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

THE biJ.N, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 1, 1865.1'

shallow, and the rumours which are now being in-
dustriously circulated relative to the Southern
eagerness for peace are not to be trusted. Presi-
dent LINCOLN is straining every nerve to improve
the aspect of Northern affairs before the notable
4th of Alaxch, both in civil and military matters.
In the military line he has spared no effort or expense
to push forward matters at Wihnington, and he has
been rewarded by the capture of Fort Fisher, which
Federal pride will easily convert into the most im-
portant part of the enterprise. In civil affairs he
has despatched BLAIR with his unauthorised pro-
posals, he has circulated reports of the universal
desire of
.the Southern people for peace, of the
wish of the inhabitants of Georgia to re-enter the
Union, and other kindred rumours. Further, he
has endeavoured through his emissaries to tamper
with the loyalty of -:the Southern people to their
self-chosen President. Spies and Northern agents
are insidiously busy in trying to sow dissension
between the two great leaders of the Confederacy,
by the exaltation of LEE at the expense of Davis ;
they have tried to incite the people to overt acts of
disaffection, and they have succeeded apparently
in opening communications with an ex-representa-
tive, and in securing the allegiance of a Richmond
organ of opinion. Still the wishedfor submission
has not come, and neither President, General,
Congress, or press, shows any signs of approaching
it. Mr. Davis has, indeed, expressed his willing-
ness either to receive or to send properly accre-
dited Commissioners to treat of peace, which
is all that could possibly be expected of him,
but it is not likely that he would pay much heed to
the proposals of an emissary who could easily be
disavowed when his suggestions were agreed to. It
is no sign of the decadence of the South that the
mission should excite some interest in Richmond, or
that the prospects of peace should be the chief topic
in the Southern capital. That is but the natural
result of such a visit, but so long as President LIN-
COLN declines to send duly qualified persons on a
mission of so much importance, and prefers to shel-
ter it under the elastic title of " semi-official," that
very mode of communication proves his persistent
determination to withhold that recognition of
Southern independence which is the one step inse-
parable from a firm and lasting peace.

We are in the habit of boasting a good deal o

the decent and orderly conduct of London mobs.
We pride ourselves on the self-control and respect
for the law which our lower orders share for the

most part with those above them ; and on all great
occasions of public festivity or solemnity which
gather together a vast concourse of men and
women, we point with pride to the few unarmed
officials who are thinly scattered among the crowds
which line our highways, and whose blue coats are
sufficient to keep order, and contrast the conduct
of a London crowd with that of any other metro-
polis in the world. It would seem, however, that
either our race is deteriorating, or that we have
I boasted too soon, from the experience of the last

few days. However undesirable or unseemly may
be street riots on the occasion of a royal marriage,

a public funeral, or any other impressive spectacle,
there is certainly more excuse for any ebullition of
excitement at those exceptional times. But in the
ordinary routine of daily life, without any shadow
of reason or excuse, we find riotous mobs, con-
sisting of several hundreds of persons, collecting in
the public parks, and, under the excuse of snow-
balling, assaulting and annoying every respectable
person—going so far as to knock gentlemen down,
to cut open the faces of ladies and children with
sharp missiles, and to pelt with granite stuff and
flints those who were endeavouring to convey a cul-
prit to the station-house. This does not look much
like English order and respect for the law, and it

does not say much in favour of the improvement
produced by education in our lower orders. Such
scenes as those which took place in the parks, both
at the east-end and west-end, on Sunday, were a
disgrace to our civilisation. Our self-government
is not worth much if it cannot secure the safety of
respectable citizens in the metropolis itself. A great
deal was said about the danger of the streets at
night in the time of the garotters, but here, in broad
daylight, an army of ruffians take possession of our
public gardens and inflict what unprovoked injuries
they choose without let or hindrance. Two or three
men were taken, it is true, before the magistrates
and punished with a few days' imprisonment, but
the great body of the offenders pursued their sport
unmolested. A labourer was brought before Mr.
lixox, at Marylebone Police-court, charged with
snowballing in the Regent's-park, and from the
evidence of the constable it appeared that he had
been apprehended just as he had succeeded
in knocking off two gentlemen's hats, but it was
with the greatest difficulty that he was got to the
station-house, as an attempt was made to release

