The Sun.
London, England, 1858-12-27 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 27, 1858.

THB.SPEAKER'S NEW RESIDENCE.

Under ordinary circumstances the public care
very little whether the Right Hon. the Speaker
occupies a first floor in Bloomsbury or a Palace in
Belgravia, or whether the Court Guide gives only
those local designations—equivalent to living no-
where, and politely signified by the words " Re-
form" or " Athemeum" after each name. If it was
only a question of the Speaker's moving from Fitz-
regin ald-street to De Beauvoir-place there would be
nothing in the tedious process which would call
for a notice in the columns of this journal. The
case, however, is different when the new residence
is the official palace—built by the country, not only
for this, but all succeeding Speakers of the House
of Commons, and occupying a fair proportion of
that suburb of palaces known as the New Houses
of Parliament. It is a long time since the Speakers
have had an official residence. The last, near St.
Stephen's Chapel, was destroyed by the fire of 1835,
and since that date, as far as State residences were
concerned, succeeding Speakers have been in a
manner houseless. The old residence, however, was
no great loss, save for its historical associations.
It had plenty of these, though, and, like all historic
buildings used as modern dwellinghouses, was as
cramped, comfortless, and ill-adapted to its purpose
as a helmet with vizor down would now be for
shaving in. It, is to replace this old monument
that the present magnificent residence has been
built, and, as it is now within a very short time of
completion and will soon be occupied by the pre-
sent Speaker, a brief sketch of its principal rooms
may be of interest to our readers.
The long line of the new houses on the river
front is broken by four towers—if we may so
call them—two at each end. Tho two next
Westminster-bridge are destined for the Sergeant-
at-Arms snd the Speaker; those at Vauxhall
end for the Usher of the Black-rod and Lords'
Librarian. The entrance to the Speaker's
house is under the archways from Palace-yard,
which open at once upon the Speaker's Court,
a broad enclosure, on the south side of which a
canopied entrance elaborately carved marks where
the first commoner in the land will dwell, sur-
rounded with all the accessories of princely state.
The appearance of the house from the courtyard is
not very imposing, and few would be inclined to
believe that it is one of the most spacious modern
residences lately built—larger than the Carlton
Club, and having upwards of 70 noble rooms in it
from top to bottom. The entrance-porch is large
enough to accommodate even all the servants that
attend their master on " Speaker's night." Its
Gothic windows are filled with richly stained glass,
and the arms of the Speakers shine with glowing
colours from the panels in the ceiling. The en-
trance-hall is still more rich and spacious ; the floor
is paved with Minton's beautiful tiles, while Gothic
ornaments in brass, or still more richly elaborated
stone panels, fill every side. The staircase, wide
and ample, and carved at every step, passes up the
centre of this to the first landing, where it branches
off on either side, and encloses the entire hall. The
balustrades, of fine designs in brasswork richly
gilt, and the superb Gothic chandeliers, each 10 feet
high, upon the landings, give to this entrance an
air of grandeur and magnificence that is most im-
posing. Blank shields, to be sculptured on here-
after with the arms of the most celebrated Speakers
of the House of Commons, form the cornice of this
hall, the gilt and painted armorial bearings of Eng-
land on the first landing serving as a great centre
to all 'of them. A door on this landing leads through
the spacious audience-room to • spacious cloisters,
which, in our opinion, form the chief ornament of
the whole building. These are formed in the
inner part of the building, over the servants' offices,
so as to extend'along the four interior sides of the
house. Each cloister is 40 feet long, by eight
broad, and 10 high. The roof is covered with the
delicate tracery of the fan groined arches which
spread over it like a network of stone, giving the
most exquisite effects of light and shade, while
four lanterns in each cloister light it with a soft
mellow richness that becomes the place and its
