The Press. — London, England, 1853-11-12 00:00:00

NOVEMBER 12, 1853. "HAPPILY taINE BY." " THE days of aristocratic privilege were now happily 46 gone by, never to return:" sa id L or a on Wednesday at the Lord Mayor's feast. When the Atnetican Ambassador heard that sentence he m ight, like his countryman, have said "wonderful. if 6* true." Even Sir Witit.o.l .1101.ESViURTII MUNI halve been astonished to hear that the effinis of the Itenthantite Radicals were at last realised. If any bold-spoken citizen had got up and asked a few plain questions after the speech of the Foreign Secretary, how, with simple facts, he might have refuted the oblivious MO deceptive vaunt of the nobly earl. Lord ettnrxDox himself was not long since desig nated in a " Liberal " journal as " essentially a pro " fessional statesman." Even in the good old Tory times, prior to the Itefinin 11111, Mr. 6r.onoi: ILLIEns, owing to " aristocratic privileges gone by, happily • never to return," was living in a Splendid suite of apartments at the Dublin Custkuu-house, with the snug salary of twelve hundred pounds per esteem as a commissioner of excise. At the same time his brother, Mr. Hvne Vu.t.tens, had a post with a early salary of a thousand pounds at the ordnance. And if, after the good things on Wednesday, any of the City revellers had taken a north-west passage front the Mansion-house to St. George's, Bloomsbury, he might have found Canon Vauens entrenched as rector, with various good things obtained for him by these "aristocratic privileges," which we are told are " happily gone by." So, also, Mr. CoSNEWALL Lt:wts, an industrious writer of unreadable books, which we devoutly hope are "happily gone by," owing to his connection with the " professional " statesman " at the Foreign-ottiee, is also receiving his country's acknowledgments in a tangible form. tif Mr. CIIARI.LS VILLIERS we will only frankly say, that his own services to the Free-traders, in days when his name was vilified, and his talents ridiculed by the Teethes, deserve a far better recognition than he has received from the renegade Tories under whom he condescends to serve. 14 course Lard CLARENDON was merely angling for civic applause with an anachronism which was in tended to pass muster as a ,joke, for any citizen could have told him that, in any public. room in England. " Mr. Vit.ttEns" would receive more ahem' (ertrris paribux) than " Mr. Tomkins." The spell of an historical name is not " happily gone by, - as Lord .lohN Itusset.t. can vouch, who, in his Edinburgh letter, confidently - appealed to the recollection of " immortal services." Before this consummation is completely attained there is consitlet ably more work for Lord CLuteNnoN and his kin than they will ever be paid for, and among other intervening casualties we may have to chronicle as " happily gone by " that Coalition Ministry which is thus as vague and con tradictory in its language as it is, in other respects, hampered and confused in its action. SCOTTISH HIGHT'S AND 61ZIEVANCES. WE gave in our last number an account of a meeting of the " National Association for the Vindication of Scottish Rights:" and we directed public attention to the subject, chiefly because we believed that the proceedings of a meeting at which such men as Lord How:ToN, Sir AmcnittAilt ALisoN, and Professor AVTtoUN were the pnncipal speakers, could not fail t►► deserve it. On a more attentive perusal of the speeches, we are satisfied that the Setotti,h people have some just grounds of complaint ; and we are the more induced to recur to the subject because we observe that it has been treated with unfairness and want of candour by some of our daily contemporaries. The history of the movement is a strange one. It originated, we believe, in a petition to the Lyon King at-Anus on the subject of an alleged indignity to the loyal arms of Scotland. The petition emanated from persons of comparatively obscure station, and the public seemed to take but little interest in its suc cess. had reds, ss been granted, or had proper inquiry been made into the subject, possibly we should have heard no more of Scottish grievances. But, when redress was refused, other complaints poured in from every side. The " National Associa tion " was formed, and the whole Scottish people, headed by their hereditary chiefs and the leaders of public opinion among them, awoke to action anti swelled the chorus of complaint. At first a cloud 110 bigger than a man's hand, it now darkens the horizon of the north. An attempt has been made by some of our con temporaries, and particularly by the Timex, to laugh down the movement, and to turn its leaders into ridicule. That journal has informed its readers that the whole affair is " a paltry imitation of the worst '•features of Irish agitation." Surely the great free trade organ should be in no such