The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAyrEVENING, DECEMBER- 5, 1860.

simple English—the laws of entail and primogeni-
ture! " The first of these obstacles," observed Mr.
BRIGHT last night, in that dreadful revolutionary
Pandemonium of the Town Hall at Birmingham,
" was the law of primogeniture. If the Editors of
the Newspapers," he added, " or the writers of those
journals favoured the public with any of their
observations upon what he was now saying, they
would no doubt tell them this, that there was no
such thing in England as the law of primogeniture,
and that a man might leave his property as he liked
by his will; that it was only in those cases where
he died without a will that the law of primogeni-
ture comes into effect, the fact being that the whole
of the freehold landed property was given to the
one son, although the rest of the brothers and
sisters were turned penniless into the world." The
Editors of Newspapers at any rate, after having their
ignorance thus dissipated by this timely reminder
as to what is what, can hardly blunder now, how-
ever, into any such anticipated misrepresentation.
The hole in the ice is humanely labelled" Danger"
(for their especial benefit) by that public-spirited
and benignant H.S.'s dragsman the member
for Birmingham, and will doubtless swerve
the edge of their skates with sufficient adroit'
ness to sweep scatheless round the brink of the
destruction that must, of course, have inevitably
engulphed them but for the generous warning
Leading to this timely circumbendibus. Thanking
the cordial voice that thus calls to us also, among
the Editors of Newspapers, "Beware!" we must
nevertheless acknowledge that the notion of
advancing any such astounding opinion as the one
confidently looked for by Mr. BRIGHT
from the comments of the public journalists,
would certainly never once have entered into our
imagination. Let us go further upon this point,
and at once insist in reference to other and very
different objections—objections far more likely to
be raised . in opposition to Mr. BRIGHT'S " rash"
and " flagitious" onslaught upon the laws of entail
and primogeniture, that, in his daring aspiration
thus to carry out a far grander Reform than any
hitherto conducing towards the freeing of the
produce of the soil, one leading directly towards
the freeing of the soil itself—this bold root-and-
branch Reformer cannot, in reason, be taunted
with wishing simply to Americanise the British
Constitution. In demonstration of which
it is only necessary to turn to the
most English of all our counties, to the
most Saxon of all the seven kingdoms of the
Heptarchy—to KENT, where there is just possibly
something or other under the name of gavelkind
as entirely opposed even as Mr. BRIGHT himself to
the Laws of Entail and Primogeniture. It is not
to Illinois or to Massachusetts observe, but to Kent,
and to no spot of earth less English than Kent, that
reference is here being made for proof positive that
in this onslaught of his upon the laws of entail and
primogeniture, whatever Mr. BRIGHT is thereby
attempting to do, he is certainly not attempting—
as he has been so often before now been taunted
with attempting—to Americanise the British
Constitution. Mr. BRIGHT, it is true, un-
doubtedly refers, in his outspoken way, to
the working of certain bold constitutional
changes within the boundaries of the United States
of America, referring in this way to Virginia and
to Pennsylvania; but he might, as we have here
indicated, he might quite readily by the utterance
of two words, familiar to the merest tyro-reader of
Sir WILLIAM BLACKSTONE'S Commentaries, have
reminded his hearers, and afterwards his own
readers, that nearer home were originally sown
the seeds that centuries afterwards had this
abundant fruition upon being transplanted and
cultured on the more liberal soil upon the
opposite shore of the Atlantic. However
this may be in the estimation of the
old Tory landowners of England, they may as
well, taking timely warning from this new sign of
the times, flung down to them like a gage of battle
by their old antagonist [whom they must allow in
spite of their own sinister predictions to the con-
trary, has not yet quite contrived to ruin them]
their old antagonist, but not by any means for that
reason their foe, the member for Birmingham.
It will be better fcr themselves perhaps, nay, it
will be better for the interests of us all, if these
landowners lay well to heart the closing words
of this startling speech of Mr. BRIGHT'S—a
speech addressed rather to them than to his
liberal constituents at Birmingham. " The land-
owners," said this bold Tribune of the People
yesterday to those constituents, but at the very
class of whom he was speaking —" The land-
owners don't understand the question ; they fancy
there is a terrible abyss opening before them,
and they don't know how far they are
going down, and they fear that perhaps they will
never find any bottom if they fall. This is the sort
of notion they have if this law should be touched.
They imagine it is something very complex, which
it is as it exists, and they think it is very dange-
rous to meddle with it in the least
They think when we propose the alteration of
those laws, we propose something which will
oblige them to part with their estates by some
mysterious process which they cannot avert,
and that in some way or other their power as
great territorial magnates will be abolished.
On the contrary, I believe this freedom which
I advocate would raise the value of land in
every parish in the United Kingdom. I believe,
whether a man kept it or sold it, it would be worth
more if these laws were abolished. I believe it
would give an enormous stimulus to labour all over
the agricultural districts, and raise the wages of
the labourers." And that freedom which Mr.
BRIGHT here avows he is ardently hoping for and
urgently advocatilg ? In one sentence, it is—the
emancipation of the soil itself, of the produce of
which Mr. BRIGHT has the glory—a glory enjoyed
by him now for fourteen years past, and henceforth
secure of being associated' with his name in
perpetuity—the benignant glory appertaining to
one of the first and foremost of its emancipators.'

