The Sun. — London, England, 1870-05-30 00:00:00

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE. Sole Lessee and Manageress, Mrs. Swanborough. THIS ENENING, at 7 o'clock, LOVING I.IEART. Messrs Edward Terry and Turner; Mesdames Bufton aLdiSantley. Followed by Kenilworth. Messrs D. James. ferry, Turner, and Fenton; Mesdames Sant'ey, Anstiss, Goodall. Metcalfe, and Moore. VAUDEVILLE THEATRE, STRAND.- Lessees—Messrs H. J. Montague, D. James, and T, Thorne.—THlS EVENING, at 7 30, an original Comedy, by A. Halliday, entitled FOR LOVE OR MONEY. At 9.46, the new Burlesque, by Conway Edwardes, entitled DON CARLOS; or, The Infante in Aims. Supported by the following Company:-- Messrs H. J. Montague, G. Honey, H. Irving, W. H. Stephens, C. Garthorne, E. Elton, and Thos. Thorne ; Mesdames Nelly Power, Cavendish, Amy Fawsitt, K Irwin, L. Claire, J. Beauclerc, R. Evelyn, Kemp, T Levis, F. Garthwaite, R. Power. N B.—On aaturday, June 4, will be produced a New and Ori ginal Comedy in 3 Acts, entitled TWO ROSES, supported by the whole of the Company, and in which Miss A. Newton will make her first appearance at this Theatre. i &- t ; 74 - ‘•-•-'''. 17 . ' I . * PS - - %,.. \. , _..ittirt, MORNING EDITION. rriHE LATE EDITION of " THE SUN" at Mr. BEAUMONT'S, " The Wellington," Wellington-street, Strand. THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY.. MORMNG, MAY 30, 1870. sell at and .belovt coat price, that if he adso he would have nothing wherewith to pay his rent and taxes and to keep himself—there would be some hope for the honest retailer. But the chance of saving a half-, penny puts to flight all considerations of this kind even with persons to whom a half-penny is is a trifle not worth considering, much more with the very poor who have to think of every farthing. This false economy is irresistible. It has been told, for instance, that when the experiment was made by a philanthropist of selling pure milk at cost price in a poor district of London, the people preferred to buy at the old shops where the price was a little lower, although the water was mixed with the milk before their very eyes. Such being the case, how can we greatly blame the tradesman for adulteration, provided always that it be harmless, and not poisonous ? lie does not know Latin, or he would reply to all expostulation "Popichts vult decipi et clecipiatur. _ _ The question of short weights, though less injurious to the public health, is more heinous from the moral point of view. If the purchaser is foolish enough to buy tea at a price below that which it costs before leaving China, he must know that the article he gets is not tea, but some other article which the tradesman can afford to sell at the sum he gets for it. In such a case the purchaser is robbed with 'his eyes open. It is otherwise with short weights. We imagine that we get full quantity; but we do not get it, and we cannot get it. It may be said, why not check the weight with your own scales ? Let those who have tried the experiment say how it has answered. They will confess that they have been in danger of starvation, that the tradesmen keep aloof from them, neglect to deliver the articles ordered, so that the unfortunate householder comes down to breakfast in the morning, and finds that the baker has "forgotten" to deliver the bread, and the milkman has been equally oblivious about the milk. What is to be done ? Something, undoubtedly; but adulteration is not to be put down in a day, even by Act of Parliament. In the first place the inspection of weights and measures and the analysis of articles sold should be no longer permissive, but compulsory. It is easy to imagine the amount of vigour which will be used in putting these permissive precautions into operation when it is remembered that those with whom the motive power rests are themselves the offenders. The inspector and the analyst must be Government officers, not parochial. They should be con stantly at work. A public prosecutor should prosecute offenders. On conviction the names of the rascals should be published in the London Gazette and in the local papers, and they should be compelled to post in their own shops the record of their offence. It may be said that it would be hard to punish a retail tradesman for the adulteration of the wholesale, or the wholesale for the adultera tion of the export agent. The answer to this objec tion is that there is no supply without a demand— that adulterated goods would not be sent unless they were ordered. Besides, the tradesman can always protect himself by analysis. Finally, the matter is greatly in the hands of the consumer. If he expects to get a pound of tea for the prize of half-a-pound, he will get only a quarter-of-a-pound, the rest will be offal and poison. THE Birmingham League is not satisfied with Mr. Forster's amendments. We are sorry for it. We shall be still more sorry if it should turn out that the League is a true representative of the Dissenters in this matter. The position of the latter is this, they are religious, or they have no raison d'etre. They desire to see the children of this country brought up in the knowledge of reli gion, but they ask that the children shall not be taught any distinctive dogmas. Mr. Forster has granted them what they have asked, and more. By proposing the time-table conscience clause he has placed it in the power of any parent to withdraw his children from all religious teaching without placing them in an invidious and painful position. This teaching is to be either at the beginning or at the end of the day's lessons, or at both; and it is but for a child to go a quarter of an hour later, or to come away a hallan hour earlier than the rest, in order to be saved from the peril of false doctrine. In other words, Mr. Forster, having to choose between two arrangements, one of which would have presumed that religion was excluded from the ordi nary teaching, the other that it was included therein, has preferred the latter. Henceforth it is to be under stood that religion does form part of the English child's education. At the same time it i s not a compulsory part. The infidel's con scientious convictions are respected as much as the Churchman's. But, as we said, the League wants more : it wants to prevent any distinctive religious formulary from being taught in any school supported by Government money, even though the school-board wishes to teach it. The reason for this demand hitherto has been that the League is afraid of the social influence of the squire and the parson, and thinks that these persons will generally be able