The Sun.
London, England, 1856-11-14 00:00:00

or activity which so untoward a state of affairs

urgently demands.

It is somewhat remarkable that, while the me-
tropolitan population have been patiently waiting
to bo rid of the sewage, the retention of which

THE POLYTECHNIC INSTITUTION.
SOLE LESSEE-. 4. H. PEPPER, ESQ.

The enterprise of Mr. Pepper, as the Sole
Lessee and Manager of the Royal Polytechnic
Institution, really appears to be inexhaustible.
His Programme, just now, or Syllabus, or what-
ever else we may please to call it, is marked by an
entire series of Novelties, or, as our allies across
the channel have taught us to say, by a succession
of new and interesting "Specialities." No wonder,
therefore, that out of an enterprise like this, com-
bined with a remarkable sagacity of selection, and
an indomitable energy, and an unflagging perseve-
rance—no wonder, we say, that out of an union
of all these laudable qualities combined, Mr.
Pepper should have contrived to draw forth
the guerdons of success in almost every one
of the various and contrasting sections of his
large and motley establishment. Insomuch so that,
now in 1856, nearly 20 years from the date of its
original establishment, we still find the Royal
Polytechnic Institution flourishing among the
wreck of much younger and more showily preten-
tious undertakings of a scientific character. The
Collisseum in more senses than one a mass of
"artificial ruins "—the Adelaide Gallery the mere
vulgarshow-room alternately of mammoth trees and
preposterous marionettes—the Panopticon a gaudy
pile of gilt gingerbread, abandoned to dust and cob-
webs, its fountain dry, its organ silent, its doors
double locked by the iron force of bankruptcy—the
one only success among these scientific caterers to
the public amusement and the popular instruction
being the " old original" structure at 309, Regent-
street, incorporated by Royal Charters in 1838 and
in 1852, the illustrious Patron of which is H.R.H.
the Prince Consort, the Sole Lessee of which is
Mr. J. H. Pepper, Manager and Lecturer, the
industrious and indefatigable !
Simultaneous with the crowning triumphs of the
Polytechnic Institution in this year or grace 1856
—and, doubtless, having a great deal to do with
those same successes—there is especially noticeable
the important event, in the history of the Institu-
tion, of the Unio b recently effected between the
" Society of Arts" and the " Royal Polytechnic."
An union so eminently successful, that already we
believe in this First Term, 1856, the number of
pupils enrolled has reached an aggregate of no less
than 390 altogether ! As indicative of the charac-
ter of the result it may be here briefly notified that
the current time-table of classes for this winter ses-
sion marks a diversity of subjects for each succes
sive week as remarkable as the following :—. For
Monday, Arithmetic, Algebra, and Chemistry; for
Tuesday, Geometry, Mensuration, and Geography;
for Wednesday, History, Literature, and the
French Language ; for Thursday, Mechanics, the
Elements of Mechanism, and the German Lan-
guage; and for Friday, Book-keeping. Dr. White
being the arithmetician and al , ebraiet ; Mr. Pepper
and Mr. Buckmaster the chemists ; Mr. Tear the
geometrician ; Mr. Chapman the geographer ; the
Rev. C. Boutell the exponent of the belles lettres ;
M.r. Bridge the mechanician ; Mr. Macpherson the
accountant; and Messrs. Roublot and Heidenheim
the linguists. It is observable, however, altogether
apart from the mien of the Society of Arts and the
Royal Polytechnic, that the popular scientific Insti-
tution of London displays a really remarkable
variety of attractions upon the long catalogue of
its stereotyped advertisement. For example, be-
ginning on the 3d of this present month of Novem-
ber, at eigkt o'clock in the evening, there are the
Musical Lectures by G. A. Cooper, assisted by seve-
ral able artistes, and by a choral aid of no less than
100 voices. Again, Mr. Pepper himself—
in addition to his attractive Lecture (with
Experiments and Dissolving Diagrams) upon
Bessemer's new and marvellous process of manufac-
:airing iron and steel—recently delivered two lee-
sires upon the " Chemistry of Fireworks"—a theme
appropriately selected for Wednesday, the sth of
November, and brilliantly illustrated for the occa-
sion by a variety of miniature fireworks, con-
structed by the skilled hand of Mr. Darby, the
-minent Vauxhall Pyrotechnist. Besides these
allurements on the Programme of the Polytechnic,
there have been—there are still t , be—divers re-
narkable literary attractions. There " have been,"
for example, Mr. Walter Rowton's Lectures on
he Writings of the most popular Author of the
A.ge, our glorious and in many respects incompar-
able Boz ! And with these appreciative prelec-
lions upon the Works of Charles Dickens—Drama •
tic Readings of " Uncle Tom's Cabin," by Miss
Mary E. Webb, the coloured native of Philadelphia,
U.S., who first read the masterly fiction of Harriet
B. Stowe in Landon, at Stafford Heine, before the
assembled guests of her Grace the Duchess of
Sutherland. There area to be" critical and poe-
tical lectures by Mr. Tall Tophain, on the 17th
Instant upon Lord Byron, and on the 14th instant
upon Thomas Moore. Again, among the coming
wonders of the Polytechuic, the public have
1 oromise held out to them of enjoying, on the
13th proximo, a Lecture, by Mr. Brayley, on the
Geology and Physical Constitution of the Moon--
with a passing glance, let us hope, by the lecturer,
upon the vexed question about the rotation of our
lovely satellite upon its axis ! And another allur-
ing Lecture, on the, 15th proximo, by Mr. Rum-
ball, upon the " Beauties of Creation," with
especial regard to the means whereby man
becomes acquainted with them this particu-
lar lecture upon the Beauties of Nature being.
in point of fact, the first of a series of lectures
on the exquisite theme of the "Five Senses."
There are, besides all this, several minor attractions
the marvels col.
lected noticeable just now among
lected together at the Royal Polytechnic Institu-
tion. Noticeable even among the whirling wheels
and pinions, and steel bars, and leather straps of
the moving maze of machinery—among such familiar
wonders (wonders still though so long familiar) as the
diving bell, and the electric machine, and the steam
gun, and the like scientific miracles ! One being
G. Harvey's exquisite Dissolving -Views of " Life
in the West"—revealing the growth from the rude
Log Hut to the magnificent City, among the Fields
and Forests and Prairies of the United States—
Dissolving Views accompanied by an Illustrative
Lecture by Mr. Leicester Buckingham. Another
of these noticeable recent additions to the Poly-
technic being Napoleon Montanari's ingenious Col-
lection of Figures delineative of the different charac-
ters of "Mexican Life"—Life, Savage and Civilised,
with all its varied costumes and attributes. A
Shilling being the admission fee to all this—can there
be any marvel, then, that that old and favourite
haunt of sight-seers continues still night after night,
noon after noon, and morning after morning, to be
crowded, that success still follows like its shadow
upon the enterprise displayed by
Mr. J. H. Pepper
-la his management of the Royal Polytechnic Insti,
;ution ?

