The Sun.
London, England, 1863-07-20 00:00:00

MURDER IN LAMBETH.

On Saturday afternoon Mr. William Carter, the.
coroner for East Surrey, opened an inquiry at the
Old Barge-house tavern, Upper Ground-street,
Blackfriars-road, touchiog the death of Sarah Howes
latelyli:graeespdiodhriatned residing at
on Thursday evening last.
at 84, Upper Ground•stree.,
been killed by her husband,
Josephawg who it
it 41,wH aoswa els
Police-constable Mansfield, 70 L, said that from in-
formation he received on Thursday night, at 10
o'clock, he went to 84, Upper Ground-street, Black-
friars-road, nd found a woman lying in the second
flo, r back room quite dead. Several persons were
mere. The witness was told the woman had been
murdered by Joseph Howes, her husband, and
from further information he went to the Windmill
publichouse, at the corner of Bennett-street,
and apprehended him. He said his wife
had been drinking all day, but that he
would not have touched a hair of her
head. Jane Chatfield, who lived at 84, Upper
Ground-street, gave evidence similar to that taken
before Mr. Combe at the Southwark Police-court on
Friday, to the effect that she heard the sound of
blows and screams in the deceased's room on Thurs-
day night, and that neither deceased nor her hus-
band were sober. She also stated that they were in
the habit of quarrelling, and that the husband had
frequently threatened deceased. From the evident'-
of the police who examined the room where the
woman was killed, it appeared that there was a con-
siderable quantity of blood upon the floor and upon
the bed. The deceased had a block eye, and was
otherwise much bruised. The stockings of the hus-
band were found to be saturated with blood. The
wainscoting on one aide of the rcom was battered in
as if some person had fallen heavily against it. Mr.
Morney Coppin,No.l7, Mount-street, Lambeth, sur-
geon, said he was called in to the deceased on Thurs-
day night. She was quite dead. He had since
made a post mortem examination of the body. There
was considerable effusion of blood on the brain,
which he thought had been caused by external vio-
lence. There was no fracture. The cause of death
was rupture of blood ves.,els in the brain, caused by
blows or falls, or both conjointly. After deliberat-
ing for about 20 minutes the jury returned a ver-
dict of Wilful murder against Joseph Howes."

Full benEfit of reduced duty obtained by pur-
3hasing Horniman's pure Tea ; very choice at 3s 4d. and
4s, " High Standard "at 4s. 4d. (formerly 4s. Bd.), is tht
stiongest and most delicious imported. Agents in every
town supply it in packets.

SPIRIT OF TEE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

SATURDAY REVIEW.—It is quite clear that the
French Emperor did make some complaint of the
treatment he had received from the English Minie-
try in reference to Confederate recognition, for the
two members asserted it, and he has not denied it.
It is probable that the offence took place at some
time between January, 1862, when M. Thouvenel's
despatch upon the Trent affair proved that he was
was heartily with us, and November, 1862, whey
Count Fiahault's marked omission to observe the
ordinary form of leaving a copy of the despatch which
contained the proposal for an armistice indicated the
existence of some estrangement. It is probable, there
fore, that the communication upon American affairs
which Lord Russell is said to have betrayed to the
Americans was made in the spring or summer of last
year. From the scrupulous care with which Lord
Russell has refrained from making any de-
nials upon the subject, and the ostenta-
tious frankness with which Mr. Layard has
been always ready to deny everything, it is
likely that the communication was made privately
to Lord Russell; and from the zeal with which Mr.
Liyard has searched the written archives of the Fo-
reign-office, it may be inferred that the communi
cation was verbal. Tha secret diplomacy with
which Mr. Roebuck's disclosures are connected does
not probably end here. They appear to have caused
negotiations at least as important as those which
they revealed. It is not to be supposed that the
Emperor abstained from confirming the statements
of the envoys he had selected, or that they them-
selves have been content to endure all kinds of in-
sinuations in silence, except for a consideration of
some kind. It must have been shown to them that
the object they were seekini was more easily to be
attained by silence than by talking. We must
wait for the future policy of the English Go-
vernment to inform us whether any distinct un
derstanding, as to the period of recognition,
was the price of their discretion. The
strongest feeling which this curious episode has left
behind it is a decided dislike to private diplomacy.
It is not merely that the channels of the Imperial
confidences to the House of Commons were not" re
sponsible," as Lord Palmerston argued; for tbat
hackneyed word is now so bare of any shade of
meaning that it has almost ceased to be available
even as a constitutional fiction. Few people would
think of quarrelling with an official, self-constituted
or otherwise, for being destitute of so shadowy an at-

