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

pressive oration on the subject. It appears that
although he has been a Member of Parliament for
twenty-two years, last night was the first occasion 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, seldsh, 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 eomething
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 COniniOn
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 EIRE 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 gratitude of 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 outrage the ordinary regulations of good feel-
ings and good manners—they take a mean or harsh
advantage over others—they show injustice, in-
temperance, and a good many other unfavourable
qualities--yet, lo ! 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 his kind intentions misrepre-
sented—his good actions vilified—his 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
of the case reiterated that lookers-on begin to
grow confused, and are apt to disbelieve their
eyes and believe their ears instead. Such a useful
and convenient faculty appears to be largely pos-
sessed by the Spanish Government, and Se
nor DE
CASTRO is making an active display of it. It is
surprising what a mistake we have been all under
respecting the Chilian enzbroylio ! 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
t
unanimous protest should have convinced the Ad-
miral o the impolicy
as well as the injustice of