The Sun.
London, England, 1856-02-26 00:00:00

THE SON, LONDON; TUESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 26, 1 856.

LINES I, FIXED RENTALS.

L ITERATURE.

being really admirable as miniature memoirs of our
living celebrities. But then again in the midi t if our
consequent satisfaction at these moments we sud-
denly como plump upon some one that might
really as lief have been left out—say, for in-
stance, a provincial parson like the Rev. F.
Close, a name of utter indifference, we presume,
to every one out of the limits of a small division
of Gloucestershire. Vainly, too, while stumbling
over name after name, equally unimportant in its
way to the one we have just particularised, may
the reader look for the smallest scrap of informa-
tion about a delightful writer, such as Peacock of
the India House, the author of Nightmare Abbey,
and the friend of Shelley. The volume, indeed, is
glaringly incomplete in several particulars, and as
glaringly replete with obscurities instead of celebri-
ties who are in its pages 11•37 scores and by shoals for-
mally proclaimed to be fitting objects of our admi-
ration. Altogether the book would have been
much better if many of the memoirs in it had been
left out, and if several others, nowhere discoverable
from first to last, had been introduced in their
proper places alphabetically. No doubt the com-
piler of a work of this very novel character is la-
bouring under a variety of difficulties while carrying
his design into execution. Ho has to gather his
particulars together from sources the most uncer-
tain and the most scattered. He has to exercise
his judgment in his selection of the proper
themes for attraction. He has to take as much
care as possible to give enough, and at the
same time not to give too much. And in
doing all this he must necessarily be liable
to overlook what ought never to have been over-
looked, and to chronicle what ought never to have
been chronicled. It seems ridiculous, par example,
to find in the notice of George Cruikshank not a
whisper about his famous little drollery of Lord
Bateman, and not a syllable of reference to his
etchings illustrative of suck gems of fictions as the
masterpieces of Henry Fielding and Tobias Smol-
lett. Appended to the volume are some hundred
and odd pages, giving biographical sketches of
celebrated " Women of our Time "—a supplemen-
tal portion of the work, from which we could spare
nothing, though one to which we conceive
a good deal might be added with consider-
able advantage. A compilation like the one
before us, relating to so many persons of all
ages, is obviously liable to be rendered at any mo-
ment obsolete here and there as the record of men
and women but just snatched from among us by
death, and to whom we have become consequently
rather the posterity than the contemporaries. As
the editor of the book has been himself compelled
to notify apologetically by announcing as " de-
ceasnl during the passing of the work through
the press"—such men as Bishop the coui-
poser, as Silk Buckingham the traveller, as
Count Mold the states/Alan, as Samuel Rogers
the poet, as Bruat the sailor, and Markham the
soldier, as Leon. Faucher, and Robert Montgomery.
Besides, a famous novelist like Henrich Heine
dead since the actual date of the book's publication.
Notwithstanding its scarcely numeral le flaws both
of omission and commission, the book cannot fail to
be very useful in its way, while to all those who
are really and accountably curious as to the salient
points in the career of the eminent men and women
of our times it must necessarily prove exceedingly
entertaining.

Raili'fAbc •

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Compan

Clodne Prices
this day

ausiaast,
thIS

The Divine Comedy ; or, The Inferno, Purgatory,
and Paradise of Dante Alighieri. Rendered into
English by Frederick Pollock, Esq. With Fifty
Illustrations, drawn by George Scharf, jun.
Chapman and Hall.

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E. Count.
Caldonian.

