The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-24 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 24, 1869.

A discreditable letter has recently appeared, under
the signature of JOSHUA FIELDEN, in which the sin
of the late member for Oldham, the some time col-
league (in the representation of that Lancashire
borough) of WILLIAIt COBBETT, makes a spiteful but
utterly futile attack upon the fair fame of the
generous-hearted nobleman, long popularly known
under his courtesy title as Lord ASHLEY, but for the
last eighteen years as the Earl of SHAFTESBURY. The
occasion selected for this attack is, everything con-
sidered, rather oddly meal-a-propos. It is in reference
to that speech of Lord SHAFTEssuny's on Saturday,
the 15th inst., upon which we have already com-
mented—the speech delivered by him on the in-
auguration or uncovering of the statue erected to the
memory of RICHARD OASTLER as one of the well-
known champions of the famous Ten-Hours' Factory
Act of Parliament. Now, if anything whatever
was conspicuously remarkable in that, in every way
remarkable, speech of Lord SHAFTESBURY'S, it was
most certainly this—that the noble lord went out
of his way to award full honour and credit to every
individual, by name, who had in anyway participated
in thelabour of furthering and advancingiduring a pro-
tracted series of years,through good repo rkand through
evil report, that, memorable and beneficent measure.
Lord SHAFTESBURY in noway arrogated to himself the
reputation, we might even say the veneration, which, in
its regard, is very assuredly his due. Everyone else
he had a good word for, but in respect to himself,
and his awn labours, he was—as best became him—
scrupulously silent. The enormous audience be was
then addressing, were there simply to do honour
to the memory of one man—RICHARD OASTLER.
Lord SHAFTESBURY was there as the most fitting
person to give utterance to the popular feeling in

regard to the name and fame of that histori-
cal benefactor of Factory Labourers, and espe-
ci.illy of Factory Children. To do honour
to Rtc HARD OASTLER'S memory alone, how-
ever, was not enough for the generous heart of

the Earl of SHAFTESBURY. And, hence, as we have
said, during the course of his anything but egotis-

tical speech on the 15th instant, the noble lord
most carefully enumerated, one after another, with
earnest words of commendation, more or less appro-
priate to each of them in turn, all those who, in the
good work referred to, had co-operated in bringing it

eventually to its successful completion. Among
others, Lord SHAFTESBURY mentioned, with suitable
words of praise, the name of the late Mr. JOHN
FIELDEN, formerly M.P. for Oldham, in Lan-
casbire. And for this—with a very singular dis-
play of filial zeal—Mr. JOSHUA FIELDEN,

the writer of the letter we aro just now
referring to, has fallen foul, not merely of the Earl of
SHAFTESBURY, but of his former self, that Lord
ASHLEY with whose honoured name more intimately
than another name that could be mentioned, not even
excepting RICHARD OASTLER'S, certainly not except-
ing the late Mr. FIELDEN'S, the triumph of the Ten
Hours' Factory Bill will henceforth be always asso-
ciated.

What appears to have prculiarly excited the ill
feeling of Mr. JOSHUA FIELDEN, inducing him, there.
upon, to make this indecorous attack upon the Earl

SHAFTESBURY, is this, that the Earl, in the course of
his speech on the 15th inst., remarked that JOHN
FIELDEN was ever with him, and that in consequence
of his being so, a certain joke was passed upon him,
which he, Lord SHAFTESBURY, would relate his
hearers. "JOHN FIELDEN," said the Easrl oPSHAFTEs-

BURT, " invariably followed his propositions on the
Ten Hours' Bill; he (the noble Earl) was, therefore,
to a certain extent, a leader, and had, to a certain

extent, a following ; and the remark was this
is Lord SHAFTESBURY, he has got no tail, he is like a

rabbit, be has only got a scut !' That was the
irreverent way in which his excellent friend was

spoken of, but his services were invaluable." That
harmless just, it is—not Lord SH AFTESBURY'S remem-
ber! but one which years ago had been bandied about
at the Clubs and in the lobbies of the House of Com-
mons—thatitis which bas so irritated Mr JOSHUA FIE L-

DEN! That is what sticks in his gizzard—that is what

stinks in his nostrils ! That little good-humoured joke
about the scut of the rabbit Witnessing, what we
have already designated, the really discreditable on-

slaught which thereupon, made by Mr. JOSHUA
FIELDEN upon the Earl of SHAFTESBURY, one can't
help remembering, upon the instant, that succulent
couplet of POPE'S in his Imitations from Horace—
" 0, blast it, south winds ! let a stench exhale,
Rank as the ripeness of a rabbit's tail."
The flavour of the joke, to Mr. JOSHUA FIELDEN'S
palate, is not only intolerable, it is:for all the world
like a nibble at the " insane root" sung of by the
poet—it seems to have had an effect upon his judg-
ment little less than maddening. Reading his com-
ments, thereupon, one might almost be disposed
to believe, if Memory, and Hansard, and History were
not here to tell us very distinctly otherwise—one

,night almost, but for that, be disposed to believe, for
the moment, that the 'very last man to have had any.

thing to do with the furtherance, much more with the
ulterior triumph of the Ten Hours' Factory Bill was

LiOrd ASHLEY, otherwise Lord SHAFTESBURY ! That
he Author of the Bill, in point of fact, was

he late Mr. JOHN FIELDEN ! That the Enemy

of the Bill—that it's arch-antagonist—was Lord