The Express.
London, England, 1868-01-14 00:00:00

01111 CONTEMPO]

REAKF AST.-E PPS'S COCOA.

Ehe erpreoo.

TO CoRItISPONDZNTS.
irtitsitesto Wended ter " The
iris soree." Leeks
krToo
mat be es the (Ate, vetioatmet,
tiw
= ea the day of Palgicadoe-

11AYKABANT.
TM. MAIM, FAMILY JARB.—A wrn WELL WON.
Mama *wham Backstop., Bows, Kendal, Bogen, Braid. Wes-
thers!,‘ , &e. awl Mau, Hobertano.—Altar which AN UTTER
atoloN OF THE BRlGAND.—Commence at 7.

rzwczaink
Tnis Emmto, THE COLLEEN DAWN. Mr. and lira Dion
Doncicault —After which THE EMMET'S OF LODON. Mr.
Vining, Mears. Murray, Shore, Neville. Forrester, Mellon, dm
Mimes Elaworthy, E. Daznett. Rachel Sanger, and iira. Addle.

STRAND.
THIS EVIWINO, OLD SALT. Mr. Emery and Miss Belly Moore.
-.After which THE CALIPH OF BAGDAD. Messrs. Thorne
and James ; Mesdames Ada Swanboroagb, Johnstone, Harland,
Molt, de.—And OUR D4MESIICH.

HOLBORN.
Tan LilionNa, THE nYwo Seri). Met Atkins, Pries,
Garden, Arthur, Westland, and Wilmott ; Mesdames Henrsd_,e
Lennox, end Saundern—Coneinde with VALENTIIIi
A:. u UILSON. li•Ille. Montero, Little Bowel* ie.

BRITANNIA-
TH79 Ersareo, DON QI:LCOTE ; OR, SANCHO PANZA AND
lIIS It" WE TERF2A. Ma, Edwin ooth
tomimids Messrs. Deane, Lo uLanis, Newham, and Vietor&B
eUI ; NMI*.
C. Stephan and Ml Ross Nathan.—And WHO DID ITT

NIGH WATER AT LONDON DIM&
Tani DAtt —Mandan, 6b. 51n---Afterenta, 6b. 2Ont.
To-llonamf—Morning, nt. Un--Afternoon, 6b. 170.

LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 14.

EVERY winter the dry and rocky bed of human
misery in this rich man's country becomes a tor-
rent and almost an inundation of distress. In-
stantly and invariably Society sets itself to work
in an irregular and bewildered fashion to arrest by
dykes and drains this devastating deluge of un-
known and unnumbered fellow-creatures who have
drifted from penury to starvation. Our English
public prides itself on its philanthropy and rejoices
in the subscription lists spread before its eyes every
morning like an oblation. Hundreds of thousands
of pounds are distributed by cheques, to the
great relief and satisfaction of the charitable
donors, to all sorts of committees and lista of
secretaries and collectors. Nothing was ever com-
parable to the organization and abundance of
British charity. But where does all the money
go to ? Still the cry of want rises up, and the
torrent overflows, and men, and women, and
children starve, and are forgotten ; and still the
cheques are poured in. Then comes the everlasting
confession of incompetence to deal with such an
unexampled amount of suffering. Every year the
amount of suffering is "unexampled." Is there no
possibility in this classic land of men of business,
of colossal industry and enterprise, of obscure
but enormous opulence, of arriving at some
tolerably direct and effective system of
charitable assistance and relief ? There is no
other country in the world that has a poor-law
which makes starvation impossible, and under
which starvation is an every-day occurrence. There
is no other country in the world that professes, as
England does, to find bread for every man who is
willing to work, yet leaves hundreds of men and
women willing to work to perish for want of cloth-
ing and a loaf. There is no other country in the
world that has so many millionaires—good men,
for the most part, and church or chapel goers. And
among them all there has been one PEABODY ; and
he is not an Englishbut an American philanthropist.
Yet no one can doubt of the desire of our well-
regulated
Society to remove from its doors this her-1
rible scandal of perishing pauperism. Can the law
do nothing ? Are the poor-rates powerless or in-
sufficient ? lu one great parish of the metropolis
the ratepayers have been invited to pay a quarter
in advance in order to meet the demands of the
season. The press teens day after day with
letters of appeal and suggestion, betraying the
best intentions and the most helpless misconcep-
tion of the exigencies which call them forth.'
What then ! There are two reflections so simple
and so obvious as to pass the understanding of the
English public. A uniform poor-rate for the
whole of London has often, it is true, been
proposed in and out of Parliament, and will
certainly be proposed again without reference to
the temporary pressure of distress. But the
middle-class Parliament of 1832, which has been
extolled by its own members for its tender-1
nese towards the poor and suffering classes, has''
always consistently refused to accept a measure
which would make the wealthy parish of
St. George's, Hanover-square, subscribe without
vulgar ostentation and without barren self-com-
placency its fair and proper quota towards the
relief of the misery and starvation of Bethnal-
green. It is so much more agreeable to the
wealthy and easy-going ratepayers of the
rich parishes to subscribe their names in the
public newspapers to this and that committee
of relief when the season of festivity and starvation
a mss round. Let it be understood, then, that we
must wait for the Reformed Parliament to make
the richest community in the world save its
poor from starvation, without a flourish of charit-
able trumpets. \That, then, is to be done in the
meantime to prevent at least all these thousands
of pounds au noisily and so unsystematically sub-
scribed from running to waste through the fingers
of committees? Common sense supplies a simple
solution of the problem. The various societies
now appealing to the public for funds should unite
their efforts. It is an intolerable evil that so much
of the money so lavishly and so heedlessly con-
tributed should be wasted in expenses of collec-
tion and distribution, and that what is derisively
called the organization of voluntary public
charity should mean too often its exhaus-
tion and (lispersiun in driblets from one
class of impostors to another, whilst even the
streets are waiting to be swept. There are in
every parish, unconnected with the Poor-law
administration, the elements of a local charitable
commission, unpaid and spontaneous, lay and
clerical, who would be the natural and the legal
dispensers of public charity, such as the magis-
trates, the clergy, the ministers of various deno-
minations, the principal residents and ratepayers.
Let a local committee of such persons be formed
in each parish under the general committee ; let
the public subscriptions be paid directly into their
hands, and it is impossible to doubt that an
immense waste of charitable efforts will be pre-
vented, and perhaps the plague of pauperism be
stayed. In default of one uniform rate for all
London, there is, we believe, no other cure than
this for the Pharisaical indifference in almsgiving
which is almost as contemptible as the pauperism
it professes to assuage is lamentable and dis-
graceful to a City gorged with luxury, stupefied
with comfort, and mad with misery.

