The Sun.
London, England, 1866-04-04 00:00:00

'rim SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING-, APRIL 4, 1866.

by themselves, as a kind of pillar to light up life in
the darkness of the past ages, and it will be well
worth your while, if you can get into the under-
standing of what these people were and what they
did." In allusion to reading in
general, Mr.
CARLYLE made some impressive remarks in his
usual grand style. He declared that it was an erro-
neous notion, which some people had, that if a man
were reading any work at all it was be roettwerttheandonwon-
thing. In short, he considered, as he
somewhere, that books were
re likesom emoefnt'sheinsoualrse,
divided into sheep and go
calculated to be of very great advantage in
teaching—in forwarding the teaching of all
generations," others are going down,
but
down, down, down, more and more wilder, and
wilder mischief. Very truly did Mr. CARLYLE say
to the students around him that beyond technical
perfection and alone particular knowledge was a
higher and better aim. " Blessed is he that getteth
understanding." In these days more especially it is
very important that those who are entering on life
should know and feel that they must be on their
guard as to what literature they make their study.
It is quite refreshing to peruse Mr. CARLYLE'S
remarks upon the daily events and matters to
which such infinite importance is attached by many,
but which, looked at philosophically, are really of no
intrinsic value, and in themselves not worth the
struggling and stirring upon them. "No man
learns, or very few men know, what benefit ,
to get out of their money. In fact, it too often I
secretly is a curse to him. Much better for
him never to have had any, but Ido not
expect that generally to be believed."
Mr. CARLYLE goes down deep into the
true meaning of things, he clears away the mists
which are too apt to gather round our social ways,
and shows us how false and fatal are the errors we
are making all the while that we think we are approach-
ing perfection, if we have not actually reached it.
All come under his category, and he touches upon
the inconsistent way in which maid-servants are
brought up. They are getting instructed in the
" ologies," and so on, and are apparently ignorant
of brewing, toiling, and baking—" above all things,
not taught what is necessary to be known, from the
highest to the lowest, strict obedience, humility, and
correct moral conduct." This is very true ; many
have found to their sad experience, and what is a
mistake in one rank of life will be so in another, if
people are rushing into extremes and forgetting the
primary claims of practical duties in their theoreti-
cal visions of excellence and grandeur.
Mr. CARLYLE thinks a great deal of the value of
silence. He thinks too much talk is the ruin of the
present day, and as for the illustrations of old times,
he thinks that PHOCION, who did not speak at all,
was a great deal nearer bitting the mark than
DEMOSTHENES. As for vocal education itself, he
thinks that great care should be exercised in order
to make the best of it, not to allow it to slip out of
our fingers and remain worse than it was. " For
if a good speaker, an eloquent speaker, is not speak-
ing the truth, is there a more horrid object in
creation ?" Mr. CARLYLE recommended the study
of one of GOETHE'S masterpieces of thought and
reflection ; it is one of the pieces in WILHELM
MEISTER'S Travels, and he considers it to be one of
the most remarkable bits of writing that he has
known to be executed in these late centuries. In
this it is said that the function which transcends all
others in importance to build up the young genera-
tion is "Reverence," honour to those who are
grander and better than you without fear ; distinct
from fear—the soul of all religion that ever has been
among men, or ever will be." In conclusion, the
eloquent speaker gave his hearers some very useful
, hints about themselves, as to what should be their
inciting influence and their propelling power in their
careers. '. I need not hide from you young gentle-
men that you have got into a very
troublous epoch of the world," says this
plain - spoken and decided teacher ; and
then he goes on to dilate upon what they will re-
quire to enable them to succeed. The crooked
things around them are manifold he declares. But
why complain of this he asks, for that is the thing
a man is born to in all its epochs. "He is born to
expend every particle of strength that GOD
ALMIGHTY has given him in doing the work he
finds he is fit for, to stand it out to the last breath
of life and do his best. We are called upon to do
that, and the reward we all get, which we are per-
fectly sure of, if we have merited it, is that we have
got the work done, or, at least, that we have tried
to do the work; for that is a great blessing in
itself, and should say there is not very much
more reward going in this world." Surely this is
true wisdom to teach to the ranks of those who are
going forth to fight the battle of life ; it breathes
the spirit of the philosopher, and speaks with the
hope of the Christian ; it tells those who succeed
in heaping up riches that they should be made good
use of, and declares to those who fail in achieving
great distinctions that they may still effect a high
and holy purpose if they strive to benefit the gene-
ration they live in. " Cut down the proud tower-
ing thoughts that they get into, and see that they
be pure as well as high : there is a nobler ambition
than the gaining of all California would be,
or the getting of all the suffrages that are on the
planet just now." Very wise also are the observa-
tions which are made on health in this discourse.
Too many are apt to neglect this important thing
in the pursuit of other objects, and too much stress
cannot be laid upon its inestimable benefit. These
mistaken individuals are here plainly told that there
is no kind of achievement they can perform equal to
perfect health. Mr. CARLYLE'S last words are full
of meaning. He tells his hearers not to think that
piety means people to be austere and morose. The
eternal sky is over the world, and it must not be
called a dismal prison-house. He exhorted them
to stand up to their work and not to be discouraged,
and, above all, not to think that every one is against
them, because each is pushing on in his own direc-
tion. " Keep out of literature, as a general rule, I
should say also," declared Mr. CARLYLE, to the
amusement of his hearers. Altogether, we may
affirm, that this inauguration speech was worthy of
tie occasion ; and, if more solid than brilliant, was
well calculated to be of service to those who, flushed
with the pride of knowledge, perhaps needed in-
struction as to how and when this learning might
and what they should regard with the
mostavail m
etahrene'st attention and interest.

