The Sun.
London, England, 1858-06-03 00:00:00

'§'s 8.

of memoir writing so generally adopted, and en-
couraged by a curiosity that calls itself interest,
and. that desires to criticise what it Professes to de-
plore. The present paper confines itself chiefly to
the review of Mr. Hogg's recent volumes, and only
relates to that portion of Shelley's life which he
narrites. When his concluding volumes are pub-
lished we are promised another essay on the sub
ject. A paper on the political and social prospects
of the Australian Colonies will be attractive to
those who are interested in our colonial future.
The statistics of its progress, the political constit u-
'tion, which, is peculiar to itself as a dependency,
the Land Question, and all similar topics are treated
of at length. The recent memoirs of M. Guizot
and. Louis Blanc furnish a paper on French social
changes. In speaking of the fOrmer the avriter
says, "In fact there is no man on the continent,
and scarcely a man among ourselves, with
whom we can compare M. Gnizot. For the last'
thirty years he has led nearly as active a political life
as our own late Premier, Viscount Palmerston, of
whom he is three years the'junior ; while for more
than half a century he has led as laborious a
literary life as any literary man of his day. In thA
timeha haS been professor, author, and dramaiist,
translator and reviewer, pamphleteer and historian,
editor and leading-article writer, essayist and
moralist, Master of Requests, councillo,.. of State,
under-secretary, deputy, and at length minister
and amba sador." He subsequently gives us an
interesting sketch of the early life of the statesman
and litterateur. " The men of ills Indian
Mutinies" is a paper on some of. the mo,t
prominent men whom the troubles of .India have
raised to eminence. It doss riot suggest much that
is new or striking, and is mainly occupied in de
' fending .the acts of some of the chief civilians,
whom the public have not regarded with any great
degree of favour. A paper on Matthew Arnold's
Meropa has some remarks on the characteristics of
Greek tragedy, but the specimens given of the
modern imitation are not likely t ) impress the
lovers of true poetry. " Squire Bolton's Trans-
gressioo" brings the troubles cf Guy Ilatliaw.,y
and the pretty Sylvia to a suitable conclus on.
The Albatross is treated of the usual piper n
Natural Histlry. " A Mutiny of Pr v,nci:l
Troops" is the title of a paper taken from Tacitu ,
drawing a comparison between the 13sngal muti-
neers and the insurrect cn of the Batavi—a warlike
people of Teutonic race, who eudeavoure t to thro
off the Roman yoke at the time when Vitellius ard
Vespasian were disputing the possession of the
imperial dignity. "Poems fro Eversley, a spring-
tide study," can. scarcely be called a criticism of
Mr. Kingsley's poems, as it is little more than a
tribute of admiration. Though many of his briefer
lyrics are full of tire and feeling, we cannot coincide
in the wholesale admiration expressed. There is an
attack on those severecritics who destroy all romance
and tradition to make room for their own un-
graceful substitutes, which may very probably be
overthrown in their turn by the next self-cleoed
champion of the prosaic. The political writer of
Fraser gives us an article ou Lord Derby's three
month's in power, in which, not being able to prove
his friends right and his adversaries wrong quite so
much to his own satisfaction as usual, he takes
refuge in an ingenious general depreciation of the
Ministry, and a lamentation over the decadence of
the English Parliament.

Bentley's. —Mr. Dudley Costello's story with the
interesting title of " Faint Heart never won Fair
Lady," proceeds in its accustomed manner and
narrates some events of importance. The good
Richel is left in a painful predicament, being
suddenly called upon to surrender her adopted
child under very suspicious circumstances. Monks-
hood's " New Book Notes," ;treat of Michelet's
History of France in the seventeenth. century,
giving an account of the plot for the assassination
of Cardinal Richelieu, which terminated so fatally
for Auguste De Than, son of the historian, and the
young Cinq Mars, the favourite of the King.
There are some striking verses entitled " Leontitp, '
addressed to the veteran author of " The Story of
Rimini"—

" Lord of our laughter, master of our tears.,"
rendering the homage of a cordial admiration
in vigorous and expressive language. " The
D amond Bracelet" is the title of an interesting
story, which is left uufinished, and which turns
like many other tales on the mysterious disappear-
ance of some valuable jewellery. The remains of
Dr. Byrom, other►vise known as John Shadow,
firm the subject of an entertaining paper. " The
Lion's Breath, " is taken from the work of
Alexandre Dumas, and is somewhat extravagant.
" Thanatos Athanatos," though extending to an ,
unreasonable length, is full of quaint and pleasant
reading, varied with anecdotes and quotations.
" Imperial Paris," is the title of an article, wh ch
traces the recent improvements and embellish-
ments in the neighbouring capital. " From Delhi
to Cawnpore" is a melancholy raeitatof-the suffer-
ings of an English family in the mutiny of Bengal.
fbrief notice of the performances at her Majesty's
The Are concludes the number.

