The Sun.
London, England, 1865-10-09 00:00:00

GIRVAN AND PORTPATRICK JUNCTION.

The first general meeting of this company was
held on Wednesday at Stranraer ; Provost Guthrie
in the chair.

The report stated that very considerable opposi-
tion was at the outset encountered by the company
in Parliament. Petitions were lodged against the
bill by the Caledonian, the London and North-
Western, and the Portpatrick Railway companies,
and also by two landowners. The bill, after some
modifications, passed both Houses of Parliament,
and received the Royal assent on the sth of July
last. The directors had the greatest confidence in
the merits of the line, both as a means of supplying
direct communication for the south of Scotland with
Ayrshire and Lanarkshire, and as providing a direct
railway and short sea passage route between Glas-
gow and the north and east of Scotland on the OHO
hand, and Ireland on the other. The line would
also open up a populous district hitherto unsupplied
with railway communication. The engineer had
reported that there was every reason to expect that
the line would be constructed for the authorized
capital. Nearly one-half of the capital had been
subscribed, and the retiring directors were satisfied
that it only required a continuous effort on the part.
of their successors to put the company in position to
proceed with the early construction of the works.
The CHAIRMAN, in moving the adoption of the
report, adverted to the advantages which the line
would confer on the districts through which it was
intended to pass, and stated that the line was much
required for the development of the short sea ser-
vice between Portpatrick and the Irish coast.
There was at present a very large traffic between
Glasgow and Belfast by steamers, and he thought
it was not unreasonable to expect that they would
be able to draw to their line by means of the short
sea passage a considerable part of the through pas-
senger traffic, which together with the local traffic
would probably yield a good return to the share-
holders.
Colonel M'DoUALL seconded the motion; and
the report was adopted ; Colonel M'Douall, Sir J.
C. D. Hay, Provost Guthrie, Mr. J. P. Willison,
Mr. J. Rodger, and Mr. W. Stevenson were elected
directors of the company ; and Mr. J. Graham and
Mr. W. Murray were appointed auditors.
The proceedings concluded with a vote of thanks
to the chairman.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS

'TIE EXAMINER'S TRIBUTE TO DUDLEY COSTELLO

—Our readers have lost a faithful servant, we a
pleasant friend, in Dudley Costello, who died last
Saturday morning, at the age of sixty-two. For
the last twenty years Mr. Costello has had charge
over the news column of the Examiner, succeeding
in his office the late Mr. Thackeray, who, when

young in his career, was sub-editor... Dudley was
the son of Colonel James Francis Costello, of the

14th Foot, a man of a high old Irish family in the
county of Mayo (of the Barony of Costello), con-
nected by marriage with the Frenches of Roscom-
mon. By his mother's side he was descended from
the great Reformer, John Knox, who married a
Stuart (Lord Ochiltree's daughter). His mother
was a Woman of great wit and original genius, and
much of his talent was derived from her. But a

great uncle of his, dubbed the " Witty Counsellor
Costello," is well known in Dublin annals. Edu-
cated at the Military College, Sandhurst, Dudley
Costello's ready wit and extreme good nature en-
deared him to his companions as much as his
very remarkable quickness of observation and
talent distinguished him in the regard of the pro-
fessors. Several of his college friends remained
his intimates through life ; amongst them,. Sir
Richard Airey and Colonel Fancourt, late Governor
of Honduras. Having gained all honours, lie had,
without delay, his commission from College in the
34th, on the return of which regiment from India
he was for a few months only on half-pay, when he
was re-appointed to the 96th, and sent to Nova
Scotia. From Canada he went to Bermuda, and

there he was in high favour among his comrades for
his wit, and the good humour with which he strove
to relieve the monotony of the Summer Islands. He
gave up all his leisure at that time to drawing and
literature, sketching in pen and ink, in a masterly
style, all the grots and caves and peculiar scenery
of the islands, and writing an account of them from
their earliest discovery. In particular he made a
drawing of Moores calalanzli trco, an object of pil-
grimage to admirers of the poet, whose " Last eve
in the shade of a calabash tree" made it one of the

