The Sun.
London, England, 1863-10-07 00:00:00

ME SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 7, 1863,

The news which we get from Lancashire becomes
every week more encouraging. The most sanguine
could not have hoped that the dark cloud of distress
would have altogether rolled away, but it has
lightened as much as we could reasonably expect.
The recipients of relief are every day diminishing
in number, and, what is still more satisfactory, that
diminution is owing not to decreased population,
reemviigvraalt
oi of rit, h
eo r similar causes,tthe u
but
atotekhelgyradual
old trade. A
meet-
ing of the Executive Committee held on Monday at
the Manchester Town Hall, under the presidency
of the Earl of DERBY, the gratifying intelligence
was communicated that " the returns for the month
ending the 26th of September last, show continued
increase in the amount of employment in the mills,
and manufactories in the cotton districts. It ]ike-
wise appeared from the monthly report of the
honorary secretary that the total amount of per-
sons relieved in September was 184,625 against
456,786 in last January. We were, however,
already aware that the number of paupers had
considerably decreased since the opening of the
year, and there is, therefore, more ground for
satisfaction in the gradual increase or work which
has steadily taken place since the turn of the
summer. The statistics of the numbers in work
full time, short time, and out of work altogether
in the last weeks of July, August, and Septem-
ber, show us an increase of more than 30,000 in the
full time, and a decrease in those out of work
of nearly 18,000. Such facts as these speak for
themselves, and are especially reassuring during the
autumnal months. We can look forward with less
anxiety to the coming winter with these cheering
auspices. The report further tells us that of these
hands working on short time a much larger propor-
tion than formerly are now working more than
three days. The reduction in the number of reci-
pients of relief during the last month has been con-
siderable, 14,773 being no longer in receipt of relief
from the local committees, while the number of
those wholly or partially dependent on the guar-
dians is lessened by 5,963. Mr. FARNALL, in con-
firming the satisfactory report, pointed out that the
pauperism of the last week in September was less
by 27,557 than that of the corresponding week in
last year. Such statistics as these tend to reassure
the nation, and stimulate the benevolent to fresh
efforts to carry the suffering country through the
storm. But it must not be imagined, though the
danger has diminished in its urgency, that the need
for help is past or the day of trouble over. On the
contrary, under the present improved circumstances,
there are still more than 160,000 persons entirely
out of work, and more than 100,000 working short
time. When we attempt to give vitality to these
lifeless figures, to bring actually before our minds
a faint shadow of the want and wretchedness which
these words convey, we shall be appalled at the
prospect. The most strenuous and unremitting
labours of official relief and voluntary assistance, the
most ready and liberal help from the nation at
large, cannot prevent these sufferers from feeling
cold and hunger, want of food and want of clothes,
want of work and want of fire, through no fault of
their own. The stores of the most prudent are long
since exhausted, the courage of the stoutest-hearted
must have oftentimes flagged ere this ; yet we hear
of no outbreaks, no riot or loud-voiced discontent.
The men and women of Lancashire have borne the

trial nobly, in a spirit well befitting the mighty
race from which they spring. They aro now, thank
GOD, animated by fresh hope, and may reasonably
look to better and happier times, when the whir-

ring mills shall b© no longer silent, and the
willing hand shall no more seek for work in vain.
It would ill become us now to relax our efforts when
the demand upon us is no longer so great, though
equally pressing in its urgency. If Lancashire were
to ask in vain now, it would be as though we carried

