The Sun.
London, England, 1858-04-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY

Secretary, Lord ABERDEEN as Colonial Secretary,
and the Duke of WELLINGTON at the head of the
Foreign Department—with Lord LYNDHURST as
Chancellor, Earl DE GREY as First Lord of the
Admiralty, and (the only one of these Ministers
still in the same place !) Lord ELLENBOROUGH—
President of the Board of Costrol. As if to mark
yet more distinctly an epoch in the annals of Par-
liament—the first great division in the House of
Commons showing the actual results of the new
Reform Bill was preceded on the 16th of October,
1834, by the total destruction by fire of the old
Houses of Parliament. A little more than a
quarter of a year afterwards, upon the heels of the
new Cabinet came the necessity of choosing a fresh
Speaker. Another Parliament had been called
into existence—and this, of course, under novel
circumstances. Under circumstances indeed so
novel that in regard to one of the Irish elections,
O'CoNNELL had said—" Every one who dares to
vote for the Knight of Kerry shall have a death's
head and cross bones painted on his door r
while in regard to another, SHIEL had cried out
in a strain yet more impassioned—" If any one
should vote for him (the opposing candidate) I
will supplicate the throne of the ALMIGHTY that
he may be shown mercy in the next, world, but
I ask no mercy for him in this !" In
the midst of such excitement as words
like those sufficiently indicate, the new Parliament
was called together at the commencement of 1835,
beginning its career contemporaneously with the
PEEL Administration. It assembled on the 19th
of February, and, according to custom, on the
day of its assembly the Speaker was elected—the
opposing candidates being the late Speaker, Sir
CHARLES MANNERS SUTTON, who for eighteen years
had presided, to the universal satisfaction of all
parties, over the deliberations of the national re-
presentatives, and a new and untried man,
Mr. ABEROROMBY, the one just now deceased
as Lord DUNFERMLINE, at the age of more
than an octogenarian. In many particulars the
division which then took place is very remark-
able, and in some respects.it is altogether unparal-
leled. It occurred, for one thing in the fullest
house upon record—namely with no less than 626
members actually there assembled together. It
yielded a clear majority of exactly 10 votes for
Mr. ABERCROMBY, showing that the numbers were
in truth pretty evenly balanced. Those numbers
being exclusive of the four tellers-316 to 306
Mr. ABEROROMEY voting for Sir CHARLES SUTTON
and Sir CHARLES SUTTON voting for Mr. ABER-
CROMBY. The division in reality proved among
other things that although a majority of 35 English
county members supported SUTTON, and although
the defeated candidate, in point of fact, was aided
by a clear majority of 23 English borough and
county members—that majority was reversed by
the opposing division of the members for Ireland !
Not withstanding a clear majority of 13 of the
Scotch members voted for the successful candi-
date, Sir C. SUTTON, supported by the English
majority of 23, was still of course left with a clear
advantage of ten over his antagonist. But—the
Irish members, by bringing to bear a clear round
score in favour of Mr. ABERCROMBY, transformed
this majority of ten for Sir C. SUTTON upon the
Euglish and Scotch votes together, into a minority
of ten upon the whole, viz., the aggregate of 622,
told out in the opposite lobbies ! exactly 41 of
the Irish members voting for Sir C. SUTTON and
61 for Mr. ABERCROMBY. Another and a yet
more striking revelation of this division was that
of the county members of the entire of the United
Kingdom being outvoted by the borough mem-
bers in the proportion of a clear fifteen gained
upon.every score, or, in other words, by 35 to
20—the total' of 622 being divided. into 231
county and 391 borough representatives. Tuis
analysis we have conceived not unworthy of par-
ticular mention at the present juncture in our
Parliament try history ; when the last breathing
time is yet allowed to our legislators prior to the
revision, let us hope, next session of the whole
scheme of our national representation. The
lesson first taught to Reformers,twenty-three years
ar4o, upon the election of Mr. Speaker ABER-
CROMBY, has been now impressively enforced
through the recollections naturally awakened by
the recent demise of Baron DUNFERMLINE. Elected
Speaker at a period of life, when at the close of
a brief Speakership of four sessions, he had
actually already attained what is called the grand
climacteric), being then (in 1839) sixty-three years
of age—Lord DUNFERMLINE has for nearly twenty
years enjoyed his Awn cum• dignitate, until he
expires at last iu his ripe old age, as more than
an octogenarian. It may be not uninteresting to
remember, in conclusion, in regard to the late
ex-Speaker, that he was proposed for his high office
by Mr. DENISON—the represent ative of whose
ancient family now occupies the chair of the Com-
mons House of Parliament.

DEATH OF ROBERT STEPHEN
RINTOUL, ESQ.,
Late Proprietor and Editor of the Spectator.

Death haci terminated the life and labours of the
above highly accomplished gentleman, honest poli-
tician, and good man. Mr. Rintoul expired last
evening. Disease of the heart accelerated his
death; but there can be little d.)ubt that too close
application to his e li:orial duties—in endeavouring
to make the Spectator a perfect paper—has be -n
making sad inroads on his constitution for the last
few years.

Mr. Rintoul's connection with the press com-
menced in Scotland. On coming to London, Mr.
Whiting placed the Atlas, at that time a very large
sheet, but eclipsel since by many contemporaries,
under his editorship. Mr. Rintoul, with great tact,
surrounded himself with the best talent of the day,
and the consequence was, the Atlas soon obtained
tae reputation it fairly deserved. It is understood
that the unnecessary interference of the proprietor
in the editorial department of the paper induced
him to retire. Mr. Rintoul than started the
Spectator, the uncontrolled power of which he
exercised most ably and honestly for nearly thirty
years. Personal attachment to their chief induced
the principal part of the Atlas editorial staff to join
in the now paper. It is hardly necessary to
say that with such an editor and so well-seleeed a
staff of coadjutors the Spectator at once took its
position as a paper of the first clas.. The Spectator
at this time had the advantage of the talents of Mr.
Foublanque, whose articles in the Examiner in
after years have so widely spread his name as a
newspaper writer. The literary department of the
Spectator was wisely placed by Mr. Rintoul (always
himself exercising a vigilant eye over every depart-
ment of the paper) in the hands of that highly ac-
complished critic, Mr. Southern, a name well
known in the literary world some twenty or twenty-
five years gone. The musical department, the fine
arts, science, &c., were all placed under the super-
intendence of the first men of the thy. Tilt) c°ll-
- was, as might have been expected, the
Spectator rose rapidly in reputation, and gradually
in circulation. But when the country demanded
Reform, and the cry was, "The bill, the whole bill,
and nothing but the bill, Mr. Rintoul took his
stand among the leading reformers of the day, de-
voted his untiring energies to the cause of the
people, and, in the columns of the Spectator,
greatly assis'ei in ca-rying that measure. The ana-
tomy of the House of Commons and of the Pee-age,
as supplements to the Spectator, remain
t published
othisda
day
specimens of his untiring industry in
carrying out any measures he )relieved to be con-