The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-30 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

The Times, calling attention to the motion made by
Lord Russell in the House of Commons in 1835, points out
that Mr. Clads tone's resolution is almost identical with
that of the Whig peer. Lord Russell moved, precisely
thirty-three years ago, " That this House resolve itself into a
committee of the whole House to consider the temporalities of
the Church of Ireland ;" and a little before three o'clock
in the morning of the following Saturday the motion was
carried by 322 against 289 votes. On Monday, the 30th
March, 1868, after more than the lifetime of a generation,
Mr. Gia&tone will rise to propose his motion. Once more
the Irish Church will be made the subject of assault, and
it is not a little remarkable that the leader of the attack
on this occasion both voted and spoke against Lord
Russell's earlier motion. Is there any reason, the Times
asks; why Mr. Gladstone's proposal to go into committee
on the Irish Church in 1868 should be less warmly supported
than Lord John Russell's in 1835? There is one consider.
able reason, and, as it is the only one which appears to us
of any force, it is right that it should be brought at once
to the front and examined. If on examination it prove
insuperable, the proposal to go into committee must fail,
If it prove insufficient, the opposition fails, for no other
reason can be adduced capable of successful advocacy.
The single argument against Mr. Gladstone's proposal it
that the success of 1835 led to nothing. Sir Robert'Pe4
quitted office, and the Melbourne Administration assume
the direction of affairs. But the promised reform of the
Irish Establishment was never effected, and from that time
to this its essential condition had remained unchanged. IA
may be rema*ed, however, that the failure in 1835 was
due to the action of the Upper House. The temper of
the peers has now changed, and there is every reason to
believe that they would consider this motion in a different
spirit from their predecessors. The objection raised, there-
fore, is untenable.

The Post observes that the method adopted by the
Government is extremely unusual. Whilst opposing the
first step for bringing Mr. Gladstone's resolutions under
the notice of the House, they do not ignore their tenour by
simply meeting the motion thatthe Speaker leave the chair
with a formal negative. Instead of doing so, they suggest
the affirmation by the House of something in the nature
of a resolution bearing a faint resemblance to those which
they refuse to entertain. This, to say the least, is
rather disingenuous. What possible object can be
gained by asking the House solemnly to declare
that under some possible circumstances, which are
neither known nor defined, some particular legis-
lation equally nnascertained may become expedient ?
As to the form, the Post is of opinion that Mr. Gladstone
will move that the House do resolve itself into a committee
for the purpose of considering the resolutions of which he
has given notice, and Lord Stanley will thereupon move
his amendment. On the issue thus raised a debate will
follow, which will last the week, and in which the entire
question of disestablishment will be thoroughly ventilated.
If the Government are victorious, the matter will then end.
If, however, they are beaten, the discussion of the resolu-
tions in committee will take place after the recess.

The Daily New declares that no language could be
worse chosen than that of Lord Stanley's motion. What
the House is called on to do is not, like a defaulting bank-
rupt anxious to conceal the truth of his delinquencies, to
admit something. but to express an opinion not to make
an admission which, when made. amount to **thing
but idle words, but tr- declare its opinion as to the con-
tinuance of the Irish Church.

No doubt, says the Standard, Mr. Gladstone would
have been exceedingly gratified if the Government had
elected to meet him with " a manly negative," which
might have been construed as implying that it absolutely
declined to recognise the necessity for instituting reforms
in the Irish Church ; but that would have exposed
Ministers to an unfair interpretation, seeing that they
sedulously abstained from committing themselves to that
extent. They are ready to proceed to legislate, when they
have the warrant of the Royal Commission for doing
so, and pending this they ask the House to declare
that the violent action proposed by Mr. Gladstone is
premature. It is the conviction that this amendment
bits the blot in the programme of the Opposition chie%
and that it indicates a policy on the part of the GoverbJ
meat which may fairly be expected to receive the support
of moderate men of all parties, which dictates this out-
burst of Liberal spleen and vituperation. The Cave is
being re-established, and the Tea-room party enlarged, and
there is a fair prospect that by the co-operation of those
Liberals who can afford to be independent, the chances of
Mr. Gladstone and the office-seekers may be foiled, and
the grand work of the session carried to a successful con.
summation. The party of faction is nervous, apprehensive,
almost despairing. Otte can readily pardon the angry ill
temper bred of disappointment and envenomed by the sense
of coming defeat.

