The Sun.
London, England, 1864-03-02 00:00:00

RAILWAY BILLS.

Yesterday th 3 committees appointed to decide upon the
merits of certain new railways met for the first time in the
north corridor of the House of Commons. where the attend-
ance of the public and of the parties interested was un-
usually large. The first committee, consisting of Mr. G.
Hardy (chairman), Sir J. Acton, Sir H. Bruce, and Messrs.
Bellew and Walker, had referred for their consideratkn the
following suburban railways:—Edgware, Highgate, and
London—Tottenham and Hampstead Junction (Alexandra-
park Extensions)—Hammersmith and City—Hammer-
smith and Wimbledon—Crystal Palace and South London
Junction—Crystal Palace (new railways)—Finchley, Wil-
lesden, and Acton—Kew, Turnham Green, and Hammer-
smith—Kingston, Tooting, and London—London and
South-Western (Kensington, &c., Extension)—North and
South-Western Junction—Tooting, Merton and Wimble-
don—Watford and Edgware Junction—and Wood-green
and Enfield Railway. The committee selected for conside-
ration the Alexandra-park railways—the Edgware, High-
gate, and London—and the Tottenham and Hampstead
Junction. Mr. t .enison, Q.C., with whom was Mr. Wilkin-
son, opened the case for the promoters of the Edgware,
Highgate and London at great length. The object was to
make an extension from the main line, which would be
completed by the end of the year, and which runs from the
Great Northern, through Highgate, Finchley, and Hendon,
to Edgware. The extension, though only 1 mile 54 chains,
was most important, since it would commence at the Great
Northern at llornsey, and connect Alexandra-park and
Muswell-hill with the metrppolis. Lord Fermoy, M.P.,
chairman of the Alexandra-park Company, and Mr. J.
Everett gave evidence in favour of both the proposed Alex-
andra-park lines. They would prefer, however, that they
should stop outside the park-gates, and that the line within
it should be made by the Park company. Mr. Cawk-
well, managei of the Lendon and North-Western, and Mr.
Fuller, surveyor, were also examined in favour of the Tt4-
teal= lino. Mr. INlerewether, Q.C., who appeared for the
competing line, the Tottenham and Hampstead (Alexandra
Extension), stated that it would be 2 miles and 15 chains
from a junction with the company's authorized line, near
the north side of the Holloway-road, to Bath-lodge, Mus-
well-hill ; and that the second portion would be one mile
three chains from the last point to a junction with the Great
Northern at its Colney-hatch and Southgate station. After
some further evidence, the committee adjourned to 12 o'clock
this day.

_ .
The Dwellings of the Poor in Shoreditch.

Yesterday an adjourned inquest was resumed by Mr.
Humphreys, the coroner for Middlesex, at the Blue Last
Tavern, Curtain-road, Shoreditch, touohing the death of a
child named Ellen Kenealey, aged 1 year and 3 months.
The evidence in this case disclosed a painful state of things
with regard to the habitations of the poorer classes in a part
of Shoreditch. The deceased, it may be stated, was one of
two children dwelling with their parents, labouring people,
at 26, Harris-buildings, Union-gardens, Shoreditch. They
were both taken ill three weeks ago, and on Sunday last
deceased died. The mother thought they had the measles,
but there had been a rash, &c., and the medical man who
was called in of ter death could not account for the fatality,
but he said that the state of the place was such that the
want of oxygen would cause asphyxia, and so death, if the
child had been debilitated. The house and neighbourhood
were described as follows, by witnesses who were manifestly
reluctant to be examined :--

