The Sun.
London, England, 1863-06-05 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, JUNE _5, 1863.

It is curious to note how the recent defeat
of the Imperial Government at Paris is
regarded just now by one especially among
the Paris journals. Le Constitutzonnel after
commenting at some length to-day, and with
a good deal of evident chagrin upon the circum,
stance, consoles itself immediately afterwards by
publishing at considerable length—making the
most of it, while it does so, by giving a single
name to a line—a list of the principal candi-
dates of the Opposition who have " succumbed"
(that is the polite equivalent for "being defeated ")
during the late Elections. Eighty-five names
altogether are given in this ostentatiously paraded
catalogue of defeated Opposition candidates. And
these only are given as the principal amongst those
same defeated candidates of the Opposition. There is
no companion list of the thirty who have on the con-
trary triumphed—and whose names might very
well have been put side by side with the eighty-
five notabilities who have—succumbed. As to
the notability of the whole eighty-five, that would
hardly be recognised in this country were we to
repeat the string of names from the first to the
eighty-fifth downwards. MM. ODILON BARROT,
CASIMIR PERRIER, BE REMUSAT, DEFAURE, and
MONTALEMBERT lead off, as they well may, as
men who are indeed notabilities—and men, too, whose
defeat we cannot but seriously regret, viewing their
recent discomfiture even from this distance quite dis-
passionately. Lower down, among a crowd of
obscure names we notice these certainly of MM.
JULES BE LASTEYRIE, BARTLEMY SAINT-
HILARIE, PREVOST PARADOL, and a very few others
eminent more or less, among our contemporaries.
But the majority of the principal candidates of the
Opposition, as here given by Le Constitutionnel, does
certainly appear to us to be compounded for the
most part of nobodies. Speaking of the success which
has recently attended the Opposition in the capital,
the Constitutionnel says, with an appearance of mak-
ing the best of it (the bast of a bad job as we say),
that for a moment people fancied they saw
in this incident a manifestation having about it a
certain gravity. No doubt they did—and do.
"But," says the Constitutions", with a charming air
of reassurance, " the inquietude [thus momentarily
excited] has not taken long in calming itself, and
the Tea .
Gavtrue:l_o,ll7
throughout
by the striking success of the
room Zgh,hroughout the Departments, has
prehenions.„ indeed, to dissipate these ap-
this one assuredly the event shows
—that Paris', stand cone
fact to be indisputable
lated in declaring ,ifo7spieuously almost iso-
It i:lint°pposition and"against"
the Government.
as affording an opportuniteresting to bear in mind,
where possibly of one or oTthYeter for
the return else-
men who have been rejected bc'T the
r"
illustrious
constituencies, that new electYionthe'rh andiseer nin sg
place in e:glat departments, those eightadve to
take
being the A'. ,ne, Charente, Gironde, Haut-
Rhin,
ant-Rhie
Lezere, Nord Rhone, and Seine-Inferieure. These
same re-elections being fixed, we observe t'
or
the 14th and 15th instant. M. mi.
L.LA-vri
surely may plume himself upon that double
triumph of his—here at Paris, there in the
Manche—which, throughout all France, is purely
exceptional. It is a success unachieved even
by M. THIERS—and that, moreover, with M.
THIERS' own celebrity, the prestige of his fame,
his genius, and his antecedents enhanced and fur-
thered wondrously as they were by that most fatal
and ill-advised circular of AI. BE PERSIGNY, the
EMPEROR'S bungling Minister of the Interior.

The Volunteer Bill was considered in Com-
mittee last evening, and as might have been ex-
Peeted, a somewhat animated discussion took
Vlikee upon several of the clauses. The clause

