The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-11 00:00:00

SCIENTIFIC AND ORNAMENMAL PRESENTS.

ORNAMENTS for the Drawing-room, Library,
and Dining-room, consisting of a new and elegant assort
merit of VASES, Figures, Groups, Candlesticks, Obelisks, Ink-
stands, beautiful inlaid Tables, Paper Weights, &e., in Italian,
Alabaster, Parian, Marble, Bronze, Derbyshire Spar, &c. Imported
and manufactured by JAMES TENNANT, Mineralogist to her
Majesty, 149, Strand, W.C., London.
Mr. Tennant arranges elementary collections of ROCKS,
MINERALS, and FOSSILS to illustrate the new edition of
Lyell's Elements of Geology ; they will greatly facilitate the inte-
resting studs of MINERA LOGY and GEOLOGY, and can be had
SA 2,5, 10, 20, 10, to 500 guineas each.
PRACTICAL INSTRUCTION in GEOLOGY and MINERA-
LOGY is given by Mr. TENNANT, F.G.S., at 149, Strand.

THEATRE ROYAL, HAYMARKET.
Sole Lessee Mr, Buckstone.
THIS EVENING, at 7 o'cicck, NO SOING NO SUPPER: Mr.
Kendal, Mr. Compton, Mr. Ede aid Osborne, Mr. Clark; Miss F.
Wright, Miss Francis, Miss Fosbroke, and Miss F. Gwynne.
After which, at 8 precisely, BARWISE'S BOOK: Mr. Sothern,
Mr. Chippendale, Mr Compton, Mr. Kendal, Mr. Buckstone; Miss
C. Hill, Mrs. Frank Matthews, and Miss Fanny Gwynne.
And (by desire) A REGULAR FIX: Mr. Sothern, &c.
Concluding with A IKSS IN THE DARK.

AD ELP HI T HEATRE .—New Company.—New
Drama.—At 7.30, FREE LABOUR, a drama, in four
acts, by Charles Reade, played by a new company, selected from
first-class theatres. New scenery by Hawes Craven.

ROYAL OLYMPIC THEATRE,
Wych-street, Strand.
Sole Lessee and Manager, Mr W. H. LISTON.
Miss BATEMAN as MARY WARNER every Evening during
the week, assisted by Messrs. G. Belmore, W. H. 'Vernon, Blake-
ley, Elliott, David Fisher ; Mrs. Poynter and Mrs. W. H. List di.
In reply to numerous applications at the Box Office, and to
prevent disappointment to parties deFirous of securing seats
several weeks in advance, Mr. W. 11. LISTON feels compelled to
announce with regret that, in consequence of previous arran,,e-
ments, the hr Iliant engagement o th's distinguished Artiste
must POSITIVELY TERMINATE on SATURDAY, JUNE 25.
Commencing with MUSIC HATH CHARMS. Concluding
with THE 'VARSITY BOAT RACE. Box Office open from 10
till 5.

LYCEUM THEATRE (under the management
of Messrs Mansell).
THIS EVEN ING, at 7.:30, HIS OWN RIVAL Mr. F.
Charles and Miss L. Morgan.
At 8, BREAKING THE SPELL.
After which, at F. 30, LITTLE FAUST : Mr. T. Maclagan, 11t.
Marius, Mr. Aynsley Cook, Mr. Odell, and Mr. Wilmot; Mlle.
Debreux, 'Mesdames Lennox G Odell, Lawson, Lee, and Emily
Soldene.

ROYAL STRAND THEATRE.
Sole Lessee and .v amigeress, Mrs. wanborough.
THIS EN ENING, at 7 o'clock, LOVING lIEART.,. Messrs
Edward. Teary and Turner; Mesdames Balton d Santley.
Followed by KENILWORTH. Messrs David James. terry,
Turner. and Fenton; Mesdames Sant ey, Anstisi, Gochtsi 11, Met-
calfe, and Moore.

AUDEVILLE THEATRE, STRAND.—
Lessees—Messr, II J. iibtitagisi. D. James, and T.
Thorne.—THlS EVENING, at 7 30 CIJPEON.RD LOVE, by F.
Hay. After which, at 8, a new and original Comedy, in 1 hree
Acts, entitled TWO 80-ES. To conclude with the new and
successful t mrlesque, DON CAUL, :S; or, The Infante in Arms
Supported by Messrs. H. J. Montague, 11. Irving, G. Honey, w.
H. Stephens, and T. Thorne; Mesdames Nelly Power, Amy Faw-
,sitt, T. Laois, and A. Newton.
DOM opolt at Povou. C 91111119110 M 7.30.

MORNING EDITION.

LONDON, SATURDAY, JUNE 11, 1870.

