The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-20 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY 20, 1863.

ROYAL ENGLISH OPERA, COVENT-
GARDEN.
nder the Management of Miss Louisa Pyne and Mr. W.
Harrison, Sole Lessees.
THIS EVENING Wallace's new Opera of LOVE'S
TRIUMPH : Miss Louisa Vyne, and Mdme. Laura Baxter ;
Messrs. George Yerren. W. H. Weiss, H. Cord, A. Cooke,
and W. Harrison.
Conductor—Mr. A. Mellon.
After which, the Grand Comic Christmas Pantomime, en-
titled HARLEQUIN BEAUTY AND THE BEAST.
Doors open at halt-past 6—Commence at 7.

T EATRE-R OYA L. DRURY-LANE.-
Lessee and Manager, Mr. Edmund Falconer.
THIS EVENING, the Comic Drama of THE NEXT OF
Alter which, the Grand Pantomime of LITTLE GO DDY
TWO SHOES.

Commence at ".

TREAT RE-RO YAi., HAY MARKET.
Lessee. Mr. J. B. Bnckstone.
THIS EVENING, at Seven o'clock, will be performed
OUR AMERICAN COUSIN. Asa Trenchant, Mr. Buck-
stone ; Lord Dundreary, Mr. Sothcrn.
After which, a new and original Extravaganza, entitled
RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA; or, The Happy
Valley. Rasselas, Miss Louise Keeley.
Concluding with OUR MARY ANNE.

THEATRE-ROYAL LYCEUM OPEN, under
the Sole Management of Mr. FECHTER.
THIS EVENING, Jan. 20, to commence with an Original
Sketch, entitled A SUDDEN ATTACK. Messrs. Shore,
Garden, H. Widdicomb, Miss Henrade, and Mrs. Lee.
After which, at a Quarter to Eight, a New Romantic
Drama, in Three Acts, and Pnlogue, entitled THE
DUKE'S MOTTO, by Paul Feval and John Brougham.
The principal character will be sustained by Mr. Pechter,
supported by Messrs. G. Vining*, J. Brougham, H. Widdi-
combe, W. M`lntyre, P. Charles, Garden, Raymond, H.
Butler, Dawson ; Misses Carlotta Leclercq, Kate Terry, B.
Lavenue, and Elsworthy.
Mr. Phelps and Mr. W. Montgomery are engaged, and will
shortly appear.
Doors open at half-past Six, performance to commence
at Seven. Private Boxes, £2 125. 6d., and f.. 2 2s. Places
Upper ,
registered. Stalls, 6s. Bd. ; Dress Circle, 511. 6c1•.•
Circle, 45. 6d. Prices at doors—Stalls, 65•:,
Upper Circle, 45.; Pit, 2s. • Gallery, is. Drlt-spsriCci.elehox.-
office open daily from 11 till s. The pubilichaare entreated to
take notice that no charge is made to. the upants of boxes,
box places, or stalls, either for play bills or for the sate keep
ing of hats and cloaks and that the attendants in all parts
of the house are forbidden to receive any gratuities whatever
Stage-Manager, Mr. G. Vining. Acting-Manager, Mr. H.
Barnett.

OYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE.
Lessee and Manager, Mr Lindus.
THIS EVENING, LAW v. LOVE : Miss M. Oliver.
Followed by ONE GOOD TURN DESERVES AN-
OTHER. Mr. R. Roxby and Miss Amy Sedgwiek.
After which, the New Grand CHRISTMAS PANTOMIME,
RIQUET WITH THE TUFT ; or, Harlequin and Mother
Shipton." Mr. G. Belmore, Mr. C. Seyton, Misses Gray and
Hudspeth, Mr. Milano, Mr. R. Power, Miss A. Collinson, and
Mr. Salford.

-ATE W THRATRE-R0 YAL, ADELPHI.-
_ Sole Proprietor and Manager, Mr. B. Webster.
THIS EVENING, THE LI i TLE TREASURE. Mr
Billington, Mr. R. Phillips, and Miss Marie Wilton.
After which, A TICKET OF LEAVE : Messrs. J. L.Toole,
P. Bedford, and Mrs. Billington.
To conclude with " GEORGE DE BARNWELL :
Or, Harlequin Folly in the Realms of Fancy." Miss Woolgar,
Miss K. Kelly, Miss Seaman ; Messrs. J. L. Toole, P. Bed-
ford, Stephenson, C. J. Smith. Harlequin, Mr. John Lauri;
Columbine, Miss Caroline Adams CLown, Mr. W. Hildyard ;
l'antaloon, Mr. J. Paulo. The celebrated Arthur and
Bertrand.

