The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-08 00:00:00

THE btili, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 8, 1865;

the protection of the battery, together with threes 110-
pounders not protected. On the upper deck will be placed
a single 40-pounder Armstrong. Not the least striking
feature in the Bellerophon is the arrangement made by
Mr. Reed to enable the frigate to carry a bow battery—an
important feature until recently altogether overlooked in
the construction of our vessels of war. The importance
of being able to serve the guns in such a position cannot
be over estimated, and nautical men will at once under-,
stand the immense advantage of being able to fire the
guns right ahead, and in a line with the ship's keel.
The Bellerophon is built with strikingly flat sections,
on what is now known as the U-shaped, in con-
tradistinction to the V-shaped principle. In a vessel like
the Bellerophon it is obvious that her tendency to roll will
be greatly accelerated by the weight of the armour. The
principle adopted by Mr. Reed will, it is anticipated, over-
come this, and, as the Bellerophon is intended to be, in all
respects, a thorough seagoing as well as a fighting ship,
the advantages of the principle must be evident. The fol-
lowing are her principal dimensions :—Length between
perpendiculars, 300 ft.; extreme breadth, 56ft. lin.; burden,
4,270 27-94 tons (builder's measurement) ; load draught of
water, 26ft. aft, 21.1 t. forward. At the time of her launch
her displacement was calculated at between 6,000 and 7,000
tons. The exact weight of the ship at floating was found to
be 3,100 tons, of which 3,050 tons are worked into the hull
of the frigate. The whole of this has been accomplished
in the comparatively brief space of 54 weeks, which is at
the rate of 56i tons of material per week. This average
rate of production in a single ship, and that, too, continued
through an entire year, is altogether unprecedented in the
history of iron shipbuilding. The total quantity of backing
and other wood in the ship is only 115 tons. The ports on
the gundeck battery are exceedingly narrow, but at the
same time sufficiently large for the training of the 300-
pounders. They are well up out of the
,water, and when
at her deep-sea draught the bottom of the port sills will be
9ft. above the water. The main deck, or deck at upper
armour-line, is plated throughout with half-inch wrought-
iron plates under the 4in. deck. The upper deck is also
plated throughout its entire length with plates of steel
half-an-inch in thickness, tapering at the extremities to
counteract the effects of liquid shot falling on the deck.
Additional strength and rigidity are imparted to the ship
by massive iron cross-deck beams. All the decks are com-
modious and lofty, the height under the beams in the bat-
tery being 61t. 6 in.; the height under the beams on the
berth-deck 7ft. 9in., and height on the lower deck Oft. The
Bellerophon is built with a long projecting stem, thrust
forward some 12ft. from the " tumble-home" bow. This
method of construction answers the twofold purpose of
giving buoyancy to the forward battery, carried high above
the deck, and at the same time will enable the frigate to be
used as a ram should she ever be placed in circumstances to
render that method of naval combat necessary. The length
of the engine-room is 40ft., that of the fore boiler-room
36ft., and the after boiler-room 40ft. From the fore end of
the stokehold to the after end of the screw shaft the length
is 235 ft. The engines, which have been constructed for the
Bellerophon by Messrs. John Penn and Sons, are of 1,000-
horse power nominal, but with the recent improvements
introduced will be capable of working up to 6,000 actual
horse-power. They will have a force sufficient to drive
the frigate through the water at an average speed of 14
knots—that is to say, nearly 16 statute miles per hour. The
weight of the machinery with the boilers filled is 935 tons.
The bunkers are capable of stowing 650 tons of coal, or
about a week's .consumption with full steaming. The fact
of the Bellerophon being without a rudder-post gives the
stern a projecting, over-hanging appearance, while the way
in which she is rounded off appears to be the very per-
fection of ugliness, quite overturning the notions gene-
rally formed as to the correct shape of a vessel's stern.
She is intended to be fitted with the " balanced rudder,"
invented many years since by Lord Stanhope, but not
until recently adopted in the Royal Navy. This rudder,
instead of being attached to a rudder-post, is supported
from the deck, while the lower end passes into a prolonga-
tion of the plates of the keel. After the launch the Bel-
lerophon was moored alongside the dockyard, where she
will receive on board her engines and machinery, after
which she will be placed in dock, to be fitted with the
remainder of her armour-plating and to be equipped for
sea. Another large ironclad frigate, to be named the
Hercules, with armour-plates of 9in. in thinkness, is to be
immediately commenced in the same dock.

my own convictions. I am the friend of progress, but I tell
you that for no consideration of popular applause or other-
wise, will I ever do violence to my conscience as your re-
presentative in the House of Commons. (Cheers.)

