The Press.
London, England, 1858-07-10 00:00:00

THE PRESS, JULY 10, 1858.

appeal. The respondents rely to a great degree on the decision of Lord
ELDON above adverted to. The right to nominate to certain livings, di-
rected to be in the gift of the descendants according to their seniority,
having been on that occasion claimed by one of the posterity of
GEORGE WOODFORD, his claim was refused for want of male lineage,
although he answered the description as far as concerned age ;
and it is therefore argued that Lord ELDON understood the words
" eldest male lineal descendant" in the legal and not in the natural
sense. Without wishing to prejudice the case, there seems but little
ground for considering that the decree of the Master of the Rolls will be
shaken. If the will had been made by a person unacquainted with law,
the words "eldest male lineal descendant" might possibly bear the signi-
fication now sought to be attached to them ; but as it was drawn by a
lawyer, it is reasonable to suppose that they have that technical value
which would be most in accordance with the custom of primogeniture.
The vanity of human wishes has seldom been more strongly exempli-
fied than in PETER THELLUSSON'S desire for posthumous opulence. To
the Court of Chancery such property, saddled with such a will, was
what the spent camel is to the vultures of the desert. The silvery voices
of counsel, heard in many a court since 1796, have melted away that heap
of golden treasure as the west wind dissolves the accumulated snow.
Receivers have thriven, and solicitors have invested in the funds, through
their contact with the wide-spreading estates, the dividends and the com-
pound interests. The expectant litigants must be content with a beggarly
pittance of two or three millions apiece, instead of having enough to pay
for a new war, or build a fleet of Leviathans. And Parliament, by for-
bidding for the future the accumulation of income for more than twenty-
one years from the death of a settlor or testator, took precautions on the
earliest opportunity to defeat the intentions of every man whose desire to
found a family should lead hint to imitate the vanity and ambition as well
as the industry and honesty of PETER THELLUSEGN.

CAMBRIDGE-HOUSE COLLOQUIES.—No. 111.
SCENE.—The Breakfast•room. Lords P— and G— discovered tete•a tete,
just finishing their meal.

Lord G—. Delicious strawberries, indeed. What do you call
them ? Alpines ?
Lord P—. Yes, I think so. The food of the Golden Age, you
know. "Arbuteos fetus, ramie:moque fraga."
Lord G—. Query. Ought this to be called the golden age in com-
pliment to the " diggings" ?
Lord P—. I don't quite know. Engineers call it an age of iron ;
but, as far as my experience goes, brass has a good deal to do with it.
Lord G—. I'll tell BERNAL OSBORNE that—he'll quite agree with
you. By-the-bye, what has he been about this month past ? I've not heard
of any recent atrocity in the way of puns or personalities.
Lord P— (musing). It's a bad sign, I'm afraid. If there were
any chance of a brisk party movement—of carrying the Treasury by a
" coup-de-main "—he'd be as noisy as a kitty wake before a storm. The
game's up for the session.
Lord G—. Why, yes, that's been clear enough ever since CARD-
WELL broke down so woefully. I don't mind the majorities so much ; but
the tone of the men is altered. DERBY'S set speak more decisively, and
our side have given up patronizing them. Even you, P—,
though you're always game for a laugh, don't chuckle quite as much as
WIKOFF says you used to do.
Lord P—. Confound that fellow's impudence ! Lucky he hadn't
served me so before that Crampton business. " I guess there'd have been
a difficulty ." It's too bad of you, G—, to quote such a scamp
against me.

Lord G—. Well, well, my dear fellow, I beg your pardon. " I
didn't ought to have ryled you," as they say in the new country. I only
mean, you have rather changed your style of late.
Lord P—. Trust me for that. I never follow up a losing game.
I'm doing the dignified and impartial just now, and say a word for the
Ministry now and then, as there's nothing to be gotten by dividing against
them. But next session— . . _

Lord G—. You mean to go in and winch ?
Lord P—. No; I mean to win and go in. And if ever Ido get
in again, I should like to see—
Lord G—. I should like to sec it, too. By-the-bye, are you going
to Cremorne to-night ? There will be no row to speak of.
Lord P—. Catch me trying. At least, if I do go, I'll not publish
it. It's all very well for a Whig " pur sang" like you, G— ; it's
quite in your line to do the select. But I've heard enough about an
"exclusive clique," and I don't mean to get into bad odour, even in the
best of company. You may laugh, but you'll see me conic out as the
"popular candidate" at the next general election.
Lord G. Whew ! what., is DERBY going to dissolve ?
Lord P—. Not of hie own free will, as far as I know; but perhaps
I may make him.
Lord Kill your own Parliament ! Why, my dear fellow, it
would be political suicide.
Lord P—. I don't know that—we've won East Norfolk.
Lord G—. Not lost it, you mean. But it was a near thing, and I
fear we shall be minus a seat next time. No, no, depend upon it, this
present House is your best card. DERBY will gain by a change—so may
Baionr—but you are sure to lose. You will never sport such winning
colours again.

