The Sun.
London, England, 1869-06-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, JUNE 10, 1869

demonstration on the part of Young Oxford. Like
the flutter of a scarlet rag before the eyes of a Mad
bull was the appearance, first of all, of a green
necktie, and, last of all, of a white hat before the
outraged tastes and senses of the mob of under-
graduates. According to the Tiniesreporter, their first
furious onslaught was directed against " an unfortunate
bachelor who had happened unthinkingly to adorn
his neck with a somewhat conspicuous kerchief.
Shouts of green tie' arose, and were repeated usque
ad nauseam for the space of fully three-quarters of an
hour. The person was asked to retire, those in his
neighbourhood were invited to ' turn him out,' he
was entreated to change his tie or to take it off :
one enthusiastic commoner went so far as to tear off
one of his leading-strings' and offer it as a substitute
for the obnoxious article. All seemed for nearly an
hour to be in vain ; but importunity at length pre-
vailed; the offender, amid volleys of applause, quitted
the house, and the academic youth were able to turn
their attention to other matters." Now, surely, than this
nothing could very well be more utterly nonsensical.
Skipping for a momeat the whole of the intervening
proceedings, however, we come to the record given
by the same inexorably realistic authority, of the
preposterous circumstance of these same undergra-
duates having their attention unfortunately attracted
towards a white hat held in the hand, not worn upon
the head, of a gentleman standing in the area of the
Sheldonian Theatre. Quoth the reporter in record-
ing this " last scene of all" in this " strange,
eventful " charivari " The Undergraduate is
affiicted by a disease which, for want of
a better name, we may term
phobia.' At the sight of a hat of the obnoxious
hue, ho foams, he shrieks ; be is no longer master of
his actions. The solemn warning bad been given by
the Vice-Chancellor ; the warning was understood to
imply a probability, at least, of the abolition of
Commemoration for all time to come—a terrible
consequence this, which those present would, one
might have thought, fully appreciate ; but all was
in vain. With the hated white hat before their
eyes the infuriated mob of Undergraduates could
do nothing but rave and hoot ; and the
Vice-Chancellor, unable to obtain attention,
rose from his seat, and, accompanied by the
Doctors, left the building. A volley of groans,"
adds the saddened recorder of these absurdities,
" followed, the exact meaning and object of which
appeared uncertain. 'We had thought" he ob-
serves, "disapproval of the abrupt termination of the
proceedings was intended ; but we have since heard
that the Procuratorial staff was the special object
of the demonstration." Hitherto, it must be said, the
undergraduates in past years, whether remote or rec.:llr,
have in some measure contrived always to redeem their
annual hubbub in the old Sheldonian Theatre from
degenerating into an unmitigated nuisance., by inter-
polated cries, flavoured with wit, or in some way
good-humouredly provocative of laughter. This year
it has, unhappily, not been so. All the intermedizite
portion of the proceedings might have been beforehand
accurately enough reported by anticipation. As a
matter of course the name of the University Chancellor,
Lord DERBY, was cheered heartily and repeatedly ; so
also were the names of Mr. GATHORNE HARDY, of Sir
ROUNDELL PALMER, of the Lord Bishop of OXFoRD,
and of the ex-Premier, Mr. DISRAELI—the last men-
tioned of whom has always had his hold somehow
upon the hearts of Young England. Groans and
hisses were the greeting accorded to the once popular
name at Oxford, the still and more than ever dominant
name in England, of Mr. GLADSTONM. Yells and
howlings were the I.e,ponse to the yet more t xecrated
name of JonN BRIGHT—so completely on a ?evel with
he times are these wonderfully sagacious wiseacres,
the younger Oxonians, yesterday crowded into the
.c 4.ha theatre in their capacity
undergraduates. were rung of c yurse.
upon the facetious cheers awarded alternately to the
ladies in pink, in blue, in yellow, to the Ladies in Hats,
and the Ladies in Spectacles—until Common S.mse
was fain to say—Hold ! Enough. Than all this
nonsensical kind of thing °miring annually as it does
at one of our highest seats of learning, surely there
is nothing that could very well be more heart-de-
pressing or more thoroughly melancholy. Rather
than witness the continued repetition of it, one
would willingly realise in sober earnest the threat
hinted at yesterday afternoon by the Vice-Chancellor,
namely, that of putting an end, for once and for all,
henceforth and for ever, to the folly, and tumult, and.
absurdity of the Oxford Commemoration.

