The Sun.
London, England, 1858-11-05 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, NOVEMBER 5, 1858.

PUBLICATIONS.

Now ready, in 1 vol., 10s. 6d., bound,
THIRD EDITION of JOHN HALIFAX,
GENTLEMAN.
Also, by the same Author, in 1 vol., 10s. 6d.,
A WOMAN'S THOUGHTS ABOUT WOMEN.
" A work of sound counsel."—Examiner.
Hurst and Blackett, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

MR. E. E. CROWE'S NEW HISTORY OF FRANCE.
Now ready, Vol. 1., in Svo, price 14s. cloth,
HISTORY of FRANCE. An entirely new
work, to be completed in Five Volumes. By EYRE
EVANS CROWE, Author of the " History of France " in the
Cabinet Cyclopiedia."
London : Longman, Brown, and Co., Paternoster-row.

This Day, Three Volumes, Bvo, 365.,-
AHISTORY OF THE LITERATURE OF
GREECE, from the Manuscripts of the late Professor
K. 0. MULLER. The first half of the Translation by the
Right Hon. Sir G. CORNEWALL LEWIS, Bart., M.P. The
remainder of the Translation, and the Completion of the
Work according to the Author's plan, by JOHN WILLIAM
DONALDSON, D.D., Classical Examiner in the University
of London, late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.

The new portion of the Work is sold separately, Two
Volumes, 20s.

This work, originally undertaken at the request of the
Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, was written
with a view to its appearance in an English form only, and
left incomplete by the death of its author in 1840. The Society
had arranged that Dr. Donaldson, who had translated the
latter half of the work, should complete it according to the
Plan proposed by Professor Miler ; and the present pub-
lishers have resumed the undertaking in the hope of placing
within the reach of classical students a complete but con-
venient Manual of Greek Literary History. The book com-
prises Chronological Tables, Indices, some Supplementary
Notes, and a Memoir and Portrait of the Author.

J. Young, Presbyterian chaplain to the troops at
Shorncliffe.

MILITIA.

The Victoria Rifle Regiment of Volunteers as-
sembled at head-quarters, Kilburn, on 'Wednesday
last, and marched, under the command of Captain
Clifford, to Allen's Riding-school, Seymour-place,
Bryanstone-square, where the drill will take place
every Wednesday evening at 7 o'clock during the
winter months.

2'HE MEMBERS FOR EDINBURGH AND
THEIR CONSTITUENTS.

