The Sun.
London, England, 1864-11-15 00:00:00

LIFEB OAT SERVICES,—During the storms I
4 of the past year the boats of the National Lifeboat
Instjtution saved 417 persons from different wrecks on our
coast/3, The Institution also expended L 13,819 in.
the same periud on lifeboat ea tab ishments, in addition to
granting £1,'51 Bs. od. as rewards for sa.v,ng 714 shipwrecked
ver.ions by its lifeboats, and other means.
The Committee of the Institution earnest'y APPEAL to
tlie public for ASSISTANCE to enable them to meet the
continued heavy demands on the L on-
Institution's 137 lithe feboat
estatslishments. Contributions are received by all
don and eountry bankers ; and by the Secretary, Richard
Yewis, At the Institution, 14, John-street, Adelphi.
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TIER MAJESTY'S THEATRE.
Sole Manager and Director, :Sir. W. Harrison.
ARRANGEMENTS FOR TIIE WEEK.
THIS EVENING, and during the week, the performances
Will commence with YOU K.NOW WHO.
Followed by Gounod's Grand Opera, FAUST. Margarita,
Miss Louisa Pyne ; Faust, Mr. Sims Reeves.
TO-morrow (Wednesday) Evening, and Friday, Verdi's
Grand Opera, TKAVIATA. Violette, Madame Kenneth;
Germont, Mr. Santley.
Conductor, Signor ARDITI.
Private Boxes, from 10s. Cd. ; Stalls, 75.; Dress Circle, ss. ;
First Circle, 4s. ; Upper Boxes, Is. ; I it, 21. 61. ; Gallery, ls.
Box Office c pen from Ten till Five. No charge for booking
places, nor lees to box-keepers.

THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY- LANE.-
Managers, 3fessrs. E. Falconer and F. B. Chatterton.
THIS EVENING, TOO MUCH FOR GOOD NATURE.
Messrs. G. flelmore, Fitzjames, G. Wes on ; Misses Helen
li °ward and It. Leclercq, Mrs. Vandenhoff, Mrs. C. Melville,

gte
After which, Shaksoere's Tragedy of MACBETH. Mr.
Creswick; Messrs Marston, R. Itoxby, G. Belmoi e, A Rayner,
F. Neville, Edmund Phelps, J. Neville, Bartleman, to ;
Ath,ses Rebecca Isaacs, Emma Heod, and Miss Atkinson.
Loors open at ha f -past Six Locomence at Seven.

THEATRE ROY AL, HAY MARKET.-
Lessee. Mr. Buckstone.
THIS EVENING, THE SUN AND THE WIND.
After a hich, THE STRANGER. Messrs. Howe, Chip-
pendale, Farren, Compton, Rozers, Gordon, Braid, ;
Dlesdaines Beatrice, Keeley, Fitzwilliam, Moore. &c.
Followed ty ON THE SLY. Messrs. Buckstone, Rogers,
Gordon. &c.; Mesdames Snowdon, Fitzwilliam, &c.
And OUR MARY AE.
Miss H. Lindley, Mr Clarke.
To commence at 7.

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.
Under the sole management of Mr. Fechter.
THIS EVENING, THE KING'S BUTTERFLY. Fan-
lan, the King's Butterfly, Mr. Gardena Messrs. Ryder,Wid-
dicomb, Ch rle+, M'intyre, Raymond, Moreland,
U ifford, Collett; Misses Carlot a Lezlereq, M. Henrade, E.
7...,avenue, and B. Lavenue.
Preceded, at 7, by NURSEY CHICKWEED. Messrs. H.
Widdicomb, Garden, Moreland, Collett ; Miss Lavenue,3lis.

Lee.
Doors open at half-past 6; commence at 7.
The Box-office open daily from ElLy,n till Five.

----------
liING'S BUTTERFLY.-LYCEUNI
THETRE., the y, Mr
liulITER.—AThe most—Fanfan tuceessfulKing Dramaßutterfl produced for
years. _ _.--------_

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.-
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr. Geo. Vining.
THIS EVENING, BORN TO GOOD LUCK. 1 eddy
O'itafferty, Mr. Dominick Murray.
Atter which, THE STREETS OF LONDON. Messrs.
Vining, J. W. Ray, D. Fi her, D. Murray, J. Nelson, H.
Forre,,ter. H. Mellon ; Mrs. Henry Marston, Miss Emma
Barnett, and Miss F..tnny Gwynne.

