The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-28 00:00:00

IRE SUN; N E
DON, WEDNESDAY EVICING, MARCH 728, :1860.

LATEST NEWS.

) their wn
tc
g
members of the Council to give effect istrat es and the
this election, convened the ma
The I Aberals,o to
arrangement of August last.
their credit, responded to the circular, 1 he Conser-
vatives, with trivial exceptions, did n ot. This
unquestionably looked as if the Cow 3ervatives
wished to reserve to themselves the liberty to bribe,
especially as they had brought forward a candi-
date—" a man whose name was synonymous with
wealth." The Mayor attended, therefo re, a large
meeting which had been convened of ;the Liberal
electors, laid the facts before the p-üblic, and urged
he tupon the Liberals, to which party he: belonged,
that it was " more important to restore '-
charac-
ter of the city than to achieve a party triumph."
This shamed the Conservatives into ;)rotesting
against such a misrepresentation of their intL 'rations ;
misrepresentation, if it were so, for whici
they
could have only themselves to thank. They . now
declare their determination to " conduct the co.ll-
test fairly and honourably." It would have been
better had their leaders said so by their presence
went would forfeit le privileges of French citizen-
and language at the ranting, regularly called, to
ship.
give effect to the August arrangement. We could
The Pays, in another article, expresses its re-
then have believed that their honour and fairness
vets on account of the angry words pronounced
were spontaneous.
yes terday by Lord fohn Russell.
The MAYOR has since published an excellent
T. he same paper gives a denial to the rumour that
appeal to all parties, one which might be addressed
the 1. 'ope and the K ng of Naples had quitted their
with propriety to other boroughs and cities which
capita Is.
do not happen to have been found guilty before a
Committee or a Commission. " Now," he says,
" my fellow citizens of all parties, permit me to
call your most serious attention to the position of
our city. Our electoral misdeeds are notorious.
Parliament has repeatedly condemned us. On Fri-
day last, several members on both sides denounced
the corrupt old .ity. It was declared to be worse
than either Wakefield or Gloucester—worse than
both put together. It was suggested that the writ
should be suspended for ten years. It was called
a cesspool of corruption,' and the very motion for
the issuing of the writ was denounced as a dirty
business.' So narrow and almost accidental has
been our escape, that no one can doubt that if
another corrupt contest takes place, a commission
will be issued, the city will be disfranchised, and
Parliament will exercise something like vengeance
on the guilty. Never has so serious an emergency
arisen in our city. Never, perhaps, in the history
of our country, has a constituency been put so con-
spicuously upon its trial. It is a question for us of
honour or infamy, of freedom or the vilest form of
thraldom,—a question of political life or death ! I
call upon the electors on both sides, to resolve
solemnly that they will sacrifice every party object
for the honour of this once venerated, but alas !
now despised city. It matters little—almost
nothing in a party sense—which side succeeds : but
in a moral aspect it is of infinite moment that we
should free ouselves from electoral crime."
We confess that we are a little curious to know
how this manly appeal succeeds, and whether it
will really arouse whatever dormant feeling of poli-
tical morality may yet exist in Norwich. It seems
indeed that Mr. TILLETT has by no means entire
confidence in his appeal ; he thinks there are many
who would despise any appeal to principle, and
would still bribe if they could. He adds therefore :
—" I proclaim a holy war against corruption. Let
every man enter upon the crusade. Should any—
unrepentant and incorrigible—seem to be reserving
themselves for a renewal of past misdeeds, watch
them closely—keep the peace, but watch them.
Regard every briber, to whichever party he be-
longs, as an enemy to the city. Prevent him from
committing the crime if you can ; detect him if he
will commit it ; give information to the police the
moment you have found him out. Watch these
men as you would a pickpocket in a crowd, a
burglar in the dark corner, or an incendiary with
his match-box in the stackyard—watch them to
prevent, to detect, to capture !"
We sincerely hope that this Norwich election
may show what the determination of one intelli-
gent and respectable man can do in frowning down
corruption. The present Mayor of Norwich is not
a man to be trifled with, and the men of corruption
know it ; but it remains to be seen whether even
he can insure anything like purity of election,
when the name of one candidate is synonymous
with wealth, when wealth would probably win;
and when as certainly the Conservatives could
not gain an election without it. The Mayor
of Norwich is a supporter of the Ballot,
and we cannot doubt that, even if he suc-
ceed on the whole, yet the difficulties of this
election will strengthen his conviction that, for per-
manent success, the enemies of corruption need the
aid of the only device which makes bribery almost
impracticable, while it does not increase the diffi-
culty of detection and punishment. The purity
party need have the two strings to their bow,-
secret voting and,open penalties.

