The Sun.
London, England, 1859-03-21 00:00:00

INAUGU.R.
MONUMENT.

(From the Carlisle ,Toutnal.)
In the presence of an assembly of the inhabitants
of Carlisle and Cumberland so vast as to suggest
comparisons with the gatherings during the crisis
of the great reform agitation, the Mayor of Carlisle,
on Wednesday, unveiled the statue of the late
James Steel, which has been erected in the Market-
place.
Ten days ago the statue was safely raised to
its position on the pedestal, but, in accordance with
custom, it remained shrouded from the public gaze
until the ceremony of inauguration had been per-
formed. That having been done on Wednesday,
with the most admirable good taste and effect, the
uncovered monument now graces the principal
square of this city, and forms a very remarkable
addition to the public ornaments, not of Carlisle
only, but of the kingdom.
The history of the man, whose memory. his fel-
low-cititizens and friends have thus highly ho-
noured, is a familiar one in this northern county.
There are few inhabitants of Cumberland who have
not not heard the story of the struggles of his
youth, the victory he gained in his manhood, and
the honours and influence which were accorded to
him before he was cut off while yet the vigour and
activity of his spirit and intellect were undiminished.
Born in 1797, in a rank of life which made it al-
most a matter of ambition to aspire to the position
of printer's apprentice, he.found himself at the age
of 12, after having for a short while assisted his fa-
ther at the loom, employed in that capacity in the
office of the Carlisle Chronicle, a journal which had
but a temporary existence in this city. When it was
discontinued, he was transferred to the office of the
Journal, the newspaper to which his future exertions
were destined to give new power and usefulness.
Here his intelligence attracted the attention of the
then proprietor and editor, Mr. Jollie and Dr. Ire-
land, and he came to be employed in assisting in the
local reporting, which at that time was very diffe-
rent from the same branch of newspaper work in
these days. Mr. Steel used to relate that his first
essay in this department was in attending a nota-
ble pugilistic encounter, where he caught a severe
cold that laid him up for many months. The period
of his illness and progress to recovery was not un-
employed. He found out the sweet uses of adver-
sity, and in the study of the best English authors
cultivated a national good taste and improved
abilities that were of a high order. The foundation
of the knowledge that in future guided him, and
the upright principle and public spirit by which he
was through life animated, was no doubt laid at this
time, and encouraged by the . example and advice
of honest and virtuous parents. He returned to his
profession with fresh energy and inspired with a
determination to seek an honourable career,--and
it was probably in great measure owing to the ex-
perience and habits thus early acquired, that he was
afterwards not more distinguished by his talents
than by his conscientious, sedulous, and laborious
discharge of every kind of duty. In 1829, having
completed his apprenticeship and been partly initi-
ated in the literary work of a newspaper, he en-
gaged himself as printer and publisher of the
Whitehaven Gazette. The editor of that journal
was very thankful for any assistance in his own
particular labours from the fresh pen of Mr.
Steel, and the real duties of the editorial chair
were for a number of years chiefly performed by
the ostensible printer and publisher. While here
Mr. Steel married—forming a connection which
issued in a numerous family and gave him domestic
sympathy, comfort, and happiness for life. In 1826
he was invited to become editor of the Kendal
Chronicle, and that post he held for two years. The
energy of his character, the vigour of his pen, and
the ardency of his sympathy for the popular cause
and for all the movements towards civil and reli-
gious freedom then swaying the nation, had here
scope for development, and became widely recog-
nised. He bore no small part in the great election
contests between Mr. Brougham and the Lowther
domination, and his name came to be known through.
out the north of England. At this time the Carlisle
Journal was in want of a mind such as arty,
to guide its course, to aid the e eof Cumber-
and to retain the suppo re an were both dead.
