The Sun.
London, England, 1848-01-04 00:00:00

TUESDAY EVENING, JANUARY

Sens, and, therefore, we should (give much greater ( of those who think that nothing good can come out
weight to the opinion of Mr. St. John on this subject of Lancashire. Let those who have been accustomed
than to that of Mr. Cobden. In considering the to consider the factory girls as over-worked slam
'various articles which have of late appeared in diffe- immoral and debauched beyond the possibility :cik
rent journals on the possibility of a French invading reclaiming, read the following description of a factory,
army being landed on our shores, and on the relative at work :
military and naval strength of France and England, " But let us go down into the ' shed' (shade), where-
Mr. St. John sas— these threads are woven into cloth. What a magnificent
y
" The best thing, however, is to state, as far as pos. sight ! We enter a room, the end of which we can
Bible, the exact truth, and neither to overrate the power arl see—it is so far off. It is on a ground. floor, and
of France, nor to underrate our own. Supposing our hardly building above it. The windows are placed in
Military strength to be equal to our population, and the the roof, that the 'hands' may have more light for their
extent of our territories, France would be a mere pigmy work. A trul locus a non lucendo derivation for the y
term shade ! Within it there are three or four hundred
in comparison with us. Her population does not exceed
thirty-five millions, while ours falls little short of two women, managing seven or eight hundred looms.
hundred millions, that is to say, comprises one-fifth of Women do you call them ? They seem to be young
the population of the globe. But no idea of our mili- girls. It is the circumstance of their having pinafores
tary strength can be gathered from this view of the tied round their throats that suggests the juvenile ap-
earance ; bat they vary in agefromfifteen to forty, as
matter. Our empire is scattered in patches over both P
you will perceive, if you mark them closely. Each is
hemispheres, divided by oceans, and impressed in diffe-
rent places with a different character by the combined engaged on her work: there is no laughing, or giggling,
influences of climate, race, language, and religion. or child's play. Perhaps one here and there, recognis-
ing her ' minister,' may convey the intelligence to her
France is one compact unity, or nearly so, for all she
possesses external to her own shores is of comparatively neighbour with a nod and a smile; but she becomes very
little value, and would inevitably, be shorn away by the demure again when she fancies she is observed. She
first stroke of the sword of war. Her military establish-
probably begins to smooth her hair with the comb she
meats, therefore, lie nearly all within a moderate dis-
has always near her. or to tidy some portion of her
tame of the ca ital and may easily be wielded b the
dress ; for most of them have a proper sense of their
p y ,
' becomings.' But why is she stopping her loom ?
central Government, whether for offensive or defensive
Some thread has been broken, or some bad work made,
purposes. And what, then, is the real force of France?
during her absence of mind, and it is to be set right.
It has confidently been stated in the newspapers that it
The thread is pieced, a rod is touched, and the shuttle
amounts to three hundred and fifty thousand men, in the
rattles on again, as if it ss ere alternately shot from side
highest state of discipline, animated by the worst feelings
to side out of two fifty-pounders. Every thing is as
of rancour and hatred against this country, and inured
to the most merciless cruelty in the wars of Africa. This. orderly
view of the matter may suggest erroneous conclusions. and neat as it can be, where there must neces-
sarily' be particles of dust and cotton flying about. The
The French army actually consists of about 325,000 ventilation is on the best principle, and the temperature
not more than 65 deg. If there be a smell, it is the
pacification and defence of Algeria. Twenty
men, of which from 110 to 120,000 are required for the
healthy one of oil. Such an employment for ten hours
or twenty-
is not too fatiguing. The effort consists in mental
five thousand men are distributed through the other
a
French colonies in Western Africa, the Antilles, and the attention, and in remaining long upon the legs. See that
Pacific, so that a large reduction must be made from the woman—a book is lying upon her stool—she can take
formidable round numbers with which our popular an occasional glance at some anecdote or narrative
speculators have hitherto dealt. Still the force of while her looms are going. Another, you remark, has
France is very great, and, in the estimation of military her knitting by her side. These are very expert
men, more than sufficient to invade England in her weavers. And, as you are a disciple of Lavater, do you
present state of comparative defencelessness, not think that the intelligent eyes and interesting faces
" Much stress has, moreover, been very properly laid around you will bear a favourable comparison with those
on the character of the French soldiers. They are not of your London Graces ? But how is this ? The din
what they were in former days, the representatives of the of a thousand shuttles is yet ringing in our ears, but
civilization of the kingdom, but a fierce, immoral, reek- every loom is still in an instant. It is now one o'clock;
less horde, approximating more nearly to savages than the pinafores are thrown off ; the shawls and bonnets
any other troops in the world. This has been rendered hastily put on; and all the ' hands' are moving out in one
indubitable by the history of their campaigns in Algeria, continuous stream. Come along with the crowd : there
where they have been guilty of more and worse crimes is no rude remark to be heard ; a mercurial boy or two
against humanity than any other army whose exploits may, perhaps, be talking louder than would beseem the
are on record. Burning villages, massacring the inha- deportment-room of a fashionable academy—that is all.