A. FEW months ago the Conservatives were for
ever taunting the Liberals with their want of dis-
cipline, with their divisions and dissensions, and they
were told to compare their disorganised condition
with the splendid organisation of the Conservatives.
All is changed now, and the charge of to-day is, that
the Liberals are so " subservient to the whip,"
that they will do anything, for they have
passed every clause of the Irish Church Bill
without alteration. Lord CLAUD JOHN HAMILTON,
referring to this unanimity at a public meeting on
Tuesday night, attempted to be very sarcastic about
the cheers with which Mr. GLADSTONE was greeted
on Monday as he entered the House. The Radicals,
said his lordship, in eloquent phraseology, had
received the " straight tip ; " the " ovation " was a
preconcerted thing. The Whips planned it, and the
docile Ministerialists carried it out. Lord CLAUD
did not seem to see that this perfect harmony of
action between the Whips and the rank
and file is the strongest possible proof of
Liberal consentaneousness. But nothing will please
the Conservative party. If the Liberals quarrel
they are overwhelmed with taunts, and their
independence is denounced as impotence ; if they
co-operate, their unity is stigmatised as base sub-
serviency. Lord CLAUD made another notable dis-
covery. The voice of the majority of the electors
throughout the kingdom was mere noise and clamour;
but the voice of the majority of the electors at Staf-
ford was a glorious voice, and a proof that the
people of England were returning to right reason.
A majority is a convincing argument when it is a
Conservative majority, but if it is a Liberal majority,
it is clamorous noise and brute force. And yet this
style of thing was cheered by the people who heard
it.

WE are not surprised that the Duke of ARGYLL
has discovered the Life Peerages Bill to be "not
worth the paper on which it is written," so far as
the obj ect of bringing the House of Lords into harmony
with the nation is concerned. As we pointed out on a
former occasion, the supposition that the nomination
of two life peers a year would popularise that
House is altogether absurd. It is the old story
of" a pill for the earthquake." In fact the " compro-
mise" by which Lord RUSSELL'S proposed quartett
was reduced by Lord CAIRNS to a duett is simply
one of the most ludicrously incongruous events that
I the country has witnessed for many a year. Here
we are on the eve of a great conflict between the
House of Lords and the nation, a conflict which, if
it be really fought, must work irreparable mischief
to the first combatant, and at such a so-
lemn moment their lordships devote whole evenings
to the discussion of such questions as will cause
rich city merchants to be offended if they are offered
only a life peerage? What will the daughters of
life peers say if they are not permitted to call them-
selves "honourable "? The whole thing is painfully
grotesque. The only rational ideas in connection with
it were, first, that the Lords are not in harmony with
the nation ; second, that the Lords must always be
subordinate to the Commons. Yet even this wasques-
tioned. The Duk e of ARGYLL, indeed, plainlyshewed
that power had once belonged to the Sovereign, then

descended to the Peers, and now had descended to
the Commons ; but so acute a man as the Marquilof
SALISBURY denied this last assertion, and-said that
the Lords had co-ordinate power with the Commons,
and were subordinate only to the nation ; not seeing
that the House of Commons is the mouthpiece of the
nation. The matter is really hardly worth further
discussion. In spite of the compromise between
Lords RUSSELL and CAIRNS, Lord MALMES-
BURY'S " unerring instinct" sees that the
measure is revolutionary, and he means to move
its rejection on the third reading. We
imagine that the Duke of ARGYLL is not likely to say
nay to that proposal, and that in all probability the
bill will be withdrawn by its author. It will not be
the first time that Lord RUSSELL has had to abandon
a scheme of Parliamentary Reform. He acquired so
much experience of the kind in the Lower House that
he is not likely to shed tears on the present occasion.
Even if the bill should pass the ordeal in store for
it, we do not imagine that the Commons will care
to trouble themselves about anything so insignificant.
They have other and more serious work on hand
just now.

