The Sun.
London, England, 1852-03-17 00:00:00

S N, MARCH 17, 1852.

Ardent steam-packet, Lieutenant Commander Der-
rimanl in tow of the Spiteful, 6, steam sloop, Comman-
der G. Parker, arrived here on the 9th inst. ' This vessel
had a very-narrow-escape from destruction, after break-
ing her intermediate shaft, for the current was fast set-
ting her on to a lodge of rocks, with only nine feet water,
and the sea running mountains high. Lieutenant Der-
riman, until obliged by the accident to suspend his voy-
age, kept his ship to her work, and miry when no other
and finallrbore up for the bay of Aginctitirt. Here, too,
was a French steamer with 60 fathom's, iehiiin dragged.
course was open to him lay to under his, mainstormsail,
Lieutenant Derriman's position was soitimariotis that
had the accident happened an hear beroreohe ship and
all hands must have been destroyed?' - -
of the
to the following:—
Banshee steam-packet, Lieutenant-COmmander Hos-
ken, left Malta at twelve o'clock on the night of the
11th, for Marseilles, with the Indian mail.,
14 ~ .. ot,!
Britannia .. 2. . l2O guns .. .. .. 970 me, flag-ship.
departureforce will
il
l be o
Medi-
terraneanOnthethe flag-ship Queen the
Trafalgar l2O ~......970
Bellerophon
Modeste '
Racer
STEAMERS.
Fury ..,; 6 guns --- 160 men -.. 515-h6rie power.
Spiteful.. 6 19 ... 160 ~ ... 280 •; ,
Scourge.. 6 ~ --. 160 9 2 ••• 420 - ,
This is a force at this juncture f
11104 inadequate to
the requirements of a station on which are Yrench have
some ten sea going ships of the line, one or two of them
90-gun screw ships, superior to anything afloat in the
British navy.

Elliotts, who have manifested so much kindness to their
families and friends at the expense of the country, and
to the destruction of that confidence with which our
naval officers should regard the service. The
public cannot fail to observe the avidity with
which every occasion is seized upon for the purpose
of securing the promotion of favourites ahn leivo
been, engaged in them, and that when the nature
of the engagement, or the manner in which it was con-
ducted, was such asp to entail useless and worse than use-
lese expense on the country. The affair of Lagos, it
will be remembered, was made use of-for the benefit of
a number of gentlemen who have secured no benefit to
the country for the promotion to which they have been
so hastily advanced. We believe that the public gene-
rally were not so well satisfied with the last and very un-
satisfactory Arctic Expedition as to feel much gratified
in finding that it was made use of for the purpose of
putting down the names of its officers on the list of
our claimants for increased salaries and higher
rank. The investigation, which, to say the
least, from the fact of being called for, looked pretty
much like a censure, had not passed away, before, with
indecent haste, promotions and appoietments followed,
whareby the favourites and dependants of the late
Ministry, and, in some cases, of their subordinates, were
tinageftrejloticweedeirfethtee country
a trynwavay, was naontdveirt is very much
be
chad
worthv a n-
anything, if we are not to throw ourselves altogether on
peace principles, pray let this system of annoying
worthy men and brave officers be abandoned;
and we demand that it be abandoned in the
name of the people for whose protection, and
not for the subsidizing of grasping families, it exists.
It is unjust to the great bulk of our naval officers,
and Unfaithful tothe country, and likely to lessen our
national strength mogt—materially, to go on with the
jobbery and favouritism of which the Admiralty has
hitherto been the centre. It would be better to annihi-
late the whole establishment than to keep it up in the
condition in which it has hitherto been kept, fell of
grumbling and discontent, for which there is just cause,
in consequence of the unjust sad ungenerous treatment
of those officers who had not the greatest of all merits,
those of some sort of family connexion with
those in whose hands the goad things of the
country were placed, to be disposed of for the
country's good, and not for their own. It
would be an effectual way of putting an end to
this gross and disgusting partiality, if every officer fit
for the service of the country were called for in his turn,
according as such services as he has to render may be
required. We believe that this principle is to a con-
siderable exteat acted on in the Royal Marines, and that
the attention of Whig patrons was frequently called to
it by Lord Howe. It will, as far as the royal navy is
concerned, do the country some good, if, while the Pro-
tectionists are in office, they will show that it is prac-
ticable to regulate the business of public offices without
constantly pushing brothers, nephews, and cousins into
every vacancy that may happen to fall, or making new
posts, orseizing on inadequate pretences for promotion,
if such vacancies should nut occur with sufficient
ra-
pidity to meet the appetite of political patrons.

