The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-17 00:00:00

.......7,..;,...:::.„:: lt,a_s.:-..,
..._
~ .-fs,,._tcs.--.:, „cari•au.
~........Thi---N,.....
..•..- „.,,,
. .
. 1.
~ .
. ~,... .„:. ~
........„ ~ ..... .._i
:.
.t...,...:. ,„•,.
.6-
%/11W:t::,(1".-
.4. I/ •
. -47 •,,t ,
- .

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 17, 1863

STATE OF GREECE.

CHARLES MATHEWS AT PARIS.

HEALTH OF LONDON.

(From the Registrar-General's ;Peekly Return.)
The deaths in London in the week that ended last Sa-
turday were 1,257. The average number of deaths in the
37th week of each of the 10 years, 1853-62, becomes 1,158,
when deaths from cholera in 1854 are excluded from tb e cal-
culation, and a correction made for increase of population.
The deaths in last week were about 100 in excess of the
estimated number.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.

Sir,—M. KehayaF, Greek Minister of Finance,
has forwarded to this committee the following
letter in connection with his report on the state of
the Greek Exchequer. This letter explains in a
very satisfactory way the present position of Greek
finance, and refers also to the important question
of the bonds of 1824-5, which have now so much
interest for the English public.-1 have the honour
to be, Sir, your obedient servant,
STEPANOS XENOS, Hon. Secretary.
Philhellenic Committee-rooms, 12, Charing-
cross, S.W., Sept., 16.

THE " MONITEUR'S" TRIBUTE TO HIM, AND THE
COMPLIMENTARY OPINIONS OF OTHER FRENCH

PAPERS.

In the customary theatrical review given every
Monday all the principal Paris papers of yester-
day's date (said the Paris correspondent of the
7izncs in his communication of Tuesday even-
ing) make honourable mention of Charles
Mathews's performance at the Varietes. The
Honiteur leads the van, and nearly the whole of
Theophile Gautier's feuilleton is devoted to " The
Timid Englishman." In him he finds a sign of the
times, a new tendency, and one peculiar to our
epoch :—" When English actors came to France for
the first time, towards the close of the Restoration,
their presence caused tumults which almost became
riots. The national amour propre repulsed them
with a violence such as to-day one can hardly ima-
gine. One might really have thought perfidious
Albion was seriously attempting to dispossess us of
our territory. Intercourse was then rare between
the two natione, and there was little goodwill be-
tween them. The study of Shakspere, Byron, and
Walter Scott had not then initiated us into the
English imagination, and the grotesque caricatures
due to the rancours of 1815 passed for striking por-
traits. On the other hand, the British had not a
very correct idea of the French. They pictured
them always as hairdressers and dancing-masters,
feeding exclusively on frogs. That was the sum
total of their information concerning us, and Ho-
garth's old caricatures still appeared to them true
to nature. Things have now changed. Thanks to
steam, we breakfast in Paris and dine in London.
People seldom hate one another except from want
of sufficient acquaintance, and aversions generally
spring from misapprehensions. Paris gave an en-
thusiastic reception to Macready and Helen Fancit,
and London applauded Fechter playing in English
as it had applauded him when that charming actor
belonged to the French company at the St. James's
Theatre. And now Mr. Charles Matthews pays
us the compliment of eoming to the Varietes to
perform in a piece of his own in our language.
Mr. Mathews is a first-class comedian, very cele-
brated in England, a distinguished author, and a
perfect gentleman. His success in Paris hae been
complete, especially since the piece has been relieved
from certain developments rather too lengthy for
Parisian impatience, which understands everything
when only half-spoken, and listens no longer when
once it has understood. Mr. Mathews has in his
acting a something of Perlet, something of Henri
Monnier, and something of Arnal, and, moreover, a
special Britannic savour, which to our mind gives a
great deal of originality to his play. His accent,
exceedingly slight, destroys no illusion, since he is
playing the part of an Englishman who is speaking
French. Is it not strange that, at the moment when
one of the most esteemed English comedians is acting
in our language, Taillade is preparing to perform
Macbeth in English at the Vaudeville Theatre ? Is
it not a sign of that intellectual reconciliation we
spoke of at the beginning of our article, and which
has been brought about, after such long antipathies,
by the progress of a civilisation which tends to
blend all nations in one common humanity ?''
Jules Janin in the Debate, the 7 enzps, the France,
the Presse—all, in short, speak in equally hand-
some and friendly terms. The Siècle finds that
Mathews's style of acting has something of Lafont
and somethingof Levassor. The 7emps declares that
Levassor or Brasseur would envy him his carica-
ture of an Englishman, and urged him to select, in
the French repertory, some of the pieces Levassor
is wont to play; the Opinion Nationale [whose tri-
bute to Mr. Mathews has been already given in The
Sun] wishing him to take Arnal's part of the "Homme
Blase" which he has played habitually in the English
version, and predicts a great success. As it is, in the
" Anglais Timide," the papers all declare his success
complete, and the best proof of it is that the
Varietes, which was doing very badly with a stupid
piece called " La Chanson de la Marguerite" before
he came, now cannot find room for all who fain
would have places.

