The Sun.
London, England, 1863-12-15 00:00:00

%~ ~~~

N°. 22,299.

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 15, 1863.

UURNI i'URE, CARPETS, BEDDING, and
FLOORCLOTB, CARRIAGE-FREE to any house in
the kingdom, regardless of amount or dis fame. First class
goods at second-class prices. Terms peculiarly liberal to
Clergymen and Gentlemen. An immense stock to select
from, displayed in Showrcoms occupying an acre of ground.
Every article warranted
CL Et, GYMEN and GENTLEMEN ABOUT TO FUR-
N SH are respectfully informed that Messrs. Cobbett and
Co. are "publishing an entirely New Edition of their un-
( quailed HousEyu [MIMING GUIDE, strated by 410
admirable engraving, of every description of Furniture and
Bedsteads, with prices attached. A copy sent gt atis and
post-free on application. This costly work also contains
complete estimates for furnishing on the following revised
stale :

ino NOT FORGET YOUR APPOINTMENT.
_ES —We Sup at EVANS', Covent-garden, after Jullien'a
Concert.

MR. COBDEN AND THE " TIMES,"

ists, who have appreciated the freedom and independence of
the Press, and I believe it to be essential to the interests not
only of the press, but of the Public.
Although, therefore, I have accepted your challenge in
this justallee, I shall decline to make any further contri-
bution to the Rochdale Observer.—I am, Sir, your obedient
servant,

IZINAHAN'S LLBRIAVNIDIVKY v. COGNAC
This celebrated Old IRISH WHISKY rivals the finest
FRENCH BRANDY,
It i Pule, Mild, Mellow, Delicious, and very Wholesome.
Sold in Bottles, 3s. Bd., at the Retail Houses in London ; by
the Agents in the principal towns in England ; or wholesale
at

The following correspondence is a sequel to that
which has for several days occupied a most un-
merited share of public attention :
To JOIIN T. DELANE, ESQ.

Sir, —You and I have been long personally acquainted ;
your handwriting is known to me, and I know you to be
the chief Editor of the 'limes. Under such circumstances
I cannot allow you to suppress your individuality, and
shield yourself under the third person of the editorial nomi-
native, in a correspondence affecting your personal respon-
sibility for a scandalous aspersion on myself (as I now learn
from you) as well as on Mr. Bright.
Your refusal to publish my former letter is a matter so
entirely within your own province that I have nothing to
say upon it, except to congratulate myself on the recent
revolution in the newspaper world which renders your de-
cision comparatively harmless. A few years ago the limes
possessed almost a monopoly of publicity. Four-fifths of
the daily newspaper circulation issued from its press. Now
it constitutes, probably, one-tenth of our diurnal journalism,
and my letter will be only the more generally react from
having been excluded from your columns.
But your letter proceeds to offer some most singular argu-
ments in justification of your attack on Mr. Bright. You
state that your journal had previously contained two lead
ing articles casting the same imputation on both him and
myself, that you had challenged us to disavow your interpre-
tation of our speeches, and as we had failed to do so you
accepted our silence as an acknowledgment of the truth of
our interpretation ; in other words, as a proof of our guilt I
Here we have, in a compendious form, an exhibition of those
qualities of mind which characterise the editorial manage-
ment of the Times—of that arrogant self-complacency, that
logical incoherence, and that moral bewilderment which a
too long career of impunity and irresmsibility could alone
engender. I will not stop to remark on your demolition of
your own pretence for rejecting my championship of Mr.
Bright by the admission that you had included us both in
a joint indictment.
Now, that which forms the basis of this reasoning, if
such it may be termed, is an inordinate display of what I
will call Times egotism. Notwithstanding that your journal
has now but a fractional part of the daily newspaper cir-
culation, you complacently assume that all the world are
your constant readers. The Times never enters my house,
except by rare accident. This I know to be also the case
with Mr. Blight, who will, in all probability, never have
seen your attack until he reads it in my letter. It is only
during the session, at the Club, that I am in the habit of
seeing your paper. The chance visit of a friend last Friday
placed in my hand the Times of the previous day, when that
scandalous paragraph caught my eye which formed the text
of my letter to you. I was entirely ignorant of the two
former attacks, which by a droll process of reasoning you
now ask me to accept as a justification of the third. Now,
let me ask you to descend for a minute from your editorial
chair while I illustrate this logic by a hypothetical case put
to Mr. Delano, the barrister. Suppose that the constituents
of Mr. Bright were to indict your publisher for defaming
their member, and that it was proposed in a consultation
of lawyers, at which you wero present, to set up as a plea
of justification at the trial that the same libel had been
twice previously published against both Mr. Bright and
Mr. Cobden,—would it fail to occur to you that, in the eyes
of an honest judge and jury, this defence would be con-
sidered an aggravation of the offence?
But we will assume, for the sake of argument, that Mr.
Bright and I are regular subscribers to and diligent readers
of your newspaper. Is it seriously contended that as often
as you choose to pervert the sense of our speeches, and
charge us with schemes of public robbery, the onus lies
with us to disprove the imputation, and that, neglecting to
do so, we have no right to complain if we are thenceforth
treated as thieves ? Would it not occur to any one but an
editor of the Times that, before we violate the ninth com-
mandment, the obligation lies with us to know that we are
not bringing a false accusation against our neighbour ?
Now, a word upon the subject which has given rise to
this correspondence. Nobody knows better than yourself,
except the writer who actually penned the scandalous pas-
sage in question, that this charge of wishing to divide the
land of the rich among the poor, when levelled at Mr Bright,
is nothing but the resort to a stale rhetorical trick (though
the character of the libel is not on that account altered) to
draw away public attention from the real issue, and thus
escape from the discussion of a serious, but for the moment
an inconvenient public topic. In order to trail a red herring
across the true scent the cry of spoliation was raised. You
and your writers cannot be ignorant that the laws and poli-
i ical institutions of this country tend to promote the agglo-
meration of agricultural land in a constantly lessening
number of hands—you and I know, by a joint experience
which neither of us is likely to have forgotten, how great
are the obstacles which the law interposes to the free trans-
fer of landed property in this country. Now, the policy
which sustains this state of things is a public question,
which is not only fairly open to discussion, but invites the
earnest attention and study of public men. In this, as in
every other human concern, we must bring the matter to
the test of experience, and in no way can this be more
effectually done than by a comparison between the condition
of the great majority of the agricultural population in this
and other countries. The subject of our land laws has en-

