The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-26 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, SATURDAY MORNINp-, FEBRUARY 26, 1842

tuall honour, are reconciled, and the curtain fall..
The acting of the piece was excellent throughout. Mr.
3facready's Gisippus w,,s one of his chastest, most careful, and
most spirited performances ; and not less successful was Miss
Helen Faucit's Sophronia. 'Mr. Anderson was at times too
h. isterous as Fulvius ; nevertheless, there were many points
in his ak ting that deserve praise. The scenery was excellent,
and the curtain fell amidst loud and general applause. As a
sp, cimen of the poetry of the play, we quote the disappointed,
and world-weary Gisippus's reflections in a burial-ground, where
he has taken refuge at night :
" This is his court,
I ;ere does he hold his reign of stirless fear,
Silence his throne—his robe of Majesty, •
The hue of gathering darkness. Here, his minister--
The night-bird screams, and the hoarse raven iterates
His warning from the left. Diseases flit
Like srectrts through the giooir, clothed in damp mist
And tainted night-air—yet the grim slayer
Will send no kindly shaft to me. .

(Ile leans on a tomb.

Will the dead
Afford me what the living have denied,
Ilest for my weary limbs, and shelter ? Here
At least I shall find quiet, If not ease,
And host who do not grudge their entertaining,
Even though the guest be misery. Colder hearts
Than those which rest within this sepuichre
I've left in all the health of lusty life
Informing bosoms harrier than its marble;
Then I will be your guest, ye silent dead,
Would I could say, your fellow slumber er I" •