him. In this instance the prisoner was one
the ringleaders of " a large mob of rough fellows"
who had formed themselves into a gang and pelted
every respectable person, yet Mr. Kicox let him
off with the easy sentence of five shillings fine
or three days' imprisonment. Mr. TYRWHITT, at
Marlborough-street, was more severe, and two lads,
who were admitted not to'be foremost in the fray,
were sentenced respectively to fines of £2 and £3,
and a month and six weeks' imprisonment. These
punishments were not too severe, considering the
nature of the charge, but the other was much too
light. In Kensington-gardens, where these lads
were taken, a gentleman, who appeared in court,
gave evidence of having been knocked down seve-
ral times, and his stick broken. When he first
saw the
a m
snow-balling going on he thought it was
merely
but he soon discovered his mistake.
Of course, this witness did not see a single park-
keeper or constable present to stop the riot, though
here it was more manageable, since at last the mob
was driven off, and, as we have seen, two of the
offenders captured. But disorder seems to have
reached its height in Victoria' -park, where the rioters
numbered, it is said, 1,200, and where their conduct
was beyond all bounds. Vehicles were pelted till
their windows were broken, and their horses in
some cases took fright, so that dangerous accidents
were narrowly escaped. heads were cut open by
stones and ice being rolled up in the snowballs,
and women and children escaping from the riot
were seen with bleeding faces 'and clothes spoilt
with the merciless pelting. The police endeavoured
to stop the outrages, but, being few in number,
were powerless to keep order. One of them suc-
ceeded in capturing one of the ringleaders, and
with the assistance of some gentlemen started for
the station. The mob, numbering many hundreds,
tried to rescue him, but they kept them off until,
unfortunately, they came to a part of the road
which had been recently strewed with flint and gra-
nite. These missiles were poured upon those who
Were guarding the prisoner, several of whom were
badly hurt. The officer in charge was
anacgcoomafptelirshalled. at last
thrownh down and kicked until he was obliged to let
havingt e
thTheireobleoctters;
anthdenhadivins
pgershedad,
their fun out without any payment, they got out of
the way of the body of police, who on their tardy
arrival found the windows broken, and other traces
of disorder, but the culprits,
as might have been ex-
pected, vanished from the scene. The two or
three rioters whv had been, captured were brought

up yesterday at the Worship-street Police-court,
and fined 10s. or seven days' imprisonment ! Con-
sidering that serious injury might have been in-
flicted, and probably was inflicted, on orderly and
respectable persons, that blindness or other seri-
ous consequences might ensue even from the vio-
lent pelting of snowballs, much more from the
reckless use of flints, such a sentence is prepos-
terously lenient. If a man had been found drunk
and incapable of taking care of himself in the
streets, he would have been fined 55., without
doing any real mischief, and for all this active
and willful injury he is only to pay two shil-
lings more ! In fact, the infliction of a fine at
all was a mistake. Those were cases in which
offenders richly deserved to be made to suffer
personal inconvenience, and should have been
made to feel that such refined pleasures must have

their cost. If a person or a child had been killed,
as might well have happened, a frightened horse,
a flint on the temple, a dangerous fall, or even
the pressure of the excited mob, there would have
been a general outcry : as it is, the affair is passed
over, and only the immediate sufferers concern
themselves with it. It is quite time, however,
that some steps should be taken to preserve better
order in our parks. What the bystanders were
about, not to take more active measures on Sunday
by reporting the state of things at the station
and demanding the immediate despatch of a strong
body of police, is difficult to understand. The
authorities of the park were still more to blame
for not earlier bespeaking some such assistance,
since, from the character of the " roughs" who
filled the park, it was apprehended from the first
that they meant to create a riot. It is a mere
sinecure to undertake to keep order in a park on
ordinary occasions ; but certainly the protectors of
Victoria Park have shown themselves totally un-
equal to preserving the public peace in a time of

confusion and disturbance. As for the behaviour

of the populace themselves, it was disgraceful to
Englishmen. There must have been many pre-

sent who did not belong to the " dangerous
classes" who joined in the riot. Our parks are laid
out with taste and elegance for the recreation of
the people, and are thrown open alike to all ranks.
The opening of parks in the eastern and less
fashionable quarters has been hailed as a step in
the right direction in providing for the pleasures
and the wants of all our citizens alike. It would
seem, from the experience of Sunday, that a large
proportion of those thus benefited are not only un-
worthy of the privilege conferred on them, but
incapable of enjoying any gratification of taste and
intelligence—a most disappointing and unsatisfac-
tory result.

