The Sun.
London, England, 1864-06-13 00:00:00

LONDON, MONDAY, JUNE 13, 1864.

For once, the Civil List Pensions for the year are
in the highest degree satisfactory ! 'That the fact

should be so, is to us, we will confess it, a very agree-
able surprise. We have so often had occasion to

reprehend in these columns the absurdity marking
the distributian of the annual addition to the Civil

List of £1,200 in the shape of fresh Pensions

Here, however, for once, we have no objection what.

ever to raise. The names of the recipents have been

exceedingly well selected—just the very naraes,to our
thinking, that ought to have been selected. The
little annual catalogue is—even with Lord PAL.

11ERSTON still Prime Minister of England—not

made ridieulons by including the name of another
"Poet CLOSE." Oae or two of the names, here, are

entirely lieW to us, we will acknowledge it. Bat

—with each of these unknown names (unknown,
that is to sap, to ourselves) a good reaeon
enough is given for the award it is caupled
"Mrs. AUSTIN £6O, in consideration
of the services of her late husband, a civil engineer,
who died whilst engaged in the public service, and

with. As.—'

who had devoted himself ►o the sanitary improve-

=out of poor dwoliing2." Or, again, as
" Mrs.
LEAF £5O, as the vii low of Mr. d. LEAF, who,
tbo-agh of humble on ic, Wzr,s a cottribator of

articles of greet merit to various journals." Nay,
there is :fat another name on the list that we would
particularise in like manner—to wit, "Rev. C. B.
GIBSON £lOO, as author of many literary works and
to the high testimony borne as to their value." Here,
again, •however, it is we who may be at fault :
and for that matter the whole of the rest of the
list is so thoroughly good that we have not a mo-
ment's doubt of tt that the selection last men-

tionedis in a very signal manner judicious. Of course
the largest recipient of a pension on this list, the
one leading it off, in fact, is, as usual, the widow
of a military officer. And although it does still
appear to us rather au incongruity to find the
name of a military officer's widow entered upon
the Civil List, instead of the moneys so awarded
being restricted exclusively to civilians, or the:relicts
or bereaved relations of civilians—the case here
for once is so entirely exceptional that any objec-
tion of ours upon that score is upon the instant
hushed. " Lady INGLIS " so runs the entry, here
"£5OO as an acknowledgment of the brilliant ser-
vices of the late Sir J. INGLIs, during the Indian
mutiny, especially the gallant defence of the resi-
dence at Lucknow—services to which may partly
be attributed his early death." Who will begrudge
an award such as that ? Not one soul within the
Three Kingdoms.
Taen, as to the rest of the names—the Names
now entered, for the first time, upon the Civil List in
1864—everyone of them will be recognised as hav-
ing been admirably well chosen ! First and fore-
most on this goodly list there is the famous popular
Poetess—par excellence, and in a very especial man•
ner, the "Poetess of the People"—ELlzA CooK. It
is significant of the character of her reputation
that even in the Civil List the entry runs
simply thus—ELIZA COOK, not as afterwards with
the authoress of " John Halifax," Miss DINAH
MULOCH, not as intermediately with the widow of
the dramatist of "The Love Chase," Mrs. SHERIDAN
KNOWLES. But, with ELIZA COOK, it is otherwise—
a sense of the fitness of thiegs constraining even
the matter-of•fact officials at the Treasury to enter
in its simple integrity, 'without any common-place
prefix whatever, the name of the poetess of "I he
Old Arm Chair," and of so many other exquisite
Songs, Ballads, Lyrics, and what not, a name beloved
during so many years past, far and wide, among our
Eng!ish city homes and country homesteads. Our
satisfaction with the entry, here, is marred alone by
the words that close it: " ELIZA COOK £lOO, in
consideration of her literary labours, both in poetry
and prose, and her failing health." Otherwise than
for those closing words of the entry, words that will
be a pang to the unnumbered admirers of the
People's Poetess, this announcement is surely in one
word simply delightful. That the widow of SHERI-
DAN KNOWLES, and that Miss DINAH MULOCH, the
novelist, have received each a pension, has already
been here but just now intimated—the award to the
latter of the twu being £6O per annum, to the former
£lOO. Another pension of £6O a year has been
awarded to a charming Irish poet, Mr. WILLIAM
ALLINGHAM : and a pittance of £33 per annum is
set apart, at the fag-end of the list, towards the
maintenance of a sister of poor HUGH MILLER.
Excellent though the present year's addition to
the Civil List is, it is still so far unsatisfactory that
the suns annually placed at the disposal of the
Prime Minister seems to us, as we have so often
before protested, wiaolely inadequate for the -re-
quirements pressing upon that high official in the
yearly distribution of these pensions. Who
could not add to the list the name of some well-
known intellectual labourer, whose honourabl e
career, whose signal good services in the
interests of his fellow-men, are alike passed
by, year after year, sub silentio. One
there is to our own certain knowledge whose
name should be there upon that catalogue of men
whom the country delights thus to honour with this
substantial attestation of its sympathy and of its
cordial recognition of noble services done to the com-
munity at large. The instance, here, is that of a man
of distinguished ability, of the most sterling in-
tegrity, consistently devoted to the furtherance of
the popular cause, one who has not simply grown
grey in the service of the people at large, but
who has exhausted all his energies in forwarding
those interests to the neglect of his own, and
who now, from the collapie of his individual
fortunes, can at least look back to the devotion of
a life to principles, his advancement of which seems
to be entirely forgotten by all but his personal
intimates, is most certainly altogether overlooked
by those who are in power. Yet in the particular
case we are here alluding to—the name of this
champion of popular interests was constantly before
the public for thirty years, and, beyond that, was
directly and conspicuously associated with those
who in 1832, carried the Reform Bill, and who, in
1846, secured the triumph of the Free Trade prin-
ciples.

