The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

The Times finds fault) with the present mode of parlia-
mentary procedure. If there were any sufficient reason')
for retaining the statute of Anne, the effects of it might
be borne with patience ; but it is in fact never anything
more than an embarrassment, and under favourable cir-
cumstances it shines as a unique expedient for causing
trouble and provoking unnecessary expense. Sometimes,
in spite of the feeling which exists that the practice is
unfair, the temptation of worrying or of plunder-
hig a candidate who has taken office is too
strong to be resisted. Sir John Coleridge, for
instance, was returned by a comparatively small
majority for Exeter, and yet by a majority large enough
to bo decisive ; and it is inconceivable that the fact of his
having become Solicitor-General and been knighted

would alienate his supporters ; yet it was, we believe,
debated for a short time whether his re-election should not
be opposed. And all this for a statute the reason of
which has passed away. Who can now pretend to appre-
hend danger from the power of the Crown? We can
remember many instances in which uncertainty about

re-election has hindered the accession to a Government of

a member who would have been a valuable addition to

it, but to whom the expense and labour of a contest

would Lave been a serious difficulty. We can remember

none in which the necessity of the sanction of a consti-
tuency to the taking of office has punished an improper

combination ; we have never heard of any instance in
which it has prevented it. There is, in fact, nothing but
a vague and idle sentiment of Conservatism to oppose to
its abolition ; and it must now be a matter of regret to all
who consider it that the proposition to repeal the Act,
when made in the Reform discussions of 1867, escaped
attention in the multiplicity of topics which then engaged
attention.

The Standard says it must be accepted as rather

ominous of the new state of things in Parliament that
several of the notices of motion yesterday were of a
nature to proclaim the advent of a. novel influence. Evi-
dently members were in a hurry to shew how completely
they were in accord with Mr. Gladstone in his latest mood.
Motions to repeal the income tax unconditionally—to

abolish the rating clauses in the Reform Act—to assimi-
late the laws relating to the succession to real property
to those affecting personal property—to alter the system
of registration —to cast the expenses of elections

upon the boroughs and counties were among
the first notified on the first day of the householder Parlia-
ment. Most significant of all was a notice of motion
given by Mr. Maguire, bearing upon the question of cor-
porate property in Ireland. The intention of the member
for Cork is to move that it is undesirable that corporations
should be holders of landed property, and that it is the
duty of the Government to relieve them of such property,
in order that it may be . sold to private persons, with
special rights of pre-emption to the existing occupiers.
We commend this motion of a supporter of the
Government to the electors of the City of London.
Here, then, we have, even earlier than we had
anticipated, a precise realisation of what we had
predicted as a necessary consequence of Mr. Gladstone's
Irish Church policy. No sooner is the new House of
Commons formed, which was elected to serve Mr. Glad-
stone, than we have a distinct intimation that the property
of all other corporations is to be no more sacred from
assault than is the property of the Irish Church. " Con-
fiscation," as Mr. Disraeli said, "is contagious." We see
how quickly he has caught the prevailing contagion, or,
rather, how eager he is to proclaim the infection. The
signal being given of a raid upon existing institutions,
Mr. Maguire has only responded in strict logical sequence.
The Herald observes that the means by which some of
the private members mean to signalise themselves in the
course of the coming year are instructive, if not important.

