The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-22 00:00:00

THEATRE ROYAL DRURY-LANE,

Lessee, Mr. E. T. Smith.
The Attractions of this great National Establishment for the
lIRISTMAS HOLIDAYS will be on a most extensive scale, un-
recedented in the annals of Theatricals for Novelly, splendour, and
Mechanical wonders, embodied by the first Artistes in the world.
Magnificent Scene•y, Dresses, and Decorations; gorgeous excite-
ment, and Ballet unrivalled, forming an ensemble of talent and en-
chanticg attraction never equalled. Mr. SMITH, the Lessee, begs to
remind his juvenile patrons that this great CHRISTMAS 'PANTO-
MIME will be produced on MONDAY NEXT, DEC. 26, with a
DRAMA. and FARCE. Reduced Prices as usual.

THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
Under the management of Mr. Buckstone.
THIS EVENING, DEC. 22,

Will be performed THE HOPE OF THE FAMILY Characters
by Messrs Compton, Rogcrs, and Buckstone ; Miss E. Grey, and
Dirs. Fitzwilliam.
To be foil ,wed by A PRETTY PIECE OF BUSINESS. Cha-
racters by Vessrs. norm and Buckstonc ; Miss Reymilds and Mrs.
Fitzwilliam.
To conclude with MRS. WHITE.

ROYAL PRINCESS'S THEATRE, OXFORD-STREET.
Under the Management of Mr. CHARLES KEAN.
On MONDAY NEXT, D.Ec.
Will be performed THE CORSICAN BROTHERS. Principal
character by Mr. C. Kean.
After which will be produced a new Grand CHRISTMAS PAN-
TOMIME, entitled HARLEQUIN AND THE MILLER AND
HIS MEN; or, King Salamandar and the Fairy of the Azure
Lake. Harlequin, Mr: Cormack ; Clown, Mr. Huline; Pantaloon,
Mr. Paulo; and Columbine, Miss Desborough.

THEATRE ROYAL ADELPHI.
Proprietor, Mr. B. Webster,—Directress. Madame Celeste.
THIS EVENING, DEC. 22,
Will be performed TETE THIRST OF GOLD; or, The Lost
fillip. Characters by Messrs. B. Webster, P. Bedford, and Keeley ;
and Madame Celeste.
After which, THE CAMP AT CHOBIIAM.
To conclude with " HOTEL CHARGES 1" or, How to Cook
" A Blffin."

ROYAL OLYMPIC THEATRE.
Lessee and Manager,'Mr. A. Wigan.
On MONDAY NEXT, Dec. 2n, and during the Week,
•
Will be performed PLOT AND PASSION. Principal charaCtere
by Mr. F.
gge.
After which, ograpbical CHRISTMAS PAN-
Robson a and
av,Miritss.toSetireldtn.
TOM IME, called HARLEQUIN COLUMBUS ; or, The Old World
and the New. Harlequin, Mr. F. Moreland ; Pantaloon, Mr. W.
Rochez ; and Columbine, Was Wyndham.

ASTLEY'S EUROPE'S NATIONAL AMPHITHEATRE.
Lessee and Manager, Mr. W. Cooke,
Last Week of Performing before the Holidays. A New Grand
Equestrian CHRISTMAS COMIC PAN-MAME, written ex-
pressly for this Theatre, by Mr. NELSON LEE, entitled BILLY
BUTTON'S JOURNEY TO BRENTFORD • or, The Ladies'
Favourite—will be produced on MONDAY, DEC. 26.
Mr. W. Cooke's Elephants, pronounced by the Press and all who
have witnessed their Performances the most extraordinary Trained
animals in the World, will appear every Evening.
THIS EVENING, DEC. 22,
(And during the week),
The New Grand Equestrian Chinese Spectacle, entitled " THE
WISE ELEPHANTS OF THE EAST; or, THE MAGIC GONG.'
Followed by a series of Mr. Wm. Cooke's matchless scenes of
Equestrianism in THE CIRCLE, by the talented artistes of this
establishment.
Concluding with a favourite AFTERPIECE.
Box-ottice open from Eleven till Four. Stage Manager, Mr. W.
West.

UIGal WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
TRIFI DAY —Morning 56 min.after 5 Evening 21 min.aft. 6
To-Moaftow— Morning 41 min.after 6 Evening 10 min.aft. 7

THE WEATHER.—STN OPTICS, Dim. 22.
TRERMOMZTER, IN TILE SHADE.
40 —highest since noon yesterday.
36 —lowest this morning and during the night.
39—this day at noon.
BAROMETER, 30'16—still rising.
WrND,sh .W. by W.—Fresh breeze, and dull weather.
It blow a arp gale from the N.E. last night, with occa-
sionll sno

741( Pkft:4'
X.,1)11> 61- _f L 5313
\

LONDON, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 22, 1853.

