The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-24 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TlMES.—There must always be a certain family
Likeness between inaugural addresses, and there is

something more than a resemblance between the
objects of the Social Science Congress and those
professed by one department of the British Asso-
ciation. Yet how great is the contrast between
the discourses of Sir C. Lyell at Birmingham and of
Lord Brougham at York ! The one is a special and
minute discussion of two limited subjects, the other
a review of the advance made by civilisation in all
its branches during the past year. While Sir C.
Lyell strictly confines himself to the science of
which he is at once an acknowledged master and a

patient disciple, Lord Brougham ranges at large

over the vast field of human interests, dispensing

praise and blame in a tone of authority, and critic
cising with parental confidence each effort at social
improvement. The difference is striking, but it is
not unnatural. It is partly due to the character of
the two Associations, and partly to the character of
the two Presidents. The Association for the Pro-
motion of Social Science purports to be a joint-
stock company, with unlimited liability, for making
the world better than it is. It is but eight years
old, and is still conscious of being on its trial.
Visible progress is a condition of its existence, and
unless some proofs of its practical success could be
produced yearly, the loyalty of its members would
be liable to flag. Science, properly so called, is a
very different thing, It reposes on a foundation
beyond cavil, it can appeal to victories achieved in
far-off times, when social relations were comprised
within the bosom of the family, and the intercourse
of nations was an interchange of wrongs. It can
point to a long and august succession of apostles and
heroes and martyrs and confessors—a veritable
Church in the catacombs—whose sublime devotion to
the study of Nature in the evil days of tyrannical
ignorance would have ennobled researches ever so
barren of results. Physical science is not dependent
on popular support ; it can afford to wait for the
recognition of its services, and, though it never was
more " fructiferous" than in the present age, it
would be earnestly cultivated if these fruits should
chance to fail for a season. No ono appreciates this
better than Lord Brougham, but Lord Brougham
as a savant is not identical with Lord Brougham as
a social philosopher, He can recollect the invention
of philanthropy, but he cannot recollect the invention
of natural science, tend he is justified in patronising
the one as he would not venture to patronise the
other. Moreover, various as is the assortment of
theories and movements upon which he touches,
there is scarcely one in which he has not borne a
part more or less active. If he sometimes lapses into
Herodotean discursiveness, he has an Herodotean
experience to excuse and enliven it. To attempt a
digest of an address which is itself a digest of a
year's history would be an idle task. Lord Brougham
is a privileged man, but journalists aro not, and our
readers would scarcely bear with us if we were to
take the same liberties with them. Perhaps a short
analysis of one column will give them an adequate
impression of the work which the President has cut
out for his colleagues. First, then, comes the
question of extradition treaties, followed by some
remarks on colonial policy, a few sentences of rebuke
to the Americans, a notice of the plan for abridging
the labours of Parliamentary Committees, a well
deserved compliment to Mr. Gladstone's scheme of
Government insurance, comments on the Lord
Chancellor's County Courts Bill, a suggestion as to
the compilation of judicial statistics, a recommen-
dation of the sewerage problem to the Sanitary

