The Sun.
London, England, 1865-06-03 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOITRNALS

TIMES.—The great rhetorician of the day has
opened the ball, and every lesser orator may now
foot his measure. Mr. Gladstone has done the elec-
tors of Chester the honour of delivering before them
the pattern hustings speech of the general election of
1865. We invite the attention of all coming candi-
dates to this masterpiece. The Conservative candi-
dates may study it for its breadth of handling and
its tact in the choice of topics. They may make it
the model of a thousand harangues, reducing it first
to a skeleton outline, and filling up with Conserva-
tism of the requisite strength. They should turn it
over by day and by night till its whole structure is
impressed upon the mind. As to the Liberal can-
didates, they may as well get it off by heart at once.
All the available points upon their side are carefully
chosen and successfully made ; all dangerous mat-
ters are judiciously avoided; if any Reformer of any
reasonable shade of Reform principles should expe-
rience a sudden lack of ideas upon the hustings, and
should have half a column of this speech in his head,
he may depend upon it as an immediate and trium-
phant resource. It is a specimen of the highest
order of art in its peculiar line. It is as unlike a
House of Commons speech as it ought to be ; it is
not too argumentative, nor is it too florid ; it is not
too familiar, nor is it offensively stately; it is not
abusive, and it is not too encomiastic; it is not too
specific, and it is not too vague ; it abounds with
the exquisite finish of consummate art, yet art
wrapped up in close concealment. We are speaking
of it, not in approval or condemnation, not even in
criticism of its matter, but simply as a work of art
useful for imitation. Apart altogether from the
public policy indicated in it, it is a model election-
eering speech, and as such we hold it up to study.
It is pleasant to mark the exercise of great abi-
lity in an unaccustomed sphere. Mr. Gladstone
has long been used to tell the House of Commons
the great secret of the year, and to see men in listen-
ing attitudes and with upturned faces waiting to
hear from his lips the important revelation which
is to influence more or less the fortunes of them all.
At Chester he had to deal with an audience some of
whom seemed to think a certain Mr. Fenton, who,
it seems, is a railway director, a much greater man
than the Chancellor of the Exchequer ; many of
whom preferred a Mr. Raikes ; and a few, but a
noisy few, who were so little desirous of being
charmed by Mr. Gladstone's eloquence that they
tried to drown his voice by their hootings. In the
House of Commons, whatever licence may some-
times be taken in self-defence, a leader is always
listened to with decorum ; in Chester Mr. Glad-
stone was interrupted with the most ingenuous
frankness, and the running criticisms upon his
speech were prompt and pungent. The British
public always takes pleasure in seeing one of their
statesmen made to pass through the humours of the
electoral saturnalia, and some of them do it very
well, and seem even to take pleasure in the baiting.
Lord Palmerston's periodical sparring match with
the Tiverton Chartist always affords immense
amusement, and the dexterity with which he takes
the Chartist's own particular mob away from him,
and gradually gets them round to his side, and then
good-humouredly buffets their leader amid the
laughter of his friends, is an achievement which is
always looked for as the best part of the perform-
ances in a General Election. Mr. Gladstone has
performed the same sort of feat at Chester. He did
it not with the ready pleasantry of Lord Palmerston,
but with tact and power and courage which fully
deserved their success. It is a delicate matter, no
doubt, for a man to have to praise his own son,
for, however much we English sympathise in all the
family affections, there is always a ridiculous point
of view in Paterfamilias praising his own child,
especially when unsympathising persons are pre-
sent who are not restrained by scruples of polite-
ness from saying what they think. He had also
to justify his son's pretensions as a candidate before
a multitude, some of whom had possibly sufficient
reasons for preferring the railway director, and this
involved a comparison of claims, which must neces-
sarily be disagreeable to some of the audience; and
there were noisy demonstrations and expostulations
from the chair. Amid all this the great orator, who
has been used to such very different treatment; was
seen in a patient attitude, waiting till it might please
the freemen of Chester to hear him. Yet within
half an hour he had tamed this vociferating crowd,
he had delivered before that turbulent assembly,
amid the silence of profound attention, a courageous
eulogium upon his two colleagues, Lord Palmerston
and Lord Russell. He had described them covered
with achievements as with orders of merit, and had
made his hostile hearers listen to a little history of
the progress that had been made while these men
held the Government. He had answered trium-
phantly Mr. Disraeli's taunt that the Administration
is not a Government. He had even compelled the
noisy dissentients to be silent while he recounted
the statistics of the success of the French Treaty.
