The Sun.
London, England, 1863-05-20 00:00:00

TEE LEGITIMATE NOVEL.

The legitimate work of fiction began in one of
two ways; either by stating all the preliminary
matter which it was needful for the reader to know
—and sometimes a great deal more—in the first few
chapters, dedicating them entirely to pedigrees, to
biographies of the grandfathers and grandmothers
of the characters; or else to pander to the import-
ance of the student by plunging at once into the
middle of an interesting scene or conversation, with-
out any preliminary explanation. At first sight
this last mode of operating would seem to be the
more delightful ; but what was the use of beginning
in this gay and sprightly manner in Chapter 1., it
the wretched reader caught sight of these awful
opening words of the second chapter, " It is now
needful that we should explain something of the
history of the characters whom we have thus un-
ceremoniously introducel to the readers ?'' And
there was another little trial. "We must now re-
turn to Lenora." Or, " the exigencies of our
story now require that we should return to Lenora:,
What moments were chosen by the author for that
return to Lenora! We were dragged back to that
young woman just when we were bent on hearing
the termination of that terrific adventure, in which
the hero was involved. It was a breathless moment
in the youth's fate. The sword was hanging over
his head, the poison-cup was at his lips, the chal-
lenge was received, the dice were oscillating in the
air, when we must now return to Lenora. And
we didn't want to return to Lenora. And when
we had returned to Lenora, and had got over the
disgust of that blessed restoration, and bad disci-
plined our minds to that degree that they were con-
tent to follow her fortunes instead of those of our
fancy's hero—were we allowed to do so ? No, We
must then return to Edgar, and we were dragged
away from her as we had previously been from him,
and were whisked off again to some uncongenial
region, where all was ice and desolation. And the
worst of it was that many of these tremendous ad-
ventures thus rudely arrested were never finished ;
the hero of the situation being taken in hand again
long afterwards in some altogether different part of
his career, and, perhaps, merely alluding to the
termination of that adventure in which you were
once so madly interested, in a few cursory remarks
addressed to his bosom friend, as the two " lounged
together on the shores of Capri." Edgar having no
business at Capri, observe, and no business to take
you there, and not in the least accounting for him-
self even as to that inane passage of his existence.
—Dickens's " All the Year .Round."

Tizz WORKS AND COLLECTION OF A. L. EGG,
R.A .—The remaining works of thatilustly esteemed
artist, Augustus L. Egg, R.A., deceased,
a studies
several
finished pictures, numerous sketches an
and chalks, also a few splendid works by other cl tin in oils
distinguished
artists of the English school, costumes, an 1 painting ma.
terials, were disposed of on Monday at Christie's rooms •
The attendance on the occasion was very large,the
great room being crowded to excess. The prices realised
were extremely high. Among the more interesting and
important examples were the subjoined :—Cartoons.—Lots
26 and 27. `'Lance and his Dog ;" "Frederick the
Great and Catharine "—£4o 15s. (Yoking). Sketches in
Oiln.-59. "Head of a Lady;" very brilliant—£ll (Ander-
don). 86 and 93. "A Mother and Child,"99 and " Feadortuof a
ne
Telling "-47 guineas (Cox). 87, 97, and ." H s
Negro, an Algerine, and Negro Barber; all very powerfully
painted—£62los. (Creswick). ICO and 103. "Raising the
Standard," a composition of many figures, and "The Bed-
room at Knowle "-53 guineas ( White). 104-6. "The
IT olur teer," a finished sketch for the celebrated picture,
"Maria,"sa from Twelfth Night, and "Leicester and
ilbert A
Robmy
t ;" all fine finished sketches —B2k guineas (G).
Finished pictures, by A, L. Egg, R.A.-117. "The Toilet,"
a lady seated
—5O
guineas
(aot rerttoilt-ble and her maid ; candlelight
"A Girl Writing"-52 guineas
guineas(ox)• c
w 119.. "Italianu.w iiial. IPlle3a.sants seated in a Portico"-41
"The Siesta," a small cabinet
work-23 guineas (Flaten)2ol:l2l. " The Leisure Hour," a
Leases,''
agloandscape-40
lady and gentleman seated,
(Gil-
bert). 122. "The Crochet guineas
',
T11:' circle, painted so late as
1862-94 guineas (Cox). 123.
landscapera veiling Companions" in
a first-class railway carriage;seen through the
Present ;"
winnow, and one of the last the lamented
the cele•
painted-
-330 guineas (Cox). 124. " Past andP artist
brated work, comprising three pictures, mounted in a single
frame, exhibited at the Royal Academy: l
last year at the Great International Exhibition—£3ld 1858, and alsoo
(Agnew). 125. "An Al gerine Girl playing the Guitar;" the
18.
artist's last work-80 guineas (Cox). Pictures
by
o other ar-
tistg.--141. J. Philip, R.A.—" Teaching the se
Cate-
chism," a small finished sketch for the celebrated picture
ieture
exhibited at the Royal Academy-27 guineas (FlatouP). 42
; fw.
Miss Mutria.—A flower piece, comprising azaleas and l.
gera-
niums, small cabinet size--55 guineas (Grundy). 14
P. Fritb,R.A.-Bcene from "Le Bourgeois Genthhomme,"
a sketch,
for the celebrated picture-50 guineas (Cox), 144.
It. A• Cowing of Age in the Olden Time,"
W. P. Frith, for the original picture—
s beautifully finished study
185 guineas (White). ;45. P. R. Morris,—" Voices from
the gas," exhibited at the International Exhibition last
year—il.os (Gilbert). 1.16. Ti. Wallis.—" The Death of
Cliattertoof" the celebrated picture exhibited at the Royal
A.^,ademy in 1853, and since engraved-77.5 guineas
(Aipaew). 147'. W. IL Hunt.—" Claudio and Isabella,',
scene taken from Bhakspeare's " Measure for Measure"—
" Claudio—Death is a fearful thing%
Isabella—And shamed life a hateful l"
The original picture exhibited at the Royal Academy in
The whole realised upwards
1853-610 guineas (Agnew).
of £4,000.
THE HEALTH 01' GARIBALDL—Writing from
Capreraraci on the 14th of this month to Mr. Negretti, Gene-
faatoriryb,lldi says,—" My health is going on very satis-
p