haste to denounce agitation; stud surely such Lord EWAN- • THE PRESS. ToN's and Sir A. AmvoN's ought to se vure a patient hearing to their viable. They are not the men t o b e laughed down, nor a►te they the men to encourage a foolish or a grou►illess agitation. Their position en titles them to be heard. and we are sure the English public will hear them calmly and patiently. We will notice very briefly the principal grievances of which our Scottish fellow subjects complain. The first one we have already alluded to as the original cause of the whole move►ueut. It is this : that. although by the treat• of union the royal anus of Scotland are entitled to preeedence over those of Eug hunt within Scotland,they are still systematically post poned. It may be said that this is a weak and childish complaint, but surely if it is felt to Is. an aili•ent by the Scotch it ought at once to b e ►one,hevi. It' heraldic devices are to be used they may as well be used correctly—if they are not so used the sooner we discard them the better. _ • Then, as to the appointment of a Scoteh Secretary of State, we really can see no prima filch. objection to such a meastuv. All Scotch business is now in the limits of an overworked lawyer, the Lord Advocate, and he also monopolises all Scotch patronage. We have no wish to see the duties of Home Secretary and the patronage of the Lord Chancellor united in the per son of an English Attorney-General; yet that is pre cisely what the Scotch have to complain of in the office of laord Advocate. We Call understand Lord E,,LivroN . s feelings when he looks upon " Ilolyrood, " with her fallen galleries, her rootless chapel, and her wasted park ;" but surely, now that liolyrood is once more a royal residence, something might he done to preserve such a memorial of Scottish history. Sir A. AusoN dwelt at some length on the capabili ties of the Clyde for government building-yards, and on the wain of harbours of refuge on the coasts of Scotland. Sow, it appears to us that our ships should be built wherever they can be built best, and we do not think the mere fact of there being no dockyards in Scotland is in itself any reason for building them in the Clyde. They are built for imperial service, and, unless the Clyde is better adapted for building-yards than any of the Owes where we have them already, we don't think the Scotch can make out a case upon this head. la the same way we maintain that harbour% o f refuge ought to be constructed where wrecks occur oftenest, whe • ther that be on the coast of England or of Seittlimd; for there they will be most useful and save most lives and property. Them• is but one other Scotch grievance that we have to notice—it is the inadequacy of the Scotch representation in Parliament. It is hard, we admit, that such counties as Berwick or Inverness should return no more members than many a small borough in Wiltshire or Doreetshire; but here, at leant, the treaty of union is *against the Scotch, and, if they are to abide by it, the number of their members would have to be reduced instead of being augmented. But the changes in Scotland since the union have been so great in population and in other respects that we may fairly allow that it is time to look Iwyotal the letter of a treat• if proof can 1w afforded us of any practical injust►ce. THE NEW IRISH BISHOP. THE Whigs seem to have carried their point in the nomination of the Reverend HENRY GRIFFIN, Of Cloufeacle, as successor in the see of Derry to the late lamented Dr. PossoNay. We have heard but little of 1)r. GRIFFIN, but we believe that he is a Church of England man of the Protestant—and not the Peel-ponyite—school. We confess that we would have wished for the elevation of a more distinguished divine. The Dean of St. Patrick's was, we presume, too decidedly a Conservative for the tastes of the Coalition Cabinet. The appointment of 14.. KIRWAN, of Limerick, whose pulpit eloquence is not unworthy of his famous father, would have been popular to all parties. Consistency in opinions, however, whether religious or political, deserves no little approbation in an age of tergiversation. Dt)eba. GRIFFIN was well known as a " Liberal" in the days when the present Prime Minister was supporting Lord CASTLE ' ItEAMI with as much cordiality as his frigid nature w o uld permit; and, although a better selection might have been made, compared with some others of lord ST. GERMANS . appointments, this last promotion may be almost joyfully accepted from a t 'Rhino, some of whom were the active patrons of " Mr. Itincii " and others the confederates of Mr. KE•siit. THE LATE Sill CHARLES NAPIER. 1 . 