TEE renewal of the electoral contest in France
has ended in a victory for the Opposition, but this
triumph has been smaller in extent and different in
kind from that which was confidently expected.
The people of France seem to have taken alarm at
the revolutionary choice of the great cities
a fortnight ago. Several official candi-
dates who were supposed to have no chance
have defeated their Liberal opponents, and in cases
where the choice lay between a moderate Liberal
and a Red, the former has been almost invariably
successful. The second ballot is an institution
peculiar to the electoral system of France. No
candidate can be elected at the first voting who does
not Secure at least one-half, plus one, of the whole
number of votes recorded. Of course when there
are but two candidates one must be successful at
the first ballot; but it sometimes happens that when
three or more compete the greatest number of votes
given in favour of one aspirant does not
exceed one-half the whole. In such cases the
election is indecisive, and a second ballot, which is
decided without regard to proportion, becomes
necessary. In previous years these double
elections have been few. In some town
constituencies the Opposition candidates triumphed ;
in all others the authorities hopelessly
distanced their adversaries. At the general election
of 1803 the indecisive contests were not more than
half-a-score. But it is one of the peculiarities of the
memorable contest just over that the spread of
Liberal ideas has been so universal, the struggle
everywhere so close, as to produce no fewer than
fifty-nine drawn battles. It was calculated with
much plausibility that the 'Opposition would gain
nearly all these seats. In some cases the Liberal was
at the head of the poll, though failing to secure
the necessary " half idus one." In others
the total number of Liberal votes exceeded the
number secured by the Government. For instance,
in the Vaucluse the official candidate received 13,200
votes, and two Liberal competitors 10,400 and 4,800
respectively. As one of the Liberals retired in
favour of the other, it was concluded that the
official candidate would be rejected. But he
proved successful, though his single com-
petitor was a moderate and respectable Liberal,
M. TAXILE DELORD. Many other calcula-
tions of this kind have been falsified by the event.
The total result is, that whereas the Opposition
thought to lose no more than half-a-dozen of the
fifty-nine double contests, the Imperialists have
secured no fewer than twenty-four, leaving thirty-
four to the Liberals, and one yet unknown.
This issue proves clearly that the fear of revolu-
tion has brought about a certain reaction
in favour of the Empire. It is true
that the authorities have exerted themselves
to the uttermost, have employed all fair means, and
some that cannot be esteemed fair, to prevent an
utter defeat in these fifty-nine circumscriptions. All
over France, in the rural districts, might be seen
notifications that, owing to the prayer of M. This,
~.. 13- u, me official can di (la fp, 44,0
EMPEROR had granted a sum of money, a road,
a railway, or what not, to the inhabitants. In one
case the Prefect proudly announced that a vast
dung-pit, which had proved a dreadful nui-
sance, was to be removed, and that this
great blessing had been procured only
by the special prayer of the official can-
didate. It is gratifying to learn that this
philanthropic gentleman is at the bottom of the
poll. No doubt, however, these bribes did
have much effect in many cases ; but the
entire reaction is not to be attributed to
these causes. The cries for revolution which have
gone out from Paris, Lyons, Marseilles, and Nantes
have evidently frightened the country voters, and
this much congratulation the Government may
take to itself. Still, it is but poor satisfac-
tion to find that, through fear of Socialism,
and not through love to the Empire, a few
seats have been lost to the Opposition. The
triumph is but a comparative one. The evil is just
a little less than it might, have been. The absolute
and net result of the eleCtions is, beyond all doubt, a
decisive triumph for the Liberals, and a clear vote of
censure on the Imperial policy.

