The Sun.
London, England, 1848-02-09 00:00:00

DESTITUTION in the METROPOLIS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Stit,—The severe destitution and squalid misery
chat every day meet the eye in our passages through
the metropolis-, which for its wealth and benevolent in-
stitutions ranks highest among nations, is sufficimit to
make the heart of every humane individual heave a
sigh, and ask themselves how can these things be ?
In my peregrinations through this city of cities, I
have frequent opportunities afforded me for observa-
tion, and recently I have occupied a portion of my
time in visiting the abodes of my wretched and much
neglected fellow-creatures. To properly ascertain
the extent of destitution now existing, a visit to the
soup kitchens lately opened in various parts of the
metropolis for the famishing thousands will fully and
fearfully- convey the fact that there are vast numbers
dying from starvation. Among the soup kitchens
worthy of comment is one (the first that gratuitously
opened its doors to the poor) situate in Ham•yard,
Windmill-street, where daily may be seen from 700
to 800 miserable beings huddled together for warmth,
waiting for the distribution of soup and bread,
which is given through the medium of tickets. The
applicants vho daily assemble are so numerous that
many, very Many, who have remained for hours amid
the pitiless; storm, in the greatest despair, to be re-
lieved, haye4eeriacompelled to leave foodless, home-
less, tOw_ancter Whither we know not. Oh, Sir, were
you to C-Ondeieend to look upon this spot any day
(save Sunday, and where are they on the Sabbath ?)
between the hours of three and four, rem , I feel
your heart would sicken at the sight, and, like my-
self; you would exclaim how can these things be ?
Women •with infants at their breasts, bowed down
with the clOpt,st•despair—emaciated and forlorn, with
scarcely stifieient apparel to cover their attenuated
frames--wtiting with anxiety to be relieved, and
whose 'sle-rider forms are hustled to and fro by others
of a little stronger order, who are also eager, as if
between life and death, to reach the doors of the
soup kitchen. So great is the pressure on the Coors
that barriers of great strength have been erected, and
the attendance of the Metropolitan Police has been
deemed necessary to quell the excitement arising out
of a starving multitude. The benevolence of those who
have originated this relief for their poorer brethren, and
poor they are, nearly unto death, reflects the highest
credit, and I do hope, Sir, there will be no relaxation
on the part of the affluent in affording support to such
charities. The Press, which has ever proved a
po.verful instrument in the cause of the poor, has
never been found wanting in its energies for the poor
man's cause; and now we have our streets crowded
by the forlorn and destitute, and who are wandering
in a state of starvation, let me hope you will on this
occasion devote a space in your valuable paper on
behalf of the distressed. The widows will not fail to
offer up their prayers of gratitude for your aid, nor
will the lisping orphan be behindhand in calling a
blessing upon you from Him " who is the Father of
the fatherless." Many kind-hearted and Christian
individuals are using their best efforts to establish
soup kitchens in various parts of the metropolis.
Upon my visit to the :-oup kitchen alluded to
sonic few days since, I was much pleased
to find M. Sayer, of the Reform Club, devoting his
time in preparing the soup for the poor, aided by
another indefatigable person who takes an interest,
almost to the sacrifice of his health, in softening down
the pangs of the wretched recipients. The gratitude
emanating from these poor and dejected beings is
great indeed, and they leave the place with their
sunken faces illumined with joy, where only a short
time before despair sat with fearful forebodings.
Among the subscribers to this soup kitchen is H. R. H.
Prince Albert, who has generously subscribed the
sum of 201. for the benefit of the poor. When we
find subscriptions emanating from this quarter it is
pleasing to the mind to know that the poor are felt
for, and that their pinings have met with royal com-
passion. I sincerely trust, Sir, this donation will be
followed by others, in order that there shall be no
complaining in our streets, no more deaths by star-
vation! Pardon me, Sir, for enlarging so
much on the subject. I feel satisfied you will not
hesitate to do your part in endeavouring to arouse the
lethargic feelings of some who can well afford to con-
tribute towards the poor, and the insertion of these
few words may (and I have no reason to doubt
it) be the means of awakening the dormant state into
which humanity has fallen, and bring forth that aid
to the suffering thousands who are daily famishing
before our eyes. Should you doubt the truth of any
sentence herein stated, which I should hope you will
not, a visit to the soup kitchen will fully verify all I
have written, and apologising for the length to which
I have gone, beg to remain, Sir,

Your most obedient servant,
JOHN GRIFFIN.

London-road, Southwark.
P.S. I have partaken of the soup and the bread
with a view of testing its quality, and can consei,,n-
tiously state that it is composed of the best materials.