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An exquisite gift book—the very jewel of a
library—being, as it is, one of the grandest poems
ever penned by mortal, faithfully and gracefully
translated from the original Italian into our Eng.
lish vernacular, and adorned by a most delicate
pencil with a profusion of classic and imaginative
illustrations. Again we say, an exquisite gift-
book, being all this, as it actually is : the Divine
Comedy of Dante Alighieri, embellished by the
crayon of George Scharf, and rendered into Eng-
lish by the pen of Frederick Pollock—the artist
proving himself to be no less ingenious and fanciful
than the translator shows himself to have been
faithful and competent throughout. Perused in
any form—in the melifluous term, rims of the
original—in Cary's prose translation—in Pollock's
recent version of it in blank verse—hew wonderful
it is, that Divine Comedy, that threefold and celes-
tial epic—the Paradise, the Purgatory, the Pande-
monium ! If, as Lord Byron said in one of his re-
pentant notes to " Don Juan," one can almost hear
the footsteps of the elder gods resounding through
the sonorous verse of Keats while reading his sublime
fragment of " Hyperion "—how truly may it not
be said that while reading the "Divine Comedy "
of Dante, one can hearken to the howlings of the
damned in the " Inferno," hear the sweet and
solemn harmonies of repentant life-in-death through
the " Purgatorio," or watch the gleaming features
and the glowing robe of the angelic Beatrice
floating for ever and ever in the glorifying at-
mosphere of the Paradiso. What marvellous visions
of beauty and horror they are, crowding upon us
with aspects so weird and awful for the most part
as we follow the shade of Dante and the attendant
ghost of Virgil through the regions of the after
life—" down to Hell," by Acheron, by Sty; by
Phlegethon—up, up, from the sea, beyond the
flowery valley, past the successive regions of the
Proud, of the Envious, of the Angry, of the Sloth-
ful, of the Avaricious, of the Prodigal, of the
Gluttonous, of the Luxurious, even with the limits
of the crowning garden of the Earthly Paradise—
" higher still and higher," beyond the " Sphere of
Fire," successively more and more heavenward to
the Moon, to Mercury, to Venus, to the Sun, to
Mars, to Jupiter, to Saturn,. to Gemini in the fan-
cied regions of the fixed stars, onward, outward,
upward, further and further, beyond the .Primum
Mobile into the infinite and ineffable Empyrean of
" Paradise." 0 the wondrous flight the
most daring ever essayed by mortal imagination !
And to follow the dauntless poet in this his flight
of audacity the merely English scholar finds, as it
were, wings given to him by Mr. Pollock's transla-
tion. A translation most remarkable for its faith-
fulness. Insomuch that we might pronounce in
regard to these 580 pages the dulcet panegyric
uttered by the bard of the " Paradiso " in refer-
ence to the faces seen in the beatific vision recorded
in the third Canto of the third division of the
" Divine Comedy"

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,HAKE.

" Quali per vetri transparenti e torsi,
0 ver per acque nitide e trauquille,
Non si profonde che i fondi sein persi.
Tornan de' nostri visi le postille
Debili si, che perla in bianca fronte
Non vien men forte alle nostril pupille ;
Tali vid' io piu facce a parlar pronte."

The Coldstreams and the Musqueteers. By Thomas

Litchfield. 3 Vols. Newby.

This novel presents many :stirring scenes and
striking adventures. Although the time is one
which has been so often chosen for historical ro-
mance the plot has principally reference to events
of a private nature. A great deal of ingenuity is
displayed in the complicated and intricate working
of the narrative. Those who delight in the mar-
vellous will be pleased with the production of this
book. It bears raferenc• to two distinguished
regiments who were of great repute at that time—
" The Musqueteers" and " The Coldstreams."
The characters of several of the men are described
with vigour ; and Bernard, in particular, is a likely
instance of how far brutality and greediness may
sink a man. The craft and cunning of the Jesuits
Chalfont and his friend are also ably depicted, and
the scenes in which their deep plans are devised
and their wily purposes unfolded are the most
powerful in the work, although not so interesting
as those of a lighter class. Andrew Melvil, who
was compelled to secret himself in the cavern
under the disguise of a gipsy, is rendered attrac-
tive by his resolution in facing dangers and his
spirit in submitting to inevitable misfortunes,
while he rose above all trials that could be sur-
mounted. His daughter's melancholy state com-
pletes the mournful picture of his exist° ; and
although harmless in her derangement, and even at
times engaging from her sweetness of dis-
position, it is not to be regretted when she
falls a victim to her devotion to the perse-
cuted Wilfred (the hero), anti gives her life to
rescue him from his crafty foes. Of Wilfred him-
self we do not tee so much as might b 3 expected ;
but it is consistent with the arrangement of the
plot, as more is done in reference to him, and his
friends and enemies endeavour to confront and cir-
cumvent each other more than to draw him into
the contest openly. Where he does appear, how-
ever, he distinguishes himself with a zeal and
energy, and displays a spirit of boldness and daring
that render him worthy to be ranked among his
order of the Cavaliers. Agnes Monkton is a very
worthy heroine. She is not of the romantic style
that generally belongs to romances of that period.
Her strong sense and decided demeanour were the
secret terror of her enemies ; and so much did they
fear her straightforwardness and courage, that they
employed every stratagem rather than be baffled
by her. Forgery, that ever-prized device of the
cunning, was resorted to, and thus for a time did
they attain their object. It is impossible to follow
out in detail the course of the involved and elabo-
rate events. They are, however, well worthy of
perusal ; and the introduction of military ma-
nceuvres into the descriptions imparts a life and
spirit to th:i style, and accords with the mode of
existence at that troubled period of history when
warfare was the order of the day. "The Cold-
streams" will doubtless obtain consideration from
its dashing sketches, its clever details of character,
and the skill with which its story is devised and
executed.

