The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-27 00:00:00

Lord C. PAGET defended the present system.

After a lengthened discussion, the vote for naval
stores was agreed to, upon Lord PALMERSTON pro-
mising that no steps should be taken towards the
constriction of the five wooden ships alluded to,
until the House had an opportunity of seeing an
estimate of the comparative time and expense of
building them of wood or of iron, and had had an
opportunity of expressing an opinion on the subject.
The Post-office Savings Banks Bill and the Bills
of Exchange and Notes (Metropolis) Bill were read
a second time.

Leave was given to bring in several bills of
minor importance, and the House adjourned.

Political affairs in Prussia are rapidly approach-
ing a crisis, and we can only hope that the rumours
which have been current on the Bourse at Berlin as
to probable changes in the Ministry may prove to
be founded on fact. It is said that owing to the
strenuous opposition offered by some members of the
Prussian Cabinet to the Prime Minister's foreign
policy, Herr VON BISMARK has tendered his re-
signation, which was, according to the news, nei-
ther accepted nor withdrawn. The KING is doubt-
less loath to part with so congenial a coadjutor, but
if he persist much longer he will be driven to a
very unpleasant alternative. The debate in yester-
day's sitting of the Chamber of Deputies was a very
stormy one; it lasted six hours, a somewhat unusual
length for the Prussian Chambers, and the policy
of the Government was severely censured. The
report of the committee appointed to inquire into
the proposition that the Government should
be requested to maintain neutrality with
regard to the Polish insurrection, and insist
on the disarmament of fugitives of both
parties, was presented by Herr VON SYBEL, who
called upon the Chamber solemnly to disavow the
policy of the Government, and told the Ministers
they had only to choose between lamentable retreat
and inconceivable danger. GRAF VON EILENBERG
then, in the name of the Government, denied that
the insurgents who were arrested near Thorn had
been given up to Russia ; they had only been sent
across the frontier. He also said that the state-
ment of Prussian troops having entered Russian
territory was false. Notwithstanding these asser-
tions on the part of the Government, the speech of
Herr VON BISMARK gives little encouragement to
the friends of liberty and order. He declared that
the Ministry had been unable to state its views;
that the proposal of the opposition was sym-
pathetic with the insurrection. The Govern-
ment could not, he said, discuss a question
which affected European policy, as if the present
state of uncertainty and suspicion were not disturb-
ing half the Cabinets and peoples of Europe ! The
Chambers must not form conjectures as to the pur-
port of the convention, but what are they to do if
the Ministry refuse to give them authentic infor-
mation ? Can they consent to trust the honour and
dignity of their country in the hands of such men
as Herr VON BISMARK and his coadjutors? The
Convention, says the Prussian Minister, expressly
stipulates that the consent of the respective Govern-
ments is requisite on each occasion of troops passing
the frontiers, but what is the use of such a condi-
tion when the Prussian KING and his Ministers are
more despotic than the CZAR himself, and at least
as ready to resort to harsh and violent measures
to crush down an uprising people ? Herr VON
BISMARK asserted that the expressions used by Earl
RUSSELL were totally inapplicable to the Convention
signed by the Government, as would be proved
when the text was published—a little too late to
raise objections. If Herr VON BISMARK speak truth,
the secret has been very carefully kept, for he de-
clares that Count BERNSTORFF was not acquainted
with the text of the treaty when questioned by Earl
RUSSELL. It strikes us as highly improbable that
a diplomatist of such high standing was not, at
least, aware of the general character and tendency
of the Convention, and we suspect his admissions to
the English Minister are more to be trusted than
Herr VON BISMARK'S attempt to pacify a suspicious
Chamber. The Government, says the Prime
IMinister, has nothing to retract, but what
that means in the Prussian Minister's view is
not altogether clear. The sitting, after a
stormy debate, was adjourned until this day,
and we shall await the further report of its
proceedings with interest. Whatever Bay be the
attitude assumed by the KING and his Cabinet,
we may confidently trust that the honour and inde-
pendence of Prussia will be safe in the hands of
her popular representatives.

