The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-23 00:00:00

THF; SIIN, LONDON, SATURDAY EVENING FEBRUARY 23, 1856.

sons N thy all mystery should be especially eschewed, j perkaps, however, he was of the second generation.
and everything conducted openly and above board. IA ny hoW, " the Black Republicans were sadly dis-
The minimum bidding that would be accepted il ?pointed." The offices of doorkeeper, post-
was also spoken of. This might have been but a master, and printer were all vigorously contended
singularly good guess. But the fact, combined for. The postmaster, we are informed, was
with those above alluded to, proves the propriety, " overslaughed." For the translation of this
if not the imperative necessity, of avoiding the word we beg to refer our readers to the American-
] possibility of similar complaints on any future English Dictionary (WILEY and PUTNAM). Even
occasion.
the sacred profession does not evade the conflict ;
From what subsequently fell from the Chan- their lay friends, however, conduct it. " The
cellor of the Exchequer in the Committee of , contest for printer waxes hotter and hotter ; the
Ways and Means it is obvious that the present 'excitement this evening is intense ;"—" the con-
Loan will only provide for the deficiencies (with a -test for printer and chaplain comes off to-morrow."
small margin over) of the current financial Really we ought to have our "Fresh Man " there
quarter. The financial position of the country is, taking notes for us. It is a peculiarity of Amer--
it appears, some 4,000,000/. worse than the can administration that even the lowest officers,
former estimate of the Right Honourable Gentle- the parish constable and the -village postmaster,

man, and that is the sole object to be provided for
by the present Loan. It therefore, obvious
that new arrangements must be entered into in
April or May. It is to be regretted that they
were not finally completed, as they might have
been, yesterday, inasmuch as the applications to
Messrs. ROTHSCHILD are known to have amounted.
to about 30,000,0001., a sum that would have
been amply sufficient for all the financial require-
ments of the year, and placed the Exchequer in a
very satisfactory state of preparation to meet the
expenses of the War, should the Conferences at
Paris prove abortive, or, should peace be restored,
to pay off the debt to the Bank of England, and
be in a condition to give the necessary notices for
the abolition of its charter.

are all changed if the " outs" of yesterday be-
come the " ins "of to-day ; and thus, on the very
threshold of Congress itself we read that " IRA
GooDNow, lieutenant of police in New York, was
appointed assistant doorkeeper." The choice of a
policeman to the office appears from what follows
to have been very prudent. We are told that
"no sooner had Captain DARLING qualified as
doorkeeper than he removed a messenger and
appointed his successor ;" " this served as a
signal to the crowd to rush upon him with
importunities, and the scene of excitement was
heightened, on the adjournment of the house by
the rioting of the office-seeking forces outside."
" quite a number of decapitations took place to-
day." " The pressure for appointments is awful."

" The area round the Hall of Representatives was
crowded this afternoon with hundreds of office-
seekers, while others sought refuge in the Rotunda
of the capital." Plainly, Mr. Assistant Door-
keeper will need all his police skill ; and his office,
till the places are filled, will be no sinecure.
On the election of Mr. BANKS, as Speaker, we
can but congratulate the Americans. It is the
first achievement of the returning spirit of the
Northern States. Mr. BANKS is a Free Soiler,
and we may hope that the arrogant assumptions
of the Slave States, and the succumbing of the
Free States, have at length come to an end. Nay,
more, that soon the tide will turn, and slavery
begin to decline to deserved obloquy, to be fol-
lowed by measures for its ultimate and early ex-
tinction. When once American statesmen give
themselves earnestly to its discouragement and
abolition, America will rapidly acquire her .proper
place in the civilised world. At present her
natural place is beside Russia and its serfs.

