The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-27 00:00:00

THE SUN,

late, but not equal to the preceding season; stock is
2,500 puns &c. less than it was at that time. Brandy
hat been operated in with more freedom, but at previous
terms there are ready sellers, on account of a large stock.
Cognac, best brands of ihe vintage of 1850 can be obtained
at 4s 43 to 4s 6d, 1849 ditto 4s 6d to 4s Bd, IR4B ditto
4s 10d to 55, older sorts 5s 4d to 6s 6d, low and mid 2s
6d to 3s 6d, and Bordeaux 2s 2d to 2s 3d. Deliveries
for home consumption have been again to a fair extent.
I British made Spirit is yet quoted at 9s 5d to 94 6d, and
the demand is more active. The value of Gin for ex-
portation is 2s 6d. Of Geneva only limited parcels have
been sold at Is 7d to is 8d for common, and fine is 9d
to 2s.
INDIGO.—The improvement previously noticed of 2d
to 3d per lb for East India is well sustained, and several
purchases have been made by exporters and home dealers.
Madras and good Bengal are still most wanted, and of
the latter supply is less than for some time past. Manilla
is yet attracting little attention, and a small part only of
130 chts found buyers at Is to Is 10d for low and ord,
and 2s to 2s 6d for mid. In Spanish little has been done,
in consequence of the public sales declared for Friday,
comprising 600 serons, yet previous terms are well sup-
ported—Sobres selling at 3s 10d to 4s Bd, Cortes Is 6d
to 4<, and Flores 4s 91 to 5s per lb.
SALTPETRE.—To-day there was a reluctance to ope-
rate in Saltpetre, and at public sale 419 bags Calcutta
were only in part sold at 26s to 26s 6d for mid quality,
9i to 7i per cent; these are rather lower terms, whilst
200 bags Madras were taken in at 25s 6d to 26s for
good quality 8 to 81, and not refracted 24s per CWt.
COCHINEAL.—Previous terms are supported, and there
continues to be a good home and export demand, but
supply remains plentiful, and better qualities are most in
request. At auction 300 bags were sold, Honduras
silvers, good to fine at 3s 4d to 3s 7d, low to mid 24 Ild
to 3s 3d, mid to good blacks 3s 6d to 3s 11d; Mexican
silvers are held for 3s to 3s 3d, black 3s 2d to 3s 6d, and
Teneriffe 3s 3d to 4s. Some parcels are declared for
auction.
METALS.—Spelter can be obtained at a further reduc-
tion; yet transactions have been upon a small scale at
141 to 141 5a per ton, and stock is increasing. Copper
sells more freely at fully previous terms. In Tin trans-
actions have been small; and East India is cheaper ;
Banca selling at 81s to 81a 6d ; and Straits at 80s to
80s 6d per cwt ; but for British rates remain at 84s to
85s per cwt for Block and Bars. Orders are now limited
for Tin Plates, which have declined in value: I. C. Coke
selling at 24s 6d to 255, and Charcoal ditto 30s to 31s
per box. Steel is cheaper; Faggot selling at 141 lOs
to 151. For Lead there are now few buyers; a desire is
evinced to sell British pig at 16115 s to 171, and sheet
181. In common Welch bar Iron a good deal has been
done, the moderate rates of 417 s 6d to 41 lOs being ac-
cepted. Of Rails several parcels have been sold at
4/ 15s to 51.

TALLow.—There is still a firm market for Russian on
the spot, and large transactions have taken place; fine
new yellow Candle realising 38s 6d to 395, and old 38s
to 38s 3i per cwt; at these rates some parties are not
disposed to realise. For delivery a good demand pre-
vails, and prices range at 393 3d to 39s 6d for the
last three months of the year; and at 39s 6d to 39s 9d,
for January, February, and March. Home melted met
with ready purchasers, and realized 37s to 37s 6d net
cash. Other sorts are in limited supply, and wanted,
whilst stiffer rates are paid. At auction 260 cks Aus-
tralian were sold; Beef at 36s to 375; Sheep 353 9d to
38s; and 320 pkgs South American at 33s 6d to 37s per
cwt. For auction 800 casks, &c., are declared.
OILS.--Seal continues to be operated in with re-
luctance, and holders are disposed to realise—pale can
be obtained at 341 to 341 10s, and other sorts 311 to 351;
and stock is on the increase. Cod has been operated
in with reluctance, and is offered at 361. Southern
is held for 311 105 to 331 10s; but only limited
transactions have taken place, and there is an
increasing stock. For auction 210 tons Polar are
declared. A good demand exists for Sperm; holders
have confidence, and obtain for tine British 851 to 861;
American 84l to 851. For sale 40 tons are declared.
Headmatter realist d 91/ to 93/, and is yet scarce. Rape
Seed Oil met with a slow sale; Foreign Refined is
offered at 34s 6d to 35s ; British 333 to 33s 6d,
brown 325; East India 31s to 31s Od per cwt, and sup-
ply is on the increase, Cocoa Nut is more in request,
with a limited quantity on offer, and quotations rule
firm; Cochin at 31s to 33s 61; and Ceylon 30s to 323
6d. There is a good demand for Palm; and first realized
27s to 235. With exporters or home dealers little desire is
evinced to operate in Linseed Oil, and there are sellers at
32s 6d to 32; 9d on the spot; there is also an increasing
supply. F,,r future delivery sales have been small, and
31s 6d to 32i per cwt accepted. Olive met with ready
purchasers, and there is a firm market; sales of Galli-
poli made at 40/ to 411; and other sorts at 381 10s to
391 105 per tun; there is also an increasing consumption.

