The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS,

Class C--Grapes (white), single dish--first prize, £3, Mr.
J. Horwood, gardener to Mr. G. IL Turnbull, Downe,
near Bromley; Mr. D. Clement, Chaseside, East Barnet.
Class D—Grapes, 101 b weight—first prizes, £3 each—
Mr. J. Horwood, gardener to Mr. G. H. Turnbull, Downe,
near Bromley.
Class E—Peaches, single dish of one kind only—first
prize, £3, Mr. S. Evans, gardener to Mr. C. N, Newdegate,
M.P.

Class F—Nectarines, single dish of one kind only—first
prize, £3, Mr. A. Henderson, Trentham.
Class G—Melons, green fleshed, single fruit—first prize,
£2, Mr. G. Meredith, The Vineyard, Garston.
Class H—Melons, scarlet fleshed, single fruit—first
prize, £2, Mr. J. Enston, gardener to Sir J. Duckworth,
Exeter.
Class I—Figs, single dish, 10 fruits—first prize, £2, Mr.
J. Cross, gardener to Lord Ashburton, the Grange, Aires-
ford.

Class J—Cherries, single dish—first prize, £3, Mr. A,
Henderson, Trentham.
Class K—Strawberries, single dish, in fifties —first prize,
£3, Mr. R. Smith, Richmond-road, Twickenham.
Class L—Strawbcrries, three kinds, 2.5 of each—first
prize, £2, Mr. R. Smith, Richmond-road, Twickenham.
Class M—Strawberries in pots, six plants—first prize, £2,
Mr. C. Tamer, Royal nurseries, Slough.