1 , THE ElolToß dol.' "THE mils." Sir,—While thanking you for inserting my letter, with ull frietolly feeling. and without any " Napier love of controversy," 1 beg to point, out some unsus tainable portions of your observations. The exposure of Sir James W. Hogg's sneaking attempt, through Mr. Daily, to injure Sir C. Napier 65►1 in the House, eannot well hr adduced, a' coming within the reviewer's notion of "Irving controverwy ;" but if so, its parallel is to he found in the duke's despatches. where he published a menacing letter about Lord Ilollnnd, hir condemning his conduct towards ltlarslial Ney. 1.011 .ay. " lie who allows his nearest relative to write in his defence with his cognisance, 1.e., may be fairly held responsible for the writing itself." I entirely dissent from this doctrine, 11111t1, strange as it may appoir s Sir Charles Napier knew nothing of illy writings, sloe that I was writing, until he read them in print. !tut, adopting your doctrine, the Duke of %Vellingtiai is then responsible for the complain. iii". bitter, passionate speeches in his defence Sande by Ili. bltidhrr, !MINI in Parliament, during the Peninsular war. Su. C. Napier never ilia "appeal to the p eo ple through the press ill behalf of his ne ith er hove I ever done sob for him : if by claims Ise meant d i iissis for honours sir reword'. Nly only appeals have been the exposing of slanders, intrigues, unit vile practices to slishoinsur him WWI ile!iirO llls claim 4111 history fist' &111 N liN it general Anil sidieslllllll I line lINIeNII lires%eil, insisted on, Alla ; lint. tin doing, I only place inymelf al o ng side or those Who ripliiitnon f o r th e i ilitke, by 11.441111 nm his glorious u s stions. Not - . 7, I WO, W. Artmt, 1,1. Wt. are happy to part from Sir W. Napier with that friendly feeling on our side which we an. proud tai hear 16111 u.hnit 1111 1114. The tlilfen.tice between us is n o w reduced to a mailer of o pinion. If th e re hr ti ',mullet between Sir Charles Napier's letters to the l'inies newspaper and "a menacing letter to he found iu the lieSpiteileS," We can 141111 M' from our point Of view a considerable differenee tween the speeches of lord Wellesley in Parliatnent and works aildretated to the world at large ; even if 11,twil Wellington in the one elUle, and Sir Charles Napier in the other, wen. equally responsible for their utterance or miblieation. We ourselves used the word " c laims " in the +te nse of merits or desert. 4, tit we should mm4llllll , that no Napier mould peas a etullll fair honours or rewank except as a recognition by the public of public ser• vices. ID the latter Mellse, therefore, we can cor. &ally agree as to Sir Charles Napier's claim of his. tinical faint. 'loth as general and statesman. UNPUBLISHED LETTER OF SIR CHARLES NAPIFIt. Wi: have been favoured with the following most elm raeterist le letter of the late Sir Charles Napier, which, as wr►tten in his public capacity, we may publish will t conm►ent or apology :— • kurrueliee, Ist Felintary, 1A44. "Private James Neary,— I have received your letter dated Ist January. %nu tell that you give matis faetien to your ollh • era, which is just what you might lo do, and I RIM Very glad to hear it ; lweause 1 have regard for every one reared at l•astletowo, for I was reared thee►• myself. However, as I and all be longing to me have left that part of the country fur more than twenty ye►trs, I neither know/ ' Mr. Tom Kelly is,' nor do I knew' yiair father ; lout I know that I would go far any slay in the year towns+ a l'elluidge man, er any 111N11 from the barony of Salt, in which (*Abridge stands ; that IA to say, if such a man behaves himself like a Kiva soldier, and not like &damned drunken son of a bitch like James Johnstone, whom on knew very well, if you are a Castletown man. Now, Mr. James Neary, as I am suer you are, and must be, n rrooorkably sober sum am I am myself (or I should not have got eu ao► well in the world as I lone dime), I say, as you an• a remarkably sober ►uan, I desire you to take this letter to your captain, and ask hin► to show it to your lieutenant colonel ; and to ask the said lieutenant colonel, with my heat compliments, to have you in his men u ►ry ; and if you are a remarkably sober maim, mind that, .1 awes N Nary, if you are a remarkably sober ►uan like I am, and in all other ways titted to he a lw u •e eorporal, I will be very nmeh obliged to him to promote you, nor and hereafter. trot if you are like.limies Johnstone, the" I sincerely Impe lie will give you admit& quantity or puni'lrnu•nt, as yeat will, in tlo►t ca-e, well d►serve, for taking up my time, wind, I unr always ready to spare for a good soldier, lint hot for a bad one. Now, you belsarr well, this letter will give you a fair start in life, and, if y► o ► behave well, I hope soon to hear that you are a cerporid. Mind what you are about, and lielieve me total your well wisher, " NArtEn, MAi., (inventor of Seinde, because I have always been a remark. ably sober *an. "Te Private Jameii Neary, 11. Al. loth Regiment ut• Fuca, Ktutsawhie.•'