The Sun.
London, England, 1863-02-04 00:00:00

"To the Senate and House of Representatives,—

" I have signed the joint resolution to provide for the im-
mediate payment of the army and navy of the United States,
passed by the House of Representatives on the 14th, and
by the Senate on the 15th inst. The joint resolution is a
simple authority, amounting, however, under the existing
circumstances, to a direction to the Secretary of the Trea-
sury to make an additional issue of 100,000,000 dollars in
United States notes, if so much money is needed, for the
payment of the army and navy. My approval is given in
order that every possible facility may be afforded for the
prompt discharge of all enure of pay due to onr soldiers
and our sailors.
" While giving this approval, however, 1 think it my duty
to express my sincere regret that it has been found neces-
sary to authorise so large an additional issue of United
States notes, when this circulation and that of the suspended
banks together have become already so redundant as to in-
crease prices beyond real values, thereby augmenting the
cost of living, to the injury of labour, and the cost of sup-
plies, to the injury of the whole country.
" It seems very plain that continued issues of United
States notes without any check to the issues of suspended
banks, and without adequate provision for the raising of
money by loans, and for finding the issues so as to keep
them within due limits, must soon produce disastrous con-
sequences ; and this matter appears to me so important
that I feel bound to avail myself of this occasion to ask
the special attention of Congress to it. That Congress has
power to regulate the currency of tho country can hardly
admit of doubt, and that a judicious measure to prevent
the deterioration of this currency by a reasonable taxation
of bank circulation or otherwise is needed,
seems equally
clear.

" Independent of this general consideration it would be
unjust to the people at large to exempt banks enjoying the
special privilege of circulation from their just proportion
of the public burdens. In order to raise money by way of
loans most easily and cheaply it is clearly necessary to give
every possible support to the public credit. To that end a
uniform currency, in which taxes, subscriptions to loans,
and all other
iourddiianaptis'apbuleb.lic dues may be paid, is almost,
if notquite,
" Such a currency can be furnished by banking asseeia.
tions au.thorised under a general act of Congress, as sug-
gested in my message at the beginning of the present
session. The securing of this circulation by the pledge of
the United States bonds, as herein suggested, would still
further facilitate loans by increasing the present and caus-
ing a future demand for such bonds. In view of the actual
financial embarrassments of the Government, and of the
greater embarrassments sure to come if the necessary, means
of. relief be not afforded, I feel that I should not perform my
duty by a simple announcement of m yapprovalof the joint
resolutions which proposes relief only
by • creasing the cir-

culation, without expressing my earnest desire that mea-
sures, such in substance as those I have just referred to,
may receive the sanction of Congress. By such measures,
in my opinion, will payment be most certainly secured, not
only to the army and navy, but to all honest creditors of
the Government, and satisfactory provision made for future
demands on the Treasury. "ABRAHAM LINCOLN."

The Trzbune correspondent says that as the read-
ing of the document proceeded curiosity gave place
to astonishment_

San Francisco advices are to the 20th ult. Money
easy and accumulating. Sterling exchange, 1472.
The Northern coast steamer had arrived with 40,000
dols. from British Columbia, and 50,000 dols. from
Oregon. The British steamer Robert Lowe arrived
at Victoria on the 10th, and was expected at San
Francisco on the Ist February to take her place in
the new line to Japan and China.

The steamer Champion had arrived safely at New
York from Aspinwall, bringing 657,840 dots. in
specie on freight. She was convoyed by a Federal
gunboat to the northward of the islands.

A serious fire broke out at Aspinwall on the 26th
December, and destroyed over 30 houses. The entire
loss was estimated above 250,000 dols.
The statement of the New York City Banks
compares as follows with the statement of the pre-
vious week. Increase in loans, 790,548 dol.& In-
crease in specie, 810,719 dols. Decrease in circula-
tion, 309,848 dole. Increase in deposits, 1,787,754
dole.
Commercial intelligence anticipated.