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 20, 1863.

The Irish Church Establishment has long been
recognised by millions of ►houghtful men in this
country as one of the most flagrant anomalies among
all the institutions of the Three Kingdoms. Dur-
ing years upon years, at uncertain intervals, it has
been discussed and re-discussed, literally usque
ad nauseam, because hitherto quite fruitlessly, both
within and without the walls of Parliament. Time
was—now nearly a whole generation back—when
it was the theme of stormy debate down at West-
minster, a subject of contention so fierce and impe•
tuous that upon the result hung the fate of parties,
the coming in and the going out of Governments, the
incitement to loyalty or to revolt of six
millions of the population. In spite of all
which, the loyalty of those millions—so far
as it could be in any way affected adversely
by that galling and most irritating provocation—
was then maintained, is to this moment maintained
inviolate. Yet all the while that same monstrous
anomaly here alluded to has been continued intact

and uninterruptedly. There has been all this time no

abatement whatever of the evil, no abatement of it
even to an infinitissimal degree, as an anomaly,
since SYDNEY SMITH flouted it with his wit and
DANIEL O'CONNELL denounced it in imperishable
words of eloquence. Notwithstanding every strenu-
ous effort made with a view to its subversion, there
that huge anomaly still survives like an immovable
incubus—there it yet remains by the sheer might
of its vis inertia.

Again, last evening, in the House of Commons the

old source of so many heartburnings upon either
side of St. George's Chancel, was, in a new form,
brought under consideration. 0 ace more, yesterday,
the notoriously invidious and anomalous position of

the Church Establishment in Ireland was—(there is
no other word for it)—revtmtilated. One is pain-
fully conscious while listening to the renewal of
these discussions in the Imperial Legislature, whi e
turning over the report of them this next day with
a weary deliberation—one cannot possibly do other-
wise than feel all the time poignantly con-
vinced that no amelioration is in any way
likely to result from it. Representative after
representative has his favourite panacea, his pet
anodyne, his cherished compromise, to suggest
and to dilate upon : but one after another, we know
full well from a bitter experience, that these pro-

