The Sun.
London, England, 1863-01-21 00:00:00

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TIMES.—It is not without reason that charity,
even in the definite form of almsgiving, should be
described as something beyond vulgar calculation
and commercial estimates. A man may " give all
his goods to the poor," and yet neither he nor they
be at all the better for it. It is a matter that re-
quires as much labour and anxiety as any mercan-
tile business or political affair, quite as strong a
hand, and a higher cast of intelligence and feeling.
The more sensible part of the British public know
this full well, and they feel it a very great security
that the immense operation of relieving the Cotton
Districts is i❑ the hands of men accustomed to the
highest place in public affairs. The name of Lord
Derby is a host in this instance. A million or a
million and a half of money is no trifling addition
to the outgoings of the classes specially burdened
with social obligations. Besides all else they have
to do, they have also to do at home, in a more pri-
vate way, that which they are doing in the mass for
the Cotton Districts. They have to find em
ploy-
meet or maintenance for those who have it not ; to
rectify from their own supposed surplus the short-
comings of seasons, the ebbs of prosperity, the
failures of enterprise, and the penalties of improvi-
dence. In order to do this they have to deny them-
selves, to renounce not only enjoyments but hope-
ful undertakings, to forego opportunities, and, in a
word, be poor, that others may be rich—at least for
the hour. Accustomed as they are to choose their
modes of expenditure, to select the object, to watch
the process, and to unite with the open palm the
active brain and the sympathetic soul, it is not
without a pang that they commit a round sum of
money to a distant region, an accumulated heap,
unknown administrators, and a recipient multi-
tude. Tney are tender on these points. Their confi-
dence is easily shaken. They are as anxious to hear
that responsible men are engaged in the work as
they would be to know that a good general was
in charge of an army in the field. To Lord Derby's
political views we have nothing to say. They are
probably comprised in the belief that while he can-
not himself be Premier Lord Palmerston may as
well fill the place. But Lord Derby is at least ac-
customed to give due proportion and weight to a
variety of conflicting considerations. He will not
recoil from one error into another. He will consider
what on the whole is best to be done, even if it be
still open to objection. It is no small testimony to
our institutions that a statesman who has been long
in power, who is the recognized head of the Oppo-
sition, and will probably be in power again, is found
at the head of a great voluntary and national work,
which in its importance and difficulty might
take rank with a department of the State. The
difficulties recognized by Lord Derby in the " Sug-
gestions" before us are those which arise from the
existence of other resources and from the mixed
character of the claims for relief. He reserves for
future adjustment the case of those whose poverty
does not rise out of the Cotton Famine, and the
question of supplementing the parish allowance by
additional relief. Time has been when the bare
proposition would have been thought monstrous ;
but it cannot be dismissed so easily now. As the
object of the Fund is to relieve destitution, what is
to be done with those who are not absolutely desti-
tute, but have some sort of property ? Money in the
Savings Banks must be withdrawn. Nor can the
Relief Fund be applied to pay subscriptions to sick
clubs or benefit societies. They must manage their
own affairs, and do what they think proper in each
case. But there are three modes of investment much
in favour with the operatives—Cooperative Socie-
ties, yielding better dividends, and also advantages
in the purchase of the clothing, the flour, or the
provisions produced ; Joint-Stock Companies for
carrying on the cotton and other manufactures;
and cottage and bailding societies. All these invest-
ments may be profitable in good time, and at such
times the shares may be at a premium. Now
they are unprofitable, unsaleable, and whether mort-
gaged Or not mortgaged, becoming of no assignable
value. In these cases Lord Derby takes the simple I
question whether the applicant for relief can live on
his so-called property,—Can he get rent or divi-
dend ? Can he sell or mortgage ? Supposing he can
obtain the merest trifle, is be to be compelled to
part with his interest altogether to the people who
may choose to profit by the emergency ? The same
difficulty extends to the case of the very small shop-
keepers, who are now penniless through the failure
of their custom_ Lord Derby is for giving these
classes the benefit of that " salt" of charity which
should season all human affairs. It cannot be either
common humanity or common sense, or for the com-
mon weal, to compel all these persons to make sacri-
fices which to them are the utter abandonment of
their prospects, and to the Relief Fund will be very
small saving. It is not easy te adjust this recom-
mendation with that given in the case of a .vings-
banks ; but in that case 15 deposited will be £5
drawn out, and there is no loss. It is not so in the
case of the other investments. There a saving of
£2O may, under a forced sale, result in the return
of a few shillings. It may be said, indeed, that we
ought not to lay down a rule that will discourage
the safer investment in the savings-banks and offer
a premium to some not very sound undertakings,
but for the present we do not see our way to another
mode of settling the difficulty than Lord Derby's,
unless, indeed, we are to pauperise all Lancashire
rind Cheshire.
HERALD.—What is to be done with Greece ? In
taking that little country under their tutelage the
three great Powers have incurred a responsibility
of which they cannot get rid, but which every day
seemato become more burdensome. The government
of the unfortunate Bavarian was weak and bad, but
if the difficulty of replacing him should continue
much longer we should begin to regret the revolu-
tion which dethroned him. Any government is
better than none at all, and in Greece at the present
moment every man does what is right in his own eyes.
A part of the population being afflicted with a confu-
sion of ideas on the subject of meun4 and tuum, has
betaken itself to brigandage and violence of the
most lawless kind. Flagrant instances have oc-
curred in the immediate neighbourhood of the capi-
tal. Travelling In this country is now beset with

dangers of every imaginable kind. We must not
say that property and life are unsafe on the roads,
because, strictly speaking, there are in Greece no
roads at all. Never since the Turks left it has
Greece had a government worthy the name, and
now the country is a prey to the direst anarchy.
The British Government is bent upon finding a
King for Greece. Prince Alfred, elected by the
plebtscate, has been refused to the Greek people.
Our Ministers consider, however, that they still
possess a sort of right of nomination. The Greeks
have paid us the compliment of desiring that their
future dynasty
shall be closely connected with that
of England. Even
without this, as representing
one of the protecting p the British Govern-
ment has certainly a :7 erB'
voice eein the matter. More
than this, in offering to
the lonian Islands, on I
the understanding that their thee shall be ac-
ceded to, they have done theivra best to constitute
themselves supreme arbiters masters of the
pr.invdilege
situation. Whether such a
such a sacrifice is anotherwere worth
question altogether. In k
proposing a candidate for the vacant throne there ,
arc two chief difficulties to be encountered—the I
possible repugnance of any eligible Prince
to un-
dertake a task of more than ordinary danger, and

the possible opposition on the part of the Greek
opio to the selection recommended to them.
Hitherto the first difficulty has been the most pro-
minent. The throne has been declined for the
younger brother of the heir apparent of England
on grounds of policy too obvious to be gainsaid. It
has been proposed to the ex-King Ferdinand of
Portugal, the cousin of the late Prince Albert. This
Prince has declined the honour of such a candida-
ture. The Duke Ernest of Saxe-Coburg Gotha,
brother of Prince Albert, and his elder by one year,
one of the most likely, and reputed not the least
ambitions of availabwleh(l:
of the diplomatists hrinces, was the next resort
a King. It is rumoured i
have such. trouble in finding
unwilling
quarters
that this Prince is not u accept the can-
didature, which it is sought to impose
His visit to his relation, the King upon him.
of the Belgians,
at Brussels, just at this juncture, Would by itself
seem to augur the probability of this acceptance.
King Leopold is said to have taken a very