The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-19 00:00:00

NEW FOREIGN OFFICE.

A deputation of architects waited on Lord Pal-
merston by appointment on Wednesday. The
gentlemen present were Messrs. Banks Barry,
Bell, Broderick (Leeds), Clifton, Cockereli, Profes.
sor Donaldson, Falkener, C. Fowler, jun. , H. B.
Garling, l'Anson, Kerr, Lamb, Low, Mee, J. W.
Papworth, Scoles, Smirke, A.R.A., Thornson, and
Watson, with communications of assent to the pro-
posed step from Messrs. Ashpitel, Bellamy, Coles,
Davies, Hesketh, Owen Penrose, Walters (Man-
chester), and many 'others.
The deputation was introduced by Mr. Tim,
M.P., who obscrived in limine that he wished It to
be known that the present movement and deputa-
tion had not in any way origiriated with himself
or his hon. friend, Mr. Coningham. He then
begged his lordship's attention to the gentle-
men above named, who represented the views
of 200 out of 230 architects of this and other
countries who had responded to the ap-
peal of the former Government for competition
designs. Before leaving them to speak for them-
selves he felt at liberty to remark that if the archi-
tects who had been summoned by Sir B. Hall as
Chief Commissioner of Works and Public Buildings
before the conditions of competition were drawn
out had been consulted as to the choice of a style,
then indubitably a Gothic style would not have
been adopted ; that the ground of nationality put
forward for the Gothic adopted by Mr. Scott was
fallacious ; inasmuch as its principal features were
to be found in the Lombard-Gothi3 of the early
part of the 13th century, combined with the cha-
racter of the town-halls of Belgium of a much
later period, and that if the present case were
given as an opportunity for an experiment on a new
Gothic style, he should consider it as a most inju-
dicious step. He succinctly.repeated the chief
topics of objection to the Gothic style for the pre-
sent purpose, such as expense, congruity, light, &c.,
which he had already made public. Having laid
before his lordship cfficial plans of the site, and
having explained the actual condition of the loca-
lity with reference to the expense of the demolition
of some of the present buildings (of which, as lie
observed, no sufficient explanation could be given •
in the House of Commons • without constant and
impracticable reference to such plans), Mr. Tite
noticed the necessity for character and expression
in a public building ; that the destination of an
edifice should appear as much as possible upon its
face—that a prison should look like a prison, and
a palace like a palace. Mr. The gave considerable
praise to Somerset-house as originally designed
by Sir W. Chambers, and as lately par-
tially completely by Mr. Pennethorn. He
concluded with the expression of his confidence
in Mr. Scott's ability, if that gentleman thought it
compatible with his position in the profession, to
relinquish the style in which he had obtained so
high a reputation, and of the desire of himself and
deputation as not intending to make any rema) k
that should be personal to that gentleman, who was
known to almost every one of them.
Mr. SMIRKE, A.R.A., was happy to be the
medium of expressing the views of the deputation,
and not having been a competitor he had no griev-
ance personally on the competition question to be
redressed. He was anxious to assist in resisting
the efforts of certain dilettanti to push the adoption,
not only in public structures, but on all occasions,
of- a style that might be not unsuitable for clerical
purposes and, though more rarely, for domestic
edifices. Fortified in his view of the style to be
preferred, by the practice of the architeets at Ber-
lin, Munich, Paris, and Vienna, Mr. Smirke was
glad to find so many architects ready to make
known their satisfaction that Lord Palmerston, by
his determination, had undertaken to prevent the
insertion at the Foreign-office of the thin end of a
wedge that would necessarily make way for a mass
of Gothic buildings, not only where the new offices
were now required, but where old ones had to be
removed ; in short, from the Abbey, he supposed,
finally to end at Charing-cross, at least.
Professor I)ONALDSON felt that the deputation
might also express some of the indignation felt by
a majority of the competitors and of non-competing
