The Sun.
London, England, 1842-10-26 00:00:00

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LONDON
WEDNESDAY MORNING, OCTOBER 26, 1542.

Mr. DICKENS, in his recent work on the
U cited States, speaks with disapprobation of the
distrust which there prevails of public men, and
or the general seriousness, or want of gaiety of
the people. Something may be said, we think,
in praise of these qualities:; and in justice to the
institutions with which they are supposed to be
connected, we shall say what occurs to us.
" The Americans," he says, " are by nature
frAnk, brave, cordial ;" yet he tells us there is
" universal distrust," and gives this instance,
which confines the remark—and, we believe, it is
m.'ant to be confined—to public men and public

s

" You carry," says the stranger, "this jealousy
and distrust into every transaction of public life. By
rep.cll;ng worthy men from your legislative assem-
blie, it has bred up a class of candidates for the
sell-rage, who in their every act disgrace your insti-
tutions and your people's choice. It has ren-
der A you so fickle and so given to change that your
imzonstancy has passed into a proverb, for you no
sooner set up an idol firmly than you are !.ure to pull
it down and dash it into fragments ; and this, because
directly you reward a benefactor or a public servant,
distrust him merely because he is rewarded, and
immed;ately apply yourselves to find out either that ,
You have been toobountiful in your acknowledgments,
or he remiss in his deserts. Any man who attains a
higi place among you, from the President downwards,
may date his downfal from that moment; for any
granted lie that any notorious villain pens, although it
militates directly against the character and conduct of
u life, appeals at once to your distrust and is believed.
You will strain at a gnat in the way of trustfulness
and confidence, however fairly won and well deserved ;
but you will swallow a whole caravan of camels, if
they be laden with unworthy doubts and mean suspi-
cions. Is this well, think you, or likely to elevate the
character of the governors or the governed among you ?"
The answer is invariably the smile " There's free.-
dom of opinion here, you know. Every man thinks
for illinself, and wa are not to be easily over-reached.
That's how our people come to be suspicious?'
Tr the experience of public men in America
corresponds to our experience in Europe—and
we believe it does—no more wholesome senti-
tneut can exist than the deepest distrust. We
speak less of the continual prostitution, by indi-
viduals in all ranks, of the public cause to their
own private advancement, of intemperate pro-
fessions of patriotism as means of achieving
power, of great promises made in opposition
that are invariably forgotten in office, of the
familiarity of the hustings and
the haughty re-
pal(lon of Parliament, of the deep interest can-
didates take in every man's welfare, and of the
net:Jlect by representatives of every interest but
their own, of encouragement to agitation out of
(nlice, and of meeting fellow agitators when in
of-r,•: with stripes, imprisonment, and perhaps
.:h—though all these circumstances are ex-
offensive, and warrant deep and
un:.:iterable distrust, we speak less of these
al Tri:Li,t every-day occurrences, which are, perhaps,
1('z;:i coninion in America than here, than of
die blighted hopes which everywhere, in America
and in Europe, flow from the promises and the
actions of public men.
We speak of no one party, but of all parties,
and demagogues and despots are alike included
in Cie term public men. They provoke revolu-
tion, promise freedom, and bestow on nations an
iron and bloody despotism. They array them-
selves against one family or one sovereign on
account of some alleged abuses; they trample on
all the ties of kindred, affection, and allegiance;
they gain power, and then, they use it in the
same, or a more selfish, sordid manner, than
th, King they deposed, or the iron despot who
hal previously duped a nation by its vanity, and

