The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-22 00:00:00

the rod that was held in terrorenz over him, but with- '
out any intention that it should be applied. But he
was the representative of an important section of
his fellow citizens, He meant, as the Daily News
truthfully remarked, "not the petty martyrdom of
a prison, but that liberty which the pardon aimed
at him would have destroyed even more than the
judgment of M. BEE.THELIN." And should the FM-,
PEROR be so ill advised, or rather so indiscree,c, as
to permit him to suffer the penalty he has so nobly
braved, the value of his testimony will be increased
a thousandfold, and the name of DE MONTALEM-
BERT will become a household word in France
through all succeeding ages.
But will that penalty be inflicted ? We think
not. The EMPEROR has too much sound practical
sense to be guilty of such an act of folly. M. DE
MONTALEMBERT received the Imperial pardon for
an act of which he was declared to be guilty by an
inferior tribunal. A superior one has acquitted
him of a portion of the charge, and only partially
confirmed the judgment. It has exonerated the
accused from the most serious part of the indict-
ment. Can the EMPEROR then, or his advisers,
sanction the penalty for the minor offence, when the
graver one was remitted ? As to the pecuniary
part of the sentence that would easily be disposed
of. It would be raised a hundred times over in
penny subscriptions in England. But NAPOLEON
is far too shrewd to allow the question to be venti-
lated, or to have the subject of the MONTALEMBERT
fine discussed in every house in the United King-
dom.

The imprisonment is, however, a more serious
matter. That might damage the health of the
champion of popular rights in France. It is
scarcely possible, however, that any degree of per-
sonal spite could sanction that confinement. It
would, indeed, be to give a triumph to M. DE
NIONTALEMBERT, w hich would place his persecu-
tors in a position more degrading than that which
they already occupy.

Thanks to the energy of Mr. BnrGnT, the
agitation for Reform is developing steadily in the
provinces.. The popular tribune has appeared now
in succession at Birmingham—at Manchester—at
Edinburgh—at Glasgow. He has addressed large
audiences at each of these great seats of learning
or of industry. He has spoken better and better
upon each occasion upon the grand theme
entrusted by the country to . his eloquent
advocacy and resolute championship. The
movement is one which vividly recalls to
mind the days :of the glorious agitation of the
Anti-Corn-Law League—the agitation that gradu-
ally woke the millions from a trance of apathy,
and led eventually to that ever-memorable and
beneficent victory, when the foe capitulated, when
the great stronghold of monopoly was in one night
delivered up, the gates thrown open, the garrison
marching out with all the honours, under
the leadership of the Commander-in. Chief.
Another gifted orator now withdrawn (only
for an interval, we will yet hope), into
privacy, was then the undisputed Captain of the

conquering forces. Insomuch was his pre-eminence

recognised on all hands that it is matter of history
how Sir ROBERT PEEL, in the hour of his noble
and magnanimous acceptance of the Free Trade
Principles, accorded the merit of the triumph
achieved by those principles distinctly and
explicitly, in so many words, to " the unadorned
eloquence of RICHARD COBDEN." The Honour-
able Member for Birmingham (then Member
for Durham) occupied, at that time, the distin-
guished position of COBDEN'S first-lieutenant.
Together they traversed the country, far and wide,
appealing, with their tongues of persuasion, to the
right reason, to the patriotism, to the consciences of
the whole industrial population, both manufacturing
aid agricultural. But they by no means monopolised
public attention, they had not the ears of the
people exclusively to themselves. They had the
aid, more or less frequently throughout the whole
course of the agitation, of voices as stirring some
of them as the tone of a trumpet, the vo ices of
orators and logicians like WILLIAM Fox,
and CHARLES VILLIERS, and GEORGE THOMP-
SON, and PEYRONNET THOMPSON. The eloquent
crusade was led by RICHARD COBDEN, having JOHN
BRIGHT upon his right hand—but the onslaught
upon Protection was conducted also by a crowd
of other powerful champions of Free Trade, such
as the men whose names we have but just now
particularised.

' At the present moment a similar course of agita-
tion has been set on foot—a movement in favour
of certain reforms in the representative system, a
series of comprehensive root-reforms in the
organisation of Parliament. But, in the conduct
of this new agitation one man alone stands
forth conspicuously upon the public platform.
The Lieutenant of yesterday is the Com-
mander-in-Chief of to-day. Second in the advo-
cacy of Free Trade in 1845, Mr. BRIGHT
is not only first in 1858 in the advocacy of Parlia-
mentary Reform, as an orator in the provinces, but
he stands forth, as yet, in a manner insulated. And
nobly is this solitary man doing his work as a
theoretical Reformer. Differ from him we do
utterly and entirely upon many great public
questions—but upon the great question of all just
now—the paramount and vital question of Parlia-
mentary Reform—we go with Mr. BIGHT, cordially
thoroughly. Dissentient though our views are upon
other matters, in the matter of Reform they
—for the most • part—are in perfect ac-
cordance. And recognizing the devotion with
which Mr. BRIGHT, upon the very morrow of his
recovery from a severe and protracted illness,
throws himself, heart and soul, into the popular
cause as in the fullest sense of the phrase, an Ad-
vanced Reformer, we must needs accord to him all
possible honour and our sincerest sympathy.
It must encourage him to know that this agita-
tion for Parliamentary Reform begins under far
more encouraging auspices than ever did the
eventually triumphant agitation in favour of the
Free-trade principles. There you might have
counted almost, upon one hand, the places that,
really sympathised with the new movement.
Whereas now—it would be difficult to say, not
only where there is any single locality, but where
there is positively any one solitary individual,
avowedly opposed to the Reform of Parliament.

It would be well for the cause if these Reform
Speeches delivered by Mr. BRIGHT, in his tour of
the provinces, were collected together and scattered
broadcast over the country, in the separate shape of
a revised and authorised publication.

The Earl and Countess of Lichfield are at present
on a visit to the Marquis and Marchioniiss of Abercorn at
Baron's Court, County Tyrone.
The Earl and Countess of Craven have returned
to Ashdown Park from a tour of visits. The noble earl and
I countess are entertaining a select circle of friends.
The Countess Dowager Spencer arrived in town a
kw days since from Worthing. Her ladyship has taken a
house in Eaton-place for a term of years.
The Earl and Countess of Cawdor are entertaining
a select circle at their seat in Wales.
The Earl and Countess Spencer are still on the
Continent, and are not expected to return to town until
early in March.

The Earl and Countess of Norbury have arrived
at elaridge's Hotel from Valence, near Edenbridge, Kent.
Lord and Lady Forester have left town, on a
visit to Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston, at Broad_
land!).