The Sun.
London, England, 1869-12-02 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 2, 1869

taneously in ample abundance, on the one Land ;
here aro deaths of the weak and helpless from
absolute want of food and fire on the other, and
between the two is an army of vicious, intemperate,
and hypocritical mendicancy, reaping the harvest
and cumbering the ground. Cannot all the legisla-
tiveability, the philanthropy, the Christian charity of
England find the answer to the riddle?
As regards the public funds, there is one very
practical remedy for some at least of the glaring
inequalities of the present system—a remedy
which the President of the Poor-law Board
has shown some inclination to try. As matters are
at present arranged the poor have to bear the greater
portion of the burden of supporting the poor, the rich
are comparatively scatheless. Bethnal-green house-
holders find one half -crown more difficult to earn
than a professional man in Ilanover-square finds a
thousand ; yet when the still poorer denizen of the
East-end parish breaks down and comes upon the
rates, it is his struggling next door neigh-
bour who has to support him not the
rich man of the West-end. Yet what claim has he
on one more than another except the casual accident
of neighbourhood ? So long as our West-end re-
sidents content themselves with talking about the
hardheartedness of guardians and refuse to be " their
brother's keeper" by beiring their fair share of the
public burdens, so long we must expect to hear of
deaths from starvation in the East-end parishes of
London.

As for the great difficulty attending the distribu-
tion of charitable funds, we can scarcely hope to find
a speedy solution of it. The one sovereign remedy
against imposition in all private cases is to be found
in personal investigation, but this entails more
trouble, responsibility, and personal inconvenience
than the majority of donors are willing to bestow.
Timely aid will often save a family from long pau-
perism, instead of encoouraging mendicancy, but
then to be given to deserving cases in the best man-
ner, it demands something more than the signature
of a check or the opening of a well filled
purse. It requires the expenditure of time, visits to
dark and dirty courts, the sojourn in close rooms,
the chance of passing annoyance, the trouble of
cross-questioning perhaps unwilling strangers. From
all this men immersed in the business, or pleasure, or
politics, or intellectual refinements of life, shrink dis-
gusted. It is so easy to give that which costs them
little, so difficult to give that which costs so much.
So, according as their temperament or their
principles incline them, they take sides upon
the question. They listen to moving tales of fireless
hearths and starving children, and send the profes-
sional beggar to rejoice in the nearest ginshop, or
they study political economy, and are ready with con-
clusive arguments to prove that to feed the hungry,
to clothe the naked, to relieve the sick, to nurture tLe
young, to assist the widow and fatherless are the,
direst social offences of which, in this practical nine--
teeuth century, a Christian can possibly be guilty.

A SPEECH by the UNDER SECRETARY for the
HOME DEPARTMENT to his constituents at Deal
plainly indicates a speedy change in the Irish policy
of the Executive. The Government have carried
kindness to the utmost limit consistent with public
safety. They have tried to win the affections of
the Irish people by remedial legislation only.
Nor in there as vet any reason to apprehend that such
a course, if faithfully persevered in, will fail ; but it
is undeniable that there is in Ireland a party whom
no measures can pacify, who interpret "justice to
Ireland " as fear of the Irish, and who take
advantage of impunity to work infinite
mischief. The present state of the western
British province is very serious. The incessant
harangues of the seditious journals have succeeded in
bringing about a revival of Fenian lawlessness. The
treason which slept for a while after the late out-
break has again awakened to the full vigour of active
existence. Law and order are suspended. An
election to the House of Commons has been
controlled wholly by a band of Fenians. The meet-
ings of peaceful citizens are interrupted. And whilst
neither life nor property is secure, the exhortations to
insurrection are still poured forth by the " national "
press, which must be regarded as the chief source
of all till 3 evil. It is impossible to question the justice of
disturbing the security of these sedition-mongers. The
determination to try the expediency of a press prose-
cution—to which the Government has apparently
come—is a necessity of the situation. The
policy of peace must continue, but reform
and authority must go hand in hand. The
grounds on which the Ministry will interfere
are sufficiently clear. The freedom of the press in
Great Britain has long been so firmly established that
only the most active propagation of treason can
be now brought within the scope of the law.
It has for many years past been permitted to the
journalist to express any opinion of existing institu-
tions, and, even to declare his desire for a totally
different Government. But free writing becomes
illegal when it goes the length of advocating
force as a means of effecting changes. It is not for
upholding the scheme of an Irish Republic, but for
urging insurrection, as a means of setting up a
Republic, that the " national" press will be attacked.
To levy war, and to compass the levying of war,
against her MAJESTY, are alike treason. The present
necessity is lamentable, indeed; but the safety of our
fellow-countrymen in Ireland, not less than the
dignity of the Crown, allows no further delay.

