The Sun.
London, England, 1865-07-10 00:00:00

HIE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVENING, JULY 10, 1865

support the ballot. He is in favour of the total abo-
lition of church-rates ; he is against capital punish-
ment and flogging in the army. He gives the
foreign policy of the Government his cordial ap-
proval ; but then, while professing general allegiance
to the Liberal party, he refuses to be a blind parti-
san. Mr. Torrens, too, is very active in his canvass,
and has met with a considerable amount of success.
He has been addressing small sections of the electors
during the past week, and hopes to address larger
meetings still this evening and to-morrow. Mr.
Phillips has invited his supporters to assemble to-
night at Sadler's Wells Theatre. Mr. Torrens will
meet his on the following day at the same place.
Mr. Perfitt, more considerately alive to the comfort
of his audiences, holds open air meetings in various
directions ; sometimes in that debatable ground
not far ' from Clerkenwell-green, known as
"Dixie's Land." Mr. Perfitt is described in
some of the bills headed with his name as a
Gladstonian ; but what particular shade of politics
the word implies, as distinct from the views of Mr.
Milner Gibson and other members of the Govern-
ment, the bills do not state. Mr. Cox, while pur-
suing his canvass with considerable energy, main-
tains to a greater extent than some of his competi-
tors that dignified attitude which belongs to the
tried politician. His friends, relying on work done,
disdain to deface the walls of palatial-looking pub-
lichouses with promises of things to be done after
Christmas. A small placard, with the simple in-
scription " Cox—your old and tried member—for
Finsbury," contrasts proudly with the glaring an-
nouncements of comparatively unknown men. Un-
happily, however, gratitude for past services is not
always so lively a feeling as the expectations of pre-
sent favours, and there is absolutely a rumour that
Mr. Cox will have to fight hard for his present seat.
It is expected that the real contest will lie between
him, Mr. Torrens, and Mr. Alderman Lusk.