show objects of Bermuda. In after years he had a
fruit of the same tree set as a drinking cup, and
(together with the pen-and-ink sketch) presented it
to the poet at Sloperton. Moore wrote to tell him
that "no present he ever received gave him such
pleasure." " Bessie, he added, " does nothing but
drive about, carrying it with her and exhibiting
it to all her friends." While in Bermuda the
society of which he was the chief favourite
looked regularly every fortnight for a newspaper
" edited" by him. He took the trouble to write it
in a Jihad like printing, in order that it might be
easily read, and there was mirth at the breakfast
tables of his friends whenever the Grouper, as he
called his paper, appeared. The staff of young offi-
cers whom he had appointed to assist were some-
times idle and indifferent, and he filled up the whole
paper himself, writing in different styles—anything
for an amusing joke that hit some topic of their
daily conversation. For several years this amateur
journalism continued to delight the world of Ber-
muda, the soldier-editor being at the time scarcely
twenty. He returned home, joined his mother and
sister in Paris, and hoped, through the interest of
Mr. Canning, to whom he was related through the
statesman's mother, once a Miss Costello, to obtain
some appointment which would prevent the neces-
sity of his returning to his regiment and to his idle-
ness—the listlessness of a soldier's life having dis-
gusted him. He had an introduction to Mr.
Canning from his son, Captain Canning, R.N., his
great friend in Canada and Bermuda ; but he had
scarcely arrived in England when the death of the
Minister occurred, which was immediately followed
by the news that young Captain Canning was
drowned while bathing in a tank at Bermuda. Cos-
tello's hopes of preferment were thus at an end. He
went to Paris, having now quitted the army, and
' thought nothing so easy as a new pursuit, sure
to succeed. Moore gave him letters to a pub-
lisher in Paris for his Bermuda sketches
and accompanying narrative. Nothing came of
this, so far as concerned the pictures themselves,
but the talent shown in them had not been spent in
vain. For while in Paris Costello was introduced
to Baron Cuvier, who, delighted with his sketches
in pen and ink, proposed to him to replace a lost
assistant who drew for his work on comparative
anatomy. He passed some months, therefore, in
the private cabinet of Cuvier, drawing from pre-
served specimens of fishes, since published in the
work. So exquisitely delicate in execution were
his sketches that even those which failed to satisfy
the naturalist because of the omission of a scale or
a fin were shown as wonders of neat-handed skill.
After a time lie devoted himself to copying MSS.
in the Bibliotheque Royale, where he made friends
with all the authorities. His copies of the wonder-
ful work of King Rene of Sicily (on Tournaments
and their Laws) are most accurate and beautiful,
and were much admired in Paris. He continued
for some years to draw in this way, and he and
his sisters were, in fact, the first who drew public
attention to illuminated MS. copying both in
Paris and at the British Museum ; and he executed
many curious works before the art had become
common, as it has of late. He assisted his sister in
her works on the Early Poetry of France and Per-
sian Rosegarden, each illustrated with curious
illuminations laboriously executed, by hand, by
both. Soon after this, by some accident, he was
induced to become foreign correspondent to
the Morning Herald—being a very good lin-
guist and went to Hanover, where his
own introductions from friends and relations
caused him to be presented at Court, and for his
pleasantness he was much liked. He divided his
time between Paris and London, always writing
for papers and magazines, reading and studying to
help his sister's works, contributing chapters to
them, and enriching them with his notes, &c.; they
in fact frequently wrote together upon many sub-
jects. He was an enlightened lover of art, devoted
to study and literature, and possessed amemory
of singular power, an accuracy of detail and a mili-
tary precision in fulfilment of all duties, that made
him one of the most exact and reliable of men, but
his charm consisted in his extreme gentleness and
kindness of manner and of disposition. He married,
but has left no children. The recent loss of a be-
loved wife contributed fatally to his end, for an
insidious malady declared itself, when his broken
spirit could not afford him the means of rallying.
He tried a journey through Spain to divert his
melancholy, but it failed of its effect, and a work on
Spain which he had projected was not even attempted
by him. He had written for many years stories,
chiefly comic, for Bentley's Miscellany, and his
charming "Tour through the Valley of the Meuse"
is a hand-book in Belgium much appreciated ; the
drawings are executed by himself, and are done with
his usual delicacy.
THE " SATURDAY REVIEW " ON A SCANDAL OF
JOURNALISM.—On Tuesday last the Morning Star
published a list of " The English Victims to the
Rebel Loan." This list purported to have been
printed in the New York papers of the 19th Sep-
tember, and certain sums set opposite each name
represented English investors in the Confederate
Cotton Loan, and " an estimate of the losses sus-
tained by them respectively." The figures were
large, but there was a very unhistorical aspect
about them. A critical eye in an instant detected
cooking and manufacture. Just as, in mythical
narratives, round and complete eras and cycles
occur, so there was in this list an artificial aspect
which could only be mistaken by those who wished
to be deceived. The symmetrical apportionment
of losses to the real or supposed means and
social standing of the adventurers, checked
and modified and intensified respectively by
their avowed sentiments in favour of the
South—and ranging from the princely fervour
of Sir Henry de Hoghton's zeal, appraised
at £lBO,OOO, to the tepid enthusiasm of Mr. Ashley,
which only warmed up to £soo—was so very trans-
parent a specimen of a fictitious event that, had this
absurd list been only quoted as the last New York
canard, it might have been passed over as a sorry
but malicious joke. It need not be said that there
was a coarse, insolent spice of personalty in it, as
benefited the New York press. Two gentlemen, in-
timately connected with the Times, and one the
registered proprietor of the Morning Post, figured
for sums very creditable to the New York estimate
of the pecuniary positian of London newspapers of
the first class. But when, just as an afterthought,
Mr. Gladstone's name closed the list as a victim to
the extent of £2,000, it could only have been the
most malicious virulence of party, or the deepest
intensity of stupidity, that could pretend to mis-
understand this document. Indeed, to do the New
York papers justice, they do not pronounce
the paper to be authentic. All that is asserted
is a wish "to enlighten the London journals
by the following list." The sole object was
to hoax those who were anxious to be hoaxed. We
do not say that the Morning Star was hoaxed. The
Morning Star knew the fictitious character of the
list of victims as well as we did. Good feeling,
good taste, or propriety of any sort was not to be
expected from the Morning Star, nor, perhaps, was
good sense. But a certain intelligence above that
of idiocy is to be looked for even in the lowest of
London journals. To believe, therefore, that the
Morning Star believed itself when it professed to
accredit the New York joke, is au imputation on
that journal on which we do not venture. So the
Morning Star, for its own purposes, gave the list,
with an accompaniment of two leading articles—
one directed against Mr. Gladstone, and the other
against the conductors of the Times. Of course there
was the usual ingenious affectation of disbelief, as
far as the Chancellor of the Exchoquer was con-
cerned, coupled with the plainest insinuations of

