The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-24 00:00:00

POOR LAWS.

Mr. COREA-NOE moved for the returns of the number
of married persons aged 60 years and upwards who may
have occupied common apartments within any union
house, in pursuance of the Act 10 and 11 Vic., c. 109, s.
27, during 1867 ; of the total number of pauper children
receiving education under the Act 22 and 23 Vic., c. 29,
s. 111; and of tho comparative number pf paupers re-
lieved in the borough and county union houses since the
Acts 24 and 25 Vic., c. 55, and 28 and 29 Vic , c. 79, s. 8;
exclusive of the metropolis.—Agreed to.
The house adjourned at 12.45.

NAVAL AIVD MILITARY INTELLIGENCE.

Yesterday there was a grand divisional route-
march of the whole of the troops at Alder-
shot, under the command of Lieutenant-General
the Hon. Sir Jules Yorke Scarlett, K.C.B.
The Cavalry Brigade, with two batteries of
Royal Horse Artillery, marched to the vici-
nity of Bagshot, taking up a position near
the Golden Farmer, with pickets on the right
and left of the road. The 3d Brigade and a battery
of Artillery marched to Frimley-grove, and on ar-
riving there threw out an advance picket towards
Bagshot, communicating on the right with the Ist,
or Major. Gen. Renny's Brigade. The latter bri-
gade, with a battery of Artillery, marched by the
No► th Camp station to Fritaley-green, where is halted
and detached a regiment to the right of the Wind-
mill, communicating with Gen. iforsford's Brigade
on the left. The 2d Brigade, un ler Major Gen.
Carey, C. 8., with a battery of Royal Horse Artil-
lery, croesed the canal at the Commissariat-bridge,
and recrossed it atillitchett-bridge. They then occu-
pied a position extending from the sign-post on
the Guildford-road on th right, overlook
ing Henley-park, to General R.mny's Brigade,
near the Windmill, on the left. The infan-
try were supplied with five round 3 of ammunition
per man. The whole were in position at 11 o'clock,
and about that time General Scarlett inspected the
disposition of the force. Shortly before 12 o'clock
the firing of the artillery announced the approach
of a supposed enemy, upon which the outposts fired
and retired, and the 2d Brigade delivered two or
'hrcc volleys, which appeared to have the effect of
choking his advance. The troops returned to
quarters shortly after two o'clock.

The ts3[ll Regiment, now stationed at Aldershot,
is under orders to leave camp as follow,: —ll3ad-
quarters and four companies to NewcAstle, three
companies to Tynemouth, and three companies to
USLU WI. kr, ,
Regiment, fro:n Poitsmou..h.

A kiard of officers has been assembled at the
Royal Marino, Barracks, V•Tool*.vizh, to verify the
services of such men as are about to be transfer:el
to Chatham. This will be the first portion to leave
the garrison.

he following appointments were, made yester-
day at the Admiralty :—W. V. Miller, paymaster,
additional to the Valiant; and Arthur Chance,
midshipman, to the Royal Alfred.

HORACE GREELEY ON ABRAHAM

LINCOLN.