~ATURDAY REVIEW.—According to the practice
of the constitution, the Queen's servants are selected
from among the members of both Houses, in order
that in both they may be able to explain the policy
of the Government. It has been the habit, hitherto,
to distribute the offices between the two Houses, in
such a manner that each should have its fair pro-
portion of Cabinet Ministers. Speaking somewhat
roughly, the present aspect of the Ministerial ar-
rangements is, however, that the heads of depart-
ments are in the House of Lords, and the subalterns
in the House of Commons. The sensibilities of that
assembly are naturally wounded. It is humiliating
to be told that, in dividing the right to enjoy the
presence of the Queens servants, the Lords are to
have the steward's room, while the Commons are
to put up with the servants' hall, Considering the
claims to omnipotence in the State which the Com-
mons have advanced in recent years, it is annoying
to be obliged to receive the decisions of the Ministry,
not from their own lips, but from subordinates. And
there is another humiliation in the present state of
things. The members of the Government not only
represent the Executive in Parliament, but they
also represent what is supposed to be the highest
administrative capacity among its members. To fill
none of the more important offices in the Cab.net
from the House of Commons is an insult to the
whole body of members from among whom the se-
lection might be made. It is telling them that
Secretaryships of State are all very well for dukes
and earls, but that the capacity of mere plebians is
not equal to such a charge. The present distribu-
tion of offices seriously compromises that mysterious
constitutional principle which is called the respon-
sibility of Ministers. Now, the responsibility of
Ministers resolves itself into little more tuan a lia-
bility to be badgered by the representatives of the
people. Clearly, this corrective process cannot be
applied unless Ministers are there to undergo it. It
is of no use to abuse Mr. Layard for what Lord
Russell has done, or to badger Lord Hartington for
the misdeed of Lord De Grey. There is a limit at
which constitutional fictions cease to be effective.
The representation of the great departments by
Under-Secretaries is one of those that go consider-
ably beyond the line. The communication between
these departments and the House of Commons under
the existing state of things is carried on by a system
of speaking trumpets and whipping boys. It is
assumed that when Mr. Layard speaks it is Lord
Russell who addresses the house in his tones • and
when Mr. Layard sits still and is attacked it is Lord
Russell that is receiving chastisement in his person.
But no one really believes that Lord Russell cares a
straw when his Under-Secretary is severely handled,
or that Mr. Layard has any independent belief in
the policy which he is advocating, but of which he
probably never heard until he received it as the final
decision of the Cabinet. For all practical purposes,
Mr. Layard,Lord Hartington, Lord Clarence Paget,
and Mr. Fortescue are merely so many counsel re-
tained to defend the proceedings of Lord Russell,
Lord De Grey, the Duke of Somerset, and the Duke
of Newcastle. The communication between the
House of Commons and the Government would be
just as complete if four parliamentary lawyers were
formally instructed for the purpose in their stead.
It is not to be wondered at that the House of Com-
mons should be beginning to feel a little nervous at
the change which is taking place. We are drifting
to a state of things not unlike that which has re-
duced the House of Representatives in America to
insignificance.
EXAMINER.—Instead of attack and vituperation,
the Admiralty deserves all support and praise for
its endeavour to establish and enforce the principle
that captains and commanders are responsible for
any damage or disaster befalling their ships, pre-
ventable by skill or care. Two cases which had come
under nautical tribunals with opposite results re-
quired the application of this salutary rule. Captain
Sotheby, of the Conqueror, had permitted his ship
to hold a very dangerous course without any of the
common and necessary precautions. She was conse-
quently wholly lost. He was tried by court-martial,
threw the blame on his master, and, on that ground,
acquitted with honour. The Admiralty very pro-
perlyobjected to this verdict, and censured the cap
laying
tain for not having controlled the error of his mas-
ter,down the proper rule that as the captain's
is the supreme authority so it is the sole responsibi-
lity. With what consistency the Admiralty after-
wards appointed Captain Sotheby to a ship we shall
not now stop to inquire. Lord Elphinstone's case,
different in circumstances and result, involved the
same principle. With a pilot on board he was cone•
ing up into the river from the north-east, through
the Swin in blowing weather, but broad day. A
seaman has about as much excuse for getting ashore
in the Swin as a passenger has for breaking bis head
against the walls of Regent-street. It is, as we have
before remarked, the most frequented and the best
marked channel in the world. Trusting to his pilot,
Lord Elphinstone sought an anchorage for his ship
where he found a shoal. From the peril into which
he had thus thrust the Vigilant he rescued
her by very gallant and seamanlike conduct. But
this makes no amends for a fault endangering lives
and national property. A Court of Inquiry, con-
sisting of three captains, was appointed. They
heard what Lord Elphinstone had to say, then de-
sired him to withdraw, heard other witnesses, whom
he had no opportunity of cross-examining, and pro-
ceeded to the report upon which the Admiralty
founded its censure of the Commander. It is ad-
mitted by the Admiralty that the court committed
a grave error in not admitting Lord Elphinstone to
hear the evidence, or in not recalling him to see the
depositions, and say what he might have to say in
self-justification. And this error seems to us to viti-
ate all that was done, and the steps taken after so
unfair an inquiry. The whole proceeding should
have been cancelled, and Lord Elphinstone left
where he was, or put upon his trial by Court-Martial.
LONDON REVIEW.—After a long interval of
silence and disdain, the Liberals of France have be-
come conscious of the necessity of general action ;
and through the dim political twilight that reigns
over the Empire and the Press the shades of well-
known warriors are seen descending swiftly to the
battle. In the feeble popular excitement that is
permitted to accompany the Imperial appeal to the
country, we seem to catch a far-off echo of the stir
of the oid electorial constituencies. Ancient armour
is dug up again and donned by the Veterans of other
days. The ring of familiar voices strikes upon the
ear—a Casimir Perier, a Montalembert, a Thiers, a
Berryer are names once more on France's tongue
—and we seem to have gone back fifteen years to a
fresh atmospheric political freedom and strife. The
notable resolution at which the leaders of the old
French Liberals have arrived not to isolate them-
selves any longer, but boldly to accept the Empire as
a fait accompli, is the most important event of
French politics since 1852. It tells a striking tale.
For the present the French elections seem to sound
the knell of those old parties of which the French
Government has spoken so frequently and so
bitterly. This is undoubtedly a triumph for the
French Emperor. In accepting the oath of fidelity,
the ne .v candidates at least adjourn all hopes of
combating the reigning dynasty, and tacitly ac-
knowledge that the best thing France can do is to
take and enjoy the liberty and the institutions that
are doled out to her. The Empire will both gain
strength and incur danger by the change. That the
representatives of French intellect and French liber-
ties should be brought at last to lower their fasces
before the elected of December, and to take issue upon
points of administrative detail, is a concession and a
step. On the other hand it must be remarked that
it is very probably the beginning of an era of agitas
tion and excitement in the Imperial Legislative
body. The honour of those who swear is a pledge
that the Electoral oath will be kept, and that no
direct attack upon the Imperial family will be made.
Yet the history of France during the century snows
that the most constitutional tempests in that most
unconstitutional of countries have a way of shaking
the dynastic edifices of years. A sea of political
conflict in the Corps Legislatif may roll its waves to
the very foot of the throne itself; and it is impos-
sible to predict with certainty the effect upon the
French nation of the noise of free Parliamentary
discussion once more revived and reverberating
through the land. The Emperor, however, is a bold
political thinker, and it hae always been his dream,
if possible, to rally statesmen of all parties around
him. More than once he has directly appealed to
such men to return to political life, and though the
sudden acoeptance of the offer seems to have taken
aback the Emperor's immediate satellites, his Im-
perial Majesty is known to be satisfied at heart
with the event. For more than ten years the Go-
vernment of France has been in the hands of a
coterie of personal friends who are of average
ability at the most—and, putting aside such names
as those of Fould, Thouvenel, and Drouyn de
We may admit, without demur, that the
successive Imperial ministries have only been
kept straight before the eyes of the world by
the tact and temper of their Imperial master.
It will be a gain to the country, and no loss to the
Emperor himself, if abler discussion is brought to
bear upon the taxation, the administration, and the
foreign policy of France. A semblance
panceoift of theself-go-
vernment and independence on the
Assembly can but lighten the Emperor's shoulders
of so much anxiety. He is enabled thereby to get
rid of part
oo fhieicstha t
responsibilitygivescan always
takediaway,
vi d i n g hi
power. The
and the master of a hundred legions who is on the
whole popular with his subjects can always lay a
heavy iron hand upon a noisy or destructive Legis-
lature. But the chiefs of the old school who this
week consent to acknowledge Caesar as the virtual
master of Rome, have come to this conclusion from
the wise reflection that there is no alternative but
Imperialism at present possible for France. The

