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London, England, 1857-04-09 00:00:00

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[PRIG 4D STA MPI D 51

1 .
rings or layers presented an astonishing chart of tree
time. When one of these aged trees was a seedling,
if we turn to profane history, we shall find that then,,
when it was a young and tender plant, an event took
place which excited as much interest as the seige of
Sebastopol—the siege of Troy;, and .if we turn to
Sacred history, we shall find that it began its life in
the time of the Judges ; that it was quite a stripling
when David and Solomon ascended the throne of
Israel ; that it had rot ranch more than finished 1,000
years of its existence when our Lord came upon the earth
—had-completed its second thousand years during the
dark ages of the Papacy—had reached. the age of 2,600
years at the discovery of America, at The end of the 15th
century ; and when the 19th century dawned, oar tree
.was approaching the end of its protracted life, the same
century which proved so fatal for the thrones of so many
sovereigns and rulers of the old world saw t'li. monarch
of the American woods fall before the ruthless axe of
European aggression. Two of these long-lived tree 3;
therefore) would span the whore period of recorded time
from Adam's days to the present.
In 1806 Wheet,r's " Botanical Dictionary," describing
the cypress, states that ono species growing in parts of
North America rives in some places to the prodigious
height of 70 feet and upwards, and several fathoms in
"circumference. Now we find if growing of five times
those dimensions.—Building News.

THE .?V'EW SPEAKER.

(Front-the Times.)

Now that we have our new House of Commons,
there comes again the question—Who is to be the
new Speaker ? That question is already answered,
as far as it can be .at present, by the selection of
4r. Evelyn Denison for the-Ainistorial candidate.
-The result.of a. contest ought-to .betZtot only r;uccess-,
ful, hot triumphant ; and therefore it. is an ob-
ject to. start a candidate who will command not only.
a majority, but the litigest possible majority. Two
other names have been suggested on the Miuiste-.
rial side,—the Right Hon. M. T. Baines and the.
Right. Hop. H. Fitzroy ; and we will attempt a
comparison of all three. The first of these is a man.
of much ability, and one who has worked hard in
his time at secondary posts. His industry and his
good temper, his legal knowledge and his official
habits, would have been qualificationi for an office
which thrsatens at first to be unusually harassing.
More than a quarter of tha new House is made up
of new members. Whether it be a recommenda-
tion or not, the country would not have lost by the
choice of -Mr. Bathes either an orator or a ram of.
the highest Ministerial rank. It is some time since
he Made speeches or entered much into debate, and
his present official position must bo referred to one
of thoSe secrets of statecraft of which the public has.
not the key.. Why men of large private fortune,
commercial origin, more sense than genius, and
more industry than figure, should be selected for
the Duchy of Lancaster,--an ornamental place
with more pay than work,—is a mystery wholly be-
yond 'our comprehension. Yet Mr. Baines, and
Mr. Strutt before him, seem to have been thought
the very , men. for this honourable and im-
portant post. All that we have said hither-
to goes ratber for the selection of Mr. Baines ;
but there were, in his . case, two objections,
both of a practical character.. In the first
place, be is fifty-eight years of age, and does
not carry his years well. Now, we have generally
got a Itool deal of work out of our Speakers, sixteen
years out of 'Manners Sutton, and eightesn years
out of the now Viscount Eversley. It is an object
to have long periods of office, as it tends to the con
tinuity of the House. The late Speaker felt it ne-
cessary to retire at the age of 63, and if Mr. Baines
'had followed his example in that respect he would
only give the country five years for his pension and
his peerage. A stilt more serious objection was,
that Mr. Baines is so shortsightsd that, even with
spectacles, he can scarcely see across the House.
Now a Speaker, if no tongue, ought to be all eyes.
His eye is his ministerial organ. Ile has to catch
the member's eye, and exchange electric signals of
the most rapid and confidential character. Blind
men can do many things; but not .when they, can
neither touch nor speak.
_ _