The most dreaded enemies of the Empire are
all in the new Corps L6gislatif. Nothing that the
Government could do was sufficient to keep out M.
THIERS. Though the leader of no party in parti-
cular, though occupying no definite position in
politics, his eloquence and searching criticism are so
dreaded that no man in France is more personally
obnoxious to the EMPEROR and the EMPRESS. But
Paris has chosen him by a triumphant majority,
actually, for the purpose, denying itself the luxury
of electing a Red. M. HENRI ROCHEFORT,
the lampooner of the Lenterne, has been
rejected, but this has been effected only by the
return of a far more formidable man—M. JULES
FAVRE. In another Paris circumscription the
electors have rejected M. ItASPAIL, one of the
Socialists. But this is to be attributed to the fact
that M. RASPAIL was already elected for Lyons,
whilst his opponent—M. GARNIER - PAGES—is
an advanced Republican, and scarcely less dear to
the Parisians than the Socialist himself. In short,
not one enemy of Imperialism whom the Govern-
ment had any reason to dread has failed
to find a seat. The Opposition will include
almost all the genius and ability of the new
Chamber. In respect of oratory, it will be, perhaps,
the strongest party in Europe. Lastly, it is about
three-and-a-half times more numerous than it was
in the last Chamber. Then it mustered a miserable
band of twenty-three ; now its strength cannot be
under fourscore. Add to this the fact that
even where the official candidates have triumphed,
the struggle has been close beyond example—in
several instances the Government nominee has got,
in by only two or three hundred in a poll of 20,000
to 30,000—and the serious nature of this blow
becomes apparent. The general election of 1869
has proved the greatest disaster of the EMIIEROR'S
reign.

DREADFUL BOILER EXPLOSION AT
BINGLEY.

very disastrous boiler 3 xplosion, supposed to
have resulted in the death of not fewer than twenty
adults and children, occurred yesterday morning at
the works of Mersrs.Town and Son, bobbin turners,
at Bingley, between Bradforl and Keighley.

The dead and injured were removed to the Na-
tional School, and a number of surgeons from the
surrounding district renderel prompt aid to those
who were suffering. Some vere removed to their
homes, and some to the Bradford Infirmary. The
search for missing bodies was being prosecuted
yesterday afternoon. The cause of the disaster is
not known.

WRIGHT'S TURF GUIDE.— Ye have just received
a copy of this well-constructed glide, containing a return,
of the part meetings up to the ezl of last week.

TIE

E BISHOP'S AND THE BILL,

The Birmingham Daily Post publishes in the corm of a
special telegraph from London the infordation follow-
ng r—" There is good reasan to believe that the Archbishop
if Canterbury has advised the bishops of his province
;4:3 abstain from voting for the rejection of the Irish Church
Bill. There Is every probability that the Archbishop of York
will follow the example, and give similar counsel to his
suffragans. All the bishops may not follow their advice,
Ind Lichfield, Peterborough, and Rochester are said to be
recalcitrant; but the temperate and judicious attitude taken
by the heads of the English Church cannot fail to exercise a
oowerful influence among the peers.

(RISE CHURCH BILL-DEJEUNER AT

WILLIS'S ROOMS.

