The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-05 00:00:00

THE WEATHER.-SUN OFFICE, MAY 5, 1860.

THERMOMETER, IN THE SHADE.
61—highest since noon yesterday.
44—lowest this morning and during the night.
51—this day at noon.

BAROMETER-30.20.
WIND, Easterly ; light, with dull, cool weather, in,
dining to rain.

HIGH WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
THIS DAY.—Morning, lh. 25m.—Afternoon, Ih. 48m
To-monnow.-Morning, 2h. 11m.—Afternoon, 2h. 33m,

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THE SUN.
LONDON, SATURDAY, MAY 5, 1880.

It is well that the block-up second reading of the
Reform Bill is settled, for we have now a clear stage
for business ; and the importance of very many
public measures yet lying in abeyance will receive
due and immediate consideration Next to the
public health, we presume the public and private
convenience, too, may claim pre-eminent attention.

We boast here of London as being the first city in
the universe for wealth and population combined.
Granted. But we are rather shy in dilating on the
accommodation which wealth should give to en-
terprise in developing the urgent necessities of that
immense population. Whence the cause. Simply that
the matter cannot be made a good parish job of, as in
the good old times. If there was money to be got
out of it, why, the propriety of doing it would be
all sufficient, and the quicker done would be in the
proportion of the immediate gains ! That is JOHN
BULL all over, anything to the contrary notwith-
standing. But there is a principle of shame which
steps in sometimes to check the exultation of our
grandeur. A foreigner surveying our buildings,
and wondering at their boundless extent in streets,
squares, and places, naturally asks how he is to
get at them, for he meets gas companies here, water
companies there, blocking up the thoroughfares,
with a cool indifference which makes the very stones
to rise up in mut inyat the curses loud and deep which
the omnibus drivers pour forth on all and everyone
"
concerned in stopping up the ways of men" of
business, while the cabs heartily second their
imprecations on the score that their "fares" had
gone to extra expense in order to be first in the
City—thus illustrating too truly how vain are
human hopes in their attempts at " going it ! "
The evil has been a crying one, not only now,
but for a long time—and, though several remedies
have been proposed, none have as yet secured public,
or at least official, attention. And why ?—because
the Minister of the day cannot obtain any additional
support from putting one stone on another or clear-
ing away a heap of obstructive buildings for the
genere'l convenience. Ile does not like to throw
a ,vay the public money for the public good, be it
even in thousands ; but he never hesitates to
squamder millions to increase the national burdens
by stimpin?; into wars with his eyes shut, and
when: he opens them finds out it was all a mistake!
—the matter might have been arranged amicably
had hi thought better about it. Now, this is as
lamentable as it is true, and the people have to
pay the cost without having the honour of being
even consulted.

B 1 tt there is hope yet. Sir J. PA XTON last night
broui Olt before the House of Commons a question—
the EnabiAnkment ,of the Thames—one which has

long engaged the attention of the public. He
moved for a select committee to consider the best
means of providing for the increasing traffic of the
metropolis by the embankment of the Thames. And
he enforced his motion by arguments at once for-
cible and conclusive. He said that the influx of
visitors to London was daily on the increase, while
the population moving to and fro by the various
lines of railway amounted at the termini to up-
wards of 30 millions ! The enormous concourse of
people seems to exceed belief—and the wonder was
how they could pass along the thoroughfares.
Wonder, indeed !—that was as nothing to the dif-
ficulty ! for they reversed the idiom of " it's a long
lane that has no turning," for here it was turn and
turn and never get on. Our London streets were
made for a population of a hundred thousand at
most, and now we have upwards of thirty times
that number, so that our enterprise and suc-
cess in trade have blocked up our locomotion.
The embankment of the Thames presented the most
ready way for facilitating the publie convenience,
while it would be both ornamental and beneficial.
At low water the extent of mud on its banks was
injurious to health and offensive to the senses.
Then there was another point of the greatest con-
cern—the purity of the river, which was becoming
daily more contaminated. The Metropolitan
Board of Works were on the point of making a
tunnel along the Strand to intercept the sewage,
and this work would take about two years—so that
London might as well go out of town during its
performance, for no one could get along. The
nuisance would thus be preposterously magnified.
While, by ethbanking the river, sufficient space
might be obtained to make the tunnel under the
new roadway reclaimed from the mud, and con-
vert what at present is an eyesore and an abomi-
nation into a source of perennial beauty, profit,
and usefulness. The motion was responded to by
the Government with a readiness which does them
honour. Indeed the Chief Commissioner of
Works, Mr. COWPER, was hearty in his
wishes for the success of a plan which
promised so much benefit. He said—that
it required no argument to show the necessity of
free communication between Charing-cross and
London-bridge, but that no money would be spent
by Government. The committee might find out
ways and means to carry out the scheme ! Why
the value of the land reclaimed from the river would
in time repay all the expense. The property all
along would be not only improved but enhanced
considerably in value. There might be a railway,
a carriage road, and a promenade all combined.
Lord JOHN MANNERS thought a Royal Commission
would be more effective than a Committee, but
Lord PALMERSTON was of a different opinion.
Still he thought that time was precious, and that
the inquiry should be prompt. Other members
cordially joined in the object, but some wished
to engraft views of their own on the motion.
Sir S. M. PETO eulogised the master -mind
that now superintended the improvement going on
in Paris, and wished that our Government would
deal with the question before the House in a spirit
worthy of itself. We hope they may. It would
redound more to their honour tha' all their party
schemes, and be a lasting memorial of their
patriotism for all time to come—
" While muddy Thames reclaims his silver tide."

