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

I\TEW THEATRE-RO VAL, ADELPHI.—
Vll Solo Proorfator and Manager. Mr. B. Webster.
2:st Week of Miss Bateman.
THIS EVENING, THE PRETTY HORSEBREARE
E.
Miss Woolgar and NKr. J. L. Toole.
to Eight, the New Drama of LEAH : Miss Bate-
ran, supported by Messrs. Arthur Stirling, R. Phillips, Bil-
ington, Stuart, Stephenson, Eburnc; Miss IL Simms, and
Mrs. 13illington.
To conclude with LADY BELLE BELLE • or, Portant°
and his Seven Magic Men. Messrs. J. Clarke, It. Phillips,
Stephenson ; Miss Wool,g.ar, Miss IL Kelly, Miss Patti
iOse2hs, Miss L. Laidlaw, Miss Seaman.
Commence at 7.

LEAH.- ISS BEVEATERV
N. NIGHT.
MMA

ity IS S BATEMAN.-LEAH.-THIS EVENINGS'
IVil_ the 12.5 th appearance of the great Tragic Actress, Miss
BATEMAN, in the character of LEAH. In consequence of
the unbounded success with which Miss Bateman's imperso-
nation of the prircipal character in the new Five Act Drama
ot LEAH has been attended. Mr Webstf-r befzs to announbe
that it will be performed EVERY EVENING until further
votice.

ROYAL ST, JAMES'S THEATRE, under'the
Management of Mr. B. WEBSTER.
Croy, ded with rank and fashion.—The New Comedy of THE
SILVER LINING every Evening.—Mr. and Mrs. Charles
Mathews, Mrs. Stirling, tdrs. Frank atthews, and Mr. J.
L. Toole every evening,. The following emtnent artistes are
trio-aged :—Mr. Benjamin Webster. Mr..T. L. Toole, Mr. Paul
Bedford, Mr. Fiederic Robinson, Mr. Ashley, and Mr. Chas.
Mathews ; Mrs. Stirllng Miss Herbert. Mrs. Frank Mat-
thews, Miss A. Cottrell, Miss Fanny Josephs, Miss Went-
worth, and Mrs. Charles Mat:aews.
THIS EVENING, and during the Week, at 7 o'c-ock,
an entirely new Comedy, in 3 Acts, by Leicester Bucking-
ham,Esq., entitled T E SILVER LI NIN( : Mr. Charles
Mathews. Mr. Frederic Robinson, Mr. Ashley, Mr, John-
stone. Mr. Montague ; Mrs. ( harles Mathews, Mrs. Frank
Matthews, Miss Cottrell, Miss Wentworth. and Mrs. Stirling.
To be followed by Mr. Charles Mathews just translated
irom the French)in his characteristic eh aracter of Un Anglais
Tinaide, entitled COOL AS A CUCUMBER.
To conclude with THE BIRTIIPLACEIOF DODGERS.
Mr. J. L. Toole,

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Mana.zer, 'Mr. W. 11. Swanhorough.
THIS EVENING, ON AND OFF.
'r o be followe by 'UNLIMIED CONFIDENCE. Mr.
,lelforci, Mr. Pa.rszd dle ; l'aißs Marie Wilton, Mis 3 Thorne.
After whi:7ll, the Grand Christmas Burlesque, 0 EIPIIEITS
EURYOIUI : MessrA. Honey, Wood, Jamni Fenton,
mesdames Swanboronzh, Marie Wilton, Hughes., &c.
Coecluding with MARGATE
Commence at 7.

(RACE EGERTON' (Mrs. George Case),
NUJ at the POLYGRAPIIIC TTAT,L, Ring William-
strcet (her THIRD SEASON in London), in her New and
highly successful Characteristic and Musical Entertainment
entitled " A DRAWING ROONI TO LET." EVERY
EVENING, at Eight (except Saturday).

Faturday Mornings at Three.
Stalls. 34. ; unreserved seats, 2s. ; area, Is. Will continue
positively for a month cnly. Last performance March 12.

PHE THIRD EDITION OF " THE SUN,"
Containing the Latest SPORTING INTELLIGENCE,
?tan be had Every Evening of
G. R. GLItNIE, NEWS AGENT,
No. 4, Connaught-terrace, Hyde-park.

