The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-03 00:00:00

THE RAM QUESTION.

The Birkenhead and Cheshire Advertiser of Satur-
day contains the following on the above subject ;
" The speech of our now famous member, delivered
in the Music Hall last week, has brought down
upon him and the firm with which his name is still
generally associated the thunders which have been

for some time accumulating in the Foreign-office.
Earl Russell the Rash—always hasty and hot-
tempered, except when he is dealing with one who
is greater than he or wha is as cross-grained as him-
self—has been goaded into one of his angry fits, and
breaks through the restraints which have hitherto
been imposed upon him by the constitution, which,
next to Magna Charta and the archives of the House
of Bedford, of glorious and immortal memory, was
once his pride and boast. Tne two vessels (which
we take the liberty of calling by their right names
(the French rams), have been seized, the workmen
turned away, and their places supplied by seamen
and marines, and in every possible way a complete
and radical confiscation bas been effected. The
Royal attainder of the one great Russell of history
was not more complete than is the act of the inheri-
tor of his name. From this time forward the ram
question is a Russelite appendage, and will either
add new lustre to the waning star of Woburn, or
cause its last iay to sink behind a cloud of obscurity
darker than that from which it emerged. The
question is it great one—of that there can be no
doubt. It is a national question—an international
one, and it is rapidly swelling into most gigantic
proportions. That of the Alexandra was a dwarf
by the side of it. People prate of the rams being
built for the Confederate Government. No such
thing. They will reach their destined home with-
out crossing the Atlantic at all: The Bay of Bis-
cay is more in their line. People talk, as people
will talk, but who knows anything real and re-
liable ? Is not everything surmise based upon con-
jecture ? Who can, after all, realty prove that the
vessels are not built for the Emperor of China, the
Daitaio Prince of Satsuma, or his Majesty the King
of Bantam? Perhaps we could throw a ray across
the mist if we chose and the proper moment had
arrived. Were we to do so we should show—
,4 That the vessels are not built for the Confede-
rates—either Government or people;
That consequently Earl Russell the Rash has
stumbled upon a mare's
_nest' and' put his foot
in it.'

j " That the rams are bona fide French property;
" That they will have to be given up.
In these few sentences we have condensed all the
gist of the celebrated ram question. Upon the
accuracy of the view we take we place every re-
liance, and confidently await its corroboration by
events of the next few weeks, hoping meanwhile
that the negociations which are impending will not
leave the relations of two great countries at the
mercy of a peevish old gentleman at the Foreign-
office."

The Liverpool Mail reminds its readers, that no
law in existence prohibits or can prevent the
Messrs. Laird from building an empty hull for the
Confederates ; but that in this case the Government
positively knows, and already holds proofs, that
the rams were not " built," and aro not " inteuded,',
for the Confederates at all.

The Southsea Pier Hotel Company (Limited)
have completed the purchase, and tho building of the hotel
will be comm, need forthwith. A few shares still remain,
which can be had on application at the company's office, 6,
John-street, Bedford-row, W.C.
NEARLY THE DEATH OF HIM ! ! !—When Lord
BROUGHAM was installed as Chancellor in the Uni-
versity of Edinburgh, he was hospitably entertained by
Francis Brown Douglas, the present Lord Provost's prede-
cessor, and one of the leading fanatics of the city; and I
have heard it hinted that the religious arrangements of this
house nearly upset Lord Brougham's constitution; he had
to endure so much devotional exercise and exposition of
Scripture, which began at 7 a.m., and were continued at
intervals until 11 p.m.—the graces before meals being for
one thing exceedingly lengthy, and not very soothing to
the temper of a hungry man who had not been brought up
rigidly as a Scottish Dissenter,—Correspondent of 2e/c.
graph,