The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-04 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, NOV. 4, 18C8.

Honorary distinctions have their value and im-
portance : for, they are symbolical. It is thus when
any considerable municipality evidences its respect for
a great warrior or a great statesman by conferring
upon him the so-called rights of citizenship—by pre-
senting a gold sword to a veteran soldier, or inscrib-
ing a renowned orator's name upon a burgess ticket.
The honour, here, as with most gifts, subsists not in
the thing itself, but in what is thereby signified. It
is consequently prized by our public men out of all
seeming proportion. It is even considered of im-
portance by them when they are enrolled among the
members of one or other of the more distinguished
of the great City Companies. Insomuch that many an-
other King's Chamberlain besides POLONWS might lite-
rally be answered on his asking if he were remembered
—" Excellent well, you are a Fisk'. on ger !"—or a Gold-
smith, or a Spectacle-maker, or what not, as the case
might be. Other corporations than that of London
are in the habit of testifying their appreciation of
distinguished public services precisely in the same
way, and none among them seizes the rare oppor-
tunities for doing this which present themselves in
the lifetime of a generation, more eagerly, more
generously, or more conspicuously than the dis-
tinguished corporation of Edinburgh. The Free-
dom of the City there, as in London, is
bestowed, at uncertain intervals, upon one
another of our Public Men, quite irrespective of
party polities. A. Liberal Lord Mayor or a
Liberal Lord Provost might at these times with per-
fect consistency pronounce a glOwing eulogium upon
a Tory Administrator. Or—of course—vice versa:
a Tory Lord Provost might do the like without any
derogation from his consistency by pronouncing a
warm panegyric upon the member of a Liberal Go-
vernment. It is the Eminent Citizen of a free empire,
not the Party Chief, who is honoured upon these occa-
sions. And it is, therefore, not incongruous ou the part
of the Right lion. Wm. CHAMBERS, the Lord Provost
of Edinburgh, that within so brief an interval it
should have fallen to his lot to enroll as burgesses
and freemen of Edinburgh, and to eulogize in cor-
dial terms of admiration, each in turn, as an Orator,
and it may be added even as a Reformer of illus-
trious and historical reputation, now the right hon.
member for Buckinghamshire, Mr. DISRAELI, now
one of the most formidable of his opponents, one
occupying a seat below the gangway on the other
side of the House of Commons, a great Orator and
Tribune of the People, such as Mr. BIIIGIIT, the
member for Birmingham.

Party politics upon these occasions are forgotten.
They are felt to be out of place. Direct reference to
them at such moments would be worse than a
gaucherie—would be a betise. It was so evidently
regarded only yesterday at Edinburgh, when the
Lord Provost presented to Mr. Bnionr the certifi-
cate constituting him a burgess and freeman of
Edinburgh. Eveu on the verge of a General Election,
partizan views of any kind did not admit, there and
then, of enforcement. Speaking, as he doubtless
always does, from his conscience, Mr. BRIGHT had, for
once, to speak in a manner exclusively (to adopt
the Prime Minister's phrase) from his historical con-
science. His remarks were, for the most part, retro-
spective. They were almost necessarily so, for inas-
much as the privileges of citizenship then conferre 1
upon the member for Birmingham were so conferred

on him " especially" on account of his brilliant and
successful services in the promotion of Free-trade.
A recognition of those services, by the way,

rather after date after date by more than a
score of years! But, no matter. Better late
than never—and, so conferred, the recognition of
those long-past services could not but be acknow-
ledged by the great Free Trader, with especial refer-
ence to those his earliest and, we cannot but think,
his most resplendent achievements. Referring thus,
to those historical achievements, it is particularly
noticeable that; Mr. BRIGHT yesterday did not
arrogate to himself honours that were not
justly his own. He availed himself, on the
contrary, of that conspicuous opportunity
—eagerly seizing it, indeed, as a golden occasion upon