Yes ! tali—tali—yet non si profonde the i fondi
sein persi : though Debili si, the perla in bianca
fronte non vien men forte alle nostre pupille
And many pearls of great price there are, dropping
ever and ever from the lips of the glorious poet as
he speaks—pearls so reflected through the truth-
ful and transparent medium of Mr. Frederick
Pollock's fanciful and eloquent translation !
It was Coleridge, if we recollect rightly, who some-
where about 1818 first awakened public attention
to the merits of the prose version of Dante ciiven
to the world some time before by the Rev. Henry
Francis Cary—a version which had, nevertheless,
remained wholly unnoticed until thus spoken of iu
earnest terms of praise by the authoritative voice
of the author of Christabel." This justice was
done, moreover, by the genial and discerning cri-
ticism of Coleridge through the opportunity pre-
sented to him for so doing by a lecture he delivered
upon the subject of the sublime poetry of Dante
Alighieri. Whereupon the reviewers of the Edin-
burgh and Quarterly " followed suit" immediately,
and the reputation of Cary as a Translator was in
a manner instantly made and permanently esta-
blished. Mr. Pollock, in his turn, deserves pre-
cisely such an appreciative lecturer to give the key-
note to after paeans in his honour to be chaunted
by the critical Boanerges of the blue-and-buff and
the stone-coloured old Whig and Tory quarterlies.
Happily the time may yet come sooner than might
be anticipated even by those dubious lookers-
on who pin their faith exclusively to
the poetic prose of Cary. When it does
—among the admirers of the charming volume
under notice may we take rank, as numbered in
the category of its prophetic appreciators I Honour,
meanwhile, say we, without waiting for any such
lecture, honour to the scholarly hand that penned
this strictly accurate, and yet gracefully rhetorical
English version of the "Divine Comedy"—a ver-
sion beautifully embellished by the classic limnings
lavished upon the letterpress by the Flaxman-
like pencil of George Scharf, the younger. Alto-
gether the volume may be accepted as a tributary
memorial to the genius of Dante not unworthy of
the literary and artistic enterprise of this nine-
teenth century—a monument nobler than one of
brass or marble, and more durable, according to
the familiar boast of Horace Commemorative of
the heroic student-life comprised between the
memorable dates of 1265 and 1321, the dates of
the birth and death of that grand old Dante
Alighieri of Florence, whose name his colossal
masterpiece of the " Divine Comedy" has securely
immortalised.

