The Sun.
London, England, 1865-04-10 00:00:00

Tnr, SUN-, Lol-,,I)01-4, AIONOA V EVENIAG, APRIL 10, 1866

The Great Oxford and Cambridge Eight-
oared Match,

This great aquatic contest, which now regularly
marks the opening of the London rowing season,
was on Saturday won by the Oxford crew, after one
of the best, and for a time one of the most doubt-
ful, struggles that have ever been seen on the
Thames. Almost to the time of starting, and cer-
tainly for some two miles or so after they had
started, Cambridge was the favourite, and at one
Period of the race it would have been difficult to find
backers for Oxford at any odds at all. Yet in the
end Oxford won with almost ease by about five
boats' lengths. The Oxford crew came up with a
reputation which at the outset made them the fa-
vourites, and it was not till they began to try their
pace over the course that the self-styled " cogni-
scenti " of the river began their whispered doubts
about success. There was apparently some show of
reason for this change of faith, if we may so call it.
In starting quickly and in maintaining the highest
rate of speed for a short time the Cambridge crew
was, beyond all doubt, superior to that of Oxford
—just as it proved the Oxonians were superior to
their antagonists in keeping up a high rate of speed
for the longest time. In short, for such a race as
that of Saturday the Oxford crew were the better
men ; and, though amateurs professed to think the
chances equal, there was only one opinion among
the professional watermen against whom the Oxo-
nians had rowed, which was that, barring accidents,
Oxford was sure to win. To a certain extent there-
fore the event may be said to have justified both
opinions—those who believed in the speed at which
Cambridge was capable of going, and those who
believed in the pace which Oxford was capable of
maintaining.

The eagerness to witness this-great race was in-
tense, and the day is not far distant when it will
take its place among the greatest of London's
spectacles—a race inferior only in importance to
that of the Derby. It is 36 years since the first
race was rowed, yet only 22 matches have been
made, for at first so little interest attached to
these trials of strength that there have been in-
tervals of two and three years during which no
race was rowed at all, and indeed it is only since
1856 that they have regularly recurred. Now one
would as soon expect to hear of the Ascot Meeting
being discontinued, or the Derby postponed, as the
spring coming without the Oxford and Cambridge
boat race. What as recently as ten years ago
drew only a thin line of spectators to a few
points on the river now commands an attendance
which is certainly second only to that which flocks
to Epsom. On Saturday the concourse was enor-
mous. From Putney to Mortlake, a distance of
more than five miles, the river banks were thronged;
the bridges, even to the railway bridge at Barnes,
were covered with crowds ; the very trees, even the
walls round distant villas, had their occupants. Not
a spot from which the race could be seen was left
unoccupied, while very many from which, as it
turned out, nothing could be seen at all were almost
equally crowded. The three great points of attrac-
tion were, of course, Putney, Hammersmith, and
Mortlake ; at least it was at these places that the
greatest mass of carriages and horsemen were to be
found, and where the fair supporters of bright blue
and dark blue mustered strongest. Nothing is more
peculiar to this race than the interest which ladies
evince in it, and the uncompromising devotion with
which they adhere to their colours, winning or los-
ing. On Saturday only a few were to be seen who
were not dressed more or less in light or dark blue.
With slime weak spirits the concession to popular
feeling only went as far as ribands, but the majo-
rity, whether the shade was light or dark, were more
or less blue from head to foot, with blue streamers on
their horses, and blue rosettes upon their gloves.
The start was fixed to take place at about 12, but
long before that time it was evident that unless some
order was taken with the crowd of steamers a race
would be impossible. The whole river at Putney was
covered with boats of every kind, from screw steam-
tugs, swaying and reeling heavily from side to side
with their overload of passengers, down to cutters,
wherries, and outriggers. Some of the lighter boats
were beautifully manned, and flew in all directions
over the water like summer flies, while others
of the larger kind were so dangerously crowded and
ill-handled that it was painful to witness the peri

- ..
to which their passengers were momentarily exposed
- -

As on a Derby day one can see the best and worst
horses in the world, so on the occasion of the Uni-
versity boat race can be seen the best and worst
boats and the best and worst specimens of rowing
ever to be witnessed on the Thames. Soon after 12

the Cambridge boat came out, and the Oxford
almost immediately followed, both crews being
greeted with loud cheers as they moved easily to the
centre of the stream. They were well matched ap-
parently in weight and size. The crews were much
above the average height, and seemed alike in per-
fect condition, as fine a set of young fellows as could
well be brought together. Their names and weights
are as follows :

OXFORD st lb
1. Mr. R. T. Raikes, Merton ... 11 1
2. Mr. P. Senhouse, Christ Church 11 2
3. Mr. E. F. Henley, Oriel ... ... 12 13
4. Mr. G. G. Coventry, Pembroke... 11 12
5. Mr. A. Morrison, Ba ... 12 6
6. Mr. T. Wood, Pembroke 12 2
7. Mr. H. Schneider, .Trinity 11 11
8. Mr. M. Brown, Trinity 11 4
C. E. W. Tottenham, Ch. Ch (cox.) ~. 7 13
st lb
... 11 1
... 11 0
11 13

CAMBRIDGE.
1. Mr. H. lyatney, St. John's
2. Mr. M. H. Beebe°, St. John's...
3. Mr. E. V. Pigott, Corpus