Mr. WHlThocx said he had listened with attention to the
worthy alderman, to whom he was desirous to put a few
questions. As a member of the council of the National Re-
form League ho wished to ask him—Was he prepared• to
support the political principles of the League ? Was he
prepared to support the principle that taxation without re-
presentation was not just ? Was he prepared to support
any measure in favour of the extension of the Ten Hours
Bill? and was he prepared to support any measure in favour
of extending the elective franchise ?
Mr. G. HENDERSON wished to ask the worthy alderman
—Was he prepared, if returned to Parliament, to support
Mr. Doulton in his object to obtain open spaces for the
health and recreation of the people ?
Mr. DEXTER had two questions to put to Mr. Alderman
Lawrence. First, whether in questions relating to the Bri-
tish Museum and other institutions he would advocate
their being thrown open to the public three nights a week ?
and, secondly, was he prepared to oppose the proposed re-
moval of the national collections in the British Museum to
South Kensington, to get to which and back would cost a
man the loss of more than half a day ? Another questionhe
was desirous to put—was Mr. Alderman Lawrence prepared
to advocate the opening of the British Museum and other
institutions on the Sunday ? and also, was he prepared to
advocate the running of trains on Sundays ? There was
another question, and it related to Popery. (Cries of
"Order, order," and "Hear, hear.") With regard to the
grant to Maynooth, he considered it past and gone, and he
was not prepared to disturb it ; but he wanted to know whe-
ther or not Mr. Alderman Lawrence was prepared to go
against all church endowments. He (Mr. Dexter) was not
prepared to see all church endowments go, and he wished
to get an answer from the worthy alderman.
Mr. PRrrcHARD wished to ask Mr. Alderman Lawrence
whether, if returned, he would support the views expressed
last year by Mr. Cobden in reference to the licensing of
public-houses—he would not go so far as to say the Per-
missive Bill—but whether he would give the power to cor-
porations instead of to magistrates of regulating such houses.

Mr. HUXTABLZ desired to know whether Mr. Alderman
Lawrence would support the interests of the Greenwich
pensioners.

The CHAIRMAN having enumerated the questions,

Mr. Alderman LAWRENCE, in reply to Mr. Whitlock, said
he was always in favour of the extension of the Ten Hours
Bill, and he was still in favour of it ; and as to the exten-
sion of the suffrage, his opinion was that it ought to be ex-
tended to the working classes, who he believed would exer-
cise it at least as wisely and as well as other classes in the
country who now possessed it. (Hear, and cheers.) As to
the question which had been put to him in reference to the
foreign policy of this country, his views were that their
Government should adopt such a course as would not en-
tangle this country in wars with other countries; but he
also felt that on great questions the voice of the people
would never be content when a great wrong was done until
that wrong was redressed (cheers, and hear), and it was
upon that ground that he felt the policy of the Government
should be clear, straightforward, and honest. (Hear.) He
was asked whether he would support the policy of having
open spaces for the recreation of the people. His answer
was that he believed such to be essentially necessary to the
health of the working classes and their families, and he felt
that the House of Commons should not, as they had seen
them be, haggling, night after night, about the spending of
a few thousand pounds for such an object. (Hear.)
A VoicE—l hope you will vote for it.

