The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-07 00:00:00

ROYAL

ENGLISH OPERA,
COVEN T -GA RD EN.

Under the management of Miss L. Pyne and Mr.W. Harrison.
THIS EVENING, VICTORINE. Messrs. Santicy,
Haigh, H. Ccrri, G. Honey, Bartleman, &c. Misses Parepa,
Thirlwall,

Condactor, Alfred Mellon.
To conclude with the new grand pantomime, called PUSS
IN BOOTS; or, Harlequin and the Fairy of the Golden
Palms.
Doors open at half-past 6—Commence at 7 o'clock.

THEATRE-LOYAL, HAYMARKET.
L.ssee, Mr. J. B. Buckstone.
THIS EVENING, the comedy of THE EVIL GENIUS'
Miss Reynolds.
After which, the new Haymarket Comic Christmas Panto-
mime, VALENTINE'S DAY; or, Harlequin and the Fairy
of the True Lovers' Knot. The pantomimists the unrivalled
Leclercqs.

THEATRE-ROYAL LYCEUM.-
Sole Lessee and Directress—Madame Celeste.
Unprecedented Success.--jite-engagement of the Spanish

Dancers.

Madame CELESTE has the honour to announce that, de-
sirous of meeting the views of her patrons, she has succeeded
in renewing the engagement with the elegant and graceful
Dona Isabel Cubas, together with Don Juan Ximenes, who
have been received enthusiastically by crowded audiences.

THEATRE-ROYAL LYCEUM.-
Sole Lessee and Directress, Madame Celeste.
Re-engagement of the Spanish Dancers.
THIS EVENING, the popular Drama of THE SISTER'S
SACRIFICE. Genevieve (her original charuter) Madame
Celeste.
After which, will be produced a new Grand Christmas Ex-
travaganza and Pantomime, KING THRUSH BEARD, the
LITTLE PET and the GREAT PASSION. Clown, Mr. IL
Marshall—Columbine, Miss Rosino.

Commence at 7.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.-
Lessee, Mr. A. Harris.
Re-engagement of the Wonderful Danc;,r, Mons. Espinosa.
First appearance of Mdlle. Marietta Rosetta, Principal Dan-
seuse of La Scala, Milan ; and first time of the Delapierre
Family. These highly-talented Children will appear every
night. The Royal Princess's Rifles on parade every evening.

THIS EVENING, THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTiI,

After which, a new Christmas burlesque pantomime, by H.
J. Byron, called JACK THE GIANT KILLER ; or, ITarle-
quin King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.
Jack, Miss Louise Keeley—Harlequin, Mr. Cormack - Panta-
loon, Mr. Paulo—Columbine, Miss Caroline Adams—Clown
Mr. A. F. Forrest. ,

NEW THEATRE - ROYAL, AD ELPHI.
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. Benj. Webster.
Holiday Attractions.— The Christmas Carol and the New
Spectacular Extravaganza, by 11. J. Byron, Esq, the Nymph
of the Lurlyberg ; or the Knight and the Naiades.
THIS EVENING, THE CHRISTMAS CAROL. Messrs
J. L. Toole, C. Selby, Paul Bedford, Stuart, Billington, C. J.
Smith. Romer; Miss Woolgar, Mrs. Billington, Mrs. Chatte-
rley, Miss Laidlaw.
After which THE NYMPHS OF THE LURLEYBERO ;
or, The Knight and the Naiades. Messrs. Toole, Bedford,
Eburne, Smith, Powell, Romer, Miss Woolgar, C. Webb, K.
Keily, Laidlaw.
Doors open at half-past six—Commence at seven. Box-
Office open from 10 to 5. No charge for securing seats,
nor fer bills of performance. All fees to servants of this
establishment are strictly prohibited.
Acting Manager—Mr. Wm. Smith.

ROY AL ST. JAMES'S THEATRE,
King-street, St. James's. Lessee, Mr. T. B. Chatter-
ton. The nearest Theatre to Chelsea, Pimlico, and West-
minster, the Park being open to carriages and foot passen-
gers all hours of the night.

