The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-06 00:00:00

OUR REPORT OP THE LATE GREAT
MEETING IN WESTMINSTER.

(Prom the Morning Adwertieer.)

There is nothing more common than for platform ora•
tore, as well as members of the House of Commons, to
endeavour to make the reporter the scapegoat for any
expressions they may have employed, which they after-
wards find it inconvenient to acknowledge. To escape
the unpleasant consequences to themselves, such persona
impugn the aocuracy of the report, and thus, as far as ill
them lies, do a serious injury to gentlemen whose position
depends on their character for correct reporting. This l°
a very grave matter ; and as the praetiee is beooming
general for speakers to throw the blame unjustly on the
reporter., in order that they themselves may escapee
we think it high time that the editors of public journals
should throw the shield of their protection around those
gentlemen who, in the practice of their laborious profeto
sion, are thus sought to be made responsible for the errors,
indiscretions, or follies of those persons whose speeelhee
it is their duty to report. One way in which this can be
done is to show, by proofs of the most conclusive kin";
as we now do, that the charge of inaccuracy preferred
against the reporter is without foundation. Another
mode of protecting reporters is by abstaining from the
publication of foture reports of the speeches of such
Parties as have unjustly sought to transfer the responsv
bility of what they have said from their own shoulder°
to those of the gentlemen who bad the misfortune to
report their orations. In the present case, in addition
to the letter of our own reporter published yesterday,
and to that of another reporter, which we subjoins
we have had the most express assurances 'given
us of the accuracy of the allusion to Prince Albert,
by gentlemen of education who were on the plat-
form, within two or three yards of the speaker. Jt
also dee to the gentleman whose report is impugned that
we should state, that there is not a more able reporter
in England. Besidee, the very phrase which the speaker
says he used, namely, the "hut of a peasant," instead
of " the husband of a Queen," would have been a simple
absurdity ; inasmuch as there is no instance on record,
in this or any other country, in which treason has been
hatched in " the hut of a peasant." Treason always has a
more elevated birthplace. And, last of all, the deafening
plaudits, again and again reiterated, aecompanied with
the whirling of hats in the air, which followed the
sentence showed that the vast assemblage not onler
distinctly heard the words, " the husband of a Queen,'
bat felt, or at least believed, that there was a terrible
significance in the allusion,—which would have been
pointless, and would have passed unnoticed, bad the
language used been, as the speaker now says it was,
"the hut of a peaeant.* The following is the letter of
another Reporter who was present, not asked for but
volunteered by the writer :
TILE LATE WESTMINSTER MEETING.
To the Editor of the Morning Advertiser.
SIR,—I observe, in your columns of Monday last, that
Mr. Richard Hart impugns the accuracy of your reporter'S
rendering of his words, saying, in a letter to you, that he
never used the words, "The throne of a prince and hus-
band of a queen." Now, sir, Mr. Hart, or any other
public speaker, should consider well before they attempt
to throw discredit on the ability of a reporter. They
should bear in mind that it is almost impossible for a
speaker, carried away by the enthusiasm of his subject
and the cheers of his auditory, to be able to question the
accuracy of a reporter. They should further remember
that a reporter is an educated professional man, and
that the sole business of his life, at public meetings, ia
to take down whatever the speakers say, if he is so
ordered. This being the case, sir, I appreband that
there will be little difficulty in understanding that, to
your reporter, all the cheering in the world—the most
frantic shouts—the most ear-splitting groans and hisses,
are, when at his table, only so much "leather and
prunella." However, to set Mr. Hart's mind and Mr.
Hart's friend's minds at rest, as to the way in which
he did utter the disputed sentence, I will, with your
permission, transfer it (as I took it at the moment it
was uttered) from nay note-hook to your columns,
After alluding to the execution of Charles, and im-
mediately following the sentence concluding with the
word " ancestors,' come these words :

«I will not shrink here from calling crime crime, whe-
ther that crime be committed from the throne of a
Prince, or by the husband of a Queen ; and where that
crime is proved, and the verdict given, sentence and
execution shall follow." (The allusion was received with
tremendous cheering and waving of hats in all parts of
the large and crowded hall.)
The sentence " but of a peasant" was never used at all
by Mr. Hart at that meeting, and I can credit my own
note-book better than any man's memory.
I have the honour to be, sir,
Your most obedient servant,
A. PROFESSIONAL SIiORTHAND WRITER.
Ftb. 5,185 g.

Loss OF THE AMERICAN BRIG WEBSTER—SOUTH.
AMPTON, Feb. s.—The Peninsular and Oriental Com-
pany's steamer Sultan, which arrived at this port yes-
terday morning with the Peninsular mails, brin2s intel-
ligence of the total loss of the American brig Webster.
This vessel, which belonged to Bricksport, United
States, Citwain Heath, sailed from Cadiz on the 24th
ult. with a cargo of salt for Rio Grande. On the 20th,
at half-past three p m , Cape Spartel hearing E.N.N.,
by aocount, 120 miles, she ran foul of a piece of timbtr,
about 22 inches square, striking endways, which split
Lhe stem and pressed in the lower part of the port,
causing the brig to leak so much that the crew, although
working both pumps, were unable to free her. On the
the following day, at one a.m., thr crew took the boats,
and at lour o'clock the brig went down. The captain
sod his men (nine in all), after 40 hours' of severe ex-
posure in the open boats, arriued at Gibraltar, having
lost every particle of their clothing.