The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-09 00:00:00

T-Sim Office, J'

OYAL ITALIAN OPERA,
Covent-garden.

There will in this week be five opera nights, viz.. Monday,
Tuesday, Thursday, Friday, and t atarday.
Extra Night.
- -

3.1d11e. Adelina Patti ; Signori Rpnconi, Ciampi, and Mario.
THIS. EVENING (THURSDAY), June the 9th, Rossini's
Opera, IL BARBIERE DI SINIULIA. Rosina, 3ldile.
Adelina Patti; Bertha, Madame Tagliafico; Figaro, big-nor
Ronconi ; Bartolo, Signor Ciampi ; Basilio, Signor Tagliafico;
F.orello, Signor Polonini ; barg,ente, Signor Rossi ; and
Almaviva, Signor Mario.
Conductor, Mr. Costa.
Commence at half past Eight.
Pit tickets, 7s. ; amphitheatre eta Is, 10s. 6d., 75., and ss. ;
amphitheatre.;2s. 6d. Boxes, stalls, and tickets may be had
at the box-ofbc? under the portico of the theatre, which is
apen from ten to five, and at the principal musicsellers' and
librarians'.

/THEATRE ROYAL HA YNIARKET.
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr, Buckstone.
THIS EVENING, THE BALANCE OF COMFORT.
Mr. Howe and Miss L. Angel.
Alter which, DAVID GARRICK. Messrs. Sothern,
Chippendale, Buckstone. Rogers, Clark, %I eatheraby, &c. ;
31esdames Snowden, Nelly Moore, Fitzwilliam.
After which, the new Easter piece, entitled VENUS AND
ADONIS. Messrs. Compton, Wm. Farren, Coe, &c.; Mes-
dames Louise Keeiey, Snowden, IN elly l'ower, Hill, Wright,
Rogers, &c.
To conc:ude with AN UNLUCKY MORTAL.
Commence at 7.

ROYAL LYCEUM THEATRE.
Under the Sole Management of Mr. Fechter.
Mr. FECHTER will perform HAMLE f THIS EVENING
(Thursday). Claudius, Mr. Emery ; Polonius, Mr. John
Brougham ; Ghost, Mr. G. Jordan ; Laertes, Mr. C. Vanden-
hsff ; Horatio, Mr. J. G. Shore ; Finit Gravedigger, Mr. H.
Widdicomb ; Osric, Mr. Charles ; Messrs. W M'lntyre,
F. Morton, Raymond, Moreland, Clifford, Edmonds, Wall-
bank, Collett ; Ophelia, Miss Kate Terry ; Actress, Miss 31
Henrade ; and Gertrude, Miss Elsworthy.
The Scenery painted by Mr. W. Telbin.
Notice.—The doors open at half-past 7, and Hamlet COM-
inences at 8.

Box Office open daily from Eleven o'clock till Five.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.-
Sole Lesec and Manager, Mr. Geo. Vining.
THIS EVENING will be performed a new and original
Drama, by R. Slows, Esq., entitled LIGHT AND SHADOW.
Mr. D. Murray, D. Fisher, J. W. Ray, J. Nelson, &c. ; Mils
Stafford and him Caroline Carson.
Atter which, THE CORSICAN BROTHERS. Louis
and Fabien dei Franchi, Mr. Vining; Chateau Renaud, Mr.
Waller Lacy.

NEW THEATRE-ROYAL, ADELPHI.—
Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster.
Last Three Nights of the Great Tragediene, Miss Bateman.
in the character of -LEAH.
THIS EVENING,an apropos Sketch, SHAKESPEARE'S
ZOL, SE : Messrs. J. L. Toole, R. Phillips, Stephenson.
At er which, at 8, LEAH : Miss Bateman, supported by
Messrs. A. Stirling, R. Phillips, Biliington, Stuart, Eburne,
Stephenson ; airs. Bidington.
To conclude with THE AREA BELLE : :fessrs. J. L. Toole
P. Bedford, it. Romer, Miss Woolgar, and Mrs. 11. Lewis.

The Weather

-une 9, 1864.

THERMOMETER.
ThLa day at Two o'clock 7l
Barometer-29.79.
WIND —S.W. ; fine.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
tHis DA-Z.—Morning, sd. 5m.—Afternoon, sh. 22m.
Co-moßß.ow.-Morning, sh. 43m.—Afternoon, sh. 58m.