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
FROM THE EVENING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
GLOBE.—When a statesman builds up a party for
himself of such patchwork and mosaic-work, to borrow
a phrase of Burke, as Sir Robert Peel knowingly did,
he has no right to throw on the inconsistencies of his
position any part of the blame which attaches to his in-
decision of speech or action. Such as his position, is,
such he has made it for the purposes of his own aggran-
disement, or (if he chooses to affirm so) for the interests
of his party, which he identifies with those of the pub-
lic. That he cannot afford to take a perfectly open
tone on a great question may be a fault of his position,
but his position has been his own work. It was within
his option not to supplant his precursors in office by
making use of alarms at financial difficulties and fiscal
reforms. And it' we are told that this was a
stretch of virtue not to be looked for from a party
leader, we can only say that such a leader,
who has so raised himself, must not be suffered
to make a sort of merit out of his false position, and to
insinuate into the public mind an opinion about his
‘• intentions," as being better than his measures—
which, it they are, we see not why we should thank
him for them—since he has taken care, by his party
tactics, to make it impossible either for himself, or any
one else, to put them in execution. The present Prime
Minister cannot otherwise make it apparent that his
good intentions are good for anything (unless to
enable him to take a large contract for paving
a place lower than Palace-yard) than by giving
it to be understood that he rallies and leads
class-interests for no other purpose than
that of betraying and forcing them to surrender
at discretion. According to this construction a Peel
Ministry is a sort of a Trojan horselby no means framed
for a tutelary idol, as those imagine who have wheeled
it into their citadel, but in reality packed with valiant
red-tapists, every man of them armed to the teeth
with reforms and abolitions of monopoly. Sir Robert,
Peel is compelled to act his part, but he meditates
mountains and marvels. We shall only say that a
statesman who is compelled, all through his_ life, to seek
credit with the public at the expense of his own party,
must make the interest either of his party or the public,
or both, hi:, mere. tool. The adroitness consists (like
Macheatn's) in persuading each that it is the other who
is humbugged. And the difficulty, as Sir Robert justly
remarks, is in talking to both at once.
STANDARD.—The proceedings in the House of
Lords last night claim a consideration, indepen-
dent of the grave question which originally
gave occasion for them. It is an occasion of
Just pride to Englishmen to see the first house
of the legislature, the assembled nobles of the nation,
devoting themselves seriously, diligently; and with-
out a&ctation, to an investigation of the wrongs
of the humblest of the people. No less just is
the pride which, as members of the Church of
England, we may indulge, when we witness such an
investigation promoted by one of its:Prelates, one of
the most distinguished of his order, for learning, ge-
nius, and zeal. The length to which the becoming pa-
tience of the House protracted the inquiry—this is
sufficient to prevent our entering fully into the facts,
even were we less pressed for room than we are ;
we must therefore content ourselves with briefly
mentioning the heads of the case. Two poor men, re-
spectively named Lock and Dart, had died in the union
workhouse of Creditor, Devon, under circumstances
which gave rise to a very general impression that
their deaths had been accelerated, it not caused,
by neglect. A gentleman, named Tanner, a soli-
citor, resident in the neighbourhood, who shared in
the general suspicion, very properly represented
the case, as one demanding an investigation, to the
Poor-law Commissioners. The Commissioners met his
representations with peevish rebuff's, or with pre-
tences of inquiry which were rendered nugatory in ,
the progress. Mr. Tanner, wearied out, caused a
summary of the facts which he had laid before the
Commissioners—conveyed in guarded and temperate
language—to be printed in one of the most re-
spectable of our many respectable provincial journals,
Woolmer's Exeter paper. The answer to this pub-
lication was a criminal prosecution in t:ie Queen's
Bench, instituted, as it was suggested by a Sub-
Poor-law Commissioner. The prosecution broke
down upon a legal point, of which Mr. Wool-
mer's counsel availed himself, as his duty
to his client, to the practice of the profes-
sion, and to his Own character and interest
compelled hint to do—we will acid, his duty to the
administration of justice ; for a man not accused in
proper form is not accused at all, and to waive the
defect of form in a case of criminal prosecution is
really to obtrude an unaccused man upon a tribunal
having no jurisdiction over him. This, however, by the
way. After the failure of- the prosecution, Mr. Tan-
ner renewed his efforts to obtain an inquiry, but was
again foiled by artifice ; on One occasion he was
promised an investigation, and then, to render impossi-
ble his conducting it, he was himself summoned as a
witness ; on another, after he had obtained a promise
of permission to avail himself of the service of
an advocate, he was allowed but twenty-four
hours to provide one (in the country, let it be re-
membered), and when, contrary to all probability,
the advocate was found in proper time, the investiga-
tion was conducted in private, as it would appear, with
the plain purpose that it should be conducted imper-
fectly. Lord Wharncliffe made the best defence of
the Poor-law Commissioners that their case ad-
mitted, but while, upon their Report, he denied that
Lock and Dart had suffered from neglect, he felt
compelled to admit the petulance and unfairness
that the Commissioners had manifested in more than
one instance. One phrase employed by Lord Wham-.
cliffe is remarkable and significant :—" Before he
entered upon the defence of the Poor-law Com-
missioners, he must say, that, called upon as
they were to perform a most invidious and odious
duty, one which often ran counter to the feelings
of humanity, there was great danger of imputing to them,
unjustly, blame which was not borne out by the facts."
If the duty of administering the New Poor-law be
iideed invidious, odious, and opposed to the feelings of
humanity, surely the provisions of the law must be such,
acid the law must be unfit for a civilised and Christian
country. The proposition is Lord Wharncliffe's—the in-
ference is that which every one must draw. We must,
however, respectfully differ from Lord Wharncliffe, in
his implied acquittal of the Commissioners of all seri-
ous blame.