The resolution of Lord LYNDHURST, against the
validity of the life peerage conferred on Lord
WENSLEYDALE, was last night carried by a ma-
jority of 35, in a house of 149, or, including
tellers, of 153 Peers. A previous resolution,
moved by Lord GLENELG, that the opinions of the
Judges should be taken on the question, "Is it
in the rower of the Crown to create, by patent,
the dignity of a Baron of the United Kingdom for
life, and what privileges does such a grant con-
fer ?" was negatived by a majority of 31, proxies
being admitted to vote thereon. The decision of
the Committee of Privileges, thus affirmed by a
very decided majority, is to the effect that neither
the letters patent purporting to create Sir JAMES
PARKE a Baron of the United Kingdom for life,
nor the said letters patent, with the usual writ of
summons issued in pursuance thereof, can entitle
the grantee therein named to sit and vote in
Parliament !

The threatened collision between the Crown
and the Lords has thus occurred, and it remains
to be seen what will be the next move on either
side. From u hat we have already stated re-
specting the House being the sole judge of its
own privileges, and the fact that the Preroga-
tive asserted is, to say the least of it, of very
doubtful legality, and has not been exercised
—if at all—for four centuries, it is well
that it should be so. As we have repeatedly
declared, these are not the times for the exertion
of a doubtful prerogative, or any extension of the
power of the Executive. Wo want no German
models—and, however desirable the object may
be, of a reform of the House of Peers, we would
not accept it unless rendered in a constitutional
manner, by the assent of the Three Estates of the
realm. The question was pertinently asked,
"What security could they have, that there might
not be in after days a SOVEREIGN, notregarding the
affections and institutions of the country—as did her
present gracious MAJ ESTY-a female SOVEREIGN,
perhaps sitting on the throne under the direction
and guidance, and burdened with the connexion
of a foreign Prince (little imbued with the liberty,
spirit, and practice of the British Constitution),
who would aim a blow at the Cinstitution, atm
destroy the independence of the House of Peers
It is impossible to get ever this obvious difficulty;
for however judicious may be the present exercise
of the prerogative in favour of Baron PARKE, there
can be no guarantee that, if allowed, it may not
hereafter be carried to such an extent as completely
to destroy the independence of the Upper House, and
the constitutional balance of the Three Estates of
the realm.

What a startling fact that is to which Br.
LETHEBY draws attention in his recent Report. It
almost takes one's breath away to learn that in
the very heart of this great metropolis, in the
church-yard of St. Andrew's, Holborn, and within
the last two years-and-a-half, the Metropolitan
Burial Acts have been so flagrantly and unscru-
pulously evaded that nearly—how many can the
reader, and more especially he who is aware of
the limited extent and previously crowded state of
that covered cauldron of corruption, believe ?
five hundred ? a thousand ? fifteen hundred ? two
thousand ? nay, we must out with it—three
thousand corpses have been there interred. Are
we living in a Christian land, or has Christianity
fled the country and left us to a bastard Judaism
that preys on the living and gloats, ghoul-like, over
the dead ? Has the reader recovered himself, for we
have more to state, and that on the authority of Sir
R. BROUN, the facts being derived from the returns
moved for by Mr. BROTHERTON. The metropolitan
mortality for the year 1854, amounted to 73,697
bodies. How were they disposed of ? Thus-
-1,727 were interred at Nunhead Cemetery, 1,649
at Norwood, 1,568, at Highgate, and 1,154 at
Tooting—making together 6,098. Is it said
where are the rest, nearly 70,000 are unaccounted
for Seek them, we reply, in the metropolitan
grave-yards—where else could they go ? It would
not answer to crowd them beneath the dome of
St. Paul's, and there was' serious risk in casting
them like dogs into the Thames. Yes, to all the
sources, the unnumberable sources of unhealthi-
ness incident to old and crowded cities, there have
been found individuals who have not scrupled to
add this frightful aggregation of mortality—this
dread supply to the already amply stored arsenals
of pestilence and destruction within the metropolis!
It is nauseating, revolting to every sense and faculty,
but nevertheless a duty, to reflect what mighty vo-
lumes of poisonous gases these seething masses of
corruption must give out. The responsibility of
those who, with the power to close these modern
plague-pits of the metropolis, have suffered so
many of them to remain open—some, indeed, to
be reopened, after being shut out of pure shame—
is very great.