CHARLES DICKENS was loved and honoured by a

whole nation for four-and-thirty years, that is,
during the lifetime of an entire generation. Ile
flourished as the most popular author of the age,

throughout the whole of that long interval, between
his twenty-fourth and his fifty-eighth year—and
up to the moment of his lamented death on the
9th of June, 1870, he never received the slightest
badge or symbol of honour from the country his
genius had adorned, he never once had thrust upon
him the alternative of his acceptance or of his refusal
of some mark, no matterhow inadequate, of the grati-
tude of the State for his many beneficent and re-
splendent achievements or of their appreciation by

the national Government. Had CORNEILLE lived
in my time, said NAPOLEON the Great, I would have
made him a Prince. Men of great original genius,
the true artist, the true poet, the cre-
ator, the illustrator of an epoch, the master of a
new school, the beginner of a new era in literature
—such, one would think, are, naturally and inevi-
tably, those, precisely those, whom kings delight to
honour. Hence WALTER Soon received a baronetcy—
even from GEORGE IV. Hence VICTOR HUGO was
created a Viscount—even by Louis PIIILLIPE.
Happily, in cur own time, we have had resplendent
illustrations of the recognition of the claims of
genius to honour from the Crown, in the name of
the nation, during the reign of her present MAJESTY
at once, as a rule, the most constitutional, and the
most graciously sympathetic of English Sovereigns.
A great astronomer has been made a baronet.
A great esssayist has been raised to the peer-
age. An author of the most comprehensive
genius, himself, at once, poet, novelist, orator,
dramatist, a ripe scholar and a skilled states-
man, one of the very first and foremost among the
chief glories of the Victorian age, has received from
the reigning monarch in succession the baronet's
badge and the baron's coronet. But, while these
most suitable awards have been made, not ungrudg-
ingly, to the right hand and to the left, by our most
gracious sovereign, there has been all this while
before the United Kingdom, before the British
Empire, before the English-speaking people in both
hemispheres—as the most signal example that could
be adduced, we are left to presume, of the one ex-
ception proving the rule—a man of the rarest genius,
of the most radiant originality, of the widest and
the most enduring popularity ; one who was already
famous, though himself, still at the time in his premier
jeunesse, when the fair young Queen came to her
throne; who has preserved his influence undiminished
and sustained his reputation, increasingly, through-
out the whole of her MAJESTY'S reign, numbering up
already three and thirty years; and who has neverthe-
less been allowed by the Nation and by the SOVEREIGN
to pass from the midst of us unhonoured, save by
the keen personal affections and the abounding admi-
ration of all ranks and classes of his fellow-country-
men and his immediate contemporaries. CHARLES
DICKENS he lived. CHARLES DICKENS he died. A
nobler title he could not have possessed. But it
would better have befitted the glory of her
MAJESTY'S reign and the gratitude of the people
she has been guiding by her beneficent rule and he
delighting by his benignant genius, if, oace in
all these years, there had at least been placed
within reach of his refusal some bauble
of honour, no matter how intrinsically valueless, that
might, in the mere incident of the proffering of it,
have been typical of the royal sympathy and of the
popular admiration. "A Peerage or Westminster
Abbey " was the battle-cry of NELSON on going
into action. England, in her treatment of the most
popular and the most beloved author of our
generation, has no longer at her command
the choice of any such alternative. No
title of honour that might have been offered to
him would ever, we believe, during his lifetime have
been accepted by our great novelist. Titles of honour
—now, that " after life's fitful fever he sleeps
well," his good work done, the battle of life
fought out by him well to the last and
bravely—sound in the mere mention of them

now worse than an idle mockery. But at
least England, in the presence of those loved and
honoured remains, might give some fitting token of
homage to the memory of CHARLES DICKENS, if nor
through the pageant 'y of national fiePlaitltr#4 in

Westminster Abbey, by marking the day of ;his
funeral by the customary signs of a people's mourning
and a nation's Farewell.

