The Sun.
London, England, 1860-10-31 00:00:00

Lord J. RUSSELL to be called on soon tc, become the'
great guns " of some social gathering, and to
have their speeches as fully reported as if they
were speaking in Parliament, perhaps at greater
length. Even the despots will not deny that
this is a great politieal advantage. On these
occasions, generally, party feeling is forgotten in
the object, or party allusions are but the humorous
and enlivening part of the oratory. Even when
our Ministers or ex-Ministers address a one-sided
meeting, like Sir JOHN PAKINGTON at Worcester,
it is expected to be with geniality, and good feel-
ing towards opponents. But the grand advantage
is, that it makes our official men, far more than the
Ministers of despots can be, men of the people.
The Ministers learn to know, almost as personal
friends, their political supporters, and often their
opponents, too. And a vast amount of good-will
from all classes is conciliated towards their actual
governors, from whom they have so often to differ.
It would not be easy to estimate the extent to
which the public social habits of the servants of
the CnowN of both parties conduce to the easy
working of our Constitution. The unofficial public
work of our high officials is not one of their least
valuable services.

And when our Premier does "ride 'abroad,"
there are few members of the Ministry, or of the
House of Commons, whom the public like better
to hear. We were very near writing our " Vene-
rable Premier ;" but we found our pen stuck at the
word. Lord PALMERSTON Venerable ! When will
that ever be. Lord LYNDHURST is so ; Lord
BROUGHAM is so. The Duke was so, and his suc-
cessor as political moderator is so ; but Lord
PALMERSTON can never lose his wings and his
mischievous arrows—no more venerable at seventy-
fi ve than at twenty-five—should he reach the age
of the patriarchs he must be what he ever has
been—he would doubtless skip up JACOB'S ladder
itself. Many a quarrel we have had with him.
As deep as he is genial we know him to be. Yet
we have no doubt that, should he be a Prime
Minister at four score and ten, he would still, as he
had done before, send us away laughing with the
rest of a deputation, while we were about to
assemble again and to pass a vote of dissatisfaction
with his answers. Who can tell how much his
light heart has to do with his political success,
perhaps as much as his adroitness and untiring
industry.
Our Leeds friends will certainly agree that he
was genial enough with them—pleasant as pleasant
could be ; and sensible things, of course, ho said,
as he can say, on any subject, from town sewerage
and dirt, at agricultural meetings, to high politics,
and science and literature, at mechanics' institutes.
We liked much even the report of his speech at the
soiree of the mechanics' institute. He could not
be as learned as GLADSTONE, or as profound in
science as Lord BROUGHAM, but he could illustrate
with exceeding aptness the value and extent of
literature and science. He gave his hearty en-
couragement to introducing good works of imagi-
nation into the libraries of institutes. He pointed
out the absurdity of the objection that the little
knowledge learning persons could get was of little
use, and did them as much harm as good. " And
then we have," said he, " dinned in our ears the
old and trite quotation that ' a little learning
is a dangerous thing.' It is true that
a little learning is a bad thing—that is
to say, it is a bad thing to have only a little
learning ; and the less learning a man has the
worse it is for him. But there is one thing worse
even than having a little learning, and that is having
no learning at all." He was also very happy in
insisting on the advantage of variety of knowlege.
We have lately had, and from a distinguished man
too, earnest inculcations of the necessity of
thoroughly studying what we begin—but Lord
PALMERSTON put the other side in a rather striking
light,
" I am glad," he remarked, " to see by the
report which you have heard read that this institu-
tion will have the means of imparting to those who
will be its members learning of the most various
kinds, acquisitions of the most different natures,
adapted to all callings, and fitting men for all em-
ployments. And if I were permitted to give
to the working and industrious classes a
single word of advice, I should say this :
—' Whatever your calling in life may be, learn
fully, deeply, and completely, everything that bears
directly on that calling. Make yourselves masters
of everything that will tend to help you in the
particular sphere of industry. But don't confine
yourself to that. Cultivate your minds by acquir-
ing as much knowledge as you can on as many sub-
jects as you can. You will learn but little of each,
but that little of each will make an important
aggregate in the main, and every new branch of
knowledge which you enter into, every addition
made to your general stock of information will im-
prove the faculties of your minds, just as various
exercises improve the *powers of the body, and will
make you more skilful, more able, more clever in
the performance of your particular duties than if
you were skilled only in that particular and simple
branch."

