The Sun.
London, England, 1859-01-10 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JANUARY 10, 1859.

YOUNG ENGLAND OLD ENGLAND.

(From the Spectator)
Are there any young men in public life in Eng-
land ? It is a question not withdut interest, and it
seems of peculiar import at the present time. The
subject is started'in turning over the leaves of that
useful little book, " Who's Who ?"—a sort of ad-
dress card-case for everybody. In spite of one's
personal knowledge, which might suggest the fact,
it almost surprises one to find that all our eminent
politicians are men advanced in life. For instance,
Gladstone and Disraeli are still called rising men,
men of great promise ; and Disraeli especially is
thought by certain solemn red tapists to have at-
tained his present post by rare luck and improper
rapidity. But the Chancellor of the Exchequer is
a middle-aged gentleman of 53, and Mr. Gladstone
is only four years younger. Mr. Disraeli also has
been 21 years in, Parliament, and Mr. Gladstone
has been 18 years a Privy. Councillor. These two
men brought each to politics a very rare genius,
and yet it has taken each more than 20years of the
wearying work and intense • intellectual effort of
Parliamentary business to win rank among our
consular men. Amongst all the Privy Councillors
of the Queen there is not one man under 30 ; and
there are only seven men under 40 (for we exclude
the Duke of Cambridge, who attained the rank by
birth). If we call 40 " middle-aged," we
,should thus
find of the 231 righthon...entlemen all but eight are
above that middle term of life—all but eight grave
and reverend seigniors. The eight' youngest coun-
cillors are not all of that volatile and juvenile turn
which might be expected. One, indeed, is the Duke
of Beaufort, who has been too playful at Brighton,
and four other noblemen (Castlerosse, Donough-
more, Newport, and Drogheda) are called right
honourable, not because they give counsel to the
Queen, but becanse they have, or had places at
Court. The remaining three-" young" councillors
are men who may be supposed to have graduated
by State work to that position; they are Lord
Stanley, Lord Naas, and Mr. F. Peel—three young
men not remarkable for youthful effervescence or
juvenile • indiscretion. Lord- Stanley is the very
youngest councillor of the Queen ; the public regard
him, however, as a man more grave, more solid
than his father,-arid he has the heaviest responsi-
bility of any member of the Cabinet. Thus for a
young man to rise high now-a-days he must be, by
nature, very old—older than his own father.
, Including the eight already named there are only
32 Privy Councillors under 50; and of the whole
number (231), 131 are over 60. No one can say.
that political life in England has rapid promotion.
Nearly one-half of the 100 councillors under 60 are
noblemen who attained the rank as a natural con-
sequence of their birth, and there would thus re-
main about 50 men (less than one-fourth of the
whole) who obtain by political service the rank of
Privy. Councillors before they are -60 years old.
Young Cabinet Ministers are very rare ; exclud-
ingiLord Stanley, there was Lord John Manners
who joined. the Cabinet at 34, the, Duke of New-
castle at 43, and Mr. Sydney Herbert at 40.
These three are our youngest public men of Cabinet
rank ; but in that rank, though not in connection
with home offices, is Lord Dalhousie (who was a
Cabinet Minister at 31, and is now only 43) and
Lord Cannins., who is only 46. At the other end
of the illustrious roll-call we find that the Queen's
oldest councillor is the Marquis of Lansdowne, who
was called to the Privy Council in 1806 (the year
Pitt died) ; and next is Lord Palmerston, who this
year completes half a century in the councils of the
Sovereign. The oldest man in the Privy Council
is Lord Lyndhurst. It looks like an odd reversal
of parts to find that if the Queen or the public
required a well-matured statesmanlike plan,showing
the results of experience and grave thought, they
might wisely select to prepare it the youngest
councillor and the youngest man in the council
(Lcrd Stanley) ; but if the Sovereign or the country
wished for an orator possessing an eloquence ever
young, and ardent enthusiasm, for the expression
of a national idea, -the eldest man in the council
would be the best choice, and Lord Lyndhurst
would do justice to the occasion. Reading the
political controversies of last year, we also find that
against' no man were there so many charges of
"s levity," " indiscretion," " flippancy, ' as against
the 1 ttc Premier—all but one, her Majesty's most
veteran adviser. Are alt -our old men young, and
all our young men old ?
Mr. Disraeli, in one of the fierce debates of 1852,
appealed to " the generous and the young at both
sides of the house." In the present Parliament,
the young then under 30 are but a minority of 50 ;
of that .50 there are not many who at pre-
sent give public promise -of !political eminence.
Amongst the few are Lord Ingestre, the Hon.
George Byng, Sir John Ramsden, the lon. W. F.
Denison, and Lord Robert Cecil. Even if we add.
the Hon. Wilbraham Egerton and Lord Caynham,
there.are but eight rising young men in a house of
658. This gives point to a complaint that the large
boroughs send us too many middle-aged mayors
and manufacturers.

