The Sun.
London, England, 1846-10-24 00:00:00

lqbanti) ',f, -fit`

LONDON, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24, 1846.

Manchester is fortunate in the principles by which
its leading citizens are actuatjd. By a combination
of industry, and probity, and enterprise it has been
rendered the manufacturing capitol of the greatest
manufacturing empire civilisation has ever produced.
Since the peaceful labour of humanity first assumed
to itself its true importance, since its eminent advan-
tages were incarnated in T ÜBAL CAIN, and idealised in
VuLcAN, it has never created for itself an abiding
place of so much intrinsic grandeur and magnificence
as this. Compared with the vastness, the complica-
tion, the extension, and the solidity of British com-
merce, the mercantile glory of Carthage is as
nothing; the Tyrean opulence as poverty; the Vene-
tian domination as slavery ; the golden book of
Genoa, and the galleons of the Iberian peninsula, are
as the prophetic mimicry of what has been
realised in these islands. With the accumula-
tion of this extraordinary wealth, however,
we have been taught, by the lights of
reason and Christianity, that the possession of mere
specie and the fabrication of mere luxuries, are not
to be regarded as the predominant objects of our
existence. The experience of hist)ry has shown us ,

how such ignoble creeds have sapped the vigour of
:IR most gigantic empires—how in one instance they
have degenerated a warlike into an effeminate people
—how in another they have plunged a wise, valour-
ous, and virtuous race into all the licentious influences
of Epicureanism. As civilisation has advanced the
true end of industry, the real utility of opulence, and
the veritable recompense of enterprise has bean re-
vealed and acknowledged. It has been revealed, and
it has been acknowledged, that fleets are nothing, that
mechanical contrivances are nothing, that splendid
and capacious factories are nothing, that ware-
houses filled to the roof-beams with riches,
and harbours crowded with the peaceful navies
of commerce, are of no avail in assuring the
happiness of a population, unless the operatives
are proportionably elevated by the principals, unless
the truths of knowledge, and the impulses of morality
are inculcated among those who were hitherto
ignorant and debased.

In these respects Manchester is setting a brilliant
example to the other seats of the manufacturing
industry and mercantile prosperity of Great Britain.
She is already an object of emulation to all other
towns which are aspiring to any degree of commercial
importance, and she is now endeavouring to excite a
still nobler emulation by her labours for the moral
and intellectual advancement of her citizens. The
Manchester Athenaeum is an institution such as would
confer new honour upon any associate, however pre-
viously illustrious. We are satisfied that since the esta-
blishment of the Manchester Athenaeum a very con-
siderable progress has been made towards assuring
physical comfort and mental improvement to the
people in the northern districts of this kingdom, and
that a vast proportion of that progress is attributable
to the influence of that association. Its Noble Chair-
man avouched a similar opinion only yesterday even-
ing ; he declared his conviction that while the
Athenaeum had walked its own ground, it had been
likewise suggestive of many kindred processes, and
that, borrowing an illustration from one of the dis-
puted problems of the upper sky, in its career of
light and progress, it had thrown off from itself separate
bodies " which hardened into distinct masses and glowed
with independent lustre." He expressed his confidence
that to the reflections produced by its periodical as-
semblages, and to the ideas originated in " the earnest
friction of its discussions" many salutary improve-
ments of a local character might be traced; that to
the emulation excited by that body were owing
in a very considerable degree the public
parks by which Manchester was now rendered
more beautiful and more salubrious, the municipal
efforts recently made to ameliorate the condition of
its inhabitants, and the establishment of those baths
and wash-houses, which he justly characterised as
" calculated to have deeper effects than on the mere
skin and linen." Accurate and forcible as
these expressions are, we are inclined to go
even further than the Noble Lord in
attributing collateral advantages to the ex-
istence of such an association. We are inclined to
behold in the operations of that body the movement
of a power which shall be felt— v. hich must in time be
felt throughout the length and breadth of England.
We regard the foundation of such an institution as a
boon not merely to Lancaster, but ulteriorly to every
shire in the land. There is no exclusiveness
in the creed of learning ; there is no sectarianism in
the brotherhood of knowledge; a thought expressed,
a fact divulged, a truth promulgated, is not the pro-
perty of any one individual—it appertains to no
single province; it belongs not, by prerogative, to
any separate locality—it is the world's ! And it is
from recognising these essential principles of human
intelligence that we are persuaded so many national
benefits must accrue from this Manchester Athenaeum.
Even supposing that the only consequence of its
foundation was its annual meeting in that city, an
inestimable advantage would thereby result to the
community—the advantage of an interchange of
thoughts among some of the brightest contemporary
intellects. That periodical collision of highly-gifted
and variously-endowed minds is of itself the har-
binger of great blessings, and a fresh impetus to the
progress of civilisation. We have frequently in-
Asssociation. What the British Association is
to the philosophers of England, the Manchester
Athenreum is to the people of England. The former
gives a new incitement to the student in his labora-
tory; the latter is a:solace to the artizan in his toil; it
is an encouragement to him in his days of hardship,
it is a MENTOR in his moments of recreation.

