The Sun.
London, England, 1870-05-13 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, MAY 13. 1870.

THE UNSECTARIAN UNIVERSITY.

TD departure 01 the Queen after the opening ceremony
at London University did not finteh the proceedings of
the day. Drees were aenf erred. prizes distributed, and
one of two speeches made. Earl Granville, in his remarks,
drew attention to the large number of distinguished men
who had been connected with the institution during its 42
years of life. Sketching the earlier history of the univer-
sity, he said there was a time when those who supported its
objects had been timid to demand the privilege of con-
ferring degrees not only in divinity, but even in medicine,
on acoount of the opposition which they thought they
would be likely to encounter. Some people believed that
it was a Dissenting University ; but he wished to say
that the members of it did not belong, so far as the uni-
versity was concerned, to any class of religion ; it was
not Protestant or Roman Catholic—it was a non-exclusive
body, organised to give high-class education to persons of
every class and every creed. He would remind them of
the obstacles which had been placed in the way of their
progress, and he would add that these very obstacles had
conduced to confer dignity upon the University. He
could . not refrain from contrasting the time when the
promoters of the institution shrank from demanding the
privilege of conferring degrees in medicine with the pre-
sent time, when these very degrees were honoured not only
in England, but in every part of the world. If anything
were wanting to add to the gratification of the occasion,
it would be afforded by the fact that the leading members
of other Universities were there that day to supply the
living link between themselves and them. Since they
had received the additional powers granted by the last
charter their progress had been continuous. If he might
adduce a fact to prove their recognition, he would state
that they were now empowered to return a member of
Parliament. The member who at present represented
the academical constituency being a colleague of his own
in the government of the nation, it was not for him to say
whether or not he was worthy to fulfil his position.
Referring to the occupation of the new edifice,
he said that, after hope had been long deferred,
they had now got a material building for their own
uses, whilst he might recall the fact that some time
ago they had been, he might say, in lodgings.
He would add that this was the first instance in which the
apartments which a university was to occupy for its spe-
cific purposes were erected for those special objects
Whilst they would use the apartments of the building for
themselves, they would also lend them to others, and he
was glad to say that they would be able to place them at
the disposal of the sister universities in their laudable
efforts to promote local examinations. Referring to the
royal recognition given to the institution that day, he
said that the visit of the Queen, as stated in the address
which he had read to her Majesty, was of great historical
interest. The visits of female sovereigns to seats of learn-
ing had been remarkable in the history of England. Mr.
Froude, with his great graphic power, had depicted Queen
Elizabeth going to Oxford and Cambridge questioning
and anrwering, and quoting not only in Latin, but also in
Greek. Lord Stanhope, in an admirable, historical pic-
ture, had described the intellectual achievements of a
less gifted woman ; and that day their illustrious Sove-
reign had significantly shewn her interest in the progress
of education. When the Queen came to the throne the
subjectof enlightening the people was one of the greatest
questions of the day ; and when her Majesty selected a
partner, a larger impetus was given to intellectual ad-
vancement.

Mr. Lowe also made a short speech :—" Whilst I think
that the best effects will proceed from her Majesty's
Fracious presence here on this occasion, I believe there
is nothing in external aid, nothing in personal recognition,
which will insure the advancement of this institution so
much as the sound and honest foundation on which it is
based. In separating teaching from examination, the
system administered in it removes all bias in the
examiner, and prevents the lowering of the standard
of merit, for whatever object that may be sought.
Other Universities have old historical associations, and
vast bequests and endowments. I might say that this is
the great intellectual mint to which gold may be brought
from every quarter, and from which, when stamped, it
may go current all over the world. The success of the
University is sure and indisputable."—The following is
the reply of the Queen, which was handed to the Chan-
cellor in writing :—" I thank you for your loyal address.
It gives me great satisfaction to open the beautiful and
spacious building provided by the liberality of Parliament
for the University of London. The completion of that
building marks a new era in the history of the Uni-
versity, the achievements of which have already justified
the expectations of the patriotic and enlightened men by
whose efforts and on whose advice it was founded. I

---.-
have Dover ceased to watch with great interest the grow-
ing usefulness of this noble institution and I de not
doubt, and I earnestly desire, that the confidence with
which the University is regarded, not in England only,
but throughout my Empire, will continue to increase,
and that its influence will be used in the future, as here-
tofore, for the encouragement of sound and liberal educa-
tion among all classes and races of my people, without
distinction of creed."

