The Sun.
London, England, 1849-05-04 00:00:00

EVENING, MAY 4, 1849.

prejudices of those who cannot permit their fellow-
man to worship his CREATOR in the manner which in
his soul and conscience he might deem most fitting.
The matter is, however, by no means clearly set-
tled in the Church of England itself. Many of
the most respected prelates of that Church, many of
its most pious and learned divines, many of its most
consistent lay members protest against the assump-
tion. They do not find that the prohibition is
grounded on Scripture, in which case they would of
course be bound to yield an implicit obedience to the
Sacred Writings. They do not find any injurious
results that would follow the removal of every re-
striction, and they naturally desire to abolish a law
which, having no Divine sanction, in the words of one
of the most distinguished ministers of the Establish-
ment "is observed only by the scrupulous, evaded by
the wealthy, and defied or disregarded by the poor."
These connexions were never absolutely prohibited
in this country until the passing of Lord LYND-
HURST'S Act, which it is the object of the present
measure to modify in some respects. A right of dis-
pensation was always recognised in the Roman
Catholic Church, which, as Lord ARUNDEL
justly remarked, afforded the strongest evi-
dence that it was not looked upon as in any
degree contrary to the law of GOD. HENRY VIII.,
however, that amiable and moral monarch, was
anxious, no doubt en conscientious grounds, to get rid
of his first wife, and to be enabled to contract a second
marriage, and the Parliament of the day were not
disposed to oppose the will of a Sovereign who
could bring an opponent to the scaffold. Without
much difficulty a law was accordingly, for the first
time, enacted prohibiting such marriages. The re-
striction was not, however, very stringently enforced.
The marriages were not absolutely void ab initio, but
merely voidable upon articles being exhibited in the
Ecclesiastical Courts pro salute anima. As the
Bishop of EXETER, influenced by a disinterested re-
gard 'for the soul's health of the Rev. Mr. SHORE,
consigned him to a prison for preaching what he be-
lieved to be the gospel, so any person might obtain a
sentence of nullity of marriage against parties whose
happiness and mutual love excited his envy, and this
he might do under the flimsy pretext of being ac-
tuated by a regard for the " health of their souls.*
This state of the law was so clearly objectionable, that
a universal feeling prevailed in favour of a change. An
Act was accordingly introduced legalising all such
marriages as might have been solemnized previously
to the passing thereof, a proceeding which clearly
would not have received the legislative sanction
if such a union was looked upon as nia/uns in se,
or contrary to the dictates of revealed religion. Un-
fortunately, however, a clause was added rendering
all future marriages within those degrees of affinity
absolutely void, under the mistaken idea that such a
law, founded on no religious precept, or social or po-
litical inconvenience, would be universally respected.
It has been seen how signally that expecta-
tion has been disappointed. No ' less than
from 80,000 to 50,000 of such marriages
have been solemnized since the passing of that statute,
while in many, very many, instances, the parties
have dispensed with the ceremony, and lived together
despite the restrictive enactment. Some, indeed,
have yielded a reluctant assent to the law, and, with
a high moral courage, have sacrificed their own hap-
piness ; but they are comparatively few in number,
and perhaps, of all others, the parties to whom
the connexion would be productive of the greatest
benefits. They hare, also, the strongest claims upon
the sympathy and respect of the House.
We trust, then, that the question may be disposed
of this evening, in a manner becoming the enlighten-
ment of the present age—that, as there is nothing
immoral in such marriages as these, legalisation will
remove the most serious injury to many innocent
children, who will thereby be rendered legitimate—as
many unhappy marriages will thereby be prevented,
and even the children of the first marriage materially
benefited by receiving the care and attention of the
person beat fitted to replace their deceased parent.
The law of man must be made conformable to the law
of Goo, and marriage rendered in every respect free
according to the conscientious opinions of those
about to enter into the solemn obligation.

