The Sun.
London, England, 1852-02-21 00:00:00

COURT CIRCULAR.

The Queen held a Court yesterday afternoon, at
Buckingham Palace.
Madame Musurus, wife of the Turkish Minister, Ma-
dame La Comtesse Buol Schauenstein, wife of the Aus-
trian Minister, Madame de Mucedo, wife of the Brazilian
Minister, the Princess di Carini, wife of the Sicilian
Minister, and Madame de Bille, wife of the Danish Mi-
nister, were severally presented to the Queen at audi-
ences by the Countess Granville, wife of her Majesty's
Principal Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
M. de Bile, Envoy Extraordinary, and Minister Ple-
nipotentiary from his Majesty the King of Denmark,
had an audience of the Queen, and delivered his creden-
tials to her Majesty. His Excellency was introduced by
the Earl Granville, her Majesty's Principal Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs, and conducted by Major-Ge-
neral the Honourable Sir Edward Cast, K,CJL, her
Majesty's Master of the Ceremonies.
The Queen was attended by Lord Elphinstone, Lord
in Waiting, and Major-General Berkeley Drummond,
the Groom in Waiting.
His Royal Highness Prince Albert, attended by Lieu-
tenant-Colonel the Hon. A. Gordon, rode out on horse-
back yesterday morning.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales, the
princess Royal, Prince Alfred, the Princesses Alice,
Helena, and Louisa, and Prince Arthur, took their
usual exercise yesterday in the garden of Buckingham
Palace.
Her Majesty bad a dinner party yesterday at Buck-
ingham Palace. The company included his Excellency
the Prussian Minister and Madame Bunsen, his Excel-
lency the Turkish Minister and Madame Musurus, the
Duke and Duchess of Norfolk, and Lady Adeliza Fitz-
alan Howard, the Earl and Countess of Besshorough,
Lieutenant-General Lord Fitzroy Somerset, and Baron
Neibuhr.
Her Majesty's private band attended after dinner at
Buckingham Palace on Thursday evening, and per-
formed the following selection:—
Overture, "Hans Heiling"
Introduction, " Die Furstin von Grenada" Lobe.
Masquerade Scene, "Le Pre aux Clercs" Herold.
Dance Bohemienne Meyerbeer.
A deputation on the subject of the South Yorkshire
Isle of Axholme Extension Railway, consisting of the
Earl of Yarborough, Viscount Galway, M.P., Mr.
Monckton Milner, M.P., Mr. J. G. Smyth, M.P., Mr.
W. M. E. Milner, M.P., Mr. John Littlewood, Mr. F.
H. Cartwright, Mr. E. England, Mr. Charles Evans,
and Mr. W. B. Beckett, had an interview with the
Right Hon. Henry Labouchere yesterday at the Board
of Trade.
A deputation from the Chelsea Improvement Commis-
sioners, consisting of Lord R. Grosvenor, Mr. Bernal
Osborne, Mr. Drew, Mr. Fielden, and Mr. Perry, had
an interview with Lord Seymour, yesterday, at the
office of Works and Publio Buidings, in Whitehall-

place.
General Bell had an interview with Sir George Grey
yesterday at the Home; office.
A deputation on behalf of the Shrewsbury and Bir-
mingham Railway Company, consisting of Messrs.
Walker, Knox, and Robert Roy (directors), and Mr.
W. G. Roy (solicitor), had an interview with Lord
Stanley, of Alderley, yesterday, at the Railway Depart-
ment of the Board of Trade.
Dispatches were sent from the Colonial-office yester-
day to the Governors of the North American Provinces.
Lady John Russell's party for Wednesday, Feb. 25,
is postponed to Wednesday, March 3.
The Judicial Committee of Privy Council sat yester-
dey. The Lords present were—Lord Cranworth, Sir J.
Knight Bruce, Dr. Lushington, and Sir R
Edward yan.
Lowe's application for extension of patent, part heard,
resumed and concluded.

