The Sun.
London, England, 1869-05-04 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MAY 4, 1E69.

.—___
Ition. Eighteen years, they maintain, would be amply
sufficient. Some objectors go the length of asserting
t that the result of the whole transaction must be
a loss to the State and a gain to the Landlords. The
aggregate amount of the rent-charge, at pre-
sent, is estimated at as many thousand pounds a
yearas there are days in the twelvemonth—otherwise,
and the exact total can hardly now be forgotten, at
£365,000 per annum. Mr. FAWCETT'S amendment,
upon which the Committee divided last night, was
based upon the notion that the whole of this com-
plicated financial transaction amounted to this—that
it aimed at the conversion of an obligation to
pay for ever, or; as Mr. Sergeant DOWSE might say,
in sascula sxculorum, into an obligation to pay
for 45 years—no, for 52 years—the State, at the
end of that time, making a present to the Irish
landlords, out of a reserve sum or sinking
fund, of £8,500,000. Lobby gossip spoke of
all this as nothing more than just " greasing the
wheels" to enable the bill to run glibly through Com-
mittee. Mr. MORRISON, who seconded the amend-
ment of the member for Brighton, insisted strongly
upon it that the surplus, instead of being applied in
the manner proposed, ought to have 'men set apart
for the purposes, not of Godless, but of Un-sectarian
education. Mr. WALTER, who spoke on the same
side, while pronouncing the whole transaction from
first to last indefensible and unaccountable, put
a poser to the Government financiers—placed before
them a tolerably hard nut to crack—in the
form of his inquiry as to how it was that the National
Debt could not be commuted on precisely the same
principles? Others, however, including among their
number the Mai Attorney-General, not only ex-
pressed their concurrence in the advisability or expe-
diency of thus extinguishing the tithe rent-charge,
but went so far as to vindicate the equity of the
means provided. Eventually, the Prime Minister did
very much indeed towards the removal of objec-
tions to the disputed clause by realizing to
the Committee the undeniable fact that, under that
clause, each of the three parties who were affec-
ted by it, meaning the State, the Commissioners,
and the Landlord, were directly benefited by it, and li
that not one of the three could be shown in any way '
to suffer from the transaction. For example, the
Exchequer lent money at 31 per cent., the Commis-
sioners got 221 years' purchase instead of 17 (the
present market value), while the landlord would pay
for fifty-two years only, instead of doing so
in perpetuity. No doubt, as the Premier ad-
mitted, there might be an apparent mystery
in the extinction of a perpetual charge in fifty-two
years, but, as he went on to show, this was done by
converting the 1 one per cent. difference between the
rate at which the landowner borrowed and Paid into
a sicking fund. The upshot of the whole of this
entangled discussion was, that after the dame bad
been slightly modified with the assent of the
Leader of the Government, it was carried upon a
division by the very largest majority that has yet been
obtained. Clause 32 could only challenge into oppo-
sition to it 33 supporters of Mr. FiwcErr's amend-
ment ! As many as 181 being toll off in support of
the clause, the Government were only two short of
a clear majority of 150. The result was na-
turally welcomed by mingled cheers and
laughter. It is idle to talk, as some do,
of party subservience. The meaning of it all is clear.
The nation announced its opinion at the General
Election. The representatives of the nation are true
to the principles expressed by them to their respec-
tive constituencies. The Irish Church Bill is made to
pass, and will pass, whatever the arguments of the
Opposition, or whatever the number of divisions that
may be taken.

