The Sun.
London, England, 1852-09-23 00:00:00

fAltitiata autt

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LONDON, TIIIIRSDAY, SEPTEMBER 23, 1852.

'e letter of the Earl of DERBY, in reference to
th,., obsequies of the departed Hero, whose lamented
death created so deep a sensation throughout the
length and breadth of the land, will be received with
lnequivocal approbation by all classes and grades in
scciety. It may be regarded as Proceeding d;rectly
and expressing the sentiments of, our Most Gra-
e,ons SOYEAEIG2f. True delicacy end genuine kind-
Fmess of feeling are perceptible in every line. It
was what might have been expected__ from Queen
Vlc-
'r on, such an occasion. Her MAJESTY has com-
pletely fulfilled the exp.Ntations of her people in doing
nencur to the memory of him who in life Was her
::lest (Estinguished subject.
It is now virtually settled that there shall b 3 a
public. funeral and that St. Paul's shall be the final
•
resting-place of the illustrious General. He
will
slumber with our own NELSOas—" the greatest
blili-
tz,ry Naval Chief will rest by the side of the greatest
who ever reflected lustre upon the onus's of
England."
The decision of both Houses of Parliament will be
tal;en r,n the question. But it is not is if any doubt
-=c'lld 'be entertained on the subject—we should in-
deee. blush for our country if a single dissent should
ha recorded, if the votes were not carried :,with per-
ket unanimity. The delay is merely intended to
Confer greater honour on the memory of the deceased
warrior, rand to afford a complete reccgnition of the
true position and authority of the other Estates of the
Realm„ Her MAJESTY feels that she is a constitu-
tional Monarch—that she acts in accordance with,
end uot independent of her people ; and in awaiting
the advice and co-operation of their chosen Repre-
lev.tatives she offers a graceful tribute to the true
spirit of the British Constitution.
" She might," as Lord Deasy truly remarks, "of
her own authority, have given immediate orders for
this public mark of veneration for the memory of
the i)'tustrious Duke, and Parliament and the country
worild cordially have approved the step." The reigning
Sr.,vereign had done so in the czse of the distinguished
Admiral who laid down his life in the hour of vic-
tory at Cape Tra;algar ; and there is no lack of other
precedents to a similar effect, although, until I per-
haps the present occasion, no one who bad rendered
services lik?. NELSON, who had so eminently merited
the highesi honours from his sorrowing country, Was
thug f,"
nguisneu. "her Its.AJEST Y was enxious
That tiva tribute of gratitude and of sorrow should he
cit'Pri...ed of nothing which could ;ovest it with a
th" 7 3ughly national character—anxious that the
eatest possible number of her subjects should have
Tr .1 opportunity of joining it, anxious too, above all,
that such honours should not appear to emanate from
the Crown atone, and that the two Houses of Parlia-
ment should have an opportunity, by their previous
sanction, of stamping the proposed ceremony with
increfAsed solemnity, and of associating them-
selves with her MAJESTY in. paying honour to
rthf; memory of one whom no Englishman can
.aine without pride and sorrow." With that
feeling
she has adjourned the final decision nu, until
assembling of the new rarliatuell t •
expressuig

merely a wish, that " shoull no unforeseen impAiment
arise, the mortal remains of the late illustrious and
venerated Commander-in-Chief should, at the public
expense, and with all the solemnity due. to the great-
ness of the occasion, be deposited in the Cathedral
Church of St. Paul's, there to rest by the side of
NELSON."

Her MAJESTY observed equal delicacy to the family
of her old aril faithful servant. Although his
exploits had rendered him, to a certain extent,
the preperty as well as the glory of his
country—although the " great space which his name
has filled in the history of the lest fifty years : his
brilliant achievements in the field : his high mental
qualities : his long and faithful services to the Crown :
his untiring devotion to the interests of his country,
constitute claims upon the gratitude of the nation
which a public funeral, though it cannot satisfy, at
least might serve to recognise," she would take no step
"even in his honour" until the previous concurrence
of his sorrowing relations had been obtained, and it bad
been ascertained whether he had left any directions, or
whether his family desired to express any w ish upon the
subject. " The sense of duty," however, which, as
we have already explained, formed the great charac-
teristic of the great Duke, prevented him from inter-
fering with what he must have felt would
be the privilege of his grateful SOVEREIGN
and his sorrowing country, whenever his
glorious career might be brought to a termi-
nation. In a similar spirit his sons, the pre-
sent Duke and Lord CHARLES WELLESLEY, left the
matter entirely at the disposal of her MAJESTY ; and
the notification of her wishes and intentions in the
admirable letter above referred to has been the result.
High as Queen VICTORIA. has ever stood in the
opinions and feelings of her subjects, strong es have
the
ruleren strength
to
and thesethe
been her claims on the affectionate loyalty of her
people, her conduct on this melancholy occasion
will, if possible, e additionalchoonnfeorurabieto
str
sensations, alike
ruled, to the chief magistrate of a free nation,
and constitutional authority. The QUEEN
who dwell under her mild, be-
and to those
nignant, i
and the people have been in full accordance, as we
trust they will ever continue.
It may possibly be that the meeting of Parliament
will be hastened in consequence of the melancholy event.
It had previously been fixed for the 11th of November
—a pericd which might be more convenient for the
new Members, and which also might be received in
redemption of the pledges given by the
Ministerial leaders in both Houses. The calamity
which has placed the nation in mourning W£3
not, however, then anticipated. It has rendered an
earlier meeting expedient, if not necessary, and be-
lieving that the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER,
on whom the chief labour will fall, is
fully prepared for the emergency, and that
the meeting might be accelerated without
any great Ministerial inconvenience, we trust that
the Government may be induced to take the step
which, in manifesting additional respect to the
mighty dead, wor'd unquestionably be pleasing to the
nation.

