The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, OCrOBER 19, 1863.

ironwhi
col! clads too
rbitriesahk
eknatd emoafy t
ehset
albrliisshh coast,and
and Irish-Americans will enrol themselves in the
that in one way or another at least 200,000 Irish
Ga onvye rbnl
enterprise, in two armies of 100,000 men each, one
under the command of the ex-rebel, General F. T.
Meagher, and the other under that of the ex-rebel
and rum-seller, Gen. Michael Corcoran. The whole
story is narrated in one of the sensation journals of
this city, with all the magniloquent phraseology
and magnificent bounce, bluster, braggadocio, and
exaggeration with which every story of the kind
must be introduced if it is to receive any attention
from people with appetites so palled and jaded with
highly seasoned " buncombe" as those of the great
bulk of the Americans. Ireland's deliverance is pro-
pbecied as close at hand ; the English aristocracy is
declared to be in mortal terror of the approaching
storm, and the British Government to be ready to
yield anything to Mr. Seward on the question of
Mr. Laird's rams, or any other that may arise,
rather than incur the threatened onslaught of the
terrible Fenians.

called Giggleswick Tarn, but which is now cultivated land.
The canoe was found lying on a rock of laminated clay. It
is roughly formed from the hollowed trunk of a pine tree.
It is 8 feet 5 inches long, 2 feet in extreme breadth, and 1
foot 7 inches inside; the outer depth being 1 foot 9 inches,
and the inner depth 1 foot 5 inches. It is flat-bottomed,
with upright sides, and the stem and stern are very rudely
shaped. Attached to one of the sides was a triangular piece
of timber, fastened by wooden pins to the outer side of the
gunwale, running nearly its whole length; a similar piece of
wood had fallen from the other side, and was broken into
several fragments. It was at first supposed that these pieces
of timber might have been used as weather boards; but as
they were not movable, it was concluded that they were in-
tended to give more bearing or stability to this vary unsteady
vessel. These were no traces of rowlocks, and the probability
is that this boat was propelled by a single paddle or pole.
A piece of roughly-made plank is fastened over the taffrail,
which looks very like a seat. There is also a similar but
narrow piece of plank, fastened across the upper part of the
bows, as if to prevent the splitting of the open-grained pine
wood. It was stated that t ince this curious ancient British
boat has been deposited in the museum the evaporation of
the water with which it was soaked has caused it to decay,
and there was some discussion among the members respect-
ing the best method of its preservation, but no plan satis-
factory to the curator of the museum was proposed.
A paper by Mr. Curving, " On weapons of ancient tribes
of Yorkshire," was read in his absence by Mr. GEORGE
WRIGHT. It was illustrated by drawings of numerous
weapons made of stone and bronze, which had been found
in the neighbourhood. Ths meeting then adjourned.

from Munich says that he was there about six weeks ago,
under the name of Hermann Bartholdi, and that he then
came from Stuttgart, where he had been for a considerable
time, and had published a small newspaper. Both in Stutt-
gardt and Munich ho spoke much of his relations with
highly-placed persons in Russia, and in both places he at
last excited suspicions as to his true character.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

SATURDAY REVIEW.—The election for Tamworth
undoubtedly has its disagreeable side when looked
at from a ii,linisterial point of view. It was intended
as a mortification for Sir Robert Peel, and it has
probably carried out its intention. As no such symp-
toms of discontent ever manifested themselves be-
fore he entered upon his present office, it is pro-
bable that it is to his performances as a statesman,
rather than as a landlord, that his faithful con-
stituency take objection. His position as a states-
man is very peculiar. He does not occupy his seat
upon the Treasury Bench as the
,representative of
any school of opinion, for no other thinker is nimble
enough to follow in the course of so brilliant but so
wandering a light. Nor has he been so selected for his
utility in debate, for he rarely opens his mouth
without exasperating into rebellion some sup-
porter of the Government to which he belongs.
He sits by the more secure title of Lord Pal-
merston's peculiar favourite. According to the ru-
mours that universally prevailed, his admission to the
Ministry was resisted by all the other members of
the Cabinet, and was effected by the potent voice of
the Prime Minister alone. Aod Sir Robert Peel

