The Sun.
London, England, 1857-05-21 00:00:00

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NEWSPAPER-
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• 40.14 IPA '
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N.A.,
to be recognised in any 1- - ,1.4...,, :" ..1 .:c '., ...,,-4f
take place. (Hear, hear- • 41: '.:"--x-i, 1 41,1 C
anent, I put forward no sehe ~ ea, 1 :.-"' •t' l''. Jr;7l" _
try facts—facts collected from , , II 'tic ad aSho-
ratative documents—and if any oft,reen contradict
or refute them, they will have ae:ple opportuoity
to do so before the next session of Parliaineut. If
they show that four towns Laving but one-third of
the population of the county ought to be
"repre-
sented by eight members, while the county itself
has but two, let them offer their arguments to
the fair and impartial judgment of the people
of England. (Cheers.) If they can deny that,
taking population as the element Of represen-
tation which, by the by, is a great concession;
it is a test which many refuse to take, but it is
their own test—if they can deny that one-
half of the population of this kingdom is erepre-
muted by 140 members, and less than the ocher
moiety by 320, and that because they live in towns,
let them go to the market-place of every ttiwn and
prove that what I am stating is "romance" and
mere imagination. As long, however, as we have
public records, and as long as those documents are,
by means of a free press, accessible to the people, I
do not believe that these statements can be refuted
or denied. It is only as facts that I offer them ; I
leave it the people of England to draw from them
their own conclusions. If there is to be a political
change, it ought to be one devised and wax-lied out
for the advantage of no party whatever. It is to
calm comprehensive public opinion that I address
myself. If the question is fully and fairly considered,
if the due influence of the landed interest in all its
ramifications is recognised, I care not bow you re-
construct your Parliament, I care not how you ad-
just your franchise, I believe that the institutions
of this country will be maintained, and maintained
because they answer the wants and wishes of the
reople. I thank you for the kind manner in which
you have receive I me to-day. I have not entered
into party politics. Ido not depreciate parties. I
am a patty man, and. I believe every man here is a
party man, because in a, free country it is the duty
4 every subject to have definiasideas on., all the
great questions of the day. Party politica are, how-
ever, much suspended for the moment by accident,
and it is only when the great questions to which I
have adverted shall be brought forward in the House
of Commons that parties will again appear to assert
what are on either side the opinions of their fol-
lowers. With regard to party politics I will only
venture to say that I made two predictions at the
time of the elections which have been realiSed, al-
though the first was much quesioned when I ex-
pressed my opinion that a year of legislative pro-
gress would be wasted. It is, however, now pretty
evident that nothing will be done during the pre-
sent year. I also made a reference to the future. I
said that I looked forward with nodissa.isfaction to
the dissolution of Parliament counselled by Lord
Palmerston, because I felt that it would at least
have this beneficial influence—that it would tend
to bring about in the House of Commons that
wholesome state of the two great constitutional
parties with distinctive principles and ideas which
I thought was necessary to the right action of our
constitution, and the want of which during the last
ten years has been conducive to so much dissatis-
faction and disaster. I think that a great step has
already been taken in that direction. I look for-
ward myself to the late appeal to the people with- ,
out any apprehension. I wish to speak of all those
who for a long time sat in the House of Commons
with due respect, but unquestionably we had there
sections of men and individuals self-satisfied with
their own power, which everybody was willing to
a certain degree to acknowledge, but who would
neither govern themselves nor allow any one else
to do so. (Hear, and a laugh.) It is greatly to
the public advantage that although they were men
highly gifted, and great ornaments of that assem-
bly, they no longer hold seats in it. The ptiblic
business will be carried on more efficiently ; for, in
the exact proportion that party distinctions are not
respected in the House of C ,mmons, that house will
fall in the esteem of the people. As long as you
have two great organized parties of men acting
upon distinct principles and avowed policies, Par-
liamentary Government, especially for this country,
is the best Govervment that can be devised. But
an assembly of 654 gentlemen, with no political
connexion or discipline, each willing to follow his
own conceits and to gratify his own ambition,
would soon subside into the most inefficient and
corrupt assembly in the world. (Hear, bear.) We
may not have obtained all that we desire, but at
any rate we have now a House of Commons free
from those anomalies, and I have no doubt that if
public opinion is as enlightened as I believe it will
be before the impending changes are proposed, you
will have it declared that such a policy as I have
intimated to you will be pursued—a policy that
will maintain the institutions of England. I hardly
know how I may venture to describe this policy.
We live in an 'age of a novel nomenclature of
parties ; but I am sure you will bear with me—for
4is an ancient weakness—if I say that these great
principles—principles which would promote the
prosperity and greatness of England through the
preservation of her institutions—are, in my mind,
Tory principles. (Cheers.) They are principles
which I think will yet triumph in this country ;
but they can only triumph by discussion, which
they do not fear ; by the circulation among the peo-
ple of accurate information on the great questions
of the day ; and by that sympathy from public
opinion without which in the present age no politi-
cal organization can endure.
[The right hon. gentleman concluded amid voci-
ferous and prolonged cheers.]
The remainder of the proceedings possessed an
exclusively local interest.

