The Sun. — London, England, 1848-09-23 00:00:00

DEATH OF LORD GEORGE BENTINCK We published yesterday the melancholy intelligence of the sudden death of the above respected Nobleman. We regret to state that last evening accounts were received by the Mar quis of Titehtleld, at Harcourt House, corroborating the com munisation, though the precise particulars of the melancholy event were not mentioned. It appears his Lordship left Welbeck Abbey on Thursday afternoon, on foot, with the intention of wanting to Thoresby Park, the seat of Earl Manvers, about five miles distant from Welbeck, his Lord ship having engaged to dine with the Noble Earl. Not arriving at the hour he was expected, search was made for him in the neighbourhood, and about nine o'clock in the evening the lamented deceased was found, by his own ser vant, quite dead in a field through which his path to Thoresby lay. The Noble Lord's friends are said to have lately observed a marked change in his appearance, and some anxiety has in consequence been felt on his behalf. "What the immediate cause of his Lordship's decease may have been is of coure at present uncertain, but from the ab sence of any apoplectio tendency there seems great probabi- lity that it may have arisen from disease of the heart. We have received the following corroborative particulars from the vicinity of the spot where the lamentable catas trophe occurred : SHEFFIELD, FRIDAY MORNING. Lord George Bentinck was last night, at eleven o'clock. found dead in a field near Welbeck Abbey, the seat of his father the Duke of Portland. I gathered my information this morning at the Crown Inn, gotherham, and I have as certained beyond doubt that it is correct. I should have gone over to Welbeck to make further inquiries, but the distance is too great to admit of my returning this afternoon. While at the Crown Inn, which is the head inn at Nottingham, I gathered the following particulars from several individuals separately, and their accounts entirely agreed. They say that a stable-man from Welbeck Abbey arrived at the Crown Inn, that morning, with a horse and gig, in time for the four A.M. down train to the north. He said he was going to Edinburgh to inform Lord Henry Bentinck (who is out shooting in Scotland) of the sudden death of his elder brother, Lord George Ben tinck. The statement he made was—that yesterday after noon, Lord George Bentiuck, having an appointment to dine •at Thoresby Park, the seat of Earl Manvere, and being a good pedestrian, set out on foot from Welbeck Abbey, in tending to walk across the fields to Thoresby Park, a dis tance of five or six miles. A man servant was at the time dispatched with a horse and gig to take thither a change of dress, &c., for his Lordship. Lord George did not arrive at Thoresby Park at the appointed time, whereupon inquiries were made of the servant as to the cause of the delay. He said in reply, that before he left Welbeck he saw his Lord ship crossing the park, and afterwards, as he was driving along the road, he observed him walking on in a field situate about three miles on the road. Time rolled on, and as his Lordship did not arrive, the servant drove back to Welbeck to ascertain whether he had returned thither; but finding that such was not the case he again drove back to Thoresby Park, thinking that Lord George might by that time have arrived. Nothing, however, had been seen of him, and conse quently several servants were dispatched in various direc tions for his Lordship. His Lordship's own servant pro ceeded along the footpath to Welbeck, and after walking soma distance he saw, on approaching a gate, a human body stretched on the ground. On going close up to the object he discovered that it was the body of his master, Lord George Bentinck. Life was quite extinct. Soon afterwards the body was removed to Welbeck in a drag, and the servant who found the body was immediately dispatched with a horse and gig to Rotherham, to take the train at Masborough, for the north, as already mentioned. Before leaving Rother ham he ordered post-horses to be in readiness to-night to take forward to Welbeck Abbey Lord Henry Bentinck, in case he should arrive by train this evening. The following brief note from Manchester will show how deeply this melancholy event is felt in that important city : " The greatest possible excitement prevails in this city in consequence of the rumoured death of this distinguished Nobleman, but which it 13 hoped will turn out not to be founded on fact. "The report is, that the Noble Lord was to have dined last evening with Earl Maavers, at Holme Pierrepont, Not tinghamshire, and that as his Lordship did not arrive in time, a messenger was dispatched to Welbeck Abbey to in quire the cause. The messenger, it is said, found the Noble Lord dead in a field through which a footpath passes from one mansion to the other." (From the Times.) A remarkable man, who not yet three years ago suddenly entered the political world, has been still more suddenly withdrawn. Lord George Bentinck is gone. Of all the public characters of the day there was no one of whom we less thought to hear this melancholy announcement. Young, energetic, contidOnt, hopeful, persevering, full of indigna tion, opening new quarrels, and provoking new antagonists every day, his Lordship was commencing, so it seemed, a long and vigorous career. About a year since he made an attempt to retire from his new and uncongenial position. He summoned his party, and urged them to elect another chief. The offer only brought out the nakedness of the land and the hopelessness of the cause. Whether for a principle or a man the search was equally unsuccessful. With cha racteristic chi'elry his Lordship resumed his desperate post, and has ever Since worked it with an energy that might have raised a soul under the ribs of death. Under the ribs of protection, however, he has worked in vain. There is too much reason to fear that three sessions of overwhelming toil have worn and torn the fibre that promised otherwise a green old age. The man whose heart was with huntsman and hound, the racer and the starting-post, under some strong and almost unaccountable impulse devoted himself for three years to days of calculation and nights of debate, to the study of blue books, to the investigation of arithmetical errors and moral inconsistencies. For three years he sustains the un equal strife, and then sinks in a moment as he treads the springy turf and breathes the balmy air of his first boyish haunts on his father's domain. We would not willingly trespass either on the secret purposes of Providence or on the secret recesses of individual character. But there was an almost superstitious element in his Lardship's mind, which, as it prompted him to take a providential view of public affairs, lends a peculiar light to his own extraordi nary carter. Men are sometimes called instruments in the hands of Heaven, and are said to be raised up, employed, and laid aside. Whatever the purpose, no instance suggests those ideas so much as Lord George's three years of party reign. Taken from the turf and placed suddenly in the senate, pressed into a service alien from his nature and pur suits, performing just one mission, failing of this purpose, yet incidentally effecting objects far beyond his thought, and then removed at the very moment when the situation which first invoked him appears to be passing away, it is not easy to class him with the common race of politicians. Even at the outset of his career every one was struck with its singularity. That he should sustain it, and that so much should turn on his individual efforts, seemed still more wonderful. The con clusion is now the strangest feature, as it is also the most melancholy incident of the whole. But what has Lord George Bentinck done? and what has he not done? He has not carried one point of his avowed crusade. He has not saved one iota of agricultural protection, and what is more the results have hitherto belied his most confident predictions. He has not had better success in the more difficult and complex ground of commercial and colonial protection. He has not made an effectual resistance to the liberal and progressive tendencies of the country. He has not carried any of his specific plans. It would be difficult to say what he has done, or even proposed, that would en title him to a place in the lowest rank of statesmen. Yet, as the chief of a party, hastily gathered by his energy, his boldness, his uncompromising spirit, and reckless determination, he has done what no statesman could or even would do. By heading and maintaining an obstinate secession from the Conservative party, he has placed the country, now for two years, under a Li beral policy. He has made the Whig Premier. We have often expressed our conviction, and we now repeat it, that in no other way could we have met the present great crisis in the world's history. We little know `what our pre sent case would have been with a Conservative Ministry and a Whig Opposition last March. Every month brings out the value of our present situation. To Lord George Bentinck more than any other man we owe this happy result. This is not the only thing Lord George Bentinck has done, nor is it his most meritorious achievement. Full of the memory and the wrongs of his first friend and master, he cherished for twenty years a deep fund of vengeance which time and op portunity at last brought out. Haunted by the ghost of Canning, he has at length exacted terrible reprisals from those who first baffled, then borrowed, the policy of that statesman. After a long interval, a similar occasion and, as Lord G. Bentinck thought, a similar inconsistency, occurred. It was an accident rather than a result of character or of political creed that Lord George Bentinck took up the quarrel of the Protectionists. To punish inconsistency, to vindicate pledges, to save partisans from the disgrace of wholeeale and compulsory conversion, and make the convert suffer the penalties of change, were the objects he had most at heart, and in those he succeeded. It is as a political moralist, not as a statesman, that Lord George Bentinck has succeeded. Hel has been the rod of faction. Ile has pu nished both the party and the man. He has done some other things. With a peculiar taste for investigation, and a gene ral suspicion of trickery, he has made numerous attacks on the pious frauds, if such there be, of modern statesmanship. False figures, got up cases, twisted chronology, convenient suppressions, were the objects of his rigorous scrutiny and relentless denunciation. He has made some successful exposures. But we would rather place his suc cess • in the vigilance he has roused, and the terror with which he has surrounded official dis honesties as long as his name shall be remembered. As the political results of Lord George Bentinck's career have been exclusively negative, it is almost needless, and is certainly premature, to inquire into the probable conse quences of his death. While his Lordship has been dividing the Conservatives, there has been an increasing unanimity of the House in favour of liberal measures. The political world now presents a very different distribution of parties feom that which the repeal of the corn-laws broke up. Could 'We suppose that Lord George's followers would take this op portunny of making up their quarrel with their old leader, they would have to take him, not only without pledges, but without even a di s ti nc ti ve cause . Th at t h ey s h ou ld w i s h to be at party, r t thYe' and, if possible, a successful one, is likely enough. But r fi e a nt state of politics L or d G eorge B en ti nc k's friends will hind it difficult either to accomplish, or even to know the object of their ambition. Time, however, will soon shift the scenes, introduce new dramas, and re- arrange th e parts. The curtain has dropped on Protection. Its hero is no more. Nothin moralities assertedgannr remains but friendship a venge d, , most peremptorily commanded. (From the ChroaUk. 