has done his best to prove himself worthy of this
distinction. He always acts and speaks as though
he bore no allegiance except to his patron, and
makes a point of ignoring the other Ministers alto-
gether. Ho proclaims a fixed policy of No Surren-
der upon the question of the Irish Church, not in
name of the Government, but in the name of "him-
self and his noble friend ;" and he fights the battle
at Tamworth, not for the Government of which he
is a member, but only for Lord Palmerston. But
Sir Robert Peel isnot only a faithful adherent of the
Prime Minister ; he is a disciple in the strictest sense
of the word. It is not Lord Palmerston's brain, so
much as his good digestion and strong backbone,
and unflagging animal spirits, that have recom-
mended him to the nation. They like tosee such a dis-
play of physical strength as that of a statesman who
at the age of nearly eighty can ride out in a pelting
rain, make twelve speeches in three days, and poke
fun at his antagonists in the House of Commons
with untiring gaiety at three o'clock in the morning.
This is evidently Sir R. Peel's theory, and in his
mind it bears no anpractical fruit. The arts by
which his patron has climbed to fame are not only
a study to be admired, but an example to be fol-
lowed. Sir Robert has compared the muscular with
the intellectual plan of statesmanship, and has come
to the conclusion that the former is at all events the
best suited to his own natural gifts. Accordingly,
he has devoted himself to the task of copying his great
original, and has cultivated the rollicking style with
some success. if it be true that in these days a consi-
derable muscular development and ajaunty reckless-
ness of manner are the true road to fame, it is highly
probable that Sir Robert will be as great a man
as his father. To be sure, the style is somewhat
different. It is doubtful whether the late Sir
Robert Peel would have attempted to influence an
election by knocking down the electors, or would
have publicly exhorted his friends to "bonnet" the
other side. And it is possible that, in those less
advanced days, neither Sir Robert nor his friends
would have been equal to the feats of muscular
prowess which have shed so much glory on his son.
But every age has its o ivn way of looking at these
matters, and it would be very unfair to measure one
age by the standard of another. Muscular politics,
like muscular Christianity, had not made their ap-
pearance in the days of the late Sir Robert Peel.
At the same time, it must be admitted that the re-
town which his sou is likely to win is still in the
future. Though it is easy to see that there is in his
• canduct during the last two years great promise of
the qualities which constitute political merit in our
time, still he is at present a mere tyro in his art.
r His proceedings at Tamworth show that he is still
far removed from a perfect comprehension of the
secrets by which his great exemp'ar has succeeded.
His practice is too violent. Good humour is essen-
tial to a rollicking politician. Lord Palmerston
might possibly have given the order to bonnet the
Irefractory elector; but at the same time he would
have taken very good care that it was not obeyed.