Men of the Time. Biographical Sketches of Emi-
nent Literary Characters. One Vol. David
Bogue.
A biographical dictionary of eminent contempo-
raries—hastily collected together, it would almost
seem, for the purpose of puffing certain sixth-rate
names into a spurious sort of an artificial celebrity.
The original germ of the work appeared three or
fonr years since in the form of a small squab vo-
lume of 400 and odd pages—now extended into
a little unwieldy monster of nearly a thousand.
At the outset the production bore evidence from
preface to finis of the merest book making. Snip-
pings from country newspapers, and all sorts of
little rags and tags of information, for the most part
worthless, were the raw materials out of which
this veracious instructor appeared to be chiefly
fabricated. The artirAe devoted to the
biography of Dickens, for example, was
eked out through some eight vapid pages by
about the only good thing in it—viz., the bodily
reprint of a letter addressed by that glorious no-
velist to our contemporary, the Times, giving a
description of the rabble congregated outside
Horsemonger-lane Gaol to witness the execution of
those horrible wretches the Meanings. The omis-
sions observable in the work, even in its second
edition (1853), were something preposterous. And
with these errors of omission there were errors of
commission, if possible, yet more preposterous.
There was an especial little glorification, for
example, of George Dawson of Birmingham
and not a word, good, bad, or indifferent
about Samuel Warren, author of "Ten Thou-
sand a-Year" and the " Diary of a Late Physi-
cian." So with regard to many another idol of
some obscure little clique, and many another
world-wide celebrity. As the compilation has
grown it has, as a matter of course, given signs of
very considerable improvement. Numerous men
of mark previously overlooked have been at length
remembered, and their names duly inscribed upon
the long catalogue of eminent contemporaries.
But with the really distinguished, other persons
have bad their lives emblazoned upon Mr. Bogue's
scroll of fame, whose lights are still hid sway in dark
corners under bushels, and by this premature ex-
posure to the winds of heaven are threatened with
being more effectually extinguished by means
of the very puffs designed to blow them into
a blaze of renown—a " conflagration of genius"
expected, of course, by the puffer-general ulti-
mately to set the Thames on fire. The uninten-
tionally destructive influence of these same mis-
taken puffs will be aided, moreover, we conjecture,
rather freely by the bursts of laughter certain to be
provoked by their extravagance, from every reader
blessed with a keen sense of the ridiculous. P'ane-
gyrics, some of them are, kindred in their preter-
natural absurdity with that which has just led :Mr.
Ruskin into the ludicrous gaucherie of mentioning
quietly, and, as a matter of course in the same
breath, as sages (vide Vol. 111. of " Mod'orn
•Painters")—Plato, Carlyle, and Helps ! Such
amazing little demigods in Noah's-Ark-coats and
all-round collars as are here strutted out
to the astonished gaze of the multitude and pelte d
with sugar plums and bouquets, like the punehi - THE RECENT ATTEMPTED SUICIDE AT LIVERPOOL.--
ed
Hellos of a carnival, or the debadeurs and piereota chg. The causes assigned in a London paper,for the.
theattempted
a masquerade. 0 the wonderful little emmets of • suicide of Wm. Tathen are, over-speeu!ationin palm
insignificance who are here vaunted into a kind of
angelic men-mountains ! Figures shown to us which he had entered into serious
oil and tallow trades, and the failures inLiverpool.
serious
angelic of houses for
been requested to state that no such
through a magnifying medium of infatuation until : Bristol.—Bristol Mercury.
liabilities. We have ... . ,
they assume to themselves the apparent dimensions
THE SUICIDE IN THE EXCEIANGE.--LITEEPooL, Feb.
failures have occurre3 in Bristol.—ff
of colossi. Nevertheless when the compiler lists
nso contrive that his information becomes at 25.—The unhappy gentleman, Mr. W. Tatham, who
he ca
I attempted to commit suicide by cutting his throat in a
once instructive and entertaining. Several of the
I vault under the Exchange Reading-room last week, died
more important biographical sketches contained inday about noon in the Northern Hospital, to which
this
the new and enlarged issue of "Men of the Time 'a, :place he had been conveyed late on Friday night.

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS—(YESTERDAY).
(Continurd from, our third Edition of last Night.)
THE WENSLEYDALE PEERAGE.