3 The melancholy eventwhich w_ e announced in a late edi tion of our paper yesterday regret willb t thein e mindsawakened f a one ll classes s en - timent of sincere and deep of our readers. The sudden death ofan eminent public man —cut off in the very }Ana and flower ar of his days, and.in;the prizes hopes of friends midst of a career at whose goal the a a s n of an honourable and admirers had placed the highest moral s ambition—is, under any circumstances, sympathies appeals too impressively to the elementary occurrence that m ated . by to admit of other emotions than those naturallnyisix a mournful example of the uncertainty of human the evanescence of human expectations. We can moste'tranlyd add, that in the case of the untimely removal of Lord Geo u r - Bentinck, there is much to enhance those regretful feelings which spontaneously arise in every well-constituted mind, , 2 ,1 witnessing so signal an instance of the frail tenure on whi c h all earthly hopes and blessings are held. While it would be affectation to endeavour to seem forgetful that the Noble Lord had grave faults, it needs but the most ordi nary candour to acknowledge that he bad many excellent, and some admirable qualities; and we are persuaded that those who most widely dissented from the opinions with which he had identified himself, those who were most strongly convinced of the injurious tendencies of the policy of which his name had become the symbol, and even those who most emphatically disapproved of certain objectionable peculiarities in his public demeanour, will not be the last to appreciate the talents and virtues which gave him more than one valid claim to the respect and good will of his country men. The character of Lord George Bentinck's mind was not one that imposes any difficult task on the psychological analyst. His faults and his excellences were alike patent to superficial observation. On the one hand, his indiscreet and headlong advocacy of an exploded economical theory, his general immaturity of thought and judgment, and his un justifiable bitterness of language and deportment towards political opponents; on the other hand, his untiring industry his indomitable courage and perseverance, his extraordinary aptitude for mastering the details of a subject, and his con sistent and unwavering fidelity to a cause which he doubt less believed to be that of truth—such are the main elements of the mixed impression which the deceased Pro tectionist leader has left on the minds of his countrymen. We are not aware that we can make any material addition to the preceding enumeration; bit we may, perhaps, offer some remarks that will conduce to a correct and impartial valuation, both of the infirmities and of the good qualities exhibited in his brief political career, considered with refer ence to the circumstances in which be was placed, and the relation in which he stood to his Parliamentary contempora ries. If we are not much mistaken, a dispassionate estimate of the peculiar position which Lord George Bentinck occu pied during those two years which may be said to have con stituted the whole of his political life, will be found to justify a somewhat different distribution of the lights and shades of his Lordship's public character, from that which first presents itself on a hasty and one-sided view. We are inclined to think that the better qualities of his mind and character will be seen to stand out in fuller relief, and that his obvious faults will appear materially extenuated, when due allow ance is made for the fact, that events suddenly placed him, in the eighteenth year of a comparatively inert par liamentary line, at the head of a large and exasperated political party. To a man of an eager and impulsive tem perament, little accustomed to that self-discipline of speech and temper which parliamentary leadership demands, and which can scarcely be learned but in the school of daily and hourly experience, there could not be a much more dangerous trial. Lord George Bentinck'a position, since the spring of the year 1846, has .been one in which his constitutional faults were not only totally unchecked by the guiding or re pressive influence of sedater coadjutors; but were fostered and stimulated by the certainty that boundless applause awaited every display of extemporised political acquisitions, and of bitter party feeling. Few public men, probably, possessing the native ardour of temperament requisite for the leadership of a broken and dispirited party, would have sus tained less injury from that perilous promotion than did Lord George Bentinck. Certainly, still fewer could have equalled the energy and ability which he undoubtedly displayed, under difficulties calculated to damp and depress the most self-confident enthusiasm. Violence of language, crudity of thought, error of statement, misapplication of facts to theories, and of theories to facts—these can scarcely sur prise us in the raw and inexperienced leader of a very nume rous and very angry party, who had all his political know ledge to acquire on the spur of the moment. The marvel is, that under circumstances so singularly disadvantageous, Lord George Bentinck was able to exhibit so many of the talents and qualifications—if not of a statesman—at least of an ex pert and able orator and politician. Thus, while the de ceased Nobleman's characteristic failings _were, to a very large extent, attributable to the peculiarities of his position, his virtues were all his own. On the more agreeable aspects of his public career, we need scarcely dwell at length. We believe the general verdict of Lord George Bentinck's political opponents will bear us out when we say, that while an impetuous temper frequently hurried him beyond the limits of propriety and right feeling in his attacks on those who differed from him, his own political course was entirely free from those meaner faults which he was too prone to im pute to others. We are not aware that any act of shabbi ness was ever associated with his name. It must be added that many of his political opinions and leanings indicated an essentially generous nature. On all subjects involving the principles of religious liberty, he continued to the last faith ful to his first liberal couvictions. It was especially honour able to him that he made no effort to conceal or com promise his earlier opinions on topics of this class after be had become connected in the closest relations of in timacy with a party to whom they were utterly dis tasteful. The open and manful avowal, at so recent a date as the general election of 1847, of the policy of endowing the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland— and, yet more, the support which he gave, at a still heavier cost, to the measure of Jewish emancipation—must never be forgotton by those who would pass a just and true judgment on the deceased leader of the country party. Nor can we omit to advert, with peculiar satisfaction, to the cir cumstance that his last public act was a stern and peremp tory refusal to accept " popularity" in Ireland on dishonour able terms. In general, we may say that Lord George Ben tinck was amply endowed with the virtues which are com monly found in connexion with party violence and passion, and of which these are, in a manner, the distorted and exag gerated image. We have spoken freely and frankly of this remarkable man, as we totally abjure the authority of that wel-known canon which would restrict obituary criticism to one-half of the facts that present themselves for ethical judgment. We will only say, in conclusion, that we believe Lord George Bentinck's brief political career—strongly ad verse, as it: has been, to the prevailing tone of public feel ing and conviction—has left, on the whole, no unkindly im pression on the minds of his countrymen; and that, even apart from the mournfully-abrupt and premature termina tion of his course, which at once hushes party passion, and obliterates the recollection of party animosities, an indul gent and generous verdict awaits his name and memory. (From the Herald.) The assassination of Mr. Spencer Perceval, and the sud den prostration of Lord Liverpool, are the only events of modern times in England which at all resemble, in their suddenness, and their momentous results, the loss sustained by the country yesterday, in the death of Lord George Ben tinek. It is true that his Lordship occupied no office or post of responsibility. His departure does not impose on the So vereign the necessity of reconstructing the Government. For the moment, all things may proceed in their accustomed course. Lord George occupied no other position than that of a simple Member of Parliament. But still, such was the rank and position to which his own powers had raised him, that we have no doubt that both Lord John Russell and Sir Robert Peel are sensible of a vast change in their own stand ing, circumstances, and prospects, the moment the announce ment reaches them, that " Lord George Bentinck has been found dead in Welbeck Park." There has, perhaps, scarcely been an instance, in any previous history, of a fame and position of power being wrought out for himself by any man, under circumstances resembling those of this eminent leader. Youths such as Pitt and Canning have been trained for the grand goal of supremacy—have been helped forward by all kinds of factitious devices; and, hav ing genius and energy, have won the prize which they and all their friends desired and expected them to win. But it is a very different thing for a man to remain in Parliament for twenty years, content with a seat on the back benches; neither imagining himself nor being imagined:by-any one else to possess more than ordinary powers ; and then, when called forth by an emeegency, to step into the front rank