The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-15 00:00:00

-174/40-
et 11111".•

LONDON, THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 1852.

During the present lull in political matters, and es-
pecially during that critical position of the Ministry
which has virtually deprived England of an Adminis-
tration, it is something more than agreeable to listen
to the opinions expressed by Mr. Rovancic on the
principles necessary to be recognised in the guidance
of our future government. At any time it is always
gratifying to hear the sentiments entertained by him
upon all questions affecting the dearest interests of
the community, but under the circumstance of the
existing crisis the public attention in reference
to those sentiments cannot fail to be very
materially enhanced. There is recognisable in the
abilities of the Honourable Gentleman the Member for
Sheffield a boldness, a candour, and an explicitness,
which of all qualities are, to the British multitude,
the most congenial, and consequently, of course, the
most acceptable. Mr. ROEBUCK is no rosewater pa-
triot, babbling about the platitudes of the Constitu-
tion. He thinks strongly, and speaks strongly, and
has, above all, the knack of uttering his views upon
men and things in language the most readily
comprehensible. Bearing these peculiarities in
mind, therefore, we turn with a more peculiar sense
of satisfaction than ordinary to the address delivered
by him on Tuesday afternuon to his constituents, in
anticipation of the fast approaching hour which is to
witness the re-assembling of the Imperial Parliament.
As might have been readily anticipated, the very first
allusions of the orator had reference to the present
difficulties of the Administration. Commenting upon
the situation of her MAJESTY'S 111inisters, Mr. ROEBUCK
characterised it as at once detrimental to the country
at large, and in particular to their own characters as
statesmen. He considers the Cabinet as already
broken up, and awaits the speedy announcement of
its abdication from power with implicit confidence.
He cannot regard it as within the limits of possibility
that its existence can be much longer protracted.
Neither can he find it in his heart to lament the fall
of a Ministry which has not merely the disgrace of
being composed exclusively of the represen-
tatives of a single clique, but of betraying
so much weakness and culpability among the
ranks of its members. Characterising the heads of
the various departments, Mr. ROEBUCK. spoke
what to them must be most unpalatable felici with
ty, of
" the good-natured imbecility" of the President of
the Board of Trade, and cf " the crack-brained
audacity" of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. An
Administration made up of men like those could not,
necessarily, but prove in the end the most wretched
of failures, more especially when it is remembered
that it was a Cabinet gathered together, as the
Member for Sheffield correctly phrases it, from the
mere cffshoots of aristocratic associations. That he
should pass over sub silentio the latest evidence of
the mingled temerity and weakness of the Govern-
ment was scarcely matter of likelihood. Accordingly
we find a brief but significant mention of the recent
dismissal of Lord PALMERSTON. " There was one
man among them of great power end capacity," says
Mr. ROEBUCK, "and they got rid of him, and now
we are to have a session of Parliament with the
only member of that Cabinet who ever commanded a
European reputation, or had with him the feelings of
the large body of the people of this country, either in
the equivocal and most dangerous position of a
supposed friend, or in the more open character of an
actull opponent ofthe present Aduainieitration," Shortly

LONDON,

after these allusions, the Member for Sheffield paid a
noble and generous tribute to the memory of Sir
ROBERT PEEL, according to him the glory to which
he is en titled, that of being a really great Primo
Ministei , although the son of a manufacturer. " Un-
fortunately," said Mr. ROEBUCK, " Sir ROBERT PEEL
died too soon for his country ;" and, continued the
orator, " he died too soon also for the interests of his
own fame, for if he had lived, it was in his
mission to have collected together a na-
tional administration." That mission is the
one which, according to Mr. ROEBUCK, now
devolves upon the nation at large, the duty of the
people being that of selecting their own adminis-
trators, not from any single clique, not from any
particular circle, not from any exclusive class, but
from all classes of the population indiscriminately,
from classes mercantile, manufacturing, labouring,
agricultural, and aristocratic, thereby concentrating
in the service of the country, their energy, intelli-
gence, sagacity, industry, and incorruptibility.
The Hon. Representative of Sheffield reminded his
constituents of the hopelessness of looking to the House
of Commons alone, in its present condition, for the
carrying out of the scheme left as a legacy by Sir.Ro-
BERT PEEL to the great mass of his fellow-country-
men. In illustration of his meaning he thus de-
scribed that remarkable branch of the Legislature :
" The House of Commons," said he, " is made up of
people very thrifty—so are the people of England.
They are rather slow to move—so are the
people of England. They have a very accurate per-
ception of their own personal interests—so have the
people of England. They are courageous beyond the
power of anybody to frighten them—so are the peo-
ple of England." In reality he maintained that the
House of Commons represents not merely the intelli-
gence, but the prejudices also of the British popula-
tion. From a more resolute manifestation of public
feeling, therefore, we are told by Mr. ROEBUCK to
look for the realisation of the mission devolving

upon the nation just now—the enormous and vitally
important mission of constituting for themselves, not
as heretofore, a Cabinet created from a clique, but a
truly popular and really national Government. With
a view to the accomplishment of this grand object in
the way of administrative improvement, the people
of this country cannot, we conceive, adopt, under pre-
sent circumstances, a wiser course than that of
supporting the patriotic statesman who has
so very recently been dismissed from the
Ministry, which, associated with his genius,
has been thereby alone redeemed from the
disgrace of being:termed the Ministry of Mediocrities.
A course like this would be consonant, moreover,
with the views entertained by the Honourable Mem-
ber for Sheffield, than whom the House of Commons
does not contain a more intelligent, a more honest, or
a more patriotic legislator.

