The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-27 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, NOV. 27, 1868.

There appears to be a tendency every now and
then in the political world to regard what has oc-
curred
curred as something altogether unprecedented. It is
in this way that Mr. GLADSTONE, even, in his brief
and rather subdued address to the electors of the
Borough of Greenwich, refers to the spontaneous
award to him of " a most honourable seat in Parlia-
ment" as a kindness, according to his manner of ex-
pressing it—" generous, unasked, and, I be-
lieve, [he adds] unparalleled." Now, it is
not unparalleled. It has precedents both here
in England and on the other side of the
Channel. Amongst ourselves, it is. still remembered
as an event of not so many years ago, when not, as
in Mr. GLADSTONE'S instance, the Leader of the Libe-

ral party, but the leader of a small though highly im-
portant section of that party—meaning, of course,
Mr. COBDEN—was quite as spontaneously chosen by
a much larger constituency than the constituency
of Greenwich, and that, moreover, simultane-
ously with his re-election for his old constitu-
ency, the constituency of the borough of Stockport.

Mr. COBDEN had thereupon to make his selection
between the two. It was a signal and conspicuous
honour, but one that he eminently well deserved; and
it was akin in his instance to that other notable tri-
bute to his immense popularity, the holding open by
the then Premier, Viscount PALMERSTON, for
his (Mr. COBDEN'S) acceptance or rejection (as
it happened for his rejection) of a seat
in the recently construsted Cabinet at the
time when Mr. COBDEN was known to be on
his way back from a visit to the United States.

Again, wbo is there—amongst those whose memory
can -readily overleap the interval of twenty years

which has elapsed since the last French Revolution,
the Revolution of February—who cannot recall to
mind the memorable and historical fact that the de-
stroyer
of the Ited Flag, the author of the Histoire des
Girondins, the glorious Poet, Patriot, Orator, and
Statesman, ALPHONSE DE LA3IARTINE was spoutane-
oudy and simultaneously elected by, and had in con-
sequence, thereupon, to make his selection from, half-
a-dozen different departments as a member of the
National Assembly. The unsolicited acceptance of
Mr. GLADSTONE as one of their suggested representa-
tives, is not, therefore, by any means an " unpar-
alltled" kindness on the part of the electors
of Greenwich, as a free and independent
constituency doing itself honour far rather than
conferring honour upon Mr. GLADSTONE by return-
ing him unasked as its representative.
Equally erroneous is the notion which seems to be
generally entertained just now, that it is an event
altogether without parallel or precedent, Mr. GLAD-
STONE'S entrance into the House of Commons at the
head of a party having a clear majority of one
hundred. Seven and twenty years ago Sir ROBERT
PEEL, as Head of, the Opposition Party, entered the
newly-elected House of Commons as Leader of a
serried mass of representatives, having that same
enormous preponderance over their antagonists, de-
, monstrable in the same way, by their having a clear
majority of one hundred. With this difference, how-
lever, that the mass of Sir ROBERT PEEL'S followers
lin the August of 1841 was far more homogeneous
in its character than the variegated mass of followers
which in this next December will be ranged together
in the new House at the back of Mr. GLADSTONE. It
is a mere hallucination therefore to suppose that we
are living in such wholly exceptional times, or that
1 the political events that are occurring around us are
lin any way unprecedented, or, as Mr. GLAD-
STONE has :called one of them by a still stronger
I phrase—as he believes—unparalleled. History
, repeats itself. It is repeating itself just
now not only in the events of the day, but even in
the flying rumours of the hour ! According to one
of which latter, Mr. GLADSTONE iS said to meditate-
-1 in the double contingency, first, of his assuming office
as Prime Minister, secondly, of his finding it other-
wise impracticable to force his projected disestablish-
ing and disendowing measure in regard to the Irish
Church through the House of Lords—the swamping
of the House of Lords by the creation of a
large batch of some forty or fifty new Peers, selected,
of course, from among Liberal Politicians ! Precisely
as Lord GREY threatened to do when leader of that
same party, when six and thirty years ago be found
the same obstacle confronting the First Reform Bill
on its going up to the Lords in Parliament assembled!
History is repeating itself in rumours affect-
ing, even at this juncture, the views and
intentions of the reigning Sovereign. Rather than
become a patty to the passing of an Act for the
Emancipation of the Catholics, King GEORGE 111.
declared that he would withdraw to Hanover.
Rather than become a party to the disestlblishine
and disendowing of the Irish Church, and thereby, ac-
cording to her .TAAJESTY'S belief, as it is under-
stood violating her Coronation Oath, Queen VIC-
TORIA is said to meditate, at this moment,
a proceeding quite as extraordinary, namely,
her abdication in favour of the heir apparent, under
his then title of either ALBERT EDWARD 1., or King
EDWARD VII. Extravagant as these rumours are, the
very fact of them being bruited about just now,,here
amongst ourselves, and abroad on the European Con-
tinent, affords only a new illustration of those histori-
cal repetitions already spoken of as proverbial.