But if a young man is thus discouraged from
entering the Parliamentary career, are there hopes
of more rapid success in the church, the army, the
navy, the law, or the civil service ? Let us see.
The youngest archbishop is Dr. Musgrave, of York,
and he is a man of 70. The youngest bishop offers
a fairer hope ; Dr. Bickersteth, of the see of Ripon,
is but 42. Out of 35 other bishops there are but
five under 50, and amongst the five we are glad
to notice Dr. Tait of London •, his work requires an
old head on a young body. Military service is not
a much more rapid way of attaining eminent rank.
There are but three general officers who have ob -
tained that rank under 30 years' service ' • one of
these, Sir John Inglis, obtained his rank for his
very special service at Lucknow, but he has alto-
gether served as a soldier for 24 years. Major-
General Mansfield, now chief of the staff in India,
is the youngest in service (23 years) of all our
general officers. The title of Knight Companion
of the Bath is a high prize for our military men ;
but there only four Knights under 50—Sir John
Inglis, Sir Edward Lugaard, Sir Henry Storks,
and Sir Robert Napier.
The navy presents still slower promotion,but it is
counterbalanced by the fact that boys can enter
the service at an earlier age. The majority of
officers in the navy do not attain the admiral rank
until after 40 years'service ; of late, a small number
have attained it after 35 years. The most rapid
promotion on the list, and quite exceptional, is that
of Rear• Admiral of the Blue, George Elliot, who
has attained that rank after 30 years''service.
The permanent civil service, including the Colo-
nial Government, is actually, contrary to what
many would suppose, the department of the State
where young men advance most rapidly to positions
of high emolument and responsibility. Sir Charles
Trevelyan was Secretary of the Treasury (with
£2,000 a year) and K.C.8., at 40; none of his
contemporaries running the race .of life in other
branches could possibly attain an equivalent post
or rank at so early an age. Sir Henry Barkly was
probably the youngest civilian, not of royal blood,
who has received the dignity of K.C.B. ; he was
knighted at the age of. 37. Next to Sir CharleS
Trevelyans and like him, an eminent civil servant,
is Sir Rich. Madox Bromley, K.C.8.; of last year,
now 45, and holding the post of Accountant-General
of the Navy. Of the three just named, Sir Richard
Bromley is the most remarkable as an illustrative
promotion in the civil service; for • Sir Charles
Trevelyan obtained his rank and post through his
Indian reputation, and Sir Henry Barkly through
Colonial position (added, of course, to very
high services) ; but Sir Richard Bromley
has been all his life working up his way
through the home civil service. It must be
said, however, that though a few civil servants have
won exceptional rank and reward, the men thus
promoted are entirely too few, and that the claim
of the service generally to titular honours is very
grudgingly conceded.
The law remains to be considered. The youngest
judge of the United Kingdom is Judge Keogh, who
was appointed to the Queen's Bench, Ireland, at
the age of 38. It is no disparagement, however, of
his remarkable abilities to say that he won his pro-
motion by Parliamentary rather than by legal
work. Judge Willes was a judge at 39 ; Baron
Bramwell at 47 ; Baron Martin at 48 ; Chief
Justice Cockburn at 52. All the other judges were
five, ten, or fifteen years older before they reached
the bench. Ordinary knighthoods we do not take
into account ; they are given often by chance, and
sometimes for very routine reasons. There are very
few knight bachelors, however, under 40 ; the only
knight under 30 is Sir Charles Bright, who was
knighted by Lord Eglint@n in the first enthusiasm
at the supposed success of the Atlantic cable. .
When Talleyrand heard talk around him of
Young Italy,: young France, young England, he
said, " What, are we to have governments of bibs
and tuckers ?". But we more nearly realise the
appreciation of one of the leading counsel in the
" Clandestine Marriage," who, hearing that a junior
is 40, says, " I wish you success, young gentleman."
All our young men are 49. .