The establishment of such institutions as the
Athenaeum is virtually the realisation of a free
trade in mind. Through that body the humblest
may mentally associate with the most exalted, the
most ignorant may commune with the most learned,
the obscure labourer may drink in draughts of wisdom
and benevolence from the lips of the greatest geniuses
and the most eminent philanthropists of the age.
On a former occasion the Athenaeum had as chair-
man " that master of our sunniest smiles and our
most unselfish tears," CHARLES DICKENS. On
another its members " thrilled under the spell of
that potent magician," Mr. DISRAELI. On a third
" the deep, gentle, and earnest spirit" of Mr. Ser-
geant TALFOURD presided over that assembled
multitude. On this meeting for 1846, the chairman
was one illustrious by his position as a statesman, by
the gentleness but elevation of hi intellect, and by
the persuasive beauty of his oratory ; we need not
say that that chairman was Lord MORPETII. To quote
his own expression, when speaking of that RABELAIS
of the age, " Boz"—the chair of the Athenaeum.
" never was and never can be filled more worthily."
The minds of the Noble Lord's hearers must have'
felt exalted and purified by the benignant character
of his oration. When he said to them, " You have
not thought it sufficient to raise factories tier upon
tier, or magazines that will accommodate the traffic.
of the world, but you have thought it your business
too to build and set apart a home and a haunt for in.--
nocent enjoyment, for useful instruction, fear
graceful accomplishments, for lofty thought,
a strain and phalanx of feeling in a Christim
land ; " when he told them that he
would not diminish the aspirations of their youtlb,
that he would not extinguish their ambition, that he
would not eradicate from their hearts their yearnings
after immortality, but that he would remind them "th %t
there was something snore admirable than genius, an r 1
that was virtue—something more valuable than succes
and that was duty;" when he expressed his confil-•
dente that reason as well as Christianity " malo.o
humility almost its most prominent grace ;" an .al
when he exclaimed, "who would not be humble wh Lo
felt as he ought the loveliness of virtue and the mag•-
nificence of knowledge ?" he assumed to himself th
to
noblest office of a legislator ; he became the publi .c
panegyrist of reason and the public worshipper A
morality. It was a noble and consolatory assuran(
to the artizan which Lord MORPETH uttered who sn
he observed—

" Depend upon it, however humble may be any A
your positions in life, however obscure the labour whic b
engrosses the precious hours as they pass, however insit ;-
nificant your whole life's drudgery, in this mean and un -
envied position, in this drudgery you may hold fox'
yourself the qualities, you may build up for yourselvesi
the character which princes, if they knew them, wouldl
trust, which multitudes, if they could discern them would.
adore."

It is the promulgation of such sentiments as theso
that imparts a true dignity to the aristocracy, and/
that tends so much to the fusion of classes and to the:
moral and intellectual advancement of the people.

A letter from Mr. PAYNE, the Coroner of the cit y
of London, was on Thursday read at the meeting •o
the Court of Common Council, in which that gentle
man explained the steps he had taken for the purpose
of reviving the ancient practice of holding inquests,
or courts of inquiry, in cases of fire. Prevention is
ever better than punishment, and we have no doubt
that if every case of fire, the origin of which was not
clearly ascertained, was fully investigated before a
competent tribunal, the results would be most
beneficial, and that it would tend to give a heavy
blow and great discouragement to parties desirous
of defrauding insurance companies, by wilfully setting
fire to their own houses, occurrences that take place
much more frequently than the public have any
idea of.