16, Serjeants'-inn, Dec. 11. JOHN T. DELANE,

8, GREAT WINDMILL-STREET, W.
Observe the Red Seal, Pink Label, and Cork branded
Kinahan's LL Whisky."

ANOTHER HORRIBLE STORY,

A Six-roomed Parsonage
An Eight-roomed ditto
A Ten-roomed ditto
A Twelve-roomed d:tto '9l 11 0
Together with a t'rice List of purified t eliding, and a mass
of valnable information to all requiring Ilimselnlri furniture,
carpets, or bedding. References kindly permit led to Cl er:2 y-
men and gentlemen in or near Great ma lvern, Southampton,
Chichester. Bury, Ely, Preston, Grimsby, Ryde, Plymouth,
Wells, Oxford. Brighton, Gainsborough, Margate. Kidder-
minster, Wellington. Croydon. Cambridge, :Aaines, Dorking,
St. Alban's, Worcester, Ipswich, Peterborough, St. David's,
Wrexham, and above 500 other places in all parts of Great
Britain.

A writer in the Times says ;—After I had de-
spatched my letter on the subject of the Flushing
lunatic, which you did me the favour to insert in
your paper of Thursday last, I felt some compunc-
tion at having ended with the inquiry, " Are there
any similar cases demanding investigation ?" It
seemed to me too dark a reflection upon the age to
suppose that parallel cases could exist. I almost
felt that I had done an injustice to humanity in
propounding such a question I but, sir, compunc-
tions are cast aside in the presence of the appalling

Naval and Military Intelligence.

THE NAVY.

