The Sun.
London, England, 1868-05-05 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 5, 1868.

Mr. DISRAELI has acted wisely, and so the event
will prove. The crowds of members who thronged
the House yesterday afternoon were present at an
interesting and excithig scene, and it was also an
important one in many respects. The situation of the
Government is somewhat peculiar, but we defy the
most captious critic, or the most jealous scrutineer
among his opponents, to say that the Premier has
acted in an unconstitutional manner, or shown any
anxiety to remain in office inconsistent with the
claims of honour or the rules of precedent. As Mr.
DISRAELI intimated to the House yesterday,
he placed his resignation in the hands of her
MAJESTY. It is satisfactory to know that the right
hon. gentleman has done this, though in reality he
was not called upon to do so, because such an act
silences the malicious insinuations of some who
ought to know better than to give utterance to
them. In a lengthened statement Mr. DISRAELI
explained to the House the state of affairs, and the
result of his information was pretty much what the
initiated expected from previous remarks on the
subject. When we come to consider the matter
closely, we must come to the conclusion that it
is Mr. GLADSTONE who is the author of this
singular and somewhat unprecedented state
of affairs, and not Mr. DISRAELI. It is, therefore,
most unfair for the leader of the Opposition and
his most vehement supporters to take the line of
argument they do, and to exclaim at the strange
turn events have taken. If any one reads the speech
of Mr. DISRAELI attentively through we believe
that he must feel convinced that the right hon.
gentleman has acted in a manner the most becom-
ing and the most patriotic. A Minister has duties
to perform, and sometimes it may be more hard to
remain in office than to resign. We cannot see
that there was any reason why the Ministry should
resign, and as for a dissolution it must be evident
that such an event could not in reality interfere
irregularly with the order of things. The consti-
tuencies have never been tried on this question of
the Irish Church, and it is worthy of notice that at
the last general election which took place under the
auspices of Lord PALMERSTON, Mr. GLADSTONE,
then leader of the House of Commons, declared to
one of his constituents that the question was so re-
mote that in his day he might never be called upon
to consider it. This shows the extreme inconsis-
tency of the course the right hon. gentleman is now
pursuing in upsetting the business of tlit House,
disturbing the legislation of the year, and all for
what?—that the House may pronounce its opinion
upon a subject which it cannot possibly ever be
able to settle. Iu 1852, and again in 1859, as Mr.
DISRAELI stated last night, his party had resigned
office, notwithstanding many representations to the
contrary that were made to them ; still they deemed
it advisable to do so. But the present First Lord of
the Treasury, who had the decision left to him on
those occasions, feels very justly now that circum-
stances are altered.

One point of especial importance we would refer
to, and it bears directly on the resignation part of
the matter which some touched upon so strongly
yesterday. Mr. DISRAELI declared that he had
been told by many hon. members that they did not
look upon the decision of the 3d of April in the
light of a censure upon Government, though they
bad voted in the majority; and no wonder they did
so, because it was not such a thing at all, and only
most partial and pt.( judiced minds could consider it
in that view. Nothing could be fairer than the
course Mr. DISRAELI has taken. He proposes to
give Mr. GLADSTONE the earliest possible night to
complete his Resolutions. As for the second and
third, though meeting them with a direct negative,
Mr. DISRAELI does not deem it advisable to enter
into_ protracted debates and formal divisions upon
them. It would be much better to have the appeal

m. do to the new constituencies instead of
to tho old ones, and Mr. DISRAELI be-
lieves that with the assistance of Parliament
tb is could be done in the autumn of this year. The
QUEEN has acted in the usual Constitutional man-
ner which distinguishes her, and given Mr. Dm-
PAELI every facility for carrying on the business of
the country. We aro surprised that the heat of
debate, or the excitement of discussion, should have
i nade Mr. Aurrox forget himself so far as to ask
whether the business of the Government was to be
C arried on by her MAJESTY or her MAJESTY'S
Ministers until the dissolution. Mr. LOWE was
v ery bitter in his observations, and declared that
no concessions had been made to the house after
the votes taken on the Irish Church question. This
was very absurd, but the real secret of all these
strictures is that great disappointment is felt at the
failure of the attempt to send the Ministry out.
Mr. BRIGHT was in his worst style yesterday,
and treated the House to his bitter strain
of oratory. lle went so far as to declare that it
was for the purpose of keeping in power that Mr.
DISRAELI resorted to so outrageous a demand. The
hon. member for Birmingham, as we all know,
becomes very incoherent when he is annoyed, and,
therefore, it is not surprising to find him saying that
the Ministry have no right to remain in office when
they can carry nothing but a sixpenny income-tax.
This is strange, when they had pressed on a reform
bill that baffled the skill and paralysed the ener-
gies of the Liberal party for years.

