The Express.
London, England, 1866-08-18 00:00:00

trite erpregigi.

TO COBREIPONDENTS
Overtisements intended for "The Express," London Evening
Paw, must be at the Office, 10, Bouverie.street, by Two
0'..11 on the day of publication.

PRINCESM

Tuts Ivzsmo, THE HIJOUI-'iuT aPTAIN. Mews. Vining,
and G. Honey ; Misses Neilson, Auguste Thomson, and lin.
Btlrling.--And QUIET LODGINGS.

BiTTANNLL

THIS IVRinro, JACR3IENO4, MR LONDON STREET
BOY; OR, TRY AGAIN. Mr. Reynolds : Mrs. Yarno
Mr. K Evans tic Mtn Amy Rosalind ; Mr. e Brawn t min Lydia
Latimer; Muster R. Sanders—Tiff JOLLY DJOS OF LONDON.

MOH RATTER AT LONDON BRIDGE

Tat 3 DAT —Morning, 6h. 44m Afternoon, 7h. 6m.
To-Kowtow—Morning, 7h. 31m Afternoon, 7h. sBm.

LONDON, SATUBDAY, AUGUST 18.

Sows misapprehension has arisen respecting
Mrs. GLADSTONE'S proposed Orphanage. It has
been strangely assumed that the terrible scourge
under which we are still suffering was to be made
the plea for pauperizing those able to help them-
selves ; and that charitable impulses were to be
morbidly fostered, and a wholesale neglect of
home duties proportionately increased. It seems
idle to contradict theories which only the merest
intellectual wantonness could have propounded,
but it will still be useful to inform our readers pre-
cisely what is proposed, and the exact purposes
for which the aid of the benevolent is sought.
Cholera has found its victims among the poorest
and most helpless classes of the community.
Breadwinners have been cut off whose labours
meant breadwinning, and nothing more. The de-
fective sanitary arrangements, the poisonoria
water, foul smells, and noisome dwellings, which
are at once the triumphs of metropolitan misgo-
vernment, and the crying disgrace of our boasted
civilization, have wrought terrible havoc among
the very poor. The enemy now in our midst has
found ready allies in the surroundings of the
people upon whom ho laid his hand, and that
many a small household is now desolate is the
direct consequence of our collective supineness
and neglect. This much is indisputable. The
only point upon which a difference of opinion can
arise is the form in which the prickings of the na-
tional conscience can be most beneficially assuaged,
and the must wholesome channel into which its
ready charity should flow. The kind-hearted
people who, acting in co-operation with Mrs.
GLADSTONE, have set themselves to gauge and
alleviate the misery caused by the present visita-
tion, are aghast at their own discoveries. Letters
from clergymen and others in authority vouching
for the harrowing particulars they furnish ; details
which come under their C.:711 daily observation,
and the cases of sudden death which continue to
occur with appalling frequency, reveal a degree of
helpless, hopeless misery which a liberal subscription
list can only partially relieve. It is but natural,
therefore, that those philanthropically endeavouring
to effect practical good should seek to turn the
generous impulses of the public to permanent ac-
count, and discern in the readiness to afford
liberal temporary aid an earnest that a proposal
to effect lasting benefits will be freely listened to.
Such is, we believe, the end and aim of the pro-
moters of the Orphanage proposed by Mrs. GLAD-
STONE. That helpless children, suddenly deprived
of father and mother, shall not be thrown hack
upon the streets after a few weeks' care and nur-
ture, but shall be spared the certain contamination
and corruption which threatens them now, seems
so natural and laudable a wish, that it is diffi-
cult to understand the spirit in which its real-
isation can be opposed. It should be
clearly understood that the main thing for
which funds are asked is a suitable provision for
destitute children who have been made suddenly
orphans. No other essential is fixed upon. If
it can be shown that existing Homes can be so
enlarged as to meet the pressing wants of the
hour, the money may be applied to that end. If
a better plan can be suggested than the one
thought of now, its details will be cheerfully
listened to. As it is, some of the poor children
for whom public sympathy is sought are tempo-
rarily drafted into the private houses of the bene-
volent ; and it is obvious that the supply of
philanthropists able and willing to undertake such
a charge is likely to be unequal to the demand.
To say that if orphanages are allowed to multiply
the demand for them will increase, is to argue
against all charitable establishments, and for that
matter against Christian charity generally. To
assume that by seeking to protect children of
tender ago from the contaminating influences of a
degrading and frequently vicious poverty, we de-
prive their adult neighbours of " opportunities of
" virtue," is surely the climax of utilitarian senti-
mentality. Such, however, was the argument put
forth by a contemporary yesterday ; against which
must be placed the feeble plaint of the helpless
little ones it is sought to aid. Stern political
economy mixed up with the jargon of Rousseau
is well enough in its way, but there should surely
be no quibble as to fostering indolence or encou-
raging pauperism when moulding plastic raw ma-
terial into honest God-fearing citizens is the aim,
when a terrible calamity has brought about excep-
tional auffering, and when neither sectarianism