An interesting meeting was held a few Even-
lugs since at Whitehall-gardens, at which many of
the most active friends of the working classes were
present. The subject under discussion was the
social and sanitary economy of the dwellings of
1 the poor—a practical question of vital importance
1 to the wellbeing of a large portion of our popula-
-1 Lion, 'which is
very apt to be lost sight of in the
enthusiasm for general principles or the advocacy
of wholesale reforms. In the midst of the vast im-
provements, which are ehanging the face of the
metropolis, the difficulties which have always
attended the supply of proper accommodation for
the labouring classes are likely to be considerably
increased. The Bishop of LONDON, who filled

the chair at the meeting in question, remarked on
the•startling changes produced by the recent addi-
tions to our railway system, and observed that in
one parish the incumbent suddenly found himself
deprived of nearly all his parishioners. The streets
may be demolished and forgotten, but the human
beings, though forgotten, are still existing ; and,
as the Bishop justly observed, it is a solemn duty
to do all that can be done to save them from the
moral and physical evils resulting from the crowd-
ing of several families into a single house, perhaps
even a single room. A speaker of considerable
authority was Dr. LANKESTER, who, in the course
of his duties as coroner, has had many opportunities
of witnessing the mischief produced by the ill-re-
gulated homes of our working families. The whole
state of things among the hard working classes,
said Dr. LANKESTER, was most distressing, and
needed stringent remedies. One of these remedies
is in the hands of the people themselves, in spite of
any legislative indifference or the inaction of land •
lords, but it is unfortunately the very last they
aro willing to apply. We allude to free ventilation,
a luxury which very few in this crowded city allow
themselves to profit by to the fullest possible extent.
We hear a great deal about the benefits of country air,
change of air, &c., from people whose rooms are
kept continually closed in, and who shrink from an
open window as a dangerous imprudence. The
terror of "draughts,' the fear of "catching cold,"
instilled into successive generations, outweigh all
the arguments, remonstrances, and warnings of the
advanced and enlightened science of the present
day. The evil is by no means restricted to the
dwellers in the densely populated streets of cities,
for anyone who has lingered along a country road
on a fine summer's day, may have been surprised
to notice the closed and curtained windows which
carefully exclude every breath of the balmy
summer air, while the loiterers in the lanes and
waysides are generally few and far between. Yet
that air and exercise are the two great preservatives
of health we need neither precept nor example to
show us. The theories are readily admitted, but a
host of prejudices start up to oppose the daily
practice. Let such as plead guilty to the indict-
ment, more especially if they be heads of families,
weigh well the result of Dr. LANKESTER'S experience.
He said that he found the children of respectable
artisans suffered more from the want of space
and fresh air than even the inhabitants of the back
slums, because the former were kept indoors while
the latter ran about the streets—" the air out of
doors even in the worst localities being far purer
than that of even the large and aristocratic rooms
at the West-end." " The neglect of ventilation,"
he went on to say, " even by the wealthy was
wonderful—among the poor it was almost univer-
sal." Such is the view of a gentleman who, from
his position as Cozener, as well as from his previous
professional experience, is well qualified to pronounce
an opinion. We can scarcely hope, however, for
any rapid improvement in this particular, although,
if we could attain it, there is little doubt that the
spread of contagious diseases would be perceptibly
checked as well as the general health of the public
greatly improved.

We cannot pass laws to make people open their
windows for a given time in the twenty-four hours,
but we can certainly interfere to provide sufficient
means of ventilation when they are inclined for it
—proper drainage, and, above all, a limited number
of inhabitants. The evils attending the over-crowd-
ing of rooms and houses have been so often dwelt upon
that they have become almost platitudes. They are
so great as to secure the intervention of the Legis-
lature, but although the Common Lodging-house
Act has produced most beneficial effects, there are
unhappily, still loopholes by which it is often evaded.
It appears to us that, without trenching on the
boasted privilege of an Englishman, some of these
might be prevented. For instance, Lord SHAFTES-
BURY declared that unscrupulous landlords and
tenants often eluded the provisions of the bill by
pretending that all the inmates of a house or room
were members of their own family. Such a fraud
as this could be easily detected by the police, and
one or two heavy fines would check an imposture
only attempted for gain. Various useful sugges-
tions were made by other speakers at the meeting,
and we trust the friends of health and progress
will follow the advice given by Mr. KINNAIRD,
M.P., and assist the beneficial settlement of these
important questions by rendering them the powerful
support of public opinion.

