The Sun.
London, England, 1866-10-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 29, 1866.

upon with great respect by the natives around them
for their energy, enterprise, and superior civilisa-
tion. It is their ambition to become " 'Merica
men," as they call the Liberians—to imitate
their customs—and are easily susceptible to
religious impressions and civilising influences.
There is no standing army, but all males be-
tween sixteen and fifty are compelled to serve
in the militia, except clergymen, judges, and a few
other privileged persons. The force is well-drilled,
and has 1,500 muskets,—kindly presented by the
Emperor of the FRENCH. The navy consists of one
vessel,—a schooner of five guns,—and an advice
boat, the steamer Seth Grosvenor. The revenue
for the year ending the 30th September, 1861, was
$149,550 11c. The expenditure for the same period
was $142,831 11c. The import and export duties
are the great sources of income, and amounted to
$44,000. Expenses for Legislature were $4,500 ;
for judiciary, $7,900 ; for salary or civil list, $6,400.
The Liberians have been greatly aided and encou-
raged by the British Government and British
people. The late Duke of SUSSEX, Captain ROSEN-
BERG'', R.N., and Lord BEXLEY were early and
kind friends to the young Republic. Also the names
of THOMAS CLARKSON, Dr. THOMAS HODGKIN, and
SAMUEL GURNEY, are mentioned with gratitude.
Edinburgh also is manifesting great kindness in
educating two most promising young men as medi-
cal missionaries, who, on their return to Liberia,
will spread the benign influences of civilisation and
Christianity over the aboriginal population of the
Republic. JOHN A. CALLENDER, and the Rev. Dr.
JOHNSTON, of Edinburgh, are foremost in encou-
raging these young Liberians. MARTIN FARQUHAR
TUPPER granted a large gold medal to be worn for
one year by the most successful writer, as
essayist, historian, &c. The principal buildings are
of wood, stone, and brick. A great variety of ex-
cellent fish are found in all Liberian rivers. Iron
ore abounds, but as yet no other useful minerals
have been discovered.
Some say Liberia is a failure; that she has not
advanced as she ought to have done, but if we con-
sider the small expenditure, that 16,000 American
negroes have settled there from the United States,
and have been far more numerous, prosperous, and
progressive in the 40 years of their settlement than
were the English settlers in Virginia 60 years after
they landed, and have since become a mighty
nation of 32,000,000 souls, what may we not ex-
pect of Liberia if the 4,500,000 of American negroes
should migrate during the next 30 years to the
" Land of the Free." No doubt Liberia is far more
suitable than Hayti, which has the Catholic religion,
foreign language, manners, and customs, while the
Liberians have the same Protestant religion, same
language, manners, and customs, as the American
negro. The American Liberians in their declara-
tion of Independence use the following language to
describe their fortunate change of circumstances by
migrating from the United States to this new and
improving country. They say—" Liberia is already
" the happy home of thousands who were once
" doomed—victims of oppression—and thus far our
" highest hopes have been realised. Our courts of
" justice are open equally to the stranger and the
" citizen, for the redress of grievances and for the
" punishment of crime. Our numerous and well-
" attended schools attest oar efforts and our desire
" for the improvement of our children. Our
" churches, for the worship of our CREATOR, every-
" where to be seen, bear testimony to our piety and
"to an acknowledgment of His providence. The
" native African, bowing down with us before the
" Altar of the living GOD, declares that from us,
" feeble as we are, the light of Christianity has gone
" forth, while upon that curse of curses, the slave-
" trade, a deadly blight has fallen, as far as our
" influence extends. Therefore, in the name of
" humanity, virtue, and religion—in the name of
" the great GOD, our common Creator and our
" common judge—we appeal to the nations of
" Christendom, and earnestly and respectfully ask
" of them that they will regard us with the sym-
" pathy and friendly consideration to which our
" condition entitles us, and will extend to us that
" comity which marks the friendly intercourse of
" civilised and independent communities."