On Wednesday a Meiiier was given in Willis's Rooms,
to entertain the deputations from the Irish Church Con-
ference and the Presbyterian Church in Ireland which
came over to memorialise the House of Lords on the
Irish Church Bill. The attendance was select rather
than large, and included a few ladies. The Duke
of Rutland presided ; and the company included—
the Archbishop of Armagh, Archbishop of Dublin,Duke
of Abercorn, Marquis of Hamilton, Lord Redesdale,
Earl of Bandon, Earl of Erne, Earl of Courtown, Earl
of Enniskillen, Earl of Egmont, Earl of Huntingdon,
Earl of Harrowby, Bishop of Tuam, Bishop of Derry,
Bishop of Ripon, Viscount Templeton, Lord Castlemaine,
Lord O'Neil, Lord Fitzwalter, Lord Colchester, Lord C.
J. Hamilton, Lord H. Thynne, Lord J. Manners, Sir J.
Pakington, M.P., Major Windsor Parker, M.P., Mr.
Corry, M.P., Mr. Whitmore, M.P., Viscount Crichton,
M.P., Mr. Vance, M.P., Mr. Arkwright, M.P., Mr.
Lefton M.P., Mr. E. K. Hornby, M.P., Mr. Newde-
gate, M.P., Mr. Verner, M.P., Sir Walter Farquhar, the
Hon. E. O'Neil, Captain Archdall, M.P., the Dean of
Ripon, Sir W. C. Weldon, Alderman Sir R. W. Carden,
Mr. R. Dimsdale, M.P., Mr. Charley, M.P.,
Colonel the Hon. H. B. Bernard, and Dr. Cumming. Grace
before dejeaner was said by the Lord Bishop of Tuam,
and after by the Lord Bishop of Derry. The toast of the
Queen and that of the Royal Family were drunk amidst
prolonged cheering.
The Duke of RumatrD then gave the toast of "The
Church and State." It was, be said, an old fashioned
toast, but was one that ought never to be omitted.
It was a toast that meant national feeling and
national will to maintain our national Constitu-
tion. He meant that the State should do nothing
that had not the sanction of the Church, and that
the Church should receive the help of the
State. The Irish Church Bill would destroy
the Church in Ireland, and were that done, he believed
that the maintenance of the Church in England in its
integrity would be impossible. The majority of the House
of Lords, he was convinced, believed the bill to be a wrong
one. Against the opinion that because the House of Com-
monshad passed the bill the House of Lords had no right to
refuse to sanction it, he desired earnestly to protest. It
was the duty of the House of Lords to refuse that sane•
Eon, and they would be sustained by large majorities of the
people both in this country and in Ireland. (Loud cheers.)
The bill, he would remark, would take from the House of
Lords four Irish bishops whowere amongst its most useful
members, and surely the Peers had a right to raise their voice
against so unconstitutional a deprivation. Telegrams and let-
ters bad been received from Manchester, Wakefield, and
Liverpool, stating that large meetings had been, and would
be, held to protest against Mr. Gladstone's bill. The toast,
he was sure, would be received with united cheers by Eng-
lishmen and Irishmen as the only security for the supremacy
of the Queen and the maintenance of our civil and religious
liberty. The toast was drunk with great enthusiasm.
In replying, his Grace the Lord Archbishop of ARMAGH
said that if the bill were passed, there would still exist
in Ireland a union between Church and State, but it would
he the union of the Church with a foreign Power. The
Lords, he was sure, would quit themselves like men.
(Loud cheers.) In Ireland they were convinced that just
as the Protestant Church in Ireland receded the Roman
Catholic Church would advance.
After a speech from the Bishop of Derry, several toasts
were proposed and responded to, chief among which were
"The House of Lords," proposed by Sir John Pakington
•Ind responded to by the Duke of Abercorn ; " The Irish
Branch of the United Church, and the deputies of the
Irish Church Conference," proposed by the chairman,
and responded to by the Earl of Carrick, the Arch•
deacon of Ardfert, and Mr. R. Hamilton ; and "The
Irish Presbyterian Church, and its deputation from
Ireland," proposed by the Earl of Harrowby, and responded
to by Mr. Macrorie. Mr. Newdegate, M.P., then pro-
posed the health of the noble chairman, who returned
thanks, and the proceedings terminated.

MI?. RIGBY WASON AND A POLICE
MAGISTRATE.

-4-

Mr ;. LLu Out. L of au, ou'o Dona 011
Wednesday, and applied for a rule calling upon Mr. Tyrwhitt,
one of the metropolitan police magistrates, to show cause
way a mandamus should not issue against him to compel
him to take Mr. Wason's recognisances to prosecute a
charge for conspiracy against Earl Russell, Lord Chelms-
ford, and the Lord Chief Baron, relative to the charge of
falsehood preferred by Mr. Wason against the Lord Chia
Baron, in connection with the Ipswich election, which took
place about 35 years since. Mr. Wason read a printed docu-
ment, setting forth minutely all the circumstances in con-
nection with his charge against the Lord Chief Baron and
what had been done in reference to it, the reading of which
occupied nearly an hour and a half. Rule refused.

