The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-23 00:00:00

militia. But the former practice, though very
good for the first army, is not good for the
army of reserve, and the more the subject is dis-
cussed the more plainly, we think, will it appear
that we cannot successfully organise our militia
without connecting it practically with those troops
by whose side and in whose company it must act if
the hour of action were to come. In former days

we had only to consider the efficiency of the regular
army ; we have now to consider the efficiency of a
second army, as large and as important as the first,
and we can no longer impair the strength of the
former for the sake of the latter. _ _ _

HERALD.--There has been a very successful Con-
servative gathering at Bradford. It is remarkable
how, in the centres of working class activity, the
opinion of the industrious classes is protesting
against the Radical agitations of the day. At Brad-
ford, on Tuesday evening, a Working Men's Con-

servative Association was inaugurated, in connection
with similar societies throughout the West Riding.
The meeting was, at least, equal in number to any
Liberal concourse ever witnessed in the town. It
was strong and it was unanimous. There was no
space, indeed, for the thousands who desired to join
their protests with the voices of the Conservative poli-
ticians attending. The names of the present Ministers
were emblazoned on the walls, and were mentioned
amid tumultuous cheering. We do not refer to this part
of the demonstration as to any great evidence of a
political fact. It simply shows that statesmen may
be at once Conservative and popular, and that work-
ing men—the best instructed of them, at least—
acknowledge the services and respect the characters
of such men, high in the service of the State, as it is
the business of Radicalism to revile. We count

among them Mr. Ferrand, who has been, during the
whole course of an honourable career, friendly to

popular interests, the butt of Radical detractors.
That gentleman has ever been an advocate of true
working-class interests; in Parliament he always
protected the social rights of his constituents ; out
of it he never failed to be forthcoming on occasions
of public importance—in fact, he has invariably
been a man of fearless speech, honest principle, and
consistentreasoning. And in the House of Commons
the Whigs generally dreaded him. He was too can-
did to suit their morality. But, then, this good old

