The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-10-18 00:00:00

Etberpoot ,taitharb.

FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

MONDAY MORNING.
TEE Eastern question, and I am ashamed as I pencil
the words, remains, as far as I know—which means all
Downing-street—in static quo ; therefore, the least said
-about it the better this week. The in emhers of the
Imperial Family of Russia, now about town, are seen
-everywhere, on the best terms certainly with themselves,
and apparently so with the rest of the world. ABERDEEN
hurried to Windsor, to see the QUEEN, as soon as he could
after her return from the North, but there was nothing
in that ;—he went to pay his "humble duty"—the phrase
in such cases —to the SOVEREIGN, as he had not had an
opportunity of doing so for several weeks; the PREMIER
passing his days alternately in Argyle House, at the West
End, or at the Ranger's, Blackheath. The Turks and
Russians kept the Earl of ABERDEEN in London this
season; he is a great and respected man in the neigh-
bourhood of the QUEEN'S pet residence, Balmoral, and
there he would have been, but for —il Turco. ABERDEEN
is not looking very healthy ; —LANSDOWNE totters ; Joux-
NIB RUSSELL is unwell; CLA.RENDON thin, and appa-
rentlj, thinking; MoLeswourn—"rudier than the cherry,"
thanks to the air and exercise of the woods and forests,—
and the no thought—all done by clerks—of the office.
With the exception of Sir WILLIAM of the Woods, the
never-ending, still-beginning negotiations anent Turkey
and Russia, together with murkey weather, don't seem
to tell in favour of the Ministers with whom we
have. met lately, if I except PALMERSTON, who looks
• smart and well for a young man of his years. The
" subs " at the three great Government offices have been

very busy lately ; the Board of Trade, with dyspeptic
EMMERSON TENNANT, especially so. EMMERSON, as he
grows older, gets more gay in his outward man ; but he
don't look in rude health ; he was seen examining a new-
fangled pill-box the other day, a sure symptom of stomach
out of order; judging from the length of the box and its
subdivisions, there was room enough in it to hold pills for
every ill that flesh is heir to.
Of course, mentioning Sir EMXIERSO:4I TENNANT reminds
one of Ceylon ;—the puffing and blowing at the Mint the
last two or three weeks—set down to the score of the
decimal coinage—was occasioned by a new issue of silver
bits, for the Ceylonese, several tons of which were carted
off the other day to be shipped from Southampton.
Intelligence came to town yesterday of the death of one
of the richest Commoners of England, BARING WALL,
M.P. for Salisbury, This gentleman, one of the most
popular some years ago, at once sank deserted. I have
seen him sit a whole night in the House of Commons
Without a creature speaking to him. Full of health, he
withered,—by no means old—he died with the fortune of
an Eastern monarch.
The tedium of the week—wet weather and no sunshine
—was relieved, a little towards the middle, by the doings
at Manchester and the speeches of Mr. GLADSTONE, the
Chancellor of the Exchequer. It is not difficult to get
Mr. GLADSTONE to open his mouth, and when he begins
a speech, he don't know when he shall have done with it.
He cannot help himself. Without an infelicitous rapidity
,of elocution, as used to be said of RICHARD LALOR SICIEL,
the Right Hon. gentleman holds on the even tenor of his
way, and never leaves his subject until it is exhausted. A
good many people in town think he "laid it on too thick"
at the Manchester gathering. Certainly it becomes a pupil
.to speak well of his master, and Mr. GLADSTONE has shown
that he is the man. I'll go every inch with Mr. GLAD-
-STONE in his eulogies on the late Sir ROBERT PEEL'S
qualities as a man,—a more virtuetts, social creature, I
never met ;—perhaps, owing to his vulgar birth and aris-
tocratic education, he talked too frequently about fine arts
and their effect on the manners or morals of a people.
This was amiable, at all events. At his dinner table he
always had men of genius ; some of them poor—this was
generous—but he higgled awfully for those fine pictures
in the gallery at Whitehall and the other at Drayton—
mostly Flemish pictures in the former, and portraits of
Statesmen in the latter. Unlike the Duke of WELLING-
TON in this regard, who rarely asked the price, but paid.
I have seen Sir ROBERT PEEL prefer the arm of a very
poor literary workman to that of—
" Marquis, Duke, an' a' that."
It has been stated also that his humility was so extensive,
that he hesitated not to say he was the son of a cot-