HEALTH OF LONDON.

(From the _Registrar General's Report.)

In the week that ended last Saturday the deaths
in London declined to 1,354. Previously the number
had been above 1,400 in every week, except one,
since the first week in November, when it was
1,307. The mortality of young persons was the same
last week as in the first week of November, but that
of old persons was greater. The deaths of persons
60 years old and upwards was 238 in the earlier
period ; last week they were 292.

The average number of deaths in ten weeks (1853
—62) corresponding with last week, corrected for
increase of population, is 1,466. The present return
is less than the estimated number by 112.
Two children died of small-pox at 1, Dock-cot-
tages, Millwall ; and four children died of it at 22,
Castle-alley, Whitechapel. No less than six deaths
from small-pox and fever were registered in Castle-
alley in the week. Seven deaths were returned by
the Small-pox Hospital; and the total number from
small-pox in London was 39. This disease is on the
increase.

Measles declined to 34 deaths ; and scarlatina to
49. The former was fatal in 4 cases in Belgrave
sub-district; the latter in 4 in St. Mary, Padding-
ton and in 7 in Islington. There were 71 deaths from
typhus, typhoid fever, &c., and 5 of these occurred
in Poplar.
A widow died at the age of 92, and another at 96
years.

The son of a brewer's servant died at 1, Elizabeth-
place, Ratcliff, by " haemorrhage from a wound in
the head, caused by a shell falling on him from the
mantel-piece" (inquest). The coroner adds in his
report to the registrar that the mother has lost five
children in this way, two of whom died in the Lon-
don Hospital from a scratch in the hand. If they,
bleed but the smallest quantity they die. Dr. Ar-
nold states that this is the consequence of a h wmor-
rhagic diathesis.

At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 29,857 in.
The mean daily reading was above 30 in. on the
first four days of the week. The barometer rose to
30.39 in. on Wednesday, and it fell to 29.23 in. on
Saturday. The mean temperature of the air in the
week was 44.5 deg., which is 6.6 deg. above the ave-
rage of the same week in 43 years (as determined by
Mr. Glaisher). The mean daily temperature was
above the average throughout the week, and this
excess was 10 deg. and 11 deg. on Thursday and
Friday. The highest day temperature was 55.2 deg.
on Thursday. The lowest night temperature was
32.2 deg. on Wednesday. The range of temperature
in the week was therefore 23.0 deg. The mean daily
range was 11.9 deg. The difference between the
mean dew-point temperature and air temperature
was 5 deg. The mean degree of humidity of the air
was 83, complete saturation being represented by 100
On Tuesday the humidity fell so low as 70. On that
day wind was in thenorth-west; the rest of the week
till Saturday afternoon it was in the south-west.
Six-tenths of an inch of rain fell, nearly all of
which was on Saturday. The mean of the highest
temperature of the water of the Thames was 43.9
deg.; the mean of the lowest was 41.4 deg.
METROPOLITAN WATERS IN JANUARY, 1863.

These waters, according to the analyses of Dr.
R. D. Thomson, F.R.S., are generally much more
impure than usual, the amount of organic impurity,
especially in the Thames waters, being present in
great excess. The Chelsea and Southwark waters
presented a milky aspect. The Lambeth and East
London waters were also somewhat turbid. The
others contained no matter in suspension. Larger
reservoirs, by which the necessity of pumping dur-
ing rain might, be obviated, would be one remedy
for these evils.

Total impurity Organioim-
per gallon. purity.
gre. or deg. gre. or deg.
Distilled Water

- - - -
Loch Katrine water, new supply
to Glasgow 2•35 *605
Manchester water supply
Earl-street Well, Edgware-road 113134 33•23
THAMES COMPANIES.
Chelsea
Southwark
West Middlesex 20.00 2'lo
Grand Junction 22'68 2'92
Lambeth
OTHER COMPANIES.
Kent
East London
New River
The table is read thus—Loch Katrine water contains in the
gallon 2•3 i degrees or grains of foreign matter in solution,
of which *605 degrees or grains are of vegetable or animal
origin.