WHATEVER may be thought of the comparative
merits of .the two great House of Commons rivals
as Parliamentary speakers, there can be no doubt as
to who is the better speaker on festal occasions.
Mr. GLADSTONE is too serious to jest even when a
jest is most becoming. lie cannot assume the
light, airy eloquence of Mr. DISRAELI at the
dinner table. This difference between the two men
was very apparent at the Royal Academy dinner
on Saturday. The PREMIER, with his head full of
permanent curates and glebe lands and curtilages,
may be pardoned, perhaps, for not being particularly
lively. At all events, he was not lively; and Mr.
DISRAELI, fully recovered from his one day's gout,
was. The dinner was eaten under circumstances of
special interest. This year is the commencement of
the second century of the Academy's existence.
This year sees the Academy for the first time in a house
of its own, after having lived for a hundred years in
lodgings. Mr. DISRAELI drew a parallel between
the Academy and the House of Commons, a com-
parison in some respects happy, but not so appro-
priateNol:d . S
is and
notAcademiciansus ed in
thesime
as could be desired. It is quite true that both
31.
house;m s.e etehe
v
havesea newwnsneein both
The House of Commons is reformed as regards its
inmates ; the Royal Academy only as regards
its dwelling. The first wants what the second
has just obtained ; the second no less wants
what the first has _undergone. In truth,
the complaints against the Forty were never
so numerous or loud as they are to-day. The
opening of the new and larger premises, which was
anticipated by artists as a millennium, has turned out
for them a day of rebuke and lamentation. Nearly
1,100 pictures have been rejected. That is bad
enough ; it is still worse that some of these are as
good as, if not better than, many of those which
have been accepted. It is a source of bitter com-
plaint that while so many of the younger men
who have their reputations to make should be
altogether excluded, any of the R.A.'s should have
exercised his right of exhibiting eight pictures.
There is the President himself, who is the worst
offender. Everyone knows the square yards of wall
that one of his portraits covers, and he has sent
eight of them, excluding probably six pictures of
moderate size, for every one that he exhibits.
Mr. KNIGHT, the Secretary, and Mr. RICHMOND,
both portrait painters, have been equally vora-
cious of wall room. Mr. ELMORE has sent
seven pictures, and Mr. ANSDELL and others ,
have sent six. One cannot but contrast this
conduct with that of the leading French artists,
who, so far from exhibiting a selfishness un-
worthy of the profession, leave to the younger men
the yearly exhibition answering to that of our Royal
Academy, knowing that their own reputation is well
established. We are not surprised to learn
that the wholesale exclusion of works from
this year's Academy has already led to
the starting of a rival institution. This,
however, cannot be established in the present
year. It would be well, therefore, if the artists who
have suffered rejection would repeat the experiment
which was made several
years ago, and appeal from
the Hanging Committee to the public by an exhibi-
tion of " The Rejected Pictures."

THE Governments of France and Belgium have at
last come to terms respecting the railway difficulty.
We have not, indeed, quite heard the last of this
dispute; but the settlement which has been agreed
upon takes it out of the arena of politics, and the
details which remain to be arranged ought to give
rise to no serious difficulty. The dispute is a novel,
and not uninstructive, episode in European diplo-
macy. Some time ago the company owning the
Great Luxemburg Railway in Belgium agreed to
lease their line to the East of France Company, with
which it is connected. The terms were settled,
the treaty signed, and the bargain was about to
be concluded, when an unforeseen incident
occurred. The Belgian Ministry, taking alarm
at this transfer, presented to the Brussels Legislature
a bill for the purpose of forbidding the lease of any