Mr. Alderman fAIITRENCE—Yes. He should most heartily
support it. Some one asked him a question about the Game
Laws. He confessed he was ignorant on that subject.
(Laughter.) He was not a sporting man, but he would
gladly give his support to a change in any law that con-
flicted with the principles of justice. (Hear.) He was asked
about the removal of the national collections from the British
Museum to South Kensington Museum, and though living in
the neighbourhood of the latter, he felt great regret at seeing
the efforts that were now being made to effect such removal.
(Hear, hear.) He was asked whether he would advocate the
throwing open of the British Museum on Sundays. That
was a question from which he had never shrunk, because it
might be regarded in two points of view, namely, the re-
ligious and labour points of view. He was prepared to speak
of it only in relation to that which might affect the labour of
the people, and he believ6d most conscientiously that the
opening of those places might lead to the employment
of the labour of the working man on Sundays, as in Paris,
and ho would never be a partyto wrong against the working
classes. (Hear, hear.) He was asked a question by Mr.
Dexter about the Permissive Bill, and his answer was, that
it would be a dangerous principle to trust a power to mino-
rities over majorities. (Hear, hear.) With regard to the
question put to him about religious endowments, while he
agreed with Mr. Dexter in some of his views, he must say,
unless they were dealt with generally, he did not approve of
dealing with any one of them in particular. (Hear.) Mr.
Pritchard asked him whether he would support an opposition
to their going to war with America, and he might in reply
say, that if their statesmen had been a little more careful not
to express themselves so hastily as they had done, there
would not be any unfriendly feeling on the other side of the
Atlantic against this country. (Hear, hear.) He would do
all in his power to promote friendly relations between the
two nations. (Hear, and applause.)
The candidate gave satisfactory answers to the other
questions put to him.
The meeting was subsequently addressed byMr. Ashurst,
Mr. Elmhill, Mr. Sugden, and Mr. Connolly (an Irishman,
and min-elector of the working classes), who made an ex-
oellent speech in favour of Liberal views, and was frequently
and warmly applauded.
Mr J. THORNHILL then moved, and Mr CAIRNS seconded,
the following resolution :—" That this meeting of electors
of the borough of Lambeth, having heard from Mr. Alder-
man James Clarke Lawrence a statement of his political
principles, is of opinion that he is eminently qualified to be
one of the representatives for the borough in the Commons
House of Parliament, and the electors present pledge them-
selves to use their best endeavours to secure his election."
The resolution was carried unanimously.
Alderman Lawrence returned thanks.

On the motion of Captain Dresser Rogers thanks wen
voted to the chairman fer the impartial manner in which ho
presided over and conducted the business of the meeting.
The Chairman acknowledged the compliment, and the
meeting separated.

Mr. Thomas. Hughes and the Electors of
Lambeth.

Mr. Thomas Hughes, of Lincoln's - inn, received
during the course of last week an invitation to offer himself
as a, candidate for the vacant seat for the borough of Lam-
beth. Mr. Hughes declined to incur the expense of a con-
test, with a dissolution so near at hand. He was then asked
to offer himself as a-candidate at the general election. In a
letter to the electors he says, with reference to this request
—" This I am quite ready to do, if I can see a fair prospect
of success ; and as a first step I wish to place my political
opinions unreservedly before you. On the question of re-
form I should be willing to support any large and well-
considered measure, but would accept Mr. Baines' and Mr.
Locke King's as instalments. I have too intimate a know-
ledge-of the masses of my poor countrymen to fear any
extension whatever; at the same time I should like to see
a scientific reform embodying the cardinal principles of'
Mr. Hare's plan, which would give every voter a both
fide representative in the house, and make every mem-
ber the representative of an. unanimous constituency. I
dislike the ballot. It appears to me to bo contrary to
the principles of a limited suffrage, and to the interests of
non-electors. It would be'certainly convenient, and per-.
haps, almost a necessity, us a means of simplifying the ma-
chinery of voting in the event of a large extension of the'
suffrage, and if a constituency were anxious to have it I
should not decline to vote for it. And I would support it
in the case of any constituency proved to be unfairly
coerced. I am an attached member of the Church of
England, but am for the abolition of church rates, and of
all religious tests. I think our Church broad enough
and strong enough to welcome all who will come
and worship with her without asking questions. I am
against raising the whole revenue by direct taxation.
In foreign policy I am for non-intervention in the
sense in which Mr. Mill uses the word, that is to
say, for neither intreforing ourselves nor allowing inter-
ference by other Powers in the home politics of any
fOreign nation. As to alliances I should prefer that of the
United States to any other, and hope to live to see England
and her colonies and America bound together as one great
family of free nations, acknowledging virtually one common
citizenship without surrendering their separate political life.
I am for all practicable economy in the national expenditure.
The great social questions known under the general name
of ' the labour question' will soon become of the first im-
portance in the house as they are already outside. lam for
securing a perfectly fair field for masters and men so long
as the present disastrous antagonism is to last. I believe
that a system of arbitration may possibly be discovered
which will do much towards healing old wounds, and pre-
venting future strikes and locks out ; but I look to indus-
trial association as the only true remedy, and most firmly
believe that we are rapidly coming to it. I think the House
of Commons is in the habit of interfering too much in mat-
ters of administration, and without pledging myself to any
particular government, should support heartily any really
liberal ministry."