associations. The side of each cloister looking
on the inner quadrangle is formed by canopied
Gothic windows, filled in with stained glass,
each pane containing the name, arms, and date
of election of every Speaker since Parliaments
first chose the guidance of those high officers. Com-
pared with the antiquity of Parliament, Speakers
may almost be considered as modern luxuries. There
have been many Parliaments, but all the Speakers
recorded in these cloisters, from Peter de Montford
to Evelyn Denison, Esq., only 131. It is curious
to look back upon these bright records of our his-
tory and constitutional progress, and note by the
names how the great families of old—the Durwards,
Treshams, Nevilles, De Veres, De la Warrs, and
Audleys—have all disappeared or been merged into
what were then considered the mushroom nobility
of that day, though now old enough. There are
not many records of Parliament and none at all of
Speakers before the reign of Henry 111., and the
honour of standing first on the list belongs to the
great Sir Peter de Montford, who was elected in
1260, and who is justly considered the first Speaker
of- the House of Commons, from his having been
deputed by that assembly to send, in the names of
all, a humble address to Pope Alexander 11. After
his death at the battle of Evesham, however, there
is an interval of no less than 66 years before we
meet with another—William Tressel, elected 1326.
The third estate, however, seems have been but
poorly treated in those days, and the people so little
anxious for representative government that we find
them about this time complaining grievously of
having to pay the knights of the shires 4s. per day,
and the burgesses as much as 2s. The latter, also,
seemed to have been overawed at sitting with the
proud feudal barons and the rich ecclesiastics who
then assembled with them in " council," and be-
sought to be allowed to meet separately, to which
the barons gladly consented, and betook themselves
forthwith to the Old Chapter at Westminster,
while the burgesses sat in St. Stephen's Chapel.
The first Speaker actually mentioned by that title
in legal documents is Sir W. T. Hungerford, elected
1377, in the reign of Edward 111. We meet
with the old name and armorial bearings of the
Waldegraves as Speakers as early as 1382 ; while,
in 1400, Sir John Tiptoft is elected, and was the
first Speaker elevated to the peerage, Henry IV.
of Lancaster creating him Baron de Tiptoft in
1406 in return for certain " courtly compliances,"
which in those days meant a great deal. The
Beauchamps are found as early as 1415, while the
Baynards of Castle Baynard, in the city where
Kings once stayed, and where the Duke of Buck-
ingham offered the Crown to Richard 111. are seen
no more after 1421. John Russell was Speaker in
1423 and 1432. From this date the election
of speakers seem, to have occurred with each
meeting of Parliaments about once a-year, till the
time of Elizabeth, when that arbitrary Sovereign
refused to ratify the election of Sir Jahn Popham ;
and when afterwards the great Edward Coke filled
the chair. 1641 gives us the next name of great
note, the William Lenthal of Charles L's disordered
Parliament,—the man who refused to answer
Charles's questions when he came to seize the
members, and in that ill-advised act began the war-
in which he lost both crown and head. Sir liar-
bottle Grimston' of 1660, whose arms are sur-
mounted with the bloody hand of the Ulster
knights, was the first Speaker whose election was
never ratified (though he still kept his Speakcrship)
by Charles 11. The haughty Edward Seymour,
who used to speak of the Duke of Somerset as the
young branch of his family, followed the example
of Sir Harbottle, though in a different way. In-
statd.,of asking Charles to ratifyhis election, which
he knew the monarch never would, he contented
himself with announcing simply that he had been
elected and was the Speaker,—a statement which
left no course open to the irritated King but to add
sharply, in reply, " Very well." The House that
was summoned in 1689, after James 11. fled, also
elected its own: Speaker, Henry Powle, and this
election, also, was never confirmed by William of
Orange. Wyndham Greville also was elected
without Royal sanction in 1789, while George 111.
was mentally incapable of_ attending to any busi.
ness.

