The Sun.
London, England, 1868-07-04 00:00:00

2111,

LONDON, SATURDAY, JULY 4, 1868.

The war of words and personal explanations
which has been waged so fiercely in the House of
Commons this session has now, it would seem, been
transferred to the Upper House, which can no
longer boast of its dignity, its serenity, or its mode-
ration. Last night, upon the renewal of the angry
dispute of Thursday evening, the Marquis of
SALISBURY excited much amusement by remarking
that he had been told when he entered that House
that he would find the atmosphere one of temperate
and dignified serenity, but that he thought it was
warmer work than in the House of Commons.
The epithets which were freely circulated last
evening were such as are not often heard
in either House of the English Parliament,
and when we consider that the whole question at
issue may be really called a trifling one, the gravity
with which the Opposition has invested it appears
singularly exaggerated. Tho point in debate is
whether or no certain districts shall be added to the
boroughs of Birkenhead and Birmingham:l, and it is
somewhat curious to find the party which has
hitherto been arguing for the extension of the
suffrage so eager to exclude a few thousand fresh
electors from the register! Earl BEAUCHAMP, in
moving his amendment to clause 4 of the Boun-
dary Bill, cited the case of Birmingham as that
with which he was most familiar. Birmingham
itself is in the county of 'Warwickshire, but imme-
diately adjoining it are the districts of Aston and
Balsall Heath, which the Commissioners proposed
to add to it, one of which is in Worcestershire and
the other in Staffordshire; but, as Lord BEACHAUMP
observed, it is impossible for any one not well ac-
quainted with Birmingham to say where it ends or
where it begins. Lord EVERSLEY indeed declares
that the township of Aston was as much a part of
Birmingham as Piccadilly is a part of London. The
decision of the House of Commons we might have
supposed would incline to the side which would
create most electors, and if Aston were trans-
ferred to the borough, instead of being kept
as part of the county, about 3,000 persons would
be enfranchised. Earl RUSSELL, however, seems to
have taken up a crotchet, and all his associates
follow suit. They choose to accept the doctrine
that the Ifouse of Lords is pledged to abide by the
decision of the House of Commons, and that the
casual words of the Prime Minister in reference to
the business of the House of Commons were to be
accepted as a solemn and definite pledge as to the
whole bill. We are not surprised that Mr. Dis-
RAELI should have written a few lines to the Earl

of MAL3fESBURY, expressing his unmeasured asto-
nishment at the state of affairs in the Lords. The
right hon. gentleman refers to his own words
in answer to a question as to the pro,gress of public
business. "I was answering an inquiry as to the
prospects of business in that House, and in esti-
mating them I mentioned that certain measures,

though they had not formally passed the House of
Commons, might be considered virtually settled—
that is to say, would lead in the House of Commons
to no further debate or division." In this light no
doubt the words were understood by every one who
heard them. It remained for Earl RUSSELL to put
them forward as a definite engagement, pledging
the Government in the House of Lords to permit no
further discussion on the clauses of the Boundary
Bill. In the same sense the debate on the Suspen-
sory Bill in the Upper House should not have been
allowed, since the House of Commons undoubtedly
expressed its opinion pretty plainly on the question.
The mutual recriminations indulged in last evening
were not very creditable to either side, and in fact
it descended to something very like personal abuse.
When we find the sedate and courteous Lords mea-
suring each other's intellects, and talking about
each other's tempers, we may well exel Lim with
Lord SALISBURY that we are getting into warm
latitudes. The noble marquis ma le a very sen-
sible suggestion, which, however, the res t
of the house was too much excited to
listen to. The matter was one, he said,
which belonged to the House of Commons, and
that the House of Commons was perfectly compe-
tent to act for itself. But this suggestion did not
suit the excited vision of the noble lords, and Earl
RUSSELL seriously believes that by his hasty retreat
on Thursday evening he prevented " a great colli-
sion " between two of the estates of the realm. The
actual fact of the matter is, that he has succeeded
still further in impeding the course of public busi
ness, already sufficiently retarded by the action of.
his party in the Commons ; and there is some
risk of his interfering altogether with the
plan of an autumnal session. To enable
Parliament to meet again in December it