This evening our columns are adorned with a co-
pious and faithful, but still inadequate, report of the
eloquent orations delivered on Wednesday, at the an-
niversary dinner of the Brompton Hospital for Con-
sumption. We would ourselves comment upon the
remarks uttered on that occasion by more than one
celebrated man, and we would do so with the simpli-
city due to the cause of benevolence, and with the ear-
nestness appropriate to its promulgation. It is but seldom
that the inhabitants even of this renowned capital—a
capital whose very streets are perpetually thronged
with the illustrious children of Genius, as well
those whose intellects are indigenous as those whose
fame has become naturalised, as well the
fortunate citinen of England as the volun-
tary pilgrim, or the involuntary exile to its
hospitality it is but seldom, we repeat, that the
population even of this great metropolis are afforded
at once the opportunity of participating in the cele-
bration of such an anniversary, and the privilege of
listening to the voices of those distinguished persons
who honoured alike the occasion and themselves by
their attendance. Among these, conspicuous not only
from his position as Chairman, but from his popular
eminence in letters, and his brilliant reputation in
oratory, the gifted son of an illustrious father, was
BENJAMIN DISRAELI, the author of Conintobg,
and Member of Parliament for the county
of Buckinghamshire. Although the peculiar fe-
licity of Mr. DISRAELI'S rhetoric has been hitherto
thought to consist entirely in his employment of
the intellectual weapons of wit and sarcasm, it
required nothing more than the noble and touching
speech delivered by him on Wednesday evening to
reveal his proficiency in the use of those most effective
of all the gifts of eloquence, pathos and persuasion.
In this respect we are guilty of no exaggeration when
we declare that oration to have been a perfect master-
piece of fervid and beneficent oratory. It betrayed
those more emotional recesses of his genius which
are unobserved in the implacable collisions of
Westminster, and which have been erewhile only
recognised through the haze of fictitious
r sorrows, in the gorgeous atmosphere of imaginative
literature. While the orator was pleading in behalf
of the noble institution for the victims of consump-
tion it was as impossible not to remember those tones
of grief which had thrilled into our heart's core when
poring over the pages of as it would have been
to forget in the graces of the diction the elegant
phraseology of Tancred and the rhetorical beauties
of Contarini Fleming. Looking back to the sudden
leap of the writer of Vivian Grey into cele-
brity, when he had scarcely assumed the toga
virilis, and bearing in recollection the fact that that
brilliant work (the premature ebullition of his
intellect) had qualities so splendid as to lead to the
confusion of its anonymous author with that won-
derful poet who was then in the apogee of his glory
—we cannot but regard orations like the one pro-
nounced on Wednesday evening as the ripened fruits
of that precocious and propitious distinction, the
realisation of those crude auguries of success. In
speaking thus we can only be misunderstood by those
who were not, a few hours since, listening to the
author and the senator, the orator and the novelist—
" Pouring from his pictured urn
Thoughts that breathe and words that burn."

Happily, howeirer, for the distinguished Chairman,
the subject of his harangue was one capable of
affording a mind like his no ordinary inspiration. It
was that terrible disease which in its more deadly
stages assumes the freshest bloom of life, masking its
poison under its beauty. To alleviate the sufferings
of those who in indigence may fall under the influence
of this destructive malady, a hospital, one of the
most admirable institutions ever founded in the
vicinity of London, has been erected in the healthiest
quarter of Brompton. On Mr. DISRAELI as Chair-
man of the anniversary dinner devolved the responsi-
bility of pleading for that most estimable establish-
ment ; and nobly, as we have intimated, did the
Hon. Gentleman fulfil the onerous but grateful duties
of his position. He had no depressive reflections to
embarrass him in his adjuration—either in the re-
trospect of the past, or in the anticipations of the
future. The assistance already obtained by the
committee was more than enough to afford encou-
ragement to the Chairman ; and the cordiality with
which that assistance had been lavished upon the
undertaking, the spontaneous ardour which had cha-

racterised the public contributions, and the genial
kindliness which had marked more than one splendid
act of private munificence, all must have tended to
render both the Chairman and the committee san-
guine as to the development of an institution
so prosperously commenced. Before all other pro-
moters of the charity, after pronouncing a deserved
eulogium upon the generosity of Sir HENRY FOUL'S,
justice was done to two individuals who by their
most noble exertions, by their lavish benevolence, and
by the employment of the remarkable gifts received
by them from the hand of OMNIPOTENCE, have more
than any other two individuals in the United King-
dom aided in the advancement of this beautiful and
beneficent institution. Before we can mention the
names of these two prominent benefactors—names
familiar in almost every household of the land—we
shall surely be anticipated. But few will lear❑ for
the first time from these printed characters
all that the Hospital for Consumption owes,
in the first place, to the eloquent genius of the
Reverend ROBERT MONTGOMERY, and in the second
place, to the matchless melodies and the gentle heart
of Mademoiselle JENNY LIND. To the latter, the
committee are indebted for upwards of one thousand
six hundred pounds, to the former for very nearly one
thousand pounds, sterling. Yet it is not so much in
reference to the largeness of these princely donations
that the language of gratitude is addressed to the
orator and the songstress, it is more espe-
cially addressed to them in reference to the
noble examples they have afforded examples
which cannot very speedily be forgotten.
On no less than five-and•twenty different occasions
has the Reverend ROBERT MONTGOMERY preached
sermons in behalf of the Brompton Hospital for Con-
sumption, accumulating the magnificent sum we
have mentioned, by that extraordinary gift of palpit
eloquence which exercises an irresistible fascination
over men who still remember with awe the fervid
tons of HALL and Iftvma. In connexion with this
young but attractive and already flourishing institu-
tion, the names of these gifted and conspicuous bene-
factors will be associated so long as the structure
shall remain standing—perpetuated by a repu-
tation whose principal merit is its benevolence. How
beautifully Mr. DISRAELI referred to these touching
efforts of charity on the part of the "poet-preacher" and
the humane songstress, may be observed by referring
to those portions of his oration in which he observed,
when referring to the Rev. ROBERT MONTGOMERY,
" I think we trust too much to the spirit of societies
and too little to the energy of the solitary being,"
and in which he exclaimed, in allusion to Made-
moiselle JENNY LIND, "To me there is something
most beautiful in this life of music and of charity,
a life passed amid divine sounds, and still diviner
deeds I" Honour to those whose virtues have evoked
such impassioned words of eulogium, and have im-
parted an additional charm to an institution not
without its own resistless and intrinsic attraction I

