The Sun.
London, England, 1854-08-03 00:00:00

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cats' meat, to summon the proprietor of this establishment
before a magistrate to enforce whatever penalties may have
been incurred under the 113th section of Tour act of 1348.
" In connection with one of the deaths above adverted to
(namely, that on Peter's-hill), complaint was made of the
long detention of the corpse in a house densely inhabited. I
regret that I could give no assistance to the complainants
in this case, but, should the cholera mortality of
the city
increase to any considerable extent, I would wish for the
authority of your hon. Court to make application to the
board of guardians to give assistance under any similar cir-
cumstances which may arise."
The proprietors of 80 houses in Hntchinson-street and
other streets in the city were heard in relation to notices
served upon them to do sanitary works, and orders were
passed that the works should be done forthwith to the
satisfaction of the officers of the Court. Several houses
in Petticoat-lane, the property of country magistrates
and other gentlemen, were placed upon the same list,
and subjected to the same immediate sanitary process.
An important report of the committee was agreed to,
in reference to a project for carrying out an extensive
public improvement, in Aldermanbury and Gresham-
street, viz.—that, on the rebuilding of certain premises
belonging to Messrs. Chaplain and Horne, the incon-
venient and unsightly angle at the south end of Alder-
manbury should be removed.

GREAT CRY-LITTLE WOOL !

THE RICKETTY SESSION.
The last day of the session is now rapidly approaching,
and the Ministers are about to eat their Greenwich
dinner. Let ua inquire what they have done to deserve
it. They began the session by a statement that they had
done their utmost to preserve peace, and had augmented
the naval and rifilitary forces to effect this object ; at its
close the country is at war, which they have shown
:L ttitan
unavoidable.
adequate
themselves alike incapable of preventing, or of conduct-
inge n
n whene w a
s it
u becamey
theo I ln January
demands theef h
the ve-
g esincelar 1y
January
increasedwe e
have of
credit,public vi
nseewr
taxes,ce;
xpendhiadturev,tewith
the loss of the Tiger, with the deaths of Captains Giffard
and Parker, to show for our money. Ministers had an
excellent cause. Justice and popular feeling were on
their side, but by tampering with despotism, waiting
for the support of Austria, and seeking for the approval
of Prussia, they have cooled the public enthusiasm and
almost begotten distrust in the cause they have mis-
managed. At the end of the session, looking more at
our own hopes and exertions than at the unexpected
successes of the Turks, the position of the country is
far less advantageous than at its commencement.
If Ministers had neglected the war to promote the
arts of peace, or if they had treated these as unimportant
while they had vigorously prosecuted the war, we should
have found an apology for their failure in their consis-
tency. But they have attempted to do both, and have
accomplished neither. The nation and its representa-
tives, surpassing the Ministers in zeal to prosecute the
war, have cheerfully voted all necessary supplies, and
without a murmur have submitted to the extension of
an unainended and odious system of taxation. Minis:
ters cannot complain of money being begrudged to carry
on the war, but the people complain that their generous
contributions have been frittered worthlessly away.
Neither by successful war, nor by useful legislation, have
they been gratified ; and at the end of six months' labour,
under the guidance of the Ministers, the Parliament se-
parates damaged, like them, in the public estimation.
In January the nation was promised further
reforms in the criminal and ecclesiastical law :
nothing has been done. The Royal Speech an-
nounced a measure to improve the Poor-law : such a
measure was brought in, but it was burked by the
Ministers themselves, who almost broke up their
administration by their unseemly treatment of a
subordinate, and their disunion about removing pau-
pers. For more than four months they have directed
the deliberations of Parliament to their promised mea-
sure to check bribery and corruption. It has at length
reached its final stage, but so mangled and mutilated,
that their supporters know not what it means, and decry
it as giving a license to the very evil it was proposed to
eradicate. A plan was promised for the improvement of
the Civil Service. This is much needed, though we differ
from the Ministers as to what should be done. But
Ministers have done nothing. The Civil Service remains
unreformed, though not unstigmatised in the Royal
Speech. More than the reform of the Civil Service, which
was the measure of the Ministers, the people had at heart
the abolition or amendment of antiquated oaths, which
withhold from them the services of men they elect. Over
and over again have the Ministers pledged themselves to
remove this insulting and galling fetter. They feebly
tried, and were defeated. The honest but small
remnant of bigotry which still lingers in the House of
Commons was too strong for their half-heartedness, and
the Whig hero of reform continues in office, though he
was defeated and humiliated by Sir Frederick Thesiger.
Pledges unfulfilled, promises broken, hones deceived, are
the characteristics of the session and the Ministers.
Often defeated, they practically proved before its close,
though they could not unite their heterogeneous oppo-
nents, they could disunite their friends. Powerful at its
commencement, they are without efficient support at its
close. They are defeated night after night, and have
only to thank the damaged character of Lord Derby and
Mr. Disraeli for being suffered to continue in office.
Though the war was a sufficient excuse for stopping
Parliameutecy d;,l --`"ih• 'O. some winger in allowing ne-
cessary measure to stand over till Parliament was re-
formed, and a vigorous ministry in office. Whenever
public opinion is fully and fairly heard, the worn-out
university system will not be very tenderly dealt with.
It was convenient, therefore, to promote the reform
while one of their representatives was in office ; and
while the idle doctors of Cambridge and Oxford count
in the national representation fur as much as the indus-
trious electors of Birmingham and Liverpool, or of
Finsbury and Marylebone. The time that might have
been given to Parliamentary Reform or to urging on
the war has been appropriated to effecting a peddling
change in the universities, in order to protect them in
the possession of their immunities, and to shield their
costly inefficiency. The great measure of the session is
University Reform, which, like too many other half-and-
half and chain measures of our day, is rather intended
to cheat than td realise the just hopes and desires of the
people.
One of the earliest measures of the session intro-
duced in the very first week was the bill to simplify and
improve the public accounts. This practical measure
has long been demanded by liberal reformers as neces-
sary to clear up mystery, to enable the public to
understand the public accounts, and become acquainted
with the actual cost of the Government. Mr. Gladstone
and his friends took great praise to themselves for intro-
ducing it, and made out of it a great heap of political
capital. A few items were to be transferred, it was
said, to the Consolidated Fund, but a much larger
amount of expenditure, all the charges for collecting the
revenue, were, for the first time, to be brought under
the supervision of the House of Commons, and annually
voted. Estimates of the charges were prepared and laid
before Parliament. The measure was cordially hailed
by the liberals, and was even applauded by Mr. Disraeli.
What has become of it Till the end of June it was
allowed to lie unheeded on the table of the Commons, and
was sent up to the Lords about the middle ofJuly, early
enough to allow them to subject it to a fierce examina-
tion, and too late for the popular power to exert itself
should the Lords mishandle the bill. To subject any
permanent appropriations to annual revision was sure to
excite the displeasure of all the apprehensive pensioners
in Parliament, and Mr. Gladstone bad not so carefully
drawn the bill as to secure it against all feasible objec-
tions. It interfered with one or two permanent officers
who bear the character of judges. It even brought the salary
of the Liou King of Anns—Great Herald of the Empire
—under revision, and there was sufficient reason to
make an interested opposition plausible. The bill, though
wholly referring to revenue, and wholly a money bill,
was sent to a Select Committee of the Lords, and has

