The Press.
London, England, 1855-07-07 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

with hosts of two hundred or three hundred thousand
English soldiers. Such a force can only be raised
by conscription. The inducements to voluntary en •
listment may be increased, and might increase the
number of recruits, but when the problem to be
solved is suddenly and immediately to increase the
British army by two hundred thousand men there is
no other means than a conscription. Yours,
obediently, J. A. G.

HYDE-PARK DISTURBANCES.
TO THE EDITOR OF " THE PRESS."

Sir,—ln my opinion, too much importance is
attached to the disturbances in Hyde-park of last
Sunday. I was on the skirts of the crowd, and saw
some of the prisoners carried away ; and it appeared
to me that it was simply a few foolish boys] who had
come to form part of the intended mob, some pick-
pockets to take advantage of it, and some women
and children to look at it. The boys threw some
stones at the constables, and the pickpockets drove
their trade. Upon this, the police endeavoured to
take them into custody; they ran away, and some
of the women and children were knocked down
and trodden upon, by accident, I presume.
Many of my friends who were there agree
with me in the opinion that the constables
behaved with great moderation under consider-
able provocation, although I confess that others
hold a different idea. But this must arise, I think,
from the circumstance that the latter did not witness
the conduct of the mob, which provoked the action
of the police. It struck me that the most appro-
priate punishment for the majority of those I saw in
custody would have been a sound whipping.
I remain, your obedient servant,
June Bth, 1855. M.

(••• Mr. Toulmin Smith's letter is unavoidably
deterred, but shall appear next week.)

GRAND DEJEUNER AT THE MANSION-
HOUSE.

ON the 29th ult. the Mansion-house was the scene of
an interesting ceremonial, on the occasion of pre-
senting a marble bust to the Rev. Dr. Croly, Rector
of the united parishes of St. Stephen, Walbrook, and
St. Benet, the gift of his parishioners, congregation,
and friends. The Lord Mayor, though the Mansion-
house is not in the parish of St. Stephen's, with
great courtesy, proposed that it should be presented
by himself, and issued cards for a dijeuner on the
occasion.

The bust, a masterpiece of the sculptor, Mr.
Behnes, was placed on a pedestal in the long room,
where the company assembled. The Lord Mayor
addressed the guests to the following effect :

They were met to witness the presentation of that bust
to an honoured clergyman and friend, the Rev. Dr. Croly,
who, for a period of twenty years, had usefully and actively
discharged the duties, and sustained the character of the
Church, in the parish of St. Stephen. It must be unne-
cessary to add any testimony on that day to the general
sense of the manner in which those duties had been dis-
charged; the attendance with which the Mansion•house
had been honoured on that day, the feeling of the parishes,
and, he might add, the feeling of the public, were sufficient
evidence. The Rev. Doctor was an Irishman. He (the
Lord Mayor) gloried in the recollection of the eminent
men, the statesmen, soldiers, and orators, which that
country had produced, and who had been the benefactors
of the British empire and of human nature, by the talents
with which God had blessed them. (Applause.) He
must also refer with due praise to Dr. Croly's valuable ser-
vices as editor of the'' Illustrations of the Holy Land," the
work of that admirable artist Mr. Roberts, who had some
years ago visited the soil of Palestine, made sacred to all
hearts by the recollections of our religion. ( Hear, hear.)
Having borne this testimony, after a friendship of many
years, to the personal talents and pastoral services of Dr.
Croly, he begged now to present to him the bust sponta-
neously subscribed by the respect, the esteem, and the
gratitude of his parishioners, congregation, and many
friends. (Applause).

Dr. Croly then replied to the Lord Mayor, in sub-
stance, nearly as follows :
My Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress, Ladies, and Gen-
tlemen,—l shall not venture to occupy your time with the
expression of feelings for which J hope you give me credit,
but which it is more difficult to express than to expe-
rience.

Of all men a clergyman is most open to public opinion.
In public life the errors of the individual may be screened
by partisanship. In private life they may be screened by
his privacy. But, the clergyman, whether in his public or
private capacity, lives constantly before the parochial eye.
I have now been for twenty years the incumbent of the
united parishes of St. Stephen's and St. Benet's ; you have
thus had sufficient opportunities of judging how far I have
done my duty, and the testimonial which you have done me
the honour to present this day is the amplest evidence of
your good opinion. ( Hear, hear.)
Yet those twenty years have not been without their
difficulties. Their course has, perhaps, been more dis-
turbed than in any other parish of the metropolis. We
have been involved in long and expensive litigation—l
allude, reluctantly, to those circumstances, and merely from
their allowing me to give my tribute to the manliness, de-
termination, and perseverance, which they exhibited
Among the parishioners, In the litigation I lII* a contsi►t

643

without bitterness, and a triumph without exultation'
After a succession of years, the rights of the parish were
restored, the property was placed in the fitting hands, and
our noble church, the cluld'auvre of the first architec-
tural name of England, was rendered, once more, worthy of
his name, and of the high purpose to which it was dedi-
cated. ( Hear, hear.)