Commence at 7.

The ViTATIEML—Sun Office, Jan. 20, 1863.

THERMOMETER.
Highest since Noon yesterday. 4l
Lowest during the night
This day at N00n.....
Barometer-29.23.
Wind—,West; blowing a gale. Weather fine, but cold

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIEI DAL. Morning, lh. 24m.—Afternoon, lh. 54 n,
TO-IfORROW.-MOrn.Mg, 2h. 20m.—Afternoon, 2h. 44m

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LONDON, TUESDAY, JANUARY 20, 1863.

The question of what is to be done with our con
victs, will undoubtedly be one of the first subjects
to be brought under the consideration of the Legis-
lature. The urgency of the case was felt to be such
that the customary delays of red-tapeism were set
aside, and a commission of inquiry appointed, with-
out waiting for the coming session. The publica-
tion of the views of an authority like Sir WALTER
CROFTON is therefore at this moment particularly
opportune, and we are glad that before further dis-
cussion on this important question the public should
have an opportunity of learning his views in his
own words. A lecture recently delivered by him
at the Philosophical Institution of Bristol, and
since reprinted by desire, sums up very clearly
and ably the difference between the English and
Irish convict systems, and points out the indispen-
sable reforms that the former requires. He
disposes of the whole question in little more
than twenty pages, but those pages are eminently
suggestive. "In Ireland," says Sir WALTER CROF-
TON, " the Ticket of Leave System has been carried
out so as to protect the public, and act as leading
strings to the criminal." The general public are, in
that country, very ready to co-operate in his refor-
mation, while among us society is directly hostile to
even the well-intentioned convict. In Ireland the
system adopted meets with universal approval. It
results in the protection of the public, the refor-
mation of the offender, and the decrease of the
criminal classes. With us crime increases, life and
property are notoriously insecure, punishment is
ridiculed by the convicts, whom it only renders
more hardened, and the whole system is
truly styled by Sir WALTER CROFTON as "no
system at all," and this with an annual outlay of
four millions for the repression of crime. It is,
therefore, high time to examine into the method
which we are pursuing. Let us see in what the
great difference between the English and Irish
systems consists. In England the plan practically,
if not theoretically, followed at present is to sen-
tence the offenders for a lengthened term, with the
understanding that if they conduct themselves well
in prison they will have a certain term of their
sentence remitted. This is done, and twelve years'
penal servitude is considered a substitute for a sen-
tence of penal servitude for life ; at the expira-
tion of the time fixed, a ticket of leave
is given with certain conditions annexed as
to its revocation through misconduct. Not one
of these conditions is ever fulfilled ; on the con-
trary, an offender renewing his old course is often
re sentenced for a short period within the unexpired
term of his first sentence. One of cur learned
judges alluded to this in a charge the other day as
a fact that had often come under his own observa-
tion. No supervision is kept over the ticket-of-
leave man, no means to procure him honest employ-
ment are taken ; he is cast loose upon society with
his old habits and feelings unchanged and undis-
ciplined, to live as he can, with the ter-
rible obstacle to his improvement that the
very name of " ticket-of-leave man" offers in
this country. There is some foundation for this I
prejudice, for no steps are taken to ensure his
amendment, and the Government can give no gua-
rantee for the honesty of a man of whom all the
public knows is that he has been a convicted felon.
the colonise murmur at having. large
bodies
such men sent to their shores, and such has
been of
the character of the men we have sent there that
only at one colony an outlet is at this moment
open to us—that of Western Australia. In Ireland
the directors set before them two ends to be attained.
The co-operation of the publl.3 must be secured by
rendering them willing to facilitate the absorption
of the criminal into the classes of honest labour.
Secondly, the training of the convict must be such as
to give confidence to the public and secure his em-
ployer from injury. The SUCCCSS of the system is
sufficiently proved by two facts stated by Sir
WALTER CROFTON'. Ist. The large majority of
discharged convicts employed in Dublin have been
professed burglars and robbers. 2d. Many of their
employers, after several years' experience of them,
are still willing to employ the same class of persons
at the ordinary wages of the labour market. In
Ireland the guiding principles are few and simple.
They are that the convicts are better trained in