land. Mr. Jollie ae."'continuedfooting on friendly
Mr. Steel,„liwisy-- au the proprietor, offered his ser-
with, nd be was gladly installed in the editorial
c~iair. Here he exerted himself unceasingly and
effectively for the promotion of Liberal principles,
and for the breaking up of the system of political
exclusiveness and corruption which had become
intolerable to the country. The time was then
out of joint, and in setting it right no one
aided more strenuously than the editor of the
Journal. Carlisle, in great measure through his
exertions and those of a warm band of friends,
took a prominent position in urging on the cause
of Reform. It is difficult now-a-days to realise
to the mind the excitement that then existed; the
nation preparing itself to throw off the effete yoke,
and the rulers marking every one who distinguished
himself on the popular side, and watching for op-
portunities to pounce upon him. The local his-
tories of the Reform struggle have yet to be fully
written, and when that for Carlisle comes to be
recorded, the name of James Steel will be a
prominent one. Meetings, at which grave ques-
tions were deliberated, were held at five or six
o'clock in the morning ; injudicious ardour had to
be restrained, and the flame of agitation bad at the
same time to be kept at the proper point. To the
labours of such men throughout England it is
owing that the country had Reform instead of
Revolution. Then came the struggle for Municipal
Reform, and the breaking up of the old close cor-
porations. To the carrying of this measure Carlisle
contributed its aid, and one of the principal direc-
tors of the local movement was the subject of this
notice. At last the citizens were endowed with
the management of their own affairs, and among
the first to whom they entrusted them was Mr.
Steel. In the course of 1831 Mr. Steel had been
admitted to a share in the property'of the Journal,
and on the 17th of September, 1836, the day which
witnessed the reduction of the stamp duty, the
newspaper became his sole property. From that
time he took position as one of the foremost citizens.
In the great election struggle for East Cumberland
in 1837, it was acknowledged that Mr. Steel and
the Journal were the real antagonists that de-
feated Sir James Graham and his newly-ac-
quired Tory allies. His able management of
the election and his stern consistency -of prin-
ciple were acknowledged by the people of East
Cumberland presenting him with the site
of a house in Carlisle, on which he erected his
future dwelling place. He was elected Mayor in
1845 and again in 1846, and he was an Alderman
at his death, having been a member of the Council
ever since its reform. In all the works for the
benefit of the municipality he bore an active part,
and to their elaboration and carrying out he brought
an eminently practical mind. He brought more—
he brought a high character for thorough honesty
and public spirit, a reputation for sagacity and
foresight, that almost disarmed opposition, and
made discordant elements work together in har-
mony. It was this that made him truly honoured
in the latter part of his so
life. The public looked
upon him as the impecrosnorio n of integrity, and
entertained profound
He neverentcte in the soundness
of his judgment.
tempted to make his
presurnptuousla
will law, or
o act the autocrat ;
but to his consideration everywasb submitted,
t hye planspirit
and almost all, knowing
which he
was actuated and the clearness of hisbis intellect,
accepted and al tea upon
readily
the eiviebo d opinion.
While thus exerting himself in
which is at once deliberative and executive, he yac-
tively participated in all the other movements for
the good of the city and for the promotion of edu-
cation. At his death he was Vice-President of the
Mechanics' Institute, and he had lent a helping
hand to many of the lesser reading-rooms. As ,
a journalist his characteristics were akin to those
by which he was otherwise distinguished in the
eyes of the public. Fearlessness, force, clear-
ness and quickness of apprehension, kept
him ready-armed for any emergency. No stain
was ever cast upon his honesty or his honour,
and in public matters his sole motive was the highest
public principle. He was jealous of anything that
had even the appearance of corruption, and chal-
lenged it wherever he thought he detected it. He
did not always escape unscathed in purse by the
encounters into which he was led, but so plain was
the bona fides with which he acted, and the nature
of the objects which he sought, that all attacks upon
him passed harmlessly. In the time at which he be-
gan life men's passions ran higher upon public subjects I
than now and there was a degree of acrimony in pub-
lic journalism that has happily been greatly modi-
fied but Mr. Steel, although an unsparing, was ac-
knowledged to be a generous foe. His genial nature
made him loved in private : and few men have had
more or warmer friends. Throughout life he had
been a martyr to a singular internal disorder that
baffled the best medical skill ,
• and, after a period of
severe suffering, to this enemy he yielded his life in
his 55th year. His death took place on the 16th of
December, 1851. His funeral
was the most largely
attended, perhaps, of any that ever occurred in Car-
lisle;—and at their next meeting his feis l
llow•coun-
cillors recorded their deep sorrow for his and
transmitted their condolence to his Widow,
A month after his death a public meeting
was held
in the Town Hall to deliberate about raising a memo-
rial in his honour. The speakers were the late Mr.
John Dixon. Mr. P. H. Howard, Mr. G. G. Mounsey,
Mr. James Ross,. and others, and an influential cote_
mittee was appointed to collect subscriptions. Money
poured in, and at first, amongst several proposals,
opinion preponderated in favour of " a monumental
bya Olock-tower,in some public
fountain, surmounted.