Cleanliness and good order is strictly observed, and a
visit to this kitchen will at once prove that there are
men "who have hearts that can feel for others' woes:,

MONEY-MARKET.—The premium on gold at Paris
is 1.21 per mine, which, at the English Mint price of
31. 17s. 10ial. per ounce for standard gold, gives an ex-
change of 25.46 ; and the exchange at Paris on London
at short being 25.571, it follows that gold is 0.45 per
cent. dearer in London than in Paris. By advices from
llamburgh the price of gold is 434- per mark, which, at
the English Mint price of 3/. 17s. 101 d. per ounce fot
standard gohl, gives an exchange of 13.91 ; and the
exchange at Hamburgh on London at short being
13.121, it follows that gold is 1.14 per cent. dearer in
London than in Hamburgh. The last quotations at St.
Petersburgh of the exchange on London was 37 7.16
pence sterling per rouble, at three months' date. Ac-
cording to the usual calculation, that 60 59.100 gold
imperials are equal in value to one hundred sovereigns,
the transmission of gold establishes an exchange of
31 45-100 pence per silver rouble, and the gross profit
at present from importing gold from Russia is about 21
per cent. To this must be added the interest arising
from the bills at St. Petersburgh on London being drawn
at three months' date; and, on the ether hand, the
charges of transport will have to be deducted.
MEETING OF THE UNION BANK or LIVERPOOL.
—Yesterday (Monday) the thirteenth general annual
meeting of the shareholders of the Union Bank was held
at the Clarendon-rooms, for the purpose of receiving the
directors' report. There was a very numerous attend-
ance of proprietors. Edgar Garston, Esq , occupied the
chair. Mr. Lister, the r, read the report, which
stated that the directors, at their last meeting; had ex-
pressed a hope to have an increase in the surplus fund
from year to year, but the calamities in which the coin•
mercial world had been involved had caused them, in-
stead of adding to the surplus fund, to take from it that
year 20,0001. The paid-up capital was 300,0001, the
number of shareholders, 269. On the 31st December,
1846, the reserved surplus was 50,000/. to which add the
net profit for the year 1847, 42,277/. 13s. 2d.; total,
92,277/. 13s. 2d.; from which deduct two half-yearly
dividends of four per cent. each, 22,3761„ and income
tax paid by bank, 833/. 4s. Id.; total, 23,209/. 4s. ld.,
which deducted, left 69,068/. 9s. Id. Carried to the
contingent fund, as a provision for bad and doubtful
debts, 19,0681. 9s. id., and for the present reserved sur-
plus fund, 20,0001.; total, 39,068/ 9s. ld., which de-
ducted, leaves the present reserved surplus fund 30,000/.
The directors recommend that the rate of interest in
future be reduced from 8 to 6 per cent. per annum till
the surplus fund should amount to 60,000/. The report
was adopted, and resolutions in accordance with the
suggestions of the board unanimously agreed to.—
Liverpool .Mercury.
THE CON VICT ESTABLISHMENT AT WOOLWICH.—
ALL Fort LovE!—A day or two since a convict, belong-
ing to the Justitia convict hulk at Woolwich, named
Warren, who had been removed from Milbank Peniten-
tiary about a fortnight since, attempted to perform a
feat which bears some analogy to that of Leander, of
classic memory, on the Hellespont. A munber of female
convicts had been brought down from Millbank Prison,
for removal on board the Eliza and Henry, a hired trans-
port ship, lying off the Royal Arsenal, and amongst
them was a female with whom Warren had formerly
cohabited. The prospect of thirteen thousand miles
between him and his " Hero" was too much for the poor
fellow, and, after one or two longing, lingering looks at
the vessel, he sprang from the deck of the Justitia, a
height of between thirty and forty feet, and plunged
into the stream. From his powers as a swimmer there
is no doubt he would have reached the Eliza and Henry;
but a boat, rowed by another convict, named Fletcher,
pursued him, and he was brought back to the hulk, to
endure a separation which must last ten or seven years,
the period for which his ' ladye love" and himself are
respectively sentenced. On Monday morning a savage
attack was, made on a guard of the Juititia, named
Daniel Fraser, by a half-witted convict, named Joseph
Craig. The cause of the outrage has not transpired,
but the guard was struck and knocked down by the
prisoner, who afterwards kicked and jumped upon him,
and had it not been for the assistance of some prisoners
standing by the consequences might have proved serious.
A convict, named William Wrenshaw, who was placed
in solitary conlinerre nt for en assault on Quartermaster
Knowles, attempted to commit suicide on Sunday by
strangulation. lie had tied one end of his handkerchief
to his arm and the other end round his throat, and it
was with some difficulty that Mr. Blyth, the assiatant-
surgeon, succeeded in restoring animation.
JEDBURGII. One day last week, as some boys
were amusing themselves on the ice at a place well
known as the Goose Pool, one of them happened to go
down, and on getting on foot again, all wet and dripping,
was surprised to observe a splendid salmon jump up
through the hole thus made, on to the ice. The fish was
immediately captured by the boy, and carried home alive,
proving, no doubt, a soletium to him for the ducking he
had received,--Kelso Chronicle.