We have been nova for about eighteen years so
familiar with the working or the'Tariff Reform in
our own country, that we are liable to forget our
earlier attempts. We refer, off' course, to those
more noticeable reductions made by Sir ROBERT
PEEL in 1842, and which were the first great step
towards the repeal of the Corn Laws, the further
adnudticeosnf
andid on
c
considerable Customs reductions of 1846, and
the sweeping away of all the minor Customs
year
but minor, by Mr.
GLADSTONE this

In 1842 when Sir ROBERT laid on his seven-
penny Income Tax, it was done to balance our
income and expenditure, and also to make such
numerous reductions in our commercial tariff
as would, he expected, compensate even the
unfJrtunatcs under schedule D for the obnoxious
demand he made upon them. On that

occasion he proposed a reduction of duty
on about 750 articles, and to leave untouched the
duties on about 450 more. The principle of his
reductions he stated to be this, On raw produce
the duty was not to exceed 5 per cent. On partly
manufactured articles it was not to exceed 12 per
cent. On articles wholly manufactured it was not

..
to exceed 20 per cent. And he calculated the
rev enue thus sacrificed, nominally, for he expected'
it 'would be partly recouped on other articles, at
17270,000. The three years which followed, as is
well known, proved the justice of his expectations ;
tine relaxations had produced an increase of revenue,
mad protective duties nearly vanished in 1846.
The publication of the new French Tariff led us
to turn back to the first tariff, that of 1842, proposed
by Sir ROBERT PEEL, for a slight comparison.
The first thing which struck us in the PEEL Tariff
was the absence of the word " Free" compared with
its frequent occurrence in the NAPOLEON Tariff. If
we have overlooked no instance we found but three ;
and to what would the reader suppose did that pri-
vilege apply,—to LOBSTERS; GOLD and DIAMONDS !
A few things designated free, when coming from
foreign countries, were only nominally foreign,
such as fish taken and cured by ourselves ; or
equipments of ships in actual use on their voyege
home. We need not say the list of free articles,
chemicals, however, forming a large part of them,
is pretty numerous in the NAPOLEON Tariff—we
must leave to such of our readers as wish it the
trouble of counting them. In one respect the two
Tariffs are alike, the word " prohibited" vanishes
n both.

If we compare again the rates of duty, they
appear very similar. A great many in the new
French Tariff are ad valorem, and they range
generally from 5 to 20 per cent., and, as with Sir
ROBERT PEEL, raw material is naturally favoured.
In some few cases indeed we find a very high
duty charged, but these are substitutes for prohi-
bition in the abolished scale, and probably the word
"prohibited" might in most of these cases have as
well been retained. Generally, so far as we can tell
without minute examination, the reduction of
duties appears as great as that made in Sir ROBERT
PEEL'S first tentative experiment.