then enslaved it. They promise mankind
peace, and are perpetually embroiling them
about the most worthless trifles. They
proclaim prosperity and happiness as the
consequence of obedience to their power,
and from their decrees flow poverty, pauper-
ism, and strife, which all the unfired energies
of men, for ever struggling to better their con-
dition, and help one another, cannot ward off.
They pretend to insure communities, by their
ecclesiastical establishments, against vice, and by
their criminal jurisprudence against crime, and
vice and crime seem to increase very nearly in
proportion to their establishments. They pre-
tend to protect trade and promote ingenuity,
and their care stifles the former, and prevents
the latter. We cannot look at home or abroad,
any day of our lives, and not feel powerfully
convinced that all the hopes held out to us, by
much-promising public men, of obtaining peace,
happiness, and virtue through their instrumen-
tality are continually deceived; and of such
deception, distrust is the natural and warrantable
consequence.
We know that similar results have taken
place in America. These individuals have
professed a love for the public interest,
to serve their private ends. 'There great
promises are made by a Congress which are
never fulfilled. There chartered banks, the cur-
rency, the custom-house—which is as full of
frauds as our own the post-office convey-
ances, the whole proceedings of Congress, and
the Government, contrast strongly and fatally
for their character with the wonderful achiev-
ments of private enterprise, and necessarily cause
a wholesome distrust of all those who continu-
ally promise what is, from some cause or other,
never performed. Where there is " freedom of
opinion," as in America, where " every man
thinks for himself," where the mind is not edu-
cated into habitual confidence, but is free to re-
ceive the impression of facts, distrust arises.
It scarcely exists in Germany, where institutions
fail to accomplish what is promised in their
name as much as they do in the United States,
and where Princes have been repeatedly
faithless to their pledged honour; it is little
known in France, where twice the people have
been roused, in the name of liberty, to acquire,
first an iron, and then a cold, calculating, sordid
despotism; and it is never felt we believe, in
Italy, where uninterrupted confidence in rulers
is justified by the most complete and abject
debasement of the people. Far, therefore, from
censuring the distrust of public men which
prevails in America, we regard it as the natural
consequence of freedom; as its surest safeguard,
and the most certain means of securing its
progress.

In several parts of his work Mr. DICKENS
notices the gravity of the American character.
We think that also is connected with their
freedom. They have a great work to perform,
and they are sensible of it. The lazzaroni of
Naples, the casino haunters of the other parts
of Italy, are not otherwise than a gay and light-
hearted people. In France the Monarch and
his Ministers take care of the nation, and the
people are not wanting in mirth. They have long
been renowned for the vivacity of their parties
and the brilliancy of their wit, but those qua-
lities were not incompatible with committing
some of the greatest atrocities that stain the
annals of civilised Europe. The Germans are
both cheerful and kindly. The English are
accused by foreigners of the same quality that
Mr. DICKENS discovers in the Americans.
These two people take part in public affairs;
the others are almost excluded from all inter-
ference with them. Seriousness, then, seems
connected with freedom—lightness and gaiety
with Courts and despotism.
Probably whenever men can freely reflect on
their own beginning and their end, and where-
ever they come into contact—as many of the
Americans yet do—with the almost unsoiled
grandeur of nature, communing with her mighty
streams, and penetrating through her little-
trodden forests, solemnity and earnestness must
be the frame of their minds. The Indians they
have displaced were a solemn and an earnest people.
There is no reason with them why, being free
and having no endowed clergy to mock by their
lives what is taught by their words, they should
not firmly believe the religion they profess. To
live in this world as if it were a passage to an-
' other, where every step may lead to'eternal plea-
sure or eternal pain, may well make men earnest
and solemn. To live in it with such an idea of
duty, and to see the society of which they are
members a prey to many disorders, while they
seem wholly without the excuses which we in
Europe make for wretchedness and misery, and
for which every man, as a participant in the po-
litical power of the State, may hold himself re-,
sponsible, seems well calculated to make• the
Americans thoughtful and earnest. Mr. Drc-
KENS assures us they are so, which is the result of
their freedom, and a proof that, like true men,
they feel the responsibility that is on them.