bitants, shutting men up in caves, and roasting them The dense mass separates into its component parts as it
there alive, with every other excess which villany can reaches the street, to collect again at the same place
conceive and brutality can execute, have been their about two o'clock:'
habitual achievements. And yet they had nothing to Then, again, with regard to crime, the statistical
retaliate on the Africans. Neither the Kab) les, nor the tables compiled by the Rev. John Clay show that
Arabs, nor the Moors had humiliated them at Waterloo. while in Worcestershire the proportion of criminals
Abd-el-Kader had not marched to Paris, or transported to the population is 1 in 343, in Gloucestershire 1 in
Napoleon to St. Helena, and kept him there in imprison- 364, in Shropshire 1 in 447, in Somersetshire 1 in
went till his death. Consequently, what they have done 451, in Lancashire it is only 1 in 453 ; and this supe-
in Africa must have proceeded from the natui al prompt-
ings of their character. It would be altogether different riority of the great manufacturing over the great
in England. They would here have much ';o sevene agricultural counties is thus satisfactorily accounted
,
since they could not fail to discover at every step for by the writer of this article :—" Where persons,"
trophies snatched from them on the field of battle, bitter says he, " are engaged in any well-regulated occupa-
mementos of defeat, the flags of their ships of war, mag- tion from morning to night, there may be much ig-
nificent pieces of artillery, and statues and monuments norance, but there is little leisure for crime. On the
erected to celebrate victories over them. In our public ; other hand, where men are employed as they term it,
records they would find the proofs of a thousand other -' at a loose end,' the temptations to evil are greatly
fasts and circumstances calculated to excite their fury. increased." We rise froin the perusal of this article
What, therefore, the weak and defenceless portion of the uite ready to join in the writer's exclamation, " A
population of this empire might expect to meet with at noble county is that of Lancaster ;" and we thank the
their hands, can scarcely be imagined even from reflect-
author of this admirable paper for having thus come
ing on the mysteries of the caves of Dare, or the infa-
mies of Otaheite. Whatever the most degraded passions, forward to rescue the inhabitants of this noble county
lust, cupidity, or revenge, could conceive or perpetrate, from the calumnies of puling sentimentalists, who
would unquestionably be accomplished. On this point fancy that because an operative lives in a house in-
there can be no mistake, stead of a pigstye, sleeps in a bed instead of on
"It appears to be generally admitted that France has straw, works under shelter instead of being ex-
now at her disposal an army of one hundred thousand posed to all the inclemencies of the weather, and
men for offensive purposes, and that she possesses the earns from 18s. to 205., instead of from 7s. to lOs. a
means of transporting nearly half that force by steam week, that therefore he must be discon-
from her own shores to ours in the course of a single tented, weakly, and vicious. This is followed
night. An officer of the highest rank, who visited the "
by an article, entitled Modern Condottieri,"
tions of the French army, confirms the popular report
camp at Compiegne, and carefully examined the condi-
being a spirit-stirring account of the exploits of the
that it is in the completest possible state of efficiency; foreign Algerine legion in Spain under the command
that its artillery practice is most exact and admirable, first of the jobbing Bernelle and his no less jcbbing
that it is familiar with all our most recent improvements wife, then of the stupid Bedeau, and lastly of the gal-
in gunnery, and that, in spite of an external varnish of lant and chivalrous Conrad who was killed at Bar-
politeness, the spirit by which it is universally pervaded bastro, near Saragossa, just as he got off his horse to
is that of most deadly hatred towards this country. For place on it a wounded man who had been badly hit
a long time the French Government has been moving up by his side. After his death the legion was disbanded,
its forces towards the north, where they are kept in for- having been reduced in two years from 7,000 soldiers
usidable masses, almost within sight as it were of the
shores of England, at Cherbourg, St. bialy, Brest, and to 380 men, the greater number of whom were crip-
other ports, where an ample supply of war steamers is in ples—a sad exemplification of the fact, that it is a
constant readiness to transport them wherever their Spanish principle of action to pay their mercenary
services may be required. troops as little as they can, and to make them fight as
"On the subject of the steam navies of France and much as possible, working them to death as hack
England much too little information is popularly pos- masters do cheap horses. In "The-Literary Circles of
sensed. If collected together, our steamers would no doubt the Last Century" we find much amusing gossip about
suffice to defend our shores from the attacks of the whole Mrs. Montagu and her friends, and in the article
world. But, in point of fact, where are they? Scattered entitled "The King of Bavaria, Munich, and
over every ocean and every sea, protecting the tracks of Lola Montez," much that is new and much
commerce, or overawing the pirate and the slaver. Com- that is true, about, perhaps, the most remark-
aratively few are retained at home, while those of
able monarch of his day, and his still more re-
France, constructed and maintained purely for purposes
markable female Prime Minister, for such is Lola
of aggression, are kept perpetually within call. Among
Montez to the King of Bavaria, rather than his mis-
these, there are sixteen immense steamers, each capable
of serving as transport to fifteen hundred soldiers during tress. An unfair course, says this writer, has been
a short voyage. Other and smaller war steamers, acting pursued towards Lola Montez by her political
as the satellites of these, would divide the remainder of enemies. She would herself have no hesitation in
the invading army between them, so that a vast flotilla, saying that the Jesuits were the prime movers
with artillery, horses, and man on board, might be in all these cases, and certainly it is true,
pushed over in twelve hours from the coast of France to no gentleman, no man accountable to society
our own. would have resorted to such unmanly proceedings.
