The Sun.
London, England, 1863-04-14 00:00:00

THERMOMETER.

Highest since Noon yesterday
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This day at Noon. . . $ $
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RIGA WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
DAY.--3tlonling, 11h. 9m.—Afternoon, 11h. 45m.
To-govaaw.-Morning, —h. —m.—Afternoon, 12h. 12m.

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LONDON, TUESDAY, APRIL 14, 1863.

The news from Poland is not astonishing, con-
sidering all things. The latest intelligence informs
us that " The proposed amnesty has been univer-
sally rejected," and that it leaves Poland in the
same position as before the insurrection. Some well-
wishers to Poland may feel disappointed; but
perhaps the people have chosen wisely in choosing
an open foe rather than a pretended friend. All
who have studied the course of events can tell
how often the Russians have held out
suggested imaginary Utopias,
delusive hopes and su
only to ensnare their victims more com-
pletely and throw off their guard their friends and
advisers. They keep the word of promise to the
ear and break it to the heart. It would be expect-
ing too much from a nation burning with the ac-
Cumulated wrongs of so many years, and goaded to
madness by such persecution, to give up
their present 'vantage ground for a defenceless state
where they wou'd be at the mercy of their enemies.
It is also said that " a protest against the proposed
amnesty has been circulated." This looks as if the
Poles were determined to brave it out to the last,
and to leave nothing undone that can at all keep up
the courage of their adherents. It is evident that
the Poles have all along entertained a suspicion
against the sincerity of any proposition that came
from adverse quarters. " Timeo Danaos et done
ferentes may well be their outcry on reading
these fine sounding propositions. Sad as
their fall may be, and hopeless their future state,
it is all for the best in one sense. It is always an
advantage to know the worst. Despair brings
courage of its own to meet the emergency, but it
is prostrating to the energy to feel outwitted and
betrayed. The Polish insurgents, as they are styled,
are now ready to perish in the struggle for freedom,
" And leaving in battle no blot ontheir name,"
Look
Look proudly to Heaven from the
deathbed of fame."
They are even prepared for a harder fate; to drag
on through weary years the captive's lot in exile,
to mourn for the country that they could not
save, and regret that they did not yield up their
spirits in the deadly encounters that settled the
doom of their compatriots. There are different
vocations to fulfil in life; and as MILTON has said
in his inimitable sonnet—

" They also serve who only stand and wait,"

so while the blood of the patriot is the seed of
the tree of freedom, those who endure insults,
spoliation and exile in the cause are also worthy
of recognition. They may be ranked among
those who, more than conquerors, lead captivity
captive, and are greater than him who taketh a
city, since they overcome obstables which daring
cannot surmount, and vanquish the innate desires
of human nature, in the pursuit and furtherance of
their dearly cherished object. It may suit political
purposes to call this strife a rebellion, and this up-
rising ill-timed and misjudged. But viewed in its true
appearance, and regarded in its right aspects, it has
far wider scope and higher significance. Those who
:add in the pages of history the deeds that make men
lemons and send down their names to posterity, as
the trumpet blast that calls after generations to the
conflict, Ins—
y turn from their intereeing perusal to
notice the "mats now taking place around them.
Why should not these troops struggling for their
birthright of independence, and striving with fear-
ful odds against their enemies, be as worthy

of regard and respect, as the heroes of other
times, "the patriot TELL, the BRUCE of Ban-
nockburn." The Poles are now at bay, and
that position is known to be a dangerous
one; they have the sympathies of all free nations
enlisted in their cause, and many hearts with vow
and prayer take the field with these sons of liberty.
They wish that the day may not be far distant, when
the regeneration of their fatherland shall remove a
stigma from the face of Europe, and do away with a
reproach from the nations who from motives of
expediency or suggestions of fear have sanctioned,
encouraged, and not protested against the outrages
that have desecrated its dominions,