---
SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TIMES.—We trust that our readers have thoroughly got
up the grand consultation of political doctors on Monday
night, for they will never see such another. The interesting
patient, as the Derby Administration appears to be thought,
must have been brought into existence with a special view
to the promotion of constitutional science. Unfortunately
the doctors, as it too often happens, were not so anxious to
find out what was really the matter as to make out a fore-
gone conclusion. They would ask leading questions, and, if
the patient was so perverse as not to follow the lead, they
went on squaring its answers to their own preconceptions.
The ease of the patient must be either this or that, and, as
far as they could make out, it fell more under one class, and
therefore it could not belong to the other, and there was no
remaining alternative. The new Administration must be
the former Opposition, for there mast be an Adminis-
tration and an Opposition. As an Opposition it must
have had a principle, and that principle it must
continue to have as an Administration. In both
cases it must be pledged. As still pledged to
Protection, it must be odious to the country.
It had peen in a minority, and must still be in a minority,
and, as the Administration was now in a minority, the Op-
position must be now in a majority. The former must, there-
fore exist on sufferance, and be incapable of action, except
for such purposes as the common interest of all parties might
absolutely require. The result of this chain of argumenta-
tion, and a, werld of other logic, is that, the new -Cabinet is
Protectionist, in a minority, on sufferance, commissioned to
ask the supplies, to dissolve, to divide the new Parliament on
a corn-law, to be outvoted or outbullied, to let in the present
Opposition, and to retire to a respectable obscurity. Never
was there so methodical an investigation, or so triumphant a
result. It may be argued backwards and forwards, from the
right to, the left, or the left to the right, and the demonstra-
tion is as complete as that celebrated process which would
have condemned Ophelia to the grave •of the suicide.
But there was a time when - nature - itself was
tortured in this fashion, not to reveal itself but to
prop up a theory. The student of physics stretched nature
on the rack, and put his questions like an inquisitor. "Are
you this?" he would say to the speechless material, " or are
you that; for you must be one of the two? You are not this,
then you• must be that; and you must have all the qualities
which my authority ascribe to that class of material." What
progress, science made under this arbitrary and presumptu-
ous method we all of us know, and if we want a living illus-
tration of the pass to which science had come three hundred
years since, we may find a very pretty one in the perverse
ingenuity and obstinate aberrations of Parliament on Monday
night. But there is such a thing as stretching a chain
of reasoning so tight that it breaks, and a victorious
conclusion will sometimes admit of a ridiculous con-
futation. Let us • take the case of these savans on
their own showing. Let us adopt their conclusion—
a conclusion which, as it appears from their.knowledge
of Parliamentary history, and their intimate acquaintance
with the! party under examination, they were prepared for
from the 'first. On Lord John Russell's own hypothesis, the
advice he tendered to her Majesty on Saturday, the 21st ult.,
was substantially as follows :—" Madam, I'm worried' to
death. I can't command a majority., My colleagues are in-
subordinate, and my followers demoralized. I was beaten
last night, as I was half-a-dozen times last session, and as I
shall be again next week. As a dissolution just now would
be a natipnal calamity, I must resign for the present. Your
Majesty Will have to send for Lord Derby and ask him to
form a Government. Of course it will be Protec-
tectionist: It will be bound in honour to restore Protec-
tion, if it can. It will be odious to the country, and its
accession to power will be followed by indignation,
uncertainty, confusion, paralysis, revolutionary hopes, and
all sorts of evils. It will be in a minority, and consequently
on sufferance. That being the case, it will have nothing to
do but go through a little routine work, occupying three or
four weeks, dissolve Parliament, and appeal to the country
on the question of Free Trade. Meanwhile, I shall employ
my leisure in recruiting and drilling. I shall enlarge the
basis of m'y Government, and in the course of the summer—
for that is all the time I can allow—l expect to beat Lord
Derby in his new Parliament, and to be summoned once snore
to your Majesty's counsels. On this estimate and calculation,