small numbers, and by being made to feel their ad-
vance depends on themselves; that the employ-

ment of convicts in a more natural form before
their liberation is a course obviously calculated to
reassure the public; and lastly, that the institution
of appliances to render the criminal calling more
hazardous will tend greatly to the diminution of
crime. The former of these principles is carried
out by a strict classification of prisoners, and the
first stage in the treatment is severely penal.
A system of marks is adopted, by which
the convict is made to see that his ad-
vance to a higher class depends upon him-
self. By the attainment of a certain number of
these marks he reaches the intermediate stage
in
which the principle of natural labour is carried
out. The great secret of these establishments is
individualisation, and the number of inmates
should not therefore, says the late chairman, exceed
100. No more restraint is exercised than would be
necessary in any well-regulated establishment. At
Lusk Common, within 15 miles of Dublin, an esta-
blishment of this kind has been at work with great
success for the last six years. The convicts are
employed in the reclamation of land, the officers,
of whom there are only six, work with
them, and the whole tone of this esta-
blishment appears to be most satisfactory.
When the ticket of leave is finally granted
the conditions endorsed on it are rigidly
enforced. The convict is bound to report himself
to the constabulary station of his locality on the Ist
of every month, and to give due notice of his re-
moval to another district. He is duly registered,
and any neglect of these roles entails a revocation
of his license. By the aid of a careful system of
registration, police supervision, photography, 8,a.1‘
lengthened sentences are entailed on old offenders,
thus increasing the hazard of a criminal life, for,
such convictions are not there, as with us, merely no-
minal. With regard to'transportation Sir WA.LTER'S
views differ from those of the majority. Instead
of regarding it as a means of getting rid of the
worst offenders, he looks to it as a means of reward
to the most deserving. He points out the unfair.
ness to our colonists of sending them only hardened
ruffians with whom we cannot deal, and the short-
sightedness of cutting off our only outlet. With
regard to the establishment of new settlements, he
observes that it would be hopeless to expect
respectable emigrants to follow our garot-
ters to a new penal colony, and com-
ments upon the expense of guarding such
a band of dangerous felons. Among the methods by
which he proposes to transform our effete and un-
satisfactory system into one competent to deal with
this grave question without legislative changes, Sir
WALTER proposes a minute classification of con-
victs, so as to retain the worst class of offenders and
those under life sentences in special prisons under
more rigid discipline. In case of remission of a
sentence, the public should have the safe guard
which is offered by the enforcement of the condi-
tions of the licence.
The difficulties to which the Irish system was
exposed were great, one of the greatest being the
laxity on this side of the Channel. This, indeed,
offered and still offers such formidable obstacles, that
Sir WALTER CROFTON is doubtful if his method can be
maintained there without some salutary change
among us. Yet with this great drawback, and with
all the inherent difficulties of the question, the system
has been as signal a success as our method has been
a complete failure. Sir W. CROFTON steps forward in
midst of the present panic to show us how to temper
mercy with justice; to combine a due regard for the
welfare of the offender with the safety of the honest
citizen, who has the first claim on his Government.
He shows, indeed, how the interests of bath are
identical, by opening out the means of honest liveli-
hood to the worst offender, while he insures the
public, as far as human caution can insure, against
a repetition of his offences. The system proposed
certainly offers a clue to the labyrinth, in which a
mistaken system of indulgence and reprehensible
laxity on the part of our authorities has led us, and
we heartly commend its careful consideration to
our Home-office.

Another great battle has been fought at Mur-
freesborough, in Tennessee. Nashville, the capital
of the State, in advance of which Murfreesborough
lies, was the prize, held by the Federals, which
the Confederates were desirous to seize. ROSEN-
CRANZ, who held it, determined not to await the
attack, but, on the 26th, marched forth to meet the
enemy. There was everything to stimulate both
sides to do their best, and they did it bravely.
JEFFERSON DAVIS had expressed himself as deter-
mined to recover all Tennessee, and had recently
visited the Confederate camp there, and cheered on
his troops. The Federal Government had also
felt its importance, and had placed their able
general, ROSENCRANZ, having taken him from the
Mississippi, and given him a large force, while
BRAGG, with a Confederate force about as large, so
far as we can learn, was opposed to him. For once,
too, the Federals seem to have sent us honest re-
ports. We conclude that they are so, from those of
the North and the South, so far as both have yet
been received, agreeing. If experience has taught
Mr. STANTON that, in the long run, veracity is best,
European editors, commenting on Northern mili-
tary news, will indeed be great gainers, and be
saved a world of guessing and of correcting their
guesses.

