The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-27 00:00:00

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I ONDO, FRI DA Y EVE 0, SEPTEMBER 27, .1861
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SIR EDWARD BULW_ER LYTTON.

Bulwer Lytton has done the country people
good service in breaking through the ordinary
routine of agricultural meetings. Every man
to his trade, is good, sound, wholesome
doctrine. The nobleman or gentleman who
lectures to his tenants on the advantages
of subsoiling and deep draining may be thoroughly
well qualified for his adopted task. But the pro-
bability is that he will find nine out of ten of his
audience more familiar with the science and prac-
tice of agriculture than himself. This farmers of
Hells would no doubt have treated with the most
profound respect every word that fell from Sir
Bulwer Lyttou's lips, if he had dwelt on the sue-
cession of crops, quoted Liebig as to chemical ma-
nures, and wound up a la Palmerston with a regret-
ful allusion to the present waste of the sewage of
our large tdwns. But we are much deceived if they
did not expect something very different from their
distinguished member, and we have not theslightest
doubt that every man of them must have felt more
proud of his representative than he would have been
bad he given the most excellent advice about la-
bourers' cottages, long leases, or steam machinery.•
In a free country the majority of men will be
politicians. What they want in a representative is
something more than a good landlord, a great agri-
culturist, or a jolly neighbour. They like to be
talked to. They like to know that their member is
a power in the state. They feel honoured in the per-
son of their representative, and each individual is
conscious of a warmer glow of pride when the man
to whom he has given his vote takes prycedence in
the council of his Sovereign. Sir Bulwei Lytton hit
this feeling exactly when he said, "I am sent to
Parliament not as the representative of short horns
and long horns, of turnips and wheat .. am the re-
presentative of: thoughtful and its:iellie' e.menSvho
expect me, when I meet them, to speak of things which
the Legislature is supposed to study, mindful only
of the one condition, which I hope I have not in-
fringed, that he does not introduce the acerbities
of party into a convivial meeting." No one will
accuse the Conservative member for Herts of having
transgressed the bounds of good fellowship at the
meeting of Hitchin.
And Sir Bulwer Lytton's speech is a study itself.
It is a history of current events, a manly defence
of England's policy, a brilliant refutation of the
thousand calumnies which the pseudo-Liberalism of
the day flings at Conservative statesmen. Perhaps
one of the most common evils of the day is that men
will not take the trouble to think forthemselves—that
they will trust to cries, however obsolete, and to sym-
bols, however unmeaning, without endeavouring to
ascertain their full value. It must be so in the majority
of cases. The breeders of shorthorns and the growers
of swedes have enough to do without fashing them-
selves about the Papal question, and the Rhenish
question, and the Montenegrin question, and the
Danish succession. They have their hearts is the
right place. Their English instincts tell them when
danger is nigh and the honour of the country is
imperilled. But on the minor questions of policy they
want instruction, and it is no inconsiderable benefit
of them when a statesman like Sir Bulwer Lytton
gives them, in his plain but eloquent dissertation
on the great questions of the day, the fruits of years
of study, observation, and reflection—the careful
disciplined, and richly-
storednion of orders at agricul-
turalopportunity afforded to
d e du c
meetings
alt pi
toi
swi s et rht f
heu
el
u,
classes necessarily ill-instructed on the great ques-
tions of the day, to appreciate the views of the
statesman, and to fathom the hidden springs of our
national policy, that gives the reunion of these
rural societies their chief interest; and Sir Bulwer
Lytton has shown that he understands his own
position and the wants of the day in calling away the
attention and interest of the Hertfordshire farmers
from the topics immediately before their notice to
the great political problems in which the honour and
safety of the empire are concerned.
The speech of this orator and statesman is replete
with such great truths, such thoroughly English
sentiments, and such statesmanlike views—it is,
besides, so complete a narrative of the history of the
time so far as this country is concerned, that we
