The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-10 00:00:00

TIM SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, JUNE 10, 1864.

measure is an unmistakeable proof of the feeling
with which it was regarded; and it is to be trusted
that this signal failure will be a warning to others
who entertain such extreme views and move the
adoption of such one-sided measures. Without the
maintenance of discipline and order, the public
peace could not be preserved, but at the same time
it would never do for us to tolerate in the smallest
degree any infringement of those rights or inter-

ference with that liberty which have made this
country so justly celebrated throughout the world.
Arbitrary regulations and tyrannous devices are
quite out of date at present, and it is quite as idle
to attempt to put them into practice as it would be

to endeavour to promote the observance of early
hours by the revival of the curfew bell.

Last evening the House of Commons was called
upon to fulfil a graceful yet melancholy act of
public duty. The claims of a statesman and diplo-
matist of nos common order were laid before them
by the Prime Minister; and in recognition of the
many and varied services which Lord ELGIN Las
rendered to his country, they were called upon to
give a loyal and hearty assent to the Royal Mes-
sage, recommending that a pension or £l,OOO a year
should be bestowed upon his widow. A further
token of the high estimation in which the late
lamented nobleman was held in our Eastern pos-
sessions was given iu the unanimous resolve of the
Indian Council to settle an equal amount upon that
lady irom the revenues of India. The claim of Lord
ELGIN to grateful remembrance by all Anslo.ln-
diens is not only based upon his wise and temperate
judgment during the few months which he
was permitted to direct the public affairs of that
dependency, but upon the promptness, the judg-
ment with which he hastened to render assistance
at Calcutta in the terrible year 1857, It will be
remembered that Lord ELGIN was on his route to
China, in charge of a high diplomatic mission,
with every prospect of achieving honourable dis-
tinction by carrying it to a successful issue. He
was accompanied by troops, and therefore, on hearing
of the outbreak in India, he at once returned to
Calcutta sacrificing all personal considerations in
his desire to lend Lord CANNING the benefit of his
aid and the State the service of his troops. It was
one of those occasions which test the character of a
Statesman, since it required prompt and cool judg-
ment, great decision of purpose, and rapid action.
It was assuming a responsibility from which men of
feebler mind would have shrunk, and it was break•
ing through those fetters of routine which so often
hamper the actions of really able men. The value
of the assistance which he thus gave to the Indian
Government in the hour of peril and distress is
readily acknowledged by its members when the
danger has passed away, and their authority re.
established. As Sir C. WOOD observed—" Lord
ELGIN rendered distinguished services to India at
the time of her greatest need, and had thereby
established an undeniable claim to the resources at
the disposal of the Council." Bat it is not in India
alone, although that country is now so closely asso-
ciated with his name, that Englishmen hay e to bear
witness to Lord ELGIN'S services. The outline of
his career was briefly but graphically sketched by
Lord PALMERSTON, who remarked that—" It has
seldom fallen to the lot of any public man to per-
form services more varied with regard to the scene
of their action, more important with regard to their
results, or attended with greater personal exertion
and exposure than were performed by the late Lord
ELGIN." The noble Premier might have added,
that it has fallen to the lot of few man to be so sig-
nally and so consistently successful. Like the hero of
old, whose magic touch turned everything to the
most precious of metals, Lord ELGIN converted the

most unpromising and even hopeless of canoes into

a success. He was one of the rare exceptions who
can boast of having made no failure, of having to
record no catastrophe, during a most eventful career.
His happy combination of cool and char judgment,
with prompt and vigorous action, was doubtless the
Principal cause of this unvaried success; bat it
needed the union of many gifts and qualities to
enable him to accomplish the objects of his diplo-
matic missions to such people as the inhabitants of
China and Japan. His first official position was as
Governor of Jamaica, which post he held for four
years, and in that comparatively brief period he had
biven so forcible an impression of his capacity by
his adm'instration of affairs in that island that he
was transferred to a more important office—the
Governor-Generalship of Canada. His labours
during the
t eight
syears in which he remained there
produced satisfactory results,- and for the first
m
time his diplomatic abilities came into play, since,
by his mission to 'Washington, he concluded the
treaty of reciprocity between the Government of the
United States and the British North American
_ .

colonies. In 1857, es we have said, Lad ELGIN
was selected as Ambassador to China, an offin at

being shut up in a cupboard to regale him.
self on the sly with prohibited luxuries, is not
exact!y attractive to the tastes and habits of the
inhabitants of this country. All laws that tend to
promote the growth of deceit and foster the devices
and contrivances of cunning are very much to be
reprehended. This plan is open also to the objec-
tion of giving rise to jealous feelings between
classes, which of all others is an evil to be dreaded.
The poor man shut out from his miniature world
will naturally compare his isolated state with that
of the wealthier classes who were free to partake
of everything that fancy might suggest, or money
could procure. The real and right thing to trust
to for the formation of temperance and the decrease
of excess, is the improvement of the great body of
the pe)ple. This can only be done by time and
patience, and na vehement changes and violent
measures will ever accomplish the much desired
end. Captain lERvis said that " drunkenness was
dying out of the country not owing to penal enact-
ment, but owing to the spread of education, the
labours of the clergy and ministers of all denomi-
nations, and the example of the other classes,"
Mr. ROEBUCK denounced the bill in his forcible
style. He said he had never seen a more mischievous
measure introduced in the whole course of his
experience in Parliament. The hon. and learned
gentleman carried out his remarks in his usual
facetious manner, and put a case to Mr. LAW SON
for his consideration. If the ratepayers of West-
minster decided to put an end to all places where
intoxicating liquors were sold, he asked if that
prohibition would extend to the refreshment-room
of the House of Commons. Mr. BRIGHT was also
strongly against the proposal. He said that
sobriety was greatly increased of late years, and
the middle classes were now very different to what
they were some time past. The hon. member very
truly remarked that the permanent remedy against
excess was the improvement and instruction of the
people, and " this, it was evident, must in any case
be their sheet-anchor." This is, indeed, the only
reliable-means of attaining the desired end, and it
would be well if the eathusiasts and Utopians of
the present day would have more patience and
exercise more hope. Mr. BRIGHT explained the
very great confusion which would be occasioned
by the introduction of this bill—how it would
affect the trade and interfere with the property of
the country in a new and mischievous manner. The
immense majority which decided the fate of