The Sun.
London, England, 1846-07-01 00:00:00

FRASER.

Fraser has an article this month on the state of
parties, which is valuable, as showing that the Protec-
tionist Tories are still the same bigotted, prejudiced, un-
reasoning set of men that they were fifty years since.
Like the Bourbons of the elder branch, " they have
learned nothing, they have forgotten nothing." Speaking
of the glorious free-trade measures of Sir R. Peel,
which (forgetting the memorable declaration of the
Right Hon. Baronet, that the corn-laws were not merely
impolitic but unjust) he endeavours to sneer at mere
fiscal arrangements ; he says :
" We begin by expressing our unqualified regret that any
consideration whatever should have induced Sir Robert Peel,
on a mere question of fiscal arrangement, to break up the
best and strongest Government that has sat at the helm of
affairs for a quarter of a century. Had the trade of the
country been depressed, or the public revenue fallen away—
had there been threatenings of foreign war, which only a
change of policy could avert—had there been poverty, want
of employment, discontent and incipient agitation at home—
some excuse might have been found for his proceeding,
though even then it would have been perilous. But that he
should have chosen a season of unexampled prosperity to try
such an experiment, does, indeed, strike us as being an act
to which, on the score of absolute political madness, we can
discover no parallel. Granting that he was right in the prin-
ciple of his measure, the time which he chose for pushing it
forward would have placed him in the wrong."
Now this is the true old Tory doctrine—listen not to
reason, grant not that which is "right in principle,"
because it is right—but knowingly maintain the profit-
able wrong until it is wrested from you by physical
force, or until all thej world plainly perceive that you
have yielded that to threats which you would not yield
to reason ; for that is the meaning of finding fault with
Sir Robert Peel for not waiting until " discontent and
incipient agitation had afforded him some excuse for
his proceeding "—as if any excuse were needed for doing
justice. Can a party honestly maintaining such doc-
trines as these (and that they are honestly maintained
by them, we verily believe) be safely entrusted with
the administration of the affairs of a mighty empire ?
In the following passage the gist of the argument of Sir
R. Peel, derived from the failure of the potato crop, is
either misunderstood or misrepresented :
" The ostensible ground of the Minister's change of policy
was the failure of the potato crop, and an anticipated famine
in Ireland. Was it candid in him to urge such a reason for
the abandonment of opinions and principles which he had
held throughout the whole course of his previous life, and to
which the party which brought him into power was pledged ?
Surely not ; and, with all possible desire to avoid saying
harsh things, we must be permitted to add, that he himself
knows that it was not. The Government did not wait, it
could not wait, for the passing of its corn-bill or the ac-
ceptance of its 'reformed tariff; ere it provided against the
risk of destitution in Ireland. Long before Parliament met,
or the Times had said a word on the subject of the Cabinet
discussions, abundant supplies of Indian corn were poured in
from America to Ireland."
Sir Robert Peel did not put forward the failure of the
potato crop, and the anticipated famine in Ireland, as the
ostensible ground of his change of policy ; what ho said
was, that he might have proposed a partial suspension of
the corn-laws, to enable him to provide against that
famine (in fact the pouring in the abundant supplies of
Indian meal was a partial suspension of the
operation of those laws), but that if he had
done so, the whole question of the policy of
those laws would have to be re-considered when
their re-enactment should be proposed—that in the face of
such a failure it would be impossible to re-enact them—
and that therefore it was better to consider the question
at once, with a view to its final settlement. The failure
of the potatoe crop was put forward as a reason for the
immediate consideration of the question, not as a reason
for the abandonment of principles and opinions pre-
viously maintained. They were abandoned because
they were found untenable, and because the experiment
of the tariff had demonstrated that those free trade doc-

trines which had previously been admitted to be cor-
rect in theory, were likewise profitable in practice.
The true reason of the Protectionist hatred to Sir R.
Peel is here undisguisedly set forth. It is not that they
dread the consequences of a repeal of the corn-laws:--
"We do not value the Corn-law one jot in comparison
with the state of feeling which its repeal has occasioned. In-
deed, it is our honest conviction, provided gentlemen ex-
ercise common prudence, and farmers exert themselves, and
labour be not stinted, that Great Britain and Ireland will, in
a very few years, raise more than corn enough for the con-
sumption of its own inhabitants; and that the home-grower
will be able to beat the foreigner out of the field, and be him-
self a gainer all the while, on account of the preference which
will always be given to the very superior article which he
raises."