The Ministers, it is said, took into their most The object of the authors of the monstrous, ridicu-
anxious consideration the letter of the Duke of lous, and absurd calumnies, of which Lola Montez
"Wellington to Sir John Burgoyne. To his honour has been the object, has been to work upon the poeti-
be it spoken, Lord John Russell was not one of the cal temperament of the King, by exhibiting his fair
Ministers to whom the representations of the Duke ally in a ridiculous and disgusting light ; for as the
were made in vain. " They hesitated long before writer justly observes, " the moral indignation, of
they could determine whether it would be most de- which there was so much displayed in these at-
sirable to make a large addition to the regular tacks is unfortunately a sham. It was not that the
arrny,•Or_to organize an immense militia, or to adopt King of Bavaria had a mistress which offended these
the middle course of relying partly on soldiers of the calumniators, but that he had an ally in Lola Montez
line and partly on what may be strictly denominated who had the courage and the influence to op en his
a domestic force. After mature deliberation they ewes to the monstrous iniquities perpetrated in his
would seem to have given the preference to the course name, and by which he incurred the odium." A
last mentioned." So far this is well, but it is not former mistress of the King was not only tolerated by
enough. We should wish to see harbours of refuge these persons, but patronised many years, because she
constructed on every part of our coast where they are made influenceher subservient to their party pur-
needed, which would be useful to our commerce poses. The bull-dog, of which so much has been
in time of peace, and which in time of war would be said, is a quiet English animal, and not a bull-dog at
our best defences against invasion—harbours in which all; and if she has on some occasions exhibited the
large fleets, whether of ships of war or of merchant natural resentment of a high spirited woman, it has
vessels, could lie in safety. Never was the time so only been in cases where she has been grossly in-
opportune for this construction as now. The railway stilted by men
bullyof position in a manner which
companies are everywhere suspending their opera- the lowest in England would consider
tions—thousands of navvies are and will be thrown unworthy*of his ller house, which is a
out of labour, and will have to be maintained perfectnnis bli.'ou,inbuiltli. t under
nd l i herhtn
lightness.
n
out of the poor-rates until they can procure employ-She
mot. Surely it would be infinitely better to employ witsassimpci):a ' g here tastes, isd
elegant in uniqueher manner, cultivatedin an
these men in the construction of harbours of refuge has a great respect for England and the English. She
than to maintain them in idleness in the union work has a strong mind, and has very clear ideas on foreign
'
houses. We have accumulated wealth by our industry politics, and her novel Pe and powerful mode of ex r ss-
-it behoves then that we should by our energy de- ing them has a great influence on the King, who has
fend it from those who would rob us of it. also a comprehensive mind, and more than all, she is
And if we
be treated like bees, and destroyed for the sake offers which have been made to her, either to quit the
of our
stores
.by those who have long desired to country or to abuse her influence over the IC She
plunder and ruin our hives of industry and commerce. is regarded by the members of the Royal giamily
The novel of " Captain Spike" is approaching to a rather as a political character than as the King's
conclusion. lii the present number there is a terrific favourite ; and the Queen of Bavaria, to whom the King
description of the escape from the Swash of Spike has always paid the most scrupulous attention, has
and the crew of the brig, and of the chase by the boats voluntarily 'stated that should the King desire the
of the Poughkeepsie, 'The boat of the S wash is so presentation of the newly-made Countess at Court,
,
laden, that Spike and the boatswain, and three
deeply she would offer no obstacle. We have, besides these
others, agree to throw their companions overboard by articles, a well-written paper urging the immediate
a ruse, and the two blacks, the Mexican captain, Mrs necessity of adopting measures for our national de-
Budd, and poor Biddy, fall victims to this diabolical fence, and another on the Hampden controversy, in
scheme. Jack Tier swims to the boat which the writer finds grievous fault with all parties.
psie, on board which he finds Mulford andte
Poughkeepsie, It is difficult to say to whom he deals out the hardest
Wallace. A struggle ensues among the
ofmisheireehanalsl blows—to the Prime Minister, the Bishop elect, or
on board the S wash's boat, in the course the remonstrant Bishops.
fall overboard except Spike and the boatswain. The ....--
men on board the Poughkeepsie fire, and kill the
boatswain, and wound Spike, and take him prisoner.
