The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-29 00:00:00

terests have found that they are far better off than
they were when that protection was taken from them.
(Cheers.) So it has been with all our manufactures.
We were formerly very bad hands in making silk.
There was then a very high protective duty on
French silks, and when there was a question of tak-
ing it off, or bringing it down to a reasonable
amount, people said they must take off their looms;
but instead of that, very soon after the monopoly of
our silk manufactures was taken away—whereas
before our silks had been rejected in every foreign
market as being inferior in quality and higher in
price—very soon after that monopoly was taken
away we beat the French in their own markets.
(Cheers.) Our silks were bought in third markets
in preference to the silks of France because they were
better and they were cheaper. (Loud cheers.) So
it will be with Austria. (Hear.) At one time in
Portugal there was a prohibition against importing
foreign hats—(laughter)—there was a hat interest,
and the manufacturers of hats in Portugal said they
could not live if foreign hats were imported. Well,
the consequence was that the Portuguese wore very
bad hats—(a laugh)-.-and as it is an emblem of rank
and pedigree in Portugal very often for a man to be
entitled to wear three hats, you may conceive how
much the Portuguese, and especially the nobility,
value an accumulation of hats—(renewed laughter)
—and of course suffered from that restriction. (More
laughter.) Well, that restriction, I believe, has
been taken away, and anybody who walks thestreets
of Lisbon may see gentlemen wearing very smart-
looking and very good -looking hats. (Laaghter.)
However, that is only one instance. I am quite
sure it is greatly to the interest of Austria to en-
courage the utmost possible freedom of interchange
and exchange with England ; and it is unnecessary
to say it will be greatly to the interest of Eng-
land that that system should be established, as I
trust it will be. (Hear, hear.) Home politics
and trade are different things. And it is non-
sense to say, as some people do, that if you only
establish free trade and extensive commercial inter-
course between two countries peace will be everlast-
ing, and that there will be no more war. That I
know is the doctrine of some very respectable gen-
tlemen amongst us ; but it is a mistake. Interest
is a strong motive, but passion a much stronger, as
we have seen lately with the Northern States of
America. It was said that it was impossible for
England and America to quarrel, because there was
so great a commercial intercourse between the two.
Well, but the moment the passions of the Ameri-
cans were excited—first by the civil war, and then
by that unfortunate escapade of Captain Wilkes—
(cheers)—at the moment that happened, away went
all thoughts of commerce and commercial relations,
and the people, as you know, were all throwing
their heads up and saying "Let us have war with
England," on a matter in which they were entirely
wrong. (Hear, hear, and cheers.) Therefore, Ido
not say that greater commercial intercourse with,
Austria would make secure our political relations,
but it would improve them—(hear, hear)—and I
do not foresee any subject of pre.,upposed difference
between the two. (Hear, hear.) Therefore I take
the liberty of impressing upon our distinguished
guest that by increasing the commercial intercourse
between the two countries we are not only adding
to the wealth and happiness, and prosperity of
both, but that we are to a very great degree cement-
ing the political ties by which the two countries
are bound together. (Loud and continued ap-
plause. I only hope that Baron Thierry will give
me an opportunity at Broadlands of more distinctly
enlarging upon that theme; and as I left a note
at Radley's Hotel just now, inviting him to dine
with me this afternoon, I hope you will let him
go for that purpose. (Enthusiastic and sustained
cheering.)

ST. THOMAS'S HOSPITAL.

