The Sun.
London, England, 1858-05-19 00:00:00

_
;

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 19, 1858.

ment have not received any copy of the pro- V
clamation, bat they have positive information that
it, or one of similar tendency, has been hatted.
On Saturday, however, they received three pri-
ate letters from Lord CANNING, in which there
acre references to the proclamation, and " which
seemed to refer to what had been stated in other letters,
observations respecting matters of which the
Government had no account, and which were,
therefore, necessarily involved in obscurity."
Nay, more, we hear it on high and unques-
tionable authority, that Sir COLIN CAMPBELL
had expressed a strong opinion respecting
the proclamation that had arrived at Luck-
now, before the departure of a very gallant and dis-
tinguished officer who has just come to this
country. This should be cleared up,
and the evidence of Col. FRANKS and Mr. SMITE
obtained, before a division can fairly be taken on
the resolutions now before the House of Commons
and the country. If the ex-President of the
India Board will not answer individual members,
he should be required to do so by a resolution of
the House. At present he occupies a very unen-
viable position, from which his friends should
seek to extricate him as speedily as possible.
Nor does he stand alone, for by some strange
coincidence, the Times, Post, and other Palmer-
stonian journals, seem all to have had their ordi-
nary correspondence, :which ought to state the
effects produced on the people of India generally,
and of Oude in particular, by the promulgation
of the confiscation policy, very conveniently mis-
laid. Verily "Vernon Smithisre," as it has
been happily termed, seems to be of a very infec-
tious character. We can now understand the
motives that induced the Sabbath-day conspira-
tors to press forward their motion. A little time
would fully reveal the wisdom of the course adopted
byLord ELLENBOROUGH. But that time is refused,
in order that a decision may be obtained on inade-
quate data, if not under false and fraudulent pre-
tences, a decision which may render an appeal to the
country indispensable at a very inconvenient sea-
son. We know the opinions of Sir JOHN LAW-
REAM, and Sir JAMES OUTRAM, we may easily
guess those of Sir COLIN CAMPBELL on the sub-
ject, and doubtless others of considerable conse-
quence will be obtained before the result of the
final struggle on the factious motion.

on the electric whisper carried from lip to lip, of
—" MACAVLAY is up ! " " That time, however,"
said Lord MAoAULAY on Tuesday, at Cambridge,
" has now passed away, and I feel that if I would
still do something for society, it will be best done
in the quiet retirement of my own library." If
the noble heart of the historian is yet to beat
equably with health to the completion of his great
work and to the natural close of his honoured and
useful existence, it will be best that this judicious
resolution of his should be persisted in unhesi-
tatingly, undeviatingly. Physically it is rendered
advisable, if not even absolutely imperative. In-
tellectually, never perhaps was orator more per-
fectly endowed. But physically it is otherwise,

insomuch that the decision of our Anglo-Saxon
CICERO is wise—for by rigid obedience to that
decision he may most securely prolong a life of
inestimable value to his countrymen, the life of
one whose master-hand can write in such grand
and enduring characters the annals of this mighty
empire.

There can scarcely be a more important ques-
tion than that which was last night brought under
the consideration of the House of Commons by
Sir CxAlum NAPIER, the question of the best
and most speedy means of manning the Royal
Navy. The " wooden walls "of which England
has so justly been proud, and which are far more
efficacious than the most elaborate fortresses that
have ever been planned by human ingenuity. It
is quite certain that the country will never again
tolerate the press-gang system, or forcible con-
scription of the maritime population. Services
urgently required must be fairly remunerated.
Adequate inducements should be held out
to attract men to the National flag. Let
better rewards be given for good conduct,
improve the position of the petty officers, and
jive a reasonable chance of promotion to the
quarter-deck for those who show themselves qua,.
lifted for the position, and who have availed
themselves of educational opportunities that aught
to be placed at their disposal. By this means
you would obtain energetic lads, who could
not hope to obtain admission to the quarter.
deck by the ordinary channels.. The habi-
tual promotion of meritorious non-commis-
sioned officers in the army has been productive
of the most beneficial results, and there is no
reason to suppose that a similiar promotion of
petty officers and even of able seamen and de-
serving youths, who had entered before the mast,
should not be equally efficacious.
Greater advantages should also be tendered to
the continuerus service meib, who without being
qualified to aspire to high promotion, are yet ad-
mirably calculated for the duties they are
called on to discharge. The virtual dis-
missal of 3,000 of those gallant fellows
was an act of political insanity, to say nothing of
the imputation of Breach of faith thereby cast
upon the country. It was certainly one of the
most unfortunate steps ever taken in the naval
administration of the country. A little more
liberty might also be granted under prudent
regulations It is absurd to suppose that men,
who have been kept on board for years, without
a chance being afforded of setting their feet on
terra firma, although they have been at anchor
in harbour, and are tantalised with the view
of land, should not relax when the long-coveted
and an4iously looked for opportunity has been
conceded 1