His crime, in their eyes, is, that he has broken up the
Monopolist party. " Sir Robert Peel," says this writer,
'was more than the Minister of the Crown. He was
the avowed head of that party," &c., and the inference
to be drawn from all this is, that in the estimation of the
Tory party the duty of allegiance to the party over-
rides the duty of allegiance to the Sovereign. By break-
ing up a party so thoroughly selfish and so completely
anti-national as this, which would fain ride rough-shod
over both Sovereign and people, Sir Robert Peel has
conferred a benefit on his country scarcely in-
ferior to that which he has conferred onit by adopting
the principles of free trade as the groundwork of his
commercial policy ; and that the party is completely
broken up we have the unwilling confession of this
writer:—
" And, now, last of all, is there strength enough in the Pro-
tectionist party to justify an attempt on their own parts to
assume the Government? Without hesitation we answer that
there is not."
The literary contents of the present number are of a
high order. There is an excellent review of Mr. Mackin-
non's work on Civilization. An interesting resume of the
contents of Captain Stokes's recently published account
of the voyage of the Beagle along the coasts of New
Holland, and graphic sketches of the Dukes of Richmond
and Buckingham, the Earl of Radnor, Mr. Villiers, and
Mr. Bright among the contemporary orators, besides
several other papers.

THE DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE.

There is a dash of Harry Lorrequer in this number of
his quondam-magazine; it is by an anonymous but fa-
miliar contributor, and is the commencement of a series
of " Sketches of Burschen Life." It is quite impossible
not to participate in the exhilarating spirit flowing
through these chapters; they are redolent of good
humour, and, while they initiate us into the mysteries
of the student's life in the German universities, they put
us on good terms with both students and universities.
Slicing an odd nose off in a duel, or lopping away a
casual ear in the like description of amusement, are un-
doubtedly drawbacks to such a condition of society in
the nineteenth century • but, making this somewhat ex-
orbitant allowance for the excitement of youthful blood,
we are prepared to esteem henceforth every Bursch who
ever perambulates the streets of Manheim, be he a frog,
a camel, a fox, or a bemossed head—for such are the
eccentric titles of the German universitymen tall) ing
with the freshman, the sophister, and the senior of our
English universitymen ! Garnished with their chore-
caps and their meerschaums, and followed by their
trusty poodles, we would not unwillingly claim ac-
quaintance with any one of these students!; for, as this
writer assures us, and as we can likewise avouch, they
are about as intellectual and cordial a race of fellows as
can be found anywhere on the face of the earth.
There is a brotherly character about their friend-
ship for each other which cannot fail to enhance
them in the eyes of every gregarious mortal.
We commend the procession of "farewell" at Heidel-
berg to the perusal of all Cantabs and Oxonians—it is a
pleasant and moving picture. The paper upon " Bell's
Life of Canning " is a somewhat slovenly piece of criti-
cism; nor can we fully comprehend the consistency of
the writer who declares that he " boldly impugns " Sir
Robert's /whey in one sentence, and in another remon-
strates with Lord George Bentinck, for seeking " to
baffle a Government upon a measure in which they are
clearly right." Either he alludes in one instance to the
free-trade policy and in the other to the Coercion Bill,—
and, if so, makes a sad bungle in the expression of his
ideas—or the contradiction of opinion is attributable to

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the compositor,—and, if so, it betrays a strange care-
lessness in the correction of the proofs: or the whole
error springs from the vascillating or confused notions
of the writer,—aud, if so, is an egregious specimen of
his incompetency to express any decisive opinion upon
matters of such moment. - Among the quotations from
the satirical fragments of Canning, we rejoice to en-
counter, yet once again, that inimitable travestie of
Robert Southey's Sapphics, in which " the friend of
humanity " responds to the appeal for sixpence from the
" knifegrinder, in that memorable outbreak of indig-
nation—