It will hardly be believed that the exploded
scheme' for removing St. Thomas's Hospital into the
country has been revived. A Court of Governors
has been convoked by special summons to decide
upon the site, and there is too much reason to fear
that counsels most adverse to the interests of the
charity may be allowed to prevail. Nothing short
of a vigorous protest on the part of the public will
save this noble institution from being lost to the
metropolis and transferred to Wandsworth. The
objections to such a proceeding are so patent that
we are almost ashamed to repeat them. It would
take from the poor of Southwark and Lambeth a
house of refuge at their very doors, ever open to
them in time of sickness or in case of accident, and
would substitute for it a country hospital at a dis-
tance of five or six miles. It would effectually
deprive the institution of the services of the eminent
physicians and surgeons who have hitherto attended

its wards gratuito—usly, but who could not spare
time from their private practice for a daily journey
to the Surrey Hills. It would for ever break up the
great medical school which was the pride of old
St. Thomas's, and which could not possibly follow
it to a suburban site. All this mischief would be
done for the sake of what ? We are really at a loss
for an appropriate word, for we are unable to attri-
bute so much influence to a mere crotchet, and un-
willing to introduce so gross an idea as that of a
job. All that we can say is that the only gainers by
the arrangement now contemplated will be the
owners of land at Wandsworth. Whether this fact
has any connexion with the project remains to be
explained, but how the project will -be made to suc-
ceed, unless stoutly resisted, we now propose to
show.

There is a prevalent impression that there cannot
be much amiss in the management of most great
concerns, especially those which are of a charitable
nature. Every now and then the collapse of some
highly respectable company, or the disclosures eli-
' cited by some royal or parliamentary commission,
shake this comfortable belief, but it seldom fails to
regain its credit after a very short time. When we
read of a court of governors meeting regularly and
approving the minutes of committees and sub-
committees, we recognise the machinery of popular
administration, and have no reason to doubt that
it works well. We sa3 to ourselves that there must
surely be some active and bustling members on
these councils who devote themselves to asking
pertinent questions and checking complicated
accounts, and who would never let an important
resolution be hurried through without due debate.
It is perhaps as well that this amiable confidence
should prevail so generally, for without it business
would be a much less easy-going affair than it is,
but the initiated few know that it rests on a vulgar
error. The more complicated a system of manage-
ment, the less knowledge, and therefore the less
power of control, is possessed by the nominal
managers, and the more absolute is the influence of
any officer who has the key to all its mysteries.
Instead of a number of independent judgments
having been exercised, and as many independent
wills having concurred in the decisions of such
bodies, it will generally be found that the strings
have been pulled by one or two individuals. Now,
this is exactly the state of things at St. Thomas's
Hospital. There is a Court of Governors, indeed,
partly composed of Aldermen and Common Council-
men, partly of members qualified by subscriptions of
£5O and upwards, but these so-called " Governors"
govern but in name. They have reports read to
them by another less august but still exalted coun-
cil, called the " Grand Committee," and of course
they " approve" them, for the form of signifying
disapproval, if there be one, would probably be too
undignified to be thought of for a moment. The
" Grand Committee," in its turn, rarely acts, but
to " approve" the proceedings of its "sub-com-
mittee," and thus this imposing hierarchy of func-
tionaries shrinks into a very snug little coterie.
We read in history of certain ambassadors, charged
with a mission to a great barbarian chief, who were
made to pass through successive tents, each more
gorgeous than the last, till they were ushered into
the presence of the mighty potentate himself, en-
circled by his guards and surrounded by all
the pomp of nomad magnificence. A different
reception, we suspect, would await any one who
should desire an interview with the ruling powers
of St. Thomas's Hospital. He would be relegated
from the Council Chamber of the Aldermen and
their brother Governers to that of the " Grand
Committee," and from this to the private room of
the sub-committee, where he would, probably, find
a party of two or three gentlemen, with a very off-
hand way of settling hospital affairs and a very
good understanding with each other. We need not
carry our analysis further. The most simple-minded
of our readers will readily conceive the facility with
which any plan might obtain the " approval" of a
treasurer and two colleagues; after which the rati-
fication by the higher authorities would be little
more than a formality.
We are thus enabled to understand, and to make
allowances for, the strange want of economy which
has been shown, in more than one instance, by the
nominal Governors of the Hospital. Its income
has increased from £12,000 to £35,000 since the
beginning of this century, yet the amount of relief
actually given, at the time of the late removals was
little more than it had been before the funds were
at removal
tripled. The circumstances attending th

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