The Sun.
London, England, 1863-11-24 00:00:00

- _
intinately and notoriously. Russia and Russian-
Poland are at daggers, scythes, swords, pistols, re-
volvers drawn with each other—old and young
men and:women, young girls and little children, 'Are,
there, the victims of Autocratic brutality. The sound
of the scourge, or knout, rings in our ears from the
other side of Europe, through all the 4,limult of
growing Insurrection. And yet—the p A trot cry of
diplomacy is, still, Non-intervention. So, now, in
a more generalised way, in refe':ence to the
French EMPEROR'S proposition of ~t. Congress, it is
intimated at last, after a good deal of bewildered
hesitation as to what reply ought to be sent in—
Well, yes, if it could be done, it would be very de-
lightful, very admirable, and. ,so forth—but it can't
—and, therefore, with many thanks, No 1 In other
words, we must stick to it —that is, to our delibe-
rately chosen policy of Nan-intervention. Certainly,
Lord 3LIELBOURNE'S whimsical remonstrance with
his over-zealous colleague—" Why can't you leave
it alone I" is being acted upon by our Administra-
tors—with a vengeance.

The work of metropolitan communication is cer-
tainly going on as rapidly as the most enterprising
spirit could wish. In every direction the lines are
beginning to traverse our streets, and plans for the
enlargement, extension, and junction meet us on
every side. Within a very few years the whole
face of the metropolis will have been changed, and
the engines go puffing and screaming over busy
high-roads and quiet sqaares, where the inhabitants
once certainly deemed themselves perfectly secure
from any such intrusion. Great as are the dangers,
however, those to come promise to be still greater,
for it is said that no less than 36 schemes for metro-
politan alterations are included in the notices for the
forthcoming session. As may be expected, these
include a very wide range and affect most of our
metropolitan lines. The Underground Railway, as
it is generally termed, is, it seems, to be consider-
ably enlarged, if the necessary powers can be ob-
tained by the directors, who have given notice of
an application to Parliament for additional powers
for compulsory purchase of lands, for raising addi-
tional capital, and extending the time for complet-
ing the works of the Finsbury-circus extension. A
good many other plans regarding the Metropolitan
Railway aro also under consideration, one of the
foremost of which is its connection with the Victoria
Station, by which means it would be in communi-
cation with the Brighton and Dover Railways.
Other lines are no less active ; the Tottenham and
Hampstead Junction, the Great Northern, Midland,
and North Western lines are busily mapping out
the northern districts of London, and propose to
bring the northern suburbs within easy reach of
the further ends of the city. One of the most
striking of all the various schemes, however, is that
of the East London, which proposes to avail itself
of the long neglected and unused Thames Tunnel!
thus at length bringing BRUNEL'S great achieve-
ment to a directly practical use. It is certain that
when that gifted, though occasionally erratic, man
matured his bold design, and watched it carried
gradually into effect in the face of tremendous diffi-
culties, he did not anticipate that the great work
would be put to so little purpose during
the years that followed its opening, or that it
would remain nothing but au empty show,
a profitless marvel. Still less did he con-
template the possibility of such a scheme
as we have referred to being gravely propounded,
by whose means the wonderful submerged tunnel
will really become, as he intended it to be, one of
the great highways of London. Theory and prac•
tice will have met at last, and both will prove to have
existed in a greater degree than was supposed in
the design of the first BRUNEL. It is to be hoped
that the bills for these different extensions will re-
ceive careful consideration, and that the comfort
and convenience of the public may be duly con-
sidered. It will not do for the interests of com-
panies, and the schemes and jealousies of rival ex-
perimentalists, to weigh too heavily in the scale. It
will be necessary to keep a jealous eye upon some
of their movements, and to consult, despite all other
influences, the general good alone. Another point
worthy of notice is the expense and difficulty which
now attend the efforts of the companies to get the
land they require in the vicinity of the metropolis.
This is in a great measure owing to the obstinate
opposition which any attempts to bring the lines
into the streets occasioned some years ago, when
the ground, every rood of which is now so precious,
might have been had at an almost nominal rent.
The angry and determined opposition which was
sure to meet such plans, kept the railways to the
suburbs, but the precaution was in vain. Little
towns sprang up around the much dreaded stations,
and directors and shareholders are left to deplore
that the public shortsightedness should have en-
tailed so much unnecessary expense and labour in
the carrying out of their adventurous schemes. We
trust, as we have before said, that the interests of
the public will be the primary object, and that all
other considerations and influences will be made
subservient to that one great end.

