The Sun.
London, England, 1870-01-19 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVESING, JANUARY 19, 18'70.

supported by the money of the ratepayers are to be
open to children of all, without respect of creed,

Mn. INGHAM, the police magistrate at Wands-
worth, has just had to commit two persons for trial.
on a very serious charge. The charge was that a
Mrs. IRONSIDE had conspired with a Mr. and Mrs.
SSEPLEIIOIIN to deceive Mr. InoNSIDE by passing
off upon him as his own daughter an infant which
was not his. The evidence stated that Mrs. IRONSIDE
had pretended to be confined,' and that an infant
had been presented to her husband as the result of that
birth, and that he was told it was his child, whereas
it was neither his nor his wife's. Pending the trial,
to which the prisoners stand committed, we do not
intend to pass any comments upon this particular
case. Nevertheless, it suggests a question of great
general interest. How is it that the practice of adop-
tion is so little resorted to in England ? It was
common enough among the Jews ; it is still common
among Indian and other Eastern nations; but with
us it is so rare, that every case is considered a matter
for astonishment. If we come to consider we shall
think this rarity much to be regretted. On the
one hand, there are a large number of wealthy
childless married people who pine for children,
and there are a number of unmarried women who
have the true motherly heart, and with whom
it is a lifelong grief that they will never have a child
to bring up. On the other hand, there are a large
number of parents struggling with poverty and over-
burdened with a large family, to whom it would be
an immense relief if they could place one of their
children in the charge of persons who have the means
and the will to bring it up well. On the one side is
scarcity, on the other superfluity. Why should not
the happy medium be obtained by supplying the
wants of the first out of the excess of the second ?

We see absolutely no reason. Some persons will
urge that natural affection will not allow parents
to part with a child. We reply that such affection
is very unnatural if it interferes with the happi-
ness of the object of it. "Natural affection "
is simply an instinct implanted in the parental nature
in order to guard against neglect. This instinct is
shared with the brutes, and is so strong that only
insanity and drunkenness will destroy it. Yet it is
not to be placed in opposition to reason, but must
always give place to reason. Else parents are nothing
better than sheep or goats,
Nourishing a blind life within the brain.

If, therefore, it is clear that the child would be
greatly benefited by handing it over to an adopting
parent, instinct ought not to stand in the way. Of
course it must be clearly understood that the benefit
is a real one in every way, or at least that mental
and moral considerations do not give place to consi-
derations of money. It would be a miserable thing
to transfer a child to the guardianship of a wealthy
worldling, still worse of a wealthy debauchee. Sup-
posing the transfer to be in all respects desi-
rable, it should be understood that there is no
rivalry between the adopting and the natural parents
in the affection of the child. There should be noth-
ing like jealousy of the second on the part of the
first. The new parents, if they value filial love at all,
will never think of attempting to divert it from those
to whom it is due. At the same time the natural
parents must not be surprised or pained if the trans-
ferred child has not quite the same empressement
of affection for them that its brothers and sisters
have. Natural affection alone will not make a child
love its parents. If there be no intercourse between
them, that sort of affection will soon die out, as many
an Anglo-Indian parent can tell. So, when the child
has gone to its new home, let there be frequent oppor-
tunities of meeting and maintaining unbroken the
golden chain of family love.

It seems to be generally believed that Sergeant
Dowse will be the new Solicitor-General for Ireland.

The Dublin Express says Garibaldi is expected in
Loudon this week on a send-political mission.

We understand (says the Standard) that the
Government will take possession of the telegraph offices
on the 29th instant.

The two men charged with being implicated iu the
murder of a gamekeeper on tho estate of the Maharajah
Dhuleep Siugh have boon committed for trial.

The late Chaue,:llor of the Exchequer (the Right
Hon. George \Yard Hunt) is interesting hiawelf in stocking
the river Neue witli salmon.

The First Lord of the Admiralty, accompanied by
Vice-Admiral Sir Sydney Colpoys Dacres, the Senior Sea
Lord, will visit Deal to-morrow, for the purpose of inspect-
ing the Royal Marine establishments.

Mews. Waters and Knox commenced canvassing
3iallow yesterday. The baud brought by Colonel Knox
from Cork was attached while parading with a flag in-
scribed "Release the prisoners." TLo flag was torn down
and trampled on.

The sudden death is announced of the late High
Sheriff of Cambridgeshire, Mr. George Ebenezer Foster,
J.P. Ho fell down this morning in his own bank whilst
conversing with a clerk. The unfortunate gentleman died
instantaneously.