The new Austrian regime in Hungary, from
which we have been willing to hope the best, and
some of our contemporaries to hope even against
hope, will turn out, we fear, to be a much "poorer
little bill" in the way of liberal reform than our
own. The best symptom is that in the list of names
for the new Legislative Council appears that of
Baron VAY, who was the conspicuous lay repre-
sentative in the deputation of the Hungarian Pro-
testants to Vienna. He hoped when he returned
from Vienna that he had secured terms which
would be satisfactory to his fellow Protestants, but
found that the Government, with its usual mixture
of fraud and obstinacy, had so overreached him
that he could not recommend the Protestants to
yield. It will be remembered that the "Imperial
Patent" was an attack on the old Hungarian civil
arrangements and liberties through their religion
—are we then to hope that this mode of attack,
at least, will be renounced ? Is it really in further-
ance of Hungarian religious liberties when we read
that the branch of the Ministry of Public Worship
which is to consist of Evangelical co-religionists is
to be immediately established, and that all questions
relating to Protestant religious and scholastic
matters are to be referred to it. We notice that
no hint of concession on the vital point of retaining
or abrogating the old synodal divisions has yet

appeared.
Much was made at Vienna, and it was accepted
too easily here, of General BENEDEK, the new pro-

visional governor, being a Hungarian. He is, it is

true, a Hungarian by birth, but by birth only. M.
SZEMERE, formerly minister in Hungary, tells us,
that " he is not so either by mind, by heart, or by
his antecedents." Born in 1804, since fourteen
years of age he has been an Austrian soldier ; that

his life has been spent in fighting against national
liberties in Italy and Gallicia ; that, in the latter
country he was the foremost man in that bloody
perfidy, in which the Hapsburgs paid the peasants
a sovereign per head for the murder of their land-
lords ; and, that in 1848, he was the only officer of
Hungarian origin who served the Hapsburgs by
fighting against his native country, and by shed-
ding the blood of his relations, his brothers and his
countrymen !" What can be said of the appoint-
ment of such a man as a pledge of conciliatory
intentions ?

He has now arrived on the scene of his labours,
and the course he has taken is very much what
might have been expected. Ostensibly he is sent

to conciliate, in reality, we fear to subjugate. He is
reputed to have an iron will ; and the story is, that
he "threatens to break the neck of any of his sub-
ordinates who neglect their duties." At the same
time the subordinates, it is said, are doing all in
their power to widen the breach between the people
and the Sovereign. Why does not BENEDEK put
at once a stop to this ? Why is M. ZSEDENYI, the
unjustly convicted patriot of the Kaesmark meeting,
treated like a common malefactor, denied sufficient
food, and almost starved to death ? Why was even
the Roman Catholic bishop forbidden to see him,
and why are the patriot clergymen still punished
with fines and imprisonments ? On the one hand,
BENEDEK is,by his visits and invitations, apparently
wishing to conciliate the Liberals; on the other, he
very strongly asserts his determination to bend all
to the sceptre of the Hapsburgs. lie told them that
he loved his native country and its inhabitants with
all his heart ; but that, in his capacity of Com-
manding-General, he should recognise but two
classes of men—" the class that was loyal and
obedient to the EMPEROR, and the class that was
not."

