The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-28 00:00:00

received a heavy blow. M. THIERS, by his amend 1
went," says the Constitutionnel, " has led to a schism
on the Opposition benches. M. EMILE OLLIVIER
pleaded for peace, while M. GITEROULT and M.
HAVIN expressed ardent wishes for war. Without
heeding those petty struggles of fractions, the
majority restored to the question its real character.'
That is—it did so by the point blank rejection
of the amendment. Not unnaturally the Journal
1 des Debats cannot by any means see this so plainly
—even if it can acknowledge to seeing it at all.
" Apparently," it insists (with a wonderful hint at a
distinction without a. difference, in so speaking),
" Apparently M. THIERS has been defeated, as the
Chamber , rejected the amendment. In reality, how-
ever," argues the journalist, "he has succeeded almost
better than he could have desired. His abut in the
present Chambei is therefore a real success, and we
would willingly say that his first speech is a
triumph if the ideas of vain pomp awakened by
that antique word, and which accord very well
with the kind of effect aimed at by the formal elo-
quence of young beginners in the rhetorical profes-
sion,hstyle,
a so o
m vivacious,
,
did not clash with the free and familiar
simple, which
manner of M. Tniedieets.
That
just,
freetlposi fromtives a
all alloy with the spurious flourishes
introduced into the political language of France by
the Girondins, and since remaining in fashion—
that style, we repeat, so thoroughly French, accord-
ing to the ancient meaning of the word, ha; in
fact, wings, where others have only the sound of a
trumpet." Referring to the " split" caused in the
Opposition by reason of the inconsiderate wording
of the amendment, the Opinion Nationale, as an
organ of that Opposition, acknowledges frankly,
" The schism which took place among the Left is
deeply to be regretted, but" it adds, "we do not
think that has anything irreparable." Yet, after
saying this, it goes on to remark immediately,
" there has, doubtless, been in this affair more than
a misunderstanding P There is, observe ! about the
discussion that has taken place " more than a misun-
derstanding," and yet it is not by any means to be
regarded as a division in its way " irre-
parable !" The Patrie, instead of indulging in
mere generalities goes, at once right to the
core of the meaning of the rejected amend-
ment, where it says—" After readingaMr. THIERS'
speech, notwithstanding certain protests made in
the name of the honour of the country, no one
can deny that the supporters of the amendment had
not solely in view the equilibrium of the floating
debt." The direct object of the speech, according
to the Patrie having been to give the bill a
purely pacific character ! The object of the Oppo-
sition, as shown by the amendment, in truth was,
it argues anything but the enforcement of,a merely
economic question, their design being to limit the
resources which military preparations might require
in the instance of any subsequent emergency ! It is
curious to observe, that in the division that took
place upon the amendment, M. THIERS himself
abstained altogether from voting, as was made
evident, indeed, by the Moniteur.