place within the city." A resolution to that effect
was indeed adopted by the subscribers ' but imme-
diately afterwards it was felt that the form of the
testimonial would be hardly suitable. It was there-
fore held in abeyance, and when the Town Council,
in the end of 1852, granted a site in the market-
place, the precise form of the memorial was not
put before them. It was not, indeed, until June,
1856, that a conviction which hadb2sn growing in
favour of a statue found expression in a resolution
to rescind the former decision, and to embody the
respect and reverence of the friends of the deceased
in a marble effigy of himself. Application was
made to Mr. Woodington, the well known and able
sculptor, and he, having inspected the site, at once
expressed his opinion that "the whole kingdom
could not furnish a better." He thought it would
be a
.protection as well as an ornament, and the
commission was given to him. His execution of it
needs no eulogist to any one who has seen the grave
and stately, graceful yet commanding figure which
is now so prominent a feature in Carlisle market-
place. There is a marked likeness in the features,
the squareness of the head, the boldly-projecting
nose, and the strongly-drawn lines of the mouth
being at once recognisable, while over the whole is
spread the pleasing idealism of art. To-day we pre-
sent our readers with an engraving from a photo-
graph of the statue, and it will be seen that the head
is slightly bent, in a somewhat characteristic atti-
tude, that one hand holds a scroll, while the other is
slightly raised as if to arrest attention to his words.
The drapery of the figure is a long coat, secured by
a single button over the breast, while on the rest
of the person modern costume is admirably har-
monised with those artistic notions that forbid the
representation of ordinary clothing. The figure
measures nine feet, is formed of perfect Sicilian
marble, and stands upon a pedestal of eleven feet.
The pedestal is of grey granite, and consists of a
Doric column upon a massive base, with a low
pillar at each of the four corners. Upon the column
is the inscription—

TAMES STEEL,
MAYOR,
1845-1846.
The site is truly a noble one. From the end of
Eden-bridge, up the winding and irregular ap-
proach formed by Itickergate and Scotch-street, the
gleam of the white marble is caught by any one
entering the city. From each of the four streets
that terminate in the Market-place—English-street,
Castle-street, Fisher-street, and Scotch-street--the
monument naturally attracts the observer, and
among the somewhat plailibuildinzs by which it
is surrounded it forms an object that the eye rests
upon with pleasure. There is nothing but satis-
faction now felt as to the shape which this memo-
rial to a distinguished citizen has taken. It chal-
lenges every one's attention, and forcibiy recalls
the career which it is intended to commemorate.
In this way, if men try to read aright the moral
which the majestic figure in ever-during marble
constantly preaches, it may surely be as useful to
the present and to future generations—as well cal-
culated to incite to honour and virtue—as if the
subscribers had built something that to vulgar eyes
would be a memorial of more material and present
utility.

THE INAUGURATION.
A few minutes before twelve o'clock on Wednes-
day the Mayor (R. Ferguson, Esq.) and Corporation,
and the subscribers to the statue assembled in the
Town Hall. The attendance there was numerous
and most inflaential. It was impossible and might
be invidious to attempt to give any list of names ;
suffice it to say that the outer hall was crowded
with the most influential of our citizens, as well as
with representatives of the gentry, yeomanry, and
farmers of the county. Precisely at twelve o'clock
the committee and members of the Mechanics',iln-
stitute, followed by deputations froalugrby.the
literary societies of the town k OE4lg-bearers arrived
military band, and a nirall. The procession was
in front of, tbptarre‘a- and moved towards the statue
im2Stliowing order :
The Band.
Corporation Flag. St. George's Flag.
The ace and Sword Bearers.
The Mayor and Corporation.
The Committee of Management and the Sons of Mr. Steel.
The Vice-President, Committee and Members
of the Mechanics' Institute.
Deputations from the other Literary Societies of Carlisle in 11
order of seniority.
General body of Subscribers to the Statue, and
Friends of Mr. Steel.
As the procession moved towards the Cross, the
band struck up the Masonic march, which was
specially composed for the celebration of the Burns
centenary at Dumfries.
Meanwhile an immense crowd had congregated
around the statue, the causeways were covered with
spectators on every side, and every window which
overlooked the site was occupied with groups of
ladies. Altogether It was estimated that the num-
ber of persons present was at least 8,000
or 10,000. A staff of police-officers, under
the direction of Mr. Chief Constable Bent,
was in attendance, and maintained an open space
in front of the statue until the approach of the
procession, when the gentlemen constituting it took
up their position within the circle, amidst loud
acclamations.