And he would never have knocked down a voter
over a peil. Sir Robert Peel has formed too fero-
cious a conception of his part. The elector who
fell under Sir Robert's fist has earned a title to dis-
tinction which falls to the lot of few men. Probably
there is not another man in the three kingdoms who
has been knocked down by a Privy Councillor in an
election row—still less is there one who can boast
of having afterwards broken his cane over the said
Privy Councillor's tack. The paths to fame are very
various. One man wasPed in London because he had
been shut up by a Chinese mandarin, another because
he had stood face to face with a gorilla. If the gentle-
man who was knocked down by Sir Robert Peel,
and afterwards caned him, would come up to town
next February, we have no doubt he would be the
lion of the season. Such a position really is a great
rarity, and ought to be prized accordingly. Officials
holding important offices, and trusted with a consi-
derable share in the government of the United
Kingdom, usually avoid pugilistic encounters with
their political antagonists. The sons of illustrious
statesmen, the- bearers of a name which nations
honour, are generally careful not to drag it through
the mire. Powerful landowners ordinarily think
that they owe it to their own dignity not to attempt
to replace a waning influence by the intimidation
of personal assaults. The victim of Sir Robert Peel's
violence—if such a term can be applied to so fortu-
nate a man—has been in himself the subject-matter
of a departure from all these sacred rules. It is a
great honour to befall a man ; for such an event is
like the transit of Venus—it does not occur three
times in a century. Before next election, he will,
no doubt, be considerably improved. He will have
learned that bonneting his opponents and knocking
them down over pails is too practical a form of
Jauntiness. Possibly he may have practised him-
self a little in jokes, and learned a pun or two; for
at present his only efforts at fun consist of Vales
rough horseplay, and it is impossible to be jaunty
without jokes. Perhaps, too, he will have culti-
vated gallantry towards ladies, in which at present
he is lamentably deficient. Amorous compliments
to electors' wives are much more efficient weapons
than menaces to electors. So acute an observer
can not fail to have noticed how abundant a resource
this has proved to Lord Palmerston in those mo-
ments of extreme need which befall a public man
when he is called upon to speak at a public din-
ner., But it is the duty of the inhabitants of Tam-
worth to lend themselves to this training. They
must not object to occasional bonnetiegs, or other
exhibitions of muscular statesmanship, if such way-
ward frolics should seem to be a necessary part of
the training of a jaunty politician. It willbe an
undying honour to them it they can contribute by
their patience to provide a due succession of rel•
licking rulers, to carry on, whenever unhappily the
need shall arise, the traditions of Lord Palmerston.
SFECTATOR.—The Peels, unlike the Peelitea, are
politically failures. Lord Russell's Government, in
1851, took the very first opportunity of introducing
oue of the family into official life, and for a n instant
the country half hoped he might wear his father
mantle. It was soon perceived, however, that the
old wine had lost itsbody. Mr. Frederick Peel was.
as grave as his father, but not with the weight of
thought ; as formal, but not as accurate ; as full of
self-confidence, but without the administrative
ability, which, more than his many other capacities,
justified Sir Robert Peel in refusing any place less
than the first. A manner which annoyed all who
assailed or criticised his department increased the
disfavour, members voted him pedantic, and out-
siders discovered that there was nothing beyond
routine work to be expected from the member for
Bury. Still they turned with some hope to the
elder son, the member for Taenworth. He, at least,
was no prig, and though clubs talked, clubs always
talk, and a man's youthful history is, in politics,
very seldom indeed recorded against
him. Sir Robert
spoke brusquely, his enemies said insolently, but
what he said was often forcible, and he had
the courage to say very
.frequently things which
wanted saying, but which everybody else had
shirked. The outside world, at all events, did not
wonder when Sir Robert Peel was made Secretary
for Ireland. Ever", month, however, diminished his
political status. the scene with the O'Donoghue
annoyed the house,. and the speeches in which the
partial distress of Ireland was palliated or denied
wearied all who wore conscious of the real state of
affairs—a weariness which rose to disgust when Mr.
Gladstone flatly contradicted all the smooth things
put forward by the Irish Department. Blunders
in Ireland, however, rarely attract even their due
attention, far less excessive obloquy; and it was
not till the Tamworth election that Sir Robert's
total unfitness for office became manifest to the
world.'''here can, however, be no further disguise.
Wholly apart from his action as member and
landlord, Sir Robert Peel has broken all those offi-
cial etiquettes which have the force of laws,
and are usually far more important. Ministers,
we all know, do influence elections, and one
Minister, at least, in the Cabinet holds his post by
grace of his skill as an electioneering agent. So do
Peers, though they are forbidden by law to inter•
fere in any way, but the open interposition of a
member of the Government in any election but his
es unusual as it is inexpedient. Sir Robert
es only broke through the useful
but tee ually entered
almolt cora-

own ao
Peel, however,
and decorous rule of retievu,
into a contest with refractory eiecto,,,,

manded his audience to support Lord Palmerston's
stepgrandson, and told an interpellant in the crowd
that, "if he could get at him, he would soon let him
know who he was," and, despite the great influence
of his family, lost the seat to his party by a majority
of fifty-seven. Everybody understands that the
seat is lost to the Liberal party, which, and not
Lord Palmerston's personal sway, is the real object
of interest to English liberal men: Wholly apart
from all questions of personal taste, and political
propriety, and official decorum, that result is a
failure, and escapades are forgiven only when they
succeed. A scene like that at Tamworth election

never increases English respect for its actors, but
when it results in defeat scorn deepens very rapidly
into active annoyance. Had Sir Robert Peel done
what any other Minister would have done, accepted
a Peel as candidate with pleasure, but deprecated
family monopoly; left a shrewd agent to conciliate
vows, but kept himself wholly out of the fray ;
there was strength enough in the old organisation,