!OTTON fifty years ago was almost unknown,
and no more wool and flax were worked than there
was absolute need for; whereas now the annual
value of
our cotton manufactures exceeds £70,000,000, while the
trade in woollen goods and yarn is worth £11,C00,00), and
that in flax can be hardly less. In 1841 we imported
,1 364,000 the
quarters of seed for the manufacture of oil, in 180
number was 630,000, and, in 18,56, 1,
100000, producing
144,000 tons of cake and 56,000 of oil. In 1835 the weight
1
of manufactured paper was 70,000,000 pounds; in Slo it
was 124,000,000; in 1855 it stood at 167,000,000; in 1859
it had risen to 218,000,000; and in six years it is estimated
that it will reach 300,000,000.
CURIOSITIES OF PHYSICAL GEoGRATIFY
IN THE
lONIAN ISLES : as recently described by Professor
Ansted.—Several valleys and circular depressions in those
islands receive drainage without apparent outlet. 'These
abound in Corfu, Santa Maura, and Cephalonia. They oc-
cur also in Zante, rendering the islands less healthy than
they would otherwise be. They are, beyond doubt, results
of the peculiarly cracked and open
condition of the lime-
stone rock of which the whole of the islands
may be said to
be made up. There are also in these islands various in.
flowing currents of sea water. Very clearly connected with
the same condition of the rock is the curious phenomena
presented near the town of Argostoli, the capital of Cepha-
lonia. The town is on a low steep ofcracked and cavernous
limestone, a foot or two above the highest ordinary level of
the sea, on one shore of a small creek
separated by a higher
ridge of similar limestone from the
Gulf of Argostoli.
There is hardly more than a few inches perceptible tide in
this part of the Mediterranean, and even in this creek the
rise, though multiplied, is small. At four places close to
the town there are small inlets or cracks, a few feet wide,
' entering some hundred yards into the land, and terminating
in broken, rocky, cavernous spaces. Instead of the ordinary
phenomena of the fresh water running over the land to the
sea, we have here the reversed phenomena of the sea com-
ing in by these crevices, running for some distance over the
land, and finally entering and becoming
lost in the earth.
It is /a-Ailing unusual in limestone countries to find water
disappearing in the earth; but it is certainly exceptional
chat this should be sea-
water, and that it should continue
permanently.

a man from a shipwreck to drop him in the breakers

making all our previous risk and exertion fruitless

by our ill-timed precipitancy. One very simple
r.nd practical mode of relief there is which is withi❑

the reach of most of us, and it is one especially
asked for by those beet acquainted with the needs

of the people. The increasing cold of the weather,

and the employment of large numbers of men upon
outdoor work during the winter, render gifts of

clothing one of the most acceptable forms which
benevolence can take, and, in fact, so much is this

want felt that, on the motion of Sir J. K. SHUTTLE

WORTH, seconded by Colonel WILSON PATTEN, the
following minute was adopted by the committee :

" That, having regard to the fact that in certain very
Populous districts the distress continues intense, it
is desirable that a supply of clothing should be ob-

tamed for
e r, considering those
the districtsn
number
my generalber o f donations
factory
o pand
e r a; t
ives
likely to be employed on out-door labour under the
Public Works Act during the winter, this com-
mittee invite donations of suitable clothing for them
and for their wives and families," There is no fear
that the recent legislation will be useless, for Mr.
FARNALL informed the meeting he had learned
from the Poor Law Board that more than a million
of money had already been applied for under the
Public Works Act. Part of this had been directed
to the estate of Lord EDWARD HOWARD, thereby
producing a considerable differenee in the number
of recipients of relief at Glossop. Altogether the
prospects in the North are most satisfactory, and
the bountiful harvest will help still further to im-
prove the condition of the poor. The gloomy prog-
nostications which some persons indulged in are
thus happily likely to prove entirely incorrect,
while those calculations founded on reason and
experience, which foretold the certain revival of so
large and important a trade, seem about to be fully
realised.

THE GHOST AND OUR COMING PANTOMIMES.—
The new Ghost, remarks the London Review, per-
vades the British drama. In the metropolis and large
towns the spectre of the green-room has a hard fight to
wage with the rival spectres of the music-halls and the
lecture-room. But he is the "star" of provincial theatres.
Dramas are written in his honour. The " play of Hamlet
with the part of Hamlet left out" is a respectable old joke,
which has served its turn. The modern manager may leave
out not only Hamlet but Ophelia,
King, Queen, Polonius,
and the grave-diggers, so that the Ghost be left. A civil
engineer and a Polytechnic lecturer have given a new di-
rection to our dramatic literature. Dramas are written for
their spectres. At present these looking-glass ghosts keep
very disreputable company. They are mixed up with mid-
night assassins. Their revelations are of poisoned goblets
and knives. They have a churchyard air about them, and
vanish with the cock-crow. But familiarity breeds con-
tempt, and there are not wanting signs that the new patent
descend into the regions of comedy and
oddeyrn burlesque writers are not endowed
farce.gwho
iths
t will speedily il
m
Our
extraordinary
bumps of veneration, and they are
already sharpening their pens with the intent of making
capital out of him and " seeing what he is made of." The
Christmas pantomimes will be sure to have him. The least
imaginative urchin may already speculate on the boisterous
fun which will greet his appearance. He will rise at the
graceiul wave of harlequin's wand. The conscience-
stricken Clown will behold the apparition at first with trent-
' bling knees and face distorted by terror, and then take the
maddest somersaults to avoid him. It is Pantaloon's des-
tiny to be buffeted and upset, but the Ghost threatens him
with such unequalled distress of body and mind that his
salary ought to stand on a new footing from the first night
CiotrL—a
wThhoele Iplopgeulaort
of the Christmas pantomime.
October,CURIOSITY,
gives
(iRG ItevAiPe
, „.
Science
tne _Limes newspaper, printed in perfectly legible type, size
•fh by 5a inches. When it is considered that a page of the
limes contains no less than sixty thousand letters, the re-
duction into this space becomes very interesting. It is
printed from stone by photo-lithograph
and is accom-
panied by an article on the subject, written by W. Crooks,
F.R.S. Published by Robert Hardwicke, 192, Piccadily,
AN " OPERETTA WITHOUT WORDS," in the man-
ner of Mendelssohn's "songs without words," has been
written by Ferdinand Hiller, the Celogue cerapoeer, ,