The music and cheering have ceased,
The MAYOR ascended the base of the pedestal
and said—Fellow citizens, this is no every-day cere-
mony at which we are now assisting ; it is no corn-,
mon honour which is being paid to the memory of
a fellow citizen. We may ask the question now,
as it will be asked in days to come, when strangers
shall pass through this busy market place and look
on this noble work of art, why is the statue of Jas.
Steel placed here ? Is it as a memorial to a well
known leader of a political party ? I say at once
on no party ground would a statue have the right
to stand here in the market place of all the citizens.
Is it a memorial of the affectionate remembrance of
the many and the warm friends who surrounded
him in his lifetime ? Again, I say on no private
ground has a statue a right to stand here. (Hear)
The memorials of private friendship are appropriate
in the house appointed for the dead, but not in the
busy haunts of the living. (Hear, hear.) There
must be something of a deeper significance in the
act which places the statue here—here, looking on
one side towards the place where in his early days
he wrought as a printer's boy, and on the other side
looking to the hall where in after time he sat as
chief magistrate upon the bench--here ofall places,
where men most do congregate—in the very heart
of the city's life. (Cheers.) I have said there must
be no party ground. Ido not say there must be no
political ground. It would indeed be difficult to do
honour to James Steel and forget that he was a
journalist. But in his character of journalist there
are features on which all may unite to give honour
and respect. If there be one point more than
another on which men of all parties have agreed
it is this, that for the proud position which this
nation occupies among the nations it is in no
small degree indebted to the freedom of her
press—(applause)—and no man more than James
Steel, through a long political life, at a time
when many were but spelling the lesson they now
know so well by heart, no man more faithfully or
more unflinchingly maintained the independence of
the press. (Hear, hear.) I may go a step further
in this direction without passing that line which
I should be the last to trespass upon, and I may say
that as one of the earliest, one of the ablest, and one
of the most consistent advocates of great measures
which the whole nation has now adopted and ap-
proved—l say in so far as those measures are there-
by removed from party ground, for the share which
he took in their accomplishment we have a right to
pay public honour to his memory. (Applause.) I I
have said that on private grounds this memorial
would be misplaced here. But we cannot separate
the citizen from the man, and naturally and inevi-
tably the esteem which is felt for his private kindli-
ness and integrity will mingle with the honour paid
to his independence as a journalist and long useful-
on the
ness as a citizen. (Hear.) But the main ground I
rassingllllaebineouir
take it is this, and this it is to which the one word
suffering
sal
fpoaintiso—urtnhaaht.stths through uoga
rho
earl! the
dur
ihuag-
bodily
from which for long years of his
life he was never free,. he nevertheless found time,
and the spirit was
gagbiTento.haiamsisetnienrgoeatrireyailnl.yg to
ou
tpio
objects having for them aim the material improve-
ment of the town, or the moral and mental improve-
ment of the townsmen. (He
ar, hear, and cheers.)
Therefore it is that those who b
ear ()wee in this
city are assembled on this occasion. Therefore it is
which c •
that the societies cherish his
to oin in the h memory are
gathered around j onour which is to
be paid him. Therefore on these many grounds it is
that this statue stands here an ornament to thed
town, a memorial of a valuable citizen, an
a last-
ing example to others, now, and in days to
come.
(Loud cheers.)
The cords which held the covering of the statue
were then drawn, and as the cloth fell the Mayor
said—" I declare this statue duly inaugurated." At
the same moment a loud cheer burst from the large
assembly, and was protracted for some time. The
band then played an air, after which
Mr. CRACKANTRORPE said—Mr. Mayor and
gentlemen, as the Mayor has called upon me to
address a few words to this assembly, I venture
to take my place on this pedestal. As one of the
subscribers to this testimonial to our late lamented
friend Mr. Steel, 'presume I have had the honour of
receiving an invitation to assist at this ceremony.