at the re quest of his friends, and there to find, and to show, instan taneously and without effort, talents which fill his opponents with fear, and his fellow-combatants with admiration. Ta lent, however, is not the object of our especial admiration, or we might be dragged at the chariot• wheels of a Sheil or a Macaulay. To hear a man eloquently proving " the worse to be the better reason" fills us with much more disgust than pleasure. From any man whom we would follow, we should require that he would ably maintain and defend sound principles. In one respect, as our readers will remember, we have questioned the correctness of Lord George Bentinck's views, and have declined his guidance. But in the general policy of the Conservative party we ever found him an ear nest, sincere, and most efficient combatant; and we have frequently assigned to him the meed of warmest praise for his most laborious and most successful efforts. It is the weakness of the Conservative party, and the strength of the Radical—that while the representatives of the latter are ge nerally chosen for their talents, the representatives of the former are too often chosen merely for their rank, or wealth, or virtue, or general estimation. Take 100 of the chief county Members of England, and compare them with 100 of the representatives of the large towns ; and while three-fourths of the wealth and of the worth will be found in the first class, three-fourths of the business-talent will be found in the second. Hence it was that the eminent, the remarkable talents of Lord George Bentinck, in dealing with matters of trade and finance, proved so singularly valuable to his party. Few of the countytMembers bad qualified themselves at all for taking a leading part in such discussions; and hence, until Lord George arose from among their ranks, they were palpably overmatched by the Bowrings and Villierses, the Brights and Cobdens. But in another respect Lord George claimed a still higher praise, in thatihe set a still more useful example. So soon as he found that he was required to la bour, he became a truly laborious Member of Parliament. This, to the Conservative party, was both a vast advantage and a noble model. Too many of the country gentlemen of England "do their counties' the honour of representing them." Rio many plainly declare that rather than toil for the public welfare, they would set off for Naples or for Rome, and the county—and the country also—might go to perdi tion ! But Lord George Bentinck, so soon as he found that labour was required, and required of him, hastened to give it ; and most m st emorys success fullyiandg. i ve Theit he h i d g i h d e , s t most d unremittingly , truest tri bute d o found in the fact—a fact which none will in their hearts deny—that his death is an event which may change the destinies of the empire. We see not what may be the re sult. Doubtless the retainers of Sir Robert Peel will exult • ingly cry, " Now that you Protectionists have lost your osty man of * business, you must come back to us." But we are not yet reduced to that state of desperation. Many there are in the Conservative ranks who possess talents, if they could but see it their duty to devote those talents, as Lord George devoted his, to their country's service. Let such pause and ask themselves, whether this event is not to them a thrilling call. When was England more in want than now, of a man fitted to lead her Senate in high and honour able courses ? And will any one tell us that no such man exists ? (From the Post.) There is but too good reason to believe that Lord George Bentinck is no more. Such details as have reached us will be found elsewhere : they are vague and general, but we fear, nevertheless, that they leave no reasonable doubt of the melancholy event. Feelings, to which we could not hope to give adequate expression, crowd upon us while we announce the lamentable death of this distinguished man. Cut off, by an inscrutable dispensation of Divine Providence, when his labours had begun to achieve their proper appreciation by the public mind, when there scarcely remained a doubt that he was destined to be the founder of a new, an honest, and an uncompromising system of domestic and commercial policy —it is impossible at this moment to calculate the irreparable loss which' the demise of Lord George Bentinck will occasion, to the country. To his afflicted family, or to those who en joyed the honour and happiness of his personal friendship, it' would be impertinent to dwell on the bereavement they have sustained. As a man irreproachable in private life, he must be deeply regretted by all who knew his virtues ; as one in whom were recognised the ability and courage that placed him in the front rank of the protectors of British in dustry and the promoters of British interests, the privation affects the empire at large. It was of a great man that the great orator of his day affirmed—" Nihil erat in ejus of a tionibus nisi sincerum, nihil nisi siccuneatque sobrizan." The praise which Cicero awarded to Cotta is pre-eminently the due of Lord G. Bentinck. He was, of all public men of his age, without doubt, the most practical statesman. He never sacrificed a friend to a trope, a cause to a meta phor, nor a principle to the hope of office. He under stood by politics the art of making a nation great, a people happy. He was a politician only because he was a patriot, and earned by his honesty the respect of those whom even he failed to convince by his reasoning. Indeed, he could count his warmest admirers in the camp of his op ponents. His single-heartedness, his self-devotion, his firn dis interestedness,e won him what was better than troops of 9, the approval of the suffering millions whose interests he pleaded—alas I—in vain. In his nature no mean nor resentful the high passion had a place. He was willing to relinquish position he had acquired in the H ouse o f C ommons , when he apprehended that, by maintaining it, he should im conflict. peril g r e e t at w cause that had summ on ed him f or th t o th e led. Ilis ambition ha d to serve in the ra nks he h a d so o ft en no taint of meanness nor self- see ki ng about it. It was that that of ambition which a noble intel• lect might entertain p, the thad detected the hollowness of modern statesmanshi p , insincerity et of its professions, and the blindness of its anticipations. and despairin g, the Broken, scattered, dis heartened,ty found its salva tion in the daring courage, the e ( l ..7 it i t ) ,e a c r l sentiments, the un flinching heroism, of Lord George Bentinck. Ile save their flag once more to the winds. He once more proclaimed the truth that essentially they were the popular party, because their political action had for its object the popular good ; and he gathered them once more together to resist once more that sweeping tide of capitalism and money-loving which threatens our country with the horrors of a plutocracy. Lord George Bentinck's name will not be forgotten when the reaction visibly approaching becomes reality—when the working classes come to mark by whom it was their cause was first forcibly advocated, and the shabby pretences of their mock friends distinctly exposed. He leaves behind him a reputation which Ministers might envy—which the smiles and frowns of Courts could neither give nor take away. His name will be revered when the bustling actors who now tread the boards of political life are forgotten, and England, adopting a happier policy than that to which she has at present pledged her troth, shall re cognise the patriotic virtues which inspired the eloquence, sustained the exertions, and elevated the character of Lord George Bentinck. Let this be the consolation of his mourn ing friends— " To live in hearts we leave behind, Is not to die." (From the Advertiser.) We have this day to record, which we do with much regret, the death of Lord George Bentinck. The melancholy event took place at Thoresby Park, in the county of Nottingham, on Thursday afternoon. The Noble Lord's death was sudden. He had been in perfect health an hour or two be• fore it took place. The cause is understood to have been a fit of apoplexy. The particulars, so far as they have transpired, will be found in another part of our impres sion. The death of Lord George, in the very prime of life, and at a time when he filled so large a space in the pub lic eye, will produce emotions of deep regret in all parts of the country ; for though wanting in that sugacity, that judg ment, and that tact which are necessary elements in the character of a statesman, he was a man of very considerable abilities, and possessed that fine, frank, open manner, and ge nerosity of nature, which never fail in this country to inspire respect, no matter what the politics of the party may be. The Noble Lord was a Tory of the old school. He gloried in his attachment to Conservative principles, and was always ready to submit to any personal sacrifice which his adher ence to his views might call on him to make. He was an honest politician, which is more than can be predicated of the great majority of our present representatives. Those who considered the Noble Lord mistaken in his views, always accorded to him the credit of being perfectly honest. There was, too, a manliness about him, which rendered him a great favourite with his countrymen. He was in capable of a mean or unworthy action. Whatever he felt, he expressed ; whatever he thtught, he said. There was nothing of cunning in his nature; nothing of duplicity in his composition. You saw the man in every word he spoke. Language was with him the utterance of his real sentiments and feelings. Anything in the shape of dissimulation was foreign to Lord George Bentinck's nature. In truth, he was much too open, honest, and candid, ever to have suc ceeded as a politician. It was said that he aspired to the Premiership. %V c know not on what grounds the allegation rests; or whether there exist any grounds for it at all. One thing is clear—he never could have filled that office. Apart from the ultraism of his views as a Tory, he lacked the lead ing qualities necessary in the man who would aspire to so ex alted a situation. He knew nothing of Parliamentary tactics. The straightforwardness of his manner, and the openness of his bearing, would have proved fatal to his possession of the Premiership for many weeks, even bad circumstances raised him to that prominent position. We have spoken of the Noble Lord's devotion to extreme Con servatism. It is due to his memo r y t o say, that, though a party man, it was from no factious motives that he identified himself with those with whom he acted. Conservatism was with him synoymous with patriotism. He potently believed that protection to commerce and agriculture was indispen sable to the prosperity of the country. Free trade and com mercial ruin were, in his view, convertible terms. Lord Eldon