We rather admire that trait in their character,
and should not think the worse of our country-
men if amongst them there were more serious-
ness and less frivolity. But what happens here ?
Take the conduct of the Ministers and the Par-
liament as a specimen. That great and unpa-
ralleled distress pervades the community is ad-
mitted on all hands. That property is threatened,
or only to be preserved by strong coercion, is
apparent. A social convulsion, alarming while
it lasted, has taken place, and it would seem by
the steps taken by the Government that the
country is not secure against another. But,
knowing all these things, and being respon-
sible fbr them, our light-hearted senators,
and somewhat careless Ministers, have dispersed
to shoot, and hunt, and feast, and enjoy them-
selves, as if no single speck of cloud darkened
the sky of England. The head of all—the great
Doctor himself—has, till within the last day or
two, been tasting the delight of pheasant-shoot-
ing in the preserves of Tamworth. At the con-
duct of the Parliament, and at the conduct of
the Ministers, the light-hearted people smile, and
are gay ; and we should have brighter hopes ft)r
the future, if they were even graver, more serious,
and solemn, than the Americans.

It may be quoted as a singular specimen of the
Tory mind, that the most sincere and conscien-
tious of the Tory journals has undertaken to de-
fend the sanguinary revengeful murders com-
mitted by our ancestors at the gallows, and calls
for the suppression by force of the Anti-Corn-
law League. To be criminal, according to this
doctrine, is to be deserving of death, and as, ac-
cording to the same party, all men are criminals,
all men are deserving of death, a deduction which
justifies mutual assassination. The progress of
events, to which Tory Ministers and the Tory
party are obliged to succumb, is confusing the
Tory mind. It endeavoured to rule society on a
theory which will work no longer, and now it is
quite at a loss. In an agony of fear it demands
the suppression of the Anti-Corn-law League,
which is rendering its pet theory worthless, and
it recommends capital punishments, as they were
employed by our ancestors, to put down every
petty crime. It is like a spoiled child, which is
ready to break even its own doll---the present
Constitution—to pieces, if it c annot .have its own
way. Society will not stop fbr the Tory theory ;
the Tory mind will not go forward with society ;
and it has no alternative but to resort to the ar-
bitrary power and bloody executions of the Eighth
HARRY. If it have his malignity, it lacks his
vigour. It is a waiting woman ezgaying to wear
the armour and wield the axe of the bluff mon-
arch. It looks ridiculous in its pranks, but would
be truly pitiable could it succeed in crushing it-
self by the ponderous weapons after which it
grasps.

MEETING OrsePemAßsliAMENT.—(From a Correspon-
dent.)—There
the West End of the town, be a very general opinion at
defionowiftntusiness early in January.
that Parliament will as-
semble for the dispatch
Of course nothing
cean2dboefkini:::n until after
the next Privy Council, will be held at Wind-
sor Castle on Wednesday, the
Courton Monday the
was
expunged
At the City Registration
name of the Lord Mayorfrom the list.
ea
Lady Munro has arrived at F
rance's Hotel, Bel-
grave-street, from Scotland.

COURT CIRCULAR.

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 26, 1542.

WINDSOR, TUESDAY.—Owing to the unpropitious
state of the weather throughout the day, the Royal
pity at the Castle have not enjoyed their usual rides
and drives.

The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, the Prin-
cesses Augusta and Mary of Cambridge, and his
Royal Highnrss the Hereditary Grand Duke of Meck-
lenburgh Strelitz, have arrived on a visit to her Ma.
jesty, attended by Baroness Ahlefeldt and Baron
Knesebeck.
The Marquis of Exeter and the Earl of Dunmore
have arrived at the Castle on a visit to the Queen.
Viscount Hawarden has arrived, and has suc-
ceeded Lord Byron as the Lord in Waiting on the
Queen, and Admiral Sir Robert Otway has suc-
ceeded General the Hon. Sir William Lumley as the
Groom in Waiting on her Majesty.
The Queen had a dinner party this evening.
Covers were laid for twenty-three. The party con
sisted of her Majesty the Queen, his Royal Highness
Prince Albert, her Royal Highness the Duchess of
Kent, their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess
of Cambridge, her Royal Highness the Princess
Augusta of Cambridge, his Royal Highness the
Hereditary Grand Duke or Mecklenburgh Strelitz,
the Earl and Countess of Dunmore, Lady Charlotte
Dundas, Baroness Ahlefeldt, Hon. Georgiana Stanley,
Hon. Clementina Hamilton, Hon. Mrs. Anson,
Marquis of Exeter, Right Hon. Sir Robert Peel,
Viscount Hawarden, Hon. C. A. Murray, Admiral
Sir Robert Otway, Colonel Arbuthnot, Sir Edward
Bowater, and Dr. Prcetorius.