to get a school-board after their own mind. But Mr. Frirster now proposes that the boards shall be elected by ballot, so that this ground of complaint is taken away. Nevertheless it would seem as if the League were determined to press the point ; and whereas it was held that Go vernment had no right to interfere actively In religious teaching, it now holds that it ought to interpose with a prohibition. This theory is utterly irreconcilable with the principle that religious teaching should be left to the decision of priy3te persons. To forbid religious teaching is as hostile to that principle as- the enforcement of religious teaching is. If the Dissenters do not see this, it will shew that they have very little confidence in their own hold over the people, even though they claim half of them as their adherents. It will indicate, more over, that they are moved less by religious zeal 'for the nation than by religious jealousy or the Church. We shall not believe that they will adopt this course of policy until belief is forced upon us by facts. FREE RUSSIA " AND FREE AND EASY CRITICISM. During the last few months a rather animated discussion has been going ou between Mr Hepworth Dixon and the Pall Mall Gazette. Several letters in regard to this discussion having been addressed to ourselves have duly appeared in our own columns, as well as in those of same of our contem poraries. The argument throughout has had reference to Mr Dixon's last work and the Pall Mall's comments—par tially commendatory, partially condemnatory—thereupon. Before touching, however, in any way, here, upon the subject matter iu dispute between these two very conspicu ous disputants, the popular author and the popular journalist, we would, in this place, for a reason immediately afterwards to he explained, give an excerpt in regard to the latter from another book altogether than "Free Russia"—from a book in which its anonymous author incidently introduced his estimate of, we may even go so far as to add, his respect and edmiratiou for, our young and distinguished contemporary. The work to which we are now alluding had reference to lam - Majesty's present ministerial advisers, being issued from the press upwards of a year ago by the same eminent publishing house from which Mr. Dixon's " Free Russia" has more recently emanated. It was entitled " The Gladstone Government,"and consisted of a series of "Cabinet Pictures by A Templar " At that portion of the work set apart for the considetation of the President of the Poor Law Board, the Right Hon. J G. Goshen, the writer, while commenting upon the momentous social problem now more urgently almost than any other demanding its solu! ion from the Legislature, that of mitigating, if possible, the horrors of destitution, took occasion to observe as follows : " Not very readily, we should suppose, will it be lost to the popular remembrance, how it came to pass that one of the youngest, and as it has ever since then shown itself to be, ode of the very ablest of our evening newspapers, leaped at once, as by single bound,' into celebrity. Reading, as we all did, the statement there set forth, with a singularly manly and affecting eloquence, by that noble-hearted and self sacrificing Amateur Pauper Casual, who therein gave us his own personal experiences —experimentally acquired—of our s 3 stem of Poor Law Relief, as it actually is, we recog nised upon the instant, in the organ which had had thus the courage to set forth that startling and most impressive nar rative, a journal penned by thoughtful men, men whose opinions it was worth one's while to ascertain and ponder over, " Standing in imagination beside the Amateur Casual as he plunged into that bath like weak mutton broth—pah the flavour of which has not yet passed from our palate' merely from reading about it—we could understand even then what the time that Las since *lapsed has very clearly de monstrated, that, in immersing himself in that revolting liquid, the narrator, in his capacity as the representative, or *Liter ego of the young Pall Mall Gazette, had rendered it in a measure, among our organs of public opinion, as invulne rable es Achilles, when he had been plunged into the Styx. Interesting us the incident was, as another added to the many interesting incidents recorded in the history of journalism, it was yet more profoundly interesting as a social revelation." See The Gladstone Government, pp. 321-322. We have quoted these words, here, in The Sun, for the very simple reason that in point of fact they are our own opinions. They express now, as they expressed then, as plainly as words could express anything, the estimate we had already formed (and Lave all along held throughout the five years during which it has been in exist ence) in regard to the Pall Mall Gazette. At ith that estimate the course pursued very recently by the Pall Mall Gazette in dealing with Mr. Dixon's book about "New Russia," jars and clashes, however, most disastrously. Facts shall speak for themselves. About mere matters of taste or mere matters of opinion men may be allowed to differ. Tritest among all the trite proverbs belonging to all literature are these two—" Quot homines, tot sententiie (a thought borrowed from Terence), and De gustibus non est disputandum. With regard to facts, how ever, it is axiomatically remarked that they are stubborn things ; and, as we have but just now said, they speak for themselves. la reference to this discussion between Mr. Hepworth Dixon and the Pall Mall Gazette we would now add, let them (that ia the facts simply) speak for themselves. Early in the present year the Messrs. Smith, Elder, and Co., a publishing firm of gr eat eminence, not altogether dis associated from the Pall Mall Gazette, brought out a work called AIODERN RUSSIA, by a German Author. In April of the present year the Messrs. Hurst and Bluckett brought out FREE It I; ISSIA. The latter, that is, Mr. Dixon's work, is already (iu May) in its Third Edition. While, in regard to the former, meaning the translation from the German—if it is even yet out of its first edition, the public knows nothing at all about it. Immediately after the original publication of "Free Russia," we ourselves reviewed it in these columns in terms which it eminently well deserved. In terms of kindred ap proval it was reviewed by the majority of our leading contemporaries. "Free Russia," we know for a fact, was not sent for notice to the Pall Mall Gazette—and, for another fact, we know this, that a copy - being recently asked for, was at length, in answer to that request, sent by the