LIBRARIES FOR THE PEOPLE.

BURNS' SELECT LIBRARY. Chronicles by Sir
John Froissart. 2 Vols.
BOHN'S STANDARD LIBRARY. History of
the Popes. By Leopold Ranks.
BENTLEY'S STANDARD NOVELS. The In-
provisatore. By lions C. Andersen.
COLBURINPS STANDARD NOVELS. Emilia
-Wyndham. By the Author of " Mount Sorel,"bi"c.
KNIGHT'S MONTHLY VOLUME. The Book
of Table Talk. By several Contributors.
MURRAY'S HOME AND COLONIAL LI-
BRARY. Adventures in Mexico. 2 Parts.
A brilliant evidence of the spread of knowledge
and of the substantial progress of civilization is af-
forded by the enterprise upon which some of
our most distinguished publishers have adventured.
Instead of exclusively devoting their energies
to the production of works of a costly character—
with paper of the thickness of vellum and the smooth-
ness of satin, bound in morocco and emblazoned with
arabesques—they appear to be emulating each other
by issuing volumes of very considerable intrinsic
value, and yet of extraordinary cheapness. With all
this emulation, moreover, the books thus published
are of a sound and wholesome kind as regards morality,
and of some note in the higher walks of literature.
They tend in a great measure to compensate society
for those brutalizing and pernicious effusions which
may be termed the spawn of literary depravity—fic-
tions of an imbecility worthy of Catnach, of a vul-
garity not unsuited to Whitechapel, and of a licentious-
ness as gross as the most lascivious passages of Charles
Paul de Kock. Of such productions there are, un-
happily, but too many ; they are written for many
guineas and sold for a few pence; they are heaped up
in the windows of the lower order of booksellers ;
they are disfigured by the coarsest wood-cuts, are
circulated in the form of weekly serials, and are, we
doubt not, if the truth were known, most frequently
to be met with in the beershop and the brothel.
Against these disgusting and (morally speaking)
poisonous periodicals vigorous efforts have, of late
years, been made by more than one eminent and po-
pular publisher. If we are not wonderfully mistaken,
the very first individual who made this attempt
systematically was Charles Knight-,a man who has
since acquired for himself an elevated position in our
national literature, by becoming the biographer and
one of the most discriminating commentators of
Shakspere. Immediately after Mr. Knight came the
two brothers William and Robert Chambers, of
Edinburgh. To those three publishers, and to the
memorable " Society for the Diffusion of Useful
Knowledge"—a society originated, inaugurated, and
conducted throughout by Lord Brougham—the gra-
titude of the people of England is in a very great
measure due. They have effected more than State
allowances for education (God knows !) in purify-
ing the taste and enlarging the minds of the humble
classes. Their compositions have done immeasurably
more in the way of imparting instruction and diffus
ing information than all the schoolmasters of all the
normal schools of the United Kingdom. Their
penny magazines, and penny tracts, and three-half-
penny journals, and sixpenny treatises, have proved of
far more practical benefit to the community than
quires of evangelical pamphlets and cartloads of
orthodox homilies. They have revealed to the un-
educated—God through Neture, and Religion through
Philosophy. Since the groundwork of improvement
was established by these singularly cheap periodicals, a
higher class of writing has been brought out in the
shape of a succession of complete volumes. The
effort has spread from Edinburgh and Ludgate hill
to New Burlington street, to Great Marlborough
street, to Portman-street, to York-street, and to
Albemarle-street. Mr. Bentley, Mr. Colburn, Mr.
Burns, Mr. Bohn, and Mr. Murray, have prospered
in the same field in which Mr. Knight and the Messrs.
Chambers had already met with such remarkable
successes. To " Boma' Select Library" a new addition
has j ust been made by a reprint of " The Chronicles
of England, France, and Spain," by Sir John Frois-
sart. This edition is a condensation into two volumes
of the renowned original, but, although the present
copy is a curtailment, it is so abbreviated as in no
respect whatever to mar the beauty, the grace, or the
eloquence, of the descriptions. The narrative
is rather pruned of redundancy than dwarfed
into deformity. Appropriate embellishments are
given to the heroic chronicles, and the frontispieces
are in a manner miniature cartoons. Of itself; this
single work, in its present form, must have been
regarded as a boon to the multitude, enabling the
middle classes to familia rise themselves with a very
celebrated and splendid composition, at a very
moderate outlay—but it must be remembered that
the production is only one out of a voluminous series.
As an extension of that series it is doubly welcome.
In the new edition of the important " History of the
Popes," by Leopold Bank° (translated by E.Foster),we
have a fresh instalment of " Bohn's Standard Library."