Some nations seem to go out of favour all at once,
first nne.thing occurs anal apropos and then another,
until its prestige is almost gone, and it can boast of
only very barren laurels, Prussia is now emulat-
ing this very desirable position, and all the
accounts that reach us concerning that nation seem
but to confirm the prejudices already entertained
against her, and to ratify the suspicions that have
been from time to time engendered as to her good
faith or good intentions. By this time the civilised
world can share but one opinion as to the down-
right barbarity and extreme injustice of the Berlin
policy in Dunmark. The details that bring us the
minute particulars only confirm the ideas that have
been entertained from the frequent outlines of
hasty communication, as if this disgraceful under-
taking against the rights of a free State, and these
unworthy attacks on the interests of a brave people,
were not sufficient of themselves to overwhelm the
nation in sheme and reproach. There are other
rumours afloat as to the evil purposes and cruel in-
terference of the Prussians in other directions than
the shores of the Baltic. The state of Prussian-
Poland is very disastrous, and the latest accounts
relate most distressing events as occurring in that
locality. The arrests are very numerous, and so
frequent, indeed, tha! it seems more difficult to find
out who is seized than to discover who is not !
It would seem as if the Prussians were resolved to
onido the Russians in the excess of tyranny, and
the extreme of arbitrary rule. The newly made
commissaries of police are most active in their
exertions, and contrive to get plenty to do in their
hard and harsh department. Their zeal outruns
their judgments, and with an active ambition,
worthy of a better cause, they contrive to deal terror
in the land that is unfortunate enough to come
under their jurisdiction. The manner ih which the
business is carried on is perfectly disgusting, and
excites the indignation and irritation of honest
minds. The description of their acts is
a sort of revival of the worst features of
that exterminating spirit and reckless procedure
which have darkened the annals of history. The
middle ages can really produce nothing to outdo
the atrocity of these cruel acts, and the unne-
cessary violence displayed by the functionaries who
oppress and decimate the ranks of a brave and una
fortunate people. The rules and regulations are so
ingeniously laid down and adroitly inserted that it
is quite impassible to outwit them, and, indeed, it is
very evident that the one en?, aim, and object is
to compass the victims in the snares and entrap
them to the pitfalls so insidiously prepared for them.
The laws of Prussia are set at nought in order that
the deadly and destructive work may be done. No
one of
any thought or consideration can see any
difference in ordering a person to be killed outright
and imposing tasks upon him that his strength can-
not perform, and for which his previous sufferings
hale rendered him unfit. To condemn those who
haze been wounded to the labours cf ouu7:cts is