4. Mr. R. A. Kinglake, Trinity ... 12 8
5. Mr. D. F. Stoavenson, Trinity Hall 12 5
6. Mr. G. 11. Borthwick, Trinity ... 12 0
7. Mr. W. R. Griffiths, Trinity ... 11 8
8. Mr. C. B. Lawes, Trinity ... 11 7
Mr. F. H. Archer, Corpus Christi (cox.) ... 7 3
Both crews took a short turn down the river before
coming to the starting-point, but nothing could be
judged from this preliminary effort, save that the
Oxford stroke was long and beautifully regular. Of
course, on the first tokens of the start being near
at hand the crowds of steamers closed in before
the boats on either side, so as to make it impossible
the race could be begun, unless each crew were
content to face the almost certainty of drowning.
It was in vain that the Thames police interfered,
and the spectators on the shore were driven into the
most exasperated form of wordy remonstrance. The
captains of the steamers were inexorable, and it was
not till after a short consultation, during which both
crews agreed not to start at all unless their course
was cleared, that the managers of the steamers
would consent to let the boats have a fair chance.
The misconduct of these steamers has long been
complained of, and unless some better order is
taken with them, their presence on these occasions
must sooner or later result in some terrific accident.
It is the knowledge of this, and the danger with
which they always menace the competing crews,
which is, we believe, now leading the University
oarsmen to look about for some other water than
the Thames on which they may compete fairly and
in safety.

Not till near one o'clock the last and most
obstructive of the steamerswtashemPrince, got rid of
and kept astern. Oxford, in the :time, had won
the toss for choice of places, and oefa
these took the
Middlesex side. At one o'clock, when°worcdtahwmas:
given at last, both boats got off well together.
Cam-
bridge began with a rapid spurt that drew
boat ahead amid tremendous cheers from their sue;
porters. Oxford for the moment seemed taken by-
surprise, and their long, powerful stroke, which
eventually saved their race, but which of all others
is the hardest to keep to in the sudden excitement
of a start, was for the time almost forgotten. The
spurt of Cambridge, on the contrary, was even
heightened by its success, and stroke after stroke,
and foot by foot, they drew their boat ahead, till in
a quarter of a mile they had its length almost clear
of their opponents. To add to Oxford's difficulties
they now got into the broken water of two steamers
which had remained ahead, but which the immense
pace of the racing boats had soon overtaken, and
this misfortune threw them still more behind, till at
the Crab Tree nearly two lengths separated the rival
crews, and Cambridge even then seemed gaining every
minute. Cheers for Cambridge came from every
point, the ladies in light blue waved parasols and
handkerchiefs, while, on the other hand, direction

entreaties, and expostulations were hoarsely poured
on Oxford from a thousand voices. They pulled
manfully, bending to their work like machinery and
sending their boat on with a visible spr:rg at every
stroke, but at this time all in vain. '1 heir oppo-
nents were not only well ahead but light ahead,
giving to Oxford all the trouble and disadvantage
of broken water.
Hammersmith-bridge on Saturday was festooned
with human beings, and the great roar of cheers
which greeted Cambridge at this point was wonder-
ful to hear. The race was then considered over,
for the lead of light blue was nearly three lengths
and seemed increasing. It was here that Cambridge
again put on a quicker spurt and pulled a stroke
that was distressingly rapid, considering how far
they had still to-go. A thousand to one on Oxford
would then have found no takers, though in a few
minutes after Oxford began slowly but surely to win.
Without any quickening of stroke they were seen
to be visibly diminishing their distance from their
antagonists. With every effort they came nearer
and nearer, and Cambridge made a desperate at-
tempt to keep the lead, rowing at least 40 strokes a
minute. Still, in spite of all, the dark blue gained,
till both boats were almost abreast, and the excite-
ment of the partisans of each became intense. It
was a wonderful struggle as each for a short space
held their own, neck and neck, and light • blue and
dark blue along the banks on either side or in the
boats Around called out to each, " Pull, Cambridge,
pull," " Pull, Oxford, pull." Every call or name
that could be supposed on this occasion to stimulate
men to do their utmost was used now. Gentlemen
and ladies were equally earnest, and the sounds of
" Pembroke" and " Trinity," " Henley," " Brown,"
Lawes," and " Pigott" could be heard even above
the constant cry of " Pull, Pull !" It only lasted
for a minute, for, amid all the uproar, whirl, and
rush of the' race, Oxford drew ahead at Chiswick
Church. It was useless calling on Cambridge to
"pull" then. Their pace had been too fast to last,
and though they struggled nobly, dark blue still
gained with every long deep regular stroke, and

was seen that the race was over. The crew which
could regain the tremendous lead that Cambridge
had possessed could do anything on the water, and
amid the most enthusiastic cheers from the dark
blues, ladies and gentlemen, Oxford passed under
Barnes-bridge leading by two lengths. From this
point, confident of their victory, they could afford
to attend a little more to style, and the stroke with
which they brought their boat up to the winning-post
was the admiration of all who saw it. They won by
at least four or five lengths. The time occupied in
the entire race was just a little over 21 minutes,—
one of the fastest that has ever been rowed. The
fifth victory in succession which was thus gained by
Oxford was due mainly to their perseverance in the
long stroke, which has been the tradition of the
University, and to the admirable steering of Mr.
Tottenham, who has now so often guided the Ox-
ford boat to victory. Many accidents occurred
from the swell raised by the mass of steamers fol-
lowing the boats. As far as we could learn, how-
ever, no life was lost, though at one time two boats,
each containing fivepersons, were swamped in deep
water.