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

THE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON THE DOINGS OF
TILE GREAT.--As every loyal subject is by this time
aware, the Prince of Wales's chimney caught fire
the other afternoon, and the " devouring element,"
as reporters sublimely style a little hot soot, was
only subdued after the most strenuous exertions on
the part of Lord Derby, Lord Palmerston, and his
Royal Highness himself. Such is the simple story
as given in half a dozen lines in most of the morn-
ing papers. But another does full justice to the
momentous importance of the event and the heroic
achievements of the principal actors. The epic sim-
plicity with which the writer opens his story pre-
pares us for what follows :—" There is no exagge-
ration in saying that Marlborough House stood in
extreme jeopardy yesterday afternoon, and there can
be no question that good luck alone has hitherto saved
the building, for it is little less than a miracle that
no serious disaster has occurred there long ago."
Observe the wariness of the style, the economy of
words, and the cogent proof of the proposition
about a miracle. The art of putting the same state-
ment into two forms of words, and then advancing
one as a proof of the other, is here employed in a
masterly manner. The subject is treated through-
out with the same power and skill, and the result is
a picture which ought to live in history along with
that of Canute and his courtiers. As soon as the
fire broke out the Prince hastened to the spot.
" Seeing the urgency of the case, without a moment's
hesitation he threw off his coat and waistcoat and
handed buckets of water from the tank, or threw
them on the fire with more alacrity perhaps than
any of the .other persons assisting." Why " per-
haps?" Can it be doubted? Besides the coura-
geous manipulation of the buckets, the Prince gave
" the most judicious orders throughout the exciting
scene." When it became evident that, " in order
the more effectually to combat the danger," some-
body must go—no, we beg pardon, " an entrance
must be effected"—into "that part of the building
commonly called the ' cockloft.' " The Prince was
the first to penetrate " into the region indicated."
We can sympathise fully with the distracted feelings
of the fashionable reporter whom a hard fate com-
pelled to call anything by the name by which it
is " commonly called." The whole body ought
really to lay their heads together and invent some
less odious name for a cockloft. It sounds so hor-
ribly vulgar, and the notion of a prince having to
climb into a cockloft approaches the tragic. How-
ever, the literary Jeames has done his best to soften
the thing down by the genteel phrase of "penetrating
the regionindicated" Unhappily the Prince " pene-
trated" tne region indicated in another sense. " Not
knowing that, to secure one's safety, it was neces-
sary to tread on the joists, he trod on the lath and
plaster work constituting the ceiling of the apart-
ment beneath." The blood of the reader runs cold
as he pictures the heir to the Throne walking on
lath and plaster, and without his coat and waistcoat
too. The worst apprehensions of the onlookers
were realised, and the lath and plaster gave way.
As they did not " prove sufficiently strong to main-
tain his weight, he fell through." There is surely
something slightly irreverent in thus attributing
weight to a royal personage. The famous Queen
of Spain, who " had no legs" officially, ought to be
the type of princely nature. It was probably only
by a slip of the pen that the writer betrayed this
base anthropomorphic conception of a prince. But
jo
ists
came that as it may, at this point the neglected
came in useful and prevented him from falling far.
" He quickly extricated himself, laughing most
heartily at the drollness of the mishap, even amidst
the danger which threatened." By the way,
" threatened" is a weak way of ending a sentence.
" Imminently menaced his royal residence," or some
such phrase, would have been more worthy of the
occasion. Jeames does not get hold of such a theme
as a prince in a cockloft every day, and it is a pity
not to make the most of it. The last sentence,
however, of this amazing composition is pretty
fair. It tells us that " the Prince of Wales, as
soon as the fire was extinguished, though in a con-
dition in which he was hardly recognisable, failed
not to remember those who had assisted him, and
ordered refreshments to be served out to the blackened
and begrimed people who had worked so hard and
well." There is a kind of pathetic accent about the
last words. " The blackened and begrimed people
who had worked so hard and well." It rather re-
minds one of some of Mr. Bright's fine things about
the sons and daughters of toil. We do not, how-
ever, quite see the force of the " though." We fear
Jeames has fallen into a confusion of the subjective
and objective. There is no reason why a man who
is not recognisable should not recognise others, nor
does it follow, because he has a dirty face and is
without a coat, that his bosom should be unmoved
by gratitude and considerateness. But the footman
who, we presume, writes these things may be par-
doned for associating good nature and other excel-
lencies with a good coat. It is the nature of the
