The Sun.
London, England, 1864-04-12 00:00:00

LORD PALMERSTON

FOR EVER.

An outrage like this ought certainly never to have
been quietly tolerated by the police. It the pla-
cards so inscribed were posted up, on the sly, during
the night time, the police authorities ought at the
least to have had them torn down with indignation.
in the morning.

Thera seems to be really no end to the lamentable
cases resulting from the mismangement of affairs by
the Bethnal-green officials. Mr. CHRISTY, the re-
lieving officer, has already earned a most unenviable
reputation for his harshness to the sick and desti-
tute, and he seems to be only carrying out the
wishes and expressing the sentiments of those
around him. There is no doubt that the charge for
the maintenance of the poor presses very heavily
on the inhabitants of a district like Bethnal-green,
where a great part of the ratepayers can barely
keep above pauperism themselves, and the anxious
desire of the guardians to keep the expenses of the
Union down to the mirimum is, of course, princi-
pally due to the real necessities of the district. A
striking proof is thus afforded of the evils arising
from the inequality of the poor rate, since St.
George's, Harover-square, could certainly pay
treble the amount charged on St. George's-in-the-
East with less inconvenience, instead of being only
called upon to contribute a small proportion of the
sum demanded from the poorer parish. ft is hard
and unjust that the chief burden of supporting the
absolutely destitute should fall upon the poor
instead of the rich, but that such is the ease
the returns of the parish rates indisputably
show. Still, allowing for all natural reluctance
to increase an already exorbitant charge it is cer-
tainly difficult to exonerate the officials of Bethnal
Green from the charge of indifference to the lives
and sufferings of their fellow creatures, if nothing
worse. We can hardly set down the constant re-
petition of deaths from want and neglect, of coro-
ners' inciuests, and mutual recrimination, to acci-
dental or casual causes. They are rather the fruits
of a system regularly carried on, whose effects vary
iu proportion to the degree of sickness and destitu-
tion it encounters. The one grand object seems to
be to give as little relief as possible, to disgust the
poor with parish aid and to saddle their assistance,
when at last reluctantly granted, with conditions
that render it so distasteful as sometimes to make
absolute starvation preferable in the minds of those
who have "seen better days." It seems at the
outset very strange that when there is an organized
and costly system of parish relief professedly avail-
able for every destitute person, such a thing as
death from want of the common necessaries of life
should be ever heard of amongst us. Yet the re
cords of this winter alone reveal some startling
tragedies, and there is little security that another
season of equal severity will not witness their
repetition. One grand barrier which has
been found very effectual in deterring the
more respectable class of the very poor
frOm seeking parish aid is the condition that
if one member of a family is ill and wants care
and relief, the whole family must come into the
house before it is attainable. The recent case at
Bethnal-green was an instance of this sort. A
woman, aged 62, the wife of a weaver, died from
congestion of the lungs, her death, according to
the medical testimony, being accelerated by pri•
vation. The husband stated that Dr. MOORE had
attended his wife, and given a certificate for her
admission to the infirmary. The man, who pro-
bably could not read, thought it was an order, and
took his wife with it in a cab to the workhouse.
When there, the porter refused to admit the
woman, saying it was as much as his place was
worth to let her in without a regular order. She
could not stand,but had to be supported at the gate,
where she remained for nearly an hour. It was
raining fast, and the poor woman at length begged
to be taken back, or she "should dio in the
street." The porter was asked for a chair, that
she might rest for a little while, but he refused
i. The next day the husband obtained an order
for nourishment from Dr. MOORE, which he took
to Mr. CHRISTY. According to the evidence, that
" I shall give no nourishment.
gentleman said,
You must both come into the house." The man
replied—" It is very hard that the parish chould be
burthened with two when only one wants relief."
Mr. CHRISTY said he did not care, both should come
in, Ultimately—it is not said how long after—he

sent an order of admission, when the poor woman
was taken to the infirmary, and died soon after.
This evidence was mainly corroborated by other
witnesses; and a gateman at the union, who did
not remember being asked for a chair, confessed to
having orders to let no one sit down. The family,
who were six in number, were supported by the
daughter, who earned £1 a week by washing. Such
a sum, though quite sufficient to keep the healthy
members off the parish, would certainly not allow
for comforts which a sick woman might absolutely
require. These are the very cases which our unions
should especially aid—the struggling poor, who
maintain themselves as long as they can, and only
come to the parish from absolute necessity. But it
is all alike to Mr. CHRISTY and his associates.
"Move on," is their watchword. "No admittance"
should be inscribed on their gates. So long as no
pauper sits down at their gates, the porter's work
is done; so long as the relief and attendance for the
sick is made conditional on a man in health becom-
ing an inmate of the dismal able-bodied ward, at
the cost of separation from his family, and sacrifice
of his independence, the relieving officer's duty is
accomplished. If a pauper dies, more or less, what
does it signify ? There are already too many in
Bethnalsgreen. If their deaths are hastened by
cold and exposure at the workhouse door it will
teach a useful lesson to the survivors to be less
troublesome when their turn comes. Mr. CHRISTY
is, apparently, of the school. of DitACO, and we fear
he is riot the only man who ranks poverty as the
first of crimes.

