The Sun.
London, England, 1849-04-13 00:00:00

N°. 17,644,3 LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING S N, APRIL 13, 1849,

O .TRACT for COPPER.
Department of the Storekeeper-General of the Navy,
Somerset-place, April 10, 1649.
The Commissioners for executing the office of Lord Nigh Admiral
of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, do hereby give
notice that on TUESDAY, the 24th instant at One o'clock, they will be
ready to treat with such persons as may be willing to Contract for
supplying her Majesty's Dockyards at Chatham with
200 Tons of ENGLISH TOUGH CAKE COPPER.
I One-half to Le delivered in Three Weeks, and the remainder in Six
Weefs from the day of treaty.
A Form of the Tender may be seen at the said Office. Ns Tender
will be received after One o'clock on the day of treaty, nor any no-
ticed, unless the party attends, or an agent for him duly authorised
in writing.
Every Tender must be addressed to the Secretary of the Admi-
ralty, and bear in the left hand corner the words " Tender for
Copper," ani must also be delivered at Somerset-place, accom-
panied by a letter signed by two responsible persons, engaging to
become bound with the person tendering in the sum of 4,0001. for
the due performance of the Contract.

Prospectuses, with tables of rates, &c., may be had at the •Mce,
or any of its branches in the ceuatry ; or, •u application. will be for-
warded post free.

W. S. B. WOOLTIOIISE, Actuary,

THE LONDON INDISPUTABLE LIFE
POLICY COMPANY
INCORPORATED ET ACT OF PARLIAMENT.
Upon the Principle of Mutual Life Assurance, the Whole Profits
belonging to the Assured.
311•. 31, LOMBARD-STREET, LONDON.
THIFSTEES.
J. Campbell. Renton , Esq., M.P. Richard Spooner, Esq., M.P.
Richard Ma Ilins, Esq., Q.C. James Fuller Madox, Esq.
William Wilberforce, Esq.

John Hamilton, Esq.
James Fuller Madox, Esq,
John Matthews, Esq.
Charles 0. Parnell, Esq.

AUDITORS.

THE MERCHANTS and TRADESMAN'S
MUTUAL LIFE ASSURANCE SOCIETY.
5, Chatham-place, Blackfriars.
TRUSTEES.
JOHN MACGREGOR, Esq., M.P.
gnailes Harris, Esq I Jeffery Smith, Esq.
David Fergusson, Esq. I Thomas How, Esq.
DIRECTORS.
CHAIRMAN—JOHN M`GREGOR, Esq., M.P.
John Carter, Esq., South Melton-street.
Francis Edwards, Esq., Westbourne-terrace, Hyde park.
David Fergusson, Esq., Eastcheap, and Champion-park.
Thomas Now, Esq., Eastcheap, aid Gordon House, Turnham-green.
Benjamin Hooper, Esq., Seething•lane.
Henry Larchin, Esq., Rateliff.
Daniel M'Farlan, Esq., Fenchurch-street, and Sydenham.
Mark Pinkerton, Esq., Upper Seymour. street, Portman-square.

For ASSURANCES on Lives and Survivorships.
For granting ANNUITIES' for Old Age, and for the Endowment
of Children.
All the Profits belong to the Members.
o Personal Liability to the Assured,
Policies indisputable, except in cases of Fraud.
GEORGE THOMSON, Manager.
THOMAS MUSGRAVE, Secretary.

Illustrated by 26 Anatomical ceienr. d E
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Messrs. ARCHER and HOLT most respectfully invite their
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Visitors to the Theatres, Citizens, and Gentlemen connected with
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N.B. An Entrance also from Maiden lane.

