The Sun.
London, England, 1869-09-02 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TISIES.

Sir,—ln justice to those who are dead and canno t
speak for themselves the public ought to pause be-
fore its accepts the statement of what Mrs. Stowe
calls the " true story" of Lord Byron's married life.
Whether, if it be true, it was wise or right to bring
it into general notice, is a question on which I will
not enter. But is is true, or is it even vraisenzblable ?
At present, be it remembered, we know nothing
about the nature of the written document which
Mrs. Stowe professes to have received from Lady
Byron. It may contain some evidence of the in-
cestious intrigue with which Byron is charged ; it
may simply express suspicion, conceived at the time,
or even, perhaps, long afterwards. Awaiting fur-
ther information on this head, let us look at the
probabilities of the story as it stands. Mrs. Stove
asks us to believe that Lord Byron married his wife
for the purpose of " cloaking the infamy" in which
he was living, and that he " expected " her to con-
cur in the arrangement. If that was so he had
everything to lose and nothing to gain by " expel-
ling" her from his house, as Mrs. Stowe calls it,
when he found that the expectation was not rea-
lized. Again, as Lady Byron was thus " expelled,"
we are asked to believe that she was willing to re-
main under the same roof with her husband and his
paramour, although she had been long before (Mrs.
Stowe's "two years" may serve as a proof of
the careless manner in which the story is to!d) ap-
prised of the guilty relations between them.
Further, Mrs. Stowe has he'rself quoted Lady
Byron's letter to Moore, in which she says that be-
fore quitting her husband's home she consulted Dr
Baillie on the question of his sanity, and that
" with the concurrence of his family." Who were
the persons thus taken into Lady Byron's confi-
dence ? Lord Byron bad but one near relation
living, and it would be false delicacy to ignore the
fact that she is the person pointed at by Mrs.
Stowe's. scandal. Lastly, though it may be just
credible that a wife who had endured so much
should, on being " driven from " her home seek
out the guilty pair (as Mrs. Stowe describes) for
the purpose of saying good-bye to them, is it
possible that she could have consented (for it
must be presumed that she did consent) to her
child being named after the lady in question?
That is a fact in the case of which Mrs. Stowe
has taken no notice.

If, however, Lady Byron did not know of the
intrigue before she left her husband, Mrs. Stowe's
whole story breaks down. lam aware that the
scandal has been long whispered about, it is pro-
bable that it would come to Lady Byron's ears, and
possible that she attached some importance to it.
She may have said as much to Mrs. Stowe, and
the memorandum which she placed in that lady's
hands may be nothing more than the recollec-
tion of her married life, as bearing perhaps
on the first suspicion that had been whispered
in her ear. If it contained anything in the
shape of proof, it is marvellous that it should
have been cancelled all these years; still more
marvellous that it should at this period have been
placed at the disposal of a literary lady accustomed
to write for periodicals. Assuming that there
was not a tittle of foundation for the charge (and,
as yet, we have no evidence of any), we may, per-
hapi guess how it arose. On the separation Lord
Byron went abroad, and the first work which he
wrote was " Manfred." Mrs. Stowe says that no one
can read "Manfred" without perceiving that her
story is true. I confess that I draw an inference
directly opposite. Mrs. Stowe asserts that Lord
Byrons mind was agitated by an "insane dread of
detection," and yet she would have us suppose that
he took the first opportunity of suggesting to the
public mind the crime which he had committed, and
that at the very momentwhen all the gossip of Eng-
landqui vice in speculating about the was on the
causes of separation. It is almost impossible that
a man with such a secret on his soul should have
written " Manfred" at this time. It is easy to un-
derstand how, in fact, he came to write this poem.
with
himself was the time in which he was mostaotwar
mood
y
himself and with the world, and the gloomy
of Manfred was a reflex of his own feelings. Ho ,
could not better express that mood than by imagin-
ing some dark sin in Manfred's past life. At this
time his intimacy with Shelley had commenced,
and it was one of Shelley's fancies that the list of
forbidden degrees of consanguinity in marriage had
no foundation in nature, but was simply a (lake of
priests to restrain human liberty. On this idea
the original plot of the Revolt of Islam (which
Shelley published two years afterwards) was based.
Now, it is likely enough that Shelley's conver-
sation, which may perhaps have borne reference
to the argument of his coming poem, suggested to
Byron's mind the circumstance of Manfred's story;
and it is not unnatural that some people on reading
it should fancy that they saw a clue to the mare-
vealed story of his matrimonial troubles.
I spy nothing about the matter, more or less ir-
relevant to the maia question, which Mrs. Stowe
has put together with the view of blackening Byron's
memory, if ever man left the impress of every attri-
bute of his being on his works, it was Byron ; and
no one who has examined his character as thus re-
vealed can suppose him guilty of the calculating
meanness which Mrs. Stowe imputes to him re-
specting the alleged fabrication of
_the letter to
Lady Byron, and other circumstances discussed in
the article,
Caritou Club Aug. 31.