The meeting at Stroud last week was distin-
guished for-its hilarity at all events. There was no
gloomy foreboding nor lugubrious retrospection in-
dulged in ; but all was replete with hearty goodwill
and earnest endeavours to make the best of things.
The remarks made at the evening entertainment
were conspicuous for their originality. Earl DUCIE
and Mr. HORSMAN vied with each other in humor-
ous remarks, that were yet not without their signi-
ficance in a higher point of view. When Lord
DUCIE said that he would willingly go back to his
old position as member for Stroud, he doubtless
might have felt what he said, In one sense, a mem•
ber of the Commons holds a higher position than one
in the Upper House, for he more directly represents
the feelings of the people. Also, there was some solid
grounds for the assertion of the noble lord, that the
best way to prepare the members of the higher
branch of the Legislature for the right fulfilment
°o",f their arduous duties was to give them the
'tnnity of practising in the trying ordeal of
the
Pepular assembly. Certainly they would there
see for themselves
what they might not believe if it
was told to then)
and hear solemn truths expressed
and stirring pi i ' eiples enunciated that may years
after come back
to the mind with irresistible force,
and speak as with the
sound of a trumpet to carry
conviction to the rnind,
and brin 0. truth before their
(vs Mr. HolismAN, as
" '
urti was most entertain-
ing, and made a good bit is tale n the inuendo that he
hoped Lord DuclE would change places in reality
if he did so at all, and give himhis estate. - '
at the more business offairagraverione Of course,
d
the proceedings. Sir J. PAKINGTom _
' waeonded the re-
solution, which must have given him very great
satisfaction, for it contained the cheering announce.
meat that the cause he has so much at heart
was
progressing in the right direction. prominent
as the right hon. baronet has been in instituting
reforms in our navy., conspicuous as he took the
lead in some of those improvements which stand out
as landmarks of the age and beacons of the nation's
progress, he has also attained an honourable, if a
lessor, glory in the more sequestered but less stormy
walks of peaceful life. His efforts have not been
small ner few, neither have his successes been cir-
cumscribed. In lending the weight of his position
I and the force of his abilities to this important ,

undertaking, he has at the same time gained de-
served popularity and rendered special services to
a noble cause. Well does it portend for the country
where learning flourishes, not in secluded halls of
study, but through the limits of the land in its
length and breadth; the more widely diffused is
education, and the greater its influence is paramount,
the higher will be the position of the state, and the
morerAK p
nsGrTooll:,s and prosperousemarks its
were
throughout
very
ape
i a pt
oop r
n ofi a t eh ,
sa n
sdu they-
hie evinced
etand that
that
earnestnessthorough p aof per
ex-
pression, pression, which in themselves are such thrilling
accompaniments to a discourse, and without which
the most glowing eloquence, and the most
astute erudition becomes as sounding brass
or tinkling cymbal. He took a bold course,
and advocated the adoption of straightforward
measures for the success of the undertaking.
He urged in impressive language the most enticing
prospects and the most special inducements which
brought forward the cause in which they were
then engaged, and most unquestionably pleaded
for its prompt attention by all who had the time
or power to do so. He forcibly pointed out the
moral of his address, by declaring that all who
assisted in the undertaking, or associated in its
cause, were engaged in a work " to which, through
life, they must always look back with satisfactien."
This is strictly true, and when the mazes of public
affairs have confused their minds, and the ascerbi-
ties of political feeling engendered bitterness among
opponents, and, perchance, alienated friends, there
will be a rallying point for divers interests, and a
neutral ground found on which all differing parties
can assemble frankly and fearlessly in the discus-
sion of the prospects and the essays for the pro-
gress of education. Apart from theories and plans,
there is the convincing evidence of facts by which
to test the validity of any new or great endeavour,
and Sir J, PAKINGTON brought forward an un-
answerable argument of the efficacy, and a striking
instance of the success of the undertaking, to do
honour to which they were then and there assem-
bled. In 1859 there were only three candidates for
the examination ; in the next year, 44 ; but in this
one the number was no less 473. Surely this is a
proof before which cavillers must be silenced, and
at which demurrers can find no ground to stand
upon. Yet the speaker did not confine his state-
ments to the flattering side of the picture only, but
wisely and kindly brought before his hearers the re-
verse side of the picture. Thus he evidenced the fact
that in many of our colonies and in the various
countries of Europe, men were ahead of us in point
of education and information. Tnis, however irri-
tating it may be to dwell upon, is a topic that should
stimulate all who hear it. They should disparage
no efforts of those who were superior in their actual
attainments, but be resolved to emulate, if possible
excel, all other competitors in the noble race of self-
improvement. The more these subjects are dwelt
upon the greater good will be effected, and the more
widely diffused will be the elevating influence.
" Knowledge is power," is a well known saying,
but how few really act upon what they profess to
practise, and seek with might and main to enrich
themselves and their neighbours with that solid and
lasting possession which the chance and changes of
this fluctuating state cannot affect, and which remain
after houses and land are gone and spent, a most
excellent treasure, and a most enduring heritage.
Sir J. PAKINGTON exactly specified the object of
such institutions as that which he then advocated
with so much eloquence and earnestness, to enable
the working man to make the most of the intellect
which GOD had given him. There can be no higher
end for human efforts than to ennoble the species,
and by thus cultivating their facu'ties, and raising
their aspirations, to fit them for further and better
duties in this world, and to train them for the en-
joyment of a greater and holier existence hereafter.
Altogether it may ba considered that this meeting
at Stroud was a most successful one, and, as it
eminently deserved to be so, it is the more gratify.
ing to notice its happy issue, and to expect from it
an augury of future promise to this and similar
admirable institutions.

