The Sun.
London, England, 1870-12-10 00:00:00

THE SHREWSBURY ELECTION.

The four petitioners against the return of Mr.
Straight for Shrewsbury have been signally discom-
fited, and their mortification must have been inten-
sified by the popular demonstrations in con-
demnation •of • their conduct. The scene in
the court, before the arrival of the learned judge,
was characterised by a " loud excitability, " and it
cost the crowd Who had assembled a great effort to
suppress their feelings during the delivery of judg-
ment. But when the learned judge declared Mr.
Straight duly elected, their enthusiasm found ex-
pression in various ways. The gallery of the court
was filled with elegantly-dressed ladies, and so in-'
fectious was the scene that these fair ones manifested
their sympathy by vigorously waving their • hand-
kerchiefs. • .

A PLEA FOIL THE QUAKERS,

A member of the Society of Friends is highly
indignant at the attack made upon his co-religionists
in many places, and more especially in the pages of
Blackwood. They have been charged with shirking
military service and public duties, and with trying to
escape their share of public burdens, that
they may give themselves up to the accu-
mulation of wealth. The writer maintains that,
considering the whole body of Quakers in the
United Kingdom consists only of about 15,000
members and that during the last half century some
of the most active, philanthropic, and patriotic under-
takings have been chiefly directed and supported by
them, they tiro entitled to credit for special energy on
behalf of their fellow men rather than to blame for
selfish sloth. The names of Sturge and Forster in
anti-slavery efforts, Fry in prison reform, Lancaster
' and Allen in. educational progress, are suggestive of
many others. This small sect is also politically
prominent, being represented in Parliament by
eight or ten members, of whom one is a Cabinet
Minister, while another Cabinet Minister is an ex-
Quaker. The Friends have exerted themselves
strenuously in the present crisis, having raised a
special find for the assistance of the victims of the
war, which amounts,, to nearly £17,000, besides
forming committerjor making clothes and col-
lecting funds, .whihet eleven gentlemen and four
ladies have proeee4l at their ' own expense to
the seat of war, under the direction of the Central
Committee, to superintend the distrjbution. Sixty
towns and villages in north-eastern France have been
visited by these benevolent "Friends." It is because
they so fully appreciate the misery and suffering
entailed by war that they are so anxious to prevent
all wars.

THE FENIAN PRISONERS.

The Nation announces that it has received a sum

of £6OO from Irishmen in New Zealand, for the
benefit of the families of the Irish political prisoners.
The Christmas gift furnishes a proof that generosity
is still a characteristic of the Hibernians. The
nationalist journal, however, has assumed an extrava-
gant exuberatiou on the subject, and declares that

the offering testifies that "Every throb of Ireland's
hes.rt, every thrill of national feeling: that p‘asserl
thr.)ugh it, is responded to among her children, even
in the remotest parts of the earth."