The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-16 00:00:00

The foreign news seems to be at a standstill in
honour of the fetes at Paris. The Conference at
Zurich is a matter of dumb show, for secresy there
is the order of the day. In fact they are afraid to
to publish their fears, far less their doings. The
end of it will most probably turn out to be that—
" there's nothing in it ! '
One thing is clear that Russia is wide awake
before the next break out assumes form and colour.
She wants money, ostensibly for internal im-
provements, but in reality for carrying out
the grand problem arranged between herself and
others. Who those others are time will develope
in due season when the pear is ripe. It was but
the other day we had accounts of gunboats and
larger vessels of war putting in at Cherbourg to
dismantle ! Why go there ? Why not stay where
they were in some more distant harbours ? Then,
again, we have the Russian ships feeling their way
into the English Channel, and then passing on to
the Mediterranean, merely for pleasure, of
However, there is some comfort :
we are not blind nor idle either. Let Sir B.
WALKER urge on his preparations. There is no
time to lose. He has some seventeen ships under
Ansideration for conversion into screws. Let
them be adapted as coast-guard vessels of war, and
They will, last long enough, until he build liners of
90 and 100 guns, with a good supply of corvettes
of 21, and frigates of 50, and large and long ships
of 30 guns, fit to carry a couple of thousand men
as transports of war. These will be found useful
on all occasions and for any purpose.

course.

One constituency, at least, has regained its posi-
tion on the Liberal lists—on the really Liberal lists
we mean, which is quite another thing to the party
list of the 10th of June. Bodmin has restored Mr.
WYLD to the list of those members who can trust
the people ; those who do not ask to see the elec-
tors' names on the poll-book as a receipt for a bribe,
or to punish them for daring to vote according to
their principles, but who are content to present to
the voters their claims to support, and to say—send
me to Parliament if you want such men as I am.

Dr. MICTIELL, who contested the borough this
summer with Mr. WYLD, very wisely, as we have
little doubt, resigned. We none of us wish to say
a harsh thing of a fallen man. De 7nortzt is, nil
nisi bonurn, is a motto applied to the politically
dead by that relenting country which is so pleasing
a characteristic of Englishmen, as well as to the
physically dead. And our only wish for Dr.
MicHELL is, that, for the future, politically—

requiescat in pace—
" May no vain dreams disturb his rest,
No pow'rs of darkness him molest."

Mr. BRIGHT, touched with a Wakefield fracternal
sympathy, suggested to the Bodmin M.D. the happy
excuse of poverty as a plea for accepting the well-
known office under the Crown, which has saved so
many purses, and something more than purses too;
and the doctor cleverly and manfully withdrew
from the contest, in forma pauperzs. Rather we
should say, perhaps, to save himself from
that undesirable condition . which with the
loss of his seat would certainly have chilled
the old age of a retired physician. Very
wisely then, we think, the doctor retired to the
honours of local Toryism, and he will, we doubt
not, find ample occupation of iEsculapius, for whose
services so many who need it can ill afford to pay.
With one of his supporters committed for bribery
his committee fight would have been a rather hope-
less affair ; still he left the House of Commons with
flying Colours; the House could not deny that they
have made the contest on a petition too costly for a
man of ordinary means ; and he could retire with
the too true allegation that a man might be honestly
elected and yet unable to face a petition—again we
say, therefore, requiescat in pace.
Mr. WYLD has doubtless been a marked man
ever since he refused to compromise the Ballot.
Had he been in the House we
fancy Sir JOHN
SHELLEY would not easily have enabled the Whigs
to burk the inconvenient question this session.
They would have been required to vote on it
while fresh from their constituencies, and
s
the pockets of many still suffering from
the costs incident to open voting. It is, we think,
a serious misfortune that we have had no expression
of opinion from the new Parliament on the only
question which can be regarded as a testing one,
and we do not yet know whether it is more liberal
than its predecessor. Everyone would vote that
some small boroughs ought to be dealt with, that
some large places ought to have representatives,
that some larger places ought to have more than
their present number, that there ought to be some
extension of the franchise—but everyone will not
vote that all who have the franchise should have it

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THE SUN.
TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1859.