The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-11 00:00:00

tendencies ,and instincts of masses. , This is as true in
the moral and social relations of private life as in publid
transactions. Those whose opinions go 'by the name o 4
public opinion, are not always the same sort of public;
in America they are the whole white population ; in
England, chiefly the middle class. But they are always a
mass, that is to say, eollective mediocrity. And what is a,
still greater novelty, the mass do not- now take their
opinions from dignitaries in Church or State, from osten-
sible leaders, or from books. Their thinking• is done for
them by men much like themselves, addressing them or
speaking in their name, on the spur of the moment, through
the newspapers. I am, not complaining of all this. I do
not assert that anything better is compatible, as a general
rule, with the present low state of the human mind. But
that does not hinder the government of medidcrity from
being mediocre government. No government by a demo
cracy or a numerous aristocracy, either in its political acts
or in the opinions, qualities, and torte of mind which it
fosters, ever did or could rise above mediocrity, except in so
far as the sovereign many have let themselves be guided
(which in their best times they always have done) by the
counsels and influence of a more highly gifted and in -
structed one or few. The initiation of all wise or noble
things comes and must come from individuals ; generally
at first from some one individual. The honour and glory
of the average man is that he is capable of following that
initiative; that he can respond internally to wise and noble
things, and be led to them with his eyes open. lam not
countenancing the sort of "hero-worship" which applauds
the strong man of genius for forcibly seizing on the govern-
ment of the world and making it to do his bidding in spite
of itself. All he can claim is, freedom to point out the way.
The power of compelling others into it, ,is not only
inconsistent with the freedom and development of all the
rest, but corrupting to the strong man himself. It does
seem, however, that when the opinions of masses of merely
average men are everywhere become or hemming the do-
minant power, the counterpoise and corrective to that ten-
dency would be, the more and morepronounced individuality
of those who stand on the higher eminences of thought. It is
in these circumstances most espjcially, that exceptional
individuals, instead of being deterred, should be encouraged
in acting differently from the mass. In other times there
was no advantage in their doing so, union they acted not
only differently, but better. In this age the mere example
of non-conformity, the mere refusal to bend the knee to
custom, is itself a service, Precisely because the tyramw
of opinion is such as to make eccentricity a reproaoh, it is
desirable, in order to break through that tyranny, that 7';eo-
ple should be eccentric. Eccentricity has alw,kys ded
when and where strength of character has al, u dlun• and
the amount of eccentricity in a aaa@ty n
proportional to the amouri4 iturri-- _a,s gene.ra y been
us mental vigour, and
moral courage whiPil eentai” '
-.ed. That so few now dare
to be eccentric, Marks t),
e chief danger of the time.
We have llttlspace to treat of the last chapters in
which ?;r, Mill discusses the power of society over
,ne individual and his "applications" of his
argument. We can only commend all who
wish for, deep and earnest thought, for clear
and unpr;judiced reasoning, to peruse this
volume, which contains, as it were, in its
brief compass the essence of the grand prin-
ciples of our social and religious liberty. Raised
by his own rare abilities and the experience and
study of years to a height in mental philosophy
seldom attained, Mr. Mill sees beyond his age. The
great principles he maintains are stirring amongst
us, but he looks forward to their full development.
Amid the jar and strife of the discordant elements
of society, the calm voice of the social philosopher
makes itself heard " distinct as lutes 'mid trumpets."
What he sees clearly and feels deeply he sets simply
and earnestly before mankind, and though his
maxims and arguments may be only appreciated
by the few, still by their dissemination and recur-
rence they will gradually descend to impress and
to influence the many.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE.-(71IIS DA I'.)

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

OPEN-AIR MEETINGS. —A respectable-looking man,
stepping into the witness-box, said that for some time past
large open-air meetings had been held in the neighbourhood
of Newport Market every Sunday, in support of teetotalism,
but yesterday they were prevented holding it by the police,
and, on expostulating with the police for stopping it, they
were referred to the inspector at the station-house, who told
him he had better attend at the Court and see him (the
magistrate).

Mr. Beadon said the inspector had told him quite wrong
—he had nothing to do with the holding- of meetings. It
was entirely with the Commissioners of Police.

Mr. Holden, inspector of the C division, said the police
had orders, owing to the obstruction caused by the assem-
bling of large numbers of persons, and the loud complaints
of the respectable inhabitants, not to allow the meetings to
be held, the order coining from Sir Richard Mayne.

Mr. Beadon said the applicant could see the Commis-
sioners if he thought proper, and the applicant withdrew.

EMBEZZLEMENT.—Robert Russell, porter, in the employ
of Messrs. George Harrow and Son, trunkmakers; of 5,
Swallow-street, was charged with embezzling various sums
of money received on his master's account.

One case hating been proved against the prisoner he was
remanded.

THAMES.