In folio, half-bound russia or morocco, price 101. 10s.
TILE PHYSICAL ATLAS;
A Series or Maps and Illustrations of the
GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF NATURAL
PHENOMENA;
Embracing
I. Geology. 1 111. Meteorology.
11. Hydrography. IV Natural History.
By ALEXANDER KEITH JOHNSTON, F.R.G.S.,
Geographer at Edieburgh in Ordinary to her Majesty;
With the co-operation and assistance of men eminent in the different

d epart ments-oftielence.
The publishers beg to refer to the reviews of this work contained
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London: Smith, Elder, and Co., 65, Cornhill.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TIMES.—It was commonly anticipated that certain
pages of the Quarterly Review would be devoted to such
a notice of Mr. Macaulay's " History of England" as
the recollections of literary and political antagonism
rather than the rigorous canons of critical justice might
be presumed to dictate. On Saturday last this notice
appe red, and it certainly cannot be alleged that the ap-
pointed work has been negligently done. The style of
our respected contemporary this quarter has been alto-
gether somewhat trenchant, and we can only regret that
on this particular subject we must withhold that concur-
rence of opinion which we have been enabled to express
upon others. Perhaps Mr. Macaulay's turn for a little
blame has fairly arrived, but whether the corrective has
been honestly administered or wisely compounded, is a
question of another kind. 'We ate in nowise called upon
to fight the battles of a writer so competent to conduct
his own, nor have we any inclination to forestall
the arguments of a more direct reply, but our
own readers may not unreasonably look for
some guidance, at our hands on a subject so
conspicuously popular, and we subjoin, there-
fore, a fevr suggestions to facilitate their private inqui-
ries. If the reviewer, with four months and eighty
pages at his command, is driven to appeal largely to the
faith of his readers, and to bespeak their acquiescence in
his conclusions after a scanty production of proofs, it
may readily be imagined how compulsory is the same
method of proceeding upon ourselves, who have to deal
with both parties together in the space of a column.
Three prominent accusations, however, will bo observed
in the article referred to. The most striking of these
_ _

consists in a direct charge against Mr. Macaula—y of hav-
ing utterly ignored the existence of a previous history
of the same period by Sir James Mackintosh—of hav-
ing " borrowed largely—prodigally—helped.himself with
both hands not merely without acknowledging
his obligations, but without so much as alluding
to the existence of any such work." (P. 603.) Nay,
more, Mr. Macaulay is accused of employing in one
of his notes (to' Vol. I. 391) an expression " which
would naturally lead an uninformed reader to con-
clude that Sir James Mackintosh, though he had medi-
tated such work, had never even begun writing it." (Ib.)
So surprising do these facts appear to the reviewer that
ho " is curious to see what explanation can be given of
this, to him, extraordinary enigma." (P. 608.) An at-
tack of so unexpected a character as this may possibly
elicit some notice; but in the meantime we think we can
satisfy our own readers by a very simple reference to
the facts of the case. The English histories here spoken
of were all mainly suggested by the discoveries which
towards the close of the last century had been made in
the Foreign Office at Paris. First Macpherson, then
Dalrymple, then Fox, and then Mackintosh took them-
selves to this new source of knowledge. Macpherson's
inquiries were interrupted at an early stage, but Dal-
rymple returned with specimens well calculated to
insure successors in his researches. Mr. Fox
repaired to Paris on this errand after the peace
of Amiens, and Sir James Mackintosh after the peace
of Ghent. Both these writers projected the compo-
sition of a history based upon the information thus
newly acquired; both commenced the work, but both
died leaving behind them imperfect fragments, which
were subsequently published by their friends. The ma-
terials which they had collected were placed unreservedly
by their respective families at the command of Mr. Ma-
caulay, who, after completing by his personal inquiries
such deficiencies as yet remained, applied himself again
to the selfsame task which had thus been twice attempted

and twice left undone. We presume that after this
statement few persens will misconceive Mr. Macaulay's
allusion to the materials amassed by Sir J. Mackintosh
"at a time when he meditated a work similar to that
which I have undertaken," a work which had pre-

