The Press. — London, England, 1854-07-29 00:00:00

JULY 29, 1854. " on by their special organisation" to their particular vocations. Poverty and prolonged social wretchedness stare them in the face, yet, impelled by some mysterious and inexor able law, they still strive for the laurel, gain ing it after a life of pauperism. Their social case is essentially exceptional, and it ought to receive livelier sympathy than is at present accorded to it by our wealthy and prosperous empire. THE BISHOP OF NEW ZEALAND. THE explanations offered for withholding his hard-earned salary from Bishop SELWYN are the reverse of satisfactory. Sir GEORGE GREY, in one of his most wordy speeches, gave his reasons, if such they could be called, for leaving the Bishop to the consideration of the Assembly of New Zealand. It was vainly at tempted to be shown that, because Sir JOHN PAKINOTON, in 1852, expressed a hope that before long New Zealand might be able to support its own officials, therefore his impe rial salary should at once be withdrawn from the Bishop. The best answer to such cavil ling was the speech of Sir JOHN PAKINOTON on Thursday, moving an address to her Majesty for granting payment for the salaries for the years 1853 and 1854 ; and Sir GEORGE GREY'S attempt to free himself from official responsi bility in this affair cannot pass without notice. He is taking the very opposite course, as Secretary for the Colonies, from what Sir JOHN PAKINOTON would have followed ; and the shame of withholding the salary from this dis tinguished Prelate must undoubtedly remain with the present officials of the Colonial De partment. It is really too bad, " too cruel" (as Sir J. PAKINOTON said), that such treatment should be offered to a. divine of well earned distinction in the glorious work of evangelising the heathen in distant climes. REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON PUBLIC HOUSES. AFTER inquiries which have extended over two sessions, and in the course of which witnesses in all ranks of life were examined, the committee on public-houses has made its report—an elaborate document, extending over thirty-four folio pages, and embodying the substance of the most material evidence taken. The committee deal in the first instance with the licensing system—a complicated and anomalous series of regulations, some of which are habitually violated, while others serve no pur pose except that of annoyance both to dealers and to the public. Such are the restrictions imposed on wholesale dealers, for which no cause whatever can be shown; which encourage informers, and, by their frequent evasion, accustom honest men to regard brea-hes of law as venial. These restrictions it is accordingly proposed to abolish. Beerhouses, it is stated, have proved a failure. They were " estab " lished under the belief that they would give the " public their beer cheap and pure, would dissociate " beer-drinking from drunkenness," and lead to the establishment of a less disorderly class of refresh ment houses than those previously existing. These results have not followed. Beershops are notoriously the haunts of bad characters ; the article sold therein is neither cheap nor good; adulteration is habitually practised, and that to a frightful extent. " Most " publicans," says one witness, a publican himself, " have a way of doing something to their beer " to increase the quantity or conceal the inferior quality. One person habitually mixes his beer with seventy per cent. of water; and similar frauds are practised in the case of spirits. Nor are these a lulterations harmless. Vitriol, cocculus indicus, and a variety of substances more or less deleterious are habitually consumed by the frequenters of beer- ..,c• utsUll.lifilly consumes by tne treguenters of oeer- shops. For this evil no legal remedy exists. ofience, if it can he detected, is punishable ; T b h u e t detection becomes almost impossible, from the ab- consideration by any timid apprehensions suggested by the fear of innovation. Last night's Gazette contains the official despatch from Admiral Dundas announaing the destruction of But changes in national worship can never be the Russian batteries at the Sulina mouth of the Bence of any fi xe d s t an d ar d o f s t reng th, w hil e the effected profitably unless when supported by the Danube, and the melancholy death of Captain enormous profits thus illegally made cover the wishes and sympathies of the worshippers at large. Parker. risk of punishment. Neither does it appear that, In any such changes, it would be necessary to avoid A permanent council of war has been appointed even where the guilt of th e se ll er i s clearly proved, any appearance