The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-21 00:00:00

MR. THACKERArs LECTURES.

General Simpson and his successor. Admiral
Hamelin, the Duke de Malakhoff, Marshal Can-
robert, Marshal Bosquet, Generals Regnault de
St. Jean d'Angely, De Selles, Niel, M'Mahon, are
all present. These men saw the landing at Old
Fort covered by a British fleet ; fought action after
action in company with the British ; they shared
with them in the dreary labour of the trenches for
eleven months ; they saw tens of thousands of
their men brought to the seat of war in British
transports, and, their sick carried down to the Boa-
phorus by the same means. They have been
thanked as a body by the British Parliament, and
wear severally the Order of the Bath on their
breasts. Yet at this great official banquet the
English are never (Ace mentioned. We are as
much ignored as if no English soldier had set foot
in the Crimea, as if no English sailor had ever
entered the Black Sea. Marshal St. Arnaud is
spoken of as having made for himself at the Alma a
winding-sheet of the tricolor of regenerated
France ; Marshal Canrobert has the praise of hav-
ing disciplined au army for the conquest of Sebas-
topol ; and to Marshal Pelissier is ascribed the
crown of final success. The Generals are congra-
tulated on having renewed the glorious traditions
of the Republic and the first Empire. "Posterity
will say that at Moscow our fathers vanquished
the Russians, but were overcome by the elements;
while at Sebastopol you have overcome the ele-
ments and vanquished the Russians. In history
1854 will respond to 1812. The immense advan-
tage of the war—l say it with pride—is that you
have proved that France still has her 'Grand
Army.' " Such is the speech of his Imperial
Highness Prince Napoleon.
The two Commanders-in-Chief, Marshals Pelis-
sier and Canrobert, return thanks, and propose
fresh toasts in much the same style. The French
army, its conquest of Sebastopol, and its termi-
nation of the war, are the themes of high lauda-
tion. No other force is mentioned. No allied
Generals are even remotely alluded to as sharing the
glory and the untimely end of St. Arnaud, or the
success and happy return to home of Pelissier and
Canrobert, Niel and Bosquet. We are always
hearing from a certain military set in England of
the esteem which Lord Raglan enjoyed; how he
was beloved, admired, and deferred to by his
foreign colleagues, and anecdotes innumerable are
related of this fond and chivalrous confidence.
Yet here the dead English General is unnamed.
Not one of the 52 guests present, not one of the
band of Generals who for so many months met him
in the field or at the council-table, had a word for
the memory which it has been asserted they so
much cherish. Of course, his successors are equally
unnoticed.
In fact, the mot d'ordre evidently was to sup-
press England, and the military failures, the last
and greatest of which was at the Redan, have
given a colour—false as it is—to the cavalier silence
of the Palais Royal. General Simpson, at the
crowning struggle of the war, was unequal to the
occasion, sent an insufficient force of raw youths to
assault a formidable position, was repulsed, omitted
to renew the attack, and failed even to occupy the
place when it was deserted. The result was that the
fall of Sebastopol was mainly the result of a French
exploit. The apology was, that the attack on the
Redan permitted the capture of the Malakoff, and
that a chivalrous ally would not suffer our reputa-
tion to suffer. Where, now, is the chivalry
Where is the acknowledgment of English services ?
The victor in the eyes of the world takes all the
benefit of appearances. We may prove our merits,
if we can, to a listless audience, which has already
formed its conclusions, and is tired of the whole
subject. Of what avail are mere conventional re-
wards T General Simpson has his four grand
crosses, and general Codrington is placed over the
heads of other Generals and covered with decora-
tions. But these cannot alter the opinions of the
world, nor restore the prestige which has been lost.
What was the position our Generals had won for
us we may judge by the French banquet. It was
reserved for the courage of the present Premier
and the patriotic resolution of the English people
to insure the fruits of our joint victory, to restore
the country to a leading place in Europe, and re •
gain in the Cabinet the reputation which our Gene-
rals had lost us in the field.

