The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-27 00:00:00

Naval and Military Intelligence.

VALETTA, March 20.—Prince Arthur arrived on
Friday in the Royal Enchantress, having visited
Naples, Messina, Catania, Syracuse, Tunis, and
Girgenti. As his Royal Highness is travelling
incognito, there were none of the usual salutes. He,
however, witnessed a review of the troops in garri-
son on the Floriama parade-ground, and also the
spectacle of all the batteries opening fire to resist a
feint naval attack. He was entertained at dinner
by Sir Henry Storks, who invited the principal civil
naval, and military authorities to meet him. The
Enchantress left on the following day with Prince
Arthur for Jaffa. Her Majesty's ship Magicienne,
16, Capt. W. Armytage, arrived on Monday evening
from Corfu, where she left the Cossack, 20, Lieut.
Borlase (in charge), on the 11th inst. She visited
Antivari to communicate with the British consul
there. She brings no news of interest of importance.
The Psyche, 2, despatch-vessel, Lieut. Commander
R. Sterne, returned on Tuesday night from Naples
with the Bishop of Gibraltar and Archdeacon Cleugh.
The Revenge, 93 (bearing the flag of Rear-Admiral
H. R. Yelverton, C. 8.), Captain the Hon. F. A.
C. Foley, arrived on Saturday from Naples,
having remained there a day or two later than was
intended to do honour to the birthday of the Sovereign
and Crown Prince of Italy on the 14th inst. She
had on board as passengers Sub-Lieut. Sherbrook,
R.N., and Mr. W. C. P. Medlycott. The ship is
to proceed in a few days to England to be put out
of commission, and it is generally understood that
Rear-Admiral Yelverton will shift his flag to the
Caledonia, ironclad frigate, for the Mediterranean.
Here the birthday of Victor Emmanuel and Prince
Humbert were observed by the ships of war in port
dressing with flags (the Italian flag at the main),
and, together with the garrison, firing a royal salute
at noon. The Italian ship Eurydice, 18, and Vala-
roso, 8, fired royal salutes at 8 o'clock, at noon, and
at sunset, in accordance with the Italian custom.
These vessels have since left for Corfu. The Liffey,
35, Capt. G. Parker, was to leave Gibraltar on the
13th inst., for Colon, in the Isthmus of Panama, to
transfer supernumeraries to the Pacific station, to a
ship which would await them on the other side of
the isthmus. The Phoebe, 35, Capt. T. D. A. For-
tescue, came in to-day, 19 days from Alexandretta,
and 7 from Candia. The Chanticleer, 17, Com-
mander J. E. F. Risk, was at Alexandretta bylthe
last accounts, when the Orlando, 46, Capt. G. G.
Randolph, had not arrived. '.The Meeanee, 60, Capt.
G. Wodehouse, and the Assurance, 4, Commander
M. C. Seymour, left for that port on Saturday.
Owing to alarming news having been received yes-
terday from Athens, her Majesty's ship Gibraltar,
81, Capt. R. Coote, has been order to proceed im-
mediately to the Piraeus, and left this afternoon.
She will be followed, should affairs become more
threatening, by other ships of the squadron. The
Enterprise, 4, Commander Rowley, is under orders
to leave on Tuesday, to take back to Tripoli Capt.
Herman, the British Consul-General, who together
with Mrs. Herman, is returning from England.
Lieut. H. H. Washington, R.N., arrived on Tues-
day night from leave to rejoin the Cossack. Surg.
J. Dunwoodie, R.N., lately of the Royal Naval
Hospital, Malta, left on Monday to join the Eury-
alus, flagship of the Commander-in-Chief in China.
The 4th Battalion Rifle Brigade, now at Gibraltar,
have received their orders for Canada, and are to
embark about the end of May. The 2d Battalion
7th Royal Fusiliers will leave Malta for Canada
about the same time, and be relieved by the 84th
Regiment from England.
On her passage from Holyhead to Plymouth last
week the ironcased cupola ship Scorpion, 4, was
under the command of Captain Paynter, of the
Coastguard ship Donegal, 81, at Liverpool. The
Scorpion averaged 9i knots under steam only, and
10i- knots under steam and canvas. In her present
trim she is considered well adapted for sea purposes.
When her guns, ammunition, and additional fuel
are on board, she will draw, it is calculated a foot
more, and that will probably lessen her speed. She
left Holyhead on Wednesday at noon, and arrived
in the Sound on Thursday at 9 p.m. At
340 a.m. on that day, when about 37 miles
south of the Smalls, the night being very dark, she
came into a collision with a merchan ship, name un-
known. The vessel was on the port tack and exhi-
bited one red light; she struck the Scorpion's fore-
bow, and stove it in to the extent of considerable
tonnage, pursued her course. The Scorpion stoped
her, enyines, furled sails, and burnt alarm lights to
no purpose. She was going at a rate of more than
10 knots. It is supposed that the other vessel is not
much injured.
The Himalaya, screw troopship, Capt. E. Lacy, sails
this morning from Portsmouth for Dover, to embark
the 24th Regiment from Shorneliffe Camp for con-
veyance to Dublin. From Dublin the Himalaya
conveys the 84th Regiment from the Curragh to
Malta, next conveying a regiment from Malta to
Canada, and returning thence to Spithead with the
17th Regt. of Infantry. We regret to hear that the
Admiralty are again sending the Himalaya to sea
without the very necessary and really inexpensive
application of a " governor" to her engines, to con-
trol their racing propensities when the long and
famously efficient trooper is running before a heavy
sea. The destruction of her crank-shaft, and the
ship's consequent forced inaction of four months in
Portsmouth harbour since her last voyage, were
simply owing to the want of a " governor" to regu-
late the admission of steam to her engines when
running before a sea.