31,1
-;:01
104'11
i?f; A
nit Artokt

LONDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 9, 1861.

The Government is certainly not fortunate this
week, but according to the old adage, that troubles
never come single, they appear to have a perfect run
of ill-luck. We must admit, however, that their
misfortunes were in every case richly deserved. The
debate on Monday, whose tone was so unfavourable
to the Ministry, and in which Lord PALMERSTON
himself showed to signal disadvantage, was indis.
putably brought upon them by the more than sus-
picious attitude they are assuming with respect to
Danish affairs. The defeat respecting the National
Gallery was a discomfiture with which they will
not find many sympathisers, and the decisive, though
less conspicuous, adverse majority which followed
it on Tuesday, was also well merited from their per-
sistence in delaying a measure calculated to effect
much public good for some reasons best known to
themselves. It has unfortunately been too often
found that Radicalism evaporates with surprising
rapidity on the Treasury Bench, and probably if Mr.
ERNEST JONES were made Prime Minister tomor-
row, his views respecting the charter would be very
considerably modified. In accordance with this rule
Mr. MILNER GIBSON finds the atmosphere of the
Board of Trade by no means suitable for the main.
tenance of dangerously practical views, and he too
has joined the long list of political special pleaders
who find it so easy to oppose all measures of actual
reform by voluminous arguments and unsound logic.
Accordingly we find the right hon. President of the
Board of Trade joining Sir GEORGE GREY, in active
opposition to a very useful proposal. The real secret
of the Ministerial hostility to Mr. CAIRD'S resolu-
tion, in favour of a system of collecting and publish-
ing the agricultural statistics of the country, is pro-
bably to be found in their reluctance to offend the
country electors so near the coming struggle at the
hustings. Why else should a scheme so manifestly
advantageous to the public, so often eulogised by
men of standing and influence, and even some 20
years ago made the subject of a resolution by Mr.
M. GIBSON himself, meet with so churlish a recep-
tion from the Treasury Bench ? Mr. CAIRD moved
simply—" That in the opinion of this House the
collection and early publication of the agricultural
statistics of Great Britain would be advantageous
to the public interest." He had naturally views of
his own as to the best way of effecting this
object, but although he laid them before the House,
he did not press them upon it. He contented him•
self with moving the exact resolution as we have
quoted it, leaving, it would seem, no loophole by
which any one who professedly approved of the
principle contained in it could possibly escape from
its support. Yet specious reasons were not want-
ing, nor ready words to cover the Ministerial de-
fection. The chief arguments were, first, that it
would be difficult to carry out any scheme for col-
lecting the required statistics; secondly, that such
statistics, when obtained, could not be relied on.
Other objections were raised as to the expense, the
men to be employed on the service of inquiry, the
manner of collection, the extent of ground to be re-
gistered, the dislike of the farmers to the plan, and
so on. All these objections appear, however, on
close inquiry, to have been considerably overstated.
The farmers, it is plain, will really profit very
much by an accurate knowledge of the state
of the agricultural prospects throughout the
country. The more comprehensive and accurate
the information which a man obtains about his
trade the better for hie fortunes, and we are con-
vinced that the more intelligent and experienced of
our farmers would readily admit that an increase of
knowledge would be very beneficial to their inte-
rests. In all other trades and professions men
strive to be fully informed of the condition of their
special branch of industry throughout the country ;
why, 'then, should a farmer, whose prospects are
naturally so variable and uncertain, shrink from
obtaining that information which he needs above all
others. As was said in the course of the debate
the other evening, the great corn-dealers have
agents who travel from north to south to procure
them such information, and it is surely to the aal.
vantage of the farmer to be placed on an ea:J/114
with his customer in that respect. It eatnnot be
LO the profit of the seller to know less "ef the state of
his own trade than the buyer doe;, Such a condi-
tion of affairs would be ridicu:,ed in any
other busi-
ness. Then as to the ob
etacles put in the way of
collecting and puhi:ishing such statistics, they
can hardly be of a very formidable nature. Our
so incapable of executing
officials are rees usually
any lab ear that they may undertake, and
it seeSns that the Registrar-General has expressed
hiS conviction of being able to collect the
required information with a comparatively small
outlay. The expense to which some hon. members
attached so much importance is not to be considered
in a matter of this nature, when information so
nearly affecting the public welfare is to be obtained.
But the real amount demanded can hardly be very
serious, and it is little more than an artificial ex-
cuse for opposition. The probable inaccuracy of
the returns, about which a good deal was said, is a
matter
of pure conjecture, and there is no clear
reason why these returns should be less reliable
than any ethe •
l.'s 0e a similar character. Mr. CAIRD's
suggeStiOri of •
taxing a sample district in various
parts of the eau,. ‘
practical and moderate
ea
ananal,mighrtY is a
serve as a good introduction to
ammosrueree'nlarged measure. It might serve to dispel
prejudice and to modify opposition, while the ob.
jections raised as to the inquisitorial nature of the
returns would be avoided, since the names of the
owners of the sample land need not be known, Mr.
CAIRD proposes to take 15 sample districts for the
-whole of Great Britain, those districts containing
1,500,000 acres, representing, as he
calculated,
about one-tenth of
;
of the kiogdona the Cultivated surface
and if such returns Were taken
according to the maps of the Ordnance sur-
vey, the officer taking the Ordnance map of
100,000 acres, and filling up that map as
cultivated, need not know the name of a Single
farm or farmer. Other speakers showed that the
districts could be selected according to geological
principles, so that a fair estimate might be made.
Mr. GIBSON'S opposition to this proposal on account
of alleged discrepancies between the average of the
typical counties in Ireland and Scotland and the
produce of the rest of these countries, was by no
means well founded, since his own statistics showed
that the typical counties at least represented the
fact of increased or decreased produce accurately.
The one hon. member went so far as to say that he
could not see why a farmer's should be inquired
into more than a shopkeeper's stock, forgetting that
a shopkeeper's stock only concerns himself, whereas
the account of a farmer's produce affects the whole

