The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-08 00:00:00

THE SUN, thNDorz, MONDAY EVENING, JULY 8, 1861.

UILD HALL, JULY 2, 1861.—The Com-
mittee for Letting the City Lands will MEET at
GUILDHALL, on WEDNESDAY, the 10th of July inst.,
at One o'clock precisely, to receive PROPOSALS for
LEASES in Lots of several HOUSES and PREMISES,
Nos. 58, 59, 60, and 61, Leonard-street; Nos 28, 29, 30, and
31, Mark-street : Nos. 1,2, 3,4, and two workshops, in Mark-
place ; No. 24, Matthew-street ; Nos. 7, 25, and 26. Chapel-
street ; and No. 14, Tabernacle-walk, Finsbury.. Plans of
the Property may be seen, and forms of tender obtained, upon
application at the Architect's Office, Guildhall.
FE R DINAND BRAND, Comptroller.

OYAL INSURANCE COMPANY,
29, Lombard-street, London ; and Royal Insurance
Buildings, Liverpool.
Subscribed Capital. £2,000,000. Paid-up and Accumulated
Funds exceed £700,000.
MERCAN rim,: INSURANCES of every description in
the P..rt of London and elsewhere freely entertained. This
Company has ever distinguished itself by promptitude and
liberality in the settlement of claims.

THE ETHNOLOGICAL SOCIETY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Slr,—My attention has been called to a letter in
your issue of Friday, the sth inst., signed by Mr.
Malone, and bringing my name somewhat promi-
nently forward.
The document in question is replete with inac-
curacies. It asserts, for instance, that Captain
Burton in " endeavouring to support M. Du
Chaillu," further added that he could confirm that
traveller as to another instrument described in his
book, consisting of pieces of wood placed over
gourds, &c.
I said nothing of the kind. Mr. Malone, like
most Englishmen, has probably read Dr. Living-
stone, and has made over the South African ex-
plorer's description of such an instrument to me.
The inaccuracies put forth by Mr. Malone with
respect to M. du Chaillu are far graver than the
little specimen above alluded to. Mr. Malone began
by interrupting the procedings with ironical cheer-
ing, a practice not rare, I believe, in the House of
Commons, but hardly admissible into an ethnologi-
cal society. He then rose, and, after a preamble
touching the fierceness of his disposition, adopted a
tone and style of address which would have caused
the coolest temper to boil over. My wonder is that
M. du Chaffiu restrained himself so long.
M. du Chaillu is a foreigner--one reason for
courtesy; he was our guest—another reason; ho
has been subjected for the last two months to un-
usual annoyances—a third reason. I venture to
hope that the person excluded from the future meet-
ings of the Ethnological Society will be, not M. du
Chaillu, but the gentleman who, after taking undue
advantage of our protection, insulted a foreigner
and a guest, and received (and quietly pocketed)
his punishment.—l am, Sir, your obedient servant,
RICHARD F. BURTON, M. Ethno. Soc.
14, St. James's•square, July 6.