On the advantage of reading good works of
imagination our merry Premier was almost philo-
sophic-al. " I would not," he said, " recommend
those who frequent the library to confine
themselves solely to books of serious reading
and of practical or scientific utility. The
human mind requires variety of exercise for its
diffeient qualities and its different functions. The
imagination was implanted in man not merely for
the pleasure of others by the works of imagination,
but for the pleasure of the individual in exercising
that faculty. That pleasure is great and laudable,
and, therefore, though I would not recommend a
man to waste his time in what is called novel-
reading, uninstructive and not improvitg, yet
works of imagination, the works of our great poets
and our distinguished novelists, such as WALTER
SCOTT, BULWER, and others, are works which
teach him- good
,principles by examples in the
recitals which they contain ; tend, in the first
place, to improve the moral feelings of the man,
and, in the next place, give a legitimate and
proper enjoyment, by exercising and cultivating
the imaginative faculties of the readers." Our
readers will certainly agree with us that all these
observations, as well as so much more which we
might quote, are replete with practical good sense.
But besides the mechanics and their friends,
whom his lordship went specially to meet, he had
address an assembly of West Riding merchants,
who earnestly pressed on him to pass his bank-
ruptcy bill next session,
which
nothing loth to do. It
will suit
hthimey
mfuotuunhdbehttiemr
than a Reform Bill. Then he had to speak at a
Ragged School meeting; and again in reply to an
address in his own praise from the corporation, not
to mention exercitations at Pontefract and
elsewhere. Few, however, were his words on
foreign politics. Just one good wish 017 two for
Italy—but not a word of Warsavi—of A.'astria.—of
Venetia—of Rome—of Hungary. Righ t so far as
it went, but we should have liked a little more at
such an opportunity on the grave, question whether
England's Cabinet wanted Austria to. surrender
Venetia, and to give Hungary not a shashahl, but a real
constitution. Very remarkable too, it *struck us,
was his not saying a word to the consoration of

one of the first mercantile towns in the kingdom,
the chief seat of the cloth trade, on the commercial
treaty with France. But how was it the corpora-
tion itself did not notice it among the achievements
of the present Cabinet ? Are the Leeds people not
satisfied with it ? It ought to be a boon to them.

