The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-04 00:00:00

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r;'•44-79P411' '
Ot.

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4, 1868.

Honorary distinctions have their value and im-
portance : for, they are symbolical. It is thus when
any considerable municipality evidences its respect for
a great warrior or a great statesman by conferring
upon him the so-called rights of citizenship—by pre-
senting a gold sword to a veteran soldier, or inscrib-
ing a renowned orator's name upon a burgess ticket.
The honour, here, as with most gifts, subsists not in
the thing itself, but in what is thereby signified. It
is consequently prized by our public men out of all
seeming proportion. It is even considered of im-
portance by them when they are enrolled among the
members of one or other of the more distinguished
of the great City Companies. Insomuch that many an-
other King's Chamberlain besides POLONIUS might lite-
rally be answered on his asking if he were remembered
—" Excellent well, you are a Fishmonger !"—or a Gold-
s=ith, or a Spectacle-maker, or what not, as the case
might be. Other corporations than that of London
are in the habit of testifying their appreciation of
distinguished public services precisely in the same
way, and none among them seizes the rare oppor-
tunities for doing this which present themselves in
the lifetime of a generation, more eagerly, more
generously, or more conspicuously than the dis-
tinguished corporation of Edinburgh. The Free-
dom of the City there, as in London, is
bestowed, at uncertain intervals, upon one
another of our Public Men, quite irrespective of
party politics. A Liberal Lord Mayor or a
Liberal Lord Provost might at these times with per-
fect consistency pronounce a glowing eulogium upon
a Tory Administrator. Or—of course—vice versa:
a Tory Lord Provost might do the like without any
derogation from his consistency by pronouncing a
warm panegyric upon the member of a Liberal Go-
vernment. It is the Eminent Citizen of a free empire,
not the Party Chief, who is honoured upon these occa-
sions. And it is, therefore, not incongruous on the part
of the Right lion. WM. CHAMBERS, the Lord Provost
of Edinburgh, that within so brief an interval it
should have fallen to his lot to enroll as burgesses
and freemen of Edinburgh, and to eulogize in cor-
dial terms of admiration, each in turn, as an Orator,
and it may be added even as a Reformer of illus-
trious and historical reputation, now the right hon.
member for Buckinghamshire, Mr. DISRAELI, now
one of the most formidable of his opponents, one
occupying a seat below the gangway on the other
side of the House of Commons, a great Orator and
Tribune of the People, such as Mr. BRIGHT, the
member for Birmingham.
Party politics upon these occasions aro forgotten.
They are felt to be out of place. Direct reference to
them at such moments would be worse than a
gaucherie—would be a betise. It was so evidently
regarded only yesterday at Edinburgh, when the
Lord Provost presented to Mr. BRIGHT the certifi-
cate constituting him a burgess and freeman of
Edinburgh. Even on the verge of a General Election,
partizan views of any kind did notadmit, there and
then, of enforcement. Speaking, as he doubtless
always does, from his conscience, Mr. BRIGIIT had, for
once, to speak in a manner exclusively (to adopt
the Prime Minister's phrase) from his historical con-
science. His remarks were, for the most part, retro-
spective. They were almost necessarily so, for inas-
much as the privileges of citizenship then conferred
upon the member for Birmingham were so conferred
on him " especially" on account of his brilliant and
successful services in the promotion of Free-trade.
A recognition of those services, by the way,
rather after date after date by more than a
score of years! But, no matter. Better late
than never—and, so conferred, the recognition of
those long-past services could not but be acknow-
ledged by the great Free Trader, with especial refer-
ence to those his earliest and, we cannot but think,
his most resplendent achievements. Referring thus,
to those historical achievements, it is particularly
noticeable that.: Mr. BRIGHT yesterday did not
arrogate to himself honours that were not
justly his own. He availed himself, on the
contrary, of that conspicuous opportunity
—eagerly seizing it, indeed, as a golden occasion upon
which to do now as Sir ROBERT PEEL did three and
twenty years ago—to place the palm-crown where it
was merited, namely, where it would encircle the name
of the true victor in that bloodless field of glory, the
simple, noble, honoured name of RICHARD COBDEN.
Speaking of the tremendous struggle in which he was
engaged between twenty and thirty years ago, in
companionship with Mr. COBDEN, the member for
Birmingham yesterday remarked, " I woi lied at it
for seven years, and for five years almost without
interruption, and I did nothing else but work
for free trade during these years—in alliance, as
you know, with one of the most remarkable men
that our country has ever produced, and one of
the best men than any now living have
ever known." Aud he added—" When I look back

1 to him whose name must ever be foremost in any
history or memory of that struggle, when I consider
his remarkable industry, his wonderful sagacity, his
enlarged information, the combined force and gen-
tleness of his character, his most persuasive speech,
when I look back upon his transcendant merits, I
confess I am amazed that it took all that, and the
energy, and the labour, and the resolution of