THIS EVENING the performances will commence with
GARIBALDI'S ENGLISHMAN. Messrs. Barrett and C.
Young.

Followed by MAGIC TOYS, supported by Miss Lydia
Thompsen, Clara St. Cassc, Acc.
Followed by a new sketch, A HOUSEHOLD FAIRY.
Miss Wyndham and Mr. H. T. Craven.
To conclude with the new pantomime of PUNCH AND
JUDY. Introducing' Miss Lydia Thompson and the Corps
de Ballet. Clown, Harlequin, Columbine, and Pantaloon, and
the wonderful Performing Dogs.
Reduced Prices—Gallery, 6d ; Pit, ls. The Box-office open
from 11 to 5 daily. Doors open at half-past six; perform
ante commences at 7.

ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE,
Westminster-road.

Sole Lessee—Mr. William Cooke, his Farewell Season.
THIS EVENING, the grand entertainments will com-
mence at 7 o'clock with new and extraordinary features in
Horsemanship by the best Riders in Europe. After which,
the successful sporting Pantomime, abounding in comicality,
ealled HARLEQUIN TOM MOODY; or, Old Towler the
Huntsman and the Goddess Diana, with songs by Miss
Esther Jacobs.—Gorgeous and Dazzling mochanical transfor-
mation scene. harlequin, M. Richarde ; Pantaloon, Mr. P.
Abbot, Columbine, Maddle. Mazzoni; Clown, Mr. Hilde-
brand ; a family of Sprites by the Elastic Incomprehensibles.
Morning performances of the Pantomime, and Scenes in the
Circle every Saturday during the Holidays at Two o'clock.
- - ---•

Stage Manager, Mr. R. Phillips

CANTERBURY HALL CONCERTS.-
EVERY EVENING. Sterndale Bennett's MAY
QUEEN.
Aud a Grand Selection from Meyerbeer's new opera of
DINORAII.

Comic Vocalists —Messrs. George -Hodson (the Irish Come-
dian and Mimic), W. Critclafield, and E. W. .11eckney.
Several interesting, Pictures are added to the Fine Arts
Gallery. The suite of Halls have been re-decorated and
beautified. and constitute one of the most unique and brilliant
sights of the metropolis.
ROSA BONHEUR'S celebrated PICTURE of the HORSE
FA llt is now added to the already magnificent Collection of
Paintings in the Canterbury Hall Fine Arts Gallery. The
gallery is open from 5 till 11 on Sunday Evening.

THE WEATTIER.—Sus OFFICE, JAN. 7, 1860.
THEEMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
45—highest since noon yesterday.
3.s—lowest this morning and during the night.
42—this day at noon.
BAROMETER-30.15; another rise of nearly three-quay
ters of an inch.
WIND, IV.N.W.; light, with fine frosty weather.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, 12h. 20m.—Afternoon, 12h. 47m.
To-moßnow.-Morning, lh. 13m.—Afternoon, lh. 40m.

s_
4
4,4-r
•• 3"
411. t'
•

THE SUN.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JAN. 7, 1860.

Yesterday was a grand field-day for the quasi-
ultra-Reformers down at Birmingham. It was
with an eye, of course, to the speedy commencement
of the Parliamentary session of 1860 that Mr.
BRIGHT and Mr. SCIIOLEFIELD addressed them-
selves thus early in January to their constituents.

Their harangues, given elsewhere at full length in
our impression of this evening, may be looked upon
in the light of an anticipative demonstration. It

is a demonstration too, which—considering the cha-

ratter of the constituency addressed, and consider-

iug especially the character of that constituency's

two notab:e representatives will hardly fail

to be looked to with about equal interest

by the country at large (including both
electors and non-electors) and by the leading

members of the present Coalition Government. For

the indicittion thus afforded of the probable result

of the approaching discussions upon the Ministeria:

