The Sun.
London, England, 1871-01-17 00:00:00

IHE SUN, _LONDON TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 1871.

MR. DENT AND HIS CONSTITUENTS. ,
Mr. Dent; one of the representatives of Scarborough,
in addressing his constituents at the Mechanics' Hall, said
--Since..the last session closed the war between France
and Prussia had been desolating some of the -fairest
portions of Europe—a war more terrible, and destructive
than any in the memory of man. It commenced with
the sympathy of England—and rightly, too, he thought
—for Prussia. He freely confessed himself that
at he outset his sympathy was with Prussia, who
' was attacked by an impetuous and jealous neighbour,
But this war seemed to have caused a feeling in England
which he could not understand. When he read of the
- conduct of what lie might term the Radical portion of
• the country assembling not merely to express sympathy
for France—for France always had our sympathy as a
neighbour and a gallant nation—but what he was most
astonished at was that the Radicals should gather
together for the purpose of calling upon England
to interfere in foreign politics in a manner that
at least was most dangerous. He did trust that
they would proclaim that England was not be inter-
fering and intervening in foreign matters. He did not
blame our Government for not having interfered in the
quarrel.. He believed we were safe in the hands of Earl
Granville and Mr. Gladstone. We had, in accordance
with 'the expressed wish of the country, reduced our
military expenditure; but in doing that we had drawn a
. great many troops from the colonies, and he believed that
at the present .time 'we had a larger and better armed
• force than we ever had. If we had not, it was not from
;any want of ability in the men, but it was the fault of the
War Department. Ever since he went to Parliament our
l' military expenditure had been increasing. We did appear
to have gone on increasing our military expenditure ever
since he could recollect, yet still we were told that we were
:weaker than ever we were. He was not a military man, but
he should be very glad if we could get our enormous
standing armies reduced in all parts of the world. He
should be glad if men, instead of spending the best portion
of their lives in learning to shoot and to fight in order to
kill each other, should strive honestly to .earn bread for
their families. He did not think we could do without
armaments altogether, but he thought those great armies
on the Continent were a continual threat and a menace
to peace. As to' our misunderstanding with the
United States, he did not think this Alabama
question appeared to him to be so difficult to settle. He
was sure we were prepared to settle it, if our . friends
would only come forward in a fair spirit. If by the
indiscretion of our servants injury was done to the
commerce of America, we were prepared to pay for it, but
we were not going to have it called into question whether
we were right or not iu acknowledging the Southern
States as a belligerent power. Last session and the one
before were, very laborious. (A voice : " What about
the ballot 1") Well he thought that question so
far settled that it was unnecessary to say any-
thing about it. - All parties—Liberal and Tories alike—
were agreed to pass it in some shape or other. He was
not very sanguine about the ballot, but anything which
would decrease the riot and drunkenness at eections
would be a great acquisition. He hoped they would exert
their influence against intervention and increased expendi-
ture for the army, and that instead of spending their time
in the consideration of foreign matters, they might at-
tempt to deal with some of the evils which afflicted the
body politic. The hon. gentleman resumed his seat amid
-Loud cheers.

MR. JAOOB BRIGHT M.P„ ON PUBLIC
AFFAIRS.