711 E CANVASS OF THR NEW ISOLICI-

TOR-GENERzL•

As we have previously anrounced, a seat has
been found for the new Solcitor-General, Mr.
Roundell Palmer, at Richmonl, Yorkshire, by the
retirement of Mr. Rich. The greater part of the
borough is owned by the Earl of Zetland, and for
the last 20 years no attempt his been made to dis-
pute his lordship's influence. 11r. Roundell Palmer
arrived in the town on Thursday evening, and,
after making a personal call on a number of
the
electors, on Friday addressed f crowded meeting in
the Town hall at York. The chair was taken by
Mr. Alderman Cooke, who introduced the hon. and
learned gentleman to the raeeing.
Mr. ROUNDELL PALMER, ;rho on rising was re-
ceived with cheers, said he could not help feeling
that he appeared before then on the present occa-
sion under circumstances of considerable disadvan-
tage, because he was willing to give them all credit
for the feeling they all respected in others and
wished to find in themselves, a preference for old
friendships over new ones. He thought, considering
the long period of time during which Mr. Rich had
served the borough, the high character he had al-
ways maintained, and the just regard felt for him
in that place and in every place where he was
known, it must be a regret to them all that they
were to lose his services as their representative. It
was doubtless known to rainy of them as well as to
himself that Mr. Rich had been for a considerable
time compelled to look forward 'to the dissolution
of his connexion with the borough. Unfortunately,
through a malady which seriously affected his eye-
sight, he had begun to find himself unable to give
that attention to his Parliamentary duties which he
felt it his duty to do, and being advised that if he
had attempted to do so, it might have been
attended with far worse consequences, he had de-
termined at an early period to retire from Parlia-
ment. It was a delicate matter for him to justify
Mr. Rich's judgment in giving him the advantage
to present himself before the constituency. It was
not from reasons personal to himself, but in defer-
ence to the judgment the Government had formed
as to the propriety of placing him (Mr. R. Palmer)
in his present position, which had determined Mr.
Rich, of course leaving it to their judgment whether
by their approval of him they would enable the
Government to avail themselves of his services in
Parliament. The act of Mr. Rich was as spontane-
ous and disinterested as it was generous, but
undoubtedly he could have wished, and so could he
(Mr. R. Palmer), that the electors of Richmond had
been a longer time acquainted with his intention,
and that a longer time should have intervened be-
fore the election ; but the recent changes had come
suddenly on the Government by an act of Providence
which none could foresee, and therefore could not pro-
vide against them. He should not have done justice
to his feelings if he had not said thus much in justice
to the hon. gentleman whom he aspired to succeed.
(Cheers.) He now app.roached the still more diffi-
cult task of speaking of himself. It was, under all
circumstances, an invidious, disagreeable, and diffi-
cult thing for a man to speak of himself; but, when
a man came forward to offer himself for election to
an independent constituency, that was a duty he
must discharge, a necessity he must encounter as
well as he could. He should first state under what
circumstances he came before them. He came be-
fore them, as they knew, because it had pleased
their gracious Sovereign to confer on him the ap-
pointment of Solicitor-General. That act was not
by word or deed personally, directly or indirectly.
through any friend—not even in the most remote
manner sought either by his friends or himself. lie
was out of Parliament, and had been out of Parlia-
ment for the past four years. The cause of this was
a difference between the Prime Minister and him-
self. He was n t able to agree with Lord Palmer-.
ston on the question of the Chinese war ; but he
supposed he (Mr. Roundell Palmer) was wrong,
because the great majority of the people of England
sustained the then Government in the course it pur-
sued. But though he differed from Lord Palmer-
ston, he could assure them it was because he con-
sciously followed what he thought right on that
occasion. (Hear.) The consequence, however, was
that he did not offer himself again at the election
which followed to the important constituency which
he, had represented for nearly 10 years. He would
not attempt to. speak of the manner in which
he discharged his duties during the period be repre-
sented that constituency further than to say that
he acted throughout as an independent man, neither
flattering his constituency nor any of the people,
whom he always loved and served, not connecting
himself with any party, not seeking office, not mak-
ing himself dependent in any way, so that when
he went out of Parliament in 1857 he went out
as independent a man as when he entered it.
(Cheers.) No man had any claim upon him for a
vote given in his favour ; no Government had any
claim upon him ; and there was no party with which
he had definitely Connected himself. He remained
out of Parliament during the two elections which
followed, and he would tell them why he did so.
He was not prepared to unite himself with the
party of Lord Derby and Mr Disraeli, and he could
not, without acting inconsistently and bartering his
independence, consent to be bound by such pledges
as many popular constituencies asked of their can-
didates. He preferred remaining out of Parliament
till he could serve some independent constituency,
and he would have remained out to the end of his
days rather than have entered in any way that
would have involved a sacrifice ofprinciple. (Cheers.)
Although out of Parliament, and not in office, Lord
Palmerston had asked him to give his services,
humble as they were, to the Government. Lord
Palmerston knew the principles he had professed;
and he also must have been aware that he should
not swerve from them. Notwithstanding this he
had thought well to honour him with the office of
Solicitor-General. He must confess himself not to
be indifferent to that feelifrig of ambition which was
common among men, but he hoped that in accepting
office under the Government he was chiefly moved
by that more honourable ambition to serve his coun-
try to the best of his power. (Cheers.) His prin-
ciples might be summed up in a few points. He
was at present,. and always had been; an ardent
lover of the people, and an ardent lover and advo-
cate of civil and religious liberty—(cheers)--but he
was not one who, had courted the name of Liberal
rather than follow the principles that term ex-
pressed; neither had he, to earn a credit for supe-
rior liberality, supported measures which, although
popular with a certain Class, were what he con-
sidered detrimental to the interests of the country.
On the other hand, he was most heartily attached
to the mixed form of Government under which
we lived, and to the great institutions of the
country in Church and State; and no one could be
more determined to hand them down to posterity as
unimpaired as he had found them. But that at-
tachment was not blind and unreasoning He for
one could not go so far as to say there were no flaws
in our time-honoured institutions. He was not,
therefore, opposed to well considered measures of
earnest and practical reform. There was no doing
good without progress, and there was no progress,
right, or respect for the good with which we may
be actuated which we ought not to be thankful to
God for giving us. (Hear.) There was one subject
on which he had the most decided opinion. He was
one of those who looked on war as the greatest
curse which could happen to the human race. He
was ready to advance to the furthest limit of con-
cession compatible with the national dignity and
honour to maintain peace; but, on the other hand,
he was one who thought that the national honour
should be maintained at whatever cost, and that we
should shrink from no expenditure to place the na-
tional security beyond jeopardy. ((;heers.) Holding
these opinions Lord Palmerston had thought it well
to invite him to join the Government, and he had
not refused giving
his services, and he hoped he
might be in some measure instrumental in helping
forward those measures of law reform which for a
long succession of years had been in progress, and
which, as they knew, were not yet finished. In
other matters he should be prepared to promote to
the best of his ability the progress of practical im-
provement. He was not afraid of the people of this
country ; on the contrary, ee respected and honoured
them. (Cheers.) He felt that they were entitled
to the most unbounded respect and confidence, and
he should be prepared in all things to consider ex-
clusively objects of practical government for their
good. When he had received the call to accept office
lie considered it his duty to obey when he looked at
the position of parties at home and the state of po-
litics abroad, provided there was no interference of
principle which would prevent him obeying that
call. And he did not know of any. Let them just
look abroad. For some years past they had seen,
and still saw on the continent of Europe such
dangerous complications of affairs as might at any
moment involve the whole of Europe in war, and he
held it to be a thing of vital importance that all
possible support should be given to a Government
which had by its policy shown itself entitled to their
confidence, and he thought the Government of Lord
Palmerston had especially done that. The whole
bearing of the Government for the last three or four
years had been towards the preservation of peace, at
the same time holding that the liberty of foreign