REPRESENTATION OF THE ISLE OF WIGHT.-Sir
John Simeon, Bart., having announced his intention .to be a
candidate for the representation of the Isle of Wight at the
next general election, Mr. Clifford, the present member,
has stated his intention not to seek re-election.

[AnvEnnsnmrxr.l—Holloway's Pills.—lmportant to the
Sick.—Though the mind be downcast, and the body en-
feebled by continued indisposition, the sufferer should at
this season make a last effort to regain health by taking
Holloway's purifying pills ; which, by cleansing the blood,
will search out the hidden cause'of mischief, and expel the
seeds of most diseases. No invalid is too much reduced to
undergo this very gentle treatment with safety and advan-
tage ; neither youth nor old age need fear any injury to
the system from a regulated course of these pills. They
are infallible in stomach complaints, bilious affections,
sickness, want of appetite, disordered bowels, constipation,
and the annoyances which spring from derangement of the
digestive and assimilating organs.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC, JOURNALS.

4.

" LONDON REVIEW" ON EXPECTANT STATESMEN.
—Our Premier is eighty-one. Our Foreign Secre-
tary is seventy-three. Our Home Secretary is
sixty-six. Our Secretary for India, the Lord High
Chancellor of England, and the Earl of Clarendon,
Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, are severally
sixty-five. The Postmaster-General is sixty-three.
The First Lord of the Admiralty is sixty-one. These
are the junior members of the senior division of the
Cabinet. In the course of nature, a very few years
must thin the ranks of those who held office under
Earl Grey and took a conspicuous part in the great
Reform struggle. The longevity of English peers
is such that eldest sons and heirs to great titles be-
come not unfrequently grey-haired and elderly men
before they are called to the Upper House. The
present race of English statesmen is equally long-
lived, and we see in both houses of Parliament
politicians and subordinate Ministers no longer
young, but who are kept out of their legitimate in-
heritance, and consigned to the background of com-
parative obscurity, by—shall we say ?—the better
ventilation of the new Houses of Parliament and
the improved healthfulness of modern political
life. At the head of these elderly young statesmen
who " bide their time," in a frame of mind tending
towards mutiny, and bordering on disgust, is Mr.
Gladstone. He is fifty-six—seven years older
than the great Lord Chatham when he broke the
power of France and became our greatest War
Minister, nine years older than the second Pitt at his
death, and within three years of the age when
Charles James Fox slept by the side of Pitt in
Westminster Abbey. Canning was but a year
older than Gladstone when he died, and he was
leader of the House of Commons and Prime Minister.
It is true that the copious eloquence and brilliant
fiscal success of the Finance Minister who last week
held the House of Commons under his spell have
written, in indelible characters, the name of " Glad-
stone" in his country's annals. Yet, hardly can he
help, like Prince Henry, putting on the Imperial
Crown while his father, the King, still lives.

" I stay too long by thee, I weary thee,"

