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

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

" 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 succesq 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
Conservative 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 for by 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 House, and who would find a congenial
leader in Lord Malmesbury, is simply incredible.
Every man of spirit in the kingdom would despise
Mr. Disraeli if, under the 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 octogenarian Premier, a sep-
tuagenarian Premier-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. He is the most successful Secretary to
the Admiralty, for a naval officer, that any one
remembers, yet his promotion is slow in coming,
for he has filled this subordinate post since 1859.
Mr. Cowper is of the same age as Lord C. Paget,
and he has sat in the House of Commons 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 lEdile 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, mid 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. Our sisters have
not the tastes of Southern gentlemen." Now Grant
felt sorry for his unwilling hostess, and he could have
comforted her by a single word, but that 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 bis 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 $50,000. To
the private note sent to him Asking him
when he would meet the New York people
to receive. the sword, 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 INTELLIGENCE.

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-weit 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 had 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 lhie, 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 £76,718 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 £ll,OOO 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 34 per cent. pQr
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, Lieut.
Colonel Montgomerie,
,and Lieut. -General Duncan
Col'
J. were unanimously re-elected; and also Co'
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 Parliament
—Mr. W. Austin in the chair.
The CHAIRMAN explained that an arrangenie-nt
had been made with the Metropolitan Eailwel
Company for a rebate on the traffic to and from
the St. John's-wood line and extension to Haor
stead, which would practically be equivalent to a 5i
or 6 per cent. guarantee from the opening of the line
for traffic. The Metropolitan Company had power
within five years from the opening of the line t,..°
lease it at 5i per cent. on its cost. Arrancrenlen'
had been made with the contractors for allovii3g
interest at the rate of 5 per cent. per annum dug
construction on the paid up capital. He concluded
by moving a formal resolution approving a bill ,te
authorise the Metropolitan and St. John's-w°'
Railway Companyto extend their railway to Thlret,
stead. It authorised the company to raise £200,00v,
on shares, and to borrow £66,600, the whole 491
which it was understood was subscribed.
The motion was unanimously adopted, and the
proceedings terminated.

WEST CORNWALL.
A special meeting of this company was
held O
Friday, at Bristol, for the purpose of taking he
consideration the proposed lease of the line to e
Great Western, the Bristol and Exeter, and 'lO
South Devon Railway Companies ; Mr. Vigurs -
the chair.
The CHAIRMAN stated the reasons which had jilt);
duced the directors to unanimously recommend
leasing of the line, and that other schemes of a nit
speculative character had been suggested, whileake
had also been urged that it was imprudent tom
terms for the disposal of the line, while a narrZiv,
gauge company was now before Parliament see'roz'
powers to connect Truro with the South-Weste of
system; but the directors felt that the simplicity
the arrangement which had been made with the an()
sociated companies was one involving as it did
ea
traffic accounts or percentages, and securing a fl
annual rental, was a fair, and reasonable arran'
ment, very good for the associated companies/ tip
not a bad one, he hoped,,f or the shareholders of
West Cornwall.
A resolution approving the bill authorisinged,
lease was unanimously adopted, and the Pr°

ings terminated.

COUNTRY MARKETS

'.-**,

NORWICHSATURDAY. jet
There was an increased supply of wheat at this al`bot
to-day, and the demand being good prices advanoedinc as
is per qr. for all good qualities. Little doing in bar'ez;toa
the malting season is drawing to a close. Oats, be
peas commanded late rates. g, red
White wheat (weighing 631 b to 641 b), 44s to '—ittag.
ditto (weighing 631 b to 641 b), 36s to 38s ; best ra ditto
barley (weighing 551 b to 561 b), 30s to 33s ; as eielr
(weighing 541 b to 551 b), 28s to 30s ; distilling ditto 57a
mg 521 b to 531 b), 24s to 268 ; oats, 24s to 26s ; be,, 't") 1n365
to 39s ; peas (maple), 36s to 38s per qr; flour, 2va
6d per sack.

YORK—SATURDAY. t And
vr
The market was moderately supplied with -r4 !were
the attendance was tolerable for the season. SaAle-s Pet,
made to a fair extent, and late rates were exceedeubiaeu
qr. The supply of barley was small, and the demon her.
steady at full rates. Oats in limited supply, and hlg3s per
New white wheat, 42s to 47s ; new red, 39s to too
36 stone. Barley, for malting, 30s to 32s per qr ;
26s to 28s per 30 stone. Oats, new, 20s to 24s per Iss per
Beans, 38s to 40s per 38 stone. Malt, 58s ; rye,
qr. Flour, 28s per sack of 2801 b.

NOTTINGHAM—SATURDAY. B°s
The supply of wheat was limited, and the dolt' „iy of
firm at is per qr. advance. There was a small siqiiy at
barley, which realised recent currencies. Cats Iv"'
rather over late rates. evt
Old white wheat, 42s to 47s ; old red, 405 to 446; 13 120"
white? 42s to 47s ; new red, 40s to 44s per 36 stone. 26$ to
ley, new malting, 27s to 35s per qr ; old grind" 'to 30$'
28s ; new, 25s to 27s per 30 stone. Oats, old, 25s 11,01
' new 22s to 25s ; old foreign, 24s to 26s per stone. *—
old, 405 to 43s ; new, 37s to 40s per 38 stone.

LEICESTER—SATURDAY. t 4114
The supply of wheat was by no means abundial tls
samples were in varied condition. Business health `ii
per qr. more money. There was not much barley' sb°, to
and the inquiry ruled steady at quite as much moue.'
the week previous. Oats made rather more money nevi
Old white wheat, 41s to 45s ; old red, 370 to 41$ ; Bar,
white 41s to 45s ; new red, 37s to 41s per 36 stone. r3O
ley, malting, 31.8 to 34s per qr. ; grinding, 27s to 29s 1,?1,e.
stone. Oats, old, 24s to 27s ;•new, 22s to 245 pei24
Beans, old, 39s to 41s ; new, 36s to 38s per 38 stone.

DUBLIN.—FRIDAY.
There was a good attendance of millers, but the dello
was slow, buyers having supplied their wants freelP alts
reign wheat was dull. Indian corn 6d to 9d lower.
Uu l-
and oatmeal scarce, and fine stiffer. Flour met a fair
ness at full rates. d
Currencies :—White wheat, 22s 6d to 24s 6d ;ireiolt-
20s Gd to 22s Od; grinding barley, 12s Od to 13s
ing do., 13s to 14s 6d; white oats, 11s to 12s; L'i."-
10s Od to lls Od.

CORK—FRIDAY. , a
a
The following were the quotations this morning 6$ - g
,
wheat, 7s 6d to Os Od ; white, 8s 8d to Os Od ;
barleYo pd;
to Os Od ; oats, 8s Od. to 8s 6d ; black oats, 7s 4d to
v
bero, Os Od.