The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-01 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.

THIS DAY.—Morning, 12h. 12m.—Afternoon, 12h. 40m
To-lefoßßow.-Morning, lh. 10m.—Afternoon, lh. 35m,

Zbit (41.•.'' '147c7,--Ailaw 4, --,n.14-•
;N4 444

LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 1, 1865.

-..----..,

Perhaps the striking difference that existed
between Mr. COBDEN and Mr. BRIGHT was never
more fully exemplified than in the speech delivered
at Blackburn last evening. In this oration we find
conspicuously displayed some of Mr. BRIGHT'S
most objectionable characteristics, some of those
qualities which will always detract from his repu-
tation as a public speaker, and rank him among
the exclusive, narrow-minded class of politicians.
From beginning to end his remarks were bitter,

virulent, and intolerant. He could hardly keep
his feelings under the control which courtesy and
good sense naturally impose on such occasions as
those on which a distinguished member of Parlia-
ment addresses a large body of his countrymen.
We might well imagine upon perusing this speech
that it belonged to the days when party feeling
ran high, and when bitterness and rancour in-
truded into every word that was spoken of political
opponents. In nothing has the tone of our days
more signally changed for the better than in this
respect, but it has been left for Mr. BRIGHT and
his friends and supporters to show us how preju-
judieed and intolerant they can be, who yet
aspire to influence public opinion, and to
be the tribunes of the people. The members
of the Tory party came in for a vigorous
onslaught, and should they survive the attack, they
may perhaps compare Mr. BRIGHT'S descriptions
with reality, and see where fact ends and fiction
begins. The real end is gained by such vehement
denunciation of others, and indeed Mr. BRIGHT
appears to forget that it was he and his friends who
prevented a Reform Bill from passing in 1859, and
proved quite incompetent to bring in a suitable
measure the following year. If-they have grown
more competent during all these years since, no one
prevents them from trying their hand again ; but on
no question has the Liberal party been more
divided than on this. It is very noticeable in Mr.
BnIGHT'S
speeches that
he displays no regard or
reverence for any of the institutions which are justly
the pride of all those who entertain patriotic senti-
ments. He never rises to the height that is due
when dwelling on those themes, so that party spirit
and political difference may be lost in the considera-
tion of national honour, and the sympathies which
should unite all to serve their common country.
Most of our eminent politicians have at one time
impressive
language another spoken in eloquent and
language on so fertile a theme and so congenial
a topic
as that of the House of Commons.
The other day, on the occasion of the civic banquet
at Guildhall, Mr, GLaDsroxz delivered a yery im-

pressive oration on the subject. It appears that
although he has been a Member of Parliament for
twenty-two years, lastnight was the firatoccasion on
which Mr. BRIGHT was ever asked to return thanks
for the Commons House of Parliament. When we
find how he discharges the duty when it falls upon
him we admire the discrimination of those who
never requested him to undertake it before. He
thinks some good measures have passed since he was
in Parliament, but not because they were good ; and
he thus concludes his remarks, "At this moment
there is a general impression that, however much
men may speak in favour of the English House of
Commons, it is an institution that might be, in
some degree, altered, and in a very great degree