The intelligence received to-day from the East,
and published elsewhere in this impression - of
our journal, is sufficiently extraordinary.
It intimates, through despatches coming to us
by way of Vienna, that the combined fleets of
France and England, accompanied by the mari-
time armament of the Turks and Egyptians, had
actually emerged at last, on the 10th instant,
from the Bosphorus—directing their course across
the Black Sea in a line that, if followed up, would
lead them in a brief interval to Sebastopol.
It announces a series of remarkable victories
won by the soldiers of the SULTAN on the Asiatic
contillcii t.

It informs us that the province and city of
Erivan had been voluntarily delivered up to the
authority of the Sublime Porte by the inhabitants,
and that Erivan had thereupon been at once occu-
pied by the troops Of MEHEMET PACHA, the
General of the Division of Bayazid.
It declares that the Russians had been
effectually repulsed at Goumri by the Turkish
forces under AHMED PACHA, the President of the
military council of Anatolia—that they had been
repulsed, indeed, so effectually as to'be driven back
into the capital of Alexandropol.
It adds, moreover, that Paskoff had been seized
by the Moslem—the Muscovites having been
triumphantly repelled by a strong
.body of the
Bashi Bouzouks and several battalions of re-
gular troops led by ZARIF MUSTAPHA, the com-
mander of the corps d' armee of the frontier of
Akbaltzik.

Victories, all of these, very gratifying to hear
of, after the disaster of Sinope, and the deplor-
able excitement of feeling thereupon naturally ap-
parent at Constantinople.
Additional particulars in reference to the above
intelligence must now be awaited with some
anxiety—especial regard being had to the con-
firmation of the news coming from Vienna, to the
effect that the combined fleets had on the 10th
instant started from the Bosphorus for Sebastopol.
It would be a wonderful combination of circum-
stances if the only sign of vigour manifested by
the Coalition were to be witnessed only on the very
morrow, as it were, after Lord PALMERSTON'S re-
signation. It would, in fact, be a combination
of circumstances about as marvellous as that of
the Noble Lord the Member for Tiverton being
rumoured to have withdrawn from the councils of
his Sovereign on the plea that too considerable
measures of Parliamentary Reform were contem-
plated by a Cabinet of which, nevertheless, the
Right Honourable Gentleman the Member for
the .University of Oxford continues to be one
of the prominent members in his capacity as
CHANCELLOR of the EXCHEQUER. Surprising
thoughthe confusion of parties undoubtedly has
been of late years—it is absolutely as nothing
when contrasted with the confusion of events
consegnea upon that chaos among the elements
making up the framework of the Administration.
Here, for
example, we are told that reforms which
are quite reasonable to a Conservative like Mr.
GLADSTONE, are too
much altogether for a Re-
former like Lord PAI,/,,
RSTON. So reasonable to
Mr. GLADSTONE that he continues to be a Member
of the Coalition. So "reason •
aote to Lord PAL
MERSTON that he abruptly, and at a
most critical
juncture, throws up the liome_sec
retaryship.
Here, again, we witness the perseverance in the
most craven policy towards Russia dnrie-
eight or
ten months consecutively by the Cabinet of Lord
ABERDEEN—the Noble. Viscount the Member for
Tiverton being all the while a leading member of
that Administration. But no sooner • has the Noble
Lord, the late Home Secretary, tendered his
resignation to his Sovereign, than we are informed
that the combined fleets of France and England,
in conjunction with those of Egypt and Turkey,
have entered the Black Sea at last, and have pro-
ceeded in the direction of Sebastopol. As if
the signal for this astounding information—
astounding as a sequel to the past foreign
policy of the Coalition—comes the resigna-
tion of Viscount PALMERSTON. Everything
indeed satisfies us that the news here adverted to

requires confirmation. Everything justifies us in
waiting with watchful anxiety for additional par-
ticulars before we venture to exult over the
reported abandonment of the laissez faire system
hitherto persevered in with such deplorable perti-
nacity by the ABERDEEN Government.