It may be that, after all their sufferings, the
Magyars are not disaffected to the sovereignty of
a Hapsburg—that all they wish is to find an honest
and loyal King of Hungary—and that, could a
Hapsburg but enter on a course of loyalty to Hur-
gary, Hungary would be loyal to him. The
notorious fact is, that all disloyalty has begun
with this insanely, despotic, brutal, and perfidious

family. They have had a nation to deal
with, at once the most numerous, powerful,
and brave portion of their subjects a nation
which took its position on European soil by its
valour, prior to our Norman Conquest—and which
has never lost its character—and this noble country
these Imperial savages have dealt with as a subor-
dinate appanage of their really contemptible Ger-
man Archduchy, and endeavoured to Germanise
its constitution, its administration, its divisions, its
laws, and even its language!! All this it has at-
tempted in defiance of solemn engagements, by that
peculiar combination of Jesuit cunning and cruelty
for which this family—the pest of that part of
Europe—has been conspicuous throughout the
greater part of its history. What curses have been,
what curses at this moment are, two Royal families
to several fine nations ! When will Naples, Spain,
and the states of Austria throw off the incubus of
the BOURBONS and HAPSBURGS ?

Sir G. C. LEWIS appears to have been betrayed
into a scheme which we hope he will have the
manliness to repudiate, now that he has been ap-
prised of its real object and of its objectionable
character. We refer to the abuse of the Census,
by converting it into an inquisition into every per-
son's religious creed. It is gravely proposed to ask
every English man, woman, and child too, for
aught we know, what is their faith! At the last
census a perfectly unobjectionable and interest-
ing return was obtained of the number of
worshippers in each place of worship in
the kingdom. The managers, by whatever name
designated, of each place, were courteously asked
to count their congregations on the same Sunday,
and but few indeed were churlish enough to refuse
compliance. An authentic account 'vas thus ob-
tained of the number of worshippers, and of the
extent of accommodation belonging to each deno-
mination; Statesmen, philanthropists, and reli-
gionists all found the information useful, and all
would like to have the same information for 1861.

What influence, then, induced the Home Secre-
tary to change the form and plan of a census
return, thus interfering, so materially, too, with its
most important use—the comparison of one Decen-
nium with another What could have persuaded
him to exchange the return which could be un-
pleasant to no individual, for one which tens of
thousands would resent ? To know what is being
done for the religious instruction of the nation is
an object of native interest ; to know what each
man thinks, or will say he thinks, about religion
is no one's concern. Sure we are that we should
be disposed to return no very civil answer to the
person who put to us the question, What is your
religion ? And if he referred to the authority of
Parliament and the Home Secretary, we should
tell hint that it was no more their business than his.
Yet this question is to be answered, under a penalty !
What, we wonder, would be the penalty if we
placed in the inquisition column, Mahommedan or
Buddhist ?

We regret to be compelled to affiliate this un-
worthy scheme to some pragmatical Churchmen.
The draught plan betrays its parentage. It
divides all the numerous denominations of England
into but two, Churchmen and Dissenters. We have
not a shadow of doubt that the history of this dirty
business is, therefore, as follows :—The Bishop of
OXFORD and sundry others likeminded, were
touched to the quick to find, in 1851, that the
State-paid Church was in a minority of worship-
pers. They wriggled and writhed all ways to slip
out of the undeniable fact. They have had no
peace whenever they have thought or heard of it
ever since. It occurred to them, therefore, that if
they could put the Government off inquiring a
second time— What is each denomination doing for
the national object of instructing thepeople? and could
get lit° make the inquiry—Are you a Churchman
or a Dissenter ? they might cut a very different
figure. And we have no doubt they would. They
well knew that nearly all the paupers receiving
parish relief, or the proceeds of charity, all the in-
mates in gaols, all the soldiers and sailors, would
call themselves Churchmen. The Wesleyans, they
knew, have been taught carefully by their leaders
not to think themselves Dissenters, although none
can be so more truly. But dissent is liberty—the
Methodist Conference is an oligarchy of despots ;
and they teach, therefore, their innocent subktets
to look with horror on the license, as they term it,
of dissent. Hence, the vast Methodist body, which
in the last census properly increased the numbers
of Dissenting worshippers, would be, on the pro-
posed plan, enumerated with Churchmen.
Then, again, the vast host of nothingarians—the
masses who attend no place of worship, would all
call themselves Churchmen. Having no kind of
interest in religion, yet not liking to say so, they
would describe themselves as being of that religion
which bells din into their ears, steeples display to
their eyes, and church-rates, parish proceedings,
and tithes, and so many things connected with State
privileges, compel them to know of through their
pockets. There can be little doubt that from all
these causes, and others which might be mentioned,
the Churchmen would obtain by such a return a
vast majority of professors of their creed. But
what wodld be its real value ? It would not even
show how much religious profession there is, for the
man can hardly be said to be of any particular pro-
fession who worships nowhere. It would not
show how much religious instruction there was,
and whether it had increased in proportion to the
population since 1851. It would not even tell us
the extent of that degree of interest in religion
which takes a person to public worship.
The scheme has one sole object—that of magnify-
ing the Church of England by showing the large
majority which would profess to belong to it. With
intelligent persons, much more with really religious
persons, such a display would go for nothing. As
well might a European army in India enumerate
the camp-followers, which outnumber it by far,
amongst its efficient force. But it would serve the
purpose of Exeter and Oxford vanity, and would
be unscrupulously used to those who could not see
through it. We trust, however, that such a shabby
trick cannot survive exposure. Let us have again
the old and useful schedules of 1851.