Reform Bill now in preparation—or rather, we

believe, it may be said more correctly, in actual

readiness for submission to the two Houses of the

Imperial Legislature—is an indication more im-

portant in its way, more valuable, and more

significant than the proverbial flinging up of a straw
or two to show which way the wind blows

Here, in these colleagues in the representa-
tion of Birmingham, are two men peculiarly re-
garded throughout the constituencies as each in
his
own nay a conspicuous typo of that exceptional
class in the House of Commons, known as thorough
Independents. These are members, who were there
cross-benches in the
House, would occupy those
cross-benches by right of their intermediate po-
sition between the two extremes of Whig
Liberalism and Tory Conservatism. As it
is--they sit generally just; immediately below the
gangway. They carry their symbol in no parti-
cillar colours, or if in an: r colo urs at 11 a , in what
might typically be take n as neutral tints ! Yet
these neutral tints it must be co:afessed, upon closer
scrutiny, prove to be as V 3.1 iotrs as the most brilliant
pigments on the political pal ette—carmine and gam-
boge,cobalt and vermillion. The " Independents,"
in fact, though so restri etc' 1 in numbers, are as vari-
ous in their opinions as the larger sections
.Qt: the two great rioN -al parties in Parliament.
They are "particular to v. shade" amongst them-
Aelves. But as cow pie :lions representatives of
of this small but imp orte nt class amongst the great
aggregate of the po nspresentatives, we may
accept the two month
especial importance ers for Birmingham as men of
own peculiar way , both, as `cc have said, in their
into their v . We may with reason examine
iews
I as articulated
*yesterday in their

harangues to their joint constituents, as in an emi-
nent degree worthy of consideration. Mr. SCHOLE-
FIELD may be regarded as the representative of the
more moderate and mediocre of the old steady-
going, jog-trot school of "Political Independents.',
He is a man of moderate abilities, but of the utmost
respectability. He is the worthy son of a worthy
sire, honoured by his fellow-townsmen, in the
midst of whom his blameless life has been for the
most part passed, and justifying from first to last
the confidence reposed in him by that eonsiderable
majority of the possessors of the franchise down at
Birmingham, who vote for him at every election as
' a matter of course—as though he were a man
possessing some sort of imperceptible and here-
ditary right to a moiety in their repre-
sentation. Mr. BRIGHT, on the other hand,
while in his private capacity as a Citizen of the
Empire quite as blameless as his milder colleague,
and invested (as a citizen) with quite as unsullied
a respectability—occupies a position neither of mo-
deration nor of mediocrity among the chiefs of the
little band of Political Independents. He is there,
amongst that little phalanx, in a nominally inter-
mediate position—straddling colossus-like above
his fellows at the centre of the plank, midway
between the aforesaid extremes of %Vhig Liberalism
and Tory Conservatism ! But lurching at intervals
so heavily and glaringly from the perpendicular
that he seems apparently bent upon raising or
depressing the beam of power according
to his fitful whim and pleasure ! As he would
doubtless—had he a veritable weight in the coun-
cils of the nation proportioned to:his individual esti-
mate of his own importance ! Mr. BRIGHT is
happily,in that estimate, however, labouring under
one of the most astounding delusions that ever pos-
sessed the imagination of a public man. Hence,
his extraordinary intolerance of late of any dis-
sent from his own oracular opinions. Hence
his arrogance of tone and language in
dealing with the great questions of the
day, as though he were Member, not for
Birmingham, but for the whole of the United King-
dom. Hence his astonishing ingratitude to the
very power which has afforded him the means of
puffing himself into notoriety. His hand, like that
of ISHMAEL, has, by reason of this overweening
estimate of his political importance, been latterly
against everybody—and this with such an air of
wilful and wanton provocation that everybody's
hand almost has been against him in return. Such
being the wide difference between these con-
trasting colleagues in the representation of Bir-
mingham, it is interesting so far to examine the
latest revelation of their views and intentions in
the matter of Reform, as circulated now far and
wide by the Press, after having been articulated
yesterday to a eonsiderable gathering of their con-
stituents. And referring our readers to the length-
ened report of their twin speeches given elsewhere
as nearly as possible (at any rate in Mr. BRIGHT's
instance) verbatim by ourselves, we may indicate
the views and intentions of these two variously
"shining lights" among the chiefs of the Poli-
tical Independents ! This simple old-fashioned
" mutton truncheon" (according to Mr. DICKENS'S
wonderfully funny designation the other day
of our almost forgotten friend, the " dip" of
a past age) and its alarming companion
down at Birmingham, that loudly crackling
and sputtering flambeau which seems every now
and then bent upon setting either the Thames on
fire or the whole country in a flame (as yet, how-
ever, doing neither !)—We may indicate, we repeat,
the views and intentions of these variously shining
lights among the chiefs of the Political Indepen-
dents, in regard to the on-coming Question of
Reform—by one comprehensible, comprehensive,
and significant word—to wit, Compromise !

