The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PDBLIOIQVANAiM

V4r i
The Timee, in discussing the return just rasp ../. 1
.-'o•-•1. law Board, observes that nothing is naCio p,e„.
at t'ie prcseut juncture than that the real factifllittip,ol
paupe•:isin should be generally known. tigo Vil
example, one serious consideration, which is rcceiVo,3:!:,,i
recognition in other departments of the Govqll4
P,!
but is far too much overlooked in the case Of ci?-„:4::,.e ,dcl
rates. We hear discussions on all hands of ih, .''r.!
culty of levying the present rates and th inV4.O t
of increasing them, but we hear very
atib ' 1,, ..
practicability of reducing them. We iiir dO itiat , -
. . -. ',..11.

relief from the weight of Imperial taxatioll' 1
retrenchment in expenditure ; is ttiere no: or
for a similar process with respect to local ittiatiO,lll
we not make the two ends meet by saving money
ban by raising more ? We do not venture to saY ti
whole difficulty can be surmounted bithis simplO P 1
but the return we published on Saturdayicendert

cult to resist the conclusion that a portion ciu'r, oirr
ture on the poor is nowconducted On a most extravagAn
In commenting about a month ago upon a paper read 14,;
the Social Science Association, we noticed 044t__40.941,01
crease in pauperism appeared to be in the reciPietita 0,11
door relief. The present return affords astartling MO'
t,ion of this surmise. Except on official authority 4TM

have been hardly credible that in twenty-on 6 metros
II aims, embracing about three-fourths of London, Oil

sum expended on outdoor relief has increased witbl4
last nine years about 130 per cent. In the yegrOrdi
Lady-day, 1859, the expense of outdoor relief t$
unions amounted to £118,000; in the Year endinfi
day, 1868, it reached the amount of mare SS?
£270,000. The rate of increase, moreover, Amt.:,
alarmingly accelerated within the last three years. Dn7
the seven yearS between 1859 and 1866 the-total had Ot,,'
from .2118,000 to £154,000, or at the rate of not litinum
more than £5,000 a year. But during 1867 and 1868 06
increase amounted to £60,000 a year. We may obserll
it is
,not surprising there should have been a audde4
crease between 1866 and 1867, though the amount appears
extravagant. It was the year of the commercial panic
i
and of aonseqUent cessation of work in the Base c):
London. For instance, according to the compitratL%L-
teturn 9.r. metropolitan. pauperism -.published last Wee.7l
whereas the number of outdoor paupers in -the ti'
week of. 3anuary 1806 was 74,384, in the eorrespondiag
week of 1867 it was 132,756. But there was no Buch
exceptional cause at work between 1667 and 1868, and
is' dilflcult to attribute the enormous increase in the 0"
penditure to anything but extravagant administration'
In fact; the sum total of the figures is beyond any esl)l,°:
nation. Pauperism in the metropolis has undoubtedly
increased during the last nine years ; but it is inipossibi°,
to believe that the legitimate recipients of outdoor
have increased at a rate in any degree approaching 13
per cent., which is the rate of increase in the expenditur°.
The Telegraph refers to the important resolution whichh
the Ministers have adopted with respect to the
Convocation. Her Hajesty's Ministers have adopte-.1 3°
important resolution with respect to the Irish Convocatioe.
That assembly is legally incapable, not merely of Innkilg
canons, but even of meeting for the purposes of discreesien
wltlArat the Ileyal assent; and, as we announced Sonia
time ago, an r: nlical ion has been made for
'
re-nliS:te permissi.-m to re:Anne the long-- diecontinu`
c,.ened. of the Irish Church. The request Pal 111,
Lteu declined. The Ministers havieg regard
the. manifest objects of the applicants, and
the fact thrt4 Convocation represents tha clere.Y
inadequately, and the laity not at. all—have
that the Crown cannot properly he advised to conVerre tbe
nearly obsolete body. If it fairly reflected the opinior.3°t
time Protestant Episcopalians—if the Convocation were
desired for the purposes of legitimate debate-o)er° csu
be no doubt that the-present Government would rcadi/5:,
afford the required facilities. Mr. Gladstone and
colleagues are most assuredly noL the men to oppose 7,,)
and full public discussion with reference to their -.sit`"
Irish policy ; on the contrary, they anxiously
information and suggestions Ire m these who are Pr'ill;
cipally interested. A e'ensie.erahle hotly among the Il'l3,
clergy and laity see the prudence of snaking V3r...11
brit another party, including unhappily many of
tylishops and dignitaries of the Church, will not listea to
any overtures of peace, and are resolved to fight oat ir
quarrel to the bitter end. What benefit can Poilb;
accrue from frequent repetitions of the cry of "14.° su
tender?" Possibly the attitude of stubborn resi6tllll2-,-;
0
may have bad some effect before the recent a.ppea: to '75.
nation ; but that appeal was distinctly made and :1,0
tinctly answered ; and it is now too late to irsist 47-ti
eZcthcs quo ante. The party who make etoll
demand rival the Bourbons in their cclebrc:',
`,,,
inability to learn or to forget. But, furl essa4e';
for the future of the Irish Church, there is an6tll'„'e
more rational party among her friends, who
110'
t4ahtlio time :lox iNgot:ation with the Government'
trrivecl. Their policy ma,?, perhaps, appear weal' 3,;'+f
injudicious to those who look on politics as a game of ebte-:.
hich each 1;i seal::; inc victory, and there°-:
zi 'W
studiously concrale Lis intentions. But he fiiture
of the Irish Church involves far more serious consider,3l;
HORT.- Tier true friends are not these who seek to ot°lt
an -obviously untenable position, but those -also Ltc.BPee
accomplished facts and earnestly consider bow a free
Church can be most efliclently organised. Of that bet'
syirit_there have recently Leen many saisfactory $5141.;
teals, and
.it is clear that the more thoughtful clefenueee
4 the Establishment recognise the necessity of omicron"
and -concession.