cannot hope to augment the attractions it must held
out to every intelligent mind. Suffice it to say that
he touches every theme of present interest to the
politician with a master hand, and from each educes
tones and sentiments congenial not only to the
limited assembly he addresses, but to every true-
hearted Eugliabman. And yet the sneaker is one
of the most honoured chiefs of that Conservative
party whom the Liberal press denounce as the
friends of tyranny, as the enemies of freedom, as
the alders and abettors of all that is retrograde,
reactionary, and foreign to the spirit of the age.
He is the colleague of Lord Derby, the fellow-
workman with Lord Malmesbury ; and what
are his words on the greatest question
now agitating Europe—the future of Italy ?
"When I last met you here, what was Italy ? a dis-
cordant variety of petty states, in which the friends
of order were puppets of Austria, and in which the
friends of liberty seemed wild conspirators who
could use no other weapon against tyrants but the
dagger of the miserable assassin. Now what is Italy P
A great nation, a constitutional monarchy ; the
tyrant is gone. and let us hope that the assassin is
disarmed. Like the enchanted princess in the old
story books, who was thrown into a death-like slum-
ber till the walls that confined her fell down before
the trumpet of her destined deliverer,- Italy has
risen out from the sleep of ages restored to the bloom,
but exposed also to the passions and struggles of
youth. Heaven guard and Heaven bless her! It is
for the interests of England that Italy should enter
into the great community of constitutional nations."
Is this the language of an ally of despotism and
bigotry, or a foe to the nascent liberties of Italy ?
But Sir Bulwer Lytton is in this respect more libe-
ral than the press which attacks his party. He is
impartial. He does not belaud the awakening of
Italians, and decry the earnest struggles of another
great power in the path of constitutional freedom.
He can recognise in the honest resolve of Francis
Joseph and his advisers the same spirit which has
raised up heroes and statesmen of Italy in this her
hour of trial. He does not bow down and worship
at the shrine of triumphant power; but he holds
out the right hand of fellowship, to the empire
which, amidst a thousand perils, is laying the
foundation of those constitutional liberties which
are the pride and safety of the country. It has
been sometimes made a reproach to the Conser-
vative party that it has no poliCy. A less gene-
rous opponent than Sr Bulwer Lytton might
have taunted the Whigs with the adoption of
the line chalked out for them by their prede-
cessors. The member for Hertfordshire is content
with showing that in the main the principles of
non-intervention must be carried out whatever
Ministry is in power. And we commend his tribute
to Lord Malmesbury—not that of a mere flatterer or
a too friendly critic—but that of a statesman who
rises above party ties and influences, whenever he
touches upon matters involving national interests—
to every Englishman. Of that noble lorcl he says—
" You will permit mo to say thus much, that to that
comprehensiveness and liberality of judgment which
generally comes from a wide knowledge of mankind
and of the world, Lord Malmesbury unites that
manly frankness which is the attribute of moral
courage and undeviating honour." The confidence
the right hon. baronet expresses in Earl Russell's
foreign policy is a proof that the bonds of party
do not fetter his judgment. Sir Bulwer Lytton's
views upon New World politics will no doubt
shock many Americans. To those who have
looked forward to a great career of aggrandisement
and triumph to the/Union they will doubtless cause
considerable pain. But they are the conclusions of
a thoughtful student of history, backed up by argu
ments which those who entertain opposite orinions
will find it hard to refute.
The late Colonial Secretary looks back with a
glance, as it were, of lingering fondness, at the sphere
of his labours during Lord Derby's Administration,
and dwells with pardonable empasis on the birth
of that great colony of British Columbia, which
some day, and at no very distant day, is destined
to play so great a part on the western shores of the
American continent. We can only hope that the
time is not far off when the right hon. baronet will
reassume the labours of the office whose duties he
performed with so much assiduity and so much
advantage to the country, and that the youth of
that noble colony may receive from his hands that
fostering care which did so much for its infancy.