all but proved guilt. As regarded the Times not
even this flimsy attempt at hypocrisy was
put forward. The Editor and City Correspondent
were openly charged with having written in favour
of the South only in the interests of the Confederate
Loan, of which they were large holders. So direct
and personal was the charge that a special article in
the Times, much in favour of the Confederates, was
traced to the day on which the loan was issued. Of
course it was published only as a Stock Exchange
manoeuvre to force up the new stock. And yet
more, by way of infusing blacker venom into the
attack, the New York list was spoken of throughout
as " official"—from " official sources "—a lie which,
only to do them justice, we must say the New York
fictionists did not venture on. It need hardly be
added that, as far as is yet known, the list is a mere
piece of mendacity. Most likely it does include the
names of some capitalists who have invested, and, of
course lost, in the Confederate loan ; but the prin-
cipal persons concerned, and to damage whom it
was especially constructed, have denied that they
ever held a shilling of the loan. There would bo
no disgrace if they had; but, as a fact, they had
not. Mr. Seymour's £40,000, and Mr. Beresford
Hope's £40,000, Mr. Ashley's £5OO, the £25,000
invested by the Times and the £4,000 of the Post,
Mr. Gladstone's little slice of £2,000, and Mr.
Laird's sumptuous £20,000, are all indignantly de-
nied. In fact, the whole thing is proved to be—
what everybody of sense knew it to be—a vulgar,
insolent, horse joke, sadly characteristic of Ameri-
can journalism, and, we fear, sadly congenial to
American taste. But how about the Star, the only
English newspaper which affected to believe this
misshapen slander—the only one which, for personal
and party purposes, ventured to hint that a news-
paper like the Times could sell itself for such
miserable hire as this? We have often had
occasion to differ from the Times ; now and then
we have been called upon to point out what we be-
lieve to be its errors in fact, taste, judgment, or
policy. But, as was said of Lord Palmerston, wo
are all of us in a way proud of the Times, and wo
know that its Editor is just as incapable as we are
of doing that which the Morning Star, with
scarcely a simulated kind of disbelief, charged him
with. Nay, we will say more. We honestly be.
lieve that there is not a man connected with any
London paper who would have acted as the Morning
Star assumed the Editor of the Times to have acted
—except, of course, the editor of one newspaper,
which we leave to the Morning Star to specify. But
does the calumniator apologise ? By no means.
It is really doing Mr. Gladstone and the gentle,
men of the Times a very great favour to give them.
an oppportunity of saying that they are not rogues,
that they have not misused their position, that they
have not prostituted their opportunities, that they
have not abused that confidence which their country
and honourable men place in them. On the whole,
the English victims of this impudent hoax ought to
be very grateful to the Morning Star. Possibly. We
have seen this argument before. There was once as
newspaper called the Satirist ; nay, there were two
newspapers, the Age and the Satirist. There is even
now (or lately was) a little shabby obscene penny
print, called Peter Spy, which we once had the mis'
fortune to see. The practice of these journals is to se•
lect some unfortunate man or woman, and to charge
them with every filthy vice. The charge is disavowed;
but the vindication of the libeller is always forth.
coming. The purveyor of scandal and defamation,
and the slanderer of innocence, like the Morning
Star, thinks that nothing is so foolish as to complain
of putting into print any scandal, because it give
an opportunity of contradicting it. That is to say,
it is the right thing to publish to the world, of any
honest man, that he is said to have forged a bill, or
of any honest woman that " it is whispered about
from coterie to coterie" that she was discovered,
because everybody ought to be grateful for the
opportunity of publicly declaring that he or she is
neither felon nor harlot. As there is but one Eng-
lish newspaper which could have committed the
offence of the Morning Star, so there is but one
which could on these grounds justify it,