This fact is certainly interesting to notice. I
gives hope that the French will be as likely to
make use of their primer as we have done. If in
three years after, Sir R. PEEL was able, with the
willing assistance of the trading community,
to propose a second great great reduction of duties,
we may well expect that by 1864, when many of
the French duties are to be yet farther reduced,
our neighbours will wish to advance further in that
line than they are actually bound to do. The
EMPEROR is a known Freetrader. He will not be
slow to publish the fiscal operation of the lowered
duties, and to urge the claims of the national
Exchequer to further profitable reductions. He is
also a man who relies on the favour of the many,
and he will not wish to satisfy the desires
awakened by the introduction of cheaper articles
for the million. The intellectual public of France
are also keenly logical, and like to push a theory
even too far; they will want a consistent free-trade
tariff. We should not be surprised Alerefore to find
the timid French public awakened, more quickly
than we could expect, to the blessings of thorough-
going free trade. The protected interests, as here,
will die hard, but the EMPEROR and the people,
with experience to boot, will be too strong for
' them.

Rude islanders though we be in the eyes of some
of our continental neighbours, and roughly as we
can speak of Emperors and Kings whose ways do
not please us, we can cherish and evince a sympathy
with Queens and Empresses on occasions of personal
trial, which they and theirs must appreciate. At
this moment two Empresses, with whose Consorts
we have had many a misunderstanding—happily
going no further than words—are receiving such
attentions as we can offer--one in seeking recovery
of her health, the other desiring by entire change
of scene and circumstance to relieve the pressure of
domestic affliction. The former is at this
moment on board her MAJESTY'S own yacht,
which, we are happy to say, has proved
herself a most admirably sea-worthy vessel
in a storm which compelled other ships to
refit, and is now nearing, we trust, the island in
whose mild climate the state of her health requires
her to pass the winter. The Emperor of AUSTRIA
with Englishmen stands only second on the same
list of which the King of NAPLES is at the head,
and he has been spoken of here by us all, politi-
cally, as his conduct deserves ; but sure we are
that every one of us rejoices sincerely that our
Sovereign could show his young wife the kind
courtesy of offering her her own sailing vessel,
to mitigate the discomforts of a sea voyage to the
invalid Empress. We feel all the more pleasure
in the courtesy on account of our unavoidable poli-
tical quarrel with the EMPEROR.

The, Empress of the FRENCH is not such a
stranger to us. She is, indeed, connected by
descent with our nobility, and we have been
favoured with her visits before, in company with
the EMPEROR. But this last private visit some-
how interests us far more than the other. She
is in sorrow. She mourns a tenderly-beloved
sister. Her spirits sink under a trial which
every one of us understands ; she needs the relief
which we have all had to seek; and she
honours us by seeking it in England.
She does not in gloomy, damp Novem-
ber, seek the brighter skies and softer air of
southern climes, but turns to chilly cloudy, Eng-
land. Why ? Is it because she thought to find
hearts and welcomes here which she could not
elsewhere ? We half flatter ourselves with such
an idea. Most certainly from the time she
landed, and received the first cheers of the few
who discovered her at York, to the day on
which his Royal Highness himself escorted her
to the train from Windsor, all classes have done
her all the honour which the circumstances of
her private visit permitted. Dukes and Burghers,
and the rough populace of Manchester, and our
Volunteers, too—all people of every grade, seemed
desirous to show her that she was welcome to
England. Such a French invasion they would
cheer as ofton as it 'was made, and not be displeased
to hear of a return invasion from England. One
element of the universalUnd peculiar interest felt
by Englishmen in the EinpreSs of the FRENCH,
however, we imagine to be, that marriage, in her
ease; was not .a political arrangement. The
EMPEROR himself almost openly confessed that,
defeated in his attempts to obtain a wife from
among the daughters of old dynasties, he consoled
himself by indulging his affections in seek-
ing the hand of a beautiful and amiable
young woman, the subject of another Crown.
Englishmen see in her an Empress who
owes her position, not to the accident of birth, but
to those charms and merits to which the heart of
every man among us cannot be insensible. She
has amiably borne her honours ; and having gladly
welcomed her among us, and felt honoured by
her choice of our country as her solace in her trials,
we now bid farewell with the heartiest good wishes
to EUGENIE, Empress of the FRENCII.