OBITUARY (A LITTLE IN ADVANCE.)

(Prom Punch).

We feel no regret whatever in announcing the
death of the Russian Railway Scheme, which has
taken place without, as far aswe can learn, exciting
the least sympathy with thwe who were in any way
connected with the recently departed. So far from
their being any hopes of the deceased, it was gene-
rally considered that the sooner its existence was
put an end to the better ; and those who knew it
intimately, and were acquainted with the manner
in which it bad been first forced into life, were con-
vinced it could not long be expected to survive. It
has since boen ascertained that the breath of public
favour was entirely withheld from it, and this was
a deficieny which no ,amouat of puffing was able to
supply. Various attempts were made to raise the
wind, but the efforts only caused an air of dissatis-
faction, which eventually proved a fatal blow to the
deceased.

Although the death may very possibly have been
by some regarded as a somewhat sudden one, there
are no thoughts of having a post mortem examina-
tion, tliere being quite sufficient evidence to attri-
bute the demise to causes purely natural and easy
to account fur. Considered doubtful from the first,
the scheme's existence daily had grown more and
more precarious ; and although the most ingenious
devices were prescribed to keep it up, it was soon
pronounced impossible to prevent its sinking.
Being violently attacked by the public press—an
attack which in most such cases has proved fatal—
the scheme very speedily showed symptoms of de-
cline ; and having been much weakened by
exposure, in spite of the most skilful bolstering,
it fell into s 6 low a state, that those who watched.
it narrowly saw no hope of recovery.
if we were asked to analyse the character of the
deceased, truth would force us to acknowledge that
the maxim "de mortuis" must be reversed in this
case, since we have heard nothing good of the de-
cease] from any trustworthy or at least disinte-
rested quarter. Wt believe the only reputation it
achieved was a bubble one—and some idea may be
formed of the low estimation in which it was held,
when we state that the subscription which was
opened t' provide, for its necessities was received.
by the public with such evident disfavour, that it
failed in attracting a dingle response. Disliked
from the first for its dubious connections, so much
that was discreditable was clearly traced to the de-
ceased that we cannot be surprised to learn there
was no Baring in it—and there was so much to sus-
pect of designing in its character, that we think its
dissolution must be generally viewed as a most
happy release.
We are not permitted to announce at present
who will appear as the Chief Mourners for the loss
of the deceased ; but of those who were attached
to it there is but a limited number to select from.
Should a tombstone he erected, which is more than
doubtful, we would suggest that there be used as
part of the inscription •
" The earth bath bubbles as the water hatl3,

And this was of them."
While, as a succint summary of the character of
the deceased, it might perhaps with some degree of
truth be added that—