An advertisement from Manchester which has
lately appeared in the daily papers owns to indicate great
difficulty on the part of the opeculatiee sellers of railway
stocks in that city in fulfilling their bargains. It is
addressed " to the holders of Laneasbiire and Yorkshire,
Midland, and Metropolitan Railway shares," and offers
for the loan of these stocks loe. to 20e. a share per fortoiglit.
" Re-transfers and all charges cleared if allowed to remain
for three accounts, and ugh value lodged and maintained."
It is added that " other stocks are also wanted."

(THIS DAY.)
ME. RIGBY RADON AND Yea " rms."
Mr. Rigby Wason yesterday obtained a role nisi
fora new trial on his action spinet the Times, upon the
broad guerilla whether it is good law that a fair and
faithful report of parliamentary debates is a privileged
publication. The law upon this subject has nesse been
expressly laid down and with the knowledge that
public opinion has fully sanctioned the verdict of the
jury on the merits of the ease, the Times says it
owes Mr. Wason no grudge for making it the
corpus rili of an interesting legal experiment. In
default of a comprehensive libel act, Each an experiment
must inevitably have been tried sooner or later. The
bill of last 0105611, which has spin been introduced by
its authors, and now stands for a second reading in the
House of Commons, purports to abolish the alleged lia-
bility for the future. The only serious objection made to
it was that it would leave individuals defenceless against
calumny in parliament. To this it ought surely to be a
sufficient reply that each house can regulate the license elf
speech allowed to its members. Before strangers woes
admitted to debates, there was something plausible fa
the notion that what passed within the four walls al the
house was confidensid. It has now *awed to have say
meaning, and it would be far wiser to stop divagates
at its mourn than to punish the innocent reporter ci

THE WOEKSHOPS REGULATION ACT.
By the seta passed last session, the Daily News states,
the principle of compulsory attendance at a school of chil-
dren employed in workshops is enforced by a fine on both
parent and employer, but no power is given either parent
or employer to require the admission of a child into any
school. Yet it is quite legitimate to demand that any-
thing which the law requires to be done it shall provide
belittle* for doing. It will probably be found scarcely
possible to enforce this provision in the fullest manner
until en extended scheme of government education is in
nation. At present it seems to be doubtful whether
retail shops, offices, or warehouses, in which no handi-
craft is exercised, can be included in the terms of
the act. All doubt on these subjects ought, how-
ever, to be set at rest. The Daily sews believes that at
the present moment very little is being done in the
practical application of the act. In this City some large
Brms are simply taking no notice of it, while others are
applying it in accordance with their own interpretation of
its meaning. But this has not arisen from ►ny disposition
to obstruct its operation ; it has simply arisen from the
difficulty of understanding an act which is loosely drawn
and carelessly worded. Either the government or the
local authorities should have issued a summary of It. pro-
visions which might have been hung up, as the summaries
of the provisions of the Factory Acts are, in all places
affected by it. As matters stand there is every disposi-
tion to obey the law, but great want of knowledge as to
its provisions. It is apparently the duty of the local
authorities to enforce it, and it should therefore be their
duty to spread the needful knowledge respecting it. But
local authorities need, in such a matter, to be moved from
the centre, that uniformity and promptitude may be given
to their action.