architects at the real result of the competition.
Not that they were dissatisfied with the decision of
the judges who, it would be remembered by his lord-
ship, had agreed with their professional advisers in
placing designs that were not Gothic at the head of
the lists of premiums. He condemned the exertions
which were made to reverse the effect of those de-
cisions by some of thedilettanti to whom Mr. Smirke
had alluded, and which were rendered nugatory by
the committee (of the House of Commons) conse-
quently appointed, as the committee came to no
conclusion. He also laid considerable blame on the
Chief Commissioner of Works, &c., as having
attacked the integrity of the system of competition,
which ought to be founded on the principle that the
award of the execution should, wherever possible,
follow that of the prize. The Professor eulogised
the architects who had decorated, not only the
Western portions of the metropolis, but also the
city, and who, by their works, had those been re-
stricted to the designs exhibited at Westminster
during the competition, evidenced the fitness of
their minds to form an authoritative opinion upon
the subject under consideration. He considered
that where a Gothic style had been employed in
London for buildings intended for business the
style had been made to serve as a sort of advertise.
ment ; but those were very few, and he urged that
if retrogression was to be the snot d'ordre from the
public to the architect, then there was no reason
shown why that backward step should only reach
to the Gothic period. He felt that the choice of a
Gothic style for the Palace at Westminster might
be defended upon tradition, and begged his
Lordship to remember, that the New Foreign-office,
if in contiguity with anything, was in close
proximity to a number of buildings that were not
Gothic, and to one of the gems of European archi-
tecture, the Banqueting House.
Mr. CONINGIIAM, M.P., who had been invited to
express his opinion, concurred in the remarks that
had been made, which he thought were confirmed
by the private edifices of the present time. He re-
garded the Gothic fashion as a retrogression like
pre-Raphaelitism, and hoped that its abettors, find-
ing that• taste was a question for each individual
mind, would be enabled to follow the path already
trodden by Gothe and Beckford, who commenced
their career of amateurs with a lavish adulation of
Gothic, and ended it as admirers of a totally dif-
ferent style. Referring to the intention of erecting
a new Indian-office, the speaker concluded by ex-
pressing his anxiety that, while adopting the gene-
ral feature of Italian architects, monotony and uni-
formity should be avoided at Whitehcll and West-
minster instead of a variety of eccentricities that
are fashion, not taste.
Mr. E. B. LAMB begged to add that it was gene-
rally held as a matter of fact that our art ought to
keep itself in advance of the materials of which it
avails itself. It was equally a matter of fact that
the Gothic style had had a point of excellence, for
its time, beyond which it had done nothing. On the
contrary, since the time of Henry VIII., the Italian
or neo-classic style, had been changing itself so as
to accommodate tb.e diversity of climates and the
invention of new materials or the improvement of
old ones. All these, as they had hitherto been treated,
were so many difficulties in the way of the restora-
tion of a really Gothic school of advanced art. He also
insisted that every public buildin g,at the least, should
exhibit, in the style employed, one which should
not be deprived of any of its leading characteristics.
Agreeing with Mr. Tite on the subject of lighting
in the opposing styles, he sketched the outcry that
would be made if the Palace of Westminster were
to be enlivened by the removal of the divisions to
its windows, and by similar steps that might
render that building as useful as it were in ano-
ther style.
Mr. KERR felt that the laziness of saying that
there is no accounting for tastes was not now pos-
sible in matters of architecture ; and that style was
not an accidental arbitrary fashion to be tied up
with red tape, but was a parcel of the intellect ;
general design, inclusive of architecture, had
hitherto exhibited the people-of its period and
place; this was true of Gothic work in its own
day ; but it was also true of the 15th century,

