The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-28 00:00:00

Nvorse. The Mordaunt case is innoccuous-
ness itself compared with most French
and not a few English novels. The details of this
case tire disgusting, no doubt, and that is their anti-
dote. French novels are not disgusting, and that is
their principal mischief. It is one thing to set forth
details in all their naked hideousnes ; it is another,
and a far more dangerous thing, to clothe vice with
a seductive veil of pruriency. There may be, as the
Pall Mall Ga:ette says (though our contemporary has
not fallen behind its competitors in reporting this case),
something very degrading in the sight of the
public crowding into Lady Mordaunt's lying-
in-room, and listening to the talk of the
monthly nurse and the scandal of the female familiar.
Bat there is far more dangerous employment than
that. Disgusting vice is not one hundredth part as
dangerous as the vice which does not disgust. The
m)rbid anatomy of adultery is an almost harmless
study compared with the glorification of it in such
dramas as "La T 1 aviata " and " Formosa," and
a score of novels which mieht be named. Then it
must be remembered that publicity is a great safe-
guard against wrong doing. The dread of notoriety
takes the place of conscience in the minds of those
whose moral instincts are torpid. The proba-
bility of figuring in the newspapers as a co-
respondent in the Divorce Court will prevent
many a man from debauching his friend's
wife who would not have been deterred by any
respect for the obligations of friendship or by any
regard for the decalogue. Then, again, publicity is
not seldom a protection against slander. Is it not
better for the Prince of -Wales, for instance, that five
million broad sheets should have published his com-
plete exculpation than that thirty million people
should have believed him guilty ? Finally, we trust
that this great scandal, as it has been justly called,
will not be without its warning for the class who are
chiefly affected by it. Countesses will learn that if
they resort to such places as the Alhambra, they run
no little risk of damage to their reputations. They
must learn to deny themselves the amusements of the
fast counterjumper and the nymph of the pavement
if they would not Le counfounded with them by
democratic cynics.

r 1
I 1\
eirtlll4l

HER MAJESTY.

WINDSOR CASTLE, Feb. 27.
Her Majesty and the Royal Family attended

Divine service this morning in the private chapel.

The Prince and Princess of Wales attended
Divine service yesterday at the Chapel Royal, St.
James's.

LATEST INTELL IGENCE

(REUTER'S TELEGRAMS.)

FRANCE.

Paris, Feb. 28.
The committee appointed to report on high class
educa.ion has been nominated.
M. Guizot will act as as president whenever the
Minister of Education should be absent.

Among the members of the committee are the
Duke de Broglie and M. Remusat.
BOURSE, Feb. 26.—Three o'clock—The marktt
closed as follows :

Bank Shares 2885
Italian wives 55 85
Austrian Fives
Ottoman Loan
Do. Debt 45 60
Spanish Threes
Rome Debt 22
Deferred
8. Cash.
Orleans
Western
Northern
Strasburg • • 6OO
Lyons and Mediterranean
Southern..... 6l7*
Sardinian
Austrian 765
Lombard 49Bk
North of Spain 69
Saragossa
Roman

4} per Cent.
3 per Cent
End ofmonth 73 90
Credit Mobilier 202 50
Transatlantic 212 50
Credit Foncier l7BO
Paris Gas 1740
Suez Canal 337 50
RAILWA'

45i

AMERICA.

THE LEADER OF THE CONSERVATIVE

NEW YORK, Feb. 27.
The Guion United States Mail steamer Nevada
arrived here at two p.m. to-day.
QUEENSTOWN, Feb. 28.

PEERS.

The Duke of Richmond was unanimously chosen
on Saturday, at a meeting of Peers, to be the
Conservative leader of the House of Lords. The
proposal was moved by the Marquis of Salisbury,
and seconded by the Earl of Derby, and was,
moreover, followed by a definite promise from
Lords Salisbury and Carnarvon that they would
take their places in future by the duke's side on
the front Opposition bench.