" 1 give thee sixpence ! I will see the damn'd first—
Wretch ! whom no sense of wrongs can rouse to vengeance ;
Sordid, unfeeling, reprobate, degraded,
Spiritless outcast !"
" The Drama in connexion with the Fine Arts" is a
capital dissertation on the lamentation about the decay'
of dramatic art. But, in the very eulogiums which it
lavishes upon some amongst those wbo still grace the
histrionic profession, we think the writer entirely sub-
verts his own proposition, that this decay is traceable to
the deficiency of good actors and actresses. During
the palmiest days of Siddons, and Kemble, and
Kean, the old playgoers were wont to shrug their
shoulders in deprecation of such performance with a
" Ha! you should have seen Garrick!" Precisely in
the same manner, Macready and Phelps, and Miss
Faucit and Vandenhoff, are contemned by a cry of
" Ah! you should have seen Miss O'Neill!" or what
not. The decay is traceable rather to the extreme fas-
tidiousness of the age than to any exceeding paucity of
histrionic talent. Steven's " Memoirs of George Heriot"
are agreeably reviewed, and the cursory glance thus
taken of the ever-memorable " jingling Geordie" of
Scott will be relished by the readers of the magazine.
" The Ideal of Imitative Art" is likewise worthy of
praise, as an elegant group of gossiping remarks about
painting ; while " The Stepson" forms a very in-
teresting story, though a story rather suited for a
winter's evening and the ingle-nook, than for the
sultry days of July. Among the " continued" ar-
ticles we may mention Carleton's powerful tale of
the ",Irish Famine," and the picturesque serial about
" Irish Rivers." We cannot possibly see the humour
of the pasquinade upon the martyr of the cellar, and
howevermuch Mr. William Smith O'Brien may have
laid himself open to ridicule by his recent episode
upon Parliamentary business, we think he might have
been spared the punishment of suggesting a bad joke.
But for the importunate demands upon our space, we
should be tempted to extract the mystic and exquisite
verses entitled " The Wine Spilled ;" they form a
dainty decoration to the Dublin University.

LOYAL UNITED FRIENDS. —On Monday last...the 24th
anniversary of this highly-respectable body of men was cele-
brated at the Highbury Barn Tavern, Islington, on which
occasion above 500 friends partook of a dinner, served up in
Mr. Hinton's proverbial good style. General Secretary
Spiers officiated as chairman, and was supported by several
influential past officers and distinguished members of the
order. After the cloth had been drawn the chairman, in a
short speech, proposed " The Queen," which was drunk amid
much applause, as was also " Prince Albert, and the rest of
the Royal Family." "God save the Queen" was sung in ex-
cellent style, the company joining in the chorus with great
enthusiasm ; after which the chairman, in a few appropriate
words, gave " Success to the order of Loyal United Friends :"
this toast was received with raptures of applause ; after
which, P. P. Beeby, of the No. 8 Lodge, sang a song, of his
own composition, to the tune of the "Old English Gentle-
man," characteristic of the order. P. P. Hill, of the No. 16
Lodge, then proposed—" Prosperity to the Gift Funds of the
order ;" as did P. P. Beeby, " The Pension and Friend-in-
need Funds." Both toasts were received with great ap-
plause. S. P. Huntley, in a complimentary speech, gave
" The health of the chairman," which was responded to with
every demonstration of respect, and acknowledged by General
Secretary Spiers, in a neat speech. Secretary Burgess, of the No.
15 Lodge, proposed the health of Special-President Nuntley,
who, he stated, was justly eminent for his social and other
distinguishing qualities, and who was an ornament
to the order. This toast was well received, as was that
of the stewards, also proposed by Secretary Burgess. The
latter was acknowledged by P. Edmunds, of the No. 7 Lodge.
The last toast was " The Ladies," given from the chair;
after which the company adjourned to the pleasure-grounds
of this celebrated place of festive enjoyment. At nine o'clock
a ball commenced, and was attended by a large body of the
members and their fair companions, which was kept up to a
late hour, when the company broke up, highly delighted with
the enjoyments of the day.
In February last an English coachman, named Pye,
in the service of Mrs. Maxwell, having in the Bois de Bou-
logne unbridled his horse, and the animal being suddenly
frightened by the smacking of a carter's whip, it became
restive, and struck an old man, named Bergounioux, with
such violence, that he died. Pye was tried on Saturday for
his negligence, and sentenced to six days' imprisonment, and
to pay 300 f. a year to the widow Bourgounioux for her life.
Mrs. Maxwell was declared by the tribunal to be responsible
for this payment.
MANSLAUGHTER EY AN ENGINE DRIVER.—A man
named George 'locker, engine-driver at the Grace Mary Col-
liery, Rowley Regis, has been committed to take his trial
for manslaughter, in causing the death of a collier through
his negligence on Monday last. It appears that the de-
ceased was being drawn up from the pit, and Rocker having
neglected to slacken the engine, the skip struck with great
violence against the pulley of the pit-frame, and the deceased
was jerked out of the skip, fell heavily on the ground, and
was killed.

