The Sun.
London, England, 1854-10-17 00:00:00

THE LATE SAMUEL PHILLIPS.

exhibit general depression.
AMSTERDAM AND ROTTERDAM PRODUCB MARKETS.
The weekly reviews from these markets state that,
although operations had not proved extensive, prices
continued to be supported. Purchaseaof sugar, raw and
refined, had been made at a slight advance. Most
descriptions of coffee were steady, but transactions were
principally confined to the local demand. The advance
in grain had further favourably influenced the quotation
for rice. Indigo also exhibited an improvement, the
stock having Bimini-hed.
CALCUTTA AND BOMBAY IMPORT MARKIITEL—The
commercial accounts from India by tbe overlan d mail
were of a mixed character. At Calcutta there isstill
great dullness, but from Bombay the report i favour
lace,
transactions in the import marketsl supported.
having taken p
to a fair extent, and prices being wel
SEIZURB OF RUSSIAN VIISSELS.—Th• Elise Willael-
mine, Peterson, master, and th Sanders, master
mine, Esse, ,
both from Archangel, with csrgoes of tar, mats, &c.,
have been seized in the harbour of Leith by beenchell, tide surveyor, and their detention has con-
chell,
since by the Board of Admiralty. Nothing has
collecting
yet been dons with the other vessels seized in Leith.—
Scotsman.
before
PIRATES.—SINGAPORI, Aug. 25.—From advice '
received, it is ascertained that the pirates are B just
the coast,
inl alfseyrcetraajerriwlohieThiglae,ft nLotabfeaarn
daysfraomfewLabu
Tiga, with a fleet of
csiloaeshtaldrobmeeLn chased.
I, The commu
rthepeerBttshthofetAehuegifiesltl fionr, anteraardpinugicivo,ge up
2112jeabtoinantse,
ablyenwghtihcoh
entirely stopped by them for above
a uan have been almost
A. L. Johnston, Shepherd, from two months. The
grounded on a reef in Tor Melbourne to Macassar,
July, and
was
set
on
fire
onres Straits, on the 14th of
fall-
lug into the hands of th the 21st to prevent her fall-
grave's Island ;craw
from Melbourne, arrived
on shore on a reef e savages of Jervis and Mul-
saved by the Port Wallace, Martin,
at this port ; which vessel was
I in Torres i Strats, at the same time
as the A.. L. Johnston,
n but got off, leaky, after throwing
erb o ballast y
_ oard 11114 otartiag !wend water mks.
__

It is with much grief that we have to record the death
of a gentleman long connected with the press and fa-
vourably known to the public by many acknowledged
literary productions. Mr. Phillips received his educa-
tion at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge, and subse-
quently accepted the office of private tutor in a noble
family. He travelled through most of the European
andcou nv
,tr,hi eesbn, e
tit nhwete henneo
ndtti
his
ecexhmiaorngt
hebi
a. ootf his
uwgehe
onut duty to
them
hi
snl
ceased
employers,
ss
d feelingsth ere re-
mained
o
f
mutual respect and regard. He afterwards came to
London and adopted literature as a profession, and
he is one of the few examples of men who, having
followed it up with industry and perseverance, have
been enabled to !iv* and support a family in comfort
and respectability, neither owing nor borrowing
money. We do not assert that he was a genius or a
great literary phenomenon, but he possessed very con-
siderable eloquence and imagination, and, above all
things, a sound judgment in literature, which has rarely
been surpassed. Had his physical strength been equal
to his mental qualifications, we have little doubt but
that Mr. Phillips would have earned for himself a
i
very considerable name n' English literature ; but the
remarkable part of the story is that his work was ac-
complished with the hand of death upon bin). For
many years past he had been the doomed victim of
consumption. At any hour of the day or night he
might have been summoned away ere the ink had
dried upon the line which he had commenced
writing. But calmly and courageously, respecting
t andas re
e enabled
.
ability. The annals of English literature are certainly
himself and respecting others, he went through his
toda vet oainl amnadintaasinwheishfaavmeilybefiunrennsmaildor, w
graced with names of men of loftier genius than that of
this gentleman, but upon the list there stands not the
name of a more honourable and upright man. His
career should not be without instruction to all men of
letters. It may, perhaps, be superfluous for us to men-
tion here that he was the author of Caleb Stukely, and of
other novels which have been much admired. He was
also selected—no slight honour—as the fittest person to
write tho general hand-book of the Crystal Palace. All
who had the happiness of his acquaintance will long re-
gret the loss of a most honourable, amiable, and intelli-
gent friend and companion.— Times.