saw the sun of England's glory set for ever, when Catholic emancipation became the law of England. Lord George Bentinck saw the ruin of England's agriculture and commerce in the free-trade measures of 1846. The memorable day which witnessed the adhibition of the royal signature to the Corn Bill of Sir R. Peel, was, in his view, the blackest in the annals of England's history. To this opinion he adhered with steadfast attachment till the last. There was a sturdy consistency in his views and in his conduct in the House of Commons, which extorted admirati, n from the very worst of his traducers. His political principles were, indeed, a part of his nature. The wan could not be severed from his sentiments. His heart was in his creed. Hid was no cold calculating faith. He embraced his views with fer vour, and was at all times ready to sacrifice for them ease, personal interests, and, greater still, the friends he most esteemed. One of the most remarkable characteristics of the Noble Lord's mind was the great facility with which he amassed, arranged, and stated the facts connected with the questions which he brought before the House. His apti tude for dealing with the statistics of a subject was ex traordinary. Perhaps, no speech ever delivered in the House of Commons excited greater or more general surprise, for the speaker's mastery of the statistical bearings of the question, than did the celebrated speech of Lord George Bentinck in favour of Government aid to Irish railways. What made this memorable display of his Lordship's intimate acquaintance with the question all the more remarkable was, that he was not before known to have turned his attention to it. The speech took the House and the country by surprise. Mr. Hudson and the other railway Members candidly con fessed, that on railway subjects, though they had made those subjects their special study for many years, the Noble Lord left them far behind. They were, indeed, no where. But it is unnecessary to dwell at greater length on the Parliamentary career of the Noble Lord. To the party with whom he so closely identified himself his loss will be irreparable. Apart from his talents, his posi tion in society as the son of a Noble Duke invested him with an importance which would not have attached to a man of even greater abilities, occupying a less elevated place in society. The extreme Conservatives can ill afford, in their present paucity of both numbers and talent, to lose the lead ing man amongst them. The only man of mark who now graces the ultra-Tory or Protectionist ranks is Mr. Disraeli. tint though a good speaker and brilliant debater, he wants that standing in society which is necessary to give a man weight in the House. Lord George's death will, in all pro bability, be followed by the breaking up of the extreme sec tion of the Conservatives. At any rate, we know of no one among them who is likely to keep them long together. BIOGRAPHY OF LORD GEORGE BEN TIN CK. (From the Times.) With feelings of deep regret, and doubtless, also, with no little surprise, the public will learn that the valuable life of one of the most prominent politicians of the present day has been prematurely brought to a close. In a second edition we published yesterday, we stated that a messenger had ar rived in Nottingham, at about half-past nine o'clock that morning , announcing the death of Lord George Bentinck, occasioned, as there was then every reason to believe, by apoplexy. It appears that his Lordship left Welbeck Abbey, the seat of his father, on foot, and unaccompanied, at three o'clock on Thursday afternoon, intending to proceed a dis tance of about six miles to Thoresby Park, the residence of Lord Manvers, where he had an engagement to dine. As Lord George had not arrived at the time he was expected inquiries were set oa foes', and he was found, at nine o'clock, on the footpath, suite dead. The de ceased, though commonly called Lord George Bentinck, bore nevertheless the baptismal appellations of Wil liam George Frederick Cavendish. He was born on the 17th of February, 1802, and was therefore at the period of this most lamentable event in the 47th year of his age. His Lordship was the fifth child, but the second surviving son, of the present and fourth Duke of Portland. It is probably known, if not to every reader, at least to a considerable number of those who will peruse this article, that the family of which the Duke of Portland is the head has not been very long settled in this country. A certain William Bentinck, of Overyssel, in Holland, was first page of honour, and subsequently confidential adviser to William Prince of Orange. Atter the accession of that Prince to the British throne, he was created a Peer of England, and his successor in the peerage became, in the year 1716, Duke of Portland. The third Duke was a well known politician in the reign of George 111., and though scarcely deserving to be called a statesman, filled the highest political offices, hav ing been Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland,and twice Prime Minis ter. His son, the present Duke, inherited the honours and estates of the family in the year 1809, having previously married the eldest d aug ht er an d co h e i r of Major-Gene ral Scott, of Kalcomie, and of this marriage the Noble v t h e o r y uyounger g e e h p il e d ; ti y o e n t as t h t i h s em already l t r h e e a r drl ly ; wi dm u e g ipan h ol t t steiyd a s Lord just deceased w as one amongst n i ne children. Al though consider de r was able a y p h e o e u o s n e o a t; y P o r eso r t 1 a o u r d e , e o L w o i r t d h i G o e t o h r e g e n a w rr a o s w n ol limits u o m s o s c a upon those who occupy a similar position in the great fami lies of our aristocracy. It did not therefore become neces sary for him to engage with muc h ar d our i n the pursuit of any laborious profession ; still it wa s th oug h t desirable that he should have some avocation, and w e th ere f ore find that he entered the army, and eventually attained the rank of major. But the war had reached its close when the deceased noble man was a boy of 13 years of age. The profound and well. cemented peace which has now lasted three-and-thirty years offered to him no prospect of profit or promotion in the pro fession of arms; and he loved strong excitement too much to endure the monotony of home service, while he valued the, enjoyments of elegant society too highly to endure a banish ment to the jungles of Hindostan ; so that, though he spent some years in the military service of the Crown, the circum stances of his early life presented many considerations to in duce him, while yet a young man, to seek for advancement in the civil departments of the State. The celebrated George Canning, who had married Miss Scott, the aunt of Lord George Bentinck, found in his Lord ship one of the best of his several private secretaries, for he bad all the adroitness, delicacy of manner, knowledge of human nature, method in business, shrewdness in negotia tion, and skill in epistolary correspondence, which such an office is generally supposed to require, while it presented to his Lordship one of the most favourable opportunities that could possibly arise for entering into a public career. Look ing at the course of his life for the last four or five years, it seems almost incomprehensible that he should have lacked the moral courage, or the persevering industry to sustain him through a brilliant political course. At that time, however, he failed, and it was not till he sickened of other occupations that he engaged with the requisite fervour and earnestness of purpose in the pursuits of statesmanship and ambition. Itdoes not appear that he was returned to Parliament dur ing the administration of his uncle, Mr. Canning; but in six months afterwards he succeeded his uncle Lord W illiam Bentinck as Member for Lynn Regis; and un til suddenly removed from this life, he continued in the representation of that—not very important—constituency, the period of his incumbency somewhat exceeding 20 years; yet, strange to say that he—one of the greatest celebrities of the present House of Commons —remained amongst its ob scurest Members during five-sixths of the time that he en joyed a seat in that assembly. Not that he went on from session to session in apathetic disregard of the prizes which political eminence offer to those who become candidates for that species of distinction. On the contrary, he made one or two attempts which were considered by superficial observers as grievous failures, but which, to better judges, seemed indications of the ability that in more recent years gave him the leadership of the Protectionist party. During the period to which we now refer, Lord George made no strenuous attempts to rally or to recover his lost ground ; on the contrary, he seemed irretrievably to sink under the consequence of his ill success; and though he re tained his place among the silent representatives of the na tion, he suspended his claim to assume a position amongst its orators and statesmen. But meantime where did he seek solace under his discomfiture? Certainly where the world would least expect to find such a man—on " the turf." To readers in general it would convey information of little in terest to recapitulate the wonderful horses that be possessed, the skill and science in the art of breeding and jockeyship, which made him celebrated amongst men whose talk is of the Derby, or the St. Leger, the Oaks, or the Cup. In a word, let it be said that he is understood to have bad almost all the qualifications which make a man eminent in the sporting world—unrivalled judgment in horseflesh, singular shrewdness in penetrating the arcana of a racing stable, matchless rapidity in calculating all imaginable chances, and indomitable determination to expose and punish as many as possible of the infamies which even yet continue to disgrace the good Old manly English sport of hone-racing. THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAT _EVENIN'G, SEPTEMBER 28, IRA But this episode in the life of Lord George I3entinck will be forgotten with the present generation, while hisdistin guished, though brief Parliamentary career, will remain inse parably connected with one of the most momentous legis lative enactments which modern history presents. It . , is understood that the Duke of Portland regarded the sporting pursuits of his son with considerable disapprobation, and hailed with proportionate delight the withdrawal of Lord and his return to the more elevated occupations George f rom of political n tr, f society. It can scarcely be forgotten that when Mr. Canning accepted office, Sir Robert Peel, the late Lord Eldon, the Duke of Wellington, and other eminent Tories of that day, were said to have persecuted him with a degree of rancour far outstripping the legitimate bounds of political hostility—at least that was the