Monopoly is essentially a selfish principle. What
is good in principle should be as widely extended
as possible. The rain of heaven falls upon the just and
unjust alike, and there are few things which might not be-
come common to all mankind. But, as a rule, the world
is far from being ready to bring this theory into practice;
we are far too exclusive ; we love to be aristocratic in our
tastes and feelings, that is to say, to be possessed of certain
habits and manners which do not belong to, but are on the
contrary caviare to the multitude. The wish may be seen
in the private circles of life ; has been long developed in
our modes of government and our political dogmas. But
as we become better acquinted with the rudiments of econo-
mical science, all these restrictions are grubbed up, and
that which has been the " preserve" of a few is thrown
open to every citizen of the empire. At first savings-banks
were confined to the better conditioned of the commercial
and labouring classes. 'die small tradesman found it con-
venient to invest a small sum weekly ; and the shilling of
the artisan was also welcomed as an indication of thrifti-
ness on his part, and a desire of becoming a more indepen-
dent member of society. It is only recently, however, that
the savings-banks have been opened to the less well-to-do
portion of the community; that the word Sesame has been
pronounced for them. There were no institutions in which
they might positively hoard up their well-earned pence.—
Temple Bar.

TRH WASTE OF WAR.—The Governor of the
,
State of New York, in his Message to the Senate
and Assembly early in the present year, mentioned that
since the beginning of the war the State of New York, with
a population of less than 4,000,000 at the census of 1860,
has sent into the field 222,836 men, and that there are only
125,000 of them left. The annual waste has been about
one-third of the whole number.
CARDS—WASTE OF TIME !—ln our house at home
we youngsters did not play whist because we were
dear obedient children, and the elders said playing at cards
was " a waste of time." A waste of time, my good people.
Allons ! What do elderly home-keeping people do of a
night after dinner ? Darby gets his newspaper ; my dear
Joan gets her Missionary Magazine or her volume of Cum-
tehA
or
yogi
hd
the Joan's
d o c
threi
aa de
Ding, ding, ding—can that be ten o'
ming's Sermons—and don't you know what ensues ? Over
the arm of Darby's arm-chair the paper flutters to the
ground unheeded, and he performs the trumpet obligato
que vows satz
rm
nods over
h ,
?
may be).
bed IY
dclock It
is time
to send the servants to ,my dear—and to bed
master and mistress go too. But they have not wasted
e e o n s
e hisr
sermon
d (awakening nose.
cards. Oh, no I-2kackeray in tide
Cornhill for February.
their time playing at
[ADVERTlSEMENT.].....Holloway'sPills—The
Friend. —So soon as the human functions are disordered
delusion to leave
they should be rectified; it is a hopeless,,s
Pills
always
Female's
the malady to its own course. Holloway
accomplish this end with ease, safety, and despatch. A
few appropriate doses at the proper period will prevent many
a serious illness. They arrest all morbid influences, and
prevent disease from extending 'and affecting more distant
liver,
organs. Their Primary action is upon the blood, stomach,
kidneys,strengthens the nervous centres. No drugs can be at once
so harmless yet
8° antagonistic to disorders affecting the
other sex. The most perfeet reliance may ;be placed upon
it their purifying, regulating, and renovating virtues. 1

MR. BRIGHT, M.P., AT ROCHDALE.

MANCHESTER, Tuesday Night.

