The Sun.
London, England, 1869-04-29 00:00:00

T OF

:0 JOIJRNAT.;.,

Mt Tinto, in discussing the recent debate cn cur
LCZL2III; !tystem, observes that within ten years of the
becr law, Lord l3rougham, Tv ho bad been one of its
btrone,t advocates, proposed a measure for its repeal, so
tetrile:e had been the immorality occasioned by the system.
The notion of the reformers was that by bringing good
leer to every poor man's door they would be keeping him
fie= the public-house—in other words, from bad company
and e:rious habits, The result, as they discovered too
late, was tliAt by putting beer in everybody's way they
induced a certain: number of persons to drink too much of
it, and so promoted the very evil they desired to suppress.
To this disappointment veVz added another misfortune
of unexpected magnitude, The object of the Legis-
lature in transferring the licensing power from the
magistrates to the excise was unquestionably good.
Magistrates were often brewers themselves, still more
frequently connected with brewing and moneyed
interests, so that for various reasons they might be
expected to discourage the now establishments, and, under
cover of reluirements touch;ng moralshavacter and repute,
to put difficulties in the way of beer licenses. The excise
officers, on the other hand, would be anxious only to
increase the revenue by the consumption of exciseable
articles, and, moreover, they Lad no discretion in the mat.
ter, provided the applicant for a license complied with the
very easy condition of the Act. The consequence was, in
the words of Mr. Bruce, " a check exercised on public-
houses which did not exist in regard to beerhouses "—in
other words, beerhouses became independent of all
control whatever. A bench of magistrates could
refuse a wine and spirit license without difli.
culty— the Excise could not possibly refuse a beer
license. No doubt the reformers of 1830 imagined
that a shop for the sale of beer alone would be as harmless
an establishment as that of a grocer or tcadealer ; but
experience has shewn how completely they were mistaken.
The truth came out the other day in our reports upon the
haunts of habitual criminals. Of all the bad places in the
country, a bad bcershop—and of those there are many—is
about the worst. Over these houses the magistrates have
no control, the police have no control, and the Excise have
only a control which is utterly nugatory. That, in fact,
ie the point at which reform is now most imperatively
needed. It is idle to think of establishing a reign of
sobriety by putting beer absolutely out of reach, but we
can insure that beershops should, at any rate, be no worse
conducted than public-houses, and that when they are
turned into dens of thieves a short and sharp remedy
should be in the hands of those who are responsible for
public order.

The Star says the beershops may probably be dealt
with, or at least their evils will ba so thoroughly exposed
in discussions such as that which took place on Sir H.
Selwin-Ibbetson's bill, that a general measure on licensing
niil at last be extorted from Parliament. Successive
Governments have long been willing enough to deal with

the subject ; but they have always folld themselves
hampered and impeded by certain great interest 3 and

organisations which effectually prevent the matter from
being settled on its merits. If the agitations which have so
usefully begun go on, it will be seen that the present state
of things is unbearable. It would be a good thing at once
to get rid of beershops, because they, unlike public-
houses, are inevitably, if not intrinsically, had-; but
this part of the work were accorurdished there would still
be many questions to be disposed of. We should have to
make up our minds whether the liquor trade ought to be
open or restricted, whether the restriction should be in
the form of certain requirements in the way of rental and
accommodation, cr should be secured by placing a discre-
tionary power in the bands of magistrates, or by giving a
veto to the inhabitants cf each neijiLourtood. For the
peace of the country, as well a3fur its 307.,:e1ey and decency,
all these questions ought t. be settled.