creature. He thinks the seat of the soul is not in
the pineal gland, or any other part of the body, but
in the coat and waistcoat. At all events, the Prince
may be congratulated on having proved in his own
person the falsehood of the cynical saying that no
man is a hero to his own valet. On pondering over
this thrilling and instructive story, we cannot help
thinking that the whole affair was contrived to in-
culcate the profound moral of King Canute upon
modern courtiers. Like Canute, the Prince of
Wales is probably bored to death with adulation and
flattery. He cannot do the simplest thing, like any
other gentleman, without having it blazoned abroad
with all sorts of preposterous exaggerations in news-
papers and little prints which live on such tattle.
He cannot even put his own chimney out in peace.
Sensible of the scandalous absurdity of such views
in those about him, he doubtless kesolved to repeat
the great Canute scene over again, due allowance
being made for the altered spirit of the times. The
sea-shore is not very handy for Marlborough House,
but fire is always pr3curable. As Canute took
water for the medium of his moral, the Prince had
recourse to fire. Every other adjunct was perfect.
The Prime Minister of England and the powerful
chief of the Opposition were present. Two or three 1
of the most illustrious of the Peers were there, while
a body of soldiers and a detachment of the A divi- 1
sion lent an air of severe solemnity to the proceed-
ings. The scene was not quite so imposing as that
of the old story. The notion of an aged monarch,
apparelled in his royal vestments, waving his sceptre
over the grey waters of the everlasting seas, has a
touch of the sublime about it that we can scarcely
discern in the cockloft of Marlborough House. But
the moral was pointed every bit as effectively. The
ancient courtiers saw that the wave would not
retreat at their master's bidding. Their modern
successors were clearly convinced that fire will not
retreat before a prince unless, like other mortals, he
takes off his coat and hands buckets with alacrity,
and that lath and plaster refuse as obstinately to
perform the duty of joists for him as for anybody
else. Let us hope that the lesson will not be thrown
away, and that this ludicrous flunkeyism may be
reduced within somewhat more moderate bounds.
THE " SPECTATOR" ON LORD WESTBURY.—Lord
Westbury's fall was absolutely necessary to vindi-
cate the public morality, but it is a necessity already
regretted, though by no means repented. His very
well-judged and even graceful statement in the
House of Lords on Wednesday will increase that
regret. It is undoubtedly true that in him we have
lost a Lord Chancellor such as for legal capacity,
professional industry, and broad conceptions of law
reform, the country has not had for very many Par-
liaments. As he told the house the other night, he
leaves the appellate jurisdiction of the House of
Lords in a thoroughly satisfactory state, only one
judgment remaining undelivered, and that in a case
in which the argument closed only a few days ago.
In the Court of Chancery there would not,he hoped,
remain at the end of this sitting a single appeal un-
heard or judgment undelivered, and this though
Lord Westbury took a great deal more labour on
his own shoulders than most of his predecessors.
Unquestionably we have sacrificed a great lawyer to
the vindication of our political morality, and no
doubt the end was worth the cost of the sacrifice.
But the sacrifice was costly. In the Judicial Com-
mittee of Privy Council, in the Court of Chancery,
and in the House of Lords, if not also in the Cabi-
net, the loss will be severely felt. Bankruptcy law
reform will be suddenly impeded ; the improvements
in the register of titles to land in England and Ire-
land are already made, but will doubtless need ex-
tension, and find no one in power to take them up
as did Lord Westbury ; and the great work of con-
solidating the statute law will lose its mainspring in
his fall. All these sacrifices must be incurred by
the country because Lord Westbury's great intellect
was not aided by a conscience. Sir Roundell
Palmer could not have been more unfortunate than
in his appeal to the " conscience of the house" to
absolve Lord Westbury. He was the centre of low
intrigues and the vulgar clamour of greedy and
interested men, and lie knew it not—or if lie knew
it, did not believe that it was possible to im-
prove the situation. He rewarded officials for
cheating the country, and put in their places—in
one case at least—nien whom he must have sus-
pected from their antecedents of being quite as
likely to cheat the country as their predecessors.
In short, while lie was improving the process of
the law, he was giving, or acquiescing in giving, a
thoroughly bad tone to its administration and adtni-
, nistrators. And therefore the conscience of the
country, and " the conscience of the house," in spite
of the Attorney-General, demanded his fall. Nor
will it be the least part of the lesson his fall carries
with it, that the country deliberately accepts inferior
powers and poorer services rather than pay for bril-
liant abilities by any sacrifice of public integrity.
Has Lord Westbury's great intellect suffered through
this complete absence from it of anything like moral