IT has always been a prime fault in English juris-
prudence that whilst we have never ceased to make
new laws, we have failed to keep up the work of
duly weeding out those which have become obsolete.
Old and barbarous statutes still unrepealed, cumber 7
some but lawful formulas, and ancient customs, every
now and then spring up, and not unfrequently do
great mischief. A strange instance of the ill effect
of leaving old legislation in the way of modern
measures is just reported from New Zealand.
Englishmen have lately been horrified by stories of
native atrocity in that colony. Men, women,
and children have been massacred by the Maories,
the bodies of English people have been mutilated,
and their flesh, in one instance, thrown to pigs. And
yet, while our indignation at this brutality is yet
warm, it has fallen to the lot of a colonial judge to
sentence some of these very natives to be hanged,
drawn, and quartered ! Three Maories were lately
tried at Wellington for "levying war upon the QUEEN."
The hostile natives of New Zealand are regarded—it
is not clear on what just ground—not as
belligerents, but as rebels ; and, accordingly, these
three were tried under the Statute of Treasons, passed
in the reign of Edward 111. From the terms of this
creditable law, the. judge felt himself bound to
solemnly direct " that you be drawn on a hurdle to
the legal place of execution, and there be hanged by
the neck until you be -dead ; that your heads be then
severed, and your bodies be divided into four quarters,
to be disposed of as his Excellency the Governor
directs." . The statement that the audience "hung
their heads with shame" at this barbarous
sentence. may be readily credited. The judge
could not see his way to omitting any of the sangui-
nary juThzinent. A defect in the formula might have
led to a motion for arresting punishment. But such
a proceeding cannot fail to have the worst effect.
The natives will be quick to conclude that if we
resolve upon atrocities in cold blood, they may justi-
fiably commit atrocities in the heat of battle. It is
true that the sentence is a mere form, that the three
prisoners will not be drawn nor quartered, nor even
hanged. But the New Zealand savages are not
likely to see the nice points of British law. They will
be alive only to the fact that whilst we lift up our
voices against their mutilations, we solemnly sanc-
tion like proceedings in a court of justice. We sadly
need a revision of our old legal fragments. Ancient
things are often to be respected ; but when an old
law becomes a nuisance, there ought to be no hesita-

tion about removing it. The long-promised, but long-
deferred, Digest of the Law would be invaluable in
unearthing some of these obstructions.