Whatever faults may have been committed in
the way of omission, or whatever strictures may be
passed on the Legislature for inattention to matters
of consequence to the country, at all events the
Penal Servitude Question will not be classed in the
fatal category. It has received care and attention
from all degrees and classes, and both Houses have
allowed it to engross a due share of their time. In
the discussion that took place in the House of
Lords the other evening some of the difficulties of
the case were again brought forward, and the pros
and cons of the measure urged with more or less
success. Lord HOUGHTON moved an amendment
that had fer its object to do away with the plan
proposed of making it incumbent on the ticket-of-
leave man to report himself to the police once a
month. His lordship spoke with great earnestness
on the point ; but, notwithstanding his fluent argu-
ments, it must appear on consideration that the
proposal, if apparently harsh, is yet a necessary
one. Lord CARNARVON, who is a good authority
on such matters, is a strenuous advocate for the
retention of the police supervision, and the reasons
that he adduces in support of his views seem to be
very comprehensive and to bear reference to the
most vital interests of the community, and in the
end to show that the stern measure of justice meted
out will be the most merciful treatment that the
unhappy individual himself can receive. Lord
CARNARVON explained that to carry oat the change
proposed nearly all the effect of the numerous dis-
missions that had taken place would be done away
with, as the ten changes introduced by the measure
of the Secretary of State could easily be recalled
after the fancy of a successor, and thus we should
insensibly glide back to our former inefficient sys-
tem. This is a most cogent reason for agreeing to
the new regime, for it is imperatively necessary that
all the alterations that take place in our prison
discipline should be fixed on some firm basis, and
be rendered secure from change and free from in.
novation. It would have the most effect upon the
men themselves, and on their associates who have
not yet been convicted, if the idea obtains among
them that, after all, legislation in their affairs is
a very doubtful case, and that after much outcry
they are left pretty much in statu quo. What if
some sharp-witted one assures the others that, no
matter how stern or severe certain innovators of the
system may be, there will al ways rise up some
friend at the last to rescae them from the extreme
penalty and obtain that care and consideration
which have for so long been shown to them. Such
a notion becoming prevalent would ruin all future
attempts at discipline. It will never do for these
unruly spirits to think that they are beyond all
management, and that, rather than adopt coercive
measures to a great extent, we are willing to let
things take their chance, and allow them virtually
to get the better of us. Lord CARNARVON Was
also very happy in his exposure of the fallacy of
Lord HOUGHTON'S argument as to the infringe-
meat of the rights of the subject. He
showed that these convicts had no right
to liberty, but were permitted as an act of
grace to be at large for a season. Finally, he
put the case in its true light by saying that " the
only way to get rid of the evils of an irregular and
objectionable espionage was to establish a regular
system of responsible police supervision." This
will obviate the necessity of patty interference, and
of minor arrangements which militate against
carrying out its original. intentions. It should be
recollected that when these convicts are constantly
giving the excuse that it is the persecution of the
police that has driven them into crime ag,tin ; bat
if such be the case, in some isolated instances,
it cannot be the cause of so many reconvictions as
are constantly occurring. Another plea for the
adoption of this system is that in Ireland where it
has bean tiled fer some time, the most satisfactory
results have taken place,and neither have there been
vehement assertions, indignant protests, or scepti-
cal suggestions against its continuance, such as
have abounded in this country ever since any men-
tion was made of a plan to curtail the licenses now
permitted to convicts outside the prison walls, and
to render more severe the discipline that prevails in
the interior of these establishments. It is never
too late to mend, is a very old but at the same time
a very wise saying, and it cannot be too forcibly
applied to this question before us, that we have
failed utterly and unmistakeably in our mode of
dealing with these desperate characters, and the
chief cause of annoyance is that it is so very diffi-
cult to make the majority of persons understand
the question in its innate importance and vast con-
sequences. A sort of morbid sentimentality seems
to prevail, and while pity is thrown away upon the
criminal, justice is not rendered to his victims, nor
to the society whose peace he endangers and whose
property he imperils—all mistaken excitement is
productive of evil consequences, and if half of the
superabundant energy and enthusiasm that is ex-
pended on the state of the culprit were bestowed
upon struggling honesty and poverty, and on
suffering virtue in trouble or sickness, how diffe-
rent would the state of society become, and how
far more equitably would its laws be adjusted.
There is no reason why the offender should be
neglected or despised; let all available means be
adopted to bring him back to the paths of rest

