The Sun.
London, England, 1852-04-21 00:00:00

BANQUET AT GOLDSMITHS' HALL.

Oa Saturday her Majesty's Ministers were en-
tertained by the Worshipful Company of Gol I-
smiths with their usual magnific,nee, and, on
the health of their "brother Goldsmith," the
Earl of Darby, being given, his Lordship
made a magnificent ,reply. Nobody does these things
better, and, in the neatest imaginable manner, without
" dragging in politics," and without a word to give
offence, the Premier contrived to do a little business for
his friends. The associations of the place very natu-
rally led him to notice the wonderful revolution in ma-
terial which gave a name and occupation to the com-
Pany, and to the_suliene and simultaneous discovery of
gold in unQuspeeted quarters, and to an importation
which astonished everybody, and put all calculation as
fault. But," he proceeded, "it is not only in rege.rd
to the discovery of gold that rew mines appear to
be opened to us. Within a very short time, at
with regard, to-gold, so there was (as it turns ouf) a
Popular delusion that the field of statesmen and of the
political enetel was almost limited ; it was supposed tle.4
the crop of statesmen was one of very limited amount,
for which, if 3ou w re disposed to search, you must dig
in certain favoured localities, and confine yourself to
searching for them there. lam happy to think, gentle
men, that, to some degree, I have been instrumented in
dispelling that illusion. An unfortunate adventurer, as
I was to consider myself, honoured with the commission
from bee Majesty to do the best that he could for her
service, I have ventured boldly to open a new mine,
and I am happy to say that, in the opinion of competent
jedgew, so far as it has yet been worked, the ore
that has been raised contains among it as large
a proportion of sterling metal, with as little
admixture of drone, as any th .t was ever drawn
from the old and exclusive mines to which we were
formerly confined." This happy illustration was re-
ceived, as it deserved, with reiterated cheers. Lord
Derby has been to the famous diggings in Westminster,
and has brought hick a pile of dust in the rather un-
-common form of country gentlemen. The press of
assay, by which the valuable character of the discovery
can alone be verified, was not stated on this occasion.
Perhaps we shall have to go to the country fur this ;
and it is more than probable that our provincial refiners
may send back Lord Derby's specimens with the
remark, that "all is not gold that glitters."
But, though our " brother Goldsmith" has evi-
de -

