The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-10 00:00:00

Lord PALMERSTON came out strongly at the
annual dinner of the Romsey Agricultural
Society, of which he is president. He was,
however, true to the red-tapist principles,
and the rule on which he has invariably acted
of letting no inkling as to his intentions re-
specting the forthcoming session ooze forth.
The policy of abstention as to any revelations
that might possibly prove inconvenient at any
future period was clearly recognised by the ex-
Premier. On political subjects, therefore, he
restricted himself to what had already been accom-
plished, carefully avoiding the slightest hint
of what may be looming in the future. He
claimed credit for the late Government on
account of what he considered " the successful
and glorious issue of the late Russian war." The
people of Great Britain have, however, felt deeply
that a fair equivalent has not been received for the
many sacrifices to which they had submitted in
that sanguinary and costly struggle. Our faithful
allies were permitted to appropriate the lion's share
of the glory and advantage resulting from the war.
We had the satisfaction of knowing that we had
fully and fairly discharged our duty, and feeling
a peaceful conscience. But " virtue was its
own reward," and we had no other recompense
for the lives of 50,000 true hearted Englishmen,
and of nearly one hundred millions of money.
In the other political matters referred to, the seed
had only been sown by the late Government ; the
harvest was gathered by their successors ; the
mutiny and rebellion in India occurred when Lord
PALMERSTON was Premier. It has been virtually
suppressed under Lord DERBY. We shall, however,
gladly state that when the full extent of the emer-
gency was ascertained an unexceptionable com-
mander was appointed ; and that in obtaining
the services of Sir COLIN CAMPBELL, now
Lord :CLYDE, they were fortunate enough to
place the right man in the right place.
In selecting Lord ELGIN for the mission to China
they were also peculiarly fortunate, or, to render
full justice, were very judicious in choosing a well
qualified person for the arduous duties to which he
was appointed. But it was under Lord DERBY
that our most gracious SOVEREIGN became QUEEN
of INDIA and EMPRESS of HINDOSTAN, and
surely no exclusive credit can be claimed for
the fortunate results in India, China, or Japan.
On agricultural topics the Noble Lord was very
felicitous. He spoke of implements, machinery,
and manure, and as, might easily be anticipated,
where he had a clear stage, there was no failure or
shortcoming. He showed the necessity of good
cultivation in his own peculiar style—spoke of the
variety of colours in fields, which a painter
might have wished to illustrate, but which origi-
nated in matters which the farmer should avoid,
and which abstracted a large proportion of the
products of the soil. The removal of these weeds
ought to be one, at least, of the chief objects o
every occupier of arable land.

The question of how town sewage may best be
applied is one of no less important to the farmers
than to the Sanitary Commissioners. What is
at present a nuisance may be converted into a

source of national wealth which would double the

produce of land—make two blades grow where

one only could previously be produced. This matter
has been disregarded, or, at least, has not received
the attention to which it is justly entitled up to
this period ; but now there are inquiries going on
that will, we believe, lead to a happy result.
The question of the " labourers' rewards" was
one of a peculiarly delicate character. It was by

many regarded as verging on the ridiculous, that

a:man should, for producing high testimonials re-

specting his unexceptionable conduct during the

greater part of half a century, be rewarded with a

sovereign or a coat; but Lord PALMERSTON assimi
lates it to the grant of a Victoria Medal for some act

of daring bravery. We believe, however, that the
Noble Lord can scarcely expect that even the

labourers themselves who have been honoured by
,he coat, or card, or what, perhaps, they more highly

appreciate, " the sovereign," will feel that they are

placed on an equality with the heroes who have

merited the high distinction of the cross. It was

a good bait for :.the auditors, but it will not
" take" with the community in general.

A Paris letter ix the Independance of Brussels
says •.—" The court charged with the regulation of titles of
nobility is overwhelmed with business. A vast number of
petitions have been sent to it by persons wishing to be
authorised to assume the names of families, in some cases
completely extinct. The administration will show itself
still more severe in such cases, on the ground that there
have existed within late years several establishments which
created titles on false pretensions."
A letter from Tangiers of the 21st ult. says :
"The Emperor's presents to the English government•
arrived here yesterday. They consist of eight horses, three
mares, one lion, one panther, one stag, and nine ostriches.
Like wise, two rich sabres, a gold embroidered saddle and
biidle, and a fine horse for Mr. Hay, the English consul-
general."
A letter from Borne, in the Gazette de Liege,
states that the Sacred College at Rome has resolved to pre-
vent the recurrence of any case similar to that of Mortara
in future, by directing that Christians shall not in future
be allowed to enter the service of Jews.
THE OUTWARD BRAZIL AND RIVER PLATE
MAILS.—The steam-ship Avon, Captain Revett, left
Southampton yesterday with the above mails, ninety pa,s_
sengers, specie value £10,426, jewellery value
£28,900.a full cargo,

superlatives. It was the reco&• -nition in so many
words of the good fortune we u, 'iquestionably en-
joy is living under "the best So vereign that ever
reigned in this or any other nation." Again, in
giving the twin toast of the national services—
Army and Navy—in referring to tb 3 Alma and
Inkermann, Lord PALMERSTON spok' 3 of them as
" glorious exploits that might rival any of the acts
contained in the brightest page ,of this or any
other nation." And so on—everything particu-
larised by the noble Viscount in that most amiable
strain of sustained and ecstatic pe megyric was—not
good but the best, not high but the highest.
Altogether the effect must have been rather cloying
than otherwise to the simple, and unsophisticated
palates of the Hampshire agriculturists down
at Romsey—being pelted thus sedulously immedi-
ately after the cloth had been drawn, with this
storm of oratorical sugarplums. Apparently the noble
ex-Premier must have been impelled to the some-
what monotonous utterance of these good-natured
generalities by a sense that to touch upon anything
like debatable ground in regard to the political
future, besides being, as the phrase is, eminently
out of place, would also have been singularly
perillous. Without acknowledging it quite as ex-
plicitly as the right hon. gentleman, the member
for Kidderminster, had done before his amused
constituents only the previous evening, Lord
PALMERSTON might have said, in the very
words of his late Vice-President of the
Board of Trade, as candidly as whimsi-
cally—" As to the state of parties, I say
nothing. I know nothing nothing ; I can conjec-
ture nothing; I can foresee nothing; and yet I be-
lieve I am not much more ignorant than the rest
of my fellow-citizens." Those words of Mr. LOWE
might have fallen as truthfully and appropriately
from the lips of Lord PALMERSTON. Only they
would have astonished the farmers of Romsey in
that ease a great deal more than they did the car-
pet manufacturers of Kidderminster. By whom-
soever uttered they are holiest words at any rate,
and they go far to illustrate at this moment the
forlorn and helpless condition of the chiefs no less
than of the rank and file of the Opposition. •