The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-03 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, :FRIDAY MORNING, JUNE 3, 1870.

assistance. Amusement is plentifully provided, and 3
cricket matches, io which some 40 boys took part,
were played during the summer. Weekly entertain-
ments, with a band formed from among the patients,
have been highly successful, and the books, pictures,
&e., provided by kindly friends are greatly valued-
by the more advanced. It gratifying to know that ,
60 expellent an institution does not suffer for want of
friends. One c:r two eases-are mentioned in the -Ro-
ped whicl do honour to our, humanity, arid serve
to remind us that after all English charity is some-
thing more thati indolent yielding to extortion or
self-complacent ostentation. A lady, name nu-
. known, left £l,OOO at the office for the asylum,.
while another anonymous donor has twice during .
the year forwarded the same rum. Naturally the
history of the Institution has its dark side. Its
labours are not always successful•. The most assi-
duous patience., the most devoted kindness, some-
times fail in piercing through the cloud which
wraps the subtle essence of mind. The average
progress of the inmates is, however, most striking,
and so well are the advantages of an Earlswood
training known, that wealthy families who have*
a child so afflicted, ply largo sums to obtain
the admission to the institution as boarders.
Sometimes the effects produced in the hopeful cases
are really marvellous. An excursion was made last
year to the Crystal Palace, and the pupils when
there were joined by two former companions, who
had been discharged cured. While at Earlswood
they bad learned shoemaking, and by this trade one
was earning his own living ; the other supporting
himself and hits widowed mother ! Even should the
mental instruction and the industrial teaching totally
fail, however, a residence, at Earlswood is never with-
out some softening and controlling effect on the poor
uncouth, undisciplined' creatures, who are admitted
within its doors. , Here in this twilight world the
influence of the great healing and refining agent .is
not wanting,. and simple religieits teaching, Bible
lessons, easy prayers, and hymns are taught the
the stammering tongues and penetrate the
feeble intelligence. No need for conscience
clauses and time tables here I No denonii-
national diffisalties and theological problems. The
teaching begins and ends with the great doctrines of
the FATHER in Heaven, and the SAVIOUR on earth,
whom the children must not displease by sin, and
the dull, .helpless imbecile can dimly grasp it. "An
' uudevout astronomer is mad," exclaimed the poet,
contemplating the innumerable worlds. perceptible
from his little corner of the universe, but the undy-
ing vitality of that faith, " broad as our humanity,"
which can control and cheer the helpless idiot atEa,rls-
wood, is surely no less a- testimony to the divinity of
that which sears ' where imagination cannot follow,
and stoops where utilitarianism fails.

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HER 'MAJESTY.

'BALMORAL CASTLE. Juno 1,
The Ciiieen went out yesterday morning with Princess

Louise.
in the afternociu her Majesty and Princess Beatrice drove
to the Glassalt Shield, attended by Miss Macgreggpr.
Princess Louise went out driving.

The Princess of Wales drove out yesterday, attended by
tho Hon. Mrs. W. Grey.
The King of the Belgians took leave of the Prince and
Princess of Wales, on his return to Belgium.

IfASHIONABLE ARRANGEMENTS TO-D.A.Y,
The Oaks.
The Countess of Jersey's Dance, at 32, Wilton-place, Bel•

grave-square.
Mrs. Musgrave's dancing party, at 25, Queen's Gate.

gardens.
Mrs. Schuster's third morning reception, at 11, Upper

Belgrave-square,
The 32d Light Infantry annual regimental dinner at the
London Tavern, Bishopsgate-street, at eight' o'clock
precisely.
Mr. Charles Halle's Beethoven recital, at St. James's
Hall, at three o'clock.

METROPOLITAN GOSSIP—TnuitspAY.

The reference to " another place " made -by Mr.
Gathorne Hardy in his speech on the third reading of the
Land Bill has excited a good deal of criticism. Taken
literally, the reference certainly does mean that the ex-
Home Secretary calls upon the House of Lords to enforce
all the.amendments of principle .which the Conserva,tiyea_
Yl/the I.,e,%w„House were toa weak in nymbers to pass..
et I dotibt4f this was Mr. Hardy's real'ineaning. With
the `raneereniEs of last session's conflict 'between the
two hoe , will luirdly desire to rwkagain the, risk
which waFitrun. then. These incidents are too.. dangerous
to bear repetition. Moreover, there is not the same excuse
for the course in 1870 that there was In 1869. No strong
party feeling has been aroused with respect to the Land
Bilk On the other hand there is the certainty that if the
present bill be seriously mutilated by the landlords they
' will have to meet a far more sweeping measure
next year. Altogether, theractre;tl believe: that M.
Hardy's reference to the Peers was intended merely to
. cover his own retreat.