The Earl of MALMESBURY said there was no one
in the houee who was not fully convinced, supposing
that life peerages were accepted by their lordships, that
in the hands of the noble marquis the power of making
such appointments, as far as numbers were concerned,
would be safely lodged, but there was no security for the
future. (Hear.) He considered that the peerage would
lose one of its most valuable appendages, if it was unac-
companied with the privilege of transmitting to;one's
children the honour acquired for personal merit. He
should consider it a reproach and an insult to be offered
a peerage and to be told that it should not descend
to his children. He did not believe that such peers
would be on a par with their lordships who were heredi-
tary peers, nor were they so considered in those coun-
tries where the two kinds of peerages existed. Dignities
for life never conferred equal privileges with hereditary
dignities, and he could prove that by what occurred in
the reign of King Stephen. That king, who was only a
king for life, conferred a charter for certain privileges on
the Bishop of Lincoln, but when in subsequent times,
in the reign of Edward 111., the Bishop of Lincoln was
called on to show by what authority he exercised those
privileges, and he produced the charter granted by King
Stephen, the lawyers of those days decided that he being
only a life king could not. make a grant in perpetuity.
The bishop had to give way in consequence. The noble
earl then quoted the opinion of Talleyrand in 1815 in
favour of an hereditary peerage, and confessed for him-
self that he looked on the creation of life peers with
great alarm. (Hear.)
Lord BROUG HAM said that he entirely approved of
the course taken by his noble friend on the part of the
Government. He was sure that his noble friend Lord
Wensleydale would not have taken any other course than
that announced by the noble earl, which was quite in
accordance with what Lord Wensleydale communicated
to himself, namely, that he should come to take his seat
as soon as the state of his health and the law—the law
allowed. He hoped the house would never consent to
give up that flower of its privileges, the appellate juris-
diction, but it was worthy of consideration how far the
services of that court might be obtained for themselves.
He could only say that he should willingly give any
assistance in his power to promote the object in view.
The Earl of HA RROWBY considered that indepen-
dence and the hereditary quality were essential charac-
teristics of the peerage, but they ought not to make
the peerage too exclusive, and should make some con-
cession to personal merit and services when not accom-
panied with great opulence. They ought to be careful
that, in clinging too much to the independent principle,
they did not lose the opportunity of introducing into
that house men of sterling talent and ability. They
should beware of closing the doors of that assembly
against the rising talent of the country.
Lord CAMPBELL must protest against what had
been thrown out by the noble earl who bad last spoken.
With his sentiments he ought to say "no" to the resole-
tion,`And to divide against it. After what had passed, no
one would contend that Lord Wensleydale could take
his seat in that house. If he attempted to do so they
would be under the disagreeable necessity o freeuesting
him to retire.
Earl GREY did not consider himself ins the‘eastbound
by the opinion of the Lord Chief Justice. The resolu-
tion now before the house would remain binding, until
their lordships saw ground to rescind it, and be was
confident that they would soon do so. He did not think 111
either that those who objected to the resolution were
bound to divide against it. He should avail himself of
the constitutional privilege of recording his protest
against it on the votes of the house.
Lord CAMPBELL explained. He bad merely meant
to say that, so long as that resolution remained on their
votes, Lord Wensleydale could not claim his seat.
Earl GRANVILLE thought he should act most en-
tirely in the spirit of the resolution proposed by not
going further into the question, though sundry provo-
catives had been thrown out by noble lords opposite.
The course to be taken toy the Government would de-
pend on the form of the resolutions to be proposed by
the noble and learned lord, and on its appearing that
they would not lead to any unnecessary delay.
The Earl of DERBY then moved that the house do
agree to the report of the committee of privileges.
The LORD CHANCELLOR put the question, and
declared that the "contents " had it.
Lord CAMPBELL moved " that it be ordered and
adjudged accordingly."
After a few words from Lord-DmisfeN and the LORD
CHANCELLOR, the motion was agreed to.
The Earl of DERBY gave notice to move, on Thurs-
day, for a select committee to inquire whether it was ex-
pedient to make any and what provision for the more
effectually securing the dile administration of the ap-
pellate jurisdiction of their lordships house, and to re-
port their opinion to the house.
The house adjourned at 7 o'clock.

HOUSE OF COMMONS.-(YESTERDAY.)