Her Majesty's screw steam line-of-battle ship Conqueror,
78, 500 horse power, Capt. W. G. Luard, after having un-
dergone an official trial at the measured mile, off )1 aplin
Sands, was inspected yesterday at Sheerness, where she has
been fitted out, by the commander-in-chief of that port,
Vice-Admiral Sir G. R. Lambert, K.C.B. She sailed im-
mediately afterwards for Plymouth, where she will take on
board a battalion of Marines, as well as a large number of
supernumeraries, and proceed with them to Japan.
The Salamander, 6, paddlewheel sloop, 818 tons, 220
horse power, now preparing for sea with all despatch at
Sheerness dockyard, and recently commissioned by Com-
mander the Hon. J. Carnegie, has received nearly her full
supply of stores while in the basin of that yard. She will
be removed to moorings in the harbour this day, and soon
afterwards will be taken out for a preliminary trial at the
measured mile, which, if satisfactory, will leave her in
every respect ready for sea. It is rumoured that the Sala-
mander will shortly embark a detachment of Royal Ma-
rines, accompanied by their wives and families, and convey
them to Port Albany, Cape Australia, where it is intended
they shall form a military colony:----The men will have
double pay, besides workmen's wages; when performing
Government work, according to their trades, and the
colony will be abundantly supplied with seeds, roots, tools,
and all things necessary to establish a new settlement.
Mr. Martin's newly invented patent anchor, which was
proved under the hydraulic testing machinery at Woolwich
on Saturday for service on board the flagship Edgar, was
yesterday submitted to a most severe fire proof. The parts
of the anchor were taken to pieces, placed in separate fires,
and heated to a low red heat. Each section was examined
and searched over with the most scrupulous care, in order
to discover any kind of weakness or flaw in the metal.
The cheeks and other portions of the anchor subject to the
greatest amount of strain were filed over, and the surface
was chiseled off where any scratches were perceptible.
The chips were then put through a course of inspection
by Mr. Wilcox and his assistant smiths, but no blemish or
imperfection could be detected. The anchor was thereupon
pronounced fit for the service for which it was intended.
Admiral Montague Stopford, chairman, Mr. Maturin,
manager of the works, and other members of the company
were in attendance. Arrangements are in progress for the
erection of premises near Charlton pier, in the vicinty of
Woolwich Dockyard, for the manufacture of anchors, 600
of which, it was stated by Admiral Stopford, have been
already supplied to the mercantile navy, the whole of which
are of acknowledged excellence. During the late gales the
new invention is said to have been pre-eminently success-
ful and efficient.

___.__.
COBBETT and CO., General House Furnishers, Deptford-
bridge, London, S.E,

MRS. MUTER'S TRAVELS.
On Saturday, Deo. 19, in 2 vols., 215.,

•
TRAVELS AND ADVENTURES OF AN
OFFICER'S WIFE IN INDIA, CHINA, AND
NEW ZEALAND. By Mrs. MUTER, wife of Lieutenant-
Colonel D. D. MUTER, 13th (Prince Albert's) Light infantry.
Hurst and Blackett, 13, Great Marlborough-street.

NEW NOVEL by the Author of "GRANDMOTHER'S
MONEY."
Now ready at all the Libraries, in 3 vole.,
A_ WOMAN'S
By F. W. ROBINSONR,ANSOM.
Author of " Grandmother's Money," &e.
Hurst and Blackett, 13, Great Marlborough-street

DR. CUMMING'S NEW WORK.
Now ready, in 1 vol., 7s. 6d4,
DESTINY OF NATIONS,
AS INDICATED IN PROPHECY.
By the Rev. JOHN CUMMING, D.D.
Hurst and Blae'zett, Publishers, 13, Great Marlborough-
street.

THE

NOTICE.
THE SECOND EDITION of THE SHADOW
OF ASHLYDYAT, is now ready at all Libraries and
Booksellers, in 3 vols., post tvo.
Lichard Bentley, New Burlington-street.

CHEAP EDITIONS OF FAVOURITE
NOVELS.

Each Volume Embellished with Two Illustrations.
EAST LYNNE. By Mrs. WOOD. 6s.
The CHANNINGS. By Mrs. WOOD. 6s.
MRS. HALIBURTON'S TROUBLES. By Mrs. Woon. 6s.
The INITIALS. By the Author of "Quits" and "At Odds."

6s.
The LAST of the CAVALIERS. 60.

Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street.

On Wednesday will be published,

CAPTAIN SPEKE'S JOURNAL of the
DISCOVERY of the SOURCE of the NILE.