Mr. Vernon Harcourt has lost no time in sheaving that he
means, if he can, to take a very active and influential
position in the House of Commons. He intends to move
for a committee to inquire into the laws relating to the
registration of voters. Mr. Hardcastle, having lost his
church-rates question, has taken up the game laws—not,
however,"as it would seem, with a view to their total abolition.
Mr. Locke King rides his old hobby, and proposes to assimi-
late the law of succession to real to that which obtains with
regard to personal property. Mr. Fawcett, fresh from an
expensive contest at Brighton, announces his intention to
make another effort to throw the costs of elections upon
the rates ; and Mr. Sheridan, with the modesty which
characterises him, intends to ask Parliament to repeal the
ratepaying clauses of the Reform Act. But the two most
remarkable notices are those given by Mr. Maguire and
an honourable member whose name the reporters do not
give, but who is destined to remain but a few hours in
the obscurity which now involves him. Mr. Maguire, who,
it must be remembered, has the credit, according to the
member for Greenwich, of having opened the Prime
Minister's eyes to the real condition of things in Ireland,
and whose patriotism and ability Mr. Gladstone,
mindful probably of some fervid laudations pronounced
upon him by the member for Cork, has guaranteed with
a superfluity of assurances, proposes nothing less than the
revocation of the charters of the City Companies which
own estates in Ireland, and the sale of their pos-
sessions, a right of pre-emption being given to the tenants.
The other notice is of an intention to call attention to the
over taxation of the country, with a view to provide a
remedy. Here is, indeed, a subject worthy of the largest
powers. We admire the courage of the " great unknown"
who has undertaken it, and all we hope is that he will get
a very early day for introducing it. It would be a national
calamity if Mr. Lowe should be compelled to frame his
Budget before the honourable member has an opportunity
of showing what remedy is to be found for over-taxation.
The Daily News thinks that if the best sign of common
wisdom is the recognition of a truer wisdom—if a nation
and a representative assembly do all that can be reason-
ably expected of them when they shew a discernment of
the problems that await solution, and pick out with
sagacity the men who are competent to solve them, the
Parliament of Household Suffrage and the men who have
chosen it have not been wanting. The intellectual average
of the House of Commons has been considerably reduced
by the rejection of men like Mr. J. S. Mill, Mr. Roebuck,
Mr. Horsman, Mr. Osborne, and other eminences of diffe-
rent kinds and degrees. But these gentlemen were rejected
not on account of the qualities in which they were supe-
rior to ordinary men, but for the unfortunate promi-
nence which they succeeded in giving to qualities in
which they fell below the average good sense and right
judgment of their constituents. The academic Liberals
who have sat at the feet of Mr. Mill and Mr. Goldwin
Smith underwent a great discomfiture at the last eeneral
election. But they chose to present themselves to small
and corrupt constituencies, in which they might have
anticipated failure. The election of Mr. Parker for
Perthshire, of Mr. Fawcett for Brighton, and of
Mr. Trevelyan for the Border Boroughs, is a proof
that if the battle-fields had been better chosen
the academic Liberals might have made good
their claims to parliamentary honours. The defeat
of Mr. Milner Gibson, Mr. Austin Bruce, and Lord Har-
tington was due to local and passing causes from which
it would be absurd to generalise. These and other eminent
men, unfortunately thrown out at the general election,
will probably find their way back into Parliament as vacan-
cies occur. The House of Commons as it now stands is
fairly representative of the country. The beginning of a
gradual change is visible in its composition. The direct
representation of the aristocracy within its walls
is appreciably, if slightly, reduced; other classes
have gained a corresponding proportion of power.
If pure thought and high culture and the direct interests
of the working classes are too sparsely represented, it is
because pure thought and high culture have not yet entered
in alliance as close as might be desired with common
. sense, and because the working classes have not had time
to sift men truly representative, from the herd of pre-
tenders who on their own prompting have rushed to the
front. The Parliament of 1868 cannot avoid judgment;
but it may fairly protest against being prejudged.
The withdra,Wal of the Greek and Turkish Ambassadors
from Constantinople and Athens respectively suggests to
the Post some discussion on the Protectorate of Greece
by England, France, and Russia. The sole motive
which directed that protectorate was the desire of
affording to Greece, by securing her from molesta-
tion,. the opportunity of maintaining a respectable
position among the States of Europe. Up to
the present, however, even her most enthusiastic
admirers must admit she has done nothing to justify the
hopes . which were entertained concerning her. Her
domestic affairs have been wretchedly mismanaged. No
attempt has been made to retrieve the disgrace which
attaches to her in the money markets of Europe ; nor has
she sought in any way to gain the respect or confidence of
other States. She conceives, apparently, that her real
mission is to drive the Turk out of Europe,
and to substitute the Cross for the Crescent on
the dome of St. Sophia. That this, however, is
not her mission it is the obvious duty of the protecting
Powers now to make her fully understand. If this pro-
teetorate is to b.! maintained, it roust be of a qualified, net
of an absolute character. The consideration on which it
is accorded must be observed, and that consideration is
that Greece shall strictly abstain from meddling in the
affairs of-other States. England and France have as much
—nay, more—interest in the maintenance of the indepen-
dence of Turkey as they have in preserving hers, and if
she would continue to retain her autonomy, she must
manifest that respect for the rights of her neighbours
which is dictated by the fundamental principles of inter-
national an'.
The resolution passed by the House of Representatives
reessinet "all forms of repudiation," is, the Telegiopli
thinke,"fin act of homage toi European no less than Ame-
rican opiuil3n, and nay help to reassure those holders of
United States Bonds who feared the logical issue of the
utterances which were made last autumn, tri opposite earn ps,
by Mr. Pendleton and the valorous Butler. At the same time
we retest peint out that, whatever its moral influence as a
protest, the wording of the resolution by no means
exclndos the possibility of greenback redemption, 511(011(1
Congress see fit to propose that mode of paying off time
Five-'Twenties. All that the Representatives did on
Monday was to declare that they would not offer to the
national creditors " a less amount than the Government
has contracted to pay." Secretary M`Culloch and General
Butler would unite in endorsing this language,
which does not touch the real point at issue. The
question is, what has Government contracted to pay "
dollars in gold or dollars in currency? So far as the resolu-
tion is concerned, that difficulty remains just where it was.
We have no reason to think that the new Congress will
sanction any form of repudiation ; we merely observe that
should its members hereafter, under external pressure
propose to pay off the Five-Twenties in greenbacks, there'
is nothing in the resolution to hinder their doing so with
Perfect consistency.