And, gentlemen, although at first I might hesitate
about accepting that invitation, fearing that I
might be looked upon as an intruder, remembering
that this scheme of a testimonial originated with
the citizentoo f Carlisle, and

------
their instrumentality—I say, feeling that, I hesi-
tated whether I ought to be here. But remember-
ing, gentlemen, the great services which our friend
rendered to the county of Cumberland at large, I
should have thought myself wanting in due respect
to his memory—(hear, hear)—and would have been
guilty of ingratitude and forgetfulness if I had not
personally appeared here to-day to assist in this
ceremony. (Cheers.) I am glad to think, my
friends, that it will not be necessary for me to
enter into any details of the services rendered by
the late Mr. Steel, not only to this city in which
he was elected Mayor, but to the county, inasmuch
as they have been enumerated already by your ex-
cellent and worthy Mayor in language which I
could not aspire to. (Hear, hear.) But I will ven-
ture to say so much, that if independence of action,
if liberality of principle, if the advocacy of all popu-
lar rights—(hear, hear)—if the enlightenment of
the people, if the exposure of all abuses—(hear,
hear)—and, if above all, the anxious support of all
measures which might be useful and beneficial,
whether they were social or political—if these have
any claim on the gratitude of his fellow-citizens,
then do I say that James Steel was fully and pre-
eminently entitled to our gratitude. (Loud cheers.)
And I am glad to think, gentlemen, his services
have not been forgottten by his contemporaries.
The statue which has just now been inaugurated by
the Mayor is a proof of the feelings of affection and
gratitude whichyou feel and have felt towards him.
And I think, gentlemen, I may venture to say that
it is a proudfeature in the character of Englishmen
that they recognise the conscientious discharge of
duty in the man, be his station and his position of life
what it may—(cheers)—whether he be born in a po-
sition where it was necessary by honest industy, by
great ardour, and by persevering exertions to raise
himselfto eminence, or whether he be born to the po-
sition of one of the hereditary aristocracy of the land—
; whether in fact by the election of his fellow-citizens
he has been placed in the honourable position of
Mayor of this town, or whether he had been nomi-
nated by the Crown as Lord Lieutenant of the
county—and whether he be born a printer or a
peer. (Cheers.) Sir, these are my feelings, and I
am glad to think that they are shared by the citi-
zens of Carlisle—and not only the citizens of Carlisle,
but the inhabitants of Cumberland. I will just add
one word. It is possible that during Mr. Steel's
lifetime, from the political principles which he
espoused, from the scourge which he applied to the
correction of abuses, from the desire to dissipate
antiquated prejudices, some feelings may have arisen
in the minds and breasts of some of his contempo-
raries which might have induced them not to look
on him altogether with feelings of gratitude. He
however has now passed away from among us—the
hand of death has cut hiii off in the midst of a use-
ful and laborious life, and nothing now remains to
us but to cherish the memory of his virtues. (Hear.)
Lord Bacon has said that "Death openeth the gate
to a good name and it extinguisheth envy." (Cheers.)
Aye, and I am sure I cannot have a stronger proof
of it than I have at this moment before me. I see
his opponent in the press, Mr.. Perring—if he will
allow me to call him so, my friend Mr. Perring
(Mr. Perring took off his'hat and bowed)—who is
willing to come here to-day to assist at this cere-
mony, and I am sure, therefore, that I cannot have
a stronger proof that all feelings of annoyance or
of bitterness, if they ever did exist, have passed
away. (Hear.) I can only congratulate you, the
citizens of Carlisle—and I will venture to say that
on behalf of the county of Cumberland I congratulate
you—that you have raised a testimonial of merit so
worthy as the statue that has this day been in"
gurated. (Loud cheers.)
1 call arrived during
Mr. HOWARD, of Corby, henZp'l,^,„u ascended the. step
Mr. CrackanthornQ'R 'l.-:-.... 1.
and said— r. Mayor and friends,
of the pede
.....4 i_. , e seen asked by your committee to say
u, few words on this occasion, and to unite in
offering this tribute of admiration to the active citi-
zen to whose merits my friend Mr. Crackanthorpe
has borne such able and eloquent witness. Mr. Mayor,
though the life of Mr. Steel did not number so many
years as have fallen to the lot of some, he passed
through a very long career of public utility.
(Cheers.) My revered father frequently admired
and witnessed the consistent liberality of his course.
(Hear, hear.) Of his exertions in the passing of
the great Reform Bill, which has been now ad-
mitted as a benefit by all classes and parties, ample
evidence has been shown. (Hear, hear.) In that
measure which had for its object to widen the
entrance to the Corporation he took a decided and
an active part. (Hear, hear.) Gentlemen, when
it was a question of extending the benefits of the
post-office--when an active citizen devised a means
of uniformity of postage by which the public at
large could be benefitted—with that ready inspira-
tion of genius, Mr. Steel saw at once the benefits
that would arise from that measure, he saw the
feasibility of the plan, and he advocated it with
that tenacity of purpose which belonged to his
character. (Hear hear.) Gentlemen, you have
seen that when this town was in want of a necessary
supply of that element of life, water, nobody took
in that object a more successful part. (Hear, hear.)