has been found so prejudicial to longevity, the
metropolis has been flooded with the moral drain-
age of the Continent, German and Italian razcals
and cut-throats to wit, " the offscouring of all
things," whose prolonged retention is fraught
with more immediate danger to life than the other,
thou 4 much more easily to be got rid of. NV°
content ourselves with calling attention to the
coincidence, without pointing the moral to be
derived from it.

As our readers are aware the enlistment of
foreign mercenaries in the Briiish service met
from the first with our most marked disapproval.
Subsequent events have proved to demonstration
the correctness of the view taken by The Sun of
the matter. Abroad the various foreign legions
thus enrolled have not been of the slightest service
to us, but, on the contrary, their enlistment has
involved us in the gravest difficulties with neutral
Powers, actually all but occasioning war between
us and the United States. At home they have
neither benefited us by their example as soldiers
nor as citizens ; have utterly failed to secure the
confidence of the population, and at their very
best done no more than draw their pay and jabber
during drill. Their virtues being of this negative
character, what have been their vices ? Week
by week, for long before their breaking up,
the public ear has been shocked by narra
tives of outrages on their part as wanton as
they were cowardly, and almost invariably cha-
racterised by a murderous intent. Now it was
an unoffending civilian beaten or stabbed, now a
few British soldiers having to defend their lives
against overpowering numbers, and now some
swindling transaction as heartless as impudent,
followed by some atrocious murder, as if to set
forth the capacity for evil of this dire importation