IRELAND:

DUBLIN, Feb. 26.

The sound of the hammer has been heard all
❑ight through the city of Dublin from the work
men preparing for the illumination on the night
of the marriage. The illumination proposes to
surpass in dazzling effect anything we have had in
this country. The merchants whose places of
business are in Sackville-street are uniting their
resources in order that a satisfactory result may be
produced. Nelson's pillar is to be illuminated
from the base to the summit, adorned with fanciful
devices in gas of every colour, as if hung round
with wreaths of flowers. The apparent supineness
of the civic authorities has roused the citizens to
do great things on this occasion. But though
the corporation is slow in its movements, and the
Lord Mayor seems too full of the idea of " Irish
distress" to indulge heartily in the festive mo'd,
he will, no doubt, take his proper place and do the
right thing, or he would sadly disappoint his con-
, stituents.

An illustration of hurried justice on circuit oc-
curred at Armagh yesterday. The case of "Ken-
nedy v. Lloyd," which had been tried at the last
assizes, came on for trial now again, But the
Judge was due that day at Downpatrick, and
nothing could be done but enter the case as a
emanet. Counsel remarked on the extreme hard-
ship to which his client was subjected by the post-
ponement of the case, as he was in attendance for
several days with no fewer than seven witnesses
from Downpatrick, and had incurred great expense
in preparing for the trial.

The Belfast Bank has been defrauded to the
amount of £4,000 in notes and gold, by a person
named Roberts, the cashier of the Ballymena
branch. The Northern Whig says that Roberta
left Ballymena on Saturday last, by the evening
train, and was seen carrying a large portmanteau.
On Monday morning he was not to be found, and
it was immediately afterwards discovered that gold
and notes, to the amount of £4,000, had been
taken away. The police have not yet succeeded in
getting any clue to Roberts, and it is supposed that
he has escaped to America.

N nvYk WEDDING} Dt
wet t FAVOURS.--The
within
ot uh Re
SEastThfee
Coventry,COVE w looms
weeks, of
were, in the majority of instances, standing idle, are now
to a very great extent actively employed in the manufacture
of ribbons for making up into rosettes for the royal mar-
riage. Another advantage—and not the least of those which
Coventry will reap from the present movement, as it affords
SOME additional prospect of permanent employment in future
—arises from the fact that the stock of white ribbons in the
hands of warehousemen and manufacturers has become
utterly exhausted, and as there is a constant demand, even
in times of depression, for white ribbons for the trimming
of ladies' bonnets, it necessarily follows that the weavers
will have to work hard for a considerable time, in order to
replenish that stock. The execution of orders for the usual
spring tide have also, we believe, been to a great extent de-
ferred in consequence of the pressure of business arising
from the present extraordinary requirement of white rib-
bons. It will thus be seen, that there is every probability
of the weavers of Coventry deriving very great and per-
manent advantage from the universal patronage which the
country has bestowed upon them on this occasion.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAM.)

THE POLISH INSURRECTION.
OSTROWO, FEB. 26 (Evening).
The insurgents have taken the manufacturing
town of Opatowek, near Kalisch.
Prussian troops have been despatched from this
city to the Russian frontier.

FRANCE.

PARIS, FEB. 27.

The Moniteur of this morning publishes the reply
of the Washington Cabinet to the overtures of
Franco for the re-establishment of peace.
The full text of the reply has already been pub-
lished in the English journals.

PARIS, FEB. 26.
At to-day's sitting of the Senate further petitions
were laid upon the table in favour of Poland.
The report of the Committee upon these petitions
will not be made before next week.

The Pays of this evening says :
" The Cabinet of Washington bas replied to the
proposition of mediation made by France. Mr.
Seward considers it impossible to open immediate
negotiations for peace. According to the Cabinet of
Washington a more practicable means would be for
deputies from the dissentient States to come to Con-
gress, where projects of arrangement could be dis-
cussed and, if adopted, submitted to the sanction of
a National Convention.