THE ELECTORAL DISTURBANCES AT

PARIS.

The correspondent of the Standard gives the following
account of the serious riots in Paris during the
late elections :—" At about half-past eight on Mon-
day a perfect cloud of policemen, I should say 400 to 500, took
up a position along the north side of the Boulevard Mont-
martre, occupying in great force the corner of the Rue
Grange Batelier and the corner of the Rue du Faubourg
Montmartre, close to the restaurant formerly known as
Vachette's, but now as Brebant's. As a matter of course,
a crowd collected to look at the sergents-de.ville, wonder-
ing what was going to turn up, and another crowd
collected to look at the first crowd. The cafés on the
Boulevard were instantly filled, and some of them had as
many as four rows of tables in front of the shops, all of
which were occupied by al fresco consumers. Circulation
was difficult, no doubt ; but the large, immovable masses
of policemen blocking up the way did not improve it.
The weather was most oppressive, not a breath of air
stirring, and the atmosphere filled with a kind of
minute dust perceptible to the eye. In short, the
weather was stormy, and Frenchmen, whether they be
lookers on or policemen, are remarkably subject to
electric influences. At half-past eight the police pro-
ceeded in a body to the office of the Rappel to effect
its seizure, and arrested a man who persisted in selling
it in defiance of the veto. He made a terrible row,
,soaped, bolted into a café, whither the police pursued,
and finally captured him, dragging him away to the
station-house, whilst he shouted 'A Passassm ! A large
crowd followed, hooting the police. Meanwhile the crowd
increased in numbers, and frequent cries were heard
of Viva Rochefort ! ' and ' Des Lanternes !
This went on for some time, when all at
once a band of about four or five hundred men,
said to be students, debouched from the
Rue Vivienne, singing the Marseillaise,' and shouting
Vire Rochefort ! ' and I am also told, but did not hear
it, 'A bas Jules Favre I' The police then made a charge
all along the northern pathway of the boulevard, and
the crowd in rushing along overturned the tables
outside the cafés, and in many instances the customers
too. Several persons came to grief, lam told, during
this first charge, and I saw one woman carried off in a
state of unconsciousness. A little after the cries of Vive
Rochefort !' and the' Marseillaise ' were again attempted,
followed by another charge of the police, and that wild
sort of indistinct clamour which marks the French
crowd in its angry mood. All the cafés on the north
side were then entered by policemen, cleared of their
customers, and shut up. This, of course, partly increased
the numbers outside, and the persons thus disturbed were
in no cheerful mood. All of a sudden—how it hap-
pened I don't know—but the crowd and the police were
suddenly transferred to the south side ; there was a
wild shout, another charge, and a regular stampede."

FACTS NOT GENERALLY KNOWN.—The following
answers were sent up in a recent examination in a certain
public school :—" 1. Give an account of Raleigh.—He was
passing throw the forest When Walter Terral seeing a dear
pass by he puled his boe, and the arer stuck a tree and
glance off and hit Walter Raleigh throw the head and Walter
Terral seeing him dead at wonce fell. And a few years
afterwards a man was passing by and found the boddy and
at once called some people and they took the boddy and
buryed him in Winchester Kerfideral." "2. The Policy of
Queen Elizabeth.—Queen Elizabeth was very fond of
wriding and she did not live long but raind very short
time." "3. The Causes that led to Dissatisfaction with
Charles the First.—Because they did not like him and he
ran aboute when his head was cut off." "4. The Prin-
cipal Battles of the Civil War.—There was the crimmear
and the war of the read roses and the war of the wite
roses." "5. Life of Charles the First.—Charles the I was
a very good king. He came to the frome 1866 and raind
13 years and he was hated by every one and no one loved
him and he was executed and he ran aboute when his head
wm.cut off."-_--itugby Meteor.