LITERATURE,

Adela Cathcart. By George MacDonald, M.A.,
author of "David El4inbrod," &c. Three Vols.

Hurst and Blackett.

" Adela Cathcart" should, most assuredly, have
been issued at Christmas time, and it would have
taken its place as one of the most delightful Chriet-
mas books which have appeared for many years. It
is appropriate to the season of lay and legend on
account of the variety of miscellaneous tales and
aongs which are in the course of its pages happily
introduced, and it is more especially adapted to the
season of love and kindness by reason of the
Christian spirit of charity and tenderness by
which the whole narrative and series of narratives
s says of Dr.
is suffused. As Professor Kin ;iey
Newman, "We like its torte''---it is one which will
or should find univ
en the title.a•eage, crSal favour. Without the name
it is easy to recognise " Adele
Cathcart" as the emanation of a poet's mind, and the
cut Louring of a pout's heart. Adele, the heroine of
the main story, is the only child of a widowed
father, and when the story begies, at Christmas time,
she is drooping and dying away without any appa-
rent cause, mental or physics!. A new doctor is
called in, who ultimately effects her cure by the
agency of an elixir not specified in the Pharmacopia.
This doctor and Mr. John Smith, a dear delightful
old bachelor, the narrator of the history,
concoct a plan to win the young lady back from
her life of ideal sorrow to a coatemplation of the
stern realiC,es of actual existence, as exemplified in
the liv'as of her fellow creatures. To this end a set
ef very charitable conspirators meet together, and
narrate tales and recount histories singularly varied
in style and character, but all animated by one high
beneficent purpose. The young lady listens—and,
as her tears fall for the woes of others, already her
own individual burden becomes more light. Among
the group of characters assembled at Purleybridge
we are introduced to some very interesting indivi-
duals. First, and foremost, there is our host, the
father of Adele, the worthy Col. Cathcart, "straight,
broad-shouldered, and tall, with a severe military
expression underlying the genuine hospitality of
his countenance, as if he could not get rid of a sense
of duty even when doing what we liked best."
The good Colonel, who is devoted to his daughter,
is nevertheless anxious to have for his son-in-law
his nephew Percy, who forms one of the Christmas
guests, and who proves to be an empty-headed
coxcomb, who can only thick of number one. This
gentleman generally passes the time of the
story-telling asleep on a sofa. His character
is best revealed after church on Christmas day,
when, having declined to accompany the party of
worshippers, he meets them on their return.
"There, is the churchyard, we found Percy, stand-
ing astride of an infant's grave, with his hands in his
trousers-pockets, and an air of condescending satis-
faction on his countenance, which seemed to
say to the dead beneath ling—' Pray don't apolo-
gise, I know you are disagreeable, but you can't
help it, you know,'
and to the living coming out
of Church—' Well, have you had your little whim
out ?' " Percy owns that he does not like Sunday.
His mother, he tells us, had produced this effect by
an over-strictness and a too-constantly enforced
at,endance at Church. "But the worst of it is,"
confesses the delinquent, " / can't get it out
of my head that I ought to be there even
when I'm driving tandem to Richmond." Mr.
Smith, who narrates to us the whole story, is,
he himself says, a Nobody, fall of sympathy
in all the joys and sorrows of all around
him, and hence himself a most loveable
and welcome companion. The curate and his wife,
and the doctor above mentioned, are interesting
studies in their different ways, but the old school-
master and his wife are to our mind the most
attractive persons in the motley group, and the
stories related by them surpass all the rest in ten-
derness and truthfulness. The schoolmaster's story,
with its pathetic pictureof the death of a little baby,
so simply and naturally described, will appeal to
the heart of every mother who may read it. " The
Broken Swords" is a very animated and interesting
narrative, The young soldier, who has one sword
broken in disgrace, more than retrieves his honour
and the second sword is broken as he gallantly falls
standing alone in the post of danger. So various
are the histories introduced that we cannot be sus-
ised that there are some among the number not
quite to our taste. Of these are, strange to say,
the contributions of Mr. Smith, who, practical man
as he is, tells us the story of a " Light erin
cese," who hes been deprived by a wicked fairy of
her gravity, or power f
humorous is the extrem
more adapted to the
is gravitation,story wahnide h
the
" giant's heart" are certainly
children's library. Were the book, however, as we
have said, a Chi istmas book (and it is well worthy of
appearing as such in a second edition next 'a inter)
then even these fantastic vagaries would be in season.
but t h
There is a moral, however, in the most apparently
frivolous. Among the more attractive contributions
is a charming story of Uncle Peter"—Uncle Peter
who was born on Christmas Pay' and who in conse-
quence regarded every succeeding Christmas os a new
excuse ter acts of generous kindness. We heartily
agree with Colonel Cathcart who, when it is ob-
jected that Uncle Peter is not natural, exclaimed,
" Chen he ought to be ! and it is all the more reason
for putting him into a story if he is not to be found
in the world." .7,1.r5. Bloomfield tells a sweet little
tale of how a lady learned a lesson—the lessen--
from an idiot boy, who gratefully trusted every-
thing to the bountiful care of " Blessed Father."
Seine fragments of Mr. Armstrong's discourses we
would willingly quote as specimens at or of the
beautiful style and tender teaching, that abounds in
these three volumes, bat isolated passages would do
injustice to the book, which is better read as a whole,
and for which many a thoughtful reader will feel a
new debt of gratitude to the author of "David
Elginbrod."