The.mortality from smallpox is now greatly reduced, the
deaths from it in the last three weeks baying been 31, 29,
and 28 respectively. The deaths from diarrhoea, which
reached 233 in the third week of July, have fallen to 93, as
shown in the present return. Scarlatina is at the present
time the most formidable of the epidemic diseases ; it was
fatal in 124 cases in the week, while measles was returned
in only 7 cases.

Ministry of Fivance, Athens, Sept. 5, 1863.
My dear Sir,—M. Rouffos, the President of the Council
of Ministers, has communicated to me the translations you
forwarded to him of the letters of "A Philhellene," the
article of the limes, and also your answers. I must con-
gratulate you on the lucidity of your replies, which so easily
correct the erroneous opinions of "A Philhellene" regarding
the state of our finances. I take advantage of this oppor-
tunity to forward you an explanation of the reasons that
induced me to draw up my financial report, and to point
out to you at the same time, more in detail, some of the
incorrect statements published on the subject.
When I asked from the National Assembly a credit for
the month of July (the entire Budget of 1863 could not yet
be voted), I took occasion to make a brief expose of the
state of the National Exchequer and the consequent
necessity of contracting a loan. Having been asked at the
same time by one of the foreign ambassadors for a state-
ment of the monetary wants of the country, I hastened ta
publish, in the shape of a memorandum, the report I had
presented to the National Assembly. It was this report
which M. Rouffos forwarded to your committee. It is easy
to perceive that I did not intend it as an expose of the
Budget of the current year, or a picture of our future finan-
cial prospects, but simply as an answer to questions ad-
dressed to me, and a statement of the amount of loan required.
(The necessity for the loan is absolute.) That this is the real
character of the report is proved by the fact that I only speak
of our estimated possible revenues, and mention, en passant,
our trifling actual taxation as compared with other countries.
It is strange that "A Philhellene" should have mistaken
the report for the budget of the current year, making thereby
some grievous errors. In the first place, he supposes that
12,000,000 drachmas are a deficit of the present year; and
secondly, that 22,000,000 drachmas, which represent the
constant yearly revenue of the country during some years
past, should now be returned on the balance-sheet minus
6,000,000 drachmas. which "A Philhellene" regards as a
visionary property, though these 6,000,000 are the proceeds
of former arrears and revenue arising from the national pro-
perty. How incorrectly am I interpreted, and what strange
burdens are thrown on this unfortunate budget of 18631
As you yourself correctly observed in your letter, this de-
ficit of 12,000,000 drachmas will be better des3ribed as an
inheritance derived from the bad financial management of the
Governments of the fallen dynasty, which was hidden by
provisional loans, and by the refusal to meet acknowledged
engagements, particularly with foreign creditors. It is true
that a part of this amount represents monetary wants of the
present year, but this is not a deficit between expenditure
and revenue, but az rears of acknowledged and secured debts,
the collection of which is postponed by the anomalous state
of the country.
It surprises me to find that after having mentioned this in
my report, the deficit of 12,000,000 drachmas, arising from
explained causes, should still be characterised as a deficit
attachable exclusively to the year 1863. And what appears
still more extraordinary is the attempt to saddle even the
future with the same constantly recurring burdens.
I ask you whether, when a European State transfers
ancient loans, originating either in extraordinary expenses
or other causes, from a dette jletante into Como/ides, it is
assumed that the capital of such loans is to form a regular
item in every future budget, or whether the interest only is
to appear there ? What else do we purpose doing than to
transfer into Consolide's all the debts contracted before the
revolution of last year, and, at the same time, to cover by a
loan the extra wants which this revolution has created ?