rntly made in important discovery, we are not so
sure that he has stated its nature correctly. As
it appears to us, it is not so much a new quartz
vein, or a " placer", be has brought to light, as a
new method of extracting the ore. What ho has
done more resembles the application of that subtle,
quick, and mercurial agent, which many have thought
to be a providential, means for gathering the al-
most impalpable flakes of precious metal, and drawing
it from its hard matrix. It is a species of political
quicksilver, as insinuating. as•seductive, as slippery, and
as difficult to be tied as the metal so called. Every
child has played with this charming material, and knows
how playful, how elusive it is. Stare loco nescit. No
one can tell its course. At one time it divides into a
thousand globules; at another they all run into one, or
trickle away in one long rill of molten silver. That is
precisely the instrument with which Lord Derby has
effected his wonders of political metallurgy. Active
chairmen of quarter-sessions, obstinate lords, intracteble
baronets, petty squires, and even rough yeomen, have
all been amalgamated by the new Derby flux. When
this property of quicksilver was discovered, vast piles
of refuse ore that had accumulated for many years at the
mines of Potosi were immediately operated upon with
such success that it was said the second crop was better
than the first; and at this day many a heap of "dirt"
that has ceased to repay for " rocking" and "washing"
affirds a fair gleaning to quicksilver. What a heap of
Protectionist rubbish we have .had all about us for ever
so long! There it was at our very doors till people
could hardly move about, or even get out of their houses.
It spar-Idea a little in the sun, and telt he but nothing
could be done with it. Wash it, or burn ?:!, c)i• grind it.
or bray it in a mortar, it was all the some; the dross
would not depart from the gold, or the gold from the
dross. At last a well known " adventurer," who had
long been_ "prospecting" to very little purpose, hit on a
i s
method Of eisalug with thehitherto worthless
- commo-
dity. As the stream of Derby quicksilver passes
through this unpromising"stuft; it absorbs a flake here
and a lump there, licking eup every -grain of common
sense that happens to survive in the "country party:,
['he resell', of course, is by no means pure gold.
It is a little gold held in a much larger quantity of
fluid, evasive, slippery matter; and, though we know
the gold is there, the Parliamentary crucible will still be
,
requires' to separate it from the extraordinary agent
which-has caught it so quick, and holds it so last, end
itself can neither be caught nor held.
Thus, on Friday, two hundred agriculturists met at
Aylesbury, at the summons of the" Conservative Club,"
And yielded themselves without the least reserve to the
subtle 'Tent we have described. Confidence, Confidence,
nothing but Confidence, was the order Of the day. No
pledges, no fetters,, scarce even a suggestion was per-
mieted to interrupt the bland rep-
se of aticultural
faith. : " One pledge—and one pledge only," said one
of the speakers, •' it was necessary that they should
exact from their candidates at the next election. It
was not ' Will you vote .for this or that specific
measure?' but ' Will you or will you not
support the Administration of Lord Derby?' and
the judicious proposal was hailed with loud cheers.
" The best thing the coustituencies could do, then,"
s eiu another speaker, " was to deterreino on giving their
support to her Majesty's present advisers, and to take
1 with thankfulness such measures as they in their wisdom
—anti, he hoped also in their streegth,would ha enabled
I to confer upou the nation." " Don't fewer your own
champion," said another; " don't send him in battle
with his hands tied behind him." Excellent advice,

proving how completely the hard agricultural nature has
)ielded to the lubricous policy of its new chief. Our
columns of election intelligence tell the same tale. Every
day we are informed tha some noted Protectionist, big
with importance, anvilr with animosities, and in-
dissoluble with ,prejudiee, has run into the stream of
conversion. At a moderate estimate Lord 'Derby has
swallowi:d up two hundred: solid individualitie3. Sib.
tkorp has, long since become a drop in the ductile stream.
Where is the country party? It is Lord Derby. He is
the country party. But what is Lord Derby ? He is a
statesman who, after breaking several times with his
colt, agues, and supporting a large variety of measures,
now finds himself charged with a general commission to
serve the Conservatives as well as he can. Lord Derby
has commonly b'een regarded as obstinate rather than
versatile; as terrible miler than seductive; but it is
now clear that his favourite mood is the "melting" one.
We have seen him as a lion, as a boar, and as a
fliose; be is now
_gliding away in a ru,,ning
stream. We leave others to obain him and
qu stion him, but for our part we have no wish to ar-
rest his latest and wisest transformation. By all means
let Protection, or the stagnant pool that has so long
been called by that name, flow away where it hits. Give
it free vent; let it fylloW the, leader. If Lord Derby
and a few oihers.have_ had courage to break the lattnk
and seek a natural outlet, let the rest follow. When
the great operation is over, when the renunciation its
complete, mid the, last Proteelionist has either recanted
or died iu his error, then let histo.y step in and say
what it pleases about the men who opposed tree trade on
the eve of: a fatnine, and submitted to it after a long
plenty. We are only anxious that a troublesome ques-
tion i!hould be' got out of the way, and a nuthher of good
men released from inea -

