The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-01-31 00:00:00

Ribrrpoot Ritanbarbi

FROM OUR LONDON CORRESPONDENT.

MONDAY MORNING/.

My silence—hitherto—with regard to rumours and
statements affecting an illustrious personage, will be per-
fectly understood—perhaps appreciated. It was expected,
towards the end of the week, that some official notice would
be taken of the subject, which was in everybody's mouth;
indeed the necessity of some such notice appearing in one
of the leading journals on the Saturday, was spoken of.
Such a notice in part appeared. Those acquainted with
the etiquette of the Court, and as regards the higher
personages of the State, officers of the Crown, and so on,
are aware that a wide margin is allowed for public discus-
sion, ere the parties referred to take up the pen either by
themselves or by deputy, to disclaim or avow. It was
considered by many that notice was necessary before Tues-
day next. I write with great caution, and I believe I
have sound authority for stating that, on that all-important
day, both military and police force will be more effective
than usual. Meantime I can state that one of the High
Law Officers of the Sovereign impugns the authenticity
of the rumours referred to. The preparations at the House
of Peers for the reception of Han MAJESTY and her Con-
sort, for the opening of Parliament, are all but completed.
I was in Downing-street on Saturday, during the sitting
of the Cabinet : the street was as dull, deserted, dirty, and
the windows as dingy as if there had not been a minister
within a hundred miles of it. The ministers looked well ;
so much so, that one might have imagined that the meeting
was preparatory to the breaking up of a peaceful session—
that grouse were on the wing, and Manton s in request.
The coalition must wait a bit for these ; and there is no
doubt that long before the " bonnie birds" above-named
incline to pair, the majority of the pie-balds will have
" nothing else to do" but wait for sport. The ministerial
dinners this year are more numerous and magnificent than
heretofore.

