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

THE SUN, LONDON; SATURDAY EVENING, JUNE 18, 1864.

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, end 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 oppression has not "grown sacred in its venerable
wrong," as the poet tells us of ante-revolutionary
France, other evils scarcely less formidable have
done so. Now, however, a more energetic spirit is
I infused into the dolce 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
oar supremacy depends on something more than
jewelled robes or courtly retinues; they must under-
stand that we do not depend on such adjuncts for
power,or dignity,orposition. ButAnglo•lndians 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 Englishman'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
tegislating 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 pomp
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 o:

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 c;eared up. But how many
more sacrifices does Sir CHARLES \VooD require
to satisfy the Moloch of routine beforo he will con-
sent to the removal of the seat of Government to
some less perilous situation ?

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 amount of
work in as brief a space as possible; but the fact
of this victim dying in harness, as it were, natu-
rally struck conviction to the startled mind, and
made the thoughtless hear it. The worst of all this
undue excitement is, that people are too prone to
let the whole affair become a nine days, wonder,
and thus go on as bad as before. At all events, the
subject 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 more than a year had elapsed since
the distressing incident had callel public attention
to the topic. His Lordship also alludel to 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 SHAFTESB URY remarked relative to the
time that had elapsed before the report was furnished
He said that it was to be regretted that the Corm
missioners had withheld the report upon the mili-
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 " Parliament might
have legislated to meet a great and crying
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
this
they adjudicate the difficulties and adjust the differ-
ence of the question. It is sad to reflect that during
gay season the ruin of constitutions is being
effected,
that the close rooms and constant employ-
ment at unhealthy avocations are sapping the
strength, and
that in wearing out in youth the energies
happier circumstances, and with
preserving
Care, might have flourished un-
impaired until a green old . age. There
could have been no actual necessity for
delaying
and allowing the months of
Pass by Without improving them.
However, "Better late than never" is a wise adage of
session to all this time,
ttihmie..hsi sionou
re-d 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.
ticu larclaims will be made to give way to the pri-
mary and important question of health. We have
he opinion of so excellent an authority as Lord
SHAFTESBURY to vouch for the zeal and ability that
nava been displayed by the Commission in the pur-
suit of their arduous task, and therefore there is

good ground for expecting that the subject has been
grappled with in a competent manner, and that
there will dawn at last a ray of hope on the dark•
ened toil of that much-efflic-ed 'race, the needle-
women and apprentice. It is a disuse:, to all civil-
isation, a blot on our refinement, and a scandal on
our benevolence that for so long a period these
4' crying evils," as Lord SHAF7ESBURY has aptly de-
nominated them, should have been rebuked to exist
without a remedy. The indiffarecce which has been
so strikingly manifested was repulsed in stirring
words by a master mind. II is many years since
HOOD addressed this impreEsive language to the
hosts of unthinking individuals who cared only for
the work and thought nothic; of the worker—

"It is not linen you're wearing out,
But human ere itures'liv,s."
This outburst of genuine feeling was warmly
applauded at the time, but what EfftcL
did it produce. How many toil-worn, ground
down fellow-mortals have sine passed to GOD'S
judgment seat to bear witness to the cruelty and
cold-heartedness of their bret]ren on the earth. It
is a distressing picture to dwell upon, and there-
fore people adopt the easiest ?lan, they put it aside;
but those who suffer their mines to figure as the
patrons of charitable instititions, and do their
best or rather their worst to propagate the ills of
the sempstress or the tailor are deceivers in the
truest sense of the term. Now that the ques-
tion has been again mootee, it is to be trusted
that attention will be drawn to it, and that some
remedial measures will be doised. Lord SHAFTES-
BURY gave a practical hint, wren he remarked that
if the " Legislature had wislom enough to pass
good sanitary laws, and compel their adoption by
a system of inspectorship, the burden upon the
taxesnt h fr
dt h sn
h countryte would be reduced by at least.
° course of the next five years."
This is perfecctly true, and perhaps this aspect of
the question may attract the attention of those who
otherwise would have let it alone. "he fiscal cone
sideration will be thought of when the claims of
justice and the voice of charity may plead in vain.
" The tender for another's pain, the unfeeling for
his own," is often verified with too mich exactitude.
There exists, then, every inducemew to enforce the
subject of the needlewomen of Loadon upon the
attention of the Legislature, ani the time has
surely come when the question will meet with due
regard. The right-minded must Mint that they
did iucur a very fearful responsibilty if they any
longer neglect the call of suffering humanity,
which from many a crowded room and many a
bed of sickness exhorts them to lead their aid and
provide a remedy.

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