We
theslnydt
—theeedne
hi
author
ft
auo havemtrohr.
Morning
r.tif recordon3ogtifhre
.Phillips
Cataloguest he
washo foaf
writer eri
toe
rrSyoas
fmt
Crystal
Samuel Pha
lhai
cl lei
abilityp as
Hpaeprearlsd,inanßdliancokrhoeordT,
ythoerTgoahnns.Buulle,
died at Brighton, suddenly, on the 14th inst., from
hemorrhagemr.
Phillipsof th ewlausn gas,
member of of the Univerity of
Cambridge, although he did not take a degree there.
He entered at Sydney Sussex College, but left before com-
pleting the period necessary for graduation. He devoted
himself afterwards entirely to literature, and achieved a
lucrative success. Persons who were well acquainted
with this author and his writings were always struck
with the completeness which he displayed in whatever he
undertook. He always exhausted himself in whatever
he wrote. He made no pretensions to profound scholar-
ship, but he did better without it. Ho forgot no-
thing, and never had occasion to regret that anything
which proceeded from his pen was less perfect than
after-consideration could have made it. His intellect
was not of the highest order, nor were his attainments
extensive ; but he was able to bring to bear all the
powers of his mind upon whatever subject be chose to
illustrate. He wrote chiefly for the periodical and news-
paper press. His " Caleb Stukely," written for Black-
wood's Magazine, was reprinted some time back, and
Messrs. Routledge have lately published a collection of
tales he wrote at various times for the same periodical.
.Daily Neu.

THE LIBERATION OF ARMAND

BARBES.