On Wednesday afternoon a meeting of the inha-
bitants of Edinburgh was held in Queen-street Hall,
there, called by Mr. Cowan and Mr. Black, the city
members, to afford these gentlemen an opportunity
of giving an account of their stewardship during
the last session. The Lord Provost presided. The
meeting was crowded to excess.
Mr. COWAN first addressed the meeting.
He said,—During the short eighteen months
which have elapsed since I last addressed my con-
stituents, three events, unprecedented in their mag-
nitude—l should rather say three crimes of un-
paralleled atrocity—have occurred, which will long
stand out in broad relief in the history of our land.l
refer, in the first place, to the Indian mutiny,
with its black train of indescribable horrors ;
secondly, to that system so long carried on in vari-
ous commercial and banking establishments in this
country, and in the three kingdoms—for no one of
them, I think, had any great advantage over the
others—whereby, through along-continued, in some
cases, system of deception and violence multitudes
of our fellow-countrymen and countrywomen have
been reduced from what they considered a short
time before a condition of entire independence to
hapless and deplorable penury. (Hear.) It would
be well if these calamitous events were regarded as
beacons for the future—(hear)—by which every
possible security might be obtained to prevent the
recurrence of such dreadful distress. The third
atrocious crime to which I refer is that foul conspi-
racy against our ally the Emperor of the French—
(hisses, laughter, anduproar)—our tried and faithful
ally. (Renewed hisses, " Oh, oh !" and some applause.)
Whatever any of you may think of the state of
liberty in France, or the means by which its present
ruler reached his throne, at all events he is the
choice of the French people—(cheers and hisses)—
and as such is entitled to our respect. I fervently
thank Almighty God that. that foul design was
happily not successful, and that its only effect on
this side of the Channel was the destruction of the
Government then in office. (Hear, hear.) Mr.
Cowan proceeded to say that he had felt it to be
his duty to vote for the motion of Mr. Milner
Gibson against that of the Government on the
question .n which they were then divided. (Cheers
and hisses.) He thought that the French Govern-
ment was perfectly enticed to make the re-
presentations they did at that time to Lord Pal-
merston, and he could never see any ground for
the charge of attempted dictation in their doing
so. He thought Lord Palmerston was not to
blame for introducing a Conspiracy Bill, but he
thought the bill that was introduced was very
unfit for its object, which was to give secu-
rity in time to come against similar attempts on
the life of the French Emperor. After vindicating
that vote at some length he alluded to Mr:Bright's
speeches at Birmingham, deprecating in particular
the attacks he had made on the House of Lords.
The tendency of these speeches was, he feared, to
incite the humbler against the upper classes of so-
ciety. (A voice—" No.") Well, he sincerely hoped
they would not ; but it appeared to him that Mr. ,
Bright, when talking of the £200,000,000 which
certain wars had cost the nation, had forgot to put
into the opposite scale the inestimable blessings
which we enjoyed of security from foreign inva-
sion, and the priceless rights and liberties which
we had inherited from our ancestors, and which he ,
hoped we should be enabled to transmit unim-
paired
to our posterity. (Cheers.) Mr. Cowan,
after making explanations as to his conduct in re-
ference to the University Bill, the Annuity-tax
Bill, and other Scottish measures, expressed his
willingness to agree to an impartial inquiry into
the working of the Forbes Mackenzie Act and his
desire to have the billetting grievance removed.
Mr. BLACK followed, and was received with loud
applause. After a few introdUctory remarks, he
said,—When I first offered myself for your suffrages
I professed myself favourable to the general policy
of Lord Palmerston's Government—(hisses and
applause)—and consequently on entering the House
of Commons I took my seat behind the Treasury
benches with the intention of supporting that
Government, though taking leave to vote against
them when I thought them manifestly wrong. The
night of the 19th of February broke up the Pal-
merston Government by a dexterously drawn
amendment to the second reading of the Conspiracy
Bill, to the surprise not only of the nation, but of
Parliament itself. I say surprise, for I know that
many members who voted for the amendment had
no intention that their votes should be interpreted
as a vote of want of confidence in the Ministry.
They simply voted that they regretted Lord
Clarendon had not sent a written despatch to
Count Walewski. Had an open and distinctive vote of
want of confidence been proposed, it would have been
rejected by a large majority. (Hisses and applause.)
As far as I am myself concerned, I do not regret
the change of my seat from the Treasury to the
Opposition benches. I rather like it. Opposition
is more congenial to my disposition, and more in
accordance with my previous political life.
(Laughter and cheers.) To the great bulk of the
House of Commons it is personally of no conse-
quence who are the party in power ; but it cannot
fail to be a matter of interest to every right-
thinking man that those who are intrusted with
the management of our affairs should be men in
whose intellgence, honesty, patriotism, sound poli-
tical opinions, and administrative powers the
country may have confidence. But lately, who
held so highly the confidenc of the public as Lord
Palmerston ? At the last election almost every
Liberal candidate professed his confidence in him,
and the country unequivocally responded to these
professions. (Hisses.) Now that something like an
accident has hurled him from his high estate, it
seems to be looked on as an evidence of great
liberality and independence 'to speak slightingly
and reproachfully of the man to whom this coun-
try owes an inextinguishable debt of gratitude—
(hisses and cheers)—for the true British courage
and sound political wisdom he displayed in bring-
ing his country safely and honourably out of one
of the most fearful struggles in which she ever was
engaged—(cheers and hissing)—and not less for
the honourable peace by which he procured for his
country all the objects for which the contest was
entered on, in spite of -the crooked diplomacy of
Russia and the adverse. interests and designs of
France. (Cheers.) The present Ministry attained to
power under the pretence that their predecessors
were disposed to truckle to France, and that they
themselves had a superior regard for the honour,
dignity, and reputation of England. It is, however,
obvious, from his recent outrage on Portugal in the
case of the Charles and Georges, that the Emperor of
France forms no such exalted estimate of their regard
for national honour. ('• Hear," and hissing.) Had
Lord Palmerston been at the head of the English
Government, the Emperor would have thought twice
—(loud and prolonged applause, and some hisses)—
before he would have insulted and wronged the
oldest and firmest ally of England, and before he
would have contemptuously thwarted the people of
this country in their long-continued and philan-
thropic efforts to abolish the accursed slave trade.
(Cheers.) The Emperor would have hardly ven-
tured to violate international law, and thus give an
example and encouragement to the greater despots
of Europe, which they will be too ready to avail
themselves of, to set justice at defiance, and insult
and trample on the weak. (Voices—" Lord Pal-
merston and Naples," " Hungary, Hungary.") The
Emperor is a shrewd politician, and knows the men
he has to deal with. Will any of those who were
so sensitive to their country's honour in the case of
Lord Clarendon's blunder in sending an oral rather
than a written answer to Count Walewski move as an
amendment to the address, or some other Minis-
terial motion, that it is to be regretted that the
English Government entered no public protest
against this tyrannical conduct of France, this out-
rage on public justice and on our ancient ally ?
We have now installed in the place of a Whig a
Tory Government—(A voice, "Six and half-a-
dozen")—and we sometimes hear even Liberals,
say, even men who rejoice in the name of advanced
Liberals, speak of this turn of the wheel as a
national blessing. (Hear, hear.) No doubt, good
often comes out of evil, and I hope it will be so in
this case. (Hear, hear.) The ministry have been
praised for one or two good measures passed during
last session, but we should never forget that these
were gained in spite of them, and that their weak-
ness, not theirwill, consented-:,-(hear, cheers, and
hisses)—and that these are the men who most
i