gardin:gerße.thnal-
rhiovre
eh
ird
r?1:3
The recent disclosures re
in n
ig
ir
nee
ned nee
water,
recentlyts de ta
d
are well calculated to awalkise.n
o f all
other tai
from the fatal
ffoaumlilyairh,avfeee
three hundredl"
si effects of
Thorold-square consists of twenty-two
within these wretched walls three
fifty people are crowded together,
years ago since it was built. It appeared
It i
ovidonce of a witness, who was examined causes.
houses, and
and
s seventy
from the
at the in-
quiry, that he had lived in the square for the last
thirteen years, and that during that period there
had often been a deficit of water for eighteen
months together ; and during the hottest time of
the present summer there was none to be had for
three weeks at a stretch. The disastrous results
that ensued will be best seen from the fact that in
the twenty-two houses no fewer than twenty chil-
dren had been attacted, and twelve had did.
surely this speaks for itself of the exceeding scan-
tiness of the arrangements that were made regard-
jug
the sanitary condition of these places. Mr.
GAY, senior Surgeon of the Great Northern Hospi-
tal, made g post
children, and gav
mortem examination of one of the
e it as his opinion, expressed with-
out hesitation, that
the ,i child had died of blood
disease, owing in all
probability to tLe drinking of

appears that not only ROSENCRANZ but BURNsIDE impure water, and from the want of sanitory mea-
also, who was known to have been hastening to the sures in the house and its vicinity." This is enough
assistance of his brother-in-arms, had been placed of itself to prove without doubt that great blame is
in a position of the most imminent jeopardy. Our attributable to those whose duty it was to see to
next accounts will inform us whether from this those important things, and nothing can excuse
perilous position they have either of them been able such wilful neglect of the vital interests of those
to escape.
confined to such narrow limits. It is bad
enough to live in such crowded confines,
without being subjected to the fearful in-
conveniences and the poisonous vapours that
were endured by these wretched victims. These
unhappy inmates must have undergone dreadful
sufferings during the great heat of this summer,
and it is frightful to contemplate what the poor
children went through before death mercifully ter-
minated their troubles. It appears that when the
inhabitants complained to the rent collector they
were only laughed at for their pains, and he asserted
that it was all right. In consequence of the com-
plaints that were made the brokers were put in to
some families, and this created the greatest confu-
sion, as no previoes notice had been given. This
was barbarous conduct, and those who authorised it
took advantage of the poverty of their lodgers to
continue unredressed the grievances that would not
for a moment have been tolerated in richer parishes,
or with mere independent tenants. It has come to
something if the poor of London are to die of
disease, and see their children droop and perish,
because they dare not make any complaint. An-
other attempt was made to benefit their miserable
condition by some of the inhabitants, who memo-
rialised, last August, the Medical Department of
the Privy Council-office, but they reaped no good by
this motion. The red-tapism of official existence
must be preserved intact, though all the inhabitants
of a city should be the sufferers, instead of a few
isolated witnesses. Thus, for answer, was sent the
information that the complainants bad applied to
the wrong quarter, and that the complaint should
have been addressed to the vestry of the parish.
Then the distracted sufferers applied to the Home
Secretary, who regretted that he had no power to
interfere, and recommended them to appeal to a
justice of the peace, and the justices in petty ses-
sions could make inquiry as to the validity of the
complaints. Before all this rigmarole had
been gone into, death, who waits for no
leave from official guardians of the public safety,
had appeared upon the scene, and thus the inquiry
of the coroner had made public the sad details.
Now, it must appear to all who attentively study
the subject that these arbitrary rules and regula-
tions are very much to be deplored ; they militate
against all remedy to the nuisance. Only those
who are quite independent of the vestry, and the
rent collector, and all the parish authorities put
together, can face the evil, and insist on having some
remedy applied. It is far otherwise with the
poor,
crushed down by an accumulated load of misery,
harassed by-conflicting claims, with hungry children
crying for bread, and with work slack, and perhaps
failing for a time altogether. How shall the poor
man find time, money, or strength to make the
necessary complicated arrangements, and to dare
the wrath of his offended landlord. The poor shall
never cease out of the land, we are informed in
Scripture, but it behoves all lawmakers and rulers
so to fashion their schemes that the poor should be
protected—should be allowed, at least, to live in
freedom and to die at a natural time. Of coarse,
now that the affair is public, inquiries are to be in-
stituted, and doubtless some salutary alterations
will be made. But let no one concerned in them
presume to take credit to themselves for the im-
provement. Before they stirred in the affair, the
poor little victims had been offered up on the
of conventionalism. For the credit of our country
Better
let not such a sacrifice be called for again. shrine
break through a dozcn rules and absurd forms than
that one child should perish in a disgraceful manner
to suit the greed of some parties, the culpable
neglect
of others, and the general inattention that charac-
terises too many of those who have the care of tee
dwellings of the poor. The mortality in
Bethnal
green should long be a warning to all those who
are in any way concerned in the transaction.