- .
which to do now as Sir ROBERT PEEL did three and

twenty years ago—to place the palm-crown where it
was merited, namely, where it would encircle the name
of the true victor in that bloodless field of glory, the
simple, noble, honoured name of RICHARD COBDEN.
Speaking of the tremendous struggle in which he was
engaged between twenty and thirty years ago, in
companionship with Mr. COBDEN, the member for
Birmingham yesterday remarked, "I worked at-it
for seven years, and for five years almost without
interruption, and I did nothing else but work
for free trade duriog these years—in alliance, as
you know, with one of the most remarkable men
that our country has ever produced, and one of
Vie best men than any now living have
ever known." And he added—" When I look back
to him whose name must ever ba foremost in any
history or memory of that struggle, when I consider
his remarkable industry, his wonderful sagacity, his
enlarged information, the combined force and gen-
tleness of his character, his most persuasive speech,
when I look back upon his transcendant merits, I
confess I am amazed that it took all that, and the
energy, and the labour, and the resolution of

scores and hundreds of thousands besides, to re-
peal the Corn Laws. I say lam amazed that
on so clear a question it should be neces-
sary to make so great an effort to bring Par-
liament and the people to comprehend their true
interests." And yet it was so ; and it is only in
remembrance of the fact of its having been so, that
the country can to the full appreciate its own
profound and lasting obligation to men like Mr.
COBDEN, Mr. BRIGHT, Mr. VILLIERS, Mr. GIBSON,
and others who were associated with them in that
grand movement. Cogently put—put with all the
poignancy of wit and all the force of a syllogism—
was the great truth those patriotic reformers were then
during so many years vainly striving to bring home
to the popular judgment, when Mrs. SOMERVILLE
wrote that memorable sentence (so aptly quoted
yesterday by ➢ir. BRIGHT in his speech at Elinburgh)
—" Surely as much food as a man can bay, with as
much wages as a man can get, for as much work as
a man can do, is not more than the natural, inalien-
able birthright of every man whom GOD has created
with strength to labour and with hands to work."
Noble words—a noble utterance : than which, as Mr.
BRIGHT said yesterday "nothing can be more
simple, nothing more true, nothing more conclu-
sive." And yet, for all that, words embodying
a truth which could only be beaten into shape
upon the sounding anvil of the Anti-Corn-Law-
League. Of that League the two foremost men,
beyond all comparison, were Mr. COBDEN and Mr.
BRIGHT. Mr. COBDEN was there, at the head of them
all, facile princeps. But after him, directly after
him, stood forth the name of Mr. BRlGHT—distancing
all competitors. Not one of the other members
of the League approached him in energy, in eloquence,
in burning and soul-born enthusiasm. His enthusiasm
has never abated, his energies have never relaxed, his
eloquence has ripened, so to speak, and has become
in a manner so far perfected by practice that he is
recognized by Whigs and Tories alike, by Liberals
and Conservatives, as the first of all the Orators of
his time, as Lord DERBY is still, when at his best, the
first of all Debaters. Always impulsive and impetu-
ous ; often--to our thinking—mistaken in his
views, ungenerous in his denunciations, and ex-
travagant in his assertions, Mr. BRIGHT is
throughout (we cannot but think, even when we re-
gard him as the most mistaken, the most ungenerous,
and the most extravagant) actuated by the highest
and the most unimpeachable motives, motives the most
patriotic and the most conscientious. His faults,
however, were not among the faults of Mr. COBDEN.
The latter—without those faults, faults of all the
most fatal to an administrator —was, more than once
during the closing years of his life, offered in
vain high position among the Cabinet Ministers,
under Lord PALMERSTON'S Premiership. It is very
generally understood, now, that, upon the formation of
the next Liberal Government, a positio❑ of that kind
will not only be offered to, but accepted by, Mr. COB-
NEN'S many years colleague, Mr. BRIGHT. In the
interests of his country, and in those also of his own
reputation—if only he could temper his judgment to
the equable serenity of his great coadjutor
in the days of the League ! If only he
could acquire somewhat of the calm and
force of toleration ! Perhaps—with the responsibili-
ties of office (it is our only hope in his regard) there
may come that mitigation of what we may call his
constitutional arrogance : there may come at last—
when it is most'needed--- -some shew at least of gracious
toleration towards his antagonists.