Another case of death from starvation has just
startled the inhabitants of this wealthy metropolis,
and has set men asking once again whether there
is not some great defect in our poor-law system.
Whence comes the horror of workhouse relief
which induces English men and women to risk
starvation not only for themselves but for their
families, rather than enter the gloomy walls of the
parish asylum for the destitute ? How is it that
every sixpence is begrudged not only to the idle
and worthless vagrant, but to those whom misfor-
tune or inability to obtain employment have reduced
to the greatest need ? The custom is, when poor
persons with families apply to the parish authori-
ties for relief, to tell them that they must come into
the house, or no assistance will be given them.
Mr. HUMPHREYS, the Coroner who presided at the
melancholy inquiry, remarked very justly upon the
impropriety of such a stipulation. It was, he said,
no doubt perfectly legal to refuse relief on such
grounds, but it was quite evident that if families
entered the house the expense would be much
increased. The only object, therefore, that could
be gained by such a stipulation would be that fami-
lies
in extreme destitution should be left without
assistance. If this is the primary object of our
Poor Law guardians, it is a pity that we have a
Poor Law at all, and that the nation is charged with
the salaries of the numerous officials employed by
it. People could do no more than starve if we took
no thought for the poor, and with all our expensive
and cumbrous machinery it does not seem that ‘a e
get much further now.. The worst class of paupers
and vagrants, male and female, find their way to
the workhouse doors without scruple, when conve-
nient to themselves, and are admitted. It is the
lower class of the honest poor, those who struggle
hard to keep their families together and to keep off
the parish, that are refused assistance, when two or
three shillings per week would often help to keep
afloat until better times. But, no, the little home
must be broken up, the scanty furniture sacrificed,
and they must surrender all the domestic life which
all Englishmen and women esteem so highly above
associations and communities, even if comfort-
able. Independence is a thing tot readily
sacrificed, and it does not require much worldly
experience to know that it is far easier to pre-
serve anything like a home than it is to gain
one. The object of our Poor-law guardians seems
to be to pauperise the people—to break down that
sturdy independence which is the best safeguard
for the pockete of the ratepayers. The sooner some
radical change is made in the general system the
better; and if the parochial authorities cannot, or
will not, introduce a thorough change into their
present system, it will become the duty of the
Government to take the matter into their own
hands, and, while receiving and regulating the
rates of the parish, to see that the funds are ap-
plied in a manner that will prevent the recurrence
of such distressing scenes.
The unfortunate woman on whom the inquest
was held was the wife of a watch-finisher, and the
mother of nine children. The family resided in one
room, at the top of a house in Bethnal-green, for
which they paid 3s. rent. The father's earnings
were 14s. a week, thus leaving lls. for the weekly
support 111 of elveen persons. A year ago
the _husband had applied, he said, to the
parish for out-door relief, which was refused—
scarcely, we should imagine, on a plea of saving,
since three or four shillings would probably have
been considered a great boon by a man then earn-
ing only 12s. or 13s. per week—a sum scarcely
sufficient, even with workhouse management, to
maintain two persons and nine children. Per-
mission to see the guardians was refused him, and
he and his family decided to remain in their pre-
sent miserable abode. Their hardships since that
time appear to have increased still further,
until, according to the coroner's account,
the appearance presented by the family was
one of the most shocking destitution. The children
were barefooted, with only one garment each ; and
recently one of the sons remained 41 hours without
food. The mother, thinly clad, and suffering from
long-continued privations, went out to seek food or
employment of some kir d. She got wet through,
which, in her wretched condition, was sufficient to
produce fever. Her son-in-law, himself a poor
man, said that when very ill she went to the over-
seer to ask him to take the children into the house,
as she could nothing more for them. The overseer,
he added, not only refused the sick woman's re
quest, but positively bullied her. In answer to this it
was stated that the deceased had been asked to go
to the Fever Hospital, but had refused; that the
husband had earned on the average 225. a week ;
that it was twelve months since relief was asked
for; and that the guardians were anxious always
to assist the deserving poor. These conflicting
accounts demand inquiry, for the fact remains that
the woman has died, on the evidence of the parish-
surgeon, from long-continued want, when she would
have probably recovered if she had had
proper nourishment, only one teaspoonful of
food being found in the body on a post-
mortem examination. There may have been
great neglect or mismanagement on the part of the
sufferer and her family ; but the fact that our system
of workhouse relief demands a thorough supervi-
sion, has received a startling confirmation from a
case no less discreditable to our parochial arrange-
ments than derogatory to our national humanity.

The notice that Mr. FERRAND gave last night
concerning the distress in the cotton districts
likely to be producive of some results. T
he seems
hon.
member will ask the Noble Lord at the head of the
Government, to-night, w hether he will be so good
as to name Monday next as the day for the discus-
sion relative to the distress in the cotton districts.
It is to be hoped that Lord PALMERSTON, with his
usual tact and discern ment,will accede to this request,
since the subject is one of overwhelming importance,
and to appear to cause any delay in its appearance
before the Legislature would not look well for
those in authority. What plans Mr. FERRAND
and his friends may project, what views they may
entertain on this question, it is of course imposeible
to ascertain as yet. Notices of motion are prover-
bially barren soil, wherefrom to glean any scrap or
detail of information regarding past, present, and
future. It must be inferred, at all evente,
that the Opposition are ready to meet the
emergency, or at any rate to consider
the difficulties of the case calmly, and not wait till
some sudden casualty or unforseen calamity throws
every one into a panic, and all alterations and
arrangements are made hap-hazard. This seems the