COALS.—The LILLESHAL L COMPANY'S
COALS.
Direct from their own Collieries.
Marquis' 26s. per ton. I Double 21s. per ton.
Top 251. „ Nut 5........ 19.9 „
Deep .228. „
Well screened and delivered within five miles of their De-
pots, Westbourne Park-road, IV., and 17, South Wharf,
Paddington, W.
Best Coke 'ss. per eialdron.
Terms cash.
JOHN SCOTT, Sole Agent.

HIGITI WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIs DA-T.—Morning, 3h. 21m.—Afternoon, 31. 33m.
ro-mounonv.-Morning, 3h. 50M.—Afternoon, 4h. 4m.

The Weather—Sun Office, Feb. 24, 1864.

THERMOMETER.
This day at Two-o'clock

Barometer-30.30,
; moderate breeze, and fine.:

t ~'' ~ 14

71f 'LAji

' v~~~ ~

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, FEB. 24, 1864.

While the immediate result of last night's discus.
sion is the House of Commons cannot but be in the
highest degree satisfactory to the Government, the
ulterior effect produced upon public opinion by the
-arguments put forth during the debate which led
to that Ministerial triumph upon the division, may
be regarded with complacency by the nation at
large as most salutary, even in anticipation. That
effect will become manifest more and more:as the
session advances. It is already appreciable. It is mar-
posssible to look through those arguments this day,
a 3 it was imP°sBll:lle to listen to them last night,
without feeling that good has been done already
by the mere fact of the discussion. It may have
appeased hitherto, for some considerable time past,
that almost everything that required to be known
in regard to the arbitrary seizure or the two ironclad
vessels, El Tousson and El Alonassia'while yet in the
building yard of the Messrs. LAIRD Brothers,
was
known already. And doubtlese, to a certain extent,
that " flattering unction"
mig:lt even now be laid
to the wounded sense of honour of the nation,
r-3 a Great and Independent Power. Every.
thing that needs to be known in regard to
the actual seizure is known—bet not so is it in
regard to the correspondence and negotiations that
led to that most extraordinary interposition en the
part of her MAJZSTY'S Government. It was for the
production of that correspondence—hitherto denied
to the House and to the Country, with so many other
important doeuments-eit was for the tardy expla-
nation of what really
constituted, thosd very dubi-
ous and still unexplained negotiations, that the hon.
gentleman moved last evening, and moved, as the
event proved, in vein. But 153 supporting Mr.
SEYMOUR FITZGERALD. S InOtiOn, while 178 voted
against it—thereby enabling the Government to tide
over that difficulty, as it seems, bent as long as pos-
sible upon tiding over others, by maintaining an
obdurate silence and a resolute determination to
combine Reticence with Non-Intervention (that
spurious, left-handed kind of I;9e-intervention

