The Sun.
London, England, 1865-05-12 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, MAY 12, 1865.

It has been found necessary to adjourn the debate
*on the Union Chargeability Bill, in consequence of
the objections which it met with in its course, but
it is to be trusted that on Monday it will be defini-
tively settled, since it promises to remove obstacles,
and to progress in a way that has long been needed.
Mr. C. VILLIERS explained the necessity that existed
for this measure being passed, and the difficulties
that impeded the present working of the system.
He said that it was proposed to " facilitate in cer-
tain cases the alteration of the limits of existing
unions," but he showed that it was no easy
matter to do so, and if such a course were
sanctioned, there would be no end to the changes
made in the original plan. If the rural parishes
are separated from the towns, the parochial system
will be virtually destroyed. It is also true what Mr.
VILLIERS said, that by the time this change is
effected the rural districts will begin disputing
among themselves, and consider if some do not pay
more than others. The poor will be driven from the
country to the towns, and considerable confusion will
arise. The right hon. gentleman showed that the
instructions that were proposed to be given to the
committee would not be conducive in the end to
desirable results. One thing is certain, and that is,
that all charges, whether of a remedial nature or
not, must displease some persons. There are sure
to be found many who discover flaws in the affair,
and denounce the new system in part or as a whole.
The real question, then, for legislators to decide upon
in all their alterations is, whether or not the pro-
posed plans do not possess advantages which will in
the end outweigh the disadvantages alluded to. It
may fairly be said that Mr. VILLIERS succeeded in
showing that his Bill promised to secure decided
benefits to the community, and to do away with
some existing evils that greatly militate against the
comfort and convenience of those concerned. At
the same time, there can be no doubt that great care
and caution should be exercised in the working out
of the Bill ; and Sir J. PAKINGTON gave very wise
counsel when he said that as the extension of the
area of rating must necessarily cause changes in the
incidence of taxation, " it was therefore the duty of
the right hon. gentleman to do everything in his
power towards making the change operate as lightly
as possible." One of the chief advantages of the
proposed scheme is, that it will benefit the position
of the labourers, which has so long called for altera-
tion in many respects, especially as to the Law of
Settlement. It is not at all likely that the fears of
those who urge objections to this measure
will prove to bo well founded, or that even-
tually there will be any cause to regret
this measure of Union Chargeability becoming law.
It will be well, if when the debate is resumed on
MOnday, more moderation be observed on both sides,
if those who oppose the question will waive all
frivolous objections, and confine themselves to the
expression of the real grievances which they suppose
will obstruct the working of the scheme. It will be
desirable, also, that the promoters of the Bill ex-
hibit
a less captious spirit of criticising the language
of the dissentients, and endeavour to smooth away
difficulties instead of obstinately sticking to trifles
as if they were integral portions of the affair. Mr.
VILLIERS did no service to his cause by quoting
a passage from an article on the Poor Law by Sir
EDMUND
HEAD, which suited his views, and to
omit that portion of the opinion which did not suit
his views. On the whole the debate of last night
was a factious one, which did little credit to either
side, and did not in the end even succeed in dis-
posing of the subject under discussion.

It is not surprising that the New York papers
should be full of the details of the capture and
That miserable man has
death of WILKES BOOTH.
attained such an unenviable notoriety, not Only on
the American Continent, but all over Europe, that
all the particulars of his last moments are invested
with an unusual degree of interest. At the same
time, the more we learn of the affair the more un-
satisfactory it seems. There appears to be no rea-
sonable doubt that Boom was actually the assassin
of the President, and that consequently, by what-
ever motive he was actuated, whether by individual
fanaticism or party feeling, whether moved by per-
sonal malice, or anxious only to obtain the rewards
of others less daring though not more
scrupulous, he richly deserved his fate. But it is
most unsatisfactory that when so much importance