Colburn's New 111outhiy.—" The Earl's Di-
lemma," by the au her of " Ashley," is a very
clever story, continuing the adventures commenced
in last month's number. In this part we meet with
a very good ins'auce of the extreme daugr and
difficulty of that he rating course which so many
aqopt. Lord Hartledon was an extreme case, per-
haps, but there are too many who tread in his foot
steps, and are deficient in moral courage, which is
the true source of strength in all human undertak-
ings. He endeavoured to please all parties, and at
last created so much confusion that the reader will
doubtless learn in a future part that he reaped some
unpleasant consequences. "Buckle's History of
Civilisation" is treated of at some length, and is
regarded with the respect Wiich so eminent a work
merits. It is asserted that " whoever misses read-
ing this book, will miss reading what is, in various
respects, to the best of our judgment and expe-
rience, the most remarkable book of the da b."
" One Day's Longings," by Mary Monck, is the
title of some verses that are very pleasing. The
general idea is expressed in the following :

Then I sighed, " Oh ! for the p/wor
Which the ancient Magii held ;
Oh ! for this one day's possession
Of the fsery spells of eld."
I woul.l free Those toiling wretches,
Send them forth to woods and fiens,
Till their brows grew smooth and radiant
With the joy that Nature yields ;
To the shell-strewn shores of Ocean,
Where the long swell hi oaks in foam,
To the wild and pathless mountains
Where the eagle makes his home;
To the margins of great rivers,
Where their weary limbs might rest,
Till the beauty round them lavish'd
Struck a chord in every breast;
Till they lost tho grime of labour,
Till they knelt upon the sod,
Soaring up with souls awakened
•
• To the mercy-seat of God.
Mr. Bu hby continues the narrative of his visit to
eland last summer, and gives some entertaining
pictures of life and manners in those wild northern
regions. The next subject we meet is a very at-
tractive one—" Thomson as a Poet of Nature."
In treating of his capacities in this department of
his art, the critic renders him that unqualified
praise which
is his due. The writer remarks with
justice on the strong and widely-diffused love of
poetry which is a characteristic of the English
people. "A people in whom the love of poetry,
and especially the poetry of Nature, is so strong, is
assuredly very far from approaching that downward
path in the career of nations, one of the indications
of which is often exhibited in the extinction of the
imagination." Many extracts are given from the
beautiful scenes in the " Castle of Indolence." In
conclusion, he says :
Thomson is a poet for all time. His productions are
the creations of a mind of exquisite sensibility, and pure
as the morning dew. He is emphatically the poet of Na-
ture as she manifests herself in England, and her people
will turn to him with increased sympathy and affection as
often as, seduced for a season into the admiration of some
unworthy professor of the divine art, they regain the purity
of their taste and return to the living fountains which
have been so abundantly opened up for them ; or, to
adopt the imlgery which Thomson has so well employed
in his Castle of Indolence, as often as, released from the
magic spells of some false enchanter who may have bound
and held them captive for a while, they are reawakened to
the superior attractions of simplicity and truth.
" The Autobiography of Ernest Mitterkamp" is
continued ; and an interesting tale, entitled "The
Wild Fowl limiter," follows. A. criticism on Ma-
dame de Pontes' recent work on " The Poets and
Poetry of Germany," renders that lady due credital
for her arduous undertaking. Provisional
Government" The Provis
Government" takes a glance at the position of
France in 1848, and terminates the list of articles.

The United Service.—A paper on "Our Position
iu India, with a glance at our recent of ation,"
is the first to meet the reader. The writer seems
to consider that we must maintain in India a t•ys-
tem of stern repression—that the slightest
tion of severe military d'scipline will be f Vowed
by another outburst, and that those who advocate
a more merciful code are only desirous of smoothing
the way to our ultimate surrender of all right to
govern. We cannot coincide wi'h the opinions of
the author, or admire the vehemence with which
he upholds them. A paper on " Porta and Aggrea-
si,n" deserves perusal, and suggests some
It
tubjects
to the consideration of those in authority,
to the conclusion that " we ought by this: •tc,:i(s)",
have bad a harbour for our millions spent• time
in case of a
consqpiences of our want of energy,
more serious condition of continental' politics, may
be to the people of this kingdoni a source of morti-
fication." A paper, entitled "A New Indian