He did not spend hie time or wawto Lio .Lic.l.slco .....
duly in disquisitions on the abstract rights of man,
but when the Health of Towns Bill had been passed
he was elected by his fellow citizens and by. the
members of the Corporation to preside over the
carrying out of that measure—(hear, hear)—and in
the frequent collisions which necessarily took place
between the claims of property on the one hand and
the claims of public health and convenience on the
other, he displayed that tact and perseverance, and
that power of mastering details which formed so
prominent a part of his gifted mind. (Hear, hear.)
It has been said we ought not to have erected a
statue, but to have resorted to some monument of
more every day usefulness. But, Mr. Mayor and
gentlemen, a statue speaks at once not only to the
citizens of Carlisle, not only to the inhabitants of
Cumberland, but to the stranger. (Hear, hear.) It
combines the support of art with public gratitude.
The stranger who visits this town with the wonder-
-1 ful power of steam, the stranger who comes from
Dumfries or Newcastle, at once sees a monument of
public gratitude to a worthy citizen. (Cheers.) It is
therefore right that we should pay to Mr. Steel this
unselfish tribute of applause. Mr. Mayor and gen-
tlemen, you have, as Mr. Crackanthorpe observes,
erected a monument to one who filled the highest
post which it is in the power of the Crown to confer
on a subject—to a nobleman who combined benevo-
lence with high rank and endowments. You have
raised a monument to one whe witk applause sat in
Parliament and presided on the bench—my late
friend Major Aglionby. (Hear, hear.) You have
now erected this beautiful and stately monument to
one who by the innate power of his mind and
strength of his genius overcame the obstacles to ad-
vancement which existed in his early youth—set at
nought the distracting pains of bodily disease--
(hear, hear)—overcame all physical obstacles, and
earned for himself a reputation which I trust will
be as enduring as this statue which commemorates
his memory ; and I trust he will long be remem-
bered by you and your children as a benefactor to
Carlisle, and the advocate of the liberties of the
people and of the liberties of mankind. (Cheers.)
Mr. DAVIDSON, Vice-President of the Mechanics'
Institute, said—Though proud of being permitted
to take part in this interesting ceremony, I cannot
but feel that the right man is not in the right
place ; for, had circumstances permitted our excel-
lent president, Mr. Ferguson, to take his appro-
priate place at the head of the Carlisle Mechanics'
Institute, the duties which now unfortunately de-
volve upon me would have been much more ably
performed. (Applause.) It would be out of place
for me to refer to the late Mr. Steel as a journalist,
as a politician, or as a magistrate, even if these qua-
lifications had not been eloquently remarked upon
by previous speakers. I will therefore speak of him
only as the enlightened friend and the indefatigable
labourer in the great and glorious work of social and
intellectual progress. (Hear.) And to his honour be it
said that while he was manfully fighting the battle
for himself and raising-himself step by step to a posi-
tion of eminence and influence, he, like a sound-
hearted man as he was, never forgot to help forward
with all his might his humbler fellow-citizens, and,
indeed, all that came within his influence. (Cheers.)
The CarlisleMechanics' Institute was first established
in 1824, just one year after the great London Insti-
tution was founded by the late Dr. Birkbeck and
Lord Brougham. (Hear, hear.) It fell into abey-
ance for a year or two, but in 1832 or 1833 was re-
established mainly through the exertions of its
present president and the late Mr. Steel, who was
thereupon elected vice-president, and, from that
time, year after year, until his death, was he re-
elected to that office by the members, who thus
showed their appreciation of his great services.
(Hear, hear.) Mr. Steel felt a deep interest, I need
hardly say, in this and all similar institutions. 114
was the consistent and zealous friend of all kindred
societies, whether working men's reading rooms or
by whatever name they were called. Now, some
literary men are very bad men of business—they
are prone .to launch forth crude theories that few
methentactaen
James
out to
who was a thorough to any practical result..
tia
t.praNeotesol
man, aitTelea first-rate man of business, even to the
minutest details.
the fact that Mr.
Mechanics'
business. Ima ,
~
allstliad the privilege of doing in .the
No one who sat with him on the
t itchuel athave(
Institute for six years, could be blind to
in
ltteiteutl:a,osst anon
one
oadmirablefitsm ai
nmpai
pillars
a rosf
the Mechanics' r_ss,y bat in the death of Mr. Steel
of suepomponirtitteelnidnepedar,
membersu eo:r greepneearatelldy, , and
honour to Mr. Steel,
Pride, and feel that
occa-
sions had to deplore his loss.