Half an hour after the race Oxford rowed back to
Putney in splendid style. The Cambridge crew
were prevented accompanying them, as after the
contest one of the steamers struck their boat and
nearly cut it in two. The following is the state of
the score as regards the success of the two Universi-
ties in these contests up to the present time :

Year. Date. Winner. Won by.
1829 June 10 Oxford ... Easily.
1836 June 17 Cambridge... 1 minute.
1839 April 3 Cambridge... 1 min. 45 secs.
1840 .April 15 ... Cambridge... of a length.
1841 April 14 Cambridge... 1 min. 4 secs.
1842 June 11 Oxford ... 13 sees.
1845 March 15 ~. Cambridge... 30 secs.
1846 April 3 ~. ~. Cambridge... 2 lengths.
1849 March 29 ... ... Cambridge... Easily.
1849 Dec. 15 ... ... Oxford ... Foul.
1852 April 3 ... Oxford ~. 27 secs.
1854 April 8 ... Oxford ... 11 strokes.
1856 March 15 ... Cambridge ... of a length.
1857 April 4 Oxford ... 35 secs.
1858 March 27 Cambridge 22 secs.
1859 April 15 Oxford ... Camb. sank.
1860 March 31 ... Oxford ... 1 length.
1861 March 23 ... ... Oxford ... 43 sees.
1862 April 14 ... Oxford 30 sees.
1863 March 28 ~. Oxford
1864 March 19 ... Oxford Easily.
1865 April 8 Oxford Easily.

a venerable member of that University—(a laugh)—for it
was 23 years since he had pulled a Cambridge oar—he had
felt the sense of defeat keenly at the moment ; but then, on
reflection, he could not help thinking that the qualities dis-
played by the Cambridge crew this year afforded an earnest
of many victories to be won by Cambridge men in years to
come. (Cheers.) With the latter part of the toast ho begged
to couple the name of Mr. Chambers. (Cheers.)
Mr. MORRISON, who on rising to return thanks was loudly
cheered, said he hoped that their chairman, who seemed to
think he was fast becoming a venerable man, would become
awfully venerable before he had seen his last University
boat race. (Cheers.) As to the victory which the Oxford
crew had that day achieved over their gallant opponents,
he was of course naturally very proud of it, and he thought
it was but right to say that he believed it to be mainly due
to that slow stroke which Mr. Brown had had the courage
to row. He could not of course expect the Cambridge crew
to concur with him on that point, but he felt assured he
should have their sympathy when he complained of the
ever recurring inconvenience caused by the steamboats.
(bear.) But be that as it might, he felt very grateful to
the Thames Subscription Club for the kindness which they
had shown him and his crew, and he trusted he stood in
his present position not for the last time. (Cheers.)
Mr CHAMBERS, who was also very warmly greeted, said
he felt some diffidence in rising to return thanks for the
Cambridge crew, inasmuch astheir opponents had now been
victorious on the Thames for five successive years. How
that came to pass he could not tell, although some expla..
nation of the circumstance might be found in the fact that
the Cambridge crew laboured under the disadvantage of
having to go through the process of training on a river
which was very narrow, and sometimes so devoid of water
as to be almost a complete ditch. Then, again, Oxford was
enabled to pick her men up to their fifth year at the Univer-
sity, while the choice of Cambridge was limited to four-
year men. Notwithstanding these drawbacks, however,
no pains would be spared on the part of Cambridge to
bring a winning crew to the post next year, when hehoped
the captains of steamboats would behave better, for he
quite concurred with Mr. Morrison in thinking that their
conduct that day had been most shameful. (Cheers.)
The health of "the Thames Subscription Club and its
officers," " the Rowing Clubs of the United Kingdom," and
one or two other toasts followed.

. .
The company broke up shortly after 11 o'clock.

THE UNIVERSITIES' BILLIARD MATCHES.
The annual billiard matches between the Universities of
Oxford and Cambridge were played on Saturday at St.
James's-hall. The first coatest wasa double gamo of "500
up." The players on the part of Oxford were Mr. W.
Stokes, of Queen's, and Mr. Watts Russell, of Christchurch.
The representatives of Cambridge were Mr. A. G. Payne,
of St. Peter's, and Mr. Arthur Smith, of Trinity. Upon
the commencement of the play the Cambridge men led off,
marking the first 100 to their opponents' 77, the latter
scoring but slowly, and apparently not having as yet ac-
quired a knowledge of the table. During the next 100, how-
ever, Mr. Russell made some very pretty strokes, but
either from over anxiety or some other cause did not suc-
ceed in scoring any very large numbers from a single
break. Mr. Stokes also improved in his play, and
with his partner obtained the lead at 203 to the Cantabs,
136. Mr. Payne by some excellent breaks managed to keep
the score in the same relative positions, scoring 202 to their
opponents 267. The play proceeded cautiously with few
breaks of any length until the marker called "Cambridge
300 to Oxford 370." From this point the game proceeded
very equally, Mr. Smith. by bold play contriving to add
considerably to the score. Mr. Russell vastly improved in
his play, making some excellent breaks. Oxford marked
401 when Cambridge had obtained 364. The betting, which
had begun at 7 to 4 on Oxford, and had during the progress
of the game advanced to 3 to 1, was now almost any odds
on Oxford : but Mr. Payne andhis partner, who had fought
a losing game with great spirit, put forth additional ener-
gies, the former gentleman by some admirable play making
two breaks of 20 and 16 respectively. Mr. Smith was for-
tunate, and assisted in bringing the game up until the
marker called 459 all. The contest then became extremely
exciting, and great caution was displayed on both sides.
Mr. Stokes, by some beautiful cannons, and Mr. Smith, by
bold and successful play, brought up their respective scores
to 493 and 486 respectively. Mr. Smith, however, made at
this point an unfortunate mistake, and afforded Mr. Stokes
an opportunity of scoring the game, which, therefore, re-
sulted in favour of Oxford by 14 points. The play occu-
pied 2h. 55 min.