GREEK GRATITUDE.—Mr. 0. J. Williams, Vice-
Consul for Greece at Harwich, has presented to Mr. T.
Crane, master of the smack Ranger, of Harwich, a silver
medal from the Greek Government for having rescued the
crew of the Greek ship Tressithea, of Galuxiai, which was
wrecked upon the Longsandwhile on a voyage from Tagan-
rog to Ipswich with linseed, in January, 1870. The medal
is of silver, and bears a likeness of the King on its face,
with Greek naval emblems, with Mr. Crane's name on the
obverse. The medal was aeccompanied by a letter from
the President of the Naval Reserve Fund of Greece from

which the following is an extract ;—" The reward now
tendered to you by poor Greece, although of slight
material value, may be deemed of no ordinary moral
significance.c.in this land in ancient times an olive garland
was an object of highest ambition. The honour accom-
panyingoa decoration does not eonsist in externals, but in
the merit of the breast that wears it."
THE SHOCKING OCCURRENCE AT SWINDON.—OH
Wednesday Mr. Coroner Whitworth was engaged for
several hours at Wroughton, near Swindon investiga-
ting
vestiga-
ting circumstances attending the death ofEmily Kate
Telling Farmer, the daughter of a respectable farmer of
Wroughton, and her illegitimate child. The deceased was
the daughter of Mr. Farmer, and was never suspected of
being in the family way. On Sunday evening Miss
Farmer retired to rest as usual, sleeping in a double-
bedded room, in company of a domestic servant of her
father's, named Emily Andrews, who, in her evi-
dence, averred that she did not hear Miss Farmer
rise on Monday morning. A man named
Shadrach Vines, on proceeding to his work on Monday,
discovered Miss Farmer lying in the road about four
hundred yards from her father's house. He gave an
alarm, and a surgeon was immediately called. He
found that Miss Farmer had been recently confined, and
shortly afterwards the body of a newly-born male child
was found in an adjoining reservoir. A post-mortem
examination shewed that the child had been born alive.
In the first instance the jury returned a verdict of
"if Died, after confinement, from hcemorrhage and want
of proper attention ; " and, in the second case, of "Found
drowned."

NARROW ESCAPE OF A CLERGYMAN. - The
Western Morning News says : " A singular and serious
accident occurred on Tuesday on board the steam ferry-
bridge running from Torpoint to Newpassage. The Rev.
H. C. Glanville, vicar of Sheviock, drove in his trap,
accompanied by his coachman, as far as Torpoint, and
drove on to the bridge. Both the rev. gentleman and his
servant then got out from the trap, and when the bridge
had proceeded half way across the water the groom took
the bridle off the horse. The gate on board the bridge was
not closed, as it usually is, in consequence of a brewer's
handcart, belonging to Mr. Snowling, Devonport,
being placed in front of the horse. As soon as the bridle
was taken off, the horse, which is a high-spirited
animal started off, jumped over the handcart, dragging
the trap after him, and went overboard. By the sudden
jerk one of the traces broke, and the trap was thus pre-
vented from going into the sea also. The other trace was
immediately cut, and a waterman named Mackenzie, who
had witnessed the occurrence, put a rope round the horse's
neck, and with the assistance of a cutter belonging to
H.M.S. Royal Adelaide towed the horse ashore. It was
fortunate that the owner of the trap did not, as is common,
retain his seat in it while passing over the bridge.

