The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-11 00:00:00

so N. LONDON, FRIDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 11, 1863

ables, books. Yankee notions. The voice was not sufficient t
to solicit custom; the basket was thrust in your ribs for
your patronage. The hawkers of New York papers bAwled
the tillefi of their ware in our ears till midnight. Presently
came the turn for the Philadelphia, then for the Baltimor,:,
early press. The evening trash was followed by the morn-
ing rubbish, with first, second, and third editions, and the
" sensation" headings dinned at full length into
our ears.
Anon there was the sharp twanging voice of the Yankee
guard squalling for tickets. He came past like a turnkey
making the round of his gaol birds. He dug his sharp-
nailed thumb between the shoulders and chest of the unlucky
sleepers. He spoke to us, handled us as no London police-
man would deal with a thief. Eight or ten times at least in
the night was that odious call for tickets renewed. The ne-
ceseities of the service may, for aught 1 know, render the
nuisance unavoidable; but notning will convince me that
the surly official dog does not take a wanton pleasure in ag-
gravating the hardness of his functions ; that he does not
wish to impress you with the fact that all men are equal
before hire, and that till be sees your ticket ho has a right
to look upon you as a swindler, aed has the right to treat
you as such both before and after seeing the ticket.
Mauled, pounded, and with all my poor blood boiling
with the sense of long-endured indignities, I at last reached
Washington, where, as a matter of course, I had to go
through the ordeal of porters, carmen, and hackney coach-
men, and to bear the vacant, insolent stare of the officer
keeper, and the laziness and untidiness of the waiters at the
hotel. I have since been moving about, without ceasing,
by day no less than by night, by steamboats no less than on
railways. I found nowhere a change for the better. Every-
where the same crowds and mobs, the same filth, the same
utter disregard for other people's comfort, the same reck-
less irresponsible extortion, the same cool quiet insolence,
the same want of all order, punctuality, civility. I spoke to
well. to •do Americans, who agreed with me that travelling
in their country exposes them to all the harsh unmannerly
treatment I complained of, who confirmed nay opinion that
matters on that score have become infinitely worse than
they used to be in my old experience of Yankeeland a quar-
ter of a century since, when they were in all conscience
already as bad as they ought to be. My friends shrug their
shoulders, and think the evil admits of no cure. Secession
you may have in America, and martial law, and the sus-
pension of the habeas corpus; but democracy must needs
hold its tyrannical sway on the high road ; and a division
of railway carriages into classes, a separation of first and
second cabin passengers in steamboats, are no more to be
thought of than the removal of the nasty quid from the
jaws of an independent citizen, or the abolition of the pri-
vilege every man has of turning the carpet even of a lady's
drawing. room into a pig-sty. How should, then, a poor
wight travel in this country ? The answer of my estimable
friends is simply "don't," and they illustrate precept by
practice by limiting their excursions in the States to jour-
neys of dire necessity, and hastening to Europe whenever
they can afford leisure and money for genial locomotion.
Travelling in America is like pelitics—a dirty work, from
which clean-minded men shrink, leaving it to those who
have no better way to get on in the world, and who know
bow to turn it to the best account.