But the reform of the hereditary branch of the
Legislature by au act of the entire Parliament is a
very different matter, and as Ministers have re-
cognised the necessity thereof by the attempt just
made, it will be incumbent on them to introduce
a bill for that purpose with all convenient speed,
which would give stability and firmness to the
House of Peers, and confer great weight on their
decisions. We have already shown that there are
precedents for limiting the number of Peers in Par-
liament and rendering the seat elective, and also
for the surrender of a portion of the Royal pre •
rogative so far as conferring the privilege of sit
ting and voting. We even suggested the rough
outline of a measure, which would, we be-
lieve, be highly popular in this coun-
try. Such a Bill would be the suitable
adjunct of the decision of last night. One
remedy which, however, might haply prove
worse than the disease having been rejected, it is
essential that another should be prescribed with
the least possible delay, and in a form strictly in
accordance with tho constitution.

Revolting, however, as the history of the metro-
politan graveyards is up to the present time, and
certain as their final closure within a limited
period may be, we are unable to contemplate the
future with that satisfaction which might be anti-
cipated. A number of cemeteries at the outskirts
command the metropolis, and already are sur-
rounded, or are rapidly being so, by what is, or
promises to be, a dense population ; and of these
cemeteries the greater part, we are told, have
been selected from the worst land that could be
used for the purpose—clayey soil, which, like
that in the City churchyards, generates but to
reject the pestilential odours of putridity; instead
of gravelly soil, which promotes and rapidly
absorbs decomposition. With - what satisfaction
can we look on cemeteries like these as the only
receptacles available for the multitudinous dead
of the metropolis when the intramural graveyards
are peremptorily closed ? Voracious as may be
their maws, voracity has its limits, just as
patience has its bounds ; and the neighbouring
population will have them closed as homicidal
nuisances, if sheer incapacity to take more does
not preclude the necessity. What is wanted seems
to us to be the formation of a cemetery capacious
enough for metropolitan sepulture for many long
years to come, and at such a distance and so situ-
ated and constituted as to render it impossible for
any injury to the health of the population here or
elsewhere to arise from it. Already 60,000 bodies
are interred annually ; and, considering the in-
cessant growth of tho metropolis, and multiplica-
tion of its inhabitants, an annual increase in the
bills of mortality must be looked for. Shall we
not be wise this once in time, and so look after
the disposition of our dead that they shall not
quicken into pestilence and float back to poison
lips, it may be, they have saluted with affection.

Our Republican offspring of the States beat us
out and out in place-hunting. With our charac-
teristic bashfulness we do the thing a little mo-
destly. Not, as Mr. SAMUEL MORLEY and his
brother Administrative Reformers will tell us,
that our modesty has any virtue in it. Our place-
hunters merely prefer the back to the front stairs,
and think it will answer better to use interest
when personal emolument is the object, as secretly
as possible. Corruption here pays this tribute to
national delicacy. Seeming too eager for a re-
munerative public appointment will not do. It
would be considered indecorous, and perhaps de-
feat its end. Our Yankee friends, however, know
no such delicacy ; they hold it no disgrace to
fight and clamour for any appointment worth a
few hundred dollars a-year. Like politically
cynic philosophers they act on the assumption
that no dictate of nature needs to be obeyed in
privacy. Nature everywhere in civilised countries
Prompts hundreds to get a salary little or big
from the public exchequer ; and why should they
be ashamed to indulge openly such a natural de-
sire. Vesture and even fig leaves are quite a
superfluity ; they are as they were made, and
why be ashamed ? They were born to love a nice
snug berth, with Uncle Sax to pay for it ; why
blush for the mental configuration, which as
they will say we all have, however we may affect
to conceal it.