tribute. The real evil is the informal and ill:defined
functions which a private diplomatist fills. He nevt-r
has any authority to speak for anybody. When Mr.
rtoebuck gave to the Atnperor at explanation of the
feelings of the House of Commons, he spoke without
any commission from that body, and probably misled
his Imperial friend very considerably. When he re-
versed the process, and came to tell the House of Com-
mons of the opinions of the Emperor, he was in a
difficulty scarcely less serious. He had a com-
mission, indeed, of some sort, to speak in the Em-
peror's name; but, he was under the shelter of none
of the formalities with which those whose function

it is to deal with princes protect themselves against
wrong. He had no memorand im of the conversa-
tion, no despatch in which it was embodied, no com-
mission to reveal it that he could show. The result
was that he was wholly unprotected against any
trick the Emperor might like to play him. If the
Emperor had chosen to disavow him, he could have
done it with perfect ease. Ap rt from the infor-
mal oral evidenc," of M.. Lindsay, Mr. Roebuck
had nothing to which he could appeal—not even
the testimony of a past diplomatic career. Tne con-
stitutional qusstion is, of course, large and grave.
For the House of Commons to receive the messages
cf foreign Sovereigns is, in effect, to assume execu-
tive authority. It might as well send out its own
orders to generals and admirals, and receive from
them direct reports. If it may keep up relations
with independent Powers, it becomes an in-
dependent power itself. Tte whole machinery of
Queen, Ministers, and diplomatists is entirely super-
fluous, if the functions which they perform can be
discharged by the employment of two travelling
members of Parliament as volunteer ambassadors.
SPECTATOR.—The uppermost phase of English
Conservatism which is that of Lord Robert Cecil,—
the Conservatism of what we may call aggressive
and almost cynical commonplace, which seems to be
Conservative at all only because it is so much more
easy to browbeat any novelty that is a candidate for
political existence than to browbeat that which is
actually in the field, and which ceases to be really
Conservative wherever the spirit of law and custom
puts unpleasant restraints on the policy of aris

