The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-10 00:00:00

teresting and suitable for the occasion. It must be
confessed that this desideratum has been success-
fully accomplished in the present instance, and that
we have before us a good reBuml of the most salient
points that are to be met with in the review of last
session. A dreary retrospect it is, in fact, and one
that all men of patriotic sentiment may blush to
think of ; but still the unpleasant necessity must be
gone through, and the interests of the country
demand that the questions involved in the discus•
sion of this year should not be passed over in that
silence with which their chief actors would, doubt-
less, desire to enshroud them. First of all, Mr
FITZGERALD discoursed upon the duties of those
who are in Opposition, and very truly observed that
they were important ones, and should not
be scouted and slighted. There are two things
to consider, said he—first, that a man should
act up to his own convictions, and, secondly,
that he should consider how far the expression of
his opinion is consistent with the interests of the
public service. This is a very true definition, and
certainly no one has so good a right to preach such
a course as a member of the Conservative Opposie
saint], which is distinguished among all others for
the absence of that party spirit and personal ran-
cour that oppose for the sake of contradicting and
interpose obstacles from sheer perversity. At the
same time some line of demarcation must be drawn,
and it is truly stated here that the Opposition last
Session owed it to themselves and their country to
denounce the policy pursued by the Government in
the affair of Denmark and Germany. No better
censure could have been passed on the Administra-
tion than was conveyed by the speeches that took
place on their own side on the occasion of the great
debate. As Mr. FITZGERALD remarked, with
hardly an exception they all expressed regret at the
position of our foreign policy. The policy of non-
interference, as the hon. member accurately puts
it, is one which has been declared the only true and
desirable one for this great country to follow, and
after the bungling effects produced by a contrary
practice he may well be proud to declare that such
has been consistently advocated by the Conserva-
tive party for many years past. " It was dignified
by the eloquence of Sir ROBERT PEEL, and received
in those days the fail support of Mr. GLADSTONE."
Surely common sense must tell us that it is neither
honest nor honourable to hold out hopes that can-
not be fulfilled, to make fine sounding promises to
produce a great effect on one's party, and all the
while to make some mental reservation that renders
them void and valueless. The best that can be said
in an epitome of our late transactionswith Denmark
sinks us in the scale of nations and lowers our self.
respect as a free and independent country. Mr
FITZGERALD was careful to guard against the op.
posite extreme, and declared that he put no credence
in Mr COBDEN'S code of complete isolation from
other countries. This was not possible, and if it
were so it would not be desirable, In a few
graphic touches the hon. member depicted the
present condition of Austria and Prussia. The two
great German States are indeed sad spectacles to
contemplate, for all their present jubilation is a
sere sign of their retrograde movements instead of
their progressive march towards constitutional and
social improvements. How melancholy, but how
true, is the definition here given of the condition
to which Prussia has now become reduced note
withstanding the intellect of her people, and the
great resources of her State. "Every liberal as.
piration is extinguished, there is no hope of free-
dom at this moment in the length and breadth
of Prussia, everything is under military rule, all
that they look at is an extension of territory, and
an increase of military prestige." The self-
crowned monarch of Berlin has brought things
to a pretty pass when each a description is given
of the effects of his rule, and yet who can con-
scientiously say that the account is not a veritable
one, and does not ante-date the verdict of the
impartial historian. As for Austria she has also
suffered, and the "direct, close, and intimate union
between the despotic military Governments of
Europe" here deplored has wrought its deadly
work, and spread abroad its blighting influence.
The object here put forward as the summum
bonurn of all policy is surely sufficient for the
most ambitious to aspire to, while it affords scope
to the most energetic to bestir themselves
" to make our name, oar character, and our
weight felt in every quarter of the globe." Had
this been the real wish of our present Cabinet very
different would be our retrospective and perspective
glance at foreign affairs ; but what with their wish
to appear something very formidable abroad, the
desire to please an infatuated set at home, and the
general confusion into which they worked them%
selves, the Government has contrived to delude
itself and disgrace the country. It is a relief to find
any one speaking out so strongly as Mr FITZGERALD
has done concerning Austria and Prussia, for it is
too much the fashion for speakers at public meetings
and elsewhere to let them down easily, and either
to ignore their actual guilt in the late transactions
with Denmark, or else not to enter fully upon the
topic. There is no shirking of the question in this
speech, but we are deliberately told that it is an
injury to Europe for these two great German
Powers to be allowed to assume so false a position,
and to exercise undue influence in an unfair
manner, not by the weight of character, but by
the force of arms. Mr FITZGERALD speaks the
sentiments of all lovers of freedom when he says
that he has never found a military despotism
conduce either to the liberty of the people or the
peace of the world, and further on that he depre-
cates as far as he caa any transaction which shall
establish in the heart of Europe two great
military monarchies, because he does not believe
they are likely to conduce to the welfare of Europe
or the peace of the world. How refreshing a eight
would it have been if one of our Ministers had had
the manliness or the foresight to declare such sen-
timents in the house, instead of Earl RUSSELL over
and over again asserting that he did not believe that
the allied Powers meant to do the supposed wrong
or the injury said to be in contemplation, and
Lord PALMERSTON trying one dodge after another
to gain time till the deed was done, which militated
not only against the welfare of Denmark, but the
honour of England. In his remarks upon the pro.
posedreduction of the Army and Navy estimates,
Mr. FITZGERALD displayed great foresight, and it
is to be hoped that his suggestions will be paid
proper attention to, and then instead of putting
our warlike preparations into a state which may
please the Manchester School, but not coufurm with
the notions of men of experience and judgment,
we may accomplish the twofold object of retaining
a proper warlike equipment by land and sea, and
yet not squander away unnecessarily the public
funds. It is here forcibly put that the real waste
is in the employment of so many supernumeraries.
It is not an army of soldiers that we are wasting
money in maintaining, but an "array of clerks."
There is much altogether to ponder over in this
speech, and it cannot be said to have passed over
any great or important subject of the day. Tho
remarks about Reform are very true, and it is a
proper reproof to the officious class who make Re-
form a stalking horse for their own purposes, when
Mr FITZGERALD reminds them that it was not their
order that obtained for the working-classes of Eng-
land a diminution of their hours at toil, but the

