The Sun.
London, England, 1868-12-17 00:00:00

HOW MR. BRIGHT BECAME A MINISTER.

The public have been informed by Mr. Bright himself
that it was with reluctance he accepted office, and that at
last he consented only in consequence of the great
pressure brought to bear upon him. A few particulars
concerning the character of this " pressure " and the
mode of its application have come to our knowledge, which
the public will be interested to learn. When Mr. Glad-
stone received her Majesty's commands to form a Ministry
conveyed, we may say, in the most gracious terms and
in the most cordial manner—one of those with whom the
right honourable gentleman first communicated was Mr•
Bright, requesting that he would take office in
the new Government. Mr. Bright, who was not in
London at the time, returned an answer in which he
acknowledged the compliment paid him by Mr. Gladstone,
but positively declined to become a member of the new
Ministry. It was subsequently arranged that a personal
conference should take place, and Mr. Bright proceeded
to London for that purpose. At the interview the
tender of office was again made and again declined. Mr.
Bright does not belong to the class of men who, like
coy maidens, refuse consent in order that they may be
pressed to yield. He had evidently made up his mind
not to act in an official capacity, and was not to be moved
from his purpose by any ordinary pressure. A discussion
commenced—Mr. Bright stating his reasons for not accept-
ing office, and Mr. Gladstone combating these objections,
and advancing arguments in support of the view that it was
the duty of the member for Birmingham to take an active
part in the government of the country. As the discussion
proceeded, it gradually lost its conversational tone, and
assumed the character of a formal debate, in which the
wo greatest orators of the day were the friendly dispu-
tants. Warming with the subject, each strove to give
force to his views by bringing into play all those charms of
diction, of elocution, and of gesture with which both are
abundantly gifted ; and we can readily believe the
statement of the few who were privileged to
witness this remarkable intellectual encounter that
it surpassed even the finest oratorical display
recently witnessed in the Houses of Parliament.
Mr. Bright urged, among other things, we understand,
that he had an objection to the receipt of public money ;
that he had served the country hitherto without reward,
and would prefer to continue to do so; that the
acceptance of office might possibly place him in an un-
comfortable and restrained position ; and that he believed
he could render more efficient aid to Mr. Gladstone's
Government as an independent supporter than as a mem-
ber of the Cabinet. To these objections Mr. Gladstone
replied by a masterly review of Mr. Bright's career,
pointing out that many of the principles which he had
espoused had come to be recognised as the true and legiti-
mate policy of government. The opportunity, Mr.
Gladstone further contended, was now afforded Mr.
Bright to give effect to his views as a member of the
Government, and with all the force of his eloquence the
Premier urged that it was the duty of Mr.
Bright not to shrink from a responsibility which the
acceptance of office would cast upon him. The discus-
sion lasted from eight o'clock in the evening until two
o'clock in the morning, and at last Mr. Bright yielded
—chiefly influenced, no doubt, by the strength of the
arguments advanced by Mr. Gladstone, but also swayed,
it may be imagined, by that powerful personal charm
which the new Premier exercises over all with whom he is
brought in contact. Such is the story of the mode in which
Mr. Bright became a Minister, and it is probably without
parallel in the history of forming Cabinets. Liverpool
Mercury.

We understand that the Earl of Devon, the late
President of the Poor-law Board, before quitting office,
appointed Mr. Henry Longley, barrister-at-law, to be a
Poor-law inspector, in the room of Mr. Edward Gulson,
who had held the office since 1834, and who resigned in
consequence of failing health.
The Shrewsbury magistrates have recently directed
their energies to the putting down of bad language in the
streets. During last week a large number of convictions have
been made, and fines and cos's of £1 17s. 6d. inflicted, with
the alternative of a fornight's imprisonment. A remarkable
piece of evidence was given touching one of the defendants
—a Mrs. Sarah Speake. It was stated that she had con-
tinued to curse and swear without cessation front half-past
eleven at night till two in the morning !

The Rotherham police have f. pprehended a clerk
employed in the Rotherham Post-office, on a charge of corn-
mitt'n,g extensive and systematic robberies of the valuable
contents of letters entrusted to the post. A miscellaneous
collection of articles worth £9O have been found in his pos-
session, or in the possession of friends to whom he has been
somewhat lavish in presents. The frequent complaints of
missing valuables transmitted through the Rotherham Post-
office led to an investigation, and this apprehension is the
esult.

Referring to an absurd canard that Mr. Roebuck
intended to oppose Mr. Bright's re-election for Birmingham,
the 'Sheffield Telegraph, the organ of Mr. Roebuck, which
first gave publicity to the rumour, says that it is satisfied
that Mr. Bright's position in Birmingham is impregnable,
and that Mr. Roebuck will not deem it either graceful or
politic to vppose Mr. Bright's re-election. "From all that
we hear of Mr. Roebuck," continues our contemporary, "he
accepts his defeat at Sheffield with admirable equanimity
and is emptying his leisure in literary pursuits."

A numerously-attended tea meeting was held in
Bristol on Tuesday to celebrate the triumphant return of
Messrs. Berkeley and Morley. After tea speeches were
made on the progress of Liberalism in the old city. Tho Rev.
Dr. Gotch told an anecdote of a man—a "religious" man—
who was canvassed, and who said, "I love the Lord Jesus
Christ with all my heart, and I am ready at this moment to
lay down my life for his sake, but I expect £5 for my vote."
Another speaker, Mr. Handel Cossham, stated that he was
told in Yorkshire the other day that Mr. Disraeli was so
crooked that if ho swallowed a teupenny nail it would come
out a corkscrew. (He (Mr. Disraeli) had not .got to the
Lords yet, but ho had sent his wife there to keep his seat
warm for him till he got there.

END OF A VENDETTA.—TIIO Gazette de Caglian
gives a curious account of the extinction of a feud in the
island of Sardinia, the details of which strongly resemble
those of the reconciliation of the two Corsican families
described in Alexandre Dumas's romance of " Les Frixes
Curses." In the present instance the fete took place in the
village of Agius, where two hostile bodies, who for more
than two years had been persecuting and murdering each
other, had agreed to forget their animosities and join
hands in friendship. The two hostile families entered the
church simultaneougly amidst the ringing of bells am
the acclamations of the people, and ranged themselves on
opposite sides, namely, the Chilgoni, the Vasa, the Mall;
the Malej a, and the Luzzu, more than sixty in number,
along one wall of the building ; and the Muzzedu and the
Cossu, fifty-four in number, on the other. The curd, M.Sechi,
then pronounced a discourse on mutual forgiveness, which
produced a deep sensation, and the hostile parties, moved
even to tears, threw themselves into each other's arms,
promising a permanent reconciliation. After leaving the
church the two families separated to take a frugal repast
and then met again at the house of the curd, who
received them in presence of the authorities, and con-
firmed the friendly compact with a suitable exhorta•
tioa,

_
141 ' •

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, Dec. 16.

The Queen, accompanied by Princess Louis°
and Prince Leopold, and attended by the Duchess
of Itoxburghe, drove out yesterday afternoon, and
her Majesty walked and drove in the grounds this
morning.

Her Majesty has visited Princess Christian daily
at Frogmore.

His Royal Highness the Prince Royal of Prussia
visited yesterday the Winter Exhibition of Sketches and
Studies by the members of the Water Colour Society, st
their Gallery, 5, Pall-mall East.