The Sun.
London, England, 1848-11-16 00:00:00

_q/

Z./2 L

-

Tun Nnw CITY CLUB ,--This club held its in.
auguration dinner yestero ay, at the club-house, in
Basinghall-street; Mr. Frie ri,d in the chair. It has been
instituted with the view of providing a medium associa-
tion between the late Whit timgton Club and the Gres-
ham, the first of which 11:3,s abandoned its ground is
the City, and the latter of which is rather too expen-
sive to meet the purposes o f the class for whom accom-
modation is particularly rt quired. The new City Club
has taken possession of or is of those old mansions for
which the neighbourhood off :asinghall-street and Alder-
manbury is celebrated. It it conducted upon an econo-
mical scale, and combines w ith the victualling depart-
merit the means of gratifyin g the more refined tastes of
the day, in the shape of a lib racy, a reading-room, and
other adjuncts to literary and social unions.
TILE THBRMOGENIC COLT.—The wools of Aus-
tralia are celebrated for their t softness and yielding quali-
ties, and thus present advani;a ges for the fabrication of
the warmest cloths. With. this material a cloth of
luxuriance and finish has recently been perfected for Mr.
I Sayce, of Cornhill, who ma kt!s therewith an over-coat
of great superiority, being singularly free from the coarse
and vulgar character imparted by garments intended for
e virtue,r
n'ap andpr e ciina btl he
such uses. As a protection fr em the night air, it is the
promenade,
epneardfee,c
it
possessingthing of
the t hed at
the absence of all dye or the filthy compound of carriage
from
o
which
cloths are generally dressed, o;f
contamination either to
the glove or ladies' robe.
CHATEAUBRIAND'S MIKOIRB.—The public will
learn with satisfaction that the English translation' f
the Memoirs of the celebrated Chateaubriand hasbe 4(1) brought out by Mr. Colburn, after the fashion of the
dry,
in the cheapest possible form.. The first part, price only
2s. Gd., contains the whole of the first volume of the
Paris edition. It forms a por Lion of Mr. Colburn's New
Standard Library. Few Englis h readers are unacquainted
with the fact that M. de Chateaubriand was for above
half a century one of the mos t eloquent, energetic, bold,
and independent writers of F ranee. Surviving the last
revolution by a few months only, he died in July last,
at the age of fourscore, leaving these memoirs written
by himself, descriptive of the scenes of his long and
checquered career. When it is considered that Chateau-
briand was not merely an autitior, but that he figured
successively as a soldier, traveller, ambassador, and
Prime Minister, we have a right to expect in the auto-
biography of a man of his! transcendent genius a work
pf rare value and unrivalled interest.—Eveniny paper.
ThSISTOL, Nor. 14.—Yesterday was the anniver-
sary of the birth and death (for be died on his natal day)
of Brist.ol's great benefactor, Edward Colston. In ac-
cordance With annual custom, the different societies
formed to commemorate the philanthropist held their
annual dinner, and upwards of 1,000/ was collected to
be expended in tie ensuing winter in the relief of ne-
cessitous and deserv.ag persons. Two of the charities,
the Anchor Society and the Dolphin Society, partake to
some extent of a political character. The former dined
at the Royal Gloucester liot,-I—W. G. Langton, Esq.,
son of the late Member for East Somerset, in the
chair; and its collection amounted to about 4201. The
Dolphin dinner, which was pm sided over by J. D.
Pountney, Esq., took place at the. White Lion Hotel;
its collection amounted to about :3201. A third society,

the Grateful, is neutral in its character, being sup%

ported by persons of all shades in politics; its dinner
took place at the Montague Hotel, and its collection

amounted to 375/.
AMERICAN ENTIIUSIASM.—An American editor
prints the following appendage to a marriage advertise-
ment:—" We caught a refreshinc, glimpse of this inter-
esting and lovely pair as they whirled through Rochester
on their matrimonial tour to our great American Niagara
Falls, in the fulness of a love called into being by his
devotion to the cause of our despised people. We wish
our friend Cadwell long life and unending fields of hap-
pineso."