LnsCIPLIIVE EV TILE NAVY.

(From the Times)
The speakers at most of the agricultural meet-
ings are placed in a position of considerable diffi-
culty, especially when they happen to be members
of Parliament, not unreasonably anxious to make a
favourable impression upon their constituents, The
common sense of mankind has at last informed them
that the mere possession of an estate by no means
implies the possession of the amount of knowledge
requisite to deliver to men whose whole lives are
occupied in the cultivation of the soil practical lec-
tures on agriculture. These things were tolerated
in the glorious days of Protection, but one of the
many advantages of Free Trade has been to deliver
farmers from this kind of ridiculous patronage, and
to make each member of the great landed interest
more justly estimate his own position and appreciate
the amount of his knowledge. But if the unhappy
member,no longer permitted to discourse of bullocks,
takes refuge in the more congenial field of politics,
he is apt to find that he has only emerged from
Scylla to fall into the jaws of Charybdis; that is,
that he has avoided being impertinent only to be-
come offensive. Still, people, and especially mem-
bers of Parliament, must talk about something. It
is not every man that has the gift of social science,
or of discoursing of " family ;" and therefore, not-
withstanding the melancholy example of Mr.
Weguelin at the South Staffordshire Agricultural
Meeting, a sort of internal necessity drives member
after member forward to enter on the forbidden
field of politics. Some men there are so richly gifted
with the flowers of rhetoric that one subject to them
is just as good as another; they tread lightly on
the verge of everything which they treat, and view
it not the least in its practical bearing, but entirely
as a subject for rhetorical art.,
Such an orator is Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton.
It matters not what the topic may be, Sir Edward
always has at his command sounding words and
epigrammatic sentences, and can impart pleasure, if
he does not always give instruction. Such an orator
is invaluable at an Agricultural Meeting
of the present day, and is pretty , sure of
success, his very imperfections saving him
from the possibility of failure. Whatever in-
terests the civilised races of mankind interests Eng-
land ; whatever interests England interests the far-
mers of Hertfordshire. So long, then, as he steers
clear of the affairs of barbarians Sir Edward Bul-
wer Lytton cannot fail to receive the flattering
attention of any assembly of Englishmen. Italy is
first called up, in order that a few good things may
be said about her :—" The tyrant is gone, and let
us hope that the assassin is disarmed." " Italy is
like the Sleeping Beauty in the wood, restored by
the trumpet of her destined deliverer to the bloom,
but also to the struggles and passions of youth."
With this pretty simile Italy is dismissed to work
out her regeneration as she may. We have, then,
a definition of the foreign policy of England :
England, as a free State, sympathises with the free;
as a commercial State, she has a strong affinity
with the prosperous. NOw, freedom and prosperity
are only combined in a constitutional-government
such as England herself possesses, and therefore
the foreign policy of England consists in opposi-
tion to revolution and tyranny, and the support of
constitutional government. We are sadly afraid
that the matter is not quite so simple. The policy
of England is not principally, but only very excep-
tionally, directed to interference with the internal
affairs of other nations. England, nevertheless,
has a foreign policy, which we fear does not admit
of beimg described in quite so few words as Sir
Edward Bulwer Lytton deems sufficient for the far-
mers of Hertfordshire. England has a traditional
policy founded on settled and well understood
maxims, the principal of which have reference to
the preservation of the balance of power. To sup-
port the weaker States against the stronger, and to
prevent any one Power from becoming so strong as
to absorb the rest, to seek no accession of territory
for herself, and as far as possible to preserve good-
will towards all mankind—these are, we believe,
more truly the principles of our foreign policy than
an endless interineddling with the affairs of other
countries. We next come to Austria with her new
King, Lords, and Commons—a Power deserving
our support from her utility in preserving the
balance of Europe, a principle of foreign policy
which Sir Edward had forgotten to mention in his
.....nt nf th. principles of English statesmanship.

