The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-10 00:00:00

tteltind glut

LONDON, TUESDAY, DECEMBER 10, 1850.

Popular education is much talked about by poli-

ticians—the Earl of CARLISLE has given practical
testimonies of his solicitude to aid in forwarding its
development. His lectures in the Leeds Mechanics.
Institute go further in proclaiming the advantages of
diffusing knowledge throughout the community than
the most able speech on the subject of general in-
struction ever delivered within the walls of Parlia-
ment. One of these brilliant prelections we have
already particularised as having been directed to the
disclosure of the now somewhat obscured and for-
gotten beauties of POPE. Another, relating to the
aspect of the United States and Canada, as they ap-
peared when visited by the Noble Earl in 1841,2, we
would here briefly, though inadequately, comme-
morate.

In this admirable lecture Lord CARLISLE presents
to the imagination a series of pictures, sketched with
a rapid pencil but a master hand, in which may be
recognised a panoramic view of the condition of
society in the North American Continent. Impres-
sions of a country like the United States, coming
from an observer as liberal and intelligent as the Earl
of CARLISLE, must surely exercise even over the most in-
different a deep and earnest fascination. For the
landscapes of the western republic the illustrious
traveller had the appreciative faculties of a poet and
a painter ; for her swarming population and extend.
ing cities he cherished the interest experienced only
by the philanthropist ; for her men of genius he had
capabilities of estimation flowing out of the fulness of
an eclectic and cultivated intellect; for her institu-

tions, political, social, and religious, he had the judg-
ment of a legislator and a statesman. Consequently
it was with consummate skill that the different subjects
suggested by the theme of his discourse were touched
upon and illustrated.
Witness this, the adroitness of his portraitures of
those distinguished Americans with whom his Lord-
ship came in contact during the course of his pere-
grinations. Mr. (.2trlstcv ADAMS, once the President
of the Republic, seems to him like " a fine old game
cock" when, in his seventy-fifth year, he sees him
standing erect on the floor of Congress, shrieking out
in behalf of the right of petition against slavery. Mr.
HENRY CLAY wins his regard by the intonations of
his melodious voice, insomuch that he pronounces
him to be a man " easy, simple, and genial, with
great natural dignity." lie beholds also in the
" jutting brows, and cavernous eyes, and massive
forehead" of Mr. DANIEL WEBSTER the evidences of
a great and comprehensive intellect. Mr. CALHOUN
is applauded for " his ability, his honesty," aye and
even his very "impracticability," and Mr. TYLER
himself commended as " a simple unaffected person."
Mr. VAN BUREN he finds interesting and anecdotal.
Chancellor LENT he regards at seventy-eight as
1" full of animation and racy vigour, combined with a
very great simplicity." WASHINGTON laviNa ap-
pears to him "as gentle and genial as his works," the
highest encomium he could pronounce. Mr. Justice
STOREY he looks upon as " a profound commentator
and expounder of law, hut as ono of the most
generous and single. minded of men." Dr. CHAN-
:CMG, though marred by the aspect of his " fragile
frame," and by the influence of his " dry manner,"
impressed his mind so strongly that he felt himself
" in a presence in which nothing that was impure,

base, or selfish, could breathe at ease." Besides these,
Lord CARLISLE has a word of kindly recognition for
Mr. BRYANT, the well-known poet, for Mr. LONG-
FELLOW, a writer more entitled to the epithet of bard,
for Mr. BANCROFT, the historian of his country, for
Mr. TICKNOR, the ablest of the critics on Spanish
authorities, for Mr. EMERSON, the distinguished lec-
turer and essayist, and " last not least "for Mr. PRES..
COTT, the celebrated annalist, one of the brightest
names in the whole range of American literature.
Glancing at the various towns and cities scattered
over the newly-peopled continent, Lord CARLISLE
sketches the principal amongst them in colours at once
vivid and natural. New York he regards "as some•
thing of a fusion between Paris and Liverpool."
Every one there seems to him " to be eating oysters all
day long." Washington, called by somebody else
" a city of magnificent distances," he describes as look-
ing like a spot where " it had rained houses at ran-
dom, or like half a dozen indifferent villages scattered
over a goose common." Boston is an especial object
of his admiration, and Philadelphia a wonderful place
—where the streets, built at right angles with each
other, bear the names of the different trees of the
country, where the houses of red brick are adorned
with marble door-steps and silver knockers—looking
like a city built by Quakers, it is true, but by
" Quakers who have become rather dandified."