NEITHER the peaceful festivities at the opening
of the Suez Canal, nor the good offices of the Great
Powers, have availed to prevent a fresh outbreak, or
rather a more violent continuation, of the quarrel
between the SULTAN and the KHEDIVE. It is not
arprising to find that the dispute proceeds with
increased bitterness. The question at issue between
these two potentates is one which is likely to
endure until the end comes—until one of the
disputants overcomes the other. The KHEDIVE
is dependent upon the SULTAN. He governs
Egypt only as a semi-king, and in all the most im-
portant functions of a sovereign he is liable to be
overruled by tht head of the Turkish Empire. Like
his predecessor, the presentKitEDivE has consistently
striven, especially during the last year or so, :to
throw off his allegiance. The SULTAN has
patronised him, and given him various good
things; but these benefits have been used
only as the means of securing further ad-
vances. The KHEDIVE'S territory was extended, the
Pashalic of Egypt was made hereditary in his family ;
but still the SULTAN'S vassal sought more power.
He was found intriguing in Crete, he raised indepen-
dent loans, made large purchases of arms, increased
his army, and strove to induce the European G overn-
ments to allow him separate ambassadors and to
conclude treaties on his own behalf. All these pro-
ceedings -were steps in the direction of independence,
and violations of the terms upon which the KHEDIVE
held power in Egypt. Hence the present quarrel.
The SULTAN demanded explanations. His vassal
gave an unsatisfactory reply. Further correspon-
dence ensued, until at length the SULTAN has sent
an ultimatum, containing instructions which the
KHEDIVE cannot make up his mind to obey, and
thus a rupture has seemed probable. It is satisfactory
in this critical position to be informed by the Morning
Post that, "thanks to the diplomacy of England and
France, and to the dignified attitude of the Porte,"
there is no real danger of a war. To prevent a
disturbance must be the general rule of British policy
in the East. The merits of the various questions of
which Turkey is the centre are of less importance to
us than the prime necessity of avoiding violent out-
breaks, the end of which it would be impossible to
predict. For it is by no means certain, as our con-
temporary presumes, that the SULTAN would speedily
vanquish his dependent in battle. The KHEDIVE
is strong in military resources, and he would have
the great advantage, if he chose, of remaining on
the defensive. A State which required so many
months to subdue Crete would very likely find the
conquest of Egypt a severe task. At any rate, there
is no telling what a -war might lead to, and it is,
therefore, gratifying to learn that the peaceful efforts
of the Powers are likely to be successful.

711 E PRINCE OP WALES AS A FREE-

MASON.