The House of Commons did not rise for the holidays in
a particularly good humour. The attacks made upon Mr.
Childers and Mr. Baxter, by Sir Jas. Elphinstone and
Mr. Corry were something more than severe—they were
savage, and the Secretary of the Admiralty is not a man
to bear them without hitting out right and left by way of
• reply. There really seemed no reason for the extravagant
bitterness of the member for Portsmouth. His charges
„proved baseless. Perhaps it was for that reason the hon.
member was so fierce. Or was it that having fled from
his old residence, Ceylon, because it was too hot, he has
brought over an excessive stock of caloric, and had to blow
it off ?

The long absence of Mr. Disraeli from Parliament and
the ferocious, though clever, review of " Lothair," in the
Tory Blackwood, are giving rise to much discussion. •
There is no doubt that the leader of the Conservative
party intended his book as a new manifesto of Con-
servative policy, and he hoped to lead them back to
office under the old No-Popery flag. But if we
are to judge from Blackwood they have repudiated
the time-honoured banner with contempt. Certainly it
was hardly probable that men like Lord Derby and Lord
Salisbury would consent to be dragged through the mire
of religious bigotry, even though that was the road to the
Treasury bench. Mr. Disraeli's attempt has signally
failed, and it would seem as if the party were resolved to
throw him Overboard, a poor return for five-and-twenty
yearsfaithful, if not always wise service.
Oh ! that Baron Haussmann would pay us a visit and
take Mr. Ayrton in hand. This gentleman is beyond all
question the very worst First Commissioner of 'Works we
ever had. Not only is he allowing the contractor to make
a waste howling wilderness of the Serpentine in the very
height of the season, but he has neglected one 0f the
finest opportunities of beautifying London that ever
offered. When the Metropolitan District Railway made
their line to Westminster, advantage was taken of the
opportunity by Lord John Manners and Mr. Layard to
lay out the ground close to the Abbey and St. Margaret's
Church as a garden. It needs only the flowers to make
Parliament Square, as it is sometimes called, one of the
choicest spots in London:- But Mr. Ayrton, who pziespises
gardeners no less than architects, withholds the flowers,
and the square stands a memorial visible to all the
world of ludicrous pettifogging economy. An tedile
worthy of the name would, moreover, insist upon taking in
hand that grievous scandal to 'bur capital, Leicester square.
It has been going from bad to worse, and it is now
simply disgraceful. _ It appears' 'that some one
/has, after litigation, established his right to the
square, so there is no longer any difficulty '
in discovering whom to deal with, and there
is no longer any excuse for not dealing with him peremp-
torily, and compelling him to sell the property which he
has so greatly abused. If an Act of Parliament is required
for this purpose, let it be passed, and then we shall have
the talked•of new street from Trafalgar-square to the
Tottenham Court-road, which will cut through the heart
of St. Giles's, and flutter the rookeries in that choice
neighbourhood.
No one but a Londoner can understand the satisfaction
with which the decision of the House of Lords has been
received throwing out the Metropolitan District Extension
Bill. Not only would the proposed station at the Mansion
House have spoilt one of the finest streets in London
just after it had been opened, but the abandon-.
ment of the extension to the Tower would have
prevented the completion of the long-promised inner
circle. This completion will now be effected, and it will
be possible to reach any point of London from any other
point. The opening of the undergrOund line to Black-
friars will to a certain extent compete with the Charing
Cross Railway, as travellers will be set down close to St.
Paul's without the necessity of crossing the river twice.
Ido not hear a good account of another great public
work. A friend who has arrived in England this week
by the overland route says that in Egypt it is well under-
stood that the Suez Canal is filling up, and that it will be
necessary to raise new capital in order to keep it
open. It seems to be thought that this will be done by
forming a new company, and that eventually the canal
will pass very much into the hands of English share-
holders, who will come in and reap where they have not
sown, and gather where they have not strewed, as gene-
rally happens in all new undertakings.
The King of the Belgians was at the Derby,
and both he and the Prince of Waleki were a
good deal cheered. The Duke of Edinburgh
is preparing a diary of his tour, and it will
be illustrated by M. Chevalier, a Swiss gentleman,
who was commanded by the Queen to accompany her son.
M. Chevalier (who, by the way, has married an English
wife) has painted an elaborate picture of the installation
. of the Duke in the Order of the Star of India ; he has
also painted a large number of Indian landscapes. Still
speaking of royalty, I may mention that Prince Napoleon's
eldest son is suffering from the smallpox; that the son of the
Viceroy of Egypt is going to make a tour of the chief
capitals of Europe, and will shortly be in London ; and
that there has just been published in Paris "The Cam-
paigns of the Army of Africa in 1835 and 1837, by the
Duke of Orleans, edited by his Sons." The preface is by
the Count of Paris, and the introduction by the Duke of
Chartres, and there is a portrait of the duke, after Horace
Vernet.
The literary topic of the day is the skirmish between
Mr. Hepworth Dixon and Mr. Sutherland Edwards. The
latter gentleman wrote an anything but flattering notice
of " Free Russia " in the Times, and subsequently
one in the Pall Mall Gazette. He seems to have
trusted to his memory for his second review,
and charged Mr. Dixon with sundry mis-statements
which Mr, Dixon declares he never made. He has chal-
lenged Mr. Edwards to cite the erroneous passages, and
Mr. Edwards has given some, which, however, do not
entirely, to use the mildest phrase, bear out his accusa-
tion. So there is' war between these two
gentlemen, both of whom have " done " Russia.
The strangest part of this affair is that which
Professor Kapoustin has taken in this matter.