THE COMPOSER OF THE NATIONAL ANTHEM :
WAS IT Dot. JOHN Bra'. ?—" The name," said Mrs.
Nickleby the beloved, " began with B and ended with G.
Perhaps it was Waters." A worse motto than this, for the
use of those who love whimsy, might be found to stand at
the head of the controversies concerning the parentage of
our noble National Hymn. The last speculation put forth
concerning it, with the usual charming assurance and ac-
quaintance with facts of our Allies, in one of their journals,
is this, that Haydn (I) pilfered the tune from Lulli, and
presented it to England.—.Athemsum.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE,

LREITTER'S TELEGRAMS.]

- 4.- -.

THE FRENCH BUDGET.
PARIS APRIL 12, 11.7 a.m.

The Budget stipulates that the stamp duty,
levied in accordance with the law of the 13th
May, 1863, on rentes, loans, and public securities
of foreign Governments shall be raised from 50
centimes to 1 franc. This measure is to take
effect from the Ist July, 1864.

THE BOMBARDMENT OF DUFFEL.
COPENHAGEN, APRIL 11, 1.55 a.m.
A violent fire was uninterruptedly kept up by the
enemy uniil 7 p.m. yesterday.
Twenty of our men were wounded.
The windmill on Duppel hill has been burnt
down,

FLENSBURG, APRIL 12.

A rescript of the Civil Commissioners prohibits
all public officers in Schleswig, under penalty of
immediate dismissal, from affixing their signatures
to any resolutions or addresses having reference to
the London Conference.

THE WEST INDIA AND PACIFIC MAILS.

SOUTHAMPTON, APRIL 12.

The Royal Mail steamship Seine, with the above
mails,has arrived here. She brings 150 passengers,
2,661,695 dots. in specie, and 821 packages, and a
general cargo. She left St. Thomas's on the 29th
ult., and experienced fine weather throughout the
passage.

Diplomatic negocia`jons between Chile and
Bolivia had been broken off. The quarrel is prin-
cipally the Mejillones Islands and their deposits of
guano. Peru and the Minister of the United States
had offered their intervention.

Electioneering was progressing. It was antici-
pated that the results would be favourable to the
liberals.

A disastrous fire had occurred in Valparaiso, and
property to the value of 400,000 dolts. had been
destroyed. The fire originated in the best part of
the city. Messrs. Huth, Gruning, and Co., and
Messrs. Green, Nicholson, and Co., English firms,
have been completely burnt out.
A better tone prevailed in general business.
Considerable sales had been made. Foreign arrivals
were numerous. Home charters had declined.

Her Majesty's corvette Alert left Valparaiso on
the 20th ult. for Vancouver's Island.

At Valparaiso exchange was quoted 44d. to 441 d.
Bar silver, per mare, fine, 10 dole. 75 c.
The general news from Peru is unimportant.

A measure had emanated from the Government to
put down gambling houses, and punish gamblers.
The experiments male in Guatemala for growing
cotton had been successful.
In Honduras General JoEe Maria Medina had
been elected President, and General Florencio
Xatruch Vice-Present. Alvarez, the opposition can-
didate, had left the country, and taken refuge in
the island of Roatan.

The constituent Assembly in Salvador was hold-
ing session. Several laws had bean passed, and a
commission appointed for reforming the constitution.
In Nicaragua President Martinz had tendered his
resignation, which the Congress had declined to
accept.

The cotton crop was better than had been ex-
pected. It was calculated that it would amount to
20,000 quintals. Extensive preparations were
making for the next crop. Large tracts of land
had been cleared for cultivation.

