The Sun.
London, England, 1850-01-16 00:00:00

ettetallit 41,1talt

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 16, 1850,

Some weeks since a report of " a split in the
Cabinet " was industriously circulated. It was
asserted that a serious difference had cccurred
amongst the principal members of her MAJESTY'S
Government on the all-important subject of "free
trade ;" and that while some of the Ministers desired
that " the experiment " should be continued for
another year, the Premier, the President of the
Council, the Noble Secretary for Foreign Affairs,
and others of their most distinguished coadjutors,
were fully conscious of the grave mistake that
had been committed, and anxious to retrace their
steps, to the extent at least of imposing a fixed duty
on foreign corn for " revenue purposes." This ab-
surd and ridiculous rumour received a certain degree
of currency at the various Protectionist gatherings
during the past month. Quod volumus facile credimus.
But slight authority was required to give validity to
a statement so pleasing to the agriculturists, and an
easy credence was afforded to the accuracy
of the reported conversions. It was even
declared authoritatively that a strong re-
commendation would be contained in the
Royal Speech, on the opening of the session, to the
effect that Parliament should take into its earliest con-
sideration the question of " corn duties," with a view
to the adoption of such a tariff as would at the some
time yield a considerable revenue to the national ex-
chequer, and afford the necessary protection to British
agriculture. But, alas ! for the futility of human
hopes and human wishes, the cup has, already been
dashed from the lips of the anxious monopolists, and
their sanguine anticipations have already vanished
into " thin air." It is true that there has been
no formal contradiction of the rumour—the First
Lord of the Treasury has not deemed it necessary to
proclaim his continued allegiance to the principles of
free trade, the Marquis of LANSDOWNE has manie
fested an unbroken silence, and Lord PALMER9TON,
has neither acknowledged nor repudiated the " sift
impeachment." The opinions of the Noble Lord,
whatever they might be, remain buried in their
own hearts. But, unfortunately, a fact has come to
light which has completely annihilated the hopes of the
monopolists, has dispelled the agreeable illusion, and
has brought vividly before their sight the sad realities
of their situation. It appears that the Hon. Member
for Wolverhampton has undertaken the duty of
moving, and the Hon. Baronet the Member for the
city of London, of seconding the Address from the
House of Commons, in ans wer to her MAJESTY'S
Speech. That CHARLES VILLIERS—the zealous, en-
thusiastic, and uncompromising CHARLES .VILLIERs
—who made his voice heard when all others—even
those who gained the rewards of the glorious victory
—were silent ; who first brought the wrongs of the
industrious classes under the consideration of the
popular breath of the Legislature ; who was a Free-
trader in the most extensive signification of the term,
even before it had become fashionable to be so, tr
" the League" had sprung into existence aed
vitality,— that such a mar, we say, should he
selected for this duty by the Government, inflicted
a heavy blow and great discouragement on the
reactionaries. Hopes might still be cherished if
almost any other Member had been paid the compli-
ment, but the straightforward integrity, the honesty
and sincerity of the descendant of the great CLAREN -
DOTI, is too well known and too much respected, even
by his political opponents, to permit a doubt to be
entertained on the subject. He, at least, could never
be suspected of tergiversation ; too many proofs had
been afforded of his disinterested fidelity to his an-
cient creed. He, the pioneer of free trade, sought no
costly testimonial, no national acknowledgments, for
his valuable services. No public subscription was
raised—it is with shame we make the humiliating
confession—to requite the energetic and invaluable
exertions of the Hon• CHARLES PELHAM VILLIERE.
Contented with the approbation of his own conscienc, ,
and the approval of " the still small voice," he sought
no other reward or recompense, and we regret to say
he received none save the commendations of his fellow-
subjects; these, indeed, could not be withheld.
And CHARLES VILLIERS was universally esteemed by
all classes and grades in society, by high and
low, rich and poor, Protectionists, and vi e
need not add by Free-traders. His activi!y
and fidelity were, indeed, appreciated, and many
constituencies contested for the honour of having him
as their representative ; but he remained faithful to
those by whom he had been elected in less favourable
times, and retained his seat for Wolverhamptoe,
although also returned in the most complimentary
manner for South Lancashire. We hail his present
selection as mover of the Address as a proof that his
eminent qualifications for office will no longer be
overlooked by Ministers ; that he will speedily be
placed in a position worthy of himself and of the cause
he has so consistently, so energetically, and so
efficiently advocated ; that the Government will be
strengthened by the admission into its ranks of a
man respected by every section of the House, and by
the community in general. A stronger proof could
not be afforded of the determination of Ministers to
carry out free-trade doctrines to the fullest extent,
and to remove the restrictions that still unhappily
exist upon the trade and commerce of the country.

