The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-25 00:00:00

11-111 SIM'. LONDON, FRIDAY EVENTIsaii, D

cessfully with that hydra,leaclod monster which has
for generations been the curse of Africa, blighting
her soil, and decimating her population, he will
have rendered a service to humanity in another
way as important and influential as his dis-
covery of the Nile. It is well worth the while
of all who are at all interested in this sub-
ject to peruse attentively the remarks of the Cap-
tain, and not to let them die out in the obscurity
which too often entombs those suggestions which
are not considered quite en regle by the powers that
be. Order is an admirable thing, but the custom
of always referring to established precedent may
be carried too far. There are few of the present
day who have not ridiculed the Spanish king in his
self-imposed martyrdom ; but how many in reality
follow out his practice while they abuse his theory.
It comes to this—that great errors prevail in the in-
terior management of Africa, and surely one who is
so laden with honours, and so trumpeted by the
voice of fame through the length and breadth of the
land as Captain SPEKE, has a right to speak, and his
remarks ought to meet with the greatest attention.

Christmas is come ! The joyful words are echo-
ing from many a merry playground as boys and
girls prepare for the treats of the holidays. They
are on the lips of many a happy family whose scat-
tered members gather round the old fireside at the
season of kindly affections. They are glad words
even to the inmates of our workhouses and asylums
where Christmas is never suffered to pass over
without some pleasant recognition. It is the time
of gay festivities, of cordial greetings, of cheerful
domestic gatherings, of kind;words, merry laughter,
and smiling faces. It is the season in which by old
established custom Care is to hide his head, and
Sorrow veil her face, harsh words are to be hushed,
unkind thoughts put by, andiEarth is faintly to
commemorate that Love and Mercy once shown at
this season by Heaven, yet in the midst of our busy
metropolis even in sight of the gaily decked shops,
the holiday making throngs and the prospective
glories of the pantomimes, who can help asking
whether Christmas comes the same to all ? Who
can help knowing that out of sight of all this wealth
and merriment and social comfort are hiding dark
and•spectral groups who verily might play the part
of the skeleton at the feast. There are houses where
no yule log will cast its r'iddy light at Christmas
tide, there are boards where the cry of famished
children for bread will fill the place of Christmas
laughter, there are hundreds upon hundreds of our
own fellow countrymen and citizens to whom cold
and want and hunger will be the only Christmas
guests. Surely these things should not, be altoge-

trier forgotten by those whom GOD has mercifully
lifted above such utter need. Surely we may each of
us spare, according to his or her ability, be it little
or much, some token of remembrance that Christ-
mas with us is not an empty word. Let us show
that we recognise its claims not only to increased
social hospitality and friendliness among our own
circles, but to fulfil the commandment of liim who
bade us, for His sake, remember the poor. None
can plead want of leisure or of knowledge when
charitable workers abound who will distribute their
aims for them, and will vouch for the genuine merit
of the cases they relieve. There are hospitals for
every one of that " grisly family of death" which
lays poor human natureunder such grievous charges.
There are asylums for the blind, the idiotic, the
crippled, the deaf and dumb, which should surely
not ask in vain for those who cannot ask for them-
selves. There are the bare limbs of our Lancashire
cotton spinners shivering in the bitter December
wind. There are schools for the orphan, the ne-
cessitous, the ragged, who else would have no other

eacher than the streGts. There are homes where

the stranger, the friendless, may obtain temporary
shelter. There are other homes where the children
of vice and crime may be preserved from evil
exarupl2., and taught to gain an honest living.
There are reformatories and penitentiaries which
strive to do the work too long left undone. There
are societies which protect the overworked needle-
wooieu, which open their kindly doors of refuge to
the houseless wanderers on these bitter nights;
which dole out their welcome meals to the starving
poor who gather round their soup-kitchens. And
yet with all these good works, and a host of others,

hundreds are left untended—may we say it,
for want of funds in this our wealthy London ? Let
us bear this reproach no longer, but take to heart
the lesson conveyed in those self-accusing words of
the " Lady's Dream," as told by our heart-stirring
poet :

" I feasted as rich ones feast,
I ate whatever is good ;
Fish and flesh, and fowl and fruit,
Supplied my hungry mood ;
But I never remembered the wretched ones
Who starve for the want of food.