As if to enhance the interest of the anniversary
celebrated on Wednesday, there was numbered
among the supporters of the illustrious Chairman
one whose name, renowned over Europe for his
talent for statecraft, and for his genius as an his-
torian, could not fail to excite a very considerable
degree of curiosity. It was felt that, although tar-
nished in renown by the crimes of his Administra-
tion, Monsieur GUIZOT presented to the mind of the
beholder, in his own person, the ruins—at once co-
lossal and sombre—of intellectual greatness, and of a
forgotten morality.
Nothing was wanting, in fine, to impart an air of
importance to the celebration of this noble and inter-
esting anniversary.

MARKET NEWS.-(THIS DAY.

CORN EXCHANGE-FRIDAY.

The arrivals of English Wheat during the present
week have been on the increase, they having amounted
to 9,510 quarters. To-day the show of samples of both
red and white was by no means extensive, yet owing to
the large influx of foreign grain, and the fineness of the
weather for the growing crops, the demand for all kinds
of Wheat of home produce was extremely heavy, at a
further decline in the quotations of is per quarter, and a
clearance was not effected. Upwards of 22,000 quarters
of foreign Wheat have come to hand. The millers
purchased all descriptions wholly in retail, and prices
receded from those of Monday fully Is per quarter.
In floating cargoes we heard of no transactions.
Malting Barley supported late rates, but grinding and
distilling sorts were somewhat easier to purchase. In
Malt next to nothing was doing, and the currencies had
a downward tendency. The Oat trade was in a very in-
active state, and prices ruled somewhat in favour of
the buyers. Beans, Peas, Indian Corn and Flour as on
Monday.

ARRIVALS THIS WEEK.
I Wheat. I Barley. i Oats. I Flour.
kW qrs. 2.040 qrs. j 2,430 qrs. I 3,0205ke.
I 1
22,1111 5,311 21,410 I
___ --- I —...-
Malt. 6,120 qrs.
SMITHFIELD.
The supply of Beasts on offer in to-day's market be-
ing en the increase, the attendance of buyers limited,
and the weather unfavourable for slaughtering, the Beef
trade ruled excessively heavy, at a further decline in
the 'potations of fully 2d per 81bs, the extreme figure
for the best Scots being only 3s 2d per Blbs. With Sheep
we were but moderately supplied; nevertheless, the
demand for that description of stock was in a very dull
state, and prices receded 2d per 81bs. The top price of
the best old Downs, in the wool, did not exceed 3s lod
per albs. The best Down Lambs sold somewhat stea-
dily at full prices; otherwise, the Lamb trade was
heavy. From the Isle of Wight 306 Sheep and Lambs
came fresh to hand. Calves were in moderate supply and
steady demand, at full rates of currency. In Pigs so
little was doing that prices were almost nominal. Milch
Cows ruled excessively heavy, at from 131. to 171. 51.
each, including their small Calf.

English •• ....
Scotch ......
Irish... ..
Foreign .• •...

Per 81bs. to sink the offal.
s. d. to e. d. s. d. to s. d.
Inferior Beasts-- 110 2 2 Second qual. Sheep 2 8 3 2
Second quality .. • 2 4 2 6 Coarse-woolledditto3 4 3 li
Prime large Oxen 2 8 210 Southdown Wether 3 S 310
Prime Scots
Large coarse Calves 3 2 3 6 Large Hogs ...... 3 0 ..i 6
Primesinall ditto
Suckling Calves lB 0 27 0 Quarter old Pigs ..16 0 20 0
Inferior Sheep ..
TOTAL SUPPLY AT MARKET.
Beasts. I Sheep. I Calves. I Pie.; .
904 5,200 210 308
FOREIGN SUPPLY.
I Sheep. 1 Calves. 1 Figs.
220 69
SCOTCH.
Beasts. I Sheep. 1 Calves. I Pigs.
400 320
NEIATGATE AND LEADENNALL.
These markets were excessively heavy, at a general
decline in the quotations of quite 2d per Sibs.
At per stone by the Carcase.

Beasts.
a

s. d. to s. d. s. d. to s. d.
Beef,inferlor• •.. • • 1 8 2 0 Mutton, inferior .. 2 2 2 6
middling .... 2 2 2 4 middling.. 2 8 210
primelarge .. 2 4 2 6 prime —• • 3 0 3 2
prime small 2 8 210 Pork, large.... •• 3 0 3 6
Veal--......... 3 0 310 i small ••••• • .• 3 8 4 0
. Lamb 48 Gd to 58 8d
___ _

BOROUGIi 730 P IVX.ELEKET.
For most kinds of fine Hops our market continues
firm, and the late advance in the quotations is well sup.
ported. Old and inferior Hops command scarcely any
attention, although offered at very low figures :
Sussex pockets, 214 s to 2118 s per owt; Weald of Kent
ditto, 2/ 12s to 318 s; Mid and East Kent ditto, 315 s to
61 18s. •