TlMES,—Whatever Admiral Fitzroy may be able
to do with the weather, it is proverbially the next
thing to impossible to forecast the destinies of a
Parliamentary Session. " Down-rushes" occur when
nobody expects them, and the most furious storms
arise without the indication of the premonitory
drum. We look round the horizon and we see not
the slightest indication of the coming tempest. We
examine the glass, and we find it steadily constant
at " Set Fair." Let us enjoy the calm whileit lasts ;
it will be time enough to discuss the storm when
the wind is whistling about our ears. Let us pro-
pitiate Nemesis by admitting to the full the fragility
of our calm and the uncertainty of our prognostics,
and then address ourselves to consider as well as
we may what are likely to be the subjects
which are destined to command the attention
of the Parliament about to meet to-morrow.
What, perhaps, may turn out to be the most
prominent, as it will certainly be one of the most
agreeable topics of the Session, is the state of our
finances. For several years we have been struggling
with a deficiency more or less large, and although
that deficiency has been occasioned, not by any pres-
sure on our resources, but mainly because it has
been the will of our Chancellor of the Exchequer
to take off taxes rather with a view to his own
notions of symmetry and expediency than to
the demand of the people, the cessation of that
deficiency is nevertheless a great relief. We do
not like to be behindhand in our national balance-
sheet, even though we may be sure that we get
ample value for every tax we remit and for every
million we expend. These successive deficits re-
present the reduction of taxation which was neces-
sary in order to complete our engagements under the
French treaty, the abolition of the paper duty, the
reconstruction of our navy, and the remodelling of
our ordnance both by land and sea. Still, conscious
as we are of so much wealth, we do not like even the
appearance of want, and shall, therefore, hail with
unmixed satisfaction the assurance that we have
once more got a real, genuine, bona fide surplus,
not resting on any refined distinctions or dexterous
manipulations, but on the simple subtraction of the
Expenditure from the Ways and Means, and the
exhibition of a substantial difference between the
two, arising partly from the elasticity of our re-
sources, and partly from judicious and well applied
economy. Having fairly seized on our surplus,
the next and most fruitful subject of discussion will
naturally be the distribution of this treasure, an
operation fraught with infinite difficulty and very
striking differences of opinion. For our own part,
we admit that we shall be quite content if
Mr. Gladstone so far yield to the modest and
humble wishes of the people as to deliver us from
twopence in the pound on the Income-Tax, and
from the war duties on tea and sugar. We shall
then consider that we have got rid of the last
vestiges of the Crimean war, and be able to read
with unmixed pleasure those forthcoming volumes
in which Mr. liinglake will no doubt demonstrate
to us how well our affairs were conducted in the
Bay of Balaklava and the trenches of Sebastopol,
and how admirable everything was, except the con-
duct of those who advised the expedition, and
who still did not shrink from a fair and honest
exposure of its mismanagement. Our only ap-
prehension is that the course which lies before Mr.
Gladstone is so exceedingly easy, straightforward,
and agreeable that he may for that very reason be
disinclined to adopt it. There is a facility about
it which he may possibly consider unworthy of his
genius, and we almost wish the road we would
have him travel were a little less smooth and broad,
in order that we might have better assurance that
he would take it. A measure which can hardly be
much longer deferred is the enactment of a proper
law of marriage for Ireland and Scotland. We are
obliged to the Yelverton Marriage ease for teaching
us, in the history of one couple, the absurdities of
the laws of both countries. It is intolerable that
the validity of a marriage and the legitimacy of
children should be made to depend upon so uncertain
a thing, and a thing so difficulty to prove, as the reli-
gious belief of a wild young man for a year previous
to the solemnisation of a clandestine ceremony.
We trust this subject will be dealt with, espe-