backed by Thy° hatn andDrayton Mano—r, to have
carried the" Liberal" candidate. It must be added
that Mr. Cowper helped his friends as little as he
could. He did not, of course, conciliate Tories, and
genuine Liberals are sick of this repetition of " Pal-
merston," as an equivalent for a Liberal creed, this
eternal demand for homage instead of alliance. Mr.
Cowper bad, however, nothing better to offer, did
not propound a doctrine or express an opinion which
gave him any character whatever except that of the
Premier's relation. The result is that with votes be-
coming of vital importance, and a rising feeling that
the Liberal cause is still worth strong exertion, the
Liberal papers all over Great Britain are exulting
in the loss of one seat for Tamworth, simply because
they hope that it may end in the ultimate loss of
the other. Sir Robert Peel himself admitted that his
own seat would be attacked, and the strongest
friends of the Ministry cannot honestly hope that
his apprehension may be unfounded. This is a
severe defeat for both Mr. Cowper and his patron,
Sir R. Peel, whose unpopularity has lost the seat to
the Liberal party. It is reported that so bitter is
the feeling in the locality, that at the next general
election Sir Robert himself will lose his seat, and
the rumour is confirmed by a valedictory speech, in
which that gentleman informed his friends that
when his trial came he should expect them to rally
round him. No true Liberal will mourn should Sir
Robert's fear prove true. A member of her Majesty's
Government who personally interferes in any elec-
tion bat his own, bandies jests and threats with a
mob, and finishes by knocking an elector into the
coal scuttle, is only suited to the constituency of
Tipperary or Marylebone. Bernal Osborne and
water is a trying dose for Liberals, but Osborne and
vitriol is simply unendurable,
WEEKLY REGlSTER.—Wherefore the defeat of
Lord Palmerston's stepson in Tamworth ? Free
trade and ribbons and the French Treaty were not
even mentioned during the contest in the Stafford-
shire Borough • and yet the Premier's candidate,
and that candidate a member of Lord Palmerston's