SPIRIT OF TIM PUBLIC JOURNALS,

TIMES.-111,irriage is an important as well as a
holy thing. Nothing can be sounder than the doe •
trine that a nation is in a bad way when the mar-
riages among its population decline in number. The
fact is proof either of public distress or social dete-
rioration. Still, there must be fluctuations in such
statistics, but it is very desirable that their real
meaning should not be mistaken. Just now, the
returns on this head are rather remarkable, but we
doubt 'whether we have been correctly apprehended.
It is beyond question that the marriages in the
whole
kingdom were below the average for the whole
year 1861—the last annual reckoning published by
the Registrar-General. It is also certain that the
decline was distinctly marked in the manufacturing
districts, but we are by no means sure that the in-
fluence of the Cotton Famine in the matter has not
been materially overrated. When we read in the
report that in a certain quarter of the year 1861 the
marriages in Manchester, as compared with those of
a similar period in the year preceding, declined from
1,285 to 1,150; in Ashton, from 312 to 271 ; in
Blackburn, from 412 to 288; in Preston, from 355
to 254 ; and in Stockport, from 332 to 218, it is
impossible to dell that the
incipient
the cotton industry might really have been then
affecting the returns of the
year.yet paralysis of
this influence
could not have been so powerful as was supposed.
The Quarter which we have quoted was the fourth
quarter, and, indeed, we could hardly have looked
for much effect of the blockade before that time.
But the report shows
or less unfavourable to marriages, and
lespeciallya
the first quarter of it, when the cotton supply had
"do
experienced no interruption, and the Civil l.
America had not broken out. In poiet of
,fact,elt
was tho weather which at this period was the that the whole year was more
ob-
structive agent. Most readers will retain a. atol?
recollection of the Christmas of 1860, its
intense
'thee
frosts and its snow. The extreme severit
el contributedn
period " eminently uopropitious,” an,,
-sane upon the will le
seeson and the dearness of provisions renderedo
the
much to that decline which
the marriage rate up 0 the
succes-
sively failed to bring
prospective cotton famine could
avereg-, but still the
especially in fauit, for the same phe-
year. The second and thirdiBqUlarters, again, stueees-
not have been
bo
fril i°Nrai :i TOT:1 nS
oWf ' 8t
they It is evident, in short,
kingdom. It
the majority of the great
inspection of these statisrias, that
upon an attentive
inmster of marriages which distin-
the destine in thol,lL
1861 was due to the operation or
guishes the yea.i
causes rather than to the in_
general and eV;
in
gerYxtraordinary agency. We can
fluence of any one
further. We can show that, this
also gu one step
thenwas,
exhibited no Manning
decline, such as it
ertions. Nobody examining the
observable .
or uncommon proportions.
for 1831 to suspect that
be induced by the
gmisfortune had befallen the
any unprecedented
r.
There is a very distinctfall-
tables of these statistics for the last 20 years would
country in that yerariages,
no doubt, since the total
ing off in the
e7rcrisen little as the popu-
h:er, whereas, according,
marriagest o
161,f,0).65....1.°1tr5h
1855—they
to rule, they should
But such fluctuations are not
ago, for instance,—that '
lation increased.
itGieraerl::::to
March
31.
Yet
in
that qua"
numbers
England darnodp owed:lle' raohmat
nvgal
say, unusual. i n
stahwe
the figures
zujuporwel
sa3brsd(nui,oBBtoutbsot
hit! :e11:184.;/: 1 1
have
g. though
1853thaemounted to 164,520,
among a smaller population,excess of the returns for 1861.
being actually in
9 11
annodt
iato
wiaasrgneotadsuriiunst
issued,
dropped from 159,027, 1857, to
had fallenthti'enlyseyeae,:rs
1840 and 1842 o •
~co.:ol:osissi_nria.olhtnena
156,070. The Yearsh 'r also fell eft'
. 1846, declined at a
hefthrie US to create any astonish-
materially ; but
seen 011 foramebradocyca
fromßu t
hoe yearsreternisa predecessors,toefl.t.Btel7ltttgheaesintm:uastirnnarby;e,lrBitpla-fBt rh
the
eg- figure
notgu re
gg:st,hwerieli:ohreh,aind
off in the numbers was
any great degree to the Cot-
ton earsio
occasion:-
and 7,
quarterly return of the
itp Fel, Famine.eiadt rraer tactual.
antraunces an unex-
pected
others, so that, whereas we
the reader is probably aware that
in these Reports the 'marriage return is always three
months in
cat births
the But the lax,
and deaths up to June 30, we get the
in some of the chief districts
mtear—rritahgeesfiorrslityourpthe currentyear— they were de-
cidedly inereesing
figures roe from 951 in 1861 and 830 in 1862, to
e. In Mancbester the
"Li FCat:itntton also, there was a
increase, and in Salford' too. In other
:1t
of :lei
osc6itde
ledarsabtbv
considerable
etphrei
nCg Cotton
districts the tide VV3B still Setting the other way, and
possible, as the Registrar-General observes, there
liresults. Nevertheless, in spite of the destruction of
o
and the, impoverishment of
our greatest
g beenre ates movements
industry
is , of population affecting these
onr richest communities, the national marriage
rate for the first (Flirter of the present year is re-
ported above the aNerage. So broad, i,. fact, is the
area of these surveys,
J and so numerous are the ele-
ments at work uPon the results, that we may per-
iisips find lighter traces of the Cotton Famine than
we expect even in
' the complete reports of 1862 and
1863.
['he cotton districts, alter all, are but a frac-
tion of England, and if any causes should combine
to stimulate trade and encourage industry in other
Population as they seem to have
,I,De in the metropolis,
the decline to be anticipated
great centres
marria of
marriages
of
Lancashire may be compensated
by increase elsewhere.
We have already learnt that
cotton is not such a King
as was supposed, and that
thEngland are not under his rule.
Thee destinies
cotton o
tradef has been struck out from the in-
dustries of the country for a whole year witn less
etfact upon the business of the nation than anybody
could have imagined. Some analogous result we
may possibly discover in the Registrar-General's
future returns. We see, in fact, in the tables now
perceVibly off€eted by
on like Lists of those of flue vicissitudes which
before us that the Prnaress of the nation is but im-
are successively chronicled. The great body moves
bY geolog, with a slew hnt irresistible course,
Migratory glaciers
grinding out for itself an onward passage through
every obstacle in its Way. The Registrar-General
tells us that we may take the last quarter of a cen-
tury, and consider that the growth of our population
described
throughout the Whole period proceeded as uninter-
ruptedly and as uniformly as the growth of a
gigantic pine. "E h • • 1 eriod added
: , le quinquennia p
a million or a little More to the a nt In 1836-40
, CCM •
the populatioh was iisine e
ge tarough its. sixteenth
million ; in 1841-45 throuah its seventeenth; in
1846-50 through itseighteenth; in 1851-55 through
its nineteenth; and in 1856-60 through its twentieth
million." In The niiddlicaf'lB6l our numbers are
computed to hays beett 20,119,496 for England and _,..re, No.
....
Wales only, and this in spite of wars, mutinies, -
_, auenham, Norfolk,
;-11
commercial Da
' 'est deficient harvests, and inclement i ate of the liver, which had resisted
289 d; lib, 45 6d; 51b,
- ..eatment. In tins, 11b,
seasons. Calamities which startle US at the moment, i i_ls; 121 b, 225; 241 b, 405. Barry du Barry and Co., No. 77,
and which may produce deep local distres_ fail ttegent-street, London; also Fortnum and Mason; and all
1°) to gaocers and che t Inthe United Kingdom•
min a every town of
,