cially as we know of no other legal abuse which is
ripe for legislation. We can hardly expect so great
a change as is involved in the cession of the lonian
Islands to pass without voluminous comment. In-
deed, if we are to believe certain of our contempo-
raries, a solemn appeal is to be made to the British
people not to tolerate any diminution of the em-
pire which has been won by the valour and wis-
dom of our ancestors. It speaks well for the
good sense of England that this appeal to a po-
pular passion which is in itself entitled to all
respect does not appear to have been successful.
The country has felt that all this indignation is
misapplied. The lonian Islands form no part of
the dominions of the British Crown, but are only
a deposit placed in our unwilling hands under
the Treaty of Vienna. They offer us no valuable
military or naval position. They would require a
large garrison to hold them in time of war, and
they encumber us with a heavy annual expense.
The people have, besides, professed a fixed aver-
sion from our Protectorate, and the Assembly has
refused its assent to the most necessary improve-
ments, because they will not receive them from our
hands. The Transportation question has gone to a
commission, and is therefore shelved for the present.
Of course we shall have the usual crop of bills by
private members to sweep away small shreds and
patches which remain to testify that we once lived
under intolerant laws, and of course we shall have
the Conservative party giving up their midday
ride in the Park in order perpetually to save the
constitution in the " broad glare" of a 'Wednesday
morning. Church-rates also will run their accus-
tomed course, and be won or lost by one or two
votes, according as the influenza shall descend the
more heavily on the heeds of the Government or the
Opposition. Such are the prospects of the Session.
If they should appear to any one rather deficient in
liveliness and excitement, we can only offer him
these two topics of consolation ; first, that any one
of a great number of contingencies may make things
go on a great deal more briskly than they seem dis-
posed to do at present ; and secondly, that it is much
better, after all, that matters should go on in this
quiet and uninteresting way than that we should be
affording to the word and to ourselves the astound-
ing spectacles, the bitter discords, and the ridiculous
pretensions with which we are perpetually brought
in contact when we study the annals of other na-
tions. We are quite content with the division of
labour; be it theirs to do and suffer these things, be
it ours to read and discuss them.
HERALD.—If a foreigner or an uninterested ob-
server desired an illustration of the easy patience
of Englishmen, he would certainly find it in their
continued endurance of the present Government.
The Cabinet was constructed on the principle of
binding together every fragment of the disjointed
and scattered Liberal party. Whigs, Peelites,
Radicals, the school of Messrs. Bright and Cobden,
and the school of William Gladstone, was to unite
with the remains of the old Foxites in building up
a strong Government. There was to be a real Li-
beral party, influential out of doors, commanding
in the House of Commons! The Opposition in the
Peers was to be awed by this compact and power-
ful phalanx. Such was the deceptive programme.
What is the event ? Where is the great Liberal
party ? It is gone. No ono can say there is a
Liberal party now. But the strange and incon-
gruous thing in the drama is that the chief actors
still meet in dumb show and play their pantomime
on the stage, when the piece they were to perform
has been long tossed by in the closet and the lan-
guage forgotten. 1 here is no reform and there is
no Liberal party—and yet the Coalition Ministry
exists, and they have a public audience, too, which
can smile approvingly, This is not gratifying or
honourable to our character as an enlightened na-
tion. But, perhaps, if we look around, we shall
perceive so much excellent work completed, such
good service done, that in our consideration, sense,
and,judgment, we shall condone or forget the lapse
of the original agreement on which the Palmerston
Cabinet was put together. We are a practical
people. Where the intention has been carried out,
the effect accomplished, we care not much for the
manner. Unfortunately there is nothing of the kind