of concession to the too worldly at Turin. the ultimate penalty of withdrawing the licence is spirit of the age, and, if duties be relaxed as too The prorogation of Parliament will, we have .often put in f orce . M ag i strates conn i ve a t— a t one rous in one direction, it would be wise to augment reason to believe, take place in the third week in least, neglect to notice—offences which they cannot them in smother. The report in Convocation ad- Augu'.t, most probably on the 15th of that month, effectually put down. Where a bad practice is vacates " the general and systematic co-operation of the annual Ministerial whitebait dinner, which pre- nni_ versal, severe p rocee di ngs aga i ns t i n di v id u als " the laity in works of Christian charity, in visiting, cedes the termination of the session, being given es detected in it wear an appearance of partiality, if not " exhorting, and teaching, dec. dec." But not even Saturday, the 12th proximo, at Greenwich.—Globe. ; _ . ___ -- - -- THE PRESS. of vindictiveness. Be the cause what it may, these poisoners of the people habitually escape. The committee, feeling the difficulty, and at the same time the necessity, of legislation on this subject, recommend that "an early inquiry should take " place into the whole question of the adulteration of " food, drink, and medicines "—a recommendation in which we cordially concur. But one cause which at least aggravates, if it does not create, the evil here alluded to is, the competi tion between public-houses and beershops. The licensed victualler, having the privilege of selling spirits also, can afford a smaller profit—nay, he may even be willing to sacrifice his whole profits—upon the sale of beer, if it be his interest by so doing to attract customers. The beershop-keeper has no such resource : he is, therefore, driven to deteriorate the quality of the beer he sells, and sometimes to encourage gambling, or other illegal amusements, as a means of retaining his custom. Competition of this kind is purely mischievous, and can only be checked by putting the two classes of dealers on the same footing. The remedy is not complete, but it is unobjectionable, and does away with a grievance out of which local agitators never fail to make capital. The committee propose that one general licence shall be granted to all dealers in liquor, and that this licence shall no longer be, as at present, given or withheld at the option of the magistracy, but granted to all applicants of good character who can give security. This proposal—one of the most important in the committee's report—is backed by the approving testi mony of many witnesses. They contend that the difficulty of getting a licence increases its value ; that the business of a publican is therefore looked upon as a privileged monopoly ; that public-houses are, in many towns, wholly under the control of the brewers ; that the diminution in their numbers does not diminish drunkenness, but the contrary, inasmuch as it only adds to the multitude of beershops, which are less under control ; and that there appears no good reason for maintaining a single exception to the general system of free competition. Many other reasons are adduced; and the preponderance of testimony is all on this side. It would appear from the evidence—and, indeed, it is matter of general notoriety—that drunkenness prevails chiefly among the working class on Satur days and Sundays. In Manchester the average number of visits paid to the public-houses and beer shops was 212,243 on each of six consecutive Sundays. Allowing that each visitor went in and out three times (which seems a disproportionately large allow ance), we have 70,000 persons, or one-fifth of the whole population, thus engaged. Similar facts are detailed as regards other manufacturing towns. The committee—shrinking from the strong measure of closing these shops altogether on Sunday—suggest that the time dunng which they shall be allowed to remain open be limited to four or five hours. It is thought that if such a restriction were universally and honestly enforced the publicans themselves would rejoice, they being almost the only class who are left habitually at work seven days in the week. Another suggestion favourably mentioned by the committee is to close the shops partially on Sunday, allowing liquor to be sold and taken away, but not consumed on the premises. They argue strongly and wisely in favour of opening parks, gardens, museums, and such places as the Sydenham Palace ; believing that these will draw away frequenters, not from the church, but the public-house. CONVOCATION ON PUBLIC WORSHIP. THE suggestions made by the committee at the late meeting