The Sun.
London, England, 1853-02-08 00:00:00

(4,1

LONDON, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 8, 1853.

LOUIS NAPOLEON is reported to have said that
he represents a " defeat," and that " the memory
of Waterloo must be effaced." Well, .he now re-
presents a victory, and the memory of Waterloo
is effaced. . All the results of Waterloo, so far as
France is concerned, are gone, and gone probably
for ever. He whom Waterloo banished to the
Ocean Rock, rests in honour in a Parisian se-
pulchre. The dark and deep brand on the nation-
ality of the old BOURBON line, was soon exchanged
for the fainter one of the ORLEANS family, and
now every individual of the race forced back on
the nation by Waterloo is an exile from his native
soil. The supreme right of the people to root out
a hated legitimacy, and to plant in its stead a
convention, or a "parvenu Emperor," is recog-
nized either cordially or perforce ; and the most
explicit and degrading result of Waterloo is now
completely effaced ; the compulsory abdication of
NAPOLEON for himself and his descendants, is torn
to shreds, and contemptuously puffed in the faces
of the Holy Alliance, and the Courts which banded
together, and dared France to acknowledge
NAPOLEON as Emperor, are now in turn dared by
France to touch the nation who by popular
election have placed a NAPOLEON on the Throne.
Victory could scarcely be more complete, or
Waterloo more completely effaced. Not more
completely have crops and herbage o'ergrown all
traces of that dreadful day, than events, especi-
ally those of 1852, have covered from sight the
political consequences of the great battle. LOUIS
NAPOLEON may well be content with his triumph.
To declare a war, and to gain, if fortune favoured
him, another battle, could add little, if anything,
to his success. To fight for the Last victory in
that merely technical sense, is but fighting for the
last word. It is a game never ended, an Arab
blood-feud, or a paltry piece of obstinacy. NAPO-
LEON 1., had he been permitted to reign in se-
curity, would not have troubled himself to avenge
Leipsic, Moscow, or the Peninsula ; and NAPO-
LEON 111., enjoying the sincere acquiescence of the
English Government and people in his title, and
the compelled acquiescence of his haughty hut
trembling absolutist neighbours on the Con-
tinent, can see, or , ought to see, nothing
in Waterloo but a vanquished victory. Why,
then, should we not give the new EMPEROR,
as well as ourselves, credit for thinking thus ?
What we have stated is the merest common sense
and reason. We practically-minded Englishmen
should most. certainly reason thus in his position,
and if a Frenchman naturally thinks more of
glory than an Englishman, yet so small is the
addition which a victory would bestow him of
that empty bauble, so much of it must be danger-
ously .shared by his General, and so great must be
the risk of a tremendous reverse, that he really
must be the silliest as well as the most vain-
glorious of his nation to play with such odds.
And after all, between two nations equally brave,
the loss or gain of a battle is not the loss or gain
of military glory. Skill in gunnery,
muscular
strength, weight of cavalry horses, the success of
combinations, and the chances of war, have no-
thing to do with the soldier's point of honour.
Every real soldier feels all this for every van-
quished foe. Vainly did GEORGE IV. endeavour
to elicit from the Duke of WELLINGTON an avowal
that the " British cavalry were the finest in the
world." His estimate of the vanquished, showed
that he was worthy to vanquish, and the effemi-
nate Monarch could only obtain the repeated
reply—" Sire, the French cavalry are excellent."
If, then, Lours NAPOLEON and the French may
justly look back with these feelings upon Waterloo,
what ample scope is there for the peaceful orations
of the Manchester orators ! The very sentiment
so elaborately illustrated by their greatest man,
that England owes an atonement to France for
intermeddling with her form of government, is
itself the soul of peace. France could "not be in-
clined to attack a penitent nation—a nation doing
rueful penance, to., to the amount of 28,000,000/.
per annum ; and we believe, notwithstanding all
that has been said in reply to Mr. ConnEN's let-
ters, that we were the aggressors--that we were
aggressors on France to subvert her Government ;
and that aristocratic dread of French ideas, and