to console us here. The composite Government has
been, by pre-eminence, a Government of failures,
The Bankruptcy Bill is held up as a mas-
terly achievement ; but the frequent ap-
peals to the Lords Justices, and the ge-
neral dissatisfaction at the working of this
abortive scheme, best prove that its provisions will
only be of brief duration. In fact, the Coalition
Government have destroyed much, have left much
undone, and have finally settled nothing. If a Con-
servative Ministry were to assume the reins of
power to-morrow they would find reform still in
the pigeon-holes, church rates under discussion, a
bankruptcy bill to amend or reconstruct, an educa-
tional scheme to reduce to order, and the whole
financial administration of the country to place on
a sound basis and to adapt to actual exigencies.
ft may be that in compensation for this utter bar-
renness of administration we shall find the empire
at large flourishing, much prosperity, much peace,
and everywhere much happiness. Let the awful
famine, half averted from Lancashire by the most
munificent private charity, be the reply ! Let the
ruined cotton trade answer ! Let Ireland, decaying
in her commerce, in her agriculture, in her popula-
tion, speak ! We English are so accustomed to
think for ourselves, to provide for ourselves, to
govern ourselves, that we forget the first and pri-
mary duty of any Administration. It is to conduct
the affairs of the nation with success and honour.
While thousands of operatives are on the verge of
starvation, and while a cardinal division of the
United Kingdom is tottering to ruin, and while
England is visibly losing her once great prestige,
who will say that this necessary condition of atl
government has been fulfilled? We are told, in-
deed, that Mr. Gladstone can boast of a surplus, and
that a sensible reduction of taxation will take place.
Heaven grant that the event may realise thepromise.
But the unstable and illusory past is a warning.
Meanwhile our naval and military expenditure is
growing enormously, but we can scarcely be said to
be waxing in strength or authority among foreign
nations. Here, indeed, in our external policy, is the
great hiatus. England never looked so much of a
poltroon as at tbis present moment. She is
ashamed of the stupid part she played in making
an opening for the dominance of the Latin race in
Mexico, and thence throughout the entire continent
of America. But this was and is the avowed game
of the French Emperor. The cession of the lonian
Islands is a scandal, and should make us all bow our
heads with a sense of inferiority and lost position.
The feeble jousting in placing a King on the throne
of Greece is worthy of a nursery rhyme. It need
not be predicted that Great Britain can gain nothing
by the proposed movement on the chess-board of a
losing ambition. Turning to Rome, the Pope must
be laughing in his sleeve at Earl Russell's failures.
His temporal power is as secure as ever, and the
policy of meddling non-intervention played in
Downing-street has been completely baffled. Italy
is not a united kingdom. The help of England has
been always fatal to Italy. Lord Palmerston's aid
has been its disappointment and misfortune. The
promise has now, as heretofore, been kept to the
ear and broken to the hope. But if not in Italy,
where the coup d'etat of our Foreign Secretary was
intended, where shall we look for the signs of Al-
bion's power or influence abroad P Not in France
assuredly. Not in Austria, Russia, or Prussia. Per-
haps at the Court of Denmark, to which we are
about to be allied by a most auspicious and august
marriage. The marplot is everywhere. Even the
country of the bride Alexandra was not to be
secured from the mischievous intermeddling of our
daring Foreign Minister. Just on the eve of the
Royal wedding this eccentric personage casts the
question of Schleswig and Holstein on the tapir,
enough to frighten from the sacred and endearing
spot all that should enrich and gladden the occasion.
This is the ghoul at the marriage feast evoked by
the very original statesman, Earl Russell. When
we turn to the States of America we shall behold
the most ruthless and objectless war on record
raging, and yet England refusing to interpose a
word of friendly mediation to stop the quarrel ;
and this while her staple manufacture is going
openly to ruin. If such is good governmen it
becomes a very grave question in what consists
weak and vicious government. For our part we
can perceive nothing in the coalition Administra-
tion but incompetency and mischief—inadequacy to
the great task in hand, and irreparable injury to the
nation. And yet this Government has been highly
favoured—favoured by extraordinary circumstances
—favoured by an indulgent pe•Jple. The dissolu-
tion of the Liberal party spared it the torment of
obtrusive friends, always more a bore and nuisance
than a service. The American war was a great boon,
saving it from the consequences of the lax expecta-
tions it had raised. The brilliancy and practical
force of the suggestions and programmes of the
Conservative leaders, easily borrowed and adapted,
afforded an agreeable ground for a popular policy.
The undisguised support of the most powerful organ
of the press was in itself no small help. But the calm
and quiet of the people, the respectful lull .nd the
reverence for Royal grief caused by the lamented
death of the Prince Consort, and the entire atten-
tion to the unusual famine which assailed the land,
and the bustle of the great Exhibition—all gave
Ministers free and open way last year, and ample
opportunity. The mischief that they might have
done had their Liberal schemes succeeded, and their
vast deficiencies es administrators and statesmen,
have scarcely been noted or heeded. Thus far the
Palmerston Government has been fortunate in the
nation's repose. But a busy, inquiring season is at
hand ; the term of work commences to-morrow.
We do not and ought not to expect a quiet session.