Nearly forty years ago an admirable plan was
hit upon, and acted upon, at Berlin, with a view
to the extinction of Pauperism. The Prussian
capital, it should be remembered, contained within
it at that time a population of about 300,000 souls
—not as with us, at this moment, 3,000,000 !
Berlin is now estimated to comprise 452,000
inhabitants—it contained at the period we are al-
luding to, namely 1821, as nearly as the fact
might be accurately expressed in round numbers,
three hundred thousand. Among those 300,000
Berliners—hid away in dark places, according to
the custom observable among all great cities, se-
creted in the back slums and the low rookeries of
what is yet to this day one of the most beautififi
among the gay and wealthy capitals of the Euro-
pean Continent—there lay festering a fearful throng
of the most necessitous and impoverished. The
Government Commissioners of Prussia in the year
but just now mentioned (that is in 1821), decided
as it chanced most wisely, upon delivering over
the tare of the poor in all the large towns of the
kingdom to the respective municipalities. The
municipalities thereupon nominated a body of ad-
ministrators called Poor Directors. These Poor
Directors were of one of two classes—they were
either nominated as permanent or they acted ex
officio, and were therefore changeable : the latter
being in fact the town deputies and the
members of the magistracy. As to the
working of the new system thus adven-
turously organised in Prussia for the suppres-
sion, or at any rate the direct and immediate al-
leviation of Pauperism throughout the kingdom—a
system which has now been in active operation
for 39 years since the date of its original establish-
ment—we may best illustrate that in a few words,
by restricting our regard for a while to the chief
city of all those in which the benignant scheme
was organised—to Berlin itself, with its 300,000
inhabitants. There, at the outset of the enterprise,
the-projectors of this novel undertaking tested the
feasibility of their plan upon one solitary police
district alone, by way of wholesome experiment.
Encouraged by their success in this they speedily
mapped out the whole metropolis, subdividing it
into fifty-six districts altogether, each district
having its own cluster of Commissioners. These
Commissioners varied in number in the different
districts, in proportion to the extent of the
squalor and wretchedness in the area set apart for
each division respectively. Nine formed the
maximum, five the minimum in the fifty-six groups
of Commissioners. Each of these fifty-six districts
had its physician, its surgeon, its oculist, its
apothecary. 'Every month these four officials
were remunerated for the services they had
rendered. The Commissioners themselves—being
volunteer philanthropists, doing duty purely and
solely out of motives of benevolence—did their
duty, happily, we can say—have done their duty,
one after another, now for thirty-nine years—
thank GOD, for the sake of humanity, it can
still be added, are yet doing their duty, from
first to last gratuitously. They are chosen—these
Commissioners—from all classes and grades of
society indiscriminately, saving and excepting alone
from the legal and clerical professions. They are
selected, moreover, periodically by the Poor Direc-
tors—whom we have already mentioned as having
been nominated by the Municipalities. It is, in
other words, at the instance, at the personal request
of the Poor Directors that this gratuitous office for
stipulated periods is accepted by the Poor Commis-
sioners. At the close of every month the Commis-
sioners of each district meet—make out their report
—wind up (for that month last past) the whole
business of their arrangements. During the in-
tervals between those monthly meetings they act—
they hunt out the most urgent cases of pauperism
—they personally visit the lowliest of the back
slums, the foulest and wretchedest of these misera-
ble rookeries. The Commissioners in all very urgent
cases are empowered to afford instant relief upon
their own individual responsibility. Otherwise
they bring any case they may have ferreted
out under the consideration of their col-
leagues at the next monthly meeting of
the District Commissioners. In every in-
stance they probe the case of each applicant for
relief to the very bottom by a systematic. course of
examination—with a view simply to avoid as much
as possible the encouragement of mere men-
dicity. Their inquiries ' are addressed to the
landlord of the house, to the neighbours,
to the last person who has given the necessitous
employment. Supposing any case to have been
thus brought before the monthly district meeting,
and there deemed worthy of being taken
into further consideration, the president or
chairman of the commissioners thereupon him-
self visits the case so approved of, and, taking his
examination-book with him, there enters the appli-
cant's replies to five-and-twenty inquiries—the
answers to which recount, among other facts, his
age, his health, his capacity for labour, his avoca-
tion, his recent misfortunes, the extent of his family,
and the capability or incapability of his relations
to afford him assistance. These investigations are
revised, so to speak, by means of a yet further
scrutiny of the case by the two Commissioners in
each applicant's instance, especially appointed to
search into the validity of his claims for help.
Medical aid is at all times, of course, afforded with
far greater facility—the Commissioner of the particu
lar section in which the ailing applicant resides
supplying him at once with a note which has merely
to be countersigned by the President of the District
Commissioners—whereupon that signed and coun-
tersigned note becomes at once a summary authorisa-
tion, addressed respectively or collectively, as the
case may be, to the physician, the surgeon,
or the apothecary. Clothing, fuel, food, medi-
cines--are thus distributed providently among
the most necessitous. Another subsidiary but very
important advantage being secured by the opera-
tion of this beneficent system of relief to t7e most
unfortunate—the school attendance of the children
of the very poor being personally seen to by these
gratuitous and volunteer District Commissioners.

We have been thus intentionally specific—it may
he even, we fear, in'the estimation of some, unneces
sarily prolix—in describing minutely in detail the
machinery of this beautiful and benignant organi-
sation in Prussia, but especially at Berlin, because
we cannot but think that much good may possibly
accrue from its careful examination in the develop-
ment of a very noble project of a kindred character
now, our heart leaps with joy to think, in active
preparation for the relief of the very poor—of the
very poorest of the poor—in our own vast metro-
polis—in this city which is at once the wealthiest,
the largest, and the most populous among all the
cities of the earth—this great London of ours with
its 3,000,000 inhabitants.

It is a frightful truth that in London, in the
midst of all its riches, in the midst of all
its splendid charitable institutions, men, and
women, and children are perishing unknown

(and uncared for, simply because unknown) from
actual want, that they literally die at times from
absolute starvation ! The Registrar-General's
reports may be turned to by the incredulous—and
it will be there seen whether the fact is
so or not. When we come to reflect upon the
mere size of London, and then upon its astounding
population, it can hardly be marvelled at however,
after a moment's thought, that our system of
affording relief, simply when relief is asked for,
should prove—as it is, alas ! only too frequently
proving—inadequate. Recollect, in regard to its
mere superficial area, that London now covers a
space of ground ten miles long and seven miles
wide—and then recollect that within that space
there is massed together not far short of the popu-
lation of the kingdom of Belgium, fully the popu-
lation of all Scotland! Here—close beside us—
around us in every direction, if we will but go and
look—may still be seen, as in the days of our LORD
upon earth, LAZARUS dying of actual famine at the
very door of DIVES !