There has of late been several melancholy cases
of persons dying in the metropolis from absolute
want of food and shelter, and under existing
arrangements considerable uneasiness has been felt
lest they should prove the precursors of many more
such casualties daring the inclement months before
us. The means of providing temporary relief and
accommodation to those in urgent need do not ap-
pear to be sufficient or satisfactory, and as this is
the time of the year in which such cases are inevi-
table in a city like London, we are glad to find that
the attention of the proper authorities has been
directed to the subject. A minute of the Poor-law
Board, just issued, gives us some statistics of the
numbers of destitute persons receiving tem-
porary relief, and also sets clearly before
the Guardians and officers of the Unions the
nature and extent of their duties. According to
the returns obtained from the different metropoli-
tan Unions, showing the accommodation provided
for destitute wayfarers during the first weeks of
January, March, May, and August in the current
year, provision is made for 997 such persons in the
several metropolitan parishes. This accommodation
is, however, total 'y inadequate, not only from the
restricted number, but from the inequality of its
distribution. Some parishes have little or no accom-
Enedation, and, consequently, the houseless vagrant
is driven to take refuge in one of its better supplied
neighbours, who, having incurred an extra expense
by the fitting-up of proper wards, have also to meet
expenses which ought to fall upon others. It is
the duty of the guardians, as the President of the
Poor Law Board very plainly reminds them, " to
see that all necessary and reasonable arrangements
are made for affording to every destitute person the
requisite relief, whether in food, clothing, medical
attendance, or lodging." Notwithstanding the
many respects in which the Poor Law fails to meet
the requirements of the people, it hes yet, as Mr.
VILLIERS reminds us, a fundamental principle,
which is, that every destitute person, without re-
ference to the question of settlement, is primarily
entitled to relief *where he is actually destitute
Yet there can be Le doubt that the existing arrange-
ments entirely fail to meet the necessities of the
case. In some instances it may be the fault of the
relieving officer, as in the case of Caroline James 1
and others; but more frequently such neglect is
owing to the want of proper accommodation, :he
exaggerated fear of imposture, and the indifference
of the guardians, whose principal object too often
appears to be to reduce the expenses of the rate-
payers to the lowest possible amount. A night's
shelter in a pauper's bed, a meal of workhouse fare,
is no such wonderful boon that officials should be
so chary of giving it, and it is always possible to
exact from the recipient an hour or two's work,
41ell shall pay for the expense incurred, as well
as ten his sincerity. It is surely not so difficult for
those long accustomed to deal with the vagrant
classes to e. .
uletinguish the real necessity from wilful
imposture, en
e some places the experiment hes been
made of entriluin
g the police with the duties of
assistant-relieving
officers, and this plan is under-
stood to have Worded
eery well. It would be wise
to try it in London,,,il
a,
"all as
they would probably
prove neheor
'l. as more discriminating,
h
f
regular official,,
tantel liberal, I
discern between the t would be easier for
them tolieve fewer of these
%unshed wanderer and
the idle impostor, though We believe
-khousedoors than .
besiege the veo.
Is allowed for in
these minutes. They can certainlyi,ot
expect very
good fare or very lu:inrious shelter ari
) the
morning's
task is not much to their liking. -1
-t would always
.
be possible to guard against abuse of the ac cornmo_
dation by providing only for the barest necessaries,
and by strictly enforcing the labour in return, gut
after all, however earnestly the Board may recon,
mend the temporary admission of destitute vagrants,
the great difficulty still lies in the way—
the want
of accommodation. The plan of erecting district
asylums for the relief of the casual poor has been
sanctioned by Act of Parliament but never put into
practice, chiefly, according to the present minute,
from the want of co-operation on the part of the
enardians. Here, again, comes in the, anxiety to
keep down the rates; but there can be little doubt
that the scheme was a wise one, and, when modified
by time and experience, it would hem worked, It

looking
fo
r
is evident that if a man or woman, hungry, faint,
arya,bseoglustae
cruelty to dg
send at
ht et mh e o workhouseok
door, wr,iet is b
their own parish. Every union ought to have an
night'slodging
asylum, either attached to the house
itself or situated
somewhere else in the parish which should contain
accommodation for the full number of casual poor
which experience has shown to be likely to apply,
and to those evidently destitute immediate relief
should be given, without waiting for tedious cere-
monials or fixed hours. Mr. VILLIERS, anxious,
perhaps, to clear his Board of blame in reference to
the late tragedies, impresses strongly upon the
masters and porters of workhouses the fact that
such is their duty, and that they aro bound to pro-
vide the destitute with necessaries, " without refe-
rence to the time of application or to the place
where the pauper last slept." it is to be hoped
that such may be the motto in our unions until the
spring dawns on us once again, but to carry it out
fully and effectually it will be necessary, in many
instances, to provide accommodation elsewhere.
The building of the asylums spoken of
would of course be a long and elaborate
task; but the guardians of parishes where
such provision is deficient should either hire
some building with sufficient accommodation, or
erect temporary structures, such as sheds or out-
houses, which would at least serve to contain beds
of clean straw and shelter from the bitter winds.
Some change is urgently needed, since charitable
refuges in every part of London open their doors to
those whom the parishes are really bound to care
for, and the melancholy spectacles recently seen at
our workhouse doors of numbers waiting vainly for
admission to the casual ward, ought not, according
to the provisions of the law, to be possible. Mr.
VILLIERS'S minute does not come before it is needed,
end it is to be hoped that it will stimulate the
proper authorities to take steps in the right direc-
tion before the winter weather comes more sharply
upon us, and we have again to record the verdict of
coroner's juries as "Died from exposure and want
of the necessaries of life."