Mr. H. Fitzi•oy is younger by eight years. He
is a man of good presence and lofty bearing. He
has also the advantage of some preparation for the
office as alairulan of Committees. No one doubted
either his ability or his experience ; it was only
sugges' ed that his natural warmth and quickness of
.manner might unfit him for a.post which requires
• imperturbable calmness. The post.itself, however,
has evide;itly a large fund of tranquillity for the
benefit of its occupants, and a hasty Speaker must
ba so in spite of circumstances. Mr. Fitzroy may
or may not succeed to the family title ; but, while
some might have objected that he is therefore not
the man to choose for the First Commoner in the
kingdom, and others might have thought it a gain
that he would possibly not entail an addition to
the Peerage, it would at all events be very hard
that he should be excluded both from the Com-
monalty and the Peerage, simply because there is a
chance of his elder brother, at the age of 53, dying
first without. issue. As a Liberal Conservative
Mr. H. Fitzroy would have united many suffrages,
and his would, we think, have been a very good
appointment.
The candidate on whom the choice of the Go-
vernment has ultimately fallen, Mr. Evelyn Deni-
son, has in an unusual degree all those personal
advantages which we are accustomed to look for
in a Speaker. - A tall, handsome man, with a good
voice and manner, must be very wantint, to his
natural endowments if he cannot command the at-
tention and respect of a body of Englith gentlemen
Mr. Evelyn Denison, though connected by mar-
riage with the house of Portland, is a thorough re-
presentative of the Commons of England. His
seat for the Northern Division of his county will
make him acceptable to the county members. He
has sufficient fortune, and is altogether what would
be called a singularly unexceptionable candidate,
which in these critical days is more than half the
battle. In ability he is quite up to the mark=
more so, indeed, than his performances in the
House hitherto would appear to promise. He is
willing to be put in nomination, and will have the
support of the Liberal members. It is true he is
not so young as would be desirable, being in his
fifty-seventh year, but he has the look of health
and strength ; and his long Parliamentary career,
beginning w;th a severe contest for Liverpool, will
be fitly concluded with a peerage. What tells
more, however, than all we could say of him is
that he will probably be chosen without a coritest.

It is not-for us to pronounce very confidently
which of these very dissimilar candidates would
have proved the best qualified for the work of com-
bining the various elements of the new House, com-
manding their common respect, and moulding the
whole into a legislative unity. The task will 'be
one of some difficulty. There never were so many
new members. The losses are those of men who
have been brought into harness, who have learnt
the rules of the House, and submitted to its
discipline ; and the gains are problematic. The
survivors •of the baffled factions may well be
furious at the retrospect of their suicidal folly,
for certainly, if ever men did dig a pitfall and
tumble into it themselves, this feat has been suc-
cessfully achieved by Conservatives, Peelites, and
Leaguers. The only chance for those who remain

is to recruit their thinned ranks from the 150 new
men, and no arts of debate, no powers of declama-
tion, will be spared to entrap or seduce the more
hopeful novices. All this might not bring much

work for the Speaker, were it not for that con-
tinual obstruction which in these days is the great

engine of Parliamentary warfare. Everybody
donionmg-
does his best to prevent everybody else
anything, in order that no one may
Thebe a
a better list ofpolitical merits.r to make
genius
now years
w e pick ago
age is critical and obstructive.Thr
genius of the
we were pulling down institutions
reforms,
b ut
itiOpthveoysitwioilln
plans to pieces, And have theis bmuotstageaxinsceltleanllt
thatrea-
sons, not against all thatters
'meet Parliament, and
might be. When Ministers
gradually unfold theiro
earnest no
have to encounter
longer in defence of .
a motley. phalanx,
to all possible Suchremedu:sr.uruciPgetitona cause has less to
be said for it than even the frantic zeal of those who
fought for their ancient strongholds in the genera-
tion gone by. The battle will be waged with less
less principle. This conflict with obstruc-
tionthat awaits Mr. Evelyn Denison, and it
will tax
i
lalrtb and
ata Is
xal all the powers we can find in one man. A
perfect Speaker, as it seems, is not easily found.
When shall we find a fit man for any place ? It is
only 'some consolation to know that there have been
the same difficulties before, and that Men have
grown into their places. The office not only tries
the man ;it often also makes him. We have a
strong faith in the divinity that hedges round the
Speaker's chair. We do not doubt that we shall
see the new house yielding its wonted homage to
its elected chief, and obeying the national instinct
of order. Whence the genius, the vigour, and the
patriotism are to come that are to guide the house
and inaugurate new measures time alone can show.

IRlsu ABM T.—The 4th King's Own, now stationed
at Enniskillen, will shortly leave that place, in order to
embirh for the Mauritna, Lient.•Colonel Williams, QOM
mindirg.