Although the autumnal session of Parliament about
to be commenced will be necessarily restricted in du-
ration and, therefore, to a considerable extent moei-
fied in importance, it roust prove essentially one fiaught
with a very p:culiar interest to the population. Re-
cent occurrences have tended, moreover, to enhance
the curiosity which was certein, under ordinary cir-
cumstances, to be felt in regard to the first meeting of
the Imperial Legislature after a general election of
a very remarkable character. Immediately the new
Members have been duly sworn in, the principal
members of the Cabinet in both Houses will have to
indicate in some measure the policy about to be ad-
ventured upon by the DERBY Administration. In the
Lords no little solicitude will be manifested in refe-
rence to the Ministerial explanations offered to the
country by the Noble Eerl the First Lord of the
Treasury, while simultaneously the same species of
anxiety will be entertained in the Commons as to the
revelations likely to be made by the Right Honour-
able Gentlemen the CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER.
Doubtless the difficulty in which the Cabinet was
placed shortly after its formation in February, has
been somewhat diminished by the unexpected ability
displayed by its members in at once carrying
out, with all requisite skill, the routine
labours of the Government. It was expected
at the outset that a Ministry created with such
unexampled suddenness, one, moreover, which
necessitated the elevation to power of so many men
who had never before enjoyed the privileges of
office, requiting, indeed, the advancement of no less
than eighteen noblemen and gentlemen to the dignity
of Privy Councillors within the limits of a single
Gazette—an incident so extraordinary as to be
actually, we believe, without any precedent—it was ex-
pected that a Ministry created with such singular, but,
it must bi admitted at the same time, unavoidable
precipitation would reveal, before very long, a painful
amount of inefficiency, so far Es to bring into dis-
credit even the more practised members of the Ad-
ministration. Insteal of this the community has
witnessed with a very agreeable, and the more so be-
cause unexpected, sense of satisfaction the display of
really admirable business powers on the part of the
majority of the principal members of the new Go-
vernment. Under the guidance of the Noble PRE-
MIER, the Cabinet has in respect to the customary
toils devolving upon our administrators acquitted
itself very worthily, and in some prrticulars even to
admiration. The Earl of DERBY has so far, in
truth, justified the laudatory predictions upon which
Oli CHRISTOPHER NORTH, some years ago, adventured
when, in one of the famous Nudes Ambrosianr,
he made en exception in favour of Lord STANLEY,
when reviewing the Whigs of that day—brandishing
his crutch in terrorem over the heads of Earl GREY
and his Ministerial colleagues ! Besides the PREMIER
himself, there are others, now associated together
under his leadership, who have already, within the
last six months, shown a capacity such as to acquit
Lord DERBY of rashness in their nomination to the
responsible posts of Government. The financial
affairs of the United Kingdom are consequently found
to have flourished under the care accorded to them by
the Right Hon. Gentleman the CHANCELLOR of the
E __e IcuEcoaa—a fact bewildering to those hum-drum
wasepnospn ouifleabrusiness, who cannot understand how any
sensible budget could ever proceed from the hands of
novelist. Rather a tough nut to crack this
has consequently been to your dead-level admirers of
official mediocrity 1 One requiring to be taken even
HOW cum grano sans .
theby thosered b whoox
es areoa n incapabler
loyf
understanding how
properly fingered by a man
evidence
ei
Opened, and the red tap,
of imagination ! Mr. avAL
lack of
again, if
.be has
powers
a laudable otfigohperportotuilnsiotyf—thtoe
3rhaps through
3* of a name his-
toricallys Worth
Government,
with the
complicated
Eogi,h
Home
of the somewhat
Department—having
assi-
duity
labours ino
tfhtela discharge
iHs cohma .... been almost
unremitting in his attendance
of the time, athisoffi cein Downing-
street throughout the w already
elapsed, of the long vacation. As yet Sir 3- Our,
PAEINGTON has bad but small occasion to show how
far he is competent to discharge the duties of Colonial
Secretary—though in one particular, at least, we can-
not but think he acted neither with desirable fore-
thought nor with commendable deliberation—we
mean, of course, in reference to his bearing towards
the delegates sent to this country from Nova Scotia
and New Brunswick, with a view to negotiate the
establishment of a grand railway enterprise capable of
binding more closely together and associating more
intimately with the mother country, by bands likely to
have proved indissoluble, the whole of the gigantic
provinces of our North-American possessions! Happily
not thus thoughtless, and we may venture even to say,
unpatriotic, has been the course pursued in regard to
our foreign relations by the Noble Lord the Earl of
Mareassnuar. At first, no doubt, we had a crow to
Pluck with him
in regard to Mr. MATHER and his
gongs, as we had already with his colleague, Sir
I;i°slielPterApTiNse. But the Noble Earl showed himsolf
GTON, in regard to Mr. CHANDLER end
amenable to reason in the development of the co,r-
respondence with the Florentine Government—ins,—
much that immediately
capital
after Sir HENRY BULWER had
if Tuscany. Lord Marmusnu air
arrived at the
which he had inadvertently .
repaired the blunders
fallen,,unifinhereittleddeptorecttoion.
compensate Mr. SCABLETT for a
very Beyond this, however,
her ISIVESTIIB Foreign SeeretarY has yet more sig-