The Sun.
London, England, 1848-09-23 00:00:00

But this episode in the life of Lord George I3entinck will
be forgotten with the present generation, while hisdistin-
guished, though brief Parliamentary career, will remain inse-
parably connected with one of the most momentous
legis-
lative enactments which modern history presents. It., is
understood that the Duke of Portland regarded the sporting
pursuits of his son with considerable disapprobation, and
hailed with proportionate delight the withdrawal of Lord
and his return to the more elevated
occupations George f
rom
of political n
tr, f
society. It can scarcely be forgotten
that when Mr. Canning accepted office, Sir Robert Peel, the
late Lord Eldon, the Duke of Wellington, and other eminent
Tories of that day, were said to have persecuted him with a
degree of rancour far outstripping the legitimate bounds of
political hostility—at least that was the opinion of Lord
George Bentinck, who said that "they had hounded to the
death his illustrious relative." This offence he never
forgave. He "bided his time," and soon after
Sir Robert Peel last came into power, Lord
George, though, like a sound Tory, he had not re-
fused to support the Wellington Ministry or the Peel Go-
vernment of 1834-5, still watched for and seized the earliest
opportunity of wreaking vengeance for the real or supposed
wrongs of Mr. Canning upon the head of the Right Honour-
able Member for Tamworth. Lord George Bentinck, it is
true, might have been perfectly sincere and consistent in
his opposition to the free-trade measures of Sir Robert Peel,
but the ardour of his opposition evidently derived its in-
tensity from a long-cherished sense of the injuries inflicted
upon Mr. Canning. At this time what are called the Pro.
tectionist party was formed. One or two country gentlemen
made feeble attempts to place themselves at its head ; a few
efforts proved their inadequacy to the task. and it was soon
discovered that Lord George Bentinck, notwithstanding his
previous failures, and notwithstanding his infelicitous
manner as a public speaker, was the only man in the
House of Commons whose lead that party would follow.
Personal enemies be had none, but his political oppo-
nents were mortified and astounded that such a man
should per sultum become the bead of the Opposi-
tion. Few public events are more extraordinary, or
will occasion more general surprise than the short period of
time in which Lord George Bentinck built up his Parlia-
mentary character; and yet, with the public at large, his
Lordship enjoyed even a higher reputation than that which
he had acquired amongst the habitues of the House of Com-
mons; for the matter of his speeches was excellent, and his
style (technically so called) not below par; on the contrary,
it was remarkably perspicuous, occasionally forcible, and even
picturesque; but he was no sentence-maker, nor is the least
degree an actor, hence the effect of his speeches was produced
solely by those essential and intrinsic qualities which the
reader, a thousand mies from London, could compare with
those of rival and adverse statesmen with a cooler judgment
and more perfect means of appreciation than men who,
listening in the House of Commons to the more artistic dis•
plays of professional orators; became so dazzled by light, and
so heated by fire, that they rarely did full justice to the array
of facts and reasoning which Lord George Bentinck was ac-
customed to bring to any discussion in which it suited his
views to stand forth either as advocate or accuser; it may,
therefore, be confidently asserted that many men less able,
but more accomplished, have secured a greater House of
Commons reputation than he; higher celebrity within the
walls of Parliament, and lets influence out of doors.
Possibly his independence with reference to the stricter
bonds of party was not without its effect in giving him a
high place in the public estimation ; for, whatever may be
thought with regard to the tendency of his doctrines, there
seems to be no inclination in any quarter to dispute his
general consistency and uprightness as a public man. He
was never an uncompromising partisan, for he voted against
the opinions of the higher Tories in supporting the measure
called " Catholic Emancipation." his next piece of liberalism
was to vote in favour of the principle of the Reform Act,
though he opposed many of its details. He supported the Bill
for removing the Jewish disabilities; and it must be fresh
in the recollection of every reader that he recommended,
the payment of the Roman Catholic clergy by the land-
owners of Ireland. Lord George, therefore, was so far
from being an old-fashioned " thick-and-thin partisan,"
that he might be better described as a politician pecu-
liarly favourable to the maintenance of open questions.
