The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-26 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

much as was old and useless as the creation of what
was new and requisite." It seems very strange,
certainly, that none of our advanced statesmen
should have had sufficient foresight and intelligence
to enable them to remedy this deficiency, and meet
the requirements of their generation with skill and
spirit. Instead of this, where do we find more com-
plaints made, and hear of more dissatisfaction ex-
pressed, than in the workings of the law. Men
who willingly obey the other regulations of their
time, instinctively turn with annoyance, dread, or
irritation to the vexed and harassing requi-
sitions of common law and its mystifying
procedure. Resting everything upon precedent
Ins been a fatal error and a ruinous
course in our judicature; as Sir J. WILDE has
adroitly put it. the life, body, and spirit of the
feudal system was gone, "but the armoury of its
weapons and defences is still cherished in our hails
of justice." Thus if an immediate analogy was
not found, a different one was taken, and
bent and distorted till it served the turn and
fulfilled the sacred duty of establishing a pre-
cedent. What can be said too strongly or severely
against this Procrustean form of making the laws of
one time to suit another, when all else has changed
over which time and manners can exercise control
and alter in form and style. What we seem espe-
cially to watt has been described by Sir J. WILDE
in a very concise form : it is a resume of the actual
working of special laws for particular purposes.
He hopes that he is not too sanguine in expecting
within the bounds of labour and time this idea may
be found capable of realisation, and that therefrom
the most beneficial results may be experienced.
" For the student and the general public the vast
area covered by the law would present a district set
out in order instead of a tangled thicket." It would
be well if this suggestion could be carried out, for
there is no doubt that there is great truth in it, and
that its practice would conduce to the welfare of all
concerned. The concluding passages of Sir J.
WILDE'S discourse are particularly deserving of
notice, and contain some sterling truths that can-
not be too earnestly studied nor too deeply dwelt
upon. It is a proof of his conviction of the opinions
which he expresses that he thus steps out of the
beaten track to show us the errors of his pro-
fession, instead of doing what so many persist
in—namely, upholding its fallacies, and through
thick and thin clinging to all the prejudices and
malpractices of the affair, totally ignoring the con-
sequences which such a course entails on others.
Let those who are sceptical as to the necessity of
Reform in the law, and are apt to sneer at what
amateurs or novices may put forward, regard the
expressed opinion of one who surely is well quali-
fied to judge of the merits and demerits of the ques-
tion. He says that "a severe exactitude in the
application of a highly technical system has ever
been the foremost blemish of English jurispru-
dence." How true is this declaration hero put forth
that "the spring and root of all our law expenses
have been laid in public opinion." What, then,
should prevent that solitary change and desirable
alteration taking place which are eo ardently de-
sired by many, and of such vital consequence to
the best interests of the community. Sir WILDE
has done his part freely, fully, and fairly—he has
extenuated nothing, and set down naught in ma-
lice. It remains for others to do their part also, to
treasure up his precepts and ponder well upon the
principles which should inform and animate the
laws of this great country. We live in a progress
sive age, and yet the laws seem to stand still. It
is difficult to find any old-established institution
that has not to bend to custom, and conform to
the sweeping doctrine of change ; and yet there are
hose who would desire and demand of ns to leave
ill masters connected with the law in statu quo
rather than introduce most needful innova-
tions, and the adaptation of special require-
ments. Sir J. WILDE remarked that legal
education engenders great evil, that of "prizing
above their worth, and precision, and refinement.'
This has grown with the growth and strengthened
with the strength of the law, and many have suf-
fered in consequence of its almost universal adoption
and the firm hold it has taken on the minds of the
profession. -What can be truer than this definition
of things as they at present exist. " The fear of
going too far ever present, the fear of not teaching
justice faintly felt, positive injustice worked in the
present to avoid possible injustice in the future,
rights so bound in safeguards lest they become
wrongs that they cease to be worth asserting—a
structure in which form ever overlays substance,
and a contest in which justice is apt to sink under
the weight of ter own armour, while precedent,
casting its shadow both ways, binds the present by
the errors of the past, and narrows it by the possi-
bilities of the future. Such are the fruits which e
spirit of over-jealous caution and exactitude is cal-
culated to bear." This is a sketch drawn by a
master-hand, which admirably displays the anoma-
lous state at which we have arrived. Stretched on
the rack of a too easy chair, as it *ere, in the en-
tanglements of over. wise definitions Sir J. WILDE
counsels those who would aid the cause of Law
Reform to become animated with the requisite
boldness. This is the right sort of advice to give,
for the task is a burdensome one, and a faint heart
will never win the day nor carry off the coveted
prize. The country will have cause to rejoice at the
advent of the time, when many brave spirits will
arise to carry out the long-desired reformation that
our law requires, and apply themselves with might
and main to the noble endeavour according to the
axioms here set forth. " I mean that boldness
which is born of the firm conviction, that whatever
is contrary to commonsense and national justice,
ought also to be contrary to limp—the boldness
which fears not to depart from the past to render
homage to the present, which acknowledges that
the law is made for man, and not man for the law;
and which marches straight to its object, preferring
simplicity with some defects to the perfection at
whlch complexity aims, but rarely reaches."