There is no description of offence that may lead to
such a fearful loss of life and property as that of arson.
A fire, at first trifling and insignificamt, may, from
various causes, spread to the most alarming extent.
A simple perusal of the various casualties that have
occurred in the metropolis and the larger provincial

towns from fire during one single year would occasion
the most painful emutions. Felluw-creatures cut off
by a most painful death, without a moment's warn-
ing or preparation for the awful change ; property to
an immense ex tent sacrificed; human beings left
houseless and penniless, deprived of their nearest and
dearest friends, and suddenly reduced from comfort
and comparative affluence to poverty and destitution.
How gladly would the philanthropist do anything
within his power to mitigate their sufferings or to
soothe their afflictions, hew zealously would he co-
operate in any manner with those exerting themselves
to remove the causes of such calamities. There is no
reasonable expense that would not gladly be under-
taken by the public to reduce their amount.

Nothing can be better calculated to effect this
object than the certainty that a searching and rigid
investigation would in every instance take place.
The reckless criminal, who would be little deterred by
a consideration of the harrowing consequences of his
crime, would shudder at, and be afraid to encounter,
the vastly increased chance of detection thereby
afforded. In other cases, where no criminal intention
existed, the description' of negligence by which these
accidents are in the majority of instances occasioned,
would be exposed, and the public, warned by the
damages that had been sustained, would evince a
greater degree of caution, and abstain from practices
likely to lead thereto.
_ _

The coroner was originally an officer who had
many and important duties committed to his charge,
but by degrees many of his functions were suffered to
fall into disuse, and, with the exception of the inquests
held on the bodies of persons who had met with sudden
or violent deaths, little remained to be done by that
officer. There are few, however, who can be ignorant
of the great services that have been rendered to
humanity by reason of inquiries that have taken
place before coroners. It was the exposé that took
place at the inquest at Hounslow, on the body of
poor WHITE, the victim of the atrocious and abomi-
nable practice of corporal punishment, and the
medical testimony there elicited, that led to the great
amelioration which has already taken place—(the re-
duction in the number of lashes that can by any pos-
sibility be inflicted)—and, it is to be hoped, gave the
death-blow to the system. Instances of neglect and
cruelty in the management of public institutions
have been thereby frequently brought to light, which
might have remained buried in obscurity, and im -
provements have been effected, which would otherwise
never have been thought of.
Mr. PAYNE deserves great credit for the disinte-
rested manner in which he has acted, in taking upon
himself the additional labour imposed on him by the
ancient practice without making any charge what-
soever for his own fees ; he has proved that he was
influenced solely by objects of public utility rather
than personal emolument, and that he desired to
make his office useful to the greatest possible extent.
As he stated in his letter, the power of holding such
courts, which, undoubtedly, existed in the olden
time, had never been taken away, and he was led to
resume its exercise from a conviction of its great im-
portance and utility. The example thus set has been
followed in several parts of the kingdom, and we
sincerely hope it may be universally adopted. Eleven
cases within the last twelve months have alone been
of sufficient importance to require an investigation in
the city of London and Southwark, and the entire
expenses thereof (exclusive of the fees which Mr.
PAYNE So handsomely waived his right to) amounted
only to 201. ls. 2d., a sum quite insignificant in com-
parison with the great good thereby obtained. The
letter of the Coroner was referred to a committee, to
inquire and report on. An attempt was made to pass
it by sub silentio, and to let it lie on the table un-
noticed; but we are happy to say it was negatived by
a large majority, and a general feeling existed that
the course pursued by the Coroner gave additional
security to life and property, and was very service-
able to the community.,
We trust that Mr. PAYNE will be fairly remune-
rated for the trouble he has already taken, that the
Corporation will not suffer him to be a loser by the
liberality he has exhibited, and that the result of the
report of the committee will be to perpetuate and
ease, Mr. PAYNE will have the proud consciousness
that he has well and efficiently discharged his duty,
that he has deserved the confidence reposed in him,
and that he has merited the approbation of those by
whom he was elected to office, and of his fellow-citi-
zens and the public generally.