Your lordship has, in obliging terms, referred to my part
in that distinguished performance—" Roberts's Sketches
of the Holy Land." I lay no claim to any share in its
popularity ; 1 attribute it wholly to the pencil of the
eminent artist, who there has brought before the British
eye scenes dear to every solemn and sacred recollection.
But historical, geographical, and scriptural illustrations
were essential to the volumes, and those necessarily involved
much time and considerable labour. The volumes are now
in the libraries of kings, of colleges, and of learned
societies. Their value, I understand, has largely increased ;
a new edition is even now preparing. It was a work
strictly ecclesiastical ; yet I am not aware that it ever
attracted the slightest notice from any of the higher order
of the Church ; but there can be no disappointment where
there is no expectation.

On such subjects I feel perfect indifference. I have
never received any ecclesiastical service from ecclesiastical
hands. My present benefice was given by lay hands, but
hands which would make any gift au honour, by two of the
first men of the age—Lord Lyndhurst, on the recommenda-
tion of Lord Brougham..

Your lordship has made some remarks on preferment. T
feel all the delicacy of the subject, and shall make no
further observation, than on its effect, as relating to the
two great branches of the Church. I never heard of any
Irishman rising to any dignity in the English Establish-
ment. I acknowledge the courtesies and civilities with
which we are received; but, between the two countries there
is obviously a great gulf, to be overpassed by no wing, at
least of the present age. lam no railer against the au-
pretnacy of this illustrious country. There lives no more
ardent admirer of England. I fully acknowledge her title
to Irish homage, by the right of wise laws, eminent
ability, and unwearied benevolence. I care not for the
calumnies of party, nor for the discontents of disap-
pointed men. But her ecclesiastical policy was of
another order. In the last century, no Irishman was
supposed capable of wearing even an Irish mitre. The
vacancies on the bench were regularly filled up with old
Fellows of the English universities. The experiment
satisfied nobody. It is true that the universities were
relieved, but Ireland was encumbered ; the Church mur-
mured, the men were miserable; they surrounded their
palaces with a circurovallation of connections, imported like
themselves; they knew nothing of the country, and died
enormously rich, and utterly forgotten. The consequence
was inevitable. Eloquence, almost the indigenous product
of Ireland, vanished from the Church, and its noblest spirits
perished in obscurity.
About fifty years ago a wiser policy was adopted. Irish-
men were appointed to Irish mitres ; and the result is, that
now Protestantism no longer stands with drooping eye and
dejected heart, idle, and shivering on the soil, but has
broken ground for the Reformation. In fifty piers more,
perhaps, another step will be made in advance ; but which
I have not the present rashness to define.
How different was the conduct of England, with respect
to the civil ability of Ireland. She has never hesitated to
borrow that most effective of all wealth, intellectual wealth,
from Ireland. She was only too glad to see within the
walls of her Legislature, in days scarcely preceding our
own, the Asiatic splendour and grandeur of Burke, that
oracle of political philosophy; the universal brilliancy of
Sheridan. the profound logic of Plituket, and the vehement
and half-inspired passion of Grattan. Even then her
intellectual treasury was not exhausted ; she had in reserve
the " electric light " of Curran, a light still flashing from
his tomb. She has still many a man," who wants only
the large opportunities of this great country," to expand to
the noblest proportions of mind. Nay, whom have we,
even at this moment, but a man of Ireland at the summit
of the State, summoned to meet the exigency of the
empire, and summoned by acclamation. Such a country
is not to be despised.
But, does not every heart under this roof tell me that
that this muster-roll of glory is incomplete without one
name more, the name which irradiated our age, and which
will send its lustre down to a far posterity ; the man, whose
magnitude of mind we can measure only by the misfortune
of his loos, the foremost soldier not only of his day, but of
his age, not only of his country, but of the globe. Oh, for
another Wellington! ( Hear, bear.)
And now, my Lord Mayor, 1 accept from your bands
this bust—an admirable performance of art, and which
must add even to the reputation of its artist, Mr. &lines.
I accept, also, the lithographic portrait, not less admirable
in its kind, the work of Mr. Baugniet, and desire to express
my beat thanks to you, and the Lady Mayoress, for this
reception of my parishioners, my friends, and myself ; an
act of which this occasion is, I believe, the first example,
even among the many acts of honour which the Mansion-
house has witnessed. I regard the act of this day as a
true, permanent, and substantial honour. In no other
form than in that bust would the generosity of my friends
have been accepted. I have, thank God, Agur's prayer.
But on these topics I cannot speak; those marble lips
speak for me, and more significantly than my own. That
bust will be, while I have the power of exertion, a stimulus
to duty ; and, while I have the power of feeling, a source of
gratitude. (Applause.)
The Vice-Chancellor Stuart, and several other
speakers, subsequently addressed the company. The
proceedings must have been highly gratifying to
Dr. Croly from the warm and generous testimony
borne to his genius as an author, to his gifts as an
eloquent preacher, to his services as aparochis
clergyman, and to his honourable and disinterested
conduct throughout the vexations litigation in which
the parish bad been involved.

