The Sun.
London, England, 1863-08-24 00:00:00

round to taking the short and simple path back
again, which they have just traversed, thinking
they were making rapid progress. It is therefore
an unusual, as well as satisfactory event, to find the
`Westminster Board of Works so frankly and so
promptly admitting the error into which they have
been led, and so readily taking measures to put
matters right again. The outlines of the ease are
familiar to the public, and it is undoubtedly one of
great hardship. For many years past an array of
stall and truck-keepers have been tolerated in the
Broadway, Westminster, and several adjacent
parts, as they are in Tottenhcn-court-road, the
New Cut, Clare-street, Camden-town, Islington,
and countless other places. Some of these stalls
were, it seems, regarded as family possessions, and
in any case the owner's right to his stand and his
stall was unquestioned by any competitor. Many
of the occupants have held their posts for more
than 30 years, some of them being aged persons, who
would naturally be unfit for any other employment.
A regular al fresco me.rket was thus carried on, the
activity of which any one may guess who has ever
passed through such a locality on a Saturday even-
ing. It needs the pen of a DICKENS to depict with
sufficient vivacity its busy and stirring
have, it
The re-
gular tradesmen of the neighbourhood itwouldseem, no objection to these supernumerary pur-
veyors, and it is indeed probable that their interests
do not clash. A totally different class would stop
at a street-stall, attracted by the cry of " five whit-

ings for a penny" from the customers whochoobsuenfcrhoems
the fishmongers' marble; and the mysterious
of cabbages and onions that greet the passenger at
every corner of the footpath with the assurance that
each is " the last penn'orth," are not very likely to
prove dangerous rivals of the regular supply. The
system, although it undotatedly has its drawbacks,
fills a vacancy in our social life. It supports one
class and provides for another. It is indisputably
the market of the poor, and buyers and sellers, who
are all of the lower working order, would be heavy
losers by its suppression. It supplies the means of
regular and honest living to hundreds of poor hard-
working persons, who have probably neither expe-
rience, ability, nor, above all, capital enough to em-
bark on a larger scale. Oar sources of employment
are not so many, nor is our labour market so ill sup-
plied, that we should lightly talk of closing one honest
and useful means of getting a livelihood, and the
amount of distress, suffering, and indignation
caused in Westminster by the recent order for the
removal of the street stalls in the district may be
readily imagined. Acting, no doubt, from a mis-
taken wish to preserve public order and consult the

general convenience, the members of the Board of
Works passed a resolution at the close of last month

approving the report of their committee with
reference to obstructions on the footways and car-
riage-ways. Upon the passing of this resolution,
the Chief Commissioner of Police caused the stalls
to be removed, and loud were the lamentations of
the poor ruined stallkeepers. Who originated the
matter in the first instance we cannot say, but the
general impression on the part of the tradesmen,
whether the result of deliberate conviction or of
temporary compassion, appears to be in favour of
the maintenance of the old cuscoms. How the dis-
placed vendors have occupied or supported them-
selves since the arbitrary decree that broke up their
ancient privilege we know not, but their time of
trouble has only been of short duration. Moved
by the distress and excitement felt throughout the
district, some of the residents in the neighbour-
hood took up the matter and exerted themselves to
obtain the rescinding of the proceedings. A body
was formed which was styled the Street Stall Com-
mittee, which has been actively engaged in the
movement. On Monday last a meeting of wore
than a thousand persons assembled at the Temper-

ante Hall, Westminster, at which the committee

reported their proceedings, and a deputation was
appointed to wait upon the District Board of Works
and present a memorial asking for the return of the
stalls. In presenting this memorial, which was
numerously signed, the secretary to the committee
pointed out the hardship of the case, showing that
45 families, numbering 300 persons, had been sud-
denly thrown out of employment by the withdrawal
of a privilege which the costermongers had en-

joyed for the last 60 years. A licensed victualler
in the Broadway, who was also a member of the
deputation, testified, on the strength of 31 years'
experience, to the utility and practical service of