An interesting controversy has arisen between the
Morning Chronicle and the Examiner, rendered still
more so by its having called forth from the pen of
Mr. THACKERAY a letter, which appeared in our
columns of last Saturday, on" The Dignity of Litera-
ture." The controversy arose out of an article in the
Morning Chronicle, described by its opponent as a
funeral sermon to improve the occasion of the death
of Mr. PATRICK FRAZER TYTLER, the eminent
Scotch historian, who had been in the receipt of a
literary pension. The arguments of the article are
summed up in this sentence :—" Protection to litera-
ture or science is mischievous in nearly
the same way as protection to commerce. The
let-alone system is equally desirable for both."
To prove this thesis, Mr. TIIACKERAT is quoted.
Pendennis dines at the house of their patron book-
seller, with; Shandon, Warrington, and other
worthies, well known we doubt not to all our readers,
whom the cant of their clique and the irony of the
biographer has designated " the men of letters." This
scene the Chronicle selects, in order to charge Mr.
THACKERAY with fostering, though perhaps without
intending it, the " baneful prejudice" by which in
England the name of men of letters is associated
with Grub-street ; and by a train of reasoning, not
very easy to follow, it deduces from these premises
the conclusion that State bounties on literature
have a tendency to force the production or in.
crease the breed of such petits literetteurs. The
Examiner takes the other side. It fixes on the same
passage of " Pendennis" as the subject of its homily,
and finds in it a caricature such as Mr. THACKERAY
too often condescends to, suggested by " a disposi-
tion to pay court to the non-literary class by dis-
paraging his literary fellow-labourers.
To the former Mr. THACKERAY replies by bidding
his critic suspend his judgment as to the feelings his
romance fosters till the curtain falls upon the catas-
trophe; to the latter, by denying the position that the
non-literary class is thus to be wooed. They do not
take pleasure in seeing literary men held up to
ridicule. Literature, like law and physic,
has its charlatans, who are the proper ob-
jects of satire, unless laughter and laughing
philosophers are to be banished from the earth ; but
they who are not sciolists pass unhurt. All, with one
consent, are ready to make way and offer a high 4

place to a literary man ; and it is not till by some
gaucherie he displays a consciousness that it is not
his due, that he is bidden to take a lower place.
The following remarks of Mr. THACKERAY are
well worth weighing:—
" Instead of accusing the public cf persecuting and
disparaging us as a class, it seems to see that men of
letters had best quietly assume that they are as good as
any other gentlemen; nor raise piteous controversies
upon a question which all people of sense must take to
be settled. If I sit at your table I suppose lam my
neighbour's equal, as that he is mine. If I begin
straightway with a protest of,' Sir, I am a literary mar,
but I would have you to know I am as good as you'—
which of us is it that questions tt e dignity of the lit( -
racy profession—my neighbour, who would like to eat
his soup in quiet, or the man of letters who commences
tbs argument?"

But this subject is constantly confounded with an-
other quite distinct from it, and we shall therefore
be pressed by the question—lf this is true, why is
not literature a pathway to the higher offices of
State ? Why look with jealousy on a literary
statesman ? The instances of GuizoT and Tntrus,
and the practice of the continent, will be quoted. We
will answer this question. It is an established ar-
ticle of our faith in this country, founded on a wide
experience of practical life, that very few men can do
two things really well. The statesman may work at
politics and play with literature; the literary man
may reverse this order ; but each pursuit demands the
service of mind and heart. It is not an easy thing
to exchange the habits of thought of one profession
for those of another. Every art has its peculiar field,
and distinction in one does not necessarily imply fit-
ness for the pursuit of another. Take a lawyer, the
case to all appearance mast strongly against us. If,
after having passed through the stage of learning
common to the politician and himself, ho goes on to
imbue his mind in the technicalities of his profession,
and in consequence of success in them is turned into
a statesman, though you change his name, he is a
lawyer to the end. SPENCER PERCIVAL, the Prime
Minister, never shook off SPENCER PERCIVAL,
the Attorney-General. In the House, w,„,,at
the bar, he was always stating a case.
In every pursuit of life men become unconsciously
tainted with the faults of their art, and though this
does not interfere with their success in their peculiar
line, yet it renders them unfit for change, unless they
consent to get out of their own 'world, and correct their
notions by the notions of some other world, as ow:-
sided, no doubt, as their own, but looking another
way. This mode of cure is not flattering to our
vanity, and the experience of our readers will beer
us out when we say that, be it from shyness or from
a lurking contempt, no one is so unwilling to adopt
it as the literary mar.
Our space forbids our adding more, but this an-
swer is enough to show why literature is not com-
monly the pathway into public life. In our opinion,
however, the question, though almost invariably
connected in argument, is in reality beside the subject
of Mr. TEIACKERAY'S letter. On that our verdict is for
him against both his assailants. We shall be more
likely to learn from him than from either of them the
mysteries of human weakness and folly. has ape
plied his keen sense to trace this fancied disrespect of
literary men to its true source—the morbid sensibility
of men half ashamed of their calling ; and in so doing,
in serious mood, we think he has rendered as much
service to society as when, in a laughing humour, he
exposes the heartlessness of REBECCA or the vanity
of Gaunt House.

