The Sun.
London, England, 1866-02-09 00:00:00

titurl
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HER MAJESTY.

OSBORNE, Thursday.
The Queen, accompanied by the royal faintly,
arrived at Osborne yesterday at half-past 5, and
will remain there for a fortnight, in order to secure
the rest which is so necessary to her after the
fatiguing exertion of the preceding day.
The Earl of Bessborough, Lord Steward of the
Household, had an audience of her Majesty to-say,to present the address of the House of Lords 111
answer to the Speech from the Throne.
The Princess of Wales took a carriage drive
yesterday, attended by the Countess of Maccles-
field.

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The Archbishop of York and Mrs. Thomson have
arrived in town. His grace has taken a residence in
Mansfield street,tortland-place, for the season.
Maria Marchioness of Ailesbury will return to
town early next week from visiting the Duchess of Beau-
fort, at Badminton.
The Earl of Brownlow and Lady Marian Alford
are still in the south of Franco. The noble earl, we bear,
is much improved in health.

The Earl of Beauchamp is, we are sorry to learn,
dangerously ill at his residence in Belgrave-square.
The Countess of Dudley will give an evening
party on Monday next, at Dudley House, Park-lane.
Viscount Eversley and the Hon. Miss Shaw'
Lefevre have arrived at their residence in Eaton-place'
from Heckfield Place, Hants, for the season.
Lord and Lady Taunton received a select circle
at dinner last evening, at their residence in Belgrave-
square.

THE LATE LORD MONTEAGLE.