Another of those painful cases of starvation which

of late have become distressingly frequent among
us was brought before the notice of the coroner in
the east end of London last week. The case pre•
sented some peculiarly painful features, and an im-
portant caution may be taught by it. There was
no question in this instance of the negligence of

relieving officers or the harshness of workhouse
regulations ; the fault lay rather at the door of Et
body who usually discharge their arduous duties
with tact, discretion, and efficiency. It seems that
a policeman, about ten o'clock at night, found the
deceased lying insensible in the street, Supposing
him to be intoxicated, he got a stretcher and re.
moved him to the station, where he was locked up
all night without food under the same impression.
The next morning the mistake was discovered, for
he was taken to the workhouse, where all he could
do was to tell his name and ask for a drink of water
before he again relapsed into unconsciousness, from
which he passed to death. In all probability nothing
could have been done for this poor man had his
wants been attended to earlier. He was most
likely too far gone for any care or kindness to have
rescued him, but the fact is, nevertheless, the same,
that a man dying of exhaustion was locked up all
night without any assistance, and, if the case had
admitted of a favourable termination the negligence
or ignorance of the police would have destroyed
the chance. It is not by any means the first time
that such an accident has occurred, nor will it be
the last unless more care is exercised. A very
melancholy case occurred some time ago, when a
respectable middle-aged woman, being suddenly
taken ill at some distance from her home, was
locked up in a similar fashion, to be found dead
from apoplexy some time after. Such instances
are, no doubt, rare, but they are not sufficiently so
to justify the custom of locking up persons found
insensible in the streets without first having the
opinion of a surgeon on the matter. It is difficult,
no doubt, for an unprofessional eye to detect the
difference, and the police are naturally influenced
by the much greater frequency of the one case than
of the other, but the sooner a change is made in
this respect the better, and we regret that the jury
did not think it necessary to append a hint on this
matter to their verdict. As any person may be
liable to a sudden attack of illness, it is a
matter of general importance that proper pre-
cautions should be taken by the police in
cases of insensibility, and it is to be hoped that
the recent unfortunate occurrence may have the
effect of inducing greater care.

EARL RUSSELL,

-

There is no truth whatever in the statement
Which has been circulated that Earl Russell is
about to resigu the Secretaryship for Foreign
Affairs.-- Post.