After an hour's interval the single match, " 500 up," was
begun, Mr. Stokes and Mr. Payne being the %champions of
the rival Universities ; the betting was 3 to 2 on Ox-
ford. The latter gentleman led off, and marked 101 in
the first quarter of an hour, Mr. Stokes having made
33. , The play continued in the same manner, Mr. Payne
scoring well and rapidly, and Mr. Stokes displaying a
complete knowledge of the game, but not having the good
fortune to secure good breaks. Oxford scored only 100
when Cambridge had marked 186. Mr. Payne, who was
still playing very freely and making some very fine
hazards, brought up his total to 200, but Mr. Stokes very
speedily reduced the balance against him until he had
to his credit 200 to his opponent's 217. Mr. Payne again
led off, and in ono magnificent break marked 29, until his
score stood at 302 to Mr. Stokes's 258. The latter gentle-
man continued to play in the same calm, quiet manner that
had distinguished him throughout, and obtaining a chance
of playing the "spot stroke" made use of the opportunity.
Ills play, however, was not seconded by what in the bil-
liardroom is known as "luck," the balls seldom breaking

favourably for him. The betting had now fallen to even,
but when Cambridge had 344 to the 301 of Oxford the
latter again became the favourite. Mr. Payne continued
to score his long hazards and made some excellent screws,
but when the game was called " Cambridge 451, Oxford
401," a more cautious style of play was adopted by that
gentleman. Mr. Stokes played a beautiful game considering
the disadvantage under which he laboured from the judi-
cious tactics of his opponent, who by giving frequent misses
availed himself of his majority to prevent any opening for
continuous breaks. In this style the play proceeded, until
Cambridge was called 497, and Oxford 474, when Mr. Payne
secured a white losing hazard, making his score 499, and
immediately played his own ball into the pocket, leaving
the red ball fixed under the cushion, with little chance of
scoring from it. Mr. Stokes played, and succeeded in placing
both balls in a hopeless position for his opponent to score
from. The latter then repeated his coup. Mr. Stokes again
played at the red, succeeded in bringing it into baulk, but
left his own ball between the middle pockets, which gave
Mr. Payne the chance of making a losing hazard, and thus
securing the game for Cambridge. The players were loudly
cheered for their admirable play. The game occupied 2
hours 35 minutes.
Naval and Military Intelligence.

•:,

The Channel fleet, now lying at anchor in Port-

land roads, are ordered to sea on the 17th inst.,
and the Hector, iron frigate, Capt. G. W. Preedy,
C. 8., now in dock at Portsmouth, will be un-
docked on the 13th inst. so as to be enabled to join
the fleet prior to the departure from Portland.
_ _ _

Her Majesty's paddle yacht Victoria and Albert,
Capt. 11. S. H. the Prince Leiningen, is ordered to
be prepared at Portsmouth dockyard, to convey the
Prince of Wales to Kingstown, Ireland ,on the occa-
sion of his visitto Dublin, to be present at the open-
ing of the Exhibition. The Victoria and Albert will

leave Portsmouth about the 4th proximo, for Holy-
head, where his Royal Highness will embark for
Dublin.

The screw corvette Menai, 22, in frame at
Chatham dockyard, but the work on which has
been discontinued for some two years, is to be taken

to pieces as soon as the required number of hands
can be spared for the work. The frames will be
used in the construction of the improved 4-gun ves-
sel Blanche, one of the Amazon class of ships,, from
the designs of Mr. E. J. Reed, which will be com-
menced on the slip on which the ironcased frigate
Lord Warden, 24, 1,000-horse power, is building,
as soon as the latter vessel is launched. The partly
constructed wooden ships Belvidere, 51, 500-horse
power, and the Reindeer, 17, 200-horse power, now
on the stocks at Chatham dockyard, are also to be
taken to pieces, and the timbers and frames used
in the general service.
A committee of naval officers—viz., Commodore
Ryder, Capt. Sir J. Hay, M.P., Capt. E. Sotheby,
C. 8., Capt. Englefield, Capt. T. Miller, Capt. D.
Miller, and Mr. W. Hickman, has just been formed
to collect a fund for a memorial to the late Admi-
ral Sir ,Henry Bruce, K.C.B. The memorial will
take the shape of an endowment of one or more
scholarships at some school or institution where the
daughters of naval and marine officers aro boarded
and educated, and the scholarships will be called
the " Bruce Scholarships."
The Bristol, 35, 600 horse power, fitting for the
first division of the Chatham Steam Reserve in the
place of the Arethusa, 35, 400 horse power, intended
for commission, has received her first instalment of
the new pattern 64-pounder muzzle-loading rifled
Armstrong guns, from the Royal Gun Factory,
together with a supply of the 110 pounder breech-
loading Armstrongs, which have been sent to her
from the Ordnance-wharf, Chatham, in lieu of eight
of the 40-pounder Armstrongs previously ordered.
The. Undaunted, Newcastle, Arethusa, Forte, and
other frigates of that class, are all to have the 110-
pounder Armstrongs supplied them instead of the
40-pounders, which, it would appear, are to be gra-
dually withdrawn from the navy.
The 75th Regiment will arrive at Portsmouth
this morning from Aldershot. The headquarters of
the regiment will be established in Fort Grange,
one of the advanced forts west of Gosport, and a de-

taclunent will be fctrwarrled on Portsmouth to Wey-
mouth and Portland in her Majesty's screw troop-
ship Urgent, Capt. S. H. Henderson.
The appointment of Sub-Lieut. E. R. Mathias was
not to the Formidable, as stated in The Sun of Fri-
day, but to the Research ; that of Mr. Fredk. Bunn,
paymaster, was not to the Adventure, but to the
Mutine at Woolwich.