To supplement all our previous efforts fer the
relief of pauperism, to prevent, so far as may be in
any way practicable, the recurrence amongst us of
these appalling calamities, these deaths from posi-
tive starvation which are a disgrace to our civilised
state, and one, in truth, among the number of those
crimes which cry to heaven for vengeance upon a
community—it is now proposed that a comprehen-
sive system should be organised, a system, as it
appears to us, so far at least as we can understand
the hopes and intentions of its projectors, precisely
analogous to the one we have here particularised,
a system which has now been flourishing benig-
nantly (as we have shown) during very nearly
forty years in the Prussian capital. God speed this
humane project ! is, in truth, our one earnest aspi-
ration at this moment in its regard, an aspiration
towards the fulfilment of which, upon the rational
principle expressed in that sententious axiom of
Christian philosophy—aide toi et Dieu t'aidera—
our own heart-born efforts and sympathies, so far
as these can in any way serve the interests of the
promoters of the benign enterprise, can never be
wanting in co-operation.

The Lord Chancellor returned yesterday after-
noon to Strathedon House, from a visit to the Marquis of
Lansdowne, at Bowood.

The Duke of Somerset left his official residence
at the Admiralty yesterday for Mamhead, Devon. The
duchess has gone to Maiden Bradley, the family seat in
Wilts.

Viscount and Viscountess Palmerston are ex-
pected to leave Fryston Hall, where they have been -visit-
ing Mr. R. M. Milnes, M.P., and Hon. Mrs. Milnes, for
'Wentworth Rouse, on a visit to the Earl and Countess
Fit zwilliam.

Lord and Lady Clarence Paget arrived at his
lordship's official residence at the Admiralty, Whitehall, on
Monday evening, from the Continent.

THE GREAT EASTERN.—The arrangements for
winter are, we believe, as follows :—On and after the sth of
November the ship will be under the charge of Captain
Jackson, the ship's agent, who will be assisted by Messrs.
Curtis and Archdeacon, and about ten men, including an
auxiliary engineer. The ship will remain open to visitors
during the winter, and it is expected that an average of 25
to 30 per diem may be calculated on. Some 30,000 persons
have visited the Great Eastern since her arrival at Milford
llaven. During the month of September last the very low
fares of the South Wales Railway drew upwards of 19,000
excursionists alone to Milford Haven, exclusive of those
who travelled by ordinary trains at excursion prices, and
would doubtless have drawn double that number had the
weather not been so bad.

" The labours of the plenipotentiaries for fixing
the details of the tariff on merchandises, such as tissues of
all kinds," says the Debats, " are going on with great ac-
tivity, and it is expected that everything will be concluded
by the Ist of November."

CRIEFF—THE RIVERS.—In consequence of the
flooded state of the Earn and other streams during the last
two weeks the number of salmon which have ascended to
the spawning beds has been large. At Darnock and other
dam dykes the fish, generally of a large size, appeared to
be leaping at the barriers in immense numbers, and have
now reached the fords at Comrie. The water is well pro-
tected by a strong body of watchers, and poaching, which
was indulged in to a great extent in this district a few
years ago, has entirely disanpeared,
FATAL A CClDNET.—Yesterday morning Richard
Jupp, aged 61 years, who resided at Beckingham, Kent,
• encountered a painful death. He was jammed between a
loaded waggon and a gate, receiving such serious injuries
to his leg, that on his arrival at Guy's Hospital amputation
was found to be necessary. After this he gradually sank
and expired.
HER MAJESTY'S STAGHOUNDS.—Yesterday being
the first day of the regular hunting season with the Royal
pack, the meet, as usual, was at Salthill, and the day was
everything that could be desired. There were not less than
300 horsemen, including many of the officers in garrison at
Windsor, and many of the more celebrated sportsmen of
the neighbourhood. Through the kind permission of Mr.
Cantrell, of Baylis Farm, although at the sacrifice of some
of his nowly;sown fields being ridden over, the deer " Cran-
bourn" was uncarted in one of his fields about a mile from
Salthill, and, after the usual law being given, the hounds
were " laid on," and away they went in beautiful style in
thp direction of Stoke, finishing at Mr. Drake's farm, near
Amersham, after a good run, which improved towards the
last. The noble master was absent owing to a domestic
affliction. •

