The Sun.
London, England, 1855-03-23 00:00:00

let us say, in addition to seven fellow-labourers
not here particularised, though eminent in some
way or other, in criticism or in archology,
the Committee, presided over by the Marquis of
LANSDOWNE, comprises within it sufficiently ample
limits—Dean MILMAN and JOHN FORSTER, BRYAN
PROCTER, CHARLES DICKENS, W. M. THACKERAY,
and Sir E. BIILWER LYTTON. Aware of this, may we
not regard ourselves as tolerably well justified in
speaking of the Committee as one, so far at least as
can be judged by anticipation, admirably calculated
to effect all the changes for the better that could
be reasonably expected to result from the proposed
labour of reform and reorganisation ?

What ample reason there has been for this pro-
jected toil in the way of beneficial innovation has
been wonderAdly well demonstrated by those
" facts and figures" which show that the clerk at
401. per annum has expanded into the secretary
at 2001. per annum—above all, that while from
1844 to 1853, both inclusive, the Artists' Bene-
volent Fund has relieved 559 applicants at a cost
of 9041. 17s. ld., the Royal Literary Fund (upon
its old basis) has, within the same interval, relieved
merely 429 at the exorbitant cost of just 5,0941.
Os. Id. We might be tempted, out of the full-
ness of our indignation, to exclaim, after the
fashion of Mr. MANTALINI—" The penny be
demmed !" But that our attention is arrested
by the voice of the creator of that delightful
scapegrace—the voice of our incomparable Boz.
We listen as it should well become us whenever
he may speak, whether it be from his own pages
or from a public platform in Bloomsbury
or elsewhere. What says Mr. DICKENS in regard
!to that Royal Literary Fund, which is now
happily doomed to a complete reconstitution ?
What says the resolution he proposed—out of
which resolution, by the way, has suddenly
started up this beneficent Committee:of Reorgani-
sation ? It declares the Old Charter of the Fund
to be " manifestly absurd, as constituting a body
expressly to be elected from members of the
general committee, with at least three years ex-
perience, called a council, to which- it confides no
powers and no duties, and which never meets,
because it cannot be even called together by any
authority for any purpose." Sufficiently ridi-
culous—that--surely. But, further—passing
over Mr. DICKENS'S facetious account of his
own experiences as a member of this same
invisible and inscrutable council—let us hear how
he sums up the record of its nonentity ! The fact
has been, he observes, from first to last, that it (the
Council) " er could meet, never did meet, had
no place of meeting, and nothing to do—that it was,
in short, the only thing in creation without any
purpose, end, or object, in existence." No wonder
the people laughed at that deliciously exact and
ludicrous description—no wonder their laughter
broke out into a roar when the most inimitable
of Humorists continued, " What would the
public say of a board of directors that
did not direct, of a bench of judges that slid
not judge, of a jury that did not deliberate or
find a verdict, of a physician appointed never to
prescribe, of a surgeon directed never to set a
bone, of a fireman enjoined never to go within
fifty miles of a fire, or of picked officers of the
Humane Society being tied up not to approach the
water ?" Yet that is precisely the position in
which the Members of the Royal Literary Fund
Council have hitherto been situated ! Fortunately
so:situated they will not be henceforward. They
are from this time forth relieved from a position
as idle as it has been ridiculous.

lOa Tuesday, the Nestor of the British Senate
unsparingly exposed the vacillation, inconsistency,
and duplicity of the Prussian Government.
Never in his palmiest days was Lord LYNDHURST
more impressive and convincing in his arguments,
or more lucid in bis arrangement, than in the
brilliant oration in which he detailed the proceed-
ings of the weathercock KING, and exhibited him
in his true colours, not only to the Parliament
and People of Great Britain, but to Europe. The
shameful tergiversation, the paltry equivocation,
and disgraceful timidity displayed from the com-
mencement of the Russian aggression, proved that
NICHOLAS was not mistaken in the confidence
which he long since reposed in the friendly aid
and co-operation of FREDERICK WILLIAM in his
onslaughts against the coveted possessions of the
sick man. He was not in any manner opposed by
Prussia. On the contrary, her attitude, un-
fettered by any diplomatic obligations, and secretly
friendly to the AUTOCRAT, was intended to operate
as a powerful check on other nations, and to in-
duce them to submit to the dictation of the AUTO-
CRAT, and sanction results which he considered
suited to " the honour and dignity of Russia."
The well-contrived scheme was happily foiled.
The unexpected firmiess of the Western Powers
—tke cordial and friendly alliance entered into,
and honourably continued, between France and
England—overthrew all these elaborate calcula-
tions, and once more showed that straightforward
integrity and unflinching resolution may be more
than a match for the most wily, cunning, and
unscrupulous perfily. The Court of Berlin spared
no exertions to insure the complete realisation of
the designs of that of St. Petersburg, with a total
disregard of its own character and the interests
and wishes of its people. It pursued a tortuous
and shifting course, which naturally led to its
present isolated position and serious depreciation
in the scale of nations.

That it feels the humiliation and injury it has
suitained is indisputable. It would be impossible
that it could be otherwise, and the convulsive
efforts now made to obtain admission to the Con-
ferences prove that the sting has penetrated to
the very quick. It cannot, however, even yet
make up its mind to a complete change of policy.
It has been fully informed as to the only means
by which it can retrieve its character and position
—the " open sesame" by which the Council
Chamber can be made to expand its portals to a
Prussian representative. But still it hesitates.
It still strives for an unconditional entry without
any explanation as to her intentions or policy—
and without entering into any engagement either
immediate or prospective—without letting it be
known whether she appeared as neutral friend or
foe. Under such circumstances there can be
but little doubt that if allowed to participate in
these negotiations, it would " act in concert with
Russia, as her ally—her instrument, almost as
her slave ;" would, in fact, so complicate the ques-
tions
at
under discussion
bssioenneue
astioalprreesvuelnt.t the possibility
of arriving
Although Lord CLARENDON, from his minier
terial position, could not so unsparingly denounce
the duplicity:and treachery:of Prussia—although
hi, lips were, to 'a certain, extent, closed by an
thativi
theth resolution
castigation
been
r e andhls
richly
official seal, he yet spoke
energy, clearly showing
gly [administered had
unsparin
merited. If he could not join in the onslaught,
lie made no effort to stand forward in defence ;
and, by permitting judgment to go in default, he
established the validity of the accusations as fully
as if he had admitted it in express and unequivo.
cal terms. Nor was this all : for, although giving
expression to a faint hope that Prussia may yet
adopt a more generous and independent policy