The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-18 00:00:00

fore, so immediately before the re-assembling of
Parliament, the announcement referred to as con-
tained in the leading columns of the Morning Post
of this morning, made its appearance, not as the
hint of a rumour, but as the intimation of a fact,
ive could not, perforce, but accept the intimation as
such, as a fact—and look to the imme-
diate probabilities accordingly. An ultimatum this
was described to have been by our contemporary,
requiring the immediate abrogation of the Consti-
tution of November, and intimating that, in the
event of a refusal to comply with their demand,
they, the Austrian and Prussian Ambassadors,
would at once quit the capital of Copenhagen ;
their respective Governments forthwith proceeding,
-noreover, to take further measures to obtain the
fulfilment of their desires ! (The accuracy of our
contemporary's announcement, it may be re
marked, has just now been confirmed to
us by telegram from Copenhagen.) The
decision of the Danish Government in regard
to this sufficiently clear ultimatum being required
to be given in by the 18th, that is to say, by
this present forenoon Absolutely certain it is that
the decision given in by the Danish Government, if
it must so be delivered, to those two ambassadors
before this momentous 18th day of January, 1864,
shall have expired, will be a refusal, a distinct and
positive refusal to concede. King CHRISTIAN,
indeed, in this matter, has no alternative. Hi
own individual honour—if possible, still more
than the honour of the Crown by which his brows
hive so very recently been invested—the per-
sonal Honour of the KING is pledged to the con-
servation of the rights of Denmark in this very
particular, in this very matter of the Constitution
of November. War, therefore, between Denmark
and Germany would appear to be inevitable. And
though England has barely anything whatever to do
with a question so remote as that out of which
this disastrous renewal of war emerges—the long -
vexed question, having its Gordian knot at Kiel,
and the circumference of its tangled skein traceable
only by the frontier-line of Schleswig and Holstein
—it comes home to us, this question, as a matter of
vital import, nevertheless ! If for no other reason,
for this, that, while all the disputed rights are
glaringly upon the side of the Danes, Englishmen
cannot but recognise in the champion of those
Danish rights, far more vividly than the royal
dignity of King CHRISTIAN, his paternal character
as the father of our fair young Princess.

Never did a more unanimous welcome attend on
any royal birth than has greeted the happy advent
of the youthful heir of England. In all places of
religious worship, of whatever denomination
throughout the land, heartfelt prayers of genuine
thanksgiving have arisen to the Giver of all good
gifts. It was not left alene to the Archbishop of
CANTERBURY to express, by desire of the Council,
the nation's gratitude. The Jewish Rabbi at
once, in earnest language called upon his
people to give thanks to the GOD of
Israel. Yesterday, also, in all the Catholic churches
and chapels of the metropolis, an eloquent Pastoral
from Cardinal WisEmAN, expressed the grateful
sentiments of the Catholic population. The Pas-
toral being dated on the octave of the Epiphany,
the Cardinal with that happy promptitude of
thought which generally characterises his produc-
tions, reminded his hearers to pray " that He who,
at this season, would receive his birthday offering,
however regal, only from the hands of the wise,
would infase into the heart of the Royal infant that
truest wisdom which SOLOMON preferred before
kingdoms and thrones." Equally appropriate to
the emotions of the Cardinal is the tender remem-
brance of the widowed QUEEN. "We feel sure
that, while praying for the speedy and complete
restoration to health of the Princess mother, that
she may be as a fruitful vine on the sides of
the Royal house,' you will turn your thoughts and
sympathies towards one still more august, who, after
her, has here a larger claim than any one else to
maternal joys ; and who, after a long period of
faithful mourning, may perhaps exclaim, as did
Lamsch on the birth of Noe—` This child shall com-
fort us.' " That such may be the happy result of
this Royal birth has been, from the moment it was
first announced, the one spontaneous feeling of all

the subjects of Queen VICTORIA. The eloquent
words in which that sentiment was expressed by
Cardinal WISEMAN are only the embodiment of the
feelings of a whole nation.

