The Sun.
London, England, 1861-01-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON SATURDAY EVENING, JANUARY 26, 1861.

has given to England, within a very few months, a
magniLiet it National Guard in the shape of an
army of f r om 150,000 to 200,000 Volunteer RIFLE-
MEN; apalr,t from all this, in Lord OVERSTONE'S in
stance, here is precisely one of those men who have
enough at a take to render them profoundly inte-
rested in
bserving the growth and develop-
ment of ,this noble rallying together of
armed Engliehmen. No wonder the noble
lord, witnessing- this extraordinary movement,
exults in :it. He ;has 'reasons enow for so doing.
And the Volunteei' Movement, if it wins favour
from " all sorts of ,rnen "—from men like Lord
0 VERSTONE it wins essentially and necessarily
" golden opinions" in abundance. It consequently
squares to a nicety with the general fitness of
things, when we find Es millionaire like the JONES
LLOYD of old, the Baron OVERSTONE of now-a-days,
talking in the high-flowia language of an elabo-
rated enthusiasm in favour of the continuous and
rapid multiplication of tho rifle corps throughout
the United Kingdom. Such is really the gist of
the evidently very carefully prepared harangue
delivered by the noble and wealthy
lord (for surely we may accord to
his lordship some such double title as that, quite
as appropriately as when we refer to a military peer
as "noble and gallant," or to one of the law lords
as "noble and learned")—such is really the drift
of the whole oration delivered by the noble and
wealthy lord on Thursday evening down at
Northampton.
Lord OVERSTONE had there twice to respond
to toasts at the close of the banquet given
to Lieut.-Colonel Lord LINDSAY as Captain of
the Overstone Mounted Rifle Corps—a banquet
given to that noble and gallant officer by the mem-
bers of the corps itself. Upon the first of these two
occasions it was that Lord OVERSTONE, in
the absenpe of the Marquess of EXETER'
responded to the toast of the Lord-Lieutenant of
Northamptonshire. Observing that the circum-
stance rendering a toast of that particular charac-
ter one of especial importance, upon an occasion
like that which had brought them all to-
gether, was the consideration that, " If that great
emergency connected with which and in preparation
for which they had assembled together and were
banding themselves in the garb of war should ever
occur, the solidity and safety of this country would
depend upon their combination." Adding, that " At
the head of each county must necessarily stand the
Lord Lieutenant, and by drinking that toast they
were drinking health to him who would in that emer-
gency have the whole posse comitatus under his direc-
tion." It was afterwards, however, while ackn owledg-
in g the toast—not quite the toast of the evening,
but certainly next to it in local importance—namely
that of the Honorary Members of the Corps," of
which corps, said the chairman of the occasion
(Ensign NORTHCOTE to wit),Lord OVERSTONE him-
self was essentially the decus et tutanem : it was
upon the occasion of responding to this compli-
mentary tribute, that the noble lord put forth all
his strength in eulogizing the movement which he
has certainly fof one aided materially so far (and
with good reason as we have said) in develop-
ing. " Would," said the impassioned millionaire,
" Would that I could rise to the grandeur of this
subject, or that I could give anything like an ade-
quate expression to the feelings which animate my
heart !" Not by any means arrogating to himself,
however, any capacity whatever for doing so, rather
as might be surmised from this ejaculation, " quite
the contrary"—Lord OVERSTONE nevertheless
contrived to deliver himself of sentiments not in
any way at all unworthy of the subject, in words
that (but for the subject) might possibly have been
deemed to savour somewhat of extravagance. As
to the " style" of this harangue even, as to the
mere tone and manner of it, there was a signifi-
cance in the very formality of the exordium where
the speaker exclaimed, with manifestly well deli-
berated design, though apparently with a tireless
by-the-way—" And in addressing you I feel it to
be my duty to occupy your time by alluding
to that great principle which lies at the bottom
of the whole of this subject—the love of our coun-
try." Whereupon, the noble lord expatiating upon
that lofty theme, luxuriating in that "high argu-
ment" goes the length—a very considerable length
in these days when hon. gentlemen but seldom
indulge themselves and their auditors in the House
of Commons with those dear old familiar tags
from HORACE and VIRGIL, which were once
so frequently and so sonorously vouchsafed, to
Mr. Speaker and the Reporters—Lord OVERSTONE,
we say, went the length in his flowery comments
upon that great theme " the love of country,"
went the extreme length of carrying his hearers
away in imagination to the Roman Forum where
they might hearken to the echo of certain memo-
rable words spoken (upon that theme) more
than nineteen centuries ago by the master-orator of
the then rulers of the world. For the benefit of the
country gentlemen of Northampton, however, the
noble lord echoed those words of CICERO in our Eng-
lish vernacular, exclaiming in a free translation
from TULLY—" Dear to us are the relations and
joys of private life, dear to us are our wives, dearer
to us are our children, but all these endearments
are concentrated and intensified in one state-
ment—the love of our country." Mean-
ing here —as applied- to his own
mounted riflemen of Northampton, and through
them to the rest of their fellows, to the number of
some 170,000, scattered over the United Kingdom
—Bravo to the British Volunteers ! A sentiment
in which, who will not join ? As who will refrain
from saying "ditto," not this time to Mr. BURKE,
but to Master SHAKSPERE ?—after glancing-once
more at that well-timed quotation from " King
Henry the Fifth," with which it will bo seen
that Lord OTERSTONE aptly closes his fervent and
patriotic address upon the subject of our National
Defences.