At a meeting of the Bollington Liberal Association, on
Saturday, Mr. Jacob Bright, in moving a resolution
calling upon the Government in the ensuing session to
pass the Ballot Bill, said :—The question of whether
Parliament was going to give the country the Ballot
next session was to his mind a very grave
one. Although the measure might not accomplish
everything that was desired, they knew things which it
would accomplish. It would produce order at elections.
There would be none of that insane excitement and dis-
graceful conduct now seen at elections, because from
early morning till late evening no man would know how
anyone stood at the poll. There would be just as much
order and as little excitement as in going to church or
chapel on Sunday. It would protect men from coercion.
If it had not been known that it would accomplish this,
it would have been passed before. Hitherto, in
some counties, the great county magistrate and half-
a-dozen of his friends had been able to decide who
should go up to the House of Commons. If the
ballot became law, he did not say that in the very
next election they would reverse this, but they would
put men in such a position that that unfortunate state
of things would be reversed. In many instances
farmers were politically ignorant, and it was happier
for them that they should be so. The farmer would
be even more a slave than he was if lie possessed
high political intelligence and was compelled to
vote according to the will of another. Give him security
with his vote, and in a little time he would begin
to inquire, and they might rely upon the fact that he would
obtain political information, If by any chance, however,
the Gladstone Government should shew less earnestness,
should exhibit less force in offering to carry that question
through both Houses of Parliament and making it law
than was exhibited on the Irish Church and
Irish Land Bills, and if, in consequence
of that apathy and lethargy, the ballot should
not pass, he believed the effect would be to weaken and
destroy the Liberal Government more than anything else
that could occur. The remark made with
regard to the peculiar state of the agricultural counties
of England had made him feel more strongly than ever
that if ever it was to be remedied votes must be given to
the whole of the county people with the adoption of the
ballot. They must place their deliverance in
their own hands. The agricultural labourer, when he
had the vote, might not always vote for the man who had
the best political position or the best political knowledge,
but he would tell them for whom he would not vote. He
would not vote for local oppression or the man who had
ruinous and wretched cottages ; he would not vote for the
man who gave unjust decisions when poor people came be-
fore him on the bench. He was in favour of defensive
armaments ; he would assist so far as he could
in the defence of the country, holding that a
Government established in order to maintain order
within the British empire ought to protect and assist the
people as far as it was capable of doing; but no pretext
should induce him to adopt in the slightest degree an in-
termeddling policy. A word about the Eastern question.
What on earth had Turkey to do with us ? We had a
very important interest in that part of the world, and our
interest consisted in having a free and quick passage to
the East ; but our route did not pass through Turkey or
Constantinople. England possessed that Eastern interest,
too, in common with every country in Europe ; and,
therefore, it was so necessary to all that no sane man
would dream that Russia, or half-a-dozen Russias,
would ever attempt to plant itself between us and India.
The foreign policy, or rather he should say the no
foreign policy—because he did not care to have a
foreign policy—of the non-intervention which he
wished to see carried out, would in the long
run greatly enrich the people, save their earn-
ings, lessen their taxation, and lessen the necessity
to work in every department of life. Of course lie
might be told by those who took an opposite view that it
was a mean and selfish policy, and lie would admit that
it was so if anybody could shew him chat it ever benefited
the world to depart from such a policy, or that it could
be made clear that the world would be benefited by de-
parting from it. To keep England out of foreign broils
was to limit the area of battles and lesson their duration.
He advocated this policy, not only for our own benefit, but
for the universal benefit, and if the world was ever to
arrive at a state of peace or at a state of somewhat nearer
to general peace than we found, some nation would have
to set the example ; some nation would have to begin
and shew that it had au ambition of a much higher kind,
and would not be taunted into war by things
said on the other side of the Channel in order to affect
weak minds here. England was the country that could
best begin and carry out this policy, because she was an
island, and possessed such vast interests in every part of
the world from her great possessions that there was a field
for her ambition large enough, though she never were to
set foot in Europe again.

The unsightly wilderness, says Land and Water,
known as the Leicester-squaTe " garden !" will, at last,
cease to disgrace the metropolis. An owner has been
found by the Court of Chancery, and unless purchased by
"the Metropolitan Board of Works," it will shortly be
covered with buildings. Leicester-square would make an
excellent flower market.

THE NEW KING OF SPAIN.—King Amadeus has
made himself very popular. He has greatly reduced the
number of his servants, and suppressed the splendour of
the ancient Court. His manners and customs are different
from those of the old Spanish kings. He has dismissed
from the palace many persons who were unpopular with
the people, such as Senor Ducazcal, head of the Porra
band, and Senor Abassal, financial director. He has
given a polite go-by to those men who ruined
Queen Isabella, and who at the outset proffered
their advice to the younc, King, believing their services
would be accepted. He declared, with much firmness to
Marshal Concha, and to other political men of the same
standard, that he thanked them for their kind intentions,
and when he found it necessary to consult them on
political questions, he would have the honour of sending
for them ; but, for the present, he found the Council of
Ministers sufficient for his purpose.
THE FENIAN PRISONERS.—On the 3rd of Jarluary
the prisoner M`Cafferty, in' writing to a friend, gave
tterance to the followitigsentiments ;—" I nlnst ac4ow<
ledge that I am anxious to return to my friends, home,
and native land ; bilt, as I have the bonenr of being both
an American and a Christian, such conditions were neces-
sarily very offensive to my feelings, and, in consequence,
I declined to shake hands with my ' English cousins,'
and, being in an exceedingly negative mood, I further
stated that I would make no compromise with
Britannia's distinguished seven per cent. Prime Minister
and Co. in 'reference to my discharge from these penal
hives. I regard this movement for our banishment as a
sign of national weakness, and I am forced to conclude
therefrom that the British statesmen must be blind mad,
or they would never proceed against the Irish political
prisoners as they have and are doing ; for, sooner or
later, all this hypocrisy, vindictiveness, and brutality
will return to them with compound interest. Yet, as they
have sown so shall they reap—and it will be with a
vengeance.'"
BREAKFAST.—EPPS'S COCOA.--GRATEFUL AND COM-
FORTING.—The very agreeable character of this preparationhas
rendered it a general favourite. The Civil Service Gazette re
marks :—" By a thorough knowledge of the natural laws which
govern the operations of digestion and nutrition, and by a
careful application of the fine prhperties of well-selected cocoa,
Mr. Epps has provided our breakfast tables with a delicately
flavoured beverage which may save us many heavy doctors'
bills. . Each packet is labelled—JAMES EPPS (45 CO., HOMMO-
rrathic Chemists, London. Also, makers of Epps's Cacailine, a
very thin evening beverage. —Advt. • •

