The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-15 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, SEPT. 15, 1865.

The Chancellor of the Exchequer and his son, the
new member of Parliament, seem to have been re-
solved not to let their opponents in the political world
have all the speeches to themselves, and accordingly
they arranged a grand entertainment at Hawarden,
which went off very successfully. Mr. GLADSTONE
made an appropriate discourse, in which he referred
in an amusing manner to the difficulties he had
passed through in his electioneering contest. One
of the chief annoyances was that he was considered
so young. He consoled himself, however, for this
by remembering that parliamentary life required him
to serve an apprenticeship, and gave utterance to the
reasonable remark that the day would never return
which would see a Prime Minister of the age of 23,
and nowadays we have certainly gone to the opposite
extreme, for we have a Premier over fourscore.
Mr. GLADSTONE does not seem to be ambitious of
engaging in fierce strifes of political cantroversy,
for he declared that there was only a very fine line
between the opposite sections, and that on the hust-
ings one was sometimes puzzled to find out which
party a candidate belonged to. The hon. member
concluded by expressing with becoming diffidence
his doubts as to whether he should fulfil the wishes
expressed in the addresses presented to him, that he
might rival his father in his public career. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer subsequently made
some observations, which were received with
great applause. The right hon. gentleman began
his remarks by paying a compliment to Mr. BANKES,

who, forgetting party differences, had come among
them in a cordial spirit, and spoken frankly of his
sentiments. Mr. GLADSTONE declared that the rule
of Englishmen was to shake hands when they had
done fighting ; so now, that the election was over,
they could, of course, meet in a position of amity.
On this occasion the Chancellor of the Exchejuer
was in one of his happiest moods, and abjuring
bitter and acrimonious expressions, he sought to
make the best of things, and discover neutral ground
upon which all might meet and agree to differ. There
was truth in the satisfactory reflections of the right
hon. gentleman, for there are many points of inte-
rest on which little or no variance of opinion is met
with. Thus, as is here mentioned, "we are alike in
valuing the Constitution under which we live ; we
are alike in loving the QUEEN ; we are alike in re-
vering the laws ; we are alike in wishing to pre-
serve and hand down to our children in still greater
efficiency the institutions under which we live."
It would be well if these ideas were more generally
entertained among public men, and then there would
not be so much. bitterness of feeling. In England,
however, it is fortunate that we have, in a great
measure, outlived the rancour of party feeling which
raged so fiercely in the last generation, and
occasioned so much discord and misery in many
directions.

Mr. GLADSTONE also alluded to the necessity
that existed for different parties in the State, and
dwelt upon the advantages that accrued therefrom,
individually and
collectively. He set a wise ex-
ample to some of the vehement disciples of Mr.
BRIGHT's school, when he said that he considered
that if all were on one side they would go wrong.
There must be a weight h each scale, or one will
go up and the other down. I know very, well,"
said the right lion, gentleman, << that the gentle-
men who sit opposite to me have the same earnest
desire for the interests of the country as myaeu,„
and he went on to describe in an amusing manner
the necessity of there being some one to look sharp
after those engaged in any important work. It is
all very well to talk of possessing the confidence of
the people, but something more is requisite. gi
If
you have the best possible set of workmen in
any establishment it does not show any
want of confidence in them if you
say you must have a foreman, somebody
to see th-at they do their duty, and whatever the
opposition may be, whatever the Government may
be; it is the business of the Opposition to see that
the Government do their duty, and to find fault
with them when they do not." Such is a very fair
definition of the high duties of an Opposition, and
it' reflects great credit on the right hon. gentleman
that he should come forward and give it so clearly
and fully. The other day Lord STANLEY presented
us with an admirable account of the duties and
privileges of the House of Commons, and now we
have, on the high authority of the Chancellor of the
Exbhequer, a description of the services of the Oppo-
sition, and the important work it has to perform.
.1•To doubt, as Mr. GLL.DSTONE observed, when the
debate is hot and keen it is very easy to forget the
full sifilliacazice of this fact; but still, in periods of