which Lord DERBY defined so happily as
an union of meddling with muddling) in
the carrying out of their incoherent and eccen-
tric scheme of diplomacy. Not satisfied, however,
with, meddling and muddling—not satisfied with
writing a great deal and doing nothing—the
Government in its Foreign Policy appears to be
bent beyond all things upon securing itself from
anything like adverse commentary by declining to
publish despatches, or by withholding them from
the knowledge of Parliament as long as they
might prove upon trial to be in some way
practicable—leaving the chance of some happy re-
sult in regard to every one of their many dilemmas,
to work itself out somehow through the mare
chapter of accidents. From the tone adopted by
Ministers, however, and by some of those important
subordinates of theirs, who are thrust into the van in
these discussion—it would appear that the Cabinet
not only requires the House of Commons to wait
patiently for any papers that in the fullness of time
the Government may, upon deliberate con-
sideration, make up its mind at last grudg-
ingly to vouchsafe them, but that it requires some-
thing still more ! Beyond that—the Cabinet seems
arrogantly to go EO far in what Mr. DISRAELI
bluntly calls its " scurvy" treatment of the
House in regard to papers relating now
to America, now to Poland, now to Den-
mark, that it actually manifests a com-
plaisant expectation that the House should meekly
wait their (the Ministers') good will and pleasure
in these matters of vital and most momentous im-
portance, that the House should actually wait,
like the cattle in a storm as described by
the Poet of the Seasons, that is to say—" in
dumb expectancy !' Parliament has been won-
derfully patient hitherto in conceding time to
a vaccillating and a self-contradictory Ad-
ministration.: The House of Commons especially
has evinced as extraordinary amount of patience in
reference to the long-withheld papers referring to
the Danish War—whatever may be thought to the
contrary by a fretful Chancellor of the Exchequer, a
petulant Under-Secretary for Foreign Affairs, or an
irritated Attorney-General. The reiterated inter-
ruptions of the debate last evening by Sir ROI/N-
-DELL PALMIER were not easily to be paralleled for
frequency upon reference to the back volumes of
"Hansard," Not satisfied with havinglhis own "say"
himself, quite uninterruptedly, he seemed unable
altogether to allow the enjoyment of the same privi-
lege by his opponents. Point blank, contradictions,
vexatious carpings at a phrase, teasing explanations
of a parenthetical character were squandered about
him yesterday during the debate in the House of
Commons, with a petulant intolerance of
opinions in any way adverse to his own, quite un-
befitting the First Law Officer of the Crown, from
whom, in truth, in regard to all these kinds of vexed
questions, one would rather look for the evidence of
an undisturbed equanimity. Everything considered,
in regard to the debate of last night—while the
immediate result of it, we repeat, was naturally in
the highest degree delightful to our bewildered
Government, the ultimate effect produced upon the
public mind by the arguments (oddly terminating
in that division) cannot, we would also repeat, but
be in the highest degree salutary.

A brief debate took place in the Commons on
Monday evening, which was well worthy of public
attention, and which, had it not followed so closely
on the animated discussion respecting the non•pro-
duction of the Danish papers, would, probably have
attracted more notice at the time. It concerned
the construction of the new Admiralty docks about
to be made at the head of the Maras., at Malta,
against the distinct advice of the best informed and
most competent authorities. Captain TALBOT, who
brought forward a motion on this subject, was
anxious before the Navy Estimates came on that
the House should have an opportunity of at least
hearing the facts of the case, although, from a
matter of form, he was on Monday evening pre-
vented from pressing his motion to a division. The
dock proposed, ho said, would neither answer the
purposes of the naval service nor of the commercial
shipping of the island. The disadvantages of the
scheme are very great, and affect every part of it.
In the first place, the spot selected. is
nearly two miles from the dockyard, end diffis
cult of access. Admiral Sir WILLIAM MARTIN
sad Vice-Admiral CODRINGTON, who are both fami-
liar with the place and the reciairemento -of the
Navy, are most strongly opp',sed to it. air War,
LIAM MARTIN has been Commander-in-Chief in the
Mediterranean for the; last three years, and is fully
able to judge the -4 afi 0 fairly and impartially. So
strong are t:ae gallant officer's opinions on this
matter, ti -at he has suggested that Admiral COD.
RINGT.ON should be allowed to come home for the
a-sprees purpose of pointing out the grave errors of
the Admiralty scheme, and the immense advantages
of that plan which must at once commend itself to
the approval of anyone who knows the island—i. e.,
the selection of the French Creek. This Creek,
which the Admiralty themselves are forced to admit
is vastly superior to the proposed site, has a fine
natural basin, which will with ease receive the
largest ships. The Government has gone to great
expense to get this Creek, which is only about 300
yards from the dockyard, and which possesses every
recommendation for the proposed undertaking, and
then with the ingenious perversity and wronghead-
edness so often perceptible in our naval arrange-
ments, they go nearly two miles off to construct a
dock in a place which has not ono single qualifica-
tion for it. It is not surprising that the opinions
of the whole naval service are decidedly opposed to
such a preposterous scheme, more especially when
we remember the importance of the new dock. We
have only two small docks in the Mediterranean
that are capable of receiving ships draw-
ing twenty-two feet of water, and these
it is plain would not accommodate our large line-of-
battle ships when loaded. So long ago as 1861
Admiral CODRINGTON drew the attention of the
Admiralty to this subject, pointing out the inCon-
venienclea which might result from the delay
entailed by having to send home British vessels
that needed repair while foreign vessels can have
theirs and he at sea again in a few days. It is
absurd that we should have no dock capable of
receiving a first-class vessel without guns, stores,
and even machinery being removed. It is true that
Lord C. PAGET maintains that the Royal Oak and
the Resistance could both go into the prscnt Dock-
yard Creek, but this may turn out to be another of
the noble lord's " mistakes." The opinions of
engineers sent out by the Admiralty are worth
about as much as those of first-rate advocates

