The Sun.
London, England, 1865-12-20 00:00:00

LONDON, WEDNESDAY, DEC. 20, 1865.

A memorial has been presentedtoMr. CARDWELL I
Which is well worthy of consideration, and is indeed I
most welcome to contemplate after the violent de-
nunciatory compilations which have been received •
in that quarter. It is always the case that the really
discerning part of the public keep back from any
overt act, and make no demonstration at the out-
set of an agitation like that which has been specially
got up in this Jamaica affair. For a time the
roughs haveit all their own way, and a most ex-
traordinary way it is, but the reaction always
follows, and even now we may say it has
begun in this matter. When once the
tide has turned it will soon overwhelm
those who have set themselves up as judges
in defiance of right reason and veracity. The
example of the justices of the peace, clergy-
men, and others resident in and near Huddersfield
cannot be too much commended to notice, nor too
widely followed in every direction. The time has
surely now arrived when a stop should be put to,
the encroachments made by a prejudiced class who
are supported by some who should know better.
In this Memorial we meet with calm but forcible
expressions of opinion, and it is thus rendered, of
course, the more emphatic and convincing. We
cannot hope, unfortunately, that this or any similar
communication will have much effect upon the
authorities at the Colonial Office and the Ministry
in general, but it is essential that the real feelings
of the nation in general should be expressed, and
that the agitators should be driven from their tem-
porary vantage-ground. It is truly stated in the
Memorial referred to, that it is desirable for the
interests of all parties concerned, and especially the
4, authorities who lie under so serious a charge,"
that a strict investigation be made into all the
circumstances connected with the revolt, but it is
also added that the Memorialists regret the fearful
and sanguinary revolt, and sympathise with the
bereaved families of the Volunteers. The
Anti-Slavery agitators have never recorded a
single expression of this kind, and, indeed,
they seem to be influenced by bitter and
angry feelings towards all who joined in the
struggle, and had the misfortune to be white. Great
efforts used to be made by philanthropists to per-
suade people that black and white men should
share the same privileges ; but the latter-day
saints have improved upon this doctrine, and we
are now to learn a new lesson, namely, that what-
. Pi§r .crimes Ale 1445, syninit must be, Condoned,,
and that to visit their sins with the usual penalds
of the law is murder. ' Such a course of proceed-
ing cannot but shock and scandalise all reflective

agd impartial persons ; but, in point of fact, this

is the sum and substance of the tirades of Exeter
Hall, and the denun3iations of the tirades of virtuosi,
who are moving heaven and earth to compass their
own ends, and the destruction of all who offend against
their prejudices and prevent the accomplishment
of their places. The sixth:paragraph in this memo-
rial is most earnest in its statement. It declares
that until the investigation is it ade the undersigned
deprecate as "unjust and premature" any condem-
nation of Governor EYRE and the other local autho-
rities. Had this sentiment been the informing
influence on Government how different things
-would have turned out, and how far more creditably
Would they have met Parliament. As it is, they
are covered with reproach, and have to answer for
betraying the trust confided to them of guarding

their subordinates from unjust aspersions in the
execution of their duty. This memorial is an
honour to those' who sent it, and is worthy of
being taken as the true type of feeling and
exponent of opinion among independent Englishmen.
How far more consistent is the course taken by
these gentlemen with our national character than
the mode adopted by a certain class of politicians who
arrogate to themselves the right of being the most
popular representatives. It is with regret that we
learn a committee has been formed by Mr. BRIGHT,
Mr. J. S. MILL, Mr. GOLDWIN SMITH, Mr. CAIRNES,
and others, in order that the opposition to Governor
EYRE may be kept up, and for the purpose of pro-
viding legal assistance to Mrs. GORDON, and others
who have " unjustly suffered." If they carry out
their intentions to the letter, we can only say that
they will be stultifying themselves, and will forfeit
the reputation they have earned. Moreover, they
will be utterly unworthy of retaining their seats in
Parliament, for perverted judgment and the spirit
'of intolerance require no representatives in an
Assembly where they are disowned and disavowed.