Ahoy TuE
ENGLISH OF IT —To impugn our
right to criticise Mr. Chase's threat
66 to give Old
Mother England a shaking," by quoting expressions from
the Edinburgh, Review (says that journal), is like saying
!
that a La" Wilt) braokes a cigar iu his own stud''
right to full 4. l'"eou who brings a clay pion
room
t+
01 ~
', " b lA, 4,0 W low to I'''

mi-'

LITERATURE,

The Wife's Evidence. By W. G. Wills, author of
"Notice to Quit," &c. Three vols. Hurst and
Blackett.
The two great orators of ancient times elicited
from their hearers a widely different species of
approbation. The Romans listened with rapt
attention to the eloquence of Tully, and at the close
of the discourse were be lost in admiration) at the
genius of the orator—" What an orator is Cicero !"
Far otherwise was it with the listeners of Demos-
thenes. At the close of his impassioned
" Philippics," no word of praise was bestowed
upon the speaker; but, carried away by the power
of his discourse, with one voice his hearers would
exclaim, " Let us march against Philip !" Wo are
not going to compare Mr. Wills with these giants
of old, but the comparison is suggested to us by the
conviction that he has framed the arguments and
incidents of his story so happily, that his readers,
before they stop to admire the eloquence of the
author, will all be willing converts to his theory.
Mr. Wills' own convictions upon the subject he has
chosen, are evidently very strong, and there is
nothing so powerful as conviction for convincing
others. The preface to the book consists of a few
lines from two totally different legal enactments.
The first is the Act 12 and 13 Vic., c. 106, in which
permission is given for the wife of a bankrupt to
give evidence before the Court of Bankruptcy ! The
:11to, that with no great
other is the well-known formula of our common law
which forbids a wife to give evidence for or against
h y criminal proceeding. Upon
these
Wills has very ingeniously
coenrs ht
improbability tworuusbctafactsend in
a ‘.lr.
ry, da
brings both laws to bear at
different periods upon the same wife and
husband. If the construction of the story is inge-
nious, the manner in which it is worked out is sin-
gularly effective, in the simple truthfulness and
deep natural pathos with which the domestic tragedy
is imbued. There is here no striving after sensa-
tional effect, but again and again the hearts of
many readers will thrill and their eyes brim at the
touch of that mighty power that " makes the whole
world opening gives a happy speci-
ten
of f k i n
h natural manner of this nar-
rative :

He sought to tell her these many days. Only yesterday,
when he returned from his office in Fleet -street to his house
in Hornsey-road, he laid a plot to tell her; but as he came
languidly upstacrs, his throat admit with the heat of a Lon-
don midsummer, and saw her bright welcome awaiting him
on the landing, he lost heart, and bethought him it was a
pity to lose that garnishing of smiles to his dinner and their
light to the restful evening. Last night he was on the
brink of a disclosure, as they lay waking and talking, but
the announcement still faltered on his lips, He was a man
on the verge of bankruptcy, and his wife must be made
aware of his position somehow—he was obviously the pro-
per one to tell her, but still he held back the blow with a
half-selfish mercy.
And so, day by day, be defers the explanation
until " at last, she told him," for not in vain had
the devoted wife watched her husband's growing
abstraction—" She had taken him by surprise. She
had turned his flank with her ambushed sunshine,
and whilst he wavered and doubted how to comfort
her under the intelligence, her heart had read his
secret, and she had applied herself to comfort
him.'; A very charming, loveable character is
Eleanor or Nellie, the loving, devoted wife of the
bankrupt, and afterwards of the supposed murderer.
At her husband's trial before the Court her evi-
dence turns the scale in his favour. Later on the
husband is arrested, and under most suspicious
circumstances, for murder. At first poor Eleanor,
knowing his innocence, is unalarmed. She declares
she can explain matters in a moment, she was with
him all the time ! Among all with whom she comes
in contact no one ventures to undeceive her. Pious
frauds are adopted, various excuses are made. As
the time passes by, she grows suspicious and un-
easy. At last she forces the painful truth from
her husband, who thus gently and tenderly tries
to break it to her.
" Answer me now—you promised to answer me—are you
going to reject me as a witness ?"
" I will answer you; I have no power, love, to call you
or reject you."
"Are you going to shake my statement to the court ?
Deal fairly with me before you commit me, for with God's
help I shall appear."
" I am not going to shake my statement, Nell ; I shall
not even speak. Come, you are under delusion ; we have a
good case, thank God, and your evidence will not be
needed."