THE decision of the judges in the Bristol election
case is eminently satisfactory. It was an unanimous
decision and it was in accordance with the dictates of
common sense. The weight of a judicial sentence is
always grievously impaired when it is the result of a
bare majority of votes. No one, for instance, can feel
that the law of marriage is in a desirable state
now that, by a majority of two judges out of three,
it has been determined that a husband cannot sue
for a divorce from a wife, however outrageously she
may have sinned when sane, provided that she be
insane at the time that the suit against her is insti-
tuted. Never did a more weighty decision rest upon
a narrower basis than that in the MORDAUNT trial.
But in the case against Mr. ROBINSON four judges
have given judgment, and they are all of one mind,
all of the opinion that bribery at the test
ballot is sufficient to invalidate the • election,
and that for this bribery Mr. ROBINSON must lose
his seat. It would indeed have been lamentable if
the decision had been otherwise. The facts may be
briefly stated. On the death of Mr. BERKELEY
three Liberals started for the vacant seat, Mr. KIRK-
MAN HODGSON, of the Bank of England, who
was selected by the Liberal Committee ; Mr.
ELISHA ROBINSON, a local paper maker,
who had on a previous occasion nearly broken
up the Liberal party; and Mr. ODDER, who started as
a working men's candidate. If they all went to the
poll, it was certain that the seat would be lost to the
party, and so they followed the precedent
set by Mr. ERNEST JONES and Mr. MILNEIL
GIBSON at Manchester. The result sur-
prised the chiefs of the party, for Mr.
ROBINSON received more votes than his two compe-
titors put together. In the regular electoral contest
that followed, he was opposed by a ,Con-
servative, but beat him by a comparatively small
majority. Clearly Mr. ROBINSON would not have been
in a position to win if he had not been first on the
test ballot ; therefore if it could be shown that he owed
to bribery the right to become a candidate he
had violated the Act which forbids bribery both
direct and indirect. The leaders of the Conservative
party had no wish to prove the offence. • It was rather
their policy to keep the sore in the Liberal
party open, with the hope that on the next
election Mr. ROBINSON'S candidature would bring
about so much disunion that a Conservative
might slip in between the nominee of the Liberal
committee and the nominee of the Independent
Liberals. But the Conservative working men, of whom
there are not a few in the "city of parsons and prize-
fighters," would not listen to the advice of their chiefs.
They presented a petition against Mr. ROBINSON, and
though they failed to prove bribery at the election
itself, they established their charge so far as regards
the procedure which was preparatory to the election.
The judge who tried the petition reserved the point
as to whether this was bribery in the technical
sense of the word, although we should have

thought that there was no possible room
for doubt. His reservation has, however,
had the satisfactory result of obtaining from four
judges, including the Lord Chief Justice, an unhesi-
tating opinion that bribery of the kind imputed i 3
bribery within the meaning of the Act, just as bribery
intended nominally to influence a municipal election,
but really a Parliamentary election, is bribery within
the meaning of the Act. Had the decision
been otherwise it would have been easy
to debauch any constituency with impunity,
and we therefore heartily rejoice that Mr. ROBIN-
SON, who, it must be stated, does not appear to have
been cognizant of the illegal proceedings of his
agents, has been unseated. The local results of this
decision will probably be the healing of the schism
in the Liberal ranks. It is to be hoped that it will
also serve as a warning to the electors. Twice within
three years elections at Bristol have been declared
void by corrupt practices Surely the capital of the
West cannot desire to share the punishment which
has befallen its neighbour, Bridgwater.

IN some minds the idea of charitable donations is
inseparably associated with winter. Keen winds
and cold blasts serve as especial reminders to those
whose purses are long and whose garners are wall
stored with all manner of treasure. Food, warmth,
and raiment must be liberrlly bestowed at Christmas,
in order that the hungry, the shivering, and the
scantily clad may in some measure have their share
of rejoicing, and find the world something else be-
sides a howling wilderness and a weary round of toil.
It hnppens, however, that summer brings something
else in its train besides bright days and smiling skies,
and the ministering spirits of the earth may find
plenty to employ their zeal oa satisfy their ambition.
Amid the grand and important schemes set forth for
inquiry and observation in the columns of the various
journals, some simple notices may be seen, ever and
anon, here and there starting up like modest wild
flow ers by the wayside, yet claiming sympathy by
their very humility and unpretentiousness. " Treats
for Poor Children " is the title of some appeals that
are made by persons well qualified to explain their
object, and though at first the unobservant and inex-
perienced may misunderstand their meaning, a little
consideration will enable them to appreciate their
importance. For instance, we find in one of
these letters a reminder that about 600 of the
city Arabs, connected with the Ragged School of
the Golden Lane Christian Mission were last
year taken out for a day's excursion at
the small sum of £2B 16s. 11d. These chiidren
of poverty "fondly anticipate" a day in the green
fields, and the recollective of the enjoyment thus
afforded will last them until another spring brings
round the time when retrospective can be exchanged
for prospective pleasure in their minds. Another
claimant declares that the little ones look forward
with " much delight to their annual treat, and it is
impossible to imagine the joy they manifest at the
sight of the green fields." It is to them the one bright
day of the year. In most matters a few
words are as good as a great many, and
in this instance brevity is desirable because
the question must be appreciated or not, according to
the disposition of the person who takes it up. Many
well-meaning but unsympathising individuals need
reminders, and here is one which tells them of a
duty in the form of a pleasure, of an opportunity for
rendering service to poor helpless outcasts passed by
amid a bustling throng, but who have feelings to
impress and tastes to please as well as the golden
boys and girls whose lives pass by amid brilliant
scenes like the painted figures on porcelain vases.
Surely it is a kind and Christian act to snatch
these little ones from scenes that make
one shudder and surroundings that are
enouga to crush out all hope or energy
from the most daring• and reckless, and show them,
if only for a day, how fair is the world which they
live in, and how bright the sun may shine when it
looks down on daisied fields and blossoming hedge-
rows, instead of cooped-up courts and dingy alleys.
N 9 one 011 moaeuze the impression thug made on a