If Mr. Thackeray treated the memory of George
111, with more lenity than might have been anti-
cipated by all his hearers, he certainly made amends
for the unexpected clemency by the discourse which
he delivered last night on the subject of George IV.
In surveying the career of the so-called " first
gentleman of Europe," the lecturer professed his
inability to discover any single cause for respect,
or any claim to the title once bestowed by the
population of this kingdom. He could not even
regard the last of the Georges as a " man" in any
sense. He could find a coat, a waistcoat, and divers
well-made articles of clothing, but behind these
habiliments there was literally—nothing. When
the Prince came into the world on the 12th Aug.,
1762, he was received with every testimonial of
idolatry, and the spirit of adulation pursued him
to the end of his career. The beauty of his face
was patent to all eyes, his proficiency in every spe-
cies of accomplishment was everywhere extolled ;
even his supremacy as a classical scholar was loudly
proclaimed. No individual had ever been portrayed
in such a variety of costumes—in short, there was
scarcely a sort of dress in which he was not exhi-
bited. A populous district or an army was not a
more expensive article to maintain than this superb
Prince of Wales, who was always taking money
from the nation, and always flinging it away.
As the child is father to the man, so did George
IV., in Mr. Thackeray's opinion, give earnest of his
future eminence by the invention of a peculiarly
large and inconvenient shoe-buckle. As for his
friendships and his amours, they merely bore wit-
ness to the fickleness and frivolity of his character.
The only associates after his own heart were para-
sites and persons engaged in the most ignoble pur-
suits ; and though Fox, Pitt, and Sheridan sat at
bis table in his earlier days, his intimacy with those
great men was but the freak of a moment, and
they must have felt in his presence they were only
associating with a person in every respect their in-
ferior. However, good and bad, friends and mis-
tresses, all were dropped in turn, and the favourite
of the day was forgotten on the morrow.
The reputed kindness of George IV. to the ser-
vants of his household Mr. Thackeray willingly
conceded, with the remark that this one small
virtue comprised all his goodness, and that it was
counterbalanced by his heartless conduct to Brum-
mel, when that unlucky beau—the Prince's superior
—fell from his fashionable eminence.
The old story that Mr. Elliston, when he repre-
sented George IV. at the mimic coronation enacted
at Drury-lane, actually took himself for the
monarch whose rank he assumed, was told by Mr.
Thackeray with the supplementary comment, that
the belief of the real personage that he had any-
thing to do with the glorious deeds performed
during his Regency was equally absurd. He
might indeed have been possessed of the bravery
iuherent in the House of Brunswick and displayed
in such an eminent degree by his predecessors, but
the fact could never be proved by a being who
passed his existence wrapped up in swaddling
clothes, and his weeping interviews with his Mi-
nisters on the subject of the Catholic Emancipation
Bill contrasted unfavourably with the manly re-
sistance of his father on a similar occasion.
Mr. Thackerary did not omit the opportunity
for reflecting on the great change in manners and
morals that has taken place since the decease of
George IV. Many a man now old had indulged
during youth in the vices of gaming, drinking, and
swearing to a degree that would now create amaze-
' ment, and the decline of the "ring" was one of
the changes that show the improvement of the age
within the last 25 years. The former prevalence
of vices now obsolete was illustrated by several
amusing anecdotes.
Utterly denying the claim of George IV. to be
termed the " first gentleman of Europe " Mr.
Thackeray devoted the latter part of his lecture to
a comment on a few personages who might be
regarded as the real gentlemen of the period.
These were Sir Walter Scott, Robert Southey,
Bishop Heber, and Lord Collingwood, whose moral
virtues he extolled in connection with their intel-
lectual greatness. As a final contrast he drew a coin-
' parison between the first party given by the Prince
in London—described by the magazines of that day
as the ne plus ultra of magnificence—with a cere-
mony that took place in the same year, namely, the
retirement of Washington from public life in the
presence of the United States' Congress. A com-
pliment to the present sovereign, as possessed of
the virtues in which George IV. was so lamentably,
deficient, concluded the discourse, and Mr. Thacke-
ray retired amid loud acclamations.
The lecture, of which we have briefly stated the
purport, was the last of the series, but so great has
been the attraction of the course titat it was com-
menced de novo on Saturday, the 10th inst., and
the Saturdays intended for a separate body of
subscribers are not yet terminated. The
room has been invariably crowded to repletion,
and a passenger in Edward-street, seeing the
throngs that have emerged from the doors of the
Marylebone Institution, would scarcely have be-
lieved that a lecture was the cause of an excitement
so extraordinary. The merit of being the first to
make an un-illustrated lecture a cause of " crush'
is entirely due to Mr. Thackeray.
While on the subject of the Marylebone Institu-
tion, we may state that the Monday evenings are
devoted to the dramatic readings of Miss Glyn,
whose series commenced on the 19th instant with
" Antony and Cleopatra." Those yet to come will
comprise the "Merchant of Venice" "Romeo and
Juliet," and " Othello." ,

LAW INTELLIGENCE.—Jan. 20.