improved."
Of course, no one who has studied the career
or perused the speeches of Mr. BRIGHT will expect
him to speak in a fair or candid spirit on the great
public questions of the day. He even exceeds himself
in this Blackburn oration, and when he denounces
the Tory party as " cruel, selfish, unrepentant,
supercilious, and insolent," we must confess that
they will have a long way to go to match Mr.
BRIGHT in the last respect, and that as yet they are
far out-distanced by their bold and unscrupulous
critic. It is paying a poor compliment to the sense
and good taste of an assembly of Englishmen to
have recourse to vituperation, and to exhibit a total
want of that restraint which should prevent a man
from forgetting that a public speaker may express
himself strongly, and yet show self-command and
respect for the claims of others.
However, all these are minor considerations com-
pared with Mr. BRIGHT'S language respecting
Jamaica. It is no exaggeration to say that it is a
disgrace to him in every respect, as a public man of
experience, and a politician of many years' stand-
ing. A grave responsibility rests with those
who, by their talents and position, seek to
impress upon others their own prejudices, and
take partial views of all great questions.
Mr. BRIGHT has always been a great sinner in this
respect. He never yet attended a public meeting in
which something bitter was not said, or something
mean and prejudiced insinuated, but he has never
gone to such lengths as he did last night, when he
deliberately charged honourable and upright men
with the crime of murder. " I say that if murder,
if foul murder—and there is no murder more foul
than that which is done by men in authority, under
pretence of law—l say if murder has not changed its
name, and be yet a crime visited with punishment,
in this country, then I hope that the Governor of
Jamaica and his accomplices will have to stand at
the bar of justice for the murder of Mr. GORDON."
Can anything be more unjust than this mode of
judging a great question? We should like to know
under what denomination Mr. BRIGHT classes
the deeds of those who cut up and tortured their
victims in the most fearful manner. The public
have never had more plainly put before them the
dangerous extremes into which men may rush when
they allow sectarian views to actuate them than in
this Jamaica question. Right and wrong are con-
founded after the most incongruous fashion, and a
bigoted and ignorant policy is sought to be thrust
upon us. How can Mr. BRIGHT insult common
sense by asserting that the " character of the whole
nation for justice and mercy is at stake" because a
rebellion has been put down that threatened to
destroy all the white population in Jamaica. Tame
measures never can succeed in such cases.
The details of the Indian Mutiny furnish a
sufficientproof of that. But, of course, in the opinion
of Mr. BRIGHT and his "accomplices," the horrors
of Cawnpore are nothing to the tragedies that have
taken place in Jamaica, and the cruel wrongs in-
flicted on the persecuted negroes. Mr. BRIGHT
thinks that Lord RUSSELL will honestly and
thoroughly inquire into the matter, and say
let justice be done. This is certainly giving
the noble lord credit for more than he has
done. A baser calumny was never uttered concern-
ing honourable men who have done their best at a
critical time to protect the lives of their countrymen
and preserve order than the description of Mr
BRIGHT'S concerning the course pursued by Go-
vernor EYRE and those who assisted him. The
right feeling of the community will be against him
in his virulent and one-sided denunciations, and he
will draw down the indignation of the lovers of fair
play. Very different to his own are the opinions
entertained in the Legislative Council and the House
of Assembly at Jamaica, where men must surely be
a little better informed of what has taken place than
the hon. member for Birmingham can be. Addresses
have been presented to the Governor from both these
bodies, which testify in the strongest manner to the
zeal and ability which his Excellency has displayed
in the arduous circumstances in which he has been
placed. When we hear of the " energy, firmness,
and wisdom with which the Governor has carried
the island through the momentous crisis," and again
that " the gratitudeof the island is chiefly due to the
unexampled skill, energy, and self-devotion which
characterised all his Excellency's measures," and
compare these expressions with the remarks of Mr.
BRIGHT, we may well be annoyed at his presump-
tion and shocked at his infatuation. It is time that
the followers of the Manchester School of politics
should pause and consider whither they are tending.
They confuse right with wrong in the most bare-
faced manner, and having long since given up all
ideas of national honour they are degenerating into
a state of mind which prevents them from admitting
that their adversaries can ever be right, while they
persist, through good and evil report, in declaring
that all whom they patronise can never be in the
wrong, politically or morally.