opinion of Lord George Bentinck, who said that "they had hounded to the death his illustrious relative." This offence he never forgave. He "bided his time," and soon after Sir Robert Peel last came into power, Lord George, though, like a sound Tory, he had not re fused to support the Wellington Ministry or the Peel Go vernment of 1834-5, still watched for and seized the earliest opportunity of wreaking vengeance for the real or supposed wrongs of Mr. Canning upon the head of the Right Honour able Member for Tamworth. Lord George Bentinck, it is true, might have been perfectly sincere and consistent in his opposition to the free-trade measures of Sir Robert Peel, but the ardour of his opposition evidently derived its in tensity from a long-cherished sense of the injuries inflicted upon Mr. Canning. At this time what are called the Pro. tectionist party was formed. One or two country gentlemen made feeble attempts to place themselves at its head ; a few efforts proved their inadequacy to the task. and it was soon discovered that Lord George Bentinck, notwithstanding his previous failures, and notwithstanding his infelicitous manner as a public speaker, was the only man in the House of Commons whose lead that party would follow. Personal enemies be had none, but his political oppo nents were mortified and astounded that such a man should per sultum become the bead of the Opposi tion. Few public events are more extraordinary, or will occasion more general surprise than the short period of time in which Lord George Bentinck built up his Parlia mentary character; and yet, with the public at large, his Lordship enjoyed even a higher reputation than that which he had acquired amongst the habitues of the House of Com mons; for the matter of his speeches was excellent, and his style (technically so called) not below par; on the contrary, it was remarkably perspicuous, occasionally forcible, and even picturesque; but he was no sentence-maker, nor is the least degree an actor, hence the effect of his speeches w as p ro d uc ed solely by those essential and intrinsic qualities which the reader, a thousand mies from London, could compare with those of rival and adverse statesmen with a cooler judgment and more perfect means of appreciation than men who, listening in the House of Commons to the more artistic dis• plays of professional orators; became so dazzled by light, and so heated by fire, that they rarely did full justice to the array of facts and reasoning which Lord George Bentinck was ac customed to bring to any discussion in which it suited his views to stand forth either as advocate or accuser; it may, therefore, be confidently asserted that many men less able, but more accomplished, have secured a greater House of Commons reputation than he; higher celebrity within the walls of Parliament, and lets influence out of doors. Possibly his independence with reference to the stricter bonds of party was not without its effect in giving him a high place in the publi c es ti ma ti on ; f or, w h atever may be thought with regard to the tendency of his doctrines, there seems to be no inclination in any quar t er t o di spu t e hi s general consistency and uprightness as a public man. He was never an uncompromising partisan, for he voted against the opinions of the higher Tories in su pp or ti ng th e measure called " Catholic Emancipation." hi s n ex t pi ece o f lib era li sm was to vote in favour of the principle of the Reform Act, though he opposed many of its d e t a il s . H e sup p or t e d th e Bill for removing the Jewish disabilities; and it must be fresh in the recollection of every reader that he recommended, the payment of the Roman Catholic clergy by the land owners of Ireland. Lord George, therefore, was so far from being an old-fashioned " thick-and-thin partisan," that he might be better described as a politician pecu liarly favourable to the maintenance of open questions. It is further a very 'remarkable feature in his character and career that a man of such Parliamentary eminence should not have belonged to any Government. He never had a seat in the Cabinet, and never held high office; his qualifications, therefore, as a practical statesman have not been fairly tested. Though he made some important propositions, of which the sixteen-million-loan to the Iri , h railways may be cited as an example; though he effected_ many amendments in measures proposed by his political op ponents, yet the greater part of his Parliamentary career was devoted to the exciting but barren toils of opposition. To descant now upon his fitness for the service of the Crown, or the probability that he possessed high admi nistrative .talents, or the fame that he might have ac quired as a financier, would be neither an easy nor a profitable task ; abandoning, therefore, that wide field of speculation, and grasping the real instead of pursuing the ideal, it may without hesitation be asserted that he was one of the most formidable Members of her Majesty's Oppo sition who at any time occupied a place at the Speaker's left hand. Many of his Hon. Friends displayed wit or learning. eloquence, subtlety, or magnanimity, as might best suit the nature of the occasion, or most readily accord with the tem per of the man ; but, come what might, Lord George Ben tinck almost always succeeded in giving a heavy blow to his opponents. Other Members might entertain the House, or interest the public of this land, or win for themselves even a European reputation, but it has often been said that no one within the same number of years made so many "damag ing speeches" as Lord George Bentinck, by which phrase it was meant that no one contributed more than he did to disturb, injure, and weaken the Ministry whose evil fate ex posed them to his merciless hostility. What he might have been in power no man can tell—what he has been in opposi tion is best seen in the fact that scarcely any series of Par• liamentary labours ever obtained for a Member of either House so much influence in so short a time. As regards the proximate cause of his death some difference of opinion seems to prevail. The belief that he died of apoplexy was yesterday very general, but she accounts received heat night impute this most unexpected, and painful event to disease of the heart. Both maladies are well know to produce sudden death. Of course an inquest will be held, and the cause, if possible, ascertained, of a loss which will be long and severely felt, not only by his immediate relations, not only by a large circle of personal friends, but by a considerable body of political adherents. Lord George Eentinck was not married. DEATH OF THE EARL OF RATHDOWNE.—Accounts received from Ireland announce the death of this nobleman on Wednesday evening, at his seat, Charleville, county Wicklow. The deceased, Henry Stanley Monck, Earl of Rathdowne, Viscount Monck, and Baron Monck, of Bally trammon, county of Wexford, in the peerage of Ireland, was born July 26th, 1785, and married, July 28th, 1806, Lady Frances Le Poer Trench, fifth daughter of William, first Earl of Clancarty, by whom he leaves thirteen children, eight of whom, all daughters, survive. In the absence of any male heir, the earldom becomes extinct and the viscountcy is suc ceeded to by Charles Stanley Monck, Esq., who married his cousin. Lady Elizabeth Louise Mary, daughter of the de ceased. The late Earl was a resident landlord, and a sup porter of the Conservative party in his native county. DEATH or CAPTAIN POLMILL.—This gentleman (the announcement of whose death appeared in our obituary of yesterday), for many years a prominent member of the Lower House, expired on the 20th inst., at Ramsgate, aged 50. The name of the deceased will be familiar to the public as a member of the theatrical and literary world. He was for some time the lessee of Drury-lane Theatre, and has been the author of several publications of merit. The Captain was the grandson of the celebrated Southwark tobacconist, and the tecond son of the late John Polhill, of Hornbury Park, Bedfordshire. He married, in 1824, Frances Marga retta, daughter of the late John Deakin, Esq., of Baythorpe House, Nottinghamshire. On the demise of his elder brother he inherited the family property. In early life the deceased entered the army, but retired some years since with the rank of Captain. When first returned for the borough of Bedford, in 1830, be professed himself a Conservative and a supporter of Protectionist principles. In :835 and in 1841 be came in on similar principles. In 1832 he was an unsuc cessful candidate. Latterly the deceased became an uncom promisingsupporter of Sir R o b ert P eel, and voted for the repealofthe corn-laws, and other measures of that Minister. At the last election for the borough he was left in a minority on the poll. DEFENCE OF ACCCSED.—Though the recent Acts ofthe one pass e d 20th A ugus t, 1836, as to in criminal cases, b e i ng ent i t l e d t o co pi es o f d e p os itions taken.against them, a n d persons c h arge d, i n p ena l cases, before Justices in Petty Sessio ns h av i ng th e benefit of Pprairsloinameres,nt, Repeal, defence by counsel or attorney, are repealed ; yet this new law re-enacts (in nearly the same words) those privileges. THE MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE Or LORD CASTLEREAGIL—Edited by his Brother the 111arquis of Lon donderry.--We understand that this important work will be published by Mr. Colburn on the 30th of September. MILDRED VERNON.--A TALE Or PARISIAN LIFE. —This work is too remarkable a one not to be universally sought for. The moral tendency of the book, and that which more especially concerns the English reader, is, to show, by the details of a case no one will d en y t o b e a frequent one, that we are not a bit more moral than our neighbours, and that, in some points of morality, on the contrary, they surpass us. It tends, too, to prove that the frivolity, both of educa tion and habits in the English fashionable world, multiplies the dangers which surround an English family abroad. It is, in a word, the but too true history of the misery and ruin se freouently drawn down on a young Englishman abroad—espe cially in Paris —by his enthusiastic temperament, his ill-disci plined (so called)" good heart," and his decided want of taste, backed by the spoiled child-like determination always to attain what he desires, no matter at what cost I—Evening Paper. CARRIAGES AND HARNESS FOR THE SHERIFFS ELEcr.