went of the day demanded and obtained from a
subservient Parliament a suspension of the Habeas
Corpus Act, on the plea that the existence of clubs
and societies in favour of Parliamentary Reform
tivls a public danger, detnalding this extreme mea-
sure, Then, as now, Lord Russell was the cham-
pion of public justice and popular rights, against

the encroachment of arbitrary power and the seifish
violence of a privileged class. One of his first
speeches, it will be remembered, was against this
unconstitutional measure, and referring to the
much more serious dangers of the country when the
Act was passed, he said, "We taik much—l think
a great deal too much—of the wisdom of our an-

ce;tors. I wish we would imitate the courage o

our anc,istors. They were not ready to lay down
their liberties at the foot of the Crown upon every
vain or imaginary alarm." In the same speech he
earnestly warned the House against losing the re-
spect of the people by refusing to listen to their
grievances. "Let not the Reformers say—When
we ask for redress you refuee all innovation ; when
the Crown asks for protection you sanction a new
code. For us von are not willing to go an inch—
for Ministers you go a mile. When we ask for our
rights, you ought not to touch the little finger of
the Constitution—but when those in authority de•
mend more power, you plunge your knife into its
heart." When Lord Russell used this bold and
patriotic language, all the world of fashion, in
fluence, and power were against him, but he steadily
fought the battle of popular rights, giving the best
Sears of his life to the snuggle, and eventually he
triumphed. And amidst such welcome and strikinf,
illustrations of the beneficent effects of the victory,
a reference to the cause is not only pardonable, but
in a high degree encouraging and instructive,

Another political murder has just been committed
at Warsaw on a man named Richter, the head of the pass_
port-offlco, who had recently been engaged in organizing a
new police. He was stabbed to the heart in the street close
to his own door.

