept them to himself. The truth
is that he bas had a most difficult part to play. The
Queen was resolutely bent upon appointing Dean Stanley
to the see of Canterbury, per saltum. The Premier felt
that this would be fatal to him, and that he must resist it
at all risks. He was prepared to assent to the promotion
of Bishop Tait, but beyond that he could not go. Then
came the question of Bishop Tait's successor. Here he
would gladly have fixed upon the Bishop of Oxford ; but
had he done so, the Queen would have been just as urgent
in her selection of Dean Stanley for that see as
she had been for Canterbury. The result was, that
Mr. Disraeli recommended a prelate who certainly
had no claim to advancement, and whose promotion
satisfies scarcely anybody. The Guardian, a conspicuously
moderate paper, is, on the whole, satisfied, but the Church
News says that the appointments will infallibly lead every
Conservative clergyman to stand aloof at the elections. The
High Church clergy have had no consideration paid to
them, and no one can be surprised if they return Mr.
Disraeli's compliment.
The Hon. Colin Lindsay has denied that he has yet
been received into the Church of Rome. I suspect that
the denial is technical rather than real. It has long been
known to members of the English Church Union that their
late president had serious thoughts of taking that step, in
which he had been preceded by his wife. The greatest

pressure has been exerted by the leading members of the
Union to prevent an act which would be a most serious
blow to their society.
Dr. Lee, of " Directoritim Anglicanum " notoriety, and
the editor of the Church News, has sent in his resignation
as a member of the English Church Union. He declares
that the Union " has created and brought into activity
that most mischievous school of eoclesiastical politicians,

the High Church Radicals," and that Radicalism, what-
ever its allies, will only swell the rank of Anglo-Romans
on the one hand, and of unbelievers on the other. The
same forcible writer calls Dean Stanley " the Broad
Church ' Father Claret ;" and yet the writer, who by
insinuation compares Queen Victoria with Queen Isabella,
is of such profound loyalty that he cannot associate with
a Radical even on common ground.

A large party of Africans are now staying at th
Langham Hotel, who have come to England on a
political mission from the Sultan of Zanzibar. When
Seyed Said the late Sultan of Zanzibar and Muscat,
died, he divided the provinces between his two sons,
on the understanding that Zanzibar was to pay
to Muscat such a sum as the Governor-General of India
might award. This sum was fixed at 40,000 dollars
annually, and it has hitherto been paid. Some time since
the Sultan of Muscat was murdered by his own son, who
now reigns in his stead, and the Sultan of Zanzibarhas a con-
scientious objections to paying the subsidy to his paricidal
nephew. With the view of obtaining relief he has sent a
mission to England, in the expectation that Sir Stafford
Northcote will relieve him of the payment. Whether Sir
Stafford has the power or the inclination to interfere in
the matter remains to be seen. So far the elections have

prevented any progress in the business of the embassy.
Although the elections must have cost the spending
class little less than two millions sterling, I suppose that
there is still some money going in London. The chief
Regenti-street fruiterer evidently believes that there is.
His shop window is full of wonderful fruit—apples of
splendid hue, pears of gigantic size. For the latter
he asks the modest sum of 24 guineas a dozen. Two
guineas for a single: pear might make even the Marquis
of Westminster or Lord 0 verstone hesitate before he took
a bite.
The Echo has not yet made its voice heard, although
one would have thought that the projectors of a new
journal would have launched their venture, especially an
evening journal, in time for the elections. Machinery is
being erected capable of turning out 80,000 copies in an
hour. Mr. Arthur Arnold, who was one of the Govern-
ment Commissioners in Lancashire during the cotton
famine, is to he the editor. The Censor, one of the
humorous comic journals, has ceased to exist. Judy is
more vigorous than ever, and has this week one of the
cleverest cartoons ever drawn, and which quite bears out

what I have already said as to Mr. Disraeli's supposed
official longevity. Charles Dickens fits succeeds his father
as editor of All the Year Round. Messrs. Bradbury and
Evans have paid Victor Hugo £l,OOO for the right of trans-
lating his new novel, " By the King's Order ;" and they
will publishit in Once a Week. The article in the Edinburgh
Review on the Papacy and the French Revolution is by
Mr. William Stigand. The elections seem to interfere
with literature. Very few new books are announced,

though we are close upon the great publishing season.
Messrs. Blackwood are publishing Lord Lytton's
translations from Horace. Messrs. Tinsley have ready
"Essays in Defence of Women." Messrs. Low and Marston
will publish shortly Du Chaillu's new book of travels.
Messrs. Rivingtons will publish " immediately" the post-
humous charge of the late Archbishop of Canterbury.
The annuals will be numerous this year, though Mr.
Dickens has decided to publish none. While the pro-
prietor of the Atheneum, Sir Wentworth Dilke, has been
defeated at Wallingford, his son, the author of " Greater
England," has defeated Dr. Russell, of the Times, at
Chelsea ; and Mr. Eastwick, a contributor to the Atheneum,
has won at Falmouth. Finally, the library of the late
Lord Chancellor Cranworth is being sold to-day by
Puttick and Simpson.

FOREIGN NOTES.

.MERICA.

The state of affairs in the South is the great American
question of the day. Allowing a liberal discount to the
reports which come from the late slaveholding States,
enough substantial horror remains to prove that the law
in these districts is in abeyance, and that anarchy reigns
supreme. There are COO United States soldiers in New
Orleans, but they can do little or nothing. The residences
and club-rooms of the Republicans are broken into
and sacked, and the nightly average of murders is more
than a score. The Governor of Louisiana is obliged
to hide himself, and so are many others of the leading
Republicans. General Reynolds, says the Nation, is to be
removed from command in Texas, Mr. Johnson being
dissatisfied with him for his attempts to suppress the
horrors in that State. Arkansas has had a fight between
fifty negroes and a party of white men, in which the
former were defeated. In the same State six men were
shot " for being Radicals." In Alabama a Radical meet-
ing was broken up by the highly effective means of a well-
directed fire. Judge Horton and two negroes were killed.
Florida is said to be the only Southern State in which
Northern men may settle in security.

The great prize-fight question is settled for some time.
The two met and fought a little while, but the police inter-
fered to very good purpose, and captured both combatants.
They were taken before a justice, and were ordered to give
bonds in some £l,lOO for their appearance in January
next. The money not being forthcoming, they were
remanded to prison.
Much dissatisfaction is said to prevail in Canada at the
intended removal of the British troops. This feeling does
not arise from fear at the Dominion being left partially
undefended, but rather because the troops are a source of
profit which the good people of Canada do not like to part
with.