Mary Kenealey, 26, Harris-buildings, said that her house li
contained but two rooms, one over the other. Witness, her
husband, her two children, and her husband's brother, all
slept iv the top room. They broke a window to let in air.
The rent was 33 a week. There were two privies for eight.
houses, and only one dustbin for 20 houses.. The dust was
not regularly removed, and it had to be thrown about the
place to dry up and harden the ground, there being no sewer,
The houses were very damp, as the water and slush remained
in the yard until it sank into the earth. There was only one
water-tap for 13 houses, and the water was laid on some
times for only 10 minutes, and never more than a half hour
in the 24. There were no water-butts, and the water had to
be kept in pans and tubs in the Ir4uses. Two persons in the
court had sheds to keep their water in. The witness said
that the deceased was naturally a healthy child, and she
never thought it would be snatched away from her so
suddenly. Mr. Long was the landlon!,
Eliza Cooper, 3, Cookie-place, Harris-buillings,said that
she was used to the smell in the place, and it was no incon-
venience to her. When the water was kept in the house
for a (Lay it became bad, and hal to be thrown out. The
walls of the houses were crumbling. The slush used to flow
into witness's house, and she got a severo illness from it.
When the people constructing the new railway came they
set that right as they had to construct a sewer. The in-
spector of nuisances never came. Once "two railway gen-
tlemen" put their heads over the paling and asked how were
the closets, and on being told they were very bad, the gen-
tlemen had them trapped. The one dustbin of the neigh-
bourhood was right opposite witness's door, and the dust
used to be blown in about the house. It was an agent who
collected the rents.

Mr. F. G. Gant, F,R.C.S., pathological anatomist to the
Royal Free Hcspital, said that by direction of the coroner
he made a post mortem examination of the body of the de-
ceased. The deceased was a well-nourished child. The
congested state of the lungs and veins proved that the child
died from asphyxia, resulting from a failure of the supply
of arterial blood from the heart. Having arrived at that
conclusion, he proceeded to inspect the premises. He found
the place undrained and unpaved. The woman told him
she was so anxious to get the yard paved that she had begun
to collect paving stones. She got one somewhere on each
Sunday, and a beginning had already been made. There
was green stuff and water lying about in the yard. One
watercloset had to serve for several houses. The smell that
would arise from the yard would bo most prejudicial to
health. The supply of water was deficient. He should
certainly suggest that a drain should be made to carry off
the stagnant water from the yard. It was quite possible
that the deceased's suff)cation in this case may have arisen
from the result of measles.
Mr. Ellison, surgeon, concurred with Mr. Gant's state-
ment.

The Coroner said that he had received a letter from Mr.
Long, the landlord, stating that he would be most anxious
to carry out any improvements that might be necessary,
and the necessity of which had escaped his observation.
The Jury returned a verdict—" That deceased died from
asphyxia from natural causes," and the jury requested that
the coroner would call the attention of the landlord of
Harris-buildings to the danger to the public health arising
from the state of the premises, and the want of a proper
supply of water, of a proper number of privies, and the
unpaved state of the yard,
The Coroner said he should act upon that recOnimell-
dation,

SPIRIT Or THE. PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—A glance at the map of Europe is suffi.
cient to show that there are several reasons which,
in various degrees, singly or in combination, have

constituted its several divisions as they now stand.

The geographical reason prevails in -large islands
and peninsulas, in regions backed by mountain
ranges, frozen deserts, or inhospitable seas. The
national reason, or the influence of race, tells most
when the cognate branches of some one human
family have been closely packed, and other circum-
stances have favoured their assimilation and fusion.

The political reason takes its origin from history—.
from the achievements of conquerors and great
statesmen, or from a course cf policy favourable
to alliances and compacts for mutual advantage,
leading to closer and more permanent union.
If we review the States of Europe under these