The following telegrams have been received at
Mr. lteuter's office :

MADRID, MARCH 27.
The conditions for the conclusion of peace with
Morocco will probably be as follows :
An indemnity of 400,000,000 reals.
The retention of Tetuan by the Spanish until
payment of the indemnity.
The territorial aggrandisement of Melilla.
Commercial advantages.
The protection of missionaries.
A Spanish Minister to reside at Fez.

PARIS, Mmtcn 27.

The Pays of this evening, in announcing that
General Lamoriciere has left for Rome, recalls the
article of the Code Napoleon, which states that
every Frenchman Tho should enter foreign service
without the authorisation of the French Govern.

ROME (via Marseilles), MARCH 24.

A consistory was held yesterday. The allocution,
which was delivered by the Pope on the occasion,
remains an Absolute secret. It is only known that
the excommuvicatien has not yet been pronounced.
Yesterday the suspected Chiefs of the manifesta-
tion embarked at Civita Vecchia. Twenty persons
have been arrested.
On the last occasion of the last demonstration at
Rome, which was suppressed by the police, a
minister of the Anglican Church was among those
who were wounded.
The two French officers who were also acciden-
tally but slightly wounded on that occasion have
exchanged visits with the staff major of the gen-
darmery.

General Goyon has published an energetic order
of the day, censuring the hissers and others who
provoked the public foree by their intolerable in-
sults, and commending the French officer who gave
the order to disperse the populace. He laments,
however, the want of judgment shown by the
Roman gendarmes, as well as their blind im-
petuosity.

General Goyon says in conclusion : " I rely upon
the noble character of our officers, and invite all to
moderation and tranquillity."

Yesterday another pacific manifestation took
place while the Pipe was proceeding to the St.
Peter's Cathedral. The number of carriages was

immense.
A public functionary, guilty of embezzlement,
has been sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment.

BERNE, MARCH 27.

It is stated that the Federal Council has received
two verbal communications from France and Sar-
dinia.

Sardinia has informed Switzerland that the lat-
ter Power must negotiate with Franco relative to
the annexation of Savoy.
France declared to Switzerland that, should
Switzerland take military measures, she would be
obliged to do the same.

PARIS, MARCH 28.

The Constitutionnel, in an article by M. Grand-
guillot, endeavours to prove that the counsels of
England at Turin necessitated the annexation of
Savoy.

The Journal des Debats states that the treaty
concerning the annexation of Savoy and Nice was
yesterday ratified by the French Government.
The Paris papers contain the following :—ln
Pout de Beauvoisin, Savoy, the election of a Deputy
for the Sardinian Chambers has resulted as fol-
lows :
Total number of voters .
For Napoleon 214

BERNE, MARCH 27.

It is asserted that France has proposed to sub-
mit the stipulations in the treaties of 1815, relative
to the neutralised provinces, to a Congress of the
Powers, to which, according to these treaties,
Switzerland will be also admitted. The Federal
Council, having in view the treaty concerning the
cession of Savoy and Nice to France, published in
the Moniteur, has directed the Minister Plenipo-
tentiaries of Switzerland at Paris and Turin to
repeat the protest against any occupation of the
neutralised provinces.

BERLIN, MARCH 27.