We rejoice to perceive that Sir JOHN PAKING-
TON has gracefully conceded the important put
of the motion, and that a commission will be
forthwith appointed with ample powers to insti-
tute a complete inquiry into this ieteresting
subject.

Mr. -VERNON SMITH positively refuses to give
the House of Commons any information on the
quasi private letter, or letters, he has received
from Lord CANNING, or those persons in autho-
rityin India, under the supposition that he was
still at the head of the Board of Control. We
say letters, inasmuch as it appears that he must
have received several communications by, some
at least, of the last three malls that arrived. He
despises the House, and will do nothing to efface
the stigma that must, under existing circum-
stances, attach to his character. He sets up his
own judgment, but will not, by affording reason-
able information as to the facts, allow others to form
art opinion as to the propriety of that judgment.
All that he condescended to say, in answer to the
very pertinent interrogatory exhibited by Lord
A. VANE, was, that he " had already stated the
substance of the letter, and also that, had he, to
the best of his judgment and discretion, consi-
dered it important enough to be communicated
to the Government ho would have done so." Tilt
letter must have been brief indeed, if its substance
consisted merely of the short sentence whicli
leaked out.

Nor will the dockyards be neglected.

committees will be organised —one for

purpose of investigating the present sys-
tem of the dockyards, the other for in-
quiring into our steam machinery, and the
best mode of applying steam to the Royal Navy.
This is all that could be desired, and Sir JOHN
PAKINGTON is entitled to the thanks and grati-
tude of the nation for the great attention and
efficiency he has displayed in his present office,
And the important reforms that may be antici-
pated under his guidance and direction.

But what can we think of his judgment
or discretion in deeming that unimportant.
The Governor-General forwarded the draft of a
proclamation, which he intended issuing on the
capture of Lucknow, but from press of matte'
he was compelled to defer until the follow-
ing mail, the explanations which he was desirous
of rendering in respect of that very ill-timed and
injudicious document. Surely, it required a de-
gree of mental obliquity, far beyond what might
have
been anticipated even from Mr. SMITH, t(
say that such an intimation could be consigue 1
to the waste-paper basket, and a "forty-Smith
power " of arrogance, to suppose that either Rii-
liatnent or the Country could he satisfied with
such a lame and petulant statement ._for "ex-
planation " it could not be called. The Noble
Lord the Member for Durham was fully juatiaed
in repeating his very proper interrogatory, whieh
was thus evaded by Mr. SMITH, formerly of

Cannon-Row.
But there are circumstances that render
the topic of vast importance. The Govern

The extinction of one of the greates t Parlia
mentary orators of our day has very recently
been simply but most explicitly announced by
himself in a few spoken words indicated by him
as perhaps the last public address to which his
lips might aver give utterance. Those who have
glanced through the brief record of the ceremo-
nial proceedings attendant upon the inauguration
Of the High Steward of Cambridge will recognise
the Orator here alluded to, in the person of Tiro-
mAs Biron MICAULAX, recently selectel to, and
-m the 11th instant formally installed in, the post
of the High Stewardship. An adltional interest
and one of art almost painful character was
thereby afforded to those proceedings by the
noble lord's announcement, the remarkable
innouncement already specified. Though we ne•
cessarily regret the decision, we are neverthe-
less constrained to regard it as in one sense
eminently judicious—this distinct resolve on
the part of our great
I, annalist to restrict his intel-
lectual efforts henceforth to the continuation a
theven
tgarraendd. n
,a,tTi ohnearle wwoarsk a utpi
[no ne ,
,w,hsical he
iid
theho.i a
njbdle-
orator, with a touch at once of dignity and pathos
in the words, " when I could have commanded
a hearing in a much larger and even a more iiki
portant assembly than this." How true the re-
mark is every one will appreciate who ha.
a personal remembrance, even as recently
as five years ago, of the time when the
empty benches of the House of Commons
were crowded in a few minutes, as if by magic, by
a simultaneous rush from smoking rooms, and
libraries, and the dining apartments of BELLAMY' S

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EY ENING, MAY 19, 1858.