The Industry, screw stores*, Master-Comman-
der Edward C. T. Youell, arrived at Spithead yes-
terday morning, with naval stores and a few super-
numeraries, from Rio de Janeiro. She will proceed
round to Woolwich.

Col. Thackwell,Deputy-As-sist.-Adjt.-Gen. of the
West Military District, will be succeeded in the
duties of his office on the expiry of his term of ser-
vice by Col. Alison.

The head-quarters of the 52d regiment (Oxford-
shire Light Infantry), under the command of the
Hon. Major E. G. Curzon, consisting of 10 officers,
254 men, 12 women, and 29 children, disembarked
from the sailing transport Alumbagh, on return
from service in India, at Dover, on Saturday, and
arrived at Portsmouth the same evening. The regi-
ment will be quartered in Portsmouth garrison for
the present ; and the left wing on their arrival from
India in the Nile sailing transport, will join head-
quarters from the Alumbagh in the Cambridge
barracks. The regimental depot was inspected at
Portsmouth on Friday last by Major-Gen. Lord
W. Paulet, C. 8., Lieut.-Governor of Portsmouth,
and Commander-in.-Chief of the South-West Mili-
tary District.

The following appointments have been made at
the Admiralty :—William H. Drysdale, master, to
the Duke of Wellington ; William D. Morish, mid-
shipman, to the Geyser ; William Redmond,
assist. -surgeon, to the Asia ; W. H. Stewart,
acting assist.-surgeon, to the Royal Adelaide; John
MeCiathe'ead, chief engineer, to the Achilles ; and J. J.
Gr
chief engineer, to the Cumberland, for
the flood.

" And then he drew a dial from his poke,
And looking on it with lack lustre eye,
Says very wisely, ' It is ten o'clock :
Thus we may see,' quoth he, how the world wags. "
SIIAKSPEARE

Benson's Pocket Dials are artistic, accurate time
markers,•made in every size, suitable for everybody, and
are sent to every part of the kingdom, safe by post, at 5,6,
7,8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23
24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35 guineas in
gold cases; and at 2,3, 4,5, 6,7, 8,9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15,
16, 17, 18, 19,.20, 21, 22, 23, 24, and 25 guineas in silver
cases. A descriptive pamphlet post free for two stamps.
-J. W. Benson, Ludgate-hill, watch and clock maker to
H.R.H. the Prince of Wales.

ADTERTISEMENT.3-110110Way'S Pills.—Nervous De-
bility.—Persons who feel weak, low, and nervous may rest
assured some serious aliment is looming in the distance,
against which instant action should be taken. Holloway's
Pills present the ready means of exciting energetic action
on the liver, liberating accumulating bile, and lifting at
°thneeLadlyoa.d from the spirits, and expelling a poison from
This simple and natural method of remedying
the first tendency to disease, gives instant cam, and en-
sures future safety. The pallid, and all those who are
losing flesh, should try these pills, which are especially
useful when the digestive and other functions are im-
perfectly performed, and demand immediate cotTection,
or in after years neither mind nor body will be well developed.

he Loelt-out in the Iron Trade.

- ♦-

WOLVERHAMPTON, Saturday.

Late last night a preliminary meeting of the Com-
mittee of the Trades Unions and others of Birming-
ham was held in that town. Mr. George Potter, of
London, attended the meeting, accompanied by the
President of the Brierly-hill Executive, who had just
returned from attending the Trades Union meetings
in London. They report that liberal promises of
help were madd to them, and that the £lOO promised
by the glassmakers of Stourbridge was to be increased
by another £lOO from the funds of the Birmingham
Society, and the whole handed over in instalments of
£lO weekly. The President also states that such is the
sympathy displayed in London towards the North
Staffordshire men that a union of one of the branches
of the building trades promised them £5OO. But
the Executive entertain . hopes that no portion of
these moneys may be required. They make especial
reference to the fact that, so soon as the letter of
Mr. Roden, the chairman of the masters in North
Staffordshire, appeared in the Times, offering to
piece before the Association to which he belonged
any offer from the North Staffordshire workmen,
in the spirit of the remarks of the North Stafford-
shire delegate at the London meeting on Wednes-
day, Mr. Potter sent the following telegram from
London :

" To W. H. Roden, Esq., Etruria-hall, Hanley, Stafford-
shire. From George Potter, London.—As chairman of the
London Trades' meeting, held on Wednesday evening last,
I am instructed by Mr. Baker (one of tho North Stafford-
shire delegates) to inform you that the men of North Staf-
fordshire are prepared to carry out the statement which he
made at the meeting, which is reported in your letter in the
Times of to-day. Mr. Baker will be at Tunstall early to-
morrow (Saturday) morning."

Mr. Baker's offer, it will be remembered, was that
if the masterswould open their works the men would
consent to leave the question of wages to arbitration.
It will also be remembered that, about the time
that this offer was being made, the Committee of the
South Staffordshire Ironmasters Association were
also arranging a plan of arbitration, suggesting that
the North Staffordshire men should meet a deputa-

tion of their own masters from South Stafford-
shire and the North of England, and with the Earl
of Lichfield presiding.
This afternoon the opinions of the representative
men in North Staffordshire have been taken upon the
masters' proposal ; and the men have expressed a
wish to meet their own masters only, in their own
district, and not at Stafford. Their wishes will of
course be complied with, and the meeting will pro-
bably take place on Tuesday. The preference which
the men show for meeting their own employers
only may well be regarded as a favourable omen ;
and it removes much of the suspicion which had
been previously expressed to the effect that such was
their feeling towards their masters that it would be
necessary for masters at a distance to be present in
order that the two might be brought together. Such
a course may yet, however, have to be pursued.