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TEM GERMAN HOSPITAL AT DALSTON. --
held
The
sixth anniversary dinner of this excellent charity was
last night at the London Tavern, with his Excellency. the
Chevalier Bunsen in the chair. It had been announced
that his Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge would have
presided, if he had not been detained by important official
duties at Dublin. After the usual loyal toasts had been
drunk, his Excellency appealed to the company to enlist their
active co-operation on behalf of the hospital, in a very able
speech ; and after an impressive appeal to their charity and
munificence, concluded with an honourable testimony to
the skill, devotion, and disinterestedness of the medical
officers attached to the hospital. In consequence of this
appeal: donations to the amount of 1,400/. were subscribed
in the course of the evening, while the addition to the an-
nual subscription-list amounted to 751. The health of his
Excellency Chevalier Bunsen having been proposed by Dr.
Henry Walne, the company separted shortly after eleven
entertainment was under
o'clock. The musical part of the
the direction of Mr. Genge.
CATASTROPHE. —lt is
THE BICEST ER RAILWAY
calculated that this dreadful affair has entailed an expen
of about 30,0001. on the London and North-Western Raffle-
Company. We understand that Mr. Nevill, one of
the
injured passengers, has, as a compensation, been offered
1,50 W , which he refuses, and that he requires 3,OCW. Thed
following have been given as the sums presented to the un-
dermentioned persons in consideration of the i_njuries re-
ceived : - Mr. Bolton, 2201. ; Mr.
Collis,
Guardsman Davis, 7001.; Mrs. Terry, 1001..
200/. • and Mrs. Luckett, in consequence of kerirs. husband's
persons tilled or death', 700/. As thers were about
o3no
in-
jured, and all have led to claims
is probably within the mark. the company, aopoi.
REPRESENTATION OF SALISBURY .—Mr. Chaplin
has announced that his health is fast recovering, and that in
the event of a dissolution of Parliament, he will again offer
himself to the electors of Salisbury as a candidate
h, for the
representation of the boroug
Dorset County Chronicle.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
HERALD.—Whatever the House of Commons may
say to the contrary—the transactions between the Go-
vernment and Mr. Birch are of a nature to weaken the
authority of the Executive, and to reflect great
discredit on the administration of public affairs.
The spseeh of Lord Naas on Thursday, in opening
his case to the'House of Commons, was temperate, able,
and lucid. A crowded assembly listened to the statement
of the Noble Lord with the deepest atteution; and the
eff. ct produced by his unimpassioned delineation of simple
and unanswerable facts, was such that the Premier felt him-
self called upon immediately to respond to the calm appeal
of the Noble Member for Kildare, in the old strain of
Whiggery when in office. The matter was made per-
sonal, and had its end, so far as the votes of the House
of Commons, solicited by the First Minister of the
Crowe, could terminate the affair. The opinion of the
nation has yet, however, to be taken upon the adminis-
tration in Ireland of Lord Clarendon. The culpability
of Mr. Birch appears to us to have been amply abetted
or partaken of by his more distinguished collaborateurs.
TIMES.—We regret to say that the display of vir-
tuous indignation on Thursday was not on quite so
magnificent a scale as the public had been given to ex-
pect. Instead of three hundred political Mawworms,
who, with well starched cravats and straight combed
hair, were to testify against Lord Clarendon'a enor-
mities. Only 137 felt inwardly moved to vote,
and were accordingly beaten nearly two to one.
What was wanting in numbers, indeed, was made
up by the perfect discipline of this immaculate phalanx.
They had rubbed up their consciences, pipeclayed their '
purity, and polished their rebukes, with all the zeal of
the newest holyday troops, and a stranger might have
supposed that in Ireland at least patriotism is some-
thing more than the reciprocal of promotion and
place. Nothing could exceed the conscientious
pains taken to separate the question of Lord
Clarendon's guilt from the vulgar trifles with which it
had been confounded. One and all, the company of
preachers entreated us to put aside the consideration of
Cis Excellency's motives, of his success, of the extraordi-
nary circumstances of the crisis, of the ordinary standard
of administrations, and every: other consideration, and
to answer this question, and this only—Was it right to
pay Birch for supporting law and order ? That,
with some slight variety of expression, was the wind-up
of half a dozen speeches, in which mediocrity of talent