It is impossible not to realise through the sounding
phrases of Mr. BRIGHT and the assumed staunchness
of his colleague, Mr. SCHOLEFIELD, a predetermi-
nation—now upon the eve of the Parliamentary
Session of 1860—to put up with whatever this be-
loved Coalition may vouchsafe to yield in the shape
of—Reform in Moderation ! The axiom seems to
be with both now—let us take the goods the
Whigs and their motley colleagues will give us—
let us not look the gift horse too closely in the
mouth—let us content ourselves with whatever
Reform the Coalition may Consent to place upon
the table of the House, even though it be a bill
in which the Whigs and their col-
leagues will no more consent to give
us the Ballot—than their Derbyite predecessors !
Now, upon this point, what says the staunch and
immaculate Mr. SCHOLEFIELD ? Why, he says
quite distinctly—" I have always voted for the
Ballot, and shall always wish to see that a part of
the means by which members are to be returned
to Parliament. But if the resolution means that
the Ballot is to be made a sine qua non in any
Bill, that we are to reject any measure which
does not include the Ballot, I must reluctantly
demur to the conclusion of the resolution. I should
be glad to accept an honest Reform Bill even with-
out the Ballot, not because I undervalue its impor-
tance, but I wish you to bear in mind the circum-
stance that a great portion of the Government are
against the Ballot, and that you have not a pledge
that the ballot shall form any part of the Govern•
merit measure. I do not wish to see our public
men dragged through the mire so as to pledge
themselves to support opinions which they do
not entertain. I do not wish to see the leading
members of the Government who object to the
Ballot coming forward and saying that the
argments of the public have convinced them that
the ballot ought to be adopted. I would much ra-
ther see the public make their representatives pledge
themselves, when the time comes, not to vote for
any Ministry which will not carry the ballot."
The words we have italicised are surely plain
enough. And now what says Mr. BRIGHT upon
this same vital question of the Ballot ? Why all
that he can find courage to say on the matter in
his long rigmarole and rhodomontade about Re-
form yesterday, is just simply this, " I have seen,"
he says, " two of the most eminent members of the
Cabinet come round within the last two years, and
who have unsaid everything they had previously
said respecting Church-rates ; and lam sure if
they should turn on the question of the Ballot we
should not reject their aid assistance." Whereupon
the audience gives way to a burst of cheers and
Iyhter ! Of course " laughter" for the com-
ment is quite in the spirit of Mr. HENRY BER-
KELEY, the Buffoon-Champion of this most essen-
tial of all reforms in our system of popular repre-
sentation. According to whose views upon the
matter aeemingly the Ballot is only to be
talked of on the broad grin !

Happily there are a few other and more
staunch Independents in the House of Commons
beyond either Mr. BRIGHT or Mr. SCIIOLE-
FIELD. To them we look—to men like Mr. ROE-
BUCK, Mr. WTYLD, and Mr. LINDSAY—for a course
more worthy of the name of Political Indepen-
dence. That course ought to bring them
directly to this one distinct determination-
-to insist upon the Whigs and their friends giving
the country the Ballot, in compensation, at the
very least, for the loss of that certainty of carrying
the Derbyite Reform Bill last year through the