The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-02 00:00:00

THE GAME LAWS.

A meeting of tenant-farmers of the Birming-
ham district has followed the example of
many other. gatherings in protesting against the
Game Laws. The Warwick:3hire agriculturists
declare that the Game Laws become more and more
injurious as farming becomes more and more scien-
tific. They demand not the reform, but the repealof
the obnoxious statutes.

A PROUD DAY FOR VANDERBIL7.

With the obituaries of the oldest Admiral, one
of the most distinguished of the United States Navy
and of the oldest General, among the renowned of
the United States Army, together with at least two
politicians known to fame, comes the story of a New
York burlesque. Indeed we ought to say two bur-
lesques, for it is impossible to distinguish between
them, although one, may not have been meant for a
farce. Whether Admiral STEWAnT or Gen. WOoL,
hether BOBERT WALKER or Antos KENDALL has left
behind a statue of himself throughout the length and
breadth of his native county, it-is at least certain
that Commodore VANDERBILT will, who, like a
wise man, has provided for this during life, not
leaving such a sacred duty to an ungrateful
public. In the presence of some ten thousand
spectators, the bronze work illustrating the Com-
modore's career was unveiled with more than ordi-
narily imposing ceremonies, beginning with the
prayer of the Bishop, and ending with the discus-
sion of the repast. Two hundred and fifty police-
men held the ground, and the band of the famous 7th
Regiment supplied the music. OAKEY HALL was the
orator, and there was a party of seamen to lead in
the cheering, under the orders of boatswains BRIS-
COE and DE LAPP, who ran up the Commodore's
pennant to the flagstaff, and the band played " The
Conquering Hero," while the crowd cheered, and the
Mayor stood forth to pour forth the fervent oratory
inspired by his subject. A committee of honourable
citizens, he began, have sought to perpetuate in
yonder colossal work of art the history and public
spirit of an honoured fellow-citizen. The Irish com-
moner, the English commoner, the Iron Duke, the
world renowned philanthropist, had during their
lives the same merited tribute, but none more de-
served those honourable inscriptions than does COR-
NELIUSVANDERBILT. Isit for his wealth—for the bald
reason thathe is the richest citizen on this continent ?
A thousand times, no !--for the merit is not in
the accumulation, but in the employment ; his were
not selfish investments or egotistical accumulations,
no filling of iron chests with title deeds of vast
landed estates. He used his capital in commercial
enterprises, in projects of startling conception.
Like a FRANKLIN, like a JACKSON or a LINCOLN ;
like the example of to-day, from the tiller of a
sloop he has transferred his executive grasp to the
almost supreme control of railways, carving like the
foregoing great instances his own path to eminence.
He has seen all the PRESIDENTS come and go, to
him who now occupies the White House, his per-
sonal friend; yet his elasticity of mind, or heart,
or brain has not been jaded. At an age when others
grow retrospective his plans are prospective. He
traced one eccentricity to CORNELIUS VANDERBILT
in the secret manner of his generosities. Apostro-.
phizing the model of art which crowns the St. John's
Park depot, the orator burst forth—
" Stand there, familiar imago of an honoured man!
Stand there, and breast the storms or glitter in the sun-
shine of coming centuries ! Stand there, colossal subject
of metropolitan pride! Stand there, and daily teach the
lessons which the results of your own long life inspires.
Proclaim, as your life proclaims, that laborious and self-
sacrificing youth, adherence to truth, inflexibility of honest
purpose, and self-reliance are the sure foundations of
public and private character upon Ns hich are builded cer-
tain fame and fortune ! Teach our people that whenever
their country is imperilled they should rush to the rescue
with family and fortune. Stand there, and tell those
whose industry has been crowned by wealth, that the
honours of life and the praise of future generations follow
those, and those only, who make the world better for their
living in it!"
While this was progressing, in another part of the
city the occasion was being observed with some-
what simi!ar ceremonies. The world labours
under a most erroneous impression about those
who are light-hearted, and those who are heavy-
hearted, the people who are merry, and the people
who are grave and melancholy under the weight p
of
their occupations. A soldier's life is popularly sup-
posed to be jovial, and the mess of a British regi-
ment is universally but erroneously thought to be
as gay as it is in reality dull and monotonous. The
last place the public look to for fun is the Stock Ex
change; yet there is mare fun in the London Stock
Exchange than under any other roof in the British
Empire, and Oty same may be said of that in New
York. In truth, it is only in Wall-street that brokers
dared openly to get up the burlesque of the
10th instant. Considering that dulness has pre-
vailed, descending almost into despondency, since
the celebrated gold gamble ; that all pro-
perty has declined greatly in value ; that the
men who carried on this farce must themselves have