was attached to discovering the instigators of the
act the criminal should have been so effectually
silenced, without the chance of an official inquiry.
It is alleged, in excuse for the slaying of Boom,
that the man was desperate and would not surren-
der, but circumstances seem to have especially
favoured the captors, seeing that he was in a barn
which they were able completely to surround, and
thus to prevent any chance of escape. He was
armed, it is true, but it hardly became a band of
soldiers to shrink from the risk of one man's gun. If
the Federals were really anxious to discover the truth
it ought to have been a primary object to secure
BOOTH alive. Whether the pursuers exceeded their
orders in their eagerness to gain the promised reward
for the capture, whether the man who fired the shot
was anxious for special notoriety, or whether it was
merely the result of accident, may be doubted. The
sergeant who killed BOOTH is being lionised in New
York, and a thousand dollars, it is said, has been
offered for the gun that shot the assassin ; but in
reality the sergeant deserves neither praise nor fame.
There is nothing very heroic in shooting a man
in a barn, nor is any great exercise of skill
demanded by such a feat. It is the more to be re-
gretted, because it gives rise to the darker suspicion
that a certain party in the North, who is anxious to
affix to the Southern cause the stain of the crime, is
not sorry to prevent a legal examination which
might completely exonerate the leaders of the Con-
federacy. Mr. STANTON, indeed, may assert that
he has " positive information" as to the complicity
of the Richmond authorities in the crime, but these
reiterated statements do not produce much effect in
Europe whatever they may do in New York. We
have heard of this information ever since the death
of the President, but no evidence whatever in sup-
port of it has been yet forthcoming. The active
imagination of Federal statesmen has before this
given us intelligence of uncertain character, and
Mr. STANToN's war despatches have been known
before now to collapse after a marvellous fashion.
No one who has watched the conduct of the South-
ern leaders throughout the trying period of the war,
the invasion of their country, the destruction of
their property by hostile armies, could for a moment
attribute to them complicity in such a detestable
crime. The act, too, which put JOHNSON and
STANTON in the places of LINCOLN and SEWARD
would have been as suicidal as it was treacherous and
cowardly. Mr. STANTON forgets that in displaying
such implacable hostility to the South he is himself
supplying an argument against his own assertions.
Besides the horror which all honourable men must
feel at the murder, and the natural indignation at
being accused of a pre-knowledge of the crime, the
Southern leaders have good cause to regret the re-
moval of ABRAHAM LINCOLN from the supreme
place in the Federal Councils. The few words
which the late President uttered after the fall of
Richmond pointed to moderation and prudence
rather than to violence and malignity, but all the
public addresses and writings of Messrs. JOHNSON
and STANTON tend to increase instead of allaying
the popular excitement. The fruits of this mis-
taken policy may be seen in the treatment of Mr.
INGERSOLL, a gentleman of supposed Secessionist
tendencies, who was mobbed in Philadelphia on
account of a speech made in New York. He was
with difficulty rescued by the police, after being
compelled to draw his revolver in self-defence,
although he did not fire it ; but was charged with
assault and intent to kill, and was locked up, the
crowd threatening to lynch him. If this is political
freedom, it is of rather a novel sort ! Nor is this the
only case, for other,,Northern gentlemen, who are
too independent to abandon their convictions as to
the rights of States at the bidding of the mob, have
been threatened with personal violence. If this
state of things is to be suffered to continue we
shall have democratic tyranny in one of its worst
forms reigning supreme in the States, and every
lover of liberty will deplore so disastrous a conclu-
sion to the great Republic of the West.
Meanwhile, Mr. STANTON'S reckless assertions
have called forth an indignant rejoinder from
General EDWIN LEE, of the Confederate army.
This officer has addressed a letter to the editor of
the Montreal Gazette, in which he states that,
although thinking it beneath the dignity of a
Government or its subordinates to notice slander,
he feels that, being outside both Federal
and Confederate lines, he is qualified to speak. The
passage which has especially excited his indignation
is one that has already called forth unfavourable
comment in this country. In Mr. STANTON'S official
despatch of April 24 he says, " This department
has information that the PRESIDENT'S murder was
organised in Canada and approved at Richmond.
One of the assassins, now in prison, who attempted
to kill Mr. SEWARD, is believed to be one of the St.
Albans raiders." In referring to this paragraph,
General EDWIN LEE declares his conviction that
the officials of the Confederate Government, with
whom he was in frequent communication, " were as
little promoters of the murder as Secretary STAN-
TON or Vice-President JomisoN." He expresses
his wonder how Mr. STANTON , who knows many of
the leading members of the Confederacy personally,
should " lend himself to this low slander when he
must have known it to be such. In denying it
indignantly, contemptuously, I fear, that I am even
in my own humble person condescending too far ;
but I think this despatch should not go uncontradicted
to the world, although, perhaps, our past record
would have been its best rebuke." This is the
natural language of a high-spirited and honourable
man, who feels his cause and his country aggrieved
by such a slander; and we cannot but regret that
Mr. STANTON should have been so carried away by
party feeling as to allow himself to make such a
statement officially. At least, if he is a man of
honour, he cannot refuse General EDWIN LEE'S
challenge. "If he has any proofs let the world
have them, and judge between the two
Governments." If the so-called " information"
is withheld from the public, Europe, as well as
America, will know what to think.

