The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-09 00:00:00

rnE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 9, 1869.

13Yn0N's account of the cause which had brought it
about was wholly and entirely different from the mon-
strous reason now given to the world fifty years after-
wards by a Yankee novelist, through a clap-trap
article in the pages of Macmillan's Magazine. It would
be almost sufficient of itself as indicating the relative
credibility of these two wholly irreconcileable state-
ments—both purporting to be given on the authority
of LadyßYßON—to contrast the manner in which they
were penned, the time at which they were penned,
and the persons to whom they owed their authorship.
The opposing witnesses recollect, being,on the one side
the Lady ANNE BARNARD, on the other Mrs. BEECHER
STOWE—here the author of " Auld Robin Gray,"
there the author of " Uncle Tom's Cabin." A
venerable and pure-minded English Lady, who was
Lady BYRON'S personal friend and cherished confidante
—one who advised with her in the closest intimacy,
and who sympathised to the full with her in the
anguish of her domestic miseries, puts upon record,
as among the profoundly interesting archives of her
own ancient house (that of the Earls of CRAWFORD
and BALCARRES), the circumstances connected with
Lord and Lady BYRON'S separation, jest at the very
time when she has these circumstances yet freshly in
her memory, as they had [been related to her by the
lips of Lady BYRON herself ,ILady ANNE BARNARD,being
at this time past the allottedage of threescore years and
ten, and consequently writing with all the serene and
tender sympathy born from her pure, and blameless,
and lengthened experiences. Contrast with this the
i ndisputable facts accumulated together in regard to
the entirely contradictory account now set forth in
Mrs. HARRIET B. STOWE'S very loosely, coarsely and
sensationally prepared statement. First of all, it is
a statement avowedly based upon her confused re-
collection of what was related to her thirteen years
ago. Secondly, it is the result of a confidence
given to her— [the very revelation of that confidence
thirteen years after, showing that it was given to her
most indiscreetly]—upon a sudden and eccentric im-
pulse, not, as in Lady ANNE'S instance, to a dear old
friend, but to a purely chance or casual acquaintance.
An acquaintance, too, so very superficial of its kind
that the very one who is thus confided in is a woman
who knows so little of Lady BYRON'S antecedents
that she actually does not know how to spell her
maiden name, giving it in this " 7rue Story" as
MILLBANS instead of as MILBANKE—and twice
again in this same " 7 rue Story" (save the mark !)
speaking of the unhappy married life together of Lord
and Lady BYRON, as exceeding two years, whereas
that ill assorted couple remained under the same
roof-beams barely one single twelvemonth ! Then,
moreover, the "True Story," penned by Mrs. STOWE,
is not so penned in order to be stored up among family
archives, but is sensationally written to catch the
public eye, and to ex Ate the vulgar imagination—is
written for money and published in duplicate here at
New York in the American M onthly, here in
London in Macmillan's Magazine. Remember-
ing all this, say which of these two wit-
nesses is the more credible—the Lady ANNE
BARNARD (God bless her ! one feels always inclined
to say on mentioning her name, in the remembrance
of her one sweet song) or Mrs. BEECIIER STOWE ?
the author of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," or the author of
" Auld Robin Gray ?"
As to Mrs. STOWE'S detestable inference drawn
from " Manfred"—hear what another Novelist, not
