We have a bone to pick with our contemporaries. In reporting the speech of Lord Palmerston, at Perth, they recorded a passage in which the noble Lord suggested that those who saw and heard things that were going wrong, should communicate them to the public officer whose duty it is to put them right, which would be conferring a great favour on the man in office, as well as doing a benefit of magnitude to the country at large. They represent his Lordship as saying, in continuation:—
"There may be a great deal of chaff in that which is received—but if in a bushel of chaff he shall find a pint of good corn, that bushel of chaff would be worth winnowing, and he can turn that pint of corn to good purposes."
But why has that been omitted which followed of course, and by the omission of which the above extract is made to conclude with abruptness—to read, as it were, broken off, stumpy? What motive, but a mean one, was there for suppressing what Lord Palmerston must have gone on to say?—namely, that in communicating to Government information respecting things that go wrong, mixed up with chaff, the most essential services had been rendered to an applauding nation by a popular periodical—which modesty prevents Punch from more distinctly alluding to.
CIVIC SIMPLICITY.
The next Lord Mayor's Day is, we are told, to be celebrated with touching simplicity. Gilt gingerbread has had its day; and Bartholomew Fair being abolished, the Lord Mayor's coach will follow the gilt chanticleers-in-trowsers and other gorgeous gingerbread. Mr. Alderman Wire's liveries are very simple, but very significant. Being a lawyer, he has put characteristic facings on his profession, clothing his coachman and footmen in suits of parchment with shoulder-knots of red tape. The effect is very handsome. The worthy Sheriff's motto, Vincit qui patitur, is very happy, and is beautifully engrossed upon the cuffs and collars. Vincit qui patitur. He conquers who suffers! How often is it illustrated in law. He who wins, pays!
Scotch Inflictions.—"Winter"—say the papers—"has already set in with severity in Scotland." What is worse; Lord Aberdeen has, months since, set in with severity in England.