The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-02 00:00:00

THE REVOLT IN ALGERIA,

of being in the wrong. Cela va sans dire, that this
is always the case when foreign policy is discussed
at present. Instead of trying to put aside the attacks
of his adversary, he generally endorses his accu-
sations with unnecessary force, and eagerly admits
all that in its enunciation has told against him.
Lord DERBY very properly contrasted the conduct
of the Messrs. LAIRD with that of the Foreign
Secretary, and alluded to the unwarrantable manner
in which the Government had acted le;arding the
production of the papers. This refusal or hesita-
tion alone stamps the conduct of the authorities as
subt:e and delusive. The whole transaction is in-
deed marked with the greatest duplicity, and the
affair very much resembles those underhand dealings
and covert attacks which the generation of the good
old times would have called un-English, but which
must now, alas, be considered as the definition of
our tactics and the ruling spirit of our councils.
Lord DERBY also made 'reference to the manner in
which our Government had been imposed upon by
a report, which had turned out to be a forgery, con-
cerning the Confederate States. He eagerly advo.
cated the claims of British subjects, and contended
that injustice had been done to them by the conduct
of the noble lord. Earl RUSSELL'S reply to these
strictures was given in his hardest and most imprac-
tic ble stsle• All he had done was right from the
2s
beginniccr, and no inconvenience to those whom he
h!.d interfered with gave him the slightest uneasi-
ness, or caused him any regret. This was the sub-
stance of his discourse, and when one reads his
irritating speech, full of the most unworthy senti-
ments, we cannot but rejoice that the manly utter-
ances and striking
expressions of Lord DERBY have
gone forth to the world aide by side with the maun-
dering arguments and waspish remarks of the noble
lord who tells us to rest and be thankful in a state
of affairs unparalleled in the memory of the present
generation for danger ant: difficulty.
Lord RUSSELL'S speeches is alwaT same. Ho
The text ofa
the
entertained great fears lest the course of
1 events
the conduct of individuals should off, d the F and
ede-
rals, and give the United States a just ground for
hostilities. Is this the tone which should actuate
nn English Minister in descanting upon subjects

out, and more is the pity, for our national diversions
are not too numerous ; it is true that the village
maypole has long been replaced by Jack-in-the-
green, and May Queens are only to be found in
glees and cantata. Still something of poetry clings
to the ancient festival, although the May sunbeams
may find us still plodding on our usual routine
existence amid the hum and bustle of cities instead
of " hastening to the woods away." There are
other associations too, less romantic but not less
pleasing connected with the first of May. The pre-
sent generation chiefly think of the Mayday belie
day as it affected the tribes of little chimney sweeps
to whom the kindness of a benevolent lady long
rendered it an especial festival. That one day of
happiness did much no doubt to enliven the weary
year of these little ill-used urchins, both in prospect
and retrospect. Kindness and good cheer were
theirs at least one day of the 365, and we may be
sure that no fair village maiden, longing to wear her
mimic crown " beneath the hawthorn on the
green" looktd forwra to the memorable day with
more eager animation than did these poor children
to their yearly treat. 'The old custom has now
fallen into desuetude, owing it was thought to the
suppression of the trade. Wise and good men have
succeeded, after much labour, in getting an act
passed rendering any one who employsboys of tens
der age to sweep chimneys liable to punishment.
Much good has no doubt been done, but some re-
mains to do, and we trust the public will help the
good cause by their warm and constant support.
It appears from the facts brought forward by Mr.
DIGBY SEYMOUR on Friday evening, that in many
places the act against employing boys in chimney
sweeping is a dead letter. In Birmingham the
practice is reported increasing, while in Manchester
it is even carried so far that girls of tender age are
employed in the dangerous and miserable task.
When such is the state of things in the great
centres of our commercial activity, it is not, per-
haps, surprising that affairs shduld be even worse
in more rural districts. At Ashton and Staley-
bridge, it appears from evidence that no less than
73 chimneys were swept in the course of three days
by boys employed by only one master, and as there
is no reason to suppose that his competitors were
innocent of the offence, we must conclude that the
number of victims to this cruel practice is very
great in those places alone. At Buckingham, most
of the inhabitants, in defiance of the Act, prefer to
have boys, and prominent among them is one of the
legislators themselves, who has apparently no more
respect for law than for humanity. Other locali-
ties are equally culpable—in one, the fine of the
parish church being swept by a boy head down-
wards; in another, two inquests having been
lately held on boys killed in the act. Accord-
ing to the evidence of a Leicester magistrate,
there is a regular system of hire and sale of
these unfortunate children carried on, and for
many years people believed that the practice was
entirely abandoned ! It is needless to recapitulate
the horrors of the trade—the dreadful apprentice.-
ship of hardening the tender young flesh by means
of brine rubbed in before a hot fire, the sores, the
deformity, the " sooty cancer" which adds to the
terrors of their fate. As Mr. SEYMOUR very justly
observed in statement of their case, the horrors of
negro slavery are exceeded by the daily miseries
undergone by the chimney-sweepers' miserable
assistants. How is it, then, that Englishmen
must bear such a reproach to their humanity
as the sufferance or even the encourage-
ment of such a trade ? How is it that
any question of trivial advantage of conveniences
is suffered to weigh against the tortures inflicted on
these poor little children ? How is it that open
infraction of the law is constantly practised, and
that magistrates so far from rooting out the evil
by every means in their power, and visiting the
offenders with the severest penalties allowed them
actually hesitate to enforce the law and shrink from
the ireposition of fines ? Such apathy is marvellous.
It was assuredly never intended at the time of pass-
ing the Act that it should be a dead letter. Have
we then gone backwards in our social progress, has
our humanity grown cooler and more calculating,
our sense of justice less acute, that so far from taking
fresh steps for the protection of the weak and help-
less, we do not even usa the weapons provided for
us in their behalf. It is quite time that this was
looked too, and Mr. DIGBY SEYMOUR deserves the
thanks of all humane persons, as he will assuredly
obtain those of his poor oppressed little clients, for
bringing the matter forward. The learned gentle-
man reminded the House of the fact that in Soo t-
ined the practice was unknown, owing to the police
being empowered to interfere, and to master sweeps
requiring a licence which of course is forfeited by
misconduct, Here then is a very serious evil, one