aristocratic class that they are always decrying as
the people's enemies, It is always a welcome en•
joyment to peruse so spirited a discourse as this,
and even those not on the side of the speaker must
admit that it is characterised by a temperate tone
and a conscientious manner. It is the exposition
of a politician who speaks fearlessly and frankly his
views and opinions upon important matters, and as
such it reflects honour upon himself and upon those
whom he represents, for it bears the impress of
truth, and is distinguished by au honourable spirit.

Thursday the B.h of December, 1864, will long
be remembered in the annals of the West of Eng.
land. On that day one of the most beautiful and
remarkable structures which the skill of modern
science has given to this generation was com-
menced, completed, and formally opened for public
use, Various circumstances combined to render
the opening of the Clifton Suspension Bridge a
matter of unusual interest. The Bridge itself is a
triumph of engineering skill, and the daring ambi-
tion of BRUNEL would have been gratified could be
have lived to see the completion of his design in
one of the roftiest and longest suspension bridges in
the world. It is, too, as singular for beauty as for
ingenuity, while its strength is indisputable, being
equal to a strain of 10,000 tons. The old Hungerford
Bridge, which so gracefully spanned our Old Father
Thames, end which Londoners still regret to miss,
even with the magic transformation of the locality,
was only intended for foot passengers, but the
Clifton Bridge is to be for traffic of all kinds, thus
rendering it indispensable to combine strength
with elegance. The history of the building, too,
is no less interesting than the beauty of the bridge.
The want of a direct communication across the
Avon from Gloucestershire to Sornersetshire has
been so long felt that it is only wonderful the con.
netting link between the two countries should not
have been called into active existence earlier. So
long ago as the year 1753 a worthy Alderman of
Bristol, named Vecec, bequeathed in trust to the
Merchant Venturers of that city the sum of £l,OOO
for the purpose of building a bridge across to Clif-
ton. More than a century has elapsed before the
work contemplated by the good Alderman has
reached its completion, but certainly a thousand
pounds is no very great sum towards building a
bridge in such a locality. In 1830 the one thousand
having grown into eight, the undertaking was
commenced, not that the Merchant Venturers
were sanguine enough to suppose that the means
at their command would serve for the bridge, but
they thought it would serve as a nucleus, and the
public want had grown too pressing to be longer
neglected. The bequest of Alderman Vecx had
been intended for a stone bridge, but the estimates
for such a structure proving enormously expensive
that plan was given up, and finally the simple and
beautiful design of the late Mr BRUNEL was decided
upon. The undertaking was commenced in 1831,
the managers probably not anticipating more than
than thirty years would elapse before its termina-
tion. After an expenditure of nearly L 50,000, the
bridge stood still for want of funds; and as no more
money was forthcoming at the expiration of the
time stipulated in the Act of Parliament, the affair
was virtually abandoned, and the two stone towers,
which were the only things completed, remained
sadly looking on at the channel between them.
How it would have ended is difficult to say, but
after the lapse of several years the enforced removal
of Hungerford..bridge gave a fresh stimulus to the
affair. Mr BRUNEL was the engineer of Hunger-
ford, and nothing could be therefore more suitable
than to complete the one bridge by means of the
other. The materials, too, were ready to hand, and
could be cheaply purchased ; so a new company was
formed, a new act obtained, and the long delayed
bridge has been brought to a successful termina•
