The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-05 00:00:00

r man that his son, five years old, may be appointed
to a vacant sinecure ; while the demands on Par-
liament for the payment of the heir-apparent's
debts would somewhat startle our modern refo3mers.
Mr. Rose's chief forte was the financial department,
and he appears to have been very useful in clearing
up accounts, cutting (low' salaries (his own in-
cluded), and generally supervising the expenses of
the civil service, which at that time were exorbi-
tant. In all matters affecting taxation, revenue,

and currency, he took a deep-interest, and shared
his leader's financial views. We are told it was he
who first conceived the idea of putting down smug-
gling, and improving the income of the state by
decreasing the amount of duties exacted at the
Custom-house. The king's hostility to the Opposition,
more especially to its distinguished leader, is often
referred to. In 1804, when a new Administration
' was in coarse of formation, it was proposed to unite
the two parties for the sake of obtaining a strong
Government. The King, however, was immovable
on the subject of Fox's admission to the Cabinet. It
was therefore proposed that some of his immediate
supporters should be admitted in waiting for the
King to yield the point. But the Opposition
stood firm, and:refused to take any office whatever
unless their leader should be admitted into the
Cabinet without delay. On this occasion Mr.
Rose writes as follows :
" May Sth.—Found the Bishop of Lincoln with Mr. Pitt,
and in talking over occurrences and probable events, Mr;
Pitt seemed in the highest spirits possible ; neither he, the
Bishop, or myself knowing anything then of the resolutions
or Foceedings of the meetings at Camelford House or Carl-
ton House; bur, an impression was on the minds of each of us
that so fair an opening presented itself for Fox, as to afford
a reasonable certainty that he would not allow it to escape
him ; which we had the stronger confidence in, as Mr. Pitt
had resolved to meet Mr. Fox at Lord Strafford's as soon
as the Liskeard Committee should break up, on which Mr.
Fox was nominee, and to discuss all matters with him in
the most cordially open manner possible, waiting only to
know when he could see him. All our hopes and expecta-
tions were, however, soon destroyed by Mr. Canning com-
ing in to announce to him the resolutions of the preceding
evening, and to say, that in consequence of these Mr. Fox
declined a meeting with Mr. Pitt as useless. I have no
hesitation in owning that in file whole course of my political
life no one event ever gave me so sensible a shock ; no one
that I believe I shall feel the effects of so long or so severely.
I looked to the unions of talents and property projected, as
the most probable means of extricating the country, giving
vigour to our exertions at home, and procuring us respect
abroad ; of enabling strong measures to be taken when
necessary, either of finance or police, and keeping down, in
the most effectual manner, all dangerous or factious at-
tempts, and all stirring of delicate questions. On this sub-
ject a thousand things crowd into my mind to make me
deeply, very deeply indeed lament the disappointment.
It is, I am sure, most strongly to be regretted that Mr.
Pitt and Mr. Fox did not meet, as I am firmly persuaded
that if they did, there would have been at least a proba-
bility of matters being set right."
A great portion of the first volume is occupied
with an interesting correspondence with :Nelson,
and after his death with Lady Hamilton, respecting
a pension for her. Mr. Rose was a personal friend
of the hero of Trafalgar, and on the death of Mr.
Pitt, which so quickly followed on that of Nelson,
he wrote the following comparison of their cha
meters :

" This afflicting stroke follows closely on the loss cf
Lord Nelson, for whom I had also a cordial love and affec-
tion; and it leads me to reflect on the uncommon simila-
rity of their characters—gentleness of mind; sweetness of
disposition, accompanied by the most determined resolu-
tion ; quickness of conception, and promptitude of decision ;
ardent zeal for the welfare of their country, rendering it
most signal and important services ; wisdom in concerting
plans, and firmness in executing them, undismayed by any
hazards of the severest responsibility. In all these they
resembled each other with a degree of exactness not to be
conceived by any one who did not know them as intimately
and as entirely as I did. They differed only in one having
been educated as a man could be, and the other in having
been deprived of that advantage by being sent early to sea.
These two great men died, as they lived, for their country.
Mr. Pitt sacrificed his life in its service as much as Lord
Nelson did. I foresaw what he would have to encounter
when he undertook the'Govetnment in 1804 ; that the whole
weight of it falling, as it inevitably would do, upon him,
would be too much for his health and strength to stand. He
bore up, however, under all the incredible fatigue that he
underwent in the conduct of his own department, and of
the War and Foreign departments, occasionally assisting in
thcrse of the Commander-in-Chief and the Admiralty, be-
yond my utmost hopes."

After attending the funeral of his friend, he
writes the following sketch of him :
" llis talents ; the quickness of his perception, almost in-
.tuitive ; his discerning judgment; the firmness of his mind,
which secured to him the fullest advantage of that drscern-
ment, in eases of the extrernest public dangers and calami-
ties, such as indeed had never occurred since the revolution
—namely, the democratical exertions, prepared to be sup-
ported by an immense armed force, influenced by meetings,
public and private, of those of the most dangerous prin-
ciples and active minds, "as well as by libels of a treasonable
nature ; the mutiny of the fleet ; the stoppage of the banks;
famine in the country; invasion threatened by an immense
force of the' enemy, brought down to their coast, opposite to
ours, with ships collected sufficient to transport them. In
short, no danger (however great) ever dismayed him, or
deprived him of the advantages resulting from the quick-
ness of his conception. . . •
most • uncommon share of good-nature occasioned his
giving way sometimes to solicitations he„ should have re-
sisted, especially with regard to Peerages, of which he was
liberal to a most unfortunate extent ; but so far from gain-
in.- political strength thereby, I am perfectly sure he suf-
fered by them ' • for it frequently happened that an enemy
was created in the room of the newly-created Peer. In the
administration of finances, and in the management of the
public purse, it is not possible any one could be more en-
tirely pure and disinterested. Ho abolished all contracts
whatever, all purchase by commission, all private distri-
butions of Loan, and every other specie of money influence ;
—which was in truth at my solicitation. lie abolished
also the sinecure employment in the Customs, numerous
and 'valuable."