banquet.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

[REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.]

parole.

AMERICA.
(Per the Etna.)
QUEENSTOWN, OCT.

The Inman steamer Etna arrived here at 3.30
this morning. She brings 30 cabin, and 61 steerage
passengers ; 620,000 dollars in specie. She landed
14 passengers and the marls, and proceeded a.
3.40 p.m.

NEW YORK, SEPT. 26 Morning).
Admiral Milne, in the flagship Nile, left Halifax
on the 24th inst. for New York.
The steamer Juno has been captured.
Advices from General Itosencranz to the 24th
inst. report that the Confederates are in force in his
front. The Confederate infantry are massed in
Chickamunga Creek and Valley. It is rumoured
that Sherman's corps of Grant's army joined Rosen-
cranz on the 23d inst. Great anxiety is still felt
for the safety of General Burnside. The opinion
prevails that he will be cut off if he attempt to
reinforce Rosencranz. A Confederate column has
crossed the Missionary Ridge, it was supposed to
intercept Burnside. The press correspondents re-
present the battle of the 19th inst. as a drawn battle,
but in the engagement of the 20th Rosencranz suf-
fered a disastrous defeat. His left and right were
completely routed, and his retreat to Rossville was
conducted in great disorder. The troops became
disorganised, immense numbers running to the rear
after the retreat.
Baird Negley, Reynolds's, B renn an's, and Harker's
divisions alone retained cohesiveness, and took a posi•
tion along the base of the Missionary Mountains for
another fight, and held their ground against another
attack by Polk's corps until the Confederates
abandoned the contest. It is estimated that Rosen-
cranz lost 50 cannon, and 10,000 men killed,
wounded, and missing, besides a large amount of
material. Unless Rosencranz received prompt rein-
forcements it was feared he would be flanked and
compelled to retreat across the Tennessee River.
The Confederate Generals Preston, Smith, Hood,
Deshler, and Helm are killed, and Adams, Gregg,
aad Brown are wounded.

The Southern journals think that if General
Rosencranz is permitted to hold Chattanooga
General Bragg's victory will be without profit.
The accounts are conflicting concerning the num-
ber of General Lee's troops who were with Bragg,
but it is believed that General Lee's army has not
been very materially weakened.
The news from General Meade's Army is meagre,
nothing positive being known concerning the pros-
pects of an early engagement on the Rapidan, or of
General Meade's intentions.
Considerable cavalry skirmishing has taken place
near Madison Court Rouse.
General Whita's Confederate cavalry have been
marauding in Maryland.
The Southern journals represent the armies on
the Rapidan in line of battle within a few miles of
each other. The Confederates hold all the fords of
the Rapidan in force.