PROCLAMATION OF VII DUKE DE MALAKOFF
ALGIERS, April 21.

The following proclamation has been issued by
Marshal Pelissier, Duke de Malakoff, Governor-
General of Algeria, to the Arab and Kabyl tribes ;
" Troubles have broken out in the south of the
division of Oran, and Si Seliman, the bachsaga, of
the ()tiled Sidi-Cheikb, departing from the course
honourably pursued.
"Si Hamsa, his father, and Si-bou Beker, his
brother, have become the chiefs of the movement.
" The commandant of the circle of Tiaret, who
repaired to Ain-bou-Beker, with a detachment of
infantry and some gonms, was surprised by the
insurgents. A portion of the goums abandoned
him, and this Superior officer was cut off with the
few men who remained.

....
" Si Seliman was killed at the commencement of
the engagement, but his young brother, who suc-
ceeded him, has also incited the populations to
revolt.
" Many tribEs of the south have replied to his
appeal, and chiefs who have long followed the flag
of Fran•:.e have placed themselves at their head.
"Troops are now on the march, and the insurrec-
tio❑ will soon be suppressed. No one can entertain
the idea that France does not chastise treason, that
she does not maintain her authority where she has
established it, and where she exercises it with justice
and benevolence.

" These events, however, and the corammts to
which they give rise, may throw disquietude into
the minds of the chiefs and the populations.
"There are people who incessantly declare that
the Arab nation has ceaml to exist, and that the
time is at hand when back-aghas, caids, cheiks, cad-
his, and others, will completely disappear.
" These words are without aim ; they are not the
expression of the idea of the French Government.
" Let the native chiefs be reassured, and the tribes
remain calm.

"Is this a time, when the abundant harvest
of last par, and the hope of a more magnificent re-
turn in the present, give to all the hope of comfort
and pio!perity, to recommence disorders, wars, and
insurrections, with the inevitable misfortunes fol-
lowing in their track'!
" If the populations, forgetful of the past, have
no confidence in the present, let them reperuse the
letter addressed to me by the Emperor on the 6th
February, 1863.
" They will there see how benevolent are the in-
tentions of the Government towards them. They
will find a sure guarantee for the future in his Ma-
jesty's words—. I am as well the Emperor of the
Arabs as the Emperor of the French.'
" The Governor General of Algeria,
"Marshal PELISSTER, Duc de Malaloff.''