SCANDINAVIAN EMIGRATION.—The navigation of
the ports and rivers of Sweden and Norway having become
open, and these countries forthe most part being now clear
of snow., emigration to the United States and other ports of
North America has assumed a lively aspect at the ports of
embarkation, and already promises to be more extensive
than in any previous year. Greater facilities have also been
afforded for their conveyance by some of the principal ship-
ping companies in Glasgow at very cheap rates. The emi-
grants in Scandinavia, having been conveyed from their
homes, are embarked on board a steamer and landed at Cram-
ton or Leith in from 36 to 50 hours. They are then sent on to
Glasgow by a special train, and thence in one of the
oompanies' 'steamers to New York. The time occupied
in the entire transit is seldom more than fourteen days,
during which time they are liberally fed, and afterwards
sent to any inland Place where they wish to go, at a cost
for the whole distance of something less than one half-
penny per mile. The steamer which arrived at Granton
on Monday night had above 700 emigrants, and still
greater numbers are already booked for future voyages.
The steamer which arrived at Leith. on Sunday had also a
good complement. --..*otsnlan.

THE CITY OF YEDo.--Built right down to the
water's edge, the vast expanse of the city is an unfailing
source of wonder to the stranger. As far as the eye can
reach, except on one side, where the view is bounded by
the castled the countless dwellings of men stretch away
into space in monotonous straight lines of gray roofs, only
broken here and there by the heavy eaves of some temple,
and by the high black wooden watch-towers which
are used during the fires which from time to
time consume a square mile or so of the
town. These fires and the frequent earthquakes
account for the fact that •in the whole of Yedo,
giant city as it is, there are scarcely a score of large or
ancient buildings to be seen. So far as architecture is
concerned, it is the most featureless place in the world ;
its charm lies in its gardens and trees, for in the heart of
the city are to be found here and there spots which
seem to have been transported by an enchanter's
wand from some fair country scene, where the dark firs
and pines are relieved by the bright green of the bamboo,
and camelias and laurels are mixed with the tree fern,
the sago palm, and the fruitless plantain, Some writers
have asserted that the population of Yedo amounts
to three millions, but I cannot believe that at the outside
it can be set down at more than half that number. The
houses are small and insignificant, and only the shops as
a rule have an upper story ; besides this, the great spaces
taken up by the Vashiki (which, for want of a better
word, we must translate " palaces ") of the nobles, most
of which contain large drill grounds, must be taken into
consideration ; and these, again, during the absence of
the lord, are uninhabited, save by a few men who remain
in charze.—Fortniahtlg .Review.

THE LAST DUBLIN ELECTION.

