The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-21 00:00:00

SDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 21, 1853.

CHRISTMAS DAY.

- If there be one stronger impulse than another
in the English breast it is the desire that the
whole human race on Christmas-day should par-
take of plumpudding. This savoury compound, of
" equal parts of Malaga raisins, currants, suet
Chopped fine, sweetmeats, and bread crumbs," is
the very foundation of Anglo-Saxon, civilization.
We shut a man and his wife up in a workhouse—
carefully separating them--for twelve months, but
on Christmas-day we give to each of them a
large wedge of plumpudding as a set-off against
the discomfort of the year. The country squire
causes his, servants' hall to be decorated with
Holly-sprigs, ruddy with their cheerful fruit, and
bunches of mistletoe more sparsely intermingled ;
and the " establishment," atter partaking of
plumpudding, " threads the mazy dance " we
believe the phrase is a correct one—the lady of the
mansion leading the ball. The Sovereign of these
broad realms is not unconscious of the influence of
the genial season, while the poorest of her subjects
may on Christmas-eve be seen standing outside a
pawnbroker's shop with three flat irons, an ancient
engraving figurative of a harvest-home and her
husband's Sunday wai.stcoat--all of which goods
and chattels she is prepared to make over to the
usurer by way of mortgage, that she may obtain
the needful purchase money for the ingredients of
her Christmas pudding. The soldiers and sailors
of Queen Victoria eat their Christmas pudding to
a man ; it is the necessary condition of our national
safety. Crime even is pampered for the moment,
and indulged with gastronomic emotions. The
wheel stands still and the crank forgets to revolve ;
indeed, we know not what' degree of moral turpi-
tude would, to the apprehension of a true English-
man; justify the deprivation of a plumpudding on
Christmas-day. This we take to be the absolute
and simple truth. ,We would therefore take thii
opportunity of hinting to all our friends and
readers that there are certain persons to be found
in this metropolis who may not, perhaps, be in a
position to , enjoy, themselves to any very rap-
turous extent on Christmas-day. , It is so in all
seasons of festivity. A day of rejoicing to some is
a day of bitterness to others, and all the more so,
perhaps, from the consciousness that their own
grief and suffering is even more than usually
out of place, jarring and discordant. To most
of us—we hope so, at least —Christmas - day
means the glad gathering of familiar faces
of parents, of children, of friends—it means cheer-
ful rooms with crackling faggots and blazing fires,
well-furnished boards, and ringing laughter—
it means turkeys and sirloins—plumpudding,s,
of course, with genial sprigs of holly stuck
into their tops—snapdragons, blue-flames, and
conjuror's tricks. Alas ! that it should mean
to others the dry arch and the checked sob—the
scanty gown'• pressed lightly over the shivering
frame.of a dying child—the hurried and irregular
progress through lighted streets ; nothing but fog,
chill, starvation, and policemen without : nothing
but mirth and abundance within. It is an awful
truth that in London such contrasts are to be seen
every day and every night by the careful observer ;
but the persons who are so afflicted are not the
sharp-sighted " poor blind," the epileptic practi-
tioners, the shoeless lads from Ipswich ; in a word,
the regular rank and file of London mendicancy.
Good Samaritan,.-beware Of these !
The affliction exists ; it is real • it haunts the
streets, ay, and the imagination of ;hose who know
of its existence and desire to alleviate it. The
question is, how i.; the stream of benevolence to be
so directed that its current may not flow away ? We
wish to help the poor, but we have not the slightest
-wish to Contribute to: a tipsy, not" to say beastly
drunken jollification, at the Three Jolly Post-
boys in Clerkenwell, or at a " slap:bang " shop
in the back streets of Westminster. We think

we can give the charitably disposed some good
counsel, and therefore it is that we take this
subject up again to-day. In the first place,
we would renew our former caution. From the