LOCIL DUES ON SHIPPING, &c.,

On the motion for the second reading of this bill,
Sir F. THESIGErt said, in asking the house to refuse
its consent to the second reading, he felt justified in taking
',hat course, by the absolute refusal on the part of. the Go-
vernment to listen to the just.claims of those whose inte-
rests were affectei by it. It was a bill which shook to its
very foundation the security of the whole of the corporate
property of this country. When he listened to the speech
in which the tight hon. gentleman the vice-president of the
Board of Trade (Mr. Lowe) introduced his bill to the house
he had been startled by some of the doctrines which he had
propounded ' • but when he came to look into the provisions
of the bill he confessed to have been struck with utter
amazement. The righe hon. gentleman had based his measure
upon the principle that the corporate towns of this kingdom
had no property exclusively their own, that they held all
which they possessed at the will of the public, that they
might be stripped of their possessions at pie 'owe. When
he(Sir F. Thesiger) heard such doctrines as these mentioned
he could not help being reminded of those discreditable
periods of English history when the charters of corpora-
tions were rescinded. But the difference between those
measures and the present violent proceeding was this—
that at leas'', in times past, some pretence was made of de-
reliction of duty on the part of corporations ; that at least
some semblance of a judicial proceeding was '(eon° through ;
but in the present case they found a liberal Government,
without any reason assigned, purposing, by the undue
exerciseof the power which Parliament possessed, and with-
out one single allegation of improper application of funds, to
confiscate the property of corporations to the use of the state.
(Opposition cheers.) Happy it was that the corporations
had this protection, that they could not be despoiled
unless Parliament became the. ,instrument of the in-
justice. He (Sir F. Thesiger). was indeed surprised at the
infatuation which the Government had rascally shown.
The house had seen them reviving an obsolete and ques-
tionable prerogative for the purpose of impairing the here-
ditary character and privileges of the House of Peers. (Op-
position cheers.) And in this matter they were found arm-
ing their Vice-President, of the Board of Trade, as their
champion, with maxims and principles more arbitrary
than the most arbitrary portion of English history had
theretofore brought forth. (Opposition cheers.) The Go-
vernment seemed anxious to make applicable to themselves
the words of an uncompromising opponent of the former
malpractices against corporations, who described the then
offender " as making the charters of corporations fall down
before him like Jericho,' and as carrying away their spoils
like the spoils of Gaza." The bill before the house was
conveniently divided into four parts. The first portion
referred to the question of passing tolls. Had the
bill gone no further than this question, he (Sir F. Thesi-
ger)—though he thought its provisions were open to
some observation—would not have been found amongst
its opponents. The fourth part related to various mis-
cellaneous matters, and matters of detail, with respect
to which it was not necessary then to trouble the house.
To the second and third portions only therefore would he
direct the attention of hen. gentlemen. The second part
proposed that all rates and duties leviable, on ships or
goods carried in ships, within the United kingdom, and
which were possessed by corporate towns, should be trans-
ferred to the Commissioners of Casten's, and be applied
according to the direction of the Board of Trade. The
house should know that there was nothing iwhatever in the
bill determining the dues—(hear)—and, for all that ap-
peared in the measure, these dues might be continued to
the end of time. (Hear.) The third portion of the bill re-
lated to the d ifferential duties. The house was aware that
the former policy of this country wasto impose a higherdnty
upon foreign than upon British vessels. In 1510 and 1815
reciprocity treaties were entered into with Portugal and Ame-
rica, by which the vessels of those countries wore placed on
the same footing as those of Great Britain. In 1819, when
the legislature abolished these differential duties in favour of
these two nations it was considered that the corporations en-
titled to these increased tolls would be deprived of the ad-
vantage which they had derived, and the legislature provid-
ed that the difference which would arise from the abolition
of those dues should be made up to the corporations and
others entitle to receive them out of the consolidated fund.
This state of things was continued by other acts of Par-
liament in 1838 and 1852. In the latter year power was
given to her Majesty in Council, when any nation received
English ships on the same footing as their own, to greet
them similar privileges in British ports. But the same
principle of compensation was observed, and paylnents
from the consolidated fund had from time to time been
made. He would especially call the attention oft hewas house
to the fact that, with regard to the local dues, i
intention of the Government to take them from tlfrecorirr-
ration and convert them to its own use— N_
Lowe) —while they abolished the differ4l°duers.ni The.
right honourable gentleman said Noi (Sir F. Thesiger)
should like the negative to be pointed out in the bill.
(Hear, hear.) The ground upon which the Government
set forth by the right lion.
proposed to take this sten, te!
gentleman, was that corperatiodnisptrionpeetiretny
bweatswepeunbplircipvartoe-
perty—that there was a_ clear
rights and possessions and core orate rights and possessions
—that the latter belong to the public. It was necessary to
consider the different classes of corporations, to wheel', of
course, different observations applied. He would not take
este account those corporate bodies the members of which
joined their funds for the purposes of trade ; the property of
these was eo clearly of the nature of private property that
it was not necessary to detain the house in order to prove
that which was self-evident. The other classes of corpo-
rations were two ; those which *ere established simply for
public purposes, the individuals of which had no right to
any corporate property; and those which were created in
order to be the medium of conferring rights and privileges
on individuals by a general description, and to prevent
the necessity of an individual grant to each member of
the corporation. In melee cerporatioes as those to which
he had last referred, each individual member possessed a
right and share to and in the privileges and property of the
corporation. The right hon. gentleman bad classed toge-
ther all corporations, and had applied the same rule to all.
The right hon. gentleman in his speech, in introducing this
bill, said :—"Of course we shall hear of vested interests; but
ever and over again this house has decided—and I think it
will not go back from that decision—that in this matter
there is the widest possible distinction between corporations
or public bodies and private individuals. Mr. Maim a
high authority on such points, says, in the first volume of
his 'Constitutional History of England,' that Parliament,
although bound to respect the legal interest of private per-
sons is not withheld by any such rule withregard to corpora-
tions." The right hon. gentleman did Dot give any reference
to this passage in Mr, Rabat! work ; and he (Sir Fa Ting!