men

The West Riding of Yorkshire has been follow-
ing the example of Edinburgh and Sheffield in
holding a Reform meeting. Lord II ouGHTON took
the chair and delivered the opening address, which,

as is usually the case with
his speeches, was sen-
sible, moderate, and conciliatory More violent
speakers were of course not wanting,
and Mr. C. A.
LEATHAM was the principal representative of
the
ultra party, but for the most part the gentlemen
present supported the measure on reasonable
grounds, regretting that it had not been
found possible or desirable to introduce a
larger and more liberal measure so as to deal with
the question in a more comprehensive spirit, but
accepting the bill as a step in the right direction,
which was at least Letter than standing still.
Lord HOUSTON in his Address dwell especially

upon Mr. G LADSTONE'S assertion, that the franchise
was a goof 1 of itself, " not merely with respect to
the change it would produce in the government of the
country, a nd the changes it might bring about for
the well-b eing of the people, and not merely that it
would inb erect more and more people in the affairs
of the conn'try, but because it was a good thing for
every individual man to have additional rights
and responsibility, and to make him feel more
the importance of his position as a citizen
and his duties as a man." This is the view which Lord
HOUGH' VON thinks so just and so admirable, and
in which he so heartily coincides. It would be a
good thing in his opinion for every man of edu-
cation and independence, who can think and feel
for himself, to have a vote, and he carries
his theory further than most speakers dare
to do. It does not matter, he says, whether their
inclinations are good or bad; they may be Chartists,
anti-socialists, or what they like, they will do less
harm in Parliament than out of it. In fact, he ap-
pears to look upon the vote as a kind of safety-valve,
and asks if their representatives would be dangerous
in Parliament whether they would not be still more
so out of it ? "It would be better for all," he
argues, with considerable force, " that all questions
of capital and labour, questions between employer
and employed, should be debated in the House of
Commons than that they should remain like
"Lord
HOUGHTONpowder und
himselfe under society capabl e
evidently th i
no f exploding."
there
ho de
ri ne gi
s.
reason-
able cause of complaint against the bill for not going
far enough, but he exclaims with indignation against
the professing Liberals, whose want of sincerity is the
hidden rock which has shipwrecked so many Reform
Bills. Lord HOUGHTON concluded his speech by a
very sensible argument, which has already been
several times brought forward in answer to the fears
of anti-Reformers, declaring that it could not be
supposed that the working men who were admitted
to the franchise would think alike on every subject,
for they would be very unlike Englishmen if they
did.

Mr. FORSTER, M.P., made a good speech, and one
to the purpose. Had he been asked a year ago, he
said, who would have opposed this bill, be would have
said the very people who were now supporting it,
and he thought it spoke strongly for the good sense
and generous feelings of the people that they should
have come forward on behalf of this bill, which
must have disappointed them by not going far
enough. The bill was in fact, he declared, a Con-
servative measure, but those who had lost their faith
in the old English principle of self-government
could not fairly claim to belong to either of the
great parties. " This want of trust was not old
English Liberalism. It was not even old English
Toryism. They would have to go out of England
for the real champions of this new creed of
Liberalism which believed in government for the
the people, and not government by the people." Mr.
FORSTER concluded by enforcing that old principle
which lies at the root of the Liberalism professed by
one side, while it is the fundamental principle of
the Conservatism upheld by the other, which
seems occasionally to be quite forgotten or disre-
garded by the politicians of both ways of thinking.
" The Commons House of England should be chosen
by the people of England," by the whole people ;
that is, not by the working classes exclusively, not
by the aristocracy, not by the middle class, not by
any one rank, sect, or degree, but by that blending
of all which makes up the great body politic of a
united nation. We must have the representatives
of the wants, the wishes, the opinions, and even the
prejudices of each class, if we would get a real
national House of Commons. The cobbler thinks
there is nothing like leather, no doubt, but the
1 landowner thinks there is nothing like landed pro-
-1 perty, the merchant thinks no principle so important
as the preservation of peace, the manufacturer
holds to the rights of the employer, the mill " hand"
to the rights of labour. No one class can trust its
interests to another class, and we do not learn this
lesson from the aristocracy alone, but from every
rank which has to decide between its own ad-
vantage and that of its neighbour. Dukes and
earls do not certainly govern our poor houses, yet
the interests of the poor man are nowhere less
considered. Thn " rights of labour" are not always
respected by the large employer, although the ma-
nufacturing class may furnish eloquent M.P.'s and
fervent Reformers. The Reform which begins at
home, like charity, is not always the most welcome,
and unfortunately for our Parliamentary heroes it
falls to their share. If we had a house made up of