the street market to the families of the poor. An-
other tradesman, residing in Great Chapel-street,
gave satisfactory evidence as to the general feeling
of the locality; for he affirmed that having can-
vassed the neighbourhood for signatures to the me-
morial, he had only met with three refusals. Other
respectable shopkeepers expressed themselves
strongly in support of the memorial, and the de-
putation withdrew. The members of the Board
thereupon, with a candour and readiness that does
them honour, at once admitted that they had made
a mistake, and proceeded promptly to rectify it.
Having, of course, no personal interest in the mat-
ter, they had only endeavoured to carry out what
they believed to be for the general good ; but on
finding that the proceedings they had taken were
totally at variance with the feeling of the district,
and were the cause of much suffering to an honest
and industrious class of persons, they immediately
revoked the obnoxious resolution, and carried
a motion for the reinstatement of the
stalls. Mr. WHITE, of Parliament-street, the
original mover of the resolution, alone re-
tained his opinion unchanged, but as he did not
vote, not being ambitious of so isolated a dignity,
this exception did not mar the unanimity
with
whichsolitary motion was carried. So that the
the
inhabitants of the Broadway and Chapel-street
will soon see the busy line of trucks fringing their
thoroughfares as of old, and the little community,
who probably regard their ancient positions with
laasrgmeurcdhempariidnee,
will hj
otshseescslathimemansteslvteos
aesatleohu styo
raesp
of the old time-honoured haunts. No sooner was
poor, we are told, assembled asif,
the good news wafted abroad than hundreds
by
yma of the
gic,
alter-
nately congratulating each other, andbletshseinirg
joy,the
authors of the change, and expressing
we may be sure, in sufficiently demonstrative
fashion. We are heartily glad that the affair has
terminated so satisfactorily, and we hope it will be
a caution to well-disposed but officious reformers
to pause before they interfere too lightly with the
resources of humble industry. The employment
and decent maintenance of several hundred fami-
liersisinsono light thing in this busy metropolis, where
want is so often the guide to crime, and the sup-
pes
oanonfoat be
means of earning an honest liveli-
hoodlooked upon by the political eco-
nomist,es tnangamebriytoya.dthsesihthouinelmdoabfnitarian, as
any
qo tuheenrc e than
thata:t:rejacalrrciaal
all obstruction than that our footways e l
sefhsr see free
lofdnr from
clear from mendicants and
thieves, and a little
outer decorum gained in our thoroughfares
sadly compounded for by an increase in the
already overwhelming numbers of our criminal and
destitute population. Great credit is due to this
District
Board fur so quickly atoning for their
error, and still greater praise is due to those gen-

tleraen whose active and untiring Efforts have won
the gratifying gnerdon of sump, and hays ob-

tained for them the hearty thanks of their humble

co-parishioners.

Vox et preterea nihil shothd certainly be the motto
of the noble lord who presides over our foreign
policy, and perhaps more justly of the administra-
tion which he represents in that department. That
Earl RUSSELL means well, we do not doubt, and in-
deed in some cases, such as the late controversy wiih
the Brazilian Government, he has proved himself
ready to vindicate the rights of his country with
the sword as well as the pen. It is true that, in
such cases, there is no danger of war, and by taking
matters with a high hand a satisfactory result will
generally follow. It would naturally be supposed
Lhat the same decisive line of action would have been
taken in regard to the conduct of a powerful State
that has not like others sinned against England,
by mis aladtvi ee nnot
of its
friet
internationale, o
ar
gt
eho
or tsu, gbh h o
laws.
aowens ignorance
which
Toh rihacenh cge o
dignity
!o v
eos ieoorf
d eamn
da,n dwshtehna that
hhee r
honoursta t statesmen
ae
d should
interest
on
fl
tt
impartially,hh zealousnessee empirev io
England is at stake, know no difference between
the mighty and the weak. But let us
glance at the voluminous correspondence which
has been carried on between Earl RUSSELL and
the United States Government on the question,
whether the United States Government shalt
violate the law of nations regarding neutrals,
and empower Customhouse agents at New York,
by the apse dixit of the Dictator, to stay British
vessels from leaving that port with cargoes con-
signed to firms in the English colonies, or, if per-
mitted to sail, requiring them to enter into an
undertaking that such cargoes shall not in any
wise fall into the hands of the Confederates.
Earl RUSSELL denies the right of Mr, LIN-
COLN to act in such a manner. He admits
frankly that the United States Government
has a right to forbid the export of any article from,
its ports which necessity or prudence may require
but he distinctly declares that it is unjust to make
an exceptional case of English vessels. One would
have thought that this ought to have been enough
to show the Washington Cabinet the folly of the
act, and to have brought them to reason: No such
thing. More than a year has passed over since these
wrongs were first complained of, and British trade
between New York and the Bahamas is much in-
jured. After British merchantmen have been seized
on the high seas, under pretext that they intended
to run the blockade, and their papers pronounced
forgeries without any proof whatsoever, and the
very sanctity of our ports violated, Earl RUSSELL,
on the receipt of a despatch from Lord LYONS, in-
dites the following letter, instructing the Ambassa-
dor of the British Crown to re-open the question
just at the point where it first originated :
"Foreign-office, July 18, 1863.

