The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-29 00:00:00

the inconvenience of the precedent that was about
to be set. Mr. GLADSTOSE put forth the stereo-
typed official defence ; and Mr. GLADSTONE gave
the house the strongest possible proof that in his
own eyes at least his arguments were worthless.
Those who have paid any attention to Mr. GLAD-
STONE'S style of oratory are familiar with the fact
that, whenever he has a bad case in hand he gets
angry. And [adds the denouncer, somewhat in the
very style he has taken upon himself to denounce],
most thoroughly angry, ill-tempered, and even
coarse, was Mr. GLADSTONE last night. To those
who know him there could be no clearer confession
that his heart did not go with his words. For
other defence there was none. Member after member
rose to denounce the unprincipled conduct of the
Government, but of the 200 gentlemen who had
made up their minds to vote for the job [our old
friend again!] there was no one who could be got
to speak for it. [What follows in our extract we
would have whispered sotto voce They felt they
had a piece of dirty work before them which they
could not f nish too soon or say too little about,"
The rhetorical mud, already spoken of, is surely here
flying about rather angrily and copiously. The
best thing to be done at such a moment is to step
out of the way of it.

Mr. BERNAL OSBORNE is one of the most amus-
ing speakers in the House. Whether his views on
any particular subject are correct or not, and whe-
ther his remarks are to the point or otherwise, of
one thing we may rest assured, he is certain to be
very entertaining. On Tuesday, at Liskeard, Mr.
OSBORNE tried a new plan, for he certainly did not
[ flatter at all, nor even praise to a considerable extent.
He commenced by saying that he was in the habit of
residing for a great portion of the year in a coun-
. try which was famous for bulls, but of a different
description from those he saw that day, not so
fat or so round: Of course this produced great
laughter. Mr. OSBORNE then proceeded to point
out some oversights or errors that he had noticed,
which was a very invidious task, although he per-
formed it in such a ludicrous style that no one
was likely to take offence. At the same time, it
is to be questioned if much advantage was de-
rived from it. since all were too much occupied
in hilarity to take much heed of the hints thrown
out. He said, in the first place, that there had
been a very scanty attendance of stock that day,
which had somewhat disappointed him, " for it was
more like a parish bull than the bulls of East Corn-
wall." After saying that he considered the speci-
mens of North Devons occupied the same place
among cattle as the thorough-breds did among
horses, he created great amusement by stating that
he did not wish to throw in the apple of discord,
but that he hardly thought in one case the umpires
had done justice, in only awarding the second
prize to the bull of Mr. SELBY ; but, perhaps, added
the speaker, " I may be a little selfish in this, as I
lost a shilling in betting that he would get the first
prize." Next Mr. OSBORNE commented on their
practice of not washing their sheep before shearing,
which he said had rather a slovenly and dirty ap-
pearance, and he was sure they did not play a
winning game by not washing them. This was
true enough, and it is to be hoped that
those concerned will take the hint and
improve their management in this particular.
Here Mr. OSBORNE introduced another of his droll
remarks. "Ireland," said he, "is not particularly
famous for cleanliness, but Ireland is famous for
mixed parcels of wool, and which fetch higher rates
in the market. The grain is bad, but we will hold
competition with any other nation for wool in con-
sequence of the great carefulness and cleanliness
which are bestowed upon it." Mr. OSBORNE was
not pleased with the pigs; he thought they ran too
much into fineness; concluding his strictures by
noting that if an Irishman knew anything in the
world it was how to breed, if not to eat, a pig.
When he came to the horses, however, this agricul-
tural analysist could not keep within bounds. He
was disgusted with them. " Such things I never
saw in my life, and the judges must have been put
to their wit's end—not to find out which was
the best, but which was the worst." When
he came to more serious subjects, Mr.
OSBORNE was not much better pleased, for he
went on to remark, "We have been talking about
tenant farmers and tenant right. I think we have
omitted at this meeting to speak of the condition of
the labourer,
' That bold peasantry, their country's pride,
Which, once destroyed, can never be supplied.'"
He then proceeded to state the grievance, which
was that they put down the same amount—Xl—in
the list of premiums for " brood mares" and " agri-
cultural labourers." " I think," said he, " that if a
man gets a large family, and keeps off the parish,
you ought to give him the best prize as you give
the best bull." After mentioning that there had
been great discussion as to the desirability and non-
desirability of giving these prizes, and that he
coincided in their utility, Mr. OSBORNE truly ob-
served that they ought to give a labourer in these
difficult circumstances, who was to bring up a
family without going to the parish, and to have
a good character, a large sum of money ; he
trusted that there would be a larger
sum given at the next meeting. This was
very wise counsel, and nothing could be
in worse taste than to confound men and beasts
after this fashion. Besides the inconsistency was
preposterous, if they could not afford more for the
labourer they should not have given so much for
the lesser prizes, and thus have adjusted matters
little more suitably. Mr. OSBORNE concluded by
expressing a wish that some one would leave him
some property in Cornwall, that then he might take
the chair, and sympathise with them in the High-
way and Parochial Assessment Acts. Finally, he
said, " I have gone through my list of complaints,
and I hope I have not hurt the feelings of the um-
pires, bulls, sheep, or any other animal here." Cer-
tainly no one was likely to take offence at such off-
hand criticism; but ludicrous as were these
introductions into the speech of the hon. member,
there was ground for reflection in many of his stric-.
tures, which, it is to be hoped, the hearers will
take to profit. These meetings are very desirable
things; they seem to bring into immediate
contact various and distinct classes of so-
ciety ; they unite opposite interests, and
serve as a nucleus round which may gather some
waehol aimwithoutequals.against
such opportunities would never meet
Soni
sell similarwise critics
entertainments have decried
as and
declaimed waste
of time, waste of money, and an absurd display of
small talk. But the world is not carried on by the
discussion of nothing but great
questions,h e comparatively
exclusivemix tu r eo
of
attentionth ean to t large concerns.
n nor by
It is the
mparatively
trivial that constitutes the Bare
carrying on of
human affairs. In its way this custom of the
important
atr
withe
t
members meeting the agriculturists is a very ex-
cellent one; it brings to the mind of our legislators
those local feelings which are apt to be neglected in
the whirl of the centre of business, and it also sets
forth the claims of the country which are very
likely to be forgotten in the pressure of the concerns
of cities and boroughs. This meeting at Liskeard
went off very well on the whole, and the
party assembled could not complain of gloom.
Mr. OSBORNE appeared to have adopted