RQSENCRANZ came up with the Confederates on
the 29th of December, He had met with merely
inconsiderable interruptions from skirmishers, but
at length found the enemy strongly posted on the
Stone River, one of their flanks resting on Mur-
freesborough. The ground was difficult, and, on
the 30th—which he chiefly spent in reconnaissances
—the Pennsylvanian cavalry were decoyed into
an ambuscade, and suffered severely. On the 31st,
the last day of the year, the attack began, and the
battle, with considerable alternations, lasted five
dam but with ultimate success on the part of the
Federals, as the Confederates had to retreat and
leave Murfreesborough in the possession of ROSEN-
CRANZ. He seems, however, to have hardly been
in a condition, at the date of the last despatches, to
follow them to Skelbyville, the next post on the
where they intended to make
Chattanooga Railway,
a stand. The battle of the 31st was one of the nu-
merous ones of which history tells, in which a suc-
cess on one flank was counterbalanced by a defeat
on the other. On the left and centre ROSENCRANZ
had the entire advantage ; but the Confederates had
massed their forces on the right, and by an over-
whelraing attack completely turned General COOK
back on the Federal left, created of course not
alittle confusion, and captured three batteries, and
a large number of prisoners. ROSENCRANZ, how-
ever, substantially retrieved the day by charging
iu person at the head of his eentrs, and more than
recovered the lost ground. Again the Confederates
rallied and attacked the centre with great vigour,
and again the Federals repulsed them. The last day
of 1862 closed, however, with the Confederates in
possession of ground which the Federals had held
in the morning.
On the first day of the New Year the Confede-
I rates were in a position to be the attacking party ;
4
i they were, however, again repulsed. On the 2d,
_
1 ROSENCRANZ began advancing his army, and sent

a small division across Stone River ; the Confede-
rates fell upon it in great force, are reported to have
killed 80 and wounded 375, when Gen.NEGLEY, who
commanded the Federal centre, came up and drove
the enemy off the field and beyond their entrench
MAWS, the officers being unable to rally them.
The 3d was spent in obtaining and distribut-
ing the ammunition, of which there was a great
want in the Federal army. It was in part occa-
sioned by the splendid first success of the Con-
federates on the right, when the ammunition wag-
gons were captured, and the right wing was
actually in great danger for want of them. On
the 4th rain seems to have prevented fighting till
towards night two Federal regiments stormed the
breastwork of the enemy, killing many and making
many prisoners. This was the last act of this fierce
five days' battle, one of the hardest and most bravely
and skilfully fought of the campaign. The loss
must have been heavy en both sides, though it is
useless, as yet, to quote the numbers of killed and
wounded. Both sides made many prisoners, the
Confederates claim 4,000, captured in the successful
attack on the Confederate right on the 31st. The
Federals have gained, however, their main object ;
they have driven their enemies away from Nash-
ville. The Federals appear in one instance to have
imitated with success the Confederate cavalry
achievements. Two thousand of their cavalry
from Kentucky got into the Confederate rear,
and besides making considerable captures, they
destroyed nine miles of the railway by which
BRAGG obtained his supplies from Richmond.
STUART, however, was meanwhile returning the
compliment behind BURNSIDE, at Dumfries. The
Confederates also sustained another severe defeat
at Lexington in Tennessee, losing six cannon, many
prisoners, and 1,400 killed and wounded. One sad
fact will call forth the reprobation of all Europe.
?he Confederates shot, immediately, all the negro
soldiers they captured !