Viscount and Viqcountess Combermere havo arrived
at Combermere Abbey, where they propose re:naining
till Easter. _

Viscount Fal month has arrived at the Clarendon from
Mereworth Castle, near Maidstone.
Lord Carina, Sir Thomas and Lady Arabella Hes-
keth, and Lady Massey Stanley, are among the recent
arrivals at Claridge's Hotel.
Sir Alexander Spearman had an interview with the
Chancellor of the Exchequer yesterday at his official re-
sidence in Downing-street.
Madame Van de Weyer has cards out for an evening
party on the Ist proximo.
The steam-ship Brenda, 300-horse power, is announced
to touch at Cork on her voyage to America in the first
week of next month. The Brenda sails from London,
and this will be the first of a series of trips undertaken
with a view of establishing Cork as a port of al.
11, the case tried in the Exchequer Court yesterday
for a breach of contract, in which the Union Steam Col-
lier Company
are plaintiffs, and the defendant an en•
gineer and bciler maker, the jury gave a verdict for the
plaintiffs, With 1,300 f, damages,

The American papers have just brought US over
a striking little daguerreotype of American place
hunting. Congress has at last chosen a Speaker l
Its organisation, therefore, is begun. The places
connected with it have to be filled up, and forth-
with the battles and skirmishes begin. The quiet
way in which our officers of the two Houses con-
tinue at their posts when once nominated is un-
known in America. No sooner was the Speaker
elected, than an equally fierce, but necessarily
shorter battle began for a Sergeant-at-Arms. The
know nothings were evidently among the beaten,
for the lucky victor bears a long German, name ;

THE ORDER OF THE BATH.

(From toe Court' Newsman.)

The Queen held an Investiture of the Most Honour-
able Order of the Bath, at three o'clock yesterday after-
noon, at Buckingham Palace.
Her Majesty, the Sovereign of the Order, was con-
ducted to a chair of State in the Throne-room, by the
Lord Chamberlain, the Treasurer of the Household, the
Vice-Chamberlain, and the Comptroller of the House-
hold. H.R.H. Prince Albert, the Great Master of the
Order of the Bath, accompanied the Queen, and stood
by her side on the right, his Royal Highness the Duke
of Cambridge being on her Majesty's left.
The Queen wore the mantle of crimsom satin, having
the Star of the Order embroidered on the left breast.
The Queen also wore the gold and enamelled Cellar of
the Order, and a magnificent circlet of diamonds. Prince
Albert wore his mantle as Great Master, and also the
Collar of the Bath. The Knights Grand Cross of the
Order were called over by Bath King of Ares, in the
Green Drawing-room, when the following answered :
General Sir Howard Douglas, Bart., Lieutenant-
General Sir George Pollock, Field , Marshal Viscount
Hardinge, Rear-Admiral Sir Edmund Lyons, Bart.,
Lieutenant-General Sir H. G. Smith, General the
Right Hon. Sir E. Blakeney, Lieut.-General Sir J. Fox
Burgoyne, Vice-Admiral Sir J. W. D. Dundas, General
Sir J. Macdonell, General Sir H. D. Ross, and General
Sir J. Simpson.
. . .

The Knights Grand Cross appeared in their crimson
satin mantles and wearing their gold collars.
The officers of the Order present were—Walter Aston
Blount, Esq., Genealogist ; Algernon F. Greville, Esq.,
Bath King of Arms ' • and Albert William Woods, Esq.,
Gentleman Usher. The officers appeared in their man-
tles, with their respective badges of office.
The Knights Grand Cross, by the Queen's command,
entered the Throne-room, attended by the Officers of the
Order of the Bath, and the former having taken their
usual stations near the Sovereign, Major-General Sir
Richard England was introduced between General Sir
Hew Dalrymple Ross and General Sir James Simpson,
the two Junior Knights Grand Cross, preceded by Bath
King of Arms and the Gentleman Usher of the Order,
the teenier bearing,on a crimson _velvet cushion the En-
signs of a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath.
Sir Richard knelt before the Queen, and her Majesty,
assisted by Prince Albert, placed over his right shoulder
the Riband of a Knight Grand Cross, having the Badge
appendant, and then invested him with the Star of a
(Military) Knight Grand Cross. Sir Richard had the
honour of kissing her Majesty's band, and then retired.
Admiral Sir Graham Eden Hamond, Bart., was intro-
duced with the like ceremony, and was invested by the
Queen with the Riband, Badge, and Star of a (Military)
Knight Grand Cross of the Bath.
Lord Pantnure, the Queen's Principal Secretary of
State for War, was introduced with the like ceremony,
and her Majesty, assisted by his Royal Highness, the
Great Master, placed the Riband of a Knight Grand
Cross, with the Badge appended, over his lordship's right
shoulder, and afterwards invested his lordship with a
Star of a (Civil) Knight Grand Cross of the Bath. The
noble lord kissed hands, and withdrew.
Rear-Admiral Stephen Lushington was introduced be-
tween Bath King of Arms and the Gentlemen Ushers of
the Order, and knelt near the Sovereign, when the
Queen was graciously pleased to confer the honour of
knighthood upon him, and afterwards placed round his
neck the riband, with the badge appeuded, of a Knight
Commander of the Bath. Her Majesty, assisted by
Prince Albert, invested Sir Stephen with the Star of a
(Military) Knight Commander of the Order. Sir Ste-
phen had the honour of kissing the Queen's hand, and
withdrew,