The name and arms of Sir John Trevor are also in
the Gothic windows, though Sir John was expelled
the House for taking bribes. Of the whole 131
Speakers only 15 have been elevated to the Peer-
age, by the titles of Baron Tiptoft, Lord Hunger-
ford, Lord Audley, Earl of • Oxford and Mortimer,
Lord Onslow, Earl Wilmington, Lord Grantley,Lord
Grenville, Viscount Sidmouth, Lord Redesdale, Lord
Colchester, Viscount Canterbury, Lord Dumferm-
line, and Viscount Eversley. In old times eleva-
tions to the Upper House occur at very rare inter-
vals, but latterly, when all that escape the Peerage
are sooner or later overtaken by a knighthood, all
Speakers on retirement from the Commons get their
titles as a matter of course. These storied cloisters
lead at once to the yrincipal floor, where the State

dining-room, drawing, dining, morning, and wait-
ing rooms are situated. These are all noble apart-

mints, most richly decorated in the Gothic style,
and emblazoned. with ornaments after the manner

of the House of Peers. The general dining room,
35 feet by 24; is exceedingly beautiful, but the
State dining room, a saloon 45 feet long by 24
broad, might well become a palace. The marble
mantelpiece in this apartment is a little edifice in

itself, tieing 8 feet high by 12 wide and 3 deep. It
is copied from an ancient Gothic mantelpiece at
Windsor, and is emblazoned all over with the bear-

ings of England and those of the most distinguished
Speakers. Over it is a full-length portrait of the
late Speaker, while round the room are frames set
in the walls for the fine collection of portraits of
most of the Speakers which have already been col-

lected. The morning room is also exceeding beau-
tiful, and when its wall are hung with the tapestry
with which all the chief apartments are to be
adorned the effect will be rich and tasteful in the
extreme. The drawing room as yet scarcely
answers the expectations which are naturally
formed of it after having seen the others. It seems
both too high and too ill-lighted for its size, while
the look-out upon the barges in the river or the
Lambeth facteiries on the other side is neither
cheerful nor picturesque. But a great difference
will, of course, appear when its now cheerles walls
are tapestried with crimson satin and the room
itself replete with furniture of the richest kind.
Every part of the house will be fitted up and fur-
nished in the most magnificent style, entirely at the
expense of the government, so that any hon. mem•
ber on being elected to fill the chair may at once
occupy his official residence without trouble or
delay. It is almost a pity that this noble mansion
cannot be seen by the public before it is finally
occupied, for notwithstanding its unpretentious
exterior the taste and richness of its decorations
would as much reward the visitor as any other of
of the magnificent portions of the New Palace
which all are so anxious to inspect.

While upon the subject of the new Houses we
may mention that the matchless crypt under old
St. .Stephen's Chapel, the only part of the Old
Palace of Westminster which now exists, is far ad-
vended towards _complete restoration. No visitors
ever extend their researches in this direction, for
few are even aware of its existence, though one of
the most curious parts of the Old Palace. It is now
lit with gas, and workmen are busily- engaged re-
storing its richly carved bosses. and groaned roof,
and replacing the polished columns of Purbeck
marble which have been defaced and sadly misused
in centuries bygone. Even the most industrious of
our antiquaries give very little information con-
cerning this old chapel, which in olden time was
called indiscriminately the King's Chapel, St. Mary
Undercroft, and St. Mary-in-the-Faults. In this
little chapel, however, in 1238, Henry 111. married
his sister, Eleanor, widow of the Earl of Pembroke,
to Simon de Montfort, a foreigner, and his favourite,
whom he had made Earl of Leicester. When re-
proached by his brother Richard for allowing such
a match, the King replied coarsely that his sister,
the fair widow, had loved not wisely, but too well,
and that it was necessary her marriage should be
hastened as much as possible. Here, also; if the
old picture is to be depended on, Caxton presented
his first book to Edward IV. The place was always
used as a chapel till the fanatics of the Common-
wealth destroyed its superbly carved marble altars,
mutilated the old bosses representing the martyr-
dom of the Apostles, broke down the exquisite
tracery of its gothic windows, and left the place a
mere ruin half filled with rubbish. After the resto-
ration it remained a lumber-room for years, when
it was at last cleared out of the dirt which filled it
and transformed into a state dining-room for the
Speaker, and to give some festive aspect to a solemn
and beautifully-constructed place of worship its
stonework was in some parts painted and at other-
gilt. Nothing, however, would hide entirely the
sacred purpose of the structure, so an artificial ceil-
ing was next resorted to, and fixed along .),lalf its
length, the other part being portioned off and trans-
formed into kitchens and lumber rooms. Its exqui-
site columns were torn out to make rooms for stoves
and chimneys, and the tombs of abbots and bishops
destroyed that plenty of scullery room and oven
space might be obtained. In this disgraceful state
it remained till the burning of the Houses of Par-
liament, when the long-neglected and misused crypt
was the only portion of the old Palace which sur-
vived the conflagration. It. then at once became an
object to preserve, so the crypt was incorporated
in the design of the new Palace, and is now under-
neath that portion known as St. Stephen's-hall,
where the statues of Fox and Pitt and Burke adorn
the very spot whelp the greatest triumphs of their
lives were attain • •

The crypt will once more, we are glad to say, be
used as a place of worship for the officers and func-
tionaries of both houses.; and to this and every
minute detail of the original structure is being
carefully restored. •The •fretwork patterns which
pass down all the arches of its pointed roofs are
some of the most curious anti:most' elaborate in effect
that can well be imagined. Its seven pointed win-
dows are already completely restored, and will
soon be filled, as they were before the Revolution,
with stained glass representing passages in the life
of St. Stephen. Altogether the crypt, when re-
stored, promises to be one of the most beautiful,
as it is already ohe of the most ancient and in-
teresting, portions of the new Palace.—Times.