been so long delayed that it is doubtful whether we may
this year get even an instalment of this much-needed

reform.

Almost every reign commences in exultation and ends
in despair. Many a young monarch mounts his throne

amidst the applau-ses of hi; people, and ere he quits it
hides himself in the recesses of his palace from their hatred
and their curses. So it is with Parliaments. Year after
year they assemble amidst the hopes and the acclama-
tions of the people only to dwindle away at the close of
the session amidst their jeers or their hisses. From au
untried King the vulgar may excusably expect unknown
benefits ; from a Parliament that has been tried year
after year, and year after year has disappointed the
hopes of the people, it is inexcusable to expect
good. Somewhat, therefore, the people are always
to blame for renewing each January the hopes that have
been disappointed in the previous August. Such has
been fur some years the annual course, and there is no
reason why 1854 should differ from its predecessors.
But the Coalition Ministry—proud of their concentrated
abilities, promised largely and encouraged great expec-
tations, while they have effected next to nothing. Nei-
ther successful in war nor in the arts of peace, they are
an example of failure which excites astonishment even
where failure is habitual. Many bills have indeed been
brought in, and an almost equal number of points have
been unsettled. The mercantile marine has been legis-
lated about, but rot satisfactorily, and a Secretary of
War has been established and his salary provided ; but,
except one measure, all useful reform has been stifled or
withheld. The act for opening the coasting trade is the
only real extension given in this long and laborious see:
Sion to the freedom which is the boast of England, andby which alone she can influence theworld.—DDalyily
Ne7rs.

THE CRYSTAL PALACE.—The glass of the Crystal
Palace at Sydenham, when illuminated by the sun, may
be distinctly seen by a person with ordinary eyesight
from the fields adjoining the national school-house at
Billericay, a distance of at least twenty-six miles.—
Essex Herald.
HORRIBLE ATTEMPT TO AfURDER A CHILD.—The Me•
once
tropolitan Police have received information that
al
hat
aarrnmaen
named Burke has attempted, in conjunction with a
d
woman with whom he travelled and cohabited, to raur-
der a child by burying it alive in a field near St. Alban..
They had dug a bole, and commenced throwing in the
some labourers in the vicinity, and the Couple took to
flight,eartli leaving evavein thength e terrific
child,
wscreamswas
ao
tt
the e
extricated
active pursuit is being made of the parties implicated.
Burke is described as a haymaker, a native Mayo, Ireland, about 5 feet 7 inch
face, with whiskers, was dressed i es in height, thin pale
and corduroy trousers. The n dark velvet jacket
inches in height, full breasted, woman is about 5 feet 4
pox. The child whom and pitted with the small-
believed, is the they attempted to murder, it is
illegitimate offspring of the female.