On the 3d instant Mr. Horace Greeley delivered
a lecture on " Personal Reminiscences of Abraham
Lincoln," at the Cooper Institute, New York. He re-
marked that no biography he had seen of AbrahamLin-
coin conveyed to him his idea of the man. Ile was not
the supernatural genius his eulogists represented,
but better in intellect and heart than his detractors
were willing to admit, and more suited than these
Idealized creations to instruct, inspire, and stimu-
late the young men of the present day. The entire
emrloyment of his youth andmmanhood was devoted
to laborious manual pursuits ; his instinctive thirst
for knowledge, his greedy acquisition of such infor-
mation as came in his way, led him to study
surveying, as a means to enable him to continue
the study of law and other branches. Here Mr.
Greeley suggested the inquiry —How much' real
importance to the accomplishment of a successful
life is what is termed « a common school educa-
tion ?" Jackson, Harrison, Benton, Corwin, and
others received less than this ; yet Henry Clay, at
the zenith of his life, appeared in no wise inferior
to the educated men who surrounded him, in cul-
ture, information, and educational taste. The
effect upon Lincoln, a raw boy, born and bred almost
beyond the confines of civilization, must be con-
jectured of his two trips down the Mississippi river
to New Orleans. They taught him much, and sug-
gested much more. Mr. Greeley then traced Mr
Lincoln's political career from his first nomination
as member of his own State Legislature in 1831
till chosen its speaker in 1840 when he was acknow-
ledged the leader of his party in his State.
Thence he was sent to the House of Repre-
sentatives, and after serving one term returned
home, and was little observed beyond his
State till the Kansas-Nebraska Bill brought him
forward as its strong opponent. Then he engaged
in the Senatorial contest with Mr. Douglas, which
Mr. Greeley considers one of the most remarkable
and important events of its kind ever witnessed in
America. Mr. Lincoln lost that contest, but ob-
tained through the remarkable abilities displayed
the nomination of the National Convention for
President and his election to that office. The
lecturer traced Mr. Lincoln's steady advancement
first to his entire fealty to his party, being its firm,
steady, earnest ad.vocate:; and secondly to his logical
powers, which enabled him instantly to perceive the
value of an argument, and at the same time to pre-
sent it to an audience in the most forcible and con-
vincing form. His apparent apathy during the first
few months of his administration while the rebellion
was gathering ahead, arose from a belief in the im-
possibility of a civil war in America. When the
truth was forced on him he met the emergency with
all the energy of his nature, and was ever ready to
meet any proposition that would stop the blood-
shed. His sole aim was to restore the Union and
secure the country. If the Union could be restored
by retaiuing slavery, slavery should be retained ; if
it could be restored by destroying slavery, then
slavery should be destroyed. This lei him in the
early days of the rebellion to veto the efforts of
different military commanders to free the slaves iu
their charge, and later in the war to proclaim a
general emancipation.

DUNVILLE and Co., Belfast, are the largest
holders of Whisky in the world. Their Old Irish Whisky is re-
commended by the medical profession in preference to French
Brandy. Supplied in casks and cases for home use or exports.
tion. Quotations on application to Messrs. Danville and 00.
Belfast; or 4, Beaufort-buildings, Strand, London W.Q —[Ad
vortissinent.

for them.

The Star refers to the proposal made by Lord Bury to
the House of Commons with respect to the re-election of
Ministers of the Crown, and says that the house of Com.
mons would none of it; and the little bill for abolishing
the statute of Anne was not even permitted to be brought
as far as the bar. The inconveniences alleged to be expe-
rienced are not great while the advantages of the practice
are considerable. It is well that at the moment of taking
office Ministers should be called upon to put their princi-
ples before the country in a popular shape. The know-
ledge that this must be done beneficially affects the
choice which a Premier makes of colleagues ; and
occasionally, as in a case recorded by Sir
Robert Peel, compels a Minister to dissolve, who
otherwise might take office without consulting the
feelings of the people. Moreover, at the hustings on which
Ministers present themselves for re-election, the public
questions of the time are thoroughly popularised. The
House of Commons does well to guard everything that
secures the free play of popular opinion on the conduct of
every member of it. Not only is it bound to protect
against all possibility of royal intrusion the rights which
it exercises under the Constitution, but it is bound
to guard that exactitude and freshness of representation
which the people have a right to demand against any
proneness on the part of the House itself to govern the
country autocratically. This, at least, is no chimerical
fear, for it is not long since the rights of the people had to
be secured by a complete bouleversement of a House of
Commons, in which even many Liberals claimed the pri-
vilege of governing, and disavowed all real iesponsibility
to the people. Against all such dangers the new House
of Commons does well to provide, and it has begun well in
preserving the statute of Anne.