Just, however, as we hear of the termination of
these American week-long battles in Tennessee, we
receive the accounts of another still proceeding at
the now famous position of Vicksburg. SEWARD,
indeed, informs us that a telegram from GRANT,
says that "Rebel newspapers at Grenada in Mis-
sissippi (on the railroad to Vicksburg) report that
the Yankees are in the place." This is, probably,
indeed, we may say, certainly premature. What
is certain is, that, on the 30th, the Confederates re-
port four desperate attacks on the 27th, which were
repulsed ; the same we heard of, no doubt, by the
last arrival, But from Memphis we have accounts
of five days' fighting, commencing, remarkably, as
in Tennessee, on the last day of the year, and con-
tinuing till the 4th, the fighting being still going
on with vigour. Vicksburg is not only on the Mis-
sissippi, on its eastern side, iu the State of the same
name, but it has a railroad running through it from
Jackson, and continued on the opposite shore of the
river to Shreveport in the North of Louisiana.
General SHERMAN was in command of an attacking
force on the railway on the eastern side, and to have
destroyed part of the railway on the other side of
the river; probably, lest supplies should be brought
up by it. By the last accounts, carried by an
express boat to Memphis, direct from the army,
SHERMAN had forced three lines of works on the
Jackson and Vicksburg Railroad ; the firing from
the fourth line had ceased, and there were indica-
tions that it had surrendered. The gunboats were
also engaging the enemy's batteries on the other
side. All looks, therefore, as if the statement in
the Grenada Appeal, a Rebel paper, were likely
to be true soon, if it could hardly be so on the
31st, indeed, the fighting we have just mentioned
is all subsequent to that date. It would seem
likely, indeed, that between the land army,
which was wanting in the attack of last year,
and the gunboats, Vicksburg, cut off from all
supplies, must have fallen, however, bravely de-
fended ; but that Vicksburg is the key of the Missis-
sippi, and that it were better for the Confederates to
lose one hundred thousand men than give up that
advantage. Another account, however, states that
on the 2d, after severe fighting on both sides, and
taking and retaking of batteries and fortifications
several times, SHERMAN was ultimately driven
back to his first line of defence. As this account
is from a Northern source it ought to be true,
though hardly reconcileable with the contempo-
raneous or later accounts from Memphis.
General BUTLER has been rewarded for his "good
services" at New Orleans with a rather more diffi-
cult task. He has been appointed to the "chief
command of the Southern department, to include
South Carolina, Georgia, and other States." It
would appear that he was to begin with Charleston!
as an expedition of iron clads had sailed for Wil-
mington, there to destroy the direct railroad con-
nection between Charleston and Richmond. This
we may presume to have been preliminary to an
attack on the chief rebel city, by which BUTLER
was to have been placed in the same position there
as that which he so famously, or so tnfamoutily,
filled at New Orleans. He would be a first-rate
disciplinarian, in the estimation of the North, for
the Charlestonians. It was in the voyage thither
that the brave little Monitor—the Monitor to Eng-
land and Europe—went to the bottom. She proved
to be unseaworthy. Her cheapness was boasted of
at the time, but it appears to have been a dear
cheapness. We do not remember ever hearing of
such an accident to any of our ships as that which
carried the Monitor to the bottom in 45 fathoms
water. She leaked till the water beat the pumps,
and sunk so fast, the storm all the time dashing
the waves over her turret, that a large part of the
crew were drowned, although she was in tow of a
ship of war. She was found utterly defective in
construction as a seagoing boat. Her " between
decks" were insupportably close, and fans could not
obtain sufficient air, while the salt water easily
flowed over her, and dashed down every crevice in-
tended for the admission of air. Captain ERicssoN
may now claim for his brave little vessel the name
he gave her for a double reason—she will prove a
Monitor, not only to imitate her merits, but to
avoid her fatal defects. She speaks from the bot-
tom of the deep sea off Cape Hatteras, as well as
from the shallower and quieter waters of Hampton
Roads.

The monthly meeting of the General Committee
of the Central Relief Fund for Lancashire was held
yesterday afternoon. The details are most inte-
resting and deserve attentive study from all who
would acquaint themselves with the particulars-of
this affair. The appendix to the report, which has
been furnished by Lord DERBY, is very comprehen-
sive, and reveals the intricate and difficult cases that
are brought before the committees for settlement.
The plans proposed by his lordship are very compre-
hensive and ap, ear to embrace most of the knotty
points. He commences by stating that the com-
mittee have undertaken a deeply responsible task.
He explains the arduous nature of the work by
stating that the object is to distribute the alms
"that they may not place Cie honest and industri-
ous upon the same footing with the idle
and profligate; and that they may not abuse
public liberality by making their funds contribute to
the relief of those who have unexpended means of
their own." To carry out this principle the course is
anything but easy, indeed, on the contrary, hedged