The Six-feet Volunteer Guards (32d Middlesex)
will muster at head-quarters next Wednesday, at five p.m.,
to march to Walham-green, Viscount Ranelagh, Colonel..
Commandant of the South Middlesex Rifles, having in-
vited them to drill with his regiment previously to the
field-day, on the 18th inst., of the metropolitan volunteer
corps in Hyde-park.

MELANCHOLY SUICIDE.—On Thursday night
Mr. Straight, clerk of arraigns at the Central Criminal
Court, committed suicide by hanging himself in his bed-
room. The deceased gentleman had held the responsible
office referred to only a short time, having succeeded Mr.
Clark, who diod suddenly from diphtheria in July, 1858.
lie was widely known and universally respected.

According to the annual circular of Messrs.
Schlusser and Co., of St. Petersburg, just issued by Mr.
Henry Willis, it appears that the total quantity of tallow
available for shipment this year will be about 138,000 casks,
in consequence of the largeness of the quantity kept back
last :autumn by the Moscow speculators. Of hemp the
quantity will be about 27,000 tons ; of flax, 11,000 tons,
being much less than last year. The supply of oats was
expected to be about 600,000 quarters, from which is to be
deducted the consumption of the city, which is about 50,000
quarters per month. The ice on the Neva, in-consequence
of a most violent storm, had broken up, but it was still fast
at Cronstadt, although expected to move every hour.
SENTENCE OF DEATH COMMUTED.—A communi-
cation was received on 'Wednesday at Dundee, from the
Home Secretary, commuting the sentence against Bridget
Kiernan, presently lying under condemnation, to penal ser-
vitude for life.—.. Edinburgh Daily Conrant.

LATEST NEWb.

The following telegrams were received at Mr.

Reuter's office :

ROME, MAY 3.

A proclamation of the Pope has been published
to-day, in which his Holiness makes an appeal to
the Catholics on behalf of the subscription to the
new Roman loan of 50,000,000 francs, bearing in-
terest at 5 per cent. The bonds are of three cate-
gories—Tiz., 100, 500, and 1,000 francs each. The
subscription has been opened in the capitals of
Europe. Belgium has already subscribed 15,000,000
francs.

PARIS, MAY 5.

The Moniteur publishes a decree fixing the indi-
vidual payment for exemption from military ser-
vice at 2,300 f., and the bounty on re-engagement
for seven years' service at 2,000 f.

GENOA, MAY 4.

An English man-of-war has arrived here bring-
ing news from Marsala to the 24th, Trapani to the
25th, Palermo to the 26th, and Messina to the
27th ult.

The insurrection continued. One regiment had
refused to march from Palermo, as the soldiers im-
mediately on leaving the city would be exposed to
the fire of the insurgents.
Five of the principal inhabitants had been sub-
mitted to the judgment of the civil tribunal of Gir-
genti. The arrests continued at Messina. Marsala
was tranquil.
Three Neapolitan steamers were watching the
• coast.

PARIS, MAY 4.
M. de Lavalette has left for Constantinople.
A letter, dated Barcelona, Wednesday last, from

a good source, says :
" The Spanish Princes have spontaneously offered
their abdication.

" The Princes have further promised to renew
the abdication on their arrival in a foreign country,
and to write to their brother Don Juan, requesting
his adhesion."