The Sun.
London, England, 1855-01-19 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, JANUARY 19, 1855,

And so Lord ABERDEEN is to have the vacant
Blue Riband ! The "dear and excellent" States-
man—" the friend of forty years' standing " of
the Emperor NICHOLAS, is to receive the highest
honour in the power of his SOVEREIGN to bestow
—an honour coveted not only by the most dis-
tinguished subjects of the British Crown, but
.
even by independent Sovereigns. The services
must, indeed, have been highly meritorious that
require or can even be recognised by so great an
acknowledgment. The arbiter who has had to
decide on the conflicting claims—whose task has
been more onerous and more invidious than that
of PARIS, inasmuch as the candidates were far
more numerous and the pretensions more nearly
balanced—must have been deeply impressed with
the responsibility of the duty—must have shud-
dered when delivering his award. Although
divesting himself of every personal and selfish
feeling, and determined, to the best of his
ability, to recommend " the most worthy" to the
favour of his SOVEREIGN, he must have hesitated
when choosing Lord ABERDEEN as the one whom
her MAJESTY should select from the mass of those
who have deserved well of their country ! The
choice, however, has been made I—the invidious
task has been executed ! For good or for evil,
GEORGE HAMILTON, Earl of ABERDEEN, has been
nominated the new Knight of the Garter, and is
with all convenient speed to receive the insignia
of the illustrious order.
Who, then, was the arbiter to decide on this
interesting topic ? Who was the impartial and
high-minded judge on whom devolved the grave
responsibility of selection? " The QUEEN can do
no wrong." That is a constitutional maxim to
which we yield a ready and unhesitating assent.
Her MAJESTY receives the advice of her Ministers,
or rather of the Minister who presides over the
Cabinet, and is justly responsible for its decisions !
She has been influenced by her Prime Minister,
who virtually nominates the successful aspirant,
and renders himself liable to any objections that
may be put forward. This Prime Minister is
GEORGE HAMILTON, Earl of ABERDEEN !—and with
extraordinary disinterestedness he has nominated
GEORGE HAMILTON, Earl of ABERDEEN, to the
coveted distinction. He had previously hold
many honours, without looking to these which he
derived from the "accident of birth." The
Peerage tells us that he is also a " Knight of the
Thistle," Lord-Lieutenant and Sheriff Principal
of the County of Aberdeen, Ranger of Greenwich
Park, Chancellor of King's College, Aberdeen,
President of the British institute, dsc., &e. One
might have supposed that these distinctions might
have satisfied the most ambitious man. But not
so ! Lord ABERDEEN might exclaim that—
" His great revenge had stomach for them all ;"

aye, and for something more, for the " K.G." is
henceforward to be added to the list, the
enviable title which Lord ABERDEEN has conferred
on Lord ABERDEEN (!) to the exclusion of many
really meritorious men, who had high claims to
the distinction.
There will, however, be more impartial judges
by whom the title of the Noble Earl to the hon-
our will be strictly scrutinised. There will be
men who are ready to investigate the services
evidenced by so high a reward. Is it by his
conduct since he has occupied the position of
First Lord of the Treasury ? By involving
the country in an expensive and sanguinary
war which a slight exhibition of determi-
nation in the first instance might have
averted, or for the grievous mismanagement
which has occurred since its commencement I For
these he might have earned honours from his
" dear" friend NlCHOLAS—honours that no doubt
are still in store, and which, no doubt, will be
duly accorded when the " Peace at any price, or
on any conditions," for which he has been labour-

ing, has been patched up. We shall not envy
him their possession, although we must complain
of the strange selection of the new Knight of the
Garter, under the advice of the Premier.
It may be said that the shaft has been drawn
from another quiver !--that the " modesty" of
Lord ABERDEEN has been spared the trial of pro-

posing himself—that, in fact, the selection is
ascribable to another and. a less constitutional in-
fluence ! We trust, however, that this new phase
of " Germanism" may still be wanting, that the
country may have less reason to regret the nomi-
nation than is yet known. Although Lord .A.BRR-
DES.N should—if he had any sense of shame—.

blush at the appointment, it would still be only
disgraceful to the individual, whereas the alterna-

five is one that would be deeply felt throughou
the length and breadth of the land !

There is but one fair solution of the problem ?
—one mode in which the nomination would be re-
ceived with pleasure in place of sheer disgust.
Men when retiring from office frequently receive

some mark of respect, some honour from their
most gracious Mistress " to break the fall," to re-

concile them to the mortification. If this be the

true cause of the selection, we shall at once re-

ceive it joyously, and shall rapturously hail the
accession of GEORGE HAMILTON, Earl of ABER-

deep, to the ancient order—not for the honour

he confers on it, but because of his retirement ;
and the appointment of another Prime Minister

would be a blessing for which no price would be

too great—not even the annihilation of the Garter

itself, and the distinguishing blue ribald, once
the object of such earnest competition.

The Leeds meeting, will do good.
ia reenpnoartthofe ibtertteearc.hesmS The sooner
Mr.
PcoetneprEsNbuhrag,s
earned,Berlin and
justly, such a European reputation that amongst
the middle classes of Europe especially ho is na-
turally supposed to be the representative of the
same classes here. He is so beyond doubt on most
commercial questions, and truly sorry should we
be to lose him from tho House of Commons, we
can afford to put up with his crotchets on foreign
policy for the sake of his great economical value.
The Leeds meeting, however, will rectify all the
injury his name might do abroad. It will prove
to all the bourgeoisie of Europe that the manufac-
turers and traders of this country demand the
"prosecution of the War with the utmost vigour
until a fair and honourable peace is 01.
billed." With hardly a dissentient voice, in
its
tifoanvooufil•ilties
one of .the first manufacturing towns of the
mo
county representative,
kingdom, after a long speech
vast meeting passed a
principal supporters, the
anclon from
in