The Sun.
London, England, 1861-12-04 00:00:00

he did certainly speak on Monday last down at
Durhani, in reference to Lord LONDONDERRY'S
doings, both as a Diplomatist and as a Soldier. But
who shall say that those encomiums were other
than strictly and literally within
,the mark, who
knows what those achievements really were ? Why,
it is almost impossible to exaggerate the import-
ance of the effect produced by Lord STEWART'S
diplomatic negotiations with the King of SWEDEN
—those ever-memorable negotiations which kept
BERNADOTTE true to the cause of the Allies !
While as to the personal heroism of Sir CHARLES
STEWART, it may be quite confidently asserted that
the two renowned Paladins with whom Lord LON-
DONDERRY
was on Thursday brought into direct
comparison by the right hon. member for Bucking-
hamshire, that neither MURAT himself nor the
dashing Marquess of ANGLESEA ever performed a
more brilliant feat of arms than that which was
achieved by the Marquess of LONDONDERRY, when,
as Sir CHARLES STEWART, in the midst of a grand
cavalry charge in the Peninsula hew ith his own
hand took prisoner the French Colonel DELAMOTT E.
But simple justice then has been done to the
memory of this dauntless and noble heart—by
everything that occurred, by every syllable of
panegyric that was uttered, upon the 2d instant in
the city of Durham, upon the occasion of this grate-
ful Demonstration in honour of the late Marquess
of LONDONDERRY.

A retrospective glance at the changes which have
taken place within the present twelvemonth in the
two houses of the Legislature, has recently brought

out vividly to view the unusual number, and in
some respects the really extraordinary diversity of
those changes. To epitomise the whole, at the out-
set, we may say, then, that within the eleven
months of 1861 that have already elapsed, no less
than FIFTEEN Peers have disappeared from the

scene of the House of Lords ! While as many as

TWENTY Two Members of the Lower House have
either died within the year or have resigned their
seats in that popular branch of the Legislature.
FOUR. new Peerages have been bestowed : namely a
barony upon Admiral Sir MAURICE BERKELEY,

now Lord FITZHARDINGE—another barony pre-

viously upon Sir RICHARD BETHELL, now Lord
Chancellor WESTBURY—another upon the Right
Hon. SIDNEY HERBERT, since deceased, as Lord
HERBERT of LEA—and an earl's coronet upon Lord
JOHN RUSSELL, henceforth to be known more

tersely as Lord RUSSELL. Conspicuous among the
Peers who have departed this life during 1861,
were, it will be remembered, three well-known
Dukes—one of them lamentably distinguished
in the later years of his life by the magni-
tude of his misfortunes, to wit, his Graca the Duke

of BUCKINGHAM—the other two notable in a very
different way as the wealthiest landowners in all
England, namely their Graces the Dukes of BED-
FORD and SUTHERLAND. Lord HERBERT'S pre-
mature demise has already been adverted to. But
another demise, almost equally premature, was that

of the high-spirited and generous-hearted Earl of
EGLlNTON—famous in his time as the giver of the
fantastic revels still remembered under the title of

the Eglinton Tournament. Early in the year, on
the 21st of February, expired one, whose title will
henceforth be associated with the discovery and
editing of SAMUEL PEPYS'S renowned Diary—i. e.
Lord BRAYBROOKE. Perhaps of all the deaths
among the particular class within the year the
most affecting to the public at large, certainly the
most startling from its suddenness, was that (on
the 23d of June) of the Lord Chancellor CAMPBELL.
As to the changes that have taken place in the

House of Common; during 1861—two of them have
resulted, it is true, from what were vacancies
at the commencement of the year : meaning the
vacancies in the representation of Pembrokeshire
and Aberdeenshire—the former being filled up by
the election of Mr. G. PHILLIPS, and the latter by
the election of Mr. W. LESLTE. Several of the

vacancies have been caused by death, but the ma

jority by resignation, some of these latter upon pro,
motions, others by the pro forma acceptance of the
Chiltern Hundreds. There was the death of the
Hon. THOMAS MOSTYN, for example, that led to the
election of Lord RICHARD GROSVENOR for Flint-
shire. There was the death again of Dr. NOBLE,
that led to the return of Mr. W. HEYGATE for
I Leicester. There was the demise of Mr. DAVID
PUGH, introducing a relative of his own in his
stead into the House of Commons as member
for Montgomeryshire. How constituencies pass
quietly from one member of a family to an-
other was illustrated yet more directly down
at Pembroke district by the substitution of Sir
HUGH OWEN for Sir JOHN OWEN upon the death
of the last baronet. Mr. FOLEY'S recent demise
has yet to result in the return of a new M.P. for
East Worcestershire. The two most familiar
figures to the habitués of the House of Commons
that have disappeared since the close of the last
session of Parliament—the two who will be most
missed from their accustomed places in the House
when the Legislature shall meet for the next ses-
sion, early in February—are beyond all doubt the
late hon. member for Finsbury, and the right hon.
baronet the late member for Carlisle. Sir JAMES
GRAHAM has already been succeeded by Mr. E•
POTTER. But as to who will be the successor of
Mr. THOMAS DUNCOMBE in the representation of
the metropolitan borough of Finsbury, the
constituency itself has yet to know its
own mind. That excellent old Tory
joke-master to the House of Commons, Colonel
SIRTIIORP, has been soon enough followed it will
be remembered, by his son, Major SIBTHORP; so
that the Lincoln constituency has had to look
elsewhere than to the SIBTHORP family for their
newly chosen representative. During the past
twelvemonth, beyond the instances already given,
there are three changes that have already taken
place in the House of Commons—each of these three
changes of a somewhat peculiar character. There
was the generous self-abnegation evidenced by Mr.
RICH for many years past, the well known M.P. for
Richmond in Yorkshire—Mr. Ricii promptly mak-
ing way for Sir ROUNDELL PALMER immediately
upon that hon. and learned gentleman's nomination
by the Premier to the Solicitor-Generalship. There
was, moreover, that unlucky resignation of his old
constituency down at Andover, byAlderman CUBITT,
now twice Lord Mayor of London—the Lord Mayor
aspiring (in vain) to represent the City of London
upon Lord JOHN'S promotion to his Earldom—
thus making way very comfortably for Mr. HENRY
COLES, who thereupon quietly slipped into the
House as I.P. for Andover. Besides which there
was the return (pursuant to the Act passed last
session) of Mr. CHARLES TURNER, as the third
member for South Lancashire. Under the same
act—the Appropriation of Seats Act—there is the
return also to be voted of the first member for the
new seat of Birkenhead. Altogether, we may
L repeat, there have been no less than about a quarter
of a hundred distinct changes that have swept
(within the present year of grace), through the
British House of Commons.

Viscount Palmerston arrived in town yesterday
from a visit to the Queen, at Windsor Castle.
The Earl Russell left his residence, Pembroke
Lodge, Richmond Park, yesterday, for Windsor Castle.
The Earl and Countess of Derby leave Know •
sky to •morrow, on a visit to her Majesty, at *Windsor
Castle.