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JOHN SCOTT, Sole Lgent

The trade and finance of the British Empire is
a subject sufficiently large to tax the powers even
of E 0 able and accomplished a speaker as Mr LAING
to compress its salient points into the compass of a
single lecture. Yet the ex-Financial Minister of
India was sufficiently familiar with his subject to
accomplish his task without difficulty, and to .en:
lighten the young men of Wick on the doctrines
of political economy, without encumbering his dis•
course with useless details or perplexing his hearers
with abstruse theories. Mr LAING having been in-
vited by the Young Men's Association at Wick to
deliver a lecture, wisely selected a topic which espe-
cially concerns all who are about to enter upon
a commercial life, and who, as Mr LAING reminded
them, may hereafter be called upon to play their
part in the tea plantations of India, the mercantile
houses of China or Japan, or the gold diggings and
sheep-runs of the Australasian colonies. His ad-
("tress was clear, sensible, and highly instructive,
always, supposing that his hearers did not accept
his political opinions as ((pally uneontrovertible
with his statistics. Mr LUNG is a man of unques-
tioned ability and great experience, His capacity
as a financier has been proved by ti;s services to
India, and it is not surprising that h • should dwell
on the altered prospects of that cou itry with con-
' aiderable satisfaction. He tells us at he is not,

and has never been, an ardent partisan ; but we
must not suppose that the absenoe of party spirit,
however desirable, necessarily renders the sound-
ness of a man's judgment unimpeachable. Indeed
in some cases the coolness of temperament and re-
flective disposition which keeps him apart from the
exeitement of the political arena, prevents him
from accurately estimating the intensity of a na-
tional sentiment. For some reason or other Mr
LAING has altogether miscalculated the public feel-
ing with regard to the Darish question. In the
first place, he entirely misstated the question at
issue, which was not whether we were "to rush
into a great war with 45 millions of Germans to
decide whether Danish or German should be taught
in the grammar schools of Schleswig," but whether
the wealthiest and most powerful nation in the
woed should stand timely aside while two strong
States dismembered a weak one without the shadow
of a just pretence. The reductio ad absurdum is
always easy, and we might as well say we would
not go to war to stop French from being substituted
for English in the grammar schools of Ireland, if
the question of language and of nationality were
nothing more than an empty word. It is easy for
a speaker to declare that a nation should only appeal
to the sword in cases clearly affecting its honour,
good faith, or practical interest, but unless the in•
habitants of Wick are very far behind the rest of
their compatriots in intelligence and political know
ledge, they have long since been convinced that no
war was necessary, but that the ample announce-
ment that the passage of the Eider would be re-
garded by Great Britain as a casus belli would have
preserved the Danish dominions intact without a
shot being fired. An English fleet cruising in the
Baltic, another in the Adriatic, and a Union Jack
hoisted on the Dannewerke would have promptly
and peaceably settled questions whose final solu len
may possibly be left to another generation. Stich a
course far from costing life would have spared the
bloodshed and misery now inflicted by the war, and
would have probably averted those European con-
vulsions to which the greed of Prussia will infallibly
give rise. But it is something new for our politi--
cians to stand in such wholesome awe of these for-
midable millions of Germans, and we should imagine
the Vaterland itself was rather astonished at the
sudden timidity of Englishmen. It would, in truth,
seem as if that great prosperity of which Mr LAING
gave so striking a picture had produced nationally
the same Effect that it often does individually, and
had narrowed the mind, hardened the heart, and
shaken the nerves of stout JOHN BULL. He has
certainly no ground for financial uneasiness, being,
as Mr LAING reminded him, about the only solvent
one among his European fellows, while the New
World is rapidly doing its best to eclipse the Old
in the extent of its embarrassments by incurring a
national debt already reckoned by hundreds of mil-
lions without the smallest prospect of being able to
pay the interest. France, says Mr LAING, has in
ten years added a hundred and fifty millions to her
debt. Austria and Italy bombard each other with
budgets showing annual deficits of six or eight
millions; while Russia is always borrowing, and
the financial condition of Spain and Turkey is
something proverbial. Meanwhile, our statistics
show a very different result, and although our
annual expenditure is something between 60 and
70 millions, we have a yearly surplus which enables
us to reduce taxation. "In the four years between
1860 and 1864," says Mr LAING, " the taxpayers
were relieved of taxation to the amount of
£9,425,000, and yet the revenue of 1864 remains
almost the same as it was in 1860." A great part
of the national prosperity indicated by these facts is
doubtless due, as Mr LAING justly attributed it, to
the diffusion of the principles of free trade, So
rapid has been the rate of increase in our imports
and exports that the speaker was puzzled to bring
it fairly within the grasp of his hearers, justly re-
marking that the figures were like those of astro-
nomical distances, and almost escaped us by their
magnitude. Twenty years ago, when Sir ROBERT
PEEL was just inaugurating the practical applica-
tion of free-trade principles, the foreign trade of
Great Britain and Ireland was valued at 150 mil-
lions per annum. The imports and exports for
1863 were estimated at no less than 444 millions, and
the increase of the yearlB63 over 1862 amounted to
£53,000,000, so that the rate of increase is rapidly
augmenting. Of this " the largest commerce the
world ever saw," Mr. LAING gave some interesting
details, entering very fully into the principal items
of our trade and commerce, and bringing some very
important facts under the notice of his hearers.
One of these which may furnish an additional ar-
gument against the adoption of Mr. GOLDWIN
SMITH-8 anti-colonial theories, is that the natural
tendency of colonial trade is always towards the
mother country, and that " a given population,
whether it be of British origin as in Australia or
Canada, or of foreign race as in India or Ceylon,
will always furnish a larger trade per head with
Great Britain, if they form part of the British
En3p're, than if, as in the United States or in China,
they are subjects of a foreign government." He
from statistics, substan-
from British India,
gilluiosnasftoyf exports, down
tililautsintrgatheids
tthheisorbyyacnidtinrganging
millions of im-
ports
ourlaarngedsttackuisntgomtwere,ngtiyvinin
to the little island of Mauritius, which under British
government gives two millions and takes half-a-
million annually, sums altogether disproportionate
to its size and importance. Our trade with France
has increased immensely of late years, while that
with America has of course sensibly diminished,
though happily without affecting the general pros-
perity of the :country. The high rate of interest
Mr. LAING attributes solely to the activity of trade
and the high rate of profits, waving the question
as to the want of sympathy between our expanding
trade and our non-expanding currency. It is a pity
that a gentleman who so clearly appreciates the
value and beneficial results of Free Trade, should
not EEO that the great want of our commercial life
is its extension to the money market. One would
think that Mr. LAING'S own quick financial intel-
ligence might show him at a glance the disproportion
between a trade increasing at the rate of fifty mil-
lions a year and the narrow limits of our currency.
Most assuredly the Bank Act of 1844 was never
adapted for a growing commerce, and it is in spite
of it, not
-by its aid, that our mercantile interests
have flourished. But despite some questionable
theories Mr. LAING'S address was well worthy of
his reputation, and the Wick Association may thank
him for a clear, succinct, and admirable summary
of the vast dealings of British commerce.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