The models and drawings for the new machinery,
the invention of Mr. E. J. Reed, for working and
training the large 12-ton 300-pounder Armstrong
gun which the ironclad frigate Bellerophon, now
building at Chatham, will mount, have been pre-
pared in readiness for the manufacture of the model
at Chatham dockyard instead of at Woolwich dock-
yard, as previously ordered. The whole of the ma-
chinery will be placed on the lower deck, below the
gun battery, and therefore securely protected from
injury from shot or shell, while he apparatus will
be easily worked by a couple of men, the whole not
being unlike the steering apparatus on board our
ships of war.

The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty :—Commander W. H. Blake to the
Mutine ; Henry Bond, ,master, to the Tribune ;
Dr. Bernard, staff-surgeon, to the President ;
Dr. Alex. Watson, staff-surg., to the Racehorse,
convict ship ; Dr. George Moore, surg., to the Hast-
ings; Abraham J. Bolton, assist.-surg., to the Fre-
derick William ; Francis W. Raikes, second master,
to the Fisgard ; Robert S. Evatt, second master, to
the Orontes ; Robert M. Bryant, master's assistant,
to the Black Prince; Henry Backler, master's assist.,
to the Mutine ; John B. Keast, master's assist., to
the Sutlej ; George Kent., chief engineei', to the
Mutine ; Thomas G. Purmett, first-class assist.-en-
gineer, to the Mutine ; Benjamin Carr, in the Blen-
heim, promoted to engineer ; George W. Robins, in
the Gibraltar, promoted to acting engineer; Henry
Meredith, acting first-class assist.-engineer, to the
Mutine ; and Granville Fordham, second-class as-
sistant-engineer, to the Fisgard.

Outram in Westminster Abbey. The ex-Lord
Chancellor Lyndhurst died in his 92d year. The
Earl of Elgin, Governor-General of India, fell at
his post, as a soldier falls in the trenches or on a
field of battle. The once liberal Marquis of Nor-
mandy died, and Lord Seaton and Lord Hatherton
also passed away, to the regret of the elder genera-
tion that knew them. Lord Sinclair, aged 95, father
of the House of Peers, the Earl of Claremont; Earl
Beauchamp ; the ancient Whig Nestor, Mr. Edward
Ellice, M.P., Mr. Western Wood, M.P., Mr. Ald.
Cubitt, M.P., the Marquis of Townshend, Lord
Sandys (better known to the House of Commons as
Lord Marcus Hill), and Mr. H. T. Hope were car-
ried away. Dr. Whately, Archbishop of Dublin,
was also among the not least distinguished dead of
a year saddened and rendered memorable by the loss
of so many eminent statesmen, soldiers, and divines.
In 1864, the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State
for the Colonies, followed his friend Lord Herbert
to a premature tomb. The Earl of Carlisle, late
Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland, a worthy representative
of the highest type of English aristocracy ; Sir W.
Atherton, M.P., late Attorney-General; Mr. Richard
Spooner, who earned so much celebrity by his at-
tacks on the endowment of Maynooth, and whose
fair fame has since been clouded by the failure of
the bank at Birmingham • Mr. W. J. Fox, one of
Mr. Cobden's most eloquent colleagues in the agita-
tion for Free Trade ; Mr. Puller and Mr. Ker Sey-
mer, two valuable and respected members, who were
lost to the House in 1864 ; Lord Ashburton, Lord
Aberdeen, and the Earl of Cadogan fell before the
sickle of the great reaper last year. The Easter of
1865 has not yet arrived, but we have already lost
Field-Marshal Lord Combermere, Lord Willoughby
d'Eresby, Lord Great Chamberlain, the princely
and benevolent Duke of Northumberland, the Earl
of Bradford, Mr.Gregson, Chairman of Committees
on Public Petitions ; Sir Henry Willoughby, one of
the few amateur financiers of the House, &c. ; and,
lastly, Mr. Cobden. The " dance of death" has
thus been unusually active in the British Senate
during the present Parliament. Yet it would not
be easy to point out the name of a single statesman
in the fatal roll who has conferred such solid and
enduring benefits upon his country, or who has set
an example of more singular modesty and disin-
terestedness, than the great man whose remains
have been committed to the grave in a quiet rural
churchyard in Sussex.
THE " EXAMINER" ON RICHARD COBDEN.—No
loss has been in our time more truly or deeply de-
plored by the industrial heart of England than that
which it is our painful duty to record to-day.
Richard Cobden was, above and beyond all other
men of his day, the man of his order. Sprung from
a yeoman's stock, trained in the discipline of com-
merce, and early raised to a position of indepen-
dence and influence as a manufacturer by his own
sagacity and energy, he laid aside the pursuit of pri-
vate wealth while yet in his prime, to enforce the
adoption of a change in national policy which has
been of inestimable benefit:to all who live by labour.
Philosophers had preached free trade as a theory,
and statesmen had timidly and tentatively taken up
the cause when it seemed to suit the occasion of the
hour. But with the friend whose death we mourn
it was not merely a conviction, but a faith—a faith
which never slept and never faltered until it had
seen the realization of things hoped for, and.the evi-
dence of things unseen. It was in no random mood
that he forsook the honourable pursuit of wealth as
a merchant, and devoted all his energies to what
many deemed the desperate enterprise of reversing
the traditional policy of Protection. Even those of
us who were old enough in 1841 to comprehend the
strength of the hold that policy had upon the govern-
ing classes of the nation, find it difficult to recall
fully the deterring influences of the time and the
diversity and magnitude of the impediments that
stood in the way. And by those who were thentoo
young for much personal knowledge of them, it
would be hardly possible to make their nature or
their multiplicity well understood. From the
Whig Prime Minister who was with difficulty