three divisions, it will be observed that the most
enterprising, ambitious, and revolutionary are
those which either possess the concentrated strength
of a great race. or the perfect security of a good
geographical position, or both these advantages.
The most conservative are those which have grown
out of policy, and must depend upon it. It may be
a bold word to say, so we say it in all humility—
nothing bat a folly approachieg to madness can pre-
vent France, England, and Russia from being very
great Powers. This cannot be said of any one of
the States that lie between them. The more we
admire the genius and the audacity which made
Prussia in the last century, the more we must
aAmit that her existence depends every day on
the sol.dier and the statesman. The more we ad-
mire the astuteness, the good fortune, the patience
and fortitude, and all the good and evil qualities
which have packed the Austrian empire, and have
held it together, the more must we see
that SC motley a population, and so federal a Go-
vernment will only hold together so long as its
policy is modeot and wise. When Metternich called
" Italy" a geographical expression, he spoke tike a
clever craftsman doing honour to his own craft;
but he must have inwardly lamented that the Aus-
trian Empire had neither a geographical origin nor
the bond of race; nothing, in fact, but the policy of
which hee was a master. How fine that cunning
thread, and how easily broken, he well knew when
he foretold thci " deluge" that should come even
earlier than he expected. As he found it, so he left
it—a virtual federation, the form of dynastic unity;
a'btindle of races, allied with some loyalty, but
More sense of mutual benefit. But it is a combina-
tion fatal to political enterprise. Ai' that Austria can
safely attempt is to keep things together and as they
afe, to hold its own if possible, to leave its neighbours
alone, to 'maintain a good police on its frontiers, cul-
tivate tolerable relations with its neighbours, and
let the influences of peace do their work in cement-
ing and mixing her various and scarcely congruous
races. Such is the Power which, urged by sudden
impulse, has raced across Europe to inflict a deadly
wound on another Power, whose only crime was to
resemble Austria herself in the composition her
people and her designs for their amalgamation.
Denmark, with much more reason than Austria,
and a longer prescription to plead in her favour,
bees been attempting, perhaps not with equal clever-
ness, but with more than equal candour, to reduce
into are actual administrative unity provinces which
have been held together now, without interruption,
for severs; esenerations. There is not a fault to be
found with ne Danish policy that does not lie
against the AusSrians, in the dealings of the house
of Hapsburg with jts discordant multitude of sub-
jects. The difference ja favour of Austria
estri:eispeornaete,of
s
might, not right, fer she o.7esir
after a fashion, with forty million Germans, akin
to the malcontents with whom Christian IX. has
to deal, hostile to those under Frant7.4l Joseph.
But as Austria lives and breathes by policy ; by
policy she must stand or fall. As she does to Den-
mark, so must she expect to be done by. What-
ever she says to Denmark must be read in Venetia,
in Huneary,in Transylvania, and'Galicia. When she
declares war upon Denmark she declares war also in
behalf of all those alien dependencies against her-
self. \V hen she says this is her time, she proclaims
with trumpet voice that this is their time also to
assert their national independence. So Austria finds,
in fact; for scarcely has she completed her occupa-
tion of Schleswig before she has to deal with the
more terrible occupation of one of her own provinces
by the original race itself, fighting with the best
means and the beat weapons at its command. Eng-
lishmen can speak their thoughts with a good con-
science at such a time. We, too, have had to deal
with divers races, but we have done all that was
possible to make them one, and, on the whole, we
have succeeded. Our only interest in the approach-
ing conflict is that populations held under an alien
Crown shall either be made to feel that their true
interest, their improvement, and their self-respect
lie that way, or shall achieve their independence.
But France has not that purely philanthropic
interest in the quest ion,nor even has Russia. France,
with her commanding geographical position, has a
singularly homogeneous people. Her varieties of
race sink into insignificance compared with her
oneness. Indeed, the policy of all her great states-
men has been directed for centuries to the aboli-
tion of everything that could stand in the way of
unity. The nobility, religion, language—every-
thing liable to assume a local and independent cha-