FRANCE.

BOURSE, Sept. 24.—The market, in the absence
of anything like business, remains stationary:
Threes, for the Account, are unvaried at 65fr. 95c.,
and Mobilier only shows a slight improvement,
being new at 1,017 fr. 50c. Railway Market dull,
but with prices up to the present time pretty well
maintained. The market closed as follows :

41 per Cents. 92 70
Do. end month
3 per Cents
Do. end month 65 90
Credit Mobilior 1015
Do. end month 1016 25
Bank Shares —
Credit Fancier l2OO
Roman

Italian Loan 67 GO
Do. end month 67 65
Ditto Threes ..
Neor Mexican ....
Russian

Austrian
Spanish Threes — --
Rome Debt
Deferrel

RA. IL WAYB.

Orleans
Northern
Lyons and Mediterranean
Southern
Western
Eastern ....
Sardinian ..
Austrian
Lonibard
North of Spain . • • .
Saragossa
Ditto to Barcelona

Cash. Account.
890 891 25
983 75
9tl 25 .. 923 75
628 75 .. 631 25
520
500 .. 502 50
318 75
452 5J .. 455
538 75 .. 537 60
400 .. 400
487 50 .. 488 75
205 .. 205

AMERICA.

(FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

The objects that are causing most interest or at
least excitement here and in the Northern States
generally, are—
The Chicago Convention, the Surrender of the
Forts, and the operation of the Fleet at Mobile
Harbour, and last, not least, the c ipture or evacu-
ation of Atlanta.
Assuming, on the strength of Mr. Stanton's offi-
cial but disjointed despatches, tint the Federal
troops really occupy Atlanta, it makes a very con•
siderable practical difference whether the place was
" captured," or, as many think, deliberately evacu-
ated by the Confederates ; because, if the latter be
the case, it implies the correctness of the statement
put forward some time since that the Government
works, material, &a., had been transferred "further
South." If this be so, then the Federals only gain
the position and bare walls. However, great have
been the rejoicings in the North over the event ;
and the President has issued a sort of quasi pro
clamation, recommending a general thanksgiving
for the Mobile harbour affair and the glorious
achievements of the army under Major-General
Sherman in the State of Georgia, resulting in the
capture of the city of Atlanta.
As it is possible before the steamer sails that
some more definite account may reach New York of
this capture, I shall defer any further remarks on
the matter.
Probably ere this letter ever reach your columns,
English readers will have had opportunity to learn
as much as they have any desire to know about the
Chicago Convention. That these conventions and
ratification meetings, and so forth, are of political
importance, inasmuch as they express the senti-
ments for the time being of the majority of the
politicians attendant on the several occasions, is a
thing that nobody will deny. Bat when it is also
recollected that they are virtually mere demonstra-
tions7—that they legally do not form part of the
machinery, so to say, by which a President is
elected, I see no reason or object for my troubling
British readers, or their troub:ing themselves much
about the Chicago convention.
However, as it is generally stated that the nomi•
nation of Gen. M'Clellan, and the tone of the other
resolutions passed, denoted a strong feeling or wish
or opinion, amongst the majority of free and en-
lightened citizens there assembled in favour of
peace—that, in short, it was a peace convention, it
may be as well to see what the South thinks on the
subject. I have little doubt but that the following
extracts from the hid:mond Examiner express the
general, real, Southern sentiment.
After stating that, now the issues of peace and
war are not in the hands of politicians and states-
men, but in the hands of soldiers, and that—
" Further, those Yankees who aro war men to-day
will be peace men in three months if their grand
campaign turns out an utter failure; and those who
are for peace to-day, with few exceptions, will foam
for war and yell for blood within the same three
months, if they see reason to believe that the Con-
federacy is reeling to its fall." The article con-
tinues :
It may therefore be affirmed most categorically, and re-
ceived as an axiom, that the doings of the Chicago, or of
the Baltimore, or of the Cleveland Convention, or of all
of them put together, are of no consequence to the world.
The election in November will not be governed by the elec-
tion of those politicians in August, but by the military
situation in November ; and the election in November itself
signifies just as little as the Conventions, because the
Lome of war or peace must be governed, not by
the wishes, policy, or protestations of the party in
power, but by the situation of the invading
armies at the close of this campaign, and by the
possibility or impossibility of procuring a fresh
army to undertake havasion next year, which is the same
thing as to say that the Yankee nation will fight us upon
this argument just so long as it shall be able to fight us, and
no longer. Whether under Lincoln or M'Clellan, in a
constitutional war, or an unconstitutional, the whole quarrel
