The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-08 00:00:00

THERMOMETER.

This day at Two o'clock 7O
Barometer-29.90.
WIND —S. ; cloudy.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
TRIII DAY.—Morning, 4h, 26,n.—Afternoon, 46. 45m.
ro-moituow.-Ilorning, sh. sal.—Afternoon, sn. 22m.

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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JUNE 8, 18'34.

It is amusing to note the extraordinary out burst
of excitement among our gallant neighbours on the
other side of the Channel, because of Vermouth, the
winner of the Grand Prix de Paris, so winning that
great race as actually to beat Blair Athol, the win.
ia,2r of the Thrbr. That the lovers of Sport in
France should be greatly delighted et this double
victory is only natural, and what might in reason
have been expected. Oar one surprise, and not
cnly our surprise but regret, is this—that they
should leave shown temper in giving utterance
to their exultation. Hitherto we have always had
the highest possible opinion of the good taste, not
only of a Frenchman, but of a great throng
of Frenchmen. Th:Ar politeness has heretofore
bin such that we saonld hardly have been disposed

to dub any crowd of them a mob. Within the last
few days, however, we have had reason to revise
this long cherished opinion of our neighbours. And
to revise it very much indeed to our regret. The
fact being simply that the excited multitude
who hailed the triumph of Vermouth the other
day with so very blatant an enthusiasm, did so in
a manner characterised by the very worst taste
imaginable. Not satisfied with cheering the victor,
they must needs revile the vanquished. And this
not simply by sarcastic or sardonic looks, cr by
ironical implication. Nothing of that kind—no:
but—wonderful to tell of a French crowd, for once
we must say of a French mob, admirably well
dressed, and talking that politest of lan-
guages with the best possible Parisian accent—
wonderful to tell, we say, in regard to such a throng
of well•equtpped and well-educated Frenchmen
their excitement was manifested by a display of the
vilest and vulgarist possible bad taste. Cheering
Vermouth and his rider, of course, was all well and
good, was all perfectly en regle with the usages of
civilised society upon a racecourse. But hissing with
a storm of hisses Blair Athol and his jockey CIIAL-
LONER! Well, really one would hardly have looked for
worse taste than that at a donkey race got up some-
where upon a bit of waste ground at Hockley.in -the-
Hole at a gathering of costermongers. Cheer as
loudly (luau like, 0 polite Frenchmen! But—hiss the
stranger who comes amongstyou as your guest,either
to triumph or to be vanquished, according to the
chances of the turf—well, in honest troth, we should
never have given you credit for it ! That the win-
ning of a great prize like this one of 100,000 francs,
and winning it, too, over the Derby Winner, should
have roused the unsophisticated sportsmen of
France to a singular pitch of enthusiasm, is only
what might have been looked for. Nay the patriotic
significance of that enthuSiasm of theirs, even in
their pastimes, we frankly and heartily sympathise
with. Insomuch that we read, if not with a sense
of complacency, with a feeling of very sincere
satisfaction, what is thus remarked upon
this point by our able Parisian con-
temporary the Constitutionnel • where we find
it said—" Popular enthusiasm is always a touching
spectacle, and a fact worthy of attention. The
great topic of conversation at present is the
indescribable scene which took place on Sunday
on the racecourse in the Bois de Boulogne. In

deed, not to be struck at BO marked a demon

stration would be impossible. Above all was re-
marked the spontaneous expression of the na-
tional feeling, exalted by one of those successes
to which patriotism is never indifferent, and to
which it was still more sensible on Sunday. The
cry of ' Vive l'Empereur!' was raised by every
voice, and it was to the Imperial stand that the
unanimous acclamations of an immense popula-
tion were directed. The more sudden and spon-

taneous the demonstration, the more was it a
:ouching homage to the Sovereign whose name is
`or the people the natural formula of every