Mr. GLADSTONE'S own observations were charac-
terised by great bitterness, and his remarks on dis-
solutions in general were most extraordinary. He
seemed entirely to forget that Lord PALMERSTON
had dissolved Parliament in 1859 on the China
question, but it is sometimes as convenient to have
a bad memory as a good one. It is true that Mr.
GLADSTONE consented to give up the motion he had
referred to, but he said so with a very bad grace
indeed, and showed all along that he was incensed
and mortified at the turn affairs have taken. his
duty compelled him not to make any compromise
with the Government, and he mentioned the fact
of the overwhelming majority as a point that
showed the Ministry had no right to appeal for it.
This is simply absurd, because if the Government
deny the House the right of deciding the question
whether it affirms by a small or a large majority
that such a step must be taken cannot alter the
abstract part of the affair. In his second speech
Mr. DISRAELI spoke out strongly and to the pur-
pose, with a spirit worthy of the occasion, and in a
confident manner, that must have its weight on the
House and the country. He was not driven from
his former position by any of the taunts and threats
that had come so glibly from some, but he stood
firm, and retaliated on those who had assailed him.
The right hon. gentleman always rises to the height
that is due on these occasions, and certainly during
the whole period of his career he was never more
unjustly assailed or unfairly dealt with than he was
last night. There has been so much jealousy dis-
played since he came into office as Premier that it
proves most unmistakeably the motive that has
urged on the attack on the subject of the Irish
Church. There was an overwhelming display of
invective in the speeches of Mr. GLADSTONE, Mr.
BRIGHT, Mr. LOWE, and some others, but we think
they were met by the decided remarks of Mr.
DISRAELI. He repeated the substance of what
he had said before with respect to the
resignation he had tendered to her MAJESTY,
and in discussing some other remarks on the ques-
tion, he adverted to Mr. BRIGHT'S habit of quoting
from newspapers, and declaring that members of
the Government have written this or that passage.
Referring to the right hon. gentleman the member
for Calne, he said that his speech was characterised
by all that ability and suavity of demeanour which
rendered him such a favourite with the house, and
in this he alluded to certain events in a disparaging
tone. lle said that the vote on the Resolutions
was in reality a vote of no confidence in the Govern-
m'ent. This taunt Mr. DISRAELI met very properly.
HP said " If this was the object, why not be straight-
ward about it and say directly what they meant ?
if you wish to pass a vote of want of confidence,
propose a want of confidence. Let the case be
fairly argued, let the House give a deliberate
opinion on the subject, and let the country
judge." This is a statesmanlike manner of
treating the subject, and we believe that
what has occurred in both Houses of Parliament
last night will naturally strengthen the position of
Government. People now see what a factious Op-
position Mr. DISRAELI has to encounter, and may
form their own judgment as to the propriety of
Mr. GLADSTONE'S conduct. Anything like unfair-
ness is always to be reprobated, and we consider
that Mr. DISRAELI has not met with justice, to say
nothing of generosity, from some of his political op-
ponents. But the country is to decide after the
judgment of the House has been recorded; and cer-
tainly the right hon gentleman has no cause to fear
the result of an appeal either to the old or the new
constituencies, and be the period of dissolution
short or long the voice of public opinion will con-
demn the manceuvres of the Liberal party this
session.

The great scene of interest in a Ministerial crisis
is almost invariably the House of Commons. It is
there that the battle is fought with the greatest
heat and energy, and there that the generals who
command the respective parties marshal their forces,
and arrange their terms of treaty. Of late years
we have generally had the Prime Minister in the
Lower House, which is, in fact, his proper position,
and consequently a Ministerial statement comes in
the Commons from the head of the Government
himself. The habitual quiet and easy life of the
Peers is seldom much stirred, even on such occasions;
and, in fact, many of those who take the warmest
interest in questions of the day are often
to be found in the Peers' gallery of the House of
Commons rather than sitting in their proper places
amid the unimpassioned splendours of the House of
Lords. The statement made by the Earl of MAL-
MESBURY on behalf of the Government last evening
was of course substantially the same as that made
by Mr. DISRAELI in the Commons, though very
much briefer, and with no reference to previous
events. It was sufficient, however, to call up Earl
GREY, who was very anxious to disclaim any
acquiescence in the course proposed by her MA-
JESTY'S Ministers. His lordship is not so much in
the habit of agreeing with any one that he should
be apprehensive on this score, his dissent being much
more generally looked for than his assent. Lord
GREY denied that the Government, on being de-
feated in the Commons, had a right to ask the
CROWN to dissolve Parliament, but his definition of
the constitutional law of the matter showed a dis-
tinction without a difference. He says such a course
was only permissible when there are strong reasons
for thinking that the
.House of Commons did not
represent the feelings of the country ; that, in fact,
it is a course which is only justified by success. A
good many political proceedings may come under
he same head ; but the truth is, that the Minis-
terial success is their worst fault in the eyes of the
Opposition. Whatever Earl GREY'S individual
opinion on the matter, the real political offence of
the Conservative Ministry is that they have 'succeeded