is necessary that the Scotch Reform Bill and the
Boundary Bill shall receive the Royal assent by
Friday next, so that the claims for registration
sh,uld be put in by the 20th of this month. The
awkward interregnum occasioned by this ghost of
Lord RUSSELL'S evoking has therefore put a need-
less obstacle and cause of delay in the path of pub-
lic business ; and we cau only regret, while so much
remains to be done, aad must, we fear, b 3 left un-
done, that two whole evenings should have been
thus profitlessly occupied by speeches better left
unsaid. As it is, the Government is forced to ap-
peal to the private members, iaclu iing
Earl BEAUCHAMP, not to press the arnendia3nt,
for which they have given notice to these two bills,
as if they do the critical time will be lost, and the
autumnal session will be rendered impossible. The
Opposition by their vexatious and frivolous con-
duct have rendered themselves open to the charge
of having wilfully delayed a matter which they
knew to be of moment. Earl MALMESBURY said
their hasty departure reminded him of little boys,
when affronted by their playfellows, declaring
that they " won't play ;" but in this instance we
may rather say that they won't work, or let other
people work either.

The House of Commons had hard work yester-
day, and the morning's sitting was entirely taken
up by the discussion on the Metropolitan Foreign
Cattle Market Bill. Mr. GLADSTONE was very
much against the measure, and made a long speech
on the subject, which set forth a number of argu-
ments against the scheme. lie wanted a complete
change, he said, and not to have one law for the
country and another for the town; but this is rather
abstract reasoning than practical, because the re-
quirements of the different places may be very con-
trary. It is a hobby of Mr. GLADSTONE'S to have
as much traffic as possible with foreigners,
but be may. go too far in this as
in other things, and although it is as
well to remove restrictions whenever possible, ex-
perience has shown that we have not reaped all the
benefit expected from the importation of foreign
cattle. The right hon. gentleman denied that the
cattle plague was imported by the move-
ment of masses of animals, but it certainly was
shown that this was the case in the various details
met with some years ago, and the segregating plan
was always found to be the most efficacious. When
his other arguments and contradictions failed, Mr.
GLADSTONE remembered he was a financier, and
wound up his diatribe by asserting that the
scheme of a separate market would be too expen-
sive, and, in his favourite dictatorial manner,
declared that the House ought to be told exactly
how the half million was to be procured. Mr.
HENLEY said very truly that Mr. GLADSTONE'S re-

liance on the Privy Council for making all the ne-
cessary changes and regulations was not founded
on good security, for the experience of the Cattle
Plague had shown that it was often "vacillating
when emergency arose, and the final nature of the
regulations it made had lessened the home and
foreign trade considerably." The right hon. gen_
tleman also said that London is a central market

for cattle, and hence any regulations that were
made must affect the whole country. Mr. LowE's
speech was much to the point, and he showed the
importance of the bill becoming 13. w. Speaking, as
he said, for the Cattle-plague Commissioners, all
the evidence that the Commissioners received showed
that the rinderpest was " permanently" settled on
the Russian steppes ; and, therefore, it was neces-
sary to guard against its transmission to England,
the railway transport enabling the disease to spread
with great rapidity in a short space of time.
It is much to be regretted that the preju-
dices of those opposed to this bill could
not be altered, and they persevered in their
undesirable object of " talking out" the bill, so
that no good was effected by the sacrifice of the
whole morning sitting. As for the notion that this
bill would raise the price of meat, Mr. LOWE said
most truly that the "butchers would not have 'de-
luged every member of Parliament with pamphlets,
and beset them in every way possible for nothing.
They had retained very able counsel to recommend
their view of the whole question, and he was asked
to believe that they were doing all this with a
view to reduce the price of meat." If it be too
late for this session, we believe that the new Par-

iiament will insist on this measure being carried,
and very wisely
too, because it must be better
to keep the foreign cattle separated from our own.
At any rate it is worth the trial, and it is no exag-
geration to say that the country has paid a very
dear price for the determination of the new school
of politicians to have foreign cattle imported so
largely.

