The Sun.
London, England, 1850-05-14 00:00:00

u beitilintl 1.1112:

LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 14, 1850.

The annual festival of the Artists' Benevolent
Institution, held on Saturday last, was rendered
especially interesting by the somewhat unusual pre-
sence of Sir ROBERT PEEL in the chair. Our readers
are already acquainted with the discourse of the
Right Hon. Baronet on that occasion—a discourse
eminently worthy of proceeding from the lips of
that statesman whose timely care for the suffering
artist was gratefully commemorated in the diary of
poor HAYDON. It must always be a matter of pecu-
liar satisfaction to those who duly estimate the relative
positions of the various members of the Commonwealth
when Rank and Power, in the persons of those
privileged few who are rendered illustrious by birth
or fortune, identify themselves with Industry and
humble Merit, the less conspicuous but not less
illustrious characteristics of the great majority.
Of this " twice-blessed" sympathy—literally twice
blessed, for assuredly it benefits the donor as greatly
as it can the recipient—we have recently had
many noble instances, none more remark-
able or more every way gratifying than that
afforded by the great interest manifested in,
and the personal assistance bestowed upon, the Exhi-
bition of Industry by his Royal Highness Prince
ALBERT. Among other examples, similar in kind if
less in degree, is the cordial sympathy and unassum-
ing patronage which Sir ROBERT PEEL, both as a
minister and as a private individual, has continually
exhibited towards art and artists. Not satisfied
with merely erecting his splendid picture-
gallery at Tamworth, and with collecting
therein many of the master-pieces of modern pencils,
the Right Hon. Baronet has shown himself to have
been actuated by a nobler ambition than that of an
ordinary "collector," and herein he is deserving of
more general imitation. He has looked from the work
to the workman—and, more than that, not content
with admiring and rewarding the triumphant efforts
of the successful few, he has paused to re-
member end turned to commiserate the
struggles, the di!appointments, and the sufferings
of those who, perhaps equally meritorious, have been
arrested in their career by sickness, poverty, or acci-
dent, or perhaps cut off by an untimely death. Very
surely Sir ROBERT PEEL was only giving an expres-
sion to his own feelings, and uttering an assurance
that he had already verified by experience, 'when at
the close of his address, on Saturday, he said—and let
us hope the saying will meet with a practical response—
"l venture to assure those who are proud of the
works of genius which adorn their walls—who enter
into the eager competition for picture's, and give ap-
parently extravagant prices for the works of artists
who are now no more—l venture to assure them
that every work of art which they now possess will
be viewed with increased satisfaction—every work
which they may in future acquire will be regarded with
increased pride—if they have the satisfaction of
thinking that they have not only been liberal in their
purchases, and lavish in their admiration, but that
they have applied a portion of their wealth to increase
the funds of this institution, which administers them
with strict fidelity, and which by that administra-
tion tends to assuage the sufferings of men,
of widows, and orphans, who have been
plunged into deep, and, in many cases, unmerited
distress." Such being the object and effect of the
Artists' Benevolent Institution, it possesses very pe-
culiar and powerful claims on the sympathy and sup-
, port of all who can appreciate genius and commise-
rate misfortune. It was happily observed by a
foreigner, at a charitable festival the other day, that
in this country " every word expressive of human
infirmity is translated into stone and mortar."
Such is very nearly the case, and we justly feel
a national pride that it is so. There are, however,
many sorrows and sufferings more poignant, perhaps
because less apparent than those endured by the in-
mates of a hospital. If we were to search through
the tear blotted records of human anguish (always
excepting of course the records of crime) we should
most probably find that the most sorrowful pages are
those which chronicle the combined sufferings of
genius and misfortune—the life-destroying labour,
the hope deferred, the penury, the disap-
pointments, and perhaps the premature death-
bed surrounded by a starving, helpless family. These
sufferings, moreover, are aggravated by the fact that
the sufferers, almost necessarily possess a more
than ordinarily acute sensibility. Remembering,
these things, it appears unnecessary to demon.
strate the excellence, and advocate the claims, of such
institutions as the one above mentioned—institutions
which proffer, in the hour of need, a helping hand to
the sinking and well-nigh desperate. The numerous,
and, in some instances, distinguished individuals
who took part at the festival of Saturday, as the Chair-
man very justly observed, hardly required to have the
excellence of the institution pointed out to them, their
presence sufficiently testified their recognition of its
merits. The remarks of the Right Hon. Chairman
were, therefore, chiefly made for the benefit of those
absent from the assembly, and consequently, continued
the Right Honourable Baronet, "as my appeal
is to the absent, it cannot be made
efficiently unless we have the aid of that great ins

ution or estate—by whatever name you choose to Cal

it—l mean the daily press. I call it an institution

but it is at the same time a powerful instrument for
the dissemination of knowledge, for the correction of
errors and prejudices, and at the same time it always
stands forward—so far at least as my experience enables
me to judge—without reference to party animosities,
the disinterested and generous advocate of every cause
which is connected with charity and benevolence."
We have transcribed this testimony of Sir ROBERT
PEEL'S for two reasons, because it so entirely coin-

with regard to the duties a
cides with what have always bndeeenhaoruarnotewrnissentiments
Press—duties which are at th
responsibilities and privileges, and
beecausseamSeir tßimoe-
BEET PEEL, having been so especially the object of
personal vilification, his testimony to the general dis-
interestedness and generosity of the Press collec-
tively is peculiarly interesting and valuable. In this
instance, the public journals have responded to his
call, and his appeal on behalf of the Artists' Benevo-
lent Institution is in the hands of all the readers of
the daily newspapers. It remains for them to
make a worthy answer to the appeal—an answer
tution.
commensurate with the powerful claims of the Insti-

The County Courts Extension Bill w • again bell
ri.o
eeeof
brought under the consideration of
th i
Commons within the present week, and we
trust 3
that
the advocates of that most salutary measurewill not
oes, but
i
fail to give their attendance, to against the
guard
efforts that may be made to arrest its progressor to
neutralize its efficiency. There is, i
little to be feared from the open and avowed ty
of its uncompromising opponents. The
Recorder
will receive but scanty support in any attempt
which he may make to throw out the Bill.
The Honourable and Learned Gentleman has
candidly declared that he will take advantage of
any opportunity that may arise to prevent the at-
tainment of cheap and expeditious justice. But it
requires no extraordinary degree of vaticination to
loretell the result of a fair and open conflict. Those
who have already defeated the entire strength of the
Government, aided by the votes of thirty placeholders,
will not shrink from measuring their strength with
.the guerilla force which may array itself under the
banner of the Right Honourable Gentleman the
Member for -- ' -
the University ofCambridge. There
is greater danger in the hollow and insidious
support of pretended friends who niny endeavour to