The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-04 00:00:00

creates him no enemies, for he does nothing with
sourness or obstinacy ; and his being unconfined to
modes and forms, make him but the readier and
more capable to oblige and please all who know
him." In this temper of universal benevolence Dr.
Lee commenced his speech by bowing profoundly to
the ladies' gallery, for he is an advocate of woman's
rights, and would have the gentler sex voters a s
well as tax-payers, and esteems them as fit to sit in
St. Stephen's as on a throne. Frankly admitting
his antagonist to be a good candidate, Dr. Lee
thought that the Tories ought not to monovolize
Buckinghamshire, and wished that there were moee
candidates so as to give the constituency a wider
choice, and make the election a sort of sweepstakes.
After this we do not need to be assured that the
worthy squire is not actuated by personal ambition,
has not a single paid agent, nor even "the Men in
the Moon" retained as a canvasser, On ordinary
subjects, such as the cession of the lonian isles, the
reduction of expenditure, and excessive game-pre
serving, he spoke with moderation and good sense,
and if we trace something of the old whimsical sim-
plicity in the desire to make " S. G. 0." Bishop of
St. Alban's, we are more pleased to find that at the
present moment be has kept himself free from reli-
gious intolerance, is pleased with the elevation of a
Papist to the bench, and recognises " the fearless
outspokenness" of Dr. Colenso, though he does not
share his conclusions. 1)r. Lee is, we believe, a tee-
totaller, and if he confines his partisanship to an
attempt to induce all drunkards voluntarily to take
the pledge, there can be no harm in that ; and
even his pet anti-tobacco theory is one which he
shares not only with King James 1., but with the
late Sir Benjamin Brodie. This, of course, was the
theme for all the witticisms, not only of the Tory
speakers but of the crowd before the hustings.
When Dr. Lee boldly avowed that he gave up Mr.
Gladstone because instead of abolishing the tea-duty
he had reduced that on tobacco, some wit in the
mob shouted out "What would you give the poor
man in lieu of his beer and 'baccy ?" Promptly the
Doctor answered, smiling blandly as he spoke,
" Why what I now offer you, a tract," and imme-
diately began tendering his anti-tobacco tracts to
the High Sheriff and the gentlemen around. And
before the laughter, which this sally called out, had
died away, the venerable speaker completed his
victory by adding, with ineffable innocence and
sincerity, " And if any one present is ready to sub-
scribe to the anti-tobacco pledge, I shall be most
happy to take down his name." That day, at least,
the Doctor was triumphant to the end, for the show
of hands was decided to be in his favour. Writing
before the result of the election is known, we are
not sanguine that this victory will be repeated
at the hustings. Yet it would be well that Buck-
inghamshire should not be quite given over to Tory-
ism, and if the electors would not quite so tamely
submit to the dictation of the great landowners.
Nor in days when men are earnest and propor-
tionably hard, would the House of Commons be any
loser if a Sir Roger de Coverley were once again to
enter its walls. Dr. Lee's crotchets could do no
more harm than Colonel Sibthorp's violence, or Mr.
Drummond's apostleship; and the sight of that
generous courtesy, that kindly benevolente, that
naïve simplicity, coupled with learning, station, and
integrity, is something by which all may profit.
The Buckinghamshire election may, perhaps, in a
party sense, be a hollow thing, but it has at least
given the world a perfect specimen of how an elec-
tion should be conducted at Christmas.
SATURDAY REVIEW.—It is to the possibility of
avoiding henceforth the small wars which France
has on hand almost as surely and as constantly as
England has, that M. Thiess ostensibly directed his
efforts. He did not affect to be able to stop a big
war, and he was perhaps doing all he could when he
dimly hinted that the European war must be one of
singular magnitude and duration. Imperialists
could scarcely quarrel with a speaker who promised
to pour all the treasures of the country into the lap
of its master, if a real occasion should call him to
lead France into a great struggle. At the same
time, they could do little to diminish the sobering
effect of an anticipation that such a war, if once
started, might last for years on years. If, however,
the Government would but lina:t the issue of Trea-
sury Bonds, it would not venturC on little wars
which are so small that no one thinks n:uch of them
when they are begun, but which throw the finances
into disorder and make the wisest of economise,: de-
spair. The Mexican war affords an inexhaustible
subject of attack on the Government, and as it is the
Mexican war that has deranged the plans of M.