A letter signed " Philostratoq," which appeared in

the Times of Saturday last, on the subject of " Army
Efficiency with Reduction," merits consideration,
not merely from its superiority to any of the nume-
rous kindred epistles which have appeared of late in
the columns of our contemporaries, but for the sound-
ness of the writer's views upon a topic of the highest
importance. There is no doubt but that among the
many financial reforms which will be pressed upon
the attention of the Legislature in the approaching
session of Parliament, the army estimates will not be
the lowest on the list, and we feel gratified at seeing
the subject handled in a correct and impartial man-
ner, without absurd Conservative prejudice in favour
of existing abuses on the one hand, or equally absurd
enmity towards a necessary tower of defence upon the
other. We yield to none of the reasonable advocates of
reform intim anxious desire to see the expenditure of the
country restrained within just limits, and the con-
tributions of the tax-payer devoted to strictly legiti-
mate purposes, without undue preference of class,
and for the common interest cf all her MAJESTY'S
subjects ; but we cannot bring ourselves to look upon
the interests of Great Britain altogether through
cotton spectacles. We are not of those who would
cut our colonies adrift, and break up the most widely..
extended empire that the sun has ever shone upon, for
the purpose of turning England into the cotton-
spinning shop of the universe, unprotected by her
navies cf deathless fame, and the gallant red-coats
who have never known disgrace upon the field. Still
we hold that a judicious economy should be ap-
plied to the military department, and we there-
fore earnestly recommend the suggestions of
such true friends of the service as the talented
writer above alluded to, to the attention of those who
feel interested in maintaining what the national inte-
rests imperatively require—" the maximum of defence
with the minimum of expense possible "—suggestions
which " offer those advantages to the nation, and
also to the army, of an increased efficiency with de-
creased charges."
It is not our intention to enter at present into a
particular consideration of the several topics which
a perusal of this valuable letter naturally causes to
arise. We shall content ourselves with adverting to
one or two points. At Gibraltar there are at present
rive battalions of 600 rank and file ; at Malta four
battalions ; and in the lonian Islands five. As the
battalions of the line are in future to consist of 800
men each, he suggests that the above three stations
should be henceforth garrisoned respectively with
lour, three, and four battalions, there being
thus three battalions less required for the
Mediterranean stations than at present. This, if
carried out, would doubtless be a move in the right
direction, but we consider that both Gibraltar and
Malta might each well dispense with one of these
battalions, whose place would be far more properly
filled by a reinforcement of artillerymen. It is noto-
rious that the artillery force in these fortresses is
altogether inadequate. It is no part of the duty of
infantry men to work heavy guns, and it is not of
much use to be possessed of powerful ordnance with
a glaringly insufficient complement of hands to turn
it to proper use if occasion should require it. With
respect to the Cape, the West Indies, and North
America, one Queen's regiment is quite enough for
Cape Town. If that and the Cape Mounted Rifle-
men are not deemed sufficient by the colonists, they
can very easily raise a few competent corps to keep their
frontiers free of the Kafirs. In the West Indies
we would have no more than two regiments of the
line, one at Jamaica, the other at Barbadoes. It
would be far better to raise an additional regiment or
two, manned withThlacks, who can stand the trying
climate of those regions, than to keep sending yearly
a copious supply of victims to new rum and " yellow
Jack." It is recommended to hold our North American
possessions with eight battalions instead of eleven.
Now this we maintain to be inferior to a plan which
we are led to suggest from a recent perusal of that
sensible and entertaining work, Sir JAMES ALEX-
ANDER'S " L'Acadie." Six battalions should be sufli.
cient for that purpose—two in Nova Scotia, supplying
detachments to Prince Edward's Island and Cape
Breton, and four for the Canadaa. But
we would recommend the formation of local
corps the Royal Acadian Rangers for New
Brunswick, and a couple or so of regiments, say the
Upper and the Lower Canadian Rangers, to assist in
maintaining order and repelling danger along the
banks of the St. Lawrence. By such a course con-
siderable saving would be effected in the expenses
attending the transport of troops, and the martial
ardour of many of our colonists would be gratified
by serving under the banners of the QUEEN. These
local regiments would be composed cf men inured to
skies which frequently produce debility and disease
in soldiers just arrived from a different latitude, and
we feel convinced that before the lapse of many
years it would be found that a purely local force
would efficiently and legally maintain our colonies
against domestic treason or foreign levy.
Looking at the question in an economical point of
view, the consolidation of each of the 17 reserve
battalions, and the substitution of 79 of 800 men

