The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-21 00:00:00

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HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
T ais DAY.—Mcming, sa. 30m.—Afternoon, sh. 50m.
fo-molutow.-Morning, 6'l. 15mt.—Afternoon, 6h. 40e.

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S
I i., lilt ,_,,

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, SEPT. 21, 1864.

Herr BISMARK is a politician t hat it is difficult
for those in this country to understand. He sets
out with quite different views, and his ideas on all
subjects are so totally dissimilar to those of English-
men that it is no wonder if they are puzzled and
perplexed when they attempt to interpret them.
Still the broad principles of right and wrong must
be the same in every land, the particulars of policy
necessarily vary, and the opinions of the people are
of course contrary to those at home; but wrong,
spoliation, and oppression can by read by Christian
or heathen, civilised or savage. After the course
pursued by the Prussian Government during the
whole of this deplorable and despicable confltet, it
is astounding to hear of the people of Berlin making
hero of M. 131smame, and rejoicing at the down.
fall of their enemies, as if they were in the least
danger from them, and hailed the overthrow of
overwhelming forces that were bound to crush
them. It must be confessed by the admirers of
Germany that such a manifestation of popular feel-
je 0. and such a political exhibition is a disgrace to
Prussia and a dishonour to Berlin. For a people
to identify themselves, as they have done, with one
of the most uncalled for and cruel wars that have
ever sullied the page of history, is monstrous, and
it for ever lowers the standard of Prussian cha-
racter, and puts a stop to the notion that was be-
coming prevalent as to the spread of the principles
of liberty taking place in that country. The ac-
counts received relative to AI. BISALSRICS entry into
Berlin are most extraordinary, and it shows a deep.
rooted feeling of syrnpsthy in the inhabitants
with the whole tenour of his policy, that
they should thrust themselves forward Ethel
this fasEi-in to bestow upon him grstui-
touely, as it were, a public testimony of his
merit and a recogn:tion of his services. The
few words which he addressed to his admirers are
certainly most sigLificatt and"deserve to be dwel►
upon. The spirit of the Prussian policy is expressed
in these subtle phrases. The intentions of the
Prussian Government stand clear and unmistak..
able in these smooth and Slippery sentences. In

the first place, Herr BISMARK does not do hinnteit
justice, for he declines to receive the merit that
others ascribe to his doiegs. It is the KING they

are told who alone is to be praised. This will not
do, because it is well known what zeal and assiduity
M. BIsMARK has displayed from the outset of this
unhappy Dano-German war, and before that
catastrophe took place, we all remember what
a foe he was to the liberties of Prussia ;
how he overawed all independent members
in the Chamber ; how he ruled as impotent in the
Cabinet, are facts that cannot be denied. Besides,
ins he not followed the KING about like a shadow,
never suffering him to take recreation, or transact
affairs at a distance without immediately rushing
after him. It is of no avail that this astute States-
man declines the tribute paid to him ; that is only
another skilful arrangement and ingenious device,
but sober lookers on are not thus to be deceived and
cajoled by such very transparent devices. Further
on Herr BIS-M ARK became almost profane, for he
says that PROVIDENCE has blessed the evening of
the KING'S days by bestowing victory on the
Prussian army. Can anything be more unsuitable
or more repugnant to all notions of propriety. Can
any thing be a more direct contradiction to the DIVINE
laws, and a more resolute infringement to the
DIVINE code than the manner in which the Prussians
have carried on their tactics from the first, and now
we are to be told that it is through the favour of
HEAVEN that these atrocities have been committed
and this injustice perpetrated, at which the civilisa-

