The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-08 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—An account of the late meeting of the
Ethnological Society appears in your impression
of to-day from Mr. 'l'. A. Malone, whose statement
of the evening's occurrences is only partially correct.
Soon after the chairman had left the meeting, I
observed M. du Chaillu making his way in an
excited manner to that part of the room in which
Mr. Malone had been sitting. I followed him, but
did not reach the spot until Mr. Malone called out
"Is there no one here to protect me !" lat once
requested M. du Chaillu to come with me to the
refreshment room, which he did, and I then re-
turned to Mr. Malone and expressed the regret
which the officers of the society felt at the insult he
had received, and invited him to take some refresh-
ment. He asked me if I would guarantee him
from further insult, which I undertook to do,
and so far Mr. Malone is right in correcting the
accounts which you quoted. But while I con-
cur thus far in Mr. Malone's account, I feel
bound in justice to M. du Chaillu to inform
you that the rest of the letter is a very ex parte
statement, and one which is little calculated to give
your readers a fair impression of the insulting
speeches which had been made by Mr. Malone.
Indeed, up to the moment of the assault, there was
a strong feeling in the meeting respecting the in-
judicious remarks of Mr. Malone, which were ren-
dered still more unpalatable by the great profes-
sions of " painful feeling," &c. From the whole
tenour of Mr. Malone's remarks one would rather
have imagined that M. du Chaillu had been a cul-
prit on his trial for some grave offence than a dis-
tingnished foreigner who had attended the meeting
to hear a paper by the celebrated African traveller,
Captain Richard Burton. I am at a loss to know
by what right Mr. Malone made himself inquisitor-
general, and because a question of his was not
answered to his satisfaction, why he should rise
and lecture travellers in general, and M. du Chaffin
in particular ? What a scene of confusion would
have ensued if every author present had thus been
cross-examined and bullied.
I must also correct one other statement which
Mr. Malone has made in his letter, with as little
justice, I fear, as the remarks contained in his
speeches. Mr. Malone says, " A Syrian Christian
was put forward." Now, I deny that any such
gentleman was " put forward." It is true that a
Mr. Ameuuey, a native of Syria, gained permission
'to say a few words on the cannibalism of the Jews ;
but it is false to insinuate that he was put forward
by the society.
Mr. Malone asks that M. du Chaillu be ear
eluded from all future meetings of the society; this
request was made, however, before M. du Chaillu
tendered his apology to the Ethnological Society
and the public. The subject will be dilly brought
under the notice of the Council of the Society, who
will decide whether M. du Chaillu be again in-
vited to attend the meetings of the Ethnological
Society. I do not presume to divine what their
decision may be, but I feel it due to M. du Chaillu
to state that he enjoys the full confidence of the
Ethnologists of this country.
In conclusion, I have only to state that I am not
aware of any law existing in the Ethnological
Society by which a gentleman can be excluded
from attending its meetings. At present every
member is allowed to introduce his friends
(for whom he must be answerable) and, if I intro-
duce Mr. Malone, I expect the chairman to prevent
him from asking insulting questions of any author
who happens to be present.
I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
JAMES HUNT.
Ore-house, near Hastings, July 5.

LAUNCH OF TWO STEAM-VESSELS AT

DEPTFORD.

On Saturdy afternoon last a numerous company
assembled at Messrs. Langley's dockyard, Deptford-
green, to witness the launching of two iron screw
steam-vessels, built by that firm, viz., the Briton,
1,100 tons, intended for the mail packet service be-
tween Southampton and the Cap 9 of Good Hope,
and the barque Mary Langley, of 400 tons, intended
for the West Coast trade. The latter vessel was
launched at one o'clock, the ceremony of christen-
ing being performed by Mrs. Langley, wife of the
builder. As the smart craft dipped into the water,
she revealed exquisite form, with very fine lines.
She is fitted with Cunningham's patent topsails,
and other recent improvements, and is well calcu-
lated for speed. The following are her dimensions:—
Length between perpendiculars, 141 feet ; length
over all, 155 feet; depth moulded, 17 feet 8 inches.
The launch of the Briton was effected in a very
successful manner. She is a magnificent screw
steamer, and will prove a valuable addition to
the fleet of the Union Steam-ship Company, who
perform the mail service between Southampton
and the Cape. She is the first large vessel con-
structed on the unsinkable plan recently patented
by Mr. Langley, and which was favourably noticed
at the last Congress of the Institute of Naval Archi-
tects. The important changes obtained by this
plan are, that should the vessel strike on rocks, &c.,
and the bottom of h;tr keell be actually torn away,
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ttp2www6ah2teoeirfneeraenatpne; excellent dinner was provided. The 'chair
was occupied by Mr. Langley, and amongst those
present were Mr. A. Anderson, chairman ; Mr. J.
F. Mercer, secretary; Messrs. Giles and Wetherall,
directors of the Union Steamship Company ; the
Hon. W. Coolington, of the Cape of Good Hope
Legislative Assembly; Captain Saxon, &c. After
the usual loyal and patriotic toasts, that of " Success
to the Trade and Commerce of the Cape of Good
Hope" was ably responded to by Mr. Coolington,
who entered into many interesting details respect-
ing the colony, where he had resided more than 40
years. Mr. Giles referred to the satisfactory man-
ner in which the company had been able to carry
out the mail service, owing in a great measure to
the excellent iron screw-ships built at that yard.