racter„has been beaten or smoothed down into the
ideal Frenchman. The result is a power unknown
to any other forty millions of men. But France
hes her grievance, the abstract justice of which
cannot be denied. She sees beyond the frontier
imposed by European jealousy, but within the
frontier that Nature herself seemed to ordain, a
large population more French than German, and
disposed to union with her. This is her interest
in the gathering strife ; and at the present time the
nnly object of ambition placed within her reach.
If Germany, whether in the Diet or in a less
regular way, by the hands of her two most powerful
States, lays down the law and carries out the prin-
ciple that no Germans shall be allowed to remain
under an alien Crewnlthe Rhenish provinces fall by
natural gravitation into the lap of France. England
has already laid down the self-denying ordinance
that she will not interfere again to arrange the map
of Europe, unless she be required either by treaty
or a necessary regard to her own interest. Whether
we should indeed look on quietly must be left to the
circumstances of the time and season, but such is
our present attitude. France, then, is the State
principally interested in the success of this mon-
strous aggression. But what " nationality" will
fail to hear the call, and hesitate to obey it, even if
it has waited for that time ? There is not a State
between the Mediterranean and the Baltic that is
not either encouraged or menaced by this movement,
and told that now, if ever, is the time ,o get its own
again, oe keep and acquire what it can.
POST.—The despatches which relate to the special
mission of Lord Wodehouse to the Danish Court are
those which in that mass of correspondence known
as the Danish papers will be read with the greatest
interest. The Dano-German dispute underwent so
total a change on the death of Frederick VII. that,
except as a matter of historic interest, the negotia-
tions to which the Schleswig-Holstein question had
previously given rise possess but little intrinsic
value. On the accession of Christian IX,, however,
the right of succession to the Duchies became for
the first time agitated, and almost simultaneously
the promulgation of a common constitution for Schles-
wig and the Kingdom Proper gave to the German
Powers a fresh pretext for pursuing towards Den-
mark that aggressive policy on which they had long
resolved. The mission ofLord Wodehouse, accredited
as that nobleman was to the Court of Copenhagen,
with the object of congratulating the new Sovereign
on his accession to the throne, cinsequently marks
the opening of a new phase of the Dano-German
question, and the fact that the English Govern-
ment took advantage of his visit to Denmark to
unfold their views of the policy which, to their
minds, it was incumbent on the Danish Cabinet to
pursue, renders it equally the starting-point of those
negociations which have hitherto produced such un-
profitable results. In the last instalment of the
Danish correspondence presented to Parliament are
contained the special instructions given by the Go-
vernment to Lord Wodehouse on his departure from
England, together with the substance of the com-
munications which passed between our Envoy and
the Prussian Prime Minister when the former was
at Berlin. This blue book also contains a very re-
markable despatch of the English Foreign Secre-
tary on the subject of the common Constitution ;
but as the correspondence does not extend beyond
the middle of December, the time of Lord Wode-
house's arrival at Copenhagen, no information is
afforded respecting his communications with the
Danish Goveimment or of the result of his mission.
'The documents before us, however, furnish ample
matter for comment. S 3 far as we can
gather from the letter of instructions ad-
dressed by Earl Russell to Lord Wode-
house, the latter was authorised to exercise
the quasi-judicial function of hearing the com-
mpliatin themt s o f
tthh e
the aggrieved
English
Fp ahrr tei
jegsh,
.aenffide ten, e n
there t o
tt
or a
bn e-
duly sifted by her Majesty's Secretary of State.
" It is not my purpose," writes Earl Russell on the
9th of December, "either to point out how these
engagements (the diplomatic engagements entered
into by Denmark with Austria and Prussia 1851)
have been violated. It will be for the Ministers of
Austria and Prussia to make their complaints on
this head." The Ambassador is further instructed
to cotanannieate With the Ministers of France,
Russia, and Sweden at the Danish Court, and, it
possible, to induce them to make joint repri,.--
main obt
tion the Danish Government- 111 t,
being the fulfilment of til3 jec3enat
tay to-
be kept in view
of 1852, as well as of the engtagenaents respectively
pterod into by Denmark, Autitria, itud lirtafi
4 in