Then follows the Constitution, one section of
which declares—." That there shall be no slavery
within this republic ; nor shall any citizen, or any
person resident therein, deal in slaves, either with
or without its bounds, either directly or indi-
rectly."—Anglo-American Times.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

•

TIMES.—The dinner given by his constituents to
Sir Hugh Cairns has connected with it many cir-
cumstances which make it remarkable among simi-
lar demonstrations. It was a compliment paid by
an Irish constituency to its Parliamentary repre-
sentative, a compliment which in that distracted
country very few members of Parliament are con-
sidered worthy to receive. It was intended to
commemorate the assumption by Sir Hugh Cairns
of a high legal office under the Crown, and it turned
out to be the commemoration of his assumption of
an office nominally of much higher rank and dig-
nity, but incompatible with the further prosecu-
tion of a singularly brilliant and successful political
career. The language which Sir Hugh Cairns
might employ to his constituents would always
have been read with respect as proceeding from the
highest legal adviser of the Government, but it is
clothed with special weight and significance now
that it has become the language of the highest per-
manent Judge in our courts of equity. The speaker
is really making his political testament ; he has no
longer any purpose to serve by exaggerating party
differences, attributing pre-eminent merits to his
own side, or extraordinary deficiencies to his oppo-
nents ; and all that falls from" him should, there-
fore, be received with respect, and be considered
with no common attention. Sir Hugh Cairns may
certainly claim to rank among the most distin-
guished men of the present day. He bas achieved
at the Bar the most splendid success, and yet, so far
from being indebted to that success for his Parlia-
mentar3 position, his success as a debater has been
fully equal to his reputation as a lawyer. In the
debate on Lord Ellenborough's policy with regard
to Oude he made a speech which probably decided
the fate of the motion, and completely established
his Parliamentary reputation—a reputation which
he has since maintained and increased when-
ever an occasion offered for displaying his re-
markable powers of lucid arrangement, of stating
facts in a manner to which no one could
object, but which materially assisted his own
views, and of reasoning from those facts
clearly and conclusively. Perhaps, from the habit
of continually addressing one Judge, his reasonings
were somewhat too subtle and his investigations too
minute and detailed for a great popular assembly like
the House of Commons ; but had he left behind him
nothing beyond the two speeches which he contri-
buted to the two great Reform debates of this year,
he would have done enough to establish a Parliamen-
tary reputation such as few indeed of our greatest
lawyers have left behind them. The warnings which
Sir Hugh Cairns has bequeathed to the Irish people
and to the English Government are few, but em-
phatic. He protests, as he did four months ago,
atmoa
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fitness of the great mass of the people to the exercise
of the whole political power of the country without
being exposed to systematic abuse, or held up as
fitting objects for lawless popular vengeance. This
might have had comparatively little weight as com-
ing from Lord Derby's Attorney-General, holding a
brief on behalf of Government, but is entitled to
careful consideration, even from the most reckless,
when proceeding from one who has no longer anything
to gain or to lose by the expression of any political
opinion. Sir Hugh Cairns is, as always, emphatic
in his denunciation of any plans for the destruction
of the Episcopal Church in Ireland. He speaks
with no more than merited severity of the means by
which the late Government obtained the power to
modify the constitution of the Queen's University
and to bring the Senate more into harmony with the
feelings of the Roman Catholic hierarchy. He gives
his testimony in favour of the maintenance of
mixed education in Ireland, and records his opinion
as a lawyer and a statesman against the measure in-
troduced by the Government last year for giving
compensation to tenants for unexhausted improve-
ments. As regards the general policy to be observed
by England towards Ireland he lays down principles
general indeed, but which can be easily applied to
the present wants and wishes of that country. He
thinks that the object of Government in Ireland
should not be the maintenance of any party or sect,
but rather the maintaining an impartial attitude
between all sides ; not chastising Ireland one day
and coaxing her the next ; not sacrificing perma-
nent and just principles to temporary and shifting

expediency, nor seeking to propitiate extreme par-
ties by giving up what has been well considered and
firmly established. To the general truth of these
principles there are very few who t heartily
subscribe, and Sir Hugh Cairns is fairly tmtitled to
take to himself the crs-it that, though a Conserva-
tive, he has never been wanting to the cause of prac-
tical ilrekeuvement whenever it lay in his way. A
sieual instance of this is to be found in the Bill for
the Registration of Titles to Land introduced by
him into Parliament during the last Administration
of Lord Derby—a bill which was thought; by many
superior to the measure ultimately passed. by Lord
Westbury, and which certainly had the merit of
presenting a new and difficult subject for the first
time in a clear and well-digested form. Sir Hugh
Cairns has never been wanting to the cause of party
allegiance; but his personal courtesy, the admiration
felt for his talents, and the fairness with which he
generally conducted his arguments had secured him
the respect and consideration of both sides in the
House of Commons. As a political event his re-
tirement is of the utmost consequence. The able
lawyer who succeeds him has neither sat so long in
the house nor succeeded in making for himself any
considerable Parliamentary reputation ; and occa-
sions will speedily present themselves when the
clear good sense and the ready debating power
and the pointed argument of the late Attorney-
General will be looked and longed for in vain.
