The Sun.
London, England, 1865-02-01 00:00:00

Dir. RUNCIEMAN belongs, it appears quite compe

tent for a person in the condition of Mrs. JENNINGS
to be admitted. It had been asked by a juror as to
whether or not he had the powet to admit the
woman into the asylum ; Mr. RUNCIEMAN replied
that it was quite optional with him to do so or not.
The verdict returned by the jury was an excellent
one, and more satisfactory than often met with in
such cases. After stating the preliminaries of the
case, it concluded with the following impressive ad-
denda : that the " jury say that Mr. RUNCIEMAN,
relieving officer of Bethnal-green, was open to
grave censure for his conduct in the matter." Such
a reproof did not suit the polite ears of Mr. RuN-
ciEmAx, who called out in an impudent manner,
that the verdict would not do him any harm. It
really seems impossible to influence some persons
by any any mode of censure or argument. Here
was a flagrant case of non-fulfilment of duty by a
man in a responsible position, and yet he appeared
quite callous to the consequences of his neglect, and
only intent upon contradicting in the rudest manner
all who made any statements which he did not like.
It is certainly very extraordinary that he should
have heard just enough from JENNINGS to
allow him to refuse the request, and yet
no one important item which showed the necessity
of the case and the urgent character of the appeal.
It really looks as if his wish was father to his deaf-
ness, for had he been so entirely ignorant as he pro-
fessed to be, he would have expressed regret before

the jury, instead of indulging in vituperative vio-
lence. The question which suggests itself to our
notice after reading such a statement is, How long
is this state of things to be suffered to continue—
how long are Jacks-in-office to be allowed to bully
the poor and to oppress the weak, to turn the
starving into the streets, and teach misery there is a
deeper degradation than any that want and suffer-
ing can inflict—the oneers and contempt o unfeel-

ing officials ? The proof of the veracity of the lines
that assert that "vain man, dressed in brief authority,
plays such fantastic tricks before Heaven as make
the angels weep," is never better exemplified than in
the dealing of so-called relieving-officers with the
wretched beings who come to them for succour. Of
course there are exceptions, but too often is it shown
what needless harshness and what overbearing
assumption distinguish the conduct of these officials.
They are greatly to blame, but a share of their
wrongdoings will lie at the door of those in autho-
rity if they do not at once peremptorily insist upon
a change that will put a stop to those unseemly
occurrences which are constantly reported. When
they have done so it will only be an act of simple
justice that they render, and it is no extraordinary
one that is asked at their hands. The chief danger
to society now is the anxiety to get rich, and the
chief reproach that really respectable people deserve
as a class is their contempt for poverty. Vice can
hide itself in showy attire, but-the rags of poverty
mark it out to be hunted ruthlessly down until
the worst stage of penury is reached, that which
compels the sufferer to seek the sad relief of parish
assistance.

LITERATURE.

Charles Dickens's New Serial Story.

Our Mutual Friend. By Charles Dickens. No. 10.
Chapman and Hall.

Half of the story of Our Mutual Friend has now
been told. And yet—upon closing this tenth num-
ber (ending at once the' second book and the first
volume of the serial)—we have not, to this moment,
the merest glimmering ghost of a notion as to the pat-
tern into which all these numerous and complicated
threads of the narrative will be found to have been
woven, by the period of the work's completion, nine
months hence. Looking at it, now, at this inter-
mediate stage of its artistic fabrication, we are still,
as we acknowledged ourselves to have been
last month, fairly baffled—even when striving
to penetrate the carefully-secreted design of the
author by means of our very shrewdest conjectures.
Continuing still, for a moment, our little illustrative
figure of speech about the tapestry, we would say
that, to our view, there is often no apparent con-
nection whatever between the devices woven by
means of several of the principal threads in this
marvellously variegated narrative ! For, in very
*truth, " Our Mutual Friend," as it appears to us,
really has this distinctive peculiarity about it, among
others—that instead of being furnished, as usual,
with one thread only, it has many threads ! Several
of the chief among these, having apparently little, if
anything, to do with one another. The silver thread
of Lizzie Hexam's fortunes and; the golden one of the
fortunes of Eugene Wrayburn, it is true, cross and
recross each other repeatedly. There is an appre-
ciable connection ,moreover, among the more fine-spun
threads of the distinctly conventional and artificial