course into which the Ministers are at present
driving us by their tardy provisions, and piocrasti-
nating measures. Why not take advantage of a
temporary lull amid the storm, and make provision
for darker days that are sure to be in
store. At all events, common sense must
make manifest to all men that, if they will not do
anything for or by themselves, they should hold
out every encouragement to others who are more
able or wiling to assist. Let us trust that this ques-
tion will meet with the full consideration that it
requires—that the various conflicting claims and
divers interests will obtain that unprejudiced and
impartial notice that they deserve—and that
all who have any weight or authority in
deciding on the matter will waive all
personal feelings, and sink all party spirit,
in order that the welfare of their common coun-
trymen may be the first and foremost object. of
their regard. The vital interests of so many are en-
gaged in this question that it calls for the aid and
assistance of all who are of any standing in society,
and the peculiar circumstances of the case itself
sets it apart from ordinary visitations that afflict
the community, With the bleating of Provider ce it
is to be trusted that our legislators will devise some
scheme and suggest some remedy that may stay the
spreading of this monster evil, and check the
growth of this fearful suffering among the sad and
deserted abodes of those who were so lately the
representatives of thriving industry, and typify-
ing, as was once aptly described by a leading states-
man, the wealth and manufactures of our country.
It is incumbent on all who have the power to do
their utmost to lighten the burden and lessen the
grievances that were so unexpected, and have been
borne so nobly with but little hope of respite or
relief.

The Peninsular and Oriental Company's

Fleet.

Two of the eight new vessels by which the Peninsular
and Oriental Company's already numerous and powerful
steam fleet is about to be augmented—viz., the Poonah and
the Carnatic, are now completed and ready for sea. The first
of these had her official trial trip on Saturday, and the other
will pass through the same ordeal at the end of the present
week. The Rangoon, built by Messrs. Samuda, was
launched a week since ; the Syria, building by Messrs. Day
and Co., of the Northam Ironworks, at Southampton, will
be ready about September next; the Golconda, by the
Thames Ironworks Company, at the end of the year ; the
Delhi, by Messrs. Wigram, in the spring of 1864; the Ba-
rode, by Messrs. Samuda, in the summer of 1864 ; and
orders have been given to the Thames Iron Company to
construct a new paddle steamer which is not yet named.
All these vessels are screws, with the exception of the Syria
and the one last mentioned. The Poonah, which was
taken out for her official trial on Saturday, is a magnificent
screw steamer, built and equipped by the Thames Iron-
works Company at Blackwall, under the immediate super-
intendence of Mr. J, Robinson, the Peninsular and Ori-
ental Company's surveyor, and fitted with engines of 500
horse power nominal by Messrs. Humphrys and Tennant,
of Deptford. All the latest improvements to insure
strength, speed, and the comfort and convenience of pas-
sengers, have been adopted in her construction, and she
is unquestionably one of the most beautiful and handsome
vessels afloat. The length of the Poonah is 315 ft. ;
extreme breadth, 41ft. ; depth of hold 30ft. ; tonnage,
builders' measurement, 2,596 ; 3,370 tons displacement.
She has 609 feet of section and 226-feet of firebar ; and her
indicated horse power is 2,356. She has a pair of compound
engines, on the same principle as those of the Mooltan, but
laid horizontally instead of vertically, as in that vessel, and
a moment's glance will convince the most unpractised eye
that engines of this character are well adapted for ships of
war, they being out of the way of all shot. The vessel is
steered by Mr. Huniphrys's hydraulic steering gear, which
has been found to answer so well in the Mooltan, and
among other numerous ingenious inventions she is fitted
with Capt. Field's improved compass corrector and course
register. There was a large party of scientific and other
gentlemen on board on Saturday, including Capt. Nairne,
R.N., and Mr. J, Allen, two of the directors ; Messrs.
Bailey and Olding, assistant managers ; Captain Engledue
and Mr. A. Lamb, general and engineering superinten-
dents at Southampton ; Messrs. Dinnan, Luke, and
Thornton, Admiralty surveyors ; Messrs. Rubie and Mur-
ray, Board of Trade Surveyors; Captain Patey, R.N.,
Admiralty superintendent of packets at Southampton •
Mr. T. Brown, engineer instructor at the Royal Naval
College at Pot tsmouth ; Mr. Peter Rolt and Capt. Ford,
of the Thames Ironworks Company; Messrs. E. Hum-
phrys and C. Tennant, engine builders ; Mr. J. Y. Mes-
sum, R.N., Captain G. A. C. Brooker, R.N., Lord Allan
Churchill, Lord Alfred Churchill, the Lord Mayor of
London, Captain Lovell, Captain Kirton, Mr. P. Hddger,
Mr. Whytt, Mr. Pinsent, Mr. A. Grey, Mr. A. S. Lamb,
Mr. R. Lodge, manager of the Marine Insurance Com-
pany, &c. Leaving Southampton about 11 o'clock. the
Poonah, under the command of Captain J. S. Field, pro-
needed direct to Stokes bay, where she ran the measured
mile four times, the result being as follows :--First run, 4
minutes, 4 seconds, equal to 14.754 knots per hour, 64 revo-
lutions; second run, 4 minutes 52 seconds, equal to 12'329
knots, 64 revolutions ; third run, 4 minutes 11 seconds,
equal to 14342 knots, 61 revolutions; fourth run, 4 minutes
51 seconds; equal to 12.371 knots, 63 revolutions; the true
mean of the whole being 13.371 knots per hour. Pressure
of steam, 251 b.; vacuum, 25; weight of coals, water, &c.,
on board, 893 tons. She ran on an even keel, the draught
of water being 19ft. llin., both fore and aft. When at full
speed the ship made a complete turn in 8 minutes. The
machinery worked in the freest manner throughout the
trial, and the ship and engine builders were alike compli-
mented by all the scientific judges on board on the success
which had attended their efforts in the production of this
noble specimen of nautical architecture. After partaking
of a sumptuous dejeuner in the chief saloon, under Captain
Nairne's presidency,a few loyal and other toasts were drunk,
among which that of success to the good ship Poonah occu-
pied a prominent place. The Poonah will leave Southamp
ton, on her first ocean voyage, with the outward India,
China, and Australian mails of the 20th inst.