tion. Mr BRUNEL'S design consists of a chain
bridge of a single span of 700 feet, with two chains
passing over two towers, chains being buried in the
rocks at either side. In the structure, however, three
chains have been used at each end, being two more
than at Hungerford, but the Hungerford.bridge was
only 14 feet wide, whereas the Clifton structure is
30 feet, and is meant for vehicles as well as foot
passengers. The new bridge is nearly 200 feet
longer than the renowned Menai, and is 260 feet in
height, being 100 feet higher than the suspension
bridge at Fribourg. The Lambeth Suspension
Bridge has a longer span but is built on four piers,
so that the newly finished bridge, over whose come
pletion two counties held festival, is really one of
the most remarkable structures of its kind in exist-
ence, even in this age of engineering marvels. No
less than 1,500 tons of iron are said to have been
used in the bridge, the chains weighing 1,100 tons.
Their links are 7 inches broad and 24 feet long,
each link being composed of bars- bolted together
at the ends. Four hundred bolts with screw ends
which fix into a large iron nut are used, for this
the roadway of the bridge is composed of sleepers
of Baltic timber, with transverse planks over them.
The bridge was severely tested before the opening
by means of 500 tons of stone which were drawn
over on a tramway, but for ordinary purposes the
ceremonial itself was a sufficient test. The quiet
rural spot has seldom witnessed so gay a scene as
was presented on Thursday by the crowds congre-
gated to witness the opening ceremony. The trades
and societies of the good city of Bristol, bearing
the banners and emblems of their various callings,
marshalled in great state, and all the inhabitants
of the two counties who could find means anal
leisure to witness the spectacle gathered on the
heights around. The bridge procession included,
of course, the members of the new and old com-
panies, the contractors, the engineers, the merchant
venturers, the lord lieutenants of the two counties,
and all the dignitaries of the neighbourhood,
together with a goodly share of uniforms,
with representatives of the army, the
navy, the militia, and the volunteers.
The affair went off most successfully, and nothing
dimmed the pleasure of the day. Popular enthu-
siasm knew no bounds, and when the bridge was
formally declared opened it vented itself in repeated
rounds of cheering for the principal actors in the
affair. Unhappily, he whose name was on every
tongue was not present to witness the completion of
the great work which stands as a lasting memento
of his genius, an enduring guardian of his fame. It
is a singular and gratifying reflection that one of
Mr. BRUNEL'S own structures should be the means
of perfecting his unfinished work, so that when his
admirers mourned over the seeming destruction of
his graceful metropolitan suspension bridge the
seeming evil was in reality a gain, for it gave a
stimulus to British enterprise, and served to com-
plete the far more remarkable and valuable struc-
ture which now spans the Avon. The inhabitants
of Gloucester and Somerset had good reason to re-
j lice over the supply of a want which has been felt
for more than a century, and the satisfactory eon-
elusion of an undertaking which has been in hand
more than thirty years. Since the foundation stone
of the Cliftoa Bridge was laid what wonders of
engineering skill have been wrought, what great
works of public utility have been begun, finished,
and their construction well nigh forgotten ! But if
its progress has been Bo slow as sometimes to amount
to absolute inaction, the work has at last been done,
and done well, and a few years more or less, though

very annoying to the residents in the locality, will
reckon for very little in the lifetime of such a work
'of art and science as the Clifton Suspension Bridge.

Christmas-day on a Sunday,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE ST:N.

