The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-29 00:00:00

The Freeman contains the following interesting
reminiscences of the above noble earl, whose death
we announced yesterday :
Another link connecting us with the past has been broken.
The venerable Earl of Charlemont, who inherited the name
as well as the virtues of his great father, died on Saturday,
at the advanced age of 90. Francis, the second earl, was
born Jan. 6, 1774, so that on Jan. 4th next he would have
completed hie 90th year. Born at a time of great political
fermentation, and when Irish society reflected core beauty,
brilliancy, and wit than any society in Europe, he loved to
detail the events which made an impression on his boyhood.
Gifted with a retentive memory, he recalled scenes and
characters which at the present day appear to be cast back
into the dim traditions of history. When only in his
fifth year he well remembered the rising of the Irish
Volunteers. Like the Prince Imperial, who is now the
hope of France, the Irish nation regarded the eldest son of
the Earl of Charlemont. Some of our readers may have
seen an old engraving of a re view of the volunteers in
College-green, commanded by the Duke of Leinster and
the Earl of Charlemont. The young viscount was present,
riding at his father's side. He re collected distinctly all the
illustrous names of Irish history from 'B2. At the re-unions
which took place at Leinster House and Charlemont House,
at that period the centres of all the intellect, beauty, and
fashion of the metropolis, his lordship mixed with the cha-
racters of that memorable epoch. With Grattan he was of
course perfectly familiar. Flood he less distinctly remembered,
but he still retained sufficient to give us a more p,rfect idea
of that remarkable man than history has transmitted to us.
His lordship was accustomed to say that his father ad-
mired Flood more than any of the men of that day, so
fertile in great statesmen and orators. That the Earl of
Charlemont and Henry Flood entertained a mutual respect
for eaoh other appears from the publisaed correspondence,
which exhibits the highly cultivated tastes and refined in-
tellectual intercourse that subsisted between those eminent
men. He told anecdotes of Grattan, Avonmore, Bowes
Daly, Forbes, Gardiner, together with a long catalogue of
other celebrities, when his memory was more active than it
had been in the decline of his life. He also had a distinct
though leas clear, recollection of other figures who played
no unimportant part in the literary and political history
of England. He remembered when a boy having been
introduced by his father at several meetings of the
famous Literary Club. Burke he knew and remembered
well. A short time before his death the earl and
his son visited him at Beaconsfield, and he remem-
bered well one of the first questions Burke asked his father
was what he thought about the progress of events in France.
The education of Viscount Caulfield was conducted under
the immediate eye of his accomplished father, until, in
his 16th or 17th year, he entered college, where he dis-
tinguished himself in 'classics. On the dissolution of
Parliament in '97 he was elected for the county of Ar-
magh, and, we need not say, voted heart and soul against
the union. His venerable father did not live to see the
measure carried, having died in 1799, when his son suc-
ceeded to the title and estates. Lord Charlemont, not
without some reluctance, took his seat in the English
House of Lords, to which, however, he was soon recon-
ciled. Thoroughly liberal, loving Ireland and her
people, whenever he spoke in the upper house he advo-
cated the religious and civil rights of his country. He was
a good speaker, and always impressed by his clear, good
sense. In the struggle between the Irish Liberals and
Tories, before and after emancipation, he was always at the
service of the Liberal party. He took an active part in the
Moore testimonial, which was one of the last of his public
acts. He gave up Charlemont House to the committee, and
at the public meeting over which he presided he spoke with
feeling and grace of the national poet with whom he was
long and intimately acquainted. His last appearance in
public was at the opening of the Irish Exhibition of 1853,
when he appeared as the senior of the Knights of St.
Patrick, his father having been one of the first creations of
the order. He was a man of great and varied acquire-
merits. Modest and unobtrusive, he never developed the
eminent qualities which distinguished him, except in
the circle of his private friends, whose hearts he won by
the gentleness of his manner and the brilliancy of his con-
versation, which, it was said, much resembled his father's,
In one respect he differed widely from his father. Equally
national, be was more liberal. His father's opposition to
emancipation he never approved, while he illustrated, in his
whale life, the highest respect for the religious and civil
liberties of hie Catholic countrymen. Though he liked
England well, as he was accustomed to say, 'he loved
Ireland better,' and proved it by an almost unvarying
residence for over sixty years. He said he drew his
income from Ireland, and it should be spent in Ireland.
Whenever he visited England, for Parliamentary or other
purposes, where he was received with open arms by the
chiefs of the Whig party, he always longed to be back at
Marino, or the family seat in Tyrone. Marino, however,
was his favourite. There he exclusively resided for the
last seven years, and there he died. Some three or four
years ago the venerable nobleman might be seen moving
backwards and forwards to Dublin in his Whig uniform—
a bright blue coat, with a splendid high collar garnished
with velvet, and the buff waistcoat. We need not say
when recognised all classes treated him with the pro-
fondest respect. Agriculture was one of his favourite pur-
suits, and he perfectly understood its principles and prac-
'ice, His lordship married Miss Birmingham, daughter of
the direct descendant of the lords of Athenry. He had ono
son, who died in hie minority. He is succeeded in the title
and estates by his nephew, the Hon. Colonel Caulfeild, lord
lieutenant of Armagh. His remains will be buried on
Thursday next in Armagh cathedral, where his father was
buried. The Irish people will regret the death of a good
Irishman in Francis, second Earl of Charlement,

" Son of the man
Who led the van
Of the Irish Volunteers,'"

EXETER HALL.-HAYDN'S ORATORIO. The
" Creation," which was announced to commence at half..
past seven,will begin at eight instead. The principal singers
engaged are Madame Pampa, Mr. Sims Reeves, and Mr.
Santley. The band and chorus 700. Conductor, Mr. G.
W. Martin.