nations should not be interfered with by preventing
interference. (Cheers.) They had maintained the
right of nations to work out their own liberty.
These great results, which bad been attained with
such noble promises of future good, would not have
been, or at any rate might not have been attained
without the influence of the moral weight of this
country speaking through its Government. It was
this, he believed, brought to bear on certain poten-
tates, which had restrained ambition or desire for
power which would otherwise in all pronabiiity
have thrown impediments in the way of such a
happy consummation of events as had taken place.
(Cheers.) It was not only the armaments of France,
not only the imperfect consolidation of the Italian
kingdom, not only the changes which threatened in
the Papal States, but there were dangers in Austria
and Hungary—dangers in Poland and Turkey—
dangers, in fact, on all sides : and what had they to
trust to P Why, subject to Divine and overruling
Providence, they had to trust to the firmness and
wisdom of their rulers ; and if the conduct of affairs in
this country should fall into hands in any way in-
clined to disturb the policy which had. worked so well
for the last three or four years, and who had not that
influence and experience in foreign Courts which the
present Government possessed, the guarantees we
now had for the peace of our land and the security of
our own homes would be most materially disturbed
and diminished. For this reason he asked their sup-
port, as he intended to co-operate with a Government*
which had so successfully conducted the affairs of
the country; and the present state of parties in
this country he thought, presented an equally strong
reason why they should not refuse the Government
their confidence. There were a great many people
—many, perhaps, in Richmond, though not as
many there as elsewhere—who spoke as if they
thought that all the world wa; divided by some
hard line into Radicals and Tories. There was not
a greater mistake. It was not so divided; and it
was probably less so divided now than at any for-
mer period. What was the cause why these divi-
sions had dwindled and become so unreal ? It was
doubtless to be attributed to the great abuses which
had been reformed ; the fabric of liberty had been
built up step by step till at last there remained
few matters which tended strongly to divide the
opinions of men. And it was a very happy thing
that it was so. It promoted cordiality between
man and man. There was one particular evil con-
nected with this good thing—it tended to make
Government rather more difficult, because there
was a greater tendency to struggle for power be-
tween the heads of parties. It was for the advan-
tage of the country that a Government should be
reasonably strong, against which this approxima-
tion of opinions militated. There were two kinds
of Conservatism—one was destructive, the other
was common to all good Liberals. The destructive
stood still, was selfish, advocated class privileges,
thought everything was as good as it should be,
and disliked all change. Such Conservatism would
revolutionise society. True Conservatism was pro-
gress—that which was stationary in the world
went to decay and died ; that which -was prowres-
sive lived and grew. The progress of reform should
be constant and steady, and on this the security and
prosperity of the nation depended. The policy of the
present Administration was safe and progressive,
and he felt it no slight honour to be connected with
it. The learned gentleman concluded by asking
the support of the electors if his principles coincided
with theirs.
On the motion of Mr. G. Smurthwaite, seconded
by Captain Stapleton, a vote of confidence in Mr.
Roundell Palmer was unanimously agreed to.
In answer to questions the hon. candidate stated
that he was favourable to the admission to the
franchise of the intelligent members of the working
classes. He was opposed to the ballot.
Mr. HUNTON moved a vote of thanks to the re-
tiring member, Mr. Rich, which was carried by ac-
clamation, and after cheers had been given for Mr.
Roundell Palmer and a vote of thanks passed to the
Chairman the meeting dispersed.
The election, it is believed, will take place in the
course of the week.