persuaded to sanction the proposal of an Bs.
duty on corn and a modified differential tariff
for timber and sugar, as the extreme of conces-
sion to commercial needs, to the Tory parson who
used to denounce from the pulpit the cry of cheap
food as incendiarism and sedition, all that esteemed
itself polite in England, with exceptions, few in
number though not of small mark, believed absolute
free trade to be a fantastic dream. It was vile and
vicious in the opinion of Conservatives; vain and
vulgar in the judment of the Whigs. Even many
of the Radicals, while they voted for it, feared that
its attainment was impracticable. Even the work-
ing classes, who ought to have been its readiest ad-
vocates, at first threw difficulties in the way, and
never cordially lent their aid. Richard Cobden
began his life-toil for their good and that of their
employers with being scoffed at and ridiculed as an
upstart by his neighbours, and being hooted and
pelted by the mob at Manchester. But this was a
man wlito, did not work for mere popularity. His
true reward, the only true reward of a true nature,
was within him,—the hope of being able to accom-
plish a good work, while it was doing, and the calm
satisfaction of having accomplished it, when it was
done. A more courageous and a more modest spirit
never dignified the frail tenement of clay. Nobody
ever heard him in the early days of the warfare he
led against Protection sigh over his want of advan-
tages or:ack of odds. Nobody when the battle was
won, and Ministers and mobs concurred in paying
homage to his worth, ever heard him descend to the
utterance of a syllable of self-laudation. There
never was a man so thoroughly self-centred and
self-reliant for all good uses and good purposes, so
thoroughly free in private and in public life from
egotism. His faults, such as they were, had their
root in the temper whence his virtue sprang. He
was too single-minded himself, and went too straight
to the aim he believed to be just, to make sufficient
allowance for the not dishonest pliability of others,
and for the purity and earnestness of convictions
that distinctly differed from his own. Not that he
was uncharitable or ready to ascribe base motives :
quite the contrary. No man was more ready to for-
bear, to forgive, and to forget. But he could not
imagine his antagonists to be beyond the reach
of a logic to which on more than one great
occasion he had found them yield after a
certain amount of resistance ; and he some-
times betrayed impatience amounting almost
to petulance at the manifestation of obstinacy which
he could not regard as other than a waste of time.
He had seen ponderous and portentous systems of
error crumble down before his persistent attack, till
he grew sceptical as to the durability of anything
that he had persuaded himself was unsound. But

what is this except to say that he was human, and
that humanity is liable to err ? It would be well
for us if all our public men were as unselfish in
their objects, or as. indefatigable in the service of
their country, as that most honest servant of the

truth by whOse new-made grave his friends stood.
yesterday. It is not necessary for us here to dis-
claim assent to some of the opinions recently put
forward by Mr. Cobden ' • but this is the place per-
haps, and this the time, to say how sorely against
the grain has been for us the task of differing from
him when we have thought it •our duty to differ.
We have never done so, we say frankly, without
many misgivings, because we knew the value of the
man as a fixed quantity in English political life ;
and because we shrank instinctively from saying a
word that, however intrinsically true, might have
the effect for a moment of detracting from that
value in the eyes of men. He was so careless in
this as in other respects of all that related to him-
self, so outspoken, so unreserved, so plain, that we
flinched from the necessity of sometimes separating
ourselves from him. But all the more carefully
and cordially do we join in acknowledging his pre-
eminent worth, not merely as an economist, a
negotiator, a senator, or a tribune of the people,
but as one whose stainless life and characterhas left
us an example priceless and inestimable. We feel
with the eloquent leader of the party to whom he
was opposed in Parliament, that we are bound to
refuse to regard his spirit as having passed away
from amongst us. Mr. Disraeli has done himself
true honour by the manner in which he has borne
his testimony on the present occasion to the worth
of a man who, like himself, owed nothing to the
accidents of fortune, but everything to thepersistent
courage of his own nature. There is,deeper down
than any voice of party conflict can reach, a sym-
pathy of noble ambition which it is well should find
speech on occasions like this. The qualities on
which an Englishman most prides himself were
united in the man for whom by the whole country
party distinctions are forgotten and all grudges laid
aside when respect is paid to his'memory by a unani-
mous Commons. Nor is it less affecting or instruc-
tive to observe how the event of the week has been
received in France, where, with almost as general
an accord as in England, the death of Mr. Cobden
has drawn forth the warmest expressions of admi-
ration for his character, and regret for the untimely
loss of his most wholesome influence in the affairs
of men.