strenuously opposed every Liberal measure. (" No,
no, and " Yes, yes." They have passed the India
Bill, by means of which 180,000,000 of our fellow-
subjects in Hindostan, when the present calamities
have passed over, I trust, will be relieved from the
domestic oppression under which they have groaned
for ages, that their material prosperity will thereby
be advanced, that secular knowledge and Christian
virtue and happiness may be promoted; and though
it may appear but as the dream of enthusiasm, so
far from joining in the despondency of those who
consider the power of superstition and idolatry, the
prolonged debasement of vice, and the proud claims
of caste as invincible, I believe that Christianity,
with a fair field and no favour, will triumph over
every obstacle. (Cheers.) But the India Bill which
was passed by Parliament was not the bill of the
present Government—(hear, hear)—their bill was
the laughing-stock of the country till, at the re-
commendation of Lord John Russell, it was passed
through the mill of a series of resolutions, and came
out as nearly as possible the bill of their predeces-
sors. (No.) One of the first acts of the present
Ministry in regard to India was rather ominous.
They had not beenlong in power when the country
was startled by the announcement that Lord Ellen-
borough had sent out a public despatch reprimand-
ing Lord Canning for his proclamation tothe rebels
of Oude, declaring their property confiscated, but
promising favour to such as should lay •down their '
arms. In other countries, as well as in our own,
the punishment of rebellion is death and the for-
feiture of estates, but Lord Canning did not threaten
to punish with death for rebellion. His policy was
merciful and wise, he obviously intended to protect
the smaller proprietors and villagers against the
talookdars and great robber chiefs who, during the
anarchy and misrule that preceded the annexation
of Oude, had been guilty of rapine and cruelty, at-
tacking and taking the property of those weaker
than themselves. Had Lord Canning at once re-
stored them to the property they were in possession
of during the rebellion, he would have inflicted
great injustice on the victims of these baronial rob-
bers. (A voice—" What are we ?") In this
despatch, which was published over all India, the '
right of the Queen itself to the sovereignty of Oude
was called in question. If the British Govern-
ment declares itself a wrongful intruder into the
place of the Indian dynasty, are not those
who have been called rebels justified in
continuing to fight against a Power that acknow-
ledges itself an usurper ? (A voice " Certainly.")
Was not the whole tendency of that despatch to
encourage our enemies, and to prevent the pacifica-
tion of the country? This despatch seems to have
not been communicated to all the members of the
Government, though some acknowledged _that they
were privy to it, and all supported it. Lord Derby,
however, consented to throw Jonah overboard to
save the crew. (Laughter and applause.) When
Mr. Cardwell brought forward a motion to dis-
approve this despatch, I cannot say that our con-
duct reflected much credit on us. The debate was
prolonged for some days, during which contradictory
rumours of reports from India were circulated,
which produced doubt and hesitation. Some con-
sidered the sacrifice of Lord Ellenborough a suffi-
cient atonement, and the threat of a dissolution in
the event of an adverse vote made the Opposition
glad to &saw off their troops. In regard to this
despatch, if the Ministry still maintain the justice
of their censure on the Governor, and if the line of
conduct he has pursued, and which he declares his
intention of continuing, they must immediately
recall him, or if he is allowed to hold his office it
will be a standing censure on their own conduct.
They have promised us ,a Reform Bill—(hear, hear)
—indeed, such a blessing has been looming in the
distance through three, if not four Ministries. I
doubt, however, if the advent of this boon will be
hailed with much favour by any party, especially
by the Liberals. (Ironical cheers.) I should hope,
however, that it will disfranchise a number of the
close boroughs. This would let loose a good many
seats, in which case justice would not be done to
Scotland if we did not receive an addition to our
representatives. The counties and boroughs of
England and Wales have no less than 496, Ireland
105, and Scotland has 53. The estimated popula-
tion of England and Wales in 1855 is about
18,786,000, Scotland 3,400,000, Ireland about
6,000,000. As Scotland has nearly a sixth of the
population of England, on that principle we should
have 80 members, or an addition of 27. 'But
England being the richer country it will
naturally contribute more to the revenues of the
nation in proportion to its population than Scot-
land. If we calculate the sum paid into the Ex-
chequer by Scotland at a ninth of England we
shall be nearer the mark. This would give only an
addition of two ; but if we combine the elements of
population and revenue, and take the average, the
addition would be 15. In regard to the extension
of the franchise, my opinion is that the safest
ground on which the franchise can be based is the
holding of property ; and as small proprietors are
as careful as any for the preservation and prospae.ty
of their property as larger, it is not necessary that
the amount should be large. We have a precedent
in the 40s. freehold of England. lam well aware
that in Scotland we cannot have the same franchise ;
but I believe that a property qualification of 40s.
a-year would be one safe mode of extending the
suffrage. I confess, however, I have no great
hopes of the tinkering of the representative
machines by the Tories, the men who so stoutly
resisted the last Reform Bill, and purposely
damaged it by forcing two rotten timbers into it.
Mr. Black proceeded at great length to advert to
the Universities Bill, and particularly to the re-
moval of the patronage from the corporation. He
referred in conclusion to the Annuity-tax Bill,
which was lost last session on the second reading
by 130 to 129, but which he was determined to in-
troduce annually till the question was settlled.
Sir W. DUNBAR, M.P., then addressed the meet-
ing on the University patronage question, but was
received with so much impatience that he had to
give way.
Numerous questions were then put to the city
members amid every description of clamorous de-
monstration, and numerous interrogators were still
competing for hearing, when the advancing dark-
ness and the confusion that prevailed brought the
meeting to a close.