feeling and control ? It is obvious of course that his
intellectual influence has suffered by it, not only re-
cently, but throughout hie Chancellorship. Had the
beautiful judgment pronounced in the appeal from
the Court of Arches on " Essays and Reviews" been
delivered by a man of any moral weight and charac-
ter—had it contained in itself, as, of course, coming
from Lord Westbury, it could not contain any inci-
dental touch showing that the judge who gave it
valued that comprehension of our Church in favour
of which he was deciding no less for the sake of
truth itself, than because it was the most fair and
natural interpretation of the law—we believe the
judgment would have been far more widely accepted,
instead of being bitterly repudiated not only by
Conservatives, but by many liberal Churchmen. It
was the assumed cynical basis of the judgment, the
indifference to all truth in which it was believed to
originate, that raised half the outcry against it far
more than the judgment itself. The clergy thought
of him as saying, like the self-centred soul in Ten-
nyson's " Palace of Art,"

"I sit as God, holding no form of creed,
And contemplating all."
And to such a judge of course they demurred.
There can be question at all but that Lord West-
bury has lost infinitely in intellectual influence by
the absence of all moral influence. But influence is
one thing and pure intellect another ; for as it re-
quires a medium—atmosphere, water, what you
please—to conduct sound, which cannot pass
through a vacuum, so it requires something beyond
intellect to give to intellect real social influence.
What little social influence Lord Westbury's great
intellect has is perhaps due to a certain good
nature not inconsistent with a great taste for tram-
pling intellectually on weaker men. It has been
clear throughout the recent transactions that the
Lord Chancellor does habitually shrink from giving
pain wherever he does not forget the pain which
he is giving in the pleasure of a crushing intel-
lectual triumph. And by such good nature no doubt
Lord Westbury has gained a certain small circle of
disinterested admirers, and even a certain degree of
influence for his great intellectual power, which,
however, aao man of equal power ever had to so small
an extent. But the absence of intellectual influence
does not necessarily imply injury to the intellect
itself. Though absolutely insulated, and carrying
no authority with it at all beyond that of the mere
reasons it puts forward, it might still be a great and
lucid intellect without sign of weakness. And such,
as far as we can judge it, Lord Westbury's appears
to be,—breaking down only where it needs the help
of moral feeling to enter into other men's minds, and
interpret the meaning of their otherwise unintel-
ligble controversies and desires. He is stated once
to have said that for the exercise of patronage he is
quite unfit,—that he had almost lived within the
four walls of a court of law, and was quite at sea
when he found himself suddenly transferred to a
great world teeming with rivalries, secret motives,
andintrigues which he did not feel competent to
gauge. And there was, we imagine, some truth in
the statement. Not of course that Lord Westbury's
innocence rendered him unequal to the task, but that
the sort of intellect he has is utterly unfit for dis-
criminating motives and defeating intrigues. It is
not itself sufficiently imbued either with moral feel-
ing, or with that respect for the world's opinion
which takes the place of conscience to light easily
upon the traces of a sinister motive. You must
either have a conscience or a feeling of deference for
social opinion to judge men's purposes quickly and
clearly. Lord Westbury has too little of either. He
has devoted all the resources of his great understand-
ing to a side of law where human nature and its
motives are the last things which demand attention,
—in short, to bringing a very long series of cus-
tomary principles to bear on more or less compli-
cated cases. And he has been successful in his pro-
fession to an extent which makes it almost needless
as a matter of self-interest to consider the feelings
of other men. The result has been an arrogant
intellect of unusual power of process, but by no
means ready in deciphering character and mo-
tive,—one of great power of statement, of
considerable speculative power, but of no political
and moral power. Many great lawyers have
shown themselves indifferent to political principle ;
perhaps the habit of advocacy and of analysing
evidence has led to indifference of this kind. But
no man of anything like the same power ever seemed
so far removed from the play of political and social
interests as Lord Westbury. Throughout his career
in the House of Commons, and in the Peers, his
only real interest has been on questions of law and
law reform. Even party struggles were not of
interest to him, and when he became a Liberal,
after having been a Conservative, probably one
name represented precisely the same state of utter
indifference to the questions usually supposed to be
at issue as the other. Lawyers are seldom keen
politicians, but they almost always enter eagerly for
the time into party struggles. Lord Westbury has