said King Henry reproachfully. The Prince
answered dutifully, but we know how jealously he
claimed the reversion of this " golden care" and
cherished prize. After all, however, Mr. Gladstone
is not the next in succession to the Premiership.
Earl Russell is seventy-three, but he is still vigor-
ous ; and his claim to be at the head of a Liberal
Administration could not be disputed if our noble
Viscount were lost to public life. The leader-
ship of the House of Commons if in office, and
that of the Liberal party if in Opposition,-would
be all that the Chancellor of the Exchequer
could claim so long as Earl Russell takes a part
in public affairs. " I wonder whether Mr. Dis-
raeli will ever be Prime Minister of this country ! "
is a remark not unfrequently heard. A few
Liberals, and here and there a Tory, scout the idea;
but in doing so betray very scanty political know-
ledge. The laws of political succession, like those
of legal preferment, move according to a certain
well-known and pre-ordained etiquette. When a
Minister happens to have a weak Solicitor-General,
and the " cushion" in one of the courts is likely to
be vacated, we hear it said, " The Premier will
never dare to make So-and-So Chief Justice or
Chief Baron if the Attorney-General refuses." But
when did a Premier ever violate the law of etiquette
and legal succession ? Mr. Disraeli is leader of the
Conserveative party in the Lower House. He is of
the ripe age of sixty years—cheu fugaces ! He has
sat in the House of Commons for more than a quar-
ter of a century. His leader in the Upper House
is sixty-six years of age, and if broken health or
" The shadow cloaked from head to foot,
That keeps the keys of all the creeds,"
should deprive the Conservatives of this great
chief, Mr. Disraeli, and no one else, we may rely
upon it, would be sent forby the Queen, and entrusted
with the task of forming a Conservative administra-
tion, in the event of a Conservative majority in the
House of Commons. No one need be ashamed to
'serve under the fourteenth Earl of Derby, when the
possessor of a grand old title happens to be at the
same time the most distinguished of living orators,
and the best English translator of Homer. But that
a man of genius like Mr. Disraeli would consent to
hold a subordinate post under any of the common-
place peers, who fill the front opposition bench in
the Upper ouse and who would find a congenial
leader in Lord Nlalmesbury, is simply incredible.
Every man of spirit in the kingdom would despise
Mr. Disraeli if, under tho circumstances we have
supposed, he were content with anything short of
the premiership. George IV., on the retirement of
Lord Liverpool, sounded Mr. Canning on the choice
of the new premier. The king desired to place a
peer at the head of the Government. Mr. Canning,
with great spirit, said in that case he should retire
from the Cabinet. As second minister in Lord
Liverpool's administration and leader of the House
of Commons, he looked upon the office of Prime
Minister of England as his inheritance, and
vindicated in his own person the principle of
direct succession. We do not believe that
Queen Victoria would venture to offer to Mr.
Disraeli the insult which George IV. passed
upon Mr. Canning, and which -he so properly re-
sented. Among the Liberal statesmen who " bide
their time" under an octagenarian Premier, a sep-
tuagenarian Premiet-presumptive, and half-a-dozen
sexagenarian statesmen in possession of the highest
and best paid offices in the Administration, may be
cited Mr. Milner Gibson, in his fifty-eighth year,
who entered the House of Commons and excited
great hopes of his future career thirty years ago,
yet who is only a member of his Cabinet and Pre-
sident of the Board of Trade by a sort of political
" fluke." Mr. Cardwell is fifty-two, and has been
a member of the House of Commons for nearly a
quarter of a century, yet he would have been no-
thing more than Chancellor of Duchy of Lancaster
to this day but for the premature decease of the
Duke of Newcastle. Lord Clarence Paget is "rising"