the desire to drown the cry for Reform at home,
were the motives of our governors.
Yes, and let Englishmen beware that the de-
mand. for national defences be not used for the
same purpose as the old war-cry. Reform is as
obnoxious now to. the same class as it was in
1793. Whig organs are, as we have already shown,
wanting to procrastinate the evil day, and national
defences are the pretext. Now, the Manchester
folk will do good service if they drive the " Com-
bination " Ministry from that shuffle, if they
show that what with our own pacific disposition,
and the reciprocal feeling across the Channel,
there really is no need to be in an indecent and
wasteful hurry at least about the matter. Our
present naval and military strength cannot be
played with by any madman, were there any
madman disposed to try it on ; it is conceded on
all bands that our 16,000,0001. a-year voted for
military purposes has been sadly misapplied, in
the navy especially ; and the demand of the
country undoubtedly will be, that the most effi-
cient use be made of that money, before we are
called upon to vote thousands or millions more.
If we have a surplus we are not to be cheated of
the repeal of Excise Duties, to waste the money
on ships that will not sail, or on cutting
new ships to pieces and putting them to-
gether again ; on lumbering, fatiguing,
hap - hazard shooting, old-fashioned muskets ;
no, nor on old admirals and generals, sacrificing
our troops by cholera, and. our money by I
lying still and eating it. We have no fear that
Manchester will ever persuade this country to live
by the sufferance of Europe ; no place, indeed, in
England might sooner have to repent of doing so,
even should no Frenchman ever breathe a whiff of
the smoke of its steam-engines ; no place would
sooner feel the effect of war both on its Money
Market and its Cotton Market, and with all defe-
rence to Mr. COBDEN, and his authorities, PEEL
and ABERDEEN, we must think that impregnability
has a good deal to do with being let alone. We
hope, moreover, that they will insist upon a most
thorough reform of our colonial military ex-
penses. Sir W2l. MOLESWORTH must not forget
his out-of-office Colonial Budget, and the people
must not neglect to press it home to him. If
England herself be invulnerable, her Colonies
are safe enough. Let our Dockyards, Ports, and
Arsenals be secure, and with our vast mechanical
resources we could in a few months launch an
additional Navy which would sweep the seas of
every hostile vessel, and blockade every hostile
port in Europe.

How is this ? Our noble old family mansion
which we repaired so thoroughly 20 years ago
(RussELL and Co., Architects), is sadly out of re-
pair. The wing at least where all the business is
done, and where most of the family live, quite
threatens to fall of itself ; it is neither' weather-
tight nor water-tight, besides being such an odious
patching together of old and new in no sort of
symmetry, that it looks as if nothing could cure
it but pulling that part down, and making it
habitable and sightly once for all. Something
like this must have been the exclamation of
hundreds in looking over the newspaper lists of
the last elections, if they included the number of
voters and inhabitants for each borough and
county ; not only those " destruetives"—HumE,
COBDEN, BRIGHT, BERKELEY, and the like—but
thousands, by no means Radicals, as they have
glanced at Thetford, with 200 voters, and return-
ing two members ; Manchester, with 14,000, or
Liverpool, with 17,000 voters, also returning two
members, have been ready to throw the paper
into the fire, and execrate the injustice in terms
prohibited to parsons at least. And if the list
has been given in " one of those vile radical
things" which many, naso suspendunt adunco, and
" never read," and a few calculations have been
added, such as that 66 small boroughs, with a
population under half a million, return 99 mem-
bers ; and 51 large boroughs, with a population
of more than five-and-a-half millions, also return
99 members, the choler of most of the junior and
middle-aged members of Mr. BuLL's family has
been irresistibly set in motion by the discovery.
" Come, come ; this will never do—we can't go

on in this way," they have angrily muttered to
themselves. Thereupon certain recollections of a
" Cabinet of first-rate men," of "a strong Govern-
ment," and an "All-Talents Ministry" have imme-
diately recurred ; and certain recollections also of a
" real measure of Reform," promised by the said
Government, have somewhat soothed the impatient
indignation, and, with a wistful glance towards
February, the matter has been dismissed for the

present.
Present appearances, however, do not betoken
very vigorous measures. Symmetrical and sound
enough no doubt, is the literal stone and
mortar work of Mr. BARRY, and St. Stephen's
itself will be censured only by a few connoisseurs ;
but as to the mansion of
_the Constitution, that
may well be left for a time. Cracks, bulgings,
and broken slates are of no urgent consequence
there. Whitewash the outside a little----plaster
up the roof and the crevices of the walls—paper
and paint the rooms afresh, and it will be tenant-
able enough for many a session, it may be, for the
present one at least ; and if we do but tide over
that, who can tell but some lucky word-fight may
turn up year after year—lreland or Europe—the
Church or the Militia—which may take up our
time and save us from Reform.