MONEY MARKET und CITY NEWS.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF THURSDAY.
CHRONICLE.—There have been one or two failures an-
nounced to-day in the City ; houses of some standing, chiefly
connected with the Cape and Hamburg trade. A rumour has
got abroad again that the Bank directors cont. mplate a reduc-
tion in the rate of interest. We do not give it as authentic,
or as to be depended on, but there are several circumstances
..hich would tend to justify the Bank parlour in adopting such
a course. They are, of course, desirous to give the Govern-
ment a lift in their present difficulties ; and any course calcu-
lated to make money more easy is likely to give an impulse to
she dormant state of our labour markets. In the next place
here has been a considerable and indeed forced export trade
for some time past against limited imports. Our colonial
markets have been glutted with British goods, which have been
sold at ruinously low prices, and on long credits, but those
credits are in course of being realised, while the prices at home
for articles of foreign growth or manufacture are so much re-
duced, that they do not afford much inducement to foreigners
to supply us. Hence the exchanges have become favourable.
TIMES.—It is now some weeks that the Spanish bond-
holders have been in daily expectation of seeing the proposed
capitalization of the interest on the Active Debt publicly an-
nounced, and unfortunately, from one cause or another, they
hare been obliged to remain in continual suspense. First,
there were certain formalities in the documents by which the
capitalization was to be affected, which required to be settled;
then there was a delay in M. Salamanca's arrival ; and then,
when he did arrive, they were told that, as it was necessary to
announce to the French and English bondholders timulta-
neously the day of conversion, it was impossible to make
the long-desired announcement for a few days longer.
It was on Saturday last that M. Bonajo represented
to the Chairman of the Committee the necessity of
this new delay, and then it was commonly expected
that Wednesday (to-day) would be the day of public announce-
ment. Now, however, it appears that the day of announce-
ment is by no means so near at hand as was commonly sup-
posed; for the chairman of the committee has received from
M. Borrajo, a letter dated Monday last, the contents of which
are nearly the same in substance with the conversation of Sa-
turday, and in which it is said that it is impossible to make the
announcement for " SOME days" more, en the pretext before-
mentioned of doing equal justice to London and Paris. These
de'ays are much calculated to decrease the confidence of the
holders, and to render them capable of believing any rumours
against the Spanish Government, of which there are so many
remaining still to be explained.

FROM THE MORNING PAPERS OF YESTERDAY.
POST.—The following notice was posted this morning at
the Bank :

,"f he Governor and Company of the Bank of England are
ready, until further notice, to receive application for loans,
upon the deposit of approved Bills of Exchange, not. having
more than six months to run, Exchequer 13,11 s and East India
Bonds. Such loans to be repaid on or before the 20th April
next, with interest, at the rate of 4 per cent. per annum, and
to be for Sums of not less than 2,000!. each.—Feb. 24, 1842."
As the present notice exhibits a reduction of 1 per cent. in
the interest which the Bank has been receiving for a long time
past, it did rot fail to give rise to the expression of various
(pinions as to its propriety, for, although there are many who
are disposed to applaud the liberality of the Directors, as cal-
culated to give an impetus to the mercantile operations of the
country, there are others who seem to apprehend that the esta-
blishment is not sufficiently armed with specie to warrant so
decided a change of policy for the present, and who are, conse-
quently, pretty strongly impressed with the idea that it must be
p eparatory to the funding of a further amount of Exchequer
Bills. On the latter point we have no judgment to offer, but

it is usual. at this period of the year, when the collection of the
rer nue must, in the natural process of the system, cause a
scarcity of money accommodation, to look to the Bank for an
increased issue of notes, and it is no secret, as we stated some
time ago, that a lower rate of interest was deemed by our lead-
ing authorities expedient, as perhaps the most effectual means
that could be adopted of stimulating commercial enterprise,
which is desirable. The notice is not accompanied by any con-
dition wi,h re,pect to Exchequer Bills, as was the case upon
the last occasion.

TIMES.—The notice posted yesterday, it will be perceived,
lowers the rate of interest to 4 per cent. instead of 5 per cent.,
the rate which previously existed, and has not been wholly un-
expected on the part of the monied interest, several of its
leading members having been aware that such a measure was
in contemplation, and having used very strenuous efforts to
prevent its adoption. Their ground of complaint is, that it
intr. duces an unfair species of competition into the money
market, when money was already sufficiently abundant for all
useful purposes; and they are under apprehensions that, by
increasing that abundance without any specific call for it, a
false appearance of prosperity may be brought on by the com-
mercial interest, leading eventually to speculation, and allthose
consequences which have held out so serious a warning on seve-
ral previous occasions.