authorising the employment of Volunteers in the '
suppression of civil disorders was very wisely I
struck out. It would be far better, in cases of
extreme urgency, to call in the assistance of the
militia or the regular soldiery than to engage
the volunteers in such an ungracious office. In
the first place it is doubtful whether they would
be as successful in restoring tranquillity as the
ordinary civil force, who are used to deal with
the disorderly classes.
Constables are usually well acquainted with the
best means of reducing a turbulent crowd to
order, and are often able to disperse a riotous as-
semblage peacably, when the presence of soldiers of
any kind would tend to further excitement. But
supposing an occasion to arise, when military help
was really necessary, the employment of the Volun-
teers against the people would bring upon them
undeserved odium, and would greatly lessen the
popular estimation in which they are now held.
They would be looked upon as a force at
the command of the Government, and not as the
band of independent Englishmen who have enrolled
themselves with no other aim or object than that
of securing the immunity of their country from
foreign invasion. We regret to find, however, that
the house, after striking out claim 19, suffered
clause 21 to remain part of the bill- This is the
clause which empowers a commanding officer to
dismiss any member of the corps on his own autho-
rity. Sir R. CLIFTON,
in moving an amendment,
said that his object was to provide that the com-
manding officer of a volunteer corps should not be
constituted, as the clause proposed, the sore judge
of the existence and sufficiency of the causes which
would justify him in discharging a volunteer from
his corps. " Members of a volunteer corps," con-
tinued the hon. gentleman, "ought, at all events,
n his opinion, to be allowed at least the privileges
of private soldiers, for it could not be shown that
they were either more unruly or had less common
sense." Mr. LEWIS, in seconding the amendment,
which constituted a kind of court of five members of
the regiment to judge the alleged causes, observed
that the power given by the clause was a
dangerous one to entrust to any officer,
and was likely to destroy the general harmony
hitherto existing between officers and men. Several
other members while questioning the form of the
amendment, spoke strongly against the adoption of
the clause, and declared their conviction that it
would have a very bad effect in tending to disgust
men with the service. The answers to all the argu-
ments were by no means conclusive. It was insisted
that commanding officers must have some means of
enforcing discipline, and that without this clause
they would be at the mercy of unruly or refractory
members. But if a member's conduct was sufficiently
irregular to warrant his dismissal it is not likely
that five officers of various degrees in the corps se-
lected by the commanding officer himself would fail
to ratify the sentence. Such a proceeding would
be more in accordance with the spirit of English
law and with the public sense of justice. The ob-
jections raised by the Marquis of HARTINGTON to
the court of inquiry were not altogether well
founded. As Colonel SYKES remarked, the Court
of Lieutenancy in the City of London had expe-
rienced no difficulty from courts of inquiry, and
there is no manifest reason why a similar arrange-
ment would not be satisfactory to the volunteeers.
The power given by this clause, it was urged, was
only the same as that given by the former Volunteer
Act, and an appeal to the War-office was always
possible. But who does not know the result of ap-
pealing to a public office ? Mr. CONIN GUAM
quietly reminded the House that this provision
would not allay the suspicion with which Volun-
teers regrded this arbitrary power, for, in dealing
with questions between commanding officers and
other parties, the Horse-Guards always supported
the officer. Notwithstanding the strong arguments
brought forward against it, and the fact that seve-
ral cases of harsh treatment were cited, the clause
was finally adopted by a majority of 87; a result
which would scarcely have been the same, said Sir
ROBERT CLIFTON significantly, had the Volunteer
privates been represented in the House, as well as
1 the officers. We regret that the clause was net, at
least, modified in its passage through the Commit-
Lee, but all that remains to be done is to hope that
the commanding officers will be sufficiently anxious
to maintain the number and efficiency of their corps
to show discretion and temperance in the exercise
of their arbitrary powers.

Mr. GLADSTONE is particularly unfortunate in
his manner of late years. He seems to think him-
self privileged to say what he likes at all times,
and to be indifferent as to the opinions of those
about whom he expresses himself so freely. Last
night, however, he found himself in a very awk-
ward position. Mr. TOLLEMACHE and Colonel PEN-
NANT both signified their intention to withdraw
from the Holyhead Harbour Committee if the
Chancellor of the Exchequer persisted in the re-
marks he made last Friday. Mr. TOLLEMACHE
said he had been absent from the House on Friday,
and was told' that an observation then fell from
Mr. GLADSTONE that was not complimentnry to
the committee. The Chancellor of the Exchequer,
in fact, had implied " that the committee was
not fairly constituted—indeed, that it was so un-
fairly constituted that its decision, whatever it be,
ought to have, and therefore would have, no
weight with the Government." After stating that
he had no personal interest in the affair, Mr. TOL-
LEMACHE put the right hon. gentleman to a fair
test as to the validity of his insinuations by pro-
posing "if not yet satisfied let him take the
straightforward course and move that I be dis-
charged from the committee, and if he does
so I promise him that I will second it."
Colonel PENNANT also spoke strongly, and said
that he disclaimed any interest at Holyhead ; he
had been asked to serve on the committee because he
was acquainted with the locality ; he had been
member for Carnarvon for 22 years, and was old
enough to remember the struggle that took place
between Holyhead and Carnarvon ; and, if any-
thing, "he took a greater interest on the side of
Carnarvon than that of Holyhead." Mr.OLADSTONE
was thus placed in a very difficult position, out of
which he did not succeed in extricating himself
with his customary dexterity. He said he meant
nothing personal, and tried to turn off the awkward
circumstance, but he was not allowed to escape so
had used Strong
easily from the consequences of his hastiness. Mr.
\
lititßE - •
ra insisted that the right hon. gentleman
words with greater
mittee, and
that he must sayg,ew.
saidexpressions concerning the cora-
regret. Mr.
when right hon. gentleman
. that he had never listened to
said he was oblai
ti.on of HERBERTrtehnremarks
ar
ckosmimna
idte dtoeene-,
isagreed
sequence of the aconstiatke. those
yilitirls.t:lnidrnin'g6innd " many
elrawbaesrsenoftihreiwgl
etrhatthope inhiooline"
hhh eoa
honourable
heentirelyutold
l em me
r
this speech,
and " entirely disclaimed the intentionght aifut
Mr. GLADSTONE went furthe
word painful to anybody," Yet he
still using
any
his offensive remark that the committeeenerated
impartially constituted. Mr. DISRAELI tookas notthe
matter up very properly by pointing cut the errors
of the course that had been pursued by the Go-
vernment. He said—" But in vindication of the
proper management of the business ut this house I