viously been defined as " the history of England from
the accession of King James 11. down to a time
within the memory of men still living." " Sir J.
Mackintosh," says his own editor in the preface to the
fragment in question, " long meditated a history of
England, beginning with the Revolution of 1688."
There seemed almost a fate against the undertaking.
Neither Fox nor Mackintosh have been permitted to
carry it through. Mr. Macaulay has now renewed the
attempt, with the hope in which few persons bat his re-
viewer will refuse to join, that he may be spared for
better success. Whether the parallels ingeniously con-
structed by the reviewer in p. 604 disclose obligations
which demanded more special acknowledgment, the
reader will readily determine for himself; but to con-
ceive that Mr. Macaulay was wilfully and deliberately
concealing the existence of an author with whom be had
lived on terms of the most honourable friendship, whose
collections he himself was conspicuously quoting as the
best vouchers for his statements, and whose vacant
place he had thus stepped forward to fill, is, in our
opinion, a conclusion not to be reached by any ordi-
nary process of reasoning. As for Mr. Macaulay's
audacity, with which the reviewer (p. 550) is so startled,
in rewriting that portion which had been written before,
we would only observe that there are two accepted
grounds for publishing a history: one, the power of tell-
ing that which has not yet been told; and the other, the
power of telling it as it has not been told hitherto. To
the first title Mr. Macaulay laid but moderate claims ;
his pretensions to the second might bo accurately ascer-
tained, we should think, from Messrs. Longman's led-
gers. The next charge is that Mr. Macaulay, in his fa-
mous third chapter, has obscured, distorted, and per-
verted facts in obedience to the " powerful motive which
pervades the whole work—a wish to exhibit England
prior to the Revolution as in a mean and even barbarous
and despicable condition." (P. 586.) We must again
plead oar inability to follow out the details by which
this proposition is attempted to be proved; but surely
the gravamen of the charge—namely, the motive which
has caused the alleged errors—is refuted by the state-
ments of the chapter itself, nor is it easy to imagine an
obliquity of vision so great as that which could convey
the impression here recorded. The single and mani-
fest aim of Mr. Macaulay's episodical chapter is to
correct those notions by which the prosperity of this
country and the social :advantages of its
population are represented as having been
grievously degenerating ever since some golden
ago of wealth and happiness. His emphatic
proposition is that, on the contrary, we have been ever
advancing by sure and rapid steps in the right direction,
and that all lamentations or misgivings on this score are
unfounded and misplaced. This is indeed no new theory.
It is no more than must have occurred to every attentive
reader of English history. Sharon Turner asserted the
same not only of this country but of almost every other,
and avowed his belief that there .was scarcely any people
to be found whose history, properly contemplated, woul.l
not exhibit a course of continuous improvement. What
Mr. Macaulay has done is to illustrate this truth after
his own peculiar fashion, and to show that oven as
regarded those social evils presumed to have been
generated, in latter days, by our very prosperity it-
self there is no reason whatever for considering our-
selves less fortunate than our forefathers. That the
Revolution in its ultimate effects did most mate-
rially aid our progress is only a point on which the his-
torian and his reviewer are of one accord; but though Mr.