never been one of this kind. His intellect was a
scientific instrument which he kept aloof from the
scenes in which he employed it, and probably the
only great semi-political struggle in which he ever
fought keenly was on a law reform—the Divorce
Act, which he fought hand to hand with Mr. Glad-
stone in 1857. His intellect has always been in
some sense a cynical one, not only in its reckless-
ness of attitude towards its victims, but in its com-
paratively little interest in the battle-fields of human
affairs. It has always been solitary and critical,
and, therefore, excluded from half the intellectual
world—that half which can only be entered on a
level with others, and by virtue of sympathy with
them. He has more speculative than practical
power as a thinker. His mind stands as really
outside the moral and political world of England as
Mr. Disraeli's, but then it is a mind of much more
solid intellectual strength, though equally solitary
and free from the limiting influence of moral con-
victions. lie is, we imagine, much more awake to
purely speculative interests than most politicians.
It is said, for instance, that he takes the profoundest
interest in the Darwinian scientific speculations, to
which ho is much opposed, remarking, " It is im-
possible to conceive that all these creatures come
from the same act of creation ; the true difficulty is
to believe that they come from the same Creator,"
—just one of the old Gnostic difficulties. The
" riddle of the painful earth"—perhaps not painful
to him, but still a riddle—often flashes " through
him as he sits alone,
"Yet not the less held he his cynic mirth
And intellectual throne,"
His fall is the fall from a place of influence,
hazardously held, for a few years, of a great mind
which we shall long miss, and at least intellectually
regret.
THE " LONDON REVIEW" ON THE GAS MONO-
POLY.—When London was first lighted with gas,
now nearly half a century ago, the increase of illu-
mination over that afforded by the old oil-lamps
was so great that people were not unnaturally
astounded, and thought that thenceforth night would
be abolished from our streets. Those of the present
day who are old enough to recollect the former state
of things, still talk with something of youthful fer-
vour about the magnificent radiance cast over our
streets from the orderly rows of lamps, and are so
strongly impressed with the superiority of the exist-
ing arrangement over the earlier that they seem
content to let matters remain where they are. We
of a younger generation, however, are not so well
inclined to take a flattering view of our street illu-
mination. We have no recollection of winking oil-
burners to serve as a dark background to our modern
gas lamps, and we can only consider the latter on
their own merits, and with reference to what we
require for the ordinary needs of life. Thus regarded,
we find—we were going to say a glaring imperfec-
tion, but that would be manifestly incorrect—so we
will merely write, a great and grievous shortcoming.
There can be no doubt that we have not light enough
in our streets, and that we only obtain enough in
our shops, warehouses, and places of public amuse-
ment by going to an expense far beyond what we
ought to be called on to incur. Our great thorough-
fares, after the shops arc closed, show black and
I dismal, and a short-sighted man has to look very
sharply about him to save himself from being run
over—such vehicles as do not carry their own lamps,
which few do, being scarcely distinguishable until
close at hand. It is disgraceful that even to this
day Londoners should have cause to bless themselves
for moonlight nights,which, though they may be no
longer required as a protection against footpads
(except when a garotting fever has possessed the
souls of our ruffians), are certainly useful in saving
us from many a step into an otherwise unseen pud-
dle or mud-bank. And yet we pay enough for our
inadequate gas supply. We pay at the rate of
4s. 6d. per one thousand cubic feet, while Liverpool
only pays 3s. 4d. for gag which, according to the
statement of the Lord Mayor at the Guildhall meet-
ing the other day, is vastly stronger and more effec-
tual. The cheaper gas of the northern city, it
appears, gives for every thousand cubic feet a
light as intense as that supplied by 25 candles,
while the dearer gas of London is only, on the
same measurement, worth nine candles. How
is this ? If it is asserted that the greater proximity
of Liverpool to the coal districts of the north makes
the difference, it is sufficient to answer that iu Ply-
mouth, which is still farther than London from those
districts, the price of gas is only 2s. 9d. the one
thousand cubic feet, and that in most of the large
provincial towns the price is more than 32 per cent.
less than it is here in the metropolis. At Manches-
ter the corporation have taken the manufacture and
supply into their own hands, and they now furnish
the consumer with gas at 2s. 9d. One of the
speakers at the meeting—Mr. Flintoff, who said he'
represented an association consisting of more than
5,000 gas consuniers— entered into some calculations
which, if they were correct, show the egregious rate
at which we are being-overcharged for a bad com-