Ilelgirtn railway to a foreign company unless the
sanction of the Government were first obtained. This
measure would probably have excited no great
attention had not the Belgian Government
invested it with an ex poste facto character, inorder
that it might apply to the treaty just concluded, as
well as to all future contracts of the kind. The
French press set up a vehement outcry. The
Belgian Ministry was loaded with semi-official
abuse, and annexation was freely talked of
by journals supposed to be the exponents of
Imperial policy. But the Brussels Parliament
met the wishes of its Government, the bill was
hurried through both Houses and speedily became
law. The EMPEROR was not, however, to be baffled
in this way. Negotiations were opened, and
King LEOPOLD'S Ministers were plainly informed
that, though Belgium might make her own
laws, the bargain between..- the Luxemburg
and the East of France Companies had already
been concluded, and must be ratitied. But
the Belgian Government had introduced the law for
the express purpose of forbidding this lease, and it
accordingly refused to ratify it, The EMPEROR in-
sisted, and the fire of diplomatic notes grew so
sharp at this point that M. FRERE-OItBAN, the
Belgian Minister of Finance, found it necessary to
go to Paris, and try to appease the French Govern-
ment in person. He offered the East of France Com-
pany ample running powers over the Luxemburg line;
the fares should be reduced to the same figure as
those of the French line. Anything, in short,
would be granted, save the actual transfer
of the railway to French hands. For
weeks the French Government refused to accept
this proposal. Europe became uneasy. It was not
unreasonably feared that the larger' country was
bullying the smaller one, and the ' Belgian journals
betrayed their dread by imploring the intervent:on
of England. It is not improbable that British
mediation was offered. It is even said that Queen
VICTORIA wrote a letter to the French EMPEROR
strongly urging a moderate course. However this
may be, the EMPEROR to the surprise of Europe
suddenly gave way, and accepted M. FRERE-
ORBAN'S terms. ' A protocol h- s been signed
laying down that the treaties—for there is
a second, involving the Liege and Limburg line—are
to be abandoned, and in their place an extensive
system of international traffic, very favourable to
France, is to be arranged by a commission of six,
three from each country.
The firmness of Belgium has thus triumphed over
very severe pressure from her formidable neighbour.
The victory is creditable, and it is all the more satis-
factory because Belgium is decidedly in the right.
Certainly the ex post facto application of the law
might reasonably give annoyance to the
French Government. The whole measure was
aimed at the Luxemburg Treaty with the view
of preventing the Belgian line from passing into
French hands. But it is not unnatural that King
LEOPOLD'S Ministry should take alarm at these pur-
chases of Belgian railways by foreign companies. Rail-
ways are especially indispensable to a country which,
like Belgium, depends largely upon its coal-fields and
manufactures. It is hardly likely that the interests
of the State would be so well cared for by foreign as
by native proprietors. In time of need the Govern-
ment could exert no authority over the French com-
pany. In short, it is altogether undesirable that the
railways of a continental State should be owned
by foreign capitalists ; and it is hardly
necessary to add that neither France nor any other
European nation would permit it on their own soil.
To insist upon the ratification of these treaties was,
therefore, an unwarrantable interference in i the
domestic affairs of Belgium, and a clear attempt on the
part of a strong Power to oppress a weak one. The result
is matter for congratulation To us, who have much
interest in the independence of Belgium, it is of con-
siderable importance. For it is idle to assert, as the
Parisian journals did, that the independence
of the prosperous little country would be
in no way compromised by the wholesale
transfer of its railways to France. It is
difficult to divine the motive which led the EMPEROR
suddenly to give way and close w ith the Belgian
offer; but the essential security for peace has been
given. The French Government renounces th e
ratification of these treaties, and it can hardly, after
this public settlement, reopen the question.

Ml?. CAELYLE ON Nit.r_'LEO.Y.

M. Pierat, a French author, having just written a book
entitled, "Le Drame de Waterloo," has sent a copy of
it to Mr. Carlyle. The Chelsea philosopher, in reply,
says:-- _ _

"I recognise your love of accuracy and certainty, your
great outlay of research and studious examination,
laborious reading of documents, otherwise repulsive rather
than interesting—and in result I .report to you my clear
conviction. 1. That Napoleon's campaign ended
in four days so tragically for him, by Napoleon's own mis-
management, by the fact, which you have rendered
evident, that he was hebete, sunk in somnolence, negli-
gence, and not himself any more. 2. That in subsequent
times he, with unconscious, and now and then with con-
scious mendacity, endeavoured to lay the blame on
others—Grouchy, Ney, &c., and has now, as his
fate was, been convicted of that sad offence, and
will have to pay the penalty before the whole
world. In young years, especially in the Hudson-Lowe
time, I was greatly an admirer .of the Great Napoleon ;
but I confev; for a long while back, the essential men-
dacity, egoism, charlatanism, of his procedure and relation
to the world, have been more and more apparent to me,
and the greatness of him, even as a soldier, being steadily
diminishing. `A great general?' as Kleber said;
yes ! a very great general—a general of 10,000 a month !
Cc petit coquin, no bigger than my boot !' "

ANOTHER EVENING WITH .TILE SPIRIT

TAPPERS.

Another meeting of the committee on spiritualism ap•
pointed by the London Dialectical Society has just been
held, Dr. Edmunds presiding. Several gentlemen, not
media, gave evidence.