in by difficulties. A mere list of the plans pro-

posed by Lord DERBY sufficiently illustrate the
obstacles that have to be overcome. In the first
place, he considers what are the disqualifications for
obtaining relief, and foremost it unquestionably
appears that, the relief being intended for those
who have no other resource, the possession of pro-
perty must strike an applicant off the list. Here
follow the difficulties, and cases requiring the
greatest discernment are constantly coming under
the notice of the committees. There are some
whose industry has accumulated a small sum of
money in the savings bank, others have invested in
benefit societies, and others again in cottages, for
which, however, they cannot now obtain the rents.
There comes also the question of small
shopkeepers dependent on any of the above.
Here Lord DERBY lays down his first rule—
" However harsh it may sound and however painful
it may be to say that before receiving relief under
such circumstances as the present, a man must be
compelled to sacrifice the accumulations of a long
life of industry, it is difficult to suggest any alter-
native." Also he states that it would be impossible
to allow the funds that have been subscribed for the
relief of destitution to be taken for t'le payment of
sick clubs or other benefit societies. No portion of
the relief must in any case be granted for the pay-
ment of rent, and it is essential, observes his lordship,

that the committees stand firm on this point, since
‘‘ a knowledge moreover, a suspicion that any por••

tion of the funds was devoted to the payment of rent
would at once check the flow of public charity." In
dwelling on the question of modifying the rules his

lord mentioned what he thought exceptional
cases, where the holder had mortgaged his share in
any benefit societies so that at the present time he
was not deriving any actual benefit from them, and
also the class who have property in cottages, which
for the present yields them no return, in conse-
quence of their being unable to collect the rents;
or, what is still worse, in some cases they have
mortgaged them, so are in the awkward dilemma
of having to pay on the one hand without deriving
any benefit from the other. Then there comes the
small shopkeeper, whose capital consists of his
stock in trade, and who, from the distress of his
customers cannot obtain sufficient for subsistence.

These statements are concluded by the following
paragraph, which aptly represents the spirit which
has guided their suggestion

" I am aware that some of the principles laid down in this
memorandum are widely at variance with general rules;
and I am not insensible to the danger of their leading to
abuse, and encouraging too great a reliance on external aid.
But the circumstances of the time are of a wholly excep-
tional character. The first object must be to preserve the
population from absolute destitution ; the next, and hardly
less important, is to draw a broad line between habitual
pauperism and want, the consequence of an unforeseen
national calamity. It may be necessary, in consideration
for the poorer ratepayers, to supplement, from relief funds
the amount given to the former from the rates ; but with
regard to the latter, I feel confident that the lesser of two
evils is, to err on the side of over-liberality, rather than too
great strictness ; and I am persuaded that such is the policy
which will most commend itself to the public feeling."

There is something very touching in "these
short and simple annals of the poor," and among
these numerous instances isolated cases must exist
of bitter suffering and sad regret. It is hard for
those who, by industry and integrity, have saved
what for them may
appear a considerable sum, to
have it swept away from no fault of their own; and
perhaps it will be the harder to bear from the re-
flection that others not so deserving are being as-
sisted, while they are left to support themselves out
of the sum put by for emergency. Still in general
questions like these, individual interests cannot be
be consulted ; and, as Lord DERBY truly observed,
the greatest caution must be taken not to give to
these who have any resources the relief intended
for the preservation of life. The committee are not
free agents; they are the trustees of a nation's
bounty, and must act in conformity with the obli-
gations of their heavy responsibility and weighty
obligations. The greatest credit is due to
Lord DERBY for his conduct throughout
these investigations ; he has assisted the dona-
tions in a princely spirit of liberality, but
where many might have given money, they might
not have bestowed so much time, thought, and care
on so complicated and laborious an undertaking.
It is to be trusted that this sad occasion for his ser-
vices will soon pass away, but with it cannot be
obliterated the remembrance of his conduct which
will long live in the grateful memory of the class
he has so ably and efficiently served. No better
claim can a statesman have on the respect and re-
gard of a country than when he devotes himself to
the consideration of the welfare of the industrious
classes of the community. That misfortune is not
an unmixed calamity which brings good out of evil,
and the distress in Lancashire has discovered so
much of genuine and general liberality from all parts
the couutry, so much kindness and care among the
higher tanks of the community, and, above al,
so much noble endurance and hopeful spirit among
the operatives, that we can discern a silver
lining to the cloud that hangs so darkly over
us. When, through the blessing of Providence,
the shade is withdrawn the lessons that we have
learned in adversity, may yet profit as warnings
and encouragements, not to fall into the same errors
of commercial shortsightedness, and when danger
comes to have confidence in steady endurance on
the one hand, and strenuous exertion on the other,
that the joint efforts of those who suffer, and those
who aid the sufferers, may combine to avert the worst
of the evil, and mitigate the full force of the
calamity which, unchecked by such preventive
agencies, would have as3umed a degree of horror
that would scarcely have had a parallel in the his-
tory of nations.