a Yankee Novelist, but a Scotch Novelist, JOHN
GALT by name, said or rather deliberately wrote
years ago upon that very subject, the story
of " Manfred." " There has always been,"
wrote GALT, " from the first publication of Man-
fred,' a strange misapprehension with respect to it
in the public mind. The whole poem has been mis-
understood, and the odious supposition that ascribes
the fearful mystery and remorse of the hero to a foul
passion for his sister, is probably one of those coarse
imaginations which have grown out of the calumnies
and accusations heaped upon the author. how can
it have ha opeced that none of the critics have
noticed that the story is derived from the human
sacrifice supposed to have been in use among the
students of the black art?" So much for Mrs. STOWE'S
plagiarized hash-up of that now most foul imputa-
tion. Then as to the evidence adduceable from the
"confidences" of Lord BYRON'S most intimate friends
at the time of his separation and for long afterwards,
what says, a fellow-countryman of Mrs. STJWE'S
in a communication published in the Times of yes-
terday, and signed " A Citizen of the United
States?" Why, he says, ".1 feel great diffidence,
sir, in asking leave to add a few words
on the subject which has provoked all this
discussion ; yet I hope they may not be deemed
obtrusive on the part of one who was for
many years on terms of the closest inti-
macy with three men who knew more than almost
any others of BvnoN's personal character and his-
tory, and who happened to be precisely the men who
were concerned in, or had special knowledge of, the
destruction of his autobiography. I speak of AloonE,
Rogers, and LUTTRELL, two of whom were actually
parties to the destruction of the manuscript. From
1845 to 1852 (when I left England) I was in con-
stant communication with all the three, or rather
with the two who still survived (LurreELL died in 1851,
and MooRE early in 1852). I have repeatedly heard
conversations among them as to the causes of
BYRON'S separation from his wife, and have again
and again heard Mr. Mooue speak of the character
and purport of the memoir, and of the motives which
induced him to permit its destruction. lie had been
sho hotly censured for what was considered his weak-
ness in the matter, that he often spoke at much
length about it in his own defence ; and—while he
always. insisted that the memoir was disfigured by
occasional outbreaks of petulance or anger, and filled
with many details which, though insignificant, were
calculated to cause annoyance to persons still living
—he spoke in a way to convince any hearer that the
memoir concealed no dark and terrible secret,'
and tkat he, at least, had never derived, either
from that memoir or from his intimate knowledge
of all the parties and their surroundings, the re-
motest hint of any such horror as is now declared
to be freshly unveiled; and I am perfectly certain that
the same may be said as to ROGERS and LUTTRELL.
I am quite aware," adds this American friend of
ROGERS, and MoORE, and LUTTRELL, " that this [the
foregoing] is only negative evidence ; but consider-
ing who the men were, it is very strong evidence
of its kind. The conversations which I heard were
unreserved, and there was no pretence of spar-
ing any one's reputation. Indeed, it is well-known
that, en petit comite, neither ROGERS nor LuTT-
RELL was wont to handle his friends too gently in
their absence." No—the unwomanly slander which
has recently horrified us all, both in England and
America, has scarcely been cast " thick and slab "
from the hand of Mrs. STOWE, in the direction of Lord
BYRON'S memory, before it is dissipated to the winds
of heaven.

