The Sun.
London, England, 1842-05-02 00:00:00

sitz nfl.

LONDON.
MONDAY MORNING. MAY 2, 1842.

SPEAKER'S warrant, when the House must either give
up enforcing it, or send its officers to enforce it, and
bring the question regularly to issue before a legal tri-
bunal. But we apprehend, after what transpired on
Saturday, that the case is so clear as to offer the House
no justification for enforcing. the warrants issued last
session. We believe that Mr. SPEAKER will, as soon as
possible, to get out of the difficulty, issue new warrants
in substitution of those he issued last September.
By such a course the House will prevent future in-
convenience ; but will nothing be said of those elections
which have already been decided ? Will no doubt be
thrown on them by the House admitting that all the
warrants issued last session are illegal ? May not the
ousted Members for Weymouth, Sudbury, and Ips-
wich, petition for a re-hearing, on the ground
of the admitted illegality, and will the House
be able to refuse them the benefit of the mistake
of its own functionary ? If any doubt arise
whether some Members have not illegally held their
seats, may not a tinge of illegality be thrown over all
the votes of a House in part illegally constituted ? We
are inclined to suppose that the questions raised on Fri-
day and Saturday will cause a good deal of discussion in
Parliament and in the country, and will impede Sir R.
PEEL in carrying his measures through Parliament.

We have mentioned Mr. LABOUCHERE'S promised mo-
tion on the tariff, for lowering the duty on sugar, and
have pointed out some reasons why his proposition
should be supported. We hope that some Hon. Member
will also take up the duty on coffee. By Sir R. PEEL'S
proposed arrangement, as we have already stated, the
English colonial coffee grower will receive one penny per
pound more discriminating duty than at present, which
penny will go into the pockets of the coffee growers, and
ought to be taken into the coffers of the state by raising
the duty on colonial coffee one penny, or allowed to go
into the pockets of the consumer, by lowering the duty
on foreign coffee one penny. The English planters will
then be no worse off than at present, the additional
penny being a sum more than they now receive, which
Sir R. PEEL proposes to give them at the expense of
the consumers. There are many Members of the House,
we are persuaded, who will move to prevent his proposed
extension of the system of plunder, which Is miscalled
protection.
There is another article on which the duties might be
advantageously altered. At present, all foreign wines—
the weakest and the strongest, the best and the worst—
pay equally ss. 6d. per gallon. The consequence is, as
the rule, that only the very best and highest-priced wines
are imported, and the consumption of wine is confined to
the more opulent classes. Were low-priced wines ad-
tnitted at a reduced duty, bearing some proportion to
their value, trade would be benefited, the consumer would
be benefited, and the revenue would not be injured. The
duty of SS. 6d. per gallon only serves to limit the con-
sumption of wine, by keeping out all wines which are
avowedly inferior.

The House of Commons met on Saturday for the
purpose of discussing Mr. TIIESIGER'S motion to release
Mr, MAnsoN from the custody of the Sergeant-at-Arms.
He succeeded, and Mr. MAnsos was ordered to be re-
leased, though he was directed to attend the South-
ampton Committee this day. We do not consider his
case individually of much importance, but the doubts
to which it has given rise may affect the character and
constitution of Parliament, and may, perchance, should
any large class of the community be anxious to find a
legal pretext for setting aside its authority, cause all its
proceedings to be questioned.
Party interest operates like a strong passion, and
sharpens the intellect to attain the end in view. The
Mr. MA,nsoN in question is a Tory, and on his being
committed to custody the ingenuity of the Tories was
spurred into action to find out reasons why he ought not
to be committed, or ought to be released. A very
important reason was soon discovered, and what
the sleepless ingenuity and self-interest of all the
counsel anti attorneys employed on all the contested
elections, and what all those persons who have con-
tested; the seats failed to discover, party interest
at once brought to light. Sir WILLIAM FOLLETT,
who was followed by Mr. THESIGER, Mr. WYNN, and
most of the legal and constitutional authorities of the
House, found out and stated that the warrant on
which Mr. MABSON had been ordered to attend the
Committee on the Southampton Election, was invalid
and illegal. The facts max be stated very shortly.
The House of Commons has no authority when pro-
rogued, and all business begun in one session, if not
completed, as many of our readers who have been con-
cerned in its private business, are painfully aware, must
be commenced de novo in the next. All persons whom
it may have committed to Newgate, walk out
as soon as it is prorogued, for its authority is
then at an end. Of course all the power which
the House confers on the SPEAKER ends with
the authority of the House itself. The SPEAKER
possesses indeed some powers by Acts of Parliament,
which survive the prorogation of Parliament ; but the
power to issue warrants for persons to appear before the
House, or before Committees of the House, is not of this
description. That power is a mere ministerial function,
which the SPEAKER exercises by the order of the House,
find the authority of his warrant exists no longer than.
Parliament is assembled. It extends over adjournments,
which are cessations of business by the authority of the
House itself, but not over a prorogation, when the
functions of the House are put an end to by the authority
of the Crown.