In one volume, octavo, price 21s.
With Portraits and Map, and numerous Illustrations chiefly
from Drawings by Captain GRANT.
William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London.

NEW NOVEL BY AUTHOR OF " SACKVILLE CHASE."
In the January Number (ready Dec. 21) of the
ST. JAMES'S MAGAZINE will commence
THE MAN IN CHAINS.
By C. J. COLLINS.
London : Kent and Co., Paternoster-row.

MUDIE'S SELECT LIBRARY,

THE PUBLISHING SEASON.

NOTICE.—REVISED LISTS of the Principal WORKS
in circulat•on at AIUDIE'S LIB iARY, CATALOGUES of
SURPLUS COPIES WITHDRAWN FOR SALE, and
LISTS of BOOKS in Ornamentul Bindinza, adapted for
PRESP.NTS and SCHOOL PRIZES, are Now Ready, and
will be forwarded postage free on application.
NEW OXFORD-STREET, LONDON,
December 10, 1863.

THE TEETH, AS Supplied by NATURE and
Preserved by ART.

By M. C. ROGERS, 31.R.C.5., Surgeon-Dentist.
London: 18, New Burlington-street, W.

BEAUTIFUL FOR EVER.

MADAME RACHEL ON "FEMALE GRACE AND BEAUTY."
Just published,

ABOOKOFB E A U T Y,
By Madame RACHEL.
To be had at 47A, New Bond-street. Price 2s. 6d.

SHORTHAND.-PITMAN'S PHONOGRA.
PHIL TEACHER. 6d. ; free by post, 7d.

SHORTHAND.-PITMAN'S PHONOGR.&
PlllO MANUAL. Free by post, Is. 6d.

QHORTITA ND.-"PITMAN'S PHONO-
GRAPHY forms an exceedingly efficient -probably
the MOST efficient - system of Shorthand that exists."—Sir
Rowland Hill.

MESSRS. BOTT, JACKSON, AND CO.
execute COMMISSIONS on all races throughout the
year. Market price guaranteed. Remittances, London and
Westminster Bank. Post-office Orders payable at Camber-
well-park.
N.B.—Betting on the Waterloo Cup.
Address—Bora, and JACKSON, "Man of the World" Wine
Stores, George-street, Camberwell-park, London.

(IRNAMENTS for the Drawing-room, Library,
mad Dining-room, consisting of anew and eiegant assort-
ment of 'VASES, Figures, Groups, Candlesticks, Obelisks, Ink-
stands, beautiful inlaid Tables, Paper weights, &c., in Italian,
Alabas er, Parian, Marble, Bronze, Derbyshire Spar, Am
Imported and manufactured by JAMES TENNANT, Mine-
ralogist to her Majesty, 149, Stand, W.C., London.
Mr. Tennant arranges elementary collections of SHELLS,
MINERALS, ROCKS, and FOSSILS, which will greatly
facilitate the interesting study of MINERALOGY, CON-
cHOLOGY. mild GEOLOGY, at 2,6, 10, 20, 50, to 100 guineas
each.
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION in GEOLOGY and MINE-
RALOGY is given by Mr. TENNANT. at 149. Strand, W.C.

BEAUTIFUL WOMEN.—Alabaster Powder,
and the Magnetic Rock Dew Water from Sahara
Cir-
cassian Bloom, Arabian Soaps, and Alabaster Liquid. There
costly and inimitable toilet preparations render the hair,
teeth, and complexion beautiful beyond comparison.—Can be
had only at Madame BACH 47A, New Bond-street,
where she can be consulted daily. All communications are
strictly confidential.

PATENT.
'LEVER TRUSS
....
WHITE'S MOC-MAIN
D IN VIE GREAT
(PERFECTED AND EXIIIBITE.. e
by
RUPTURES.—BY ROYAL LETTERS -
d upwards of
xruniTioNB or
the most effective
Two Hundred Medical Gentlemen to be
it nvention in the curative treatment of
1851 AND 1862),
in its effects,
The use of a steel spring, so often hurtful
d the
1 B here avoidedsoft bandage being worn roun
i,od, while the —a is allowed
the
with so much ease
Patent Lever, fitting
and closeness tha detected and may be worn
nnot be de
mee_main the arneauisite resisting power is supplied by
aiming sleep. A deems
on the dr-
a I to fit, forwarded by post,
oumterence of the body, two inches below the hips, being
truss, which cannot ; i,Ptive circular may be had,
sent to the manufacturer,
Mr. WRITE, 228, Piccadilly.
A Single Truss, 165., 215.,265. 6d• and 81s. 6d. Postage, ll'.
Double Truss, Ms. 6d, 425., and 525. 6d. Postage, is Bd.
An Umbilical Truss, 12s. and 525. 6d. Postage, ls. 10d.
and the
Poet-office Orders to be made payable to John White,
office, Piccadilly. Post-