THAT old grievance, the chaotic state of the public
health laws, is again the subject of solicitous attention
in the report of Dr. SIMON, the Privy Council's medical
cificer. Of the many evils under which the English
public labours, this is one of the most needless and
vexatious. The Legislature has passed abundance
of measures ; indeed, so far as mere lawmaking
goes, very little has been left -undone. And it is
quite certain that most of those excellent pro-
visions have been productive of good, and that the
sum total of disease in this counts y has been materi-
ally lessened. Unfortunately an Act of Parliament
is not all that is needed to termintate abuse or
inaugurate reform ; laws must be supplemented by
proper appliances for enforcing them, and if the
active co-operation of the people be required, the

statutes must be intelligible to the multitude.. The
good effect of the measures passed for the preserva-
tion of the public health has been materially cur-
tailed, in some cases almost wholly lost, through
want of means for carrying them out, divided autho-
rity, and the chaos and confusion attendant upon
fragmentary legislation. The Acts exist ; but
everything besides is wanting. Nothing can
be clearer than the intention of the English
law in providing ample means for the
summary control of all states of property, and all
personal actions which may be dangerous to the
public health. Large powers have been given to
local authorities to suppress nuisances and to pro-
vide all needful sanitary works. Other powers, the
exercise of which is more or less optional, have been
conferred with respect' to baths, common lodging-
houses, hospitals, burial grounds, and the like. The
State has most reluctantly interfered between
employer and servant, between parent and
child, for the promotion of this great object.
Neglecting the vaccination of children, selling bad
meat, adulterating food, vending poisons, and the
conduct of certain branches of industry have all been
carefully regulated by law. But how indifferently
have these good intentions been realised in prac-
tice ! Dr. SIMoN calculates that diseases which are
directly owing to the ineffectiveness of the nuisance
law are still occasioning one-fourth of the entire
mortality. The Legislature has gone to work with
such caution, that it has been necessarylto supple-
ment one Act with another. Rarely has any great
portion of the ground been covered at once, and the
result has been a terrible confusion—a patching and
piecing, which has given rise to extreme complexity
and not a little inconsistency. Then the jurisdic-
tion is in a most unsatisfactory state. One local
authority rules the highways, another looks after
drainage and water supply, another confines his
attention to nuisances proper. As regards per-
missive health legislation, there may be in
one place distinct functionaries for lodg-
ing - houses, baths and wash - houses, and
burials. Where special " health areas " exist,
under the control of local boards or other authority,
they have no relation with poor-law relief districts.
The medical° fficial of a local board has no dealings with
the medical attendants of the sick poor. Nor are
things managed better at the central Government.
The Lords of the Council bear the essential respon-
bility touching the public health, but the Home
Secretary has some fragments of authority in the
matter, and so has the Board of Trade. Much is
lost, too, through the want of proper communication
between the central offices and the local jurisdictions.
" Government," says Dr. SimoN, "is supposed to
superintend the public health ; but Government may
remain a long time uninformed even of very im-
portant outbreaks of disease." This is constantly
happening in the case of typhoid fever. A very
fatal outbreak of diphtheria continued for two years,
beginning in 1855, in different parts of the country,
with the central authority absolutely ignorant of the
fact.

Dr. SxmoN's prime remedy for the amendment
of this state of things lies, as might be
expected, in the union of jurisdiction. It is before
all things necessary that there should be one con-
solidated health authority in every district. The
local magnates who have control in the matter of
nuisances, and those who are supreme over sewers,
ought not to be two distinct bodies, but one. The
same power should have jurisdiction over paving,
lighting, labourers' dwellings, burial grounds, and the
many other local arrangements which are now under
the control of different corporations. In the next place
the country ought to be thoroughly divided into dis-
tricts. Cities and towns with municipal governments
are now "health-areas" under the management of the
Town Council, and these would not be interfered
with. But in the case of those numerous places
which have no proper sanitary government, Dr.
SIMoN would identify the health districts with the
poor-law divisions, and entrust both departments
—health and destitution—to the same authority.
The poor-law districts present many advantages for
sanitary purposes. The Registrar-General's statistics
of births, deaths, and population are regulated by
these divisions, and thus the net good brought about
by proper health provision could always be calculated.
More important still, every union has its staff of
officers—clerks, visitors, and medical men. The
Privy Council officer deems it better that these
organisations should undertake the care of the
public health than that new ones should be created
for the purpose. Moreover, if a distinct sanitary
system be formed, the medical functionaries
would not, as they now are, be entirely distinct
from the medical men connected with the poor
law. Provided that occasional independent inspec-
tion be obtainable, Dr. SIMON thinks that the poor-
law doctor might act advantageously as the health
doctor also. His arguments for uniting the two
duties have much weight, the chief consideration
on the other side being that the double functions
may involve an excess of labour and divided atten-
tion which would be prejudicial to the full
performance of either. But so difficult would
it be to create a thoroughly efficient health organi-
sation, independent of the poor-law authorities, that
this plan will in all probability be adopted for
future sanitary districts, those now in existence re-
taining their present arrangements. The protec-
tion of the public against the sale of adulterated and
damaged food, the malpractices of water companies,
offences under the Pharmacy Act, proceedings as to
the diseases of domestic animals, and several other
duties of the kind will require a proper judicial autho-
rity; and this Dr. SrsioN would entrust to magistrates
at quarter sessions. Each of the borough and county
courts ought to provide a public analyst to investi-
gate matters affecting the water supply, adulteration
and the like. The greatest benefit may be expected
from these local improvements, but the reform of
the central authorities is a question of no small
importance. Dr. SistoN has many suggestions to
offer, the chief of which are that divided power
should, as far as possible, be abolished, and that the
relations between one office and another should be
more clearly defined. The returns sent up
to the Imperial Government ought to be
much more complete. These questions, with
others relating to the distribution of central
sanitary work, are at present being considered by
the Ministers whose departments they specially
concern. It is to be hoped that the Government
will not rest satisfied, but will proceed to the 'more
important work of reforming local jurisdiction.
There is much to be done before the health adminis-
tration of the country is in a really efficient state ;
but the difficulties are all matters of detail. The laws
have been
Passed, and the labour of putting them
into thorough operation cannot be insuperable.