There was no time during the short session of the
new Parliament, which was held last year, to take into
consideration the numerous election petitions which were
then presented, but in pursuance of them the SPEAKER
issued his warrants for the attendance of witnesses, &c.
Whenever such a circumstance has occurred before the
petitions anti all their consequences fell to the ground on
the prorogation, and were renewed the next session.
The SPEAKER then again issued his warrants, but, by a
chute in Sir B. PEEL'S law for settling controverted
elections, such petitions were not required to be renewed;
bit no such provision was made for the warrants, and
the petitions have come on for investigation
legally, while the warrants issued in compliance
IN hit those petitions are invalid and illegal. It appears
that the attention of the SPEAKER bad been called to
the circumstance, and he asked time legal adviser ap-
pointed for him by the House, whether the warrants
were valid or not, and the legal adviser assured
him they ~vere. Now, however, Sir W. FOLLETT, and
all the authorities in Parliament, on the grounds we have
just stattd, contend that the warrants are invalid and
illegal, and of course that no person is bound to obey
them. The House of Commons has assented to this doc-
trine, and unanimously consented to discharge Mr.
Mikasos from custody, because the warrant was illegal.
Several curious questions arise from this state of
things, and the House of Commons is to appoint a Com-
mittee, we believe this day, to investigate them ; but it
is not the duty of that House to determine the legality or
illegality of its own warrants. That question can only
be decided, if the Commons say they are legal, by
Judges in Courts of Law ; and the way to decide it is
Lw soma pen= or Wm. to Wow to Gin: the