The S'langord ref;as to Mr. Lowe's scheme for hiding
the law cnttrs in a hole whcrs nobody can see the;
except by alventurblc; bintgelf non a penny steatnboa
aIRI declares that by the side of the Governtnent propos:
t7f

Sir Charles Trevelyan's plan appears at once
economical, ma,gnilleent, and convenient. Mr. Lowe and
Mr. Layard have mutilated the Embankment scheme,
rejecting all its good and retaining all its had features.
The sum of Mr. Lowe's financial operation is this. He
could erect such law courts as he considers necessary
for he has substituted hi judgment for that of everybody
at all conversant with the question, upon the Carey-street
site for a mt sum of about--including the money already
expended—one million and six hundred thousand pounds.
This, however, be refuses to do, and emtarks in a
speculation which, however favourably it may turn
out, assuming the land to be acquired for £600,000,
must necessarily turn out a losllig one to the public.
Mr. Lowe, in the name of economy, wants to make ducks
and flrokcs of the public money to prevent the erection c.;
a palace on rising ground, whieli those who Lave. to use it

Citr) convehiectly g 4 at : propt,st.'s at grezlter cost one in
wil:c11 cm Le convenieLL to) nol)i))1y e•:cept

W of

F.
3.a ;

reilla

ctql:ititilcnt.,, a lii

; of econoloy, attempt,: tt mIta.;04:11 (-If)11.e
Conminon3 ;izto the perpetration I,f the most co.stly fol!y—
-if it b. not the most scandal..ll4 full--Its animals ealm

Time 3 contrasts the p,,s4;:m of a clergy:l:a:l of th
Church With that of a tnin:ster of a voluntar:
in two ca3Ps recently br,nlgllt befog

C;nr::I), as exiliLitet:

s--the e:oß..s of ".V..r. ic•unett, of Frome, ane,
du, the of an Independent chapel a,
:e clergyman holds a status fixedly law.
)f the minister is fixed by private contract.
Ile clergyman, if only he obey the law, is safe,:tleither
co7gre:,ation nor l.isLop having power to interfere
with him ; whereas in many denominations, whether
cr n,,t among the Independents, the minister is at
the mercy of his congregation. In short, the clergy-
man's tenure is infinitely the more ecure ; though
that this is a doubtful advantage is, of course, open to
volurdaryists to maintain. Upon the question whether
the bishop should he invested title a discretion as to t
initiation of proceedin

r.