The Marquis of Salisbury has contributed £3,000
tcwards a fund established for relieving the spiritual desti-
tution of the deaneries of Barking, Greenwich, and Wool-
wich, recently transferred from the diocese of London to
the diocese of Rochester. The Bishop of Rochester has
subscribed £l,OOO and Mr. 0. E. Coope £l,OOO.

A suspicious seizure bas just been made at Bally-
sbannon. A box addres-ed to a person in Donegal, and
labelled "pickles and sauce," was fount to contain eight
rifles complete, with swords, scabbards, and every re-
quisite—wrenches, screws, &c.—all of the military pattern,
bearing the mark "Tower," and a crown, together with a
largo supply of ready-made breech-loading cartridges.
To avoid suspicions being aroused by the length of the
box, the stocks are made in two divisions, fitted with a
brass catch and screw, so as to be put together without any
trouble.

At Burrington, in North Devon, a man named
Bird, a labourer, lived with his wife and family, and Lis fa-
ther-in-law, in a very dilapidated house. They had been
alarmed on Friday night by building materials falling down
the chimney, and on Saturday morning, while the family
were in bed, the chimney fell with a fearful crash, car-
rying a part of the house with it. On the debris being re-
moved, the old man (named Gould), aged ninety-one, was
found quite dead, shockingly mutilated ; Bird's two chil-
dren, aged respectively nine and eleven, were also taken out
of the ruins dead. The other inmates escaped with little or
no injury. The inquest was held yesterday, and a verdict
of "Accidental death" returned.

Yorkshire (according to a Parliamentary return
issued to-day) includes 48 towns, of which 19 have
no grammar school endowments. There remain 29
towns, making, together with 74 places not reckoned
as towns, 103 places having such endowments,
some having more than one school. The gross annual income
of these foundations has been computed at £24,927.
Many of these foundations embrace other charitable ob-
jects besides grammar schools. The net annual income of
the grammar schools, after payment of all expenses for re-
pairs, rates, taxes, and insurance in connection with the
estates and school buildings, is estimated at £16,271, besides
£1,098 for exhibitions not included in the general founda-
tions; making a total of X 17,860.

John Grant, a butcher in Leeds, was on Saturday
convicted by Mr. Bruce the stipendiary magistrate, under
the Contagious Diseases (Animals) Act, of having caused a
diseased heifer to be carried on the railway. After purchas-
ing at Skipton for £2, an animal which would have been
worth upwards of .£6 if it been in a healthy condition, the
defendant sent it by rail to Leeds. There it was slaughtered,
and on the carcase being examined by the meat inspector it
was found tEat the beast had been suffering from pleuro-
pneumonia. In the spring of last year the- defendant was
fined £lO and costs for dealing in diseased meat, and Mr.
Bruce on Saturday inflicted the highest penally in his power
—.£2o end costs—remarking that if I e had had authority he
would have committed the defendant to prison.

LAW INTELLIGENCE—(This Day.)

ROLLS COURT.
31`CREIGHT V. SIR WILLIAM FOSTER, BART.

His Honour gave judgment this morning in this
;nit arising out of the lease of the Alhambra, Leices-
ter-square. It appeared that Sir W. Fester leased
the Alhambra to Mr. A. Gospell Pooley in Septem-
ber, 1864, for £22,500, the purchase money to be
paid by instalments. At subsequent dates down
to January, 1865, Pooley paid £,12,500. Pooley
became indebted to the late Birmingham Banking
Company (of which plaintiff was official liquidator),
Lnd gave to the bank as security for his debts an
undertaking to assign to them his interest in the
lease of the Alhambra, but he never signed the mort-
gage deed. The bank gave Sir William Foster
notice of their claim upon the property, which the
hon. baronet acknowledged, but he allowed the
matter to pass unnoticed, and completed the con-
tract with Pooley by receipt of the remaining pur•
chase money, without giving the bank notice of
the transaction. Pooley at once sold the lease at a
profit to Mr. Strange, the present lessee of the
Alhambra, who bought it without any notice being
given of the claim of the bank. The bank now
sought to make Sir W. Foster liable for his neglect
in not giving them notice. The Master of the Rolls
decided that Sir Wm. Foster's plain duty was to
have given the bank notice, and made a decree de
daring him liable for the loss, and ordering an ac-
count to be taken of the actual loss sustained.