FATAL WRECK OF THE BRITISHSIIIP
SOUBADAB.-FORTY LIVES LOST.

The following particulars have been received at
Lloyd's relative to the wreck of the English ship
Soubadar, Capt. Umfrevill, commander, and the
loss of 40 lives (coolie passengers). The ship was
on a voyage from the Mauritius to Madras with
301 coolie passengers and two native doctors on
board ; her Lascar crew and European master and
officers, amounting in all to 52. On Aug. 11, at
two a.m., she struck on a reef extending E.S.E.
about four miles from the island of Forie and of the
Spadian group, and became- a total: wreck. The
vessel at the time was under double-reefed topsails,
courses up, and jib and spanker in ; wind north,
and the ship heading up east by north. Breakers
were seen and reported on the lee bow, and the
helm was at once put hard down. The ship, how-
ever, struck in a few minutes, and was bilged be-
fore mdrning. A very heavy sea prevcsted any
attempts to lay out an anchor to get the vessel off';
and at daylight the mate was sent away in one of
the ship's boats to endavour to pull over the reef
and get assistance from the island. He was unsuc-
cessful, and some time afterwards a native boat
came down to the wreck, having received informa-
tion about the locality. During the day the crew
and coolies were got upon the reef from the ship,which
was two or three feet under water ; but they were
unable to get to the island, either in the boats or
on foot, and the rising of the tide washed a
great many of the coolies off the reef. Some
were picked up by the ships' boats and the native
boat, but it was ultimately found on reaching the
island that 38 men and two women were drowned;
the crew all saved. On the 19th the captain and
crew left Forie in three of the ships' boats, and the
coolies in about 12 or 13 native boats, and landed
on Munadoo Island, another of the same group.
Here they remained some days endeavouring to get
on to the Maldives. The mate, with the two
native passengers, three of the crew, and 70 coolies,
at length left in a native boat and reached King's
Island on the 6th Sept., and the captain and a fur-
ther portion of the crew and coolies arrived n
about six days. The carpenter and remainder ei
coming up. The Soubadar was nearly 800 tons,
and belonged to London.

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