in the boldest relief. Such was the conduct of
these foreign mercenaries during the war—such
the use of these auxiliaries for whom nothing was
deemed too much, and whose treatment up to
their discharge has been of a nature admirably
calculated to excite feelings of discontent in the
mind of the far less favoured British soldier.

And now when the public ought to have been
ridden of them—abundant time having elapsed for
that desirable consummation—they are still
among us, not a whit improved, but more
dangerous to the public peace than ever. Instead
of contemplating occasional forays in the
camp, they are scattered abroad throughout the
metropolis, to be met with everywhere and on all
occasions, affording proof of the wisdom of their
being shunned. No woman's delicacy can be said
to be safe from the pollution of their touch—no
manly protecting breast from the sharpness of
their steel. Inflamed with beer, purchased by
money obtained at no cost but that of the tax-
payer, the rascally hand obeys the impulse of the
licentious eye, and the rebuke of offended woman-
hood, no less than the interference of the indig-
nant spectator, is met by a thrust with the
cowardly knife. The police meet with no better
fate, their short staves a►ailing little in a struggle
with the murderous blade. In one day, and that
day yesterday, the Guildhall, Worship-street, and
Thames Police-courts were simultaneously en-
gaged in the investigation of outrages such as we
have described, and committed by discharged
members of one or other of these mercenary
legions. No one's life is safe with them. At the
latter police-court the astounding intelligence
was eliminated during the proceedings, tha,
" there are about. fifty meu belonging to

the British Italian Legion prowling abou

Stepney and Whitech4pel, and they arf
all armed with bowie knives and stilettos." Thos.

who entertain the desire that their days may be
long in the land will be disposed to postpone theb
visits to this locality. As for the women they
must put a bridle on their tongues, and be excae I
ingly gentle in their repulses if they would escape
at once violation and murder.

How long is this sort of thing to continue ?
How long are peaceable British citizens to find
their native meridian darkened by exposure to
atrocities that would hardly be tolerated under an
Italian sky ? Were these mercenaries refugee,
from foreign tyranny, with no other fault than
an inveterate love of liberty, and two or three
black sheep among them broke the peace after an
offensive fashion, they would be promptly enough
dealt with by the Home-office. The act which
arms the Home Secretary with exceptionable
powers ought surely, if in force at all, to be turned
to some good account. Why are not these
cowardly ruffians brought at once under its ope-
ration ? Why are they not one and all driven out
of the metropolis and transported to the lands which
gave them birth, and are doubtless glad at th.
thought of having got rid of them ? Favour in a
high quarter may do much, but it cannot be per-
mitted to throw its shield over drunken reprobates
and assassins like these. If Sir G. GREY would
not have the odium of these transactions cast on
himself and the Government of which he is a
member—if he has any fellow feeling with his
outraged and endangered countrymen and coun-
trywomen, and is shocked, as they are, at being
subjected or exposed to such ruffianism, he will
order an immediate police hunt, which shall not
cease until every member of these legions through-
out the country is beaten' up and placed under
surveillance, preliminary to the speediest possible
deportation. Are have, surely, native villains in
abundance to guard ourselves against, without
having the scum of continental rascaldom in ad-
dition—the wielder of the knife and the stiletto,
as well as tho wielder of the life-preserver and
the garotte.

