The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-25 00:00:00

LYCEUM THEATRE.

Tnrs EVENTXG. nt 7.30, TWENTY MINUTES WITEI A
TIGEII And CIIILPEItIC: 31. Manus, G Vincent, Odell,
Gogh!an, Lapierre, and M. Herve; ➢lesdames Dolaro, Fitz-
Inman, Romaneili, Nellie Nesbit, and Miss Emily Muir.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and Manageress, Mrs. Swanborough.
THIS EVENING, at 7, THE HEIR AT LAW: Mr Clarke, Mr
James, Miss Bufton, &c. With THE TOODLES. Concluding
with ISO.

WOODIN'S CARPET - BAG AND SKETCII BOOK,
Egyptian Hall. Piccadilly, every Evening (except Saturday) at
8; Saturday Mornings at 3. Admission, Is, 2s, 3s.

CBRISTY MINSTRELS, St. James's Hall, Every Night, at 8
Wednesdays and Saturdays, at 3 and S all the year round.

ZOOLOGICAL atUIDENS, Regent's-talk, OPEN daily (ex.
cept Sundays). Admission, le.; on .I.lcndaye‘ 6d. Children
nnder twelve, 6d.

ROYAL ALHAMBRA PALACE. THREE BALLET .3
Promenade Concert. Band of GO. Begin at 8. le. Box-office
open fromll to 4.

(7,71-tt SAM
--> rt.-,.-'<'‘.4te.to-1-"-;f-2, •

LONDOiV, FRIDAY, FEB. 25, 1870.

The House of Commons may be congratulated
upon the result of the Waterforl Election, and Mr.
OSBORNE certainly deserves great credit for the
spirit which he has displayed in the affair. He
has had to encounter many difficulties, and to come
into coin:don with determined opponents, but he has
surmounted all obstacles and gained the prize for
which he strove. It cannot be said that Mr. OSBORNE
has ever taken a very active part in the business of

the Parliamentary Session, or that his services to
the State can rank high among the works of
our public men, and yet how ill can be be
spared from that august assembly he is now
again to enter as the representative of an Irish con-

stituency. The fact is that some modification is
required, and members of Parliament, like ordinary
mortals, cannot afford to be always wise. It was
weli said in the "New Timon," concerning the effect
produced upon his party by the siffness and res.:rve
of a celebrate' party leader :
But human hearts need sun, as well as oats;
So cold a climate plays the douce with votes."

And the same holds good among minor individuals.
Dull dignity and sober solemnity may be all very
well in their place, but some respite is required, and
hence the intelligence that 'Waterford has will-
ingly or unwillingly, as the case may be, re-
turned Mr. BEItNAL OSBORNE, will be most
gladly received by the press, the Parliament, and the
public in general. Many incidents of Mr. OSBORNE'S
career have furnished amusing episodes wherewith to
enliven the platitudes of debate. Some years have
now elapsed since he made his fatuous attack on the
new Conservative Government of 1858, and called
forth the inimitable remark of Mr. DISRAELI'S that
the louse had rejoiced to hear the " wild shriek" of
liberty with which the hon. member had celebrated
his emancipation from the thraldom of office, and re-
turned to the delights of an independent member.

The ever changing arena of politics and the shifting
scenes of public life, afford innumerable opportunities
for the display of wit, it only in the season is rightly
employed, and the occasion made the most of.
Those who frequent the House mu the most fully
appreciate the importance of taking up any point
Oat presents itself to enliven the dreary round of
debate, and impart some life and spirit into the
weary routine of common-place observations. We
have had enough of solid and substantial things
promised to us for the consideration of our Legisla-
tors ; and by the time they have wandered through
the dreary mazes of the Irish Land Bill, and risen to
the height that is due in contemplating the clauses
of the Education 8.11 they will be pretty
neArly exhausted and indifferent alike to the en-
treaties and threats of these who desire to have more
rights conceded and demand that more wrongs
shall be redressed. It is to be hoped that the advent
of the hon. member for Waterford will produce its
usual effect, and that, from its long sleep, the House
may awaken with fresh energy to the appreciation of
the lively, after its long course of the severe, in Vie
study of legist►tive requirements. It is a new House
which Mr. eSBORNE will elver; he must make his
debut in the Reformed Parli.iment, and certainly he

will not find that the extenziin of the franch:se
has increased the wit, if it has strengthene'd the

wisdom, of our representatives. They are as at present
put before the public, a most staid and demure as-
sembly, and a stranger visiting the Houses of Par-
liament for the first time, might well regret that he
did not pay his visit in past instead of present day.
The departed spirits of the mighty dead might fur-
nish many a brighter specimen than the year 1870
can find on the benches of Parliament. At any rate
soma change will be refreshing, and if he does not find
the dulness of St. Stephen's more fatal to his wit than
the infuriated onslaught of the mob at Waterford
was to his courage, Mr. OSBORN': must, perforce,
infuse some spirit into the House, and com-
mand the applause of listening Senates by his
energy and impulsiveness. The man who read twenty
hours a day was rightly pitied for not having time to
think, and so oar Senators have had just cause to com-
plain that their new leader will not allow them to

laugh. Their APOLLO never unbends his bow, their
HOMER never nods, he is always strung up to duty,
and ready to attack any difficulty, be it selecting a
Bishop or solving an Irish problem. The consequence
is that he is grave, and he expects his foPowers to be
so too. Let us hope that the member for Waterford
mly incite them to disobedience, and that they may
find the temptation too strong to withstand. The
graver hours that bring constraint to sweeten liberty
will be all the more profitably employed if a little
relaxation be permitted.

Englishmen must naturally watch with the deepest
interest the progress of events in France. After
eenturies of perplexity and disturbance, of enthu-
siastic aspirations and disastrous failures, men were
apt to exclaim with impatience that revolutions in
France were useless—they ended where they began,
in despotism. It seemed as though Franco was
journeying in a circle, and that however bold
the theories, or rash the efforts of her
liberal thinkers, real Constitutional Govern-
ment - was equally removed from the dreams of
uer reformers and the inclinations of her kings.
Happily, among the other marvellous changes effected
by the last decade, we may rank the development of
really Liberal principles across the Channel.
We can see, it is true, a thousand dire-
ctions in which reforms are needed. We can sea
a press which in spite of recent concessions is fettered
and prescribed, public meetings ennitnbere I by the
unwelcome presenc3 of the offici supervisor,

municipalities whose authorities are nominatel by
he Clown, above all a Parliament which, to far
from being an efficient representative of the opinions
and feelings of the people, is the remit, for
the most part, of the pressure of prefect an'l
prceureur, of the execu ive, and even of the throne
itself. But, i❑ spite of all tLese terlible

drawbacks, we see ttr.3 . gradual formation
of our intelligent anal enlightened public opinion, of
that discernment which recognises the incompatibility
of license with liberty, of riot with reform, which
even in the justifiable irritation produced by
lmper:al vacillation and Ministwill subservienc,.
refuses to resort to the old and fa ile expedient
of barricades and en-terries. The so/idarite of the
Parisian ropulace has been severely tested by
the events of the last few week, but with the excep-
tion of the comparatively small number of rioters
arrested during the passing disturbances of the 7th