The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

In the opinion of the Times, Mr. Disraeli and Mr.
Ayrton have done their best between them to destroy the
poor remains of reputation possessed by the expiring
House of Commons. It would probably be erroneous to
pretend that they were confederates, but by different
ways, and independently of each other, they have worked
together to the same end. Much of doubtful propriety
has been done within the last eighteen months, but our
contemporary remembers nothing so little creditable in
the conduct of public business as the way in which the
Government contrived to persuade the House of
Commons to reverse a decision adopted after mature
deliberation by a twice - repeated verdict of the
House. The provision added to the Corrupt Practices
Bill by the committee on Saturday last, after having been
on the notice-book ever since the bill was introduced, was
yesterday struck out again, in consequence not so much of
the strenuous exertions as of what it is charitable to call
the adroit management of the Ministry. But Mr. Ayrton
bad his revenge in the evening, by moving a count-out of
the House, wherel.y the Cattle Markets Bill is again
postponed. The Times cannot, however, suppose that
anything will result from Mr. Ayrton's bold manoeuvre,
except the postponement of the prorogation from Thursday
to Saturday of next week. It may cause certain incon-
venience to many members of both Houses, but the course
of legislation will probably be unaffected. There is, indeed,
a certain fitness in the events of these last days of the pre-
sent House of Commons. The arts of management by
which it has been guided have had their influence on the
morality of the Assembly ; and the events of yesterday
may be a fitting end to a reign of audicity and chicane.

The Herald think 3 the vote must be taken not as a
refusal of the House to put upon the constituencies the
charges of elections, with the proper guarantees for the
prevention of absurd contests, but as a declaration that
the proposal does not legitimately come within the scope
of a bill dealing with corrupt practices at elections.

The Daily .News looks upon the event as only one more
in that series of petty victoriesWith'Which the Govern-
ment is bringing the session to a close. It is, however,
more than doubtful whether it is a victory on which
the more astute occupants of the Treasury Bench
will see reason to congratulate one another. Not
only does it reverse a decision which was received
with universal satisfaction in the country, but it
reverses it by one of those suspicious and untimely changes
of policy which suggest to unsophisticatel mind:; the idea
of government by intrigue. Mr. Disraeli has had enough
of yielding, and explaining, and apologising ; he is tired
of consulting the opinion of the House, and now that an
opportunity has arisen of getting his own way, and en-
forcing his own opinion, he has yielded to the temptation
without counting the cost.

Speaking of the remarks made by Mr. Gladstone on
the Irish Church, the Herald asserts that the leader of
the Opposition knows perfectly well that the remedy he
proposes, instead of bringing concord and unity, will only
envenom the quarrel ; but in his mad plunge at the
Treasury Bench he is careless of the consequences, and
seeks to. delude the country with expressions of hope and
confidence in the future as sanguine as they are unwar-
ranted. The impatience with which his ill-timed attempt
to impose upon his hearers was received at Romsey
should serve to teach him that the country is too
thoroughly alive to the issues involved to tolerate any
longer the sophistries beneath which he strives to veil
their real significance.

Referring to the address presented to the subscribers of
the Jamaica Committee, the Post believes that they
originally undertook what they conceived to be a great
public duty ; but, unfortunately, they addressed them-
selves to their self-appointed functions in a frame of mind
which prevented them perceiving when it was that they
passed from the position of public prosecutors into that of
private persecutors. When the Shropshire bench re-
fused to commit Mr. Eyre, and when the London grand
jury threw out the bills against General Nelson and
Lieutenant Brand, they ought to have taken their present
step. They never at any time enlisted sympathy, but if
they had then avowed that their task was completed they
would have fairly entitled themselves to respect.

The Standard looks upon the address as a somewhat
anxious defence of the conduct of the committee. But with all
their daring they are obliged to draw back when the
general voice condemns their wild crotchets ; and nothing
but the respect which Mr. Mill's literary reputation
deservedly commands could have saved him or his assn•
ciates in the Jamaica Committee from a severer visitation
of public indignation than they have yet had to en-
counter. Mr. Mill shews signs that he is laying to heart
the lesson that even a great philosopher cannot quite
dispense with judgment and discretion when he enters
political life.