• 'Army," Saggestts eine-methods. for reorganising our
Indian defences. Another Artiele, on " The Gazette
g of Blood," refauto<the fearful list of deaths and
[murders chronicled in -the. London Gazette of the
6th May. It is, indeed, a fearful record of the
crimes and sufferings of humanity: Lieutenant-
Colonel Aleicander reinjuiteences of a visit to the
Chitieie Empire are cou'iuued with its accustomed.
entertainment. • Fukien ana Hong Kong are plea-
santly described. " The Navy, its Paint, Laws,
and Customs," is the title of a paper treating of
many point's of naval management and discipline
which era capable of iwprovemeut. An article on
the merits of the various routes to the Pacific gives
a list of the rival designs that have been proposed
for connecting the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, and
arrives at the conclusion that the Nicaragua Canal
is the m.)st feasible and advantageons. A review
of " Marshal Marniont's Memoirs" brings to a
conclusion' the criticism on that work, which
la been 'the subject of several interesting
p4per3. Though the Marshal himself may not be a
very c%ivalria chsracter the stirring scenes in,
w:tich he moved, and theerninent men who moved
in them, sufii.le to engage the reader's attention.
" The Sepoys and the landholders of Ou le," is
the ti le of an extract from a let' er f, mu an officer
on. the spot, " who has passed through the dif-
ferent stages of the revolt." He says that the re-
settling 'of Oude wll be a very difficult badness,
and among other mistakes at the time of the an-
nexation of Oade, ho asserts that the title-deeds of
the chieftains and others holdingiarge property
were too severely scrutinised. It would have been
wiser, he says, to have left them as we found them
in,tead of going back fur years and years to find
out the rightful owner and disp2ssess the land-
holder who had owned them fur a long period.
The theory he admits was partially good, but
the practice was inefficient, and, as the cases of op-
prestionor bribery were not recent our interference
was uncalled for, and a bitter • enmity was excited
against the interfering government. The second
part of the paper on the Party Politics of the
United States is given, and the Editor's portfolio
contains its usual summary of events and opinions.
All the usual military and naval intelligence occu-
pies its customary place.

OPPOSITION TO THE LONDON CORPO-
RATION _BILL.

A copy of the following has been sent to the
Town Clerk of every Corporation in the King-
dom ;

GUILDHALL, May 29, 1858.
Sir' —I am desired by:the Corporation of Lon-
don to request you will call the attention of your
corporation to a bill now pending in Parliament,
which, while it merely affects to regulate the Cor-
p ,ration of London, attempts not only to destroy
t le powers of usefulness of that body by confisca-
ting its tnutage dues, but establishes a principle,
which, if permitted to prevail in this case, may be
engrafted at any future period upon the general
Act by which all other Municipal corporations in
the country are now governed.
The act, to which this bill professes to be assimi-
lated, so far from abolishing any of the local dues
bel•mging to the several corporations included with-
in its operations, recognises all such dues in express
terms as part of their legitimate property.
Under the present bill these dues, which the
Corporation purchased from the Crown, and has
enjoyed upwards of 600 years, are proposed to be
taken away without consent or compensation, by
an act of power on the part of the Imperial Parlia-
ment of England, which has recently exhibited to
the world its extreme sensitiveness upon questions
affecting the feudatory and proprietary rights of in-
dividuals and communities in the most distant
parts of the globe in which the power of the Briti.h
Parliament is felt.

The accompanying papers set forth in a few sen-
tences the title of the Corporation to inetage dues,
and its reasons why they should not be confiscated
by Parliament.

-In order that this subject may be. fully under-
stood by the members of ycur municipal body, I
have sent by this post a number of copies of these
documents, that you may circulate them among the
members of your corporation
It is not pretended by the promoters of the bill
that the Corporation of London, during the six
centuries it has possessed these revenues, has ever
abused its trust ; on the contrary, the Crown Com-
missioners, who, iu 1834, and again in 1854, insti-
tuted a most inquisitorial investigation into its cor-
porate affairs, reported that they had not been able
to discover any act of corruption or malversation
on the part of the corporation or its officers.
Tne title of the corporation to these dues cannot
he disputed ; if it were otherw!se, it ought to be
done before the proper tribunals established in this
country to inquire into all questions affecting the
rights and wrongs of persons and property within
the jurisdiction of the British laws.
The attempt to deprive the corporation of Lon-
don of this portion of its property by legislative
instead of j udicial means, is based—it is understood
—upon three principle., which, if recognised by
Parliam nt wilt be subversive of all corporate rights
and prove dangerous to every description of pro-
perty, in whatever hands it may be found.
1. It is said that incorporeal sourc s of revenue,
such as metage dues, port dues, town dues, &c.,
are not entitled to the same pro•ection and secu-
rity as rents and revenues derivable from corporeal
and tangible estates.