roctatic self-interest. There is no doubt that
Lord Robert Cecil represents this kind of
Conservatism with considerable ability. He lays
his finger on the very centre of disputed inte-
rests with unfailing accuracy and a harsh aggres
sive touch. He always puts his case on tne lowest
ground he can take with an unpleasant audacity
which looks exceedingly practical, and sometimes
is so, if the house is conscious of a large infusion of
low motives; which, however, is sometimes, again,
ineffective enough, and never persuasive, though it
encourages otners to assert, where without this ex-
ample they would be ashamed of asserting, their
real motives or reasons. For example, when he was
'tebatinir the question of a wider religious inclusion
for the Universities, he said, " Now, he would not
put the matter ou high religious grounds. he would
ask wnether that would pay." So again on the
question of recognition of the South, he studiously
selects the most tangibly selfish argument, and asks
how we can beso absurd as to "give way to the North
en sentimental grounds," when they are " our rivals
politically and rivals commercially," while every
interest must lead us to cultivate friendly relations
with the agricultural people of the South, our " na-
tural ally." He always seems to seek to put his
Conservative case on a ground which may recom-
mend itself most of all to the' most commonplace
minds in their hardest moods. Take his clever
speech last session on the bill to permit marriage
with a deceased wife's sister. What speech ever
entered less into the higher points at issue, or dealt
more aggressively with the selfish interests in-
volved ? His main thesis was that people wanted
new opportunities of " giving way to their pas-
sions," and found fault with the present law be-
cause it put obstacles in their way. His whole
argument was most characteristic, and consisted
simply in asserting that every reason alleged by the
mover for the repeal of the present restrictions
might also be urged by any one who favoured
bigamy or polygamy in favour of these institutions.
"If they passed the bill they would set every one in
the kingdom thinking whom they might marry and
whom they might not." He did his best to persuade
the House that if you once touched the marriage
law, even on good grounds, the floodgates of un-
authorised passions would burst open, and we should
have men insisting on marrying their stepmothers.
It has often been noticed that the Tory orators are
more personal and more reckless than the Liberals.
The more memorable Conservative papers have ge-
nerally gained their reputation by satire or persona-
Mies, like the Satirist the John Bull, Blackwood,
more recently, and, on its first start, our contempo-
rary the Press. The Standard, too, is the most
bitterly personal of the present daily papers, and
Mr. Disraeli certainly the happiest master of perso-
nal criticism, while Lord Derby is the most eager in
onset, and the most successful in taunts of all the
orators of the day. T ere is an obvious reason for
this in the nature of Conservatism. Those who are
in possession of the field, and whose position is, there-
fore, defensive, are Imost forced into discrediting
heir opponents. Knowing that things are not per-
fect as they are, their only object is to shake faith in
the suggested reinediee, which, as they have never
been tried, are more effzetively shaken by under-
mining the authority of their opponents than by re-
futing their argument. The reformers have their
theme in the inequalities and evils of the existing
system of things. The Conservatives have to with-
draw attention from these, and cannot :cell do it
better than by personal attacks. Lord Robert Cecil
clearly shares the impulse for this kind of warfare.
But it is not his happiest line. He is apt to be too
little discriminating and too insolent in his person-
alities to be thoroughly effective. " Qui dit trop,
ne dit rien." The other day, when he was defending
the indiscriminate charities against Mr. Gladstone,
he accused that statesman, with probably less jus-
tice than was ever before shown in a personal at-
tack, of " a hard and material philosophy," and, in
still more elegant language, of "smearing the me-
mories of testators" by imputing to them principles
which were horrid to their feelings. Last ses-
sion he attributed the frequent count-outs " to the
wish to insult an enemy," which is not a likely mo
tive in the House of Commons. Only last week he
launched against Mr. W. E. Forster the epithet of
a Federal Sinon, on the ground that he wished to
betray the Confederates into a defeat by urging Mr.
Roebuck to go on with the debate which be had
injudiciously begun. In truth, he almost always
hits rather wildly whenever he indulges in personal
hits at all He has scarcely the delicacy and play
of mind which are requisite to catch skilful personal
characteristics, and would do well to leave that
branch of debate to Mr. Disraeli. " There is a
hardness in his eye " which misses the point, as
though Lord Robert Cecil had used his culture to
barricade himself against the influence of others,
and had so ceased to understand them. What he
does best is to " put his foot down" heavily on liberal
impulses, sympathies, or hopes ; his literary sense
is not quick, for the same reason for which his
Conservatism is a kind of repellent common-place.
Mr. Disraeli cannot be said to have genuine sym-
pathy with any class of principles under the sun,
but then he has an active, pliant, even delicate in-
tellectual fancy, which obliges him to receive accu-
rate impressions of the images of character around
him. Lord Robert Cecil is essentially a "hard

shell" aristocrat, and as such is eminently suited 1..0
express any bold Conservative aversion to chance,
but by no means, we think, to fulfil the highest
function of a statesman by interpreting clearly the
indistinct wants of his time, and thoroughly under-
standing even the opponents whom he confutes.
LONDON REVIEW.—It is said that the Crown
Prince intends to publish a protest against the
recent measures of his father's Government, but he
will probably deem this superfluous after the full dis.
closure of his views which has now been made. Obvious
considerations render it inexpedient for the heir-ap-
parent to take a more prominent part than is abso
lutely necessary in opposition to the King. Although
he might thus gain a momentary popularity, be
would most likely incur a permanent loss of respect.
Besides it is scarcely desirable that he should, so to
speak, play all Hs cards at once. It is easy to fore
see contingencies in which such steps as the issue
of a formal protest, and the resignation of his corn
missions, would produce an effect all the greater,
from their having been withheld, as long as possible.
In the meantime the measures which the Prince has
taken must be regarded with the utmost satisfaction
both in Prussia and in England. We have aright
indeed to feel some little pride in them on our own
account, if it be true that his Royal Highness's
Liberalism is in no slight degree due to the advice
of his English wife. But be that as it may, it is
impossible to read his letters without imbib
ing considerable respect for his character, and a
corresponding confidence in his sincerity.
There is no affectation of a warmth, and
vehemence of political sentiment which the
Prince can hardly be expected to feel. He would,
no doubt, be well content to govern as an arbitrary
sovereign, if it were possible or were consistent with
the Constitution of his country. But he sees that, as
a matter of fact, this is impracticable; and that
sound policy, as well as good faith, requires that thy
spirit of the existing laws and institution., should
be faithfully adhered to by the monarch. Confining
himself to that point, his temperate but decided
language affords the best warrant for the reality
and depth of his convictions. His words are those
of a man who does not speak lightly, but of whom
we may feet assured that be wilt act up to his pro-
fessions. If they produce that impression in Prus-
sia, they must very greatly diminish, even it they
do not entirely remove, any danger of a violent or
revolutionary collision between the king and the
people. With the assurance that the next sovereign
is willing and determined to respect. the Constitu-
tion, it is scarcely worth while pushing twitters to
extremity with an old man in failing nealth. If the
existing system is likely to fall of itself, prudence
may well suggest that it is safer to bear even with
Von Bismerk and his ways for a little longer, than
to incur the risks inseparable, not only from any
appeal to force, but even from any extraordinary
action on the part of the Legislature. On the other
hand, it is difficult to believe that the King and his
Ministers can be so utterly lost to common-sense as
persevere in their present policy after this distinct
warning from the Crown Prince, that their success
must to so short-lived as to be absolutelyworthless.
His Majesty has, we know, a superstitious respect
for the supposed duty of transmitting the Royal
power, which he received from Heaven, unimpaired,
to his successor. But one may almost venture to
hope that even his peculiar mind is not entirely proof
against practical demonstration that the contest he
is waging is entirely hopeless. He can scarcely
think it worth while to sacrifice without any per-
manent results the popularity of which he is fond,
and which he might easily regain by a very mode-
rate concession to the national washes.