Trade was reported dull at Greytown. The new
channel to the harbour was completely closed up,

BOMBAY AND MAURITIUS MAILS,

SOUTHAMPTON, APRIL 12.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's s►_eamer
Syria, with the above mails, has arrived here. She
brings 118 passengers, a general cargo, and £l2O
in specie.

She left Gibraltar on the 7th inst., and on the
Bth spoke the steamer Ceylon.
Gibraltar exchange on Lon/lca, 20 days, 5017 on
Paris, 5.30; Marseilles, 5.31. Freights unchanged.

The weather wee fine at Jamaica. The cotton
cultivation was engaging attention, and being ex-
tended. The sugar crop was backward. Coffee
was scarce, and prices advancing. Freights were
plentiful for Europe. Exchange, 90 days, half per
cent.

At Demerara the weather was fine, and the
estates were busy. Produce was arriving freely at
the market. Freights unchanged. Exchange, 90
days,:47o dollars.
Barbadoes was suffering from want of rain.
Sugar reaping, and the general yield was unsatis-
factory. The young canes were healthy. Trade
dull. Exchange, 4871 dollars.
From St. Domingo nothing important. The
insurgents were said to be disheartened.

AUSTRIA..

VIENNA, April 9.

At 5 o'clock yesterday afternoon the Emperor
left this city for Trieste. His Majesty was accom-
panied by his yoangest brother (the Archduke
Louis Victor), the Archduke Leopold, the Ministers
Count Itechberg and M. von Schmerling, Count
Crenneville (the First Adjutant-General), Count
Kaefstein (the Lord Marshal), M. von Carolyi (the
Hungaritn Vice-Chancellor), M. von Mazuranic
(the Croatian Chancellor), and Baron Geringer, the
representative of Count Nadasdy, the Chancellor
of the Grand Principality of Transylvania. The
Abend Post (a supplement to the official Wiener
Zeitung) tells us that the Emperor has gone to
Trieste, " to affix his signature to a Staats Acte
(Public Act), which the acceptance of the Imperial
Crown of Mexico by his Imperial Highness the
Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian has rendered ne
cessary." When his Majesty left he said he
expected to be in Vienna again early in the morning
of Sunday (to-morrow), but he will hardly be able
to get back so soon, as it has been snowing heavily
for the last four and twenty hours.

It is understood that his Imperial Highness will
retain his title of Archduke of Austria, and his ap-
panage of 120,0005. (X 12,000) a year. The Em-
peror has allowed his brother to levy 6,000 men here.
The Austro-Mexican Legion will consist of three
battalions of the Line, one regiment of Lancers, one
regiment of Hussars, two batteries of eight guns
each, one company of Engineers, and one company
of Pioneers. Officers and men aro to be engaged
for six years, and at the expiration of that time
the former will be allowed to re-enter the Austrian
army, and to have the rank they held when they
left it. The bounty money offered is 251 for the
common soldiers and 501 for the non-commissioned
officers. Many officers have already offered their
services to the Archduke, and some of them are
men of rank and standing. For the last few weeks
an artist has been employed at Miramar in making
drawings for the liveries and other household
necessaries of the future Emperor of Mexico.

Information has been received from Bucharest
that 400 Austrian and Italian refugees are collected
on the frontier of Transylvania, and are waiting for
an opportunity of getting unobserved into that pro
vince. The men of action in Moldavia are said to
be in direct communication with persons in the
Szekler districts; but I doubt the correctness of the
statement, as people here are much in tie habit of
making mountains of molehills. As cia regiments are
posted on the frontiers of Transylvania, the Angtrian
Government has little or no cause to fear that 400
men, vino have not a angle leader of note, will

attempt to enter that province. 15,000 men are on
their way from Salzburg to the Southern Tyrol, and
several battalions are now marching from Hungary
to Venetic. Men in office still think that there will
be a revolutionary outbreak in the above-mentioned
province before the year is at an end ; but persons
of my acquaintance, who are in correspondence
with the inhabitants of some of the principal Italian
cities, say the prevalent opinion is, that the moment
is inopportune. The Dalmatian Diet has been dis-
solved " because no benefit to the province is to be
expected from it." The general Synods of the
Lutherans and Calvirists in Austria have at length
been convoked for May 22, 1862, and their sittings
will be held in this city.
Snhubert, the renowned composer, died here on
the 19th November, 1828, and his property, which
consisted of wearing apparel and notes, was valued
at 6311. Tne expenses for his funeral, which were
defrayed by his relatives and friends, were 84.3511.
The sum of 17,00011, has now been subscribed here
by the admirers of Schubert's compcsitions, and
the money will be employed in the construction of
a monument to the memory of a man of whom the
Austrians are very proud, As is but too often the
case, the merits of the originator of the musical
composition known as the German " Lied" were not
properly appreciated until he was dead and gone.
Schubert was 32 years of age when he died.