\\r, have two excellently-written biographical
sketches,
_one of Sir H. Hardinge, the other of Sir
bm_ith Sydney l both illustrated by well-engraved
portraits. A continuation, by Mr. Warren, of his
interesting voyage upon the River Amazon ; a most
amusing account,_ by Captain M'Quhae, of her Ma-
jesty's ship Daedalus, of a visit to Raja Brooke, of
Sarawak (illustrated by an engraving of the Bunga-
low of the _ Raja) ; a laughter moving story, by A.
Elder, of the adventures of a lucky grocer, who had
60,000/. left him, which is illustrates.by Leech in his
quaintest style; and a varity of other amusing light
reading. Bentley begins the new year well.

DOLMAN.

There is a good deal of rOlifaing humour in " The
Adventures of a Schoolboy ;" the contribution is
evidently written by one not very long since emanci-
pated from the forms of Eton or Rugby. The "Mixed
Marriage " is pursued with considerable point in re-
ference to a rather dubitable phase of social morality.
In the biographical paper on the Right Hon. Richard
Lalor Shed—being the fourth instalment of the
series of " Sketches of Irish Agitators"—there is a
somewhat curtailed and confused account of the part
taken by that distinguished orator in the famous
meeting,-on the 24th of October, 1828, on Penenden
Heath. Even to the assertion made as to the:manner in
which Mr. Sheil's speech appeared in our own columns,
we can only give a partial corroboration. A new
hisloriette is commenced with some promise, under
the rather formidable, but attractive title, " The
Golden Age of Merry England ; or, the Days of the
Virgin Queen." The critical notices towards the end
of the number will be peculiarly interesting to the
general reader, and the Catholic intelligence, by
which it is followed, will have its usual value in the
estimation of the subscribers to the magazine.

FRASER.
Fraser opens with an address from the new pro
prietor,
Mr. J. W. Parker, announcing the principles
on which the magazine will henceforth be conducted.
Its earlier numbers were, he admits, disfigured occa-
sionally by an excess of bitterness and levity of tone
which have
gradually disappeared, leaving its raciness
as perfect, and its force of argument as vigorous, as
ever they were. We hail this candid admission as a
guarantee that for the future the " slashing" style
will be abandoned b y Fraser. Another pledge,
hail with satisfaction is, that henceforth
which we also
each separate number of the magazine, though dove-
tailing with those that come before and follow after,
as possible be rendered a complete work
in itself—a
will as much
pledge which we believe will be rigidly
kept. as Regina has ever been honourably distin-
guished from thei great majority of her metropolitan
contemporariesoy her o.omparative freedom from the
abominable nuisance of
continuations. The series
now commencing, however, is distinguished by one
feature entirely new : the last ten pages of the present
number are devoted to a record of the principal events
whiell have occurred during the preceding month,
hoto at home and abroad, and judging from their con-
tents, it is evident that the subscriber will, at
the end of the year, .find himself in the possession of
a well-digested, admirably-condensed annual register.
This revival of the practice of the magazines of the
olden time is worthy of commendation. The January
number opens with an article on the state of the
manufacturing poor, which is well worthy the perusal

DOMBEY ond SON. No. XVI. By Charles Dickens.
As the heading to the forty-ninth chapter announces
it, " The Midshipman" certainly does make " a dis-
covery." Walter Gay comes
.back ! safe and sound.
The manner in which Captain Cuttle breaks the
intelligence of his return to Florence is peculiarly
characteristic of that " ancient mariner." Captain
Cuttle, indeed, is the feature of the number. In his
sentimental mood he speaks of Sol Gills's " nevy" men-
tioning Mr. Dombey's daughter, " with his face glisten-
ing withdoo, like a new blowed rose, at dinner." In his
more solemn and impressive manner, he recounts the
dangers of the deep, " when you drive, drive, drive
through the storm and dark, as if you was a driving,
head on, to the world without end, evermore, amen,
and when found making a note of." his disap-
pointment when Florence comes out of the haber-
dasher's shop with only a little parcel, instead of
being followed by a porter staggering under a bale
of goods—his wiping his head with the blackened
toast on his hook, in a fit of delirium, when Florence
greets Walter with an embrace—his looking in upon
them like an amiable warming-pan, when they have