Fould and swollen the floating debt once more in
spite of the extreme measures used to reduce it, no
one in the French Chamber can openly favour little
wars. The continued uncertainty which attends
the issue of the struggle in Mexico, and the
endless demands it makes on the resources of
France, preach a lesson of economy to which the
most ardent adherent of the Government cannot
pretend to be deaf. No one, in France or out of it,
c tri conjecture when the Mexican war will cease, or
when a settled government can be expected to afford
the French an excuse for retiring, or to pay them
for staying. It is in vain to talk of limiting the
issue of Treasury Bonds when money must be found
for so ceaseless a drain, and when fresh debt is being
necessarily incurred every minute that the champions
of economy are speaking. The Government itself
cannot determine when little wars will cease, al-
though it may to a great extent determine when
they shall begin. It seems a comparatively harm-
less request that it should be asked henceforth not
to let them begin, and the evil consequences of the
Mexican expedition made the Chamber acquiesce in
this being made by M. Thiers. But it is evident
that the Emperor would cease to be Emperor if he
really gave up the power of making little wars at
his pleasure. It is because he car. put the navies
and armies of France in motion when and where he
pleases, that his nod is watched for by the world,
and that he creates a sense of awe and expectation
in the breasts of millions. If he could not decide
whether Catholicism was to triumph on the shores
of Cochin China, if he could not raise up
and cut down the hopes of the Maronites like
grass in summer, if he could not create little
Empires for foreign Princes, he would no
longer be the mysterious, magical, inscrutable
power he affects to be. He is very anxious not
to quarrel with France about Mexico, and he, there-
fore, is inclined that the Government should accept
with ostensible patience the doctrines as to little
wars which M. Thiess chooses to lay down. But
both ho and M. Tniers know perfectly well that it
is because in these minor matters, no one calculates
how he will act that ho excites the hopes, the fears,
and the wonder of thousands; and if he were to re-
nounce the power of forming and carrying out his
private and secret resolutions, he would speedily
sink into the miserable obscurity of a constitutional
Sovereign. The importance of the return of M.
Thiers to political life can be estimated with tolerable
accuracy when his speech on the loan is compared
with that of the other members of the Opposition.
M. Picard declined to vote fort he loan at a.ll, because
to do so was to give an indirect sanction to the
Mexican expedition, of which he highly disap.
proved; and as he was sure that the sum necessary
for the payment of past debts would be voted by
the majority, he could satisfy his conscience by
voting against the loan, and yet rely on other
people to take care that the satisfaction given to
his private conscience did no public harm. There is
always something respectable in conscientiousness
of any sort, and the liveliness of a Chamber is
augmented by the presence of some members who
will never admit of any compromise. But it is not
imparcticeble enthusiast who offer any efficient op-
position to the daily working of the machinery of
despotism. Men like M. Picard keep alive the spirit
and courage of France, but they do not guide public
opinion towards definite results, the attainment of
which would alter in some degree, however slight,
the character of the Government, and the refusal of
which forces the Government to offer what seems
a harsh and unreflecting opposition to moderate
and sensible demands. Still less can the fanatics
who thick that democracy demands a war on
behalf of Poland, and that Democracy must
at all costs be obeyed, seriously hamper the action of
a powerful and coherent Government. The Em-
peror is too old a democrat to be frightened 'at the
oracular utterings of a fictitious democracy. His
acquaintance with England, too, must enable him
to check the statements which the chief representa-
tive of democracy in the Chamber, M. Gueroult,
offers as aids to French reflection at the present
crisis, The enlightened readers of the Opinion Na-
tionale may be inclined to accept the assurances of
its conductor that France, if she embarks in a Con-
tinental war, need not fear a coalition against her
headed by England, as Mr. Pitt, who was the soul
of former coalitions, has lived to repent of his error,
and is now, at the age of eighty, as mach against
coalitions as he used to be for them. But the Em-
peror may safely trust that even Frenchmen in gene-
ral know that this would be a brittle reed to lean
on ; and, if it were necessary, he could overwhelm
M. Gueroult's argument in the Chamber,by ordering
that the elements of modern history be made known
to him.r Contrasted with men ',ike M. Gueroult,
M. I biers has only that advantage which all men in
possession of sense and experience must have over
theignorant spouters of grand political phrases.
But when he is compared with the members of the
old Opposition, although he has perhaps no supe-
riority of character or aim, and although M. 011i-
vier in this debate has shown that he can take as
calm and rational and statesmanlike a view of
the position of Fraece as any one, yet M. Tiers
brings a new element of opposition in his great
knowledge of Parliamentary contests, in his tact,
and in his sound judgment as to the amount of pr-s•
sure to which the Government can be exposed with-
out doing more harm than good. He has chosen in
lei. old aka .o mare on his ell.;altlers a heavy burden.