specially retained on one hide. They are certainly
not to be set against men like Admiral CODRING-
TON and Mniiral MAuTIN, who have the rt quire-
tnents of the service in view, and being on the
spot can surely decide upon the natural eiplcitiss
of the sites proposed. As Sir JOHN :PAILINGTON
very truly said, it is not an engineer's question
but an Admiralty question, concerning the conl(e.
nience of the British fleet. It seems that in 1860
the Admiralty entered iota an arrangement with
the Maltese authorities by which they acquired a
large creek in the vicinity of the dockyard, agree-
ing to deepen the Mersa for the use of the commer-
cial shipping. Part of this arrangement was that
what was called the north-wtst basin should be

constructed with a depth of 12 feet for the use of
the commercial shipping. But it will be necessary
in order to get access to the dock to shipping. Sub•
sequently the Admiralty adopted the present
extravagant scheme—that a first-class dock, capable
of accommodating the Warrior, should be con-
structed on the inner side of the north-west basin.
But to get access to this dock, it becomes neces-
sary to deepen the basin from 11.2 to 30 feet, which,
of course, will entail heavy expense. It is, too, to
be at right angles with the basin, so that a ship in
entering it will have to turn nearly round, thus
producing a confusion that may be better imagined
than described, when a heavy ship some hundreds
of feet in length is sent amongst the crowded mer-
chant shipping. The rock is full of ffisures and flaws,
thereby entailing the expense or facing the dock
with masonry, and rendering tie Admiralty esti-
mate of £50,000 for deepening the basin and con-
structing the dock simply ridiculous. There is no
detailed plan cr estimate for the scheme produ-
cible, and unless it is looked to we shall probably
have a second edition of the affair at ,Alderney,
where the original estimates have been already
exceeded by a very large amount. The additional
vote was absolutely necessary if we did not wish
the whole of the previous outlay to be thrown away.
And after all that has been done there it is more
than questionable it any good has been effected at
all. Holyhead, which might have been made a
splendid harbour, has had its utility greatly im-
paired by ite limited extent. We recently had an
instance of this when the Prince Consort was com-
pelled to run over to the Irish coast, being afraid
to risk entering Holyhead. Portland, which is the
best we have yet constructed, would have been far
more efficacious had the southern arm of the
breakwater been carried out from a point further
down the island, and a larger space enclosed; ena-
bling ships to lie under the shelter of the island
itself, and not as at present be exposed to the force
of the south westerly wind blowing across the
Chesil Bank. The French greatly eclipse us in
these matters, not from superior engineering capa-
city, but from the more liberal and enlightened
views of their governing authorities. The public
had better be warned by past experience of
Admiralty bungling, and inquire into this Malta
project a little more closely, If the Government
have committed themselves to the Maltese autho-
rities they had better pay for their mistake and let
the matter end there. It would be far cheaper and
better than undertaking a work of such cost and
importance, under such serious drawbacks, when
the French Creek offering so many superior advan-
r tages is lying at their disposal.

Lord SALISBURY last night very properly called at-
tention to the convict system. He moved fur a return
of the "number of convicts under penal servitude
confined in gaols other than Govc,,rnmeut prisons in
1862 and 1803;" oleo what steps had been taken to
carry out the recommendations of the Commission
on Penal Servitude. This last was a very necessary
item in the demand, since nothing is more common