The Post is afraid that although the Solicitor• General
will find it easy enough to prove his case in proposing his
University Test Bill, he will find that his opponents will
be able to impede its progress. The controversy on the
subject is worn to rags ; the arguments on both sides are
exhausted. It has been shewn, beyond all doubt and
all dispute, that these tests are prejudicial alike to
religion and education ; that they contravene the
rights of conscience, and are hostile to the interests
of the universities ; that they present a temptation to
duplicity, and impose a penalty on honest convictions.
The axiom that it is not wise to retain laws which it is
neither proper nor convenient to execute, has become, as
it were, the handwriting on the wall. Still, truths
which could not be denied have been evaded, and
the opposition which it was impossible to maintain
on the open ground of principle has shut itself up
in the stronghold of prejudice. But the lesson
of history, as it relates to the question, is that
exclusive laws are the weakness, not the strength,
of the institution that has the misfortune to be embar-
rassed with them. It has been well said that they differ
only in degree from the dungeon and the stake ; that they
are just the maximum of persecution the age will submit
to. Indeed, the utmost they can do is to make a sort of
time bargain, to reduce enemies to a state of apparent
acquiescence, and to restrain them, for a time, from overt
acts of antagonism, and in doing that they intensify the
opinions and feelings which are really pregnant with
danger.

The Telegraph takes credit to itself for its recognition of
Lord Mayo's merits when he was unjustly assailed. When
the Earl of Mayo was appointed Indian Viceroy, nearly
all our contemporaries set up a howl of wrath—it was
" disgraceful," " shameful," he was " entirely unfit," be
must be recalled. The Times, the Spectator, the Saturday
Review, the Pall Mall Gazette, and the Economist, all
shouted out their horror and their wrath; and the India!)
newspapers, borrowing their ideas from London, echoed
the shriek. We said at the time, " Give Lord Mayo fair
play ; he may not be a man of genius, but in Ireland he
was cool, sensible, well bred ; and he may make a very
good Governor-General of India." Now the tables aro
turned ; the Indian papers speak enthusiastically of Lord
Mayo's popularity, the correspondents of English papers
follow suit, and everybody anticipates good results
from the appointment once all but univer-
sally decried. But why (lid all our contemporaries
agree to bark down Lord. Mayo? The answer—supt
Ly Dr. Johnson—is, "slicer ignorance." They knew
sailing whatever of him personally or as a statesman.
they had only read some long and not very exciting
*Peeches • and from these slender materials they daringly
lenounceh him. Surely the press can hardly
ace:dplaecetts to
mstain its own influence, when statesmen find that some.
times their wisest acts are those most bitterly assailed Cy.
reckless writers. On certain topics, nu doubt'r,oaaajouf,reinolavallicsiztran .
of
fersonal and otli
known only
judge as well as an official—on the b
rt" 1: sit h them, or
ut
would appear
foreign)bvious
questionsltheitics„ b
tel;aeti operation
true
ties of subordinate
vaciatlatl
suboirnutp'etwuloieuni
to those who come into immewldii(:)%r,
have patiently watched thieitei
now that Mr. Disraeli "k
lie nominated Lord Mayo, and that that o
contemporaries were worse than unjust—they were
Wormed.

