The Sun.
London, England, 1864-02-24 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 24, 1864.

forward boldly, and with a strong hand and vigorous
will put down the growing evil that threatens to
overpower the order and morality of our commu-
nity. As Lord GREY observed, it is much to be
deplored that we should have a system of penal
discipline whicla does nothing to render more effec-
tive the punishment previously apportioned to cri-
minals, and subject the country to the accumulated
numbers of discharged convicts.

Opening of the British Mzseum, &c„ on
Sundays,

DEPUTATION TO LORD PA.LMERSTON.
(THIS DAY.)
This morning a very numerous leputation from the
trades of the metropolis had an interview with Lord Pal-
merston at Cambridge-house, Plenaly, for the purpose of
urging upon his lordship the propriety of opening the
British Museum, National Gallery, Sec., on Sunday after.

noons.
The membirs of the deputation haring been introduced,
Mr. WHITE stated the object of the present deputation,
and impressed upon his lordship the great benefit that would
result both morally and socially to the working classes if
the noble institutions alluded to were open on Sunday.
The only attraction on Sunday open to the work-
ing man, unless he undertook a journey some consider-
able distance from his home, was the public-
house, and it was of the greatest importance that something
more elevating should be placed within his reach. The
Sheepshanks collection had been accepted by the nation with
the knowledge that one of the chief inducements which led
to its presentation, viz•, its being open on the Sunday, was

as distant as ever.
Several of the deputies present tlen addressed his lord-
ship. Some of them remarked on the encouragement in
other countries to the working clam to study art—whilst
those in England were only enabled to do so at a sacrifice
of a day's wages.
His LORDSHIP, in reply, said is believed the produc-
tions of the Englishman quite equal to that of the foreigner.
With respect to the object of the reputation, he believed his
opinions were pretty well knovn-7(hear, hear)—but he
must remind them that there was a very strong feeling the
other way. He thought the most prudent course to pursue
at present was to remain passive until public opinion was
brought round to the object in view, and in the meantime
he advised them to inculcate their opinions, and thus hasten
on the accomplishment of their desire.
Mr. 3. KENNY reminded his lordship that it was not a
new course they were then pursuing. There were kindred
institutions to the Brit ish Museum already open on Sundays,
and all they desired was that the Government should go on
and open others nearer home. The National Gallery of Ire-
land, which had been thrown open on Sundays, testified to the
good results certain to follow the opening of the Museum
and National Gallery on Sundays to the working classes of
England.
Having thanked h;s lordship for the interview, the depu-
tation withdrew.

Fublic Executions,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—My recent perusal in The Sun of the account of
the execution of the five pirates at Newgate—a sight which,
1 suppose, has not been witnessed since the memorable
execution of Thistlewood and the Cato-street conspirators
in the year 1820, when I believe six men were hanged at
Newgate—has reminded me of my description of a London
execution—when only ono man was hanged—in the year
1856, and which I described in my recent book, "Curiosi-
ties of Occult Literature," reviewed in The Sun Bth Sep-
tember last. In that book I alluded to that interesting
work, " Boswell's Life of Johnson," where the great moralist
regretted the recent removal of executions from Tyburn
Gate to the Old Bailey. It is singular that the plan of
hanging at the Old Bailey should have survived even the
removal of Smithfield Market I
On the 23d June, 1784-80 years since, less four months
—Boswell saw fifteen men hanged in that same place—
part of a batch of 24 persons sentenced to death. " They
came upon the scaffold a little before seven o'clock ; the
platform dropped about a quarter before eight, and at the
same moment they were all launched into eternity. The
windows and roofs of the houses were crowded, and many
thousands of people were assembled in the Old Bailey."
Then, as on Monday, the 22d inst,. although the ribaldry,
coarse language, and general character of King Mob of
1781 and of 1861 may be identical, it is at least satisfactory
to know that the prison discipline of Newgate has been
improved, and that such a rare popular spectacle in all
human probability will never again occur in London.—
Yours, obediently.
TILE AUTHOR OF "•CURIOSITIES OF OCCULT
LITERATURE."
23d February, 1861.