Already we have repeatedly had occasion to commend
the selection of the prose and poetical works which
has characterised this publication from its very com-
mencement. In reviewing it from time to time, we
have spoken of the philosophic lectures of Schlegel,
the rhetorical writings of Robert Hall, the biographies
of Roscoe, the dramas of Schiller, the memoirs of
Cellini, the revolutionary chapters of Lamaiaine, the
political treatises of Machiavelli, &c., Seca we have now
to mention the issue of one of the most noted histo-
rical labours of modern times, the record of the deeds,
the policy, and the vicissitudes which have marked
the eras of the Pontificate. It were needless
to enter at this moment upon any criti-
cal examination of the work of ,Leopold Ranke; the
demerits of his luminous pages have been noticed
repeatedly by some of the most enlightened critics of
the age (and, among others, by Mr. Macaulay) ;
it is therefore only necessary to observe that
the most scrupulous attention has been paid
to its arrangements and typography, in this
novel and elegant scheme of republication.
The most celebrated fiction hitherto penned
by a remarkable and gifted man—the Danish poet,
Hans Christian Andersen—we mean, of course, in so
speaking, his "Improvisatore," is printed as the new
volume of " Bentley's Standard Novels." It is a
book which materially adds to the value of the series,
seeing that it is one which has acquired more
fame for its authof than any single one of his
other productions. To the generality it is
not probably as bewitching as his beauti-
ful " Picture Book without Pictures," or as melo-
dious as his songs and poetical fragments, or
as fascinating as his fantastic fancy of " The Shoes
of Fortune," or his other inimitable stories for chil-
dren. To cultivated minds, however, " The Impro-
visatore" is immeasurably more acceptable than the
previous compositions of Andersen—conveying to us,
as it does so freshlyand deliciously his impressions of the
people and scenery of Italy ; and revealing, as it
does, the richness, the strength, the enthusiasm, the
gentleness, and the purity of his odd, but admirable
genius. Another novel of singular ability, but of a
more recent and less noted writer, "Emilia Wynd-
ham," is the last volume published of " Colburn's
Standard Novels," a library of equal merit to
the one just mentioned, and composed of very
different materials. The reprint extends to
upwards of five hundred goodly pages, and
is interesting as one of the most popular tales yet issued
by one of the most popular of our anonymous
novelists. Mr. Charles Cox, the publisher, has for a
considerable time past continued the " Monthly
Volumes" originally brought out by Mr. Charles
Knight, and the example of his predecessor appears
to have excited him to a very laudable emulation. In
his hands the periodical has been in no respect de-
teriorated either in merit or variety. The last num-
ber (XXVI.) is among the most entertaining yet
submitted to our attention, being a delightful
" Book of Table Talk," by several con-
tributors, a book of such eccentric and
diversified contents, as to remind us, especially,
of the famous " Year Book" of William Hone.
Many of the papers in it are illustrated with wood-
cuts, end two of them are indiscribably facetious—
the French cook, and the French postillion. Know-
ing the miseries to which the unfortunate Mexicans
are at this moment subjected in consequence of the
unprincipled aggression of their neighbours, we can-
not but regard as well timed the new numbers (LII.
and LIII.) of " Murray's Home and Colonial Library."
They consist of " Adventures in Mexico and the
Rocky Mountains," by George F. Buxton, penned in a
lively and gossipping strain, and coloured by a vivid
accuracy. They will convey to all observers in this
country an excellent idea of the social peculiarities
and geographical characteristics of that splendid but
ill-doomed republic. Among the many sketches of
an attractive character must be especially mentioned the
picture afforded by the writer of the famous ex-President
Santa Anna. " Don Antonio Lopez de Santa Anna,"
he says, "is a hale-looking man, between fifty and
sixty, with on 01d Bailey countenance and a well-
bailt leg." His Senora is described as "a
pretty girl of seventeen." Mr. Buxton is manifestly
no admirer of Santa Anna, and accordingly
retails with extreme gusto all the old slanders of his
bfdtroarebninoalhu,lecurhnieries and peculations. His affection for de-
egse,
abandoningbeh iist t observed,hebi
voluptuouse
dy aed havee n
his
isseo
of
preventedffetrhteuinieasy a n
into
the perils of a: murderous -warfare ; and, as
to his avarice and addiction to peculations, it can
never be forgotten that he has pawned his enormous
and magnificent possessions (estates extending over
very many miles, and covered with vast herds of
cattle) to meet the exigencies of the republican ex-
chequer. With all his faults and vices, history will
declare of the ex President that he was remarkable
fur his heroic bravery and for his glorious devotion
as a patriot. His last resolution—War to the knife—
is a sufficient token that his bravery has not diminished
and that his patriotism has not decayed. Such are
the class of periodicals which are now produced for
the advantage of the community, at a comparatively
insignificant cost, and of a class calculated to afford
both instruction and amassment.