The Sun.
London, England, 1868-02-28 00:00:00

THE OUTRAGE IN CLERKENWELL.

On the consideration of the letter received from
the Home Secretary at the last county day, sug-
gesting the purchase of property overlooking the
House of Detention, being moved, it was agreed
that this court had no power to purchase up a whole
street or streets, even if they had the funds, and
that if this property is required it could only be ob-
tained under the authority of an Act of Parliament.
After a long discussion the matter was referred to
the General Purposes Committee.

THE LIABILITY TO COMPENSATE SUFFERERS BY RIOT.

Mr. Sergeant PAYNE moved :—'‘ That inasmuch
as the law requiring the Hundred to compensate
the owners of property feloniously demolished by
persons riotously and tumultuously assembled to-
gether to the disturbance of the public peace origi-
nated at a time when the Hundreds were bound
to appoint constables to keep the peace, and to
raise ' hue and cry' for the pursuit and apprehen-
sion of the offenders, and it was only on failing to
do so that they were able to make compedsation,
the laws against the Hundred ought now to be
repealed, because since their last re-enactment the
preservation of the public peace and the pursuit and
arrest of offenders have been taken from the
Hundred and vested in the police, and that as the
power of the Hundred had ceased the liability of
the Hundred should cease also ;" and argued that
as the county had ceased to have power, originally
possessed, of the appointment of the police to make
" hue and cry," therefore their liability to make
compensation ought also to cease.
After some discussion, Mr. PAYNE refusing to
withdraw his motion, as desired, the previous ques-
tion was moved and carried.
THE LIGHTING, &C., OF THE SESSIONS-HOUSE.
It was agreed that Mr. J. Ingall, who has for
many years had the arrangement of the lighting
and ventilating of the Sessions-house, should receive
au increase of £lO per annum to his present salary,
in consideration of his long service.
The Court then adjourned.

The Prices of Horniman's Teas are greatly Reduced. The
well-known superiority of these Teas has attracted a host
of spurious imitations; therefore notice all Genuine Packets are
signed "Horninzan co." 300 Confectioners are Agents
in London and 2,200 Chit in 04 country.

PROFESSOR GOLD WIN 531111'17

(From the Anglo-Anzerican Times.)