when a new system arose ; which included a new
system of art, and necessarily•the branches of art
called Italian Architecture. That system, modified
considerably, still exists in England;_ that art, mo-
dified. also considerably, is its true exponent or ac-
companiment. He considered that the band of
ladies and gentlemen, enthusiastic or ;rather ro-
mantic, who urged the recurrence to Gothic art,
had exhibi,ted.,in some of their vagaries a little ab-
sence of common sense. If they urged that it was
•to•Gothic'art alone that •they wished to return,
Lord Palmerston, who had seem many examples of
the temptation to imitate other GOthicism which
indulgence-in that line of amusement had created,
would know better than to accept 'the apology.
The proper style for our public buildings is the
style of the present day, not that •of a
past age; and if his noble auditor would be
guided by a Gothic Foreign-office might
arise ; but if he would take the opinion.
of men educated to deCide upon such subjects, there
could be no doubt that his lordship would build
in the modern European fashion. _

Lord PALMERSTON was glad to receive the as-
surance that trained men of science and judgment
approved the course which he-had felt it his duty
to pursue.' He Could excuse the mania in some
quarters for building Gothic habitations in the
country by recollecting that those might be
prompted by the vicinity of the Elizabethan manor-
house, which itself was the successor of the Gothic
castle. But in regard to those building Gothic
habitations in tqwns, he felt that there were people
Who had notionswhich were perfectly out of date.
A public office was, in fact, the habitation of the
chief and his staff during the day, and he (Lord
Palmerston) knew of no style so suitable to an
English habitation as the horizontal, or classic, or
Italian, or whatever name its branches might have
gained. A public building ought to be handsome
externally, while convenient in the interior ; and
the style which he preferred undeniably gave
buildings which combined those qualities. He
believed that in the erection of a handsome build-
ing the style that he preferred all'wed a reasonable
economy to be observed internally; the contrary,
with regard to Gothic, had been practically taught
him at lirestminster and elsewhere. He felt that
he had only to repeat the statement made-on a pre-
vious occasion, viz., that he had so strong an objec-
tion to the Gothic style for the present purpose
that he should think it his duty, in office or other-
wise to protest against the erection of a building dif-
ferent from Ord which he saw gave him such grounds
for selection ; he could say, in short, that his mind
was determined not to have Gothic, but Italian.
He might feel satified with his conviction that Mr.
Tite's sentiments were correst as to the comparative
cost of the opposed styles.
Mr. WATSON mentioned the heavy expenditure
by Mr. Russell, in Park-lane, the only Gothic
dwelling-house in that part of London.
Lord PALMERSTON then referred to the cost of the
present State Paper-office, which, it appeared, must
be pulled down to show Mr. Scott's park front, and
which it was stated was stated was £40,000. He
also entered into conversation with the deputation
as to the congruity, styles, condition, &c., of the
buildings existing in the locality of the Foreign •
office.

Mr. Henry Bayley Garling; of No. 11, King's-
road, Gray's-inn, and Messrs. Bankes and Barry,
as chief prizemen in the late competition, were
introduced to his lordship's notice, and
Mr. TITE having thanked his lordship for his
reception of the deputation and the stand he had
made to carry out their views, the deputation with-
drew.

ELECTION INTELLIGENCE.

HERTFORD.

Yesterday the nomination of candidates to
supply the vacancy in the representation of Hert-
ford, caused by the Right Hon. W. F. Cowper ac-
cepting the office of Vice-President of the Board of
Trade, took place in front of the Town-hall, in tho
presence of Mr. Henry Squire, the Mayor (a mem-
ber of the Society of Friends), and a large con-
course of the principal inhabitants, together with a
number of the neighbouring gentry and their fami-
lies. Mr. Cowper has, of course, presented him-
self to the constituency for re-election, but he has
been unexpectedly Sand stoutly opposed, in the
Conservative interest, by Mr. hobert Dimsdale, a
gentleman of property residing at Essendee, in the
immediate vicinity, and an extremely close contest
being waged between the two. The pretensions of
Mr. Dimsdale are said to receive countenance from
the Marquis of Salisbury, who has considerable
property in the borough, though, of course, a noble-
man stands aloof from an-election contest; and the