The Earl of Lichfield met the men and the mas-
ters at Newcastle, both separately. His lordship
was accompanied by Mr. Jones, of the Trindle,
Dudley, the business secretary of the Ironumsters'
Association of South Staffordshire. Before his lord-
ship's arrival in North Staffordshire the men held a
meeting at Tunstall, where theremarks of Mr. Peter
Baker, one of their representatives at the London
meetings, were fully discussed.
The men denied that he had any authority
to make the offer that if the masters would open
their works then that the North Staffordshire
men would go in and submit the question
of wages to arbitration. They do not express
themselves prepared to take this step, and said that
Mr. Baker had mistaken their wishes. These, they
said, were that the masters should allow them to
resume work on this occasion, and then they would
submit all future disputes to arbitration. When,
afterwards, a deputation of the men met Lord Lich-
field, they informed his Jordship of what had taken
place at the meeting in the morning ; but, never-
theless, expressed their readiness to meet their own
masters in their own district in the presence of the
Lord-Lieutenant ; and they consented to meet mas-
ters from other districts with their own, also in the
presence of his lordship, if after the interview with
their own alone such a further meeting should be
found necessary.
Lord Lichfield afterwards saw the North Stafford-
shire masters, who consented to meet their men in
his lordship'samesence, and they hoped something
amicable might be brought about ; but it was feared
that the prospect looked scarcely so favourable as it
appeared by the light of Mr. Baker's remarks in
London.

Meanwhile the South Staffordshire men are pre-
paring to act as if the lock-out had every prospect
of being continued over a lengthened period.
On Wednesday next ten men, who are described
as among the most skilful and the most thrifty of
the paddlers in the Gold's-green district, will leave
this country for Toronto, via New York, in the
steamship Edinburgh. Their passage to New York
will cost £5 10s. per man ; but each emigrant will
receive £7, with which to defray that and other
expenses. There is only one ironwork at Toronto,
and it is thought that the emigrants may, on
arriving in the States, remain there ; but they must
go out as emigrants to British America, in order to
comply with the spirit of the delegate meeting, by
which an emigrant scheme was authorised. From all
the districts applications to be sent out are still
being received by the Executive ; most of the
applicants desire to be sent to the State. From
Bilston there are 12 applications. The Executive
having discovered how strong the feeling of the
members who desire to be sent out is in
favour of the States contemplate suggesting
to the various districts that they should recon-
sider the decision of the delegate meeting, and de-
termine whether or not it would not be well to send
out a member to the States by whom applications
should be sent home for men as often as vacancies
are found for them.

To-day the Council has been occupied several
hours in discussing a plan of emigration to Auck-
land and other parts of New Zealand, submitted to
them by an emigration agent who had come down
from London for the purpose. The agent brought
with him large maps of the country, and offered to
send out members on reduced terms. But it is
thought, now that the views of the districts have
been obtained, that only a small proportion of men
are prepared to leave their own avocation, and they
are tempted to go to the States by the representa-
tions of men who have been there, and say they arc
waiting only the termination of the war to return.
By these it is announced that 6 dollars is paid in
America for puddling the same description of iron
for which 9s. 6d. is paid in this country and that
while provisions and other expenses may be dearer
than here, yet at the end of the year the steady
puddler is much better off in America than in Eng-
land—at the same time that he enjoys political pri-
vileges which he cannot secure with so much free-
dom at home. These representationA are proving
of great weight with the men who wish to leave this
country. It is designed to keep up the emigration
movement even after the lock-out is over.

Much distress continues to be apparent among
men who are out of the union. To-day 169 men
were in the stone-yard of the workhouse ready to
sreak stones for relief, and, although accommoda-
tion could not be found for them, yet they were
paid in proportion to their children, who
for wilo numbered
iO, t htoe r
bemen
d deferred
da applying ;ice y
could be relief,
butin_
theirn a 1 casess3s h a
vesAtidgdiatteiodnbay,
mentherelie.evinbgeinogffictehwn officers.
out of work.
daily. Messrs. Grazebrook and Aston, blast furnace
and colliery proprietors, have given their workpeo-
ple notice that they will blow out both their blast
furnaces at Netherton next Saturday ; and Mr.
Grazebrook informs us that already his firm has 800
colliers unemployed in consequence of the lock-out.
Mr. Doyle, inspector for this district to the Poor
Law Board, is very kindly using all his influence to
bring about a settlement of the dispute, and he is
now visiting both divisions of Staffordshire for that-
purpose, and is obtaining interviews with both mas-
ters and men. Mr. Doyle is familiar with the Con-
tinental practice in such cases, and he hopes to be
able to make such suggestions as will ultimately
lead to a somewhat similar course being pursued in

this case, and also in any future disputes in the iron
trade of this country.
NEWASTLE-ON-TYNE, Saturday Night.

The workmen at Walker, Jarrow, Spennymoor,
Consett, and most of the other districts have met,
and come to the determination that—
"ln consequence of a want of harmony being manifest
in the action of the South Executive in not responding to
the request of the Northern Council to attend the meeting
held at York on Friday, March 17, and so refusing to com-
ply have caused a continuance of The present lock-out,
which, according to tho master's statement, might easily
have been settled if they had been present, we demand of
the Gateshead Executive to sever their connection with
the Brierley-hill Council from this date."
A total disconnection of both masters and men from
the Staffordshire complications willprobably form the
basis of negotiations at the proposed interview be-
tween the masters and the delegates from the north-
country workmen, which is proposed to be held at
Darlington on Monday. The strongest hopes are
entertained that everything will be amicably settled
at that interview, and that a better understanding be-
tween the employeis and the employed will be a con-
sequence of it. From some cause or other, the men
still adhere to the emigration scheme. It is much
discussed even under the present altered circum-
stances of the lock-out, and many families seem
likely to try their fortunes in America, even suppos-
ing the ironworks should be immediately opened.
The prospects of American emigration have, how-
ever, received a timely check from a letter sent home
by a Durham miner, John Watson, formerly of
Wrenkenton, who has been out in Jefferson County,
Ohio, eight years. Watson, writing from America,
and addressing the working men of the North, says :