too well. They have taken the Whigs' work out of
their unwilling and tardy hands and done it for
them, thereby depriving them alike of the glory of
doing it, and of the advantage of making professions
about it. The only manner in which they could
condone their offences would be by getting out of
their adversaries' way as fast as possible, and the
proposal of a dissolution giving them another
chance, and sending the Whigs to the coun-
try with very little to talk about is naturally
most unwelcome. Lord FEVERSIIAM, who spoke
out boldly on the general position of affairs,
retorted upon the Opposition the charge of extra-
ordinary and unprecedented conduct. After the
much-regretted resignation of Lord DERBY, it was
clear, said Lord FEVERSIIAM, that the leader of the
party in the Commons had a right to succeed
and the least that Mr. DISRAELI had a right to ex-
pect from Parliament was that he should have a
fair field. This, however, has not been allowed
him. On the very night upon which the Prime
Minister went down to the House of Commons to
assume the reins of government, the noble earl, the
leader of the Opposition in the Lords, thought fit
to deliver a most bitter attack upon him, before the
distribution of the offices was even completed.
Lord FEVERSIIAM admitted that there were
some difficulties attending the dissolution, but
he complained that the Opposition had
brought forward this difficult question in
such an inopportune time and manner.
The proper business of this session was in his opi-
nion to complete the work of last year ; to pass the
Scotch and Irish Reform Bills, the Bribery Bill,
and the Boundary Bill, which would surely have
been sufficient for one session. Was it not ,he
asked, taking an unfair advantage of the Ministry
to bring forward a question like the disestablish-
ment of the Irish Church at a time when it was
difficult for them to dissolve Parliament ? Cer-
tainly the manifest disappointment and annoyance
with which some prominent opponents of the Go-
vernment heard their intentions last night would
seem to indicate that they bad relied upon this
acknowledged difficulty for the furtherance of their
plans. The conduct of some of our politicians
in a crisis of this kind reminds one of the
story of the lad flourishing his latest editions
and shouting, " Great news, great news !" " What
is it ?" asks an unwary passenger. " Shilling, sir,"
is the immediate answer. Not a crumb of informa-
tion will be vouchsafed until he has secured the
inevitable shilling, whether his news be worth it or
no. And thus the great political necessities, the
grave changes in which the honour and interests of
the country are so deeply involved, will too often,
on a little further inquiry, resolve themselves into
the little word " Place !"

LATEST INTELL MENGE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAM.)

TURKEY.

CONSTANTINOPLE, May 4.

The names of the members of the new Council
of State have just been published. The Council
comprises 45 Turks, 9 Armenians, 7 Greeks, and 3
Jews.

The list of members of the Supreme Court of
Justice has also been published, and consists of 8
Turks, 3 Armenians, and 2 Greeks.

SPAIN.

MADRID, May 4 (Evening).

In to-day's sitting of the Congress the Minister
of Finance presented a bill proposing to give pecu-
niary assistance to the railway companies. He also
read the draft of another bill, ordering that all the
debts of the State that should not be converted
within a given time should be declared lapsed.

CORRESPONDENCE FROM PARIS.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.:
PARIS, MONDAY, May 4.