There were 4 deaths from scarlatina in Kensington-town
sub-district, 4 in Kentish-town,? in Islington, 9 in Bethnal-
green district, 9 in Whitechapel, 4 in Poplar, and 11 in
Newington.

Last week the births of 938 boys and 985 girls, in a 111,923
children, were registered in London. In the 10 correspond-
ing weeks of the years 1853-62 the average number (cor-
rected) was 1,802.

At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean height
of the barometer in the week was 29 801 in. The mean
daily reading was above 30 in. on Friday and Saturday,
The barometrical pressure fell to 29'40 in. on Monday; and
it rose to 33.10 in. on Saturday, The mean temperature of
the air in the week was 54.5 deg., which is 3.1 deg. below
the average of the same week in 43 years (as determined by
Mr. Glaisher). The mean daily temperature was below the
average throughout the week. The highest day tempera-
ture was 66.6 deg. on Monday. The lowest night tempe-
rature was 42.3 deg. on Friday. The range of the thermo-
meter in the week was therefore 24.3 deg. The mean daily
range was 17.0 deg. The difference between the mean dew-
point temperature and air temperature was 7.7 deg. The
mean degree of humdity of the air was 76,complete saturation
being represented by 100. The wind was in the south-west
on five days. Nearly an inch of rain fell on four days, and
of that amount 4-10ths on Thursday. A thunder-storm
occurred after 10 p.m. on Wednesday. Tho mean of the
highest temperature of the water of the Thames was 63.8
deg. ; that of the lowest was 61.6 deg.

I now come to the second erroneous argument of " A
Philhellene," which, I have no doubt, arises more from mis-
take than a deliberate wish to misrepresent. In concluding
my report, I wished, by contrasting the taxation in Greece
of 10s. a head with that of other coun►ries, to show how
comparatively light our burdens are, and bow, without be-
coming onerous, they may be still increased. For this reason
I` divided the sources of revenue into two classes—firstly,
the revenues arising from the real taxes (16,000,000
drachmas)—and secondly, the revenues arising from the
income of the national property, and the sums of taxes
remaining from former years, amounting to 6,000,000
drachmas. " A Philhellene" mistook their classification for
almodification, and, regarding the 6,000,000 drachmas arising
from the second source of revenue as visionary, adopted
16,000,000 drachmas as the real yearly revenue of the
country.

