The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-12 00:00:00

signally entitled to the homage and t.b e grateful
remembrance of his fellow-citizens—wit h his name
almost forgotten, with his childrua and his
children's children, if not in a stato of positive
destitution, certainly in very nazrow(!d circum-

stances !
Such, at any rate, has been the state of things
up to to-day as far as relates to the position occu-
pied in regard to each other by CORT'S _family and
by England. The anomaly of that position we
ourselves have commented upon months since. We
took occasion long ago to point out in these
columns the cruelty and harshness of the apathy
shown by England towards the descendants of this
eminent national benefactor. And at last—at last—.
something has been done towards compensating for
this past indifference. Something has been done.
How much done, the reader asks ? how much ?
Observe how much—the Arabic figures repre-
senting the munificent return made by England
to CoRT for his magnificent benefaction
is exemplary—is what the Americans term eau-
.
tionary ! We actually read there at length that
" The QUEEN," it should be said more correctly Lord
PALMERSTON [for the sums thus awarded arc in the
gift or patronage of the Flat Lord of the Treasury],
we read then that Lord PALMERSTON "has granted
a pension of £l5O a year out of the Civil List pen-
sions to the daughters of FREDERICK CORT, whose
inventions in the manufacture of iron have contri-
buted so much to the prosperity of the trade, whilst
his family have been left in deep distress." So
that actually England has, through the hand of her
Prime Minister, doled out the miserable, little,
trumpery, wretched sum of £l5O a year
to the descendants of the man who is esti.
mated to have added to the national resources
of the country to no less an amount than the
scarcely conceivable sum of £100,000,000 ! Are we
not right in calling this—with an eye to the past—
exemplary ? Are we not right too in designating
it—with an eye to the future—what the Yankees
term cautionary ? It is a melancholy and most in-
adequate sequel to a history of splendid achieve-
ments repaid hitherto by deplorablemisfortunes. It
is an aggravation of the meanness, it is a mockery
supervening upon the cruelty to add, as it is here
added in this astoundingly cool announcement
—that this miserable. dole of £l5O per
annum is given to them at last because the " family
have been left in deep distress !" Three pounds a-
week—awarded during their life-time—to the child-
ren of a man who has added to the riches of his
ungrateful country already—[for it is a source of
wealth that goes on perpetually multiplying]—
already to the grand total of £100,000,000 !

Another addition to the Civil List pensions we
note, at the same time, with a little more satisfac-
tion. The award we mean of £125 a-year to the
sister of the late learned Dr. DIONYSIUS LARD-
NER. This is a recognition of great services
a trifle less out of all proportion, and a recognition
also, let us add, eminently well deserved. It is
only with the public labours of Dr. LARDNER that
we have now to do in any way when taking this
pension to his sisters for one into consideration.
Those labours have in their influence been from first
to last only most praiseworthy. Against his erro-
neous opinion, in regard to the impracticability of
a steam-vessel ever crossing the Atlantic, and so
forth, how much may there not be placed in the
opposte scale when estimating his scientific merits
and literary achievements, now that he is gone,
now that his labours have at length ceased ! His
single volume upon the Steam Engine would be
sufficient of itself to secure him a lengthened
reputation. Perhaps the noblest monument,
however more than justifying this pension
to his sisters, attesting his scientific and lite-
rary attainments, the wide scope of his know-
ledge, and the magnitude of his efforts, made
both directly and indirectly towards the diffusion
and popularizing of that knowlelge among his fel-
low-countrymen-- perhaps his noblest monument
(and we shall, we doubt not, be anticipated
by the majority in naming it) is that repertory of
information edited by and contributed largely to
by himself, and called after himself, and remem-
bered as such under his famous name to this day
—LA.RDNER'S Cyclopmdia.

An accomplished diplomatist, who has done
good service to the Crown in his day, has recently,
in self defence, delivered a sledge-hammer blow at
the Whigs—in the delivery of which blow he has
rent asunder for once the veil of official etiquette
hiding so many of the evil doings of that shameless
Government. It had been incidentally remarked by
a daily organ of the Whigs that Lord MINTo's
" mission by the way [for the allusion was almost
coolly and carelessly parenthetical] took its origin
from the suggestion of the Papal Nuncio
at Paris" meaning to the late Monsignore
FonNAEr, then (1848-1849) accredited as Nuncio
to the French Republican Government. Now, to
this seemingly casual, but really insidious remark
of the Whig journalist, what says Lord NORMANBY,
then, at that transition epoch, at Paris, as her
Britannic MAJESTY'S ambassador? The Marquis
of NoRMANBY'S comment upon this is certainly
sufficiently clear, laconic, and explicit—" I feel it
due," he says, "to the memory of an amiable and
excellent man to say that there is not a word of

ruth in that assertion." And " thereby "—upon

that contradiction—"hangs a tale!" Now mark
what follows—for it is really the lifting of the
official robe—revealing the cloven hoof of Whig-
gory! " What really happened," writes Lord
NoRMANBY (dating his letter from " Brighton" as
recently as this last 9th December), " What really
happened was this. In conformity with the spirit
of private instructions which I had received, I

sounded Monsignore For.NAut on the manner in
which an extra-official British agent would at such
a moment be received at Rome ; the Nuncio listened
to the inquiry with courtesy, and said he would write
to Rome on the subject. I never herd anything
further from on this subject, and concluded, of
course, that there was no satisfactory reply to
my inquiries." S 3 far Lord NorMANBY and the
Nuncio had acted, but no further. " Nevertheless,"
writes Lord NORMANBY—in spite, that is to say,
of the fact of no reply being made through the
Papal Nuncio at Paris—" The mission of Lord
MINTO proceeded, and after a time the whole of my
despatch, recounting my interview with his Excel-
lency, and giving some opinion of mine as to his
diplomatic qualifications, marked `private and con-
fidential,' came out in the Blue Book, with the words
' private and confidential' omitted. From this the
Government newspapers attempted to infer what
they could not assert, and this despatch proved that
Lord MINTO's mission originated with the Court of
Rome." And thereupon continues Lord NOR-
' MANBY in this singularly naive revelation "I corn-
. Plained [poor, innocent Marquess I] at once, both
; to Lord PALMERSTON and to Lord J. RUSSELL, first,
of the perversion qf the sense of my despatch, to
i which its publication had led, and, secondly, of
- the breach of faith in omitting its confidential
character, which destroyed in that quarter
one's public utility. In proof of this," adds Lord
NORMANBY, "circumstances having afterwards in-
, (-Need the Government to wish to have some confi-
dential communication with the Papal Nuncio at