The Sun.
London, England, 1857-12-21 00:00:00

wards,

LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 21, 1857.

E AST INDIA HOUSE, Iran DECEMBER, 1157-
rr HE COURT of DIRECTORS of the EAST
INDI k COMPANY DO HEREBY GIVE NOTICE, That
a Proprietor of Ea 4 India Stock, John Jon.s, Esq., hasgiven notice
of his intention to submit the following motion at the Quarterly
General Court of the said Company, appointed to be held at their
House, in Leadenhall-street, on WEDNESDAY next, the 23d instant,
viz

That it is due to the advanciag intelligence of the people of
India that a Deputy from each University In the several
Presidencies be maintained at the public expense in thin
country, with a view to Inform the Proprietors as to the
wishes and complaints of the people of India."
JAMES C. MELYILL, Secretary.

fl REAP WESTERN RAILWAY.-
ir CRISTMAS HOLIDAYA.—EXCURSION, at low fares to
Oxford, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Shrew. bury, Chester, Bir-
kenhead, and Liverpool.—On SATURDAY, Dec. 26th, a Train will
leave Paddington at 8 a.m., returning on Wednesday, the 30th of
Dec , from Liverpool at 8•ls a.m., and intermediate Stations as per
hand bills. Fares there and back :—Oxford, Gs 6d. and 4s. ; Ban-
bury, Bs. and 55.: Leamington and Warwick, 10s. 6d. and 65.; Bir-
mingham, 12s. and 7s. ; West Bromwich, Wednesbury, and fills-
ton, 12s. 6d. and 7s. 6d.; Wolverhampton, 13s. and Bs. ; Welling-
ton and Shrewsbury, 17s. and 10s.; Chester, 18s. 6d. and 11s.;
Birkenhead and Liverpool,.2ls. and 12s. 6d. Further particulars an
application at the Company's Otices.

COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' SCHOOLS
for ORPHAN and NECESSITOUS CHILDREN, PINNER.

Patron, His Royal Highness Prince ALBERT.
NOTICE IS HEREBY GIVEN, That a GENERAL HALF-
YEARLY COURT of the Governors of this Institution will be held
on MONDAY, the 28th inst., at the London Tavern, Bishopsgate-
street, to commence at I I o'clock in the forenoon, when an Election
of Children (eight boys and four girls) will take place, when all
such questions and matters as may be lawfully brought before the
Court will be discussed and decided.
ALFRED LENCH SAUL, Secretary.
81, Cheapside, Dec. 21, 1857.

COMMERCIAL TRAVELLERS' SCHOOL
for ORPHAN and NECESSITOUS CHILDREN, PINNER.

PATRON—His Royal Highness PRINCE ALBERT.

The ANNIVERSARY DINNER to celebrate the foundation of
this Institution will he held at the LONDON TAVERN, Bishops-
gate-street, on S kTIIRDAY, the '26th of December. W. M.
THACRERA.Y, Esq., has kindly consented to take the chair. Mr,
Alderman and Sheriffs Lawrence, and William Roupell, Esq.,
M.P., hays promised to attend. Tickets, On• Guinea each, to be
obtained from any of the Stewards, or at the Offices of the Institu-
tion, 31, Cheapside.

ALFRED LENCH SAUL, Secretary.

December 21,1657.

GUARDIAN FIRE AND LIFE
ASSURANCE COMPANY,
No. 11, Lombard-street, London, E.C.
DIRECTORS.
HENRY HULSE BERENS, Esq., Chairman.
JOHN G. HUBBARD, Esq., Deputy-Chairman.
John Martin, Esq., M.P.
Rowland Mitchell, Esq.
James Morris, Esq.
Henry Norman, Esq.
Henry R. Reynolds, Esq.
Sir Godfrey J. Thomas, Bart.
John Thornton, Esq.
James Tulloch. Esq.
Henry Vigne, Esq.
TORS.
A. W. Robarts, Esq. Henry Sykes Thornton, Esq.
Lewis Loyd, jun., Esq. John Henry Smith, Esq.
George Keys, Esq., Secretary.

john* Dixon, Esq.
Francis Hart Dyke, Esq.
Sir W. M. T. Farquhar, Brt.,M.P,
Sir Walter It. Farquhar, Brt.
'Thomson Ilankey, Esq., M.P.
John Harvey, Esq.
John Labouchere, Esq.
fobri Loch, Esq.
Stewart Marjoribanks, ESq

AUDI'

DEATH OF MR. JAMES COPPOCK.

