The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-21 00:00:00

are told who alone is to be praised. This will not

do, because it is well known what zeal and assiduity
M. BISMARK has displayed from the outset of this
unhappy Dano•German war, and before that
catastrophe took place, we all remember what

a foe he was to the liberties of Prussia ;
how he overawed all independent members

n the Chamber ; how he ruled as impotent in the

Cabinet, are facts that cannot be denied. Besides,
has he not followed the KING about like a shadow,

never suffering him to take recreation, or transact
affairs at a distance without immediately rushing
after him. It is of no avail that this astute States-
man declines the tribute paid to him ; that is only
another skilful arrangement and ingenious device,
but sober lookers on are not thus to be deceived and
cajoled by such very transparent devices. Further
on Herr BISMAIIK became almost profane, for he
says that PROVIDENCE has blessed the evening of
the KING'S days by bestowing victory on the
• Prussian army. Can anything be more unsuitable
or more repugnant to all notions of propriety. Can
any thing be a more direct contradiction to the DIVINE
laws, and a more resolute infringement to the
DIVINE code than the manner in which the Prussians
have carried on their tactics from the first, and now
we are to be told that it is through the favour of

HEAVEN that these atrocities have been committed
and. this injustice perpetrated, at which the civilisa-
tion of Christian states are scandalised. Some wars
are necessary, others are justifiable,: but neither
term applies to the outrageous course pursued by
Prussia during the whole of this affair. Instead of
Prussia declaring that it was with the help of a
higher Power she has produced this misery, Den-
mark may with better right demand the protection
from above, and leave retribution to the same
source. To her may be applied the words which
celebrate an outrage and a wrong—

" Lo, where she lies embalmed in gore
The voice of justice cries,
The floodgates of her blood implore
For vengeance from the skies."
When men can go so far as Herr BISMARK and
openly thank GOD that they have been able to
design such injustice, and been instrumental in
enabling others to carry it out, it shows very
clearly what respect is due to them, and it is to the
friendship and goodwill of such a nation that Eng-
land is to hold dearer than her honour—more
potent to influence her than the time-honoured
notion of defending the oppressed, and of more con-
sequence than self-respect, national prestige, and
the preservation of good faith. Truly we live in
strange times, but doubtless the most speculative
and prophetic never supposed that we were to wits
ness such an anomaly in our public career, and
stoop to the depths of such an utter degradation.
Herr BISMARK concluded his emphatic address by
touching upon his favourite topic—the duty which
the people owed to their Sovereign. The Parlia-
ment wes, of course, a nonentity in his harangue,
the wishes of the people but cyphers in
his consideration. It is lamentable to see a
fine country thus stultify itself as Prussia has
done—thus throw away her chances of success in
the struggle for freedom, and thus mix herself up
in the continental endeavours for tyranny and
misrule. Not content with that, she is now the
prominent picture in our eyes; she stands forth
the representative of oppression and the example
of covetousness. Instead of being the disciple of
progress, she is now the votary of a retrograde
movement. M. BIsMARK'S remarks were few,
and not characterised by his usual earnestness or
excitement ; but they were quite sufficient for us
to bear ; they declare his intentions, they reveal
his policy, they show that so far from regretting
the sacrifices or grieving for the sufferings
that he has caused, be glories in them; so
far from hoping they may turn out better than
has been supposed, ha wishes them not to do so.
He may be a very clever man who is wise in his
generation, but it is not always the oppressor in
his pride and the despoiler in his might who are to
be envied or trusted in. They may gain their im-
mediate object, but the seeds of decay are sown in
such attempts and projects, and if
.H.ERR BISMARK
had made a more elaborate harangue, and discoursed
yet more fluently regarding the validity of his
cause, the successes of the Prussian army, and the
wisdom and goodness of the King, he would not
have produced any more effect. When injustice
and cruelty are the ruling spirits of a nation's policy,
eloquence may exhaust itself and ingenuity be ex-
pended in the endeavour to make right wrong, but
the efforts will fail, and in the light of truth and
reason only appear as sounding brass or as a link-
ng symbol.

The condition of the large portioa of our indus-
trial classes who gain their living by the needle has
long attracted the attention of philanthropists.
Very recently its evils have received a practical
illustration in the death of the unfortunate young
woman LUCRETIA JEFFREYS, who, whatever the
antecedents of her family, undoubtedly laboured
assiduously to support herself, and only earned so
miserable a pittance that death from starvation was
the result. Some time since a similar ease of dis-
tress was brought to light by the death from desti-
tution of a respectable widow who had endeavoured
to earn her bread by some inferior branch of needle-
work. But these are by no means solitary instances.
Every season has its own sad story, every rank or
degree of workers its own tragedy. The same en-
forced monotonous labour that breaks down the
forces of the poor slopworker in her garret, produces

its fatal effects in the fashionable establishments of
Mayfair. In the one case it is aided by absolute
want of feod, in the other, though there is no lack
of nourishment, there is an equal deficiency in the
supply of as great a necessary, fresh air. What
hunger and cold do in the one instance, overcrowd-
ing and deficient ventilation do in the other, but
excessive application with the needle is the prime
agent of death and disease in both. Poor HooD,
that large-hearted philanthropist, felt for the suffer-
ings of both classes, and while his " Song of the
Shirt" has stirred the hearts of thousands, and
given a voice that will not be silenced to the lonely,
oppressed victim of commercial selfishness and ex-
cessive competition, his " Lady's Dream" has
painted in scarcely less pathetic colours the troop
of fair young girls who

"For the pomp of pride
Haste to an early tomb."

But, however much we may deplore the sufferings
. of the overworked and underpaid needlewomcn, and
for the equally unfortunate, but less pitied, tailors,
it is extremely difficult to deal with Either branch
of the subject. Tailors and needlewomen of all
kinds undoubtedly contribute very Ergely to our
annuli mortality ; they supply our hospitals,
our workhouses, our graveyards, in extravagant
proportion to the rest of the working coca.
munity, while the ranks of the unfortu-
nate women are most largely reinforced
from needlewomen and domestic servants. Such
results are only what may reasonably be expected
from excessive and depressing toil, without the
means of providing for sickness, age, or accident,
nay, even
without being able to gain sufficient fcr
a moderate livelihood. Yet it is wholly against
the recognised principles of our social system to
iregulate the price of labour; and, supposing it to
be possible to limit the hours of work in p rofes -
e•
1"141 establishments, it would be impossible, to do