The Sun.
London, England, 1855-07-24 00:00:00

that he had been " brow-beaten" by the Press !
BRIGHT bullied l Bisiun, teaeatis antiei ? The
notion is too rich. He asked, with an air of in-
jured innocence, "Do those people out of doors
who in the public press write lectures to us think
that we are mean, sneaking cowards ?" We shall
answer the interrogatory which he has emphati-
cally addressed to public journalists, although
possibly without expecting a response. We do
not consider Mr. BRIGHT " a mean, sneaking
coward." His conduct in reference to the War
might induce many persons to think so, and we
have no doubt that the term may be applicable to
many of his supporters. But it is not so

to the man of whom his most intimate friend

and coadjutor declared, that "if ho had
not been a Quaker, he would have
been a prize fighter." We have no doubt
that he is perfectly conscientious in his opposition
to the War, and that he conceives himself justified

in adopting any course in order to bring it to a
close, which in 'a
person holding different religious
tenets would be " unwise, unstatesman-like, and
unpatriotic." But Mr. BRIGHT is almost a mo-
nomaniac on the point ; and, therefore, we make
due allowances for the man, although we feel
bound earnestly to protest against opinions in which
scarcely one in a hundred of the population of the
country participates, and which we believe to be
alike injurious to the honour and the interests of
the British Nation ! But the Honourable Gen-
tleman, who feels himself one of an insignificant
minority, would now fain muzzle the Press.
There was a time when he thought very differently,
when he was, or professed to be, truly grateful
for the exertions of the Fourth Estate, in advo-
cating the great principle of Free Trade, and
scarcely less so when they handed about
the begging-box for himself and his colleagues.
Then, "an unfettered Press "—a true and accu-
rate exponent of public opinion—was the great
Palladium of national liberty, and the most un-
restricted liberty of commenting on the sayings
and doings of public men was its unquestionable
privilege. But now all this is changed. In place of
being petted and caressed, his views sustained, and
himself applauded, he finds that his absurdities are
ridiculed, and his fallacies unsparingly exposed,
and therefore the Press is to be silenced, and he
is not to be " browbeaten." We tell Mr. BRIGHT
that he cannot thus silence those who have as
much right to speak as himself, and whose opinions
are as conscientiously entertained, and will, there-
fore, be as freely expressed as his own. We have
made great allowance for the peculiar tenets
of the sect of which he is a member,
but we cannot on that account " abdicate
our functions," or disregard the duties
of our position as easily as some Honourable and
Right Honourable Gentlemen seem disposed
*to do.

Mr. GLADSTONE also defended his vote, although
with less vehemence and less offensive personality
than his new colleague. The sharp hits of Mr.
LAYAxD, however, told powerfully, and the ex-
posure of the inconsistency of the Right Hon.
Gentleman while actually a member of the Go-
vernment which professed to be friendly to the
Ottoman Empire, and to be even willing to take
up arms in its defence, making a damaging
speech for the purpose of preventing it from ob-
taining the pecuniary assistance it so greatly re-
quired, excited him in no ordinary degree. With
theseexceptions the tone of the minority was apolo-
getic, and. we trust that there is no great proha-.
bility of a repetition of Friday's attempt. Due vigi-
lance must, however, be exercised, and now that
the full importance of the result is appreciated
there must be no possible chance afforded to the
Peace Party of inflicting so serious a blow on the
country as a refusal to sanction the Treaty en-
tered into with our faithful Ally would necessarily
be. On this point there can be "no mistake"
for the future.

Imagine an individual of a frank, fearless, and

,onnit nature thwarted in his aspirations, frus-

,rated in his best endeavours, and victimised

generally by domestic treachery, in vague uneasy

consciousness of this, casting vainly about for ade-
quate proof in order to put a stop to what em-
bitters his existence, and you have a picture no
high-minded man but must contemplate with com-
passionate interest.

Imagine a great nation in similar circumstances;
fancy its confidence systematically betrayed, its
mighty expeditions failures, its liberality of blood
and treasure fruitless, its aspirations baulked, its
will set practically at nought, and its uneasy sus-
piciousness of treachery still unsatisfied by abso-
lute proof, and you have a spectacle over which
gods and mon might weep.
Imagine, further, a picture such as the history

~f the War presents, and you have one over
which if you do not weep, you will at least have
no reason to rejoice. There are no traitors in the
19th century, they are all Russians and catspaws
of Germany, or we might hint at the probability
of treason. But of this we feel perfectly assured
that a secret, subtle, un-English, and uncon-
stitutional influence, whose traces are to be
met with everywhere, has been exercised with
the most injurious effects to the honour and in-
terests of this country, and that so long as that
influence remains unexposed and unresisted, we
may look in vain for statesmen in whom we can
confide, and for the prosperous conclusion of the
War with Russia. The nation was never more in
' earnest, or more able to prosecute a war with
vigour than the present ; and only to the

baneful influence to which we allude—call it Ger-
manism or what you will, provided it be foreign—
ire we willing to ascribe the shameful manner in
which it has been carried on, and the circum-
stances connected with it which must inevitably
leave an ineffaceable stain on British statesman-
ship and public spirit. To what, indeed, but
this malign influence can we ascribe the unsur-
passed Ministerial treachery and vacillation from
which the country has so severely suffered ?
Treachery and vacillation are more foreign than
English vices ; and the inspiration for them, in
this instance, may fairly be said to have come
from abroad.

Fatal, however, as this influence has proved,
it exists in as much force as eve-
has fallen under it, and PALMERSTON. s unable RUSSELL
withstand it. It permeates in every direction,
Ind can only he counteracted by the vigilance
Lnd stayed by the murmurs and resolute attitude
)f the people. Already the plot for the interval
between the cauclusion of the session and the
!meting of Parliament may be sketched ; and
while We congratulate ourselves on a Belgian exit,
"Ahe meshes of a lus3o-German web may be gather-

ing around us.
Ender such circumstances, the question to be
put by Major R 1 SED to Lord PALMERSTON' is ex-
ceedingly aprol )a,s. The Gallant Major is to ask
whether, in
U le event of circumstances arising
-luring the ree
ass calculated to put an eud to hos-
tilities, the r :oble Lord would consider it his
duty to call to
)gether Parliament before ratifying
terms of peg Lee. The remarks of the Morning
Advertiser on L the subject are so appropriate
that we qu i>te them in full :—" The ques-
tion," says our spirited contemporary, "is
one of thi , greatest importance, and the