The Inman Royal Mail steamer Etna arrived
here from Liverpool at 2.40 p.m. yesterday; em-
barked mails and passengers, and proceeded for
Halifax at 9.40 a.m. to-day. All well.
(Per French Atlantic Cable.)
NEW YORK, Feb. 26.
COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE.
CLOSING PRICES.

Gold closed at 114 ; the highest quotation dur-
ing the day was 1171; the lowest, 116 i.

Sterling Exchange on London lOBl.
5-20 U. S. Bonds, 1882 ll4t.
" 1885 ll3/.
" 1867 ll2l.
10-40 it
112.

Illinois 143.

Erie
Cotton—Mid. upland 2311c.
Petroleum—Standard White 2Bic.
Flour, extra state, ss.oc. to $5.60c. Corn, old
mixed, sl.4c.
According to Messrs. Moffatt Davidis and Co.'s
report, the receipts of cotton at all ports for the
week have been 83,000 bales, and since the Ist of
September 2,124,000 bales. Shipments to England,
46,000 bales; to France, 8,000 ; and t• the Conti-
nent 7,000 bales; , and since the Ist of Septem-
ber, 1,170,000 bales. Stock, 570,000 bales. Mid-
dling upland, 10i cost and freight per steamer.
PHILADELPHIA, Feb. 25.

In the Congress the House of Representatives
some days ago passed a resolution favouring an in-
crease of fifty millions in the paper currency.
Ile Senate on Thursday replied to this by passing
a resolution declaring that, to add to the present
amount of irredeemable paper currency of the
country would be to render more difficult and
remote the resumption of specie payments; to
encourage and foster a spirit of speculation ; to
aggravate the evils produced by frequent and
sudden fluctuations of values ; to depreciate the
credit of the nation ; and to check the healthful
tendency of legitimate business to settle down upon
safe and permanent bases ; and, therefore, in the
opinion of the Senate, the existing amount of such
currency ought not to be increased. This resolution
passed the Senate without division. The Senate
thus opposes inflation of the currency ; the House
advocates it. The currency will therefore probably
remain at its prssent limits.

BRAZIL MAILS.

LIVERPOOL, Feb. 28.

The Liverpool, Brazil, and River Plate Com-
pany's steamer Galileo, Capt. Lee, left the Mersey
to-day with the ship letter mails, 11 passengers,
£1,500 in specie, and a general cargo, direct for Rio
de Janeiro, Montevideo, and Buenos Ayres.

OUTWARD BOMBAY MAIL.
SuEz, Feb. 28.
The Peninsular and Oriental Company's steamer
Behar left at 3 p.m. yesterday for Bombay.

perty.

THE SUN, LONDON, MONDAY EVE IN ING, FEBRUARY 2-2, 1870.

SKETCHES IN PARLIAMENT.