Several of the morning papers discuss the judgment
of Sir Robert Phillimore in the matter of Martin v.
llackonochie. The Times observes that the most charac-
teristic innovations of the Ritualists are pronounced to be
contrary to the law of the English Church. The signifi-
cance of such a decision is not to be measured merely by
the number of acts condemned. These practices were the
culminating points of the innovations. They were the
outward expression of the peculiar doctrines of the party,
and their condemnation amounts to an authoritative decla-
ration that the characteristic doctrines of the Ritualists
cannot receive their natural expression without con-
flicting with the law of the English Church. With regard
to the issue of the appeal of which notice is given, the
leading journal has no doubt, if the prosecutions are judi-
ciously conducted. If our Articles will not restrain
Burnish doctrines and Romish ceremonial, it can only he
concluded that all legal restrictions are worthless. The
Articles were drawn up for this purpose, and can scarcely
fail to fulfil it. If the result should be otherwise, we must
adapt ourselves to it as best we may. We all stand upon
la* in public matters, and to abide by it is the only secu-
rity for peace. We cannot share the horror which is
sometimes expressed at ecclegjastical prosecutions, fo
experience has shown that the Anal decision of the Judi-
cial Committee, however unwelcome at first, has in the
end always allayed theological animosity.

It may, perhaps, says the Daily News, help to a clearer
understanding of what this judgment really effects--sup-
posing, of course, that it is not appealed against by either
party—if we consider what changes will be noticed at the
" high celebration " at St. Alban's, Holborn, next Easter
Sunday by a spectator familiar with the general aspect
which the church presented on the same day last year.
He would probably, if unaccustomed to the ceremonial
adopted in Ritualist churches, have been struck on first
entering with the decorations of the altar and the unusual
colour of its coverings. In this respect there will be no
char whatever. On either side of the cross,
'doe° vied by the same authority stood last
Zac,er two lighted candles. Under Sir Robert Phil-
limore's judgment they will stand there next
Easter too. When the officiating clergy entered the
church, our • imaginary observer would have noticed
the peculiar shape and hue of their vestments.
This species of ornament is so obviously within the law
that the promoters of the late suit were not advised to dis.
p" it. As the service proceeded he would have been
ce-•-o;ous of the presence of incense ; but on this point,
the judgment of the Court of Arcnes makes no
actual change, for the practice of " ceasing persons and
things," wlxich is much more than the use of incense in
worship, and which was alone charged in the Articles, has
been abandoned since the close of 1866. So, too, with
regard to the elevation of the consecrated elements. One
departure, however, from the usages hitherto adopted at
St. Alban's there will be. Formerly, when the wine was
poised into the chalice, just before the Prayer for the
'church Militant, a few drops of water were poured in
first. This is now declared illegal, and if the observer's
eye is very keen and his attention very fixed he will
d'oubtiess detect the ormi6sion. lip to the present time
this is the whole appreciable result of the prosecution of
Mr. Mackonochie.

The Telegraph passes what can hardly be called a
eulogiam on the late Earl of Cardigan, or, as he was
called before his elevation to the peerage, Lord Brudenell.
Handsome in person, a splendid liorseman, eager to dis-
tinguish himself, Lord Brudenell would probably have
become a firstrate cavalry leader had he not possessed a
painful defect—a temper which he had not been trained to
control, and a manner harsh and overbearing. No sooner
had fortune presented him with the command of a regi-
ment, than his imperious nature broke out. He quar-
relled with Major Wathen upon a point of regimental
etiquette ; a court-martial followed ; Lord Brudenell was
censured and placed on half pay. In less than two years
after his disgrace he found means to get himself replaced
on full pay, and restored to the command of a regiment,
the 11th Hussars, then in India. Thither he proceeded
in 1832, and apparently the officers of the 11th
were prejudiced against their commander, and the
foundation was laid for those quarrels which broke
out so violently when the regiment returned home.
When he had brought the regiment home the whole
country rang with his name and his doings. Within two
years he had insulted one captain, by reprimanding him
for the grave delinquency of introducing Rhine wine in a
"black bottle " at a grand mess banquet ; he had provoked
another into a breach of discipline, which ended in the
expulsion of the injured man from the service ; he had
fought a duel with a third, and had been tried for felony
by his peers ; and, fresh from this ordeal, so little did he
care for public opinion, he had flogged a man at Hounslow
Barracks after parade on a Sunday afternoon ! The
best that could he said of him was that he erred
through excess of zeal ;. the worst,- that he yielded to the
promptings of an arrogant and despotic temper.