tude and honesty, but that desideratum can never
be gained
.by blameable indulgences and ecanty
supervision. The measure now before the House
may very likely not solve the difficulty of the
complicated question, but at all events it goes
some way in the right road, it brings the prisoners
under a better mode of discipline, and seems to
provide some means f, r holding a check over them
when they are left to take care of themselves for a

time.
,In the event of this suggestion of police
supervision not answering, there will be additional
cause to regret the hasty decision of the Govern-
meat, not to allow a greater number of transporta-
tions to places where the difficulties that abound
here cannot intrude to mar the progress of a reme-
dial measure.

The Archbishop of Canterbury had s dinner
party the other evening at Lambeth Palace.
The Duchess of Somerset left the First Lord's
official residence at the Admiralty on Monday, to pass a
week at Bulstrude, Bucks:.

The Duchess of Sutherland has left Stafford
Horse, St James's, for Trentham, &affordslaire.

The Duchess (Dowager) of Sutherland left town
for Cliefden, near Maidenhead, after attending the nuptials
of Lord and Lady Frederick Cavendish.
The Earl and Countess of Wiuchilsea and the
Countess of Uxbridge have arrived at the St George's
Hotel.

The Right Hon. C. Fortescne and Frances
Countess Waidegrays entertained at dinner last evening, at
their residence in Carlton-gardens, the Earl and Countess
of Clarendon, the Earl and Countess Grey, the Earl and
Countess Somers, the Earl and Countess of Morley and
Lady Katherine Parker, Lord and Lady Skelmorsdale,
Lord and Lady Claremont, the Bishop of Oxford, Lady
Georgiana Bertia, Mr and Lady Horatia Wardlaw, Sir
Henry Cottetrell, Mr Hayward, and Mr Wm. Harcourt.
The Earl and Countess of Cawdor had a dinnet
par! y yesterday evening at their residence in South Aud ley-
street. Among the company were Lord Redesdale, Lord
and Lady Cremorne, Lord and Lady Chesham, Lord
Houghton, Sir Robert Brownrigg, Hon. 0. Cavendish,
Sir J 1 Frederick and Lady 1,4970,Z1r 6ze