After Mr. Pitt's death, Mr. Rose still took a
deep interest in public affairs, and corresponded
with most of the eminent men of his own party. He
lived until 1818, and, therefore, a busy and interest-
ing period is included in his notes.., The work has
been edited with care, though the editor has occa-
sionally indulged too liberally in the expression of
his own opinions: We commend this, interesting
and valuable work to all who desire to become
acquainted with the political history of their coun-
try, as whatever may be the writer's prejudice or
party feeling, he enables us to see the stirring
events of that day from a contemporaneous point of
view, and to appreciate the difficulties and dangers
With which the statesmen and politicians of his
time had to deal.

The Cornhill Magazine.

We do not know when we have been better
pleased with the first number of a new periodical.
Not only are the majority of the articles excellent
in themselves, but the general tone of the whole
collection is pervaded by that rarest of the senses—
common sense. The Cornhill Magazine, as its name
would seem to indicate, is characterised by an utter
absence of all pretence or frivolity—it is a. good
substantial reality, not a highly-decorated show.
As such we very gladly give it our cordial greet-
' ing, and heartily wish it all the success which, if
it carry out the prediction of its initial number,
promises richly to deserve. Anthony Trollope
opens the volume with the first instalment of
a new tale, " Framley Parsonage," which, like
the best productions of that author's pen, abounds
with a quiet humour and with sober sense. The
third chapter, "'Caldicotes," which introduces us
to the varied circle then assembled, is capital. The
portraits are highly finished individualities, and
among them we recognise some old acquaintances
from Barchester. The second article, "The Chineie
and the Outer Barbarians," is by no less an autho-
rity than Sir John Bowring ; while an article on
a Our Volunteers" has Sir John Burgoyne for its
authof.. Mr. Lewes'" Studies of Animal Life" are
likely to till!. the reader with amazement ; assuredly'
in the world of nature there are more (living) things
than are drean :. of in our philosophy ! Mr;
Thackeray himself eok
-tmences one delis delightful
fictions, entitled “Loro no Widower." A little
initial illustration exhibits ft party walking in
serene composure, utterly IlDel;.
nscious that for
head-pieces they are furnished With veritable
muffs, sable, Or, ermine, AS the ease may be.
The (author's own) illustration is sugg:tsted, of
course, by the opening of Mr. Thackeray's Aerial,
e.g. :

" Who shall be the hero of this tale ? Not I who write it.
lam but the Chorus of the Play. I make remarks on the
conduct of • the characters; I narrate their simple story.
There is love and marriage in it ; there is grief and disap-
pointment ; the scene is in the parlour, and the region be-
neath the parlour. No ; it may be the parlour and kitch.,n,
in this instance, are on the same level. There is n 9 high
life; unless, to be sure, you call a baronet's widow a lady in
high life; and some ladies may be, while some certainly are
not. I don't think there's a villain in the whole perform-
ance. There is an abominable selfish old woman, certainly;
an old highwayrobber; an old sponger on otherpeok, Ie
kind-
ness; an oldhunter of Bath and Cheltenham boarding. houses
(about which how can I know anything, never having
in a boarding-house at Bath or Cheltenham in my life ?)
an old swindler of tradesmen, tyrant of servants, bully of
the poor—who, to be sure, might do duty for a villain, but I
she considers herself as virtuous a woman as ever was born.
The heroine is not faultless (ah I that will be a great relief
to some folks, for many writers' good women are, you know,
so very insipid). the principal personage you may very
likely think to be no better than a muff. But is many a
respectable man of our acquaintance much better? and do
muffs know that they are what they are, or, knowing it,
are they unhappy ? Do girls decline to marry one if he is
rich ? Do we refuse to dino with one? I listened to one at
Church last Sunday, with all the women crying and sobbing;
and, oh, dear me i how finely he preached! Don't we give
him great credit for wisdom and eloquence in the House of
Commons ? Don't we give him important commands in
j
the army ? Can you, or can you not, point out one who
has been made a peer? Doesn't your wife call one in the
moment any of the children are ill Don't we read his
dear poems, or even novels ? Yes; perhaps even this one
is read and written by—Well ? Quid rides ? Do you
mean that I am painting a portrait which hangs before me
every morning in the looking-class when I am shaving ?
Apres I Do you suppose that I suppose that I have not
infirmities like my neighbours ? Am I weak ? it is noto-
rious to all my friends there is a certain dish I can't re-
sist ; no, not if I have already eaten twice too much at
dinner. So, dear, sir, or madam, have you your weakness
your irresistible dish of temptation ? (or if you don't
know it, your friends do.) No, dear friend, the chances
are that you and I are not people of the highest intel-
lect, of the largest fortune, of the most ancient
family of the most cougtramatt virtue, of the most fault-