The Professor was an intimate personal friend of Mr.
Dixon, has been both his guest and his host ; and he read
the proof sheets of the book as it passed through the press,
yet he writes to the Golos (as the sharp eyes of the foreign
editor of the Pall Mall - Gazette discovered) de-
claring that he had implored Mr. Dixon not
to write, and that the book is full of blunders.
The one blunder, of which a good deal has been made—
the assertion that there are six hundred and odd thousand
priests in Russia—was the Professor's own, he himself
having,altered the word " clergy," which included both
the priests and their families, into " priests." It is
painful to suppose .that the Professor's repudiation of the
book has arisen from any fear of its giving offence in high
quarters, and I will not say that this is the cause of the
strange course which he has taken. But I can offer no
other explanation.
Sir Charles Mike, the proprietor and the editor of the

Athenceunt, means to pay another visit to Russia during
the Parliamentary recess. He is, as I have mentioned on
a former occasion, preparing a work on Russia, which
certainly even Professor Kapoustin cannot condemn as
hasty, for Sir Charles has been more than a year about it
already and it will not be out until next year. Sir Charles's
approaching journey is his third visit to Russia.
That country would seem to be peculiarly
attractive just now to literary men as Mr. Ralston of the
British Museum, the best English-Russian scholar we
have, igabout to go there to write a book. It is to be
hoped that these and all other visitors to Russia will read
Mr. Michell's-most able report on -the tenure of land in
Russia which appears in the second blue book on that
subject lately published.
TljeaFe is the strangest story afloat about a recently-
published volume of poems, which is having almost as great
a run at Mudie's as "Lothair." It is said that the author
some years ago lost his wife, and in Aire agony of his be-
reavement declared that he would never publish one of
the poems which lie then had in MS. pi'eliaritig for ptibli-

pc,
cation. It is further said that-he bAgni7l7l4is wife's
coffin. For some years the poems have lain undqground.
They are now eichmned,,Published, and are being read by
everyone. This is, I should think, the first instance of a
" posthumous " work being published during the lifetime
of its author.

There was a large literary dinner a few evenings ago in
the City. The guests were distiniuished, the fare more than
good. The occasion was the launching of Mr. Sala's new
magazine, " England in the Nineteenth :64.tury.", It is
intended that this periodical shall deal with the social life

of this country in all its phases, and a large number 01
well-known writers liaye joined the —staff. TIE
proprletor of the magazine is Mr.
the, advertising agent.. Another advertising agent',
Mr. Maddick, has started a halfpenny mornin
paper. This is not his first venture. About two year
ago Mr. Maddick brought out the Morning Summary at
penny. It lasted only a fortnight, however. Anothe
item of journalistic news is that Mr. Edward Dicey, la
editos of the Daily News, has become the editor of tli
Observer. .1 .

Another capital number of. the Photographic A
Journal reaches me as I write. The first illustration is
photograph, by the Woodbury process, of a painti
by a rising Spanish painter, Zanaivis. It is intende
to enlarge and improve the magazine, and the Jul
number will appear in a new form and under the tit e
of " Art-,-Fine and Industrial," and will contain s'
full-page illustrations. A new edition of Bishop Berkeley's
works, in four volumes, With a Life by Professor Camp-
bell Fraser, is announced as nearly ready. So, too, are
Professor Ruskin's Lectures on Art and Profess9r
Hullah's book on the cultivation of the speaking voice.
The latest novelty is a bicycle which rises and falls in
imitation of the movements of a rider on a horse. The
effect is irresistibly ludicrous.

SPIRIT OF THE PRESS,

THE IRISH LAND BILL.

The Standard thinks that the House of Lords should
exercise its discretion on the question of the Irish Land
Bill, and it is important that it should do so, as the House
of Commons has no will of its own ; it votes precisely
whatever Mr. Gladstone' may ' command, and its
bills, therefore, represent nothing more than the
individual will of a single man. If there is to
be any check on his caprices, any power of
appeal against his arbitrary pleasure, it must be supplied
by the House of Lords. In the present case the bill em-
bodies a partisan view—the tenant's view of the questions
with which it deals. It is a great misfortune that all
debates should take the form of controversies between the
two assemblies, rather than within each assembly ; but it
is the consequence of the skilfully-devised manoeuvres
of 1831 which secured to the Radical and urban
element a preponderance in the House of Com-
mons disproportionate alike to its numbers, it wealth,
and its real social and political importance. Till that in-
justice be redressed the only agency through which the
rural agricultural Conservative majority can assert itself
fs through the House of Lords, and the independence of
that House alone can secure that both elements of na-
tional opinion shall have a share in shaping the national
policy.