near relationship of Mr. Cowper to the Premier,
and the right lion. gentleman's own share in oust-
ing Lord Derby from office, are presumed to be the
motives which have provoked an opposition but
seldom shown towards the se-election of a man
who accepts an office under the Crown, and which
in this case assumes the appearance of an act of
political revenge. Lord Raynham, M.P. Mr.
Lysley, M.P., Mr. Abel Smith, M.P-, and Mr. St.
Aubyn wore among the gentlemen on the hustings
or in close proximity to them ; and the Baroness
Dimsdale, three of the daughters of Lord Coirper,
Lady Elizabeth St. Aubyn, Lady Audrey Towns-
bend, and Mrs. R. Dimsdale witnessed the cere-
mony from the windows in the vicinity.
Mr. B. YOUNG, a brewer in Hertford, and Mr.
CRAWLEY, a coachmaker, nominated Mr. Cowper;
and Mr. Dimsdale was introduced to the electors by
Mr. CURTIS, a solicitor, and Mr. T. SMITH, an
architect.
Mr. COWPER then stood forward to address the
electors, and was greeted with cheers. He said
--ordinarily at contested elections there was some
great question of stirring interest, something that
quickened the pulsations of the country, on which
a public man might venture to express his senti-
ments before a constituency; but the present occa-
sion was wholly different, for we had arrived at a
time when Parliament had been dissolved, when,
to borrow a military phrase, political parties had
gone into winter quarters for six months, and when
a little skirmish in the town of Hertford was not
likely to have any great effect an the general cam-
paign. (A laugh.) He felt a difficulty to know
on what topic to address them. They did not ex-
pect that he should tell them anything of the policy
of the Government which he had lately joined.
Having immediately on coming into office to take
the necessary steps and to call on the House of
Commons to vote the requisite supplies for putting
our shores in a state of defence calculated to resist
any hostile invasion, they had not time or oppor-
tunity to propound any scheme of general policy.
For himself lie might say lie had taken office under
the conviction that the present Government would
carry to a successful result those principles of which
he had ever been a consistent supporter. (Cheers.)
Born and bred in a family which had always main-
tained Whig principles ever since the Whig party
had existed—(cheers)—he had invariably advocated
those principles from conviction during his whole
public life, Those principles involved the recog-
nition and extension of civil and religious freedom,
based the public good on individual rights and
on individual conscience, and aimed. not at favour-
ing any one class at the expense of another,
but of combining all in one general harmonious
union with the view to secure the public wel-
fare. (Cheers.) The repeal of the corn laws,
the extension of free trade, the abolition of all
disabilities affecting Dissenters, and efforts made
for improving the moral and educational con-
dition of the working classes, were the trophies
to which the party with whom he had constantly
acted could point. (Cheers.) In the present day
we had no great struggle for political rights; that
battle had been well fought and well won—(cheers)
—but we had the great task before us of diffusing
comfort, intelligence, and happiness more widely
among all classes:in the empire. He had done what
power to assist Lord Shaftesbury and
laymenin his
like him in the efforts they had made to apply
the true principles of political legislation to the re-
duction of labour where it was excessive, to the
improvement of the dwellings of the labouring
' classes, and to the augmentation of the means and
facilities for education. The question of Parlia-
mentary reform was no doubt still pending, Rar,
hear.) He had always maintained that the future'
Reform Bill ought to proceed on the principles de-
veloped in the Act of 1832. One object of that
measure was to extend the franchise to every man
who had such a stake in the country as was likely
to afford a guarantee for its proper exercise ; and
now that education had been dif used. more widely,
and that comfort and independence had reached a
lower grade than in 1832 he was of opinion
the franchise ought to be loweredhd so as to meet
happier state of things which a
since supervened.m
The gentleman who receded him had 'complained
that, although he (Mr. Cowper) had supported
es, there liberal measures, was one liberal measure he
had not
supported, and that was Lord Derby's
1
Reform Bill. (A laugh.) He was not surprised
that a gentleman, by conviction a Tory of the old
school, should have such a very imperfect notion of i
a liberal measure. He (Mr. Cowper) did not consider 1
that a very liberal measure which did not lower the