Such, we confess, appears to us to be the drift
of some of the " great organs of public opinion,"
and of some lesser, but very knowing ones.
Here we all are on the tiptoe of expectation, as
much so as last November. The Ministry of
talent has succeeded the Ministry of genius, and
we are to be shown the difference between practi-
cal ability and splendid imagination. And what
is the advice ? what the suggestion ? Why, put
Reform and Education into commission ; that is,
shelve them for the session ; and absorb your-
selves in the details of the National Defences (a
matter which must be intrusted, however, to the
profession), says one. No, says a craftier ACHITO-
PHEL, rectify the coinage, and rejoice all the
clerks and schoolboys, by decimalising that plaguy
pence column ; put the Customs to rights, and
please the daily visitors of 'Change, and the
nightly residents in the suburbs ; throw the pro-
fits of the Post-office into its improvement, and
take your share of Penny Postage Reform (only
do not abolish the penny newspaper stamp, siice,
though it would help the post wonderfully, we
should no longer enjoy our monopoly) ; make
good laws for the railways, and save us from being
smashed ; give us plenty of good water, for we
" cry to be washed, and should like to be clean."
And then, as we must die at last, why, see to our
funerals ; give us a good Extramural Act (if the
clergy will let you), and let us lie really under the
turf, and not hasten the death of those we leave
behind. If our gallant Government will but do
a number of substantial kindnesses like these—if
they will but look to our money and our letters,
our water-taps and our coffins—why, then they
may defy the Arbitration men, and the Religious
Equality men, aye, and the large, well-drilled
phalanx with BENJAMIN DISRAELI at its head,
also. Neither POPE nor EMPEROR—neither Man-
chester nor Buckinghamshire can shake their seats.
Well, it may be so. What with commissions
and committees, with doing some much-needed
work in the House, and trade and commerce brisk
without it, they may rub through pretty well ;
Hon. Members would not like to hazard a dissolu-
tion so soon, and it would no doubt be held over
them in terrorem. Still, we are confident that
the strongest Government cannot afford to delay
a Reform measure worthy of its reputation. The
Budget will, of course, have to be settled first of
all, and we wait with some anxiety the course
which will be taken. Tho Income Tax is the test-
ing question ; if Mr. GLADSTONE can brook yield-
ing to the fixed determination of the public, and
if the rest of the Cabinet have to make no damag-
ing concession to his obstinacy, so far all will be
plain sailing ; but anything paltry on that ques-
tion, must end in a dissolution or a resignation.
Justice on that point will obtain toleration for an
otherwise very common-place Budget. But, then,
all the credit of Income-taißeform, will, by every
impartial man, be set down to the late Ministry ;
and so of the Irish Law Reforms, and the. National
Defences, and all the little good things from the

new tenpenny pieces to the coffins; all these it will
be said, would have been done, and as well done,
by the DERBY Ministry. The demand will be
that, that the one great thing, to oppose which
Lord DERBY has pledged himself, and to forward
which Lord JOHN has pledged himself, both in
Perth and in London, that that one thing shall
be promptly and worthily brought forward. Even
if a case for a commission of inquiry after facts
could be made out, the composition of that com-
mission will soon reveal whether it be meant for
an evasion or a real help. Suppose it to consist
of two known Conservatives, two Whigs, and two
uncompromising Radicals, its labours might, no
doubt, accumulate much trustworthy information ;
it could, however, most certainly be of no further
service to the cause of Reform than that of stop-
ping the mouths of many opponents. Any honest
Minister, without waiting a day beyond the time
requisite to proportion representation by well-
known data of the census and rate-books, and
determined to protect the purity of election by
large constituencies, and secret voting, could easily
present a Bill which the country would ratify at
once. The country knows this as well as the
Cabinet, and the latter may be sure that any
symptom of vacillation on this grand question,
will be the commencement of distrust on the part
of those whose hearty support is indispensable to
its existence. They have a first-rate adversary,
and it is not by a renewal of wiggish temporising
that they can hold their ground against him.
Their course must be one either of bold measures
and reliance on the people, or of timid trimming,
with the reward of humiliations at pleasure by
the brilliant Leader of the powerful Opposition.
With such ample scope for a political, as well as
an administrative reputation, it will be suicidal
folly to ruin themselves politically, hoping to
make atonement by offerings of tenpenny pieces,
clean water, and suburban sepulchres.