General James Wallace Sleigh, Lieut.-Gen. Richard
Goddard Hare Clarges, Vice-admiral Henry Prescott,
Lieut.• General William Rowan, Vice-Admiral Barring.
ton Reynolds,, Lieut.-General John M'Donald, Major-
General James Frederick Love, Major-General James
Yorke, Rear-Admiral the Hon. Richard Saunders Dun-
dee, Major-General Lovell, Benjamin Lovell, and Major
General George Augustus Wetherall, were severally in-
troduced between Bath King of Arum and the Gentle-
man Usher of the Order, and had the honour of knight-
hood conferred upon them by the Queen. Her Majesty,
assisted by Prince Albert, also invested them severally
with the riband, badge, and star of a (iiiiitary) Knight
Commander of the Rith.

Lieut.-Colonel Henry Creswicke Rawlineon and Mr.
Benjamin Hawes were introduced, with the like cere-
mony, received from. the Queen the honour of knight-
hood, and were afterwards invested by her Majesty with
the Ensigns of (Civil) Knights Commander of the Bath.
Captain the Hon. Henry Keppel, of the Royal Navy,
was introduced between Bath King of Arms and the
Gentleman Usher of the Order, and knelt near the
Queen, when her Majesty, assisted by Prince Albert,
placed the Riband and Badge of a Companion of the
Bath on his left breast. Captain Keppel had the honour
of kissing the Sovereign's hand, and withdrew.
Captain George Ramsay, Colonel Elward Bireh Rey-
nardson, Captain Henry Caldwell, R.N., Lieutenant-
Colonel Henry Francis Strange, Major Henry Charles
Cunliffe Owen, Major James Frankfort Manners
Browne, Dr. David .Dumbreck, Deputy Inspector-Ge-
neral of Hospitals ; Dr. John Forrest, Deputy In,pee-
tor-General of Hospitals ; Mr. James Mouat, Staff-
Surgeon ; Mr. Alexander Stewart (Civil), the Judge of
the Admiralty at Nova Scltia ; Lieutenant-Colonel
Robert Keareley Dawson (Civil), and Mr. John Hall
Maxwell (Civil), were severally introduced with the like
ceremony, when the Queen, assisted by his Royal High-
ness the Prince, invested them with tho Ensigns of
Companions of the Bah.
The I:Knights Grand Cross were again called over in
the presence of the Queen, and then, withdrew from tho
Throne-room,

Her Majesty's Guard of the Hon. Corps of Gentle-
men-at-arms was on duty in the Throne room, under the
command cf. the Lieutenant. Lieutenant• Colonels
Neville and Cook, the sub-officers, were on duty with
the corps.
The Court was attended by the Duchess of %Veiling-