Macaulay naturally compares the times in which he writes
to the times of which he is writing, yet he draws no con-
trast whatever between the times immediately preceding
and following the Revolution itself. Indeed, he has
scarcely arrived at a period of his history where such a
contrast was practicable. What light he may throw
apon this point remains to be seen, but it must be well
known to all persons conversant with the subject that
those writers in whose political sentiments Mr. Ma-
caulay participates, and whose support he would most
readily claim, admit without any hesitation that the reign
of William 111. included, as far as material prosperity
was concerned, one of the most gloomy and unpromising
periods in English annals. The third charge levelled
against Mr. Macaulay by his reviewer alludes to this
method of citing and using his authorities, Which is even
characterized (p. 561) as a " habitual and really inju-
rious perversion of them." This is a topic pertaining
to other pens than ours. The rveiewer him-
self is compelled to appeal to " specimens" which, unless
anything is to be argued from their poverty, leave the
case only where they found it; but we would just refer
to two examples in pp. 692, 593, and ask the reader to
decide for himself, whether the statements of the his-
torian or the accusations of the reviewer are best made
out by the passages there paraded. Let him turn, too,
to the charges' of undue force of language, as attempted
to be substantiated in p. 559; of misquotations, in pp.
561 and 586; and of misplaced circumstantiality, in pp.
580 and 621. 'We Cannot entertain much doubt about
the decision which will be thns arrived at. The reviewer,
it must be acknowledged had no easy task, nor was his
work lightened by the fact that the instinctive verdict
of the English people had anticipated his own judgment
and decision. He takes, refuge, however, after tardily
admitting this disagreeable truth, in the conclusion that
" the work will hardly find a permanent place on the his-
toric shelf"—a safe and serviceable trick :of fence, as
there can be no argument against a prophecy.
HERALD.—We are no disciples, as our readers are
well aware, of Mr. Urquhart or Mr. Anstey. We en-
tertain no unreasoning blind hatred against parti-
cular Sovereigns or particular races of men. We are-
not prone unnecessarily to sound the tocsin of alarm, or
given to exciting jealousy and distrust among nations or.
among great bodies of men. Against the Russian na-
tion, taken in the aggregate mass, we have no preju-
dices whatever. We believe that portion of the Scla-
vonic tribe under the sway of the Czar to bo distin-
guished by many good and by many amiable attributes,.
and to be instinct with that patriotic love of coutstrys
without which more showy qualities are valueless
in our•
eyes. The Russian peasants are brave, they are d
ful, they are obedient, they are grateful when
of Go
treuted; and, under a better and a fr
vernment, the Russian Mujik and his brother
systemrotler
apable of
Tatar are •
not merely docile and teachable,
high,but
i not the very
veryf e
being moulded and adapted O a
highest state or standard to
f civilization. But the
nature of the Russians,_ and the destiny
hof that
portion of the Sclavonie race under the
the other sway ot t e Czar,
is, the one frequeetly debased, often con-
trolled arid interfered with by the system of the Russian
Government. Between the Russian state system—as the
Germans call it—and the people subjected to that sys-
tem, we would, however, draw a wide distinction. While
the people are distinguished by many primitive virtues,
the Russian political and diplomatic system, on the other
hand, is marked by all the vices of semi-barbarism and
of semi-civilisation. There is rase and double dealing—