of Convocation cannot fail to have attracted the notice of all who are interested in the welfare of the Church of England. How far those suggestions can be acted on will, of course, depend very much on their reception by the great body of worshippers in the Church. Recollecting for bow long a time the present mode of performing the service has lasted, it is certainly no light or trivial thing to make a change which it is very possible may be the pre cedent for other and less beneficial alterations. But, when grave reasons are urged by a learned and experienced committee of prelates for shortening the service, we must not be deterred from their b} yid •ehensions suggested 699 the outlines of the " systematic plan " are indicated, and much would depend upon its nature, as well as of the peculiar mode of its connection with the clergy. If its organisation was only calculated to exalt the power of the clergy, opposition to it might be expected from quarters popular and powerful ; and, until the whole plan be fairly put before the world, it would not be easy to decide on its feasi bility. As yet it is too soon to ascertain the general opinion of the Church on these recent suggestions. They are certainly most important in their nature, and the sentiments with which they are received by the community are naturally looked for with great interest. Obituarl. GENERAL SIR HENRY KING, C. 8., K.C.H., colonel of the 3rd Buffs, expired on Monday, at his residence in Sussex-terrace, Hyde-park gardens. Sir Henry was in his 77th year, and had been sixty years a soldier, having entered the army in 1794. He attained the rank of general on the 20th of June last. After seeing much service in the West Indies, where he shared in the siege of Porto Rico and capture of Trinidad, in 1797, Sir Henry King went through the Egyptian campaign of 1801, in which, while commanding a squadron of the 20th Light Dragoons, he lost his right leg. He accompanied the expedition to Walcheren, and was at the siege of Flushing in 1800, In the following year he proceeded to the Peninsu'a. having been appointed commandant of Tarifa, and for his services in its defence received the rank of lieutenant-colonel. Joihing the main body of the army a few days after the haul of Salamanca, he commanded the 82nd at Vittoria, and towards the close of that action the command of a brigade devolved on him. For these services Sir Henry King received the Egyptian and Peninsular (gold) medals. CAROLINE SOUTHEY, widow of Robert Southey, the Poet Laureate, died on the 20th inst. at Buckland, near Lymington. She was a daughter of the Rev. Dr. Bowles, a canon of Salisbury Cathedral, and was highly graced with intellectual accomplishments. She was married to Dr. Southey in 1839, about a year and a half after the death of his first wife, Edith Tucker, to whom he was united on the day he left England for a six months' sojourn in Lisbon. MADAME LEDRII Rom" the mother of the cele brated republican leader, died on Saturday in Paris at the age of 85. The funeral was fixed by the family for eleven o'clock on Sunday morning, but the Go vernment, apprehending a political demonstration, sent a detachment of forty or fifty sergens de vine to the house of the deceased in the Rue du Four St. Germain at seven o'clock, and the corpse was carrien to the grave under their superintendence, without any mourners being present. THE AUSTRIAN ARMAMENT. Letters from Vienna, of the 17th, state that a Coun cil of Ministers had been held, under the presidency of the Emperor, at which the important resolution was taken to forward the armaments with all speed. Some divisions, from Italy and other parts of the empire, had arrived there on their route to Transyl vania. The Emperor Napoleon left Biarritz on Wednes day for Bayonne, where he reviewed three battalions , of the line, and afterwards returned to the former place. Abd-el• Kader has sent three magnificent Arabians as presents to the Emperor. The Navarin screw line-of-battle ship, of 100 guns, wag launched at Toulon on Wednesday last. The Union states the French Government has sent Prince Albert an invitation to be present next month at the manatuvres at the camp at Boulogne. The King of the Belgians is said to have promised to proceed there at the same time with the young King of Portugal. Advises from Madrid of the 25th state that the Spanish capital was then tranquil. The Queen was d'accord with Espartero, who was expected there on the 28:11. Order continues in Barcelona, thanks to the atti tude of the garrison and the Captain-General. The arrival of I)on Manuel Conchs had restored confi dence. The two generals act together in the most perfect harmony.