SNOW. —The hills in the Isle of Purbeck, Dorsetshire,
were covered with snow on Monday night last.
NEWPORT (MONMOUTHSHIRE). Charles Lyne, Esq.,
R.N., was elected Mayor on Monday last.
Sir A. Cockburn, the Attorney-General, has succeeded
to the Chief Justiceship of the Common Pleas, is a great
crandson (Ways the Bath Chronicle) of Dr. Ayscough, a Mr. Maitland, secretary to the Civil Service Commis
farmer Dean of Bristol. He is heir presumptive to the sion, will also act as secretary to the Civil Service Ste.
eerenetcy at present held by his uncle, the Dean of perannuation C'mmiesioners.
Y etc, and lately held by another uncle, the late distin- THE PARLIAMENT STREET ASSASSIN. MARLEY.—For
gukhed Ade iral Sir George Cockburn. prudential reasons, the fetal termination of the assault
DEATH OE LORD "CARSDALE.—We regret to announce on the unfortunate man Cope was concealed from the
i.e death of the NIA Hhin. Nathaeiei Curzon, R.ron weltesin, Marley, in the House of Detention, until Wed-
scars ale, which took place at Farnah-hall, near Derby, ne-day evening, when he was visited by the Rev. Mr.
on Wednesday last. Toe late Lord Scarsdale was born Jephson, the chaplain of the prison. When, in the course
on the 3d of January, 1781, and was consequently in of his interview, the reverend gentleman informed Mari
his 76th year. The heir presumptive is the Rev. Alfred ley of the death of the ill-fated Cope, he never expressed
Curt tn of Kedleston, second son of the late Hon. and the slightest contrition for his end, and in his demeanour
Rev. Alfred Careen, who was born in 1801, and who was callous and hardened in the extreme. In answer to
married in 1825, Sophia, daughter of R. Holden, Esq. some observations, he replied that he had faced death too
Mr. W. P. Andrew (chairman of the Scinde and Eu- many times to fear it now. In a subsequent pare of the
nitrates Valley Railway Company), Captain Cole, Mr. evening, on being spoken to by a warder, he said that he
J Entwistle, Mr. G. K. Fairleolme, Col. the Hon. A. was not afraid of death, and would . '"go to the gallows
Gordon, C.B Mr. Arthur Hudson (Superintendent of like a brick." After his committal from Bow.street, yes- ,
the Australan Agricultural Company), Mr. J. B. Heath, terday, on a charge of wilful murder, on his arrival at
F.R.S.Sardinia), Mr. W. H. Hovel, of A us. Newgate, he exclaimed to the officers, " I believel have
trails),
(ConsulSirCharles f
Nicholson
(Chancellor of the Univer• come to stop with you for some time." He was spef dily
M
sitynd o:Ir. Sydvvnem. y), Commanderstarumno. Civil Eogineer, Montagu O'Reilly, R.N., consigned to his cell, which he will occupy until his trial.
a
GENERAL CILINGARNIZP. AND l'at ABoxis or .I.,Ton-
elected r 1 sof the Royal Geographical ' have been
Society. :v.Axr.T.—The following letter has been addressed by
Ter WESTMINSTERF/PROTEIIENT,BONDHOLDEBS.—A i General Cliangarnier to the Brussels Nord :—" Maline, I
ing .of these bondholders took place yesterday, Mr. Nov. 10, 1856.-11,1 r. Editor,--There has been pointed
Og'e in the • chair, when two plans were submitted to out to me in one of the letters dated from Paris, inserted
in thee them to adopt the Westminster Land Act ob. in your journal of the 9th Nov., the following sentence :
tained last session, and to subscribe additional money, `A great deal was said at a certain period of the confi.-
with the view of resu-nitating the property. A strong dential conversations between the Emperor Nicholas and
was manifested aeamst any such proceeding, and Sir Hamilton Seymour on the subject of Turkey. Ras-
it was untended that a full investigation of the adminise site would in her turn bold a fine band if thepossessed
tration of the Westminster Commission is essential for certain letters addressed by Lord Normanby to General
tie intere-te of the bondholders and the public. The changarnier—letters which it has not been thonght
suit in
Chancery already instituted will, it is asserted, apropos to publish, but which are not destroyed., I
disclose the disreputable circumstances Connected with have never received a single letter from Lord Normanby
the operations of that body, and be attended with bone- relative to the foreign policy of Bigland.— Receive, gir,
ficial :nults to the credito:s. Z6'lo CuIiGABNISic."