The Sun.
London, England, 1864-12-01 00:00:00

HID SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVItNING, DECEMBER 1, 1864.

POLICE INTELL IGENCE.—This Day

MARLBOROUGH.STREET.

THE TRAMPS AT ST GEORGE'S WORKHOUSE.—John
Thompson, a stout, healthy-looking young man, was
charged before Mr Knox with behaving in a disorderly
manner at the door of St. George's Workhouse, Mount-
street, Grosvenor-square.

Jeffrey, 209 C, said that at six o'clock yesterday even-
ing he saw about 50 persons, amongst them the prisoner,
trying to get admission in Mount-street. A man struck
the porter, and the prisoner, who was behind him, said,
"Give it to the--." The porter then gave the prisoner
into custody.

Robert Plowright, porter at St George's Workhouse,
said that at six o'clock yesterday evening about seventy or
eighty persons came to the door for admission. He took in
as many as he could—between forty and fifty—Lelecting the
new comers from those who had been admitted on the, pre-
vious night, and while doing so a man, who was one of a
number the prisoner had brought to the place, struck him
a blow. The prisoner and others sang indecent songs, and
made use of very obscene language. The prisoner bad been
to the house nearly every night for months past, and the
policeman and other witnesses had noticed his conduct, and
were hero to speak to it,
In answer to Mr Knox, the porter said he took 48 per-
sons in, and they were making arrangements to admit more.
The prisoner said the porter struck the man first, but the
porter denied this.
The prisoner explained that the man'was let go while ho
was taken into custody, and asked the constable whether
he heard him speak to the porter.
The constable said he did not hear him speak to the
porter, but he heard him say, " Give it to the old --."
The porter said a constable wanted him to give the pri•
soner in charge for his conduct on Monday night last.
Mr Knox said he did not believe a word the prisoner had
said ; it was a tissue of lies. He did not believe the porters
and the constables were all in a conspiracy against him.
He was a young and stout man, and it was disgraceful that
he should hang about such places at all, workhouses being
intended for old and decrepit persons. He should order
the prisoner to find bail in £5 to be of good behaviour for
14 days,

It appears that in consequence of a letter which appeared
in one of the papers respecting persons applying for admis-
sion to St. George's Workhouse, principally tramps, an
inquiry has taken place in the board-room of the workhouse
before Mr R. B. Cano, one of the inspectors of the Poor-
law Board (by direction of the Right Hon. C. P. Villiers,
President of the Poor-law Board) to inquire generally into
the mode of granting relief to the casual poor, and into the
circumstances mentioned in the letter. The Rev. H.
Howarth, the rector, Dr. Brewer, churchwarden, Major'
Lyon, and Mr C. Westorton, governors and directors of
the poor, and Mr T. Chappell, clerk, were present. The
enquiry lasted several hours, and the evidence of the master,
porters, casual ward attendants,and the policeman on duty in
the neighbourhood of the workhouse was fully taken, which
entirely exonerated the parish and officers, and disproved
the statements in the letter. It proved that the tramp wards
on the night in question were not full, that admission had
taken place up to 10 o'clock, and that when the police came
on duty at half-past 10, not a single applicant was at the
workhouse door. It was also proved that mendicants fre-
quent the neighbourhood of the workhouse, and practise
upon the unwary passers upon the plea that they are re-
fused admission to the casual ward. The parish has accom-
modation for 40 males and females, and are about to expend
a large sum in making greater accommodation, and carry
into effect the provisions of the Houselees Poor Act passed
last session, with the recommendation of the Poor Law
Committee thereon.

Adelphi. Theatre,

THE WORKMEN OF PARIS.