As we expected, the French papers denounce the
manly declaration of Lord JOHN RUSSELL—some
call it an angry ebullition, while others affect to
treat it in a more politic spirit. The fact is that
NAPOLEON is in a fix. He feels that his double-
dealing hypocrisy is unmasked before the world,
and he is even fain to let the cloud blow over, if
only for a time. The reported closer alliance
between Prussia and England is wormwood to his
taste. That Prussia will die hard before giving
up the Rhenish Provinces there can be
but little doubt—for Prussia is but an agglomera-
tion of other States, composed of robberies here
and despoliations there—just like her kindred rival
Austria, only somewhat more liberal withal.
Prussia has a conscience, and seems to respect it
in others ; but Austria never had a conscience,
and promises never to entertain such heretical free-
dom. The political cauldron is now seething in
Germany, and may boil over all of a sudden, to the
astonishment of some, and the utter confusion of
more. NAPOLEON has the whip hand of his
rivals just for the present, but in his over
eagerness to win the race he may urge his steed
overmuch—and then—what will follow ? Not the
sympathy of the oppressed—nor the congratulation
of the oppressors. No ! NAPOLEON has something
yet to learn, like our Foreign Secretary—the one
more respect for his neighbours, and the other more
acuteness, and less faith in the candour of his
" great men," be they monarchs or make-believe
moralists !

The negotiations with England have produced a
favourable result. It is expected that England and
Prussia will take steps in concert, more especially
for the maintenance of the rights of Switzerland.

FRANKFORT (0. M.), MARCH 27.

The Legislative body of the free town of Frank-
fort-on-the-Maine has unanimously resolved to give
its representative the following instructions, viz. :
—He may propose at the Federal Diet that a cen-
tral Power in Germany, increased by a national
representation, should be established. The motive
given for this resolution is the threatening attitude
assumed by France.

NAPLES, (via Marseilles) MARcii 24.

The King remained three days at Gaeta inspect-
ing the newly-enlisted troops. His Majesty has
given all the necessary orders for their organisation,
but no movement of troops towards the frontier has
been ordered. The King returned here on Thurs-
day, and has recalled his Plenipotentiary from
Rome, who arrived here yesterday. The rumour
of an approaching occupation of Rome by Neapo-
litan troops is no longer credited. Several other
assassinations of agents of the public admi-
nistration have taken place in Sicily. Great
agitation prevails there, but no demonstrations of
any decided character have taken place. General
Viglia has been sent into Calabria, in order to
pursue certain bands of agitators.

TURIN, MARCH 27.

TILE PETITIONS FOR CII URCII RATE

Although the new frontiers of France and Pied-
mont are to be fixed by a mixed commission, the
two Governments have agreed to the following
line :—ln the north the boundary which separates
Savoy from Switzerland is to be preserved. In the
east the frontier will extend to the summit of M6nt
Cenis, the western slopes of which, as well as Fort
Bramant (which is the key to that mountain), will
be included in the French empire. The line will
follow the chain of the Alps to Mount Viso, and to
the defile of the Tenda and the course of the river
Raja, the mouth of which is at Vintimiglia, a
strongly fortified port in the Mediterranean.

ABOLITION.

Last night's presentation of petitions surpassed
all that went before it, the extraordinary number
of 1,305 petitions
theya ppearing in the Votes of this
morning, whereoccupypetitions
tiet
iago
is hayrlcat
ean a
space. Assum-
ing reaae
of 90 signatures, which is thought to be within the
mark, the aggregate up to last night will be as
:-3,824 petitions, with 290,590 signatures.
Therestill a large force in reserve for presenta-
tionlleorNeis
vs
to-day, so that the final result will be likelyto be much beyond the calculations of the petition-
ing party.

THEATRE ROYAL, ADELNIL—Her Majesty, the
Princess Helena, Prince Alfred, and Prince Arthur, with
the Hon. Miss Stanley, the Hon. Flora Macdonald, Lord
Cremorne, and Lord Alfred Paget, honoured the perform-
ances at the Adelphi Theatre with their presence last

FRANCE.

PARIS, TUESDAY.

The prevalent belief is that an arrangement is in
progress under which the French troops are to
quit Rome.
Rome )yill be protected by the Pontifical troops,

evening.
The Countess Dowager of Tankerville is confined
to her reeiduko liertfiad-street, by oeYere indisposition,

and Neapolitan forces will be authorised to enter
the Marches.

The French uniform will be seen to-day in
Chambery. At Nice the first detachments are not
expected before the 29th.