.) I may add,
that the members of the Institute look upon th.
neont tonwliythdohnoeneasnt
ohnausm
but a great
Carlisleno ble in
honour to itself in thus commemorating

bears to the subject of Reform. The proletaires of
France are its Republicans and revolutionists. The
freeholders are the conservators of peace, law, and
order. Their savings form the Rentes—the public
funds hold their recognisances for allegiance to the
State. The extension of the franchise in our counties
to all tenants paying a rental of £lO, virtually gives
the preponderance of power into the hands of the
landless, and places the tenantry far in ascendancy
above the landholders. To what is that owing but
to the laws of primogeniture and entail ? Had land
been subjected to the same laws of distribution as
personalty, would we ever have seen the spectacle,
in a nation of twenty-seven millions of people, of
twenty-six millions six hundred and fifty thou-
sand of them having no property in the soil
whereon they are born, and the whole freehold of
the acreage of these islands being concentrated in
the tenure of three hundred and fifty thousand
people ? Is it safe in any community to have a
nation of Lacklands ? If you attach political rights
to property, and also to persons, is it wise to divorce
the property from the persons—to range the elec-
tors on the one side, and the land on the other ? It
is high time that statesmen, if they mean to trans-
fer the issues of power from its present holders,
should prepare the basis of a peaceable and orderly
constituency, giving securities to society for their
patriotism and loyalty in the possession of the land
whose tenure is identified with the stability of the
State, and the well-affected temper of its subjects.
We go on encouraging the Tritons of capital to add
field to field, and house to house ; we drive our
middle classes from the land into the great towns ;
we run small farms into greater; we enclose every
common ; we buy up every bit of land the poor can
be prevailed upon to sell ; heir and heiress come
together, and join two huge estates in the tenure of
the son and heir, so that no freeholds are left for
the residue of the population ; whole counties are
cleared in Ireland and the Scottish Highlands that
red deer may range undisturbed, that turnips,
wurtzel, and sheep may yield more profit than
human beings, and bullocks may replace the expa-
triated Celt who hangs his harp on the willows and
murmurs " Lochaber no more ! ' in Canada or at
the Cape. We hurry all the younger children out
of their country homes ; we " make a solitude and
call it peace."

The time is rapidly hastening to the consumma-
tion when the large-acred proprietors will find their
, only safety to lie in surrounding themselves with
sturdy yeomen and intelligent freeholders; when
it will be seen how dangerous it is to have
only the very rich and the very poor, a few
great squires and a mass of dependants with-
out property of their own. This forced congestion
of population to great centres has already borne
its fruits ; there alone it has been that the
discontent and restless activity of the proletairiat
have threatened the subversion of public order
again and again. In the cities it is too much the
tendency to concentrate trade and manufac-
tures in masses—a few employers, and all the
rest mere dependent receivers of wages, the
middle orders of traders being crushed out of • the
field. The same process goes OR in the counties in
reference to land and farmers. Estates are becoming
mere manufactories of food, arranged between vast
owners and huge occupiers. It remains to be seen
whether the handfuls of squires and great tenants
can hold their own against the ten-pound occupiers
in the villages. A well-ordered society should be
made up of insensible gradations, all running into
each other. Any policy which classifies and sepa-
rates them—which divides their interests—which
is suggestive of alienated sympathies, or defines a
line of demarcation between class and order, is cer-
tain to array the majority against the few. At a
time when agriculture has risen into a science, and
as much food can be raised on one acre as formerly
grew on five—when high farming makes more pro-
fit on a few acres, skilfully cultivated, than on a
whole parish left to weeds and rushes—when, in
fact, the area of the soil has been practically quad-
rupled by agricultural improvements—the excuse
for this policy of land monopoly becomes daily less.
To lay the foundation of an intelligent, indepen-
dent, and orderly county constituency, it is neces-
sary to begin by a repeal of the law of primogeni-
ture.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.

the jury returned a verdict for the plaintiff,
damages £2O, and the learned judge certified for a
special jury.

HOME CIRCUIT.—MAIDSTONE, March 19.
(Before Mr. Justice Wightman.)
William Hills, Joseph Bills, and Alfred Burr
surrendered to take their trial upon a charge of
stealing 12 gallons of stout, the property of Messrs.
Truman, Hanbury, and Co., the brewers.