SMUGGLING FOREIGN WATCHES.—IMPORTANT CON-
VICTION.—Theodore Besseter and Jane, his wife, foreigners,
appeared before Mr. Yardley, to answer a Custom-house in-
formation, which charged them with importing into this
country nine Geneita watches, the duty upon which had
not been first paid and secured, with intent to defraud the
revenue, by which they incurred a penalty of £36 7s. 6d.,
being treble the value of the watches seized.
The defendants immediately pleaded guilty to the infor-
mation, and begged for mercy.
Mr. Yardley was not aware that he had power to adjudi-
cate summarily where foreign watches were smuggled.
Mr. Graham, from the Customs' Solicitor's-office, pointed
out the Act of Parliament giving the magistrate jurisdiction
in the case. The prisoners were about to land with the
watches from a foreign steamer at St. Katherine's-wharf,
and were asked if they had anything about them liable to
duty, to which they answered in the negative. The watches
were found concealed on their persons.,
Mr. Claridge, Queen's appraiser of condemned goods;
said the value of the watches and the duty amounted to
£l2 2s. 6d. He valued six of the watches at £l6s. each, and
the other three at £1 2s. 6d. each.

Mr. Yardley thought the watches were valued very low
indeed.

The male defendant, who lives at No. 6, Horndon-ter-
race, Kensington, said he was a very poor man indeed, and
could not afford to pay a fine. He then handed to the
magistrate a letter, of which the following is a. copy :
"J. Wright, watchmaker, 4, Somerset-terrace, Ken-
sington, writes to inform the magistrate that T. Besseter
has been in his employ for some time. He is a poor man,
and bas nothing but what he earns. He went home to Bos-
ton to receive a small sum of money which was left him by
a relative, and which he laid out in a few watches. His
poverty induced him to try to evade the duty, for which he
is very sorry. J. W. does not think he has ever been en-
gaged in evading the laws before, and that it is his first
offence, as he has nothing to trade with, and hopes the
offence may be treated with mercy, as his wife is near her
confinement, and will be reduced to want if her husband is
sent to prison.

Mr. Yardley said the Act of Parliament enabled him in
'his discretion to reduce the penalty to one-fourth the
amount sought for. He should in this case fine the male
defendant £lO. The wife might go. There was no wish
to press the charge against her.

The male defendant—" Oh, sare, sate, £lO I That is
more than de watches are worth."

Mr. Yardley—These foreign watches are very cheap
things. I can't reduce the fine below. £lO. It is nearly
the minimum.

The penalty was instantly paid. The watches were con-
demned to the use of the Crown.

PIEDMONT AND THE ROMAGNA.

The Piedonontese Gazette publishes the following
letter from Count Cavour, in answer to the address
presented by the provisional deputation from
Bologna to the King :
Turin, June 28, 1859.

Gentlemen,—His Majesty the King desires me
to thank you for the address presented to him in
the name of the inhabitants of the Romagna, in
which address, expressing the wish to be annexed
to Piedmont, these inhabitants invoke his dictator-
ship. His Majesty, solely intent on the thought
of delivering Italy from the yoke of the foreigner,
cannot venture upon an act which, by causing dip-
lomatic complications, would tend to render the
attainment of this object more arduous.
Nevertheless, acknowledging the nobility and
generosity of the sentiment impelling those inhabi-
tants to take part in the war waged for this great
cause by Piedmont and her generous ally, the Em-
peror of the French, his Majesty cannot refuse,
notwithstanding his profound respect for the Holy
Father, to take under his direction the forces being
I organised at this moment in those districts, and
which they are preparing to place at the service of
Italian independence. He will thus perform the
twofold task of directing the co-operation of the
Romagna in the war, and of preventing the na-
tional movement now in progress from degenerat-
ing into disorder and anarchy.
I ought to add that his Majesty has resolved on
choosing for his commissioner, to this end, the
Cavaliero Massimo d'Azeglio, who has accepted the
appointment.
I beg you, gentlemen, to accept the assurance of
my most distinguished consideration.

His Highness Tousson Paella, son of the Viceroy
of Egypt, accompanied by Mr. R. H. Galloway, arrived in
London on Saturday night.

FIRE AT RATCLlFF.—Yesterday (Sunday) ,morn-
ing, about 1 o'clock, a fire, attended with a considerable
loss of property, happened in the premises belonging to Mr.
J. Rouen, corn merchant, No. 11, Cock-hill, Rateliff. The
premises in question were of considerable extent, and when
the discovery was made the flames had obtained a strong
hold of the upper part of the structure. The firemen used
every exertion to extinguish the flames, but were unable to
do so until the premises in which the fire originated and
all they contained were nearly destroyed, and the adjoining
premises on each side damaged by water and the hasty re-
moval of the furniture. The loss will fall upon the Phcenix,
Leeds and Yorkshire, and other fire-offices. Eight other
fires took place during Saturday night and yesterday morn-
ing, but the damage done at each was inconsiderable.