WILL of the late EARL of BRIDGEWATER.
Lord Cranworth delivered judgment in the Vice-
Chancellor's Court last week in a very singular case,
connected with the will of the late Earl of Bridge-
water, who died in 1823. The story deserves a tran-
sitory notice from the evidence it affords of the keen
z-st with which our great aristocratic houses pursue
the phantom of increased rank. One should have
supposed that men who by their birth are placed in
so high it social position as the late Earl of Bridge-
water could afford to look with complacepcy
and indifference at the struggle for rank and sta-
tion. Our dramatists and novel writers have drawn
many amusing sketches of vulgar parvenus, who in
the midst of the wealth they may have acquired
in vulgar ways, or by a mere freak of fortune,
think their felicity incomplete because they are
not provided with what sailors call " handles ' to
their names. No doubt the spectacle of a
pompous and underbred man who is endea-
vouring through a thousand humiliations to work
his way into a class to which he does not belong
is ludicrous enough. Still, to a certain
degree, such an effort is excusable. It is natural that
he should deceive himself as to the happiness which
results from an unaccustomed salutation. The House
of Peers contemplated from behind a counter in Corn-
hill may appear as an enchanted region to the eye of
the observer. But it would seem well-nigh impossible
for those who have lived behind the scenes—nay, who
have been actually born in the green-room, to deceive
themselves materially as to the real splendour of theat-
rical properties, or the purity of the diamonds in Queen
Hunc amunca's crown. Let us not be misunderstood.
When elevation to an upper class in the social scale,
or an increase of rank where rank has been once
achieved, follows as the natural consequence of
heroic actions, or of an eminent civil career, ridi-
cule and animadversion are out of the question.
Let those who have earned the laurel by their
great deeds wear it amidst the general applause. In
such cases the mere outward mark of social eleva-
' tion is the accident of a great man's position—it
was not the prospect of a peerage, or of a " step,"
which nerved his energies through forty years of
struggle within the walls of Parliament, or the sad
vicissitudes of a protracted campaign. Titles and
honours fall naturally on a great man's head ; he
does not propose them to himself as the ultimate
object of his ambition. " Victory or Westminster
Abbey," said England's noblest seaman, in an
age of naval paladins, on the eve of one of those
fearful contests which have immortalised his
name in his country's annals. Compare for a
moment such a spring of action as this with the mo
tives which operate upon the minds of paltry intri-
guers for rank—and more rank. We„have great men,
and we have make-believe great men. We have
heroes who win our battles by sea and land, who
extend their country's power and maintain its
security ; we have had statesmen who have success-
fully guided the fortunes of the empire through
many a dark day of trial and adversity. On the
other hand, we have had gentlemen of England
" who have lived at home at ease," who have done
nothing but amass money and carry on intrigues,
and who have yet contrived to wriggle their names
into a higher position in the Red-book than those
who have borne the brunt of the day. The explana-
tion of such a phenomenon is no mystery to those
acquainted with the secret traditions of our great fa•
rallies. Money, land, electioneering, and conse-
quently Parliamentary influence, are the engines by
which such notable results have been obtained.
It is not often, however, that we have the oppor-
tunity of following up the contortions of vulgar am-
bition. A steeple-chase for a dukedom over boggy
ground is not an every-day spectacle. The late Earl of
Bridgewater has been bountiful to his countrymen
in this respect. He made his will in 1823, and in
it he devised his estates to the late Viscount
Alford and his issue ; but upon one condition.
If Lord Alford should die without having ac-
quired the title of a Marquis or Earl of Bridge-
water, then the limitation of the testate to him-
self and his heirs was to cease, and the estate
Was to pass to other parties named. So with regard
to the Earldom of Brownlow. The Earl of Bridge-
water—poor man !—in the year 1823 passed away to
regions where an English marquisate or dukedom is
a matter of small account. Lord Alford, however,
did not succeed to the estates until 1849, and in
January of the present year he too died, without having
accomplished the requisite juggle with the decora-
tions of his coronet. Then the case came before
Lord Cranworth. On the one hand the guardians
of the late Lord Alford's infant son prayed that
the will —or at least the certain portion of it affecting
the estates named—might be declared invalid. The
child's uncle, the Earl of Brownlow, asked that its va-
lidity might be affirmed. Passing over the mere legal
hair-splitting of "conditions subsequent" and "con-
ditions precedent," as interesting only to the more dili-
gent inquirers into contingen tremainders and executory
devises, we find this broad position stated and denied
by the advocates on either side. A limitation over, with
such a condition attached as in the will of the late
Earl of Bridgewater, was void in equity, as contrary
to public policy. Lord Cranworth, however, decided
this matter against the nephew, on the ground " that
it could not, in his opinion, be said that the will in-
duced the devisee to resort to corrupt means for the
purpose of obtaining the title ; on the contrary, such a
condition would tend rather to produce good than dis-
honourable conduct." Had the late Lord Alford lived
longen ohuagvhe carr ; the necessary steps into effect it
would
purposebeeon fswaorth his while to unite with his heir
for thecrld
ificing three-fourths of the estates,
that they might
hold
fraction, secure possession of the re-
mainingWe are not interested in dis-