The Sun.
London, England, 1868-04-21 00:00:00

OF THE rim LO OURNALL

The Times asks where Mr. GlaciFAne was on therf;st
night after the holidays. It ma. f not,/ continues the lead-
ing journal, be easy to answer, and, -
indeed,
we are not
called upon to pursue an able At meni ber into Wales, or
Scotland, or any other setwoat where, be may be enjoying
an extra holiday. It townly where Mr. Glad-
stone was not. He We:4 not in the House of Commons.
The consequences of his absence ratty be readily under-
stood. It was not merely the Oppc,sition seeking their
leader and finding him not ; the whob House awaited his
presence to challenge the head of the, Ministry to declare
his intentions as to the future course of public business.
The occasion had arisen when the leader of, the Opposi-
tion was bound to remember that he eras a servant of the
people, only next in importance to the First Minis-
ter of the Crown. If Mr. Disraeli. had refused to
explain the course he intended to take,. it became Mr.
Gladstone to point out what must be d one, and to insist,
with the weight of a leader who has a niajority of sixty to
support him, that there must be no miscarriage in the re-
mainder of the session. But Mr. Gladstone was absent,
and members, after privately cliscursing this new way how
not to ~et through the business bf Parliament, left Mr.
to deliver himself of his broad criticisms on
Indic :ministration to a coterie of Indian members. It
denied that a great opportunity was lost. We
at ml.e parting of the ways. If anything is to be done

crtnn(

t insure the performance of the special work of the
.4e,,sion, it must be done at once. The only way to check

irrelevant discussions, to prevent the waste of time
ova• projects which cannot be brought to maturity,
and to keep Parliament to its proper business, is
to prescribe the course to be followed. This is
true of every man's private life, where he is himself the
master of his own actions, and can amend a blunder by his

single resolution. It is doubly and trebly true of a compo-
site body like the House of Commons, made up of mem-
bers with different aims and objects, who cannot be
brought back (within bounds when they have once out-
stripped them. We need not say a word of the urgency
of the present occasion. The ordinary business of the ses-
sion is in unparalleled confusion and arreas ; and the
Reform Bills are practically untouched, although
they are, by the nature of the case, as indis-
pensable parts of the year's work as the passing
of the Estimates and the voting of Ways and Means.
Under such circumstances it is deplorable that a night
should have passed without a distinct understanding that
the future labours of the session must be restricted to
those pressing and imperative duties. The error must be
corrected at once if either Ministry or Opposition is to be
credited with a sincere desire to perfect the work they
have begun. If Mr. Disraeli does not volunteer a state-
ment of the Ministerial intentions, he must be challenged
by Mr. Gladstone. If Mr. Gladstone fails, the duty must
be undertaken by some other member of the House of
Commons.

The Daily News expected that Mr. Disraeli would have
seized the first opportunity of informing the House of the
line of conduct which be intended to adopt. But he was as
still as a mouse. He was not challenged to make any
explanation, nor did he volunteer one. The divergence of
opinion which exists between Mr. Hardy and. Lord Stanley
was clearly disclosed in the late debate. With a Hardy
and a Stanley in the Cabinet, there must of necessity be
a Hardy party and a Stanley party there, and Mr.
Disraeli's attempts to manipulate them may prove as
futile as Vivian Grey's endeavours to make the Marquis
of Carabas and Mr. Courtenay play his political game.
Mr. Frederick Stanley's letter and General Peel's speech
prove that the Conservative party is as little united
without as within the Cabinet. The union of the Liberal
party is as complete as the disunion of the Government
and its followers. The majority who voted for going into
committee on the Irish Church Establishment virtually
pledged themselves to action upon it; or why go into
committee at all ? They will certainly not be content
with the barren victory of an abstract resolution. Mr.
Gladstone may be trusted to persevere to the end of the
course on which he has deliberately entered, and he will
be supported by the Liberal party out of doors, and by
everyone in Parliament who desires to count as one of
its representatives.