Nowadays it is not likely that any intelligent
person will be astonished at the doings of Prussian
Ministers and authorities ; but, at the same time, it
is most unseemly that every possible opportunity'
should be taken by them to show how little they
care for what is said of them in foreign countries,
and in what contempt they hold public opinion.
The case of Count EULENBERG has been often dis-
cussed, and all right-minded persons have been
unanimous in their verdict concerning its infamy.
The decision of native Judges is very different,
however, and we learn that the very inefficient
sentence passed upon the Count in the first
instance has been considered too severe by
higher authorities. The term of nine months
has been altered to five and a half. Can anything
be more preposterous than this ? It is playing at law
and profaning justice. Here is a man charged with
a deliberate and deadly assault upon incontrovertible
proofs, and the only recognition which is taken of
this outrage by his country is that he is visited with
a condemnation more suited to an error in judgment
and a breach of military discipline than to a crime,
and one too of a most inexcusable kind. He had
received no provocation, he had not been irritated
before the encounter took place, and the morale cf
the whole affair must then be held to be that Prus-
sian noble may, if they please, in a fit of frolic or
in the vagaries of midnight revelling, commit serious
wrongs and perpetrate deadly injuries on others,
and yet receive no particular punishment or reap
the due reward of their actions. Such a course of
judicature must be the order of the day while Prus-
sian influence is so paramount in many quarters
as it unfortunately is at present, and there-
fore the independent and conscientious communi-
ties of the world must content themselves with
their own conclusions drawn from passing events.
The sense of justice seems to pervade the atmosphere
of domestic life in Prussia as little as the sense of
honour is appreciated in the direotion of its foreign
affairs ; and the one and the other are virtually at a
discount there, and we seek in vain for even the
, shadows or counterparts.

We are glad to find that the Corporation of the
City of London are prepared to take active and
vigorous measures for the relief of the City traffic,
and that the bill which was yesterday discussed at
the Court of Common Council contains ample
provision for remedying, or at least mitigating, the
present evils: These are undoubtedly very great,
and all that has yet been done to amend them has
produced but little effect. We are so accustomed
to the immense and ceaseless traffic of the City
thoroughfares that we have cause to regard their
inconveniences as a matter of course, and• however
much annoyed few persons are surprised if they
lose a train or miss an appointment in consequence
of a temporary blockade ; yet there is probably
no place in the world in which time is of more value
than in the good old city of London, though with
the characteristic grumbling patience of Englishmen
we have for years submitted to fritter and waste it
away in useless conflicts with refractory draymen,
and frantic expostulations with the guardians of
carts and trucks. Added to this really serious
annoyance is a still more formidable evil resulting
from the crowded state of our streets, which is the
number of accidents, many of them fatal ones,
which continually happen. So frequent and so serious
are these disasters that they have come to occupy
a formidable place in our annual bills of
mortality, which one of our principal magistrates
has thought worthy of notice from the bench, and
a grand jury considered it their duty to remark
upon. The bill which has just been prepared by
the Corporation deals with this branch of the
subject as well as with the difficulties of the
road. To obviate the latter, they recommend more
especially the removal of the heavy traffic from
business hours. It cannot certainly be necessary
for any one to deliver or receive coals or beer just
within the business hours of the day, while a coal
waggon or a dray loaded with heavy barrels may
defy the efforts of a hundred lighter vehicles to get
to their journey's end at something beyond a snail's
pace. The new bill provides that no loads are to
be driven through the streets with more than four
horses between nine in the morning and six in the
evening, no timber or other articles exceeding a
certain size to be driven at all within those hours.
Locomotives are not to be allowed in the streets be-
tween the hours of 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. Each of
these offences is to be punishable by a fine of £5
instead of the old 40s. penalty, and the same fine
is to be inflicted upon any one who shall drive any
vehicle through the streets without being in such a
position that he can see into the streets
on both sides of him instead of merely
straight in front, as too many of our
drivers are satisfied with doing. No doubt
many of our street accidents arise from this cause,
'for unless a driver be properly placed on a box or
seat of some kind by which he can look round
him it is scarcely
possible for him to avoid acci-
dents, especially turning crowded corners.
th
that o.
im.portant and sensible clause pro-
videsnoperson of less than 14 years of age
ern very
A
shalf.be left in charge of any vehicle h w atever the
penalty in this case to be inflicted on the person so
iiitrusting the charge. No one under 20 is
to be allowed to drive a vehicle with
more than one horse, and no person under 16
is to be allowed to drive at all. There will very
likely be some difficulty in exactly ascertaining the
age of boys left in charge or youths driving, but
the fact of the prohibition being in existence
will tend very greatly to discourage a
most improper and dangerous practice. Other
clauses relate to placing obstructions on footways
or flower-pots on window-ledges without due pro-
tection, as well as the licensing of shoe-blacks and
commissionaires in the City streets.
The bill empowers the City Commissioners of
Sewers; with the consent of the Common Council,
to construct bridges and subways at crossings or
intersections of streets for the benefit of foot pas-
sengers wherever they may think that such accom-
modation is required. The fatal accidents at the
City crossings have been very frequent lately, and
the necessity for some such provision for the safety