COUNTRY MARKETS.

LEICESTER-SATURDAY.

The attendance was fair at our market to-day, but tho
show of wheat was by no moans abundant. The best sortg
made rather more money, secondary lots as before. Plenty
of barley on offer, and a tolerable share )f business done al
the currencies of last week. Oats a middling show, and
at fully late rates. Beans firm, and prices rather higher.
Old white wheat, 45s to 50s ; old red, 42s to 46s ; never
white, 44s to 49s ; new red, 38s to 42s per 36 stone. Bar
ley, malting, 32s to 33s per qr. ; grinding, 27s to 29s per 30
stone. Oats, old, 26s to 29s ; new, 20s to 26s per 24 stone►
Beans, old, 44s to 47s ; new, 37s to 42s per 38 stone.

NOTTINGHAM—SATURDAY.
The supply of wheat was tolerably good. The demand
was fair at full prices. Selected lots of barley were in re'
quest, and high rates were realised. For oats a fair in"
glary, and prices in sellers' favour. Short supply of beau 4
at about 6d per qr. higher.
Old white wheat, 48s to 52s ; old red, 45s to 48s ; neW
white, 42s to 47s ; new red, 38s to 43s per 36 stone. Bar'
ley, new malting, 27s to 35s per qr; old grinding, 26s to
28s ; new, --s to —s per 30 stone. Oats, old, 27s to 305 ;
new, '2os to 25s ; old foreign, 22s to 27s per stone. Beans,
old, 48s to 52s ; new, 408 to 43s per 38 stone. Super hour,
376 to 30s ; fine, 35s to 36s per '2O stone.

NORWICH—SATURDAY.
The supply of wheat was fair at this market to-day ; bud
as the demand was very limited, the trade was slow ; priceo
for both old and new qualities ruled about the same as ois
this day se'nnight. There was an increased supply of bar:
ley, but good malting descriptions were scarce, and fot
such the full prices of last week were paid; other sorts
dull. Little doing in oats, beans, or peas.
Whito wheat (weighing 631 b to 641 b), 48s to 52s ; red
ditto (weighing 631 b to 641 b), 36s to 48s ; best malting
barley (weighing 551 b to 561 b), 30s to 33s ; runs ditto
(weighing 541 b to 551 b), 28s to 30s ; distilling ditto (weigh'
ing 521 b to 531 b), 24s to 26s ; oats, 24s to 26s ; beans, S
to 39s ; peas (maple), 36s to 38s per qr ; flour, 31s to
Od per sack.