PBIVY COUNCIL.

WINDSOR, FEB. 7.

The Queen held a Privy Council at three o'clock this
afternoon. It was attended by his Royal Highness
Prince Albert ; Earl Granville, Lord President ; the
Duke of Argyll, Lord Privy Seal; the Earl of Aberdeen,
First Lord of .the Treasury • Viscount Palmerston,
Secretary of State for the Home Department ; Lord
John Russell, Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs ;
the Duke of Newcastle, Secretary of State for the
Colonies ; the Right Hon. Sidney Herbert, Secretary-
at-War ; the Duke of Norfolk, Lord Steward ; Lord
Ernest Bruce, Vice-Chamberlain, officiating for the Lord
Chamberlain ; and Lord Stanley of Alderley, Paymas-
ter-General of the Forces. _ _

At the Council her Majesty pricked the list of High
Sheriffs for the English and Welsh counties for the
present year.
The Most Noble Arthur Duke of Wellington (master
of the Horse to the Queen), Lord Drumlanrig (comp-
troller of her Majesty's household), and the Hon. Charles
,Felham Villiers (judge- advocate- general), were by
command of the Queen sworn of her Majesty's most
lionourable privy council, and took their places at the
board. _ _ _

The Hon. William Bathurst was clerk of the council
in waiting.
At the Queen's court General Mendiburn, Peruvian
minister, had an audience of the Queen, to which he
was introduced by Lord John Russell, her Majesty's
principal secretary of state for foreign affairs.
The Right Hon. Edward Strutt, Chancellor of the
Duchy of Lancaster, had an audience of the Queen.
The Right Hon. Charles Pelham Villiers had an au-
dience of her Majesty, and kissed hands on being ap-
pointed
Judge Advocate.
Her Majesty gave audiences to Lord John Russell,
the Earl Granville, and the Earl of Aberdeen.
The Queen was attended by Earl Somers, Lord in
Waiting, Lord Drumlanrig, Comptroller of the House-
hold, and Captain the Hon. Mortimer S. West, Groom
in Waiting.
The Peruvian Minister, the Earl of Aberdeen, Lord
John Russell, Viscount Palmerston, the Duke of Argyll,
the Duke of 'Wellington, Lord Ernest Bruce, Lord
Drumlanrig, the Right Hon. E. Strutt, the Right Hon.
Sidney Herbert, and Lord Stanley of Alderley, travelled
from London to attend the council by a special train on
the Great Western Railway, arrivinc, at the Castle at
half-past two o'clock. The members had luncheon pre•
vious to the council assembling.
After the council, the Duke of Norfolk left in a car-
riage-and-four for Arundel Castle.
The Peruvian Minister and the noblemen and gentle-
men who attended her Majesty's Court (with the excep-
tion of the Duke of Wellington) took their departure
for London by a special train •n the Great Western
Railway.

COURT CIRCULAR.

WINDSOR, FEB,

The Archbishop of Canterbury and the Duchess of
Wellington have been invited, and are expected to day,
on a visit to the Queen.
The Duke of Wellington also remains at the Castle.

A deputation from the committee of the Association
for the Reduction of the Duties on Wines had an inter-
view with the Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday, at
his official residence in Downing•street. The deputation
consisted of Mr. Chisholm Anstey, Mr. W. B. James,
Mr. Lancaster, Mr. Lawrie, and Mr. Shorter, and was
accompanied by Mr. J. P. Murrough, M.P. for Brid-
port, Mr. W. E. Freke, Mr. George Frewer, and Mr.
Cyrus Redding.
Major-General Sir Henry Pynn attended at the Fo-
reign-office yesterday, on behalf of the claims of British
officers that served in the Portuguese army during the
Peninsular war.
Despatches were received yesterday at the Colonial-
office from the Governor-General of Canada.