EXAMINER —4' We ask no more than nature
craves," whines the starved porter in Sheridan's
" Duenna," and so touchingly aver certain members
of Parliament, who want a few thousands of the
public money to be spent in altering the house, to
the end that, they may obtain better dinners. Mr.
P. O'Brien affectingly pleads, " The expense was
small, and the house would not grudge it. A steak,
chop, cold meat, or such plain dinner as could be
obtained under the Bellamy Administration eas all
that was required." It almost brings tears into
one's eyes to read this modest application for suste-
nance, but it strikes us there is a small error of the
press in the passage and that for the Bellamy Ad-
ministration should be read the Belly-my Adminis-
tration. Mr. Bass thought that dining advanced
business, but if the house would not increase the
allowance for the kitchen, he thought it would he
better to abolish it altogether, and for members to
go back to mutton chops. Think of that, good
people all. Think of your representatives return-
ing to mutton chops. It will next be proposed that
they shall return to painting their bodies blue, or
some such usage of ancient barbarism. Mr. Os-
borne followed, and lashed severely gentlemen no;
satisfied with mutton chops, and wanting to dine on
:he fat of the Consolidated Fund. A fortiori, it
better order and attendanoe came of a mutton chop
dinner instead of French cookery, a still further
improvement would be the result of total absti-
nence, and a e really see no reason why the Com-
mons should not, like juries, be starved into right
conclusions and agreement. Of this we are certain,
that many dreary debates that now weary the
public would he spared if nothing to eaf and drink
were to be had on the premises. " A full house"
has a nasty gluttinous soeno. The Greek proverb
says that a fat stomach and a fine mind cannot
co-exist. In Mr. Dilworth's excellent spelling-
book of a century or so ago, there is an
edifying story of a papa who made it a condi
tion of eating apple pie that his little boys should
spell the word. Nuw in the various reports on the
important subject of the kitchen and refreshment
rooms we observe some English of so disorderly a
nature as to call for some condition like that which
Dilworth's father imposed upon his children in the
matter of the apple pie. Members should not have
what they ask for in the way of eatables and
drinkables until they can put their demands into
decent language. How abominable is such a sen-
tence as this, which we commend to the notice of
the Civil Service Examiners for a place in the rig-
marole to be done into English :•‘‘ Further, that
the I:300 per annum now allowed for servants had
its origin in the keeper of the refreshment rooms
having formerly been deputy housekeeper, when
the servants had to clean the house; and now that
the departments are separated, it is indirectly a
subsidy to the refreshment rooms, but is insufficient
for the direct purpose for which it is voted, as seen
by the table of amount of wages, paid by Mr.
Steers,' appended to the first report." How in the
world could £3OO a year have its origin in the
keeper of the refreshment rooms having formerly
been deputy, &e., &c., when the servants had to
clean the house ? A candidate for employment who
can disentangle the meaning, and put this rigma-
role into decent English, must be an exceedingly
clever fellow. There is only one instance of motley
originating in any living creature, and that is the
remarkable case of the goose that laid golden eggs,
and certainly we shall not be disposed to be scepti-
cal about that phenomenon if it can be well proved
chat £3OO a year had its origin in a keeper of re-
freshment rooms. The thing is much more curious
than the source of the Nile, and we recommend it
to the immediate attention of the anatomists.