NTHEATRE-R 0 VAL, ADELPHI.-
Sole Pronrietor and Manager. Mr. B. Webster.
THIS EVENING, DOING BANTING. Mr. J. Clarke,
Mr. Stephenson ; Mrs. Lewis and Miss A. Seaman.
After which, MASKS AND FACES. Triplet, Mr. B.
Webster ; Peg Wcfrington. Mrs. Stirling (their original cha-
racters); Messrs. Bil.ington, L. Phillips, P. Bedford, Stuart,
Eburne, C J. Smith, and Miss H. Simms.
To conclude with THE COLLEEN BAWN. Myles (with
songs), Mr. John Collins. Messrs. Billington, R. Phillips,
Stephenson, Eburne, It. Romer,Smith; Mrs. Allred
Mellon (Miss Woolgar), Miss H. Simno, Mrs. Billing-ton, and
Pars. H. Lewis.

dreadful moment, were a positive confession of his
guilt. Whether, as Dr. KArPEL seemed to think,
upheld by the hope of reprieve, or whether from re•
luctance to admit his guilt to his fellow-men,
MULLER persistently replied to the adjurations
that were addressed to him with declarations of his
innocence. It is true that after a recent visit from
on® of the Sheriffs, who found him reading the
Bible, and reminded him that the promises of mercy
were dependent upon repentance and confession,

teat he remarked that confession. to man was use-
less, an observation that seemed to indicate he had
something to tell if he would. But to the moving
appeals of Dr. KAPPEL he continued to repeat the
same assertions of innocence, although his kind
visitor told him plainly he believed he had a hand
in the crime, if not the only criminal. Only, at the
last moment, when with the fatal rope round his
neck, and his feet resting on the frail supports
about to be drawn away, were Dr. KAPPEL'S
efforts successful, and MULLER, shrinking seem-
ingly from facing hie Maker with the reiterated lie,
said firmly and plainly, " Yes, I did it." Some
versions say that he added that no other person was
concerned in it, but whether or no, the admission
of his own guilt was the great point, and this was
conclusive and unmistakeable. So much was Dr
KAPPEL overcome by the emotion attending the
scene, and the almost unexpected success of his last
appeal, that he nearly fainted from agitation. And
Bo ends this dismal story, and those who, from mise
taken kindness, would have sought to mitigate the
culprit's doom are now finally con vinced of the justice
of his sentence. The conviction of MULLER'S guilt
was almost unanimous, and for the most part those
who denied that he was the only criminal, believed
with Dr. KAPPEL that he was concerned in the
murder, His confession was the only thing to be
hoped for to set the paint definitively at rest, for,
although the chain of evidence had not a link mis-
sing, still there will always remain some who are
hard to convince, and others who, appalled by the
nature of the punishment, shrink from the respon-
sibility of condemning a possibly innocent man to a
violent and shameful death. No crime of late years
has created the same intense and general excite-
ment. From the first announcement of the murder
to the tragedy of yesterday, all London was moved
by it, Even in quiet byeways and out of the way
suburbs the curiosity and anxiety;to obtain tidings
of the culprit's last moments were intense, and
the ordinary channels of news could not be obtained
fast enough. When it was known that MULLER
had confessed his guilt there was a sensible relief
in the public mind, for however great the moral
conviction, an absolute admission deepens and
strengthens it. So much have we recoiled from
the Draconian theory of a past generation, and so
deeply has the public mind been impressed with
the tales of innocent victims to a mistaken convic-
tion dying on the scaffold, that judge, jury, and
public would now be far more willing to acquit a
guilty man than to condemn unjustly, though, in
truth, as the Lord Chief Baron very justly observed,
both are great misfortunes in the administration of
national justice. Still we must not hope or rely
on always obtaining such an admission, and justice
would soon stand still if murderers knew that their
silence would ensure their escape from the gallows.
The man who deliberately plans to take the life of
a fellow-creature is not likely to hesitate about tell-
io g a lie, and it would cost him very little to deny
his guilt, and to persist in that denial in spite of
every entreaty. One thing is forcibly shown by
the circumstances attending Muenen's death and
confession, and that is the injury which is done to
the criminal and the public by the present uncer-
tain action of the law. Dr. RAPPEL declared his
conviction that the hope of life was so strong in
MuLLEr, that he had made up his mind not to con-
fess until the very last moment, and this deter.
urination, as we have seen, he fully carried out.
Reprieves and commutations have become so fre-
quent that the criminals rely upon them, and are
naturally reluctant to speck tie words that would
for the most part seal their doom. Thus the deter-
rent influence, which is the great argument in favour
of capital punishment, is in a great measure lost,
and, when inflicted, the culprit refuses to make that
confession which is the only atonement in his po veer.
Wise and good men may naturally object to capital
punishment in any shape, but so long as it is the
law of the land, it should be administered with
firmness as well as with mercy. The hand of Justice
should not tremble when she uses her sword, however
reluctant she may be to wield it. However forcible the
arguments against the extreme penalty, a civilised
community may well shrink from breaking do wn
that barrier with which men in all ages have
thought it necessary to protect the sacred temple
of life; and when we reflect on the number and
violence of the temptations which beset the uncon
trolled passions of men, the love of gain, the thou-
sand frauds, and plots, and intrigues to which our
complicated social machinery gives rise—anger,
jealousy, revenge, and all their attendant motives,
we shall hesitate to remove the warning influence
of a public death. At least not at a time when the
whole tendency of society is too much in favour of
extenuating the crime, when the rigid rules of right
and wrong are too likely to be forgotten in the desire
to apologise or atone for the transgressor, No one
can read of MuLLER's last moments without pro-
found compassion for the man, and a deep sense of
his awful position ; but we must not forget that his
own guilt brought him to that appalling situation.
We must not forget that he has made a happy home
desolate, has sent a good and honourable man to a
death more violent and more hurried than his own,
and that to the natural regret for the loss of
a friend and relative be has added the terrible
shock of so sudden and so dreadful a catastrophe.
He has gone with his sins to a higher tribunal, and
the one feeling of all Christian men will be a hope
that ho may there be found worthy of mercy; but
in our narrow and shortsighted sphero it behoves
us to remember that the command to respect life
comes from a higher authority than our own, and
while we hesitate about condemning a guilty man,
there is no doubt that the criminal infringes the
awe of heaven as well as of earth, when he
;renches on the command, " Thou shalt do no