simply brutal, and those who give the order and in.
sist on its being carried out may parade themselves
in their grandeur and boast of their achievements,
but they are not worthy of the name of men. There
is something so utterly repulsive to the English
character in such a system, and, indeed, so repug-
nant to the feelings of all refined States, that one is
, mute with astonishment to hear of the barbarisms
daily inflicted by a nation that bossts of its advance
in intelligence and march in progress. The poet
has emphatically declared that he counts the grey
barbarian younger than the Christian child, and,
according to this calculation, tyrants are
infants in the community of civilisation, if not un-
worthy to be ranked as among them at all. The
refinement of torture is the last device of the savage
and the delight of the barbarian, but never should
it find a place in the category of the
qualities that influence and actuate an ad-
vanced and enlightened nation. To order
a suspected character to be shot might be
called unwarrantable, but to condemn him to a
protracted death under the semblance of the law is
a base act, and whether suggested by the proudest
or sanctioned by the highest in the realm, is alike
a crime and an outrage in the sight of GOD and
man. No excuse can palliate such a system, and its
very mention must exercise a deleterious effect on
the minds of our quasi supporters and adherents.
One unfortunate youth suffered so greatly that he
is now in a dangerous state in -an hospital. The
course pursued in all these cases is diametrically
opposed to the fundamental principles of justice,
and indeed not in conformity with the law of Prus-
sia, which only allows of such severe punishments
being inflicted after a regular trial has taken place
and a verdict been obtained. More than a thousand
Poles are imprisoned under the Prussian Govern-
ment. This of itself speaks volumes as to the policy
that obtains at Berlin, and forcibly declares to the
world what are the tenets and observances held
sacred by such statesmen, who can presume to
vouch for the upright intentions and kind feeling
of a set of men who can tolerate for a moment the
perpetration of such atrocities as are inflicted on
unoffending men, and even occasionally deserving
individuals. One class of the bands arraigned be-
fore this tribunal is given up to the Russians to ill
treat as they please, and very likely to torture to
death in the end. No nation has a right to do such
dastardly things, and unstable will be the prospe-
rity that springs from their commission. It is not
thus that great mains attain their power, or a
gallant people wins its pre eminence. True bravery
cannot exist with cruelty. The knights of old were
not more famous for their skill against the foe than
for their zeal to aid the oppressed, and their good-
will in rendering assistance to those in trouble. :lad
any of these chivalrous heroes, without fear and
without reproach, been called upon to perform the
part of the Prussian officers in Posen, they would
have replied in the words used by a French noble-
man, when commanded to join in some unworthy
undertaking, " Among the portraits of my ancestors
I see soldiers, but not assassins." It is truly de-
plorable to dwell upon these harrowing details, and
not only must the reader lament the physical suf-
ferings of one side, bat he must also mourn over
the moral decadence of the other. Cruelty is the
worst vice that can degrade human nature ; it is
the crime most inimical to the laws of Christian
charity, and the inculcations of Divine commands.
It is degrading to the disposition of all who prac•
Liao it, and the most insuperable barrier against
elevation of mind and excellence of heart. It speaks
ill for the present generation that so many accounts
should be constantly met with that bring before ns
the horrid and fearful pictures of wanton cruelty
and reckless tyranny. Many will deplore the sad
1 casualties of the unhappy Poles, but the greatest
losers in the end will be the races who oppress and
injure them. Such a systematic course of
selfishness and barbarity will retard the
progress of civilisation. It is a poor am-
ambition that will rest satisfied with the commission
of acts that appertain to long past days of darkness,
and belong to obsolete times of misrule. It is a
suicidal course to pursue, and a fatal policy to
adopt, both as regards home and abroad, and a
people abrogates its privilege and forfeits its posi-
tion, when it takes this retrograde course, instead
of standing forth as the beacon of progress and the
herald of mercy and of peace.