COURT OF CO IIMON PLEAS.
(Sittings in Banco, before Justices Cresswell and
Crowder.)
RANKIN Y. PAYNE -OBTAINING A DIRECTOR FOR A BANK.
Mr. Robinson appeared for the plaintiff in this case,
and the action was undefended.
It was atated that the plaintiff was chief clerk to a
stockbroker in the City, and that the defendant was
engaged in promoting public companies. Some time
ago the defendant was engaged in promoting public
companies. Some time ago the defendant was engaged
in promoting the formation of the Western Bank of
London, which had since been firmly established, and
he undertook to pay the plaintiff 501 • for every director
whom he could obtain for the bank. At the instance of
the plaintiff Major-General Bagnall agreed to become a
director, and the plaintiff now sought to recover from
the defendant SO/. for obtaining the general's name.
Mr. Justice Willes said tbat the contract above stated
was illegal, and as it was an illegality which he thought
affected the public he directed that the case should be
postponed for the purpose, as was understood, of en-
abling an application to be made to amend the pleadings,
so as to raise the question.

COURT OF EXCHEQUER.
(Sittings in Banco, before the Lord Chief Baron, Mr.
Baron Martin, and Mr. Baron Watson.)
Km' V. COVINGTON—JUDGMENT.
The Chief Baron delivered the judgment of the Court
in this case, which was argued during last term. It
appeared that the plaintiff had supplied certain goods,
or performed certain services, for the firm of Covington
and Co., but the defendant Covington, it was contended,
was not liable, as it was proved that he had ceased to be
a member of the firm before the plaintiff's debt had
accrued. The general question the Court had to deal
with was, whether a person who had been a mem-
ber of a firm was resp9nsible for the liabilities of
that firm after that person had ceased to be a
partner i❑ it. He was of opinion that, except under
special circum-tances, he was not a partner. This
case had gone to the jury on the merits, and they
believed the defendant and not the plaintiff, and found
their verdict in favour of the defendant. The ground
of the motio❑ on which the rule had been obtained was
that of misdirection, namely, that he (the Chief Baron)
should have told the jury that the plaintiff was entitled
to recover.

The Court were unanimously of opinion that it was
not incumbent on him to law down any such proposition.
There had been no mi,adirection, therefore the rule which
had been obtained must be discharged.
Rule discharged accordingly.
Mr. Lush applied to their lordships for their sanction
to appeal to the Court of Error against their declion.
The Chief Baron said the Court would for the future
adopt extreme caution in sanctioning appeals to the
Court of Error, as in the case of Kingsford v. Merry
some unfortunate mistake bad arisen, by which the facts
presented to this Court, and on which it formed its de
cision, were not presented to the Court of Error. It
therefore behoved the Court to be cautious in giving
their countenance to applications to allow causes to be
taken to the Court of Error.
Mr. Baron Martin, having concurred in what bad
fallen from the Chiet Baron, said that the case had been
taken to the Cuurt of Error on a statement of facts
which were in no way akin to those which came before
the Court below, Which were based o• the Chief Baron's
notes, and on which that Court formed its judgment.
The appeal to the Court of Error should be based on
what the Court below had adjudicated, and not on a
statement of facts at total variance with those which
transpired in the Court below.
The Chief Baron said all cases of appeal to the Court
of Error ought to be submitted to the Court below, and
he should in future exercise great caution in reserving
points for the opinion of the Court above. In the case
of Kingsford v. Merry, which had caused some stir in
the commercial world, the Court of Error would have
decided as this Cour,. had, had the facts before that
Court been similar. Such was not the case, however ;
they were far different.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE—Jan. 20.