"Employers and capitalists, and others interested in get-
ting cheap labour, have sent agents and commissioners
among you, who by advertisements in newspapers and pub-
lications, would make the English minor and English work-
ing man believe that America is at the present time little
short of a terrestrial paradise; that here, if the millennium
has not already arrived, it certainly is close at hand. Now,
the motive of employers and capitalists in sending agents
among you is plain. It is to overstock the labour market,
and thereby reduce wages. They may tell you that we are
making very high wages, which some of us may do, but they
don't tell you that all things we have to buy are high also.
I worked over 20 years in the coal mines of Durham and
Northumberland, therefore I am well acquainted with all
the evils you have to contend with. I have worked eight
years in the coal mines in this country, so I think I may claim
to be able to judge of a minor's life hero and in England. In
England you have a house and fuel for next to nothing—
about 13s. a year ; you have medical assistance gratis in
case of accidents, and at some places ss. per week; you have
besides, what no amount of money can buy, your friends
and relations living about you, and very likely you have a
snug little reading room where you can spend your leisure
hours pleasantly and profitably. On the other hand, here
I have paid the last year over $OO for house rent, and
about $4O for coal ; here is no medical attendance, except
you pay for it; hero is no smart money, here are no reading-
rooms where you might pass away an hour if you had it to
spare, which you might not after you have worked 12 or 14
hours a day, if you are so lucky as to get work."
A communication from Middlesborough states :

" The lock-out is now beginning to tell seriously upon
the circumstances of the ironworkers. more especially upon
the improvident class of puddlers and millmen, and upon
the underhands and labourers, who when times are good
only obtain very low wages. The labourers thrown out
by the strike amount to some hundreds in Middlesborough
alone. When in full work their wages are scarcely ever
more than 20s. per week, and in many instances not so
much, so that it will readily be seen they, have little oppor-
tunity for laying by for such a calamity which is at
present pressing upon them."

lIANLEY, March 25.

Lord Lichfield, at Manley, to-day met a deputa-
from the puddlers of the district at the Working
Men's Club. He advised a conference between the
North Staffordshire masters and the men.

The deputation promised to call a general meeting,
of puddlers on Monday, and recommended the con-
ference.

The North Staffordshire men will not go to Staf-
ford, nor meet the South Staffordshire masters.
The masters will, no doubt, insist that the men,
as a first step, shall go in at a reduction..

The Robberies in the City.

REPLY TO COLONEL FRASER'S REPORT

Mr. John Walker, whose premises were lately
robbed to so great an extent, has written the fol-
lowing reply to Colonel Fraser's report in vindica-
tion of the City police in connection with this and
other recent burglaries in the City. Mr. 'Walker's
reply is in the form of a letter to the Lord Mayor
and the Court of Aldermen :-
68, Cornhill, E.C., 25th March, 1865•

My Lord and Gentlemen,—Having read the report pre-
sented by Alderman Sir F. G. Moon from the General
Purposes Committee appointed by, your honourable Court,
on the subject of the recent burglaries in the City, I beg
respectfully to submit the following comments thereon.
I deny, emphatically, that Mr. Lund made use of the lan-
guage attributed to him in that report ; this in itself clearly
establishes the evil of private inquiries into matters concern-
ing the public interest and welfare, and which, I need hardly
say, are contrary to the spirit of the age in which we live,
and to the true character of municipal institutions of which
we so frequently and loudly boast.
With regard to your quoting a resolution which was
passed at a meeting of the Ward of Cheap, viz. :
" That it is most undesirable that large masses of valuable I
property should be left in the City without resident protec-
tion, such a course acting as an encouragement to skilful
and daring thieves, and casting thereby a most onerous
and difficult duty on the police force, by withdrawing their
attention from other and equally important duties."
I would, in reply, call your attention to the very different
views expressed by members of the Court at the time of
the proposed amalgamation of the Metropolitan and • City
police forces, and as one example will suffice for the present,
I quote the following passage from a speech delivered by Mr.
Alderman Rose (then Lord Mayor), and whose name is ap-
pended to your report, at the Mansion House, on the 21st
of April, 1863 (vide the Times, 22d April, 1863) :
"And after business hours, when wealthy merchants and
bankers betook themselves to their houses in the West-end
of the town or the suburbs, millions worth of property was
left to the sole care of the police in the dead hours of night."
If this was the opinion then deliberately expressed by the
chief magistrate of the City of London, what has induced
such a change in your ideas of the duties of the police
under your control ; and if the vigilant guarding of the
property of the citizens left at night is not a part of the duty
of the city police, where, then, is the necessity of so largo
a force being employed in so small an area ?
You state, " the Commissioner of City Police furnished
your committee with the most ample returns in relation to
the matters under our investigation, and gave the fullest in-
formation on every point connected with them."
Now, as these returns might prove both useful and in-
structive to your memorialists and the citizens generally,
perhaps you will have no objection to making those returns
public, and thereby-enabling them to form their own opinion
as to the value of the data upon which you have come to
such a conclusion.