TO THE EDITOR GP THE SUN.
Sir,—At the Staffordshire agricultural meeting
last week, the Earl of Shrewsbury (better known in
the service as Lord Ingestre), in returning thanks
for the usual naval toast, took occasion to dilate
upon the present state of discipline, and to in-
form his audience that flogging was absolutely
necessary to keep skulkers from iirking their work,
which would otherwise fall on the willing man. I
am told that a farmer present observed, " When I
have a horse in a team who refuses the collar I do
not expend whipcord upon him, but cast him as
soon as possible, and provide another who does not
require whipping to keep him to his share of work?'
Does not this philosophy apply with like force to
the naval service? Why are idlers and skulkers who
require flogging retained, when good seamen may
be bad if they were paid the worth of their labour ?
A sailor can carry his craft to any country, and
will go where he is best paid, and why should not
the navy pay be better than any other, so as to get
the best men ? We do not flog a servant if found
incapable or lazy, but discharge him and get a better.
What is the use of expending millions upon ships
and docks if the personnel of the fleet is deficient ?
Surely, when we calculate the expense of desertions,
rearing men for other nations, to say nothing of the
reproach of retaining corporal punishment, a scale
of wages that will make the navy the best
and therefore the most desired service, will be found
iu fli-e-end the most economical and certainly the-
most satisfactory policy.—l am, &c.,

A RETIRED NAVAL CAPTAIN.
•
Wolverhampton, Sept. 24.

DOCKS IN THE IVERSEI.

Mr. John Laird, of Birkenhead, in a letter to a
contemporary, writes am glad to see that the
absolute necessity of making immediate provision
for the dock accommodation of the large class of
steamships now building for her Majesty's service
is now attracting attention.

The report of the Select Committee appointed to
inquire into the extension of Chatham Dockyard a
few months ago went fully into the subject, and
recommended the construction of new basins and
graving docks there, at a cost of £900,000, which
recommendation was approved by Parliament.
The evidence of Admiral Robinson, the Con-
troller of the Navy, before the Committee was very
important. In one of his answers he says :—" I
do not hesitate to say that, after a naval engage-
ment, the country that can first repair its ships
damaged in action will thereby double its force. In
such a case, one ship and proper basin accommoda-
tion is equivalent to two."
As it must take some years before the accommo-
dation of the present dockyards can be materially
increased, or new ones constructed, I propose to show
what dock and basin accommodation, and also
graving-dock space for her Majesty's ships, is avail-
able now at this port, and how it could be promptly
extended.

On the Liverpool side of the Mersey there is an
area of dock-water space of 235 acres. The en-
trances to these docks vary from 30ft. to 100 ft. in
width, and the average depth of water at mean
neap tides varies from 16ft. 3in. to 19ft., and at
spring tides from 23ft. 3in. to 26ft.
The area of water space of the Birkenhead Docks
now completed, or to be completed within three
years, is 153 acres. Of this water space, the great
float of 120 acres is now complete. The width of
entrances varies from 50ft. to 100 ft., and the depth
of water on the sills at mean neap tides is 23ft.
3in., and at spring tides 30ft. 3in.
The lock entrances into two of the Liverpool
docks have been so constructed that they have been
used as graving docks in cases of necessity.
The Canada Dock lock is 500 ft. long, 100 ft. wide,
and has a depth of water at the sill at mean spring
tides of 26ft.