MUTINOUS CONDUCT AT CHATHAM BARRACKS.—On
Saturday night, between eleven and twelve o'clock, Chat .
ham Barracks became a scene of riot, which for a time ap-
peared likely to lead to serious results. Detachments of
various corps, it appears, were at the time held in readiness
to march to Gravesend on Monday to embark for India, and
soma of their comrades being placed in confinement for
breach of military discipline, a number of men of the 98th
Regiment united for the avowed purpose of liberating them,
to effect which, they first commenced by an attack on the
guard, removing the soldiers from their posts, overturning
the sentry boxes, bursting open the doors and wrenching off
the iron bars of the black hole, and liberating the prisoners.
At this stage of the proceedings the most serious conse-
quences were apprehended, a detachment was called out, and
with muskets loaded with ball proceeded to the scene of
riot. After some resistance the ringleaders were secured, and
being put in confinement, order was speedily restored. One
sergeant received very serious injury in the affray from a
violent blow on the head. On Monday morning, when the
detachments marched to Gravesend, thirteen of the rioters,
handcuffed, accompanied them.
THE DUCHESS OF NORTHUMBERLAND'S FETE CRAM-
PETRE.—Yesterday afternoon the Duchess of Northumberland
gave the last of a;series of these fetes champetre at Sion House,
Isleworth. The weather was rather unsettled, but from the
admirable provision afforded in the mansion not the least in-
convenience was experienced by the numerous visitors. The
full band of the Royal Horse Guards (Blue), under the direc-
tion of Mr. Tutton, was stationed on the lawn, and rendered
the :scene most enlivening by their musical performances.
Her Royal Highness the Duchess of Cambridge, attended by
Baron Knesebeck and Lady Augusta Cadogan, arrived at
half-past five. The Duke of Wellington was among the
early arrivals, and Sir Robert and Lady Peel came shortly
after six o'clock. Her Highness Princess Grassallcovick and
the Countess Murray came early. His Highness Ibrahim
Paella, accompanied by Major Dickson, Sami Pacha, Colonel
Bonfort, and M. Nubar, arrived at six o'clock, and remained
until nearly eight o'clock, The dejeuner was announced
shortly after six o'clock, and it is needless to remark com-
prised every luxury that wealth could procure. The
Ethiopian singers were engaged, and afforded much enter-
tainment to the company.
Mr. Green's Nassau Balloon descended on Monday
evening in a field of barley belonging to. Mr. Kynaston, in
the parish of Stanford Rivers, Essex, a mile and a half from
Ongar, and 21 miles from London, having travelled this dis
tance, besides the entire length of London from east to west,
and the further distance that Cremorne Gardens are from
the capital, in the short space of half an hour. The strong
wind that was blowing throughout the afternoon obliged Mr.
Green to use the heaviest of his grapnels and ropes, weighing
together close upon 5 cwt., the difference between them and
his mild weather apparatus being equivalent to the ordinary
weight of three persons. Nevertheless, eight gentlemen be-
sides Mr. Green participated in the aerial flight :—Mr. G.
Lawton, of Ditchley-park, Essex; Mr. J. J. Fryer of
Kensington ; M. J. Armstrong, of the College of Civil En-
gineers, Putney; Mr. Powell, of Benson, Oxfordshire; Mr.
Sargent, of Fleet street; Mr. G. 11. Davidson, the publisher
of the well- known Music for the Million; Mr. Spencer, the soli-
citor; and Mr. Van Buren, of the Cremorne-gardens. The bal-
leon took a direction perhaps the best possible for a perfect
view of London and all the adjacent places. It traversed
the great and main lines of St. James's Park, Tr,falgar-
square, the Strand, &c., and left London by crossing St.