THE LATE DUKE or RICHMOND.--The funeral of
the late Duke of Richmond took place yesterday. The mortal
remains of the duke were removed at an early hour on Mon-
day morning for Goodwood-park, Sussex. There were a
great many applications on the part of the Royal family
and nobility to be allowed to have their carriages follow, but
it appears that the duke left a document written shortly
after the interment of his father-in-law, Field-Marshal the
Marquis of Anglesey, wherein he requests that his family
will see that his own funeral should be conducted in the
most private and quiet way. In accordance with the wishes
of their lamented relative, all the offers were declined, and
the funeral arrangements were on an unostentatious scale.
Yesterday forenoon the funeral procession loft Goodwood-
house for the Cathedral shortly before 9 o'clock for inter-
ment in the family vault in that fine old ecclesiastical edi-
fice. The mourners included the Duke of Richmond, Lords
Henry, Alexander, and George Gordon Lennox, sons of the
deceased ; the Earl of Bessborough, his Serene Highness
Prince Edward of Saxe-Weimar, and Lord Bingham, sons-
in- law of the late Duke ; and Dr. Hare. Lords George,
Arthur, and William Lennox, brothers of the deceased,were
also present on the mournful occasion.

SCIENCE CERTIFICATES FOR TEACHERS IN ARTI-
SAN CLASSES.—The number of entries for the certificates
of the Committee of Council on Education for teaching
sciences bearing on industry, and for which examinations
commence in the first week of November at South Kensing-
ton, has increased about 50 per cent. beyond the number of
last year, while the number of candidates has advanced from
57 in last year to 90 at the present time. The increase ex-
tends to all the subjects of examination except the first—
viz., descriptive geometry, mechanical drawing, and build-
ing construction, in which there is a decrease from 20 to 9.
In physics the increase is from 23 to 43, in chemistry from
53 to 86, in geology and mineralogy from 5 to 11, and in
natural history from 3 to 6.

STRANDING OF ,THE NORTH AMERICAN MAIL
STEAMER NORTH BRITON.—LIVERPOOL, Tuesday.—The
fine screw steamer North- Briton, belonging to Messrs.
Allan Brothers, of Liverpool, and employed in the mail
service between Liverpool and Quebec, went ashore about
6 a.m. this morning at Ballycastle, a fishing village about
two hours' sail from Londonderry. As our readers are
already aware by telegraphic despatches the North Briton
called in at Londonderry at 4 a.m., and after landing ber
mails and some passengers proceeded on her voyage to
Liverpool, and about two hours after leaving she ran ashore
near Ballycastle during a dense fog. The telegraphic de-
spatch announcing the accident states that every exertion
was being made to float the ship off; that the cargo—the
grain portion—was being thrown overboard, together with
other articles, in order to lighten the steamer. The despatch
also adds that assistance was being sent round from Lon-
donderry, so that there is no occasion for uneasiness either
as regards passengers or ship.
AWELSII JURYMAN.—Every succeeding quar-
ter session brings with it increased difficulty in finding
sufficient good and true men to serve their country in the
honourable capacity of jurymen. The excuses made are
frequently ingenious, but wo do not remember anything
equal in quiet assurance to the reasons urged by a tall, san-
guine-complexioned Welshman, at the Salford Quarter
Sessions, on Monday last. On the name being called its
owner promptly stepped into the witness-box ; being sworn
to speak the truth; addressing the learned Chairman with
unhesitating fluency, said : ' Your honour, I claim to be
excused. I brought up in Wales all my life, and Ido
not understand the English language properly." The
learned Chairman looked at him with some astonishment,
the-row of magistrates contemplated him with evident in-
terest, and each gentleman of the long robe gazed at hire
curiously through his eye•glasses, or through his specta-
cles, or without the aid of spectacles. " Why, you see,"
continued the juryman, "there are many words you gen-
tlemen make use of that I don't understand at all." " You
seem to speak the language very well," said the Chair-
man. " Well, but," quickly replied, the Welshman,
"these words are only common words, but in law, you
know, there are many words I could not understand at all."
"Oh, but," said the learned Chairman, "I don't think you
will find that to be the case. I think it's worth your while
to stay and see how easy it all is." (Laughter.) " I assure
you I shall not understand it," continued he of the land of
leeks, "I've heard what's passed this morning, but I don't
understand a word of it." (Roars oflaughter, in which the
Bench, the Bar, and the people all joined in one common
chorus, while the Welshman looked round him with a
complacent grin.) Notwithstanding his evident ignorance
of the language, Jones was sworn, and we are bound in
justice to add that he appeared to make such an excellent
juryman that we hope to see him in the same box next ses-
sion.—Salford Weekly News.
THE lIEW DUBLIN MAIL STEAMER MUNSTER.—
Messrs. John Laird and Sons, of Birkenhead, have just
completed the magnificent steamer Munster, the last of the
three built by them for the mail and ilassenger tint&
between Holyhead and Kingstown. The Munster, in all
respects the fac simile of the Ulster (said to be the fastest
steamer afloat), is expected to make a trial trip during the
present week,