_
modity. He stated that " One ton of coal, costing
the London companies 145., yielded 9,400 cubic feet
of gas, and that the residual product of this ton of
coal sold for 11s., leaving 3s. as the cost of the raw
material for 9,400 cubic feet of gas, or about 4d.
for one thousand feet." To this, of course, must be
added the cost of labour, plant, and distribution ;
but it is clear that such a charge as 4s. 6d. per thou-
sand cubic feet can have no legitimate warrant in
the expenses of production. The truth is that the
manfacture of gas is a monopoly, and the gas com-
panies charge us pretty well what they please, and
give us a bad commodity to boot. We are starved
in light for the same reason that we are insufficiently
supplied with water—because we are at the mercy
of irresponsible corporations. Fifteen years ago
the Government was obliged to threaten the water
companies that, if they did not serve the public
better, their privileges would be taken away from
them ; and since then matters have somewhat im-
proved, though there is room for considerable fur-
ther improvement. The gas companies must be
similarly frightened, or they will assuredly do no-
thing. The object of the meeting in the City was
to consider the propriety of petitioning Parliament
for the total repeal of the Metropolitan Gas Act of
1860. A resolution to that effect was carried, and
thus one step has been taken towards the removal of
a gross abuse.

,4 THE READER" ON DEATH BY LIGHTNING.—The
time required for a rifle-bullet to pass clean through
a man's head may be roughly estimated at one-
thousandth of a second. Here, therefore, we should
have no room for sensation, and death would be
painless. But there are other actions which far
transcend in rapidity that of the rifle-bullet. A
flash of lightning cleaves a cloud, appearing and
disappearing in less than one-hundred-thousandth
of a sesond, and the velocity of electricity is such as
would carry it over a distance equal to that which
separates the earth and moon in a single second. It
is well known that a luminous impression once made
upon the retina endures for about one-sixth of a
second, and that this is the reason why we see a
ribbon of light when a glowing coal is caused to
pass rapidly through the air. A body illuminated
by an instantaneous flash continues to be seen for
the sixth of a second after the flash has become
extinct ; and if the body thus illuminated be in
motion, it appears at rest at the place which it occu-
pied when the flash fell upon it. The colour-top is
familiar to most of us. By this instrument a disk
with differently-coloured sectors is caused to rotate
rapidly ; the colours blend together, and if they are
chosen in the proportions necessary to form white
light, the disk appears white when the motion is
sufficiently rapid. Such a top, rotating in a dark
room, and illuminated by an electric spark, appears
motionless, each distinct colour being clearly seen.
Professor Dove has found that a flash of lightning
produces the same effect. During a thunder storm
he put a colour-top as a motionless object with
colours distinct. If illuminated solely by a flash of
lightning, the motion of all bodies on the earth's
surface would, as Dove has remarked, appear sus-
pended. A cannon-ball, for example, would have
its flight apparently arrested, and would seem to
hang motionless in space as long as the luminous
impression which revealed the ball remained upon
the eye. If, then, a rifle-bullet move with sufficient
rapidity to destroy life without the interposition of
sensation, much more is a flash of lightning com-
petent to produce this effect. Accordingly, we have
well-authenticated cases of people being struck
senseless by lightning who, on recovery, had no
memory of pain. The following circumstantial case
is described by Hemmer :—On the 30th of June,
1788, a soldier in the neighbourhood of Mann-
heim, being overtaken by rain, placed himself
under a tree, beneath which a woman had
previously taken shelter. He looked upwards to
I see whether the branches were thick enough
to afford the required protection, and, in doing so,
was struck by lightning, and fell senseless to the
earth. The woman at his side experienced the shock
in her foot, but was not struck down. Some hours
afterwards the man revived, but knew nothing about
what had occurred, save the fact of his looking up
at the branches. This was his last act of conscious-
ness, and he passed from the conscious to the uncon-
scious condition without pain. The visible marks of
a lightning stroke are usually insignificant : the hair
is sometimes burnt ; slight wounds are observed,
while, in some instances, a red streak marks the
track of the discharge over the skin. The effects of
a shock of artificial lightning on a gentleman of our
acquaintance, who is very sensitive to the electric
I discharge, may be here described. Under ordinary
! circumstances, the discharge from a small Leyden
jar is exceedingly unpleasant to him. Some time ago
he happened_ to stand in the presence of a numerous
audience, with a battery of fifteen large Leyden jars
charged beside him. Through some awkwardness
on his part, he touched a wire which he had no right
to touch, and this discharge of the battery went
through his body. Here life was absolutely blotted
out for a very sensible interval, without a trace of
' pain. In a second or two consciousness returned ;
the recipient of the shock saw himself in the presence
of his audience and apparatus, and, by the help of
these external facts, immediately concluded that he
had received the battery discharge. His intellectual
consciousness of his position was restored with ex-
ceeding rapidity, but not so his optical consciousness.
To prevent the audience from being alarmed, he
observed that it had often been his desire to receive
accidentally such a shock, and that his wish had at
length been fulfilled. But while making this re-
mark, the appearance which his body presented to
him was that of a number of separate pieces. The
arms, for example, were detached from the trunk,
and seemed suspended in the air. In fact, memory,
and the power of reasoning, appeared to be complete
long before the optic nerve was restored to healthy
action. But what we wish chiefly to dwell upon
here is, the absolute painlessness of the shock ; and
there cannot be a doubt, to a person struck dead by
lightning, the passage from life to death occurs with-
out consciousness being in the least degree impli-
cated. It is an abrupt stoppage of sensation,
unaccompanied by a pang.