The first general meeting of the Anglo-Californian
Gold Mining Company, took place yesterday at the
Freemasons' Hall. It is satisfactory to find that all
our assertions respecting the integrity and &mei fides
of the highly respectable, although much calumniated,
directors of the company, have been fully verified,
and that our anticipations respecting its ultimate suc-
cess have received, and are daily receiving, the
strongest confirmation. There is no longer any in-
disposition to take up shares in the undertaking, or
to execute the deed of settlement. Those who held
cautiously aloof, while difficulties were impending
and formidable obstacles were to be encountered,
are now eagerly coming forward seeking to be rein-
stated in the position which they bad abandoned in
the time of adversity. More powerful proof could
not be afforded of the position and prospects of the
company than that the cautious persons, who declined
to pcticipate in the liabilities and responsibilities of
the company while there was any risk, should now
be clamourous for re-admission, and desirous of
sharing in the more fully recognised advantages
offered to the public. The advance in the price of
shares is another but far less convincing evidence of
the favourable light in which the project is re-
garded in the money market.
There are few of our friends and subscribers who
will not recollect the highly prejudicial reports that
were from time to time put forward against the Board
of Management, many of which were repeated, with
additions and emendations, by a morning contempo-
rary. These slanders have now been traced to their
source, and fully and completely rebutted, wherever
they were sufficiently tangible and direct to
admit of distinct contradiction. We say "to
admit of distinct contradiction," for the enemies
of the company, and the thoughtless and indiscreet,
who unconsciously, and without any express or par-
ticular malice, played the game of the vindictive and
malignant slanderers, repeating, endorsing, and
giving currency to their frivolous and unfounded
charges, were not contented with direct accusations.
They also resorted to
" The whisper'd hint, the shrug, the bum, or ha,
These petty brands that calumny doth use"—
and they did the dirty work more efficiently than the
strongest and most positive circumstantial statement.

We believe it is in one of WASHINGTON IRviNG's
books that a panic in the Money-market, and the
most disastrous results, are traced to a quotation
from SHAKSPERE being announced with an
oracular nod and Lord Burleigh-like shake of the
bead to a certain Alderman POPKINS, then travelling
in Italy, that there was

" Something rotten in the state of Denmark."

The worthy citizen, alarmed at what he supposed to he
authentic intelligence, although conveyed in a myste-
rious form, gave orders for the sale of some millions
of Danish bonds, and thus occasioned the great
monetary and commercial crisis of the day. We be-
lieve that the fortunes of a company or an individual
are frequently seriously injured, if not entirely de-
stroyed, on equally vague and meaningless insinua-
tions. That the Anglo-Californian Company have
survived the shocks inflicted on its credit by such
means, and that they should have arrived at their
present position, proves alike the inherent roundness
of the undertaking, and an activity, energy, and
devotion on the part of the directors, that merits the
highest approbation of the shareholders.
The report, which will be found in another part of
this day's impression, after alluding to obtacles which
are stated to have arisen from the conduct of the late
secretary, and speaking in strong, but by no means
overstrained, terms of the " zeal, intelligence, and
judgment" displayed by Sir HENRY VERB HUNTLEY
in the trying situations in which he was placed, at•
tributes the present prosperity of the company in a great
degree to his exertions. The directors
.declare their
full approval of the system introduced by the Gallant
Gentleman, of crushing and working up the quartz
supplied from other quarters, receiving half the pro-
ceeds. As Sir HENRY " anticipates no difficulty in
obtaining a plentiful supply," and as he has at this
moment machinery capable of crashing thirty or
forty tons of rock per diem, and arrangements are
making for sending out additional machinery suffi-
cient for pulverizing one hundred and fifty tons
per diem, it may easily be conceived that the
amount of profits which must necessarily be realized
cannot fail to be very considerable. There has
already been a commencement, and it is certain that
there is at this moment the products of five
or six weeks' workings, either on the way home or in
the hands of the agents in California. There was also
the satisfactory announcement, that "the company
has neither debt nor liabilities, beyond such liabilities
as are accruing from day to day," and that after de-
ducting from the assets of the company for all ordi-
nary outgoings both here andinCilal be a balanceliforniauptoon
the
24th of June next, there will still
hand.
We congratulate the shareholders on the auspicious
prospects thus afforded. We congratulate the directors
on the due appreciation of their conduct evinced
by the shareholders, and we take some degree of
credit to ourselves for the realization of our predic-
tions, and the triumphant acquittal of the parties of
whom, in the full conviction of their innocence, we
were the strenuous and decided advocates.

LIVEUPOOL, JAN. 14.—The new iron seam•ship
Clarence, Captain Wiseman, sailed from the Mersey at noon
yesterday for Sydney, New
South Wales. She put back
this morning to repair damage caused by a collision with the
ship Gladiator, from Dantzic for Liverpool. The Clarence
lost mizenmast, quarter boats stove, davits smashed, &c.,
besides other damage. The Gladiator lost jibboom (Which
fell on the steamer's quarter-deck), and had her bows stove
in, causing a considerable leak. The captain of the ship
wished the steamer to take him in tow, but in consequence of
it
the heavy seawas impossible to do so. The collisio took
place between the Ornaheade and Point Lynne. ,