" A despatch from Turin has announced," says
the Patrie, " that the movement of the with-
drawal of the French troops from Lombardy is
suspended. We can affirm that the announce-
ment is erroneous, as the evacuation is going on
regularly, and the whole of the corps of occupation
will have entered France by the 15th April."
The lndependancc Beige having announced that
the reply of Lord John Russell to M. Thouvenel
had arrived in Paris, but that the French Minister
had refused to receive it on account of the sharp
terms in which it was drawn up, the Patric de-
clares that the statement is entirely without foun-
dation. " The despatch in question," says the
Paris journal, " discusses the Savoy question in free
but proper terms, and terminates by a declaration
of friendly feeling towards France."
The rumour having been disseminated that the
Federal Council of Switzerland had decided
on occupying Chablais and Faucigny, as soon
as French troops should enter Savoy, the Build
contradicts the statement in the most formal
manner.

One of the journals states that Colonel Saget, of
the Staff, having been appointed to the command
of the garrison of Chamb6ry, has left Paris for his
post.

The deputation from Savoy, on dining at the
Tuileries on Saturday, were the objects of most
gracious attention on the part of the Emperor and
Empress. After the dinner, which was not over
till nine o'clock, the Emperor entered into conver-
sation with them, and asked many questions con-
cerning the interests of Savoy. His Majesty after-
wards gave each of them a photographed portrait
of himself, and the Empress presented them with
an engraving representing the Prince Imperial,
with the words " Souvenir of the 24th March,
1860.— EUGENIE;" in her own handwriting.
A letter from Marseilles of the 25th inst. says ;
,' The new treaty of commerce with England can-
not but largely increase our transactions with that
country. Adready, even before it was certain that
it would obtain the assent of the British Parlia-
ment, some large purchases were made by English
buyers. Hitherto great secresy was maintained on
these bargains but they are now spoken of. From
the amount of the business already done one may
judge of the immense development which our rela-
tions with the British Empire will assume. It was
mentioned at the mercantile Exchange yesterday
that a broker had contracted with a mercantile
house here for the delivery, annually, of from
1,500,000 f. to 2,000,000 f. worth of wines for Eng-
land. The contract to last for 10 years."
BOURSE, March 27.—The opening of the market
was heavy, with a downward tendency, but it after-
wards rallied. Threes were done at 68f 40c, to 68f
90e, and are now at 68f 80c. Mobilier varied from
750 f to 760 f ; Austrian, 507 f 50c to 512 f 50c ;
Lombard, 540 f to 545 f ; Orleans, 1,415 f to 1,425 f
Northern, 955 f to D6of ; Lyons, 910 f to 920 f. The
following are the last quotations :

4i per Cents. .... 96 25 I Credit Fonder.. • 752 50
Do. end month .. 96 25 I Belgian 4} —
3 per Cents. 6B 85 Piedmontese (5)
Do. end month.... GS 80 Roman Bl
Bank Shares. 2BOO Austrian —
Credit Mobilier .. 756 25 Spanish Throes
Do. Account

THE NEW POEM.

St. Stephen' R. A Poem, Blackwood and Sons.

We aecetit this ationyitiods Voetil at once
eh—illustrated by examples— the De Oratore
of English literature. As we took oceasion
to intimate immediately upon the commence-
ment of its original publication in Blackwood's
Magazine, there can hardly be an instant's doubt
as to the authorship. The very radiance of the
writer's trenchant weapon, his style*—shines back
upon the features that he would seemingly fain
keep concealed, reveal:ng,_ almost at a glance, his
identity, It is the thou'ght of Elizabeth Barrett
Browning in her new volume, where, with a lumi-
nous touch of bier pencil, she depicts the emanci-
pating French under " Napoleon 111. in Italy "
(Poems before Congress, p. 9), where—
" Each man stands with his face in the light
Of his own drawn sword,"
Yet as it is still the pleasure of the recognised
author of " St. Stephen's" to withhold his name
from the title page, we shall affect to regard him,
even now, as inscrutably anonymous. It would
hardly be extravagant to say, after a careful re•
examination of these pages, that—
" Hero Butler's Wit, ropo's numbers, Prior's ease,
I,Vith all that Fancy can invent to please,
Adorn the polished periods as they fall."
The three parts are thickly sown with terse and har-
monious couplets, that only lack, what they are
certain to obtain, the advantage of frequent quota-
tion to render them " household words "—"familiar
in the mouths" of the lettered population. The work is
essentially national in its character. It is peculiarly
patriotic in its inspiration. It appeals with a persua-
sive eloquence, and with a most elevating tendency
to the popular sympathies. It is the production of
one Eclectic in Taste as well as in Politics, one who
appreciates with equal readiness the nobler attri-
butes of the conscientious Liberal and of the
conscientious Conservative. Above all, it is
penned throughout (we feel it in the ring of every
melodious syllable) by an • earnest, large-hearted
Englishman. As a whole, the Poem is an admi-
rable exemplar in verse of what is termed in music
the crescendo. It increases in power, and vigour,
and melody up to its close—the last (Sir Robert
Peel) being incomparably the best, to our thinking,
among its many most felicitous portraitures. It
may be said to illustrate thus upon a loftier scale
the perfection of the sonnet, as defined by Keats—
"- swelling loudly
Up to its climax, and then dying proudly."