lives here delineated—the brazen Podsnap thread, let
us say, and the lacquered Veneering thread—the
gingerous Lammle thread, and the vague, neutral-
tinted greyish threa,d of the Twemlow interest. But the
dark, sombre thread of the history of the poor drowned
" Bird of Prey," and the grimy, blood-tinged thread
of the " Honest Man," similarly a Bird of Prey,
too, even, for that matter, once upon a time, it
should be said, Gaffer Hexam's partner in that
horrible river-side trade—appear to have nothing
whatever to do with the Tippins thread, the Riah
thread, or the Wilfer thread, any more than with

the threads of the histories of the Doll's Dressmaker,
of Lawyer Lightwood, of Schoolmaster Headstone,
or with those of Boots and Brewer, let us say, of

the Boffins, Fledgeby, Wegg, Betty Higden, Love,
Sloppy, and all the rest of them ! The mere enu-
meration, thus, of the names of these wonderfully
various characters, will serve to mark, not merely
what we have been just now saying in regard to the
complicated diversity of the materials of the plot,
but the extraordinari diversity also of the original
characters introduceTto us'in " Our Mutual Friend."

As a creator of character, Mr. Dickens might have
his panegyric written, it has occurred to us before
now, perhaps the most forcibly, certainly in a manner
quite unanswerable, by putting on record one after
another a mere catalogue of the names of his prin-
cipal characters—grouping them together simply
under the titles of his famous books. As, for
example—

CO R FmAul EgrirLn.aDeAh:fiiaea_
MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT.
Mr. Pecksniff, I Montague Tigg,
Mrs. Gamp, I Baily Junior,
Tom Pinch, M. 'lodgers,
Mark Tapley, &c., &c., &c.
Or, let us say again—
DAVIDAunt Betsy, •
heap,
Steerforth, Mr. Peggotty,
Steerforth,
Traddles, I &c., &c., &c.
Enumerating, under the head of The Pickwick
Papers—Sam Weller, Mr. Pickwick, Old Weller,
Bob Sawyer, Mr. Winkle, The Fat Boy, Jingle,
&c.
SampsonerßTrakses,OlLditetlue rosity Shop—Dick Swiveller,
Nell,
Daniel Quilp, The
Marchioness, Kit, Whisker, &c. And so on—work
after work ! The mere names—suggestive, they ,as
are, of the extraordinary variety of original cha-
racters created by our great Novelist—the mere
names, we repeat, form a panegyric, and about the
best panegyric of all, upon the rare and perfectly
exceptional genius of Charles Dickens as an imagi-
native author. Some such panegyric we have but just
now, casually and quite undesignedly, pronounced
upon the last of his serial fictions, the one now in
course of publication, and of which only one-half
has yet been issued from the press. Nevertheless,
although " Our Mutual Friend" is at this moment
merely half-finished—what characters has not
our author therein added to
.his already
crowded gathering of living, speaking por-
traits--The Boz Gallery, as we may call it !
Eugene Wrayburn, to begin with—and Sloppy,
and Lizzie Hexam, the Veneerings, the representa-
tives of PodsnapperY, the Boffins, the Wilfers, the
Literary Man with a wooden leg, the love-lore
articulator of Skeletons, Betty Higden, Johnny,
Bradley Headstone, Riderhood, Jenny Wren, &c.
Turning to this present number of " Our Mutual
Friend," however—the one, as we have said, com-
pleting the first volume—the opening chapter of
the instalment recounts, first of all, a walk and
talk that Harmon, Handford, Rokesmith (how
shall we call him ?) has with R. W., who likens
himself, oddly, to one of the African Kings, King
Bill, or King Boy, or what not, dressed in a uni-
form coat, with his legs in the sleeves, or something
of that kind ! Later on in the same chapter we
learn how dear old Betty Higden " runs away" from
Sloppy ! And how Noddy Boffin " lets out," in a
burst of good-humoured indignation, upon those Pa-
trons and Patronesses whose bounties in that capa-
city (merely as Patrons and Patronesses) are so very
plentifully advertised in the public newspapers--
Mr. Boffin remonstratively insisting that " they
ain't Pills, or Hair Washes, or Invigorating Ner-
vous Essences to be puffed inithat way !" In the next
chapter Bradley
Headstone " has it out" (fiercely
enough) with poor Lizzie Hexam, in a little paved
court by a churchyard (deep in the very heart of the
city) where the tombstones are wonderfully described
by Mr. Dickens
"droopingly inclined from the
perpendicular as if they were ashamed of the lies they
told !" Out of this explanation (of mingled love and
hatred), we hardly know which of the two comes
forth to view the more detestably, Mr. Headstone
or the boy Charley. The last chapter of the
number,bringing the first volume, as has been said,
to an end, is full of keen, trenchant, scarifying
strokes of wit,
in the further delineation of those
worldly haunts at the West-end—in it but not of
it—peopled by creatures like the Lammles, the
Podsnaps,and the Veneerings.