LIEALTII OF LONDON DURING THE
WJEK.

(Brom the Report of the Registrar-Genera.)
In the week that ended on Saturday the deaths regia•
tered in London were 1,171. Of these 582 were deaths
of males, 539 those of females. In the ten years 1847-56
the average number of deaths in the weeks correspond-
iug with last week was 1,213 ; but, for the purpose of
cemparison, this should be raised proportionally to in-
crease of population up to the present time, in which
case it wilt become 1,341. The result of the comparison
is that the deaths of last week were leas by 170 than the
average rate of mortality would have produced.
The deaths in the week from diseases of the respira-
tory organs (under which bead pbthisis is not included)
were 280 ; in corresponding weeks of previous years they
ranged from 153 in the year 1853, when the mean tem-
perature of the week was 45 deg., to 386 in the cold
winter of ISIS, when the mean temperature of the week
vrai so low as 29 deg. Since the present year commenced
the weather has been mild, and the mortality from dis-
eases of this class is not high. In the last two weeks
the deaths from bronchitis rose from 140 to 170, and
those from pneumonia fell from 37 to 77. Pbthisis (or
consumption) was fatal to 152 persons last week, of
whom 73 died in the period of life 20.40 years, and 52
in the subsequent period, 40-60 years, leaving only 27
of the deaths from this disease at earlier and later ages.
Whooping-cough has increased within the last four
weeks, and in the present returns 55 children are stated
to have died of' it. Thirty-four deaths occurred 'from
typhus and common fever ; this number is not high com-
paratively, but it should be observed that nearly half
occurred in the Eastern division, while only four or five
deaths were registered in each of the other divisions. A
family in Shoemaker-row, City of London, has lost three
children in 10 days from scarlatina, but the registrar has
not heard that the complaint is prevailing in his district.
In a house in Haberdashers'-place (East), Shoreditch,
four deaths have occurred within 10 weeks, arising from
disease of various kinds.
The deaths of four nonagenarians were recorded in the
week. The oldest was a gentleman of the age of 96 years,
who died in Lambeth.
Last week the births of 996 boys and 818 girls, in all
1,784 children, were registered in London. In the 10 cot- 1 responding weeks of the years 1847-56 the average num-
ber was 1,521.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean height
of the barometer in the week was 29'636 inches. On
Sunday, the 11th, the reading fell to 2815 in., and on
Saturday rose to 30'21 in. These values were the lowest
and highest in the week. The mean temperature of the
week was 36 5 deg., which is rather above the average
of the same wetk in 43 years, as determined by Mr.
Glaisher. The thermometer fell to 26 deg. on Thursday,
the lowest point in the week. The range in the week
vim 20'5 deg. The mean dew point temperature was
33'9 deg., and the difference between this and the mean
air temperature was 2'6 deg. The mean temperature of
the water of the Thames was 40.1 deg. The direction of
the wind was very variable, on Saturday it was S.W.
The fall of rain was 0.39 inch, most of it en Sunday.
St. Saviour's—At 57, Great Guildford-street, on the
Bth January, the son of a brickmaker, aged 17, died of
" colica pictonutn."

BOYOUR THII BRAVE!

MORTALITY IN THE METROPOLIS,
NUMEHR OF DEATHS 'ROM ALL CAUSES REGISTEF.ft
IN THE WEEK ENDING SATURDAY, JAN l7,
Zymotic Diseases
..—. 221
Diseases of Uncertain Seat
.. 43
Tubercular Diseases
.
Diseases of the Brain, Nerves and Senses 192108
Diseases of the Heart and Blood vessels 42
Diseases of the Lungs and other Organs of
Respiration .......
Diseases of the Stomach, Liver, arld other. Organs 280
of Digestion . ...... ................ .. 5,7 Diseases of the Kidneys, &c. ........ 23
Childbirth, Diseases of the Uterus &c..
..............................
12
Diseases of the Joints, Bones, and' Muscles ......
Diseases of the Skin, &c, ................................. 1
Malformations
Premature Birth and Debility
atrophy
Old Age
iudden 43
Violence, Privation, Cold, and Intemperance......... . 338
Causes not specified
29