We are glad to see eliminated from the effusion in
its present collective reprint those explanatory
words in prose introducing it to the readers of
Maya upon its first and piecemeal appearance.
They were superfluous. They were worse than
superfluous—they sounded incongruously : as
though we were hearkening to the 0 yez ! 0 yez !
of the Crier of a Law Court, before the trumpet
notes of a Herald in the lists. The introductory
Part, or Cantg, is chiefly remarkable for the deli-
neation of Henry St. John, the great Lord Boling-
broke, here admirably called " our English
Alcibiades." From the first line to the last of this
exquisite delineation the whole sketch is as near
as one could wish it to perfection. Three months
ago we quoted it entire from the pages of Black-
wood. Admirable also are many fragmentary pas-
sages in the limning of Dean Jonathan Swift—here
with an aptness of similitude worthy of Mirabeau,
designated " Half Rousseau and half Rabelais." In
a kindred mood, the Right Hon. Joseph Addison
is called in another part, the " Pope of Prose" and
the " Virgil of Humourists."- And, in the grand
full-length portraiture of the great Earl of
Chatham, we have that Patrician-Tribune finely
termed "the ./Esehylus of Speech." Witty,
sparkling, capital, are many of the touches
in the outline of the bluff features of
Sir Robert Walpole. Not the least adroit
of these being the very reticence—suppressing
as applied to Walpole the three first words
of the couplet closing Cow.per's tribute to his friend
Joseph Hill—

r‘ An honest man, close buttoned to the chin,
Broadcloth without, and a warm heart within."

There is, by the way, a sort of a catechetical
colloquialism, as we may term it, disfiguring some
portions of the poetical effusions of the same de-
lightful English writer, which seems to us to be
occasionally echoed unacceptably from the other-
wise almost flawless numbers of the author of "St.
Stephen's." Thus, at the close of his allusions to
Hampden, he writes—
" So pass, 0 pure Ideal of the free
True star to stem by whereso'er the sea
Linking the cause that gives the world its breath-
-IVith Cromwell' s triumph / No, with Hampden' s death."
Quite as quaint, this self-question self-answered—
almost as grotesque—as that whimsical couplet in
Cowper's now nearly forgotten poem of Truth—
" The Frenchman, first in literary fame,
(111-ention him if you please. Voltaire h—The same)."
Thus in a minor degree is it in "St. Stephen's"—we
might almost say passim. While we are thus
hypercritically scanning these lines as it were with a
microscope, let us for a moment object to the closing
distich of the brief passage relating to Sarah,
Duchess of Marlborough—
" Whose aim is despot's, and whose sense a doll's—
Whose pride Roxana's, and whose language Poll's."
Suggested, unconsciously, no doubt, at the moment,
but quite obviously in the retrospect, by Garrick's
epitaph on Goldsmith—
" Here lies Nolly Goldsmith, for shortness called Noll,
Who wrote like an angel, and talked like poor Poll."
Forgetting the facuhe, forgetting the maculae upon
the disc of " St. Stephen's," let us look now gratefully
rather to the pervading warmth and sheen of its
glowing eloquence. It treats throughout of oratory,
and it is throughout in itself oratorical—it is the
utterance of an orator upon orators. For the fire,
and the verve, and the terseness which are among
the most conspicuous of its charms, glance
however
.cursorily down the memorial verses
dedicated to the memory of Chatham.
Abundantly scattered through which verses are
samples of what are in truth the chief sources of
this volume's instant, and, we believe, abiding fas-
cination. Extracting but a few of these clustered
graces from the memento of Chatham, we may
thus sprinkle our comments with an abun-
dance of nervous couplets in the way of the merest
casual quotation : ex. yr. :

