The Evening Star MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1869.

Evening Star, Volume VII, Issue 2031, 8 November 1869, Page 2

The Evening Star MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8, 1869.

When at the battle of Camperdown the Venerable received her first broadside from her Dutch antagonist, amid the rattling of splinters and falling rigging, an English sailor put his head out a port-hole, and with the recollection in his mind of the proverbial nine times multiplied lower garments worn

by the Dutch, iu excited admiration at the enemy’s spirit, he shouted “ Well “ done, little breeches.” Just in the same way, when we read Mr Fish s heavy attack upon us as published in the Daily Times we could not help saying, “Well done, Mr Fish, not so “ biuf for a fledgling in polemics.” With that our recognition of it would have ended, had it not been that a leading merchant of the town at the last Mayoral election, discovered in Councillor Fish the germ of fitness for the civic chair. We therefore feel it a duty to aid iu forming his yet untutored mind, so that when he is chosen he may wear his honors with that knowledge and dignity that become the office. We feel sure he will be sincerely grateful to us for this, especially as the coach he has chosen has not done his duty to him. In fact if Mr Fish must be coached , we commend him by all means to keep clear of the Daily Times office; for the editor bows his head like a bull-rush to every passing breeze, and yields to every impulse, no matter in what direction it may drive him. Such a man is not a fit trainer for Mr Fish. He is not likely to correct the errors in fact, sentiment, and theory into which that councillor is so apt to fall. Wo should recommend him rather to place himself under Mr Halliwell, ox some district schoolraastei’, for instruction in etymology ; Mr J. G. S. Grant for the cultivation of the sensatioxxal, and Mr Barnes for the attainment of straightforward honesty. That some such training is necessary is plain, for Mr Fish, aided by the Daily Times, fights under false coloi’s. He heads his philippic, “ Mr Blake’s case,’ when he knows perfectly well that Mr Blake s case had nothing to do with it—that in reality it was the case of Fish v. Birch, and that Mr Blake’s name was merely made use of—not by us, but by him—to serve the ends and purposes he had in view. So far as abuse of the livening Star is concerned, we were disappointed. It was tame and insipid compared with what Mr Grant would have done. It wanted that brilliant bitterness that education alone can give that raciness which command of dead and living languages alone can confer. Mr Fish is open to great improvement here. Then, x'eally, his coach deserves severe reproof for letting him commit himself to such a blunder as to imagine that the “ standing com- “ mittees, to whom all matters are re- “ fei’i’ed,” constitute the Council an Executive body. It is on this ground we recommend our Mayor in embryo to go to some competent schoolmaster preparatory to the study of May. We feel sorry he should have committed this public blunder, for it necessitates public correction. Had he consulted us before writing the letter, we would have set him right; and we are sure he will thank us for doing so now. It may tend to prevent a recuiTence of his error by I’eminding him that these “ Standing Committees” are committees for inquiry and investigation ; that the matters referred to them, are those which the Council has afterwards to consider and to resolve upon—that the labors of the Committees are aids to deliberation and legislation, and that the Committees are not authorised to take one single step in the execution of any work, They only prepare reports to bo considered in Council, and the resolutions of the Council are remitted for execution to the Mayor, Town Clerk, and officei’s acting under them. The recollection of this will be of essential service to Mr Fish, if ever he reaches the civic chair, and afford him the means of ascertaining what his duties are There is another point, too, that requires some attention in Mr Fish’s training for future honoi’S. At school, if one boy skulks behind another, with the idea that thereby he will escape deserved castigation and that it will fall upon him who stands in front, his companions call him a shabby fellow. We hardly know what Mr Walter will call Mr Fish for wishing to turn public attention to him as the Councillor who ought to have been whipped. We sincerely hope he will not be angry with him for trying to get him into a scrape. We can assure Mr Walter we clearly and fully recognise the difference between his motion and that ot Mr Councillor Fish. Mr Walter’s question was one that convoyed no censure upon the Mayor, that gave him an opportunity of explanation, and when answered, as it was satisfactorily, ended all controversy on the subject. Mr Walter’s motion or question might not be expedient. We do not think it was; but when disposed of, the good or evil ended there. It differed therefore from the mischievous busybody ism of Mr Councillor Fish, the effect of whose motion must be, if carried into practice, a most inconvenient addition to the work of every official, and a most unnecessary exposure of many matters that ought never to come before the public at ail. We have done now with Mr Councillor Fish for the present; and trust that the next time we have to mention his I name in a leader, it will bo in terms

of commendation on account of the advance he has made in fitness under our tuition for the public duties he aspires to undertake.