The Sun.
London, England, 1858-10-28 00:00:00

all the just requirements of the Government ? If
we are so, and if, the English nation in America
excels us in all these particulars, does it not look
very much as if the institutions in England are not
as good in the training and rearing of a nation as
the institutions in the United States ? Ido not say
that, but those persons who say that the franchise,
the distribution, and the ballot, which operate so
well in America would be perilous in England, do
what I will not do—they libel the people of this
country, and they libel our institutions. (Cheers.)
Now, I have a suggestion to make, which I hope
somebody will act upon. The Reformers now are
more numerous than ever they weve before. Why
should they not by some arrangement have their
own Reform Bill—have it introduced into Par-
liament and supported with all the strength
of this great national party ; and if it be
a bill sensibly . better than the bill that
is being prepared for us in Downing-street, why
should we not with all the unanimity of which
we are capable—by public meetings, by petitions,
and when the proper time comes by presenting our-
selves at the polling-booths—do everything in our
power to pass that measure into law ? (Cheers.) I
say that we are great in numbers ; that united we
are great in strength ; that we are invincible in the
solidity of our arguments ; that we are altogether
unassailable in the
.justice of our cause. (Cheers.)
Shall we then, I ask you, even for a moment be
hopeless of our great cause ? I feel almost ashamed
even to argue it to such a meeting as this. I call to
mind where I am, and who are those whom I see
before me. (Cheers.) Am I not in the town of Bir-
mingham—England's central capital ; and do not
those eyes look upon the sons of those who, not 30
years ago, shook the fabric of privilege to its base ?
(Cheers.) Not a few- of the strong. men of that time
are now white with age. They approach the confines
of their mortal day. Its evening is cheered with
the remembrance of that great contest, and they
rejoice in the freedom they have won. Shall their
sons be less noble than they?. (Cries of "No, no.")
Shall the fire which they kindled be extinguished.
with you ? (Cries of "No, no," and cheering.) Why,
I see the answer in every face. You are resolved
that the legacy which they bequeathed to you you
will hand down in an accumulated wealth of free-
dom to your children. (Cheers.) As for me, my voice
is feeble. I feel now sensibly and painfully that I
am not what I was. I speak with a diminish.ed fire ;
I act with a lessened force; but as I am, my coun-
trymen and my constituents, I will, if you will let
me; be found in your ranks in the impending strug-
gle. (The hon. gentleman sat down amid great
cheering, which was renewed again and again, the
audience rising and waving, their hats and hand-
kerchiefs in the most enthusiastic manner.)
Alderman MANTON, in moving a vote of thanks
to Mr. Bright for his excellent address, expressed
the pleasure he felt in reflecting that he (Alderman
Manton) was instrumental in introducing him to
the constituency. of Birmingham, and he hoped he
would long continue to fulfil the duties of his pre-
sent situation. (Loud cheers.)
Mr. G. EDMONDS seconded the motion, which
upon being put by the Mayor was carried amid
protracted acclamation.
Mr. BRIGHT briefly acknowledged the vote, and
thanks being voted to the Mayor for his conduct in
the chair, the immense assembly separated.

" THE TIMES," BROTHER JONATHAN,
AND THE ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.