AMERICA.

ARRIVAL OF THE ARABIA.

LIVERPOOL, SUNDAY.

The royal mail steamship Arabia, Capt. Stone,
has arrived at this port, with advices from Boston
to the 29th Dec.,.and Halifax to the 31st. She
brings 73 passengers and 76,696 dols. in specie..
On the 31st ult. the. Arabia spok,.3 the United
States mail steamer Fulton, 40 miles east .of Halifax,
Jan. 4, in lat. 50.21 N., long. 36.45, she passed the
American ship Baltic, standing to the southward ;
on the 7th,•in lat. 51.50 N.,l6ng. 14.57, she passed
the ship.Greenock, standing to the southward; on
the Bth, 9.40 p.m., she passed the . steamer Europa
off Holyhead. At four this morning the Arabia
came into collision with a polacca-rigged brig tow-
ing out, and sent boats to her assistance. • The brig
had lost cutwater and bowsprit, but was making no
water.
• The New York _Herald of Dec. 28 gives the fol-
lowing summary of news for Enropean circulation •
" In the Senate on Wednesday quite a number of
petitions in favour of a protective tariff were p7e-
sented and referred. A bill was introduced autho-
rising the removal of the revenue offices located at
the New York Quarantine station. A resolution.
was adopted calling on the State department for all
the correspondence relating. to the suspenSion of
diplomatic intercourse between Mexico and the
United States. The PostrnaSter-General was in-
structed• to report what changes in the postal laws
are necessary to, render the •PoSt-office department -
seltsupporting. A joint.. resolution, authorising
certain naval officers to receive complimentary
testimonials from the British Government, was
adopted. A bill was introduced_ appropriating a
million acres of land for the support a:free schools
in the district of Columbia. In executive session
the naval appointments sent in the day previous
were all confirmed. In the house the bill granting.
pensions to thesoldiers of the war of 1812 was passed
by a vote ofl3o to 73. The bill appropriating 8.52,000
dols. for invalid and other pensioners,- and the bill ap-
propriating 181,000 dols. for support of the Military
Academy, were -also passed. A series of resolutions
referring various portions of the President's annual
Message to appropriate standing committees, were
offered, and in committee of the 'whole the topics of
the Message were discussed. Mr. Geo. Taylor de-
livered a speech supporting the foreign 'Alley of
the Administration,: and especially with reference
to the complicated state of our relations -with
Central Ainerica. Mr. Davis of Mississippi, asked
leave'to offer a resolution directing the Committee
on. Foreign Affairs to report a bill authorising the
President to take possession of Cuba. The house,
however, refused 'to. Entertain the proposition.
"The news from Washington is in some respects.
important. In Congress on Thursday the Senate
refused, by a vote of 28 to 20, to take up the bill
passed by. the house at • the last session giving lands
to colleges in aid of education in agriculture and
the mechanical arts. A bill granting a pension of
30 dols. per , month to the widow of Col. Turnbull
was passed, A bill regulating the manner of choos-
ing United States senators was presented and re-
ferred. The Senate will meet in the new chamber
on the 4th of next month. A large number of new
subjects was started in the house, among them a
bill of 1,000,000 dol to enable the President to settle
our outstanding difficulties -with Spain and acquire
possession of Cuba. It was referred to the Com-
mittee. on Foreign Affairs. The civil, navy, diplo-
matic, executive, and judicial appropriation bills
were,reported. A bill to repeal the . English act
for the admission of Kansas was introduced by Mr.
Bingham, Republican, of Ohio,. and referred to the
Territorial Committee. A special committee was
ordered to investigate the accounts of the late
Superintendent of Printing, with power to send for
persons and papers. Both houseS stand adjourned
till the 4th of January.
"It is stated that the Government has received
information of a filibustering expedition, destined
for Nicaragua, fitting out at New Orleans, and the
federal officers there have been instructed to use
the utmost vigilance to supress it.
"The Senate has passcd.a joint resolution treat-
, ing temporarily the brevet grade of admiral, in
order that it• may be conferred upon the gallant
veteran Commodore Stewart, as in some degree
an offset to the harsh treatment he has experienced
-at the hatidg orthe retiring board. - A similar pro-
. position has been introduced in the house, and it
will no doubt pass soon after the recess of Congress.
" The session of the Senate was 'opened on Thurs-
day by prayer by Father Boyle, a Roman Catholic
priest. He was arrayed in full costume, and a
great number of priests, also in vestments, assisted
on the occasion. There was a numerous attendance
of spectators, and it is reported that the. novelty of
the scene occasioned no little conversation, while the
apparently devout aspect of the Senators led to the
belief that the services created an unusual impres-
sion upon them.
"The Commissioners, of the Patent-office, with
the concurrence of the Secretary of the Interior,
has issued circulars to certain of the leading agri-
culturists in different sections of the Union to attend
a convention to be held at the Patent-office build-
ing on the 3d of January nex, at 10 a.m., for the
purpose of discussing such facts in practical hus-
bandry as may have come under their experience
and observation, and of suggesting means by which
our crops may be increased, improved in quality,
and made more profitable to the producer. The
department will allow the delegates a mileage of
five cents. to Washington and back, with an addi-
tional
sum of twenty-five dollars to cover their
hotel expenses.
" The feuds of the border ruffians of Kansas have.
burst out afresh. It is reported that the notorious
Montgomery, at the head of 200 men, attacked
Fort Scott the other dao and captured the town,
killing half a dozen of the inhabitants in the melee.
The object of the • assailants was to release one of
their band, who was in confinement on a charge of
murder. It is furthermore reported that a gang of
Kansas marauders had ravaged' Vernon county,
Mo., killing a citizen, and carrying off valuable
spoil in the shape of horses, cattle, and negroes.
Other depredations and murders are also reported,
but we have no doubt that they are all greatly
exaggerated.
"Christmas was very generally observed through-
out the city on Saturday. Among the most inte-
resting celebrations and festivities were those at the
Home for the Friendless. 300 little children
who are there cared for were present, many of
them singing and speaking very prettily. Between
one and two thousand persons visited them during
the day, taking them numerous presents.
" As an instance of the growth and importance
of our trade with Bermuda we may mention that
within the past few weeks upwards of 16 vessels
have cleared at this port with full cargoes for those
Lslands.