644

Isittratart.

Lives of the Queens of England of the House of

Hanover. By Dr Doran. Two Vols.
London : Bentley.
THESE volumes contain the lives of the four
consorts of the four Georges. The monarchs
all married young, and were married but
once ; and it is somewhat singular that the
queens of the first George and of the last were
never permitted to share the coronation or
state of their husbands. There was some
resemblance, indeed, between the fate of the
ill starred Sophia Dorothea and of the yet
more ill-starred Caroline of Brunswick. The
former was not seventeen at her marriage, the
latter scarcely eighteen ; they had each to
complain of the indifference and infidelity of
their lords as soon as the nuptial knot had
been tied ; each was at an early period of her
married life charged with crimes fur which
there was no better foundation than some
youthful indiscretions resulting almost natu-
rally from the sense of desertion; and each
was destined to pass through a long state of
weary widowhood before the body succumbed
to the spirits' mortification and the springs of
life stood still. Sophia died at fifty eight,
Caroline at fifty-three. The end of the former
was, as her life had been, more quiet and
resigned than that of the latter. Sophia died in
perfect seclusion in the Castle of Ahlden, which
had been her refuge or her prison for thirty
years previous, while Caroline died in turbulent
Brandenburgh, and had her funeral signalised
by the greatest triumph the mere mob ever
achieved in England. But their deaths were
in other respects treated with about the same
contemptuous neglect. The only notice taken
by George I. of the death of his consort was a
notification in the Gazette that the Duchess of
Ahlden had died at her residence in April,
1724, and " his ire," Dr. Doran relates, " burst
" forth in an explosion of rage when he heard
" that his daughter, the Queen of Prussia, had
" gone into mourning for the death of her
" mother."
Between these luckless women came the
consorts of George 11. and George 111., whose
lives, on the whole, were marked by as large a
share of prosperity as crowned heads are
usually permitted to enjoy. The life of Caro-
line is Dr. Doran's best effort. He has dili-
gently consulted the memoirs of the period,
and has woven their details into a very ani•
mated narrative, though his style is often
marred by his endeavours to give point to it
by the relation of stale anecdotes or bad jokes.
This is a fault which we strongly recommend
him to correct.
To Walpole and his government must be
conceded the penetration of early discovering
Queen Caroline's good sense and her influence
over the King. There was no Tory opposition
to dread at that time; so Walpole, regardless
of the public money, resolved to secure the
Queen's favour by an act of reckless extrava-
gance. The Queen's jointure was fixed at
100,0001. a year, with Somerset-house and Rich-
mond-lodge—a preposterous provision at that
time, and double the income which had ever
been settled on any queen previously. The
Court was conciliated by the bribe, his Majesty
looked complacently on that "rogue and
rascal" Walpole, and henceforth, as Lord
Hervey says, it was understood " that Sir
" Pobert was the Queen's Minister ; that
" whoever he favoured she distinguished, and
" whoever she distinguished the King ern-
." ployed." Her behaviour justified Walpole's
foresight. The following paragraph by Dr.
Doran indicates that she admirably exempli-
fied the character of a model wife as given
by " honest, honest 'ago"—

Who never answers till her husband cools,
And, though she rules him, never shows she rules :
The tact of the Queen was so admirable, that the husband,
who followed her counsel in all things, never even himself
suspected but that he was leading her. This was the very
triumph of the Queen's art, and the crowning proof of the
simplicity and silliness of the King. It is said that he
sneered at Charles I. for being governed by his wife ; at
Charles 11. for being governed by his mistresses; at James
led by priests; at William duped by men; at Queen Anne
deceived by her favorites ; and at his father, who allowed
lainaself to be ruled by any one who could approach him.
And he finished his catalogue of scorn by proudly asking
" Who governs now ?" The courtiers probably swileti