THEATRE ROYAL, ADELPHL—We regret to an-
nounce that in consequence of a severe cold Miss Bateman
cannot, for this evening at least, appear as Julia in " The
Hunchback." The intimation of this fact in our columns
may just possibly prevent some disappointment.

Your card if you please. 50 Printed from plate,
Is. 6d. (post free). No charge for stamping envelopes or
paper. Colour stamping reduced to ls. per_loo. Alvratra
GitarmEß, 3087 High itolborD, W.C.

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAM.)

AMERICA.
ARRIVAL OF THE NOVA SCOTIAN.

(Via Greencastle.)

NEW YORK, JAN. 20 (Evening).

Advises from Port Royal confirm the news of the
capture of Pocataglio Bridge, with 12 guns, on the
14th inst. The Federal loss was small. The Con-
federates evacuated Pocataglio during the night,
and retreated to Asheroo, in the direction of
Charleston. It was expected that they would
make a stand at Asheroo.

The monitor Patapsco has been destroyed off
Charleston, while on picket duty, by several torpe-
does. Fifty of the crew were drowned.
Richmond papers reiterate the report that
Breckenridge has been appointed Secretary of War.
Contradictory reports are current at Washington
concerning Mr. Blair's movements. Some corres-
pondents still assert that he has returned to Rich-
mond.

Mr. Stanton announces that the cotton captured
at Savannah has been transferred to a Treasury
agent for shipment.

The Richmond Examiner thinks that the capture
of Wilmington is not a necessary but a probable
consequence of the fall of Fort Fisher, and urges
the burning of all cotton in Wilmington.
The same paper, in criticising the fall of Fort
Fisher, assails President Davis's management of
affairs, and declares that the struggle must con-
tinue, neither Northern compromise nor Southern
submission being possible. A change of men has
become a public necessity. It further urges the
call of a convention in Virginia, the reform of mili-
tary and civil affairs in the South, and an end of
the present misrule.
The tone of the Southern reports, although re-
garding the situation unfaviourably, shows no dis-
position to relinquish the struggle.
In the Confederate Congress Mr. Orr, of Missis-
sippi, complained of an article in the Richmond
Sentinel denouncing as treasonable the resolutions
said to have been passed by Congress in secret
session to send commissioners to Washington.
Mr. Orr denied that treasonable resolutions had
been passed. The peace movement was not in the
hands of time-serving men, but of men determined
that in some form the statesmanship of the country
should be invoked to end the carnival of death by

negociation.

COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.