POLICE INTELLIGENCE,- July 8,

BOW-STREET.

THE CRUELTIES PRACTISED AT THE THAMES EMBANK-
MENT WORKS.—An investigation took place on Saturday
afternoon before Sir T. Henry, at the instance of Mr. Love,
chief officer of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to
Animals, with reference to several charges against men em-
ployed on the Thames Embankment works, for ill- treating
horses. The cases had excited consideiable interest, atten-
tion having been drawn by recent correspondence in the
newspapers to the constant ill usage of the animals em-
ployed on those works.
James Terry and John Hayter, two carmen employed by
different contractors, wore first charged.
It appeared that numerous complaints having been made
to the society, instructions were given to Mr. Temperley and
Mr. Rutherford, inspectors of the society's constables, to
watch the proceedings at that part of the works opposite to
the Foreign-office. They stationed themselves for the
purpose in the balcony of the Foreign-office. The prisoners
were engaged in conveying cartloads of wet clay to the edge
of the embankment. Tho front off wheel of the cart driven
by Hayter having sunk nearly to the axle in the clay, the
cart became fixed, and all Hayter's efforts to remove it by
tugging at his horse's bridle wore unavailing. Hayter then
called to the other prisoner, who came up with a whip and
commenced flogging the horse most unmercifully. The poor
animal, however, was wholly unable to stir. Tho whip was
produced by Mr. Temperley.
Sir Thomas Henry inquired of Inspector Temporley how
far it was from the spot where this occurred to the balcony
where he and Rutherford were posted.

Inspector Temperloy replied that it was about 30 yards
He could distinctly see what was going on.
Sir Thomas Henry—Why did not you go down and in.
terfere ?

Inspector Temperley—Because they will not allow us to
go upon the works. The cart was ultimately got out of the
rut by the assistance of a chain horse. As Hayter's horse
was being removed from the works he (Mr. Temperley)
went round to the gate to examine it. The poor beast was
marked with four large wheals, and the blood was still
flowing from those wounds, where the lash of the whip
had cut into the flesh. Altogether, apart from these wounds,
the horse was lame in one of the fore legs, and in very
poor condition.
The prisoner Ilayter said the horse would not pull, and
he could not make him pull, so ho called to Terry to come
and help him. They could not move him, and so they got
a chain horse as soon as they could.
Inspector Temperley said that while the prisoners were
trying to got the horse from the rut there were two chain
horses doing nothing.
Inspector Rutherford said the chain horses were supplied
for the purpose, but the men preferred dispensing with
them whenever possible, to save time. They wore paid so
much a load, and therefore time was a material considera-
tion to them. For the same reason they went close to the
embankment, which they had no business to do.
llayter denied these statements. The chain horse was put
on as soon as it had entered the yard. He had no intention of
treating the horse with cruelty. He would promise not to
act in a similar manner again if the magistrate would pass
it over this once.

Sir Thomas Henry inquired who employed the men.

Inspector Rutherford said they were employed by the
contractors, who paid them sixpence for every load they
carted to the works.

Sir Thomas Henry—Then they aro not employed by the
contractors to the works.

Inspector Rutherford— They are not.

Sir Thomas Henry observed that there had unquestion-
ably been great cruelty, arid somebody must be made re-
sponsible for it. In order to sift the matter thoroughly he
must have the masters before him.