SATURDAY.
"Coming events cast their shadows before. Waterford
has answered my prayer, has given us back our Osborne,
and already, while he is still on his way, as fast as steam
can bear him (I would he could come by " wire "), his
quickening influence is felt. Instead of dying of dullness,
we are animated, almost merry ; and how great will our
mirth be when " the universal representative," the
ex-M.P. for Wycombe, Middlesex, Dover, Liskeard, and
Nottingham, is once more among us in the flesh. If there
be anything in the aphorism, "laugh and grow fat," how
corpulent we shall all be getting in a few days. Lean and
hungry-looking Mr. Newdegate will be as jolly and rotund
as Mr. James White or Mr. Ward Hunt, and those
massive men will be saying with the great Banting
himself—
" Oh, that this too, too solid flesh would melt."
I found the House unusually full last night. There
was scarcely any green leather to be seen. What had
brought hon. members down ? Perhaps some of them
had come to Westminster to hear the verdict in the Mor-
daunt case, and having come so far thought that they
might as well look into their club—St. Stephen's Club—
the finest club in the world. Some of them had certainly
come out of the fulness of their hearts to shake their col-
leagues by the hand as they congratulated each other on
their happy recovery from that preternatural gravity
under which they have been suffering ever since Parlia-
ment assembled. But there was another cause. The
House always relishes a personal scene, and there was pro-
mise of more than one last night.
First of all, the conquering hero of Southwark had an
opportunity of making his voice heard for the first time.
Though a colonel, he is not in the army. Nevertheless,
so great is the military fervour which inspires him that
he was prompted to ask information respecting matters
in which he, as a Thames wharfinger, could hardly be
expected to take much interest. Then came the initiatory
laugh of the evening. It was not a very lively subject
which prompted it. There is not at first sight much
food for mirth in the parish hearse. But the man who
can make a surplus out of a deficit, and who can prove
that two plus two equals five can do anything—can find a
joke in the gravest subject, in the grave itself. So, on
being asked by Mr. Lowther if it was necessary to take
out a licence for parish hearses, Mr. Lowe said that it
had not been usual to do so hitherto, but should such duty
be levied hereafter, the hon. member would have the
credit of the impost. Then came the first of the two
sensation questions of the evening. Mr. Eylryn, M.P.
for the not particularly pure, though royal borough of
Wifldsor, asked if the Mr. W. H. Cooke, Q.C., who had
been reported as guilty of corrupt practices at Beverley,
was the Norfolk County Court judge of the same name,
and if so, what steps the Government intended to take
with respect to the learned gentleman. Due notice had
been given of this question, and so Mr. Bruce was en-
trusted with the answer. It was scarcely an answer.
Government had not had sufficient time to consider the
matter; it was not clear that the Corrupt Practices Act
applied to his case ; and anyhow Ministers were not pre-
pared to give a decisive reply. After a brief interlude,
in which Mr. Forster made one of his clear and ready
replies to a somewhat intricate question, there ensued the
event of the evening. Mr. Pemberton, ohe of the new
Conservative who won a county seat for his party
at the general election, arose amid loud " Hear,
hears," from the left side of the House to
ask what steps the Government intended to take with
respect to the hon. member for Wednesbury, who had
been reported guilty of bribery by the Bribery Commis-
sioners at Bridgwater. Mr. F. Walpole, another of
the county conquerors, followed up the question by asking
whether this was the same Mr. Brogden who had been
declared guilty of bribery at Great Yarmouth. This was
a Roland for Mr. Eykyn's Oliver. Mr. Cook is a Tory,
and Beverley is a Tory borough : but Mr. Brogden is a
Liberal, and Bridgwater is a Liberal borough. Here was
a " knot " worthy of the interposition of the "god." To
move a resolution that a Liberal was no longer a fit mem-
ber of that House, and to get him sent to Coventry, was a
portentous event, not to be even imagined without a
shudder. Jupiter was fully equal to the occasion. Mr.
Gladstone's answer was in Palmerston's best style, without
falling into Palmerston's fault of treating a serious matter
jocosely. First of all he secured the sympathy of the
House by complaining that Mr. Pemberton had
given no proper notice of his question. Then
ho went on to skew that Mr. Brogden's
proceedings took place at a period anterior
to the passing of the Act, and then as the cheers
arose crescendo, they became fortissimo when the Premier
said that perhaps it might be necessary to enquire into
the electioneering antecedents of members on both sides
of the House, and then it would be for the House to con-
sider with whom the initiative of the investigation should
rest. There was a grand shout at this, and Mr. Gladstone
saw that ho had said enough and sat down. But Mr.
Pemberton is not a man to be " sat upon " without re-
sisting the operation. He is a barrister, and has therefore
plenty of assurance. Before the ministerial cheers had
died away he was on his legs again, and as soon as that
was seen cheers became converted into a noise very much
the reverse. Shouts of " order " and " chair " greeted the
member for East Kent. He struggled on bravely, and
at last was compelled to move the adjournment
of the House in order to put himself in order.
He then said that he had put his question simply because
of the question which had been put by Mr. Eykyn, and
that he had not given Mr. Brogden notice of his question
simply because he did not imagine that the answer to it
rested with the M.P. for Wednesbury. There was a lull
after this ; but though the House was not during the even-
ing agitated again to the same extent, there was to be
another breeze. This time the wind blew from the Minis-
terial benches. Mr. Somerset Beaumont rose to ask if
the report in that morning's papers of a speech made by
the Chancellor of the Exchequer, in which he declared him-
self opposed to all treaties of commerce, because they were
the source of the heresy of reciprocity, was correct. Mr. Lowe
said that the report was " not inaccurate." Then, said Mr.
Beaumont, who as one of the negotiators of the commercial
treaty with Austria, no doubt felt personally affronted
by the Chancellor's most unflattering remark, "I give
notice that I shall ask the first Lord of the Treasury what
he thinks of his colleague's avowal." I fancy I know what
Mr. Gladstone thinks ; it is that his colleague would have
done best to hold his tongue. The Premier's explanation
will require all his ingenuity, and if he does not privately
give Mr. Lowe a rap on the knuckles for thus pouring con-
tempt upon the great achievement of 1860, he must have
the temper of an angel and not of a man. After Mr. Beau-
mont rose Sir George Jenkinson, and that of course was
the signal for everyone to talk as fast and as loud as pos-
sible. The Wiltshire baronet's question was so unusually
short that hon. members did not discover for some time
that he had sat down. The Speaker's " Order, or-der"
reminded them of their manners, and announced the be-
ginning of the formal business of the evening.
This was commenced by Professor Fawcett who seems
to have a vested right in a particular seat near the door
which is always given up to him, whoever may be sitting
in it when he enters. This is not the only advantage
which the Professor derives from his blindness. He is
unable to refer to notes, and so he always has his ideas
well in hand ; never pauses or stumbles, never repeats
himself, never says " Mr. Speaker " while he is collecting
his thoughts. It was a plain, straightforward, urgent,
speech, which drew from both sides of the House sympathetic
cheers as he described tl mischief wrought by political
patronage, the unpleasant pressure to which it exposed
M.P.'s, and the corruption it wrought in constituencies.
Mr. Gladstone's reply was short, but it was satisfactory.