" The packet-ship Daniel Webster, Capt. Spen-
cer, arrived at this port on Thursday from London,
having on board the captain and crew of the British
ship United Kingdom. This vessel sailed from
Quebec on the 6th of Oct., bound for Bristol, Eng-
land. She encountered severe weather, and on the
7th ult., during a heavy gale, sprung her rudder,l
and subsequently, in another gale, lost it altogether.
She also sprung a leak, and on the 14th ult., when
fallen' in with by the Daniel Webster, had five feet,
water in her wells, was leaking at the rate of three
feet per hour, and was almost unmanageable. The
captain and crew of ,the unfortunate ship saved
little or nothing of their effects. Capt. Spencer
reports, Sept. 20, in lat. 43.30 long. 43, on the out-,
ward passage, passing among a large number of
dead bodies, swollen and distorted, with seabirds
preying on them. They were, no doubt, of the
steamship Austria's passengers. They were nearly
together, in groups of two and three.
" The steamship Karnak arrived at this port on
Saturday, in 21 days from Liverpool. She expe-
rienced very heavy weather. The Karnak will
hereafter run between New York, Havana, and
Nassau, N.P.
" The Vanderbilt steamship Aria, which sailed
from Havre by way of Southampton on the Ist
inst., arrived at this port on Sunday evening from
Halifax. She left Halifax on the 23d inst., in
command of Capt. Brown, who succeeded the late
lamented Captain Ludlow."
STATE OF THE MARKETS.

The sales 4cotton yesterday (Dec. 27) embraced
about 900 bales, closing • dull, without quotable
change in prices. Dealers were disposed to await
the receipt of later news, due by the Asia, before
doing much. Flour was in moderate demand,
while the sales were light and. prices without
change of moment. Wheat was quiet, and sales
restricted to a lot of Illinois red at 1 dol. 10c., and
of Chicago spring at private terms. Corn was
heavy for new, but firm for old, while sales were to
a fair extent, including Jersey and southern yellow
at 74c. to 76c., while southern at 73c. to 741 c., and
old western mixed at 77e. to 78c. Pork was easier,
with sales of new mess at 17 dols., and. of old at
17 dols. 30c. ; old prime at 13 dols. 373 c.; and new
ditto at 13- d015.,30c. to 13 dols, 621 c. Sugars were
firm, with sales of about 500. hhds. Coffee was