The Opinion Nationale says that the agitation,
or rather the indignation, is increasing in Prussia,
and never did greater unanimity exist between the
people and the Chambers. We have just seen the
report of the commission charged by the Chamber
of Deputies to examine into the propositione of
Messrs. Hoverbeck and De Carlowitz, relative to
the intervention of Prussia in the affairs of Poland.
The commission has expressed its unanimous
opinion that the conduct of the Government has
perfectly justified the declaration made to the Cham-
bers by Messrs. Hoverbeck and Do Carlovitz.
The Constitutionnel says that the news just re-
ceived from Poland, by Cracovia and Breslau,
are all quite favourable to the cause of the
insurgents. An encounter took place some days
since between the Poles and the Russians in the
environs of lintno. At the end of this combat the
body of Russians, whose commander was killed,
had to beat a retreat and retire to the Prussian
frontier. In another encounter at Biala the insur-
gents again obtained the advantage. Therefore the
insurrection does not appear to decrease, as was
asserted by some of the Russian despatches 'some
days back.
The Pays asserts that all the news and des-
patches from Germany coincide in declaring
that it is the universal opinion that the
attitude of the Chamber of Representatives in
Berlin, seconded by the manifestation of public
opinion throughout Europe, will stop the Prussian
Government in the dangerous course that it has
entered upon.
Ls Sleds observes that the treaty of 1856 was too
hastily concluded, It was thought to save Sweden
by the destruction of Bomarsund, and Turkey by
that of Sebastopol. What should have been done
to protect all at once was to re-establish Poland.
So long as this essential balance to the European
equilibrium is out of place there will be no durable
peace. The Polish people, after a thousand
protests, have now come back to that form
of protest which alone has a chance of
' success. Those who do not recognise that her hour
has come are wanting in political perception. We
do not hesitate, says the Siecle, to affirm that Rus-
sia is committing suicide by pursuing an impossible
object. Blinded by the vainglory of preserving a
conquest acquired by an injustice that has
provoked the censure of Europe, she will ex-
haust herself fruitlessly. Internal convulsions
will agitate her in her turn, and as she has not the
homogeneousness of the Polish people she will be in
greater danger. The article concludes by saying
that the petitions will be presented to the Senate,
where certainly they will receive a different recep-
tion from that accorded to M. Jules Fevre by the
Corps Legisiatif. Public opinion imperatively
exacts a very different attitude!
BOURSE, Feb. 26.—The market opened firm, and
business ws done at an improvement on the closing
rates of yesterday, but the advance was not long
maintained, and quotations are now again at 69f.
55c. for the Threes for Account. Railway Share
Market quiet. The atarket left off as follows :
It per Cent 5....... 98 50 Bank Shares 3360 --
Do. old —-I Credit F oneier 1455

per Cents - 69 55
Do. end month.... 69 60
New 3 per Cents ..
Do. end month....__—

Piedmontese Fives.
Italian Loan 69 55
Russian
Austrian . . —

Credit M0bi1ier....1172 50
Do. end m0ntb....1170 -
BA IL'

Spanish Threes 52 75
Rome Debt .. 49 50

'AYR.

Orleang

Cash. Account.
1100 1093 75

Northern ... • - 1025
New ditto
Lyons and Mediterranean 1182 50 .. 1185
GPneva 4Ol 25 .. 402 50
Southern 782 50 .. 780
Western ........
Eastern ....
Sardinian 368 75 ..
Austrian ......
Lombard
North of Spain
Saragossa 685 .. 687 50
Ditto to Barcelona

PRUSSIA.

BERLIN, Feb. 25.