tion of Christian states are scandalised. Some wars
are necessary, others are justifiable,, but neither
term applies to the outrageous course pursued by
Prussia during the whole of this affair. Instead of
Prussia declaring that it was with the help of a
higher Power she has produced this misery, Den-
mark may with better right demand the protection
from above, and leave retribution to the same
source. To her may be applied the words which
celebrate an outrage and a wrong—
" Lo, where she lies embalmed in gore
The voice of justice cries,
The floodgates of her blood implore
For vengeance from the skies."
When men can go so far as Herr BISMARK and
openly thank GOD that they have been able to
design such injustice, and been instrumental in
enabling others to carry it out, it shows very
clearTy what respect is due to them, and it is to the
friendship and goodwill of such a nation that Eng-
land -is to hold dearer than her honour—more
potent to influence her than the time-honoured
notion of defending the oppressed, and of more con-
sequence than self-respect, national prestige, and
the preservation of good faith. Truly we live in
strange times, but doubtless the most speculative
and prophetic never supposed that we were to wit■
ness such an anomaly in our public career, and
stoop to the depths of such an utter degradation.
Herr BIsMARK concluded his emphatic address by
touching upon his favourite topic—the duty which
the people owed to their Sovereign. The Parlia-
ment was, of course, a nonentity in his harangue,
the wishes of the people but cyphers in
his consideration. It is lamentable to see a
fine oDuntry thus stultify itself as Prussia has
done—thus throw away her chances of success in

he struggle for freedom, and thus mix herself up

in the continental endeavours for tyranny and
misrule. Not content with that, she is now the
prominent picture in our eyes; she stands forth
the representative of oppression and the example
of covetousness. Instead of being the disciple of
progress, she is now the votary of a retrograde
movement. M. BISMARK'S remarks were few,
and not characterised by his usual earnestness or
excitement ; but they were quite scaling for us
to bear ; they declare his intentions, they reveal
his policy, they show that so far from regretting
the sacrifices or grieving fcr the sufferings
that he has caused, he glories in them; so

far from hoping they may turn out better than
has been supposed, ha wishes them not to do so.
He may be a very clever man who is wise in his
generation, but it is not always the oppressor in
his pride and the despoiler in his might who are to
be envied or trusted in. They may gain their im-
mediate object, but the seeds of decay are sown in
such attempts and projects, and if
.111Eatt BISMARK
had made a more elaborate harangue, and discoursed
yet more fluently regarding the validity of his
cause, the successes of the Prussian army, and the
wisdom and goodness of the King, he would not

have produced any more effeot. When injustice
and cruelty are the ruling spirits of a nation's policy,
eloquence may exhaust itself and ingenuity be ex-
pended in the endeavour to make right wrong, but
the Efforts will fail, and in the light of truth and
reason only appear as sounding brass or as a tink-
ling symbol.

The condition of the large portion of our indus-
trial classes who gain their living by the needle has
long attracted the attention of philanthropists.
Very recently its evils have received a practical
illustration in the death of the unfortunate young
woman LUCRETIA JEFPREYS, who, whatever the
antecedents of her family, undoubtedly laboured
assiduously to support herself, and only earned so
miserable a pittance that death from starvation was
the result. Some time since a similar case of dis-
tress was brought to light by the death from desti-
tution of a respectable widow who had endeavoured
to earn her bread by some inferior branch of needle-
work. But these are by no means solitary instances.
Every season has its own sad story, every rank or
degree of workers its own tragedy. The same en-
forced monotonoua labour that breaks down the
forces of the poor slopworker in her garret, produces
its fatal effects in the fashionable establishments of
Mayfair. In the one case it is aided by absolute
want of food, in the other, though there is no lack
of nourishment, there is an equal deficiency in the
supply of as great a necessary, fresh air. What
hunger and cold do in the one instance, overcrowd-
ing and deficient ventilation do in the other, but
excessive application with the needle is the prime
agent of death and disease in both. Poor HOOD,
that large-ifearted philanthropist, felt for the suffer-
ings of both classes, and while his " Song of the
Shirt" has stirred the hearts of thousands, and
given a voice that will not be silenced to the lonely,
oppressed victim of commercial selfishness and ex-
cessive competition, his "Lady's Dream" has
painted in scarcely less pathetio colours the troop
of fair young girls who

"For the pomp of pride
Haste to an early tomb."