NEW PATENT
ELASTIC STOcKINGs
KNEE-CAPS, &c., for Varicose Veins and all oases ° '
Weakness and Swelling of the Legs, Sprains, &o. They I
aore
•marous, light in texture, and inexpensive, and are drawn
ire an ordinary stocking. Price 18. 6d., 7s. 6d., 108., to 16:.
eadh. Postage iid.
JOHN WHITE. Manufacturer. 22R. Piccadilly.

ROYAL FREE HOSPITAL, Gray's-inn-road,
in the immediate vicinity of the Great Northern Rail-
way Terminus, King's-cross.
Patron—Her Most Gracious Maje,ty the QUEEN.
Vice-patron—His Royal Highness the Prince of WALE
President—Ills Grace the Duke of BUCCL EU CII,

Treasurer—Edward Masterman, Esq.
The numerous and urgent appeals of the sick poor for ad-
mission compel the Committee to entreat the bounty of the
affluent and humane, as the medical officers are daily obliged
t treat as out-patients many distressing cases which. with
more adequate iunds, they would gladly admit into the warms.
The premises of the Hospital are capable of containing 500
beds.
The Hospital is not endowed, but is wholly dependent on
voluntary contributions and legacies, which are received by
the Treasurer, Edward 111nnierritan P.sq., Nicholas-lane; also
by Messrs. Coutts and Co. ; Drumm' ond and Co. ; ITerries and
Co. ; Ransom and Co. ; Prescott, Grote. and Co.; Smith,
Payne, and Co. ; Glyn and Co. ; Jones Loyd and Co. ; Barclay
Nisbet and Co., Berners-street ;
and Co. ; lliams, Deacon, and Co. ;
Overend. Gurney, D ens
Masterman And Co.- T. Barned and Co., Liverpool ; and at
nanadndc
OC.
;oisi;
the Hospital, from 10 till 5.
bTANFORD B. SMITH secretary.

The following promotions and appointments were made
on Saturday at the Admiralty Commanders promoted to
the rank of Capt.,—E. Hardinge, E. Stirling, H. Harvey,
W. Graham, A. H. Hoskins, B. S. Pickard, N. Salmon,
and J. C. Soady—Lieuts. promoted to the rank of Cora-
mander,—F. Hewson, H. M. Miller, J. W. East, L. M.
Croke, A. H. Alston, P. R. Sharpe, P. H. Colomb, R.
Wells, and E. W. Brooker—J. Watts and S. B. Williams,
assist.-engineers, to the Conqueror.
The following appointments were made yesterday at the
Admiralty :—Commander J. E. F. Risk to the Chanti-
cleer, vice Stirling, promoted—Commander T. M. Jones
to the Chamelon, vice Hardinge, promoted—Commander
A. C. F. Heneage to the Lily, vice Harvey, promoted—
Commander C. G. Lindsay to the Zebra, vice Hoskins,
promoted—Ossian L. Carlisle, chief eagineer, to the
Orestes—Henry W. Tregilgas, late of the Algerine,
confirmed as engineer. Messrs. William Colvin V.
Baker and Harry D. Law have been nominated to naval
cadetships.

gaged the attention of eminent statesmen and our highest
legal authorities; but I will venture to add—and it is all I

shall condescend to say in refutation of your aspersions—
that if there are two persons who, beyond all others, have
given pledges throughout an ardent discussion of kindred
topics during a quarter of a century, that in debating the
question of the tenure and transfer of land they would ob-
serve the restraints of law, justice, and political economy,
they are the men whom your journal has dared to charge
with the advocacy of a scheme for robbing the landowners
of their property for the benefit of the poor.
Judging from past experience, this intrusion of a gross

personality will tend only to attract public notice to a matter
which it was meant to put out of sight. It has been the
fate of the Times to help forward every cause it has opposed.