There is no social reform of which we stand more
in need than the better arrangement of our work-
houses with regard to oat-doer relief. The reliev-
ing officer, as he is called by courtesy, is veritably
on the principle of lucus non lucendo. What with
forms and ceremonies, what with plans and coun-
ter plans, the precious time is wasted in trifling
and the valuable moments squandered in contention
while life and death are trembling in the balance,
and the objects for whom all these places are con-
structed, these officials paid, and the public money
expended, perish miserably from want, and their
deaths are a lasting disgrace to the system adopted,
and a scandal to the community where they draw
their last breath, and often expire from sheer want.
There was an inquest held on Friday last touching
the death of MARY OVERREE, who died from al-
leged privation. It appeared from the evidence
that was given that deceased had endeavoured to
support herself by needlework, bat, being ill, had
applied for parish relief. This was refused her,
unless she came into the workhouse. Having a
great dislike to that, she declined, and accordingly
was left without assistance. Surely the authorities
ought to take up this matter and severely censure,
if they do not dismiss, the official who thus wan-
tonly trifles with human life. Where can be the
gain of forcing so many poor people into the house ?
Once in they are not likely soon to come oat, and
they might very probably in a short time recover
themselves sufficiently to go on without being a
burden to the parish if only timely aid were afforded
to them. "A friend in need is a friend indeed" is
a:trite remark, but the same idea is applicable to assis-
tance given at a fitting season. This poor woman's
case is a most cruel one, and it is very much to be
regretted that the jury did not administer a sharp
rebuke to the officer in their verdict. It was not
enough to say that "said death was accele-
rated by privation," they ought to have pressed
the charge home to him through whose perversity
and hardheartedness the calamity eneued. She
might have died whatever had been done, but that
is no excuse for those who rendered her last hours
so sad and neglected, and caused the agony of pri-
vation to be added to the other afflictions that as-
sailed her. Bethnal-green is a black sheep amidst
the other faulty and insufficient provisions for the
destitute in London. There are constantly cases
coming before the public which testify strongly as
to the inefficacy of its arrangements, the fatal
blunders of its officials, and the extreme and bitter
wretchedness of its suffering poor. Such things
should not be tolerated amongst us, and it is high
time that a speedy remedy be applied, and a total
and fundamental change take place. In a Christian
community it is au outrage on the first principles of
humanity ,and a direct violation of the Precepts of
our great Lawgiver, who has said, " Inasmuch as ye
did it unto the least of these My brethren, ye did

it unto Me. There is another case recently cited in
connection with this place, which imperatively calls
for notice, and claims our earnest attention. Mr.
CHAFFER, the curate of St. Philip, has written a
letter, which furnishes a most distressing proof of
the evil system adopted in respect to those who ask
for, and stand in imminent need of temporary relief.
A poor man who is bedridden sought admission to
the workhouse, but was refused unless his wife and
child also came in with him. The poor woman can
support herself by the work she gets from a shop,
and therefore very naturally objects to give up her
present independent position, with a certainty of
employment, for a state in which she would be de-
prived of her child, and if she did continue to
come out hereafter she would very likely
not be able to recover her lost work.
Mr. CHAFFER very truly says if " humanity he a
feeling unknown to the guardians and relieving
officers of Bethnal-green, it would be cheaper to
support one pauper than thret in the workhouse."
This is eminently deserving of attention, and it is to
be hoped that some influential individuals will take
up the case, and strike at the roots of a system
which thus militates against the vital interests of
the community. The subject is connected with all
that can attract attention or command respect. It
is a dreadful thing to reflect upon that our honest
and deserving poor, who wish to support themselves
by their own exertions to the utmost of their
ability, are to be trampled upon by upstart officials,
who seem neither to possess the sense to appreciate
the independence of the sufferers, nor to feel any
pity for the calamities that have befallen them. It
is a mockery to send missionaries to the uttermost
ends of the earth, to be for ever devising means
to assist the distant nations of the world, and to
rest satisfied with laws which allow our own coun-
trymen to be neglected, insulted, and ill-treated by
those appointed by law to assist and protect them.
The Ministers, who seem to be in the predicament
of doing nothing, because each public question of
any moment is hedged in by difficulties, had better
turn their attention to matters of less outward im-
portance,but of great intrinsic consequence. Despise
not the da,y of small things may well be said to all
legislators and statesmen, who, in the pride of place
and plenitude of power, appear to think nothing
simple and humble is good or grand enough for
them to consider or to take notice of. The poor
shall never cease of the land, we have been told on
unerring authority, but this divine lesson was not
to teach us indifference, still less neglect, of that
sad and suffering tribe. Far otherwise, they are a
heavy responsibility, a sacred trust, and a solemn
charge. For our dealings with them in a social,
political, and moral sense, we shall have to render
a strict account; and, in the name of Him in whose
sight rich and poor are equal, we may call upon all
who are able to assist to do so to the utmost of their
power, and with all the strength of their will. It
will be a good work to have effected, to bring the
arrangements and regulations which direct our poor
population into a focus whence they may be cor-
rectly estimated. Let it not be said that the
wretched deaths that have lately taken place have
been in vain, but let them, the last victims to a cruel
code of restrictions, be the exceptions that the past
will offer to the new and better rules of a propitious
present. There can bo no occasion to wait for
other examples to furnish a necessity for the adop-
tion of a change; it is surely sufficient for it to be
proved that, under the existing customs, it is an
every-day occurrence for the poor to perish mise-
rably, and in their squalid cells, dreary garrets, and
comfortless abodes, they can hardly call death itself
a king of terrors more terrible than the enactments
of civilisation, which counsels the authorities to
doom them to such lives, and to refuse to dole out
any help to them. The inclement season through
which we are now passing adds tenfold weight to
all arguments that can be adduced on the question ;
and if such instances of gross neglect, sheer care-
lessness, and perverse prejudice cannot impress
those who hear of them, it may well be said that no
effect would be produced if, instead of their fellow-
creatures perishing miserably around, one rose
from the dead as a warning to their laxity, and a
witness against their fatal tardiness and ignorant
nfatuation.