The four movers and seconders of the Address to the
Speech from the Throne, you will have seen, are named.
Like their nominees—the ministers—their character is
0 motley." They comprise a protectionist, a free trader,
a Roman Catholic, and a dissenter. The Earl of CARNAR.
VON is quite young : his father was remarkable for his
literary talent; entirely original in his views, but orthodox;
delicate in person and studious in the extreme, he
died not long ago, a son of genius indeed ! The
grandfather of the present peer was a staunch Con-
servative. I remember a Whig lord, of some stand-
ing, twitting CIRNARVON, in the house, one night, in
''the "who are you ?" style; the noble earl had only been
created in 1793. In a voice of thunder, Causreavoie
retorted that the title he bore was conferred by the
Sovereign for loyalty exhibited in the Lord GEORGE
GORDON riots. Lord Ducia's father died but recently ;
he was a great farmer, and a greater genius in the inven-
tion and construction of farming implements. So much
for the mover and seconder in the Upper Chamber. Young
Viscount CASTLEROSSE is of a good Irish family ; he is
eldest son of Lord KENMARE; right loyal have they
always been. Mr. T. 'JANNEY is a well-known London
banker. If my memory serves me rightly, not one of
them has ever opened his mouth in Parliament. Most
commonly the moving and seconding process, in both
houses, is a dull affair ; the parties selected are always
green members, and, as they have to appear in full court
or military costume, while all around are clad in sober
black, or blue, &c., the embarrassment of the neophytes
is sometimes painfully apparent. However, they are
always cheered on ; a hearty burst of " hear, hear,
hear," is sure to fill up each hem—ha—and hiatus ; and
thus the unfledged speaker is lured on, and wings his
way. The members next to him shake him cordially by
the hand, when he resumes his perch ; and if he have
made a sparkling debut, he continues throughout the
debate to receive the same congratulations. The whole
affair has a truly generous and English-like look about it.
It would be worse than foolish amusement to write one
line about the affairs of the East, and what has taken
place there since my last. Statement and counter-state-
ment have followed each other,
" Thick as autumnal leaves," &c.
All our intelligence from the " seat of war"—l may use the
ominous words—comes to us through a most polluted
channel, and is frequently commented on here by writers
who know nothing of the geography of the places men-
tioned, though they write and talk as glibly of them as of
Poplar or Paddlugtkm. Alt.. a.: a aa,vac, aa.aa auLlactlatllK
must come out, though, from what I learn, the Coalition-
ists mean to be as chary in their statements as possible ;
they intend to " argufy the topic," rather than to dis-
close new points. But it won't do beyond a week—if so
much. All must and will come out. Ministers are now
blamed right and left—more, day by day, for their Fabian
—their peace-at-any-price-policy. Soldiers and sailors—
the latter especially—eager for the fray—lift up one huge
voice and declare that they would have smashed Russia's
" pickling tubs" at the first broadside. At the Russian
Embassy—and it is worth while to keep one's eye there—
Baron BRUNOW, the head of it, is on the qui vine. I think
I stated last week he would leave us probably in a few
days ; he is still here, but his " plate and jewels," of which
he has an immense quantity, are safely stowed away in
lare iron-bound chests, ready for starting. He proceeds to
the Hague, should he have his recall ; there the Russian
Minister at Paris joins him. Further in the way of diplo-
matic chit-chat, I can state that the Hague is mentioned
as the 'place for holding the Congress—should such an
assembly be-deemed fit.
From the first I felt assured that Sir WILLIAM HEATH-
COTE would be successor to Sir ROBERT INGLIS at Oxford.
Conservatives of every hue are always gentlemen. What
a scramble there would have been, had the parties whose
names were mentioned as in the field been Whigs ! Sir
JOHN PAICINGTON and Dr. Twiss never intended to op-
pose Sir WILLIAM. What has Oxford gained ? A few
years more of active life in her representative. Sir Ro-
BERT INGLis was by no means old; younger by some
years than PA.LBERSTON—the active ! Yet Sir ROBERT
has retired, and in him one of the best Christians, most
loyal subjects, and social of men. Sir ROBERT has been
about thirty years in parliament, during the whole of
which time he has made many good speeches, and never
knew when he was to make one ; he would come down to
the House with the intention of speaking night after
night, and, when he least expected it, he had an opportu-
nity of addressing the House, taking it by surprise.
Hence the most acute observer, the most frequent at-
tender, could not say with certainty anything about the
right hon. baronet. In questions of constitutional law,
his legal education—reading—shone conspicuously; on
such subjects he spoke so firmly, that his opponents said
he was obstinate—the more coarse among them—bigot !
Sir ROBERT cared not a rush. He was invulnerable :
the truth of his statements could not be questioned; he
was satisfied that his views were honest, and he never
spoke with a double purpose,—a great element in success.
In committees he was most useful. For all the grand
qualifications of an English 31. P. he has not left his like
in the house. Bigotted they said he was. No such thing;
a little child might have led him. He had the portly
appearance of an easy-minded man ; one whose creed
couldn't be wrong, seeing his life was in the right. We
have had examples, even among Radicals—take LUTHER
for example—of serious men having. a good cask of wine
always on tap in their cellar ; and enjoying it occasionally.
Such a one was Sir ROBERT HARRY INGLIS, late M.P.
for the University of Oxford. The cordial, the social
mahoany of Sir ROBERT, about seven o'clock—" no
house of course—will ever be remembered by those who
participated around it. His dinners, which he always
appeared personally to enjoy, were elegant; his wines
faultless, and wonderfully well kept. Referring to Sir
ROBERT in the House of Commons, the indications he
presented of intending to speak, were probably his coming
to the house in the old " rumble-tumble" coach, guiltless
of varnished leathers, the honourable Baronet having
a fresh plucked red camelia in his button-hole ! Then as
now, indeed, though not to such an extent, members of
note, when they had anything great before them, on the
" notice paper" for the night, always distinguished them-
selves by more than ordinary attention to their toilette ;
the camelia aforesaid was Sir ROBERT'S badge. Even the
great DUKE condescended to points of dress on memorable
occasions. He mounted a " spick and span" new green,
extremely green Genoa velvet waistcoat, during the second
reading of the Roman Catholic Emancipation Bill ; it was
in compliment to the " Emerald Isle" the peers said. The
DmEX was never seen in it afterwards. The late Earl
Gnsy—the Earl GREY—tall and shade-like, was also
remarkable on great nights ; take the second reading of
the Reform Bill; the star and garter, the dress-coat, the
white vest were donned. So Sir ROBERT PEEL—the late
—when he had anything on the tapis, he to a hair fol-
lowed the costume Sir THOMAS LAWRENCE put him in,
when he sat for his picture to that matchless portrait-
painter. ABERDEEN does so to the present day; uniformly
confining himself to the Star and Riband of the Thistle
Probably there never were three distinguished men upon
as PEEL,
whom dress made so wonderful a transformation
d ABERDEEN. Vis-
count MELBOURNE (the minister), an .
count MELBOURNE, on ordinary occasi.ons,.dressed,
_ rolled
about gloveless, with a penny ashen stick in his hand, like
a yeoman ; see him in the salon; he_ was searcelytobe,
recognised. In one sentence, he was elegance personified
Mr. GLADSTONE, the present Chancellor lof the Exchequer,
loses by dressing. Has the right honourable gentleman
no friend to tell him this fact ? He looks like an insect
°f larger growth ;" his dress black coat is very spare,
and, ay. mockery
of BRIIMMELL ! he wears tight black
" pants,"
describe thel.worse
oddity of Mr. GLADSTONE'S appearance in
such habiliments ; thev are capp'd, however, by his prede-
cessor when he went to court
was vastly fond of his eourtco or court ball. DISRAELI
dress • else why put himself in
it, when finer-looking '
to this. men dm' pensed with it ? But a truce
The name of TRAvERS among the merchants of this
great country is well known, and is destined, I opine, to
be perpetuated with honour. I was the earliest, some
short time ago, to notice the first-fruits of the efforts made
for a reform in the Customs, when a large grievance—
incubus.like—ljad long pressed heavily con the mercantile