A Cabinet Council was held yesterday afternoon
at the official residence of the First Lord of the Treasury in
Downing-street. The members present were—Viscount
Palmerston, the Lord Chancellor, Earl Granville, the Duke
of Argyll, Sir G. Cornewall Lewis, Lord John Russell, the
Duke of Newcastle, Lord Herbert, Sir Charles Wood, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer, the Duke of Somerset, Right
Hon. C. P. Villiers, Sir George Grey, Lord Stanley of
Alderley, Right Hon. T. Milner Gibson, and the Right
Hon. E. Cardwell.

The Countess Amherst has arrived in Grosvenor-
square, from Montreal, Sevenoaks.
Viscount Palmerston arrived in London yester-
day from Broadlands. Her ladyship and Viscountess
Jocelyn and family will not return to town until Monday.
Lord Crzripbell has returned to Stratheden House
from visiting her Majesty at Windsor Castle.

Lord and Lady Herbert of Lea have arrived at
their residence in Bel ;rave-square, from Wilton House,
near Salisbury.

Count Jancourt arrived at Albert-gate House
yesterday from visiting the Earl and Countess of Winchil-
sea, at Eastwell Park, Kent.

The Right Hon. B. Disraeli and Mrs. Disraeli
have arrived at Grosvenor-gate from Windsor Castle,
where they have been on a visit to her Majesty and the
Prince Consort.

The Hon. Evelyn Ashley arrived in town yester-
day from visiting Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston,
at Broadlands.

Mr. R. Peel has left Farrance's Hotel for the
Deanery, Worcester.
The Earl and Countess of Scarborough have left
town for the Bedford Hotel, Brighton.
Mr. Cobden has returned to Paris from Algiers.
After waiting on the Emperor ho will proceed without
delay to England.

LATEST NEWS.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)
NAPLES, JAN. 25.
Yesterday the bombardment of Gaeta was eon-

tinued by the Sardinian fleet. Gaeta has suffered
much from the bombardment. The fire from the
batteries of the place is feeble.
General Cialdini has lost but few men, A Sar-
dinian gunboat has been damaged.

NAPLES, JAN. 24 (EvENiNG).

The bombardment of Gaeta continues.

Liberio Romano, Minister of the Interior, has
appointed a commission for the publication of
historical documents concerning the Bourbon
dynasty, taken from the archives at Naples, and
dating from 1790 until 1860.

ROME, JAN. 24.
One thousand Sardinians have attacked the con-
vent of Casmali in the Roman States.

They dispersed the reactionary bands, set fire to
the convent on the night of the 22d instant, and
afterwards re-entered Neapolitan territory. The
monks saved themselves by flight before the com-
mencement of the attack.

ROME, JAN. 22.

Riotous demonstrations of a most serious character
have taken place in the Apollo Theatre. The per-
formance of " Il Trovatore" has been prohibited.
Some students have been expelled from the univer-
sity for having distributed tricoloured cockades.

COPENHAGEN, JAN. 25.

The Berlingske Tidende of to-day says :—" The
Minister of Finance has authorised the Ministers
of War and Marine to already apply, during the
current year, a portion of the funds voted for their
departments during the next financial year."

PESTH, JAN. 25.
The Comitat of Pesth has resolved to firmly
maintain the law. s'of 1848.
The Comitat of Houth not only demands that a
responsible and independent Hungarian Ministry
should be appointed before the opening of the Diet,
but also requests the annexation of the provinces
formerly belonging to Hungary, and the earliest
possible convocation of the Diet at Pesth.

PARIS, JAN. 25.
The Patrie gives a denial to the report that the
French troops are preparing to leave Rome.

A private telegram from Constantinople, dated
January 24, states that Vely Pasha has been
appointed ambassador at Paris.
The Paris papers publish a telegram, dated
Naples, January 22, according to which orders had
been given for the trial of some Neapolitan naval
officers before a court-martial for having refused to
take part in the siege of Gaeta. The same tele-
gram states that two Neapolitan war-vessels only
are employed at the siege of Gaeta.

VIENNA, JAN. 25.

The return of M. de Balabine from St. Peters-
burg to Vienna has been again delayed, on account
of the instructions which he has to receive from
Prince Gortschakoff in reference to the reported
revolutionary intrigues in Poland, the Principali-
ties, and Montenegro.

INDIA AND CHINA.