than for a Government to put off inquiry and com-
plaint by instituting a commission, and then not to
attend to the recommendations that are given.
Lord CARNARTON made some observations on the
subject, and truly characterised it as a "monstrous
anomaly" in English justice that heavier offences
often meet higher punishments, and vice versa. It
is well known that a short period at a county gaol
is more stringent than some years of penal servitude.
The prisoners invariably precer the Government
part of the affair to the ordinary gaols. Lord CAB.-
14.A.11170N'S remarks on this subject are always well
worthy of attention, both from his lordship having
studied the case in all its bearings, and also for the
enlightened views which he entertains regarding
the question. He quoted a report which proved
that on one occasion the convicts in one prison were
attacked by some disease, and it was the opinion of
medical men that it arose chicfly from the rich-
ness of their food. " In consequence of this the
ox-head cheeks were withheld from the soup,
and the men's health improved." This is perfectly
ridiculous, and it is quite cut of character that such
luxuries should be provided for men under sentence
of punishment for the commission of heinous offences.
It is actually holding out an encouragement to lazy
and e:elfish men to get into a place of this sort, where
their appetites may be pampered and their idleness
indulged. The more publicity that is given to these
facts, the better it will be for the public service,
and then, perhaps, the authorities will be shamed
out of their persistence in improper indulgences to
the convicts. This false system of palliation re-
sults in the worse effects, both for the men them.
selves and the society amongst which they are
placed long before their original term is expired.
It is not a fair test of conduct either to judge of
them by their behaviour during their confinement,
when they are thus pampered and coddled. It is
not likely that they will be tempted to rebel against
such mild treatment, or become restless and unman-
ageabl© when humoured to the last degree, and
every possible device is resorted to, to keep them
quiet and satisfied. If sterner plans were adopted
and more vigorous discipline enforced, then
a better notion might be formed of the t ffect
which the penal servitude was bearing on their
characters. As it is, we have the best grounds
for asserting that the men are made worse during
their period of detention, and come out with re-
newed vigour to prosecute their nefarious under-
takings, Of course there are notable exceptions,
but as a rule it will be found that very little
progress, if any, is made in the reformation of
our criminal population. Lord CARNARYON put
the case very forcibly, when he said that to be
successful, either one plan or another ought to
be adopted, and that the Home Secretary was
trying too much to take " a scrap of one system
and a scrap of another, until the whole system
adopted became incomprehensible and remarkable.'
There is great truth in this, and it would be
well if more heed was paid to this suggestion.
Either to adopt the practice of tiekets.ot-leave,
coupled with police supervision, or else to throw
the system overboard, and attempt another, is
the advice tendered by Lord CARNARTON, and it
certainly seems to be sound. It is evident that
what is wanted imperatively at present is a
radical nhange in our system of penal servitude;
and the question is whether the temporising efforts
and feeble legislation which is now in vogue will
be capable of effecting the desirable and most
necessary alteration. There is too much patching
up of difficulties, and two much dawdling and
hesitation in all the legislation that is brought
forward on the subject, and it is most urgent that
new the case is egain one of the chief social dis-
cussions of the day, some testing and excel,
lent arrangements be made, or eta all thiS bicker-
ing and debate will result in grievous harm, and
be worse in the end than if matters had rested in
statu quo. The criminals will exult at the
nc,cy of our efforts to control them, and thus an ad-
ditional evil will have been effected. This is the
proper time for those who have objections to state
them, and for those who have suggestions to make
to bring them forward, or else the opportunity will
be lost. The Government are, doubtless, animated
with the best intentions, but they are too timid in
the theuurea they adopt. They had hotter come

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 which 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 Museum, ece„ on

Sundays.

DEPUTATION TO LORD PALMERSTOI`.T.
(THIS DAY.)

This mornin?; a very numerous depuation from the
trades of the metropolis had an interv;ew with Lord Pal-
rnerston at Cambridge-house, Piccadilly, for the purpose of
upon his lordship the propriety of opening the
British Museum, National Gallery, &c., on Sunday after-
noons,

The members of the deputation having been introduced,
Mr. WHITE stated the object of the present deputation,
and impressed upon his lc rdship 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 be 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
Shvepshanks 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 then addressed his lord-
ship. Some of them remarked on the encouragement in
other countries to the working class to study art..—whilst
those in England were only enabled to do so at a sacrifice
of a day's wages.

His TIORDSIIIP, in reply, said he believed the produe

lions of the Englishman quite equal to that of the foreigner.
With respect to the objc ct of the deputation, he believed his
opinions were pretty well known—(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 objcct in view, and in the meantime
he advised them to inculcate their opinions, and thus hasten
on the accomplishment of their desire.
_

Mr. J. KENNY reminded his lordship that it was not a
new course they were then pursuing. There were kindred
institutions to the British 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, whichhad 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 his lordship for the interview, the depu-
tation wi,hdrew.

Public Executions,