When at last he told them how, when the Cotton
Famine fell upon us, the French demand kept in
action those strong English arms which but for that
demand would have been left idle, he had thoroughly
got them round to his side and awoke a burst of
unanimous cheering. Thenceforward he had the
whole assembly to himself, listening with attention
and cheering with enthusiasm. This is a signal
success, and we mark it as a result. It is nothing
to carry with you an audience which comes prepared
to applaud, nothing to gain the voices of invited
friends ; but first to silence turbulent enemies, and
then to bind them to you as applauding followers,is
a victory which we may admire as a work of art,
whether it be achieved by a friend or an enemy.
Any political harangue by 11/r. Gladstone must be
heavy with important matter, and that upon which
we are now remarking comprises topics far too
large to be grouped into a column of comment. To
these we shall probably have occasion to recur. Our
present object, however, is to utilize this oration as
an example. There are nearly a thousand gentle-
men in England much disquieted within them-
selves as to what they shall say upon those in-
evitable hustings, or, still worse, at those equally
inevitable preliminary meetings. If they will
study this speech, they will learn from it not
only what to say, but also what to avoid saying.
They will find that no personality, no vehement
language, no violent exaggeration occurs through-
out this long harangue, or was thought by the most
accomplished orator of the time necessary to success.
It was, notwithstanding, so successful that the
crowd, which would not hear at the commencement,
would scarcely allow the speaker to conclude, but
urged him to go on when his strength and his topics
seemed nearly exhausted. They will find, also, that
there were no special pledges to the support of spe-
cial crotchets, and no engagements on behalf of
himself or others that would fetter the exercise of
an enlightened judgment. If it was an exception
to this rule that Mr. Gladstone intimated a desire
for an extension of the suffrage " downwards," it
was, we venture to affirm, not an exception which
contributed to his success with the audience he was
addressing, or which would recommend him to the
noisy friends of Mr. Raikes. The assembly which
received with approbation an exposition of the policy
of educating young men to the practice of Govern-
ment and the work of legislation was scarcely of
nature to be greatly captivated by doctrines of an
ultra-Democratic tendency ; and the freemen and
burgesses who hold their franchises as an exclusive
privilege were not likely to applaud an orator be-
cause he intimated a desire to throw those privileges
open to the world. We are not now about to dis-
cuss these points with Mr. Gladstone, because we
are dealing with this speech as a work of art, and
not as a political exposition. At a moment when a
model will be much needed, we wish to propose it
for imitation for its tone, its manner, its eloquence,
and its good taste. Few will be able to emulate its
ability, but a multitude of speakers may do them-
selves credit by imitating those minor points of ex-
cellence for which it is so remarkable.
POST.—The negotiations in which the Canadian
delegates and her Majesty's Government have for
some time past been engaged, though in fair train
to a conclusion, have not yet definitively termi-
nated. Such was the substance of the reply given
last evening in the House of Commons by the Sec-
retary of the Colonies to Mr. Warner. The rather
novel relationship which has been recently created
between Great Britain and her American colonies
has placed both in a position of no little embarrass-
ment. The same friendly feelings happily continue
to be entertained by each towards the other ; but
circumstances have arisen which, whilst they have
placed our colonies in apparent jeopardy, have also
made them keenly alive to the necessity of being, if
possible, self-dependent. The termination of the
American war has put it in the power of the Go-
vernment of the United States, if they should be so
ill-advised, to carry into execution a threat oft re-
iterated during the past three years, and in contem-
plation of this cessation of hostilities the British
colonies in North America many months since started
the scheme of a general Confederation for the pur-
poses of self-protection. The experience of the
American war of independence has not been lost on
this country, and, whatever follies we may hereafter
commit, an attempt to hold any of our colonies in a
state of unwilling subjection is not likely to be
reckoned amongst them. No principle of colonial
policy has been more firmly established in this coun-
try than the expediency of allowing any settlements
we may found to shift for themselves whenever
they are desirous of relinquishing the support
they may derive from the mother country. But,
on the other hand, so long as a colony continues to
acknowledge our supremacy, we consider that it is
entitled to claim our assistance, and, having called
it into existence, we deem ourselves under an ob-
ligation not to see it overwhelmed by some foreign
Power jealous of its prosperity. We consequently

hailed with satisfaction the intimation that our
American colonies were about to form a Confedera-
tion which, whilst acknowledging the sovereignty
of the British Crown, would by its inherent
strength probably render itself independent of that
assistance which its several members would other-
wise be compelled to seek from Great Britain.