It is quite time that the Poor Law Board did
something to alter the workings of their statutes,

and to allow the unfortunate paupers through the
land a chance of some relief, without insolence and
a total want of feeling so often prevailing to mar
the effect of the benefits provided for them. If

Bethnal-green has been for some time distinguished

for its failures of a melancholy kind in respect to
the relief it afforded, or often refused to afford,
the conduct of Mr. RUNC I EMAN, the re-

lieving officer, at an inquest last evening,
is a sufficient answer to the statements
made by those who declare that there is a
great deal of exaggeration mixed up in the details
of the ill-treatment and neglect of those who seek
relief in such quarters. It is, indeed, seldom that
such want of respect for the decencies of life and
the solemnities of death is exhibited in a court of

inquiry as that shown by Mr. RUNCIEMAN during
the inquest. He distinctly stated that he objected
to paupers coming to his house at all, and to get rid

of the importunity of the application of the husband
for his wife's admittance, as he had been told it was
a case of life or death, he said he was going to
church. As it was half-past twelve, a juror told
him that was an unusual hour. He stated that he
was always at his office to give relief to paupers,

and certainly -whether he is or not the chances o:

relief are about the same. If this is a specimen of
the manner in which he conducts his business and
comforts himself, Mr. RuNCIEMAN'S great idea of
managing his arduous duties seems to be to contra-

diet all that is said which does not suit his views

He found time during his conversation with
JENNINGS to extract from him that he earned thirty-
six shillings a week, but he professes not to have
heard that Dr. CHAMBERS had said that it was a
case of life and death. The inquest was held on the
body of an infant who had died from various causes
accelerated by injuries received from its mother,
who had become insane after her confine-
ment. As Dr. CHAMBERS stated it was a case
of life or death, and not the application
for ordinary pauper relief, Mr. RUNCIEMAN
is very clever in sneering at " doctors and their

law," but he had better show himself a little more
proficient in his own duties before he attempts to
criticise others for enunciating the principles of
common humanity which should guide all those
functionaries who have responsible offices in a
Christian country. The poor woman was subse-
quently admitted into, the lunatic ward by another
relieving officer, and the Master of the workhouse
had sent JENNINGS to Mr. RUNCIEMAN on the Sun-

day, which visit had caused such dire offence to his
feelings of propriety, and interfered so much with
his devotional exercises. So that, according to the
rules and regulations of the establishment to which
Mr. RUNCIEJIA.N 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 power 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-
ciEmAN, who called out in an impudent manner,
that the verdict would not do him any harm. lt
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 a
notice after reading such a statement is, How long
is this state of things to be suffered to continue--
o d
turnt o bullythe
thho longpoorto ara
ned at
to k so-pi np
r-eosffis eteh teo weak ee
aakl 1,
deeper degradation than a
starving into the streets, anndytetahcaht
wmiasnetryanthdere isa
suffer-
ing can infli_ ct--tho Oneer§ and contempt of =feel-

ing officials ? The proof of the veracity of the lines
that assertthat "vain man, dressedin brief authority,
plays such fantastic tricks before Heaven as make
the angels weep," is neverbetter 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 ravnerous 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 baified—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, j
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 thread 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 Iligden, 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 extraordinary diversity also of the original
characters introduced to 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—

MARTIN CIIIIZZLEWIT.
Mr. Pecksniff, Montague Tigg,
Mrs. Gamp, Baily Junior,
Tom Pinch, M. Todgers,
Mark Tapley, &c., &c., &c.
Or, let us say again—

DAVID COPPERFIELD.
Aunt Betsy, Mr. Micawber,
Mr. Peggotty,
A(lWeller,rWinkle,
Ak re
ThePi Pickwick,
FatAa ni
gnci
Dgked
el,
ißsscOtokcloi
viyodusi—pa
sVi
Jingle,ewe ituT
hoheererrkye
Uriah Heap,
Steerforth, Agnes and Dora,
Traddles, &c., &c.
Enumerating, under the head of The Pickwick
Papers
—Sam
rrepU;i3woniondonreekrßssTl:ahlisseTi3Oth,elLdNmvitChietlirceserko7seNziart,eumllB:,:_ch.
3181:Safac
team.
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 this 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 in that 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 as " 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 Lammlcs, the
Poclsnaps,and the Veneerings,
11 r

THEATRE ROYAL, ADELPHI.—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,
ls. 6d. (post free). No charge for stamping envelopes or
paper. Colour stamping reduced to is. per 100, ARTHVR
OtitAliCiEß, eOB, High ilolborn, W.O.

LATEST INTELLIGENO:G.

(REUTER'S TELEGRAM.)

AMERICA.
ARRIVAL OF THE NOVA SCOTIAN.
(Via Greencastle.)

NEW YORK, JAN. 20 (Evening).

Advices 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
negotiation.