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, MAY 2, 1842,

was drawn, and could not bear their custom of leaving
the table so immediately after dining.
" There was," said he, " always, and everywhere, an
abundance of everything and of every sort, my boy—no
grudging in any way, I must say. They generally place
so many dishes on the table as to prevent your seeing the
cloth ; and I really believe the more you eat, the better
they like you—(l met with a great many jolly. kind
people, my boy, hearty as hearty could be)—but, con-
found it, there was no sitting still. Hey presto ! away
vanished the dinner, pantomime fashion, and the diners
into tne bargain. (Very like Mr. and Mrs. Macbeth's
supper party ; fcir they did not stand upon the order of
their going, but did go at once.') They told me it was
the custom of the country, (at the public tables at least).
I told them it was a d—d bad custom, striking at the
root of all good fellowship and comfort ; and if I had
them in London I would soon cure them, ay, and take
deuced good care they should regret the arrival of our
respectable breaking-up my boy. There was a
deuced good fellow, my '.y, (I candidly confess I met
with a pretty considerable number of such,) to whom I
was introduced : his name was—was--dear, dear, dear
I can't hit upon his name just now. No matter ; he
was a Colonel Somebody—(they have a tremendous lot
of Colonels there, my boy). Well, I dined with him one
day at a large hotel —(their hotels are very splendid)—:-
he gave me a capital dinner—the fish was excellent—
(I was always partial to a bit of fish). The only fault was
there being too much of everything, except an inclinationto
sit. (Their oysters are very tine, and so are their New
Town pippins : I never eat apples myself.) Well, my
boy, I had made np my mind to a snug sit, chat, and a
bottle of port, Liter dinner—(tbeir port is not the best
wino there, and very dear)—but no ; away went the
cloth, and almost with it my friend the Colonel,--(plague
take it I what was his name ?)—in a deuced hurry, with
the last morsel in his mouth, to look after, as he said,
a particular piece of business. I wonder they don't all
toddle out of the world in a month from indigestion.
But perhaps the juleps they drink have a counteractisig
effect—(their juleps, my boy are beautiful, and delici-
ously seductive, I must confess)--and increase the gastric
juices.
" Then, again, my dear boy, they would be boring
me with the wonders of their awful fine' city of New
York—(l must say it is fine as far as it goes)—and be
everlastingly asking if I did not think it magnifi-
cently grand—(l was born, my boy, in York—Old
York, as I call it)—which I allow it is to a certain
extent, and considering the comparative short time of
its existence. But to dare to compare it with London,
—our blessed Old London—is about as reasonable as to
compare Billy Shakspeare with that Mr. Somebody who
wrote that precious bad farce in which I had a miserable
part—(it was d—d the first night.)
" You must bear in mind, my boy, that they are most
active, enterprising people. Go a-head 'is the cry ;
and they do go a. head. It has ever been a wonder to
me how they have done so much in so short a time, in
every way, too. (I thought it wonderful the rebuilding
Covent Garden in a few months, after it was burnt in
1808 ; but they would have done it, I really believe,
pretty considerably quicker.)
" I was lounging one day in the front of the theatre,
looking attentively, and I must say admiringly, at some
of the fine buildings—(very fine many of them are, my
boy)—when a young fellow came up to me,—(somebody,
I suppose, I had been introduced to by somebody—my
friend the Colonel, perhaps).
" 'Well,' said
he, 'I guess you never saw a finer city
than this New York of ours, Blanchard, eh ? '
" Didn't I? ' said Why, did you ever ? '
said he.
" Once or twice, I should think I have my boy,' said I.
" Where ? '
" Where ! ' said I, Why, where the devil do you
think I should see such ? '
" Why, you don't mean Philadelphi, do you ? '
" Oh ! bother to Philadelphi,' said I.
" Well, I calculate you mean your London, perhaps ;
for I know you English are mighty prejudiced.'—
' I do,' said I.
" Well, you are all of you awful fond of London ;
but is it as fine as New York ? What do you mean
by as fine ? '
" Well, I mean is it as big as New York, for one
thing ? '
" New York !' said I ; my dear boy, New York is
fine, very fine, I allow ; but recollect it is New York.
But if you were to take a piece the size of it out of the
map of London, it would never be missed—that's what
London is, my boy.'
" Well, you are a strange fellow,' he said, and off he
walked—(praise be given !)"
Blanchard was exceedingly polite and attentive to fe-
males. Billy did not approve of the New York custom
of not walking with a lady arm-in-arm, as in England.
"'lt is being ridiculously fastidious,' said he. I
could not endure it all—it's barbarous. And then,
my boy, the general formality and reserve of the fe-
males is anything but pleasing to an Englishman like
myself. It is the duty of man to be attentive to the
dear creatures, bless and not being permitted to
be so, put me out of all patience, and well it might.
I'll give you an idea, my dear boy, as to how attentions
to the sex are received and estimated there (I mean in
America.) One evening I was going down the Broadway
(precious broad it is), between eight and nine (it's the
longest street they have,—a tremendous length,—three
miles, I believe),—the moon was shining very brightly—
(they have exceedingly fine moons there, I must allow,
but how they came by 'em I can't guess),—the frost
was very severe,—(no Joke their frosts, my boy.)—and
the streets were very slippery. (By-the-bye, there had
been a heavy fall of snow.) W ell, I saw a splendid
figure of a female walking before me,—(l forget where
I was going—no matter—l remember I had acted Tub
Thornberry the night before.)—when suddenly down
q •
she fell ; but, as Alice, in the Castle Spectre, says, she
fell with all possible decency, and took care to hide her
legs,' at least as far as I could see, my boy. Well, I
hurried to her assistance—(l was all but down myself.)
She was very sood-looking,—(many of the women are
very good-looking there, I must say, up to a certain
age, my boy ; but they don't wear as well as ours, though
I dare say they last as long,)—and on my expressing my
hope that she was not injured by her fall, she turned
round and said to me (just as I was supporting her with
my arms round her waist), in a precious grum tone of
voice,—(you remember Mrs. Davenport in Mother Brul-
gruddery ?—well, my boy, that was it,)—
" Clear out :—Clear out said I.