own family, is ignominiously beaten, though sup
ported to an extent inconsistent with decency, and
we believe, with law, by the Secretary for Ireland
and Lord of the soil. It is possible, indeed, that Sir
R. Peel's conduct at the election may have caused
the defeat of his friend, Mr. Cowper ; but there can
be no doubt of its having swelled the majority against
him. We believe the records of electioneering do
not furnish a parallel for such conduct on the part
of a Minister of the Crown. Lord Byron, speaking
of the late Lord Castlereagh, said that he supplied
the first instance of a Minister who dictated to the
House of Commons in the language of Mrs Mala-
prop. Borrowing the idea, we believe we are juke
tified, by what has lately occurred at Tamworth, in
saying that Sir R. Peel furnishes the first instance
of a member of the Government of this country,
a Privy Councillor and a Secretary for Ireland,
who exhibits on I he hustings as a buffoon and a bully.
Lord Palmerston is proverbial for his adherence to
those whom he treats as his friends, but we question
if the task of sustaining Sir Robert Peel in office,
after the degrading spectacle at Tamworth the other
day, be not too great even for Lord Palmerston's
chivalry. The Times, in its zeal for the Premier,
adroitly endeavours to avert public indignation from
the outrageous conduct of the Irish Secretary by
making it a subject for badinage and laughter. But
that trick, though clever, won't do. The country
will not tolerate the disgraceful spectacle of a mem-
ber of the Government riotously interfering, with
freedom of election—knocking down electors be-
cause they think fit to oppose his nominee, and, in
the slang language of the prize ring, telling his
hireling mob to " bonnet" a man for Oaring to exer-
cise his electoral franchise in Isvour of the Opposi-
tion candidate. Sir Robert Peel may play the
mountebank—may act the flashman and the pugi-
list if he pleases, and as often as he pleases ; but the
Secretary for Ireland must eschew the blackguard
and behave the gentleman. It is sad enough that
he should bring shame and ridicule, and in Tam-
worth, too, and in view of his illustrious father's
statue, upon the name which that father had made
great and memorable ; but he must not be allowed
with impunity to degrade the rank of a Privy Coun-
cillor, and to draggle the high office ot Chief Sec-
retary for Ireland in the mud. If he have the
smallest modicum of common sense, and the slightest
regard for Lord Palmerston, he will relieve the Go-
vernment from the embarrassment of his presence
before Parliament meets, for assuredly if he be in
office at the meeting of Parliament, the House of
Commons will feel it to be its duty to censure the
Cabinet for retaining in office a man who has
committed the gross outrages upon law, decency,
and the Constitution that characterise Sir Robert
Peel's conduct at the recent Tamworth election.
LONDON REVIEW.—The Opposition journals are
naturally much elated at the result of the Coventry
and Tamworth elections Nor do we deny their
right to reckon the first as a substantial victory.
Mr. Treherne is, indeed, hardly the man of whom
a great party ought to be proud, but he will vote as
Mr. Disraeli orders, and that is all that is expected
from him. If we were to accept him as the delibe-
rate choice of Coventry, we should be driven to
conclude that a political reaction had indeed set in
in that borough, for his political creed is no mild
and neutral tint of Conservatism, but the real old
" true blue" of Eldon and Sibtnorp. The truth is
that his election represents little or nothing but the
resentment of the electors at the Treaty of Com-
merce with France, which they ignorantly suppose
to have caused the falling off in the demand for
ribbons. At the same time, although it may be
easy to account for each Ministerial defeat, taken
separately, in a manner which may deprive them ot
much importance, it is impossible to overlook the
fact that the necessity of accounting for defeats
seems at present to be imposed only on one side. It
is, to say the least, extraordinary that the special
Icircumstances should always be on the side of the
Conservatives. The Ministerial majority sitting on
the Liberal benches is by this time merely nominal,
if indeed it exists at all. And although Lord Pal-
merston has hitherto found some of his best friends
on the other side of the house, it is by no means
certain that they will be either willing or able to
help him if Mr. Disraeli is once in possession of an
actual majority. But even if the Premier be per-
mitted to remain undisturbed during the remainder
of the Parliament, there can be no doubt the power
is gradually slipping away from the Liberal party.
We do not consider the result of theTamworth elec-
tion as a proof of this or of anything but the irre-
claimable rowdyism of Sir R. Peel. There was little
or no difference between the two candidates, but the
hon. baronet's unpopularity in the borough, joined
ufort of
un at to his violence and indiscretion, were quite sufficient
whicheverelyto
r himselfhe might
thathth hap-
pened happen
ttoo securesupport. th e defeatu
pened to be Mr. Cowper. The Government cannot,P.
that his
however, attribute it to mere ill-luck patron
is Chief Secretary for Ireland,
nor can they whol;:v
escape the consequences of the indiscretion which
converted a local feud
into a question of confidence
in the Premier.
EXAMINER. —After ter all the noble proprietor of the
wayside inn at Maam has good cause to complain
of the summary justice done him by the Irish Go-
vernment in removing him from the commission of
the peace on the ground of being politically crazy.
About the fact there can indeed be no question, and
if the Irish executive were constituted upon the nar-
row and exclusive basis of politics, there would be
a certain consistency in limiting the magistracy to
men who are not thus mad. But a department
which is represented in the House of Commons by
the right hon. buffer for Tamworth is hardly en-
titled to be nice about provincial acts of incohe-
rency. Refusal of bed and board for a night in
Conemara to the Viceroy of Ireland, in revenge for
some fancied neglect or slight, is, no doubt, an act
of imbecility and indecency, which affords a fair
presumption of general unfitness for public trusts of
any kind. Yet no one will seriously contend that
one rule in these matters ought to be laid down for
justices of the peace and another for privy council-
lors, or that obvious incapacity and flagrant inde-
corum are immaterial traits in the character of a
minister, while they unfit a man for being a magis-
trate. If toomfoolery, and turbulence, and rodo-
montade disqualify an Irish peer for sitting at petty.
sessions, they surely must be held still more to dis-
qualify an English baronet for being sent to Ireland
to frame laws for the government of that country,
and to superintend their execution. When Sir R.
Peel was named Caiet Secretary we entered our
protest against Lord Palmerston's choice, and ex-
pressed our anticipations as to the contempt into
which he was likely to bring the Administration.
We were gravely assured, however, that the selec-
tion was pre-eminently a wise one, because, as cer-
tain of our contemporaries profoundly observed, all
the blackguards in Ireland love a row, and ths mem-
ber toe T,tnivvortb We never like'y to be out of rue.
We took the reproof with all humility, and