SHOCKING GUN ACCIDENT AT WARRINGTON.—
A, accident, attended with festal consequences, oc-
eurirredtnd wrm.
on Monday. Two young men, named Peter Ken-
w Durkin, went to the house of John Mee,
in flhaydock-street, and borrowed a gun, Mee was not at
home, but his wife, on being asked by Kenvrright if the
gun was loaded, said she did not know. The young men
then want together to the shop of Thomas Lowe, butcher,
Winwick-street. Kenwright went into Lowe's house for
the purpose of procuring a powder flask and shot bag. leav-
ing Durkin, who held the gun, at the shop door. Durkin
stood with the gun resting on his foot, but, by some means,
he let it fall, and, the hammer coming in contact with the
ground, an explosion was the result. The greater part of
the contents were lodged in the head of a boy of Lowe's,
lour years of age, who was Playing about in the shop.
The boy was killed instantly. Durkin, in a state of great
alarm, went to the police and gave himself into custody.
The chief constable, however, finding thezo was no blame
attached to him, did not detain

[ADVERTISEMENT.3—OOrISUIriptiOII, all nervous, bilious
liver, and stomach complaints, every stage, are only ag-
gravated and accelerated by drugs of every description, but
perfectly curable by Du Barry's health restoring Revalenta
Arabica ood, e:s proved by thousands of cases which had
been considered hopeless. We quote a few.—Cure No. 62,914.
Miss Lange, 18 years of age, cured after the medical men had
abandoned all hopes of her recovery from the last stage 9t
pulmonary consumption, with f•arful cough, expectoration,
exhaustion, spitting of blood, perspirations, hollow cheeks.
emaciated to a skeleton. Sheds now, thank God, a perfectly
healthy, blooming, fleshy girl.—N. Lange, Commissaire de
Police. Cure, No. 46,270. Mr. James Roberts, of Frimley
Surrey, of thirty years' diseased lungs, spitting o 1 blood, livers
Mies
derangement, and partial deafyoB,—Cnre, No. 471121.
Elizabeth Jacobs, of extreme 'nervousness, indigestion..
gatherings, low spirits and nervous fancies.—°-
54,816. the Rev. James T. Cam ben T' -
of indigestion and torphii.— • p
all medical

leave much mark in the great nationA account.
Fttat account goes on with the steadiness and trei-
tormity of mechanism, and happy it is for Its the
its purport prot.4pity. Ou another point, too,
connectee, with tlini subject the same conditions or
the question may be remarked. It Las been asserted
that emong the middle class of the population, or at
any rite among a prtieular section of that claL,s,
marriages have become of late less frequent than
they were and. than they ought to be. But this de-
cline, if it hies anywhere occurred, is lost in the
gross totals of the reckoning. Whatever may be
done by war or famine, we may be pretty certain
that a mere predilection for bachelorship has never
yst affected the marriage rate struck by the Regis-
trar-General, We sincerely trust it never may
do sc, for the symptom would be a bad one for the
country, but at present the whole assertion must
remain without prop''. We cannot test it. We can
only say that if it is founded on fact the result
is inappreciable in the statistics of the population,
and that it requires causes far more powerful than
social selfishness to influence the marriage rate of a
great nation.