publishers of the work to our contemporary. It was iu consequence of this, that, not longer since than the IGth of this present May,there appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette in article praising Free Russia (in parts) as fair," "dra matic," and "picturesque," but objecting to five statements of fact. Thereupon Mr. Dixon replied—jwe have received the letters and have published them in our columns - I —Mr.Dixon replied that these live erroneous statements were not in his book, and that he had not made the errors alleged. Consequent upon this— the Pall Mall ab sed him, but gave no answer. Mr. Dixon wrote again declaring the citations false. The Pall Mall ac knowledged the receipt of an " insolent, ingenious letter'" but kept it dark—refrained from publishing it. Baffled in his very natural endeavour to extract an apology or retrac tation from the editor, Mr. Dixon then turned to the critic. With what result ? No answer I Finally, on the 20th of May, the Pall Mall Gazette sent to the publishers of "Free Russia" and bought a copy of the third edition —the result of that investment being visible in the Pall Mall of Friday evening last (May the 27th), in a laboriously got up and cer tainly a very abusive article running into three columns, under the title of " Suggestions for a fourth edition of Free Russia "—suggestions mostly childish and all of them absurd. For example, there are among them these direct assertions—" Singing is not music I" Ki e s is not the capital of Little Russia" !! "Georgia is peopled ley Mahomedans "I ! ! " There are no real Russians in the upper parts of Great Russia "! !! I As though any one were to observe that the voice of Patti or of Mario was not music!—that Dublin was not the capital of Ireland ! !—that Scotland !s peopled by E is copalians !! ! That there are no English in New Eng land ! I !! And consistently to the end of the chapter—this chapter of accidents, shall it be called charitably ? —NOT ONE WORD ABOUT THE FIVE ABSOLUTELY FALSE CITATIONS MADE BY THE Pall Pall Gazette. _ . . In the presence of this really discreditable incident in the history of the Pall Mall Gazette, we are constrained to re vise our opinion of its character and of its pretensions—we are constrained, in the interests of our calling and for the honour alike of literature and of journalism, to cancel the high estimate we have hitherto formed and expressed of the reputation of our contemporary. Its boast a year or two ago was that it was written "by gentlemen for gentlemen " —' which it were true," even Mrs. Gamp might have said, had she still survived up to only a very little further back than yesterday—" but then," as Mrs. Gamp's shadowy "counterfeit presentment," MI s. Brown, might add, "as the sayin' is, there's gentlemen and gentlemen !" FASHIONABLE ARRANGEMENTS TO-DAY. The Levee this afternoon at St. James's Palace. 61111 tin I I r Ball at the Countess of Caledon's, 5, Carlton House-terrace. Dancing Party at Mrs. Bonsor's, 10, Hill-street, Berkeley- HER MAJESTY. BALNIORAL CASTLE, May 28. The Queen went out yesterday morning with Princess Louise. square. The Gormless of Bantry's ball, announced for te-morrow, will take place instead ibis evening. The Duke of Rutland's garden party nt Bute Ledge. The Duchess of Sutherland's assembly. The annual regimental dinner of the sth Lancers (Royal Irish) at the Albion, Aldersgate- street, at 8 p.m. 1 re cisely. In the afternoon her Majesty, attended by the Duchess Dowager of *thole and Miss Macgregor, drove to the Linn of Quoich. The annual regimental dinner of the 7th Dragoon Guards (Princess Royal's), also at the Albion, Aldersgate-ktreet, at 8 p.m. precisely. Earl de Orey arrived at the Castle as Minister in attend ance upon her Majesty. The annual regimental dinner of the 9th Lancers (Queen's Royal), at the Albion, Aldersgate-street, at 8 p.m. pre- The Prince of Wales, accompanied by the Prince of Teck and Count Gleichen, and attended by Colonel Kings cote, Lieutenant-Colonel Teesdale, and Lieutenant-Colonel Ellis, was present, on Saturday morning, at the guard mounting parade in St. James's Park, in honour of the Queen's bir; hday. The annual general meeting of the Royal Cam bridge asylum for soldiers widows was held on Saturday at the United Service Institution, Whitehall. His Royal Highness Prince Teck presided and there were also present, the Princess Teck, the Duchess of Cambridge, and Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar. The report and balaucc-bheet which were satisfactory, were adopted, and. five widows, making in all 52 inmates of the institution were elected 0 vacancies. - The Fairy Rose Garden opon to-day (without extra charge) at the Crystal Palace. Signor Marras's apres-midi musicale, at his residence, 10, Hyde-park-gate, Kensington -gore, three to five o'clock. The Yorkshire Society's Ball at Willis's Eooms. Mr. Kuhe's Grand Annual Morning Concert, at 2.30 p.m., at St.. ames's Hall. At Lord's Ground (grand cricket match).—Gentlemen of M.C.O. V. Yorkshire. SCIENTIFIC MEETINGS—TO-DAY. Anniversary Meeting of the Asiatic Society, at 3 o'clock. Meeting of the Architectural Society, at 8 o'clock. Meeting at the United Service I stitution at 8.30 p.m., whore Captain J. C. Hosaasou will read a paper on, the "Necessity for the Extension of our Naval Transport Fleet for Military Purposes." DUNVILLE and Co., Belfast, are the largest holders of whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is recommended by the medical profession in preference to French brandy. Sup plied in casks and cases for home use or exportation. Quotations ion application to Messrs DUNVILLE & Co., Royal Irish Dis tilleries, Belfast ; or at their London Offices, 4, Beaufort Buildings Strand, W. 41 DPERAS, THEATRES, AND AMUSEMENTS. ROYAL ITiLZAN OPERA, Covent.garden.—Mozart's La Nozze di 8.30, p.m. ITALIAN OPERA, Drury Lane.--Flotow's Martha. 8.30 p.m. HAYMARKET—At fieven, No Song No Supper. Barwise's Book. And A Kiss in the DiP4 l . ADIEU/ll—At Seven, Free Labour. PRINCE OF WALES'S—At 7.30. Quito by Accident. M.P. Dearest Mamma. LYCEIIII—At 7.30, His Own Rival, Breaking the Spell. At 8.30, Little Faust. OLYMPIC -At Seven, Music hath Charms. At 8, Mary Warner. the 'Varsity Boat Race. GAIETY—At Seven, First Night. The Princess of Trebizonde. QunEn'B—At Seven, My Wife's Dentist. 