The Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-09-24 00:00:00

such as will never descend upon him in the quiet
of his study. But these are the privileges a

voluntary and infrequent labour. Let him under-
take to preach the same doctrine from a hundred
platforms—to go from city to city, carrying to
each the same message—and in vain will he hope
to produce everywhere the same effect, to rise
always to the height of his argument, to be ever
racy 'in his illustrations, and powerful in his
appeals. 7 Especially, the writer might have
added, if people have become thoroughly sick of
the subject, and have been favoured with satis
factory proofs, in the appearance of the orator
and the mode in which he is received in other
assemblies, that the staple topics of his ha-
rangues are nothing More or less than " a
mockery, a delusion, and a snare." Lord
Chief Justice DENMAN could have little thought,
when he used these words with reference
to the conduct of the proceedings in the
famous trial of ,O'CONNELL, how applicable they
would become, and' how often they would be
applied, to
_designate the sentiments and prin-
ciplesuf that great " leading " agitator on Eng-
lish soil, whoSe reputation as a politician has just
undergone such a thorough 'collapse, if indeed his
political role be not well nigh played out alto- .
gether. . .

We gather further from the same semi-official
article from which we are quoting, that its patron
has begun to sigh for the dear delights of home
and study—to contrast with a painful longing,
the noisy successes of the platform, with the
tranquil industry of the desk, the sweet repose of
the fireside, and the. gentle animation of converse
without controversy,;" and we are delighted to
hear it ; nay, we go so far as sincerely to express
the hope, that this charming and desirable pic-
ture of quiet domestic life may be forthwith
realised by him. As to his ‘.‘ helps and followers,"
however, we are sorry we cannot share the sympa thy
which the writer expresses for these unfortunates,
nolw ' that they have been deserted by their
leader. " What is there in the whole range
of human motive," we are asked, " short of IL
belief, well. or ill founded, that he is doing the
State some, service (as if this were notthe highest
and noblest of all') that can induce a man to serve
en committees, get up public meetings, canvass
for subscriptions, and be content with the back i
Seats on plittftrms?" Again we reply, a sense of
public duty ; and again we say, perish that form
of ambition L—perish that system of agitation—
perish that principle of political life, whose only
or whose chief goal is not considered as reached, or
its object gratified, so long as it is unaccompanied
by the privilege of " a front seat on a platform."

That "fiddle faddle" politicians by which, the
Star means, certain " parasites, who have made
a comfortable profit, out of other men's labours,
in the agitation line," and whose oracle is to be
found in the northern capital, are warned that they
are-after all, not to "flatter themselves that Mr.
BRIGHT has given up all extra parliamentary
effort, or that they have heard the last of the
Constitutional Defence Committee." How very
dreadful ! Mr: BRIGHT very reasonably " declines .
t© commit himself to a campaign Single-
banded—it would be too, much for his phY-
elque ;'" but he also, it is said, " shrinks from the
responsibility' as well as the labour.'' "It is
in the House- of Commons, rather than-on the
Platform, that Mr. BRIGHT needs colleagues."
Just so ; and heaven be thanked that such is the
case ; for is not this fact, and the remembrance
of the outspoken castigation which he received
from Lord PALMERSTON on one of the closing
days of the session, the main reason, why
those who " write up " the honourable member
have thus been forced to proclaim the dishearten-
ing fact, " that agitation is not a profitable
business ?"
Rut, though no extra Parliamentary efforts are
to be made by the crack advocate of " principles
and plans which have been laid aside from public
but which are -ever-sure of the popular
"PpOrt -;" though Mr. BRIGHT is not up to making
the autumn campaign single handed, the expo-
nent of his tacticsito whom we are indebted for
the information on the subject which we are here
giving to our readers, proceeds to throw out a
threat—rather a feeble one, to be sure—that his
hero will, notltithstanding, take the field in
the winter: "We believe," he says, " that the
'winter months will witness a display of Reform
sentiment strong enough to astonish, if not to
alarm,, the hostile and the indifferent," and that
this sentiment "—witness the extreme delicacy
of the expression—will be evoked, because " the
governing classes have refused concessions to
"which the people could with•difficulty be brought
to assent, and the people have a right now to
insist that concession shall come next from the
ether side."

We do riot believe anything of the kind. On
the contrary, we are satisfied that a healthier or
"under political feeling never pervaded all
classes of the people than at the present moment;
and, as by the blessing of Providence, that
breaker a-head, a bad harvest, has been safely
Bleared, while the prospects of every department
of commence at the fall of the year are unusually
.1,700 d, :we have every confidence in prognosti-
cating nothing but failure to any renewed attempt'
during the :winter, to excite discontent and dis-
satisfaction with the working of those glorious
free institutions, under which we live. They
Were never more the subject of envy and admi-
ration by other nations than they are at this very
day; nor do we apprehend the occurrence of
Stagnation or disaster in any other departments
of trade, except in that of " agitation," a traffic
'which, we now have it on such excellent authority,
is no longer " a profitable business."