fifty-four. lie is the most successful Secretary to
the Admiralty, for a naval officer, that any one
reMembers yet his p:f./alotion is slow in coming,
for he has 'filled this subordjuate post since 1859.
Mr. Cowper is of the same age a;:,' Lord C. Paget,
and he has sat in the House of Commo:.'s for thirty
years. One need not wish him anything but ...First
Commissioner of Works until the new Law Courts
are built, but the post of metropolitan ./Edile is not
a very brilliant termination to a long political career.
Mr. Villiers has never been ambitious ; so at 63 he is
probably quite contented with the Chairmanship of
the Poor Law Board, and a seat in the Cabinet.
The Conservative statesmen who " bide their time"
on the front Opposition bench do not suffer from a
regime of primeval and antediluvian chiefs. It is
their misfortune to sit en permanence on the " shady
side of the Throne." Sir Fitzroy Kelly has reached
the mature age of sixty-seven, and has written M.P.
after his name for thirty years. He goes about like
a natural and lawful Lord Chief Justice • who has
been by some strange freak of fortune divorced or
kept out of his Court and his " cushion." The
same may be said of Mr. Whiteside, who is fifty-
nine, and would not be unwilling to exchange the
anxieties of the Bar and the turmoil of the House
for the ermine of the Bench. Mr. Seymour Fitz-
gerald is only forty-eight, and has never been any-
thing but Under-Secretary of State for a few
months. But he must in the course of events " come
to the front." Mr. Gathorne Hardy is fifty-one.
He is another of the " coming men," but he has
hardly been allowed to have an opinion on his side
of the House, seeing that Mr. Henley, a grave and
reverend senior of seventy-two, and Mr. Walpole, a
solemn and tremulous Constitutionalist of sixty,
have preferred higher claims to attention. Lord
John Manners, a mere " young man" in politics,
of forty-seven, must finish our list.
THE " SPECTATOR" ON GENERAL GRANT.—
General Grant, under whose direction the war has
been brought to a close—for closed it is to all in-
tents and purposes--is, as all my readers probably
know a thoroughly educated soldier, a graduate of
West Point. But just before the outbreak of the
rebellion he was living near St. Louis in a very
simple western fashion, doing a small business as a
land agent. Very few of our educated soldiers, ex-
cept those from the Slave States, used to retain
their commissions after they had served their time
upon the frontier against the Indians. " Soldiering"
was looedd on among us as but a kind of decorated
idleness, and our young officers generally became
engineers, and some of them even clergymen.
Ulysses Grant, the land agent five years ago, amid
his homely belongings and surroundings,w as one of
the last men that would have been picked out as a
person likely to take a prominent part in deciding
the fate of a great nation. Mr. Lincoln and he
had that point of resemblance. General Grant, as
I have told you, is a small man; but unlike Sher-
man he is very strongly built, and has a sturdy look.
His head is set well down toward his shoulders,
and this added to the expression of his features,
gives him a look ~ of firmness, in fact, of
obstinacy His photographs are generally good
likenesses in all respects. He is exceedingly careless
in dress, mad simple in his habits. His manner does
not lack dignity, but is almost entirely without
polish. A man of strong, deep feeling, he rarely
betrays emotion, and is not only reticent, but taci-
turn. His tenacity of purpose all the world knows
by this time, but not so well the calm serenity of his
mind in the midst of turbulence and under the weight
of great responsibility. A man who had lived with
him almost in the same tent for many months dur-
ing this war is my authority for saying that during
all that time, and it was one full of incident, he be-
came excited but on one occasion. It was immedi-
ately after the battle of Chattanooga. One of his
principal subordinates was in pursuit of the flying