'Twixt Axe and Crown. STRAND—At Seven, Loving Hearts, VAUDEVILLE —For Love or Money. Don Carlos. ST. JAMES's—At Seven, Frou Frou. La Belle Sauvago WOODIN'B CARPET-BAG AND SKETCH 101 K. Egyptian Hall, Pic cadilly, every It:Ye/ling (except Saturday), at 8; Saturday Morn ings at 3. Admission is, 2s, 3s. ,CaitisTY MINSTRELS. St. James's Hall, Every Night, at 8; Wed 4esdays and Saturdays, at 3 and 8 all the year round. TA,7IOAL GARDENS, Regent's-park. Open attily (exe,ept s un _ days?. Admission, ls.; on Mondays , B d. Children 'tinder m ,BloLlysmz THSBOJD'S EXHIBITION, Baker-street, from U a. .till 3.0 p.m , aTicl ppm 7 till 10 p.m. !Admission, 1.04 extra te+d• .T . MOSES and SON, CORNER of MINORIES and ALDGATE. NEW OXFORD-STREET, CORNER of lIART-STREET. CORNER of TOTTENHAM-COURT-ROAD and EUSTON-ROAD. BRADFORD, YORKSHIRE. EMOSES and SON'S PRICE LIST of a GENTLEMEN'S CLOTHING. Frock Coats 255. 30s. 355. 425. 50s. GU Drew 1 .- 9 5s 30s. 355. 425. 50s. 60s , Coats ) - * Oxford Coats } 17s. 21s. 265. Cambridge I. 18s. Coats ) 225. 28s. 325. 365. 425. Fishing 10s. 15s. Coats 18. s. 225. MOSES and SON beg to remind the public F• that the cheapness of an article depends entirely on its quality, and they venture to affirm that every article sold by them is considerably cheaper than what can be obtained at any other house in England. MOSES and SON'S PRICE LIST of F. GENTLEMEN'S CLOTHING CONTINUED : Summer 1 13s. CAI. Overcoats }. 12s. Business 1 30s. Suits 21s. 245. 30s. 40s. 13s. Od. 15s. 18s. 6d. 21s. 245. 355. 40s. 455. 50s. Morning Trousers } 10s. 641. 18s. 16s. Dress 1 15s. 18s. 21s. Trousers ORDERS by post are attended to with care and punctuality, and the easy and accurate system of self measure introduced by E. MOSES and SON enables them to guarantee a faultless fit. MOSES and SON'S PRICE LIST of F. BOY'S CLOTHING : Knickerbocker 1 9s. 6d. 13s. 6d. 16s. 6d. 21s. 26 5. 30 s. Suits 1 15s. 19s. 21s. 265. 30s. 365, Brighton 1 ISs. 235. Suits Harrow Suits 1 18s. 235. 265. 325. 365. 48s. 325. 365. 48s. EMOSES and SON supply every description of . clothing, ready-made, or made to measure, for all ages, all occasions, and all classes ; also Hosiery and Drapery, Hats and Caps, Boots and Shoes, and complete outfits for all climates. All Goods marked in Plain Figures. Any article exchanged if not worn or injured. List of Prices, with Rules for Self-measure, Patterns, and Fashion-sheet, gratis and post-free. E. MOSES and SON'S Establishments are closed every Friday evening at sunset, till Saturday evening at sunset, when busi ness is resumed until Eleven o'clock. The following are the only addresses of E. MOSES and SON : LONDON. CORNER of MINORIES and ALDGATE. NEW OXFORD-STREET, CORNER OF lIART-STREET. CORNER of TOTTENHAM-COURT-ROAD and EUSTON-ROAD. COUNTRY BRANCH. BRADFORD, YORKSHIRE. SUNDAY CLOSING OF PUBLIC HOUSES. A great open-air WORKING MEN'S DEMONSTRATION will take place at Lismore Circus, Haverstock Hill, on SATURDAY, May 28. Speakers :—Rev. J. Morgan, and Messrs. G. Dibley, J. Hilton, and J. Leicester ; the Rev. E. Mathews, M.A., Travelling Secretary of the Central Association, will attend as a Deputation. The Chair will be taken by M. A. GARVEY, Esq., LL.B., Barrister at-Law, at Five o'Clock, p.m. LIFEBOAT SERVICES. —During the storms of the past 17 months the NATIONAL LIFEBOAT INSTITU TION contributed to the saving of 1,592 lives from various ship wrecks and 43 vessels from destruction. It has now 220 Lifeboat Stations under its management. CONTRIBUTIONS for their support will be thankfully received by Messrs. Willis and Co , Coutts and Co., Herries and Co., by all the London and country bankers, and by the Secretary, RICHARD LEWIS, Esq., at the Insti tution, 14, John-street, Adelphi, London. NOTHING IMPOSSIBLE. AGLIA AMARELLA restores the Human Hair to its pristine hue, no matter at what age. J NO. GOSNE LL and CO. have at length, with the aid of one of the most eminent Chemists, succeeded in perfecting this wonder ful liquid. It is now offered to the public in a more concentrated form, and at a lower price. Sold in bottles, 3s each; also Is., 7s. 6d., and 15s. each, includ ng brush. Red Bull Wharf ,Angel-passage, :3, Upper Thames-street, Lon don, E.C. JOHN GOSNELL and CO.'S CHERRY el TOOTH PASTE is greatly superior to any tooth powder; gives the teeth a pearl whiteness, protects the enamel from decay, and imparts a pleasant fragrance to the breath. Price ls. 6d.— Red Bull Wharf, 93, Upper Thames street, London. THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET. Sole Lessee Mr, Buckstone. THIS EVENING, at 7 o'cicck, NO SONG NO SUPPER: Mr. Kendal, Mr. Compton, Mr. Edw aid Osborne, Mr. Clark; Miss F. Wright, Miss Francis, Miss Fosbroke, and Miss F. Gwynn. After which, at 8 precisely, BARWISE'S BOOK: Mr. Sothern, Mr Chippendale, Mr. Compton, Mr. Kendal, Mr. Buckstone; Miss C. Hill, Mrs. Frank Matthews, and Miss Fanny Gwynne. And (by desire) A REGULAR FIX: Mr. Sothern, eze. Concluding with A IKSS IN THE DARK. ADELPHI THEATRE.—New Company.—New Drama.—At 7.30, FREE LABOUR, a drama, in four acts, by Charles Reado, played by a new company, selected from first-class theatres. New scenery by H&wes Craven. OLYMPIC THEATRE.-MISS BA rE M AN.- THIS EVENING, at 8, MARY WARNER: Mary Warner, Miss Bateman; assisted by Messrs. Vernon, D. Fisher, Blakeley, Roberts, Elliott, Vanghan, and G. Belmore. Preceded by, at 7, MUSIC HATH CHARMS: Bliss Mettle Reinhardt. To conclude with THE 'VARSITY BOAT RACE. Mr. Goo. Belmore. LYCEUM THEATRE (under the management of Messrs Mansell). THIS EVEN ING, at 7.30, HIS OWN RIVAL Mr. F. Charles and Miss L. Morgan. • At 8, BREAKING THE SPELL. After which, at r. 30, LITTLE FAUST: Mr. T. Maclagan, M. Marius, Mr. Aynsley Cook, Mr. Odell, and Mr. Wilmot; Mdlle. Debreux, Mesdames Lennox Grey, Lawson, Lee, and Emily Soldene. 235. 355. 30s. 365. 425. LONDON, MONDAY, MAY 30, 1870. England never appears to greater advantage than when repairing a great wrong of her own commit ting. The abolition, one after another, of the detes table penal laws, the Emancipation of the Negroes from the curse of Slavery, and the paying down for their emancipation of the magnificent SUM a £20,000,000 ; these and similar records inscribed upon her statute book shine as resplendently in her annals as the names of her most glorious victories by sea and land, as those even of Agincourt or of Trafalgar. Second only to these conspicuous and supreme evidences of her magnanimity are those incidents in her Parliamentary history in which England displays her readiness upon occasion to rectify a mistake or to correct a blunder into which, being merely a human power, she may have been misled, under circumstances of more than ordinary excitement. An incident precisely of this character is being enacted, now, in this session of 1870 and will happily be recorded on its full completion