"My Lord,—You will have learnt from my despatch of
the 10th ult., that as her Majesty's Government saw reason
to hope that their representations respecting the interference
exercised by the United States Government with the trade
carried on between New York and the Bahamas would not
remain without effect, they had not considered it necessary
to continue the controversy with t hat Government. In
this expectation, however, her Majesty's Government are
disappointed ; for it would appear from the representation
of Messrs. Tootal, Broadhurst, and Co., which accompanies
your despatch of the 22d ult., that the interference of the
United States authorities with this trade is still persisted
in, and I have accordingly to instruct you to address a fresh
remonstrance on this subject to the United States Govern-
ment.—l am, &c., " RUSSELL."
HOW is all this to end ? Can Lord PALMERSTON'S
Cabinet expect that any serious attention will be
paid to remonstrances only. Remonstrances can
alone have weight with such men as ABRAHAM
LINCOLN and Mr. SEWARD when there is a pressure
behind. This was forcibly demonstrated by the
affair of the Trent. Would the Southern delegates
have been released if ten thousand soldiers had not,
as it were, crushed through the ice into CaLada,
and an English fleet been in readiness to threaten
New York, Boston, and Portland. This was a
lesson to American politicians; they found that
their overweening conceit had overrated England's
endurance, and underrated the promptness for
action when there was no help for it, or rather
when the people felt the insult, and the Ministers
were forced to resent it. Mr. LINCOLN has taken
the hint and profited by it ; he found it necessary
to give way ac the time, and did so at the expense of
the agent, the notorious Captain WILKES, who was
declared to have acted without instructions. For
all this he was at once elevated to the dignity of
Commodore. Since then a more crafty policy has
been followed, a sharp practice has been softened
down by smooth words, and while diplomatists are
arguing, American custom-house officers are dic-
tating to English merchants what they may
and what they may not ship, and Fede-
ral cruisers are overhauling any West In-
dian trader that they can catch. It is not to be
expected that this can last. Mr. LINCOLN i 8
playing a desperate game ; but then desperation
gives him courage. So long as he can befool Eng-
land, he may hold his own and trust to the doctrine
of chances. Let that doctrine be what it may for
America, North or South, it is high time that Eng-
land should be trifled with no longer. Let Earl
Ru SSELL be deaf to all unnecessary verbal remon-
strances, and plainly let it be understood that Eng-
land will have her rights respected, and that if
these be wantonly infringed, her next remon-
strance will come from the cannon's mouth.

PRINCESS'S THEATRE,

THE SUMMER SEASON.

This theatre was reopened for the above purpose
on Saturday evening by Mr. Walter Montgomery
with a company selected from various of the Lon-
don houses.

The entertainments consisted of the "Merchant
of Venice" and the drama of " Lavater," in both of
which Mr. Montgomery appeared, giving a most,
vigorous impersonation of the Jew in the first place,
and of the Swiss philosopher in the second.
He was very warmly received and applauded,
and was ably supported in the play by the Portia
of Miss Atkinson, which was a genuine perform-
ance. We are happy to add that the house was
well filled.
To-morrow evening Mr. Montgomery appears in
Othello, and on Thursday in King John.

oft
:
h following I o°peration of the new
THE NEW BANKRUPT ACT AND IMPRISONMENT.
y illustrationActwegive
tning_results of the gaol
delivery in the metropolitan district'',
B—a
nAlcsr uapnt c
Roche on Friday, the 21st inst. sinc:dtheby Mr. Registrar
abolition of the
Queen's Prison, which has been recently transferredto the
War Department, and will be used as a place for the deten-
tion of military prisoners, there are only two debtor prisons
in the metropolitan district—Horsemonger-lane gaol and
Whitecross-street Prison. In the former the number of
prisoners confined for debt on the 21st was 20 ; of theeo 10
were included in the gaoler's return made on the Ist of the
month, and of these three were adjudicated bankrupts and
released; the others, either as bankrupts who had been
remanded, or who had not been sufficient time in prison,
were not dealt with. At Whiteeross•street the number of
prisoners for debt confined on the 21st was 104, many of
these being County Court commitments ; the number re-
turned by the gaoler on the Ist of the month as coming
within the jurisdiction of the Registrar was 26. Of these
14 were adjudicated bankrupt and released; the remainder
were not dealt with because the debtors had not been in
prison sufficient time, or were abaut to make arrangements
with their creditors. These details may lead to the infer-
ence that a system of friendly arrests as a preliminary to
pauperfltiermbbankruptcy is still very popular. Although the
oftduenabbtoerrsisinnoptrissoonmaptertroiarlltyo
dOimeitnothere,dlaB6,3l,
mightwas
large the
tailletrbeo:ll. expected, there being continual influx of new