Parliament. The act of Mr. Rich was as spontane-
ous and disinterested as it was generous, but
undoubtedly he could have wished, and so could he
(Mr. R. Palmer), that the electors of Richmond had
been a longer time acquainted with his intention,
and that a longer time should have intervened be.
fore the election ; but the recent changes had come
suddenly on the Government by an act of Providence
which none could foresee, and therefore could not pro-
vide against them. He should not have done justice
to his feelings if he had not said thus much in justice
to the hon. gentleman whom he aspired to succeed.
(Cheers.) He now approached the still more diffi-
cult task of speaking of himself. It was, under all
circumstances, an invidious, disagreeable, and diffi-
cult thing for a man to speak of himself; but, when
a man came forward to offer himself for election to

an independent constituency, that was a duty he
must discharge, a necessity he must encounter as
well as he could. He should first state under what
circumstances he came before them. He came be-

fore them, as they knew, because it had pleased
their gracious Sovereign to confer on him the ap-
pointment of Solicitor-General. That act was not
by word or deed personally, directly or indirectly.
through any friend—not even in the most remote
manner sought either by his friends or himself. He
was out of Parliament, and had been out of Parlia-
ment for the past four years. The cause of this was
a difference between the Prime Minister and him-
self. He was n t able to agree with Lord Palmer-
ston on the question of the Chinese war ; but he
supposed he (Mr. Itoundell Palmer) was wrong,
because the great majority of the people of England
sustained the then Government in the course it pur-
sued. But though he differed from Lord Palmer-

ston, he could assure them it was because he con-
-- - - - - -

sciously followed what he thought right on that
occasion. (Hear.) The conscquence, however, was
that he did not offer himself again at the election
which followed to the important constituency which
he had represented for nearly 10 years. He would
not attempt to speak of the manner in which
he discharged his duties during the period he repre-
sented that constituency further than .to say that
he acted throughout as an independent man, neither
flattering his constituency nor any of the people,
whom he always loved and served, not connecting
himself with any party, not seeking office, not mak-
ing himself dependent in any way, so that when
he went out of Parliament in 1857 he went out
as independent a man as when he entered it.
(Cheers.) No man had any claim upon him for a
vote given in his favour; no Government had any
claim upon him ; and there was no party with which
he had definitely connected himself. He remained
out of Parliament during the two elections which
followed, and he would tell them why he did so.
He was not prepared to unite himself with the
party of Lord Derby and Mr Disraeli, and he could
not, without acting inconsistently and bartering his
independence, consent to be bound by such pledges
as many popular constituencies asked of their can-
didates. He preferred remaining out of Parliament
till he could serve some independent constituency,
and he would have remained out to the end of his
days rather than have entered in any way that
would have involved a sacrifice of principle. (Cheers.)
Although out of Parliament, and not in office, Lord
Palmerston had asked him to give his services,
humble as they were, to the Government. Lord
Palmerston knew the principles he had professed;
and he also must have been
not swerve from them. aware that he should
Notwithstanding this he
had thought well to honour him with the office of
Solicitor-General. He must confess himself not to
be indifferent to that feeling of ambition which was
common among men, but he hoped that in accepting
office under the Government he was chiefly moved
by that more honourable ambition to serve his coun-
try to the best of his power. (Cheers.) His prin-
ciples mi▪
ght be summed up in a few points. He
was at present, and always had been, an ardent
lover of the people, and an ardent lover and advo-
cate of civ▪
il and religious liberty—(cheers)—but he
was not one who had courted the name of Liberal
rather than follow the principles that term ex-
pressed; nei▪ ther had he, to earn a credit for supe-
rior liberality, supported measures which, although
popular with a certain class, were what he con-
sidered detri▪
mental to the interests of the country.
On the other hand, he was most heartily attached
to the mixed form of Government under which
we lived, and to the great institutions of the
country in Church and State; and no one could be
more determined to hand them down to posterity as
unimpaired as he had found them. But that at-
tachment,was not blind and unreasoning He for
one could not go so far as to say there were no flaws
in our time-honoured institutions. He was not,
therefore, opposed to well considered measures of
earnest and practical reform. There was no doing
good without progress, and there was no progress,
right, or respect for the good with which we may
be actuated which we ought not to be thankful to
God for giving us. (Hear.) There was one subject
on which he had the most decided opinion. He was
one of those who looked on war as the greatest
curse which could happen to the human race. He
was ready to advance to the furthest limit of con-
cession compatible with the national dignity and
honour to maintain peace; but, on the other hand,
he was one who thought that the national honour
should be maintained at whatever cost, and that we
should shrink from no expenditure to place the na-
tional security beyond jeopardy. (Cheers.) Holding
these opinions Lord Palmerston had thought it well
to invite him to join the Government, and he had
not refused giving his services, and he hoped he
might be in some measure instrumental in helping
forward those measures of law reform which for a
long succession of years had been in progress, and
which, as they knew, were not yet finished. In
other matters he should be prepared to promote to
the best of his ability the progress of practical im-
provement. He was not afraid of the people of this
country ; on the contrary, he respected and honoured
them. (Cheers.) He felt that they were entitled
to the most unbounded respect and confidence, and
he should be prepared in all things to consider ex-
clusively objects of practical government for their
good.
When he had received the call to accept office
he •
considered his duty to obey when he looked at
the position of parties at home and the state of po-
litics abroad, provided there was no interference of
principle which would prevent him obeying that
call. And he did not know of any. Let them just
look abroad. For some years past they had seen,
and still saw on the continent of Europe such
dangerous complications of affairs as might at any
moment involve the whole of Europe in war, and he
held it to be a thing of vital importance that all
possible support should be given to a Government
which had by its policy shown itself entitled to their
confidence, and he thought the Government of Lord
Palmerston had especially done that. The whole
bearing of the Government for the last three or four
years had been towards the preservation of peace, at
the same time holding that the liberty of foreign