LATEST NEWS.

DEATH OF THE DUCHESS OF .BLEANS.

We regret to announce the death of her Royal
Highness the Duchess of Orleans, who expired yes-
terday morning, shortly after 5 o'clock, at her
residence at Richmond, to the inexpressible grief
of her sons, the Count de Paris and the Duke de
Chartres, and the other members of the exiled
Royal family of France.
The demise of her Royal Highness is a deep
affliction to the ex-Queen Amelie, whose only con-
solation under the mournful circumstances is the
presence of the Duke of Nemours, the Duke and
Duchess of Aumale, the Prince and Princess Join-
vile, who, with their families, are living at Twicken-
ham and Claremont. The lamentable event was
quite unexpected. The Duchess only a fortnight
since dined at the Marquis of Lansdowne's, and
was apparently in excellent health and spirits.
The deceased Duchess, Helene Louise Elizabeth
d'Orleans, was youngest daughter of Frederick
Louis, Hereditary Grand Duke of Mecklenburgh-
Schwerin, by his second marriage with the Princess
Caroline, daughter of Charles, Grand Duke of
Saxe-Weimar. Her Royal Highness was born
Jan. 24, 1814, and consequently was 44 years of
age. The Princess was brought up in the Protestant
faith, and it is said, from the pious and unostenta-
tious course of her early life, that she reluctantly
embraced the brilliant prospect of her union with
the Prince Royal of France, the Duke of Orleans,
at the period of the negotiation of the marriage the
hope and pride of the French people. On leaving
her retired home at Ludwigslust for her adopted
country, the Princess was delicately reminded that
it would be necessary to conceal her regret on

leaving the land of her birth. The Princess re-
plied, " I shall endeavour henceforth to love and
admire everything iu France." The marriage of
trio raueess aaa the 1/11103 of Oiluans was ..1.-
brated on the 13th of July, 1837, at the Palace of
Fontainebleau, in the splendid gallery of Henry 11.
After having had two sons, the Count de Paris
(born 24th of August, 1838) and the Duke de
Chartres (born November 9, 1840), the Duchess
met with an overwhelming domestic calamity by
the sudden death of her husband. On the 13th
of Jnly, 1842, the Duke of Orleans was killed by a
fall from his carriage. The Duchess bore her loss
with heroic resignation, and gave vent to her
harrowed feelings only in retirement. She then,
and ever since, in most eventful times, de-
voted herself to the education of her infant
sons, to whom she was the most affectionate and
loving of mothers. Her Royal Highness rarely
appeared in the gaieties of the Court of Louis Phi-
lippe. Toe Duchess of Orleans and her sons were
staying with the King and Queen at Paris when
the revolutionary outbre ik took place, in February,
1848. After much trouble and anxiety the Duchess
and her sons, attended by the Marquis de Mornay,
sou-in-law of Marshal Soult and a faithful adherent
of Louis Philippe and his family, escaped to Bel-
gium. Since the convulsion of 1848 the Duchess
and her sons have chiefly passed their time at her
residence in Germany, and in visiting the members
of the French royal family in this country. Her
Royal Higness had been staying since the summer
of last year at Mr. Paynter's villa at Richmond.
The exemplary propriety of her conduct during all
the trials her Royal Highness experienced after her
alliance with the house of Orleans gained the admi-
ration of all observers.
His Royal Highness the Prince Consort, shortly
after the sad news reached the Queen at Bucking-
ham Palace, loft town for Richmond on a visit of
condolence to the sorro wing relatives of the Duchess.
The Duchess of Cambridge, and the other mem-
bers of the royal family, likewise paid visits to the
exiled royal family soon after the intelligence was
received.