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It requires some little effort for the men of this
generation to remember who and what was Lord
Monteagle, who died on Wednesday last at his seat
in Ireland. And yet Lord Mouteagle filled high
office ; at a critical period of our parliamentary:
history he held a prominent position, and he received
the reward of great merit and important services'
Unhappily, what will most be remembered about
him is something to be remembered against him'
The finance of the Whigs in his days was a bYe-
word, and it was the misfortune of Lord Mout'
eagle, then Mr. Spring-Rice, to have been Chancel-
lor of the Exchequer for about half those ten Years
when, after the passing of the Reform Bill, the
Whigs were on their trial as statesmen. " Great
would be the joy of the Three per Cents. if Spring-
Rice would go into holy orders," wrote Sydney
Smith, and it must be borne in mind that Sydney
Smith was himself a Whig. The Chancellor of the
Exchequer did not take the hint of the humourist
by entering holy orders, but he entered the
sacred edifice of the peerage, hid his head in 3
coronet, and the much- abused name of Spring-
Rice was forgotten in the lustre of a new title.
Thomas Spring-Rice was an Irishman, born in
Ireland in the year 1790. He was educated at
Trinity College, Cambridge, where he took his de-
gree in 1811. In 1820, having in the meantime
married a daughter of the Earl of Limerick, be en-
tered Parliament as member for his native place--
Limerick—which he continued to represent till the
year 1832. Gradually he became known not merely
as the representative of Limerick, but also as " tu
member for all Ireland." These were days when the
Catholic question began to make a stir and Ireland
was the standing difficulty of our Government. Air;
Spring-Rice was the fast friend of O'Connell, au',
as such took a prominent part in the discussion ocl
Irish affairs. He was a capable man of business,
as the mouthpiece of a powerful Irish interest he
acquired with his party not a little influence in the
House of Commons. The result was that he, among
other Whigs, had his share of office when the Palo
in 1827 first attained to the Treasury Bench. He
was made Under Secretary of State for the 1.1091 e
Department ; and when at length, in 1830, the
Whigs came fully into possession of their power ,o
became successively Secretary of the Treasury'
Secretary for the Colonies, and Chancellor of the
Exchequer. The first of these offices he shared at
one time with Mr. Edward Ellice, and afterwards
with Sir Charles Wood ; the second he held but for
a very short period ; the third he filled for nearly
five years, and it was in the discharge of its duties
that he became renowned. In all these posts 11,,e
showed an ability that was respectable, althoug'
it was not respectable enough to save him from
ridicule and depreciation. Indeed, there was 3
good deal about him to excite opposition and Pre-
yoke criticism. He was a tedious speaker, for 0-
ample ; he was accused of jobbing ; and he was 1111;
dersized of stature. This last is, of course, a ni°9
flagrant offence in the eyes of all satirists, and 0.
B." made much of it. Dr. Chalmers had just the
come to London to deliver lectures, and in one of
his addresses he announced with all the eniPh3si,
,
which characterised his oratory that the then age
was an age of little men, or, as he was supposed to
pronounce it, " leetle " men. "H. B." seized urthe
the idea, and at once exhibited a specimen of.
leetle men" who governed the nation, Mr. SPring..
Rice being prominent among them. Soinethlles,
however, he got praise for his smallness, as when ia
combat with O'Connell, when O'Connell bad turned
upon the Whigs, he fought and beat off the greato,
Irish giant, on which occasion his merits were little
played to the eyes of the world in a picture of to
David conquering Goliath. The real objecti°lll,io
him was not that his stature was low, but that
dum
'„
finance was not great—that his speeches were 0,
and that his public spirit never rose very high.
toe
B." gave currency to a small pun upon his 11,,,,s he
which took the popular fancy_ teneatis?
Whig Ministry was sorely ridiculed in those dais'
and no one came in for a greater share of the 63t
at
they provoked than Mr. Spring-Rice. Hehad
resin'
last the good sense to see that his days were Ow,
bered, that the Whigs were falling, and that bellied
self would never succeed as a financier. He ceased
to be Chancellor, and made himself Comptrollerd
the Exchequer. At any time he could be °lls tee
from the Chancellorship, the ComptrollersbiP 0,
could hold for ever, with its £2,000 a year'
not only fell softly, but he covered himself with
robes of a peer, and the name of Spring
blossomed into that of Baron Monteagle.
catch
In referring to these events, we naturally
something of the tone which belongs to the criticlu%t
of the period in which they occurred. But if we In a
not speak of Lord Monteagle as either a very t
so,
rou°
or a high-minded man, we must do him justice 900 t
shrewd one and as a good partisan. If he Was
ne
a brilliant Minister, he was, at least, a useful ° t
and if he failed as a financier in a time a great
difficulty, it must be remembered in his favour, tbaood
while Irish affairs were all important, he did go,
service and fairly earnt the confidence of his friendbe
After his retirement from the Cabinet he niai
onlY
said to have almost retired into private life, •5
that about six years ago, when Mr. Gladstt:ol,
famous Budget was announced, he led the ao aed
upon it in the House of Lords. Mr. Gladsto'
a 3
his friends naturally spoke with contempt
Ober
attack upon the Budget led by a Whig fift'nbtit
who had been laughed out of the Exchequer'
in
of
this did not necessarily invalidate the criticis
Lord Monteagle ; and it was no small tribute'o , die
prudence that 21 years after he had resigndeeurabl°
Chancellorship of the Exchequer, a e°hsl......were
party in the Legislature—Whig and I°ll _stion
willing to regard him as an authority on a clue 00
o! finance. That was his last public aPPear d
the great stage to which he had been accustmne •

_ACOblillutEe-SbPOOOIZENcCoEntRaiEnSiPnEgCTthINeC THE SEENAN".SPt;
Shenandoah, originally the Sea the
bofore Parliament. The opening letter is from of
to Earl Russell, April 7th, 1865, detailing the ra'rag'—•vg
the Shenandoah, to which Earl Russell replies, defeudi
the conduct of her Majesty's Government. Then Wine%
proposal for a " Claims Commission" to decide upoci,
prizes, and its refusal. The next part of the correspnli
once is subsequent to the surrender of the Shenglidri°,4l,o
ainpge,rsharse.rlha.,eteiarldgaslo.d
and Captain Waddell to the British Government' ,h
release of Captain Waddell and his crew call forth offs ti
from Mr. Adams to prove acts of piracy against them, b
the proof is not given, and Lord Clarendon closes the
respondence respondence by an offer to "co-operate
gladly in est&b."---
img the truth ;" and here the vexed question closes for the
present.