It is singular to notice how the inconsistency so
common in individuals may be often traced in the
direction of public affairs. As we see men in private
life often throwing away favourable openings to
pursue some object which they are very unlikely to
reach, or which when reached may be very un-
profitable, so we may often observe some grand
Government scheme or national undertaking carried
out in simple defiance of the experience of the past,
and with a total disregard of the possibilities of the
future. The perversity or shortsightedness which
forbids us to recognise the advantages really within
our grasp, while we exhaust ourselves in fruitless
pursuit of those that are unattainable, is very oftee
forcibly exemplified in the administration of our
naval affairs. Unfortunately, too, it does not con-
fine itself to mismanaging our ships and our sailors.
but extends to the semi-amphibious establishments
of harbours, ports, and naval stations. It would
seem almost incredible to a stranger that we are in
actual possession of a harbour of such magnificent
natural resources, that the largest and heeviest
vessel can enter or quit it at any state of the tide,
while whole fleets may ride in safety within its
basin, and several miles of anchorage up the river
increase its capabilities to an extent equalled
by very few harbours, natural or artificial;
and that we have treated it with such neglect that
its present state is said to be absolutely dangerous.
Yet this is by no means an exaggerated description
of the condition of affairs at Cork. The harbour is
admitted by all who have the slightest acquaintance
with the subject to possess magnificent natural
advantages, but although the question of our dock
accommodation is so serious and so pressing, and
although the merits of the fact are fully recognised,
from year to year the proposed improvements are
delayed and delayed until we are told on good
authority that in this splendid harbour rot the
smallest ship can be repaired, nor is there accommo-
dation sufficient to allow of any injury to machinery,
&e., being remedied. A very striking instance of
the spendthrift results of the " penny wise and
pound foolish" system is afforded in the case of the
Sidon. This vessel was to proceed to the Cape with
800 troops who were urgently needed there, and
was coming to Cork to embark them, when, having
met with some injury to her machinery near the
mouth of the harbour, she was compelled to return
to Plymouth, the nearest harbour, to be repaired,
and thereby a loss of four weeks was occasioned,
besides other inconveniences. We are not surprised
that Mr. MAGIIIRE, who was the principal spokes-
man of the large and influential deputation who
waitcd on Lord P
ALMERSTON a few days since, on
this very subject, should have mentioned the case
of the Sidon more particularly. The Prime
Minister might learn from that one instance
how often large schemes may be frustrated
and principles of foreign policy disarranged
by the lack of so necessary an assistance as a Hare
hour cf Refuge. Mr. MAGuntE also reminded the
noblo lord that sixteen or eighteen boars ego the

Government of the day, of which Earl RUSSELL
was head and Lord PALMERSTON a prominent
member, distinctly promised that the required im-
provements should be carried out in Cork Harbour.
The ardent partisans of this extension ought, per-
haps, to feel grateful if they succeed in inducing
the fulfilment of an offical promise within twenty
years of its being made, but the veteran Premier
readily acknowledged the claims of the deputation
upon him. He said that he had himself been so
strongly impressed with the advantages of the har-
bour that he Lad intended, when Sir CHARLES
WOOD was at the Admiralty, to have taken steps in
the matter. For some unexplained reason the
execution of this laudable intention was postponed,
and year after year has gone by, with all these
advantages which Nature has dealt out with so
liberal a hand to Cork thrown to the winds, while
we are lavishing hundreds of thousands in vain
attemptse
put
in topt
able. m in places which con scarcely
b
ison 'W
. e are in great want,
rivalen
Lord PALMERSTON admits, of dock accom-
modation, and where on the western coast can we
find a better or more advantageous spot than a
harbour whose depth of water is so great
that a vessel of any size, armament, or
tonnage, may enter it at any moment,
and may quit it at any tide to find herself safely
launched on the broad bosom of the Atlantic ? It
is no wonder that the sister kingdom should feel
some irritation at seeing the capacities of so noble
a port completely undeveloped ; but the feelings of
jealousy and mistrust which once prevailed between
the two nations are not now sufficiently forcible to
serve as a valid excuse for inaction. For purposes
of military defence it is well adapted, while the
railway and the telegraph answer every objection
founded on the assumption of foreign war. The
Commissioners on Fortifications, who reported
three years ago, declared that Cork Harbour was
possessed of great capabilities as a naval port, and
would occupy an important naval strategical posi-
tion for the defence of our western coast in time of
war. They further say, " Cork harbour offers
strong natural features for defence against an
attack by sea, and the naval establishments at
Haulbowline, which, though limited, afford ample
means of refitting, coaling, and provisioning the
ships of the fleet, are so situated as to be secure from
bombardment by sea until the enemy has actual pos-
session of the anchorage. A nation that deals so largely
in ironclads, and is so anxious to watch the rival
merits of its field-pieces, should not forget this re-
commendation. Altogether the case does not admit
of an answer or an evasion, and Lord PALMERSTON,
with his usual happy tack, readily promised to du
alt that was necessary at some future period, and
meanwhile he advised those well informed on the
matter to present themselves before the Parliamen-
tary committee now sitting on dockyards. We
trust the matter will not be again allowed to drop
out of sight, since the establishment of a regular
naval station and dockyard between Milford Haven
and Plymouth would be of immense advantage to
the shipping on our western coast, and surely no
better or more appropriate spot could be Lund than
that which nature Las herself specially fitted for the
purpose.