661

Lord P—. China silk, eh ? Well, "that was a neat thing, tho' I
say it." How we worked the British flag ! And how they raved when I
said the war was caused by what happened afterwards.
Lord G—. And wanted you to apologize.
Lord P—. Ay, fancy my apologizing, except when some foreigner
insults me and shows fight ! But that was a neat thing. Well, well, we
may come in for another slice of luck yet.
Lord G—. You don't mean to lie on your oars and whistle for a
wind, do you ?
Lord P—. Not exactly that; but I shall hold back and look out
for a false move in the enemy's game. It will be their Reform Bill, not
mine. RussELL may try a contre-pnjet, if he likes, but I mean to pitch
into Dizzy's measure.
Lord G—. But you don't know what it is.
Lord P—. I know the species, if not the individual. I helped to
carry one Reform Bill, though RUSSELL worked the schedules ; and one
pill is a dose. If ever I volunteer to support another, may Ibe set to clean
the Thames and take my orders from Major CHILD.
Lord G—. Then you haven't a notion of the scheme ?
Lord P—. No, not a glimpse ; they keep their horse too dark.
But no doubt there will be some plausible dodge for proportioning repre-
sentation to numbers, and playing the devil with the Liberal seats. I
don't care,—Tiverton will last my time ; and as for office, I can say with
that young sinner in BYRON—" Come what may, I have been "
Lord G—. Blest ?

Lord P—. Blest if I remember. But I've had my share, any way,
and there's "the other place" ready for me when I like to retire.
Lord G— (in alarm). But you don't mean to quit the field at pre-
sent, and leave RUSSELL—.

Lord P—. I! my dear fellow ! I thought you knew me better.
I mean fighting, and nothing else, as the gentlemen of the ring say. And
one comfort is, we have the recess before us for arranging our plans.
Lord G—. We must work the papers.
Lord P—. Ay ; l'll have a chat with L— about reviewing the
Session in the Times. I'm not quite clear vthich way it can be done best.
Lord G—. Which way?
Lord P—. Ay, don't you remember PEEL'S three courses ? But
there are only two in question now.
Lord G—. I don't think I understand you.
Lord P—. Why, can't you see the alternative? Either he may
contend that nothing has been done, and DERBY is to blame; or that a
great deal of useful legislation has been gotten through, of which the whole
merit is due to the Opposition. Of course he can work it either way, but
it is fair to give him a little notice.
Lord G—. Quite right—quite right—you are always considerate.
But I fear the Times will give us some trouble yet.
[Exit, humming " Che cangi Tempore."

Mr. MALL tells us, in his Nonconformist, that " another effort has
" been made to organize a popular party in Parliament, and without the
" result desired." " There are elements of disintegration. which will for
" some time to come prevent cordial union and co-operation of the various
" sections into which the Liberal body is divided."
Ile adds :—" Meanwhile, the Conservatives are polishing up the last
" few measures which remained in the Whig repertory, and are giving
" them, one by one, to the people as inevitable concessions. They are
" probably thereby sowing the seeds of their own destruction, by producing
" disaffection in their own ranks, while unable to conciliate the confidence
" of their opponents."

Of the Church-rate question he says :—" The abolition of Church-
" rates is not a final measure. It recognizes and embodies a principle of
" civil equality in regard to religious matters which may be applied in a
" large variety of ways; and the nascent power of Liberalism is intent on
" so applying it, as opportunity occurs."

A morning journal, commonly supposed to be under the inspiration
of Mr. BRIGHT, publishes the following piece of news :
" THE Naw INDIA CorNclL.—Speculation is afloat at the Clubs in refe-
rence to the Members who will be nominated ' and elected' to compose
the new India Council, under the Bill which is now under the consideration
of Parliament. There are to be fifteen members of Council, eight of whom
are to be nominated by the Crown, and seven to be elected by the Court
of Directors. Persons who profess to be acquainted with the intentions of
the Government point out the following eight gentlemen as those who will
be nominated by the Crown :—Major-General Sir Robert John llussey
Vivian, K.C.8., Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Creswick Rawlinson, M.P.,
the Right Hon. Sir Lawrence Peel, Mr. John Pollard Willoughby, M.P.,
Mr. Henry Baillie, 'M.P., Sir John Stuart Mill, Sir James Melvin, and
Mr. Arthur Mills, M.P. It is, of course, difficult to fix with any degree of
certainty upon the names of the seven gentlemen who will be chosen by
the Court of Directors as the first elected' members of the new Council ;
but it is pretty generally understood at the East India House that the fol-
lowing will, in all probability, be the successful candidates:---Mr. Ross 1).
Mangles, M.P., Colonel W. H. Sykes, M.P., Sir Frederick Currie, Captain
Eastwick, Captain Shepherd, Mr. M. T. Smith, M.P., and Mr. 11. T.
Prinsep. In the event of these arrangements being carried out, no fewer
than seven seats in the House of Commons will become vacant. Reigate,
by the retirement of Sir Henry Rawlinson; Aberdeen, by the retirement
of Colonel Sykes ; Guildtord, byy the retirement of Mr. It. 1). Mangles ;
Taunton, by the retirement of Mr. Arthur Mills ; Wycombe, by the re-
tirement of Mr. Martin Tucker Smith; Leominster, by the retirement of
Mr. J. P. Willoughby; and Inverness-shire, by the retirement of Mr.
Henry Baillie."