But, however much we may deplore the sufferings
of the overworked and underpaid needlewomen, and
for the equally unfortunate, but less pitied, tailors,
it is extremely difficult to deal with Either branch
of the subject. Tailors and needlewomen of all
kinds undoubtedly contribute very largely to our
annn tl mortality ; they supply our hospitals,
our workhouses, our graveyards, in extravagant
proportion to the rest of the working com-
munity, while the ranks of the unfortu-
nate women are moat largely reinforced
from needlewomen and domestic servants. Such
results are only what may reasonably be expected
from excessive and depressing toil, without the
means of providing for sickness, age, or accident,
nay, even without being able to gain sufficient for
a modErate livelihood. Yet it is wholly against
the recognised principles of our social system to
regulate the price of labour; and, supposing
it to
be possible to limit the hours of work in profes-
mai establishments, it would be impossible to do

so with regard to piece work, which all out-door
workers are engaged upon. Accordingly, the evil
has gone on from year to year, from generation to
generation ; for the years of a needleworker's life
are not to be measured by the ordinary standard,
without skill, science, or charity being able to find
a remedy. A new hope is, however, dawning in
the introduction of the sewing machine into general
use. At first, indeed, its advent was the signal for
a general outcry, and it was feared that it would
only serve to make the position of the sempstress
worse than before. There is no doubt, like all such
inventions, it has occasioned some temporary in-
convenience. Every mechanical contrivance which
substitutes artificial for human power is certain to
throw many out of work, and equally certain to call
forth a strong opposition from interested parties.
But it has invariably proved that machines instead
of injuring trade eventually improve it, by in.
creasing the amount of work done, and by calling
into action more hands than they have thrown out
of work. The sewing machines are likely to prove
no exception to this rule. It may be contended
that the work of their construction is not to be
counted (although their manufacture, together with
that of the silk, cotton, Sze., used is an important
consideration), as they are made by men, while it is
women's work for which they are mainly substi-
tuted. But the increased wages are a substantial
advantage to the down-trodden needlewomen ; and
when we hear of shirt collar makers earning from
twelve to twenty shillings a week, and think of the
long hours of labour which would be needed to earn
a quarter of that amount by hand labour, we shall
be inclined to wish the hand machines at all events
to have a fair trial. As the wants of civilisation
increase and the population steadily augments,
there is not much probability of a lack of work to
be done. The question is how it can be
done with most satisfaction to the employer
and with most advantage to the worker. As
it is the intervening classes absorb the profit, and
the extravagant sums paid by the actual owner are
filtered through so many receptacles that, when
they reach the actual worker very little is left.
We have heard of a sempstress receiving seven-
pence halfpenny for making a mantle which was
sold at a guinea—the cost of the material being very
trifling. In the days of sewing machines, a day's
labour would be worth something more than seven•
pence halfpenny, even to an inexpert hand. The
'cute Americans have not been slow to recognise
the advantages of the invention, and one of their
principal factories produces a thousand machines in
a week. Four years ago the value of the sewing
done in America by machinery was estimated at
nearly sixty millions, and at the present time that
immense amount, if then correct, must be consider-
ably exceeded. In our own country it has had
great difficulties to contend against in the obstacles
offered by the patent laws, in the opposition of the
trades' unions, in the lack of workers to use it. It
would be a good opening for charitable enterpeise
to establish a school or class for the instruction of
young women who might be desirous to learn the
use of a sewing machine. At present, friendless or
penniless sempstresses would find it very difficult to
obtain the requisite instruction, and must be tanta-
Heed by hearing of others working shorter hours,
earning as much in a day as their unremitting
labour does in a week. There are several associa-

tions whose express object it is to improve the con-
dition of women, more especially by introducing

,hem to new fields of labour. Cannot some of

these come forward to help the friendless needle-
woman over the barrier that separates her from the
means of obtainimg a fair day's wages for a fait
day's work ? Doubts may be raised as to the actual
benefit of the sewing m 'chine, and regrets may be
felt that any change effccting women's principal
resoarce in necessity should have bean introduced
while they are still so almost exclusively dependent
upon it as an industrial resource; but it is very
evident that the change has come, and that it is
worse than useless to oppose it. The progress of
invention and improvement is irresistible, and those
who will not swim with the advancing current, but
persist in obstinately striving against it, must suc-
cumb in the struggle. The great object now is to
enable those who really need it to avail themselves
of thechange, and to secure to the present generation
of workers as much as possible those benefits which
are usually only experienced after long years of
fruit:ess effort and shortsighted opposition.