THE " SPECTATOR" ON MRS. THISTLETHWAITE.—
We have not yet been fortunate enough to meet
with George Eliot's " Dinah," or anything at all
like her. Twice the present writer has heard a
woman preach—once as a boy, when an amiable old
Quaker lady accustomed to address assemblies got
herself unfortunately into a pulpit, and was so put
out by that novel position that she lost, we will not
say the idea (for there was none), but tale state of
mind, whatever that was, which was essential to the
production of hortatory periods, and her husband
had to:ascend visibly into the pulpit before the eyes
of the congregation to extricate her by comfortable
assurances of undiminished conjugal affection from
that intellectual or unintellectual dilemma. Again,

last Sunday we had the privilege of witnessing ttp-

parently a much less unsuccessful specimen of femi-
nine eloquence in which no vir ex machind was
called in to assist at the tying together of a broken
clue. But the experiment, smoothly as it ran,
rather confirmed our boyish impression of the dis-
qualification of women as preachers, only substitu-
ting sincere regret at what seemed an unfortunate
and mistaken display of religioun for the cruel glee
with which thoughtless schoolboys are too apt to
gloat over a visible moral catastrophe to their fel-
low-creatures. We should be the last to deny to
women who possess any unique power of touching
the hearts of others the right to sacrifice private
feelings to the appeal of duty. But Mrs. Thistle-
thwaite does not, as far as we could judge, exercise
any such power at all. Being a woman, and a
pretty woman, and certainly in her own way very
much in earnest, of course she " draws" much better
than a man of the same mental qualifications as
herself. The little lecture-room which calls itself
the Marylebone Institute was crowded to excess
half an hour before Mrs. Thistlethwaite began, and
a motley assemblage, chiefly, we should say, of the
shopkeepers of the neighbourhood—not consisting
more of men than of women—struggled their
way into the bad air and bare standing-room of
the place as if they looked forward to receiving
a spiritual influence of no small power.
Mrs. Thistlethwaite is, we need scarcely say, a very
narrow Evangelical. She explained in her introduc-
tory-prayer that if there were any there led thither
by an idle curiosity to see a poor lost soul on whom
God had taken mercy, she trusted that idle curiosity
might be " solemnised" into a deeper feeling before
the service was over. This was the first stroke on
that chord, but it was by no means the last ; there
was throughout, that painful harping on a thin
string, that vibrating eagerness without force or
breadth, that flickering impetuosity, that chain of
vagrant associations sending off branches allusively
in all directions from the one reiterated entreaty to
abandon self-righteousness and accept the atoning
blood of Christ but ever returning to the same point
without finishing the other train of suggestion—in a
word, that reedy wail of conscientious spiritual
effort, desiring to feel itself divinely authorised, and
not quite succeeding in the attempt, which must
have made every one sad who listened thoughtfully.
To be conscious of a voluble flow of weak entreaty,
and to recognise the impossibility of meeting it half-
way by any act of will, is one of the most melancholy
of human experiences. At the end of her sermon
Mrs. Thistlethwaite gave out a hymn beginning, " I
do believe, I will believe," with spasmodic accentua-
tion of the " do" and " will," in which she entreated
all her audience with almost feverish eagerness to
join, evidently under a helpless kind of impression
that it was an " easy lesson" in belief, that if we
would only repeat the words with sufficient empha-
sis we should manage the act of belief in time. And
this was expressive of the whole service. Mrs.
Thistlethwaite impressed us as entirely destitute of
any power to reach the deeper springs of faith in the
human heart, and as compelled to make up for that
deficiency by nagging at the souls of her audience.
The truth is, that a woman, in order to exercise any
great religious influence, must, we take it, have much
of the mystic in her as well as a rare simplicity of
nature. Mrs. Thistlethwaite has nothing of the mys-
tic in her, and, though sincere enough, has not a rare
simplicity of nature. She is a little of an actress in her
elocution, and in reading the hymn gave the note of
admiration after "ashamed of Jesus !"with something
that we almost felt to be a pert pitch of indignation,
and when she came to the end of the hymn where
the prayer is breathed that ' Christ be not ashamed
of me !' she sank her voice to a theatric whisper, and
disappeared behind some one else during the sing-
ing with too dramatic an effect. We felt imme-
diately that there was none of that dreaminess about
her nature which alone could completely save a
woman in such a position from awkward self-con-
sciousness, and so it certainly proved. Even in
prayer she could not help citing her authority to
prove to God her familiarity with His word—" as
Thou has told us in the 17th Psalm" she said, in
speaking of "awaking up after God's likeness"—and
this was only one of many indications how little she
ever lost herself in thc thoughts of the Bible, how
intent she was upon correct citation. The heavy,
drooping eyelids, the small, flexible, almost laugh-
ing mouth, and the quick, tossy movement of her
head, all told of a nature sufficiently excitable, but
not in the direction of either quietism or mysticism.
Subsequently the whole of the sermon showed that
Mrs. Thistlethwaite belongs to the school which de-
lights in theology only so far as it reveals a myste-
rious and gigantic transaction by which the soul is
extricated from an apparently hopeless dilemma at
great price. She did not dwell on the divine love
in its daily communion with human weakness—she
gloated over the " fountain filled with blood from
Immanuel's veins," according to the revolting
phraseology of one of her hymns, till the healing of
the great Physician sounded almost like a physiolo-
gical rather than a spiritual process, and the whole
air was filled with arterial and ensanguined images.
The preacher took a long passage out of Luke end-
ing with the parable of the Good Samaritan as