The Cornmissione* report as to the alleged corrupt
.‘..praptices in the city of Dublin at the last election has
been printed. The Commissioners describe as folio ws
one of the stratagems to obtain votes practised by Mr.
Henry Hopkins Foster, who subsequently left the
country :—" A few days before the day of polling
(Wednesday, the 18th November), Mr. Foster gave
directions to James Forrest, a printer, residing and car-
rying on business at No. 76, Capel-street. to print pla-
cards or bills, some with the words `Marcus' Office,' and
the other the words `County District Committee-rooms' on
them; and on- the evening of Tuesday, the 17th November,
he hired from Forrest two rooms on the ground floor of
his house for the next day. On the morning of the polling
Mr. Foster repaired to 76, Capel-street ; and four men
named Thomas Noblett, William Watkins' William
Kemp, and John Crampton, acting under his directions,
took up their stations in one of the rooms, and were set
down to work.,
as it was pretended, at the county elec-
tion books. Meantime a press had been placed in the
front room so as to form a screen and partially conceal
the door leading into the back room ; in which two
persons whose names we have been unable to
discover were stationed and duly supplied, no doubt by
Mr. Foster, with a sufficient number of £5 notes. An
aperture was made in one of the panels of the door of
this back room, so as to admit a hand being put
through ; and placards with the words ' Marcus Office'
were posted up to direct persons into the front room and
behind the screen. A• young man in Forrest's employ-
ment named George Hawkins was then placed in the hall ;
and in the course of the day, a number of freemen found
their way to the house, and having presented tickets
behind the screen, received in enchange envelopes con-
taining each £5. The character and extent of these
transactions were made manifest by a large body of
evidence. Mr. Foster, who had been a member of what
was called the Working Committee of the Inn-quay
Ward, an organisation specially devised and set
apart for canvassing the freemen, and dealing with
them, had arranged with a Mr. Henry George
Hall, then a medical student, and whom he had before
constituted superintendent of this working committee,
to engage the services of some trusty agents for peculiar
duty on the day of polling. Mr. (now Dr.) Hall,
selected for the purpose five medical or college students
who met at his house on the evening of the nomination
day, and there received from him and Mr. Foster some
instructions as to their duties. Mr. Foster also engaged
two other young gentlemen, and having obtained the
assistance of a solicitor, Mr. Edward Love Alma, the
whole party - met for an early breakfast at
the Bilton Hotel, on the morning of the
polling day. Mr. Foster soon afterwards intrusted
two large packets of railway tickets to Mr.
*Hall, with instructions to distribute them among
his associates in Green-street and Halston-street ; and
Mr. Alma also repaired to the polling-place, though it
does not appear that any of the tickets actually came into
his hands. The number of tickets given to Mr. Hall
seems to have been about 800 ; and were as we believe
upon the evidence, tickets of the Midland Great Western
Railway Company, though we have not been able to
ascertain by what means they reached Mr. Foster.
, • The party having arrived at the place of poll-
ing took up their respective positions ; Mr.
Hall occupying the upper end of Halston-street
opposite the place known as the Temperance
Hall, in which were some of the freemen booths
as well as the Conservative tally rooms ; whilst
Mr. Alma's " beat " was lower down between that and
the Court-house, where the majority of the freemen
polled, and the seven young gentlemen under their com-
mand, each supplied with tickets by Mr. Hall, were dis-
tributed up and down the street. The polling having now
begun, it would appear that these young gen-
tlemen, in some instances upon an intima-
tion from Mr. Hall, and in others at their own
discretion, gave tickets to a number of freenien whom
they knew to have voted for the Conservative candidates,
with directions to go to No. 76, Capel-str eet, to which
the voters accordingly went and got their money. It may
seem strange that an arrangement of this character
should have escaped observation at the time, but that is
to be explained by the circumstance, that Mr, White and
Mr. Williamson, Sir Arthur E. Guinness's subordinate
agents, had secured the services of some 40 or
50 young gentlemen of precisely the same class
as Mr. Foster's ticket issuers, all 'being alike college
or medical students, to act as ' special tally agents,'
and conduct freemen generally to their proper booths. It
would appear too that Mr. White and Mr. Williamson
were walking up and down the street the greater part of
the day, though with less regularity and precision of
I. beat " than Mr. Alma and Mr. Hall, and thus we pre-
sume it was that no tartieular notice was attracted to
either Mr. ITall or Mr. Alsta, or to the seven young
gentlemen under theilt command, the latter being undis-
tinguishable from the. 40 or 40 others under Mr. White
and Mr. Williamson.*

AN AMERICAN'S OPINION OF A FRENCH

REPUBLICAN.