The intelligence from Switzerland is on the whole
satisfactory. At Geneva all is quiet, and the Provi-
sional Government seems to give universal satisfac-
tion. At Berne the authorities are adopting active
measures to prevent a recurrence of the disturbances.
A letter from that city, dated October 18th, says—
" Last evening the Government posted up a procla-
mation announcing that it was taking measures for re-
ducing the price of provisions, and, at the same time, for
acting with rigour against the rioters. During the night
it remained in permanent sitting at the Arsenal, and
collected information of serious political plots under the
direction of the patriciate, as well as under that of the
Government which was overturned several months ago.
It consequently ordered about fifteen arrests, among of
which are the late Councillor of State, M. Felscherin,
ex-Professor Muller, and M. Stauffer Gunther, merchant.
As early as four in the morning detachments of the
militia began to come in to the,,support of the Govern-
ment. Nearly all the arrests were made without re-
sistance, and appeared to have paralysed the rioters, but
about ten in the morning about a hundred collected in
the Place des Greniars, and were preparing to attack the
corps-de-garde, when they were charged by a detachment
of cavalry without its making use of its arms. As,
however, it was met with a shower of stones, two pieces
of cannon loaded with grape-shot were brought out of
the Arsenal with matches lighted, the appearance of
which was sufficient to clear the streets, All persons
were prevented from passing through those streets and
squares were they were likely to create disturbance, by
two companies of infantry and detachments of the civic
guard."
At Bale, on the 18th, it was stated that the Grand
Council was on the eve of holding an extraordinary
sitting, to discuss the petitions laid before it for
giving its sanction to the decision which tends to
break the ultra-montane league. The sympathy
these petitions have met with in the people at large
has modified the sentiments of several members of the
Lesser Council, who have declared that they would
rather resign than act in opposition to the wishes of
the people.

Madrid papers of the 17th have arrived.
The Clamor Publico contains the following notice :
" Phenomenon ! no journal was seized yesterday,
not even the Gazette, which well deserved seizure,
not so much for what it said, as for what it did not
say. The silence of the official organ upon the
ardently-desired amnesty is more subversive of order
than the reflections of all the Opposition journals put
together."
On the subject of this said amnesty, the Madrid
correspondent of Galignani's Messenger says, under
the date of October 17 :
" I am assured that a Ministerial crisis at present
causes great anxiety to the Queen ; nothing, how-
ever, transpires beyond the precincts of the Palace ;
the amnesty is said to be its cause. It is
said that when the project was laid before the Queen,
she replied that she would consult her mother ; on
which Don Francisco observed that he considered himself
qualified and entitled to advise her ; and in definitive he
explained that an amnesty to be of any value should be
ample. There is a very prevalent idea that Queen
Christina will go to France. She wished to send away
Don Francisco de Paula, but his son's influence pre-
vented it. That little check is very significant, and she
already knew that the public voice blames her as the
promoter of French influence here. The high distinc-
tion bestowed upon M. Bresson, in the person of his
child, having been granted contrary to the laws and con-
stitutions of the kingdom, the old nobility feel it a great
insult to their order. The nobles who appeared yester-
4ay as padrinos for the knights in the bull-fights, had at
first declined the honour ; but when the Queen inti-
mated her will, that. renowned Castilian loyalty over-
came every other feeling."
Wherever the QUEEN makes her appearance she is
received with shouts of applause ; but the instant the
Duke and Duchess of MONTPENSIER appear the
a•pplause ceases, and they are received in solemn
sJ lence. So painfully apparent has this difference
b ecome, that by the advice of the Spanish Govern-
s tent the period fixed for the departure of the Duke
a nd Duchess has been hastened, and instead of re-
a at Madrid until the 28th, they were to leave
a a the 22d. It was supposed that Portugal was the
tli eatre of serious events, as no courier from either
Li shon or Oporto had arrived for four days.
MADRID BOLSA, OCT. 17.—Three per Cents. 35i
( :;h; Four per Cents., 21k; Five per Cents., 22
sh ; ditto, without interest, 6-1. Exchange on
ondon, 361.

We have received the Paris papers of Thursday.
They almost all of them contain articles on the