the preceding year. From this despatch, then
it would seem that, in the first instance, Lor,
Wodehouse was simply directed to sound the Ger-
man Powers, and that the definite attitude to be
assumed by him towards the Danish Government
was left to be determined by subsequent events.
In pursuance of his instructions, Lord Wode-
house went, in the first place, to Berlin, and there
had an interview with M. von Bismark. The sub-
stance of the conversation which passed between
them is contained in a despatch from Lord Wode-
house to Earl Russell, dated December 12, and is
important as manifesting without any affectation of
concealment the true grounds of the hostility of the
leading Powers of Germany to Denmark. It was
not, as was generally supposed, to rescue either the
Schleswigers or the Holsteiners from a despotism
which was intolerable to them that Austria and
Prussia were about to take up arms against Dan-
mark. The object of the German Powers was far
different. " The fact was," said M. von Bismark,
" that Germany would never be on good terms
with Denmark so long as the present democratic
institutions of Denmark were maintained." It
was not, we are left to suppose, because the
common Constitution of November tended to
incorporate Schleswig with the Kingdom Proper
that it gave umbrage to Austria and Prussia,
but because it tended to disseminate the prin-
ciples of constitutional liberty, and against such
dissemination Austria and Prussia felt it to be
their duty to protest. "Let the King of Denmark,''
said M. Von Bismark, "dismiss his Ministers ; a
coup detat would be the best solution of the diffi-
culty." Such was the language of the Prussian
Minister to our Envoy, and such the counsel which
he desired to be transmitted to a constitutional king
within a month after his accession to the throne.
As, however, the German Powers could not decently
proclaim to the world that their main object in
attacking Denmark was to crush free institutions,
the stalking-horse of Schleswig-Holsteinism was
once more turned to account, and the Englsh
Minister was informed that the Danish Govern-
ment would be required to suspend the common
Constitution before the Ist of January, which wee
known to be impossible, and to fulfil their engage-
ments of 1851 in such a manner that the existing
connection between the Kingdom Proper of Den-
mark and Schleswig should be finally severed. In
communicating what passed at this interview, Lord
Wodehouse fulfilled the first portion of his mis'
sion. The English Government were then made
perfectly acquainted with the specific nature of
German grievances and German demands. The
next despatch in the series to which it is necessary
to refer was addressed by Earl Russell to Lord
Wodehouse on the 17th of December, and consee
quently subsequent to the receipt of Lord Wode-
house's despatches of the 12th. By this time, just
eight days after the date of the letter of instructions
above referred to, the Foreign Secretary had evi-
dently made up his mind on the merits of the chief
question in dispute between Germany and Denmark.
The Ministers of Austria and Prussia had made
their complaints, and Earl Russell was now in a
position to affirm that Denmark had violated her
engagements. In the despatch of 17th December
the Foreign Secretary unhesitatingly declares
thnt the Constitution of November virtually
effected an incorporation of Schleswig with Den'
mark, and, being consequently a violation of the
engagements entered into by the Danish Crown.
ought forthwith to be repealed. " How this is to
be done," the despatch concludes, " it belongs to the
King of Denmark, his Ministers, and his Parini*
moat to decide, It is the wish of her Majesty's Go'
vernment that it should be done in the manner
most suit able to the dignity and character of Dee'
mark as a free and independent State." As this
brings us to the point where the Special Envoi
received definite instructions respecting the lan'
cage he was to hold to the Danish Cabinet, and 01
the correspondence already published carries us ae
further than the date of his arrival at Copenhageet
we will for the present abstain from offering an/
comment on those instructions. We now knoll'
that the English Government did press upon the
Danish Cabinet the necessity of revoking the cote'
mon Constitution ; but how the latter received
those councils we have yet to learn,

NORWICH UNION FIRE AND LIFE
OFFICES-

NOTICE OF REMOVAL.

The Directors hereby give notice, that, in consequence of
the immediate extension of the London, Chatham, and Dover
Railway, they have vacated their offices, No. 6, Crescent, New
Bridle-street, and REMOVED to their NEW PREMISES,
No. 29, Fleet-street, E.C.
February 4, 1864.