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may
newsthat a great statesman was on the point
oaaenbutr;abehirse of public business. Nor would the
might produce a widespread feeling of
e
but seldom, indeed, would it interrupt
tstaFdoss loaifarbrfreerri dgeni IlmoyeecewEi rous illness of the Sovereign, though an
occurrence of absorbing interest, give rise to any
fear of national disaster. But in France a so called
slight affliction of the Emperor has brought about a
commercial crisis which could be produced here only
by very grave misfortunes. Day after day
has the Paris Stock Exchange been a prey to the
wildest excitement. " Everything has gone down
except bank shares." The French funds which rose
steadily when the EMPEROR resolved on con-
stitutional reform, have sunk rapidly to a
lower price than that at which they stood
when the new order of Government was proclaimed.
Remarkable as is this state of fright, the explanation
is rational enough. The EMPEROR 15 the main-
spring of French society, and without him the
whole machine would stop—with what results
no one ean tell. In England if one ruler
disappears another rises ; but the EMPEROR

NAPOLEON represents a form of government which
arose and can be maintained only by himself. The
essence of personal Government is that the one man
in whom it is vested should be equal to the
control of the State; and after the EMPEROR
there is but a woman and a child. It
may be that this illness affords no real
ground for alarm; but the French people may
well be excused for giving way to fear. The
sovereign is getting into years, constitution al
government exists at present only on paper, and a
powerful Republican party may be expected to seize
the first opportunity of trying for supreme power.
In the prospect of such a contingency there is but
one thing that can reassure the people—the appear-
ance of the EMPEROR in public. Many days have
elapsed since the agitation first commenced, but the
sovereign has not been seen out of doors. The occur-
rence is fraught with instruction. It ought to convince
the EMPEROR that whatever might be possible in
former times, arbitrary rule is out of date in a great
and highly-civilised community. With the rule of
the people the death of the Sovereign merely means
the removal of one item in the Government. The
rest of the organisation goes on, and the
vacant place is soon filled up. But the
death of NAPOLEON would mean the destruction of
the whole Government, leaving the system to be
built up again from the beginning. Alliance between
the head of the State and those constitutional aids
which are now in request all over the world, seems an
indispensable requisite of the time.

MR. HENLEY AND COLONEL NOR7H 1N
OXFORDSHIRE.

BICESTER, Wednesday.