I advise yqur Majesty to accept my resignation, and send
for Lord Derby." That is Lord John Russell's case, on his
own showing; but that showing we believe to be fallacious
and untrue. We do not believe that Lord John Russell has
done anything so bad as the arguments used on Monday
would prove him to have done. We think better of the ad-
vice he tendered to her Majesty not yet a month since. Why,
all the links of that great structure of reasoning adopted on
Friday are questionable, and demand vast qualification. In
the first place, the "majority" of the late Government, and
the " minority" of the present, are to be understood in a cer-
tain sense. Lord John Russell had not a majority that he
could depsnd upon ; •nay, on many questions he had not a
majority at all; otherwise he would have been Premier
to this day, for it takes a good deal to turn out a
Whig Minister, or indeed any
.other Minister. On the other
hand, though Lord Derby, it is true, has not a majority on
one particular question, which he has expressly said he will
never propose to the present Parliament, he has a majority
on many others—nay, on all that are likely to come before
Parliament this session. Of course, the Chesham-place
alliance may adopt the factious tactics which Lord John
ascribes to "the country party," but there is no good reason
why Lord Derby should be in a minority on the Militia Bill,
or the Chancery Bill, or any other intended measure. He is
net likely to be in a minority on education, as appears from
his remarks in the Lords last night, and Lord Roden's inter-
pretation of them. As little likely is he to be in a minority
on the question of the Church. What, then, is the value of
the assumption adopted by Lord Derby himself that he is in
a minority? Nor can a better case be made for the
theory of the late Opposition, or that of the present
Opposition, adopted in this singular controversy. There
were three Oppositions a month ago, and there are three
Oppositions now ; and the occasional combination of the
three will be Just as much an accident now as it was a
month ago. It is true that the new triumvirate is to divide
the spoils of office, and therefore possesses a greater induce-
ment to unity than was ever felt by the three parties form-
ing the old' Opposition. But no triumvirate was ever shore
than a partnership of temporary convenience, and, if either
Russell, Graham, or Cobden thinks he can oust or damage
the others, he will certainly do it. Where then is the Op-
position, and the consequent majority? If it exists in. a
permanent form, except on one great topic, that phasenilts
existence is at all events new. We know not what stuff peo-
ple suppose Lord Derby to be made of, but they must
think him made of wax, if they At their
ex-
actly what it suits their convenience to make
imagine hheitais.to be
will, his Administration is to be pledged to actsuiatlsma etaseurbese
of Protection; it is to be bound to a nakred_oeperaoringi t
a policy,
precluded from expressing an opinion, d
much more from introducing a measure that is not wr
fore in
the imaginary bond. It is to be a mere dummy the
ized at Chesham-
practice of the new rile brigade org
whatan has it to do with
any measure of its
place. It is only
" aonwnO, orPp any osition
substantive''' course of action
at all ? It is only employed to stop a leak in the ship, while the
captain and crew are busy on deck. It
thwaats o s
terve thisteno-
rary need, and this ominous purpose,
her Majesty was to
send for Lord Derby, and the country was to have the bene-
fit of his name and his services for a few weeks. The pur-
pose once answered, the useless tool was to be thrown aside.
All this is the character which Lord Derby's antagonists are
determined to stamp on his Admimstration, and they seem
p ro
to take it very ill if he will not quiet] submit to the cess.
We cannot give our' confidence to LoiTd. Derby, but much
ent(f
es% n
less can we advise him to wbeitltthehisinsotrwutm hand ahisseve
re
disgrace, and to inflict
retribution for his offences against Peel and Free
Trade. His position is neither very noble, nor very
powerful, nor very free. Except for the chivalry of
taking it against such fornidable odds, and the ability wish
which he sustains it, we might almost call it undignified.
But, if he wishes not merely to prolong it, but to save it
from ignominy, he must let us know that he contemplates
hereafter something more than merely obsiruetive Conser-
vatism. Parliamentary . Reform, popular education, pau-
perism, the government of our colonies, and other subjects
press for remedial and progressivelegislalion quite ed imich4B
the burdens on hind, or any other class grievance. Such le-
gislation, or the promise of it, is the only salt that can keep
a Government sweet in the estimation of the country, and be

