MAKING THE MOST OF A THING.
Arm' the fashion proper to all conquests, a medal has been struck in commemoration of Lord Joss RUSSELL'S " victory " in the City. It is described by the Morning Chronicle- " The obverse exhibits the bead of his Lordship, surrounded by the inscrip- tion, The Right Hon. Lord John Russell, /11.P.;' and beneath the head, the date of his last victory over corporate Tory influence. The likeness is ex- cellent, and the engraving executed in the artist's [Mr. A. J. Stothard'a] well-known and effective style. The reverse bears, within an appropriate wreath of wheat-ears, the inscription of the watchword of true and enlightened Reformers, Free Trade,' which is rendered still more comprehensive by the legend, Per mare per terrain.'" To the obverse there is nothing to object : the inscription is sin- fularly felicitous and piquant. But the reverse might have been Improved: it should have recorded the reverse which gave London but two instead of four Liberal Members. However, there is some ingenuity displayed in rendering the "Free Trade," which consisted in imposing a heavy duty on corn, retaining a heavy duty on sugar, and enhancing a heavy duty on the timber used for the commonest purposes, "more comprehensive" : unless, indeed, the author of the legend is bent on "showing secret wit"—construing "Per mare per terram " to mean "One foot in sea and one on shore, to one thing constant never."
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