enemy, who turned upon him in a pass between
two of those hills which make pursuit here such
perilous business, and in one hour this General, who
pushed straight on in the heat of the chase, lost 500
men. When the report was brought to Grant he
said nothing, but his face flushed, the veins swelled
in his forehead, and he gnawed his firmly set lips
until my friend thought the blood would come. A
few moments, and he hegan to walk up and down
swiftly and in silence, at intervals swallowing the
choke in his throat. After he had walked himself some-
what calm, he brok out, " The man ought to be broke !
Such perilous rashness Such wicked waste of life."
(This was " butcher Grant," you know.) "He
ought to be broke instantly " " But," his com-
panion suggested. " you have not heard —'s
report. That may put another face on the matter.
Would it not be better to wait ? " " Right, I'll
wait." The report was kept back for a week, and
when it came, Grant, after reading it, handed it to
my friend, saying, " You see this does not change
the matter. I ought strictly to send this to the
Department with a request that he should be re-
lieved. There is no excuse for such rashness in a
commander. But—how can I ?—how can I? He
is a good soldier in the field, so true a man. His
men love him, and will follow him anywhere. He
was rash ; but I can't supply his place." And the
report went into Grant's pocket. Now this general
was even more rash in talk than in battle, and was
the only one in the army who criticised Grant so
severely and so openly that it reached his ears. But
he only listened with his slight meditative smile,
and bore no malice. The same gentleman told me
another story illustrative of Grant's reticence. It
was in Virginia. The army had moved suddenly,
and Grant occupied a planter's house as his head-
quarters. He came upon the household almost
without warning. The master was away. He
apologised curtly but very kindly to the lady for
the inconvenience to which he must put her. She
was a fine, handsome woman. She came in to Grant
with a child at her breast, and rather astonished him
and his staff by the perfect indifference and lack of
all concealment with which she performed this tender
office, which a planter's wife usually commits to a
negress. She begged the General that she might be
allowed to pass his lines to her husband or her
friends. He regretted it much, but it was impossible.
She was importunate, she spoke of her child, and of
her inability to bear hard usage or excitement. In
vain. She implored. He was inflexible. She en-
deavoured to enlist his staff officers in her behalf.
They shook their heads. Then she flamed into
anger, and turning to leave, she said " You make
war on women. May each one of you live to see a
negro's arm around his sister's waist." She was pass-
ing out with a haughty step, when one of the officers
replied, "No fear of that, madam. Qur sisters have
not the tastes of Southern .gentlemen." Now Grant
felt sorry for his unwilling hostess, and he could have
comforted herby a single word, butthat word he would
not speak. He knew that he should move his headquar-
ters the next day, and leave her in undisturbed com-
munication with her friends. But it was essential
that no one elsewhere should know this, and he kept
his own counsel. I told you that in capacity General
Grant was Sherman and something more. Grant
said of Sherman, "He is the best field officer in
this country ;" adding, as he might, when the per-
son to whom he spoke looked up significantly, " I
don't except myself." Grant's superiority to Sher-
man is not in military knowledge or skill, or pos-
sibly even in resource. It is a moral superiority.
His nature has that grandeur and that power that
is given by repose, and by the capacity of serene
contemplation. His imperturbable manner is no
affectation or result of self-discipline. It is the re-
flex of an imperturbable soul. Sherman fidgets con-
tinually, violently half smokes half a dozen cigars,
and breaks in upon those with whom he talks.
Grant will sit by the half hour without moving,
smoking deliberately, and listening silently as he
watches the smoke wreaths curl up into the air. He
has a large and firm grasp of mind, and when he
has once mastered a subject and decided upon a
course of action, obstacles or even severe re-
verses, unless they reveal new conditions, do not
disturb his judgment. He reads men well, knows
how to put them to their best uses, and how to com-
mand and control them. He does not expect per-
fection, and will forgive almost anything but insub-
ordination. He has the faculty of reconciling discor-
dant elements by common sense, good nature, and
a gentle exercise of authority, and where they can-
not be reconciled he has the decision to rid himself
of one of them instantly. He has the faculty of
seeing but disregarding the minor and the non-
essential, and of basing his conclusions upon the
greater truths and guiding his action by the greater
laws. He knows when to take a great responsibi-
lity, and with all his calm and seeming indifference
of manner decides instantly and executes as he de-
cides. He is utterly without ambition. Ido not
believe that he would care a penny to be President.
Some very complaisant Briton writing to the Times
said that he found General Grant entirely without
that bluster which is characteristic of his country-
men, which, by the way, is a remark I have in effect
often heard made with regard to such of his coun-
trymen as the fellow-countrymen of the Times cor-
respondent have actually come in contact with. But
Gen. Grant is not only quiet in manner, but very
modest. A sword was to be presented to him, for
the privilege of which his admirers had paid
at the great sanitary fair nearly 1350,000. To
the private note sent to him asking him
when he would meet the New York people
to receive the s word, he answered that it
would give him great pleasure to meet them, but
not for the purpose of receiving a sword. He
begged that he might receive their noble compliment
privately. This surprised no one. Gen. M'Clellan
did much the same thing, saying that he had not
yet earned the sword. Gen. Grant is vain upon
only one point—his horsemanship. He rides as if
he and his horse were one, body and mind. An
unruly horse fell upon him in New Orleans and hurt
him severely. Had he been willing to yield his seat
he would have escaped uninjured. But here his
obstinacy and his vanity worked together. General
Grant won the first important victory of the war,
Fort Donelson ;• that which opened the Mississippi,
Vicksburg ; that which was the turning-point of the
contest, Chattanooga ; and that which virtually
brought it to a close, Richmond. He alone has
captured armies, and has captured three. Buckner's
at, Donelson, Pemberton's at Vicksburg, and Lee's
at Appomatox Court House. But my gorge rises
now, at seeing newspapers fawn upon him that six
months ago called him a baffled butcher.
A YANKEE;