2. It is said that even if these. incorporeal sources
of revenue are to be protected in the bands of
noblemen, lords of manors, and other fortunate
holders of royal grants of this description, yet they
are not sacred in the hands of corporations, and
rely be dealt with as Parliament thinks fit.
3. If from the increase of population—if from
the altered value of money, property in the hands
of a nobleman or gentleman increases enormously
in amount, he is congratulated as a fortunate man,
and neither the Legislature nor the law assumes
the right either to curtail his possessions or to in-
qu re how he is pleased to dispose of them. But it,
is pretended that municipal corporations ought to
governed by a different principle, and that the
amount and mode of appropriation of revenu .s pur-
chased and possessed by corporations are legitimate
subjects of inquiry at any time when, for any rea-
,on, it is proposed to pre care their confiscation.
The Crown Commissioners who investigated the
conduc.', of the Corporation in 1854, after pro-
nouncing b Ali members and officers free from the
charge of misconduct, avow this principle of action;
for, without impugning the title of the Corporation
or its rightful appropriation of the metage dues,
they propose their abolition, because, as they sa)
in their report, the Corporation will, after their
confiscation, have enough left for purposes of pubs
lie us-fulness, as well as for what they are pleased
to describe as the means of "decent hospitality and
splendour."
When the Government desired to revoke the
Duke of Richmond's right to ls. a chaldron dues
upon all coals exported from the Tyne and Consumed
in England—when the Govetmuent wished to re-
take the Duke of Grafton's dues on all wine brought
into the port of Loudon, the Government did not
issue inquisitorial commissions to inquire when and
where, and how and by what means, and from
whom and for whae valuable considerations these
noble dukes acquired these revenues, nor did they
inquire their former or present amcunt ; still less
was it asked how they spent tha en-mey, .what was
the amount of their other possessions, or, if the coal
and wine dues were taken away without compensa-
tion, what means they would have of sustaining the
"decent hospitality aird splendour" of their station.
If the Government had attempted, or Parliament
had sanctioned such inquiries, with the intention
of abolishing those dues, a cry of spoliation and
confiscation would have Is.'m echoed by the pro-
perty classes throughout the realm. There can be
no doubt but that every peer, every lord of a manor,
aud every other personintohfetrhe ealcrompwonss,ebssy uiizgniafieldy
of the hereditary revenues
peti
againsti on ss,u we
ho ula dv ho
laavteiopnroe
f-
sa
eentitoend
aanbdol
the sacred rights of property.
di nrdeisvi dt
auna cl e
If such would have been the practice of indivi-
duals in such a case, the Corporation of Loudon
trusts that the corporations of the United Kingdom
will combine in the defence of the principle which
the Corporation of London is called upon, the third
time in the course of six centuries, to assert and
maintain.
To render such assistance effective it must be
prompt. You will perceive by the accompanying
documents that an effort will be made in the House
of Commons to get the bill recommitted. A motion
to that effect will be made in the course of the next
week, when a petition in its favour, somewhat re-
sembling the enclosed draft, will be of great value.
The Corporation will likewise feel much obliged if
you will in the interim apprise your representatives
in Parliament of your wish that our application
should have the benefit of their support. —I have
the honour to be., Sir, your obedient servant,
H. A. I'VIEREWETRER, Town Clerk.

THE OUTWARD WEST INDIA. AND PACIFIC MAILS.—
The steamship Magdalena, Capt. Abbott, left Southamp-
ton yesterday with the above mails, 68 passenger, a full
general cargo, specie of the value of 33,1881., and jewel-
lery 7,6001.
I ESTABLISHMENT OF A DAILY MAIL. COMMUNICA.
PION BETWEEN MILFORD HAVEN AND InIELAND. —On
June 1 a daily communication was recommenced between
Milford Haven and the South of Inland, via Waterford,
by powerful steam packets. The South Wales Railway
terminates at Neylan?, on the ih rei of the Haven,
and letters are thus transmitted with such celerity as
to reach Waterford, Cork, and the south and west of
Ireland, quicker than by any other route, and with
much wore certainty. This is a great public benefit.