Whatever may be the next accounts furnished
to us from Constantinople, of this we may rest
perfectly well assured, that England, and
France, and Turkey, must, if they act at
all by sea against Russia, act with a will,
as the sailors say, with all their strength,
promptitude, and determination. There must be
no more sending of frigates to pick up scraps of
information. There must be no more forwarding
surgical assistance to the wounded—no more lock-
ing the stable door after the steed is stolen—no
more "feelers," thrown out to discover the inten-
tions of Russia, after the forces of the CZAR hare
been carrying fire and sword to the Turkish, ports,
and desolating the coasts of their enemy's country
with slaughter and conflagration,. IF warlike mea-
sures are really adopted at last against the mili-
tary or maritime armaments of the AUTOCRAT,
they must be not partial, but complete and
thorough. That compensation at least may be ex-
pected after this terrible, and lamentable, and as
yet most disastrous delay, of retribution. It
cannot be surprising, however, if, after all we
have said, we acknowledge that we cannot
place any reliance whatever in the energy or
sagacity of the present Government. So long as
the Earl of ABERDEEN continues at the head of
the Cabinet, it would be simply absurd to look for
either of those qualities in the Administration.
This we reiterate with all possible deliberation—
now—at this very moment, when we are told that
the combined Fleets have left the Bosphorus for
Sebastopol.

A very creditable attempt is being made to
solve one of the most difficult, as well as one of
the most important, social problems of the day--
juvenile delinquency—the discovery of the means
best calculated to effect the reformation of a large
proportion of the wretched children who are
called on to answer for offences against the laws
of their country, are indeed topics of no ordinary
interest, affording ample materials for discussion,
and on which great differences of opinion prevail
among persons conscientiously desirous of amelio-
rating the existing system. We confess, that we
are somewhat sceptical as to the benefits to be de-
rived from the labours of those who arrogate to
themselves the title of " prison philanthropists,"
and who fondly imagine that they are rendering
meritorious services to the community by devising
new and stringent punishments for criminals—
punishments calculated to harden their hearts
and brutalise their natures, and of which
the best that can be said is, that they
may work upon the fears of offenders by
making them feel the terrible consequences of
crime, and rendering existence intolerable to
the habitual violators of the law of the land. But
the subject which has called together the Birming-
ham Conference is of a very different character.
The noblemen and gentlemen who assembled to-
gether in the capital of the midland counties are
indeed engaged in a labour of love and mercy,
and an effort to redeem some of those miserable
and degraded creatures who, from being left with-
out care and instruction in their early years, have
become, or are likely to become, outcasts from
society—outlaws, whose hands are against every
man, as every man's hand is against them.
Whether the attempt be successful or otherwise,
all honour, we say, to those with whom the idea
originated, and by whom it is being carried out,
who, as members of society, endeavour to dis-
charge the duties which it owes to those against
whom it rigorously enforces its rights.
A great diversity of opinion, unfortunately,
prevailed at the meeting ; but this only proves the
necessity for further investigation, and for calm
and mature consideration. The public discussion
will,' by directing attention to the subject and
showing the conflicting views entertained, even-
tually lead to sound conclusions. On one point
there could be no difference. There was the most
perfect unanimity as to the necessity of affording
power " to send children convicted of crime or
habitual vagrancy to reformatory establishments
for sufficient time for their reformation or indus-
trial training, or until sufficient sureties be found
for their future good conduct."

This is, indeed, an indispensable preliminary to
any improvement. Whenever it appears that the
infant offenders are deprived of parental supervi-
sion, or that their natural guardians, through evil
example or culpable negligence, have disregarded
their duties, thereby becoming direct or tacit parti-
cipators in their crimes, it is essential that the
State should interpose its authority, and give to the
badly taught or neglected a sounder education, ac-
companied with more wholesome discipline than it
could obtain at home. And it is equally essen-
tial that the parent should, so far as practicable,
be made to suffer for his or her apathy or indif-
ference, by being compelled to pay, so far as prac-
ticable, the expenses of the child's maintenance
and training—that a badly-disposed person should
not, by conniving at offences, get rid of his
responsibility, or shift it on to the commu-
nity at large ; but that, on the contrary, an err-
ing and criminal child should be a greater
expense to those liable for its maintenance than
one properly conducted, who receives education
and instruction suitable to the station in which it
was born, and in which it is expected to live.
On such a point the mere question of expense
appears to be quite a secondary consideration.
The greatest possible outlay that could be applied
to the wholesome instruction and amendment
of a
young person in danger of being led astray,
would,
comparatively speaking, be sound economy.
This apparent paradox will at once be explained
if we take into consideration the real cost of an
incorrigible thief—of one trained up in predatory
habits, ready to take advantage of any and every
opportunity for plunder that may arise. It is
not merely the value of the articles that he may
purloin the course of his mischievous
career that must be taken into account—although,
during
on'a very moderate calculation, they would amount
to ten or twenty fold the cost of his training
in 'a
reformatory school—but we must also look
to the expenses of the various prosecutions and his
prOportion of the prison expenditure, of the main-
tenanceugh
theo v
additionalof
aru
various
s items
t policemen,e m
saToned
occs
ti by suffering
juvenile offenders to spring up into profiigate
adults, we would find it a hundredfold that re-
quired for the more benevolent treatment of those
who should be regarded ratheras objects of pity than
of condemnation. But it is not a mere question
of £. s. d. There are other and higher motives that
should influence the members of a Christian commu-
nity—which should teach us at any price to bring '
bapk the wanderers from the fold—to rescue from
depravity and misery the unfortunate infants who,
in!the eye of a discriminating and disinterested
Judge, may be regarded as " more sinned against
than sinning !"