By its truculent, I had almost said ruffianly, attacks of every
movement while in the weakness of infancy, it has roused to
increased efforts the energies of those it has assailed ; while,
at the same time, it has awakened the attention of a languid
public and attracted the sympathy of fair and manly minds.
It is thus that such public measures as the abolition of the
corn laws, the repeal of the taxes on knowledge, and
the negotiation of the treaty of commerce with France
triumphed in spite of its virulent, pertinacious, and unscru-
pulous opposition—until at last I am tending to the con-
viction that there are three conditions only requisite for the
success of any great project of reform—namely, a good
cause, persevering advocates, and the hostility of the Times.

I shall forward this correspondence for publication in the
Rochdale Observer, that it may at least be perused by the
community which has the greatest interest in a controversy
which concerns the reputation of Mr. Bright and myself.
—I am, Sir, your obedient servant,
Midhurst, Dec. 9.

R. COBDEN.

---..

To RICHARD CoDDEN, Esq., M.P.
Sir,—I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of
the 9th inst.

It is quite true, as you say, that we have been long per-
sonally acquainted. You had no need to identify my hand.
writing. I have no desire to " suppress my individuality,"
or to deny my personal responsibility for what you are '
pleased to call " scandalous aspersions" upon yourself and
Mr. Bright. You have thus all that individuality which
in your letter to the editor of the limes you professed to de-
siderate, and from which you anticipated such momentous
consequences. You will therefore have no difficulty in
rendering me responsible to the verdict either of a court of
law or of the general body of our countrymen, and I shall
cheerfully accept their decision,
You proceed to attribute to " limes egotism" my sup-
position that you had read the articles upon the report of
your speech. Is it, I ask, egotistic or unreasonable to sup-
pose that you, who had pounced so promptly upon a single
phrase in an article of much inferior interest to yourself,
should have read the articles which discussed your own
speech? Or could I be expected to know that you, who
aonce preferred a single copy of the Times to all the works of
e as
informed
arrogant ogant
Thucydides, did not admit the l.
ow i s nto your house ?
You say that you seldom read the. Times, and it is proba-
fbrloymbettcsaurisveaylsouthattakyeou plyoeuproypitnowns of it atnsecond-hand
it such
fandrom truculent,you rprofessed an d o
ignoranceia l y hesitate
t o overthe better
terms
r
ruffianly. I appeal
judg-
ment of that large majority who do read the Times, and who
have discovered in it no such qualities.
You attribute to the Times a deliberate misrepresentation
of your meaning and that of Mr. Bright as to the means of
amending the unequal distribution of land between the rich
and the poor, I repeat that certain passages in your
spzeches will, in my opinion, bear no other interpretation
than that ascribed to them. If you merely intended to ro-
commend measures for facilitating the conveyance of land,
as your reference to our transaction at Ascot would suggest,
your
language was the most strangely
exaggerated that
was ever used to further a humble instalment of law reform,lf you had read the Times, instead of
condemning it unread,
you would know that it has always advocated the simplifi-
cation of means for the transfer of land, and that its advo-
cacy has not been altogether unsuccessful, But just as no
simplification of conveyance will compel the rich to sell
land or enable the poor to buy it, so no legislative measure
will render the purchase of land a profitable investment for
the poor.
The possession, the transfer, and the tenure of land
are, however, public questions, which are best discussed,
not between Mr. Cobden and Mr. Delane, but as it has
always been the practice of the English press to discuss
them—anonymously. That practice was not invented by
me; it will not be destroyed by yourself. It has approved
itself to the judgment of all, whether statesmen or public-

...,„,,,,..,.,_
,z 444.3.
dore,„„ 74,5,,,ir,
...„-----_,:----7,,,,,,' --.4:
_...,
.....„-, wry
,iSi. -----.,sc
4(4.0.....S- 1,
fk ;Ac
or
,
v.:,,
4V
...
;ss a, %vial/
.le,344lc'er 0 Crihin."lll--"":"..11 :;/,' ,: dli ‘‘l
1111.',.-- '41,....--.7::".''')
..,.,,,
. ,
• :.;:.-.. ....:,
~.%.: (4-
}i) -.. e,14 , 1' -0,0!?.''
Athoriz7a. DrE • - itt,tee. d r '
...,r(0; , 041!11
. ' DROrr• , . 4.

