The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-18 00:00:00

path of Indian progress has retarded their comple•
tion. It should be one of the first objects with all
Indian officials at home and abroad to supply all
parts of India with water, and the magnificent rivers
which flow through our dominions ought to render
such a task by no means formidable to English en-
terprise and engineering skill. We need not wonder
at the apparent strangeness of the delay, since the
City of Palaces itself has never been able to boast a
good supply of water, so that the very officials
whose supineness is complained of must have
shared the inconvenience. India is a country
where abuses flourish in respectable antiquity, and
if oppressio❑ has not "grown sacred in its venerable
wrong," as the poet telle us of ante-revolutionary
France, other evils scarcely less formidable have
done so. Now, however, a more energetic spirit is
infused into the dace far niente existence dear to
Anglo Indians. The new Viceroy is no friend to
wrongs, however venerable, and has no mercy for
idlers, however much tempted. He has kept
steadily at his post, and has kept other people at
theirs, doing so much work himself that no subor-
dinate could complain of increased labour. So as
complaints must be made, it has been discovered that
the new Governor-General is parsimonious—a very
safe fault for a Governor-General in a country like
India! Another serious crime is his dislike of un-
necessary pomp and state, and great was the amaze-
ment felt and expressed when the Viceroy rode into
Simla on horseback without any gorgeous retinue,
like any private gentleman. Sir JOHN LAWRENCE
is too well versed in native ways to carry this
simplicity too far, and when necessary we do not
doubt he will assume whatever increase of dignity
extraneous aids can give him, but for ordinary
occasions this total absence of pretensions is not
without its moral. The native chiefs must learn that
our supremacy depends on something more than
jewelled robes or courtly retinues; they muss under-
stand that we do not depend on such adjuncts for
power,ordignity,orposition. ButAnglo•ludians have
probably something also to learn, and it will be
well if the Governor succeeds in introducing a more
English tone into the life of his countrymen, in
making them look on India as a field for the dis-
play of those qualities which have made our coun-
try great, and our colonies fortunate, not a mere
" Tom Tiddler's Ground" to pick up money, nor a
stage to play the part of king or chieftain, but the
sphere for an Euglishman's working energies. To
live at Rome as the Romans do may be very good
advice when given to a traveller passing a few idle
months in the country, but if the traveller were
,egislating for Rome, and was to follow his profes-
sion there, he might naturally be supposed to in-
fluence its mode of living instead of being influ-
enced by it. In matters of diet and other questions
of prudence it would be sometimes well to follow
the native example a little more closely, but pow
and extravagance, however dear to the hangers-on
of native princes, are not consonant with the cha-
racteristics of an active and intelligent English-
man. It is matter for congratulation that Sir
JOHN LAWRENCE has passed through his first
months at Calcutta unscathed, and has now reached
Simla, after a journey in which he was everywhere
received with the greatest cordiality. In some
places the villages were illuminated in his honour.
As yet he has happily fulfilled all the auguries of
his being the "right man in the right place," and
we may hope, under his supervision, to see some of
the long arrears of much needed public reforms
and improvements cleared up. But how many
more sacrifices does Sir CHARLES WOOD require
to satisfy the Moloch of routine before he will con-
sent to the removal of the seat of Government to
some less perilous situation P

It was in the middle of last season that the busy
world of fashion was frightened from its propriety
by learning of the sudden death of one of the slaves
of the needle. Many thousands perish in conse-
quence of the fearful pressure that is put upon
them in order to accomplish a given amouit of
work in as brief a space as possible; /..,at the fact
of this victim dying in harness., "as it were, natu-
rally struck conviction to %ee startled mind, and
made the thoughtless '..,ear it. The worst of all this
undue excitemer:, is, that people are too prone to
let the wb:ie affair become a nine days, wonder,
and Ur.,
go on as bad as before. At all events, the
9"soject has not been allowed to drop, for Lord
CARNARVON has called attention to it in the House
of Lords. The Government had promised that a
Commission should inquire into the state of work-
rooms, more especially with a view to their venti-
lation. Lord CARNARVON very properly complained
that nothing had been seen of the result of these
labours, though mere than a year had elapsed since
the distressing incident had called public attention
to the topic. His Lordship also allude Ito the suf-
ferings which were experienced by tailors, and
hoped that some sanitary regulations might be en-
forced with regard to them. It was very neces-
sary that before the close of the session something
should be known about the matter. It is satisfac-
tory that Lord GRANVILLE was able to state that
this very desirable request would be acceded to ;
but, at the same time, there seems great reason in
what Lord SHAFTESBURY remarked release to the
time that had elapsed before the report was furnished.
He said that it was to be regretted that the Com-
missioners had withheld the report upon the mill-
ners and dressmakers in order to get further infor-
mation upon the needlewomen and slopwomen of
the East of London. That information was doubt-
less requisite in its way, but considering the extent
and' magnitude of the evils that exist in the West-
end, uo one can fail to concur with the noble lord
in the expression of his regret that the report had
not been presented at the beginning of the session,
as it might have been, and then " Pate iament might
have legislated to meet a great and crying evil—an
evil which was to be remedied by sanitary rather
than by other regulations." There is always some•
thing of this sort to deplore and deprecate, when
any particular case of suffering calls for class legis-
lation and extensive interference. So much is sud-
denly discovered that it is absolutely necessary to
find out, so many inquiries must be made, that the
time consumed is something dreadful to contem-
plate, when it is remembered that health is at stake,
and that life and death tremble in the balance while
they adjudicate the difficulties and adjust the differ-
ence of the question. It is sad to reflect that during
this gay season the ruin tif constitutions is beieg
effected, that the close rooms and constant employ.
ment at unhealthy avocations are sapping the
strength, and wearing out in youth the energies
that in happier circumstances, and with
preserving care, might have flourished un-
impaired
until a
dtheilsaysiensgsion to
green old age. There
could have been no actual necessity for
all this time, and allowing the months of
pass by
without improving them.
However, "Better late than never" is a wise adage of
time-honoured reputation, and let us hope that next
year will see a total change in the management of the
work-room generally, and that all private and par-
ticular claims will be made to give way to the pri-
mary and important question of health. We have
the opinion of eo excellent an authority as Lord
SHAFTESBURY to vouch for the zeal and ability that
nave been displayed by the Commission in the pur-
suit of their arduous task, and therefore there is