Yesterday and to-day have been days of suspense
and rumours. People run about talking of a crisis,
and the quidnuncs are on tenterhooks to find out
man. Lists of probable Cabinets
7hreo is thediseus gsceodmainndextravagant conjectures hazarded.
As possible Premiers have been named, the two
Manteuffels (the ex-Minister and the General),
Count Goltz (the present Ambassador at Paris),
M. von der Hey dt, and others still less likely. It
has been suggested that a Ministry might be
formed by Prince Hohenzollern, with Prince Wal-
demar of Schleswig-Holstein as Minister of War ;
M. von Bonin, M. Gneist, end one or two more
from the Left Centre, filling up some of the
minor departments with non-political men, now
high functionaries in the different Ministries. It is
certainly possible that such a Ministry might be
formed—of course on the basis of a legally-esta-
blished two-years' term of military service, which
would necessitate a rifacimento or reorganisation of
the army—and that it might command a working
majority in the chamber. There is only one obstacle,
and that is the extreme improbability that the
King would make up his mind thus to fly in the
face of Prince Charles and the military Camarilla,
to throw his feudal friends overboard and himself
into the arms of the liberals. The Berlin public
may be mistaken in imagining that there is any
crisis at all ; just as M. Auerswald and his friends,
who yesterday held conclave and expected to
be sent for, may prove completely in error as to
their chances of office. If the King does change, it
is to be hoped it will be to some purpose, and that
he will not recur to the wavering advisers who so
frittered away his popularity and their own reputa-
tion during their late period of office, and, by their
endeavours to conciliate everybody, perfectly suc-
ceeded in disgusting all parties. Such a well-mean-
ing, weak-minded, and irresolute Administration as
the Auerswald-Schwerin-Patow Cabinet is the last
thing to be desired. M. Patow is considered quite
impossible even by his own friends. What the Libe-
rals say, however, is that any change must be for
the better. the departure from office of the present
Premier, who has accumulated upon his head an
unusually large load of dislike and contempt,
would give general satisfaction, but there is
great room for a doubt whether it will just now
take place. I desire, however, to give no opinion
as to what may or may not occur in a month,
a week, or even in the course of the next 48
hours; for the circumstances of the time and the
characters of the men chiefly concerned are such
that nothing can be foreseen or pronounced impos-
sible. Considering the combined weakness and
obstinacy of the principal personage,
and the in-
fluences to which he has of late been subject, it is
hard to belieyo in ouch a change as would utterly

dash the hopes of the Absolutist party, infuriate
some of the King's most constant associates and in-
timate advisers, and give to the Constitutional cause
in Prussia a prestige and a prospect it has never yet
enjoyed. Two other circumstances make against a
change of Ministry at the present moment—namely,
the fear of appearing to yield to foreign pressure,
and the consideration that the convention originally
proceeded from the King and his generals, not from
M. Bismark, who, in fact, is merely the secretary
or notary who draws up his master's acts. M.
Bismark doubtless had early cognizance of what
was going on ; and it has even been said that the
statement that he had no part in originating the
notable project, is a false report spread by his order
and by a certain M. Hahn, at the Ministerial press-
bureau, on whom are fathered most of the rumours
circulated that can in any way, direct or indirect,
benefit the Ministry or injure its opponents. But,
according to probability and to the best opinions,
the negotiation was commenced without his being
consulted, and all the blame due to him is that
which would attach to a coachman R ho, finding his
master bent upon being upset in a ditch, should
conscientiously look out for a steep bank and a
deep place instead of laying down the reins and
declining complicity in an act of suicide.
As regards the famous Prusso-Russian conven-,
tion, it is now supposed by many that it will be
desisted from, and, if not cancelled, that it will at
least be allowed to remain a dead letter. Of course
there are plenty of reports afloat concerning it.
According to one, a despatch from Paris to Berlin
insisted that it should not be carried out. It may
be doubted whether things have gone so far as that.
In diplomatic circles here it is suspected that the
convention was communicated to the French Govern-
meat
on Friday (on which day Count Goltr. had an
audience of the Emperor), while it is affirmed as
positive that, up to Saturday at least, no copy of it
had been supplied to the English Government.
We are left to choose whether to attribute
this to mere neglect and clumsiness, or to tn
idea of conciliating the French Empere,:c, and
trying to detach him from England in 'Axis matter.
The papers state that Sir Andrew Buchanan, who
left Berlin on Monday morning for Strelitz, had an
audience of the King on Sunday. When the Eng-
lish and French Legations at Berlin were elevated,
at the request of the Prussian Court, into Embas-
sies, people were disposed to smile, and deem it
superfluous, but with the present Prussian Govern-
ment one is inclined to think it highly desirable
that the representatives of the Western Powers
should be able to communicate with the King with-
out the interference of a Bismark.

The Crown Prince left this morning for Carlsruhe,
whence he will proceed to England, in company
with the Grand Duke of Baden, for the marriage
of the Prince of Wales. His stay in England is not
expected to be long,