FATAL EFFECTS OF BLOWING BLpDEßS.—Yesterday
afternoon Mr. Win. Payne helddstan inquest at the Rock-
W, Smithfield, on the body
42The deceased,bladder-blower, of No.
it appeared
Rock-
ingham-arms, Hosier-lane
olfl, Charles
in tbe M
samei al , agedlane.
from the evidence, had for several yearsanplsetarrried on
a large business by inflating bullocks' blad-
ders, by means of which he had been enabled to
his wife and three children, but of late he haodsupport
re-
duced in circumstances, andbeing unable to obtaingaotp*
of bellows to perform the necessary work of inflation,air
the result was he was compelled to do the same with hi
mouth. This caused him to cough exceedingly, and
asthma supervening, he was unable to perform the work
without great suffering, and on Friday last he sent out
for a quartern of gin, and having drank about half of it,
he laid down with his head reclining on a pillow, and
quietly expired. The widow of the deceased said that
her husband suffered so much from blowing the blad-
ders, that before he could get his breath of a morning he
was obliged to swallow a glass of gin. The r hav-
ing remarked on the melancholy nature of the case, the
jury returned a verdict of "Natural Death."
DIRECT COMMUNICATION WITH THE METROPOLIS. It
gives us sincere satisfaction to perceive that the South-
Western Railway Company propose to obtain the neces-
sary powers to enable them to complete the abandoned
line between this city and Andover (the line between
Andover and Basingstoke being already in course of
construction). We have reason to believe that an ami-
cable arrangement will be come to teen the inde-
pendent company and the South-Western; and the inha-
bitants of this city and neighbourhood have just cause to
be thankful to the projectors of the former, as there can
be little doubt that their spirited and energetic conduct
in the matter has bad the effect of stimulating the South-
Western to complete a line so essential to the welfare of
this city, and so important, above all, as a point d'appui
from which to start in the future extension of the line
westward, which we do not despair of ultimately seeing
proposed and carried by the very men who have ousted
Mr. Chaplin from the chairmanship of the board, because
he supported a scheme of which they either could not or
would not see the benefit and necessity. We accept,
however, the line from Andover to Salisoury as a valu-
able instalment of the debt due from the South-Wfor the
estern
Company to this district, and shall patientl y wait
balance.—Salisbury Journal.
COMMISSION. OF LUNACY ON A LADY OF FORTUNE.
—A writ de lunatico inquirendo was executed before Mr.
Commissioner Winslow and sixteen special jurors, at the
Abbey Arms Inn, Plaistow, Essex, relative to the men-
tal condition of Sussannah Brundy, aged 68, of Cobley-
hall, Plaistow, widow of James Grundy, Esq., late of
Waltham Abbey, who, when living, was, together with
his wife and her sisters, the wealthy proprietor of exten-
sive house and freehold landed property. The commis-
sion had issued on she petition of Mrs.• Duff of Manor-
house, Poplar, a sister of the alleged lunatic, and was
supported by 'Mr. Giraud of Furnival's-inn. The jury
proceeded to Cobley-hall, and examined Mrs. Grundy.
They found her in bed, though at twelve o'clock in the
day. Her replies fully confirmed the evidence, and they
returned a verdict, dating the unsoundness of mind from
Ist of April, 1848.
SHEEP SLAUGHTER ON THE SOUTH WALES RAILWAY.—
The 7 o'clock up-train on Monday morning last ran over
nine sheep belonging to the Rev. Ralph Fisher, Bank
Cortage, near the Earl of Ashburnham's em-
bankment. The sheep were depasturing on the marsh
adjoining, and how they came on the railway is not
known. Some of the sheep bad their heads severed,
whilst others were not much mutilated.— Welshman.
CLIFTON SUSPENSION BRIDG All hopes of proceed-
ing with this undertaking appear to have been aban-
doned. It has been stated that the wrought iron,
which has been so to hest
for the proposed structure,
has been sold to the West Cornwall Railway Company,
and instead of forming part of the "permanent way"
across the water from Clifton to Leigh, it will perform
that office on the line of the above railway.—Bristol
Journal.
THE LIVERPOOL TOWN COUNCIL AND THE DOCK
COMMITTEE.—An adjourned meeting of the Town Coun-
cil of Liverpool was held yesterday for the purpose of
discussing the difference between the Dock Committee
and the Messrs. Baker, when the council vetoed the pro-
ceedings of the committee by a majority of 31 to 21. 'ln
consequence of two-thirds of the council not joining in
the veto, the proceedings of the Dock Committee were
confirmed.