There are some persons who possess a singular I
and most convenient faculty which, whether in pri-
vate or public life, frequently stands them in good
stead. They commit some unwarrantable action—
they
in-
temperance, outrage the ordinary regulations of good feel-
ings and good manners—they take a mean or harsh
tem advantagepeover others—they show injustice, in-
and a good many other unfavourable
qualities—yet, lo l and behold, when their victims
venture to remonstrate, they are met with a conclu-
sive answer. It is the aggressor who is the sufferer
—it is he who has had hiskind intentions misrepre-
sented—his good actions vilified—bis benevolence
abused. The victim has been the guilty
party all along, and torrents of virtuous
indignation are poured upon his head.
With such
confidence and such pertinacity is this statement
sobnelibevegeintheir
to
giof.owthecocnafusesedre,itaenradtedarethaatptlootkoerdsi
eyes and believe their ears instead. Such a useful
and convenient faculty appears to be largely pos-
sessedCASTßO is making an active display of it • It is
by the Spanish Government, and Senor DE
surprising what a mistake we have been all under
respecting the Chilian embroglio I Judging by
those very deceptive and uncertain things called
facts, we had brought ourselves to think that Ad-
miral PAREJA had, in the name of his Government,
committed a sudden and most unwarrantable attack
upon the liberties of an independent Republic—
that Chili had shown a spirit and courage worthy
of a more powerful nation—that the strength of
her cause and the injustice of the aggressor were
properly regarded by the Diplomatic Body, whose
unanimous protest should have convinced the Ad-
, miral of the impolicy as well as the injustice of

his proceedings, while the moral support which
several foreign representatives offered to the
Milian Government was a suitable pledge of
the course certain to be adopted by free and
independent nations. Seen, however, in the light
of Senor CASTRO'S epistle to the Spanish Ambas-
sador at Paris, all this looks very different. Chili
is clearly in the wrong, Spain has been wonderfully
forbearing, and the prime agents in bringing about
the present difficulty have been the members of the
Diplomatic Body at Chili ! The only excuse that
can possibly be made for them is, that though they
have probably served their diplomatic apprentice-
ship a good many years since, they are not as yet
fully aware of the exact measure of respect and
attention due to the dignity of Spain. Judging
by the ordinary rules of international courtesies
and diplomatic etiquette they committed the most
egregious blunders, and forgetting that they had
to deal with the countrymen of that hidalgo who
objected to walking on the earth, they did not
sacrifice every other consideration and hasten to
tender their homage to the great Admiral Ambas-
sador. They should not even have delayed this
tribute to impress upon the Chilian Ministers their
obligations towards Spain, since that should have
been long before. Had they properly employed their
leisure in the interval between the 12th of Septem-
ber,when, to quote Senor CASTRO, "the approaching
arrival of the new Plenipotentiary with his squadron
was known at Santiago," and the 17th, when that
sublime individual actually appeared, they would
have taught the Chilian rulers to hear reason, and
have been ready themselves to hurry to the feet of
the new Plenipotentiary. But these mistaken diplo-
mats committed another and more flagrant error.
None of them thought proper to visit the Admiral
on his arrival, nor did they bestir themselves in the
interval between the 17th and 21st, the respective
dates of the Admiral's Note and its reply. The
Diplomatic Body, it is true, were 90 miles off, assist-
ing in the celebration of the national fetes at San-
tiago. But what of that ? Feasts and fasts, joy and
sorrow, every consideration, religious, national, or
political should give way when Spanish dignity is at
stake. At least, says Senor CASTRO, willing to show
his indulgence, had there been any sign of good in-
tentions, the offenders should have offered in writ-
ing to employ their good offices at a useful time and
opportunity. Their neglect was the more unfor-
tunate, because the instructions of Admiral PAREJA
contemplated the probability of the Diplomatic Body
visiting him immediately upon his arrival at
Valparaiso, and he had been consequently desired to
engage in conference with that body and interest
it, so far as his dignity would permit, in a prompt
and pacific arrangement." Two favourable oppor-
tunities, says Senor CASTRO, were therefore lost—
the first being the interval before the arrival of the
Admiral, when it was known that the Spanish Go-
vernment disapproved of Senor TAVIRA'S modera-
tion ; the second being the interval between the
Admiral's Note and the Chilian reply. To this
negligence or delay on the part of the various Con-
suls and Charges d'Affaires Senor CASTRO attributes
the whole mischief. " The deduction," he says,
"may be clearly drawn that, if inspired by so laud-
able a desire, the foreign Diplomatic Body had pro-
fited by these propitious occasions,% it is very pro-
bable that the disadvantages commerce is now suf-
fering might have been avoided, and which we are
sincerely the first to deplore." Consequently we
learn from Senor CASTRO that while all the com-
mercial nations of the world are denouncing the
conduct of Spain they have really only their own
representatives to thank for the losses and incon-
veniences from which they are suffering. The only
consolation that these guilty diplomatists can feel
under the weighty displeasure of the Admiral and
the Minister is that they are all included, and that
the burden, divided between England, France, and
America, to say nothing of minor powers, need not
absolutely annihilate each individual offender.
But the tone of Senor CASTRO'S note is really
alarming. An affront has been put upon
Spanish dignity, and half the world is concerned in
the offence. We see, by the fate of Chili, what a
serious business it is to provoke the displeasure of
the Dons. Will the Cabinet at Madrid take each
offender in turn, or will they chastise the cul-
prits collectively ? We had better hasten to ten-
der the expression of our humiliation and regret
at Madrid, lest we may see Admiral PAREJA
steaming into Plymouth or Southampton, armed
with the full terrors of an ultimatum. The other
nations of Europe and the United States have
all so deeply offended them that there will, in
our case, be no "favourable opportunity" or
"propitious occasion" for friendly offices or im-
partial negotiations. The prospect is alarming.
In the mean time the first part of our punish-
ment is begun in the injury inflicted on our com-
mercial interests, respecting whieh Senor CASTRO
gives us very little encouragement. No Govern-
ment, he says, can take them into account, and
there have been frequent instances of blockades
extending for [months, and even for years. As
"no on. can be blind to the fact that right is on
the side of Spain," Senor CASTRO gently hints that
the combined consideration of the justice of the
Spanish cause and the damage done to commerce
will induce the Governments immediately concerned
to exert their influence to bring Chili to terms, after
which perhaps they may hope to be forgiven for
their previous neglect and mismanagement.
There is, however, a shorter way of working the
problem, and a simpler conclusion to be arrived at,
which seems from the natural perversity of our
insular nation to commend itself more strongly to
the rude and undignified inhabitants of Great
Britain. They have heard of blockades being raised
by extraneous forces, and are credulous enough to
believe that such an achievement is within their
power. An English man of war usually proves a
good beginning, and since diplomacy is so ineffec-
tive they are inclined to try a new form of elo-
quence. There is yet time for us to try the virtu-
ous indignation plan, especially the arguments
which we can bring upon the scene may alter the
aspect of affairs at Valpairaiso, and moderate the
views of Senor CASTRO as to the requirements of
Spanish dignity.