At the Conservative demonstration at Tunbridge
Wells some interesting speeches were made, and
the general state of politics at present ably dis-
cussed. The Hon. R. C. ABBOTT, the Conservative
candidate for the next election, spoke out very
forciblj, and denounced the course pursued by the
present Government in acting upon no fixed prin-
ciples, and in declaring that there was no real dif-
ference of opinion between them and their oppo-
nents. The hon. gentleman quoted some lines
which were very appropriate in connection with the
tactics of Ministers with regard to reform :

" I am forced to confess I have no predilections,

My heart is a sieve where some scattered affections
Are just danced about for a moment or so, _ _

And the finer they are the more sure to fall through."
As for their foreign policy Mr. ABBOTT declared that
the Government took credit to themselves for their
non-intervention and for their support of the cause
of freedom, but failed to reconcile the two in a
satisfactory sense to the country. When diplomacy
failed to effect any good for Poland and [Denmark
they abandoned these countries to their fate in a
manner that was very discreditable and very
inimical to the feelings of the country. Most truly
did the hon. gentleman declare that the principle
of non-intervention was the correct one for this
country,. but if there ever was a case for foreign in.

tervention it was that of Denmark." Certainly
the Ministers have played their cards very
badly in the matter of foreign affairs, for it
is a never-ceasing subject of reproach to them, and
as time passes on we can only the more fully under-
stand and completely appreciate the errors of judg-
ment into which they have fallen, and the unworthy
position which they have made the country assume
in consequence. Mr. BURRELL, in the course of his
remarks, very skilfully showed up the game of the
Government which they would probably play at
the next election. They have given up Reform
while they had the opportunity afforded them of
disposing of it, as they want to hold it out as a
grand catch to the electors. This, Mr. BURRELL
said, was a most unworthy course to pursue, and he
trusted that the electors would not be taken in by
it. He would not, he said, for he believed Dr.

JOHNSON was quite right when he said the devil
was the first Whig. On the whole, a good
humoured tone pervaded this meeting, and it is
desirable that all sides should have an opportunity
of expressing their opinions at such a critical junc-
ture as the eve of a general election. Perhaps if
more care had been taken on similar occasions be-
fore we should not now have to lament the results
of the mistakes that have been made, and the false
promises that have been held out to the country.

BANK OF FRANCE.

PARIS, MAY 11.

The following is the return of the Bank of France
for the week ending to-day, together with the cor-
responding figures of the previous account :

DEBTOR.

May 11.

May 4.

fr. c. fr. - c.
Capital of the Bank.... 182,500,000 182,500,000
Profits in addition to
capital (Art. 8, Law,
June 9, 1857) 7,043,831 81 7,043,799 16
Reserve of the Bank
and its branches 22,105,750 14 22,105,750 14
Reserve in landed pro-
perty 4,000,000 4,000,000
Notes in circulation .
Banknotes to order and
receipts payable at
sight 8,694,704 87 7,330,414 13
Treasury account cur-
rent creditor
Current accounts, Paris 137,402,764 81 141,051,928 78
Do. branch banks
Dividends payable 833,214 75 881,924 75
Discounts and sundry
interests ' • 10,955,319 65 10,531,014 67
Rediscounted the last
six months 2,789,444 05 2,789,444 05
Sundries 12,649,315 22 15,663,008 98

Total

CREDITOR.
May 11.
Cash in hand and in fr. C.

May 4.
fr. c.

Branch banks
Commercial bills over-
due
Commercial bills dis-

counted, not yet due 250,587,488 87 266,419,110 21
Do. branch banks 272,865,588 275,026,658
Advances on deposit of
bullion 29,455,596 35 25,223,596 35
Do. branch banks 6,066,795 4,862,095
Do. on French Public

Securities 14,297,300 14,785,400
Do. by branch banks 10,344950 9,362,950
Do. on railway shares
and debentures
D. branch banks 18,701,150 18,496,450
Do. on Credit Foncier
Bonds
Do. branches
Do. to the State (Con-
vention, June 10,
1857) 60,000,000 60,000,000
Government Stock re-

serve 12,980,750 14 12,980,750 14
Do. disposable
Rentes Immobalisees

(Law, June 2, 1857) 100,000,000 100,000,000
Hotel and furniture of
the Bank and landed
property branches 8,489,265 8,489,165
Expenses of manage-
ment 1,439,942 63 1,422,567 23
Sundries

Total 1,325,291,982 74 1,324,538,625 38

Certified by the Senator Governor of the Bank of France,
ROULAND.