Money easy. Gold and Stocks excited. Gold
declined this morning to 99, but subsequently rose

to 106. Exchange on London, 2251 ; on Paris,
2121. Stocks depressed. New York Centrals, 108 ;
1141 ex-dividend ; Erie, 71i, 5.20 ; United
States Bonds, 1081.

NEW YORK, JAN'. 21 (Morning)

Admiral Porter reports from Wilmington on the
16th that the rebels destroyed the works on Smith's
Island. He says that, "if they do not destroy Fort
Caswell, as it is of no use to them, we shall get it
after a little while." He declares that the Malakoff
would not compare in size and strength to Fort
Fisher.

The New York Tribune asserts that the 'Con-
!ederates are contemplating another extensive raid

'rom Canada.

No one is authorised to say that terms could not
be made with the North without abolition and re-
construction. The South could make it the interest
of the Federal Government to recognise the South
as an independent people, without inN olving either
slavery or reconstruction. It was not treasonable
to resort to efforts to restore peace by negotiation.

The Federal Navy Department designs establish-
ing an European squadron under the command of
Admiral Goldsborough. The Brazil and East India
squadron is to be largely increased.

The Tennessee State Convention has unanimously
passed a resolution declaring slavery for ever
abolished, and prohibiting it throughout the State.
The Convention also adopted a resolution pro-
hibiting the Legislature from recognising property in
man, and forbidding it requiring compensation to
be made to owners of slaves. A resolution was also
adopted abrogating the declaration of State inde-
pendence and military league made with the Southern
Confederacy in 1861, and all laws and ordinances
passed in pursuance thereof.
All officers appointed by the acting Governor
since his accession to office, were confirmed. The
propositions of the Convention are to be submitted
to the people for ratification on the 22d February,
and on the 4th of March an election will be held
for Governor and members of the Legislature.
Nearly 300 delegates participated in the proceed-
ings, and the greatest harmony prevailed.
Parson Brownlow was unanimously chosen for
Governor.

NEW YORK, JAN. 21, 2 p.m.

Mr. Blair has proceeded to City Point in a
Government steamer for another visit to Richmond.

Admiral Porter reports that his gunboats at
Wilmington have hermetically sealed the river
against blockade runners.

It is rumoured that the Confederates have blown
up Fort Casswell, at the entrance of the Cape Fear

River.

The gunboats are preparing to advance agains
Wilmington.

The anticipations of early peace, together with
the successful military operations, have caused
heavy decline in gold and stocks.

NEW YORK, JAN. 21 (Morning).

Thomas and Hardee, with 20,000 men, are re-
ported to be in a strong position 20 miles above
Hardeeville on the Savannah river. Federal tran-
sports have ascended the river, carrying troops in
that direction.
Augusta papers assert that Johnston has been
reinstated in the command of the army of the West.
President Davis has written a letter to the Presi-
dent of the Georgia Senate opposing separate State
action for peace. He says that the Confederate
Constitution provided the only practicable mode for
the negotiation of peace. The difficulty is not to
find an agency to negotiate peace : the obstacle is
that the enemy will not treat at all or entertain
other propositions than that the South should sub-
mit to acknowledge themselves criminals and sue
for pardon.

The Confederate House of Representatives have
appointed a committee to prepare an address to the
Southern people assuring them of tile unalterable
determination of the Congress to continue the
struggle for independence.
The House of Representatives have passed an
amendatory loan bill reported from the Committee
of Ways and Means to issue legal tenders restricted
to the amount authorised by the previous Act.
The City of Baltimore has arrived out.

NEW YORK, JAN. 21 (Evening).

Money easy. Gold, 2031. Exchange on Lon-
don, 2251 ; on Paris, 2121. Stocks lower. New
York Central, 1071 ; Illinois, 113/ ex-dividend;
Erie, 70i ; 5.20 United States Bonds, 1081. Cotton
declining. Middling Upland, 98. Flour, wheat,
corn, and proyi§ion§ declining. Coffee heavy. Sugar