It is further a very 'remarkable feature in his character
and career that a man of such Parliamentary eminence
should not have belonged to any Government. He never
had a seat in the Cabinet, and never held high office;
his qualifications, therefore, as a practical statesman have
not been fairly tested. Though he made some important
propositions, of which the sixteen-million-loan to the Iri,h
railways may be cited as an example; though he effected_
many amendments in measures proposed by his political op-
ponents, yet the greater part of his Parliamentary career
was devoted to the exciting but barren toils of opposition.
To descant now upon his fitness for the service of the
Crown, or the probability that he possessed high admi-
nistrative .talents, or the fame that he might have ac-
quired as a financier, would be neither an easy
nor a profitable task ; abandoning, therefore, that wide
field of speculation, and grasping the real instead of pursuing
the ideal, it may without hesitation be asserted that he was
one of the most formidable Members of her Majesty's Oppo-
sition who at any time occupied a place at the Speaker's left
hand. Many of his Hon. Friends displayed wit or learning.
eloquence, subtlety, or magnanimity, as might best suit the
nature of the occasion, or most readily accord with the tem-
per of the man ; but, come what might, Lord George Ben-
tinck almost always succeeded in giving a heavy blow to his
opponents. Other Members might entertain the House, or
interest the public of this land, or win for themselves even
a European reputation, but it has often been said that no
one within the same number of years made so many "damag-
ing speeches" as Lord George Bentinck, by which phrase
it was meant that no one contributed more than he did to
disturb, injure, and weaken the Ministry whose evil fate ex-
posed them to his merciless hostility. What he might have
been in power no man can tell—what he has been in opposi-
tion is best seen in the fact that scarcely any series of Par•
liamentary labours ever obtained for a Member of either
House so much influence in so short a time. As regards the
proximate cause of his death some difference of opinion
seems to prevail. The belief that he died of apoplexy was
yesterday very general, but she accounts received heat night
impute this most unexpected, and painful event to disease of
the heart. Both maladies are well know to produce sudden
death. Of course an inquest will be held, and the cause, if
possible, ascertained, of a loss which will be long and
severely felt, not only by his immediate relations, not only
by a large circle of personal friends, but by a considerable
body of political adherents. Lord George Eentinck was not
married.

DEATH OF THE EARL OF RATHDOWNE.—Accounts
received from Ireland announce the death of this nobleman
on Wednesday evening, at his seat, Charleville, county
Wicklow. The deceased, Henry Stanley Monck, Earl of
Rathdowne, Viscount Monck, and Baron Monck, of Bally-
trammon, county of Wexford, in the peerage of Ireland, was
born July 26th, 1785, and married, July 28th, 1806, Lady
Frances Le Poer Trench, fifth daughter of William, first Earl
of Clancarty, by whom he leaves thirteen children, eight of
whom, all daughters, survive. In the absence of any male
heir, the earldom becomes extinct and the viscountcy is suc-
ceeded to by Charles Stanley Monck, Esq., who married his
cousin. Lady Elizabeth Louise Mary, daughter of the de-
ceased. The late Earl was a resident landlord, and a sup-
porter of the Conservative party in his native county.
DEATH or CAPTAIN POLMILL.—This gentleman
(the announcement of whose death appeared in our obituary
of yesterday), for many years a prominent member of the
Lower House, expired on the 20th inst., at Ramsgate, aged
50. The name of the deceased will be familiar to the public
as a member of the theatrical and literary world. He was
for some time the lessee of Drury-lane Theatre, and has been
the author of several publications of merit. The Captain
was the grandson of the celebrated Southwark tobacconist,
and the tecond son of the late John Polhill, of Hornbury
Park, Bedfordshire. He married, in 1824, Frances Marga-
retta, daughter of the late John Deakin, Esq., of Baythorpe
House, Nottinghamshire. On the demise of his elder
brother he inherited the family property. In early life the
deceased entered the army, but retired some years since with
the rank of Captain. When first returned for the borough
of Bedford, in 1830, be professed himself a Conservative and
a supporter of Protectionist principles. In :835 and in 1841
be came in on similar principles. In 1832 he was an unsuc-
cessful candidate. Latterly the deceased became an uncom-
promisingsupporter of Sir Robert Peel, and voted for the
repealofthe corn-laws, and other measures of that Minister.
At the last election for the borough he was left in a minority
on the poll.