The friendsand political connections of this well-know n
Parliamentary and electioneering solicitor will regret to
learn that, his death occurred, after an illness of four
days, at his house in Cleveland-row,. on Saturday even-
ing. Only a fortnight since he was engaged some days
in the country on Ibis circuit duty as Treasurer of the
Kent County Courts ; and so lately as Monday last he
was transacting business apparently in his usual health
at his offices in Parliament-street, Westminster. On that
evening he went home tb his private residence complain-
ing of a sudden inflammatory attack in his chest. His
respiratory organs were severely and spasmodically
affected, and his danger was aggravated by a chronic
derangement of the heart, of long standing. On Friday
his medical attendant, Dr. Neil, called into consultation
Sir H. Holland, more alarming symptoms and delirium
intervening. He continued gradually sinking during
the last '24. hours of his lir; and expired without a
struggle on the following evening at G o'clock.
Mr. Coppock was born on the 2d of Sept., 1798, and
was a native of Stockport, in Cheshire. He was the
eldest son of a respectable mercer in that borough, and,
after a good middle-class education, he served his ap-
prenticeship in his father's business. In 1820 be was
placed as a clerk in the establishment of a large whole-
sale haberdasher in ,London. He early commenced busi-
ness on his own account, employing a small capital in
a silk firm in the city. In that connection, partly in
consequence of the commercial disasters which followed
on the French Revolution of 1830, he was unsuccessful.
He bad married in 1829, but upon bis failure as a mercer
he boldly abandoned trade, and resolved to adopt the
profession of the law ; and in 1832 he,articled himself to
a respectable solicitor in Furnival's-inn. During his
five years' clerkship he earned his livelihood, and indus-
triously pursued his new avocation. Although not
admitted on the roll of attorneys till the year 1836,
he acted as an earnest voluntary partisan in the, first
Finsbury election contest following the Reform
Act of 1832. At that period he first published
the " Ziemer? Manual." , titer the second gene-1
ral election under the reformed representative
system, the Liberal leaders in London, profiting by the
late Sir Robert Peel's counsel to " Register I Register I"
founded a counter Registration Society, with branches
throughout England and Wales. Mr. Coppock was by
the late Mr. Sutton Sharpe recommended as the most
fitting secretary to the new association, and especially as
the author of the Electors' Manual. Continuing his
articles of clerkship he received, we believe, a salary of
3001. a-year as such secretary, with a residence in the
society's rooms in Cleveland-row.
.This new occupation
naturally brought him into communication with all the
principal Liberal agents and solicitors of the provincial
counties and boroughs, personally or by cerrespondence.
Three or four years afterwards, on the close of the
society's operations, he became lessee of its house in
Cleveland-row, where he first established himself as a
solicitor and Parliamentary agent. His original wide-
spread connection with the constituencies of the Untied
Kingd sin immediately constituted Mr. Coppock's office
the centre of many election arrangements and contests,
and led to his professional employment in the conduct
of contested returns in the House of Commons. His zeal
and daring in fighting political opponents with their own
weapons are too well remembered to need detail. Fortu-
nately corrupt practices and illegal acts at elections have
been of late years largely diminished, partly by legisla
tion and punishment, and partly by the improved moral
conduct of she borough constituencies, though " Othello's
occupation" may not yet have entirely vanished. None
can question the fidelity of Mr. Coppock's service to his
political clients, and his word was invariably relied upon
by opponents in all arrangements and "compromises."
We desire in this brief obituary notice not to reopen past
electioneering feuds and public inquiries in Parliament
AdministrationsconnectedwithManr.dCfoorpmpoecr Whig Coppock
and Radical s personal services to past
candi-
dates for seats in our Legislature. Such bygone
transactions are • rather matters for future history than
for present renewed commentary, and the public press
of the day has sufficiently criticised the two great
political parties and their individual election doings.
It is enough to state that Mr. Coppock entered the
electioneering arena as an avowed partisan of the Libe-
ral party. His best friends could not approve all his
acts, but he had a universal credit for ability and integ-
rity in his representation of partisans. His self-reliance
and indomitable courage constantly involved him in diffi-
culties, and he often taxed too severely his physical and
mental powers. Indeed, his professional over-exertion
is the numerous election committees of the last session
probably shortened his life. He acted as manager of
sometimes four committees sitting on the same day ;
sometimes singly concerned for sitting members and pe-
titioners, or acting as agent for country parties. It was
also in the spring and summer of this year that, unfortu-
nately involved as a shareholder and leading director in
the Surrey Gardens, he had the additional anxiety on
his mind of that unfortunate speculation, and with an
abridged leisure for attention to the interests of himselt
and co-proprietors. Receiving last August his appoint-
ment as County Courts' Treasurer, and being therefore
in a public official capacity, he
inmoat acutely felt the
pablic reflections he incurred common with his
brother directors, and the more so because, as he ex-
pressed-himself in a letter in our columns, he adniitted
only his lack of judgment, denyiag all imputation on his
character as an honest man. Certainly he was the
largest creditor and loser by the failure of the company.
Thus oppressedin body and mind nature gave way under
severe pressure. An hydraulic machine cannotbe worked
tbeyond
mi tosr
yp roofptehri
sp opwe
ceur
l. a r Perhapspu b lio
man the best(and
we
etributedo to
not
record
.his unexpected death as that of a private indi-
vidual) is the fact that in
private fortune he made no gain
by his singular and busy
political career. He had
arranged to retire from business. His estate will pro-
bably realise a small independence, and one really earned
by his more natural business as solicitor. His death
will be regrettld by many personal friends, and his loss
to the ‘4 party may never be fully supplied. He was a
man sni generic, and politics was his calling and his
pleasure. Probably our future electoral system will
never create need of a second James Coppock.—Times.