" Our fathers tell us what their fathers told,
How from those lips the glorious cataract rolled.
.*
* * * *
Learned ho from Roscius in what folds to bring
The imperial purple ?—was he less the king ?
Actor you call him ; yes, with inborn ease
What labour made divine Demosthenes ;
Tones with the might of music at Their choice
The front august, the eye itself a voice.
* * * * *
Was it a fault if cowering senates shook,
Thrilled by a whisper, spell-bound by a look ?
* * * 4 *
To colder lips he left the words that teach ;
lie awed and crushed—the A'schylus of speesh."

- -
Throughout thesQ storied and almost, we might call
them, pictorial pages of " St. Stephens"—we pass
onward as though amongst the altar-like and colos-
sal pedestals upon which stand enshrined the effi-
gies of the eternal habitants of a Walhalla. Sar-
castic not unfrequently, even humorous at times,
the writer at intervals gives evidence of higher
and loftier capacities than those appertaining to
the mere satirist or to the mere eulogist; mani-
festing even, whenever the subject admits of it, at
rater intervals, the possession of what Wordsworth
has nobly termed in the first book of his Excur-
sion—("The Wanderer")—
" The vision and the faculty divine !"

Although we are tempted to enter into a detailed
scrutiny of this trilogy of Parliamentary com-
memorations, we conceive that it will be preferable
after contenting ourselves with a very few more
illustrative quotations, to refer our readers to the
work itself in its entirety—satisfied that they will
hardly fail to be lured on to a perusal of the whole
Three Parts, from the Ist page to the 136th, upon
a glance down one or two of the brief excerpts
hereinafter introduced. The intermediate or second
part of the Poem is chiefly remarkable for four very
masterly portraitures—those of Sheridan and
Burke, but more especially of Fox, and pre-
eminently of Pitt. More lightly pencilled though
the profile outlines here given, are of Wilberforce
and Dundas, of Windham and the Gronvilles—
each is traced with a few rapid touches of facile,
almost careless ease, yet:touches, that prove in every
instance when more carefully examined that they
have been guided by a master hand, with a...keen, an
unerring, we might even say an instinctive, preci-
sion. Amongst these comparatively minor sketches
there are introduced incidentally—very charmingly
but very incongruously—a cluster of admirable
silhouettes (not in the least Parliamentary) of
Johnson and Garrick, Sir Joshua, Boswell, and
Goldsmith. But the glory of Part Two is incom-
parably above all—beyond the limnings of Sheridan,
of Burke, or even of Fox, superb though the last
two arc in themselves—the grand and lofty effigy
here furnished to us of the younger Pitt. Hearken
to the memorial of the mere style, and manner, the
contemporary effect and influence of Pitt's oratory,
penned thus in resounding verse by. the Author
of "St. Stephen's :"

"If read the orations, and forgot the age,
Words that breathed fire are ashes on the page.
Oh to have heard them in the breathless hall,
When Europe paled before the maddening Gaul;
When marts resounded at the trumpet's blare,
Fleets on the deep and banners in the air ;
What time the dire Religion, stripp'd of God,
Shook tower and temple to the dust she trod,
And left the ruins elark beneath the frown
Of Him whose bolt she mimick'd and drew down !
Then did the purpose (lost in rainier days)
Inspire with patriot life the purple phraBe,

And under that stiff toga of the dead
Was heard the ringing of the Roman tread."
The third and concluding portion of the Poem
beginning with a graceful memento of Canning and
his followers—brings the survey down to a period
almost immediately contemporary. The orator-
poet whose hand has traced this volume, while
proclaiming his determination to avoid any reference
whatever to those more immediately around him,
has nevertheless not only indulged his more genial,
in some instances his more magnanimous sympa-
thies, by blurting out cordial tributes of admiration
for the nobler qualities apparent in great Parlia-
mentary veterans still happily surviving—political
celebrities like Brougham end Lyndhurst, and
Russell and Palmerston—he has proffered kindlier
evidence still of his appreciation of a few others,
chiefly legal notabilities, of a later generation,
eminent lawyers and debaters, like Cairns and
Whiteside. Ills, indeed, is no sardonic tempera'
ment, owning allegiance to the refrigerating rule
whose motto is briefly nil admirari ! He, at least,
among our more eminent writers is no sarcastic
depreciator of his own times and of his own con-
temporaries. With Lord Byron he might sal
derisively—
" The good obi times ? All times when old are good 1"
He scorns the notion in truth, so thoroughly, that
there is any essential pre-eminence in antiquity,
that there is any latent atom of truth in the cold
and contemptuous TA (;)yiryca ilpLcurt, that we find
him towards the close of his task exclaiming in
terms of generous exultation—