been among the chief sufferers, it is pleasant to e
their " chaff" supplying them with so much amuse-
ment, even at the expense of a really good citizen
like Commodore VANDERBILT. The Long Room of
the Stock Exchange was crowded, the gallery was
occupied by the Glee Club, and the voices of the
brokers came up from the pit, as in the Gold Room
during the great panic. At 12.30, LAZARUS, the
statue, stalked to its place in the centre, and was
gracefully draped with a shawl. Then the hubbub
ceased, and the Chairman's address sounded through
the hall, showing how the heavens smiled on the
undertaking, all nature being jubilant. Suddenly his
grandiloquence was interrupted, by an injunction,
signed " BENNARDo," forbidding the continuance of
the proceedings, in the name of the United States,
Buenos Ayres, Patagonia, the Supreme Court, and
one or two other high ;Ind mighty Powers. The
Chairman, cowed by the ponderous document,
appealed to the audience, from whom cries arose
Put a head on him ! Put him out !" and the mes-
senger was ejected. Then the Glee Club, to the tune
of " John Brown," sang the following verses in
honour of the great railway stock-waterer :

Come, all ye jolly brokers, a story I'll relate,
About a famous gentleman who lived in New York State ;
Consolidated railroads were things he did not hate,

As he wont driving on.
His a staring machinery as yet has never failed,
To show our lasting gratitude this statue's now unveiled ;
Befoie Fisk, Gould, and Co., his courage has not quailed,
As he goes driving on.
This statue was set up for him, and may it last until

This very poor old gentleman can his breeches-pocket fill
And when he dies we'll surely find that, with an earnest
will,

He'll still go marching on !
Almost at the same moment that the Mayor of New
York was descanting on the virtues of the great
VANDERBILT, Mr. WHITE was pronouncing this
eulogy in Wall-street :

"Fellow-Citizens—ln all ages of the world gratitude for
great public services has manifested itself in spontaneous
popular ovations to the public benefactor. We are assem-
bled to-day not to raise a triumphal arch, under which the
conquering hero, with captives in his train, may march
amid the plaudits of the plebeians, but to unveil a work of
art to patrician eyes, wherein, by the cunning hand of the
sculptor, we may at once do honour to a great man and a
great principle which he has made famous; a principle,
tco, which has in turn made him famous. You all know
that he whom wo honour commenced life as a waterman,
and it is to the use of water, not as a beverage, but as an
element of public wealth, which has been the distinguish-
ing characteristic of the achievement of his later years, and
which the artist has striven by an original and unique de-
sign to make perpetual. We may say of him not only that
he commenced life as a waterman, but that water has been
the Central idea of his life. Poets in former times have
snug the praises of a fluid, the use of which enables one to
see things double, but it has been the good fortune of our
artist to embody in a statue more enduring than the
monumental brass' lie virtues of a fluid, the judicious use
of which absolutely doubles the object while you look at
it. This is a proud day in the history of American finance.
The oyes of all nations aro now turned in admiration to
that which you are permitted to behold as the curtain is
raised before you."

Then the shawl dropped, and the features of LAZA-
RUS, made into a hideous likeness of the Commodore,
were seen. In one hand there was a watering-pot,
bearing the mythical number 207, the figure at which
once stood New York Central, on the other a
boxing-glove. The Glee Club sang another song,
but the proceedings were interrupted by the extra-
ordinary conduct of the statue. When the Chair-
man was called on for another speech he replied
that his heart was too full for utterance, ani so it
was with the statue, which became convulsed with
laughter, first shook, then swayed, and finally de-
camped. Thus ended a great day in New York,
leaving its relic, in what a correspondent calls " a
monstrous allegory in bronze surmounting the pedi-
ment of the vast ugly railway station of the lludson
River Railroad Company, and defying description
for its unapproachable hideousness."—Angle-Ame-
rican Times.