POLISH BALL AT GUILDHALL.
(From the Morning Advertiser.)
By the kind forbearance of the Times, this evening
" they who are perpetually wafting a sigh to the Poles
are determined on easing their sorrows by a dance in the
City, and the City authorities follow the precedent of
former years, by granting the use of Guildhall." This
"
privilege is granted on the condition that the City ate-
thorities, and those who go to the ball,
must prepare
to receive and accept applications for their favour on
other occasions, when British patronage and British
polkas will be danced for the benefit of those who
are
suffering at home, without the attendant blessing of a
`ski' or an 'off to their vulgar names." Without pausing
to indicate the taste with which our contemporary ex-
presses his sensibility, so much offended by the vulgarity
of Polish names, we must congratulate the Poles that
they come off so well, after the effort which has been
made to damage their cause in the article from which
these elegantice are selected. The thunders of Blackfriara
have been let loose most unmercifully ; they have
sounded and resounded from Pole to Pole, and yet as
we mentioned yesterday, the demand for tickets has been
incessant, not one lady having been intimidated by
the authoritative announcement, that she ought not to
go. The cause of failure is worth a little inquiry. It
may be, perhaps, that the voice of that paper is not
deemed worthy of very high regard on any subject in
which the interests of hurdanity and charity are con-
cerned. We have had occasion to comment sometimes
on the coarse mirth and levity with which our contem-
porary is accustomed to indulge in reference to serious,
important, and laudable objects. A man who gets into
the way of laughing at and ridiculing the objects in
which the generality of people take an interest, :and
which they treat with earnestness, cannot be surprised if
he should receive for himself or his opinions very little
respect or attention. Sir Walter Scott used to tell of a
gentleman he met in company, who was remarkably
unfortunate in timing the expression of his feelings to
the subjects which might happen to be on the carpet.
He was generally half an hour before he perceived
the point of anything which might be the subject of
conversation, and the result was extremely ludi-
crous and amusing. A gentleman might tell a
very tragic tale, which he would conclude amidst
appropriate expressions of sorrow from all the company,
except this man of slow apprehension. half an heur
after, when the conversation had assumed a cheerful and
lively character, our gentleman would appear in great
distress, and give utterance to a deep sigh or heavy
groan, for by that time he had understood the suffering,
when everybody else had forgotten it. In the same
manner the laugh at a mirthful tale would come out,
perhaps, in the midst of some most distressing and huge.
brious narration. This man puts us in -mind of the
Times, whose habit seems to be, to groan when it should
laugh, and to laugh when it should sigh. We think this
is generally perceived, and may partly account for the
indifference with which everybody seems to regard lar
mentations made over the excessive end misapplied cha-
rity of the English people in giving their patronage to the
Polish ball. Another reason for the literary impotence
in this matter may be found in the small fact, that
his allegations on the subject are not in perfect
keeping with what is considered to be the real state of the
case, the merits of which he has attempted to settle. It
is alleged that the Polish exiles need not stay in this
land—that they are idly loitering in the West when
they should serve their nation in the East. It is said,
" Prussian Poland is opened to the exiled patriot, even
if its Russian neighbour be closed fagainst them. The
Pan-Sclavonic party in Austria would rejoice at the
fresh infusion of Sclavonic blood in the members of the
I disturbed empire." Now, this sounds very well; but,
unfortunately, it is written without a perfect acquain-
tance with the subject in discussion. A very good
authority tells the 7 imes, what it has not been able to
contradict, that " the Poles cannot return to Prussian
Poland without a passport from the Prussian Minister,
and that passport is granted to natives of Prussian Po.
land only, and not in all cases even to them. It was re-
fused in one instance to a native of Prussian
Poland, unless he could give satisfactory testimony
as to his conduct for the last seventeen years.
Austrian Poland is in like manner closed
against all Poles who are not natives of that
part of Poland held by Austria." It is an ugly thing to
get a false assertion into an argument, inasmuch as the
result is sure to damage the logical structure into which
it has been introduced. It is argued that the Poles ought
to leave us, for their native country is now open to them;
and were this true, we should say they ought to go, or
at least not receive English charity. But the Times is
innocent on the subject—it writes in the dark; the day
is not arrived in which thereisa "Poland for the Poles."
By the way, the 7'imes knows, for it quotes what Lord
Dudley Stuart has said on the willingness of the Poles
to return to their own country whenever they can.
" Lord Dudley's own words:—' Some few years ago
there were about 700 Poles receiving a weekly allow-
ance from the Treasury, and about 60 or 70, whose
cases did not come withha the rules of the Treasury,
and who received weekly relief from the As-
sociation of the Friends of Poland. The num-
ber of the former is now reduced to about 350
and that of the latter to about 302 " Is there not in this
fact sufficient proof that there is on the part of the Poles
no wish to loiter in the west: when they can go to the east,
and visit again the land from which they are exiles?
The Times, therefore, cannot damage the Poles by its
articles, for this reason, that they are altogether incorect
in their representations. Another thing which ma, ao.
count for the failure to damage the Polish ball, is the
disgust which is inspired by witnessing an attempt to
prevent the exercise of hospitality to the stranger. If
people have a mind in this way to cheer the heart of the
exile we do not see why ally one should come forward to
prohibit the flow of charity.. A fine character England
would receive for its virtu* among other nations, if she
would submit to the dictation which now proposes to con-
trol the exercise of her benevolence. It has long been the
glory of England to be the Ito me of the exile, the refuge and
harbour of the distressed; but if people would do as they
are told to do, we should social acquire a name as odious
as that which attaches to the mentor who proposes to
regulate the exercises of tine national will. If we un-
derstand the policy recom mended in reference to the
Poles, it is that they shound. be so distressed, by the
neglect they meet in England, that they should resolve to
go and throw their lives ass Ity in any foreign revolution
in which they may succeed in acting a part, or in any
army that may give them a good chance of being shot at.
This is the interpretation we feel disposed to put on the
language, when it is said—" Let it not be supposed that
we wish to drive these in to resting visitors from our
shores. We have no wish t. ) neutralise a prolonged hos-
pitality by a sudden pets ecution." Perhaps not—but
then, why lirite expressly . for this purpose? We have
no sympathy with this raf nle of disposing of the dise
tressed. It would be a the sip way of getting rid of the
Poles, but it is hardly Chri it inn or English.

1•.: -t • cr ~,,,
"....-.-:,1:04:i-4-, Vi
'.--''... ..-s..Ni
'.' , A
; ~ , spik
`'..i'ly," .x-,,,-. . ~...,
ir.,-. ',..:,Tik,,--(7;4•;;,) r-
):,
. A ‹.,,-:, t
and principal inhabitants displaying their 1 1 . ii..:\oA,, sc
illuminating their respective habitations. % • 4:7`,:-.. '' ; '
1,,t- ....--,-..
We understand that her Majesty and Princ
,--,--c., LJ and a large party from the Priory, intend to visit ' public school at Harrow on Friday, previous to re-
turning to Windsor Castle.