Mr. R. Deigbton had the honour this morning of
submitting to his Royal Highness Prince Albert a
model of the Ducal residence of Cobourg, of which
his Royal Highness was pleased to express great ad-
miration.

Their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of
Cambridge, and the Pr;ncesses Augusta and Mary of
Cambridge, attended by Barones Ahlefeldt, and Baron
Knesebeck, left their residence at Kew, yesterday, on
a visit to her Majesty, at Windsor Castle.
Mr. Wickham, Chairman of the Stamps and Taxes,
had au interwiew with the Chancellor of the Exche-
quer yesterday, at his official residence in Downing-
street.

His Royal Highness the Hereditary Prince of
Mecklenburgh Szrelitz left Kew yesterday for Wind-
sor Castle, on a visit to the Queen.

Sir James Graham arrived in town yesterday from
his.seat at Netherby, Cumberland. . .

The Postmaster:General had an interview yester-
day with the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in Down-
ing-street.
The Earl of Ripon has returned to his seat Nocton,
Lincolnshire, from Studely Park.

ELECTION OF ALDERMAN FOR
BROAD-STREET WARD.

A meeting was held yesterday, at the North and
South American Coffee-house, of the friends of Mr.
Sheriff Pilcher, for the purpose of taking measures
for putting him in nomination as Alderman for
Broad-street Ward, and securing his election.
Mr. Pilcher, the Under-sheriff, attended for his
brother.

JAMES CLIFT, Esq., took the Chair, and in doing
so said that the Committee had previously met, and
understanding that a requisition had been got up
in favour of Mr. Musgrove, and that it had
been signed by,, upwards of 120 of the most re-
spectable inhabitants of the Ward, the Committee had
come to a resolution of advising Mr. Filcher to retire.
The Ward contained but about 200 inhabitants, and
had it been known that Mr. Pilcher intended to come
forward, many who signed the requisition to Mr.
Musgrove would not have done so. It would be,
therefore, prudent to advise Mr. Pilcher not to con-
test the Ward, which would entail considerable ex-
pense upon it. An advertisement had been prepared
to be inserted in the leading papers, which he would
read.

(The advertisement was then read, for which see our
advertising columns.)
Mr. Under-Sheriff PILCHER said, that, as he lef
the Old Bailey last night, a gentleman of considerable
influence in the Ward called upon him, and then
stated that he was not aware that Mr. Pilcher in-
tended to come forward. Had it been known gene-
rally, in all probability there would not have been so
many signatures to the requisition to Mr. Musgrove ;
but as Mr. Sheriff Pilcher found that a large propor-
tion of the Ward was pledged to Mr. Musgrove, he
would exceedingly regret anything that might cause
hostile feelings in the Ward, by offering himself on
that occasion—(Hear, hear)—knowing the respect-
ability of Mr. Musgrove, and, with deference to the
inhabitants of the Ward, he should not do so. With
respect to the question of residence, he thought that
would have been no objection to kr. Pilcher being
returned, as he resided within a stone's throw of the
City, and was most intimately connected with it.—
(Ilear.) Mr. Sheriff Pileherwould be most happy, on
any future occasion, to devote himself to the service
of the citizens of London.—(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN said that the question of residence
was as much in favour of Mr. Pilcher as Mr. Mus-
grove, as Mr. Pilcher was a Director of the Argus
Insurance Office.
A deputation was then formed, who waited upon
Mr. Musgrove, and on their return, Mr. Sheriff Pil-
cher having arrived,
Mr. WHARrox communicated to him the resolution
come to by the Committee, and stated that they had
been very courteously received by Mr. Musgrove, and
from the honourable and upright manner in whieh
Mr. Sheriff Pitcher had acted, he had gained many
persons who were his opponents over to his side.
Mr. Sheriff PILcUER said he approved of all the
Committee had done, and thanked them for their zeal
in his behalf.