I dressed as the noble dress,
In cloth of silver and gold,
Silks and satins, and velvets and furs,
Ia many an ample told ;
But I never remembered the naked limbs
That froze with the winter's cold 1"
Let us guard against such forgetfulness and the
" want of thought" that works evil, as well as
" want of heart," so that the glow of the Christmas
hearth may warm other hearts than our own.

THE DANISH DIFFICULTY EXPLAINED BY
" PUNCH."—Young persons who dine out, and wish
to be considered well-informed young diners out, must desire
to be able to answer, in a few simple words, the question so
frequently put as to the real value of the difficulty about the
King of Denmark's succession to the Schleswig-Holstein
duchies. Mr. Punch will explain the matter in a moment.
The case is this : King Christian, being an agnate, is the
collateral heir male of the German Diet, and conse-
quently the Duchy of Holstein, being mediatised, could only
have ascended to the Landgravine of llesse in default of
consanguinity in the younger branch of the Sonderburg-
Glucksburgs, and therefore Schleswig, by the surrender of
the Duke of Sexe•Coburg Gotha, was acquired as a fief in
remainder by the morganatic marriage of Frederick VII.
This is clear enough, of course. The difficulty, however,
arises from the fact that, while the Danish protocol of 1852,
which was drawn up by Lord Palmerston, but signed by
Lord Malmesbury, repudiated ex post facto the claims of
Princess Mary of Anhalt, as remainder-woman to the Elec.
toress of Augustenberg. it only operated as a uti possidetis
in reference to the interests of Prince Christian of Schleswig-
Holstein-Sonderburg-Glucksburg, while Baron Bunsen's
protest against Catholicism, under the terms of the
Edict of Nantes, of course barrel the whole of the lineal
ancestry of the Grand Duke from claiming by virtue of the
Salk clause of the Pragmatic Sanction. The question is
therefore exhaustively reduced to a very narrow compass,
and the dispute simply is, whether an agnate who is not
consang,uinous can, as a Lutheran, hold a fief which is
clothed by mediatisation with the character of a neutral bel-
ligerent. This is really all that is at issue, and those who
seek to complicate the case by introducing the extraneous
statement, true, no doubt, in itself, that the Princess of
Wales, who is the daughter of the present King of Den-
mark, made no public renunciation of either of the duchies,
or the ivory hair brushes, when she dined with Lord
Mayor Rose, are simply endeavouring to throw dust in the
eyes of Europe.
THE CONDEMNED MURDERER LURE CHARLES.
—After settlenee of death had been passed upon the
prisoner on Tuesday, a rumour was (es already mentioned)
very prevalent that he had confessed his crime. This
rumour, however, turned out to be entirely without fouu-
fors:'
dation ; for, so far from this being the fact, immediately
after hi, conviction he had an interview with Captain Ire-
land, of the Irish constabulary, at his own request, and he
believed that thtilate
pretested to him his innocence The remarkable fortitude
prisoner displayed throughout his trial entirely
Y. Theasd f
hire on Wednesday morning. He got up at the
usual hem. for rising
was
in gaol, but his strength was so pros.
traced that he
im-
mediately.
fixed, but it is compelled to go to bed again almost lin-
itexwecilultitoankehayslanceottoy-metobrreoehn
fortnight.

A new theatre is to be erected in Paris, under
the title of Le Theat!e due Peuple, by a joint stock com-
pany.
The capital is fixed at 1,880,000 f. (75,200). The
theatre
t o
h oilfd,
a4n, 0:
70 5 persons, and the prices of admis-
sion .
isb to
a2f,