You state, " after very full inquiries we consider that the
allegations of the memorialists have not been supported by
evidence, nor has anything transpired to substantiate the
charges contained in the letter of Mr. Walker as to the
general inefficiency of the City police force. Your commit-
tee,therefore,can discover nothing calculated to weaken the
confidence which has hitherto been felt in the management
and efficiency of the force."
The allegations of the memorialists and the charges con-
tained in my letter, as to the general inefficiency of the po-
lice, certainly have not, as you state, been supported by
evidence, and why ? Because we decline, in a matter of
such public importance, to become parties to a private in-
quiry ; but those allegations I am prepared to prove before
a public court. And the mere fact of your committee not
being able to discover anything to weaken the confidence
which has hitherto been felt in the management and effi-
ciency of the police, does not prove that the citizens gene-
rally have not just cause for their complaints, and their
want of confidence which has been so strongly expressed
has, I regret to say, not been restored by the numerous
burglaries which have unfortunately taken place since mine.
I again respectfully demand a public investigation into
the organisation and working of the City police force, before
which Col. Fraser shall, if necessary, be called upon to give
evidence ; and I challenge a contradiction of my.assertion,
that more men have left the force during the last eighteen
months than during a previous period of three years,which
has been the cause of changing what was at one time a
really valuable police, both for the prevention and detection
of crime, into ono that is almost useless, as far as these
purposes are concerned. In this statement lam fully
borne out by the result, which can be proved by the police
books, that more burglaries have taken place during tho
past 18 months than during a previous period of three
years ; and I also have to add, that the detection of the late
burglaries in the City has been mainly effected by the me-
tropolitan police.

Believing that such a state of things cannot really be
satisfactory to you, and that you are actuated by a desire to
assist the citizens in obtaining a truly effective police force
—a police force worthy of this groat commercial city—and
thereby rendering an amalgamation with the metropolitan
police totally unnecessary, I trust you will at once accede
to my request, and grant a free and full public inquiry into
the organisation and working of the City police force, the
result of which I have no doubt will have the effect of ma-
torially weakening that confidence which at the present

time you express to feel in its management and efficiency.—

I have, &c.,

JOHN WALKER.

P.S. A notice from the Commissioner of City Police hay-
ing been'recently circulated among the citizens, detailing
what aro the true functions of the police with respect to
the guardianship of house property, may I respectfully ask
your, lordship and brother aldermen whether the director-
ship of a public company is ono of the proper duties of a
Chief Commissioner of Police ?

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

-

THE " SATURDAY REVIEW" ON THE FUTURE PRE-
MIER.— Mr. Gladstone's speeches are scanned just
now with,a peculiar interest beyond that which his
official position would naturally command. They
are as important in the eyes of political speculators
as the performances at Newmarket are to those who
have books upon the Derby. The great Premier
stakes are to be run for very soonii Nobody knows
exactly when the race will come off, but it cannot
be far distant now. Of course, the nearer-it comes,
the more absorbing is the interest with which the
prospects of the various competitors are compared.
The peculiarity of the race is that, supposing power
to remain in the hands of the party which now pos-
sesses it, there is no decided favourite. If the for-
tune of war were to turn the other way, Lord
Derby would, of course, hold the office as long as
his health and the Division List permitted him to do
so. But if it falls to the Liberals to select a Prime
Minister after the retirement of Lord Palmerston,
their choice will not be an easy one. Lord Russell
is doubtless of opinion that nature herself has
assigned the leadership of the Liberal party to some
scion of the House of Russell, and that it would be
profanity, if not blasphemy, to resist her decrees.
But then it is a sufficient reply to his claim that he
is in the House of Lords, and that the difficulty of
his party is the leadership of the Commons. His
hopeful son is not old enough for the purpose,
though he bears the holy name; and it is clear that
he must execute several more summersaults in the
mud before he has learnt the impossibility of
leaning two ways at once. - Lord Hartington
is in the Commons, and is distinguished by that
surly and tedious mediocrity which, conjoined
to high rank, is looked.upon as a valuable qualifica-
tion for office in this country; But it may be
doubted whether, at the close of a long and exciting
debate, his persuasive voice would materially influ-
ence a division. There remains only Mr. Gladstone,
who has the advantage of far surpassing all the
others in talent, and of possessing already a position
only sracond to the leadership in the House of Com-
mons. His_course, therefore, is anxiously watched,
to see whether he displays the qualities necessary for
a leader in the House of Commons. Of his marvel-
lous eloquence there can be no doubt. But elo-
quence is a power which impresses those who hear
it for the first time, or have heard it rarely, more
than those whose vocation forces them to listen to it
constantly. The judge in a criminal court listens
with provoking indifference to the flowing perora-
tion which is moving the jury to rapture. Members
of the House of Commons are rather in the position
of the judge than the jury, in regard to eloquence.
On the other hand, they have weaknesses of their
own which it is necessary to humour. Most of them