" Not needed ?'' she cried. " Why—why, you have no
other evidence than mine ?"
" It is happily needless," said he, " so slight ie the case
against me; and I shall not have the pain of seeing you
come into a large public court, Nell. . Thank God,
my girl, we'll both be spared from such shame."
" Shame I" she repeated, clinging to him. " I tell you,
Will, when it is your lot I share I'd rather have it than
half a throne."
He caught her nestling figure into him with a moment's
ecstasy of pride and gratitude. " I'd face the world with
you, love," he said tenderly. " And so they never told you
—they never told my poor girl ?"
" Told me what ?" she cried, breaking from him in a
terror. " Any bad news ?"
"No bad news. There, be tranquil ; it is old, old news,
old as the laws. Don't be uneasy, Nell ; wo shall have a
quiet talk, as you wished, about this same evidence of
yours; we don't mind who hoar us. There, don't look so
wild ; there is nothing I have to tell you worth that wild-
fowl look. Now, Nellie, I suppose you, who have quite a
business experience, remember that in business matters a
wife is not recognisable as an agent in law. She is sup-
posed to be under her husband's influence and control. If
you had debts, Nellie, which you never had—debts for
bonnets and shawls and trinkets, which you are reasonably
fond of, on reckoning day against whose names would these
debts be entered ?"
" You are trifling with me. But to-day I will not be set
aside : you must meet my questions," she said, again re-
called by his light manner to her resolve and mettle.
" I am meeting your questions, Nell, but I may choose
my own way. Who is liable for those debts, you or I?"
" You would be," she said, impatiently.
" And if you were to be sued for non-payment in a court
of law, whose name would head the action, yours or mine ?"
" Yours."
" And so poor Nellie seems to have no existence in law,"
he said, looking in her face with a nervous calculation and
forced smile.
" I see your drift, but you are not putting it fairly. I have
read cases in the newspapers too often to be deceived. If a
wife commits a felony, her husband is not answerable—she
will be tried by herself; as she has existence in law."
" I am talking of a wife's evidence, Nellie," ho said,
solemnly watching her. "You are supposed to be under
my complete influence, and your statement is assumed in
law to be under my undue direction, The law exists chiefly
in mercy that a wile may not be forced to appear against
her husband, but if she would appear for him, it is naturally
supposed she is in collusion with him, don't you under-
stand : she is ix fact flesh of his flesh, and must be pardoned
should she perjure herself for his sake."
"You cannot deceive me," she said indignantly. " You
know well I was called as a witness in your examinations in
the court of bankruptcy, and gave evidence perfectly good
in law as to the surrender of all your property."
" That was a civil case," replied her husband, "and the
law with respect to civil cases is altered; but in criminal
cases—"
" In matters of life and death, you would tell me," said
she vehemently, " a wife is silenced, when a word from
her would save her husband's life. It is not true—l do not
believe you; if I believed that, it would kill me," cried the
poor emphatic Eleanor.
The best argument poor Eleanor brings forward in
favour of her cause is when, a little later, she is ap-
pealing to the counsel :

TILE BENEFIT OF A DOUBT.
"I do not know the law, sir. It seems tome like a
prison, shutting out life and truth. But I have heard that
you give the prisoner the benefit of a doubt. You even
receive the prisoner's own statement, and give it weight,"
" It is not given on oath," interposed the counsel.
Let us say that the evidence of a Christian woman,
given on her oath in favour of her husband, may be liable
to suspicion—the utmost suspicion and doubt—and be only
the weight of a feather in the scale. Still, why should he
Lt not have the benefit of a doubt? Why must Isis wife sit
. silent till her heart bursts, whilst servants and enemies
swear his life away?
The lawyer replies to this with equal truth :--
"It is a law, besides, that really has a humane and
merciful intention. Now, supitos.e you wore possessed of
es
evidence against your husband—just the missing link that
might be necessary to convict him, and you loved him as
youyou cdoott ludo bwo—w draggedoulci nit vt"o° tt
the w sell is ha
a i
t npainfuls-bo
xstateby
a of
stuhbi pnug.tsn ai f,
'oreign and forced to give 'evidence which must convict him ? But
here is the law you complain of, w /-'1
,ich has been framed to
shelter him and you from such r^Li unnatural po sitio "
These two consideratior
,s—the wife's plea that she
?ugn our may speak for Le- -
) give Old and the I- nusband as he speaks for himself,
;scions from wyer's threat that such a permission
like saying ant compel her to speak against him--these two
stud,- '
- considerations taken together seem to afford a solu-
, LIAR no
into a drawing tion to all the difficulties of the case. A person
--If!,ve himself. under accusation is not compelled to et- fininate luin-