between us, and every part of it, and the time of ending it
and the terms of settling it—all abide the inevitable wager
of battle.
Therefore, while the whole of the enemy's country is
hanging to-day upon the utterances of the telegraph wires
—eager to know, not so much whether there is to be peace
or war, as who are to have the profits and spoils of peace
or war, for four years to come—the people of
the Confederate States may await those revela-
tions, not with calmness only, but with utter indiffer
ence. It matters not to us what men are to rule and
to rob in that country the next four years; and as to their
being for peace or for war that depends not upon them, but
upon us; we shall cause them to be for either one or the
other, precisely in proportion as we shall drive bank their
armies, or be driven by them.
Yet it is not strange that there is so much curiosity here
about the action of those Conventions. It is impossible to
avoid looking to them for something that may serve as a
kind of sign, showing what cur enemies themselves (or one
party of them) think of their chance of conquering us. To
this extent their proceedings may serve as a sign, at least
for the day that is passing over our heads ; hardly for to-mor-
row ; still less for next November ; least of all for next year.
If the Peace Democrats prevail at Chicago, it will prove
that the Democratic party generally thinks war played out
and believes it will have better chance of coming into place
on a peace than on a war platform ; yet even that peace
platform could not stand up against the capture of Atlanta
and Petersburg—would be swept out of sight in a moment
by the capture of Richmond. So, if the War Democrats
prevail, and all the parties contending for ower advocate
war until " the suppression of the rebellion," yet that could
not stand against the defeat of Sherman and the reappear-
ance of Grant's beaten remnant re infecta, at Washington."
The length of these quotations renders it impos-
sible—even if I wished so to do—to enter now into
extended remarks upon the " Peace question." It
appeared to me-more important for your readers to
know, so far as such things can be known, the
Southern feeling at this moment on what after all
is a practical question, than to discuss the abstract
notions of the Chicago or other Presidential Eke.
tion Convention.
But this I will say, with reference to the alleged
peaceful tendency of this "Democratic" demon.•
stration, that, however loud and eloquent were the
denunciations of the modus operandi of the Wash-
ington Government ; however cleverly the
" orators" referred to the miserable effects and the
unnecessary brutalities of the war; however
strongly they repudiated the very idea that if their
party had been in power those and such things
would have occurred—notwithstandirg all that was
said, and much more—l do believe that if, during
the progress of tl e Convention, " reliable intelli-
gence" had arrived that any
."
great Union victory"
had been achieved—let us imagine, for argument
sake, that the " news,' was to this skeet :
" Glorious victory—Grant triumphant—Richmond
DEATH OF WALTER SAVAGE LANDOR.—lntelli-
taken—Lee's army cut in two and destroyed—
gence has been received at Bath (of which city he was for 17,596 rebels killed, the rest prisoners—J ff Davis
many years a resident) of the death of Walter Savage
on the 30th of January, 1775, and had obtained celebrity as killed—the city burned with Greek fire—the
Landor at Florence on the 17th inst. Mr Landor was born Secesh women properly treated—Union loss, 4
killed and 319 wounded, &C., B:`3•'' If, in
a scholar and poet before the end of last century. His short, the " intelligence'' had been of the
"Imaginary Conversations" have rendered his name fami- kind commonly called " glorious to the Union
liar as an accomplished litterat
1 tie funeral of cause," then I believe the "Peace Platform" would
FUNERAL OF CAPTAIN SPFE.E.—
„„. )
othere been
of
disorder; istdlro smt
ho
es t
saodomt re erdo ooro
raonayi
Captain Speko took place at the village of Dowlish.Wake, expresses it, those who were for peace "would,
two miles from Ilmineter, on Friday afternoon. 'I he body (with few exceptions) foam for war and yell for
was removed from the residence of the Rev. B. Spoke, blood."
brother of the deceased, at 3 o'clock, and was followed to As a matter of history this sort of "sudden
the grave by a long procession of mourners, clergy, and change"
"currea more than once during the pro-
friends of the family. Amongst others present were Sir IL gress of War. What is there to show that any
Murchison, Dr Livingstone, and Captain Grant. The latter firmer
carried a wreath of laurel leaves and flowers, which be -peace principles exist now in the North
-WEDNESDAY, 9 A.M.
placed upon the coffin as it was being lowered into t
The Atlanta affair, or " capture," is still—to me
vault. The service was performed by the Rev. Preii-yriviary —" a muddle," so far as the deepetchee and reports
Coles,
• as yet published.