Stu,—May I claim your aid on behalf of the great mass
of Englishmen who have only two days recognised as
holidays throughout the year, viz , Christmas-day and
Good Friday, and who are this year in danger of losing one
of them.

Christmas• day falling this year on a Sunday, instead of
being a day of rejoicing, will be one of disappointment (to
say the least), because part of the people will spend it as a
Sunday and part as Christmas-day.
Tbis cm only bo got over by an Order in Council de-
claring Monday a holiday.
Thus the Sunday would remain a day for religious
observances, and the Monday a day for rejoicing. In a
social point of view this would be no inconsiderable boon to
the toiling millions. The rich can have their holiday when
and as often as they please, is it too much to press upon a
liberal Government the general desire for a holiday on the
Monday indicated, and which can be granted by simple
enactment of Council.
Your generous influence is solicited by

A CLER .

London, 9th December, 1864.

The Berryer Banquet,

(From the _Law Times of to-day.)

The journals appear to have misunderstood the
incident at the Berryer dinner in the Middle
Temple Hall, which called forth the eloquent de•
scription by the Lord Chief Justice of the proper
limits of an Advocate's duty. It certainly had the
aspect of an answer to, or rather a protest against,
something which had fallen from a former speaker,
from which Chief Justice Cockburn dissenting, felt
himself bound to express his dissent. From his
language and manner it was manifest that he had
understood Lord Brougham's remarks on the duty
of an advocate to make the interests of his client
his sole object, to mean that which we, at the mo-
ment, and commentators on perusal, took to be
the design, namely, to assert the doctrine that
the Advocate is bound to sacrifice to the in-
terests of his client, not merely his own personal
considerations, but even the interests of others
—a doctrine carried to its extremest point
by Charles Phillips at the trial of Courvoisier, and
afterwards justified by him in a pamphlet. The
time and place did not permit Lord Brougham to
rise and protest against the inference which the
Lord Chief Justice Cockburn had drawn from his
remarks, but he expressed in very emphatic cheers
his approval of the limitations of the advocate's
licence which the Chief Justice was asserting.
Thinking that possibly it.may have been assumed
too hastily that Lord Brougham's opinions upon
this question were as they were understood by the
Lord Chief Justice and by the newspapers, we have
referred to the sketch of Erskine in his " Histori.
cal Sketches of the Statesmen of the Reign of
George III.," that great advocate being the illus-
tration adduced by Lord Brougham in the speech
that provoked the answer. And we find there a
very different definition of an advocate's duties
from that which Lord Brougham, citing Erskine
as an example, Was assumed to have asserted.
His meaning is plain enough. The advocate is to
make all possible self sacrifices in the service of his
client—not the sacrifice of others. He is to defy
the powerful; to cast away, if need be, hopes of
personal or professional advancement; to face un-
popularity, or—what is harder to bear than all
—to see his business at the bar taken from him
in the honest performance of that foremost of his
obligations—to do that which will best promote
the interests of his client. This was Lord
Brougham's meaning.
Such was his oratory--but oratory is only the half, and
the lesser half, of the Ni i Prius advocate—and Mr Erskine
never was known to fail in the more important moiety of
the part he had to sustain. The entire devotion to his
cause, which made him reject everything that did not help
it forward, and indignantly scorn all temptation to sacrifice
its smallest point for any rhetorical triumph, was not the
only virtue of his advocacy. His judgment was quick, sound
and sure upon each successive step to be taken; his decision
bold, but cautious and enlightened at each turn. His speak-
ing was hardly more perfect than his examination of wit•
nekses, the art in which so much of an English advocate's
skill is shown ; and his examination-in-chief was as ex-
cellent as his cross-examination, a department so apt to de-
ceive the vulgar, and which yet is, generally speaking, far
less available, as it hardly ever is more difficult than the
examination in chief or in reply. In all these various
functions, whethether of addressing the jury or urging
objects to the court, or examining his own witnesses or
cross-examining his adversaries, this consummate advo-
cate appeared to fill at one and the same time different
characters; to act as the counsel and representative of the
party, and yet to be the very party himself; while he ad-
dressed the tribunal, to be also acquainted with every feel-
ingandth
thegh witness,
t wofthese judge or the jury, and while ho
interfogated s, whether to draw from him all
he knew and in the most favourable shape, or to shake
and displace all he had said that was adverse, he appeared
to have entered into the mind of the person he was dealing
with, and to be familiar with all that was passing within
it. It is by such means that the hearer is to be moved
and the truth ascertained; and be will ever be the most
successful advocate who can approach the nearest to this
lofty and difficult position.