PROSECUTION OF M. ROCHEFORT.
DEBATE IN THE FRENCH PARLIAMENT.
Monday's debate in the Corps L6gislatif was looked for
with the greatest eagerness. The public curiosity rose
to such a height that tickets of admission to the Strangers'
Gallery were sold at a fabulous price—eight or ten louis
being given for them. Inside the Chamber the audience
was larger than it had been for a longtime. The deputies
mustered before one o'clock. They manifested little
anxiety, but spoke smilingly of a visit from " the people."
Tho galleries were filled to overflowing. The syndicate of
the provincial journals took possession of the gallery
that is to ho set aside for them in the future.
The space reserved for the foreign diplomatists was
thronged, and among them towered a tall, black form,
which was said to be the Minister of Hayti, General
Salmon. The Chamber was noisy, and the deputies
seemed eager to manifest their sympathy for the Minister.
"We must rally round him," said several members of
the old Right. M. Schneider was in the chair, and few
members were absent. The sitting opened at half-past
two, and the proces icrial was adopted without remark.
After some preliminary business, including the admis.
sion of M. de Forced°, the order of the day came on. It
was the following motion by M. de lieratry The
Chamber having confidence in the firmness of the Ministry,
and rendering justice to the measures which it has
taken to maintain public tranquility, is of opinion that
is advisable to withdraw the demand for permission to
prosecute M. Rochefort."
M. EMILE OenviErs, Minister of Justice, said that ho
could not accept the order of the day. He consideredany-
thing beyond the pure and simple vote for the authorisa-
tion which ho asked for, as an act which would render it
impossible for him to carry on the work ho had under-
taken.
M. Plums, who had the right to speak first, made way
for M. Rochefort, at the request of the latter.
M. RocnErouT saidthat certain proceedings allowed any-
thing to be said. The masses would say that at any
cost it was necessary to expel from the Chamber a dis-
agreeable deputy. (Murmurs.) M. Rochefort declared
that, he did not intend to defend himself. The Govern-
ment had resorted to such base measures, had shewn such
maladresse that the two former Ministers that were on the
bench had, it might be said, taken him by the hand to conduct
himinto the Corps Legislatif. For his part M. Rochefort
wished that the Government should commit this last
error with regard to him, and he should not defend himself,
for whatever faults the Empire committed the Republic
would profit by them. The Chamber listened to this lan-
guage in the most profound silence.
M. PICARD opposed the demand for the authorisation.
He regretted the declaration of the Cabinet. He did not
wish for its overthrow, but he believed it was an error to
have commenced the prosecution, and a still greater
error to have made it a Cabinet question. After
having so carefully separated politics from justice,
it was an error to make at the very outset a
question of justice, a political question. Let them leave
on one side the Ministerial question. It was not well
that the Ministry should pass out of sight too soon. It
hid a programme to fulfil. It must have time to redeem
its promises. The question had a double face.
Was there not a duty for the assembly to perform, and
an Interior to preserve ? No doubt the law
must not be violated; but since the Empire had
begun the experiment of liberty, the first condition of
this experience was to let the law sleep. And the infrac-
tion of the law was reciprocal when Prince Pierre
Bonaparte wrote on the 30th December a letter addressed
to the Revanche de Ccrse, in which he spoke of applying to
the editors l(s tripes aux champs. He was not prosecuted,
although the law was violated, and the provocation to
political assassination contained in that letter was all the
more dangerous that it was addressed to Corsicans, and
proceeded from a Prince of the Imperial Family, "We
should all detest violence," said M. Picard, and the words
were loudly applauded from all parts of the Chamber. In
what state of mind was M. Rochefort after the crime at
Auteuil? He gave a cry of sorrow, he had uttered the most in-
juriouslanguage ; but in the interest of tho Assembly itself
M. Picard thought it should not authorise these prose-
cutions. They were unjust, for they were exceptional
in presence of other acts which were not prosecuted.
They were a political mistake, and the conduct of the
Sovereign in conciliating 31. Rochefort was the proof. In
fact, they must not commit the fault of contravening the
principle, which was the safeguard of that assembly—its
inviolability.
M. NOGENT SAINT LAURENS affirmed that the corn
mission had done a work of conscience and truth. Cer-
tainly while giving the fullest confidence to the Ministry,
the commission was not, and never would be inclined to
give a vote of blind confidence. As for the reading of the
article it was a necessity, and occasioned reprobation rather