The Countess of Shelburne comes to Lansdowne
House to-day, from Bowood. The Marquis of Lansdowne
will arrive in town at the latter end of the week.
Viscount Palmerston comes to town to-day, from
visiting her Majesty at Windsor Castle.
The marriage of Lord Delamere with Miss Sey-
mour, daughter of Sir Hamilton and the Hon. Lady Sey-
mour is fixed to take place on the 27th inst.

A marriage between M. Vanderstichelen, Minister
of Public Works in Belgium, and Mdlle. Rogier, daughter
of the Belgian Minister at the Court of the Tuileries, is to be
celebrated in Paris towards the end of the present month:

The Count de Syracuse intends to take up his
residence at Florence.

Lord and Lady Huntingfield have left the St.
George's Hotel.

Lord and Lady Egerton (of Tatton) are receiving
a succession of visitors at their seat in Cheshire.

Lord De Lisle and Dudley has left the St.
George's Hotel.
Lady Molesworth has returned to London, from
Paris. Her ladyship will leave town in a few days, on a visit
to the Earl and Countess of Cork, at Marston House.
We are informed that Sir Baldwin Walker has
resigned the office he has so long held as Surveyor of the
Navy, and will probably accept the command of a foreign
station. - .

Some of the journals state that Baron de Roths-
child is negotiating for the purchase from the Count de
Chambord of the forest of Vassy. This is the last portion
of the property held by that prince in France, with the ex-

ception of Chambord.
The number of emigrants who embarked at
Havre for transatlantic countries during the month of
November amounted to 1,044, of whom 725 went to New
York, 242 to New Orleans, and 77 to Buenos Ayres.
RESTORATION OF SEBASTOPOL.—A set of very
powerful sheers, worked by steam power, and adequate to
lift the largest class of marine boilers and machinery, is in
course of construction by Messrs. Jackson and Watkins,
at the Canal Ironworks, Poplar, for the use of the port of

Consulta.

Gaeta.

Sebastopol.
DOG STEALERS.—A couple of " professionals"
were sentenced yesterday, at the Clerkenwell Sessions, to
a year's imprisonment, for having in their possession a dog
which they said they " found" accidentally.
DENT v. DENISON.—This case terminated in
the Court of Probate last night. The jury found a verdict
for the plaintiff; but they stated that they believed Mr.
Denison had reasonable grounds for disputing the cancel-
lation of the will. Administration was then decreed to the

vinces.

