The Sun.
London, England, 1852-07-20 00:00:00

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SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TIMES.—Mr. Macaulay's election for Edinburgh the
other day appeared to us as a at occasion for remarking upon
our gains of eminent men to the future Parliament. Ho w
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great elected have reverted to the status of nameless electors?
Such is fame—such the results of canbitim ! To what shall
we liken the statesmau's evanescent splendour? The
glancing bubble on the summer stream—the' short-lived
glow on beauty's che.ek—the down 01 the runny side of
a peach, have all bsen clio,4en 29 emblems of what is most
delightful to the eye but most tlee!icg in its existence. The
bubble will burst—the trim maiden expand into a broad
and solid matron -the down on the perch disappear as cor-
ruption takes its place—but wile, are :all these to the glory
and the disappointment of mobil ien ? (Jardine' woleey,
Mr. G. F. Young, the brothers De Witt, Atr. Chisholia
Anstey,; Belisarius, Mr. ( ge aejsnns,
and Mr. Reynolds, have all experienced in turn the
vicissitudes of gory and ahee,ement. The real feet
is, you can't depend upon either Kim; or people ea
two months together. In the hour of his utmost n. 'd
either the one or the other will kick over the idol of the pro-
vieue minute. Tne gentlemen on whom we have our eye at
the present moment may certainly feel a peculiar comfort
amidst the mortification inseparable from being so uncere-
moniously bowled out. They were nct appreciated. They
were what the French would call honiuzes ineompris. They
were either so far advanced, or they so far lagged in the rear
with regard to the ideas of the age, that—strange as it may
aPPear--their absence will be regarded as a positive relief.
We don't want either Froissart or Louis Blanc in the English
House of Commons, but men of sufficient sympathy with
the spirit of the times hot to be always straining at an ex-
ploded' past or an unrealised future. Now, we think it
will be found on reflection that the main reason why
one Parliamentary man becomes a hero and an-
other a bore, arises. from the presence or absence
of this sympathy with t' -.clings and opinions of his
audience. if the currency eally " up," one
could tolerate even our dear pragrnaticai Mr.thlutz•
But when a man attemrts to stop a bride and bridegroom on
their way to the altar, or to invoke the attention of In
operatic audience at the moment Mario is about to sing *Or
the in cielo,' that he may indOetrinate them with his view's
becomes at once a bore. Now, was not this 'pretty-
much the case with poor Mr. Urquhart, who would ge on
about Constantinople and the Caucasus, and Lord Palmers-
ton's perfidious acts, when the House was yearning for
Corn-law arithmetic or a Maynooth sparring match ? Then
there was Mr. Feargus O'Connor, but, in consideration of
his heavy affliction, we would simply note him as one of the
notabilities of the last Parliament whose name will not be
borne on the muster of the next Assembly, and pass
on. A consciousness of calamity oppresses us
a sudden. Is our supply of shipping statistics to
be so prematurely cut Cll. ? Lucifer—Son of the
Morning—lcarus, Mr. G. F. Young—where are you ?-
We could moralise over yon as Hamlet over Yorick's skull.
Could not all your statistics—all your shipping intelligence
all your poor-law facts save you from such a fate? You
were to have been a man of note even among the Anakim,
and you are nowhere to be found. It was even said at one
time that you were to be leader of your party. Dukes served
you as bottle-holders, and assemblies of farmers were potted
out in rows to listen to your facts and figures. And now
George Frederick—Frederick George—you have vanished
from our sight like one of Oasian's misty heroes. Then Mr.
George Thompson, our great lecturer de omni re seibili, we
have no chance of hearing him again in his place in Parlia-
ment. We do not mean to say that we ever heard much of
him even there, but then there was always a possibility.
He might have
tbheeenshoonreSa
opfrofLesaskioenaTl
ethoaudr a; mbonugt the
Ojibbeways or on
always had a chance ofh enlightenment so long as the Tower
Hamlets and ha,coulditit off together. Tnen, the great
Mr. Quintin Dick is gone
for Essex; but that is no great
loss. He was merely an
atgautrtenance to his own estate,
like a right of turbary
or
knew him only as a silent unit. korr.ti?ef thing; Parliament
for Dublin; but this is pretty much as thoughyn?lds again. is out
one should an-
nounce that there is to be no Teddy the Tiler
at the Adelphi
next season. Unless some of the nominees the
sent us have an equal power of low wit and an perinesatls have
mea-
sure of audacity, all we can say is, Parliament has goton
bore the less and Dublin one carman the more. Mr.
Chisholm Anstey remains. We are of those who
think this gentleman has more in him than would ap-
pear at first sight from his Parliamentary career. No man
ever abused the patience of the House more on his first en-
try into public life; but he got shorter—in other words, bet-
ter as he went on. Certainly, he has lost his seat on an
honest principle, and that is in a man's favour. In the in-
terval between his past and future public life—should the
course of events give him another chance—let him educate
himself after the fashion of Pythagoras' scholars. Let him
read and digest Tacitus, and employ his pen in writing ad-
vertisements for poor persons. Let him, above all things,
avoid being classed among bores, nor interrupt the course of
public business with wordy orations, and he may become a
useful member of the House Such is a list of some of the
most note-worthy members who have been either bowled
out, stumped out, or caught :,t the last innings of the St.
Stephen's Club against all England. Peace to their manes—
may they find dignified repose in the Valhalla of Bores.