English gentleman was too thorough to be put
down. He had the blood of a spirited ancestry in
his veins. As he told the Bradford people his grand-
father was, when this country was menaced by in-
vasion, the elected head of the Bradford volunteers,
and he himself, a Conservative of Conservatives, is
president of the local Working Men's Association,
formed to defend the institutions of England against
the conspiracies and attacks of unscrupulous dema-
gogues. He renders useful service to them when
he explains how they might be deceived and robbed
by their specious flatterers. He instances the case
of Bradford itself. Could its important trade hold
but for twenty-four hours against the despotism of
the London committees ? Assuredly not. The fol-
lowing is a pregnant sentence :—" There is nothing
so timid as trade ; and working men have nothing
so much at heart as the successful trade of this
country." It is a platitude .to say that industrial
and political confidence are inseparable. But, Mr.
Ferrand asks, what is the present state of the agi-
tation with reference to Mr. Bright's propositions
—whatever they may be, for, we know nothing of
them yet? Mr. Gladstone and the member for Bir-
mingham have talked upon the subject during many
evenings for hours together. They have scorned
all idea of preferring the educated, the
frugal. and the industrious, before the idle,
the drunken, the thriftless, and the ignorant.
The former, Mr. Ferrand has the courage to
affirm, are the very men whom Mr. Bright would
dislike to see entrusted with power. Then what, if
not revolution, is the purpose and hope of his advo-
cacy ? He wants to confer supreme authority upon
the illiterate, and therefore dangerous, classes. But
we agree with Mr. Ferrand upon another point.
Mr. Bright's audience is exceedingly limited. It
consists of the untaught and the prejudiced. We do
not say that he fails to collect large gatherings; but
those who listen must be distinguished from those
who follow, and a stout of applause does not al-
ways indicate a compliance of opinion. Mr. Ferrand
when in Parliament was at all times an active and
useful member. His recentspeech at Bradford makes
us wish to see him in the house again, if possible,
before another session opens. For he has the real in-
terests of the community at heart. Who more per-
sistently than he has advocated what Lord Manners
calls " the legitimate claims of labour ?" His protest
against Mr. Bright is to the effect, virtually, that
England will not submit to be socially conquered
out of all independence by the working classes. That
raises a very different question. Mr. Ferrand con-
cedes, as he has invariably conceded, the rights of
trades societies and organisations and of- unions,
with the object of defending their industry ; but
will any artisan of independence or intelligence tell
him that he may lawfully deprive another man of
the liberty to sell his labour wherever or at what
price he pleases ? This is the point which Mr. Fer-
rand puts keenly and effectively. But these orga-
nisations are to have a second purpose, at the insti-
gation of Mr. Bright. The trades are to unite as
Parliamentary Reformers. Some of the most re-
spectable among them refuse to do it, or to obey
the behests of Mr. Potter's deputations. In con-
nection with this subject Mr. Ferrand very fairly
quoted from a speech of Mr. Gladstone's a remark-
ably mischievous passage, capable of a double appli-
cation. It ran to this effect :—" We are told that
the working classes are given to strikes. I believe
it is the experience of the employers of labour
that these strikes are more and more losing the
character of violence and compulsory interference
with the freewill of their own comrades and fellow-
workmen." Is it true? Can the assertion be sus-
tained ? Was not Mr. Gladstone making use of a
fallacious assertion as a party argument ? The
public will be grateful, therefore, to a politician so
well informed and dauntless as Mr. Ferrand, who
does not hesitate to challenge these popular clap-
traps, and, further, who can render the plain truth
intelligible to an audience of well-instructed opera-
tives. The employed and the employers, Mr. Fer-
rand says happily, should be entwined as the ivy
upon the tree ; without that association there can be
no commercial prosperity. Which counsel is best—
that which encourages heart-burning and bitterness,
or that which would promote mutual goodwill and
amiability ? We can see the answer in the results.
How many strikes within the last two years have
rent the industry of England, have interrupted her
manufactures, and have stopped her trade? But,
urge the Radicals against whom Mr. Ferrand
contends, we have nothing else to do when the
capitalists combine. What are the facts, as
he illustrates them ? There is a working man in
the House of Lords. There are several in the House
of Commons. "I myself," said Mr. Brotherton,
the late member for Salford, " worked in a factory
when I was a boy." "Am I blamed," asked the late
Sir Robert Peel, " because the Queen sent to
Rome for the son of a cotton-spinner to make him
Prime Minister of England ?" Mr. Ferrand is
thoroughly in the right. All this talk about the
aristocratic exclusiveness of our institutions is the
most palpable and absolute trash. We accept, upon
Mr. Ferrand's personal authority, the statement
that Mr. Forster himself, the Radical member for
Bradford, was originally a lad employed at a loom
in Norwich. If so, all honour to him for it, and
he may repeat the proud boast of a Judge—among
the most distinguished who ever sat on the bench—
" When I was a journeyman carpenter I dreamed
that I might one day be head of the law in Eng-
land." Well, we will not dwell upon this topic,
although Mr. Ferrand illustrates it by some
pungent anecdotes, because he races on to other
subjects, dealing with them in his own rapid, easy,
and irresistible manner. With regard to Mr Bright,
he says—and Mr. Bright :should be the last man to
complain of freedom of speech on the part of a con-
temporary in Parliament—" a greater political
coward never entered the House of Commons."
That observation was received by the working men
of Bradford with inextinguishable enthusiasm.
Again, " in all my life I :never heard him make a
speech which inculcated peace and goodwill among
men." Mr. Ferrand has a blunt way of uttering
hard truths ; yet can it be denied that however hard
they are truths nevertheless ? We have no doubt
that such associations as the Bradford Conservative
Society, acknowledged and adopted by men of in-
dependence, eloquence, and sagacity, will go far
towards the spreading °l a, healthy political opinion,
and will far better represent the sentiments of the
educated working classes than any noisy conven-
tions assembled to hear the declamations of a viru-
lent demagogue. The man may be admired for his
talents, and by the exercise of them may attract
, miscellaneous •audiences ; but meetings of this sort
are more highly and -purely inspired, and more
representative of the true heart of the country at
large.

A StTsPicrous VESSEL.—GREENOCK, Nov. 20.
An Oban paper has the following :—" On Wednesday a
large steamer lay in Chicken Head Bay, Lewis, and on the
Custom-house officer wishing to go on board he was
peremptorily refused and warned to keep off. As yet no
person has been able to find her character and pretensions.
The crew pretended to be ignorant of English."
YELLOW FEVER.—Her Majesty's Government
have received, through the Foreign-office, information that
the mail steamer Empress Eugenie, which arrived at St.
Nazaire on the 19th inst., had had during her passage from
Mexico fourteen cases of yellow fever on board, seven of
which had terminated fatally ; no case, however, having
occurred among the passengers. The Empress Eugenie
had been placed in quarantine, the duration of which had
not been determined at the time when the information was
nut by hor Majesty's ambassador at Paris.