But about Austria there is nothing particularly
good to be said, so we pass on to America—a more
promising theme for rhetoric. Sir Edward Bulwer
Lytton is quite prepared for the disruption of the
Union; nay, he expects before very long to see it
separated into three or four parts—a prospect at
which he rejoices, not from any ill-will to America,
but because he is convinced that the change will be
for the benefit of America herself. Having ascer-
tained, we know not where or how, that the
United States contain a fourth part of the globe,
he declares such a mass to be too large for a single
Government. The Empires of the East perished,
it appears, not, as some superficial writers have
thought, from external violence, but because they
were too large. We suppose if Persia had been
smaller Alexander would not have overrun it, and
that when the Roman Empire was split in half it
doubled its strength, and ought, according to all
sound rules of calculation, to have repulsed in this
divided state, the attacks of the barbarians who
were more than a match for it when united. The
monarchy of Charlemagne fell to pieces because the
barbarism of the times and the discordancy of races
never permitted it to be thoroughly organised. But
America has been organised into a whole. She
speaks the same language, she obeys the same laws.
Vast as is her extent, communication over the whole
of it is instantaneous by the electric telegraph, and
fewer days suffice to traverse it from North to
South and from East to West than were required
by the Romans to travel from the Capitol to the
foot of the Alps or the extremity of Calabria. Mere
size is no cause of destruction, as we see by the
durability of the Russian Empire ; and we cannot,
therefore, acquiesce in the consolation offered to
the Americans, that a disruption which a little
forbearance and a little prudence might have
averted was an inevitable result of the nature of
things. There is truth :in the remark that
America divided into a small number of States
will probably be urged by their rivalry to p
higher point of intellectual progress, and that
she will be obliged to seek for more vigilant
statesmen and abler commanders ithan she has
required during the time of peace which she has
just so abruptly and so wantonly closed. But it is
not certainly consolatory to her, nor does it well
agree with what Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton says
of the fragility of large empires, to be told that if
America could have remained under one form of
government she would have hung over Europe like
a gathering and destructive thundercloud. This is
precisely what she would like to do, and it must be
mortifying indeed to be told, on the authority of
Lord Derby's Colonial Minister, that if the people
of the United States could have refrained a little
longer from mutual destruction they would have
become the terror of the world. We are no be-
lievers in this thundercloud theory. Nothing has
occurred in the course of the civil war to show that
the United States were or could be put into a posi-
tion to carry on with success a war against a first-
rate Power at the distance of 3,000 miles. America
has lost much in this unhappy quarrel, but we have
no reason to believe that she has thrown away the
position of arbiter over the destinies of Europe.
After a short excursion to France, where the
Emperor is described as standing with ore hand so
resting on the gates of war that they open and close
at his touch—a metaphor which is no improvement
on Lord Palmerston's speech at Dover—we are
wafted back to America again, in order to speak of
the new colony of Brirish Columbia, the monument
of Sir Edward Lytton's.administration of the Colo-
nies, and though, alas! now far from paying its
own expenses, destined, he assures us, one day to
be the wealthiest dependency of the British Crown.
This is what we have gained by having Sir Edward
for our Colonial Minister; what we have lost by
losing him is a chain of dependencies stretching
right across the American continent, which, had he
continued in office two years longer, he assures us
he should have already founded, notwithstanding
the trivial obstacles presented by a Siberian climate
and a country all but inaccessible, Seldom has an
audience travelled further' in one speech, but we
fear the journey is not so profitable as it is long.

The Huskisson Dock lock is 396 ft. long, 80ft.
wide, and has a depth of water on the sill at mean
spring tides of 24ft. 9in.
On the Birkenhead side there is one lock en-
trance 500 ft. long, 85ft. wide, with a depth of
water of 30ft. 3in. at mean spring tides. This lock
can also be used as a graving dock.
There are 16 graving docks in Liverpool, varying
in length from 300 ft. to 700 ft., having a depth of
water of 18ft. to 21ft. on the blocks at niean spring
tides ; the width of the entrances varying from 401 t.
to 70ft.

At Birkenhead three public graving docks are in
course of construction, each 750 ft. long ; two having
50ft. entrances, and the third an entrance of 85ft1
wide, The depth of water in these graving docks
is 25ft_ 9in. at mean spring tides. There is another
lock entrance into the Birkenhead Docks which is
now 400 ft. long by 100 ft. wide, having a depth of
water at mean spring tides of 30ft. 3in., which
could also be lengthened to 500 ft., and adapted for
use as a graving dock at a cost of £15,000.
In addition to the public docks on both sides
of the river above alluded to, there are ten private
graving docks on the Birkenhead side ; two of
these are 440 ft. long and have a depth of water
at mean spring tides of 20ft. 3in., and one of these
is now being enlarged, and the depth of water in-•
creased to 24ft. Two others of these docks are 380 ft.
long each, with a depth of water at mean spring
tides of 19ft. 3in. The width of entrances to these
four docks varies from 81ft. to 87ft.