THE DEAN OF WESTMINSTER ON CALVIN,
GALILEO, AND SHAKSPERE.__An address was de-
livered on Thursday evening at Myddelton-hall, Upper-
street, Islington, on the three tercentenaries of 1864 —viz„
Calvin, Galileo, and Shakepere, by the Very Rev. the
Dean of Westminster. The hall was well filled by a highly
respectable company. The Dean observed that during the
year 1864 three tercentenaries had been celebrated in
Europe—Calvin, at Geneva; Galileo, in Italy; and
Shakepere in England. Now, he would ask, what advan-
tages
names
be learnt from the remembrance of these three
great ? They had been brought before the public in
a manner, the like of which
„ might never occur again.
When :on the 27th of luayi 1561, Calvin died, it was
thought that when his sun went down the same light
would never be seen again. But what name did Calvin leave
behind him ? He was an instance that a man may be
greatly esteemed in his own tine, and his fame become
greatly diminished after death. At his death no name had
acquired such a height. As Rooker said then, "it was
safer to attack all other saints than to attack the character
of Calvin." But his great fame was now no longer what it
once was. Erasmus and Luther was still powerful, while
Calvin had left little behind, But he had left two great
legacies—the first was the doctrine ef predestination. This
doctrine still lived. True it was that there was One higher
than man, and whatever was good in man same directly from
Heaven. Calvin had pilshed this doctrine to excess, yet he
had helped to hand it down to the present time. The next
feature in his history was that he established at Geneva
liberty and a high state of morality, though perhaps too
temptation
an aftiietion to the w.2rld at large. But there
severe and rigid. Yet did he introduce into that little town
an atmosphere so healthy that the wealthy of Europe
sent their sons to Geneva to be educated and kept out of
h
Calvin parsed away, and his death
wase
was one born two months before Calvin's death, and another
one month before, and those two man were as far above
Calvin as the heavens were above the earth. The mathe-
tpfaethlt to o f be
matician and the writer of plays soared far above the theo-
logian—Galileo, the father of astronomy; and Shakspere,
the interpreter of human nature, Galileo, apart from the
scientific benefits conferred on man by his marvellous use
of the telescope, revealed not only the infinity of space, but
largely displayed to man the infinity of God Himself,
Galileo, therefore, conferred lasting benefit on religion.
Turning to William Shakspere, the Dean observed that
he was a benefactor to religion, to his country, and to
the world at large. It might be asked, what benefit was
Shakespere to the Christian P Did he not teach them what
human nature was, and which knowledge was unquestion
ably necessary to teach a man to do his duty in the world ?
It had been said each particular class of men had their pecu-
liar views of nature—the clergy the weak side, the lawyer
the dark side. But Shakspere held the balance for mankind
in a high degree, teaching his fellow to " judge not, lest ye
bo judged." This
was truly an evangelical lesson. Ile
taught many valuable religious lessons, but no sect could
claim him as their supporter. Calvin was a Protestant,
Galileo a Roman Catholic, but it was in vain to search for
the sect to which Shakspere could be said to belorg. Ile
had a deep Ilene° of the greatness of God, of the soothing
influence of Christianity, and the words of the Bible, were
familiar to him. More could not be said. The Dean con-
cluded by showing that a man might be great, and that
greatness might --- Carry him above sects and parties, though
perhaps the same thing would not so well apply in the pre.
sent day, when it might be mere necessary for a man to
declare his creed and own his party. A unanimous vote
of thanks to the Dean for his able lecture closed the pro-
ceedings,

A b-t:eaeb of promise of marriage case was tried
in the Court of Common Pleas yesterday. The plaintiff, a
Miss Couldere, the daughter of an engraver and heraldic
painter at Cambridge, sued a Mr Lyle, the son of a miner
in Cornwall, for damages. Mr Lyle when an undergraduate
at Cambridge had lodged in the house of the plaintiff's
father, and had made love to bliss Couldere, eventually
offering marriage and being accepted. A long correspon-
dence took place, but at last the defendant broke off the
match. The jury yesterday gave a verdict for the plaintiff,
with damages, £l,ooo,