THE SHOEMAKERS AND THE
MACHINE GRIEVANCE.

The -Northampton Mercury of Saturday last con-
tains the following on the dispute which is inflict-
ing so much injury on the trade of that town :
"This Christmas season of ours is one of peace
and goodwill to men. Of all times in the year it
is that most fitting to forget grievances and make
up disputes. It is in this Christmas spirit that we
would refer to the recent unhappy dissensions be-
tween the operatives of this town and the master
shoemakers. The question has the merit of being
singularly clear and simple. About the facts of the
case there is no opening for' dispute. Some of our
manufacturers have attempted to introduce machi-
nery into their shops, under the belief that by so
doing they should improve the quality and cheapen
the cost of production of their articles. The shoe-
makers, or rather a large section of them, are under
the impression—whether erroneous or not—that
the proposed improvements will diminish the num-
ber of hands employed and the amount of their
wages. They have, therefore, resolved not only
not to work themselves at any factory where
the machinery is employed, but also to deter
all other members of the craft from working
for such manufacturers. It is the old story of
a strike, and the old episodes of the story have not
been wanting. There have been riots and mob-
bings—charges and convictions—loss to everybody
both masters and' men—want and misery, and ill-
blood on every side. ,
Into the personal details of the question we have
no wish to enter. 'We have no bias either way.
For that matter, our sympathies are rather with
the working men, as being the weaker of the two
parties. Yet, at the same time, we are bound to
tell them that in this dispute they are in the wrong.
If they think the machines are calculated to injure
their interests, they have a perfect right to refuse
to work for those who use them ; but they have no
right whatever to dictate to others the conditions
upon which they.shall be at liberty to work, still
less have they a right to employ violence and inti-
midation. Apart, however, from any 'nets of op-
pression, we hold that, even from their own point
of view, the opponents of machinery are acting
against their true interests. Either the new ma-
chines will answer or not. If the latter, the manu-
facturers will soon cease to employ them. If the
fbrinr,struggle against them is a losing one.
law,By,ae't h e
asieviolable as that which regulates the
-rise and flow of the tides, trade flows to the cheapest
market. If shoes can be made cheaper and better
for the money elsewhere than at Northampton,
they will be made there without loss of time; and
if Northampton manufacturers are not at liberty to
employ the same machinery as in more favoured
localities, they cannot compete with their more
fortunate rivals. No man, or body of men, can go
on working at a loss for any length of time ; and
as soon as Northampton becomes less advantageous
as a seat for the shoe trade, owing to whatever
cause,- shoes will cease to be manufactured there. A
fair day's wages for a fair day's work is a very
taking cry, but we fear a very false one. There is
no such thing as an altract fairness in price or
wages. We all have to buy in the cheapest
market, and the shoe-trade is no exception to
the general rule. Our mechanics thought—
and thought, too, with justice—that it was an
unbearable grievance that they should have to pay
dearer for bread in order to increase the wages
of the British labourer; and surely the rule holds
equally good that the labourer is not to pay a
higher price for his shoes in order to keep up the
wages of the shoemaker. The great truth of free-
trade rests upon the simple fact that what you give
to one you must take from another ; that if you
spend more on shoes you must spend less on clothes.
In spite of cases of individual hardship, the law of
competition acts on the whole beneficially for all.
There is, indeed, no law of nature for the defiance
of which the punishment comes so surely and
speedily as that of competition. IVe see already
the effects of this struggle to keep up artificial
prices amongst oun'elees. Kendal, where capital
is free, is rising into importance in preference to
Northampton and Stafford, where the use of ma-
chinery is interdicted.. Large shops have been
closed here, or removed elsewhere, and the demand
for labour has dembased. These truths are so
simple, and the danger of neglecting them so obvious,
that we hope they will commend themselves to the
convictions of our working population, and that they
will at once abandon a struggle which can only
aggravate the evils of their present condition, and
on which they must inevitably be defeated.