as a minister of the Gospel ought to le." Sometimes Mr
Close does not postpone the punishment of the audacious
travellers who decline to purchase his wares, but calls them
to a sense of duty upon the spot. In one flegrant cease, for
instance, in which a lady would have taken a copy of the
Tales had not "her husband screwed his mouth, and made
so many proud grimaces" that she had not the courage
to complete the purchase, the poet's blood boiled, and he
cried—" Never mind, sir; you shall not have a book o f
mine at any price; but when a poet of Westmoreland has
the misfortune to bow low again to you, you will show him
a little more courtesy, which becomes one man to an other.
God help us, poor worms of earth—how we can sneer at
each other I" It may bo well conceived that the proud pas •
senger to whom these noble words were addressed was seen,
as the train moved away, lost in "a state of speechless
amazement." A similar lesson might well have been read
to " a weak youth who fancied himself a gentleman," who
had the audacity to pitch the poet's handbills out of the
carriage window, and even to make use of disparaging lan-
guage with reference to the books mentioned on them. But
we are told that " on being informed that at home he was
called " Silly Simon," and beneath our notice, we made the
soft youth a low bow, but Nape that when his fond mamma
hears of the freaks of this her' pet lamb,' she will teach
him better manners," The ladies of Kirby-Stephen almost
invariably smile upon Mr Close, and it is seldom that he
has to make such an entry as this :--" Met Lady Howard,
at least the Hon. Mrs Howard, of Levens Hell, near
Milnthorpe, but her ladyship was in a bad humour, nor
would look at our bills or books ; and the tall footman,
who seemed too great a gentleman for us to approach, he
could not scarce speak to us." Unpardonable as
such conduct might well be deemed, it elicited nothing
more from the ill-used poet than a shrug of his shoulders ;
but the indecent familiarity of another lady, who addressed
him as "Johnny," and wanted to know what he had got
under his arm, drew down upon her a well-merited re-
proof. The idea, as he says, of such a liberty being taken
by "a lady whom ho had known in the days of her poverty;
a lady who had stood at her washing-tub like a certain
poet's little wife—and, we say, a la-'y not half so qualified
to be a lady as the said little wife I" It is sad to think
that such people exist, and still more melancholy is the fact
that their occasional rudeness is likely to drive Mr Close
from his secluded station, and compel him to take to writing
" for the London Press." Perhaps, however, it is as
well that the picture he draws of his daily life on the
plalform is not too enticing, Had it been brighter, other
great men might have been induced to follow his ex-
ample, aed the neighbourhood of a literary celebrity might
have become a bugbear to travellers. Imagine the feelings
of a visit to Albury on being peremptorily requested to pur-
chase "Mr Tupper's last poem, sir," with the alternative
of being annihilated by a stream of poetic lava on the occa-
sion of the author's next eruption I But if our poet is some"
times exposed to annoyance in his native place, he obtains
ample amends from distant and foreign admirers. Having
sent a copy of his works to the Prince of Wales, ho is proud
to say that he received an answer without delay, to the effect
that his royal highness was much obliged to Mr Close, but
was compelled to decline accepting his present. Almost as
gratifying as this "royal letter of thanks" was that in which
the Secretary of the Emperor of the French actually conde-
scended to state that his Imperial Majesty was too busy to
be able to look into the book ,vhich Mr Close had sent him.
After receiving so glowing a testimonial from the Tuileries
it is not wonderful that the poet expects "that our
Most Gracious Queen will use her royal prerogative
and whisper in the Minister's ear, ' Let the Poet Close have
justice. Give him his pension, else France will cry, Shame
on Victoria I Shame on the Prince of Wales I and Shame
on the Prime Minister " Such an interference on the
part of It oyalty would have taken place long ago, he thinks,
had it not been for "Privy Purse Phipps or Pipps," whom
he styles "a veritable carpet knight, a lieutenant who has
titles, and never fought a battle except with a fat turkey,"
and who " refused to allow the Queen to see the last Christ-
mas book, with the grand poem-1n memoriam of the late
Consort." He hopes to meet him some day face to face,
and to tell him " a piece of his mind ;" and he also
looks forward to an interview, but of a pleasanter
nature, with Lord Palmerston, to whom, in the interval,
he regu arly sends his successive works and his por-
trait, to remind him that he is "still alive and pulling
at his coat tail." It is gratifying to see that his spirits
are not permanently affected by the troubles through
which he has gone. At times, it is true, he becomes de-
jected, and fears that as
The Princes all of Scotland, they
Left Robert Burns to die;
So Poet Close need not expect
A higher destiny.
But he soon recovers from his unwonted fit of depression.
The wondrous struggles of Jean Paul, ho sap, have
often cheered him up. " For his fate was like our own ;
he lived among people who called him a fool, among a
set of barbarians who could not understand his book ;
but when once he got 20 miles from home he was astonished
to find himself a famous man, a great man I And at last
his time did come, and we wait for ours." For a long time,
he says, Punch spoke ill of him, but at length that old gen-
tleman and " father of all the critics" relented, and wished
him success. 0,11-er and weaker antagonists he intends to
crush, remarking that "it is too late in day for mush-
room gentry to joke with us; they had better play with a
Bengal tiger." A certain vioar, it appears, once
said of him in scorn, " Poor John, he can do
no harm. His writings are harmless." " But of this
error, our author indignantly exclaims, " our readers will
judge." And undoubtedly, if conceit, vulgarity, servility,
and insolence can supply writings with the power of doing
harm, Mr Close has every reason for impugning the vicar's
judgment. Far from being harmless, they may fairly claim
a more than ordinary share of noxious qualities, and, if he
cultivates their demerits with assiduity, he may justly look
forward to their taking a prominent place among nui-
sances.