•C. P.

' -

lunlT OF T3IE PUBLIC JO

_

The Times discuses the question of compulsory ecluca •
tion in agricultural districts, and asks could such a scheme
be made practicable? It must be always remembered
that in a matter like this you can never force a body of
men against their will. Where, in the general opinion of
their class, there is a clear case of right and wrong, or of
expediency, the minority will be ready to defer to the
majority. But on this subject the law would, we fear, be
regarded by the labourers, their masters, and not un-
frequently by the clergy, as an equal violation of
their interests and of their rights. No Govern-
ment can be in a position now-a-days to enforce
a law against such resistance as this. Nor, we
fancy, are many of the advocates of this innova-
tion sufficiently acquainted with the idiosyncracies
of the agricultural labourer. Ignorant and helpless
as he may be, he is, perhaps, for that very reason
the most difficult of all persons to urge or even to per-
suade. Ignorance is generally timid, if not suspicious,
and the labourer looks with a very doubtful eye on the
schemes of his betters for his advantage. The truth is,
unless your force is unlimited, the power of legal compul-
sion is in proportion to the intelligence of those whom you
would compel. It needs some reflection, and something
of the wider experience which learning brings, before a
man is disposed to let his wishes be overruled by others.
If the labourer is to be treated as a kind of peasant with
no will of his own, by all means bring compulsion to bear
upon him. But the very aim of this movement is to make
him a man and to treat him as one. In that case the first
steps must be gently and cautiously taken, or be will
take fright, and the first effort of his dawning liberty will
be to resist you. Meanwhile we certainly ought to make
sure that the means of sound education are placed within
the reach of all. Let us see that the supply is ready as
the demand springs up. There is one thing we cannot do ;
we cannot on a large scale create by law a new demand.
In considering the state of affairs in Ireland, the
Standard says it must not be imagined that we are advo-
cates for tenancy at will, for we quite recognise all the
evils which might possibly arise from the continuance of
a system which was forced upon the Irish landlords by
necessity. They were held up to public odium for the
neglected condition of their estates; and the only pos-
sible method they could adopt to stop subdivision was by
keeping the tenant in such a dependent position as de-
terred him from the practice. Our observations only go to
prove that, although some few bad men have occasionally
abused their powers, the real bulk of the Irish proprietors
have acted towards their tenantry with a liberality and
consideration which in no way justifies the hostility evinced
against them, or affords an explanation of the present
condition of that country. If we desire to learn the
true cause of the discontent, and the consequent crime
which prevails among the Irish peasantry, we may learn
it from the concluding passage in the last letter of the
commissioner. He found, although the Catholic bishops
were moderate in their tone when alluding to the land
question, " that nearly all the younger Roman Catholic
clergy whose ideas on the subjeect he endeavoured to
ascertain have been more absolute in their tong, have
denounced the landlords as a class severely, and have
declared, with remarkable unanimity, that nothing ought
to content the tenant save a perpetual or very long inte-
rest at a rent to be adjusted by the State." Can we be
surprised to learn that one of the more enthusiastic pupils
of those teachers of injustice should have cried out,
even in his auguest presence, "We have pulled down
the tyrant Church, and we will next pull down the tyrant
landlords ? " Will the British Parliament aid them in
their efforts ?