each for the present 96 battalions, would effect a
saving of upwards of 350,0001.
In the proposed re-organization of the cavalry we
entirely concur. The King's Dragoon Guards find
the same staff sufficient for eight troops as the other
home regiments possess for six. By taking that
gallant corps as a model we should have thirteen
well-filled regiments in lieu of seventeen skeletons.
This speaks for itself. There is no branch of the
service in which there is ampler room for improve-
ment than in the cavalry, so as to diminish its exor-
bitant cost and consolidate its strength. No branch,
in justice we must add, has more honourably distin-
guished itself upon the field of battle.
We trust that the question of army reform may
be dealt with in a rational and considerate
spirit. It will not do to pare down the
army of Great Britain to a skeleton, for
the common sense of the English people will not
be content to swallow the mawkish rhapsodies
of the Peace Congress orators, whom we earnestly
recommend to hold a spring meeting at St. Peters,
burgh as soon as the ice breaks up, and devote their
eloquence to NICHOLAS and his ally the Red EmrE-
ROR, for in their own country, alas these prophets
have but little honour. But without at all impairing
the solid strength of our land forces, considerable sav-
ing can be effected, end these may haply be almost as
scrupulously demanded as even the correction of such
abuses as the mismanagement of the Royal Forests,
or the eradication of such scandals as the sinecure
salaries of the hereditary Grand Falconer and the
Palace fungi, and the pensions of his Grace of
GRAFTON and other coroneted almsmen. Financial
Reformers ! lift up your voices loudly and persever-
ingly against the disgraceful and disgusting misap-
propriation of the public purse which panders to the
shabby pickings of these mock paupers of the State.
here we will go with you, heart and hand; but let
your zeal be tempered with discretion when you call
fur a rigid economy in the Military and Naval de-
fences of the Empire.

THE FRENCH REPUBLIC.

