The Sun.
London, England, 1865-09-21 00:00:00

sible extenuation can be urged on behalf of the
offender. It will never do if any toleration is
exercised on behalf of those who are too vehement
and intolerant to bear the penalty of their
offences against the law, and it is to be
wished that the execution of the extreme
sentence of the law upon this criminal will
serve to deter others from treading the same path
which he has taken. It is not the question whether
or not the prisoner was harshly treated ; for it would
be indeed a dangerous precedent to assume that the
greatest tyranny or injustice can at all palliate such
deeds of violence and bloodshed. It is not likely
that any one in a sound state of mind would pro-
ceed to such extremities as CURRIE has done without
being led to its committal by real or imaginary
wrongs, and therefore no life would be safe among
those who are compelled to exercise authority, un-
less the most stringent measures were resorted to
as each individual instance of the kind occurs. At
the same time, it will only be a wise and beneficial
course to pursue to render the service as little irk-
some as possible, and thus to prevent the growth of
such inimical feelings as conduce to dangerous re-
sults. All that tends to produce excessive irritation
should be avoided if possible ; but it is unfortu-
nately too true that some are more apt to carry out
their own views, without regard to the feelings of
others.

A great deal is being said just now of a good
water supply, and every one is urged to remember
the old proverb " Cleanliness is next to godliness,"
if they would escape the visitations of cholera and
typhus. Yet while there is no great difficulty in
preaching in this case as in many others there are
several obstacles in the way of practising. Of
course such advice is usually addressed to the
denizens of small homes, and to the poorer classes
who live in dirty crowded places, and under condi-
tions where it is absolutely necessary to make
some exertion to attain the desired end. Yet
the system on which our water companies are
conducted is not calculated to encourage the poorer
classes in their efforts to keep themselves or their
houses clean. Cleanliness is impossible without
water, and, according to old tradition, Sunday
should find everything put decently in order.
These two theories are quite irreconcileable with
the practice of the New River Company, which
supplies no water from Saturday morning till
Monday morning. The interval of 48 hours may
be a matter of perfect indifference to the occupiers
of large houses, where the cisterns are of propor-
tionate size, and the daily demand, thanks to car-
peted floors, stairs, and passages, &c., is compara-
tively small. But in houses of lesser pretension,
and still more in those let out to three or four
families, who wash their own clothes, and must
scrub their floors and passages if they wish to keep
themselves decent, the fact of having one day's
supply of water instead of two is a very great evil
in hot weather. It is always difficult enough for
the poor to be clean, and they very often do not
trouble themselves to attempt it. It is therefore a
very great pity to put needless impediments in their
way, and to discourage the traditional Saturday
cleaning which all respectable housewives cling to.
Idleness and dirt on the Sunday are already too
tempting to the overworked labourer and his family,
and if they are short of water, there is little chance
of getting the children to school or themselves to
church or chapel. In the more crowded parts of
London especially, where four or five families live
in one house, plenty of water is indispensable to
health. Surely, then, it is time that this system
should be altered, ark that the company should be
called upon to give a second supply on the Saturday
night, which would carry people comfortably over
the Sunday. By the present arrangement every
can of water is obliged to be carefully doled out,
while on Monday the cisterns are dry for several
hours. This is really a popular grievance, and
should be remedied without loss of time.

LONDON 01INIBUSES.—There are about 620 of
these vehicles belonging to the General Omnibus Com-
pany, and 450 owned by private proprietors. The passer-
by in the street may suppose there are many more, because
the numbering of omnibuses begins at 6,000. Each pays
an annual tax of £3, and a running charge, in addition, of
ld. per mile, large and small " busses" alike; yet the three-
horsed carriages carry almost twice as many passengers as
some of those with two horses only. It has been suggested
that quarterly season-tickets might be issued on all the
lines to the great convenience cf regular and constant tra-
vellers, and insuring an appreciable saving of time to the
drivers and conductors in taking money, giving change,
&c.