murder."

The uninitiated in such matters would be sur-
prised if they were to find out all the lets and hind-
rances that are put in the way of the poor, when
struggling to gain their daily bread. It would
seem as if the laws and enactments of this country,
so perfect in many respects, and so admirably
adapted for the people they appertain to, had a par-
ticular exception in regard to the chillies which
affect destitution. Well might Lord STANLEY say

the ofter day, that to pauperise a man in England
was to degrade him. It needed not one, of the noble
lord's observation and experience, to detect this
flaw in our social system, and this glaring evil that
lurks among cur laws and statutes. The case of
Mr. BAITYARD, at Cambridge, is one which is most
extraordinary, and aptly represents the anomalies
that are continually presenting he
poor-law arrangements. A man named
in ourevdPAExEß
had worked for him in his manufactory, and when
he died Mr. BAIIYARD naturally felt an interest in
his family. He met the widow accidentally, and
she then informed him that she was desiroas of pro-
ceeding to Leeds, where she had frie_ds. To enable

her to do so Mr. BAUYARD gave her a sovereign
to make up the necessary sum for her journey.
From this simple circumstance, however, great con-
fusion arose. The poor woman became chargeable
to the union at Leeds, and there she related the
generosity of Mr. BAUYAIID. As this latter was a
guardian, the authorities at Leeds became vir-
tuously indignant, and prosecuted him for having
infringed the statute which prohibits any one en-
geged as officer under the Poor•law Board from
giving or causing to be given any assistance, pecu•
niary or otherwise, to persons, in order that they
may,by that assistance, declare themselves destitute.
In consequence, Mr. BAUYARD incurred the penalty
of a fiae. The Cambridge guardians consulted the
Poor-law Board as to the advisability of their carry-
ing the matter to a higher court. Of course the
answer to such a question may be guessed. Ani-
mated with the true spirit of red-tapism, and fired
with the zeal of precedent, the Board returned for
reply that they had no power to interfere in the
decision of the court on the matter at all, but they
were of opinion that " the expenditure of Union
funds for the defence of a guardian charged with
offences against the poor-law was illegal." In con•
sequence of this utterance of the oracle, the Cam-
bridge guardians forbore to press the case, or else
they had intended to carry it to the superior courts.
Can anything be more absurd than such an occur-
rence, and does it not prove in a striking manner
how faulty is the system which is supported by
such aids and preserved by such means? Why
should a man be prevented from exercising his
feelings of benevolence because he happens to be
a guardian ? Is it to be understood that it is as if
he was enrolled a member of the Secret Tribunal,
bound to carry out its mandates, and forbidden to
interfere with any other concerns than those which
relates to its immediate province ? Is it necessary
that, to be a worthy guardian and a faithful servant
of the Poor-law Board, he must sink feeling, stifle
conscience, and renounce independence ? It is
strange to note how very successful has been
the crusade waged against penury, indigence,
and want by the votaries of the new regime, and
how effectually they have made the Unions the
subjects of terror to all who are threatened with the
likelihood of being immured therein. No prison is
ever looked upon with such feelings of horror'
loathing, and detestation, To gain bread many
commit crimes to become immured in the one, while
many, on the contrary, starve rather than enter
in or remain in the other. In a Christian