Matters are certainly coming to a crisis in regard
to our foreign diplomacy. It is time for England
to waken up when foreign journals criticise the way
in which our Foreign Secretary deals with the
rights of neutrals, The Memorial Diplomatique
of December 20th, in an article signed by HENRI
VIGNAUD, boldly declares that Eng:and has failed
in the mission which she has heretofore arrogated
to herself—namely, that of maintaining in-
violate the rights of neutrals, and that it behoves
France to look to her rights, and not to trust to
the influence of a power which is either unable or
afraid to exert her prerogative, which has been at
least by courtesy vouchsafed to her by the maritime
States of Europe. These are not the precise words
of the article in the Memorial Diplomatique, but
they express its feelings. It is neither more nor
less than a slap in the face to our Secretary for
Foreign Affairs for his truculent and cringing con-
duct towards the Federal Government at Wash-
ington. There was a day when the well-known
lines—

" There's a flag that waves o'er every sea,
No matter when or where ;
And to treat that flag as ought but the free
Is more than the strongest dare,"
were appropriate to our country. That day has'
alas! gone by. American cruisers may with im-
punity overhaul our merchant vessels on the high
seas—aye, and even in British waters—and not-
withstanding that their papers be unquestionable,
they are seized as lawful prizes and sent into an
America); port, to be adjudicated upon by such men
as Judge BETTS, who, in the face of all evidence,
condemns every vessel brought in upon the evidence
of the captors, notwithstanding that many of them
were bona fide traders between British ports. There
was a time when one-tenth part of the insults
which have been put upon this country would have
been met in an English spirit. In the days
of PITT or Fox it would not have been
necessary to call Parliament together to
inquire whether the rights and honour of the
country were to be vindicated; an Order in Councii
would have despatched a fleet to the mouth of
the Hudson and to Chesapeake Bay, to demand,
and, if neeessary, to enforce justice—but nowadays,
tempora mutautur. The noble earl at the head of
Foreign Affairs licks the dust before the Satrap
at Washington, and, to curry favour with a bully
who cajoles, yet despises him, sacrifices the inte-
rests and honour of his country, in the hope of
preserving a most discreditable peace. Well may
the French press call upon their Government to
vindicate the rights of neutrals, when the former
mistress of the sea strikes her flag at the dicta-
tion of a Transatlantic braggadocio. The American
Government have not been remarkably fortunate
in the selection of its Generals—bad has in most
cases been followed by worse, and defeat flamber
one has only been rendered more disastrous by
defeat number two. But, at least, we may con•
gratulate them on the appointment of their judges,
and we may pay Judge WELLS the high compli-
ment of assuring him that, whether in Europe or
in America, his fame will stand on a par with
that of our own renowned Judge JEFFRIES, as a
gentleman who can decide to order. Yet, while
an infatuated Foreign Secretary is endeavouring to
smooth down the ruffled feathers of the American
eagle by his polite attention to Mr, ADAMS, and his
unjust persecution of those who attempt to trade
with the Southern states, the American press in
general are in arms against us, because some three
or four Confederate cruisers are destroying their
commerce. Mr. CHARLES G. LORING, in a work
upon the neutral relations of England and the
United States, after declaring that we have in-
fringed every clause in every treaty entered into
by us, coolly requests that the English nation shall
reimburse the American shipowners and merchants
for all loss which they may have sustained from the
Confederate cruisers. Wto might laugh at such a re-
quest, and consider it but the emanation of a mad-
man, but that we entertain grave doubts whether
Earl RUSSELL may not bring in a bill next session
to that effect, declaring that the blessings of peace
demand any sacrifice. We trust that he may do so ;
the sooner the crash comes the better, Our Minis
ters have thrown over the Danish interests to suit
Prussia; England has no voice in Europe except by
the consent of France, and her merchant vessels
cannot find protection even in the waters of her
own colonies. Let war come, and the country be
plunged L 100,000,000 more into debt, and America
and Europe combine, yet we will still keep an
island home inviolate, though its ramparts be Etig
land's dead, and the nation which produced 100,000
Volunteers for an idea will not shrink frem the
choice of death or dishonour.

The late Mr. William Makopeace Thackeray
will be buried at Mensal-green Cemetery on Wednesday
the 30th inst., at 12 o'clock.
11It NATIONAL SHAKESPERE COMMITTEE has
during the
past week been increased by the ad-
dition to it of the following new members :—The Right
Hon. the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, the Provost of Stir-
ling, the mayor of Kendal, the Mayor of Northampton,
the Recorder of Durham, the Chief Justice of British
Guiana, Sir Rowland Hill, Matthew Arnold, Esq., James
CrosbY. Esq*, C• J. Datiphey, Esq., John llarland, of
Alarchester, Esq. _

THE CONVICT TONVNLEY.--We are informed
that George Grey has ordered a medical inquiry in the
state of mind
of
Townley,
the murderer of Min Goodwin,
Sir