The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-25 00:00:00

been said that " the chart of our colonies is the

It is satisfactory to find that the Lord Chan-
cellor's Bill for the Amendment of County Courts
Act has passed the second reading. The bill may
probably require a careful revision, and some of
the clauses may need to be eliminated, or at least
amended before it can be suffered to become law.
Nevertheless, the principle upon which it is founded
is a good one, and if it only deserves the purpose
of directing public attention to the harshness and
injustice of our present laws for the recovery of
debts, it will have done good service. There is,
however, every reason to :hope that a little de-
liberate and impartial consideration will remove
all inconsistencies and drawbacks, and convert
the bill into a really practicable and useful mea-
sure. It is true, as some of its opponents re-
marked, that there are two sides to the question,
and that the creditor must be considered as well
as the debtor. But it remains to be seen how
far the honest and moderate creditor is benefited
by the imprisonment of his debtor, when, as must
be always the case among the humbler classes, it
is only by the labour of the debtor's hands that
he can hope to be paid. To imprison a man who is
in the receipt of regular weekly wages, in order to
compel him to make good hie deficient instalments,
is a very unsatisfactory way of eetting about the
business. If a man cannot, or will not pay, when
he is in the receipt of 18s. or 20s. a week, it is not
very likely that he will do so when he is deprived
of his employment and consequent wages. Neither
is it very probable that his wife and family, how-
ever anxious they may be to see their bread winner
set free again, will be able to pay the debt. They
have, in most instances, more than enough to do to
keep themselves, and it is lucky if the anxiety of
the law to protect the debtor's interests does not
end by throwing a whole family on the parish—a
burden to the ratepayers. The argument which
some noble lords brought forward against the bill
appears to us to be even mere untenable than the
plea for the creditor's rights. Lord ST. LEONARDS
and some other peers contended that the measure
was most undesirlble, and would press
hardly on the poor man, because it would
deprive him of his only capital credit.
Very often, said Lord ST. LEONARDS, the agricul-
tural labourer who earned 14s. or 15s. a week, could
get on very well while he had work, but in wintry
weather he was only employed for a short time, and
if he had not credit with the grocer and baker with
whom he dealt he must go to the workhouse. By
their aid he could get through the time of enforced
idleness, and could pay his debts when he got work
again. But the debts must be paid out of the in-
come of 14s. cr 153. a week sooner or later. How
much better then would it b 3 for the labourer to
save it beforehand, to provide in the summer for the
expenses of the winter that is coming, not the one
that is past. By this means h. would he free from
the chain of debt always hanging round him, he
would get his goods much better and cheaper, and
in case of sudden accident or illnesshis family would
be beforehand with the world instead of behind-
hand. The credit system is always a ruinous one
for the poor. They do not know their own expenses,
they are tempted to incur debts for articles that
they would never pay ready money for ; and the
creditor too often takes full advantage of their obli-
gations to him by charging 50 or 60 per cent.,
knowing they dare not leave him. Then when tide
fatal order in court comes they only shift e'ree bar-
ben from one shoulder to the other, r. anning into
debt in a fresh place until the instalments are paid.
The poorer classes are always too ready to trust
recklessly to the future, and to mortgage as it were
their coming gains. This may be seen every day
in the case of domestic servants, whe, however,
good their wages, are seldom in possession of any-
thing beyonds the wants of the day. If such spend-
thrift management is censurable in the case of the
man of business or the speculator, they have at
least the excuse that the morrow may bring them
a considerable addition to their means, but how
reckless and foolish is it to forestal next month's or
next year's earnings when there are the chances of
illness, aecident, or loss of work to be taken into
consideration, and under no circumstances is it likely
that higher wages will be gained than those already
found insufficient. Lord CRANWORTII very truly
said that credit was no doubt important in the mer-
cantile .nd manufacturing world, but it could be
no possible good to the poorer classes. " The ques-
don was asked what the poor man was to do when
he was out of employment. But the question really
was whether it was desirable to encourage the work-
ing man to spend by anticipation wages which he had
not yet earned, or to live upon what which he had
put by for such an occasion." Lord LYVEDEN,
speaking from hie experience of the agricultural dis-
tricts, declared that no greater boon could be of-
fered to them than the abolition of what he styled
the pernicious system of credit, " which was di-
rectly responsible for all the frauds practised on the
poor, the rotten garments sold for them to wear
and the miserable food palmed off for them to eat.',
The debtors, said the noble lord, felt dependent on
the tradesman who had trusted them, and went on
running into debt for bad and dear things, fearing
that if they left him he would enforce the law
may be thought of ',"ne
against them. Whatever
wording of some of the clauses, or as to the best
means of redressing the evils complained of, few
persons can object to the proposition of Lord WEST..
BURY as to the questions which should be put to a
creditor who demanded his debtor's imprisonment.
He proposed to ask such a creditor whether he knew
the position of his debtor when he suffered the debt
to be incurred; whether he knew him to be a labour-
ing man dependent On his weekly earnings, and
liable to lose them from sickness or other casualty ;
whether he gave him credit without inquiry, merely
for the sake of involving him in his books and
charging him 100 percent. for the accommodation?
Few creditors of the poor would pass satisfactorily
through such an examination, and in a large pro-
portion of cases it would be proved that tile debt
had been really paid by the extra prices charged
for the articles supplied. The more the poor are
compelled to make to-day provide for to-morrow,
instead of for yesterday, the greater will be the
advantage to themselves and their families, and it is
a very questionable kindness which, under cover of
giving them temporary assistance in difficulties,
involves them in a network of debt and law which
can hardly be escaped from by years of toil and
struggle. Half the trouble and anxiety spent in
getting out of the clutches of the tally man, or in
wiping off the score ut the general shop, would keep