ANOTHER ACCOUNT.
We regret to announce the death of Mr. James Cop-
pock, of Cleveland-row, St. James's. Mr. Coppock was
a week ago in the apparent enjoyment of his usual strong
and vigorous health. Oa Tuesday he returned home to
his residence slightly indisposed. This indisposition
rapidly increased, and, baffling all the skill of Sir Her ry
Holland and his ordinary medical attendant, carried Mr.
Coppock off on Saturday evening, in the 59th year of
his age.
Death clears all scores. Our nominal relation to Mr:
Coppock, while in life, was that of antagonism to his
in speaking of the dead
allowance must be made for the iefluence of circum-
stances. He was a remarkable man. Self-taught and
electioneering devices. T 1
reliant, energetic, intelligent and fearless, he cary d out
for himself his own position in life. To his political
friends and party he was a must devoted and faithful
adherent and agent ; he was free from the slightest taint
of vindictiveness or ill-will to his opponents ; perfectly
reliable in all his professional engagements and under-
takings ; frank, hearty, and kind in his habits ; and, in
spite of an off-hand and unrefined manner, in all personal
were of an advanced kind, and no man more earnestly
mdeastitreerds removal(theceedinglY sensitive. His political opinions
of all detects, as well as the exten-
sion of our electoral system, the bad features of which he
understood BO thoroughly.
Mr. Coppock had achieved a considerable position and
practice in his profession of solicitor, when his services
were sought for the liberal party, and it was probably
at no little sacrifice of fortune, as well as comfort, that
he devoted himself more particularly to electioneering
business ; for in its conduct no one, however wealthy,
had ever to complain of his charges, and many a candi-
date and member not blessed with riches had to repay
him more in thanks than in money for a zeal which the
prospect of want of remuneration never diminished, and
for laborious exertions which rose with the necessities of
the case.
Great men and small placed unreserved confidence in
Mr. Coppock ; and not only was their confidence never
representation
eon st
was exact
and n u
abused, it was never paraded or exhibited. His fami-
liarityituencies
was universal and
a nicety their purity
and impurity ; he knew their liberality and illiberality,
saw at a g
m iptreewc;iitshhe i
st
; he
ei
hd Englishd° is
estimated
the
to
lance the candidates who would and who would
hgan
not suit them, could tell the she they ought to cost,
and the sum they ought not to cost,
pointed out the
local agents to be employed and those to be avoided.
And on all those and a hundred other points, his infor-
mation, advice, and counsel were at the perfectly
gratuitous service and disposition of his party.
And then when the election bad been lost or won
when a petition was presented, the Committee struck,
and the last strife and struggle came On, calm, cool,
good tempered and self-possessed, unencumbered himself
with piles of paper, and reducing his briefs to the very
smallest size, Mr. Coppock was a very model of a par-
liamentary agent in electioneering difficulties and Par-
liamentary danger. The greater the stress of weather
the more colected be became ; when the storm :aged
loudest it never disturbed Mr.
Coppock. Not
overloading his counsel with materials, he was always
ready himself at their elbow With
the information
that was wanted, and in the agonies of a case he never
worried bis advocate by his anxieties. In these struggles
his clients placed the most unreserved reliance en his
fidelity. When, in mortification of defeat, they occa-
sionally felt disappointment, they could always recog-
nise the party fidelity which animated all Mr. Coppock's
proceedings. Yet he was not an unscrupulous agent ;
and the opposition knew that his word once given was
always redeemed.
Mr. Coppock, it must be confessed, had faults and
defects ; he loved a contest, and was too pugnacious ;
when once in a struggle he loved to win it. This fault,
no doubt, gained many a seat for his party. Occa-
sionally, however, it won them by means the party was
ashamed of, the country justly condemned. It must,
however, be recollected that when Mr. Coppock was
first called into political practice, and for the suceeding
ten years, the passions of parties were exasperated, their
struggles vehement, and every
election was desperately
fought ; and few men rise out of the habits they acquire
in the more active and stirring scenes of life. Of late
years Mr. Coppock would have Nerved bis friends better,