THE FlELD.—There are some persons to will
the year would be as a lost one if they did not gc
the Derby. It is true that these are not very de
or very enthusiastic sporting men, but they hold
to be " the thing" to be regular in their attendan
and perhaps even they thereby satisfy the larki
notion that every Englishman ought to be son
thing of a sportsman, by concentrating all their i
terest upon this one race. Such men do not
much, but they bet upon the Derby. They have h
" hints" and " information," and have risked the
" tenners," or even their hundred," upon the "
and safe thing." They do not repine over much
they lose, but they are jubilant beyond bounds it th•
win, because (you see) the result is so favourable
their discernment in matters of sport, and to thee:
cellence of their information. We have a your
gentleman of this kidney who was so elated wii
winning twenty pounds at a Derby, that he treats
his friends next week to thirty pounds' worth •
whitebait, et cetera, at Greenwich. These genth
men wag their heads knowingly when the Derby
spoken of, and with them the name of the winnt
takes the place of chronology. From the date c
the establishment of the Derby to the present time
they banish all numerals (Roman or Arabic) frog
the denomination of the year, and they talk c
Diorned's" year and " Caractacus's" year instea
of 1780 and 1862. With them, Waterloo was fough
in " Whisker's" year, and the Reform Bill passed
"St. Giles's" year. These can no more be absen
from the Del by than they can from their own mar
riages—a privilege which is accorded to emperor'
and kings only.
THE WEEKLY REGISTER.—The Prison Minister!
Bill has passed a third reading, after a short discus.
sion, in which Mr. Bright spoke ably and manfully
in its favour. As far as the House of Commons is
concerned, it is thus the law of the land, and in this
particular case we hope that the other stages it has.
to pass through before it attains that position are
little more than formal. The royal consent we may
of course take to be so; and as the bill has received
the support of the Government, of the great bulk
of the Liberal party, and of the leaders of the
Conservative party and Nonconformists, it is scarcely
likely, we trust, to meet any serious opposition in
the House of Lords. We may thus already,
we trust, congratulate not only ourselves but
the Legislature on this instalment of justice.
SPECTATOR.—The drawing-room held on Satur-
day by the Princess of Wales, as representative of
the Queen, was attended by nearly 2,000 ladies, the
carriages stretching in one direction from Harley-
street to St. James's. The reception occupied nearly
four hours ; many ladies were cooped up in their
carriages for six hours, and many more waste/
three in the effort to get away after the presenta-
tion. The same complaint is heard after every
drawing-room, and all the arrangements seem out
of keeping with the age. The number of persoes
desiring to be presented has increased with the na-
tional wealth, white the habits of the Court have
become more and more secluded. The Stuarts re-
ceived always, and even the present family, though
their etiquette has always been more rigorous, once
received every week. Could not the number of
drawing-rooms to be held in the season be fixed, and
a reception suite erected of something like adequate
size ? To recommend the adoption of the dress of
the century, instead of the preposterous footman's
livery now called a Court dress, would, we suppose,
be heresy.
LAW 'TIMES.—The Master of the Rolls is adding
another to his many claims to honour for services
rendered to the History of England. Under his
auspices the records are being rapidly exhumed,
and the treasures so long hidden in them given to
the world in an accessible form, with results that
already have thrown so much light upon the past
as to change the aspect of many of the most impor-
tant events in our annals. To this service another
is about to be added. The Master of the Rolls has
directed a reading-room to be provided in the new
buildings for the Record-office, with a library to be
devoted wholly to our national historical literature.
It is hoped that here will be found, after a few
years, a complete collection of all books and docu-
ments relating to the history of England. The mere
announcement of the scheme has brought promises
of contributions from all quarters, and many valuable
private collections of papers of historical value will
doubtless be gladly transferred to such a place of
safe custody, where good use will be made of them.
For the lawyers, whose science is so intimately cone
nected with the history of their native land, this
announcement has an especial interest.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