DZATHES rßog ALL CAUSZS
Population Deaths in corre- Deaths
Enumerated. aponding week in the
West Districts
376,427 .. 179
North Districts...... 490,396
Central Districts..... 393,256
East Districts, ....... 485,522
South Districts .... 616,635 ...... 296

1,171
Totals ......... 2,362436 1,121
582
Males ..............
589
Fomales ..........
• •
Males . BIRTHa vs THE WEEK.
......... .
Females,,., e 66 ...„
............................ 818
Total ----: .......... .....—::............ 1,734
....7.•_,±0.......---,........._
'he Londr _l7

____;
The
rge Continentalaccession Steam
o f
Company
from Liver on) The Duteh-Rhenisli interest has also
entered into Vail combination, and the Dutch Postmaster-
General ha% already migned a contract with the Company,
„Thiel will. cornm-nce running their packets in March.
s tFr ean°gktehl
The so speedy completion of an undertaking, compre-
hending 'such vast consequences not only to the trade of
the Nor'ch of Europe, but to the future reduction as well
of time and distance as of expense in the route to the
East and our Indian possessions, speaks greatly for the
enlarged and extended spirit in which those eng wed in
the higher range of commercial ander,akings now regaid
every enterprise that may tend to their more extensive
development.

THE SUN LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING JANUARY 21, 1857.

SOUTHWARK.—CAUTION TO PUBLICANS.—James
Kirby, a powerful-looking coal-p.,rter, was charged with
assaulting Mr. Thomas Robert Elt, the landlord of the
Feathers Tavern, Waterloo and Commercial-roads,
Lambeth.

Mr. Elt, whose clothes were covered with mud, stated
that about dinner-time there was a fight near his house
in the CommerciaLroaq, between the prisoner and
another man. The former was the worse of liquor, and
acting in a very cowardly manner towards his opponent,
and witness give directions previous to going to dinner
not to allow Any of them to enter the house. Just as
he had sat down to his dinner he heard a disturbance
inside the house, and was called down, when he saw
the prisoner acticg in a violent manner. Witness told
him to leave, when he took out some money and de
mantled to be served, saying he dared not refuse while
he had money to pay. Witness, perceiving that he
was under the influence of liquor, refused to serve him,
and on his refusing to leave the house he ejected
him, and when in the street the prisoner attacked
him. He (Nlr. Eit) had no wish to punish the prisoner
with any severity ; but he wished him and his compa-
nions to know that although they had money he was not
compelled to serve them while under the influence of
liquor. They had an idea that he was, and he wished
his worship to disabuse their minds.
Mr. Combo said that it was contrary to the tenour of
their licences for publicans to serve customers under the
Whence of liquor, although they might exhibit their
money to pay for it. The prisoner must be imprisoned
until he was in a sufficient state to enter into his re-
cognisance's to keep the peace for twelve months.

the evening in question, when the defendant, brought in From the London Gazette of Last Night.
a pint of rum. The complainant, who was the worse
for liquor, took a large portion of it, when the defendant
observed, " that was not the way to pass Christmas-eve."
She then took the change out of the money paid by the
defendant for the rum. He asked for it, on which
complainant took up a knife to strike her husband,
He told her to put it down. She would not, when he
struck her. Defendant had been drinking.
Mr. Yardley—With what did he strike her I
Witness—With the tongs. She immediately called
out, " You have broken my arm."
Mr. Yardley remarked that the complainant, it would
appear, was conscious she had no strong case against
her husband, as she had not applied for the summons
till 22 days after the accident. It was ♦ery clear bow
this assault happened, and it was a matter of surprise
to him how any one could employ the complainant as a
monthly nurse.
The defendant was discharged.

FOREIGN-OFFICE, JAN. 16.

The Queen has been pleased to approve of Mr. E. B.
Neill as Consul• General in London for the Republic of
Honduras.

FOREIGN-OFFICE, JAN. 17.
The Queen has been pleased to approve of Mr. Martial
Cloquet as Consul-General in Australia for his Majesty the
sing of the Belgians.
DOWNING-STREET, JAN. 16.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint the Rev. George
Mclrvine to be Minister of the church of Scotland, in the
Island of Mauritius.
Her Majesty has been pleased to appoint William Allen,
Esq., to be Chief Clerk in the Colonial Treasurer'➢ Office in
that island.