THE " LONDON REVIEW " ON COMMERCIAL
PANICS.—The moment of a panic, whether in the
field of battle or in the money market, is one of
unreasoning fear, and works such wholesale de-
struction of plan and organisation for the moment,
that skill and courage must stand by and let fear
and confusion have their way. Bat these fearful
moments are produced by well known causes. At
Waterloo the French soldiers were promised the
support of Grouchy, who, they were told, had al-
ready joined the French right, but they found the
Prussians insteaL They lost confidence in their
aliens and themselves at the moment when victory
was hopeless, and panic converted a defeat into a
rout. So also in the money market people are told
this, that, and the other, which turns out to be
false, they lose all confidence, and a panic is esta-
blished. But in both cases the panic is preceded by
defeat, but by a defeat which, although of a certain
measure and gravity, may be followed by better
fortune next day. A defeat may be retrieved, for
organsation remains, bat a panic dissolvesthe body
corporate,and leaves only disjecta membra to operate
upon at sorne future time. In a defeat so much money,
or so many men and guns, or such a position is lost,
and the general or the operator retires with a dimi-
nished army or less moneyto make new combinations,
to defend what is left, or perhaps to renew the attack
in another quarter with a happier result, and with
reinforcements which courage and energy may have
supplied.• Panics in the money-market do not arise
from trading but from speculating. And there is
a pretty close analogy here between war and com-
merce. A panic in the battlefield never arises when
generals fight fairly for "who shall in a campaign.
The military speculator comes forward and fights
in disregard of all good rules of strategy for some-
thing beyond the ordinary prizes of war. Thus at
Waterloo Napoleon was not defending France from
invasion, but risking all for a crown; and at Bull
Run General M.Dowell fought for no military ne-
cessity, but, to please the newspapers and the pub-
lic, he embarked in a gambling enterprise of which
he knew but little. Ia either case battle was
joined for other than the pure military reason of
defence from invasion, or the putting down the
Confederacy of the Southern States. Napoleon did
not fight or mateeavra for the defence of France,
as another general acting under a Government at
Paris would have done, but for a crown—a prize for
which he gambled, and for which a speedy and
brilliant victory was necessary. So also General
M'Dowell attacked the Confederates with an undis•
ciplined army, not because ha thought that the road
to success, but because-the New York mob and press
imperatively demanded a fight. Any General may
be defeated, but routs and panics only happen to
them when they turn gamblers—just as in the
money market, it is not trade, not even overtrading,
which produces panic, but gambling or speculation.
At this moment some people apprehend a panic in
thecotton market as aprobebleconsequence of an early
peace in America. We shall not hazard an opinion
as to th 3 occurrence of such an event further than to
say that as threatened men live long, so a panic well
foretold may, perhaps, fail altogether,or may not stab
out all the life of even tho speculators in cotton
But so far as a panic or even, a very serious crisis'
is concerned, we do venture to fortell confidently,
that although the trader may be tried it is the
speculator, not the trader, who will be ruined.
The dealer in cotton and the manufacturer of cotton
goods, may so far have speculated as to be found
with a larger stock on hand than the necessities of
his trade may require. He is to that extent a specu-
lator. But the dealer or manufacturer is not likely
to err greatly in this way. Ho will, no doubt, suffer
by the panic, if it comes—he will be a loser, inas-
much as he has been a speculator—but, if he has not
sunk his character as trader or manufacturer in that
of speculator, he will be like the general who is des
feeted, and retires from the field, but is able to show
fight next day with reinforcements or in a better
position. They who will be ruined will be the
speculators—those who are holders of cotton for a
rise, and who have besides embarked all their credit
as well as their capital on holding on against ad.;
verse prices. These men will, no doubt, by their
fall damage others, perhaps drag them down
with them. But speculators deal with each
other. " Show me your company, and I'll tell you
what you are," and " Birds of a feather
flock together," are as true as anything short of
Gospel. The speculator does not often ruin the
trader. His co-speculator and the smaller people
who depend on him, and have trusted to his ape
pearance of wealth, are his coesufferers. It is the
same in other fields of speculation. The trader
generally falls on his feet : it is the speculator who
is rained. No bank ever yot came to grief by rei,
ceiving deposits and discounting, even too freely,
the cemmercial bids of its customers. The history
of all banking failures is unique. A bank lends
some one too much money, and when it finds this
out it lends him some more, not for the sake of
using the money, but to bolster up itself and its
customer together. In fact, the bank begins to
speculate in cotton, or in building, or in some.
thiag or another out of its own line, in the per.
son of its customer, and they both come to grief
together. If the bank had stopped when it first
took alarm—even if it had not taken the alarm as
soon as it should have done, it might perhaps
have been a loser, but it would have gone on.
It is a consoling fact for a nation of traders that
people are seldom ruined by trading. The exchange
of commodities is, in the main, profitable. Even
when a panic has affected trade pretty universally,
and the failures of large houses are announced
day by day, subsequent examination has always
shown that the traders were speculaters in dia9
guise, and have been unwisely bolstered up for
years by their credit in easy times.