MISCELLANEOUS TOPICS.
Discussing the coming Reform Bill for Scotland, the Mae
says Mr. Disraeli, in order to save the rotten borough',
proposes to make the increase of Scotch representatives by
adding to the number of the members of the house. Mr.
Gladstone contends that the addition should be obtained
by adjusting the represent►tion of England to her pop's-
lation and teration, and thus reducing the number
of members who sit for pleats having no numerical
importance. There can be no doubt which of
these alternatives every liberal is bound to support.
Mr. Gladstone is prepared to do full justice to Scotland by
doing justice at the same time to some of those nests of
corruption where the tory strength lies, and reducing them
to their true political position of importance. Mr. Dir
raeli intends only to do partial justice to Scotland, be- i
muse be will not touch, if he can possibly avoid it, those
peddling a illages which return the squire's nominee at the
squire's order.
The Times, Post, Telegraph, and Standard, contain arti-
cles upon the subject of the Duke of Edinburgh's reception
at Melbourne. The Tdeftrupli complains that while it is
thought expedient to send the Duke of Edinburgh to the
Antipodes, in order to confirm the eentimenta of affection
entertained by a loyal and contented population towards
our empire, no member of our reigning dynasty appears
willing to crow St. George's Channel.
The Post asks if no one will give us a pleasant dining-
house for London. There hardly exists, it says, a single
reputable establishment throughout London to which a
man would like to take his wife or daughter to dins, and
where he could feel reason►bly assured of getting as good
and comfortable a dinner as be might obtain at a hundred
different pl►ces in Paris or Vienna. There is an sir of
darkness and squalor among our ordinary eating-houses
which is extremely repulsive.
The Daily Ners trusts that ill-timed scruples w:II not
deter the loyal Irish of London from signing the ►nti-
Fenian address to her Majesty which has been prepared by
Mr. Digby Seymour. It iv not for good citizens to stand
upon their dignity when by any act of theirs they can do
aught to abate a serious calamity. They owe something
also to their countrymen whom, in the absence of a
disavowal satisfactory to the public mind, a capri-
cious suspicion may deprive of employment. All
parties, save the party of conspiracy and rebellion, may
sign it without reserve—unionist and repealer, protestant
and catholic, ultramontane and liberal, the advocate of
reforms and the advocate of abuses, the champion of reli-
gious aseendrincy and the champion of religious equality.
But those have the strongest interest in signing it who
desire to see Ireland governed by just and wise laws rather
than by military force and the suspension of law.
The Standard enters into an elaborate defence of the
prosecution which the government has undertaken of the
Irish man newspaper ; and it says that the same course
most he extended to other journalists of the same chaos
should they continue an inflammatory style of writing.

liftt Court.

OSBORNE, .TAw. 13.

The Queen walked in the grounds this morning,
attended by the Duchess of Roxburgh° ; and Princess
Louise, Prince Leopold, and Princess Beatrice

went out.

Hu Excellency If. and Blulame Can de Weyer and
the Misses can de Weyer left Osborne to-day.

nine* ma Princess Christhin, with princess Henrietta I
of Schleswig-Holstein. and Prince Arthur, returned to
Frogmore on Saturday, from visiting Lord and Lady Derby
at Knowsley.

Despatches were received yesterd►y at the Colonial-
Ace from the Governon of Bt. Helena, the North Ame-
rican Provinces, Narmada, New Zealand, Beath Australia,
_ Tasmania, Queensland, Viosor'ss, the Straits Settle"—'
mail,. and flake.

Their Royal Highnesses Prince and Princess
Christian, Prinoe Arthur, and suites, honoured the perform-
ance at Covent•gardea Theatre with their presence last
evening._ _ - • . . . .

The Duke of Rutland h entertaining a select
company at Belvoix Castle. The *obis) duke's bonds met
at the castle yesterday, and, owing to the break ttp of the
frost. there was a Loge muster.

The Marquis and Marchioness of Salisbury's I
parties at Hatfield House, Herta, have been very small and
seleotowine to the indispoeitioa of the Countess Delayers.,
the mandsionees's mother, who, however, Is now much
better.

_
A marriage has been arranged between the Earl
Beauchamp and Lady Mary Stanhope, daughter of the
Earl and Countess Stanhope.
The Earl Fortescue is about to contract a mar-
riage with lady Drummond, relict of Sir James Williams
Drummond, Bart.
The Earl of Clarendon bad a long audience of
the Pope as. New Year's day, and left, with all his fatally,
on the following day for Naples. His lordship mw seve-
ral of the eardisals befogs his departure.

Lard Bloomfield, British imbemsdor at Vienna,

has left Austria foe Italy. The object of hie lordahipi
iourneY, according*, the Pool, ti "to inquire into the
1 political °soaks et the winter."