CATHEDRAL OF SMYRNA. —Accounts were pub-
lished at the beginning of the present year of the
ceremony which accompanied the laying of the first stone
of a large place of Roman Catholic worship in the Turkish
city just mentioned. The Monde gives some interesting
details connected, either remotely or in the modern day,
with the project of raising the building in question. It
says :—" About the year A.D. 177, St. Polycarp, chosen by
St. John the Apostle to watch over the Church of Smyrna,
sent his well•beloved disciple St. Irenwus to preach the
faith to the Gauls. This latter came to Lyons, where
he was present at the martyrdom of the Bishop
St. Pothin. At the hospital kept by the Sisters
f Ste. Marthe, there may be still seen the dark
and close cell in which the prelate was confined before his
death. Close to it stands the column, still stained with
blood, to which was attached the slave Ste. Blandine, who
gladly died for her faith. There may be also seen the cell
in which the savage beasts were kept for which the living
human food was reserved. Everything in those places
breathes of the sufferings and grandeur of that heroic age
of Christianity. St. Irentous succeeded to the episcopal see
of St. Pothin and shared his glorious end. Over the crypt
which he had dedicated to St. John the Apostle, future
patron of the Lyonnese Cathedral, was erected in the
fifth century an Oratory, which, being several
times repaired, retained up to our day the name
of St. Irenmus. The crypt still exists, and there may
be seen, on a level with the ground, an antique font, into
which in those distant ages our forefathers in the faith
dipped their fingers to make the sign of the Cross on their
foreheads. There had been preserved there up to the six-
teenth century a considerable number of relics of martyrs ;
but at that period the impious rage of the Calvanists dis-
persed a part of them, and by a frightful piece of refine-
ment mired up the remainder with the bones of the vilest
deAtEthoneaeidn of seventeen centuries this same
crypt
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built in that city. This stone, which is of white ramble, is
about 18 inches square by one inch in thickness, has on it
a Latin inscription stating the ties which formerly united
the two Churches of Smyrna and Lyons. The president
and several members of the central council of the propaga-
tion of the faith, the clergy of the parish of St. Irenteus, and
a numerous body of the faithful of the city of Lyons were
present at the solemnity. A month had scarcely elapsed
when this stone, carried to the shores of the East,
was solemnly laid by Mgr. Spaccapietra, Archbishop of
Smyrna, as the foundation of a temple worthy of the Ca-
tholic religion. On the 27th Dec. last the ceremony of
laying the stone took place with all the usual religious
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