THE "EXAMINER" ON LORD PALMERSTON ON IN-
SULAR POSITION —We are indebeted to Lord Palmerston
for the unexpected discovery of the dangers of an insulated
position. A frontier of sea used to be considered an ob-
stacle to attack, but Lord Palmerston has found out that it
offers facilities, and that, of all European countries, Eng-
land is the most exposed to the danger of invasion. At the
meeting of the Wilts Volunteers, Lord Palmerston, in a few
words, corrected all the false notions that have hitherto pre-
vailed as to the safety of insularity—" We differ in many
things from the great Powers of the Continent. We live on
an island accessible to any invader who might chance to land
on our shores at almost every point of our large maritime
circum'erence. We, therefore, cannot pretend to defend
ourselves as continental States may do, which, being
accessible in only one avenue of attack, by one valley
or by one pass, may successfully fortify their vulnerable
points, and by stationing. there a military force may think
themselves secure from invasion until they can collect a
large army to resist the invading enemy." It follows from
this that if England had been joined to France, iastead of
separated by the Channel, she would have been all the safer.
In that case there would have been a frontier of hill and
dale, upon which fortresses would have been placed to de-
fend approaches, just as we see them between France and
Belgium, and France and Germany, where the invader
cannot drop in without straying off the guarded roads.
The invader is not a foreign gentleman with a carpet-bag,
who can traverse open fields, and make his way across
country. The invader is a very big enemy, with propor-
tionate artillery. ammunition, baggage, and horses to drag
them, for which purpose roads are as necessary hero as on
the Continent, and very awkwardly planted would the
invader of our country be if he chanced to land on our
shores where there were not great roads to the interior
which would bear the passage of the material of an army.
A common country road would soon be cut up and de
stroyed by the guns and waggons required for a division
of 30,000 men. But that is difficulty No. 2. Difficulty
No. lis disembarkation. It is supposed that a landing ie
an easy matter as it is seen to be performed on beaches like
Brighton, Deal, Hastings, where people have only to
jump out of the boats and take care not to
get wet. But it is rather a different affair where
the impedimenta of war are concerned, heavy guns,
munitions, and horses to bo got safely to land in a very
limited tide-time, and in weather never long calm, We say
nothing of opposition, we do not imagine gunboats dashing
amongst the boats employed in the len.. ing, running down
some and shooting down others—what we are now consider-
ing are the difficulties of even the unopposed disembarka-
tion of a large army with its material. There are long ranges
of rocky coast, like Purbeck in Dorsets'aire, upon which a
punt can hardly bo shoved ashore except in calm weather,
and where there is a practicable beach it is generally over-
hung by cliff, the wayi up which, not fitted for artillery bag-
gage waggons, &c. If Lord Palmerston were to ship himself
to try the experiment, with nothing to carry but an umbrella,
and taking the chances of weather, he would find that the
shores of England are not as " accessible at almost every
point" as he supposes. Let him try it at Portland Bill, or
in his neighbourhood, in Christchurch bay, or St Albans.
What we maintain is, that the invader of this country
would find the same difficulties he has to encounter on
the Continent, and something more. We have no for-
tresses in the interior, but did the continental fortresses
ever stop the marches of Napoleon? lle left them behind.
He always found open country enough for the passage
of his troops, and seldom troubled himself with sieges.
There is not a country in the world so well fitted for
defence as England, intersected as it is with hedge-rows,
and with earthworks half ready made. And supposing an
enemy to have got over the great difficulty tf landing, he
would find before him impedimenta to his march hardly less,
surmountable than those of mountain passes, though not
so apparent. And why do we not see ourselves as others
sea us ; or is it the opinion on the Continent that " we
live in an island acces -iblo to any invader who may chance
to land on our shores ?" What was the argument of the
French Government when its co-operation fur the pro-
tection of Denmark was wanted ? " You," said N.epoleon
Ilia "may propose this safely, because you ere secure
against attack in your insular position, and can wage a
maritime war ; but France is open on the side of Germany,
and would have to beer all the strees and weight of the
war." But to bring the question to a short test, is Lord
Palmerston of opinion that England would be in a position
of greater security if no seas separated her from the Conti-
nent ? Should we be safer if wo lay alongside France,
with only a line of fortresses to guard the frontier
approaches?