awaited the development of this homeo-
pathic mode of treating the unruly. It seemed to
us somewhat hard that the well-disposed and indus-
trious majority of our neighbours should have to
endure and to pay for such an official blister; but
we were gravely reminded that it is not the
righteous, but sinners, that need loud calling to
repentance; and the knowing people said that, if
the new Chief Secretary could so amuse or amaze
the factious and feather-headed among the Irish as
to keep them in order, the sober and steady-going
mass of the community would only laugh and be
thankful. We remember muttering something to
ourselves at the time about bad example, the danger
of infection, and so forth ; but remonstrance was
plainly useless, and we held our peace. Sir Robert
went to Ireland and speedily realised our anticipa-
tions. One escapade followed another until every
Orange lodge rang with frantic cheers, and the
flause of Commons seemed in danger of being made
to resemble Bedlam or a bear-garden. Wherever
the Chief Minister for Ireland appeared, his presence
proved the omen of confusion, or the signal for
roars of laughter; everywhere save at Tamworth,
where the cold shade of his father's statue still sub-
dued any tendency to commotion, and where his
successor's power as a landlord to overrule and
overbear all pretension to free thought or judgment
seemed irresistible. And irresistible it would un-
doubtedly have long continued to prove under ordi-
nary circumstances. The real Sir Robert always
returned himself for the borough as a matter of
course, and sometimes returned as a matter of
course likewise some quiet, unobjectiou able follower
who happened to want a seat in Parliament. In
his later years, and after he had broken with the
Tory party, he more than acquiesced in the return
of a Whig as his colleague in the representation,
But all this he did in his usual circumspect and
dignified way, never deigning in public to appear
conscious that Tamworth had or could have any
other representative in Parliament but himself. Sir
Robert the mock seems to be fired with the maniac
ambition to be in everything as unlike his father as
common sense is to uncommon nonsense. Upon the
recent vacancy caused by Lord Townshend's death
he was not content with trying to requite his own
elevation to office by procuring the return of Mr.
Cowper, but he would insist upon ramming that
luckless young gentleman down the throat of one
of the most passive constituencies in England, and.
accompanying the performance with such gesticula-
tions, threats, and flings as never before had been
witnessed in the poor little town. What nothing
else could have done, he thus effected. Human na-
ture could not endure such humiliation. To be super-
ciliously stepped upon by a great statesman once in
seven years the tradesmen of Tamworth could bear,
and, for the sake of the name and other moral real
considerations, they bad not refused to endure his
burlesque of a sot). But to be made sport of wan-
tonly, in the face of the whole kingdom, by their
incoherent master was too bad. They kicked and
threw him. Whereupon, not having sufficient rea-
son to pick himself up and make off to Drayton
quietly, he enters anew into the election fray,
knocks down one of his supposed subjects, bids the
rabble about him bonnet another, and keeps up, in
short, his round of deplorable antics until an over-
whelming majority of incensed electors recorded
their votes against his unfortunate proteg4. All
this may be right, or it may be wrong, seemly or
unseemly, decent or disgraceful. We are aware of
no arguments or illustrations that could make the
matter clearer than it is. But we would respect-
fully ask why, in the face of these things, should
the comparatively harmless imbecility of Lord
Leitrim be punished as a public offence ? Mad on
one public subject, we suppose his lordship to be ;
but what is to be done with a man who does not
appear to be sane upon any ?

COUNTRY MARKETS.

46--

NORWICH—SATURDAY.
There was a fair supply of wheat to-day, and for all
samples late prices were maintained. There was a toler-
ably good show of barley, and sales were made at late
rates. Flour in favour of the buyer.
White wheat. 46s to 47, I Red wheat 43s to 44s
Malting barley 36s to 388 I Chevalier barley 36s to 37s
Distilling d 0..... 33s to 35$ I Oats..
Flour, 31s Od to —s Od per sack from the miller.