The whole of the Civil Service is to be thrown open to
public competition. The days of aristocratic exclusiveness
are at an end. The Diplomatic Service is to be as open
as the Indian Service, or as the Church and the Bar.
Henceforth there is no reason why a butcher's son should
not become Ambassador, just as there is none why a
linendraper's son should not become an archbishop, and
the son of a barber Lord High Chancellor. Thus does the
people's Parliament destroy one by one the barriers which
class had erected.

After the cheers that had greeted Mr. Gladstone's
announcement had died away, the House thinned, and
there was a dreary interval of some hours. Woods and
forests were dry debating. Poor-law relief was still drier.
There came a diversion when Mr. Bourke, Lord Mayo's
brother, and successor to Lord Derby at Kings Lynn, rose
from his seat, immediately behind Mr. Disraeli's, and
made his maiden speech. He had a good subject. It
appears that until very recently it has been held that no
stamps were necessary for building leases, but that
lately the Court of Exchequer had decided that such
stamps were necessary. Now, the effect of this
'lecisio' is to invalidate about a million of these lease
Lc:Ale:lo,A the kingdom, and loud and frequent were the
cheers .a 3.:;;,:tcd the Indian Viceroy's brother as he
depicted the extreme bs.:-.±-frip to which this decision

would expose many a hardworking but poor man. The
matter was not allowed to remain with one side of the
House. Liberal members like Mr. Kinnaird, expectant

ministers like Mr. Denman, advanced Radicals like Mr.
Osborne Morgan denounced the decision, and declaredthat
it paralysed industry, and shook the foundations of pro-

Mr. Lowe's promise that he would do

something for the future did little to allay the
storm which kept gathering louder and louder,

until at last the " god " once more interposed, and
Mr. Gladstone promised that the whole matter should be

investigated. Then came a most dreary time. Sir John
Hay, who seems to be advocate•general for everybody who

has a grievance, from Sir Joseph Whitworth down to

Jack Tar, made an inordinately long statement about a,

coastguao offictir, ,de an Nwaly