Department, a good word for the security of railway
passengers, and a discussion on the present position
of the convict system. Multiplying this miscel-
laneous list by five, we get a tolerably fair idea of
the world of reform opened out to the students of
Social Science. It is like reading notices of motions
for the Parliament of Man foreseen in vision by the
poet. Still, it must be confessed that from this mass
of projects most of us could select some that are
really within our own power to promote, and are
manifestly worth promoting. It is a little unfortu-
nate, though perhaps unavoidable, that these, upon
which all can agree, should be jumbled, together with
others which are still fiercely disputed, and remain
unreatised, not for want of attention to them, but be-
cause their utility is not proved. An instance of
the former is the establishment of cooking depots
for the working classes—an experiment of which
the advantage is obvious and unqualified, so long as
the self-supporting principle is maintained. An
instance of the latter is Mr Lawson's abortive Bill,
miscalled Permissive,—since what it permits is an
arbitrary control of beer drinkers by their teetotal
neighbours—which happens to be the subject inns
mediately preceding cooking depots in Lord
Brougham's address. No one can deny that this is
a proper question for such an Association to enter-
tain, but until a new code of social rights can be
established, we do not anticipate much good from
referring it to the " Jurisprudence Department."
A still more questionable function, and one which
Lord Brougham exercises with great freedom on
these occasions, is that of dogmatising upon the
policy of foreign Governments. This is no part of
the legitimate duty of a quasi scientific body, and it
must tend, if it become et general practice, to excite
most unscientific dissensions. Perhaps there is no
more useful province of its operations than the cor-
respondence with foreign reformers, and the accu-
mulation of facts which may correct and modify our
national prejudices. The very opposite effect, how-
ever, would be produced if the laudation of our own
institutions should become the order of the day, and
foreign visitors should hear attacks on their own
which they cannot answer, and which can serve no
conceivable purpose. Tbere are a great many pas-
sages in this discourse which we cannot but regard
as mischievous digressions. The conduct of Prussia
towards Denmark has, indeed, been infamous, and
neither the English Press nor the English Perlis•
meat has failed to characterise it as it deserved, but
the Concert-room at York at the opening of the
Social Science Congress is no fit place for denounc-
ing it, The emancipation of the serfs in Russia comes
within thescope of Social Science, if it has any scope,
but the oppression of Poland does not. The develop-
ment of public instruction it; France, and the
changes in the French code of bankruptcy, are
steps in social progress, but the continuance of
restrictions on liberty and the doctrines of Duke
Persigny belong exclusively to politics. The same,
we think, may be said of Lord Brougham's novel
proposal that the show of hands should govern an
election in this country unless it should be nega-
tived by the poll in a certain proportion ; but this,
though a political, is at least a domestic affair, and
connected with the prevention of bribery. Vhat
really does harm and would ultimately prove fatal
to the existence of the Association is the pretension
to take cognisance of everything that passes in the
world. If its centre is indefinite, there is the more
reason that its elm= ference should be defined, and
that it should not ramble into spheres where the
moral enthusiasm of individuals must be wasted or
crushed. There is, indeed, hardly any limit to the
power of organised agitation where it can bo car-
ried on long enough to leaven the opinion of a
whole generation. Duelling in this country yielded
much more easily than could have been expected,
and those who did so much to abolish slavery may
be pardoned for indulging the hope of diminishing
oppression and war. It is doubtless the recollecs
tioa of the marvellous triumphs that have been thus
won in his oan lifetime, and a sincere faith in the
force of reason and unity of truth, that actuated
Lord Brougham in uttering these protests. From
his own point of view he may be right, and no one
can refuse respect to the testimony which he some-
times delivers in the House of Lords against prin-
ciples which he has spent his life in combating, We
honour, as a special gift, the sympathy with pro,.
gross in every form which leaves hien no rest, even
at the ago of 87, unless he speaks his mind in this
way. Only we counsel his followers not to be mis-
led by his example, nor to suppose that arbitrary
menarche or powerful democracies can be converted

from the error of their ways by the machinery at
their disposal.
HERALD.—We have looked up and down the tall
columns of Lord Brougham's address, and we have
well nigh shaken in oar shoes to think how creation
is being sectionised by these terrible philosopher!'
There are lady philosophers who wear galas
mounted spectacles, and who look as though they
were ready to go on 'Change and buy stocks, 01;
prepared to show us the only correct method 01
laying out a kitchen garden. Then, there is the
male philosopher, with voice preternaturally 051°32
with a beard most scientifically arranged, and with
facial muscles so perfectly composed that we feel
assured he must long ago have settled every mortal
question to his complete satisfaction. It is in vain
that we devote our attention to the most ordinary
pursuits, and profess that we have no desire to be
either scientific or philosophical. We want to d,°,
ordinary things in an ordinary way, and to ca'"
them by ordinary names ; but we find to our die;
may that a powerful organisation has determined
that we shall do nothing of the kind. The philosv
phers are after us—hue and cry—and we find that
w' can neither poke our fire nor eat our dinner
without being terrified with some awful lecture on
the scientific principles which we are said to be
recklessly attempting to set at defiance. Even PO
Betsy is harassed almost to the point of giving Ile;
tice, by being bored about " domestic economy'
when she only wants to sweep the room or dust on!
bookshelves. The " poor little ploughboy" is chased
" across the lea" by a female illuminati, who appear°
to call out—" You little rascal, you have forgotten
all you learnt at school ; I'll put you in Section C'
that I will." We almost dread the sections as we
do the stocks, and are inclined to look upon the
whole process as something closely akin to vivisec'
tion itself. What with the National Association fa
the Promotion of Social Science, and the British
Association for the Advancement of Science Which
is not considered social, we are upon the horns °(
a dilemma. Whether we are social or unsocial,
whether we meddle with bodies organic, inorganic'
or disorganised, we find the trap with its mouth
open, and incontinently tumble in before we ale
aware of it. There is a perfect mania in the present
day for systematising, classifying, cataloguing, gni
pigeon-holing. To those philosophers men aur
women are like physic bottles or luggsge at a rail•
way station, forthwith to be labelled. We go about
with tickets on our backs, and are grouped accord.!
ing to some particular system—we are looked et,
through microscopes, and are put into algebraioa'
formulae. We become " quantities," and are
reckoned up as decimals ; our peculiarities
are photographed, and we are " classed" aci
cording to peculiarities which have their found el
tions somewhere in the origin of species, an
which go up into the region of the fixed atoll'
Every avenue of escape is closed, and for all pre!:
tical purposes we are as surely ticketed, cabinete°'
and microscoped, as if we were so many stag:
beetles stuck upon pins, or fossilised relics of thw
pre.Adamite earth: The spell is upon us, and the!:
is no getting away. Learned ladies and pedantl,
gentlemen have noted our peculiarities and 0n:
surroundings, and whether we consent or protest;
they will write their "papers" about us and reap
us down at the very next meeting—or "congress
—of their several tribes. But what did Lore
Brougham say on these various topics, and on 1",.,
hundred and one other subjects which his lordsb'Y
managed somehow or other to cram into his orato;
rival carpet bag ? The noble president said a gren,
many very wise things, not a few very good thing
and, upon the whole, said just what he liked and
what the people were pleased to bear. He triPPe
himself up a little in his own net while wading
~
through the depths of the German Ocean, tellw.;
his hearers, firstly, that " it is never honourable
nay, hardly even safe—for a great nation to stun
by and witness unmoved acts of inexcusable ogre!.
sion, to the violation of all national rights •'' thei;
secondly, that although England left the Dane° s
their fate, " the outcry that she wes humbled is ,70
grcundlees as it would be to say that any one Ne'd
saw a murder committed by a gang of arm 0,1
ruffi ins was humbled if he did not stay t°e,
hands ;" and then, thirdly, that when we told Den„
mark she should not "stand alone," yet ,s prou/Ilf
of help there was none given." Let us hope tholes
ever Lord Brougham, in going down from Lortund
to some Jericho in the provinces, should be so 1101
fortunate as to fall among thieves, his lordship w
be spared the misery of ,
being told that altbotlf,
neither priest, Levite, nor policeman came to, 1!.';
help, yet they do not feel at all "humbled' 11,
having left him to shift for himself, notwithstaudie4
their previous intimation that he should not " BOP"
alone," and despite their present confession that °'
has been subjected to au act of " inexcusable aggl7os
sion." Nevertheless, his lordship's harangue I,
many excellent points, and is worthy of his decllL°o
ing years. " The old man eloquent" shines to tlld,
last, though he dates from 1778; and vast, indeed
are the mental stores—wonderful the protractile
vigour—which at so advanced an age can fix tf $
attention and excite the admiration not only of
coterie at York but of the nation at large.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