It is now understood that a reconciliation has been brought
about between M. Rouher and Marshal Niel, and that
the Minister of State, though all for peace, has promised
to support the excessive armaments of his colleague, who is
all for war. En revanche, it is believed that M. Rouher
has stipulated for a pacific speech from the Emperor at
Orleans. But to what good are these speeches? What
France wants is,facta, non verba, and no amount of talk
will restore confidence so long as the country is armed
to the teeth. If M. Rouher has been induced to give
way, M. Magna is probably harder to deal with. A
Minister of Finance is, of course, always jealous of extra-
vagant expenditure, and the present Minister is, perhaps,
peculiarly so. On Saturday, he, Marshal Niel, and
Admiral Genouilly (Minister of Marine) had a very long
conference with the Budget Commission, which lasted
till seven p.m. The commissioners used some tolerably
sharp language, but of eourse they will have to give way
if Emperor and Ministers are resolved upon it.

The Arenir National declares that it is able to confirm
the rumour of an intervention in the affairs of Crete. It
had been stated that Austria and England had decided to
join with France in pressing Greece to refrain from giving
further assistance to the Cretans. The Avenir .National
cannot speak for England, but says the report is true as
regards the other Powers, and adds : " Neither France
nor Austria is at the end of its blunders in the East."

To-day the Emperor reviewed a large number of troops
in the Longchamps. There here 2,000 cavalry and 1,600
artillery. The spectacle was a very fine one, and the
weather was magnificent. It was the first time that the
3rd nussars and the 11th Chasseurs had been reviewed by
the Emperor. , -

Three of the elections have come off, and two of them
have given a large majority for the official candidates ; in
the third the official candidate is at the head of the poll,
but as he has not obtained a majority of more than half
of the total number of voters, there will be a fresh election,
at which the lowest of the three candidates will have to give
up. It remains to be seen if those who voted for him will
now vote for the official candidate or for the Opposition
candidate who stood highest. Should the latter receive
these votes he will be elected ; but it is expected that a
large number of them will be recorded for the Imperial
nominee. The semi-official papers sing a paean in honour
of their victory, but the Opposition journals point out
that their party has largely increased since the last
elections.

Prince Metternich, the Austrian Ambassador here, has
been summoned to Vienna by telegraph, and this matter
has given rise to some speculation. I believe, however,
that it has nothing to do with politics. The Prince is
gone to his brother's wedding.
A most curious disturbance has just taken place in the
arrondissement of Jonzac. A gentleman had made a
present of stained glass windows to the Church of
Chevanceaux. On one of them was painted St. Joseph,
with a fleur de lys and a hatchet in one hand, and in the
other lions and ears of wheat. The people saw a political
meaning in this representation. The //curs de lys stood for
Henry V., and therefore the donor had intended to signify
the return of the Bourbons. The hatchet was significant
of the punishment in store for the Bonapartists ; the lions
were intended to devour them ; the cars of wheat meant
the restoration of the tithe. The consequence was that
for seven or eight days a crowd, ever becoming larger and
more excited, stood round the church, throwing stones in
their anger. The emotion spread to other places, and at
last the Prefect was compelled to order that the windows
should be smeared over, and the Acura de lys effaced.
Our Exhibition, answering to your Royal Academy,
opened on Friday. There was an enormous crowd. The
number of works exhibited, including engravings
sculpture, &c., is 4,215, of which 2,587 are pictares.
An attempt is being made to get up a central agricul•
tura' society. It is thought that agriculture wants are
presentative body, and M. Leconteaux, editor of the
Journal de l'Agriculture Pratique, has started a subscrip
Lion for carrying out this object. He has already nearly
1,000 subscribers, each of whom pays £4 entrance fee. I
suppose the Government will permit the subscribers tc
meet.

The real reception of Jules Favre took place yesterday.
Nothing remarkable passed. The Emperor praised the
late M. Cousin, andFavre replied in the same strain. The
first then said a few words to M. Sacy, and the party re-
tired in a few minutes.

Vaulting ambition has o'erleaped itself. The ladies
trains had been growing for some time, until they had
become a perfect nuisance, and were the cause of awk-
ward accidents. At last, the Countess Pourtales, one of the
queens of fashion, came to the rescue, and issued a royal
decree that all persons attending the ball which she gave
last week were to leave their trains at home, and to let
their partners see their feet. The effect has been most
beneficial ; but, nevertheless, great was the outcry on the
part of those who had to make the sacrifice, especially
those who had large feet.

There is much agitation in the German Parliament
The proposal of the Hessians to introduce a politica.
matter under the form of an address to the King of
Prussia in favour of German unity, is strenuously resisted
by the Witrtembergers, and unless it is opposed decisively
by Bismarck himself these threaten to withdraw from the
Parliament altogether. There is little doubt that the
Prussian Minister will induce the Hessians to desist. It
is not his wish to give France any cause of offence just