DEFENCE OF ACCCSED.—Though the recent Acts
ofthe one passed 20th August, 1836, as
to
in criminal cases, being entitled to copies of
depositions taken.against them, and persons charged, in penal
cases, before Justices in Petty Sessions having the benefit of
Pprairsloinameres,nt, Repeal,
defence by counsel or attorney, are repealed ; yet this new
law re-enacts (in nearly the same words) those privileges.
THE MEMOIRS AND CORRESPONDENCE Or LORD
CASTLEREAGIL—Edited by his Brother the 111arquis of Lon-
donderry.--We understand that this important work will be
published by Mr. Colburn on the 30th of September.
MILDRED VERNON.--A TALE Or PARISIAN LIFE.
—This work is too remarkable a one not to be universally
sought for. The moral tendency of the book, and that which
more especially concerns the English reader, is, to show, by
the details of a case no one will deny to be a frequent one,
that we are not a bit more moral than our neighbours, and
that, in some points of morality, on the contrary, they surpass
us. It tends, too, to prove that the frivolity, both of educa-
tion and habits in the English fashionable world, multiplies
the dangers which surround an English family abroad. It is,
in a word, the but too true history of the misery and ruin se
freouently drawn down on a young Englishman abroad—espe-
cially in Paris—by his enthusiastic temperament, his ill-disci-
plined (so called)" good heart," and his decided want of taste,
backed by the spoiled child-like determination always to
attain what he desires, no matter at what cost I—Evening
Paper.
CARRIAGES AND HARNESS FOR THE SHERIFFS
ELEcr.—lt is now three years since we had occasion to
rangements generalslyin?
no-
tice favourably the carriages built by Messrs. Laurie and
producedMaraer, forfor tahneythen sheriffs, who have again this year
built them expressly for the sheriffs elect, Mr. Alderman
Finnis and Jacob Goodhart, Escl•
hoewye Bowyer
coloure
o ofm r,oanneybein gialgaar beautifultcba lsaioaen'ff.e
They certainly are two of
he
the most chaste and elegant carriages that have yet been
It
withn
hast theh e
beencolours
City
arms,
pr r
mao
produced
t dr
zoned on theand the private arms beautifully embla
panels. The body is suspended on a pearl
white carriage,ai relieved with gold and vermillion, the
ewhite with scarlet and gold fringe and green
velvet centre, the inside fitted up with white satin relieved
with rich brocade lace and the City arms embroidered on
roof; the other carriage is fitted up in the same style, ex-
cepting colours_
- which are of a rich green body with a white
under carriage relieved with green gold ornaments with the
richlyC ty arms,
em
atzhoened on the panels. The harness is also of an
Grocers' Company, and the private arms
elegant and novel description, being made entirely of patent
leather sewn with white, with the arms and crests richly
chased and emblazoned.
SACRED HARMONIC SOCIETY.—In pursuance of
certain resolutions agreed to at a meeting of members held
on Tuesday, the sth instant, a special general meeting of the
members of the society was held last night at Exeter Hall,
for the election of a conductor, and to consider and determine
what further conditions should be adopted with reference to
that office. The chair was taken by Mr. Harrison, the pre-
sident of the society. Five or six candidates were proposed,
all of them men of standing and high professional eminence
as musicians ; but, after considerable discussion, the contest
lay entirely between Signor Costa and Mr. Perry, who has
been for about sixteen years the leader in the society. Upon
the votes being taken, there appeared for the appointment of
Signor Costa 97, and for Mr. Perry 28, being a majority of
69 in favour of Signor Costa. This appointment may be
hailed as a great accession of strength to the society, espe-
cially when Signor Costa's connexion with the Philharmonic
is taken into account; and it may also be regarded as a fur-
ther evidence of the anxiety of the members of the society
to increase its effectiveness and to sustain its well-earned po-
pularity.
THE OVERLAND MAlL.—Yesterday, notice was
issued at the General Post-office, St. Martin's-le-Grand, that
the mail for China, India, Egypt, and the Mediterranean,
rid Marseilles, would not be dispatched till Monday evening,
the 25th inst.

ROYAL PATRONAGE.—The Queen has been gra-
ciously pleased, by special appointment, to confer on Messrs.
Begg and Buyers, distillers, Loch-na-Gar, the honour of
diatillors to hor &Nulty.