' potions should not be interfered with by preventing
interference. (Cheers.) They had maintained the
right of nations to work out their own liberty.
Those great results, which had been attained with
such noble promises of future good, would not have
been, or at any rate might not have been attained
without the influence of the moral weight of this
country speaking through its Government. It was
this, he believed, brought to bear on certain poten-
tates, which had restrained ambition or desire for
power which would otherwise in all probability
have thrown impediments in the way of such a
happy consummation of events as had taken place.
(Cheers.) It was not only the armaments of France,
not only the imperfect consolidation of the Italian
kingdom, not only the changes which threatened in
the Papal States, but there were dangers in Austria
and Hungary—dangers in Poland and Turkey—
dangers, in fact, on all sides : and what had they to
trust to? Why, subject to Divine and overruling
Providence, they had to trust to the firmness and
wisdom of their rulers; and if the conduct of affairs in
this country should fall into hands in any way in-
clined to disturb the policy which had worked so well
for the last three or four years, and who had not that
influence and experience in foreign Courts which the
present Government possessed, the guarantees we
now had for the peace of our land and the security of
our own homes would be most materially disturbed
and diminished. For this reason he asked their sup-
port, as he intended to co-operate with a Government"-
which had so successfully conducted the affairs
o f
the country ; and the present state of parties in
this country he thought, presented an equally strong
reason why they should not refuse the Government
their confidence. There were a great many people
—many, perhaps, in Richmond, though not as
many there as elsewhere—who spoke as if they
thought that all the world was divided by some
hard line into Radicals and Tories. There was not
a greater mistake. It was not so divided ; and it
was probably less so divided now than at any for-
mer period. What was the cause why these divi-
sions had dwindled and become so unreal ? It was
doubtless to be attributed to the great abuses which
had been reformed ; the fabric of liberty had been
built up step by step till at last there remained
few matters which tended strongly to divide the
opinions of men. And it was a very happy thing
that it was so. It promoted cordiality between
man and man. There was one particular evil con-
nected with this good thing—it tended to make
Government rather more difficult, because there
was a greater tendency to struggle for power be-
tween the heads of parties. It was for the advan-
tage of the country that a Government should be
reasonably strong, against which this approxima-
tion of opinions militated. There were two kinds
of Conservatism—one was destructive, the other
was common to all good Liberals. The destructive
stood still, was selfish, advocated class privileges,
thought everything was as good as it should be,
and disliked all change. Such Conservatism would
revolutionise society. True Conservatism was pro-
gress—that which was stationary in the world
went to decay and died ; that which was progres-
sive lived and grew. The progress of reform should
be constant and steady, and on this the securityand
prosperity of the nation depended. The policy of the
present Administration was safe and progressive,
and he felt it no slight honour to be connected with
it. The learned gentleman concluded by asking
the support of the electors if hisprinciples coincided
with theirs.

On the motion of Mr. G. Smurthwaite, seconded
by Captain Stapleton, a vote of confidence in Mr.
Roundell Palmer was unanimously agreed to.
In answer to questions the hon. candidate stated
that he was favourable to the admission to the
franchise of the intelligent members of the working
classes. He was opposed to the ballot.
Mr. HUNTON moved a vote of thanks to the re-
tiring member, Mr. Rich, which was carried by ac-
clamation, and after cheers had been given for Mr.
Roundell Palmer and a vote of thanks passed to the
Chairman the meeting dispersed.
The election, it is believed, will take place in the
course of the week.