In alluding to the disclosures recently made at the grr,a
City trial, the Morning Herald remarks on Mr. Edwar-ef
•
proceedings, and says that the fortunes and reptitationv
1/411ilEeldiWcaornCifSe'Ssseeldn,plboye ervsaesvere alike sacrificed, while, V'6lt,
paying a year's 'salarY t°
managing partner by whom he had been introduced, I)
during whose brief reign all these losses were 11;011',
Mr. Edwards, therefore, stands before the world as 0' 111‘;
who, paid on a scale of princely liberality by one 5'0";
was net above accepting thousands of pounds
th., ; who, while professedly watching ovir tre
interests of the firm, was receiving presents fromtil?ta
clings he ought to have scrutinised •i
118
1'3% At the same time he was subsidi'll'A
paetzer, ' from purely large-103'1;o
I.;ut amid all that has happened b ' Axel
suffered notLitig. The salary which he had eseh`-'4-1:;,„3
was to Lave earned by such services as we have descre
was credited to him in the books of the' firm, and 111):1
fin
it an exceptionally kgh rate of interest eves paid, le'l '
the company was formed and affairs were overba-a tee
Then, wise in his genera ion, ha withdrew left
eO,OOO to Which he • had been declared entitled, ren-
ladle
his good deeds towards Overend and Gurney unpub"-, a•
until a recital of them was extorted from him by a scar ¢9
ing examination before the Lord Mayor and Sir Tb°
the
Gabriel. Well migl_, Mr. Serjeaut Ballautine use for
language he ernoleee 7., and well also would it bleoir
. society if the re. • .ors of these multitudinous e3'1,00,
ties could be mat. n:lswerabie for the wrongs theYeiree
inflicted alike upon the. members of the old firm, the
tors of the limited ceiereay, and upon the general Pg'-'
The Star is glad to find the advocates of.the rfronicoite
reforiners of the metropolis assuming a firm demesil the
No donbt there will be jealousies to surmount beferejoll'
municipal system can be fairly carried out in feeliree,
The Vestry mind will stoutly resist the approaching ebeloil
The Beard of Works will be hostile. The Corper'o
of London, too, may be expected to exhibit an unfrie.7o:
feeling:- towards the proposal to establish °*ol/
municipalities which may trench upon the monqiier
of efficiency which that Corporation, because it is a Ineivet
pality, has hitherto enjoyed in local adminstration•
all these obstacles may be got over with a little
heeatteetahowevei much any local or central body
disposed to resist on minor grounds the municiPf tee,,
scheme, no one can deny the greatness and goodness mu
design. The policy of the promoters of the Projecw dll3mw
therefore he to secure. prominence for what all must %poll
to be good, and to depress into obscurity those Pointsa
wik'tocl3
which differences are likely to arise. And the only aalv
this is to carry on the work with a marked conciliatorYure';o9
for all parties, interests, and even prejudices wbie'•lltel
come, or threaten to come, into collision with the new
upon which we may hope to see the government of 11`),.03?,
remodelled. Let every one who is tempted to regardv/L''
projects with a jealous eye reflect how much better L:st•
no to secure any minor interests which are at stake
tai time
ranging terms with the promoters of the scheme 1111,,1 te°
Government which has shown itself so friendly,
veto, for the sake of these minor interests, a change ‘-,ae• sy,
must be fraught with so much good, even to those 'leeir
special interests or amour propre it may for the 01'
disconcert. -
eto
The Daily News declares that, the British fail:Elea-V• A
scanty justice from the public opinion of great es ?„
but it is a public disadvantage that the farnierlielib"
class have not taken a larger part in et' lir
affairs. Hitherto, however, their chief evsn'",,,efolii
been that of some means of organised exPri" ese'o
and that want seems to have ..been lar!
effectually supplied. The Cha•abers of Agricultu•
at.!
_e
fewer than seventy of which are in active existeauee,waV
already exerting a most important influence ofCmii
opinion. They are bringing the fresh opinion er soc''d
ployers of rural labour to bear, upon the grea'r
nieet
problems of the age • and they arc "oetes
cut tile strength and vigour of that
element in public life. Eut one thing wie tile%
hope for from the Chamber§ of Agriculture tnarrite:o
will eon•quer representative and. responsible geYen talew
for the counties. Mra Acland said that the positni)t.
b- the Chambers had clinng-ed the prosPeetYthe q,115r
rt
Winn on questions of local taxation. " Instead _
celturists being a quiescent body, content with 5.4, tlickf
ititercbazige of feeling between landlorc: and ten3"-e',ol',:rig,
v:tre now dai:ning over the :whole country in fooledte
centres to taT:e patt la Legislation." But what the, a'RP.,O
want is not merely to tale part in legislation nieeetiv4
minster, but in the local legislation in their reap, Ale'v
c.onntiel4. They have their local liberties to collte.`t 01,4
the are laickling to the fight. Now t•;;,
rue begun -to discuss national qneetions
Chambers of A,griculture,•and to exert an import'initio;
euce over their settlement, they will not len`i'i for
have their local qnestions discussed and settle•
They have stood long enough in stolu pliPi.ll'l,Yo(l so,
ll
landlords and the Liberal opinion of .1!:lierno
welcome them and help them in any effort they may
La assert their manhood, anti to tate tibeirl9u''
Inept into their own hands,. • • -

whose iiircc
p7culiat j,2:7,j:

bener.'2(