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.

Mr. Musgrove will therefore be the new Alderman,
the vacancy having, as our readers will be aware, been
caused by the death of Sir John Cowan, Bart.
Mr. Sheriff FILCHER said he should put himself
forward the first vacancy that should occur.
The meeting then separated.

BOULOGNE, OCT. 22.—(From a Correspondent.)—
The following is a return of the passengers who have
passed between France and England by Boulogne and
Calais for the week ending the 20th of Oct.,:—Bou-
logne-1,292 passengers, 6 horses, and 17 passengers.
Calais-437 passengers and 11 carriages. Among
those who arrived at Boulogne were Lord Cowley,
the Countess of Leicester, the Countess of Tanker-
ville Viscount St. Vincent, and Mr. Jardine, the Po-
lice Magistrate.
A VEGETABLE COMPASS.—A correspondent has
sent to the editors of the National Intelligencer a dry.
pressed specimen of the Polar Plant of the western
prairies. It is a species of fern, which generally
attains the height of from ten to sixteen inches, with
one large flat leaf, whose plane always points to the
north and south. The specimen was plucked from
the prairies near Fort Gibson, west of Arkansas. It
is spread profusely in large beds over all the western
prairies, from the far north-west to the far south-
west. It has been seen in the prairies of Wisconsin
and other regions east of the Mississippi. It is never
found in the forests, or, in other words, out of the
prairies. It has been well known to the hunters and
trappers of the west, and to the officers of dragoons ;
but it is believed that its existence has never (at least
extensively) been made known to the world. Its
plane is always in the plane of the meridian, when
not disturbed by high winds or other external causes
The indications are always most accurate in the
valleys, where the beds are sheltered from the winds,
and where the traveller finds them arranged in parallel
positions, faithfully pointing out the direction of the
Dmeridian. The leaf is symmetrical, and thus there is
south.—New
t Yorkd
a y and Observer.
Sunday
nothing in its indications to distinguish the north from
the thR. w u
r
we have had very
boisterous weather, with heavy h s owers of rain and
hail. On Saturday afternoon it blew a perfect hur-
ricane from the west, and the packets from Calais and
Boulogne were, in consequence of the
heavy swell,
unable to enter the harbour. We have not heard
of any casualties by sea having been caused by the
storm, but we are fearful that its effects
may turn out
to have been disastrous. On Saturday afternoon
an inquest was held here on the body of a young
female, a stranger, who had poisoned herself on the
previous night by, swallowing laudanum, when the
somewhat extraordinary verdict of "Febo de se" was
returned. Amongst our arrivals are the Marchioness
of Douro and suite, Lord Chief Justice Tindal, Judge
Ball and family, Sir E. Smith and family, the Earl
St. Vincent, Viscount Tamworth, Major-General
and Mrs. Arnold, Colonel Hutchinson and family,
and Major Peel and suite.
HEREFORD OCTOBER FAIL—We do not remember
to have ever witnessed so large a number of Hereford
cattle in this city, with su few inferior animals among
them, as we witnessed on Thursday last—nearly every
street was crowded with the most splendid description
of stock. Nevertheless, we hear on all hands that it
was one of the worst fairs that has been held in Here-
ford for the last twenty years. In the morning the
breeders endeavoured to stop the ebbing of the tide of
reduction by holding out for. price, but it was soon
found that this object could not be gained; therefore,
the falmers necessarily gave way, and a large number
of cattle exchanged hands, but at a reduction of full
25 per cent. upon the prices of last year.—Hereford
Times.
TILE IRON TRADE.—The October series of iron-
masters' quarterly meetings are just ended. The
business done has been comparatively trifling, and
the future prospects of the trade are disheartening
in the extreme. The demand created by the stop-
page of the works is supplied, and the orders now
issued will only be for such quantities as are re-
quired for immediate use; what this will be may
be inferred from the fact that the chain and trace
trade is nearly at a stand still, while the demand
for nails is daily decreasing.—Staffordshire Examine,.