The Standard observes that only the Times and its
clients will be surprised that the House of Commons
should have entered, as soon as the time came for the con-
sideration of public business, upon the orders standing
upon the paper. The thin attendance shewed that mem-
bers did not anticipate a statement, which was abso-
lutely unnecessary, and would have been, indeed, an
act of singular absurdity. The leader of the Opposition
was not in his place, knowing perfectly well that nothing
of th- kind would be volunteered, and that he would
)1,13, I.,ake himself ridiculous by asking for it. The
Government has appealed to the country, and desires
no lelay in the delivery of its verdict. But before that
verdict can be given, the jury must be formed, and that
is a work of some difficulty and of some time. But the
length of the time required depends upon the Opposition,
and not upon the Government. What the Government
wards is the adoption, with all convenient speed, of the
Fc,,t.cl, and Irish Reform Bills—the Boundary Bill, the
Briberl and Corruption Bill, so that the new and enlarged
constit, odes may at once say what is their will. The
Opposition may materially expedite the passage of these
measures. It can, if it pleases, materially delay or alto-
gether pr, :ent their adoption. We hope it will take the
more hail, arable course, and help, as the Times admits it
ought, the Government to advance the time for the general
election. Do, hoviever, what it will, this much we can
say, with all confidence, that the Government and the
Conservative party will spare no exertion to complete the
Reform Act and hasten the day for the meeting of the Par-
liament which is to more faithfully represent the people of
the United Kingdom.

The Telegraph rerr arki upon the great business before
the House this session. First, the English Reform Bills
have to be concluded. The boundaries of the boroughs
have to be defined. A bill for promoting purity of elec-
tions must be passed. Then we have a formidable list of
questions opened up by the proposed Scotch and Irish
Reform measures. As the a lendments already placed on
the notice-book indicate, the whole system of our small
borough representation will be debated, through the issue
raised by the proposal to give addititional members to
Scotland. Nor is there any reason to suppose that the
Irish Bill will fare much better. It has been so framed as
to irritate important interests and to conciliate no in-
fluential or hearty support. Yet, in one mode or other,
both measures must be passed into law before we can ad-
vance to the much wider and more trying issues which an
early future has in store for us. All this work—a labour
vast enough to employ a long session—lies before the
Government.

While net over-rating the Royal visit to Ireland, the
Herald remarks that its undoubted success cannot but be
regarded as throwing great light on the condition of Irish
affairs. In the first place, Ireland is not slipping away
from us so fast as we expected. Its people have nut by
any means become that indeterminate quantity in our
political system which some alarmists represented. The
people are not yet all Yankees, nor vile Fenians or Ribbon-
men. They are changing for the better in material circum-
stances, hut the old ideas still influence the nation, and it is
through them we must learn to govern the people for their
good. Fenianism may not be quite gone, but it is going.
The one sad event of last week—the Ribbon murder in
Westmeath—is an evidence of this of some value. As
long as Fenianism was flourishing all the lawlessness of
the country was absorbed in the movement. Now that
the movement is dying Ribbonism attempts a resurrec-
tire. But revived Ribbonism will yield to the improving
cit...mmstances of the country more readily than Fenianism
has done. The last great lesson which these events teach
us is that the Irish people set such store by the presence of
the Royal Family as few on this side of the Channel can
altogether appreciate. In the encouragement of this feel-
ing and in the beneficial consequences which will flow
from the example thus set by royalty, there is much more
tellable prospect of serving Ireland than in any specula.
tive legislation.

The Post answers its " own correspondent" in the matter
of the dashing" policy pursued by Sir Robert Napier in
Aby ia. As Sir Robert Napier has a more mature
:It, a greater experience, and much better info a-
ti,n thin his critics, and a. s, moreover, he proved himself
ight on the former occasion, the Post rests satisfied with
the course which he has deemed it best to pursue. Al.
though the latest telegrams and the most recent informa-
tion from the prisoners had seemed to establish that
Theodore was absolutely inside Magdala, it is now to be
inferred from the letters brought by this mail that
although he had crossed the Bashilo he had not entered
the fortress, and hence, no doubt, the anxiety o! the
Cemiraander-in-Chief to push on to intercept the
if possible, before he could get his guns over
the remaining ten miles between the river and the cap-
tivci. The evident advantages of being able to effect this

wmll,l probably be considered by the Commander-in-Chief
so great as to justify the risk of pushing on without his
guns, and with but a fraction of the attacking force, trust-
ing to being reinforced from the rear in sufficient time for
the engagement which in all probability could not be
brought on before he chose. The uneasiness and uncer-
tainty said to be exhibited by Theodore seems to indicate
that, like other politieal adventurers, he has no fixed
policy, and that he intended to be guided entirely by
circumstances. The more rapid advance, therefore, of the
British troops must have occurred very opportunely, at a
time when such an exhibition of force and energy
would probably have had great effect in swaying his
clanictinn.