The mean of spring tides is called 18ft. 3in. on
the old dock-sill datum ; but the tides rise occa-
sionally to 21ft., which would make a depth of
water on the sill of the Birkenhead Docks at the
highest tides of 33ft. 3in.
From the above statement it would appear that
there is a large area of dock-water space now ready
or shortly to be completed, which in case of war or
any sudden emergency, would afford accommoda-
tion to some of the lagest ships in her Majesty's
service ; and there is no doubt from the nature of
the locality, that graving-dock accommodation
suitable for the large ships of war now being con-
structed could be provided at a very moderate cost.

Admiral Robinson's remark that facilities for re-
pairs would double the effective force of a navy is,
I think, a correct view to take of the subject; and,
if in addition to the great docking facilities at this
port, we take into consideration the thousands of
artisans of the various kinds required to repair ships
whether constructed of wood or iron, there can be
no question as to the fact that the combined advan-
tages would enable repLirs, both to hull and ma-
chinery, to be completed more promptly than at
any other port in the kingdom.
Objections are raised to the Mersey, in conse-
quence of the entrance channels, as a rendezvous
for ships of war ; but I consider the difficultiett of
entering the harbour have been greatly overstated,
as is shown by the following extract from the re-
port of Admiral Evans, Acting Conservator of the
River Mersey, dated Jan. 31, 1861:--
" The navigation of the river Mersey is in a more
satisfactory state than it has been since the passing
of the Mersey Conservabcy Act in 1842."
"The returns state that 48,317 vessels passed in
and out of Liverpool during the year 1860, showing
a decrease as Compared with 1859 of 156. Notwith-
standing the diminution in numbers, yet, owing to
the greatly increased size of the ships of the present
day, the tonnage in and out of Liverpool during the
past year, as copied from the Customs' bill of entry,
shows an increase of 760,196 tons over the previous
year of 1859.
"It is gratifying to observe that out of this pro-
digious number of vessels (averaging 132 per diem),
only three schooners appear to have been totally
wrecked off the entrance of the port."
The Great Eastern, a vessel certainly more un-
wieldy than any of her Majesty's ships built or
building, has entered and left the port twice with-
out the slightest difficulty ; and in less than two
years, when the deep-water entrances at the Birken-
head Docks are completed, ships of the largest class
will be able to enter those docks every day in the

(F' on the Morning
Lyttoneraid.)
We congratulat'eSirßolig
uwneron the com-
plete restoration of his health, and the farmers of
Hertfordshire on his presence at their agricultural
meeting at Hitchin. To the country at large, not
less than to his neighbours and constituents, the
health of the right hon. baronet is precious, and his
statesmanlike speech of Wednesday shows, how pre-
cious. Even the Times, we should fancy, would
overcom its dislike of agricultural societies-if they
could always attract such speakers, and be the
means of eliciting such comprehensive views on the
politics of the day ; even faction might hide its
head on hearing a great Conservative leader enun-
ciating principles and truths that find an echo in
the heart of every thinking Englishman. Sir

THE RUGBY INQUIRY.—We are requested to
state that Mrs. Hill is not a granddaughter of the late Sir
Francis Burdett. She is a daughter of the late Mr. Wm.
Jones Burdett, and hgr mother, therefore, is not Lady Bur-
dett. Mrs. Hill was not adopted by Miss Coutts.
[ADVERTISEMENT.)—HoIIoway's Pills and Ointment.—
Premature Decay.—When from free living, excessive in-
dulgence, or the enervating effects of hot climates, the
nervous system becomes shaken, and the bodily powers
debilitated, Holloway's remedies may be used with the cer-
tainty of their producing relief. For dyspepsia, liver com-
plaints, sick headache, and loss of appetite, this Ointment
should be very well rubbed twice a day over the pit of the
stomach and the right side, whilst Holloway's Pills are
being taken in such doses as can conveniently be borne.
This treatment will always restore strength and energy.
Nervousness, flushes, and fainting fits may all be prevented
by a timely recourse to, and diligent use of, these remedies,
which cannot do harm to the most delicate 9r debilitated.

j

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