Taking him all in all he was probably the most
useful and important member of his party in the
House of Commons. There is no one who might
not have been better spared, no one whose place
might not have been more easily supplied. In the
deliberations on which the Government is about to
enter, first with regard to the introduction of a Re-
form Bill, and next, if that question be resolved in
the affirmative, with regard to its scope and tenour,
the opinion of Sir Hugh Cairns would have been of
the greatest value, and will be often missed. We
do not doubt that this eminent lawyer has judged
wisely for himself in giving up a position of infinite
labour and responsibility, which his health was
position, easy
nemifieendts and far fbarelyor
one ableo
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rg
re-
moved from the stormy arena of politics. As a
Judge of Appeal, Sir Hugh Cairns will probably be
able to render great services to the settlement of the
law, and to fill the place so long and so ably held at
the head of the Judicial Committee of the Privy
Council by Lord Kingsdown with equal honour to
himself and advantage to the suitors. But if he has
chosen well for himself, his retirement is a severe
and irreparable disaster to his party. The fact that
such a man has left them does not tend to strengthen
confidence in their durability, and they can ill afford
a loss which a stronger Administration might well
contemplate with dismay.
THE " ATHENXI:II" ON THE PANTHEON.—It is
not easy to look up at what is left of Wyatt's Pan-
theon facade, and fancy that nearly a hundred years
ago people watched its progress with intense inte-
rest. It will, probably, soon disappear altogether.
It has been the frontispiece to a "Winter Ranelagh,"
a ridotto, a theatre, a bazaar, and the last is about
to be converted into a wine depot. Though the
house was once burnt down and twice rebuilt,
Wyatt's front has kept its position. While the
original splendid house was building, 1770-72,
people talked in tones of wonder of the new bank
and houses that had been thrown down for it, and
of the cost of land and compensation, amounting to
£300,000. The outlay for building reached about
£40,000. Just before it opened, in 1772, Oxford-
road was paved for its sake, and during the laying
of the pavement cartloads of wretches, on their way
from Newgate to be strangled at Tyburn, were
carried round by the New-road. Then that open-
ing masquerade !—Goldsmith was there, in an old
English dress, and the tippling Duchess of Ancas-
ter, and the wild young queen of beauty and of
folly, Gertrude Conway, and crowds besides, all
streaming through the glittering suite of fourteen
rooms, the ceilings of which glowed with artistic art
and invention. Around the rooms were marble
statues of gods and goddesses, with three in por-
phyry, attracting all loyal hearts—great George, the
white- armed Charlotte, and Britannia smiling on
both. Such another night even the Pantheon never
saw. It was calculated that in dresses and " re-
freshments" the guests expended on that occasion
full £lO,OOO. One cannot look on the smoke-grimed
face of the Pantheon now, and dream of the brilliant
madness which was once noisily, drunkenly, and
licentiously enthroned behind it. Those were days
when the " company," sober and drunken, modest
and immodest, used to breakfast at dawn, on the
remnants of supper, and then fling the bottles and
broken viands among the howling and hungry crowd
without. The Pantheon, however, was not suc-
cessful, though Walpole admired, and said that
Henry VIII., who had taste, would have patronised
it. Boswell, of course, agreed with Johnson, that
it was inferior to the Summer Ranelagh, near Chel-
sea. Even as a theatre it failed. Sydney Smirke
admirably converted its interior into a bazaar, ant
now it is undergoing a transformation, to end as a
depot for foreign wines.