ATIIENZUM.—Some two or three years since the
depressed fortunes of our theatres experienced a
sudden reaction. It is true that, in the seasons
immediately preceding this period, an attractive
work now and then roused the town from its
apathy; but such an event was too rare to secure
the prosperity of the drama proper—burlesque, in
deed, seeming the only form of entertainment which
could be counted on for prd,fitable results. Had rank
been determined by success, the tiny house called
" The Strand" mignt then have been regarded as
the headquarters of theatrical London. Its walls
were nightly packed with a delighted pubic; while
audiences respectably numerous, but not sufficiently
so to defray the great expense of attracting them,
witnessed Mr. Charles Kean's ecenic and arctizeJe.,-
gical revivals of Shakspeare at the Princess's, add
smaller gatherings lent a zealous but ineff, clue,
support to legitimacy at the Lyceum, then under
the control of Mr. Dillon. Drury Lane avowedly
relied for success upon the pantomime yearly fur-
nished by Mr. E. L. Blanchard, and the abatement
of its attraction was the invariable signal for closing
the theatre. Mr. Webster—wbo, like his successor
Mr. Buckstone, had been faithful to some sort of
legitimacy at the Haymarket—provided, at the
New Adeiphi, fare as intellectual as his patrons
would tolerate. In proof of this we may instance
the dramas of "Janet Pride" and " The Dead.
Heart." To the manager's credit it may be added,
that he had even produced the works of Shakspeare
and Molidre on a stage before devoted to melo-
drama. Mr. Robson's excellent acting in pieces of
which " The Porter's Knot" is the typP, had also
gained due appreciation. But it is scarcely doubt-
ful that at the theatres generally the pantomimes
and burlesques of Christmas and Ester brought
with them a financial success for which managers
would have looked in vain to works of higher pre-
tensions. The production of " The Colleen Bawn,"
however, opened a new era in theatrical his-
tory. Here was a drama with a new stimulant,
and one so powerful that the star of burlesque
itself paled before it. That "The Colleen Bawn'
was well written, and to some extent a drama of
character as well es of incident, is not to be denied;
but it is equally true that to the water-cave scene
including the renowned " header," its marvellous
success must chiefly be ascribed. This work, the
first formally distinguished by the epithet "sensa-
tion " was followed by another of the same class
from the pen of Mr. Falconer. " Peep o' Day "
without possessing the literary merit of its model,
was Equal to it in spectacular effect and in the con-
trivance of one of those elaborate situations, during
which an audience is held breathless by a struggle
for physical life. Mr. Falconer's drama proved a

rival in attraction to that Mr. Bouoicault, and, aiaed
by toe crowds that flocked to the International
Exhibition of 1862, achieved the longest run upon
n-cord. Alipo-3t conteruporanecusv with the success
of sensation plays an improvement took pkce in the
prospects of the higher drama. Mr. Fechter, who
passed at a bound from refined melo-drama to Shaks-
peare, appeared in Hamlet, and repeated the charac-
ter for nearly one hundred nights. As a pendant
to this suttees in tragedy, and coincident with the
advanced run of the two sensation pieces,
as Hamlet
had been with their commencement, came the Lord
Dundreary of Mr. Sothern. Thir extraordinary
performance continued to delight the town, it we
except an interval of a few weeks, for about a year
and a quarter. Into the grounds of its attraction
and into those of Mr. Fechter's Hamlet, we may
if:quire hereafter. It is enough now to state the
results of both performances in connexion with the
?hopes to which they gave rise. As the best expres-
sion of the latter, we may notice the fact that two
commercial companies have been formed for the
erection of as many theatres, one of which has its
proposed site in the Haymarket, the other in Hol-
born, w hile rumours are afloat that a third company,
with a similar object, is in process of establishment.
Between the period however, which gave the im-
pulse to these undertakings and the present time,
signs h,ve occurred which can hardly be construed
favourably for new speculations. The tide of thea-
trical success has now evidently declined from high
water mark, and it will be well if its ebb do not
prove as sudden and extreme as its rise. •

COUNTRY MARKETS.

---- ~►-

GRANTHAM-SATURDAY.

To-day wheat came Plowly to hand, and trade was dull.
—New whit( wheat, 49s to 535; red, 45s to 47s per 36st. ;
malting barley, —s to —s pet qr ; grinding, 29s to 30s;
oath, 24s to 26s ; beans, 38s to 40s; peas, 36s to 38s.