The Post thinks that a working man's mission to Ame-
rica, as a "special commissioner" to inquire into the
state of the working classes there, and the relations be-
tween labour and capital, is an idea worthy of encourage.
ment. What Mr. Conolly cau do perhaps best is, to give
a workman's view of the condition "of working men in
the States. Upon his own estimate of what this
duty involves, it will be quite enough for one man.
He proposes not only to investigate the condition of
the natives, the legal position of their Trade
Unions, and in what respects they differ from those
of England, but to follow up the stream of emigra-
tion from the sea-board till it settles in the Far West,
taking note of the different kinds of labour to which
emigrants of different nationalities apply themselves—
especially those of England, Germany, and France. It
is as regardi the information he can collect upon this bead
that his report will be of use. It would be interesting and
valuable to know what the effect of strikes has been in
America, or to what extent their action may have been
modified or prevented by boards of conciliation, or by any
other court of appeal. Nay, it would be of importance if,
six or twelve months hence, Mr. Connolly should report
that the experience of strikes in America has been the
same as in England. In that case, English workmen
would surely make an effort to avoid having recourse to
them in future. Any light, moreover, which Mr.
Connolly can throw on the social habits of the
working classes of America engaged in corres-
ponding occupations with those of our own would
be welcoulod, But general American society has been
described by more competent hands than his, and though
his views upon the effect of the school system, in snaking
"the lads more skilful artisans, better citizens, and better
heads of families," might be interesting to working men
'with American proclivities, very little importance will be
attached to it by the members of Parliament who have
contributed to his expenses. "Ne sutor ultra crepidam."
Mr. Connolly goes upon a working man's mission to
America in the belief that no one understands trades
unions better ; and if he " sticks to his last," he may
bring back some useful information.
The Star remarks that the Empress and the Prince lm-
pedal have paid their sad visit of official pleasure to the
home and the birthplace of the founder of a dynasty which
is now once again nearing its hour of peril. Their recep-
tion appears to have been as enthusiastic as the most de-
voted adherent of the Imperial family could have desired.
The cordiality with which they were greeted couldscarcely
have been other than genuine. The Corsicans are proud of
the name which has made an obscure island famous
throughout the world, and which, after the lapse of a gene-
ration, renewed that fame in the person and achievements
of the nephew of the modern Caesar. If Corsica were
France, the Napoleons might look forward with tolerable
certainty to a long lease of power; but unfortunately
Corsica is only an island in the Mediterranean, the
population of which is French in no other sense than the
Arabs are French, and far less so than the Lower Canadians,
who still retain all the characteristics of their emigrant
ancestors. The Corsicans will have no voice in the solution
of the grave problem which will one day—it may be soon
or it may be later—show how much or how little France
has learnt during the long years of her probation. Perhaps
the Emperor yet believes in his star. That fatalistic
tendency which is traditional in his family has, at all
events, the merit of imparting strength at a time when
even the strongest will would be tempted to grow weak.
But there is no reason to believe that the Empress was
sustained in the painful ordeal of receptions and cere-
monies through which she has been compelled to pass by
any such belief in fate ; and her hurried visit to Corsica
will hardly live in her memory as an episode in which the
burthen of power was easy to bear.
The Telegraph refers to the melancholy death by drowning
of two schoolboys at Rossal, and insists upon the impor-
tance of • teaching boys to swim. A boy who knows
nothing about the use of his fists, is regarded with utter
scorn, though the penalty for his ignorance is only an
occasional thrashiug. It is twenty times easier to learn
how to swim than how to box, and the possible penalty
for his ignorance is not a black eye—it is death. We do
not believe, however, that the difficulty rests with the
boys. There are few lads in these islands who do not
take kindly to the water : nay—as shewn by our
story, which is a type of many others—they are only
too ready to indulge in dabbling and splashing about in
dangerous places ; and it cannot be seriously affirmed that
they would find swimming-.drill more tedious than any
other branch of their physical education. The responsi-
bility, we repeat, lies with those who had the power to
make the knowledge of swimming easy to every pupil in
the school, and who neglected to do so. The defence will
be, of course, that Rossall is not alone in this grave
the
mischief prevalencethe ofm sgtu
graveiltonly
and renders
cul-
pable. It is simply disgraceful that in a country like
this, where the sea is not six hours' journey from the
iimaoss
its
inlandllrobrook
o
torw nr
be so little known. It is the easiest to acquire of
twhhee where
art almost
o swimming e every village
should
all
vualnedt,
physical accomplishments ' it rewards the learner
almost immediately by giving him one of the pleasantest
of all physical enjoyments ; and yet not a week passes in
which we do not have to chronicle deaths from sheer
ignorance of what is very nearly as simple as walking.
Even the sailors of Great Britain, as a rule, are much
more ignorant of swimming than the soldiers of France.
The Daily News observes that the three great State
ni.?tsh, are
some a t
useful least
knowledge.ol. ; i i g
P
trials which are now going on, in which three boroughs
are answering before special tribunals for their electoral
s
akkirahmenenptarlianadmethnet
comes Country t
to
legislate next year for the reconstruction of our method
of election, there will be before ample evidence of the
evil against which it has to guard. We need not
anticipate the reports of the commissions which are in-
quiring into electoral corruption at Norwich, Beverley,
and Bridgwater ; but it is already evident, whatever
those reports may be, that in each of those boroughs
corruption does win snore than honesty. The peccant
boroughs comport themselves very differently before the
commissions, Norwich is corrupt enough to fear disfran-
chisement, and yet hopeful to evade it; and there are
probably quite enough honest voters in the constituency
to save it from any such humiliating doom. Beverley
has less hope, and therefore less fear. It would not
deserve to have two members even were it pure, and it
has but small hope of keeping one now it is confessedly
corrupt. The truth consequently comes out more
freely at Beverley than it does at Norwich, and
the utter and universal corruption of its muni-
cipal elections is completely admitted—the Town
Clerk himself being witness. But Beverley is nothing to
Bridgwater. This celebrated western borough seems to
have resolved at last to make a clean breast of it. It is
one of the habitual criminals of our electoral system, and
it probably regards its political existence as already.for-
felted to the State. Like Beverley it could have no claim
• to two representatives if it were even a model borough ;
but as the worst sinner of all the berouglssiogioup
I -•-