in the current pages of Hansard. Nineteen years ago, under the designation of "The Ecclesiastical Titles Act," there was passed in 1851 a law which has ever since then remained a mere brutum fulmen among the statutes of the realm. It has never once to this moment been called into operation. The penalties threatened by it have never once been imposed. The Act is a dead letter, and as such i equires, for the honour of England, but one sequel—its abrogation. Wisely, therefore, and most judiciously, the Government have intro duced, this year, and laid before Parliament, a Bill for the repeal at last of the " Eccle siastical Titles Act" as one the utterly ineffec tual presence of which any longer upon the sta tute book is derogatory to the dignity of the Crown, and prejudicial to the influence, at once, of the Legislature and of the Executive. It is curious to reflect, now, when we come to look back at that last No Popery outbreak of 1851, which seemed to revive the spirit of 1780, when Lord GEORGE GORDON, for one brief interval, was in the ascendant— it is curious, we say, when we come to look back across the nineteen years intervening between the proposal of the Act, in 1851, by Lord JOHN RUSSELL, and the proposal now, in 1870, by Lord KIMBERLEY, for its immediate abroga tion, to remember that there was a distinct clause in the Catholic Emancipation Act of 1829, which, if it means anything at all, implies, in the very wording of it, a complete justification of what the Act of 1851 has ever since then so loudly, but so ineffec tually reprehended and denounced. In the Emancipation Act of 1829, there is a clause which prohibits the usurpation of any title held by a Bishop of the Established Church —implying that any other title might be lawfully assumed, that any other title was, at any rate, in no way prohibited ! And the very course pursued by the SOVEREIGN PONTIFF in 1850, when establishing the Roman Catholic Hierarchy in England, suffi ciently indicated that that was the deduction drawn from the Act of 1829 by the Papal authority : " special care was taken," said the Lord Privy seal on Friday last in the House of Lords, " and that jus tice," he added, " must be done to the POPE-- special tare was taken, when the Roman Catholic Hierarchy was established in 1850, not to infringe the clause of i 829 by conferring titles of sees identical with those of the Established Church." Under any cir cumstances, the Act of 1851 is useless. Wherefore —away with it ! It is worse than useless—it is a❑ impotent source of irritation. Besides which, on the other side of St. George's Channel, as Lord KIMBERLEY—whO knows something, we may pre sume, of the sister island, having there won the coronet of his earldom by his wise and conciliatory policy as Lord Lieutenant—took occasion to remark in the House of Peers on Friday evening—" The result of the Act has been most prejudicial to the Government of Ireland " that alone, as the noble lord insisted, making its repeal, at last, expedient. Lord RUSSELL, the author of the Act in question—et palmam qui meruit feral — Lord RUSSELL demands loudly now the emendation in Committee of the Bill for its repeal. The Second Reading, at any rate, has been passed without going through the formality of a division. The Committee will see to itself. And, in auy case, there is at length a fair and reasonable prospect before Parliament that an enactment very much like the Shakeperean tale told by an idiot, " full of sound and fury signifying nothing," will at last be erased and utterly obliterated from the statute book of England. "ADULTERATION is only a form of competition ;" we assert this on the high authority of the President of the Board of Trade. But so is theft. The man who competes with others in the race for wealth without labouring for it finds it necessary to take the property of other men. Nevertheless we punish the thief. Unfortunately we don't punish the adulterator. Most certainly we ought to punish him. We can in great measure guard against his fellow-sinner. We can button up our pockets and lock up our houses, but we cannot protect ourselves against alum, lime, brick dust, strychnia, coculus indicus, chromate of lead and the excrement of silk-worms. These thieves who rob us of our health come to us in disguise—in the garb of friends in the shape of food, bread, milk, beer, tea, and the rest. If we give a feast, and adorn our table with confectionery, it is poisoned ; the ordinary food that we eat ourselves and give our little ones is equally poisoned. They sicken, and we know not why. They die, and the doctors tell us that the cause of death is gastric foyer. But what is the cause of gastric fever ? Some of them know ; the Paris doctors know, and they have traced the malady to the coffee which is drunk by the poor. In fact there is nothing safe from adulteration except meat, and that is diseased; and eggs, and they are rotten. Undoubtedly the tradesman is not wholly in fault. It is partly, and in no small measure, the purchaser, who is to blame. The passion for cheapness independent of quality, in a manner forces the originally .honest tradesman to adulterate. He begins by offering genuine goods ; El rival sets up in the same street, and offers goods at a lower price, though the first waft s elling at the lowest figure which could give him any profit; there is no help for him hut either to follow his rival and sell inferior articles at a reduced figure, or to close his shop, which means ruin. If poor and even middle class housekeepers would but understand the first principles of political ' economy, the ypry simplest axioms of the trade--1 that ? for instance 4 is impossible for a tradesman to TOWN TALK. (From the Western Mail of Saturday.) LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING. Another wholesale murder like that of the Kinck Family by Traupmann—a startling telegram on Tuesday morning through the Atlantic Cable, announcing that the Fenians were moving from several points upon the frontiers of Canada—an astounding revolution at Lisbon, astounding even among Portuguese revolution—tidings like these have, since my last letter to yon was completed, roused even fashionable London from its customary insouciance. As for the massacre of the unfortunate Marshalls, at Denham, near Uxbridge, it proves to be a crime so por tentous in its brutal enormity that it has even distracted attention from the raw-head-and-bloody-bones atrocity of that miserable wretch Walter Miller, whom the Times, having in error once spoken of as William, persists, for some inexplicable and occult