jects will be vaunted by their respective projectors,
only to be rejected more or less peremptorily by the
House. A House, too, certain as fate almost, to be
bored to death by listening to them. Of all this
last night's discussion of the subject-matter in de-
bate, afforded just one of the old stock illustrations.
A Select Committee was moved for, in the first
instance, by the re-ventilator of the old thread-
bare grievance, Mr. DILLWYN. That hon-
ourable gentleman's motion being made simply for
the appointment of a Select Committee that should
be empowered to inquire how far the present dis
tribation of endowments for religious purposes
throughout Ireland might be so amended as most
to conduce to the welfare of all classes of her
MAJESTY'S Irish subjects. Secondly, to search the
journals of the House for any resolutions passed
since the act having reference to the application
of any surplus revenue arising from ecclesiastical
endowments in Ireland. And, finally, to re-
port how far such resolution or resolu-

tions have been subsequently carried into
effect. In reality, altogether, upon the face of it, a
reasonable proposition enough : and one consist-
ently supported, considering the bearing of it, by
Sir JOHN TRELAWNY. Yet, while the motion was
all this beyond any doubt, it was none the less
unlikely to end where it set out : resulting in nothing
more certainly than in a little further waste of
time. Mr. SEYMOUR'S amendment, therefore,
seconded by Mr. NEWDEGATE, followed at once
upon the original motion almost as an inevitable
consequence. That amendment, nevertheless, being
obviously about as likely to prove in every way asin-
-1 mThostiosungfogreswilhonicplauitt
owpaesr
iant
ti
ev
ne
do
ef d gtooo
be
eassothbestOitruigtienda.
nothing forward bym more
rhee amendmentnor
less t
than
amne meaning,
in
ginpoi
substitutionnt for
of
fact,
a c t,
A Select
Committee, a
ofs
Mn
ARoyaslEysrou
Commßissipount.
Royal Commission,
formally appointed and empowered
to inquire
into the territorial arrangement of existingben e:
fiees ; into the provision of the cure of souls ; into
the amount of population and number of Protes-
tants in each benefice; the erection of new parishes
were required ; the districts which it might be de-
sirable to serve provisionally by stipendiary curates;
the incomes of benefices and parts of benefices in
Ireland ; and other subjects enumerated in the ori-
ginal proposition. Certainly a modest prospectus
altogether ! The amendment manifestly propound.
ing a scheme, not for the modification, much less
for the diminution, but rather it would seem for the
still further extension and amplification of an
already gigantic grievance. Hence these proposals
for the erection of new parishes, where required!
For providing certain districts provisionally with
stipendiary curates, supplemented as a class to
the Irish Church Establishment, as it is.
An amendment, in reality, just simply out-

Heroding HEROD. Yet even this was not enough
for the right hon. member for the Dublin University.
Reviving the stale old argument that the con-
tinuance intact of the Protestant Church Estab-
lishment in Ireland was part and parcel of the Act
of Union, was one of its most essential articles or
conditions, Mr. w HITESIDE thereby most eloquently
appeared to be striving (in so arguing) to afford
some plea of justification for the arguments of our
old friends the Repeaters ! Supporting it, as the right
hon. gentleman announced that he did,and as we be-
lieve him to have done most conscientiously, simply as
the depository of truth, he was nevertheless ready to
admit [indeed, he could hardly do otherwise] that
the Irish Church, is, all the while, the Church of a
minority of the population. That, as we conceive,
being in truth rather a mild way of putting it !
Throughout the whole period of the discussion of
this grave and even vital question—as to the posi-
tion, that is, in which the Irish Church Establish-
ment stands relatively to the great mass of the
Irish population—the argument maintained in
the columns of this journal have been consistently
and persistently one and the same. Since
the earliest debate of the matter, after the
completion of the Act of Union, until now, the
arguments
put forth in these columns of The Sun,
have been precisely of the same character and ten-
dency, in regard to it. The anomaly could not be
denied, could not but be recognised. A love of
fair play has ever urged us to insist upon the
reasonableness (to say no less) of the demands
made from time to time, hitherto in vain, for its
diminution. And this merely with a view to what
we yet feel perfectly well assured is inevitable—its
extinction. To talk of Civil and Religious Liberty
while this flagrant injustice is being rigidly and
pitilessly perpetuated is simply preposterous. The
maintenance of the Irish Church Establishment
upon the same scale upon which it has hitherto been,
and is still being, maintained, is about as reasonable
an arrangement of its kind as the organisation of a
vast commissariat, a commissariat sufficient to sup-
port a whole army, merely for the feeding of a
single regiment—and that regiment scattered
sparsely all over the country, so sparsely as to ap
pear, here and there, like so many isolated sentinels.
More than that, it is to organise this elaborate
and gigantic commissariat for the exclusive feeding
of that one widely-distributed regiment, in the midst
of a dense and impoverished population.