I consider it scarcely necessary to add that the yearly
reveflue of 6,000,000 drachmas which I placed in the second
class is much more likely to increase than to diminish, for,
as I stated in the report, the national property, valued at
more than 50,000,000 drachmas, and the arrears of debt to
the nation, amounting to 60,000,000 drachmas, guarantee
to the national treasury a yearly revenue of 6,000,000
drachmas, By a judicious arrangement, and with good
management of the national property, this sort of revenue
is capable of being vastly augmented.
From this you will perceive how exaggerated are the eel-
ctthhuealatdteeivofinec rysitof " A Philhellene,' who raises our expenditure
to 1,500,000, and lowers our revenue t0.£500,000.
When the contemplated loan is negociated,elvaermy as gp positive
expense
toll! nlg27ooi 101,b0e0s0a t
di srfaaccht omr
ai
an d arranged,also both
connected with the reception of our new King. The fears
of a deficit in the next three months are wholly groundless
—in the first place, because these three months fall at the
end of the year, a period when most of the taxes become
due ; and secondly, because the arrival of the King will re-
establish order, which will enable the outstanding taxes to
be collected. I must inform you at the same time that the
loan taken from our National Bank of 3,500,000 drachmas,
p ee tintende toub
lsettlepublic
d iffiocuutl
toyf
itsth eproceedspayment of
may theb e p
onewtt.
foreign loan, is not payable immediately—and even, in case
wopfollln must which we
ainceuiaex a
not pass over in silence the blame which "A
Philhellene" throws on the National Assembly for having
reduced the land-tax. This reduction was dictated by a
spirit of justice towards all the tax-paying classes, and this
reduction is compensated for by a proportionate impost on
articles hitherto untaxed.
What most surprises me is the effort made unsuccessfully
it is true, but still made—by " A Philhellene," to mix up
with my report the question of the old loans. My report
had no other object than to show the unavoidable necessity
of a loan in order to cover the present monetary difficulties
of the country, and was wholly unconnected with the sub-
ject of those bonds. My fervent desire was, and now more
than ever is, to see the just demands of all the creditors of
the Greek Treasury satisfied as soon as possible. This de-
sire is dictated by a sense of justice as well as by the con-
viction that such a mode of proceeding would tend to the
real wellbeing of the country. I know very well that the
resources of the kingdom cannot be developed, unless that
which distinguishes civilised nations be established, namely,
public credit—a fact which I must confess was unfortu-
nately lost sight of by the different Governments of the
fallen d 3 nasty. But this subject could not be made an item
in my report, as nothing was yet definitely decided regard-
ing it by the legislative bodies, and, such being the case, I
think "A Philhellene" ought to have been satisfied with
what I said regarding the ancient creditors of our country.
In conclusion, I have reason to hope that the information
which I have forwarded to you in this letter, though brief,
will suffice for the present to enlighten public opinion in
England regarding the state of our finances.
Accept, my dear Sir, the assurance of my sincere friend-
ship. E. J. KEHAYA.S.
M. Stefanos Xenos, Lion. Sec. Philhellenic
Committee, London.

