The Sun.
London, England, 1870-09-16 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIpAY,
,SEPTEMI3EIt, 16, 1870.

sort of apologetic manner which seemed iro
imply that he ought to ask forgiveness for intruding
upon his audience a subject which did not interest
them. He endeavoured to shew that indirectly they
were interested, and then, quoting what appears to
be the very ipsissima verba of one of Mr. BRIGHT'S
speeches delivered some ten years ago, he pointed out
how greatly it was to the advantage of England that
her Parliament should be elected by the whole people
and so all dangerof, and:excuse for, revolution betaken
away. Certainly we are not going to find fault with
these remarks. To the Buckinghamshire farmers
they must have sounded rather_strange ; for buoolics
have not yet been fully educated up to the
mark which more distinguished Conservatives
have attained. They have not yet come to under-
stand that the extension of the suffrage which the
Conservatives:denounced through a generation is the
most Conservative of measures, for which we can
never sufficiently thank that fine old Tory Minister.

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

repeatedly calling the maid of the inn "Garcon," and
making other kindred mistalZes, which, although
. causing much laughter, are by no means believed to
misrepresent what d aes often occur. The pom-
posity and vanity of some of 'us on the continent,
are however sometimes not our worst charac-
teristics. Instead of meekly yielding to the
superiority of what is exhibited around us in
scenery and custom, instead of preserving a.
feeling of humility, and yet being conscious of what
is due to our own self-respect,' we give way some-
times to abuse and boasting and silly commendation
of England in a way that must strike foreigners,
however really blameable for certain things them-
selves, with disgust at a few sections of the Britons.
A. writer in All the Year Round has been saddened
, and shamed, at some conduct on the part of English-
' men and Scotchmen whom he had the misfortune to
meet with recently in France. He says :
Between Amiens and Paris there came an irruption
into the carriage of four horsey Englishmen. There were
Frenchmen in the other seats ; but these islanders, at the
top of their voices, proceeded to comment heartily and
'With enjoyment on the disastrous events of the war.
" Pooh, Bazaine 1 what can he do ? In ten days the Ger-
mans will be in Paris. The French can't stand an hour
against 'em. Bless your soul, we'll see 'em
picketing their horses in the Chongs Eleezy yet.
They can't stand a week," &c. A sinister-looking
Frenchman opposite seems to writhe as he
catches scraps of this depreciation. But our Englishmen
are very big and strong-looking. It is a relief when they ,
get out. So, too, in the salons of the Grand Hotel.
When a courteous French gentleman, seeing a grizzly
Scott devouring the newly-arrived English journal, asks
for the last news in broken English, the Scot tells him the
whole deliberately, but with an indelicacy quite uninten-
tional. " You see, MacMahon can't be found. He is in
retreat—coming to Paris. No doubt afraid to meet the
Crown Prince." "Eh ? Comment ?" " I say, no doubt
afraid to meet the Crown Prince. Bazaine, of course,
can't budge for his life."

No wonder, indeed, for the Frenchman to look, as
he is said to have done, bewildered at the compla-
cency and yet braggadocio with which the Scot, be-
lieving himself to be acquitting himself handsomely,
blurted out the blunt truths.