CURIOUS EFFECT OF FRIGHT.—A correspondent
informs us of the folloping curious circumstance :—A re-
spectable young married woman had been deprived of her
voice for several month, so that she could only speak in an
almost inarticulate wiisper. Ono night lately, being a
short distance from home, she was frightened by a goat,
which she suddenly encountered lying in her path, and being
apprehensive that the animal was going to attack her, she
not only made the attempt. but positively uttered a loud
scream. From that moment her voice was restored.—Bir-
mingham Post,

31R. MILNES, M.P., ON POPULAR

ED UCA 7'lo.iY.

At the annual meeting of•the Pontefract Me-
chanics' Institution on Tuesday, the Rev. R. Stain-
forth, the vicar, in the chair, Mr. R. M. Milnes,
M.P., delivered an address. After remarking on
the necessary sameness which characterised ad-
dresses made at such institutions, he observed :
They had recently heard muchin speeches delivered
in connexion with these institutions as to the books
which should be read by the members. Upon this
question he. had always had this feeling—that the
books which really interested a man desirous of
obtaining information would be the best books for
him to read. Expressing, in. passing, his opinion
of the value of the newspaper press, and the re-
markable progress which, within the last few years,
it had made in intelligence, in decency, in morality,
and in general information, he continued by ob-
serving that the books which a man should read,
as an addition to the, newspaper, was also a matter
to be left very much to individual taste. He told
a story some time ago at a meeting in connexion
with a mechanics' institute, which many people
believed he had invented, though it was literally
true. The story related to the late Dr. Gaisford,
the head of Christ Church College, Oxford, who,
when very ill, asked that some light reading might
be handed to him. One of Sir W. Scott's novels
being handed to him, the doctor said that that was
"too heavy," and desii ed." a Greek dictionary.
(Laughter.) Now, though the Greek dictionary
might be light reading in Dr. Gaisford's estima-
tion, it certainly could not be light reading either
to him (Mr. Manes) or his audience ; but it was
clearly impossible for any of them to determine
what was really interesting reading to any one
besides himself. This, however, he believed would
be found to be the fact, that men who were engaged
in mechanical employments the greater part of the
day, were by no means so unwilling to give their
leisure to serious and earnest reading as were per-
sons who passed most of the day in idleness.
(Applause.) He believed that the habit of mecha•
nical . work—precise, earnest, industrious, good,
mechanical work—would best lead men on to good
mental and 'intellectual work. A good workman
in the materials of life would, if he had the talent,
be a good workman in the. materials of the mind
and thus it was that they found that the most
remarkable men who had risen from the lower rank
of society had not risen from those who had ab-
stained from work, but from those who had been
the most industrious, the most active, and the most
intelligent in their own mechanical occupations.
(Applause.) There were two things which ore_ ated
against young men 'advancing in intellectual pro-
gress—over-work and over-idleness ; that was to
say, over-work and under-work. He thought it
no disadvantage whatever to a man's intellectual
progress to have something else to do ; and if they
looked at the upper classes of society they would
find it was equally true in their case as it was in
their own—namely, that the man who had the most
active, occupation was the man who in public life
the most' distinguished himself, and became the
most useful to his country. (Applause.) They
had recently heard rather prominent objections to
the education of the working classes on
the pretext that it raised them above their
position—that it disinclined them to the usual
work and labour of the lot in which they were cast
—and that, if extended much further, the effect
would be to destroy much of the usefulness of the
great stratum of society. Now, he believed the
result of increased education would be an improve-
ment in household and mechanical labour of every
kind, that time would be saved, and that the ge-
neral advantage of the employer and employed
would be advanced proportionably to the intelli-
gence and education of the workmen. He adverted
to the expensive nature of slave labour, and to the
fact that slave cultivated land was the worst culti-
vated land in the world, and remarked that what
he deduced from this was, that if instead of slave
labour they employed free and intelligent work-
men, the more intelligent and educated they made
these workmen the better for both them and their
employers. (Applause.) Of course there would
be some foolish people (because there would be
foolish people so long as the world lasted) who
would fancy they were above their position, whereas
the fact of their thinking so showed them to be
below their position. What they all
.had to do
was, to make the best of the position in which God
had placed them; but to be discontented was only
to make themselves unhappy, and, as far as was in
their power, to make those around them unhappy
also. They must not take these exceptions—
which must always occur—as in any degree
affecting the general rule, but they must believe
that, in the long run, it was the interest of the em-
ployers as well as of the employed, that the latter
should be as intelligent, as well educated, and as
useful as possible. (Applause.) Mr. Milnes next
referred to the quality of education provided in
that town for all classes of its inhabitants, and said
he wished 'all the boroughs of England were as
well supplied with the means of education as was
Pontefract. There was not the slightest reason
whatever why eveiy one of their children should
not receive the fullest education, which would
enable them to develop their faculties in the best
manner, without danger, or discomfort to the
state, and with every hope of advancment and pros-
perity to themselves. (Applause.) As a citizen
of a free country (and, unfortunately, when
they looked at other countries they must be
more and more jealous of that peculiarity of
this country) he was bound to say that he looked
upon this progress of educat ion as the greatest safety
of the nation, and he did not 'see how otherwise
they could look forward with confidence. The in-
creased population of Great Britain, the chances of
life, the failings of what were called the learned
professions, the increasing sense of independence
which had been developed, and which was growing
up amongst them—all these things would cause
anxiety in reference to the future of their country,
if they had not • two safeguards to which, under
Providence, they could look with the greatest hope,
nomely, in the immaterial world their education,
and in the material world their colonies. If they
educated their children to be intelligent, active,
enterprising Englishmen, they always knew that
there were portions of the world to which they
could go and make their fortunes, and to establish
New. Eng I ands, which they and their posterity
might raise at some future period to be greater even
than the mother country—daughter-nations of their
own England. It was with this reflection that the
young men and women of England might fairly
unite with each other without fear of burdening
their nation, because they knew there were coun-
tries to which they might proceed, where they
would hear their mother speech and find kindred
and familiar institutions, and where the more chil-
dren they had the better—(laughter)—for it had
been. said that " children were the true wealth of
a colony." For this reason it was that heurged them
to educate their children, and make them not only
diligent in the study but in the active business of the
world, not merely bookworms but able to apply their
knowledge and education to the actual con-
cerns of life ; and they might then look forward
with hope and confidence to the future of England.
(Applause.) The power of the education which that
and similar institutions afforded was of advantage
not merely to the individual, but it enabled every
one of them to become, as it were, a wheel in the
great engine of society in the generation in which
they liVed. Education also made the difference
between a man being only a mere unit, living
within himself and in the present moment, and one
who was enabled to live in all the past of the world,
and looking at it religiously, in all the future of
the world. In the higher order of animals they
discovered, to a limited extent, the power of asso-
ciating one idea with another, and the power of
memory, but speaking generally they found that
the animal lived in the present, having no concep-
tion of the future. One of their poets had expressed
this in describing