JOIIN Ix A MESS ! "—Surely nothing can well be
funnier, or more aptly to the purpose,than Tenniel's
cartoon in the now number of Punch, published
this afternoon :—" Mrs. Britannia—Pat down that
Pen directly, you troublesome boy. A nice mess
you have got yourself into !" It is a comic sketch
coming so exactly " pat" to the occasion—with a very
aplomb of truthfulness, amounting to pictorial wit
—that it forms a worthy companion cartoon to
that famous one years and years ago in Punch,
representing Mrs. Peel wringing her hands at the
plight of Master James Graham (after the latter had
been rolling in the mud and making dirt pies) with
a—" Drat that boy, he's always in a mess!"
NATIONAL GRANTS FOR STATUARY...IIh° Nelson
Column has, since 1858, been honoured with an
aggregate of grants amounting to £26,800. In 1854,
the statue of Charles 1., at Charing Cross, coat
£1,000; in the same year, £2,500 was granted for
royal monuments in Westminster Abbey. In 1842,
an equestrian statue of George IV. is entered for
£6,301 ; and we find the pedestal of Baron Maroehetti's
Richard Coeur-de-Lion cost £1,650. In the three years
1813-45, a total of £1,500 was paid for monuments to Lords
Exmouth and De Saumaurez, and Sir Sidney Smith. This
grant is humorously placed under the head of Educe -
tion. Science, and Art.' In, 1858, £20,000 was voted
for a statue of the Duke of Wellington; the Havelock
statue at Woolwich is charged at £2,152; and on the now
lonely shore of Scutari a noble monument has been placed,
which is said to have cost £17,500. For Sir John Franklin
a statue has been raised, which in 1E55 cost the modest sum
of £BOO, and again in 1863 a similar amount,—Cbeinibers's
Journal, New and Improved Series.
THE PROCESS OF SCHISM once begun, an in-
definite multiplication of sects follows, until we
arrive at the ultimate result in the following list of deno-
minations taken from the American census :—" Democratic
Gospel, Ebenezer Socialists, New-lights, Tunkers, Supera-
lists, Cosmopolites, Free Enquirers, Children of Peace,
Inspired Church, Pathouites, Believers in God, Perfection-
ists, Spiritualists, Universalists, Puritans, Hopkinsonians,
Moderate Calvinists, Strict Calvinists, Destructionists,
Restorationists, Denials of Original Sin (P Pelagians), Pre-
existents, Sand-hillera, Soul-sleepers, Come-outers,
Lutherans, Churchmen, Congregationalists, Hardshells,
Roman Catholics, Rationalists, Methodists, Christians
(denying the Trinity), Quakers, Unitarians, Moravians,
German Reformed, Dutch Reformed, Jews, Swedenbur-
glans, Socinians, Shakers, Independents, Methodists,Epis-
copalians, North Episcopalians, South Episcopalians,
Seventh-day Baptists, Carapbellite Baptists, Freewill
Baptists, Ironside Baptists, Six-principle Baptists, North
Presbyterians (Anti-Slavery), South Presbyterians (Pro-
Slavery), Old School Presbyterians, New School Presby-
terians, Cumberland Presbyterians, Associate Presby-
terians, Reformed Presbyterians, Associate Reformed
Presbyterians."
LITERARY NEWS.—The following new books are
announced by Mr. Bentley :—The third and fourth
volumes of the " Dean of Chichester's Lives of the Arch-
bishops of Canterbury," bring the history down to the Re-
formation. " Memoirs of a Minister of State," by M.
Gaizot, from the year 1840. A third edition of the Rev.
T. Bontell's " Heraldry : Historical and Popular," with 850
illustrations, of which work two large editions wore absorbed
in one year. " Viscountess Strangford's Eastern Shores of
the Adriatic," with chrome-lithograph illustrations and
photographs.
E. J. Powell and Eniker Magnusson
Legends of Iceland," translated by George
by Zwecker, Sze. , profusely illustrated
" Spain : a Narrative by Hans Chris-
tian Andersen, the Danish Poet, of his -Wanderings in the
Peninsula, in 1863," in one volume. " A Century of Anec-
dotes, from 1750 to 1850," by John Timbs ; and " St.
Petersburg and WarsaA : stirring scenes witnessed during
a residence in Russia and Poland, during 1863-64," in one
volume, with portraits of Mouravieff and the Grand
Duchess Constantine and her family. Of new novels,
among the most popular of the season ore—" Balla Donna,"
" Wylder's Hand," by the author of " The House by the
Churchyard ; " Meadowleigh," by the author of " The
O
""
Ladies of B,ver HoPow ;" *' The Shado w ofldA Cshlydyat,"
by the author of East Lynne;
the author of " Whitefriars."
SITE OF Sr. TEOMAS'S HosriTAL.—The qnestion
and " ourt," by
between the Corporation of London and the Governors of
St. Thomas's Hospital is now directly raised by the filing,
yesterday, of a bill in Chancery by the Governors again▪
st
the Corporation of London, join'•ly
Chamberlain, to restrain the corporation from using a cer-
tain retainer to the City Solicitor, sealed by the corporat.i▪
on,
with Mr. Scott, the
and from affixing the hospital seal to any by
she with-
out the previuus consent of the governors. 1 his pro,ceed-
ing involves the whole question of the power of the Corpo•
ration to interfere in their corporate opacity in the matter
of the future site of this invaluable charity. The scaling
of the retainer without the intervention of the donation
governors is said to have been done at Lb e suggestion of the
Attorney-General.
A NEW A:\D COMPLETI7. EDITION OF THE WORKS
of THE LATE SIR, B. G. latoDir: will shortly be .pub-
lished by the Messrs, Longman. It will be edited by Dr
Charles ximkilaa.