there is sembling and dissembling—there is fraud and
chicane—there is special pleading and -equivocation—
there is tyranny towards the weak, and craft, cunning,
and subdolous intrigue, with a view to the circumvention
of the strong—in a word, there is inherent in the official
and government system all the vices of the Greeks
of the Lower Empire. Yet it is towards a sys-
tem so discreditably distinguished as this that our Fo-
reign Secretary exhibits a favour and a forbearance
which he extends to no other Sovereign or no other Mi-
nister whatever. Is the Czar attacked in Parliament,
the pathetic Palmerston is moved to pity—is Nesselrode
denounced in the Commons by men of all parties as
tricky and faithless, the juvenile Whig thinks, however
appearances may run against the Russian Chancellor,
things are, after all, not half so bad as they seem. These
were the Tiverton tactics in 1847—in 1848, and these
are again the tactics in 1849. Indeed, no later than a
fortnight ago, when Lord Dudley Stuart brought for-
ward his motion touching the occupation of the Moldo-
Wallachian provinces by Russian troops, the simple
shepherd who manages our foreign affairs ex-
pressed his belief that Russian assurances of with-
drawal were given in perfect good faith. Nay, he
went further, and stated that those dear lambs—
the Russian troops, so cherished and caressed wherever
they go—would not further hibernate in Wallachia or
Moldavia, but would go back at once to their own genial,
and by no means hyperborean climate. That intelligent
man, who knows the Russian system well—who has ob-
served for years its influences and intrigues at Constan-
tinople—who is in communication with all parts of the
Turkish empire, and who is well and promptly informed
as to what is passing in the Danubian provinces, writes
to us from Constantinople no later than Lady-day, to
state that on the previous evening—namely, March the
24th—an express had arrived at the Porte with the im-
portant intelligence that, so far from the Russians hav-
ing evacuated the Principalties, and marched in a direc-
tion homeward, on the contrary, General Mouravieff (a
relative, we presume, of the Mouravieff, engaged
in the conspiracy of Poste! and Apostol) had made
his appearance at the head of an army of 24,000
men, while another Russian general, whose name
is not given by our correspondent, had advanced on
Brailpof (printed Ibralia in our correspondent's letter),
and had commenced building barracks for his troops in
the environs of that city. When an army is about to
move from any particular spot by a given day or time,
we never heard of its quatermaster-general, or head of
the staff, giving directions, just previously to its evacua-
tion of a particular town or country, for the erection of
barracks. On the contrary, we have always—probably
most ignorantly—been led to conclude that the building
of barracks in any country disclosed a fixed intention to
occupy the country, and to hold it in military possession.
On this point Viscount Palmerston ought to be a great
authority. If this juvenile Whig, who was in 1807 a
rank Tory, can on its meeting induce the House of Com-
mons to think, on any re-discussion of the Wallachian
question, that the erection of barracks by the Russians
affords a further proof of the desire of the Muscovite to
quit the Danubian provinces, it will, of course, be vain to
argue the question. But until the House unmistakeably
pronounce such an opinion, we shall hold to our first im-
pressions. The fortress of Brailof, it should be remem-
bered, is situated in Central Wallachia, not far from the
Wallachian town of Slobodzic, at the Jalomnitza, and
about 100 miles south-east of Tergovist. The further
Russian contingent of Mouravieff, added to the armies
of General Luders and Duhansel, is by no means the
most important fact stated by our correspondent. It
appears the Russians have towed into the Danube, by
one of their Government steamers, five-gun boats. These
our correspondent states, it is intended, if possible, to
tow up as far as Orsova, a town and fort of Hungary, on
the confines of Servia and Wallachia, subject to the
Turks. That the gun-boats cannot, from the natural
impediments of the river, reach Orsova, we believe to be
certain. But the moral effect of this Russian demon-
stration will be felt, as our correspondent remarks, just as
much as though the gun-boats had reached their destina-
tion. Our correspondent contends—and properly con-
tends—that all this is done in contravention of the treaty
of Adrianople, by which Russia enjoys the free naviga-
tion of the Danube, including both shores, from the en-
trance of that " dark, rolling" river to the mouth of the
Pruth. But this navigation was clearly intended for
merchant vessels, and for merchant vessels only. Our
correspondent intimates that he has only seen the
Turkish version of the treaty, and that it may bear a
different interpretation in the French. But we have
seen the treaty both in Turkish and in French, and we
undertake to say it bears no meaning different from his
version, either in French or in English. That our
readers may be enabled to pronounce, we give the fol-
lowing short abstract of the real provisions of this in-
strument. By the 2d article of the treaty Russia restored
to the Porte the principalities of Wallachia and Moldavia,
Bulgaria, and all the places occupied by the Russian
arms in Roumelia. By the 3d article the Pruth is to con-
tinue to form the boundary between the two empires, from
the point where that river touches the territory of Mol-
davia to its confluence with the Danube. From this
point the line of frontier is to follow the course of the
Danube to the mouth of St. George, leaving all the
islands formed by the different branches of the river in
possession of Russia, and the right bank under the do-
minion of the Ottoman Porte. It was, nevertheless,