DAILY NEW:J.—The establishment of People's
Parks i❑ our large manufacturing and commercial
towns is a felicity quite peculiar to our ow❑ day, a
striotly modern fact, and it is at the same time one
of the most gratifying signs of our social and poli-
tical progress as a nation. Until quite a recent
period, excepting in the single instance of the Me-
tropolis, Parks belonged only to the privileged
classes, being wholly identified with the royal or
noble owners for whose use and pleasure they were
in the main sacredly reserved. Close to many of
the large towns were magnificent parks and plea-
sure-grounds, within whose dividing pale, from
year's end to year's end, only a single household or
a select circle ever entered, while the pent-up dwel-
lers in those towns had no means whatever of open-
air recreation except at too great a distance for any
but vagabonds habitually to enjoy. The rapid de-
velopment of our manufacturing, mining, and com-
mercial industry has no doubt tended, as Lord Rus-
sell points out, to increase these evils. The rapid
multiplication of mills and workshops will soon,
even in the roost rural districts, absorb the village
green, turn the way-side stream into inky slush,
and cover the adjecent fields with a mass of densely-
populated, squalid tenements. In a few years al-
most the only available recreation for a working
roan in such a district after his day's toil is a pipe
on the door-step, a wrangle with his wife, or a pot
with his companions at the beershop at the corner.
But this serious incidental evil of our prosperous
industry is being rapidly corrected. In our day the
vanished village green is restored on a scale answer-
ing to the enlarged requirements of a manufacturing
town over those of a country town or a rural ham-
let, Within the last few years many of our large
towns, such as Salford and Halifax, have been sup-
plied with magnificent People's Parks, and the
boon has in most cases been the result of local muni-
ficence, the parks having been given in whole or
part by merchants and manufacturers. Those whose
capital has most largely profited by the modern
concentration of labour have thus been amongst the
first to recognise the claims of the industrial classes,
by making permanent provision on a general scale
for their comfort and recreation, and enjoyment.
Through the munificence of Sir D. Baxter, Dundee
is now added to the number of towns thus tavoured.
The beautiful park which this public-spirited mer-
chant has presented to his fellow-townsmen was
opened on Tuesday, Lord Russell gracing the occasion
with his presence, and appropriately summing up the
feeling which such an act naturally inspires :
‘‘ Happy is he who can give to those in populous
city pent' a rest from exhausting toil amid scenes
which invigorate the body, and turn the mind to
the contemplation of the wonderful works of God."
The political allusions of Lord Russell's address, if
deficient in the charm of novelty, were nevertheless
Imenlierly fitted to such an occasion. We have no
doubt heard before of the noble lord's share in the
repeal of the Corporation and Test Acts, as well as
in the great Municipal and Parliamentary Reform.
But for this very reason, because a reference to
these measures is so familiar and commonplace, we
are too much disposed to overlook the great social
and political revolution they represent, and while
enjoying the beneficent results of this revolution► it
is well that we should be reminded now and then
of the struggles through which it was achieved,
and learn to connect our superior advantages with
their true cause. There is a far closer connec-
tion between the Parliamentary Reform of thirty
years since and the People's Parks of to-day than
careless observers might be disposed perhaps to
imagine. It was substantially the battle of popular
rights and political justice against the combined
forces of clads, privilege, and accumulated wrongs ;
and its success gained for the people the position
out of which People's Parks, popular educatiou, end
number less of her schemes of industrial elevation and
social reform arose. That great instalment of public
justice, with the measures in favour of political and
religious liberty it produced, did much to remove
the bitter alienation that had grown up between
the governing classes and the people, established
an understanding between them, and laid for the
first time a solid basis of future action for the com-
mon good. It is enough to glance at the history of
this country daring the years which preceded the
Lela ling of the Reform Bill to be convinced of this.
We can baldly now even conceive of the terrible
social and politic:el condition of England during the
fifteen years that intervened between the peace and
the era of successful reform. The Government of
the day was not only destitute of popular sympathy
and support, but waged an active and determined
warfare against the people. It was the era of the
Hampden Clubs, the march of the Blanketeers. the
so-called Derby insurrection, and the political trials
for alleged blasphemy and sedition. At the time
when Lord Russell first entered public life the govern,

i UPS AND DOWNS OF AN ACTOR'S LIFE.