IT is stated that no fewer than 201 cases are down
for trial at the Divorce Court for the term which
opened on Monday. This is an unusually and
lamentably large number. It may be said that they
bear only an intmitesimal proportion to tlte immic,or
of marriages. But as it is generally only in the last
extremity that husband or wife resort to Sir JAMES
WILDE, it is to be feared that the proportion of
unhappy marriages is anything but infinitesimal.
In most of these two hundred and one cases
patience has been tried beyond endurance. In
a far larger number the last ounce has not yet
been laid upon the overburdened back ; yet there
has been misery where there ought to have been
happiness, cruelty where there ought to have been
tenderness, constant bickerings where there ought
to have been words of love, blows where there ought
to have been caresses. As a rule, it is only when
the measure of sorrow has run over that a man or a
woman will proclaim to all the world that a
cruel blunder has been made, that happiness
and honour have been shipwrecked. The Divorce
Court no more represents the number of
wretched marriages than the Registrar-General's
returns of deaths represent the number of persons
suffering from headache or any other ailment
that is not fatal. But while men and women will,
for the most part, refrain from appearing before the
judge, even when they have good reason to seek his
aid, there are a few that resort to him whom
he ought to dismiss with censure. It is very clear
that the Divorce Court is in danger of being used by
immoral persons as a means of escaping from a bond
which checks their licentiousness. A pair, of loose
morals, who have got tired of each other and wish
to enter upon other connections, will deliberately
connive at each other's sin, in order to obtain a dis-
solution of the marriage bond. There are, again,
men who will deliberately marry girls of damaged
reputations with the intention of suing for a divorce
when weary of the union, knowing well that they will
always be able to find arguments in support of their
suit if they will but place their frail partners in the
way of temptation. Cases like these require the
keenest discrimination on the part of the judge. It
is the interest of all parties to deceive him ; while he,
acting in the interests of public morality, has to exer-
cise all his faculties in defending himself against
deception. Sir JAMES WILDE has already shewn
that he is not easily misled. We should not be sur-
prised if some of these two hundred and one cases
afford him further opportunity for exposing and
frustrating an immoral conspiracy.

NEW DIVORCE .ACT.—The new Act passed in the
late session will practically take effect during the present
sittings of the court. Where there is no appeal, the re-
spective parties aro at liberty to marry again as soon as
the decree absolute is pronotuced.

CHANCERY SALES.—The official returns show that
817 sales of estates were made last year under orders of the
Court of Chancery. The amount realised was X 2,000,551.
In the preceding year the amount was X 1,787,518.

THE CIVIL SERVICE.--The thirteenth report
of her Majesty's Civil Service Commission, together
with appendices, was published yesterday morning. The
report itself contains a summary review of all tho
proceedings of the commissioners from May, 1855, up
to the last day of Juno in the present year. During
that period the total number of candidates whose names
have appeared upon the lists have been 59,658. Tho
actual number. however, which came before the board for
their decision was 46,523, and of these certificates of qua-
lification wore granted in 28,596 cases. Of the remainder,
however, only f',461 were rejected as abso7utely dis-
qualified.
THE WOMAN'S KINGDOM. By the Author of
"John Halifax Gentleman," &c. 3 vols.—" The 'Woman's
Kingdom' sustains the author's reputation as a writer of
the finest and noblest kind of domestic stories. The main
object of the narrative is indicated with unusual clearness
by the title. And women, whose lives are made up of
work and love, and busy men, whose various occupations
and natural hardness, allow them leisure and humour for
the occasional p,rusal of pleasant talL s of homely intereat,
will agree in thinking that the novelist's lesson is given
with admirable force and sweetness."—Athentewn.
LUXURIANT AND BEAUTIFUL HAIR.—MRS. S. A.
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quickly restore Grey or Faded Hair to its youthful colour and
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lightful fragrance is given to the Hair. It stops the Hair from
falling off. It prevents baldness. It promotes luxuriant growth
it causes the Hair to grow thick and strong. It removes all
dandruff. It contains noithor oil nor dye. In lorge Bottles—
Price Six Shillings. Sold by Mat Chemists anl Perfumers
DepOt, 266, Higb. Holborn

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

~.__ - -

INDIA, CHINA, AND AUSTRALIAN
HEAVY MAILS.