Last Friday evening the inhabitants of Liver-
pool and Birkenhead were thrown into a state of
the greatest alarm by the explosion of a large quan-
tity of gunpowder on board a vessel in the river.
It was no ordinary shock, and its effects were felt
on both sides of the river to the consternation and
terror of the populace, and the destruction of an
enormous quantity of glass. The facts are as fol-
lows :—The bark Lottie Sleigh, about 700 tons
burden, Captain WEBBER, belonging to Messrs.
HATTON and COOKSON, of Liverpool, having cleared
out of dock, proceeded to her anchorage in the
Mersey, off Monk's Ferry, She was bound for the
West Coast of Africa with a general cargo, having
also on board 940 qaarter kegs of gunpowder,
weighing 1.1.1, tons,stowed in her after hold-under the
captain's cabin. It appears about six o'clock in the
evening the steward was trimming a lamp in the
cabin, when a can of paraffin which he held in his
hand became ignited, and the flaming liquid instantly
spread over the floor, setting fire to the curtains,
&c., of the captain's sleeping apartment, and the
woodwork generally. With such rapidity did the
flames spread that all efforts to check its progress
were unavailing, and the burning stream soon
found its way down the grating of the lazaretto,
and communicated itself to the cargo in the after-
hold, and all hopes of saving the ship were given
up. The crew, 14 in number, were taken off by the
Rock Ferry steamer Wasp, and the ship was
abandoned to her fate. The fire rapidly spread;
and could be plainly witnessed from the bark
Retriever, moored about 200 yards from the burn-
ing vessel. The fire raged for up wards of an hour,
as we are informed, before the explosion took place.
The result can be better imagined than described.
The concussion of the air was so tremendous that
all the lamps throughout the city were extinguished,
doors burst open, and glass in every direction
shivered; several persons were thrown down by
the shock, and much property was damaged by the
falling debris, which was thrown on both sides of
the river. Fortunately, so far as we can learn, no
lives were lost, and before midnight the town had
subsided into comparative tranquillity. Such acci-
dents are, happily, of rare occurrence. Every pre-
caution is taken in the docks to prevent, as far as
practicable, the possibility of fire; and, but for the
presence of so large a quantity of powder on board
the Lottie Sleigh, the matter would have ended
with the destruction of the vessel. It is fortunate
that the loss in the present instance was confined to
the injury inflicted on property, and that no human
lives were sacrificed; but the question arises,
whether sufficient efforts were made to extinguish
the fire ? It was a matter of secondary importance
to save the ship, but the great object was to prevent
the certain destruction of an immense amount of
property, and the probable loss of many lives. We
have every reason to believe that the powder was
carefully secured, for the fire seems to have raged
unchecked in the afterhold for upwards of an tour
in: close proximity to the magazine before the ex-
plosion took place, and the ship was passed by
steamers long after she was deserted by her crew'.
Surely, there Was great precipitancy shown