The Sun.
London, England, 1862-07-03 00:00:00

bridge, in regard to Lord BROUGHAM,
and on the part of Oxford in regard to Lord
PALMERSTON—the fact in each instance has been
signalised unmistakeably by the very circumstance
that these two veteran celebrities have at length
been enrolled among the D.C.L.'s of a younger
generation. Their reception by that younger
generation, by those undergraduates who are the
grandsons of the earlier contemporaries of Lord
BROUGHAM and of Lord PALMERSTON, cannot
possibly have been otherwise than productive to
each of those eminent men of feelings of intense
gratification. It must have assured them beyond
any doubt of the fact that their fair fame has
indeed, during the lapse of these years, so far
from fading away, ripened and mellowed, and, so
far as that might come to be the case, perfected.
Both Lord PALMERSTON and Lord BROUGHAM
have at any rate had proof positive brought to I
their knowledge, in the ringing cheers that wel-
comed the one at Oxford and the other previously
at Cambridge, that their careers are in truth ap-
preciated, and that their reputations are dear to
their fellow countrymen.
The ovation accorded to the Prime Minister
yesterday in the old Sheldonian Theatre at Ox-
ford was—as such ovations necessarily are when
thus tardily received—like an anticipation of the
approval of posterity. It was a welcome nobly
deserved, and one that we doubt not was tho-
roughly enjoyed by its recipient.
As a sober sequel to the enthusiastic greeting
of the undergraduates came the presentation of
of the address to Lord PALMERSTON later on in
the afternoon, at the Town Hall of the city of
Oxford, by the Corporation. That address was of
itself a most gratifying tribute, which declared,
among other things, to Lord PALMERSTON—" As
representatives of all classes of the citizens, and
the blessings of national
gratefully acknowledging
peace and prosperity, we feel certain that we ex-
press the feelings of the whole country, that it is
owing to the wisdom, vigour, and firmness which
distinguish your lordship's administration that we
have escaped a participation in those calamities
and horrors with which other parts of the world
have been afflicted, and at the same time have
maintained unimpaired our relations with foreign
Powers. It is the deep sense which we entertain
of the obligation the whole nation is under to your
lordship that has moved our Council, composed of
all parties, to this unanimous expression of our
feelings." Town and Gown have thus, therefore,
together, given an ovation to Lord PALMERSTON.

It rather tends to enhance the value of the
academic tribute of respect and admiration accorded
in the earlier part of yesterday to our veteran
Premier in the Sheldonian Theatre, that the roof-
beams there do annually echo back from the under-
graduates' gallery so many home truths, expressed
in the homeliest vernacular, and upon subjects so
various in their character ; wide as the poles
asunder ; trivial and momentous ; ranging " from
grave to gay, from lively to severe ;" jumping in
many an odd and instantaneous step from the
sublime to the ridiculous and back again ! Of these
distinctive peculiarities of Commemoration-day
down at Oxford, yesterday afforded those who
assisted at it many an apt illustration. " Folly as
it flies" was shot, there and then, unerringly by
many a random shaft discharged from that noisy
and hilarious throng of undergraduates. Popu-
larities and unpopularities were "ventilated" in rapid
succession, and were each in turn greeted very
much, indeed, as they deserved. It was noticeable
thus, from the loyal cries that were the signals
for the first display of anything like hearty enthu-
siasm—the names of " The QUEEN," of " The
Prince of Wales," and of the fair young Bride of
only the day before, " The Princess Alacz"—
down through all that wonderful and motley
catalogue which followed a catalogue of
names renowned or notorious, eminent or
ridiculous. " JEFF. DAVIS " appeared to be
far higher in favour than old ABE " LINCOLN."
General BUTLER'S name—a name henceforth to be
associated with that of HAYNAU, the woman-
flogger—called forth, at the first whisper of it, a
storm of groans and hisses. Even those preposte-
rous personages, my Lord DUNDREARY and "that
comprehensive variety of the human species," as
the reporter quaintly describes him, known as
" Any Other Man" came in repectively for
the youngsters' approbation. Absurd though the
scene witnessed in the Sheldonian Theatre on
the annual Commemoration Day, it has neverthe-
less its wholesome influence and its very express
and readily appreciable significance. And seldom has
there been afforded a more signal evidence of this
than yesterday.

The small Liberal minority and vast Tory
majority performed their annual drill last night
with their wonted precision. Even in the absence
of Lord PALMERSTON, his lieutenant, Sir G. GREY,
with the customary help of Mr. NEWDEGATE, beat
the majority of the Liberals with ease by a
majority of eighty-five. " And so the bill is lost"
—the bill which no one would back to win in a
Parliament, DERBY-DISRAELI, by election, but
officered by Lord PALMERSTON. The atonement
made last night to the sacred cause of bribery and
".undue influence," has, we observe, soothed the
wrath of our great morning contemporary, and
enabled it again to pour forth complacently its
accustomed stream of contemptuous banter. We
have, indeed, nothing to complain of. The Times
never gave itself the trouble to understand the
Ballot as a serious subject. Editors must have
topics on which they can indulge in a little
pleasantry, and it is quite fair that Mr. BRRKELEY,
with his annual motion, should be the SISYPHUS
and the TANTALUS of the times. Perhaps quite as
fair, the whole business being but a jqke for our
contemporary, that its arguments should resemble
so strongly the Kilkenny cats.

We should like ,however, our opponents to choose
which of the self-devouring arguments they will
adopt, We should recommend them to toss up for
it. Say heads, for the argument that the Ballot
will destroy the legitimate influence of property ;
tails, for the opposite one, that it will not secure
secrecy at all. Or, again, heads for the argu-
ment that it is
arand
teiim
a Democratical measure ;
and tails for its pair, that the people
will buerc ash
se much as before
fo l u
idor We confess
theat hands
cooftehs the
thatvcte _pwe
have
sometimes, between these conflicting
arguments,
as been urged e SISYPHUS and
TANTALUS. been
We in
h he d
for some time
completely
destroyed one of
t v
the arguments `7—i have
h e
the question--buts just
was held
with such pertinacity that we thought it
to be the turning point of q
as the victory was apparently in immediate prospect,
the stone within a foot of the summit of the hill,
the fruit or the water just touched by the lips, when
away went the
argument and our victory together
—" Oh, no, I object to the Ballot for just the oppo-
site reason to that I have urged hitherto, you must
answer the contradictory of what I have all along
maintained l" We brace ourselves to the new task
—but, again, this is no sooner all but accomplished,
when again the routed antagonist rejects his last,
and picks up again his old argument ; till you settle