chart of the world in outline, for we sweep round
the globe and touch every shore." The words of
BYRON are truly applicable to the sphere of our

authority—
" Far as the breeze can bear the billow's foam
Survey our empire, and behold our home."
The anniversary meeting of the society appears to

have been a satisfactory one, and Sir RODERICK
MURCHISON'S re-election as President testifies to
his successful fulfilment of the duties of that

arduous position. The banquet which took place
in the evening was a very brilliant entertainment,
and there was ample scope for the display of elo•
quence end the interchange of thought. The
President very appropriately observed that the
Prince of WALES had been a very distinguished
traveller. In this more than anything else the
education of the heir to the throne was excellent ;
for if culture and information do not always im-
part the requisite knowledge, experience of the

world cannot fail to do so. It must have been a

satisfaction to the President of such a society to

be able to recognise in the future ruler of these

realms a Prince who "bad seen many lands." The
President, in an interesting speech, described the
difficulties with which that Institution had had to
contend before it had reached its present prosperous
condition, There are few things more instructive

and more suggestive to notice than the early efforts
which have been made by the founders of these
societies to attain the height which is their due,
and to assume the influential eminence from which
they can impress their fellow countrymen with the
right sense of their importance and influence. Cer-
tainly it is a matter of congratulation that the time
has gone by when the members of this society had
no place to meet in, and no receptacle for their
books or maps. Such a condition of things was a
disgrace to the country, and it is well that, amid
all our shortcomings and failures, this discrepancy
has at least been remedied. There is great truth in
the assertion of the President, that the grant of
public money for the diffusion of geographical
knowledge was one which "redounded to the honour
of the British Government and Legiislature." The
members of this society have done much to serve
the country, and have made its name famous in
countries unexplored by those of ancient times. A
more national society could hardly be imagined
than one which facilitates our knowledge of other
lands and our intercourse with distant roan. The
Chancellor of the Exchequer was, doubtless, glad
to avail himself of the opportunity thus afforded to
him of leaving the arena of politics for one more
congenial to his taste, and to quit the storm of
debate for the calm contemplation of science. As
might be supposed, his address on:the occasion was
well worthy of perusal, and must have afforded
great satisfaction to the assembly. lie commenced
by giving a geographical illustration of the forlorn
condition of the society when it could find no rest-
ing-place. Ile compared it to the island of " Peloe."
This of course created much amusement, and gave
an appropriate finishing touch to the explanation so
elaborately conveyed by the President. Mr. GLAD-
STONE, in those eloquent terms of which he is so
skilled a proficient, described the importance of
this Geographical Society as a national institution
at the country, and truly stated that it " was
the love of adventure, the boldness in facing
danger, the strong self-reliance, the ready presence
of mind, and all that constitutes the powerful indi-
viduality that lies at the root of the greatness of
this country, which likewise had lain at the root of
