The Sun.
London, England, 1859-11-26 00:00:00

bling of a Congress are, we believe, in a fair way
of settlement. The French and Austrian invita-
tions are now lying at Paris ready to be sent out to
the Powers who are to be convoked. We may
therefore look forward to the assembling of the
Congress at no very distant date.

(From. the Daily News.)

At the end of another week, notwithstanding the
numerous announcements of the foreign press, no
formal invitation to join a European Congress has
reached our Government.
(Paris Correspondent of the Morieiny Advertiser.)

Lord Cowley has communicated the assent of the
English Government to the Suez Canal project, and
to the Congress. The other Powers, Austria ex-
cepted, have also assented to the Congress. The
period for the assembling of the Congress has been
deferred.

A pleasant foretaste of the agreeable things in
store for him during the progress of the next ses-
sion of Parliament has just been vouchsafed to Mr.
BRIGHT by the Right Hon. C. B. ADDERLEY. It
is apropos of reform in the popular representation.
In respect to which question so many parties and
sections of parties throughout the country coincide
upon two points thoroughly. First in recognising
the necessity, more or less urgent, for revising the
last reform of Parliament. Secondly, in falling
foul, more or less heartily, of the particular schemes,
crotchets, and phantasies of the hon. gentleman
the member for Birmingham. How many are there
not, who have long been agreed quite as cordially
upon one point as upon the other ! Who think that
the need for Reform is undeniable ! And who insist
no less earnestly that the projects of reform fathered
by Mr. BRIGHT are nothing loss than dangerously
democratic and, to all intents and purposes, revolu-
tionary. Yot, in simple point of fact, Mr.
BRIGHT merely demands what we all demand.
He demands economy in the national expendi-
ture. He demands an extension of the fran-
chise proportioned to the advance of general
enlightenment and civilisation. He demands
a more equitable redistribution of the electoral dis-
tricts—the disfranchisement of some little trumpery
boroughs—the enfranchisement in their place of
other vast and populous localities hitherto denied
the privilege of sending representatives to the
Imperial Legislature. He is for putting an end at
once to these and divers other glaring and utterly
indefensible anomalies. It were frivolous surely
to gainsay the reasonableness of any one
of these demands in themselves. Take the
demand for economizing in our disbursements
by way of example. Assuredly no one can for
a single instant insinuate that Mr. BRIGHT
has not reason entirely and absolutely on his
side—with our annual expenditure, very little short,
indeed, of a stupendous yearly outlay of
£70,000,000 ! Or, flying off at a tangent to a
totally different theme of discussion, upon which
the hon. member for Birmingham has so often
descanted so very eloquently and persuasively—
Who will have the effrontery to maintain that
there is really visible no anomaly at all in the fact,
let us say, of such a place as Midhurst returning a
member to the House of Commons, while the
thousands upon thousands of wealthy, and edu-
cated, and taxpaying, and loyal inhabitants of
Kensington, Chelsea, and Bayswater are to
this moment altogether unrepresented ? Yet,
while Mr. BRIGHT argues in reason, it must be
confessed that he has so contrived to irritate a very
considerable majority of his fellow countrymen
that his demands have hitherto been principally
effective in drawing down upon his own head a
singular unanimity of objurgation.
Mr. ADDERLEY'S speeech on Tuesday evening at
Hanley is the latest testimony of the acrimonious
antagonism excited in the minds of the Conserva-
tives by the Reform harangues of the hon. gentle-
man the member for Birmingham. It is all the
more significant in its way this direct onslaught
upon Mr. BRIGHT by a reforming Conservative—
seeing that it was prefaced by the fervent protesta-
tion volunteered by Mr.ADDEnLE lc that " he was only
speaking the sentiment of every gentleman in that
room when he said they were not only ready but anx-
ious to carry out—not only now, but always—from
time to time, that system of reform which shall
keep the institutions of this country on a level
with the advancing intelligence and political pro-
gress of the people." A protestation, by the way,
that was greeted at once by that Conservative
audience at Hanley with a burst of acclamations.
Yet the speaker added immediately upon this
the objection—" But when they found that there
were men who put this question forward as having
the monopoly of reform, and indulging in the
grossest misrepresentations in order to keep that
position of monopoly, and who put themselves for-
ward as leaders in this question, to which they had so
little claim, it was high time they (the Conservatives)
should understand these men, and what they were
about." It might be surmised, of course, that
these frequent allusions had reference more parti-
cularly to the Whigs. But no !—Mr. ADDERLEY
explains his meaning pretty frankly when he says,
" Foremost among these was Mr. BRIGHT, who he
(Mr. ADDERLEY) did not hesitate to say, as he had
frequently said in his presence, prostituted the
highest abilities for the simple purpose of persona]
aggrandisemenl." Tolerably bold speaking that
—what the Yankees calculate to be—pretty
tall talking ! But not nearly so explicit as
what comes soon afterwards. When the right hon.
gentleman, Mr. ADDERLEY, charges Mr. BRIGHT
distinctly with a very lax and negligent attention,
indeed, to discussions in the House of Commons on
supply nights—at the very time that Mr. BRIGHT
affects so much indignation at our lavish expendi-
ture ! Mr. ADDERLEY says quite plainly that "he
had scarcely seen him (Mr. BRIGHT) in the house
on those occasions for 18 years, and he did not
recollect him ever taking part in a dis-
cussion on the supplies." Nay, he gives
a positive and very recent case in point. He says :
—" He recollected last session, when he proposed
to save this country no less than £2,000,000 a year
by throwing upon the colonies, a task which ought
to have devolved upon them long ago—making
them support their own defences. Now, in such a
moment as that was it not reasonable to suppose
that the men who so loudly abused then (the
Conservatives) for extravagance, would only too
readily give the measure their support ? But
how was it ? He (Mr. ADDERLEY) said to
Mr. BRIGHT, " I belong to a class which you
accuse of extravagance. I am going to make a
proposal by which a large sum wi,l be saved to the
country. Be it good or bad, will you join me,
and take part in the debate, and give me your in-
dependent opinion, whether it is done or not, or
whether it is worth anything or not ? In the
course of the debate Mr. BRIGHT disappeared long
before the debate was over, without taking any
part in the discussion." Of course all this told
wonderfully well against Mr. BRIGHT among the
Conservative audience listening to Mr. ADDERLEY.
Yet the reply of the hon. member for Birmingham,
would be simple enough and unanswer-
able enough in its way. The mere cheese-
pairing occupation is not his metier ! He left
that laborious and thankless task formerly to
Mr. JOSEPH HOME as he leaves it now to Mr.
WILLIAM WILLIAMS•. And Mr. BRIGHT, we may
rest assured, does so all the more willingly because