We have received the Paris journals of yesterday.
For two days previously the Reforme had not ap-
peared. The Sicle thus explains the reason :
" When certain journals accuse us of calumniating
the Government, we are eb.ieed to quote flee., which,'
uefortunet:ly, always go further than the most exagge-
rated suppositions of party spirit. M. Bat-oche has just
added a new article to the thousand laws against the
liberty of the press; never had the firtile spirit a the
erecureurs-; (me. aux rf the Restoration, never had the
lielarde, the Merchatagye, the Jacquinots de Pauipeluna,
the Bruce, and many others; never had" the Persil., the
Plougoulene, and the most fivatic teen of repression,
the imprudence to interpret the lams on the press
and on printing, as M. Batoche now pretends to
do. Yesti relay morning the Rflorme did not ap-
pear. Wu have received the following letter on this
subject from the Refurme Last night, at
eleven o'clock, our primer came to inform us that he had
received a summons from the Parquet, and that, c•mie-
(Fleetly, it was impossible for him to print our journal.
the composition was terminated, but, notwithstanding,
the Ittforme could not appear this morning, nor will it
du so to-morrow. The moment chosen by the Govern-
rarnt to shackle our p u
thatlel ic
sant
mweans
ss
elti 'ngf
hiltly chosen;
atthism
was
meritvetriy) stwibeslltiktuntoewann intrigue for the traditional policy
of the Iteforme; that on Sunday t'io Ministerial offices
were closed, and that it would be impossible fur us to
regularise our position towards the finance; there was
therefore a certainty of stopping for one or two days a
Journal which the Royalists pursue with implacable ani-
mosity. However this may be, we shall defeat their
calculations, mid we hope that the patriotism of
our subscribers will not tail us on this occasion; tee
seizures may succeed means of intimidation; we
shall not stop before the exigencies of the Treasury
any more than we have yielchd to the rigour
of condemnations.'—lt would have been in all
cases a duty for us to lend the support of our publicity
to a journal so brutally susf ended ; hut what we wish
more particularly to state is the impossible situation
which the interpretation of M. Baroche tends to create
for printers,
tnere,jefarnd, consequently for the press. For the
future,
it will be necessary for a printer, before
he will consent t ► print a journal, to have every day a
certifica.s from the Minister of Finance stating that the
caution-money is complete. If the printer does not do
it, he exposes himself to an inevitable condemnation to a
month's imprisonment and I,ooof. fine. A month's im-
prisonment which the caprice of the first chef de bureau
may make him pass in the company of assassins and
tteeees! A month's imprisonment for a misdemeanour
which you did not intend to commit, which you could
not prevent yourself from committing, which you Lave
committed without knowing itl These are monstrosities
s Mull must raise the indignation of all honest men. We
are willing to hope that there will be only one voice in
the press to brand them with reprobation."
The Monateur publishes the following official ex-
planation of the causes which led to the seizure of the
Presse on Saturday
" The Prese, in its number of Saturday, published an
article headed 'ln consequence,' in which it reproduces
an entire article of the Reforme, cf the 2d ult., which
had led to the condemnation of its responsible editor by
the Court of Assizes of the Seine. This reproduction
having been made by the Presse in addition to the re-
port of the trial of tie Reforme has led to the seizure of
the Presse at the Post-office and its otlice.."

The Patrie has the following on the subject of the
expressions attributed to Id. Actilux FOULD, in
speaking of the Assembly :
" The Siecle and the National attribute to ono of the
members of the Cabinet language which he has never
made ase of. The Government formally rejects these
inconsiderate allegations. It deplores time facility with
which several journals make themselves the complaisant
echoes of the most erroneous and the most malevolent
versions. Do they not understand that they expose
themselves by these false accounts to injure confidence
and public credit, the rapid development of which must
be an object of lively satisfaction to all good citizens."
The Napoleon thus explains the connexion between
itself and the Elysee—
_.

" The appearance Lf our first number has given rise
to the most singular suppositions. It has been pretended
that our leader was written by the President of the Re-
public, and that he even amused himself in correcting the
proofs. Such tales do not merit a serious reply. The
Emperor Napoleon °len gave a political direction to the
Malheur, without thereby being the principal editor of
it. Can the President of the Republic be f,rbidden to
do the same, either in the Moniteur or any other paper?
As fJr the Napoleon, it will endeavour to approach as
nearly as possible the ideas of the President of the Re-
public, without, however, having the pretension to see its
own ideas tied words taken for those of the President
himself."

Toe following communicated note appears in the
evening Ministerial journals
" Several c.f this morning's journals state that Madame
Sand, who had come to Paris to pass a foar days, has
been invited by the Police to quit the capital. The alle-
gation is utterly unfounded."
The discusion on the organic law on education
commenced on Monday in the Assembly. The whole
of the sitting was occupied.by M. BARTELEMY ST
HILAIRE, who opposed the Bill, and at the conclusion
of whose speech the debate was adjourned.
M. PuoupuoN was married a few days since, and
he was permitted one day's leave of absence from
gaol on the occasion.
Lord BROUGHAM and Mr. LEADER have arrived
in Paris from Cannes. We understand that the para-
graph in a journal of the locality, representing his
Lordship to have been engaged in some experiments
on electrical light, was altogether an invention.
PARIS BOURSE, JAN. 15.--LATEST PRICES —Five
per Cents., 94f. 30c. ; Three per Cents, 57f. 75c. ;
Bank of France, 2,380 f.

BUSINESS DONE IN FOREIGN RAILWAYS AT THE
LONDON STOC-EXCHANGE, JAN. 15.
Boulogne and Amiens, 7%,--Orleans and Bourdeaux, 33%
ex in.—Paris and Rouen,23;i— Rouen and Havre, 10—
Sambre and Meuse, 2%.