of foot passengers has been very generally felt. The
subways, thoug;h of course a little more costly, would
be the most durable, and in many respects the best,
and therefore they should certainly be adopted at
the large and dangerous meetings of highways, such
as the crossing
_from the Bank to the Mansion-
house. The bridges may serve the purpose very
well at less important crossings, and we are heartily
glad that the Corporation have provided so sensible
and efficient a remedy for what is really a great and
increasing danger, to which every inhabitant of
London is more or less exposed. The
City will have the credit of being the first to
inaugurate the reform, but we hope it will
not be long before the West - end authorities
follow their example. The new bill was gene-
rally approved of at the meeting of the Common
Council yesterday, and it was determined, as an
earnest of the sincerity of the Corporation in
their improving intentions, to increase the police
force by 50 men, in order to carry out the regu-
lations in the trafl•'ic. It was said that the Police
Commissioner was of opinion that nothing short
of a general widening of the City streets would
mend matters, but such a change would be worse
than the disease. It would, in fact, be simply
impossible to carry it out, entailing, as it would,
such immense commercial inconvenience and loss,
in addition to the actual expense. All new streets
and highways may, indeed, be constructed on a
larger and more business-like scale, but the idea
of pulling down and widening Cheapside or the
Poultry, for instance, is one not very likely to
find favour among City men. Just now such
a project seems especially unnecessary, when
the Thames Embankment, the new streets, and
the underground railways, are all preparing to re-
lieve the pressure on the City thoroughfares. The
methods recommended by the Corporation for
ameliorating the present evils are so simple and
sensible that it is only wonderful they have not
been tried before. If the provisions of this new
bill are fully carried out we may reasonably hope
to see a considerable alteration in the chaos and
confusion of our great arteries of commercial life,
as well as a diminution in the number of those
casualties which now occur with startling and
amentable frequency.

THE LATE KING OF THE BELGIANS•

BRUSSELS, Dec. 19.

The Independence Beige says :—" Queen Victoria
has sent Miss Andrews, one of her maids of honour,
to Brussels, to obtain from the Queen of the Belgians
in person a detailed account of the last moments of
Leopold I. Miss Andrews left for London on
Tuesday night, after having had an audience with
the Queen."
A rumour is current in the city that the Ministry
has given in its resignation, and that the King has
declined to accept it.

THE BRAZILS.

RIO DE. JANEIRO, Nov. 24.

The Emperor unexpectedly arrived here on the
9th, it was generally supposed that he could not be
here before the 10th, and consequently there was
nothing ready. His Majesty and Count d'Eu dis-
embarked at the Naval Arsenal, and thence went on
foot with the Empress and the Imperial Princess
to the Imperial Chapel, amid the acclamations of the
people who flocked to see their monarch. The Duke
of Saxe being still unwell did not accompany his Im-
perial father-in-law, neither did the Duchess, being
in an interesting condition. The city was illumi-
nated for three nights, and the Emperor, Empress,
and Count and Countess d'Eu took, on the last
night, a walk through the principal streets.
On the 15th, Mr. Thornton had a public audience
of the Emperor to present his credentials as Minis-
ter Plenipotentiary and Envoy Extraordinary of
H. B. M. at the Court of S. Christopher. The fol-
lowing is the speech he delivered on the occasion :
" Sire,—l have the honour to place in the hands
of your Imperial Majesty the letter by which her
Majesty, my august sovereign, has been pleased to
accredit me as her Envoy Extraordinary and
Minister Plenipotentiary at your Majesty's Court.

