The Sun.
London, England, 1868-09-01 00:00:00

Ml?. HOES lAN ON THE HOUSE OF LORDS.

Mr. Heitman writing to the Scotsman, proposes several
substantial reforms of the House of Lords. The following
is the gist of his letter:—lle commences by pointing out
that though the House of Commons has been reformed by two
resolutions, the House of Lords has been retained in statu quo.
This has caused the Lords to 133 " shunted" for ell practical
purposes. He thinks a second chamber needful. hereforo
he proposes to reform the Upper House. "My first propel
sal," he continues, "is to eliminate the bishops, and I can'
only hear of one objection to the change, of which the utilitj
is not denied. It is said that bishops in the Lords are a
part of our ancient constitution. But, if that b 3
true, our answer is that the constitution was changed
by the Reformation. In the Homier Church eccle-
siastical dignity is united with temporal power,
and un,'e- our Roman Catholic sovereigns the highest
offices of state were held by eules'az t:c3. Put in these
days we reject the union of spiritu and temporal power,
and we repudiate the title of the clergy to be the Church.
"Of course," continues the member for Stroud, "if a Libe-
ral Government were to propose such a change, the cry of
Church in danger would be raised by their opponents;
but I am convinced that, if a Conservative Minister
could educate his Cabinet into entertaining the mea-
sure, five-sixths of the parochial clergy would hail
it with delight, and there would not be a division
and hardly a protest against it in the House of Commons.
I next propose the creation of Life Peers—not at the
discretion of the Minister, but limited to those official
peerages as to which the Minister has now no discretion.
The creation of Law Peers has been termed the creation of
pauper Peers ; and Lord Palmerston endeavoured in the
case of Lord Wensleydale to found a new rule that Law
Peerages should be for life. It was a very wise policy
unfortunately defeated by the short-sighted and mis-
chievous opposition of Lord Derby. My life peer-
ages, therefore, would be limited to cases where the
rule has already been established by political necessity,
or where public opinion would endorse it as a national re-
ward for personal distinction. My third proposal would glve
to the Lords something of a representative character. The
present number of the Lords, spiritual and temporal, is about
460—a larger deliberative assembly than is known out of
England. Lords are born legislators. They are idle and
rich men, who give little thought to politics, and the
public business is transacted by a small section. More-
over, there are no less than 41 Irish and Scotch Peers
who sit as the mere nominees of the Conservative
Leader of the day, having been elected according to a
list which he has circulated among the Peers of his party. I
propose that out of this whole body 100 Peers should be
elected to represent the rest, as the Scotch and Irish
Peers now represent them, and that these and the ex-ojicio
Peers, possibly including the judges, should compose the
Senate. lam bound to confess that I have as yet no satis-
factory mode of election to propose. Different modes
have been suggested to rne, more or less feasible, but, as
my object now is not to table a complete and perfect plan,
but rather to throw out suggestions for public discussion to
mature, I refrain from indicating any of the courses be-
tween which my own mind is not yet made up. Of course
I may be told that an assembly of Peers elected
by their own order would represent a very narrow con-
stituency. I admit it, but we must proceed gradually. It
will be a great step gained to reduce the number of the
Upper House, improve its constitution, ( litnivate the inert
element, and infuse an earnest and energetic business cha-
racter. Further changes must still bo neccssmy, and still
greater improvements will no doubt be made.

Lord Doneraile writes, in contradiction of a report
which has appeared, to say that he has nothing to do with
the scheme for a "Cork Derby."

A Jew, the owner of a house in Vilna which
caught fire, cried out, "Fire, fire!" in the Polish language,
the use of which is forbidden in the streets. The next
day he was brought up before the magistrate, and fined
twenty-five roubles for violating-the law.

A munificent offer bas been made by Mr. J. Day,
a member of the Town Council of Dewsbury, with
the object of promoting the erection of an infirmary
for that town and district. Mr. Day has offered to subscribe
£2,500 if £50,000 should be raised, £2,000 if £40,000 only
be subscribed, and so on in proportion to .£20,000. The
offer will be open for twelve months, and, should the effort
be accomplished, Mr. Day promises further to subscribe £5O
a year towards the maintenance of the institution.

EXTRAORDINARY LEAP.—Colonel Enimerick, a
..portsman and soldier, being pursued by a party of light
horse when going with despatches from his commander-in-
chief, the late Duke of Brunswick, rather than surrender,
leaped with his horse a precipice of thirty-six feet fall,
without receiving any injury, and continued his route.
In commemoration of this bold and gallant daring, his
statue, and that of his steed, was erected on the spot, at
Brucksel, in Germany, as a monument of his zeal and in-
trepidity.—Annals of Sporting.

THE SCOTCH SALMON FISHING'S. —The reports
from Scotland show an improvement in the salmon fishery
and a most successful season on the Dee and Don is just
closed. For several years past the average number of fish
taken has not by a long way equalled the catches of the
last few months. During the late drought the fishing fell
off materially, the quality of the salmon being also inferior ;
but of late, since the rivers have been again swollen by e
rain, the fish have improved both in quantity and
quality. The catch at the Don cruives on the closing
day was very large.

ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE AND CIRCUS,
HOLBORN.
Inauguration of the London Season. Fresh Engagements and
a Host of Attractions. First appearance of M. NAPOLI, the
Italian Hercules; M. LOZADA, the celebrated French Prestidi-
gitateur and Equilibrist ; and ALMONTI and DELEVANTI, the
rench Clowns.

ONRA, the Sensation of London.
ONR.A, every evening, in his Flying Trapeze Act, as performed
before the l'rince and Princess of Wales.

ONRA'S Terrific Flights ou Two Bars.
0 Ineredible Somersaults and Pirouettes.
ONRA, the most wonderful and perfect performer ever
witnessed.

The incomparable Scenes in the Arena as usual, including M.
SAmwell's wonderful performing Dogs.
Open at half-past Seven, commence at Eight. Morning Per-
formance, Wednesday and Saturday, at Half-past Two. Children
under ten, half-price to morning performance only.
N.8.-45n and after Monday, Sept. 7, the doors will open at 7,
performance commencing at half-past.