The Spectator, in a note of last week, alluding
to Professor GOLDWIN SMITH'S intention of pro-
ceeding to America, to compile a History of the
United States, observes, that however qualified for
the work, it is impossible to write an interesting
history of a country where everything great has
been achieved by the masses, and which has pro-
duced but one leader who bas stamped his image
on the nation—%VASIIINGTON. Like most gene-
ralities, there is in this as much error as truth.
History will be interesting, though not wholly, at
least partially, in proportion to the magnitude of
the events recorded. Numbers give grandeur, and
grandeur impresses the popular mind. Though
human sympathy requires individuality to excite its
interest, we maintain that great events cannot be
achieved except thNugh the agency of prominent
persons. There can be no doubt that history has
been made in the United States quicker than in
any other country—events of the magnitude his-
torians delight to record having more swiftly
followed each other there than elsewhere. If
prominent men alone formed interesting subjects
for an historian, the story of the Negro Race in
America would be one wholly unable to command
the sympathy of mankind. Yet, the truth is that
without a single instance of a conspicuous in-
dividual, the Negro Race will furnish a more
thrilling tale than the Irish in America, among
whom abound those who have risen to the
highest positions. Although the working of the
human mind in masses is more difficult to por-
tray than in individuals, it cannot fail, when
well told, to rivet attention ; and history, profess-
ing to deal with the nation at large, ought not to
be a collection of biographical sketches. It is also
true that masses must work by means of individuals
who generally are clothed—so long as they truly
represent those for whom they profess to speak—
with greater power than is given to hereditary rank,
however high—or compulsion, however strong.
Even mobs may have leaders on whom history
can seize, to insure for the narrative the interest
that a crowd must fail to excite. CRO3IWELL
was but a representative man, who acted with great
courage and decision in accordance with the opi-
nions of the section he represented, and indeed often
against Lis own convictions. He did not form that
opinion ; he merely used it, or rather was used by it.
What happened in England then is occurring in the
United States now, and the history of England then
is the most interesting, because the most important
period of England's record. One would suppose from
the Spectator's remark that the mass achieved every-
thing great done in the United States, and that the
opinion of the majority was the invariable rule of
action. Yet what is the actual position of affairs ?
A few extreme Radical leaders are carrying mea-
sures opposed to the common sense of the people,
and in spite of their clearly expressed dissent. Such
men as THADDEUS STEVENS, BENJAMIN WADE,
and ANDREW JOHNSON stand to their convictions
against every tide of opinion—no matter how
high it surges, preferring to be swept away, if
they cannot stem it. Individuals like these, if they
do not present an embattled rock on the stream of
history for the historian to sketch as he passeSl
will at any rate be snags which he will be
compelled to notice. To say that there are not
such in the United States is to advance a state-
ment wide of the truth. The history of the
Union will be found to abound with men who have
fought for their convictions with an energy un-
known elsewhere, with those who have allowed their
sentiments on public questions to control every act
of their lives, to have grounded on them their
friendships and enmities, and to have risked for
them their property and lives, we believe that the
material for the most sensational history, can be
gathered in that country. The Parliamentary battle
of olden days, when the opposing factions hated
each other with an enmity that frequently brought
the leaders to the block and their followers to the
gallows, is a fight in earnest with which men
sympathize, while the contest of the present times,
when the debaters heap on each other some courtly
abuse—then meet at the dinner table to discuss the
last opera, is to the feelings at least—a sham. It
is not thus that questions are discussed in Congress.
Indeed, it would be well for the United States if
they were—if the young blood had cooled down to
the moderation which characterizes the Old Country.
Bat it is not the tame but the fiery feud that
makes history. The Congressional contests that pre-
ceded the Civil War in America have derived
an interest, as read in the present day, from the
mighty events to which they led. Senator Wths)S
lately remarked that he had heard the demurring
DAVIS, the blustering TOMBS, the plausible AlAsoSt
the wily SLIDELL, during the thirteen years he had
been in the Senate, but he would have heard these gen'
tlemen whom he thus happily characterized with an
interest almost overwhelming, had he known to what
their policy tended. When these debates and Con-
gressional campaigns are narrated with a skill at all
approaching to that of MAcAuLAY they will attract
the Attention of mankind, and it will not require so
great a master to excite a world-wide interest in the
events that followed. The difficulty of the historian
in dealing with the Civil War will not be the pall'
city, but the superabundance, of distinguished moo.
To whichever side he turns, whether to the North
or to the South, his judgment will become confused
unless his mind's eye can accurately measure com-
parative height. Scarcely less in interest will be
the battle between parties which followed on the
advent of Mr. JOHNSON to power—the drama is
which we are but now in the midst. If the history
of an absolute monarch, or of one who has erected
himself into a C,E.SAR, or of a great statesman to
hom an easily led people have entrusted all power,
be more exciting than that of a Commonwealth
where the people rule, it cannot command so deeP
and universal attention. Doubtless it is easier t 0
write that of the former than that of the latter, but
when well handled, when the voice of the mass i 4
heard from the page, the tone appeals to everi,
mind and finds an echo in every heart. Great
events will always carry their own weight, and j!
Professor GOLDWIN SMITH be qualified for the big!
task he has undertaken, which the Spectator alloo
while doubting the power of genius to give clear'
ness or interest to the work, and is permitted t°
finish it, he will produce a book which can scarcely
fail to rank in interest, as well as in importance/
with the most treasured in the world.

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,
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Births.
KIRIIY—On the 27th inst., at 5, Tredegar-square, Mrs. 31.
Kirby, of a daughter.
LEON—On the 27th inst., at 79, Gloucester-place, ri'f'4„"
°
man-square, the wifo of George I. Leon, Esq.,
daughter. nig
WALToN—On the 26th inst., at Croydon, the wife of Fra
Walton, Esq., of a son.

Marriages.
CAMPBELL —KAY —On the 25th inst., at Dalston, Cu 11©11,
land, _Daniel Colin Campbell, Esq., of llaseley latd
Warwickshire, to Bessie Wilson, only child of the
John Wilson Kay, Esq., of Carlisle.
STUART SCOTT - On the 25th inst., at St. James's,
dilly, Major W. E. Stuart, 15th King's Own Hus,s,3Toa-
Louisa Sydney, only child of G. J. Scott, EA., "°'
Strange, Salop.

DASCOMBE -On tho 27th Deaths inst n.f. St. John's-wood, J°lll3

M. Dascombe, Esq., ag
nsed 44. -1•
• P
FRASER— 0 n the 27th it., at 6, Montagu-sputro, Lass
Fraser, Esq., late of Singapore, aged 56. ArB •
flAmir;roN—On the 26th inst., at Worthing,, Colonel ar•
Hamilton, Bengal Staff,Corps, aged GO. g"-
SPICER —On the 26th inst., at 9, York-street, P°ll:ilt %,
square, Charles W. Spicer, Esq., of Debden gall, E "c
and Tasonis, Sardinia. c noel
LTrJonN—On tho 26th inst., at Banstead, Surrey, P°---
Upjohn, Esq. k Bed"
WENSLEYDALE—On the 25th inst., at Anipthill-Par- ' s 5.
fordsithe Right lion. Lord Wensleydale, aged
-----
London : Printed and Published by WILLIAM ti-N 0•2
of No. 112, Strand, Printer, at Tau Surf Odle% N° t, of
Strand, in the Precinct of the Savoy, in the 00W"
Dliddlesa.-_—_Triclay, February 2a, ism
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