th,„ „ccit,,„,„s re,--e must be no immunity for et
violence. (TrZ's bien.)
31. AILAG 0 supported the views of M. Picard. Tao
Clamber must not allow an attack on parliamentary im-
munity. Resides, the Chamber could not enter fully into the
quest:on. 31. Arago asked what was the moral position of
31. Rochefort in presence of the corpse of his friend, and
concluded his speech by a reference to the sanguinary vio-
lence of Brumaire and of the 2nd of December.
31. OLuvien replied : He would not enter intermatters
which were beside the question, which was in reality this,
"Had 31. Rochefort broken the law ?" Addressing himself
to 31. Rochefort, whose frankness he acknowledged, he
reminded him that if he was in that Chamber it was not
owing to exceptional maladresse, but owing to exceptional
clemency.
31. ROCIIEFORT protested, and denied the safe conduct_
The 3LszisTER continued : The object is not to be rid of
him, the Governmenthas no obiection tosee M.Rochefortin
this Chamber, or to hear him speak. But what was the
object of the article? It is proved by the acts and the
words of those who surround 31. Rochefort. He himself
admits it. The Government cannot be ignorant that they
are the objects of attack, as all cars have heard it during
the last two days, and the articles in all the journals of his
party acknowledge that M. Rochefort has appealed to arms.
M. 011ivier read an article from the Riforme. M. Rochefort
asked who signed it. "31. Demerol" replied the Minis-
.er. 'Ho is suspected of belonging to the police"
cried 31. Rochefort. (Loud laughter.) 31. Rochefort
repeated his assertion. " That part of the affair concerns
these gentlemen themselves," said 31. 011ivier; and he
proceeded to affirm that never had the press been
nore free. Men's opinions were, and always
would be, perfectly free ; but acts must be repressed
when they were contrary to the law. The outrage
to the Sovereign of an appeal to arms was an act which
the Government could not suffer with impunity. The
Government did not fear revolution. It was not only on .
the army, loyal, faithful, and courageous as it was, that
theyrelied. They did not fear revolution, because the nation
did sot desire it. The nation knew that the Govern-
ment would give it liberty; it knew that its fortune and
the conduct of its affairs would be henceforward in its
own hands. But if the Government did not fear revolu-
tion, it wished to prevent what were called " Days."
In public meetings they had talked of "Days"
The Government were resolved to respect free
thought, but insurrectionary acts and appeals to arms
they would not tolerate. And to those who accused the
Government of "maladresse" the Minister replied that
respect for the law is always for the Government a strength
and a consideration. 31. 011ivier's speech was enthusias-
tically applauded.
WI vo .qrarrv, +h.+ kl‘allinigtry war,* following
a policy which would give rise to " Days," instead of pre-
venting their appearance. It was well not to fear the
dangers of revolution, but it was better to prevent them.
He protested againstthe prosecution. It was the beginning
of a reactionary policy against the press. It was a new sys-
tem, and quite in contradiction to the principles which had
brought the Ministers into power. Not only would ho
refuse to vote for the prosecution, but he would vote
against the order of the day. He did more than disapprove
of the policy—he condemned it.
M. DE PsnE obtained with some difficulty permission
to speak. He was also against the prosecution, and
wished to stop the Ministers from committing suicide.
He shewed the inconsistency that existed between the
present actions and the former words of the Prime Minister.
M. „ 011ivier had once said "he did not wish them to
be able to touch a deputy, because to do so assailed the
involiability of the Chamber." M. de Piro wished that
everyone might have tolerance shewn to them. He
wished that the princes of the Bourbon family might be
called.
Some of the deputies demanded that the discussion
should be closed.
M. FERRY spoke against the proposal.
M. GI:TOT MONTPAYROUX protested, and said that they
must ask the tribune to record its vote.
31. ESTANCELIN spoke next, and said that it was with
friendly hands they opened a door for the Government to
escape from its embarrassments. It was a conciliatory
oroposal, and they must not be surprised if those who
nigned the proposition abstained from voting.
The vote was then taken, and the proposals of the
Commission which authorised the prosecution against DI
Rochefort were accepted by 220 votes against 34. The
Chamber adjourned at ten minutes to six. The names of
the deputies who signed the order of the day against the
authorisation of-. the prosecution of Rochefort were as
follows MM. Estancelin, Lef6vre-Pontalis, Adolphe,
Cochery, Comte de Keratry, 31alejieux, De Choiseul,
Praslin, Planat, Wilson. Riondel, Comte do Plesecques,
M. de Piro.

A cone delire has been issued to the Dean and
Chapter of A.t!tneliester.to_.,choose the Rev. J. Frill al
33iN40p..