A., COURAGEOUS LADY.—The St. Malo journals
record a courageous act by a young lady of that town,
Madlle. U. P--, who was the means of saving the life of
a lad, the son of M. Hamon, ono of the editors of the
Progres. It appears that young Hamon, when bathing on
the beach, got out of his depth, and was being carried out
to sea by the retiring wave, when the young lady heard his
cries for help, and swam to his assistance. She managed
to keep his head above water br some time, until the youth
in his terror clung to her, and rendered her perfectly help-
less. They then both sank together. At that mcment two
of the bathing men arrived in a boat, accompanied by a
foreigner, who immediately dived and brought up the two
young persons in a state of insensibility. They were, how-
ever, soon revived by the use of the usual means, and have
since perfectly recovered.

JOINT-STOCK COMPANIES.—At the Judges' Cham-
bers on Tuesday, before Mr. Justice Montague
Smith, an application was made under the 35th section of
the Joint-stock Companies' Act to remove a shareholder
from the register. Mr. Gibbons, who appeared as counsel
for the company, opposed the application as unusual. His
lordship doubted whether it was intended to give power to
a judge in chambers to try such a question in a summary
manner. Mr. Gibbons said if a shareholder could come
and be relieved from his liability because he heard some-
thing which did not please him, then his lordship would
have enough to do. On the part of the applicant a case in
Chancery was cited, and it was alleged that the capital was
to be used in a way not expressed in the prospectus, and
which he disapproved of. Mr. Gibbons said the prospectus
referred to the deed of association, and every shareholder
was bound to know its contents. No doubt it would be
better if all the objects intended were expressed in the
prospectus. His lordship declined to make an order, re-
ferring the applicant to the Court. His own impression
was that he had not the power at chambers to try such a
question as that raised.
PALMERSTON A PRESERVER OF THE PEACE.—Pal-
merston fought gallantly against such of the anti-
ministerial charges as were directed against their foreign
policy. He concluded with one of the most incisive and
telling speeches he ever delivered by
_contrasting the Tory
efforts to maintain the cause of despotism in Europe with
the successful endeavours of the Government in the pursuit
of a more liberal and enlightened policy. " The former sup-
ported Don Miguel up to the last moment, and now gave
their countenance to Don Carlos, who was the author of the
assassination decree of Durango, and believed by all Europe
to be intent on establishing the Inquisition as soon as he
arrived at Madrid. The Ministers, on the other hand, might
boast of tho moral support they had given to the Cause
of national liberty in Spain ; of the part they had taken in
the emancipation of the Greeks; of the free constitutions
of Belgium and Portugal, which had grown up under their
auspices—and if he could contribute, however humbly, to
the establishment of the same state of things in Spain as
existed in Belgium and Portugal, he should esteem it a
source of personal satisfaction to the latest hour of his life."
And a few days later, with justifiable gratulation, he con-
trasted the general condition of peace which England and
Europe had- enjoyed since the advent of the Whigs to
p ottpiiaimeiwaomecenergowcwifonbiugttolhudteteohbi
rxeept
hgr
expressed
esnasvipeeanrratat:al expectations of men universal at the
present
: Inninsen Opposition
lnaBs3O
int ,h wasepwrue
who
public,
ono
thereobweml
bi
believed
endadeimamthat
peace could be maintained? Was there ono man among
them who expressed his opinion in public, who did not
Confidently state that peace could not bo maintained by us
for six months longer? This declaration was made
not
only in conversation across the table of this house ; but on
One occasion, whoa sitting beside an hon. member on the
same bench, was I not warned in those deliberate and pro-
phetic words an angel were to come dawn from
heaven to write your despatches, even that interposition
would not prevent you from having a war within the next
six months ?' Now, no angel has come down from heaven
to write our despatches, and yet we have succeeded in
maintaining peace, not for six months, but for six years
from that day."--dillichrises Life of Palmerston.