THE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON THE PROSE OF POET
CLOSE.—As the skylark, after proudly soaring heaven •
wards and rapturously pouring forth its soul in song, is
forced to return to the dull earth, and attend to the calls of
its appetite and its domestic duties, so is the poet too often
compelled to desist from scaling the steps of Parnassus, and
to descend to the level of ordinary life and unromantic
avocations. Su3h has been the hard fate of a minstrel
whom a monarch and a minister have in vain delighted to
honour. Ta spite of the enlightened patronage of Lord
Palmerston and the King of Bonny, Mr Close has not met
with the success which ho expected, and he has therefore
been obliged to duff his singing robes, ant to wander forth
an unwilling exile from the enchanted realms of verse. At
times, indeed, the muse still whispers unbidden in his ear,
and ho allows himself a brief relapse into rhyme, but such
an indulgence is rarely conceded. Ilaving won the title of
poet, he now hangs up his lyre on the wall till better times
arrive, and devotes himself in the interval to the composi-
tion and the sale of prose. It is to be hoped that his " Tales
and Legends of Westmoreland," the third volume of which
has lately appeared, will bring him a more solid recompense
than he could have obtained had he refused to listen to the
voice of prudence, and given himself up to warbling his na-
tive woodnotes wild. The account they contain of the life
he leads is equally touching and edifying, and may supply
some valuable hints to any future chronicler of the miseries
of authors. Uniting in himself the functions of author and
publisher, Mr Close disposes of the greater part of his works
at the little railway station of Kirsby-Stephen, in West.
moreland. There, clothed in " the squire's new coat," he
informs us that "he walks the platform like a swell of the
first water." When a train arrives, he offers his books to
the passengers, who are expected to purchase them as local
produce, just as they would invest in cake at Banbury or in
champagne at Epernay. If any one of distinction is among
their number, Mr Close pays him special attention, and de-
scribes him at length in his next work, On all who patro-
nise him he pours a flood of praise, and those who treat him
with disrespect he transfixes with winged shafts of sarcasm.
in general he is content with the treatment he receives, but
he complains that certain persons appear to regard him as
" some curious animal of an unknown species," and that
the directors " allow men to wipe their shoes upon him,"
It is probable that ho is speaking figuratively in this pas-
sage, as well as in another in which ho laments the hard
fate of "a poor po,t who has to sell his own books, and to be
spit upon by any rich fool ;" but it is avident that his merits
aro not always acknowledged, and that at times he meets
with unexpected rebuffs. On one occasion, for instance, ho
encountered "a gentleman with a slight air of something dis-
tinguished," but who was "too proud to speak," for he shook
his head when the post " presented No. 11. of Tales and
Legends to his notice, as Poet Close's last work, sir.' "
Well might Mr Close, on hearing that ho had been addressing
‘' the great Sir Roderick Murchison," exclaim "Well, sir,
you may call him great, but he is a proud little man, lot
his genius be what it may, Catch me touching my hat to
him again. . . So much for this Roderick Murchison
who took up Du Chaiilu . . this Roderick supported
him, but could not open his mouth to a man who would
scorn to shake hands with such an adventurer." Much plea-
santer was the poet's interview with " Earl Fitzwilliam, a
fine, tall, placid, mild-looking gentleman, in a light
dress, and yellow sort of hat, with no pomp
or pride about him, who gently put a present in our hand."
The Marquis of Hastings " a little, merry, good.looking
man,with red hair, and with a gold chain across his vest,"
would have taken a book, but a friend who was with him
" prevented his Lordship, who had a fancy fin it." The
Bishop of Cal lisle, of whom Mr Close says, " Wo aro afraid
lest the good Di-hop be expelled the Bishopric, and lose
his mitre for being too pious," has always behaved with
great civility; but of the Bishop of Durham re
read the following story :—" August I. Met a family
in a first-class carriage who were very proud.
The gentleman, to all wo said, gave a gruff peremptory No.
No bras, no bills, would he look at; and with as prowl a
curl of our lips, and not too well pleased shake of the head,
reolied ' Very well, sir.' and shut the door. Now this mild
gentleman was the Bishop of Durham, as we learnt soon
after—aud not like tke great Apkie Paul, full of charity,

HER MAJESTY.

BALMORAL, Sept. 23.

The Queen, accompanied by Princess Helena'
Prince Alfred, and Prince Elimar of Oldenburg,
and attended by the Hon. Harriet Phipps, Waite
yesterday to Alt-na-Guithasach and the Lynn °'
111uch.

Princess Louise, Princess Beatrice, and Prince
Leopold went to the Lynn of Quoich yesterday.
SEPT. 24.
The Qaeen, accompanied by Prince Leopold, and
attended by the Hon. Mrs Bruce, drove out Sestet•
day moreing.
Her Majesty in the afternoon, with Princess
Helena and Prince Elimar cf Oldenburg, and
attended by the Hon. Emma Laseelles, drove t 0
Invercauld, returning by Aberarder.
Mr Morier arrived at the Castle yesterday.

Journey of the Prince and Princess of
Wales.

COPENHAGEN, Sept. 24, 9 p.n•
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince and Princes°
of Wales left for Stockholm in the royal yacht
Osborne at 3 30. this afternoon. They are expected
to return in eight days.
The Danish royal family and Sir Augustus Paget
accompanied the distinguished guests on board•
Salutes were fired from the batteries of the forts.
The ships in the harbour as well as the publi°
and private buildings, were decorated with flags•
Their royal highnesses were loudly cheered bi
the spectators.