plaintiff.
INCENDIARISM.—At the Maidstone Assizes two
soldiers, named Holloway and Hastings, were sentenced
to transportation for life, for setting fire to a barn and three
wheat stacks, at Gillingham.
CONVEYING SPIRITS INTO PRISONS.—A young
woman, named Aubrey, was yesterday fined by the magis-
trate at the Southwark Police Court £3, for secretly con-
veying a small bottle of gin into the Queen's Prison.
THE REFORMATORIES.—A man, named Bailey,
residing in Jerusalem-court, Clerkenwell, was yesterday
committed to the House of Correction for 14 days, for
refusing to pay towards the support of his two children at
the Red-hill Reformitory.
MIDLAND RAILWAY COMPANY.—It is said tobe
a fact, that the proposal recently referred to as having been
addressed by the Midland Railway Company to the Lanca-
shire and Yorkshire is tantamount to an absolute amalga-
mation. The object is apparently to arrange a direct com-
munication through the Midland and manufacturing
districts independent of the London and North Western
Railway. It may require some time, however, before
negotiations of so much importance can be satisfactorily
settled.
The Rectory of Ulcombe, near Maidstone, has
become vacant by the death of the Rev. Samuel Mence,
8.D., formerly fellow and tutor of Trinity College, Oxford,
who was instituted in 1838. The benefice, which is worth
£l,OOO a year, is in tho gift of the Hon. C. H. Butler-
Clarke, Wandesford.
REPRESENTATION OF WEST SUSSEX.—Yester-
day's Gazette gives notice that the Speaker's warrant for
a new writ for the election of a member in the room of the
Earl of March, elevated to the peerage, will be issued at
the expiration of fourteen days from the 3d inst.
THE CHRISTMAS HOLIDAY. —The Mayor of
Southampton has recommended that Monday, the 24th
inst., should be kept as a general holiday, in order to give
shopkeepers and their assistants three clear days' holiday,
viz., Sunday, Monday, and Christmas-day.
LOSS OF SEVEN LIVES ON THE EAST COAST.—
A fishing lugger came into Great Yarmouth harbour yes-
terday with seven of her crew missing. The poor fellows
perished in a rather heavy gale, which blew off the east
coast on Sunday night.
MARRIAGE WITH A DECEASED WIFE'S SISTER.—
The late respected Duke of Norfolk, when in the House of
Commons, voted in favour of legalising marriage with the
sister of a deceased wife, and spoke in its favour in the fol-
lowing terms :—" Seeing that it was not against the law of
God, seeing the great social evils which arose from the re-
striction, and believing that there was no comparison be-
tween the social advantages and the social disadvantages
arising from this cause, he should give the measure his
cheerful assent." The late Baron Bunsen bore testimony
before the Bishop of Lichfield and the other royal commis-
sioners to the frequency of such marriages in Prussia, and
to the desirable consequences which are admitted by the
most eminent men in that country to result from them.
MITRE ASSURANCE ASSOCIATION.—In the
Bankruptcy Court yesterday there were some further pro-
ceedings of a remarkable character in the case of the Mitre
Assurance Association. There was a great deal of fencing
on the part of one witness (Mr. F. P. F. Strousberg) in
connection with the atterapc on the part of the assignees to
discover the whereabouts of Mr. Brydges, the Secretary,
and of Mr. Latham, whose post is described as that of "a
kind of office director, or in-door superintendent." Mr.
Strousberg admits that shares were repeatedly transferred
to the office porter. The proceedings were adjourned. The
examination of Mr. Edwards, the company's solicitor, with
respect to the books, is appointed for the 13th inst.
COLLIERY EXPLOSION IN CUMBERLAND.—On
Monday morning an explosion took place in a coal pit at
Maryport, Cumberland, worked by Capt. Harris, by which
it is supposed that three men have been killed. It appears
that it is customary to send a staff of men called " overmen"
into the pit at the beginning of the week, before the col-
liers go down, to ascertain that all is right. On Monday
morning about half-a-dozen of the "over-men" had gone
down, a little before 4 o'clock. At 4 o'clock a great explo-
sion was heard. Some of the "over-men" made their way
to the pit's mouth soon after, when it was found that three
at least of the men who had gone down were missing. All
those who had escaped had felt the effects of the explosion,
but having been in distant shafts had happily sustained no
injury. Search was immediately instituted, as far as prac-
ticable, for the missing men, but the " firedamp" prevented
much progress. About 9 o'clock the body of one man was
recovered. He had been blown a considerable distance, and
his head was severed from the trunk. Every effort is being
made to ascertain the fate of the others who are missing,
but up till Monday night no trace of them had been found.
The inquest was to take place on Tuesday.
BELOW THE ATLANTlC.—Soundings in the At-
lantic have been particularly pushed forward, and have
excited, on account of the telegraph cable, more general
interest than any others yet taken. They have revealed the
fact that at least 230 miles from the coast of Ireland the
water is still shallow; or, in other words, that there is
another Ireland only waiting to be raised—thus reversing
the famous panacea for keeping the country quiet. It is
just beyond this that the true Atlantic bogins, the gulf
suddenly sinking to 9,000 feet. Thus Ireland may one day
have a coast lino as high as the Alps. The whole floor of
the Atlantic is paved with a soft, sticky substance, called
oaze, nine-tenths consisting of very minute animals, many
of them mere lumps of jelly, and thousands of which could
float with ease in a drop of water ; some resembling
toothed wheels; others, bundles of spines or threads
shooting from a little globule. Some, however, aro
endowed with the property of separating flint from the sea
water--which is more than every chemist could do ; and
there are hundreds of square.miles covered with the skele-
tons of these little creatures. Part of this ooze is doubtless
from the clouds of rain .dust which rise from the vast
steppes of South America in such masses as to darken the
sun, and make the animals fly to shelter, and which, after
sweeping like a si►uoorn over the country, lose themselves
in the " steep Atlantic." No bones have been found of the
larger animals, so that the kraken and sea• serpent might
sleep their last sleep, and leave not a bone or a vertebra to
tell the tale. Not a mast or anchor, not a block or strand,
not a coin or a keepsake has been found to testify of the
countless gallant ships and more gallant mon who have gone
down amid the pitiless waves.—All the Year Round.
DESTRUCTIVE FIRE AT RUGBY.—About 2 o'clock
yesterday afternoon a fire broke out at the house of the Rev.
J. B. Smythies, one of the masters of Rugby School, and
in whose house upwards of 40 boys belonging to the school
are lodged and boarded. They were at dinner when the fire
was discovered, and upon the alarm being given each boy
rushed to his study at the upper part of the house, with the
view of saving what he could, but as the fire had originated
in one of these rooms to windward of the building, and a
strong wind was blowing at the time, the flames had spread
with fearful rapidity, enveloping the whole of the upper
storey; consequently, it was rendered almost impossible to
save the contents. Many of the boarders have lost all they
possessed, except the clothes they wore. The house, which
which is rendered untenable, is, together with the furniture,
insured in the County Fire-office.
lELD CLUB CATTLE SHOW.—TO mor-
row (Thursday) is the last day for the admission of imple-
ments at the Baker-street Bazaar intended for exhibition at
the ensuing Smithfield Club Cattle Show, and Saturday
evening next at 10 o'clock will be the last hour at which
any cattle or other stock will bo admitted to the show-yard.
There is a large increase in the number of entries as com-
pared with former years. The show will be divided into
42 classes by the stewards, who, having duly numbered
every animal and pen, the judges will on Monday next,
coming to their decision by numbers only examine the
various specimens, and make their award of the prizes. On
Monday evening at eight o'clock the show will be opened
for private view of the members of the club. It will open
to the public on Tuesday next, Dec. 11, and continue open
daily till Friday the 14th, on the evening of which it will
close. It is expected that not only the Prince Consort but
the Prince of Wales and other members of the royal family
will visit the show this year.