....
~ ELECTION INtELLIGENCE-.'-
.
- - .- - ..., , -- -•
(Fnom OUR CORRESPJNDENT.)
A meeting:,,f real Frvb Trailers and' Liberals will be
held at Genery!a ,Ls •n: Inn,-on Wedne,day evening (4.be
214 t), to consider the propriety of at once bringing to r-
wdrct a Libe..al Free trade- "candidate- to-cornets' the=
borough at the eriiiiiiig general el,ction.
• Mr. Barry Baldwin (the present Co'nervatire Me.m-
ber) hie, it is Stated; at the request of his eikninittee,
consented to throw overboard all idea of protecton, .so
far as " corn " is concerned. , The electors generally,
however,- are-. from experience become decidedly Fee
Traders-in the truest sense of the word
; sodsoing that our present commercial policy ha been-the
means of benefiting the great muss of the people, insist
that the - - principles of free trade . shall " he • still
further carried • out, and -are therefore - of opi-
nion it will be wise ' to return a - Member to
Parliament (tu conjanction with. Lord Seymour), who
will not-only promise not to reverse the decision already
pronounced against a duty on corn,' but who will, with
ai
sincerity and honesty of purpose, strive to amend our
present system of taxation as still further to 1. •
articles of
adtail- ucing the
r put:in (such as
in-lustrious classes of the comm.yunet
übrityre.rde relieve the
taxes'. on those
tea; ewer,- 860., &c.) 'which present
on the poorer eleiseis of the cominanity.piess too heavily
that Mr. Mills, A merchant of cons'd tis understood
will be proposed at the meeting, and i arable influence
of sound princiPles—in favour. of a ahe is known obe
repre-
sentative system and vote by ball reform of onr 'eentertained of his triumphant 04 little dOubt can be
sided split in the' Conservativereturn. There is a de-
now be reckoned OR as being camp, and Tetnes may
tend. Free Traders to the safe to'return two Liberals
new Parliament. . •

"HER MAJESTY'S TnEATitne—Amongst the noble,
distinguished, and 'fashionable company honouring the per-
:forrnances at her Majesty's Theatre with their presence yes-
terday everting woretnarked the following :—His Grace the
Duke. of Wellington and_ the Marchioness of Douro, the
'Marquis of Clanricarde, Earl Mountcharles, his Excellency
the French Ambassador and suite, ; the Earl _of Shelburne,, the
Earl Of Chesterfield„ and Lord George Paget. The Queen's
• box was occupied by. the Marquis and Marchioness of Nor-
manby, the Master of, her Majesty's Household, Colonel the
lion. C. B. Phipps and the Hon. Mrs. Phipps and party.
There were also present Sir John B. Yarde Buller, Bart.,
M.P., Sir:John Bayley,' Bart., and Lady Bayley, Lord
Adolphus Fitzclarence,,, Sir George Wombwell, art., Mr.
Hubert de Burgh, the Viscount Anson, Sir Ralph Howard,
Bart., M.P., anif 'Lady Howard, the Hon-.' Oadiigati, Sir",
.Thomas—Barret Lennard-, Bart., and Lady Barret. Lennard
and party .the Count Corte, Major Bline,_Captain Smith,
Captain Ibbetson, Lady Somerset, Colonel Lockyer Free—
stun, M.P1,,,:.,and Mrs. Lockyer Freestun, Mr. Par.#ther,-,
Mr. George Hudson, Miss ftudson,
Mr.. Paul, Mr. Pack i3O ALP.; -and Mrs. Piaui Reading,
Mr..C. Biniy Baldwin, M.P., Miss Caroline Bellew,.Mr.
Storer, &c:f ,

ROBBERY OF .1,6001.—0 n Monday information WES
received aethe Chief police station, Scotland-yard; that the
con tidentiallraletAri-Colona Howard had absconded., stealing
upwards of 1,6001. froin_the Colonel's residence at Brighten,
chiefly in Bank of England notes.
A PEACEFUL
- --ExrunrrioN,-:-TbiiJaiiin expedi-
-4
011, according to a Washington correspondent, is tOLibie
merely a hydrographical survey of the 'Japanese coast.
meTnt:
3?,pounders are to ba used merely as measuring
in the :triangulations; the cannon bills' are
'hake lin'e-C If any-lapancse is foolish enoughibtii:lrlPl°l:l:ttn.riil.
'Need intbe wav of these meteorological
should
course nobody will be to blame NA 4iuieelf he
[hUrtsia;END Pit* lient/d. •