the greatness and the performances of the Royal Geo-
graphical Society. The hon. gentleman then con-
cluded his impressive oration by expressing an
earnest hope that that institution might long take
root and flourish among us as one of the many
societies which, emanating from private enterprise,
are the wonder and admiration of all foreigners
who seek our shores. It is not necessary that a
master of eloquence, like Mr. GLADSTONE, should
inform us of these truths; but when the reality is
placed before us in glowing utterances it should re-
ceive more marked attention, and be requited with
a surer recognition. It is to be trusted that the
merits of this noble institution may be more fully
recognised, and that many hitherto ignorant of
its full deserts, or indifferent to its many merits:
may come forward and assist to the extent of their
capabilities a society which can boast of such a
glorious goal for its energies and so extended a field
for its enterprise. To bring man face to face with
man
,ir. regions hitherto untrod since the birth of
time is one of the grandest exploits in which human
nature can engage; and all that tends to increase
our intercourse with foreign States, to extend our
knowledge, and to improve our comprehension, is so
much gained from the reign of ignorance, and added
to the sphere of science, in whose impr eyed and
extended light it is our boast to walx, in the hope
of approaching near and nearer to its perfect day.

Recognition of the South.

",..0 THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

SIR,—Te should think that enough of our kinsmen's
blood ass been spilled in what Earl Russell at first desig-
nated as a lust for " empire and dominion"—Mr. Gladstone
against the North stating that President Davis "had made
a nation," and Sir Robert Pcel that it was useless for the
North to continue such a useless struggle against a people
resolved to be free.

Now, as Mr. Lindsay's motion for the simple recognition
of the South is to be brought forward on the 3d proximo,
men of all parties, save the republicans of England, should
support it.
England recognised Belgium only a few months in re-
bellion, when Holland was able to subdue her. France
recognised the present United States revolting from Eng.
land two years after their rebellion and many years before
their independence. Why then should not England and
France on the same grounds recognise the South P if they
can give reasons, let us have them.

FAIR FLAY.

OCEAN SUPEEMACY.—The United States in 1860
had a greater mercantile tonnage than the United
Kingdom. owing to the shipping of the States having a
monopoly of their own coasting trade (the gnatest in the
world), as well as enjoying pari passu with British ships
all our colonial, intercolonial, and coasting trade. In 1864
the shipping of the United States, or rather of New York
and New England, is laid up, and the carrying trade of the
ocean is transferred to other flags. What will be the con-
sequence when the South shall be independent ? That the
shipping of England, Nova Scotia, and New Brunswick
will take the place of New York and New England between
North and Soutb, and thus England will again recover the
supremacy of the ocean, and become once more the mistress
of the seas. Will any nation object to this?

FATAL ACCIDENT TO A SON OF PRESIDENT
Davis,—The _Richmond Examiner of the 2d reports the
death of Joseph E. Davis, aged four years, second son of
the Confederate President. He fell from the portico of the
house, a distance of 15 feet, fracturing his hip and injuring
Ilia head. die lingered a day or two and then died,