FROM LAST NIGHT'S GAZETTE.
DOWNING-STREET, FEB. 23, 1842.
The Queen has been graciously pleased to nominate and ap-
point Admirals the lion. Sir John Talbot, Sir Robert Barlow,
and Sir Henry Digby, Knights Commanders of the Most Ho-
nourable Military Order of the Bath, to be Knights Grand
Cross of the said Order.
The Queen has also been pleased to appoint Lieutenant-Co-
lonel Hugh Henry Rose to he a Companion of the Most Honour-
able Military Order of the Bath.
DOWNING-STREET, FEB. 23.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint William Snagg, Esq.
to the office of Solicitor-General in the Island of Grenada.
FOREIGN-OFFICE, FEB. 25.
The Queen has been pleased to approve of Mr. Alexander
Thom, as Consul at Aberdeen, and of Mr. John Cadell, as Vice-
Consul at Leith, for his Majesty the King of the Belgians.
WAR-OFFICE, Fan. 25.
Bth Regiment of Light Dragoons—Assistant-Surgeon I. A.
Blake, from the Bth Foot, to be Assistant-Surgeon, vice
Gaulter, promoted to be Staff-Surgeon of the Second Class,
Feb. 25.
32d Regiment of Foot—Capt. J. Salmond, from half-pay
Unattached, to be Captain, vice E. O. Broadley, who ex-
changes; Lieut. W. Case to be Captain, by purchase, vice
Salmond, who retires; Ensign W. Bellingham to be Lieute-
nant, by purchase, vice Case : F. T. Stanuell, Gent., to be
Ensign, by purchase, vice Bellingham, Feb. 25.
49th Foot—Lieut. A. Mackenzie, from half-pay 30th Foot,
to be Lieutenant (repaying the difference), vice Gibbons, pro-
moted ; Ensign C. Faunt to be Lieutenant, by purchase, vice
Mackenzie, who retires; R. Thompson, Gent. to be Ensign,
by purchase, vice Faunt, Feb 25.
2d West India Regiment—Ensign J. Hill to be Lieutenant,
without purchase, vice J. B. Davidson, who retires upon half-
pay, Feb. 25.
3d West India Regiment—Ensign T. Mowbray to be Lieu-
tenant, without purchase, vice J. R. Maxwell, who retires
upon half-pay, Feb. 25.
Hos erra r. STAFF—Assistant-Surgeon T. C. Gaulter, M.D.,
from the Bth Light Dragoon, to be Staff-Surgeon of the
Second Class, vice W. Smith, appointed to the St. Helena
Regiment, Feb. 25.
M moRA Nnum.--The commission of the under-mentioned
officer has beeen cancelled front the date, inclusiye, set against
his name, he having accepted a commuted allowance for his
half pay—Paymaster J. Mackay, half-pay 60th Regt., Feb.2s.
WHITEHALL, FEB. 12.
The Lord Chancellor has appointed John Marshall, of
Kingston-upon Hull, Gent., to be a Master Extraordinary in
the High Court of Chancery.
The Lord Chancellor has appointed John Frederick Robin-
son, of Hadleigh, in the county of Essex, Gent., to be a Master
Extraordinary in the High Court of Chancery.
The Lord Chancellor has appointed James Benjamin Vickers,
of Manchester, in the county of Lancaster, Gent. to be a
Master Extraordinary in the High Court of Chancery.
DECLARATIONS OF INSOLVENCY.
JOHN LOCKLEY, plumber, Bilston, Staffordshire.
WILLIAM BARNES, fire brick manufacturer, Shincliffe,
Durham.
FREDERICK PRATT, miller, Saredon-mill, Staffordshire,
BANKRUPTCIES SUPERSEDED.
THOMAS SCUDAMORE, chemist, Birmingham.
JOSEPH smirk' NEEDHAM, banker, Ullesthorpe,
Leicestershire.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
DOUSE OF LORDS, Feb. 25.
Their Lordships sat to-day to hear Scotch appeals. The Peers
in attendance wcre the Lord Chancellor, Lord Brougham, and
Lord Campbell.

DROWN N. ANNANDALE.
The further arguments in this part-heard case occupied their
Lordships the whole morning.

VICE-CHANCELLORS' COURT, Feb. 24.
(Before Vice-Chancellor WIGRAM.)
CRAWFORD V. FISHER.
MS HONOUR Wal engaged throughout the day in hearing the
further argument in this part.heard cause. The points in dispute
between the parties present no feature of public interest.