The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-27 00:00:00

time, were at any rate indisputably of late years,
-very Slow Reformers.
It is impossible not to recollect now with a cer-
tain feeling of indignation that while only a year or

two back the hon, member for Birmingham was

working physically like a Horse in the cause of
Reform, and exerting himself intellectually to the

every utmost in that cause, like an earnest and Reso-

Lute Man as he is—he was left almost entirely
alone to do this! Immense audiences were ad-

dressed by him in all parts of the country, and by
hina alone in the interests of Reform. His resplen-
dent eloquence was dedicated heart and soul to the
furtherance of that great cause. Often and often,
it is true, (as we ourselves never once hesitated to
indicate at the time) with glaring errors of judgment
in the manner of Mr. BRIGHT'S furtherance of it—
but always, even at these times, we are perfectly
well satisfied, to the very best of his ability, and
with the most conscientious regard on the speaker's
part to the cherishing of the popular interests—so
far, at least, as he could understand them. All the
while scarcely another finger being raised in advo-
cacy of the Reform Question—so that if Mr. BRIGHT
had then "a clear stage and no favour"—he had it
all to himself ! From the odium of any participa-
tion whatever in this shameful apathy on the part
of our leading reformers—Mr. COBDEN, we must
remember, at once is spared—by the recollection
of the fact that he was unhappily at the time very
ill, or at any rate so seriously indisposed
as to be almost entirely " invalided." So far I
as one man could labour in the good
cause, Mr. BRIGHT laboured. But how was it likely
that any one individual, however gifted or however
courageous, could effect in a few weeks, single-
handed, what it had taken a whole generation of
eminent men labouring resolutely "together" and
" with a will" several years to effect in the instance
of the former Reform Bill ; namely, to carry it for-
ward in its course upon a wave of public opinion
so powerful that it was borne at last, as Lord Rus-
SELL expresses it, over the bar of the House of
Lords. And this in spite of the determination ma-
nifested to obstruct its course by the most formi-
dable Opposition ? Again, it was clearly unfair
and unreasonable to expect that any man—even Mr.
BRlGHT—could do, in the interests of,Parliamentary
form, in a few weeks what it took a whole League
(and such a League !) several years to do in the in-
terests of the Free Trade Principles ! More parti-
cularly when the task requiring to be got through
was all the more difficult (not in the latter, but in
the later instance)—when it was not so much the
reason of so very many that had to be convinced, as
the apathy of so very many that had to be dissipated.
The fact being quite notorious that at this very
epoch, when no effort is being made in the cause of
Parliamentary Reform—every one, without excep-
tion, is in favour of the Reform of Parliament, It is
only a question of degree and proportion. After the
Reform Bill laid upon the table of the
House of Commons by Mr. DISRAELI in
the name of himself and his Ministerial
colleagues, it is needless to insist upon it that the
Tories or Conservatives are as distinctly committed
to the cause of Reform as ever have been either the
Whigs or the Radicals. Mr. HENLEY himself is
avowedly and resolutely A Reformer. It is only a
question with him—and a very anxious question too
—whereabouts to draw the line of demarcation, so
that there may not be an attempt at an ugly rush
to get across it sooner than might be anticipated.
As to the origin of the Dilemma in which our
Liberal Administrators now find themselves placed
in regard to the Reform Question, we have never
had two opinions about it. Tor that dilemma they
have no we in the wide world to thank but them-
selves. First of all they grasp at too little. And
then they grasp at too much. In the first place,
they leave Mr. BRIGHT in the lurch quite com-
placently, to toil on in. the ma`----7 s't=---,--aic“eirti-
tary Reform as he best can—by himself! In the
next place, when they have got their Conservative
opponents in office pledged to Reform, actually
submitting a Reform measure to them for their ex-
amination and approval—what course do they
pursue, forsooth, under these remarkable, under
these wholly unparalleled circumstances ? Why,
in one sense, the very magnanimous course adopted
by the Dog in the Manger and in another
sense the wonderfully prudent course adopted by
another canine wiseacre, the hero of the old apo-
logue about the Dog and the Shadow ! Instead of
rejoicing (for the good of the cause and of the
country !) in the fact that—at last—the Tories had
conceded the Necessity for Reform, the magnani-
mous Whig Opposition refused to allow any one
the right to give Reform but themselves ! Instead
of holding fast on by that good, substantial, and
succulent Reform Bill, that might have been
"cooked" (in committee) into a very agreeable and
appetising banquet if they had so pleased—No, my
Lord JOHN an i his followers must needs drop it
altogether in the current of passing events, to snap
at the shadow outline of a larger measure in the
shape of those egregiously deceptive Resolutions.
The result being—as we knew only too painfully
—that of this Large Liberal Measure of Reform we
have caught just exactly—Nothing !

GARIBALDI AND THE NEAPOLITANS.

We gave on Monday the substance, by telegraph,
of the reply of Garibaldi to an address of the Nea-
politans on the anniversary of his entry into
Naples. The address bore 22,000 signatures, and
was presented to him at Caprera by Signor Car-
bonelli. The following is the General's reply in
full :

Caprera, Nov. 16, 1861.

Your address, containing 22,000 signatures, is
not the first of your acts which deserves my gra-
titude. I already owe you very much : I already
owe you much affection,. To my great regret, I
cannot visit you at the present moment; but I will
be with you when it becomes necessary.
I will add one single word. It is the duty of
every Italian to provide himself with a sword. The
world knows you know how to use it; and I believe
that the hour is at hand. This is intended for him
who tramples under foot the rights of Italy by
force and fraud.

Yours for life,

G. GARIBALDI.

The Earl and Countess of Verulam are entertain-
ing a select circle at Gorhambury Park, llerts.
The Earl and Countess of Dalkeith have left the
Duke and Duchess of Buccleuch's seat in Scotland for the
Marquis and Marchioness of Abercorn's seat, Baron's
Court, county Tyrone.
The Countess of Cork was safely delivered of
twins—a son and heir and a daughter—on Sunday, at her
residence in Grafton-street. Her ladyship and the infants
are progressing favourably.
DEATH OF THE COUNTESS (DOWAGER) GREY.—
The venerable widow of the late well-known statesman ex-
pired yesterday forenoon at her residence in Eaton-square.
The countess had been ill only a few days. The late
Dowager Countess Mary Elizabeth, who was tho only
daughter of William Brabazon first Lord Ponsonby, was
born March 3, 1775, so that she was in her 87th year.
She married Nov. 18, 1791, Charles, the second and late
Earl Grey, by whom she had a family of sixtelm children,
twelve of whom survive their mother—namely, Earl Grey,
Major-General the Hon. Charles Grey, C. 8., secretary to
his Royal Highness the Prince Consort; Rear-Admiral the
Hon. Sir Frederick W. Grey, K.C.8., Senior Lord of the
Admiralty ; the Hon. and Rev. John, the Hon. and Rev.
F. R., the Hon. Harry Cavendish, and the Hon. William
George Grey ; and daughters—Lady Elizabeth Bulteel,
widow of Mr. J. C. Bulteel; Lady Caroline Barrington,
widow of Captain the Hon. George Barrington; Lady
Georgiana, unmarried; and Lady Mary, married to the
Right Hon. Sir Charles Wood, Bart., M.P. Information
of the countess's death has been sent by telegraph to
Florence, where the Earl and Conntees Grey are at present