" clear out,' said she.—' DIL-n it,' said I, 'you
are all alike, men, women, and children ; and you've no
KING, poor wretches !
The " Life and Songs of Anacreon " is an admi-
rable article, and would have been more acceptable
still, had not the author, like Montaigne, been some-
what
too profuse of learned quotations. In speaking
of Sappho, we think he lays far too little stress on
Ovid's description of her person, for she was just the
sort of character—a reputed beauty and a poetess—
to
have excited the curiosity of the lover of the Prin-
cess Julia, and he would naturally have been anxious
to glean all that was to be known respecting her. • If
ever Rome possessed a genuine poet, Ovid was that I
one. He had infinitely more vigour and rich-
ness of fancy than Virgil ; was much less mono- I
tonous ; and possessed quite as much melody of
versification. He could be stately, too, and dignified
when he pleased, as he has shown in his masterly
exposition of the Pythagorean system. Poetry, in
short, was with him a passion. It was born with
him. "Et quod tentabam dicere, versus erat," he
tells us, in his account of his early youth.
Such a man was, of all others, the most likely to ;
he curious respecting the personal appearance of I
Sappho; and when he states that she was " brevis
et fusca"—that is to say, short and swarthy, we
feel every disposition to believe his assertion,
however opposed it may be to the • theories
of German and English commentators. The
author's remarks on Anacreon are perfectly just.
He was the simplest, sweetest, and apparently the
most unlaboured, of love poets ; and has certainly not
been translated by Moore, whose version, elegant as
it is, is much too ornate, and encumbered with glit-
tering epithets. Anacreon is invariably sparing of' these
verbal decorations. Cowley has caught something of
his manner in one or two of his translations ; and
Herrick makes a still nearer approach to him. But
Moore has no more in common with him,
—except, indeed, that they both write on
the same seductive theme—than the poet •of
unsophisticated nature usually has with the poet of
art and conventional sentiment. The " Black Ram"
is but an indifferent article. "Experience Made
Easy" puts forth several amusing ironical aphorisms,
after the manner of Dean Swift. " A Visit to
Greenwich Fair" is quite as good as the subject,
which is not saying much for it. " Richard
Savage" drags a little this month. Mr. White-
head should have infused a little more airiness
and off-hand vivacity of spirit into the conversation
of Sir Richard Steele. The " Philosophy of Law"
is a truly diverting article, and is embellished with
sundry grotesque wood-cuts. But, indeed, the em-
bellishments generally, throughout the Number, are
of very superior interest, as regards variety of subject
and humour ; nor do we know any periodical of the
day that can compete with the Sliscellany in this
respect.

NE IV MOA THL Y MAGAZINE.
The editor has here very properly taken Mr.Wakley
to task for his absurd attack on poetry and the poets
in the House of Commons. Of all men living, the
Middlesex Coroner is about the last we should have
suspected of having even the most distant acquaint-
ance with anything like imagination. That he may
be able to appreciate the beauty of the lines, " Thirty
days bath September," is possible enough ; for aught
we know to the contrary, they may be his own com-
position ; but we doubt much whether his sympathy
with, or knowledge of, the poetic, extends beyond
this. Mr. Hood, however, assures us that the worthy
Coroner has written heaps of verse, but adds, by way
of a saving clause, " the mass had all one common
characteristic—a certain wooden style, strongly re-
minding us that the author represents Finsbury-
square, where, as we all know, the Temple of the
Muses has been turned into an upholstery ware-
house !" In " Phineas Quiddy," there is an arch
entertaining digression respecting fool's-caps, wherein
a useful moral is pointed in Mr. Poole's neatest
manner. " Female Arithmeticians" is an essay re-
commended by the charm of an easy, sententious
style. " French Cooks and Cookery" bespeaks the
favourable suffrages of the majority of readers, even
by its title. We doubt not it will be exceedingly
popular with the Court of Aldermen, who, if they
ever read anything besides their ledgt,r, will be sure
t read WI. We queitioa, howevcb whether the

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