SPINOZA, A KEMPIS, AND COLENSO,—Sp inoza
and the author of the " Imitation of Christ," both satisfied
this stamiard of criticism, that a book ought to be written
either for the wor the many. Spinoza addressed the few,
and ores for all rationalised the Bible. The author of the
" Imitation" has helped simple souls, in one generation or
another, to feel more, to grow nearer heaven, and thus to
hold a slightly higher place in the scale of civilization. But
a book like Bishop Colenzo's, which only tells the educated
few what they knew before, and which scares and agitates
the many, is a book which literary criticism altogether
condemns. --SatUt day Review.

THE FRENCH GOVERNMENT AND THE French
PRESS.—The Brussels Independance of the 16th
observes :—" The Temps was warned yesterday, the Revue
.IVationale, a periodical publication, is so to-day. The In-
dependance was detained yesterday at the Post-office. In
view of this p iinful recurrence of rigour, and above all in
the absence of precise definitions of the offences which may
be committed, the non-officious press has formed a resolu-
tion to abstain henceforth from any reflection upon the
action of the Government, The Opinion Aatioxale, which
has given numerous pledges of its devotion to the empire,
but which is not always in a humour to approve eTtry-
thing, entered some time ago upon this path, the only
honourable ono when securities for independence are want-
ing. As the Presse remarked yesterday, the journalist is
only responsible ior the liberty which is allowed him, and
undor present circumstances silence is not dishonourable.
Outside the question of actual politics there aro sufficient
questions open to his study ; and when he shall limit him-
self to registering the acts of ruthority and the facts most
indispensable to history, the absence of all criticism will
only serve the bet ter to elucidate the value of certain sys-
tematic enigmas,"

PLYMOUTH,Sunday.—A collision has taken place
at the entrance of the Channel between the Minerva, from
Zapas Sulina, with barley, for Falmouth, for orders, and
the Danish schooner Solo Lociskense, from Hull, for Ma-
laga, with coals. The Dane is supposed to have sunk. Her
crew have been saved,

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

SPAIN.

PROGRAMME OF THE NEW MINISTRY.
MADRID, JAN. 19, ETENING.

The new Ministry announced to the Congress
to-day that their programme will be to continue
the poiicy of maintaining the union of all the
fractions of the Liberal party, and of also endea-
vouring to bring about the union of all men of
constitutional principles. The Ministry will also
maintain the existing good relations of Spain with
foreign Powers, and will observe neutrality in all
questions which do not affect the honour of the
country.

In the same sitting of the Congress Marshal
O'Donnell, in reply to a question from Senor Gon-
zales Bravo, declared that the Ministry would follow
the same policy as had hitherto been adopted.
Respecting Mexico, Marshal O'Donnell said that
as that question had already been judged by the
Chambers, the Ministry would only occupy itself
with those incidents which might arise in connexion
with it.

Senor Bustillos has refused the portfolio of
Minister of Marine.

It is asserted that Senor Posado Herrera will
proceed as the new Spanish Minister to Paris.
The members of the Opposition, in a meeting
held at the house of Senor Rios Roses, resolved
upon supporting the new Ministry.

INDIA AND CHINA MAILS.

MARSEILLES, JAN, 20.

The Messageries Imperiales steamer Labourdon-
nais left Matseilles yesterday, with 60 passengers
and 854 cases of silver (value £340,000), and with
the above mails.