SCIENTIFIC MISCELLANIES, by T. Seymour Burt,
Esq., F.R.S.—or, at any rate, Part 2 of Vol. 111.
of such effusions, under the title of " Miscellaneous
Papers on Scientific Subjects"—we have very re-
cently received and turned over with some degree
of curiosity. Mere enquiries, or hints, or casual
suggestions though they are, for the most part, they
are, nevertheless for all that, eminently worthy of
examination. They will repay any thoughtful reader's
perusal. And they will do so purely by reason of their
unquestionable originality. They are seeds dropped
by the way from the hand of a keen and a very
close observer. They are evidences, quite unmis-
takeable in their distinctness, of his having been en-
dowed with a most inquiring mind. In order to
recognise this, almost upon the instant, it is only
necessary to glance through the contents of this
mere fragmentary section or instalment of the third
volume of Mr. Seymour Burt's " Scientific Miscel-
lanies." We find him therein not only jotting
down terse and sententious memoranda, illustrative
in a very novel way, indeed, of statics, of geometry,
and so forth—but striving one while to proffer
some satisfactory solution of the problem as to -why
the magnetic needle points to the North, and
another time endeavouring to hit upon some effec-
tual means for fixing the prismatic colours photo-
graphically. Hardly anything is too mean to escape
his notice, as where (p. 143) he throws out a notion
about Planks for Crossing Wet Ditches, or parti-
cularises (p. 141) several localities, in town or about
town, more especially noticeable for their bad
drainage. When he relates his plan for abolishing
vents in heavy ordnance, by the way, we could almost
persuade ourselves that we are listening to Uncle
Toby, our author is so heartily in earnest, and rides
away so bravely on the hobby he has mounted for
the nonce. He is evidently an original—almost
(we could conjecture) what is familiarly known as a
character.

THE SAILORS' HOME.—The annual meeting of the
Sailors' Nome, Well-street, London Docks, took
place yesterday in the dining-hall of the institution. Ad-
miral Bowles presided. Capt. Webb, R.N., the secretary,
read the 30th report of the board of directors. It stated
that, although the original building contained 328 sleeping
berths, so great was the pressure for admission in 1863 that
the directors had no option but to allow the Home to remain
in a condition quite inadequate to the demands upon its re-
sources, or otherwise provide additional accommodation
by expending all the funded property, and further incur
considerable debt in the undertaking. They chose the latter
alternative ; and it was with much satisfaction they in-
forraedthe ir friends that the Prince of Wales had consented
to open the new additional building, which was commenced
under the auspices of Lord Palmerston in August, 1863. The
new building would give 174 additional beds, including
special and separate accommodation for the officers of the
mercantile marine, making in the aggregate sleeping ac-
commodation for 502 persons. The directors gratefully
accepted, as a recognition of the consideration to which
the scheme was entitled, contributions in aid of the
building fund amounting to £4,741, which, with.the sum
of £9,419 transferred from the funds to the institution,
made a total of £14,160. The expenditure was £13,508,
which, with liabilities for extra work, furniture, and fit-
tings, left a deficit of £3,518. The directors were led to
hope that a Christian public would acknowledge the debt
as their own. The report alluded to other benefits in which
the sailors who had passed through the Home had partici-
pated. Admiral Sir R. Mundy moved the adoption of the
report, and expressed the interest which they all must take
in the success of so noble an institution. Capt. A. Chapman,
H.C.S., seconded the resolution. Capt. the Hon. F. Maude,
R.N., moved that the thanks of the meeting be tendered to
the Prince of Wales for his gracious action in condescend-
ing to open the new building in extension of the Sailors'
Home, and also to those benevolent friends who have co-
operated in giving effect to the measure of enlargement, and
that the meeting further considered that another appeal
should be made to the public for assists nce to meet the debt
incurred. On the occasion of his royal highness's visit to
the Home on Monday week to open the new building, they
would not lose the opportunity of tendering their acknow-
ledgment to the Prince for his kindness in attending the
ceremony. Admiral Barnett secondeth the resolution, which
was carried. Capt. Littlehale, R.N., havinga proposed, and
Mr. G. Arbuthnot seconded, the re-election of the directors,
Admiral Buckle moved a vote of thanks to the frionds of the
institution, and to those ladies who so materially support
the Destitute Sailors' Asylum by their valuable contribu-
tions of warm clothing. The motion, being seconded by
Mr. A. D. Chapman, was carried. The usual vote of thanks
to the chairman closed the proceodings.
THE ATTEMPTED MURDER AND SUICIDE IN THE
HACKNEY-ROAD.—Yosterday morning' the wife of Moratti
the Italia; was visited by the chief clerk of the Thames
Police-court, at the London Hospital, who took her depo-
sitions. Both she and Moratti are iu sinking state.