When Mr. Cardwell, some two months since, in the
course of the debate on the vote for the Canadian
fortifications, said that war with Canada meant war
with England, he inferentially, but at the same
time, unmistakeably, defined the nature and extent
of the obligations of the mother country towards
the colony. Whether it be expedient or otherwise
that the people of this kingdom should grant surna,
of money to be expended on the construction 01
defensive works on the Canadian frontier, there call
be no doubt that, if that frontier were invaded, the
British Government would be bound to employ all
the means at their command to repel what would in
truth be an attack on British territory. On thiis
point all were agreed, and the only matter on which
a diversity of opinion existed was respect to the west
efficacious way of rendering to the Canadians the
assistance which they were entitled to demand. Smile,
considered the Canadian frontier so extensive that
it would be idle on the part either of the Colonial
or of the Home Government to attempt the con:
struction of fortifications for its defence ; whit
others, admitting the necessity of fortifying the
principal frontier towns, found fault with the Haug
Government for doling out with too niggard a hall';
the supplies which they confessed themselves bowl
to grant. Acting in accordance with recommenda-
tions contained in a report made by an eminent en-
gineer officer, her Majesty's Government proposed
to expend £200,000 on the fortification of Quebec,
of which but £50,000 would be voted during the
present year, whilst the Colonial Legislature, as 1
was understood,' would undertake the task
putting Kingston, Montreal, and some other frontier
towns in a defensive condition. Such was the vier
of the relative engagements of the Home and Colo-
nial Governments presented to Parliament when
the army estimates (of which the Canadian yet:
formed one) were under consideration ; and,
although not formally guaranteed to be correct,
was generally understood as expressing with toler-
able accuracy the respective obligations which
Great Britain and the colony were respectively
prepared to undertake. Since then, however, dele-
gates from Canada arrived in London, and negotia-
tions were opened with her Majesty's Government
with the view of determining with suitable precision
the relative proportions in which the cost of fortify-
ing Canada should be respectively be borne by the
British and Colonial Legislatures. The announce-
ment in our contemporary that these negotiations
had terminated in an arrangement equally satisfac:
tory to the Government and the delegates net
unnaturally excited the curiosity of one of the
members of the House of Commons, and evoked
the question which was put in that house last even-
ing. Ministerial answers are so invariably unsait..:Li,
factory that we have no special reason to comply
of that which was given to Mr. Warner's questloll'
The nature of the negotiations which have been I"
progress will probably not be fully known until theici
are duly published in the shape of a blue book, all
the correspondence in which they are embodied Pre-
sented for perusal to both Houses of Parliament'
The Canadians probably consider themselves
fled in driving as hard a bargain as possible, all:
look to the mother country to protect them from
danger which is supposed to be chiefly incurred
_all
reason of their connection with it. The Canadians'
and for that matter the population of the other
British North American colonies, are desirous ee
remaining subject to British ; but at the eall2
time they feel the necessity of combining their re;
soures for the purpose of mutual defence. W hetileo
Great Britain would be willing, or, if willing, we"
be in a position, to defend her American possessil
in the event of their being invaded by the armies
the United States, might be a matter of doubt ; bu '
in uniting themselves into a powerful Confederation,
those colonies have taken the best means of guardlrl
against a prospective evil. How long the oda a'
connection will subsist between us and our felloW'
subjects in North America must depend mainlY„°,lll
the latter, but it is no slight testimony to the nu-''
ness and beneficence of British rule, that, with eve,",
"
opportunity for secession, our American colonies
should elect to maintain the original union '401°1;
State which called them into existence.