The prisoners were all found guilty, and Wil-
liam Hills was sentenced to be imprisoned and
kept to hard labour for eight months, and the other
two prisoners for six months each.
Mr. George Philip Richardson, who has for
several years filled the office of surveyor of the
highways for the Sevenoaks district, surrendered
to take his trial on an indictment which charged
him with having obtained a large quantity of
broken stones and gravel, the property of the late
Dowager Countess of Amherst, by false pretences.
There was also a second 'ndictment against the
prisoner charging him with larcency in stealing
materials of the same description, the property of
the trustees.
Mr. G. Denman and Mr. Digby conducted the
prosecution on behalf of the trustees of the roads;
Sergeant Ballantine and Mr. Poland were counsel
for the prisoner.
The first indictment that was proceeded with was
the charge of obtaining a quantity of stones and
gravel by means of false pretences, and it appeared
from the opening statement of the learned counsel
for the prosecution that the prisoner had unlimited
authority to order any quantity of materials that he
considered necessary for the repair of the roads, and
that he was in the habit of obtaining them from
quarry called the White Quarry, and also from one
called the High Cross Quarry. The custom ap-
peared to be for the prisoner to send an order for a
certain quantity of stone or gravel, and the account
was sent in at regular periods to the trustees, and
the allegation against the prisoner was that he had
ordered larger quantities of the materials than were
required for the purposes of the roads, and that he
sold the excess to other parties on his private ac-
count and retained the money, the trustees having
to pay, of course, for the whole amount that had
been supplied.
Sergeant Ballantine, upon these facts, submitted
that the charge of false pretences clearly could not
be made out, as the prisoner had full authority to
order any quantity of materials that he pleased,
and no false pretence whatever was made use of by
him to obtain possession of the property.
Mr. Justice Wightman, after hearing Mr. Den-
man in support of the indictment, expressed his
opinion that, upon the facts stated, a charge of ob-
taining the property by false pretences could not
be supported.
The jury .therefore returned a verdict of not
guilty.
The prisoner was then arraigned upon the second
indictment, which charged him with larceny in
stealing a quantity of gravel and broken stone, the
property of the trustees.
The same learned counsel were engaged for the
piosecution'and the defence.
The circumstances under which the charge was
preferred were pretty similar to those relating to
the former case, and the allegations on the part of
the prosecution appeared to be, that from the year
1856 down to the year 1858 the prisoner had been
in the habit of obtaining larger quantities of mate-
rials from the White Quarry than were required
for the purposes of the roads, and that he applied
the excess to his private use. A gentleman named
Sperling, a magistrate for the county, and also one
of the trustees of the roads of which prisoner was
the surveyor, proved that in the beginning of the
year 1857 he employed the prisoner to purchase a
quantity of broken stones and gravel for him,
and he did so, and sent in a bill in his own name
for the amount, which he paid him, and it ap-
peared that the trustees afterwards paid for them
in their account. It transpired in the course of
the case that this prisoner's father had filled
the same office as himself for more than 30 years,
and that the prisoner bore a high character, and it
was also admitted that in many of the instances the
excess of the materials had been charged to the pri-
soner as being for his private use. It also appeared
that Mr. Carnell, the solicitor and clerk to the
trustees, had some conversation with the prisoner
in reference to the transactions complained of, when
he admitted that all the'stone he had ordered had
not been used for the roads, and that the amount of
such stone and other materials was about £l5O, and
he considered he was indebted to the trustee's for
that sum ; he paid £53 17s. on account of the sup-
posed deficiency, and Mr. Carnell gave him a receipt
for the money on account. It likewise appeared
that these charges had been investigated by the
magistrates of the district, and that they were dis-
missed by them.
Sergeant Ballantine made a most earnest and
eloquent appeal to the jury on behalf of the prisoner,
who, he said, had borne a high and unblemished
character down to the period of these transactions.
T--Tp 41-4.avidence.had altogether failed in establishing anything like a
felonious intention on the part of the prisoner, and
that the utmost that had been proved was that
stones and gravel which ought to have been paid
for by the prisoner had, by mistake, been charged
to the trustees ; and he put it to the jury whether
Mr. Carnell, who was a solicitor, and of course well
acquainted with the law, would have treated the
matter as a debt if he thought that the transaction
contained any of the ingredients of a felony.
Mr. Justice Wightman having summed up, the
jury immediately returned a verdict finding the
prisoner not guilty, and his lordship ordered him
to be immediately discharged.