have paid so much to gain the seats they occupy, that
they value the grandeur of them very' highly, and in-
dulge in a corporate dignity of incredible sensitiveness.
The house may be led by the nose, but the feat can
only be performed by a show of exceeding deference.
It must be treated as firmly and as humbly as
Christospher Sly was treated by those who found
him drunk. This is the point in which Mr. Glad-
stone is likely to fail. His temper is far too uncon-
trollable to suffer him to play out the play with his
Christopher Sly. He cannot even prevail on him-
self to treat the House of Commons with ordinary
civility. His announcement to the house upon
Tuesday night that, except in certain specified cases,
the Government were not, in his judgment, bound
to treat the resolutions of the house with any
great consideration, was decidedly the most imper-
tinent speech that any Minister of the Crown has
made to the House of Commons since the Revolu-
tion. It must have been made ill a pure fit of
temper, for there was no good purpose it could pos-
sibly be expected to serve ; and it certainly, as the
event proved, was not the way to secure a favour-
able division. The only other occasion on :which he
committed a similar mistake was upon the third
reading of the bill for repealing the Paper Duty.
He then defended himself against an opposition
which especially irritated him by telling the House
of Commons that they had no right to refuse any
remission of taxation which was proposed to them
by the Ministers of the Crown. The upshot on that
occasion was not so disastrous, but the remark was
nearly as unfavourable in its operation. The Ministry
obtained a majority ; but it was only a majority
of nine, for a Bill of which the previouS stage had
been carried by a majority of fifty-three. These ac-
cidents only happen when Mr. Gladstone is, or is in
danger of being, in a minority. As long as the
water is smooth be is courteous, and even be-
nignant in his phraseology. But unluckily it is
just in moments of doubtful fortune that the skill of.
a clever leader is required. Any one can lead well
so long as he has a firm and loyal majority at his
back. Mr. Gladstone is a 'Pilot who weathers a calm
admirably ; but in a storm it is better to send him
to bed. Much cannot be said for the motion which
was the occasion of Mr. Gladstone's humiliation on
Tuesday last. Taxing fire insurances. is a bad prac-
tice undoubtedly, but taking bits out of our financial
system without the slightest regard to the balance
of the rest is very much worse. If the House votes
away each tax
.. in . succession without having the
balance of income and .expenditure before it, the
public service must. necessarily suffer. A number of
taxes will continue to exist marked for the axe, and
consequently will be paid reluctantly, and exposed
to so much agitatiOn that:no Minister can long up-
hold them. The inevitable result musty
.be that
many more taxes will be taken off than. the Ex-
chequer can sparei. and -the • deficiency will be made
good by stinting the expenditure of some of the
most indispensable branches of the service. The un-
policy of the vote is so obvious that it is exceedingly
improbable that the House Would have adohtel it,
unless it had been acting on some secondary motive.
The conduct of Mr. Crawford and Mr. Goschen;
whose constituency probably suffers more from the
tax than any other, shows that the pressure of con-
ttituencies cannot have been very severe. The de ire
of doing something that was unpleasant to Mr.
Gladstone was probably far more widely operatiVe.
No doubt it is impossible to defend the patriotism
of an assembly that comes to a decision upon so im-
portant a subject from mere feelings of irritation,
even though they knew perfectly well that their vote
would be wholly without effect. But it shows still
more strikingly Mr. Gladstone's unfitness to lead
in such an assembly. The humours of the House
may be unreasonable, but the man who has so
strong a tendency to -affront them is not fitted to
persuade it. The fact that you have the gout may
indicate your intemperance of living, but you do
not on that account like to have a friend who is
perpetually treading on your toes. How deeply Mr.
Gladstone takes these defeats to heart was betrayed
by his conduct to Mr. Sheridan last year. He went
out his way to mar an admirable speech by includ-
ing it in an attack upon the commercial honesty of
Mr. Sheridan, in matters connected with a Life
Assurance Society, for which he was able to furnish
no valid grounds whatever ; and there was no. mo-
tive could be assigned for so gratuitous an imputa-
tion, except the fact that Mr. Sheridan had been the
leader in the yearly attack upon. Fire Insurance.
His extreme intolerance of opposition, and his ten-
dency to supply the want of votes by increased bit-
terness of language, are fatal disqualifications for
the position of leader of hiS party in the House of
Commons. But it is difficult to suppose that he
will suffer it, without a struggle, to pass into other
hands. 'He is not a man who can afford to take
up an independent position for the time in order
to baffle a rival among his own colleagues. If
he rested upon his own influence alone, without the
aid of any recognised position, either as Minister or
as leader of Opposition, he would be almost without
a following in the house. His religious and political
views, secreted at different periods of his life, and
borrowed therefore from two different schools of
opinion out of the many through which his mazy
course has lain, set against him different kinds of
antagonists. The Conservatives detest his political
views; the Radicals cannot abide his Church views ;
and the Whigs will not comfortably follow a man
whose family was unacquainted both with Lord
Somers and Mr. Fox. The struggles of so powerful
a wrestler, whether he succeed or fail, will, shake
the arena on which they take place ; and we may
therefore anticipate lively times whenever the long
deferred day for the adjudication of Lord Palmer-
ston's succession arrives.