" Still in the Senate, whatsoe'er we lack,
It is not genius ;—call old giants back,
And men now living might as tall appear,
Judged by our sons, not us,—we stand too near "
Beginning, as we have said, with a graphic and
graceful delineation of Canning and his followers,
the final book or canto of " St. Stephen's" run%
sinuously through an extraordinary diversity of
themes, introducing us to an astounding variety of
historic individualities. The lesser celebrities com-
prise amongst their number Ward and Grant, Frere
and Horne. Back to our ken once more comes Sir
Francis Burdett, " brecch'd and top-booted "
" That tall pre-Adam of our trouser'd race!"

Hither again, with " airy tread," Tierney " lounges
into debate "

" One hand politely pointing out your crime,
The other—in his pocket all the time I "

Yonder move with patriotic stateliness, across the
mystic proscenium, the imperial Grey and procon-
sular Wellesley. There also are revived to vicar
" mysterious Castlereagh" (a sketch characterised
by masterly touches of most subtle discrimination)
—and that acknowledged chief among the " mil-
lionaires of mind," Sir James Mackintosh. Here is
Shiel, the dazzling 4, Kean" of debate, and Lord
Althorpe, as we might term him, its more equable
walking-gentleman. Passing‘tributes are offered
to the laborious Hume and the " mellifluous
Follett—to the chivalrous Bentinek and the " de-
liberate" Huskisson. There is under the quiet and
delicious humour of the following passage a depth
of pathos in the literal truth of its conclusion:—
" Few, who at ease their Members' speeches read,
Guess the hard life of members who succeed ;
Pass by the waste of youthful golden days,
And the dread failure of the first essays—
Grant that the earlier steeps and sloughs are past,
And Fame's broad highway stretches smooth at last;
Grant the success, and now behold the pains ;
Eleven to three—Committee upon Drains I
From three to five—self-commune and a chop ;
From five to dawn, a bill to pass or stop ;
Which, stopt or pass'd, leaves England much the same.
Alas for genius staked in such a game !
When as the guerdon' in the grasp appears,
' Comes the blind Fury with the abhorred shears.' "

Conspicuous among the more brilliant deserip•
tions here given of our greater orators are those
relating to the gorgeous Macaulay and the impas.
sioned Plunkett. Butas almost facile prince"'
even among these colossi of modern oratory, facile
princeps in the true Demosthenic character--
Daniel O'Connell claims in a manner pre-eminently
the writer's applauding recognition. Instance'
the followlit :
" Once to my sight the giant thus was given,
Well'dby wide air, and roof'd by boundless heaven;

Beneath his feet the human ocean lay,
And wave on wave flowed into space away.
Methought no clarion could have sent its sound
Even to the centre of the hosts around ;
And as I thought rose the sonorous swell,
As from some church-tower swings the silvery bell.
Aloft and clear, from airy tide to tide,
It glided, easy as a bird may glide ;
To the last verge of that vast audience sent,
It played with each wild passion as it went
Now stirred the uproar, now the murmur still'd,
And sobs or laughter answered as it will'd.
" Then did I know what spells of infinite choice,
To rouse or lull, has the sweet human voice;
Then did I seem to seize the sudden clue _