reason, in still speaking of as William, down to the very end of the chapter. As for the Fenian raid newly threatened on the border-line of the Dominion, the tidings of it make one think with a qualm, at the first blush, having reference to Ireland, and, at the second, having reference to Lord Granville. As to this new revolution on the banks of the Tagus, what can I say further than this, that it is worthy of the insurrec tionary genius of the Portuguese. The mere notion of an old marshal, close upon ninety years of age, marching at one o'clock at night, at the head of half a dozen bat talions, upon the regal palace at Lisbon, being confronted there at the gates by the Royal guards, killing seven of them and wounding thirty others, taking possession of Fort St. George, and then knocking the young King Louis up at four o'clock in the morning (surely the earliest visit ever paid to a crowned head since heads were crowned and uncrowned) the Duke of Saldanha, this old marshal of ninety, thus storming his way to power and place, and all its perquisites, at the point of his sword, at the unlikeliest hour out of the whole twenty-four, through the palace of the King, in the very presence of his Sovereign ! How the royal authority can be maintained, in any shape whatever, after scenes and incidents like these, altogether passes my comprehension. The whole narrative of the proceeding reads to me like one of the greatest " larks " in history. Meanwhile, in the other and larger division of the Iberian peninsula, Marshal Espartero, in his green old age of 80, is having all Spain in deputation at his feet, beseeching him to accept the kingly crown, which he has already declined to receive almost as many times as Julius Caesar declined when that other crown was proffered for his ac ceptance, again and again, upon the Lupercal. At length, in answer to almost tearful remonstrances, his Majesty King Baldomero the First, that is to be, vouchsafes the tardy concession that, if elected to the crown by the Cortes, otherwise by the nation, he will, in that contingency, answer at last in the affirmative, though even then re luctantly ! Saldanha ninety—Espartero Eighty. Clearly old age is in the ascendant alike among the Spaniards and the Portuguese. If oaths are to have any credence now adays, Spain and Portugal are not as yet to be amalga mated, Marshal the Duke of Saldanha having spontane ously sworn that by him the independence of his own country shall be always maintained and vindicated. The proclamation of the plebiscite at Paris occurring, as it did in May, came as a reminiscence of the famous Champ de Mai when the seemingly incongruous names and interests of Napoleon and Liberty were fifty five years ago first brought into association. As a mere spectacle, the sight must have been magnificent. For en thusiasm it appears to have surpassed any previous inci dent in the history of the second Empire. Amongst ourselves, here in Parliament, we have had within these last few days enough to interest us. The mere fact of the passage through committee—at last—of the Irish Land Bill transformed (political cynics are mutter ing, "The deformed transformed") was sufficient of itself to give a character of its own to this middle week of the Parliamentary session. Monday next will bring us to the crowning incident of the third reading, when both sides will muster strongly for the anticipated division. Another event, not only in the Commons, but in the Lords also, has been the discussion upon those horribly wanton murders of our own countrymen and others when peace fully journeying across the plains of Marathon. " That man," exclaimed old Samuel Johnson in one of the finest passages he ever wrote, in one of the finest passages in the English language, " That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plains of Mara thon, and whose piety would not grow warmer among the ruins of lona." Those words were written nearly a cen tury ago, but, in the recent and painful remembrance of the mangled bodies of our fellow-countrymen, Mr. Vyner and Mr. Herbert, it is impossible to read them without feeling our patriotic sympathies glowing within us at that reference to the now once more blood-stained plains of Marathon—and glowing within us with an almost pain ful sense of burning indignation. In the House of Commons this feeling called forth from a veteran diplomatist like Sir Henry Bulwer an expression of cordial goodwill towards Russia, and if by no other means than that of Russia the pre servation of law and order in Greece could for one instant be supposed to be in any way capable of being reasonably assured. In the House of Lords the same painful theme drew from the Earl of Carnarvon an impressive and, in parts, affecting tribute to the memory of his murdered re lative, followed by an earnest appeal to the Legislature and to the Government to see well to it that the shedding of the life-bood of unoffending and unarmed Englishmen shall not be allowed to pass by unpunished. Another and a very surprising incident of a parliamentary character occurred on Thursdaynight, when the member for the Ayr burghs insistedpro bone public° (that is from his point of view) upon having the House cleared of all strangers, in cluding the reporters, before the four hours' discussion upon Mr. Fowler's motion, for a Bill for repealing the Conta gious Diseases Acts of 1866 and 1869, could be com menced. In the midst of the confusion, almost scrim mage, caused by the clearing of the galleries, a mingled sense of surprise, amusement, and indignation was caused by the reluctance of two very pertinacious and unblushing ladies to withdraw from their birdcage. Who were they ? I wonder—just as I am marvelling to myself who those could possibly have been who have been sitting for hours unwearied, listening eagerly, breathlessly, with a sort of horrible gusto, to the revolting inquiry that has been slowly yielding up its abominable revelations in the head police-court in Bow-street. Mark Lemon's death has for us all that poignant touch of the pathetic in which tears and laughter are so in timately blended in Hamlet's lament over the death of Yorick—" Alas, poor Yorick ! I knew him, Horatio ; a fellow of infinite jest and most excellent fancy—Where be your gibes now? your songs? your flashes of merriment, that were wont to set the table on a roar ?" for very nearly thirty years editor of Punch ; a capital playwright in the light-farce way ; a charming song-writer ; an excellent teller of stories for big and little children ; a genial com panion ; a Falstaff, like