GIBRALTAR, Nov. 3.
The Delta left at 8 a.m. to-day for Southampton,
where she may be looked for on the evening of the
7th inst. All well.

AMERICA.
ELECTION Or. GRAM' AND COLFAX.

NEW YOLK, Nov. 3.
General Grant and Nr. S. Colfax are elected

President and Vice-President of the United States,

he Republicans having carried nearly all the

Northern States by increased majorities.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

NEW YORK, Nov. 3.

Clo_ing Prices.—Gold closed at 1338. The
highest price during the day was 133 i, and the
lowest 133 k.

Sterling Exchange on London, 1091.
5-20 United States Bonds, 1882, 1091 ; ditto,
1835, 1071 ; ditto, 1865, 1101 ; 10-40 United
States Bonds, 106.
Illinois, 1441 ; Erie, 40k.
Cotton—Middling upland, 25i.
Petroleum—Standard white, 30.
Flour—Extra state, $6 70 to $7 30. Corn—Old
mixed, $ll6.

ROUMANIA.

BUCHAREST, Nov. 2.

The rumour which for the last few days has been
current here thatM. Ledeschine, the brother-in-law
of Menotti Garibaldi, was enlisting troops iu Bulgaria
is entirely untrue. He came to this city to esta-
blish a Water Cure Institution at Moyerelli, near
Bucharest, but the scheme, owing to the want of
capital, has been given up.

POLICE IN7'ELLIG ENCE-- This Day.

MARLBOROUGH-STREET.

STEALING MARKED MONEY.--Robert Noble, a
young man in the employ of Mr. Job Keevil, whole-
sale and retail cheesemonger, of No. 273, Oxford-
street, as a shopman, was charged before Mr. Tyr-
whitt with stealing a half sovereign, the money of
his master.

Mr. Froggatt appeared for the prosecution, and
in opening the case said that the prisoner had been
in the employ of the prosecutor about six months,
and during that time he bad lost a considerable
sum of money, and yesterday Sergeant Cole of the
C division having been communicated with, he
took such steps as led to the detection of the pri-
soner as the thief. Mr. Froggatt then called

Mr. Tray ton White, foreman to Mr. Keevil, who
said that during the past six months he had fre-
quently missed money—always gold. Yesterday,
about four o'clock, he counted the money in the
gold till, and found three sovereigns, two half-
sovereigns, and a £5-note. At five o'clock he
again counted the money, and found the amount to
be the same as before, and any gold which had been
taken ought to have been dropped into the till, of
which he (witness) kept the key. About half-past
five Sergeant Cole, who had previously been com-
municated with, came in and called the prisoner
into the back parlour, and he was then taken into
custody.
In answer to Mr. Tyrwhitt, the witn-ss said he
had missed considerable sums from the till at diffe-
rent times. _ _

Mrs. Grant proved receiving a half sovereign from
Sergeant Cole marked with cross on the top of
the corner, and on going to the shop of Mr. Keevil
yesterday, and making a purchase of the prisoner,
gave him the halt sovereign. The prisoner
put the half sovereign into the till with the
silver, and in taking out some silver to give her
change she noticA him take out the half sove-
reign, lay it on the table, and then placed a piece
of paper over it, and she then communicated with
Sergeant Cole.
Sergeant Colo of the C division, said that in
consequence of a communication from Mr. Keene,
he marked half a sovereign and gave it to the last
witness, and in consequence of information he went
yesterday afternoon to Mr. Keevil's and called
the prisoner into the parlour in the presence of Mr.
White, and told him that he (Cole) was a police
officer, and asked him if he had any objection, as
Mr. Keevil had been losing large sums of money,
to show him what money he had about him. The
prisoner said he had one half-sovereign, but after-
wards said he had two, and in producing them one
was the marked one, and he (Cole) then told him
that he should take Lim into custody. The prisoner
replied, .‘ Well, I do not know how I came to do
it, and what possessed me to do it 1 cannot tell.
It is the first time I ever did anything of the
sort, and I hope Mr. Keevil will forgive me and
bail me."

The prisoner, who was in tears after being con-
victed, said—l have nothing more to say but
that I took the half-sovereign, and I am very
sorry for it.
Mr. Tyrwhitt committed the prisoner for trial.