ton (officiating for the Ducheis of Sutherland as Mistress
of the Robes) ; the Countess of Desart, Lady in WAiting;
the Master of the Horse ; the Groom of the Stole to the
Prince ; the Captain of the Yeomen of the Guard ; Earl
Somers, Lord in Waiting ; Lord George Lennox, Lord
in Waiting to his Royal Highness ; Mr. R. Orinsby
Gore, Groom in Waiting; Major-General Wylde, Groom
in Waiting to his Royal Highness ; the Groom of the
Robes ; Lieutenant-Colonel Topham, the Lieutenant of
the Hon. Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms ; Colonel the
Right Hon. Cecil Forester, Silver Stick in Waiting ;
Colonel Wood, Field Officer in Waiting ; Major-General
Bouverie, Equerry in Waiting ; Captain Du Plat,
Equerry in Waiting to his Royal Highness • Mr. Joseph
Skip Loyd, Clerk of the Cheque, and Adjutant of the
Hon. Corps of Gentlemen-at-Arms ; Colonel Fitzmau-
rice, Adjutant of the Yeomen of the Guard ; Messrs.
Phipps end M•Pherson, Pages of Honour in Waiting ;
and Major Clifton, Equerry in Waiting to the Duke of
Cambridge.
A party of the Yeomen of the Guard was on duty in
the Grand Hall, under the command of Major Phibbs,
the Exon in Waiting.
A Guard of Honour of the Scots Fusilier Guards was
stationed in front of the Palace, with the band of the
regiment.

The Queen and Prince Albert, attended by the Coun-
tess of Desart, the Hon. Mary Butted, Major-G-eneral
Bouverie, and Captain Da Pht, honoured t'..e Haymar-
ket Theatre with their presence last evening..
Prince Leopold visited her Royal Highness the
Duchess of Cambridge.
Their Royal Highnesses the Prince of Wales and
Prince Albert, attended by Mr. Gibbs and Dr. Barker,
visited Fenton's Crimean Photographs, 53, Pall-mall,
on Thursday morning, and took the greatest interest in
the exhibition. _ _ _

Her Majesty will hold a a Privy Council on Monday
next, at Buckingham Palace.

LONDON GENERAL OMNIBUS COMPANY.

AWARD OF THE PREMIUM OF £lOO.

The following are the terms of the award of the
gentlemen to whom the extremely difficult task of
selecting the best design for an omnibus had been
delegated by the Company :

"TO THE DIRECTORS OF THE LONDON GENERAL
OMNIBUS COMPANY.

LATEST NEWS.

" Gentl emen,—Acting iii accordance with your re-
quest as adjudicators upon the designs for an omnibus
sent in reply to your offered premium of 10.6/. for the
best, we have had before us designs and models sub-
mitted by 75 competitors. Several of these having been
deposited after the date fixed in your advertisement, or
on other grounds not coming within the terms of the
competition, were at once put aside. The remainder we
have carefully examined, with reference to the
requirements set forth by you and to the
police regulations ; and we have first to ex-
press our regret that, although many of the
propositions display considerable ingenuity, and offer
hero and there improvements, we do not find any one
design of supereminent merit, or calculated in its present,
shape to afford that increased amount of comfort and ac-
commodation yourcornpany, with praiseworthy foresight,
desires to give the public, and which moreover will,
doubtless, be looked for at your hands; inasmuch, how-
ever, as 19 0 are required to select one of the designs as
the best of those submitted, consiciwed with regard to
your stipulation and wants, we beg leave to. point out
the design No. 64, sent in by Mr. Miller, of Hammer-
smith. Inquiry of Mr. Miller, and the examination
of a full-sized omnibus built by him (after arriving at
this determination), have shown us that if his intentions
were more completely expressed in his drawing than is
the case the design would be more worthy of the pre-
mium. We must report that we find no design
that we can recommend for adoption intact,
or which, to speak truly, is worth the premium offered ;
but there are points about some of them which, being
combined, would aid in producing what you and the
public desire—a, light, commodious, and well-ventilated
omnibus.

(Signed) " GEORGE GOD wIN.
" JOSEPH WRIGHT.
" CHARLES MANGY.

"Feb. 20th, 1856."

THE MURDER IN CHISENHALL-STREET.—LIVERPOOL,
Feb. 2.—Yesterday an inquest was held on the body
of James Ifause, who had been found dead in an entry
leading out of Chisonhall-street. The inquest did not
terminate till past seven o'clock, at which time the jury
returned a verdict of wilful murder against two seamen,
named Philip Wall and James Carr, on whom a part of
the clothes and some of the property belonging to the
deceased were found.