" Like Cato firm, like Aristides just,
Like rigid Cincinnatus nobly pure,"
we might find Reform taken up in earnest and
carried out disinterestedly. But it is very hard in
the 19th century to expect a man who has
paid some thousands for his scat to vote for the
disfranchisement of his borough some few months
later. It is unpleasant for a member who knows
the weak points of his constituents, and whose
agents can get him safely through a contested elec-
tion, to anticipate a thorough reorganisation of the
electoral body. An election, in the opinion of a
good many politicians, comes only too often in the
ordinary course. Who then shall vote for Triennial
parliaments ? And as to the manner of voting, if
we could only invest St. Stephen's with the magie
attributes of Madame de GENLis's famous Palace
of Truth, what little arguments we should
hear against the Ballot ! However, because
our statesmen are not more perfect than
ordinary mortals that is no reason why we should
not attempt some movement. In the rush and
excitement of modern life inaction is impossible. If
we do not go forward we shall retrograde; if we do
not take our place in the van, as becomes ourhistory
and position, we shall be left far behind on the great
march of national progress. No time could be
more suitable than the present for constitutional
reform. It is the very absence of fever and excite-
ment which some deplore that renders it so favour-
able. As Mr. CHILDERS justly observed at the meeting
last evening—" We are at peace with all the world;
our finances never were in a more prosperous condi-
tion ; commerce never was more flourishing ; the
country is not harassed by any great social and
religious question, nor is there any political one
dividing the people into factions ; and if we pass
over this opportunity, who can tell what times may
come ? Let us, then, all address ourselves seriously
to the consideration of this great question, not seek-
ing the temporary gain of this or that party, the
triumph of one particular principle, or the evasion
of any personal sacrifice ; but the full and fair re-
presentation of the whole people, in accordance with
the fundamental doctrines of that constitution
which alone has secured the happy mean which pre-
serves individual liberty while maintaining social
order."

IV lIISkEES AND MUSTACHES.—When was the
term whisker first applied to the Lair on the side of the
checks. In Bailey's Dictionary (23d edition, 1773) we find
" a whisker, a tuft of hair on the upper lip of a man ; "
" mustaches, that part of tho beard growing upon the upper
lip, whiskers." Similar definitions aro given in all the
other dictionaries, Johnson's included, and even in Wor-
cester's as late as 1828. When the beard was an entire ap-
pendage, no name was wanted for the parts at the side of
the cheeks, but when it was cut in two, and the true
whiskers disappeared as well, their name must have been
transferred to the mutton-chop parts of the beard left on
the cheeks.--Reacler.

,OM PARIS.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

LA TEST INTEL LICENCE.

AMERICA.
ARRIVAL OF THE CITY OF BOSTON.
(Via Crookhaven.)

NEW YORK, MAKI' 23 (Evening).

The Fenians continue their organisation, and are
mustering regiments into the service of the Irish
Republic in various parts of the country.
Sweeney has made a speech, in which he said that
many thought he was about to strike Canada, but
he did not himself know where the first blow would
be struck.

NEW YORK, MARCH 24, Morning.

The House of Representatives has passed the
Loan Bill, with amendments restricting the reduc-
tion of the currency to ten million dollars during
the first six months after the adoption of the bill,
and four millions per month after that period.
The bill now goes to the Senate.
Advices received from Valparaiso state that two
Spanish frigates have been repulsed by the allied
batteries off the island of Chiloe, and have returned
to Valparaiso considerably damaged.
It is reported that the President will certainly
veto the Civil Rights' Bill.
The Herald says that the Government has issued
orders to prepare a flying squadron for duty on the
British North American coast. The various rea-
sons assigned for this are—the assembling of the
British West India fleet at Halifax, the Fenian
movements, and the effect upon the American
fisheries of the termination of the Reciprocity
Treaty.

The President has forwarded to the House of
Representatives the information asked regarding

:he internal condition of Mexico. The information

includes a letter from Senor Romero to Mr. Seward,
dated the 9th inst., stating that he had received
intelligence from a highly reliable source in Paris,
that Napoleon proposed to adopt a middle course on
the Mexican question by abandoning Maximilian,
and re-establishing the Mexican Republic, with
Marshal Bazaine as President ad interim.

In reply to an application from Senor Gonzales,
a merchant of San Salvador, for payment by the
United States for the loss of goods on a vessel
destroyed by the Alabama, Mr. Seward stated that
that, Gonzales being an alien, he could not interfere
with the British Government on his behalf, nor
assume responsibility for injuries he had suffered at
the hands of British subjects and of rebels whom
they had aided.