facts that are forcing themselves upon me.
Even in the short interval which has elapsed
since the publication of my former letter four fresh

cases have come to my knowledge, not all of them

of equal atrocity, it is true, but still so dreadful
that, had I not been somewhat inured to such hor-
rors by the experience of the Flushing case, I should
have considered these equally incredible, and the
terrible truth is becoming manifest that these rank
blots on our social syiteni are scattered broadcast
throughout our rural ad; possibly, our Civic dis-

tricts, shielded frc'u public view by ignorance, cun-
ning, and the reluctance of neighbours to become
informers against those with whom they are living
on amicable terms.

Two of the cases to which I refer, of recent
occurrence in an adjoining county, have been hap.
pily disposed of. One—the details of which, as
narrated to me, were as loathsome as in the Flush-
ing case—was exposed by a solicitor, a friend of my
own, practising in the county to which 1 refer; the
other, not so aggravated a case, for the patient was
kept clean, resulted in the death of the sufferer.
By yesterday's post, in consequence of my former
letter, I received an intimation of a case nearly as
bad as the one in Cornwall still existing in a dis-
tant county, which I have this day forwarded to
the proper authorities for investigation. This case
is stated to be " well known to several persons, but
up to the present time has not been made known
through fear of the persons concerned in the atro-
city." The fourth case was revealed to Dr. Byrne,
and was made the subject of our immediate and
conjoint inspection. At present it is not de-
sirable to mention the names of those implicated, or
the locality; but I would wish your readers to dwell
upon the following picture, which gives but a faint

idea of the picturesque horror with which the case is
invested :—A lonely cottage, surrounded by woods
and orchards, standing close down by the waters of
a remote creek, opening into a well-known river of
this district. This coLtage is to outward appear-
ance an ordinary working man's abode, with the
single significant exception that the door is fastened
on the outside by a padlock. We enter this cottage,
we will suppose, at night, which was the fact in our
own case. The partition walls have been removed,
the whole ground floor thrown into one, and is used
as an apple store. We know that we are within the
solitary abode of a lunatic, and by the light of one
tallow candle we look cautiously around to see if he
be at large among the apples. Nothing visible but
the piles of fruit extending to the outer walls, in-
terspersed with the common lumbar of a barn in a
farm-yard. We stumble up a staircase, or rather
ladder, to the upper floor, gaining it rather cau-
tiously, for the lunatic may encounter us awkwardly,
as our heads rise above the floor. Another large
square loft—apples again extending to the outer
walls. A corner, screened off by some hoarding
exactly 6ft. by 7ft., hardly attracts our notice, for
we are still looking all round for the lunatic. But
the father, aged 74, approaches this " box" in the
" There
" Now,
cthorisneisr,thaendpipeoeienwtiengaretohhalisgmedaltlo dkoeoerpshaiyms.
is stilt some hesitation, for the mother, over 70, who

is always with us, is a little nervous. The doctor
seizes the candle, and without hesitation throws
back the bolt. The well•known sickening stench
meets us as we enter. There lies the lunatic