At the evening sitting the subject of the troops
in New Zealand was taken up, and several members
declared that they should receive a medal. Mr.
DISRAELI, in the absence of the Secretary-of-War,
said that the matter should be considered by
the War-office. The right honourable gentle-
man commented ou the distinguished services
rendered by the troops and the general advantages
of recognising the merits of those engaged in " Co-
lonial cauapaigns." Sir C. O'LOGIILEN made some
remarks of a disparaging nature on the case of Mr.
PtGorr, and moved that the House pass a resolu-
tion, to the effect that a writ of error is the right of
the subject for the reverse of a judgment in misde

meanour, &c. 'The Attorney-General for Ireland

quoted many eminent authorities to show that the
hon. baronet was quite wrong iu his view of the

matter, and Mr. PIGOTT'S case h: id been very care-
fully examined. The Attorney—General for Eng-
land confirmed this view, raid said that to
pass the resolution would be .quite irrele-
vant. Finally, the notice vvas withdrawn,
and this was the only -remarkable part
of it. Another skirmish took p 1 ace, and indeed it
would be extremely difficult to point to any night
this session when some squabble did not arise at one
time or another. The new writ for Bristol was
proposed, but delays were en ggested, and Mr.
IlowEs, the Chairman of the Committee, and Mr.
NEWDEGATE, were against the isauing of the writ,
and Mr. BErKELEY declared that, in the present
state of feeling in Bristol, the excitement of an
election would be most prejudicial in every way,
and produce mischief ; and • Mr. N. GRENVILLE
therefore withdrew the motion he had made upon
the subject. Lord STANLEY replied to Col. SYKES
on the subject of the salary of the Envoy to Pekin
being put upon the same footing as that of the
Buvoy at Japan, and the noble lord explained that
such a proposition would not be a tenable one. Our
commercial interest is exactly tea times greater in
China than in Japan ; and, another thing, China
was a more expensive place. The inconvenience
of the long morning sittings was seen by the mem-
bers getting tired, and Mr. DISRAELI said that they
were only just commencing public business when
progress was proposed to be reported. It is diffi-
cult to do much at the early part of a session, and
this year, of course, it was quite impossible, with
one thing and another, so that there is nothing for
it but to work night and day till the work is fin-
ished.

LATEST INTALL IGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

AMERICA.

NEW Yorac, July 3.
The Inman steamer Etna and the National Corn
pany's steamer Denmark have arrived out.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Closing Prices—Gold, 1401. Sterling exchange
on London, 1101. 5-2/United States Bonds, 1882,
1131 ; ditto, 1885, 111+ ; 10-40 Bonds, 104 ;
Illinois, 157. Cotton, middling upland, 32+.
Petroleum, standard white, 34k. Flour, extra
state, $8 25c. Corn, old mixed, $1 10c.
CROOKIIAVEN, July 4, 5.15 a.m.
The Cunard steamer Australasian is now passing
Browhead signal-station, en route for Queenstown.

TURKEY.

CONSTANTINOPLE, July 2 (Evening)

A grand review by the young Prince Tzzedin
took place to-day at the Seras Rierate in honour of
Prince Napoleon. His Imperial Highness goes to-
morrow on a short excursion to Broussa, and will
take leave of the Sultan early nest week.
The Viceroy of Egypt is also about to leave for
Vienna and Ems.

M. Deliyanin, the new Hellenic Minister, paid
his first official visit to the Porte yesterday.

.ee o'clock.—The marke