" The lamb that crops the flowery food,
And licks the hand prepared to shed its blood."

- -
The differenCe between man and the animal was
this—man could remember and foresee ; and edu-
cation enabled him to understand that he was not
a unit in creation, living in any particular moment,
but that he was part of a generation of men—part
of the great flow of generations of men—that there
was a vast stretch out into the history of his own
nation, and into that of other nations which he
could learn and understand, and that there was a
future for himself and his children for which he
could provide like a reasonable being. Thus educa-
tion enabled a man to spread the life of the actual
present over a past and over a future; he under-
stood, by reading history, how generations of men
had gone before him—men like himself, with the
same passions, the same habits, the same fbllies, and
the samo virtues—and he understood how these

generatiohs had all gone on, preparing the world
for him; and he might also see how, by his own
activity, and prudence, and intelligence, he too,
.could perform his part in preparing the world for
the future of his children and his children's child-

ren, and thus extend the benefits of his life to

generations yet to come, as he had inherited from

ienerations that were past. (Applause.) It was
thus that the individual man not only gained for
himself by education a
.great advantage and gratifi-
cation, but was developing to the utmost those won-
derful gifts which God had placed within him, and
was perforining a part, and a not unimportant part,
in the great drama of the world's history of which
God Almighty was the creator, and author, and the
finisher. In conclusion, the hon. gentleman urged
upon his audience to continue their efforts on behalf
of that institution, in the assurance that the seed

they had sown would spring up after many days,
and produce abundant fruit for themselves and
their country. (Loud applause.)

