The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-03 00:00:00

(FROM A CORRESPONDENT.)

THE eventful day has at last been fixed. The
seventh Parliament of Queen VICTORIA will have
ceased to exist on the 11th of this month. Mr.
HARDY will then be able to relieve himself from the
position which he said was so intolerable, that of
being a Minister of the Crown on sufferance, a
Minister in a minority ; and in a fortnight hence he
will be able to appeal to the country to convert that
minority into a majority. There can, however, be little
doubt even in his mind as to the result. True, as we
have said, an unlooked-for vein of "Constitutionalism"
has been struck in the lowest stratum of the new con-
stituencies ; but though Lancashire operatives are
proving unexpectedly Conservative, there is little
doubt but that the country generally is profoundly
Liberal. Throughout England and Scotland the
approach to unanimity of opinion with regard
to the test question of the day has been far
greater than was anticipated. If the proposal
to disestablish the Irish Church was, as the
Conservatives allege, a mere party move, it has
at least the merit of success. No other subject would
have produced the same consentaneity, no other the
same earnestness. Assuming it to be what its oppo-
nents declare—a piece of political strategy—it is the
best counter-move to the DERBY-DISRAELI dishing of
the Whigs that could have been devised. It has this
further merit, that while the, Conservative leaders
were, as they themselves admitted, compelled
to take a leap in the dark in order to
outflank their opponents, Mr. GLADSTONE needs
to perform no such perilous manoeuvre. He
knows what he is about, sees where he is walking,
and goes straightforward to his goal with sure and
certain steps. He has pronounced a definite policy.
The country approves it by an overwhelming
majority, and half-hearted Liberals are compelled
to promise to support him loyally, or else they
have to abandon their candidature, as in Bute-
shire. Not since the dissolution of 1857
has the country been so resolute in its deter-
mination to support one man, and in rendering im-
possible all such plots and conspiracies as took place
in 180 G. Our only fear is that the Liberal
majority may be too large. High as our
opinion of the Liberal leader is, we do not care to
see him, or any other statesman, exposed to
the temptation of excessive power. It proved
fatal to Lord PALMERSTON in ten months, in spite of
his long experience and skill in dealing with his
fellow-men. Mr. GLADSTONE is said to be deficient
in "tact," and therefore the danger of a too large
following is even greater in his case, unless
indeed, principle, which is higher than tact
—which Lord PALMERSTON did not possess, but Mr.
GLADSTONE does—should keep the Liberal leader
straight. Meanwhile the Conservative party go to
the country without a policy. Even those who talk
of " No Surrender " do so with faint heart, and to a
sceptical audience. There is absolutely no guarantee
that the operation performed on the " Constitution "
will not be repeated on the Irish Church—no
guarantee, that is, except an overwhelming Liberal
majority. The country will not consent again to
entrust the conduct of its affairs to a party which
resists moderate changes in order to concede a revo-
lution. Mr. DISRAELI'S Reform Bill " dished " the
Whigs. It destroyed the Conservatives.

LATEST INTELL EGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)