Mr. C-7, a gentleman on the Stock Exchange, saw
that some years ago, soon after he had arrived in New
York, he called upon Miss Kate Fox, the celebrated
American medium, and expressed his curiosity to learn
something of spiritualism. While seated by her side on
the sofa three loud raps were heard on the table (which
was in the centre of the room), apparently in answer to
some jocular remark he had made. In the spiritualistic sys-
tem of telegraphy three raps are generally understcod .to
imply an affirmative. " Shall we come to the table?" Three
raps. "Is there any spirit here waiting to communicate
with me P Three raps again. " Will you tell me your
name?" he asked. The answer was spelt out by means of
au alphabet. " Your stepson Harry." (The medium
could scarcely have known the fact of his having a step-
son of that name, for he was an entire stranger in the
city.) "Is there another spirit present who wishes to
communicate with me?" asked Mr. "Yes."
"Are you a relative of mine ?" " Yes." " Your
name p " Annie." Mr. assured. the committee
that he had been unable at the moment to recollect
any one in his family of that name, and that ho
had accordingly denied stoutly that he had any such
relative. The words were then spelt out. " 0 how your
voice recalls the memory of the past. How rejoiced lam
to be able to thank you for your kindness to my daughter
Eliza." It was his wife's mother who had "passed away"
twenty-five years ago. Mr. also mentioned a "rather
remarkable " fact that had occurred while he was staying
at Malvern. He had been conversing upon the subject
of spiritualism with the family at whose house he was
lodging, and Lad afterwards gone out to visit a friend in
the neighbourhood. On his return he was proceeding
straightway to heel, when the master of the house
came and asked him, for heaven's sake, to come
down stairs immediately. He accordingly went, and
in the drawing room Miss —, a young lady who, was
staying in the house, was lying on the sofa in violent
hysterics, and a small tripod table was dancing frantically
up and down the room. On Mr. —'s entrance the
table ambled towards the door, made a low bow to him,
and then preceeded to execute a series of Terpsichorean
extravagances. Mr. strove to calm the young lady;
she was just beginning to recover when the table came
bobbing towards her and sent her off again. Mr.
then went to the table, and, placing his hand upon it,
said, "We have had enough of this nonsense. In God's
name, go;" when the movements instantly ceased.
It appeared that during his absence they thought
they would try for themselves whether there was
any any truth in spiritualism or not. A circle was formed,
consisting of the father, mother, and daughter, her friend
Miss —, and a bluff, incredulous Yorkshireman. The
most surprising results were obtained. "It was the most
extraordinary thing I ever saw," said the Yorkshireman
afterwards to me, " that table talked to me and told me of
my father and mother for all the world like a human"
(sic). Mr. C— said that-biology might explain some of
the phenomena, but there were others that it could not
possibly account for— such, for instance as spirit drawings.
Such drawings were still in his possession, and he would '
be glad to exhibit them to the committee. 'the nzochts
olcrandi for the production of these spirit drawings was
very remarkable. Clean pieces of paper, with crayons,
etc., were placed in a covered Lox ; a rapid scratching of
the paper was then heard, and in a few seconds the
crayons were heard to fall, and the drawing was ready fur
inspection.

Mr. J. Jones, Enmore Park, South Norwood, thcu
related what he had witnessed last autumn at Stockt, n
House, Fleet pond, where he was on a visit, with three of
his family. The night was dark, as the moon had not
risen ; but as there was a conservatory at the side of the
drawing\room; in which some eight persons sat round the
100 table, and a window in front, lie could see all in the
room indistinctly. As it was unusual for Mr. Ileme to
sit in a • dark room for physical phenomena, he (Mr.
Junes) mentally determined to
play the sceptic.
sofa behind him moved away from the wall, passed the
A
rear of his and Mr. Home's chair, no one being near it.
By the sounds and raps it was said, " Mrs. - rest on
the sofa." She got up and did so. He (Mr. Jones) then
saw the vacant chair rise in the air, float over the lady,
pass in front of Mr. Home, whose bands were on the
table, ascend till vertically over his (Dlr. Jones's) head ;
then the chair descended, and the under portion of the
seat rested on his Lead. On mentally declaring himself
satisfied the chair rose again, floated in the air, and de-
scended on to the 100

PRESENTATION TO AN UNSUCCESSFUL CANDI-
DATE. —Mr. P. W. Clayden, one of the Liberal candidates
for Nottingham at the last election, was last week pre-
sented with a very handsome ormolu clock by 03 working
men of Nottingham, as a testimonial of their gratitude
for the manner in which he fought their battle at the
election.