AMONG THE DIVERSIONS OF COMFaIGNE is a dra-
matic piece called " Les Commentaircs de Cesar,"
played on Monday night by persons attached to or visiting
the Court. Among the dramatis persona are the Prince
Imperial, who represented the future ; M. Merimee, acade-
mician and senator, the past ; a lady, Madame do Poilly,
who played an African ; and the Princess Metternich, wife
of the Austrian Ambassador, who appeared as a cabman
out on strike. The last-named lady will also, it is said,
play in two other characters, one of which is that of a female
singer at tho Cafe Chantant, the Alcazar, the well-known
Mdlle. Tlcrbse. The acting of. the cabman by Madame
de Metternich is said to have been to the very life, parti-
cularly in the singing part. Theatrical people declare that
thero aro few actresses of the minor houses who could
better or more naturally express the peculiar phraseology
of the Paris cabman.

b—o
uorn
h oTo du eosfda
y Peterborough, a lady and
gentlemanCAUTlON f
rToOnaTtohue RnieSiTgsh.
who are on a visit at West Lulworth, sailed forth to ex
ex-
plore the beauties of the Durdlo rock and cliffs. In attempt-
ing a descent to the beach below the lady turned dizzy,
and losing her foothold, was precipitated with great velo-
city down the side of the cliff, for a distance of 30 yards,
where she fell over a kind of promontory, a distance of 14
feet, and after rolling 15 or 20 yards further her perilous
course was arrested by a furze bush. But for this she must
have been frightfully if not fatally injured. As it was she
received some very severe contusions, and was rendered
partially insensible.—Sherborne Journal.