ton-spinner, and that his wife was the daughter of a com-
mon soldier, which in some sort was true. A hundred
times I have heard him say in adulation—" Sprung from
the working classes, &e.'' All these, and more I could
Mention, form amiable traits, whether real or assumed.
The love of virtue is there. The memory of Sir ROBERT
PEEL is " most consecrate" in the hearts, not only of the
members of his own family, but in the affections of every
one who had the singular good fortune of being on visiting
terms with the late Minister. That he is yet remembered
with sweet and bitter tears by his family, I know. The
inheritor of his name and title, all giddy and bent on plea- I
sure as he is, has not once raised the curtains of his man-
sion, —there they hang as they did the day Sir ROBERT
died! Therefore all that Mr. GLADSTONE said about
private virtue was Well-merited true —and in excellent
taste. But to beggar our language, as Mr. GLADSTONE
..did, in praising Sir ROBERT PEEL the politician—states-
, man stern—out with it ! Apply such words as politician-
the im-
mense breadth and comprehensiveness of his understand-
ing" to him, why it is enough to raise a blush on the dead
man's cheek ! Expediency was Sir ROBERT PEEL'S ful-
crum. Expediency,—a word not recognised by our elder
and more thorough politicians. But we'll let that pass.
Mr. GLADSTONE went on to talk about Sir ROBERT'S
name being engraven upon every heart because of the
benefits he conferred. Where are they ? Every necessary
of life is double the price they ought to be ! Where is his
- boasted tariff? Rubbish ! a hoax ! a delusion ! a snare!
The income-tax remains. That is PEEL'S lasting monu-
ment! I only remember him by it. Again, quoth Mr.
GLADSTONE, the pupil of Sir ROBERT, he allowed no diffi-
culty, no obstacle, to stand between him and the perform-
' ance of his duty —. These be brave words ; but I beg
to state that Sir ROBERT bent his head to the obstacles
submitted to them—swallowed them—like Roman Catholic
Emancipation.
The last two days of the past week have inundated
/newspaper readeri in the metropolis with the vagaries of
'the Peace Society " doves," down in Edinburgh all the
way,—the PROVOST, a worthy man enough, giving the
broad light of his countenance to the affair ; Ewan BUR-
BITT and JOHN BURNETT backing up the gathering;
Admiral NAPIER also throwing in a random shot from
his now little used locker. ELinn strolls about anywhere.
Eccentric in his wanderings as in his manners—l never
knew a great linguist otherwise—his appearance in Mo-
dern Athens was to be expected. The Rev. JOHN Bun-
NBTT being a native of Perth, forty miles to the north-
ward, might like to " sniff the caller air" of his native
home, and hold forth in his usual quaint but mistaken
way. I suppose many of your clerical readers can tell
what constitutes a legitimate right to the title " Reverend."
JOHN BURNETT, for years one of the greatest guns among
the dissenters, in his manhood picked up a few Greek
roots and Latin derivatives from a country clergyman,
straightway went to Ireland as a missionary—preached—
preaches—and is sometimes called " the Rev. Dr. BUR-
NETT t." Oh, dear !if we must put up with humbug,
it is surely out of place when ministering in " holy things."
This reverend gentleman, at the peace meeting, uttered
absolutely childish nonsense. After moving a resolution
touching standing armaments, which he and others wished
to see equalized—like the spirit duty, or any other com-
modity—maintained that, as far as military fame could
make us renowned, we were renowned throughout the
world—that as far as slaughter might make us great,
we were already, very great—and that as far as a
successful butchering was concerned, we were amongst
the most successful butchers in the world ; and this " bla-
therumskite," to use a vulgar but expressive and favourite
word of DANIEL O'CONNELL, was cheered by the inha-
bitants of one of the most intellectual and learned cities in
Europe ! I remember the time when the boys of the
University,—the students of the Royal Infirmary,—the
lads of the register-office, and eke the W.S. clerks,—when
GEORGE THE THIRD was king,—would have had a bit
of fun with such vapourers as Mr. BURNETT, malgre his
sacerdotal character. Apart from the foolish reasoning of
. Mr. CoBDBN, whose reasoning powers are lower than
those of an ape—no offence in the world, RICHARD.
COBDEN has great qualities, but they are not of the higher
order of intellect—reasoning—and he must know it by
this time. Deduct this, and the hon. gentleman's speech
is really worth perusing in these fallow days, when even
Edo not think it infra dig. to notice the Peace Society at
dinburgh. In the metropolis the body, somehow or
other, is losing ground fast ; falling, probably, by its
inherent absurdity. SAMUEL GURNEY—honest broad-
brim—is busier, apparently, with his bill-brokery than
with peace-mongery ; and others of his brothers of the
drab and buttonless coat seem to have followed his wise
example, for there is not in the city of London a longer-
headed man than smug SAMUEL GURNEY.
Of course hundreds of your readers have dined at the
United Service Club-house; certainly the most convenient
—in all its appointments—of the lot. The chef is superb,
displaying great ingenuity in his dishes, without the
slightest approximation to vulgarity. Now and then you
have a soldier's or a sailor's bit of victuals,—Bargoo, it is
so pronounced, but Ido not vouch for the spelling—of the
latter service. How cheap they dine there,—but it is
difficult to get in. I have known THE DUKE, at the little
table close to the inner window, have wine at dinner—for
fifteen pence,—put down his shilling and a fourpenny bit,
pocket the penny, and toddle down the steps by the Duke
of YORK'S monument, across the park to the House of
Peers, and sit there till two in the morning—having
spoken a column of the Times, all upon that fifteen-penny
dinner. Brave old DUKE! There are two prime favorites
of the DUKE now much in the world's eye. I refer to
GEORGE Duke of CAMBRIDGE, and JAMES THOMAS
BRUDENELL3 Earl of CARDIGAN. A bird of a good
nest ; the first Earl was a zealous supporter of the royal
?use (how I like such !) during the civil wars, and suf-
.."ed a long imprisonment in the Tower. Well, the pre-
:l4 Earl, Colonel of the most elegant and soldierlike
Heim
—is f men and horse in the world—the llth
Inspe t leaving it ; having been all but gazetted
Dukeeoreof Cavalry in lieu of that expressed essence the
CAMBRIDGE who is to have the command of the
troops in
shot in anger 1. The Duke of CAMBRIDGE never fired a
m his hie—never smelt powder,indeed, save as
plaything, Yet he is a thorough disciplinarian,—a capital
F.oldier, the pet of Lord HARDINGE much of this is owing