DIABOLICAL OUTRAGE.—Ou Saturday Joseph
Buckland, aged 16, the son of a miller living near
Stafford, Piddletrenthide, and Robert Churchill, were
charged before Mr. Elliott, at Dorchester, and Mr. Bent,
the inspector of police of the South-W estern Railway Com •
pany, with placing three chairs on the line, and fixing them
on the metals, about two miles from the Dorchester Rail-
way Station. The engine-driver, Ford, proved that he saw
the chairs about 30 yards off, and, putting on the steam,
drove through them. Had he not put the steam on to the
full power, the engine must have run off the line, and the
loss of life would, in all probability, have been very great.
Mr. Thomas Bent proved that he had examined the line and
the engine, and found such indications as would be pro-
duced by chairs being placed on the metals. The fragments
of three chairs were found scattered all over the ballasting,
having been literally smashed up by the weight of the en-
gine being put on at full speed. A witness proved seeing
the two prisoners come up from the line to their carts by
the bridge, and on cross-examination by Mr. Bent, who
appeared for the company, they acknowledged that they had
put the chairs in the position referred to. The bench fully
committed the prisoners for trial at the assizes.
THE WEATHER.—PORTSMOUTH, 6 P.M., Monday.
—Another strong S.W. gale set in here during the
night, and continues up to the present time, accompanied
by rain. The barometer now indicates 29 95, it having
fallen half-a-tenth since 10 a.m. In the report sent from
here last evening, attention was called to the fact that a
fine bright afternoon, with the wind light at W.N.W., had
succeeded to tho strong W.S.W. gale of the morning and
previous night. This fine weather has now in its turn been
succeeded by the S.W. gale. The weather to windward
looks wild. The following vessels from London have put
into the Mother-bank and St. Helen's Roads for shelter :--
The Sir W. F. Williams, for China ; the Koh-i-noor, for
Calcutta ; the Severn, for Colombo ; the Princess of Wales,
for Sydney, New South Wales ; the Dundee, for Jamaica ;
and the City of London, for Algoa Bay.
VALENTINES OF THE WRONG SORT.—The most
fatal symptom of the decline and fall of valentines
in modern time is the burlesque or sarcastic tone they have
of late assumed. In former days it was the God of Love
we honoured ; it was the fleet-winged Paphian boy who
hovered round us while we wrote, who inspired those
charming sonnets, who inspired pretty epithets and syno-
nyms and nonsense in our ear. No one would then have
dreamt of being severe on the 14th of February . Who first
began the graceless change ? What ill-conditioned wight
was it who taught us first to substitute lampoons for love-
letters—who limned those odious libels on humanity, now
so popular in our shop windows ? Our gentle Eros is de-
posed, and restless, pale Invidia reigns instead as mistress
of the ceremonies. She points her arrows with a poisoned
barb, and paints her enemies in penny colours. She has
her caricatures for age and youth, for both the sexes, for
all professions. Is there a dandy hair-dresser, a luckless
sweep, a youth who measures ribbons in a draper's shop—
all one by one fall victims to her spleen. In our cheap
valentines the honest attributes of trade or calling are sub-
ject to the keenest irony. The doctor is represented as a
quack; the parson as a hypocrite; the lawyer as a thief.
see the washerwoman drinking gin ; the tailor stealing
cloth; the policeman sneaking down an area. I have be-
fore me now a pictorial satire casting the most outrageous
imputations on the character of a milkman,—lo724o7l
Scci,;(y, 1

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