~~._ v~

GRANTHAM—,SATURDAY.
The show of wheat was good to-day, and sales were ra-
ther active, at prices a shade higher. Barley nominal.
--New white wheat, 48s to 51s ; red, 45s to 48s per 36st. ;
malting barley, 35s to 39s per qr ; grinding, 30s to 32s ;
old oats, 24s to26s ; beans, 38s to 40s; peas, 36s to 38s.

NOTTINGHAM—SATURDAY.
White wheat, from 43s to 54s ; red wheat, 428 to 495.
Barley—malting, 315.t0 41s ;rinding, 278 to 295. Oats
old, at 25s to 31s Od; new, 22s to 295. Beans sold at 412
to 45s per qr, Flour, 31s to 40s.

YORK—SATURDAY.
Wheat, red 42s to 468 Oats.... 2os to 240
White do .48s to 528 Beans ..36s to 440
Barley .29s to 35s Peas ....—s to —0
Malt, 62s to 64s per qr.; rye, 32s per qr ; flour, 349
to 36s per sack.

LEICESTER—SATURDAY.
Old white wheat, —s to, —s ; new, 44s to 50s per 36
stone. Old red, 48s to 52s per 36 stone. Barley, malting,
new, 34s to 39s per qr.; grinding, 27s to 30s ; OA oats,
27s to :30s ; new oats, 22s to 28s per 24 stone. Beans
new, 35s to 39s ;
‘ol-1, 42s to 448 per 38 stone.

NORWICH—SATURDAY.
White wheat. 46s to 4& 1 Red wheat 42s to 465
Malting barley ... 38s to 40s 1 Chevalier barley 36s to 37s
Distilling do . 335 to 35s 1 Oats.. 24s to 28a
Flour, 32s 6d to 33s Od per sack from the miller.