[PRICE SD.

Lord Derby's career for years, for months, or for weeks—be
his opportunities many or few, he must make the best use of
them for this permanent purpose.

SPORTING NOTES.
No. CLXXXIX.
TIIE WARWICK AND LEAMINGTON MILITARY AND
ANNUAL STEEPLECHASES, &c.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SlR,—The amount of business transacted this morning on
Doubt at 5 and 4 to 1, and Ethelwolf at 4to 1, for the Great
Warwickshire Handicap, has been enormous; and as Doubt's
party have at last put their cash on very stiff, I have but
little doubt my prognostication of last Friday on this stake
will be verified to the letter.
It is extremely singular, but again has the Trial
Stakes fallen to the extreme outsider; for his Grace,
who won very cleverly by a length and a half, was
only backed once or twice for a trifle at 10 to 1. The Prime
Minister, whom I selected as the winner of this stake, was
backed against the field at 6 to 4 on him ; but when he had
compassed his own distance (three-quarters of a mile) he
began to compound immediately. Flounce was a moderate
third, Le Juif a bad fourth, Black Audrey a worse fifth, and
My Fancy a wretched last; all so wide apart that the judge
placed the lot. The two cracks for the Woodeote Stakes
were bowled over by Whalebone, and thus gave another
turn to the fielders.

Selina, who had been backed for a tidy stake in town, for
the Willoughby Handicap, only just managed, under the
guidance of Captain Little, to pull the party through by a
neck. '

Old Whitstone, who had disappeared for such a length of
time, as a victor, from the racing world, re-appeared yester-
day in his old form, and let a few of the bookmakers in, by
just winning the Free Handicap by a head.
The Military Steeplechases will be run off to-morrow, com-
mencing at two o'clock, with a Sweeptakes of 5 sovs. each
pp, with at bonus added ; for horses bona fide the
property of officers in full pay of the army, list each. Pe-
nalties for previous winnings. The winner to be sold for
100 sous. by public auction. Most of the entries for this
stake will figure at the post, and the race will probably ter-
minate in the victory of Spectator or Orange Girl, without
Welcome spoils their game. The second race is for a gold
cup, value 100 sous., with a bonus added to a sweepstakes of
it) SOTS. each, h ft, &c. This will be the most interesting
race of the day; the weight is 12st each and penal-
ties for previous winnings. The struggle for su-
periority will lie, I fancy, with Hawksworth,
Medora, Proceed, the Highlander and the Treasurer; and if
Hawksworth does not win I imagine Medora or Proceed
will.

'1 'he Welter Stakes will conclude the day's sport, and, in
all likelihood, be won by Bushranger or the Highlander.
On Friday there are no less than six races for decision,
three of which have not as yet closed. Ido not intend to
enter into minute particulars, but state at once that the
Grand Annual will be closely contested at the finish by
Peter Simple, Oscar, Half-and-Half, St. Helier and Maurice
Daley ; PETER SIMPLE or OSCAR the winner, Maurice Daley
close up.
The Free Handicap looks well for Victress, Gulnare, or
Widow Machree, and the Hurdle-race, a foregone conclu-
sion, for Half-and-Half or Bul?finch.
The following are the prices on the Steeplechases. Gold
Cup :-3 to 1 agst Hawksworth ; 5 to 1 agst any other.
Grand Annual :-4 to 1 agst Oscar, taken freely ; 6 to 1
agst Peter Simple ; 6 to 1 agst Maurice Daley ; 8 to 1
agst Half-and-Half ; 10 to 1 agst St. Helier ; 10 to 1 agst
the Young-un. Hurdle-race to 2 agst Half-and-Half—
take 3 to 1; 5 to 1 agst any other.
_ I am, Sir, yours, &c.,
THE SPIRIT OF THE TURF.
March 17,1852.