victory.

LA r
I It4b r,
.NEWS•

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)
PARIS, DEC. 5.

The 2Toniteur publishes a decree conferring upon
Marshal Valliant the title of Minister of the
Emperor's Household.
The Count de PQrsigny arrived yesterday in
Paris, and immediately took up his residence at the
hotel of the Minister of the Interior.

NAPLES, DEC. 4.

The Consulta Generale has been opened.

The explanations given by the Government to
Consulta have produced a good impression on

he country.
Poerio has been appointed Vice-President of the

The Neapolitan nobility have given a grand ball
to the deputation from the Sardinian Chambers.
Four Sardinian batteries have opened fire against

Tranquillity prevails at Naples, and in the pro-

PARIS, DEC. 4.

It is now beyond doubt that the French Govern-
ment has intimated to King Francis 11., that it is
convinced of the inutility of further resistance.
The enthusiasm for Victor Emmanuel is very
great in Sicily. The reception he has met with
will induce the King to prolong his stay for two or
three days. It is not known whether his Majesty
will return by Naples, but it is believed that he
will.

BERNE, DEC. 4

M. Dapples, from Lausanne, has been elected
President, and M. Latour, from Chur, Vice-Pre-
sident of the National Council.

The National party has thus obtained the

CATTARO, DEC. 4.

The Prince of Montenegro, having assembled
his guards, addressed them as follows :—" I shall
soon give you an opportunity of proving your
valour, upon which depends the future prosperity
of Montenegro."
It is announced that the Prince will cede
Godinge, in the district of Cernizka, to the
French, for the purpose of being colonised.

BOMBAY, Nov. 12.
Disturbances are imminent on account of the
collection of the income tax.
All business is stopped.