i;ii;;;;ncitrodlousi Life Antique—to view
Under the rock stand of Demosthenes,

Mutable Athens heave her noisy seas.;'
Vividly do we ourselves bear in mind a scene in °.n•
~
sense precisely similar—when, in the very Zenith
of O'Connell's fame and powers, we listened to .
tn
ta
speaking, listened to the responding "sobs and
laughter of his auditors, in the Ol
d Corn Ex-
change of Dublin, afterwards called (by an absurd
misnomer) the far-famed Hall of Conciliation. In the
course of the singularly and especially admirable
portraiture of Viscount Melbourne adorning the
earlier pages of this crowning instalment of " St.
Stephen's," we light unexpectedly and somewhat,
bewildered upon the only sentence in tlie whole
the poem which really appears to us to be in on
sense obscure, and even, be it said, enigmaticr,
It is where, after describing the exterior eharacw
of Lamb, the poet writes :
" Such was the man, in part, to outward show;
Another man lay coiled from sight below—
And mystics tell us that this fleshly form
Enfolds a subtler which escapes the worm ;
And is the true one, which the Maker's breath
Quickened from dust, and privileged from death."
" Mystics ?" Nay, surely, is not this the one ineffable
truth which alone renders the mystery of life
endurable—is not this the one sacred, beatignantr
and consolatory belief of our common Christianity?
Gladly would we see this phrase modified, or pay'
sage expunged, in the immediately ensuing edition
of " St. Stephen's." But—to close our extracts nod
with one fragment from what we have already
designated, as to our thinking, the noblest arhong
these superb oratorical and poetical delineations---•
let us pause for a moment in turning over the con-
eluding pages of the volume, to the end that we
may indulge at once ourselves and our readers with
a parting quotation. Take, then, the one here sub-
joined :

" The more his reasonings, in their watchful range,
Seemed guarding outlets for prudential change,
The more scared followers groan'd, ' Can we confide ?'

The more the Public hail'd the common guide.
It liked his wealth—the wealthy want not place;
It liked his birth—trade has its pride of race ;
It liked his sober yet imposing mien;
It liked his life, in which no flaw was seen;
And thus to his, as a judicial mind,
The general cause the general trust consign'd ;
',rola the vex'd Bar Opinion snatch'd its chief,
AVrench'd from his hands each client's partial brief,
And raised the counsel of a special plea
Into the judge, whose voice was a decree.
And, in return, his conscience more and more
Revised each cause it had sustain'd before,
Till all old questions merged afresh in one,
' Should, for the good of England, this be done ?
If so, of all men I must do it l—why ?
Because none else could so succeed as I I'
" To me, who seek to analyse, not judge,
Exempt alike from favour and from grudge—
To me, so clearly, when witk care defined,
Stands force excused his conscience-weighted mind,
That where I doubt his course, I dare not blame;
I too am English, and my share I claim
Of our joint heirloom in his English name."
With the melody of that rhetorical passage yet
ringing in our memory, we close the book all
bring our comments to a conclusion. " St. Stephen's
is unquestionably, may be pronounced unhesitati
ingly, a brilliant and twofold success—a suceeso
both literary and political. It will take its place
upon the national bookshelves as a classic at once,
poetic and Parliamentary. It is the dream el
Horace at length realised—
" Nec magis expressi vultus per ahenea signa,
Quam per vatis opus mores animique virorum
Clarorum apparent."*

London, at a Glance. An Illustrated Atlas °f
London. Thomas Hodson.
Great pains has evidently been bestowed on 010
production, the object of which is, as stated in the
introduction, to enable strangers to find their soila
with greater facility than is practicable by referent
to a sheet map, the extent of London being suee
that to residents it is a matter of no inconsiderat
difficulty to solve the great problem. So write:
the author. But if his object is to be of service to tb;
stranger, that individual may well exclaim " Sal;
me from my friends." The map of London n
been divided into 36 sections, to which is added :-
key map ; also a sheet index, and various cont1:1;
vances to direct the stranger, in which map and
which corner to look for the street he is in search
of ; but when he has mastered the principle of c°11:
struction, and discovered his map and his streo!
he is as far from the object of his search as ev„ert;
for the maps are cut out with a happy disregalmuer
the cardinal points ; one faces the South, anotopo
S.W., and so on all round the compass; andf,be
there is no directing arrow to show the waY,` of
wind blows, the principal drawback to this
maps is that it is necessary to know the locaall_V,
before they arc comprehensible—which said dr,4o
bavk would be considerable to a stranger. 4
idea is. however, a good one, and bad the .11154;
been divided in a more orderly and intelbw.lo
manner, with due regard to north and south, the PIP'
might have been of service.

Epist. Lib, ii, i. 218.