THE " SPECTATOR" ON THE APPANAGE OF THE
PRINCE OF WALES.—The Prince of Wales is going
to strike for wages. At least journals which are
supposed to know all political secrets, and which
really do know much political tittle-tattle, affirm
that an application is to be made to Parliament this
session for an increase to his allowances. The Prince
is not in debt, as his friends are careful to affirm,
and not extravagant, witness his circular to his
tradesmen about servants' per ceutages, but he
wishes to keep up a state as the chief of English
society, of which his income, as at present settled,
does not conveniently. admit. He will therefore, it
is stated, apply to Parliament for an increase, the
amount of which varies in every report from £20,000
a year to £50,000, but which will, if his advisers
are wise, be large enough to preclude any chance
of a future application. The demand, whatever it
is, is pretty certain to be conceded without much
resistance by the House of Commons. No leader

of any party ever cares to quarrel with the Court
upon any question not of deep national interest, and
least of all upon one of money, Princes in these
days being nearly as tenacious, not to say unreason-
able, upon that point as English bishops, or Indian
officers, or workmen everywhere. William IV. is
said to have refused to dissolve Parliament because
it had voted his wife so much money, and one great
cause of the zeal with which German Princes object
to mediatization is their fear of losing control of the
immense Crown estates. Private members are not
much more likely to get up an opposition than their
leaders. The House as a body is very rich—its in-
come, though not its property, being probably
greater than of the Peers—it contains a great many
men who know quite well that £lOO,OOO a year will
not do everything, and it is very impatient at all
times of much talk upon things which it does not
quite like, but which it knows have to be
done. There is very little pressure either from
the constituencies. There may be exclamations
and interrogations on nomination-day, but the
Prince is personally popular, in London very decid-
edly so, and the voters, with light taxation, a large
surplus and no very extraordinary amount of distress,
will probably feel that they' need not resist the in-
clination to heaviness which almost all Englishmen
feel. The only real difficulty to be surmounted will,
we suspect, be that impatience of dotations, of great
direct grants to members of the Royal House, which
Parliament has almost always expressed. English-
men who will waste half a million in purposeless
dockyard experiments with perfect complacency,
would get very angry if asked for the same sum to
construct what is really wanted, a regal reception-
hall, and thex vote a " compensation" salary of
£9,000 a year without half the ill-feeling excited by
a similar demand for the dower of a princess. Why
they so much dislike paying for the trappings of
royalty while they all adore royalty itself might
have tasked Mr. Hallam to explain, but they do so,
and it is to this latent feeling, this dislike of dota-
tions as a sort of superfluity 'of waste, that the
Ministry, if there is any opposition at all, will have
to address ther.nselves. Fortunately their task will
be smoothed by the extreme pecuniary carefulness
which has marked the present reign, and by the
existence of a new argument which the House will
acknowledge, though the country at large may not.
A hundred thousand a year is ceasing to be a for-
tune of the very first class, and the Prince has
barely a hundred thousand a year. Lord Palmer-
ston's statement when introducing the subject two
years ago only brought the income up to that sum,
and of this £60,000 is derived from the revenues of
the Duchy of Cornwall. These belong to the
nation, it is true, but still they were almost created
by the businesslike capacity and strict management
of' the late Prince Consort, and have been assigned
to the Heir-Apparent from a very remote period.
If they were handed over to the Treasury they
would probably disappear under departmental ma-
nagement, the leases, like those of Crown lands,
being made very "easy" whenever there was a chance'
of endangering any important support. The actual
payment through the Treasury is only £40,000 per
annum, very much less than any Prince of Wales has
of late years received, for we object altogether to
add the Princess's income to the gross amount.
That certainly was not granted to pay 'butchers'
bills. Of course to ordinary men, the income looks
ample, or even magnificent, and it might no doubt,
and if Larliamentso decrees it probably will, be
made amply'sufficient for the maintenance of the
Prince's rank. But the Prince, besides performing
the duties of his hereditary place in the empire, has
for the nonce to perform many of those which
usually fall to the Crown, and the real question the
country has to ask itself is what kind of court it
prefers. Does it at heart desire a chejtp monarchy,
a court of the Louis-Philippe kind, very respectable
and slightly bourgeois, a Prince living simply and
unostentatiously among equals? or does it wish for
a court with the colour, and movement, and splen-
dour, and visible magnificence which royalty, if well
paid, can secure? Does it wish for regal ceremonial
or not ? This is the true point to be decided. Ninety
thousand a year will keep a Prince very well, even
though he happens to live in London, and to be
heir to a great monarchy, but it will not keep a
great court, or a brilliant court, or a court living
even on the scale maintained by first-class Eng-
lish nobles.

THE "LONDON REVIEW" ON CAFES VERSUS GIN-
PALACES.—London is the city of gin palaces; Paris
the city of cafes ; and in this respect Paris has the
advantage of London. However high the rent,
every corner house in our streets is eagerly pounced
upon as a homestead of sensuality, a resort of all
who are most degraded, a reservoir of liquid fire.
Brightly burns the gas, and the notes of harp and
viol mingle merrily, but it is a vision of sin. Fair
hands with smiling faces deal out the poisonous
draught ; but there is a grim skeleton clattering his
ghastly bones among the revellers, and pressing the
cup of Circe to their lips. The young and the old
are met to hob and nob with Death. The night is
drizzly without, but strong waters are good for
withered lips. Noggin after noggin loosens their
tongue, and they trol carelessly their tavern catch
as they stand around the bar. There is no comfort in
that noisy drinking hall, no refinement. None are
seated, none read, not a newspaper is to be seen.
Excitement is all that is asked, and that of the most
unhealthy kind—excitement not of the mind, but of
the corruptible body. Drug the memory, stimulate
the passions—that is the order of the day. Mean-
while the wives sit at home in rags and teats, and
the children, waking from uneasy slumbers, cry for
bread. The' tide or civilisation is doubtless flowing
on, but the advancing wave has many a recoil.'
There is a counter-current in the mighty stream,
which gets broader and deeper, and that counter-
current is—gin. It-threatens society with tremend-
ous evil, because it comes from below. In the Lon-
don Directory we find the names of about six thou-
sand publicans ; and the British spirit charged with
home duty, most of which is either gin or whisky,
has varied from twenty or twenty-six million gal-
lons annually in the last few years. Besides this,
an enormous quantity of Geneva and Hollands is
imported. Country squires no longer lie under the
table. No Master of the Horse now reels in the
presence of Majesty, nor does the heir to the Throne
celebrate Bacchanalian orgies amid "the roar of his
drunkards." But did the sport of huntsmen and-
county members ever work half the misery and de-
solation produced by gin ? If a beggar accosts you
in your walks, or besets your carriage, he is asking
perhaps neither for food nor clothing, but for gin.
He has a morbid thirst for that elixir of death, and
would forego all else for it. Or if, indeed, he wants
the necessaries of life, what has brought him to
beggary ? Gin ! Trace his wretchedness to its
source, and you will probably find that, directly or
indirectly, that " cup of devils" is the cause of it all.
That haggard mother who sits on your door-step,
with an infant clinging to her exhausted breast and
other children to her trembling knee S—what but her
husband's intemperance has driven her from her
home ? What brought Atkinson to the scaffold the
other day at Durham? What excited him to beat
his wife for upwards of an hour with murderous vio-
lence ? Gin ! While he flogged her, the Furies of
drink were lashing him. It is gin that fills the
streets of our opulent capital with mendicants, more
numerous though more scattered than in the cities
on the Continent. , It chokes our workhouses, peo-
ples our prisons, and degrades our national charac-
ter, while it prepares the lower classes for some
fearful explosion at a future day. Thus Nature's
best gifts are abused. Thus the Kpi XevOv, the pure
grain that waves so gracefully in the warm
wind, is destined to stifle the conscience and over-
cloud the senses with heady fumes. The berries of
the juniper and the oil of turpentine will be added
to make the - fiery potion piquant. Sugar—for
sweet bin is in favour iu the metropolis--will mask
some adulterating substance that facilitates dilution
with water ; and strong poisons—creosote, sulphate
of zinc, caustic potash, and sulphuric acid—will be
mixed sometimes even with English gin. Of all
adultered gin, that which is sold retail is most dele-
terious. And is there no remedy for this growing
evil ? Is not the drunkard an enemy of society and
a disgrace to his country ? Shall the fruitful cause
of his crime become cheaper and cheaper, and the
haunts of midnight revellers multiply without
check ? Will not our rulers some time be com-
pelled to make intoxication a more serious offence
against the law, and to chastise it as it deserves ?
Such a return to Puritan legislation would, indeed,
be deplored by every man of sense ; but may it not
become inevitable in spite of ourselves ? May not
civil discipline sometime or other require it, as mili-
tary discipline does even now ? Will one Father
Mathew in a century suffice to stay the plague?
Will sermons and tracts have weight with intellects
already besotted ? • In Paris a different scene pre-
sents itself from that which we see here. Instead of
gin-palaces elegant and airy cafés open wide their
doors in every street and boulevard. The walls are
glittering with mirrors and gilded mouldings, the
tables covered with the news of the world. An
intellectual repast is spread, not indeed of the
highest order, but certainly a most useful and en-
taming one. The refreshments are good, and
moderate in price ; and their chief merit is
that they do refresh without stimulating and
undermining the moral and physical strength of
man. Friends meet friends without brawling ; the
-weary find repose ; the moody are cheered ; the
joyous give vent to their gladness. There the
bachelor eats his breakfast in comfort, instead of
being ill-served in dull and lonely lodgings ; there,
too, when the business of the day is done, he finds
chess, dominos, conversation and picket. There the
noble and the bourgeois, the foreigner and native,
meet side by side ; for a café on the boulevards is
not for a class, but for all. Elsewhere, indeed, there
are cafés essentially plebeian, but formed ou the