Stephen Kemble, requiring no padding, being as they both were, in appearance that is, born to the character. Mark Lemon had the paunch of Falstaff, but not the wit, certainly none of the humour essential to the part in its impersonation. One marvellous incident in his career falls, by the way, within the scope of my own personal recollection of him. Several years ago, when Mr. Herbert Ingram was yet alive, being then M.P. for Boston, and proprietor of the Illustrated London News, I remember one day chat ting for a long while with Mark Lemon, noticing every now and then, while I did so, that he had an un wonted air of importance, as if he had some secret he was burning to relate. At last, nothing leading up to it, and apparently bent upon dragging it in by the head and shoulders rather than not at all, quoth Mark Lemon, all of a sudden, " I suppose you know what I am now ?" " Still editor of Punch?" " No—that, of course—but I now, besides that, ahem ! Mr. Ingram's private secre tary." Looking into his eyes to see through their twink ling some latent joke that I had not precisely caught, I woke to the recognition of the fact that the words were to be taken au serieux—that it was a genuine boast ; that this sly humourist, so perceptive of what was ludicrous in others, never realised in the least the incongruity of the social relations he was referring to ; but, not only that, was really and truly proud of it rather than otherwise. There just now comes into my hands, very prettily got up, what appears to be a homely little domestic story or novelette, by Lady Lytton, called " The Household Fairy." Among the literary chit-chat of town, I hear talk just now of a new monthly magazine to be entitled Mayfair. A newspaper called the Latest News—but for that matter the latest news is presumed to be in every newspaper—hitherto carried on as a weekly, is about to appear every morning at a halfpenny. The hon. member whose soul was "in arms and ready for the fray" the other evening. because a heap of stones had been collected together at the back of the GuArds' Memorial, ought to be calmed and comforted, for the stones have been cleared away, and the space occupied by them very neatly gravelled. All London is now in the glory of the May season, when Rotten-row is a sight to see, especially about six o'clock in the evening. P IRIS CORRESPONDENCE. SATURDAY EVENING The great topic of conversation in Paris to-day is the formation of the new party, the Constitutional Left. Seventeen deputies, belonging some of them to the mode rate republicans, others to the old Left Centre, have united under M. Ernest Picard, numbering amongst them Barthelemy, Saint Hilaire, Guyot Montpayroux, and Bethmont. To judge from present intimations the new party are willing to accept the Empire, and are ready to assume office when called upon to do so, provided they can fulfil their programme which is very briefly stated. Such a defection from the ranks of the old Left of Jules Favre and Jules Simon must necessarily materially affect the position of parties. The group of which MM. Daru and Buffet are the most prominent members, will be con siderably strengthened, by the rapprochement of M. Picard and his followers. The establishment of the Con stitutional Left is a matter of congratulation to sincere and moderate Liberals who wish to obtain and secure free thought, free speech, and a free press without over turning thrones and subverting dynasties. It shows that the French are training in the way of Constitutionalism that their politiciafis are beginning to recognise the fact that great political ends are better gained by mutual con cession and compromise than by the aut Caesar, aut nullus principle, where no question of right or wrong is concerned. We have another excitement to-day in M. Gambetta's speech at Belleville. The favourite tribune of the masses is not inclined to make any concession. He attacked the Emperor as " the man whose fortune was made by three conspiracies ;" and though he counselled mode ration, and declared the despotic party had been strength ened by the excesses of the revolutionists, he did not, as you see, set a very forcible example. In the Corps Legislatif yesterday the discussion of M. Bethmont's interpellation elicited from M. 011ivier the remark that he did not think the time was ripe for grant ing freedom of political association. This was of course in reference to the refusal of the Ministry to grant the central plebiseitary committee permission to preserve its organisation, a refusal by which M. 011ivier has in geniously succeeded in giving double offence. He has offended the committee of course, and they naturally inquire what the minority has to fear from a Con servative body who have exerted themselves and risked their credit and their influence in the Imperial cause. The Left is angry with the Ministers on public grounds, as they naturally upheld that right of public meetings which M. 011ivier thinks it unadvisable at present to concede. As usual, he carried the Chamber with him by his speech, and the order of the day was pasied by a large majority. M. Laboulaye is not yet out of his troubles. His second attempt at a lecture was even more stormy than his first. The Paris Journal announces the death of M. Salmon, who has lately risen into celebrity as the father of Victor Noir, and it adds that Louis Noir, his son was not present at the funeral. You may remember that the civil suit against Prince Pierre Bonaparte for compensation for the death of Victor Noir, gave rise to some difference between Louis Noir and his father. The former wished' to lay the damages at one franc only, so that there should be suspicion of pecuniary profit on the part of the Salmon family. As it turned out, however, the suit was necessarily brought in the name of the father since it could not be shown that Louis, a strong active man, in the prime of life, had suffered damages by the untimely death of his younger brother. To his father he might have been a means of support, and the damages were given accordingly. LOuis Noir was so much chs' grined at the acceptance of this money that he announced his intention of repaying it in full as soon as he could earn it. As the Prince of course would not accept it, he intended to bestow it on a public object. Speaking of journalists, I may add that an important change has been made by the new Press Law. The stairiP is to be abolished, and a rate of postage charged which will virtually prohibit the Parisian press from travelling far from the capital. Of course this is supposed to be done with