A success as complete as it was deserved attended the
first representation of the new dr.ama, entitled, " The Work-
men of Paris ; or the Dramen of the Wins-shop," last night
at this theatre. The play, although it did not terminate
until hard upon twelve o'clock, haying occupied nearly five
hours in its performance, never once became tedious or
tiring : at the fall of the curtain the audience testified
in an unmistakable manner that their expectations had

been satisfied, and thus the stamp of success was fixed in-
delibly on the novelty. The production of a domestic drama
of intense interest with unbounded success at Porte St.
Martin, is a circumstance that does not pass unnoticed by
the raetropolitan managers—on the contrary—there is
generally a very sharp contest fur the right of its exclusive
possession and reprcseut ition, despite the volumes that
have been written to show the uselessness of monopoly.
Yet every person more or less is daily engaged in the
endeavour to secure for himself a slice of the forbidden
dainty ; therefore theatrical managers have a perfect
light to join in the scramble, and lucky is he who succeeds
in securing a priz^, That the new drama, "The Workmen
of Paris," which Mr Webster has obtained the sole right of
performing, will turn out a rich and glorious one, cannot for
a moment, be doubted. It is replete with interest, it is ins
tensely exciting, and capitally acted. Mr B. Webster has
been furnished with a new and original character, which will
take its place next to Triplet and Richard Pride ; and
Mrs Stirling also embodies a part that affords peculiar
scope for her great abilities. The plot of the piece briefly
told is as follows. The curtain rises and discovers a group
of artisans assembled in a cabaret or wine shop in-Paris.
The deli4ht of the day is their only object, the care of the
morrow being anticipatively drowned in th 3 cup each reck-
less mechanic so often raises to his fevered lips. An expert
engineer, named Daubry, who when sober is an exemplary
husband, but who when maddened by drink is the terror of
his home, passes by the spot with his young son that he is
taking to school. -Unable to resist the temptation, and
urged on by his companions, he consents to join the tip-
pling throng. The boy, left to play in the street, is run
over by a carriage, and the mother and sister arrive
only in time to see the child in the hands of
a surgeon, and to bear the brutal taunts of the
now infuriated drunken father, who is spared the
intelligence of the calamity. At a bachelors' party at the
Cafe Bignon the influence of vinous excitement is shewn
on those higher in the social scale, but who are linked with
those humbler personages who have been just presented.
Albert, the son of the Countess of Marsan, has loved and
betrayed Blanche, the daughter of the engineer Daubry. A
Dutch merchant, Van Gratz, has slain this young man's
father in a fit of drunken frenzy some seventeen years
before the period of the play, and he has concealed the
knowledge of the crime from the world, whilst he has en-
riched the impoverished widow and child by way of
atonereent. This merchant is a cold-hearted sceptical
octogenarian, whose eighty years' experience of the world
have only led him to a general disbelief in the punish-
ment of evildoers—as, notwithstanding the selfish life he
has led and the crimes he has perpetrated, fortune has
smiled upon his speculations and he is now a millionaire.
In the waste of his heart there is one green spot on which
rests all that is human within him. He has a grand-
daughter, Jesepha, to whom he is entirely devoted, and
whose happiness he would willingly purchase by all the
wealth he has amassed. She loves Albert, and as a title
will be acquired by the marriage Van Grata has favoured
the lover she has chosen. To obtain a power over him
the old merchant has lured him into dissipation, and at
play Albert has lost more than his resources enable him
to meet, He gives a bond for the amount, and thus
Van Gratz has achieved his purpose. The love the young
man bears the engineer's daughter is, however, a serious
obstacle to the attainment of the old merchant's wishes, and
the rest of the drama is devoted to an illustra'ion of the ex-
pedients used to get rid of the poor girl who is an impedi-
ment in the way. The evils of intemperance are shown
under every phase, and through the fascination of drink he
tempts a dissipated workman to murder her. At the moment
when Blanche in despair flings herself into the Seine the
better nature of the intending assassin prevails, and he
jumps in to save her. The retribution of Van Gratz, which
he had scoffed at as never to arrive, is now at hand ; and
with the hope for which he lived gone, as the rescued
Blanche becomes the wife of the young Count do Marsan,
who was to have been the husband of the granddaughter, he
ends his prolonged existence bitterly lamenting the errors
of his career.