"Are you tired of playing yet ?" Can we
feel any doubt or difficulty as to the nature of
the reply elicited from the "inexperienced" youths
of both sexes who constitute the great majority
of the audiences to whom. clap-trap interroga-
toiries of the above. description are addressed ?
IPlay" at any price, or on any terMs, will be
ttOcepted—" play," although it involves not merely
tile sacrifice of future prospicts, but also of pre-
86"t happine;sB,', paid renders necessary the endur-
atice of,
privations and sufferings of no ordinary
intensity.
Few of those who have not yet ar-
rived at what the law designates as " years of
discretion," have sufficient fortitude to pursue the
siein paths of duty
in preference to the more in-
viting ways of pleasure.

i The absence of labour—the avoidance of that
v'rhich to many lazy and idly-disposed persons isv
tile most terrible result of poverty, would alone
be sufficient to insure the enthusiastic response
required by the wily delegates, who see in the

maintenance of the agitation the continuance of
comfortable stipends for themselves—far more
than they could earn in the pursuit of their
ordinary avocations. The boys and girls whose
minds they are exciting, and whose permanent
misery they are occasioning, are not " tired cf
playing yet ;" nor will they be tired so long as
they can, by any means, obtain sufficient to keep
body and soul together. Such feelings are not,
peculiar to the factory operatives—they are com-
mon to juveniles of every station and class in
society—to those of high birth, aristocratic con-
nexions, and large fortunes, as well as to the chil-
dren of toil who earn their daily bread by their
daily labour.

The great difficulty experienced by parents,
guardians, and masters, is to keep the minds of
their children or pupils steadily directed to the
performance of their daily tasks. Any distin-
guishing influence that prevents the moulding of
the ductile masses into proper forms is regarded
with a degree of dread almost amounting to
horror. The tempters who endeavour to seduce
them from the straightforward course are avoided
with the most determined pertinacity, and the
rising generation energetically cautioned against
being led astray by their pernicious counsels.
Now, these temptations vary according to the
station and position of those to be affected. In-
ducing persons, who, under ordinary circumstances,
would be compelled to live by their labour, to
abstain from work, and to fall into habits of in-
dolence, teaching them to live by begging (for,
after all, the high-minded operatives of Preston,
who refuse to work, are only mendicants on an
ettensive scale), or by parochial relief, in place of
by honest, painstaking industry, may be as de-
moralising as it would be to lead those of wealth
and station into scenes of the most degrading pro-
fligacy. In either case the mind would be un-
hinged, 'and unfitted for the discharge of its ordi-
nary . functions ; it would be taught to detest
wholesome exercise, and to crave after unhealthy
excitement—to (as we have already stated) " dis-
count future happiness on tho most usurious terms."
What, then, can be said of a cause in which
such an argument is resorted to by the acknow-
ledged leader ? where the persuasion and induce-
ment held out to the younger portion of the audi-
ence to persevere in the demands put forward,
not by them, but on their behalf, is the living in
idleness, the waste of time in amusements and
sports, still fascinating, though pursued with
hungry bellies and half-naked backs, but
which eminently disqualify them for the
discharge of their tasks on future occa-
sions. As the promised prize of victory, to
the more mature, is associated with " jerry shops,"
in which they are to be perpetually singing that
" Britons never shall be slaveS," so to the pre-
cocious youngsters, play, play, play—constant
unceasing play—is the anticipated reward.
Experience teaches us how hard it is to reclaim
those who have once taken to mendicancy or
" cadging," as it is termed, for a livelihood. It
is described as the most fascinating of all occupa-
tions, and those who can thus obtain even a crust
will scorn the comforts derived from following
any laborious trade or employment. Time will
tell the results of the sixteen weeks' cessation of
labour that has already occurred. It will be seen
how far those who, with yet unformed habits and
principles, have been so long " at play"—will be
enabled to go back to work, and to discharge the
laborious duties required at their hands ; and
whether, when the disputes are arranged, and the
factories reopened, a large proportion of the turn-
outs may not be disposed to tell Mr. COWELL, and
other delegates who may seek a continuance
of their stipends, that they (the operatives) are
" not tired of playing yet."