—lt is now three years since we had occasion to rangements generalslyin? no tice favourably the carriages built by Messrs. Laurie and producedMaraer, forfor tahneythen sheriffs, who have again this year bui lt them expressly for the sheriffs elect, Mr. Alderman Finnis and Jacob Goodhart, Escl• hoewye B ow y er colour e o ofm r,oanneybein gialgaar b e autifu l t c b a lsaioaen ' ff.e They certainly are two of he the most chaste and elegant carriages that have yet been It withn hast the h e beencolours City arms, pr r mao produced t d r zoned on thea nd the private arms beautifully embla panels. The body is suspended on a pearl white carriage,ai relieved with gold and vermillion, the e white with scarlet and gold fringe and green velvet centre, the inside fitted up with white satin relieved with rich brocade lace and the City arms embroidered on roof; the other carriage is fitted up in the same style, ex cepting colours_ - which are of a rich green body with a white under carriage relieved with green gold ornaments with the richlyC ty arm s, em atzhoened on the panels. The harness is also of an Grocers' Company, and the private arms elegant and novel description, being made entirely of patent leather sewn with white, with the arms and crests richly chased and emblazoned. SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY.—In pursuance of certain resolutions agreed to at a meeting of members held on Tuesday, the sth instant, a special general meeting of the members of the society was held last night at Exeter Hall, for the election of a conductor, and to consider and determine what further conditions should be adopted with reference to that office. The chair was taken by Mr. Harrison, the pre sident of the society. Five or six candidates were proposed, all of them men of standing and high professional eminence as mu sicians ; but, after considerable discussion, the contest lay entirely between Signor Costa and Mr. Perry, who has been for about sixteen years the leader in the society. Upon the votes being taken, there appeared for the appointment of Signor Costa 97, and for Mr. Perry 28, being a majority of 69 in favour of Signor Costa. This appointment may be hailed as a great accession of strength to the society, espe cially when Signor Costa's connexion with the Philharmonic is taken into account; and it may also be regarded as a fur ther evidence of the anxiety of the members of the society to increase its effectiveness and to sustain its well-earned po pularity. THE OVERLAND MAlL.—Yesterday, notice was issued at the General Post-office, St. Martin's-le-Grand, that the mail for Chi na , I ndia, Egypt, and the Medit erranean, rid Marseilles, would not be dispatched till Monday evening, the 25th inst. ROYAL P ATRONAGE.—The Queen has been gra ciously pleased, by special appointment, to confer on Messrs. Begg and Buyers, distillers, Loch-na-Gar, the honour of diatillors to hor &Nulty. THE NEW NOVELIST. Now ready, at all the Libraries, THE DISCIPLINE of LIFE, In Three 'Volumes. " Since. Miss Austen ceased to mite, and Mrs. Marsh began, we have had no other story-telling of its class that we would place upon a level with this, for freshness, straightforwardness, and truth of tone and feeling."—Examiner. Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough -street. With Six Portraits and a Map, price 7s. 6d. bound, STO It Y of the PENINSULAR WAR, IN A SINGLE VOLT MME. UNIFORM WITH THE STORY OF WATERLOO. " Every page of this work is fraught with undying interest:' " We needed such a hook as this—one that could give to the rising generation of soldiers a clear notion of the events which led to the ex pulsion of the French from the Peninsula."—United Service Gazette. Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street. 'II I HE EDINBURGH REVIEW', 1 No. CLXXVIII will be published on Saturday next, the Stith Instant. CONTENTS. 1. Mill's Principles of Political Economy. 2. Walpole's Letters to the Countess of Ossory. 3. Revolution and Reform. 4. Fortune's China. Gardening. S. Ethnology; or, the Science of Races. 6 Hervey's Memoirs of the Reign of George IL 7. State of Europe. London : Longman and Co. Edinburgh : A. and C. Mack. THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET. Ucder the direction of Madame Celeste. THIS EVENING AIR be performed, THE WRECK ASHORE. Miles Bertram, Mr. ~oyce ; Orampus, Mr. 0. Smith ; Marmaduko Magog, Mr, Wright ; Alice. Mrs. Yates ; Bella, Miss Woolgar. To be followed by the celebrated Comedy of PAUL PRY. Frank Hardy. Mr. Stoker; Witherton, Mr. Cullenford ; Somers, Mr. Wor rell ; Colonel Hardy, Mr. Lambert ; Mr. Stanley, Mr. Thomas; Barry Stanley ' Mr. Boyce ; Paul Pry, Mr. Wright ; Grasp, Mr. 0. Smith ; Eliza, Miss M. Taylor ; Marian, Miss Emma Harding ; Mrs. Subtle, Mrs Yates ; Phcebe, Mls, Woolgar. To conclude with the Farce of SHOCKING EVENTS. In which Mr. T.arnbert, Mr. Worrell, Mr. Munyard, Miss Harding, aid Miss ,;hsplltt will perform. ROYAL SURREY THEATRE. Under the direction of Mr. Kerschner. Mr. KERSCHNER has the honour most respectfully to acquaint the Patrons of this. Theatre that his BENEFIT will take place on MONDAY next, September 25, on which occasion a variety of the most attractive Entertainments will be performed, supported by all the available talent of the day. Private Holes, Tickets, and Places may be secured at the Theatre, and at all the West-end Libraries. Manager and Treasurer, Mr. B. S. Falrbrother. ASTLEY'S ROYAL AMPHITHEATRE. Proprietor, Mr. W. Batty. Last Week but Two of the Season, arrangements having been made for the appearance of the Equestrian portion of the Establishment at Edinburgh. Triumphant success of the Popular Equestrian Spectacle of Mazeppa, which has been nightly received with enthusiasm. Brilliant career of Lady Godiva. Unparalleled Equestrian Feats. THIS EVENING, Will be performed Lord Byron's Hippodramatie Spectacle of lIAZEPPA ; or, The Wild Horse. To be followed by the Inimitable EQUESTRIAN and GYMNAS• Ile EXERCISES in the ARENA. To conclude with a Grand Pageant, entitled LADY GODIYA AND PEEPING TOM OF COVENTRY; or, Clearing the Toll. Box-office open from Eleven till Five. Stage Manager, Mr. W. West. ROYAL SURREY ZOOLOGICAL GARDENS. LAST FIVE NIGHTS OF THE SEASON. Attraction unprecedented. Continuation of MISS SARA FLOWER and MISS TOWNSEND. Re-engagement of MR. HENRY PHILLIPS. First Appearance of Mr. A. SEDGWICK. The DAYLIGHT VIEW of ROME, by Damon. Superb and Unique MENAGERIE. Grand Display of FIREWORKS, by the Messrs. Southby. No Extra Charge. MONDAY, TUESDAY, WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, and FRIDAY. View of Rome —Promenade Concerts, Vocal and Instrumental, conducted by Mr. GODFREY. The splendid Band of SololPerformers inch lee Messrs. H. Collins. Cloffl, George and Viotti Collins, Richard son, &c.—Two Solos will be performed each Evening by Artists of Eminence.—Several favourite Songs and a Duet by Miss Sara Flower and Miss Townsend—Two favourite Songs by Mr Henry Phillips, for this week only —The Programme will contain a choice selection of popular Quadrilles and Waltzes,—Also to be seen, during the day, the beautiful Menagerie—Shakspere's House—The Magic Bridge— and other novelties will be exhibited, the whole concluding with a most magnificent and not to be rivalled display of Fireworks, which elicited such rapturous approbation on the occasion of M. Jullien's genellt, by the Messrs. Southby Oates open at Ten ♦.m., Feeding Time Half-past Four—Concert at Half-past Five—Fireworks at Half-past Eight. Admission. as usual, One Shilling. TO CORRESPONDENTS. go communication can be attended to unless authenti cated by the name and address of the writer. ticjected communications cannot be returned. THE WEATHER.—SUN OFFICE, SEPTEMBER 23. THERMOMETER, Lowest, 55; Highest, 72; Noon, 63, BAROMETER, 29.73. WIND W.S.W., thick hazy weather, with rain. HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE THIS DAY. Morning .. 41 min. after 10 1 Eyening .. 19 min. after 11 V . A., • air e. A7r."4 'L i , i .. 4 • • .4- '"*4 i.C*74„4 , l l■ ;:t\A • ...4-4eik, •- 0 ma? , *N_4' • "4" ftt LONDON, SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, Is4s. The Special Commission was opened at Clonmel on Thursday, and true bills were that day found against Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN, Mr. T. B. M‘MANus, and the three men named ORCHARD, TIGHE, and MIDONNELL, for high treason—the gravest and most weighty offence recognised by law. The five priso ners were forthwith arraigned, in order that the provisions of the law might be complied with, which enables parties charged with that crime to demand copies of the indictment, which must be delivered to them five clear days at least, exclusive of the day of service, and of any inter vening Sunday, before they can be called upon to plead thereto. The prisoners all availed themselves of that privilege (which only exists in cases of high treason), and accordingly the copies were handed to them, so that the first of the trials, which it is gene rally believed will be that of Mr. SMITH O'BRIEN, cannot take place before Thursday next. Another privilege of no ordinary character also exists exclusively in cases of this description. The prisoners are entitled, if they demand it, each to have two counsel assigned for their defence against the charge. Mr. O'BRIEN alone nominated the Learned Gentlemen to whose skill and talent he is willing to entrust the case, the result of which is of such fearful importance to him self ; the others will of course also select their counsel during the interval allowed before they can be called upon to answer before a jury of their countrymen, for their recent acts. Charges of this description are happily so rare in this country, that much interest will naturally be felt in everything relating to these proceedings. The indictment is founded upon one of the oldest enactments in the statute. book, an Act passed in the reign of King EDWARD the THIRD, which relates to the two classes of high treason charged against the prisoners " for levying and making war against our SOVEREIGN," to which the first five counts of the in dictment are applicable, and for compassing and imagining the death of the QUEEN, to which the sixth and most general count relates, the several acts charged in the first five counts being laid as overt acts, to sustain the principal treason of " corn passing and imagining the death of her MAJESTY." The former charge is plain and intelligible enough ; the questions for the jury will be whether the pri soners were either actually engaged in, or present aiding and abetting in acts which in law amount to the "levying of war" directly or constructively. Actual fighting is not necessary for this purpose, tor it has been held (VauGLlMea case, 5, State Trials, 17; 2, SALKELD, 634) that " enlisting and marching are sufficient to maintain the charge with out coming to actual battle." The incidents essential to such a " levying of war" wer e d ec id e d i n the case of the Monmouth Chartists (reported in 9 CARRINGTON and PAYNE, 129) to be, " that there must be an insurrection, that there must be force accompanying that insurrection, and that the object for which the rising took place must be of a general nature." A direct levying of war is when the QUEEN herself, her person, or dignity are immediately