RAILWAY INTELLIGE NCE.

MADRAS.

The half-yearly meeting of this company was held
on Friday at the London Tavern; Lieut.-General
D. Sim in the chair.

The report, an abstract of which has appeared in
The Sun, was taken as read.

The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, said he hoped they would concur with the
directors in considering it a very favourable one.
It was not necessary to delay them with many ob-
servations, but as there were some new shareholders
present he would give a brief description of the rail-
way. The undertaking consisted of two lines, the
south-west line and the north-west line. The south-
west main line commenced at Madras on the east
coast, passing to Vellore, Salem, and other places, and
terminated at Beypore on the west coast, and was
407 miles in length. It bad also a branch to Ban-
galore, 85 milesin length, making together 492 miles
open for traffic. The north-west line branched off
from the south-west line, near Arconum, at a point
42 miles from Madras, passing through Cuddapa and
Gooty to Raichoor, where it would form a junction
with the Bombay line. The distance from Arconum
to Raichoor was 290 miles, and the branch from
Gooty to Bellary 50 miles, making together 340 miles
for the north-west line, the total length of the two
lines being 832 miles. That was the extent of rail-
way the company were authorised to construct.
There were at present 571 miles open for traffic, and
next month 41 miles more would be opened, mak-
ing 612 miles, and leaving 220 miles to be completed.
When the north-west line was completed to Rai-
choor and the Bombay line to the same place there
would then be a continuous line of railway from
Madras to Bombay, 775 miles in length. The com-
pany's officers in India estimated that the cost of the
south-west line, including a sufficient supply of roll-
ing stock, would be under £ll,OOO a mile, and of the
north-west line about £lO,OOO a mile. This would
bring the total cost in round numbers to £9,000,000.
The company had issued £8,000,000 of stock and
shares, and received £7,635,541, leaving a balance
of £364,459 to be received on shares not
fully paid up. The company had a balance of
£408,000, which, with the sums coming in on ac-
count of shares, would, no doubt, enable them to
meet the requirements of the railways for the next
six months. The tables given in the report showed
a very satisfactory statement of the traffic. The
traffic receipts had increased, and the percentage
of expenses had diminished. The net receipts had
increased during the past three half years from
£43,071 to £68,966 and to 176,718 for the half year
ending Dec. 31 last, which he thought under the
circumstances must be considered satisfactory.

,_,.,,,,,

Taking the cost of the south-west line at /11,000 a
mile, the return for the past half year would yield
a dividend at the rate of 3 per cent. per annum, but
on the actual cost it amounted to 31 per cent. pGr
annum. The traffic on the north-west line had con-
tinued to increase regularly from the opening of the
first section. With regard to the iron sleepers the
cost of them was about the same as that of wooden
sleepers, but the cost of maintaining them was much
less. During the last six months the cost of main-
tenance was at the rate of £7B per mile per annum'
being just half the expense of maintaining the per'
manent way of the south-west line. The iron was
very superior to wood for sleepers in every respect.
Mr. ARBUTHNOT seconded the motion for the
adoption of the report, which was carried unani"
mously.
The retiring directors, Mr. A. Mackenzie, 'lent'
Colonel Montgomerie, and Lieut.-General Duncan
Sim, were unanimously re-elected ; and also .C°'
J. T. Smith, the retiring auditor.
The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
to the chairman and directors.

METROPOLITAN AND ST. JOHN'S-10°P
A special meeting of this company was held on
Thursday, to consider a bill now before ParDante°
—Mr. W. Austin in the chair.
- The CHAIRMAN explained that an arrangelne°
had been made with the Metropolitan R 0117.13/
Company for a rebate on the traffic to and creel
the St. John's-wood line and extension to
stead, which would practically be equivalent to a 5k
or 6 per cent. guarantee from the opening of the line
for traffic. The Metropolitan Company had Porto
within five years from the opening of the line
lease it at 5 per cent. on its cost. Arrangement."
had been made with the contractors for allowing
interest at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum durini
construction on the paid up capital. He concluded
by moving a formal resolution approving a bill ta
authorise the Metropolitan and St. John's-we°
Railway Companyto extend their railway toIIWS
stead. It authorised the company to raise £2901r;
on shares, and to borrow £66,600, the whole u*
which it was understood was subscribed. ,he
The motion was unanimously adopted, and
proceedings terminated.

WEST CORNWALL.
on
A special meeting. of this company was held4nto
Friday, at Bristol, for the purpose of taking 1-he
consideration the proposed lease of the line to ti 0
Great Western, the Bristol -and Exeter, an
ti
South Devon Railway Companies ; Mr. Yigurs
the chair.
The CHAIRMAN stated the reasons which had i
the
duced the directors to unanimously recommend :
leasing of the line, and that other schemes of a el' it
t
speculative character had been suggested, whileake
had also been urged that it was imprudent to
nag"
terms for the disposal of the line, while a g"
gauge company was now before Parliament see'tro
powers to connect Truro with the South-Wested
system ; but the directors felt that the simpheilas,
the arrangement which had been made with the no
sociated companies was one involving as it difixed
traffic accounts or percentages, and securing 3 fl.e,
annual rental, was a fair and reasonable straltin;
meat, very good for the associated companies', tys,
not a bad one, he hoped, for the shareholders e'
West Cornwall.
a the
A resolution approving the bill authorisinv....
lease was unanimously adopted, and the pro
ings terminated.