By extraordinary express in anticipation of the
overland mail we have received our usual letters
and papers. The dates are Calcutta, December
22 ; Madras, December 27 ; Hong Kong, December
14 ; Canton, December 8.
The following is from the Bengal Jiarkaru of
the 22d ultimo :

" Nothing of particular interest has taken place
since we last wrote, with the exception of our public
meeting to adopt a petition to Parliament praying
for publicity of accounts ; restraint upon the Sec-
retary of State for India with regard to spending
our funds ; opening up of the Legislative Council,
&c. The distinguishing characteristic of the meet-
ing was the great unanimity of feeling which per-
vaded all classes of the community with regard to
the necessity of the step. Two members of the
executive Government, Sir Bartle Frere and Mr.
Beadon, had in their places in the legislative coun-
cil admitted the necessity of a check being placed
upon the uncontrolled expenditure of the finances
of India by the Secretary of State, and had ad-
mitted that the proper way to bring this about
was by a petition of the taxpayers of India to
Parliament. Mr. Harrington, the most civilian
of civilians, has expressed himself to the same
effect. Public servants are in this land of des-
potism precluded from attending public meetings,
but their sympathies were with the objects of
that very large one composed of all the heteroge-
neous classes forming our community which met
in the Town Hall on Thursday last. Fully one
half of those present were natives, and this fact was
alluded to by several of the native speakers as being
a pledge of a reunion between themselves and their
European brethren, a termination of the bitterness
of feeling, or ' antagonism of race' as it has been
called, which has existed since the mutinies. The
Europeans showed their willingness to let bygones
be bygones, as proposed by Baboo Ramonath Tagore
by loud cheers. The first resolution was proposed
by the President of the Chamber of Commerce,
seconded by the Master of the Trades' Association,
and supported by Baboo Ramonath Tagore, a bro-
ther of the late Baboo D warkanath Tagore so well
known in England. The next resolution was pro-
posed by Rajah Pertaub Chunder Singh, President
of the British India Association, and one of the
largest zemindars in Bengal, seconded by Mr.
Peterson, of the Calcutta bar, who was followed by
Baboo Digumber Mittre, a Hindoo merchant, and
Ameer Ali, a pleader in the Sudder Court, who was
during the mutinies in great disfavour with the
European community on account of his having been
selected by Mr. Halliday as drynurse to Mr.
Samuells when that gentleman was sent up to Behar.
The last resolution was moved by Mr. Fitz william,
agent of the Mercantile Bank, and the petition read
by Mr. Brett, managing proprietor of the English-
man newspaper. These names will show how
sincere all ranks are in their feeling that there is
great danger in the course taken by the Secre-
tary of State with regard to expenditure of the
Indian fuuds, and we are sure that the alarm
will be not less felt in England, when the Eng-
lish people become aware of the enormous brib-
ing power which the office of Secretary of State
for India, as at present constituted, has thrown into
the hand of any Ministry which is as unscrupulous
in the use of it as Sir Charles Wood seems to be.
" Lord Canning has published a correspondence
between himself and the Secretary of State, which
the Friend of India pedantically calls the Magna
Charta of the Princes and Chiefs of India,' in which
the right of adoption is guaranteed to all Chiefs
above the rank of Jegheerdar. Before, however, a
document can be called a Magna Charts, the chiefs
must either have it in their power to compel Sir
Charles Wood to keep his promises—which they
have not—or they must have such confidence in him
that they will believe that he will keep his promises.
That they have not this confidence may be supposed
from Baboo Ramonath Tagore's suspecting the
Secretary of State of a design to sell Calcutta to
Jung Bahadoor, and from Mr. Remfry's stating
that all that was wanted for the easy government
of India was a little common honesty. If this is the
the opinion of the Secretary of State held in
Calcutta by both natives and Europeans, we cannot
suppose he has a better reputation higher up tile
country. In fact, these proclamations and publics.
tions are a good deal worse than useless. One does
not feel very much inclined to believe a man who
is always exclaiming, I am going to be honest.'
A little honesty in action would be worth 20 pro-
clamations.

6, In the indigo districts nothing new has happened.
Mr. Grant's friends, the ryots, have been burning
down the houses, and carrying off the women of any
ryots who might give evidence in favour of planters,
and he has been forced to send orders censuring the
authorities for permitting what he has himself
encouraged, and what he would have a few months
ago himself held to be proof positive of oppres-
sion committed by the planter. One of the cove-
nanted magistrates, who has been zealous against
the planters, he has removed, while Mr. Herschel
still continues Magistrate of Kishnaghur, and, it is
said, has received a letter from Sir Charles Wood
approving of all that he has done. The natives
declare that the above-mentioned covenanted
magistrate went so far in his zeal as to order the
factory servants to be picketed out in the sun in-
order to extort confessions from them. This is
only extending a little further Mr. Grant's order
that the two zemindars who were suspected of
having opposed Messrs. Watson and Co. should be
arrested, and if nothing was proved against them
detained in attendance on the magistrate for an
indefinite period—a favourite plan in the Mofussil,
though not one in accordance with the idea of the
liberty of the subject usually entertained in Eng-
land."

The Madras Athencsant, Dec. 27, says :—Sir P.
Grant, commander in chief of Madras, leaves for
England in February next. It is reported that
Sir Robert Napier, of the Bengal Engineers, is to
succeed him. But it is believed that the report has
no present foundation. Sir Mark Cubbon, Com-
missioner of Mysore, leaves for England in January
next. His successor has not been named.