The Sun.
London, England, 1868-03-30 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, MARCH 30, 1868.

To-night the House of Commons will commence
a debate which is sure to excite general interest and
attention, and form in fact the exciting part of the
session. There was no occasion for this question to
have been brought on at all this year, and the
country must acknowledge that the waste of the
time of the House and the general disturbance of
things are entirely due to the misplaced wal and
inconsistent course of the framers and proposers of
the motion which Mr. GLADSTONE will submit to
the consideration of hon. members to-night. It is
all very well to go back to first principles, and to
dilate upon the vast importance of the affair,
but the best answer to be given is that no one ex-
Fected such an event as we are about to-night to
witness. Seven years the Liberals were in office,
and had ample opportunity to attend to Irish
affairs, all the more so because the question of
Reform was shelved ; but nothing of the kind took
place. Inaction was the order of the day, carried
on with more or less professions according as the
exigencies of the case demanded. No sooner, how-
ever, is a Conservative Government installed in
office than forthwith all is changed, and, presto, all
vexed questions must be settled, and all
awkward and embarrassing subjects be dis-
posed of. First on the list stood Reform,
and that accordingly was taken up, but the
striking success which the Government met with
did not call forth a responsive satisfaction from all
those who declared themselves the warm advocates
of the extension of the franchise. No breathing
time is to be allowed, and hence this last session of
the moribund Parliament is to witness a faction-
fight on Ireland, all got up and carried on con
amore for the purpose of damaging the Ministry in
the eyes of the country, and making them compro-
mise themselves in some way or other before an
appeal to the country, can take place. Such con-
duct cannot be justified, and such a course is not a
fair and straightforward one by any means. Yet
the friends of Mr. GLADSTONE endeavour to dis-
guise his policy by calling it progress, and justice,
and so on. We do not expect, however, that the
generality of the assembly who will consider the
question to-night will look upon the matter in this
light. A very little reflection must show all who
are not hopelessly prejudiced that the issue is not
a fair one, for of what avail is it to commit the
House to a policy which the next Parliament may
differ from or totally disavow ? The folly or
absurdity of such a scheme is rendered all
the more glaring by the fact that the
elections which are shortly to take place
will not be ordinary affairs, because extensive
alterations have taken place, and a considerable
addition has been made to the number of the
electors.
We should arrive at a more correct conclusion of
the whole affair, if we were to say that Mr. GLAD-
STONE is burning with eagerness to be at the head
of affairs when the new Parliament assembles ; but
he has no right to be there, and no claim to that
honour, for he did very little towards the completion
of the great work accomplished last year, and at
one time he was very eager in his efforts
to overthrow it altogether. Why, then, should
he persist in obstructing further business for
the sake of his own preferment? for it is idle to
affirm that any result can follow the debate of this
week that can materially affect the nature of the
question itself. Who thinks that the matter of the
Irish Church Establishment will be definitely settled
this week after some hours' debate in the House of
Commons? Before it could be determined on it
must pass the House of Lords and encounter strong
opposition there. Besides, quite apart from the
merits of the case, it is evident that an important
change of this kind cannot appropriately be carried
out in such haste ; and that, above all, it must
not be forced upon people at any cost to
suit the convenience of disappointed statesmen, and
gratify the ambition of aspirants for office. Sup-
posing, for the sake of argument, that the new House
of Commons should assemble and pass measures
for the legislation of Ireland, without doing any-
thing to remedy the evils complained of in the
present system or modify the abuses that exist,
then no one could blame Mr. GLADSTONE nor any
other member of his party for coming forward and
seeking to draw from the House a definite de-
claration on the subject. Just now, how-
ever, it is quite otherwise, and we can-
not regard the affair of to-night as otherwise than
a factious attempt to gain an end and an artful
device to steal a march upon the enemy. The
Liberal party does itself harm by thus persisting
in having recourse to such schemes. There was the
celebrated Cambridge House conspiracy about
Indian affairs, which resulted in so egregious a
failure ; and the last, but not least, a second was
the proposition of last year, which was defeated
prematurely by the Tea-Room Party. It seems
strange that more wisdom should not have been
gathered from the experience of the past ; but
one thing is certain, that no good ever accrues
to the country when those who gain office by such
schemes attain their point. The Coalition Govern-
ment rendered themselves odious to the nation by
the conduct of the Crimean War, and the devoted
band of Reformers who took counsel together at
Willis's-rooms did absolutely nothing when they
came into office. Let us not witness another of
these melancholy illustrations, but let the House of
Commons boldly grapple with the question before
it, and decide promptly as to the course it will
take. Of course, some time must be occu-
pied in the discussion of the subject, but that
need not delay hon. members from making up their
minds which way they will vote. The subject of
Ireland was pretty well exhausted the other day in
the long debate which took place upon it, and why,
after so brief an interval, is the question re-opened?
The answer is not very flattering to the reputation
of certain parties, and it is worthy of note that Mr.
GLADSTOFE is forgetting the statesman in the poli-
tician, for nothing can be more unwise than to
persist in bringing forward a second question of
this kind, which is certain to give rise to excitement
and to awaken feelings of jealousy and irritation in
Ireland at this juncture. Even the temptation of
inflicting a deadly wound upon au adversary should
not be strong enough to override the considerations
which prudence suggests, and never more forcibly
than now. For all that may occur, however, to
disturb still further the peace of Ireland, and to
render the work of progress but partially effectual,
those will be to blame who persist against the
counsel of friends and the experience of the past
in playing out their mad game at all hazards.
Lord STAtiLEY'S Amendment is the very thing