The Sun.
London, England, 1851-08-22 00:00:00

MISS AANA ZERR.

The question has often been raised, how far the
Ministry of Schwarzenberg-Bach is responsible for
the atrocities perpetrated in Hungary under the sway
of Haynan; whether the half-crazy marshal acted
upon his instructions from Vienna when he had
ladies flogged and ministers and generals banged, or
whether all moral imputation rests upon him alone.
Public opinion condemned him; and, after all, it
seems that he was but the tool of the reckless Pre-
mier, and of the once liberal Dr. Bach, for whom the
barricades of Vienna were the stepstone to the Mi-
nistry. It is true that since Haynau's dismissal from
office there have been no more executions, that even
a great many of the superior Hungarian officers have
been released from prison; but the spirit of persecu-
tion is still alive, and the recent case of Miss Anna
Znr is a new instance of the fact that the Austrian
Ministry takes pleasure in prosecuting women in a
way which becomes a pettifogging lawyer, and not
the Government of a great realm.
Miss Anna Zerr, one of the most distinguished
opera singers of the Imperial Theatre at the Carin-
thian gate, got several years ago the patent of im-
perial chamber-singer (kammer-sangerin), a dis-
tinction often conferred on celebrated virtuosi. She
never meddled with politics, but she was too proud
and too honest to cringe before the powerful. Several
of her former friends have been compromised during
the revolution, but she did not forsake them ; and
when, in the months of June and July, she made
a trip to London, she visited two of the exiles re-
siding there. About this time the committee for the
relief of the Hungarian refugees got up a concer
at Willis's rooms, and Miss Anna Zerr was
invited to lend her distinguished talent for this charity.
She readily consented to sing, but a sudden indispo-
sition prevented her from taking part in the concert.
Shortly afterwards she left London and returned to
Vienna, where, to her greatest surprise, she was com-
pelled to return her diploma of kammer-sangerin,
and forbidden to appear on the stage; nay, she was
even put under the surveillance of the police, and
cannot leave the town without a special permission t,
and all this because she was ready to aid a charity
which is under the chairmanship of Lord Dudley
Stuart, and is patronised by a great number of
Members of Parliament. It is a petty vengeance
upon an artist, but it is at the same time an insult to
Hungarians; and the Ministry should keep it in
mind that the Hungarians more readily forgive cruelty
than insolence.—Daily News.

WISDOM PREACHING IN THE STREETS.

A few years ago it was a frequent spectacle in and
about London to see a concourse of persons collected
in some open space, listening to the exhortations of 2),
preacher in shabby black, with a rubbish-heap for his
pulpit, and the sky for his sounding-board. The po-
lice authorities appear to have suppressed a practice,
which probably, occasioned fewer conversions than
cases of pocket-picking. We may, however, antici-
pate a revival of sermons Bub Jove, if there be truth
in the statement of the correspondent of a morning
contemporary, who says—
" As I was passing along Orchard-street, Portman-
square, last (Monday) evening. about nine o'clock, I
was surprised to see a great crowd assembled round
Mell buildings,' and on inquiry, I found that
Cardinal Wiseman was preaching from a platform
in the open air. The court, through which there is
a thoroughfare into Duke-street, was illuminated,
and filled with Irish. After waiting some little
while, the Cardinal came into the street, to a
carriage, which was waiting for him, attended by
boys and men wearing white surplices, and bear-
ing lighted candles, banners, and also an immense

crucifix. Ttere were a great many police standing
around, but none attempted to interfere with this ille-
gal procession."
Of course the license which is conceded to Cardi-
nal Wiseman will not be denied to Ebenezer Brown.
The sincere Jumper has quite as much a right to
promulgate his doctrines in the streets as the zealous
Romanist. It is not because Mr. Brown is a shoe-
maker, or indeed a repairer of shoes, that he is to be
compelled to " move on," and the Cardinal permitted
to proceed. Should either disobey the mandate to go
about his business, the oleaginous collar of Ebenezer
is no less and no more sacred from the clutch of the
policeman than the what-d'ye-call it at the poll of
Nicholas ; and British Justice contemplates with
equal eye the rusty sables of the former, and the pon-
tificals of the latter (with all his properties to boot) in
the station-house.

Toleration for ever !—but let it be universal tolera-
tion. In field preaching let there be a fair field, and
no favour. If the Roman saints are to have a hear-
ing, let those of the "Latter Day " have the same.
Now that the example has been set by Cardinal
Wiseman, we may expect that the Reverend Bo's'n
Smith will re-enter on his itinerant mission. The
Cardirial may consider himself to be a commissioned
officer of the Ship of Peter; but the law of England
takes no more account of him than it does of the
Bo's'n. The wisdom of anybody has as much right
to cry in the streets as the wisdom of Wiseman.—
Punch.