Martin's-le-Grand, Finsbury, Shoreditcb, &c., whence it
continued its course over flainault Forest, and the inter-
vening places, till it was made to descend as stated, after
having had Chelmsford in close view, and the
Nore, and an
immense range of country of corresponding distance in the
prospect. While over the grounds of Buckingham Palace,
her Majesty's health was drunk, and the National Anthem
was sung in a style that showed some of the party to be no
mean vocalists. The next round of champagne was quaffed
in respect to Ibrahim Pacha, who had done the aeronauts
the honour of his company at starting. After landing, the
balloon sustained :some damage, from the boisterous state of
the weather; but Mr. Green and his party reached London
in safety, without any accident to detract from the enjoy-
ment of the trip.
LORD FRANCIS EGERTON.—In the Gazette of last
evening it will be seen that his Lordship has been elevated
to the peerage by the title of the Earl of Ellesmere and N7:5"
count Brackley. Both those titles had belongedsomtoe e
Egerton family, in the house of Bridgewater, f"
cen-
turies descendants of the celebrated and virtuous Sir Thomas
Egerton, whom Queen Elizabeth made her Lord Is.eep er,
and conferred other honours on,, for his distinguished abili-
ties, particularly in the suppression of the conspiracy of the
Earl of Essex. On the accession of James I. he enjoyed
the favour of that sovereign, by whom, in 1603, he was
created Earl of Ellesnlre, and subsequently, in 1616, he was
further raised to the dignity of Viscount Brackley, and the
King further intended to have conferred an earldom on him,
but be died before the patent was made out. The earldom
was, however, immediattly conferred upon his son, Vis-
count Brackley, the munificent patron of Milton, who
wrote his "Corms" expressly for the Earl when Lord Presi-
dent of the Principality, who had it performed by his
family at Ludlow Castle, in Wales. The viscounty and
barony thus became merged in the superior title of
Earl of Bridgewater, and were enjoyed in direct succes-
sion until the death of Francis Henry Egerton, eighth and
last Earl and ninth Viscount Brackley, and Baron Ellesmere,
who died in February, 1829, when those titles became ex-
tinct. It is generally known that Lord Francis Egerton,
then Lord Francis Leveson Gower, nephew of the Earl, in-
herited a large portion of his extensive estates, as well as his
valuable collection of paintings, familiar to all connoisseurs
of the tine arts as the Bridgewater collection. In 1833 he as-
sumed the name of Egerton, in lieu of his patronymic Leve-
son Gower. In 1820 his Lordship was returned to the House
of Commons, as Member for Bletchingley, and in 1826 was
elected to represent the county of Sunderland, which he con-
tinued to sit for until 1830. In 1835 he was returned for
the southern division of Lancashire, in conjunction with the
Hon. B. B. Wilbraham, in opposition to Viscount Molyneux
(now Earl of Sefton) and Mr. G. W. Ward. His Lordship
was Chief Secretary for Ireland, from 1828 to July, 1830,
when he Piss appointed Secretary-at-War, and filled that
office till the succeeding November. The Noble Lord was
offered a high appointment by Sir Robert Peel when he
came into office in 1841, but declined the honour from his
unsettled state of health.
We understand that Mrs. Magee, of Dublin, lately
deceased, has bequeathed the sum of 20,0004 to trustees, for
the erection of a Presbyterian College in Ireland. The de-
ceased was relict of the Rev. Lir. Magee, Presbyterian mi-
nister of Lurgan, and sister of Major-General Stewart, of the
Royal Irish Artillery.—Northern Whig.
MUNIFICENT BEQUEST.—The late Miss Lucy Harmer
has bequeathed the sum of 1,000/. to the Philanthropic As-
Miati9A for the Refermaticiii of JuYetuie Qffadert.