ANCIENT LONDON.—The marvellous transforma-
tions that have been effected by railways in London
during the past few years, render it of no small importance
to gather up every scrap of topographical lore while a few
sites remain that are dear to history and the Muses. It is
but the other day that we heard of the destruction of
Milton's residence in Barbican. Now we hear that Gold-
smith's residence in Green Arbour-court must share the
same fate. With such changes going on around UP, it is
gratifying to learn that " Aleph," the gifted author of
" London Scenes and London People," has a companion
volume in the press, the title of which is "The Old City,
and its Highways and Byeways." We hear that the
forthcoming work will be rich in personal reminiscences of
historical sites and sketches of remarkable places and per-
sonages, which more or less reflect upon us the light of
other days from the great Old City.
THE BURGLARY AND ROBBERY AT LORD ASH.
BURNHAM'S IN 1861.—N0 doubt the circumstances
of this robbery will be remembered by our readers, as it
created considerable interest in the neighbourhood of Battle.
The perpetrator, who it would appear had been in the ser-
vice of Lord Ashburnham about 18 years ago, obtained an
entrance by a window overlooking the churchyard and made
his way to the small drawing-room where were the articles
in question which he carried away, viz., two silver• gilt em-
bossed goblets, one silver-gilt embossed inkstand (containing
two ink-bottles), one silver-gilt embossed stand for pen-
wiper, and one gilt circular match box. He got c.ff safely
with the plunder, and was not discovered at the time, but
was shortly after arrested on another charge, and sentenced
to penal servitude at Bodmin, in Cornwall. Owing to the
indefatigable exertions of Superintendent Thompson, he
was traced to the convict prison at Portland (from which
he was released on Thursday last), and was immediately
arrested on this charge by Mr Thompson. He was brought
up at the Magistrates' clerk's office, in Battle. on Saturday
afternoon last. His names were said to be Richard Dreaeon
alias Richard Draydon, alias Robert Davis, alias Drayton,
alias Drearden, After evidence had been heard, the pri-
soner on being called on for his defence, said, "I have
nothing to say." He was fully committed for trial at the
next quarter sessions.—Surrey Standard.

A RUSSIAN INCENDIARY FIRE.—A great incen-
diary fire in Russia is reported by Mr Percy
Ffrench, of Monivea Castle, county of Galway, who, in a
letter to the 1 Imes, extracts a description of the fire, writ-
ten by his father-in-law, from Simbirek, where the disaster
occurred. The place was burning for three days, and on
the 21st of August the whole place was in ruins; the cathe-
dral, the churches, the House of Assembly of the nobles,
with its magnificent library, the house of the governor, all
the courts of justice, with their archives, &e. In
fact, a great town, inhabited by thirty thousand people,
was entirely destroyed. No one, he says, can possibly
have an idea of the horror of the spectacle. On the 19th,
when the fire was burning its fiercest, his country house,
about a mile and a half from t he town, was besieged by burnt-
out families, weeping mothers and children,aeking for shelter
and a bit of bread. The ladies established themselves in the
apartments and the gentlemen formed themselves into a guard
for the whole night, because the fire was not an accident, bu t
the result of a horrible plot. The cathedral, the House of
Assembly, and the governor's hotel had been undermined, and
the explosion was terrible. The exasperated people took
justice into their own hands, and they Reined in the act the
Poles serving in the regiments stationed there. The troops
and the people were thus brought into opposition, two
officers and many soldiers were killed, and more serious
troubles were feared. The nobles, to whom the
best part of the town belonged, having been already im-
poverished by the recent reforms, have nothing with
which to rebuild their houses. Some families are entirely
ruined. The Princess X, has saved nothing but what she
had on; her wardrobe, lace, diamonds, &J., everything has
been burnt. The incendiaries had taken to the surrounding
villages, and had already fired some of them, so that he and
his peasants were keeping a careful watch. The day before
the letter_ was despatched passed off quietly, and the people
employed themselves in gathering together the dead, or
which there were a good number.