THE DANGER OF SAVING A LADY.—The Phila-
delphia Star reports :—" Our readers will recollect the
attempted assassination of Samuel Temple, of Yardley-
vale, Bucks County, he having been shot at three diffe-
rent times while working in a mill. The cause has just
transpired. A few mornings since Mr. John Bitting, of
Newtown, found a letter under his door addressed to
Temple. It was dated New York, March 20, and signed
`Viola,' in a neat hand. The writer stated that some two
years ago she was riding near Fairmount Park, this city,
when she was thrown from the saddle, and Temple
came to her rescue. She fell in love with him at once,
and afterwards wrote him two letters, telling him so. As
he paid no attention to them, she resolved that no other
woman should wed him, and employed four Spanish
assassins at $l,OOO apiece to kill him. She afterwards con-
cluded to make no more attempts at his life, but she had
not an opportunity to get word to her hired accomplice
before the last attempt was made. She says she is wealthy,-
and highly educated ; that she is now going to Europe,
and that he is in no more danger, as she has now lost her
love for him, and would not marry him. Temple says he
remembers the circumstance of rescuing the lady ; that
he asked her if she was hurt ; she answered in the negative
and they parted."
MR. HOUSMAN'S ADDRESS TO THE ELECTORS OF
LISKEARD.—In the address posted by Mr. Ilorsman at
Liskeard occurs the following passage :—" I do nut in this
address presume to announce myself a candidate. The
days are gone by when elections are to be influenced by
mere personal pretensions. We are living in an active and
earnest age, and power has been given to enlarged con-
stituencies that they may inaugurate a new state of things,
and elect men to Parliament who make the business
of Parliament their study and accept its duties as a trust,
and not as a mere personal distinction. And as the
choice of a representative no longer rests with a section
of the community, but is the privilege of the electors
at large, so it is acknowledged to be the duty of that great
body to see and hear and judge for themselves—to insist
that no preference shall Le expressed until they have
had every candidate publicly before them, and shall
have brought their own intelligence and indepen-
dence to bear in judging of the qualifications of candi-
dates that are offered to their choice. It is because I
feel that to be the constitutional course, the most respeCt-
ful and satisfactory to you, and the most honourable to
! me, that I shall request you to give me an opportunity of
meeting you in public as soon as the last sorrowful rites
have been paid to your late lamented representative. I
shall invite from -you then the most searching c •a
tien of my public principles, and my opiiiiims 0 a:r all i m
the-
great questions of the day, with the fullest explanations
of my past votes and speeches, and of my views as to the
future. If it be found that my views accord with
those of the .majority of the constituency, and that you
choose me as your representative, I shall endeavour to
justify that choice by honest and faithful service, and to
uphold the character of a constituency that has ever been
foremost in the cause of liberty and progress. If it should
be found that my opinions are not in unison with those of
the constituency, and that I could not fitly represent its
views, I shall at once bow to that decision. I presume to
ask for no more than an impartial hearing and a fair and
deliberate judgment." • t

THE 7.111A12 OP PROME OY SEPARATION

OF CHURCH AM) STATE.

Tho fey. W. J. E. Bennett, in a sermon at Bristol cn Sun-
day night, rebuked his clerical trethren who dread the separa-
tion of Church and State, which Mr. Bennett believes to
be coming. If free from the State, which was composed of
all sorts of creeds and no creeds, the Church might, Mr
Bennett said, go and preach the Gospel to the poor from the
old doctrines of the Catholic faith, as handed down to them.
They would have no more bishops to sit in the House of
Lords and bring in discipline laws. Even the slightest
symptom of a return to such a golden era was no cause of
grief or fear—they ought rather to rejoice and be ex-
ceeding glad. Within the last thirty years there was no
sign of any deliverance, and the idea of Church and
State was so deeply imbedded in the people and
priesthood, and, of course, in the bishops, that even
to rise up from their chair in their prison and look through
the bars would have been thought an intolerable piece of
audacity. Those were the days when the matin and the
vesper bell sounded in their churches once a week, when the
blessed Sacrament of the Eucharist was remotely announced
once a quarter, when preachers fed their people with essays
out of heathen moralist=, and the name of Jesus never re-
ceived the adoration which they had just now given to
it in that place; when the clergy rude in the hunting-field
in scarlet coats along with their squires, and to be called
"priests" would have been an insult rather than honour.
Those were the palmy days of Church and State, and the
consequence was the people fell away by thousands, and
there was every conceivable schism. There was—he was
going to use a strong expression, but he was warranted by
it in the Word of God—" an adulterous" love between
the kingdom of the world and the kingdom of God; so close
it seemed that no purification would ever be at band to save
it. There were not very many of them who remembered
Perhaps those days, but ho had passed through them all.
Might be not say now they had passed through the dark-
ness, and there was the light shining ? Let them go free,
and they would be a Church such as had not boon for 300
years.