Mr. Charles Dickens tells an impressive story of a
certain small debtor in the good old times who, having
been immured fur 40 years or so in the Fleet, was
permitted by his gaolers, on the strength of so complete
a naturalisation, to take an occasional walk in Farring-
doe-street. One evening he happened to be a few mi-
nutes behind the appointed time in returning to the
prison, when the turnkey, looking at him through the
bars of the gate, declared in a menacing tone, and with
the expletives proper to the occasion, that if this offence
were ever repeated he would shut him out for good and
all, and never let him inside the gaol again ! The threat
of such a dreadful revolution in his existence so affected,
as the story says, the poor captive's mind, that no temp-
tation could ever induce him for the future to incur so
much as a risk of the penalty ; nor would be ever again
put his foot beyond the prison walls. Perhaps some peo-
ple thought this story rather overdone, but it has been
paralleled in real life, and on a more heroic stage, within
this last fortnight. A Frenchman named Armand Barbee
was condemned in 1839 to perpetual imprisonment. The
revolutions of ten years later soon provided him not
only with his liberty, but with the opportunity of losing
it anew, and he again became a political captive, and so
till within these few days remained. From his confine-
ment, however, he addressed to some correspoitlent a
highly patriotic expression of feeling respecting the re-
cent successes of the French arms ; and the Emperor, in
gracious recognition of such honourable sentiments, di-
rected that he should be restored to freedom immediately
and without conditions. But this proceeding was by no
means to the taste of M. Armand Barbes. He objected to
the clemency, thefavour, the release itself, and everything
connected w ith it. When it came to the last he refused to go,
and violence became necessary to sethim at liberty. After
being at length driven out of custody be came to Paris,
where he addressed a letter to the public journals, com-
plaining bitterly of the wound inflicted on his personal
dignity, asking what it signified to others whether he
loved his country, or whether he didn't, and solemnly
protesting in the face of the whole nation, that if he
wasn't sent back to gaol within eight-and-forty hours,
be would betake himself to foreign parts, and deprive
France of his presence altogether ! He gave the au-
thorities two days to lock him up again—not an hour
longer. "That delay once past.," says he, "I shall
hasten of my own accord into exile."
Events follow each other so rapidly in times like
the present, and the last twenty years especially have
produced such bewildering vicissitudes, that perhaps
some of our readers may retain very little recollection
of M. Barbee or his doings, and may be gratified with a
concise delineation of his public career. It was on the
12th of May, 1839, when the city of Paris was looking its
very best, and everything about that seductive capital
was tranquil and charming, that a group of men attired
in blouses, and wearing that famous but not exactly
pleasing head-dress termed a " patriotic bat," presented
themselves before one of the guardhouses and required
the soldiers to " surrender." As there was no kind
of contest anywhere pending, as Paris was just as
quiet then as Loudon is to-day, and as there appeared
no powers or pretenders to wheat any surrender
could be made, it will not be thought surprising
that the ulcer in command declined complying with the
summons. As the refusal left his lips, however, he was
shot dead, and the challengers, pursuing their course,
tried the same experiment at other posts, until they were
overpowered and disarmed. The chief leader in these
proceedings was Barbes, who was tried, convicted, and
sentenced to death, but escaped the guillotine by a cm•
mutation of his penalty.
Opinions were considerably divided in Paris on the •
subject of this trial and its results. The argument for
the prisoners was based upon the theory, fashionable
among the French Republicans, that all acts, however
outrageous, which had for their object merely the sub-
version
of existing institutions, were to be regarded as
involving "political" offences only, and were not to be
judged by the rules provided for cases of civil criminality.
Benefit of insurrection was claimed like benefit of clergy.
Barbes end his followers had broken open gunsmiths
shops, had carried off their contents, had made a violent -
disturbance, and caused the deaths of other citizens
while engaged in their lawful duties. These appeared
certainly like so many crimes, but, as they were cm•
mitted with a view of dethroning the King and proclaims
ing a new form of government, it was said they were
purely " political," and not visitable with the penalties
ordinarily attaching to such deeds. On the other side it
was argued that, whatever might be the pretext of th•
commotion, the death of the lieutenant on duty at the
guardhouse occurred under circumstances which consti-
tuted a ease of murder, and that for blood thus shed.
blood was fairly to be required again.t.
ular incident of
It seems that, as regards this
tics of the plea, for when it was attemptedd
li red hi lf
murder home to him individually e e :re mee el
the " revolution," Barites could notPa rcolentrovteartbrtinhge st•uhsts.
tion so dishonourable, solemnly thatanaecusa-
dth,at a man who vaunt-
andthat he
had not shot the lieutenant,
thaant hethe chief
an energetic defence, and protested edge acil
an
wasrsitn gi t
strangely to 0
ingly avowed,
never have
i
that Ire had
of the conspitacy, prepared all the
for its execution, and that he had led hie armed
means c
rour no
,in,
Bl i i
asthrt eb
Baree s
d suchi
followers up to the guardhouse for the purpose of get-
ting forcible possession of it, should express horror at a
deed which was the natural, immediate, and necessary
consequence of his proceeding. He attacked the guard
for the purpose of disarming it, he had provided weapons
for the purpose of overcoming resistance, and what could
such preparations lead to except the death of the soldiers
who resisted 3 We may possibly be favoured with M.
Barbee' company in England,
unwilling an we are therefore not
to
express a belief that he never did design to
commit any such act as would, in his own eyes, have
resembled a deliberate murder. The criminality
of the whole proceeding arose from that incredible
license which French revolutionists allowed them-
selves. Most nations have had their rebellions, and
most dynasties their changes, but these revolution
have proceeded from mighty convulsions and wide
revolts, whereas tarbes and his accomplices were
pleased to assume that any half-dozen men were at
liberty to set themselves at any time in armed opposi-
tion to the Government, to proclaim a private rebellion
on their own account, to kill and slay any represents-
tives of authority whe came in their way, and then to
claim the treatment of lawful enemies after a regular le!
claration of war. Whenever, therefore, " polithAl
and had
offences" had been constituted a category apart, _
been exempted from capital punishment, it follotwend that
oa
any handful of men might, by the mere adipodionf o
u
t
•
revolutionary pretext, commit almost
any
much to
rage with impunity. But it canno
never to be regarded
maintain thit if " political" acts are b
stained
with
as capital offences, they should
.nseavbenr p
Halted, so should
capital crimes. If the gnillotine I._
Lieut. Drouineau had
be the carbine and the stiletto.
to defend the existing ii.
surely at least as much rightls them, and if the infliction
stitutions as Barb's to attack
of in one case it blIOUld OM hffill
of death was deprecate
......nta
bee* permitted in the c_the_r_t_.24 .