country it seems most strange to class one thus
above abject misery and complete destitution, but
so it is, and the stigma is affixed to our society so
much as to make one ashamed of upholding such a
mockery of justice and profanation of mercy.
Numberless are the instances which accumulate
around us to prove the dread which the poor enter-
tain of the Union, and the approaching inclement
season will multiply them tenfold. It is all very
well for the efalent to descant upon their likes and
dislikes for this or that mode of living or choice of
occupation, but those of whom we speak have pro.
claimed their feelings and made known their senti-
men's on life's worst agonies and death's most
dreary advent. It is indeed in the form of the king
of terrors that the stern messenger seeks out their
shivering frames in their unfurnished rooms, de-
void of food and fire, and amid the many
dreary scenes which every year gives rise to the
ruling motive that seems to actuate the
greater part of these hapless sufferers is
tieir unconquerable dread of the workhouse.
Ile other day a coroner's inquest was held on the
bcdy of a little girl who died in the greatest want,
whieh aggravated,the disease under which she sank,
Uhe jury returned a verdict that her death was oc•
casioned by want of the common necessaries of life.
A similar case was that of an iufart literally starved
to death, and the parents observed that the deceased
had been fed by halfpenny worth's of arrowroot that
they procured at any hour of the day or night as
they could get the means to do so. It is the old, old
story still throughout all of these distressing incidents
the poor have an insuperable horror of entering the
poorhouse, and those with families especially dread
it. Surely something is fundamently wrong in a
system whose workings are eo faulty and so unsatis-
factory. A man died the other day of destitution,
And those who afforded him some relief deposed that
he would not be persuaded to enter the workhouse,
declaring that nothing should induce him to do so.
Life after life falls a sacrifice, death after death swells
the dreary list of those who carry their dislike to
such establishments to the borders of the grave, and
only leave it on the confines of that other world
which knows no distinction between rich and poor,
but where all are equal, from DIVES to LAZARUS.
It seems as if no multiplication of instances can or
will impress those most immediately connected
with the workings of such matters:; but has not
society at large any interest in the fate of these
hapless sufferers, and cannot any philanthropic
persons take up the question with interest and good
will ? The reforms that have taken place in many
social affairs of late years have been worthy and
memorable. The factory women and children are
now released from the pressure of much overwork,
the condition of those who labour at unhealthy
trades has been greatly improved, the arrange•
ments that concern the madhouses and lunatic
asylums, both public and private, are placed upon
a much better footing ; but why should it be consi-
dered that the poor are not to be relieved and tended
in a more pleasing fashion. It is well to enter into
detail, because it is the principle that is wrong, and
it is proved in the practice in such a manner that
if one rose from the dead he could do no more to
persuade us. Perhaps the best way of settling
the question would be to ask, would those who
flame and fashion all these devices for the poor
choose any of such arrangements for themselves,
their families or friends, if He a ho gives all worldly
goods suddenly deprived them of their possessions
and sent them forth to beg in the wilderness of the
world. It is a scandal to the wealthiest corn.
munity that poverty should thus be ground
down under our feet and treated with such con-
tumely and reproach. Its ills are numerous enough
without these mortifying additions, and it is not
upon the principle that actuates the other regula-
tions of our laws that for fear one undeserving per-
son should receive relief the young, the aged, and
the sickly are to starve in our streets and perish
miserably by our roadsides. Such conduct is a
prostitution of the name of charity, and it cannot
be called in accordance with common sense or
simple justice.

The Princess's Theatre.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—A. paragraph having appeared in The Sun,
to the effect that a rumour is in circulation that my
tenure of this theatre is about to cease, in conse-
quence of my violation of conditions of the agree-
ment under which I hold the theatre, I beg to
state that no such conditions exist, and that the
report is utterly false and. without foundation.
I am happy to say, that in all my business trans-
actions with my landlord, I am on the most friendly
relations; and, believing the report to be as in-
jurious to him as to myself, your courteous insertion
of my flat denial to
,the rumour will greatly oblige.
I—Your obedient servant,

G. 3. VINING

November 14.