crouched with the updrawn knees, which seems
the rule in these cases. A raven black moustache
and beard, a face pallid as snow, cramped, ema-
ciated limbs, nails that might be measured by the
inch, the limbs spotted with filth, cobwebs de-
corating the walls, and some mildewed spots
upon them and on the bedstead which have an
ugly look. But we have seen Porter in his den,
and we don't think so much of this case. This
man has a straw bed beneath him, a clean shirt on
him (is it possible a visit was anticipated ?), and
some sacking, and an old quilt to cover him. We
could hardly expect more—" He tears everything
up." Still, for two years, confessedly, to be shut up
in a box in the corner of an apple loft ! No sweet
breath of Heaven in summer; no fire, no light in
winter; no companionship at any time, for he is the
sole occupant of the house, his relatives living in
another some 200 yards away. There is no window to
this box, the only light that ever reaches its interior
struggles over the top of the boarding, in the small
space between that and the unceiled roof. I pause
to ask myself as I write whether I am not penning
the page of some old romance rather than the de-
scription of a hard fact that came under my obser-
vation only last night. I have visited asylums and
felt my heart sicken as I have watched the group of
lunatics congregated in their !rations rooms, and
thought that the world conid scarcely show a
sadder scene ; but, Sir, the condition of a
pauper lunatic at an asylum is a blissful heaven
compared with that of this poor wretch, rotting
in a loathsome den, the bare remembrance of which
makes me shudder—the home of noisome insects,
and the probable battle-ground of vermin in the
dreadful midnight gloom. I no longer ask the
question, " Are there any other such cases ?" I
ask now how many such cases there are throughout
our land, if in my own experience of a few days I
can enumerate so many ? In this case also our guide
to the spot told us it had been long talked of; that
his wife had said that very night " this ought to be
inquired into." "The poor man has been like one
dead to us these six years past," he added. The poor
wretch had been sick upon his pillow when we saw
him, and the foul stuff was still there, not likely to
be removed until the morning, as he was shut up
for the night. This wail about 7. He is fed three
times a day regularly, however, and eats well. Re-
ferring to his sickness, his mother told us he was
like that once a month—" o wing to the moon, sir."
He had been at the asylum some seven years before,
and was returned to his parents in a somewhat im
so
ab-
proved state. Without, I fully believe, any ,
~
lute intention of cruelty on their part, things Da"
' gradually grown worse and worse and dwindled
down to this condition. With your aid, Sir , it is
possible my words may penetrate to the inmost
hearts of the dwellers in our humblest homes- MaY
if not for the
I entreat them for the love of and,
love of their fellow-men, not to
cases as those I
blind themselves
wilfully to the enormity of such
have described ; not to let any false scruples of
intimacy or friendship prevent their making
ea ng some
so
effort to relieve a fellow-creaturdread withful an immortal
an rthly
soul like themselves from
doom 2 How many such cases may yet be brought
to light, who shall tell ? But they© is a
stain upon
our country which no self-adulation eau remove 60
long as one is left unrevealed.
Your readers will be glad to learn that th© Tre-
gony
referred
to by
case,your correspondent Mr.
Charles Reed—who in "doubly convicting"
Corn-
wall seems to forget that he convicts himself by his
long-continued reticence—was I brought to the notice
of the Commissioners two
years ago. Will you
allow me also to state, in answer to numerous in-
quiries which have reached me privately, that

PRICE..... -...4d.
STAMPED ....sd.

Porter was, of course, an imbecile when first con-
fined ? I never imagined that my letter would
convey the impression that he was incarcerated
when in a sound state of mind. The tale needs no
romantic addition to intensify its naked horror.
Falmouth, Dec. 13.

THE ALABAMA AGIaN.

Two More' Vessels Destroyed.

LIVERPOOL, Dec. 14

By the arrival of the India and China mail we learn that
the statement that the Alabama had gone to the eastwar,l
is correct, and that she has already signalled her arrival in
the Eastern waters by the destruction of two large Ameri-
can merchantmen off Java Head. From the particulars at
present to hand we only know that the Amanda, which is
one of the vessels destroyed, under the command of Captain
Larrabee, left Manilla on the 18th September last, bound to
Cork for orders. The Amanda was a fine clipper barque,
built at Maine, in 1861, and was owned by Messrs. J. T.
Stevens and Co., of that city. Her cargo was a very valu-
able one, being comprised principally of coffee, indigo,
pepper, hemp, and tobacco. The other vessel burned was
a fine square-rigged clipper ship, called the Winged Racer,
Captain Cummings. This vessel left Manilla about the 4th
of September (we are not certain as to the exact date), and
was also fallen in with by the Alabama off Java Head, cap-
tured and destroyed. The Winged Racer was laden with a
most valuable cargo, and bound for New York. She was
built at Boston in 1852, was 1,767 tons burthen, and was
owned in New York by Messrs. R. J. Taylor. The latest
intelligence received from the Mauritius states that the
United States war-steamer Vanderbilt, Captain Baldwin,
had left that place in search of the Alabama, Captain Bald-
win having been apprised of the new cruising ground of the
notorious Confederate cruiser.