hardened importunate beggar let every reasonable
being turn aside. It is, unfortunately, impossible
to give the poor children a good dinner all round,
and the parents, real or putative, a most excellent
whipping ;so in impossibilities we must needs
turn aside. It should, however, be remembered
that, although a casual passenger through the
streets of London cannot distinguish between the
cases of real and fictitious suffering, there are those
who can. There is not a police magistrate in
London who has not every day to listen to tales
of distress in its most appalling form, which he
knows to be real • for at a police-court imposture
is impossible. What can he dog If he were to
give away .the whole amount of his salary over
and over again in the course of the year, it
would not, in point of fact, meet the exigencies of
the case. Many of the London magistrates
do bestow, from their own private sources, on
these poor suitors far more than the amount of
their income would justify ; but all the relief
they can give is but as a drop of water in the
sea. Their only help is derived from the poor-
box of the pOlice-court, and it is to this fact we
would direct the attention of all benevolent per-
sons. Let them be quite sure that every pound
—every shilling—every farthing, which they may,
send as a donation to any of the poor-boxes of any
of the police-courts will be applied to the relief of
misery of the most fearful description. The hu-f
mane and intelligent gentlemen who preside over,
these courts will not shrink from the trouble of see-;
ing the alms well bestowed. Let us add that it is'
ftr better to leave the distribution to the discretion:
of the magistrate than to forward subscriptions for
the relief of a particular case. It almost invariably
happens that donations in money pour in for some
particular prisoner whose case may abound iii
striking or dramatic points. There is nothing ed
prosaic as the poor man's usual tale of starvation
and sickness, and in nine cases out of ten it is suf-
fered to pass unnoticed. The magistrate gives the
commonplace sufferer half-a-crown from the poor-,
box, and perhaps another from his own pocket ; iii
consideration of which gift he will probably walk
home himself through the wet, or suffer his little
boy to go without the Noah's ark which that young
gentleman had not unreasonably looked for, by way
of surprise, on or about Christmas day next ensuing;
The stern Minos of Bow-street or Marlborough;
street is'obliged to'do sums in his head, and to acT
quiesce in disagreeable results.
We have pointed out the poor box of the police;
court as a most certain ally to the benevolent in
the cause of real charity. They should conside4
hoed great a matter it is to secure an almoner wh4
knows what he is -about, and who will not suffer
their gifts to be diverted from their true intent.
The magistrate, be it remembered is an unpaid
almoner. It is from this consideration, indirectly,
tha: we confess we do not look altogether with-
out suspicion en the benevolent societies, who
waste so much of their funds on collection, distri-
bution, arc. There must be a secretary on so
liberal a scale of remuneration that he can keep up
Polyanthus-cottage, St. John's-wood, in a condi-
tion of suitable splendour, and his wife has a weak-
ness for charitable tea-parties, which involve a con-
siderable outlay in sponge-cakes. Then there must
be a board-room, and expenses for firing, printing,
&c. Above all, the True Samaritans must have
their annual whitebait dinner at Greenwich, while,
without the usual ball at the Eyre Arms, the
Charitable Twaddlers' Association would fall to the
ground. It is best when the money given by the
opulent passes into the hands of the poor without
deduction, or without suspicion of jobbery of any
kind.—Times.

ANGLO-MEXICAN MINT COMPANY.—Yesterday a spe-
cial general meeting of the proprietors was held for the
purpose of communicating the particulars of the new
contract which had been obtained from the Supreme
Government of Mexico for the mints of Guanaxualo
and Facatecas. The chairman stated that the sum of
730,000 dollars had been advanced to the Government
as a loan at 6 per cent., on the security of the rent ,pay-
able by the company to the Government for the two
mints in question ; that the rent would amount to front
90,000 to 100,000 dollars annually, and that this sum
would secure the repayment of the loan and interest
within the term of years granted under the contract.
That such term of years would expire at the end of
1866, and that the conditions of the contract, although
varying in some particulars from the present contract,
would secure to the company the same scale of profit
which they bad hitherto enjoyed. Resolutions were
then passed to increase the capital of the company from
its present paid-up amount of 125,0001. to 200,0001.,
the additional 75,0001. to be raised by the transfer and
capitalisation of 50,000/. from the company's reserved
fund, and by calling up the 25,000/. remaining unpaid
on the half-shares of the company% The meeting ter•
urinated with a vote of thanks to the chairman and
directors.

EASTERN COUNTIES RAILWAY COMPANY.—This com-
pany having notified their desire to borrow yesterday
a large sum on their debentures for five years at 44 per
cent., the whole amount was readily taken.
AUSTRALIAN GOLD.—The 800,0001. of Australian gold
announced last week by the Victoria was sent up yes-
terday, and was delivered to the seueral consignees to-
day. A portion will be sold for exportation, and the
remainder iwill' go into the Bank. •