Mr. HENNESSY last night made a few remarks on
Prussia and the Poles, which remarks certainly were
most apropos. The hon. gentleman said that it ap•
peared to him that not onlywas Prussia carrying out
the terms of the convention, but also it was doing so
with undue severity, and acting besides in an ille-
gal manner. He then read from a letter of some
French officers, an extract which proved that a Rus-
sian detachment that had no ammunition retreated
into Poland, and after some days returned well pro-
vided with powder and Ms. Mr. HENNESSY said
he should like to know whether this supply
of arms and ammunition to Russian troops
was not a breach of international law,
and if it was not a breach of the terms of
the convention. He then referred specially to a

letter from the Prussian General LEWALD to the
Russian general, MASCLON, which was most con-
clusive evidence. In one passage the Prussian
general went so far as to say that be begged the
Russian general would "inform him betimes of
every military expedition on the Prussian frontier,
that he might give the necessary orders according to
circumstances." Further on he says that there
were garrisons of special Prussian detachments,
infantry and cavalry, the officers of those detach•
ments were to receive the Russian general's
orders and communicate them to their own general,
Mr. HENNESSY truly observed, after enumerating

these facts, that Prussia was just as much at war
with Poland as Russia was. The hon. gentleman

bus forcibly impressed the necessity of the case
upon Lord PALMERSTON :—" He felt that if Prince
GORTSCHAKOEF'S despatch was to receive only the
answer which the Secretary of State was said to
have given it in another place, this country would
get out of the unfortunate and disgraceful condition
in which it now was with regard to this question
in a manner which was neither consonant with the
feelings of the people nor the honour of England."
Lord PAL3IERSTON'S reply was most unsatisfactory.
He said he was sorry to say that in 1832 Prussia
had not acted up to its duty in the war between the
Poles and Russians. He then stated the rules re-
lating to belligerent forces taking refuge in a
neutral territory. He wound up by stating that
he believed Prussia had lately violated no
right of international or neutral duty.
The noble lord quoted a singular precedent to estab-
lish the case referred to by Mr. HENNESSY. He
said, " With regard to furnishing ammunition, we
must always recollect the doctrine laid down by
America during the war with Russia, that neutrals
have the right to furnish warlike stores to either or
both belligerents." This is most extraordinary
reasoning, and it must be remembered that America
is not very apt to allow others to practise the doc-
trine that she preaches at certain times for her own
convenience. How is it that all the late confusion
have arisen with regard to our vessels carrying
stores (or being supposed to do so) if the rule is in-
fallibly settled that it is lawful to do so. Another
thing is, why should the Americans be allowed to
settle in this summary and arbitrary question the
laws of nations that affect the great wars of the
world. These questions are generally arranged at
a Congress, or at all events they are treated of by
the great Powers in concert. It is most singular
that Lord PALMERSTON should cite such an instance
for a precedent; it shows how bad his case was if
that was the best that could be said for its defence.
The fact was the noble lord was deterinined to de-
fend the actions of the Prussian Government at any
cost, and therefore he set to work to find any evi-
dence that could at all bear upon the point at issue,
and make the worse appear the better cause. Mr.
FITZGERALD very properly took up the cudgels
against
that thithes
noblee lordxtrava had laid down a
extravagant assertion. He
said
therepanridn wocniple of international law, for which
aasutnhoority. foundation
The n
ob
le l
lord
rd
had replied
no precedent,
question concerning the supply of ammunition to
Russian troops by saying-.-" That the doctrine of
the United States, which has since been enforced and
adopted by ourselves, is that it is not a breach of
neutrality for the subjects of a neutral to supply
belligerents with ammunition." The decided tone
of Mr. FITZGERALD evidently startled Lord PAL-
MERSTON from his previous insousciance, for he said
that he did not understand that Mr. HENNESSY
was positive in his information, and he himself
did not know anything about the matter. This
produced laughter, as a matter of course, but
suit theof
subject, and is
tnhoits
consistent
e levity
withthees not
vital nature the interests
referred to. Subsequently some remarks were made
o
as to the great indifference that was displayed with
regard to foreign questions in the House—a charge
which the members of the Cabinet endeavoured to
explain away, but with little or no effect. The fact
is it is found very
Lord RUSSELL being in the other House to shirk
all responsibility,
and
dv to take advantage of
toenient
avoid answering awkward