agreed that the right bank, from the point where the
branch of St. George :separates from that of Soulineh,
should remain uninhabited for the space of two hours
from the river; that there should not be formed within
that distance any kind of establishment; and that no
fortification or establishment, except quarantine build-
ings, should be formed upon the islands remaining in
possession of Russia. The merchant vessels of the two
Powers to bo at liberty to navigate the Danube, in its
whole course; those under the Ottoman flag to enter
freely the mouths of Keli and Soulineh, and the mouth of
St. George to remain common to the merchant vessels
and vessels of war of the two contracting parties.
But the Russian vessels of war, in ascending the
Danube, cannot pass beyond the point of its junction
with the Pruth. This, we presume, being a fair abstract
of the two articles of the treaty bearing on the question,
is decisive of the moot point raised by our correspon-
dent. But what avails the spirit or even the letter of
treaties, if Russia be disposed to proceed to the ultimo
ratio with the 120,000 men oho has concentrated in the
Danubian provinces? To this we answer, that if the
Porte be properly supported, as she ought to be, by tha
moral influence of England and France, and if two
ships, or even one ship of war of each nation be sent to
the Dardanelles, there is no fear for Turkey. Probably
Viscount Palmerston—as usual where Russian interests
are concerned—may contend that his dearly-beloved
Muscovite means no harm, and is a gentleman of the
blandest manners and most benevolent intentions. But
this cuckoo-note of the singing bird of Tiverton has
been repeated so often, that the most complaisant
claqueurs of the Treasury bench must feel sick and
tired of it at this time of day. It is as hackneyed—to
use an illustration borrowed from the Noble Viscount's
own county, Sligo—as " the tune the old cow died of."
CHRONICLE.--The changes in the seasons aro not
more uniform in their recurrence than the alternate fits
of extravagance and economy that periodically influence
the representative body. At one moment they are wil-
ling to lavish money upon every conceivable folly, and
at another they button up their pockets with savage
determination. A few years ago it was necessary for
the Minister to find "ways and means" to spend, as well
as to obtain, his revenue; and a hundred public burdens
were forthwith undertaken to get rid of our surplus
wealth. Some were fortunately arrested in their prce
gress, but others survived. At this moment Trafalgar-
square bears testimony to our utter disregard of expense
in pursuit of the beautiful, and the Thames Tunnel will
be a lasting memorial of the utility of our public works;
but the tide has since turned, and where wo once voted
millions for the asking, we now squabble over farthings.
Committees of investigation pry into estimates, and de-
mand explanations. State luxuries are fiercely assailed
on every side, and its necessities only supplied grudg-
ingly. The error is perpetuated by the violence of the
reaction, and we shall bo told, at some future period, and
told with truth, that in the year 1849, as in the year
1835, we had passed the bounds of prudence in our seal
for reduction. These fluctuations of opinion are un-
doubtedly inconvenient, but they are a necessary part of
the penalties we have to pay for the advantages of self-
government. Nor are they altogether to be despised
because of their inconsistency, for there is generally
some foundation for a moderate movement in either di-
rection; nor are they to be relied upon as indicating the
sober judgment of the country, for the most popular
theories of the day aro often the most easily disproved
by the process of reasoning. They are, no doubt, satis-
factory to those who consider that the perfection of e -
gislation consists in its instant adaptation to the opinions
of the hour, without reference to the future, or its
mo-
mentary convenience; but, however
relationship
between
elastic subservience to the noisy advocinadtieosstivoof
not be de'
ded with the most
constituencies t ibe
tu eonfc
iae
s an satisfactory
dtheit representatives,stest e e renla i
onani
nied that these oscillations are at
at one period we are liablsooto
vious
.03
if
putation of a breach
serious consequences to the p
other we incur the need less
to make these remarks in conse-
usbolhiotsevsgerovoicfe,foalnlyd, tahtata,
of faith. We are
.
atnoderin
nd able-bodied seamen recently dis-
g and
ortunivisaglajth.st at this momentdestitution, there are not
about our
dis-
charged ses
rogtcheeda
notrfsoimxknhothwe
service,
her week this number •
that within :mot will be augmented
Majesty
by the crews of the St. Vincent and Penelope, making
outports in a state nearly approaching
in all a total amount of unemployed and disposable
force larger than that with which Nelson fought the
isßisefaorrmederuc;tibount,wuhnicihorotuungahtteltyo,
otfhethme Nositlea.tdeTnht
satisfy
battle
it is in the wrong direction. It must strike every un-
prejudiced observer that we are beginning at the wrong
end—that we are casting away our thews and sinews—
our practised, hardy, well-trained, and disciplined sea-
men, and wilfully depriving ourselves of the services of
those whom we have taught with years of labour, and
at the expense of thousands of pounds, to qualify for a
profession that is now shut in their face, and all to per-
petuate some existing absurdities, bolster up a faulty
system, and indulge a few favoured individuals in the
prosecution of various crotchets, interesting only in
the eyes of the inventors, and to the failure or suc-
cess of which the public will ever remain totally in-
different. The sum required to defray the expense
of wages and food to each man is 401. per annum.
SO that the total amount of saving consequent upon