ier text, so that we had at first some hope we
might be spared the usual caricature and distortion
current amongst the school of St. Paul's doctrine of
the Atonement, but it was soon evident that she re-
garded the whole passage as bearing directly on the
dogma inquestion. Shebegan at once by stating that all
are equally sinful, the baby just born as sinful as the
worst sinner, and all equally in need of redemption.
If we asked how this could be just, she replied that
God needed no justification for what He did. When
the Queen writes a letter about railways, do we ex-
pect her to justify her course ? We fear we do, and
if not, we fear Mrs. Thistlethwaite's argument would
only prove that God is not naturally the object of
love for any better reason than because He is so
powerful, and so cut the whole ground of faith from
under her feet. However, that conceded, she pro-
ceeded to lay down that as God has willed it so, we
all need redemption, and no works or fame of our
own, not even the mightiest works of the mightiest
writers, " like Macaulay's, for instance," will be of
any use to the soul that is not saved by Christ's
blood. Here was the mystery of redemption, the
" things hid from the wise and prudent"—like
Macaulay—" and revealed unto babes." Then fol-
lowed the question of the lawyer who stood up and
" tempted" or tried Christ, asking, " Master, what
shall Ido to be saved ?" Mrs. Thistlethwaite was
very hard upon this lawyer and knew all about him
—much more than the Evangelist appeared to know.
It was a matter of " perfect indifference to him,
PERFECT indifference," she reiterated, what answer
Chriit would make ; he only put the question in
the vanity of indolent curiosity. She appeared to
draw this large inference from his calling Christ
master' only, remarking that Judas called Him
master and never ' Lord,' and she called atten-
tion to the more reverential address of good
master' of the rich young man whom Jesus loved.
This was hard upon the lawyer, and she was yet
harder upon him before she had done with him.
His ' What shall I do ?' was self-righteousness—he
supposed he could do something to save himself.
Our Lord answered him so fully in order, said Mrs.
Thistlethwaite glibly, that He might " damn him
out of his own mouth"—which is surely introducing
hypothetical and supererogatory damnation into the
Bible very gratuitously indeed. Could she, we
thought, be really so anxious about our souls, when
she was so willing to damn—altogether hypotheti-
cally—this unfortunate lawyer about whom we know
nothing, and, in doing so, to attribute a purely
fanciful harshness to our Lord ? Perhaps she was
after all ; but had in her own mind identified this
lawyer on account of the equivocal word " tempt"
with something very evil indeed. Then she com-
mented with great severity on his " willingness to
justify himself" in asking "Who is my neighbour ?"
and told an irrelevant story of a young man, an
acquaintance of hers, who maintained he had ful-
filled the whole Law, and who afterwards, as she
recounted eagerly—not cruelly, but with dogmatic
eagerness--showed what his self-righteousness was
worth by falling into open sin. And then she gave
her interpretation of the story of the good Samaritan.
The good Samaritan was not a Samaritan after all,
he was only a form of our Lord Himself, because
the Jews had taunted Him with being a Samaritan,
and having a devil. The robbed traveller was the
lost soul of man, whom the ministers of the law, the
priest and Levite, would and could not aid. The
good Samaritan was Christ, who poured in the oil and
wine of His own blood, and provided for the saved
soul afterwards at His own cost. Nothing good
could have been done by any human being. The
goon Samaritan was meant to be a type of real good-
ness, and therefore was not a human being, but the
incarnate Son of God. The "go and do likewise"
to the lawyer was pure irony in Christ—meant to
show the absolute impossibility of man's doing like-
wise without being first redeemed—they were the
words which " damned the lawyer out of his own
mouth." A shocking parody, as it seemed to us, of
the most beautiful of our Lord's parables I Such,
illustrated with many readings out of the Epistle to
the Romans, was Mrs.Thistlethwaite's sermon. It
was not eloquent, it was wholly devoid of tender-
ness, and,as we have shown, full of harsh unfeminine
constructions of the Gospel. It was very far from

powerful. It was fluent, eager, excitable, variable,
diverging occasionally into sharp, thin controver-
sialism, as when she denounced our Church for
hanging up the tables of the Law over the altar as
if they could save any man, and explained that she
must do so whether it gave offence or not, nay, even
" if a hundred cannons were pointed at me,"—a
very wild supposition indeed, Mrs. Thistlethwaite.
But, on the whole, though an expression of the
religion of those who love strong excitements, who
have been saved themselves " so as by fire," the ser-
vice was not exciting, but melancholy--sincere
enough, but a thin, conscious, treble of appeal full

of a woman's weakness and a woman's logic, yet
without a woman's religious tenderness and warmth
of feeling.

Spanish Finance.

MADRID, April 4.
In yesterday's sitting of the Senate Senor Castro,
Minister of Finance, replying to a speech of Senor
Pastor, said :

" Referring to the most important part of Senor
Pastor's speech, wherein he states that the question of
the Passive Debt and of the coupons must be fully
entered into without delay, I may observe that,
although my position renders it difficult for me to
express myself as freely as another might do, yet I
feel bound to give my opinion on the subject to that
gentleman and to the Senate. I will not now in-
vestigate the reasons of expediency, justice, and
equity pointing to the advisability of passing a re-
solution, but this it is my wish to anticipate as
much as possible, as I do not believe that a nation
belonging to the European concert can prolong in-
definitely this species of money-market blockade,
which is more and more serious and prejudicial to
the interests of the country every day. Nevertheless,
I must add that, so long as the blockade continues, at
least in the form in which it has hitherto existed, the
Spanish nation has no means of yielding, compro-
mising, or arranging the matter. lam well aware
that the honour and dignity of a nation are not to be
measured by the strict standard of the same attributes
in individuals, and that the Government represent-
ing a nation should not be so ready to exaggerate
points of honour; but after all national honour does
exist, and I cannot do less than repeat here what I
have constantly said ever since I assumed office.
Spain is about to apply to European capitalists for
the purpose of inviting them to participate in our
credit operations. We shall see whether they will
now come to an understanding with us. If, as I
hope, they are unwilling to prolong a position which
even our want of confidence would resist, I believe
the Spanish nation, which can and ought to do
something more than in 1851, is now in a position
to do it, but then it will be necessary that both me-
naces and necessity should disappear. As I think we
shall have to treat this point anew, I will give every
explanation that may be necessary, the only decla-
ration I will now make being that I am resolved to
proceed to the complete solution of this affair as
speedily as possible, and that we are now, I am
happy to say, on the eve of a settlement."