" It will be my most grateful duty to use every
effort to strengthen the cordial relations which
happily exist between Brazil and England, and in
seeking to attain this desired end, I hope to become
worthy of your Imperial Majesty's good will.
" Counting upon your Imperial Majesty's co-
operation, I cannot doubt that my efforts will be
crowned with success."
His Majesty replied as follows :

" I highly appreciate this proof of friendship on
the part
,of my dear sister the Queen of Great
Britain. I hope, Mr. Thornton, that you will be
the faithful interpreter of these sentiments, and that
your mission will contribute to strengthen the
bonds which happily unite the two countries."
The officers of H.M.S. Narcissus flagship have
given an amateur performance at the Opera-house
for the benefit of the sick and wounded Brazilian
soldiers and sailors. The house was full, and the
performance was much applauded, the Royal Family
were present, and the whole affair went off very
successfully.
Intelligence has been received from the seat of
war to the 7th inst. The vanguard of the Brazilian
army has crossed the river Corrientes. The army
detained at Mercedes by the heavy rains could not
overtake the Paraguayans, who retreated with such
precipitation that they burnt a great number of
their luggage waggons, upwards of 300 were de-
stroyed, and lost an enormous number of cattle.
Corrientes (the capital) was evacuated on the 24th
ult., and the Governor Lagrana re-entered the city
on the 25th. The atrocities committed by the Para-
guayans at Goya, Empedrado, and Bella Villa
cannot be described. At the latter place the daugh-
ters of an EngliSh resident suffered the greatest
outrage, the youngest was not 13 years old.
The father vainly offered everything to save his
daughters from dishonour. The city of Corrientes
suffered but little comparatively speaking, the pub-
lic offices alone being sacked, but many families were
taken away as hostages, among whom is mentioned
the Spanish Consul. The Government of Paraguay
has at length been moved by the publication of
these atrocities in the River Plate journals, the
Foreign Minister—Berges—having sent a circular
to the representatives of foreign Governments, in
which, although declaring that the army has been
calumniated, he states that as it is impossible to
avoid some acts on the part of the soldiers, however
well disciplined, the Paraguayan Government will
indemnify foreigners for any damage they may
suffer during the war after its conclusion. In the
same circular the Paraguayan Government,
which did not sign the treaty of 10th
July, 1853, convokes that same treaty to
deny Brazil the right of blockading Paraguay,
a right which has been recognised by Eng-
land herself in a note of 15th May, 1865. The
Brazilian squadron has not only allowed foreign
ships of war to pass, but also merchant vessels, with
the simple declaration that they were loading before
the declaration of the blockade.

The Brazilian squadron has gone up the Parana,

and is at Trez Bocas Caceres, and the Corrientine
contingent, pursuing the Paraguayans, arrived at
the Passo de Patria 12 hours after them, on the 4th
inst. The squadron had combined with Caceres to
enter the Parana, and thus cut off the retreat of the
Paraguayans, but found the passage obstructed by
sunken vessels full of stones.

It is expected that Urquiza will not be able to
raise an army.

THE ABYSSINIAN CAPTIVES.—Letters from Eaypt,
state that Mr. Rassam started from Massowa on
the 15th October with 40 camel loads of presents. He was
to wait at Metamma for a safe conduct. The King was
gone on an expedition to Shoa, so he might have to wait
for a month or two, or more. Mr. Palgrave was taking
short trips from Cairo, and waiting for the result of Mr.
Itassam's mission. It was reported that the captives had
been removed from Magdala to Debra Tabor, but it was
not believed.