con cerned ; such as, for instance, if the object be to depose her from her sovereign dignity over the whole or any part of her dominions, to impri son or in any manner restrain her person, to compel her to dismiss her Ministers, capturing or taking any of her MAJESTY'S castles, forts, &c., or the like; while constructive levying of war is maintained if the object be to effect any innovations of a public or general nature by an armed force. Thus, the at tempt to obtain the repeal of a particular statute, or the redress of any public grievance, real or ima ginary, by force of arms, is a constructive levying of war. Thus, if the intent of the parties were to establish an Irish Republic, it would be a di rect levying of war, but if only to obtain the repeal of the legislative union, an improved law of landlord and tenant, or even employment by the State for the labouring population, it would only be constructive. The distinction is of some importance, for in a " direct levying" all persons assembled and marching with the rebels fire guilty of treason, al though they might not actually be aware of the pur pose of the assembly, or in any manner aid or assist in committing acts of violence, unless they are cum polled.by force to j ,in tha insurgent band ; but if it is only " constructive," none but those guilty of the actual violence which constitutes the overt act, or aiding and abetting therein, can be convicted of treason, the others of their party are merely rioters, and can only be punished as such. The other class, however, alluded to in the fifth general count, of " compassing and imagining the death of the SOVEREIGN," is one of those legal fictions which are still unfortunately suffered to exist. A very elaborate explanation thereof was given by the Lord Chief Justice in his able and lucid charge to the grand jury. It is not at all necessary that the parties should contemplate any personal injury to the SOVEREIGN to make them guilty of " compassing and imagining the death of the SOVE REIGN." Anything in which the QUEEN'S person or dignity is concerned, or that amounts to a " direct," or even a conspiracy for a " direct" levying of war, will support the charge—and the jury are not permitted to judge of the intention of the party, they are only to decide whether he has been guilt of the " overt acts," or any one of them ; and it is for the Court to say, as matter of law, " whether that overt act, which the jury by their verdict declare to be proved, is a sufficient overt act to maintain the principal treason laid in the indictment." This will, we trust, be altered, and the jury consti tuted, as in matters of libel, judges of the law as well of the fact, of the " intention" of the parties, which constitutes the gist of the offences. The acts referred to in the various counts are those which took place when the insurgents at tacked the police under Inspector TRANT at Boulagh Common, when they demanded the arms from the small police force at Mullinahone, and where they erected the barrier against the passage of the troops at Killenaule. These acts are put in various manners in the different counts, so as to meet any objections that may be raised to the form of the indict ments. We rejoice to find that, thanks to the exertions of the excellent Society for the Promotion of Coloni zation, the subject of emigration to our Australian colonies is beginning to attract the attention that it merits, and that encouraged by the unexampled success which has attended its exertions, the society is esta blishing branches in the principal seaport towns of the kingdom. A most interesting meeting was held at Southampton on Thursday, which was attended by the Ilon. FRANCIS SCOTT, Mr. MARI BOYD, Mr. LENNOX BOYD, Mr. ARTUUR MILLS, and Mr. C. D. LoGest, as a deputation from the parent society at which it was determined to form a branch society for Southampton and its neighbourhood. The progress of this society, albeit at first the authorities at the Colonial-office attempted to pooh ! pooh ! it down, has been as remarkable as it is gratifying. It was thus described by Mr. MARK BOYD at the South ampton meeting— " The progress of the society had, however, shown that mighty results might proceed from insignificant be ginnings. He had heard it said of a late Ilon. Member tOr Middlesex, Mr. Byng, the father of the House of Cemmuns in his day, that at one time his party, which in a very short time after came into power, might be driven home in two hackney coaches.—(A laugh.) Well, at no very remote period, two hackney coaches would have taken home all the members of the Colonization Society. But small as were the numbers of the society, the information they had been at the trouble of laying before the public had produced in finite advantages. He recollected sitting with Mr. Elliott, the Chief Commissioner of the Emigration Board, in October or November last, w hen that gentleman said—' I am convinced I shall be found fault with in the colony for the sort of people I have sent out in the Hydrabad and the Sobraon; but I had no choice, for the number of applicants is so small.' Three months ago he was told at the Emigration-office that they had then 300 applications a day to reply to, and it was pro bable that at that moment the Colonization Scciety had three times that number per diem.—(Loud cheers.) Till this society exerted itself the country was completely in the dark as to the manner in which the colonies were suffering for want of that labour of which we had here such a redundancy. He had been asked what was the reaLon the wool of Australia now came to the market in such a bad state? The answer was obvious—want of hands. He trusted, however, by means of this society a supply of labour would be sent out by which the fine hand washed wools of Australia might again be brought to this market. The colonies opened a field for the mploy went of agricultural, mineral, pastoral, and com mercial labour, to an illimitable extent. Sir Thomas Mitchell, the Surveyor• General of Australia, said, on his recent visit to this country—' Give me labourers, and what could not be done in Australia? I will give her roads, bridges, docks, sink wells, and form water courses;' and a nobler and more prosperous colony would not be in existence had she but labour to develop her resources.—(Cheers.)" While the development of the resources of Aus tralia is checked for want of hands—while, as was justly observed by the lion. FRANCIS SCOTT, if in that colony " 501. a year, with food, raiment, and lodging, were offered, servants could not be had, and g that solely because there were none t o be f o und,'' what is the state of the population of this country ? It is increasing at the rate of 1,000 per day, and this increase of population is combined with a diminution of food and a diminution of employ ment, producing poverty and its invariable crime ; for " the poor man without being more devoid of moral feeling than those who are better off, is driven to crimes he would otherwise shrink from by the stern behests of poverty and starvation," an observation by which the Hon. FRANCIS SCOTT in troduces the following appalling statistics of the poverty and crime of this country : " The Penitentiary at Parkhurst cost 14,349/. a year; and Pentonville 18,000/. The cost of prosecutions was 348,000/. a year ; that of county gaols, 147,145/. ; the county houses of correction, 160,8411. ; the rural police, 180,000/, ; the metropolitan police, 363,1641. ; giving on these few items a total of 1,231,000/. a year expended upon crime and the maintenance of felons. But the most expensive article in England was not crime ; there was another more expensive, namely, poverty. The poor-rates amounted to 6,000,000 k a year. The number of paupers in the workhouses and receiving parochial relief was one -tenth of the whole population of England ; in Ireland it was one third ; and in Scotland it was daily increasing. Another evil of overwhelming importance was the rapid increase of vagrancy. By a Par liamentary return it appeared that in the districts south of the Thames, in the year ending September 30, 1846, the number of vagrants relieved was 18,533, but in 1847 it had risen to 44,937; being an increase of 26,404, or 60 per cent. on the preceding year. The nightly average of paupers in 600 unions in December, 1845, was 1,791; in 1846, it was 2,224; in 1847, 4,500; and in March, 1848, it was 16,086. Taking three very diffet cut dis tricts, similar results would be presented. In the Mi chaelmas quarter in 1845 the annual poor relieved at Windsor was 1,700; and in 1848, 5,868. At Devizes, in 1847, the number was 1,394; and in 1848, 2,892; and in the North Riding, in 1836, there was but one; but in 1846, 216; and in 1847, 1,161. The applicants for re lit f at the Mendieity Society in 1836, per month, was 27; in 1847, it was 15,678; and in 1848,22,296." _ _ Well might he add, "No argument, no eloquence, can depict more strongly the state of the country than these statistics." What is the remedy for this gigantic evil ? How are these victims of poverty to be rescued from their present disastrous con dition save by a well-regulated system ionp:rsili:,hwti of colonization ? Home colonization, the re clamation of the waste lands of England,tt has been put forward as a reme . d l y or, as it is one utterly inadequate to meet the was justly observed by Mr. STEDBING at tfhnreeSstouinthto ampton meeting—" If they turne l i tiv e n v t e e ry d, they would tillage, and had every common cultivated, of 1,000 every still have an increasing p hdelereinarle Australia day, and this in a country 300 inhabitants to the square n Emigration, therefore, is the there are twelve square t i r l e e m s t e o dy e , ve a r h y d i h n y habitant.' properthe colony,princ principles st the emigra tion we mean not a mere shovelling out of paupers, but l emigration conducted c th o n n t du th c e tedu i3on emigrant, co mother country shall be e q uall y benefited by the chlaonnigee; So to conduct emigration to our Aust ra li an is the arduous task which the members of this society have undertaken to accomplish, and in which there can be no doubt they will succeed. They have forced upon the Colonial office a modification of their rules, and have obtained at length the co-operation and support of the Government ; they have also succeeded in dispelling many of the pre judices which have heretofore existed in the minds of the working classes on the subject of emigration. " On a recent occasion," said Mr. MARIE BoyD, " they had been opposed—with great ability he must say—by several working men ; and after the meeting he came in contact with one of the chief spokesmen, and said to him, ' Why should you oppose emigration ? Are not the work ing men here many of them in a state of starvation ?' ' Starvation!' said the man, 'I am starving; I have a wife, three children, and au aged mother