Yesterday Mr. Henley, M.P., and Col. North,
M.P., attended the annual meeting of the Bicester
Agricultural Society. The dinner, held at the
king's Arms, the principal inn in the town, was
presided over by Mr. E. Slater Harrison.
In response to the toast of the " Health of the
County Members,"
Mr. HENLEY said—At all times, and under all
circumstances, it is never an easy thing for a person
to return thanks to a company like the present,
where he has received kindness from time to time,
and where, as is the case now, the chairman has
been pleased to use expressions of kindness towards
the whole of us county members, which I, for
my part, feel are more favourable than is de-
served. (No, no.) One cannot attempt to say
what one feels in such a case. I for so many
years have experienced the kindness of all parties
in this county, whether they have agreed with me
in my opinions on public matters or whether they
have not agreed with me, that it does not surprise
me to find you ready on this occasion to reiterate
your expressions of good feeling; but the more so
because I am quite certain that, in this county, so
long as a man, occupying a public position such as
that which it is your pleasure that I should fill,
honestly tries to do that what he believes to be
right, credit is given him for the sincerity of his
effort, and he always receives that which is his best
reward—the kindness of his friends whenever it
should be his good fortune to meet them. Gentle-
men, on these occasions what are called politics are
excluded from discussion ; but I beg pardon if
I am wrong in supposing that in my case I am
not forbidden to make some little allusion to
what has been going on during the last six
months—l mean the difficulties which gentle-
men in Parliament like myself have had to
wade through. All I can say is, to begin with,
that no man who has had any experience of Par-
liamentary life will say other than that which I
say, which is that the Parliament of the last ses-
sion was the dullest Parliament I ever had the
misery to pass through. (A laugh.) It was as
heavy as lead, and the only thing one derived in
the shape of advantage or profit was this; we
ascertained that one very great and indispensable
qualification for a member of Parliament was to
be able to sleep without snoring. (Loud laugh-
ter.) As an old 'un, I should have only had my-
self to blame if I had not availed myself pretty
frequently of that privilege. I don't know how I
should have got on at all if I had not indulged
myself largely in that great boon. (A laugh.)
What really has passed the House this
session one can only liken to this ; it is like
letting out an enormous mass of water that has
Lem penned up, and what the eff,ct of that is
to be we have yet got to learn. 'This great flood—
or if I may say so, this great Act—whatever you
may he pleased to call it—what effects it will bring
about, whether for good or evil, I don't expect to
live long enough to see ; but I don't think any man,
however far-seeing he may consider himself, will
venture to say in exact words what really will be
the effect produced by it. (Hear, hear.) After that
we were engaged for a good while in one of the
most unprofitable discussions that could possibly be
thought of. We tried to find out some means to
get something out of nothing. I allude, of course,
to the Bankruptcy Laws. I have lived long enough
to see three or four changes in these laws, and the
case was always the same as it is now. The mer-
cantile community want to get something out of
nothing,;and the lawyers take care that, if nothing is
capable of division, they at least shall have a share
out of it. (Laughter.) Such a consideration, ever
present as it was to my mind, afforded a little re-
lief from the dullness which otherwise was asso-
ciated with the discussion ; but really that seemed
to me, as a looker-on, the kind of game that was
being played. We came then to the consideration
of a question which at this moment unfortunately
concerns you in this country very much—that was
the regulations for the prevention of the spread of
cattle disease ; and Patliament determined that
those regulations should be left in the hands of the
Government—that is, in the hands of the Privy
Council for the time being. We in this country, unfor-
tunately, have had a considerable outbreak of what
is known as the foot and mouth disease, and which
I am sorry to see has spread itself to many parts of
the country. This being the case we shall speedily
be able to judge how far the regulations which have
been made arc or are not well suited to the purpose
—whether, indeed, the regulations will or will not
prove to be a greater curse to the country than the
foot and mouth disease itself. That is a matter only
to be judged of by experience. He closed by say-
ing : I cannot hope to come here much longer, but
so long as I have health and strength it is a great
pleasure to meet my friends. (Cheers.)
Colonel NORTH said, before he returned thanks
for himself for the very kind manner in which the
toast had been proposed and drunk, he wished to
explain the absence of his colleague, Mr. Cartwright.
A letter had been received from the hon. gentle-
man, stating that he was detained at Wildbad
by the serious illness of his daughter. However
much the right hon. gentleman who had just
addressed them might differ from Mr. Cart-
wright, he would agree with him (Colonel North)
in saying there was no man in the House of Com-
mons more consistent in his attention to his
duties. Thank God, in this country we could
differ in view, and with very great benefit to the
country. Adverting to what had fallen from
Sir Algernon Tey ton, in responding to the 4/last of
the army and navy, the gallant colonel observed
that some people fancied a soldier was very easily
made. But soldiers, like all other professions, re-
quired drill and a long experience: Nothing but
constant employment could give the soldier that
confidence so necessary to his efficiency. A good
and well-conducted soldier of 10 years' standing
was a man not to be matched. Under these cir-
cumstances, he regretted when he heard that it was
contemplated reducing in number men of that de-
scription. In a great commercial country like ours
it was necessary to maintain a large standing
army. A manufacturer would no more think of
getting rid of a foreman or labourer in whom,
after years of service, he could place every trust,
than he would of flying. (Hear, hear.) Night
after night in the House of Commons he had seen
men get up advocating a reduction of the army for
reductions' sake, and who did not care to inquire
the value of a soldier. In his opinion there was
nothing more expensive in the end than getting rid
of a good soldier, because a recruit 'cost God knew
how much before he was of any use. (Cheers.) The
gallant colonel, reiterating his thanks to the com-
pany, resumed his seat.
The other toasts were purely local.