Last evening the United Grand Lodge of Eng-
land assembled at the Freemasons' Hall, Great
Queen- street, when proceedings of more than gene-
ral interest occupied the attention of a large and
brilliant assemblage—one, indeed, of the largest in
modern times, in consequence of the presence of his
Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, who entered
for the first time on his position of Past Grand
Master, to which he was elected at the previous
Grand Lodge. The Earl of Zetland occupied the
throne, having on his right the Earl de Grey and
Ripon, with Mr. Algernon Perkins in the Senior
Warden's chair, and Mr. J. G. Dodson, M.P., in
that of the Junior Warden's. Among the brethren
who occupied seats on the dais, as Past Grand
officers, were the Duke of St. Albans, Sir D. Gooch,
M.P., the Rev. Sir J. Warren Hayes; Sir Albert
W. Woods, the Rev. R. J. Simpson, Major
Creaton, Mr. J. R. Stebbing (Mayor of South-
ampton), Mr. Savage, Mr. 11I'Intyre, Mr. F. Rcx-
burgh, Q.C., Mr. James Mason, and Colonel Cole.
After the Lodge had been formally opened, the
GRAND MASTER (Lord Zettind) rose and said he
had to inform the Grand Lodge that his Royal
Highness the Prince of Wales was waiting to be
admitted into the Lodge. (Great applau3e.) By
the confirmation :)f the minutes his Royal Highness
was now a member of the Grand Lodge, and en-
j lyed the title of Past Grand Master. There could
be but one feeling—which was one of rejoiciog
among the brethren at the accession of the illus-
trious brother to a seat in the Grand Lodge. (Ap-
plause.) As his Royal Highness was now waiting,
the noble lord said he did not think it necessary to
say another word ; he felt quite sure that all the
brethren rejoiced as he did, and had the highest
gratification at finding their illustrious brother
coming among them. (Applause.) He would,
therefore, direct the two Grand Wardens, the
Grand Director of Ceremonies, and the other offi-
cers to conduct his Royal Highness into the Lodge.
(Cheers.)
The officers named then retired, and when they
appeared with the Prince the whole of the brethren
simultaneously arose. The Prince wore au ordi-
nary Master Mason's apron and the Order of the
Garter. He was conducted to the left of the Grand
Master and remained standing,
The GRAND MASTER, addressing the Prince, said,
May it please your Royal Highness, it is my duty
to welcome most cordially your Royal Highness to
the Grand Lodge of England, and I assure your
Royal HighneSs that this epoch has long been
wished for and expected by the body of Masons
forming the craft of England. (Hear, hear.) I
can further assure your Royal Highness that your
advent to masonry was welcomed most enthusiasti-
cally by every private lodge in England. The craft
in general in England is so much indebted to the
patronage of your Royal house that they diennot
but be desirous to show their cordial good wishes to
that house, and their delight at receiving your
Royal Highness among them as a brother Mason.
(Cheers.) It is hardly necessary for me to enumer-
ate the members of your Royal house who have been
patrons, Grand Masters, and members of the craft
in England. You have only to look round to see
the portraits of George IV., the Duke of York, and
your Royal Highness's more immediate ancestor,
the Duke of Kent—(cheers)—to know what great
advantages the craft in general have derived from
such illustrious patronage, and to make you well
aware.of the delight which your coming into Masonry
has caused in this country. (Cheers.)
After again alluding to the services of the Duke of
Kent and the Duke of Sussex, he invested the
Prince with the " clothing" of a Past Grand Mas-
ter, and invited him to take his seat as member of
the Grand Lodge of England. All the titles of the
Prince were announced by Sir ALBERT WOODS,
who proclaimed the Prince by the new title in
Masonry.
His Royal Highness the Prince of WALES said—
Most Worshipful Grand Master, Deputy Grand
Master, Grand Officers, and Brethren,—Allow me
to tender you nay warmest and most sincere thanks
for the great honour you have conferred upon me
this evening. For a long time past it had been my
wish to become a Freemason, a member of this an-
cient craft. Although, brethren, I was initia,tA in
' a foreign country, I at the time felt—and you will
all agree with me—that Freemasonry is one and
the same in all countries; we arc all fellow-crafts-
men ; and I can assure you I feel it a great honour
to be here to7day— admitted a member of the
Grand Lodge of England. (Cheers.) Allow ul3
to thank you once more, Most Worshipful Grand
Master, for the kind words you have spoken and
fur the cordial manner in which you and all the
brethren have received me this evening. (Ap-
plause.)
The PRINCE then took his seat on a chair which
was surmounted by the plume of the Principality.
Ile remained tohear the conduct of business, which
was the announced resignation of office by the
Grand Master, and the nomination of the Earl de
Grey and Ripon as the Earl's successor. In the course
of the evening his Royal Highness was " saluted"
with the Royal sign, which appeared to give him
great gratification and no little astonishment.

THE PROSECUTION OF TIIE REV. C.

VOYSEY.