After an adjournment for this purpose,
Thomas Evans, cowkeeper ant carman attended, and

stated that Hayter was his servant, and was paid 11 &-
week. Ho was hired to throw the muck, 9s. per day being
paid to witness for the use of the man, horse, and cart. It
was understood thata chainhorse would be supplied by the
contractors to assist when necessary.

llayter said the chain horse was only allowed to help
them up the shoot ; it was then detached, and if they wanted
it again they must go 50 yards or more to fetch it.
Mr. Love explained that the contract was held by Mr.
Furness ; but there were two sub-contractors under hi=
named Connor and Jay. Jay had two shoots in front of
Whitehall, and Connor had one by Hungerford pier. Any
one is allowed to shoot rubbish there on payment of Is. to
the sub-contractor, who provides chain horses to assist,but
no tramway is laid down. It frequently happens that car-
men who have ill-treated their horses disappear, and nover
return to work there. What was wanted in order to remedy
the evil was more horse-power and a tramway, or at least
better roads. Since these proceedings had been taken he be-
lieve great improvements in the roadway had been com-
menced, by laying down bricks, stones, and other hard.
material to fill in the ruts.

Sir Thomas Henry—ls Mr. Jay or Mr. Connor here ?
The foreman of Mr. Jay said it was his duty to superin-
tend the whole of the works in front of Whitehall. There
were always chain horses to assist. No doubt the roads
had been very bad since the lain, but stops were being
taken to improve them.
Sir Thomas Henry—But no steps wore taken till two of
the men had boon apprehended on this charge. I have given
instructions, however, to the inspector of police to have the
works narrowly watched, and the officers of the society
must also have access to the embankment. It is the wish
of the Board of Works, and I am sure it must be also the
wish of the contractors, that this great undertaking shall be.
carried on without cruelty to the poor animals who work
there, and if the good feeling and humanity of the men
will not impel them to do their duty in this respect they
must be compelled to do it by heavy .penalties. A man
guilty of cruelty to a horse was not only liable to a heavy
pecuniary penalty, but might be committed for two months
without a fine ; and for causing or allowing cruelty the
employer was amenable to the same punishment. He men-
tioned this to show the employers to what consequences
they exposed themselves if they did not take care to pre-
vent their men from behaving in this manner. He should
adjourn the cases for a fortnight to see how they went on
in the meanwhile.

Inspector Baldy said that since these proceedings had
been commenced active steps had been taken to improve
the roads. On Friday night and this (Saturday) morning
men had been constantlyemployed in filling up the ruts, &c.

Sir T. Henry—l am very pleased to hear that, and hope
there may bo no more cause to complain. As we have no
desire to press hardly upon the men, I shall be willing to
liberate them upon their own recognisances.

WANDSWORTH.—CONVICTION OF THE EARL OF WINCHrL-
SEA FOR SMOKING HIS ClGAR.—Saturday morning was
appointed for the hearing of the second summons against
the Earl of .Winchilsea and Nottingham for smoking a.
cigar on the platform of the Vauxhall Railway Station,
contrary to the bye-laws of the South-Western Railway
Company.
Mr. Crombie again attended in support of the summons.
On this occasion the earl attended, with Mr. Metcalfe, the
barrister, who defended him.
Before the case was gone into Mr. Metcalfe said he was
instructed to state by the earl that although he was not
present on the first day he had no intention to annoy the
magistrate.
_

Mr. Dayman said the earl had explained his absence in
a letter. Ile was at Stockbridge Itt the time.
Mr. Metcalfe said he wished it to be thoroughly under-
stood that the earl intended to bow to the legal tribunal.
Mr. Thompson, the station-master, at Vauxhall, was
called to prove the case, which occurred on the 7th ult. He
said the earl refused to desist, and pointed to an engine,
and asked him to take notice that there were coals on it.
Mr. Metcalfe—lnstead of coke ? The engine was smok-
ing, contrary to the bye-laws. (Laughter.)
In answer to questions by Mr. Metcalfe, the station-
master and porter showed that persons were in the habit of
smoking at the platform, but they always checked it. The
parties invariably desisted. Whenever they refused they
were reported.
Mr. Metcalfe then endeavoured to show that smoking was
tolerated at Waterloo Station in open day, at other stations,
and in carriages on the line. The earl did not deny
that he smoked, but he complained that the practice was
systematically allowed. If the company intended to en-
force their bye-laws then they should issue a notice to that
effect.

Mr. Dayman said the company proceeded against smokers
as much as they could, and he thought much of the practice
was owing to the laxity of station-masters. He then fined
the earl 10s. and 2s. costs, as he did not think the offence so
great as the smoking in carriages.
The money was immediately paid.