THE WAR.

THE BOMBARDMENT OF PARIS,
(BY BALLOON MAIL.-FROM THE SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

OF THE " CENTRAL PRESS.")
PARIS, JANUARY 12.

Yesterday the bombardment of the Southern forts went
on with extreme violence, especially at the fort of Issy.
Last night a company of Zouaves and a company
of the Morbiban Garde Mobile made a recon-
naissance on the heights of Avron, when the
enemy's outposts were driven in. From midnight
until 2 a.m. one projectile per minute fell in the neigh-
bourhood of St.,Sulpice. The injuries were not all on the
French side, however, for the forts of Vanvres, Issy, and
Montrouge caused considerable damage to the Prussian
batteries, and the eastern forts maintained a vigorous fire
on the Prussian positions.
A decree has been issued proroguing for one month from
the 14th inst the payment of bills signed prior to the law
of August 13, 1870. Fifteen days is accorded for bills
signed later than the law of the 13th. Another Govern-
ment decree just issued refers to the num-
ber of horses whose lives are to be spared
in consideration of their public services. Lists
are to be prepared in each of the twenty arrondise-
ments of Paris and the suburban communes, of the horses
which are indispensable for public service. The number
of horses allowed will be in proportion to the population
about one horse per 1,000 inhabitants. This will leave
about 2,000 horses, but they will not be henceforward at
.the disposal of the persons who have hitherto kept
them. They are to supply in succession all the private
wants of the arrondissement or commune, and their daily
employment will be determined by tLe mayor. Each
horse' will' have a card, which will be delivered to the
citizen in charge, and any abusive use of this card is
punishable by fifteen days' imprisolment, a fine from
200 to 1,000 francs, and confiscation of the horse.
Bakers are forbidden to make or sell any of the finer
sort, which is denominated pain de luxe, or to pick or sift
the flour served out to them. Should they disregard this
order their shops will be closed. They are, moreover,
forbidden to deliver bread to any persons, not being regu.
lar customers,who have not a card of alimentation attestin{
that they inhabit the neighbourhood.

January 13.

From 10 p.m. until midnight last night the bombard-
ment was very violent, especially on the eighth section,
though it diminished on the southern point. During the
night the enemy made several attempts on the trenches
between the forts, but was repulsed, leaving several
wounded in the hands of the French. The damage done
to the works is comparatively trifling, and the National
Guard behaveS admirably. The bombardment is both violent
and constant in the bend of the river Marne, but the
commandant of Vincennes reports the conduct of the
troops to be perfect. The general population of Paris
evince the greatest determination, though their resolution
is severely tried. Yesterday the National Institution for
the Young Blind was struck by several shells. It is a
large building, visible to the naked eye from the Prussian
'positions on the heights of Chatillon and Meudon. At
the present moment there are two hundred sick and
wounded soldiers in the building, which is surmounted by
the ambulance flag. Three ofl the sick inmates and two of
the hospital attendants were wounded. The patients who
were suffering from typhus fever and chest complaints,
were accordingly removed to the cellars. The public
exasperation is at its height, and no wonder, for the bom-
bardment is in a military point of view as inefficacious as
it is cruel. For instance, at Auteuil, Vaugirard,
and Grenelle, three large districts, there have been only
twenty-three killed and a certain number wounded since
the beginning of the fire ; but nearly all the victims were
inoffensive non-combatants, old men, women, and children.
Prussia „gains little by such slaughter as this ; and
the Minister for Foreign Affairs has protested against.
it. It is even said that General Trochu has himself
written direct to King William on the subject. • General
Ducrot is seriously ill with an affection of the throat. lIG
is forced to take to his bed, and has sent three of his best
divisions to join General Vinoy's army. A movement of
importance is expected before long.