and community of purpose had naturally produced very
similar results. Is it right to subsidize the press? Is it
right to bribe the press? Ought Government to suborn
public writers? Should the public money be given to hire-
ling authors? It availed not that Lord J. Russell had ad-
mitted the impropriety of such a proceeding, and parti-
cularly the error of coming to a compromise with such a
fellow as Birch, for the rejoinder was, " Oh! then you
ought to vote for our resolution." In the case of two of
these high-minded men—Lord Naas and Lord C. Ha-
milton—their public spirit is enhanced by the circum-
stance that it is exhibited at the sacrifice of the warmest
regard and the highest admirition for Lord Claren-
don. They know him and love him—they recog-
nize his great services and success—they can make
allowances for the difficulties of his position—they can
do all that friendship or common sense require, but
nevertheless they wish to see him stigmatised as a mis-
appropriator of the public funds, and the suborner
of a disreputable journal. Lord Naas has made a
still larger sacrifice of his personal feeling. An im-
perious sense of duty—for it could have been nothing
less—has compelled him to describe Lord Clarendon in
the witness- box, and to record that he is the first
Viceroy that ever condescended to that ignominious po-
sition. With his Lordship's " deepest regard for the
great personal qualities, the talents, and private worth"
of Lord Clarendon, what a pang it Must have cost to add
this necessary aggravation of the indictment! It is,
however, a comfort to think that the private distress
of the noble prosecutor and his colleagues, and the
generous sympathy they could not help betraying
for the unfortunate Viceroy, may possibly have had
their weight in the House. Perhaps it was to spare the
private feelings of the accusers that the House at once
acquitted the accused. We aro not going to claim the
result as a victory either for the Government or for Lord
Clarendon, or for the cause of corruption, or anything else
that may have been assailed, because the result is simply
to leave things very much as they were. Unquestionably
Lord Clarendon ought not to have had any dealings
with such a man as Birch. Unquestionably it is fur
better that a man in Lord Clarendon's high position
should not have a newspaper in pay on any terms or in
any form. Unquestionably, too, as Lord Clarendon
himself found, on consulting his colleagues, this
was not a proper employment of public funds,
even of those which are expressly assigned
for secret purposes. We say this, because in
such a country as ours it is an almost constitutional
necessity that the press should be perfectly pure, and
should look to the public, not to the Government. We
all profess to be organs of public opinion, and if we enter
into any binding relation with the Government, we
become traitors to the public, who believe us to be en-
tirely theirs. This is thoroughly understood and uni-
versally admitted in this country. So far, we have
no alternative but to condemn Lord Clarendon's
dealings with Birch. But we really think there is no
occasion to protest against them with the outrageous
virtue of his present accusers. We cannot connive at
them, but that is all that is required of us.
No rational person believes the press of this
metropolis to be in anybody's pay, so there
is no reason to take occasion of Lord Cla-
rendon's mistakes to trumpet our own purity. On
the contrary, we can afford to take a generous and con-
siderate view of the matter. We can remember that
an Irish rebellion, after all, is no ordinary or easy crisis,
and that the man who had, singlehanded, to suppress
that rebellion, and pacify eight million poor misguided
simpletons, as well as he could, may be excused if, in
the general confusion, treachery, and desertion, he ac-
cidentally stumbled on a bad tool and burnt his own
fingers. The interests of political purity have been suf-
ficiently vindicated in the frightful amount of pillage and
other annoyance Lord Clarendon has already suffered.

THE WRECK OF THE AMAZON.
SOUTHAMPTON, FRIDAY NIGHT.—It is believed the
news received here last evening from Dorchester, rela-
tive to the safety of two more of the crew of the Amazon
will turn out to be the artful manoeuvre of two im-
postors, who have adopted this ruse to impose upon the.
charitable. A telegraphic message was forwarded to
Dorchester early today, requesting the men might be
sent to Southampton immediately; tut on inquiry at the
house where they had been staying, they could not be
found, nor had they been heard of since the morning.
The story was not credited here from the first, and there
is little doubt that it will turn out as before stated.