THE "SATURDAY REVIEW" ON THE SIMLA C OMIT-
MARTI-AL.—The public are now in possession of Sir
William Mansfield's reasons for confirming in all
its severity the sentence of the court-martial upon
Captain Jervis, and for rejecting the recommenda-
tion to mercy by which this severity was very pro-
perly tempered. These reasons had been looked
for with considerable interest and curiosity, though
not because any one for a moment believed that Sir
William Mansfield would be able really to justify
what he had done. Justification was only conceiv-
able On the supposition that fresh facts were forth-
coming to throw new light upon the conduct of the
Commander-in-Chief, the court-martial, or the ac-
cused ; and, after a public trial in which every
possible point of inquiry, important or unimportant,
relevant or irrelevant, had been worn threadbare,
there was no ground for supposing that any further
facts could be disclosed. Sir W. Mansfield's reasons
could not be expected to add anything to the evidence
upon which he had been already condemned, and
they were therefore looked for only in a spirit of
curiosity to see what sort of defence an advocate
of no slight talents and experience, and with so
much at stake, could contrive to make for so bad a
cause. It is no disparagement to Sir William
Mansfield to say that he has failed to perform a task
which would have severely taxed controversial in-
genuity of the highest order ; on the other hand, it
is only fair to admit that he has performed a feat
which we would have thought hopelessly beyond the
reach of a man in his position. He has actually
succeeded in making his own conduct towards Cap-
tain Jervis appear in a more odious and contemptible
light than it appeared before, and in bringing one
of the paltriest and meanest of military scandals to
a conclusion which every one admits to be in
thoroughly artistic harmony with its whole character.
To appreciate the fell difficulty of this extraordinary
performance, and do justice to the artist whose in-
genuity has triumphed over it, our readers must re-
member how the case stood before it received the
crowning glory of Sir William Mansfield's defence.
On the word of a menial servant he had assumed an
English gentleman, who had long discharged in his
service duties of a highly confidential nature, to
be guilty of about the last offence which such a
man could be considered likely to commit, and the
barest suspicion of which, however delicately hinted
at or charitably concealed, would necessarily inflict
upon the person suspected, if innocent, a very pain-
ful sense of .injury and humiliation. But even the
want of charity with which the assumption was at
first made was completely thrown into the shade by
the want of common decency and common sense
with which it was carried out. In lieu of a quiet
preliminary examination, by which the matter might
have been satisfactorily settled without scandal or
injustice, steps were immediately taken which made
more or less publicity inevitable, and which eventu-
ally led to the trial which for a time turned our
army into thelaughing-stock of Europe, and during
which the Commander-in-Chief displayed so un-
worthy and undignified a temper as to draw down
upon him the severest censure from the public,
and something very like a rebuke from the Court.
The accused, found innocent of the charge upon
which he waS in the first instance so wantonly and
intemperately assailed, was condemned and sen-
tenced upon other charges which rose entirely out
of the first, and which would never have had any
existence but for the precipitate action of the ac-
cuser. The Court marked their sense of this by
tempering the inevitable severity of their sentence
by a recommendation to mercy ; and thereupon the
very man whose misconduct had occasioned the
sentence, and supplied the extenuating circum-
stances which justified the recommendation to
mercy ; confirmed the sentence and rejected the re-
commendation. This is the barest possible outline,
omitting all detail and colouring, of what was known
of the °Commander-in-Chiefs conduct up to the
publication of his defence. And our readers will
admit that it required genius of a very peculiar, if
not of a very high, order to keep the last scene of
the drama even in decent harmony with the rest
—far more to make the climax culminate, in
proper stage fashion, as the curtain fell. There
was naturally serious risk that at the latest
moment there might occur some inartistic relapse
into an action or expression not unwoithy of the
dignified position of the Commander-in-Chief of her
Majesty's forces in India. But all lovers of high
art may now breathe freely, and safely congratulate
Sir William Mansfield upon having produced a
masterpiece. Bad and indefensible as his conduct
from first to last bas been, it is not one whit worse
or more indefensible than his defence. This is cha-
racterised throughout by the same unaccountable
inability to comprehend the delicate position in
which he was placed as being both prosecutor and
judge; or, perhaps we ought to say, by the same

apparent resolve not to forego the advantage which
this position gave him. It may or may not be
necessary for the interests of military discipline that
the Commander-in-Chief should have power to bring
all the influence of his high position to bear upon
the verdicts of courts-martial, even where he is him-
self a party concerned. But in any case it has been
always hitherto assumed that such power would not
be flagrantly abused by any man thought worthy
of such a position.