SUICIDE IN THE STREET.—Last night Mr. S. F.
Langharn, deputy coroner for Westminster, held an 1
inquiry at King's College Hospital, touching the death of
John Hunter, aged 41, a tailor, lately residing at 41, Lower
Whitecross-street, who committed suicide on Monday last.
Caroline Hunter, wife of the deceased, said her husband
had been in bad health for the last six months, and had
threatened to commit suicide before he left home on Mon- ,
day morning. He also threatened witness, and said they
had better go out of the world together. She did not see
him after he left home on Monday morning until she saw
him dead at the hospital. Ho was not in want, but had been
so reduced by illness, she believed, as to affect his mind.
Thomas Grant, carman, in the employ of Messrs. Chaplin
and Horne, deposed to finding the deceased on Monday
morning, about 8 o'clock, inside the gateway of the George
and Blue Boar .yard, Holborn, with his throat cut. No one
was near him at the time. A shoemaker's knife was lying
by his side. There was a great quantity of blood lying at
his feet, as if he had fallen backwards. With assistance he
put deceased in his van, and brought him to the hospital.
He was not dead then. Witness had previously sent for
Mr.Williarns, surgeon. Police-constable Sutton said he was
called by the last witness to the George and Blue Boar on
Monday morning. He found deceased as described by the
last witness. He asked deceased why he had done it, and
he said because he had a bad wife. He tried to seize the
knife, and wanted witness to finish him at once. He also
expressed the same wish to the surgeon. Mr. Williams,
surgeon, Gray's• inn-road, proved being called to the de-
ceased. He attended to the wounds in his throat, and advised
that he should be removed to the hospital. There were also
some stabs in the stomach. Chas. Antonini, house surgeon
at King's College Hospital, said deceased when admitted
had a large gash in his throat about seven inches long, and
was very much blanched from loss of blood. He was put to
bed, but he died the same day. Death, no doubt, resulted
from the wound in the throat. After further evidence the
jury returned a verdict of " Temporary Insanity."
CELIBACY AND MARRIAGE.—Another volume of
the "Population Tables," compiled from the English
census returns of 1861, has been issued. Among the subjects
with which it deals is that of the civil condition of the people
of England and Wales. In April, 1861, there were found to
be in England and Wales 12,032,157 persons—men, women,
and children—who had never been married, 6,917,395 per-
sons married, and 1,116,672 persons widowed—in all
20,066,224. The females were 10,289,965 in number, being
513,706 more than the males ; but against this excess must
be set about 162,000 for persons belonging to England in
the army and navy, and merchant seamen abroad at the
time of taking the census, and consisting mostly of adult
males. With regard to the condition of women, we learn
that while the increase of the entire population of England
and Wales in the ten years 1851-61 was below 12 per cent,
and the increase in the total number of females was be-
low 13 per cent, the increase in the number of wives was
above 15 per cent. In 1851 there were 3,015,634 mar-
ried women in England and Wales; in 1861 there were
3,485,952. The proportion of children to a marriage and
the increase of population are greatly affected by the
age at which marriage takes place. The number of wives
who were under 25 years of age when the census was taken
in 1851 was 290,034 ; but in 1361 the number had risen to
350,919, an increase of more than a fifth. Marriages in-
creased in the ten years, and celibacy declined. The census
of 1851 found in England and Wales 62.5 per cent of its
male population and 69'8 per cent of its female population
unmarried ; at the census of 1861 the proportions had fallen
to 6P2 per cent among the males and 58'7 per cent among
the females. But this is calculating on the whole popula-
tion, children as well as adults; the adult bachelors, men
of 20 and upwards, fell from being 30.28 per cent of all the
adult males in 1851 to be only 27'671r cent in 1861, and
the adult spinsters from 28.32 per cent of all the adult
females in 1851 to 26'72 per cent in 1861.
28 Of the en of
wom
the age of 20 and upwards, therefore, in every 100 were
without husbands in 1851, not 27 in 100 in 1861. Or, taking
none but persons in the prime of life, 20 and under 40 years
of age, 45 in 100 of the men of this age were bachelors in
thate n
the2o and
ce celibacy
b4a Be
y left
of somein c celibacy;
1 imb aa ckye
s;
1851, but only 42 in 1861; and of the women 41 in 100 were
spinsters in 1851, but only 39 in 1861. These figures indi-
cate a time of prosperity and comfort. It is true that the
census of 1861 still found in England and Wales 1,201,576
of the men between 20 and 40 years of age bachelors, and
e number of men and women never marry
it prudent for the rest to marry. The census again shows
the population in England can increase moderately, and the
bl,u2t29it,omsuBl otfbtehreewmoe
work of colonising and ;subduing the earth still go on. ;
women
nerbeee
that though a larg

SUPERSTITION IN SOISIERSETSHIRE.—A sad in-
stance of moral depravity, and a proof that the once
popular belief in witchcraft has not entirely died out in our
country villages, came before the magistrates of the Bridge-
water Divisional Potty Sessions last week. The facts came
out in a charge of assault preferred by two women—a mother
and daughter—of Auntspill, against another woman of the
same place, and from the evidence it appeared that the de-
fendant (Ann Hogg) had for a long time considered herself
" hag ridden "--that is; she had experienced queer sensa-
tions, non-orthodox maladies, &c. She had for some time
before had occaaion to "fall out" with the complainants
(Charlotte and Caroline), and in consequence her ignorance
had led her to put down these feelings and illnesses to the
credit of a power possessed by the complainants. With this
idea uppermost in her mind she had resources to the specific
counter-charm of "drawing blood" from the bewitcher,
which operation was described by the elder of the com-
plainants thus:—" Between eight and nine o'clock on the
evening of the 28th ult. I met the defendant on the Hunt-
spill-road, and she came behind me and ran something in
my shoulder. It was semething sharp. Neither of us spoke.
When I took off my dress there was blood. When she
pricked me she accused me of being a witch. It appears
that this " infallible " remedy for,ouce " failed," but the
failure did not in the least affect her belief that she was be-
witched, for she on the next day stabbed the daughter on
the arm with a needle, end drew blood from her also.—
, Western pey Tress,