the object of diminishing the influence of the journals in the provinces, but the design, if seriously in tended, is a very foolish one, as men's minds will work in the departments as well as in the city; and if Paris cannot , or not, supply them, provincial journals, probably more violent and less able will spring up in every dire' tion. Of course the abolition of the stamp will increas e the number of journals at one sou in Paris itself, but I do not expect it will eventually make mnch difference. A great fire has occurred in the Rue Rossini, at the stables of Baron Rothschild. Fortunately the bore° were all got out, and after about three-quarters of an hour's incessant exertion, the flames were subdued, an d the street was loaded with we t an d h a lf-b urne d trusses of hay and straw. The damage done was about 20,000 f., bu t as it will come out of the coffers of a Rothschild, we PIO reserve our sympathies for shallower purses. GENERAL PRIM ON THE PORTUGUEO CRISIS. The following is the substance of the speech of Genera l Prim, delivered in the Spanish Cortes on the 24th, on the news from Portugal. The Chamber will have remarked the reserve which the Ministry has maintained since the day when the news of the recent events in Portuge l , reached Spain. The Government, however, finds itse ll obliged to enter upon some explanations so as to avoid the risk of being thought to be the instrument of passions it is not necessary to specify. He then read a despat ch received from Lisbon, stating that in consequence of th e news from Sprain the whole of the Portuguese Deput ies had taken an oath en ntasse to defend the independence o f Portugal. "It has been believed," continued Gener ° ' Prim, " that the events in Portugal were due to th e machiavelism of the Spanish Government. Therefore wish in the name of all my colleagues to declare in t hee most emphatic manner that the Spanish Government is It total stranger to all that is taking place in Portugal. is well known that persons have long thong"' this would be a favourable opportunity for W ill and Portugal to realise the dream of Iberi sll unity. Unfortunately for me I was once knol to speak loudly in favour of that scheme in Lisbon its e I now say in this place, believing that I interpret t u b feeling of the country and the Chamber, that the Spa" i !, nation has no idea of accomplishing the Iberian union w force, violence, or conquest. They wish for friendlYy , °r rather fraternal relations between the two countries. Th ey wish for the day when there shall be no longer a frontier line between Spain and Portugal—when a Spanish Mice cate may exercise his profession in Portugal, and a Porto; guese doctor come and practice medicine in Spain. D e if this union is ever accomplished it will be on the CO dition that each nation preserves its autonomy. xl ir d from us be the thought that the noble Portuguese show be erased from the book of nations. In Po r t u gal as ~ Spain there are men who never miss an opportilo itJ v of misrepresentation. I trust my words will speew; reach even to the Portuguese Ch am b ers , so that 0 " - brothers may know that the national independence thel; have sworn to defend will never be attacked by SPar l ! s ii arms, that they may put aside their suspicions wh le eg nothing justifies, and acknowledge that Spain She truly to be the friend of Portugal. Senor Cas te l followed, reproaching the Government of the B e g e with not having more strictly observed the neutral' ,q required by the gravity of the situation, but approl the conciliatory tone, adopted by General Prim. SPaiD l f ic l no. Prussian dreams of war and conquest. The past ' — e j . „ future of the two countries were the same, and he be i t nothing would prevent them from one day resting t i l e y mutual independence and their mutual sovereignty on federation of the United States of free Iberia. tl t A letter in the Birmingham Daily Post says t he the member who took the notes for the Times when the eporters were excluded from the House of Commons the other night was Sir John Trelawny, who reported f° l. t eto same paper in 1849, the last occasion when the repor were Convened to leave. .m r . John• 11,3; EXPERIMENTING IN CHLOROFORM.-I%lr. Anderson, of Govan, writes as follows :—Apropos cLre; death of the lamented Sir James Simpson, allow me n of late my first experience of chloroform. The sure ° the Alligator hospital ship in Hong-Kong, in 185n_...,, i,° •veti enthusiastic in its praise, and when any man-of-war ail ip whose medical officer had not received the news ~e.tc` wonderful properties, he was instanter hauled 0 11 the Alligator, when the first order given was, " St er r en" catch the cat." This unfortunate animal was then d for, dered insensible, and one joint of his tail amputa ti - te atiP the benefit of science. When we arrived in the from the Arctic expedition, a similar invitation WitiO to our surgeons. The cat had only one joint left, ails th e was razed in our presence. On recovering his senateli animal cast one mournful look behind, and imranu l r oon i committed suicide by jumping out of the after gun port. This is literally a fact. MUSICAL NoTEs.—Madame Adelina Patti r oof, signed with K Bagier, of the Paris Opera, for a f e ll c oit,', engagement, on her return next March from th e th e North.—Offenbach has written a three - act piece ,; o°, Paris Gaiety, by the name of " I,e roi Carotte.lo Grand Duke of Weimar has ordered "Tristan and Is for° to be added to five other operas byWagner, designed te, eo .!, the r6pertoixe of the forthcoming model perforraans'trel.. " Impitoyable le grand-duc," exclaims ' 7 Le gen e ., brt —A great fusion of the management of Europa ii ' er o theatres, that is, so far as the engagement of siva concerned, is talked of in Paris.—The famous or Carpeaux group will forthwith disappear from the P D Y f e of the Paris Opera House. M. Gumery 11 ost v. charged with the execution of a new group- ---4 ' Standard. THE Or At Bo Were ag tation, 1 occasion Mr Pc prisoner A. ge the s u to ascer to preve Serious , Mr Fl as to th( but that 6 4 no i diBeretic tecessar Mr Pc call a f POrtan t. The f Jinn l --I let ] roo m. it fortnigh bitter be Pointed plain to Wornan'l pry ceed Petticoa prohibit Cross Arthur' ineludi / ton soy( Arthur' house I calm Boner s painted 11 °W BID t he box Bye * When 11 the cir, Plisone The , Park as Mari 1868 ,1 str eet, Nove'm darling l augher Lz tug l i se en hi With p Wore k t vaned tl ernen , yiaited Race Coats Eton Suits gue ss , cones, f erret but t B igne Park of , 4 Bila c 1 lb ; tak e , self acts ( Lad,