Mr. G. W. Smalley, of the New York Tribune, recently
made the acquaintance of M. Flourens, was visited by
him, and received letters in care for him. This last pro-
ceeding brought Mr. Smalley into some suspicion; but it
appears. he knew nothing of what the letters contained,
nor is it proved that those let ers were of an " improper"
kind. Mr. Smalley, however, is clearly a warm friend of
M. Flourens. He gives the following account of him in the
Tribune :—" M. Gustave Flourens who built the last
barricade in Paris—or not the last, I hope, but,the latest
—and for whom that remarkable Paris pollee 'hunted
in vain, arrived recently in London. The police which
•could not find him in Paris has done him the honour to
dog him about the streets of this city (London), and
spends its leisure time in trying to bribe the
waiters of M. Flourens's hotel to steal his letters. Or
is it that Mr. Gladstone, in his complaisance to the
' French Emperor, has put in force in London his
Irish Coercion Bill, with its machinery of police suppres-
sion, and its rigours against journalists ? It is the
fashion in English papers to paint M. Flourens as a
kind of madman, because he believes in a new revo-
lution and proved his faith by works. I suppose
there never was a revolution which these nineteenth cen-
tury English would have thought feasible or' desirable.
Nothing could be further from the truth than their
notions about French Republicans in general, and M.
Flourens especially. I have had the pleasure of meeting
M. Flourens. He is a person of great force of character,
as everybody knows, but otherwise very unlike his
English portraits. Matthew Arnold would find
in him his favourite traits of sweetness and
light perfectly combined. His manners have a
great charm. His intelligence and acquirements
are such as qualified him to succeed to his father's
scientific professorship, and his father was an Academi-
cian and one of the first men of science in France. I
wish some American Liberals, who have imbibed Eng-
lish opinions about French politics and French Repub-
licans, could hear M. Flourens's clear, moderate, and
profoundly sensible exposition of the policy which guides
the men who do not believe Liberty and the Empire can
coexist. They might not agree with his methods, but
they would heartily respect the devotion and the political
sagacity of the party of action which counts M. Flourens
among its leaders."

TAXES ON AN AMERICAN WHEN IN HIS CLOTHES,

—Hat—silk plush, 60 per cent.; riband, 60 per cent.;
alpaca lining for brim, 50 cents. a pound and 35 per cent.;
leather, inside, 35 per cent.; muslin lining, 7i cents. a
square yard ; glue, 20 per cent. Coat— cloth, 55 cents a
pound and 35 per cent. ad valorem, ; silk lining, 60 per
cent.; alpaca used therein, 50 cents a pound and 35 per
cent, ad valorem ; buttons, if worsted, 20 cents a pound
and 35 per cent. ad valorem ; worsted braids, 50
cents a pound and 35 per cent. ad valorem;
velvet for collar, 60 per cent.; red worsted pad-
ding, 50 cents a pound and 35 per cent. ad valorem ;
hemp padding, 40 per cent. Pantaloons—ca,ssimere, 50
cents a pound and 35 per cent ad valorem ; cotton used
therein, 5 cents a square yard ; hemp cloth for facing, 40
per cent ; metal buttons, 30 per cent. Vest—silk or satin,
60 per cent ; linen lining, 35 per cent ; silk buttons, 60
per cent. Braces-35 per cent. Undershirt—if silk,
60 per cent ; if worsted, 50 cents a pound and 35 per
cent ad valorem, ;if cotton, 35 per cent. Drawers, the
same. Shirts—cotton, 5 cents a square yard ; linen for the
front, 35 per cent. Buttons-35 per cent. Boots—raw
hides, 10 per cent„- tanned leather, calfskin, 30 per cent.;
if patent leather, 35 per cent,. • soles, 35 per cent. Necker-
chief—if silk, 60 per cent. Pocket-handkerchief—if silk,
30 per cent.; if linen, 35 per Cent.; if cotton, 35 per cent.
Gloves—kid gloves, 50 per cent. Pocket-knife-35 per
cent. Watch-25 per cent. Silk watch chain-60 per
cent.—Amirican Paper.
AN OCEAN RACE.—An accidental ocean race has
just been run across the Atlantic, with a result even more
closely equal than the celebrated performances of the
Russia and the City of Paris, in Februa 1869. The
contending vessels in this instance also belong to the
splendid fleets of the Cunard and Inman Companies, the
vessel of the former line being the Nemesis, and of the
latter the City of Brooklyn—the last new ship but one of
the line. The City of Brooklyn left on her regular day,
Saturday, the 30th of April; and the Nemesis, being In
New York, left as an extra vessel on the same day, and
nearly at the same hour. Both vessels arrived to-
gether off the Rock Lighthouse, at the mouth of the
Mersey on Tuesday afternoon, at 4.55. The City of
Brooklyn, according to the record in her log, left her pier
in New York at 1.22 p.m. on the 30th of April, and pro-
ceeded slow, waiting for the tide. At 4 p.m. she was off
Sandy Hook, and at 4,15 discharged her pilot.. The log
of the Nemesis records that she
_passed Castle-garden,
New York, at 3.20 p.m., Sandy Hook at 4.48 p.m., at
5.7 discharged her pilot, and at 5.10 proceeded full speed.
The vessels were in company the next day
(Sunday, May 1), but their logs do not record their
being in company again until Sunday, the Bth., since
which day they have proceeded to Queenstown
and Liverpool. The City of Brooklyn stopped off Roche's
Point, Queenstown, at 9.30 p.m., Monday, the 9th
of May at 10 p.m. proceeded, at 4.45 a.m. of the 10th,
passed Tuskar, 11.55 Holyhead, 4.10 p.m. the Bell Buoy
and at 3.55 the Rock Light. The Nemesis arrived at
Queenstown at 9.26 p.m. on the 9th, left again at 10 p.m.,
passed the Bell Buoy at 4.14 p.m. on the 10th, and the
Rock Light at 4.55 p.m. A Liverpool paper says this
remarkable contest excited much Interest among engi-
neers and steamship owners, from the fact that the
Nemesis is fitted with compound engines, high and low
pressure, and steams at a comparatively very light expen-
diture of fuel.