THE EARL OF CARLISLE ON INDIVI

DUAL EXERTION.

A public meeting was held on Tuesday evening
in the Assembly-room, Driffield, in connexion with
the mechanics' institution of that town. The Right
Hon. the Earl of Carlisle, the patron of the insti-
tution, presided, and there was a numerous attend-
ance of the friends of popular education as imparted
by'such institutions.
The Earl of CARLISLE, after expressing the plea-
sure he derived from taking part in the proceedings
of that evening, congratulated the members of the
institution upon the occasion which had brought
them together—that of the institution attaining its
majority. His lordship then alluded to the fact
that it was a quarter of a century since he. had ad-
dressed- a public meeting of the inhabitants of that
town—a period which had not been a retrograde
one either on the part of that county or of the
country, and the leading events of which he pro
seeded briefly to refer to. On the occasion to
which he referred everybody was occupied with the
great reform bill, which then took up so large a
share of public attention. Well, now, he found
every one is expecting another reform bill. He
could not flatter them at Driffield that they were
likelyto be included as a borough in the next re-
form bill to return members to Parliament. He
thought they must wait for two or three more re-
form bills before they came to that, and in the
meantime he could only advise them to go on qualify-
ing themselves for the change some one or two cen-
turies hence. His lordship then said, now I contend
that the survey of what has been achieved in the
period L have referred to is, on the whole, very
satisfactory ' • and I shall be very glad, if we are to
have by and by another reform bill—about which
I say nothing—l shall be very glad if those who
have to review what has been done at the distance
of another quarter of a century hence will be able
to look back upon so promising, sound, and whole-
some a crop of measures. (Hear.) But I want now,
after having taken this brief and necessarily incom-
plete and imperfect retrospect of the leading mea-
sures which have occupied the public mind in that
period of time which has elapsed since I last
addressed you—l want to impress upon you to bear
in mind how little any of us can personally do upon
such a wide and imposing theatre. But there is a
sphere of action, however apparently limited in its
range and insignificant in its consequences, in which
we all -of us can bear a most important part, and
in which, so far from doing nothing, we can
every one of us do everything—l mean the sphere
of our own personal obligations and duties. (Ap-
plause.) Now, you know that it is from an addi-
tion of:units that millions are composed, and it is
equally true that all the men and the women
whom I now address make up that which, on the
whole, I flatter myself, is a• most respectable and
creditable aggregate—the British people. This con-
sideration is enough to stimulate the ambition of
every one, in whatever sphere of life or in whatever
walk or profession he may be engaged. But, per-
haps, we shall all think our own responsibilities
are enough without troubling ourselves with the
general responsibilities of the empire. Well, so be
it. If every one of us only will be, according to
his means and opportunities, honest, industrious,
sober, temperate, pure, lowly-minded, and loving-
hearted; then, ladies andgentlemen, we need have
no fear of what the general • complexion of the
British character, or the prevailing tissue of the
British fortunes, may be. (Applause.) In making
my enumeration of the desirable qualities for us to
exhibit, I mentioned the word " sober." Now, it is
not many of those who come to attend the meetings
of a mechanics' institution, or who by the patron-
age and contributions which they are exercising to
foster the well-being of such institutions—it is not
many of those we should expect to find who are
against the laws of sobriety. But I cannot conceal
my feeling that perhaps our besetting fault, as a
community, is an over-indulgence in drinking.
(Cheers.) I believe much good will be done by a
better regulation of beerhouses—(renewed applause)
—either by gradually superseding themaltogether,
or, if that cannot be done,put them under stricter and
more wholesome control. (Hear.) But still, after
all, measures of police and Acts of Parliament are'
clumsy methods of effecting a national reformation ;
and if our own good people—if our own industrious
working men and women, would only themselves
be resolutely sober, it would then signify com-
paratively little even if beer-houses and public-
houses were worse managed than they are at pre-
sent. (Cheers.) I believe your attention will not
be ill bestowed if some better method of hiring
servants-in husbandry can be devised than that of
the statute fairs. (Applause.) When I have seen
stout lads and lasses standing together in the mar-
ket-place ready to be looked at and often handled—
(laughter)—with all the differences—and they are
world-wide differences—yet I must confess this is
a sight -which sooner than anything else puts me in
mind of that most painful and horrible of all spec-
tacles which I have witnessed—a slave market in
the United States. (Cheers.) Therefore, if only for
the dignity of the labouring classes of this country,
who I am sure deserve all our regard on the part of
farmers and employers of labour, for securing active
and good and trusty servants, I do wish there could
be some method of paying more attention to charac-
ter and previous conduct, and thus satisfy them-
selves of the trustworthiness of those whom they
propose to hire. However, ladies and gentlemen,
I feel that I owe you an apology, for I am sure
I did not mean to hold forth to you in the tone
and
_spirit of a sermon ; for such matters I must
refer you to the teachings of the pulpit ; I must
refer you to the advice of good and sensible men
such as are to be .found in every district of our
country. I must refer you to what lam happy to
think you have in connexion with this institution
—a tolerably well stocked library ; for you will
find among the volumes there such as you have
now collected, which probably will be largely in-
creased in the future—you will find the.precepts of
an impressive and a lofty morality—you will find
the warnings and the lessons of history and biogra-
phy, which have been well described as " philoso-
phy teaching by example," and you may find often
very wholesome instruction as well as entertain-
ment in works.of well-directed fiction. lam happy
that these advantages are, to a great extent, open
to you by such an institute as that which we are
now met here to encourage and promote. I sin-
cerely trust that it may continue to receive both
the liberal support, and, what is still more valuable,
the interest and the sympathy of the people in this
neighbourhood. (Cheers.) I am most happy to have
been able to join you here to celebrate its coming
of age. The members of the institute, like other
young mot in other places on coming of age, would
have no Objection to having a considerable pro-
perty. (A laugh.) Still remember some acquisition
to their property will be secured to them by the
good wishes and support of the people in this
neighbourhood, and, if they do gain any future
support or any further funds, I trust they may have
the wisdom to _ employ it for the benefit of the
whole community.