to sue' port, and I can only get one day's work out of t he six I . The result of Lliat conversation was an appoin t ' ment, and that man and his family were goin g out in the next ship:' Emigration, to be useful, must not be, as we before observed, a mere shovelling out of paupers, but must be conducted with a view to colonization; and this society, as was well said by Mr. KINGSTON, is "n et only an emigration society, but a colonization society; they not only endeavoured to find the means to enable half•starved working men to leave this country, but to the utmost of their ability to protect them on their arrival, and, by the aid of persons well qualified to give such advice, to direct their energies, on landing, to the field of employment most likely to be conducive to their own welfare and advancement." The manner in which these objects are attained by the society was afterwards explained by Air' LOGAN " On board every emigration ship provision was made for religious services every Sunday, and the surgeon was required to look after the moral and religious iniprov!i ment of the passengers. lie had known many cases ir! which parties who, when they went on board coula neither read nor write, were proficients in both when they landed. When the ship arrived she was irerne; diately visited by a Government agent, who instructed the people how they might best dispose.of themselvegi with reference to their former h a bit s and trades, a nd every agreement for the protection of the emigrant wa s required to be made in a prescribed form, and a copy was filed by the Government officer. Fourteen day' were allowed the emigrants to remain on board the shirt until they were settled; but he never knew a case is which ten days elapsed without their all being engage' , Even in an economical point of view it would be well that boards of guardians should connect then' selves with this society, and fortn branch societies in their respective districts. Mr. SCOTT says— " The average cost per annum of the maintenance of a pauper in the workhouse was 71. 19s. 3d. Under the auspices of the Colonization Society, they could send out the pauper as an emigrant to Australia for 61., by srbi eb ! they would effect a saving of 11. 19s. 3d. on the first yea' of his absence, and all future charges on his account,' and make besides of the pauper a happy an d content'!" man, because no longer a dependant for the cost of big maintenance. This was a most significant fact, and o ne which ought everywhere to be circulated for the info!' mation and benefit of ratepayers." We call upon all those who wish well to the work' ing population, who desire to see England dee" - perized, and the vast resources of her colonial empir e developed—who wish to diminish crime by diminishing poverty, the parent of crime—who would fain see those who in this country are a burden upon the in' dustrious ratepayers, transformed at no distant period into valuable customers to our manufacture rs, to come forward at once in support of this society. To quote the words of Mr. MARI( Born—" W ith such a teeming population every hour of delay thrown in the way of a systematic and extensive emigration is a public calamity, and adds to the difficulties of the critical position in which the country is placed." THE FRENCH REPUBLI' We have received the Paris papers of yesterday Rumours of a modification in the Ministry w et° current in Paris during the whole of Thur sdn/ evening and yesterday morning. The Patty of Thursday evening had the following in reference t° these rumours : " The leading subject of conversation in the lobbies o f the National Assembly and the Salle des Conferen ce : to. day was a change of Ministry. The Club of Der ide , of the Valais National decided, in its sitting the previ° tl evening, that a committee chosen from among its mei n ' bers should wait on the head of the Executive Govern' meat to submit a new programme, which, among 01 " e., things, should propose the suppression of the duty °" salt, the creation of. mortgage paper, and the removal h a great number of prefects, sub-prefects, and other big! administrative functionaries. This new programno could not be carried into effect but by a new Minis tr y' . The deputation went this morning to the hotel of the President of the Council. M. Glas Bizoin spoke in the name of the meeting. General Cavaignac, it is sai d ' declared that a change in, the Cabinet, under existing circumstances, would be inopportune, but that the 10 0- went might come when the eminent talent which was to be found in the Assembly might be made useful." the same journal says— " We believe we are well founded in saying that two Ministerial combinations have been in agitation between the head of the Executive Government end several influ• ential members of the two principal clubs of Deputies. There was, in the first place, a question of forming a Ministry, to be composed as follows:—General de La moriciere and MM. Goudcbaux, Verninhac, and Thouret were to retain their respective posts, and the other port• folios were to be held by General Bedeau, Foreign Affairs; M. Dufaure, Justice; M. Vivien, Interior; and M. Leon de Malleville, Public Instruction, This combi nation failed for want of coming to an understanding CU the programme." In another paragraph the Patric says— " At the commencement of the sitting in the Assembly this evening, there was a talk of an arrangement be tween General Cavaignac and M. Ledru Rollin to fort: a new Ministry, taken exclusively from the Club of the Valais National and from that of the Absolute Pe ol ; cratic party. This combination h a s also failed, an d . 1 has been decided that the status quo shall be tained." It was expected that during the course of the sit' ing on Thursday some announcement with regard O. the Ministry would h ave b een ma d e by General CAVAIGNAC to the National Assembly, but the whole sitting was occupied with the debate on the 15th article of the Constitution, which treats of property ith reference to taxation, in the course of which M • SERVIERES made a severe attack upon the fina nc i al system of M. GOUDCHAUY, and the A s sembly be ea— , so excited that it was f oun d necessary to a djourn t",e debate until Monday. In the course of yebterd cr 87 sitting, howev er , ma tt ers were br o ught to a isis. Several questi ons were put to General CA.vAIGNIc by M. SANTEYEA on the subject of the rum ours which wer e i n c i rcu l at i on, and the Assem bl y f having he ar d th e answers given by the c hief of the Executive, M. LABOISSIERE proposed * resolution to the effect that General CAVAIGNAC and the Cabinet had never ceased to possess the confidence of the National Assembly, and after a lone and animated discussion this motion was carried by an immense majority. This sitting was rendered further remarkable by the first appearance of Count MOLE in the National Assembly, who took his seat as the representative of the department of the Gironde. N. DE VAUDON. a Legitimatist, has been returned for Orne, Colonel NEGRIEX fur Lille, AL G E NT for Vaucluse, and most probably M. LAISSAC for L'Herault. These papers state that an understanding has bee n come to between the English, French, and Austri° ° Italy for forty-five days, A us t r i a undertak i ng Governments for an ext ens i on o f t h e arm i s tice 10 not to occupy Venice during the continuance of the gr . mistice. According to the Constitutionnel, " it appears cer tain that the English aad French Governments ha y s interposed to put an en d to the hostilities betwee n t' King of _NAPLES and the Sicilians." In the same journal we find the following fr °lll Algeria, dated Sept. 17 : `• The movement excited among the Beni Zoug - Z° l3 l l has be en put d own, w i thout a s h ot b e i ng fired, by arrival of the column of General Carron. All the tr'', immediately obeyed the injunctions of the general to '. semble round his camp to receive orders. The rin.g„ leader in the disturbance surrende re d hi ms elf u a prisoner, and is confined at Alilianah; the tribe has paid a considerable fine in ready nniv, arms ',' and horses. It was found necessary in thi s ki l ", - h s t a nce to act with severity a ga i nst the tribe, Which a fter having compromised it se lf b y i ts turbulent calcitic has always managed to escape punishment. The n e b ° Menad, another tribe of the subdivision of ; which had made som e res i stance to the nt 0 ' - fine imposed upon th em as a punishment for ymsernurder committed in its t err i tory, and the authors of which had e not been discovered, has also come to terms, bs vit3 ; been intimidat e d b y t h e example made of the Beth 10 '; Zoug. The couriers not having arrived, we can 5 , nothing as t o t h e state of the provinces of Conbtan',Al and Oran, b u t on t h e side of the frontier of Iforec`'" everything is tranquil." The Committee of the National Assembly has r e n i ported i n f avour of transporting the insurgents - June to Algeria. General CHARON, the newly appointed Govern° of that colony, has arrived at Marseilles en route for Algiers. BOURSE—PARIS, FRIDAY, SEPT. 22. THREE o'CLocx.—The panic o f y ester d ay h as a b a te d ' and to day th e f un d s h are recovered the lull amountn d the fall. The uneasiness felt by the public as to tranquillity of Paris, though not quite at an end, 0 certainly diminished, in consequence of the quiet with which last night has passed. The confirmatioo the rumour of the extension of the Italian armistice bg also created confidence. The rise of fifteen millions the cash at the account of the Treasury with the 131 ' of France, had a l so t h e e ff ect of steadying the roal,,lll'et, , 0 For the Accou n t, th e F renc h Three per Cebts. risen I f.; Five per Cents. I if.; Loan, which was not (1 1101: : yesterday, is at 69f. 25 c . F or M oney, the Three per CeD . ; have risen if., and the Fiv e p er C ents. t h e same areGO The Loan has also risen If.; Bons du Tresor 0 7. quoted; Bank of France Shares have risen 15f.• 139 giau Bank Shares are quo t e d at 640; Fire per :Cepa': are the same as y es t er d a y ; S pan i sh Funds not (rioted Roman have risen 11 per cent. ; Rothschild's Receip ts have risen jper cent. E xc h ange on London (30 d a) si 25 27k; ditto (90 days), 25 17,1. Railway Shares for the Account, settling o f September 30:—Northerns ar e quoted 2f. 50c. higher, and Strasburg, at yestordaY prices. No other are quoted. For Money, Bordeag e l have risen 5f.; North erns , 2 f. sgc.; and Versailles 0'434 Now ready, in 2 vols. post Bvo., price 215., SECOND EDITION OF P A D DI A N A; Or, SCRAPS AND SKETCHES OF IRISH LIFE, PAST AND PRESENT. By the Author of The Hot Water Cure." "This book is a rarity. It overflows with humour. We do not question that it will have a run in Great Britain. The author is a man of true genius."—Quarterly Review. Richard Bentley, New Burlington•street, Publisher in Ordinary to her Majesty.