------..--_

LIVERPOOL—FRIDAY. to'
There was a limited attendance of millers and dealerlo,s
day, and we have to report a rather slow inquiry. P—er
and flour may be quoted ld to 2d per cental, and 3d Pt,
barrel and sack lower. with a slow sale. Oats and °l'ot
meal were dull, and prices in favour of buyers. 13arleiro
a slight Acclino on the week. Beats dearer. Indian e°
is much pressed for sale. Peas must be quoted lower.

STAMFORD—FRIDAY. 404
There was a fair supply of wheat at to-day's p
and sales took place at less money than the previous /I„ejlee.
—Whito wheat, 38s olOs ; red, 37e to 39s per 36 stvr,
Barley, malting, 32s to 36s ; grinding, 33s to 36s Per Ter
Oats, 22s to 26s per 21 stone. Beans, old, 40s to -43.`
qr. ; new, 42s to 455.

WAKEFIEL—FRIDAY. og
The demand for wheat was sow to-day, and the pr;ee°lo
last week declined is for old and new. Barley ale"
cheaper, Other articles unchanged.
Averages for the week :
Wheat 1,247 qrs., at 42s 4d
Oats —
8ar1ey..... 3O --
Peas
Beans

LINCOLN—FiIm/or. tfaclet
Today there was an improved show of wheat, the ,--ere
however, was not very brisk, and lest week's priceo d Al
not maintained. Barley came freely to hand, and 00,,
declining prices. Oats slow of sale. Beans in requets3o
White wheat new, 42s to 47s Barley, grinding.. 289 '' 0
Red do, 39s to 43s Oats,-old, .. 2lO t° .0
Old white 42s to 47s New,do 205 to -All
Red do, 39s to 43s I Beans.. 383 to :4
Barley, malting 32s to 35s 1 Beans, new --s to

CORK—THURSDAY. Red
The following were the quotations this morning
wheat, 8s Od to 8s 6d; white, 8s 3d to 9s Od ;
ld to Os Od ; oats, 5s 10d to 6s 3d ; black do., 513 v
Gs Od ; here, Gs 10d.

BRISTOL SUGAR—FRIDAY. ter°
The state of our market is most depressed. Ica-r•sg'
do not press sales, and the trade hold off from balitlei
Refiners' produce meets with a moderate sale, but O
are considerably lower. Rum was in fair demand, 8t
prices.

COAL MARKET.
Frfoes of Coal per Ton at the close of the market.
e. d. kWalls End. ,00
West Hartley 20 0 ' 0
.0
Cowpen Hartley 20 0 Kelloe.. . . ... .. ...... 0 o
Holywell 18 6 South Kelloe ....... 01 A
Ilaswell ........... •• . h t.'
Walla End. Hetton ..... I'9 V
t!,
Braddyll's Hetton 20 3 Tunstall ........ . . .;`,O
lieugh Hall 20 3 Hart1ep00r.........•. m
Ships at market, Cr ; sold, 49,

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