Aided by these brilliant and animated word-pic-
tures, we are enabled to follow the Noble Lecturer
throughout the whole of his prolonged and delightful
tour, now in the rice-fields, now in the sugar or
coffee plantations, now in the senate-house, now in
the prairie, now on the Canadian lakes, now in the
back forests during the days of autumn, when the gor-
geous colouring of the foliage is as bright as the dyes of
a prism and as varied as those of a chamelion, a dying
dolphin, or the plumage of a peacock. An
enthusiast in the majesty of Nature, such
as the Earl of CARLISLE is, by this time, gene-
rally known to be, could scarcely be expected to slur
over a topic like the Falls of Niagara without some
effort, however incidental, at description and pane-
gyric. One observation made by him on this some-
what hackneyed but altogether inexhaustible theme,
is too excellent of its kind to be passed by without espe-
cial consideration. It is where, alluding to the remark
that the cataract is not considered to be picturesque,
he exclaims, " When on the spot you would no more
think of complaining that Niagara was not pic-
turesque, than you would remark in the shock and clang
of battle that a trumpet sounded out of tune." Again
it is nobly said by the Earl, when pursuing the same
thread of ideas, " Living at Niagara was not like
ordinary life ; it's not over loud but constant, solemn
roar has, in itself a mysterious sound : is not the
highest Voice to which the Universe can ever listen
compared by inspiration to the sound of many
waters?" Seeing that the Noble Lecturer
neglected in this portion of his discourse
to quote the bold and beautiful verses written
by himself to that great wonder of creation, it may
not be uninteresting to revive them here ourselves,
coupled with these prose tributes of awe and astonish-
ment. The following, therefore, was the strain in
which that nobleman, when Lord MoRPETIT, ejacu-
lated his homage to Niagara—
" There's nothing great or bright, thou glorious Fall!
Thou inayst not to the fancy's sense recall—
The thunder-riven cloud, the lightning's leap,
The stirring of the chambers of the deep,
Earth's emerald green and many tinted dyes,
The fleecy whiteness of the upper skies,
The tread of armies thickening as they come,
The boom of cannon and the beat of drum,
The brow of beauty and the form of grace,
The passion and the prowess of our race,
The song of Homer in its loftiest hour,
The unresisted sweep of Roman power,
Britannia's trident on the azure sea,
America's young shout of liberty !
Oh! may the wars that madden in thy deeps
There spend their rage, nor climb the encircling steeps,
And till the conflict of thy surges cease
The nations on thy banks repose in peace.'
Quaint as well as beautiful delineations are
crowded by Lord CARLISLE into his account of
America, as where, speaking of the Cuban carriages,
he says, " they were called volantes, and looked as if
they were intended to carry Don QUIXOTE." A
multitude of interesting particulars are likewise
squandered through the lectures—particulars such as
the mention of the tomb of WASHINGTON above the
noble Potomac, where are preserved the keys of the
Bastille, sent to the Founder of American Republi-
canism by General LAFAYETTE, and the sword sent to
him by the GREAT FREDERICK with this message,
" From the oldest General of the age to the best," as
the accompanying compliment.

Whatever is repulsive in the United States' society
the Earl of CARLISLE very suggestively and senten-
tiously attributes to—tobacco. Generally speaking
he appears to commend the aspect and bearing of the
population. Compared with our own, he considers
their frames to be less robust and healthy ; but if
physically deficient in one respect, they are unques-
tionably superior to us in many others, moral and
socially. Hear, for instance, that emphatic sentence
pronounced by the NobleLecturer,when he observes:—
"It is something to have travelled nearly over the
whole extent of the Union without having encountered
a single specimen either of servility or of incivility."
Commenting, also, upon their capabilities of religious
improvement, he remarks, with an air of delight, that
amongst them is visible the truest and the largest
toleration. This occurs, moreover, without the
citizens having pledged themselves to the adoption of
the voluntary system entirely—the Earl observing
upon this enlightened freedom—" There certainly is
a breadth and universality of religious liberty which
I do not regard without some degree of envy I"
Various other topics are expatiated on with consum-
mate skill, and sometimes with incomparable
earnestness, as where allusion is made to slavery—
that diabolical system of slavery which, in
the United States, is " a brand, a bye-word, and a
jest upon the name of freedom," but further refer-
ence to these particular passages would be super-
fluous, seeing that all alike may read the detailed report
of the lecture itself precisely as it fell from the lips
of the lecturer. To him the country will not fail to
look with increasing regard and admiration, now that
to the fame of a lettered and liberal patrician he adds
the glory of a true and practical friend of general
education.

The trial of the Abbe dOTHLAND and of Madame
Du SABLON, for the alleged murder of the aged do-
mestic of the male prisoner, has been brought to a
conclusion. After a protracted investigation, con-
tinued during many successive days, the jury
returned a verdict of " Guilty, with extenuating
circumstances," against the abbe, and acquitted the
female of any participation in the offence. The con-
victed party was then sentenced to expiate the enor-
mous atrocity of which he had been con-
victed by hard labour in the galleys for life.
The extraordinary and revolting circumstances
attending the entire transaction, the intense interest
excited in the public mind respecting every portion
of the case, has led to the production of a more
copious and detailed report of the proceedings than
is usually given of criminal trials in other countries.
We are, therefore, enabled to compare the practice
and proceedure with what it would have been in
England, under similar circumstances ; and we are
convinced that the most ardent and enthusiastic
advocate for legal reform will freely admit
that so far as the administration of the
criminal law is concerned, we are immeasura-
bly helve our continental neighbours ; that there is
greater fair play shown to the accused, and conse-
quently less danger of the unmerited punishment
of an innocent person, while there is at the same time
a dignity and impartiality more becoming the solem..
nity of the occasion, which is never suffered to
assume that dramatic appearance which is so percep-
tible in trials before the French tribunals.
We do not find that searching cross-ex-
amination of the accused, that earnest
desire to convict him out of his own mouth, to detect
and expose his inaccuracies and inconsistencies, to
browbeat and bully the person whose life is involved
in the issue, which is calculated to prejudice the
stupid innocent man, and to serve the clever scoun-
drel—to lead to the undue conviction of the
former and the undeserved acquittal of the latter,
while it deprives the bench of that appearance of im-
partiality which is so essential. The sole oh-
jed of —the presiding jadge seems to be the
conviction of the prisoner by any means, per
it, ant nefas. In place of holding • the
scales of justice. with an even hand, and
accurately weighing the various circumstances for

DECEMBER la, 1850.