rand have avoided much personal reproach, could he
have escaped from the influences and the atmo,pbere of
' the earlier part of his career. As it is we have now, i
is to be hoped, nearly out-lived the violencee of party
and the electoral corruption they engender ; aud,
although at general elections a certain amount of ma-
nagement and organisation will always be resorted to
on either side, the necessity and the prudence of
appointing a successor to Mr. Coppock may be doubted.
In private life, Mr. Coppock, if not highly culti-
vated, was a kind and generous man, full of quick
observation and genial humour. His unfortunate con-
nection with the Surrey Gardens arose from the large and
liberal assistance he gave to their former proprietor. For
his advances to that individual he had ample security.
This security, however, he abandoned when the company
was formed ; and the result of his association with it was
the loss of a large, let us trust not the greater part, of
his savings. Mr. Coppock was originally forced into an
active share in the management of the gardens. Unsuit.
able as it was to all his habits of life, so long as he could
take a prominent part in their conduct, the entertain-
ments were profitable. The general election withdrew
in the second season his attention from them. After a
long, laborious, and harassing parliamentary session, Mr.
Coppock had, instead of repose and relaxation, to meet
and encounter all the trouble and annoyance arising from
their unexpected embarrassments. The vexation and
mortification of this affair, joined to the want of relief
from business during the long vacation, and to the duties
of his new office, did their work on Mr. Coppock's robust
and sturdy frame, and assisted in bringing him to a pre-
mature grave, with the regrets of all his personal
acquaintances.—Daily News.