The healing of the case of " Noble v. Voysey " com-
menced on Wednesday, in the Chancery Court of York
Minster, before the Chancellor, Mr. Granville Vernon
Harcourt. The question to be determined was the
admission of the articles which had been filed against the
defendant. The promoter of the action was Mr. T. S.
Noble, of York, the Archbishop's secretary; and the de-
fendant is the Rev. C. Voysoy, Vicar and Perpetual Curate
of Hcalaugb, near Tadcaster. The defendant is charged
with having written and published certain books or
pamphlets, entitled " The Sling and the Stone," in which
he is said to have maintained doctrines totally at variance
with the Articles of religion and the formularies of the
Church. A commission of inquiry reported that there
was sufficient prima facie ground for instituting further
proceedings, and in July the Archbishop inhibited
the defendant from performing any services of
the Church in the diocese of York until
the sentence should have been given. The formal
articles containing tho charges were exhibited by
tho proctor for the promoter on the 28th of October,
when notice was given that the admission of the pleading
would he opposed, and the defendant would apply to the
Court for leave to argue in court to oppose the articles.
The latter are 33 in number, in which the Rev, C. Voysey
is accused of denying the Atonement, or that there was any
need of an atonement or sacrifice ; of asserting that
Christ did not bear the punishment due to our sins;
that He should so suffer was erroneous and dishonouring
to God, and was the most revolting of all the popular
beliefs; that mankind arc not by naturo born in sin, and
the " children of wrath ;" that they are not in danger of
endless suffering, nor is there any curse to remove by the
shedding of the innocent blood of Christ ; that the doc-
trine of the fall of man is contrary to the teaching of
Jesus Christ; that the doctrine of justification is contrary
to the teaching of Christ; that he is no more "very God
of very God, begotten not made," than any other man ;
that the worship of Christ is idolatry; that the very idea
of the Incarnation of the Son of God takes its rise
in unbelief, and springs out of absolute infidelity; that the
expected return of Christ to judge the world is un-
reasonable, and opposed to the simplicity of the love of
God as a father, and is calculated to overthrow the moral
government of God; that the worship of the Father, Son,
and Holy Ghost is the worship of three Gods, and the wor-
ship of the Son and cf the Holy Ghost is idolatry ; that
revelation cf the knowledge of God by means of any book
is impossible ; that in God's word there are found mani-
fest, palpable, and irreconcileable contradictions, and
many passages which cannot he explained, but so they aro
repugnant to others ; that the authority of the Gospel
according to St. John is doubtful; that the said gospel
ought not to be applied to establish any doctrine ; that
whole chapters of the said gospel are crowded with pas-
sages which represent Jesus Christ as speaking words
which he never could have spoken, and which, if spoken,
would not have been believed; that the said Gospel ac-
cording to St. John contains passages which can only be
explained so that they are repugnant to each other or to
ether places of God's word written in Holy Scripture;
and 'that the character of the Lord Jesus Christ as set
forth in the said gospel is quite irreconcileable with the
idea of His being a true teacher sent from God, and is
entirely different from the character of the Christ of the
other three gospels.
Mr. Archibald and Mr. Cowie were counsel for the pro-
moter, and the defendant appeared in person.—Mr.
Archibald said he had to move that the articles which had
been exhibited be admitted to proof.
Mr. Voysey moved, on the contrary, that the articles
be rejected. He did not dispute that ho wrote and
published the passages impugned; but it could not
be the wish of the court to lay hold of any particular
expressions for the purpose of depriving him of his living.
It was not his wish to quibble, and the real question was
as to the substance of his teaching. If that teaching were
illegal, ho had no wish to retain his preferment. He
must however say he had set forth his views with a firm
conviction that they were true, entirely in agreement with
the teaching of Christ, and must surely tend to the honour
of God and the welfare of man. At the present time there
was, on the one hand, a tendency to restore the Roman
doctrines against which the Articles of the Church were
specially and distinctly framed; and on the other hand,
a growing contempt for religion arising from false and
repulsive views of God. Never had a word escaped him
of treason against the laws and constitution of the Church.
He had always been loyal to it. The main object of all
his teaching had been to vindicate the veracity of history
and the morality of the Divine government, and not to
teach those inventions of men which were as degrading to
man as the darkest forms of heathen idolatry. He was not
aware of having exceeded the liberty with which he was
endowed, and ho should be surprised if an adverse sen-
tence proved the contrail. Mr. Voysey then proceeded at
great length to comment on the charges alleged against
him. The first question was whether he had denied the
doctrine of the Atonement and justification by faith in the
sense he had expkined—whether he had contradicted the
Thirty-nine Articles of the Church, and said the words
were not true. He denied that he had done so, and said he
differed from the clergy rather in practice than in theory.
Ho had not denied the doctrine of the Incarnation ;
and as to the Divinity of Christ, he observed
that whether that doctrine was true or false
NI as not the question. The court could not declare
it is leg a unless it wore ccndemned in the Thirty-nine
Articles, which it was not. Certain passages in the
Prayer-book, if they meant anything at all, meant
what he had taught. As to the imputation upon him,
that the worship of Christ was idolatry, he said that his
meaning had been misunderstood. It was the exclusive
adoration of Christ of which he complained. They had
only to look at some of the modern hymns, or some
hymns of the Roman Church recently adopted in some of
the cathedrals and churches, in which the worship of the
Father was ignored. It was possible that in presenting
the error, and showing its danger, he might have used
language capable of a double interpretation ; but
he was constantly contending for such doctrine and such
practice against those who in his opinion were subverting
both. The worship of the Second Person in the Godhead
to the exclusion of the first was done continually in spirit
and in substance. There was in all directions a tendency
to separate the Son from the Father, to regard Jesus
Christ not only as one with God the Father, but as a
separate being of an opposite character. He had nowhere
denied that Christ would return to judge the world,
and he had never meant to say it was impossible
for God to reveal to man, in writing or otherwise,
matters cf which he was not aware by the construction of
his nature. With regard to the Bible, he had only
indulged in that fair criticism which others had done
before, and as the highest court in the land gave him
authority to do, and that no section of the Act of
Uniftrmity forbade him to treat the question as he had
done 'relative to St. John's Gospel. The question had been
left open, and it was only for the Legislature to close it.
The question was whether the liberty he contended
for existed, not whether it was wise that it should exist.
He yielded to no one in his respect for the law, and said
that he could secure a far better worldly position in
deserting the Church; to him, therefore, the decision was
unimportant; but to the Church it was all important, for
it was upon its trial.
Judgment was reserved.