In the embodiment of the character of Van Gratz by
Mr Webster the first thing that strikes the audience is his
wonderful " make up." Every little detail has been care-
fully considered and developed with the hand of a thorough
master of his art, and a more complete and perfect picture
even Mr Webster has never presented to his admirers. The
cold, calculating millionaire, to whom gold is everything
and all-powerful, he performed with an intensity that may
truly be called remarkable, Mrs Stirling, as the wife and
mother of artiz in life, embodied the part with all that
truthfulness and deep feeling which is the peculiar
character of her acting, and Mrs. Alfred Mel_
fon sustained the character of her daughter - Blanche
with truth, feeling, and intensity. Miss H. Simms
had allotted to her a part which suited her to a nicety,
and Mrs Billington infused into the character of the Countess
sufficient dignity. Mr It. Phillip as the engineer Daubry
gave a life-like and natural performance. Mr Billington
was effective as the young nobleman, and Mr Stuart and
Mr Clark each gave their peculiar characters with good
effect.

it The scenery merits the highest approbation. The one
representing the great foundry with the machinery in mo-
tion, and the concluding one, Paris by moonlight, will com-
pare with anything that has yet been produced in the way
of scenic illustration at any metropolitan theatre.
The house was crowded to excess, and at the fall of the
curtain the applause was tumultuous.

Abduction of British Subjects,

The Quebec News publishes the following state.
ments respecting the abduction of British subjects
from Canada, and their sale as substitutes in the
Federal army. It is believed that in these quarters
the same nefarious means are resorted to in order
to obtain recruits, and no means should be left un-
tried to ferret out and punish :he parties who are
guilty of such offences:—
" Through the kindness of his Honour Judge
Maguire, we were shown yesterday a letter dated
the 2811 ult., written and despatched from Coati-
cook, E. 'f., by tho party in charge of the detec-
tives stationed at the lines to prevent crimping for
the Federal army. Iu this letter the writer states,
in proof the extent to which the kidnapping of men
has been carried on in that locality, that upwards
of two hundred have been taken away. About
eighty of the number were first drugged and
made insensible, before they were conveyed away
and sold across the lines. About forty of these had
been taken by force, and many of these had been
seen passing the highway in waggons, with their
arms tied. All this the writer says he has learned
from reliable information furnished to him since his
arrival in the place. He adds that about ten had
been carried off through the effects of chloroform
which was given them in their sleep by parties who
succeeded in entering their rooms through the win-
dows. Some of these narrowly escaped death from
the effects of the drug. Houses had been frequently
broken into and the inmatea carried off by force.
Several parties had beau attacked on the highway
by gangs of men and taken away. In one instance
a man was taken out of a waggon from the side of
his wife, and was threatened with a revolver if she
attempted to make the least alarm. The husband
was carried off, and has not been heard of since.
The writer goes on to multiply outrages of this
nature, saying, others have been gagged and
put out of the way, and others still have had
sacks thrown over their heads to prevent them
shouting, and in this manner thrown into a cart and
driven off. Some have been decoyed to the vici-
nity of the lines, where the ingenious dodge of
slipping something into their pockets, and then
bringing a charge of robbery against them, with
the alternative of enlisting or going to prison, is
practised on the m.' Previous to the stationing of
detectives iu this locality hundreds of substitutes
passed through weekly by the cars, but since pre-
cautions have been taken by the authorities to pre-
vent the practice, the route has been abandoned
altogether. The writer here remarks :—' It may
appear strange that we have not apprehended more
of these parties than we have done; but the reason
of it is, that so soon as one of these substitutes
makes his way back, and before he can be brought
before a magistrate, be is either taken again or
receives money to leave our way, the parties in
the kidnapping business being in regular co-
partnership with one another.' He then goes on
to say that he had been informed by a M. Car-
tier, a merchant of the locality, that fifty French
Canadians, exclusive of other British subjects
and strangers, had been taken out of the village of
Coaticook alone. In conclusion, the writer states
that there are other places in which the inhuman
traffic is siill carried on to the same extent as in
Coaticook previous to the arrival of the detectives
there, and adds that since the date of his last report
his own party have captured four of the villains,
and the party stationed at Stanstead seven more.
"It is now evident, notwithstanding the praise.
worthy measures adopted by the authorities to secure
an abatement of this inhuman traffic of kidnapping
for the Federal service, and the vigilance of the
detectives stationed at the lines, the practice is still
carried on with great audacity, and is likely to be
carried on with a greater still during the coming
winter, unless more stringent measures are taken.
We think the party at the lines should, under the
circumstances, be increased and maintained there
the approaching season."

MARKETS—This Day.