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-which the Conservative, party had opposed when
- • -out-of office. f A -la a 8 h.) -frik.--Voiee—" What about
•the bribery ?"3 Why,-talking of bribery,:therrwas•
the case of Berwick, where the private secretary
of Mr. Disraeli got into sus ~''.llol ty- th.lit'he de-
clined to face the petition pr *--ftied against his re-
turn. It was true he.was not unseated by 'an elec-
tion committee, for he did not care to confront one,
' but he vacated his seat by accepting the Chiltern
Hundreds, and so got over the difficulty.
(Laughter and upro.lr.) Did his friend in the
• crowd want another case ? If so, there was that of
Dr. Michell, recently member for:13011min; -He was
not turned out ozi an election petition, for he was
too shrewd to go into the committee room.; but it
' was generally rumoured that there were acts of
bribery in that case so manifest that people in the
secret wers.not surprised that Dr: Michell, instead.
' of undergoing the ordeal of a Parliamentary in-
quiry, though it more prudent to accept the
Stewardship , of the Chiltern Hundreds, and to
• allow his opponent to be returned at a fresh elec-
tion unopposed. ,(A laugh.) Again, there was the
case of a gentleman who was proved to hatOcorn-
mitted bribery—he meant
.the member for' 'Hull.
(Shouts of " No, no !" and uproar.) He begged •
pardon; it was his agent who was proved to have
done so. (Renewed uproar.) 'All that. he (Mr.
• Cowper) knew,of the matter was that the committee
had unseated Mr. Hoare, and he would withdr: w
the expression which had given offence. The right
hon; gentleman-proceeded to say that the- reform
he . was desirous of. seeing carried 0-bould
be - based on the principles recognised in
the measure of 1832—namely, 'the extension of
the franchise and the abolition of rotten boroughs.
After a passing reference to the independence
and 'public spirit with which the electors of
Hertford, as a body, had exercised their' political
privilege and resisted landlord influence, 'which he
denounced in indignant terms—adding that his
family had held house property in the boroUgh for
many years, and he defied any man to say that any
,ilfae of them had ever attempted to coerce or in the •
slightest degree interfere with an elector in the`
exercise of his franchise=he said - he -Wanted to
know why, on the present occasion, he had been
met with this opposition from Mr. Dimsdale ? It
was generally thought to be an unfair thing to op-
pose the re-election of a man who had accepted an
office under the Crown, unless for some definite
reason, such as that of having failed to fulfil pro-
mises previously made to his constituents, and so
incurring their disapprobation. He knew that on
the formation of Lord Derby's Government the rule
of generous forbearance was adhered to by the
Liberal party. (No, no.) In proof of that he cited
the course parsued with reference to Sir E. B.
Lytton on that occasion, when the seatof that dis-
tinguished member of the Conservative party for
Hertfordshire was supposed to be somewhat in jeo-
pardy. Mr. Dimsdale in his address to the consti-
tuency said we had reached a peculiar conjuncture.
He (Mr. Cowper) thought in some respects it was
very peculiar—(a laugh) ; but he did not quite see
the peculiarity in the light which Mr. Dimsdale
did. (A laugh.) He found fault with- him (Mr.
Cowper) for having voted in favour of the motion of
a want of confidence in Lord Derby ; but did not he
(Mr. Cowper) tell them from the hustings at the gene-
ral election he would oppose Lord Derby, and would
lit have been honest in him to have done other-
wise? (Cheers.) He stiggestea-that Mr. Dimsdale,
in urging his'desire to suppart Lord Derby and his
Government, as the motive -for contesting the repre-
sentation of Hertford on this occasion, was a day
behind the fair. The right hon. gentleman con-
tinned at -some length and in a playful spirit to
' criticise thioprinted address of his opponent, and to
vindicate the present Government from the charge
of being constituted of heterogeneous elements, coa-
-1 tending that. the Whig party from the earliest
times had ever been made up of those elements, and
that therein lay its strength and vitality. He con-
cluded by expressing his conviction that the result
of the_poll would be to place him again in the proud ,
position of their representative.
Mr. DIMSDA LE next :addressed the meeting, but
amid frequent :interruptions from the crowd below.
He said he had entertained for a considerable period
the expectation of representing Hertford in Parlia-
ment, closely connected as he was with the- town,
and taking a deep interest in its welfare. He de-
nied that there was aught unfair in his coming
forward on this occasion to contest the representa-
tion, seeing that it was a principle of the constitu-
tion that when a gentleman accepted an office under
the Crown he was bound to appeal to his constitu-
ents to see whether or no they would endorse his
appointment. (Cheers.) • He opposed Mr. Cowper
on this occasion because he disapproved the part
he took in ejecting, Lord Derby from office, and
that on grounds which he .(Mr. Dimsdale)
thought factions. Adverting to the question
or PariNtuuntsery rofiypn, he said -.14.1 pro-
posed by Lord Derby's Goverdniciit Was- the
only ono since that of 1852 which had gone so
far as the motion for a second reading. He con-
mented upon the extraordinary number of Liberal
members who had been unseated for bribery on
petition as the best practical answer to the thou-
sand absurd tales about the fabulous sums of money
spent by. the Carlton Club for purposes of corrup-
tion during the last general election, with which
the public were familiar; and he pointed to the
circumstance of Taunton, which in 1852 returned

two Liberal members, being now represented by
two Conservatives, as an indication of the reaction
now going on in the country in favour of Conserva-
tive principles. He expressed himself in favour of
a £6 franchise in boroughs, as a means of admit-

ting the elite of the working classes to the privi-
lege of voting, and of the abolition of the paper
duty, which stood in the way of their enlighten-
ment. Speaking of church-rates, he held that if
Parliament did not speedily bring that long-vexed
question to a settlement, the church-rates would
repeal themselves. He would have Churchmen pay
the rates, and let the Dissenters go free—(a laugh)
—but he would exclude the Dissenters from all
share in the management of parochial affairs. Ho
concluded by saying he had embarked\in this con-
test from no unfriendly feeling to Mr. Cowper, but
on public grounds, and he appealed to the consti-
tuency for their suffrages freely in the great
interests of political justice and political truth.
(Cheers).
The MAYOR then took a show of hands, which
he decided to be in favour of Mr. Ditnsdale ; and, a
poll having been demanded on behalf of Mr. pow-
per
it
w aathe
was
arranged
cus t customary houn
to commence this (Friday)
morning