The Confederates are reported to be threatening
the Federal lines in North Carolina.
Two thousand of General Burnside's troops were
repulsed in an attack upon Zollicoffer, in Tennessee.
The Russian flagship Alexander Newsky, Ad•
miral Lasofski, with four other Russian men-of-war,
have anchored i❑ New York harbour. It is
rumoured they will remain there all the winter.
The press urge that a hospitable welcome be
given to the Russian officers.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE,
The Stock Market this morning is much lower.
Michigan Southern fell 12 per cent. New York
Centrals are quoted 133 ; Illinois, 120 ; Erie, 105 i,
Money easy. Gold 39 per cent. premium.

'Per the Damascus, via Greencastle, Oct. 6.)

NEW YORK, Sept. 25.
A correspondent of the New York Journal, who
was an eye-witness of the battles of Chicamanga of
the 19th and 20th, asserts that the army of the
Cumberland has met with a defeat which must pnt
it o❑ the defensive for some time to come. The
corps of General Thomas was almost the only one
Which did any fighting. Those of Gene. M'Cook
and Crittenden were both badly beaten and driven
in all directions on the first day, and on the second
the first charge of the Confederates broke their
lines, routed the entire commands, and drove them
in disgraceful panic into Rossville and Chattanooga.
The Federats lost heavily in material, not less than
50 pieces of artillery falling into the hands of the
Confederates.
The same person adds that Rosencranz is now in
no danger, but that the position of Gen. Burnside
is most critical.
Gen. Bragg officially reports under date of the
21st :

" The enemy retreated on Chattanooga last night,
Leaving his dead and wounded in our hands. His

BERLIN, OCT.

loss is very large in men, artillery, small arms, and
colours. Ours is heavy, but not yet ascertained.
The victory is complete, and our cavalry is pur-
suing, With the blessing of God, our troops have
accomplished great results against greatly superior
numbers. We have to mourn the loss of many
gallant officers. Brigadier-Generale Preston Smith,
Helm, and Deshles are killed ; Major-General
Rood and Brigadier-Generals Adams, Gregg, and
Brown are wounded."
It is reported from Washington that the Federal
cavalry occupied Gordonsville on the night of
the 23d.

There are rumours that the Confederate General
Hill is at Fredericksburg, marching to flank Gen.
Meade and cut uff his communication.

The opinion exists in militlry circles that no con-
siderable portion of General.
out of Virginia.
Lee's army has been
sent

The Richmond Examiner of the 22d states that
on Sunday and Monday the opposing armies were
drawn up in a line of battle from a half to a quarter
of a mile apart, and at some points in full view of
each other.

Three Russian men-of-war arrived at this port
yesterday, and five others are expected to arrive
in a few days•

Much speculation exists as to the reason of their
presence. _

The municipal authorities are making prepara-
.ons to give them a grand reception by a public

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Gold, 1382,. Exehan.e, 1521. United States
Sixes, registered, 1880, 1061 ; Treasury 7.30 Notes,
106'4; New York Central ICailwaY, 1331 ;
Erie, 106 ;
Illinois Central, 123.

Cotton, 75c. Breadstuff more active. Provisions
improving. Sugars unchanged.

.... .........
ARRIVAL OF THE CITY OF CORK.

QUEENSTOWN, Ocr. 7.

The City of Cork, extra bteamship from New
York on the 25th ult., arrived here at 8 a.m. She
landed 23 passenger", and proceeded at 8.20 a.m.

THE POLISH INSURRECTION.

THORN, Ocr. 7.

A Russian spy was stabbed the day before yes-
terday, at the Hotel de l'Eurepe• The perpetrator
has not been discovered.,
In consequence of this attempt the hotel was
occupied by the military, and
all the male inmatcs
were arrested.

A war contribution of 8
per cent. on their net
income has been imposed upon all house proprietors
in Warsaw.

LEMBERG, OCT. 6.
General Wysocki, who, up to the present, has

. ---..-..............................•
been confined in the prison of this city, was to-day
transferred to Linz, where he will bo released on

Private letters received here from St. Petersburg,
dated the sth inst., state that on the 3d the Marquis
de Pepoli concluded a treaty of commerce with the
Russian Government, by which Italy is placed on
an equal footing with the most favoured nation.
The treaty expressly stipulates that Italian State
paper and all shares, the interest of which has been
guaranteed by the Italian Government, may be
dealt in and quoted on the Russian Stock Ex-
change.