The report of the select committee on Mr. Lefevre's
Women's :Rights Bill furnishes a peg upon which the Star
hangs a leader. No practical result of Mr. Lefevre's
effot ts, of course, was possible during the present year,
and as much as c,uld reasonably have been l.oped for has
bJen gained by placing upon record the recommenda-
tions of the select committee. The question is expressly
and necessarily submitted for further consideration
to the new Parliament, and there it is certain
to be considered in a spirit more generous and liberal
than is common among the members of the old House of
Commons. Not, indeed, that there is any reason to com-
plain of the tone in which the committee has dealt with
the right of married women to be relieved from the injus-
tice under which they at present labour, but the Star fears
that the committee is far from representing the tone or
the ideas of the average member of Parliament on this
subject ; so that perhaps, after all, it is the best policy to
wait.

The Times does not regret that the subject is put off for
a short time. It is so large, and legislation upon it will
need so much care, that there is no reason to regret such
a delay. If the promoters of the bill will employ the
recess in devising, with the help of competent lawyers, a
satisfactory measure, the task of the House and of its com-
mittee next year may be materially lightened.

The capture of Mackay for the Norton Folgate murder
gives the Telegraph an opportunity of saying a wcrd in
favour of the scientific art. The suspected murderer was
taken entirely through the production of a photogT4h,
which, in the opinion of our contemporary, is very satis-
factory, as showing that scientific discovery, on the whole,
tells against thuse who war against social order and out-
rage humanity. The electric wire is an agent of swift
retribution, and the photograph is a sure detective; and
the Telegraph is glad to find that both agencies are so we
employed.

SERIOUS RIO 7 A7' IV ES7 ON-SUPER-3IARE

A rather serious electioneering riot is reported from
Weston-Super-Mare. On Wednesday evening Major
Allen and Mr. Richard Bright, the two Conservative can-
didates for the Eastern Division of Somerset, addressed the
electors in the Town Hall. The Liberal party, regarding
themselves as having been insulted at their recent meeting,
a mob of roughs were determined to have vengeance on
the Blues, and for that purpose attended the meeting on
Wednesday. The candidates could be seen on the plat-
form, but as to being heard was quite out of the question ;
however, during a second's lull they were unfortunately
heard to speak against Mr. Gladstone's resolutions, and
the words had no sooner escaped their lips than a tremen•
dons yelling was set up, accompanied by a shower of rotten
eggs and red powder, which completely covered the candi-
dates and their supporters. A general fight then took
place in the room between the police and the mob,
when the latter attempted to gain the platform and turn
the candidates and their friends off. This, however, they
could not succeed in doing, Mr. Bright and his friends
striking at the roughs right and left. At length the Con-
servative party left the room, and on getting outside were
most roughly used, and were compelled to run hither and
thither for shelter. Colonel Monckland and a Mr. Good.
child, who were prominent supporters of the Conservative
cause, were beaten in a most brutal manner, and had to
seek refuge in the Victoria Hotel ; but the doors were no
sooner closed than the house was assailed with sticks and
stones, breaking:nearly every pane of glass in the windows.
They next proceeded through the principal streets of the
town, breaking windows and assaulting all who happened
to wear a blue favour. The shops were all, closed at, an
early hour, but the rioting continued more or less until
-past midnight. An additional force of police has been
sent to Weston, and no further disturbance has taken
place.

The British Arelixological Association has chosen
Cirencester as the place for Lolling its annual meeting.
The session will continence on Monday, 'll,gt-Lit, 10, and
last th,.. entire w cek.

E,ITIZAOI:I,I2.I.ItV VITALITY IN .1 CAT.—Wha tho
brig Dawn, of Dundee, Captain Caithness, was loading flag
at Eiga, about live weeks ago, a strange cat came on
board, and took up its abode in the after hold of the
vessel. The poor animal, it appears, did not get out
again, it having been stowed away with the cargo in a
little hole near the cabin deck beams, where it hal only
room to turn. The vessel was loaded in due course, and
sailed with its " stow-away" on board. Arriving in
Dundee on. Monday, the 20th, the process of discharging
was commenced, and to the astonishment of all engaged
in that operation they came on the unfortunate cat yester-
day morning, in the hole where it had been imprisoned,
after being shut up for twenty-four days without either
food or water. On being released, the animal was kindly
cared for and fed by the crew.--Dundee Advertiser.