SMUGGLING BY MEANS OF CRINOLINE.--TWo
German women who were going out in the New
York steamer from Southampton on Wednesday were de-
tected in endeavouring to smuggle 221bs. of cigars into that
town from the steamer which lay in the dock, and which
had just come from Bremen. The cigars were in the ordi-
nary boxes, each containing 11b. weight. Eacb of the women
had 11 boxes strung round her person inside her dress, and
fastened to her crinoline. Although the women walked
very carefully, the boxes rattled one against the other, and
a custom-house officer, hearing a strange noise as the women
passed him, suspected that it had a contraband origin. The
women had got outside the dock gate before they were de-
tected.

MISTAKEN FOR AN AMBASSADOR.—A corres-
pondent, writing from Paris, says :—" I hope it may
never fall to the lot of any of your readers to be mistaken for
an ambassador, as happened to a friend of mine yesterday.
He arrived at an hotel which, to injure no vested interests,
I will call L'Hotel Enorme, and, being half asleep, asked
for a bedroom. It was six a,m., and he went to bed and
to sleep. When he awoke he found himself lying in state
in a crimson satin bed, the room lighted up by many
bougies, and quite a vista of looking-glass reflected and
re-reflected his astonished face. He rose ; and found
baths prepared in a dressing room, fitted up Ike a lady's
boudoir, and, finally, breakfast arranged on a small table in
the midst of a vast saloon, bright with mirrors and splendid
with gold and crimson. Alarmed, he rang the bell, Waiter,
where am I ?" Hotel Enorme, votre excellence I au pre-
mier. And the price ?' asked my friend. Oh, a baga-
telle, as son excellence will see by the tariffe.' He looked
and found it was 200 francs. Why put me here ?" I
thought monsieur was an ambassador. We always put
them au premier.' Ambassador I why P' Because mon-
sieur wore a black coat.' "

FRIGHTFUL DEATH AT THE PLYMOUTH RAIL-
WAY STATION.—A shocking accident occurred at about
four o'clock on Saturday afternoon at the Plymouth goods
station of the South Devon Railway, by which a driver in
the employ of Messrs. Pickford and Co., carriers, was
crushed to 'death. The deceased (William Wakeham), with
two other men, also in the employ of Messrs. Pickford,
were employed in loading a truck with ten tierces of sugar,
which they had brought from the British and Irish Sugar
Refinery. The tierces were brought on two trollies—
five teirces on each—stowed the lengthways of the
trollies. The railway truck was standing in the outward
goods station, and the trolly Wakeham was driving had
been unladen. The other trolly was standing just inside the
gate separating the outward from the inward goods station.
The deceased was driving out his trolly to make room for
the other to come alongside the truck, and as he passed, the
fore part of his trolly came in contact with the end of one
of the hindermost tierces. His horses immediately on this
feeling the collision, sprang forward, and in so doing '
knocked Wakeham down. Deceased fell on his back, and
two of the iron bars at the end of the laden trolly having
been taken out in preparation for unloading, the
rtieurnde
that was struck, weighing about 11 cwt., tamed o
feet
and rolled off, falling a height of about three over sixhis
inches. It fell on the deceased's chest and rolled
head, causing instant death, the whole of the upper parf
the poor fellow's body being frightfully cruosunhegd. The
deceasedwas 32 years of ago, and leaves a y widow ,
but no children.
NEWSTEAD ABBEY.—DISCOVERY OF RELICS.--
There have j oat been discovered some very in terest .g
relics near to Newstead Abbey, Notts (the seat of the late
Lord Byron). They were found by labourers employed in
making a new carriage drive in the park. The relics con.
,ist of a portion of a statue representing a warrior of the
time of Henry 111., as exhibited in the Chain mail of that
floor, probably
period ; an ancient freestone part of an
ambulat ury ; a great quantity of window tracing of the
14th century, and some small jamb shafts of the 13th
century. A portion of the specimens have been preserved.
PUNISHED FOR LIVING TOO LONG,--A pauper in
the Uckfield Union, named Win. Novies, aged 82, was
charged before the magistrates with re:nsing to work. The
poor old man, who had lived 12 years beyond the three
score years and ten allotted to Lian, said ho was unable
to work, but their worships thought difierentlYt and sen-
tenced him to 21 days' hard 1ab0ur.—.73130 ton Examiner.