Oa Monday, a case most painfully illustrative of
the viei:isitudvs of an actor's life came before the
bench at Hull. A rairidle-aged man, named James
Clifford, of wretched and half-starved appearance,
and whose only covering consisted of shirt, ti °users,
and boots, was placed at the bar charged with
having attempted to commit suicide by jumping
into the Humber Dock on Saturday evening. A
young man, named Thomas Beautyman, a licensed
porter, stated that on that evening he was going
along the Humber Dock side, when he observed the
prisoner jump from the quay into the water. The
witness at once raised an alarm, and also got into
a boat with a view of saving the life of the unfor-
tunate man. After considerable difficulty and the
lapse of about five minutes he was successful in his
endeavours. The would-be suicide was hauled on
to the quay and handed over to the custody of the
police. The prisoner on being asked by the magi-
strate what he had to say for himself made the fol-
lowing statement : He said that for about 40 years
he had been a travelling performer with portable
theatres, and had performed at Winn's Theatre, as
Drypool Feast. He had once been in very com-
fortable circumstances, and had plenty of friends,
but latterly he had become very much reduced. He
had been compelled to part with all his clothes ex-
cept those few rags which now covered his body.
He soon found that when his clothes were gone his
friends had also flown, and those who had once ap-
peared to be the firmest of friends had now become
almost his greatest enemies. When he was left in
an almost naked state, he found it absolutely im-
possible to obtain an engagement, and having
nothing wherewith to procure food his existence
became miserable in the extreme. During the latter
part of last week he had wandered about houseless,
homeless, and friendless, and ou Friday and Satur-
day had nothing to eat. On the evening of the
last named day the rain was falling very fast, and
on meeting a policeman he asked if he would be
allowed to go into the lock-up for the night. He

was informed by the officer that unless he had com-
mitted some crime he could not be locked up. Being
wet, cold, and hungry—in fact, just on the verge of
starvation—he sought refuge under the dock sheds,
and whilst he was so sheltering he began to con-
sider which would be the best way to pursue in his
then lone and desolate circumstances. He con-
sidered that he had neither clothes, food, shelter, or
friends, and was at a loss how to proceed. If he
had had his clothes he would have known how to
proceed, but in his then state before any respecta-
ble manager he would have been naturally told that
he was "worse than a shoeblack." Therefore at the
time he thought there was only one way for him,
and he determined to take it. He therefore got up
from the place where he was sheltering, walked to
the edge of the quay, and jumped into the water.
This was al: that he (prisoner) had to sup. Such a
thing had never before passed in the drama of his
life, and he hoped that it would be a caution for the
future, for if he lived he would long remember it.
During the time the prisoner was making the above
statement the most breathless silence prevailed in
the court. Mr. Winn, the proprietor of the portable
theatre which has been exhibiting near the Drypool
Church since the Drypool Feast, was iu the court.
He came forward and said that he had known the
prisoner for upwards of twenty years, during which
period the prisoner had been under his management
in several portable theatres. In the whole of this
time he had never known him commit an offence
similar to the one with which be was now charged.
He had always been a steady and inoffensive man.
The witness aso further stated that about a fort-
night ago the prisoner and his wife quarreled. In
consequence of this he took to drinking. His
wife left him and took away with her his wardrobe,
thus depriving him of the means of going on the
stage. The witness had several times sent for the
prisoner to return to his theatre, directing the
messengers to tell him that he was quite agreeable
to take him on. The witness supposed that
through shame the prisoner declined an offer.
Whatever might be the cause, however, he did not
accept Mr. Winn's offer, and he (witness) was very
much astonished when on the previous night he
heard that the prisoner had attempted to commit
suicide. He could come to no other conclusion than
that ho had been induced to commit the rash act
through want of food and through in toxicsting
drink. Even at that moment he (witness) was
quite willing to take the prisoner hack into his em-
ployment. His worship pointed out to the pri-
soner the folly of the course of conduct which he
had pursued. As the witness, however, had so
kindly come forward to speak for him, and had even
promised to take him halo his service, he should
discharge him. A subscription was got up amongst
the attorneys and several gentlemen in court, We,
worship also contributing, and upwards of 15e. were
placed in the hands of the prisoner, WI he left the
court a happier and no doubt a 'wiser man. His
worship also presented ss. to Beautyman, for the
promptitude and presence of mind which he had
shown in rescuing the prisoner from a shocking and
untimely end.