PARLIAMENTARY REFORM.—The Metropolitan
Boroughs Committee held another meeting yesterday, at
the London Coffee-house ; W. Shaen, Esq., of Bedford-row,
in the chair. John Savage, Esq., of Thornhill-square;
was added to the committee, and several other influential
gentlemen were nominated for the outlying districts of tho
metropolis. All discussion was adjourned to the next
meeting.

VACANCIES, APPOINTMENTS, AND PROMOTIONS
IN THE CIVIL SERVICE.—War Department.—There are
vacancies for three junior clerks in the War-office ; com-
mencing salary, £lOO per annum. Mr. D. Pigott has been
appointed to a temporary clerkship in the Assistant Ac-
countant-General's branch, Horse-o-uards. Law Depart-
ment.—The Recordership of Derby has become vacant by
the .death of Mr. Commissioner Balguy. The Board of
Trade.—A clerkship in the Board of Trade has become
vacant by the resignation of Mr. R. F. Townsend. General
Post -office.—There is a vacancy for a third-class clerk in
the secretary's office, St. Martin's-le-Grand; commencing
salary, £l2O per annum. There is also a vacancy for a sup-
plementary clerk in the same branch ; commencing salary,
£BO per annum. There is a vacancy in the receiver and
accduntant-general's office, St. Martin's-le-Grand, for a
junior clerk; commencing salary, £BO per annum. Thero
is likewise a vacancy in the mail-office, St. Maitin's-le-
Grand, for .a
junior clerk ; commencing salary, £BO per
annum. Mr. Urquhart J. Thompson, first clerk in the
secretary's:office, Dublin, has been appointed chief clerk in
the same office, in the room of Mr. Charles J. Bond, de-
ceased. Mr. George Beale, second-class clerk,, post-office,
Dublin, has been appointed to the first class, in the room of
Mr. Rowland B. Evans, appointed deputy controller. In-
land Revenue Department.—Excise Branch.—Mr. Thos.
Dean, collector of London East, has retired from the ser-
vice on a pension of £458 per annum. East Indies.—Sir
Henry Davison, Chief Justice of Bombay, has been ap:
pointed Chief Justice of. Madras, in the room of Sir Henry
Rawlinson, whose term of office is about to expire ; Mr. B
H. Ellis-has been appointed, pro tem., secretary in charge
of the Financial and Revenue Departments, Bombay Pre-
sidency, in the room of Mr. Hart ; Mr. London (uncove-
wanted service) has been appointed Administrator-General,
in the room of Mr. Standen,:deceased. —Civil Service
Gazette.

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