The Tinzes is inclined to regret tnat the Uovirnmenl
should have taken upon itself the burden of the officia!
inquiry into the incidence of local taxation. In declaring
that the Government would undertake the subject as soot
as their hands were freed from the great task they have
' set themselves to accomplish, Mr. Gladstone added that,
had they desired ease or delay, nothing would have suited
their purpose better than to assent to the motion of Sic
Massey Lopes. The reference of the question to a royal
commission would result in shelving it for half-a-dozen
years. This seems to be an exaggerated estimate of the
time that would be absorbed in inquiry and consideration,
but everyone must applaud the industrious spirit of the
Ministry in taking the investigation into their own
hands. We have seen too much of late of govern.
ment by committeees and commissions, and it has
almost come to this--that the responsible administration
has been absolved from all tasks of more than ordinary
difficulty. Yet, while we recognise the enthusiasm of the
Government for work, we cannot but feel some hesitation
whether in this especial business despatch would not have
been more certainly secured by the inquiry of an indepen-
dent body receiving and sifting evidence in a manner
almost public. When the incidence of local taxation is
closely analysed, questions of extreme nicety and difficulty
arise, such as are not easily solved by persons immersed
by their daily occupations in masses of details. But we
do not wish to discourage the ardour of the Ministry.
They are strong, they are energetic, they are able, and,
moreover, they have a certain number of followers loosely
attached to particular offices who are ready to be turned
to any work. Let them take up their self-assumed task.
When they shall have accomplished the disestablishment
and disendowment of the Irish Church, they will have
proved such capacity for applying great principles and re•

ducing an infinity of details into order that the re-settle•
meat of the local taxation of England will be child's play

The Daily News refers to the question raised by the
landed interest on the subject of local burdens, and says

that Sir Massey Lopes Wishes for a royal commission to
inquire into the amount and the incidence of local taxa.
tion. His object seems to be to put a good part of this
taxation on the universal back. He and those who sup-
port him have cast longing eyes on the Consolidated Fund,
and they think that if in this way town and country
joined in paying the county taxation, and town continued
to pay its own, they should have arrived at something
like rural felicity. Sir Massey Lopes thinks that the
landed interest has never been compensated for
free trade, and that its burdens are grievous to be
borne, and he is certain that inquiry into those
burdens would result in such a case of suffering
as would make an ungrateful nation, which will not now
touch them with one of its fingers, take them on its own
all-enduring shoulders. Mr. Goschen cannot see the need
of inquiry, and we think the country will agree with him.
What the counties really want is, not to shift their
burdens on the back of the country at large—this is an
old and exploded device of the landed interest—but to
bring their whole expenditure under responsible control.
This is the true direction in which to look for the adjust-
, ment of county burdens. The establishment of financial
boards, as proposed by the Government, and the eventual
readjustment of the whole system of poor-law rating, will'
i enable the ratepayers to do something to help themselves',
and that will be far more effectual than these vain calls for
-help to the Jupiter of the Consolidated Fund.
TheStandarl,after remarking that last yearßetlmal-green
paid 3s. lid, in the pound for the relief of the poor, while
Bd. was paid by Hanover-square, says that under such
circumstances change must come. Mr. Hardy has heralded
it by his common fund. What has now to be done is to
establish, a common basis. The poor of London should be
maintained by the ratepayers of London, without distinc.
tion as to parish. But with such comprehensive
measures to debate upon, we may expect that further
questions will arise. To use the ordinary phrase the
question will be " ventilated," and public attention
will be drawn to points -hitherto overlooked. Principles
will be laid hold of, and the further application of these
principles will be demanded. The propriety of an assess.
meat based solely on rental may be disputed. The ques-
tion is one of personal ability. The real principle, it will '
be urged, is not merely what a man's house is worth, but
what he is worth himself. A nobleman may pay no more
rent than a tradesman ; a man with a fortune no more
rent than a professional man whose fortune has to be
made. Why should real property be burdened and per.
sonal property escape ? Two hundred millions of income
going free from a host of charges which properly belong
to all alike will scarcely be tolerated. However, these
further questions ought not to delay the correction of ad-
mitted errors, though we have not the least expectation
that the passing of these two bills will bring us to per-
fection, even though we take them in conjunction with
An equalised metropolitan poor rate. But it is enough
to know that the present cintt:se of 2- "
oh,poti,,„ e.tr as this subject is concerned.

Resolute...
Reiudeer..

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS. SPORTING INTELLIGENCE—This Di'