A fow evenings since the crypts of San Clementi,
in Rome, were thrown open to the public during vespers,
and illuminated, so as to afford a full view of the beautiful
ancient frescoes recently discovered.

The French Emperor's speech, spoken at twenty
minutes past one, reached London by telegraph at 1.40,
Florence at 1.45, Brussels at 2.5, Vienna at 2.40, and all
the principal French towns before two o'clock. So rapid
was its transmission owing to the favourable condition of
the lines, that it was read over the whole of Europe on the
same evening as spoken.
THE MAN WITH THE LEON MASK AGAIN.—In a
relies of interesting articles published in Le Correspondant,
M. Topin professes to reveal the mystery of the Man with
the Iron Mask, and the secret, as Louis XV. assured the
Dauphin, seems to have been one of little importance.
In the archives of the ministry of Foreign Affairs, M.
Topin has found documents which prove, as he thinks, be-
yond a doubt, that the mysterious person was an agent of the
Duke of Mantua of the name of Matthioli, who betrayed
Louis XIV. in a negotiation touching the surrender to
that monarch of the fortress of Casal. This hypothesis
Lad already been suggested, but Fouquet was more gene-
rally supposed to be the victim. M. Topin, however,
proves that the famous Surintendant des Finances
died at Pignerol, and that the body was delivered
un to his family. One of the most conclush •
(1, cuments quoted is a letter from Louis XIV., written in
1370, authorising the Abbe d l'Estrade to carry off Mat-
thioli, and remarking that it was important that his fate
should remain unknown. At this moment Matthioli dis-
appears, and the author identifies him with a prisoner
who was committed at the same time to the charge
of Cinq Mars and conveyed successively to St.
Marguerite, Pignerol, and the Bastille. He entered
the latter fortress masked, and there were good
roasons for this precaution. The Duke of Mantua
reconciled with the King, was at Paris, and many of his
followers might have recognised this unfortunate victim
to Court intrigue and his own treachery, Whether he
always wore a mask, and whether that mask was of iron is
uncertain, It appears that ho died at the age of sixty-
three, after an imprisonment of twenty years, and was
hurled ender the transparent pseudppakiLlgtachig,