The death is announced of Frances Lady Smart,
who died on Tuesday last, in her sixty-seventh year. She
was the youngest daughter of the Rev. C. S. Pope vicar
of St. Alkmund's, Derby, and married, in 1832, Sir George
Thomas Smart, the eminent organist and composer.

SPIRIT OF THE PRESS.

THE DISABILITIES OF WOMEN.

The Times remarks that the recent success of the
Women's Disabilities Bill took most people by surprise,
and it has been promptly reversed. The order for going
into Committee was set aside on Mr. Bouverie's motion
by a majority of 220 to 94. The substantial arguments
against the measure, which were strangely omitted the
other evening, were on this occasion vigorously enforced
by Mr. Bouverie, and though Mr. Gladstone guarded his
argument by a most unnecessary limitation, he justly
appreciated the real significance of the bill, and expresied,
too tardily, his disapproval of it. The question, he says,
raised by the bill is whether there is any desire or neces-
sity for unsettling the old landmarks of society ; and;
denying that there is any such necessity, though de-
clining to enter on the general argument, he advises
the House of Commons not to entertain an impracticable
proposal. He need hardly have been so cautious. That
a Bill tends to unsettle the landmarks of society is a very
broad argument indeed against it, and it constitutes, in
fact, the substantial objection to this measure. , As we
observed the other day, the question must be considered
in its bearing on the general position of women in
society. As Mr. Bouverie justly said, the real object pro-
moted by the Bill is to introduce women into all the
rougher work of life, now discharged by men. We be-
lieve such an object to be radically false ; and the at-
tempt, though certain to be ultimately unsuccessful,
would be extremely mischievous. We believe, more-
over, with Mr. Bouverie, that the great mass of
women are strongly averse from it. There are ex-
ceptions to the general character of both sexes, but
the great majority in each feel that the existing law
recognises their natural functions, and they would be
sorry to see its influence weakened. Law acts most
beneficially when it lends its sanction to the general
dictates of nature ; and in this case, by excluding
women from certain privileges, it encourages the public
opinion by which they are generally exempted from the
responsibilities of men. We do not believe, indeed, that
it is possible, in the long run, materially to modify this
opinion, and in their experiments at the present day
women rightly feel they need be under no apprehension
of disagreeable consequences. But while society rights
itself on the whole, considerable injury may be done in
individual instances. It is much wiser to look at what
is generally desirable, and to maintain the law on that
f.oting.