same model, and far above any gin-palace in the
scale of civilisation. Enter one of them. It is filled
by men in blouses, but they are orderly and sober. '
Some read, some talk, and many play billiards ; but
none are intoxicated, nor will be, even though they
should stay till midnight. Why is the café system
unknown in London? Why are wretched coffee-
houses, frequented chiefly by cabmen, their only
representatives here? Why are foreigners obliged to
prowl about long before they can, in the neighbour-
hood of Leicester-square, light upon what they have
been accustomed to find within a stone's throw in
every continental town ? Why are Englishmen, who
have learned in travelling the advantage and com-
fort of cafes, deprived of the innocent recreation
they afford the moment they set foot on the shores
of their native land ? Hotels and clubs are no
adequate substitute for this important desideratum.
They exist in Paris as in London. The first are
frightfully expensive ; and the club to which one
belongs, though in itself an invaluable luxury, is
not always at hand. Clubs, again, are exclusive and
capricious, as we have seen very lately ; and in a
general way they are accessible only to' persons of a
certain status in society. A café is unique in its
adaptation to various purposes and conditions—it
is a caravansera where every pilgrim is welcomed
and well entertained.

Frightful Accident at Croydon.—Six Men
Killed and Wounded.

Yesterday morning a frightfulaccident occurred at Croy-
don. Tho Brighton Railway Company are about connect-
ing the Balham and Victoria line of railway with West
Croydon, by means of a short loop lino between Gloucester-
road-bridge and tho main Balham line at Dugnall's-park.
The Gloucester-road-bridge is the third from West Croydon,
and is about being replaced by a wider and more comma-
modious one; and in order to expedite this work and ac-
complish the removal without stopping the traffic, Sunday
morning, when few trains run, was fixed on for the work.
At half-past 8 o'clock a locomoiive with a chain attached •

was employed to pull down tho brickwork, which consisted
of two small arches used as abutments to the centre arch,
which was also brickwork. Preparations for a grand haul
had been made, and a number of men were employed in weak-
ening the supports of the bridge, on the supposition that the
power of the locomotive was insufficient for its destruction.
On a sudden, without any warning, the whole fabric gate
way, and six poor fellows were buried under the mass of
brickwork. Two were as soon as possible taken out, quite
dead ; one of them, George Mills, literally smashed to a
pulp, The other man's name was William Edwards. Four
others were extricated alive, and three of them were con-
veyed to Guy's Hospital, where we understand one of them,
named Higley, has since died.

Dr. Coles, of Dingwall-road, was quickly on the spot, but
his services wore of little aTail, as two of the men were dead,
and the others gone to the hospital.
' Mr. Rigby, the company's superintendent, was soon at
the scene of the accident, and under his direction a large
staff of labourers cleared the lino, so that no interruption of
the traffic occurred.

The bodies of the two unfortunate men were removed to
the Earl Russell public-house, adjoining, where an inquiry
before the coroner will bo held.

Shocking Accident at Dover.

-- -4.
THE BELGIAN AGENT KILLED BY AN EXPRESS

TRAIN.

A very lamentable accident occurred at the Dover Har-
bour station of the London, Chatham, and Dover Rail-
way on Friday night, resulting in the death of M.
Sochaczewski, the agent for the Belgian Government, and
mail packet service at Dover. Upon the arrival of the 10.30
p.m. express train, M. Sochaczewski was running along the
down platform, when he came in contact with a post, which
supports the temporary roof of the station. The concussion
threw him backward, and he fell powerless over the side of
the platform. The train coming at this moment the engine
and tender passed over the unfortunate man ; and his aryl
and one leg were completely cut off, while his body was
also frightfully mutilated. Life not being extinct when lkt
Sochaczewski was taken to the platform he was removed t°
one of the waiting rooms, and Dr. Gill was immediately ill
attendance, but he died in about an hour, during which
time, however, he was sufficiently conscious to acknowledge
that it was purely an accident, and that no fault could 100
attributed to any one. The deceased was a middle-aged
man and much respected.