It is difficult to keep up a fast friendship. with a
man who has frequent fits of the gout, or a chronic
toothache, or an excoriated epidermis. He may
be a very valuable man to know, and au fond he
may have a real affection for you. But you can
never be quite free and unconstrained in your com-
panionship with him ; you are always afraid of
coming a little too near his gouty toe, or .opening
a window and letting in a cold draught that may
set his teeth and temper. raging; if you poke ever
so gentle a bit of fun -at him it is not certain he
will not throw his crutch at your head ; and if you
nudge him playfully in the ribs he is almost sure
.to scream and abuse you. He may be almost over-
whelmingly effusive in his moments of intermittent
good humour, but suddenly comes that' twinge in
the toe, and down go the corners of his mouth, or
that wrack of pain, and up goes his hand to his
face, and then he becomes touchy and testy and
quarrelsome, and you are tempted to say, " Con-
found the fellow, I'll let him alone. He's a capital
companion when in good humour, and there is no
one I'd rather have by my side in case of a fight ;
but he is so crotchety. and uncertain that I can
never be sure that I should have him on my side.
If we got into a melee he would be as likely to
break my head as that of one of our antagonists ;"
and thus you grow more polite and less friendly,
and your hot-tempered friend, who repressed your
familiarities, chafes at your indifference.
Will our newly-made neighbours on the other
side of the Atlantic, now only just a cable's length
off, pardon us if we apply this passing reflection to
them ? Not that we would for a moment insinuate
that they, in their body politic, are afflicted with
gout or with toothache ; for our fiat-footed young
friend strides with the tread of a juvenile giant,
and his grinders are so hale that, having munched
up half a new world, he is rather suspected of in-
dulging gastronomic designs upon other portions of
it. In fact, if he has a fault in respect of his teeth,
it consists in just a little too much fondness for
showing them. But there is something rather
wrong about our friend's skin. The oil of human
kindness in which he was dipped was a little hot,
and has scalded off the outer cuticle. His sensa-
tions seem to be rather akin to those of the ancient
invaders of England, morsels of whose skin are still
under the nail-heads of our old church doors ; or to
those of that illused saint who stands, in we forget
which continental cathedral, draped in his flayed-
off hide. He quivers to every, tonal; and but that
his, muscles are: liarge, and his strength and temper
are dangerous to any one volunteering the friendly
operation, a good healthy tar-and-feathering would
'd.o him a world of good. It is our own fate always
to be in a difficulty with our sturdy friend. We
can never be quick enough to meet his hot fits
of affection, or to get out of the way . when the
bootjack and the goutstool are flying , across
the room. We are always doing something
to congeal his gushing sympathies or to
heighten his ill temper. The New York Morning
Courier takes us to task for this, our misconduct,
in a spirit of courteous admonition, which, as it is
not very common to the other side of the Atlantic,
may not be passed over without the courtesy of a
reply. Our transatlantic remonstrant, after a gene-
ral charge of ancient grievances, which, as they are
not specified, cannot be refuted, does us the justice
to admit that the Times, when speaking of " our
country and its institutions, has usually done so in
a fair spirit." Well, that is something. We have
not been false to the fundamentals of friendship.
We may have thought it a matter of duty to tell
him we thought he was rather sharp in foreclosing
the mortgage on that Mexican's estate, or that he
must not disgrace himself in the eyes of his country
by stealing that Spaniard's tobacco-box, or that he
ought to keep his sons from riding over his poor
neighbours, or that we should be obliged to him not
to poach more than he could help in our fishponds,
and we have even go*e so far as gently and meekly
to hint a complaint to him of the nuisance arising
from the cries of that black servant whom he is
always thrashing. We have never, it is true, done
any of these things without putting him into a
terrific passion, but we cannot in our conscience
think we were in fault ; for even the indict-
ment against us admits that he and his family
have always been treated with due respect, and
that even our friendly remonstrances have been
made in a fair spirit. Our new crime is, however,
we feel, most unpardonable. We have made a mis-
take about the Transatlantic Telegraph. Cousin
jonathan intended to be sublime, and we in our
error fancied he intended to be ridiculous. We un-
happily mistook his pathos for bathos. He enter-
tained us with a performance which he intended
to be most affecting, and we had the misfortune to
think it was a farce which he meant us to laugh at.
So we poked our little bit of fun at him in return,
and with due promptitude the goutstools and the
bootjacks came flying about our ears; next morn-
ing came the more formal and courteous epistle to
which we are now replyipg. Now, our New York
contemporary is much mistaken if he supposes that
the people of England are not
pleased at the apparent accomplishment of an in-
stantaneous communication between the two nations
as the people of America were. There was some
promptitude in the Royal message ; a confidence
which could only be inspired by strong interest and a
strong hope was manifested by the buyers who ran
the shares up to par on the Liverpool Exchange ; and
we cannot think that we ourselves were wanting
to the occasion. We took the best means in our
power to secure a clever and graphic '
history
of the
operation, and if our English ship of war had foun-
dered in the tempest we should have had our own
special cause for mourning ; we celebrated the suc-
cess with as much glorification as we soberly could,
and it is not much more than a month since we
quoted from the New York papers acknowledg-
ments to the Times for being the only paper which,
on the day of the arrival of the news, had devoted
a leader to the subject. How far we may be en-
titled to that distinguishing praise we do not know ;
it was given us, and we quote it therefore against
the donors. But we did laugh. The fact is not to be
denied. But how could we do otherwise ? If New
York had piped to London any rational tune, London
might have danced to it ; but " Yankee Doodle" was
played so fast and loud that no English feet could
keep time to it. The outward methods of expres-
sion of great joy were strange to ourisland humour.