:;Y :•n•~

,t a eler:yman, much rn

11,,L1 •i he law, it nely be urged, is Made
to :*.+tect, the conrceetiees ; it is they who sriffer from its
v:u':zti ,i. lf
ITIOW C:111 ti;e law be eroird ler all, if each judge
is to la.ve a tlisnanisr tower? eise a diecretion
to
bishops, who, in the matter of doctrine or ceremony, are as
great offenders as the clergy under their charge ? If a bishop
inay spare a heretic, what is to prevent him from sparing
, no open pi-tailgate? The law is the same both for one and
the other. For these reasona Lord Shaftesbury, in his bill be-
. fore Parliament, proposes to give powerto prosecute to any
three inhabitant householders of the diocese who are
Churchmen. On the other hand, it is necessary to look to
the practical working of the system. As to immorality,
no bishop is charged with beim-, indulgent to immoral
clergymen in his diocese, though he may not prosecute
them, on account of the expense • but for this the remedy
lies elsewhere. Then as to doctrine, the truth is, it is not
_ good that the law should e 3 alw -s he rigorously enforced.
These preeecutiona are often oppressive to individuals ;
they disturb the public, beget ill-will where all should he
friendly co-operation, and' entirely fail to produce doc-
trinal uniformity.
The Ile;Yrld thinks it necessary that an ample reserve of
well-trained regwar soldiers be created, who should
be ready to .join the ranks when rquired. The great
obstacle to its creation thitherto
an.-
€las consistedt in the
length of the recruits' en But the
new regulation, which leaves' i'l;einecnci
vide for their own. protection and largely'on'es toPro.
increases
the home force, will enable' 'the Governmenti. to
make the term of service shorter ; and
soldiers more rapidly through " the mill," w)LPPlBB'ng the
ide an
ample supply of the best description of men for thre°v
reserve.
Lord Monck, while bearing ample testimony
tot
patriotism of the volunteers and their utility
should occasion arise for Cleir services, very prop er'.3
" objects to their being reckoned among the
stroidini;
forces of the country ;" but we cannot coincide in hi,
opinion that the total abolition of the purchase system
would tend to increase the efficiency of our army. Pee.
motion from the ranks can only with safety be adopted
in an army raised by conscription, which ensures tidy
presence in the ranks of men of family awl such
education as would qualify them for promotion. In
ours, consisting of volunteers from the lowest, most
ignorant, and generally the worst-conducted class
of the population, it would be simply impossible to find
persons suited for commissioned officers in such numbers
as would at all affect its organisation for the better ; while
special provision for one portion of the men existed would
not only be attended with increased expense, but would
create jealousy and discontent amongst the others. The
first need of the country is a reserve of regalia 2
troops, which will place it beyond the risk of danger
and from the tenor of the debate in the Upper 11 onse on Lore
allonck's motion we have every hope of the speedy realisa
tion of this most necessary adjunct to our national defences.
The Daily Yeics says that the story of Mr. Benjamin
Higgs remains something more than a nine (lays' wonder,
even in these days of sensational crime. If that gentle-
man is watching the world from the retirement he so
opportunely eought, he has at least the satisfaction of
having made a sensation. Though the crime of which he
has been guilty is nothing but commonplace and vulgar
felony, he may at any rate claim the advantage of the
very Philistine distinction between wholesale and
retail. He has been a wholesale dealer in rogueries.
and the more his proceedings are investigate(
the more strange and startling they become.
It is of course easy to be wise after the event,
but it does seem remarkable that Mr. 11iggs's double life
should never have become known to the directors of the
company. Perhaps the very immensity of the difference
between. Mr. Higgs of the gas office, and Mr. Higgs of
Teddington, constl,ufsel part ef his seeurity. The ,con-
trast is 'almost like one of the orearns of ruusance. It is
the antithesis of GA, real and to ideal. I), here the
directors of this compeny are et fan!t. 1A not in failing
euire into their clerk's •lespenditure, but in tail-
in
ing to see that their own. eyetera of accounts was fairly
. carried ent. They bad a sys!ein SO perfect that, even
now, the a-C.:tot:intents can devise nothing, better, but
they took for granted that it was being worked. Yet
it ivas on this very system that ifiggs
.also relied. The
directors did not look after it • but dhl, and it
answered his purpose as it might it;
aeswered theirs.
After all Ifieess held his posit;: n by the sense tenure by
WiliCh everything- is held—that of wakehlness and watch-
fulness. lie was k( pt aw dee by the penalty of dis-
covery—those who should hive inade the d'scovery had no
sash fear to keep t:iem awake, and they went on in the
-Sleepy way in which lan.inees is so generally transacted
Active personal supervision will always heat systems
eoing nosiness, and the very Lest machineey of account"
worked by a clever rogue for his own ieterest, and no
carefully watched by these.avioese creeta it is meant to
guard, will only give a frata_i lone; chance of life.

Tlll7 ITORRIPLI? METDER IN SOUTH

WALES.

Mr. J. Williams, coroner for Breconslnte, has opened an
inquiry at Penderyn touching the death of Mary Jones,
who lived on a farm known by the name of Nant-y-derry.
The house in which deceased resided is about a quarter of
a mile from any other dwelling, and for several weeks past
she lived alone, her husband haling died about tin weeks
ago. After his death a neighbour's daughter slept with
her for three weeks, and then she told the girl to go home,
as hcr mother had work for her to do. The deceased
formerly carried milk into Ifirwain every day for sale,
but latterly she had not done so. She was frequently
heard to say that she had money enough to keep her
without troubling anybody while she lived, and
she was considered by her neighbours to be tole-
rably well off, but no one knew where she had placed her
money. A will has been found in the house, bequeathing
all the property she possessed to her stepdaughter, v.rho
resides at Pontypridd. The evidence of Mr. 'Webster,
surgeon, skewed that there was a compound fracture of
the skull at the back of as head, a contuse(' Lnd over
the left eyebrow, the left hand was charred, and the right
slightly so, and the body was also burnt in several places.
His opinion was that death arose from laceration and
injury to the brain, probably caused by the leg of a chair.
The inquiry was adjourned for a fortnight, and the
coroner expressed a hope that the police, in th e meantime,
would be successful in their search after the guilty party;
but as yet the case is involved in mystery.